StormBiz Blog

Website Design PlanningWhen you're surfing the Web, you probably only think about one thing when you look at a Website: whether or not it's fun. Some of the website authors are wondering why only a few visitors visit their site.

Here are some tips to avoid if you don't want to create a bad website:

Before developing the website you have to plan it first. Make a story board that will be your guide in developing the site. You must arrange the hierarchy of the most important links in the main page.

Most importantly, you must create a home page that presents a professional image to the world. Your home page would be the gateway to your site. It must look like a road map, the index and the table of contents that tells the visitors where to find the information they need to make them stay at your site. It would be the mirror of your company or organization. So, if the design is not good, that will be the the first impression to your company.

You have to figure out what are the important elements that should be included on the page. It must have unique and interesting content. You have to know who are your target audience and what the things are that will get the attention of your visitors. You have to think of something new and unique in your content to convince your visitors to stay.

Put significant information in your site to give them useful information that is appropriate in your site. You should be able to tell why a website exists, and what information it's trying to provide. If the purpose of the website is confusing or unclear, that's a good sign that you should look for a different site. The words must be correctly spelled and good grammar used throughout.

The design must be clean and have a stunning look that will impress your visitors. The design must depend on the kind of services that your site is offering. Avoid the use of blinking text that will irritate the eyes of your visitors. Avoid also too many graphics or images that will take long to load your page because some visitors may get bored waiting for your page to load. Use a text color that will be visible to your readers.

Your site must be easy to navigate. The buttons must be consistent in size and design. Using buttons with different colors and sizes looks unprofessional. Make sure that when you put the buttons on top of the home page, they're on the top of every other page.

Home - Banner - WebThe site must be indexed by search engines so you have to consider successful page optimization so that your site will be given the opportunity to rank in search engines. In order for your site to be seen by many clients or visitors, your site must get a good ranking from search engines. Read some information about Search Engine Optimization(SEO) to have an idea about what you should be doing on your site.

You must have a quick response to your client or custome,r and give them the service that they require. Build good relation with your customer. Give them a word of thanks for giving you the opportunity to work together with their company.

Always update your home page so that visitors will always see something new or different on your site when they are visiting.. This will encourage them to visit your site more frequently.

Please contact us for a free quotation, or to discuss your website requirements.

Website Plan and BuildA number of web design customers coming to us have only recently set up a business. In fact, some have not even set up their business, and are exploring ideas with regards to a web design. Designing a fully fledged website can be costly, depending on what type of web design you are looking for. If you are not sure about your business, your products and services, let alone your corporate identity, you might not be ready to invest in a web design project. If you have just started your business, a one page website, or web page design might be the answer for you. The one web page design has several advantages.

Nowadays, whether you like it or not, every business has its web site. More than likely you need a web page design as well. But you do not require a full several pages web design from the outset. You can still have a web page with your logo, a nice web design, your contact details, some texts about your business, products or services and be part of the online business community.

Indeed, there are a number of web page design companies that are offering affordable web design solutions for small businesses which are not ready to invest in a large web design project. One of the most popular web page design web sites are those that allow you to have your web page design, a domain name, hosting and your web site online in a few simple steps. How does it work?

Discount Web Design offers such a web page a design product which is popular with business starters. Just visit the site, select Business Starter Web Page Design and follow the simple 5 step web page design process. First, check if your domain name is available. Then choose your web design from a number of templates. Just click on the web design that best suits your needs and proceed to step 2. Here you can easily upload your logo if you have one or order a logo online. Step 3, type in your company contact details and some text in the boxes provided. Preview your web page design, if you like what you see, click on the order button to securely pay online. Once your payment is cleared, allow 48 hours for your web page design to be published online under your own domain name.

Once your web page design is published you will also receive five email addresses with your domain name. The web pageemail Addresses design will look professional and you can have your own web site on the internet within 48 hours at a very affordable price. Discount Web Design will also place a link to your web page design from our web site which is already indexed by the major search engines. This means that your web page design will also get picked up by search engines in time. Having a web page design online will help your domain name and web site with Search Engine Optimisation. The longer your domain name is online, the better it is. Obviously, in time you can use the same domain name and hosting account to publish a full web design with several pages. Until then, your web page design will be accumulating Search Engine Optimization by just being online. Search Engines like established sites, even if it is a one web page design.

