Archive for June, 2007
7 Reasons to use 7 Day Web Design
June 20th, 2007
admin7 Reasons to use 7 Day Web Design
1. 7 Day WEB DESIGN office is located in Temecula , California, not a home office.
2. We Have over nine (9) years in the web design and marketing industry.
3. 7 Day Web Design is a CA State incorporated business with a growing staff and high employee retention.
4. Solid references from high-end established clients.
5. Standard business hours: 9am - 5pm, Monday through Friday. Live person will always answer the phone.
————– We pride ourselves on producing top quality websites, that look professional and more importantly:: bring in customers.
Over and over I have seen websites where the design looks like it was done on Frontpage by the “weekend programmer” or a purchased template. You can always spot those sites and I know from my own experience that when I am looking for products or services on the internet, that I am less likely to trust a business that has not taken the time to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing website. If the business that I am considering to employ for products or services does not take their website seriously;
Will they take my order seriously?
Will the order get lost?
Will the service be less than their competitors?
All good questions. Especially when you are about to put your credit card number in for an order. Good design could tip the balance and make the customer feel comfortable and trust that you will do what you say you will do. Websites that look good get more business. Design does matter and anyone that says it doesn’t, has not done their homework, or they do not surf the internet. Businesses today cannot go on with a website that looks “homemade.” Our web design projects are always receiving compliments long after they have been launched. I could list hundreds of testimonials from happy clients telling me how I saved their business or how they are constantly receiving compliments on how beautiful their website is.
Integrity
n.
1. Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. This little word is what separates us from the rest of the Temecula Web Design firms. We have integrity and will always go above and beyond when it comes to our customer’s needs. We do what we say we will do and see your project through to the end and are there for you after the project is through.
Value
n.
1. Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor; utility or merit. Our services are value based. We give more in all aspects of the project from customer service, knowledge of the industry and trends, Search engines and how to get your website seen, to tips on writing effective copy. Areas of value that go beyond just designing a website and posting to the web. Our prices are not the lowest. Quality web design takes time and years of applied knowledge. I always laugh when customers say, “Well can’t you just copy that and put in on my site?” The answer is yes and no. Yes we can take some of the logic and concepts applied in an example, but NO we cannot just copy that and apply it to any situation. Each website and business is slightly different and that difference is what requires customization. A recent survey of our competitors’ prices showed that we fell near the middle for an average 6-page html website in the Los Angelos area.
Reliability
adj.
1. Capable of being relied on; dependable: a reliable assistant; a reliable car. We are here for you today. We are here for you tomorrow. I just had an old client call me yesterday. Again, this comes back around to value. How much do you think the website files I still had in storage were worth to him? More importantly, how much is the value of picking up the phone when you are having a problem and getting it taken care of immediately?
Intuitive adj.
1. Of, relating to, or arising from intuition.
2. Known or perceived through intuition. Intuitive design cannot be learned in a classroom or out of a book. There are web designers that follow, and there are web designers that lead. Where do you want your website to be? Lost in the pack, or the one that stands out in its functional aesthetic and search engine optimized performance. Intuitive design comes from listening to what you, the customer wants, and translating that into a professional looking, affordable custom website.
The “doh!!!” move of the week
June 19th, 2007
adminJust to keep it fresh, and make an occasional non-design related article. i have decided to add a “Doh!!!” move of the week. To showcase some of the finer minds in today’s society and their adventures.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Berlin student was so worried he would have to repeat a year at school because of poor marks he convinced two friends to storm his class and steal the report cards with his bad grades.
“The student probably honestly believed that he could avoid repeating the school year if he made the report cards disappear,” said a spokesman for local police Monday.
The youth sat quietly at the back of the classroom as the two masked robbers, aged 14 and 15, burst in and threatened his teacher with a steel bar if she did not hand over the reports.
After grabbing them, the two tried to flee but dropped the reports as other students leapt to defend the teacher. The two were arrested close to the school, and told police their friend had devised the raid because he was afraid of flunking a year.
Police would not reveal what incentives the youth had offered the pair to carry out the robbery, adding the youths faced legal consequences once investigations were over.
hey thats what friend’s are for right?
wrong.
TOTW
June 18th, 2007
adminYeah so this week I thought I would be on the ball and post the thought of the week at the beginning of the week.
