blogging

website design

There are several Important considerations in Website Design you might be surprised at how important these can be to your success.

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose.

Here are some important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, let your visitors feel like they want to buy instead of being pushed into buying.

3) Have a simple and easy to understand navigation system

You want to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus.

If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls would work fine.

6) update your website on a regular basis.

After a while the same old same old gets boring, so spice things up make a few changes, develop different types of content.

7) Keep your advertising down to a minimum.
I know it may be popular to advertise, advertise and advertise some more, but all in all the search engines dont really like to see a lot of advertising on a website simply because they know that a website visitor really wants to do one of a few things, they usually are after information.

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Posted by website developer - January 24, 2012 at 12:10 pm

Categories: blogging, developer, small business, templates, website content   Tags: , ,

Content Creation made easy

This is one of the most powerful software products I have seen in a long time.

 

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Posted by website developer - October 3, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Categories: blogging, developer   Tags:

Content is king

Writing Articles can be an Affordable Internet Marketing pastime.

More than that though you can actually make money from this process.

Spin Article 3, you need to check this out.

keyword suggestions marketing tools and other methods of generating content can be both good and bad there are literally many searches done to a certain keyword. When these keywords are typed on search boxes of search engines, indexed websites containing articles with those keywords will be displayed. And this is what leads visitors to websites with keyword-rich articles.

Content is king, right, you may have heard this published online.

You can say that again. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Affiliate marketing media today. Internet surfers just can’t get an ample amount of information. Providing data through the effective use of articles is a great way to drive traffic to your web site.

The rewards that writing articles can provide your Internet business is something you should consider and it could create a huge boost in traffic too.   Get this tool at a good discount.

Article marketing is something that used to be one of the biggest methods of making money online however that all changed over the last few months when google started to manage its search results in a different way.

Imagine what it might be like to have a good source of articles that can be generated at the push of a button?

Well you might be surprised to learn that you can actually produce content using your computer, mouse and yes clicking…

Visit this website for more information.

 

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Posted by website developer - October 3, 2011 at 1:51 pm

Categories: blogging, small business   Tags:

Making money with a website

There are a lot of different methods of making a little cash online, but it is not as easy as some might have you think it is.

If you thought that selling your own products and services was the only way to monetize your WordPress website then you are in for a treat and since it is getting close to that time of year you might be interested in learning a little more about this subject.

There are many ways to monetize your site and add extra income streams that will effectively make you money while you sleep!  WordPress makes it very easy to monetize your website just by installing a few appropriate plugins. It’s so easy that you could get set up in less than 10 minutes.

The simplest way to monetize a WordPress website is to add an advertising plugin such as Ad Squares Widget which allows you to place affiliate banners in your sidebar or anywhere else on your template which allows widgets. Make sure that the banners you choose to appear on your website are complimentary to the existing content of your website and something that your target market would be interested in buying.  Once you’ve had your banners up for at least a month, it’s a good idea to work out which affiliate banners are bringing in the most cash from your website.  Many website owners stick with the same banners all the time, even although they don’t attract any clicks and purchases, be smart about it and only have banners that are actually giving you an extra income.

Many internet marketers choose to also install a Google Adsense plugin so that their ads are specific to each pages content.  There are many different places within your website that you can place these blocks including the header, before and after content and within the sidebar, however you are only allowed a maximum of three ad blocks per page.  When setting up your adsense channels track which ads are giving you the most revenue, change the size and placement of ads to find the combination that gives you the maximum income possible for your website.

Pay per view is another option for monetizing your website.  There are several plugins that will allow your visitor to view a limited amount of a blog post and in order to read more, they need to pay a small fee.  You can also use the pay per view method for videos as well, this works well if you have created a training website with many how to videos or content posts.

A step up from the pay per view model is the membership site.  These are becoming more and more popular with website owners.  If creating fresh monthly content puts you off then you can create a one time payment membership site, with no pressure to add regular fresh content. There are many different membership models to suit every business within every niche that you can copy if you decide to monetize your website by creating a membership site.

These are just a few ways that you can monetize your WordPress website, implement these ideas today and you could be profiting from them in no time at all.

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Posted by website developer - September 22, 2011 at 3:22 pm

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blogging

Blog Marketing and developing content for blogs.

Developing a website for the purpose of making money online used to be for just a few things, however now there are a lot more.

Blog marketing is not all that hard if you know what you are doing. However, if this is your very first blog and you are wondering how to get readers to it then you are in the right place. First let me just say that marketing your blog is going to require patience, and being consistent. You will have to update your blog frequently if you want to keep readers coming back for more. We are all guilty of making a blog, wanting it to be great, putting only one entry into it and then never going back to update it again.

I think everyone in cyber world has done this at one time or another.

tips to use when trying to get your blog out there and get new readers.

Make sure that your blog has the track back feature. Let me tell you why. When you have the track back feature on your blog, you are allowing other people to link to your blog. Maybe someone has a post to post on their blog that is relevant to one of yours. They can use the talkback to your post, and send their readers to your blog so that they know what they are referring to. Another good thing to remember is that if someone gives you a track back, it is a courtesy to return that to their blog if at all possible.

