Why Website Design and Presentation Matter?

A well-maintained and well-updated website is one that people will visit again and again, and one that new visitors will find interesting. With every update and face lift, however, a website should be well designed and well presented. As web experts say it, on the World Wide Web, content is king. This means that no matter how sophisticated your flash animation is, and no matter how skillful or colorful your graphic design is, your website will be ineffective if it is useless content wise.

However, the importance of content does not completely excuse web designers from performing their duties. In fact, marketing strategies incorporated with an attractive web design should go hand in hand with useful content; "content is king" simply means that web designers should not stop at making their websites simply gorgeous to behold.

If you are a web designer, you are probably aware of the need for a good looking website at an artistic and user-friendly level; but did you know that there is actually a psychological basis for producing an attractive website?

According to experts, the human brain needs only three seconds to be attracted to a website. If a website is not visually attractive, and if it does not grab a person's attention in three seconds or less, then the web surfer will leave the website and that website's content, no matter how useful, will be for nothing.

Not only should your website design be attractive, it should also be consistent across different browsers and operating systems. Because of differences in underlying software design, some websites will appear different in some browsers: colors could look different, some animation will not work, and some scripts will not load properly. When designing websites, web designers are always warned to make pages that are simple but attractive enough so that they will not run into any cross-browser issues.

Aside from cross-browser consistency, a website should have consistency within its pages. A common mistake beginner web designers make is creating different designs, thinking that shifting from one layout to another makes a website amusing or interesting. Never fall into this trap!

Most website visitors want to see consistency and a familiar layout that is easy to navigate no matter where they are in the site. If each web page in your website looks like it's from a different site altogether, then you are in big trouble.

Think of the power of the human eye when you design your websites. Any contrasting colors that are painful to the eyes will cause your website visitors to blink once, look away, and click away from your site. You want visitors to stay on your site longer. And this can only be achieved if you have a web design that pleases the eyes of your visitors.

Lastly, a website's presentation reflects its goals. If you are looking at the website of a serious company, you expect to see a formal website with few animations; a layout with the company colors; and text that talks about the company, as well as its products and services. A website is a company' spokesperson online, so it has to be presented as a representative of the company, not as a representative of the web designer's whims.

A well designed website should act not only as a repository of information, but as an advertisement. With a well-designed and easy-to-navigate website, some companies can actually succeed, both online and offline.

Why Your Website Should Get a Facelift?

How your website appears is almost as important as what it contains. All the information that you can give will not matter if you cannot present it in a manner that is easy to read and easy to find.

If you are in charge of making a website, moreover, you are also in charge of maintaining it. You are therefore tasked to change how it looks from time to time, as well as to update its content.

If you are working for or own a company or business that is constantly changing or giving out information to website visitors, then it is easy to understand why you should constantly update website content.

But why should you change the way that a website looks? Succinctly put, a website that looks the same from day one is boring, and you can lose a good many visitors if they still see the same color, format, and content day in and day out, month after month, year after year. It is important to give your website a complete overhaul and facelift now and again.

A website will look different on different browsers. Moreover, because browsers are always updated, the way your website looks now may be different from how it will look in the future.

In other words, a color scheme or general layout that might be effective or attractive today might be boring, or even jumbled up by the time the newest version of the browser comes around. You will always therefore need to take a look at your site and update its appearance, especially when new versions of operating systems or browsers are released.

A burgeoning area of web design is accessibility, or designing a website so that it can be read or viewed even by those who are color blind, deaf, blind, or who have other impairments or disabilities that might make website viewing challenging or difficult.

There are new guidelines released every now and then to guide webmasters and web designers in creating accessible websites, so you may need to change the look of your website constantly in order to cater to this special sector of your market.

If you are in charge of a company's or business' website or own and manage your website yourself, you will most likely be working with or in the marketing department. It is routine for the marketing department to constantly ask for customer feedback, and to use this feedback to improve or add products or services, or to change gears in terms of marketing strategies. Such feedback can include comments on the way a website is presented, how accessible it is, and how useful its content is. You will need to use this information in order to change the look of your site and make sure that it adheres to customer standards.

Lastly, as technology advances, so will web design. In the past, many people used modems to connect to the Internet. A modem uses a slow dial-up connection, which can make websites with heavy animation and graphics load much slower. As the faster broadband and wireless connections grow more popular, however, you may see the day when you can put new animation and graphics on your website without worrying if your customers will lose patience while your website loads.

The World Wide Web is an essentially visual marketplace, so how your website appears is important. Just be sure to change it regularly and update it constantly so that you do not only keep your old customers, but gain new ones as well.

To get your very own Website Facelift, request a quote today!

Favicons are more important than most people think. In terms of Internet marketing, having a favicon website is similar to having a trademark or logo, improving brand recall and website appeal, both of which can ultimately produce greater traffic.

