Recession Proof And Recession Vulnerable Businesses

The recession and financial troubles over the last few years has hit many businesses, while others have been able to continue much as usual. Although this is partly due to how each business is run, there are certain industries that are better placed to cope in economically turbulent times than others.

Below are some "recession-proof" businesses as well as businesses that particularly suffer in tough times.

RECESSION PROOF BUSINESSES

Below are some industries and businesses that are better placed than most in an economic crises.

Food Shops

People have to eat so food shops are well placed to see out a recession. Although food purchasing habits may change everybody will still be buying it. Luxury foods and more expensive retailers may suffer, but cheaper food retailers can really benefit as people do everything possible to spend as little as they can.

Very High-End Products

You may be thinking "how can expensive products be in demand during a recession?" There are, however, always wealthy people no matter how bad the economy looks. This can mean high-end products do not suffer as much as you would expect. Here we are talking private jets and mansions. People who can afford these types of things are not going to be suddenly left with nothing even if they do loose a percentage of their wealth. This means high-end products can still be in demand.

Discount Shops

People are always looking for a bargain, but this is even more the case if people are struggling financially. Offering products or services cheaper than the competition is particularly beneficial in the present climate.

Some Health Related Businesses

Health is essential whatever the circumstances. This means that some health businesses and healthcare providers will still be in business post-recession. This does, however, depend on the business and whether or not it is essential or a nice-to-have extra.

Pawnbrokers

Many people in financial trouble may have items at home of value, such as jewellery and family heirlooms. They may not want to sell these items but they might be willing to trade them in for cash in the short term. This means pawnbrokers can become particularly busy.

Pound Shops

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Pound Shops, and similar outlets, have been very successful over the last few years. The quality may not quite be there but people know they will get a discount. In the current times many are willing to trade quality for price.

Any business that can save people money will be a hit in a recession. Whether this is by providing something cheaper than the competition or providing something that means people don't need to spend on something else, they are likely to snap up these opportunities when they are strapped for cash.

BUSINESSES THAT SUFFER IN A RECESSION

So the above are the type of industries/businesses that can do well in a recession, but which are particularly vulnerable?

Marketing

Marketing companies can suffer as it is something businesses feel they can cut back on. It is an interesting one though, because it depends on the type of marketing. For some businesses to be successful they must invest in marketing. So although marketing budgets are still available they may need to be thought about in more detail. Web design and related industries have not particularly suffered, and in some instanced have become more successful as the internet becomes more important to businesses. Other areas, such as newspaper and television advertising, are deemed less effective than they once were and are therefore less of a priority for marketers.

Luxury Items

OK, so above I said luxury items can be unaffected but there I meant high-end luxury items. Other types of luxury items, however, can be impacted in the opposite way. For example, people are less likely to buy luxury biscuits when there is a cheaper option available. It is the small, but fairly regular, luxuries that people are more likely to do without. These are the items that are more "wants" than "needs".

Restaurants

More people have chosen to save money and eat at home in recent years. And those who do still eat out do so on a less regular basis. Eating out can be expensive and it is something many people feel they can do without.

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Speed up Your Business Growth

Every business owner naturally wants to grow his/her business fast!

Some businesses achieve this goal through effective marketing campaigns. But, for many others it is not so easy to take their businesses to the next level in a relatively short period of time; sometimes it takes years to acknowledge a real growth, mostly due to insufficient knowledge, resources, time and money.

To grow a business fast, you must utilize some of the general marketing strategies listed below:

* You should specialize in the communications disciplines ranging from branding, design and advertising to technology, financial, and corporate public relations. You have to be able to implement totally integrated marketing solutions.

* You have to have expertise in more efficient approach to integrated marketing than your competition has.

* You should specialize in launching strategic and creative promotional campaigns. You have to search for the big idea, which is translatable into relevant and effective communication.

* You should compete with interactive advertising specialists. You have to know how to convert your TV & Radio commercials into powerful interactive tools.

* In order to dramatically increase your ability to attract the attention of the widest target audience, you should do a valuable market research while running your daily campaigns.

* Such a market research takes tremendous amount of time, energy, and money which you might need to use in operating your everyday business.

Being aware of all these difficulties, you need a helping hand in such a way that you would launch interactive advertising and marketing campaigns promoting your Web site. An experienced marketing manager, or an established marketing and advertising company can provide you with the assistance you might need.

You will also need to submit your website to high traffic search engines, directories, advertising and marketing portals you can find all over the Internet.

You can also take advantage of the new blessings on the Internet which have been used by online marketers like crazy in the recent times. RSS & weblogs (blogs); powerful marketing tools loved by search engines, many of which are currently provided at no cost. If you utilize them properly and daily, or at least once a week, they would send thousands of visitors and potential customers to your website every month.

More visitors generate more sales and more profits. Everybody knows this simple fact. To attract more visitors to your website and business, you should use as many marketing methods as you can.

In addition to RSS feeds and blogs, articles and press releases are still used actively by online marketers as powerful marketing tools to get fr.ee publicity.

Start to write articles & press releases today without wasting your precious time. Time is money, you know! Write twenty-five articles and publish them on one page at your website. Because, after you send out an article, many newsletter, magazine, e-zine, website publishers would want to visit your website in order to get some more articles for their publications.

When they cannot find another informative article written by you, they would get disappointed about your professionalism, and go to another editor's website.

Because word of mouth spread around very fast, you might lose your potential, and even existing customers in a very short period of time.

If you don't have time to write so many articles and press releases, you can hire a copywriter, a ghostwriter inexpensively, as many other businesses do, or an advertising company would do all the advertising for your business.

There are many advertising and marketing companies offering perfect services at affordable prices.

Fortune 500 Companies and higher, frequently issue press releases despite they have great reputation and huge number of customers. They know, depending on their own business experiences that they should continue to market and advertise their businesses constantly, in order to keep their existing customers and attract more and more clients to grow their ventures; otherwise they would lose their chances to live in the business world.

Issuing articles and press releases are extremely powerful, at the same time most inexpensive ways of marketing businesses to reach tremendous number of target audience.

Companies, and small businesses alike, frequently use press releases and articles to keep their relations with media alive, since media is the most attractive and prestigious bridge between them and their existing and potential customers.

You must definitely use these four marketing strategies to grow your business real fast: Blog Marketing, RSS Feeds, Article Marketing, and Press Releases. This is a proven fact!

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How to Get Hold of Affordable Web Design

If you own a business of your own, you should devote good amount of time in developing its standard in order to make it stand on a firm footing against its contenders. There are different ways which can be employed in order to make the business strong enough one of which is to build a good business website. This is because a good website can to a large extent carry out the job of marketing and advertising- the two most essential features of a business. These two facets are highly imperative and every business targets to make them work in its favor. Effective advertising and marketing can greatly help to build a great website, the features of which would entice new clients and retain the former ones.

In order to ensure that a business works well through its website, it is imperative that you take aid of the services of a good website designing company. A Web Design Agency is one which specializes in building different types of business websites, meant to cater to different website needs. Every business has its own particular nature; hence it is extremely essential to get hold of a website design service that can develop designs which are meant to offer great results to your business.

Today the world revolves round the Internet, which suggests the reason behind the success of these business websites. Online surfers can go through the business websites in order to develop an understanding of the business itself. There are millions of people who surf the Internet everyday; so if you manage to create a great website for your business, you can expect to find your business promoted in great ways. Ny web designers treat the websites as an indispensable tool for the development of any type of business website. So you can always take aid of their services, communicate your needs and expect your job to get done. All you need to do is to specify your requirements and goals in order to help them build a potential website. With the aid of the correct website designers who can build a successful website that can meet the utility and productivity of your business.

Hough many businessmen are aware of the importance of these websites they refrain from taking aid of these services believing that it would be beyond their budget. Specially, the small scale businessmen find these services far beyond their means. But then this is not always true; there are many professional web designers who offer useful services at affordable rates. These people offer services at discounted rates due to a number of reasons. There are many professionals who are new in the field; hence, they require the patronage of clients for recognition at the early stage of their career. There are many website development companies which offer a number deals for small businessmen.

