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If you are about to embark on a journey that involves small business website design, there are certain things you have to remember. Because web design might be easy (depending on the channels you use), but it does not mean it will rise above the rest. You have to apply specific fundamentals if you want to see your website out-rank the rest. So, what are the design fundamentals? What should you know before you start your journey?

To help you get the best start, here are no less than 6 web design fundamentals you should always prioritize.

1. Know Your Audience

As a small business owner, you are already aware of how important it is to know your audience. It is critical that you understand your target market before you can sell with significant results. The same principle applies to web design. More specifically, the way you set up the website should speak to your target audience. And it does not matter what type of business you have. Whether you are selling products or services online or offline, the website needs to blend with your brand.

The lesson? Use the information you have about your audience/customers to establish a framework for the design process. Take into account what they most likely want to experience and try to make it happen.

2. Stand Out From Your Peers

If your website gets lost in all the online noise, you should not expect much in terms of traffic. Remember that many people are seeking exposure, which means you are constantly competing for higher search engine rankings. At the same time, you want visitors to “remember” your site long after they leave.

Now, you are more than welcome to use a free and basic platform to launch your small business website. You can also use a free template with limited options. But if you are serious about standing out, consider a custom design that is tailored specifically for your business model.

3. Speed And Functionality

Some of the first things online users pay attention to will be the speed and functionality of your website. For instance, if users have to wait too long for a page to load, this is bound to frustrate them. Thus, if they stick around, they are less likely to interact. The same can be said about functionality. Everything about the design should complement each other, from the colors to the overall experience.

Once again, a custom design will give you the advantage on every level. Whereas the cookie-cutter templates that are typically free will only get you so far.

4. Appealing Design

Another aspect you have to remember is that the website should be appealing. In other words, the choice of color is very important. You also want to pay special attention to the small details, such as the font styles. Essentially, there are many small elements that make up the overall design.

However, you do not want to go overboard. The last thing you want is to create a distraction from what’s really important – making a profit. Remember, what looks good to you might not be so appealing to others. Hence the reason for getting some feedback before you launch the site.

5. User-Friendly Navigation

Finally, always make sure users can easily navigate between pages and posts. This means making navigation tabs clear and placing them in the most convenient areas. A professional web designer will know all about these things. But if this is your first time designing a website, now is the time to get familiar with user habits and what they want.

You can do all of the above by yourself, or you can hire a designer to do it for you. Either way, your website needs to have these 5 web design fundamentals in place if you want online users to take it seriously.

Are you considering the idea of hiring a professional dog trainer for your pet? Before you do, ask yourself what you want your dog to learn. More often than not, you can train your dog at home with basic commands. This, of course, only applies to pet owners who have the time, energy, and patience to do training but if you’re busy and your patience and temper are short, best if you leave the training to dog experts. Nevertheless, if you want to at least try to train your dog with the basics, this post can help. There are training instructions that are super easy to follow you just have to consistently practice them at least thirty minutes a day until your pet masters the tricks. Where should you start? What commands are important? Let’s find out.

The Sit Command

One basic command all dogs should learn is the ‘sit command’. It’s one of the basic dog commands. When your dog knows how to sit it will be easier for you to control it. It’s a good first step to prepare your dog for more complex and advanced commands in the future like ‘come’ and ‘stay’. How can you do the ‘sit’ command? It’s easy but for this training, you’ll need to prepare dog treats. Get a one treat and hold it close to your dog’s nose making sure your dog knows it’s a reward. And then slowly move your hand up into the air so that your dog’s nose will follow it. By this time, your dog will be in a sitting position where its bottom is lowered to the ground. When your dog is in that position you say the command word ‘sit’ and give your dog the treat. This command is only effective if you keep repeating it until your dog associates the word ‘sit’ to a specific position and then gets a reward for doing so. You can try to test your dog by saying the command word before a meal or when you go out with your dog for a walk.

The Come Command

Aside from the sit command, it’s also important to teach your dog the ‘come’ command. This is a very helpful command especially if you lose your grip on your dog’s leash in a public place that’s deemed unsafe or if you forgot to close the door and your dog got out of the house. How can you teach your dog the come command? First, you’ll need to place a leash and a collar around your dog’s neck. Go down to its level and say the command word ‘come’ and then gently pull the leash towards you. When your dog is near you, you can give your dog praise or a treat. Again, just like the sit command, you’ll need to repeat this over and over until your dog masters it.

The Down Command

The next command is the ‘down’ command. It’s more challenging to teach but nevertheless, with patience and repetition, your dog will sooner or later master it just like the sit and come command. In this command, your dog has to be in a submissive posture. To do the dog command you’ll need to prepare a nice treat for your dog. Hold it close to its nose. Once your dog sniffs it slowly move your hand that’s holding the treat down to the floor so that your dog will follow it. Then, move your hand so that it slides down to the ground. When you do this, your dog’s body will follow it. Now that your dog is in a down position, say the word ‘down’ clearly and loud enough for your dog to hear, and then give the treat and show your affection.

