A1 Web Design

Improving Your New Website

2006-03-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

You've got your website up and published, and you are proud of what you have accomplished.

You have spent some time building links and getting noticed by search engines, but your stats show you that most of your visitors don't stay around very long! What can you do to make your site more attractive, and most of all, make your visitors want to return time and time again?

If you have a retail site you could do offers of the week, and use opt in email lists to promote these to visitors. If you have an information site this may be a bit more difficult.

Tools provided by your hosting company

There are some very good tools around which will make your website more interesting. Some should be included in your web hosting package and will include a guestbook and forum. A guestbook is useful for people to give you an indication of whether they like your site or not - but be prepared to remove entries from unscrupulous visitors simply wanting to get free advertising for their own sites (usually completed unrelated!). Forums are useful for self help - you don't need to be an expert on everything, as your visitors will (hopefully) help you out and answer questions themselves!

Other tools

Other tools may be free, or may require a subscription. Options you could include are RSS tickers, event calendars, web polls.

An RSS ticker can either be used to show people what is new on your site (see http://www.limebrook.com for an example), or to bring in a news feed relevant to your site. Many magazines offer this feature free to other sites.

A web poll is useful as it seems to be human nature to want to give an opinion. Putting up a poll on a subject relevant to your site can give you useful information about your visitors as well as making them feel the site is interactive.

Many free tools can be found by doing a Google search, however be aware that nothing is ever really for free. Many good web poll packages work very well, but when giving the results back to your visitor will use it as a way of presenting advertising information to them. You may be very happy with this, but make sure you try it out for yourself first to make sure that it fits in with what you want visitors to your site to be exposed to!

If you want advert free tools you may need to pay. You can spend a very large amount on advert free web polls, but you can also get some at very low cost. Beware of ’14 day free trials’ – nothing wrong in principle, but it is very easy to waste a lot of time setting a web poll up on your site only to suddenly find it will cost you $200 to keep it after the free period! Our advice is if you sign up for any free trial make sure you know how much the subscription will eventually cost you, and only use that tool if you know you are going to be able to afford it in the long run!

A word of warning!

Once you have your website there are unlimited improvements you can make - but be careful they really are improvements and add to your site. As you become more proficient in web designing you may want to add a flash intro to your site, for example, but always put yourself in the position of your visitor. Always remember to think:

1. Who is your target visitor?

2. Why are they coming to your site?

3. What do you want them to focus their attention on?

If you have a long flash intro you may find people go to another site rather than wait to see what is on yours. It may be appropriate for an entertainment site to set out to entertain its visitors from the start - but if you want a middle aged person to buy some widgets, a long introduction, especially with loud music playing, may not make them stick around long enough to find you are the cheapest in the market!

There are a lot of tools out there - just make sure you don't get carried away and use them just to show how clever you have become. Remember, the whole point of your site is to get, and keep, visitors.

Pat Ransom has worked in the IT industry for 15 years and is experienced with local government and company websites. Having designed and published a successful and acclaimed website in her own right the secrets of website design and publishing are now shared at http://www.webmasterproductions.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Ransom

Increasing Traffic Conversion Rates

2006-03-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

By Svend Nelson

The conversion rate describes the percentage of visitors taking action on a website. Usually this action will be making a purchase; but conversion rates can and should be calculated for any action item on a website, e.g. subscribing to a newsletter or filling out an inquiry form.

Conversion science is a hot trend in Internet Marketing that has long been neglected when online marketers primarily focused on the acquisition of traffic through search engine optimization and other online marketing techniques to improve visibility of websites on the Internet.

Research (e.g. by Forrester Research among others) has shown that conversion rates average at about 2% on retail websites.

While it is increasingly difficult to acquire traffic through organic search results, paid traffic remains the only choice for many website operators. Understanding the factors that turn casual visitors into paying customers hence becomes a crucial success factor.

While every business will require a different minimum conversion rate to be viable, here are some of the factors that generally influence the conversion rate:

1. Search Behavior - the more targeted the search or online marketing technique that brought a visitor to your website in the first place, the more likely that she is a qualified potential customer. While we cannot influence the search behavior of our visitors we can create specific content that will attract targeted visitors.

2. Products and Services – even the most sophisticated website will not produce a significant conversion rate if the products and services offered are lame and not in demand.

3. User interface and ease of use – a website, at the end of the day, is a user interface. The success of Google many times has been attributed to the fact that it is one of the world’s easiest-to-use sites. In reality, fine-tuning the user interface of a website usually comes along with company size. Most Internet entrepreneurs would rather go for quantity than quality and rather bash out a new site then optimizing an existing one, which certainly is not the most useful trend that we can see on the Internet.

A lot of research has already been done on usability and there are two schools evolving – Andrew Goodman calls these schools the “Economists” and the “Ideologues”. Economists proclaim the removal of any undue barriers to commerce as the way to increase conversion rates. Ideologues on the other hand highlight the need to convince or persuade potential customers to buy products through sales copy, psychological triggers and other emotional elements. The truth lies, as in so many cases, somewhere in the middle. On the one hand a website has to be fully functional and working smoothly (Economists), on the other hand a site also has to attract and convince (Ideologues).

4. Content – “Content is King” in web design, because content is what search engines rank web sites for. Copywriting is art and beyond the scope of this article, however a common misunderstanding appears to be that the best copy is brief. So, many times we come to a page, hardly any copy and only a web form to fill out. Most people in fact would not fill out that form, because they seek more information before taking action like filling out an inquiry form.

5. Credibility of your website – we can pretend to be anyone on the Web, therefore we sometimes call the Internet the “great equalizer”. The flip side is how to generate credibility. Stanford research has come up with a long list of how to create credible websites. Among highest ranking items on the list is a physical address, a contact telephone number, professional design, testimonials and incoming links. In fact, anything that renders “the intangible more tangible” will add to a site’s credibility.

There are arguably hundreds of factors influencing the conversion rate, many of which are not even fully controllable or even contradictory. We will never know what the conversion rate of our site will be unless we launch our site and start receiving traffic. And this is where the probably most practicable recommendation comes in: Build a website with a clear goal in mind - What do you want your visitors to do on your website?

Svend Nelson is a university lecturer and Internet entrepreneur. He is an online marketing specialist active in various online industries; among his online presences in the real estate and home loan industry are Hawaii real estate and Arizona Mortgages. He shares his experience about web marketing in his blog. Svend lived and worked in various countries across Latin America, Europe and Asia and spends most of his time in Thailand these days.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Svend_Nelson

Need A Website Built? 6 Major Web Design Tips to Protect You

2006-03-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

By Robert Scribner

So you decided you need a website and you need to hire someone to make it. Well lookout! You need to be very careful. To stay with a reasonable budget and good service, please follow the following 6 steps to protect yourself.

1} Customer Service: This is the most important step. Make sure you can always talk to a real person. If you have to keep using a web support form and phone messages. Then move on. Web design needs real people to create it, and if you cannot talk anytime you want, then your doing business with the wrong company.

