Keeping Pace with Web Site Design for Businesses
Feb. 15, 2010
Over the years Pixel Productions Inc. has been a graphic design industry leader for all types of print media and packaging solutions. They have always taken great pride in keeping up with the latest technology, printing processes, and design trends.
When Pixel Productions first started business, websites were often treated as an ad on service. Part of keeping current and keeping pace with technology is understanding how media changes and the way it changes how businesses operate. Today, websites are one of the most important elements of any business, Pixel has recognized this and changed their business profile expanding and focusing their expertise. Their website development philosophy is, "what can your website be doing for your business?"
Because Pixel is a website design company as well as a graphic design company, they have a better understanding of how important it is to provide functional website design solutions combined with aesthetically pleasing graphics to achieve successful web design and e-commerce website development results. The fact is that in today's world a well designed website is one of the greatest assets your company can have.
Websites today, go well beyond the exterior design and functionality of the website itself. Effective websites must be found through search engine results. Unfortunately, the majority of websites never get seen. The simple fact is that if you're not in the top 30 positions you're website isn't getting viewed.
Being an industry leader in website design means understanding all aspects of how to make a website successful. Pixel is also a proven website SEO Company with a philosophy of developing websites rich in content using only white hat techniques for generating quality inbound links to increase search engine rankings. As a professional website SEO company they start every project with a comprehensive Keyword, Site structure, and Competition Analysis to determine the most effective SEO plan and search engine marketing strategy.
Many businesses outsource these services. Pixel believes that to be an industry leader you must understand all aspects of what it takes to sell a successful service or product.
Choosing the right Website Design Company for your SEO and Website Marketing Needs
Jan. 19, 2010
Many people look at website development as a two part process separating website design and website optimization. Because website architecture, coding, and content are critical elements in successful website rankings and search engine placement your dollars would be better spent in locating one company to handle both your website design and website SEO needs.
A website design company that knows how to set up your web site with SEO in mind is going to save you time and money on revisions that would need to be made when it comes to SEO. Having your website streamlined for search engine optimization on the front side is also going to start producing results much sooner than a site that needs to undergo revisions.
When choosing a website design company you will want to look at their online portfolio to see real world solutions that they have come up with for their clients. There are many website designers out there who can create visually appealing web solutions. I recommend looking at website design and development companies because they have a team of dedicated experts to ensure that your needs are met. They will also be more likely to have in-house SEO expertise which will ensure that your website development is done in an SEO friendly manner.
What should you expect to see from a professional website design/website SEO company? In terms of an initial proposal you should expect to see a very clearly specified project management proposal. The initial proposal should clearly state what services will be included in their estimate and what may be cause for additional fees. If a company is unwilling to disclose the exact services they intend on providing you with, this should be considered a "red flag" for you to move on to a different company. An example proposal is included below to give you an idea of what services to look for and a rough idea of the cost involved.
Please Note that obviously website design prices vary from company to company and also may be influenced by location. SEO and search engine marketing services will vary in price due to many factors including niche density of your target market, local versus national ranking factors, how new your site and domain name are, etc. Professional SEO services could range anywhere between $450 for local results and $2,500 per month nationally.
Example Proposal:
1) E-commerce Website Base Price = $4,800
• Design of e-commerce website
• Logo / Branding Corporate Identity
• Miva Shopping Cart Installation & Setup
• Ability to Import/Update Products & Categories from excel spreadsheet
• Initial Set up Includes set up for 10 Total Products
• Product Search
Additional Costs
• Hosting $38.00 month – hostasaurus.com
• SSL Certificate $30 annually – godaddy.com
• Gateway account - $20 month - Authorize.net includes virtual terminal
• Merchant account- $$ month - bank of your choice
Optional Modules - Additional Cost
• Basket Price, Mini Cart, Item Added to cart - $50
• Bread Crumbs & Category Bread Crumbs - $30
• Dynamic Category Menus – $40
• WYSIWYG For Editing Pages- $99
• UPS Real Time Rates Integration with your account $169.95
• Product Reviews & Ratings - $45.00
• Promo Codes/Coupons - $99.95
• Constant Contact Mailing List Integration $25.00
• Suggested Products – Included
• Order Tracking & Status (wombat beta) – Included
• Product Search – Included
2) SEO/SEM Services Base Price = $$$$ per month (minimum 6 month contract)
Search engine optimization is a long term website marketing program building your websites credibility, back links and traffic in a natural search engine friendly manner that ensures your site is found in organic search results and includes the following services.
