Tag Archives: Website Design

The Elements of Web Design by Malcom Chakery

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Your website is an extension of your company. Or, in some cases, it may be the primary location of your company. So, as the virtual representation of your business it is vital that your website be all it can be in order to build a successful business. So, if you are designing your own website, it is important that the final product contain 4 essential elements, so let’s get started.

  1. Balance- A webpage should have visual interest. From colors and shapes to the sizes of your graphics and fonts, your website should encourage guests to interact without being distracting. This best accomplished by having a balanced appearance. You may chose a symmetrical  plan in which elements of your site are evenly spaced (e.g. a graphic on the left with text on the right) or perhaps you will opt for an asymmetrical plan in which unlike items of equal weight are used.  As you design your webpage, try several design layouts to find the one that encourages guests to stay.
  2. Repetition- Sometimes referred to as rhythm, repetition is the use of a pattern that gives a consistency to your site. This rhythm makes it easier for your customers to understand. Having sudden changes in the patterns, size or spacing will create an exciting rhythm but may not impart the feeling you want for your company. Keep in mind the features of Gestalt-proximity, similarity, continuance, closure uniform correctness and 1+1=3 effects.
  3. Emphasis- Often called dominance or the focal point, this is the element that lets people know who you are. Some ways it can be accomplished are through semantic markup, changing font sizes or images, the use of bold black type for headings, contrasting colors, putting important info in a text box or written on a curve or by using an unusual font for the most vital information.
  4. Proximity or Unity- Be sure elements are placed in such a way that they belong together. Use visual cues to let readers know an article is a unit-item near each other are related; those far apart are not. Unity can be established by consistent fonts, repetition of shapes, color or texture and thematic visuals of similar colors, sizes or shapes.

Using the principles is a must for having a website design that attracts and retains guest to your site. Each of these elements work together to create a site that is sure to encourage guests to spend some time getting to know you.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of website design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.comor www.chakeryseo.com.

 

Hide or Seek: 7 Steps to Ensuring People Find You On The Web

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Having a website is one of the most important things you can do for your business, This is because it allows you tell people everywhere what you do, where you are and who you are. However, a website is only good if people can find it. So, how can you ensure your website is found and that it does not require an elaborate game of Internet Hide and Seek? Here are 7 Google approved guidelines as shared in Web Designer magazine.

  1. Provide quality content and services so that PageRank represents good quality sites linking to you. Remember, PR analyzes how many human generated links connect to your site.
  2. Actively promote your site through social media, non-competitive sites and link bait so that you are actively letting people know about your website.
  3. Be sure you have page titles that are interesting and accurate. They should have a title tag that tells both users and the Google search engine what each page is about.
  4. Make sure your Metatag descriptions show a clear summary of what the page is about so Google will be better able to rank it.
  5. Have a domain name and page URLS that are structured to convey content information easily.
  6. Have an HTML sitemap on your website and use an XML sitemap file so users and Google can find all the pages of your site.
  7. Make sure that Google is aware of your mobile sites, as soon as you have them.

Don’t play Hide and Seek with your website. If your site is difficult to find (or navigate once it is found), then your potential clients will soon become someone else’s customers. Use these 7 principles to make sure your site is “it”.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.comor www.chakeryseo.com.

 

 

Asking for an Online Recommendation

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Whether you are looking for a new job, or simply want to improve your online work profile, it is important that you have solid recommendations. This is because work recommendations often tell much more about you than what you did on the job, it also tells about your work ethic. Social media sites such as LinkedIn, recognize the value of recommendations and make it easy to request them. However, before you ask someone for a recommendation, there are 6 things to keep in mind.

  1. Plan a recommendation strategy- Be able to articulate why you need a recommendation, then approach those people who can help you with that element.
  2. Have a balance- Get a mix of people to send/write recommendations-direct boss, peers, customer, vendors, organizations-as this will give future employers a well-rounded view of who you are.
  3. Volunteerism demonstrates skills- Just because you are/weren’t paid for work you did, does not lesson the skill. If you had results for your volunteerism, don’t overlook the valuable recommendations. Volunteering lets people know you are willing to go the extra mile for something you believe in.
  4. Choosing who to ask-Experts recommend that you wait at least 1 year after working somewhere/with someone before asking for a recommendation. In fact, you should know them well enough that you could write the recommendation yourself and they would sign it without any qualms. Also, if a person expects quid pro quo, ask someone else.
  5. How many?-Ideally, 2 per job is great, especially if they highlight different aspects/ competency.
  6. Curate your recommendations- When you ask for recommendations be sure to ask to review it before it is posted. One of the great things about sites like LinkedIn is that you can pick and choose which recommendations you want to be visible.

Whenever someone writes a recommendation for you, be sure to show your appreciation. Remember, they took timeout of their busy schedule to write something for you to help you better your resume. Be sure to say thanks.  This element is as important as all the rest.  So always do a good job, and then start collecting those important recommendations so you can improve your current work situation.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

 

Keeping Your Twitter Stream Exciting

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The use of social media as a way to market your business has become common knowledge for most. After all, social media allows one to develop clientele all around the globe-even if you don’t have a passport. However, there is more to social media than simply having an account and posting the occasional comment. Plus, some sites are viewed as better than others for business use, so you want to be sure to do all you can to take advantage of this potential. As such, one of the best sites available for promoting your business is Twitter.

