Friday 30 May 2014

Top 10 Website Design Trends for 2014

1. Responsive Website Design
As you might have expected, mobile responsiveness is a very high priority. This isn’t a very new or exciting trend (we’ve been building responsive websites since late 2010), but it is extremely important in our mobile world. Mobile responsiveness is no longer an added bonus; it’s a must. Don’t believe me? As of February 2014, 60% of Internet access is mostly mobile! That is an amazing statistic.

2. Attractive Font Styles
Fonts with personality and flair are taking center stage. Expect to see designers experimenting with new fonts, creating custom fonts to fit the client’s needs, and straying away from standard serifs and sans-serifs like Times New Roman and Helvetica. Expect the unexpected when it comes to typography. While there have been issues with some of these fonts rendering on some browser/operating system combinations, we do expect this to improve in 2014 and beyond.

3. Videos
Videos are gaining momentum this year. Expect to see them headlining home pages, taking the place of large blocks of text. Since they don’t fit well with every company, they require a lot of data, and they ask a lot of viewers (you have to turn on your speakers and listen, and you can’t skim), videos won’t be as common as some of our other web design trends for 2014, but don’t be surprised if you see more presentation-style videos popping up across the web.

4. Flat Designs
Flat design is sticking around for 2014. Apple, always a trendsetter, went even flatter with iOS 7, so don’t expect this trend to fade away anytime soon. It made headlines in 2013, and it’s sticking around for the top web design trends for 2014.

5. Lots of Scrolling
Mobile design has made both designers and viewers comfortable with the idea of lots of scrolling, so embrace it in 2014. Many sites are incorporating scrolling as a feature, urging viewers to scroll down the page as though they’re reading a story. This storytelling technique can really suck a viewer into your website, especially when it’s combined with parallax scrolling.

6. Simple Colors
Why use colors when you could use just one or two? Simplified color schemes work well with flat design and can add a lot of drama. They immerse you in the website’s content instead of distracting you with a plethora of hues and shades.

7. Content Placement
If you want your viewer to focus on what’s important, your content must be streamlined and simplified. Instead of a dozen elements fighting for attention, in 2014 you’ll see short bursts of text and carefully chosen images and graphics.

8. High Resolution and Creative Images
It’s much easier to achieve great image quality these days. Creative and beautiful images cost less than ever before and loading speed is faster than ever before. So if you’ve got great photos, show them off! Images draw the viewer’s eye. Plus, they look fantastic on retina displays.

9. Grid Style
Again, this isn’t a new trend, but grid-style layouts are sticking around for 2014. They help designers condense information into an easy-to-read, organized format. Grid style is easy on the eyes and helpful to the viewer.

10. Large Introductions
Introduction areas at the top of websites are dominating home page real estate. This area is usually covered in a large graphic or image and little copy. As the year continues, we expect to see more of these large, interesting, and elaborate heroes.

Thursday 22 May 2014

10 Reasons To Launch A Website

Change is constant, an appropriate adage for today's scenario. There is a vast competitive market where you want to establish your enterprise. You should be more forward thinking if you wish to stand out in your business. Being in the market is just not enough, people should mark your presence then only your business will be successful.
One of the easiest ways of reaching masses is through Internet. For this your business needs a website, which can represent you on web giving you a web presence.
This isn't that expensive, if done properly can give you better ROI (Return on Investment) than any advertisement or promotion. If these reasons are not enough for you then let's discuss 10 more reasons why your business needs a website.

Professional Image
A website helps you to create a professional image. A professionally designed website can attract visitors which can convert into new customers. This gives an impression that the company is credible and trustworthy. Your well made website gives you a professional touch.

Business Information
Your website makes you easily accessible and reachable. You can provide your business information in your website like phone number, fax number, clients and special offerings. People can get a brief about you just by visiting your company website

Promotional Tool
Website is the most convenient and professional promotional tool. It ensures a less expensive and continuous promotion to your business. It is easy to update than yellow pages or brochures. It can save your printing expenditure.

Establishes E - Commerce
Millions of customers log on to the Internet everyday to expand web business or E- Commerce. Once you are in the web the transactions the business you generate becomes a part of the E-Commerce, where you deal in a virtual market. Your single website becomes your active tool in generating business by E-Commerce businesses.

Research Information
Your website provides the required research information to your visitors. Many people spend hour in Internet searching articles, information for educational purpose. You can be referred by many visitors if your website has information about any product or service.

