The Creative Design Blog

Is the Site Easy to Use? Usability is a term related to the ability of audiences to locate what they are seeking on your website. When a user has to spend too much time and thought on how to maneuver around a website, they will become frustrated and will not stay there long. All users will want the answer to a question, and they should have that answer within moments. Questions that are commonly not dealt with clearly on e-commerce sites include those that have to do with finding contact information, purchasing procedures and hours of operation. During the design of the website, these easy questions are frequently overlooked, but they can have a strong bearing on how useful users find a website to be and how much credibility the site has.

Is the website functioning correctly? The way a website performs is a part of the site’s functionality. Some examples of functionality issues are error pages, broken links, media taking too long to download, and pages that are slow to load. The majority of users have access to broadband connections, but people who live in more rural areas might not. It’s good practice, if you have large media files, to inform users that they might take a while to load, or better yet, offer smaller versions as an alternative. Browser compatibility is another potential issue. Older browsers might not show all of the content as it was designed. A website, then, should be backwards compatible and work under both new and older versions of the major browsers, including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. In every instance, think about the user audience and attempt to include the largest number of technical alternatives as possible.

Is the Brand Reflected on the Site? Two important factors in developing a sense of credibility and in maintaining consistency in all marketing endeavors are aesthetics and branding. When designing a site, make certain that you take into consideration your desired audience demographic. For instance, if senior citizens are your target audience, make the site appealing to them by making links easy to find and by permitting the re-sizing of fonts. When marketing to people in their 20’s play with visually stimulating interactive and social media. Keep the site simple, or it may become too frustrating to the user. The visitor should know when they get to the site where they are and who they are visiting every time. The logo should be clearly displayed on every page.

Is Optimization done on the Site? Don’t disregard the importance of search engine optimization. SEO is performing website configuration such that Google, Yahoo and other search engines can find the site and index it correctly. 49% of users who get on a search engine to look for something will see correctly indexed sites! Professionals do SEO best; however, there are many books and information available that can offer basic help.

Web Site Design Success Designers should take into account usability, functionality, branding and SEO to produce a successful web site as their finished product. Good web sites get indexed by search engines, get embraced by their target audiences who stay on the site for a long time, and help those audiences buy items or find the information they’re looking for — in short, they’re credible sites users can be confident about visiting.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a professional writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. If you are looking for web design in Houston, or if you just need a few changes to an existing site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance.

Avoid Music! In the 1990s everyone had music on their websites. Now it is just tacky. It is unwelcoming to have music blaring while a site is loading and to have no way to avoid it. Loud music blasting while your page is loading (with no way to turn it off) can be extremely annoying and inconvenient to people who are visiting your website while at work, watching television, or listening to music of their own choosing. Leave Off The Blinking Text & Animation! This was a popular sight in the 1990s, but it is unwelcome today. Even though you may really enjoy using your animation skills, keep in mind that your professional website is not the place to show them off. Animations can cause your site to look very amateurish. Keep Animated Ads to a Minimum! These can be extremely annoying to your user and may cause them to leave your website.

Animation If you want your website to look like it was created in the 1990s, be sure to add some Blinking Text and Animations! Animation is lots of fun, and when you are first starting out, you may tend to go overboard. Beware! This can make your website look very amateur. Also, users may leave your site if you have a bunch of bothersome animated ads. Small Font Size Don’t use minuscule fonts or colored fonts. These may look very artistic, but if your visitor can’t read them, they won’t do you any good. If your site is not readable, your potential user will just leave. Be sure your colored fonts can be read easily. Don’t use dark font on a dark background or light font on a light background.

New Browser Windows Don’t have every page on your site opening in a new browser window. This is unnecessary and annoying. Nobody needs 10 windows open while browsing a website. Just use new browser windows for links that take your user away to another site. Doorway Pages Remember that Doorway Pages are associated with unscrupulous SEO tactics (i.e. Black Hat SEO). They are also used by people who are showing off how well they can design a Flash page. Either way, for a professional site, they should be avoided. A doorway passage is just an added step. It’s just one more thing for the user to click on. By and large, avoid doorway pages.

Unmarked PDF Files Surprise PDF files are a real turn-off. It is great to have PDF files. They are a fabulous resource, but nobody likes to be surprised by them. They should be clearly identified. Many computers have a hard time handling PDF files. Some even freeze up, so it is important to let people know they are about to open a PDF file. Hard to Decipher CAPTCHA Under no circumstance, include unreadable “CAPTCHA’s”. Of course, “CAPTCHA’s” are a necessary component of spam intervention; however, some of them are impossible for real humans to read. Most users are extremely frustrated and annoyed by “CAPTCHA’s”.