These schemes and offers are highly useful for they enable businessmen of every means to take aid of website designing companies. In order to get hold of these services you need to shop around adequately. You might have many friends and peers who have tried these services. Read the reviews on the low key website development agencies in order to determine their efficiency. Based on these factors you need to choose a website designing company that meets your criteria in every way. While making the selection, ensure that the company has the ability to take care of the area of service which requires greatest amount of attention. Even the web designers who offer services at low rates can be greatly helpful if you manage to make the correct selection.

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Business Phone Systems - Purchasing an Office Phone

Picking out and purchasing An Office Phone

A telephone system is essentially one of the most significant purchases of an enterprise. You will find different options to take into account when evaluating replacement of previous or damaged phones, when you need additional phones to include in a pre-existing system, or perhaps you are just starting a business or moving in a new location. At times, you are not aware of what features should be considered therefore it may be challenging to select your best option.

Search. If you do not know very well what attributes you need in your office phone, examine what exactly is available. Caller identification as well as message tends to be simple alternatives, many different mobile phone characteristics can be obtained also. You have to analyze if having the ability to decide on ringing tones and manage various other screen as well as configuration adjustments is vital for you.

For example, your office telephone might need call forwarding or routing abilities. Maybe a background music fro waiting callers is also necessary. An automated program and a high security feature might be needed as well. This is a matter of learning what your business requires.

After knowing the certain features that your office telephone should have, you have to think about the design next. Determine if you want headsets, cord less or maybe a sleek looking apparatus, or if you would jut prefer to have simple phones. Whatever your decision, the price will probably be influenced.

The budget to be allocated, will, of course, take a significant role while you are purchasing just about any products for your workplace. Regardless if you are a person seeking to buy some new particular tools, or you are generally ordering for the whole office, price will subject. The secret is to calculate the number of mobile phones you will need and your utmost spending budget. It doesn't make sense and will just be a waste of time if you will search for a telephone system when you do not know how much you'll be able to pay for.

There are numerous websites that can enable you to compare costs with an workplace phone coming from multiple small business this means you know that you have identified the best bargain. This is a good suggestion for any person looking to supply their office. You can save money if you will take a look around first or start browsing the internet on websites that has already done searching what you are probably looking for.

You could possibly choose to go with a corporation which includes rental and/or loan selections. This may be the answer pertaining to short-term actions or if you have to get several additional phones for a short period of time. Think about thoroughly how much time you might use the particular device and you will be able to detect whether this is actually a viable alternative and if you will end up acquiring the very best value for your money thru purchasing the phone. Its the perfect time to grab youre a telephone system and talk with the experts from Fill out of the opt-in form within this web site for the no-obligation cost-free quotation today.

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Essential Steps Should Follow To Hire Web Designers in New York

Marketing and advertising is extremely important for running a business. This is possible through the building of a website of the business. This is the reason why most businessmen today opt to own websites which would help to promote their business in the best possible way. A great website can make a huge difference making things work completely in favor of the business. A business website should be planned, designed and styled in such a way that it would be able to attract many. The reason why the website design has gained huge popularity is because of the quality of the services offered by them. A website would be able to take care of the facets of advertising and marketing which in the long run would help in the wellbeing of your business. In order to make the most of them you need to get hold of the appropriate service provider. A good web design firm is one which would take care of each and every feature of web designing. There are a number of New York web designs to c hoose from; consider all the factors and select the one that matches your need most.

You would know and understand your business in the best possible way; hence, it is imperative to employ a web designing company that would be able to execute your plans and put forward your goals, ideas in the best possible way. You would get a plethora of web designers York and each and every designer would specialize in some field of designing. You need to ascertain whether your chosen designer is good enough for meeting your expectations, demands and the requirements of your company. Take the aid and suggestions of your friends and acquaintances who have already taken the aid of these designers for designing their websites. You can even read some reviews on the designers to develop a better understanding of the standard of work that they can offer. If you have a reference to follow, which has attracted your fancy, you can ask your chosen designer to build your website on the basis of the preferred website.

Even the New York designers differ in the standard, quality and style of work that they offer. You need to set your priority before going for any particular designer. Determine the nature of the feature that you wish to highlight in your website. If you have preference for the appeal of the website, then go for those designers who can build great, attractive looking websites. While there are many others who know that a good looking website would not be enough; hence, it is important to build the website in such a fashion that it attracts enough traffic needed to sell the product or service manufactured by your business. There are many web designers who take care of the marketing feature of a company. If you wish to give the marketing factor a boost, then go for a website designer who specializes in this field.

Do not forget to view the portfolio of the website designers before hiring them. Their portfolios, the feedback of their former clients can be great determining factors so do compromise on these factors. Judge the amount of creativity, style and professionalism that the designers exhibit. Do not rush when searching for a web designer for it you invest some time and research in to the matter you would surely make a difference. So, do not haste; take your time, judge all factors and settle for a company that can prove to be helpful for you and your business.

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Local Business Marketing Consultant - Google Preview

Local Business Marketing - Google Instant Previews: Does this Mean Good News or Bad News for Your Website?

Google recently launched Google Instant and Google Instant Previews (GIP) in an effort to speed up the delivery of search results and to provide a visual preview of a search result without the user needing to click away to visit the site. Will this help your local buisness marketing?

This is not a really a new innovation for search as Bing has already had similar functionality on its search pages. Giving users the ability to see a website before they click on the link to visit it could be either good news or bad news depending on several factors which we will explore.

GIP displays a screen shot of every webpage in its index and gives uses access to it with a magnifying glass icon beside each search result. Google Instant Previews speeds up the decision making process of choosing a particular search engine result by letting users see it first.

To start using it you simply click once on the magnifying glass in the search result to instantly see a preview of the web page. Once you have enabled previews, you won't have to click on the magnifying glass again. You'll only have to mouse over a search result to get a preview.

On the official Google blog it says, "In our testing, we've found that people who use Instant Previews are about 5% more likely to be satisfied with the results they click. The previews provide new ways to evaluate search results, making you more likely to find what you're looking for on the pages you visit."

Of course this means that peoples first impression of the design and layout of your site will tip the odds in favor of those with more visually appealing websites if browsers will make the choice to click on your site bases on that thumbnail graphic snippet.

Do a quick check of your page in GIP to see how it shows up. If your site uses flash it may not show up well in GIP, but its far too early to tell what kind of an impact Google Instant Preview will have on searchers behavior. Its not even clear that lots of people have even noticed the little magnifying glass in their search results.

One thing you can do is to make sure the pages on your site have text descriptions that closely match the page's content. This can help improve your conversion rates from organic search engine results, and it's an important detail because the description shows up in the GIP display.

Some users have complained that the graphic images clutter Googles simple interface and theyd rather not bother with Google Instant or the Instant Preview features. But you can easily turn off Google instant in your search preferences. And if you don't click on the magnifying glass the previews will not pop up.

Keep an eye on your websites analytics and see if you find any significant anomalies. This is a new functionality, and it will take time to reveal whether the effects will be good or bad. Results will vary, of course, depending on the nature of your market.

David Carleton is a San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant who specializes in showing small business owners how to spend less and get more from their marketing and advertising using low cost strategies in local business marketing, lead generation and conversion, Internet marketing and social media. To Download Your Free Report - "7 Steps to Website Success" Go To: Local Business Marketing Success

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Role of Website in Attracting More Customers

When it comes to attracting more visitors, a website has a very crucial role to play. It is through a website that an online business gets an identity and can expect people to know about it. A website is the sole identity of your business objectives. Today almost every business, small and big, is going for website development to attract more customers. A website helps to conduct the business more conveniently and also helps the customers to buy from a range of products offered by it.

When visitors search for the desired goods and services, they usually do so via search engines. This way they are landed on the related websites by search engines like Google. Once a visitor lands on the website's page, the entire responsibility of retaining the visitor is on the look and quality of the website. If a website is attractive and user friendly, the visitors will definitely go through it and the chances are high that they will make purchases as well.

A well designed and informative website is a must to attract more visitors. If a website has relevant information and content, it will attract more visitors. It should have a right combination of colors and images to make a good impression on visitors. If a website has all the features that visitors are looking for, it will attract more visitors and helps to generate more revenue. It is through a website that visitors come to know what all products and services a business offers. A business website design helps the visitors to make choices and select the products of their choice.

