Web Design an Expensive Necessity?

The invention of the Internet has without a doubt changed business forever. Global no longer means that you have to have offices on every continent with hundreds of staff. The Internet has now grown beyond the belief of its creators and become an essential part of everyday life, is your business taking advantage of it?

Even in times of recession when business is tough online sales and purchases continue to grow at record levels and show no sign of slowing. A good idea advertised locally does well and is seen by thousands, but give it a website and a good marketing campaign and you can imagine the exposure.

In today's society can your business really afford not to have it's own domain and website? Have you noticed your competitors have their own site? Gone are the days when websites were the reserve of large companies with big budgets, chance are if you Google your local takeaway it may have a website their to tempt you in to ordering. Ever wondered if a potential client has searched for the website you don't have and gone elsewhere?

With all new and small businesses capital is always difficult to come by and while the cost of designing and creating a website as been greatly reduced with online competition it still remains a large financial investment. Too large is the decision for some companies and they go on doing the best they can using conventional methods of advertising for their industry. The takeaway with their leaflet drops in the local area sampling a very small number of houses. How many survive the trash to be read? The small travel company that advertises in the local newspaper, how many eyes see the ad before it becomes recycled? Have these methods been over used, are they still as effective?

Yes most conventional forms of advertising do cost less per run, but over 6, 12 or 24 months even leaflets or newspapers ads mount up in cost. Read on and join my site because i have learnt that having a domain to call your own need not cost the Earth. Now chances are if you have had a quote from your local web designer in the UK or the US you will have had to sit down when you took a look at the bill. What's even more disconcerting is when the sales person goes on to talk about monthly site management the costs just keep on growing. Before you realise it your shouting "NO MORE," and picking up the phone to the printers to order some more leaflets!

It doesn't have to be that way! There are simple ways to break down the cost of building a website and make it fit any budget from a few hundred pounds to thousands for something all the more complex. BlueorbMedia is the result of this, join my blog or email me your questions and find out how a website can be built for a fraction of what you think!

With a few simple rules you can have your company website and with effective marketing drive extra business through the net and appeal to a wider audience. The best word to any one with a business is  "FREE" and  website promotion, words like SEO and online presence can be and don't  require a monthly maintenance fee.

This is a series that I shall be posting so log in regularly to catch the different parts or join the blog to have them mailed to you.

Finally I shall leave you with a little homework, don't worry it wont take long! Your online already so spend five minutes and google your competitors, just how many do have websites? Second what is your company and the industry that you work in? Are you going to be selling online or just providing information? Finally you must have some opinions on good websites so ask yourself whats makes you like them?

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Posted in: Advertsing,Business,Online Business,Online marketing,Web design

Best Templates for a New Blogger

New to blogging can be a steep learning curve. You have all these thoughts and ideas but no outlet to express them. You start by setting up your account and loading your profile,all seems easy enough. Finally you are guided towards choosing your template. What will your blog say about you? You make your decision and load your details, a few clicks of the mouse and you see your blog for the first time. Excitment and a smile soon turns to a face that looks like it is has been sucking on a lemon. Can it look that bad? After looking at all the great blogs online you realize the standard free templates are simplistic, outdated and look a little like your six year old daughters scrap book. Not what you want or need!

You then start to search the net and find hundreds if not thousands of free templates, premium templates and plenty that require you to reach for your credit card. You spend hours looking through them and I bet you find some absolute stinkers.

Well below is a list of some of the best templates out there for bloggers. They have great designs , graphics and modern menu bars that can make your blog look smooth and professional. What’s more they are free and easily customizable so you can make your blog truly unique. Furthermore you don’t have to be a coding genius although a little knowledge of CSS does help to change these blogs style and appearence. If you struggle ll you have to do is ask afterall you have joined the blogging community.

So start looking and download them all you like, all I ask is for your feedback. Do you have better? Once you have downloaded them, open up design options in blogger and edit HTML. From there you can change the pictures and text, that’s the easy part. A little more looking and you can change the colours, graphics and anything else you like!

Slaten: A great template with a modern look. Main colours are white and blue with rounded corners and good rotating graphics. 2 columns. Social networking links.

Design Freak: Main colours red, black and white. Horizontal menu system. 2 columns and a large graphic banner. Social networking links.

Arowa: 3 columns, menu system, main colours white green and black. Rotating graphics banner. All social networking links.

Show Time: Main colour black with 2 columns. Large rotating banner with modern menu system and all social networking tabs.

Inner: Main colours white, grey and red. 2 columns large picture banner with great menu and picture banners.

Games News: Main colours of white and blue. Rounded corners with a big picture banners and a video option. Modern design. Social network links included.

Sparks:  Main colours white and grey. 3 columns lots of advertising space and options video. Rotating picture banner. All options for social networking links.

