Category Archives: Web Design
Tips for a Good SEO Web Design
Although social networking is what everyone is talking about these days, search engine marketing is still as relevant as it ever was. If anything, the content being produced by social media sites had increased the use of search engines as a way of cutting through the chatter to get to the information they are looking for. Although making sure your content is optimized to rank well in the search engines, having a good design created by an Ohio website design firm also plays a part in an effective search engine marketing strategy. Here are a few tips for making sure your web template is SEO friendly.
Appropriate Header Tags – Your Ohio website design company should incorporate header tags in the right places. In addition to structuring your content in a readable way, header tags tell a search engine what is the most important piece of information is on your site. For example, content between H1 tags dictate that it is the most important thing on the page. Therefore, the name of the site should be in between these tags. The titles of your articles should be inside of H2 tags and H3 tags and below should be used for headers in the sidebar and sub headers in your content.
Structure – It doesn’t matter if your sidebar is on the left or the right. The most important thing is how the content on your site is structured behind the scenes. The Ohio website design firm should code your template so that your articles load first and everything else afterwards. The reason for this is twofold. First, it will make it easier for the search engine robots to index your content. The second reason is that your visitors will be able to start reading your articles while waiting for everything else on your site to load into the browser screen.
Link Structure – Your site navigation should be structured in such a way that your web visitors are able to get to all of the pages on your website within one or two clicks. Not only does this make it convenient for your visitors but search engine robots find content by following links. If links to your articles are not easily accessible then it may not get indexed by the search engine. Put your most important links in a navigation bar and make sure the Ohio website design company creates a sitemap that lists all of the content on your site and links to it from the first page.
Why Use Pinnacle Cart for E-commerce
In this article we will take a look at Pinnacle Cart and explain why we believe no serious E-commerce business should go without it. It is the number 1 solution we turn to here at our ohio website design company. See our Pinnacle Cart and E-commerce solutions for more details on these services.
There are a lot of technology solutions out there for E-Commerce that are good to use. Some are better than others. You have your Open Source technology choices and your closed source technology choices. We ourselves have used a few of these software choices and at first glance they look to be ok and they tend to be affordable and come well within the range of most of our client’s budgets. I will be honest and say that the carts we have used all needed some add-ons to do what the client wanted really wanted to have done.
Then we found Pinnacle Cart. We gave it a spin and dived deep into it to see what we would find. What we found was an amazing piece of software with a whole list of features. In the end we found an incredible solution and feel good about offering it to our clients as well.
The feature list is long and we will only outline some of them here below. We think you are really going to like the technology that drives this software.
ADMIN SCREEN
Right when you sign in you will see how organized and well thought out the admin screen is. It is neat, clean, well organized, and easy to navigate. And since this is where you as a business owner will be spending most of your time you will appreciate this very much. We have seen other admin screens and this one takes the cake.
FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE
There are some great templates right out of the box. They look amazing and are very professional. The templates are also very customizable as well. Choose an existing template and change it around a little or you can have a professional design a completely custom ecommerce store.
A CART MADE FROM MARKETERS FOR MARKETERS
The creators of Pinnacle Cart have a strong marketing background and they brought that background into the design of this shopping cart. Because of that there are many tools you will find to help you market your website. You have product promotion tools; email marketing tools, newsletters, and more. The cart is very SEO friendly so that you can get your store promoted on the search engines.
PCI/PA-DSS COMPLAINT SHOPPING CART
As ecommerce owners you are responsible for making sure that your store is safe and secure. And to make sure this happens the credit card companies have set in place guidelines that all ecommerce website owners must adhere to or face stiff fines and/or have your website shut down. One of those guidelines is safe and secure software. Pinnacle Cart is one of the only shopping cart software companies whose software is PCI/PA-DSS compliant.
The list of features could go on and on. We have just highlighted some of our favorite ones here. The technology is amazing. We highly recommend this E-commerce bundle and are glad that we have it as a tool for our E-commerce clients.
Tips for Choosing an Ohio Website Design Company
Choosing an Ohio website design company is an important decision. There are many website design companies to choose from here in Ohio. Who can you trust? It’s your money and project on the line. How can you increase the odds of finding a trustworthy Ohio website design company that will deliver what they promise on time and on budget? How do you choose the right web design company? What questions should you ask? How can you separate the good from the bad? We want to give you some tips on what to do to find just the right web design company.
