What’s in a domain name?

November 5th, 2008

One of the most common things that people ask when starting a new website is how important is my domain name? Well, according to web design Suffolk, it is very important - A domain name should tell the world who you are and what you are about - ideally - but, that is not the whole story. Most names such as plumbers.com and alarmsrus.com are now gone, so you have to be a bit more creative about your choices and think of other ways of communicating who you are, by perhaps adding a trusty ‘-’ in the title or adding a regional name, such as plumberslondon.com.

Of course most of the big companies on the net don’t need a name at all, think of Amazon and E-Bay and you know instantly what they represent, but that is only after years of trading on-line under those names, if they started up tomorrow under those names, they would struggle without a huge marketing campaign behind the name. Ideally, you should take web design Suffolk’s advice and try to add some form of business connection in your domain name - its not crucial to your on-line success, but it certainly wont harm your efforts either.

Beware of using techno-babble

October 20th, 2008

It is always a good policy when writing for your website that most people are not as well versed in your company’s particular lingo as you are. Therefore, take web design suffolk’s advice and avoid using acronyms such as ISP, ASP or any other bunch of letters that people just wont understand.

If you do need to use technical language, perhaps in your legal pages or help pages, then always explain what it is. One of the golden rules of web design suffolk is to get their clients to use cl;ean, simple language in their text - this way they will keep their users happy with language and ideas that they can easily grasp and feel a part of. Naturally if you are running a computer forum for computer techies, feel free to sue the language they would expect, otherwise keep it simple stupid.

Don’t waffle on-line and give information in small chunks

October 14th, 2008

A lot of web content writers think that it is a good idea to waffle and write lines and lines of text that can actually be condensed into one sentence. It is very important to heed the advice of web design suffolk and not waste peoples time with too much text. In this day an age, people are used to getting their information in short, succinct bursts, so remember this when you are online.

It is also important to have a CMS system built by web design suffolk that will allow you to break up your text with pictures and allow you to display the text in different layouts other than just way. This way people can digest your writing in new and refreshing ways and not get bogged down or bored with one long list of text.

Offer your Home page up as a default

October 6th, 2008

One of the first things internet users tend to work out is that they can change their home page via some simple option clicks. Usually their ISP or work place will foist-er some boring page as their home page, so why not offer your own once web design suffolk have made it a desirable destination.

You should never ever force your home page on anybody or heaven forbid do it without their knowledge - but if they are a regular visitor to your site and maybe even registered with you, it will do not harm to offer them the opportunity ti have your site as a home page. Web design suffolk can make it so a simple click on a yes button can reconfigure their browser options settings and your site will become their new home page once they launch their web browser.

Make your ordering process stress free

September 22nd, 2008

Once you have spoken to web design suffolk and they have built you a new lovely shiny e-commerce site, the next thing you will be trying to do is get it populated with great products and competitive process. What then? Well the next important thing you need to consider is getting the all important ordering process right so your customers can find products they want and then order them easily and confidently, secure in the knowledge that your are a safe and reputable online e-commerce player.

For this top happen, you will need web design suffolk to build you an ordering process that is simple and user friendly and easy to follow, with just the right amount of steps needed to complete the purchase. There will always be a slight delay with bank confirmation and card processing, but in the main you can do a lot to make the whole process as easy as possible for your customers.

Keep the order process simple

September 15th, 2008

When people come to your wonderful shop and they see a product that interests them for the right price, you can be absolutely certain that web design suffolk have done a good job preesenting your e-commerce shop in a way that attracts on;one users to turn into customers and buy. But that is only half the battle and web designers suffolk will soon tell you that you must also have an ordering pipeline that is smooth, logical and most importantly, reassuring. The ordering process can actually scare a lot of people away, so it is crucial that you get it right.

It is incredible but true that some big organizations spend big money on shopping online areas and fail to have a smooth ordering process. The shopping basket should always be clear and simple to use - this is crucial and web design suffolk are masters at getting it right. Remember though, getting users to choose a product and put it in a basket is only half the battle, you must then make it easy for them to move through to the ordering an payment process.

Add new content to keep people coming back

September 11th, 2008

There is nothing worse for somebody visiting a website than discovering that the content hasn’t been update for weeks. If your content is old there is nothing web design suffolk can do about it - content has to come from the website owner and it has to be new, fresh and exciting, but most importantly of all, it has to regular.  Users are very clever these days at working out whether a site has been looked after and updated, if they suspect that they are on a web ghost ship, they will jump ship in a nano second.

Be it once a week, day or hour, it will cost you in time, but if you want a site to succeed after web design suffolk have built it, then you need to keep looking after the site and feeding it with content. Whats new could then become hot news and this is something you shouldn’t overlook either. New content is important, but sometimes you can make a news item out of new items and this will them mean double the content. What are writing for? get writing and start publishing!

Create a community to keep them coming back

September 4th, 2008

Creating a community feeling on your website is one of the best things you can do to ensure that your users and customers keep coming back for more. Sure its important to get the web design right and make sure the content is strong and the products compelling, but behind all of that, the most important design suffolk survey finding, was that people like to have a site that they feel at home with. They also need to know that your site is the definitive expert on all of the content and products that you display and they need go nowhere else. When they feel relaxed about all of this, they will stay and you will reap the benefits. Get it right and word of mouth will do its thing and chat rooms and forums across the land will be singing your praises.

No CMS, no cigar

September 3rd, 2008

One of the most crucial elements of a web design is a site that has built with CMS as standard. CMS stands for Content Management System, which means that your site will allow you to easily update pictures, text and products from the back-end administration area with minimum technical knowledge needed and ease of use. All services and products have a limited life span and web design suffolk insist that all web sites built in the region now have CMS as standard. For a site to be taken seriously, you must contantly update the products and ervices on it. Old products should also be easily archived as a back catalogue, with clear indications that they are old stock. But if your stock is no more, they should be taken off your site and deleted.

Too many cooks….

September 2nd, 2008

Though web design is a very important part of a site, the design should also allow the back end to have an effective CMS area that will allow web users to update content quickly and easily. One of the problems that web designers find though is that admin rights are too freely and easily handed out which means that multiple people add content, which invariably means that some content will be confused and mixed. The way around this is too have web design suffolk ensure that your site has admin permissions for different areas of your site and individuals are only responsible for their own areas.

It is also a good practice to upload new content on certain days via your web design suffolk site and leave the site to settle on other days. All the new copy and images should be prepared in the other days of the week and that way users will get know when they can see some new products and information in a way they can be comfortable with. House rules for web design are the same as rules for content management - the right people do the right thing at a specific given time. Keep it short and always get to the point quickly.