tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15642910626295097292024-02-08T12:12:34.335-08:00photography website designAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-60471120410993374422012-07-11T05:45:00.003-07:002012-07-12T21:17:11.676-07:00Can Google See Your Photography Website<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">The internet provides a perfect vehicle for <a href="http://creativeskyyphotographydesign.blogspot.com/">photographers</a> to market their businesses. Through websites, blogs, and social media sites, photographers can easily show their work to the world. The internet offers marketing opportunities that will have your ideal customers calling you. To take advantage of these marketing opportunities is simple. Before your customer can find you, search engines (e.g. Google) have to find you first.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">How</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Learn to speak Google to get to the top of search results. Well, you don't have to learn to speak <a href="http://creativeskyyphotographydesign.blogspot.com/">Google</a>, but your website does. Certainly by now, you have "Googled" something. You typed some search keywords into Google's search box. Then Google returned a listing of websites, blogs, and social network sites that were relevant to your search with the most important results listed first. Google can only return your website in the search results if it understands your content. And the only way Google can understand your content is if your website speaks Google.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">The Internet is a Visual Medium, but Text is King</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Like the internet, most photographers websites are visual. However, in Google's eyes, text is king. Google and the other search engines understand text much better than images. Furthermore, the search engines expect web pages to contain a certain amount of text and for it to be in specific places on the page.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Many Photographer Websites Break All The Rules</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Take a look at your site. Does each page have 250 to 500 words of text? Are there pages with no text at all? Does each page have a unique title? Is each page optimized for keywords? Is there a clear call to action? Where does your site show up in Google search results? Unfortunately, most photographers have the wrong answers to these questions.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Is Your Site Too Flashy?</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Things get slightly technical here. Flash is a website design tool originally intended for small pieces of animation on websites. Over time it became powerful enough to use for complete website design. Because of its animation capabilities it is one of the best tools for building image galleries and slide-shows. Put complete website design capability together with photographers need for image galleries and slide-shows and you end up with photographer websites designed totally in Flash. While that in itself is not a bad thing, it is a very bad thing for being found through search on the internet because Google and other search engines do not communicate with Flash sites very well.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Flash has its Place</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Flash is a very powerful program. Again, it is one of the best tools for displaying images and slide-shows. To use Flash effectively requires that its use is integrated into your website in a way that Google can understand. This is accomplished by developing a Google friendly page and putting the Flash component inside the page.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Top 10 List for Getting Your Photography Website Discovered</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">What do you do now? Take a look at the following top ten list. While by no means complete and exhaustive, it contains basic guidelines for getting higher search engine results.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">1. Website design should meet web standards with Flash integrated into the pages<br />
2. Each page should contain 250 to 500 words of text.<br />
3. Each page should be uniquely titled<br />
4. Each page should be include keyword in headers and sub-headers<br />
5. Each page should be optimized for different keywords<br />
6. Content should be updated on a frequent basis (Blogging is one of the best ways to do this.)<br />
7. Your website should be submitted to local search directories at Google, Yahoo, bing, Yelp and others.<br />
8. Your website should include high quality links from other sites.<br />
9. Each page should provide a call-to-action<br />
10. The website should be interactive and invite visitors to click through to other pages.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Make Sure Your Investment is Doing the Job</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Your website is the cornerstone of your internet presence and represents a significant investment. With today's economic environment it is more important than ever to get the best return on your advertising dollars. The internet offers a chance to maximize your return because you can target your marketing efforts towards your ideal clients. Make sure that your customers and potential new customers can find you when they need you most by making sure that Google can find you.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-91118095784428570512012-07-11T05:44:00.005-07:002012-07-11T05:44:57.423-07:00Photography Website Building Basics<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Like any other modern business, one important tip is to put up a photography website for your photography business, especially if you intend to work primarily online. But even if you work mainly with more personal clients, a website is the best means of revealing information about your qualifications as a photography business to any client who wishes to see it.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">However, it is most likely not enough to just put up some blog on the internet and post every single photo you've taken and label it as "my photos". A website, being a form of photography marketing, means that it must be designed and presented accordingly to represent the competency of your business. Also, your website should clearly communicate your specific marketing message. So here are a couple of things you need to consider when designing and customizing your website:</div><ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Optimize your site for search engines.</strong> This is probably the most used technique in getting traffic for anybody's site and to you it will mean more potential clients online. Remember that making your site is only half the battle: you also have to find ways for people to find your site. Use the right words for your site.</li>
<ol style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Title bars -</strong> pick out the right phrase or title for your site so clients automatically recognize what your site is about.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Key words -</strong> try to put in a healthy set of keywords for your web content so that the people who will be looking for what you have will make their way to your site. Key words are the specific words that people enter into search engines when they're looking for something on the internet. The words that you use must be relevant to what your site contains.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Optimize your photos -</strong> search engines will find the key words that you use to optimize your photos. Photo keywords are sometimes referred to as tags. Similar to key words as text, the 'tags' that you optimize your photos with must be relevant. Of course, the key words that you use to 'tag' photos don't have to be in grammatical order. Also, your online photos do not have to be high-resolution images. Lower resolution images allow your web pages to load faster. And lower resolution images usually discourages people from stealing your photos.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Don't spam -</strong> people who surf online hate spam, so if they come across a site that has a jumble of keywords all over it they will think it's filled with nonsense and just close the window. Keep the keywords but stay relevant.</li>
</ol>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />
<strong>Increase Networking.</strong> Search engines are not enough, so if you have friend sites or other blogs, leave space for a link to your photography website. Also, try to sign up your website for online directories. Most of these sites are for free, and free advertising is invaluable to any business, especially yours.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />
<strong>Make your website convenient and relevant.</strong> Ever went to a photography website and felt like there are things that are difficult to do, or that there are features that are easy to work with? Integrate these ideas onto your site. Make it easy for your clients to browse through your site. Include a search engine as well as a site map. Also, if needed, categorize the content of your site properly.</li>
</ol><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">With all these in mind, please remember that your photography website needs <strong>regular updates</strong>. As much as possible, make your customers see that you are an active business so that they won't be hesitant to availing of your services. Make announcements and promos if you can on these sites so people get something new everyday. This way you will always have lots of people viewing your photography site and know that you are in business.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-18453172108223626312012-07-11T05:44:00.003-07:002012-07-11T05:44:35.438-07:00Top Trends In Photography Web Design<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">In the days of film and dark rooms, successful photographers only required one skill; the ability to take good pictures. Today, however, having an impressive online portfolio carries equal weight. Many website builders provide practically everything needed to create a professional website. Still, with the abundance of flash templates, portfolio website templates and content management systems available, many photographers find creating an online portfolio and deciding what to include daunting. This post looks at 6 current trends in photography web design worth noting.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">1. <b>Minimalism and Simplicity</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Minimalism continues to be a big trend in photography web page design. Stripping a landing page of superfluous elements allows your best images to stand out and successfully create homepage interest. By eliminating visual pollution, visitors quickly gain an understanding of what you, not your Website developer, can do. With powerful imagery, you have the capability of whetting your visitors' visual appetites and inspiring them to delve deeper into your website.