Are Your Designs SEO Friendly?

July 30th, 2009

Google seems to rule the world nowadays. Why? Because everyone knows that “Google knows everything”. If you’ve got a question – ask Google, if you are looking for any info – ask Google, if you want to buy something – ask Google. Thus the success of your website depends mostly on whether the search engine will find the web page or not. Being a designer you most likely consider that search engine optimization is not your field, but it isn’t quite so. Most on-site SEO is totally your responsibility. If your design isn’t SEO friendly you might loose a considerable piece of traffic. But if you know how to make your website design visible to search engines you will be much closer to the top. Besides, as a designer or a developer you may actually profit from your search engine optimizing skills, your clients will definitely pay some extra money for a search engine friendly design.

How do search engines actually work?
Search engines like Google and Yahoo have a program called a “web spider”. The spider crawls the web pages, collects content, follows the links and deposits the collected info to the search engine’s database. When you type a query in the search box the search engine finds the most relevant results in it’s database. What makes a website more or less relevant to your query? There is a number of factors which form the search engine algorithm. Thus, the higher your website ranks for these factors the higher it is in the search results and the more visitors you get.
There are two types of SEO – on-site and off-site. As you are a designer/ developer your prime concern here is on-site SEO.
So, what are the things you can do on your design to make it SEO friendly?

#1
Only content matters
As irrelevant as it may seem to you (designer/developer) the most authoritative key to success is content. People search for content, not for the design, thus you should give them what they want, shouldn’t you? :)

#2
The code is to be clean
Use text editors to build your sites. Clean and  human-readable HTML is the searchable code. Try to not overuse Divs, use descriptive tags where possible, follow the conceptual structure of the page. Don’t get upset here, CSS will help you create an ingenious website. ;)

#3
Site map
Make a site map that describes your website structure and give it to Google.

#4
Don’t forget about the links
As you remember search engines pay attention to the links you have on your website, the words used for the links also matter. Thus you better avoid using “click here” and so on for the links. Try to describe where the link is taking the user to.

#5
Ajax
Try to not overuse Ajax. Yes, Ajax features are beautiful and impressive, but they are not indexable by search engines because of their dynamic load.

#6
Index page is the most important
Your home page should give a reason to the user to visit other pages, it should describe the goal of your website and be a summary of the rest of your pages.

Well, these were some simple and just basic SEO tips for designers. Would you add more?

Posted in How To | 16 Comments »

More CSS Tools to Boost Your Productivity

July 22nd, 2009

As you may remember I already gave you the list of useful CSS tools, but I’m sure being a professional you will be glad to get more tools that can save you time and ease your work. Thus, here is the new list of even more helpful CSS tools for you:

CSS Optimizers and formatters

* CSSTidy
This is an open source CSS parser and optimiser.

* CleanCSS
Based on CSSTidy CSS optimizer and formatter. Very powerful tool.

* Online CSS Optimizer
Well, you may have already guessed – this is an online tool for CSS optimization.

* Format CSS Online
Great online tool to automatically format your CSS to be easyly  read and edited.

* Webucator
This CSS reference will allow you to test your CSS code.

CSS Forms

* CSS Form Code Maker
This tool generates ‘Colorful Box Layout’ for your forms.

* Korhoen Typeviewer
 This is a viewer to give you a look at your CSS typesetting and if needed to adjust it to a better readability.

CSS Generators

* CSS Menu Generator
This is a fastest way to create simple menus. The tool generates 4 different types of menus, you can edit text, links, and colors.

* CSS Frame Generator
This comfortable tool allows you to easily create a “framed” design using only CSS.

* CSS Button Generator
Creating stunning buttons is very easy with this tool. All you have to do is to choose the background colors, border colors and enter the text and that’s it – your buttons are created.

This was a short list of some CSS tools you will definitely find helpful. You can be sure there will be more lists like this one. What tools would you like to see featured in them?

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Will Your New Website Be Successful?

July 15th, 2009

So, you have a brand new website designed? Everything is done and ready to be launched but are you sure your new web project is going to be successful, are you sure you’ve done everything right and haven’t missed a thing? Here are things to check before launching a new web page to make sure it has more chances to become successful.

* Domain name
Is your domain name short, unique, easy to remember and does it suggest what your website goal is? These are essential things considering a domain name. Read more on how to name your website.

