How To Identify A Quality Website Design Company

The website design industry is highly competitive with many different businesses all-competing for your clientele.  This provides a great buyers market for web design services and you should utilize this buyer’s advantage to secure the right company for you.

When choosing the right website design company you should consider the following:

1) How Many Questions Do They Ask:  A website design company that asks many questions about your business, customers, products and goals is more likely to produce a web design you are happy with.  When they don’t ask you many questions it is highly probably they will be using templates to design your website from.

2) View Their Complete Portfolio:  Ensure that you request to view their complete portfolio and in conducting the review note the use of colours and styles in their design.  It the website design company appears to use only one style or limited colours then gauge whether these colours and styles suit your business.

3) Do They Have A Plan:  A quality web design company will have a planning document which walks you through the process of building your website.  The more comprehensive the plan the more likely you are to be working with a professional company.

4) Ask Them About SEO:  While the actual website designer does not need to know SEO it’s important that someone within the company can clearly articulate the benefits of SEO.  All website designs now need basic SEO integration to ensure traffic generation and success.

5) Call Their Recent Clients:  Choose 2 recent clients of the web design company to call and ask them about their experience.  Specifically find out how smooth the process was and any potential sticking points you should know about.

6) Who Owns the Copyright:  This can be a major problem with some website design companies as they wish to maintain copyright on all their work.  Unfortunately this is not what you desire, you want to own full copyright to the materials produced for you.

7) Set the Deadline:  Prior to engaging the website design company makes sure you tell them of your set deadline of delivery.  Ask them if they can confidently deliver on time and meet your targets.  If they are unable to then you need to find a company that will.

8) Source File Access:  A quality website design company will give you full unrestricted access to the source files which run your site.  By having this access you can always have another designer edit your files rather than engaging the same company.

When you find a website design company that fits these major criteria you are most probably working with a quality company.  It’s important to remember that you need to like the company you are working with so ensure their personality style meets yours!

Google Panda Update – How It Affects Search Engine Optimisation

As you know Google is the primary search engine that all businesses are aiming to dominate and recently a major update has been released affecting all websites. It is not uncommon for Google to release updates as they are constantly improving the way they rank sites, as a business owner it is your responsibility to ensure your website keeps track with those updates.

At Sigma InfoTech our teams of experts have studied the latest update called the “Panda Update” and identified three major changes to Search engine optimisation in the update you need to understand:

SEO Major Change 1: Poor Quality = Poor Results

In the Panda Update Google changed the algorithm it uses to index and rank sites so that it discounted low quality, low value sites. Sites that have unique, valuable content will be ranked higher then sites that have low value, duplicate content.

No longer can a cheap, duplicate content site rank well in the search engine you must invest in building quality sites with well-written and well-researched content. This is not something new though as at Sigma InfoTech we have always told our clients they need quality content and quality sites to get long-term search engine results.

Search Engine Optimisation Major Change 2: Become Google’s Content Partner

The second major change in the Panda Update is Google has stated publicly they will reward trusted, high quality sites. It is important right now to ensure you are optimizing your site effectively and within Google’s terms of service. If you are doing this then you will be rewarded by Google, here is the direct quote from Google:

“Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem. Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

When creating your website ensure you are producing content and pages on your site that reflect what Google and your visitor requires. Sigma InfoTech clients should be elated with this news as all of your websites are built on this principle.

Website Optimisation Major Change 3: Win-Win-Win

An out-dated but often used technique for Search Engine Optimisation is to write content designed to rank well in search engines without considering your readers. The “Panda Update” is forcing website publishers to provide content that is “Win-Win-Win”.

Win 1: Provide content that readers and visitors want to read and find valuable

Win 2: Provide content that is well search engine optimised and easily indexed by Google

Win 3: Rank well because you have achieved your visitors and Google’s goals

Simply put, the Panda Update means website owners who are making an investment in quality content, quality web design and website design quality coding will be rewarded. Google is trying to improve the quality of their search engine results and by following their simple rules you will start to rank well.