Thus it is clear that a website plays a very crucial role in attracting more visitors. In fact, it acts as a medium to let customers purchase products of their choice. Therefore, it is imperative that a website is equipped with all the required features. For this, it is important that you hire a good web development service. It is important to have a well designed and user friendly website. A professional web design service has all the required skills and expertise to design quality websites which meet all the business requirements. They can help you in getting a perfect web design which is not only visually attractive but also highly user friendly. This will make sure that your website attracts a large number of visitors and also retain them successfully and turn them into potential customers.

PixelCrayons is a Website Design Delhi Company. PixelCrayons provides affordable web design and custom website development solutions, ecommerce website development, website redesign services and more.

By Pixelcrayons

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Home-Based Businesses: Low-Cost Marketing Techniques Worth Using

Owning your own home business places a lot of responsibilities upon your shoulders; one of the biggest being marketing. The marketing budget for many home businesses can be a wide range of expenses but if there's one thing in common with most home businesses: the marketing budget will never compete with big business.

These smaller marketing budgets doesn't necessarily mean that home businesses can't compete with big business, it just requires a few tips and tricks to take advantage of existing platforms and try new marketing tactics which will require work and often push home business owners out of their comfort zone.

The biggest concern with marketing for home businesses is the inherent expenses due to traditional advertising platforms. It's true, advertising on radio, print and television is often out of the reach of most home businesses but there are actually more ways you can imagine that are either absolutely free or come at rock bottom prices in comparison.

What am I talking about? A hybrid of marketing on the web and offline utilizing bum and guerrilla marketing tactics. Don't be fooled though, these tactics can often out perform even the largest of marketing budgets form big business.

Go through each of the following marketing methods to find which can be applied to your home business. Take advantage of the web and most importantly, don't forget to continually evolve while doing so.

Article marketing is a free method to drive visitors to a home business through the creation and distribution of articles in print and on the web. The easiest method to utilize article marketing for home businesses is to write content related to the business' niche, products or services.

There are dozens of websites available on the web which offers free hosting and distribution for articles, such as:

The important thing to remember when article marketing is to provide great content which users will actually want to read, share and click through your links to come visit your home business website or landing page.

Perhaps the easiest way to begin marketing a home business is to take advantage of the free local listings provided by search engines and services such as Google, Yahoo and Yelp!

Local search has seen a dramatic rise in popularity because of the simple setup and exposure many home businesses can encounter by just a few hours of work. Once listed locally, any person searching for your products and services within an allotted area will automatically be displayed local search results for businesses such as yours.

Although each search engine and service has its own listings, the easiest way to check and claim your listings is to use the website GetListed. This website will automatically track down if you have previous entries and will guide you through the process of setting up local search for your home business - that's free marketing!

Although you can easily find free templates or designers willing to create a website for your home business, a proper business website should be worth the investment.

A simple website is often all you need to begin marketing your business on the web. With a website, you can drive search engines visitors to your website which can lead to conversions, more sales and building a community around your products and services.

Of course creating a website doesn't stop at the design and coding process; throughout the entire development time, use keyword and market research to help craft each page according to your products and services. Continue to build backlinks and improve your search engine ranking through various search engine optimization tips and tricks.

EBay is the largest auction website on the web with millions of visitors and transactions each day and hands down one of the best places to sell your items online. Chances are if you own a home business, your marketing budget can only last for so long. Instead of running out of marketing funds, consider selling many of your items and services on eBay.

EBay does require fees to list items but due to the sheer size of the marketplace, you'll often find a buyer for your items if you offer the right price, description and customer experience.

Giving away information is a quick way to build authority and drive free traffic to your business. Installing a blog takes only a few hours to setup but the long term benefits are unmatched to many different marketing methods.

Using your blog as part of your business does require work to produce great content but for those businesses that want to drive an everlasting wave of free traffic there's no better way than blogging. Search engines love blogs and often index blog posts high within search engines. If you craft each new blog post to include the main keywords you plan to rank for you'll continue to creep to the top of search engines and soon bring visitors to your business website and blog.

It's surprising to see that many home based businesses aren't taking advantage of the cheap flyers and sign designs offered by many print shops locally. These small signs and flyers could be the small edge to drive additional customers to your website instead of your competition.

To take it a step further, you could even begin designing and printing off your own flyers and signs. Slap these print marketing items all across town and sit back for that call - it's worth a try.

Throughout this article, you have learned a few inexpensive ways to market your home based business. These low-cost methods only require a small amount of time and passion but you continue to build upon each of these platforms you will see a gradual rise of traffic pointed toward your website. As the traffic keeps flowing, your home business will strive and make a profit - don't miss out on taking advantage of these marketing methods.

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Web Designing Pune

At ACS, we design and develop websites for the organizations who wants to use website as corporate branding for their worldwide clients and also want to do business and marketing from the designed websites. We have very good understanding of web design and know the crux of utilizing technologies. We never criticize what other companies are offering to the individuals and corporate, but we know what we have to deliver to our clients for the maximum Return on Investment.

Our main focus is to facilitate our clients by latest and best solution available in the IT Industry. We believe in our client's growth and satisfaction because we know that our clients definitely grow and we will automatically grow with them. We want to be your long term business solutions provider.

We have so many happy satisfied web design and development clients within India. Our designed website will always get appreciation by our client and website visitors. ACS professionals always want to deliver cutting edge website design solutions with the emerging Web Designing technologies to our clients. Our designed websites are well optimized for the better performance on the dial-up internet connection as well as broadband internet connections. We always deliver accessible cross-browser compatible websites to our customers.

If you are looking for a company who will design and promote your website on World Wide Webthen we will promise you thatACSwill become your long term business Web Designing Pune solution provider for you.

Our Web Design Services Includes:

TYPES OF WEB SITES :

Static Website :-

Static Website Designs are a great starter package for businesses or individuals just wanting to post simple information about themselves or their company onto the web. Static web site is only informative web site in which user interaction is not possible. This type of web site is very useful in initially expanding market of company worldwide with its appearance and information through Internet.

Dynamic Website :-

Dynamic Websites are great solutions for those businesses who believes in real-time data interaction between B2B & B2C. In this type of web site user interaction is made possible through different forms as well as it also contains all information included in static web site

Need of Website: small or home-based business should consider a website. There are certainly some businesses where a website offers nothing of value but for the vast majority a website can be a very effective sales channel and marketing tool. I've listed just a few reasons why a website can be such a powerful tool but before you continue - and just to underscore how valuable the Internet can be - consider these statistics:

Benifits of Web site : * Low Cost * E-Mail * Customer Support * Be Open For Business 24 hours a day * Global Reach * Money Savings * Try New Ideas * Improved Corporate Image * Improved Customer Confidence * Increased Sales * Your Virtual office * Prospective Customer * Specials Offers

Please visit more information.

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5 Tips to Choose a Web Designer For Your Website

Web design is the most important part of your website. It is the first thing which visitors notice. Therefore, it is necessary to have an attractive and user friendly web design. This helps in making your website popular and more visible in generating search engine results. You should always hire professional web designers for best results. Mentioned below are the five tips to choose a web designer for your web site.

Assess Your Need Take proper time to judge your requirements about website. After analyzing put your needs in front of designer. Be realistic about your plans and goals. Try to explains all your specific requirements to the designer in a proper manner.

Professional Designing a website is not an easy task. It requires a professional approach. Professional designers are expert in designing website as they have experience. A professional will dig out everything which is required for designing a website. They are aware of advantages and limitations of the technology and market tends.

Cost effective Price is an important factor. Each and every organization has a set of budget. Organization may keep their cost fixed or may fluctuate. Select a web designer which offers cost effective and quality services which fits into your budget.

Meet Face-to-face Arrange meeting with the designer. Explain them about what kind of website you want to design from them. Ask them about their working criteria and what kind of services they will provide to you. Notice small things regarding their behavior: Do they listen to you carefully? Do they agree to design your website as per your industry needs.? Do they explain every small to big thing important for your business website design?

Check out their services Investigate the previous as well as current projects of the web design company. Ask them to show their previous projects. Compare your needs with their work flow. If their work style matches with your need then only you should hire that company for your website.

