There is a prevalent misconception that Flash-based websites are not ranked well in SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages. But in reality, there are a number of instances of Flash sites being ranked at prominent positions by search engines.

Even a decade ago, Flash design meant a disaster for search engine ranking but now, with Google’s Flash update in 2008, success is possible with Flash website design.

Do not ignore the fact that all the major search engines are taking every possible step to index Flash-based websites. You can actually help these search engines by -

• Promoting your brand and creating useful links to the pages that are the most important on your website.
• Getting your meta tags right. Remember, meta descriptions, if written with relevant and powerful call-to-action, can turn random net searchers into your site visitors. Be sure to optimize the titles of your web pages with the right keywords but do not overdo it as that would be spamming.
• Code your website with as much plain HTML as possible and link from the plain HTML portion of your web page. Select your anchor text cleverly.

No matter whether you are getting your website designed by a website design company India, or by a design company from any other country, bear in mind that a website isn’t all about looks. So, Flash design alone cannot make a website successful, neither can optimization, if done alone. Your site needs to be popular and relevant in order to be successful. So, concentrate on building a powerful link profile.

Of course, Flash adds a lot of beauty to a website, but when designing a Flash website, you shouldn’t depend on beauty completely. Bring some effective SEO practices on board and adhere to the optimization guidelines set by Google. That way, even if your site is Flash-based from head to toe, it will be indexed by Google and show up in search results.

Below are some things to maintain if you want to earn success with your Flash site.

• Navigation should not be hampered by Flash – The better the navigation, the easier it is for visitors to explore your website. The Flash design on your website should not affect the way visitors roam around in your site. Let them move freely and don’t confuse them with intricate Flash designs.
• Be focused on your message – Do not get lost in beautiful and intricate Flash animation as it might overshadow your message so much so that visitors will not even know there was a message. To grab visitors’ attention, you need eye-catching Flash website design and also the room to convey your message.
• Include SEO aspects into your Flash site – Making your Flash website SEO friendly will boost your conversion rate and also increase your site’s visibility on search engines.

Remember, success won’t come overnight. It calls for effort as well as implementation of smart tactics. A successful Flash website should offer more than just attractive designs.

A lot of people believe they can become a good professional website designer by purchasing a designing software and following its menus! Have you ever wondered if that is possible? If website design was so simple, why are there institutes teaching it?

Everyone who has been in the web designing industry has come across at some point of time, a software that claims – ‘no need for technical knowledge or skills’. The reality is, these claims are, to an extent, false promises of wish fulfillment. It’s not that the softwares don’t work. They do, and they are quite useful, but they don’t really satisfy the demands of a creative mind.

Creators of such softwares, market their products as ‘can be used by anyone and everyone. No technical knowledge needed.’ However, truth is, one cannot become a skilled web designer overnight by purchasing a software. Some level of technical knowledge is needed to understand the instructions and create designs accordingly.

The makers of design softwares claim to ‘efficiently substitute’ the need for creative thinking. They market their products ‘creating’ professionals and not merely helping them. This promise of instant accomplishment is what drives people to buy the software, because, in the face of an easy solution, no one would want to learn website designing in some media institute for years when they can create beautiful designs at home, with the help of tutorials.

One must not overlook the fact that such softwares are quite impressive, and to the novice, they promise to create amazing designs too by just a few clicks of the mouse. All you have to do is re-enact the steps shown in the video tutorial and voila, the design is ready!

Well, not really. The truth is that no software can create a web design all by itself. No matter how powerful and ‘efficient’ it is, it needs a human to do the work. It only provides the platform and the tools with which to work.

Remember, tutorials can be recorded through the action panel. They can be played back also. But that doesn’t mean the web designing software creates the designs by itself. The ‘designing with software’ trend was started by designers who preferred to take the help of templates instead of coming up with creative designs themselves. There is nothing wrong in it. Softwares save a lot of time and when designers have to work under strict deadlines, softwares are definitely a good option. But creativity cannot be artificially generated and talent can’t be mechanized. This is the most basic fact of the matter. Every website designer should know and trust this fact.

