Beginners, Make Your Own Website For Under $400

Many beginners have no idea what needs to be done to get a website up and running but they know they want one because everyone else has one.

So, if you're a beginner to website design and want to get a website created from scratch I'll go into some detail here to map out exactly what to do step-by-step, as well as the potential prices involved. I will also give you a suggestion of the best place online that is both beginner friendly and completely robust - filled with everything you'll ever need and more to create the best website possible for you and your readers.

The very first thing you need to do before you make a website is to decide what you want your website to be about. Sounds simple doesn't it but you'll be surprised by just how many people skip this first important step. "And how do I do this", you ask. Make a list of things you like. What are you interested in? What are your hobbies? What kind of things do you like to read about? Talk about? Think about? Put them on your list.

It's not necessary that you be an expert in the topic that you create your website about but I would suggest it be something that you're really interested in otherwise you'll lose interest in it quickly and your website will die. For your website to prosper, you'll have to write content and make revisions and changes fairly frequently and if you're not really a fan of the topic you've chosen you'll never follow through. So, look at the list you've made and chose the best topic for you.

It is also a good idea to be completely sure of the type of audience your website will be geared toward since this will have a lot to do with the type of website you'll ultimately build. Is your website just for your family and friends? Is it going to be geared toward a certain readership - such as purebred Akita lovers, people interested in vintage Camaro's, trout fishermen, etc? Or do you want to build a website business to make money online? Cost - $0, but some of your time.

For this article, I will assume that you are building a website geared toward one of the types of audiences as listed above. Now that you've decided what your website is about and who you plan to build the site for, it's time to start building the actual website. What I would encourage you to do first is to find a web host and buy a domain name. You can do these two things separately or you can do them at the same time, it's up to you. What I would suggest beginners do would be to get both at the same place to cut down on a few steps down the road.

"What are domain names and web hosts and why do I need them?" Good question. This is a very important step in the website building process. In answer to your question you can think of it this way: a web host rents you space on their computers to put all your websites files. It's kind of like renting an apartment or house to put all your stuff - you pay them a monthly fee to keep your website files safe and your website up and running all day long.

Even if you didn't know it, you do know what examples of domain names are. Have you ever heard of "ebay" or "apple"? How about "Google" or "Yahoo"? I thought so. Your domain name is a name that is unique to you and your website - kind of like a phone number, but in name form since most people can remember names better than a long list of numbers. This name is what visitors type into their browser windows to find your actual website.

If you don't have a website host or a domain name you can't have a website. It's that simple. You can get a free website but I would not recommend you ever going that route if you want to be taken seriously online. This boils down to an issue of credibility.

So, with that in mind, I suggest you go the paid route. Charges vary from host to host and among domain name registrars. If you shop around you can often find a reputable web host that will offer you a free domain name as a part of their plan. If you decide to buy them separately prices typically run anywhere from $8 to $30+ for domain names per year, while web hosting prices can vary from $6 to $20+ a month for a basic website, depending on which you choose.

Cheaper is not always better. Let me repeat that: cheaper is not always better, so research a few web hosts before deciding on a plan. Compare plans, email the host to ask questions ahead of time and see what kinds of responses you get. Good customer service and technical help is tremendously important and you want to pick a company that you can have a good and long lasting relationship with right from the start.

It's a real pain to have to switch around later if you don't make the right choice the first time out. It costs you time, effort, and can cost you money if you have a business website - so choose very, very carefully.

One company you might want to check out that is absolutely excellent in all respects of web site hosting is SiteBuildIt (SBI). SBI offers an all-in-one package that is fantastic for the website designer - whether you are a beginner or not.

They have it all - colorful website templates, the ability to create newsletters, blog functionality, brainstorming and research tools, domain name, unlimited great customer support, webmail account, point and click site-building, a form builder, a money back guarantee and much much more.

About the Author
People love SBI! It's not just ease of use, powerful tools, simplicity, or traffic-building success. Learn more now.

Proven Ways To Increase Your Website Traffic

It doesn't matter how well-designed your e-commerce site, photo album, or affiliate page is, without traffic, it's merely a collection of pixels on a screen. Once you have a web presence of some sort, what could be more important than getting more people to interact with it?

