Los Angeles Advertising and Design

Huge Mistake #1: Creating a Website with Flash — Did you know in a recent study, top internet marketers discovered that having a website created with Flash, actually DECREASED the response from prospects and customers by as much as three-hundred-and-seventy percent?

Here’s why: Your prospects and customers are most likely visiting your website using all types of different computers, connection speeds and internet configuration settings…

What may look GREAT to one visitor, may not even appear for another! You could very easily have shelled out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a website created using the Flash technology, only to find out that some of your visitors will never see it! (not to mention the loading times can cause your visitor to close your site, never to return again.)

Huge Mistake #2: The “Internet Catalog” Approach — You see this everywhere. Good, honest and hardworking businessmen and women get online to sell their products or services, and have a site created for them that contains a link to just about everything they offer on one page. Their thinking goes along the lines of, “…well, I don’t want to leave anyone out. If they come to my site, I want to make sure I have what they’re looking for…” — This way of thinking could not be further from the truth.

Here’s why: There’s an ancient rule that goes back to the very beginning of direct-marketing on the internet, taught by the richest, most legendary and well-respected internet marketers of all time…

“When you give your prospects too many choices, they become confused and aren’t sure what to do next. Confused people never buy anything.”

Huge Mistake #3: Optimizing Your Sales Site for the Search Engines — You’ll see this taught in nearly every “internet marketing” course, manual or eBook out there… “You must optimize every page of your website for the search engines!” — In fact, this false teaching is accepted as ‘gospel truth’ so often, that most web designers will offer to do this for you at no, or little extra cost…

What they DON’T understand is that certain words and phrases must be either re-worded (to make it “keyword rich”) or taken out completely, just to be looked upon highly by the mighty search engines — and this could KILL your sales, literally overnight.

Here’s why: When you or a hired web designer optimize your SALES page (i.e. any web page designed to sell your products and services) to get a higher listing in the search engines, you’re going to have to sacrifice the pulling-power of your sales copy (i.e. written sales material) just to get those higher listings. Sure, this can bring you more traffic — but what good is all the traffic in the world, if your visitors arrive at your website and aren’t compelled enough to read why they should order your product?

For years, it has been taught that you should always try to find a “balance” of SEO (Search-Engine-Optimization) mixed with promotional copy designed to sell your products and services…

WRONG AGAIN! — The truth is that you should NEVER optimize your sales page for the Search Engines. Instead, you should create tiny “entry pages” for each keyword related to your product or service, (highly optimized for the Search Engines) and have them link to your main sales site! (we can show you exactly how to do this quickly and easily and get *massive* targeted traffic from the Search Engines – without ever *touching* your sales site!)

Huge Mistake #4: Having a “Graphics-Based” Website — Sure, graphics can certainly help us to visualize a particular situation or circumstance, product or service… But did you know that having a graphically-driven website can actually DISTRACT your visitor away from your sales message?

After all, your sales message (or “web copy”) is THE #1 most important factor in a website that makes money. If your visitors are paying more attention to your “professional graphics” than your sales message… you’ve just lost another sale.

Here’s why: You’ve got approximately seven seconds from the time your visitor arrives at your site, to the time they decide whether to buy your product, get more information or LEAVE. If you’ve got a graphically-intensive website, your website will most likely still be loading past your seven-second time limit.

That’s a “customer-killer” in and of itself – however, the real reason lies within the fact that the bigger, brighter and more beautiful your graphics are, the more they will distract your visitor from your sales message. And if your visitor is distracted even for one second, it could mean the difference between getting a sale, and losing a customer.

Huge Mistake #5: Designing a Website with ZERO Marketing Experience — Most web designers have no idea how to make money on the internet, with anything other than their design services. It’s not their fault – they simply have no or very little marketing and sales experience. After all, they’re just website designers…

However, having your website designed by someone with ZERO internet marketing experience is like buying a street-car without an engine… it won’t go anywhere, and it’ll just waste your time and money!

About The Author

Jason Mangrum is CEO of ImmWebDesign.com, a Joint Venture specialist, contributing author to such #1 bestsellers as “The E-Code”, “Desperate for Money”, “30 Days to Internet Marketing Success”, author of “The Path of Manifestation” and creator of the “Instant Marketing Miracle – Automated Joint Venture Software.” He has also been a featured speaker at prestigous events such as Marc Goldman’s “Joint Venture Summit of the Century” and the world-famous “Spiritual Marketing Super Summit.”

Tags: article submission, articles, email, email marketing, email newsletter, ezine, publishing, writers, writing

For your website to be successful, it has to contain the proper web design. This isn’t too hard if you’ve been designing websites for years and have had the time and experience to perfect your technique, but for everyone else, web design can seem somewhat daunting. Don’t worry, though, it doesn’t have to be. Just remember that using common sense, and applying your own taste are the best things that you can do for your web design strategy.

However, just because you think your site looks good, doesn’t mean that your visitors will read it. Nor does it mean that they will come back a second time. Therefore, web design only starts with your own taste, and must also include other techniques that will ensure continued success.

