| |
California Web Design Pro is a full service website design and search engine optimization company. Whether you are a novice looking for your very first website or a seasoned entrepreneur who needs a fresh look for your online presence, we can help.
California Web Design Pro provides affordable website design services to entrepreneurs, new business owners and small companies with a limited design budget. We custom design every website to accurately reflect a client's business philosophy and goals. Our rates are much lower than what you will find for similar design work at larger website design firms. In your search for a website designer, you most likely have these primary concerns:
Ability of the designer to create a website that accurately reflects your needs:
We take the time to get to know the client and his/her needs. This enables us to accurately reflect a client’s personality and needs in the website. Throughout the design process, we keep the client involved and abreast of their website’s development. A client can request up to three design revisions if need be during this process. We strive to do everything possible to ensure that the final website design is exactly what the client envisioned.
Site maintenance:
Once the website is finished and delivered to the client, we also perform maintenance on the sites as needed by the clients. If you need to update your website’s content or make any changes, we are only an email or phone call away. There may be an hourly charge depending on the extent and complexity of the updates etc.
Cost:
Our rates are very affordable for custom designed websites. We strive to establish long term relationships with our clients for all their website needs. This philosophy encourages us to look beyond just the financial aspects of the website design process. We work with our clients' budget no matter how limited that might be.
Are you thinking of starting a website for your business? Few things to keep in mind!
1. Planning
2. Creativity
3. Design
4. Marketing
5. Management
Planning Your Website:
Almost anyone can put together a web page. Developing a web strategy, on the other hand, takes some doing. Careful thought and planning is needed to ensure that the organization’s Web site really does the job it was meant to do. Before that happens, questions have to be asked and answered. Who are you? What is the nature of your company or organization? What is your mission? Certainly there are differences between a not-for profit organization and a big corporation. As a result, their websites will be different also. It reflects the nature and mission of the organization, whether it is to provide information or sell a product.
What do you want to accomplish with your website? While it can be important to establish a presence on the web, the site should meet a specific purpose or purposes.
Creativity:
Your website is your online presence and needs to enhance your company’s image and products in a way that is both professional and useful to your prospective customers. The best way to attract targeted visitors and keep them interested is by providing informative content. Millions of websites offer products. Your website needs to stand out from the masses by offering information or solutions your competitors do not offer.
Design:
In order to make your website come up in search results when someone looks for the services or products you offer, your website must have search engine friendly pages that are:
Marketing:
If you don't have a strategy for your internet marketing, then your site will suffer. Conversion from browsing to sales will be low, traffic will be low, and SEO will be ineffective. You wouldn't build a business without a business plan, don't forget your internet marketing strategy either.
Management:
A top ranked search friendly website takes constant management. Some of the things you have to do in order to achieve and maintain solid rankings and operational success are:
1. URL submission
2. Link exchange
3. Domain registration
4. Hosting update
5. Content update
How to Improve Your Vision in 5 Easy Steps:
1. Hammer out a vision: The goal of this activity is to get to the big picture and bring the future to the present so that it can be addressed. The traditional approach is to write a success story for the media as if it were some number of years or months in the future. But a better way, albeit unconventional, is to draft a detailed corporate obituary.
2. Remove obstacles. Understanding what the goal or vision isn’t is often more important than understanding what it is because this process outlines the restraints and obstacles. The reality is that restraints always rule. For most people, painting the disaster scene provides more accessible mental images because they’ve seen these situations before. When the roadblocks appear in the future, they are more easily recognized and effectively addressed.
3. Set goals. For each success factor, list a key objective or measurable goal. Use the list you just developed to spark a discussion of the major goals. Combine ideas, wordsmith, refine, remove—whatever is needed to arrive at what the group agrees is a comprehensive list of goals incorporating all the critical ideas from the visioning exercise.
4. Prioritize. There’s nothing sophisticated here: have each individual write down what they believe are the three most important goals. Then go down the list and ask for a show of hands indicating how many chose each item as the number-one priority. Tally the votes to identify the top five.
5. Form projects. Now turn the top five priorities into key projects, assign a champion, and put thought into who does what by when. Don’t make this exhaustive and detailed logistics planning, but rather high-level action planning. By Matthew E. May
5 ways to Raise Money Today:
1. Seek a microloan. Small businesses with reasonably good credit have a fair shot at getting a small line--usually up to $50,000--from a microlender, even if they've been rejected by a traditional bank. The Fox Valley Micro Loan Fund requires applicants to submit a turndown letter from a bank. While Fox Valley does consider credit history, it doesn't set a target credit score, focusing more on the circumstances affecting one's score.
2. Use your assets. As banks have pulled back on lines of credit, asset-based lending has leapt forward. At First Business Capital Corp., you can secure a line of credit against eligible receivables in which the lender fronts you 85 percent of the total, then forwards the remaining 15 percent after your customer pays in full. You'll pay about 1.5 points to 3 points over prime for the advance, but, says Michael Colloton of First Business, "that's how we can lend to companies that don't have the greatest creditworthiness."
