Why You Need A Clear Strategy for Social Media in Your Web Design

Social media is clearly becoming a very popular strategy for marketing success and a modern web design is considered incomplete if it does not include some attempt to connect with social media. Although social media can be a fantastic tool for connecting your web design with potential customers and increasing the reach of your website, it will not succeed unless it is applied with a clear strategy.

The first step in web design is determining the purpose of your website, by asking yourself exactly what you want to achieve by building an online presence. Secondly you need to question whether social media can support this purpose in concurrence with your web design. Typically social media will advance the goals of any web design, but it may need to be used in an idiosyncratic way, which will garner more success in the long run.

Your social media purpose may be to portray your business as caring and interactive with your customers and to promote competitions or deals, or to create a viral and engaging presence online. It must be recognised that use of social media in website design is vastly different from traditional advertising and cannot be approached in the same manner. The goal is typically to engage with your audience in a interactive and collaborative way, not to broadcast never-ending advertisements that will likely be ignored by the user.

Using social media in the wrong way could actually do your web design more harm than good, as your audience is put off by desperate attempts to gain their attention. It is not enough to simply establish accounts in each popular site, and wait for the customers to come to you, either. A good social media strategy involves finding what is unique about your business and sharing that quality with a wider audience. Additionally, constant re-evaluation of your strategy is needed, as the social media network is always being updated, you don't want to be left behind for sticking to a strategy that is no longer relevant.

Including a clear social media strategy in your web design will undoubtedly forward the ultimate purpose of your website, by giving your web design an individual presence and taking advantage of all that your business has to offer. This may be a local sensibility, a customer service focus or pretty much anything else.

Is that website user friendly?

You want a new business website, you're looking at portfolios from different web designers but you don't really know what to look for. What makes a good business website? Let's take a look at 5 basic tips.

1. Design is critical, it must be eye-catching but simple, things must be easy to read and, critically, easy to use. People get turned off websites very quickly if they can't find what they're looking for.

2. It must load quickly. People do not want to wait for fancy animations to load up, they want their information simply and fast. Don't forget, not everyone can afford fast computers or high speed Internet, you do not want to isolate a group of customers because they don't have the equipment to load your website.

3. It's all about navigation – how easy is the website to get around? This goes back to point number one. If you can't find your way around the website, your potential customers probably won't either.

4. Does the website properly convey the company's image? Think about the main factors – the feel of the site, how it looks, how it represents the brand and what it says. Content is, and always will be, important. Does it read well? Is it informative and simple?

5. Does the site have all the relevant information? If it is selling products, is there an easy way to purchase items? How does a customer go about getting more information? Is there a phone number?

Ultimately, you need a site that will represent your brand and suit what you are trying to do, but also do it simply and concisely.

Infinite IT Solutions offers a range of web design services, take a look at the portfolio to see some of the clients' websites.

Web design developments & Apple iPhone

In Web design developments & Apple iPhone 4 – Part 3 we concluded our brief run-through of the new features and functions you’ll find both on the iPhone 4 itself and in many cases merely by upgrading to iOS4, the latest operating system update for the device.

Now let’s take a look at some of the alternative smartphones and options available if you simply don’t have the money for, or the interest in, changing to the iPhone 4:

Samsung Galaxy S: A true rival to Apple’s ubiquitous smartphone as it can carry out all of the same functions as the iPhone but as an added bonus it also come with free satnav, courtesy of Google, built right into the device. This one could really be a contender.

iPhone 3GS: Like we mentioned above, and in previous entries in this blog series, many of the best features discussed during the launch of the iPhone 4 will also be available on the older iPhone 3GS, simply by upgrading to the new operating system when it gets released. So if you’re hesitant about splashing out on a new phone, then wait and see just how much of the benefits you’ll get using the current model. It might not have quite the same buzz as buying one the first day, but you can always upgrade later on!

Read Web design & Apple iPhone 4 – Part 5 for further details about the pros and cons you can expect to encounter from the latest upgrade of this market-leading smartphone.

For more information about the Apple iPhone 4 and also about some fantastic web solution services including SEO, web design, website development, graphic design, eCommerce websites and online marketing, contact the experts at Infinite IT Solutions in Melbourne.