Having a Google account and submitting a sitemap is almost a must when you are blog marketing. Doing so will allow Google to know how often you are updating your blog and they will automatically know of any changes that you have made to it as well. This will let Google get those new pages indexed faster and get them into search results much quicker than if you did not have the sitemap. There is a certain way you have to do the sitemap for Google, and they can explain that to you. Just know this is an important step to blog marketing.

Exchanging links with authority blogs and websites that are in your same market is another great way to get the word out about your blog. The authority sites are going to have a higher page rank, and will also be listed high in Googleís search results. So do some searches and check those out and see if they are up to exchanging links. If they are not, you could always just add those into your blogroll. You do not need permission to do that if they are not into linking. However, in the world of blogs, most blog owners are thankful for all links, and are willing to return the favor.

You are going to want to be sure that all of your posts are formatted. Doing so will leave out any confusion for the search engines and you will have everything nice and neat and all organized.

Creating a method where your blog can get the attention it needs.

The label tags are there for a reason when you are dealing with blogs. So using them and not leaving them out is a great idea.

Tracking is another part of blog marketing that is so very important. You want to be able to track your visitors and clickers to know where they are coming from. You want to be able to tell what keywords they searched on to find your blog and where they did their searching. Doing so will help take out all of the guess work when it comes to blog marketing. You will know what keywords are working, and which are not.

Allowing RSS feeds from your blog is also another great blog marketing tool. You are going to find that when you allow RSS feeds, your blog is going to end up all over the internet with a link back to it and that is a good thing. This is a wonderful way to get links to your blog with little or no effort. People that subscribe to your blogís RSS feeds are able to then post your blog posts on their sites or blogs. Which in return gives you a link on their site or page that they have you on.

 

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Posted by website developer - July 18, 2011 at 8:34 pm

Categories: blogging, hosting, templates   Tags: , , ,

Articles and Content

Is content really king of the internet, and is Google becoming an alleged monopoly…

There are very interesting questions and there may not be a 100 percent perfect answer, however it is something to carefully consider.

If you are considering developing a website, think about what you can do and how you will do it,

writing is all about creating the best method of communication, that will also attract
website visitors to your website.

Developing content in a modern world, writing has long been one of the most respected professions.

Content is all about putting together words into meaningful and valuable associations.

Writing used to be only for a few selective educated individuals however that has changed over the years, in fact you no longer really even need a publishing company to get published.

Content used to be known as king not its valuable content that is kind, but what is value and how is it determined. The most important part of the website is the content, and contrary to what even Google thinks, people do not want perfect content mostly because we just are not perfect, the last person I knew that was perfect also walked on the water so why are we now suddenly deciding that we need perfectly formatted content from from any imperfection? A man who thinks he is perfect is a fool and the same could be said for a search engine that thinks all content should be perfect. Great articles and content should anticipate questions and satisfy the customers quest for knowledge, the vast majority of Internet consumers visit a web page to learn more about products and services they are looking for before making a purchase.

A successful Web page. What goes into a successful website.

You need a create content rich web site.

The content should be relevant and up to date as well as written in such a way that you are talking to the cus- tomers like they were standing in your store, because some day they may be standing right in front of you. Such items as articles, tips, tutorials that will hold your visitors interest and get them to return to come back to your site again and again. keeping your content Up to date this keeps the site fresh and interesting.Search Engines are looking for websites that offer fresh and informative con- tent for their visitors. When writing content use easy to understand words and avoid using slang; which many visitors may not understand.

Designing Content Articles. One key way to design a successful web site is to create original compelling content, not just once but keep it fresh and up to date. Remember to design your content to attract both the visitors and Search Engines, find and use the most relevant keywords for your articles. This is a must if you want your site to be successful. Never copy text from other websites and paste it into your website. One reason you should never do this is called duplicate content.

Duplicate content You can be penalized in the search engines when you duplicate content or in other words by taking an article from another website, (with permission or without) you create duplicate content, Search engines and web site visitors want to see fresh content, not thousands of web pages that contain the same information, it is frustrating to be looking for relevant information and not be able to locate it because everyone is using the same articles for content. If you want your web page to be listed in the upper end of the search en- gines listings, then you want fresh and original content. Creating great content is not that difficult, but it can be time consuming. If you were to write a new short article every day you could quickly generate excellent content for your web site. Spend just 20 min a day writing content and at the end of a week you will have a great resource for your clients and web site visitors. Learn more about SEO and Web pages at our learning menu. Thank you for visiting Albany Webs

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Posted by website developer - January 31, 2011 at 10:22 am

Categories: blogging, developer, website content   Tags: , , , ,

website developement

Most businesses need a website.

Some already have one.

Others want one.

