Dustin Schwerman asked:


What is a custom website? I would say it is one designed with your business fully in mind. It’s the classic process of optimization, but not only for the search engines, not only for your visitors. Naturally, these are important parts of the process, but they are not the parts that have to do with making your website unique. A truly original website is one that is optimized for your business.

This means, above all else, that templates are not an option. There is no such thing as a custom template. There are custom layouts that can then be used on every page of a given site, but by its very nature, a template is generic. It may be visually impressive, it may even suit your business nicely, but it is not designed specifically for you.

Adding your own text, applying your own graphics, does not fix the limitations of the template. This is not to say that a template cannot make an effective site; it is to say it cannot make a custom site. For that, you need unique graphics. You need a layout intended for your audience. You need a linking structure that suits the structure of your business.

Stock images, ready-made layouts, pre-designed programs, are all very useful for establishing an on-line presence quickly and cheaply. That’s the point. The aim there is a nice look without a lot of effort, a functional design without a notable cost. You don’t need a web designer, you don’t need a graphic artist. Just drag and drop your text and images, and in a few easy steps, you have a presence on the Internet.

But not a customized presence. Not a presence optimized for your business. For that, you need a web designer, either one as part of your team or a hired professional. This is important to note, because there are web design companies that provide template options. These can be impressive, with their variety of pre-made, easily adaptable layouts and designs.

I would argue, however, that if you plan to hire a web designer to create a custom site, you should avoid and ignore the term template. There are plenty of places to get layout templates on line, and many of them are inexpensive, free, or included with other services such as web hosting. Naturally, if you favor ease over novelty, you should take advantage of these inexpensive options.

If, on the other hand, you want a custom website then you should take advantage instead of the skill and experience of professional web designers. Naturally, it isn’t as quick; it isn’t as cheap. There are benefits and hindrances to everything, and the cons of customization are additional cost in money, time, or (most likely) both. But the benefits are having a site created with your specific business in mind. Graphics and links, text and programs, all specifically created to communicate the essence of your product, service, or idea. Anyone can establish an on-line presence. The goal of custom website design is to give your business an on-line personality, and to make it exactly the personality that you wish to convey to your visitors.

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Titus Hoskins asked:


You probably already know the key to making any kind
of income from the net is a well designed web site.
What most people don’t realize your site doesn’t have
to look perfect or be professionally designed to be
successful.

Not by a long shot!

In the final analysis, any site that makes you money
is a successful site. From a marketing perspective,
any site which brings in an income can be considered a
well designed site. Many people can’t get their heads
around this fact: some of the most basic/ugly sites can
be the most profitable. You don’t need a perfect site.

Believe me, I know from first-hand experience.

Your site doesn’t have to be a design knock-out to earn
you money. My first modest little site which I designed from
scratch when I didn’t have a clue what a perfect site
should be or look like, now brings in over 50,000 visitors
a month and Google just upgraded it to a PR6.

All that is not really important, what is important
my site brings in money each and every day! It is a
profitable site, it’s not pretty but it works. I earn
revenue from Google Adsense, I earn revenue from
affiliate sales and I have even formed partnerships
with other major sites and businesses on the web.

I get more and more companies coming to me each
week asking if they can display their products/links
on my site. I recently turned down a major fellow
Internet marketer who wanted to put a link on the
top of my home page and that guy makes millions
online each year!

Why are they bothering with me and my site?

Because my site brings in targeted traffic and visitors
who buy products and services which those companies
are selling. My site is valuable to them. My site can
deliver leads, customers and business to those other
third parties. My modest little site is not perfect but
it sells. It has value.

My Most Important Web Design Tip

Here’s the main tip or advice I can give anyone starting
a new web business: the only reason my site (any site)
has value is because I have targeted certain keywords or
keyword phrases with my site. Once these keyword phrases
rank high in all the search engines you get targeted traffic
to your site. Targeted traffic which companies would like
to have a piece of to sell their products.

Actually if you do this one action right (get high rankings
for your site’s profitable in-demand keywords) then
your site will earn you money. For example, if you get
a top 10 ranking for ‘Cell Phones’ you will make money,
regardless of how good or bad your site is designed!

