Emmaus Designs' Blog

Will it really cost me $5000 for my website?

Well go back say 10 years and yes you did as it was a very specialised area. You needed coding knowledge and all the other skills required to put a website together. This has changed dramatically and today you can get a professional site for less then $500.

What are the catches?

Honestly there are not many, most low cost websites are custom made and to keep the cost down they don’t have a built in CMS or Content Management System which lets you update the content on the site your self. This was quite the way to go earlier on in web but again today people simply don’t have the time or desire to do it them selves even though it is quite easy. This does add quite a bit to the final price of the website if you have it fully CMS’d.

One thing to keep in mind is you wont get “everything” with a low cost website but you will get more then enough functionality to run most businesses online very successfully.

So what do you do if you don’t have a CMS website?

Most website builders will offer to make updates to your site for you. They charge an hourly rate and can do quite a lot in that time. Prices vary from $95 per hour down to $49. More are in the lower end of the price bracket though. Most small businesses and even some larger ones prefer to simply email off there changes and forget about it and this works well in keeping the hourly price down.

What about content for my website?

Most clients provide their own content to the web designer however you can get help with this either from them directly or other sites. We provide a content service for our clients if they need it but most people can do it themselves with little problem.

Its great seeing new clients get online with their first business so if your thinking about it then there are great choices there for you and a lot of help if needed. See you online soon!

Website designing is a difficult and a challenging work. A website is best marketing tool on the web. The aim to design any site is to expand your business to the world. A good web designer should be professional, hard working and most important an expert in his/her field. A professional web designer should provide quality , meaningful information and content for your site. Here are some tips about how you choose a right professional web designer:

Your Online Identity : A website is online identity of your business. So, a web developer should well be consistent with your brand and business. A professional website reflects your brand identity and reflect the corporate image of your business.
Experience: A professional web developer should have a good experience. Look at other web sites they’ve done. He should focus on your business need according to your customer requirements.
Search Engine Friendly: A professional web designer should made a search engine friendly website. He should use HTML code rather than embedding images and graphic elements. Use ALT tags for all images and graphics in addition to Meta tags and description tags and submit your website to online directories. Get relevant links from others on the internet.
Specialization: A web designer should be expert in his field. Than he/she can provide best option and new techniques for a professional looking website.
Guarantee: A professional web developer should offer a guarantee for his work? This is an important one – if your designer doesn’t offer a 100% money back guarantee.
Customer Service: Websites are a great place for troubleshooting guides, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), technical information, etc. You can provide multiple ways for your customers to contact you.

If you are looking for unique Professional Web designers for your business http://www.emmausdesigns.com is a place where you can get web services according to your need. Emmaus Designs is a leading web designer company in Florida. We provide our clients with the right solutions in Website designing, E commerce web solutions, Custom web site design, Flash web designing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content writing & design.

If you look out for ways of improving traffic to your website, you need not worry. There are lots many traffic getting techniques to choose from. These techniques promise to drive swarm of visitors to the website. It is easy to get visitors to your website initially, but the real challenge lies in making them stay on your website.

Your website needs to offer the visitors something vulnerable which withholds their attention. Web design is the primary thing which can be used to withhold the attention of the users. It needs to be user-friendly as well as attractive. Flash animations can help you make your website attractive and creative. It can be used for all types of websites like gaming sites, simple business or personal websites. And its two important tools are canvas and time line. Using these two tools designers can do wonders with your websites.
Flash animations not only make the website attractive but it also has other advantages as, mentioned below:

• Flash Animations are Google Friendly: earlier the flash animated websites were not crawled by bots of search engines. But with technological advancements and changes in algorithms of search engine, flash animations are recognized by the search engines conveniently. Many of them appear in Google search results as well. It is being speculated that in future websites with flash animations will be preferred by the search engines. Thus, it is a perfect idea to get your website designed using flash animation technology.

• Flash Animations Enables to Create Interactive Web Pages: text and still images attract large number of visitors, but they are able to captivate the attention of the visitor for only a while. As all they can do is to view the pages and soon leave. But flash animation holds the attention of the visitors for a longer duration. Interactive navigation will keep the visitors interested and would induce them to seeing the entire website at one go.

