Posts Tagged ‘Web design Philadelphia’

Design, Implement, ACTION!

Friday, January 20th, 2012

My favorite part of building a website is hearing the results from that website.

“I get so many more leads through my website, I get so many more calls from my website…” The compliments go on.

The secret of it all is that it is no accident that the new site is working so well! The Internet is so cluttered with websites that it is my job to design websites that are not just interactive and good looking, but fully functioning lead machines!

The web design team at 1SEO.com knows that you get more calls when your phone number is placed in a specific location on the page, and that you get more e-mails when the contact form is easy to use and on every page. We know that someone will read more pages and potentially become customers when buttons are designed and placed the right way.

So, how do we know how to make your website a bonafied lean, mean, lead generating machine?

  1. Create a button that is enticing to click. The web is littered with buttons with a generic “Click Here” on it. People know how to ignore things they see all the time
  2. Place these buttons “Above the fold” so that it will be amongst the first thing the end user sees.
  3. Make sure the colors contrast from the area they are in. If the color scheme of your call to action blends in with the rest of the site, they do not become enticing enough to click.
  4. Offer an incentive! The oldest trick in marketing is what we are talking about here. Make the end user want to click on it by offering something. Whether it is a free consultation or an ebook, you have to make the person want to submit their information.
  5. Get that phone number up top… AND HUGE!
  6. Want to get e-mails? Put a simple form in an easy-to-access spot on the page.
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On Navigation: Answering the Age Old Question…“Where the Hell Am I Going?”

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

I have firmly planted myself in my bi-weekly Internet ramblings as a User Experience enthusiast, and I am going to continue the trend because it is simply what gets me fired up the most.  Nothing defines a well-functioning website quite like a well thought out navigation.

Note the key word in that last sentence:  Functioning.  A website is not a good website until it functions in a way that it is generating business for you, and it could be a page other than your home page that seals the deal on that sale. With that in mind, putting some thought into your navigation seems like a pretty good idea doesn’t it? It should be more than just a line of links across the top of the page; it should have some character of its own, featuring complimentary colors and fonts! Entice the user to click them; this is how they are going to learn more about your business. Keep the navigation user friendly by implementing rollovers that make it obvious that if they click there, they will be changing pages.

So…Why should you care about the navigation when you already have the color scheme you want, pictures, and your phone number in the right place? It’s all about people getting to those pages! As I mentioned above, not everyone is going to be sold on your homepage alone, so make the next step to an easy one!

There are a lot of sites out there with awful navigation placement. For instance, if the navigation of your site is towards the bottom, it will be incredibly hard for someone to navigate.  This is especially true if your site goes beyond “the fold” (which is geek-speak for “You have to scroll to see everything), which is incredibly likely.

Remember, you would not give your close friends the longest route to get to the dinner party at your new house, you want them to get there and get eating. The same goes for your website, you want the user to get to where you want them quickly.

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Falling in Love with HTML5

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

As a web designer, it is in my nature to seek out the newest and coolest things available in web land. When I first started researching HTML5, my initial fears were of course browser compatibility and browser compatibility. (Not a typo, I was really nervous about that). As you may gather from my other awesome posts here at 1SEO.com, I am a stickler for end user experience. So place yourself in my shoes when thinking about something not looking right, let alone something physically not functioning right. However, my persistence and curiosity continued, and I felt I HAD to see what this was all about.

 So, as an analytical individual, I put together a sweet diagram weighing the pros and cons of venturing my way into this. I will spare you the nitty gritty geek details, and just jump right into the summary. For starters, HTML5 is incredibly lightweight. You save a decent amount of code (and as a result, load time) by writing less. In those individual lines of code are little snippets of HTML5, so in a way, HTML5 is not one big thing, it is many little things, which makes for an insanely easy transition. Learning HTML5 is not comparable to learning how to walk, it is more like buying a brand new pair of shoes. Of course, there is a little time of adjustment, but after a while, you realize that the new found feeling of support is making everything all around better.  The final major benefit is the compatibility with mobile devices. As we all know, the world is going mobile, so when there is a language that adds to the reality of this, it is all the better.

Now for the unfortunate reality of the downsides…The reality is that older browsers just can’t handle it in all instances. On top of that, HTML5 is not listed as the standard by the W3C either (yet.) So, what that means is that the people who say what goes on the web, don’t fully recognize HTML5 as the official language yet. What does that mean to us web designers? It means that we have to use HTML5 responsibly. While it is always great and exciting to dive right in and try the newest and hottest thing, we have to remember the end user and what they will be experiencing when viewing your website.

