Sunday, August 1, 2010

Websites Really

I dislike misnomers, euphemisms, too. I like calling a spade a spade. One of the things that irritate me is the phrase "free website." This irritates me because there is no such thing. True, you can make your own website and not spend any money but doesn't mean it's free.

In the early days of the web, people would put up anything just because they could. Making your own website could be a hobby. Nobody cared if your page consisted nothing but a Garfield background, your birthday, the name of your school and some pictures of your friends. Now, almost two decades later, people are far more sophisticated. Their websites have to reflect who they are and if anyone opened a page that I just described, they will close that window and move on without another glance.

So what does this mean? This means people who are serious about making a website want their sites to generate hits. They want people to come to their websites. Otherwise it's like building a hotel in the middle of the desert and then making sure that no one hears about it. They do this by locking on to what they know, whether consciously or unconsciously, what surfers are looking for: credibility - a hard commodity to find in the anonymous World Wide Web. The surest thing to gain credibility is in the domain name. If the domain name reflects what the person is looking for, the site gains credibility. There is another reason as well: expediency. A specific domain name is short and is easy to remember. But registering domain names costs money; it's the virtual equivalent of leasing space on a commercial lot.

This isn't enough, to generate hits the site also has to generate interest. This means making the website attractive or at the very least easy on the eyes. This may mean hiring a web designer if the builder is not confident of his own skills. People want to go to a site that is easy to navigate and interesting to watch. There are too many distractions, especially on the web, so the site must be able to hold their interest, sometimes that means having a profession touch.

Most importantly, the site needs to stay relevant. It needs to be constantly updated and kept fresh. A site that is not updated is like a boulder at rest: static, unchanging, dull. Even a Facebook or MySpace profile needs to be tended to. While this may not cost any money (unless a webmaster is hired), it does mean a commitment in time and effort, two things that some people cannot afford.

Increase a Site's Speed

Search engine play very important role in deciding the credibility of a website. Many people have different opinions about the search benefits, but in reality a site performance is measured by search engines during the ranking procedure. If there is good speed than you are going to get better results. One way of creating impression in front of visitors is by having zippy website.

There are some sure shot ways to speedup up your site, provided you follow them under professional supervision. Ask the website designer to compress the graphics present on your site. Every site owner wants to post the best of images and have them look appealing. But no matter how beautiful the image or picture is, if you upload it without processing it, it is simply not going to serve the purpose. Instead of posting the image in full-size, you can crop them according to the space to be allotted on the web page and required size. Decide on the resolution likewise based in the manner you want to display it online. For this you need not purchase any expensive image processing software, there are many free web-based graphic editors available online. Use them to your advantage but under the guidance of a professional graphic designer so that right image size is achieved.

Keep the content on your website clear and updated. Maintain the quality of the content, avoid posting the out-dated ones as it would surely bring down your SEO ranking and would decrease the speed of your site. Content comprises of articles, web pages, videos, images, etc. Keep them clear to increase the site's speediness. Improve the website's performance by de-cluttering it.

The website code should be kept clean. CSS- based web coding enables you to code many different files together. These files sometimes tend to get over-loaded with additional mark-up and commentary which result into slower site speed. Even smallest of improvement in coding leads to higher site speed and performance.

All the sites present on internet want to be speedy, this dream can be met easily due to the ever-increasing bandwidth. A site can be made speedy to make it load faster. Consult a good online marketing company who can give right guidance to you. Your site may be requiring certain changes only, which can be known through the internet marketing professional. Friends or relatives who have already gone through this phase can be consulted for effective suggestions and references.

Stock Management

The companies that have to manage stocks, for them inventory management services are very useful. Managing stocks effectively is matter of responsibility and importance for any company. Stocks can be finished, semi-finished or even in form of raw materials. When the stocks volume is huge you need to consider hiring inventory management services which can also reduce the overall maintenance costs and revenues.

Based on your industry and type of product you deal into, the importance of inventory management would vary. Your business nature, volume and values are certain deciding factors. If we see inventory management requirement of different industries differ with each other. You have to take this aspect into account before hiring the services.

There are many companies that have continuous flow of inventories, so they need to manage it all the time. Sometimes they have to hire additional staff or inventory management company to keep goods organized. For wholesalers they have to start this process right from the production of raw materials, whereas for a retailer the process of inventory management starts when the order placement gets started.

