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Simplicity, Honesty, and Value.

Our set of ideas and beliefs relating to the enterprise of designing web sites, developing web applications, and promoting and marketing these digital entities has little in common with that of other web design and development firms we know of. Boiled to its essence, our philosophy is one of simplicity, honesty, and value.

Simplicity.

We don't buy things we don't need, so we won't sell you things you don't need to try to recoup money spent buying things that we didn't need. We don't clutter our sites with garbage like clip art, advertisements, blinking text, unneeded extras, etc. We like to design and develop clean, easy-to-use websites that look like they cost a lot of money but really didn't.

Honesty.

BestWeb Atlanta recommends what we believe are the best all-around design, development, and marketing solutions, taking into account the budget, circumstances, environment, and personality of the organization or brand of the client. We do not apply every known bell and whistle to projects to beef up our bill. BestWeb Atlanta, like other successful organizations, is in the business of creating and maintaining win-win relationships.

Value.

We design and develop high-end custom websites at reasonable prices - and we can help you market them successfully as well. Our clients truly appreciate BestWeb Atlanta and recommend BWA web services to others on a regular basis because our clients know they are getting a tremendous value from our partnership.

We take pleasure in what we do.

Why? We do for others what we would want them to do for us. We do not ignore small or struggling organizations or brush off the small-budgeted nonprofits. When we are called by potential clients who know very little about the web, or perhaps are fearful of the Internet in general (a more common malady that you might suppose), we see this as a chance to provide a little education to our new friend. We harness the beast of technology, making it less formidable, less intimidating, and more approachable -- transforming the feared lion into a harmless shrew. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we attract our share of startups, nonprofits, and other clients that may have less-than-average web savvy or less-than-hefty web budgets. We enjoy showing these entrepreneurs and organizations how they can seriously stretch those limited web budget dollars, and we are truly honored that such a large percentage of our client base comes to us through the direct word of mouth of our satisfied clients and their associates.

High Quality.

We consider our friendly, reasonable, laid-back firm to be the polar opposite of the common outfits churning out web sites that look mass-produced and charging several thousand dollars for this "work." No one we know wants a cookie-cutter template to represent their organization in the online realm. Organizations which pay other web design and development companies a few thousand dollars and receive a cheap-looking website in return probably do not realize they have just paid out the nose for a cheesy, substandard FrontPage template, and have most likely been ripped off. Just say 'no' to website designs that make your organization seem to have poor taste and/or poor judgment.

No Fancy Office. No Rent Payment.

My colleagues and I do not gather around shiny, gleaming, dust-free mahogany conference room tables formulating official-sounding, politically-correct philosophical diatribes with highly professional, over-edited overtones destined for inclusion in colorful, slick, expensive marketing brochures printed on oversized sturdy paper stock. The closest thing we have to that kind of marketing material are our business cards (which we tend to distribute with great frequency, creativity, and panache). Our marketing methods at present are our high rankings on top search engines (a.k.a., Google) and even better, word of mouth. When our clients receive our electronic invoices, most of them already know that they are not helping us pay for office space, fancy furniture, new cars, Buckhead nightclubbing, or Neiman-Marcus skin care products -- or anything else that might serve to inflates the bills of our competitors.

No Pressure.

Although we really do love the latest, dazzling, rich media web development tools, apps, and sites, and use Flash, SQL Server, and ASP.NET when called for, we do not to push them as a general rule for one simple reason: rich media or high-end database apps do not fit the budget, the need, or the personality of every organization. It does not necessarily fatten our clients' bottom lines. This must be considered on a case-by-case basis. A graphic design house, a movie production studio, an art school, and many entertainment industry clients are usually perfect candidates for rich media web solutions such as Flash. On the flip side, a small law firm, a struggling nonprofit, and conservative, professional, sole proprietorships would not do well to spend thousands on such a show.

However, we are big fans of the burgeoning open-source PHP web app offerings and can help you implement them very economically.

Building Relationships.

The key for us, just like you, is to develop and maintain relationships with clients, relationships that are beneficial to both parties and harmful to neither, learning as much as possible about their organizations, their personalities, their products and/or services, and their competition. We are quite talented at how to best present our clients in the digital medium, at very competitive rates.

Getting You Googled.

Almost without exception, we recommend to our clients that they divide their web design and web development budgets, whatever they may be, into three equal parts: the first third for the design and development of the web site, the second third for online and offline promotion ("convergence") of their brand (be it product or service), and the remaining third for ongoing maintenance and updates of their websites. BestWeb Atlanta -- the home of high-end yet affordable web design, web development, and search engine optimization (SEO) -- is here to assist you in all facets of web services. Your web budget will be spared from the ravages of money-hungry web developers who spend half the budget planning your website and the other half designing and developing your website -- leaving you with precious little, if any, funding for the all-important online marketing and search engine optimization.

