Web Insight:
Here's some reading before you get started with design
and development of your web site.

1) GETTING FAMILIAR WITH A FEW WEB TERMS
These are only a few of the many web terms out there. When developing your web site, these are some of the most common terms you'll run into.

Domain Name or URL: This is the www.yourname.com, or .net or .org that you see referenced as a web site's name. This is the URL address that brings viewers to your web page or site. All web domain names must be registered so that no two names are duplicated.
       Design for Print provides domain name registration on your behalf. If we register the domain name for your company it belongs to you. We are simply the administrator for the name including the technical contact and billing. We will invoice you for the annual registration fee of the domain name and will automatically renew it each year for you. This eliminates having companies solicit you with confusing sales pitches to register your domain with their company or false requests for transfer of your domain. With Design for Print, your domain is safe and if you ever choose to use another provider we will transfer the domain on your behalf. It's that easy. We suggest you work hard to obtain a domain name that ends with .com as this is the easiest domain to remember for people who are looking for your website.
       If you see a web address that ends in ``html" or one that is quite long with several / backslashes, you can pretty much assume that this web site does not have its own domain name. Rather, it is hosting its pages under someone else's domain name and host server. When you get Web space from your ISP or online service provider as a part of your account privilages, your web page(s) are located on the provider's server and appear as a directory at the provider's network or domain address. When you see a name that has www.thename.com this means they have registered a unique name to direct viewers to that specific web site or set of pages.

Your basic web page: A Worldwide Web Page is a single document with a specific address (URL) which allows viewers to contact that page through a worldwide server (company that hosts your web pages or web site.) Each web page has a unique address.
      We usually think of a page as a printed document with most pages measuring 8-1/2 x 11". But technically a single web page can contain several screens' worth of text and links. How many times have you been to a web site where you scroll forever down the screen on a single page?
      Note: It's much easier to organize and display on several linked pages than it is to put it all on one gigantic page. It's very important to make your web pages easy to navigate through for viewers. They should never have to wonder where to go next on your web site. It should be evident where to click next to get to where they want to go. Well designed and developed web sites makes use of this technique. That's why you need a professional to do the work for you instead of your teenage nephew who's good with computers. Many companies will try to do their own web site development ``in-house." Typically, we find that these duties get lost in the shuffle with all of the other work that requires attention at the office. In addition, all too often a company's web site seems to take on the role of: ``Out of site . . . out of mind" and never receives the regular updates a well maintained web site requires. If you know someone who does their own web site work, ask them how often they update it and see what kind of answer you get. The answers will vary.

Main Page: The Main Page or sometimes referred to as the ``home" page is the first page that comes up when your URL address or domain name is typed in. This is a very important page in regards to the search engines and tells what your company is about. It is important to use ``keywords" that identify your company's services and/or products in a quick summary that allows the search engines to match the words used as text to categorize your website for its content. In this way, think about what ``keywords" people might type into a search engines to find your website and be sure to use them not only throughout your entire website but especially on the Main Page. Search engines place high regard for the content of your Main Page.

(SEO) Search Engine Optimization: A great site is useless unless people know where to find you. This is where search engine optimization services come in. The methods used to keep your site in the top pages of Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine for a long time will depend on if you know how the search engines ranks its index. Since only the engineers employed by Google and the other search engine companies know the real answer to this question, it is up to the rest of us to speculate on what may work, and what we know doesn't work. SEO services provide the best way to test and discover what is and isn't working for search engine page rankings. Your best offense is a focused effort on the "content" or text on your web pages and defining a good ``title" for each web page that contains the keywords used throughout your website that define who you are. Design for Print keeps all of this in mind when designing your web pages to be sure your site is "search engine friendly." Another way to to improve your search engine rank is to have relevant links coming to your site and to list the meta tags within your source code that directly relate to the content on your website. We can also offer suggestions for paid advertising on the search engines. This option provides an excellent way to track the "click throughs" for your advertising because here, you only pay for the actual visits coming to your website through the paid ad (or click).

Links: When clicked on, these links bring viewers to another page or area of the web site itself or possibly even to a totally different web site on the world wide web. The links are usually underlined or a graphic you click on to go get there.

Email Links: When you click on an email link at a web site a box pops up for you to type an email message allowing you to send it to that particular address.

Forms: Custom forms are created to help guide the viewer in sending specific information to the web site. Forms have fields or blocked out areas that require text entry. Sometimes you have a menu of options to choose from and other times you must manually type in the informaton. Some forms have required fields that unless you fill them out, you will not be able to submit the form when finished with it. The information from custom forms will be directed to a single email address and arrive in the form of a text formatted email message. Be sure to follow up with the person who is sending you a completed form inquiry. Do your best to follow up within 48-hours. If you place a custom form on your web site it is important to have someone at your office in charge of this follow-up on a daily basis. Make the form easy to understand and don't allow it to become too lengthly. Ask viewers if they prefer confirmation of their inquiry by email, phone or fax and ask for the appropriate information so you can reach them. It's also smart to ask when the best time/day to reach them will be. It shows you are willing to make the contact back convenient for their schedule.

