How To Set Up A Professional Website On Your Own Using Web Templates

To create professional websites is not an easy task by any means. There are many things that you got to take into consideration like easy navigation, strategic links, clean coding, professional layout, easy downloading, scanability, usability and so on. These are the elements that differentiate a professional website from a mediocre one. So in a way it's not designing the website that counts but how the website is designed.

The only option that most of us have in order to design a good website is to hire a web- designer. Web-designers can help you come up with a great website that looks professional and is coded to perfection, but what about the time factor, leave alone the costs. Here's where web templates come to the rescue.

What are web templates?

Wondering what web templates are? Well, to put it in simple terms, web templates are semi-finished, pre designed web pages that can be used to create and host websites in less time. They are coded and have everything from graphics to logos and can be customized if required to add new pictures, content etc.

Why are web templates considered semi finished WebPages?

Web templates are semi finished in the sense that they are not ready to upload as they are. You need to add certain elements to make them look complete. Some of the main elements that you need to add include

Links

Page content

Page titles/header/footer and tags

Company Logo, images etc

After adding these details the web template becomes ready to be uploaded using a web host for the world to see.

What is the price range of web templates?

Web templates range in price depending on the type of templates, terms of usage, package deals, membership deals, files provided etc. Typically a professional template with non-exclusive rights could cost you anything between $20 to $100. This is way lower as compared to what a web designer would ask you for designing your website, not to mention the time factor. Copyrighted templates with exclusive rights could cost you anywhere between $350 to $1800 per template. Some template providers like http://www.buytemplates.net can offer you high quality templates for much lower costs.

What are the files I should get with the purchase of a template?

The files that you get on the purchase of a template differ from vendor to vendor depending on the type/feature of the template. Regardless of the type of template some files that should accompany your purchase are as follows,

Index.html file

Jpeg/gif image files, font files

External CSS Style sheets

PSD files

In addition to these some other files such as .js file (for templates that use JavaScript) and readme.txt files can also be provided. Generally these files are provided in a .zip format and you may need to unzip them for usage. You can make use of unzipping software like WinZip to unzip the files. This software can be downloaded from winzip.com.

What kind of rights do I get over the web templates?

Basically there are two types of templates; exclusive (copyrighted) templates and non- exclusive (non-copyrighted) templates. An exclusive template gives you ownership rights over the template whereas a non exclusive template does not give you ownership rights but only usage rights. Exclusive web templates are a bit costly and will ensure that the template is not resold to any other customer. You may use the template as your like and even resell it to other customers. A non-exclusive template on the other hand is cheaper and gives you only usage rights over the template. This means you can modify the template as per your needs but cannot resell them to a third party. Non-exclusive templates also mean that the same template can be resold by the template provider to more than one customer.

How do I edit the web templates?

Basically editing involves inserting the content, changing the style and adding/changing graphics. This can be done using the psd, index.html and other files that the web-template provider gives you on purchase of specific templates.

Editing images and graphics

You would require PSD files in order to edit images and graphics like change image color; add/remove image layers etc. PSD files are those created using Photoshop and can be edited using Photoshop, ImageReady, imac or other image editing software programs. You can also change images to your liking. The best place to look for quality images for your templates is 'gettyimages.com'.

Editing content

If you only need to change/insert content of the template, you can go for editing the index.html file. The index.html file is provided by all template providers and can be edited using Html editors like FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Golive etc. You can also edit content using text editors. Index.html can also be used for removing/replacing images, changing links, adding meta-tags, adding alt texts, adding title and changing image sources.

Editing layouts and styles

For editing layouts and styles you would require a CSS style sheet. A CSS style sheet is a document that lets you make changes like text color, text/paragraph spacing, headings, links etc to multiple pages. Always ask your template provider to give external CSS style sheets as they are easy to edit. CSS can be edited using any HTML or text based editors.

In case you find the editing part difficult you can make use of web template customization services that are provided by most template providers.

Domain registration and hosting

Domain registration and web hosting are crucial for your website to appear online. There are many template providers who offer allied services like domain registration and hosting. Some even provide services like content development and search engine optimization. So be sure to buy templates from template vendors who offer these additional services. Some template providers like 'buytemplates.net' offer template related services irrespective of where you actually purchased the template from.

Where can I find quality web templates?

The internet is filled with websites that offer web templates. All that you need to do is insert a keyword like 'corporate web templates' in google or yahoo! to get a SERP crammed with web template providers. But finding quality templates from this crap is a bit difficult. A template many look glossy on your screen but may contain bad coding and low grade graphics. Some may be cheap but will have bad or no service associated. So how to find the best web templates in this heap load? The best way is to ask your-self these seven questions before making a buying decision.

Questions to ask before buying web templates

Are the templates conversant with my company objectives and goals?

Will they appeal to my end users?

What kind of support does the web template provider offer?

Does the web template provider offer complimentary services like hosting, customization, SEO etc?

Is the template compatible with all editing software programs?

What kind of files does the template vendor offer me?

What are the membership options available?

Best web template providers online

Some of the best web template providers online who offer high quality web templates at affordable costs are www.buytemplates.net (Buytemplates.net offers quality templates at affordable rates. They also provides allied services like template customization, content insertion Search engine optimization and web hosting), http://www.templatemagic.net (offers quality affordable templates), designgalaxy.net (this site also offers logo designs, flash intros, Photoshop designs and PowerPoint templates along with web templates.) and interspire.com (This site is a must visit for anyone looking for free website templates. Their free templates are of good quality and are updated regularly. You can also get hold of free newsletter templates and logo designs here)

6 Website Design Disasters and How to Avoid Them?.

Let's face it; the line from A Field of Dreams isn't the whole truth. There's more to getting people to come to something than simply building it. Someone built the old run down historical mansion, but hardly anyone visits it (except maybe people you wouldn't want to run into). People want to find a place online that caters to them, specifically. They want it to be pleasant on the eyes, up-to-date, simple to understand and easy to get around in. But, this isn't an area where everyone succeeds. And sadly, some of the reasons for failure seem small, almost minute. Below are six website design disasters and simple steps that you can take to avoid them.

1. Sloppy Copy. Despite what you may have read in the latest free e-Book, you can't just place any words on a page to trick you customers to spend fistfuls of cash on your site. One of the primary reasons people are cruising the net is to find information, and not just the same information over and over and over.

Solution: Your content should be unique, interesting and error free. Anything less will leave your visitors looking for fulfillment elsewhere. There are many opportunities online to find good content and sometimes you can manage to find unique copy at low prices. Or maybe you can work out a trade deal with a freelance writer; you offer free advertising space in exchange for their articles. Try not to use free content from a mass produced website simply because there are probably a lot of other places online where you can find the exact same words. You've got to give your visitors something special, something unique that they can't find anywhere else. Otherwise they will - find it somewhere else.

2. Not Taking Advantage of META-tags. We all know that meta-tags are important, but sometimes we fail to take full advantage of what they have to offer. As important as they are to web designers as free promotion, meta-tags are just as important to potential visitors.

You may have just the product, membership club, newsletter or information that I'm looking for. But if I can't find you, we can't ever begin a commercial (or any other kind of) exchange. Since most people come across websites using a search engine, fully optimizing your title and meta-tag keywords will ensure the beginning of a match made in heaven.

Solution: When creating your title and coming up with possible keywords; make sure that you are thinking more like a customer than a website designer. Your title is important because it is the first thing that potential visitors will see when your results show in the search engine. It should be short, compelling and descriptive.

Your description Meta-tags should reiterate what your title has said, but using a new approach and a few more words. Try to limit yourself to a description that is less than 125 characters so that the entire description can be read, instead of being interrupted mid-thought by limited space. For added benefits, try to include a question in your first line of the description, one that the viewer was probably asking themselves before initiating the search. Use this same approach when coming up with your list of keywords. When you've come up with your list, go over each one asking yourself, "Is this a keyword used by someone who is a potential customer?" If the answer is no, then don't include them, you'll be wasting your time.

3. Outdate Information, Broken Links, and "Under Construction". There is nothing more frustrating than sifting through out-dated websites when you're in search of current information. Or clicking on a link that you hope leads to the answer to your question, only to discover that "This Page Cannot Be Displayed" or that the domain name is for sale.

Only slightly less annoying are messages informing you that the page is currently under construction or is "Coming Soon". If it's not here yet, don't waste your visitor's time leading them down dead ends.

Solution: Schedule at least a day a month scouring your website for outdated information and broken links. You can also include a link on your website that allows visitors to report broken links or outdated information. As far as "Under Construction" messages, instead announce to your visitors any upcoming changes or additions to your website. They'll be glad to know it without getting their hopes up, clicking a link to much sought after information, and being told it isn't available yet.

