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Twitter Improves Privacy Options, Now Supports ‘Do Not Track’

Like most social sites, Twitter tracks your every move around the web. Now, however, the company has joined a growing number of websites that support the "Do Not Track" standard, offering users a way to opt out of the tracking. MarketingProfs Daily

Three Tips for Getting Your Product on a Major Retailer's Shelves

You have a solid brand, a great product, and you'd like to see your stuff on the shelves of major retailers. But how do you achieve this goal? Typical strategies include hiring a sales representative, attending trade shows, and encouraging friends to request it at their favorite stores. Vanessa Ting ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Keys to an Effective and Functional Website Design

The success of a website depends largely in part on the usability of the site. If a website's visitor is unable to navigate with ease, then they are highly unlikely to use that website's services, or buy its products. Therefore, it is crucial that a business' website be functional while still reflecting its identity. In order to achieve this balance, businesses should be aware of the principles of effective web design, along with options for building a website.

Elements of an Effective, Functional Website

Below contains essential elements that appeal most to website users, and helps to ultimately create a successful website:

Quality & Credibility

If a website has high quality content, users are much more likely to view the website. High quality, original content also improves a website's ranking in search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Remember that content is far more important than a website's design. With that being said, most users prefer to scan a website's content rather than read it. Therefore, a website's content should also be simplified by using bullet points or numbering.

Straightforward & Self-Explanatory

Because website visitors are impatient and tend to scan content, the website's purpose should be straightforward and self-explanatory. If users cannot navigate a website intuitively, they are unlikely to revisit the website again.

Minimal User Requirements

If a website offers users a service or tool, it should let the users explore that service or tool without being required to fill out any online forms. Most users do not like to share their private data, and businesses will lose out on money if they force them to do so.

Minimize Distractions

A successful website should narrow the user's attention to a few key aspects, including the business' background and their services or products. Using excessive videos or animations distracts the user away from processing important company information. Along the same lines, all key aspects should be highlighted and displayed in an organized, effective way.

Effective Writing & Marketing

Most users respond well to short, concise phrases rather than to excessive language or technical jargon. Therefore, a website's promotional writing should use objective, straightforward language that is simple and easy-to-read.

Organization

Users prefer, and respond well to, a website that has an organized, simple layout. If a website is disorganized, and is filled with "junk," such as unnecessary graphics, videos and music, users are likely to never revisit again. Instead, businesses should aim for a coherent and consistent website layout that emphasizes user-friendly navigation.

Checklist for Creating a Tailored Website

Along with keeping the above elements of a functional website in mind, businesses should also create a checklist to guide them along as they create their own custom websites. This checklist should include:

Website Goals

Businesses should create a list of goals that they hope to achieve with their website. This should also include their clients' expectations as well.

Target Demographics

Businesses should decide who their website will target and why. For example, is the website's intent to target wholesalers, children, or retailers?

Competing Websites

Before developing their websites, businesses should evaluate their competitors' websites. Specifically, they should make a list of what the competitors' websites have to offer along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Data Layout

Businesses should brainstorm how they will lay out their websites, and how their data will flow. They then need to design categories for data to go into, and where those categories will be on the website. Will the navigation bar be on the top, side or bottom of the site?

Personalized Design

Lastly, before launching a website, businesses should decide on a basic site design and tone, including color scheme, fonts and graphics. Remember that different colors and fonts affect users psychologically.

Website Templates VS. Web Designers

Once companies have established a checklist for their websites, they must then hire someone to create it. For this, companies generally have two options: they can either hire a web designer or purchase a premade template website.

Template websites, which are significantly cheaper than hiring web designers, can save companies time and money. Because template websites are already created, all they require is some quick custom tailoring. This type of website is ideal for a company with a tight budget, and a short time frame.

Although template websites offer clean, simple and cheap designs, they are also very limiting. Most companies are unable to add additional functionalities or change the design. Template websites are not very unique, which means that a company might not stand out against their competition. Template websites are also not search engine optimized, meaning that they cannot climb up in the ranks on Google, MSN or Yahoo.

Web designers, on the other hand, are able to create unique, search engine optimized websites. With a fee ranging from a few thousand dollars onwards depending on the project's requirements. Companies that have a larger budget, and an expansive target audience should consider investing in a web designer. Although it takes longer to develop a website with a web designer, the website will have unique content and a distinct company identity, all with room for adjustments unlike template websites. Before hiring a web designer, businesses should look for the following traits:

• strong, varied portfolio
• strong marketing skills
• professional graphic design background
• great references
• experience
• diverse clientele
• search engine optimization knowledge
• professional, flexible & friendly
• strong business skills

It is important for businesses to shop around for web designers, comparing their prices and skills, before deciding on a particular one.

All Things Considered
It is vital for a successful website to be functional and user-friendly. If a website is too distracting or cannot be navigated easily, most users will not revisit it. Accordingly, to build a successful, tailored website, businesses need to create a checklist, and shop around for either template website companies or web designers. An efficient, unique website can mean the difference between a profitable company and a failing one.