• Monthly Manual Search Engine & Directory Inclusion of the site
• Press Release and Article Marketing
• Company Facebook & Twitter accounts
• Building Quality Back Links
• Google Anylitics
Stage 1: Research and Development
The company will analyze your website and compare your website's structure and components with that of your direct competitors. The company will then do in-depth research into your market’s keywords and determine what your primary key phrases should be and focus on promoting your site around those keywords and phrases. The SEO company should eliminate weaknesses in your website's meta tags, descriptions, and structure as part of their services.
Stage 2: Implementation and Maintenance
This stage is the monthly work it takes to build your site's credibility on the world wide web and includes the following services:
Press Release and Article Marketing – The company will distribute industry related articles and press releases building High Quality inbound links and credibility to your site. This is one of the most important things a professional SEO company can do for your site. Google rates your site on the quality of content as well as the quality and credibility of the sites linking to your web site.
Any reputable website design/SEO company should be able to answer any questions you may have before beginning your project. They should also be able to provide examples of their work in both web site design and effective website ranking on search engines such as Google.
Where Website Design Ends and SEO Begins
Jan. 7, 2010
Many people looking to have a website developed think the only investment they need to make to have a successful website is in the design of the website itself. I won't argue that design is important, but any professional knows that without a long term search engine optimization and website marketing plan that website is never going to gain visibility. When clients pay a lot of money for a website that has no visibility they usually get upset. This is why any business owner should research exactly what they need their website to do and who can help them achieve this.
Business owners should look at professional SEO services as part of their website development budget as well as part of their yearly advertising budget. Professional SEO is an investment in your websites' success where ultimately the traffic generated and business driven to your site will pay for this investment. Website design and SEO services work hand in hand to make a successful website, however you may need to go to two separate agencies to get both of these services. Getting a few different quotes for both design and SEO is always wise. Just like getting estimates from any other service provider, the lowest estimate isn't always the best choice especially with Search engine optimization.
There are several factors that affect the pricing of SEO services with the main factor being the time involved in getting a specific site to rank well. Professional SEO companies that offer quality services don't come cheap, but they usually offer a free website analysis and come up with a custom plan on how to achieve the best results for your website. This is important because every website is unique and so is it's niche in the world wide web. A professional SEO company will check to make sure that your website is designed with not only the visitor in mind but the search engine crawlers as well. They will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your website compared to your direct competitors' websites and also determine how populated your specific niche is. They will then evaluate your site for useful content and determine what must be done to better your content and maximize target keyword search rankings.
Successful SEO is not a one shot deal it is a continuous effort that utilizes a combination of website marketing tactics. Many people are tempted by low one time fees offering to submit your website to over 12,000 directories with guarantees of high quality back links that will sky rocket your website to the top of search engine rankings. I've said this many times, "if it seems too good to be true - it is!" A professional SEO company will use a combination of marketing and link building services to naturally build links, credibility, and popularity to gradually increase your organic search engine rankings.
I don't want to undervalue the importance of directory submissions, but directory submissions alone aren't enough. Business owners should look at SEO companies offering a diverse range of SEO services to build your sites rankings. Things you should be looking for an SEO company to handle as part of their bundle of services are; directory submissions, content writing, article writing and article marketing, press release writing and distribution, blog creation, blog posting, and reciprocal link building with high quality related websites. Things you should steer clear of are one time only submission services and websites that guarantee first page rankings for comparatively inexpensive prices.
Ultimately, there are no tricks or gimmicks that will get your site top positioning. If your website is brand new It is realistic to expect to see positive results within four to six months. You will probably see very noticeable improvements in your website search engine rankings within one years time and in many cases even top ten rankings. Like most other forms of advertising - search engine marketing is a long term strategy that will eventually produce an excellent return on investment.
Effective SEO is more than just link building
Dec. 11, 2009
With over 85% of people today using search engines to find the products and services they're searching for, achieving top search engine rankings is in the forefront of every website owner's mind. Millions of people each day turn to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines to find products, services and information. With over one billion web sites listed with search engines, how to stand out in a sea of dot coms is the real question? Professsional Search Engine Optimization is the solution.
But all I need to do is submit my site and build some back links, right? Like most people trying to figure out how to promote their website you've probably heard about the importance of back links. You've probably also started trying to figure out how to get them, if they're all created equal and just how important they are to your websites' success? Search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing do value the number of incoming links pointing to your site along with many other factors, when deciding its ranking. Not all links are created equal. One way links pointing to your website that are obtained naturally are of far greater value than those that are reciprocal in nature [i.e., those that require you to link back to their website]. Also, links from industry related websites are of greater value to your website. Search Engines rate your sites' importance on more than just the quantity of incoming links, they are also rated on the quality of the links pointing to your website. So with links being as important as they are, and 'one-way' links coming at a premium, the question arises; "how do I go about obtaining these one-way links?" This is where directory submissions come into play.
