Outsourcing Web Design to India

Outsourcing web design & development has a set of benefits and risks associated with it. Outsourcing your web development requirements to another company has become a common practice in many countries. The countries which have emerged as popular choices for outsourcing web design include India, China, Philippines and Russia mainly due to their more skilled manpower that is proficient in English.

The practice has gained popularity due to the benefits associated with it. The major advantage that a company gains by outsourcing its web development work is the saving of costs. Undertaking web development in-house involves a lot of money and wastage of time. This cost can be effectively cut by outsourcing the project to a professional company which excels in this particular field. This practice helps the organization to focus on the core business as it is relieved from the task of developing and managing the website.

Web Development undertaken by a professional Web development Company assures higher quality as such a company has the expertise and knowledge in the field of web design & development. Dealing with several clients and developing websites for different specifications results in the most extensive and exhaustive experience for these companies. Another advantage of outsourcing can be the operational expertise and capacity management obtained. It gives a company access to a wider spectrum of talent other than the limited talent of their human resource. Other than these the benefits derived from web development outsourcing include:

·         Enhanced capacity for innovation

·         Scalability

·         Reduced time to market

·         Catalyst for change

·         Creating leisure time

However like two sides of a coin, outsourcing also has a set of risks involved apart from the benefits. Selecting the wrong company for your project is the biggest risk as it is likely to ruin the whole venture. There are several companies which indulge in frauds at the behest of web development. One needs to be aware and keep oneself updated about the latest scenario of the business and choose the company wisely. Having complete know how of the company and the current trends in outsourcing will help you in getting a profitable deal. So, go ahead and explore the various options by undertaking a thorough research for successful outsourcing.

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How to make your e-commerce website effective?

What is an Ecommerce Website?

Before trying to understand the usability of an Ecommerce website one should first try and understand what an Ecommerce website actually is, i.e., what are the things that separates it from other type of websites. In an Ecommerce transaction all dealings take place over the internet. Thus an Ecommerce website is providing a platform for executing the online transactions. It is designed in such a way that it integrates the functionality, like displaying a catalog of products & services and accepting online payments. We can also say that it’s simply a website developed for allowing businesses to sell their products and services to the customers via internet.

Things to keep in mind while creating an Ecommerce Website

Through ecommerce solutions one can get any product or service within a few clicks of a button from anywhere across the world.

One should go for the similar approach that it would adopt while starting a new business or launching a new product. Following are a few things that should be kept in mind while creating Ecommerce websites. 

Products or Services: Initially, one needs to decide the products or services he/she is going to offer to the customers and the ways or channels through which they’ll like their products or services to be found over internet.

Detailed Description: The detailed description of all the products and services should be taken into account. A Comparison between their products and other similar products can also be showcased along with the description of the products. Customer reviews, case studies, testimonials can also be added for making the website more effective and successful.

Computing Platforms: One can also create an Ecommerce website that can support a number of computing platforms enabling the customers to act in accordance with their wish and to buy anywhere and anytime possible.

Site Layout: The site lay out and structuring is very important aspect. This takes in everything like templates, text, color schemes, themes, navigation, etc. The site layout should be simple and consistent across all browsers and hand held devices.

Advance Check out Options: One can make the site more efficient by adding various advance check out options while creating an Ecommerce website with all the details such as multiple destinations delivering, gift wrapping, customized notes transferring, etc.

Auto Responder Feature: One should make sure to include an auto responder feature in the ecommerce solutions if they wanted to track down the customer’s history of purchases. Extra benefits such as automated follow up messages and tracking links can also be included.

Payment options: One needs to decide about how he/she is going to accept the payments. Because unless one have the means of taking payments from customers it’s less worthy to showcase the products or services on the website.

Security: If the payment option is there on the website then it’s the responsibility of the webmaster to locate a way for protecting the customer’s privacy and important security information like their names, addresses, credit card details, bank account details, etc as it is very tough to recover the customers trust once it gets lost.

Hosting: One will certainly need to choose a hosting service for making the site live. It should be reliable as well as affordable. One should also consider points like the website size, future expansion plans etc.

Coding: Every website especially Ecommerce website needs regular changes or updates. As coding is the architectural foundation for the website one should either know or learn how to code or hire someone to do it for him/her.

One should develop an E commerce website in such a manner that the users and visitors are not only aimed towards the product or service pages but also are convinced enough to make the purchase. After all making the visitor purchase is the sole purpose behind developing an ecommerce website.

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Responsive Website or a Mobile Website?

With ever changing trends and a multi fold increase in Mobile Internet users, more and more companies today are aiming to create websites which would make their services available to mobile users. It is a fact that what seems to be more important on a desktop might not be equally important or useful for a mobile user who is accessing the page on a much smaller screen and is on the go. That is why, thinking properly before you choose to build a website for the smaller devices, for your company or business is so important. 

