Web designers find new trends in Internet presentation

Stephen Smith specializes in personality.

Smith, president of NetBelieve.com, a 2-year-old Web design company, said his specialty is using colors, lines and words to bring his clients' personalities into whatever he develops for them.

Smith sees several trends in Web design. "Major sites are all user-driven," he said. "The amount of information and the way it's being presented is changing. Now you can use more sound and multimedia. This is due to the fact that the amount of bandwidth is increasing."

The second trend, Smith said, is that people are learning how to update their own sites. The third is that now anyone can put more information on his or her site than ever before, and that information can be updated more frequently, as well.

Smith's clients come from all over the country. "I don't take on a lot of clients at once, since I personalize each one," he said.

Smith said he believes the Internet will always be around and is headed in the right direction. "It's moving at a faster rate than any other form of entertainment or media."

Smith also creates multimedia CDs for his clients. The CDs incorporate video, sound and any other compatible information format the customer wants. "The information can be general or go in-depth," he said. "It's all up to the client."

Smith, who does not publish his business address, has a Web site at www.NetBelieve.com.

Michael Ariew is the president and chief executive officer of BizWeb-Pro.com, 344 Midway Circle in Nixa, the Web design company he's owned for more than five years.

Ariew entered the computer business 33 years ago, he said, starting as a computer programmer and subsequently working his way up to executive vice president at several large companies in California.

At one point, he said, he was the director of technology for Engineering Management Consultants. EMC did the design and engineering work for the Los Angeles Metro Rail, the city's rail transportation system.

Six years ago Ariew and his wife began looking for a place to retire. They had visited Springfield several times and liked it, so they made the move.

Ariew sees as some of the latest Internet trends faster Web sites and more concise information coming to the consumer. "Now a consumer can go directly to the Web site experience instead of having to wait to get to the opening page first," he said.

He believes another positive trend is the automatic collection of consumer data. "People used to have to fill out a form to request information or purchase something on the Net," he said. "Then the information was sent to the Web site owner. The owner would have to re-enter the information into their subscription program or mass mailing system. Now Web sites collect the information and put it into a database that's immediately accessible to the Web site owner for analysis. The information is going immediately into software that can be used to analyze data. You're going from a two- or three-step process to one step."

Ariew said this approach not only cuts down on steps in the process but reduces overhead costs and increases the security of the information the consumer is giving out.

"That's because the information isn't being e-mailed to the site owner," he said. "It's being placed directly into a secure environment."

The main objective of BizWeb-Pro.com, according to Ariew, is to help businesses solve their problems. "We go over what they're trying to accomplish and how Internet technology can help solve those problems," he said. BizWeb-Pro.com works with businesses of all sizes located all over the country.

Ariew believes that businesses not on-line are "missing the best marketing tool to come along in the last 100 years. Radio, print and television are all regional forms of marketing. But as more people are brought onto the Internet, the market continues to expand. It costs the same to have one person see your site as opposed to billions."

Brad Smith sees e-commerce and business-to-business solutions as the future of the Internet. Smith is the Web development manager for Atlas Communica-tions, 1905 S. Glenstone.

"There's a trend toward e-commerce," he said. "People want to be able to sell over the Internet. Some companies do all their selling over the Web." Smith believes business-to-business solutions will occur everywhere over the next two to five years.

"Businesses will integrate their Web site into their business," he said. "The site will know when to reorder products and do other things; it will manage the business itself."

Smith said this approach to business will allow the Web site to integrate into a company flawlessly and will increase productivity without increasing the employee base.

Atlas Communications offers Web design as well as Web hosting, graphic design, programming and a specialized software program.

"The software is Web-based and allows our customers to maintain and update Web sites without knowledge of the Internet or HTML," Smith said.

Atlas Communications began as a communication company selling pagers and cell phones. The company became involved in the Internet and in Web site development about 3-1/2 years ago. It now employs 11 people in the Web and Internet departments.