If you want to avoid having an ugly website, these are some of the glaring design mistakes you should avoid. It is also helpful to get a second opinion from a professional designer to polish your website.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. Please visit if you are looking to create a website, or if you just need a few changes to an existing site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance.

The perfect homepage is the top priority of website design and could be the reason for a website’s success or failure. A first impression can cause a person to stay and explore or recoil and click away permanently. If the latter is true, a webmaster will be sure to have low profits and few visitors. Worse, the website will have a poor ranking and won’t have back-links from other websites.

Now here are a few problems that need a more intensive look and would be helped by feedback from others. * The website is not clear about what it is selling. * The webmaster does not understand who his intended audience is. * There is confusing or conflicting information on the landing page. * The homepage does not offer anything different or new within the site.

Successful Website E-commerce: The last point is critical. Your homepage is similar to a storefront. A website owner needs to think like his audience when creating a homepage for a company site. Things such as excellent content, something special, free benefits and important information will probably lure visitors in the future. A subscription box is appropriate for offering clients a choice of giving their contact information if they want to be sent news alerts and updates.

If you want to experience successful website e-commerce, this last point is of the utmost importance. Your personal webpage is similar to a storefront. When creating a homepage for a small corporate website, the webmaster must view the site as a visitor would. Potential viewers will be lured in by quality content, unique subject matter, regular updates, and the promise of useful information in the future. One great thing you can do is to add a subscription box that allows visitors to be notified when your site has been updated or improved.

Effective Home-Page Solutions: You need an amazing home-page in order for your business site to be successful. How well a website performs is influenced by factors as simple as the appearance of your visual images and text. The secret is to make it simple. Deciding what to leave out matters as much as the things you include. Creating a survey for clients, comments might help resolve the mystery of a home page that detracts from the entire site.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. InfoServe Media is a web designer and web hosting company. If you would rather make a Do-It-Yourself website, InfoServe Media also offers a way to create a site yourself with a very powerful and easy to use site builder. They also provide domain registration, search engine optimization (SEO) and more.

A page that drags to load can make your surfing experience one not to right home about. This is worse when you need your favorite news pages and headlines to load quickly.

If you had never thought that there may be an answer to that problem for a long while to come, then brace yourself for the entry of a new service Fast Flip. This will be able to flip through link pages and give you the exact feel you get when you flip through magazine pages.

Fast Flip will credit its essence to a reader’s ability to without opening a link or page, allow web surfers to see what content is inside it. This may be headlines, updates on feeds, picture updates and other topical issues in a forum. This only comes as a basic; with search and share enhance features following as a result of Google’s improved technology.

Google is not working alone in this process. Google has entered into agreements with The New York Times, Newsweek and Business Week to have the concept tested. These organizations are all in the publishing or media business and hence they are relevant targets, as people prefer Fast Flip for skimming through headlines in a variety of newspaper publishers.

When we talk of previews here, you are not just viewing a one-line sentence of a whole story page. With Fast Flip, you will be able to see a huge thumbnail of the whole page and its sections, in proportion factor to what the whole page is like. This is navigable through topic-based categories.

This is just one of the marvels that people come up with as research and development projects, presented in low key by some respected critics. However, this might turn out the opposite.

Like every other innovation that involves hefty bucks, more so where big names like Google and New York Times are mentioned there will always be some cynicism involved as to who is to benefit from it.

Whenever you see these media houses and Google teaming up, you obviously know that there is a cemented plan to help each other grow their revenues. That is okay. See no evil here no evil. Anyway, there is a service rendered to each other and everyone takes his cut.

Read more of this writer’s tips about items such as No Loss Robot and Forex No Loss Robot reviews.

Whether your business involves selling homemade baked goods, pest management services or cleaning services, you must have a web presence. Therefore, you understand why it is important to have a website. Now you need to know how to create one.

You must do more than just describe your services on your website – you need to attract attention, and make people want to investigate further. It is important to engage your audience and persuade them to check out your website address. You should also take steps to insure that they don’t simply click through and leave. They must be motivated and drawn to hit the buy button too.

In the first place, there should be an FAQ page containing exact answers on your web site. All pages should be connected and very simple for your visitors to view. They are more likely to have confidence in your services if all their basic questions can be answered on the website, eliminating the need for them to contact you.