If you already have a site but don't see the traffic you expected, you must find out why and correct the problem. Promises of traffic are not enough. Were your expectations inflated by hype? Traffic from search engine spiders or robots it critical. Are search engine spiders able to read your content with ease? If search engine spiders have trouble reading your site, you can be certain it will never be seen by anyone else in great numbers.

The number one way to get traffic is to have well-designed content that meets a particular need. Visitors to that kind of site tell others and often link to it. Word-of-mouth and link-of site are surefire ways to grow your traffic.

OK. What if you already have those bases covered but still lack the numbers? Here are some proven ways you can employ to increase your traffic:

1) Buy Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads with the big 3 search engines. - Maybe it seems odd to pay to advertise your website, but would you shun advertising for a bricks-and-mortar store? Of chouse not. Perhaps PPC advertising should be a large part of your ad budget. If you're still hesitant, go find some testimonies of the effectiveness of Google AdWords. You'll discover that all the big name companies are already in the game.

2) Exchange or trade links with other sites. - You need to know that search engines do not value two-way links as highly as the one-way links inbound to your site, but they still have some value. Do a link search, and count how many links you currently have to your site. Concentrate your link trading effort on similar content sites. If you're a store, you don't need to exchange links with a competitor. Look for sites that offer information about your product.

3) Find your Keywords. - Use website statistics and analytics to discover the keyword phrases your site is found by. Then use a keyword tool (Google has a free one) to discover what keyword phrases that relate to your website have the most searches. If these two groups don't match, rework your website content, and build it around the high-traffic keyword phrases that most describe your product or service. If this is too daunting a task, there are plenty of professionals who can do it for you.

4) Use article writing as a way to build links to your site. Contrary to popular thinking, your articles don't have to be related in any way to your website. The link to your site in the author resource box or bio box is what counts. This type of link has the potential to multiply as other sites redistribute your article. Are you not a writer? You can always pay someone else to do it for you. Remember: the best article networks have the 'dofollow' tag in their outgoing links. This gets published by the search engines, and the search engine spiders love it.

5) Join an established forum in your field. All forums give you a place to tell about yourself and your website. You can also design a custom signature that incorporates your link. Be involved in the forum at your level of interest. It's a great way to not only grow traffic, but gain standing in your particular field.

6) Create an email list and market your site in the newsletters to your list members. Realize that it isn't lawful or ethical to blindside strangers with sales pitches and links in unsolicited email. You can create a form on your site for visitors to opt-in to your email list. You may think it looks like trying to build traffic from traffic you already have, and that's correct. Repeat visitors and loyalty is the best kind of traffic that can come from email marketing. If you're overwhelmed by the thought of where or how to start, Constant Contact has an email marketing software package that will do all the hard work for you.

About the Author

Chris has been authoring websites for over ten years, and his specialty is SEO. His latest site features washer dryer combination information at Dryer Combination" href="http://washerdryercombinationshop.com/" target="_new">WasherDryerCombinationShop.com

How to create your business website

The key tool for delivering e-commerce services is the business website. This must be specified, designed, hosted and maintained. Creating your own business website offers you a business unlimited advertising. Customers will come directly to you because they are interested in seeing what your business has to offer. A website is an invaluable promotional tool. You can push your business to the clients globally through your business website.

Specification

The website specification should clearly identify what the site is trying to achieve and how its various components will contribute to this. An 0understanding of the intended user audience is required for both technical and marketing purposes.

Domain name

Register a domain name. If you want to use your business name, check a website registry to make sure it isn't already taken.Domain names are an enormous help in the branding of a business. Your domain name should be easy to remember andspell, and should show what your business is all about. If not, then potential customers will surf elsewhere and possibly find your competition.

keywords and meta tags

Create keywords and meta tags, which are used by search engines to categorize websites. Creating a Google ad words campaign can be useful because it can take a while for a site to come up in Google's natural searches.

Website hosting

If you purchase your own domain name you can either host your own website or have an Internet service provider (ISP) host it on your behalf. If you choose to host the website yourself, you will require a fast Internet connection and a suitable PC. However, ISP hosting is relatively cheap and straightforward.

The type of Internet connectivity and the available bandwidth will be an important consideration, irrespective of which hosting solution is selected. Most businesses choose some form of broadband connection.

Software options

An important early decision to consider is whether to use a "shop" package or build the software from scratch. Shop packages allow you to configure product information and the look and feel of the shop. However, they can provide limited opportunities for tailoring them to your back office processes. Alternatively you can get a third party to build the software for you, or develop it yourself.