Design Process Check out the designing pattern they offer to their clients .If they do not provide the design pattern you want then you should move to some other company and if they are providing then check out which kind of pattern they offer.

These tips will help you to find out a reliable and quality web design service for your website design.

PixelCrayons is a Website Design Delhi Company. PixelCrayons provides affordable web design and custom website development solutions, ecommerce website development, website redesign services and more.

By Pixelcrayons

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Difference Between Blog And Website

We all are familiar with the terms 'website' and 'blogs'. We use these terms quite frequently almost everyday. But if asked what exactly is the difference between a blog and a website, most of us would struggle or even fail to give the right answer. Most of the people even think that a blog and a website are similar. This is far from the truth. So what exactly is the difference between a blog and a website? Read further and you will find all your queries answered.

A website is a group of different web pages which are used to gather or deliver information. Website can be an corporate, educational or ecommerce websites. A blog is solely meant to provide information. A website is generally formal in nature. A blog is an informal medium of conveying information. A blog is more like an online diary where a blogger can write about the personal interests, experiences and reviews. A website publishes only formal and official information. It is more difficult to change the content of a website as compared to the blog.

When it comes to creating a website, it is more difficult and takes more time. To create a website one needs to have a specific knowledge of html, php, xml etc. Whereas to create a blog is easy and simple. One can create a free or hosted blog with built-in templates. It can also be customized based on the need and preferences. Website development requires a huge amount of money. There are so many things to be done like domain registration, web hosting, content development etc. it takes only a few dollars to host a blog. You can even do it for free using some free blogging services like Blogger, Wordpress etc.

Since blogs are personal in nature, they are not created with a focus on the marketing aspect. Thus, they are more vibrant in terms of design, content and layout. Websites are created with a specific purpose and are restricted in terms of design and structure. Websites contain less information as they usually describe the parent organisation. Blogs can be represented in many ways.

Blogs are dynamic in nature and are updated frequently. A website's content is updated only if there is any change in the product or services. Websites have a one way communication as they only inform the visitors about a particular business. Blogs have a two way communication. Readers can read and give their feedbacks as well. Professional business website design is required to represent a business, however a blog can be designed simply.

Therefore, a blog and a website differ from each other in many ways.

By PixelCrayons/

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Selecting A Business Opportunity ? Beginning Your Own Business

style="text-align:justify;"> Thousands and thousands of persons are desparate to escape the 9 to 5 grind. One fashionable alternative is to look for a enterprise opportunity that turns you from an employee right into a self-employed entrepreneur running your own business.

There are a lot of good reasons why this generally is a clever move. Being your own boss means youll be able to set your own hours. This may be essential if you have babies, or just want to spend extra time at home. Working from home also can save useful time, if the choice is spending two or three hours each day commuting backwards and forwards to your work place. And naturally, working for yourself also gives you the opportunity to make an entire lot extra money.

In other words, being your own boss gives you that valuable commodity referred to as freedom. It units you free from the limitations of being another persons paid employee, and in return makes you answerable for your personal future. As a self-employed entrepreneur you are free to set your individual hours, set up your personal work habits, choose what work you will do or will not do, create your own products, drum up your personal prospects, and do what you have to do to make those customers happy.

And perhaps most importantly, if you find yourself self-employed youre free to set your personal costs and make as a lot or as little income as youre able. Youll not must answer to anyone other than your self, your suppliers, and naturally, the ever-present taxman, after you develop into successful.

**How to get began [Two] Alternate options**

There are obvious ways you may go about beginning your own business. The first means is to give up your day job and launch full bore into your new business. Well call this the All or Nothing Strategy. The second approach is to continue on along with your current employment and develop a business on the aspect, in your spare time. Well name this the Spare Time Strategy.

Depending in your standpoint, taking the All or Nothing Method can be either an act of bravery or simply plain recklessness. Until youre independently rich, planning and timing are very important with this approach. That is as a result of once you permit your previous employment your supply of revenue will be gone and you will have a restricted amount of time to make your enterprise work. Its sink or swim. And you may sink fairly quickly and not using a supply of income.

So meaning its best to plan the changeover to self-employment very carefully. Every situation can be different. An acquantance of mine was capable of step from his quasi-government job into a personal consulting enterprise as a result of he spent the last few months of his employment developing leads and contacts within his industry. When he went on his own he had customers ready in the wings and was capable of greater than double his revenue in his very first year.

However most of us are usually not so lucky. We shouldnt have the quality leads or the specialized skills. Nor do most of us have the opportunity to make use of our present employment to construct a launching pad of potential clients earlier than we take off into the wild blue yonder of self-employment. Most of us are ranging from scratch with just a few imprecise ideas, a questionable set of yet-to-be-outlined skills, and severly limited income. So our enterprise into self-employment had better take off within a couple of months or were likely to crash and burn.

That is why the Spare Time Method is best for many new self-employed entrepreneurs. The Spare Time Approach permits you to test your concepts, develop your skills, and construct your small business slowly. If you are uncertain in regards to the products or services you intend to promote, the Spare Time Method allows you to try out completely different product lines and see how properly they slot in with your total objectives. Often new entrepreneurs discover that their first ideas will not be life like, or there is no marketplace for the providers they need to provide. Or they discover they cannot charge sufficient to make any cash providing the services or products theyve chosen.

**Select your product fastidiously**

Like all new entrepreneurs, whether you take the all or nothing approach or the spare time method try to be very tight-fisted together with your restricted resources. Which means do not make investments any serious money in a product or business idea until you might have checked it out thoroughly. The best way to check it out is to:

Talk to people who find themselves already selling the product or service.

Establish the credibility of the particular person or company offering the product or service.

Be sure that the corporate supplies on-going assist for his or her product(s).

Make certain there are no hidden or sudden costs (such as franchise charges) that will eat away your profits.

This is applicable whether youre looking at a web-based product resembling an MLM or affiliate scheme, or a extra conventional services or products aimed solely at native customers.

For instance, an associate of mine produces Enterprise Card Displays. The idea behind this product is that it provides new entrepreneurs the opportunity to arrange an advertising service for local businesses. With this product, the entrepreneur creates a network of displays placed in high site visitors stores like grocery stores, hair salons, and bowling alleys. Then local advertisers can place their enterprise playing cards in one of the compartments in the shows throughout the network. If somebody looking one of many displays sees a service theyre curious about, they simply take a card for future reference.

Certain, it isnt everyones cup of tea. However for somebody prepared to put in a number of months of exhausting work initially, its a fairly simple solution to create a business that will return a handsome income for years to come.

And this producer stands behind his product. He can show you examples of profitable advertising networks the place his displays are used. He will also present testimonials and phone information from real individuals whom you can ask how well the product is working for them. And to prime it off, he makes use of the product himself in a network of over 40 shows, and may present palms-on information about the way it truly works in a real-life situations.

That is fairly uncommon on this planet of enterprise alternatives. Many are run by take the money and run varieties who make wildly exaggerated claims about how profitable you may be. However in lots of instances theyve by no means really made the concept work for themselves.

As any profitable entrepreneur will tell you, your alternative of merchandise is crucial to your success or failure. Many merchandise are merely bogus ideas with no hope of working. And many others are designed to provide maximum income for his or her creators, and minimal income for people like you and me who promote them. So regardless of how laborious you work, or how committed you are to being successful, when you choose the wrong product youll be working with a millstone round your neck.

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Challenges Facing E-Commerce Businesses

TheadventoftheWorldWideWeb(WWW)hascreatedadynamicshiftinthewaybusinessescompeteinthemarketplace.TheWWWallowscompanies,smallandlarge,tovieforcustomersonaninternationallevelplayingfield.Establishingawebpresenceisessentialtocontinuedgrowthanddevelopment;however,thereareseveralconsiderationstotakeintoaccount.Somechallengesfacingcompaniestransitioningintotheworldofe-commerceinclude:websitedesign,development,hardware,softwareandstrategicplanning.

