Much like those who are in the field of creative arts, web designers can also experience writer's block. No matter how long you have been in this business or the years that you have rendered service to your web design company, there are times when you simply get stuck with no novel ideas to keep you going in your web design/copy write project. However, there are a few ways by which you can deal with these blocks. Here are six tips that I have found to be useful in generating new ideas and be of productive service to your web design company once again:
1. Be ready for procrastination to come and block you. Do you notice that when you are assigned with a new web design project and find have to start working on ideas for it, you find yourself thinking about other ideas totally unrelated? You might start to think about how much it will cost to repaint your house, or when you would like to play golf, or what car you would suggest your friend should buy. These are just some of the ways that procrastination disguises itself. However, you should also recognize that these are the things that you actually want to do. So, you can write down the other things you would like to do and schedule them or have a web design to do list. I realized that once I write down this web design to do list, I do not tend to think about them as often time and again as compared to when I simply ignore them.
2. Start somewhere in the middle. If you ask other designers in your web design company, they will surely agree with you that it feels rather intense to have to start from the top of a page and design downwards. Of course, you will still have to do it that way when it comes to HTML or CSS coding, but when dealing with web design, you might find it easier to focus on the most important part first - the one that catches the attention of an online user. I would usually think of what it should look like in the middle before I move on to navigation, advertising and branding which are found at the top, sides or bottom of the web design page.
3. Make a draft of your web design on paper first. In your web design company, do you frequently see people writing rough drafts on paper? Although this is rather uncommon nowadays, I still find it more helpful to "web design" on paper first. It can be very easy to get all hung up on the technicalities in HTML or JavaScript if you try to do your initial web design on a computer. Web designing on paper is sometimes easier to do. Also, when you "Web design" on paper, it is does not take much effort to erase them or scratch them out when you need to make changes. If you hate the idea you came up with, you do not have to feel bad about throwing the paper right into your trash bin.
4. Take time to plan your web design. Planning is very important when starting a web design project. Unfortunately, it is the one that is taken for granted the most. Most web designers proceed immediately to developing pages or generating web designs without giving the project ample though. When you do this, you run the risk of over-budgeting, you might run out of time, or end up not meeting the client requirements - all of which your web design company will mostly likely not welcome. Take all the time you need for planning the web design project (as long as it is reasonable, of course). Taking the time to plan will not hurt your web design, but lack of adequate planning will.
5. Do not hesitate to ask other web designers for help. Never be afraid to ask for someone else's help when the need arises. Surely, someone in your web design company will be ever willing to lend you a hand or provide you suggestions and constructive criticism. However, be careful about whom you ask the help of. Be wary of those who do not find good in what you are doing, as they will not provide you the help that you need.
6. If you are really stuck, try to do something else for a while. If there is no other way to go about your writer's block, try to get your mind off to think about something else. Take some time to stop thinking about the web design and the current problem and allow your subconscious to rest for a while. I'm sure other people in your web design company have experienced waking up in the morning with a great solution completely formed to solve the problem.
Webmasters who believe that there is no need to optimize web design are on a state of SEO confusion. This belief will lead to the failure of the overall search engine optimization process. It is important to optimize your site’s design along with other factors like your site’s content, links, page titles and Meta tags.
An optimized web design is one that is search engine friendly. Its structure must be recognizable for the search engine spiders and crawlers. Optimizing web design is done for the purpose of making your website more navigable and spiderable for the search engine spiders and crawlers.
Web Design Elements To Optimize
Here are four of the most important elements of web design that you must take into consideration as you endeavor to achieve a more search engine friendly web design:
•HTML Element
The HTML codes that you use on your web design must be in compliance to the HTML standards widely accepted on the internet. Non-compliant HTML codes make it difficult for the search engine spiders and crawlers to spider the entire website and index it. This implies that it would be impossible for a website using non-compliant HTML codes to rank well on the search engines and its result pages.
•CSS Stylesheet Element
What is the use of a CSS Stylesheet in your web design? CSS Stylesheet allows you to standardize the overall appearance of your website. You can either use internal or external CSS; however, it is advisable to use the external CSS Stylesheet rather than the internal CSS stylesheet. This is due to the fact that external CSS Stylesheet allows your HTML codes to be concise.
•Navigation Menu Element
External JavaScript must be utilized in creating the multiple level navigation menu of your web design. This allows you to separate the HTML codes from JavaScript. Remember that the search engine spiders and crawlers find it easier to read plain HTML files. An effective web design optimization recommends this separation rather than the usual navigation menu in Javascript.
•Graphic Element
Although some resources tell you to quit using graphics, you can still use it in your website. But you have to minimize the file size of the images you will upload. And remember that the search engines prefer text rather than graphics so you should avoid using a lot of graphics on your website especially on the top portion of the page.
These elements need to be optimized if you want to come up with a search engine friendly web design. And more than this, an optimized web design adds to your website’s chance of getting higher rank on the search engines and its result pages.
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