Making sure your website design is minimal and clean can play a vital part of any online strategy.

In the early days of the internet, webpages were cluttered, with pictures, unpleasant colour schemes, Comic Sans fonts and clipart images. This has now become obsolete and web users nowadays require a minimal site without unnecessary information and a clean and simple appearance. A great example where minimal design can be seen in action is ecommerce web design where shopping experience has superseded flashy graphics.

However, minimal sites should maximise their functionality and elegance, allowing for user interaction to quickly and easily find relevant details about the services required.

There are many ways to ensure your website is minimalist and functional, and how these are implemented may depend on the products and services you are offering.

Navigating through text

Some websites have complicated designs where the visitor must hover the cursor over a hyperlinked image or flash movie before they can find out how to navigate the page. Using text to allow people to click through to the pages they need is a very easy way to meet this trends in website design and is also great for Search Engines.

White spaces

White spaces reduce clutter on the website and direct the eyes of visitors to relevant content on the page. It looks clean and simple, while highlighting the minimalist aspects of the site and minimising loading times. However this is not always true. In the hands of a skilled website designer sites loaded with colour can be a visual feast.

It is usually a good idea to only use a few colours in your website design, as this can contribute to an attractive layout while emphasising particular links and products, and also to reinforce your corporate branding.

Typography

In a minimalist website design, typography can be one way to set your company apart from the rest. You can develop a sophisticated and professional website or promote your business' brand through your choice of fonts.

This will help you to highlight the key parts of your website to your visitors and significantly improve the browsing experience for them.

Minimalist website designs will not work for all audiences and all companies and some people may find a large quantity of content suits their needs more. However, a well-designed minimal site will not overshadow the products on offer and will help all web users of all ages to be able to understand and navigate your site effectively.

It has been a trend in website design for many years and has many benefits for both companies and web users. This has proven that you do not have to put complicated or distracting features on your website for it to be effective.

At Sizzle Media our services include basic, business and Enterprise E-commerce sites and SEO services for businesses in the Greater Manchester region. We tend to work around the North West because we like to meet our clients face to face, shake hands, have a cuppa and do business the old fashioned way. Apparently for web design agencies in Manchester this is not the norm, where prices are given over the phone before even fully understanding what you require. As a RAR top 100 Agency we like to spend just a bit of time discovering how we can make a difference to your business, so we can add you to our client base that already generate over £700,000 a day through websites and marketing campaigns we conduct on their behalf.

If you’re looking for a Manchester based web design and Search Engine Optimisation agency, and feel that you’re probably not leveraging maximum results from the internet, you may already be aware that the UK E-Commerce market has been forecast to rise by a whopping 14% over the next year, to an eye watering £50.3 billion. It’s hard to believe that this online market hardly existed 15 years ago, imagine what the internet and business will be like in another 15 years, just the thought gives us goose bumps.

We appreciate that we are surrounded by economic uncertainty at the moment, but one thing seems certain, investing in a good quality E-commerce could give your business the boost it needs. Retail sales and the high street is diminishing before our eyes and traditional sales channels are becoming saturated as everyone is trying to fight for our hard earned money, yet the internet keeps on growing and those that focus on this medium are enjoying growing profits. To be blunt, there has never been a better time to invest in an E-Commerce website to make sure your business is making the most of the opportunities the internet has to offer.

Sizzle Media have been designing stunning E-commerce sites for many years, and have helped develop some very successful projects, from start-ups to blue ship organisation. We pride ourselves in delivering a very high level of customer service that has helped Sizzle Media Web design Manchester achieve the RAR Top 100 Agency outside of London 2 years running

Our E-Commerce websites can be tailor made for you, or you can choose a simple start up package. Once you have your beautiful ecommerce website in place, we will give you full training so you will be able to easily update your products and pages, and if you want you can use our Manchester SEO service too and get to the top of the search results for your chosen keywords, and SEO is something we are also very good with results that we don’t just talk about, but can demonstrate, however that’s another topic altogether.

If and ECommerce website is what your business needs, then don’t hesitate to call Sizzle Media web design Manchester on 0161 820 8577, and we will happily come to visit you, have a brew and do business the old fashioned way J

Whether you are part of a large organisation with an extensive product base, or running a start-up business with a small range of goods and services, we provide individually tailored e-commerce Web sites that provide state-of-the-art solutions at down-to-earth prices.

Selling Online

Ecommerce web design is the business interface of the Internet that has transformed the World Wide Web from geek information source and amateur playground to the nation’s favourite marketplace. Today, in every country, ecommerce offers the biggest and best new trading opportunities for companies of every size, with tremendous potential for cost savings and profit.

It might have made more headlines during the Net’s ‘boom and bust’ revolution, but for many thriving businesses e-commerce is the reality behind their ongoing success today. It is the reason they are still in business, still growing, and still making profits at all in some cases. Their competitors, stuck in traditional sales channels, are falling by the wayside.

Recent surveys of the e-commerce market for small and medium-sized enterprises in Britain show that the high level of profitability enjoyed by online sales pioneers in the first flush of Web site success has been sustained in all the subsequent years. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the e-commerce market generated over £70 Billion in revenue for  UK-based businesses as early as 2005 and it been growing by almost 40% per year since then.

Ecommerce web design services continue to go from strength to strength for Sizzle Media. This week saw our order book jump drastically for small business ecommerce web design services compared to the same last year.

