I remember getting acquainted with computers in the mid 90’s and discovering this thing called the “Internet”. The idea that you can create and view content on a worldwide network took the world by storm. My family picked up, at the time, a high-end IBM computer with Microsoft Windows 3.1 and signed up for AOL’s dial-up service. Sites would load up slowly, but it was new and exciting so we tolerated it. Fast forward to 2010 and, wow things have really changed.

Now, I have a super fast HP computer, a Google Android phone, an iPod Touch, a laptop and sooner or later, an iPad. We’re a much faster paced society these days. I can sit at Starbucks flip open my Droid and read the latest news, check the weather, etc. Recently, Google announced their endeavor into the entertainment market by releasing Google TV.

In a matter of a few years the Web has changed dramatically. With Google still dominating the global search market you can guarantee that the shifts will continue. This on-the-go society has really complicated the lives of Web developers because we now have to consider the following:

• Standard phones
• Smart phones
• iPad/tablet devices
• Various screen resolutions
• A multitude of operating systems
• And now websites as seen on a televisions

Right now, it’s tough to say where things are going. If I had to guess though, smart phones will eventually dominate the market and the current “standard” phones will be no more. With Apple, Google and others combating against Adobe, it’s safe to say that Flash compatibility will be a non-issue down the road. This means that most W3C compliant websites will load and display correctly on mobile/tablet devices.

Nothing is for certain, but keep a close watch on this in the future. Open source applications and juggernauts like Google will be leading the way for change.

When designing a website around specific call-to-actions here are some things to consider:

1. Color - Whether you’re designing a button, a banner or an entire header graphic the colors you choose really need to pop out on the page. For instance, using the color red on a dark website will draw attention straight to the red object.
2. Placement - The position of the object on the page is very important. Typically the object should be located in the top right corner or along the right side of your website.
3. Size Matters - This is especially true when you’re creating buttons. If your call-to-action button is the same size and blends with the rest of the site it won’t stand out as well if you changed some of the coloring or scaled it to be the biggest button on the page.
4. Verbiage - You could have a great graphic, but if the language isn’t effective you probably won’t draw people in. Using something like “Free Info” is dull, but “7 Ways To Boost Low Conversions” is sure to capture the attention of visitors.
5. Make It Visible - Don’t bury your call-to-action inside of text, banner ads or other graphics. What’s the point of a call-to-action if you can’t find it?

These are some of the core elements that go into creating a great call-to-action. If you have a website, bring it up in your browser and asking yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish?”

Building up a website from scratch is never an easy task. It begins with customer interaction and forming a team around a project manager, developers, designers and the client. Internet marketing is growing at a rapid pace as more and more people spend time online to buy products and search for services available to them in their area. When you’re developing an online presence you have to be focused on a few things: search engine optimization, customer conversion and website usability. Just because you have a beautiful website doesn’t mean people will actually find it out there on the Web without executing some sort of search engine optimization strategy. Just as well, you can have a high ranking website that nobody can understand how to use.

All of these pieces are important to your websites success and should be carefully planned while wireframing out the sites design. Pay particular attention to how the information flows and where your eyes go on the page. It will most certainly change when you start adding graphics and color, but at least you can begin visualizing how the website will appear to a user.

Call-to-actions should be clear and positioned strategically on the page. It’s also important that you select the right color scheme that’s going to attract an audience.

There is a science behind building websites and careful planning can result in much greater conversion rates.