Heart Of Web

If you’ve been tracking the movement of your website traffic just to find out that you have a poor click-through rate (CTR) and the traffic is leaving without any conversions and sales, it may be the time to ask yourself “Why?”

Attracting a large number of people to your website means that your marketing strategy is going strong, but not retaining those potentials is a clear indication of the flaws in your web design. Here are the top 3 reasons why a potential client may retreat away from your website without buying:

1. Your Website Is Lacking “User-Friendliness”

A stunning web design will be of zero value if it doesn’t satisfy your site visitors, leaving them with no other choice than to leave. So, make sure your website is completely loaded with certain usability features like cross browser compatibility, quick downloading and so on. You’ll find many web design companies on the internet providing services focusing on the usability of your website design.

2. Unclear Navigation

Other thing that may irritate your site visitors is its navigation structure. If the visitors can’t find it easy to browse within your site, they will immediately leave. No one likes a complex navigation, dead and unworkable links.

3. Too Many Ads!

If you have set up online ads on your site to generate online revenue, don’t try to overdo it. Users hate a website loaded with flashing advertisements and immediately leave it for some other one. Place ads on your website that are not too distractive, otherwise the visitors may leave your website platform all angry and frustrated.

If your visitors are leaving your website never to return, make sure the above listed points are not one of the reasons.

If you are at the start of your planning about online business then you must be thinking about the cost incurred in developing your web pages. Don’t take your website as simple pages to tell people what are you dealing in but this is actually a way to communicate with your visitors and customers. You are actually bargaining and it is well known fact that effective communication is the base of any successful business. The cost of your website development is not a single cost that you can easily calculate. It is divided into various sections and each is different from the other.

Business website-oxygen to survive:

With increasing trend of online business, a business website is the main thing that is essential at present times. Without a website you can’t expect to gain popularity beyond geographical boundaries. The cost that involves the whole procedure can be categorized into following heads:

Domain name-web address of your website:

Purchasing a domain name is the first step that needs your investment. Finalizing domain name and purchasing it from a domain seller needs you attention. Your domain name should represent your business. You have to pay yearly cost to the company from which you make the purchase. It is as low as $10.

Web hosting- Residence of your website:

It is required for every website to get a host server for running the website and storing data. The cost incurred is greatly dependent over the number of your web pages and the data present on these pages. Higher the data, heavier the cost. The minimum hosting cost is about $30.

Web designing- Appearance of your website:

The most important step is designing your web pages. The design should be according to your business and customer needs. You can do the Web Designing of your website by hiring a free lance web designer or a firm that is specialized in such services. It ranges from $200 to $2000 and the rate varies from designer to designer.

Content- The information portal of your website:

The content present at your web pages is the information you shares with your site visitors. The quality of the content can be improved by hiring the services of a profesional web content writer. The cost of this aspect of web presentation is minimum$26 dollars.

You can make your website excellent with little cost. Just make a choice but don’t compromise over the quality factors involved though these charge you with some money. All depends on your budget. The investment once made will give your returns so move intelligently.

Gone are the days when certain websites are browser specific and users fail to see the web pages because they were using different browsers. Same was the case with websites when website owners inform their users about browser specific running of their website. Now the web developers think about successful opening of web pages with any kind of browser. The main purpose at present is to get higher site traffic and it is not possible to achieve with browser specific websites. Here are some issues that a graphic design firm thinks of before finalizing the web design.

Resolution of the users screen has changed over time:

Previously most of the users were using the screens with 800×600 resolution while other using 1024×768 resolution screens and the traces were there who got 640×480 resolution. At present the majority has switched to big two resolution limits. This factor influences while designing web pages. If your visitors feel it difficult to move at your page then how can you expect larger traffic while having suitability of running your website at specific resolutions?  Fluid designing can solve this problem by adjusting the page according to the user screen resolution. There is another way to make your web pages effective and that is by designing according to the lowest resolution being used by the users.

Coloring your website- keep your visitors’ screens in focus:

The colors your web design firm is using in your web design may not appear at the screen of certain users or they may appear as different colors unlike you used in your design. If you have used colors that are ok with your 24 bit color system then your visitors must have difficulty in getting the right colors if they are working on 256 color settings. Your site colors will not appear at users’ screen in the same way. You should keep in mind this important factor that can make or break the image of your website.