There are some definite advantages to getting your one page web design online as soon as you can. It’s easy and affordable. Your customers can see your web presence through your web page design and it is working in your favour with the search engines.

For a free quotation or more information, please contact us today.

Content is Like WaterThe effective design is the one which is maximum simplified and conformable to your users because they are your main purpose. This one, simply and clearly announcing what your website is about. This one, quickly offering the users exactly what they are expecting to see on your pages, without being troubled with insignificant information. The big mistake made by a lot of web designers is to project their activities from their own point of view, without thinking about the user.

Factors, damaging the website design effectiveness

Additional time needed for website downloading
Badly written content
Complex design, abundant in elements
Difficult navigation, incomprehensible for user
No validated program language

Additional time needed for website downloading

Your pages downloading time is extremely important. Your users will shut your website down very quickly if you make them wait because of your slow downloading pages. The other sites are just a mouse click away from them.

• Not important if you are talking about graphics, multimedia, scripts, applets - be cautious about their location on your site. Don't insert them without judging their position, just because you or your designer had an idea about it. Design them small-sized, too.

Cpywriting SkillsBadly written content

The text that is ready for print has nothing to do with the text for the Web. According to Jacob Nielsen, Web usability guru, users have more difficulty in reading the information on computers than on printed editions. They would rather scan it than read it profoundly. Huge text blocks are unreadable and couldn't allow them to do it.

Means to make text more readable and effective could be effectuated by using:

• separate paragraphs
• titles
• subtitles
• indentations
• bullets
• bolds
• hyperlinks
• different fonts and sizes

Web FrameComplex design, abundant in elements

• Don't complicate users work by complex and abundant design, making the website confusing in terms of its downloading and its appearance on their screens.
• Avoid frames. They could seriously damage your website usability.
• Having a site, made on FLASH you can't explain fast and clear to users what his content is about, what it would be useful for, what they could win, using your services, because only its downloading will take several minutes. If you insist however on including FLASH elements, much better variant is to insert them in a detached small file, with definite size, but inserting it, you have to possess some clear purpose. It refers much more to your home page, which is your website main portal.
• Don't leave your pages without comprehensible title tags, clearly explaining what your page is about (title tag is the page title you see on the top of the browser).
• Don't leave your site home page without text, explaining to your users who you are and what you are talking about on your site.

Poor NavigationDifficult navigation, incomprehensible for user

• Don't upset user with bad navigation, making him feel lost. He could enter your site by each of its pages, not only by the home page. If he/she enters by another one, he/she must understand what is his/her position on your site, where he/she could go by clicking the corresponding link.
• Don't leave your site without a site map. The site map gives thr user the possibility to orientate quickly and easily on it.
• Always put a link to the home page on each of your pages, plus the firm's name and logo, making them a link to the home page too.
• Don't allow the existence of an orphaned page, where a user could feel lost.
• Don't change the default color of the hyperlinks, because users are expecting to see them exactly that way. When a text is blue, the user is used to thinking it is a link, and if it is purple, that it is a visited link. The different colors from the default ones will throw them into confusion.
• Don't make a text blue that is not a hyperlink. That will also confuse them.
• Don't put a link that leads to the same page, only those that go to other page sections.

Program CodeNo validated program language

The code your site is written in is validated depending on browsers from different types and versions.

• Incorrectly written program code will make your site users close it immediately due to its bad appearance in their browsers.
• Correctly written code is the best way to ensure your pages are appearing correctly in as many browsers as possible.  It includes old versions and versions that will be published.

For a free quotation, or to discuss your requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Mobile BrowsersNowadays, the most popular source of research work is the Internet. In fact it has already shrunk the world into bytes. All the information, data, facts, truths as well as the confusing principles and ideas are pushed into the World Wide Web for the users to have access and knowledge of their existence.