4. Hard to Find Contact Information. It's hard to understand why any website would fail to make it easy for visitors to get in touch with the people who run it. Offering this simple bit of information will: a. Encourage people to ask for permission before using your content &/or graphics on their own sites. b. Make it easier for people to contact you for promotional reasons. For example, someone may desire to interview you, initiate a contract or simply make an important business contact that you may need in the future. c. Provide people with ways to reach you and your company while they are offline. You can provide them with ways to reach you by telephone, snail mail or possibly even to stop and tour your facilities.

Solution: Simply add a "Contact Us" page and link to your website. Be sure to include pertinent email addresses, phone numbers, names, mailing addresses and (if necessary) driving directions.

5. Not Changing the Color of a Visited Link. While this may not seem like such a big deal, it's one that has been bugging website traffic for many years. You can take that on the authority of Dr. Jakob Nielsen, the man who's been called the "guru of Web page usability" by the New York Times.

The purpose of changing link colors is to give your site visitors an idea of where they've already been and where they have yet to venture. This is especially important if you have a large site with new pages being added to it often.

Solution: The HTML code is simple: Inside the body tag, add the "vlink" tag and the color code or color name. The code for blue visited link text would look like this: or Replace the code or color name with the color you want. There, you're done. It's that simple.

6. Failing to Use Your Website to Emphasize Your U.S.P. Your U.S.P., or Unique Selling Point, is that one (or more than one) thing that your company does do, or doesn't do; has or doesn't have, that separates your from the competition. It's the thing that, in the long term, a person comes back for.

This is tied in closely with another Web Design no-no: not offering any information about your company's products, services, employees, etc. This is YOUR Website. Don't be afraid to toot your own horn. Because, really, who else is going to do it?

Solution: Whether it means you need to sit down and better identify your target market, or maybe try to discover new ways to market to them, try to look at your website with eyes undimmed by cancelled orders, constant interruptions, or other distractions. Take the time to look at your website as a customer would, as a tool. Ask yourself, "If I was a customer, why would I be here?" As you come across these answers, make note of them, and any others that they may suggest.

Create an about us page, offering news updates, press releases, employee of the month biographies, etc. In the long run, customers always appreciate transparency. And I'll let you into a little secret: they don't mind being led around. If fact, they rely upon.

You'll notice that I didn't mention anything about the command. Or flashing, moving, or magically glittering icon trailers. Or sites hosted on free servers. That's because most people have already beat those subjects black and blue. But, that doesn't mean that you should disregard them. They aren't Capri pants, sneaking back into style. For about the safest bet, just consider the Golden Rule; if it would give you a headache, make you shake your head in frustration, cause you to get up and walk away from the computer or any other negative reactions - just say no! Exercise a little restraint. Better yet, if you're not a professional, consider hiring one. When it comes to customer satisfaction, an experienced web design specialist can make or break your business.

Why Use Professional Web Site Designers For Your Next Web Development Project?

Probably you know someone who has created a web site all by himself or herself. So if they can do it why use a professional at all? Can't you create your own business or organization's web site in your spare time and without the services of a professional web site designer? The answer is probably, yes. But following are some reasons why it may not be a wise idea for you.

Many non-professionals use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web page creating software. While this kind of software is nice in that it's similar to working with a word processing program, many of these programs don't write "valid" HTML code. The problem with invalid HTML code is that while the page may look fine on some browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.), it may not look even acceptably good on some other browsers or even on different versions of the same browser. HostTycoon designs web pages that WILL validate according to W3C validations specifications. (Try using the W3C Validation Service to test a web site that a non-professional has designed and see the results.)

For most of us, time is a precious commodity. Is it better to take the time away from your business and other activities to learn how to create and maintain an effective web site? You need to decide if you have the time to follow through on these necessary parts of web site design:

- Learn HTML coding (it requires more than just wysiwyg web editing software)
- Learn how to use the various software packages needed to:
- create and edit web pages
- scan or otherwise create graphics
- optimize graphics
- upload pages to the host
- run telnet sessions
- decipher raw log files to analyze traffic to your web site. - Learn good web design principles - design your pages so they load quickly, are easy to navigate and do well in Search Engine queries
- Learn where to go and how to obtain a domain name
- Learn what to do with the web pages once they are created - where they go and how to get them there.
- Obtain several types of browser software to test your web pages for browser compatibility/validity.

Saving money is the main reason most would consider designing their own web site. But by designing their own, are they really saving? It's takes a substantial monetary investment to purchase the necessary software to create a professional looking web site. It also takes a considerable amount of time to learn how to use the various programs effectively. Many business owners don't have that kind of time to spare and are usually better off investing their time in what they know best - running their business.

When a professional web designer is hired the customer receives the benefits of their business experience, artistic talent, technological skills and the expertise to help you establish a effective, highly visible presence on the Internet. They will work with you to analyze your competitions' web presence - their strengths and weaknesses. Using that research they will construct your web site based on your business strengths and the weaknesses of your competition. Your web pages will be built to load quickly, be user friendly, appeal to your target audience and encourage repeat visits.

Web Design Tips To Boost Your Sales

The way you design your web site affects your visitors' online experience. As each visitor to your site is a potential customer, the easier they find your web site to use and the more they enjoy being on it, the higher the chance that they will make a purchase.

Therefore, a well designed web site really CAN boost your sales!

In this article I'll share my five favorite web design tips to help you increase your online sales.

Tip 1: Choose Your Colors Carefully

The colors that you use will determine how your web site comes across to your visitors. Dull colors will make your site seem plain and boring whilst overly bright colors can make it seem chaotic and unprofessional.

Red and Yellow draws the eye in. Therefore it can be a good idea to use these colors for banners and adverts that you want your visitors to focus on. However, use these colors sparingly because they cause eye strain which means that visitors won't want to look at your web site for long periods of time.

Tip 2: Avoid Slow Loading Web Pages

The amount of time that your site takes to download is critical. If it takes too long to download, you'll lose potential customers who can't be bothered to wait.

There are things you can do to speed up how long your site takes to download. Images and media are the worst culprits when it comes to slowing down your loading time. I advise you to avoid using any kind of multimedia on your web site and if you want to use images, try and keep them small and to a minimum.

You should also define height and width in all tables and graphics as this aids download time.

Tip 3: Make It Easy For People To Find Their Way Around Your Site

Your site's navigation should be as simple and as straight-forward as possible so that people can find what they're looking for easily. Don't lose sales because people can't find what they want.

Put a link to your homepage on each page on your web site. This will help visitors who didn't enter your web site via your homepage to find their way around.

You can simplify your navigation by making every page accessible via two links from your homepage and no more than three links from any other page.

Tip 4: Make It Easy For Visitors To Contact You

Place your email address, or at least a "Contact us" link, clearly on every page. If people have to hunt around to find your contact details, chances are they'll get fed up and leave your site without buying anything.

Tip 5: Make Your Sales Copy Easy To Read

Chunks of text are off putting and are therefore unlikely to get read. This means that if your well-worded sales pitch is written in long unbroken paragraphs, it will go un-noticed.

Use space and bullet points to break up text in order to encourage people to read it.

By Andy Best

Make Your Site Quick To Load!

The time it takes to load your site can make or break a visitor's first impression of your site. If your site takes too long to load, the visitor will click "Stop" or "Back" and leave your web site. If you are a business and offering people important information, it is critical to have a nice design, with a quick load time.

You may want to check out the load time of your page, to indeed see if your site loads quick enough for the average user. A great site tool can be found at http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ where you are able to enter your site and it displays a report on the time it takes to load your site on different connections, in addition to tips to decrease load time.

Upon doing a speed test, if your first page takes a great time to load in the visitor's browser, it is in the best interest to do some redesigning to decrease load time and increase the number of visitors that will not click back on the browser. We must remember that not everyone is running on DSL or Cable modem. Many users still dial up using a 56K connection. As web designers and site maintainers, we want to ensure our site's load quickly, as to not lose potential visitors to your site.

Images, Sounds & Animations are the major menaces to download time. While these add nicely to a site, they may take up a lot of time to load. If you may avoid large sized files, please do. Many images may be optimized to look the same, however taking up less space, and download more quickly. Many image editors such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro can perform these tasks.

Sounds & Videos should be avoided on your main page, as they take up most time to load. Keep these for inner pages if possible. Videos and sound files can be from 100 KB to 1 MB in size or larger. If the user needs to load a 500 KB video file on a 56 K modem, it will take upwards to 89 seconds to complete. This definitely could turn the user away from your site. So keep these files to a fairly small size, or avoid if possible.

Text can also play a significant role in the load time. If you have a large amount of HTML code and large amount of content on your main page, it will also increase the load time. Text however is not as significant, as the entire text you have on the site may not be even the same size as a couple of pictures combined.