Once this has been completed, you must make sure that all your Internet pages and links are accessible and operate correctly. If users encounter links on your site that result in server errors or other types of errors, they may give up on your site and do their shopping elsewhere. This can cause you to lose potential customers, and if your existing customers come across these kinds of errors, they may take their business elsewhere too.

So you must listen to the old saying, “The first impression is the last impression”. When your web site is uploaded and people can access it, make sure that everything is done correctly with good content and original information. If you own the product that you are selling for your business, then display some relevant footage also. This may assist people in making a correct selection.

Remember that having a user-friendly, easy to navigate website with headers and footers can attract some excellent customers and can help your business grow quickly.

Finally, your users will be able to see that your services are used by other people and that you are doing a good job. That is why you should ask a customer to provide a testimonial if they enjoyed your work. You should position testimonials so they get the audience’s attention, which will encourage them to make a purchase.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. Please visit if you are looking to create a website, or if you just need a few changes to an existing site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance.

Today, Facebook is one of the largest and most successful social media networks worldwide. It is used by people to connect with friends and family, and keep updated on what is happening in their lives. There are many heartwarming stories of people connecting over Facebook after being out of touch for years or even decades. Businesses too are seeing the value of Facebook as a marketing tool and a way to reach their target markets. The applications have grown so wide that almost any company in any industry can use it as a marketing tool. It would be interesting to know if the founders of Facebook ever dreamed that it would become such a large organization.

Humble Dorm Room Beginnings

Facebook was originally started by Mark Zuckerberg while he was studying at Harvard University. It was originally called the facebook and just a part-time hobby for Zuckerberg. It was created as a social networking platform for Harvard students. On the site, students could log in and share information about events and what they were up to. They could also post pictures and social events to share with their friends. As the concept caught on, it was widely endorsed by Harvard students. Soon the network was expanded to the universities of Yale and Stanford. A fellow student Edwardo Saverin helped finance the project. As the project grew, two fellow students, Dustin Muskowitz and Chris Hughes, joined Zuckerberg in his efforts to grow the site. Several months later, thefacebook was a nationwide phenomenon among universities and colleges in America. In order to pursue their dreams, Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Muskowitz dropped out of Harvard to work full time on thefacebook concept. In August 2005, the name was officially changed from thefacebook to Facebook and the facebook.com domain was purchased for a reported $200,000.

Expansion of the Facebook Concept

In its early days, Facebook remained a closed community, accessible only to registered students of universities and colleges in the United States, Canada and other English-speaking nations across the world. There was also some controversy surrounding Facebook as fellow Harvard students accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. There was ongoing litigation for some time before a settlement was finally reached out of court in 2008 for an estimated $65 million. By this stage, Facebook was a worldwide phenomenon that had opened up to broader audiences. No longer were the users all university students. Now professionals and private users were able to connect over this social platform. A wide range of quirky applications allowed users to take quizzes, set up groups, and play games. In addition, networking opportunities opened up as people formed groups, developed company pages and created events.

The New Face of Facebook

Now with an estimated 400 million users worldwide, Facebook has become a major force to be reckoned with in social media. It is now said to have overtaken its competitors such as Twitter and Myspace as the leading social network platform with more than 60 percent of the market share. The activity on Facebook is nothing short of phenomenal. With links to mobile phones, there are more than 100 million users that access Facebook through their mobile phone. These users are said to be among the most active on Facebook. At least half of the registered Facebook users visit the site every day. Over a period of a month, users are estimated to spend 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook. It is a social platform that has a global reach and is now available in more than 70 translations.

In terms of business, it is a platform that is used by more than a million entrepreneurs and businesses in more than 180 countries worldwide. Its success is evidenced in the fact that at least 70 percent of Facebook users engage with platform applications each month. A large majority of top-ranked websites worldwide have integrated with Facebook as it is seen as the single most powerful social networking tool available on the Web. Given that more than 250 billion pieces of content are shared in any given month, it is not difficult to see why it has become such a huge business success.

What This Means for Businesses

No matter how you personally feel about social networking, Facebook is one media tool that no smart business person can ignore. The broad access that it provides to markets worldwide and the dynamic nature of the application is something that any business can tap into.

INT Social Marketing is a full service social media intelligence firm providing Facebook, Twitter, video marketing and copywriting service solutions for all manner of clients.

