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Simplicity Rules the Day for LinkedIn Design Change
posted by Linc Wonham @ 12:30 PM
Thursday, May 17, 2012
I suppose you could chalk it up to a crazy coincidence or merely to the fact that I was in a newsletter-reading frame of mind for a change, but for the first time since I’d begun receiving them some time ago, I read this morning’s edition of LinkedIn Today that appeared in my inbox.
LinkedIn Today is the professional network’s social news product which, in my case, appears quite randomly and usually receives a quick glance if it’s not getting altogether ignored. But that wasn’t the case this morning.
In fact, I opened the email, clicked onto the site, consumed several news items and, obediently completing all of the tasks a newsletter is supposed to invite me to do, poked around the site a little while longer and read some more content from the LinkedIn blog. If we were grading newsletters on their individual results, this morning’s LinkedIn Today that landed in my mailbox would easily get an A+.
Imagine my surprise then, when I clicked on yesterday’s post from the LinkedIn blog and began reading about the new redesign of LinkedIn Today. Senior user experience designer Joann Wu writes that the goal was to “not only make the product easier to navigate, we’ve completely re-imagined the look and feel so you can get quicker access and customized ways to consume the news that matters most to you.”
She continued to say that, “One of the key design principles that drove the approach for the visual change was to simplify the experience; creating an elegant, delightful and customized experience for news consumption.”
The simpler user interface shown below perfectly combines images and text to create a blocky grid-like layout and makes it exceptionally easy to scan content. The new interface also emphasizes the user experience by making it easy to share articles with your connections throughout the LinkedIn network, and to see which connections are following and sharing certain items. Users can also customize what kinds of stories they will see with the Customize Your News tab, also shown below.
But come on, that seems like a pretty big coincidence to me. The first time I choose to engage with the product happens to be the first day I receive the completely overhauled, redesigned version. And I didn’t just skim it, either – you could say that I vigorously consumed the darned thing before spending 30 more minutes of my morning on the LinkedIn site.
And there’s that word again: simple; or, in this case, “simplify the experience.” Clearly, that’s what my subconscious mind was waiting for, a simplified social news experience from LinkedIn. And, really, that’s what all of us as Web users demand today, simplified experiences in the form of simpler, user-friendly designs. Bing’s de-cluttering of its search results pages is just one of thousands of examples in the very recent past.
Whether my experience this morning was a coincidence or not, it is definitely not a coincidence that LinkedIn Today received its new look barely two weeks after the launch of the professional network’s iPad application. The app is simple and sleek, which is the look the news feed now has, “creating an elegant, delightful and customized experience for news consumption.”
So, for LinkedIn, a smart move on their redesign that, if I am any indication, should serve the company well in the future. For the Web design community, just more irrefutable evidence that simpler design is the course we are on and the direction in which we are headed.
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Use Curtain & Sequence (jQuery) for Design Inspiration
posted by Peter A. Prestipino @ 12:30 PM
Thursday, April 19, 2012
jQuery can do a lot of things, but it’s really just a development library. A library that can help designers do some tremendously creative things.
If you have the right jQuery plugin and can effectively balance your creative design skills with the technical requirements and usability demands, there is no greater opportunity to inspire and impress users.
But the amount of available jQuery plugins, thanks in part to its open nature and simplified development schemas, can make identifying the “right” jQuery functionality for your own site or the sites you work on as a designer a bit cumbersome.
Have no fear, because Website Magazine is here!
Below you will find two jQuery plugins that have entered into our design radar the past few weeks, and will likely (no, absolutely!) blow your mind. We also believe that these will inspire you to greater design heights, so let's get started:
Start the show with Curtain.JS
This jQuery plug-in allows designers to create Web pages with multiple fixed panels. The panels essentially unroll with an effect similar to that of a curtain rising. Users can navigate through the keyboard, scrollbar or mouse wheel. Designers can also add fixed elements or “steps” inside each panel.
Put Everything in Place with Sequence.JS
There is a seemingly endless number of jQuery sliders – but trust us, this one is different. Sequence.JS features some jaw-dropping transitions using CSS3, supports responsive layouts and modern browsers, and it even works with touch devices and has swiping functionality.
One more thing! Do you know of any jQuery plugins that others should know about? Don’t be shy, share it with other Website Magazine readers by commenting below. We’re currently assembling a list of the top design-focused jQuery plugins and, as always, we could use your help!
Thanks, and please enjoy these jQuery plugins of the day!
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Different Strokes: Design Preferences in U.S. and China
posted by Linc Wonham @ 10:00 AM
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Digital marketing agency Acquity Group has released its Global Usability Study that surveyed American and Chinese consumers on their website preferences to better understand online shopping behaviors of consumers in China.
The findings revealed that both groups of consumers favored the American-style Web design over the Chinese-style design, especially on the homepage. American consumers gave the American style a 78-percent approval rating while Chinese consumers gave it an approval rating of 72 percent.
Different Web Experiences
Three Web page layouts were shown in both American-style and Chinese-style designs. Separate versions of a hypothetical e-commerce apparel site were created based on a set of generally accepted design principles for each market. Participants were asked to evaluate the three pages from each style of site – a homepage, a category landing page and an individual product detail and order page.
The American-style design featured a clean homepage with a large, branded image, limited selection of promotions and information, with little or no scrolling capabilities, and similarly structured product category landing and detail pages.
The Chinese-style site was much more information-heavy, characteristic of that market's typical retail website. Product images, descriptions and promotions were all included upfront on the homepage, with long pages and opportunities for continuous scrolling. This was consistent with the category landing and product detail pages.
American audiences tended to rate both design styles an average of 5 to 10 percent higher than Chinese audiences (75-80 percent, versus 70-75 percent), indicating that the Chinese respondents had a slightly more critical perception of Web design styles. Chinese respondents pointed out the American-style design's use of “Big pictures can drive attention, but the information was not enough”, and that the Chinese-style had “Too many product pictures on the homepage.”
Chinese respondents also noted a lack of advertised promotions more readily than Americans did, and were more frequently affected by price points.
“Creating a positive and rewarding Web experience is a complex formula of design best practices coupled with cultural preferences,” says Dominic Lee, Acquity Group’s creative director. “Although we went into the study with general cultural assumptions, the insights we collected about consumer preferences in both countries were unexpected. The cultural styles were not as easily categorized as we initially believed. This tells us that it is time to cross-pollinate the international e-commerce space.”
Entry into Foreign Markets
The point of the study was to generate analytics for marketing and IT officers as they continue to evaluate their digital channels in foreign markets. It revealed that consumers in the Chinese and U.S. markets have distinct tastes when it comes to interacting with digital channels, suggesting that marketers will need to explore new ways to merchandise a site and display product information when moving their brands into foreign markets.
“U.S. companies can save on costs by re-using designs and functionality from domestic-style home pages and landing pages, but winning over the Chinese consumer will require a product-page redesign to enhance both the quality and quantity of product information, which will likely prove beneficial to their home market as well,” says Lee. “Most Chinese companies launching in the U.S. should start from scratch with a new U.S.-style home page, but also keep in mind that U.S. consumers value the enhanced information featured in Chinese-style designs.”
The entire Global Usability Study can be downloaded here.
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99Designs Disrupts the Design Service Business
posted by Peter A. Prestipino @ 6:30 PM
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Design contest platform 99designs is not exactly the darling of the Web design world. Many believe that the company actually does more harm than good to designers and to the design industry itself.
Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t argue with the cold hard facts – 99Designs is growing and as it stands now, shows no signs of slowing down.
The four-year-old company, which received $35 million funding in April 2011, has held more than 115,000 design contests on its site to date, has doubled the run rate of new contests from a year ago and is on track to surpass 200,000 design contests by the end of 2012. That’s serious. It’s disruptive . . . and awesome.
The payouts that 99designs distributes to designers is also increasing. The design service expects to pay out approximately $1.5 million to its design community for contests held in January 2012, twice what designers earned for contests last January. 99designs has paid out over $29 million to date and projects it will pay out $25 million to its designer community in 2012.
Top designers on 99designs, according to the company, have reported earning more than $10,000 per month from a combination of designer payouts earned and ongoing client work sourced through the marketplace.
“2011 was a stand-out year for 99designs, from rapid growth in design contests and payouts to the successful launch of the first localized versions of our site in Australia and Canada,” said CEO Patrick Llewellyn. “In 2012 we’re focused on continuous improvement of our services as crowdsourced graphic design enters the mainstream. Caroline and Jeff not only have the experience we need at this next stage of growth, they are also passionate about design, which makes them a great fit for our team and community.”
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Usabilla’s Design Templates Optimize User Experience
posted by Linc Wonham @ 5:00 AM
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Usabilla has introduced a series of new testing templates that enable companies to set up a number of diverse design tests for their webpages in 30 seconds.
The new templates allow marketers, designers, analysts and usability experts to use design feedback to optimize user experience (UX) and offers a dashboard that lets them see how their tests are performing in a clear overview. A video demonstration of the new feedback templates can be viewed in action.
The new Usabilla ready-made testing templates for design feedback include the following:
• A call-to-action test to find out if users know how to contact you
• A likes and dislikes test to collect feedback about what your users think about your webpage
• A trust test to determine which visuals help to gain user trust
• A priority test to measure what users think is the most relevant content on your page
Groups of participants answer questions about attitude and user experience with points and notes on top of a website page from their computers or mobile devices. The collected feedback and results of a survey are then analyzed and presented visually with charts and heat maps.
Usabilla’s customers involve their users and the public to create user-inspired design, and can use these visual insights to improve user experience and optimize their websites – all without slowing down development cycles.
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How To “Big Brother” Your Own Website?
How Well Do You Really Know Your Website?
If you’re like most webmasters, you have probably spent years building your site. You have spent years adding content, building links and cultivating traffic – but how well do you really know your website?
How well do you know the intricate details of your website’s traffic? Where do your site’s visitors come from? How long do they stay on your site? Just where do they go to on your site and how well do they convert into buyers or subscribers?
Do you know your site’s rankings in the major search engines? What are your site’s top keywords? What’s your site’s Google PageRank? Who are your IP neighbors? What your site looks like in other browsers? How much is your site worth?
These are just some of the questions you should know, mainly because the more knowledge you possess about your site, the better equipped you will be at improving it. So here’s a simple list of free site checking tools/sites that will let you “Big Brother” (monitor and watch) your site:
1. Google Analytics
Perhaps one of the most helpful analytical tools you can use on your site. Google Analytics will give you a wealth of information about your site’s traffic. Where it comes from, how long it stays on your site, where it goes on your site, how well your content converts… invaluable information every webmaster should have in their possession. ( www.google.com/analytics )
2. NetMechanic Toolbox
Check your site’s mechanics – find broken links, check browser compatibility, find bad HTML code, spot slow-loading pages, and check your spelling… all by using the NetMechanic Toolbox: ( www.netmechanic.com )
3. Keyword Suggestion Tool
This free keyword suggestion tool will tell you how many searches are done in WordTracker and Overture for your site’s keywords. Extremely valuable information since much of web’s traffic and ecommerce is keyword driven. ( www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/)
4. Iwebtool
This is another free site which offers many valuable webmaster’s tools that will give you information about your/any site. Google PageRank, PageRank Prediction, Link Popularity, Search Engine Positions for Keywords, Backlink Checker… also Visual PageRank where you can see all the PR values of all the links on a given page – both internal and external. ( www.iwebtool.com )
5. Alexa Traffic Rankings
Alexa tracks the web’s traffic by using the Alexa bar in a surfer’s browser. Most people know it is not an accurate assessment of the traffic on the net but is a handy measuring stick, nonetheless. It is also a handy tool for comparing sites and seeing the long-tern traffic trends of different sites, including your own. ( www.alexa.com )
6. Your Site’s Traffic Logs
Most webmasters know your raw traffic logs are worth checking and reading. It contains valuable information about your site. Especially helpful if you’re checking for broken links on your site, you don’t want to see those 302’s everywhere. Close examination and regular checking of your traffic logs and stats will point out the profitable keywords on your site.
7. BetterWhois
You can use this site to find out the domain information about your site. Do you have control of your domain? Many webmasters buy their domain name thru their web hosting company, while this is not a problem in itself, however, if any dispute should arise who has administrative control of your domain; you or your hosting company? Can you change hosting companies? ( www.betterwhois.com )
8. Google Alerts
Another valuable tool from Google which notifies you by email when your link or site is found anywhere on the web. Great for keeping track of any new links your site is getting. Many webmasters also use this handy tool to keep track of their competitor’s sites. They also use Google Alerts to keep track of whenever their own name is mentioned anywhere on the web. This one would even make Orwell proud. ( www.google.com/alerts )
9. IP Neighbors
Many webmasters have their site hosted on shared hosting plans, which means there can be hundreds of sites sharing the same IP address. This site lets you discover who your IP neighbors are. Why would you want to know your IP neighbors? Well like neighbors everywhere; there are good ones and there are bad ones. For example, if you have a neighboring site that uses email to spam, it could get your IP address blocked or shut down. ( www.myipneighbors.com )
10. Any Browser
Use to this handy site to discover what your site looks like in different browsers; you could be in for a real shock. ( www.anybrowser.com )
11. Google Toolbar
The Google Toolbar can be placed on your browser so that when you’re surfing you can see the Google PageRank of each page/site you’re visiting. Many SEO experts believe Google is not giving us the true PR of a page and this bar is rather useless. However, like the Alexa rankings it is a handy measuring stick, nonetheless. ( www.toolbar.google.com )
12. What Is Your Site Worth?
Please take this last analyzing tool with “a large grain of salt”, but it is fun to use and to see how much your site is worth. Measurement here is done largely by the amount of links you have coming into your site. ( directory.sootle.com/website-worth )
5 Resources Every Copywriter Must Have
Copywriting is one of the most vital elements of effective online marketing. The art and science of copywriting includes strategically writing words that will promote a person, a product, business, opinion, or ideas with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action.
Whether you are looking into selling something over the internet or in building traffic by earning links from others, you will need to tell moving stories that will grab attention and will connect with people so that they will respond in the way that you want.
There are many copywriting tutorials and great online copywriting course that you can find online. Some of these online copywriting courses and tutorials are packed with comprehensive lessons and tips in doing the job properly. Some even include in-depth copywriting training complete with references and recommendations from professionals. An online copywriting course that is available in the internet can be downloaded or be bought in a DVD format.
Among the many topics discussed in an online copywriting course are the things that every aspiring copywriter should know how to write. Such topics are:
1. Print Ads
Since most copywriters land in advertising jobs, rookie copywriters should spend some time learning about print advertising. When you understand what makes a print ad effective and sellable, you can then move into learning about other medium such as flyers, yellow pages ads and newsletters. Writing print ads can also be a good way to start creating samples for your own portfolio.
2. Brochures
It is not enough that you sit down and try to write to brochure. You should learn the fundamentals in writing one – how the brochure fits into the buying process, if the brochure will stand alone or be tied in with other mediums and what the selling points will be. You have to know the different types of brochures and then start finding your niche among them.
3. Direct Mail
Writing direct mails broadens your knowledge of writing brochures. Every direct mail package is different. Some may include a sales letter or a response card. Others could include a sales letter and a brochure. Being familiar with direct mails helps you be exposed to a different side of advertising that some advertising agencies specialize in exclusively. This can be a great tool to have if you find out that you enjoy writing direct mails.
4. Commercials
Television commercials will help you learn how to write a matching audio and video output. Creating a 30-second TV commercial script can already be a very good exposure in the world of copywriting. Your script needs to have perfect timing. And while you incorporate audio and video, you will also learn about the use of fonts, graphics and will learn how to play with other effects in the commercial. You can also check out writing for radio commercials as well, while you’re at it. You can make use of both TV and radio commercials as additional materials in your portfolio.
5. Websites
Being able to write copy for websites is a necessity for every copywriter. Even large companies that do not sell products online need a website, so having someone maintaining the company’s website is something every company should do. And this is where you being the copywriter comes in.
8 Reasons Why You Need Audio on Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 23, 2011
8 Reasons Why You Need Audio on Your Website
1. Customers remember what they hear more than what they read. Did you know that people remember only 20% of what they read while they remember an astonishing 70% of what they hear? That’s three and a half times more! Your audio message will help you to stick into the minds of your customers longer.
2. Audio boosts your credibility. The sound of your voice adds personality to your website and helps customers identify with you. Customers buy from people who they feel they know and trust, and using audio can help you achieve this.
3. Audio keeps customers on your site longer. Audio can keep customers on your site longer and you give you more time to make the sale. It can be used as an additional resource or tool for customers to familiarize themselves with your product or service while browsing your site.
4. Audio increases your subscription rate. Using a personal audio message to get customers to sign up for your newsletter can raise subscription levels by up to 400% more than using traditional subscription marketing techniques. You can also use audio as a part of an online course that people can subscribe to. The lesson that includes an audio in our free online meditation course gets opened most, leads to the largest number of sales and receives the best feedback.
5. Audio enhances newsletters, ezines and blogs – which leads to profits. You can spice up your newsletter, ezine or blog by using audio to provide special tips or product updates that keep customers interested and motivated to buy.
6. Audio puts you light years ahead of your competitors. Using audio successfully on your site gives you a competitive advantage. Most internet businesses overlook using this effective marketing tool so be sure you’re not one of them!
7. Audio is easy to use. Being able to put audio on your website isn’t limited to just techies – anyone can do it! Many of the programs available don’t even require you to know HTML or flash. They’re designed to be user friendly so you shouldn’t have any problems taking your website to the next level.
8. Audio is cheap. You can add audio to your site for as little as $19.95. More advanced audio solutions will only cost you around $97 – a small price to pay considering the many benefits it provides to your website and your customers.
In short, audio gives you an edge over your competitors and allows you to build a personal bond with your customers in a way that’s not possible with traditional websites. When customers feel they know you and can identify with you, they will be more likely to buy from you.
How To Write A Press Release?: 12 Top Tips
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 22, 2011
How To Write A Press Release?: 12 Top Tips
A press release is the standard way to alert the media, and increasingly, the online public, about what you are doing or selling.
