Designing a mobile site.

Designing a website doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make it compatible for PC users. There is an option of creating a mobile site, to make it compatible for mobile users, around the world. Let’s face the facts; the reason why twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are popular is because, they are available for mobile users. Most users would rather update their status updates on Facebook at their comfort of their bed or sofa, via their mobile, rather than on a computer. Some users really don’t need a computer because; there are so many apps that can turn their phones into a computer. Therefore, it is important to design a mobile site, for user friendly purposes. You don’t want a situation where, a user is finding it difficult browsing your site. There is an option of creating a mobile application that has features of a site, but that will be a costly project and it’s not a guarantee that all handsets will be compatible, for that application.

There are more than 2.4 billion mobile phone users, and thousands more are currently buying a new phone as you read this article. About 30% of the mobile phone owners are internet enabled, to enable web browsing, via the WAP technology. Lets be realistic, it is cheaper to buy a mobile phone, rather than a laptop or a desktop. That is why; you would see many sites always have mobile versions of their sites. As a web designer, it shouldn’t be difficult to design a mobile site. I will provide a few guidelines to assist you in that project. Mobile phones usually use a technology called WAP, to enable users to browse through the web, so it is important, to design a site that will be compatible on all mobile phones.

The site must use CSS for the general layout, it should be coded using XML or XHTML, character encoding should be set at UTF-8 and images on the site should be in JPEG or GIF format. Radio buttons, text, the page size, check boxes, flash objects, are some of the factors you should consider. Make those features as user friendly as possible, in other words, just make sure your mobile site is light. If you are wondering what software to use, then, I would recommend Adobe creative suite 3. Buy it online, once you launch it, go to “Dream weaver CS3” and start coding. The software is easy to use, and if you understand HTML well enough, then it shouldn’t take you long to create a unique mobile site.

To some, this may sound like a waste of time, but reality is, Mobile technology is the future. We live in a world where one can transfer funds using a mobile phone. In the coming years, you would notice people walking around with their phones, browsing various sites, doing away with their laptops for good. Therefore, I would recommend web designers out there to create a mobile version of their site always. The same applies to blogs. They can be designed, in such away that users can be able to view the site easily, and comment well.

Blogging

If you love writing, then Blogging is a good way to share your thoughts with the world. If you do it well, then it may as well be a profession for you. All you need is a computer with internet connection, and an idea. In this article, I will provide various steps on how to earn from your blog. While you blog, you are bound to attract readers right? So if they happen to see interesting ads in the site, they are sure to click on them. Every ad that is clicked, you will definitely get paid by Google Ad sense, Adbrite and Ad words. That is how you would earn from your blog.

The first step is to create your blog. This is the fun part; where it involves creating and designing your own site. There are two main sites that are popular among bloggers. One of them is blogspot. It’s one of the best blog sites around, and if you were to do a thorough research you would agree to that. The other one is Word press, and in my opinion, it is the best blog site ever. It has many features and plug-ins for you to play around with. Many sites nowadays use word press. I would definitely recommend you to sign up for it. It will only take a few minutes. For a first timer, it will definitely be hard to operate it, but practice makes perfect.
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Once the site is up and running, the next step is to make sure, that you have as many readers on your site as possible. In order to attract readers, you will have to post unique content that is engaging, interesting and controversial as well. For example if you are good at cooking, you can post recipes. If you’re an artist, post your cartoons with clever captions to go with it. While your posting articles, make sure you apply some etiquette that means, no racism, foul language, or hacking tips.

When you’re starting out as a blogger, you will realize that few readers will view your content. Use the Google webmaster tools, to help in Increasing site rank, link building, SEO, that will generally drive traffic to your blog. It is also important to display the site ranking, for your viewers to see that’s it’s a reputable blog. Now that you have many readers on your site, sign up for pay per click services like Adbrite, Ad sense, Ad words and bidvertiser, so that you can earn from the number of ads posted on your blog. Once you have signed up for their services, you will be provided with an HTML link to post on your blog, it shouldn’t be a complicated issue. Another option is to add an “Advertise here” box, to provide an option to companies or individuals who may want to advertise something on your site. You can charge them weekly, daily or monthly. After following these steps that I’ve provided, you’ll have a successful blog that you can earn from.