Using frames needs wise approach:

While selecting frame for your web design you need to know how they will work on low resolution screen being used by your site users. Don’t let your site users scroll and scroll again to view the content present at your site or you totally exclude the scrolling option because it’s not needed at your bigger resolution screens. The pages that use frames are not beneficial for speech software users. He will fail to read your site content in terms of relevancy as speech software moves in a systematic manner at your site and reads the text serial wise.

Java scripting- may confuse the users:

Java scripts if used at your website may annoy the user because all the users don’t have the browsers that support the java scripts.  Equipping the Java scripts with PHP scripts, a server side script, is a good option.

The more your website is compatible to your users’ screens, the more pleasant will be the users’ experience. It will promote your web image and a care for your site users. All this is for the best interests of your business as attracting and retaining larger numbers of audience is your main target.

If you see the backend of every prospering online business, you’ll find trust! Why do people instantly purchase from the websites of CK? Or Nike? It’s possibly because these brands have made their names among people for being genuine and reliable. In simpler terms, online users won’t trust you with their personal details and money if you’re not reliable, and will seldom make a purchase.

So how to gain such a trust level for your website that buyers’ not only buy from you but also recommend you to others? You can either seek services of a professional web design firm, or you can follow the five ways given below and secure the trust of your online customers.

1. Flaunt Your Security Certifications

Since internet doesn’t provide for a completely secure environment for money transactions, showing certain “security certifications” to users on your website can ensure they are safe and their details are in good hands.

2. Use Shopping Carts – An Effective Shopping Process

A shopping process involving order placing through emails is not a good choice for many internet buyers. Thus, switch to a trendy process of shopping cart where the users are able to choose the required items and bill them altogether. This not only makes things easier for the buyers, but also makes your website a secure platform for shopping.

3. Logos say it all…

A great trust building method is to exhibit logos of all those credit cards acceptable at your website, like Master card, Visa, PayPal and others. This action proves you to be a genuine seller.

4. Don’t hide your contact details

Why make your buyers doubtful by throwing in your email addresses and PO Box numbers for contacting you instead of giving them proper addresses and phone numbers? For maximum reliability, provide complete postal address, telephone numbers, fax number, and email ID, under the “contact us” page.

5. Client testimonials and recommendations

Internet buyers are heavily dependent on what others say about a certain company before buying from them. To satisfy this instinct of the online buyers, display your original client testimonials, reviews and recommendations.

2010 has brought a new wave to web designing. Concepts that were prevailing in the past are no more of future use as the business is facing different clients and so is the handling that needs different approach. Web designing according to the expectations of the visitors and for their best convenience is the goal of any graphic design firm. Here are some trends that are predicted to be followed in 2010:

Simplicity charm:

2010 is expecting the web designs to be simple. Simplicity will attract even the first time visitors of your website. The more visitors are given convenience in using your website, the more their chances to come again. The white space once considered odd is thought to be more clients oriented. Visitors need easy navigation rather getting messed up with your complicated web designs.

Cut the page count:

The higher is the number of pages at your website, the more your visitors would get distracted. Reduce the number of your web pages to minimum. A single page is not a bad option but make it an active representation of your business.

Sliders to be preferred than other navigational tools:

Sliders provide more space and a pleasant look to your website as compared to lengthy navigation procedure. Site user don’t find himself lost at your website and find it easy to access what he wants from your website in shorter span of time.

Effective utilization of model boxes:

Model boxes are used to carry data, specific forms, and leads and account handling of your site members. These can be used to provide quick login support to the site users rather than directing them to navigate to some other page.

Impressive typography:

Text to be used at website would be of large size and bold as it would communicate with the site users effectively. The more clear your message would be the more users will find it easy to understand what you want to communicate.

Huge layouts:

The size of the layouts is expecting to increase in 2010 as the screen sizes are different now. It will promote a positive image of your website among your site visitors.

Making website mobile accessible:

With increasing trend of mobile net, the web designs are expecting to be like the ones that are mobile friendly. The auto-format enables the web pages to open according to the device being used.

E-commerce to be controlled by users:

E-commerce though have become a common practice in any business as more and more people are preferring to buy things online rather than visiting malls in their localities. The more filtering aspects being part of your web design, the more the users will find it easy to reach the items of their choice. AJAX powered filtering helps the users in accessing what they want to buy in short time.

These are just few trends that are expected to appear at web design scene in 2010 but it’s not the final list as innovation and creativity is another aspect that would lead to results unknown yet.