Let’s say you are creating an e-commerce website. Your primary concern would be to generate as many sales as possible. For this, you have to manage the checkout procedure of your customers. Now, the checkout button is where many e-commerce sites make the biggest mistake. If you have to stay ahead of them, you have to implement a different approach in the designing, that is, with interesting and user-friendly shopping cart development.

First, you have to keep in mind the kind of products/services your online store sells. If it deals in machinery, bright and colorful shopping carts are a strict no-no. But if you are offering garments and accessories in your online store, your shopping cart must be an attractive one. Remember, the shopping cart is a very important factor for the customer as well as the store owner.

In this post, you will find some other names of shopping carts such as shopping baskets, bags, trolleys and buckets. Plus, there are also some guidelines about the usability of shopping carts.  So, let’s start.

♦ Shopping cart’s core functionality – Of course, shopping carts should be attractive to look at, but the basic functionality of a shopping cart should not be forgotten. The cart should be the place where a customer can keep the products of his choice until he makes the payment and checks out of an online store.

♦ Shopping cart should contribute to the site’s user-friendliness – If your shopping cart can contribute to your site’s usability by offering your customers a concise overview of their shopping activities apart from the list of their selected items that it already shows, it can benefit you. Let’s take a look at what you can offer in your shopping cart.

1. You can tell your customers the contents of the shopping cart.
2. You can inform your customers about the minimum number of items to be bought in order to complete their order successfully.
3. You can tell the cost of the products inside the cart
4. You can place a link to the checkout section so that customers can complete the shopping process fast.
5. You can tell your customers the possible ways to make payments.
6. You can put an option for help that customers can use in case of any problem.

With these shopping cart solutions, you can save your customers’ time, and if their time is saved, they can explore more products they want to buy.

♦ Shopping basket designed subtly – Bring some subtlety in your shopping basket design by using a color that does not go along with the design of your e-commerce website. This makes the basket noticeable and is a clever idea to embrace if your store deals in products that are a bit out of the ordinary.

♦ Go creative – Come up with some innovative shopping bag designs. Breaking away from the traditional designs can make your shopping bag memorable. Buyers can identify a uniquely designed shopping bag easier and better.

♦ Embed your shopping bucket into your store’s logo – You can also use the same color and design pattern of your online store’s logo into the shopping bucket and spread it uniformly throughout the entire store by putting the shopping bucket at the same place on every page.

♦ Mistakes to watch out for – Mistakes in the shopping cart development are not unlikely. If you cannot click on the shopping cart icon, cannot recognize the icon, or cannot find the icon in your online store, be sure that there’s has been some mistake and you need to fix it.

♦ The placement of your shopping cart – Shopping carts/baskets/bags/buckets/trolleys are usually placed on the top right corner of every page of an e-commerce website. However, as  a customer adds more items to the cart, it is advisable to change the cart’s placement by putting it on a sidebar for ease of use. Needless to say, you have to make it prominent so that buyers can see it clearly and easily. But keep in mind, if you are putting your shopping cart on a sidebar, it should be on a sidebar at the same place on every page of your online store.

Finally, brainstorm with your shopping cart solutions providers and make your cart as interesting, motivating and user-friendly as you can.

Today, the world is ruled by technology. But even in this age of technology, logo design professionals should take some time off from their tight schedules and go back to the times when design was done by sketching. No, not on computers, on paper with pencil. This post is dedicated to those good old times and will describe how sketching with pencil on a paper will help you in logo designing.

Here are the reasons why I advise you to sketch the old-fashioned way.

You will be able to think deeper: When a logo design company takes up a new project, several ideas come flooding into the minds of designers. Using a paper and pencil to sketch these ideas as they arrive would help them think deeper and out of the box because that way their imagination won’t be confined by technical limitations.

You can go anywhere and sketch: If you are a logo designer, taking your laptop to wherever you go is not something uncommon for you. But if you try taking a sketchbook and pencil instead, you will realize that it is even more convenient than a laptop. You can go to the riverside, the rugged terrains, the subways or the countryside or anywhere else you want, to get ideas and you will see that a whole world of inspiration will open up before you.

You will be enriched as an artist: Developing sketching skills will fuel your artistic growth and make you a mature designer. You will get ideas faster and present them on paper quicker. When you will hold a pencil in your hand, design ideas would dictate its movements on paper and the more you sketch, the more innovative design concepts you will come up with.

You will realize the true reason why you are logo designing: Sketching connects you with your inner artist and as you devote more time to sketching, your concept would become clearer about what elements play an important part in your design. You will be able to describe your designs better to your clients.

Now, how you should go about it:

Brainstorm with the help of word lists and mind maps – These tools are designed to rescue logo designers like you when you are facing a mind-block. Though there are online tools for help, using paper will let your ideas flow in full swing and can even eradicate your discomfort of drawing on paper.

Sketch anything that comes to your mind – Or anything that you see around you and feel interested in. Begin with a simple circle or a straight line and give wings to your imagination!

Don’t be set back by mistakes – You might not have sketched anything with pencil since you were in school. So, mistakes are bound to occur. Don’t be upset. Continue sketching and you will get better at it. In fact, make ugly sketches intentionally. That would loosen up your mind block and help you draw better.

Sketch wherever you like – You don’t have to limit yourself to sketchbooks. You never know when an idea will pop up in your mind. So, sketch anywhere you feel like, even on tissue paper!

Use different media – Experiment with different media like pencils, crayons,  watercolors and charcoal on different types of surfaces. Stick to the ones that you feel most comfortable with.

Lastly, don’t forget to share your views!

The internet is used by millions of people from various age groups and demographics. To be successful in today’s tough world wide web, a website design company needs to grasp the concept of variation, to provide audience-specific website designing solutions to its clients.

Age is crucial in determining a website’s target market for a lot of reasons, such as accessibility, psychology and user-friendliness. While there are other aspects that play a major role in the success of  website design, we will discuss the importance of age.

In this era, the difference that age groups play in using the net is more evident than ever before. Conduct a research on the age groups that use the net for something very similar to what your website offers or will offer. This would help you determine your user base and design your website accordingly. But keep one thing in mind, you just cannot take anything for granted so be careful when you begin your website designing process.