Christmas was celebrated recently and most of us have already started planning for the New Year. There is an unmistakable festive cheer in the air. With holidays occupying minds of most of us now, we are busy planning gifts and arranging parties for our loved ones. For people associated with website design and development, holidays can be the perfect opportunity to increase profit rates.

Today, in this article, we will discuss the relationship between holidays and higher traffic. Thereafter, we will provide website designers with few techniques that will allow them to increase site traffic during the holidays.

Can Holidays Lead to Greater Traffic?

Yes, provided you take advantage of it correctly. However, we will discuss about this later. First, we will highlight why people prefer to visit websites, especially during the holidays.

• Lazy Lifestyle

During holidays, people get a break from their hectic schedules. They lead a relaxed life and have free time. This encourages them to explore various websites.

• Planning for Parties

Holidays represent the ideal time to meet friends and family. Parties are frequent, during Christmas and New Year. Many people, before planning a party, prefer researching online. The reason is that Internet offers information on various topics, ranging from decoration of the Christmas tree to baking that delicious pudding. This in turn, leads to higher traffic.

• Gifts

Parties and get-togethers involve exchange of gifts. Any person prefers to offer special gifts to loved ones. To research about gifts or find an online gift store, they may explore various sites. This also contributes to increased traffic.

Importance of Creating a Robust Plan

We highlighted few reasons that encourage people to explore websites during holidays. Now, to attract attention of these visitors, modifying your site is critical. To develop a robust plan, ask yourself these questions.

• Whom I am trying to attract during the holiday season? What are their preferences?
• What keywords should I use to target them?
• What type of information people want during the holiday season? How can I incorporate them in my site?

Answering these questions honestly will help you to modify your website.

Techniques to Enhance Site Traffic during Holidays

We offer few general techniques for increasing site traffic during the festive season. With creativity and imagination, you can tweak these techniques to suit purposes and products/services of your site.

• The simplest way to attract attention of current and potential customers is to offer discount on any product/service. This will encourage some visitors to opt for them.
• Opt for blog customization by sharing interesting facts about the upcoming holiday. You can also discuss your personal holiday experiences. This strategy will add warmth and fun to your site.
• You can tie-up with another company to promote a contest or give away gifts. With the help of this cross-promotional technique, both parties can enjoy higher traffic.
• You can also post a list, mentioning notable festive events going on at your area.

Consider these strategies to enhance traffic of your site during the joyful event.

In this age of online business and competitive marketing, smart website designs are essential for building brand identity and furthering business. However, website designers are prone to making common mistakes when designing a website, partly in their zeal to create a result-oriented design, and partly their desire for a ‘beautiful’ website. But good-looking websites are not necessarily good websites.

Here’s a quick look at some of the mistakes commonly made:

1. Complicated Designs: Web designers often commit the mistake of creating complex web designs that are difficult to access by online visitors. When a visitor comes to a site, they must be easily guided to the information they are looking for. For this, the navigation must be simple and user-friendly to lure the viewer more into the site. Complicated designs will do the reverse. It will drive the users away from the site.
2. No Website Planning: Most web designers lack a proper and well-thought out website design plan. Before planning the dynamics of a website, they jump head first into creating an ‘attractive’ website layout. Before designing a website, it is essential that the purpose of the site is clearly defined and the target market is recognized.
3. Mismatch in the Theme and Design of the Website: Not necessarily will a gaudy and vibrantly designed website do wonders in attracting visitors. The look and feel of the website must clearly spell out the company’s brand image. For instance, if you have a website on academics, then using a flamboyant design will fail to deliver the brand’s individuality to your audience.
4. Designs that are Not Interactive: Often, designers design sites that are little interactive. The design should be able to talk about your business concept. There is a good chance for a new visitor who realizes he is getting what he wants from your site, turning into a customer. Web design should speak out the essential details and eliminate the superfluous ones.
5. Lengthy Web Pages: Designers sometimes incorporate too much text in the website. This bores the visitors as the online audience has very little attention span. Long scrolling a webpage drives the visitors’ attention away from the site. A properly designed website must be simple, integrating only one idea a page.
6. Mistakes in Language: This is another common mistake repeated by web designers. Errors in the use of language may drift visitors away from the site, resulting in poor traffic. Good content should essentially be error-free and useful.
7. Too many Clickable Links: Most web designers fail to diminish the number of clicks in a page. Too many clickable links on a webpage makes a visitor lose focus and causes inconvenience when navigating the site.