There are five basic things that you need to look at to develop your web design strategy. They are as follows:

1. Your Website Title – Every successful website must first have an excellent title. A truly great title needs to be interesting, catchy, and applicable. “Bob’s Website” isn’t exactly the most attractive way to make a first impression. The title is, after all, the first words that will catch the visitor’s eye. If the title doesn’t work for your readers, they won’t click it on the search engines, and they won’t stick around if they arrive at the site. Give yourself time to brainstorm great website title ideas, asking friends and family for inspiration, and using a thesaurus for some dazzling words.

2. Columns – The number of columns used within your web design will alter the entire perception of your website. The standard first website will usually have a rather plain layout, consisting of only one column, however, the majority of readers actually prefer two-column pages to allow for written content in one column, and navigation links within the other. This web design is much more attractive, and makes navigation throughout your website much easier. Though the three-column website does have its fans, it is not necessarily any better than the one- or two-column web designs. However, if you have a great deal of complexity to your website and you need additional navigation options, or if you need additional writing space, then the extra column might work well for you.

3. Colors – Although it might seem that colors are among the simplest decisions that you need to make for your web design, once you get started, you may find that it’s more challenging than you first thought. Colors are very important to the overall appearance of your website, and will influence people’s decisions to find out what your site has to offer, and their decision to return. If your website design is bland, it will make people believe that your website is dull. If the colors are too bright and are hard on the eyes, staying at the website will feel unpleasant. If the colors are warm and comforting, making the customer feel at home, they are more likely to feel that they like your site, and will stick around and return more frequently.

4. Navigation – When building your web design, don’t forget that navigation will be key to allowing visitors to properly benefit from your site. The key is consistency and easy access. Every page on the website should link back to the homepage so that visitors don’t get lost among the different pages of the site and finally give up and go elsewhere. You’ll also need some sort of index which appears in the same way on every page, so that users will always know where to look when they want to head to the next page of interest.

5. Content – When it comes to web design, content is among your most important features. If your content isn’t good, nobody will have any reason to visit your site. Among other site-specific pages, your content should include a minimum of a homepage, which tells visitors what your site is about, and why they’d want to visit. An “about us” page is also advisable, telling visitors who you are and why you’ve got the website. Use this space to show people that you know your stuff, and they can trust your site for reliable information and resources. When visitors understand you better, they’ll feel more comfortable visiting your site.

Most importantly, don’t just follow a template, do something new, and keep it fresh. People won’t want to keep visiting a site that never changes. They want to see updates, or they won’t have any reason to return. The more often you update your site, the longer people will spend visiting your site in order to keep on top of things. Once a week is ideal, but once a month should be your bare minimum. When it comes to web design, you have to be up to date!

Mark Nenadic

Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com, where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

Tags: Web Design, web page design

This is our top 10 list of things you shouldn’t do on your website:

1. Do not underline words unless they are a link. It is a design standard to underline links. If you underline other words on your web page that are not links, viewers will click them. When they don’t go anywhere, it will lead to confusion. Make it obvious what is a link and what isn’t.
2. Use a font without serifs. Serifs are the little lines at the end of letters that make them easier to read in print. On a computer screen, however, sans serif fonts like Arial and Verdana are actually easier to read and lead to greater comprehension of your message. For example, this is serif and this is sans serif.
3. Optimize your graphics for the web. If the file size of your pictures is too large, they will take too long to load and most users won’t stick around to see them. Pictures can be optimized with only slight changes in overall quality.
4. Put the navigation for your web pages on the top or left hand side. This is where most users automatically look to find them. Don’t stick it on the right just to be different. This is not where people’s eyes go to look for navigation. Be consistent with your navigation placement; it should be in the same spot on every page.
5. Don’t use more than three or four colors on your web page. Any more, and the user will be overwhelmed and not know where to look first. If your message is competing for attention with color, your site will not be as effective as it could be.
6. If you are selling on-line, put the prices of your products or services where people can easily find them. Don’t make them look too long, or else they will give up, leave your site, and spend their money elsewhere.
7. Avoid horizontal scrolling on your web pages. Ensure your site fits on a screen resolution of 800 by 600 so that viewers don’t have to scroll left to right. Vertical scrolling is okay, but horizontal scrolling is annoying and unnecessary.
8. Do not collect email addresses without a privacy policy. In Canada, there is a privacy law that states that every site should have a privacy policy, even if they don’t collect any information. Read more at the government of Canada web site.
9. Avoid unnecessary animated images. The flashing and movement on the screen will distract the eye from the main message. Don’t get me wrong, flash and animation is cool, but only when they support the main message.
10. Remember to give each of your pages a unique title. Search engines use titles to help rank your pages. Bookmarks use page titles, too.

When designing your site remember what visitors to your site want

• Text they can read
• Text that answers their questions
• Simple navigation
• Fresh, up-to-date content

Happy Designing!

Colleen Happ designs effective and affordable websites. View her portfolio at http://www.happconsulting.com. Colleen offers free one hour consultations to show how an effective website can benefit your business. She can be reached at 403-807-8225.

Tags: Mistakes, Top Ten List, Web Design