Thefirststepincreatingane-commercebusinessistocreateaninternetmarketingplan.Thisisthestrategicplanthatacompanyfollowstocapitalizeoffofitsexistingresourceswhiletakingadvantageoftheadditionalopportunitiesofferedbytheshouldexamineitsmission/visionandre-purposeitfortheweb.Acomparativeanalysisshouldbemadeofcompetingbusinesseswebsitesandinternetmarketingstrategies.Asuccessfule-commercebusinesswillintegratenewandemergentstrategieswithbestpracticesofclassicalstrategicplanningtraditionallyusedforbrick-and-mortarcompanies.Ane-commercebusinessmustbeflexibleenoughtoadjusttheconstantinnovationsintechnologythatmayaffectitsonlineoperationsandcustomerrelationshipmanagementtools.

Secondly,withasolidinternetmarketingplaninhand,ane-commercebusinessneedstodesignanddevelopafunctionalwebsite.Websitedesignanddevelopmenthasmanyelements.Ofcoursethesiteitselfshouldfunctionwithintheidentifiedmission/visionoftheorganizationitrepresents.Thismeansthatallofitscontentshouldbeclear,understandableandlogicalinformationrelevantonlytotheproductsand/orservicesthecompanydesirestopromote.Anyindustry-specificjargonandtechnicaleseshouldbelimitedanddefinedforthetargetaudience.Theindividualwebsitepagesshouldbetitledandindexedappropriatelysothattheyareeasilynavigatablebysitevisitors.Thereshouldbeasfewdistractinggraphicalimagesandspecialeffects(i.e.flash,animations)aspossibletomaintainquickandeasyaccesstotheinformationbeingsought.Sitesshouldsticktobasicdesignconventions.Alloftheseelementsaddtoawebsitesfunctionalityandusabilitytositevisitors.

Additionally,thewebsiteneedstobefound.Aneasilyidentifiablebutsimpledomainname(URLaddress)shouldbechosen.Amajorkeywordphraseand/orthebusinessnameshouldbeusedwithinthesiteaddress.SEO(SearchEngineOptimization)andothertrafficgeneratorsshouldbecarefullychosentodrivethetargetedaudiencetothesite.ThismayalsoincludetheuseofWeb2.0toolssuchassocialmedia,integratedsitesearchcapabilities,interactivechatfeatures,video,shoppingcartsandothermultimediaavenuesthathelptocreatetheoverallsiteatmosphereandstreamlinedexperiencefortheenduser.

Throughouttheentireprocess,softwareandhardwareneedsmustalsobeconsidered.Ane-commercebusinesshasthechoicetohosttheirwebsiteinternallyontheirownserversoruseanexternalhostingservice.Ifusingonesownservers,asinthecaseofanintranetsite,networkinghardwarecomesintoplay.TheapplicationsusedtodesignthesitecanbeinternallikeMSFrontPageorexternalsuchastemplatesincludedwithmosthostingpackages.Choicesforsecurityfeaturestomaintaincustomerprivacyandthetypesofvirtualmerchantaccountsorshoppingcartapplicationsarealsovast.

Finally,sincetheonlineworldisconstantlychanging,e-commercebusinessesmustdevelopemergentstrategiestoconsistentlymonitorandadapttoonlineinnovationsandmaintainsiteusability.Toolsthatofferanalyticsandregularsitemaintenanceareessentialtomaintainingacompetitiveadvantage.

Therearemanyconcernswhenbreakingintotheonlinemarketplace;however,withasolidinternetmarketingstrategyandwellthoughtoutconsiderationsforcreatingausablesiteandstreamlinedexperienceforthetargetaudience,almostanybusinesscanestablishasuccessfulwebpresence.Theprimaryelementtorememberistocontinuouslybereadytoaddressthedynamicandever-changingnatureoftheWorldWideWeb.

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18 Best Tips to Improve Your Ecommerce Website

As rapidly the scope of ecommerce has been expanding, customer is demanding for more innovative and attractive ecommerce websites to create and control their ecommerce shop. So, ecommerce website development becomes very intricate task for web designers and web developers. Here, we have some useful tips to create or to improve your ecommerce website.

1) Keep your website simple There should be no confusion for buyers while visiting your ecommerce website. Whatever product are you selling; it must be convenient for customer to buy through your website. Use pictures of product on home page and information must be limited to customer needs. Keep your website simple so that customer may not irritate.

2) Pictures of your product should be of good quality - Use decent and quality pictures of your product. Basically, customer visits ecommerce website to buy the product. So, the pictures of your product should be of great quality.

3) Use multiple pictures of each product Use more than one image of each product and every image must be shown from different angle, so that customer can see the whole view of that product.

4) Product details should be there with the products.

5) Your shopping cart page must be simple and user friendly.

6) Most of the people are search oriented, so make your website such that they could find each and every product based on their name, category, color, size etc. in search result. Also, use picture of your product in that search result.

7) There should not be any hidden charges of the product in ecommerce websites. Every charge related to product should display in your ecommerce website.

8) Your mailing address and contact number should be correct.

9) There should be no confusion for users while using the website.

10) Use newsletters in your ecommerce website to maintain authenticity.

11) Let the customer filter out the products from different categories according to their need and choice.

12) Your website should be search engine friendly. So, never forget to optimize your website for search engine.

13) In your Google sitemap, use search URLs of extremely high popularity.

14) Payment system should be of wide range ensuring everyone can pay.

15) In your website, display your product in comparative mode also. Let the customer compares products of same category.

16) Use simple and easily understandable shipping form. Do not ask for so many details in your shipping form.

17) After giving order for certain product, customer always asks that when will they get their product? Give them shipment tracking number and estimation to provide the product in customers hand.

18) Give some recommendations to your customer for some other products of your online shop. Last but not least, that design of your ecommerce shop should be very impressive and user friendly. This helps in giving more exposure to your ecommerce business website design.

By PixelCrayons/

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Does my Business Really Need a Website?

If people don't find your business website on the Internet, you lose out to your competition who do have websites.

Millions of people use the Internet to search for answers, information, products or services. If they use a search engine like Google, and type in keywords related to your business, don't you want a link to your website coming up on the first few pages of results?

How many people do you have phoning you, each week, asking you questions about your business, but never arriving to use your services or buy your products?

While speaking to people who never do buy anything from you, you could be spending your time improving your business, looking at better or more marketing options, and speaking to customers or clients who have already decided to buy your products or use the services you offer. You can spend more quality time with these people. They are people who have already seen all that you have to offer, on your very own website. If operating a business from home, you may even get to spend less time working, and get to spend more time with your family.

How much are you spending on marketing your business?

How much are you spending on advertising in local newspapers, brochures, and other forms of advertising, including adverts you place on other people's websites?

By all means, it is advisable to continue advertising in this way, but if you have your own website, not as much advertising will be needed. The advertising that you still do will now include a link to your website, where customers can go to browse through what you have to offer. Customers who decide that theyre not interested wont waste your time phoning or emailing you. People who are interested to learn even more, or who have already decided to use your services or buy your products, based on what they saw on your website, will contact you.

A website is your virtual shop or office. Combining your creative vision with that of a creative web designer can make your shop or office look really attractive, even if youre actually doing all your work in a tiny corner of your bathroom.

Don't stop placing adverts in the usual manner that you do, just place less of them, and certainly do include the link or address of your website.

Carefully chosen words in your website helps search engines find your site more easily, and the link to your site rises in search engine search results.

Having your own website means that your advertising (in the form of information and images on your website) is aimed directly at the people looking for you, instead of at whoever happens to stumble across your small advert somewhere.

A search engine is not going to find your poster on the wall, your brochure you distribute, or your advertisement in an offline newspaper or magazine.

How much would you pay for an A4 size advertisement, in colour, in your local newspaper, for just one day? How many readers does that advert reach?

How much would you pay to place a daily advertisement for one week?

How much would you pay to place a daily advertisement for one month?

How much would you pay to place a daily advertisement for one year?

Think of a website as something better (and much cheaper) than an offline advertisement. All businesses need to advertise, so why not choose cheaper methods of advertising? Kill two birds with one stone by reaching your target market for less cost.

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What is a web designer anyway?

As a web designer, I get all kinds of requests , for information other than web design, and as a web designer I'm not suppose to really to be able to do things outside of the web design area. I believe there are a few misconceptions about what exactly a web designer does. In this article I am going to nail down exactly what a web designer is and what they should be able to do. This article pertains to small business website designers and not to bigger businesses where they are looking for someone who specializes. First I'll touch of the differences between a web designer and a web developer. A web designer is someone who creates the visual design and layout of a web page. A web developer is someone who does the behind-the-scenes programming of a website. For example a web developer creates the code for database websites.

