Sharpen
Your Skill
Web Site Tips
In
the age of the Internet, many companies are building a web site
to help provide readily available information about their company.
While the ARC Network believes in the power of having a web site,
we also believe it is equally important to design your site with
careful thought and care. Remember, your web site is very often
the first impression a client has of you, your company and your
expertise. The web designers at the ARC Network have worked in
the web design business for over 6 years and have proved some
tips to think about to make a positive and professional web site.
- Keep the
width of your web site to a maximum of 670 pixels. If
you go over that amount, it is very likely your web page will
not print properly (cutting off information on the right side).
If this page is your C.V., you most definitely do not want information
cutoff!
- Keep your
graphics optimized for the web and as small in size as
possible. There are many graphic programs on the market today
that help reduce the file size of the graphics you want to use.
For example, an unoptimized graphic may be 30K in file, however,
if you optimize it, it could reduce to 10K in size and not affect
the actual display size or integrity. What this means is quicker
loading pages for your users.
- Provide
a consistent navigation menu on EVERY page. This helps
the user to not "get lost" on your web site. It is
very frustrating to find a great site and then not know how
to get back to it.
- Professionalism.
Keep the "cute" stuff to a minimum. People are
visiting your business web site to learn about your company
and potentially retain your services or purchase your products.
They are not there to listen to your favorite "midi"
file or view cartoons. Anything that deviates from your business
and the purpose of having a web site does just that; deviates
the attention of your user to something other than your services,
products, professionalism.
- Marketing.
At a very minimum you should set up your site to be found in
Internet search engines. This can be a very daunting task, but
if you do some research it will pay off in multiples. A couple
of things you need to know about preparing your web site for
a search engine:
- Title
- Make sure your web site list a title in the header portion
of your HTML code
- Meta
Tags - Make sure each web page in your web site contains
meta-tags. These are tags that are inserted in the code
to identify keywords and descriptions of your business.
- Content
- The content is important in that it needs to written in
a way to match your keywords and business description
- Graphics
- The trick here is to always use the alt tag. This is a
descriptor in the code that textually tells the user what
the graphic is if the graphic does not display. It also
helps positioning in search engines.
- Relevance
- This ties directly with the content of your site. Make
sure the keywords you want to use are included in the graphics
alt tags and also in the content of your web pages. This
is a way that search engines check your work to make sure
what you are trying to index is true.
Follow these
tips and you will have the makings of a great web site.
Remember,
the ARC Network also builds web sites for companies in the
Accident Reconstruction Industry. If you would like more
information on this service, click
here.
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Here are
a few web sites the ARC Network has developed:
Kinetic
Energy Press
Collision
Analysis and Academics
Spectrum
Consulting
Society
of Accident Reconstructionists
California
Association of Accident Reconstruction Specialists