The press release forms part of the public relations artillery and should be used wisely. Though mostly written and distributed by PR professionals, you too can competently write your own press releases, if you keep the following 12 key points in mind:
1. Think of the 5 ‘Ws’:
The press release mantra is WWWWW. Before you do anything, think Who, What, When, Where and Why. Fail to include this vital information and it’s a total Waste of time
2. The golden first paragraph:
This is your chance to grab the media’s attention, so make it punchy. The first, short paragraph should announce the ‘5 ‘W’s’ and the rest of the press release will expand upon it
3. Newsworthy:
We call it the ‘news’ because it is ‘new.’ What makes your story press-worthy? What is new about what you are doing? Is there new research? The media love stories about anything that is the biggest, smallest, fastest, world’s first or most exciting. Think of all the ways your story is new, include them, and back up your claims
4. Concise:
A press release should never, ever be longer than two pages of A4. One page is ideal. Keep the font neutral and the layout clear — a 1.5 line spacing is bes
5. Contact:
Always include your contact details at the bottom of the press release. That’s your full name, phone number, mobile and email address
6. Personal touch:
Include a quotation which communicates your key messages in a lively way. Sound ‘thrilled’ or ‘excited’ about what you are announcing. If it’s not really interesting or exciting news, you shouldn’t bother the press with it
7. Proof, proof and proof again:
It is unacceptable to send out a press release full of grammatical errors. Get someone else to proof it, then print it out and proof it again
8. When emailing your press release, include it clearly in the main body of your email. The media probably won’t bother opening your word document attachment
9. Balance:
It’s a fine, fine line between spin and being downright misleading. Go for an attention grabbing headline, but don’t lie or over-hype your story and “Never use Capitals as it will only annoy people”.
10. Write for the task in hand:
Your press release is not a submission for a prose writing competition. Keep it clear, informative and as factual as possible. Have fun with the headline, but don’t over use ‘fluffy language’ in the main body of the release
11. It is not a sales pitch:
Refrain from ’sales speak’; this is not the place. A press release serves to inform the media about a newsworthy event, not flog a product like in an advert (although, that is the desired byproduct of course)
12. And lastly:
Use press releases wisely. Expanding your home office into a purpose built garden shed may be big news in your family, but probably less so on the global stage. Put out strong stories and get a good name for yourself. Put out rubbish and, well, it’s your reputation that’ll be at stake.
Writer’s block
Writer’s block is the scourge of all writers: whether authors of popular fiction, factual content writers or journalists. It’s seemingly random descent can cast doubts on the feasibility of meeting deadlines and cause general unrest. This strange affliction often comes on unprovoked and seems to strike at the most inopportune of moments. Although there is no cure as such (most notably because it is not an ailment per se) there are certainly things that can be done to stimulate the creative zones of your brain back into action to get you back on track.
In many cases, writer’s block is simply an absence of motivation or a prevalence of distractions. Spending too long poring over a written task or spending an inordinate amount of time attempting to re-work or rewrite existing passages can really drain the will to work. Quite simply, writer’s block is generally a side effect of boredom, lack of urgency or pre-occupation. In order to counter this there are a number of techniques, the effectiveness of which is dictated as much by the nature of the individual as it is by the situation.
If you’re unable to complete a piece, article or chapter due to a temporary inability to focus then the first thing to do is step back from the work. Quickly assess your emotions: are you tired, hungry, worried, excited? Although such a seemingly simple, even silly thing to do: by distancing yourself from the task at hand you are more able to focus on the underlying issue. Having established the root of the distraction action can be taken to remedy the problem and regain focus. Obviously time constraints are important here: if you’re exhausted but have a strict deadline then unfortunately short-term remedies such as a boost of caffeine or a brisk walk may be on the agenda. Equally if your distraction spawns from worry about something else then you may not have time to fully address this external problem. A sound alternative in this instance would be to spend a few minutes planning how you will remedy the issue responsible for the distraction once you’ve finished the more urgent writing task- giving you at least some relief and a little more focus.
Some people react well with tight deadlines: others react in the exact opposite manner. The key is to mentally organise yourself in the manner which is most effective for you. If you have no set deadline for completing a task and work best when you do have a deadline then set yourself one! Conversely, if you have a tight deadline but are dwelling on the pressure of completing in time then set yourself smaller deadlines with incremental rewards leading up to completion in the set time.
Writer’s block is a purely mental phenomenon and can be resolved by learning as much as you can about the circumstances in which you work best. Once you know the ideal environment and form of motivation for you then it is easy to go about tailoring the situation to induce maximum productivity.
5 Steps to a perfect review landing page
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 16, 2011
5 Steps to a perfect review landing page
The reason a review page works so well is because it doesn’t just hard sell you on a specific product but instead gives you a choice, based on actual reasons why or why not a product is worth the money/time/effort and whether or not it is any good.
So if you’re thinking of making more money as an affiliate marketer online, then I suggest you not only incorporate review pages into your sales process, but make sure you do it right using the following blueprint:
Step 1. The Headline
The headline will draw people in and create excitement and desire to continue reading. The headline must include a clear benefit and address the reader as personally as possible. Always state what they will be gaining from reading on, based on the specific problem that they are experiencing.
Step 2. The Body
The entire body is elaborating on the headline and getting the reader involved. This might include telling a short story (only needs to be a paragraph here), in order to connect with the reader, and give a clear reason why you’ve bothered to do a review of these particular products.
Step 3. The products
Many people still do a review on one product and leave nothing to compare it against. I think this is a big mistake, because a comparison of similar products will help prevent the reader from leaving your page to compare the product you’ve reviewed with similar products elsewhere. In other words, why not get them to do their entire research on your page instead?
Step 4. Believability
If you make out as if the winning product is perfect in every sense, then you’ll lose sales. Why? Because people will believe a balanced review over a blatant sales pitch any day of the week. Pick out a few minor bad points and contrast them with the good points so as not to kill the sale.
Step 5. Call to action
Once you’ve written your reviews of each product, make the winning product the most prominent on the page, at the top before the fold. This will prevent visitors clicking away and will be able to clearly see which product is worth looking into. Make all of your links stand out, even on the losing products and be sure to use phrases that ask the visitor to take action, such as “click here to get rid of x..”.
If you apply these techniques to your review pages, you can expect to increase your conversions significantly. What you really need to consider is that more people are doing review type pre-selling every day, so in order for you to stand out; I would highly recommend you do a proper review and not just a “fake” review where you are talking out of your behind! So, you would do well to actually buy the products you are reviewing and make balanced points good AND bad and simply let the visitor make the decision, not you.
If you follow this advice, I can assure you that you’ll always be ahead of the competition by giving your visitors valuable help in buying through affiliate links. Trust me, your visitors will actually appreciate this more than you’d think, and you’re still going to be picking up the affiliate pay checks at the end of the month too.
Mistakes to Avoid for Creating Award-Worthy Websites in 2012
It’s hard to believe, but many
Web designers will make the
same mistakes in 2012 that were
being made over a decade ago.
As new brands and websites
emerge, and new designers
enter the work force, it is often
useful to address the most common
mistakes made in the presentation
and organization of
Web properties. Without knowing
the history, how can those in
the Web design industry continue to break new ground?
As the discussion regarding standards continues, design in
great part will continue to rely on the aesthetic sensitivity and
technical knowledge of designers themselves. Some of the most
common mistakes are so basic to experienced designers, however,
that they may have simply forgotten how truly important
they are to the user experience. For designers who do not have
as large a portfolio of experience, learning (and learning to avoid)
the most common blunders will make every finished product
a showpiece.
The aim of a designer should be to create a unique experience
— an experience that blends creativity and functionality
and does so as close to perfectly as possible. While users will be
drawn to a website based on the uniqueness and originality of
messaging found across the ’Net, it
is the appearance and experience
that designers provide which determines
a user’s initial satisfaction
as well as their loyalty over time.
Much more goes into a successful
design, of course, than element
positioning and image choice —
and the savviest designers are perfectly
cognizant of this challenge.
The path some businesses want to
take still baffles many seasoned interactive
professionals.
“One of the most common
blunders a company can make is
simply buying a website template
for their design,” says Mike Sauce,
founder of the Horizon Interactive
Awards. “Custom designs
always perform better because
the right website designer can get
to know a client and make the
website reflect the overall feel of
the company.”
Designers have a lot of responsibility to ensure that the “feel”
of the company is portrayed, but also balanced with their business
objectives. For example, the clarity of message communication is
also the responsibility of the designer, as are the conversion paths,
site structure and, in some instances, even technical/software
integration. The challenges facing designers today and in 2012 are
substantial, but armed with an understanding of the mistakes that
other designers have made, you will be ready to create awardwinning
sites in the future.
Below are a few of the most common blunders and some guidance
on how to avoid them:
The Design Elements Blunder
Design elements are often so deeply integrated with the performance
of a Web property that poor initial choices can wreak havoc on
the user experience and do damage to revenue over the long term.
Website Magazine conducted an open-thread poll on “Web design
turnoffs” with our Facebook community in October 2011,
and we found that our followers are quite passionate about the
subject. In the eyes of our followers, the use of audio or video that
plays automatically on a site was the biggest blunder, garnering
30.4 percent of the votes from respondents. There are, of course,
other egregious mistakes that many designers still make — even
though we know better.
The Readability Blunder
Readability as a concept is not lost on Web users. Defined as the
quality of written language that makes it easy to read and understand,
readability should always be an important consideration.
The challenge is in the many ways in which readability is influenced.
In that same open-thread poll on Facebook, survey
respondents indicated several elements which had a negative
impact on readability, including “small text” and “poor link formatting.”
Let’s look at these two issues in more detail:
Visited Links
Understanding where you’ve been helps you better understand
where you’re going, both in life and on websites. For the Web, links
are the key component in this navigation process. Knowing which
links you’ve already visited keeps you from unintentionally revisiting
the same page again. Designers that do not change the color
of a link once it’s been clicked could cause frustration (and perhaps
even disorientation) among users which will result in a poor
experience for both the user and the business. Designers should
take care to develop link styles that change color once the visitor
has clicked on it.
Non-Scannable Text
Another challenge for designers is being forced to work with copy
that is not easily readable/scannable, which can be intimidating to
readers. While designers don’t have much (if any) control over the
content type, they do have control over how it is presented. The use
of bullet points, sub-headings, bold-print and short paragraphs
make all copy more inviting, particularly as most website visitors
won’t actually read everything verbatim. Web designers should
have their own internal standards as to what is effective for readability
as it relates to their style choices and be able to convey them
to colleagues or clients as needed.
These are just some of the blunders that Web designers make
today and are considered by many to be downright unforgivable.
But there are others, including the heavy use of animation and
JavaScript dependence, to name two more suggested by our readers.
If you’re making these design mistakes on your Web property,
it might just be time to have a sit-down with your design team.
However, if you’re displeased with search engine visibility or
the amount of conversions taking place on your site and are working
with a Web designer to correct these blunders, it’s necessary to
look at your own strategic choices.
The Optimization Blunder
While Web designers aren’t fully responsible for search engine
optimization, many of the choices they make certainly influence
success. For example, the use of alt tags should be present on images,
microdata could be integrated into listings for events or people,
and load times should be optimized — these elements all play
a role in achieving Web success.
The Conversion Blunder
If there is one area of focus that all designers could spend more
time on, it is that of mastering the art of positively influencing conversion.
Placement and positioning of elements (along with element
selection — images, add-to-cart buttons) such as calls to
action and trust signals are fundamentally important to the conversion
process. Understanding the objective — and the barriers
to it — will ensure they can be met and overcome. Gaining access
to analytics and even heat map data will show designers where
users’ attention is going and provide a way to close the loop —
gaining valuable feedback about design choices and the user experience
along the way.
Not only must designers avoid these blunders, but also consider
the impact that the design choices they make have on both
the aesthetic appeal and on the underlying experience of the user,
as well as the success of a Web enterprise. That is what it will take
to create award-worthy websites in 2012.
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Increase Landing Page Conversions with These Subtle Tricks
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Increase Landing Page Conversions with These Subtle Tricks
Most landing pages are often way too cluttered for their own good – hence the low conversions and high bounce rates. Consumers have shortened attention spans online so overly complicated landing pages with pop-ups, animations, and too much to focus on will only lead them to click away. The following subtle tricks should help you create a more effective landing page that boosts conversions and sales.
* Don’t Forget to Provide a Clear Call to Action
Too many people dismiss the importance of a clear call to action. After reading your landing page, users should know exactly what they are supposed to do, whether it is to fill out the form or click “Buy Now.” Adding a call to action to a landing page where one is lacking or making your current call to action much clearer and more prominent can have a dramatic impact on conversions.
Make sure that you only provide one call to action on your landing page. If you provide several different conversion options, people will get confused and your sales message will get diluted. Your prospects just want to sign on the dotted line so make it easy for them to do so.
* Keep it Simple
The majority of landing pages are cluttered and overwhelming. Make sure the design of your landing pages is as simple as possible. Get rid of the distracting audio, animation, and bright colors. Make the visuals of your landing page so simple that visitors are guided to the call of action without interruptions.
Text should also be minimized when you are simplifying the design and look of your site. Make the content on your site easy to read and digest by dividing it into sections, using bullet points, and keeping things concise.
If you’re using a form to capture leads on your landing page, try to keep it as short as possible. If your form has too many fields, you will end up losing sales because your prospects won’t want to spend time filling it out. Getting your prospect’s name and email is usually enough in most cases.
The use of simple language is also important. If a sixth grader wouldn’t be able to understand it, don’t use it. Jargon and marketing speak don’t increase sales. If your landing page is too complicated or wordy, your visitors will lose interest quickly.
* Convey Your Credibility
Not only should your website be simple, organized, and professional looking, it should also convey your credibility. People have to trust you first in order to purchase something from you. In order to earn that trust, you can list the names of reputable companies you have worked with, provide testimonials, refer to awards you have won, list memberships you have to relevant professional associations, etc.
Take a look at your current landing pages. Are they simple, professional, easy to follow, and organized? If not, make some changes while keeping these tricks in mind. A landing page with a clear call to action and credibility will help you boost conversions dramatically.
Using Articles To Build URL Backlinks
If you’ve got an internet business and interested in making more revenues, URL backlinks may be the secret to your success. Before anything else, what are URL backlinks?
Essentially, these are hyperlinks from other sites that point back to your site or blog. Because of backlinks, other people’s sites are going to be connected to your own. This short article presents the importance of inbound links for your online business and in what way article marketing can help you create backlinks.
It’s recommended that you receive in-links from first-rate web pages because these would boost your site’s ratings. A good illustration of a top-notch web page is authority websites. Authority sites contain plenty of content and people frequently visit these websites when they look for certain information. Needless to say, it is difficult, if not impossible, to challenge authority websites, so you should rely on them in order to pull in more page views and have more earnings.
You might be anxious to know exactly how you can achieve this without shelling out lots of money. Have you heard about article marketing? If you haven’t, then you are totally missing out on an excellent opportunity. Article marketing is a zero-cost as well as effective strategy to let everyone know about your web page, services and products. It involves the production and also submission of content pieces to various article directory websites to publicize your internet business. Unlike other tactics, you won’t waste your time and money with article marketing. As expected, there are some qualifications that you need to adhere to in order for this to be conceivable.
To begin with, this particular method is cost-free so long as you craft your articles yourself. If you choose to write your articles all on your own, be prepared to devote a great deal of time doing it. What you should do is to implement a schedule for content creation; this is important since you also require time to handle the other elements of your internet business. You should reserve a specific number of hours to craft your content pieces, and you should abide by that schedule without fail. You’ll need many content pieces on a single theme in order to be effective, and you can’t go around this requirement.
This might appear to be an unattainable task for many web-based business operators, including yourself. If you have no time to carry this out on a regular basis or do not have the self-assurance to craft impressive content pieces, you could give this certain activity to independent content writers or content creation services. Their rates are tremendously lower than those of regular ghostwriters, and they can create a significant amount of write-ups in a short time. It’s important that you contract skillful, experienced and also dependable copy writers to write your content pieces; the popularity as well as level of traffic that your site will have would rely on them, so make certain that you engage folks who really know what they are doing.
Each time your articles are posted on the web, your website or blog brings in more publicity. The link that you include at the conclusion of your content pieces would serve as a mini-advertisement for your online business. Article submission websites do not charge you whenever you put in incoming links for your site, so it is a win-win situation: you receive more publicity, page views and profits while article directory sites would have more users for their service.
You’re free to send as much write-ups as you wish. In fact, sending many content pieces is highly encouraged. Just make certain that you abide by each and every online directory’s author as well as sending protocols, peruse their list of frequently asked questions and stay away from trouble. Otherwise, your account is going to be suspended and your content pieces would not be posted. As with everything, you have to get used to the different policies, but the whole routine becomes simple after a few submissions along with a brief adjustment period.
If you are not employing article promotion to create URL backlinks, then you’re surely missing out. Why do you think there are countless write-ups in all those article directories? The answer’s obvious: most of the articles posted there are done by internet marketers. When you implement article promotion, you will see why many folks depend on this strategy to generate URL backlinks.
Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
Should you write for your readers or for the search engines? That is a really good question to consider.
Search engines are still the best sources of warm and targeted traffic. They aim to provide online users with quality content.
That is why they put much weight on articles that are informative and content-rich. If you can offer these kinds of articles, you can be assured that the search engines will help you better connect with your potential clients so you can boost your sales and revenue.
Here’s how you can improve your article marketing by writing for your readers and letting the search engines benefit from it:
1. Write for your readers
You need to know how to impress online users so you can maximize the benefits that you can get from your articles.
Start by giving them content that they will find useful and relevant to their lives. Offer answers to their most frequent questions. Empower them to do things on their own by offering them step-by-step guides.
Offer solutions to their pressing issues, and share information that can help them better understand their problems and their areas of interest.
Then, ensure that your articles are easy to understand, easy to skim through, and concise. Remember, you do not want to waste the time of your readers as they have short attention span.
2. Talk about your products and services
Article marketing is one of the best ways to promote your offerings without burning your pockets.
You can highlight the benefits and features that your products can offer and communicate how they can help your potential clients improve the quality of their lives.
You just have to make sure that you don’t fill your articles with marketing hype and sales pitches. You need to do the selling in a subtle way so your copies will not be rejected by the publishers. And the search engines will love you more as well.