1. Responsive Web Design

A responsive website is basically a website which can adapt itself on different screens regardless of the device you are playing it on. You build one single responsive website and it re-sizes itself accordingly across any device.

2. Mobile Sites

A mobile website is similar to a regular website and can be accessed with the help of different browsers, the only difference being it is created for small-screen devices. Mobile sites are optimized for on-the-go users, contain limited (or rather, necessary) content and are lighter and faster than responsive websites.

Responsive Web Design V/S Mobile Sites

When comparing these two, you really need to keep in mind as to what the purpose of the site is going to be. If it is a website aimed at providing its users a mobile experience which involves quick decisions like buying and selling, then a separate mobile site is a better option. However, if you need to constantly add and update it with new trends, then a single responsive designed site is a better option. This is because, when it comes to easy updating, mobile sites can be a pain because the site would need to be updated twice (desktop version and mobile version).

Also, it depends on what your budget is when you are planning to create a site. A mobile site requires low development charges compared to responsive design sites which need sophisticated coding and heavy technicalities. Other advantages that a separate mobile site holds over responsive design sites include DIY options and affordable web development. When it comes to optimization and SEO, and adding conversion and redirect codes, responsive designed websites rule the roost.

The above comparison clearly shows that there are pros and cons for both the choices. It depends on you and the nature of your business as to what would be the best fit for your situation. It’s better to research well and understand your own business for best results.

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Enhance your Travel Business

Are you looking forward to enhance your tour and travel business or build a strong image in tour and travel industry? Well one of the vital steps that you must undertake is to get a travel portal developed. The travel industry has opened up to a vast number of people in the last several years because of the internet. However the internet has also made the industry vastly competitive with margins wearing down and too many players in the market. There is increasing pressure on players in the travel business to improve margins and retain business. This has given rise to the need of getting travel portal developed so as to increase the volume of traffic coming to your travel website. If you are a part of the growing international travel industry, travel portal development will enable your business to generate greater business volumes and yield higher returns on investment. 

But just getting a portal developed is not enough. You should take care that your travel portal should encompass all the qualities and features of a good travel portal. Ensure that your travel portal provides all tours and travel administrative tools that help you advance with the changing demand of the present travel business.

• To start with home page, make sure that it is attractive as well as informative. Select the pictures and theme that fulfill both these requirements.
• The travel portal should completely outline the details of the tour packages.
• It should be full of search features. This allows users to search for holiday locations based on their interests and specifications on budget and country.
• It should facilitate online booking of tickets for different modes of transport. In this way the travelers can enjoy better planned holiday.
• The travel portal software should be efficient enough to allow users to make online payments for holiday accommodations. 
• Additional features such as currency converter, weather forecasts for listed countries, 24x7 auction and lost-and-found service will be an added advantage.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) modules within your travel applications in order to enable real time interaction with customers through e-mail or chat. This can substantially help you to instantly resolve any issues of travelers.
• Content Management Systems (CMS) that feature easy-to-use website editing tools that would make maintenance much easier for your staff. 

With all these above features you can increase the global presence of your travel business. Ask your designers and developers to use PHP, to deliver functionality-rich and user-friendly websites. With travel portal development it is quite easy now to manage your tour and travel business.

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Considerations before Hiring a Web Designer

Website Designers and Developers can be an extension to your marketing and branding team since these professionals have a significant amount of influence over how your website looks and functions.

Choosing an individual freelancer or agency to do design or development work should include considering things like specific platform experience, responsiveness, rate and billing practices, and even the tool set the service provider will use to communicate or manage requests.

In this article, you’ll find a few considerations for choosing a designer or developer.

1. Platform Experience

Even if you’re just starting out in e-commerce, it is probably a good idea to choose an e-commerce platform before choosing a professional designer or developer.

Not all ecommerce platforms are the same. As an example there are significant differences between opening and managing an online retail site built on Magento or on Volusion. For some online retail businesses, Magento will be a much smarter choice, while other ecommerce merchants will almost certainly be better served with Volusion or Shopify. All of these are good ecommerce platforms, but some do certain things better than others.

Once you have chosen an ecommerce platform seek out a developer, designer, or agency that has specific platform experience. While almost any good PHP developer could work on a Magento site, it might take that developer a significant amount of time to become familiar with the platform especially if he has not worked with Magento before. It would not be unreasonable that even a seasoned developer would need something like 40 hours or more, just to become familiar enough with Magento to successfully write an extension.

Even once a developer has worked with a platform it can take time to become familiar with a specific theme or implementation. Often this is 10 hours or more.