Demographic Market
The World Wide Web or WWW is the highest virtual market having the highest percentage of demographic market available. This mostly consists of educated mass that can spend more on the web. You can target a large mass of affluent customers through Internet.

Global Market
Internet is a global medium. If you have a website it can be visited from any part of the globe. People can visit your website for information and offerings. This gives your business a global presence.

Round the Clock Availability
Your business hour can have a proper timing but your website is not bound of timings. People can visit your website anytime any day. Your webpage can serve your client round the clock without charging any overtime

Feedback - Room for improvement
Website can give you instant feedback which is not possible for print. Visitors can give you proper feedback by e mail. You can even generate an instant feedback form in your website, where visitors can express their views about your website.

Persuasive
People believe in what they see. When you will have a visible web presence you can allure visitors and show confidence on your expertise and work. By providing service and product information you can get instant orders from your visitors. This can effortlessly attract new business for you.

Sunday 18 May 2014

15 Interesting Facts About Graphic Designing

1. This thing made me happy that almost 286,000 people have employed as Graphic Designer in 2008. It is interesting fact that many people are entering into this field of work.

2. This is a way of career where experience is more important than education. Usually people start their journey from entry level and with the improvement of their work they achieve a senior position.

3. Graphic Design is an art that comes from mind. A cruel fact is that some people cannot be a moral designer even after enormous experience.





4. People that are creative since the start of their work can get higher level jobs after training.

5. According a survey, the job opportunities are expected to be increase in large amount in 2018. There is a chance that people that are relevant to designing or development fields of computer will get more opportunities for career than other fields.

6. During 2009 it was observed that the average salary that a designer earned was $43,180.

7. This is a funny thing to know that almost all the designers get addicted to designing. They can’t sit idle. They keep designing things for their own satisfaction or timepass.

8. Only those succeed in this field have passion and would be able to work in extreme timings.

9. Graphic Designer degree is a four year degree. This is an important degree that will help them to know about business also.

10. Most of the designers prefer freelance working. In this way they are able to work in relaxed manner.

11. Things keep changing in this field. So a designer cannot work continuously in a same way. He has to keep learning further. New and powerful techniques keep on coming.

12. Even After getting the degree, some designers quit their career as graphic designing. They start their field as an art gallery owner sometimes.

13. The boy silhouetted in the logo design of Hollywood studio DreamWorks SKG is William, the son of Robert Hunt (the illustrator hired for the design).

14. Some of the Graphic Designers had actually presented hand writing logos which become extremely popular. (Coca Cola)

15. Most of the Graphic designers that got popularity were also interested Typography and film making.

Thursday 8 May 2014

TOP 5 BENEFITS OF SEO

TOP 5 BENEFITS OF SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Increased Traffic - Top positions on the search engine result pages receive a majority of the impressions and clicks, so ranking in these top positions can result in significant traffic increases for your website. SEO also focuses on creating informative and keyword relevant title tags and meta descriptions, which show up in the result pages. Having optimized tags and descriptions helps to increase click through rate, which also promotes increases in qualified web traffic.



ROI - SEO provides trackable and quantifiable results, regardless of whether you are an ecommerce or non-ecommerce site so there are no qualms when it comes to ROI. SEO agencies are able to track nearly every aspect of their strategy, like increases in rankings, traffic and conversions. Comprehensive analytics also provide the ability to drill down at a granular level and see demographic information and other engagement metrics for individuals who have interacted with your website. For Ecommerce sites, SEO agencies can see which paths users take in order to complete a sale, all the way down to which keyword they used to search for you prior to purchasing. For non-Ecommerce sites, you can attribute values to your lead conversions, like a 'contact us' form fill-out, and calculate the value of your SEO strategy that way.

Cost effectiveness - SEO is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies because it targets users who are actively looking for your products and services online. SEO's inbound nature helps businesses save money as opposed to outbound strategies like cold-calling. While cold-calling can still be an effective strategy, the leads generated cost 61% more than leads generated by an inbound strategy like SEO. And since SEO also targets users who are actively searching for products and services like yours, the traffic resulting from SEO is more qualified than many other marketing strategies, resulting in cost-savings for companies.