Research is an important part of our existence. Without it, bright ideas will never luster, innovations will lose its existence, and progress will only be true in our dreams. Research is our driving force. It makes us knowledgeable and when we are knowledgeable we clamor for more knowledge and to be the best in our industry.

Research therefore, is a continuous aspect in our lives. We have to satisfy one urge, in order to alleviate to another prospect. Thus, we must make our site Research-friendly, so as to accommodate everybody's need for research. But how do we do it?

First, there must be CONDITIONING of the mind. Know your target market. As a site especially catering to the research needs, you must provide the visitors the perspective most convenient to them. Give them easy options and let them adjust to your process quickly and effortlessly.

Target MarketNext, in giving them information and instructions, make sure that they understand your lingo. Shower of technical terms will definitely annoy them. Might as well, give it in the usual parlance.

If the term is too technical, DEFINE it. The term or concept may be foreign to them, so have the grace to explain it to them. That is the most conducive way of informing your viewers.

Then, provide an excellent overview of your site, and, if ever there are processes that need to be discussed, better discuss them for their complete understanding. Give them the 'COMPLETE PICTURE' and if necessary give them the salient little details.

If you are into products, give the viewers a grasp of what it is all about, how it will help the viewers, and also tell them the advantages that it can give them. You can even compare your products to the ones already out in the market. If you are into services, like web design services, give them the idea why they should get your services. What is your process, specialty and priority? Are there things that you should relay to them? Your ideas, concept, and knowledge will influence their decision on whether to get your services or not.

Finally, make sure that vital information is easy to find. The keyword is ORGANIZATION. If you have a verbose site, never forget to use a good search tool for easy searching.

Making a DecisionGuarantee that your viewers will definitely find the details, definitions, explanations, and 'call for action' at one glance. If they do not find it, then your site is a useless piece of crap!

It pays to have a research-friendly site. Aside from the fact that the visits will uplift your search engine rankings, it will also boost credibility and elicit trust among viewers. As a result, you will have more purchases and subscriptions than your competitors.

Be sure that your site will encourage them to decision-making. Not just any decision. It must be a decision that will be most favorable to you.

For a free quotation,

 or more information, please do not hesitate to contact us today.

Content is King for a Profitable WebsiteMany businesses want a simple website where they tell people what their business is about, some information on the products they offer and a means of contacting them.

However, content is vital in the growth of your Internet presence. Information is your asset and all you need to produce it is the knowledge you attain over time.

For some, they simply don't know where to start. Here are some things to consider that could lead you to providing great content and a value-added website.

1. Write what you know

Knowledge is power. Post articles to your website that show that you are well informed in your industry. If you can position yourself as an expert in your industry you can boost perceived credibility of your business on the whole.

2. Entertain

Everyone likes to be entertained.

For example, if you are marketing African tours, you might publish photo galleries or post stories on the African people, travel tips, the climate, etc.

Business News3. About Your Business

Are people interested in the current happenings in your business? Post news items on your website. Eg. "New branch in Gauteng"

4. About Your Product

What do your customers often ask you about? What are their uncertainties? If you offer a "complex" product, which requires much learning on the part of the consumer, a website is a great place to teach them! This in mind, you might not want to be too technical in your copy - tell them about the benefits, not the features.

A great way to clarify uncertainties is to publish a "Frequently Asked Questions" or a "Q&A" section.

5. Back to the Plan

Take a look at your marketing and / or business plan - what goals are you trying to achieve and how are you trying to position yourself in the market place?

6. Watch your competition

6.1. What are competitors offering through their website that you are not?

6.1.1. Determine why they publish this content, then think of ways that you can improve it and use it on your website. Don't copy - enhance.

6.2. What are you offering on your website that competitors are not

Explore What You KnowThis raises two questions:

6.2.1. Is the information you offer really satisfying? Does it need to be there?

6.2.2. And, if the information does give you a kind of competitive advantage, how can you capitalize on that?

7. User Behaviour

Consider your Internet market - what do they do on the Internet.

7.1. Do they like to communicate with other Internet users about your industry? Consider having a forum on your website where you can allow website visitors to do this

For a free quotation or more information, please do not hesitate to contact us