In today's world, successful companies in several sectors must utilize the World Wide Web as the hub around which their marketing activities revolve. Under this premise, BestWeb Atlanta delivers written communication solutions that speak to an organization's customers, partners, vendors, and employees in today's digital environment. BestWeb Atlanta understands the essential relationship between business technology and traditional marketing, and builds Internet solutions that leverage this knowledge.

Choosing a Web Designer.

Web designers are an important and integral part of creating that great look for your web site. However, how do you ensure that you find the right web designer? Here are a few rules of thumb that you might look out for when choosing a web designer.

First, check out the enthusiasm levels of the web designer/ web design company. Are they motivated about carrying through with your entire project, or are they looking at short-term goals? The right web design firm is not interested in merely closing a sale, but is fired up about the entire design process itself. More importantly, the web design company you choose to work with should indicate in no uncertain terms that a long-term relationship is important, and furthermore, that the relationship be win-win.

Enthusiasm is all very well, but how far does that carry your project? What about experience? A good web design company will have an easily-accessible, respectable portfolio showcasing a variety of design styles to suit various industries. Check out the URLs of your prospective web designer's previous work. The designer's past work will give you a good idea whether the design company would be suitable for your project.

While meeting with representatives of your prospective web design company, notice whether they asks you details about your company and project. The designer will need to be briefed on your current marketing strategy, how you are going to incorporate your new or newly-designed web site into that strategy, and how they can incorporate their design strategy into the big picture. If a web design firm doesn't ask many questions, how will they be able to understand your company enough to visually differentiate your company from the marketplace?

You also need to have the right chemistry with your web design company. Clear communication lines need to established and tested early on, so that you work together – effectively, and preferably, enjoyably.

Websites: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Among other things, a good overall design has the following traits:

• has unity and variety
• supports, but does not overpower, the message
• appropriate to the particular message being conveyed
• is appropriate to the target market/audience

A basic principle of classical aesthetics is that a good piece of art has a balance of unity and variety. That is, everything fits together into a recognizable whole, but at the same time there is enough variety to keep things interesting. Most web designers err on the side of too much variety. Unity and consistency are very important design principles, because they reinforce your site's (and your company's) unique identity. The design of a site needs to be consistent from one page to the next. Regardless of where someone is on your site, they should know that they're on your site and nobody else's. Branding, branding, branding!

One of the central elements of your brand is your logo. Choose a logo carefully, and whatever file formats it exists in, to ensure that the files are of high quality. Once you choose a logo, stick with it and use it throughout your site. Actually, it's best to have several versions of your logo - perhaps a larger one for your home page, a smaller one for other pages, and a 468x60 (the standard horizontal banner size) graphic to be used as an ad banner. (Well, that was more applicable back when banners were a desirable thing! We can no longer recommend banner ads because of their notoriously poor click through rates.)

A word to the wise - if you have someone else create a logo or other important graphic design for you, be sure to get the original files (often referred to as the 'art' files) it was created from (e.g. Photoshop .psd files, Macromedia Fireworks *.png files, Illustrator .ai files, etc.), not just the final GIFs or JPGs. If you ever need to create new graphics using your logo, you will not be able to edit these compressed files without losing quality. Also, GIFs and JPGs are not of sufficient quality for print, so if you ever need a print version of your logo, you'll be glad you have the original work files, from which higher-quality TIFFs or other formats can be generated.

Unity of design requires more than a logo in the corner. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, get jiggy with it. Colors, fonts, column layout, and other design elements should be consistent throughout every section of your site. That's one reason CSS - or cascading style sheets are so nice. Not only does CSS allow you to change a particular element throughout an entire site by simply changing the attributes on the style sheet, but they also protect you against accidental lapses, such as a stray paragraph somewhere on your site appearing in the wrong font.

"The medium is the message" is a famous statement attributed to philosopher Marshall McLuhan. When it comes to the Web, however, I respectfully submit that the medium should never be allowed to overshadow the message. If people are talking about the design of your Web site instead of the message that your Web site is delivering, then you've got your cart before your horse, and little Spot is up on that cart being furiously wagged by his tail. Weird fonts, bizarre punctuation, or too many colors can call attention to themselves and generally distract the visitor from your message.

An effective web design simply presents your message in an attractive way. Keep the purpose of your Web site firmly in mind at all times, and resist temptations to indulge in unnecessary bells and whistles. Simplicity is most often a great asset, as evidenced in these standards-compliant CSS/XHTML sites. For most clients, these types of websites are the way to go as far as BestWeb Atlanta is concerned.

Of course, if your site is designed to woo clients for a Web site design shop, then you may need to implement a bit of dazzle, and that leads us to the third basic principle of design: choose a design scheme that's appropriate for the message you're trying to convey. What's good design for a corporate Web site would be anathema for an entertainment site. The sets of colors, fonts, and layout techniques chosen will be determined by the kind of look and feel that's appropriate for your intended audience. If you're in the Web business, the sky's the limit - you can wear a tux with Bermuda shorts and combat boots if you want. A similar concept applies to Web design. Corporate sites will stick with the tried-and-true basics (one font, one or two conservative colors), while hotshot Internet firms will choose from a wider palette.