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Four Winning Web Design Trends for 2010
At the beginning of 2010, everyone had their own ideas about what would impact and influence the direction of web design for the coming year. Some predicted major changes while others believed that subtle shifts were all we should expect. For the past few months, I’ve been tracking the trends from my Boca Raton web design firm and was surprised to see which of these trends wound up on top and on target in the world of web design today.
Simplicity Is Key
Less is more in 2010 as clean illustrations, minimalism, and lots of white space set the new standard. But rather than an influx of black and white, this new minimalism provides a backdrop for bold typography, powerful splashes of color and engaging modal windows. While this style of simplicity maintains the clean look and lines you expect, today’s version features a more inviting and direct tone that gets to the point without undue distractions.
The Bigger The Better
Think big when it comes to headers, type, logos, images, calls to action, and absolutely everything. Huge headers can serve as the splash page and larger-than-life logos are that much more memorable. Full-size images make a greater impression and oversized calls to action speak for themselves. In 2010, you’re wise to go big or go home.
Typography As Design
With the focus on function, many web designers overlook the importance of form, especially new and different forms of fonts. Yet that’s exactly what will make a major impact in 2010 and beyond. Fonts are design elements that are meant to be mixed and molded to serve your particular purposes. Playing with fonts engages the reader by capturing their interest organically without an overwhelming display of photos or images. Type adds a deeper dimension to web design and gives layers of meaning to any message.
Change Your Perspective
Think outside the desktop and go for new and different designs when setting up and styling your sites. In 2010, creativity is key as designers play with perspectives and trade the standard format for everything from artistic to realistic designs. Expect to see an increase in magazine layouts, retro elements, collage styles and one-page layouts as designers seek to distinguish their work for maximum appeal and effect.
Whether you work at a full-service design agency or you’re a solo artist, put these trends to work for you to keep your design skills in tune with today and in demand for tomorrow.;)
New York Web Design & Development Company
Recently I hired a company to do some web designing and development work for my client’s site and I am quite satisfied with their work so as to post some info about them today.
Long Island web design company NGKSoft specializes in providing a wide range of affordable and fully customized website design and development services including online marketing, tailor-made eCommerce systems and search engine optimization (SEO). The specialist design team has many years worth of experience in the industry and can offer a professional and dedicated support structure to help you achieve your project, whether you are just starting up your business or you want to find a new way forward for an established commercial venture.
Web Design and Development
NGKSoft provide a flexible web design service which can assist clients to set up and maintain an effective online presence, and offer a number of online solutions that can help drive traffic to your website and ensure high conversion rates. The web design team provides a dynamic and creative approach to website development which can take you from the conception stage right through to formalizing your brand identity, and can guide you through the wide range of multimedia enhancements available including Flash and interactive online videos.
NGKSoft.com are committed to ensuring that the client’s requirements and goals are fulfilled, and offer a ‘user-centric’ programming philosophy which is backed by all of the experience, flexibility and skills needed to fully meet your web design and development needs.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is a key asset to online businesses as search engines are one of the key Internet traffic drivers, and NGKSoft can assist you with keyword research, link building, quality content writing and many other top SEO techniques. You can read more about essential SEO tips by visiting the website at NGKSoft.com, and there are a number of useful online guides available including ‘Ten Tips to Increasing Your Website Traffic’.
Marketing and Customer Support
NGKSoft can offer full marketing and promotional tools including Pay per Click (PPC) schemes, online advertising and social media campaigns, and you can contact the customer helpdesk by telephone or email, or find out more information on the various service available by visiting the website.;)
Basics Of Building A Website & SEO
Building a basic website is not a difficult task, but in order for it to be successful once it has gone live you will need to make sure you have planned and designed the website well, and thought carefully about how you are going to promote it.
Step 1 – Plan
You will need to think about what you want to use the website for, how much time you can devote to this project and what your budget is. Websites can be used for business or personal use, and you will need to allocate a sufficient amount of time and money to your website in order to make it successful.