So limit the large sized graphics on your web sites. Your visitors will appreciate the fast loading site with the information being presented that they are looking for!

By Michael Kralj

Dont Lose The Sale In The Internets Last Three Feet

In retailing there is a saying that sales are made in the last three feet. What this means is that no matter what you have done with your marketing, the final purchase decision is made when a customer is in-store, with the product in front of them.

The web is somewhat similar if you think about it. Have you ever started to buy something online and found yourself rushing to complete the transaction? Or have you ever started to buy something and stopped?

Why did you decide to go ahead with the purchase or walk away from the purchase? The answer is something happened to you in the Internet equivalent of the last three feet. Here's some common reasons people might abandon a purchase online:

- General lack of confidence
- A sites server is too slow
- The purchase process is too complex
- Their excitement faded
- They got distracted
- Their internet connection dropped out

Here's some common reasons why they might go ahead with the purchase online:

- A strong guarantee is offered
- They really, really want the product
- The reasons to act now are reinforced on the order page
- They are reminded what they are buying

There's nothing worse than losing a sale right on the finishing line. After all you're worked hard to attract a visitor and convince them to buy. So now it's time to look at your site and ask yourself honestly how are you're 'last three feet'? Are they maximising sales or are you losing? Here's how to find out.

You must know how many people are coming to your order page (the page where they enter their credit card details and press the buy button). You need to then know how many sales were made in the same period. For example if 300 people visited your order page in June and you made 240 sales, 60 people didn't buy. In other words 20% of people didn't go ahead with the purchase for some reason. You need to know what this reason is. To find out why people didn't buy you should:

- Go through the purchase process yourself and see if you can spot anything that would put customers off

- Get some friends or colleagues to do the same and see what they find

- Survey your existing customers and ask if there is anything you could do to simplify the ordering process

Here are a couple of suggestions to help avoid losing people in the last three feet:

- Minimize the number of clicks to place the order

- Don't ask for any information that isn't essential (people don't like paperwork and online forms are in this category)

- Use fast, reliable servers for ordering

- Track your ratio of visitors to your order page compared with the number of completed purchases

So take a look at your site and make sure you do everything you can to reduce the number of abandoned purchases. If you need further help, feel free to ask me. Good luck.

Do You Really Need A Website?

Nope. You certainly don't need a website.

But you don't need many of the things you've come to rely on, such as your cell phone, e-mail, or faxes.

And there's no point in having an Internet presence if those you want to reach lack computers or online capabilities. Or, if you have nothing to say. But, if you do have something to say, and your audience is accessible on the Internet, then consider a website.

Years before the Internet, I prepared a brochure to give to people who wanted to know what I did. It was pocket size, so I always had a few on hand to give out. And it was more impressive, and more descriptive of my services than a business card. Think of a website as an electronic brochure with many advantages over a printed brochure, such as:

1. It's unlimited in quantity. You don't have to get a few thousand printed every time you run out.

2. It's easily updated and, if you do it yourself, cost-free.

3. You can link it to your newsletter and other sites to extend its usefulness to the reader.

4. It also gets much wider exposure than any printed brochure ever could.

Initially, the only cost will be the time you spend not watching TV commercials. Most of us can afford that.

The first thing to do is decide what you want your web site to tell people about you. To do that, you don't need a computer, just a pad and pencil. Put them by your TV chair so you can scribble stuff down during commercials. Write a phrase about what you do. Then scribble down your qualifications. And what you do for your clients. Plus what they do for you (i.e. how you get paid).

Don't worry about grammar, spelling, or even forming sentences at this stage. All that comes later.

Can't think of anything to say about yourself? Ask your significant other, a client, or a few of your clients. Find out what they think you do, and why they deal with you.

If after a week your pad is blank, forget it. You're not ready for a web site. Why? Because the most important thing about a web site is content, and if you've got nothing to say, you've got no content.

When you've filled a page or so about what you do, and the benefits of dealing with you, it's time to reshape it. Start by dividing all the stuff you've written into two parts, qualifications, and other. In the qualifications pile include all the phrases that describe why prospects should deal with you. Try to turn them into a paragraph or two of benefits, and call them your Professional Background.

The other pile consists of what's left over, maybe your age, family life, hobbies, etc. Rewrite all those phrases into a more readable form and call that your Personal Profile.

Now you can turn on your computer, and type it all into your word processor, edit it so it hangs together and makes sense, then save it as MySite so you can copy it into your web site.

You now have some content for your website. For clues on how create it, visit http://www.lifesites.org

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By Donald F. Pooley

Digitalize It! : (Modification of images with tools such as Adobe CS and Corel)

Then it was a choice among crayons, paints and palettes for an artist and designer to create art. It was a box of crayons that make one happy designer during his early years of formation.

Nowadays, designing has gone to the new age of advanced technology that utilizes computers and programming. As a designer used to handling tangible products such as the ever reliable crayons, computer technology is oftentimes scary and heart palpitating. With all that computer code and HTML tags and styles, it's no wonder that most designers break out in cold sweat every time they are forced to put computer code around a text in a Word document to get the layout they want.

To help designers and artists alike to make their lives simpler, Adobe offers a complete package that brings designs straight from concept to the online world. On the other hand, Corel has also introduced new programs to help ease the burden of creating works of art with the use of the computer.

The new applications ensure that every designer's nightmare will be gone, helping him/her to sleep more soundly at night. These programs can help designers utilize simple sites quickly and effectively.

The CS Advantage?

The new Adobe Creative Suite combines Adobe's graphics applications and an efficient workflow that answers the needs of nearly every creative professional, from conceptualization to implementation, from print to Web. Not only do designers get one program at a time; rather, a whole suite of the latest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive software. It also includes the new Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional software to Acrobat Professional.

The Creative Suite is Adobe's attempt to bind the applications together. Now, Adobe's creative products use not only the same graphics engine but also the same type and color-management engines. Files that are created in one application can open easily in others with all their features intact. With a consistent user interface, moving from one application to another is easy.

And holding it all together is the new file-management and version-tracking technology Version Cue. The Version Cue lets you create and publish content for print and the Web faster, more easily, and more affordably. That's why Adobe is introducing this one whole package as "the complete design environment for print and Web publishing".

 Adobe Photoshop for image editing- easily manage your images with the improved File Browser, quickly share design variations with Layer Comps, and instantly improve contrast with Shadow/Highlight correction; perform more precise editing and retouching with expanded support for 16-bit images and monitor changes to your image in the Histogram palette, which dynamically updates as you make adjustments.

 Adobe Illustrator for drawing and vector graphics- with powerful new 3D features, advanced typographical controls, and a host of groundbreaking new design tools, this powerful upgrade from Illustrator 10 delivers the performance you need to make the most of your creativity; import Photoshop image compositions directly to Illustrator- or create drawings in Illustrator and import them directly into Photoshop; create native Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files using settings and options consistent with Adobe Acrobat Distiller software and get fast, consistent print results with features like Fit to Page, Print Preview, and support for Print Settings.

 Adobe InDesign for page layout and design, and Adobe GoLive for Web layout- import your native vector and bitmap artwork directly into InDesign CS software for sophisticated print layouts or into Adobe GoLive CS software for powerful web pages. With the support of Adobe PDF and XML, you can easily output your pages to both print and the Web.

The Corel Advantage?

With the introduction of Corel Painter IX, commercial designers, photographers, and professional artists are able to use their natural talents and techniques to create breathtaking works of art. Corel ensures that the new program is a must-have software for creative professionals, whether they're in film making, game development, commercial design, illustration, photography, or even fine arts.

With regards to performance and productivity, the Corel Painter IX boasts of significantly improved speed, new and enhanced Brush Control Palettes, Frames-per-Second Control, and Customizable Shortcut Keys. Professional users can extend their creative possibilities with new enhancements that include Artists' Oils Painting System, Snap-to-Path Painting, improved Digital Watercolor, and Quick Clone.

What is exciting about this new software is that the Corel Painter IX is more compatible with other professional technologies, providing enhanced support to Adobe Photoshop, Wacom (including the Wacom Intuos3), and Color Management.

What's more, getting started is easier than ever. Corel has provided various support guides to help end-users control their fear of tackling a seemingly intricate world of softwares and programs. Corel has provided a revitalized User Guide, the Painter IX Handbook that includes tutorials from leading creative professionals, access to free training videos, and academic courseware specifically designed for educators.

With powerful applications such as the Adobe CS and Corel, artists and designers alike can now combine both worlds of traditional art and sophisticated technology. The intricate tones of traditional art skills and techniques they've developed during their formation years as artists can be integrated with the incredible benefits that digital media can provide. Every creation can now be worthy of the exaltations and awe reserved for those found in galleries and exhibits. In addition, these art forms are now made at a faster and quicker rate than their original counterparts.

