Working with Color

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
When building a web site, there are about 450 billion things to take into account.

Ok...there are about 100 things (Don't sue me for overstating things.  Our web design business in is Albany, NY - the capital city of New York State.  In any political town, it's hard to stay truthful when politicians are all around you).

But 100 things to look at is still a lot of details to keep straight! And it only gets more complicated when you start talking about color schemes.

Color Me Blind?

The color scheme of a web site is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Get the scheme right, and everyone wins. Clients, visitors, and designers are happy as clams.

But get the scheme wrong, and everyone loses. Sales drop, visitors feel uncomfortable, and designers lose sleep at night, wondering where it all went wrong.

Here are some things to keep in mind when deciding on a web color scheme:

1. Cultural Perceptions:

Did you know that in India, white is associated with unhappiness? That's a good piece of knowledge to have if you will be marketing to people from India. The Internet is worldwide, so if you have a global audience, you need to be careful what your design choices symbolize to people coming from different cultural backgrounds. 

2. The Urge to Buy:

When making purchases, people often put some kind of reason into their consideration process. But more often than not, the real decision to purchase is made emotionally. If someone feels good on your web site, they're much more likely to buy from you. The colors you choose for your web site set the emotional tone, so make sure you choose them well.

3. Please the Eye: 

Well-harmonized color schemes have a pleasing effect on a person. Conversely, poorly harmonized schemes repel people. If your web site's colors clash, you'll find visitors that come to your site quickly move on to another one. They won't be sticking around to read your content or buy your stuff.   Red and Green?  Try again.

4. Your Audience:

A 25 year old guy with a penchant for snowboarding and other mountain activities will probably love a site like this one. But that wintery scheme isn't going to work for a 40 year old mom looking for something fun to do with her kids in the summer. She'll be looking for something more along these lines. My point? Know your audience. Don't use colors you like, use colors your customers like.

And by the way, if you don't have any current branding, working with your web design team is a great opportunity to come up with some. When you get settled on some great colors for your site, you can start to use those in your other collateral as well (business cards, letterhead, etc.)

Three Great Ways to Update your Site

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
In a previous post, we explained why updating your web site regularly is important – it’s an easy and inexpensive way to retain your customers’ attention and loyalty.
But is there anything else on your web site you can update besides content? Absolutely! Below are three great tools to add to your web site to keep it relevant, current and to keep your audience coming back for more!

1. Add a blog – like this one! A blog is a great way to share news, information and stories with your customers. It keeps them informed, which is the first step to building a successful long-term relationship. Your blog should have a title that clearly explains its role on your site and a list of categories for easy browsing. Also, the information you share on your blog should be relevant to your business or industry. Your customers don’t care what you ate for lunch! (Unless you are a food critic.)
   
2. Include a calendar of important dates, like customer events, milestones and appropriate local happenings. A calendar is another great way to update your site, while communicating with your audience. They will thank you for helping them stay on top of the latest goings-on.
   
3. A message board is another great tool to keep your web site fresh and inviting. It allows people to post their comments or questions and also encourages discussions amongst your audience. Message boards can also increase your traffic, as posters will check back often to view new messages and replies to their own posts.

These three tools are fast and easy ways to keep your web site relevant not only to your customers, but also to the search engines. By keeping your audience informed, entertained and up-to-date, you show them that you care about their needs and want their loyalty.
Your web site doesn’t have to be a bore! So, update it with the above tools and remember to keep it fresh and interesting, but above all – keep it relevant!

Cross-Browser Headaches

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
A few months ago I was talking to a local business owner who needed a website. Despite my warnings, he decided his best bet was to buy a consumer-level web design product and build his own site.

I saw him the other day and he's nearly bald from all the hair he's been pulling out. I resisted the urge to say "I told you so." (It was hard.)

"My web site looks ok on my computer at home, but it looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT on my computer at work!" he yelled. "How is that even possible?!" he wanted to know.

The thing he hadn't counted on, and that so-called "web design software" can't seem to handle, is cross-browser compatibility.

Cross What What?

Every internet browser (for example: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera) is different. Many of the differences aren't noticeable to your casual user, but a few of these differences can create undesired effects. In fact, even between different versions of a particular browser, there are often some major quirks. Depending on what version of what browser you use to view a website, colors might look different, objects may be in different locations, and interactive elements might behave wildly differently.

There are ways to fix these odd behaviors, but you're not going to find them in the manual for your software. There's no "fix my problems" button in design software, and without the knowledge to tweak the code yourself, you're stuck.

The best choice is to work with an experienced designer from the start. Trust me, it will save you money in the long run. Web sites created with consumer-level programs are often so convoluted that having them fixed by a professional is more expensive than having a pro build one from scratch.

SEO (Overview)

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
You may be hearing the term SEO a lot lately. With the economic downturn in full effect, businesses are shifting marketing dollars away from costly strategies like TV ads, and toward more cost-effective approaches like SEO.

So what is it?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. In short, search engine optimization is a process (or series of processes) applied to a website that helps it to place highly on search results pages for specific keywords.

Here's a little exercise to help you understand what I mean:

Go to www.google.com and search for the word 'chocolate'. The top results include an article from Wikipedia, the Hershey's web site, the Godiva web site, Ghirardelli, and the website www.chocolate.com. All of these pages are clearly about chocolate, three of them are from world-renowned chocolate makers, and all five of them are extremely relevant to the term you searched for. These pages have been built in such a way as to convince the Google search engine that they are, in fact, the most relevant results for someone searching the keyword 'chocolate'.

These sites are optimized. And as a result of their high placement, they are going to get more traffic than any of the other 116,000,000 (seriously, look in the top-left of the results page) websites that Google found about chocolate.

Why SEO Is So Important

It's widely accepted that the power positions on a Google search results page are the top three spots. Once you drop to #4, the chances that someone will click through to your site are quite a bit smaller. The numbers drop even more drastically once you go past position #10 (that is, onto results page #2).  Optimizing your web site is one of the only ways to get into those top few positions.

The other reason that SEO is such a strong marketing strategy is that it creates qualified connections.  Someone using a search engine to find a product or service has already identified their own need and is actively searching for a solution. If you're one of the first options they come across, you've got a much better chance of getting the sale.

Learn more about our search engine optimization and other search marketing services.