One of the most important things to consider when creating a new website is the structure and navigation of the web pages. Web Design should be an intelligent solution to enhance your online presence by providing a user friendly website for your potential clients or customers. Before sitting at a computer to begin the construction of a website a designer should create on paper a sitemap / diagram that will provide clear instruction of how the website should be designed and linked together. The linking of web pages forms the foundation of how your website will be navigated. The simple solutions are often the best but this still takes a degree of planning and experience to perfect.

 

Your homepage should be the point at which your visitor can access any page or at least the main sections / categories with only one click of the mouse. It is essential that the navigation bar be positioned in an obvious place for your visitor and that its usage be as simplistic as possible to create a confidence within your visitors when they try to find their way around the website. One of the most difficult things when it comes to Web Design is to see is how easy your website is to navigate. If you are very used to websites and their construction then what you feel is a simple navigational solution may not be so simple to users that are less advanced when it comes to the world wide web and if you are a web designer then the majority of your business will come from businesses or individuals that do not know how to construct a website so you do not want to scare off potential customers with complicated website to navigate. The best test is to ask somebody who has not seen your website before and has little knowledge of the internet / websites to visit your site and see how easily they can find their way around.

 

Firebubble provide intelligent solutions for websites and their navigation as we have learned from experience what works best. If you would like assistance with the construction of your website please contact the studio with your requirements.

If you have or would like to have your logo design displayed on your Website then you will need the correct file for this purpose. A website logo should be in a readable format such as a J-Peg. A J-Peg is a compressed file which is excellent for achieving reduced file sizes for images / logos. Having smaller file sizes for your website images is important as the larger the file sizes of the images placed on your web pages the longer it will take for your visitors to load your pages. If you have too many large file sizes for images on a web page the page may take so long to load that your visitors will give up and go elsewhere. The best practice is to reduce the file sizes using image based software such as Adobe Photoshop so that the overall file size is as low as possible without losing quality. However it is important that you do not become over paranoid about file sizes compromising quality of images for loading time speeds. Just reduce the file sizes of your logo / images as much as possible whilst ensuring the quality is not effected too much. If an image begins to look pixilated then you have reduced the file size too much.

 

Another important factor for reproducing your logo design within your Website is the size of the image. It is not the best practice to take a large image and then reduce it down to a very small size as this will result in a loss of quality within your logo design especially noticeable around the type where it may become blurry and difficult to read. The best way to solve this problem is to open your logo in Adobe Illustrator or other vector based programme and export the image from there at the correct size and resolution so that when you open your image it does not need to be re-sized, this will provide a quality image for your Logo Design when you need to place it within your web pages.

 

Firebubble provide print and website ready files for your logos so that you may get the most out of your new logo. Having the correct files is essential for business logos so as to ensure efficiency especially when it comes to marketing.

A good Logo Design is a logo that communicates something about your business. An experienced Logo Designer can communicate through a logo design meaningful information to your intended market. For example if you own a professional corporation that is also environmentally conscious of its actions then your Logo Designer could create for you a professional logo with a corporate style. The designer could also add a natural feel to the logo design using natural / earthy colour schemes or by adding something naturally symbolic within the design itself. Business Logos that communicate also win new business they are an advertisement in themselves and an impressive business identity is far more likely to attract new business than a dated logo which communicates little or nothing to your intended market.

A Logo can also communicate useful information about the service which your business has to offer and a professional logo tells your intended market that you offer a professional service. It is important to remember that if a member of the public has not used your business in the past all they will have to go on is what they have seen or heard about your business so the best way to attract new customers is to build up a good reputation by making customer satisfaction your number one goal and to present your business with an attractive identity they communicates professionalism so that potential customers can see and hear good things about the service you offer.

The importance of a professional logo design for a business is often over looked. If you are planning to build a strong business identity or brand then you will need a solid foundation to build from.

A logo is this very foundation for a business identity / brand. If you want to portray a professional identity through your marketing material such as letterheads, business cards, brochures, leaflets and a website then you will need a professional foundation to build from to begin this branding. Your business stationery and marketing items will be designed around your logo design so as to build a stronger identity for your business that is to become recognisable by your clients and customers. If you have a poor logo design then it is very difficult and sometimes close to impossible to create a professional business identity in the eyes of your intended market.

What is a Logo?

A logo design is a symbol, a visual representation of your business that should communicate something informative and meaningful. An experienced Logo Designer can even communicate through a logo design your business ethos or an individuals personality, which can help to win business from individuals and organisations that share the same beliefs. It is a good idea to consider your Logo Design budget within your business plan as a logo design should be seen as an investment for your business that will help to win new business through your Company’s enhanced identity. It is all too often the case though that smaller businesses cut this very important corner and begin their own branding with a poor logo design which only leads to the realisation that it will cost far more to upgrade their Company’s identity now that the logo branding has begun.