It is a well known fact that search engines are major traffic boosters for websites. A designer who fails to design a search-engine friendly websites will have fewer or insignificant visitors. Ideally, avoiding the above mistakes can help build a SEO-friendly website. If web designers employ simple but creative, user-friendly designs, then a site’s ROIs are bound to improve.

Smartphones introduced the concept of mobile browsing few years ago. With the launch of iPad in 2010, mobile browsing became a popular and common concept. Popularity of tablet phones also brought many changes in the web designing industry.

Even few years ago, a website designer had to consider few browser features, while developing a site. However, with the popularity of mobile browsing and tablet phones, designers now have to consider various issues. In fact, most of them find the task of creating an attractive website that is simple to use on a small-sized screen as well as a larger one quite challenging.

Today, we will offer few strategies that will help you to develop tablet-friendly website design. Read on to know more.

• Pay Attention to ‘The Fold’

In traditional web designing, fold played a crucial role. Fold refers to the point, which marks the observable content from the content that can be seen, only after scrolling the page. It was popularly believed that visitors initially scan information placed in the zone ‘above the fold’. For this reason, crucial information and striking graphics were placed above the fold.

The introduction of smartphones and tablets, however, interfered with the concept of ‘above the fold’. Now, people explore sites from screens available in different sizes and shapes. This means that a defined height where crucial information must be placed, no longer exists.

This in turn, has prompted designers to raise the fold further. By implementing this strategy, designers make sure that visitors scan the important content, even while surfing from a phone with a small screen size.

• Offer Users a Hassle-Free Experience

While developing a site that will cater preferences of tablet users, remember that they will be using fingers for exploring your site. As compared to a mouse, fingers can perform limited actions. To enhance user experience, ensure that they do not need to zoom in crucial areas of your site.

• Stick to Simplicity

If you aim to display your site on a wide range of platforms, opt for standards-compliant CSS and HTML. Avoid technologies that will ask people to download browser plugins or extra software.

• Testing the Form yourself is Crucial

Signing up forms is a critical part of user experience, especially for ecommerce sites. If users face difficulties, while filling up a contact form or newsletter subscription, chances are high that they will leave the site immediately. This in turn, will have a negative impact on sales rate of your company.

The simplest way to evaluate performance of your forms is by testing them on your own. Use any tablet phone and check issues, such as processing speed, useless fields, and clear rendering. In general, check anything that may interfere with overall user experience.

• Finally, do not forget to Check

Once you have finished designing, visit your site from a tablet phone. Check issues, such as navigation and display of design. Furthermore, ensure that information is displayed above the fold.

Many designers may feel that modifying a site, to suit preferences of tablet users is a waste of time. However, this is not true. Web designing is a constantly changing industry and you have to keep up with the latest trends. Furthermore, evaluating your site is a good way to improve its overall performance.

Coca Cola has a rich visual vocabulary that consists of a powerful script, the symbol of wave, red color, and unique fonts. As a brand, somehow it never appears dull. It has a lively image and has successfully maintained this image for the past 125 years. It reinvents each of these elements to suit preferences of the current generation. This is no small feat.

The above example highlights the fact that if logo is the ‘hero’ of corporate identity, visual vocabulary elements are its ‘sidekicks’. In fact, in certain web designs and promotional materials, the logo does not appear exclusively. Visual vocabulary elements also play an important role for connecting with your target audience.

