WEB DOMAIN REGISTRATION
Web domain registration is not hard and the fact of the matter is if you want a web site you will need web domain registration. A domain is basically the address for your site on the Internet. Web domain registration is necessary so that two sites are not using the same web domain address.
There are companies that make a business from web domain registration. These web domain registration companies act as the middlemen between the registry that handles the domain names and the ultimate customer. There are 100s if not 1000s of web domain registration companies. Here is the company I use - www.PowderRiverDomains.com.
Web domain registration use to be expensive but now you can find domains for as cheap as $2 a year. Price is not the only thing to consider when looking for web domain registration. You also need to consider what types of services will you receive: automatic web domain registration renewal; Notice when your web domain registration needs to be renewed; Ease of buying and selling your domain names; Length of web domain registration available and is your web domain registration in your name or the registrars? Also, the ease of buying your domain name needs to be considered. Be careful if the price for web domain registration is too low!
I have found web domain registration companies that only allowed for 1 year web domain registration and the registrations were in the name of the registrar company, not the person that bought the domain name. The above factors are why I chose the web domain registration company I did.
Web domain registration is simple, even if you have never done it. Domain registration is on a first come first served basis so if you find a domain name you want register it fast. First, select a domain name. Most web domain registration companies have a search feature to allow you to search for domain names. Your second step to web domain registration is to decide how long you want to register your web domain for. Search engines consider the length of your registration in evaluating your website. The longer you register, the better.
Web domain registration can be used to generate income. You can park domains, promote them and then resell them when they are popular. A good source of information on this method is Domain Profiteer. You can also do a web domain registration, build a web site, add Google Adsense, drive traffic to your site and earn income from the Adsense ads. A good resource for information on this our Google Adsense page.
DOMAIN NAMES Domain names help level the playing field on the Internet. There is no way to tell the size of a company based on domain names. Domain names identify your business and are like a street address for your business on the Internet. The selection of good domain names for your business can have a big impact on search engine optimization and the ranking of your website on the web. When selecting domain names you want to choose domain names that relate to your site. If you are selling apples you want to get domain names with "apple" or "apples" in the name. Keep the name simple and try to get .com domain names. Avoid using numbers in place of words and punctuation marks. The idea is to make your domain names easy to remember. You shouldn't choose domain names with a copyrighted word or term in the title. This could lead to legal problems down the road. You will also want to make sure that you keep the domain name under 67 characters, as that is the maximum length for web addresses. The shorter the name, the better it is. For it will be easier to remember. It may be difficult to get one word domain names for popular suffixes like .com, .org, .net, .biz, but many are still available from .mobi, .tv, .fm, etc. Selecting domain names is directly related to web domain registration. Most web domain registration companies have a tool that you can use to search for available domain names. For additional information on web domain registration and domain names please visit us.
About the Author
Kirk McCormick is the Director of North American Enterprises, Inc a worldwide Internet marketing company. He is involved in multiple aspects of Internet marketing and also researches and writes on Internet marketing topics. To learn more about web domain registration, domain names and hosting visit: http://www.powderriverdomains.com To learn more about Internet marketing visit: http://www.internetmarketingplaza.com
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Global Domains International (GDI): Building a Domain Empire
There's an explosion going on in the domain industry on the Internet. It's called Global Domains International, otherwise known as GDI or website.ws, and if you havn't heard of it yet, you will soon! In short, Global Domains International offers excellent domain name availability, instant registrations, 24-hour global DNS activation and secure domain management and editing.
Started in 1999, by Internet entrepreneurs Michael Reed and Alan Ezeir, GDI has been successfully taking the Internet by storm in the area of domain names and web site services. Originally offering the domain name extension, .ws, these entrepreneurs have been quickly building a domain empire. By incorporating their own free high-tech sales video into each domain account in Global Domains International, the videos have been used and personalized instantly by each Global Domains International independent sales representative to generate new accounts 24/7. Since these new accounts are set up instantly, this has allowed the company to acquire new business and grow incredibly fast. In fact, GDI has recently been named number 37 on Inc magazine's list of the top 500 fastest growing companies (the "Inc 500 List"), making Global Domains International poised to become the largest company the industry has ever seen.
"Location, location, location" is as important to the real estate industry as a domain name is to the Internet. One of the best things about GDI domain names is that they are abundant. Domain names are the human-friendly forms of Internet addresses, and are commonly used to identify and find web sites. The primary purpose of domain names is to create addresses that are easier to remember and use than numbers. Domain names are ordinary words, letters, or numbers that signify the location of a web site on the Internet, such as "drugstore". More important than anything when talking about domain names, is availability, and this is where GDI excels. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. GDI, being the newer kid on the block, offers many more unique domain names that may no longer be available from extensions like .com or .net.
Domain names are very important for any online business. Domain names can contribute a lot towards the success or failure of a web site. More than a web address, relevant domain names are an important element of a successful Internet marketing strategy. Relevant domain names are high quality names that contain generic key words or key word phrases that are descriptive of an industry, a business or specific products or services. Relevant domain names are not only memorable, they influence a site's ranking in search engines. URL is the abbreviation for, "Uniform Resource Locator", a term that identifies a web site address on the Internet. A site URL containing the phrase, "convertiblecars" has a higher possible correlation, and thus, a higher possible ranking to the key word search for "cars" than a URL without that key word match.
With the 2007 most recent count of web sites reported to be a whopping 12.8 million and growing, the demand for the kind of relevant domain names available from GDI, is exploding as well.
If you would like to learn more about GDI, you may read an in-depth article or watch a short informational video (free test drive) at: Global Domains International.
You may copy and distribute this copy written article as long as all anchor text with hyperlinks, acknowledgements and web site links remain intact according to article policy.
About the Author
DMarie Holtz is an independent entrepreneur with 10 years experience in network marketing. She has a B.S. in Business and Dietetics, an A.S. in Business and an A.A.S. in Marketing. She recently has begun developing web sites to help promote her businesses and interests online. They include: Global Domains International and Make Money at Home
Started in 1999, by Internet entrepreneurs Michael Reed and Alan Ezeir, GDI has been successfully taking the Internet by storm in the area of domain names and web site services. Originally offering the domain name extension, .ws, these entrepreneurs have been quickly building a domain empire. By incorporating their own free high-tech sales video into each domain account in Global Domains International, the videos have been used and personalized instantly by each Global Domains International independent sales representative to generate new accounts 24/7. Since these new accounts are set up instantly, this has allowed the company to acquire new business and grow incredibly fast. In fact, GDI has recently been named number 37 on Inc magazine's list of the top 500 fastest growing companies (the "Inc 500 List"), making Global Domains International poised to become the largest company the industry has ever seen.
"Location, location, location" is as important to the real estate industry as a domain name is to the Internet. One of the best things about GDI domain names is that they are abundant. Domain names are the human-friendly forms of Internet addresses, and are commonly used to identify and find web sites. The primary purpose of domain names is to create addresses that are easier to remember and use than numbers. Domain names are ordinary words, letters, or numbers that signify the location of a web site on the Internet, such as "drugstore". More important than anything when talking about domain names, is availability, and this is where GDI excels. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. GDI, being the newer kid on the block, offers many more unique domain names that may no longer be available from extensions like .com or .net.