If you do have a lower budget then it would be best to reduce the amount invested in other areas of design work such as leaflets and brochures which will need changing from time to time anyway. The best advice when it comes to building a visual identity / brand for your business is to begin with a solid foundation so that the necessaries are there at a later time to build from.

The essential marketing package

Having noted the necessities for marketing in today’s business environment Firebubble have put together the perfect package for small to medium sized businesses that wish to portray their own businesses in a professional light so as to be more appealing to their potential clients and customers. The essential marketing package includes:

• Professional logo design for your business (This includes everything that is listed in our logo design online package)
• Double sided business card design
• 500 quality matt laminated double sided business cards printed and delivered to your door step
• Professional 3 page web design and development
• Website domain registration and hosting for 1 year

Total cost £995

Click here to find out more.

It is common knowledge within the SEO Search Engine Optimisation industry that building links from other websites pointing to your Website helps you attain a higher position in the search engine listings for relevant search terms / keywords. This part of the optimisation process is easy to grasp, you simply build links through other websites that point to your own website. The more difficult part of this strategy is knowing which links have value and which links are just additional ways for a business or individual to waste their time. So an important factor in any link building strategy is to know which links have value. There are many factors which influence the strength of a link through the eyes of the search engines such as Google and Yahoo. These factors can be titled as Relevant, Keywords, Indexed, Page Rank and Non-Harmful.

Relevant

If you want strong links to your site then you need relevant links from web pages that contain content which is relevant to your own website. For example you do not want to build links to a logo design website from a page about wooden fences! This is a bad move. You need links from relevant and authentic web pages, it’s that simple.

Keywords

The most important thing you need before beginning any seo / link building journey is a list of relevant keywords / search terms that people use to find websites such as your own. If you created your list of keywords / search terms in a matter of minutes you probably did it wrong. Many people make the mistake of picking the most obvious search terms / keywords but these terms usually have many competitors all fighting to get to the top of the Google and Yahoo listings.

A new website stands little chance of building a strong online presence when they try to compete with the bigger websites that have been online for years. You need to be realistic about your chances of obtaining a position in the search engines that will be beneficial to you. Fortunately though for the smaller websites while the big websites are fighting over the giant search terms, small websites can focus on the niche keywords / search terms. For example if you have a website about Search Engine Optimisation, then rather that building links for the search term ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ you could try involving the area in which you offer this service, for example you could have ‘Search Engine Optimisation Leicester’ for your key phrase and you would stand a far greater chance of achieving a listing in the search engines that will provide visitors to your website.

There are lots of these keyword niches so it is often a good idea to have a few niche key phrases that will generate a reasonable amount of visitors to your website or ‘traffic’ as it is known in the SEO industry. You should build your links to your website from other websites containing your niche keywords.

Indexed

Not all pages on the internet are indexed / read by the search engines. In fact lots of web pages that you can build links from will not be indexed. This means that your links will also not be read by the search engines and from an SEO point of view this is not good. If the links are not indexed then they will not count. Although it can be good to have links from popular websites that do not offer indexed pages as if the pages have a lot of visitors they can click through to your site but this will not strengthen your website in the eyes of the search engines it will only send a number of visitors to your website and this number is usually very small. To check if the blog or article website you are building links from will be indexed you need to look at the source code for the web page this will tell you if the page will be indexed or not. If the page contain no follow / index instructions to the search engines then the page will not be indexed and neither will your links that you build from that page.

Page Rank

Page Rank or PR as it is known in the SEO trade is a score that Google awards your website based on how important Google feels your website to be. Many people get too obsessive over Page Rank but it can serve as a good indication of how your website is doing with respect to its SEO in comparison to other websites. The Page Rank or PR which google awards to each page on a website is marked out of 10.

It is almost impossible to achieve a PR 10 and it is very unlikely that a PR of 9 will be achieved by a business website (PR 9 is more realistic for massive websites like Facebook and Myspace). A realistic PR to aim for would be a PR 4 or PR 5 website. Page Ranks are achievable of higher but this is really for individuals and businesses that really understand the world of SEO and work many hours to achieve the results. It is usually not necessary to have an extremely high Page Rank though for Business services and you can easily find your website top of the Google and Yahoo listings with only a PR 2 if you choose the right Key phrase.

Non Harmful

Building links to your websites is generally a safe business but there are a few circumstances to avoid. The first is to not only join blogs just to post comments that are only intended to build links. Try posting useful informative comments about the subject. You should try to enjoy blogging rather than just spamming / ruining the blog for everybody else by posting meaningless links (to humans) just to achieve better search engine results. You may also be thrown off the blog website if you are not respectful towards it. They are there to provide useful information and to be an enjoyable experience not just for link building.