3. Create a killer resource box
You would want your readers to click on your resource box as this is the only way to get them to visit your website or your squeeze page.
You can get them to act on your favor by making sure that your resource box is benefit-driven. Tell your readers what they can expect to get from your website or offer them with exciting freebies like vouchers and free e-books.
When people know that they will benefit from something, they will surely do it in a heartbeat. This can lead to enormous conversion rate that can help in growing your e-business exponentially.
Follow these article marketing tips and write for your readers. The search engines will find you too.
Is Your Website Springing a Leak?
Imagine that you own a beautifully designed yacht. It looks great on the surface of the water, with superb lines, gleaming decks, a well-appointed galley… but you’re having real trouble getting out of the harbor and you can’t figure out why!
You investigate, and you find that beneath the surface your beautiful boat has a number of slow, silent, leaks. None of them are big enough to sink you on their own, so there’s no obvious immediate crisis – just a constant drain on your efficiency and your speed.
I’ve been reviewing Web traffic reports for over 10 years, and I believe that this analogy applies very well to almost all business websites. Very few sites are so terrible or have something so wrong with them that they’re clearly a disaster. Yet just about every site has some area where it’s quietly losing traffic, losing potential business or the opportunity to create relationships – or failing to attract visitors in the first place.
If you’re not regularly reviewing your traffic analysis, you can’t know for sure if your site is leak proof. In this article, I’ll show you a few of the most common areas where you can look for – and fix – those silent leaks:
1. Leaks in your Brand & Positioning
The excellent folks at MarketingExperiments online research laboratories have shown that clearly articulated and differentiating value propositions have a critical effect on Website conversion rates. (The conversion rate is the measurement of visitors fulfilling your desired outcomes – which might include calling you, buying a product at your site, signing up for your newsletter or blog feed, etc.) Your value proposition should be front and center on your home page. It should answer the classic question: “Why should we do business with you instead of your competition?”
Although this question isn’t a Web strategy issue in itself, it is one that many people struggle to answer. But the lack of a compelling opening message can be a major impediment to your online success.
How to check for this leak: Even if they don’t enter your site at the home page, most visitors who don’t know you will go there as the second page they look at to find out more about you and your business. If visitors are taking a quick look at your home page and then immediately leaving, something is wrong. Your copy is failing to pique their curiosity or to answer their questions: “Can this company meet my needs?” and “Should I explore further?” You have a leak!
2. Leaks in Visitor Engagement
Popular theory says that you have 10 seconds to engage a visitor – i.e. convince them to stay on your site before they click away in search of something more interesting.
While I don’t believe that it’s quite that simple, there are some definite ways to get rid of visitors fast before they’ve had a chance to really check you out. The best of these is probably the infamous splash page – the entry page to your site that your Web designer persuaded you to have because it “does cool stuff”. Hopefully there’s a “Skip Intro” button somewhere on the page! In all my reviews of traffic reports I’ve seen a consistent leak of up to 30% of visitors leaving from this page alone – before they’ve ever seen who you are or what you offer.
How to check for this leak: Easy – look for the splash page in your traffic reports and see how many visitors exit at that point. If it’s more than a small percentage, you have a leak – take the page out today!
The other major area where you should watch for leaks in visitor engagement is in what are called “landing pages”. These are inside pages of your Website which turn out to be the first page that a visitor sees, usually because you have some well-indexed content that they’ve found in a search engine.
Here it’s absolutely critical to understand the visitor’s mindset. Each visitor is at your site looking for something specific, they may well have found you by accident, so they may have no idea who you are – and worse, no interest in you.
The first page that they see on your Website must engage them immediately in accordance with their needs, and it must have enough context to draw them into other areas, and to want to find out more about you. It’s not enough to give great information on this page – they’ll soak that up, and then leave.
How to check for this leak: Hopefully your traffic reports are sophisticated enough to show you which keywords bring visitors to each specific page of your site. This shows you each visitor’s “mindset”.
If visitors are leaving a page very quickly, then it probably isn’t satisfying their informational needs, so you should review the content.
If visitors are reading the page (your traffic reports should show the time spent at each page) and then leaving, you’ve given them what they wanted but failed to draw them into the rest of your site. This can be fixed with more compelling navigation and calls to action.
Either way, you have a leak!
3. Leaks in Directions & Outcomes
I’m constantly amazed by the number of Web pages that give great information and content – and then just end abruptly – perhaps with some navigation tabs if you’re lucky!
Steve Krug in his excellent book “Don’t Make Me Think!” describes how crucial it is to direct visitors to the next step that you want them to take. If you don’t do this, and rely on your visitors to figure this out for themselves, there’s a strong chance that they’ll make a different choice than the one you want – or they’ll leave your site altogether, creating leaks in your potential revenue stream.
Every page of your site needs strong calls to action that stand out visually and click directly to where the visitor can fulfill the outcome that you want (e.g. “buy now!”, “sign up for our newsletter / RSS feed”.) Pages can have more than one call to action, and there’s nothing wrong with repeating them on longer pages so that they’re always within eyeshot.
And by the way, “Back to top” is not a call to action!
How to check for this leak: If your traffic reports show this information, look at the paths that visitors take through your site – where do visitors go next from each page? If many of them are exiting the site and / or they fan out across many pages with no clear pattern or direction, you have a possible leak.
4. Leaks in your Credibility Building
MarketingExperiments research has also shown that powerful, specific, and authoritative testimonials can have a major impact on your site’s conversion rates.
Consider this statement: “Documented results show that just a few hours with [ expert ] can increase lead generation by 125%”. Imagine how much stronger that assertion would be if there were some examples of the “documented results” and some customer quotes to that effect.
However, including a page on your site called “What Customers Say” doesn’t do it – I can safely say that visitors don’t go to those pages. And it’s not just traffic reports that tell me this – whenever I ask a live audience “Would you click this link?” there’s always a resounding “No!”
How to check for this leak: This is a much more subtle leak to detect, but it’s an important one. The question here is whether you are potentially losing business because your site fails adequately to establish your value and credibility.
My recommended approach is to review your site for credibility-building content such as client lists, testimonials and case studies. You need to spread your testimonials through your site, using short one or two line excerpts that are relevant to the content of each page – whether it’s about a product or a service, or the value of subscribing to your newsletter or blog.
Make sure that all of this material is linked to from other pages so that it’s easily found by visitors. If you then experience an increase in calls, or in the quality of your leads, then you might have just fixed a leak!
December has finally arrived, which means that the Web will be flooded with end-of-the-year lists for the next thirty days. For our part, we decided to kick off the celebration with the following compilation of some of WM's favorite jQuery plugins that either made their debuts or underwent significant updates in 2011.
If jump-starting your designs or just simplifying the development process are on your list of resolutions for 2012, take a look at these jQuery plugins from the past year:
jRumble
Released in October 2011, jRumble gets viewers’ attention by adding a vibrating – or rumbling – effect to any element on a page. It can be used as an effective hover tool or will merely make certain elements of your design stand out.
Simple Overlay
Users can add lightweight, flexible overlays to the entire page or confine them to a single element, and display the overlays using jQuery’s fade effect, slide effect or no effect at all.
FlexSlider (image below)
Released
over the summer, FlexSlider is a responsive jQuery slider designed to
serve beginning designers/developers as well as providing the more
seasoned professionals with a tool they can use with confidence.
My QR Code (image below)
Generate
QR codes for mobile devices using the Google Chart API, and the plugin
will generate the codes for the URLs of each page. Users can also
specify the text, encoding and size of their QR codes.
NivoSlider
Version
2.7 of this image slider was released in November with an added
random-start setting, a new flashing caption feature and a
data-transition attribute that allows users to set custom transitions
per slide.
Reveal
Reveal
is a lightweight (1.75KB) modal window solution that has become popular
for its style and movement. The plugin is cross-browser compatible with
modern browsers and allows users to set up modals in three simple
steps.
FitText
Achieve
scalable headlines, titles and other large-display text with this
plugin that makes font sizes flexible. Users can implement FitText in
their fluid or responsive layouts to help fill the width of the most
prominent elements.
Isotope
A
wonderful tool for creating smart designs, Isotope allows users to hide
and reveal item elements and re-order item elements without sorting.
The plugin’s animation engine takes advantage of the best browser
features when available but will also fall back to JavaScript animation
for lesser browsers.
Ajax PayPal Cart
Released
in April, this new plugin allows developers to add an AJAX-powered
PayPal shopping cart to their sites, and no refresh is required when
updating the cart.
Supersized (image below)
Supersized
is a full-screen background slideshow that’s been built using the jQuery
library, and the latest version of the popular plugin was released just
this week with an array of new examples to serve as foundations for
your next project.
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10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 1, 2011
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
Combinations of two or more of the tips below are being used by many successful sites today. Use your imagination and see what you can do with them. Because there are so many web sites on the internet today visitors are spread quite thinly and web traffic is one of the scarcest commodities on the internet today. Without it your online business does not exist:
1. Give people a free subscription to your newsletter
Almost everyone is publishing a newsletter nowadays so it is important to give something extra with the free subscription. You need to set yourself apart from the other internet marketers out there. This might be done by offering a gift or free advertising when people subscribe.
2. Provide visitors with new and original content
Your content will be more attractive to your visitors if it is up-to-date or original. You could also offer people the option to reprint the content in their newsletter or web site. You will need to change your content frequently if you do this. But the benefits are worth the effort. The search engines will love your site and keep coming back. Your site will rank highly in their results and your visitors will keep coming back for the latest updates.
3. Use PPC directories
You can advertise in pay per click directories. With PPC you only pay when some one clicks on your link. If no one clicks you pay nothing. This method is very good if you are selling a product at your site. It is easy to assess the cost of each sale and measure you success.
There are lots of PPC sites out there now. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones. You can often get a better deal at these other sites depending on the competition for the keyword you are using. Shop around. There is probably a site out there with your keyword going cheap. But, Make sure that it can deliver the traffic. You can do this by checking its Alexa rank. If it is not getting much traffic itself, how is it going to direct traffic to you?
4. Give visitors a free ebook
You could write your own and include an ad in the ebook linking to your site and allow other people to sell it or give it away. If you don’t want to take the time to write one, you could ask other writers permission to use their articles and assemble an article eBook. Or commission an eBook. There are plenty of writers around willing to write a fresh eBook for you at a fair price.
5. Hold free online classes or seminars
They could be held in your web site’s chat room. The idea of “live” information will entice people to visit your web site. You will become known as an expert on the topic.
6. Offer free consulting to your web site visitors
You could do this via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive. Use a separate business line if you use the phone or you will have calls coming in to your home phone around the clock as the world turns. If your site becomes known for this service you may need to employ people to help keep up. If this happens you can bring in a two tier system whereby you have a free service and a paid service offering something extra.
7. Give visitors a free entry into a contest
The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors or relevant to your site’s topics. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results. Do not be discouraged if the first one or two contests do not set the world on fire. The word has to get out. People will talk to their friends about this site that is running this great contest, and before too long your site will have a name for running contests. There are people out there who really go for that sort of thing and will visit your site regularly.
8. Let visitors download free software
It could be freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software area and let other people sell it or give it away from this area. You do not need to produce the free software yourself. There are plenty of sources on the web. All you have to do is link to them. If you gather a significant amount of software of a type relevant to the topic of your site you will make your site a valuable resource for your visitors and they will keep coming back to get more.
9. Offer free online services or utilities
They could be search engine submitting, copy writing proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.
10. Give your visitors a free membership to an online club
People like to feel that they belong to something, why not your online club. You could also give away a free newsletter for club members only. The members will very likely want to contribute a large part of its content making it easy to source articles. If you offer them a link back to their own site your members will be queuing up to put content in your newsletter.
It goes without saying that all of the above should be relevant to the topic of your site in order to be of interest to your visitors. Do not keep changing the topic of your site. I see this happening all too often. The webmaster has a site for three months or so and becomes disheartened because his site not taken off as he hoped, so he decides to try a different topic.
Doing so he / she loses the regular visitors he / she had and has to start at the beginning again in the new topic. Also, the search engines will very likely be slow to change to the new topic, confusing everyone who visits from there. It may also affect the PR of the site as the new topic may initially be viewed as unrelated content.
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
In a nut shell, this is what I’ve found that will help promote your website. These methods are very effective. Keep this blog post as a reference and make sure you are doing all these things. Ok here it goes:
1. Adwords (or any search engine ads at all)
Of course we all know that Google is the top dog but there are many other decent search engines that will get you the same good traffic. For $40 bucks a day I get over 100 unique hits on my website. Every little bit helps
2. Blogging
Even if hate to write, just post relevant information regarding your site just make sure you give credit to who wrote your blog post. Oh and link on your blog post like crazy. I didn’t believe in this method at first but trust me I have learned the ways of the blog.
3. Mailing List
This is a tough area. Its like you need money to make money. But in this case you need email addresses to send emails. Do your best in trying to provoke your customers into signing up for your mailing list. Offer something for free (not a free newsletter) something legit. This will help you by encouraging repeat visits. Its better to keep the same visitor than trying to get new ones, plus it’s easier. Oh and it’s good for word of mouth (which is still the best way to advertise)
4. List, Register & Sign Up!
Spend at least one whole day signing up for every freaking search engine, directory and relevant search site you can. The more you name and website are out on the internet, the better you are ranked by the search engines
5. Links
Ok this is tricky, yes you want your link on as many websites as you can but even better than that is getting your website linked on a website that is really big. If you are officially linked to a big website that will look very good to search engines. Think of your link as a vote to get you to the top of the search engine. And think of a big website and your link like a campaign contribution. That’s right, get the big guys behind you and they’ll help you climb your way to the top. It’s all about who you know.
6. SEO
If you don’t know what this is, then learn. SEO (Search Engine optimization) is very important. The whole point to internet marketing is to get to the top or as high as you can on search engines. They are the number one way people find things on the internet. So in order to help your chances make sure you website is riddled with good keywords, relevant ones. If you are having a hard time with this, follow this logic: If you are online and you wanted to find a website like yours, what would you do? What would you type into a search engine. Ask yourself that question and then ask that question to everybody you know. That way you get a better understanding on what people are searching for.
Also add meta tags like keywords, descriptions and alt tags to all your pages. You can do this all at the end if you want.
7. The No Brainer
Just make sure your site looks good. If you have a crappy looking website then chances are no one will want to stay. For instance if you never cleaned your house do you think new guest will want to sleep over. Nope. And if you suck at making a website look awesome enlist a professional or someone with a clue to help.
8. The Little Things
Do these little things to your site: Add a “Tell A Friend About This Site” Button (For word of mouth, the best marketing), Add a “Bookmark Us” button to your site, give away free stuff, lure customers with contests, make jokes, get an RSS Feed (if you don’t know what that is, then learn, if you are a website designer then you should already know), put some fun things to do on your site to get people to stay. Case in point: Your having guest over for coffee but your TV is broke, all your board games are missing and you just recently started not talking to anyone, your guest will want to leave because it’s boring and it sucks.
9. Get On Myspace or Facebook
If your website is looking for a younger audience then get on anyone of these site and make friends will as many people as you can. Spend hours a day doing this. Make sure your page is chock full of ways to get to your site. This will boost traffic like nobody’s business.
10. Last But Not Least
Be consistent. If you want to have a high traffic website ,then you need to dedicate yourself to the cause. You need to be on the internet doing these things every single day. It’s just like exercising or dieting, if you don’t stick to it everyday, you will fail. But I have faith in you, do as the Romans do.
Outsourcing: Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Outsourcing: Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
As a busy Internet marketer, you will be most likely be swamped at some point with the amount of work involved getting your websites designed and online. You will be desperate to find quality help quickly.
* Some of the major tasks you have to deal with include:
1. Creating your own products to sell.
2. Marketing your products in ways that drive traffic to the site.
3. Building your online reputation and constantly networking to build your online presence…to name a few.
The truth is that you are likely to get buried in details and get lost along the way.
At some point, it might occur to you that you do not have much free time nor are you having much fun and you’ll start thinking that you are unable to work from home and tend to the other aspects of your life, like family and a job.
Overloaded to-do lists are a common problem with new marketers facing all the labor-intensive details you never thought about when you first got involved in creating an online income.
The most popular solution to this common dilemma is to outsource those tasks that you either do not have time to complete yourself or tasks that are not appealing to you.
* Outsourcing is transferring some of your tasks to external service providers
Those tasks can include:
1. Ghostwriting
2. Help desk management
3. Customer service
4. Site design
And that’s just a short list. Literally, it can include any task that you want to outsource.
It is very common in the information marketing niche to escalate viral marketing results with articles submitted to article directories or ebooks written by ghostwriters.
As in any business transaction, problems can arise and mistakes will happen. One of the most critical is lack of clear and frequent communication between you and your Outsourcer. You, as the client, have to make your goals and expectations very clear and ensure that you are being understood.
Since outsourcing often occurs with agencies that are located in countries other than your own, you must interview your prospective outsourcer as completely as you can.
Check the company or service agency just as closely. Look for online reviews of their service and get referrals, if you can. Additionally, its a good idea to ask for samples of their work.
Another problem that could cost you a lot of money is a poorly managed budget for the work you want done. Decide how much money you want to spend and make your budget accordingly.
Not all outsourcing contractors or service agencies follow the same payment plans for projects. Some charge by the project with a one-time payment, while others expect retainers on a time frame, like monthly for long projects.
There should be a specifically written contract with all expectations, delivery deadlines and payment schedules outlined in detail so there’s no angry misunderstandings later.
Another mistake you could easily make that would be a costly one would be to avoid building a relationship with the people tending to your business, particularly the business owner and the contractor you’ve hired.
When you are outsourcing you need crystal clear, two-way lines of communication. Although your contractors are working for you, do not make the mistake of treating them like normal emplyees.
You might not be their only client, which means they are not working exclusively for you. Setting up milestones for your project will help to keep you to keep track of your project’s progress as well as allowing you to keep an eye on any possible delays to the scheduled delivery date.
One final caution is to remember that you are hiring a professional to do a professional job for you and your business. When you have a contractor you can work with, use them for as many other jobs as they are qualified to do for you. They will know what you want and expect and you will know what type of support you will get in return.