Site Content Cute animations and bright banners make for an attractive site, but they also turn off many serious viewers who may be interested in your products and services. The basis of every site must be solid content. It is imperative that your content be original, one-of-a-kind, concise and compelling. Fresh content is new content that is original and is updated on a regular basis. You should not use content from other web sites. Your site must provide text, pictures and videos that are relevant to your products and services and give the viewer a comprehensive picture of your business. Content is key to keeping old visitors and bringing in new ones. Also content is a big part in the search engine optimization process.

Time Required For Site to Load Be sure it doesn’t require too much time for your site to load. You site will be slowed down by animations or large image banners and videos which hit page load times. Nobody wants to take 2 or 3 minutes before they see your site. Keep in mind your web site pages should move like the magazine pages turn. Flashes and videos should be included on your site just when you need it. So when you have fewer unnecessary flashes and videos, your site will be easier to use and better for the search engines.

Navigation Maybe you might click on a link and the page gets stuck but you can’t figure out how to return to the last page or home page – this will make your visitors very upset. It’s necessary for your site to have a consistent navigation bar that has fixed settings on each page of your site. Be sure all of your site’s pages have a lot of good links to additional pages. Your navigation should be brief and clear. Stay away from too bright, elaborate or too dark navigation buttons or hard to understand navigation menus that don’t function easily.

Useless, Meaningless titles for Pages Many web designers make this common error. The pages have pointless titles like ‘greeting from my company name’ or no titles at all. A sure sign of bad design is to have a website with no title. That is really unprofessional! In addition, you will see duplicate page titles for the various pages on your site. Page titles of this sort are of no use to either website visitors or search engines. Page titles are intended to provide a short description of each of your website’s pages. A good way to boost your search engine ranking is to include the keywords of your business in the title page.

Browser Support You used to only have a choice between a couple of browsers. Now there are many popular options, and each one will make your page appear different to the viewer. As for Internet Explorer, pages are shown different ways in the three versions that are different. While still in the design stage, make sure to test to ensure that your website looks good and is operational with each of the major browsers. Many designers fail to ensure that your site works well with the most popular browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari, etc. A great way to ensure the compatibility of the site, check it with Lynx ( a popular text-base browser in Linux). Once you verify that it’s compatible with Linux, you can work on other web browsers.

URL Designs and Site Map Essentially, there are two versions of URLs – Dynamic and Static URLs. When a database driven website is searched, dynamic URLs are generated; sometimes this is what they look like: http://www.yoursite name.com/product/productid?= 2345&sort=date. This perplexes both the search engines and the users. Be certain that the URLs of the pages in your website are static, for example: http://www.yoursite name/products/shoes.html. Static URLs are useful for search engines and users.

Also be sure to have your website include a site map. Both visitors and search engines can use the site map as a navigation map. Naturally, you need to create two types of maps for each of them. A website with numerous inner pages can cause confusion in your visitors, and a site map can guide them to whichever page they want to get to. In addition, site maps aid search engines in locating as many pages as possible, as well as tracking those pages that experience frequent updates and changes.

Outdated Pages Nothing turns a viewer off more than looking at old or outdated content, so be sure to keep your web pages fresh by constantly monitoring your website for content that can be archived. Web sites which present recent news, events and updates can’t be putting old news and out-of-date information out; it will make people leery of the quality of your company and brand. Be sure all parts of your website are kept up to date, so that your website viewers and search engines have something new to see whenever they come to your site.

Overdoing it Some websites have a lot of flashing, stark backgrounds, and sound effects when you open the pages on the site. Except for the site owner, these sites are difficult for outsiders to comprehend. It’s just as bad to be overly creative as it is to be overly smart. Design your website as simply as you are able to.

There are some simple things that any site owner can employ to reach their goals and web objectives.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. Please visit if you are looking to create a website, or if you just need a few changes to an existing site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance.

Custom web design is essential to your online presence, whether you are selling products or services. You want your web design to offer some essential capabilities that will help attract and retain visitors to your site, resulting in sales.

There will be numerous features and qualities that are very important for a successful website: quality content, attractive design, user-friendliness, ease in reading and understandability, time savers for the user, user-friendly navigation tools like Google and Microsoft, as well as accurate information that the user can trust.

The colors and design should be appropriate for the overall theme of your business and its objectives; the content should be short, concise and informative. Many other factors are involved in making an effective website, most of which a professional web design company should have the experience and knowledge to incorporate into your website.

Choosing the right web design company to design your website is extremely important, because it will define your online presence and affect people’s perceptions of your company.