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">2. <b>Using HTML5 and CSS3 over Flash</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">iPhones', iPods' and iPads' inability to support or make use of Flash, give rise to an added element of complexity when creating a digital portfolio or web design. Because of this shortcoming, websites designed to use Flash intro, a technique heavily relied upon by many photography portfolios, loose out to a staggering number of potential visitors. Fortunately, HTML5 and CSS3 bring alternatives ways to provide a level of interactivity and display options to the millions of iPhone, iPod and iPad users.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">3. <b>Scattered Photographs</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Displaying scattered photographs and thumbnails is another trend we can expect to see more of on photography websites. This fun concept welcomes visitors to scan scattered images in search of clues for visuals of interest. More appealing and exciting than orderly displayed photographs, scattered photos provide site users the advantage of making exciting discoveries. A number of website builders offer the availability of free website photo galleries and publishing platforms. Incorporating a random layout of photographs to an existing web page involves simply uploading your images and allowing the program or plug-in to do the work.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">4. <b>Large Background Images</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">With increasing monitor resolution and blazing Internet speed, comes the welcomed trend of huge background images. One beautiful over-sized photo, placed boldly on your landing page, can easily communicate a thousand plus words. By filling up blank website space, this popular technique works masterfully in drawing your users' attention and holding their interests. Embedding over-sized background images within your photography portfolio is a huge trend and one that is not likely to go away anytime soon.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">5. <b>Subtle Grunge</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Expect to see more subtle elements of grunge design used in photography websites. This technique, when used sparingly, can offer a more genuinely realistic and rigid look to your photo gallery. More importantly, subtle grunge enables you to convey an individual note.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">6. <b>Modal and Light Boxes</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Finally, thanks to new technology seen in the latest versions of website builders, a new generation of pop up windows are popping up all over photography web designs. The user clicks a thumbnail and the image pops up in a scaled-up, clean version. User friendly, modal and light boxes offer a different method of exhibiting images, text and videos. One of the trends biggest advantages is the visitor's ability to concentrate on relevant pictures without leaving the page. This aspect makes the modal and light box technique a favorite among many web designers and site visitors.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-52862969979553633652012-07-11T05:44:00.001-07:002012-07-11T05:44:10.000-07:004 Tips for Making a Portfolio Photography Website<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">A portfolio is the best way to showcase your work, skills and testimonials to employers, prospective clients and others. Technology has become an integrated part of the creative industry where writers, artists, photographers, graphics designers and film technicians use specialized software to bring out the best in their creations. Building an online portfolio is equally important to showcase your work and achieve better response and greater interest. An online portfolio is ideal for professional photographers as well as hobbyists, who can save a lot of time and effort involved in making physical copies or CDs.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">It is not so difficult to create a photography website on your own. The best way to get started is to get your own website and starting building your online portfolio around it. A photography website design involves a combination of your photography skills plus exposure to web designing. However, for those who are not familiar with technical aspects of web design, there are simple free website building tools to help you get an outline of your website ready in minutes. For photographers there are specialized photography website design templates for photo gallery, albums and portfolios.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Creating an online portfolio is easy, but creating a successful portfolio requires meticulous planning, designing and execution to achieve your goals. To build a good portfolio it is important to follow the following four key principles as discussed below:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>1. Identify Portfolio Goals:</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">It is important to articulate your goals in any business, and this is true for your portfolio too. You can have a vision or mission statement followed by a set of goals. If you find different portfolios serve different purposes you can create different sets of objectives for each portfolio, which for instance can be Sales Generation Portfolio, Freelancing Portfolio, Networking Portfolio, Personal/Hobby Oriented Portfolio, etc.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>2. Design for Target Audience:</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">It is important to design keeping your target visitors and audience in mind. For corporate clients and customers from traditional industry backgrounds provide professional, formal and clean layouts without any fancy or edgy designs. Focus more on what your prospects want and cater to their needs, for instance a photographer specializing in corporate events will have a different audience compared to those of a fashion photographer. So the right choice of design for your website and portfolio is critical here.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>3. Navigation:</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">This is high priority for your visitors and prospects because if they have difficulty in viewing your portfolio or browsing through your web pages, then it is a definite put off. Even if you manage to get thousands of visitors, poor navigation or design will pose huge obstacles in achieving your goals.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>4. Planning & reviewing your Portfolio:</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Your portfolio should be professionally managed and reviewed like any other client project. Since this is a showcase of your work, spend more time on planning, updating and reviewing your online web pages and components of your portfolio on a regular basis.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-494204418794147862012-07-11T05:43:00.006-07:002012-07-11T05:43:47.679-07:00Photography Website Design for Photojournalists<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Photojournalists have been around for many, many centuries. They may have been called by a different name, but they are the people who are responsible for capturing images to tell a story. From the days of cavemen, we have been reporting stories and events in picture form. As the saying goes, "a picture speaks a thousand words" and photojournalists capture those moments that tell an entire story. But, if you are an aspiring photojournalist, how do you get known by large organizations that could benefit from your talent and artistry? The most important place to begin your career is to create your own website using an online tool that specializes in photography website design.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Just like journalists who specialize in text journalism, photojournalist are on a quest to stand apart from documentary photographers. Sure, both are taking photographs that are objective, informative and honest, but photojournalists are attempting to capture moments of an event that will be used in mass media to report on a particular event. Photojournalists are generally risk-takers and love to be within the action of news while it is happening. As you can imagine, photojournalists are not in an office, looking at a computer screen all day trying to learn how to create a photography website design to showcase their work. On the contrary, aspiring photojournalists are out in the field capturing photos that could catapult their careers. Thus, photojournalists need a tool that is quick and easy to use that will allow them to stand apart from the competition and highlight their image capturing abilities.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Website builders makes it easy to create a photography based website. Without the need to know HTML code, this online website building software allows photographers of all kinds to create quick and easy photo galleries on their website. Using pre-designed and unique photography website design templates, it is quick and easy to add pages, images, videos, downloaded files, music, photo galleries, social media links, PayPal checkouts and contact forms. With the use of goodies, pre-created modules, you can quickly add elements to any pages of your website. In fact, if your photojournalism extends into video journalism, you might consider using the YouTube Goody to link to any of your videos on YouTube. By having your own website, you'll have the control to add, edit and update your portfolio as you skills increase and expand. Therefore, begin your career now, even if you haven't made that "big break" yet. Start by creating your own website today!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-62964863730638408532012-07-11T05:43:00.004-07:002012-07-11T05:43:30.447-07:006 Items For Good Photography Website Design<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">You love the art of photography. Check. You love the display your photography. Check. You love the opportunity your photography hobby offers. Check. You are the perfect candidate for a free photography website design. As a photographer, you know when something looks good. And, you know how you want to capture a mood or a feeling. Using those instinctual and creative elements, you can create a exceptional photography website design.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Here's a list must have items for good photography website design:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>1. An Intriguing Home Page.</strong> This home page is like the start of a blind date. The viewer isn't really sure if they want to dig deeper into knowing about you or about your skill. So, the home page has to be dressed for the occasion. First impressions are everything! Use your photography skills to capture a moment that will evoke an emotional response. You want the viewer to be impressed enough to want to keep looking. A logo is an absolute necessity! Without it, you have gone on the blind date and forgotten to brush your hair!