Web site design is just growing bigger and more profitable by the second with the booming number of websites that are mushrooming on the web every single day; the web is growing larger and can accommodate everyone. Using your website to attract other opportunities is the crux of profitable web site design.
1. If you are a good graphics designer or know how to make website templates you can indeed make a profit selling graphics and templates. If you are interested in learning to create your own graphics and templates you can learn good graphic creation software like Photoshop for example.
2. You can also participate in affiliate programs. There are many sites who will give you a percentage of their profits if your site points to theirs and that helps them make a sale.
3. You can also design entire sites for people, including the graphics. For that all your need to know is basic HTML and if you wish to pursue this on a professional level you can also learn the workings of popular shopping cart software for people who have small businesses and need a good site designer.
4. If you have good, quality content on your website you can restrict access to a certain part of your site for which you can charge a membership fee. This is of course only after you have enjoyed a certain amount of success with your content that you can expect people to pay for your content.
5. You can also offer a pay-per-use service. Renting a service is equally popular as is selling one and you can have customers coming back or recommending others.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
How To Make Your Website More Interactive
The best sites these days are the ones with the most interactive features. Taking cues from the larger sites, think of the interactive features that now bring in high numbers of customers. Using blogs, polls, forums, ratings, feedback, reviews, etc., a site can become more of a reflection of the people who use it, giving the users a reason to come back again and again to help shape the site.
Most of us have bought items from Amazon, that paragon of all affiliates. Think back to the first interactive features- the media reviews. Amazon lagged in the beginning, taking several years to even turn a profit. As they added more and more interactive features, the site became a community, and buyers stuck around both for content that they trusted and to leave content of their own. This includes not just the reviews, but now ranked review levels that reviewers try to attain. There are also now customer written lists of their favorite items, blogs, places for book authors to chime in about their books, interviews, and more. All of these features make the site feel less like a corporate sales machine and more like a hang out. Use a combination of features to achieve your own hang out status.
Polls are a good way to brig people in and keep them coming back. People love to vote for things, and you can bet they will come back to see how other people voted. Add to that a blog, comments that you can leave about the blog, and a place to talk to other users of the site, and you have an interactive meeting place, not just an ecommerce site.
Forums are one of the most popular parts of any interactive site. These can be very subject-focused forums that pertain only to the topic of the site, or anything-goes forums that allow users to talk about any topic they like. Many forums have a combination of both- places to discuss the products and keep people thinking about them, and places to discuss their private lives and meet up with friends. The most effective forums have both of these elements. When the readers are tired of talking about the given topic, they will still come back to ‘see’ people they know. This brings them back to your site again and again, creating the best environment for repeat sales.
One feature that has begun to be used more often is to give a rank to users based on their usage of the interactive features. Think of Amazon’s reviewer program, giving a special icon to their top reviewers. Many people strive to review as many items as they can in order to get those coveted titles, which cost nothing and don’t give them any special privileges. This type of program can actually be harnessed to greater benefit for larger sites. Yahoo now has an area where users can answer the questions of other users. Answering questions get the user points. Other users rate both the questions and answers, and getting good rating for your answers get the user more points. The points don’t mean a thing, but everyone seems to want them. There are likely much fewer questions being routed through the customer service channels now that the site’s users are willing to answer them in exchange for points. It also brings back customers in order to see how their answers and points are faring.
Taking a lesson from this model, think of ways to assign points or rankings to users of your site, and they will be back to improve those rankings. The rankings can be as simple as an icon, a number, or a special title. Giving the site’s users something, even a silly title, will show them that you appreciate them being and want them to keep coming back.
Most of us have bought items from Amazon, that paragon of all affiliates. Think back to the first interactive features- the media reviews. Amazon lagged in the beginning, taking several years to even turn a profit. As they added more and more interactive features, the site became a community, and buyers stuck around both for content that they trusted and to leave content of their own. This includes not just the reviews, but now ranked review levels that reviewers try to attain. There are also now customer written lists of their favorite items, blogs, places for book authors to chime in about their books, interviews, and more. All of these features make the site feel less like a corporate sales machine and more like a hang out. Use a combination of features to achieve your own hang out status.
