Web Design Blog

Choosing the Perfect Domain Name

A domain name is what people type in the internet browser bar to reach your website.  If you choose poorly it could cost you money.  With over 60 million American online each day you want them to be able to get to you site.  A good domain name makes this easy.  Most people just assume that if they type in www.walmart.com, then it will take them to WalMart’s website, and of course, WalMart has made sure that it does.  Most large businesses see that their domain name matches their business description.  Here are a few things to consider when choosing your domain name.

1. Make your domain name your business name, provided it is available.  This might seem obvious, but customers will assume that they can reach you by typing your business name into the web browser.  If your business name is Mountain Valley Dental, then registar your domain name as www.mountainvalleydental.com.   Remember, the easier it is for customers to find you on the web, the more your site is viewed.

2.  Keep it simple.  This gets difficult with so many websites available, most of the good names seem to be taken.  Larger companies have paid big money to purchase their domain name, you must decide if it is worth it to you.  Generally, small businesses do just fine if they pick a simple, descriptive domain name.  Choose something that relates to your business and is easy to spell or reproduce in the internet browser.  Avoid using characters other than letters or numbers.  This complicates people getting to your site.  When you tell a person what your website is try to make it something they can remember without worrying about hyphens, dashes, or underscores.  The simpler, the better.  You will have to be creative since so many domain names have already been taken. If you have an overly long business name, purchase it, then consider purchasing a shorter, maybe abbreaviated alternative, as people do not like to type in long domain names. For example, www.mysampledomainnameisthisrighthere.com is a little long and tedious to type into a browser, so I purchase it anyways, and then I purchase an additional domain name using for example just the first letter of each word, www.msdnitrh.com…

4.  Registar domain names that are similar to yours.  Average domain names cost under $10.00, it might be worth it to purchas a few options.  Think of what else your audience might type in and purchase that domain name as well. 

5.  Do not let it expire.  Make sure you are on top of your yearly renewal.  If it expires then someone else can purchase it and customers who are accustomed to visiting your website will lose trust in it if it goes down. 

6.  Use it as much as possible.  If you advertise make sure that it can easily be seen and is mentioned often.  Put it on your business cards, if you have an office, post it on your door, you get the idea.

Buying a good domain name will help you attract customers to your site.  So remember, describe your business, keep it simple, purchase similar domain names, use it, and DO NOT let it expire.  Have fun and be creative!

There are those of you out there  wondering why you need a website.  Well I will tell you, the internet is the fastest growing media ever.  Those who are ignorant of its power are left at a disadvantage.  The internet is  for everyone, and having a website is for every business.
It may even seem unprofessional to your clients if your business does not have a website.  The other main reason is that, it is a VERY minimal investment that yields LARGE returns.  You pay an upfront fee to have your site built, and a monthly hosting fee and then information about your company is available to millions.

It is effective low cost marketing.  So to those of you who are wondering, “Is it really worth all the hassle?”, I say yes!   Just try it, and I promise you will not be able to imagine life before your company was on the web.

Every website on the internet is hosted by someone on a server, a computer which is connected to the internet backbone.  This server stores the information for each website it hosts.  Without a web hosting service your site is not available to users on the internet.  There are many web hosting services available to you.  You want to make sure you choose a reliable one and one that will meet the needs of your growing business.
At Everest Web we offer a variety of web hosting options.  When you choose us for your web hosting service you avoid unnecessary fees just to update your site, change a picture or call your host provider.  Free updates, free support, reliable service and discounts are what you deserve from your hosting company!  If you are looking for an affordable, reliable, web hosting with great customer service you are looking for Everest Web Design.

So…you have decided you need a website.  You next decision is what type.  There are so many to choose from, so many features avaible.  How do you decide what fits your needs.  First, consider who is your audience?  Then, decide once you get them to your website, what do you want them to be able to do?  Finally, what features do you need available to make it all come together. 

Here are some things to consider:

* Is your site designed to conduct business or is it for personal use?  If it is going to be used for business you will probably need to consider several additional features besides a basic design.  A personal website, like a family or hobby site might be more simple.

*If you are a business website, do you need to sell a product, will you need a gallery to show  products you have avaible, are you going to be taking credit card payments online, will you want to be able to update it yourself (Add products, insert pictures, change prices, update catalog, check orders, and verify payments.), will you need a SSL certificate, etc…

With Everest Web Design we offer the custom website design you are looking for at an affordable price.  You website can be as simple or as complex as your needs are.  So whatever your needs are we have a custom website waiting to be designed to meet them!