Your choice is important, as you want a qualified company who will create a website that gives you a spectacular online presence, and instills trust within your customers. And like I said before, it is all demonstrated within the context of Custom Web Design that you are trying to achieve a true online difference with. There will be numerous features and qualities that are very important for a successful website: quality content, attractive design, user-friendliness, ease in reading and many others out there. Again, you also need to be aware of the design elements involved with a website. That’s all there’s to it.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a freelance writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. If you are looking for a web site designer, look no further. If you need a few changes to your current site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance whether we host your site or not.

Any website designer will inform you that you need to realize that developing a website is a serious undertaking. Designing a website can be both fun and difficult at the same time. You may feel overwhelmed if this is the first site that you are designing. You may have a hard time knowing what will or will not work for your website. This is one reason why you should consider having your website designed by a professional. There are many things to consider. Here are just five of the most important things to consider in website design.

Think about the kind of site you need, first of all. If you are only providing a site for the amusement of visitors then there is not much to worry about. Selling products and services makes the design aspects of your website more complicated. Regardless of the purpose for the site, think about what type you actually need. If you choose to hire experts to make a site for you, let them know about the details at that time.

Think about the budget you have for creating a website and maintaining it. New online businesses tend to fail most often due to a lack of planning. Many new website owners do not correctly calculate the costs required to develop and maintain a website. When the bills start coming in, they will realize that they were not prepared for the costs and the owners may not be able to afford to stay in business. Owners may even go as far to take out a loan to cover their expenses, which does not bode well for the future.

Third, people want unique content when they visit a site. You do not want a site that is no different than all the other ones out there. If you fail here, you will not receive repeat customers and traffic. You want to carve out a niche for yourself by offering something new and different than other sites to your visitors and potential customers. Incorporate this into your website’s advertising campaign. Many people forget this part of web design.

Fourth, don’t forget that your time is valuable. Make sure you employ professionals who will help your web site become profitable. You obviously don’t want to develop a website that is unsuccessful – you would not put in all this time and effort for someone without getting paid, so don’t do that working on your own site either.

The last thing to consider is the amount of time you have to design your site. Make certain to inform any professionals you’ve hired that you must have your site completed within a certain time frame. Also, convey this information to any hired professionals you use to maintain your website. This is key to the success of your site. Don’t allow your project to fall behind schedule.

In designing your web server, don’t fail to take security into consideration. Added security might be needed, depending on the purpose of your website. For instance, a site which collects personal data should employ an SSL as well as a dedicated IP to safeguard the data.

Consider hiring a professional to make sure that your website is designed properly to maximize the benefits for the visitors. This will allow you to avoid many of the hassles and enjoy the more fun and creative parts of running your own business.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. If you are looking for a web site designer, look no further. Want to create a website yourself? InfoServe Media also offers a way to create a web site yourself with a powerful site builder.

Including animations and flash elements in an attempt to make a great website is not always a good idea. Your visitors can be totally put off by some of these things. You don’t want your prospective clients hitting the back button as soon as they arrive at your web site. If you currently have a website, and are thinking of redesigning it, or if you’re anticipating getting your first website, the following lists a few trends that should be avoided.

Unreadable Text: The font size on some web sites is so small that reading it is nearly impossible. You must bear in mind that everyone may use different screen resolutions, and you have to take this into account so that the font doesn’t appear either too large or too small. Better yet, you can include the option of clicking to automatically enlarge or reduce the size of the font.

Cluttered Content: It’s important to incorporate white spaces into your website to give the eyes a break. Reading a webpage, and navigating among its elements are made much easier by including white or blank spaces. This will make it easier for your visitor to pay attention to the things you want attention paid to.

Animated Backgrounds: Be careful with animated backgrounds. They make reading difficult. A website is already harder to read than a book. If an animated background is present, it gets hard to read as well as visually annoying.

Your Website and Flash — If your website is entirely in flash, you may be at a disadvantage. You may think flash is great, but a lot of people have it disabled on their browser. Be sure to avoid having a flash introduction. This is a bad thing if you want to optimize your search engine ratings.

Having lots of graphics does not necessarily translate into having an easily convertible website. Pay attention to content. Graphics are important, but content is equally important. You may think creating a website is fast and easy, but actually, it takes a lot of careful planning and work to make a successful one. Be sure you don’t waste time and energy on things that will not take you to your goal.

Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. InfoServe Media is a Houston, TX web design and web hosting company. If your site is already designed and you just need a few changes or additions, InfoServe Media also performs expert website maintenance.