Domain names are very important for any online business. Domain names can contribute a lot towards the success or failure of a web site. More than a web address, relevant domain names are an important element of a successful Internet marketing strategy. Relevant domain names are high quality names that contain generic key words or key word phrases that are descriptive of an industry, a business or specific products or services. Relevant domain names are not only memorable, they influence a site's ranking in search engines. URL is the abbreviation for, "Uniform Resource Locator", a term that identifies a web site address on the Internet. A site URL containing the phrase, "convertiblecars" has a higher possible correlation, and thus, a higher possible ranking to the key word search for "cars" than a URL without that key word match.
With the 2007 most recent count of web sites reported to be a whopping 12.8 million and growing, the demand for the kind of relevant domain names available from GDI, is exploding as well.
If you would like to learn more about GDI, you may read an in-depth article or watch a short informational video (free test drive) at: Global Domains International.
You may copy and distribute this copy written article as long as all anchor text with hyperlinks, acknowledgements and web site links remain intact according to article policy.
About the Author
DMarie Holtz is an independent entrepreneur with 10 years experience in network marketing. She has a B.S. in Business and Dietetics, an A.S. in Business and an A.A.S. in Marketing. She recently has begun developing web sites to help promote her businesses and interests online. They include: Global Domains International and Make Money at Home
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Choosing a suitable domain name
In hindsight, I would have spent more time thinking about the name to call my first website. Then, I was very excited at the prospect of establishing a web presence and was armed with little knowledge about how to go about it. It was more like a trial and error thing. Jumbling codes here and there and visualising the result was enough fun for me then. I didn't have anything to promote or sell then, so probably that approach was fine as I had nothing at stake. But today, for each site I design I recommend that some thought be given to choosing a name the website. Just as parents choose names for their children, you will need to choose a name to call your web site. This is referred to as your domain name. For instance www.yahoo.com is the domain name for the popular email site Yahoo!. It's important you select the name wisely.
Though some parents do not think before giving their children names! The child can decide to change his or her name when they are older, but you cannot change your domain name once it has been registered. If you want a different name, you've got to register a new one. Unlike humans that can have the same names, your domain name must be unique. Just imagine if there were 2 websites with the domain name www.yahoo.com, how confused do you think the web would be?
Arriving at a suitable name would be easy once you have decided the purpose of the site, what your main product or service your want to sell and your keywords, I recommended that your domain name reflect these. It doesn't always have to, but it would certainly have a positive impact in search engines ranking. Search engines maintain a database (collection of information in an ordered manner) of websites using programs / software that are written with the sole purpose of visiting sites and taking note of their content so that when you use websites like google to search for an item, you can easily find it. These programs are often referred to as spiders or robots and are said to crawl a site when they visit that website. By noting the contents of the pages, the search engine is said to index that page.
Below are some of the things your may consider when choosing a name. You don't necessarily have to adhere strictly to them. My approach to laws and rules in life is that they are there as a guide and not hard and fast.
RelevantThe name should in some way reflect the product or service you are offering, if possible the brand of the product.
SimpleIt should be simple so it can be easily remembered. I would suggest you avoid using underscores. Your visitors may not remember to include them and it is much easier to type when you don't have to use the shift key.
ConciseI would suggest the name should not be lengthy, You can have as up to 67 characters though. Something simple, but concise would go a long way. Imagine having to type in www.shokolobangosheoluwaobami.com? I'll prefer www.yahoo.com or www.rhemastudio.com. Domain names are not case sensitive; www.rhemastudio is the same as WwW.RHemaStudio.Com.
Right Suffix What suffix to choose e.g. (.com,.org, .net etc) depends on the purpose and your planned reach. If your business is country specific, it would be more appropriate to register a company do business in the UK as www.yourbiz.co.uk rather than www.yourbiz.com. However, most people would append .com to a web name, so it would not be out of place to use a .com site for that reason. There is however no harm is registering more that one name for the same site.
Suggestions from others Ask around and find out what people think about the name. You may as well find out from others because they would be your potential clients.
Act quickly Once you have settled on a suitable name, register it as soon as possible, someone somewhere may register that name before you and you'll have to start all over again. These are just a few of the things your might consider before choosing that name that would stick in the minds of your clients. So that without even thinking about it, they can remember your website and stop by at anytime. Hope this has been helpful.
Check back for more tips as we embark on this journey to our wealthy place, the place or more than enough and early retirement.
About the Author
Professional web designer. More details at http://www.rhemastudio.com/webdesign.php
Though some parents do not think before giving their children names! The child can decide to change his or her name when they are older, but you cannot change your domain name once it has been registered. If you want a different name, you've got to register a new one. Unlike humans that can have the same names, your domain name must be unique. Just imagine if there were 2 websites with the domain name www.yahoo.com, how confused do you think the web would be?
Arriving at a suitable name would be easy once you have decided the purpose of the site, what your main product or service your want to sell and your keywords, I recommended that your domain name reflect these. It doesn't always have to, but it would certainly have a positive impact in search engines ranking. Search engines maintain a database (collection of information in an ordered manner) of websites using programs / software that are written with the sole purpose of visiting sites and taking note of their content so that when you use websites like google to search for an item, you can easily find it. These programs are often referred to as spiders or robots and are said to crawl a site when they visit that website. By noting the contents of the pages, the search engine is said to index that page.
Below are some of the things your may consider when choosing a name. You don't necessarily have to adhere strictly to them. My approach to laws and rules in life is that they are there as a guide and not hard and fast.
RelevantThe name should in some way reflect the product or service you are offering, if possible the brand of the product.
SimpleIt should be simple so it can be easily remembered. I would suggest you avoid using underscores. Your visitors may not remember to include them and it is much easier to type when you don't have to use the shift key.
ConciseI would suggest the name should not be lengthy, You can have as up to 67 characters though. Something simple, but concise would go a long way. Imagine having to type in www.shokolobangosheoluwaobami.com? I'll prefer www.yahoo.com or www.rhemastudio.com. Domain names are not case sensitive; www.rhemastudio is the same as WwW.RHemaStudio.Com.
Right Suffix What suffix to choose e.g. (.com,.org, .net etc) depends on the purpose and your planned reach. If your business is country specific, it would be more appropriate to register a company do business in the UK as www.yourbiz.co.uk rather than www.yourbiz.com. However, most people would append .com to a web name, so it would not be out of place to use a .com site for that reason. There is however no harm is registering more that one name for the same site.
Suggestions from others Ask around and find out what people think about the name. You may as well find out from others because they would be your potential clients.
Act quickly Once you have settled on a suitable name, register it as soon as possible, someone somewhere may register that name before you and you'll have to start all over again. These are just a few of the things your might consider before choosing that name that would stick in the minds of your clients. So that without even thinking about it, they can remember your website and stop by at anytime. Hope this has been helpful.
Check back for more tips as we embark on this journey to our wealthy place, the place or more than enough and early retirement.
About the Author
Professional web designer. More details at http://www.rhemastudio.com/webdesign.php
CSS Controlled Web Design - Tables are for sitting at...
By now, most web designers are aware of the many benefits of using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to control the formatting and appearance of text elements within their web pages.Indeed, if applied as outlined in one of my articles from 2006 ( CSS - Weight-Loss for your Code), Cascading Style Sheets can substantially cut down the amount of code needed to present a web page in a polished and professional manner.
What few designers realise however, is that CSS is capable of so much more than just handling a page's text formatting.