Divide your target users in 4 age groups – children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens.

♦  Children: Today’s  children experience the most intense impact of the internet. Even a few years

ago, kids had limited computer skills but now, they are as familiar with computers and internet as can be, thanks to early exposure both at home and at school. But as far as dealing with errors is concerned, children are less patient than adults

Website design for children poses less challenges than website design for adults because children do not have anything specific in mind when they surf the net. They just want entertainment and that gives the designer the freedom to create entertaining, educational and interactive websites.

When you create a website for children – keep the site as clean as possible, use bright colors, use sound and animation, offer educational games, use iconography, create content that’s relevant to the fictional characters children are familiar with and avoid integrated advertisements. They would distract children very quickly and easily.

♦  Adolescents: They are more fluent with computers and more patient with errors than children.

They use technology to be in touch with their friends through social networks. They are not very adventurous when it comes to exploration. They prefer to go to websites that they know rather than discovering new websites. According to studies, the difference between adults and adolescents is that the latter are more concerned about their social interactions rather than working towards a set goal on the web.

When designing for adolescents – pay more attention to graphics than text, use sound and animation but not as much as you would use for children. Provide a clean interface and keep the content simple, but not so simple that it seems kiddish.

♦  Adults: This is the age group many web designers target for testing their website’s usability.

Considered to be the average internet users, adults, though not always computer literate, possess some knowledge of the computers and internet. They are the most skilled and comfortable web users. They know what they want and they are focused. Though accessibility and usability are two factors with adults, you have to keep in mind that they are not dependent on instructions. Which is why, website designing for adults is simple but at the same time challenging.

♦  Senior Citizens: As they are more accustomed to a world without internet, the senior citizens appear to be the ignored part of the demographic when it comes to website design.

They lack fluency in computer skills, plus their health condition becomes an obstacle in their being active on the net. But they are definitely more patient and more focused on the reason why they use the web. They like to research, read and engage into activities with like-minded people. Which is why, they are likely to be a part of communities more than any other age group.

When designing a website for senior citizens – Upload the text content in large fonts, put as little animation or any other distraction is possible, make the navigation easy and create easily noticeable websites wherein links are easy-to-click. Keep away anything that can create confusion and promote social interaction.

No matter which age group you are targeting, your website will be perceived and used differently by different age groups. Usability is one of the key factors of website designing and you can’t ignore the fact that you can’t cater to everyone, but you have to offer something for everyone. Every web user is unique, but a wide audience may be looking for what you are offering.

Many people think that the terms ‘design’ and ‘art’ are drastically different from each other. However, this is not a right concept. At the same time, these two terms are not exactly similar. They overlap each other and yet, are different from each other.

In this article, we will first offer a comparative analysis of website designing and art. Thereafter, we will offer few tips that will help web designers to enhance their skills. …

Difference Between Design and Art

As compared to design, art is a broader concept. Art includes everything, even website design. Another difference between art and design is that the latter is more restrained.

Artists possess the freedom to infuse their unique personalities in their creations. Designers, however, are denied of such freedom in most cases. They need to follow a particular pattern to ensure that the design is useful and function. Artists, on the other hand, are free from such restrictions. They are not required to follow any rules. Rather, they are expected to break rules and develop their own styles.

Designers also need to pay attention to the latest market trends. Furthermore, they should ensure that their creations consider preferences of the target audience. Artists, on the other hand, may or may not follow current trends. Additionally, they do not need to consider preferences of any particular audience.

Design and Aesthetics

With any web design company, functional designs, rather than beautiful designs are more popular. This is because of the fact functional designs encourage users to act. This in turn, fulfills the ultimate purpose of a site-that is, increasing conversation rates. Of course, a functional design that is aesthetically pleasing can enhance value of the site even more.

Art, on the other, places utmost importance to aesthetics. Art works do not have any function to fulfill. Rather, they need to be aesthetically appealing.

Expectations from Design

Most users expect designs to convey purposes of the site in a simple way. If the designs fail to highlight goals of the site, they will create a poor impression on visitors.

Many sites, in the quest to incorporate interesting designs, mess up the purposes. This in turn, shatters user expectations.

Separating Art and Design

As stated earlier, web designers usually have to refrain from utilizing creativity in an unrestrained manner. This means that as web designers, we are expected to develop designs that are functional and fulfill user expectations.

Here are few tips that will help you to separate your designs from art works.

• Choose neat and clean web designs. Avoid anything in excessive. For best results, use principles of minimalism and reductionism.
• For creating website designs, you have to pay attention to issues, such as usability, speed of the site, and accessibility. These factors may not always allow you to satisfy your creative urges. However, you can push the boundaries of restrictions with the help of your imagination.

Consider these points to develop useful and creative web designs.

Staying happy at work is important. It can sharpen your logo design skills and allow you to come up with impressive ideas. Unfortunately, it may not be always possible to remain happy at work. In such a situation, you can opt for certain strategies to stay happy. Read on.

Request for a Good Chair – By “good chair”, we do not mean expensive. Rather, we mean that it should be comfortable. Buying a good chair is important, because it directly affects your health and productivity. Ensure that the chair offers a good support to your back.

Reward Yourself – Rewarding yourself occasionally can fill your body and mind with happy feelings. This is especially important on stressful days. If you have successfully finished a difficult logo designing project, reward yourself by going for a movie or indulging in sweets. However, ensure that you do not eat excessive sweets.

Organize Your Workspace – In many situations, we feel frustrated because of a disorganized workspace. Avoid frustration by organizing your workspace. Start by throwing away unnecessary papers. For best results, adopt the habit of cleaning your workspace once a day.

Be Honest – It is important to be honest, both at work and other spheres of life. In case you do not understand requirements of a project, request the client for clarifications.

Do not assume that you would appear stupid before the client. Rather, use this opportunity to clarify your doubts and learn new things. Remember that clients prefer honest logo designers.

Fix Difficult Issues Immediately – If you face problems regarding a project, fix it as soon as possible. Waiting for tomorrow can worsen things. Additionally, remember that fixing important things will make you happy and relieved. Thereafter, you can concentrate on other issues peacefully.