2. Responsiveness

Some development or design firms are good about getting back to you immediately, while others — often individual freelancers — almost certainly won’t be.

In some cases, this might not matter much. Imagine a designer creating a new graphic design for a future site update. If that designer doesn’t respond immediately, it is most certainly not a big deal. But if your site is suddenly broken and shoppers cannot complete their orders, you need a development partner that is available in a moment’s notice.

3. Hourly Rates and Billing

Hourly rates vary greatly for designers and developers; be certain to get a few quotes.

If you’re hiring a service provider for a set number of hours, you’ll want to be able to carry over any leftover hours. As an example, if you contract for 20 hours a month, you should regularly pay for those twenty hours. If, however, in one month you only use 15 hours, you should have 25 hours available in the next month. You’ll still pay the same each month. Don’t expect a discount, but you should be able to carry those hours over. You will also want the option to be able to purchase additional hours in a given month.

Finally, find out how you will be billed for project management hours. If you have contracted for 20 hours of work it may be that case that as many as 4 or 5 of those hours will be consumed in project management time that is time spent speaking to you, reading your emails, and communicating with other design or development team members. Some firms will charge you for these hours just like any other time, some firms will charge a lower rate, and still other firms won’t charge specifically for project management.

4. Tool Set

Often a developer, designer, or agency will have a particular set of software tools used to communicate questions, share project related information, or provide status updates. This tool set will be something that you’ll use very often. Make sure that it works for you.

As a rule try to avoid ticket based systems. These are acceptable for, say, hosting providers. But your relationship with a designer or developer should be more intimate.

Also look for solutions that will allow you to share video or audio files with the developer or designer since these are always better than written descriptions.

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Why Magento is the preferred e-commerce solution

When it comes to e-commerce development, Magento is the undisputed king among all the e-commerce solutions available in the market today. Being open source and highly scalable, thousands of businesses have adopted this platform to develop their online stores. The reason behind this immense popularity is the features and options that the platform offers to the store developers.  It is SEO friendly which allow stores to rank high in the search engine results. Here we shall take a look at some of the awe-inspiring features which make Magento the most desired tool for e-commerce development.

Store Manager – One of the riding factors for the success of Magento has been the fact that you can set up highly customized stores using Magento. You can easily create multiple stores under the same admin and also operate them in different languages. This allows you to cater to a large geography and add to your sales and business. You can access this option under Admin>Manage Categories>Manage Stores. The stores can be customized as and when need arises.

Localized Searches– Magento can generate localized searches which help in catering to the customers based on their physical location. Not all stores sell products directly to the customers. Some simply offer information on the products which are available at various retail stores. In such cases this tool comes in handy and simplifies the search query for the user by offering custom results. A search for ‘Chicken Submarine’ can show different results to people in New York and Los Angeles.

User Utilities – There are a lot of user utility features in Magento which add to its popularity. Users can shop for products in mere three steps without having to register in the site. Apart from this they can create their wish list, ship products to multiple locations under the same order, add and remove products into the cart with ease.

Security – It is one of the primary concerns for any store owner. Magento shields the store against any unauthorized access and thwarts security breach attempts. It comes with SSL certificates which ensure that your online store is secured from all kinds of potential threats.

Multiple Payment Options – Magento brings to you multiple payment options such as PayPal, Credit Cards, Authorize.net etc. which helps you reach out to the masses increasing the conversion rate of your website. All transactions are carried out using a secured payment gateway in encrypted mode. Apart from this, features such as real-time currency converter increase the appeal of your website.

An online store has to be visually attractive and user-friendly and Magento allows you to achieve both these easily. It would be ideal to opt for custom Magento development whereby you have a store which is customized to meet the niche demands of your business. All that you need is the services of a professional Magento development company which can design and develop a store from scratch. Take a look at their portfolio as this will help you make the perfect choice.

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Website Design Process

There are various steps in the web site design and development process. From gathering information, to the creation of your web site and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current.

The exact process will vary slightly from designer to designer, but the basics are generally the same.

• Information Gathering
• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Testing and Delivery
• Maintenance

Phase One: Information Gathering

The first step in designing a successful web site is to gather information. Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of your site is being created. This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves a solid understanding of the company it is created for. It involves a good understanding of you – what your business goals and dreams are and how the web can be utilized to help you achieve those goals. It is important that your web designer starts off by asking a lot of questions to help them understand your business and your needs in a web site.

Certain things to consider are:

Purpose

What is the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service, sell a product?

Goals

What do you hope to accomplish by building this web site? Two of the more common goals are either to make money or share information.

Target Audience

Is there a specific group of people whom you want to reach out? It is helpful to picture the “ideal” person you want to visit your web site. Consider their age, sex or interests – this will later help determine the best design style for your site.

