Published July 28th, 2010 by WebsitesAre.Us
One of the most important and often overlooked tasks in building a successful website is creating useful content. A site that ranks #1 for a set of terms in a competitive industry or market segment must be able to justify its value, or risk losing out to competitors who offer more. Search engines’ goals are to rank the best, most usable, functional and informative sites first. By intertwining your site’s content and performance with these goals, you can help to ensure its long term prospects in the search engine rankings.
How To Create A ‘Useful’ Web Site
Usability represents the ease-of-use inherent in your site’s design, navigation, architecture and functionality. The idea behind the practice is to make your site intuitive so that visitors will have the best possible experience on the site. A whole host of features figure into usability, including:
- Design
The graphical elements and layout of website have a strong influence on how easily usable the site is. Standards like blue, underlined links, top and side menu bars, logos in the top, left-hand corner may seem like rules that can be bent, but adherence to these elements (with which web users are already familiar) will help to make a site usable. Design also encompasses important topics like visibility & contrast, affecting how easy it is for users to interest the text and image elements of the site. Separation of unique sections like navigation, advertising, content, search bars, etc. is also critical as users follow design cues to help them understand a page’s content. A final consideration would also take into account the importance of ensuring that critical elements in a site’s design (like menus, logos, colors and layout) were used consistently throughout the site.
- Information Architecture
The organizational hierarchy of a site can also strongly affect usability. Topics and categorization impact the ease with which a user can find the information they need on your site. While an intuitive, intelligently designed structure will seamlessly guide the user to their goals, a complex, obfuscated hierarchy can make finding information on a site disturbingly frustrating.
- Navigation
A navigation system that guides users easily through both top-level and deep pages and makes a high percentage of the site easily accessible is critical to good usability. Since navigation is one of a website’s primary functions, provide users with obvious navigation systems: breadcrumbs, alt tags for image links, and well written anchor text that clearly describes what the user will get if they click a link. Navigation standards like these can drastically improve usability performance.
- Functionality
To create compelling usability, ensure that tools, scripts, images, links, etc., all function as they are intended and don’t provide errors to non-standard browsers, alternative operating systems or uninformed users (who often don’t know what/where to click).
- Accessibility
Accessibility refers primarily to the technical ability of users to access and move through your site, as well as the ability of the site to serve disabled or impaired users. For SEO purposes, the most important aspects are limiting code errors to a minimum and fixing broken links, making sure that content is accessible and visible in all browsers and without special actions.
- Content
The usability of content itself is often overlooked, but its importance cannot be overstated. The descriptive nature of headlines, the accuracy of information and the quality of content all factor highly into a site’s likelihood to retain visitors and gain links.
Overall, usability is about gearing a site towards the potential users. Success in this arena garners increased conversion rates, a higher chance that other sites will link to yours and a better relationship with your users. For creating useful content or improving the content of your website, contact Your San Diego Web Designer Websites Are Us.
Published August 17th, 2009 by WebsitesAre.Us
What do I need to get my first website online?
- Register your website’s domain name
A domain name is the name of your website, e.g. www.websitesare.us, and needs to be registered with a Domain Name Registrant.
- Select a web hosting company
A web hosting company will store the files that make up your website on their publicly accessible
web server so your website is online on the world wide web.
- Create your website
Ask your web designer what they will do to ensure that your website will be found on top of the search engines – or order your search engine optimized website with money back guarantee with Websites Are Us.
If you are confused how to order your domain name or website hosting, Websites Are Us is happy to help you and purchase a domain name and hosting services on your behalf through a renowned domain and hosting partner of our choice.
The fees for domain name registration (typically about $10 per year) and web hosting (typically about $5-$9 per month) are NOT included in our web design services as they are payable by the client directly to the domain and hosting company monthly or annually in advance (by credit card orPayPal).We have tested many domain registrants and web hosts and found that the following two companies provide excellent value for a great price:
for domain name registration and 
for web hosting.
I want to sell online and need a shopping cart e-commerce website. Can you do this?
Sure. Please see examples of shopping cart websites we created for other clients on our Web Design Clients page.
I already have a website that needs redesign, or I don’t get enough visitors. Can you help me?
How long does it take to get my website up and running?
Regular websites take us usually about 4 to 6 weeks after the start date. We can even rush your project for a small fee, so you can have your new website within one to two weeks.
How can I be sure that I will like my website?