If used to its fullest capability, the Style Sheet is capable of controlling just about every aspect of page layout and presentation, even to the extent of replacing a Hyper-Text document's traditional table-based design structure.Quite aside from saving the web developer a substantial amount of coding time, this approach also cuts down the amount of code needed to display a web page properly to an absolute minimum. So much so that in the recent redesign of one of our web sites, the use of CSS controlled HTML cut the average document size from 24kb to less than 5kb.
The key to designing CSS controlled web pages, rests in the use of DIV Tags and DIV IDs.
For example, a traditional table structure would look something like this:Please note that angle brackets have been replaced by square brackets to display the following code correctly.
[table width="800" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"][tr][td width="560" align="left" class="one"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/td][td width="240" align="left" class="two"] [img src="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"][/td][/tr][/table]
With CSS control, exactly the same look and feel can be achieved by the following two DIV Tags:
[div id="content"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/div][div id="image"][img src="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"] [/div]
The DIV ID passes control of layout and appearance to the CSS, which handles it as follows:
#content { position:absolute; width: 560px; height: 100px; ;top: 10px; left: 100px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; background-color: #FFFFFF; }
#image { position:absolute; width: 240px; height: 100px; top: 10px; left: 660px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; background-color: #FFFFFF; }
On the face of it, it may seem like this entails some extra work on the designer's part, but don't forget that at the same time as controlling the DIV Tag's position and appearance, the CSS also handles all text formatting, and that the above Style Sheet will only need to be written once in order to control an entire web site.Then of course there is the fact that the above example is an immensely simple one. Imagine for a moment, the sheer amount of code which is saved by using CSS over the course of writing an in-depth web page.
The end result is an HTML document which has been stripped of all unnecessary code and is consequently extremely 'light-weight' and easily indexed by search engines.
Additionally, it is also possible to radically alter a page's appearance at the click of a button without ever changing any of its HTML code. This approach is very capably demonstrated at the CSS Zen Garden, where more information about the power of CSS controlled web design can be found.
Furthermore, like HTML, CSS is undergoing constant revisions and will doubtlessly grow to play an even more important part in web design during years to come. Therefore, now may be a good time to further acquaint yourself with the full functionality of this essential web design element.
About the Author
With well over a decade of industry experience, Sasch Mayer has been writing about the World Wide Web and Internet Marketing for many years. He currently writes under contract to IceGiant Web Services, a company specialising in high-quality Web Design using both the traditional table-based and also the CSS controlled methods.Visit the IceGiant Web Site for more information.
What few designers realise however, is that CSS is capable of so much more than just handling a page's text formatting.
If used to its fullest capability, the Style Sheet is capable of controlling just about every aspect of page layout and presentation, even to the extent of replacing a Hyper-Text document's traditional table-based design structure.Quite aside from saving the web developer a substantial amount of coding time, this approach also cuts down the amount of code needed to display a web page properly to an absolute minimum. So much so that in the recent redesign of one of our web sites, the use of CSS controlled HTML cut the average document size from 24kb to less than 5kb.
The key to designing CSS controlled web pages, rests in the use of DIV Tags and DIV IDs.
For example, a traditional table structure would look something like this:Please note that angle brackets have been replaced by square brackets to display the following code correctly.
[table width="800" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"][tr][td width="560" align="left" class="one"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/td][td width="240" align="left" class="two"] [img src="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"][/td][/tr][/table]
With CSS control, exactly the same look and feel can be achieved by the following two DIV Tags:
[div id="content"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/div][div id="image"][img src="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"] [/div]
The DIV ID passes control of layout and appearance to the CSS, which handles it as follows:
#content { position:absolute; width: 560px; height: 100px; ;top: 10px; left: 100px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; background-color: #FFFFFF; }
#image { position:absolute; width: 240px; height: 100px; top: 10px; left: 660px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; background-color: #FFFFFF; }
On the face of it, it may seem like this entails some extra work on the designer's part, but don't forget that at the same time as controlling the DIV Tag's position and appearance, the CSS also handles all text formatting, and that the above Style Sheet will only need to be written once in order to control an entire web site.Then of course there is the fact that the above example is an immensely simple one. Imagine for a moment, the sheer amount of code which is saved by using CSS over the course of writing an in-depth web page.
The end result is an HTML document which has been stripped of all unnecessary code and is consequently extremely 'light-weight' and easily indexed by search engines.
Additionally, it is also possible to radically alter a page's appearance at the click of a button without ever changing any of its HTML code. This approach is very capably demonstrated at the CSS Zen Garden, where more information about the power of CSS controlled web design can be found.
Furthermore, like HTML, CSS is undergoing constant revisions and will doubtlessly grow to play an even more important part in web design during years to come. Therefore, now may be a good time to further acquaint yourself with the full functionality of this essential web design element.
About the Author
With well over a decade of industry experience, Sasch Mayer has been writing about the World Wide Web and Internet Marketing for many years. He currently writes under contract to IceGiant Web Services, a company specialising in high-quality Web Design using both the traditional table-based and also the CSS controlled methods.Visit the IceGiant Web Site for more information.
Important Checklist To Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic
Search Engine traffic is the way you are going to get good amount of visitor to your site. People usually search for business/organizations and relative terms and not precisely what you sell unless you have already advertised it to the particular customer. Having best related keywords in search engine will have very targeted traffic to your site. Also it is important to make sure your website is positioned for the best targeted search engine traffic to increase your rankings. Below are the 5 point checklist that in my opinion you should go over before even planning e-commerce site.
1. Domain Name: Domain name is the most important item to be considered when going for an e-commerce site. The domain name should essentially carry the keywords you will use to target the site. Also while trying to go for targeted keyword domain you should also try to get it as shorter as possible. For example, if you have a directory website, then you should go for having a directory word in your domain. Here the name will be much bigger but if it is easy to spell like directoryalley then you should definitely go with it. Also if the keyword you are trying does not have any good combination domain available try getting similar keywords domain like for directory, index would be perfect so getting Index Rated would be perfect for directory.
2. Titles: The second most important part of the checklist is Title of website. It should contain your keyword phrases and should be different and most relative for each page thus increasing the potency of each page and giving it much strength in SERPs. You can also increase your targeted search engine traffic with repeating the keywords for the page as close to top of page as possible. Also make titles of pages attractive and interesting which will allure users into coming to your site. For example, you want to have targeted search engine traffic to your website servicing submission to web directories and have an article of submitting to web directories. In this case, you should name the article with your targeted search engine traffic while making it more attractive, something like, 5 Absolute unwritten laws of Web Directory Submissions.
3. Content: The content of the page also carries importance for getting the targeted search engine traffic and should contain informative and keyword rich data. However you should not go overboard and use all or most of your keywords in a single page. Spread them out throughout the site and use only one keyword or key phrase per page. More the keywords per page more diluted the power of each of your keywords.
4. Keep your site Updated and always current: Search Engines like sites with updated or current data. You should try to keep your site as current as possible and should update it daily and if not possible weekly. More current the data more pages will be cached in the search engines and more traffic. Also people like more current data and fresh content. Irrelevant and out of date content turn your visitors off and thus will lead to decreasing amount of returning visitors.
5. Keep your site Simple: Simplicity goes long way in website design and getting traffic. Try to make as simple and as attractive as possible. Make your site look professional and relevant to the subject. As soon as you try to use out of place style or phrases, you will lose visitors!