Favicons and Its Essential Characteristics
Favicon is the shortened term for "favorite icon." These are images you can see on the website address bar of your browser, particularly right before the address of the website you're currently viewing. Favicons will also appear on your bookmark list and, in the case of certain browsers, even in your tabs. The size of favicons can never be greater than a 16 x 16 frame and they have to be saved using a .ico file format.

How to Create a Favicon
Creating and using a favicon is simpler than most people think. All you need is an idea of what you want your favicon to look like and image editing software program like Photoshop and you’re all set.

Step 1 - Choose the right image for your favicon.

Always remember the size limitations you'll have to work with and let it guide you into choosing the right image or one that will still maintain its distinction and appeal even when it's reduced to having a 16 x 16 frame. In most cases, either one or two letters or a very simple logo would do as a favicon.

Another consideration would be color. Using too many colors isn’t considered a good thing because they can’t be as visible as they should be due to size constraints. It’s best to stick with a single color or a dual color combination; the colors will stand out even in a small frame. You should also consider using the same shades of your website's color theme to strengthen brand identification. The best designed favicons only require a glance for people to instantly recognize what websites they represent.

Step 2 - Choose an image editing software program to help you create your favicon.

Adobe Photoshop may arguably the most helpful tool you’ll find for creating a favicon. If the version of your Photoshop does not support favicon creation, you can visit the official Photoshop website and download the appropriate plugin.

Upon plugging and installing the application, you can now start creating and designing your website's favicon. Although Adobe Photoshop offers a wide variety of artistic options for design, it’s better to stick with the simpler ones as the more sophisticated effects won’t translate as well as they deserve to be when they’re used on a compact-sized image.

With Adobe Photoshop, you’ll have to work with a 64 x 64 frame size. Once that's done, you will have to resize the image. Make sure that you click on Resample Image to prevent the image from blurring when it’s been resized.

You can also use MS Paint in creating a favicon. While MS Paint is not as jam-packed with features as Adobe Photoshop is, that works to your disadvantage in this case. In MS Paint, you at least won’t get tempted to try on the more elaborate techniques and end up wasting your time. When using MS Paint, please do remember to save it first by JPEG then later on have an online or offline program to convert it to .ico.

Other applications may also be used to create favicons but you’ll probably notice a few changes in the commands and procedures used.

A website is an essential and integral marketing tool of the 21st century.

It is no longer an option, but rather a must-have, just as having a business card and phone number is for your business.

Below are 15 compelling reasons to invest in a website:

(1) Open Worldwide 24/7/365

You're open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year and to customers all over the world. And, your web site will never call in sick, complain about over-time, use drugs, or quit on you! You can literally earn $ while you sleep!

(2) Improve and Enhance Customer Service

... and without having to hire more staff - e.g. FAQs, sales, and store or business information is available whether or not you are.

(3) Affordable rent

Rent in cyberspace is considerably lower than rent in traditional retail space. In fact, several years worth of hosting services may not add up to even one month's worth of renting retail space in the offline world.

(4) Increase your Business' Exposure with a Worldwide marketplace

The Internet gives you instant visibility and availability to a huge worldwide market at the click of your mouse. Quickly and easily expand from your local market to a global market. Anywhere in the world with Internet access will have access to what you offer.

(5) Boost your Company Image and Compete with the Big Ones

The Internet is a level-playing field for big and small businesses alike. An attractive, well-designed, professional, functional web site instills confidence with your current and potential customers, instantly adding and building trust and credibility in you and your business and no matter what size your business is.

(6) Update Products and Services Easily and Quickly

... and, without having to print new brochures or pay for more advertising space. Speed and savings is the name of the game!

(7) Your Competitors have one and your Customers Expect you to have one

Don't let your business get left behind! Better yet, beat your competition to the chase! If you don't have a website for your business yet, your customers will wonder why an/or think you must not be doing that well (so why should they do business with you) or that you are not up-to-date (and who wants to do business with dinosaurs).

(8) Low Cost to Produce and Maintain

... compared to traditional advertising methods, which often include expensive classified ads; plus, shopping carts and secure online ordering is now affordable for everyone.

(9) Get Immediate Customer Feedback

... via interactivity with contact and survey forms, newsletters, online forums, blogs, and much more. Know what your customers want and give it to them faster.

(10) A Great Way to Network with People and Businesses.

And, network opportunities are not confined to just your local area. You can build relationships and network with everyone in the world. The world is literally at your fingertips.

(11) Maximize your Advertising Efforts, including your Business Cards and Classified Ads

... by directing customers and potential customers to your web site for more in-depth information and online ordering. Not only will you save on ad space costs, you can say more and share more by directing your current and prospective customers to your web site. This is a massive time saver in and of itself!