Another link building strategy to show caution towards is the exchange of links. Once your website begins to show a little strength in the search engines you will no doubt be contacted by other website owners asking to exchange links. This is usually done by you placing a link pointing towards their website and they place a link on their website pointing towards your website. This is usually ok but you should only link to relevant websites and also you should expect a PR of the same value from the page you are receiving a link from. As you do not want to add a link from your own web page that has a PR of 2 when the other website only has a PR0 on the web page that contains your link.

You should try to build links that are informative to your websites visitors as it is all too easy to forget that it is your visitors you need to impress more than the search engines. You should also never link to link farms as these websites are frowned upon by the search engines and can seriously damage your websites integrity. Link farms are websites that only promote links they have no useful information they are only there to trick the search engines and they all get caught in the end. Do not confuse these with directories that list business services they are usually fine. If you are unsure about linking to a website then it is probably best to either seek advice or not bother with the link.

If your business is in need of SEO - Search Engine Optimisation services please contact our UK studio for a free quotation. We can create packages to suit realistic budgets so that you are in control of how much of an investment you wish to make on your websites optimisation.

SEO is the term used for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is basically sophisticated techniques for getting your Website to rank higher in the Search Engines such as Google and Yahoo. For example firebubble offer Web Design over the internet so our approach could be to optimise our site so that we appear in the Search Engines for a related search term (Search term being what our potential customers type in to Google, Yahoo, etc) like Website Design UK. To optimise a Website for certain Search terms or Keywords as they are called in the SEO industry you need to first have a Website that is Search Engine Friendly. The way in which a Website is constructed is very important to how well your Website will rank in the Search Engine Listings. If you have a Website that contains large files / images or your Website features poor content and the pages are not linked together in an intelligent way this will all effect your listings positions for Search terms / Keywords. You basically need to provide the Search Engines with a Website that they love and there is a huge list of Optimisation factors which effect this affection.

Firebubble build Websites for our clients that are Search Engine Friendly. We also offer an SEO / Internet Marketing Service to get your Websites up in the Search Engines listings for relevant Keywords. If you have a Website that is not attracting many visitors and you are unsure as to how well constructed your Website may be, then e-mail our Web Design studio and we will give you an honest opinion of how well your Website is constructed in the eyes of the Search Engines such as Google and Yahoo. We offer a Basic Web Design Package for smaller Businesses and this is an excellent and affordable start to building an Online presence.

If your looking for an affordable website for a small business then you may be interested to know that firebubble can now offer a Basic Web Design Package to help grab your visitors attention, hosting and maintenance. Not only this your Website will also be built by a professional UK Web Designer and we will construct your Website so that it is Search Engine friendly. This is very important as if you decide you want to get higher in the Search Engine listings in the future through employing SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques the ground work will already be done so you will not have to have your site reconstructed which can be very expensive for larger Websites.

A 3 page Website is just the right size for a Small Business that whishes to advertise and inform potential customers of their products and services Online. Having a Professional Website also makes your Business more creditable in the eyes of your clients / customers and Business associates.

The Package also includes a flash animation. An example of a flash animation can be seen on our home page. The animation helps to grab the attention of visitors to a Website and also looks very Professional.

The Basic Web Design Package is also tailor made to individual requirements so that you receive a bespoke custom built Website. If you would like more information on our Web Design or SEO services please contact the studio. We also create projects to realistic budgets so that our clients feel comfortable about the overall cost.

Firebubble Design is a professional Logo and Web Design online service for small to medium sized businesses in search of a new identity and an Impressive Website. Our studio produces professional logo design at a competitive price. Our Logo design Online package features 6 logo concepts (We spend a minimum of 8 hours on the initial visuals), unlimited revisions, Print and web ready files, free printers cooperation service plus a free CD is available on request featuring your new logo. We also complete your logo design project for a fixed fee so that there are no hidden extra costs for the customer.

5 Star Service

Our Professional Online Logo Design Service has been awarded a 5 star recommendation in the freeindex.co.uk directory and we are positioned at number one in the relevant business category. Our customer recommendations and reviews show the high levels of satisfaction from our clients.

What We Do?

Our main area of focus is Logo Design, Web Design and SEO for small to medium sized businesses. The service we provide has been created with the realistic budget that businesses of this size have to spend on their marketing. We can also create impressive Corporate stationery and promotional items for your business. Our stationery package includes the design of a letterhead, compliment slip and double sided business card. We never use clipart or templates when designing to ensure that your company receives a professional identity. Our Stationery Design package also includes unlimited revisions and a free printers cooperation service. Printing for your stationery can also be arranged.