Polls are a good way to brig people in and keep them coming back. People love to vote for things, and you can bet they will come back to see how other people voted. Add to that a blog, comments that you can leave about the blog, and a place to talk to other users of the site, and you have an interactive meeting place, not just an ecommerce site.
Forums are one of the most popular parts of any interactive site. These can be very subject-focused forums that pertain only to the topic of the site, or anything-goes forums that allow users to talk about any topic they like. Many forums have a combination of both- places to discuss the products and keep people thinking about them, and places to discuss their private lives and meet up with friends. The most effective forums have both of these elements. When the readers are tired of talking about the given topic, they will still come back to ‘see’ people they know. This brings them back to your site again and again, creating the best environment for repeat sales.
One feature that has begun to be used more often is to give a rank to users based on their usage of the interactive features. Think of Amazon’s reviewer program, giving a special icon to their top reviewers. Many people strive to review as many items as they can in order to get those coveted titles, which cost nothing and don’t give them any special privileges. This type of program can actually be harnessed to greater benefit for larger sites. Yahoo now has an area where users can answer the questions of other users. Answering questions get the user points. Other users rate both the questions and answers, and getting good rating for your answers get the user more points. The points don’t mean a thing, but everyone seems to want them. There are likely much fewer questions being routed through the customer service channels now that the site’s users are willing to answer them in exchange for points. It also brings back customers in order to see how their answers and points are faring.
Taking a lesson from this model, think of ways to assign points or rankings to users of your site, and they will be back to improve those rankings. The rankings can be as simple as an icon, a number, or a special title. Giving the site’s users something, even a silly title, will show them that you appreciate them being and want them to keep coming back.
The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites
I was chatting to a veteran print publisher, who had been producing magazines for over thirty years.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
All About Myspace Graphics
A myspace account is somewhere that you can sign into, on your own name and just do what you want to do. You can customize your account to describe your personality or you can just have certain backgrounds because you admire it. You can have backgrounds of your favorite movie, actor or actress, cars, animated characters, anime, sports, etc. There are many different kinds to choose from. You can also have top flash toys like a crystal ball, fancycube, fortune cookies, roses, angels and more. It’s better to have your myspace account bright and colorful than having it plain and boring; it really does tell a lot about you.
Myspace graphics are also a part of the decoration to your account. The graphics are in headings of cartoons, comments, dividers, blinkies, glitter, dolls, kisses and hearts. The cartoons are colorful characters like Winnie the pooh, tiger, ninja turtles, south park, pink panther and more. The comments are sayings in pictures or air bubbles and things like that. The glitter dividers are different patterns of different colors. The dolls are character images of different animated girls and you can choose the one that best describes you. The glitter graphics are really pretty; it is cute moving pictures with a shiny glitter effect. The hearts and kisses also have the shiny glitter effect and look just as awesome. They are in different colors and sizes.
All of these graphics are great for your myspace account and you can tell someone so much without having to say a word. Sending them pictures will tell them exactly what they need to know. Everything you can customize on the account has got to do with you; so people know what kind of a person you are before you even meet them properly! It is a great way to communicate with your friends and an even better way to make new friends.
Myspace graphics are also a part of the decoration to your account. The graphics are in headings of cartoons, comments, dividers, blinkies, glitter, dolls, kisses and hearts. The cartoons are colorful characters like Winnie the pooh, tiger, ninja turtles, south park, pink panther and more. The comments are sayings in pictures or air bubbles and things like that. The glitter dividers are different patterns of different colors. The dolls are character images of different animated girls and you can choose the one that best describes you. The glitter graphics are really pretty; it is cute moving pictures with a shiny glitter effect. The hearts and kisses also have the shiny glitter effect and look just as awesome. They are in different colors and sizes.