  Search Engine Optimization is the process of buying traffic (or visitors) to your website.  You might be considering if this is something that might be worth your investment.  It is like investing money in advertising.  Search Engine Optimization pricing varies greatly depending on the package you purchase.   Some options might include:  pay per click, pay per ranking, a one time fee, a monthly fee, revenue sharing. If you are looking into purchasing such a package Google gives this counsel:

 1.  Be leary of companies who send you emails out of the blue, as you would junk mail that comes to you unsolicited

2.  No one can guarantee #1 ranking on Google.  Google does not form special alliances with SEO companies.  In fact you can registar your URL with google yourself.  Just visit http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.

3.  Be careful of a company who will not explain what they are going to do.  If such a SEO company creates false information about your site, you are held liable and this could get you kicked off google’s index entirely.

4.  Never Link to a SEO.  This is typically uneffective and not worth your time.

5.  Some SEO companies will attempt to get you to purchase the ability to type keywords right into the web browser.  With this you would most likely be expected to install extra software. 

6.  Do your research!  Do not go with the first company that comes along. 

7.  Make sure you know what your money is being used for. 

8.  Look into the legalities, are you protected legally?  Do not be afraid to ask for your money back if you are unsatisfied with the results.  This is just another reason why you should know where you money is going.

Here are the warning signs Google gives that you might be dealing with a fraudulant company:

• owns shadow domains
• puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
• offers to sell keywords in the address bar
• doesn’t distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear in search results
• guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
• operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
• gets traffic from “fake” search engines, spyware, or scumware
• has had domains removed from Google’s index or is not itself listed in Google

So my advice when considering SEO is buyer beware and do your research carefully.  Good luck! 

Most people thinking about getting a website for their business have one primary question:  Do I purchase a template I like and then customize it, or do I get a custom build website? Are custom built websites more expensive than templates?

There are several things one must consider when making this decision.

• Uniqueness - Templates are made for everyone.  Consequently, they are used by everyone.  Imagine your customer’s surprise when they see a nearly exact copy of your website for another company.  With a custom design, uniqueness is ensured.
• Time is Money - If you purchase a template (average cost is around $39.00 to $129.00 depending on the type of template), you will spend hours (provided you know anything about web design) customizing it to your needs, or you will spend hundreds to thousands of dollars, having someone customize it for you.  If you don’t know programming and you don’t want to pay someone to program it for you, it will take considerably longer.  The average cost of a quality custom web design is around $195.00 to $500.00 - more or less, depending on your individual needs. 
  
  
  A custom website design comes with many benifits including:
  • A site built to reflect your business and needs
  • Graphics that match your business
  • Custom logo
  • A personalized feel to the site
  • A non-generic look and feel that most templates seem to carry, endless possibilities, as it is built from scratch.
• Avoid The Hassle - Look for web design solutions that offer bundled design packages - design, hosting, registration, ecommerce, etc.,  To get all these services for your own website can be very confusing and tedious. Everest Web Design takes care of them for you. We love to reward our clients for choosing us. You’ll never pay more, you’ll get the best design for your company, and you are not a number to us…

In summary, templates are great if you have design and web programming experience, unlimited time, and endless patience, but if not, give Everest Web Design a try, 100% satisfaction guaranteed!

Button rollovers are a must when it comes to navigating a professional website. Navigating through websites can be hard when you are unsure of what page you are currently on, button rollovers show visitors to your site, what category they are in, or what page they are currently visitng. It also gives your site a feeling of, “this is a professional website”.

Some examples of button rollovers: (move your mouse over the menus)
http://www.utahdecor.com (rollovers non-animated)
http://www.walkfasttalkloudandsmile.com (rollovers non-animated)
http://www.mortgagesaver101.com (Animated rollover buttons)

“Rollover refers to a button as created by a web developer or web designer, found within a web page, used to provide interactivity between the user and the page itself. The term rollover in this regard originates from the visual process of “rolling the mouse cursor over the button” causing the button to react (usually visually, by replacing the button’s source image with another image), and sometimes resulting in a change in the web page itself.

Rollovers can be done by imagery, text or buttons. The user only requires 2 images/buttons (with the possible addition of “alt” text to these images) to perform this interactive action. Rollover imagery can be done either by a program with a built-in tool or script coding. The user will have to pick a first image and select an alternate secondary image. A mouse action will have to be set to either “click on” or “mouse over” in order for the rollover to be triggered. Note that when the “mouse over” moves on the image, the alt image/secondary image will appear but won’t stay - when the user “mouses out” by moving the mouse away from the image, the original source image will reappear.” - Wikipedia

After reviewing a large variety of websites we made a list of 10 things that can damage your professional image.  They are listed below 

1.  No Contact information

2.  Load time is too slow

3.  Large neon fonts everywhere

4.  Flashy, distracting backgrounds

5.  Mistakes in spelling and grammar

6.  Poor content

7.  Disorganized content

8.  Pages where endless scrolling is needed

9.  Pop up messages

10.  Dead links