Social media marketing

Marketing is an important aspect, in the cooperate world. The main idea is to reach out to as many individuals as possible, marketing your services and products that you offer. It is a tedious work, where it involves making calls, booking appointments with potential clients, walking around in the streets with flyers and many more. If you are excellent in the sales and marketing sector, then I am sure you have great techniques on how to spread the message to the appropriate market, the hard way. The internet is one sector that can boost marketing, and it is optimized well, it can be beneficial to your company. Think of the millions of users who log in to the internet everyday, who could be potential clients, and then it is wise to take advantage of that demographic in order to market your brand.

The online front is one platform that has been very successful to many individuals and organizations. Take for example president Obama. He used social media, to reach out to as many voters as possible, to spread his message as well as to get funding for his campaign. What was the result? Well, he got elected to office. That is one example of many advantages of social media marketing, and it is something you should take seriously. These days, people use Facebook and twitter, in order to raise funds, or to sign petitions. This is much effective and cheaper than advertising by the means of radio, television and the use of billboards and posters.

If you have a website, it is important to make the best out of it. Do not just post the content, and leave it like that, with no updates. Use it to market your services and products. The internet is a wide area that knows no boundaries. It is not necessary to concentrate on your local area only. Go international. If for example, you are offering web design services, or your selling music, then it would be wise to market your brand world wide. You can be able to transform a small company, to a huge organization that is recognized all around the world.

How do you optimize social media marketing? Well, there are many platforms to use, specifically specialized tools to help you in social media monitoring, aggregation, book marking and tagging, social analytics and reporting. Others include; automation, social media blog marketing and validation. Popular tools that are currently used are Sysomos, Hubspot, Klout and Twtbuck. Social media outlets that can boost your marketing strategies are Facebook, Twitter, and you tube. Create accounts for your company, integrate them to your site, and your brand will spread like wild fire. On Twitter, you can urge the fans to ‘Retweet’ posts and you can also answer queries if available. Creating a Facebook page can help you reach out to the Facebook addicts out there. You tube is a platform, where you can demonstrate your services and products, in visual form. Social media marketing is definitely the best way to market today, which is more effective and cheaper than the traditional way.

Choosing the right size for your site.

Choosing a size for your site is a very important aspect in web design. When doing so, you will have to keep your users in mind, by making sure it’s user friendly. If you have done your research well, then you will realize that, most computer monitors, come with a factory preset resolution of 1024 x 768 or even higher. However, most people rarely adjust this type of setting. Some would decrease the resolution from as low as 640 x 480 to as high as 2560 x 1600. The type of monitors that has higher resolution than 1024 x 768 is the widescreen LCD monitors. As a web designer, you should be able to carry out your extensive research well, to determine the size of your website, in order to accommodate individuals who use different types of monitors. This may seem unnecessary or a time waster, but it certainly isn’t. You don’t want to stress your users, by adjusting the resolution of their monitors, every time they browse your website. Examples of various LCD resolutions include; 14-15-inch: 1024 x 78, 17-19-inch: 1280 x 1024, 20-inch+: 1600 x 1200, and so many more.

It is important to design a size that can display readable content, for all types of viewers, regardless of monitor resolution. The solution is to create a design for monitors set to an 800 x 600 resolution. Make sure the columns of text with font sizes set to 10 pixels or larger, should be well spaced, for everyone to be able to read the text well. You should also take in consideration that most web browsers like Google Chrome for example, usually takes up some of the design space. Browser elements like the scroll bars, the status bar, the navigation bar and favorites bar usually takes up the design space of your site. The next thing to consider is whether your site will use a fixed-width or an expandable design layout. Choose the most appropriate, for it will also help you come up with good techniques, to build a website

You should also consider users who may want to print some of the content in your website. If for example, you have a site containing important information like financial markets, some individuals may want to print it, without including the logo, images, banners, advertisements, and other unnecessary elements. In order to make it easier for users, then make sure all the key parts of printable content fall within the leftmost 700 pixels of the design layout. This will ensure the main content that is printed remains intact. The next thing you should do is, to design a second cascading style sheet for the site, so it can be used by a viewer who may want to print a certain page. In addition, try to design a site in such a way that, where a web page can be printed in one page; not more not less

Another alternative is to design a simple site, built on HTML with clear content, and little elements on it. The site may be unattractive, but as long as users are able to browse easily, then it is worth considering.

