Mastering Website Graphics: Problems And Solutions

I'm a professional webmaster and in this job I have to cope with many different types of tasks involving website design and maintenance. Quite frankly, a webmaster has to be a "Jack of all trades", and naturally, some of the jobs I find more difficult than others.

Lack Of Expertise

For many webmasters like myself, one of the most difficult skills to master is the development of website graphics. Many people like me are not particularly gifted in this area. We are also faced with the problem that good graphics programs, such as PhotoShop, are both expensive and difficult to learn.

The general lack of graphics skills is very evident when you look at the many websites built by amateurs. They really haven't grasped the importance of having a well-presented website. If they are selling something, they are unlikely to gain the confidence of potential customers. Would you buy from a person who cannot present a professional appearance on their website? Probably not!

The Importance Of Website Graphics

It is important for the content of a website to be easily read, and this can partially be achieved by breaking up the text with well-placed and appropriate images. This is as important on blogs and content-rich sites as it is with selling websites. People will soon leave if the site cannot be easily and quickly read.

Sales conversion rates improve if there are graphical images of the products being sold. Even the sales of "invisible" digital products will increase if the site shows a professionally created eCover or software box

Hiring A Graphic Designer

I do this when I can spare the money, when I need an exceptionally high quality graphic - and when I can wait the days and weeks for a graphic to be prepared.

Finding a good graphic designer can be a challenge. You need to ensure that they have the skills to produce website graphics, not just off-line graphics. And look carefully at their style. Does it appeal to you. Every designer has their own style and you need to find one whose style you like. Check the sort of work that they have done. And check, also, that they can do the work in time for you. Some designers are very busy and they could end up delaying the launch of your product or site.

What About Ready-Made Website Graphics?

There are plenty of resources of ready-made graphics on the web. It's not difficult to find collections of icons, banners, buttons and good quality royalty-free photos.

One problem with ready-made graphics is that, because they are freely available, many people will use them on their sites. So if you use the same ones, experienced visitors to your site will recognise that you are using free resources. This can create an image which is less than professional. With the right skills and graphics software it is possible to modify these ready-made images to give a more unique look to your website. But I find that this is both challenging and time consuming, and I guess that other people will as well.

There's also the problem of locating good sources of pre-made graphics. I've found that a lot of these collections of existing artwork are both repetitive and of poor quality.

My Solution To Creating Graphics For Websites

In all my years as a webmaster, building and maintaining websites, I've built up an impressive list of the best sources of graphics available online. More recently, I've started to locate online services which are much more advanced than the simple provision of free graphics and photos.

Some of these online services are quite remarkable. There are services which let you create your own badges, buttons and banners without needing artistic skills. There are services which let you do amazing transformations of existing photographs. There are sites which let you design your own website and blog templates. The list goes on - and new online graphics services are appearing almost daily.

The great thing is that there is no charge for these services!

For my own convenience, I took the best of these graphics services and wrapped them up in a bit of software which I can easily access. And the software can be updated easily, so that I can add new graphics services as I find them

I passed a few copies of this software out to a few close friends to see what they thought of it. Their reaction was "Wow!! You could make a packet selling this". Well, I didn't particularly want to make "a packet" because I wanted to make it affordable to most "graphically-challenged" webmasters. So, when I added it to my "Webmasters CheatKit product range, I kept the price low, and it's become hugely successful.

About the Author

Ian Traynor is a graphically challenged professional webmaster. His "graphics in a box" software can be inexpensively obtained from http://www.IanSays.com/WebmastersCheatKit/GraphicsWizard

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