When you establish a business relationship with a contractor, you might be able to negotiate lower rates if you are a frequent client.
If you’ve found a reliable Outsourcer that completes projects correctly and efficiently, be loyal and give them as much work as you can afford. Most likely you will also earn their loyalty…and, that’s a good thing.
Four Powerful Ways to Keep Your Customers Informed
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, November 28, 2011
Four Powerful Ways to Keep Your Customers Informed
These days, it’s hard to walk down the street without seeing some sort of news headline or hearing about the latest story. With instant messaging, internet on our phones, and simply talking to our friends, we are constantly bombarded with the latest updates. However, when it comes to your website, you need to act in the same way. Though you might not be able to report on anything catastrophic on your website, in order to be memorable, you do need to start looking at ways to keep your customers informed:
1) Mailing Lists Do Work
Though many websites have eschewed the use of mailing lists to inform their customers, when done right, these are highly effective reminders for customers. The key to doing these mailing lists well is to get the mailing lists on your own – don’t buy them from marketing groups. While it’s true you will get longer lists from the marketing groups, you might also be getting a lot of negative feedback from people who didn’t want to receive your information in the first place.
On your website, create a way for interested visitors to sign up for a weekly email from you. All they should need to do is to give you their email address and their first name and they can find out what’s new with your site each week. This email shouldn’t be a sales letter, but more of a note about what’s going on and what people might want to stop by your site to see.
2) eZines are Still Going Out to Customers
To extend on the idea of a mass email list, you might want to look into making a magazine for your mailing list, or an ezine. This piece of information should be longer than your weekly email, but it should also contain some sales language about things that are coming up for your business.
This is the perfect way for you to update and inform your visitors about your market, while also showing that you are knowledgeable about your chosen business. Try talking about new findings in your market, for example, if you are selling nutritional products. Think about ways to give your site visitors something that they might not have learned on their own.
3) Daily Blogging is a Fun Avenue
Of course, if your business is a little less formal, you might want to opt for a business blog. This can be from the point of view of yourself or perhaps a fictional worker in your company. By simply talking about the latest news and what it means for the site visitor, you can create a modern dialogue that allows you to show your casual side, while still being informative.
You can also talk about loyal customers or about new innovations to products that are in the works.
4) Try Sending Out a Press Release
If all else fails, the press release is still the best way to rest the maximum amount of potential visitors that want to see your site. However, since these releases are generally send to a larger audience, it’s harder to target the customers you really want to target. If you can, you might want to try to submit the press release to publications that your target audience will be looking at as well as posting it on your website to help spread the word about a new product or service.
When it comes to informing your customers, you need to make sure you explore as many possibilities for doing this as possible. While you don’t want to be the only thing on your customer’s mind, you do want to be one fo the top ten.
7 Killer Ways To Make People Click on Your Ads
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, November 27, 2011
7 Killer Ways To Make People Click on Your Ads
Fed up with wasting money on ads that don’t work? Here are some killer ways to turn things around and get writing ads that pull in the clicks, visitors and sales in droves:
1. Reverse Psychology
This is where you encourage people to do the opposite of what you really do want them to. For instance, if you want them to sign up for your marketing newsletter say something like “If you’ve got all the sales, visitors and profits you need, don’t sign up for our SuccessNewsletter”. Just remember that people don’t want to be told what to do, or what not to do, so out of sheer cussedness, and a helping of curiosity they will click.
2. Use exciting and appealing words
People respond best to words that appeal to their emotions and to their desire for money, so use words that aim at these two aspects of the human psyche. Use words such as You, Ultimate, Free, Master, Power, Discovery, Easy, Guaranteed, Love, Money, New, Scientific, Profits, Proven, Results, Incredible, Discover, Breakthrough, Secret, Private, Cash, Shocked, Shocking, Revealed, Uncovered, Hidden, Exciting, Sizzling, Hot and so on. Be careful not to overdo it as less is more when it comes to emotive words.
3. Offer a discount
The Internet started out as the place to get things free. Usually this meant information in the early days, so capitalise on this basic human instinct of wanting ’something for nothing’ and offer your visitors a discount if they buy NOW! Alternatively off a free bonus. Make it compatible with the product you’re selling so that they both form a useful combo.
4. Include testimonials
If you have people write or email you thanking you for your product, get back to them and ask if you can quote them in your advertising. Mostly they will be happy for you to do so. This lets prospective buyers know that a real person has got a real benefit from your product or eBook etc. Don’t be afraid to ask for a testimonial. Send buyers a follow-up email to see if they have benefited from your product and ask them to tell you why (if they have). Testimonials are one of the most persuasive tactics there are.
5. Use a guarantee
Always use a strong guarantee in your ad. One guarantee you often see on downloadable products is ‘Try this eBook for 8 Weeks’ because this is now the length of time ClickBank will offer an automatic money back facility. Other payment providers may differ. Include the guarantee in your headline: ‘Our eBook Will Save You Money – Guaranteed!’
6. Tell your customers what to do
People will often act on an instruction such as ‘Click Here Now’. It may be stating the obvious but this is again the psychology of the prospect. They often need just that little nudge to make them take action.
7. State the major benefit of your product or website
Make sure you tell people what the major benefit of your product is. Even in a classified ad you must answer the question ‘What’s in it for me?’ With some products this is not difficult. For instance if you product is a cure for acne, make you can say something like ‘Our product can cure your acne in 21 days’. If you are selling something less obvious you could say ‘Our Nirvana CDs will soothe and relax you after a hard day’. Make it clear what benefit your product or website has to offer.
Now take a good look at your current ads and apply one or more of the tactics given above and you will begin to see some real results. When you do, why not email me and let me know? I like to get testimonials too!
The 10 Best Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The 10 Best Ways To Promote Your Website
To make money on the internet you need an effective marketing plan. So here are the best marketing tips that you must follow to make your website a powerful magnet for traffic and sales:
1) Banner Advertising
Although many marketers already know about pay-per-click advertising, very few are purchasing guaranteed banner click-thru’s that are available on hundred’s of sites. Look for sites that cater to your target market and look for, or ask for, their advertising rates. Slowly but surely most of the sites that sold banner impressions are starting to offer performance advertising in the form of pay-per-click.
2) Write articles
Writing Articles is an excellent way to promote your website and best of all you can get recognize as an internet business expert. You can submit your article to ezine or article directory.
3) Exchange links
Exchanging links is one of the best method for getting web site traffic and ranking higher. When you start a site you should exchange many as possable links with sites that are Related to Your site. Robots are eager to find new links and fresh information.
4) Mailing List
Having a mailing list can bring wonders to a web site, not only will it help bring old visitors back , but they will send the newsletter to their friends (If they like it).This is like gold for you. The only real purpose for a consumer website is to capture leads and to sell products. Send out a monthly e-zine that offers FREE valuable information and mentions similar products they may be interested in. Search Engine Optimization It is no secret that search engines are the number one traffic generating method for driving visitors to web sites. Search engines are very useful in helping people find the relevant information they seek on the Internet. The major search engines develop and maintain their own gigantic database of web sites that can be searched by a user typing in a keyword or keyword phrase in the search box.
5) Search engine optimization
(SEO) is the process of studying the search engines in an effort to determine how to get your web site to rank high on user searches. Depending on the statistical information reviewed, search engines account for over 80% of the visitor traffic to web sites.
6) Free online forum
One forum can be about “Online Business”. Another forum can be about ” Joint Ventures”. When people join those forums, make sure that they need to come to your site first and log in from there, if they want to log on and post on the forum.
7) Market Statistic
You can use features on your website such as visitor polls, online surveys and your website statistics to find out what your customers like more and how they feel about certain aspects of your business to determine how you can improve your product and the way you do business.
Free Advertising
There is alot of Free Advertising on the Internet. There is Classified Ads. Free For All Pages (FFA), Ezine, Article Submission and Newsgroup of course and many more.
9) Blogging
Blogs are a relatively new and popular way to publish content on the Internet. They allow the blogger to publish content; very quickly and get feedback from the people that read it. Because they are new and content is created regularly, search engines love indexing them – and if search engines love them, you should too.
10) Real Syndicated Content
RSS marketing is a tool used by many on the Internet to deliver articles, advertisements, emails, customer support responses, ezines to clients and potential clients.
Constructing A Website That Works
Before you even consider starting to build your first website, you need to think very carefully about what you are going to include in it. For instance, you should not create a site that promotes numerous unrelated affiliate products. As you can imagine, a potential customer will not want to wade through fishing tackle supplies when she came to your site looking for handbags! What’s more, the search engines won’t approve of it either; they won’t be able to distinguish what it is you are trying to sell and therefore won’t rank it well for any of your products. The more products you have on your site means that they have to compete with each other to be viewed when what you really want is a fewer amount of related products that complement and enhance each other.
Here is a basic list of things that you must consider when creating your first and each subsequent website.
* The website needs to be clearly laid out, with separate pages for different topics within the overall subject matter.
* The site will need to focus on a specific subject which is aimed at a distinct audience.
* Both outgoing and incoming links to and from worthwhile and excellent top quality websites should be included.
* Diverse pages should link into each other where relevant.
* There should be plenty of superb content packed with useful information.
* Any affiliate or referral links need to be sprinkled throughout the web page in the relevant places; they need to be tested to see what works the best.
* The correct use of keywords and phrases which will help attract visitors and improve positioning within the search engines need to be used.
* And finally, you must include an internet site map to make it less difficult for visitors to move around the internet site and find what they need. This is often considered redundant in the process of building a website, and that is indeed the fact if you made a sitemap just for the sake of having one.
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. They can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease. There is no need to get the “big picture” of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors’ time.
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page — they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
Don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of things on this list, they may take a little time to put together but they are not difficult by any means. Once they are in place, you can tweak and test your site and add new content to keep it fresh and interesting which in turn will keep the search engines and your website visitors very happy indeed!
Using a 302 Redirect in Place of a 404 Error is a Bad Idea
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Using a 302 Redirect in Place of a 404 Error is a Bad Idea
If your site is currently treating unavailable pages (404 errors) like temporary redirects (302 redirects) you may not have any problems with the search engines but your site is losing out on some important advantages of a proper 404 error.
- The Way a 404 Normally Works
This is how a 404 normally works on a website when a search engine, let’s use Google, visits a URL (i.e address) on your website that cannot be found that was previously spidered/indexed as functional:
1. The visit produces a 404 error from the server. A 404 error is provided by your server when an Internet client (i.e. a browser, search engine, etc.) reaches a URL on your site that can not be produced by your server because it is no longer there or it is incorrect.
2. The first time Google encounters this 404 error, it does not remove your URL but it takes note the page is not available and the broken link/missing address will be mentioned in your Google Webmaster Tools dashboard for you to fix ASAP.
3. The second time Google encounters the 404 error it is a good bet the page will be removed from its index and the error will remain in your Webmaster Tools dashboard for fixing. Google will continue to find the broken link until it is fixed, at which point any associated rankings you had for this page can work their way back up to where they were.
- Using a 302 Redirect Response Instead of a 404 Error Response
Here is the situation: when a search engine visits a URL that no longer exists, your server delivers a 302 redirect response instead of the proper 404 response. The 302 response is essentially this – “this page is being temporarily redirected” to a page you defined (i.e. your home page). As a result, Google does not see the 404 and Google will retain any search rankings the URL may have because it is expecting the old URL to resurface. In theory, that sounds like a good thing because you get to keep your old ranking (temporarily) while Google visitors are redirected seamlessly to your home page (the page you chose to redirect to).
- Why Isn’t this a Good Idea?
1. Visitors end up being rerouted to your home page oblivious to the redirect and end up on a page that may or may not have any relevance to their original search. Not only is this likely to cause an undesirable reaction but it also makes Google look incompetent… something the search engine is not likely to favour you for.
2. Since a 404 is not triggered, there is no way to determine if pages are broken on your website (unless a custom report has been created).
3. 302 redirects do not pass PageRank – so unless the original page is restored, much of the benefit from the links to your old content will evaporate with time.
4. If this practice is utilized site-wide it is conceivable your website rankings would diminish due to the myriad of confusing “temporary” signals provided by your site.
- What is the Best Solution?
1. If you have been using 302 redirects in place of a 404, then I strongly recommend restoring the 404 protocol.
2. Create a custom error page for 404s which will give visitors that encounter your error page an indication of how to get back on track. Once Google finds the 404 errors on your site they will be reported to you in your Google Webmaster Tools.
3. Whenever you, as a webmaster, encounter a reported 404 error on your website it is best to quickly 301 (permanently) redirect old URLs to content that is closely relevant to the past content. Not only will this help you to keep visitors to your site happy but 301 redirects will pass forward the critical PageRank (ie. Google credibility) that may have been built on the old URL.
- Additional Relevant Content
Here are some tools and articles that are relevant to this article:
* Server Header Checker Tool: using this tool you can see what responses particular web pages on any website are providing to Internet client (i.e. a browser, search engine, etc.)
* Permanent 301 versus Temporary 302 Redirects: read Scott Van Achte’s article on how these two redirects differ and when each is best utilized.
* Increase Your Links with Google Webmaster Tools: here is a simple trick to use the reports in Google Webmaster Tools to increase your site’s chances for success.
* How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URLs: This is a tutorial on how to redirect your non-www domain (http://yourdomain.com) to your www version (http://www.yourdomain.com) in order to consolidate PageRank and minimize one form of duplicate listings/content in search engines.
* How to Redirect an Old Domain to a New Domain
* A page full of Free Web Site Marketing Tutorials and SEO Tips
* Our Recommended Web Marketing Tools: tried and true tools for search engine optimization (SEO), competitor analysis tools and even useful programs like a powerful password manager we couldn’t live without (direct link), can all be found here.
Tips for Increasing Online Sales
I’m going to let you in on a very dirty secret:
There is one question that is being dodged by experts in EVERY market. Answer that question and you’ll corner the market, be worshipped forever and get more customers and sales.
If it was that easy, why aren’t other experts answering these questions?
It’s because they fear an informed audience. That’s outright silly! But, we’re not going to tell them that. While your competitors run scared, you’ll be getting more sales since you’re going to follow the steps I outline in the article below. You will educate your targeted audiences, get more website traffic, teach people how to buy from you and increase your sales.
Now, are you ready?
Step 1: Find the questions that are being dodged by other experts in your industry
I can’t tell you what these questions are. It will vary from industry to industry. . So, how do you find these golden questions to answer?
* Go to Yahoo Answers and type in your keyword. Examine the questions carefully and see which ones keep popping up. If people are asking the same questions, that means that people have the same questions. There’s a need that’s NOT being fulfilled.
* Go to forums and watch what your audience is discussing
* Survey your clients, customers and list of prospects
Step 2: Answer the questions in as many formats as possible
For each question create a blog post. Do NOT date these blog posts – you will see why later on. Once you create your blog post, expand it into an article. Then, turn your article into a video, special report, podcast and audio interview. You should also create online press releases. If you need help with writing your articles and blog postings, I have templates that will help you write your articles in 30 minutes or less. Just go to http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com
Step 3: Answer the Questions in As Many Places As Possible
* You should submit your blog posts to as many RSS feeds as possible
* You should bookmark your blog posts using Digg, Technorati and De.li.cious
* You should submit your articles to the top websites, ezines and article directories that accept article submissions. We can do this for you at http://www.IWantMoreProspects.com
* You should submit your videos to YouTube and Viddler. You may even want to think about investing in the TrafficGeyser.com video submission service
* You should post links to your blog, articles and videos on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Linked In.
* You should post your articles on social marketing websites sites like Scribd and Squidoo
* You should submit your press releases through PR Web or Webwire. If you use Webwire.com, all you have to pay is $20. But, I do suggest comparing the two services and see which one matches your needs.
* Videos teaching people how to buy from you or how to use your product should be on your website.
* When people opt-in for your special reports, ebooks or other free offering, you should have an auto-responder series that gets people to go back to your blog or website. If you have lots of blog postings that answers your prospects’ top questions – all you have to do is create a summary for each blog posting and send people back to your blog every day. This way each blog posting will get the visibility it deserves. And, by not showing the date, these postings become evergreen.
Follow these steps and you will increase website traffic and get more sales, because you’ll be educating your prospects, answering their questions and teaching them how to buy from you.
How to Optimize your Website for Local Search
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, November 18, 2011
How to Optimize your Website for Local Search
As the search engines take “search” to next level, more and more people are beginning to narrow down their searches to their cities or neighborhoods. This is because of the rising need among visitors to know who they are dealing with. They want to personally visit your business location. Thus, targeting local visitors along with global visitors does help your website get the best of both worlds.
* 3 Reasons to Optimize for Local Search
1. Build Brand Awareness
Optimize your website for local keywords to increase brand awareness geographically.
2. Leverage Trust
If local visitors trust your brand, this can translate on to the web and capture the attention of global visitors. This superiority will set your website apart from your competitors.
3. Increase ROI
A recent survey shows that, local seo tends to convert more often, is cost effective and leads to increased ROI.
* How to Optimize your Website for Local Search?
Optimizing a website for a locally oriented business includes all the steps of on page and off page optimization along with a few tweaks and additions. The following steps will ensure that your website marks its presence in the local results.
1. Add Your City Name to the Meta Tags
It is highly important to add the name of your local city to your original keywords and place them accordingly in the title, keyword tag and description tag of the web page. While crawling and indexing the website, the searchbots interpret the emphasis on the name of the city; then use the city name for the search engine results pages from the database.
2. Use Other Localized Metadata Available
There are various other Meta Tags present in HTML which favor local website optimization. Some of them are present under the Meta name as ‘country’, ‘geo position’ or ‘ICMB’. Meta Name – country can be used to input the name of the country where your target visitors reside. Meta Name – geo position or ICMB can be used to input the latitude and longitude coordinates of your business city. Every country has its own unique ICMB code. These details give the search engines more favorable data to rank well locally.
3. Submit Your Website to Google Local Business Center
Google lets you submit your business listing free of cost to its local business center. You can add business details like address, area of operation, contact number and hours of operation to the listing. All these details are available on the screen with a snapshot of a map which shows the detailed location of your business. All you have to do is add the listing in the local business center by going through a quick verification process and the visitors will find their way to your business website.