Sleep for 7-8 Hours – Many of us feel stressed at work because of lack of sleep. To improve your productivity at work, try to sleep for 7-8 hours. Sufficient sleep will refresh your mind and body, allowing you to complete tasks faster.

Opt for Meditation – Meditation can be a good way to acquire a calmer mind. According to a study published in Psychological Science, meditation allows people to enhance and retain focus, even during a monotonous task. Therefore, start meditating and improve your productivity.

Drink Coffee – Many people love drinking coffee, while working. While this can relax your mind, it can also perk up your health. A study published in Stroke: the Journal of the American Heart Association reveals that people who drink one cup of coffee every day have lower risk of stroke, as compared to those who avoid drinking coffee.

Listen to Music – Take a break from stressful activities by listening to music. It will help you to relax and make you a happier person.

Boost your productivity at work with these simple steps.

When it comes to buying products from e commerce sites, users look for options. Experts associated with shopping cart development are aware of the importance of offering consumers various products.

However, they are yet to realize the importance of providing them with different payment methods. In fact, many will be surprised to know that along with credit cards, people expect alternative payment options. Opting for these new methods can enhance popularity of your e commerce site.

Credit Cards - Any e commerce site needs to provide users with the option of paying via credit cards. Unfortunately, many sites accept only particular credit cards. This can confuse users, thus driving them away.

To remain on the safe side, allow users to make payments via credit cards of different companies. Apart  from popular options, such as American Express and MasterCard, you can also accept other cards. These can include Discover, Diners, and JCB.

Bank Account - Some shopping cart solutions allow users to pay via money order or check. Western Union and eCheck are two popular companies that one can consider for paying with the help of these options.

Since the money at these companies undergoes a clearing process, it may take some days to clear. This option is perfect for users who do not want to reveal credit card numbers online.

PayPal - PayPal is the most popular online payment method. Few years back, PayPal introduced guest checkout option. This option allows users to use PayPal, without requiring them to login in the retailer’s site. This has contributed to the tremendous popularity of PayPal.

Google Checkout was introduced few years back. However, as compared to PayPal, it has limited flexibility.

Mobile Payments - Many people these days prefer completing monetary transactions via their mobile phones. Various vendors, including Square and ISIS support mobile payments. In fact, some vendors, such as Zong, Payfone ask only for the mobile number, for completing the payments.

Subscription Payments - Some e commerce sites provide clients with subscription payment methods. Under this method, users are charged a particular amount every week or month.

Instant Financing -  Instant financing is widely becoming popular these days. A good example can be ‘Bill Me Later’, introduced by PayPal. This method allows users to make online purchases, without taking help of a credit card. You can provide users with Bill Me Later as a single option. Alternatively, you can integrate it with the PayPal.

Include these latest payment methods in your site to enhance your conversation rates.

Have you noticed that we describe our friends and colleagues by using different words? For example, if a colleague helps us regularly, we may use the words ‘kind’, ‘generous’ to describe him. We do it because we believe that these words describe our colleague perfectly.

The same goes for brand as well. If you use the right words, they will allow you to establish a powerful identity of your brand. Herein lies the importance of including a catchy tag line in a logo design.

If you observe carefully, you would find that famous companies always use a tag line that beautifully describes their brand/product. For example, the tag line of McDonald is “I’m lovin it”. By using three words,  McDonald highlights the fact that opting for their products can provide one with immense joy.

Creating an Interesting Tag Line

People associated with any logo design company will agree that it is impossible to come up with intriguing slogans ‘just like that’. To develop catchy slogans, you may need to opt for several brainstorming sessions.

You need to be careful about the words you use during logo designing , because they have the power to evoke strong emotional responses. Additionally, you need to ensure that these words convey the intended message.

According to our opinion, for creating an exciting slogan, one needs to follow three logical steps. We discuss these steps in details.

Mind Mapping

For mind mapping, acquire a pen and paper. Sit down and think about your company. Write down the words that come into your mind, regarding your company. These words can include nouns, adjectives, and even alphabet. However, make sure that these words are related with the values and purposes of your company.

Select a Functional Advantage

What are the special features of your company? Why should people opt for services of your company, rather than your competitors? Note down answers to these questions in a paper. Narrow down the answers to select phrases/words that highlight practical benefits of choosing your company.

For example, the slogan of Expedia.com states’ Don’t just travel. Travel right’. The slogan highlights the fact that this company simplifies the process of traveling. With this company, you do not need to travel aimlessly. Rather, you can travel in an organized and smooth manner.

Opt For an Emotional Advantage

The next step is to choose a word that evokes an emotional response from the audience. Words that evoke positive emotions can include ‘love’, ‘dreams’, ‘forever’, ‘care’.

The tag line of DeBeers is ‘A diamond is forever’. This tag line highlights the fact that diamond has a timeless appeal and helps one to establish a lifelong bond.

Avoid Creating a Long Tag Line

To allow people remember your tag line easily, stick to 3 or 4 words. Do not exceed 4 words in any situation. If you consult tag lines of famous brands, you will find that tag lines of most of them include 3-4 words.

Follow these above-mentioned stages to come up with catchy slogans that reinforce the value of your brand.

Most people are aware of the fact that content is a crucial aspect of any website design. Good content adds value to the site and retains interest of users. Unfortunately, most ignore the fact that apart from quality of the content, its presentation is also important.

For presenting the content in an attractive manner, paying attention to paragraph is important. Here, we will highlight some typesetting conventions and provide you with tips that will help you to adapt them for screens and devices.

The Typeface

Before discussing typeface issues, we would like to clear a myth. Most people associated with any website design company believe that one should exclusively use sans-serif font for body text. However, this is not true for every situation. In certain situations, you can opt for serif fonts. If modified properly, certain serif fonts can be legible and attractive.

Breadth of the font family should be the most important criterion, for selecting a Web font. Check whether the font includes italic and bold styles. Choosing such a font will ensure that you can place greater importance (by using italics/bold styles) to certain aspects of the paragraph.