Web directories are essentially catalogs of websites that provide links to various websites that are archived under their respective categories. There are thousands of directories out there and many of them accept websites for inclusion at no cost. So, submitting your site to these directories, under the most relevant categories, would get you a quality one-way link. This makes directory submissions one of the best and easiest means of obtaining quality inbound links.
The act of submitting your website to web directories is fairly simple. But if you've already tried it yourself then you've probably realized how tedious and time consuming this simple act can be. This task can be so daunting that the majority of websites fail in search results. Saving yourself the time and effort is the main priority with using a professional directory submission service, but more importantly, hiring a professional SEO company to promote your website can save you a lot of grief by avoiding black hat seo neighborhoods. There are plenty of schemes out there that sound too good to be true and almost always are.
Building quality inbound links to your website is clearly very important, but there are many other aspects to effective website marketing that can not be neglected. Again, that is why it's so important to hire a professional SEO Company to drive traffic to your website. One of the biggest SEO/SEM schemes online today is directory submissions. There are plenty of companies charging a pretty penny for a one time submit of your website to a few search engines or directories. That just doesn't cut it. Anyone serious about achieving lasting organic search results needs to commit to an online marketing plan. Any legitimate company will recommend a minimum 6 month to 1 year contract, because that's how long it takes to see results.
An online marketing plan is a structured method of gaining lasting organic search results. Gaining a Google Top ten ranking is possible for any website. It starts with the content on your website. A reputable SEO company will make sure that your site is streamlined from images to meta descriptions or write good content for you if that's what needs to be done. After-all getting quality inbound links means that your website needs to be of good quality as well. Achieving top search engine rankings includes article marketing, press release distribution, paid advertising, and continual updates. If you want your website to be found putting your trust in a professional SEO company is the way to go.
How to use a website design and development contract to keep on track and on Budget
June 02, 2009
Most mistakes are simply caused by the lack of a clear understanding of what services will be provided and how the project will be managed. There are many benefits of using a website design contract to specify the terms of exactly what is and is not to be included in your web design project.
As Art Director and part owner of a successful and well established graphic design and web design company, I've learned a lot about how to keep a project on track and on budget. If you're running a business there are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. Having made many myself, I'm hoping this article will help some new designers avoid the one's I hear about on almost a daily basis.
Most mistakes are simply caused by the lack of a clear understanding of what services will be provided and how the project will be managed. Understand that when you deal with clients delays are inevitable, but managing your job properly from the beginning will save you from the headaches of a project that has spiraled out of control. In my experience this is especially true with web projects. Many of your potential web clients will have very little understanding of what designing a website actually entails. They will have even less understanding of search engine optimization and what it takes to get their website found, and they probably won't truly know what their own needs are until the project has been started. These factors can often contribute to an unrealistic view of the scope of the project and the time needed to complete the project. This can be a deadly combination if you didn't secure a deposit up front. I'm certain anyone who has specified "payment due upon completion" can attest to this.
Using a contract will help you set up clear specifications for the web design process as well as establishing a payment plan that works for you. The purpose of a contract isn't to restrict the client, it's more of a way to allow you to have the flexibility to adapt to changes when they arise and then be compensated for them accordingly.
The key to an effective contract is to be clear! Specify each item that is to be included in the bid. This could be anything from a general point such as; this bid includes the redesign of "your clients" website to much more specific points like; flash gallery included, CSS driven drop down navigation, Testimonial upload page, etc.
Content is a biggy. You should specify who is providing the copy and you may even want to establish a timeline for receiving it. It's surprising how quickly a web project can derail, right from the beginning, all because of content. Also specify if you or the client is providing the photography. For instance, if a client is relying on me to provide all imagery, then I specify a budget for stock photography unless they specifically request custom photography. If a client does want custom photography then I always provide a separate estimate for the photo shoot.
The most common complaint that I hear from graphic designers getting into web design is that they have completed work and haven't been payed for it. Believe me you won't make that mistake too many times, but it's better to avoid it altogether. Establish good payment terms that work for you right from the beginning. Often times your payment terms can even weed out undesirable clients. There are plenty of people who want something for nothing and these people usually aren't willing to pay a deposit. Believe me you don't want those kind of clients. My company has a standard policy of 33% to start the job, 33% upon approval of direction, and 34% due upon completion.
