Low Price Web Design – Advertising and Marketing

If you need a web designer, but have no clue about the typical web design process, I am quite certain that you must be feeling a bit overwhelmed about what to expect. As web designers, we oftentimes have a myriad of roles to fill when working with their clients, but as the client, you always have a right to know the complete design process up front. Let’s talk a bit about what questions you may want to ask a potential design firm before they get started on your website.

1.) “How much is this going to cost?” Of course you want to know that! Be sure the designer gives you a consultation, which allows you a sneak preview on what they will be able to do for YOU. You want your designer to be personal with you, not general.

2.) Your designer needs to know the general PURPOSE of your site. What is your main goal? Who is your audience? Will there be interactivity, collaboration, or e-commerce on your website? You should ask the designer if he or she has the capabilities of designing a site that would suit your purpose and mission.

3.) Ask for a contract to review. Take a few days to look over the contract before signing.

4.) Does the designer ask you what YOU like? Your designer should ask you about your favorite colors on the web, what websites you do or don’t like, and why. Also they should make sure they discuss with you any features that you find unappealing and take note of your opinions.

5.) Who will own the copyrights to the finished product? Make sure you find out whether or not your designer takes full copyrights of the website. Many times designers will also want to use your website designs as part of their portfolio. They should let you know this in advance.

6.) Will your designer also host your site? Make sure you find out how your site will be published and which company will provide your hosting services. How often will you need to make hosting payments and when? Who will secure your domain name, and does this come with hosting?

These are all questions to consider when working with a web designer. As you become familiar with the person you are working with, it will become easier to detect his or her style, and be able to communicate effectively with them. As a designer, I can tell you that we wear many different hats and work with many different people on a daily basisbut as the client you will ALWAYS have a right to ask questions and expect reasonable answers. In your search for a trustworthy web designer, be sure to ask the questions above, and I’m certain you’ll locate the designer with the right answers for you.

Demetria Zinga is the founder and owner of http://www.faith-media.com, a technology and consulting firm which specializes in web design and hosting, graphics and print designs, internet marketing, and e-training. She is also the founder of http://www.christianladies.net, an interactive ezine, blog, and podcast for Christian women.

Web site builders are a relatively new addition to the web hosting company’s mix of products and services. Website builders have been introduced mainly to service the majority who don’t know how to program in HTML or any other programming knowledge but still want to control and flexibility that comes from creating and maintain your own website. Using a good web site builder can make your life much easier.

How can you find a web site builder that meets your needs? First, you have to know what you really need. What are you planning to do with your website? If it is just simple stuff like putting up a personal website and throwing a few pictures up for friends and family to see, you won’t need too much. It is a safe bet that pretty much any web site builder will work for you. If on the other hand, you plan on making sales from your website and doing some serious business and traffic from it, you’ll want to be sure that the site builder you choose will be up to the challenge.

Look for a free trial or a free demo you can use to test out the functionality of the site builder. Most companies will let you take their website builder for a spin before you buy. Having the chance to work with the web site builder before you commit to it can make a big difference as to your comfort level before you buy. You’ll get a chance to put the site builder through its paces and decide whether it meets your needs.

Are you locked in to their templates or can you build your own from scratch? Many web site builders out there will force you to use their templates and not allow you to make any significant changes to the template. If you can’t find a template from their selection that you like, you’ll simply have to deal with it. Know though, that there are some site builders out there that will allow you to strip the template right down to bare bones and build your own custom graphics, headers and footers to create almost any kind of look you want while retaining the easy to use aspect of the site builder.

What else do you get with the web site builder besides a template and some easy to edit text? Do they offer a free domain name? Do they give you enough disk space to host lots of images and pages? How many pages do they let you create? How many sites can you create with their web site builder? If there is a limit, what does it cost to raise the limit on any of these options? Knowing the answers to these and other important questions will allow you to compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges. Two companies may seem to offer the same price point and the same features but you will often find major differences in pricing between the two of them to accomplish what you need.

Do your research and you will be well on your way to a web site builder that meets your needs and gives you quality, professional results at a reasonable price.

Joe Duchesne is a webmaster for YowlingBuilder.com and Yowling.com. Yowling is a company that offers a feature rich web site builder will all of the benefits mentioned above and more while YowlingBuilder.com offers information on website builders. Reprint this article freely as long as the keyword rich links in this resource box are kept live and pointing at their respective sites.