The second issue related to typeface is rendering. Experienced web design professionals usually opt for embedded and system fonts (example, Verdana) for headings and body text respectively. The main reason why Verdana is popular is because it renders well at small sizes.

In case, you do not want to use Verdana, checking on-page demonstrations of selected fonts can be a great idea. To save time, avoid  experimentation with fonts containing the words ‘narrow’ or ‘thin’.

Font Size

Most of us are aware of the fact that all web browsers render content at 16 pixels automatically. This highlights the fact that 16 pixels is the general standard.

In our CSS style sheets, we write 16 pixels as 100%. This is a good idea, because it is similar to what the web browser would have selected for us. In case you want the paragraph content to be more than 16 pixels, edit the value. Opt for a percentage value that is equal to ‘whole pixel’.

Leading

Leading refers to the space between two consecutive lines of information. Leading affects readability, because it highlights rows of glyphs that one should cross from left to right. The main problem with leading is that if it is not used correctly.

If you put in excessive space between lines, the whole text will appear fragmented. On the other hand,
if you avoid using space, the paragraphs will appear cluttered.

Final Touches

We have discussed issues related to typeface, font size, and leading of paragraph text. We understand the fact that in certain situations, you may wish to modify certain paragraphs. Taking the help of special  combinators and selectors, you can target particular paragraphs and modify them.

Let us discuss indentation as an example. In web design, indenting the initial line of every paragraphs is the most popular way of dividing paragraphs into sections of information. However, the first paragraph does not require any indentation.

Therefore, you need to exclude this particular paragraph from CSS rule. Opt for the adjacent sibling combinator to target only those paragraphs that have a preceding paragraph.

Add a stylish touch to your content with the help of these tips.

Most of us trust Google for availing necessary information. This has prompted Google to introduce strict rules about web content. Google stated that its aim is simple-to offer users relevant and good  information. True to its goal, it updated its search engine algorithm in 2011.

The update (also known as Google Panda) approximately affected 12% of search results, prompting website owners to delete duplicate and low quality content from their site. It even forced owners of SEO services India and other countries to modify their SEO strategies.

Google did not stop at the first update. It rolled out several versions of the Panda update, affecting the rankings of millions of websites. Naturally, people have started wondering about the tricks that can help them to avoid the penalty imposed by Panda. We offer few useful strategies in this article.

Content Quality is Critical

Google Panda places utmost importance to content quality. It prefers content, which is original and valuable. Therefore, to improve rankings of your site, opt for high-quality and useful content.

Additionally, ensure that it is well-researched and written. To enhance quality of the content, use information acquired from trusted sources.

Pay Attention to Spelling and Grammar

Along with quality of the content, you should pay attention to the spelling and grammar as well. If your articles contain misspelled words and wrong grammar, chances are high that it would invite wrath of the search engine. To remain on the safe side, check and edit your articles carefully.

Offer Visitors a Good User Experience

To ensure high rankings of your site, opt for user-friendly and visually pleasing website designs. Additionally, ensure that users can move from one aspect of the site to the other in a hassle-free manner. Reduce the time that they require to explore various aspects of the website.

Do not Place Excessive Advertisements

We understand the fact that placing advertisements is crucial for financial reasons. However, remember  that placing excessive ads can lower rankings of your site. Therefore, cut down the number of ads that you place in your site.

Opt For High Quality Code

Using high quality code for your site can be a good idea to maintain/retain its rankings. Consider the fact that good markup guarantees quality of the site. At the most basic level, you can opt for W3C Markup Validation Service for making sure that your HTML respects W3C standards.

Do Not Use Duplicate Content

Every page of your site should display unique information. Avoid using the same content for every page.

Avoid Anything in Excess

To ensure that Google Panda does not penalize your site, stick to limited and high-quality pages. Remember that if your site contains even a single poor quality page, it can affect the rankings. Overall, ensure that your site offers users a smoother and cleaner experience.

We offered few strategies that will help you to stay in touch with latest trends and thus, increase or retain rankings of your site. If you are still feeling confused about any issue, getting in touch with any reputed SEO company India can be a great idea.

In the website design industry, creative ideas will provide you with an extra edge. However, to stay ahead of others, you cannot solely depend on creativity. You need to follow certain techniques as well. Implementation of these techniques will impress the clients and bring you projects, thus guaranteeing you regular income.

Today, in this article, we will highlight few strategies that will help you get projects.

Adopt a Friendly Approach - Arranging a meeting with the client is the first step to acquire projects. While meeting with the client, opt for a friendly and yet, professional approach. Show a genuine interest in the project. This will convince the client that you are interested in investing your time and effort in the project.

Research About the Company - To impress the client, research about his/her company. Additionally, find out about the target audience  of your client’s company and its competitors.

Invest Time for Writing an Executive Summary - Executive summary refers to a brief description of the project. While meeting the client, carrying  this executive summary can be a great idea.

Keep this summary brief-one page is sufficient. Do not forget to include vital points in the summary. Use the summary to convince the client that you have understood the goals and nature of the project. Additionally, highlight the fact that as a web design professional, you possess the requisite skills to take up the project.

Show Your Work - To convince clients about your talent, show them samples of your work. This will help them to trust you and convince them that you can handle this project effectively.

Ask About Goals of the Project - This step is important. Unless you are aware of the goals of the project, it is impossible to work on it devotedly. Therefore, ask your client about the project goals.

Find Out About Your Competitors - Gathering information about your competitors will help you to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This in turn, will allow you to modify your strategies accordingly and stay ahead of the race.

Inquire About the Current Situation - To make sure that the client does not cancel the project suddenly, try to find out about the company’s current situation. Of course, this strategy will not be effective in every situation. Still, it would help you to stay on the safe side.

Prepare a Creative Strategy - Develop a creative strategy beforehand to impress the clients. For a stronger impression, justify the reasons behind choosing these strategies. If any technical requirements exist, explain them as well.

Highlight the Various Steps of the Project - To create a positive impression on minds of the client, explain the different aspects of the project. This will justify your stated deadline and fees that you are charging.

Discuss About the Budget - Divide the project into logical sections and note down the prices of each section. This will validate your prices.