We take pride in all our satisfied customers and look forward to giving you the same level of service excellence. Due to the high standard of our work we have the confidence to guarantee our work 100%. If you are not completely satisfied with the appearance or functionality of your web design, Websites Are Us will continue to work on your web site at no additional charge until you are, or you can cancel your contract with us for a refund. You get your money back, and we keep the copyright to the work we have already done for you.
Can I provide my own text and photos?
Sure. You can submit text, design, logos, graphics, photos, printed brochures and/or any other artwork or items to be included in the design or content of your website before we start your project. You can either mail or email them to us, or upload it onto our web server, or we can meet in person if you are located in the San Diego area.
Do I have to come up with text and photos?
No. If you prefer not to contribute any text, artwork or other items, you agree that Websites Are Us will build your website drafting text we deem suitable, and use royalty-free stock images from our collection.
How is your working process?
We will provide you with a basic layout and content draft for your website, usually within 7 to 10 business days. After you have reviewed the web design draft, we will continue to make modifications until the basic layout and content is approved by you. Once it is approved, we will create the detailed page layout, add programming, pictures, photos, and text. During this process, you will have the opportunity to review the progress. We will establish a private directory for your new website on our testing server so that you may view the website development progress at any time. Our project manager will inform you via email when extensive updates to the site have been made so you can review the most recent progress.
We will continue to make modifications until the final layout and content is approved by you. After getting your final approval and payment we will transfer your website to the hosting company’s web server. From this point on your website is ‘live’ on the internet.
Will I own the copyright to my website?
Yes. Once Websites Are Us has received final payment for your project you will own the copyright to everything we created for your website.
Can I edit my content or add new photos once my website is online?
Your website will be set up as a flexible CMS (Content Management System) with an online ‘back office’ where you can easily log in and edit your website’s content yourself. Websites Are Us will provide you with a written manual or train you how to do so. If you need additional help, we offer phone or email support at no additional charge for up to 6 months after the website has launched (up to 30 minutes per month). Your ‘back office’ is really easy to use for everybody with basic computer knowledge.
Other Questions? Please click here to contact us. Our San Diego web designer team will be happy to answer all your website questions
Published June 26th, 2009 by WebsitesAre.Us
How To Select The Best Web Hosting Company
Why Do I Need Web Hosting?
Once your website is created and your domain name registered, the digital files that make your website need to be stored on a web server, so your website can be reached by all internet visitors at any time. A web hosting company provides this service by running web servers with special software to ensure the security, accessibility and functionality of your website on the internet.
How Much Is Web Hosting?
There are many web hosting companies with a multitude of hosting plans out there, and selecting a good one can be overwhelming. The web hosting fee for a regular website ranges usually between $5 and $10 per month. Extra features like secure payment sites for shopping cart websites can be added for an extra fee, if necessary. In order to ensure that your website has no down-time and can be reached fast and secure, it pays to select a reputable web host with reliable equipment, secure software and 24/7, US based support.
After many years of working with different web hosting companies, we have selected Hostgator
as our prefered web host.
Download A Step-By-Step Guide How To Order The Right Hosting Plan
Published June 26th, 2009 by WebsitesAre.Us
How To Select The Best Name For Your Website
What Is A Domain Name?
To reach a website you have to type an address into your internet browser – the domain name (e.g. www.websitesare.us). This domain name has to be unique so computers know where to find your website. ICANN, the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers, coordinates these unique identifiers across the world, and your domain name needs to be registered with ICANN through an accredited domain-name registrar. Domain Name Registrars usually charge about $10 per year for the registration of a regular .com domain.
How To Select The Best Name For Your Website
Once you start looking for your domain name, you will notice that most good names are already taken. So you might have to settle with a less perfect option. Here are the four most important things to keep in mind when selecting your domain name:
- Select a name that is as short as possible
- Ideally select a name that ends in .com. If .com is already taken, your next best options are .org (yes, everybody can get a .org domain!), .net, .us (or your country’s extension if you are outside the US). Avoid .biz or .info – for some reason only known to Google these don’t rank so well.
- Prefer names without dashes (mydomain.com is better than my-domain.com)
- If possible, include your most important ‘keyword’, or think of registering 2 domains: One with your company name, and one with your keyword that will be forwarded to your company name website. E.g. in addition to ‘OnPointRealEstateGroup.com’, you might think of getting ‘SanDiegoFastHomeSelling.com’. The search engines love domains that include the keyword you want to rank for.
Check Whether Your Domain Name Is Still Available:
Working With Websites Are Us
We will assist you in finding you the (almost) perfect domain name by using software tools that allow us to check available domain names fast and easily.
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