How to create an engaging site through web design

Simply putting a website on internet without giving much thought to the designing aspect of the site is not going to win you the customers if you intend to explore it for business purpose. In these days, no one has enough time to pay all the attention to your website even if it is harder to make out of the things you have put on the site. Therefore, web design of a website plays a crucial role in making or destroying your online business. However, in taking out the service of the designers, you should ensure that there are some most crucial aspects of it are fulfilled.

Many people think that merely putting some content on the site is all that they should need in a site. Instead, they should give thought to the overall feel of the site and ensure that the customers go through it in convenient manner. So, here are few of the essential design aspects you should always keep in mind.

First of all, ensure that your website has easy navigation for the customers so that they can quickly go to the pages inside of your website. Every site page should be available on each page for proper navigation. Provide them clear links so that they can click on the buttons to move forward to their desired topics on your site. Such navigation provides easier usability. In the absence of this facility they will soon go away to other sites.

Consistency in a website is another crucial aspect that is hallmark of a good web design. For instance, you have selected a particular color for the site; ensure that it does not keep changing on different pages. All of the site pages should have the same color, with minor changes of its shades allowed. This will assure the viewers that they are still on the same website due to the color design. Take also the example of logo. In case your site has a logo on its header, ensure that all the pages have it in the same place, if you want to promote your company.

As far as text on the website pages is concern, it is always advisable to keep it smaller, not exceeding beyond thousand words, especially if it is a business site of a company. Keep the copy as short as it can be. This is because the online viewers of the sites tend to easily go away form longer texts. It is always suggested, therefore, that you should present the text using bullets. This will attract the viewers and they will go inside the pages if they find some interesting points that you have made.

A sign of great web design is that it presents the features in a very simple way. Any complication of the design should be avoided. For instance, you are creating a site to sell your products, just display them on the pages in a simple way so that they are immediately visible to the potential customers. Ensure that the visitors do not have to make additional efforts to locate the products and do not overtly try to preach them on the things you are selling.

These are time-tested aspects of a good and impressive website design & web development. Even if you want to look different, you can do so, but do not deviate much from these basic principles of design.

Sigma InfoTech an Australian based Website design, website development firm specialising in web design, graphic design, Software Development, search engine marketing, search engine optimisation helps to remain high in the search engines and with it any of the sites can achieve the desired goal of influencing profits.

Make Sure Your Online Marketing Team Works in Unison

Search engine marketing is a fundamental element of any business' online marketing efforts and it requires a number of employees to work together to achieve maximum results. As the number of websites increases year over year, and the search engines are updated, redeveloped, and revamped, business owners have to make sure that their Internet Marketing teams – composed of Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing professionals – are working together, in unison to create an integrated marketing approach. Otherwise, you'll find that: one, you're spending too much money at cross-purposes, and two, you won't get the online results you want from your search marketing efforts.

If you find your website struggles to capture leads on the Internet (i.e., paying for itself) and struggles to convert visitors into paying customers, it just might be time to take a hard look at your online marketing plan. A well-designed marketing plan should allow you to keep control of your overall click spending through good search engine marketing work, so less waste equals more revenue in your pockets. A good marketing plan also involves ensuring that your website's pages are easy to read by the search engines and it's well worth the effort when it pays real dividends at the end of the process.

At the very least, these experts need to be working closely together on a unified online marketing approach:

1) Search Engine Optimisation experts – these folks apply proven techniques that boost the chances that your website will be the first listed in the results when a user types a search phrase into a search engine and clicks Go. This involves a number of efforts, including keeping up with the latest changes in the search engine algorithms, an effort that can be time-consuming if you do it yourself. If your site was working once, but that initial surge of activity has dropped off, it may be time to take a look at search engine optimisation again to get your site ranking higher.

2) Search Engine Marketing experts – these folks look at more than simple keyword content and placement. This specialisation examines anchor text, external link popularity, and the diversity of link resources coming into and out of your website. They also examine the use of social media to see if that's useful for your brand awareness and identity.

When these experts work together, they can ensure that all the objects on your website – content, headings, links, applets, scripts, forms, etc. - are working to contribute to the search engine optimisation in a coordinated way.

