Paragon Media One

Raise your hand if you hate FLASH intros.  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Pretty much everyone.  And flash intros aren’t just hated.  They’re mocked.  Do yourself a favor and come up with something better.  Something individual.  Use your creativity.   Once you’ve got your killer intro, look at the rest of the layout.  Is there enough [...]

Does your blog have ads?  If you decide to post ads on your page, Google “ad-sense” to get some ideas.  And make sure that you place them so they don’t interfere with your content.  You don’t want readers to be annoyed by the ads.  They might decide to stop reading your blog.  If you do [...]

What’s a favicon? Good question. The word “favicon” is short for “favorite icon.” People use them to bookmark their favorite websites. Why should you add one? Because it looks personal and professional at the same time. It give readers a- well, an icon- to associate with your blog. [...]

Visitors should be able to get to your site easily.  If you’ve removed any pages set up a custom 404 page that redirects visitors to your home page.  After visitors reach your web page, they need to be able to find information easily.  Analyze your web logs.  Find out which pages are visited most.  Which [...]

Have you ever experienced the thrill of stumbling across a website you’ve been meaning to visit- only to find that it’s “under construction?”  You don’t want your users to experience that pang of acute disappointment.  Before moving on to a website that’s not under construction.  No part of your website should ever be under construction.  [...]

Blogs are usually fairly personal in tone. Your content may be as accessible as can be, but it helps to personalize your layout too. When you’re looking for ways to make your blog stand out, don’t forget to customize the banner. Banners usually have a generic design. It’s likely to [...]

Loading shouldn’t take forever. If it seems to, site users are likely to cancel the load. Remember that not everyone has high-speed internet, and don’t make loading too complicated. Make sure nothing takes more than 10-15 seconds to load. Use pictures sparingly. When you do use pictures, make sure they [...]

In addition to being professional, your website should be easy to navigate. Start by keeping things up to speed. Slow websites suck. Keeping links blue can help but is not required. Avoid too many drop-down menus. Those can be tedious and annoying to use. Never use horizontal scrolling. Customers [...]

Why do I keep mentioning that it’s important for a website to look professional? Because it is important. Make sure your website design and layout are compatible with each other. A website that looks great in high resolution may not be so easy to view correctly in 800×600. Strive for a [...]

If you offer a great product, you should offer a great website.  It’s sad, but true: online shoppers don’t see actual products.  They see websites.  Your product may be better than your competitor’s.  But if your website is worse, chances are your potential customers are going to buy your competitor’s product.  A well-designed website gives [...]