2} Domain Registration: Make sure the company you pick can buy and maintain your domain. Make sure they know how to set it up correctly for your new website and they make sure it gets renewed every year.

3} Web Hosting: Every website needs to be hosted. Does your design company have their own servers? Many do not. Its always nice to only call or contact one company to handle your web design needs and your hosting and Email needs.

4} Web Design: Websites do not need to cost you a second mortgage. Most of the time, a simple site is all you need. But many designers build sites as they see it. They normally do not think about how the site needs to perform for the search engines and clients with slow internet connections. A good designer will use basic technology and will be aware of the search engine needs.

5} Web Maintenance and Updates: This can be a killer. Make sure your design company includes updates and changes in their package, or you can be nickeled and dimed to death at 40 to 80 dollars an hour. Look out for gimmicks and games. Find a company that truly wants to be your full website provider, including changes.

6} Web Marketing: This is just as important as customer service. You can pay as much as you like for a website, but it is useless without traffic. Make sure your design company builds a good marketable website for you and provide you the services you need to get your site submitted to the search engines. They may also have programs to help with web pay advertising.

You need to ask every web design company about the 6 items above and how much they cost. A truly good web design company will have all 6 items to their package. If not, you will be facing a web design nightmare.

For any questions about the services above, feel free to visit http://www.necustomwebs.com or http://www.nwcustommarketing.com. Or email nwcw@nwcustomwebs.com at 541-390-8128.

Rangerrob of the Northwest.

A Northwest Outdoor Redneck, supporting friends and Family to enjoy the outdoor together. View Hunting, Fishing, Flyfishing, Kiting, Boating and much more at http://www.rangerrob.com.

Feel free to visit his web services at http://www.nwcustomwebs.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Scribner

How Affordable Websites Can Make You Money

2006-03-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

By Ben Neale

Do you have a website that doesn't bring you any business?

Are you worried about investing more money in a website that isn't performing?

Well here is some good news: affordable websites can make you money!

There's a myth circulating that you have to invest a fortune to make money through the web. Of course the likes of Amazon and eBay have thrown cash at their websites and are reaping the rewards, but I'm not talking about companies of that size. Budget websites can also generate income with the right approach.

The great thing about doing business online is that you can keep your overheads low. No need for expensive shop fronts, offices, printed brochures or a large workforce. Ideal for the small business without endless capital resources.

It is perfectly possible to do business via the web and make a tidy profit using a modest website on a small budget, providing you follow some basic rules regarding content and structure, and concentrate on converting visitors into sales.

I read a fascinating article last week, by Michael L. McGrath of MLM Celtic Enterprises, which successfully articulated some similar ideas that I have been talking to my clients about recently:

"Every web site has a Most Desired Response, that which the the site owner wants the visitor to do while visiting, and that MDR needs to be identified. The site's design and content need to be crafted tightly and well around the MDR, identify it with absolute clarity, and remove all obstacles that might prevent a visitor from the response."

That - in a nutshell - is the key to a successful, profitable website, and it need not cost the earth!

It's amazing how many start-ups fail to grasp this idea, and then complain that their website fails to bring them any business. Imagine that. If you follow a few basic rules, you can produce websites that actually bring you business.

Concentrate on the following:

identifying your Most Desired Response

identifying your target audience

structuring your site and preparing content, based on your MDR and your target audience.

Identify your site's Most Desired Response

Rather than thinking about how you would like your site to perform, think about how you would like your customers to behave. There's a subtle but crucial difference.

More often than not, your MDR will be a visitor buying your product or service. By the way, if you want to take online credit/debit card transactions, you can use PayPal, which is quick and easy to set up. All you need is a bank account to get started.

But your Most Desired Response doesn't have to involve an online transaction. Very often an MDR will be making a phone call, making contact via email, or simply registering personal or business details.

Be sure of your target audience

Successful small businesses identify and corner niche markets, rather than attempt to take on the world! This is doubly important for online marketing, because you will want to avoid competitive keywords when preparing your content for the search engines.

Structure your site and prepare your content

Once you have established your MDR and identified your Target Market, you can begin to structure your site. The structure and content of your site should serve exclusively to trigger the Most Desired Response from your Target Market. Anything which does not fulfill this criterion is superfluous and should be discarded. Be ruthless about this. Avoid building in gimmicks to your site, which only serve to distract your visitors from the MDR.

I recommend drawing a flow chart which maps your visitors' journey beginning with the keywords they enter into Google, and tracking their movement through your site to the holy grail - the Most Desired Response.

When preparing your content, you will need to bear two things in mind. Firstly, it has to comply with the MDR. Avoid superfluous waffle, and make sure everything you say is leading your visitor towards that all important conversion. Secondly, you will need to make sure that your content attracts your target audience to the site in the first place - via the search engines. Start by identifying the right keywords - or more accurately keyphrases - and then ensure that they feature in your content.

In the online world, niche markets take on an even more important role, when you come to choose keywords. The big boys will have the generic keywords sewn up already, and those keywords won't bring you targeted traffic anyway. If you can concentrate on a specialist or localised market so much the better. You will stand a far better chance of driving targeted traffic to your site and generating hot leads. Of course you need to make sure that your keywords are not so specialised that none of your potential customers are using them. It's a fine balancing act. Nichebot offers a useful tool for working out the most productive keywords.

So you see, none of this is going to cost you the earth. A great deal of thinking and research (I never said it was easy!), but not a great deal of money. Quite the reverse: if you follow the rules, you will soon be making money.

Ben Neale is a Director of The Marvellous Media Company - specialists in Multimedia that Sells

web-design.multimedia-production-services.co.uk

affordable websites

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Neale

10 Elements of a Successful Web-Site

2006-03-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

By Amit Kumar Chatterjee

There are hundreds of articles and thousands of tips on how to make a website successful. True, websites vary greatly in content, style, focus and n-number of other aspects. Consequently, there can not be one great formula or key success factor. However, if we closely look into successful web-sites - a few features stand out, features that are common in almost all successful sites.

A successful web-site, evidently, is the one that is capable of attracting quality visitors and retain them. The core of this attractiveness is its content. However, only content is not enough - just as a good product needs good packaging a successful site needs elegant presentation and promotion.

In this article, we discuss 10 basic elements that can significantly contribute towards success of any website.

1. Content
No matter if you have a business site or a personal page, you have to give people a reason to stay on your site - the first question the visitor is going to ask - "what's in it for me?"

That doesn't mean you have to give away freebies - programs, books, tickets, holidays etc. etc. - it does mean that you have to offer something. That "something" could be:

Information

Utility (bulletin board, search engine, directory etc.)