4. Build High Quality Backlinks
Link building is the most important aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines give a lot of importance to incoming links and consider it as a measure of a website’s popularity. You can build quality backlinks by submitting your site to high PR search directories, internet yellow pages, local search engines and Google webmasters tool.
5. Select the Correct Service Provider
If your business is based in UK and your domain (.com) is hosted with a service provider whose servers are based in its Australian data centers, then chances of your website ranking well in Australia are more. This is because; the search engine will interpret your website to be an Australian website making it harder to rank well in UK search engines (.co.uk). Thus, hosting your website in the country where most of your customers live is a practical decision.
Website optimization for local search is a must for websites with service based businesses to increase lead generation, sales and ROI.
Top 10 Firefox Addons Essential for Web Design
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Top 10 Firefox Addons Essential for Web Design
Doing your site’s design is not only strenuous and exhausting but may be confusing as well when switching between your browser and designing software. Furthermore, looking at other website’s design can be a good inspiration – the design, colors and fonts can give ideas certainly for our own.
So there’s a reason behind the popularity of Firefox with designers across the board: it offers a variety of add-on plugins that make the designer’s (and the design lover’s) life easier and more productive. The following are 10 of the best add-ons out there – click on the links to go directly to the download page:
1) Codetech
With this add-on you can edit your files without leaving your browser. Works like a lite and handy avatar of Dreamweaver, with all essential functionalities built in.
2) Web Developer
An all-in-one plugin that lets you write code, edit CSS, try new styles and troubleshoot problems easily.
3) FireShot
If you like bookmarking inspirational designs, you’ll like Fireshot, a tool that allows you to grab screen captures and add notes and graphics directly on to it, and then save the capture on your computer, FireShot’s own servers, and/or email it to yourself or others.
4) Colorzilla
Want to use a specific color from a different website? Colorzilla makes it easy to find the exact value of any color on a web site with the use of an eyedropper tool. You can also quickly find CSS rules for a given color, analyze different colors and measure distances between different points on a page.
5) MeasureIt
This add-on overlays a ruler on any page you want and enables you to quickly measure the width, alignment and height of various elements.
6) Browser Window Resizer
Curious on how your designed page would look on different screens? With the use of this little add-on, you can test as many screen sizes as you want without having to use many computers!
7) CSS Validator/HTML Validator
Does what it says right in the title, but remember that the page you’re trying to validate must have a CSS file associated with it for this tool to work.
IE Tab
Given that lots of web users still use Internet Explorer, this is a great tool to test how your site works in IE without having to switch browsers.
9) Font Finder
With this add-on you can find out what font is being used on any site. Simply add to Firefox, highlight the text whose font value you want to know, and right-click to select “Font Finder”. Very handy for font-lovers and designers alike!
10) CSS Viewer
Easily view the CSS properties of any element on a page.
8 Steps to a Customer Focused Website that Turbo-Charges Sales
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
8 Steps to a Customer Focused Website that Turbo-Charges Sales
For any serious, professional, website investment, the user testing phase has become an integral part of the path to making more money online. Before your site is published, usability testing gathers feedback from the very people it is intended for -, with its main objective to ensure you’re creating a website that has an intuitive and easy to use interface, targeted to all users. But how do you reap the fullest benefits from your user testing sessions?
1. Choosing Your Subjects
The results of your session well depend largely on the people you test it on. Do not get people who may be biased, such as family, friends and workers from your company. People who have prior exposure to your project may yield flawed results and rate your site high in web accessibility when in fact, it is not. Assemble a focus group, people who fit a specific profile, to be the subjects. You can ask a market research firm or a temp agency to source out your participants. Subjects must not know the name of your company or other details to maintain objectivity.
2. Before Starting the Usability Testing Session
The atmosphere of the web usability study session must be as normal as possible. To achieve the best results, participants should be at ease and feel like they are using the site at home or work. Make sure the participants know the exact location of the testing session; if necessary, meet them at local stations. Do not use technical terms such as “usability testing” or “market research’ as these will only cause confusion and create tension. Inform your subjects beforehand of the length of time the testing will take and the type of tasks they are expected to do. When the participants have familiarized themselves with the environment, it is time for the signing of legal documents. Use simple English language that is easy to understand and make your forms as short as possible. Legal papers can add to a subject’s nervousness. Assure him that the tests are completely confidential and you only need his permission to use the information generated during the test as part of the results.
3. Starting the Usability Testing
Acquaint the subjects with their surroundings before going to the main tasks. Tell them the name of the website and the URL and get their initial thoughts, like what they expect from the site or what they would like the site to be. Record the terms or phrases they use; this shows you value their opinions and feedback. These terms may also be used as pointers for future references in functionality and navigation concerns. Next, let them visit the business website they’ll be testing. Find out what their initial reactions are before allowing them to get familiar with the site. Such inputs may give you ideas on how they evaluate a site for web credibility. Assure the subjects that their tasks will not be difficult and, most of all, that they are not the ones being tested.
4. Choosing Tasks
Choose tasks that your potential customers will consider important to their decision of whether to purchase or not. These play a significant role in ensuring the success of your business website. Such tasks are: Buying productsPaying billsContacting the client Encourage the participants to give suggestions of other tasks they want included. You can determine their expectations and requirements from their suggestions and set new functionality and priorities.
5. How to Express Tasks
People respond and perform in more natural way if they are given scenarios instead of instructions. In phrasing the tasks, it is more effective to say “Scenario A has occurred, and you need to ring the company urgently – find the telephone number” rather than “find the contact us section of the site”.
6. Presentation of Tasks
Give participants one task at a time. Simultaneous tasks may intimidate them, or alter their normal approach to the testing. If you require the subjects to use inputs from outside the test (e.g. an email giving them a password to the site), give them these inputs in the form they will be presented. This will provide useful feedback on all elements of the process, rather than simply the site.
7. What Your Behavior Ought To Be During Testing
Always keep in mind that the object being tested is the website, not you or the participant. All input is treated as important; this needs to be clearly pointed out to the participant. If there’s a step or a task that participants struggle with, it’s really important to tell them it’s not their fault. During the test, it’s important not to be “seen or heard”. You must not do the following actions: provide clues, suggest directions or react to what they say or do. These could alter the test results. So keep your actions neutral, even a shaking of your head or huffing is a no-no. The only time participants should hear from you is when they need help in giving an opinion or clarifying a response. Because they have invested much time and money in the project, clients often find it hard to keep quiet during tests. If your client wants to be present, put him in a separate room and provide an audio/video link.
8. When the Usability Testing Is Done
Upon completion of all tasks, gather and document as much information as possible. Ask for overall impressions of the website and detailed feedback on each task. You will be able to measure their experience, whether expectations were met and if their views have changed during the process. Always welcome suggestions- they will be useful in providing insights to improve web usability and accessibility and creates goodwill between you and the participants. Finally, ask the participants what they remember about the site structure and its functions. If they remember these clearly, it is a confirmation that the site is structured logically and this will help identify any labeling issues you may have missed.
Ways To Drive Free Targeted Traffic To Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Ways To Drive Free Targeted Traffic To Your Website
It’s a sad thing to know when you have a website developed at great cost and then it doesn’t get any visitors. When the launching party is over, then you begin waiting for any good signs, but soon you find out that the visitor counter remains at zero. If you’re one of these unlucky website owners, there is no need to despair. It’s probably only because you do not know how to drive free targeted traffic to your website.
The very first step you should take is to submit the URL of your website to the many search engines and search directories on the web. Overtime, most of the search engines will pick up your site, but this can take quite long. Search directories do not really crawl the web, so they won’t find your site. You have to manually submit it. The general search directories are important for another reason as well – quite a lot of the small search engines use directory listings for their search results.
Then you also get niche directories for specific interest groups. Should you for example have an affiliate website where you try to sell website hosting, you will find a large number of web hosting directories where website owners can submit their URL for free. Even if you are a blog owner, there should be more than one specific directory to which you can submit the URL.
Social bookmarking sites are becoming more and more popular. Many people are nowadays using them to locate what they’re looking for instead of the search engines, simply because the results are more targeted. With social bookmarking sites, you rely on your fellow web searchers to provide you with websites they deem important enough to visit.
A further great way to drive free targeted traffic to your website is by publishing a press release. There are a surprising number of free press release services where you can submit a press release about your company for free. They will not only publish it, but also submit it to other sites in their group.
Article submission is another way of promoting a website that is fast gaining popularity. The way this works is that you write an article about any subject, but preferably something that relates to your own site. You’re allowed to add a link to your own website at the bottom. You then submit this article to one or more of the various free article directories found all over the net.
Last but certainly not the least, there are the growing number of social media websites. Getting your own page at one of these means you can promote your blog or website for free. You can also network online and meet many potential customers. And what is very important is, your page will be included in their website’s search results, making it possible for potentially millions of visitors to find you – surely an excellent way to drive free targeted to your website.
Why Your Legitimate Online Businesses Websites Need to be Self-Hosted?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Why Your Legitimate Online Businesses Websites Need to be Self-Hosted?
To establish a presence on the web it is vitally important that your legitimate online businesses websites are maintained. Unfortunately there are many small businesses who don’t realize the necessity of having self-hosted websites and they tend to use the free alternatives instead.
So let’s take a look at why self-hosting websites are so much better for establishing your own online presence.
1. You Get Your Own Domain!
With free hosting you do not get to use your own domain and owning your own domain is vital in establishing a good web presence. Some of the reasons why this is so are; you don’t ever need to worry about the content on your website where as when using free hosting, if they stop operating for any reason at all or go out of business you will lose everything on your site.
They also have the right to dictate what you put on your website and this includes the advertisements, plus they can put their own ads on your website and they don’t need your permission to do it. When the ownership of your domain name is yours then you have total control over where people can find your website.
2. Freedom of Functionality
When using self-hosting the choice of software is yours alone and that means that you can make the decision about what type of software will best serve your needs. This includes the kind of software you choose to use on your blog to connect to possible customers through social media. With free hosting you do not get this choice.
To have the flexibility to run your legitimate online businesses the way you want, never even consider using free hosting, in fact you need to ascertain that the paid hosting company you decide on is of good quality if you wish to have flexibility with the way you operate.
3. Your Online Businesses will look more Professional
If you expect people to take both you and your online businesses seriously then YOU must also take your business seriously. When you use free hosting what you are saying to anyone who visits your website is that it really is not worth their time. Free website hosting companies are using your website to advertise their own products and this will automatically detract from your own business opportunities.
Once people leave your website chances are pretty good that they are not going to return to take advantage of any of your services or products that you have on offer.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, everything we have discussed up to this point comes down to one thing – Control.
Why would you want any other company to have control over your legitimate online businesses website? Self hosting not only gives your website a more professional look but it also allows you to make your own choices to create the website exactly as you want it to be.
Unless you are willing to treat your business seriously don’t expect that anyone else will do so. Free hosting will never give you the same advantages that self hosting will and in order to brand yourself and your online businesses you must have a professional and flexible website.
Five Essential Elements Every Business Website Should Have
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, November 11, 2011
Five Essential Elements Every Business Website Should Have
Although business owners and marketer’s are coming to recognize the importance of having a website for their business, how those websites are being designed and built is still very much a problem. In most cases, a website that replicates an online brochure is what most businesses have. The result thereof is ultimately a poor return on investment for the (often large amounts of) money they have spent on the site. Here are five essential elements that every business website should have:
1) Sign-up Form
Having hundreds or thousands of visitors to your website every month is no use if you are only capturing the details of a small percentage of them from people who actually inquire. What you need is a sign-up form that offers a freebie (a free report of interest to your visitors), a newsletter or something similar. This way, you are able to capture the details (name and email address) of the visitors to your site, as well as build your list of prospects.
2) Highly Visible Contact Details
The purpose of your a small business website is generally to encourage inquiries, which will ultimately lead to sales. It is therefore essential that your website has your company’s contact details clearly displayed on every page. Ideally, you should place the contact details in the header, or in the top right area of the page. Also, try to provide as many contact formats (telephone, fax, email, Skype) as possible.
3) Dedicated Sales Pages
This one is a little tricky, depending on your business. Ideally, you should try to have a separate page for each product/service, or group of products/services. This allows you to focus on marketing each product or service’s benefits, features, and so forth to its specific target market. It also gives you the freedom to provide extensive information on each product or service, as opposed to merely providing a product name or model number. Furthermore, this additional content assists in terms of search engine optimization (SEO).
4) Testimonials
Why should anyone who visits your website trust what you have to say about yourself? You are, after all, trying to sell yourself online. It is therefore always wise to feature testimonials on each sales or product page. Ideally, you want to place testimonials about each product or service on their respective page. I usually recommend placing them down the right-hand side column of your page, but it all depends on your layout.
5) Blog
You may think that blogging is some weird, new age concept that only the “arty” and creative people of this world indulge in – you’re wrong. Setting up a blog allows you to write about anything related to your business, for example: new products or services, events, how-to’s, insights and opinions. Be sure to feature a “subscribe” option on your blog, so that you can build that database of prospects as well. Blogging also assists from an SEO perspective, by continuously adding fresh, original content to your website, which Google loves.
As an added bonus to these five essentials, I always recommend using an analytics or tracking program, such as Google Analytics (which is free), to track the goings-on of your website and assess how much and where your traffic (visitors) is coming from. As with anything, commit to learning about the topic, in this case, internet marketing, and keep an eye out for new trends that may benefit your business’ website.
Top Tube Video Downloader Tools
YouTube has become a household name for entertainment and anything else involving videos, which is why a tube video downloader is such a useful tool. Everything from short goofy clips to involved online tutorials is available through the popular website with the only minor drawback being viewing access. You have to be on the internet, log in to find your favorites or search for the video and hope that your bandwidth is running at optimum performance so you can watch the video uninterrupted. But now you can enjoy the convenience of downloading videos on to your computer, this is made possible through a few different devices.
First off, the logical solution to this problem would be for YouTube to make the content downloadable. YouTube is in the testing phase of giving video uploaders the option to make their videos downloadable for a price or for free. This will eliminate any outside problems of copyrights or law breaking since no matter how videos are shared after download they will still contain the original users YouTube source. This will most likely become a standard option, instead of just a test, in the not so distant future.
For now though, other options are still available for downloading pleasure. One well known option with unknown abilities is RealPlayer. Most RealPlayer versions can be used as a tube video downloader to download YouTube videos directly from the site. When you move over the video screen an option appears to download the video straight to your RealPlayer library. RealPlayer is also capable of burning the files to DVD, but this usually requires a version available through upgrade, meaning it isn’t free.
Other software options such as Savevid.com or Keepvid.com will still let you download the videos just not directly from the site. The process is slightly more involved but still not complicated. Simply copy the video URL or web address onto the toolbar and hit download. There are two different quality options, the higher MP4 version or its original FLV type. The FLV or flash format usually isn’t supported by normal video players so a converter will have to be downloaded as well if this option is chosen. You can find one easily by searching the web for an FLV converter.
One of the easiest to use is the Tube Video Downloader add-on. It’s compatible with Explorer and Firefox, which are the two most popular browsers. Once installed for free, you simply go to the video you’re interested in and hit save. That’s it!
After downloading your favorite videos it’s easy to unlink from your computer by simply downloading the video onto a media storage device or mp3 player with video playback. As discussed, some programs will even enable you to make your own DVD from the content. Beyond browser compatibility and certain attached fees, it’s a cut and dry process anyone can do in a matter of minutes. You can now watch hamsters do a back flips as many times as you want without even connecting to the internet!
The Top Time Tracking Tools to Use for Outsourcing Your Web Development
Outsourcing is a valuable tool if you hope to succeed as a small business online. The simple reason behind this is that outsourcing to trusted freelancers will cut down dramatically on labor costs, leaving you the extra time and money to better spend in promoting your business through marketing and product development.
Of course, you must make wise decisions as an online company when it comes to outsourcing by using outsourced employees for the more menial tasks, like writing content, administration, web development, link building, and blog management, while leaving the more important projects for yourself and your top staff members, like market research, managing social media profiles, and networking with other companies in your niche.
Once you have hired several freelancers as your outsourced staff, using the best tools will cut down on serious stress, disorganization, and potential pitfalls within any project that you embark on. In fact, it is not recommended to outsource without using these time tracking tools under any circumstance, or you could risk long-term problems in the productivity and success of your company:
* RescueTime
RescueTime is an ideal tool for outsourcing that helps you to control and better understand how your outsourced staff spends their attention and time. One of the best portions of this tool is that it does not require any data entry, and all you have to do is install a small application that will track what websites and software are being used by your employees. This is best to manage a team of several people, especially if they are not working in a physical office with you. This tool alone will keep your staff accountable for their time and work within any project that you hire them for.
* ClockingIt
This tool is a free hosting application that will help you to keep track of time and tasks for any freelance project. ClockingIt offers project management features so that you can plan, see the project schedule, and know if any outsourced employees have fallen behind. The Time Tracking alone is a valuable feature that will give you reports to offer to your clients on which tasks were completed within a project in a certain amount of time.
* BaseCamp
BaseCamp is helpful software for outsourcing to several employees, which will offer features like web based documents, milestone management, to-do lists, time tracking, file sharing, and a messaging system. This tool is, in fact, perfect for outsourcing to people all over the country or outside of the country so that they can collaborate, communicate, and upload their work within a project for further editing or feedback.
* ProjectPier
This is a free PHP application that is used for managing teams and projects with a user-friendly web interface. This tool needs to be downloaded and installed into your own server, and it will help your staff collaborate, facilitate communication, and complete tasks in an organized manner as an outsourced team. For any small businesses starting out in outsourcing, this is an invaluable free tool that will give you the freedom to manage several employees within other areas of the country.
* ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is fantastic project management software that allows you to collaborate within your own server or local network. You can work with your own staff and outsourced employees in a simple environment that will help you control and manage all project data. Some of the features of ActiveCollab include tracking progress on projects, assigning tasks, team communication, e-mail support, shared files, notifications, time trackers, milestone management, and the ability to invite new freelance employees to a project.