Justify the Deadline - Discuss deadline of the project with your clients. Ask for a deadline that will allow you to finish the work comfortably. For best results, explain the reasons behind the stated deadline to your clients.

State the Resources - To convince the client about your credibility, state the things that you are planning to use for handling the project. If you require anything from the client, state that as well. This will allow clients to have faith in you.

Give your Contact Information - To simplify the process of getting in touch with you, offer clients your detailed contact information. State your mobile number, physical address, and office address so that it is easier for clients to contact you.

Finally, do not forget to follow-up. This will reflect your interest in the project and create a good impression.

Some logo design professionals believe in asking clients certain questions before taking up a project. Others, however, accept projects blindly. This results in several problems that can include poor payment, bad client, and boring work.

We think that the best way to avoid these problems is by asking clients important questions, before finally accepting the project. This will help you to evaluate whether the logo designing project is worth your hard work and effort. To make matters easier, we will highlight some questions that you should ask your potential client.

Even if you are associated with website designing, you can ask these questions. However, do not forget to modify them accordingly.

Questions related to the organization

1.  What is the name of your company?

2.  What products or services your company offers?

3.  What is the USP (Unique Selling Point) of your company?

4.  When did you start your company?

5.  Is it a start-up or a medium-sized company? Is it a large-scale corporation (you can judge size of a company by its revenue or employee number)?

6.  What are the positive and negative aspects of your company?

7.  Where do you want to see your company in 5/10/15 years?

8.  What was the main purpose/motivation behind founding the company?

9.  Who is your primary competitor?

10.  How your company solves problems of your target audience?

Branding

11.  If you are asked to describe your company in a single word, what would be your answer?

12.  If your customers are requested to describe your organization in a word, what would be their answer?

13.  Do you possess any logo currently?

14.  (If answer to the above question is yes) Would you like to retain any elements from your current logo?

15.  Why do you want to modify or redesign your logo?

16.  When did you introduce your current logo?

17.  Can tell us about the mission statement of your organization?

18.  Do you want to include any slogan or tag line in your logo?

19.  How do you want to create brand image of your company?

20.  What is the most distinguishing element of your logo?

21.  Why did you opt for this particular color or icon in your logo?

Design specifications

22.  Do you want to use any particular color scheme in the logo? Can you state the reasons?

23.  Do you want to use your logo in any particular medium?

24.  Do you want to include any particular elements in the logo?

25.  According to your opinion, what is the definition of a good logo?

26.  Can you state your preferences, regarding icon and typography?

27.  Do you have any restrictions, regarding development of the logo?

28.  Can you give us some examples of logos that you love and those you hate?

29.  Can you tell us what the primary purpose of a logo design is?

30.  What are the particular occasions when you would like to use this logo?

Target clients

31.  Who consists of your target audience?

32.  Who opts for your products/services the most?

33.  Do you want to modify or expand your current target audience?

34.  Can you tell us about your primary types of advertising?

35.  Are you targeting any specific gender?

36.  Can you tell us about the average income of your target client?

37.  How do most of your clients come across your company?

38.  In which area do your maximum clients reside?

Timing and budget

39.  What is your budget for this logo design project?

40.  What is your deadline?

41.  How many rough concepts you would like to receive?

42. Why did you choose our company for this project?

43.  What is most critical for you-speed, quality, or price?

44.  Apart from this logo design, do you require any other services?

45.  Are you planning any special event where you want to launch this logo?

Additional queries that can bring in extra money

46.  Do you require help regarding any other project?

47.  Are you aware of any person who wants innovative logo designs?

Asking these questions will clear your doubts regarding the project and enhance quality of your work. Furthermore, it will allow you to maintain a good relationship with your clients.

Have you ever considered animal habits as your source of inspiration? It could be a good idea because each animal can teach us different lessons. Adopting certain habits and instincts of animals can help one to improve his/her productivity and work quality.

In this article, we will discuss typical habits of certain animals. Furthermore, we will explain how adopting these qualities can help you to enhance quality of your work.

Lion

Lions love challenges. They are brave, powerful, and willing to hunt down every animal in the jungle. Likewise, a web design professional should be interested in taking up challenging projects. He/she should be brave because it will help him/her to come up with innovative ideas.

Lions are highly competitive and desire to remain ahead in the race. Similar to them, people associated with the website design industry should also try to stay ahead of their competitors.

Tiger

Tigers prefer a solitary lifestyle and look forward to challenging situations. Faster than lions, tigers can smoothly leap 10 meters or even more. While hunting an animal, tigers prefer to implement a strategic plan.

Tigers can inspire you to take up projects that are interesting and challenging. Similar to tigers, you should opt for regular breaks to create innovative designs. Additionally, to complete a project within a deadline, you can follow a strategic plan. This will help you to meet the deadline in a hassle-free manner.

Giraffe

As compared to other animals, giraffes possess several advantages. They are tall and can reach out to trees, thus consuming more nutrients. Another interesting fact is that giraffes can survive by sleeping 4.5-4.6 hours on average per 24 hours.

Similar to giraffes, website designers should grab more projects and enjoy the advantages. They must observe projects from another perspective and deal with them in a new way. To complete crucial projects, designers should learn to survive by sleeping 4-5 hours at night.

Turtle

Turtles possess the special ability to hide from predators. They do so by retreating into their shells and hiding in water. Turtles can adapt themselves with any environment quickly.

Similar to turtles, designers should possess the ability to retreat into themselves for creative thought. Furthermore, they should adjust with any situation within a short time.

Whale

A unique fact about the whale is that it never sleeps consciously. Otherwise, it will drown. For this reason, a part of its brain always keeps working for keeping it afloat.

Similar to whales, a designer’s creative juices should always flow. Web designers should stay alert in any situation and quickly select sources that can inspire them. In brief, as a designer, you should stay conscious in any situation.

Dolphin

Cute and lovable, dolphins are intelligent as well. Possessing a complex brain, they have the ability to hear things from a far distance. Dolphins are highly social and love interacting with people. They also love communicating via various mediums that can include whistles and clicks.

Similar to dolphins, a designer should listen to client requirements carefully. Furthermore, they must interact with clients to form a long-term relationship. This in turn, will help one to acquire repeat clients.