Takeaway

These commands are easy and they are helpful when your dog is interacting with other animals and humans in the real world. Again, if you don’t think you’ll be able to train your dog properly, you can always ask for help from dog trainers.

Building an effective website isn’t always easy. When designing a site, you need to take many types of users into consideration. These website design tips will help you to create a well-designed, professional-looking site. You’ll be able to lower your bounce rate and improve user satisfaction.

Take Steps To Improve Your Loading Speed

Slow load times can have a negative impact on your search engine rankings and increase your bounce rates. Users aren’t going to want to wait for your page to load in; they will want to access it instantly.

When you’re designing a site, you’ll want to take steps to minimize the loading time of your site. Combine and minify files when possible. Work to reduce server response time. Try running a compression audit. A fast load speed should be your time priority. Don’t be afraid to get rid of features if they’re causing your site to load more slowly.

Simplicity Is Key

Minimalism has been a major trend in web design for a number of years now. A simple approach can boost your load time, and it can also make your site much easier for users to navigate.

Keeping your site simple could also have a positive impact on your conversion rate. Studies have found that people take more time to make a decision when they are presented with more choices. Work to reduce the number of items on your menu and ensure that users will be able to browse your site without any issue.

Avoid Using Carousels

Carousels are flashy and visually appealing, but they won’t improve your website. Reports have found that carousels are usually ignored by users. Many users exclusively browse the web via mobile devices, where carousels may not display properly.

Beyond that, carousels can cause your site to load in more slowly. Because of this, you should stay away from carousels and similar features, like sliders and accordions. A simple and clean site design is always going to be your best choice.

Minimize Clicks

Ideally, it should take no more than three clicks for someone to reach any page on your website. Look for ways to reduce the amount of clicking a person has to do in order to access the part of your site that they want to reach. For example, instead of asking someone to click the “next” button to see a new page, you could simply allow them to keep scrolling.

Don’t be afraid to have longer pages that people will have to scroll through. It’s usually easier to scroll through a page than click a button, especially if the user is on a mobile device. Take steps to minimize clicks so that you can offer a better user experience.

Use Images Effectively

Images can be an excellent way to break up content and attract the attention of a user. Images can also be a great way to draw traffic to your site. Using alt tags for your images will allow you to capture image search traffic.

While stock photos can be effective, you’ll want to create original images for your site when possible. Infographics are an especially great option. If you do create original images for your site, you may want to add a watermark so that you’ll receive credit if other people share or user your image.

These web design tips are simple to implement and will allow you to create a much stronger site. You should make a point of designing a user-friendly site that will appear on the first page of search results. Keep these suggestions at the forefront of your mind when creating a new site.

If California was a country on its own, it would have the 5th largest GDP in the world. Whether you are a business based in California or you are a business that deals with residents in California, it is important for you to always be in compliance with various laws in the state of California or ca ada. The Americans with Disabilities act came into being in the 1990s but as is the case with everything California, the state has also added to these requirements which means every business operating in California needs to be in compliance with the Chapter 11 – California Building Code as this is the chapter that incorporates the ADA guidelines.

If you are constructing a new building, it will save you a lot of time and money to make sure that your building is in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act as doing it later will cost you a lot of time and money. One of the things you need to understand is that the complaints for a business being not in compliance with the ADA can be filed years after the construction has been over.

Like many other things, the state of California also has the highest number of complaints filed for ADA non-compliance. One of the reasons is that there are a lot of people in California and it has a really high GDP which means there are a lot of businesses that can be sued. However, another important thing you need to understand is that California has made it extremely easy to file a complaint for ADA non-compliance. Anybody can file a complaint and they are required to complete and submit one simple form.

There are no complicated processes or legal procedures to file a complaint. Another reason that has been one of the main causes behind the rise in the number of non-compliance complaints is that the state of California laws allows the complainant to be awarded at least $4000 and additional court costs and attorney fees in case they win the case. In simple terms, businesses will have to pay thousands of dollars in case somebody files a complaint against them for ADA non-compliance and they are unable to defend themselves in the court of law.

If you have a business in California, you need to make sure that it is in compliance with the California ADA requirements. It is important to keep in mind that nobody is going to give a certificate to business owners that their business is in compliance with the ADA requirements. Business owners need to study the law and make sure that they are in compliance and even then, they can be sued and made to pay the legal costs and other fines. There is no certifying authority that can tell someone that they are in compliance.

This is where reliable and experienced ADA consultants come in. These consultants have a lot of experience in this field and have helped hundreds of business owners make sure that they are in compliance with the California ADA requirements.

Some of the most common claims made against California businesses for ADA non-compliance include missing signage for the exits and entrances which means there are no symbols of accessibility. Some of the other common complaints include lack of seating for wheelchair users, parking spaces with incorrect signage, stairways with incorrect heights, bathrooms not being accessible and other such things. Thankfully, an ADA consultant can help California business owners figure out the additions or deletions they need to make to the property in order to make them compliant with the ADA guidelines.