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CRUD and ORM

Monday, September 12th, 2011

Websites today are heavily database driven, everything from simple blogs and forums to social networking sites. Developers at one time used to, and still do, write raw SQL queries that are executed by their scripts, whether it be PHP, Java, Python, etc. It used to be a pain, at least for me, to manage a global resource that performed all your CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations. For a small project its no problem, but when you have a larger project backed by a higly relational database that includes reporting statistical data, user management, and ACL’s it can be pretty tedious managing and organizing prepared SQL statements that include all the usual joins, updates, unions, stored procedures, etc.

One thing that used to get on my nerves was whenever I had to do fixes or updates to code something someone else wrote and see random connection strings and queries all over the place (ASP coders seemed to do this a lot). Practices like that made spaghetti code real quick and a head ache to clean up and organize.

These days when it comes to developing projects that need CRUD functionality, I encourage the use of a ORM (Object Relational Mapper) or an ActiveRecord implementation. An ORM libray can save you lots of time and write less code when developing the database layer of your project, if you have a good grasp of Object Oriented Programming you can dive into using an ORM and immediately see the benefits. You can perform very complex queries with just a few lines of code. The idea is simple, each table in your database is abstracted by a class that extends the base ORM class. Each column in the table is a property in the ORM class along with built in methods for retrieval, searching, updating, creating, and deleting.

Here’s a very basic example of the traditional method of executing a query with PHP and iterating through the records returned:

$q=”           

     SELECT e.firstname, e.lastname, e.department_id, d.department

            FROM employees e

            JOIN department d ON  e.department_id=d.id

”;

$results=mysql_query($q);

foreach($results as $r){

            echo(“First Name: ”.$r['firstname'].” Last Name: ”.$r['lastname'].” Department:

”.$r['department']);

}

Now, here’s the same thing using an ORM:

$results=ORM::model(‘Employees’)->get();

foreach($results as $r){

            echo(First Name:”.$r->firstname’.” Last Name: ”.$r->lastname.” Department:”.$r->department);

}

And bam, just like that. That is just a bare basic example, but just imagine being able to execute a far more complex query that included 50+ fields, 6 related tables, and thousands of records with just a couple lines of code. Sweetness.

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Your Home Page–How to Stand Out in a Crowd

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Like meeting someone in person, having a definitive quality helps another remember you better than if you blend in with the rest of the crowd. The same should apply for your website. Given that the home page of a website is the most visited page of 99% of the websites out there, you want to make sure that it makes the best and strongest impression possible.

There are a number of ways you can do that. Start with the design of the page. On average, 4/5 people do not scroll below the bottom-fold of any page. So that means the top half of the page is where you have to make that best first impression. Use this coveted real estate wisely. Designs that are engaging but still follow the basic format tend to be successful. Things to consider:

  • Make sure your business name and company tagline is visible, add a Call to Action (Call Today for your Free Consultation)
  • Make sure your phone number is large and stands out. So many sites out there have their phone number in squint print. How many people are going to get out of a chair to find their glasses to read your number vs. click out of your site and find your competition whose site is easier to read?)
  • Make use of dynamic colors. If you have an established brand, make sure to use those colors but don’t limit yourself. You can use shades of the same color or have multiple colors, insert a textured background, use bold colors to bring out a certain important piece of information and so forth
  • Slide shows of static pictures and/or videos. You are no longer tied into the static 2-dimensional confines of print ads and materials.
  • Make prominent, easy to read statements of why you are unique, the strong points of your business and what makes you stand out over your competition. Don’t forget to have about 300 words of written text on this page–that can be placed in the bottom fold.
  • Social media–engage your audience to “like you” or “follow you”
  • Make it easy for someone to connect with you–phone number, contact box, email, live chat

It’s a lot to consider and takes time getting the first impression right. However, the reward is that you will have a higher rate of conversion. Using a design company that has a proven track record is important. A new or redesigned website can either be an expensive business expense or a wise investment. Most people would prefer their efforts to be the later in hindsight. Visit www.1seo.com  to see our record of success

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SEO Company, 1SEO.com Makes Move To New Office In Levittown

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Today, 8/25/2011, officialy marked the day that 1SEO.com moved its growing office from Southampton, PA, to an all new office in Levittown, PA!

Congratulations 1SEO.com!  The brand new technology hub located in Levittown will surely give surrounding technology offices in the Philadelphia area literally, “a run for their money!”