Of course, this doesn’t mean web design will not play an
important role in the success of your site. You should
always go for professional graphics, headers and logos if
you can afford them, but you must realize other design
elements will play a greater role in the success of your site.

You want a site that is easy to navigate with all links
clearly visible and linking to your home page. You want a
site that is easy on the eyes so keep all fonts and colors
even and consistent throughout your site. Organize your content
and material in a simple and straightforward manner featuring
the one thing most surfers are searching for: information.

Please your visitors and the search engines by covering
or discussing only one topic per page. Place a well defined
page title at the top and include your main keyword phrase
in your title and description. Feed the spiders but never
forget you’re writing for real human beings; the majority
of whom will actually have a heart and a pulse!

Design For The SERPs

Keep your web copy and writing short, informative and witty.
Some eye candy is dandy as long as you get your point across
in the process. If you’re selling from your web site, many
professional marketers will suggest you start your marketing
strategy not on your site but in the search engines’
descriptions listing your site or page. Keep this in mind
when you’re writing your page descriptions, start to pre-sell
to your potential customers in the MSN, Yahoo! or Google SERPs
(Search Engine Results Pages).

These search engines, especially Google, will add creditability
to your information or offer. This is one design trick or tactic
you should be utilizing on your site to increase conversions
if your goal with your site is to sell products or services.

Design For The BIG Picture

Along those same lines, I believe very few webmasters
have a Big Picture when they’re creating or designing
their sites. You must look far beyond the actual pages
you have uploaded to your web host… mainly because you
must extend your site well beyond this limited concept.

You must fully understand your site’s real power exists well
beyond your web pages. You must extend the reach of your site
to all corners of the web. You must build links, partnerships
and content into these countless areas of the web. Use articles,
blogs, social networks, viral marketing, directories, related
sites and most of all you must pay attention to all your site’s
content in the major search engines.

Grasp the Big Picture of your site’s design and keep it in
mind at all times as you expand your site and watch it grow.
Always have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish
with your site’s design and point it in that direction. Never
forget your site doesn’t have to be perfectly designed to be
successful; you just have to get your information across in
a frank and friendly manner. Just give your visitors what
they’re looking for and your site will be successful.

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eparol asked:


I can usually find most of what I’m looking for on the web, but this one has me stumpted. Can anyone tell me some web sites where I can find pictures of various deck roofs designs to get some ideas? I’d like to incorporate a solar pool heater into the design so for the most part it needs to be flat, but I want it to look good also.

Thanks

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Ms. Sunshine asked:


I start Graphic Design school in a few months and I don’t know what to expect. I have a certificate in Web Design and photography and I’ve taken a few art classes but I’m still a bit worried. Any tips??

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imakegraphics asked:

Affordable, custom web design featuring; 2D / 3D art and animation, updateable website content, e-commerce, search engine optimization (SEO), photo / video manipulation / remaster, interactive apps, games, 3D product demo, original music. Southeast Michigan based… designing for the world. Exceeding your expectations, instead of your budget. imakegraphics.com Breathe life into your online presence with a vivid, high-impact, highly functional, search engine optimized, cost-effective website …

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L Obando asked:


Custom web page design is a term you will hear many times during your quest to find a company to handle your web page development. Many companies offer custom web design but then pick from a bunch of templates and hope you wont notice, you need to check with your web page designer to see if they will use templates for your web site graphic design. Custom web design should mean exactly that custom web design. The is also an upside to using professional templates for your internet web site design that is that you can pick your style in advance, which will save you money on design time, while the designer tries to create a style for you. Your custom web site design web site designer can also take your template and have a finished site a lot quicker than building a custom site from scratch, you need to decide what is important to you price, timeframe or having a site that no one else has.