</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>2. Create Easy Navigation:</strong> Whether you prefer a horizontal or vertical navigation area is not really that important. What is most important is can someone find what they would want to see? For example, if they want to contact you, did you make it easy for them to contact you? Your navigational elements should do that for you with ease. Use commonly terminology for pages like About, Contact, Gallery, Portfolio, Services. If your navigational name sounds weird, chances are your visitor is going to just stay away from it.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>3. Share Meaningful Content:</strong> To be too quirky or too abstract is distracting and doesn't offer your viewer any real content about you as a photographer. To go back to the analogy of a blind date, giving obscure and non-meaningful content would be like telling an inside joke that your blind date doesn't know about. Sure, it works when you have been dating a while and you both "get it", but for a first timer, it just sounds weird. In order to avoid that "awkwardness", still to content that is truthful and has substance. For instance, if you have won any awards, you want to tastefully display your achievements. If you have a long list of loyal customers, you want to show them as resources that add to your credibility. Be sure to get permission from your previous clients if you are using images from their place of business or event.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>4. Be Organized:</strong> Being a photography website, your focus is to have a portfolio of your best photos neatly arranged in different categories. Add descriptions that showcase your work professionally while taking care hitting your objectives. Allow white spaces and use visual elements wisely to lend a professional feel to the pages. The images should showcase your talents and the user should be able to browse them easily. Boast about the diversity of your skills but be specific about the projects that you do. For example, you may have a section under each of these: Nature, Corporate branding, Models, or 40th Bithday Party. Adding testimonials adds to your credibility and builds trust.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>5. Ask for An Action: </strong>Remember to add the 'Call to action' button prominently in your pages if you want your site visitors to 'Request Quote' or 'View portfolio'. And, the contact form must be simple and concise.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><strong>6. Keep Connected: </strong>Photography website design is not about someone to visit you just once. You want to engage them in a way that is personal and relevant. Using social networking Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn so that you may have a group of friends to share or discuss matters of interest, you can link up with other photographers and potential customers. Adding a blog is another good way to keep visitors knowing about what you are focused on and where your area of expertise lies.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-13395420737307808552012-07-11T05:43:00.002-07:002012-07-11T05:43:13.008-07:00Effective Photography Website Design<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">What is the definition of an effective website design for a photography business? Well, to be it bluntly,an effective website for a photography business is one that:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Brings in new clients</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Helps retain current clients</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Screens out bad clients</li>
</ol><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">If you already have a website and it is not doing each of those three things, then it is time for a major overhaul. But don't worry, we will show you how to accomplish all three of these objectives in order to maximize your business profitability. Additionally, there are some other critical elements of an effective website that you don't want to do without. These elements are:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Easy to update.</strong> If it is difficult to update your website, then you will never do it. Anything that takes too much time is the first thing to go when things get busy and you can't afford to have a website that is more pain than profit.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Inexpensive.</strong> Most small business owners don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a website. Nor do they have hundreds of dollars to spend each month on maintaining it. The good news is that I will show you how to create your website for very little money up front. And to maintain it each month will usually cost less than the price of a movie ticket.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Professional Appearance. </strong>Putting out a bad first impression is worse than no impression at all. So your website needs to present an appearance that impresses your potential clients. After all, you're in the photography business right? How would it look if your website was ugly? Would your client's think your photography skills would reflect that same lack of quality?</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Engages the visitor.</strong> How fast is the average visit to a website? Probably under 10 seconds. So you have 10 seconds to capture their attention and want to learn more about what you offer. We will show you how to do just this.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Tracks Results.</strong> The single most important item in successful businesses is the ability to track what works. By knowing how and why people are visiting your site, you will be able to capitalize on trends and increase visitors. All of which means more clients for you!</li>
</ul><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">So what are some things to avoid when choosing your photography website design? Here are items to watch out for:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Flashy flash effects.</strong> These may look great at first glance but they generally are slow to load and become annoying quite rapidly, leading your visitor to look elsewhere.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Music.</strong> The benefits of music on your site are well outweighed by the likely negative reaction from the majority of your site visitors.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Unprofessional Design.</strong> If your website looks amateurish, no matter how good your photography is the first impression by your visitor will be that you are an amateur photographer. Make sure your design matches the level of professionalism of your work. Wordpress themes are a great way to make this happen.</li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong>All About You.</strong> Your website should answer a compelling need of your client and should not be all about you. Show them what they need in their life (your great pictures) rather than try to tell them how great of a photographer you are.</li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-38155881254361961972012-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:41:57.685-07:00Elements Of A Good Website DesignOver the years of being in the web hosting business, we have had many people ask us to define what a good website design is. And we have always stuck to the same principles. In this article, we will share our thoughts with our readers about what we think is a good website design and the elements that help define it.<br />
<b>Professionalism</b> - Unless it is in the interest of your business to be fun, exciting and random, be professional. When it comes to trust and loyalty of customers, nothing beats professionalism. However, for some businesses, such as clothing, skincare, games, toys, it is better to have a fun image. People usually gravitate towards a business that has a professional image...both online and offline.<br />
<b>Simplicity</b> - The best websites are not ones that are too complicated. Go easy on the color combination, and use images wisely. There is a downside to using too many colors on a website, it is confusing and to a certain extent, annoying. Pick, at most, three different but complimentary colors and use them wisely on the website.<br />
<b>Easy navigation </b>- Have you ever been to a website that takes you forever to find links to a page that you want to find? If you have, then you will know why this tops the list of criteria. The best thing to do is to have important links placed at the top of the website where people can easily spot. Use a dropdown menu if that helps keep the page clean. Although it is more common for people to place other links on the left side of the web page, it is quite alright to have it on the right too. And for good measure, summarize and place additional links at the bottom of the page...so that visitors do not have to scroll all the way back up to the top of the page for important links.<br />
<b>Non-flash</b> - For some businesses like photography, studios, recording companies, etc, it is a good idea to have a flash-based website because it is more expressive and to a certain extent, rather useful when it comes to presentation. But for other businesses, the long loading time is hardly worth the time and money. Flash is considered by many as fanciful and impatient web surfers often find them irrelevant and a waste of time.<br />
Last but not least, <b>content</b>. We know it is not within the context of having a aesthetically-pleasing website but as a footnote, we hope that you will find the time to get someone to write something comprehensive about your website, company, brand and/or services without being too long-winded.<br />
With all the above, we are sure that you will have an amazing online experience with web surfers.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-46850821436725069742012-07-05T08:16:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:41:36.078-07:00Business Website Design Tips And TrendsWebsites that convert visitors are cleverly designed to convert business in today's fiercely competitive economy. The attention of a visitor has to be capture and he or she needs to be enticed to stick around and browse ones offering. Most importantly, they have to be converted into potential customers. There are a number of simple business website design trends that offer great effect and owners of big and small business alike are utilizing it successfully.<br />
The minimalistic design has been popular for some time and it has been for a reason. This type of design keeps the user interface simple for a visitor to navigate without becoming confused about where they are at. They will also not become overwhelmed with all the different elements that are vying for his or her attention. Details within the design can easily make a minimalistic design look very sophisticated, modern and fresh.<br />
Page ranks are now affected by the weight of ones pages. In other words, the sites position on search engines is affected by how heavy a site is. Any unnecessary elements and widgets that do not serve a purpose other than 'looking cool' should be removed.<br />