“The offfice is one of a kind,” President/CEO Lance Bachmann says, it is a place where clients—as well as his employees will be able to “ play cool video games,” he says. 

Overall, a great atmosphere to walk into whether it be a sunny or rainy day—!

The move is a big step for 1SEO.com, which is a company that demonstrates an active involvement into search engine optimization, pay per click management, social media optimization, web design, and web development.  With streamlined offerings in various unique services in the web domain, 1SEO.com employs trained professionals that manage a significant amount of operations in a timely and effective manner.

Now, with a new building, Bachmann’s company is sure to expect bigger things!

Check It Out Today!

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Why template customization plays vital role in web development?

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Most business owners are finding out that simply having a good web site is not enough to bring in leads. The most significant aspect of lead lies in building a customer base, with which you can build a relationship and hence, template customization plays a very important role in web development. An efficient website is one which is quick to load and provide the user with ideal content which attracts more traffic compared to slow website. More traffic means more money.

A Website template is a pre-made web page without any content where one can insert any image or text. Template customizations is a process where a template can be changed according to the customer’s requirement like adding text and images, changing colours and size and create custom scripts. Customization therefore, is one of the most important aspects and a powerful online tool which allows you to creating your own unique website with the help of professional designers. It is very important to get professional customization for your template as this is the best way to save up your time and money in getting attractive and fully functional website. It often turns out that website template customization requires a lot of changes and becomes expensive but if you avail the right professional customization services with multiple options and creative ideas, you will not have a reason to worry.

The success of online business depends a lot on the look and performance of the company’s website and also the search engine optimization process carried out. The services of the custom website design helps to present the content in such a manner that an end user will show interest in the offers. The performance of an online site is also decided by another fact as to how well you have implemented the search engine optimization features. It is the responsibility of a quality website designing company to provide innovative designs that can enhance the performance of a site through World Wide Web.

The prime focus of a good designer is to create quality website combining impeccable design standards with visually stunning and engaging websites keeping in mind the requirement, the brand image and organizational objectives. Website design process begins with discovery. You have to identify the target audience for the site, developing a persona set, conducting usability studies, surveying the clients and defining the structure of the site. Any one can design a website but very few can design websites that are able to rank high in the search engines and turn web visitors into customers.

With the help of template customization, you get to know very well that it is heart and soul of online business in general and web development in particular.

To know more about Website Design Philadelphia visit http://www.1seo.com

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Role of Internet Marketing in getting website ranked

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Internet marketing is a huge world. It involves SEO, SMO, Link Building, Content Writing and much more. Each of these activities plays a crucial role in the process of internet marketing, and making your website and online business ranked higher than your online competitors. To be precise, Internet marketing is a group of online tasks that will help you in creating effective online visibility for your products and services, and build an online reputation altogether.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the single most and decisive activity that will make your visibility ranked high on popular search engines. SEO is a comprehensive activity and one of the major parts of Internet marketing. In fact, internet marketing is nothing without SEO activity. Again, video optimization is another activity that will market your products on popular video engines like YouTube.

The significance of search engine optimization (SEO) along with the up-to-date techniques as well as strategies can give you the best possible thump for your money.  In a nutshell, Web 2.0 is looking at an amalgamation of different platforms that exist in the internet today.  It has changed a huge amount in just the past 3 years alone and websites like: Facebook, My Space, Twitter,Technorati, Digg, Squidoo etc. are now what we call social media.  There are over 1100 and counting around the whole world.

To get an idea of how to competent in SEO, think of it this way. Google and all the other search engines are trying to provide the best service to their users, in terms of actually giving the user exactly what they are searching for.   In order to do this for their users, they have created algorithms to check your data and to see what your site is all about.  If you then ‘optimise’ your pages and websites with this in mind you can’t go wrong.  Ensure that the keywords, link text and body copy all have a good keyword density for the search phrase you are writing about and want to index for within the search engines.

The other factor is authority.  Google calls this page rank.  Google likes to rank sites and pages based on how many quality links with similar link text is coming back to your web page.  There is too much to go into with SEO, but there are ‘on page factors’ and ‘off page factors’ involved.

Content writing and adding keywords lends helping hand to the Internet marketers. In this manner, the internet marketers make use of article marketing directories and web directories to give high rank to your website. Article marketing and blog posting is a cumbersome task, and it takes time when your online business finally achieves the success.

To know more about Internet Marketing visit 1seo.com

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