How a website can help your business earn more money

A website is a very important tool in businesses today, and with creativity and dedication, it can help boost profits in the online front. As a company, having created a site is not enough. Users will simply browse the site, to view the content, get bored then log out. You will have to take advantage of it, so as to earn as much money as possible. Take a website as a tool, that if used well, then it can benefit you, but if the site is ignored, and never maintained, then you would have wasted all that, you had invested in creating the website. In this article, I will provide 3 key points on how companies can earn from their websites.

The first point is Advertising and marketing. Obviously, when you create a site for your business, it is like a form of advertising; that is reaching out to online users, from around the world. By effectively applying attractive graphics, images and text, it will be able to catch the viewer’s attention, hence spreading the word, of your business. This would be appropriate if it is displayed in the home page, of the website. The content should contain all the relevant information about your company, such as background information, services offered, and discounts, if available. The content displayed, should be positive, in order to encourage your potential customers, seek your services or even buy your products.

The second point is to Charge for advertising. If your website is popular enough, then there would be other sites wiling to advertise into your site. You should take advantage of this, and charge other companies who are willing to advertise their products on your site. Charge an amount of 5 pounds per month for example, for posting Ads in form of flashy banners, spread out on the web site. This method can earn your company more money, as long as your site has high traffic. Another option is to use pay-per-click services, and get paid for every Ad that is viewed by your users.

The final point is the provision of online service. Make it easier for your clients to access your services and products, by enhancing communication. If for example, you are selling products, and then create an electronic order form page, where clients can choose their desired products, and buy it online. Integrate online payment services like Pay pal, Payoneer and Mooney bookers, for easier transactions. You can also provide free shipping or free delivery of products to your clients, wherever they may be. You should also create a live chat pug-in, so as to provide easier customer service 24/7. By enhancing online communication, your customers will always be happy, and will always be coming back for more.

In my opinion, companies should not underestimate the power of websites. They can earn a lot of money, on the online front, and possibly be the main source of money. There are many businesses earning millions online. If you are a business owner, and you are thinking of boosting your yearly income, then it is time to get the best out of your website.

How to make your website user friendly

In the process of creating a website, there are a lot of factors to consider. Many users around the world are not the similar. Some are illiterate, while others have disabilities. You should be considerate enough, to create a website that will accommodate such people, and make it as user friendly as possible. There are also individuals out there, who are younger, and prefer a site that is very attractive and flashy as well. Do not make a website that will accommodate a certain demographic. If you can make a website, where everyone can easily browse, then your site will have more visitors, hence benefiting you in the long run. The design stage of making a website is very important, and should be approached with caution, so as to create something that is with high quality and user friendly. It is not possible to make something that is 100% perfect; therefore it is important to take in suggestions from users once in a while, in order to carry out maintenance and relevant upgrades, to keep your visitors always happy.

The website should be compatible in all browsers. This means, users should be able to browse your site by using Mozilla, Google chrome, Opera, internet explorer among many others. The color scheme should not be too bright, or too dark. If the background has a dark color, then the text should be lighter, so visitors can be able to read the content well. All the text in a website has to be readable, therefore use an appropriate font, and font size. The last thing you want to do is strain the visitors who browse your site. Web pages should be well connected to the home page, for easy navigation. Menu headers and sub headers should be well arranged, as well. A user should not struggle to find, the “contact us” page for example, so don’t place it, where it’s not visible.

Now that you have made the content readable and accessible, then the next step is to make your website attractive. Make the colors, bright and appeasing, instead of dull and boring. Add flash objects in the site too. An example is, if a user places a mouse on a menu, the sub menu should drop down. Banners and pictures can also be applied with special effects. Provide the user a good experience while browsing your site. It is important to have a certain theme to complement your site. If you are designing a website about tours and travel, then web pages should have beautiful scenery of the ocean in the background, to make your site like a travel destination by itself. By adding features like the calendar, clock, online calculators, would also be very helpful for the site.