White space between different design elements should be used well. When this is done, it will allow for the page to be scanned more easily. It will also frame the elements on the pages, which looks good. When testing the site, one should get someone else to evaluate it. One tends to be quite set in one's ways, but it will be a good idea to get a neutral person to assess the site for off-putting or confusing elements. The use of color is critical. One should choose a suitable color palette and an accent color that looks good. Color has great meaning and significance, so one should really test how different colors interact.<br />
Unique photography is key to conveying the character of the site. A house on a real estate agents site or the classic handshake litter many business sites and has become a cliche. Using unique images creates a fresher and more independent feel that will make visitors want to stick around for more.<br />
Some sites have had success with abstract images. Budget and time could affect the ability of small business owners to do this, but stock photos are often cheap and easy to access. However, one should stay clear of the cheaper low resolution images. They are bound to display as pixellated and this will look tacky.<br />
Calls to action should be clear. Whether the call is to sign up, download or buy, it should be clear. The page should grab the attention of the visitor and move them to take action. When designing a call to action, one should keep it short and starting with a verb. It sometimes helps to use a word that creates a sense of urgency in the visitor. The call to action should be positioned above the fold and in the same place on all the pages. This can be repeated in the footer of each page.<br />
With these tips, one can go a long way to designing a successful site. All that is left is to promote the site. Professional looking business website design and promotion go together in making a site succeed.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-72342254924137282312012-07-04T08:19:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:42:08.479-07:00Ecommerce Website Design. UK Firm Combining Creative Flair With Technical ExpertiseThe web has become an online high street in the last few years with UK consumers now happy to purchase all types of goods online. This change in consumer attitude has meant that businesses have had to drastically rethink their e-commerce strategies. We believe that e-commerce is a great supplement to your existing UK business or a viable platform to launch a new business.<br />
We design e-commerce websites with a difference. Focusing on ease of use and presentation, Deckchair believes users of your site want to find products easily, see clear product photography and details before securely purchasing the goods with a credit card payment facility. Order tracking and account management are also standard features.<br />
Designing E-commerce websites for the customer and the UK business owner <br />
The e-commerce website owner's experience should be painless and we design secure administration panels for our e-commerce solutions which make updating and adding to the site straightforward. This gives the UK e-commerce website owner ultimate control over their shop, allowing them to monitor sales and change predefined site elements.<br />
Of course, once you have an e-commerce website, you need to drive people to it, from the UK or elsewhere. Deckchair can ensure that your site is tuned to the needs of UK search engines, including Google, so that you attract precisely the kind of visitors that you want. When you invest in search engine marketing, or any marketing designed to drive people to your site, it's essential that you extract as much value from each visitor as possible. If they don't buy on their first visit, make sure you're encouraging visitors to leave some contact details by offering a newsletter or free report.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-58666019084993743382012-07-03T08:16:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:41:27.701-07:00Benefits Of Good Website Design To Small BusinessThe benefits of good website design are best summed up in the following quote:<br />
"If you have a business, you should have a Website. Period. No question. Without a doubt. Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no Website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, 'Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!' or it screams, 'Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!'" Tim Knox - founder of four highly successful US technology companies.<br />
But let us explore this further.<br />
As you know, first impressions are crucial. When you meet someone for the first time or walk into a shop, what you see first helps you decide on your next course of action. Is this someone who I would like to be friends with? Does this shop have what I want or is it in such a disorganised state that I don't know where to look and want to walk out straight away? You know what I mean. When you think about encounters you have had in the past, it is what you see that makes that first crucial impression.<br />
This is exactly why good website design is critical in attracting potential customers. If, at a glance, the website does not appeal to someone surfing the net, it just takes a click for them to go to a competitors website and hey presto.. you lose a valuable client.<br />
So what is good website design? You know it when you see it. If you open a website that has the wow factor for you, then you know that a few key elements have been considered by the designer.<br />
Firstly, it has a striking front page which captures your eye. The design of the front page should make people want to keep looking at your site and make them familiar with what it is you are selling. Good design is not easy to explain, but you know it when you see it.<br />
The pages should be well laid out and not cluttered. Putting too much info onto a web page can confuse and frustrate a visitor who then probably will not hang around to see any more. Lots of bells and whistles may look impressive at first glance but they can slow down a website and people are unlikely to wait for the pages to load so will go somewhere else.<br />
So you could have the best product or service around but if your website doesn't sell it, well then what is the point?<br />
A website should be easy to navigate. You shouldn't have to look at the site for long before deciding where to go for more information. If that happens, a potential client is likely to again get frustrated and click away onto another site. The site should open quickly. If it takes too long a potential customer will again get frustrated and abandon your site. A good designer will know the tricks to avoid having a slow website. Like having too many moving graphics and blinking texts. Not only does this slow down a site, but often viewers are annoyed by them as they just get in the way and are a distraction for someone trying to find out more information about your business.<br />
The copy (or script) should be well written and easy to read. If there are spelling and grammatical errors, this will reduce your website credibility. Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation show attention to detail which is what we are all looking for when buying goods or services. We want to know we are getting the best our money can buy from someone serious about providing a top quality product. It also shows you are serious about what you do and want visitors to your site to know this.<br />
You only have a brief chance to impress someone with your website, so spend time ensuring it does have the wow factor.<br />
The photography should be top quality. This again gives your website credibility and that professional look that is crucial in encouraging customers to choose your business over your competitors. While many people like to supply their own photos, unless the quality is of a high standard you are better off letting the designer source the material as they will know where to get the shots that will give the site that wow factor you are after.<br />
Your site has probably less than a minute to capture the interest of potential customers. That is why a clean, unique, appealing and fast loading site can increase the impact on your business. So make the first impression a good one!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-66993893267799272222012-06-28T08:14:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:41:16.634-07:00Custom Website Design Helps Establish Your Business BetterCustom Website Design is a unique and original idea to establish your business as a brand and gain instant attention. It not only displays originality it also eliminates the risk of being ignored like millions of template web designs. An original web design is a masterpiece, which never gets ignored and surely attracts millions of visitor online prospective customers.<br />
The purpose of custom website design is to make a website that is a group of documents, online web content and web applications. The procedure is a collection of numerous technological tasks like, photography, information building, establishing business identity, eye-catching animation, and graphic designs. Tools like flash, HTML, ASP are mostly used in customized website designing.<br />
A Custom Website Design is a valuable investment to enhance and improve your business. You are at an advantage to convert them in to profit when you get huge traffic to your website through organic search engine listing or pay per click. A custom-made web design facilitates in managing your reactions on the way visitors express their views on the tiny modifications in strategic positioning of the elements in the web page.<br />
When you use a cookie-cutter web design or a template, it is most likely that it will get copied by your competitors and you loose the traffic. In other ways, the template is a design that cannot be copyright protected and the owner can sell it to others too. However when you designate a professional website designer for customized website designing, you entrust him to make a unique web design that has all specifications and needs as per your wish and it cannot be duplicated without your permission.<br />
Custom website designing is an appropriate choice for small business owner who cannot manage search engine optimization service and website development individually. When you hire a customized web design company, you make sure that your business website has all the required keywords needed to establish your corporate identity. It also ensures your website contains reader centric and user compatible key phrases and words. Making your website exclusive as well as search engine optimized. Custom web services eliminate irrelevant links and content, gives safety against spyware and viruses gives security from hackers who might infiltrate your website.<br />