The truth is that as a small business, there are no better tools that you can use to manage freelance or outsourced employees. Outsourcing has its own slew of benefits when done properly, and these tools will make the process much more organized so that you can delay or even prevent using a physical staff for years into the future. Speaking of future, outsourcing is truly a modern concept that is becoming more and more popular as small businesses turn to freelancers online for many of their day-to-day tasks and support. In the same manner, numerous skilled professionals are turning to freelance careers in work-for-hire so that they can outsource to online companies based on their specific skills and qualifications.
With the multitude of skilled professionals available for outsourcing, this is the perfect resource to enhance the success and productivity of your small online business!
The Long Tail: Opportunities and Threats
In 2004 Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine, Chris Anderson, popularized the long tail theory in an article called “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.” In retail terms, the long tail describes a niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities.
The increasing popularity of online retailers presents an interesting opportunity for artists and suppliers alike. Because it doesn’t cost ecommerce sites like Amazon.com any more money to list a marginalized book title then it does to list a bestseller, they can afford to do so. A brick-and-mortar shop however, with rent and overheads to pay, cannot. The advantage of this to the supplier (Amazon) is that they are making another sale. The advantage to the artist (novelist) is that their book is being sold and potentially recommended by the websites various recommendation channels and features.
With regards to web content providers, the long tail theory suggests that smaller web sites, focusing solely on a niche area, might come to threaten larger search engines that cover a vast array of subjects.
Social media and marketing expert Seth Godin warns us against getting too comfortable in the theory of the long tail. In his blog post entitled “When the Long Tail is Underwater” he acknowledges that the long tail is real, and that given the choice, people will find what’s perfect for them. However, he rightly points out that there are still millions of songs on iTunes that are never bought and millions of blogs on the web that are never read. While he encourages us all to continue to think outside of the box and design our business plans slightly outside of the lines, he warns against going too far, to point where people are no longer interested.
When designing a business plan a company should always look at the competition. What similar things are currently available, how are they being marketed and how successful have they been? If it turns out there is a market for your product or idea, then by all means, launch it and input your own twists. If there isn’t a market though, it might be worth asking yourself why. There is likely to be a good reason.
Similarly, when you market a product or design a website, consider how your competitors have done it. Marketing strategies, website designs and content are the time to be unique and create a sense of company individuality and avant-garde thinking. So if you’re going to splash out, splash out there.
7 Strategies for Reducing your Website Development Costs
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 5, 2011
7 Strategies for Reducing your Website Development Costs
Completing the following steps prior to starting a new website development or enhancement project can ensure that your project stays on budget and on schedule:
1. Identify the person(s) that will assist you in developing a detailed plan for your site
Before starting your project, ensure that you and your team are on the same page concerning the final vision for your site. This will minimize (eliminate) any mid-development confusion between your team members and ensures that once the development/design activities begin, they can proceed with a clear definition of the end product. Website projects that are less defined can incur unexpected expenses due to “scope creep”. Generally, scope creep occurs when unexpected tasks are added to a project. This leads to higher than planned project costs and an extension of the project deadline. When new tasks are added to your project, determine if these are necessary items to complete during this phase or if a second phase is needed. If you decide to increase the scope of your project, be sure to ask your website developer for a printout of the additional costs and an indication of how the new task will affect your deadline.
2. Identify the person responsible for communicating with your website developer
Also, identify how often you need to communicate with the developer during the development process. Generally, the more meetings you have with your website developer the more it will cost you. If you have a well defined project, your meetings will be shorter meetings to determine if you’re on schedule. Particularly with short web development projects or projects with budget constraints, you want to avoid ongoing requirements gathering meetings. If the project is not well defined, you risks staying in the “requirements gathering” phase for the duration of the project. This is always more costly than identifying, approving and finalizing your requirements before any work is performed. For larger (and longer) projects, you should identify a requirements gathering phase at the onset of the project to ensure that the deliverables and phases are well defined.
3. If your website project involves a site design or redesign, have a vision before you contact a website designer
Having a vision of your preferred site design reduces the number of revisions required. Design revisions can add to the cost of your site if you are unsure of what you want. Starting a design project with an “I’ll know it when I see it” approach can increase your project cost and timeline due to an excessive number of revisions or increased scope. If you absolutely do not have a vision, make a list of comparable websites that appeal to you. Be sure to note any required elements that you’d like to include on your website.
4. Finish writing your content or have someone write the content just as you would like it to appear on the site
You can not (should not) launch a website with incomplete content. If your content is not ready, consider a brochure site (one page) website instead of investing in a larger inadequately defined website project. A website is meaningless without effective content. If your content is not ready, your website is not complete.
5. Once your content is written in web-ready format, organize your content by function or section (e.g. company information, services, testimonials etc.)
This will help determine the scope of your project (i.e. # of pages, navigational items etc.).
6. Identify how you would like your visitors to interact with your website
This ensures that you and your website developer have a clear understanding of the overall scope of the project. A five-page static website is much different than a five-page website with interactive or dynamic features or a five-page website integrated with a third-party shopping cart. Generally, any feature that requires advanced scripting, programming services or integration with a third-party application will add to the cost of your project. Therefore, it is important for you to be clear about your requirements prior to signing the contract.
7. Before you request or approve any new features, revisit your original scope and answer the following questions:
- Does this new tasks fall within the original scope of the project?
- How does this addition contribute to my final product? Is it important?
- How does this affect my deadline?
- What are the additional costs?
- Do I need to include this activity in a second phase?
- How does this addition affect other tasks? Does this eliminate another task or duplicate a previously completed effort (e.g. going back to drawing board on a completed and approved redesign)? If you find that the new task is a duplicate of an already completed effort, before any further work is done, take some time to rethink your project and ensure that money is not being wasted on an ill-defined product.
Performing these activities ensures that everyone at the table shares the same vision, allows your web professional to provide an adequate quote for your project and helps everyone stay on schedule.
24 Essential Pages to include on Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, November 3, 2011
24 Essential Pages to include on Your Website
Wondering what pages to include on your website and why? Here is a list of important information that should be included on your site.
Before you start thinking about what to write, it is important that you create a plan, which outlines what each page will contain. That way you won’t repeat yourself or forget vital information. The most common pages on successful websites include:
1. Home Page (First Page)
This is your “sales” page and should provide information about what you can do for your customers. It should also give your visitors a brief overview of what they can find on your site.
2. Products / Services
It is useful to have a separate page for each product/service and write as much detail about each as possible. Start each page with a brief summary of the product/service, then provide whatever information you can. When people are searching for information on the internet, they want to know it NOW. They don’t want to wait until tomorrow when they can speak to you on the phone.
3. Contact Us
Place contact details in as many places as possible. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Create a special “Contact Us” page, include your details in “About Us” page and also at the bottom of each page. Information to include: business name, physical address, mailing address, telephone, fax, email, emergency number, website address.
4. Pricing
Whenever possible include the price of your products/services. Even if you can’t be specific. It is helpful to put at least a range of prices, eg. Carpet cleaning ranges between $40 – $60 per room.
5. Testimonials / Product Reviews / Before & After
Include testimonials from your current customer to show your potential clients that you are trustworthy, reliable and that you offer great service and/or products. Make sure the testimonials are real and if possible provide contact details of the person who supplied you with the testimonial. If you don’t have any right now, get them! Simply email your customers and ask for their feedback on your business and service.
You could also include before and after photos. Show the problem picture and beside it show the picture of resolution, with an explanation of your product’s benefits.
6. Frequently Asked Questions
This has proven to be a great time saver for many companies. Instead of having to answer the same questions over and over again, place them on your website and keep adding to them. The more information you have on your website, the less time you will need to spend answering questions by email or phone.
Frequently Asked Questions should address your customer’s concerns that may otherwise be an obstacle to making a sale.
7. Response form such as “Subscribe” or “Enquiry” form
An absolute must if you want to build a mailing list. Most people don’t like giving out too much information, so ask only the basics, such as Name and Email Address. Then keep in touch with your customers on a regular basis by sending out information that may be of interest to them. You may even wish to develop your own on-line magazine (ezine). There are many fantastic free or inexpensive programs that can handle this for you.
8. On-line Magazine or Newsletter
This is a great marketing tool. Not only does it help you keep in touch with your customers, but provides your website with fresh content. You can set up your Ezine in 2 different ways:
(a) Email subscribers on a regular basis or (b) Publish it on your website.
Or both. Include information about your business, industry or anything that may be of interest to your customers.
9. Resources/Articles
Add value to your business. Provide information that is complementary to what you do. For example, if you sell wedding dresses include information about reception venues, wedding planners, wedding cakes, flowers. By adding extra information you encourage more hits.
10. About Us
This is a very important page as it tells your customer about who you are and why they should buy your products, services and/or trust your organization. It can also feature your business hours (if you have a bricks and mortar store) or when they can speak to someone on the phone. Many companies also include their mission, details of their staff (photos, biographies, qualifications), recently completed projects, ACN or ABN, logo, directions to your store/office. It is also useful to include details of trade associations you belong to, trade and insurance certificates and any awards you may have won.
11. Guarantee
Offer a money back guarantee. The longer the guarantee, the more effective it will be. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 1 year or lifetime.
12. Survey
Find out what customers think about your website, business or product.
13. Events Calendar
This can relate to your business or industry. If you are an artist, you can feature dates where and when your art will be displayed or if you are a singer, where you will be performing.
14. Search My Website Feature
Some visitors to your side may not know exactly what they want but if you include a search function on your site, they can look for it very easily. Like search engines, this feature will allow your visitors to type in a word or phrase and then search for it on your site. It’s like having your own mini search engines, only instead of it searching the world wide web, it just searches your website.
15. Return/Refund Policy
To make your customers feel more comfortable when making a transaction at your website, you should provide then with your return/refund policy. Ensure it is easy to understand and spelt out step by step.
16. Privacy Policy
Privacy continues to be a major issue for customers shopping online. Concerns about how their information is going to be used is a major barrier when making a sale. Internet shopping experience is built on trust and privacy is the number one ingredient in trust.
17. Site Map
A site map is similar to a contents. It shows visitors how the site is laid out and which sections are where.
18. Copyright Information
Your website should carry a copyright notice to protect its intellectual property. It is generally in the form of “Copyright © 2004, Your Company Name”.
19. Links
Here you can place links to the manufacturers of your products, trade associations or complementary services. When you place links to other businesses, you can request they do the same for you. This will not only bring you more visitors, but may improve your search engine ranking.
20. Media Information
Include any information, articles, photos of your products, staff etc that have appeared in the media – print, TV, radio or internet.
21. News
This can include news about your products/services or about your industry.
22. On-line store
An on-line store allows you sell products directly on the internet 24 hours a day/7 days a week. When building an online store it is important to take in a number of key concepts.
* Make sure that when visitors arrive at your store the navigational mechanisms are simple and effective
* The actual process of placing the order must be simple
* Make sure you accept common and convenient methods of payment
* Continually test your store so you understand your customer’s shopping experience
23. Blog
A blog is a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily or weekly using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Blogs are a great tool as they help with:
1. Communicating with your customers. Blogs provide a way for you to communicate with your customers directly. And it is a two-way communication. You can post a message on your blog and your visitors can easily respond.
2. Search Engine Marketing Blogs give you an increased presence on search engines, like Yahoo! and Google. If you use Blogger (Google’s Blogging Tool), every message you post creates a new page on Google so in a very short time you could have lots of pages pointing to your website
3. Stay Ahead of Your Competition Blogs are relatively new and chances are your competition does not yet use them. So you will be seen as an expert in your industry when you post your knowledge and expertise.
4. Media & Public Relations Blogs are excellent PR tools. You can post your Media Releases and articles and have them picked up by the media.
5. Free or Low Cost
24. Photo Gallery
Even if you do not wish to sell your products on-line, you may wish to showcase your goods or services in a special photo gallery – show how your products or services are being used by your customers. They say “pictures speak a thousand words” and on your website it is particularly important.
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
Have you ever registered or attempted to register for an event and spent half an hour trying to figure out what you needed to do? Or have you used an online registration form that lost your data or was so complicated that it seemed like more work than faxing the form?
When used properly, online registration is an extremely powerful tool that makes registration easy for event participants. If used improperly, event participants can be left extremely frustrated and in some cases reluctant to attend the event.
We have put together a list of ten design tips to help you create user friendly registration forms and give your event participants a positive registration experience.
1. Make the registration form easy to access
Make the link to the online registration form very obvious. Event participants may not be familiar with your website and will become frustrated if they have to hunt for the registration form. If you are sending a URL (web address) in printed material make the address as simple as possible so participants aren’t entering a long string of characters. Also, only put a registration form in a password protected part of your website when absolutely necessary. People often forget their passwords, which will cause more frustration and possibly generate calls and emails to the event planner.
2. Make your form familiar and secure
Event participants need to be reassured that their data is secure. A good way to do this is to brand the online form to match your website. This way, the transition to the online from is seamless and event participants will remain comfortable with the process. Also, make sure that appropriate security icons such as the lock symbol in your browser appear when collecting credit card numbers.
3. Make the registration form clear and easy to use
A well laid out and visually appealing registration form encourages event participants to register. On the form, keep text to a minimum and make it clear what you want participants to do. Use logic to guide participants through the form and give warnings if something is wrong.
4. Have appropriate payment options
If you have a fee associated with your event, make sure the payment methods you offer are appropriate for the people registering. For example, large companies may require an invoice before a check can be issued and some groups of people may not have credit cards.
5. Make sure it works
There is nothing worse than entering all of your registration data and then getting an error when you click submit and losing the data. Before going live, be sure to test your form several times selecting all of the different options to be sure everything will work for the event participants.
6. Display your privacy policy
Many people are concerned about who will have access to their information and how it will be used. Make sure you have a privacy statement available on the online form to reassure participants that you are protecting their information.
7. Anticipate questions participants may have
Don’t overload the form with information (tip 3), but have information on the form that you think may be useful when registering such as prices, dates or special instructions. It’s inconvenient for participants to have to click back to search for the information on your website and in some cases clicking “back” will delete the data in a partially complete form.
8. Only request necessary data
The less information people have to provide the more comfortable they will be with the process and the quicker they will be able to complete the form. If you are asking for personal information such as birthdate it helps to add a note saying why you are requesting the information.
9. Don’t over use mandatory fields
Mandatory fields help to get fully complete registration forms, but too many mandatory fields can frustrate an event participant. This is especially true if there is information that is not readily known such as the fax number for someone else in their group.
10. Avoid making participants sign up with another company before they can register for your event
Some online registration companies require that people registering for your events first sign up as a member with them. A system like this has its place, but many event participants will be turned off providing information to a third party.
Top 5 Signs That Your Website Sucks
Small business owners may not have the resources to invest heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know something’s wrong but don’t have the faintest idea how to fix it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well? Don’t know what kind of traffic you’re getting? Website problems can fall into a myriad of categories. So if you think your website sucks, a) it probably does, and b) you should read on.
1. You Aren’t Getting Traffic
You’re excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well it’s a shame it isn’t making you a darn cent. Just because it exists doesn’t mean people know about it. Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites (you do have useful content, don’t you? If not, I’ll cover this later). You can even do some link exchanges — provided the sites you exchange with are reputable — just to get your site crawled early on. Further optimize it for search engines by following good SEO practices, building quality content and generating inbound links from other sites. Once you do that, you’ll need to monitor progress with web analytics software. Google Analytics is free and it has a slick interface. And we know you like pretty things seeing as how you broke the bank on your web site design.
If you’re looking for high ROI, invest your own time in learning search engine marketing. Better yet hire a qualified SEO firm if you have the budget for it. Don’t settle for quick-fix promotional ideas. Build long-term exposure and a solid reputation by attaining high rankings, keeping email/newsletter lists, targeted ad placement and social media participation.
2. You Have Worthless Content
What defines worthless content? Without knowing what topic your web site covers it’s tough to say, but if you have nothing that sets you apart from your top competitors then I’d say you aren’t in good shape. If you don’t know what kind of content people are looking for on the Internet today, take a peek at what’s popular on social bookmarking sites. Observe some of the story titles on the front page of Digg.com:
* “Guinness Stout Beef Stew Recipe for St. Patrick’s Day”
* “In Move to Digital TV, Confusion Is in the Air”
* “Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War”
* “Automatic bacon dispenser?”
* “The 5 Best Obama Photomosaics on Flickr”
Words I would use to describe these topics, in order, are: seasonal, informative, satirical, comical, and trendy. This information is popular because it’s appealing in its uniqueness and is relevant to today’s market. To set yourself apart from your competition, you need to get creative. If you’re the kind of person who had trouble painting by numbers, then hire someone creative. Professional copy writers can be well worth the investment. Create free tools your customers will want to use; write funny or interesting commentary in a blog about your industry; put a new spin on a traditional product or service or offer seasonal discounts. Create a comprehensive F.A.Q. on your site that covers topics your competitors don’t.
Take the time to beef up your content. Be innovative – don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Use the top competitor in your field as a measuring stick.
3. You Have No Call-to-Action
Poor promotional language can have a sabotaging effect if visitors aren’t drawn to your conversion pages. A conversion page is any page that acts as the final step in a visitor submitting a form, making direct contact or purchasing a product online. Obscuring those pages or confusing the visitor on where to go next can make them leave your site. Internet users have a short attention span – give them a clear direction when navigating your web site.
Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the traffic is targeted. Once you know the type of visitor and the specific page they land on, then you can start marketing your content more accurately.
The bottom line is to always make clear why, and how, visitors can buy your product. Don’t get too cute with multiple steps, options or convoluted language.
4. You’re Getting Traffic But No Sales
Are you sure the traffic is relevant? If you’re running a pay-per-click campaign, ensure your ads are geo-targeted properly and your ad text or landing pages appeal to your customers. For organic search engine placement, have you done keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content? Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on your site? Are the referring sites relevant to your industry or topic? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales won’t come if your visitors aren’t interested in what you’re selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so important to search engine marketing.
If you’re running ads it’s always good practice to experiment with different ad campaigns. If you put all your eggs in one basket you run the risk of losing out on potential revenue. Elements of your ads that you can change are:
* Ad text
* Landing page
* Specific network your ads are shown across
* Topics on which you focus the campaign
* Geo-locations targeted
Remember, it doesn’t pay to skimp on initial product/market research and analysis.