Build It And Build It Cheap!

There are several very good reasons why you should consider building your own web site versus having someone do it for you. It's more cost efficient, you can make it much larger in content, you are more involved in how you want the pages to look, and I have actually enjoyed learning the dos and don'ts of website profiling. I have run into some definite don'ts as I thrashed my way through building the few that I have needed , but I envy the professionals that get paid to make websites. Although I'm sure that I've made mistakes on my sites, I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

I wanted to give all those considering building their own website a heads up on the parts I have mastered. I am hoping that my determination to build a quality site coupled with my cheapazz instincts will help alleviate some of your stress as you follow the same path of righteous web design. As a brief article, I can clearly not cover everything that you will need to know here, however, if you have questions feel free to email me at the address provided.

These are things that you will need to consider for your website.

1. Outline the type of plan you will need for your design:
What size site you need. Will a five page program work or do you need the server space for hundreds or even thousands of pages?

Are you selling products or services on your site?
Do you need a merchant account or Paypal to accept credit cards?
Are taxes an issue?

2. Find a name for your site.
Choose one that is easily remembered for return visitors. If you can get a dot com as your domain you should consider this first. It is what the majority of people will automatically use to reach a website. I have actually watched people take my address directly off my business card and still type in a dot com rather than a dot net.

If you can't get a dot com, try one with a matching URL under a main domain such as dot net or dot org. There are obviously others available, but these seem to be the most popular right now.

If you can get all the domains you should, you can use dot com as your primary and have the others redirected from dot net and dot org to the dot com address. The redirect URL's are about $10 a year or less if you shop around.

3. Plan a General Layout:
Plan a basics of both the page and total site layout you want. The typical basic page may have a header at the top, two columns in the middle--one for content and the left for a menu, and than a footer at the bottom of the page.

If you will have many pages and they will have the same header, menu, footer, etc., and you plan to make changes on your site sometimes, you should consider an "includes" system. This system allows each area of a page to be a separate page in itself. If you make changes on one page with this system, it will show on every page. It's slightly complicated and if interested there are many free tutorials all over the net.

With many pages you will have to consider your method of navigation, such as main menu's and submenu's. You need to know if you will use buttons, java, CCS, flash, or just plain html links. If some of this sounds foreign and unfamiliar, don't worry, you'll learn the basics pretty quickly.

If you are not quite sure yet what you are looking for, check around. There are many free or very cheap templates that you can use that can really make a difference on how professional your site looks. A quick search you produce an almost endless supply of templates.

There are many sites who will offer great deals on many things as long as you provide a link on your site to theirs and site templates are no exception. This is a great way to get things cheap or for free.

4. Factors to consider to reach your audience:
Will your customers use dial up or broadband, newer equipment with the latest operating systems or windows 98? These are important things to consider when you decide what graphics to use and the overall file size.

The browser that your audience will be more likely to use. Do you have eye grabbing details for a broader spectrum of visitors, or will a specific and to the point website be better because your products/services are already targeted to a certain audience?

5. Find a server:
Find the deal that best meets your needs. There is a huge price difference in the hosting companies and plans, and this is something that should be researched to a certain extent as far as what you want for what you're paying.

Questions to ask:

Is there a set up fee?
Will I have customer support with a actual contact phone number? Do I have the option to upgrade to more space, more email accounts or add a store front?
What is the average up-time for their servers?

6. Software
You need software to build, edit, and upload your site from your computer to the server. I have only used Microsoft FrontPage ®. I like Frontpage® but then, I have nothing to compare it to. I use this because it came free with my computer, but if you look around there are sure to be free or relatively inexpensive programs that will work great for you.

Now you have a layout for your site and a place to put it, but what will you put on it? If you are concerned that you can't provide enough info for a whole site, don't worry. There is certainly not a shortage of free content available. In fact, it can be overwhelming and distracting searching for exactly what you need. Not all articles and info are as clearly stated as in my article--LOL. You can find everything from complex calculators to one-line random quotes.

Free maps to light bulbs to tooth picks---okay, I'm exaggerating, but it can be overwhelming. Many sites simply use their content to draw traffic to their site to promote their products or services, and there is definitely nothing wrong with that. Again, this is providing the content for links to their sites on your website. You can afford to be choosy though, the price is the same, so pick suitable material for your design that will compliment your website.

As one final note, I guess the most important thing I can say is, "Get started". I have mentioned some conciderations and there are many many more, but don't let any one of these slow you down. Look at these as caution zones and open toll-free road - not road blocks. Good luck...

By Brian

Build It And Build It Cheap! Part II

If you are familiar with my work, then you have probably taken a look at the first part of this article, and may well be on your way to having your website up and running. Congratulations!!! It's hard work, but having pride in the accomplishment is worth it! Now you have to find the people who want to see it, AKA--site traffic.

There are many things you can do to achieve your goal of generating site traffic. As a cheapazz oficionado, I am going to give you the easy and cheap ways. If by chance you did not catch the first part of this article, let me reiterate that I am not a pro at web design. I am a professional CheapAzz, certified at maxing out the free stuff in life, and occasionally the stuff that is not free--but cheap. I'll give a few tips and resources, you can do a little research, and with a little effort we can get some traffic flow through that sweet piece of virtual reality you've built.

First things first...what the META is a META? A little computer science trivia for ya. A META is a hidden tag you build into your html that tells the search engine 'spider' what to do (and what not to do), with your site. There are probably libraries of books written on this subject by people that are much more qualified than I am, so I am going to give it to you in my layman's terms. If these terms are too general this may be one of the parts you will have to research.

You should start by finding some keywords that describe each piece of your site. You should choose specific words and try to include some for every section. Another part of your research---you can look around the net at sites that will help with these tags. Once you have your tags in order, analyze a test page or your index page before you add them to every page on your site.

You can help drive traffic to your site by teaming with other sites of a similar size and content and exchanging banners or links with them. The more links the better. Super Tip: This will also help with your rating placement with your google search, it gives points to the sites that link back to them.

As I said in part one of this article you can offer free content. You help other sites fill their web pages, but you also get your content out there. Visitors to their sites are always potential visitors to yours, and links make this super easy for them.

Learn about search engine rankings. These are no secret and important in your initial visibility as a web site. You can find these rank pages right on the search engines site. Start with the most popular engines and work your way down. A note of caution: Play fair! Beware of sites that give you tips to fill your html with lists of popular words that the spiders will find instead of words that are relevant to your site. These tricks could get you barred from the engines and than all your hard work could be for nothing!!

Small things to do... word of mouth, email signatures, newsgroups, and newsletters are all excellent tools in your quest for site traffic. Get some Free or cheap business cards printed and give them to EVERYONE. The more people that hit your site, even just to see what you're doing, the better. Take advantage of email signatures.

While making a nice and tidy little end for your website they will also go out with every email that you send. Join newsgroups and online groups such as aol, msn and yahoo and list your site on those profiles. Find out each groups' rules for msg signatures and be active in groups of similar interests. Start a free newsletter and offer it monthly (or bi monthly, or yearly--whatever floats your web boat). Even with thousands of newsletters out there, they still seem to be a popular tool in showing people what you and your site are all about.

These are all great ways to get people to your site, but you also need them to return to your site. Treat them how you want to be treated. Have a strong privacy policy, post the policy, and never violate their trust. Not only does selling visitors information keep possible repeat customers away, but it also keeps prospective customers away.

Remember that word of mouth is important, and people will not refer your site if they feel that they or their referrals will be attacked by e bombs, snail mail with some of your links' names on it, or telephone calls that have a little too much info. Yes, even phone calls can result from selling peoples private information, and many people are afraid to give this information to websites because of this. People don't want your newsletter coupled with ads for angina and toilet paper, colleges and colustrum. They signed up for your website, and your ads are all they should have to expect.

The quality and quantity of what you are emailing your customers is important also. First be sure that they have requested your ads, if they have not, don't send them. If they do ask you to email them with offers, etc., than make sure that they receive the offer only once. If you are sending the same information over and over to them in the hopes that they will eventually take notice--take heart, they will...and than they will block you from their email box. This defeats the purpose of all that you are striving for, to generate web traffic, to keep web traffic and to generate MORE web traffic!

Super Tip: Save request forms and/or emails for offers from customers so you can produce them if needed to show that they asked for your offers.

Last but not least, make sure there is an easy way for subscribers to choose not to receive your offers. Many people look first for this option before they even sign up. The highest concern, of course, being that you will spam them. Everyone wants to be sure that they can easily avoid the ever present spam on their computer, and they definitely don't want to bring it on themselves. This option will also make you look more legitimate. You are not trying to push people into things they don't want by allowing them to choose when and if they want to receive your offers.