Douched:  Main colours black and grey. Great appearance with modern menu system and social networking tabs. 3 columns.

Selection: Main colours of white, grey and red. 3 columns with rotating photo banner.

NewsPlus: Main colours are grey, white and blue. 2 column. Good menu system.

Music Star:  Mains colours grey, white and black. 2 columns and rotating picture banner. All social networking tabs.

Vetro: Main colours white and grey. 3 columns with rotating picture banner and social networking links.

Here is a neat dozen of some of the best blogger templates out there, all of them can be customized and made to fit your blog. From the thousands of templates out there do you think there are any better?

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Posted in: Blogging,Hacks,Hints,New Blogger,Templates,Tips,Web design

The Most Recognized Brand and Logo Designs.......Ever!

In a time of such competition it is important to make your company stand out from the crowd. When setting up a business how do you distinguish yourself from the masses and be remembered? Multinational companies devote large amounts of money and time to developing their branding and logos that we find ourselves bombarded with through advertising everyday. The development of a brand or logo really is a science, so what does your company logo say about you? 

A recent poll has been taken to identify the world’s leading global brands, and while this is up for discussion here is a list of the top 10 for you to look over. A successful brand does not mean automatically the greatest of logos as i am sure that you will agree!

Top 20 Globally Recognized Brands:

1) Coca Cola

2) Windows

 3) IBM

4) GE

5) Intel








6) Nokia

7) Toyota

8) Walt Disney

9) McDonald's

10) Mercedes-Benz

All of these are instantly recognisable brands of large successful international companies, i wonder if you would use the word successful when describing their logos? What makes a great logo? Here are what i would say are 5 of the best and 5 stinkers. Can you beat them?

5 of the Best:

5 of the Worst:

Sorry I could not resist that last logo, sure many of you will agree. Finally people spend many an hour designing logos and coming up with original concepts. Funny how sometimes the message can get lost in the graphic. Look carefully and tell me was it intentional?

Surely this shows that proof reading is essential! Think you can do better?

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Posted in: Advertising,Branding,Business,Coca Cola,Design,IBM,Logos,Marketing,Windows

Letting your Business take Advantage of Social Networking

It is now easier than ever to start-up a new business and thousands do so everyday. Ten clicks of the mouse and you can call yourself a company director and have some business cards made up to say so too! It is easy to have a great idea, many people do while on their fifth double vodka between friends. Comments being passed around like "of course I came up with the idea of Facebook before that Mark Zukerberg, I just wish I had followed it through!"

It is true that small good ideas do grow in to the modern online behemoths that we see today like Facebook and Google to name but a few, but there are many other much smaller companies below the radar that are becoming fantastically successful even in these times of recession. All it takes is good planning, organisation and a little luck along the way at the risk of sounding overly simplistic!

Not many business have deep pockets when starting up and have to make us of every available tool especially if they are free or involve a little co-promotion. More and more I see that so many new company websites missing out on the free promotional tools such as social networking links and feeds.

It is true that Facebook first came on to the net for people to check up on former classmates, bullies, crushes and ex girlfriends. Now with membership passing the 500 million mark Facebook is fast becoming a great way to promote your business and whats more it can be for free! Simply sign up or log in to Facebook and register your company name so you can have a webpage to advertise your company, its products and features. When is free advertising not a good thing I ask you?

At the risk of sounding like a Facebook employee there are many other social networking sites that offer similar opportunities, why not churp, I mean tweet like a bird from the roof tops about your company on twitter. It may take time and effort but what a great way to inform potential customers of new products and important news. Further to this you can add the sites Digg, StumbleUpon, Google Buzz, Del.icio.us, My Space, Bebo and there are more. Yes they all take time to complete but if the only work that you have to do is flex your finger muscles and check your spelling surely it is worth it instead of reaching for the credit card and giving yourself more bills!

Social networking is but one tool that a new business can use to promote its resources and products, there are many other free pieces of software and online tools that can help a company get ahead, or at the very least get off the ground. I am sure there are many other sites out there if people should wish to comment and enlighten me and other readers I greatly welcome your comments.

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Posted in: Advertising,Business,Facebook,Linked In,Marketing,My Space,Online marketing,Social networking,Web design,Work

What Makes a Great Website and How do you Design One?

I am currently designing my company website and I ask myself the question what makes a great website? In some ways it is more fun to say what doesn't make a good website because during my reasearch I have truly seen some stinkers! Colour choices that make you reach for your sun glasses, font types that have you baffled and consulting code books while being bombarded with more advertising than bullets in an AK-47. In fact I think being shot with the AK-47 would be a lot less painful!

So what should you consider when designing you website?