Camel

Camels are known for their strength and resilience. They can survive extreme temperatures and lack of water.

Adopting habits of camels would mean surviving long hours of work. Additionally, it would also mean adapting oneself to tough situations.

Cheetah

As one of the fastest animals in the world, a cheetah can run at a speed of 70-75 miles every hour. However, in-between running, a cheetah needs to rest. Similar to the cheetah, a designer should grab and complete a project fast. Additionally, they should not overwork, because this may lead to burn out.

Owl

Owls have powerful camouflaging abilities. Their hunting strategy usually includes an element of surprise. Similar to owls, designers should incorporate a surprise element in their design. Furthermore, they should try to adjust with any situation.

Opt for these powerful animal habits to improve quality of your designs.

Online shopping comes with various benefits. You can compare products from comforts of your home, pick out the one that suits your preferences, and budget. Sensing the growing popularity of online shopping, many people have started creating ecommerce websites.

Unfortunately, most are unaware of the fact that for smooth user experience, paying attention to ecommerce web design is critical. Imagine the shock and frustration when a customer completes the registration process, finds the checkout link, and realizes that the product is out of stock. Chances are high that he/she will not return to the site. To ensure that your e-commerce solutions offer a rewarding experience to your users, read on.

1. Opt for a Short Registration Form

We understand that registration form consists of an important aspect of online shop. However, as a website designer, you should understand psychology of the customer as well. All customers look forward to buy items, rather than filling up lengthy forms. A lengthy registration form, therefore, can irritate them.

The best way to minimize irritation of clients is by incorporating a short registration form in the website design. Ask only for basic information.

2. Inform them about Availability/Non-Availability of a Product

People hate it when they complete the necessary procedures, later realizing that the chosen product is out of stock. For this reason, if a product is currently unavailable, inform about it to the customers as early as possible.

3. Allow Clients to make Changes Easily

Your site should offer clients flexible shopping. This means that if they put an unwanted item in their basket by mistake, you should allow them to change it without any hassle. For best results, add a ‘remove’ link beside every product added to the cart. This will allow customers to implement modifications easily.

4. Offer Real-Time Support

As compared to directing users to FAQ pages, offering them real-time support will add greater value to your site. This strategy will solve problems and queries of customers promptly. Remember that if customers do not receive assistance, while facing problems during online shopping, they will simply cancel their order.

5. Do not Disable the ‘Back’ Button

Many visitors prefer hitting the ‘back’ button when they want to move on from the page they are currently viewing. Disabling this button can create confusion and frustration. To ensure that users do not face any problem, never disable the back button.

6. Allow Users to Check their Baskets

Before clicking the ‘order’ button, allow customers to view their basket. This will convince them that they have placed right items in the basket, and thus offer peace of mind. For best results, incorporate pictures, product specification, along with item titles in the cart. This will help visitors to scan the necessary information quickly.

7. Offer Progress Indicator

Progress indicator allows customers to understand the stage where they are currently. This in turn, will make them feel that they can control the shopping process. Furthermore, it offers assurance to them, since they can directly observe the various stages of online shopping.

8. Simplify the Checkout Interface

Consider the fact that during the checkout process, your customers are concentrating on buying the product. Implementing browser controls at such a stage would disrupt their activity.
To remain on the safe side, opt for a simple checkout interface. Avoid unnecessary elements, such as latest products, discount coupons, and product category links.

9. Avoid Disrupting the Checkout Process at any Cost

If you want to offer valuable information to a customer, who is currently at the checkout stage, consider two options. Opt for a floating window to provide them with necessary information. Alternatively, use a pop-up window.

Never encourage a client to leave the checkout page, no matter what the reason is. Doing so can distract them. Additionally, they may lose track of where they are currently, and finally, fail to complete the order.

10. Highlight Your Delivery Time

To assure customers about delivery of the product, inform them about the expected time. This will allow them to prepare themselves, accordingly. For example, if you highlight the expected delivery date in your site, they can make sure that someone stays at home on the particular day.

11. Communicate with Them

Once the users have placed the order, express your gratitude. Sending them a ‘thank you’ note will definitely impress them.  Additionally, inform them about the next step-i.e. you will send them a confirmation mail soon. This will clear up the confusions and provide them with assurance.

12. Do not forget to send the Mail Actually

Finally, send a confirmation mail stating the necessary details and expected date of delivery. This will ensure users that they have ordered correctly. In case of any mistake, allow them to change the order.

Consider these strategies for developing a user-friendly website design.

Visual vocabulary consists of design elements that play a crucial role in creating brand identity of your company. These elements are secondary ones (logo being the primary element) and consist of graphic design, colors, font, and the paper type.

After you have incorporated all the elements in the visual vocabulary, checking their consistency is critical. This is because a consistent visual vocabulary will create a professional image of the company, making it (the image) even stronger. Furthermore, it will help people to recall corporate identity design of your company more easily.

Here are few ways you can develop a consistent visual vocabulary.

Incorporate Similar Images throughout your Promotional Materials

With the help of this strategy, your company can create a powerful impression on the target audience. We discuss this point in details.

• Use the logo design of your company in all the business documents and marketing materials. You can also consider repeating your contact information, line art, tagline, and any decorative styles throughout the products and advertisements.

• Let us assume that you own a web design company and use interesting images for highlighting your business. Stick to images. Do not use clip-art suddenly because it would disrupt image of your company.

• Maintain consistency by placing graphic and logo designs in similar areas of marketing materials. If you have incorporated the logo in upper section of your business card design, do not place it in lower section of the brochures.

Choose Coordinated Fonts

Select few coordinated fonts and use them repeatedly in the marketing materials.

• Logo Font- This is the font you should use in your logos. It should be unique and interesting.

• Secondary Font- Fonts used in taglines, graphics, quotes, and headlines are known as secondary fonts.

• Tertiary Font- You can opt for tertiary font, when secondary font is unavailable. You may use it for mid-length information, such as contact details.

• Serif text Font- This is perfect for printed documents, especially lengthy ones.

• Sans-Serif Font- This font is ideal for designing a website or creating shorter printed materials.