All of these graphics are great for your myspace account and you can tell someone so much without having to say a word. Sending them pictures will tell them exactly what they need to know. Everything you can customize on the account has got to do with you; so people know what kind of a person you are before you even meet them properly! It is a great way to communicate with your friends and an even better way to make new friends.
Choosing A Great Myspace Layout
If you have created a myspace account, you will know how awesome it is, there is so much you can do with it. Myspace is for adults as well as teenagers, you can do what you want with it, express yourself, be free and creative. There are also many websites that allow you to create a myspace account and you will not have to pay a cent. It is so easy, all you need to do is sign up and fill out a quick form; if you wish to add a photo of yourself you may do so if you have one on your computer or you could do it at a later stage. Once that is done you can send an email to all your friends telling them how to sign up, or if they already have an account you can add them to your friends list.
When that is all sorted you can customize your profile to make it suit you. First you can decorate it with a background. There are hundreds of different backgrounds to choose from that go under the headings of: girly layouts, cute layouts, retro layouts, and new layouts which are all different ones like colors and pictures. If you do not find a layout there that you like you can choose from a different list, this list includes, celebrity layouts, anime layouts, sexy layouts, movie layouts, pink layouts, music layouts, playboy layouts and much, much more. You are guaranteed to find one that you absolutely adore. Once you get bored of that layout, you could always change it to another one that you like.
So now you can be creative and only the people you want to see your myspace account will be able to see it. Millions of people use myspace all over the world.
When that is all sorted you can customize your profile to make it suit you. First you can decorate it with a background. There are hundreds of different backgrounds to choose from that go under the headings of: girly layouts, cute layouts, retro layouts, and new layouts which are all different ones like colors and pictures. If you do not find a layout there that you like you can choose from a different list, this list includes, celebrity layouts, anime layouts, sexy layouts, movie layouts, pink layouts, music layouts, playboy layouts and much, much more. You are guaranteed to find one that you absolutely adore. Once you get bored of that layout, you could always change it to another one that you like.
So now you can be creative and only the people you want to see your myspace account will be able to see it. Millions of people use myspace all over the world.
Myspace Layouts To Decorate the Profile
There are many different things you can do to make your myspace account look good. But the best and most efficient way to describe your personality or your favorite thing is by choosing a myspace layout. The layouts are used to decorate your page, it’s like a background and there are different ones to choose from. Some of them going under the headings of cars, anime, sport, celebrities, comics, movies, models, and just about what ever else you can think of. If you choose a celebrity layout, you will have your favorite celeb on your page. Comics will give you Spiderman, superman, batman etc. You can have a picture from your favorite movie, actor or actress. Also have your favorite anime character as your layout. By choosing a layout instead of having your page blank, you will give others an idea of what sort of things you like and what kind of personality you have.
To have a myspace account is great; it lets you do so many things and allows you to chat to your friends. You can also look at other people’s profiles if they will allow it and maybe you can make new friends. Myspace lets you talk and express your feelings as you want to, you can let out your creative side too. Remember that if you decide two create a myspace accounts, it’s always nice to have a picture of yourself in the space that’s allocated. When you meet new people you’d also like to see who you are talking to!
Many people around the world have a myspace account. It is so easy to get one, all you have to do is log on to the internet, type it in the search engine and sign up for a myspace account. Once you have signed up you will be able to customize it to the way you want it.
To have a myspace account is great; it lets you do so many things and allows you to chat to your friends. You can also look at other people’s profiles if they will allow it and maybe you can make new friends. Myspace lets you talk and express your feelings as you want to, you can let out your creative side too. Remember that if you decide two create a myspace accounts, it’s always nice to have a picture of yourself in the space that’s allocated. When you meet new people you’d also like to see who you are talking to!
Many people around the world have a myspace account. It is so easy to get one, all you have to do is log on to the internet, type it in the search engine and sign up for a myspace account. Once you have signed up you will be able to customize it to the way you want it.
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