Given that Twitter has a global community with a billion tweets per week, you want to do all you can to post items that catch people’s attention and keep it focused on you. So, here are several things you can do to ensure that your Twitter account is being used to its full business potential.

  1. Keep it Visual-A picture says a thousand words and since Twitter only allows 140 characters, using pictures on your Twitter stream adds a new level of interest and lets your followers have a glimpse into the world of your company.
  2. Find inspiration-Follow tweets of other tweeters and when you have a day when the words just won’t come to you, retweet comments of others-especially those tweets that refer to your business. This retweeting will double as customer reviews and also empower followers by emphasizing their importance to you.
  3. Get physical-Social media, for all its ability to connect people, can sometimes lack developing a real relationship, save that of the online persona. One of the best ways to use social media to connect with your clients is by responding to their tweets.
  4. Get personal-Share stories about your company, lessons learned or even congratulatory comments when your customers share personal events or accomplishments.
  5. Be smart- Be sure that in addition to pictures, retweets and stories that you post that you also give your followers a reason to follow. These incentives may be sneak peeks of new items, Twitter follower exclusives, special coupons, promos, contests or any other method that encourages followers.

Kick up your Twitter stream with these simple tips. You will be pleasantly pleased with how your business, as well as your number of Twitter followers, will grow.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

 

If it’s not Broken-Don’t Fix it! Does Your Website have Findability?

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Have you ever decided that your webpage needed to updated/upgraded? Maybe you feel like you have been looking at the same graphics, colors, blog posts, etc. for months and it’s time for a change. Perhaps, you have been getting numerous site visits and sales are up, so you decide that if you make some changes this increase in revenue would be even higher.

Before, you call the website designer consider this: Does the website look old and boring because you look at it every day or do you really feel that some upgrades are  a must? Remember, while you may think that the site lacks something it may simply be because you see it all the time.

However, if you look at your website and feel it needs to be improved or have more Findability, then take some time to note what elements of your site are working well, keeping in mind the following:

Take emotions out of the equation! When it comes to evaluating your website, be sure you look at “Just the facts.”  Marketing guru Orvel Ray Wilson says, “Just about the time you are ready to throw up when you use your brand one more time, that is when your audience starts remembering and connecting to it.” If what you are doing is working and attracting customers, then it might be best to leave it alone!

When determining if a change to your webpage is necessary, don’t overlook the tools at your disposal. Run your site through tools such as Sitetuners.com’s Tuning Engine, the Google’s Website Optimizer or their Analytics tool and see how your site ranks. If everything is high, then leave your site alone. However, if there are a number of bounce-backs, a lessening of social media traffic, a decrease in time spent on site, then change may be in order.

If change is needed, create the new version of your homepage while saving a copy of the old one.  Put the new one in active rotation and do a split test. Use analytics to see which page gives you more desirable results. Once the data shows which page is more effective make any other changes based on the information gleaned.

Not every website needs to be updated-especially if all is going well. You want your website to have Findability and if changes will not improve this, then don’t fix what isn’t broken.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com.

 

 

Website Development

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Many businesses who are just getting online wonder to themselves why they need to look to a website design business to help them to get set up online. They may think that they have no problem setting up their own website online. They may feel fairly computer savvy and ready to take on whatever they need to in order to make their site look great and to be efficient.

Hundreds of hours later the same person may find that they now realize exactly why so many businesses look to a website design company to get their website off of the ground. Building a website doesn’t look hard, but it can be extremely hard. Yes, there are website design templates that you may be able to use to help you to get your site going, but it definitely will not look original, nor will the site give any indication of what your company is all about. A website design company, however, can work with your company to create a unique website that perfectly fits the mood and feel that your business has, allowing your potential customers and clients from around the world to understand what it is that you do simply by clicking on your homepage. Make sure that when you are looking for a website design company that you look at some of their previous projects to make sure that the design is something that you will like and that your not their first client. Ask for references or testimonials or pick a random site they have designed and call that company to see how the process went and if that company met the deadlines that they had set in the proposal. If the website design company offers search engine optimization see where their site ranks in the search engines or ask to see sites that they have done SEO for and then again check for the references. When your looking for that perefect website development team that is going to work with you on what will be the first impression one gets when they reach your site it has to be perfect. So take the time in the beginning to make sure that your dealing with a company that will take your business as serious as they take their own. Website Development begins once the relationship between the business and the client is at a good understanding of what the clients needs are and that both parties are comfortable moving forward.

Malcom Chakery
Chakery Design, President
“We are only successful when you succeed!”

Making Websites Friendly for Mobile Carriers

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The internet has become something that you can not only access from a computer, now, but also through cell phones and other devices that can link up to mobile carriers. If you have a website and you’re looking to bring in more traffic, chances are pretty high that you’re going to eventually have a client or customer try to access your site from their mobile phone or other mobile electronic device, which is why it is very important that you learn, or hire someone, who knows how to make your website look great no matter whether it’s going to be viewed online or through a mobile device.

Getting a website primped and looking marvelous for a mobile device can be tricky, because you first need to know about how the different devices work and what types of software they run. For instance the iPhone has a different platform than Windows Mobile as well as for Android platform. Knowing the software information is definitely key. Most website often need to be simplified as well, to make them look great on the small screen. The entire thing can be a bit of a hassle, which is why many businesses opt to hire a website design company to do the work for them. Is your website ready to for the Android, Iphone, Windows, and Blackberry market?

Malcom Chakery
Chakery Design, President