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Services
There are many diverse
elements that go into the creation of an effective WWW presence. These
elements will differ from organization to organization, and even from
page to page within the site itself. When you contact
us, we'll go over
many of the features which are available to you in the construction of
your site, including... GRAPHICS
You can include photographs, logos, backgrounds, special fonts,
drawings, etc. to make your site more visually appealing to your
visitors. In adding graphics to a web page, it is important that those
images load quickly without noticeable deterioration in quality.
As an artist with 3 years design and layout experience, we use
sophisticated graphic software such as Photoshop and Fireworks to keep
all your web images sharp, colorful, and quick loading. INFORMATIVE
TEXT
The attention span of people who use the web has been carefully studied,
and it is clear they do not want an abundance of unnecessary text. The
information provided must be presented concisely, with proper grammar
and spelling, and must be intuitively located so it can be promptly
retrieved. Should your web site require presentation of extensive text
documents, we recommend using our Acrobat PDF file service, whereby your
visitors can easily print the files as they were originally formatted,
to be read at their leisure. DOMAIN
NAME REGISTRATION
One of the first things a business or organization needs to consider is
whether or not it wants its own domain name (i.e.
http://www.yourname.com/). It is generally a good idea to secure a name
when you go online. E-Commerce
This is overwhelmingly the fastest growing part of the Internet. There
are a number of ways a business can incorporate e-commerce into a site:
for example, there are a variety of software programs available which
make it easy for a customer to gather products into a "shopping
cart", then type their credit card number into a form so it can be
securely transmitted to you (using encryption software) for order
fulfillment; or, you can simply provide all your contact information
online so the customer can contact you by e-mail, phone or in person. ORDER
FORMS
As mentioned above, order forms can allow for either the encrypted
transmission of contact information, or, forms can be included which
simply send you this information via unencrypted e-mail. If you want to
encourage people to use their credit cards online, however, then it is
to everyone's benefit for this information to be secure. SOUND
Recent advancements in compression technology and more efficient use of
bandwidth is making digital
audio much more prevalent on the web. For example, you now have the
option to verbally describe your products or services, play background
music, add sound effects, etc. If you are a musician, sound clips from
your CD or audio tape source can be included on your website to be
played in real-time with both Netscape and Explorer browsers. ANIMATION
Because simple animations download reasonably quickly, they have been
incorporated into web sites over the past couple years to make the site
more visually appealing and fun to visit. Beyond being informative, it
is very useful for a site to be "entertaining." With the
recent arrival of advanced animation software, expect to see the use of
animations continue to increase. GUEST BOOKS
By encouraging visitors to provide you (at the very least) with their
name and email, a guest book is a simple way to gather feedback; to
allow potential clients to request information; and to expand your
mailing lists. If you can give something in return for this personal
information (such as discount coupons, email notification of sales,
etc), then a guest book is even more likely to be productive. PDF
FILE CONVERSION
PDF files allow for scan or HTML conversion of your existing print
materials (i.e.. forms or newsletters) to then be uploaded and viewed on
the Web by free Acrobat
Reader software. The original graphics and page layout are retained,
and can be printed out by any printer. PDF pages are slower to load, and
difficult to read online, but are beneficial if you have detailed text
content you would like your clientele to be able to print out. "REVISION
/ MAKEOVER" OF EXISTING SITES
How many times have you heard someone say that their web site is
"not working for them"? There is a reason for that: All
web sites are NOT created equal! Way too many people
believe that being "on the web" is all that it takes. To do it
right, your site must be properly constructed. We specialize in making
"silk purses out of sow's ears," as the old saying goes. Give
us a call if you think your site is ready for a makeover. "DETAILED
EVALUATIONS" OF EXISTING SITES
If your site is not giving you the results you had hoped for, it may be
because of its structure. We'll check out its HTML coding, layout,
download time, graphics, and attractiveness to search engines, then will
prepare a detailed written evaluation
for you. You select how many of the pages on your website you want
professionally evaluated - you can then make the changes to the site
yourself, or have someone else do it for you. CUSTOM
BANNER DESIGN
One proven way to increase traffic to your own Internet address is to
place a banner on other web sites. For example, if you sell children's
tennis shoes, it would be advantageous to arrange to put an advertising
banner on a site featuring children's jackets and another banner on a
site selling children's books. For greatest effect, we will design the
banner to pick up on your logo and the look of your overall site
presentation. SEARCH
ENGINE REGISTRATION
Search engines are
like an advanced form of telephone directory assistance. If someone is
looking for you, they can type in your name and, if you have a web site,
your web address will come up. Or, if they are simply looking to find a
business or organization in your field, the search engine can also help.
While we automatically register you with many of the major search
engines, it's important to realize that for a web site to be easily
found it must be properly constructed... having extensively
studied the workings of search engines, we are especially aware of the
various design techniques required to help our client sites respond well
to search queries. INTRA-SITE
SEARCH ENGINES
For larger web sites, or those with varied content, an intra-site search
engine allows the visitor to quickly find an item by entering a search
word query into a search box on the home page. The search engine indexes
only the pages on your site, and returns results of instances of
pertinent content on a list, so the viewer can easily link to the
desired item. SITE
MAINTENANCE AND REVISIONS
Don't make the mistake of putting up a web site and then forgetting
about it. For a web site to be truly successful, it MUST be kept current
and fresh looking. That means updating with state of the art visuals and
current text content. One of the many services we provide is taking care
of your web site maintenance and revisions for you on an "as
needed" basis - by outsourcing this work to us, you and your staff
are free to focus on your own professional activities without the need
to learn code or buy software, and you'll be guaranteed the dependable
top quality work which Minnesota Solutions brings to every client
project. Why
get maintenance?
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