• Lends You visibility: flash animations help you revive a dead website. There are tens of thousands of websites on Internet. To get visibility should be the only motto. Using this technique on your website lends it freshness and authenticity which gives it ranking and visibility among the other websites.

There are many myths associated with it are:

• It makes the website slow: this is so untrue. It purely depends on the intelligence of the designer. The designer should not try and inculcate all things in one single movie. This will undoubtedly make the website page loading quite slow.

• Flash Animation is quite expensive: flash animations are considered to be the way too expensive. But this cost includes copywriting and customization. Keeping this in consideration, the cost justifies its benefits.

JavaScript is client side scripting language. When you open a web page your web browser first downloads all the necessary files from the server to display that page correctly. Those necessary files are HTML, CSS, Images, Videos, etc and the JavaScript files too. After completing download the browser displays that page on its window and any script linked with it will run from the downloaded script file.

In Ajax technology, user inputs and other data are sent to the web server through JavaScript. JavaScript creates XML_HTTP_REQUEST_OBJECT to connect with the server, submit data to it, and to request a response from the server. When response comes, a JavaScript event fires and the function associated with that event is then executed. So in Ajax technology JavaScript is only used to transfer data between client side and the server side while the main program, i.e. data processing is executed at the server end, in PHP or any other server side language.

As JavaScript runs from the client computer its execution time is very short, almost instantaneous. Viewers can run JavaScript without being connected with the server as well. But in Ajax, viewers must be connected to the server. Here execution time is much longer which depends on their Internet connection speed, server hardware and number of bytes to be transferred between client side and server side.

In terms of server security JavaScript is absolutely safe since it doesn’t transfer any user input from client side to the server. But in Ajax you have to take special care to prevent any malicious data from the bad users.

In JavaScript you can’t hide your source code. Users can easily read your source code from source view which is running on their computer. But in Ajax data processing takes place at the server end and so user can’t see the program source code.

In Ajax you can support your program with your server database.

For a long program, if you use JavaScript to implement it, the size of your web page will be larger. So it will take longer time to download which is a bad SEO feature. But in Ajax you can run long program, processing several thousands of data from a database, still your page size keeps small.

Since all browsers do not strictly follow any particular standard so it is not very easy to write a browser independent JavaScript program.

JavaScript are only used in some specific applications where data security is not an important consideration while the scope of Ajax technology application is unlimited.

Most organizations think that getting your website designed is complex and expensive. There are many myths and these are the primary reasons why website design in many cases don’t deliver results.

If you are looking at having your website designed (or redesigned) then you should heed these myths to make your life simpler and your website more successful, completed faster and cost lesser.

Myth # 10 – Website Designing is Complicated and Difficult

If you are not eBay, Yahoo or Google then chances are that your website design will be pretty simple stuff without requiring too much coding and design.

Myth # 9 – Websites Take a Long Time

Actually, most simple websites take around 5-6 working days at the most.

Myth # 8 – My Website Designer will Creating Content

Alas, your website designer knows technology. What he doesn’t know and understand is your business, your thoughts and your insights. So, don’t expect your website designer to be able to create content if you don’t provide it.

Myth # 7 – My Website Should Be the Most Beautiful

The phrase “Beauty is skin deep” rings truest in the context of website design. How many websites do you visit with inane and irrelevant images? Why is a series of colored pencils so important for a consulting website? What is more important is the use of Search Engine Optimized technology, navigation, ease of management and user-friendly interfaces.

Myth # 6 – My Website Design Specifications will be the Ultimate

Websites are dynamic. Just like you rearrange the furniture, you will periodically want to change the look, alter the design or add new features to your website. So don’t take years to come up with the ultimate specifications. It is a waste of time and money. Instead, keep your website design simple and then build upon it gradually.

Myth # 5 – I Don’t Need to Invest Time on My Website

Many organizations assign a low priority to their websites. The interaction with the website designers is often left to employees who are not in line with the strategic imperatives of the business. Big Mistake! Your website is important to your organization and is of strategic importance.

Senior management time is required during the process of website design. You also need to earmark resources for managing your website even after it is running successfully online.

Myth # 4 – My Website Will Top Search Engine Results Page

That’s what a billion webmasters pray for. It takes time, tremendous effort for your site to start topping search engine results. It also costs money. SEO is important and is the next step after web design.