This concludes my 5 point checklist for targeted search engine traffic. Hope it serves the goal in getting targeted search engine traffic to your site.
About the Author
Author is owner of Index Rated Web Directory & Agile List Directory This article is free for publishing as long as the author tag remains intact.
1. Domain Name: Domain name is the most important item to be considered when going for an e-commerce site. The domain name should essentially carry the keywords you will use to target the site. Also while trying to go for targeted keyword domain you should also try to get it as shorter as possible. For example, if you have a directory website, then you should go for having a directory word in your domain. Here the name will be much bigger but if it is easy to spell like directoryalley then you should definitely go with it. Also if the keyword you are trying does not have any good combination domain available try getting similar keywords domain like for directory, index would be perfect so getting Index Rated would be perfect for directory.
2. Titles: The second most important part of the checklist is Title of website. It should contain your keyword phrases and should be different and most relative for each page thus increasing the potency of each page and giving it much strength in SERPs. You can also increase your targeted search engine traffic with repeating the keywords for the page as close to top of page as possible. Also make titles of pages attractive and interesting which will allure users into coming to your site. For example, you want to have targeted search engine traffic to your website servicing submission to web directories and have an article of submitting to web directories. In this case, you should name the article with your targeted search engine traffic while making it more attractive, something like, 5 Absolute unwritten laws of Web Directory Submissions.
3. Content: The content of the page also carries importance for getting the targeted search engine traffic and should contain informative and keyword rich data. However you should not go overboard and use all or most of your keywords in a single page. Spread them out throughout the site and use only one keyword or key phrase per page. More the keywords per page more diluted the power of each of your keywords.
4. Keep your site Updated and always current: Search Engines like sites with updated or current data. You should try to keep your site as current as possible and should update it daily and if not possible weekly. More current the data more pages will be cached in the search engines and more traffic. Also people like more current data and fresh content. Irrelevant and out of date content turn your visitors off and thus will lead to decreasing amount of returning visitors.
5. Keep your site Simple: Simplicity goes long way in website design and getting traffic. Try to make as simple and as attractive as possible. Make your site look professional and relevant to the subject. As soon as you try to use out of place style or phrases, you will lose visitors!
This concludes my 5 point checklist for targeted search engine traffic. Hope it serves the goal in getting targeted search engine traffic to your site.
About the Author
Author is owner of Index Rated Web Directory & Agile List Directory This article is free for publishing as long as the author tag remains intact.
SEO - The Right Way and the Wrong Way
Most internet users will agree that SEO has become a bit of a concern. Virtually any search brings up half a dozen sites that are trying to sell you something. If you are looking to buy, this is fine. But searching for information is becoming difficult.
The process of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, involves tweaking your website in about 30 different categories to make it more "search engine friendly". The search engine most commonly targeted is Google, but Yahoo and MSN are close in second and third. This makes complete sense. If you want more sales, get more traffic. If you want more traffic, get ranked higher on Google. The marketing advantage of "top Google ranking" can make nerds in their basements overnight millionaires. So what is so wrong about getting a marketing advantage?
Allow me to outline an example from my senior philosophy class - loosely based on John Nash's 'Game Theory':
"Consider the oceans, and the fish in them. Imagine that we (or in this case, website owners) are all fishermen. If we all agree to take our own share by legitimate means, and rely only on our own skills to catch fish, then we will all be able to feed our families, and perhaps sell some more off for profit. However, if we use some kind of illegitimate means to catch more fish, we will gain an unfair advantage. If there is no threat of punishment, there is only the threat of the extinction of the fish. But so long as only one or two are cheating, they get a larger share of the fish, and grow fatter than everyone else."
Now, everyone will start to catch on. If there is no law enforcement body in our little village (and there is almost none on the internet) then nothing stops the unscrupulous from doing whatever it takes to lure in all of the fish. So everyone starts doing it, using the argument, "If I don't, my family will starve." This is, as far as game theory is concerned, perfectly legitimate. To sum up:
I would like to draw your attention to Google's Information for Webmasters The article is about what is and is not accepted with regards to SEO. The Google guys end the article by saying,
The Google corportate motto is "Don't be evil." They continually update their search bot algorithms -- as do the other search engines -- in order to filter certain behaviours out. keyword META tags (the string of keywords you sometimes see under a search result) are not even considered by Google as they are such common sources of keyword spamming.
If you run a website that is not trying to sell something, you still want a lot of traffic. Non-commercial websites without huge SEO budgets might be the sites you want to find, but your chances of doing so are almost zero. I live in South Africa, and the most-read blog around here is one called 2OceansVibe. I don't think they have even submitted to a single search engine, or made one organic link. This blog gets thousands of hits per day purely on word of mouth. They have excellent content, and they update with an original post every day. Isn't this the kind of traffic you would rather have on your website?
Unfortunately, the nice guys don't finish last in the SEO arena, but that's what the good folks at Google are working on while their plan to dominate the planet is still being worked out. After reading their page, I have begun the process of removing excessive keywords and tags from my blog, WriteNonsense. I am removing anything that isn't 100% relevant in my tag list and links, and increasing the frequency and quality of my posts.
The ethics of SEO pose a significant dilemma for me, because I make my living writing SEO articles and helping websites get more traffic. I do not do the SEO work myself - I am a freelancer and I don't have a lot of control over my projects. Unfortunately, it has reached the point that if we don't cheat, we will be left out. I keyword optimized the title of this article -- I do want it to be read, after all. However, because accepted criteria for SEO practices are constantly narrowing, I believe (and so do Google) that in the long run your website will be far more successful if:
Your content is king -- Have good quality content that is all relevant to what you say your site is about.
You link organically and reciprocally -- Paid linkers always get caught. Spend some time every day telling people with related sites about your site, how it can help their visitors, and how you can help each other. Offer to put a link on your site if they put one on theirs.
You design your site for visitors, not search engines -- It might sound strange, but any sneaky SEO techniques will eventually get you weeded out. If you use sneak SEO tactics you will constantly have to build or pay for links, but if you make a good quality website links to you will start appearing all on their own, without you even having to reciprocate.
At the end of the day, having goodwill and a respected internet presence is something you cannot buy or steal, and the onlykind of visitor you want is the visitor who wants to be on your site. Remember that one college student telling his friends about your website is worth far more than hundreds of paid links, or thousands of pages of keyword-rich, content-poor articles. By all means, make your website more visible, but do not make the internet more frustrating and expensive for the rest of us to use.
href="http://writenonsense.blogspot.com">WriteNonsense - My blog about how to get started writing web content for a living
http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html - report spammers and bastard SEO techniques!
About the Author
Chase Richards is a professional web content and ebook writer with a bachelors degree in English and Philosophy (UCT)
The process of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, involves tweaking your website in about 30 different categories to make it more "search engine friendly". The search engine most commonly targeted is Google, but Yahoo and MSN are close in second and third. This makes complete sense. If you want more sales, get more traffic. If you want more traffic, get ranked higher on Google. The marketing advantage of "top Google ranking" can make nerds in their basements overnight millionaires. So what is so wrong about getting a marketing advantage?