Search engines

Register your site with search engines, such as Google, HotBot, Yahoo , dmoz.org or AltaVista. It's important to attract natural Google search engine traffic as soon as possible. And e-commerce businesses also need to pay attention to customer service.

Tips

• Most web hosts have templates to use for each page of your site.

• You can add a counter and tracking program to see who visits your site.

• Update your site often to keep it fresh.

• It's more professional-looking to purchase your domain name instead of using a free hosting site.

• Don't post sensitive information on your website that you wouldn't want a competitor to know.

About the Author

We are your sourcing center and business helper！ http://www.richforth.com

Buy web hosting - Don't bother with the free hosts

Yes, I know, you are tempted. You are tempted to have your brand new website hosted by a free domain host. You know what they say: you get what you pay for, right? Save yourself some headache: use a professional web hosting company. This is because you will have experts who can maintain your site, as well as ensure that it's up at all times.

Ok, you type web host into Google and it came up with a billion results. How do you really get to know who is the best? Well, you can start with know the amount of web space that will be given to you. Web hosting companies do provide limited web space (shared web hosting) for their clients, but what you should know is how much will be yours. If you have very small pages, you basically don't need a business web host with more than 5MB space. This should ensure their will be enough to run your video clips, podcasts, and other media files without any problem. Most will have this. Don't worry.

Some web hosting companies provide dedicated servers to their clients. This means that the entire server will be for your use alone. This is expensive, but it is more stable compared to shared servers. If you're on a tight on the coin you want to spend, you can take advantage of the shared-server arrangement. You just need to know how many accounts are sharing the space, since the speed and the download times of your website will be affected by the performance of other websites from the same server.

If you are going to run a business or sell something on your site, it might be important that you can include a shopping cart to make purchasing and selling hassle-free for you. More than anything else, though, the web host company must be able to secure transactions to avoid any identity theft and fraud. Thus, make sure that the web hosting company can offer you SSL technologies if you plan on having this kind of feature on your site.

Do I have your support?? Tech support must be good, especially if you are kind of new and don't know what the heck you are doing. You need to have your website running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's why the best web hosting company is the one that runs 24/7 too. The customer support, moreover, must be very easy to reach. Go for a web host that has a good 'Contact Us' page and an actual phone number to dial in case you have some issues.

About the Author

Bill is looking out for you. Affordable low cost web hosting is not hard to find, really! I'm not kidding. And you can find a bunch of places to buy web hosting at this cool website called http://www.affordablewebhostingservices.net. They have done the research for you!

What is the goal of the website?

Although, there are certain things which you would love to see on your website, there are other things that you need to take into consideration when you go through website designing. Designing a Website with ZERO Marketing Experience -- Most web designers have no idea how to make money on the internet, with anything other than their design services. Pick a Reputable Website Designing Company In order to get the best website redesign, it is important to make sure that you choose a reputable, well liked company. Here's an idea how you can add value to your service and charge more: Besides designing product cover, you can also design matching website header, footer, background image, and order button. Well, driving high traffic to Website is very important, but what's even more important, is designing a website in that way which makes them stays longer. Follow these tips and other website design tips when designing your website. I am happy to say I have made a couple of friends through my articles, one Bipolar man overseas that might collaborate on designing a website with me, and another Bipolar girl in my own city who is going to become a café latte coffee friend and someone to chat to on the phone A huge part of the global community and therefore should be taken into consideration when designing a website or go to www.google-friendly-page.com If you don't have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. The website for top search engine placement and ranking Submission of your website, including allowing for all the quirks of various search engines and directories, a common problem that many people have is that before they even start designing or building a website they need to decide specifically what the goal of the website is. Let's talk about couple of important point I choose to discuss -Web Designing & Web hosting - Lets say you have chosen one of the best web designing company in your area to design & develop your website with the best of your knowledge and they have completed the website designing in couple of days now your website is ready to host on a server. One method of thinking about designing a new website is to use a mind mapping process, or to draw up a spider diagram. When designing your website, include these keywords in the page titles, Meta tags and heading tags you can visit www.oversightsystem.com I strongly believe that this can be easily achieved if website designers are able to follow very basic rules in designing their web sites. It's not that difficult to build your own website and the following 10 reasons will convince you that designing a website that suits you and your market may lead to increased profits. However, it always happens that HTML editors write clumsy HTML tags, especially when you amend the webpage layout again and again during your website designing process, which may possibly deter search engines from reading your web page and in turn poorly affect your search engine ranking. Website designers can work as freelancers, designing and maintaining websites for a variety of clients. Conclusion Building and designing website is not as difficult as you think. When designing your website, it is important that you switch from your own profit-oriented perspective to the prospective customers' perspective. Do not underestimate unique photo stills when designing your website. Here's a Fast Track Technique to make your job of designing and building a website a lot easier.