(12) Gain a Competitive Edge Over your Competition

A professionally designed web site is an essential, premier, must-have marketing tool of the 21st century (as important today as having a business card and telephone for your business) - one that can give you a competitive edge, help you grow your client base, and generate more prospect leads and sales.

(13) Additional and Multiple Income Streams, plus Incredible Home Business Tax Breaks

We all know there is no job security today. Protect yourself with your own part-time or full-time web site business and also take advantage of all the tax breaks available for small and home business owners. Or, sell your products and services in addition to your brick and mortar store, expand your reach, and earn money even while you sleep. Ka-Ching!

(14) Stay in Touch with Customers Easily, Consistently, and More Frequently

Strengthen and maintain customer loyalty, establish trust, rapport, and credibility by easily keeping in touch with your current and prospective customers through your web site, blog, and newsletters.

(15) Get your Fair Share of the Multi-Billion Internet Sales Pie

Online shopping is constantly growing in popularity. eBay alone had $28 billion in transactional dollars in 2004. Millions of people worldwide are hooked up to the Internet looking for solutions to their problems. You can be the one to solve it for them and profit handsomely while doing so.

What is there not to love? You and your business can only benefit.

Whether you love it or hate it, use it or not, the Internet is here to stay. Don't get left behind. Take action today!

(1) Up-to-date Software & Technologies

Latest web site building technologies, so you don't have to learn it yourself, including Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash.

(2) Time Leverage

Time is money. Time is precious. Time is limited - once gone, it's not going to return again.

Leverage and maximize your valuable time, so you can focus on your core business and do what you do best, while we do what we do best for YOU.

(3) Avoid Additional Stress, Worries, and Hassles

... and the time-consuming job of web site design and development. Building a professional looking and functioning website involves a long learning curve. Rather than stress yourself out doing it yourself, let Nisa WebDesigns take care of all that for YOU.

(4) Quality Customer Service

Quality, personal, professional, patient "at your service" customer service.

(5) Speedy Turn-Around Time

Most web sites are completed within 2 - 6 weeks, depending on the size, scope, and complexity of the project and your prompt feedback, cooperation and collaboration.

(6) Prompt Replies and Response Time

No waiting days or weeks just to get a web site update done, or to receive a return phone call or email to your questions or concerns.

(7) High Quality Work at Competitive Prices

... so you get a big bang with every dollar you invest with us. A quick look at our portfolio and you get a good sense of the high quality, one of a kind, top-notch nature of our designs. Every project is customized to suit your needs and goals. There are no cookie cutter templates around here.

(8) Aesthetically Pleasing, Functional, One-of-Kind Custom Web Site Design

... built to your desires, specifications and approval, or (if you prefer) hand over complete creative license over to us.

Nisa WebDesigns customizes every web site project and situation with each client's needs and goals and you get to give your approval and feedback every step of the way.

(9) Latest Traffic Building Strategies

Get the benefits of keeping up with the latest traffic building, web site marketing, search engine optimization, and promotion strategies and without having to do it all yourself.

You don't have to struggle to keep up-to-date with this fast-paced, constantly changing online business world, because we do that for YOU so you don't have to.

(10) Over-delivering and Exceeding your Expectations

Work with a company that aims not only to meet, but to exceed your expectations.

Your success is our success, and over-delivering is an obsessive compulsive syndrome here!

Read testimonials of what some of our clients have to say about Nisa WebDesigns.

(11) Save Money on Purchasing Software yourself & Dramatically Reduce your Learning Curve

Save hundreds of dollars by not having to purchase expensive web design and development tools, books, equipment, and software yourself (let alone the time you save from having to learn it all), because Nisa WebDesigns already has it all and knows how to use it, ready to serve YOU.

(12) Free editing and proofreading of Text

Most web designers will simply take your text and copy/paste it into a web page without concern on whether or not there are existing spelling or grammatical errors.

They may do a spell check or proofread but only if it's attached with an additional fee; and if not paid for, they will leave typos on your web site, which reflects poorly on you and your business.

After initial proofreading work completed on your part, Nisa WebDesigns will review all the text and double-check for typos as a free bonus to you.

(13) 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed ... you get to Approve the Design Process Every Step of the Way

... so you're happy with the look and feel of your web site from start to finish.

(14) Gain a Partner in your Success

... who cares about the success of your business as seriously as we take our own, so you don't have to go at it alone. Your success is simply our success, too.

(15) One on One Communications and Personal Attention

... you won't get lost in a big, corporate type of web site design company where it takes weeks just to get a simple update done or where you wind up feeling like just another client amongst many others vying for limited time and attention.

Nisa WebDesigns will give you the kind of personal time, attention, and feedback that you deserve and will answer all your questions and concerns promptly, with attention to detail, thought, and care.

What is there not to love? You and your business can only benefit. Get started today!