There are many other tactics such as Forums, Free For Alls (FFA), Opt-in lists, Safe lists, site rotators, ad and banner rotators, ad & banner exchanges, submissions to free directories and on and on. As you can see, there are too many to work into a couple short articles. Again, a little research can save you a ton of money and headache.

Thus far all these tips have been free for you, but with online advertising rates coming down, these are great options to look into also. Just weigh the pros and cons of spending some money towards achieving your goal. If you have the money to invest and the potential to profit from paid ads, than there's no question as to which choice to make. However, if you're a little low on funds and not so sure, try the free ways first and see how well they work.

Hey - maybe you'll make enough off the free advertising that you can get some paid ads! Either way, at paid ads we have exceeded my already limited expertise, as the Official CheapAzz I try as hard as possible not to pay for what I can almost always get for free.

By Brian

Web Design:10 Magnificent Millionaire Dollars Ad Copy Secrets To Empower Your Website..

Hello, how is your website doing?

Are sales flowing in?

If you answer no, may I offer you 10 eye-popping web design secrets to make your website sell!

1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales.

2. Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your a copy. People will think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure to get their permission first.

3. Show before and after photos for your products on your web page copy. Show the problem picture and then beside it, show the picture of the resolution to the problem when they use your product.

4. Include an article or review that has been written about you or your business with your ad copy. This will show people that your business is respected and will increase your credibility.

5. When you offer free bonuses in your ad copy, also list the dollar value beside each bonus. People will feel they're getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your product.

6. Hire a famous person to endorse your product or service. Make sure the person is well known to your target audience. Include their picture and statements on your ad copy.

7. Include your own picture on your ad copy. This will show people that you're not hiding behind your ad copy and will increase their trust. Also, include your contact information below the picture and a brief statement or quote.

8. Tell your potential customers on your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to specific charity. This will show them you really care about the people. They may just buy your product to donate to the charity.

9. Ask your potential customers plenty of yes and no questions in your ad copy. The questions should remind them of their problem and make them think about what will happen if they don't purchase your product.

10. Tell your potential customers they will receive a free prize if they find the five words in your ad copy that are misspelled or spelled backwards. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy the greater chance of them purchasing.

May these web design secrets help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

By I-key Benney

Do You Hate Your Website? Web Site Sales To Hit $316 Billion Over The Next 6 Years

What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this $316 billion dollar trend?

Have you spent thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands on your web site only to discover that it attracts more flies than customers?

Do you hate your web site, your web developer or your entire IT department?

Do not despair! You are not alone!

A great web site is crucial in order to effectively communicate to a business's target audience. It is important for Chief Executives and small business owners to pay close attention to the effect that their web site has on their business. A poorly designed site will not generate desired revenues and could even produce negative results if it sends the wrong message to potential customers.

In a 2003 survey of major corporations from Ford to Wal-Mart, 20 corporation sites failed to meet Forrester's standards for usefulness, clarity or content. Because a visually unappealing or difficult to navigate site will discourage return visits, many companies have decided to update their site. After it's re-launch in 2003, Macromedia Inc. saw it sales per site visitor jump 67%!

We have divided companies into three categories based on their level satisfaction with their web site.

1. Happy?But - They are happy with what they have but want to keep up with industry trends and continually update their site as their company grows.

A study conducted by the Wall Street Journal found that larger companies have a "wild card" provision set into their yearly web budget. Every year their budget includes routine upgrades, maintenance, new projects and "wild card" money set aside for the latest and greatest application or gadget that may come down the pike.

2. Transitional - They have outgrown their site and want to upgrade and expand their web presence.

3. I Hate My Web Site - You need help! Did Uncle Bob develop the site? Maybe your neighbor gave it a try. Or maybe you spent good money on a professional firm but are still not happy with the results.

Try the quiz below. You may want to consider making improvements to your site if you answer "no" to several of the following questions.

Is Your Site:

1) Easy to navigate?

2) Detailed and comprehensive?

3) Visually appealing, professional and pleasing?

4) Up to date?

Does Your Site:

5) Have a unique style or original graphics?

6) Have a consistent theme and convey the central message?

7) Load web pages quickly?

8) List company contact information in an easy to find place?

9) Use correct spelling and grammar?

10) Have a site map?

11) Make it easy to get back to the homepage?

12) Have a way to email the company for more information?

13) Pull up images correctly (i.e. contains no broken images)?

14) Pull up all pages and websites correctly (i.e. contains no broken links)?

15) Have an appropriate text to image ratio?

16) Have streaming audio and video?

17) Print pages without losing any of the text or cutting off part of the page?

18) Translate into other languages?

Do you:

19) Have control over the content and have the ability to make changes?

20) Have an e-newsletter marketing system?

21) Have e-commerce capabilities?

22) If you have e-commerce, can customers easily purchase your products or do they get frustrated and leave the site before completing the transaction?

By John

Website Design: Secrets Of Professional Website Designers Revealed

What colors do you have at your website?

Can they make a difference in the number of sales that you generate?

Can the use of the right colors in your website design actually increase your sales?

The answer is yes!

So pay attention to thesee website design secrets.

When people see certain colors they can change their emotions or they can symbolize things related to the colors.

Here are a list of colors with some emotions and symbolizations they can cause:

Red - love, excitement, warmth

Pink - romantic, affection, sensuality

White - purity, peace, perfection

Blue - sky, water, travel, freedom, truth

Purple - royalty, dignity

Black - space, night, authority

Green - money, calm, envy, greed

Yellow - light, purity, understanding

Orange - autumn, youthfulness, fire

Brown - wood, comfort, strength

Its very important to know which emotions or symbolizations will trigger your target audience to buy your product or service. If your selling a money-making product you should use green colors to represent money or bring out the emotion of greed. People also associate comfort and travel with money so you maybe want ad in some brown and blue colors on your website.

The same principle can be applied to graphics or pictures of your product on your website. Package your products with colors that will trigger your audience to buy. If your selling a book about how to be more romantic, use red and pink colors on the cover. I hope these simple web site color techniques will increase your business's sales.

May these website design secrets help you generate a lot of sales and money.

Warmly,

By I-key Benney

The Technology May Change, But Human Nature Remains The Same

Let me repeat that..

"The technology may change, but human nature remains the same!"

In this wonderful Internet Age, we are all struggling, and succeeding to different degrees, to keep up with the technology. It's a never-ending battle. Web Technology! When it's good, it's often poorly executed, and when it's bad- it's fatal.

Frankly, much of the time, the technology gets in the way of the sales and communication process. Unfortunately, it seems that many people responsible for website design understand the technology available and what they want, more than they understand their fellow man- their potential customers, and what THEY want.

Whoever...?

Whoever got the idea to ask for your name and email addresses before you can enter a site? Try that outside the front door of the local McDonalds!

Whoever got the idea for fancy Flash presentations that take 3 minutes of your time to show off how good the graphics designer was? Try telling people that they have to watch a video presentation before they can enter Wal Mart!

Why can't more than half of Web shoppers find the product they want on a site? Would that be acceptable at the local sports store, or in a mail-order catalog?

Why do more than half of Web shoppers abandon their purchase after they've selected goods and placed them in their shopping trolley? Wouldn't that send your local supermarket broke?

What About The Customer?

This is truly a fascinating time to be a Marketer, and to watch what is being done in the name of Marketing. Look at any successful business in the 'dirt world', and you'll find that it is being rewarded for responding to the needs of its customers, and making more than enough profit to pay its bills. Then look at what has passed for popular success on the Web, and you find that it has to do with how exciting the concept is, how many eyeballs it attracts, how innovative the 'business model', or how revolutionary the technology used is. Nary a word about about the customer satisfaction or profit that are necessary in the real world.

I note with pleasure that some wiser heads are now writing about the "New New Economy", and noting that it's looking more like the Old Economy all the time! This trend will help give credit to those businesses that have been truly successful on the Web (and there are plenty of them), and set up a realistic expectation for those that come onto the Web in the future.

The Fundamentals Still Apply

Take away the technology, and to succeed in Web Marketing, you still need to deliver the basic requirements of Marketing:

-A good Product
-At the right Price
-At the right Time
-At the right Place

It also helps mightily, if you have a good rapport with your customer.

I was delighted a while back, to be asked to lead a Clickz Forum. It posed the following question...

"Whether, in a high-tech age when dot-coms are rushing to automate as much as customer contact as possible, there's still an important place for 'high touch'-- old-fashioned one-to-one sales."

MY answer, was a qualified 'Yes', and my belief is that 'one-to-one sales' isn't 'old-fashioned' at all! Have a look at all the 'new-fashioned' sites that tried to sell autos. They were dismal failures. People used them for information, then went right on down to their local dealership to haggle and buy from real people. No matter how good a job the programmers did of automating customer contact, the customers didn't feel confident enough to complete the transaction on the website. Some businesses are so "high-touch", that wise marketers would choose to use a website only as an information, branding and lead- generation tool, with real people following up the leads.