About the Author

www.impacts-audio.com www.html-lockdown.com

Effective Website Designing Tips For Traffic Pulling

When every business and answers to every question is being inquired on the web, no matter websites are swelling with importance. Since, diverse types of operations are being performed entirely on online basis. And a website happens to be the foundation of all types of operations. Therefore, to trigger an online business, one needs to start up with designing a website. Now, having website is declaring your presence on the web �" to spread accessibility of your website you need professional website designing abilities. There are some web standards that can make or even can break brand image of your site. It is the brand image that spread visibility of your site amongst the audience you target. So how to achieve high level of visibility and be known by the traffic you need to pull by the website you own or planning to own? Here are some effective tips -

Making website heavy with lots of pages is a common website designing mistake. Rather, discard unwanted pages from your site to make it compact, easy to get loaded, precise and professional looking. Existence of unnecessary hinders beauty of design and functioning of sites. Visitors too may leave your site early without finding the information they require from the site being lost in unnecessary web pages.

The best way of website designing is to put yourself on the shoes of visitors you are targeting. Plan navigation of the website in advance and approach accordingly. You must keep a site map page to lead the surfers to the page they are searching of.

Color adjustments influence in viewers to get attracted to your site. After all, it is the color combination that draws our eyes and consequently, the mouse to skid to click any website.

Avoid use of abbreviations as much as possible. Often most of the readers cannot figure out abbreviations you have included in a site which may result in their loss of interest and leaving site early. At the same time, make sure texts are made re-sizable �" so the people with weak or partial eyesight, particular preference in font size can resize texts as per their convenience of readability. There are some web standards that can make or even can break brand image of your site. It is the brand image that spread visibility of your site amongst the audience you target.

Make sure you do not dedicate all your concentration in a specific area of the site �" therefore, plan your website designing 'to do list' accordingly by spreading all the important points evenly and throughout the website and link them well.

About the Author

www.javascript-magic.com www.infozabout.com

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The dos and donts of good web design

Most people know a poorly designed website when they see one but it can be difficult to avoid creating one if you dont keep some basic rules in mind. Here are some simple dos and donts that when applied will improve the usability of your website.

The donts:

1. Dont use flashing or scrolling text. Scrolling or flashing text can be a distraction from the site rather than an enhancement to it.

2. Dont use images as backgrounds. Background images can make text difficult to read and pages seem cluttered. When pages take more effort to read people are less likely to actually read them.

3. Dont underline words that arent links. Underlining words that arent links can confuse readers. Or, even worse, cause them to think that your site isnt working properly driving them away from your site and on to others that are more easily used.

4. Dont completely fill the site with content and graphics. A page full of content and graphics can look disorganized and difficult to read. Use of whitespace adds a neatness and organization to the site encouraging users to read content.

5. Dont use font that is too small or ornate. Again, pages that are difficult to read are less likely to be read. So use a font that is simple, not fussy and is a size of at least 10pt. Now that we know what not to do lets look at what to do.

The dos:

1. Do use contrasting colors for text and background. Use of contracting colors for text and background makes text much easier to read. Black font on white background is most easily read. But if that doesnt suit your needs go with a light background and a contrasting dark text.

2. Do set line spacing to leave space between lines. Overcrowding of text makes it much more difficult to read while leaving space between lines improves readability and the overall aesthetic of the page.

3. Do be consistent with link styles and navigation. Use the same link and navigation styles on all pages. This allows users to easily navigate your site and eliminates confusion. I would also recommend staying with standards people are familiar such as like underlining hyperlinks.

4. Do use short paragraphs with headings. How many times can I say it? If your page is easy to read it is more likely to be read. Short paragraphs appear easier to read. Headings allow you to make important points even when readers do not read all the page content and can be used to draw the reader further into the page.

