So what is css and why is it so important?

CSS stands for cascading style sheets. While it is not new – it was first developed in 1997 – it is now being used to design full layouts. In its humble beginnings and for a long time afterwards, css was primarily used to define how html elements display on a page. Today however, complete layouts are being done in css. The reasons are several.

1. Layouts done in css are easy to change: Asking for a font change or size change or even a color change after a layout has been done is unlikely to drive a hole in your pocket if the layouts are full-css. And your web developer is less likely to crib as well as it saves him a lot of time making the changes than it would if the layout used tables!

1. Fast load times: CSS layouts are lighter and cut a lot of extra code. The code is leaner, neater making it faster to load pages. Faster pages mean your visitors will not click away without a look at your site. So there you have them!

1. Standards compliant: W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) lays down certain standards as benchmarks for good design. CSS layout is one of them. A standards compliant design doesn’t just make good design sense but also good business sense.

1. CSS layouts are more accessible: If you have heard a screen reader read out the content from a tabled layout with nested tables, you would know how important this is. While it may be imperative for your site to be more accessible from a purely business perspective, you might be mandated to have a fully accessible site by your local Governments. Governments insist on web accessibility to ensure that websites can be used by the widest possible audience.

1. Mobile friendly: Ever noticed how some sites completely break up while others can still be easily browsed on your mobile? When you have your website created completely in css, you can put to rest your fears that your site will appear all awry on mobile screens. Considering the sharp increase in mobile web browsing, that’s a big plus for any website.

1. CSS makes good SEO sense: The fact that search engine like sites that are accessible and have leaner code and thus load faster, makes the css websites more search engine friendly. The more search engine friendly your website is, the more the likelihood of its ranking higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). Higher ranks can translate into higher traffic and better conversions.

So if there are so many pluses of a css layout for a website, then how is it that non-css websites are still being made? The answer is quite simple. CSS layouts require a greater effort and better skills to  implement and most designers and developers would like to take the easier way out. Insist therefore for a css layout. Its worth it.

5. Sound communication skills: Its important that you and your point of contact in the agency understand each other. Prompt responses, clear communication and the ability to explain things in a language that a layman can understand are the key points you need to check on. The first few communications with the design firm will give you a fair idea of this.

6. Hidden costs: Some agencies will make a very low cost offer initially but as you move along, you soon discover that stuff that you had assumed to be a part of the package need to be paid for. So before you hire, make sure you have a clear list of deliverables and the associated costs.

7. Need based or fad based: Flash sites may be pretty and experiential but are they suited to your business and your target audience? A good web designer will not hard sell the latest fad to you but will suggest what is likely to work best for your site, bring in most visitors, generate more inquiries, result in more sales and the like. They will start with your site objectives and work with you to achieve bang for your buck.

Stay clear of the web design agencies that do not ask you what your site objectives are.

8. Search Engine Ready: Although it appears way down in the list, this is one of the most important factors to consider when hiring a web design company. All your time, effort and money spent in creating an impressive online identity will go down the drain if your site can-not be indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Make sure your web designer knows how to create search engine friendly websites. Make sure you tell them you want a search engine friendly architecture. Even if you do not currently have the resources to hire search engine promotion services, it would be prudent to make sure that your site has a search engine friendly architecture and that you are ready to go when you have the resources.

9. Original designs, original content: Your website is your online identity and should represent what your business stands for. It should be unique and not a pot-pourri of graphics copied and pasted from other sites or a clone of someone else’s website layout. Make sure that your web designer does not use images or text stolen from another site in your designs or you could run into copyright issues. Remember, your website is available anytime, anywhere to anyone who is on the internet and it won’t be long before they discover your site uses someone else’s layout or content.

10. Full service: When you are setting up a small business, you want to focus all your energies on it and not waste time running around trying to find different agencies for web design, database management, hosting, marketing collateral design or printing. Make sure the agency you hire is a one-stop shop and have the wherewithall to provide the bouquet of design and programming services your small business will need over the next few years.

As your business grows, your branding and IT needs will grow. Invest your time and resources with a company that has the potential to deliver during different phases of your business.