Sure, you're right, the auto example is an extreme case. And, no, you can't afford to have a real-live salesperson selling that $9.99 CD online. I understand. Even in the real world, we have vending machines, so we don't need a human holding our hand in every sales transaction. It varies with the nature of the product.

Understand Your Customer's' Needs!

No matter how much money and technology some Web businesses throw at automating customer contact, they're doomed to failure. You can only successfully automate something you UNDERSTAND. Unfortunately, many of our dotcom whizz-kids have never had to make a living from real customers in the real world, so they just don't 'get it'. What online businesses DO need to do, is to understand what the customers' needs are in the sales process, and fulfil them.

What is really needed, is a caring, thoughtful fulfilling of customers' needs and expectations at every step in their experience with a Web business site. The better all the small steps are performed, the less need there will be for real-time human intervention (and the higher will be the conversion rate). This means;

-a professional, friendly tone to the complete website

-information about who you are- the company, the founder, the staff. Let your customer know that there are real people there

-sensible ads that don't mislead and set up unreal expectations

-relevant descriptions from customer searches of Directories and Search Engines

-quick-loading web pages

-easy-to-understand page layout, with clear information

-easy-to-understand navigation

-a Privacy Policy to allay fears on privacy

-a Returns Policy and strong Guarantee to allay fears of making the wrong choice

-a clear description of your products or services, and clear pricing options

-secure credit card and information handling to further allay fears on privacy

-a friendly, easy-to-use shopping cart

-a sincere Thank You, and information about what will happen next

If all of these things are done, there will be little need for one-on-one selling on MOST sites. You will already have done the job. Through understanding your customer and providing excellent service, NOT by spending more on technology!

Of course, offering some 'one-to-one' contact is a real plus for any business, and necessary for those that are more "high-touch". There are now a number of programs, some even free, that allow a customer to contact a live operator at your site. Check out LiveHelper.com and HumanClick.com Making it easy for your customer to contact your business site by phone, fax and email should be fundamental.

I read once that the definition of fanaticism was "Redoubling your efforts when you've forgotten your original aim". Solving a lack of customer rapport by throwing more technology at the problem, comes perilously close to the definition.

By John Payne

How to Test Your Web Headlines and Web Site Home Page to Sell More Products and Services

A client asked me, at what point do you change your Web site when not making enough sales? My answer? Within a month because as long as your ad copy is weak, those weak sales numbers will continue.
Your coach is number one on Google and 35 other search engines with the key words, "book coaching." While web site hits were high, I noticed a below 2% conversion rate for one top eBook. The culprits? My homepage headlines lead my visitor to the book's sales letter. My sales letter lacked enough benefit-driven headlines and benefits to convince people to buy.
Ways to Reach your Web Site Sales Dream
Test your web site headlines and web home page content to be sure your sales message is strong.
Through email, send a casual marketing survey. Send different Web site parts such as each headline that takes the visitor to the sales letter or the sales letter itself to your friends, business associates, other writers, and editors.
Say, Dear friends and Associates, "I need your brain." My Web site is not selling this product or service (name it) well. Let me know what phrases or benefits convince you to take out your credit card and buy my product? Will you rate each of these parts?
1) Home page and sales letter headlines. Includes four or five varieties of one headline. Ask your associates which headlines convince them to look further at other site parts or buy your product or service. To make things simple ask them to vote from 1-5 so you can see how to change it.
2) The "who" I am. Include several blurbs on your purpose or bio. Ask your associates to vote from 1-5 and add new phrases they think are stronger. Remember, you site is not about you; it is about your potential customers. Make sure your bio is short enough (one paragraph) to make room for what counts--benefits?
3) Benefits and features. Know that you need to answer the question by your visitor, "What's in it for me?"
From a working list of 5-10 benefits and 5-10 features, choose the top few to include on your web site home page. Benefits are outcomes your buyers want after they use your product or service such as more consistent higher income, saving time and money, or creating a balanced life. Benefits sell, features explain or describe your product. Features include phrases such as "5 steps to...," or "7 Sure-fire ways to ..." Once you know the difference, then you can combine them to read something like this: "7 Sure-fire ways to increase profits from your eBook."
In your survey, ask your people which phrases work? Which ones convince you to order or buy?
Give people a finish line so you can gather this valuable information quickly. Offer a free report or eBook to anyone who takes the time to respond. Give them all the vital contact information in your signature file at the bottom with hyperlinks to your email to make it easy.
Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying BRAVO! This 24/7 marketing team will create a buzz about your great site, and send you many more visitors through word of mouth.
By Judy Cullins

How To Improve The Professional Look And Feel Of Your Website

Projecting a professional image is paramount to your website's success. It can make or break your online business. Use this handy article and links to improve the professional look and feel of your site.

First, take a general overview of your site. What is subject matter of your site? Define it down to a particular topic -- your niche.

For instance, you can have a website on Sports. You may have narrowed it down to a particular sport; say baseball. You may have narrowed it down even further, a particular baseball team.

Whatever the subject matter of your site, keep the content within your site on topic. Obvious, but important. Someone coming to your site to check out the Yankees -- don't want to find material on 'how to hook a rug'!

Make sure that you 'keep your site on topic'. This one thing alone will improve the professional image your site projects.

Next, consider your audience, who is it aimed at? Who are you targeting? For instance, if it's a general news site, it may be the whole world. Everyone is interested in the news.

If it a website on breeding dogs -- your audience is probably other dog breeders or those interested in dog breeding. Someone visiting your site will expect to see content/information on dog breeding.

Keep your site's audience in mind at all times.

Now consider the layout and design of your website. Is it appropriate for your topic and for your audience. Does the color scheme and design suit your subject matter? Does the design and layout suit your audience?

A website catering to young visitors, offering online role-playing games is not going to have the same layout or color scheme as a conservative business site. Appeal to your audience and subject matter; again, keep them in mind at all times.

In your site design, go for simplicity. Don't complicate them with too much flash and dazzle. Provide your visitors with what they're looking for -- and make it quick. Don't have your visitors jump thru hoops to get what they're searching for. Have an 'easy to navigate' linking structure.

Keep the overall design within two or three colors. You can even try an old artist's trick, make it almost monochromic with a complimentary color split to bring focus to your points of interests. Make sure your fonts are consistent and easy to read in all the different browsers. Keep the same logo or brand name on all your pages -- don't confuse your visitors.

Now, lets get down to some specific changes or additions that can 'tune-up' your website. These should improve the professional look and feel of your site.

Give Them Something to Remember You By!

1. Make a 'favicon.ico' file if you don't have one. Look down at your computer's task bar, you should see a version of a favicon of the programs on your computer. These are small '16x16' icons or symbols for your site or product. All major sites have them. Here's how you can make them:

Use a photo or paint shop program like Adobe or Paint Shop Pro. Just take your logo or part of it and reduce it down to a 16 x 16 image. Adjust the resolution and play around with it. You can just use a single letter from your site's name and jazz it up a bit. You need to upload this image to your website's directory in an ico file named 'favicon.ico' -- very logical Mr. Spock!

Extra help here: http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/favicon.shtml

Give Them Eye Candy!

2. Make a logo. Or have someone design it for you. Nothing says professional than a cool looking logo! A really good one will brand your site in the minds of your visitors. Have this logo on all your web pages.

Logo building help here: http://web-bureau.com/modules/logo.php

Put Them on the Map!

3. Make a Sitemap for your site. Extremely important, make sure you have a sitemap for your website. Place all the links (if possible) to your site on here. It will unify your site and be of tremendous benefit to your visitors. It's a common courtesy you cannot, must not ignore. Ideally, you should have a link to your sitemap on all your web pages.

Redirect Them!

4. Redirect Page. Create a redirect or error page if your web host doesn't provide one. This is a catch-all page for the '404 Not Found File' that pops up. It will make your site more professional; plus, you won't lose all those hard fought for visitors. Make sure your Redirect Page has a link to your Sitemap.

Try this link for help: http://www.clockwatchers.com/htaccess_redirect.html

Blog Them!

5. Start a Blog and RSS Feed for your site. If you haven't placed a blog on your site -- do it now! This is one addition to your site you should have. Start a blog on the subject of your site or something complimentary to it. It will allow for visitor interaction and will give your site a boost in the ratings. (Use the link at the end of this article if you need help with setting up a blog.)

It will also give you a RSS Feed which will allow you to syndicate your site's information or content. Place an orange RSS or XML button on your site. Since RSS is somewhat new - you might want to place a little note explaining xml or the rss feed. Always place your visitor's comfort in the forefront.

