Outsourcing Projects

Monday, March 31, 2008

Web Design - Outsource or Not?

Online businesses vary in almost every way possible - from who they serve to how they make revenue. However, one basic similarity connects all internet businesses: websites. If you don't have a website, you're not doing business on the internet. An online entrepreneur must choose between designing a website himself or herself, or hiring a professional web designer.

Studying the latter option first, professional web designers vary in many aspects, most notably style, ability, size, experience and price. If you plan on hiring a professional web designer, you want to ask the designer for examples of his or her work and for references. You don't want to just review the web designers past work without also consulting references, because no matter how good, stylish, or well-coded the designer's work is, how do you know the websites were made according to the directions of the customers? You also want to consult more than one designer, so that you can compare and contrast the work of different designers. By researching the references and past work of designers, you'll know their respective abilities, styles, and experiences. Never just take a designers word that he/she works "very well" and has "a lot of experience".

Once you've researched some designers' styles, abilities, and experience, there are two other important things to check: price and size. For price, more may actually be better. Your website's appearance and functionality will determine the success of your online business. Saving a few bucks on web design often will cost you in the long run, perhaps terminally. So, when choosing a web designer, avoid cheapness. However, size works the opposite, less is better. You want a unique, customized site that's built & designed according to your directions. A large impersonal designer-company mass-produces generic websites, and isn't interested in meeting the special needs of individual single-sales. Going to a large web design company for a quality site is like going to McDonalds for a quality hamburger. All you'll get is a generic flavor-less product.

An expensive professional designer is needed to outsource, so I recommend that online entrepreneurs build and design their own websites. Even if you know nothing about designing websites, it's probably better to learn to design websites rather than outsource the design of your website. An entrepreneur’s time is very valuable, but, in the long run, the cost of learning is lower than the cost of outsourcing. By building and designing your own website yourself, you can change, update, and add to your website anytime without rehiring a web designer. Wise people say that it's better to teach a man to fish, than give him a fish. Well similarly, it is better to teach yourself to fish, than to buy a fish... especially when fish are websites.

About Author : Scott Hughes creates and runs many successful e-businesses. Read more articles like this on his webiste, Web Business Resource, at http://webbizresource.com.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Effective Web Designing Tips

Here are some essential web design tips that every web site should follow. Design your web site by following these tips and I guarantee that visitors will have a great first impression of your site.
  1. Fast Loading web site designs - This is the number 1 tip that every web designer should follow. You might design a web site that looks fantastic but few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. Your designs should be optimized for the web and should not take more than 15 seconds to load. Remember, you might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load.

  2. Clear Navigation - Once a visitor has come to your site you need to make them go through your site. To do this you need to have clear navigation. Make sure all your important links are at prominent places. Preferably right on top - that's usually where a visitor first looks. Make use of menus on the right and the left. Try to link to as many pages of your site. Let your information be accessible from all parts of the site. You never know what a visitor may be interested in. Try to also use the footer for your important links.

  3. All Resolutions - Today, there are computers with all kinds of resolution. They range from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and go even higher. Your job is to design your site for all these resolutions. The best way to do this is to design your site in terms of percentage and not pixels.

  4. Browser Compatibility - Make sure your site is browser compatible. Your web site should look good in Netscape as well as in Internet Explorer. Don't stop designing your site as soon as you find that it looks great on IE. Usually Netscape gives some problems, especially when you try doing complicated HTML designs. But don't give up too soon, usually with patience these problems can be easily fixed.

  5. Readable and professional looking fonts - Don't ask me how many times I've clicked out of a site just because the font is in Comic Sans and the color is a bright pink or green. Just by looking at the font you feel that the site is not a professional site. Don't use Comic Sans and other fancy fonts that may not be available on most computers. If the font you use is not available in a visitors computer the web site will use the default font of your computer which is much worse. So try to keep to common and professional web fonts. The fonts that I always stick to are Arial and Verdana.

  6. Minimize the use of images - I believe that sometimes simple designs are the most effective for the web. Keep your site simple but neat. Don't clutter your page with big, bulky images that take ages to load. Instead use tables creatively and design eye - catching icons that will draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your site. Tip - Visitors are usually more interested in content than in design.

  7. Use of white space - Try not to clutter up your page with too many images, backgrounds and colorful fonts. Again use the Keep It Simple principle by minimizing the use of graphics and using a lot of white space. White space gives a sense of spaciousness and overall neatness to a site. Notice the white space in our site.

  8. Check for broken links - Always check for broken links within a site before uploading it to your web server. In Dreamweaver you can check for broken links by right clicking on any file in the Site Files Window and then clicking on Check links - Entire Site. If you don't have this facility you need to upload your site and then check it using online tools like Net Mechanic.