The advantages of hiring a custom website designing company are personalization, graphical logo design, flash tool implementation for eye-catching animation and customized well-placed web content. You also can opt for community portal development, word press development and many more e-commerce and content management options. Custom web designing includes every possible feature and technique to make your website stay ahead of your competitors at economical prices.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-76718844728654495902012-06-27T08:19:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:40:46.201-07:00You Are Doomed to Fail If You Fail to Plan You Website DesignSo you have decided to start your own online marketing business. Congratulations. You are taking a huge step into the latest technology that is still in its infancy. The internet is projected to grow to over 300 billion dollar in sales within the next 10 years. Now is the best time to get your foot in the door and get started.<br />
There are several steps you will have to go through if you want to be successful at this extremely competitive game. First thing you have to do is come up with a plan for your new business. There is an old saying "People who fail to plan, plan to fail". I certainly do not want you to be one of the 95% of the people who start an online marketing business and fail. I am here to do everything I can to help you succeed. Here are the initial steps you need to get your business going.<br />
Figure out your commitment<br />
How much time and money can you invest to make your website profitable? In the beginning you will be spending a great deal of time going through the learning curve. How many hours per day are you willing to invest in your new business? How much money are you willing to invest in your new business? If you have more money than time your website can be up and running very quickly if you want to use pay per click advertising. If you do not have much money, then you will have to invest more time to get your new business up and running.<br />
Find a Niche<br />
If you do not already have a niche in mind then you will have to find one. A niche is a market within a market. For example, "Leica" is a manufacturer of photography products. "Leica Camera" would be a niche within the market. A "Leica Digital Camera" is micro niche within the market of "Leica Camera". One way to find a niche is to see what is being advertised on TV. In the home exercise market Tony Horton runs an infomercial for P90X. You could become an affiliate, build a website then start selling the P90X home exercise DVDs on your website and earn a commission from each sale of P90X. The beauty of this method is that Beach Body, Tony Horton's company is spending the money to advertising the P90X system, not you.<br />
Identify your customers<br />
Once you have identified your Micro Niche you will need to identify your customers. What kinds of people would each of your website ideas serve? In order to find who your market is you will need to research, research and more research. A very easy way to do this is to use QuantCast. QuantCast keeps track of every purchase made on the web. They know things like the purchasers age, race, location, income, interests, and hobbies. Doing your research will prove to be invaluable as you get to know your target market.<br />
Perform Keyword research<br />
To determine if other people are searching for your micro niche. topics and learn more about your potential clients. There are many free keyword tools to help you get more information about your topic. Google's keyword tool is the best on the market and it is FREE. You will need to find keywords that are in demand (people are looking for it) yet have some chance of finding your site.<br />
Determine what type of website you want<br />
Do you want to be an affiliate marketer and promote other peoples products and be paid a fee for each sale. If you want to promote your own service or product then affiliate marketing will not work for you. Do you want to use blogs, create your website completely on your own or use one of the monthly subscription sites to build your site for you.<br />
Register a domain name<br />
Your domain name should contain your main keyword. Always try to secure a.Com at the end of your domain name. If this is not possible then go with.Net. Avoid domain names with the following extenstions:.US,.TV,.CO,.ME,.MOBI. Google and other search engines likes domains that are.Com or.Net. The other domain extensions do not carry as much weight with the search engines and can lower your page rank. This will cause your website to be better optimized by the search engines to get on page one. GoDaddy is a very good choice to register your domain name. GoDaddy has a search tool that will help you find a domain name that matches your micro niche market. You can usually purchase your domain name for under $15.<br />
Find a Hosting Company<br />
Two of my personal favorites are HostGator and 1 and 1. With HostGator you should sign up for the "Baby" plan. Both sites will give you unlimited websites for under $ 10 per month. HostGator has fantastic customer service and videos that walk you step-by-step through each process to get you up and running quickly and easily.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-23438457894638976592012-06-26T08:20:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:40:39.787-07:00Lessons Learned From a Website Design Gone WrongI was talking to my partner the other day and he told me about a conversation he had recently with a photographer friend. They were catching up on what each other was doing, having not seen each other in several years and. After talking about what my partner and I were doing, she said that he wished she had known about that as she had a website recently built to promote her portrait photography business and would have rather worked with someone that she knew then picking the lowest priced website design company out of the phone book. She asked us to take a look at it and let her know what we thought.<br />
What I found in reviewing the site is what is common in most artist websites. The website does not have a clear call to action of what the visitor needs to do. In this particular instance, the goal of the website should be to drive visitors to make appointments to get portraits taken. Instead, it highlights four galleries to showcase example photos taken (which is a good thing to do) but forces the customer to search throughout the website to fine even the location of this company, pricing information, how to schedule an appointment, etc. In other words, all of the things that make the artist money are extremely difficult for a potential customer to find on their website.<br />
If that was not bad enough, the website was not designed to be found by the major search engines. In this web site's instance, the only way you could find this person's website would be if you knew the company's name. This might be fine if you already have great name recognition in your industry, but otherwise the only way that your website will be found is through online advertising, print marketing, and word of mouth. This really misses the boat to all of the free customer leads that the search engines can bring to your photography business.<br />
The good news for her is after she asked us to do a full assessment of her website; that we are now starting to work with her to correct these shortcomings while still leveraging the existing framework of the website that she had built.<br />
Whether you are looking for a website to just showcase your artwork, attempting to market your work to publishers, or trying to run a full blown photography business - it is important to know that not all web design companies are the same in what they deliver and in most cases, you get what you pay for. In the coming weeks, I hope to follow up with another article discussing how these changes positively impacted her business and how you can do the same with your website.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-30123338015880456652012-06-19T08:20:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:40:31.146-07:00Having a Photography Website is Easier Than You May ThinkThere are people that would like to have a photography website but they feel as though it would take a lot to get one up and running. In the world of photography marketing it is easier than you may have thought. You can start out with not more than an internet connection, a computer, which you probably already have.<br />
You can put up a simple web page on a free website to start out with. If you go this route you will be able to learn how to publish and market your work without spending a great deal of money. Once you know what is going on you can upgrade, which is something that I think you should do. Free websites are ok to start with but they can hold you back. The paid service can offer you quite a bit more as far as functions and dependability.<br />
When you do decide to upgrade you will need to have a name for your website. This is referred to as your domain name. To have a good domain name is to have one that includes one or more of the keywords that your site is aimed towards. Considering that this name is basically your company name you will want to think of something that will catch the attention of people as well as the search engines.<br />
When you are planning out your website you will need to think about what you want to say and who you want to say it to. It is best to be straight forward and speck in a natural way. Be clear on what your website has to offer. Remember that people like to buy from people so just be a person. If you understand the websites objective and who your audience is when you are designing your website you will be just fine.<br />
If you are having trouble with the planning of the website you may want to check out other peoples websites that are related to the same subject as yours. This way you will be able to see what you like and also what you may not like. If you like a certain part of a website chances are that others will to.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-74626026682162925762012-06-12T08:21:00.001-07:002012-07-11T05:40:25.752-07:00Website Design Styles - How to Create the Holistic WebsiteMy great passion in life is photography. So when I look at websites I see the finished holistic composition. This composition is invariable the combination of several distinct website design style features - images, layout, typography, illustration, etc.<br />
I believe that for website work the same principles apply as with photography: balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance and unity. My favourite photographer is Michael Kenna, his works illustrate these principles very well. The question is if you are able to apply these principles, to use separate website design style features to create a holistic website or not. For sure - always remember the importance of usability, because the result of your work, the website, should be a practical tool which fulfills its function.<br />
Knowledge of composition alone is not enough to create fresh and unique website design style. Every artist has his own inimitable 'hand', his style. The website style created will depend on the objectives of the website, it's target market, the products or services supplied by it's owner or the type of information it needs to convey.<br />
Below are some examples of website design styles (just pay attention - designers love mix styles):<br />
<b>Collage</b> - a collection of images that combine to something totally new. <br />
<b>Ornament</b> - abstract and attention grabbing. <br />
<b>Glass effect</b> - "glass" buttons, reflections and "plastic" panels; "web2" - style (it seems it's everywhere). <br />