Send Them to the Doctor

6. Doctor HTML. Check the html code and spelling of your site. Sites like this one are great. They will give you a tune-up for free! I have used this one and it's excellent. What you're really checking for is browser compatibility and broken links. It will also squish your html to save on your load time. It will check the coding and any spelling mistakes on your site.

Correct any blatant 'faux pas' in your site's coding.

You can find the html doctor here: http://www.doctor-html.com/

You can also go to NetMechanic to reduce the graphics on your site. As the net goes broadband, this is becoming less and less a problem but it's always better to have a fast loading site.

GifBot by NetMechanic http://www.netmechanic.com/accelerate.htm

Keep Them Browsing

7. Next check your site in all the browsers. You might be surprised how your site looks in a different browser. Firefox is increasing it's users, check your logs, see which browsers your visitors are using. Make sure your site looks and operates perfectly in these systems.

If you have a lot of friends with computers, check your site on their operating systems and see how it looks. Make any necessary changes. You can also try AnyBrowser.com Screen Size Tester below.

http://anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html

Give Them Spider Food!

8. Spend a day or so, checking all your keywords. List down your site's major keywords. The ones you're targeting. Optimize for the search engines. Most of the traffic on the web come from search engines, so make sure your site is optimized for them. Make sure you have submitted your site to all of these engines.

Double check your 'title' and 'description' meta tags for any obvious mistakes. These get indexed and are often the first line of contact with any potential visitors to your site. Professionism here could have a significant influence on the amount of traffic your site receives!

Find some great Search Engine Optimization Tools here:

http://www.webconfs.com

Give Them A Gentle Reminder!

9. Make sure you have a Bookmark link. Simple, but many websites don't actively encourage visitors to bookmark their site. Have a bookmark logo or link on all the pages of your site. Remind your visitors to bookmark. It's a great source of free traffic.

You can get a free script from Michael Bloch: http://www.tamingthebeast.net

Give Them Some Jazz!

10. Jazz up your site! Try to find things that will make your site more interesting. Give your visitors a reason to visit your site other than the great content. Offer a free service, like the one the doctor uses above! Run a contest! Give away free stuff or extra bonuses if they visit your site. In whatever way you can, make your visitor feel special.

Maybe try a headliner from Feedburner.com for your rss feed. This will display all your headlines. Add audio and video "testimonials". Add other graphics like the ones mentioned here: favicon, bookmark, sitemap, etc.

But don't overdo it with the graphics, but add a few to make your site visually interesting. Even a visually bare-bones site like Google does this with their logo on special occasions. It adds a touch of style.

It is estimated that over fifty percent of net users now have broadband so the use of a lot of graphics is not as detrimental as it once was. But again, don't over do it, a little spice goes a long way.

But don't put style over substance. It all boils down to content. Give your visitors good valuable content or information and your site will improve faster than with all the points mentioned above. Don't forget that basic ingredient while you're fine tuning your site.

And don't forget your site's visitors. Make their visit to your site as pleasant and comfortable as you possibly can.

Always keep your visitor in mind.

Each one is a special guest. Each one deserves the best site you can produce. Each one is ...

A VIP with a cursor! Give them the Royal Treatment!

Your site will reap the benefits and look good while doing it!

By Titus Hoskins

You Had Me At the Search Engine

You've likely heard of the movie, Jerry Maguire, with its famous line, "You had me at hello." Jerry Maguire was luckier than web sites we find in search engines. Many web sites don't attract user devotion at the first word, let alone after scanning the home page.

How many times has this scenario happened to you? You've performed a search in a search engine or directory, reviewed the results and found a page description that fits what you were looking for. When you click on the page that looks the most promising, usually you arrive at the web site's home page, where one or more things might happen:

1. The page loads slowly due to too many graphics, dynamic applications or scripts

2. There are terms used on the page that you don't understand.

3. It promotes products or services that were not mentioned in the page description from the search engine.

4. The products or services are unrelated to what you searched for.

5. The page is "amateurish" in appearance and you're not feeling confident about things like customer service, user privacy and security, experience with the product, or other credibility issues.

6. The page is so busy you don't know where to go to next, or distractions caused you to forget your original mission.

7. Something has turned you off, such as swimsuit models that don't look like you do, corporate images of businessmen, not women, or multiple animated things.

8. An invasive advertisement appeared that you had to click away so you could read the content underneath it.

9. The page loads but your scum ware radar starts beeping like crazy or popup and security alerts appear.

10. You need a magnifying glass to read the content.

If a keyword search brings back an inside page, more common frustrations occur to drive people away from the web site. They include:

1. There is no navigation to the rest of the web site.

2. There is navigation, but no visible, easy to locate link to the main home page or main web site.

3. A link "home" is offered, but sub-navigation is missing, so that the user must start at the beginning to figure out where they landed inside the web site.

4. Link labels do not help explain what the web site is about, so the visitor may not be inspired to click around.

5. There is no suggested click path to follow. For example, if the page happens to be an article, it might be useful to say "Did you find this article helpful? Here are more articles that may interest you."

We often forget that search engines index more than our home page. People often stumble into our web sites while searching for other things, linking from another web site, or receiving an email link from a friend. The starting place isn't always home base.

So, how do you make a web site page approachable in a crowded room of search engine results? First, make sure your title tag is accurate. Every page requires a title tag unique to the content it represents. The home page is an overview page, so focus on the lead goal, which is often also your main keyword(s).

Next, write a genuine, honest description that isn't all hype and glorified self-worship about how great the web site is. If the site is going to sell something, what does it sell? Does it specialize? Avoid words like "unique", "amazing", and "special" because, frankly, everybody makes these claims.

It's important to not put too many keywords in your title and description tags because these are displayed in search engines as your site or page description. When read by humans, they don't make sense. People are getting wiser. They know that what you're doing is trying to get higher rank but it doesn't mean your web site is any better in quality that those lower in search results.

Whether a home page or inside pages, there are lots of ways to attract attention or generate curiosity so that your visitor becomes a potential customer, or simply finds the content interesting enough to keep browsing around. My favorite part of discount stores are the displays they toss clearance items into, or those "Oh yes, I forgot I needed that" type items. You can do the same thing with your web site. Simply place the toenail clippers, scotch tape and calling cards out front where they're easily seen. In other words, remind your visitors of what they didn't know they came for.

Here are some other ideas to try:

1. Provide a good reason to enter your site. Don't expect anyone to take your word for anything. Offer incentives.

2. Put a visible text link to your sitemap on every page. Even your local shopping mall has a map with a "You Are Here" pointer.

3. Be forthcoming and descriptive with pictures. If you sell shoes, show the tread. If you design and make your own crafts, show close-ups of the detail and workmanship. Furniture looks great alone, but can a woman site comfortably with her legs crossed? The sunglasses line you offer is likely filled with brand name shades, but what types of faces will they look right on? I have a difficult time buying artwork online because I can't visualize the dimensions in my head. A picture of a framed version, hanging in a room with furniture, will help me understand what I'm trying to purchase. In a virtual world, you must go to great lengths to sell things people can't touch or see in use.

4. Place words like "sale", "getting started", "first-time user", "learn more", "try now", "buy now", "free", "download", "we deliver" and "free shipping" on your pages, above the page "fold". This is what users are looking for.

5. On your home page, provide an introduction and suggestions for where your visitors might like to go next, based on their needs.

Search engines can only bring a visitor to your doorstep. It's your job to grab them by the hand, invite them inside and show it off.

By Kimberly Krause Berg

Your Web Site Is A Wonderland: What Picassos Art Taught Me About Persuasive Design

Whenever singer John Mayer sings his romantic song, "Your Body is a Wonderland", I can't help but think of web sites and usability. As a usability consultant, I see the devotion to his lover, and the time he spent uncovering every detail of her being, as the way most web site designers think we approach their web sites. When the lyrics arrive at "Take all your big plans; And break 'em; This is bound to be a while", I start giggling. It makes me think of Amazon.com. I'll explain why.

Do You Have Three Hours To Browse?

Amazon's jigsaw puzzle-like homepage greets me personally by name, which is smooth talking salesmanship. We've obviously "met" before. It has "recommendations" for me. There's a nifty advertisement that unfolds like those movie screens in school auditoriums where you know you're about to see something either cool, or gross, in front of all your friends. This ad doesn't tell me what I should do to get it to go away. When I click it, I'm instantly taken inside the web site to a targeted area. There's my Gold Box, and my Wish List, and 15,459 links to things I might want to buy. All this is displayed in the first few seconds of my arrival.