Ensuring that the search engine optimisation and search engine marketing experts on your website's marketing team are working together means your website will be regularly indexed by leading search engines. It means drawing high-quality users to your web pages and answering their needs. It means increasing your site's prominence through effective cross links – all of which will achieve a useful website that pays for itself and works to bring in revenue.

Search engine marketing and search engine optimisation done well means that the solutions your company provides to the paying public can be found quickly by those who are searching for them. Plus, by getting your teams working together, it doesn't have to cost a fortune and the results will have a tremendous impact on how your customers find your products and services.

Sigma InfoTech an Australian based Website design, website development firm specialising in web design, graphic design, search engine marketing, search engine optimization helps to remain high in the search engines and with it any of the sites can achieve the desired goal of influencing profits.

Guidelines for an impressive and effective website design

Today, almost every business relies heavily on its online customers to corner a larger share of the market. It is no longer sufficient to have multiple shops opened in several cities for making a good profit. Since, a larger section of population has switched to Internet, they prefer first making a good search for the websites that are providing them access to the products and services they are looking for and buy online. For this very reason, a business can not avoid having a site on Internet. This is where the importance of website design comes to the fore.

But to ensure an impressive online presence for your business, your site be not only attractive but should also be loaded with all the useful features that today’s customers want from such sites. Website design, therefore, should be able to accommodate the users’ requirement. Pay attention that all the function and components are in place in such a site.

Your customers should not be waiting for your website to open or they will migrate to similar other site. Note also that Google ranks lower those home pages that take a longer time to load. To ensure that your customers have fast and swift access to your website home page, therefore, avoid videos, photos and Flash on home page as these features will increase the load time. If you have to run a video on site pages then do not allow it to pop up suddenly and instead give your customers the choice to run it.

A website design must ensure about the action that you want the customers to take. Do you want your potential customer to call you? Or, do you want him to download some papers or video? Such call to action [CTA] is vital in generating sales for your business.

To organize your site pages, famed designers such as website design Sydney make judicious use of colors and images. Do not use the same images on more than one page to avoid confusion for the customers. It is always a smart move to use entire image as call for action that customers can click. Call to action must always be well colored so that it is immediately visible to your customers.

If you want to save money on creating on such sites on Internet, then know if you business can do well with only a simple and straightforward site or if requires some new features. Many business can accomplish that task of bring the customer by having a simple web design having a few pages. Such sites typically consist of pages such as location, information about the business its products and services and how to contact. To create such sites, only simple coding and great looks in terms of colors etc is ensured by the designers.

Development of a site cannot be made without a proper Content Management System in place. You require this system to create and edit your site pages whenever you want to add some more information and features to it.

You can modify content with WSYWIG [what you see is what you get] editor. This tool enables you to ensure simple formatting of text. There is no need for you to have an in depth-knowledge of HTML. Though to have CMS is costly but you can save money in the long run on maintenance of the site. However, this content management tool is able to perform only simple and primary tasks.

Consider these tips for a website design that works for your business and optimize is regularly.

Web Design AWARD WINNING Website design, our team of web designers, website development, website developers & Website Designers offer quality website design solutions. We'll make sure that your website loads fast, but we'll also design web pages that customers won't find instantly annoying.

Sydney web design companies cater with a complete online business solution packages

Web presence is mandatory to promote any business; we need to consider that this is the era of online communication. Business needs are now effectively portrayed through the web portals and Sydney web design companies have come up with innovative and cost effective modes of web based marketing. Across Australia there are thousands of web based service providers but the Sydney website design companies consistently carry out research and development to cater out the best and latest web based business solutions. Besides the Australian businesses, several global players also seek services of the different Sydney based web companies.

There remain a wide array of web based business solutions and to use the World Wide Web in the best manner, only designing and launching a web site is not sufficient. There remain a sustainable online marketing strategy, the online marketers and the Search Engine optimization professionals help to lunch and maintain sites with difference. The sites are linked with the different other similar sites from where web traffic can percolate. Linking a site with the best search engine only helps it to rank better. The Sydney web design companies not only focus on website development but these companies also provide emphasis on web site marketing.