Entertainment

Advice

Help with a problem

Opportunities to network with like minded people

Links to useful sites

Remember, a successful site is a useful site. It should contain:

information that is perceived to be 'useful' by its visitors (community)

the information is unique (i.e. either not available elsewhere or is hard to find)

the information is fresh (i.e. updated regularly)

2. Overall Look
Your home page is your billboard or store front-- it creates an immediate impression on visitors. Considering the importance of first impression, we all are aware of, it should look:

Clean

Uncluttered

Professional

Attractive

Do not be stingy with white space, spread them as much as required. Aim to "underwhelm" rather than overwhelm. Too many flashing lights, animations, colours, drop-down boxes, graphics etc. are distracting. It's a like those stores that play loud, frenetic music--your heart rate rises, your stress levels go up and you just want to get out - fast!

3. Speed
In this age of impatience - an average visitor will spend no more than 20 seconds to decide the worth of your site. You can well imagine what happens if the visitor spends that precious 20 seconds looking at a blank screen slowly loading tons of images..

So you must ensure that your home page at least, loads as quickly as possible. That means no big, flashy graphics.

Keep reminding yourself that your first page is like a billboard. When driving your car, you don't have time to read detailed descriptions, or admire intricate pictures on billboards. The signs flash past you and have to make an immediate impression.

Your web visitors are 'flashing past' as well, so keep your front page simple and fast.

4. Graphics and Lay-out
The graphics and lay-out of your home page contribute to that first impression--think about what image your site is trying to convey and make sure everything on your site contributes something towards that overall image.

If you have a serious business site, you don't want garish cartoons on your front page - but if you have a games site,
then cartoons can be an integral part of the image.

Graphics are what eat up the loading time of your site. A rough rule of thumb to determine good loading time for a page is to keep the entire page around 50 Kb. Images should be between 6 and 8K. Each additional 5K may add one second to loading time.

If in doubt, right click the image and then click on "Properties" to get the size of the image.

Colour is also an important part of your site; colours have different effects on our emotions:

Red and orange excite the senses and increase heartbeat, blues and greens are more restful. Yellow reminds us of sunshine and is a happy colour

Consider the effect you want to create and choose a colour that is appropriate. When reading Western texts, the eye travels from the top left of the page, across and then down to the bottom right. Remember this when you're placing graphics on your page.

Any graphic image which has a directional aspect should be placed to point towards the most important section of the page. If you have a picture of a bird on the top left corner of your page, make sure it is facing inward and that its beak is leading the eye to the centre of the page, not away from it.
The same applies to all graphics:

Faces should 'look' to the centre of the page. Cars should be 'parked' facing towards the centre of the page. Roads, neck ties etc should all be placed to lead the eye across from left to right, or down from top to bottom

This is also why you should place your navigation bars down
the left side of your page - it keeps them constantly in the
visitor's field of vision.

5. Text Readability
This doesn't refer to the words you use (we'll look at them in detail later) --but to the way the words look on the page. Going back to the concept of the billboard, your words need to stand out on your page - you need to surround them with plenty of white space.

Dark backgrounds make you feel as if you're in a small space and also have a depressing effect on your mood. Certain coloured backgrounds make it very difficult to read text; purples, orange tonings and reds dazzle the eyes.

The colour of your text is just as important--bear in mind that different browsers read colours differently--what looks great on your browser could well be invisible on another !

Take a lesson from the newspapers and divide your text into columns for easier (and quicker) reading--even two columns are better than one slab of text that covers the entire width of the page.

Another element that contributes to text readability is the font you choose. Plain fonts (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond and Courier) are the easiest to read. Fancy fonts are fine for headings, but not for full pages (imagine trying to read a whole page in Gothic, Script, Westminster, or Cloister). Your eyes would soon tire of the effort involved and you'd be reaching for the back button!

6. Structure Each page
You have to make your page as easy for visitors to read as possible and this means breaking it up into little 'chunks'. We've already looked at the need for columns, (which divide the page vertically); you also need to divide your page horizontally, through the use of headings and sub-headings.

7. Fonts
Select a font for all your headings and sub-headings (and stick to it). It's not necessary to have a different font for headings (just go up one size for headings, and then use bold on all headings and sub-headings).

This way it's easy to recognise which is a heading (large and bold) and which is a sub-heading (same size but bold).

The purpose is to make it easy for your visitors to glance at your page and make out what the key points are. If what they see interests them, they'll stay and keep reading.

To draw attention to other important points, you can also highlight them by putting a whole sentence in bold or a different colour (or both). However, take care with the colours you select: some are quite difficult to read--even against a white background.

8. Navigation
Navigation is one of the most critical aspects of any web site - arguably the most important. No matter how good a site looks, and no matter how much useful information it offers, without sensible navigation scheme, it will only manage to confuse visitors and chase them away. A simple, logical, understandable navigation scheme can increase your number of page impressions, boost return visits, and improve your "conversion rate" (the number of visitors who are "converted" into customers). It's a critical aspect of site design that has a direct effect on the bottom line.

The core of any good navigational scheme is:

Tell people exactly what is available on your site

Help them get to the parts they want quickly

Make it easy to request additional information

Use a well-structured navigational bar. it should run down the left side of your page, for two reasons:

We're accustomed to reading from left to right and from top to bottom We're accustomed to finding navigation bars on the left of web pages -- why buck the system (especially when it works)?

On a long page it's also a good idea to have a brief nav bar along the bottom of the page (just home top of page will suffice).

When you've found a system you're happy with, use it on every page so that your visitors know where to look for the information. Greater consistency leads to better readability
and ease of use.

9. Privacy Statement and Testimonials
Credibility is an essential part of any business site, especially
in the anonymous world of Internet. You must ensure that your potential customers feel confident dealing with you. Transparency and openness are the cornerstones of lasting trust - so tell people exactly what you're doing to safeguard their interests. In particular, how you're protecting their privacy. It's worth having a separate page which sets out, in detail, your policy towards their email addresses; how you accept orders; how you gather information; who has access to this information; how you use information gathered from children and so on.

Visitors also like to know that real people have used your products or services, so it's worth asking your satisfied customers if you can quote any positive comments they've made about you. Don't be afraid to ask for testimonials--we all like to know that our opinions are valued.

Set up a separate page for testimonials and offer to include links to your customers' pages in return for using their comments. This is one of those "win-win" situations

10. Words
Now we come to one of the most important elements. If this part is wrong, the rest of your efforts are largely wasted. How many times have you been impressed by a site's initial appearance, only to be disappointed by poor spelling, careless grammar and punctuation ?

It reflects badly on the site owner and indicates that whoever is responsible for this page is sloppy, careless, lazy, unprofessional or all of the above! Would you entrust any of your hard-earned money to someone who doesn't even care enough to check the expression of his/her own site?

You can take steps to improve your own writing skills

You can employ someone to proof read and edit your work

You can employ someone to write your pages for you

CONCLUSION
This column is too short for detail discussion. There are many places in the web that will assist you on all elements discussed above. Check them, even if you have employed a professional web-designer. Successful web-site is a pre-condition for successful e-commerce venture - so invest more of your time and resources on web-site. It will definitely pay rich dividend in future.

Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development, MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce venture in 1997. He writes regularly for The Great Indian Bazaar (http://www.infobanc.com) You may find more articles by Amit at http://www.infobanc.com/articles/index.htm Visit Amit's Blog at http://ez-import-export.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amit_Kumar_Chatterjee

Making your website attractive, interesting, engaging and

2005-10-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Making your website attractive, interesting, engaging and
interactive

In this article you will learn the importance designing your
website around your customers and their needs. A websites form
and content is what will determine if a visitor will stay just a
visitor or turn into your next customer. Today we will discuss
how to accomplish the later.

To succeed at your online business (whether you are selling your
own product/service or are selling for other merchants as an
affiliate), you need a Web site created just for that - a
simple, focused site. One that is easy to build,
maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful
traffic-builder and customer-converter.

Having the right tool and the right product alone doesn't insure
the success of your website. There are many factors to be
considered while designing a site. Unfortunately, most of these
are easily ignored by Internet business owners.

Build It for Speed - It's a fact of modern life - people are in
a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds to
capture your potential customer's attention. To minimize your
load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible.
Use flashy technology (JavaScript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video,
animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your
presentation.

Target your Market - Know who your market is and make certain
that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your
site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your
market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be
clean and professional. Is your product aimed mostly a teenagers
and young adults? Then your site could be more informal and
relaxed. The key here is to know your market and build the site
to their preferences.

Focus the Site - Make certain your web site is focused on the
goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many
unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is
often the case. If your business does offer many products,
dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them
all from one page.

Credibility Is Crucial - The most professionally designed site
won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A clear
privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Provide
a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on
the site as well as from any location that you are asking your
visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact
information on line.

Navigation should be simple - Make site navigation easy and
intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience
of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many
times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate
through the whole website to find what they are looking for.

Consistency is the key - Make sure the site is consistent in
look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to
a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another
site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.

Make your site interactive and personalized - Make your website
interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that
allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they
might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your
website is another key element that can lead to customer delight
and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides
you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and
up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you
an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For example,
when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner can also be
offered.

Content is King - Good content sells a product. Ask yourself the
following questions. Does your copy convey the message you wish
to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it lead
your visitor through the sales process? Have others review,
critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the
intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.

These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward the
improvement of your website and most importantly, turn visitors
into customers.

Warmly,

Steve Brining

About the author:
Steve Brining owns Lupine Computer: a reseller of computer
supplies and accessories (including hardware and software).
Receive free newsletter on various business topics. See
http://www.mylupine.com for great prices and to sign up for the
newsletter. Steve also has his MBA in E-Business and has another
business with tools and books aimed at making money in marketing.

Design Web Pages for Art's Sake or Data?

2005-10-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

Should your home page be a work of art, or should it
concentrate on providing useful information?

As shown below, the answer is both. The web page must first have
sufficient information for the search engines to index it and
show it in the results of a search, but also be sufficiently
attractive to encourage the visitor to read more.

Compare web pages with other media:

A brochure is picked up by the reader, or handed to the reader,
and therefore a search is no longer necessary. A brochure's
cover page may be a work of art with no information, but it
already has the reader. The information can be all inside in
great or little detail, or the inside can be all pictures. It
doesn't matter because it's already in the reader's hand,
without any search. A print advertisement is already in the
publication the reader has purchased. Readers are usually unable
to avoid seeing them when turning the page. Television and radio
advertisements find all readers who are watching or listening.
Readers don't need to search for them.

Satisfy the search:

A web page must first work hard to find a reader by being
relevant to a search. This relevance is only achieved by words
which the search engine can index, not pictures.

Only the most relevant are seen:

It must be more relevant than possibly ten million other web
pages containing the same search words. Who would think to look
for that web page on page 99 or page 999999 of the search
results. Usually, if the web page is not on the first 2 or 3
search engine pages it won't be seen by the average internet
surfer. The effort spent making it a work of art is wasted if
nobody sees it.

Look good:

The web page must then encourage futher interest by looking
professionally designed. A visitor won't care if your favorite
eleven year old nephew sacrificed a lot of time to build it,
instead of going outside to play. If your website doesn't look
professional these days, you lose the visitor.

Be easy to follow:

But having reached the visitor in front of ten million
competiting web pages, with an attractive website containing all
the words the visitor searched for, the information on the
website must also be clear annd easy to navigate. Visitors want
to see at a glance whether you have the answer to their query,
whether you have the product they are looking for, with price
and delivery. A brochure or print advertisement may have all
those, but the visitor can always put the brochure or
advertisement down to read later. A web page must engage the
visitor there and then, in case they get distracted and do not
find their way back.

Conclusion:

A web page should be both attractive and information rich in
order to do its job, but if it's not found in a search it's a
waste of time and money

About the author:
Ken McKay is designer of commercial websites in Australia. More
information on web design is available at platypus websites - www.platywebs.com.au

Some Online Tools to Make a Mark on Internet

2005-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

If you are simply dreaming of "having" a Website. It's okay.....
But if you are keen on "making" your own mark in the Web, and
really interested in authoring it, brand it with your very own
style and technique, there are some online tools for you to
consider

Browser Compatibility You must design your Web site so
that it is viewable on both browsers: Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). Netscape Navigator is very
strict when it comes to HTML tag completion, but IE isn't. You
need to view your site first using Macromedia Dreamweaver before
publishing to the Web. Make sure you've run the command convert
to ensure your site is version 3.0 browser compatible. If you're
using Netobjects Fusion to create the layout of your site, make
sure that all layer objects are converted into tables. This is
highly recommended if you want to reach a broader and wider
audience.

A) Dr. HTML, located at www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/ B) Web Site
Garage to check your links, located at websitegarage.com C) a
variety of site maintenance tools like HTML validator, link
checker, server monitor at www.netmechanic.com/

Graphics Optimization Web graphics play an essential
part in your Web design, always make sure that all of your
graphics are in .gif and .jpg format. Unless your site deals
with photography, minimize the use of the .jpg format. You can
use Macromedia Fireworks to minimize the file size, especially
the slicer feature if you need to place a large photo on your
site. Another option is the export preview of Macromedia
Fireworks. This allows you to remove unwanted colors in your
graphics, thus decreasing file size.