Integrating social networking sites to your website will not only make it popular, it will also be easier for new visitors to sign up. Normally, it would take up to 5-10 minutes for a new user to register for a site, but if the Facebook connect button is available, then people can easily sign up, within seconds. Once your website is user friendly, it will be more popular than your competitors, and you will be able to earn from it as well.

How to make it as a freelance web designer

Web design has created a lot of job opportunities to many people around the world, especially in the UK. It is one sector that young graduates should be encouraged to take as a career. You can earn a lot from it, depending on how creative you are, in your work. The main advantage of web design is, that you don’t necessarily require a license to start attending to clients. To be a good web designer, you will have to work well in HTML, PHP, CSS, JAVA, and many others. I must stress that; you must have adequate knowledge in web design so as to succeed in this venture. Just because you know how to operate adobe dream weaver, or any other web building softwares doesn’t necessarily mean you are ready to be a freelancer. A lot of challenges might arise, when designing and maintaining a web site, and you should be able to deal with them accordingly. I will provide you with basic tips in this article, on how to make it as a free lance web designer.

The first step is education. Make sure you have gone through proper training, and you have created more than a dozen websites in practice. The best way to learn is to manually code a website by the use of HTML and PHP. That is very important because, you will be able to understand web design clearly. If you want to be a web designer, but yet you don’t have adequate education, there is an option of signing up to a short training course, provided by various training centers in the U.K. Once you have grasped, the important concepts on creating a web site, then you are definitely ready, to start your career. We all know education is important to get a job, so if you have a diploma or a degree in computing then, it will be a major boost in your CV.

The next step is to look for clients. Visit companies that don’t have websites and, convince them that they should invest in a site. How do you do that? Create a detailed proposal about the services you are offering, the price, and why the company needs a website. The main point is to convince them, to seek your services. Another option is to approach companies or individuals, who have outdated sites, and suggest to them, an upgrade. Keep in mind; you are competing with a lot of web design companies so therefore, your charges should be reasonably lower than them. Send as many proposals as you can. This is because, as a freelancer you are starting out, and you may need as much experience as possible. It will be difficult in the beginning, but once you have built your profile well in the market, you will be successful, and maybe one day you will be able to Form your own web design company.

Dealing with clients is very important. Always leave a lasting impression on them, so they can refer you to other many companies, and maybe they can seek your services again, in future projects.

The stages of creating a website

In order to come up with a good web site, you will have to go through various phases, so as to achieve your goal. Don’t be in a hurry to design a website right away; you will have to take some factors, into consideration first. The planning stage is important in many ways. This is where you determine the goal of the website, and the target audience to which the website will benefit, in order to find ways to attract them. During this process, you will have to come up with the site identity by which the content has to be unique. Copying the same content and style from another website, will not only bring you legal problems, but no one will browse your site.

The next is to set up the Contract. Present a proposal to the client, containing the project details in written form, so the one who is paying you for the job, can have a clear understanding of the expectations and outcome of the project. The proposal should also include the costs and the expected time to finish creating the website. Once the client is happy with the proposal, and all terms and conditions are agreed upon, then you will be provided with the contract to sign, and the work can commence immediately, upon receiving deposit payment.

After the contract issue has been sorted out, the Design stage follows next. This involves customizing the site, so it can be able to attractive, as well as constructing an identity for the targeted audience. This phase also involves gathering users’ computer usage by carrying out extensive research, determine on what colors to use and organization of site content, among many others. Once that is done with, the design sketch should be presented to the client for approval. 4.

The development stage is where the real work begins. This is where the design is implemented, by the use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP to create the website. There are various web building softwares that can assist you in your work like for example, WYSIWYG, and adobe dream weaver. The content should be organized in a presentable way, and the site should be compatible to all sorts of web browsers.

The next step is to test your website, to make sure it is functioning well and that it satisfies the entire client’s, requirements. It can be tested either offline, in a local server, or online. Testing is vital for checking errors, and if there are any, then corrective measures can be taken. If you are satisfied with the site, then you can be able to launch your site to the world. Secure a domain name and hosting plan, and then upload the site’s files, to a web server. Creating a site for a client isn’t the end. You will have to be available to carry out maintenance once in a while. In web design, it is important to have a good working relationship with your clients, because they will refer you to other potential customers or they will provide to you more projects in the future. That way, you will gain experience and exposure as well.