• Website Font- This font refers to the one you can use for creating a website.

Depending on your business requirement and preferences of target audience, you can use some or all these fonts to create consistent visual vocabulary.

Opt for the Same Color Scheme

Using similar color palette is critical. This will help your audience to identify your company more easily. Here are few tips.

• If your logo consists of one or two colors, including them in the main color palette of your company can be a great idea. Avoid using excessive number of colors. Remember that this strategy can create a disjointed image of your brand identity.

• If you want to extend the basic color scheme, using shades of existing colors can be a great idea. For example, if you use light green in your logo, you can select dark green for extending the color palette.

• Using complementary shades of the main color can be a simple way to extend your color palette. For more information, refer to the color wheel.

• As stated earlier, color consistency is important. If you use bright colors in logos, do not use suddenly dull colors in brochure designs.

Pick out Coordinated Papers

Using high-quality paper for marketing your products is critical. Read on to know more.

• As stated earlier, consistency between various elements of visual vocabulary is critical. The same rule applies for paper quality as well. If you are using thick paper for brochure designs, for example, choose the same paper for creating letterheads.

• Make sure that type of the paper complements purposes of the business. If you have a website design company, choose textured paper. On the other hand, smooth and white paper is perfect for those who offer technical or medical services.

We highlighted few tips that will help you to create a consistent visual vocabulary. Additionally, you need to ensure that the writing style that you use for brochures and advertisements is consistent as well. Paying attention the marketing timing is critical as well.

Let us assume that you send readers newsletter on a particular date and time of the month. In such a situation, you should always try to send it at the same date and time every month. This will fulfill your clients’ expectations and create a positive impression.

A website can have different audiences. These can include curious visitors, past and prospective customers, and referral partners. Every audience has different requirements and may look for unique things in a site. To create an all-rounded web design, paying attention to needs of various audiences is critical.

You can achieve this by balancing crucial elements of a site. These elements can include content, graphic design, Flash animation, navigation style, coding, and call-to-action statements, etc. Ensuring that these elements complement each other will help you to develop a site that fulfills requirement of various audiences.

1.  Do not opt for an Extreme Strategy

Many website designers believe that implementing excessive elements can spice up a site. In fact, too many elements can make a site complicated. This in turn, can interfere with the desire of a visitor to find an element quickly. For this reason, using selective elements is critical.

We agree that this is a good strategy to simplify the site. However, this does not mean that you should stick to a single element. We discuss more about this topic in the next point.

2.  Avoid Over-emphasizing Requirements of a Particular Audience

If you use a single element and focus on requirements of a particular audience, others may feel deprived. Let us assume that you own a website design company. If you emphasize on including web design samples and avoid incorporating any useful information, it may satisfy your past clients (since they are already aware of your services). However, such a strategy can deprive prospective clients and people who have reached your site via search engines. Since they will not get any information about your company, they will not feel compelled to opt for your services.

In this particular scenario, the ideal strategy would be to include both design samples and relevant information.

3.  Questions you should ask

We discussed the importance of creating a site that considers requirements of various audiences. Now, the question arises, how you can balance these elements?

The best way to maintain a refined balance between different elements is by asking yourself certain questions. Honest answers to these questions will help you to understand how you should balance these elements. We highlight these questions.

• How are people finding your site?

This is the most critical question. Find out how people are coming across your site. Did they find your site via search engines? Did someone refer your site? Did they come to know about you at networking events? Finding out the source through which people came to know about you can offer you information about psychology of the visitors and their different requirements.

• What is their aim?

Every visitor has a different requirement. A past client may want to know whether you can take up a new project. Potential clients may want to acquire information about you. Curious visitors may simply explore your site.

Understanding aims of different audiences is critical. It will help you to create a site that gives equal importance to all audiences.

• What is the goal of your site?

For best results, considering goals of your site is also important. A site may want to attract new clients or acquire the topmost rank in search engines. Alternatively, you may want to connect with people. Understanding aims of your site will help you to fulfill your business goals.

• Is anything contrary in your site?

While designing a website, ensure that you do not put in contradictory elements by mistake. Remember that if contradictory elements exist in your site, it may confuse your visitors. For this reason, make sure that all the elements complement each other.

Considering these 4 questions will allow you to create a site that pays attention to requirement of various audiences.

Dear Readers,

On the eve of Christmas, here’s wishing all of you a ~ Merry Christmas ~ from WebGuru India!!

Shipping is the most critical aspect of an ecommerce website design. Surprisingly, many people do not pay attention to this aspect of web design. The result is that customers feel frustrated due to lack of good information. Sometimes, they feel irritated because they manage to find the shipping policy section after an extensive search. As a result, they move on to other sites and this affects the revenue.

Incorporating a strict shipping policy in website design of your site is critical. It will help people to understand the rules that you follow for shipping products to customers. Furthermore, this will encourage clients to trust you. A strict shipping policy offers people peace of mind, because they know that the shipping policy will safeguard their products in any situation.

Simply stating shipping policy, of course, is not enough. To build a long-term relationship with your clients, adhering to these policies is critical. If you want to know how you can improve shipping section of your site, read on.

1.  Offer Detailed Information

Many customers complain that they do not find relevant information in ecommerce sites. The best way to deal with this situation is to offer visitors detailed information about different shipping options, costs, and approximate delivery time. To create a strong impression, try to stick to the due date.

2.  Opt for Radio Buttons

Use radio buttons to display shipping information before your visitors. This is because radio buttons guide the user’s eye to various options, thus encouraging him/her to select the right option.

A drop-down list, on the other hand, emphasizes on current selection. Using such a list can make users think that you are forcing them to choose a particular option.

3.  Free Shipping

Many online marketers insist on offering free shipping to grab attention of customers. This is a good technique because it encourages people to buy items from an ecommerce site. However, if you misuse the free shipping option, it can have a drastic impact on the relation that you share with your customers.

Examples of misuse of free shipping option can include canceling it suddenly or charging customers with hidden costs.

4.  Do not Delay Shipping

Once you receive an order, pack the product and ship it immediately. Do not invest 4-5 days for shipping. Rather, try to ship it on the same day you acquire the order. Remember that if you want to earn trust of customers, ship it as soon as possible.