You can also do this online by using one of these online
utilities: A) GIF Optimizer by Media Builder,
www.gifoptimizer.com B) JPEG Cruncher and GIF Cruncher,
www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html C) Windows-based graphics
optimizer, CyberView Image Lite (JPEG Compressor),
www.cyberviewcd.com/cvimage/index.html D) Advanced GIF
Optimizer, www.gold-software.com/ago.html E) Photo Crunch (JPEG
Compressor), www.imroncorp.com/photo.htm F) JPEG image
compression FAQ, www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part1/

Keeping the Site Fresh I think this is the bulk of a
webmaster's work, if you want your site frequently visited. You
can keep your site fresh by really working on new content on a
daily or regular basis and by making it interactive. As with
content, you can make use of www.moreover.com,
www.subportal.com, www.newshub.com, and other content
syndication sites to provide the content for your site
automatically. As for the interactivity, offer your visitors
web-based email accounts, a message board with a chat room, a
search engine crawler, and banner ad rotation. Cbox.ca is a
commenting and chat system that combines the best aspects of
forums and instant messaging into a single powerful web
component. It's is easy - cut paste of few lines of HTML into
your site Pushing Information to Your Visitors A Web site is a
"pull" promotion, but as a webmaster, you also need to be
thinking about how you can "push" information to your visitors,
users, or subscribers. You can publish an ezine on a weekly or
monthly basis just to let your users be informed about the
latest technology you've added to your site. As for the mailing
list, you can get a free mailing list from www.egroups.com,
www.topica.com, or you can choose a paid service such as
www.aweber.com or www.getresponse.com. As for the content, you
can get lots of articles from bbs.weblord2000.com, or try one or
more of my articles that can be found on the same Web site.

Driving Traffic Webmasters shouldn't forget to announce
your Web site. Accomplishing this is easy for Web sites that
already have a lot of traffic, but even sites that are starting
out with 5 or 10 members can benefit from the viral marketing of
online recommendation software. Services include
www.recommend-it.com, www.evite.com, and www.ewomp.com.

Following are some additional suggestions to consider
The layout of the website must be clear and direct to the point.
It must be able to explain what the page is all about. The
content of the site must have a relevant impact on the visitor.
It must be able to meet the need of the reader and must be
presented in an interesting manner to attract more visitors

The length of your page must be of the right dimensions.
Consider how your page will with different browsers. Very
lengthy pages or short pages can prove to be unattractive. The
images that you incorporate in your website must be of the
proper size and resolution. Very large images take a longer time
to load and are rarely seen. By the time it has loaded, the
visitor is already on another site.

Regular updates assure the reader that they are getting fresh
information.

Also, make sure that what you are posting on your website does
not contain any typographical errors. Simple errors like these
can destroy an otherwise great website. Provide your visitors a
means of contacting. It can also serve as a way for people to
inform you should your website have broken links

This information is collected from number of sites and
modified and reused, I will remain grateful to the respective
original authors. Thus it is no way copyrighted and if you want,
you can reuse these articles in your newsletter, web site or
ebook. You don't need to take my permission for re-publishing
these articles, as long as you display the resource box at the
end of each article.

About the author:
Vaidehi Ghag, is Web Designer in
http://www.maharashtradirectory.com

For more web design articles visit my site
http://www.davbindu.com//web-designing.htm

Advertise Your Web Site The Smart Way With PPC Programs

2005-10-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

So you have a website that brings in only a little bit of
traffic and you just can't seem to make any money with the darn
thing. You hear about everyone getting rich with their sites and
are waiting for yours to become an "overnight success". Well, it
won't be overnight, but with the right advertising techniques
your site can in time become a cash cow. This article will
discuss how you can use PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising to get
people to your site immediately and maximize your ROI.

The switch from CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) to PPC (Pay
Per Click) has made a big difference in the cost effectiveness
of banner/link advertising. The great thing about PPC is that
you only pay when someone clicks on the link to your site. Let's
face it - what good is it if a million people see your banner
but nobody ever clicks on it. This way you are guaranteed a
certain amount of traffic for your buck which makes for a
positive and very trackable ROI. Google Adwords program has
risen to the top of the PPC world. You can choose any keyword
and bid for a top spot on the right side of Google's search
result page. Let's say for example you have a website that sells
sporting goods. You first choose keywords that people looking
for a sporting goods store might be searching for. Be sure to
only choose words that very specific or you'll waste your money.
For example, you don't want to choose the word "baseball"
because you'll get a bunch of people clicking on your link that
may be looking for when the next Yankees game is, kids writing a
book report on baseball, etc. Instead you want to choose more
targeted words like "baseball equipment". This way you are
guaranteed not to waste your advertising budget on people that
aren't searching for what your selling. I own a website design
company called Bsleek (http://www.bsleek.com). When I first
enrolled in Google's Adwords program I wasted countless dollars
on words that my potential clients were not searching for. For
example, I was using "Web Site" as one of my keywords. I assumed
that people that looking to get a web site design would be
typing in the word "web site". What I didn't realize was that
people using that search word could have been looking for a
million other things, like a "web site" about Indonesian Herbs"
or a "web site" about celebrity baby names. Yahoo Search
Marketing (formerly Overture) is very similar to Google Adwords.
Along with Google, it is the leading PPC program on the web.
Millions of people come to the many sites on the Yahoo network
each month looking for what you're selling. 15 years ago we
couldn't have imagined something this amazing. Brick and Mortar
businesses would have killed for this kind of potential
exposure. Too get an idea about what keyword you should choose,
both Google and Yahoo have tools to help you choose keywords.
Google has a suggestion tool that'll give you a wide variety of
keywords to choose from. Yahoo has an even better tool that
let's you type in words and see how many searches were done for
that word in the past month. So what are you waiting for? Get
out there and sign up for these programs and you'll begin to get
visitors to your site in less than five minutes. In a year from
now, you may be the person that everyone else on the Intranet is
admiring and asking, "How did he/she make all this money on the
web?"

About the author:
Spencer Steele is the owner of Bsleek.com - a site that specializes in web site
design, hosting, promotional items, printing, graphic design, CD
Presentations and more. Spencer also owns WittyShirts.com which sells funny t-shirts.

Discover How To Make Your Web Design Easier

2005-10-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

Whenever I thought of web design my face would frown, I just
hated the fact that I had to do any kind of web design. I just
couldn't see why web design was simple for others and not for me.

Well, that all changed when I discovered this simple program, a
web design machine made for those who just don't understand that
you can do it yourself if, you would only keep your web design
as simple as possible.

Since using this program I have been able to launch two websites
with my own web design style within two months, these websites
aren't perfect, but they do look very professional.

And, they carry my touch, yes, at last I can boost to my friends
how easy web design is for me, because they have no clue that I
am using my little secret weapon for my web design.

What does it take to design your own website?

Now, for those who don't understand what it takes to design your
own website from scratch, I will give you five important steps
you need to master, before you can get your website to the next
level.

Five steps for perfected web design:

1) You Need Some Type Of Web Design Software No one and I repeat
no one, is doing web design the expensive way (The truth: Some
are still wasting money paying for web design). Those who has
enough money, pay for their web design, and those who can't will
have to get their hands on a easy to use web design software
that gets the job done.

2) You Need To Know Some HTML No matter what type of web design
software your using, you must educate yourself with a little
HTML. There is no way around that. Once you get the feel for
simple little HTML code snippets, you will notice that you never
ever need to know more than that, because you already have my
little secret weapon ( My secret web design software program,
that I will lead you to very soon).

3) You Need To Know How To Layout Your Website Wow, another
killer, I had no clue how or what to do, much less layout a web
site. That all changed when I bought my little secret weapon, it
came with a manual loaded with tips on not only how to use the
software, but also how to layout your website template.

