web site design main

Make Visitors Customers

Design Components

Design Rates

Reducing Costs

Domain Names

Service & Support

Shopping Carts

Real Estate Packages

Things to consider when
planning a web site
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The Team at Cape Graphics can guide you through the entire web site development process.

Each project we design is created from scratch with quality, visual appeal and search engine friendliness.

Converting a visitor to a Customer: Many of our potential customers say their current site is getting lots of traffic, however, the visitors are not securing or purchasing their product or services. In most cases their existing web site failed to meet essential requirements:

	Offer consistent, clear and easy web site navigation
	Establish a sense of credibility and product quality.
	Offer a desirable product at a reasonable price.
	Present content in a concise and attractive manner.
	Offer convenient options for purchasing or making contact.

Design Elements & Site Components:

The first screen of your web site must convey the web sites purpose, promote the service or product and provide links to major topic areas.

There are basically two types of web surfers, the "Clickers" and the "Scrollers" What are you? Most people I know are clickers. Clickers will grow impatient with your site and usually leave if they have to scroll to find navigation options.

The first key to a good web site is a clear and consistent navigation system that will allow the user to easily find pages in your web site and navigate within the pages with minimal use of the scroll bar. Once the surfer is at the detailed content even a clicker will happily use the scroll bar.

Second is content layout that allows a user to scan (not read) the top most section of the page. The top section should present the main idea of information they will find on that page along with links directly to the content. This is also a good spot to bring attention to a related topic.

Navigation could include one or more of the following options:

Main Menu:	The main categories of information a user will find on the site. Usually less then 10 items.
Sub Menus:	Presents links to pages related to one of the main menu items.
Page Menus:	Links at the top of the page to content within that page.
Return Buttons:	Returns a user to the top of the page or previous menu.
Bottom Menu:	Links to contact, home and may include links to any or all other pages within the web site.
Content Pages:	Presents the detailed content for any main, sub or page menu.

Graphical theme, titles & menus.		Domain Registration
Scanned and digital images.		Web Site hosting
Dress it up with:		E-mail you@your-web-address.com
Flash and Cell Animations		Site maintenance
Video and Sound		Registration with search sites
Real Estate Sale Property Searches		Web site statistics
Shopping Carts for on-line ordering		Search Engine Placement Reports
Data collection & order forms		Discussion Groups and Surveys

Screen Resolution & Your Web Site:

The higher a users resolution, the more information they will be able to see on the screen at one time.
If a web site is designed for a screen resolution higher than the visitor is using it will require the visitor to scroll left/right and up & down to find site navigation. As a result they will not stay on the site very long.

Web sites can be designed for any size depending on the site. Commercial sites are now at 800x600. Sites that have to conform to standards for handicapped or appeal to senior citizens will require 640x480.

You can check your screen resolution: Right click somewhere on your screen, where there are no open windows or icons. From the menu that will pop-up select "properties" then select "settings".

If your screen is set higher than 640x480, change it 640x480 and view some web sites. If you are already viewing at 640x480 you may want to try a larger resolution, say 800x600, and see what happens. On 17" monitors try 1024x768 or higher. You may want to explore the color settings...high and true color will greatly improve one's visual experience.

Web Site Design Rates: The preferred method is to discuss the site requirements with you and let us quote a price. The price will be based on a number of different items:

	Complexity of the graphical theme		Complexity of site navigation
	Number and quality of images		Number of pages and amount of content
	Level of search engine preparation		Number of data collection forms
	Accept on-line credit card payments		Shopping Carts

Tips on reducing the cost of a web site:

	Submit text portions of your content proofed in plain text format
	Supply high quality photographs and images

Securing your www:

Registering Your Domain: If you plan to have Cape Graphics design your site we will do this for you. If you just want to save the name, Network Solutions can provide temporary hosting (for a fee), until you find a permanent hosting service. If you elect to do this be sure to save all correspondence from Network Solutions.

Finding Your Internet Identity: Securing a domain name is simple process. First you must determine the www.name.com you want, then visit www.netsol.com and follow the screen instructions to see if that name is available.