posts in Graphic Design Online category

There’s no getting around it – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is not just for marketers any more. It’s a vital component of any website, and when it’s done well, means better quality traffic, increased conversion rates and happier visitors.

Any designer dealing with online content has the power to make or break a website when it comes to SEO. Here are a few simple rules that will improve the SEO on your sites.

Rule number 1: Put content before flashy design.

Good design champions content rather than detracting from it, and ultimately, a site’s content is what users are searching for.

To help users find what they’re looking for, create a site that’s easy to navigate. A good place to start is with the content structure or Information

Architecture (IA). Break up your site into no more than seven sections, and use the section landing pages to summarise and link to more specific content in deeper pages.

On the pages themselves, lead with a relevant H1 tag and use the first paragraph of text to summarise the rest of the page.

Rule number 2: Make the most of your keywords.

Keywords are essential for good SEO and the more relevant they are, the better they’ll perform. Stuffing your site with frequently searched for terms may or may not bump it up a notch in Google’s search results, but it will definitely increase your bounce rates when your audience fail to find what they’re looking for.

Find out what your audience is interested in, and choose your content and keywords accordingly. Take a look at relevant forums and your competitors’ sites to identify words that keep coming up, and use them (and their synonyms) in your title tag, page URL, headings and main content.

Rule number 3: Pay attention to your homepage.

Your homepage is probably the highest ranking page on your site, so it’s the perfect place to ensure web spiders find relevant information and keywords.

It should summarise the rest of the site and include target keywords and links to important pages to help people to find what they’re looking for.

Rule number 4: Ditch the splash page.

There are few things more irritating than landing at what looks like a website’s homepage, only to find that it’s nothing more than a big banner and a link saying “Click here to enter”.

A splash page is just a barrier between your visitors and the information they want to find. Get rid of it.

Rule number 5: Use a site map and internal links.

Site maps link to every page on your site, so if you want search engines to see every page, you can’t do without one. A site map also describes the structure of your website, so it’s good for usability and easy navigation too.

Likewise, links in the body content to other pages on your site can help increase each page’s findability. If you link externally, make sure you set the link to open up …

Ever looked at a colorful advertising and marketing brochure or even a web-site and believed of distinct techniques you would design it if provided a possibility? Normally locate oneself marveling in the originality of an artwork on a book cover? Every time graphics roll around the evening news, do you wonder if there was a technique to do it better? In case your answer for the above concerns is yes and you have an undying thirst for creativity, then you definitely likely are a prime candidate for becoming a graphic artist.

Becoming a graphic designer involves as much difficult perform and commitment because it does flair and creativity. Your talent needs to be nurtured appropriately, as well as your creativity channelized within the appropriate direction if you’d like to produce a serious profession out of graphic arts. And one particular approach to do that is by means of sound training plus a relevant education inside the field. But ahead of we get down on the nitty-gritty of tips on how to turn out to be a graphic artist, let’s take a closer appear at what graphic artists do.

Simply put, graphic designers develop visual communication of an concept or even a message. They use a number of supplies such as pictures, sound, illustrations, animation, sort, and color to create visual options. They perform in industries ranging from films, television, and publishing to advertising, gaming and style.

Finding Education

So, how does 1 go about becoming a graphic designer? The very first step will be to obtain your way to a college or university that provides a graphic arts degree. There will be lots of individuals who will try to argue you out of enrolling for any college degree. Some believe that there is no point spending tough earned (or borrowed) dollars on one thing that you could teach yourself, although others will insist that a portfolio is all that matters to make it as a graphic designer.

Admittedly, portfolios creation and on the web tutorials are essential part of your instruction. But equally critical is really a strong education that only a graphic design and style plan can give.

Not just is really a college degree important to construct a sturdy foundation inside the field, but it is also the minimum credential that employers currently ask for when conducting job interviews. A graphic arts degree is also important if you need to mature into a lot more senior roles and aspire to lead a creative team of an organization at some point inside your profession.

The good point is the fact that you’ll be able to decide on between a basic two-year Associate’s degree in Graphic Arts along with a additional advanced and in-depth Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Arts, based on your career and educational ambitions.

For people that are creating a mid-to late-career shift to graphic design or who come across a college education completely out of their attain, you can find a array of expert certificate programs and …