4) You Need To Master Internal Linking If you going to design
your own website, you must know how to internally link you
website together. Ah, well, not really if you have my secret web
design software you won't need to know how. This is taken of by
the program, it creates all your internal linking, without you
even understand how it's done, isn't that cool.

5) You Need To Keep Your Web Design Simple This one should have
been number one, because it is so important and yet so
overlooked. Look around the web and notice the top sites online,
they are all use very simple web design with lots of white
space. Don't get flashy if your building a website for profit.
Look at Google and Yahoo, they are very simple and that's what
you need to do when you design your website.

Anyway, I have given you some tips that should set your web
design on fire, if you follow and study successful web sites
online, you will see the trend, simplicity wins the web design
war.

And now, for the long awaited secret weapon, just browse over to
this simple web designed site and watch the video, you will
understand why this is a secret weapon that only the guru's use
(aff link: http://www.xsitepro.com/cmd.php?Clk=1110417).

Be advised, your web design doesn't get return visitors, it is
well written and informative content, so why spend thousands on
web design, while searchers are only looking for information.

About the author:
Alexander Marlin, Ebenezer St. Maarten A.N. He only uses simple
web design tricks and teaches you how to build a website that isn't an eye sore. One of his many profitable websites can be found at http://how-to-build-website.com/

Website Optimisation

2005-10-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Website Optimisation

Website Optimisation is a technique of balancing the
overall theme and content of your web site,

Why would you design the "Home page" of your website for
"toothpaste products" only to optimise the rest of the web site
with expert tutorials in "playing poker"?

Every websites success is determined by several factors, having
a balanced related theme throughout your website will determine
where in the SERP`s (Search Engine Ranking Pages) your website
wiil appear, this is still only a partial chapter to the
story.

Balancing Website Content

As with href="http://www.website-by-design.co.uk/optimisation/web-page-op
timisation.shtml" title="Web Page Optimisation">Web Page
Optimisation, apply the same techniques outlined within
Search Engine Optimisation guidelines when considering Website
Optimisation for your "keyword(s) theme".

So how do you optimise a Website?

Applying a little lateral thinking to your content writing and
design. Take the "toothpaste product" metaphor for example, you
have just compiled a well optimised page for "toothpaste A" and
"toothpaste B", for arguments sake lets use this "well Optimised
page" as our Main or Index page, but wait your brain is
overflowing with more to write about the toothpaste industry and
the products you have to offer, so logically you will compile
seperate pages for "toothpaste A" and "toothpaste B". Now you
can see the relationship between your "index/main page" , the
"tooothpaste A" page and the "toothpaste B" page, if you
optimised these pages to the correct density (not stuffing them
with keywords) you will obviously have a naturally related theme
throughout you 3 page website.

Don`t stop there! there is an adage that is becoming the slogan
of designers and seo`s, I will reverberate that comment by
saying "Content is King", meaning if you can add more
related content, then you should add it.

Done that, Now What?

You would be right if you were thinking, "it must involve more
than that"?

Search Engine Optimisation

This is where SEO (search Engine Optimisation) comes into the
equation. The Big 3 as they are commonly referred to ie. Google,
Yahoo and MSN each have differing page ranking factors (not to
be confused with Googles PageRank) when deciding the best
results to display.

Google nowadays is placing more and more emphasis on related
links coming to your website which aids there PageRank
algorithm, MSN seems, at the moment anyway, to present websites
with keyword rich pages and Yahoo seems to display a mixture of
both when it can take time away from developing the latest user
interactive gadget.

Read More about Website Optimisation

About the author:
Dean Cruddace is the founder and Lead Web Designer for Website By Design

Web Page Optimisation

2005-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Web Page Optimisation

Web Page Optimisation is a technique of attracting "search
engine visibility" to particular Keywords within that page.

How is this achieved?

Firstly there are guidelines within every search engines rules
that determine what you can and can not do. The golden rule is
don`t stuff the page full of "your" keywords this would be a
fruitless task which is immediately recognised by the Search
Engine Algorithms and will result in your page being either,
dropped completely or even undergo a lengthy spell in the sin
bin (Sandbox in Google).

So how do you optimise a Web Page?

Firstly you need to know which keywords you are targeting for
that page secondly you need to present these keywords in a
presentable and readable copy for your visitors using the
correct hierarchy ie: <title> </title>, <meta
description> <meta keywords> <h1></h1> and
so on.

Then What?

Within these "HTML Tags" there are a number of factors that
determine whether or not they add relevance to the page or
conversely whether these individual tags are "stuffed". Finding
and understanding the correct balance to these tags is a method
that easily compliments good Web Design

Density?

The overall Density (dependant on differing search engine
algorithms) is calculated through combining all of the pages
elements together in proportion to the amount of "text" on a
given "Web Page", the more relevant the page the higher within
the Search engines your page will appear.

title="Website Optimisation">Website By Design Optimisation

About the author:
Dean Cruddace is the founder and lead Web Designer of Website By Design

Easily Create Your Own Website

2005-10-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, not everyone has their own website. Some
people think you have to have a business or be good with
computers. Websites don't have to based on selling commercial
products. Many websites are designed solely on hobbies and
information purposes. Creating a web site can be extremely easy.

There are two different approaches to creating a website fast
and easily. You will need 3 major things. First is a domain
name. You can purchase a domain name at many different domain
registrations sites for less than $10 which includes .com, .net,
org etc. The other important thing is web hosting. You can pay
monthly or buy a subscription for up to a year. For one domain
site expect to pay less than $10 a month. The last thing you
need is an HTML editor, such as FrontPage, Dream weaver or just
regular Microsoft Notepad.

Once you have a domain and web hosting set up, many of the HTML
editors have an extensive catalogue of web templates and themes.
FrontPage has a wizard that actually helps you through every
step even uploading your content your domain. Yahoo for instance
also makes creating a website easy as turning a key with their
many templates and customer support.

If your still not convinced that you can create a website
easily, then you want to consider services such as AOL or
community boards. They provide you with a website all ready up.
All you need to do is point, click and type your content. So
whatever you skill level you can get your content online fast
and easy.

About the author:
Justin Arlan is a freelance writer at
http://www.editor-in-chief.info a site that sells web content
for webmasters.

Web Design Essentials

2005-10-18T10:18:00.001-07:00

Websites are created for many different purposes, such as,
selling products, offering services, or sharing information. The
one thing all websites have in common is the need to attract
visitors and keep them coming back on a regular basis. In order
to accomplish this you need to have a web design that is
pleasing to look at, easy to navigate, and offers good content.

The first thing any visitor to your website sees is the home
page. This should be your design starting point. You can expand
on it to create other pages, but you always want to keep the
design onsistent from page to page. In other words if your home
page is black and gold, you don't want to do your other pages in
red and green. Any graphics you use specifically for your site
should blend with the color choices you make. Pleasant colors
and graphics will help make your site memorable.