Myth # 3 – My Website is About My Company

Wrong! Your website is not about your company but how it can benefit your customers and site visitors. Keep this mind during while planning your website design

Myth # 2 – I Don’t Need to Improve My Website

All major internet organizations are continually innovating and adding new features or content to their website design. This is important to make sure that you are ahead of your online competitors. And you must, too.

Myth # 1 – Websites are Expensive

Most requirements for websites are simple enough and should cost around $ 1000 to $ 4000. So, make sure that you don’t get overcharged. At the same time, don’t go with a website designer who promises to deliver everything at a ridiculously low cost.

A visually stunning Web site may not be user-friendly, just as site that rates high on usability may have no visual appeal. Either site will send visitors clicking the back button. If you’re redesigning your Web site or creating it for the very first time, take a look at some of the outdated Web trends below and our suggestions for alternatives.

1. Small text

Problems:

• Strains readers’ eyes
• Visitors are more likely to click away than read small text

Solution: Increase your fonts to a size that makes on-screen reading comfortable.

2. Not enough white space

Problems:

• Makes it difficult for visitors to find what they’re looking for
• Can give the impression that your company is disorganized

Solution: Create clean designs with empty space between content that allows the eye to rest as it moves from element to element. Empty space can help lead the eye to your most important messages and images.

3. Clever, but unclear navigation schemes

Problems:

• Visitors will become confused
• Visitors will click away when the can’t immediately figure out how to navigate

Solution: Use standard, consistent navigation. Because visitors are already familiar with these schemes, they can easily work their way through your Web pages.

4.Shiny logos

Problems:

• Overused
• Dated

Solution: Create a logo that is timeless and versatile. Because a logo is part of your long-term branding strategy, it needs to be highly recognizable to your customers and the general public. Recognition takes time, so if you jump on the latest logo trends, you risk looking behind-the-times or losing any recognition you’ve earned when you redesign.

5. Unnecessary reflections below objects

Problems:

• Distracting
• Overused

Solution: Use reflections only where they fit logically into the design. For example, if you have an image of water or a wet surface, a reflection would make sense. Avoid them on regular Web pages. If you want to create a sense of depth, try using a shadow instead.

6. Blinking images

Problems:

• Distracting
• Unprofessional

Solution: Find a new way to add emphasis to an important element or idea. There are many ways to do this. You can redesign your page to give the most important elements the largest space, use contrasting color or elements to draw a visitor’s attention to the most important parts of the page.

7. Busy backgrounds behind text

Problems:

• Difficult to read
• Likely to turn visitors away

Solution: Use a solid color background (white is the best) with a highly contrasting text color (black is the best).

8. Flash homepages

Problems:

• Many people do not have the latest version of Flash software
• Many people are unwilling to download the software
• People are likely to click away

Solution: Choose a creative graphic or image on your regular homepage rather than using a Flash animation. If you cater to a niche audience that is likely to have Flash or want to see your content badly enough to download it, make sure you offer a link to a free flash download and offer a link to skip the animation for those who do not want to see it.

9. Aqua style icons and buttons

Problems:

• Overused
• Dated

Solution: Update your icon and button styles with a more current look. The aqua style was introduced in the 2000 Apple computer user interface and became a fixture on Web sites and software interfaces for years. Current design trends have moved away from this look toward less-shiny variations.

10. Rounded corners

Problem:

• Overused

Solution: Use rounded corners only when they communicate something about the content on the page, not as a default style. When a page deals with organic images or themes that suggest roundness, rounded corners can enhance a design. Overuse of rounded corners is a sign of an inexperienced designer. To keep your Web designs fresh and professional, consider the reasons behind each design choice you make.

Having a website for your business is a must these days but following a few guidelines is equally important for the best possible website. You definitely want a professional website with easy navigation and good content that will please both your visitors and search engines. Here are five tips that will help you achieve these goals.

1 – Unique Page Titles and Meta Descriptions for all Pages

Many website often do not have any meta tags or use the same for all pages, same goes for their page title. For proper listing on search engines, having a unique but yet very descriptive page title and meta description will get your website more clicks.