3. Turn to the web. For a small amount of working capital, try peer-to-peer networks, which marry lenders and borrowers online. Though it's a relatively new concept, "over the next three to four years, peer-to-peer lending will take a significant leap in providing necessary capital to small-business owners," says Steve Bloom, an advisor and the former chair at SCORE's Atlanta chapter. Sites such as prosper.com, lendingclub.com and loanio.com allow entrepreneurs to search for lenders and borrow up to $25,000, with three-year terms and widely ranging rates.
4. Go around the big banks. If you have good credit and a profitable business, research local banks to find a business-friendly lender that hasn't been caught in the mortgage maelstrom. When Marco Giannini, 33, founder of pet food maker Dogswell, needed some flexible cash, he beelined for California United Bank, which lends mainly to manufacturers and distributors. He received a $3 million line of credit based on receivables and inventory. Before applying, he increased his chances by scrubbing his balance sheet and making sure his P&L statements were in line. "You need to make sure your numbers are realistic," he notes.
5. Sweet-talk your vendors. Often overlooked as a source of credit, vendors are uniquely motivated to keep their customers' business going and will often work out a payment structure to help clients survive a rocky period. By CJ Prince
|
|
Please tell us how we can help you?
I was in a bind and needed a professionally designed site that would be ready to go in just a few days. They created a beautiful template that was perfectly customized for my business, and finished it under the pressure of a tight deadline. I was totally delighted and would strongly recommend them.
Richard Burger -
www.chinamediastrategies.com
I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the outstanding work on the re-design of my website. The website is outstanding and far exceeds my expectations. I would like to think that I'm somewhat an expert in my field but creating a compelling website was far beyond what I could comprehend. Since taking on this project you have expertly guided our efforts in creating a site that clearly articulates our company values and business intent. In the end, the website is professional, informative and compelling! I look forward to continuing to work with you in expanding our market reach and business potential.
John Herman - www.pinnaclerestaurantconsultants.com
The site looks really good. We are very happy with how it turned out.
Mark & Becky - www.mylifemylifestyle.com
The site looks great. It serves the purpose and is very professional looking. I will refer your work if anyone asks regarding the site design as I come across a wide range of people in my business.
Steve Curtis - www.curtisentertainment.com
Thanks for everything, you did a great job on the site.
I will be sure to recommend you.
Laura Brusca - www.sacredinspirations.net
I just want to say how satisfied I am with Robert and all the expert help and recommendations he has made to me. He walked me through step by step and has made things very easy for me to understand.
Chuck Bing - www.bingscustomlandscaping.com
Before You Start a Website:
Building a site on the World Wide Web requires more than simply picking up the phone and hiring a web designer. You need to get a place to put your Web pages, a domain name for your business, and to understand the legal issues surrounding Web pages and sites. The links and resources in this section will help you get started building a website.
Web Hosting:
Find the perfect hosting provider, or choose a host from the commercial or free hosts. You can even get domain forwarding.
Web Hosting Requirements:
When you're looking for a Web hosting provider, there are a few things that you should not compromise on and a few other features that are nice to have. Make sure that your hosting provider gives you at least the must-have items on this list.
Windows versus Linux for Web Page Hosting:
Choosing an operating system for your Web hosting provider used to be a much bigger deal. Now it's less important. But you should still try to find out what operating system your provider uses, as there are significant differences.
Domains:
A domain name is the URL of your Web site. If you don't get a domain name, your Web site will have a generic URL based on either your IP address or on the domain name of your hosting provider.
How to Choose a Good Domain Name:
Choosing a domain name can be a big step for your business. If you choose a really bad one you can actually harm your business. While that's not likely, choosing a good domain name can be a great way to improve your brand and gain more customers. So learn how to choose a good domain name and avoid choosing a bad one.
Is .COM Really Better Than .NET or .US?
Once you've chosen a domain name, you need to decide what top-level domain to use. Should it be a .com, .org, .net, .us or what? What are the advantages to .com versus .biz and so on. Which top-level domains will help your company and which won't.
Web Strategy:
A good Web strategy works with your business strategy to create a website that meets your business goals. Once you have started building a Web presence, you want to think about how your website can improve your business.
Strategy includes community, personalization, your
content, ecommerce, even your intranets.
Community Online:
Community is a great way to keep people coming back to your Web site. Community consists of forums, chat rooms, calendars, and other tools. Even awards are a form of community. Communities help your readers return to your site again and again.
Content - Writing, Editing, Creating:
Content is vital on the Web, and there are lots of ways to get it. This subject listing will give you ideas on what to write, as well as tips on writing better, and editing your Web site. Writing techniques for the Web. Get ideas for content and free content services. Learn how to improve your Web writing and read essays about the Web.
eCommerce:
Electronic commerce (ecommerce) is all the tools required to make money on the Web. There are software programs to allow you to sell products and information on how to make sales.