5.  Stay in Touch with Customers

As the owner of an ecommerce site, you should stay in touch with clients regularly. Offer them peace of mind by updating them about the status of their products consistently. Whenever you receive any order, send an email to the concerned person immediately. State that you have received the order.

Contacting the customer, after you have shipped the item, is also critical. If you any face any problem, inform him/her as well. This is particularly important when an item is back-ordered. This will convince clients that you care about them and thus, create a positive impression.

We discussed some crucial shipping practices an ecommerce site should follow. Apart from creating a good impression, these techniques will help you to reduce complaints as well. This in turn, will allow you to acquire repeat customers. Remember that clients always prefer to buy items from a site that respects their preferences and safeguards their products.

The simplest way of attracting attention of web visitors is by offering good information. These days, people do not have the time to read huge content. They simply scan the information. Naturally, they expect the content to be simple, unique, and relevant. We offer few important tips that will help you to improve your web content writing skills.

1. Do not use redundant sentences

Using redundant sentences diminishes value of an article. Furthermore, it can irritate users and drive them away. Example of a redundant sentence can include “He was accused of offering a false misstatement”. In this sentence, the words ‘false’ and ‘misstatement’ convey similar meaning. The right sentence would be “He was accused of offering a misstatement”’.

2.  Respect your readers

While writing an article, address your readers directly. Offer them valuable information and solve their problems. Convince them through your content that they are important to you.

For example, do not use sentences such as “Opt for this website design technique to enhance the look of a site”. Rather say “Opt for this website design technique to enhance the look of your site’. Remember that using the word ‘your’ sounds better.

3.  Avoid commanding

This point is a continuation of the previous point – respecting your readers. While writing an article, do not command. Rather, suggest things. For example, instead of writing “buy this tool”, state “you can consider this tool”.

The latter sentence offers suggestion in a gentle manner and respects choice of the readers. Remember that everyone has self-pride and your articles should not hurt it in any way.

4.  Use words, rather than vague phrases

As stated earlier, people do not have the time to read meaningless sentences. Likewise, they do not prefer vague phrases. If you can explain something by using a word, rather than a vague phrase, go for it. For example, do not write “it was an unfortunate incident that caused the delay”. Rather, say “accident caused the delay”.

5.  Make your articles memorable

To leave a strong impression on readers, try to make your articles memorable. Popular techniques can include sharing a personal experience, using a popular quote, or teasing readers with an interesting question.

6.  Add an element of mystery in your posts

One of the major purposes of an article is to retain interest of readers. If you incorporate all information in the initial part of the content, people may not feel compelled to read rest of it.

To avoid such a situation, make your readers guess about information stated in final part of the article. Ask a question, make them think – use any technique to retain their interest in the article.

7.  Take help of humor

Humor can make your posts different from millions of others available in the Internet. Besides, humorous articles are fun to read. However, you should not use humor for the sake of it. Rather, add humor naturally, wherever possible. We bet that people will like you for making their day lighter!

8.  Use analogy

Explaining complicated topics is not easy. Readers may fail to understand what you are trying to say and feel bored. To simplify matters, you can use an analogy. Example of an analogy can include “Street light is similar to a star. Both offer light at night and located overhead”.

9.  Write about familiar topics

To earn trust of your readers, write about familiar topics. This will allow you to offer authentic information. In case you are aiming to write about unfamiliar topics, try out the suggestions first-hand. Alternatively, get in touch with a person who has good knowledge about this particular niche.

If you offer a suggestion, without knowing anything about it, it may backfire. This in turn, can affect your credibility as a writer.

10.  Read, read, read

Reading web articles, books, and magazines is important. It will help you to observe writing styles of others and accordingly, improve your own skills. Additionally, it will help you to update your knowledge base.

Finally, do not forget to edit your articles. For best results, evaluate them from a neutral point of view. If a sentence does not sound good, rephrase it. Remember that self-criticism will help you to polish your skills and earn reputation as a good writer.
If you are looking for writing suggestions and tips, get in touch with any reputed content writing India company.

In our earlier post, we discussed the importance of professional networking. In this post, we offer you useful tips that will help you to strengthen your relationship with other designers and developers. Here are few suggestions that you can consider.
 
1. Simplify the process of contacting you

The main purpose of networking is staying in regular touch with each other. For this reason, you should make it easier for others to get in touch with you. If you have created a profile in any professional networking site, clearly mentioning your contact number, address, and email ID is important.

2. Take advantage of mutual benefits

A networking relationship works well when both parties enjoy some advantages. Mutual benefit encourages both parties to stay in touch with each other and maintain a strong relationship. It also opens up interesting opportunities and allows people to collaborate with each other. Therefore, if you come across situations that offer mutual benefits, do not hesitate to utilize it.

3. Exhibit a practical attitude

A relationship flourishes when two people show a genuine interest in each other. The same rule applies for professional networking. For enjoying the advantages of networking, you should exhibit a practical attitude. Do not wait for others to offer you a job or project. Rather, take an active role in the discussions. Talk with people, express your opinions. If you attend any seminar, show an interest in works of other designers.

4. Figure out your goals

Before you start networking, figure out your goals. This will help you to pick out the right person and modify your networking strategies accordingly.

Let us assume that you are a fresh graduate who wants an entry-level job in a reputed web design company. Since you are already aware of your goal, it is easier for you to connect with people associated with design companies. This saves time and energy, because you develop relationship with the right person.

5. Do not be selfish

While networking with others, do not look for your benefit in every situation. If someone faces a problematic situation, offer as much help as possible. Networking for the sake of your benefits always will create a negative impression about you.

6. Do not let networking affect your productivity

Networking is important. However, it should not affect your productivity. Set aside a fixed period (say 30 minutes) everyday for connecting with people. Avoid checking social networking sites and your emails every five minutes.

7. Do not reject invitation from a person with a different background

Networking with people related to your industry is beneficial. As a website designer, connecting with other designers is always beneficial. However, you can also connect with people from a different background.  It will help you to learn about other industries and receive a fresh perspective about your creations.

Happy networking!