Increased site usability – In an effort to make your website easier to navigate for the search engines, SEO simultaneously helps to make your website more navigable for users as well. SEO consists of rearranging the site's architecture and links to make pages within the website easier to find and navigate. This not only makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site and find pages, but also makes it easier for users to find information on your website as well.

Brand Awareness - Since top position rankings result in significant impressions, having your website in these top positions on the result pages translates to more exposure for your website. Plus, being on the first page for your targeted keywords not only helps users to associate your brand with those keywords, but it instills trust, since companies on the first page are generally perceived to be more trustworthy. The more your pages and content rank in high positions in the search engines, the more chances you have for users to see your content and associate with your brand.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

12 Benefits Of Having A Website

12 Benefits Of Having A Website

Some of the goals that can be achieved by launching a website include the following:

1. Far Cheaper and Much More Flexible Than Print Advertising
The Internet is extremely different from print advertising in that space is cheap, your advertisement is accessible for a longer period of time, the content can be changed without having to ask someone to do it for you (if you use a content management system) and you can potentially reach a wider audience.
This is not to say that you should not use other forms of advertising at all   You can use it to entice people to visit your website and find out about your company and potentially open two-way communication between the potential customer and a sales person.

2. Market Expansion
The Internet has allowed businesses to break through the geographical barriers and become accessible, virtually, from any country in the world by a potential customer that has Internet access.

3. Diversify Revenue Streams
A website is not just a medium for representation of your company, it is a form of media from which everybody can acquire information. You can use this media to sell advertising space to other businesses.
A recent trend has risen where businesses feature their very own directory of complimentary services, where the visitor can search for information on a business that will enhance the use of your service. The business sells complimentary businesses a listing in their directory.
A good example is a catering company featuring a directory with businesses such as event co-coordinators, electronic equipment rental companies, etc.

4. 24x7x365
No more turning customers away when its time to close shop, putting up a note saying  closed for public holiday , or leaving an irritating message on your answering service specifying your trading hours   tell them to visit your website for information they are looking for.

5. Offer Convenience
It is far more convenient for a person to research a product on the Internet than it is to get in a car, drive somewhere and look for or ask someone for information on a product. Also, a potential customer won t have to judge a call centre agent to determine whether he/she has their best interests in mind, or just wants to make a sale.
The potential customer can visit your website whenever they like in their own privacy and comfort, without the stresses and distractions that exist in the  real world .
Your website is a self-service medium   for example, instead of having to wait in a long cue to pay your TV License, you can now do it electronically through the TV License website.

6. Add Value and Satisfaction
By offering convenience, a point of reference and that touch of individualized customer service, you ultimately add value to your offering and your customers experience a higher level of satisfaction.
Your website can add value in other ways too, by featuring tips, advice and general interest content you can  entertain  your customers. This will also help them remember you better.

7. Standardize Sales Performance
By looking at which approached / pitches have worked in the past and those which have not, you can produce the ultimate pitch and use it with your website, so that you use it on every customer. No more training of sales people and waiting for them to get a feel for your line of trade.

8. Improve credibility
A website gives you the opportunity to tell potential customers what you are about and why you deserve their trust and confidence. In fact, many people use the internet for pre-purchase research so that they can determine for themselves whether a particular supplier or brand is worthy of their patronage, and won t take them for a ride.
The Internet also allows for Viral Marketing   where your website visitors spread positive word-of-mouth about your business - your customers do your marketing!

9. Promote your  Brick  n  Mortar  Presence
Getting lost trying to find a place can be frustrating for a potential customer. You can publish what they call a  dummy map  on your website, which shows directions and landmarks graphically, and the potential customer can print it out when looking for your  Brick  n  Mortar  premises.
You might advertise a promotion on your website encouraging the visitor to visit your  Brick  n  Mortar  premises (e.g..  At a branch near you! ).
Also, if you recently moved to a new location, you will have to wait for the next 'phone directory to come out before people figure out where you currently are. Because a website is flexible   you can change the content as you like   you can change you contact details instantly and lower the risk of losing customers when moving to a new location.

10. Growth Opportunity
A website serves as a great place to refer potential investors to, to show them what your company is about, what it has achieved and what it can achieve in future.

11. Two-Way Communicative Marketing
Customers can quickly and easily give feedback on your product and/or marketing approach.

12. Cheap Market Research
You can use features on your website such as visitor polls, online surveys and your website statistics to find out what your customers like more and how they feel about certain aspects of your business to determine how you can improve your product and the way you do business.