They don’t want to hire IT staff and probably can’t afford any. And in most cases, an in-house IT staff, especially for your typical small business, just isn’t necessary. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to go without or will be forced to use some cookie cutter website or a personal Frontpage experiment gone awry.

You can hire a web developer/designer to create a professional website for you, set it up, then hand it over to you for you to do what you want with it.

But, how should you go about finding someone to do this?

What should you look for?

There are literally thousands of companies/individuals out there offering to do your website.

How do you pick from this large group?

What Do You Want?
The first step is to decide exactly what you want on your website. This is very important as it will determine what the requirements are and, in turn, what skill set your web developer needs to fulfill your needs. Here are some questions to ask of yourself:

* What kinds of information do you want to have on your site? Approximately how large do you envision the site (# of pages)?

* Will your site require regular updates? Do you want to do these updates yourself?

* Will you be engaging in e-commerce on this website?

* Will you need a database?

* How fast do you need the job done?

* What is your budget?

Start Your Search

Doing a web search for someone that has the skills you will need for your website will still give you a humongous list of possible choices. Referrals are often the best method of weeding people out. IF someone recommends a developer, it is because they are happy with the service they were provided. So, if someone recommends a developer to you, you should check that developer out and see if they have the skills you will need from them.

Often, the web developers you are pondering are not located in your town. In today’s day and age, this is not usually a problem. Yes, there are instances where a face-to-face meeting is really beneficial, and if you are the kind of really considers this meeting important, you should limit your search to developers within driving distance of your location. Otherwise, the internet and phone system provide all the communication you will need, regardless of distance.

The first thing to do when considering a developer is to check out their website.

* IS the website well-designed and attractive?

* Is it easy to navigate?

* Are there any broken links?

* Is the information complete (introduction to staff, company location, contact methods, etc.)?

* Does the site load quickly?

* IS there a portfolio? (Very important. A developer without a portfolio to display is a total question mark. You simply don’t know if the people are good or are snacking on doritos trying to figure things out as they go).

* What skills does the developer have? Do they do design only, or can they do dynamic web development and database design? Also, ensure that they do not advertise themselves as a web designer but focus mainly on print media. Internet design and print design are different ballparks with different requirements. Also, keep in mind that good use of Dreamweaver or Frontpage does not in itself make a web designer. Check their portfolio and ensure the developer really knows his stuff. A person well-versed in internet development should know not only about creating the site, but also maintaining it, marketing it, and promoting it. Ideally, a web developer has successfully done all of the above on his own sites.

* Does the site offer customer testimonials? Read them. And, you might even contact those clients independently to ask them questions of the service you were provided.

Small Freelancers vs. Big Firms
You need to decide if you want to work with a large web design firm or a small freelance web company (or even single web developer). There is more security for the client when working with a larger firm. The skills they offer vary widely because their staff is so large, and they often have a very large portfolio. The caveat, though, is that large web companies often charge more money. The overhead costs for such companies is larger, so they will charge more. Additionally, larger web companies often come with more beauracracy. With so many developers, often communication is just not what it should be, leading to inconsistencies in the project due to miscommunication. Also, sometimes you will find that these companies pay a little too much attention to process rather than simply getting the job done.

Freelance web developers offer better value for the money, and because they are a single person, the communication flow between them and the client is usually much better (one-on-one). If there is a staff, usually the size is small, meaning communication will still be more tight-knit. This will lead to more consistent coding and coordination. Also, you know who is responsible for your project and there is more accountability. In larger firms, nobody is responsible in some cases. (or so they say). The downside of freelancing is that their skill set is their skill set, and if you need something that they don’t know how to do, they must research it. Also, freelancers are limited by their size. If they already have a high workload, then their throughout is limited and it may force you to wait. So, depending on the size of your project, a large firm might guarantee the job gets done quickly.

Rates and Guidelines
Check out the rates of the web developer. Often, you will not find the rates directly posted on their website. This is usually because they like to do things by estimate, so simply contact them, give them a few specs, and go back and forth until you get a ballpark figure. When getting an estimate, make sure it is detailed and exact. Ask any questions that you have. If you think the price is too high, ask them about it. Don’t be afraid to counter-offer. They can always refuse.

Check out the web developer‘s contract. Make sure the client is protected. PAy attention to guarantees of response time. You want to make sure your web developer is available for you. Also, look for their policy on project changes. Obviously, you cannot alter the specs of your project once an estimate is agreed upon without expecting additional fees. Ask them about this. Also, inspect the contract for warranty of work. Who will they handle bugs in the work they have done?

Talk With Them
Any web developer you consider should have a method of being reached by phone. Call them and gauge their personality. Make sure they are good people who you can talk with and bounce ideas off of. See if they treat you right or act like they barely have time for you. Good communication is very important to a successful project, and if you can’t properly communicate to your developer, you should not hire him/her.

Evaluate
Evaluate your potential developers using the advice above and you will be more likely to have successfully completed project with minimal frustration.

 

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Posted by website developer - January 24, 2011 at 11:22 am

Categories: blogging, developer   Tags: , , ,