Overall, businesses in California can be sued if they are not compliant with the ADA guidelines, especially California ADA guidelines. California has made it really easy to sue businesses for ADA non-compliance. In fact, hundreds of businesses had to shut shop because they didn’t do anything and thought that nothing could happen. Thousands of businesses had to shell out thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines due to ADA non-compliance. If you are a business owner in California, you need to get in touch with an ADA consultant to make sure your business premises are in compliance which will make your business safe and prevent anybody from suing you for ADA non-compliance.

Learning ControlLogix fundamentals and troubleshooting tips is much easier if you seek for experienced instructors to teach you. These experts know how to structure the information in order for you to assimilate it with ease. This is why the first thing you should do is to seek for professional training. Fortunately, there are lots of options for you to choose from. Let’s see a few things to consider when shopping around for this type of training.

First of all, you need to make sure that the training course you choose will provide you with the knowledge you need. Ideally, upon completion of the course, you should be able to troubleshoot a ControlLogix system and make it fully functional again. This means that you should learn how to locate the different components of such systems and how to navigate through the Logix Designer application. In order to troubleshoot a system, you have to identify the faulty components and to find solutions to make them fully operational again. A good course will teach you exactly that, so you’ll be able to spot problems at a glance and sort them out in a fast and effective manner. You’ll learn about the fastest way to locate I/O tags and devices, about connecting a computer to a communications network, about interpreting ladder logic structure, about troubleshooting noise-related issues, as well as about updating the firmware. All these are only a few of the things you need to master, in order to be able to perform at your job. The better you understand all these concepts, the easier it’s going to be for you to diagnose and troubleshoot any type of ControlLogix system.

If you’re new to this system, you’ll need training to help you become familiar with the basic concepts and terminology used by the hardware systems and the software application. Individual study can’t be as effective as a well-structured course offered by experienced instructors. Just keep this in mind when you’re going to shop around for the right training. Sometimes, a good trainer can make all the difference. If you want to become a reputable specialist in ControlLogix, you have to master all basic and advanced concepts. Learning from the pros will place you one step ahead other people, thus offering you a chance to find better jobs and to get paid a higher salary. This is well worth the initial investment in your education, so do yourself a favor and pick the best ControlLogix fundamentals and troubleshooting course you can afford. It will pay off sooner rather than later, that’s for sure.

When picking your course, seek out for hands-on exercises. Learning the theory is good, but nothing compares to applying this knowledge in real life. This is why you have to find training that enables you to solve problems in a controlled environment, in order to become more confident in your skills and in your ability to troubleshoot such systems. An experienced instructor will know how to create challenges to help you understand and acquire the skills you need to perform at your job.

There are only a few tips to help you pick the right training course. Always make sure you read the curricula with great care, as some of these courses may include some overlapping topics. If you intend to take more than one course, you need to ensure that they will teach you different concepts and skills. If needed, ask an expert trainer to guide you along the way, so that you can choose the best education for you. Your future is at stake, so choose carefully and don’t take the cheapest course just because you don’t have money. Save, if needed, but get the best training available.

Not all the web site designers are alike. Sometimes, two websites with a similar look and feel may be radically different when it comes to usability and efficiency. This short article takes a close look at the few web site design best practices and common mistakes, for anyone to understand what you need to be looking for inside a website.

Responsive web site design is an absolute must. As more than 50 percent of all online users access the web coming from a mobile device, web-site designers can’t ignore the requirements any longer. An internet site should have a fluid design and also to get accustomed to any device. This provides users a seamless experience, while also supporting your SEO efforts. Google has now announced mobile friendliness as being among their ranking signals. Websites that comply will manage to benefit coming from a small edge against your competitors in the SERPs.

The loading speed is another thing web developers should consider in their work. A sluggish website will have a very high bounce rate, as users won’t wait around for pages to load before hitting the back button on the browsers. Search engines like google also penalize slow loading websites. Checking the loading speed and optimizing the code for fast loading is probably the web design dos you can’t manage to overlook.

The “mobile first” principle is an additional best practice in today’s web design. An effective website must be optimized for mobile phones right off the bat. Which means you should avoid complex scripts that boost the level of transferred data and slow up the loading of your website pages. If you must use fancy animations as well as other such scripts, make sure they are show just to laptop and desktop users. This way, you’ll maintain the mobile data transfer as low as possible, by giving mobile users fast accessibility core information about the page. They will use less bandwidth, whilst getting much quicker accessibility information they want.

To summarize the above mentioned, we can easily claim that the principle web design best practices you should take into consideration are the responsive layout, the mobile first approach, and the optimization for fast loading. Moreover, you must take into account that the most important component of an internet page should be the very first thing users see. Place your call to action on top of the fold and on the left side of the screen.

Split testing is necessary to building a good website layout. Be certain that you test several elements that you can such as color schemes, menus positions, and font sizes. You shouldn’t take anything with no consideration. Sometimes, a small tweak may result in huge benefits in terms of user experience. People will stay longer in your website, and they can follow-through the sales funnel, making your site a great marketing strategy. Anyway, not having a sales funnel in your mind is probably the biggest don’ts of web page design. A site without a purpose can’t be competitive with one who concentrates on the user behavior. You should be clear about what you would like your users to accomplish, in depth. Here is the key to a successful website.