Easy Navigation is a must. Going from page to page needs to be
as easy as possible. Each page should have a link back to the
home page. Visitors want to know where they are and how to get
back to where they were without having to use the back button.
Nine times out of ten they will close the page rather than
continuously using the back button to try and find their way
back.

Content is the backbone of any website. Spelling and grammatical
errors do not look professional. Have someone proofread all
content before you add it. Offer content that is specific to the
theme of your site. If I do a search for jungle animals and find
your site, then I don't want to find content that mostly
pertains to the Solar System.

Web design is ninety-five percent common sense. You know what
you like to see on other websites. Be sure and use that same
criteria when creating a website.

About the author:
Stacy Hensley

Jaks Creations-Web Design and Graphics

http://www.jakscreations.net

Simple Steps To Proper Web Design

2005-10-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the last decade, the Internet has grown
beyond all expectations. Each and everyday there is a new
website that is being developed. The biggest challenge a new
website will face is getting viewers to stay on their site long
enough and to attain high search results with search engines.

One of the factors that could help you address these issues is
having a website with good web design. The importance of knowing
proper web design can very well determine where your site is
listed in search results and how long a visitor stays on your
site.

Proper web design is not a difficult task, it is just a matter
of designing your website from a viewers point of view. This
article will give you suggestions on proper web design to
enhance your search results with search engines and capturing a
higher interest from your visitors.

What Your Site Is About

First off, it is vital that your home page explains in detail
the purpose of your website. Did you ever go to a website that
was filled with a lot of links, graphics or banners, but you
really didn't have a clue of what their website was all about?
If a person has to search from page to page just to understand
what information your website really offers, the chances are
they will move onto another site. Don't keep them
second-guessing, it's important that you are very specific on
your home page, letting your viewers know up-front your websites
main purpose.

Font Size/Style

When creating your website keep in mind not all people have the
same eyesight. It is best to use nothing less than10 point,
with12 point being the most recommended. Keep all pages in your
website consistent with the same font size and style (this of
course is in exception to titles and sub-titles).

Text Colors

Make reading your pages easy by always using a dark text with a
white background. Using a light colored text against a light
background can make it difficult for your readers to read the
content. There are a few sites that reverse this process by
using a light text on dark background, which is found acceptable
in some cases, but you are better off using dark on light for
your overall content.

Paragraphs and Spacing

To make reading your web pages easy for your viewers, do not use
long paragraphs on your web pages. Try to keep your paragraphs
to only 6 to 7 lines with proper spacing between each one. Try
to implement sub-titles to break up several paragraphs, as this
creates easier reading and is more attention getting.

Content

Does your website provide more useful content than
advertisements? Providing viewers with very little content is a
common mistake many webmasters make when they develop their
website. I can't begin to tell you how many websites I've seen
that may only have a couple paragraphs of what I call useful
content, and the rest being advertisements, sales pitches,
links, banners, etc.

If you are going to take the time to develop and invest in a
website, you need to focus on providing your viewers with
informative information. Search engines favor sites that have
useful content, not to mention you will capture a stronger
interest from your viewers.

Page Size

Try to keep each of your pages no more than four pages in
length. The reasons for this is that no one likes to spend a lot
of the time scrolling just to read the entire content. If you
have a lot of content, break it into separate pages. You can put
in a link of "continue", "next", or "go to page #" at the bottom
of each page.

Navigation Links

Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to figure out how to
maneuver around ones website. Most any person (including myself)
will leave a website as fast as they came in if they find it
difficult to get from page to page.

Make it easy for your viewers to navigate around your website by
putting navigation links on all of your pages. It is advised
that all navigation links follow the same pattern on each page
so as not to confuse your viewer. Setting your navigation links
on the either side and also on the top or bottom is highly
recommended.

Page Load Time

Did you ever click on a link to a website and found you had to
wait 20 seconds or longer for the website to open? I don't know
about you, but if I have to wait too long for a website to open,
I will click off of it and go to another website.

This problem is caused by a Webmaster having too many graphics
or animations on their website. Large graphics and animations
will definitely slow the load time to your website. Keep in mind
the majority of Internet users are still using dial-up for their
Internet connection, so the time it takes for a website to open
with a lot of graphics, can seem like eternity to them.

To avoid this problem do not use too many graphics on your
website and try to resize the ones you want to keep. The ideal
is to set your pages to load within ten seconds to avoid losing
visitors.

Setting The Right Resolution

Setting the right resolution when creating your web pages can
save you from visitors leaving your site rather quickly. The
most important thing to understand is that the majority of all
PC's are set at a 800 x 600 resolution. The problem here is, if
a internet user with these settings goes on a website that was
created with a higher resolution, the user will end up scrolling
left to right in order to view all of the web page.

Even though there are ways around this by implementing tables
into your web page, you are better off creating all your web
pages so they can be viewed on PC's with a lower resolution.

Contact Information

If you don't have a link that is accessible to a contacts page,
most people will not purchase anything from you.

It is highly recommended to place links that are plainly visible
on all of your web pages that go to a separate contacts page.
This page should give your viewers a way to contact you with any
questions, concerns or comments. This helps ensure support and
trust in doing business with you.

Pop Ups

This can be the most annoying feature a website can have in my
opinion. Pop ups are used to get the viewers attention to either
sign up for something or purchase their products. Although I
understand the basis to pop ups and what they are meant to
achieve, I feel there are other ways to capture your visitors
attention that should get you the same results.

The most effective way to capture your visitors interest is
having solid content on your website with informative
information, as mentioned earlier. With that being said, you can
implement title links in between some of your paragraphs which
can take your visitors to separate pages on "special
promotions", "newsletters" or "products". On these pages, you
can list the same message you would have in your pop up. This is
far more acceptable since the viewer is making the choice to
click on the link.

If you feel your website needs to use pop ups, use a pop under
instead. This form of pop up only comes up when a person leaves
your website and is far less annoying.

Site Map

A site map is a separate page that list a complete directory to
your entire website. You can relate to it like what a table of
contents is to a book. Having a site map on your website helps
the viewer maneuver through your site without confusion or
second-guessing where to find something. Most search engines
favor sites with site maps, which in turn will improve your
search rankings, as well as placement.

Privacy Policy

With the ever increasing problems with Spam on the Internet, a
privacy policy is a crucial element to your website. You are
letting your viewers know that any information they supply you
with, is held in the strictest confidence and that you will not
share this information with any other third party. You are
instilling trust to all who do business with you.

Update Your Site Often

This is a valid step you want to take seriously. Updating your
site with new content gives your viewers a reason to revisit
your website. Search engines love sites that update their site
often, which will definitely increase your search engine
rankings.

It can be an added benefit to add a section on your home page
that tells your viewers when your site was last updated, the
type of changes that were made and a link to each update.

Updating your site once a week or every other week should work
very well for you.