Whenever a web site presents me with an onslaught of too much, too soon, I often feel overwhelmed, or angry, and leave the site. If Amazon was a human being with an actual body, I probably wouldn't like him or her for very long. I would find the physical Amazon pushy, invasive, greedy, egotistical, and likely a hypochondriac. Yet, I did most of my Christmas shopping there last year. Why? What is it about Amazon that makes it such a compelling experience?

To understand the theory behind the type of design Amazon uses, which is copied by thousands of ecommerce web sites, I turned to a different way of seeing and a different kind of art. The type of Cubist art that Pablo Picasso painted seemed to fit.

The Experience of Seeing

People react to web sites the same way they respond to art. They come with an expectation. They see what they want to see. It's up to the web site design to show them what they did not come to find, or what they may not know they were looking for.

I recently attended an opening night art gallery reception. I know the artist and his family. Standing in front of one of his vibrantly colorful pieces, a scene of someone entering a store from a busy New York City street, he pointed things out to me. "The brown brush strokes over here are the back of woman's head as the person enters the store. Note the hand on the door handle." The colorful canvas portrays glimpses of city life, such as signs, lights, clothing, people, and buildings. I began to imagine cars honking and that I'm breathing city smog. Amazingly, none of the illustrations are clearly defined. The artist drops clues and the rest is left to your imagination and emotions. You see what you want to see. I know I'm seeing the painting differently than the other people viewing it because I can hear their remarks.

Then, my artist friend says, "Ever since my Dad's experience, I see everything differently."

A few years ago, at the age of 19, my friend came home to find his father nearly bleeding to death from botched major surgery in which he was discharged too early from the hospital. His chest literally opened back up and my friend held it together with his bare hands while family members got medical help. He saved his father's life. Since then, his artwork took on a new form. From this artist's point of view, everything is present, in the moment, all the time. We normally see it in bits and pieces, and then miss most of what's around us.

This struck a chord with me. Should a homepage, for example, present everything the web site offers all at once? Is there a way to do this by offering clever clues or gentle nudges that leave enough to the imagination to make the visitor want to stay on the page until it all comes "into focus"?

This was one of the experiences that brought me to link Pablo Picasso and web design. Pablo Picasso felt that only by means of our awareness do things come into being. We're normally unaware of something until it matters to us.

Awareness, Experience and Persuasive Architecture

Impressionist art is not about painting objects as they are seen, but more about the experience of seeing them.

Andrew Chak writes in his book, Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Web Sites, "What our users see are the web pages in front of them at the very moment they are trying to do something. Each page either helps them move forward in the process or puts them a step back. If you have gaps in your functionality or you don't provide guidance to your users, you can't expect them to just figure it out."

One solution for guiding web site visitors to important pages or items is through the use of persuasion and making a site desirable. For example, when a product is designed, some thought is also given to the human response to it or the experience of using it. The same can be true for web sites.

Amazon utilizes persuasive techniques. Remember that "movie screen" ad? When clicked on, it deliberately took me deeper into the web site. Other web sites use marketing content expertly written to keep you interested enough to keep browsing. Even better are embedded links within that text.

By comparison, Google's homepage interface is minimalistic and simple. Yet someone realized it wasn't bringing everything Google does out into the open, so they designed Soople.com, which efficiently lists everything on one page. No extra clicks. No navigation to learn. The obvious tasks are presented at once, for instant access. Someone at Google forgot to read Andrew Chak's Principle #4 - "You know everything about your site, but your users know nothing."

Both the Soople and Amazon design approach quickly bring the user into the web environment, to experience it, not just stare at it and figure out how it works first. This is how we also like to experience art.

Task, Task Task

Which design is best for your web site? Do you offer up the mixed salad and plop some tomatoes on top or do you lay out a buffet-style table of dishes, organized by food group, and let people choose?

Picasso once said, "I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." The development of Cubism allowed an overlapping and interpenetrating of planes on a canvas. This is how Picasso offered glimpses of his subject, and how my artist friend could paint and capture layers upon layers of human life on an 8 x 8 piece of material. It's not always easy to know where to "enter" a Picasso painting. The point of view is simply "everything, all at once".

It's not always easy to know where to enter a web site either. Every visitor has a different mission. Chak refers to them as "Browsers, Evaluators, Transactors and Customers."

Math and science found inspiration on Cubism and the notion of "continuous dimension of consciousness" or what we call three or even four dimensions. Jason Edward Kaufman writes in his essay, Pioneering Cubism, "More specifically, Einstein's general theory of relativity found its first artistic expression Cubist art. The plotting of an object in a field consisting of and defined by the artist's moving point of view suggests, as Einstein posited, a 'time-space continuum' whose makeup is contingent on point of point of view."

The idea of being able to bring different experiences to art, and enter a painting from different areas based upon your experience is something that can apply to web sites as well as cubist art. How do you plan a web site's "continuous dimension of consciousness?" In other words, how do you keep people on your web site, no matter what their original intent is? Regardless of whether their intent is just to browse, or to evaluate the site? Or to conduct a transaction, or to return as a customer?

That can be done during the web site planning stage, by taking the helpful steps of assigning business, user and web site goals. Write them out in detail. You can title those "My Web Site Requirements" if you'd like. Having them on paper can be very helpful.

As you move towards finishing your web site, you can test it to make sure it met those original requirements, and didn't stray. Selling custom furniture on your web site is a business requirement that might not be met if you also have Google ads on your homepage. While the ads may make money, they will send away potential customers for the furniture you offer.

Also consider whose point of view you are designing for. Is it yours or your web site visitors? While an artist paints from within, rather than focusing upon who is going to see the finished product or what they'll do with it, a web site owner has to be concerned with the reactions of the viewers who see the site. The designer has to consider who the visitors are and what they want to do on your web site.

How do you assign business, user, and web site goals? Think in terms of creating tasks, both in-house and for users. A business requirement may be to get sales leads. The task is to design a form, or provide "call to action" click paths to products that inspire purchases, such as sale items.

A user's task may be to find a customer representative at the company to speak with about a product. You may have anticipated this email or phone call, and made a contact form, and put your phone number on the site. But how easy did you make it for the customer to identify and describe a page and product on a page so that customers who call-in or email can communicate properly? Don't make them say, "It's 5 clicks into that category after you go to the second section from the third button on the left." That will not only confuse your customer, but also the customer service representative.

The web site's goal is to persuade and make any task easy to find and perform. No matter how busy the design appears, if tasks are obvious, and easy to understand and use, the visitor will remain. By focusing on their actions and reactions by creating task assignments, you manage to make both a salad or buffet approach easy to use.

What a Lovely Hat You're Wearing

How do you get someone to see your site the way artists like people to experience their art? You bring the user into the scene. You give the web site substance.

At first glance, when we meet someone, we scan his or her appearance. We make some judgments as to the who and what the person is, and maybe where they're from. We have less to go on for the how and why. Dating helps. So does a drink at the local pub. For each page of your web site, an introductory paragraph that quickly and simply answers these questions will suffice.

Google does it with "I'm Feeling Lucky". They've instantly invited you inside, with that little teasing gesture. The happy colors logo doesn't hurt either. Those big "O's" look like eyes, don't they?

Amazon does everything but prepare me a cup of espresso. Their homepage addresses me by name at least 5 times. Other words are "your" as in "your new releases" and "new for you". Most web sites use "what's new" and "we". Amazon likes me, so I buy stuff from them. It's that simple.

Blog writers also captivate us by pulling us into their world and giving us everything. They share all, from piercing their navel to what they think of their neighbor's motorcycle shocking them out of bed at 6:30 am every morning. They describe these things so exquisitely that you squirm at the thought of the poor belly button and you can hear the Harley rumble in your head. We love our personal dramas. We think, no, we KNOW, everyone else does too.

Like Picasso's art, and that of others, you want to know something about it, even if at first you don't understand it.

What The Artists Taught Me

For months I've been trying to find "that something" that's been bothering me about web site usability, specifically the age-old question, "Why do some web sites sell and others don't? "

I came close when I began using user personas during usability testing. By watching my process, my clients realize how important their web site visitor is When someone can't order what he or she needs from a laptop and cell phone during a twenty-minute bumpy train ride to work, this is a potential lost sale.

Picasso helped me see how we can direct someone's attention even when there are many layers of thought streaming in.

When my artist friend said, "I see the things most people miss" during the most mundane of tasks, such as opening a door, or as in his painting of a view from a toy story window, I began to understand. His paintings put back the missing pieces from our view that we skim over every day. His art, like Picasso's, does it with layers, with hints of things that make you curious, and with details that bring you into the moment.

Persuasiveness and desirability in web site design are in the details. They're in the point of view and in the delivery, and more than anything else, in the experience of interaction. They are that inner cosmic connection between the web site and site visitor.

This is what distinguishes web sites from one another and makes some of them functional and productive pieces of art.

By Kimberly Krause Berg