Important Elements of Visual Vocabulary

Visual vocabulary can be a critical tool for developing corporate identity design of a company. It consists of the graphics that surround the logo design of your company and reinforces its image amongst the target audience. A good visual vocabulary should include certain critical elements. These can be-

• Colors- Developing a color palette for your company can brighten up your marketing materials. If you manage to maintain a consistency between various materials, it will be easier for people to remember your brand.
• Font styles- Developing a rich collection of font styles, weights, and typefaces can be a great idea. Specify fonts for both online and print use. Select different styles for header, sub-headings, and body. This will distinguish your brand from others.
• Backgrounds- Incorporating interesting backgrounds can provide your marketing materials with a unique appeal. You can also opt for a special background screen that will highlight your materials.
• Shapes- Shapes that you implement for callout boxes and bullets can increase your brand’s visibility and recall value.
• Special texts- You may want to use special text, such as sidebars, bullets, and tagline to make your brand stand out. In such a situation, you can add any interesting image or symbol to them. However, ensure that these special features are retained in all marketing materials.
• Images- Images can play an important role in enhancing recall value of your brand. Additionally, it provides your materials with a powerful personality. However, ensure that the images complement the mood and purpose of your business.
• Layout- Layout refers to the arrangement of various materials. A strong layout can guide the user’s eyes to the intended direction and create a positive impression.
• Paper type- Consider printing your materials on thick and high quality paper. Remember that paper type act as a criterion for judging a company.

Visual Vocabulary and Role in Increasing Your Brand’s Visibility

• Visual vocabulary infuses your products with an intriguing personality. This in turn, makes your products stand out from your competitors. It tells a story, thus making people curious.
• With the help of visual vocabulary, you can make your company more memorable. The unique images and fonts create a powerful impression on the audience, encouraging them to remember your company.
• If you opt for a strong visual vocabulary, people will never find your company boring. The reason is that you can exchange and modify visuals for various campaigns, thus providing them with a fresh appeal every time. Of course, you need to ensure that basic aspects of your logo and corporate identity design remain the same.
• We all know that as compared to small companies, people trust bigger companies more. With the help of visual vocabulary, you can enhance brand image of your company and make it appear as a large-scale company. This in turn, will help you to earn trust of customers.

Finally, do not forget to ensure that various elements of your visual vocabulary are consistent. This will encourage people to relate with your company easily.

Attending a trade show or exhibition can be beneficial for a company. Unfortunately, participating in a trade show is expensive. This means that you need to make the most out of your participation. The challenge lies in the fact that various companies attend trade shows and amongst them, you have to capture attention of the visitors. Here are few techniques that will make your web programming company stand out, amongst hundreds of others.

• Pre-preparation is important

Attending a show ‘just like that’ will not help you to draw attention of visitors. Rather, you need to prepare yourself well, before participating in a show. For leaving a strong mark on people, coming up with creative strategies is important.

• Formulate your goals

Formulating practical goals is critical. Avoid opting for vague goals, such as ‘I want to acquire customers’. Acquiring clients is a common goal of all companies.

To achieve good results, figuring out real and measurable goals is critical. Ask yourself questions, such as- ‘Why I want to attend this trade show’? Do I want to venture into a new market? Am I launching a new product or service? Who are my target clients? Answering these questions correctly will help you to figure out your goals.

Identifying your goals prior to the show will help you to modify your product features or marketing strategies, according to preferences of the target audience.

• Identify few things that you would like to tell people

Visitors at trade shows usually feel tired and distracted, after a certain point of time. Bombarding them with information about your products can irritate and turn away them away.

For best results, identify few special features of your product. Inform your visitors about these features in brief.

• Pay attention to follow-up

Assuming that you will register huge sales at the show is a mistake. Rather, aim to acquire contact information of the visitors and follow up with them at a later stage. Remember that most visitors attend trade shows to acquire information, rather than actually buying the product.

Entice visitors to give their contact information by offering a prize, newsletter subscription, or free consultation.

• Offer a promotional item

Providing people with a promotional item can encourage them to visit your booth. It is fine if the promotional item is inexpensive. However, it should be of some use to the visitors. Examples can include high-quality bags, paper fans, pen-holders, etc.