Copyright 2003-2005

About the author:
John Kovacs is the CEO and founder of "A Home Business
Opportunity". His website mainly focuses on supplying free
marketing tips, resources and support for home startup
businesses and Internet marketing. To get a step-by-step guide
in building an online business, visit
http://www.ahomebusinessopportunity.net

Website Keyword Optimisation (or Optimization)

2005-10-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Whether you are starting with a new site or you already have an
existing one, you need to spend a little time on choosing the
keywords that you want your site to be found with.

Keywords are the terms that people will type into a search
engine to find your product or service.

Spend some time and consider what someone looking for your
product or service might type into a search engine to find you.
Maybe ask some friends what they would type into find your
service etc.

Unfortunately if you don't have these keywords/terms actually in
your website, you have no chance of coming up high in search
results for them. Search engines like relevant content. If you
don't have content relevant to the search term (keyword) used,
your site won't come up in the search engines results.

Where should you put your keywords on your website? I'll tell
you...

Before I do though a word of warning - don't just list keywords
and terms over and over throughout your website - you'll get
banned from search engines for what's known as spamming. You
need to be clever and not over do it.

Firstly add a keyword or two in your meta title tag

Rather than just titling your main page home, or the name of
your company etc put a couple of keywords in there. For example
- if your website sells handmade candles, you might use "Quality
handmade candles" do get the idea?

Then in the meta keyword tag

List your chosen keywords here. Just separate them by a comma.
Pick between three and ten keywords depending on the size of
your website and the amount of different products/services you
offer.

Then put some in the meta description tag

This is often the text that comes up below your websites title
in search engine results. Write a short sentence about your site
and include a few keywords. For example - Back to the handmade
candles again. If the candle company was based in the UK you
might write something like this.

"UK based handmade candle company specialising in traditional UK
styles. Check out our online shop for special offers, and to
view our candle designs and prices"

Try and fit keywords into you website internal links

Make sure your linking text includes some keywords. So rather
than having a link that says "products designs", you might call
it "candle designs" etc.

Try and do as many links as possible in this way. Obviously only
use relevant keywords for the page that is displays.....

Use heading tags and include keywords here

Much the same as the links really - try and include keywords in
the heading that are relevant to the text below it. So rather
than having a section headed "design", you could call it "candle
designs". Search engines scan heading tags like you and I scan
newspaper headings. Do you get the idea?

Use them in your written text

Don't over do it here - just write quality relevant content and
sprinkle in the keywords and terms. As with all of this
sections, when you look for the opportunity to include some
keywords you can usually see where you can slightly alter
something and fit one in.

It's all about peppering your keywords in and taking advantage
of an opportunity that your competition might miss. Look for the
opportunities to improve the keyword content.

Do this to every page

This is where many people fall down. They just change their
home/main page. If you do this you are missing the benefits of
individually optimising each page with different relevant
keywords and titles etc etc.

Bottom line - would you rather have one page in the top ten of
Google for one keyword, or would you rather have ten pages all
coming up for different keywords relevant to each individual
page......The more pages ranked well the better.

By http://www.phoenixwebsitesolutions.co.uk

About the author:
Phoenix Website Solutions provides a complete website
development service including: website maintenance, website design and >search engine optimisation.

How To Work With Your Design Team

2005-10-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

As the Creative Director at JV Media Design, I oversee and
manage all creative projects and staff. In order to undertake
this task, I have developed an outline for our team to follow
that facilitates the process which takes each project from
concept to completion. Part of this process involves educating
each of our clients on what we need from them in order for the
project to move forward.

Although some design studios may not be as organized, it would
still benefit each client to know in advance what might be
expected of them before proceeding with a design job. Successful
projects come from not just a talented design team, but also
close interaction with the client throughout the process.

Below is a general outline of how you or your company can work
with your chosen design team.

Consultation, Planning, and Choosing a Representative

The most important step in many things is the first and that
rings true in the design field. Your designer should set up a
phone or in-person consultation with you prior to the beginning
of your project. Here, you should discuss every detail of your
project so that the designer can plan the workflow and
milestones. Some designers will also offer you a questionnaire
to fill out to help determine this information. It is very
important, especially when working on interactive/multimedia and
custom programmed (database/ecommerce) websites to have more
information than not enough. If you discover that you forgot to
mention a key function in your initial consultation it could not
only set your project back, but also cost you more money to add
it in after you have already signed a design agreement or
contract.

After the initial consulting and planning for your project is
complete and you have signed a design agreement, the next task
is to choose a single representative from your company to
interface with the design team throughout the project. This
prevents many problems such as conflicting information before
they even have a chance to happen. The chosen representative's
responsibility is to:

1) Get the design team any content (text, chosen images, etc.)
necessary for the project 2) Respond to any questions or
requests from the design team 3) Notify the design team of any
changes or modifications necessary on the project 4) Sign off on
any milestones

Content

Content is possibly the most important aspect of your website.
It is equally important to make sure that your content
represents your company the best possible way. Before giving
text content to your designer, you need to check and recheck it
for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. You may also
consider hiring a professional copywriter to produce content for
your site. Either way, most design companies do not reread your
content checking for and/or correcting errors and will charge an
extra fee for this service. Just make sure your content is the
best that it can be when you hand it off.

The Design

Most design companies will offer a number of "mock up" or
concept designs for your project with a certain amount of
revisions. It is important for you to review each design with
your associates and make any changes necessary to achieve the
final look for your site. Once a final design is approved, if
you make additional modifications you may be liable to pay
additional charges. Your design team should help you avoid this
by working closely with you and making suggestions during the
concept phase.

When Problems Arise

It is important to remember that although your design team
relies on computers to create your site, they are only human.
There are occasions when an instruction may be misinterpreted or
not as clear as it should be. It is up to your design team to
ask questions when things are not perfectly clear to avoid
problems and it is up to you to give as much description and
detail in order to complete the project. Phrases such as, "We
are looking for something edgy", or "We'll know it when we see
it" really do nothing to help the progress of your project.

Additional problems such as delays can usually be avoided by
keeping a clear line of communication open at all times. If you
have questions during the process, do not hesitate to bring them
up. Your design team should be available normal business hours
via phone, email, and/or an instant messenger service and be
able to solve any problems that arise quickly and
professionally. If they cannot, make sure you receive adequate
explanation (there may be extenuating circumstance in any case)
or refer back to the agreement you signed with the company.

Completing the Project

Your design team should thoroughly check your finished website
to make sure that it works on the top internet browsers
(Internet Explorer and Firefox) and has no errors in
functionality. They should also be available to make any final
edits and/or changes before the site is taken live on the web.

When the project is completed to your satisfaction, many design
companies will present you with options for maintaining your
site such as; "on call" maintenance or a monthly, quarterly, or
yearly contract.

In Conclusion

For a successful project it is important for both the client and
the design team to work together. It is up to the client to
explain the project thoroughly and give the design team a good
idea of what is expected and it is up to the design team to keep
lines of communication open, ask questions when things may be
unclear, and use experience and expertise to do the job.

About the author:
Sherry is the Creative Director and Senior Designer at
California studio, JV Media Design