Web Designing , Site Development & E-Commerce

Fifteen Web Design Secrets for Attracting Clients

Following are fifteen serious elements that a web site needs to have in order to be an optimal business development tool.

1. Set the right goal and design your web site to get that goal. The right goal of any professional services web site is to get the prospect to give you their contact information, or to contact you directly. Unfortunately, most web sites appear to have the goal of telling prospects all about their services, and fail to do an adequate job of compelling prospects to respond. Start with the right goal.

2. Design the web site to be 90% about the prospect, and only 10% about your services. Prospects want to get insight about their most pressing problems, how to solve them, and how to improve results. They do want to learn about whom you are and what you do - but only AFTER they are convinced that you understand their problems, opportunities, and needs. Therefore, web sites must aim primarily on the prospect!

3. Offer a compelling reason for the prospect to give you his or her contact information. The first page, and almost every page of your site, must offer a newsletter, free information goods, or other offer that addresses the prospect's situation and compels him or her to sign up. That way, you have the opportunity to continue to establish credibility with your prospect, and to stay in touch.

4. Offer plenty of free, valuable information and educational goods or services on the web site. Prospects will rarely engage your services after a first look at your web site. However, they will agree to get information that they perceive to be valuable. Articles, CDs, videos and seminars about their problems and how to solve those (not sales pitches!) will establish your credibility, build trust, and get the prospect to want to know more about you.

5. Focus more on telling a good story than on fancy graphics. Some designers still don't believe this, but test after test shows that copy is more important than design in getting prospects to take action and respond to your offers. A well-told story that matters to the prospect is much more important than great graphics. In fact, graphics that are distracting or that take too much time to download can hurt response. Therefore, design the web site with a focus first on strong copy that tells a compelling story, and second on graphics.

6. Focus on results first and technology second. Prospects want results, regardless of your technology. Write your web copy accordingly. For instance, instead of writing about the specifications of your backup solutions, tell the prospect that you prevent businesses from shutting down - sometimes for good. Similarly, rather than write about how you implement PeopleSoft solutions, describe the ways that you reduce employee turnover and save clients tens of thousands of dollars in payroll processing costs. Finally, if you are a web designer, don't brag about your awards but instead show prospects how your work will help them attract customers and make more money.

7. Start with a headline that gets the prospect's attention. Design a headline that generates curiosity in the prospect, and gets them to read more. Come up with a story or enticing statement that tells the prospect that you have information that he or she needs in order to make more money, save time, look good, or feel good.

8. Use subheadings to keep the prospect's attention. Tests show that long copy generates more response than short copy - despite what several graphic designers wish were true. However, to keep the prospect's attention, break copy into pieces separated by attention-grabbing subheads.

9. Write in clear English. Avoid technical jargon. Write your copy as if you were talking to the reader. If your prospect is technically oriented, provide a separate section about specifications, but ensure that this section explains how each technical feature achieves particular results.

10. Include testimonials. Testimonials, especially with photos of your customers, will establish your credibility and prove that you are rare. Seed these throughout your site, not just on a rare page.

11. Include case studies. Case studies about your results will also build credibility. However, ensure that the case studies are written in a way that applies universally to your target market. Write from your prospect's point of view, including the problem, what it costs people in your target market, your solution, and particular results that your solution brought.

12. Make sure that your copy shows why you are uniquely able to solve the prospect's problem. A good web site shares a complete marketing message - the problem your prospect faces, what the problem costs, your solution, and why your solution gets better results than anybody else. It does this without appearing to make a sales pitch, but instead by giving education and information that matters to the prospect.

13. Design the web site so that the prospect goes where you want him or her to go. Avoid links that permit the prospect to leave your site, and too many choices that keep the prospect from navigating to offers for free information or services.

14. Make the web site personal. Technology customers buy from people, not from companies. Consider including a photo, or giving one or two personal facts about yourself and other consultants in your business. That way, customers will know that they are dealing with a real person.

15. Include a section that tells the prospect about you and your services. Some portion of the web site should be devoted to your services and qualifications. The problem with most sites is that they aim too much on the consultant, and too little about the prospect or client. Allocate 10% of the overall copy to a section that answers frequently asked questions, and to an overview of your credentials and background.