The work flow can then be dictated by the clients payments. Once the first deposit is received by the Developer, a basic site design concept should be made available for the Client's viewing and approval within a reasonable timeframe. Usually we provide 3 concepts for the client to review. Communication between the Developer and the Client is crucial during this phase to ensure that the ultimate publication will match the Client's taste and needs.
Upon completion of this stage, the Client will be asked to confirm acceptance for the basic site design via e-mail or by signing a printed copy of the design. Once this acceptance is received from the Client, the work necessary to complete the project will begin, and the second third (33%) of the total amount will be paid.
You should advise clients to continually view updates to the site and express their preferences or dislikes to the Developer. Upon completion of the web site, an e-mail or letter and invoice will be sent to the Client advising the Client that the work has been completed. Final payment of the remaining 34% balance plus any additional charges incurred will be due within fifteen (15) business days after delivery of the e-mail notification and invoice.
Once the website is completed some clients will want to independently edit or update their web pages as a way to control costs and avoid the expense of a Maintenance Agreement. This is always an option for Clients of the Developer.
However, you should note in your contract that if anyone other than the Developer attempts to update the web site and damages the design or impairs the ability for the web pages to display or function properly, time to repair the web pages will be assessed at an hourly rate. This happens a lot! As a policy, my company has a one hour minimum fee applied to these kind of corrections. In this regard, Clients are encouraged to obtain a Maintenance Agreement which is another thing you may want to think about establishing, if you haven't already.
One last point that you may want to stipulate in your web contract is a design credit. Something that says the client agrees that the Developer may put a byline on the bottom of their web site establishing design and development credit with an active link to the developers website and the client also agrees that the web site created for the Client may be included in the Developer's portfolio.
Since websites have such a variance in complexity and design you should have a standard contract that covers the main points and allows you to easily edit and ad each specific detail you need to. I hope that some of these suggestions help you when negotiating your next web design project. We also have available for download a web design and development contract template on our website under the "news" section and also at the end of this article. Please keep in mind that any legally binding agreement that you enter into should be reviewed by you and your attorney prior to enacting said agreement. This material is a reference for you, but we are not responsible for any legal agreement you enter into.
You can download our website contract template as a .pdf here. Website Design Contract Template
Web Design Tips for Graphic Designers New to Website Design
April 15, 2009
For graphic designers who are new to web design this article will provide some very useful tips to optimize your websites and images to maintain a visually dynamic website without slow load times.
Everyone should want a website that is attractive, engaging, and easy to navigate. More often than not, you can spot websites that were created by graphic designers and sites that were created by programmers. Generally speaking a website created by a graphic designer will be visually engaging but is probably not Search Engine Friendly, while a programmer's site will be set up beautifully with CSS streamlined for Search Engines and quick load times. For obvious reasons the best websites are usually created by a team of professionals working in tandem.
It sure seems to me that most people designing websites have an "either or" attitude, either it looks good but loads slow or you focus on code and appear more generic. I've seen plenty of websites that contradict this thinking and I personally believe every website should be visually stunning and streamlined for search engines and download time. Every year less people are using dial up to connect, however there are too many to ignore. I really don't worry too much about dial up users anymore, because most of the websites I design are targeted at fairly web savvy searchers. However, just because I don't worry about dial up doesn't mean that I can neglect to streamline my websites for its users.
This article will provide some quick and useful tips on how graphic designers new to web design can optimize websites and images and still keep them looking hot. If you're just starting out then you're probably not going to know a lot about CSS. No worries! Just start designing your layout in Photoshop. A good document size to start with would be 950 pixels wide by 600 pixel high set to RGB at 300 dpi. When you've created the layout that you want you are ready to slice up your document and export it as an html document with an image folder.
1. In Photoshop you can use the slice tool and manually create slices organized in rows and columns for Dreamweaver or drag "guides" where you want to slice your page and just click the "slice from guides" button at the top of the Photoshop menu bar. Note: you can combine slices by shift clicking multiple slices then holding down the control key and clicking to select combine slices. (You can define your text and background colors easily in Dreamweaver).
The image below is an example of how I sliced this Photoshop document up.
a. Hold down shift + option + command + s to export the slices. Click "Save" and then select export html and images.
b. Open all of your images in Fireworks and resave them at 80% quality and jpg format. Now you have nice looking images that have a small file size and are easy to load.