5. You’re Getting Relevant Traffic But No Sales
This problem could signal a technical error or navigation problem with your site. Make sure you thoroughly test all functionalities on various web browsers and systems. Submit test forms. Do a link check to spot possible broken links. Is your web hosting service reliable?
If you’ve ruled out technical issues as the cause then turn your attention to the content and customer base. Has your market taken a downturn? Can the lack of sales be attributed to the poor economy? Have you fallen behind your competition in product quality, selection or pricing? Does your web site’s navigation system confuse users? Your web site is the first line of contact between the business and potential customer, but it’s not the only step you need to worry about. Telephone operators or online payment systems can present their own issues.
14 Steps to Good Business Website Design
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, October 29, 2011
14 Steps to Good Business Website Design
How important is Website Design? Your Website needs to look professional and trustworthy in order to create buyer confidence. A poorly designed Website will cost you sales.
So where do you need to start ?
1. Choose a Domain Name
A domain name is the web address of your website (i.e. www.bizhelp24.com). All websites must have a domain name before they can go live on the Internet.
If you have an advertising budget to promote your business, then it is beneficial to choose a domain name that is the same as your business or gives people an idea of what you sell. Alternatively, if you do not have a large budget, it may be more beneficial to use a domain name that includes a ‘keyword’ so that when people search for something specific your site has a better chance of being found.
For example if your site is about relieving back pain, a domain such as ‘www.backpainrelief.xxx’ will be more likely to show up in searches.
Either way, you need to use a name that benefits your long-term business aims, and not something that is restrictive. E.g. ‘wellheeled123.com’, might be a clever name for a business that sells exclusive shoes. But if that business then diversifies into other products, the website name is no use anymore.
2. Design Your Home Page
The Home Page is probably the most important page. It’s the first page your visitors will see, so you need to make a good impression. On this page, you should communicate who you are and why you have a website. You want to make sure that your message is clear and not lost in many long paragraphs. Try to divide your text into sections that you can mark with headers in a larger font or using bold text. Don’t underline text as this can make it look like a link.
One of the most important aspects of the text on your home page is the “Call to Action”.
“Call to Action” is the text that tells your visitors what you want them to do next. Do you want them to call and schedule a consultation, visit your shop, or just browse the other pages in your website? Make this command prominent by changing its color or increasing the font size.
Also consider uploading an image or two onto your Home Page. A colorful image will help to captivate your visitors and they will be more likely to continue browsing your site.
You need a simple Home Page that clearly communicates your website’s purpose and goals.
3. Design Your About Us Page
The About Us page of your website should be used to reveal a little more about yourself or your business. Consider any additional details that might be important to your customers.
You should also consider having a Map of where you are located. Having a Map on your About Us page creates a very professional feel for your website and makes your small business look big.
If you do not operate out of a physical location, think about other things that your customers would find interesting about your business. Perhaps you have an exciting company background that you could share or more details regarding the services you offer.
Whatever you decide to write, remember to keep the text in short paragraphs.
4. Design Your Contact Us Page
You are now getting very close to having designed a good 3-page site. The last element that all websites should have is a Contact Us page.
Include the best way to contact you directly on this page. Make your phone number or email address prominent on the page, perhaps with different font styles.
Make sure to keep this page simple though, as you don’t want your customers to get distracted by other content. Ensure each page in your site has something valuable to offer. Don’t design ‘Pretty, But Useless’. Let’s step back and realise that a web page exists to provide something that’s useful or interesting to visitors. If your page doesn’t have that, then you must fix that problem before you worry about how to present it.
What are you offering to your visitors? Why is it worth their time to visit your site? Focus on that before you move on to how it should look.
5.Keep Advertising Ratio 25% or Less
Amazingly, I see some sites that are almost nothing but ads. We know that no one would turn on the telly if it were just adverts, or buy a magazine if it were just ads and no articles. By the same token, a website also has to have more than ads if it’s to be successful. If you are running ads on your website, then you should ensure that the ratio to editorial is no more than 25% to 75%. Your visitors came to your site to see what YOU had to offer.
If you have affiliations and partnerships that are relevant to your site, then by all means include them. Don’t do what I saw recently on a website for a large fabric retailer where the web designer had put her friend’s Aromatherapy Massage practice in as a link. It’s not professional.
6. Don’t Distract With Blinking/Scrolling Text Or Auto Play Video/Audio
Animation and sounds are distracting. How can anyone concentrate on reading what’s on your site when there are things flying around the page? It’s like trying to read a newspaper when someone’s poking you in the shoulder repeatedly.
Scrolling text does nothing to serve the visitor. If it’s on a site it’s because the site owner thought, “Let me show how cool I am.” Don’t design the site for yourself, design it for the people who will actually use it.
If you have relevant audio or video on your site, make it so the visitor can play it when THEY want, not at start up.
7. Don’t Use Image Backgrounds
Full Image backgrounds mean “amateur”. A site like this can also have extremely slow page-loading times. This is NOT a professional image, and will turn visitors away.
8. Put Thought Into Organization
Think about what content you have and how it should be organized. This is just as important as what your site looks like, so spend time on it. You are not doing your visitors a favour if everything is thrown up higgledy-piggedly, and they have to leap about the site looking for what they want instead of being informed.
9. Minimize Clicking!
This is so important. Put as few clicks between the visitor and the information as possible. Clicking around will make the visitor abandon the site and go elsewhere
10. Limit Page Length To 2 Screens
This is where it gets a bit difficult. While you should put a lot into the design to limit clicking, you should also avoid going too far in the opposite direction by putting too much on one page.
You should normally limit a page to 2 screens. Articles by their nature, like this, are exceptions to that rule.
11. Include a Navigation Menu on Every Page
Always include a menu on the page. This allows the visitor to start all over again at ‘Home’, or to click on another page that interests them.
Don’t put navigation links only at the bottom of pages, because then users will have to scroll down to the bottom to get to them (unless your pages are very short).
12. Website Readability
A line of text should be no more than about 600 pixels wide. What does THAT mean ? Well it means that your website page should be no wider than say the middle two thirds of your monitor screen. The reason that newspapers and magazines are printed in columns is to make the lines short, so after you read one line, it’s easy to find the start of next one when your eyes flick left.
The problem with wide layout is that the content will be too wide to read easily for those visitors with really large screens as the content expands to fit the screen (or window).
13. Use Contrasting Colours with Text
It is hard to read light text if it is on a light background, or dark text on a dark background.
There are also some combinations that just don’t work. For example I came across a website just yesterday that insisted I try to read a bright green font on a bright red background. I persisted only because the company owner was seeking my advice and help.
14. Seek Advice
If all this seems too much to take in, remember you can always call in the professionals. A good designer will take all of the above into account, and much more if he or she is considering the area of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for your website. He wants it to work for you. There are many companies around who will do all the above and much more; for just a few hundred pounds.
5 Useful Website Design Tips For A More Reader-Friendly Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
5 Useful Website Design Tips For A More Reader-Friendly Site
One of my favorite things I like to do when I’m online is browse the Internet, and check out other marketing websites. I’m an avid reader, so when I come across a well-designed website that appears to have an abundance of quality content, I’ll usually spend a few minutes on the site reading that content.And if the site provides a pleasant reader experience, I’ll bookmark it and visit it again.
However, it takes a very special website to capture my attention. And unfortunately, most sites fall far short of my expectations. As a result, I rarely bookmark websites. No, more often than not, when I visit a website, I click away after just a second or two.
Why? Because in my opinion, many websites just aren’t what I would call reader-friendly. In fact, they’re just the opposite. They provide a lousy reader experience.
Following are five things that ruin my reader experience:
1. Too Busy Web Pages
Have you ever visited a web page that was so busy and overcrowded your eyes didn’t know what to focus on? The tragedy of these types of web pages is some of them probably have content that readers would be interested in.
But the web pages are so doggone clutttered and disorganized, visitors can’t find what they’re looking for – or are too frustrated to even try.
When you design your website, arrange items in a neat and orderly fashion. Space things out. Because when it comes to website design, a little white space is a good thing.
Also, if you don’t already have one, install a sitemap. The following website will allow you to quickly and easily create your own sitemap right online:
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com
In addition to a sitemap, installing an internal search box will also improve your visitors reading experience, as well as assist them in finding the information that they’re seeking. This is especially important if you have a large website with lots of pages.
If you would like to learn more about installing an internal search box on your site, TechSoup has written an excellent article on the topic, titled Adding a Search Engine to Your Site Is Easier than You Think:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9353.cfm
2. Reverse Type
I’m absolutely amazed at how many websites I’ve visited that are written in reverse text. What’s reverse text? Reverse text is light colored or white text on a dark or black background. If used correctly, reverse text can produce an impressive visual impact.
The problem is many websites don’t use it correctly. And if you have a whole web page of reverse text, it’s extremely difficult on the eyes.
Why? Because according to readability studies, reverse text is not suitable for reading because of its poor legibility even in normal lighting conditions. It’s hard on the eyes, and just not reader-friendly. That’s why newspapers, books and magazines have always been printed on white paper with black text.
When designing your website, it’s best to use black text on a white or light-colored background, for optimum readability. However if you decide to use reverse text, use it in moderation.
3. Huge Blocks of Text
Internet users are notorious scanners. They’ll scan your text first, before deciding whether or not to actually read it. That’s why you should always break up your text into short, reader-friendly paragraphs.
When I come across a web page that has these huge blocks of text, (ie, paragraphs that never seem to end), I won’t even waste my valuable time trying to read it. I’ll just click away, and leave your site.
And if I feel that way, you can bet other visitors to your site feel the exact same way. Again, always break up your text into short paragraphs. In addition, use bullets and subheads whenever possible. They help break up your text, so that it’s easier to read.
Remember what I said earlier? Internet users are notorious scanners. That’s why subheads and bullets are so important.
4. Tiny Font Sizes
Do you remember the nearsighted cartoon character, Mr. Magoo? He always walked around with his eyes in a permanent squint, trying to visually decipher things that were right in front of him.
Well, that’s exactly how I feel when I visit some websites. I find myself squinting like Mr. Magoo, because the font size is so tiny. When that happens, guess what? Click…I’m outta there.
Do your readers a favor, and stay away from tiny font sizes. Stick with the standard 12-point font size, whenever possible.
Conversely, it’s not a good ideal to use overly large font sizes either. It’s just not reader-friendly. Another thing, use ALL CAPS and fancy fonts in moderation.
5. Excessive Bold Type and Highlighting
The other day I was browsing the Internet doing research, when I came across something that caught my eye – but not in a good way. It was a web page, and it was absolutely hideous. So, what made it so hideous?
The entire web page written entirely in bold type, which is a crime in itself. But even worse than that, the page was highlighted in yellow from top to bottom.
Can you imagine that? It looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants.
Unfortunately, I see this all too often on websites. You should always use bold type and highlight in moderation, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs.
In closing, I hope you’ll take these reader-friendly website design tips to heart, and apply them to your website, if applicable. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
Because if your visitors have an unpleasant reader experience, chances are, they won’t be coming back.
14 Website Design Tips That Will Help You Convert More Prospects Into Buyers
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, October 23, 2011
14 Website Design Tips That Will Help You Convert More Prospects Into Buyers
1. Make sure your website loads quickly
Nothing is more annoying to visitors than a website that take forever to load. You may have the greatest website in the world, but if it takes too long time to load, visitors aren’t going to hang around to see it.
2. Have a crystal clear identity
Have you ever landed on a website and didn’t know what it was about? How did you feel? You didn’t like it did you? And I’ll bet you probably clicked out of there pretty quickly. Well, your visitors don’t like it either. Don’t let your visitors have to try and figure out what your website is all about. Make it crystal clear, right from the beginning. Having a big, descriptive headline on your home page is an excellent way to announce what your website is about. Also, choose relevant keywords for your pages, as opposed to trying to trick people just to get eyeballs. Keep your keywords relevant to your web pages.
3. Keep it simple
Don’t worry about trying to impress with all kinds of unnecessary whistles and bells. (Does anyone really need flash?) Focus on usability, sales and conversions. Simple website designs convert.
4. White space is a good thing
Stay away from clutter. Have a clean, user-friendly site that makes it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Remember, white space is a good thing. Also, if your website has a lot of content and/or a lot of pages, add a search box, to make it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for.
5. Have compelling copy that sells
Ultimately, conversions come down to sales copy. If you don’t have the ability to write effective sales copy that sells, hire someone that does. It’s well worth the investment.
6. Don’t give prospects too many choices
While variety can be a good thing, giving your prospects too many items to choose from can often backfire. Why? Because giving prospects too many items to choose from can confuse them. And confused prospects don’t buy. Limit product options to no more than three choices.
7. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your content
Remember, out of sight, out of mind. Keep your website in the uppermost of prospects minds with your content via newsletters, RSS feeds, etc.
8. Update your content regularly
Give visitors a reason to return to your site with regularly updated content. Besides, search engines like fresh content also. So updating your content regularly will help with your SEO efforts as well.
9. Use strong call to action language
Tell your visitors what you want them to do. If you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, tell them. If you want them to buy something, tell them. Don’t ever make your visitors have to guess what you want them to do. Tell them.
10. Make your website readable
Do you remember the nearsighted cartoon character, Mr. Magoo? He always walked around with his eyes in a permanent squint, trying to visually decipher things that were right in front of him.
Well, that’s exactly how I feel when I visit some websites. I find myself squinting like Mr. Magoo, because the font size is so tiny. When that happens, guess what? Click…I’m outta there. Do your readers a favor, and stay away from tiny font sizes. Stick with the standard 12-point font size, whenever possible.
Conversely, it’s not a good ideal to use overly large font sizes either. It’s just not reader-friendly. Another thing, use ALL CAPS and fancy fonts in moderation.
11. A picture is worth a thousand words
If you sell physical products, make sure you have clear pictures of those products to help close the deal. People enjoy looking at pictures of things they’re considering buying. More importantly, using pictures ogf products has been proven to increase conversions.
12. Avoid reverse type
I’m absolutely amazed at how many websites I’ve visited that are written in reverse text. What’s reverse text? Reverse text is light colored or white text on a dark or black background. If used correctly, reverse text can produce an impressive visual impact.
The problem is many websites don’t use it correctly. And if you have a whole web page of reverse text, it’s extremely difficult on the eyes. Why? Because according to readability studies, reverse text is not suitable for reading because of its poor legibility even in normal lighting conditions. It’s hard on the eyes, and just not reader-friendly. That’s why newspapers, books and magazines have always been printed on white paper with black text.
When designing your website, it’s best to use black text on a white or light-colored background, for optimum readability. However if you decide to use reverse text, use it in moderation.
13. Make the buying process easy
Make it easy for prospects to get from your home page to the product page or the checkout page. Don’t make your prospects jump through hoops, clicking thru page after page after page to give you their money. Or else you’ll lose them.
14. Display your contact information
The trustworthiness of your website – or lack of will have the greatest impact on your sales conversions, and ultimately, the success or failure of your site. If you sell products directly from your site, it’s important to display your contact information, as opposed to using a contact form. If privacy is a concern, you can use a service like The UPS Store for a physical shipping and mailing address.
Seven Things That Customers Look For in a Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Seven Things That Customers Look For in a Website
If you are doing business online, consider your website as your main product and your readers, your customers. You can’t always think that people really spend their time and money on your website so it’s essential that you make a periodic audit to figure out if your customers have really meet their needs and not just reach out to them through social media and blogging.
People are diverse but when it comes to the internet, we all look for a few things in selecting who to follow, trust, and patronize. The following is a list of seven essential things that every web site should have:
1) Ease of use
Your website should not be confusing or hard to navigate. Web customers typically look for simple things: your products, information about you, your blog, your contact page. These should always be prominent and easy to find, as should any other information or links you want people to follow. The font should be easy to read and the links should be keyword-rich and easy to spot.
2) Clarity of content
Your content, including the call-to-action, should be easy to understand. This applies to every single page of your website. If your readers can’t understand you, they will leave.
3) Credibility
First, your website should definitely have a dedicated contact page with a contact form, e-mail address (avoid free email addresses like @gmail or @yahoo) and a physical location and phone number. Credibility also includes not only on-page content like testimonials and comments, but also third-party validation in the form of Twitter followers, Facebook fans and awards or certifications. The quicker readers are able to discover that you are a thriving business vouched for by other people, the sooner they can make the decision to trust you.
4) Uniqueness
This applies to your site design, to your product and to your content. If your site doesn’t look interesting, people are not gonna waste their time looking on it. If you’re like every other business in the market, why should your readers listen to you?
5) Participation / Ability to give feedback
If your customers can’t reach you easily, they’ll give up. If they contact you but don’t receive a speedy respond, they’ll leave and either forget you or damage your credibility. So provide an easy way for customers to interact with you and give them as many options as you can
handle: phone number, social media, contact form, and blogging are some of the most popular ones. People will likely trust and be loyal to you if they see that you are open and are always available.
6) Personalization
Remember that every single person you interact with or sell to is unique and has his or her own expectations from your product and services. No one likes to be referred to as “Dear Customer” in an e-mail, and everyone likes offers and products about subjects that are of special interest to them! So get to know your customers, store the individual information they share with you and use it to build personal and lasting relationships.
7) Security
Readers and customers want to be sure that any and all personal information provided to you will stay confidential and not be sold to third parties or misused. If you are selling products, this means SSL security. If you are asking for e-mail addresses for a marketing list, this means respecting your readers’ privacy. If you are connecting with people on social media, this means discretion on your part about any and all personal interactions.
Planning is Mandatory for Success
Every business aspires to showcase itself on the internet. Website development is a tedious process that could be stressful at times. Below are some tips to get web development projects finished on time and within a planned budget. To know about suggestions that could prove helpful in development of new website as well as improvement of an existing one, read on.
* Careful Groundwork
A thorough groundwork is a necessity for successful web site development. Crucial considerations include the number of pages that the website should have, or what should the graphics look like, etc should be taken in advance.
These choices can be classified into two types. Ones that include issues associated to the customers and the ones that include issues related to the company whose site is to be developed.
The audience related decisions include the identification of the target users, ways to inform them about the site, their areas of interest, ways to make them interact with the site, the kind of content that would drive them to the site on a regular basis, and so on.
Decisions related to the company include the purpose of the website, whether it is to educate the user or to sell something, to entertain or to offer services; where the web content would be sourced from, how frequently would the site be updated, and the yardsticks for performance measurement.