As more and more people turn their hand to setting up their own businesses, ecommerce web design requests are coming in thick and fast; as our affordable solution appeals to new business owners. Our Lava platform continues to get better with every new ecommerce project; as we pass on the benefits of new technology and new methods of marketing to our growing customer base.

We have noticed a number of trends amongst our ecommerce web design projects over the last 6 months. Clients are requesting for and making greater use of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. At Sizzle we tend to include these elements in to our projects but the use of them has been low. Thankfully clients are now appreciating the value of social media marketing and making full use of the facilities sizzle implements in to our ecommerce web design solutions.

Due to some recent marketing activities, we have made excellent progress on SEO services, as again we offer affordable packages and realistic service. SEO Manchester, our in house department has gained some excellent ground for our client base for some pretty competitive search terms.

Any ecommerce web design studio will tell you, the ultimate combination for leveraging results from the internet is a well coded site, a clear marketing strategy and commitment from the client to also do their bit. At Sizzle Media, we explain this process in detail so our clients can continue to generate excellent returns on their investment.

Call us today on 0161 820 8577 to find out how we can help your business take full advantage of the internet.

Wow. 2011 already.

A new year is something we all really forward too, especially at Sizzle Media web design Manchester. Although we are very positive that this year will prove to be very successful for us, there are a few dark clouds on the horizon that we all have to deal with, the increase in VAT being the first jab to deal with. The knock on effects of even a small rise in VAT can be devastating for small businesses, but fear not, as always Sizzle Media web design Manchester keep one step ahead of the game.

Whilst other studios are jacking up their prices to deal with the rise in VAT, we have spent the Christmas break revising our business plan and annual strategy. Rather than react like everyone else, we have actually reviewed our design and development process, improved efficiency in all areas of business, reviewed our fixed costs and most importantly, we have streamlined our secret weapon, our cutting edge development platform ‘LAVA’.

LAVA unlike other development platforms isn’t open source, guesswork, putting a new design on someone else’s site. It’s a process, platform, methodology, and resource, which is geared around one thing and one thing only, producing cutting edge business websites in the most efficient manner possible. And this is a process that is on-going and reviewed after each completed projects.

We can now produce content managed websites, product managed websites and ecommerce websites faster, whilst still loading our websites with industry leading technology and business tools. We can do all this without compromising on quality in design, build or support. In fact, our websites are better than ever with clients receiving a return on their investment quicker than ever before.  And the best thing is, we pass these savings directly on to you, our clients!

And to raise our game one step further, we have also now included Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to our product portfolio, giving you all you need to successfully launch your online business in 2011.

Call us today on 0161 820 8577 to find out how Sizzle Media web design Manchester can help your business.

Sam Aston has captured the hearts of millions as Coronation Street's cheeky schoolboy Chesney Battersby-Brown. And the Haslingden High School pupil has scooped several major awards since his debut and is now turning his hand to business. Sam with the help of his brother and father Richard Aston have their sights set on developing a branded merchandise business.

Having been in discussions with Sizzle Media for over 12 months as to what direction the Aston’s would like try their hand in business, due to Sam’s  busy schedule the family decided that promotional merchandise would be a good starting point that everyone good get involved in without overtaking their current careers.

Sizzle Media's eCommerce web design services have become increasingly popular during the recession as more and more people try their hand at business online.

For a very low investment, anyone can start their own online business whether promoting your own business services. Sizzle Media’s ecommerce websites are built on our award winning LAVA platform, allowing clients to manage their products, promote their site online and offer clients exclusive deals.

As a Manchester based ecommerce web design specialist, Sizzle Media, like any corporate web design studio, conducts background research on our clients and their target markets.

One such tool that web design studios use daily to conduct market analysis is Google's keyword tool. This web based free market research tool presents you with valuable information such as how many people are looking for your product, how many people are searching for your target keyword and what the average 'Cost Per Click' is for your chosen keywords, all highly useful information when developing your marketing strategy.

Corporate web design studios utilize these powerful tools to assess the market and suggest solutions for your business, based on your budget and timescale. Most companies have the ambition to target very high level keywords such as web design. To try and appear number one on Google for this term would take significant ability, resource and time. However more targeted search terms such as web design Manchester, web design bury or web design Oldham account for much less traffic but are very targeted to our area of business, and will result in more relevant web design enquiries.

For advice on corporate web design and marketing strategy contact Sizzle Media on 0808 14 333 00 or email info@sizzlemedia.co.uk today.

As more and more retail businesses feel the pressure from the ongoing recession, all is not lost - there are reports emerging of dramatic increases in business being conducted online, with online retail and travel sales looking to be at the forefront of online growth.

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Forrester Research expects that by 2014 UK online shoppers will number 37 million accounting for around £56bn in online transactions.

Sizzle Media web design Manchester have noticed this increase in online ecommerce activity, and proof of this is we are currently working on over 35 concurrent ecommerce website projects. The greatest demand coming from retail outlets in the clothing and fashion sector.

As people prefer to shop around for a bargain, the first point of call is the Internet. Shoppers will first try their preferred store to find what they are looking for, however if you don't have an effective ecommerce site not only are you losing a sale, but potentially also losing a valuable customer.

Ecommerce websites are no longer expensive or time consuming projects. An ecommerce website built on our Lava Commerce Platform starts from just £995 and is fully loaded with all the features your online business requires, and can be up and running in a few days providing you have an internet merchant number and control over your domain name.

Call Sizzle Media web design Manchester on freephone 0808 14 333 00 or email info@sizzlemedia.co.uk, and find out how we can help your business leverage the power the internet.