<b>Typography</b> - typeface selection, size, layout, combinations of typeface and colour. <br />
<b>Futurism</b> - excellent for the right type of information or services, 'all about future'. <br />
<b>Minimalism</b> - gives the visitor space to 'breath', fresh, uncluttered. <br />
<b>Retro and Vintage</b> -reproduce old-fashioned motifs, trends and objects that had been an essential part of the past.<br />
I hope it helps you create successful web sites and page designs in less time, with less effort and with more impact. Or cheers you up.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-37471034710345909332012-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:002012-07-11T05:40:18.858-07:00Best Web Development Software for Website Design and MaintenanceAt the present time, almost everyone is looking for unique ways to design, develop and maintain a website. If you have always thought that creating a website is difficult and complex, then web development software is for you. For beginners, it is highly recommended to use a website builder because it can assist them in creating a website without any prior knowledge. It is also preferred by web designers and website design companies as it enables them to work with ease.<br />
To create highly attractive plus professional websites, it is better to opt for the best web development software. So, do not fret over technicalities required for creating your own web. Just search and select the best software for yourself.<br />
<b>What can be done through the Best Web Development Software? </b><br />
Designing complex layouts and CSS designs, developing HTML and everything else required for designing and maintaining a website can be done through web development software. Besides all normal functions, you can also create interactive fireworks and sophisticated rollover effects through software. The use of synergistic effects and graphics to create websites has literally exploded. Not only budding web designers but also experienced and skilled web designers are adopting software to enhance their creativity.<br />
<b>Shopping Cart Software</b><br />
Web development software is just not limited to graphics design, HTML and flash designs but if you are looking for professional e-commerce management platform, then go for enterprise-grade shopping cart software. Shopping cart software is all about deluxe and sleek features for instance drag and drop layout, Min/Max order quantity, inventory control, customizable designs along with shipping zones and options.<br />
The best shopping cart software also gives you the privilege of selling products through M-commerce. Hence select a store design, drive traffic and sales, get tools to run your business and get started with the help of shopping cart software.<br />
<b>Web Graphics Software</b><br />
If you have access to the best web development software then you cannot only create incredible photos and videos but can also share your memories through online albums. Web graphics software is literally ideal for photo enthusiasts.<br />
Professional and amateur photographers can certainly bring out the best in videos and photographs. They can organize and manage their photos and videos faster than ever before. So try out web graphics software to experiment with state-of-the-art editing tools, and showcase your images in elegant layouts and web galleries. <br />
Express you vision with modern image editing and processing tools and streamline your digital photography in the way you want.<br />
<b>File Transfer Software</b><br />
When you want to move, upload and download files securely, the right choice is file transfer software. File sharing is an important part of web development because it enables you to transfer files from one location to another, and to download files such as images, documents and videos.<br />
After evaluating and recognizing the importance of software for development, it can be accepted without any doubt that the best web development software has surely facilitated thousands of businesses to create their own customized and secure website. A variety of software can be downloaded online along with a user manual or guide to assist you. Just Google a type of web development software which you require and download it right away to create aesthetically designed and appealing software.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-79925272278496988502012-05-10T08:16:00.000-07:002012-06-24T13:01:28.379-07:00Church Website Designing - Who Should Be InvolvedA project such as designing a church website is a huge task to undertake. Not only is it huge, it means a lot of responsibility. This responsibility should not be left on the shoulders of one individual. You will want a design team who can work together on a regular basis until the site is completed.<br />
In order to begin working with a design team, there must be one person who will be responsible for the progress of the website. This person will be responsible for answering to higher ups in the organization. They must be involved in every phase of the process. They must be able to clear any roadblocks the team may encounter that they cannot clear themselves.<br />
Stakeholders are another aspect of the team. These are individuals who have a stake in the success of the church website design. This may be the youth coordinator or the pastor himself. Many other members of the congregation may also have a stake in the success of the website as well.<br />
A large church is normally going to have many pages in their church website design. This could be as many as 150 or as few as 30. If the web design gets too large, you may want to consider outsourcing portions of the project to vendors. This means hiring someone to write, get an architecture consultant, someone who does graphic design and so forth. A lot of churches decide to outsource everything except the writing and photography.<br />
It is more expensive to outsource the entire design and usually when that is done, the church gives up a lot of control over the content. Look within the congregation and appeal to your parishioners. You may be surprised to find a graphic designer right in the front pew.<br />
Make sure to keep all channels of communication open. If you have a team of ten that are working on your church website designs, make sure each member is willing and capable of communicating with the other team members in case they encounter a problem. All teams have a project manager and this person should be capable of solving any problems and answering questions concerning the design of the website.<br />
When each individual on the design team is working separately on a project, there still comes a time when all members need to meet to incorporate all the information collected. Some team members may run across questions that cannot be answered any other way but in person. It may require discussion and arbitration to decide some of your dilemmas and a meeting is the only way to do it.<br />
Finally, have a definite but somewhat flexible deadline. By this I mean, set a deadline but make sure it is flexible enough to be pushed back or pulled up. During the construction of your church website design, you or a team member may come across a problem that requires time to resolve. If your deadline is swiftly approaching, it will need to be pushed back to allow adequate time to resolve the problem. If by chance everything goes smoothly and you are ahead of schedule, it is easy to pull the deadline to the forefront and launch early.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-41533563719129104552012-05-10T08:15:00.002-07:002012-06-24T13:02:16.604-07:0010 Tips for Killer Website DesignDoes website design make a difference in how long people will visit your website or if they'll stay and shop? You bet. You've seen the websites that scream "bad idea" and you know those folks are losing potential customers to their ineffective website design. Whether you are an internet newbie or an experienced marketer, you should understand that good website design is part of the success equation.<br />
So here are my 10 tips on how to create killer website design that will invite potential customers in instead of scare them away.<br />
1. Easy Navigation- The road to success<br />
When people come to your website they are usually searching for something in particular. It might be recipes for a healthy low fat diet that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare or what is the best business to start online. Whatever they want, you need to have the answer. So ask yourself, why do people come to my website? When you know that then you know you should make it easy for them to find it.<br />
I have been on countless websites that make it difficult for me to do business with them. And you know what my first response is? "Next!" <br />
I am onto the next website to see if they can answer my question. People don't want to waste their time hunting for things that should be easy to find.<br />
So, if people come to your website to find widgets, have a button easy to see and locate that says "Widgets". People have been trained to look to the left of the website for the navigation bar.<br />
2. Flashing Gizmos - The exit ramp to a dead end street<br />
You've seen those sites where the elephants are dancing and the poker chips are running across the screen asking you to click on them...the only thing they have ever done for me is give me a headache and to reach the "let me get out of here as fast as I can" button on my computer.<br />
If you are a running a professional site, please don't use flashing graphics. Guaranteed you are encouraging people to leave your site. People have come to you for information. Not to click on an ad or have their brain scrambled.<br />
Make your website a pleasant environment for the customer to be in. Just like a store. Think about when you go to the mall. You want to go in a store that is clean, well laid out, has good customer service and the products you are looking for. Your website should reflect this. If it is what you expect in your shopping experience then does it not reason, your customers are looking for this in your website.<br />
What about music? Well, it depends. On most business sites I would suggest not. But let's say you have a realtor by the ocean who rents out homes for summer vacations. They have music that sounds like the ocean is lapping at the foot of your desk. I think music is appropriate in this venue but I would definitely have it "off" as people log onto your site and give them an option to turn it on. Don't forget many people are surfing in their office environment and don't want the boss to find out. If your music is loud or on as people log onto your site and can't find a quick way to turn it off, they will leave your site faster than a cat that just saw the jaws of a Doberman!<br />
3. Color - Enhancing the highway scenery<br />
Color is an individual preference but studies show that colors have an affect on people's emotions. Look at the top sites like Amazon; their layout is simple and so is their color scheme.<br />
My recommendation would be to go with the flow. If you have a financial investment site then conservative colors seem to follow. If you sell beach items then lots of fun colors apply. If you have a bridal shower website, I would say soft pastels. Think about your audience and you will know the color scheme.<br />