• Booth design is critical

The way you design your booth and arrange your products play a crucial role in determining the number of visitors. Here are few issues you can consider.

• Opt for large-format graphic designs for your booth. Do not forget to include logo design and taglines of your company. Ensure that these designs are easy to read and see.
• Display one or two most critical marketing materials at the booth. Remember that placing excessive marketing materials on the table can irritate the visitors.
• Keep decorations of your booth clean. Add a unique touch to your booth by placing a beautiful vase of fresh flowers on the tabletop. You can also place some balloons as well.
• Pay attention to cleanliness of your booth. People may throw brochures and promotional items near your booth. Cleaning it up regularly will create professional image of your company.

Opt for the above-mentioned steps to attract attention of people at a trade show. Enjoy!

In our last post, we discussed the importance of a proper website development plan. In today’s post, we will highlight the goals of a website blueprint. Furthermore, we will discuss crucial components of this blueprint and ways these can help you to develop an interesting website.

Definition of the term ‘website blueprint’ and its goals

Website blueprint shares certain similarities with the blueprint that one refers to, while building a house. In simple term, it refers to the various aspects a developer should consider, while creating a website. A good website blueprint should aim to-

• Gather detailed information about your site
• Create plans for each page of your site

An impressive website blueprint consists of the following aspects-

• Content
• Web design
• Architecture

To develop an intriguing website, paying attention to these three aspects is critical. Remember that these three aspects should complement each other for creating the desired effect.

Content

Visitors explore websites for acquiring good information. Therefore, to create a strong buzz about your site, you should offer them valuable content. Consider these following tips.

• Include interesting and new information in the content
• The topics should complement your website theme
• Ensure that the content does not contain any grammatical or spelling errors
• The content should motivate readers to act
• Do not insert keywords unnecessarily
• Opt for keywords that are related with the purpose of your site

Architecture

This represents the basic structure of your website. For creating a strong website architecture, you should answer these following questions.

• Navigation buttons- Did you place them in upper section of the site? Have you thought about a left navigation system?
• Content area- Where do you want to place your main content? Will it encompass the entire page?
• Image slider- Are you planning to incorporate an image slider in your site? Where you would place it?
• Footer- Do you want to place navigation buttons in the footer? How would they look?

Find out answers to these questions, before developing the site. It will help you to avoid confusion in later stages. Try to maintain a consistency between various architectural elements of all pages.

Website Design

A beautiful website design appeals to aesthetics of visitors, thus encouraging them to explore it. Do not forget to pay attention to the following aspects, before you start designing.

• Opt for designs that suit your website theme. If your site revolves around topics, such as fruits and flowers, you cannot use images of car.
• Pay attention to the major design elements of your site. These can include site logo, site colors, and colors of navigation buttons.

We discussed the major components of a website blueprint. Paying attention to these issues will simplify the process of developing the website during the final stages.

Many people consider website design a mechanical and formal process. Have you ever wondered that you can turn this process into a fun one by imparting a unique personality to your site? Some people may find this suggestion surprising, since the idea that websites have their own personalities never crossed their mind.

Importance of providing your site with a unique personality

All of us will admit the fact that personality plays a crucial role in human interaction. Personality is the first thing that we notice in a person. If we do not like someone’s personality, we avoid him or her. A pleasant personality, on the other hand, attracts us to a person. Personality influences our decision in real life and the same way, it can affect our evaluation of a website.

Designing your site’s personality

• Start by asking questions

If you work on behalf of a website design company, start by asking yourself ‘If this website were a human, who it would be’? Would it be a serious person, who represents honesty and trust? Or, would it be a friend, who cracks a joke and stays with you, when you are facing a crisis?

• Maintain consistency

Once you have figured out the ideal personality of your website, try to highlight it through visual designs, interaction, and copy. Maintain finer nuances of the personality in each of these areas. This will help you create the personality portrait perfectly. Moreover, it will help visitors to relate with the personality of your website.

• Brand – Why should customers visit your site, and not of your competitor’s?

State the name of your service or company and discuss unique features of your site in brief. Write six or seven features that can describe your site perfectly.

