Tired of the same old fonts? So are we!

Tired of the Same Old Same Old Web Safe Fonts?

Google's Making the Web Beautiful!

Web Safe Fonts
The art of web design follows certain standardly accepted rules or "best practices" - and one of the main ones is in regards to "Web Safe Fonts". These are the standard fonts that are likely to be present on a wide range of computer systems. If a visitor does not have the correct font on their website, the browser will substitute an alternative font. This is generally not acceptable to most web designers and the alternative solution is to use flash, which has the fonts embedded in the file, or to create graphics for use on the web.

Serif Fonts
In general, serif fonts are mainly used for headings on the web. They tend to lose readability at smaller sizes and usually do not look good in Windows unless the ClearType preference is turned on.

font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;	Bookman Old Style
font-family: Garamond, serif;	Garamond
font-family: Georgia, serif;	Georgia
font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif;	Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua
font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;	Times New Roman, Times

Sans Serif Fonts
Sans Serif fonts are generally selected for the majority of text content on a website. They generally look good at most sizes, have a contemporary feel and render neatly on most operating systems. Of course, that is not to say that serif font's cannot be used for larger blocks of text, but again, the general rule is sans serif.

font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;	Arial, Helvetica
font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif;	Arial Black, Gadget
font-family: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif;	Impact, Charcoal
font-family: 'MS Sans Serif', Geneva, sans-serif;	MS Sans Serif, Geneva
font-family: 'MS Serif', 'New York', sans-serif;	MS Serif, New York
font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif;	Trebuchet MS, Helvetica
font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;	Verdana, Geneva
font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;	Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande
font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif;	Tahoma, Geneva

Monospace Fonts
If you need all of the characters to line up to the same width, monospace fonts are a good choice.

font-family: Courier, monospace;	Courier
font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;	Courier New, Courier
font-family: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace;	Lucida Console, Monaco

"Cursive" Fonts
Cursive is generally avoided on the web; however,  the "somewhat cursive" Comic Sans MS font can be used and in fact, is typically overused

font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;

Comic Sans MS

Mobile Safe Fonts
The list of fonts for mobile devices is even smaller, limited to Arial/Helvetica, Courier New/Courier, Georgia, Times New Roman/Times, Trebuchet MS and Verdana.

Google Web Fonts to the Rescue!
Cost: FREE! With Google Web Fonts, web designers now have hundreds of web safe fonts to choose from! Google Web Fonts is a library that is continuously growing and the setup to use the fonts only requires one line of code in teh HTML for each font you use. It is easy to set up, compatible with most modern browsers and the vast majority of modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2 and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). The fonts are hosted by Google; however you are allowed to download them for your design process and for use offline. Because they are hosted on another server, it can increase download time, but it is relatively minor and can be faster than serving images. The text is also now search engine friendly where images are not.

font-family: 'Tangerine', serif;

Making the Web Beautiful!

Websketching's New Web Content Management (WCM) System 5 for Websites, Tablets & Mobile Devices - coming soon - will support Google Web Fonts! You will simply select the Google Fonts you would like to use in the Template Designer!

Thanks Google!

Effective Website Designed to Inform/Convert

Over the past few years the Internet has become a vital element for small and large businesses, offering a means to access a wide audience and more clientele than ever before. A successful online presence relies heavily on professional, attractive website design and search engine optimization, which can make the difference between success or failure for any website.

With the plethora of websites competing for top search engine results (SERP) throughout the Internet, the objective of an effective website design is to offer a professional and attractive style of website that is found in the search results and both provides informative content and converts its visitors - in other words, compels the visitor to become a buyer, to take an action, or to contact the website owner for more information.

Within the New Jersey - greater Philadelphia area, our company, Websketching, is a New Jersey web design company offering a professional approach to affordable web design services. We have received rave reviews from our growing number of clients for our innovative designs and excellent levels of customer service. We believe our own online presence is testimony to the quality of workmanship that can be expected from our prospective clients. Our portfolio of nearly 150 previously designed websites and a wealth of glowing testimonials show that the ethos of our company is to simply offer good value to our clients; to design attractive and effective websites and to excel in customer service.

Ideas for your Business Website

As we embark upon the year 2010, most business owners have realized or are beginning to realize that the Internet is not going away and that having a website address is as common and as expected as having a phone number or a business card. Many businesses have already gone through several websites over the years, hopefully becoming more improved each time as new technologies become available.

Many business owners fall into the category of not understanding "why" they need a website other than "because it is expected" when they make the decision to hire a web designer. They fail to understand how a website can help them better market their products and services. They fail to understand how a website can help them improve their customer service initiatives. They fail to understand how their website can enhance their current marketing efforts. Unfortunately, unless you are able to find a web designer with Internet marketing experience and a desire to help your business succeed, this lack of knowledge is going to translate into lost opportunities and wasted dollars.