2. Another quick tip is to learn to set up your web pages using .php includes.
The basic set up for a php page is a "header", "body" and "footer". In a nutshell what we are doing is breaking one complete html page into three separate html files and letting the server put them back together as one complete page. Why would we do this? We do this, because there are many beneficial advantages to creating your pages this way. For example if your navigation is in the header document and you need to make a change to your navigation you only need to do it once, not for every page. Also the server loads your images once and not for every page which makes your site quicker to load and use.
a. In Photoshop you proceed the same way using the slice tool or guides to create slices organized in rows and columns for Dreamweaver. Except this time you are turning the one file in the example shown previously into (3) separate files. Break your main Photoshop document into three sections, a header, the body, and the footer. Label each Photoshop document accordingly. Samples shown below.
Header File:
Body File:
Footer File:
b. Hold down shift + option + command + s to export the slices as html and images for each of the three Photoshop documents.
c. Your head document named: "header.html" change to "header.php"
d. Replace the and information found at the top of your "index.html" page with this simple code:
include("header.php");?>
e. Replace the / tag found at the very bottom of your page with the following footer include.
include("footer.php");?>
Note: Re-save the "body" which is your index.html as index.php
Note: You will need to upload these files to preview the entire page, but on the positive if you use these same header and footer tags on the rest of your pages your website only needs to load the header and footer images one time making your site display much quicker. This idea works with background images as well (if you re-use the images they only have to load once).
Reference #1:
Here is what the basic html looks like in the header.html file:
These brackets {} used in place coding of actual code for placement purposes only.
{html}
{head}
{title}Your Title Goes Here{title}
{table}
{table}
Reference#2:
Here is what the basic html looks like in the index.php file:
{?php
include("header.php");?}
{body}
{table}
{table}
{?php
include("footer.php");?}
Reference#3:
Here is what the basic html looks like in the footer.php file:
{body}
{html}
When you upload these files and images the server will put them together as one complete page. Now you can create new pages and content and keep your header and footer information the same using the header and footer includes.
Internet Explorer or "Internet Exploder"?
April 15, 2009
Looking for Website designers tired of fixing IE bugs.
by Pixel Productions Inc.
Seriously, are there any web designers who actually like Internet Explorer or as I like to call it "Exploder"? Who could possibly like designing websites for a slow running browser that consistently has problems displaying text, images, columns, properties, etc., with the added bonus of perpetual crashes? I just can't imagine.
One thing I do know is that Internet Explorer is a giant thorn in the side of most web designers. As web designers we are constantly cross checking browsers for compatibility. And there's one browser that really stands out for causing problems and hours of trouble shooting. That's right - Internet Exploder! Even worse, we have to worry about more than one version. There's IE5, IE6, IE7, IE8, and the cousin everyone hates Vista. They all have their own special problems and quarks. It's especially brilliant when you fix one problem and it creates a new one in another version.
Until we get rid of Exploder completely. . . we've put together a short list of common problems that can really make a website ugly in IE (just pick a version). Oh, their solutions are listed too just incase you feel it's necessary to cater to the Exploder machine.
1. IE6 double margin bug when using float property on a div
Common, but at least it's easy to fix. If you use margins on a floated DIV, most of the time but not always, it will double your margin value.
• The solution is simple. Add display:inline property.
2. Height:100% on a position absolute div not working.
It doesn't understand the 100% because it's IE6. You must add a fixed height to it's parent.
• If you want to have 100% of your body you need to add height:100% on your html and body elements.
3. Why aren't my PNG's Transparent?
Surprise! Another thing IE6 doesn't understand. Here's the patch:
• background-color: transparent;
• filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src="yourPNG.png", sizingMethod="crop");
4. My floated columns are stacking instead of floating side by side.
This is pretty common too. If you have a div, an input, or anything larger than your column width, it will probably move under the other columns.
• Solution: Look inside your column for an element that is larger than your column width and correct it.
5. Why aren't my list bullets aligned with my text?
Because people are still using Internet Exploder. . .don't worry you probably have a top padding on your list element ({li}, etc..).
• Just put a top margin instead and that should fix the problem on all versions of Explorer.
6. Why is my website centered in every browser except Internet Explorer.
You've gotta love that!
• You are probably missing your DOCTYPE code at the very top of your page right above the {html} and {head} tags.
• This code may look unnecessary, but don't be fooled. . . make sure you keep it in your page.
{!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"}
{html}
{head}
As long as Internet Explorer exists there will be people finding ways to fix it's bugs. But let's ask ourselves. . . is it really necessary to continue catering to Internet Explorer? Maybe if we stop going out of our way to make things work on Internet Explorer it will just go away. There are plenty of Web Browsers out there now like; FireFox, Mozilla, Opera, and Safari that simply don't have all the design issues that Exploder has. Web Designers, it's time to band together and put an end to this conspiracy - Let your clients know that there are alternatives.