1. Ask your friends or co-workers
Ask around. Do any of your friends or co-workers know of any web design companies that they themselves have worked with? Getting a personal referral is great because they can rely on past experience to help inform your decision. They can tell you what their experience was like. And if they are referring the design company you can take that as a good indicator that the company is trustworthy and that their experience was a good one.
2. Shop around
Take your time and do your homework. Do not rush into your decision. Know what you want and need. Be clear in sharing your needs and wants with the design company you are checking out. Look for companies who desire to build a relationship with you and who don’t just see you as a dollar sign. Make sure they are asking you questions as well.
3. Clear talk
Tech people can sometimes forget that not everyone speaks their language. The person you are dealing with at the design firm should be able to talk at your level. Make sure they are talking to you in a way that you understand. If you don’t understand something do not be afraid to ask them to explain it to you. Do not let them try and sell you something you do not understand. Have them explain what they are trying to sell you and why they think you need it. Most of all ask them how what they are trying to sell you will help your bottom line.
4. Ask for references don’t just rely on the portfolio
We can all make ourselves look good. We can post anything we want online. This is true for design companies as well. They can post pictures of all the websites they ever created. In the end this means nothing. Sure the design may look good, but was the client satisfied in the end? Asking for references is a great idea and should be done. If the company is not willing to do that you need to move on.
5. Sign a contract
This should go without saying but often this is overlooked and the results could be devastating. Make sure you get and sign a contract. The contract should be a clear written agreement. Know what you are getting and what promises are being made. If you do not completely understand the contract ask them to explain the parts that you don’t understand. The contract needs to be clear on what work is being done and how much it will cost. Make sure that both parties sign the contract and that each one has a copy.
6. Will you own the website
You need to ask the website design company if they will hand over all the rights to the website. They should give you all the associated passwords, files, content and all other media. At the end of the project they should hand over to you all related materials of the project. Some design companies will not tell you that in the end they are the ones who own the rights to the website and they will not give you access to any of your project materials. Get in writing that you will own the rights and that they will give you access to all your project materials.
We hope the above tips have been helpful. Finding the right website design company is important and finding one you can trust is even more vital. You now have some tools that you can use to help in your decision making process.
If you have any questions we are here to help. Feel free to contact us anytime.
Good Website Design
Good website design is a must for any business who wants to succeed in today’s ever changing business climate. Gone are the days that your potential customers are looking for your by flipping through the phone book. Your potential customers are turning to the Internet to find you. It’s easy, fast, and convenient. Good website design will drive potential customers right to you. Turning them into buyers. Poor website design will drive them right into the arms of your competition. The difficult part for many business owners is figuring out how good website design is accomplished.
Five Elements of Good Website Design
Visual Design
The first thing that a potential customer is going to see is the overall visual design of your site. People spend hours surfing the web each day. They know good design when they see it. And even more significantly, they know bad design. Unprofessional design is a major deterrent. For this reason, hiring a professional and experienced web designer is key. You must be willing to pay for quality design. If you hire your nephew that has designed a couple websites for friends, it will show. If you want to look professional, you should hire a professional designer to make sure you do. A good designer will know how to design your site to make it professional and they will also know how to design your site to make it easy for search engines to find.
Simplicity
Simplicity plays an important role in the visual and functional aspects of your website. People are coming to your website for information and it should be easy to find. if your website is unorganized and cluttered finding your information will be difficult to do. Websites that use flashy designs can also be a deterrent for your potential customer and they will move on. You may think it impresses your client but in actuality you could be keeping your potential customer from the information they came to your website to find. Keep it simple.
User Interface
The user interface is another important aspect of your website design. User interface deals with how the site user finds the information on your site they are looking for. These functions will include your site navigation, site buttons, and icons that help your site visitors get around your website. A well designed user interface will be simple and easy to use.
Content
Content is king! Content is another vital aspect of good web design. Your website content should be well written. Use it to introduce your company and to provide your product or service offerings. Bad grammar and content that is written poorly will turn away your potential customers. Bad grammar is a poor representation of your company. By following these simples steps you will be sure to create a website that attracts customers.
If you have any questions our Ohio website design team will be happy to help you with any of your questions.
