• We're getting plastic surgery, watch this space – http://t.co/4YflJeS #
• "Georgie Pie revival hopes kept alive" – NZ Herald. http://t.co/hGm9aqY Could be so good if done right or so bad if not. #

While studying popular keywords related to website design I noticed that thousands of searches each month are related to “how to build my own website”. I am guessing that people see the prices to have a website built and think its way over priced so they go out and try making their own website.

Designing your own website could possibly save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you were going to have a website designer make your website, and this is fine for a small organisation or someone with a lot of spare time to waste but if you have a full time job where you cannot just sit in front of a computer for hours on end trying to create your own website you may be actually spending more money trying to create your own site from scratch, especially if you have limited computer knowledge.

Because you will have to learn everything yourself from purchasing your domain name & email address, learning XHTML & CSS code so you can guarantee everyone will be able to view your website, to designing a look that you want people to like and trust that your company knows what they are talking about and having a professional feel, don’t forget all the image editing as well as having the text on your page catchy enough so your future clients don’t get bored and leave your website not interested.

This could take MONTHS to do in your spare time and hundreds of hours wasted that will lead up to thousands of dollars of labour that could be spent in your own business. A great price to pay because you thought a website designer was going to cost too much.

Of course I am not saying it cannot be done, because that is how I personally found my passion for website design and decided to have it as my career! But for the ones who struggle with technology and can’t get their heads around all the do’s and don’ts then it could be one of the most costly mistakes you will make.

One very important thing to do when looking for a website designer is not to stick with the first one you find, even if they have a pretty website that caught your attention, get a quote from your local website designers and then try a couple out of town, its not too hard for a website designer to do your project even if they live out of town, or even offshore as it is can be done all over the computer and telephone.

You don’t always get what you paid for! many designers out there over charge clients because many clients have no idea what a website would be worth, I know of people who have been charged $10,000 and over for the same job that I would charge $799 for, that is why I really push people to get more than one quote before settling on a designer company.

Price can jump quite a lot depending on your needs so make sure you have a good idea what you expect from your website, whether it be a simple brochure website that gets your business more known and will give people the information they need to choose you, or if you want the ability to sell product online.

Contact Us today if you are interested in a free quote or have any questions regarding your current website.

“Did you get what you paid for” is a question that pops into my head quite a lot lately, I have been searching around the internet to get ideas for design and just to get a feel for who’s out there and have noticed that the majority of websites I land on are either out of date or very poorly designed. The problem is that many victims of a poorly designed website do not notice this because of normal lack of knowledge, its not their fault.

It makes me wonder how much these ‘victims’ paid their designer for their website and if they have even made break even on that investment.

A website in many cases is the first impression your future customer may have on your business and with a poorly constructed website design is going to speak louder than words on how professional your service is, although we don’t like to admit it but people do judge the book by its cover.

Because every business is unique in its own way it deserves a unique website to express your key points as well as having all the standard features a modern website should have, for example a website that is easy to find what your customer is looking for, have your contact details located in a place that gets noticed, using a simple but effective design & layout.

At Swift Design Solutions we spend the first day of the job doing research in both your business, your competitors, what your customers expect from you and rather than just skim the surface we do a full brainstorm of your business before we even think about a design, then with the information that we have gathered we can then begin design of your very own unique website design that is guaranteed to be effective for your business.

All our work follows XHTML & CSS standards which means your website will be viewable on all major browsers and easy to make changes when needed.

If you are interested in getting any more information about our services give us a call or contact us with a convenient time to call you.

“Can I save money using website templates versus a custom website?”

Please for your own sake; don’t even think about!

You may not even find a template where the artwork is appealing but many a cost conscious business owner has enlisted his nephew, friend or employee who’s done some web coding only to find months and months and dollars and dollars later the website doesn’t work. Professional web designers guarantee delivery and performance.

Custom logos, letterhead, business cards, favacons and other forms of branding are only available with custom sites.

Your customers want to find the information they are after without a lot of reading and after only a few clicks. If they do not find what they want within seconds they will leave your site and never return. You only have one chance to make a good impression. The design does not stand alone; it is the synergy between the graphic interface, navigation and database that creates an effective site. Your website can and will be your most cost effective advertising. It should be constructed so that it is search engine friendly.

Other factors to consider include: plan for the future; ‘scalability’ means a site is designed for future expansion; additional products, volume or features can be added at nominal cost as budgets allow.

How will you keep the content updated? A content management system (CMS) is highly recommended.

For more information on this topic please contact us.

This is a question I ask myself time and time again:

“Why are people paying hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on a CMS (content management system) when WordPress offers the same (and in most cases more) features and add-ons.”

WordPress is a breeze for website designers to implement their own themes and probably has the biggest resources database in the world of CMS.

The favorite feature about WordPress has to be the SEO (search engine optimization) that WordPress offers. For example, previous CMS programs that I have used, when creating new pages they would give your page a number or leave you with a masive url link, e.g: mysite.com/page?=12 or mysite.com/html/access/index/newpage/01/index.php.

Basically searchengines just over look these pages because they don’t prove that the link would be useful, with WordPress it is simple and all pages have a relative link to the given title for example: mysite.com/contact-us/

Another great feature with WordPress is because there are well over 1,000,000 (yes One Million) live websites implementing WordPress CMS they have been able to fine-tune everything from their design to bugs and errors, to create the easiest admin area that even a total newbie to computers could get use to.

Designed for bloggers and recent updating websites WordPress has you covered in every way possible with thousands of free blogging templates at your finger tips and if you are after a unique design for your website then I can help reach your perfect needs in a design that suits your business or personal style.

If you would like a go at your own WordPress blog contact us and we can either point you in the right direction, or get your own unique presence on the web.

Thin and Light fonts are font types good for alternative logo design. However, looking for a good thin and light font for free is so hard because most of them is just for commercial using. I love them so much and I would like to share with you a list of 30 thin and light fonts. They’re beautiful. Furthermore, I love them because they are free.

TrendexLightSSi Font

Gauntlet Thin Font

FF Dagny OT Thin

Asenine Super Thin

Walkway Typface

Steiner

Circled

GatsbyFLF Font

DISCO by Typografski

Love Sick

Canaletto Thin

AlexandriaFLF

Logarde Thin

District Thin

Madawaska ExtraLight

Quilline Script Thin

id-Kaze2OT-Light

Quicksand Thin in Quicksand Family

Bauhaus Light

Zarautz Light

Existence Light

Partridge-Thin

Lapland Light

Eurofurence Light

Square Unique, Thin

ContextRepriseLightSSi

SoleaLight

Rockwell Light

KeyboardLightSSi

Serifa Th BT Thin

We at Swift Design Solutions have thought of an easy way to help you get some extra cash for doing nothing but recommending us to a friend or business partner.

You personally might not need a website because you have nothing that you want promoted online, but there may be a chance that you know someone who could benefit from a website, maybe they are starting a new venture or simply business is slower than normal or maybe you know a organisation that could benefit with a online presence to share upcoming events.

We cannot possibly know everyone who could benefit from our services and that is where you can come in!

“So whats in it for me?” you are probably thinking, well Swift Design Solutions is prepared to give you NZ$100 CASH or a check for every client you send our way. Pretty easy money if you already know someone interested isn’t it!

If this does sound like an opportunity you would be interested in contact us and we will send you all the details.