Do You Need a Website or a Web Designer? - by John Lewis

Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing number of people use the internet to search for a business or service so having a web presence is an important media for promoting your company.
Web design is a real skill and if your website is to not only look good but work well, it should be constructed by a professional web designer.

Have you noticed these days that so many websites all look the same - square box in the middle of the screen? That’s because it’s fairly easy and cheap to use the many templates available to build a simple website. There are many web designers or friends of a friend out there that will offer to do you a website for a few hundred pounds but there are many technical issues to consider to ensure really professional results.

A good website should have the following attributes:
Strong corporate identity
User friendly navigation
Quick to download
A useful resource
Expandable - needs to incorporate technology that allows
scalability
Visually attractive to encourage usage
Must work in all browsers on all computers PC and MAC
Good investment / value for money
Search engine friendly

Remember that first impressions count and a badly designed website is worse than having no website at all. You wouldn’t get a friend of a friend to do your company brochures or service your nice new car you would go to a specialist, so why take the risk and compromise on quality with your website.

A well designed website with good graphics and strong corporate branding will last for years and should be a good investment for your company. Updating the content is simple and inexpensive.

You can start with a small but well designed website that fits within your budget. The key is to ensure that your website is expandable so that as your business grows it can be added to - you may even wish to add a database or e commerce functionality at a later stage.

We believe that Flash is really designed for use in the entertainments industry and we do not recommend using it on a business website. Even with the increasing availability of broadband Flash can be very irritating for users, it serves no purpose, it can detract attention away from the important messages on your website and it will adversely affect your search engine rankings. Strong visual affects can be achieved using other methods.

Using HTML is the most popular and cost effective way to design a website. These can include original graphic designs and are text driven to incorporate relevant search terms, which is good for getting your site recognised by search engines.

DYNAMIC websites incorporate a database and offers more user functionality. A dynamic website can be classed as a web application and is a powerful tool for gathering and providing data for your customers who will be able to log in and search the site quickly for information. If you require a dynamic database driven web design you will have to budget for the back end coding required to build the database. This will be more expensive than a HTML site and will need specialist hosting.

As a less expensive alternative it is possible to build a HTML site which links to a third party database which you can access through your existing ISP.

An E-COMMERCE WEBSITE is an online secure shopping facility so that customers can purchase your goods by credit card over the web.

graphic design Edinburgh and web design Scotland

John Lewis is a multimedia designer who specialises in producing interactive CD Rom, original graphic design Edinburgh and web design Scotland

Blue Water Media Takes Home a Win in the American Design Awards Semi-Annual Design Contest - by PRWeb

Washington DC web design company, Blue Water Media, has been awarded 3rd place in the 'non-flash web design' category of the American Design Awards' 2009 winter, Semi-Annual Design Contest.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) May 14, 2009 — Blue Water Media, a web design company in Washington DC, has been awarded 3rd place in the non-flash web design category of the American Design Awards' 2009 winter, Semi-Annual Design Contest. The contest received over 1300 submission from various designers and agencies across the country.

The award was given to Blue Water Media for work performed on the Tackle Box Restaurant website. The website offers a unique design that captures the informal ambiance of the restaurant and breaks from the conventional columned web page layouts. The website won an honorable mention in the Webby Awards contest earlier this year. Clearly, this website is a shining example of the talent and creativity at Blue Water Media.

The American Design Awards holds two Semi-Annual Design Contests and an ongoing Monthly Design Contest providing various avenues for graphic and web designers to get involved and get noticed. In addition to winning this year's winter contest, Blue Water Media has won the monthly design contest in the past. Blue Water Media has been designing websites for nearly a decade and has received many awards over that time. The Blue Water Media staff is proud of the work on this website and pleased it has received such wide critical acclaim.

About The American Design Awards
The American Design Awards was founded in the year 2000 by design educator Brandon McKay, as well as graphic design professionals Kevin and Art Javid in San Diego, California. Their mission was, and is, to provide a fair and ethical platform for graphic and web designers with varying experience levels and disciplines to compete, while providing them a global audience to showcase their talents. For more information, please visit: http://www.americandesignawards.com/

About Blue Water Media
As a Washington DC based web design agency, Blue Water Media provides web design and development to organizations of all sizes and across numerous industries. Blue Water Media offers a comprehensive set of design, marketing, and support services to its web clients. Blue Water Media's successful track record of developing effective websites establishes it as a leader in the industry. For more information, please visit: http://www.bluewatermedia.com/

Beangroupcom Wins First Place As quotBest NH Real Estate Website For 2006quot - by Paul Morgan

The Bean Group has been awarded first place as “Best NH Real Estate Website For 2006″ by NH.com at its 8th annual NH Internet Awards Competition held on March 8th, 2006. The innovative real estate brokerage, headquartered in Portsmouth, NH edged out hundreds of other entries with its beautiful, simple design, and excellent real estate information. Portsmouth, NH (PRWEB) March 15, 2006 — Beangroup.com Wins First Place As “Best NH Real Estate Website For 2006″ The Bean Group has been awarded first place as “Best NH Real Estate Website For 2006″ by NH.com at its 8th annual NH Internet Awards Competition held on March 8th, 2006. The innovative real estate brokerage, headquartered in Portsmouth, NH edged out hundreds of other entries with its beautiful, simple design, and excellent real estate information. Eric Nelson, CEO of Agentmaster, the Wolfeboro, NH design firm responsible for building beangroup.com, called the win “a recognition of the hard work our team put into making the site super simple to use. We’;ve made searching and viewing over 17,000 property listings easy and maybe even a little fun. The site gets a huge amount of traffic, over 160,000 visitors each month, so ease-of-use is critical. And by giving away an iPod each month in return for feedback we’;ve been able to get dozens of invaluable suggestions for future improvements.” The New Hampshire Internet Awards (NHIA) is an annual celebration of the talent and creativity of New Hampshire web designers, professionals and hobbyists alike. The Awards recognize design, programming, and creativity. All sites are judged by out-of-state Web designers over a one-month period. And the contest culminates in an Awards Gala where the sites are projected on the screen, elegant glass trophies and certificates are presented, designers have the opportunity to network with colleagues and friends, and everyone enjoys good food and drink. New Hampshire Internet Awards http://www.nh.com/misc/nhia/winners.html The Bean Group http://www.beangroup.com Submitted by: Paul Morgan Agentmaster, LLC (800) 528-7616 e-mail protected from spam bots http://www.agentmaster.com