5. Do use bullet points. Using bullet points to list main points allows for getting your main points to readers in seconds and doesnt require a lot of reading. It also lends organization to a page and can break up long potentially daunting sections of text.

6. Do make sure each page has a clear call to action. Place subscription and order information prominently on the page using an easy to complete form.

Following these simple guidelines when designing your next website will help ensure that the site is visually pleasing and easily read ensuring more content will actually read the content. After all isnt that the point of the site?

About the Author

Kimberly Geramin invites you to learn “How To Dramatically Boost Your Website Profits Month After Month Without Writing A Single Sentence... and How to Increase Your Sales Copys Conversion Rate By Making Minimum Changes That Deliver Maximum Impact! http://www.bigsellingconversions.com/onetime.php

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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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Graphic design - ultimate marketing tool

Being interested in developing their business online, a lot of successful people have used specialists in web design to establish a name in the field, presenting the target audience with professionally designed websites, full of valuable and accurate information. Along with image promotion and brand presentation, a carefully created website has the sole purpose to provide a flourishing business, growing continuously.

Experts in graphic design have used their skills and creative talent for years now, creating websites customized to specific business needs, contributing at the same time to the development of the Internet. Using complex techniques and resorting to groundbreaking technologies, they provided their clients with a powerful online presence, surpassing without a doubt the competence.

Each step of the web design process is carefully analyzed and specialists make sure that they deliver only the finest product possible. They are a team, working closely together with various colors, logos and prints into designing websites that will exceed their client's expectations. With the help of trained technicians, they make sure that they follow and use innovative components, beating the actual standards of quality and showing once more their talent.

For graphic design specialists, creating a website is more than a job. They appeal to whatever it takes to ensure the client of definite success, using efficient solutions and offering ongoing customer support. In terms of web design, there is a constant demand and it must be fulfilled. Armed with tons of talent, creative thinking and increased commitment, they are able to promote a certain product or specific services, demonstrating a high level of proficiency.

There are two main reasons why so many businessmen are interested in web design. They are looking for a functional solution to save time and resources, while desiring to increase productivity. Such people are fully aware of the widespread of the Internet and they wish to use it to their own advantage. A graphic design team can provide them with the answer to all their problems, turning people towards the specific website and helping them to find out all they need to know about available products/services.

The first impression always counts and this is why one needs to have a website perfect to every little detail. If the prospective customer like what he/she sees, it is more than likely he/she will come again. By revisiting a website and becoming a faithful browser, you ensure the growth of the business and benefit from great services. With web design specialists making your site, you can be sure that your customers will be more than pleased.

The concept of graphic design has been long studied by experts in the field and today new discoveries are still being made. The basic idea is that the creation of a unique website for a specific business certainly follows market trends and ensures future development. Their techniques and programming experience are used on purpose so as to maximize the productivity, induce cost savings and deliver high-quality products.

Among all the marketing tools and strategies, the Internet is definitely one of the smartest. Specialists in graphic and web design are always ready to produce a website for you, enhancing your image and supporting your business. Whatever your needs are, they are always by your side ready to serve you and be of assistance. You too can benefit now from the amazing technology of the Internet, with the help of a dedicated, experienced team and their incredible area of expertise.

About the Author
Come to our website and benefit from the support of an experienced team in web design. If you are looking for creativity and competitive services, then you are where you should be. Latest technologies and all the brightest solutions for graphic design await you; just log online and check us out.

Web Site Design Content - Why Colors are King

You may not realize it, but many of your website visitors form an immediate opinion about you and your website. The opinion that is formed in this instantaneous way is done so subconsciously. You might wonder why this happens. It has absolutely nothing to do with the text on your website. And yet your visitor will still form their instant opinion without even reading a single word of your costly copy.

It doesn't matter either, whether the quality of the images on your website are of the highest. Nor does your offer matter. You could be promoting a sensational deal, like selling dollars for dimes. But this too, will be overlooked by the site visitor. This is because the instant opinion is made when your web page is displayed to your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. This may surprise you, but the answer is colors. Your visitor's instant opinion of your website is primarily due to the color scheme which you have used.
This is because colors are psychological. They engender an intuitive reaction which we can't control. We can't help ourselves. Colors bring us these emotions and feelings whether we want them or not! As you will know, millions are spent by big companies in deciding the correct colors of new products and in their marketing campaigns. Big companies realize that colors are a psychological feature, and they can influence our reception of their marketing. In their business propositions, the big companies understand that the use of appropriate colors is a key element. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.

