Today I’m going to talk about graphics and websets. Websets are pretty little files that you can use on your website with graphics, buttons, dividers, backgrounds, etc. Most are pretty inexpensive and some are even free, provided you link back to the person who designed it
If you don’t want to use a webset, how about a header? Headers give the website a uniform look. Plus, they can be very pretty. See my header at the top of the page? Preettttyyyyy… but I can’t claim credit. That came from Millenium Promo.
Either one, used right, can give your site a nice, professional look.
Sites I’ve used for websets include:
Sites for templates or header graphics
Just some general reminders about graphics:
- Don’t make the page too graphically intensive. I know there are lots of pretty images out there, but if you load twenty on your home page, it’s going to load very slow. People are impatient. We don’t always like to wait.
- Try to use some sort of theme. If you have a mystic lady in blue with a moon and a wolf, like up top, throwing in a bunch of graphic images that are green and sparkly and orange and striped is going to take away from the theme of the page and give a less professional appearance.
- Like I mentioned in the previous post, erotic romance authors might want to watch the risque graphics. If I’m curious about your books, I’m going to check out your website. However, I have three kids. The oldest one, a 7 year old, may know she’s not supposed to read over mama’s shoulder, but if she is playing on the floor with the baby, I don’t want her to look up and see a nekkid couple going at it on the monitor. I’ve left sites before because of this and I rarely think to go back. I’m not the only mama out there so chances are, if you have explicit pics on your site, you’ve lost potential readers.
So there are a few things about graphics, headers and stuff to keep in mind when doing the graphics.