Category Archives: Web Design Info

The design and the development of a website can be a daunting, time-consuming project.

Before a website goes live, its owner needs to ensure that it serves the purpose that was intended and will reach the business’s target audience.

Any business that is looking to create a new website or redesign an existing one should conduct proper research and planning. The following factors should be considered before moving forward:

Audience

Before developing a website, businesses need to understand what appeals to their audience, what will grab their attention and what sort of information they are looking for when they visit the site. This information is necessary to properly design the site and make decisions about content.

Competition

Every business should conduct an analysis of its competitors’ websites before moving forward. This helps the business owner learn what works and what doesn’t, while staying ahead of the curve.

Objectives

Businesses need to map out their goals and objectives before creating their website. These objectives will not only help outline the development of the website, but act as a blueprint to measure the future success of the site.

In addition to the business’s own unique objectives, the development of a website also needs to follow a specific set of standards that are universal, according to Crisafi. These universal standards include accessibility, web standards and performance, compatibility and search engine optimization (SEO).

Copyright 2012 dzine it, Inc. web design company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The sad reality of most business websites is that when the cost to get it off the ground may be reasonable, the cost of future improvements usually comes as an unexpected surprise. Some website development agencies fail to future-proof a client’s website by choosing the wrong platform, incorporating an inflexible design, or failing to integrate a good content management system.

Whether these oversights are inadvertent or not, this sort of situation means that at website owner will quickly outgrow their site and need to shell out a lot of money to make even the most basic updates and improvements.

There are three future needs to be considered so that a business owner can take the necessary precautions to avoid unforeseen future costs.

Future Content Changes

The days of static websites are just about over. Website owners need to recognize that content will change as new products, services and specials are made available.

This is why a website needs to be developed with an integrated CMS, so that business owners or their employees can edit, add or delete content.

Future Design Changes

A professional website designer will set up a website so that its overall look and feel can change without affecting existing content or technical features. This approach will minimize costs down the road.

Future Feature and Functionality Additions

A good web professional will establish a website platform that can easily and affordably grow with a business’s needs. While there may be a cost associated with upgrading to add certain features, if a site is built properly from the start, that cost will be nominal.

Copyright 2012 dzine it, Inc. web design company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Business owners have less than three seconds to make a first impression on their website visitors.

Less than three seconds is exactly how long it takes for the most captivating elements of a website to hit home, according to a recently released study conducted by Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Researchers used eye-tracking software to determine how website designs influence users.

Really, the study’s findings are nothing new or Earth-shattering. It has been widely accepted that a user’s first impression of a website will determine that user’s opinion of the business it represents.

Researchers monitored the eye movements of study participants as they scanned Web pages. Next, researchers analyzed the data to determine how long each individual focused on specific sections of a particular page, including the website menu, company logo, images and social media icons.

For the purpose of the study, researchers used law school websites to measure what elements drew the most interest from participants. The results are as follows:

• Logos. The study found that participants spent approximately 6.48 seconds focused on this area before moving on.
• Main navigation menus. Participants spent an average of 6.44 seconds viewing a website’s main navigation menu.
• Search boxes. Participants focused there attention on website search boxes for just over 6 seconds.
• Social networking links. Links to sites like Facebook and Twitter garnered just shy of 6 seconds from participants.
• Dominant website images. A website’s main image was fixated upon by participants for an average of 5.94 seconds.
• Written content. Participants seemed to spend just 5.59 seconds focused on a website’s written content.

What does this mean for website owners? Particular attention should be paid to a website’s overall navigation and design for maximum results. A poorly designed website or logo and a difficult navigational structure will surly send visitors off to another website.

Copyright 2012 dzine it, Inc. web design company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Building a website and keeping it running is one thing, but maintaining it is another thing.

For business website owners, it is crucial to regularly change website designs. As time passes, tastes and preferences change and the integration of the latest trends is the key to continued success.

One of the main reasons why business website designs need to consistently change is so that they can remain fresh and entertaining.

If your website has been up for quite a while and there has been little change to its interface, navigation and design, users will stop coming back. Change is the perfect way to drive new visitors to your site and keep current clients interested.

Expansion is another significant reason why a website's design may need to be refreshed. When a business decides to add new features to its website, the need for expansion and a redesign becomes an obvious requirement.

This is particularly true with relatively young websites. In many cases, a start-up website is produced to be cheap, simple and effective. In time, however, the site will need to expand.

This is why it is essential that start-up sites continually change their website design as they grow. As a website grows, its visitor base will grow as well and he notes that it is important to analyze exactly what visitors are looking for, using a website analytics tool.

If you start noticing that users are becoming more focused on your blogs, redesign your website to focus on your blogs. If you see that most users love your video tutorials, try incorporating multiple video links on your site, rather than promoting your YouTube channel.

When features are added to or removed from a website, modifications will have to be made to its design in order to ensure that it is running properly.

Regardless of the nature of your business, it is essential that a website is kept as up-to-date and as fresh as possible.

Copyright 2012 dzine it, Inc. web design company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.