By the psychological power you could encourage your website visitors to leave your page the instant they see it. No matter what your website is about, it may simply be unsuccessful due to the colors you're using. Forget the text, it might never be read! The good news, however, is that you can use colors to engender a really positive reaction. This color psychology is nothing new. In fact, it's been with us for years and years. Whatever our role in life, colors convey emotions to our subconscious mind.

For example, a particular color scheme could convey a good feeling in each of us. However, a different color scheme might convey not so good feelings. In essence, you might send a sense trust, warmth and belonging. Conversely, the feeling sent may be one of distrust, coolness and rejection. The following list gives an idea of the emotions associated with their respective colors:

RED Excitement, energy, danger, love, leadership, sense of power, strength etc
ORANGE Comfort, steadfastness, cheerfulness, courage, confidence, playfulness, friendliness
YELLOW Curiosity, brightness, organization, intelligence, joy, amusement, caution etc
GREEN Harmony, nature, money, healing, health, life, food etc
BLUE Trustworthiness, stability, peace, tranquility, love, acceptance, patience etc
PURPLE Nobility, dignity, independence, royalty, luxury, ambition, wisdom etc
BROWN Reliability, nature, comfort, tribal, earthiness, durability, primitive etc
BLACK Sophistication, dramatic, power, formality, style, health, elegance etc
WHITE Innocence, cleanliness, fresh, goodness, easy, simplicity, purity etc

When designing your web pages, you ideally need to ensure that the color scheme you use is consistent with your offering. The reason is that your visitors' subconscious minds will look to reconcile the color with the message. If they are irreconcilable, you will find your visitors click away from your page very quickly. Which means, your visitor will be lost. The important issue therefore is that it is essential the right color scheme is used on your website. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. In summary, the difference between the right and wrong color scheme on your website can be the difference between profit and loss.

About the Author
Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur and business consultant, and author of the ebook CASH COLORS. If the subject of web site design content is of relevance to you, CASH COLORS shows how to make your web page colors work for you, as opposed to against you. http://www.cash-colors.com

Using HTML in Website Design

HTML means Hypertext Markup Language and it's the coding used to create web pages. Most website design software is designed for use by people who have n knowledge of the language .As such, the coding is automatically captured and recorded when the menus are used.

There are tremendous advantages to knowing HTML and you do not have to pay someone else to apply it. Without HTML you are limited to just plain text on your web pages, whereas using HTML you can apply all the functions that are relevant to your website design. You can use HTML language in the home and section pages of your website or anywhere else that it is applicable.

You can use HTML to format text in many ways such as different fonts, colors and sizes. You can also format paragraphs in any way you find suitable and even wrap text around images and create special effects. Another useful application is to crease tables which can e applied to numerical data and limited text. There is also the option of creating lists using different symbols and numbers for more readable presentation.

In addition to basic text and numbering you can use HTML to drop an image taken from another website on a page. Flash Animation files are also useful HTML applications. You may also include audio, video and sound files in your webpage using this language.

Finally, the ability to use HTML especially in text fields will provide you with tremendous website design power and allow you to dramatically change the look of your site. It is better to create your website using HTML as you will have a more pleasant and functional site and the difference can be astounding.

About the Author
Author is an internet marketer who specializes in article marketing. To learn proven internet marketing techniques visit: http://moneycrystal.com

How I Found my Niche

As I get older, it seems that there is a lot more time to think of the things that have happened in the past and I wonder "How did I get to this point?" My husband and I have been married 43 years, we had four children, two boys and two girls. Life wasn't always easy for us since there were more times that there just wasn't enough money than that there were times of plenty. Our daughter was born with a seizure disorder and, as others know who have a difficulty to deal with, that it affects the whole family. We have been blessed because of this difficulty, her brothers and sister have learned a sensitivity toward people that I don't think I could have taught them. Isn't it interesting how things happen in life and a problem becomes a blessing. Our daughter is still struggling with seizures but we see that she is still a happy person who just happens to have her memory wiped out occasionally.