Web designer's definition:

They give business organizations a web presence by building them a website. Web designers are professionals who organize information, create page layouts, while communicating the business's information/opinions in a website. Web designer's create another medium for the business to expand into. Creating a website enables the business to attract new customers, showcase its services products, and to do business across countries (as opposed to one location).

What things do web designer's do?

That's a really good question. It is definitely hard to nail down what every designer must do in order to call themselves a web designer. A good web designer should be able to do both the design and the development, unfortunately for you the consumer it doesn't always work that way.

Your web designer must be able to perform the following:

::Understand and keep current will all new emerging technology

:: Layout web pages with HTML, XHTML, XML , and other programming languages

:: Program HTML (hand code), JavaScript and CSS

:: Translate your ideas, needs and expectations into a web page.

:: Design navigation elements (such as navigation bars)

::Create graphics in Photoshop or any other professional imaging software

:: Effectively participate in a web development team

:: Have an understanding on how to create Flash (authoring software used to create animation programs)

:: Understand and implement web standards

:: Have an understanding of Search Engine Optimization

:: Have a basic understanding of typography, graphics and color theory

:: Understand needs of users and of usability testing

:: Have ability to analyze a target market

:: Understanding of cross browser problems and how to fix them

A great web designer also has knowledge of coding languages such as:

:: C++

:: Python

:: Java

:: JavaScript

:: Cold fusion

:: SQL

:: PHP

Sometimes it might be difficult for a web designer to have all those different programming languages under their belt. It is like knowing English, French, Chinese and German. Quite complicated. The more languages they know the better. Well that should help you on your search for a good web designer!

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How to start work-at-home business with little or no money?

There are two main formats of Work-at-home businesses: selling others products or services and selling your own products or services (chain/franchise). While every business has strengths, quite a lot of work-at-home prospect have difficulties to choose which type of work-at-home business to do. To determine the best type of work-at-home business, a few requirements must be met: has enough time available to dedicate to the work-at-home business, familiar with marketing, affordable franchising fees and start-up costs.

As work-at-home business entrepreneurs who are looking for starting a business with little or no money, operating business at home require you insist on pre-designed business plan. You need totally control over expenditures. Some resources such as government grants, local small business associations may help you with services and grants. A new work-at-home business; especially when it is infamous to the internet virtual world, will demand a lot of marketing work. At beginning the cost and time spent on marketing may intimidate you, but it can be achieved with very easy way and relatively low-cost methods, such as creating a website or blog, writing articles to ezines site to build back links, creating and reply topics in forums in your targeted area.

If you are trying to start a more recognizable work-at-home business, you can think about becoming a franchisee. By paying an upfront fee, and annual renews, members would like to build a business with a famous brand-name. They may find franchise is a very good choice. Being a franchisee, marketing developments are still needed. The market maybe is saturated; so entrepreneurs should do some researches with due diligence and study the competition before joining any franchises.

To run a work-at-home business, entrepreneurs should estimate all costs involved to run the business. Next, find out how much time every week you can engage to operate the work-at-home business. You must consider accounting, advertising, product assembly/ordering/shipping, marketing development and web design/maintenance, etc. If these tasks intimidate you, you need consider operating a sole-proprietorship under your own terms. If the cost and time invested in a work at home business or franchise only make you overwhelmed, this will cause the entrepreneurs lose interests in the business. Just as mentioned earlier, work at home businesses should be done much easier. You treat work at home businesses as a job, and you should avoid causing financial or emotional stress.

If you want to learn more about start business and create sustainable environment projects, please visit: /

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Top Six Business Apps For I-Pad

Best six business apps for the I-pad

Over ten million I-pads have been sold since the release date in April. People are saying goodbye to their I-touches and apple computers and saying hello to the new pad. It runs like a computer, but weighs only one pound. It is the perfect size to travel with and is great for watching movies, downloading music, and researching. There are thousands of apps for the I-pad and a lot of them are free.

Although the I-pad is fun and entertaining we all know that business comes first and the I-pad is definitely perfect for business. The top six business apps on the I-pad are great features that will help even the biggest companies stay in control of their time and their money.

The first one is the GoodReader app and it is only $0.99 and it is a must have for the I-pad. It allows the user to view local files from PDF, TXT, PNDG, EXCEL, WORD, JPEG, and so much more. You can also download files from the web which is great for last minute business presentations. It also will handle fairly large files without any downloading problems. The user can open files from GoogleDocs and view them while they look at other applications.

The second app is Things for the I-pad and it is $19.99. Cultured Codes Things are top task managers for X, MAC, and OS. This version for the I-pad is much more sophisticated than the one for the I-phone and computer desktop operating systems and that is the reason why it cost so much more. Despite this, it is still perfect for people with small businesses and who are apart of the Things Eco system. With this you can sync wireless Things for your I-pad and create organized To-do list. It is a must have for business.

The third app is the Bento for I-pad and it is at the low price of ($4.99). This app was mostly designed for small businesses or at home workers who have to use a commanding database system. Bento can work by itself and also can work with other systems like Bento for I-phone and Bento for Mac. There are built in templates and you as the user can even create your own. With this app you can manage your expenses, meetings, address book, and much more.

The next app is the I-Work for I-pad. The price various with this app because the Page numbers, and Key notes are sold for $9.99 each, rather than just one official price for the entire app. You can open up existing files and create new documents. The Pages is word processing where you can create letters and all sorts of other types of documents. Numbers will not work as well as Excel does but it will let you view graphs, spreadsheets, and charts. The Keynote feature helps you make presentations and it is great and easy to use.

The fifth app is called the Box. Net and it is FREE. This was made for the I-phone and it had been updated so that the user can now use it on their I-pad. You can view your files and even leave comments on it. It is not have the best speed but for right now it is at a good start and its free so try it out.

The sixth and final business app is the Evernote and like Box.net it is also FREE. This is actually a really awesome app because its lets the user clip audio, video, text, images, and much more and save it in their own file. You can also attach voice notes, pictures, and make edits to documents. If you use Evernote you need to get this and if you are not an Evernote user than this free app is the perfect opportunity to start using.

Whether you are in a small or big business these business I-pad apps are great features that will help you stay organized and in control.

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How to Produce Quality Content For Your Website?

The task of determining website content centers on the information needs of your users and the goals of your site. Before you begin to produce the content, gain a clear insight into the traits of your visitors. Why would they come to your site Is it to get information or advice or buy a product? What would be the average age of your visitors? What keywords would they use in search engines? The answers to such and other relevant questions helps you plan and build useful content.

Align the users needs with the goals of your site. If these are to give information of excellent value, think about the content types. You might want to use 3D illustrations and text. Or, you may like to engage the users with your site through demos and interactive features. In case you want to sell a product, then benefits, photos and videos and customer testimonials, among others, should standout in the content field.

Build Trust with Visitors through Relevant Content

As users land on your site with specific expectations, fulfill those with clear and straightforward content. If you want to create content, for instance, for a corporate website, serve information that makes it easy for visitors to do business with your company. Some sites immerse their content in superfluous words, excessive jargon or unattractive format. As a result, visitors are likely to move over to another site to conduct business.

The content with an excessive sales pitch can also fail to connect with the users. Take the About us page, for example. Rather than use it to highlight, for instance, the story on how the company took wings, some enterprises use it to talk much about their products and services.

Whatever be the type of site, from corporate to information to solo entrepreneur, it should match the needs of the visitors with content that is clear, concise and authentic. That way, you can enhance the credibility of your site and make the users deal with your site with confidence.

Sync Website Design and Content

If the content is of higher value and the design poorer or vice versa, then the site is on a weak foundation. Ensure the design and content of your site have a good sync to attract visitors and accomplish the goals of the site.

A simple, yet professional site is the recipe for success. The elements of the site design like the colors, menus, buttons, font type and size and white space should invite users to explore your content and site.