“A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.”
- Fred Allen
Fred Allen had many a great quote but this one hits home with me. I have never been one for meetings, i just prefer to work, but they are inevitable so I will live vicariously through the quotes of Fred Allen.
until next time…
“keep your knife sharp, and your horse happy”
Allen Starts Cold Calling
June 15th, 2007
adminyeah so… we love recieving sales call during the work day , so we though we just might give back a little.
just click open or download when prompted… I am not sure why people like making sales calls… but not receiving them
TOTW
June 14th, 2007
adminWell… it is thursday, and I am just now posting the thought of the week. that should tell you what kind of week it has been.
So.. here it is
“…exactly”
sometimes the only response is… “exactly”
oh and for that nice bit o star wars you have been desiring… click here
make sure to use the password… and enjoy
Tricks to Ecommerce
June 13th, 2007
MatthewOh, the wonders of the online shopper and the confused merchant. I sometimes wonder what happened to the striving entrepreneur that understood that to make money, you must spend money and that a cheap product or service was not a bargain. It is cheap.
Lets start with the basics of shopping carts:
Open Source Shopping Carts are extremely cost effective and helpful for the small time, young entrepreneur. If you are starting your first business and have $2000 total saved up to spend on marketing, business plan, equipment, and website. Then yes open source shopping carts like,oscommerce & Zen cart will work well. However, please be realistic. If you expect to sell and and high conversion rates,put some money into your shopping cart so you can get the results you want.
For example, would you purchase a pinto and enter the grand pre?? No of course not. Shopping carts and other things are much the same. If you want results and quality. It comes at a higher price than the lesser.
The bottom line for shopping cart web design. If your web site looks cheap or doesn’t function correctly, your potential customer will rightfully assume that your product or service is also cheap and doesn’t work correctly.
Online shoppers are finicky. Those who aren’t experienced customers–who haven’t yet discovered the convenience of two-day delivery or easy returns–tend to be skittish during the entire shopping experience. A well-planned, secure shopping cart should make the checkout process easy, clear and flexible for the shopper.
Jupiter Research found that 54 percent of Internet shoppers have stopped buying from certain online stores in the middle of a transaction because they have concerns about service, delivery, shipping or handling. Other estimates range as high as 60 to 90 percent abandonment of shopping carts on some e-commerce sites.
Sometimes it’s because of confusion; other times, frustration over the process or lack of information or uncertainty of the merchants credibility. Some shoppers just use the cart as a place to hold items they’re considering and, in the end, never buy.
When setting up an online shopping cart for a business, consider the following tips:
-Don’t force the shopper to go through a lengthy process of logging in, creating passwords and filling out voluminous forms. Privacy issues and complexity of the process can lead the buyer to end the process before even registering.
-Include a link to a page detailing customer service policies, such as warranties, delivery guarantees, return policy, and shipping fee structure.
-Provide “help” tips, a frequently-asked-questions (FAQs) page and a toll-free phone number for consumers to use if they have problems or questions relating to checkout.
-Offer assurance that credit card information is protected through encryption and a highly secure online transmission process.
-Allow customers to call up information about the items being purchased without having to leave the checkout page, with links to windows that contain the product information page.
-Make it easy for buyers to add or remove items, change quantities, or select different models and styles of a product once they are on the checkout page.
Pictures, pictures, pictures.
-Show the customer what they are purchasing. Don’t hide it in any shape or form.
-Indicate the progress buyers are making during the checkout process, revealing the number of steps involved, showing which step they are on at any given time and allowing them to return to earlier steps to make changes.
-Show the shipping costs at the front end of the checkout process. For some products, these costs determine whether the shopper will buy online and the quantity they will buy.
-Clearly indicate a button or link to move on to the next checkout step and make it more prominent than other links on the page.
Provide multiple options for payment, including credit cards, checks or an online payment service.
-Give the customer the choice on which form to pay with. Credit card, paypal or check. Why does it matter to you. It’s a customers choice, let them have it.
Cash flow can make or break a company, especially in its early stages. That’s why many online businesses often encourage credit card payments, although it’s also helpful to give buyers alternative opportunities to pay with checks and money orders. Offering a variety of methods for shoppers to pay online increases the opportunity for these buyers to pay in the method they prefer.