* Website layout
Every website should have some basic website elements. Header, navigation, body and footer are the common things your visitors expect to find.
I’d suggest you to check if your fonts are readable, color scheme not repellent and navigation simple and intuitive. You can ask a friend to check these aspects for you.

* Content
Content is the key to success. The searchers will find you only if you give them what they are looking for – quality content. So give it to them! Check your website for spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure your texts are easy to understand and have specific appeal to your target audience. Don’t be afraid to give your personal opinion, your readers will only be grateful. Make your website interesting to visit and don’t forget to update regularly.

* SEO
This is the most vital point to consider if you want your new website to get to the top of search engine results. There will be a detailed article on on-site SEO at this blog later, now lets focus on off site things that have to be done:
- Press release
I’d suggest you to write a press release and submit it to a number of press release websites. Give a brief information on your website’s goal and what your visitors will find there. I also suggest you to write press releases each time you have fresh news on your website – new products, projects etc.
- Internet directories
Submit your website to popular directories, this is a good way to build some powerful backlinks.
- Article submission
This is another way to get quality backlinks to your website. Write a number of good and interesting articles, submit them to article submission websites and people will link to them. Make sure the articles you write are related to the subject of your website

Well, this was a simple checklist of things you should consider when launching a website. Now when you have them checked you may change something for batter and launch your website to reach the deserved success. Would you add more points to the list?

Posted in General Talk | No Comments »

Top7 Online Color Tools

July 9th, 2009

Being a web designer you for sure love the tools that simplify and speed up your work. And I love giving you the lists of these tools, making the search process easy for you. You may remember my previous posts giving CSS tools, text editors, Firefox plugins and others. Well, today I’m going to give you the list of top 7 online color palette tools. Color palette generators are great help when you are stuck and can’t find the color solution for your new project, or you have one color and can’t find the matching ones, besides they are a great source of inspiration.
Well, here they are:

* Color Hunter

This simple online tool generates color theme from any image. You can upload an image, put in the image URL or chose the color tag.

* Colorotate

This Flash based website is a more advanced tool than the previous one. This tool has a 3D approach of creating color palettes and offers great customization options.

* Color Jack

The website suggests you to chose from existing color pallets or create your own ones using the offered tools.

* Color Explorer

This website features a huge color library, besides you can create your own palettes and use the color matching tool.

* Kuler Adobe

This is an Adobe Labs color palette generator and explorer. You can chose from the ready color palettes or create your own using the Flash-based application.

* Color Palette Generator

This is a very simple tool on DeGraeve.com that generates a color palette from any picture from the web you liked. Just put in the URL.

* Color Scheme Designer

This resource offers a range of ways to create a color scheme, very handy tool that many designers consider to be the best.

Well, this is my top7 online color tools. Do share your favorite generators in the comments below.

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Best Travel Web Templates

July 1st, 2009

Summer is the hot time for travel agencies of all kinds and sizes. The heat and sultry air of the big cities make people migrate to the seaside and exotic countries. These days travel agencies websites are on top of popularity. Thus if you planned to launch a website for the travel agency now is the time. Here is a small showcase of the most creative travel and vacation website templates to inspire you. A well designed travel web design should not only be informative and easy to navigate, it should inspire your visitors and call the desire to hit the road and get away towards the pleasant discoveries and adventures. This is the main uniting feature of the showcased web templates – they all are creatively designed to give your clients the feel of close discoveries and create the atmosphere of exciting adventures.

Travel Agency Website Template

This plain HTML design is the best choice if you are looking for a simple but well designed web solution. Deep colors and tempting images fulfill their goal to create a feel of good vacation and give inspiration.

Travel Network CSS Template

This bright and plain CSS design is rather minimalistic regarding the color palette, but the slight use of blue color makes it stylish and reminds the sea.

Travel Agency Flash Animated Template

This vivid design is a perfect example of good use of the vintage elements in web design.

Travel Agency Web Design Template

The ingenious header of this CSS template definitely makes me want to leave everything behind and go to an island somewhere in the Mediterranean. Do you feel the urge to do the same thing?

Check out our vacation and travel templates for even more inspiring travel web designs.

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Posted in Showcases | 1 Comment »