Finally, to ensure the success of your project and to help the agency deliver on its promise:

• Be prepared: You know your business the best. You know your customers the best and you know your industry and competition better than any web designer would. So do your homework and prepare a brief for the web design agency. It would be a recipe for disaster if you leave everything to your designer initially and then get them to do several rounds of changes. Most small business websites are done at low margins and requesting too many changes will only drive the web design firm against the wall, often resulting in reduced commitment and unpleasantness.
• Trust your design firm: Just as you know your business better than any web design firm, they know web designing better than you do. So, once you tell them what you want, trust them with the creative and the technicalities.
• Create your own identity: Avoid trying to get your web designer to add all fancy animations that your friends’ and competitors’ website may have. You don’t want a me-too identity for your business, do you?
• Avoid legal issues: Often times to cut costs, clients ask the web design agency to take images and text from competitors’ websites. While it is unethical and tantamounts to piracy, it can also land you in legal issues with the rightful owner. Google is known to ban erring website links from appearing in search results and display the link to the DMCA complaint instead. Thats not what you want your first time visitors to see on the web about you, do you?
• Pay on-time: Expect the web designer to stick to the timelines they promise. But remember, they have a business to run and salaries and bills to be paid as well. Pay on-time to avoid any delays or reduced service levels.

It is not unusual for a small business to be tempted into contracting the firm that offers services at the lowest price. After all, it makes sense to save every penny when the business is just being set-up and evolve one’s online presence as the business evolves, and the needs evolve.

Yet, quite often a small business finds that it got a raw deal or finds itself being arm twisted by the once seemingly perfect web design partner. So what goes wrong in these cases? If you talk to the smart SMBs who succeeded in finding the right design/IT partner in the first go, you will notice a common thread. The smart ones took care of the basics.

What are these basics and how do you find yourself the right web partner who also has the capability to ‘deliver’ at all phases of your business?

In this two part series, we look at the top 10 things you need to check.

1. Domain Rights: Stay clear of the potential arm-twisters. Make sure that the company you hire registers your domain and hosting in your name. And that you are provided all login info for both your domain name control panel and your web hosting account. It is quite common to find unscrupulous small business owners who had to change their domain name or fight it out with their web design firm because it refused to give them control of their domain name when they decided to part ways.

2. Fly-by night operators: Low barriers to entry and a large pool of freelance web developers have meant more choice and better prices for customers. If you are on a shoestring budget, you may want to hire a freelancer to design your website. But will he be around an year later when you need changes to your web pages? Or will he have the time to meet you during business hours? Will he have the time and the skillset to launch a fully-functional website in the committed time-frame?

3. Competence Levels: Your website is your online presence on the world wide web. It is what most visitors who come to your site through search engines see first. And we all know the importance of the first impression. Does the web design agency have what it takes to deliver the “right’ first impression?

• Do they have the requisite skills?
• And the creativity?
• What kind of work have they done for other small businesses?
• Do they have any references?
• Have their clients used them more than once?
• Do they deliver on time?

These are the typical questions you need to find answers to when deciding on your web/IT partner. Again, don’t get carried away by a big client list. Talk to a few of their clients and find out what their experience in dealing with this firm was.

Ofcourse, as in all cases, there may be exceptions where you may want to hire a completely new design firm because they may offer the lowest prices or because they may be willing to provide more for the same amount or simply because you know them personally and so feel that you can trust them. In such cases, avoid the urge to rely entirely on your gut-feel, and do a background check. It will pay to check if the people behind this new firm have the right skills & competence levels and if they are capable, credible, hard working and trustworthy.

4. Usability: How the information is presented on your website is critical to the success of your website. If site visitors feel lost when they arrive on your site or have to pore over the site pages to find the info they are looking for, then you have lost them. It takes a lot of effort to get targeted traffic on any website but takes only a click on the x icon to lose it. With several thousands of options to choose from, the average internet user decides in the first few seconds of arriving on a site whether its good enough for him to stick around. If they have to wait for pages to load or if there are annoying animations, broken links, too much clutter, it won’t take them 10 seconds to bid goodbye.

It is imperative, therefore, that

Digital Branders

Indianhandicrafts

Interestingmails

Magic N Logic

Outsource To India

E2webhosts

Internet has made it easy to reach out to far flung markets like never before. It has made communication way cheaper than what it used to be in the olden days. Skype phone calls, IM conversations with clients are a norm now. And a website provides you with a 24×7x365 office – reachable anytime, anywhere. That is the beauty of the internet.

Those who boarded the bus early will gladly vouch for it as they also benefited from easier search engine indexing (read visibility). Since there was lesser online competition then, search engine promotion too involved far lesser efforts and hence resources.

So here is a list of some of my favourite design collections:

25 Inspiring Examples of Sign-up pages

50 Creative and Inspiring 404 pages

Best CSS site designs

100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers

Some Stunning Floral Typography

40 Creative Design Layouts

30 Attractive Navigation Designs

30 Great Flash Site Designs

Design Trends of 2008

Inspiring Brochure Designs

More Brochure Designs

Textures for Background Design

40 Creative Logo Designs