At last we are seeing a navigation away from the dynamic or [i]fancy[/i] type of website that has been inundating the Internet through virtually anyone who has had the funds to pay the sometimes ridiculous fees demanded to have a website designed and created. I’m speaking mainly, of course, about [b]Flash[/b], that wonderful web design program that makes it possible to have a website do virtually [b]ANYTHING[/b] – except rank in the Search Engines.

Search Engines can’t read Flash the same as they can’t they read JavaScript, but many web designers keep applying these components to websites in [b]too much[/b] quantity, I suspect, to bedazzle their clients and in doing so, are robbing them of the chief reason anyone seeks an Internet presence – Rankings in the Search Engines.

I’ve often seen RSS feeds applied to websites in the JavaScript version – a waste of time and resources. I’ve also seen many websites promoting their FREE RSS feed thus: [i]“Just copy this script into the html page of you website and you’ll have daily updated content, which the Search Engines love”[/i]. The problem? The script they are supplying is JavaScript. Again… useless as far as the Search Engines are concerned.

Of course, many will be thinking to themselves, [i]“You design a website for users, not Search Engines”[/i]. I agree 100 per cent. In fact, the two are so closely linked, as I see it, that you can hardly do one without doing the other. Internet users want information and they want it NOW! There is no information contained in a spaceship flying across the page or whatever weird and wonderful Flash gimmick has been created. There is nothing for the user in waiting for the huge amounts of time it takes for Flash sites to load. Also users need to be able to navigate a website easily and quickly. They need to find what they want without having to search for the means to get to the appropriate page. I’ve rarely seen a ‘total’ Flash site that has anywhere near the simplicity and ease in navigation that plain HTML can give.

I recently redesigned two websites, for different clients. Both websites were made up [b]COMPLETELY[/b] of Flash. Checking the [i]Source Code[/i] was basically a joke – there almost was none! At least nothing that a Search Engine could read, index and rank effectively. WHY? I have no idea. I was told by one of the clients, after they got upset when I told them why their website hadn’t achieved anything in the SE rankings after three years, and they asked their previous designer why the website had been designed in that way. Their answer reportedly was, “I didn’t know you wanted a website that would rank in the Search Engines”.

I suppose that’s not so laughable when you consider that there [b]ARE[/b] websites which simply serve as an [i]extension of a business[/i] for use by existing clients to download reports, use as reference sources or maybe access tools or updates. However, I would think any half intelligent person would be able to tell this type of website simply by looking it. Especially a web designer!

As HTML text is the main component of a website that the Search Engine robots can recognize, read and index, keyword rich HTML text should be the major content component of any website. Of course, aesthetics are important too, so a balance of imaging, logo, background and navigation utilities can be used to design and build a [i]user friendly[/i] website, which is also Search Engine friendly AND aesthetically pleasing, in fact, often downright beautiful to look at. HTML websites can be made to look every bit as attractive as Flash websites, even if they may sometimes lack the ‘dynamic’ and the ‘exciting’.

I’ve always had a rule of thumb as far as designing and building my own websites and I apply it also now, to the design and creation of other’s websites. I have always been familiar with what the ‘leaders’ are doing. Websites like Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo, MSN, About.com i.e. websites that millions visit every week, if not every day, and continue to do so. Those websites with PRs of 9 and 10. Even when Flash was [b]THE[/b] thing to have, they only used it sparingly in a corner or in a strip across the top of the Home page (as Adobe are doing right now). None of them EVER used Flash to the extent that many web designers decided too and I have to assume that these ‘top’ Internet concerns have the very best minds in the world advising and designing their websites.

Again, as always, it comes back to the same thing… As with life, ALL things can be beneficial and worthwhile but as soon as you begin to overuse anything, you end up in a place called ‘trouble’. I don’t believe anything at all was ever designed, built, invented or discovered to be used in excess. But nothing has ever been more obviously harmful online, in excess, than Flash.

Stephen Brennan is an accomplished web designer, SEO consultant and optimiser, Affiliate Marketer and Internet Author. He operates numerous Affiliate and information based websites. He has written ‘The Affiliate Guide Book’ – The Definitive Guide To Affiliate Success. He also designs and builds websites and performs SEO for HTML Web Design