What should a good website contain?

In web design, there are some factors you should consider, when creating a website. Web pages should contain a header, footer and the body. A header is required to bring out continuity to various pages of the site, as well as indicate the main topic of the particular webpage; therefore it should contain a banner that ties various web pages of the site together. The banner should be designed well in such a way that it is attractive to users. The body should have the main textual content of the document, as well as hypertext links to other related websites. The footer should basically have the ownership rights of the website, contact person of the site, webmaster details, institution with which the author is affiliated, navigation links to other pages within the website, date of last revision and a statement of copyright.

Once the essentials are sorted out, then your site must be user friendly. That way, you will gain more audiences in your site, which will be beneficial to you in the long run. Good navigational aids are essential for a good web design meaning, the inclusion of “return to home page”, “previous page”, and “next page” links on each page will be able to guide users well, while browsing through your site. Another method for easy navigation is, to provide a menu, or a table of contents of the website in each page.

In order to avoid crowding of the screen layout, the header sizes in general should be reduced. Text and various objects such as tables, banners, images should be well spaced out, so that the user can be able to read the website contents easily. The use of graphical content can be effective to add interest in a webpage, but it should be kept to a minimum so that it won’t take a long time to load the site.

Colors should be used evenly and only to highlight key elements of the page or to indicate specific functions. For example black is normally used on web pages for the main body of text because, of its legibility on a light background, red is often used to signify danger or warning, while blue is used to indicate hyperlinks, and a shade of purple to indicate links which have already been accessed, by the ohhcurrent user. The main use of colors is to basically catch the eye of the user and be presentable, but at the same time allow users to easily make out, the content in the website.

Page lengths should be kept short, which should not exceed two or three screens worth of content. The problem with long web pages is, the user needs to depend on the vertical scroll bar to navigate within the page, which is quite tiresome and very uncomfortable to the viewer. To keep web pages short, longer topics can be subdivided into logical chunks of information on separate pages. Individual web pages should include only relevant, yet complete, information on a single topic.

The importance of websites

Most of us have already moved on with the changing times of technology. We are in an era where you can shop online, Get a degree via the internet, and also stream radio stations online. As long as you are connected to the internet, there are a lot of possibilities to discover. It is no secret that the IT sector has tremendously grown over the years, and if you are not able to get with the times then you will be left behind. Websites are all over the place these days, especially in the developed countries like the U.K. If you want a website, you can consult a reputable company like coolcreation.co.uk, to design for you a powerful site at a cheap price.

However, the internet is not yet popular in some countries because they have high internet costs. The solution will be to install fibre optic cables. Some individuals are not aware of the importance of websites because they probably, don’t think they are important. On the contrary, many individuals earn a lot for their websites; you just need to be a little bit creative.

This brings me to my point. What is the importance of websites? Take for example, a website that contains information about an organization that is well put in an attractive way, and easy for users to navigate without problems. It can be considered as marketing and advertising tool. This is because, by displaying products and services that the organization offers in an online platform, it can be accessed all around the world, hence attracting more clients from far and wide, which will increase revenue in the long run. Advertising your products by the use of a website, is cheaper, convenient, and has proven to be very successful. If you take advantage of the various webmaster tools well, like back linking and SEO, then your website will be on the first page of search engine sites like Google. That way, Instead of going out there looking for clients, they will flock to your site.

Websites also enhances communication, in that when clients want to enquire or suggest about anything, they can fill out a form within the website, which is directly sent to the organization’s staff who will take action. If you are a blogger, your audience can leave a comment in your website, by which you will be notified promptly. Some websites also have a chat feature, where clients can communicate directly with the staff in real time, instead of calling, or even queuing in an office.

Websites have basically transformed some tasks to be done electronically. This is by online shopping, and online banking. Nowadays, you don’t have to queue in a bank; you can log in to the bank’s site and do the transactions online. Creating a website alone is an achievement yes, but you will also have to maintain and update it once in a while in order to get more visitors and to beat the competition. In conclusion, if you use your website well, then it will serve you well.