2 – Easy Navigation and Content Organization

Visitors will come on your website for one reason; they must find what they are looking for. With an easy navigation, your website visitors will find what they searched within a few clicks. If you have a very large website it is a good idea to add a search option. Also do not forget to provide a back button, that is when a visitor lands on a page that is not of any use to them; they can still go back to where they were.

3 – Track Your Visitors

To know if your website is serving its purpose; that is generating sales, you need to know what pages your visitors stay on more and where they come from. Google Analytics will help you best with this. You will be able to know what keywords were searched more to land on your website, which countries brought the most visitors and so on.

4 – Add Both HTML and XML Sitemap

For a new website it is important to have a sitemap that links to every page of the website. This will change with time as your website expands; linking to every new page is not necessary but keeping the links to major pages. An XML sitemap on the other hand can be used in Google Webmaster Tools; this will provide you with lots of information about your website ranking, which pages you can remove from Google and so on.

5 – Contact Page and Contact Information

Make sure it is easy for any visitor to contact you. Put your contact form on a page that is easy to access. Link to your contact form from every other page. It might help to put your contact for on your homepage depending on the purpose of your website.

Being a business owner, nothing is more important than looking for newer ways to save your precious time and money, while profiting and expanding your business by manifolds.

Today, creating an online presence for yourself as well as your business has become the greatest need of time. Online Marketing your business online is similar to Offline (real-world) marketing, with only the convenience of expanding or strengthening your business simply with a few clicks and pressed buttons. But, as large a business you have, your online presence in shape of a website needs to project a professional image. The more professional looking your website is, the more commendable and credible it looks.

But, many people out there not really comprehend the difference between getting a custom designed website and using website templates. Let’s take a look at how we can solve this mystery and make it more comprehensible to understand what is better in terms of appearance, cost and time.

Web templates are ‘pre-made’ website designs, which can be designed intricately or made in form of a simple theme, e.g. using Wordpress. In recent times, any professional web designer should have the experience to work with website templates; while he/she should also be expert enough to create his/her own custom website design for their clients.

Website Template

Pros

•    customizable to some extent

•    can be downloaded immediately

•    highly affordable (low budget and cost)

•    takes less development time

•    array of premade templates

•    Ability to see what you’re getting

Cons

•    Web design isn’t unique and exceptional

•    May be utilized on many other sites

•    Limited customization

•    May not be SEO friendly

•    Generic design appearance

Custom Design

Pros

•    Customized and exclusive web design

•    More compliant with your clients’ needs

•    Usually HTML / CSS certified

•    Inimitable branding suited to the client

Cons

•    Expensive (high budget and cost)

•    Takes more development time

All cards are stacked in front of you; now you can easily choose, in terms of your business needs and demands, whether to have a custom website designed or a web designer using a website template to make it adaptable to your needs.

Either way, a bit of an extra effort needs to be put in to get good search engine results. The website content should be written with proper keywords and phrases that your target audience would type in the search box to search for you.

Nevertheless, getting a website made from scratch is more sustainable and adaptable to whatever desires you have, without any limitations, but of course, only if you are willing to invest more time and money into the deal.

Now, sit down and work out how exactly you want to have your website made, putting your budget and time in check. However, watch out for web design scams from web designers who sell used and/or publically available website templates as unique custom designs. Such website designers have fake websites and tend to be from remote places offering web design and development at remarkably low rates as compared to other reputable web design firms in UAE, UK, USA or around the globe. It is definitely a good idea to outsource your website design but do not fall a prey in the hands of scammers. Always research and contact a good reputable web design company for all your web design needs and solutions.

Introduction

A website with no programming is called a static site. Static means is that every page has to be created and sent to your web server individually. A dynamic website is one where a few template-type pages are created and programming pulls information into the pages and creates the links. An online shopping cart is an example of a dynamic site. Every product page uses the same design, but the content areas show different products. The products are listed in a database or XML file and pulled into the pages when the viewer clicks a link.

If you have more than just a few products, or you need online ordering, it’s not efficient to have a static website. However, if you are a new website owner, it’s a great idea to start with a static site that features a few products, until you’ve taken the time to really investigate the best software for your online catalog.

Software for your Static Website

Choosing the right software to develop your website takes planning and will affect how easy, or impossible, it is to maintain your site over time. For example, I have worked with two websites that were built in the Microsoft .NET system in such a way that made it impossible for the site owners to make any changes without going back to the original developer. In both cases, a different system would have made it possible for the site owner to take control over some of the maintenance tasks. In one case, the developer built the messiest backend I have ever seen.