If your inventories consists of bigger items, then it is better to decide it before that where you are going to store those items. Industrial machines, automobiles, etc come in this category. We can say that time of inventory management is basically the time slot between the goods production and its final delivery to the customers.

Manual inventory management requires many formalities to be met, documentation and other important paperwork which can be time consuming and tiring. In order to solve these problems companies prefer to install software programs of inventory management.

You many come across free software of inventory management online, but most of the time they are not proper and does not have the required features. A good inventory program successfully keeps the record of total number of items sold and those remaining. Here you need to carry out online research to locate the best possible option of inventory Management Company for your business.

You can purchase this software offline and online both. You can use it on your own and apply it to day-today business functions. If you don't have IT knowledge, then also you can operate it. Companies, whose existing business inventories cannot be managed with present software, can also order for customized inventory management software. You would get the required training from the inventory management company professionals.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Design Terminologies

When someone wants to buy a logo design for the first time, he may not know some of the words used by logo design companies. Hence, he might wonder what those words mean and which package he should choose. It’s important that you know the terminologies of this industry before you spend a single penny to ensure that you get the right package at the right price. There are not many things that you have to learn, so you don’t have to worry about learning dozens of new terminologies. There are only a few important words that require explanation.

So, let’s now go ahead and discuss what these words are and what they mean:

Logo Concepts

This is most likely the first thing you will see when you check out logo packages. Concepts are basically different ideas of the same logo. Let’s say you order a package with 6 concepts, you will receive 6 concepts of your logo with different ideas or versions. This will allow you to either choose one or mix and match different ideas to finalize your logo. It’s always good to select a package with various concepts to come up with a good looking design. When you will have different ideas in front of you, you know will know which colors will be good and which layout will be better.

Revisions

You will notice either unlimited revisions or a certain number of revisions. It means that after you receive your initial concepts, you will be able to ask the design company to make changes according to your liking. If they offer unlimited revisions, then you may ask for changes as many times as you want. If you select a package with many concepts, the chances are that you will receive unlimited revisions. So, why restrict yourself, when you can get unlimited revisions at no extra cost? Packages with unlimited revisions are highly recommended because they help you create your dream logo according to your exact requirements.

Designers

When you see a package that offers 8 concepts, created by 8 designers, then what does it mean? It means that 8 designers will be involved in your project and each designer will produce one concept, based on your creative brief. This way, you will have 8 different brains working for you. You will see how 8 creative designers will come up with attractive designs for you. You will then be able to take advantage of unlimited revisions by choosing one concept and making as many changes to it as you want.

Delivery Time

If the package says that you will receive your initial concepts in 3 days, then it means you will get them within 3 business days (weekends not included). Also, if you ask for a revision, they might take more time to make changes to your selected concept. For example, they may take 3 to 4 days to deliver the revised concepts. Don’t think that your logo will be revised immediately. It will take sometime. So, it’s better to email them and ask them how long do revisions take.

So, these are just some of the important things you need to know before you order your custom logo design online.

Right Website

When it comes to web design, it’s easy to feel like you’re swimming in a sea of technical specs, industry jargon, and confusing value propositions. Below are some tips to make the whole process a little easier, so you feel more in control of what you want and need.

Define your Websites Objectives

Before you begin researching NZ website design companies, it’s important to think about what you want your website to achieve. Do you want to drive product sales, generate new enquiries, or grow your membership database or mailing list? Having a clear goal in mind before you begin is vital.

Decide on Functionality

Web design selection can be fun, but you also need to think about what functionality your website will need to achieve your objectives. In essence, functionality is what the website needs to “do.” Common functionality options include:

•Content Management System (CMS) – Allows you to update websites yourself

•Image Gallery – Ideal for portfolio /accommodation / association websites

•Online Forms – Good for lead generation / registration / applications

•Secure Members Area

•Discussion Forum – Good for creating online community and getting return visitors

•Ecommerce – Ability to sell products via credit card online

It’s important to keep an open mind and listen to perspective web design companies input on what your site will need, but having some idea of this helps the process run smoothly.

Affordable Website Design Pricing: Know your Budget

Website design pricing begins from cheap, basic DIY website builders, right up to custom sites with intricate structures and complex programming; costing well into six figures. Your budget needs to be realistically aligned with your objectives and functionality. If you need a simple information website, your budget will look quite different than it would for an Online Auction or Social Media website!