Usage of Meta tags make a huge difference, a Sydney web designer includes more appropriate meta tages for better performance of a site. There remain several templates on offer, a business can use and select a suitable one. But it is worth mentioning that the templates are not used by the reputed business players, the reputed businesses seek quality web development from the scratch. The web development process is carried out with adherence to the system and processes. There remain several system and developmental models and the mode of development is only selected after client’s approval.

It is a fact that keyword research and targeting are exceedingly important while launching a site and use of keywords within the web content helps a site to rank well in the search engines. There are different web based service providers and selection of the suitable one indeed matters. Finding the address of Sydney is not an issue, it is just a little self research with the help of “Sydway” that provide the location details, telephone number and a map as well. It is wise to go for the Sydney based web solution providers as most of these companies have a proven record of success.

The leading Sydney website design companies offer no obligation quotes and discussing the business requirements with the customer care officers indeed help to explore several online marketing ideas. For a Sydney web designer it is not a new job to connect databases with websites to provide secured access to the targeted users. There remain toll free customer care numbers, after web based research it is prudent idea to dial these numbers to get further details. In case of doubts a comparative analysis between the companies is even a good idea. Sydney is the heart of business and in this era of online commerce all Australian businesses should seek service from the best Australian web design providers of Sydney.

Many of the Sydney Website design companies have created their own templates for the customers. Actually use of template with the suggestion of web professionals can be a good idea. The Sydney Web design, Graphic design companies not only focus on website development and website developer but these companies also provide emphasis on web site marketing.

Tips to Hiring the RIGHT Website Designer

While we can all agree that websites don't happen magically – there's a lot of work that goes into those websites that work well and are pleasant to look at – it can be harder to figure out how to hire a website design team that will give your business the kind of web design you envision. Of course, the decision is further clouded because there are innumerable choices available these days, from hiring a freelancer all the way up to choosing a big website design firm specializing in high-end web designs. Sydney business owners like business owners across the globe, these days are presented with a wide variety of choices – and choice is good, right?

Sure, having abundant choices is great, until it leads to analysis paralysis.

Your website will determine the level of business activity you can conduct online. It will determine online – even SMS messaging – methods for communicating with existing and new customers. It will additionally act as your press box and your virtual business' front door. So, you don't want to play around with a decision that's this important.

Let's take a look at some hints that will help you hire the best website designer or web design team for your website design:

1) Do a little thinking upfront first. For example, does your website design need to have a completely unique, one-of-a-kind look, or can it have a similar layout and look and feel of other sites on the web? For those businesses with just a few products, or those starting out, a template option may work just fine to keep funds down at the start while they grow their business. For those with an established business, a large number of customers, and a larger number of products, it may make more sense to put a little more effort, time and money into the website to keep their brand growing.

2) Do a little homework upfront as well. Look, any creative and established website designer or web design firm will have a number of satisfied clients, so interview them as references of course, but you should also ask them – even if they ended up happy with the work – what went wrong, what was bumpier than they expected in the process? You'd be surprised what a little digging can reveal about a firm.

3) Learn from the mistakes of other businesses. You're a connected business owner, so call up other business owners and ask them what they would do differently when selecting a website designer or web design firm. Ask how long the process took, what it involved, and what you should expect. Sure, you can ask who they hired after, but finding out the dirt about their website design project will go a long way toward defining how you should tackle your own.

Before you hire an individual or a firm to build your website, it's important to spend a little time surfing – on the web, that is. By spending some time working with other sites, you'll know what features you want and need in your own website design. Sydney business owners, like all business owners, need to think carefully about the options you want to provide your customers – for communicating with your teams, for ordering your products, for providing feedback, for obtaining information or support. Then, list those as requirements for your business' site.

Don't just note the things you like – take note of the things you dislike as well. A list like this can go a long way toward helping any designer give you exactly what your business wants and needs while avoiding the features that irritate. Remember, if the feature bugs you, it will probably bug your customers as well. Either way, it's a great point of discussion with the designer you choose and it shows the designer that you've done your homework and you really care about the details of your business' website.

Many of the Sydney Web design companies have created their own templates for the customers. Actually use of template with the suggestion of web professionals can be a good idea. The Sydney Website design companies not only focus on website development but these companies also provide emphasis on web site marketing.