Content

What kind of information will the target audience be looking for on your site? Are they looking for specific information, a particular product or service, online ordering?

Phase Two: Planning

Using the information gathered from phase one, it is now time to put together a plan for your web site. This is the point where a site map is developed. The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics, if applicable. This serves as a guide as to what content will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigational system. The end-user of the web site must be kept in mind when designing your site. These are, after all, the people who will be learning about your service or buying your product. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate web site, and is the basis for this.

During the planning phase, your web designer will also help you decide what technologies should be implemented. Elements such as interactive forms, ecommerce, flash, etc. are discussed when planning your web site.

Phase Three: Design

Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of your site. Target audience is one of the key factors taken into consideration. A site aimed at teenagers, for example, will look much different than one meant for a financial institution. As part of the design phase, it is also important to incorporate elements such as the company logo or colors to help strengthen the identity of your company on the web site.

Your web designer will create one or more prototype designs for your web site. This is typically a .jpg image of what the final design will look like. Often times you will be sent an email with the mock-ups for your web site. Your designer should allow you to view your project throughout the design and development stages. The most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design.

In this phase, communication between both you and your designer is crucial to ensure that the final web site will match your needs and taste. It is important that you work closely with your designer, exchanging ideas, until you arrive at the final design for your web site.

Phase Four: Development

The developmental stage is the point where the web site itself is created. At this time, your web designer will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site. This is typically done by first developing the home page, followed by a “shell” for the interior pages. The shell serves as a template for the content pages of your site, as it contains the main navigational structure for the web site. Once the shell has been created, your designer will take your content and distribute it throughout the site, in the appropriate areas.

Elements such as interactive contact forms, flash animations or ecommerce shopping carts are implemented and made functional during this phase.

This entire time, your designer should continue to make your in-progress web site available to you for viewing, so that you can suggest any additional changes or corrections you would like to have done.

On the technical front, a successful web site requires an understanding of front-end web development. This involves writing valid XHTML / CSS code that complies to current web standards, maximizing functionality, as well as accessibility for as large an audience as possible.

Phase Five: Testing and Delivery

At this point, your web designer will attend to the final details and test your web site. They will test things such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well as compatibility issues (viewing differences between different web browsers), ensuring that your web site is optimized to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.

A good web designer is one who is well versed in current standards for web site design and development. The basic technologies currently used are XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). As part of testing, your designer should check to be sure that all of the code written for your web site validates. Valid code means that your site meets the current web development standards – this is helpful when checking for issues such as cross-browser compatibility as mentioned above.

Once you give your web designer final approval, it is time to deliver the site. An FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program is used to upload the web site files to your server. Most web designers offer domain name registration and web hosting services as well. Once these accounts have been setup, and your web site uploaded to the server, the site should be put through one last run-through. This is just precautionary, to confirm that all files have been uploaded correctly, and that the site continues to be fully functional.

This marks the official launch of your site, as it is now viewable to the public.

Phase Six: Maintenance

The development of your web site is not necessarily over, though. One way to bring repeat visitors to your site is to offer new content or products on a regular basis. Most web designers will be more than happy to continue working together with you, to update the information on your web site. Many designers offer maintenance packages at reduced rates, based on how often you anticipate making changes or additions to your web site.

If you prefer to be more hands on, and update your own content, there is something called a CMS (Content Management System)that can be implemented to your web site. This is something that would be decided upon during the Planning stage. With a CMS, your designer will utilize online software to develop a database driven site for you.

A web site driven by a CMS gives you the ability to edit the content areas of the web site yourself. You are given access to a back-end administrative area, where you can use an online text editor (similar to a mini version of Microsoft Word). You’ll be able to edit existing content this way, or if you are feeling more adventurous, you can even add new pages and content yourself. The possibilities are endless!

It’s really up to you as far as how comfortable you feel as far as updating your own web site. Some people prefer to have all the control so that they can make updates to their own web site the minute they decide to do so. Others prefer to hand off the web site entirely, as they have enough tasks on-hand that are more important for them to handle directly.

That’s where the help of a your web designer comes in, once again, as they can take over the web site maintenance for you – one less thing for you to do is always a good thing in these busy times!

Other maintenance type items include SEO (SearchEngine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing). This is the optimization of your web site with elements such as title, description and keyword tags which help your web site achieve higher rankings in the search engines. The previously mentioned code validation is something that plays a vital role in SEO, as well. This is a very important step, because even though you now have a web site, you need to make sure that people can find it!

The Bottom Line

All in all, your web designer should work closely with you on a very similar process to this one. A good working relationship with your designer, including an open line of communication, is important to ensure they are creating a successful web site that will help your business grow.

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