Allow me to outline an example from my senior philosophy class - loosely based on John Nash's 'Game Theory':
"Consider the oceans, and the fish in them. Imagine that we (or in this case, website owners) are all fishermen. If we all agree to take our own share by legitimate means, and rely only on our own skills to catch fish, then we will all be able to feed our families, and perhaps sell some more off for profit. However, if we use some kind of illegitimate means to catch more fish, we will gain an unfair advantage. If there is no threat of punishment, there is only the threat of the extinction of the fish. But so long as only one or two are cheating, they get a larger share of the fish, and grow fatter than everyone else."
Now, everyone will start to catch on. If there is no law enforcement body in our little village (and there is almost none on the internet) then nothing stops the unscrupulous from doing whatever it takes to lure in all of the fish. So everyone starts doing it, using the argument, "If I don't, my family will starve." This is, as far as game theory is concerned, perfectly legitimate. To sum up:
If everyone is cheating to give themselves an unfair advantage, then you are creating an unfair disadvantage for yourself by not cheating
I would like to draw your attention to Google's Information for Webmasters The article is about what is and is not accepted with regards to SEO. The Google guys end the article by saying,
"It's not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn't included on this page, Google approves of it. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles listed above will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit."
The Google corportate motto is "Don't be evil." They continually update their search bot algorithms -- as do the other search engines -- in order to filter certain behaviours out. keyword META tags (the string of keywords you sometimes see under a search result) are not even considered by Google as they are such common sources of keyword spamming.
If you run a website that is not trying to sell something, you still want a lot of traffic. Non-commercial websites without huge SEO budgets might be the sites you want to find, but your chances of doing so are almost zero. I live in South Africa, and the most-read blog around here is one called 2OceansVibe. I don't think they have even submitted to a single search engine, or made one organic link. This blog gets thousands of hits per day purely on word of mouth. They have excellent content, and they update with an original post every day. Isn't this the kind of traffic you would rather have on your website?
Unfortunately, the nice guys don't finish last in the SEO arena, but that's what the good folks at Google are working on while their plan to dominate the planet is still being worked out. After reading their page, I have begun the process of removing excessive keywords and tags from my blog, WriteNonsense. I am removing anything that isn't 100% relevant in my tag list and links, and increasing the frequency and quality of my posts.
The ethics of SEO pose a significant dilemma for me, because I make my living writing SEO articles and helping websites get more traffic. I do not do the SEO work myself - I am a freelancer and I don't have a lot of control over my projects. Unfortunately, it has reached the point that if we don't cheat, we will be left out. I keyword optimized the title of this article -- I do want it to be read, after all. However, because accepted criteria for SEO practices are constantly narrowing, I believe (and so do Google) that in the long run your website will be far more successful if:
Your content is king -- Have good quality content that is all relevant to what you say your site is about.
You link organically and reciprocally -- Paid linkers always get caught. Spend some time every day telling people with related sites about your site, how it can help their visitors, and how you can help each other. Offer to put a link on your site if they put one on theirs.
You design your site for visitors, not search engines -- It might sound strange, but any sneaky SEO techniques will eventually get you weeded out. If you use sneak SEO tactics you will constantly have to build or pay for links, but if you make a good quality website links to you will start appearing all on their own, without you even having to reciprocate.
At the end of the day, having goodwill and a respected internet presence is something you cannot buy or steal, and the onlykind of visitor you want is the visitor who wants to be on your site. Remember that one college student telling his friends about your website is worth far more than hundreds of paid links, or thousands of pages of keyword-rich, content-poor articles. By all means, make your website more visible, but do not make the internet more frustrating and expensive for the rest of us to use.
href="http://writenonsense.blogspot.com">WriteNonsense - My blog about how to get started writing web content for a living
http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html - report spammers and bastard SEO techniques!
About the Author
Chase Richards is a professional web content and ebook writer with a bachelors degree in English and Philosophy (UCT)
Advice on Building Your Own Website
So you want to build your own website, but where do you start? Once you decide that your company will benefit by going online, you should know that building a website requires a lot of time, hard work and dedication. The most important part of building your website is the planning stage; only once you've put all your ideas on paper can you move forward with purpose.
The First Step, Choosing a Domain Name Choosing a domain name for your website can be exciting but also exasperating. It is easy enough to find a domain name which is catchy and suits your company, but is it available? The best and most obvious domain names are often already taken, which leaves you back at square one. The best way to go about choosing a domain name is to brainstorm a few ideas; sometimes it's the most obvious or descriptive domain names that are available to register.
Now Register It Once you've checked the availability of your chosen domain name you should register it to make sure that somebody else doesn't beat you to it. If you're aiming to receive South African traffic on your website you can register your domain name as a .co.za site and if you're aiming for global traffic you can register as a .com website. You may find that your domain name is available as a .co.za, but not as a .com or vice versa. Consider choosing a domain name that is available in both, so that if your website grows you have the option of transforming it into a .com site, also, if a visitor mistakes your URL they won't land on someone else's page.
You can register yourself or you can ask a web hosting company to do it on your behalf, provided that they register the domain in your name. This is crucial if you wish to switch service providers at a later stage. Site registration takes between 24 and 72 hours for the process to be completed after which your site will go live. Once it's live, everybody who navigates to your URL will be able to see your website.
Finding a Web Host There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, so when searching for the ideal web host for your site, get quotes from a number of hosting companies. It's always better to get a second opinion - and even better if you get a third, fourth and fifth.
Some web hosting companies ask you to sign annual contracts which means that you won't be able to get rid of them if you're not happy with their service, so before you sign anything, check them out thoroughly. Support is typically the number one priority, so look into this aspect very carefully; call or e-mail the support team of a prospective host to see what the response is like.
Make sure that the host is established and that their business is stable. Look at the quality and locality of their data centres. If you don't know anything about data centres, ask an expert so that all the relevant questions can be asked. Make sure that their hardware and software packages are up to standard and that their network platform is reliable. You don't want constant crashes when your website is up and running, so do your homework well.
Adding Content to Your Site Building a website is not a once off event; it is an ongoing business process, requiring a commitment to maintenance. The more time and effort you are willing to put in, the more reward you will get out. It is difficult to get a site to start off with a bang, so continue adding content if you want to see traffic increasing.
You have to please your target market, so naturally your content should be centred around what your target market wants to read. Do your research and find the topics that your prospective customers want to read about.
Steer clear of Flash, unless you know exactly what you are doing; the design of your site is typically not as important as the content. People would much rather pay attention to the type of articles you have posted on your site than images that move around the screen. Having said that, good design should not to be neglected, because you can have the best content on your website, but if the layout and overall look of your site is not appealing then the content won't look appealing either. A great website will have the balance of both; excellent content and a creative design.
Contact Details When setting up a website you're going to need an email address so that your visitors can contact you. Registering your own domain name means you can use the name for email too. It is important that you use a company or business email in order to portray a professional image. These are just guidelines to get you started, but they are not set rules. It's not about following rules; it's about playing around with the web and finding a formula that works for you. Once your website is off the ground all you'll need is content and the World Wide Web's your oyster.
About the Author
Hetzner is a South African web hosting company that takes pride in exceptional customer service. Consistently delivering the best service and web hosting packages, Hetzner has grown to become the largest specialised web hosting company in South Africa.
The First Step, Choosing a Domain Name Choosing a domain name for your website can be exciting but also exasperating. It is easy enough to find a domain name which is catchy and suits your company, but is it available? The best and most obvious domain names are often already taken, which leaves you back at square one. The best way to go about choosing a domain name is to brainstorm a few ideas; sometimes it's the most obvious or descriptive domain names that are available to register.
