Tag Archives: web design

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Artizan Internet Services Releases WebEngine 2.0

After months of development, Artizan launched WebEngine 2.0 for the insurance industry. This new engine helps agents improve their Web presence by increasing site traffic and searchability and using the latest tools in Web site design.

“When we first began speaking about this new engine and the whole emphasis of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social networks, there wasn’t much ‘buzz’ about it,” said Richard Roy, managing partner and president of Artizan. “Agents were still getting their bearings on the Internet and learning what they wanted to do within it. Today, being on the Web is no longer just a cool thing to do; it’s a vital part of conducting business.”

The new WebEngine 2.0 now includes:

  • Search engine optimized sites—All WebEngine 2.0 sites use the latest style-based designs, which increase the “content to code ratio.” Sites with higher content to code ratios are ranked higher by search engines than code-centric sites.
  • Dropdown menus—Dropdown menus are available to use throughout your site, not just on custom home pages. The new dropdown menu system was developed to be highly compatible with search engines.
  • Page-based meta tags—These tags are used by search engines to make decisions regarding keyword prominence and for the description that appears on the search results page. The ability to enter meta description and keyword tags for each page increases the searchability of a site on the Web.
  • Google Analytics integration—Page hits are automatically recorded and reported in WebEngine 2.0. For more in-depth reporting, sign up for a Google Analytics account. The Google code is automatically inserted into each page on your site with your account number.
  • WYSIWYG page editor—The new page editor in WebEngine 2.0 allows you to edit pages in a format that looks like the finished page. Similar to your favorite word processor, buttons exist for bold, italic, and underline text. You can change the font face and size of any text and perform most standard text formatting options easily.
  • Active dictionary—Displayed content will be compared against the site’s insurance terms, and any defined words will appear as links. Mousing over the links will display a dynamic pop-up containing the definition of the term. This feature can be customized to have definitions on all pages, no pages, or only selected pages.
  • Preview before publish—WebEngine 2.0 allows you to preview new pages or updates before publishing them to the live site.
  • Flash video upload—WebEngine 2.0 includes the ability to upload flash videos—similar to YouTube. Each video will appear as a WebEngine page.
  • Page-level security—Access can be restricted/changed for individual pages. This allows agencies to assign the responsibility of updating pages only to the department responsible for the content.
  • Automated sitemaps—XML and HTML sitemaps are created automatically. XML sitemaps are used by search engine spiders to navigate your site. (Spidering is how search engines [i.e. Google] search and catalog a site on a page-by-page basis, making your site easier to find.)
  • Self-updates—WebEngine 2.0 gives agents the ability to sign on and make Web updates themselves. However, if an agent prefers, Artizan offers support services to help with SEO and periodic updates.
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Does Your Web Site Look Good?

Traditionally, Web developers only needed to worry about how your Web site displayed in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). No longer. Multiple Web browsers are commonly used by your prospects and clients. A bad looking page on a non-IE browser (e.g. Firefox, Safari, Opera) could make a prospect abandon your site.

Browsershots.org is a complimentary service that lets you test your Web design in 55 different combinations of Web browsers and operating systems. It’s a handy tool to make sure you know how your Web site will look on different systems—which sometimes mangle sites using nonstandard code.

It’s simple to use. Put your Web site address into the input bar, select the different browsers and operation systems you want to test, and click submit. Browsershots proceeds to make screenshots of your Web design in different browsers.

Here’s how it works. When you submit your Web address, it is added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers open your Web site in their browser. Then, they make screenshots and upload them to a central server. This process can take a while, depending on how many combinations you selected. The screenshots are then displayed on the site and you can download them to view in more detail.

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Add Branding to your Web Site

As you are surfing the web you may have noticed some web site that add a logo to the address field in your browser. Called a Favicon (which stands for “Favorite Icon”), it is a customized icon image that you can add to help your web site stands out from the crowd. Every time someone navigates to or bookmarks your site, your customized icon will be displayed in their Favorites folder in place of the generic Internet Explorer logo. This function cannot be turned off and is completely transparent to the browser. Your site can become much more noticeable among the other bookmarks, something that may help you draw more repeat visitors.

Creating your own Favicon is an easy process. First, you’ll need to design your icon. Because the image size is 16×16 pixels, you need to keep the detail to a minimum and use only a few colors. You’ll need to make a file called “favicon.ico” in authentic icon format. It is important to note that an icon file is not a bitmap, and a bitmap file cannot be renamed with an .ico extension. There are a number of different online Favicon programs that will help you create your version. Google for Favicon to see the options.

After you’ve created your icon and named it correctly (favicon.ico), you have a few choices: First, you can place a copy of your icon in the root directory of your Web site where most of your pages likely reside. If you have a large site with multiple directories, you should place a copy of your icon in each directory. Once this is done visitors to your site will automatically see your new logo.