Three years ago our son was tragically removed from our presence due to an automobile accident and I think that has been the hardest thing a mother can deal with. Then just a couple of months ago, our other son saved his fathers life by donating a kidney to him. The kidney transplant took place March 26, 2007 and the followup has been fantastic.

I think that if we just spend our time thinking about how bad we have it, we have to look at how good we have it and how great our God really is in that he has given us a promise that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). God is so good and each day we see new ways that he takes care of us.

While there are many things going through our minds during all these issues, the one main thing is the lack of cash as we go from appointment to appointment. It is impossible to maintain a job because of not being able to be at work. So, I began searching the internet and found many opportunities to build a home-based business. To work from home and be able to create cash in spite of my busy routine seemed to be my answer.

First, I was able to concentrate on our health by adding the vitamins and minerals missing from my family's diet. I found the answer in Vemma products and their combinations of vitamin and minerals including Aloe Vera and Mangosteen. I invite you to read more on my website www.myvemma.com/lenaruddy. Here you will discover how to add Vemma to your diet as well as adding cash to your bank account.

Second, I discovered the CMPS program which is an online business opportunity involving internet marketing and the placement of media advertising to create personal wealth. To learn more, please call 1-800-719-8267 ext. R4076 or visit my websites

www.24hourwebcash.com/ruddy4076
or www.mywebcashstore.com/ruddy4076.

About the Author
I am a retired telecommunications employee and since being retired I have the desire to stay active and still wanted to bring in some type of income. I've been involved in internet marketing and want to continue exploring where that will lead me.

Don't Build a Website - Build a Moneysite

Websites are the foundation of making money online.

However, today they are nowhere near enough to make serious money online. To make money online, the idea of a website needs to be expanded from a hosting account PLUS some webpages INTO a complete and automated business engine.

The website is where your potential customers find you on the Internet. A website is where you present your products or services. A website is where those potential customers interact with you online business.

But to turn a website into a business, or better yet a money website or money machine, you need to incorporate a lot more technology. You need to add additional software applications to: create and manage your webpages, generate headline ideas, add audio and video to present your products, track the sources of your traffic, test your conversions, collect and process credit cards, shipping the products and keep track of the money and business stats.

This is a lot of technology to purchase, set up and manage.

So you have two choices, either hire an experienced professional webmaster to identify the technology pieces you'll require and then purchase and set them up for you...

OR

Spend a few years learning enough to do it yourself.

If you are going to do it yourself, here's what you need.

* A good hosting account.
* Learn some HTML
* An easy to use sitebuilder application
* An email autoresponder
* A traffic tracking software application
* A easy to use split testing application
* A merchant account for credit cards
* A stats package to monitor the stats and money

You can expect to spend 12 to 18 months learning the basics of webhosting, HTML, and the basics of numerous software applications. And remember that means you're not spending time on the more important aspects of getting traffic and converting it into customers and money.
And that is CRITICAL.

Alex Mandossian, one of the uber successful Internet marketers, gave me the keys to the kingdom when he said:

"The secret to making money online is to spend NO MORE than 10% of your time on technology, so you can spend 90% of your time on getting traffic and converting it into customers and money... because that's how the made is made online."

He then finished with this critical piece:

"There's no money in learning the technologies... unless you want to be a webmaster."
So if you are not a geek and you don't have the money to hire a professional webmaster, then you should avoid the technology trap (of trying to learn and manage it yourself) and instead, get one of the hosted programs that provides all the money making technologies required.

Not only do they save you a huge amount of time, but they save enormous amounts of money. Typically these services cost about one-tenth the cost of purchasing separate software applications. And the savings really add up when you factor in the cost of integrating all the applications so that they all work together as a money site or money machine.

As Alex said, your key to making money is to get someone else to handle the technology requirements so you can focus on the most important traffic and conversion issues. So either hire a webmaster or get one of the integrated money website programs.

Please visit www.YourFirst50K.com for more information & to recieve your FREE copy of my ebook titled "How to Make Your First $50,000 Online"

About the Author
Wayne Van Dyck is the founder and principal of Six Degrees Media in Sausalito, CA. He is also the creator and developer of Smart Money Websites, the first complete, Internet Business-In-A-Box. If you would like a free copy of Wayne's e-book, "How to Make Your First $50,000 Online" please CLICK HERE