Today, many sites use Flash banners to convey key messages. No doubt such a design brings an exciting dimension to the site. Do, however, take a close look at the text in the banners. Is it of value to the users? Do the phrases highlight the competences, accomplishments or unique traits of your business? Such a review can take the Flash component of your site to the next level.

What should be your Website Content Mix?

Strengthen your content with a blend of text and relevant graphics, photos, animation and video. Take into account the proportion of these elements in determining website content.

Where possible, reduce or avoid text and communicate your message with the visual elements. Remember the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words? With images you can not only decrease the number of words, but also add excellent value to your content.

With text content, make sure it gets to the point faster. Because web users scan for information, help them find it fast with headers and sub-headers. Weave your text with simple words and keep it precise and concise to satisfy the information needs of the users or throw light on the products and services of your company.

Optimize your content for search engines. The search engine optimization (SEO) of your information is essential for your site to rank higher in the search engine results.

Chunk large blocks of text into paragraphs to make it easy for your visitors to read it. Spread information across pages and connect them through hyperlinks. Why should you use multiple pages? These do not burden the reader with loads of information.

As for the graphics, limit them to a few on each page. The exception is sites related to pictures. Try to use smaller size graphics for a faster download. For the same reason, use animation and video with a file format that gives the best of file size and quality.

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What Kind of Website Do You Need?

Whatever kind of business you are running, it is very likely that you will benefit from having some form of website. The Internet is fast replacing the phonebook as a resource for consumers. With some customer demographics this switch was completed long ago, the phonebook is languishing in the recycling bin. If you don't have an online presence then you will not be on the digital consumers' radar.

If you are considering commissioning a website then it is more than reasonable for you to feel bamboozled by all of the options and possibilities open to you. But the reality is that you can know exactly what type of website you will need by considering a few questions about the type of business that you run and the needs of your customers.

Broadly speaking, websites for businesses can be broken down into three main categories: Microsite, Brochure and e-commerce.

If you're running a small local business, perhaps a locksmiths or a caf, then it is likely that a microsite will meet the needs of both you and your customers. A microsite will typically consist of two to three pages of basic information; a homepage, contact information and an about us section. Visitors to your website will mainly be existing customers and locals who are already aware of you. They will be looking for a contact phone number, opening hours or a list of services.

If you want to stand out in a highly competitive market place such as real estate, interior design or legal services then you will probably want to consider a brochure website. There is no average size for a brochure site. They are generally bigger than a microsite and will contain a lot more information. They are used as a tool to drive sales. A brochure might contain examples of your work, testimonials from clients and a regular blog with information about your exciting new projects.

If you are going to take the time to develop a brochure website then it is worth doing well. When it comes to web marketing, New Zealand is leading the pack, and there are some good web designers with a keen grasp on methods that will ensure you are generating new business from your website. Make sure you employ one. You'll be far more likely to see returns on your investment.

Finally we come to e-commerce. Building an e-commerce website is not for the faint-hearted. It can require a significant amount of investment and will probably take far longer to implement than a microsite or a brochure. But, you are opening yourself up to a world of opportunity! If you are selling stock that is easy to post, or you are providing online services, then you will be able to reach new customers from all corners of the globe.

Talk to a knowledgeableweb development companyabout which kind of website you think would be best for you. You have to express your ideas, interests before creating your websites and also ask them about the website themes. somewebsite design companiesare providing wide ranges of website themes which will be very helpful to choose an attractive one for your Business.

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How to Produce Quality Content For Your Website?

The task of determining website content centers on the information needs of your users and the goals of your site. Before you begin to produce the content, gain a clear insight into the traits of your visitors. Why would they come to your site Is it to get information or advice or buy a product? What would be the average age of your visitors? What keywords would they use in search engines? The answers to such and other relevant questions helps you plan and build useful content.

Align the users needs with the goals of your site. If these are to give information of excellent value, think about the content types. You might want to use 3D illustrations and text. Or, you may like to engage the users with your site through demos and interactive features. In case you want to sell a product, then benefits, photos and videos and customer testimonials, among others, should standout in the content field.

Build Trust with Visitors through Relevant Content

As users land on your site with specific expectations, fulfill those with clear and straightforward content. If you want to create content, for instance, for a corporate website, serve information that makes it easy for visitors to do business with your company. Some sites immerse their content in superfluous words, excessive jargon or unattractive format. As a result, visitors are likely to move over to another site to conduct business.

The content with an excessive sales pitch can also fail to connect with the users. Take the About us page, for example. Rather than use it to highlight, for instance, the story on how the company took wings, some enterprises use it to talk much about their products and services.

Whatever be the type of site, from corporate to information to solo entrepreneur, it should match the needs of the visitors with content that is clear, concise and authentic. That way, you can enhance the credibility of your site and make the users deal with your site with confidence.

Sync Website Design and Content

If the content is of higher value and the design poorer or vice versa, then the site is on a weak foundation. Ensure the design and content of your site have a good sync to attract visitors and accomplish the goals of the site.

A simple, yet professional site is the recipe for success. The elements of the site design like the colors, menus, buttons, font type and size and white space should invite users to explore your content and site.

Today, many sites use Flash banners to convey key messages. No doubt such a design brings an exciting dimension to the site. Do, however, take a close look at the text in the banners. Is it of value to the users? Do the phrases highlight the competences, accomplishments or unique traits of your business? Such a review can take the Flash component of your site to the next level.

What should be your Website Content Mix?

Strengthen your content with a blend of text and relevant graphics, photos, animation and video. Take into account the proportion of these elements in determining website content.

Where possible, reduce or avoid text and communicate your message with the visual elements. Remember the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words? With images you can not only decrease the number of words, but also add excellent value to your content.

With text content, make sure it gets to the point faster. Because web users scan for information, help them find it fast with headers and sub-headers. Weave your text with simple words and keep it precise and concise to satisfy the information needs of the users or throw light on the products and services of your company.

Optimize your content for search engines. The search engine optimization (SEO) of your information is essential for your site to rank higher in the search engine results.

Chunk large blocks of text into paragraphs to make it easy for your visitors to read it. Spread information across pages and connect them through hyperlinks. Why should you use multiple pages? These do not burden the reader with loads of information.

As for the graphics, limit them to a few on each page. The exception is sites related to pictures. Try to use smaller size graphics for a faster download. For the same reason, use animation and video with a file format that gives the best of file size and quality.

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Considering a Career in Graphic Design? Artifact Advertising Designers Give Some Insight?

I realized Graphic Design is an easier way to pay the bills as opposed to being a starving artist contemplating slicing off and eating your own ear

Why do many artistically talented people end up as Graphic Designers instead of artists and was it a good career choice for them? We spoke to the design team at Artifact Advertising to get some entertaining insights about their graphic design careers...

What is the thing you love most about design and being a designer?

A: Coming up with a concept and having creative freedom. Doing my own designs. (when I get a free moment).

B: Exploring new ideas! You love to hear that your client is happy with what you have done. I enjoy designing corporate identities the most...I really enjoy that!

C: Definitely being creative, seeing design differently to the average Joe and finding its something that feeds your soul... and of course coming to work in slippers if I really wanted to

D:The challenge of a difficult brief, coming up with something fresh.

Are there any designers that inspire you?

A: Oh yes! I love browsing thedieline.com. Looking at all these designs always gives me a kick! My favourite, favourite South African designers must be Louis Minnaar and Anthony Dart

B: Yes! And I love the site Behance, where they showcase other designers. I just love the creativity and new ways of thinking!

C: There is an illustrator and designer that I absolutely love Rachel Riordan.

D: Designers like Charles S Anderson, Daniel Palavin, Neville Brody, Louise Fili, Paula Scher and Adolphe Mouron Cassandre Inspire me every day.

What are the design trends at the moment and how have these changed over the years?

A: Hand drawn and 3D fonts, and of course textures and retro shapes. Mmm, they kind of change a bit each year, so I cant tell thats what makes it so exciting!

B: The saying less is more! Now design is neater and not too busy, more vectors and illustrations are being introduced than the past.

C: I personally like clean, flat colours (no drop shadows). The vintage look is very big at the moment with website design, with natural textures.

D: Keep it simple.

Where do you get inspiration for original designs?