The main thing to remember is your website is a marketing investment, and you have to be comfortable that the company you select can provide a return, and help you achieve your objectives, on time, and within budget. It is possible to find affordable web design company who can deliver a really great website design.

Prepare a Web Design Brief

Once you’ve got a good idea of your website objectives, functionality and budget, it’s time to prepare a brief for prospective website design companies. Include in your web design brief:

•What your business does

•Your key points of difference

•Your target market

•Geographic Region your business operates

•Your Current Marketing Mix

•Your Website Objectives

•Your Website design vision

•Your Ideas on Functionality

•Competitor web designs you’re impressed with

Now you really know what you want and need, you should be able to find an affordable website design solution that suits your needs.

123Online offer affordable website design solutions for small and medium New Zealand business. Our website design pricing is listed on our site, with web design packages to meet your needs.

Increase a Site’s Speed

Search engine play very important role in deciding the credibility of a website. Many people have different opinions about the search benefits, but in reality a site performance is measured by search engines during the ranking procedure. If there is good speed than you are going to get better results. One way of creating impression in front of visitors is by having zippy website.

There are some sure shot ways to speedup up your site, provided you follow them under professional supervision. Ask the website designer to compress the graphics present on your site. Every site owner wants to post the best of images and have them look appealing. But no matter how beautiful the image or picture is, if you upload it without processing it, it is simply not going to serve the purpose. Instead of posting the image in full-size, you can crop them according to the space to be allotted on the web page and required size. Decide on the resolution likewise based in the manner you want to display it online. For this you need not purchase any expensive image processing software, there are many free web-based graphic editors available online. Use them to your advantage but under the guidance of a professional graphic designer so that right image size is achieved.

Keep the content on your website clear and updated. Maintain the quality of the content, avoid posting the out-dated ones as it would surely bring down your SEO ranking and would decrease the speed of your site. Content comprises of articles, web pages, videos, images, etc. Keep them clear to increase the site’s speediness. Improve the website’s performance by de-cluttering it.

The website code should be kept clean. CSS- based web coding enables you to code many different files together. These files sometimes tend to get over-loaded with additional mark-up and commentary which result into slower site speed. Even smallest of improvement in coding leads to higher site speed and performance.

All the sites present on internet want to be speedy, this dream can be met easily due to the ever-increasing bandwidth. A site can be made speedy to make it load faster. Consult a good online marketing company who can give right guidance to you. Your site may be requiring certain changes only, which can be known through the internet marketing professional. Friends or relatives who have already gone through this phase can be consulted for effective suggestions and references.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Online Business

As Adobe has owned Macromedia, use of flash in websites has increased significantly.

Flash represents the information in more interesting manner enhancing the visual value of a website. Non-stop movie with audio effects creates a dream like sequence online. The use of vector graphics not only improves the functionality of the website, it also helps in getting more number of customers.

Flash movies with proper audio elements that succeed in attracting attention of the visitors stand more chance of leading them to explore other sections of the website. However the length of flash movies should not be very lengthy otherwise boredom may creep in. Animated graphics is also being used in flash movies to generate more effective results. Main advantage of this technology is that, many things that cannot be crafted into words or are complex to explain can be demonstrated through flash designing.

But refrain yourself from excessive use of flash in websites as it would lead to slow loading of sites, also search engines cannot identify flash images for seo purpose.

While designing a website with flash element some points have to be kept in consideration. Like the option to skip should be provided. It is very irritating and boring if everytime a client visits a site has to see the flash presentation. Text in flash movie cannot be read by search engine spiders. However the situation is getting better in some search engines, but also inserts separate text content in HTML text format. This would provide better visibility in search engines and it would get top grades in the design aspect also.

Fix a deadline about creating a flash presentation as it takes longer duration to make it. In case the deadline is short you can first develop the website in HTML and then later add flash elements into it. Use flash when it is really required, and not for the sake of it. Sometimes the site is totally information based where text is more important and flash is not needed or else required in very less amount. So it should only be used when it can add some profit to the website and online business.

Shape up your designing plan in your budget, as flash development is little more expensive compared to plain website design. Flash gives the designers opportunity to use their imagination and creativity in an innovative manner. The trick is to use it sparingly in sites as salt is used in food element to give the taste to it.