Step 2 – Research
It is important to do some research into similar websites to the one you intend to build, that have good search engine rankings. This will help you to target the right keywords to use in your own website, and will also give you some more ideas for design and content.
Step 3 – Choosing a Web Host
If you are on a tight budget or do not have much experience in building websites then it is a good idea to choose a web hosting plan that includes all of the software you need to design, build and publish your website, and one that also provides 24/7 support in case you get stuck and need some extra help. If you want to sell products on your website then you will also need to do some research into which hosting plans provide the right kind of payment and online security features. If you are running a business and do not have a lot of time to build or run your website then you may want to consider outsourcing this task to a professional website design company, as they will have all of the skills and software to create the website you need.
Step 4 – Designing and Building Your website
It is important that you take time to design your website in order to make sure it will be presentable, easy to navigate and interesting for visitors. Use a combination of images and text, but try and avoid too many large photo or video files as visitors who do not have fast broadband will find it hard to download your pages and will get bored and go somewhere else. You can try some premium wordpress themes if you are building a blog.
Step 5 – Incorporating SEO
SEO aka search engine optimization will help you to get high rankings in search engines and thus traffic to your pages once you have published them. Also, it is important what country search you want to target – if you want higher rankings on Google.co.uk, then follow some search engine optimization UK guides. There are a number of techniques used in SEO, but one of the most important is keywords, and once you have researched which keywords you need, you should incorporate them throughout the main content of your website, in the page titles and URL, in outbound links and bold tags and also in the meta tags. It is important you do not sacrifice the quality of the content on your website by adding too many keywords, and ideally you should be looking at a keyword density of around 5-10%, anymore than this and you can find it difficult to keep the content interesting and natural looking.
What If You Get Such Promotional Items !
I’m a cheapskate. I have little problem admitting that. I really don’t. I believe that I could take a woman out on a date and not have to pay for a single thing. I’d take her to blockbuster to see a movie (you know, the ones that they play on the tv hanging from the ceilings). Then we’d go to an Ice Cream place and I’d just ask for a free sample of every single flavor. It’s genius if you really think about it.
I love freebies. It’s probably my most favorite thing in life. And among all of my freebies, I truly and madly love the promotional items that have been given to me in the past. I’m serious here, I really am. Some of my favorite things ever have been the free products and items that have been given to me by various realtors, mortgage brokers, insurance agents and banks in the past.
Let’s go over them, shall we? These wonderful promotional gifts that they give me. The other day I went to the beach with some friends. While they were toting their costly coolers, I carried my drinks in a very nice cooler bag that was a gift from my bank for simply opening a checking account. How cool is that? Seriously, I get 3.5% interest in my checking account AND a viable and fun way to keep my drinks cool? Sure mine isn’t as big and bulky as my friends, but mine can tell you all about my bank and let you know how to get in touch with them. It’s a great conversation starter, a real ice-breaker.
And then the other day I was at my desk and I needed to take a note on a phone call. Did I grab a pen out of a costly and expensive packet that I had picked up from an office supply store? NOPE. Instead, I grabbed one of the many that I’ve picked up over the years from my various Realtors. Freely and clearly provided, I wrote with ease and happiness… knowing that my writing instrument did not cost me anything. And should I ever need to make a call to sell my condo, then I won’t have to take the time to look it up in the phone book, it’s right there on my fingertips.
Just this last Sunday I went to the ol’ in-laws house to watch me some football. I had wanted to keep my beer nice and cool while my father-in-law called me a pansy and asked me if I wanted to put a nipple on my beer because I drank so slow. I just laughed him off, confident that no matter how long it took me to drink my beer it would be kept frosty cold in its wonderful koozie provided by a Auto Parts dealer that I had once procured some breaks from. Now my father-in-law knew that I was manly because what kind of man DOESN’T drink his beer from a car parts koozie? Answer that!
I love promotional items. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m the odd one out. I don’t know about you but I live by the adage that the best things in life are free, especially when it’s something that I don’t have to pay for!?!?
