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One of
the most important aspects of having a
successful website is your image.
You can have great pricing and all kinds of
products, but if your website looks cheap and
homemade then you’ll lose credibility and your
customers will move on to the next web store.
If you’re building your internet storefront with
an ecommerce package from storefront providers
such as Volusion, Shopify, or Bigcommerce.com then you won’t have to worry
about image as these turnkey solutions come with
all the graphic elements you’ll ever need to
create a professional look and feel right from
the start.
Even pre-built, website templates from
TemplateMonster.com come with the most essential
graphics included in the template
package as well. |
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However, if you’re building your website from
scratch then there are many things that you can
do to enhance the image and appearance of your
website just by implementing graphic elements.
Graphic elements essential to website
design include:
Logos
Headers
Buttons
Icons
Arrows
People
Product images
All of these elements are not only essential but
can add life to your website and create a
professional appearance as well.
However, when creating or editing such graphics
to fit perfectly into your web pages, you may
need to use an image editing program, if you’re
going to create and edit the images yourself.
And although most computers come with standard
image editing programs, you can find free, high
quality image and photo editing programs online
such as GIMP, Photoscape, Paint.NET, Serif
PhotoPlus, Photo Pos Pro and others.
All of these image creation and editing software
programs are free to download and can be found
online on Google.com And with these programs you
can create and edit images like a pro.
Whether you’re using a free image program such
as the programs mentioned above, or other image
editing programs such as Fireworks or Photoshop,
then all you have to do is read the manual,
follow the tutorials and then create and edit
your images accordingly.
Button design
When adding text to a blank button, all you have
to do is open the button in your image editing
program. Click on the image and then select the
“insert text” option.
Then select the type of fonts you’d like to
place on the button, i.e. Arial, Verdana etc,
and then proceed to type in the word that you
want to appear on the button, i.e. Main,
Products, About, Contact, FAQ etc…Then save the
button and you’re done. |
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| And with most other graphic
images it will only be a matter of cropping,
(cutting away excess background), and sizing
down images in order to fit those images where
you want them to appear on your webpage. And
this can easily be done with any standard or
free image editing software program. |
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Logo design
If you’re going to design your own logo from
scratch, then you can easily do so by simply
opening up a new file (palette) in your image
editing program, and then type in the name of
your business with the appropriate text.
Then, if you wanted to, you can add a special
effect to the text such as a drop shadow or a
glow to add life to the text. And many times, a
simple light drop shadow will make plain text
look like a professional logo. |
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Then you can add a graphic
icon which depicts the products you’re selling
right next to the text.
Then click save and you’re done. And just like
that, you now have your own, professional logo
which you created yourself. (NOTE: You can also
find and download free logo creator programs
online in order to help you create your own logo
with ease.) |
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Headers and banners
You can create headers and banners in the same
manner as well. Simply open a new file/palette
sized to fit at the top of your webpage. Then
you can insert and place images of the products
you’re selling right onto the header, along with
a headline, slogan or your logo as well. Click
save and you’re done. |
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And
you can find plenty of free graphics online such
as buttons, icons, arrows and images of people
as well, all of which can bring your website to
life. (i.e. Google image search) And you can see
a good example of how these graphic elements are
implemented into a webpage design by visiting
and viewing template designs on
TemplateMonster.com
If you’re going to build
your website from scratch then adding images,
icons and other graphic elements is not only
essential, but can also make the difference
between making or losing the sale as well. But a
professional image builds instant credibility,
and implementing graphic elements into your
website can help make the sale, over and over
again. |
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<-Back - Main Page -
Next-> |
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| >
How to Create Your Own Company Logo |
| >
Create Search Engine Optimized Product Pages |
| >
How to Create a Content Rich Website |
| >
Choosing Your Web Host Provider |
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