Graphic Design vs. Interactive Design

Can a graphic designer design a website? Of course!

But there are risks involved when someone who thinks in terms of paper and inches starts making designs for screens and pixels.

In this article, we’ll look at what creates web design so different, and we’ll talk about what to look for in a site designer.

Usability

Ever clicked on a brochure or a business card? I didn’t think so.
On the web, your visitors take an active role in their own experience—meaning that if they don’t enjoy the experience, they’ll take action and leave.
A user-friendly site gives clear pathways to tools, goods, or information. It communicates in the target audience's language, and it doesn't leave visitors frustrated, confused, or lost.
Take load time for example. Many designers get so caught up in creating fancy-schmancy landing pages that they forget the user. If your web page takes too long to appear—or if it fails to update users on loading status—you’ll lose visitors.

Think of it this way: if graphic designers are warriors in the battle against ugliness, web designers are warriors in the battle against ugliness and confusion.

Accessibility

This goes hand-in-hand with usability: make a site more accessible, and you’ll make it more user-friendly.

Accessibility is also a key area of difference between print and interactive: a graphic designer might not consider how a print piece will work for blind people, but a web designer must think about how a site will work for every potential visitor.

It’s not only possible to make websites accessible to people with disabilities—it’s often mandatory, as in the case of several government projects. And it must be. The web is an extremely useful tool for those with physical impairments.

And keep in mind that accessibility serves all users: in the words of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, “accessible design is good design.”

Ease of Updates

Every print piece is frozen in time. Once it rolls off the press, the text on that paper will be the same forever.

The Internet, on the other hand, is all about change. Interacting with an out-of-date site is like talking to a wall: it feels futile, lonely, and downright silly.

To ensure your site continues to feel present long after launch, your designer must forego the cutesy, clever, or trendy in favor of the clear, classic, and lasting.

Important considerations might include text vs. graphics, links vs. buttons, horizontal vs. vertical navigation, or the need for standard fonts (serious for dynamic text).

And, with matter managers like Mighty-Site putting updates into the hands of site owners, web designers must make templates and style sheets that will continue to look great every time you update matter, add pages, or change images on your site.

Search-Engine Friendliness

If you’re concerned with your rank in search listings, you need to select a designer who'll help you speak to search engines.

Some of the elaborate, flashy sites we see these days are in fact invisible to search robots.
A good interaction designer won’t let this happen: she’ll respect your SEO needs and make an attractive, matter-ready design that search engines will love.

Browsers and Monitors

It’s true that computers and Internet browsers evolve quickly, but don’t forget that consumers are slow to change. We all know that guy who bought his monitor back in ’96 and still swears by it in 2008. In fact, around 8% of all web users still have their screen resolution set to 800x600 pixels.

A website that launches today might be viewed on hundreds of different screen kinds, in any of 4 major browsers. This means that words will wrap differently for different viewers, colors will fluctuate from one monitor to the next…the list goes on.

It’s hard to plan for this level of variability. But an experienced web designer knows how to handle the challenge.

That's why at Orbit, we check every web design on a variety of monitors and test site functionality across all major present browsers and platforms. It’s a necessary step in effectively catering to online audiences.

Your next necessary step? Get in touch with us to learn more about great web design.

Keyword Domain Name
A keyword domain name is a domain that contains a keyword that the site is trying to rank for. Search engines use numerous techniques to decide where sites must rank in search results and having a keyword domain is one of the criteria.

Choosing a Keyword Domain

Using the same keyword tools and methods to do research is a good place to start when trying to decide on a keyword domain. Factors that must be considered when selecting a keyword domain are competitiveness, length of the keywords and the amount of searches the keywords get.

Registering a Keyword Domain

Finding a previously unregistered domain for a keyword that gets searches may be difficult. This is because webmasters tend to bulk register these domains because of their value. This also means that acquiring a keyword domain may be expensive depending on the keyword in the domains.

Purchasing a Previously registered Keyword Domain

Buying a keyword domain needs making an offer to the present owner. If the keyword domain already has an established site the price can be high. If that site is ranking for the keyword in question, the price may be even higher. All of these factors contribute to the value of the domain.