Files to Use in an Efficient Web Design and Promotional Downloads
When you’re designing your eCommerce store, you’ll probably try to find lots of different ways to increase your customer base. Offering free downloads or bonuses when your customers visitor your site is one of the best ways to accomplish this. However, when you’re designing your website and these bonuses, you need to make sure you handle them in the most efficient manner possible. Otherwise, your customers will be frustrated when they discover that they cannot access the bonuses or that they aren’t working the way they thought they would. Here are some key points.
Images Should Be Standard Files
If you’re offering banners, headshots, inspirational pictures, infographics, or anything even remotely similar, make sure that you only use the more common options. GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs are the best choices. While you can find all kinds of other image types, they are often tied to specific design programs that most of your customers or clients won’t have. If you decide to break with this habit, make sure that you have a good reason. For instance, you might consider offering PTP files if your customers frequently use compatible design programs. Just make sure you make it clear that’s what the download will be. Offering multiple file options is another option, but bear in mind that this can slow down your overall website’s loading speed, bogging down the web design with unnecessary duplicates.
Be Cautious with PDFs
When you offer PDF files for downloads, you’re making a safe choice. PDFs can be opened and viewed on most devices, and they do not allow for the same level of tampering and virus transmission as plain documents. However, PDFs are not the best choice if you decide to host the full content on the website. Make sure that the viewable web content that loads automatically is in HTML format. Your web design will load significantly faster. It’s also friendlier to mobile devices. Having the links where the customers can save off the PDF file will not alter the website design’s loading speed. PDF files will work in almost any web design template whether technology website templates or computer website templates.
Avoid Docs and Choose RTFs or TXTs if They Are to Be Alterable
If you’re trying to offer an alterable document, you might assume that a typical Word document is the best format for you to offer it in. But that’s not necessarily the case. Word documents are more likely to have viruses, and not everyone can access them. While Microsoft Word is one of the more popular text editing programs in the United States, you should be cautious when you are dealing with an international market. RTFs and TXTs tend to work better. They have less room for viruses, and they are viewable on just about any text editing program. The added benefit to your overall web design is that they are often smaller, and they are easy to transfer into html.