Security:
Secure Sockets Layer or SSL - Setting up a secure Web site requires that you use SSL or the secure sockets layer to encrypt the data that comes across.
HTTPS - Why secure a web site? HTTPS or HTTP over SSL is a way to encrypt data sent and received over the Web so that monetary and other sensitive transactions are secure. If you are going to run a store on your Web site and collect credit card or other monetary data, you should use an HTTPS secured server so that the data is secure.
5 Questions to Ask Your Web Developer
Building a website can be a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle--sometimes the picture looks good, but when you look closely, pieces are in the wrong places. A website might function, but as soon as you make a change or an update, the picture falls apart.
How do you avoid hiring a designer or developer that builds a website like this? Here are some questions you can ask and some feedback to help you understand their answers.
1. What web standards do they follow?
This is a great question that will fluster someone who doesn’t have standards. What are web standards? This is the way of designing and coding a website that allows the website to grow with technology and the web visitor. This means using clean code and technologies like:
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): a simple mechanism for adding style like fonts, colors, and spacing to web pages
- XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language): a markup language that has the same depth of expression as HTML, but also conforms to XML syntax
- ECMA Scripts: the standard version of JavaScript used on most web browsers.
You don’t have to know how to write the languages; you just have to know what the standards are to understand the answer.
A simple way to help you connect to this question is to remember that people online don't all use the same web browser or operating system. Designing and developing to standards gives your website the ability to look and function the way it should on different platforms.
2. Do they design for SEO best practices?
It’s no secret today that everyone wants a website that can be found on search engines. Implementing search engine optimization may not be what you want your designer or developer to do for you; however, how your site is designed or coded can affect your strategy when you are ready. When you interview developers, this is a great question to ask and see if the person you’re interviewing is familiar with how to code to meet SEO standards. Here are a few items that affect SEO best practices:
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): Designing a website to meet SEO best practices means using style sheets to cut down on the amount of code on your web page. Search engines like text, not code.
- Script files: When you use dynamic items on your site like image galleries or mouse-over menus, usually these are created through JavaScript. To follow proper SEO standards, script files should be created for pages instead of having the script on your web page.
- Web page content: Your text or content should be on the page as much as possible this can even include your website navigation. There are ways to make text visually appealing without having the designer put it inside an image. Images that contain words are not picked up as content by search engines.
If SEO is a strategy you are considering down the line, it's a good idea to make sure your site will be built with this strategy in mind.
3. How do they plan for change or growth?
One of the most stressful lessons learned is that the website you built yesterday will not allow you to grow tomorrow. Being told you have to start over is one of those statements every business owner can't bear to hear. Before you begin, ask the question, “Does the technology you’re using allow me to grow or add additional functions?” You may even want to take this further and think about tools you’d want to add down the line. You can also ask designers or developers to provide you with a brief list of tools they have already integrated with sites like yours. This allows you not only the opportunity to see if they are knowledgeable, but also whether they're supportive in providing you with ideas.
4. How do they test their work?
As I mentioned above, not all of your consumers use the same technology. But to ensure things are operating the way they should or displaying correctly, web developers need to test their work. This issue might seem trivial, but you’d be surprised how many firms only test for one web browser. I recommend you ask specifically what web browsers and versions they test for during the development process. If you’re building an online community, social or e-commerce website, testing is an important part of your success. Secure payment gateways need to be tested in a real environment. Be sure to get the specifics of what your firm considers to be part of a test phase and what it's being held accountable for after the website has gone live.
5. How do they handle support requests?
After a website has officially launched inevitably there will be a problem--it’s technology; it happens. The question you want to know before you put pen to contract is how does your new firm handle support or bugs--technical hiccups with the website? Every firm will approach this differently, so pay close attention to how it phrase its response and commitment.
Building a website depending on the functions you need can be a lot like putting a puzzle together. The key to success is finding the right firm who understands the pieces that need to come together for your business. By Jennifer Shaheen.
Analyzing the Analytics:
In the world of website promotion, only three things matter: proper positioning, traffic volume and conversions. The number of people visiting your website--and how many of those people are ultimately doing what you want them to do, such as placing an order or contacting you for more information--is absolutely critical.
To maximize your return on investment on launching and managing a website, blog, or online campaign, you need to know what’s working and what’s not, where visitors are coming from, what they view, how long they stay and why some wander off. You need to know which campaigns are driving the most traffic to your site and how effective your site is in converting that traffic into targeted behaviors.
Enter web analytics tools--applications that collect site traffic data and display it in graphical simplicity. With web analytics, you can monitor the success of web pages, pay-per-click advertising campaigns and other promotional efforts online and off. You gain valuable insight into visitors’ behaviors on your site. Perhaps best of all, you can identify and correct any obstacles to conversion, such as a poorly designed page or registration form, inferior product descriptions, or excessive steps for signing up for an e-newsletter. By Mikal E. Belicove
|
|