Assuming you already know what your products are, you primary and most important person to consider is the user, your client, the buyer, the person who is going to let you retire before they have to carry you off in a box! You may think your website is a style icon that Andy Warhol would approve of which is fine, however if you client is homer Simpson you may just have missed the mark.

So apply the KISS technique, keep it simply stupid. Always consider your client, the average UK user spends 23 hours online with are US cousins once again winning with 32 hours with average viewing times. Average times spent on websites vary hugely depending on the wide variety of differing websites and the services they offer. However the most common factors causing a person to leave a website are:

• Poor Navigation
• Accessibility
• Advertisements/Pop Ups
  
• Slow Page Loading
• Poor Font Choice

Poor Navigation: Like getting lost in any big city raises the blood pressure, misdirection and poor navigation around a website only gets potential clients annoyed and leaving just as quickly as they arrived. Constructing a good site map is essential to make the website user-friendly and making the most of every visitor.

Accessibility: It doesn't take much to run some beta-testing on your website before it goes live to make sure that it runs on most browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox and look as it should. A little bit of time and a little bit of code can make a whole world of difference to a customers experience and your balance sheet.

Advertisements/Pop Ups: It is true that banners and advertisements can generate extra income but is  this to the detriment to your main revenue source. People often report a site as looking cheap or unprofessional with too many banners and people need confidence before they buy. So ask yourself just how much do those banners add to your bottom line? Pop Ups...... I don't think I have to say too much here, a tool dreamed up by web techs and marketers that cost you money and designed to absolutely without a doubt with a 100% success rate drive your customers insane and make them vow to never return.

Slow Page Loading: With good web design and coding this should be easy to overcome, with the invention of broadband gone are the days where you have time to make a cup of coffee while a website loads up.

Poor Font Choice: There are standard fonts for websites for a reason, they are easy to read and code. It may look good but if visitor can't read what you saying then you might as well be talking a foreign language that google translator doesnt recognise.

Here are just a few of the most popular moans that the average web user reveals when asks, but then again if you don't believe me why don't you go and ask. A little bit of market research never hurt anyone! In truth everybody has an opinion so what are your gripes and pet hates when it comes to websites? What has you closing a website down quicker than you can say "hell no."

Below for your amusement are a few stinkers, if they belong to you i am sorry, but then again you have got some free promotion!

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/worst-websites-of-2010-contenders.html

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Posted in: Advertising,Best Websites,Business,Design,Fonts,Marketing,Online,Website

Is Sarah Beeny Responsible for the Global Recession?

I hope readers even my American friends understand a type of humour called sarcasm, if not I will explain it to you later! While I too have watched Sarah Beeny and the plethora of other home renovation programmes that grace our TV ever curious to see if a once flock wallpapered house can be transformed into a modern palace. I propose the Sarah Beeny effect! During the early years people could seem to do no wrong and costly mistakes and weird choices still resulted in the featured homes selling for healthy profits and a smiley presenter such as the lovely Sarah Beeny declaring the renovation a success! The programmes would generally then come to an end with the fledgling property developers buoyed by their renovation success announcing that they had already bought another property to develop in their unique style.

Nothing wrong with this that I hear you say, and in truth this could be seen as entrepreneurial people attempting to either branch out and start a new career or simple increase their income. Now while I use dear Sarah as a figurehead I do so in jest and know that she should not be entirely held responsible, well if only a little bit because there are so many other factors to consider.

The factors as I see them are:

1, The Sarah Beeny effect

Everybody believes they can renovate houses and so therefore move with more frequency as they knock down and paint their way to a profit or loss. Mass property ownership was something of a rarity a merely 20 years ago, kept for the rich and those with titles. Now it is quite commonplace for Bob from the office to have a property portfolio! This has meant with the growth of the population housing demand continues to increase. Gone are the days of finding a true gem and doing up the house as you would like it, chances are it has already been done!

2, Banks and mortgages

Yes i too will take the opportunity  to run up behind a banker and put my boot in. Unregulated banking saw the creation of so many mortgage products that would allow the average joe to move up in the world from a house to a palace. 100% mortgages, interest only mortgages, 6 and 7 times your annual wage mortgages were deemed acceptable and obviously the banks and their elite employees raked in the profits as a result. Suddenly you could place your house on the market and expect a bidding war as property was limited and in great demand. People saw prices rocket but were still prepared to pay the money, with interest rates low and the economy in great shaped what could go wrong?

In truth there are many more factors that could be covered and this blog could become a book, or people would just fail to complete reading it because they had to go to work and pay off their credit cards with excessive limits. Sorry bankers, that was two kicks!