4. Page Links - I-95 to your destination<br />
This is a no brainer but make sure all of your buttons are hyperlinked to a page and the right destination page. No one including Goggle likes broken link pages. It can be tedious but do it anyway. As you hover over the button and look down in the left-hand part of your screen, you will see the hyperlinked page. Just verify that yours are correct.<br />
5. About Us - Is your map reliable?<br />
People usually want to know basic things before they do business with you. Who are you, how do I get a hold of you, what is your product or service guarantee, will you resell my email address, what is your privacy policy, when will I get the product, etc. You need to answer these questions to create trust between you and your potential customer.<br />
6. Sitemap - How do I find my way around this big city?<br />
Let's say you have a lot of products or pages and resources. A sitemap helps people where to find what they are looking for quickly without have to rummage through your whole site like a lost soul. They are not hard to create but are useful for large sites. It also helps the search engines to know what you are about very quickly.<br />
7. Fast Loading Pages - All lanes are go!<br />
There is nothing worse than slow loading pages. You can optimize your graphics for your website. People hate to wait. You can check your page load time and page rank on Alexa.com. Slow pages equal death to an online business.<br />
8. Shopping Cart - Need to buy some souvenirs<br />
If you are selling items or services, you need a reliable and well organized shopping cart. I have seen some websites that have a zillion products listed and to email them for orders. What a nightmare! Yes, the shopping carts will charge you a fee but it is worth it for them to handle the transaction. There are many good shopping carts available and I would research them based on your business' needs.<br />
9. Templates or Original Design- Chevrolet or Porsche<br />
People often think that to have a website designed is going to cost thousands. So they opt for the templates and throw together sites. There is nothing wrong with this approach except I can tell the difference between what I call a "canned" site and one that was created from scratch. While I don't think a website that uses templates will turn off a customer, I just think it may not be as appealing.<br />
Have fun with your online business. You can go to any number of photography sites and download professional photos from cows to race cars. This will make your site look more customized.<br />
Again, I recommend that you shop for a good web designer. I paid around $400 for a basic site to go up. I know others would have charged me $1000 or more. That's why you need to shop and see examples of their work.<br />
10. Customer Service - The Finish Line!<br />
Okay so how is customer service a website design? Well, customer service should be written all over your site. From tips, to free reports, to guarantees, to fast and reliable shopping. People want to know you know what you are talking about and can deliver the goods they want. <br />
Give a little and I guarantee you'll get in back tenfold.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-67632785573129450592012-05-10T08:15:00.001-07:002012-06-24T13:02:00.785-07:00Rich Media Website DesignAll across the globe there is high demand for rich media website design . Rich Media website Design defines a business - focused rich web design. All across image - enhancing accent animation to very high advance online multimedia applications. It should have a unique combination of expertise and experts to unleash the real potential of flash multimedia<br />
Flash multimedia is a very useful, flexible and powerful medium to express any business. It some times misuse driven by a designer's hubris to crease an expensive modern art instead of its effectiveness to business tools. The Business focus flash design is anything except typical. By our combination of innovative programming functionalities and world class creative multimedia you are bound to get sound business logic from<br />
An effective media concept can easily communicate and enhance the features and ability of a user. A Rich media website design will create an interaction between the user and website core business concept intact. Delivery of any system nowadays not only depends on the back end but how the front end delivers the business concept in an easily fashionable manner. Almost every movie website or high end website do use this concept to stand apart from rest of the websites. Why not go for something that keeps you stand out rather than restrict you to commonality.<br />
There are very few companies which utilize in-house rich media, graphic design, photography and innovative web site design, this will help you reach clients reach their business potentials. Now what does Rich media includes - Flash animation and video, Professional Broadcast Voice Talent, Interactive User Controls, Web Analytics for User Tracking, Multi-Language Capabilities, Licensed Ambient Music.<br />
Rich Media Website Design should offer you the best in animated flash designing, 3D effects, online web application programming and internet marketing. By use of these services be sure to uplift your online business to the next level . A company should understand the underlying concept of web analytics. By use of our professional advice and designed marketing strategies you can be sure of potential traffic visiting your website and you getting better ROI.<br />
Imagine a solution for Rich Media Website Design which can gauge your clients and potential traffic coming to your website will enhance all the features.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-5559252080011562922012-05-10T08:15:00.000-07:002012-06-24T13:01:46.627-07:00Website Design - 3 Things Newbies Need to KnowBeing a newbie is nothing to be ashamed of, because we all started where you are right now. The only difference is that things were much more difficult then, and are much simpler now. I used to have to make entire websites out of HTML, and now only the hacker guys use HTML because they find a certain pride in it. But the bottom line is that you can design a professional-looking website without any knowledge of HTML or anything more advanced than how to use your mouse. Seriously. Web design has become about as step by step as things can get.<br />
These are the three things that newbie web designers need to know:<br />
<b>1. Have a good product or service.</b> Don't try to sell things that people can get at their local Wal-Mart. Be unique, sell something that you have an interest in. Build a website to sell your photography, book, or real estate. Niches are frothing at the mouth for decent websites that give people what they really need.<br />
<b>2. Spend some time on the design itself.</b> Almost all web builders give you templates to get you started. My favorite is Tripod, not because of the templates themselves, but because of what you can do with them. You don't want just another cookie-cutter website like most hosts offer, you want a website that has been customized by you and reflects what your website needs. Tripod lets you do this. Change all the colors, pictures, headers, and styles. Make the website completely yours.<br />
<b>3. Don't be afraid of your options.</b> Since Tripod makes it so easy to insert code into your website, you could literally have your website do anything that you need it to. If you can think it, most likely there is a code out there to make it happen. All of this might sound a little advanced, but adding code to your website is as simple as copy (CRTL+ C) then paste (CTRL + V). Seriously. Sure, you could get more advanced and check out the code or tweak it to your exacting specifications, but even some professionals just do a simple copy and paste and act like they just worked a miracle on your website.<br />
With website design, you won't be a newbie for long. Get your feet wet, try new things, and know that everyone can build a website--even you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-58898710302851775952012-04-27T08:17:00.001-07:002012-06-24T13:00:15.898-07:00All You Need to Know About Website DesignWebsite Design is the art of delivering a message, which is usually done in hypermedia or hypertext to a consumer through the Internet. The reader of the information on the website would need a browser in order to access the website.<br />
It is web design's goal to collate electronic information that will be hosted on a website which will give users the ability to read and interact with the information on the website.<br />
The advancements that have been made in respect of web browsers has caused and allowed the use of XHTML / XML as well as cascading sheets (CUSS) to manipulate and position web page objects and elements. The latest browsers now permit viewing of these web pages without the use of plug-ins.<br />
Web pages are either dynamic or static. Dynamic web pages have the ability to adapt both appearance and content and this is linked to the end users interaction and input as well as changes within the environment of PCs.<br />
Static pages however do not have the ability to change content a person manually physically makes changes to a page. Simple HTML pages are examples of static content.<br />
There has been such advancement within the computer world that there is now a clear distinction between web development and web design.<br />
Graphic design for the purposes of developing and styling of objects is how one would describe web design. Web programming on the other hand is more to do with the functionality of web sites.<br />
Designing of websites, web applications or web pages involves many disciplines such as: computer interaction, design marketing, photography, search engine optimization, authoring, as animation and many others.<br />
Computer language involves languages such as: XML, XHTML, and HTML, also known as mark up languages. Then there is style sheet languages such as: XSL and CSS. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Website Design.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-26804548613885425992012-04-16T08:18:00.001-07:002012-06-24T12:59:12.617-07:00Setting Up Your Photography WebsiteYour website is your showcase of your talents and it still utterly amazes me how little importance a lot of photographers place on their website, if there is a website at all. You cannot underestimate the power your website has as a marketing tool, it is without a doubt your single most important marketing tool available to you.<br />
If you are not web savvy you should consider hiring a web designer to create you a website specifically for your needs and also someone who will be willing and able to do updates for you as and when you require it. The costs between designers vary enormously, so shop around not only for price, but consider if they produce a search engine friendly site, you like the look of other sites they have made and also that you find them easy to talk to and communicate with.<br />
