As an online entrepreneur, you know that great ecommerce web design can make or break your sales numbers. But statistics like site visits, click throughs to item descriptions, and other numbers might not tell the whole story: according to BizReport and eWay Direct, the majority of shoppers- a whopping 70%- browse products, set aside items for purchase and then…vanish. It’s called shopping cart abandonment- the process of loading items into a cart and then either purposefully or inadvertently navigating away from the site before completing a purchase. (more…)

Web designers frequently torment themselves trying to decide what colors to use for their creations. Color choice for a website can either spoil the content and drive users away from your site, or reinforce your brand and increase page views. A good rule of thumb for website colors is to keep them simple and follow the trends.

If you are looking for a web designer to freshen up your site, visit Resource Nation’s web design quote center.

According to COLOURLovers.com, in 2008, blues and greens were the most popular colors. Blue Iris, a radiant shade of blue, was favorited by more than a half million people.

The most popular green of 2008 was said to be Bamboo Green, which makes sense given the green economic revolution. These two colors also blend well together and are frequently used on sites like Broadband Reports, TechCrunch, and TripAdvisor.

In 2009, blue has continued and will continue to be a popular trend. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Indeed all use different shades of blue, most likely because it is extremely versatile. Blue helps words, logos and other content pop while providing feelings of ease and usability.

The Popularity of Blue

The first few months of any new year are often times referred to as “Award Season.” This is because every January, the new year kicks off with award show after award show and business award after business award. Some of the popular award shows include the People’s Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Academy Awards where celebrities send the trend in style and color. We saw celebrities wearing various stunning shades of blues, setting the stage for blue to continue to be a popular color in 2009.

Web designers take note of this blue trend so you can ensure your websites are inviting, appealing, and successful. Below is a brief sample of the web design color trends for 2009. Review each trend and let the colors inspire you for your next website design project.

Blue Trends

Anne Hathaway at the Golden Globes in a gorgeous dark-navy blue. Hathaway’s choice of color is similar to Papillon Bleu, which is the perfect hue to make your web content jump off your page.

Maggie Gyllenhaal at the Golden Globes in a fun, bright, leopard-print blue. Bright colors are a great way to attract attention. Additionally, having the right mix of colors can do wonders for your website designs. Black and blue go extremely well together, as Gyllenhaal demonstrated at the Golden Globes and as Acceptance demonstrates on their website.

Mary Louise Parker at the Golden Globes in a vibrant royal blue. Royal blue has always been a popular shade of blue. It’s effervescent, stunning, eye-catching, and pairs well with a variety of other colors. For example, markmeup effectively utilizes Royal Blue with several other shades of blue as well as for various design uses. While C&M Properties & Construction, Inc. doesn’t use Royal Blue on their site, they do successfully pair blue with gray hues for a wonderful blend of colors to make their page look organized and well put together.

Overall, because there is an assortment of beautiful blues and all shades pair well with other colors, blue is an excellent color. Blue will prove to be a popular choice for web designers in 2009.

One important decision small businesses need to make today is who to hire to design and develop a corporate website. You can either outsource it to a web page design company or use in-house website designers. For small businesses, I’d recommend outsourcing and here’s why:

Outsourcing Saves Money

When outsourcing web page design, you only pay for the time spent on the project or a flat-fee for the entire web design. This can result is significant savings since opting to remain in-house for your web programming produces a necessary ongoing financial commitment to the web designer(s). This commitment can be in the form of salary, equipment, bonus, training, benefits, and more.

The Competitive Drive of External Agencies Benefits your Website

The web design industry is extremely competitive by nature. Due to the need to remain competitive in order to survive in the industry, there is more pressure on external agencies to stay up-to-date with the latest technology, web designs, innovations, and developments. As a result, external agencies are often better equipped and better staffed to take advantage of modern technology to produce effective website designs.

On the reverse, most companies make the mistake of using employees from the IT department to design and program the web. IT departments typically don’t focus on web design and are usually required to address several company issues unrelated to web design. Because the IT department is not worried with whether or not they must be up to date on the latest web design techniques in order to be competitive in the web page design industry, it could result in outdated technology, old-fashioned web designs and obsolete web programming techniques.

Bigger Means Better

External agencies are normally larger than in-house web designer teams. Thus, they likely have an advantage when it comes to complex and cutting-edge websites. In addition, since external agencies are usually larger, they have numerous specialists in specific web programming fields like accessibility or usability and are often better equipped to take advantage of modern technology and challenging website designs.

Outsourcing Means Fresh Eyes

Outsourcing web page design brings a fresh, unbiased and objective perspective into the mix and ultimately enhance your marketing message and functionality.

Experience Equals Quality

Professional web page design companies typically have entire teams of experts and specialists who offer vast experience and expertise in web design and web programming. On the contrary, in-house web designers are often-times not very experienced, struggle to create high-quality web designs, and can take a much longer period of time to do so.

In-House Invites Internal Issues

Selecting in-house web designers can result in delayed and unfinished projects because your chosen web programmers may be sidetracked or derailed by internal politics or conflicting IT priorities. This problem does not exist when outsourcing web page design because you use external agencies that are unconcerned with your company’s politics and various IT issues.

If you are a small businesses, visit Resource Nation’s comprehensive list of web page design companies.