Photo Scans: Photos displayed on a computer and monitor screen are much different than a full color photo you see on a glossy brochure or magazine. For one thing, the resolution or the amount of informatoin held within the photo after it has been scanned varies greatly. When a photo is printed on glossy paper by a printing press, it requires a much higher resolution to hold enough information so the photo can be printed with the (4) printer inks CMYK: cyan, magenta, yellow and black to achieve full color levels. For printing purposes, photos are scanned anywhere from 300 dpi (dots per inch) up to 2400 dpi. For the internet, the scanning information required is much lower. For most JPEGs or GIFs (the required format for photos/pictures on the world wide web) only 72 dpi is required. Some web designers will push the dpi to 100 or 150 max. The important thing to remember is load time. The larger your graphic or photo is on the screen the longer it will take to load or appear on the viewer's screen. How many times have you waited impatiently for a photo/graphic to load on a web page?  It's irritating. You're better off making the photo/graphic smaller and allowing an option to ``click here" to view at a larger size. Some browsers allow you to omit the graphics from loading when you view web pages. This is a setting you can switch on or off to your liking. Many people are making use of digital cameras to shoot photos for their web pages. Regular photo prints and slides can be scanned on a flat bed scanner to convert them into an electronic formats viewable on the internet as a JPEG or GIF. These are two formats that are universally read on the world wide web.

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2) WHAT TO INCLUDE ON YOUR WEB SITE:
Your web site should include information your prospects/customers want to know most. Data about how your company can have a positive impact on the visitors to your site. Begin with the goals you wish to achieve. This is the beginning point for every ``wanna-be web site business." Write down specific goals your web site will obtain for you before you decide to spend the money on creating a web site. Not only will this asisst the professional you choose to work with, but it also forces you to determine the ``whys" for creating a web site in the first place. The more specific you are with each goal, the more likely you are to hit those goals.
Ask yourself these questions: Is your goal to educate, to sell product or service, to inform or do you just think it would be really great to be able to say you have a web site? Let me warn you against choosing this last reason without writing your goals down to support it.

List of web site goals to write down:

• Immediate, short-term goals of web site
• What specific action do you want visitors to take?
• What are your specific objectives long-term?
• What data should your site provide to achieve your primary goals?
• What kinds of questions do you get asked most often by customers?
• How often do you want visitors to return to your site?
• What ways can you distinguish yourself from your competitors?

REMEMBER: Serve up your content in bite-sized pieces, all valuable for its clear, current content. Lead your viewers through an attractively yet not overdone web site that guides viewers through the site in a user-friendly way.

Again, this is why it's of importance to let a professional web designer do the work for you. We often get questons about the ability for you to make your own changes on a web site. Would you let us come into your place of business and sell your product or service for you? It's more important for you to do what you do best and allow us to do our professional work in web design. There's more to it than just going into a file and changing the text. You can cut costs by emailing us the text you want added to the web site so we don't have to re-key the copy. It is affordable to let us maintain your web site changes. Our hourly rate is lower for adding to an existing page than it is to get the initial site or pages designed for the first time.

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3) YOUR ON-LINE PRESENCE SHOULD ADD VALUE TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING OFF-LINE
The challenge is to find a key business advantage that makes you successful, and to leverage that advantage to the best use cyberspace has to offer.

Decide why customers come to you now, how you can add convenience, service information, communication or other values to your business by going online. The Net is just another marketing arena for your business. Focus on delivering real online value with the way you choose to design and develop your web site.

Now that you have a web site how will prospects/customers know?
Everywhere your business name, address and phone appear, so must your web site address. Do a postcard mailing to your current customer list with your new web address large and bold. Tell them they can visit you on the web 24-hours a day, 7 days a week for information. Put a sign up in your place of business, list your URL on business cards, letterhead, and fax cover sheets, and advertisements. List your URL address on every piece of printed material your name is on.

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4) Now that your web site is up, keep up the good work!
Now that you have your web site up and running, don't think the work is finished. It's important to keep your web site maintained. Add more information on a regular basis if your goal is to communicate or to inform. How can you expect visitors to return to your web site if they don't see anything new? How progressive of a company are you if your web site never changes? Does that mean your business doesn't change either?

Check list of online THINGS TO DO

DAILY:

• Create an email list from messages you receive and keep in contact with these people.
• Visit your own web site to make sure its working properly including sending a message to your own mailbox.

WEEKLY or MONTHLY:

• Add information to your web site.
• Review your server activity log to monitor traffic
• Stay current on information or at least research other
  web sites in your field.
• Seek new links and directory listings for your site
• Actively seek out other web sites who will trade links with yours

QUARTERLY:

• Publish an email newsletter and send it to your mailing email list

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Contact Design for Print (& Web!) today for a Free, no-obligation
consultation. We can discuss the best strategy for your site design along
with the goals and objectives you have for developing a website presence.
 

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