For those with more knowledge you may want to save yourself some money and design and build your website yourself. There are many options available such as Dreamweaver, SiteBuilder, Rapid Weaver, XSite Pro or Magix Website Maker to name a few. What you choose to work with will ultimately depend upon your knowledge of web design. Your local community college will most likely offer evening classes on web design for those inclined to learn and you will most likely get to make a start on building your website in class!<br />
However you need to decide as a photographer where you want to dedicate your time, as running a small business by yourself means you will often be running the whole show by yourself, donning the hat of administrator, company accountant, sales and marketing executive, as well as that of photographer. Be realistic, do you really have the time or inclination to be your own web designer and to do your own search engine optimisation too? Once your business grows to where you want it to be you will most likely have to employ outside help to undertake some of your least favourite jobs for a start, freeing you up to do what you are good at and also allow you to do what you enjoy doing keeping those creative impulses flowing.<br />
Once you have decided which is the best option for the creation of your website, you need to think clearly about the domain name for starters. Choosing a domain ending in either.com or.co.uk is a good choice for those in the UK as it is readily recognised and therefore more easily remembered. The name of your domain should ideally match that of your trading name just so long as that name is not too long. Try to keep your web address short and easy to remember. You can find many companies that offer domain checkers to see if the domain you want is available. If not you will have to carefully consider alternatives that capture the 'essence' of your business name. Also check out your proposed name on some of the search engines to make sure there is nothing too similar or an inappropriate site with a name like you are proposing, as the last thing you want is prospective clients accidentally visiting that other site instead. You also want to get an email address with your website domain name as this looks so much more professional than using a Hotmail or yahoo account for your business for instance.<br />
Next you need to think of the layout of your site. You will need a home page with a navigation bar in which to easily visit the rest of your site. You may well want a page about yourself, in which to sell yourself to potential clients. You will also need a page with a gallery of your images and a separate contact page for a start. You also need a page dedicated to the services you offer and a breakdown of the various packages that you provide. It is also a good idea to price your packages on your website, so any calls or enquiries you do get will already know your prices and be prepared to pay that. That essentially will be your site, so you have got to make it good! It has to be easy to read; yet the text needs to be captivating enough to keep people reading. Your gallery should be full of stunning images to show the best work that you can do. This is without a doubt the shop window of the modern photographer. Your site should be easy to navigate around and you need to think about the colour too. The colour will tell people a lot about you as well as speaking volumes about your taste and professionalism. Very often simple colours such as Black, White or Grey are unobtrusive and will really allow your images to stand out.<br />
Your website will open you up to a whole new world, giving people the opportunity to see the stunning work and services that you have on offer from the comfort of their own home. It gives you a place to refer to in your adverts, it will allow you to build social networks around it and is also a place in which to drive your online advertising campaigns. Once set up, your website will do your job even whilst you sleep! No longer do we have to speak personally to every slightly interested party, now, through your website they can find the information they want, look at your work and decide if you are a person they would like to work with. That is why a great looking, well designed site is so important.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-90231278861209574082012-04-16T08:18:00.000-07:002012-06-24T12:58:57.750-07:00Calendars on Photography Websites?"I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar."<br />
~Robert Brault <br />
________________________________________________________<br />
Most photographers are moving toward flash websites and loving the idea of updating it themselves! New flash sites allow us to use very user friendly Control Panel and add new pictures from our recent weddings! This is great because we don't have to wait several weeks for our web designer to "get around to it."<br />
For example, many flash templates with the option of adding a calendar. When I first launched my website I thought it was a very cool idea and had put my calendar up. My thinking was that this would let brides know if I'm already booked for their dates. This would save me time as I didn't have to email them back telling them I'm booked. The bride could save time (after some tears of course) and she continues her search for another wedding photographer. This made a lot of sense to me...at the time.<br />
After about six months of having my calendar up on my website, I only had two brides actually contact me to ask if I could refer any other wedding photographers. Also I had several brides contact me and say, "My friend 'so and so' said I needed to contact you! She loved your photos but saw you were booked for her date!" So I started thinking about whether I should have my calender up or not.<br />
Sometimes I like to use a more simplistic decision making approach. In the book On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin created a Pros and Cons list to see if he should marry. I decided to take the same scientific approach of this great naturalist. Basically I developed a pros and cons list for having a calendar on my website. Simple but very effective.<br />
Here is my list:<br />
Pros:<br />
* Save me time since I don't need to email the brides when I'm already booked.<br />
* Shows brides what venues I'm shooting/shot at.<br />
* If brides see that my calendar is filled up, they will feel more confident and expedite the booking process.<br />
Cons:<br />
* Never get to talk to the brides to try to book them on some engagement pictures.<br />
- I've booked several e-sessions with couples whose dates were already booked.<br />
* Never know who would have contacted me.<br />
- Keeping track of these couples' info is very valuable! It helps me understand who my clients are.<br />
* Never know how they found me.<br />
- Understanding where they came from to get to me is valuable, too.<br />
* Never know how many brides are actually contacting me and willing to pay for my services<br />
- Let's say that 10 brides a month are inquiring about my wedding photography. This helps me better understand my demand and essentially helps me price my wedding photography accordingly.<br />
* Never allow me to refer to other photographers.<br />
- My referrals come from brides and other photographers! So it is important to strengthen my relationships with other photographers.<br />
o Never know if my efforts are paying off (ads, links, referrals and leads.)<br />
- I do have one magazine ad, many links and pay for some online directories. So I NEED to know if these are worth my investment.<br />
o Never get to start a relationship with the couples.<br />
- Wedding photography is all about relationships and I like to create a relationship with all couples that contact me. I want them to say to their friends, "We wanted Rob Nicholson of Humbled Eyes Photography...but he was booked! You need to call him!"<br />
________________________________________________________<br />
Summary:<br />
Wedding photography is about building relationships, building referral networks and understanding how and where you fit in to this "crazy wedding game." Having a calendar up limits you from gathering information and understanding your business!<br />
~Rob NicholsonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564291062629509729.post-53436669043113184712012-04-16T08:17:00.000-07:002012-06-24T12:59:26.926-07:00Website Design Secrets - Tips to Making a Website Look ProfessionalThere are no great secrets to making a website look professional, you just need to look at the result and make sure that you keep on track. Here are my favourite secret tips to follow!<br />
<b>Do not make it too personal!</b> - Unless you are selling yourself as a person, for example a children's entertainer, then do not put lots of personality into the website. Too often I hear from my sales team that a customer would like a bit of this in and a bit of that. Yes, they make the sites look very personalised, but too often these take away from the professional look.<br />
<b>Reduce the design team</b> - One of the biggest causes of a web site going from a professional look to a amateur look is when too many people are involved in the design. If they all read and obeyed the rest of the tips, then this would not be a problem. But at every person's review they each want to put their mark on a site and suddenly all manner of tweaks and extras are being added. Cramming all of these banners, dancing cows, splashes of colour and more onto the page that every single one of the committee have added soon destroys the look.<br />
<b>Watch the font size</b> - The tiniest reduction of font sizes is sometimes all that is needed to take a site from looking home built to a professional looking website. Use relative font sizes (measured in em) rather than actual font sizes and if the visitor needs larger text they can click a button in their browser to increase it. But large font sizes that shout out to the visitor do not look professional. Sadly, quite often that means the default font size (especially in Arial font) does not look good.<br />
<b>Don't get carried away with colours</b> - It may be clever to add in lots of blocks of different colours, but it does not look great. Keep to a few simple looking colour blocks nicely positioned around the page.<br />
<b>Use professional images</b> - Sorry, but snaps taken on the camera of your mobile phone might look good, but buying some images from a top quality stock photography directory (I use iStockPhoto) gives such an excellent finish to the website that it is well worth the small amount that you pay.<br />
<b>Don't think movement is a good thing</b> - Lots of movement is never good, not on a website. One or two small, smooth flash animations can add to the page, for example on the header, but placing lots of clever banners, snowflakes falling down the screen, light bulbs that glow and fade and so on will almost always look tacky.<br />
In short, to make a website look professional try to not be too clever. Just because you have learnt how to add a scrolling image does not mean you have to. Use clever tricks only when absolutely needed and do not try to show off with tricks. Your website design will do the showing off for you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243436293247745127noreply@blogger.com