Web site development can be done in either way you will need to decide on which way you wish to proceed ask your web designer which type of. web page design would be better suited for your web site design.
Choosing a website designer is a very important decision, as a good website can bring you more business and a bad one can turn customers away.

custom web site design

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Me asked:


I want to create a good quality web page,but i have no experience or knowledge about it.Please recommend sites to look up,easy programmes to use,and anyway tips about the web page design.Except from points you shall win my apreciation for ever if you DO help.Thanx

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Steven Wagenheim asked:


This tip is really more for the person designing the web site than for the people who will be visiting that site. Web site design is tough enough without making things harder on ourselves. By using templates, either custom made or (shudder) off the rack, we can greatly reduce our web site design time and focus on areas where we can be more productive. This article will give you some tips that I have personally found useful to make the most efficient use of templates in your design. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have some info that you can put to good use.

Templates are a quick and easy way to get multi page web sites done in a flash. For one thing, if you’re designing a site for yourself, or anyone for that matter, you want each page to have a uniform look unless there are going to be certain pages that due to certain content, have to be designed differently. But these are going to be the exception to the rule. For the most part, you can design a template and use it for every page of your site with no problem.

Designing a template is actually very simple. Most standard web pages are composed of a header, a navigation bar, and the main body of the page. The header is essentially going to be the same for each page with minor modifications. For example, let’s say you had a simple four page site with a main page, articles page, products page and contact page. The header might read something like “John Doe’s Web Site” on each page with the minor modification of including the topic of the page in each header. The template would be the generic header and from that you would create each individual page header. This greatly cuts down on the amount of work you do.

The same process applies to your navigation bar as well. If you use individual GIF or JPEGS for your links, simply create a blank design and then fill in the page name, articles, products, etc. as you need them. This also is a great time saver. Plus, if you add pages to your site over time, you simply have to take your blank templates and add the additional page names to them. And, if you use CSS to format the pages, all you have to do is then update the CSS file and you’re done.

Designing templates is a great way to get a lot of work done in a very short amount of time. It’s efficient, it’s easy and it makes web site design very flexible.

Just the way it’s supposed to be.

To YOUR Success,

Steve Wagenheim

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marissa m asked:


I am starting a web design company targeting small businesses, to help them out by creating cheap websites for their business. I need to think of a great, catchy name…anyone have an idea?

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Natalie Aranda asked:


There are hundreds of sites dedicated to online games, yet many of them lack originality and professionalism. With so many websites in the competition, it can be difficult to create a gaming site that will make visitors want to come back. After all, an average user wants to find the best online games, especially the free ones. Fortunately, there are particular web design tips that can help make your site stand out.

When you begin to design an online games site, it is important to make the layout vibrant and bold. Many gaming sites have this feature, yet most lack professionalism. Therefore, it is important to make it flashy, yet still maintain the classy look. Unfortunately, many sites which allow you to play free online games look spammy and amateurish. Thus, it is important to show your visitor that you are going to provide them with legit online games, without giving them viruses when they download them.

One of the biggest hang-ups about free online games is that pop up advertisements are prevalent. Although many visitors have pop up blockers installed on their computers, these advertisements can get annoying for everyone else. Therefore, it is important that you register your domain and web hosting with a paid service. Many of the free services like Geocities and AngelFire attach advertisements to your outstanding site. In the long run, this could give it a bad reputation.

After you have created the web design, it is central that the content is full of great quality. Many free online game sites which include favorites like Backgammon, provide the visitor with not only free downloads, but also reviews from other players. This way the visitor will know if it is worth playing and what extra tips will help if they get stuck. Extra features like this one always keep people coming back for more, especially if they are unique and not like all of the other “play free online games” type sites. After all, it is pretty difficult to find an online gaming site that is original.

It is also important to always keep your content fresh and updated. For instance, if you have a Backgammon site and only update it once a year, chances are your site will have no hits whatsoever. For this reason, it is crucial to keep up-to-date with online games. By signing up for daily online game news and other information, it will be easier to provide your visitors with the games they are looking for.

No matter what type of online game site you are trying to make, it is imperative that you give the visitor what they want. There are thousands of gaming sites online, but only a mere few entertain and provide people with top notch information and downloads. Although many online game owners do not realize this, web design is actually one of the most important aspects of generating success in the online gaming industry. After all, looks are everything, and for gamers, you need to put on a show. By developing and designing a sleek design, you will easily become one of the greatest online game sites on the web.

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