Now Register It Once you've checked the availability of your chosen domain name you should register it to make sure that somebody else doesn't beat you to it. If you're aiming to receive South African traffic on your website you can register your domain name as a .co.za site and if you're aiming for global traffic you can register as a .com website. You may find that your domain name is available as a .co.za, but not as a .com or vice versa. Consider choosing a domain name that is available in both, so that if your website grows you have the option of transforming it into a .com site, also, if a visitor mistakes your URL they won't land on someone else's page.
You can register yourself or you can ask a web hosting company to do it on your behalf, provided that they register the domain in your name. This is crucial if you wish to switch service providers at a later stage. Site registration takes between 24 and 72 hours for the process to be completed after which your site will go live. Once it's live, everybody who navigates to your URL will be able to see your website.
Finding a Web Host There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, so when searching for the ideal web host for your site, get quotes from a number of hosting companies. It's always better to get a second opinion - and even better if you get a third, fourth and fifth.
Some web hosting companies ask you to sign annual contracts which means that you won't be able to get rid of them if you're not happy with their service, so before you sign anything, check them out thoroughly. Support is typically the number one priority, so look into this aspect very carefully; call or e-mail the support team of a prospective host to see what the response is like.
Make sure that the host is established and that their business is stable. Look at the quality and locality of their data centres. If you don't know anything about data centres, ask an expert so that all the relevant questions can be asked. Make sure that their hardware and software packages are up to standard and that their network platform is reliable. You don't want constant crashes when your website is up and running, so do your homework well.
Adding Content to Your Site Building a website is not a once off event; it is an ongoing business process, requiring a commitment to maintenance. The more time and effort you are willing to put in, the more reward you will get out. It is difficult to get a site to start off with a bang, so continue adding content if you want to see traffic increasing.
You have to please your target market, so naturally your content should be centred around what your target market wants to read. Do your research and find the topics that your prospective customers want to read about.
Steer clear of Flash, unless you know exactly what you are doing; the design of your site is typically not as important as the content. People would much rather pay attention to the type of articles you have posted on your site than images that move around the screen. Having said that, good design should not to be neglected, because you can have the best content on your website, but if the layout and overall look of your site is not appealing then the content won't look appealing either. A great website will have the balance of both; excellent content and a creative design.
Contact Details When setting up a website you're going to need an email address so that your visitors can contact you. Registering your own domain name means you can use the name for email too. It is important that you use a company or business email in order to portray a professional image. These are just guidelines to get you started, but they are not set rules. It's not about following rules; it's about playing around with the web and finding a formula that works for you. Once your website is off the ground all you'll need is content and the World Wide Web's your oyster.
About the Author
Hetzner is a South African web hosting company that takes pride in exceptional customer service. Consistently delivering the best service and web hosting packages, Hetzner has grown to become the largest specialised web hosting company in South Africa.
Monday, 6 August 2007
How to Find the Right Web Design Company for Your Project?
In today's cyber-oriented world, you will rarely find a household or person who does not have computer or access to the Internet.Everywhere you look - people are connected. Therefore, it is needless to say that if your intent on having or running a successful online business or website, choosing a professional web design company is crucial. You are depending on them to create an image for you that will make or break your business.
You have less then 8 seconds to create an impression on your visitor when visiting your website. Be very selective when it comes time to choose the web firm for your website design. Here are a few guidelines and pointers to help you choose the right designers: 1. First and foremost: Do they have a portfolio? Make sure they have some experience under their belts and unless you want to be a designer's test subject, make sure they have some experience behind them. 2. Are the designer's skills are advanced enough to cater to any type of business? Look through the portfolio for variety. Do their client's websites all look similar in format and structure? Make sure you are paying for a custom web design service, not a cheap template. 3. How reasonable are their prices? Make sure you get what you pay for and if you are on a budget, that the designer you choose won't exceed it. But it is also important to insure you put plan for extras and have a plan to continually invest into the website's construction. Your website is going to the link between you and your customers, so make sure it is the best it can be. If you can't afford for everything you feel your website should have - then wait. Don't settle for a low end website.
4. Do they take a personal and friendly approach?
Although this article can seem like a no-brainer to some, many companies will often run into difficulties and conflicts within their design process. These are simple yet often overlooked steps, and can be the difference between a rough or smooth design process. Keep this list in mind when looking for a web designer and you should find the right one to create your website .
About the Author
Avileax.Com - is one of the best website design company based in Los Angeles, providing web development in Orange County, Bay Area, San Diego with a proven 100% client satisfaction record. Apply for Free Quote for your website design or web development project as well as promote your website
You have less then 8 seconds to create an impression on your visitor when visiting your website. Be very selective when it comes time to choose the web firm for your website design. Here are a few guidelines and pointers to help you choose the right designers: 1. First and foremost: Do they have a portfolio? Make sure they have some experience under their belts and unless you want to be a designer's test subject, make sure they have some experience behind them. 2. Are the designer's skills are advanced enough to cater to any type of business? Look through the portfolio for variety. Do their client's websites all look similar in format and structure? Make sure you are paying for a custom web design service, not a cheap template. 3. How reasonable are their prices? Make sure you get what you pay for and if you are on a budget, that the designer you choose won't exceed it. But it is also important to insure you put plan for extras and have a plan to continually invest into the website's construction. Your website is going to the link between you and your customers, so make sure it is the best it can be. If you can't afford for everything you feel your website should have - then wait. Don't settle for a low end website.
4. Do they take a personal and friendly approach?
Although this article can seem like a no-brainer to some, many companies will often run into difficulties and conflicts within their design process. These are simple yet often overlooked steps, and can be the difference between a rough or smooth design process. Keep this list in mind when looking for a web designer and you should find the right one to create your website .
About the Author
Avileax.Com - is one of the best website design company based in Los Angeles, providing web development in Orange County, Bay Area, San Diego with a proven 100% client satisfaction record. Apply for Free Quote for your website design or web development project as well as promote your website
Harnessing Web 2.0 Development
World has come closer and communication has become faster with the harnessing web 2.0, I won't be wrong if I say 'Network made easy with web 2.0'.
O'Reilly Media in 2003 coined the term Web 2.0 to emphasis a post-dot-com generation of sites and service that use web as platform. Web 2.0 is the new generation of web with new set of principles of web-based communities and hosted services for all its users. Web 2.0 is vanquishing the internet world because of its flexibility, usability and impetus that is driving various social communities. Web 2.0 is quintessential internet online solution that has given web 1.0 a shove on one side and has foster mashups, banner Ads, wikis, file sharing, photo sharing, podcasts and technologies like weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds on other side; these technologies have gained more visibility, ultimately improving interactivity of web. We are observing major shift in web usage, new development paradigm has refined the overall process letting users to benefit from software continuously being refined without waiting for upgraded version or SDLC. Different applications that operate well off online (del.icio.us, Skype, dodgeball) and offline (Flickr, Google Maps) have also helped to improve effectiveness of web. Transition of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has consolidated different segments of web and now a website is not mere a website promoting its product and services but a good source of information exchange where visitors can maintain their own blogs and communities and share more information.
This new generation technology is synonymous for public communities, cloverleaf exchange of information, open communication; all these speak of its cosmopolitan nature in the market place and are serving web application to end users.