If you require promotional items we also provide a Graphic Design Service so that our customers can get everything they need for their marketing strategy. Such items include banners, posters, leaflets, brochures, booklets, and corporate folders. Our Graphic Design rates are very competitive and we produce nothing less than Professional results. Printing for your promotional items can also be arranged.

We have chosen to specialise in Corporate Identity and Web Site Design and Development as this should be the starting point for your marketing campaign. It is essential for a business to first have a strong logo developed that can deliver your message in an instant. If you would like to inform your customers or clients that you are a professional corporation then a professional corporate logo will help to deliver that message. Applying your logo to an impressive set of stationery will also strengthen your companies identity in the eyes of your clients and business associates. The next phase is to develop your promotional items and develop your Online presence with an impressive Website in so doing you can also build on the strength of your identity by using your new business logo in a creative manner.

Contact Us Today

If you would like more information please visit our website for further direction and contact details. We offer a free no obligation quotation service and can create design projects for individuals and large organisations.

How important is it to have a well designed professional company logo

To understand the value of a your company logo you need to look at your business through the eyes of your customers. If first impressions really do last then what first impression is your logo giving? It may be that you feel it is wise to first piece together your own logo in Microsoft Word and then later invest money in a more professional image, but if first impressions do last then how many bad first impressions will you give before its time to up the company image. If you look at the cost of a professional logo design compared to what a professional image could do for your business it really is a very small amount when evaluated within your next 5 years business plan. The truth is a poor logo will cost you money by putting customers off with bad first impressions. A logo is the face of your company not just a few shapes and words ‘plonked’ together.

How much should I spend on a professional logo design?

If you go to a graphic design agency through the yellow pages or advert you may be quite shocked at the cost of a logo. You are probably not being ripped off, it is because there is a lot of work involved and the studio will have to cover their own huge over heads. If you go online for your professional logo design then you will probably find prices are a lot lower due to the amount of competition on the web. You may think that the best thing to do would be to find the cheapest logo design company on the web. For example some companies offer logo design of around £25! Now lets see how much time a designer could possible spend on a logo at that price.

A well trained designer would probably want about £20 minimum an hour. Plus a designer will need to pay for licensed software, a good computer and the advertisement or costs of ensuring that you can find their website on the search engines. So either you will receive a logo designed by a professional designer for about 30 minutes or somebody who is not well trained in design will be creating your logo. So the real question must be is my logo, the face of my business worth more than £25 or 30 minutes! It takes time and experience with corporate identity to create a logo that will really work for your business. In truth it will take a well trained designer a good day to create impressive and original initial logo concepts. You will then want to have the opportunity of unlimited revisions so that you can have any changes you want made to the logo design at no additional hidden extra cost. If a logo designer says that they can provide you with a logo design within 24 hours then unless they are willing to drop any other projects just for your logo design you are probably getting a rushed job.

It takes time to develop an original identity. So as a guide of how much should be spent on a logo design would be a minimum of £150 to £450. Some of the larger companies will spend thousands on their image but for small to medium sized business this would be about right.

How will I know which logo design business to use for my logo?

To see which logo design business would be right for your own logo you should look at the portfolio displayed on the designers website or ask to see some example of corporate identity if you have arranged a meeting with a local designer. Different designers will have different approaches on how to design your company image so you should go with the designer that you feel will best reflect your business through their own design. Most designers will be happy to create the logo with you. You can give a designer details of everything you would like to see in your logo and everything you wouldn’t! In fact the more information you can give to the designer the better as although they may be very good at their job they cannot read minds! So remember the more info the better.

Will I be able to use the logo on my website, business cards and sign board?

For different uses of your logo you will require different files. For internet and website use you will require an optimised J-peg file. The j-Peg is optimised for lower file size so that your web pages open quickly when the logo is placed on them. No one wants to wait long periods of time for web pages to load and most of the time they wont.
If you would like your logo to be featured on your company stationery then a designer for the creation of the stationery is strongly recommended. Letterheads and business cards created in Microsoft word only give bad impressions to your clients. You don’t need to spend a fortune on stationery design but £100 for the design of a business card, letterhead and compliment slip would be a recommended minimum. For stationery you will require an Adobe Illustrator file. This is a file created by an industry standard design program and provides the best results when it comes to logo and stationery design.
If you would just like a high resolution image of your logo then you will require a TIFF file.

If you would like a sign board or shop front to feature your company logo then again you will need to give the sign makers the Adobe Illustrator file as this file can be resized to any size without loss of quality.
So be sure to check that you will be provided with the right files for what it is you would like to use your new logo for. It is recommended that you get the Adobe Illustrator file though even if you only want a logo for web use. You never know how much your business may grow or if it will be needed at a later date. Some logo designers offer free printers cooperation services after the logo is design this is most valuable as you do not want to pay extra for files or worse not be able to use your logo for what you wanted.

So which designer do I use?