A: From those designers and sites Ive just mentioned. Im also very much inspired by nature! Also the fact that were not American, but African! South African design rules!

B: On websites such as Behance - and Exclusive Books!

C: I have a few sites I am addicted to thedieline.com for awesome packaging ideas and webdesignerwall.com for the latest trends in web design. Sitting for hours in a book shop looking at design books gives one great inspiration too.

D: Answer Censored

What would be your ideal job as a designer?

A: I suppose Id love to work for myself or to be a creative director just coming up with the big idea and everybody loves it!!

B: For one day to work my way up as a designer and learn from others. It would be great to be a creative director one day

C: I would love to conceptualise themes and ideas for events and do all the design work that goes behind it. Something that involved traveling and designing would be great too but dont think those two go hand in hand.

D: Designing Music graphics, posters, Cd covers. Oh and designing book covers

Any funny or crazy experiences you have had in your career?

A: Everyday we enjoy a few laughs in studio. Every day brings something new. We once had a client who thought he could do his own photo shoot for his products and it would look fine. This client sells food and one of the burgers he shot, had a big fly on it. Epic fail!! Whats the chances!

B: Yes!! I had such a blonde moment at college! There were two PCs next to each other in class and my friend asked me to help him. I took the mouse and looked at his screen to show him where to go, and spent ages wondering why the mouse was not working! Meanwhile I was moving my own mouse!

C: While studying I was a finalist for a packaging competition and had a photo shoot and an article written with a magazine about my design. Anyways, about 4 years later I went on holiday and we stayed in this little hotel in Kimberly - I think we might have been the only ones staying in the hotel - and the hotel had supplied reading material next to my bed. Out of all the magazines they could have chosen in the world, it was the magazine I was in. I ran around the hotel holding the magazine up to my face, smiling and pointing to the staff that that was me. I think they thought I was crazy, definitely not anyone even mildly famous as I didnt even get asked for an autograph

D: Answer censored

When did you first realize you wanted to be a graphic designer and why?

A: Ive always been interested in art. When I was little drawing and painting were my favourite things! My parents are both very creative people an architect and an art teacher. I grew up watching my Mom in the pottery studio and my dad always made me draw and page through art books. In high school I took art as a subject. I went to a universitys open day for graphic design, and I just knew - this is for me!

B: In high school I took art as a subject and can draw very well. After I matriculated I didnt know what I wanted to do but I knew that I must do something that involves being creative. I was advised that I could either study graphic design or fine arts. I did not want to draw (fine arts) as a career because then something that you enjoy would just become another job.

C: I first realized I wanted to be a graphic designer in Standard 5 (I went around telling everyone I was going to be a graphic artist and that they used actual computers to do the art). I always loved drawing and being creative and I was set on becoming a graphic designer.

D: I came to love design through studying the history of graphic design, designers throughout history have been great artists, although times have changed. I was studying Fine art, but realized I could still be creative if I followed a career in commercial art, plus finding its way easier paying the bills opposed to being a starving artist contemplating eating your own sliced off ear. I love typography from the first half of the twentieth century and the modern designers who revived it.

What was your perception of being a designer then and what is the reality?

A: I expected it to be more exciting and creative. Unfortunately we spend a lot of time sitting in an office in front of a computer. Not really that creative. Sometimes sticking to the same corporate Ids really kills your creative spirit. But hey, I dont regret anything. Graphic design is filled with amazing possibilities!

B: I was told by many designers that its really rough working in the industry and you dont get any respect as a new designer. What I have experienced is quite the opposite! I really enjoy the work and feel part of the team!

C: I thought being designer you would have more freedom to be creative but it is sometimes rather restricting. I probably enjoyed studying more than working as the ideas were limitless and there was never a budget. The real world of a working designer isnt what I expected but then I didnt really know what to expect. I still wouldnt change it for anything though!

D: I think every design student thinks they will land in their first job and everyone will be in awe of your talent, youll be the toast of the Loeries and supermodels will fall at your feet as you hold your mac up in the air. I still enjoy the challenge, the creation of concepts and putting a bit of your self in everything, even if your soul gets stomped every now and then.

What tips would you give someone who is thinking about a career in graphic design?

A: If youre dreaming of being an artist (painting and drawing all day) dont study graphic design - its much more formal and corporate than you think. Studying graphic design is a huge commitment prepare to say bye-bye to your social life this means intense hard work! So many late nights, but in the end Im still so happy with my choice. Im excited about the possibilities Ive got being a designer!

B: Are you prepared for being creative and using most of your time designing? Be inspired by whats out there for creative ideas. I was told that if you have a creative block, stop, relax and go do something you enjoy. Go back and try again when you are more calm and relaxed.

C: Know what its like in the real world. In the real world people have deadlines and budgets and your biggest idea can squished by a client and leave you feeling very despondent. You also spend nearly all of your day in front of your computer... and your chair becomes your buttocks best friend! Dont do it if you dont have a passion for it.

D: Find designers that inspire you, even if you start emulating their work, youll eventually find a style of your own. Also question everything, never follow a brief word for word, be a rebel.

Where did you study design and would you recommend it if not where would you recommend studying design?

A: North-West University, Potchefstroom (Ci-Lab Creative intelligence Lab). This institute is definitely one of the best in the country. Ive been to a few design school exhibitions in Jhb, and nothing comes even close to the standard I was used to. I will definitely recommend North-West University. This institute usually walks away with the most Loeries and Pendorings each year. Watch out!

B: I was at Vaal University of Technology, I enjoyed it there a lot and they took us to every exhibition and to indaba if we wanted to go. This place has a high standard of work, according to the evaluators we had.

C: I studied at Greenside Design Center but I often wish I had studied at Vega. Design Center was a lot of fun though and I made friends for life there that share the same passion as I do.

What is the thing you like least about being a designer?

A: Sitting in front of a computer.

B: Clients that are really difficult to please.

C: Sitting all day in front of a computer, in the same chair, doing the same routine.

D:The narrow mindedness of some clients

Well there you have it some valuable insights from our team that we hope will be useful to anyone considering a career in Graphic Design.

Find out more about Artifact Advertising on or read the original article on /content/Design Article.html

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What Kind of Website Do You Need?

Whatever kind of business you are running, it is very likely that you will benefit from having some form of website. The Internet is fast replacing the phonebook as a resource for consumers. With some customer demographics this switch was completed long ago, the phonebook is languishing in the recycling bin. If you don't have an online presence then you will not be on the digital consumers' radar.

If you are considering commissioning a website then it is more than reasonable for you to feel bamboozled by all of the options and possibilities open to you. But the reality is that you can know exactly what type of website you will need by considering a few questions about the type of business that you run and the needs of your customers.

Broadly speaking, websites for businesses can be broken down into three main categories: Microsite, Brochure and e-commerce.

If you're running a small local business, perhaps a locksmiths or a caf, then it is likely that a microsite will meet the needs of both you and your customers. A microsite will typically consist of two to three pages of basic information; a homepage, contact information and an about us section. Visitors to your website will mainly be existing customers and locals who are already aware of you. They will be looking for a contact phone number, opening hours or a list of services.

If you want to stand out in a highly competitive market place such as real estate, interior design or legal services then you will probably want to consider a brochure website. There is no average size for a brochure site. They are generally bigger than a microsite and will contain a lot more information. They are used as a tool to drive sales. A brochure might contain examples of your work, testimonials from clients and a regular blog with information about your exciting new projects.

If you are going to take the time to develop a brochure website then it is worth doing well. When it comes to web marketing, New Zealand is leading the pack, and there are some good web designers with a keen grasp on methods that will ensure you are generating new business from your website. Make sure you employ one. You'll be far more likely to see returns on your investment.

Finally we come to e-commerce. Building an e-commerce website is not for the faint-hearted. It can require a significant amount of investment and will probably take far longer to implement than a microsite or a brochure. But, you are opening yourself up to a world of opportunity! If you are selling stock that is easy to post, or you are providing online services, then you will be able to reach new customers from all corners of the globe.

Talk to a knowledgeableweb development companyabout which kind of website you think would be best for you. You have to express your ideas, interests before creating your websites and also ask them about the website themes. somewebsite design companiesare providing wide ranges of website themes which will be very helpful to choose an attractive one for your Business.

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