Broaden your web horizon harnessing web 2.0, for your help web is available as an open source where you can use and reuse the market and resources and have individual control, openly conversing and communicating, sharing your resources and views, and easily creating new corporate paradigm using readily available spontaneous modular elements. We also find remarkable growth in web economy as a result of web 2.0. Web 2.0 is data driven platform developed by independent developers and their participation, it creates network effects and very simple business paradigms driven by content and service unification.
The technical demography of traffic statistics shows increased figures from social media sites and rising trends in deployment of web 2.0 technologies. Recent statistics shows that social networking as the most popular tool, with 19% of companies having invested in it, followed by podcasts (17%), blogs (16%), RSS (14%), wikis (13%), and mashups (4%). When we sum up companies planning to invest in the tools, the percentages says: social networking (37%), RSS (35%), podcasts (35%), wikis (33%), blogs (32%), and mashups (21%).
In a nutshell I would say, Web 2.0 is a holistic approach that includes software for servers, content assimilation, standard based browser, rules for messaging, rich-interactive applications, and extensive use of folksonomies, all start with information inculcation, its management, storage and dissemination.
About the Author
Rakhi, is a SEO copywriter at Developmentindia.com. Development India is outsouring website design and development company.
O'Reilly Media in 2003 coined the term Web 2.0 to emphasis a post-dot-com generation of sites and service that use web as platform. Web 2.0 is the new generation of web with new set of principles of web-based communities and hosted services for all its users. Web 2.0 is vanquishing the internet world because of its flexibility, usability and impetus that is driving various social communities. Web 2.0 is quintessential internet online solution that has given web 1.0 a shove on one side and has foster mashups, banner Ads, wikis, file sharing, photo sharing, podcasts and technologies like weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds on other side; these technologies have gained more visibility, ultimately improving interactivity of web. We are observing major shift in web usage, new development paradigm has refined the overall process letting users to benefit from software continuously being refined without waiting for upgraded version or SDLC. Different applications that operate well off online (del.icio.us, Skype, dodgeball) and offline (Flickr, Google Maps) have also helped to improve effectiveness of web. Transition of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has consolidated different segments of web and now a website is not mere a website promoting its product and services but a good source of information exchange where visitors can maintain their own blogs and communities and share more information.
This new generation technology is synonymous for public communities, cloverleaf exchange of information, open communication; all these speak of its cosmopolitan nature in the market place and are serving web application to end users.
Broaden your web horizon harnessing web 2.0, for your help web is available as an open source where you can use and reuse the market and resources and have individual control, openly conversing and communicating, sharing your resources and views, and easily creating new corporate paradigm using readily available spontaneous modular elements. We also find remarkable growth in web economy as a result of web 2.0. Web 2.0 is data driven platform developed by independent developers and their participation, it creates network effects and very simple business paradigms driven by content and service unification.
The technical demography of traffic statistics shows increased figures from social media sites and rising trends in deployment of web 2.0 technologies. Recent statistics shows that social networking as the most popular tool, with 19% of companies having invested in it, followed by podcasts (17%), blogs (16%), RSS (14%), wikis (13%), and mashups (4%). When we sum up companies planning to invest in the tools, the percentages says: social networking (37%), RSS (35%), podcasts (35%), wikis (33%), blogs (32%), and mashups (21%).
In a nutshell I would say, Web 2.0 is a holistic approach that includes software for servers, content assimilation, standard based browser, rules for messaging, rich-interactive applications, and extensive use of folksonomies, all start with information inculcation, its management, storage and dissemination.
About the Author
Rakhi, is a SEO copywriter at Developmentindia.com. Development India is outsouring website design and development company.
Creating Your Web Site
Before talking to the Web Designer of your choice there are a few things you must do. Keep in mind that your website will be created by both yourself and your web designer. It will be a joint effort. You must communicate to your designer exactly what you envision and what you want to accomplish. Remember, this is YOUR site! You own it!
1. Ask yourself why you want a website and what is it you wish to accomplish. 2. Are you selling something? Information? Items you have created? Services? 3. Identify your target market. In other words, whom do you want to sell to?
Things to consider in the layout and design of your page. * Content: This is THE most important aspect of your site. After all, the content is what you want people to see! Be specific. Don't put long paragraphs of text on your pages unless you are selling information or providing instruction. People want to find information quickly and easily. * Graphics: Sites that take a long time to load lose visitors. Don't use large graphics unless you are selling graphics! Your home page needs to load as quickly as possible. Limit Flash and Javascript as well. While both can be attractive, they will ALWAYS slow down your page. * Pop-ups: DO NOT put pop-ups on your site. They annoy everybody! * Color: Limit colors to 3 for the entire site. If possible, use your company colors or the colors you use in your logo. Make them attractive and easy on the eye. Spend some time surfing the web to see what is pleasing to you. * Forms: Provide a contact form that includes your e-mail, phone, fax, and any other information that will make it easy for your visitors to get in touch with you. * About Your Company: Include an "About Us" page on your site. Let people know who you are and exactly what your business is all about. Keep it simple and to the point. * Tag Line: Come up with a catchy tag-line for the home page or use the one you already have. People tend to recognize your company by your tag-line. Example: Sears tag-line is - "Good Life. Great Price". * Search Engine Optimization: Make your site search engine friendly by choosing keywords that will lead visitors to your site. Use your keywords in text form as much as possible on your pages - especially the Home Page!
About the Author
I am sole owner/operator of Ell Designs. I thoroughly enjoy the web design business. It is always changing and improving. I try to share any knowledge I have in order to make web design more enjoyable for everyone.
1. Ask yourself why you want a website and what is it you wish to accomplish. 2. Are you selling something? Information? Items you have created? Services? 3. Identify your target market. In other words, whom do you want to sell to?
Things to consider in the layout and design of your page. * Content: This is THE most important aspect of your site. After all, the content is what you want people to see! Be specific. Don't put long paragraphs of text on your pages unless you are selling information or providing instruction. People want to find information quickly and easily. * Graphics: Sites that take a long time to load lose visitors. Don't use large graphics unless you are selling graphics! Your home page needs to load as quickly as possible. Limit Flash and Javascript as well. While both can be attractive, they will ALWAYS slow down your page. * Pop-ups: DO NOT put pop-ups on your site. They annoy everybody! * Color: Limit colors to 3 for the entire site. If possible, use your company colors or the colors you use in your logo. Make them attractive and easy on the eye. Spend some time surfing the web to see what is pleasing to you. * Forms: Provide a contact form that includes your e-mail, phone, fax, and any other information that will make it easy for your visitors to get in touch with you. * About Your Company: Include an "About Us" page on your site. Let people know who you are and exactly what your business is all about. Keep it simple and to the point. * Tag Line: Come up with a catchy tag-line for the home page or use the one you already have. People tend to recognize your company by your tag-line. Example: Sears tag-line is - "Good Life. Great Price". * Search Engine Optimization: Make your site search engine friendly by choosing keywords that will lead visitors to your site. Use your keywords in text form as much as possible on your pages - especially the Home Page!
About the Author
I am sole owner/operator of Ell Designs. I thoroughly enjoy the web design business. It is always changing and improving. I try to share any knowledge I have in order to make web design more enjoyable for everyone.