Additionally, note down the trait that you will not like to associate with your site. This strategy will help you to create a unique personality of your site. Furthermore, it will help you to avoid the features that can create a negative impression about your site.

• Personality image- To strengthen personality of your site, you need to use the image of a real person. Alternatively, you can opt for a mascot. Remember, this mascot or the person, will represent your brand. For this reason, they should contain features that are similar with that of your site.

If your site contains a fun element, for example, the mascot/image should also come across as fun.

• Voice- If your website were a real person, how it would talk? What it would state? Would it speak in an elegant manner or in an aggressive way?

Point out the particular aspects of your site’s voice. Additionally, consider the fact that voice and tone of people vary, according to situations. Modifying voice of your site accordingly would impart a unique personality to it.

• Visual lexicon- The color, images, and visual style should contribute in the creation of your site’s unique personality.

Developing a site that possesses a strong personality can arouse curiosity of people. Furthermore, it can guarantee return visitors. The reason is that most people love to interact with a site that has a powerful personality and offers them a fresh experience. With time and experience, you can even convert your site into a powerful brand name.

Bob Stone, a famous copywriter, highlighted the importance of a great headline, when he declared, “Your first 15 words count more than the 15,000 words that follow!”

A great headline is somewhat similar to a movie trailer. It raises your curiosity and encourages you to explore the movie/article further.

As an Internet marketing expert, consider the fact that good web content writing can evoke various responses amongst the target audience. A well-written headline can provoke the user to read the article. On the other hand, a poorly written title can drive away people.

We provide you with few examples of great headlines and discuss why they are effective.

Headlines that Highlight a Thought-provoking Question

Maxwell Sackheim, in an article used the headline ‘Do you make these mistakes in English’? The headline, written almost 80 years ago, is still considered as a powerful title.

This headline is effective because it asks readers a thought-provoking query and engages them. It prompts readers to find out what exactly ‘these’ mistakes are, thus involving them in the process. The importance of the headline lies in the fact that it makes users curious, encouraging them to read the article.

The headline uses human psychology intelligently. No one likes to make mistakes. Therefore, if any one comes across a title such as the above, the person will automatically try to find out what mistakes the author has highlighted.

Headline that Starts with ‘How To’

A famous example of this type of headline is ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’? Dale Carnegie used this title in his popular self-help book.

This title earned great popularity because it solved one of the basic requirements of most people, i.e. influencing others. Similar to the above example, this headline also utilizes human psychology cleverly. After all, who would not like to know the secret of influencing others?

This headline highlights the benefits (win friends and influence people) and avoids pointing out the process (talking in a particular way, offering positive feedback) that one may have to go through for enjoying the benefit. This strategy lures people successfully because they want to know how they can influence others.

Headline with a Direct Statement

Consider the headline ‘The most affordable website design solutions you will ever find’.

This headline highlights a direct statement and is perfect for companies who want to present a powerful feature. The title is clear, direct, and does not make the reader guess anything.

The ‘Benefit’ Headline

This headline tries to present the benefits before the readers. A good example can be ‘How to lose 2 inches in 1 week’?

This headline emphasizes the benefit that the user can enjoy. To create the benefit headline, find out your unique selling point and incorporate it in your headline.

To assure the customer, you can use the phrase ‘money back guarantee’ as your sub-heading.

Opt for the ‘Command’ Headline

As compared to other headlines, a command headline is more aggressive. Consider the example-‘Utilize your time better by writing powerful headlines’. It is a powerful title because it urges people to act.

Headline that Uses ‘Who Else’

‘Who else wants to shed some weight?’ can be a good example of such a headline. By using the term ‘who else’ in the title, the writer creates the notion that others have already availed the benefit.

This headline also taps human psychology perfectly. Humans are more likely to consider an option (a weight loss program or a new product), when they know that others have also tried it.

Writing attractive headlines is critical for drawing attention of the people. However, remember that your title should match the body of the article. If you do not progress logically from the title to the body, your readers may feel deceived. Therefore, offer good information in the title and enjoy higher traffic.