In order to be effective, your website needs to become a priority in your marketing plan and should be viewed as an investment into your business, whether in time or money or both. Besides the obvious, here are some ideas you may want to consider for your business website:

Content - The content on your website needs to be timely and relevant in order to be effective. Both your visitors and the search engines are visiting your website searching for content. It is up to you and your web designer to figure out what it is that they seek. Depending upon what business you are in, it may make sense for you to have a website with pages and pages of content. Often, the more expensive your products or services, the more information your visitor will need before they make the decision to call you. Keyword-rich search engine optimized (SEO) content is necessary in order to help you achieve higher rankings in the search engines, a necessity if you are selling a product or service to a larger geographic area. Riana Milne is an example of a larger website with lots of keyword-rich content.

Menus - If you are a restaurant owner, you must have your menus, or at least a pretty good sampling of what’s on your menus, on your website. Why? Because there are basically only two reasons that a visitor is going to look at your website - to find out what your hours are and to look at your menu. So, you need to have your hours posted and your menu available. Period. If you offer take-out, you need your phone number front and center as well. Here are some examples: Dawns Deli, Papa Luigis Ristorante, Sweet Tomatoes Cafe, Wagon Wheel Restaurant.

MLS Listings - If you are a Realtor, having the ability to allow your visitors to search the MLS Listings while on your website will ensure that YOU get the leads when they request more information. Here are examples: Enzo Savarese Realty, Dawn Rapa, Warner Realtors & Auction Company

Monthly Specials and/or Coupons - Offering monthly specials or coupons is a great way to get your existing customers to return each month or to get new customers to come to try your services or to visit your retail shop. Owner Diane D’Acqua of The Scarecrow Factory told me that she has numerous new out of state customers stop in with coupons printed from her website. The goal here is to convert online browsers to in-store buyers! Our website, The Women of Salem County, has an entire section filled with coupons for shopping in Salem County, the MARKETPLACE.

News & Newsletters - Your website is the perfect vehicle for distributing information to your clients, potential clients, etc. in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible. Henry D. Young Insurance offers a vast wealth of information on a variety of personal and business insurance topics while the Academy of Performing Arts Dance Studio has their monthly newsletter online to save paper and make it easier to distribute to the parents. Websketching (that’s us) has a press room for press releases as well as newsletters to help establish us as experts in our field.

On-line Stores - If you sell a product (or offer memberships), then you might want to consider selling it online! Jackie M’s sells cheesecakes online, Dr. Magaziner sells supplements, NJ State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs sells memberships, Auburn Road Vineyards sells wine (through Hops & Grapes).

Photo Gallery/Slideshows/Videos/Media Center - Your website is the perfect place for sharing photos and video, if appropriate. Although I don’t recommend it in every case, Cowtown Rodeo was the perfect example of a website that needed a videos and Tara LaRosa absolutely needed a media center - in fact, she really needs an entire section rather than just a page. Slideshows are the best way to show a large number of photos, showing the thumbnails on the page and allowing the viewer to click to view. Here is an example from our NJ Wedding Photographer website.

Portfolio - If you are an artist, an interior designer, etc., you may have a portfolio of work to showcase. Artist Lori Levin of Soulful Studios Pet Portraits has a terrific gallery of work for review. Jolene Petrowski of Inspired by Design shows before and after photos of her interior design work. If you are a photographer, you will want to showcase your best work as my partner did with his Jersey Shore Wedding Photographer website.

Sign-up for Mailing List - Allowing your visitors to sign-up to receive emails from you is a great way to grow your database for current and future marketing campaigns. Auburn Road Vineyards collects email addresses both on and offline and has Websketching send out their weekly e-Newsletter to announce "What’s for Dinner Friday?" Scott Donnini, owner of Auburn Road told me that on Thursday, right before the newsletter goes out, they usually have about two reservations each week... once the newsletter goes out, the phone starts ringing.

Testimonials - People like to buy from other people - they want to know that someone else tried it first and liked it. You don’t necessarily need a whole page of testimonials, but you definitely want to pepper some throughout your site. Check out http://www.warnerrealtors.com/ for a nice example - as you click through the site, the testimonial at the top changes.

Ok, for those of you who want to know what the obvious are... Home, About Us, Products/Services, Hours, Directions, Contact Us...

About Websketching

Websketching is a web development company offering a full range of website design, development and marketing services. Websketching specializes in creating custom website designs that can be equipped with their proprietary content management system, as well as the development of online website directories aimed at promoting tourism. Websketching is the creator of http://www.salemcountywoman.com/. For more information, please visit http://www.websketching.com/ or call 856-769-5600.