Accepting payments online increases revenue and cash flow because money goes into the account immediately.
Even more compelling is that there are more than 1.2 billion consumer credit cards worldwide.
Credit card payments aren’t returned for non-sufficient funds–and credit card holders tend to do more impulse buying than those who write personal checks.
Fonts and the web
June 9th, 2007
adminOutside of the web world we see hundreds of different typefaces everyday. In magazines, postcards, business cards, and even menus at our favorite local restaurant. It seems natural to assume that you could use any font of your choosing on the Internet. However, this is not the case.When designing web pages, unfortunately web designers are limited to the fonts installed universally on everyone’s computer. Standardized fonts carry through all types of computers, operating systems, and internet browsers. Although you may specify any font you wish, if it is not a common font chances are that only your computer will be able to display the font.
Unfortunately, at the moment there aren’t very many options if you absolutely must have a specific font on your webpage. The most common option is making the text an image. Although this solution is acceptable for small portions of text on a website, such as headings that don’t change often.
The major downfall of using this technique on an entire website is that it makes the content of you website invisible to search engines. This is quite possibly the worst thing you can do for your search engine results.
Having said that, you do have font options on the web, although limited. The below will show you the most common and safest fonts to use for your website:
Windows fonts / Mac fonts / Font family
Arial, Arial, Helvetica,
Arial Black, Arial Black, Gadget,
Comic Sans MS, Comic Sans MS5,
Courier New, Courier New, Courier6,
Georgia1, Georgia,
Impact, Impact5, Charcoal6,
Lucida Console, Monaco5,
Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande,
Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua3, Palatino6,
Tahoma,
Trebuchet MS1, Helvetica,
Verdana, Verdana,
Choosing a Web Design Company
June 7th, 2007
adminIf you don’t have the ability to design and go live with your business Web site, hire a pro – If your budget allows some elbow room, hire an established, experienced and proven company. But before you hire any Web company, there are some questions you need to answer: Do they have experience with business Web sites? 1. Can they meet the time frame you need your website in?2. Will you be working with one designer throughout your project, or passed around by team members? The more personal attention the better. 3. Does the design company have references? If so, call them. If not, move on.4. Are examples of their designs at work on the internet? Carefully look over those sites, for quality and styles that agree with your own. 5. What payment plans do they offer? Beware of any that require full payment up front. By the time you discover they’re not as good as they looked, it may be too late to cut your losses. 6. What are their verbal and written communications skills? Can you understand them when you discuss your Web site needs? Do they take the time to explain everything to you in “real” terms not computer jargon?
What are Meta Tags?
June 6th, 2007
MatthewTechnically a META tag is that little snippet of code typically located between the <HEAD> </HEAD> tags in an HTML file. More importantly however,
There are three main types of
1.
Example: <
Recommendation: Make your meta description as compelling as you can, as your description often is the difference between getting your listing clicked on in the search results or your competitor’s site.
2.
Example: <
Recommendation: Be careful! Make sure to only use keywords that are relevant to your site. Search engines can penalize or blacklist your site for abuse. Also remember by using this tag you are exposing your keywords to your competitors. Also,if your tags are good enough your competitors will probably copy you.
3.
Example: <
Recommendation: Be careful with how many words you use. I like to use 4-7 words.
Additional Help: If you are interested in learning more about your
http://www.imarketingexpert.com and click on
Pros and Cons to Flash
June 6th, 2007
MatthewThe good:
Interactivity
Flash’s Action script opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactive features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games and animation. This level of interactivity will always leave visitors coming back for more.
A standardized site
With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed. However, with the never ending new versions, the user may have to download the most recent version in order to see the flash movie.
Better expression through animation
In Flash, you can utilize the animation to better convey your message. Nothing grabs attention like animated text or images.
The bad:
The Flash player
People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You’ll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn’t have the player installed.
Website optimization
This is in my opinion the biggest issue with flash, If your content is embedded in Flash, search engines wouldn’t be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site. Just as an image only shows up to the search engine spider, the same is for a flash swf file.
Loading time
Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.
The SolutionThe best solution is to use Flash only when you need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. To stay search engine friendly and aesthetically pleasing, I have found that a mixture of flash and html or css is best for conversions and search engines.