Ways to Keep Your Online Visitors Coming Back
Every day there are multitudes of new websites added to the internet and each one of them wants a place in the spotlight. Some websites have the right idea of what will make them popular and some have lost the plot. There is a method to be found in all the madness, and although there are no exact rules to follow in creating good websites, there are a few guidelines to keep your online visitors coming back to your site.
In a recent poll conducted by YouGov, web users spoke about their online experiences; what type of websites they found interesting and useful and what type of websites they would never click back to. The results were as follows:
Most users pointed out that functionality played a much bigger role than design in their favourite websites. Ease of navigation was rated highly - no surprise there. A fancy Flash website may seem appealing at first, but if it doesn't take users where they want to be and if the user doesn't find what they are searching for, then what's the point? Navigation and content first, fancy graphics second!
59% of the users rated security as an important factor when browsing the internet. This is especially important when banking details or credit card numbers are being used for online transactions. There is still a widespread mistrust for online banking or buying, so in order to get your client to trust your site you should take the necessary measures to protect your clients.
Smart searching was also ranked as a priority. A search engine or a shopping directory with an accurate search function was highly rated on the user poll. Just as in face-to-face communication, users don't like to be taken in circles when they are looking for something. Web users rated speed at 62% relevancy in terms of their online experience. Slow home page loading has proven to be the number one reason users left a website immediately. Relevance of information is another major factor in determining what makes a good website. Users are looking for good quality, relevant information and if they are not going to find it on your website, they are going to move on.
About the Author
Hetzner is a South African web hosting company that takes pride in exceptional customer service. Consistently delivering the best service and web hosting packages, Hetzner has grown to become the largest specialised web hosting company in South Africa.
In a recent poll conducted by YouGov, web users spoke about their online experiences; what type of websites they found interesting and useful and what type of websites they would never click back to. The results were as follows:
Most users pointed out that functionality played a much bigger role than design in their favourite websites. Ease of navigation was rated highly - no surprise there. A fancy Flash website may seem appealing at first, but if it doesn't take users where they want to be and if the user doesn't find what they are searching for, then what's the point? Navigation and content first, fancy graphics second!
59% of the users rated security as an important factor when browsing the internet. This is especially important when banking details or credit card numbers are being used for online transactions. There is still a widespread mistrust for online banking or buying, so in order to get your client to trust your site you should take the necessary measures to protect your clients.
Smart searching was also ranked as a priority. A search engine or a shopping directory with an accurate search function was highly rated on the user poll. Just as in face-to-face communication, users don't like to be taken in circles when they are looking for something. Web users rated speed at 62% relevancy in terms of their online experience. Slow home page loading has proven to be the number one reason users left a website immediately. Relevance of information is another major factor in determining what makes a good website. Users are looking for good quality, relevant information and if they are not going to find it on your website, they are going to move on.
About the Author
Hetzner is a South African web hosting company that takes pride in exceptional customer service. Consistently delivering the best service and web hosting packages, Hetzner has grown to become the largest specialised web hosting company in South Africa.
Importance to opt a Website Design Company
To get a more fruitful business from your website it is important to get your website noticed. So don't compromise on your business website, contact an established web design company. An establish Website Development Company and Website Design Company always one step ahead of the competition. They offers a variety of best-in-class services from basic website design services to complete website development services.
For this the first critical step is selecting a website design company or a website development company that understands search engine optimization to use the internet to promote your business website. The search engines tends to change its indexing rules and behaviors tend frequently, so optimization techniques that work wonders one day might be completely ineffective one day. Even in this ever-changing atmosphere at least the relationship between search engine robots and website design will always remain constant.
Search engine robots are the automated programs that scan the text, read the tags and navigate the links present on a website and then index it according to it's fixed algorithm. So, plain and simple, ease of navigation and quality content are the key constants in the search engine optimization process. Complicated or complex website design may confuse the search engines robot, an action that is not desirable if you want a website that gets results.
Although you may have a complex website with exceptional design and features such as frames, Flash, java script, mouse-over links and graphics. You simply need to contact a website design company that understands how to intract with search engines with these features and get design the website in an optimal manner.
You can have a simple website design with a simple source code which is the easiest for the search engine robots to read. Ssearch engines attracts Hyperlinks, Text and particularly text links. But there are aspects of a website that could cause it to be slow loading, or can cause difficulty for the visitor to navigating the website. These barriers are the stumbling blocks for both search engine robots and human access. An expert website development company is always one step ahead of the competition and work around these complications making index processing a breeze, even for a website with special features.
An unprofessional website designers often don't understand how to optimize a dynamic pages, flash designs, frames, mouse-over links, images, query strings, and image maps.
So, while considering a website design company or website development company, don't settle for simple, boring designs, make sure that your chosen website design company ensures your chances of being indexed properly. Choose an expert webdesign design and development company who has the qualifications and experience needed to provide quality content, eye catching design and optimal results that will enhance your ranking, improve your conversion rate and produce exceptional website performance and at the same time increase your advantage over your competition in the search engines.
So, while considering a website design company, always choose an expert in the field of website development who has the adequate qualifications and experience can ensures your chances of being indexed properly, improve your conversion rate and produce exceptional website performance and can simultaneously provide quality content and eye catching design to intract with search engines.
About the Author
Plasmainteractive a well established website design company based in Dallas Texas offers complete e-commerce website development service. Request free quotes
For this the first critical step is selecting a website design company or a website development company that understands search engine optimization to use the internet to promote your business website. The search engines tends to change its indexing rules and behaviors tend frequently, so optimization techniques that work wonders one day might be completely ineffective one day. Even in this ever-changing atmosphere at least the relationship between search engine robots and website design will always remain constant.
Search engine robots are the automated programs that scan the text, read the tags and navigate the links present on a website and then index it according to it's fixed algorithm. So, plain and simple, ease of navigation and quality content are the key constants in the search engine optimization process. Complicated or complex website design may confuse the search engines robot, an action that is not desirable if you want a website that gets results.
Although you may have a complex website with exceptional design and features such as frames, Flash, java script, mouse-over links and graphics. You simply need to contact a website design company that understands how to intract with search engines with these features and get design the website in an optimal manner.
You can have a simple website design with a simple source code which is the easiest for the search engine robots to read. Ssearch engines attracts Hyperlinks, Text and particularly text links. But there are aspects of a website that could cause it to be slow loading, or can cause difficulty for the visitor to navigating the website. These barriers are the stumbling blocks for both search engine robots and human access. An expert website development company is always one step ahead of the competition and work around these complications making index processing a breeze, even for a website with special features.
An unprofessional website designers often don't understand how to optimize a dynamic pages, flash designs, frames, mouse-over links, images, query strings, and image maps.
So, while considering a website design company or website development company, don't settle for simple, boring designs, make sure that your chosen website design company ensures your chances of being indexed properly. Choose an expert webdesign design and development company who has the qualifications and experience needed to provide quality content, eye catching design and optimal results that will enhance your ranking, improve your conversion rate and produce exceptional website performance and at the same time increase your advantage over your competition in the search engines.
So, while considering a website design company, always choose an expert in the field of website development who has the adequate qualifications and experience can ensures your chances of being indexed properly, improve your conversion rate and produce exceptional website performance and can simultaneously provide quality content and eye catching design to intract with search engines.
About the Author
Plasmainteractive a well established website design company based in Dallas Texas offers complete e-commerce website development service. Request free quotes
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