Do you choose the software that your developer uses, or do you choose the software and then find a developer that is competent with that software? Either way works, if you take a little time to understand the side effects of your decision. If you find a developer who is competent and will be available over the long term, you may want to purchase and use the system he uses. On the other hand, if the developer proves to be incompetent or unavailable, you may be stuck with a difficult system.

Microsoft .NET is best used in a company that has an IT department, where programmers will always be available. The system allows for adding quick pieces of programming to a website. Often “quick” means that the developer doesn’t really know how to program, just how to drag pieces of programming into the pages. If you are going to start with a static site, you do not need .NET. Unless you plan to buy .NET and learn how to use it, do not hire a developer who builds in .NET.

Microsoft FrontPage is an old system that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Many people learned how to use FrontPage to develop quick sites, but did not learn good design or structural principles. For many years, FrontPage was the cheapest tool available. If a prospective developer uses FrontPage, he hasn’t upgraded his skills since the early years of 2000 or before. Do not hire a developer who only has experience with FrontPage.

Dreamweaver has been the “industry standard” for many years. Dreamweaver is a very flexible piece of software that works for static sites or dynamic sites. The software “grows” with your website, as you go from a small, static site to a programmed site. I even used Dreamweaver to fix the .NET mess mentioned above. However, Dreamweaver has a learning curve and can be pricy for many small businesses.

Dreamweaver has its own template system, which makes the development and maintenance of your website very efficient because a change to the template changes all pages that use the template. Dreamweaver even comes with basic website templates already created. But, the template system only works within the Dreamweaver program, even though any of the resulting pages can be opened in other systems.

If a developer is using Dreamweaver, it is more likely that she understands how website structure really works, than those who deal strictly with online templates, .NET or FrontPage. That doesn’t mean that the developer uses Dreamweaver well; so, be sure to check out her work too.

Joomla is a web development system that is growing in popularity. Technically, it is actually a Content Management System (CMS) because after a design is developed, you can add your content through online forms, instead of creating each page individually. Most website owners with Joomla sites, still have to go back to their developers when they want to rearrange items on their site. Joomla also comes with “widgets” such as calendars, which are nice little programmed features for your site.

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other systems available, and more systems will become available over time. Ask your business acquaintances with websites what software their developer uses and whether it is flexible to their needs.

Choosing your Developer

For a static website, you don’t need a programmer; you just need someone who can build web pages. However, there is a difference between knowing how to use a piece of web development software and understanding how a website works. If there is a good developer available, that developer will be able to adapt to new software, even though he will be most comfortable with the systems he has already used. It is better to put a competent person on the software of your choice than to choose someone who can use a particular piece of software, but who doesn’t really understand websites. It has been my task to fix many sites built badly by someone who had only learned the software piece. In many cases, that person had “taken a class” that didn’t teach web principles, only how to use the software. Even more unfortunate is that many of those classes are taught at the university level.

When a developer presents you with some work samples (only accept samples which are currently online), you might consider getting a second opinion on their work. Ask the person doing the second opinion about what the effects of the “back-end” will be on your work to maintain the site. The main thing to consider is that you, the business owner, have to live with the long term results of the developer and the software you choose.

Looking for a web design company in FL? Florida has grown with a significantly influential economy and has attracted a lot of investors over time. As these investors established the state and decided to go with the virtual community, a number of web design companies came into existence as well.

Emmaus Designs is one of them. They have over 10 years of experience. Some of their clients include IbuyHomes.com, Central Florida Politics, Cheyenne Saloon, and the Gwinnett Daily Post.

While you are looking for the web design company that best suits you, do not fail to consider the company’s name, reputation and business policies. These three can help you decide if the company can actually work with and for you.

Since you will be leaving the designing to the company, your job will be to make sure that the partner you will choose will be the best company that your money can afford. While the virtual world promises lots of earnings, it is never wise to overspend on it. Make sure that you keep a balance between the physical advertisements that you spend for your products and the marketing efforts you extend in the Internet. In this way, you ensure that your market is visible on both worlds.

Check out the Florida Web Design Company Emmaus Designs by click on their name