So what is my conclusion? Well as the recession bites and holds on to your leg like a rottweiler hungry for flesh house prices have slowed but in many cases still continue to gently climb. So we find ourselves with jumping inflation, shrinking wages and the specter of eventual significant interest rate increases. Sorry not a happy statement but argue with me if you feel I am wrong! So people have less money and are struggling to get by while trying not to think about the eventual increases in their mortgage repayments as interest rates go up. So people sit in their Sarah Beeny renovated houses unsure what to do stagnating one of the cornerstones of the economy, the housing market.

I leave you with the thought that, will we enter what is known as the double dip recession, or have we ever left the first dip in any case? First time buyers can not afford the inflated prices of the Sarah Beeny effect as banks no longer lend with unregulated gluttony. So how will we ever get ourselves out of this mess without house prices coming down, another word for it is crashing. As interest rates rise as they inevitably must how many people can afford the increases in mortgage repayments? Perhaps then prices may begin to reflect  the true value of a house as people have to sell or homes are repossessed!

A final sub note to Sarah Beeny and all readers, I did enjoy your programme and hope that you can smile at this blog like you did at some of the horrendous choices made while renovating on your show. Honestly pink walls no, no, no!

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Posted in: Banking,Economy,Globe,Housing,Money,Recession,Sarah Beeny,Work

When is a Job Just a Paycheck?

My whole reason for setting up this blog is pretty much down to this question, is my job just a pay cheque! For me the answer was yes, and every day that I travelled in to work a little bit more life was being sucked out of me and I began to exist rather than live. With commuting and time spent at work we spend so much of our life in and around work, shouldnt we take some form of pleasure from it? Does the perfect job exist out there for everyone, well in truth probably not. Every job comes with its benefits and detractions, but shouldnt we strive to try to find a more favourable balance? Attempt to gain some form of enjoyment from what we do, or who we help?

I know that life is not always that simple, with age comes responsiblity and commitments, mortgages and in many instances a clutch of children. So moving job or changing career is not so easy and not without risk. Then again isn't life one big risk? Hell if you live in a big city you take a risk everyday deciding when to cross the road. Besides doesn't being happy or not at work affect your home life, your relationships? Isn't a happier person at work a happier person at home?

Still reading? Well if you are then answer these few short yes or no questions and decide for yourself if you should be looking to make a few changes?

Job or Pay Cheque?

• Come Sunday afternoon is your mind drawn to the thought/dread of work Monday morning?
• When commuting to work does your face resemble that of a lady who has had too much Botox devoid of expression?
• When someone asks you what you do, you answer in a sentence and change the subject quickly?
• When at the office does there seem to be time dilation with minutes taking hours as you watch the clock?
• Do you view sick days as extra holidays?
• Is the highlight of your month checking your bank balance to see you have been paid?

If you find that your answer to the majority of these questions is yes, or you are reading this blog while at work then perhaps your job is not a career more a burden. Realising this is but the first step however don't go home and announce you have quit your job and be surprised to see your wife throw something sharp at your head before taking the car and the children!

Making a plan, before you announce to anyone that you want to change your job it is wise to have a few prepared answers to hand out to the insults and shouts of  "are you crazy!" You may not exactly know what you want to do or can do but with the invention of the internet you could use a few google searches for something other than the sports results!

Education, education, education it isn't true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you just have to throw

a bigger stick so that with poor eyesight they can find it in the grass! While always being careful of what you sign up to there are now thousands of online courses that you can do depending on your ambitions and ability. You would be surprised at what you can do, although I advise caution when applying to study nuclear physics at home and ordering plutonium to your home address. The FBI I have heard don't tend to knock on your door before finding out how you're getting on with the practical side of your home study course! Seriously though a little bit of self-study can go along way!

They say that some of the greatest inventions were made by mistake or written on the back of napkins or cigarette packets. The vacuum was made by a janitor who eventually had someone else do his cleaning. The flushing toilet was invented by the unfortunately named Thomas Crapper, proving that not all ideas are full of ....... Yes you guessed it! Penicillin was created by mistake after the eminent scientist Sir Alexander Flemming didn't do his laboratory washing up and noticed some interesting fungus, the trick was he acted on it and never had another headache again when speaking to his bank manager! I am not saying that every idea is a good one, the solar-powered torch certainly wasn't a bright one but how do you know without at least trying.  You don't need to reinvent the wheel just have an idea and have the courage to investigate it. Mark Zuckerberg had a little idea to make keeping in touch with his friends easier, now he can pretty much keep in touch with anyone around the world on his site Facebook!

So if I have made you think for a faction of a second or raised a nagging feeling then read on with my blog because I would be a hypocrite if I didn't take my own advice and find a job and career that pleases me and in time hopefully my bank manager. I am gradually trying to build my own business and act on the ideas I have so follow be and see how I get on. I would invite your comments and opinions, or even tell me if you have made that jump to something new successful or minor disaster, all views welcome!

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Posted in: Debate,Education,Employment,Funny,Happiness,Job,Money,Online,Work