A successful website development project must include the above mentioned pointers during its initial stages. These prove to be immensely useful during the later parts of the project. Based on this, the developers may devise further strategies that may include introduction of interactive formats on the website such as blogs, live chats, videos, forums, animation, databases interfaces or registration forms.
* Customized Web Design Templates
Most web designing companies generally offer attractive web templates. These can be used on an as-it-is basis in creating affordable websites quickly and easily. If they choose, the clients are able to pick the basic website design along with modest modifications that might include font sizes, color schemes, etc. However, these templates present low flexibility with only a slight scope for modification. Quite often the photos or the logos need to be carefully created keeping in mind the height to width ration and resolution.
These templates however, are of great help to novice designers due to their easy-to-use modules and guide them step by step. If yours is a sophisticated project, it is very important to invest in custom web design for better results.
Custom web designs offer far more opportunities to website developers than template designs. Design firms that are well versed with these find it easier to unleash their potential while at the same time, keeping into consideration the all-round requirements of the clients. The website should be able to deliver the basic purpose of its creation. In order to increase traffic to the site, it should be simple, user-friendly and appealing.
* A Perfect Blend of Attractiveness and Ease of Use
A website must be easy to use and attractive in terms of both, designs and technology. For this purpose, expertise of talented web designers must be sought during its creation or up gradation. A website must be pleasing to look at, easy to use and must have the necessary keywords and meta tags for optimization for search engines. A proper amalgamation of beauty, ease of use and search engine optimization is a prerequisite for an effective website.
User-Centered Design for Homepages
The first impression customers get of your website and your business is geared by the impression made by your website homepage. It has a major effect on its success or failure.
Your website homepage can be the determining factor in the reader’s choice to delve further into your site or bounce off after a cursory glance, to go back to the search engine and look for something more relevant.
Despite this, many websites miss this great opportunity to lure in its readers, simply by having poorly targeted or poorly displayed homepage content that does not immediately inform them what the site is about.
You have just 4 brief seconds to convey to a potential customer what your site has to offer. Each moment wasted where visitors try to decipher your website, is a moment lost to create the right impression.
To create effective, compelling homepage content, here are some easy to follow guidelines:
1. Your homepage serves as the introduction to your company. You should be seeing to welcome your visitors – throwing out the red carpet for them.
On entering your site, the reader should be able to know immediately what you and your website offers, without having to click around or scroll. In your introduction, or your website header area, do not assume that the reader has previous knowledge or understanding of your site’s products or services.
It’s a good idea to add a breakdown of how it works if you’re offering something innovative, and new to the market to help customers understand your online offering. If you want to, it’s a good idea to add in a link or two about your company. (But be careful not to make your homepage all about your business! Customers find that really dull!).
2. Your homepage should contain contemporary content. Fresh homepage content, if suitable, appeals to the reader as it shows that your sit e is current and up to date.
Change the content as needed by displaying popular or hot features that are relevant while keeping the design consistent. Doing this will attract more readers but does not alienate your regular audience. If your homepage looks dated, customers will question the validity and credibility of that information – worse still, if it looks really old they might think you’ve gone out of business!
3. Your homepage should have a set of unique selling points (USPs).
Your USPs must explain the benefits of your site to prospective clients or customers and should be in a prominent position on your homepage. They also tell your reader why your site is better than others similar to it and what you can offer them that others can’t.
* Summary
Remember, you only have a few seconds to encourage your website visitors to find out more about you. The customers whole browsing session at your site is determined by how they rate the experience of visiting your homepage and learning more about your business (or not!).
Before you invest in any offline or online advertising campaigns, like pay-per-click (PPC), make sure your prospects are going to understand, and value, the place you’re directing them to – otherwise you’ll be wasting money.
How To Design Website Graphics With Commercial Design Software?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, October 14, 2011
How To Design Website Graphics With Commercial Design Software?
If you want to design website graphics, then commercial software is the best way to go about it. There is a lot of design software out there, but it is generally expensive.
There is also inexpensive design software that is not nearly as functional as it needs to be to provide you with all the design tools that you need, and finally there is free software that offers about everything you will find on the most expensive.
Which you choose to use is up to you, but it is likely worth testing the free software first before anything else. If that works for you then you need look no further and save yourself a fortune into the bargain.
Good web graphics can be all that is needed to persuade visitors to stay and find out what else your website has to offer. The problem is that most people have no idea how to design them themselves and rely on free graphics images that are hardly unique.
While you might want lovely website graphics on your webpage, there’s not a lot you can do without good graphic design software. What if you want a new purchase button, or a nice looking header and footer for each of your web pages? What about an eBook cover for your new product?
You won’t get any change from $100 for a decent eBook cover, yet the software that will enable you to produce your own is available free online.
Perhaps you use a clipart bank, but the problem with these is that you pay for the graphics, and if you do use free ones they usually have an advert watermarked into them. In any case, standard graphics are not always suitable for your site, and need some editing before they look good.
Most clipart is no good for eBook or report covers, and you will struggle to find any that offer a decent website header.
Most people believe the only solution to be expensive software, but there is a lot more out there than you might be aware of. You can join a graphics club, for example, where, for a monthly fee you are sent a whole host of graphics. However you will likely find that you don’t need most of it.
Alternatively you can download graphics software that is available online at absolutely no cost whatsoever. As stated earlier, it’s your choice whether you want to use that or simply go straight to Photoshop or something similar. That might be the best option, for you at least, but you will never know if you have never tried something cheaper – or even free!
What is it with some people that they look down on free software? They would rather pay $500 or more than use free software that offers them everything they are likely to ever need. Is it because they believe that a free version can’t be anything like as good as the real thing? In some cases the free version is the real thing, and the paid version simply a copy of it.
There is a lot of Open Source software that has been hijacked, tarted up and sold in a fancy eBox under a different name. People will pay $199 for that, yet refuse to download the same thing free, and the only difference is the fancy box and fancy name.
You can use the same Open Source software by downloading it free without the fancy box or fancy name. You can use it to design your own website graphics, your own headers and footers, buttons, bullet graphics, eBook covers and even use it to edit your photographs.
Others believe that there must be a catch and that once you download it you will find that it isn’t much use without this enhancement or that plugin that you have to purchase. Not so. Nothing else is needed to design your first web page.
Maybe you have heard about free software being associated with Adware and Spyware. Now that is true, but only if downloaded from dodgy sites and the better free stuff is guaranteed free of this sort of malware.
It is your choice, though those have tried various types of Open Source software have been delighted with the results. So if you want to design website graphics, then there are free commercial software packages out there just waiting for you to try.
3 Things You Should Do When Your Search Rankings Suddenly Drop
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, September 5, 2011
3 Things You Should Do When Your Search Rankings Suddenly Drop
Anyone who depends on search engines for traffic – which is just about all of us – has a common disorder. It is our preoccupation with our rankings. It only makes sense that this be so widespread. After all, those rankings often ARE our business. At least as far as supplying those prospects we so desperately need.
It’s safe to say that all of us have woken up to see our rankings drop from page 1 to a status that can only be compared to being enrolled in the Federal Witness Relocation Program. You can’t be found. And that’s bad news.
Here’s what you should do when this happens. You may not be able to fix the problem quickly, but you’ll at least be in a much better position to address it and deal with it.
1. Don’t panic
This is very important to remember. Take it seriously, but don’t lose it. There are many reasons why rankings can drop. Sometimes it’s due to one of Google’s famous algorithm shake-ups. This might be a temporary shift that will see your rankings restored in short order. The key here is to avoid the urge to do something that will only hurt your site, its long-term rankings & your business itself.
Many people will jump to work and make large-scale changes in their site. They try to bring it in line with what they think the search engines want now. This can actually hurt their standing in the search engines as they alter the structure and layout of their pages.
It confuses the search engine bots and creates an impression of confusion, a lack of cohesion in the site. That’s bad for rankings. So, remember – Don’t Panic. The drop may be temporary. If it isn’t, an impulsive Bulldoze & Rebuild job is not the way out.
2. Think Back: What Have You Changed Recently?
Sometimes your rankings plummet because of something you did. For example, I’ve had rankings drop because I screwed up the code on some redirects I did in my .htaccess file. Did you add some new pages lately? Check that the links in them, and to them, are pointed correctly. If you write the destination URLs wrong you’re feeding the search engines a bunch of 404 Error pages. They don’t like that.
There are many things that could cause the rankings to slip. Keep in mind that you should look at changes you’ve made as long as 2 weeks ago, just to be safe. Search engine bots vary in how often they come by your site, so they may be reacting to an alteration that is old news to you, but new to them.
3. Keep Going
It’s tempting to turn to the dark side of SEO, become a Black Hat when you see your rankings drop. Especially when you see a weak site, or a totally irrelevant one, outrank yours. We’ve all been there. But you know what the right choice is, even if it’s hard to resist doing a little cloaking. What you must do is continue building a solid site: adding relevant, targeted content, working on your site structure so that all content can be found & indexed by the search engines, working on links to your site. A little boring? Yes, sometimes. But it’s the best choice, especially for those of us looking to be in business for the long-term.
Keep in mind these 3 steps next time you see rankings fall. It’s okay to be frustrated. It’s okay to be confused. It’s even okay to be a little angry. Let it out, constructively, and then get back to work. It’s the surest path.
How to Get Search Engines to Pay Attention?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, September 4, 2011
How to Get Search Engines to Pay Attention?
The days of putting up a website then waiting for it to show up on the first page of any search engine are long gone. Today it takes time and effort to see your site on the first page of results. However, most site owners do not know where to begin. By following these 10 steps you can increase your website’s natural search optimization and get the search engines to take notice.
1. Optimize for keyword content
To get listed in the search engines, each page of your site needs to be optimized to the best of your ability. Since the keywords you choose will be used throughout the optimization process, choosing the right ones is essential. If you choose the wrong keywords you will not be found in the search engines. If you are not found in the search engines how will anyone find your site? Pick one core term for each page and write the optimized text around it.
2. Write unique title tags
The title tag of your page is the most important factor to consider when optimizing your web page. This is because most engines place a high level of importance on information in your title tag. The title tag is used for the title of your listing in the search results and appears as the description at the top of your browser’s window. It should be a complete sentence and include your term(s) for that page. Do not overstuff this tag or your website will be penalized in the search results!
3. Implement quality Meta content
Meta is a part of the html code human visitors to your site rarely see. It is used by search engine visitors (robots) to help them determine what the page is about. Description Meta should be one or two core-term enriched sentences that do not exceed 250 characters. Keyword Meta is a list of terms relating to your page. The core term should appear at the beginning and end of this list. Limit the number of characters to 1,024, including spaces.
4. Content is king
Page content is one of the most important factors to letting visitors and search engines know what it is you are offering. Improve your content and you will improve your listings in search engines. Each page should have at least 200 words of copy and include your keywords. Write for the human visitors, not the search engines.
5. Use image alt text wisely
Each image on your page can include a keyword that relates to the image. This text will also help visitors that have their images turned off when visiting your site. This text can be included in the “alt” attribute of the html code for an image. The important thing is to describe the image first and then work in key terms.
6. Use a Robots.txt file
This text file is a roadmap of your web site. It should be placed in the root directory of your site, and it tells the search engine robots which sections they are not allowed in. It is one of the easiest tactics you can use to help ensure your site gets crawled. It’s also one of the most overlooked opportunities.
7. Use a Sitemap.xml file
A sitemap file tells engines the location of all the sections and pages of your website, how important each of those sections are to your site, and when those sections were last updated. When you change your content, update your sitemap file!
8. Get rid of duplicate content
It’s easy to use the same content for multiple pages on your site, especially if you’re a retailer and the manufacturer has already provided content for you. However, every time you use the same content you are taking a chance that the search engines will throw your site out of their results, thereby negating all of your hard work to get there in the first place. Take the time to rewrite each page, regardless of how similar it may be to another page. Get rid of mirrored sites or completely rewrite these as well. Also, rewrite an article at least twice for use in article syndication.
9. Create custom error pages
It is very easy to set up custom error pages that have the same look and feel as the rest of your site. They will help keep visitors and therefore search engine robots from reaching a dead end in your site and leaving.
10. Get validated!
First, validate your code for well-formed HTML. The rules of HTML have changed quite significantly over the years, and it is no longer optimal for you to generate messy, broken mark up. Although not a requirement, both Google and Yahoo mention it in their guidelines for webmasters. Second, validate your entire website through Google and Yahoo. This is a simple task that involves uploading a file to your site’s root directory or adding information to your meta tags. You can find more information on this process in the search engines’ Webmaster guidelines.
Key Wording Your Web
Ever since the beginning of search engines there has been the discussion of key wording. Obviously your web page has to be about something and you want the search engine to reflect that in its results. In the early days of search engines you could put words or phrases anywhere on a page and show up in the results. People who just wanted traffic would get list of the most popular used keywords and just put them on a page. The page could have been about toilets but show up in search results about Hollywood celebrities. In those days finding what you wanted was a daunting task. So the search engines started looking at natural language. Each year they have become more sophisticated about how they look at natural language.
The first thing they did was to stop looking at keyword meta tags. Too often people were putting keywords in that did not match their page. Next they started punishing people for putting strings of key words together, such as baseball baseball baseball. Next they paid attention to whether or not they were used in a sentence. Then they started evaluating the content of the page to see what it was about. Buy this time they were getting really accurate in their search results. But as long as there are search engines people with try to fool them. For the last couple of years search engine optimization people have promoted keyword stuffing. This is where you put the keyword in the text as often as you could fit it in.
A new generation of natural language algorithms has been developed by the major search engines to combat this. Now for the first time we are hearing the use of the term natural language. Now search engines look at the way that a term is used. They compare the use of the term in the context of how it is used. This example is a little extreme but we have all seen pages written like this.
“I bought baseball cards for my friend the baseball card lover. He was so happy to get the baseball cards and he looked at baseball cards. Then he showed these baseball cards to all his friends that had baseball cards.”
This is an example of how the term baseball card was used outside of natural language. In natural language you would not refer to your friend as the baseball card lover. In later uses you would have used the term “them” to describe the baseball cards. The sentence would look like “He was so happy to get them that he took the time to look at each one”.
It is still important to get your keywords or keyword phrases on the page regularly. Care needs to be given on how they are used. It is important to have them in compete sentences and not in an abnormal place in the context of a paragraph. Here are some guidelines you might consider. No one knows the exact algorithms that the search engines use and they all have different ones. But one is to presume that they are based on the natural use of language so the following recommendations are based on basic grammar and the normal use of language.
Here are some examples of natural use of key words:
1. It is natural to have your keywords in your title and description meta tags. These tell what your page is about and your page should be about the same thing as your keywords are.
2. It is natural to have your keywords in your heading tags. Heading tags should be used as chapter headings to different sections of a page.
3. In is natural to have your keywords in the first sentence.
4. It can be natural to have your keywords appear one in most paragraphs.
5. It can be natural to have your keywords appear more than once in a paragraph but not every paragraph. You need to make sure that it fits well and does not sound like it was just stuck in there.
Here are some examples of non-natural uses of keywords:
1. It is not natural to have your key words more than once in your title or description.
2. It is not natural to have your key words to show up more than once in a sentence. There are times that this could be natural but it would probably be better to make it into two sentences.
3. It is not natural for the same sentence to appear in several different paragraphs.
4. In a short paragraph it is not natural for your keywords to show up more than twice. In a paragraph over 6 sentences long this may not hold true. (I publish health related web pages and read hundreds of health articles a month. There are times that I will see a term used 3 times in a long paragraph and almost never in a short one.
5. It is not natural to have keywords used back to back in a sentence. It is not typical to have one sentence end in a word and the next sentence to begin with it.
6. It is not natural to have every sentence begin with the same word or phrase.
Following these guidelines may help you with the search engine positioning but it will definitely make your page more enjoyable for your visitors.
7 Tips to a High Ranking Site
So you would like your site to rank higher in the search engines. Below are some tips to help you achieve your goal.
1. Before building your website decide on which keywords you want the site to rank high for. Keywords are words or phrases that people type into search engines to find websites. Your keywords need to be related to your product or service so that you get targeted traffic ( There is no point in having “buy flowers online” as a keyword if you sell “houses”) Your keywords should also have as many people searching for the keyword and as fewer websites competing for the high rankings. I would not get overly worried about this. There are several tools out there to help (Just google “Keyword Effectiveness”) but I would concentrate more on the relevance of your keywords.
2. Once you have decided on your keywords you can start to build your site. The look of the site needs to be good to convert visitors into customers but will not help with getting a higher ranking. I would concentrate on getting a high-ranking site and then worry about the look and feel of the site later. (There is no point in having a site that looks wonderful if nobody can find it and it therefore has no visitors). Remember when you start to build your site that what the search engines are looking for is content. The content you have also needs to be rich with your keywords.
3. A very common mistake people make is the links between pages on their own site. The links need to be “spider friendly” i.e. a spider needs to be able to follow them easily. A graphic button with a rollover effect using an active X control might make the site look wonderful but a spider will be able to follow a text link far easier. This is important, as unless the spider can follow the links only your Index page is likely to be included in the search engine.
4. There are certain important elements of your site that can be added after the site is built. Title Tag – H1 Header Tag – Keywords – Meta Description. All of these should include your most important keywords and phrases. Your Meta Description should be a short paragraph about your site including your keywords and phrases in the text. It should also encourage people to take a look at your site.
5. Alt Image Tags – These are tags that you attach to an image so that when the mouse hovers over an image the text is displayed. So any images on your site should have Alt Image Tags that are rich with your keywords and phrases.
6. Links – One of the ways that a search engine decides which pages are to be located at the top of the rankings or be a higher ranking page is that it looks at the links that are pointing towards the site. It is not just the number of links but also the relevancy of the links and the type of links that point to the site. Also the type of site that is linking to your site is important. In other words a text link from a high-ranking site that uses your keywords in the link is a far more important link that a picture link without keywords from a low ranking site. – So you want to have as many relevant links from high-ranking sites as you can. There are several ways to achieve this and the more links that you have the more important the search engines will believe your site to be and therefore the higher your site will be ranked in the search engines. The search engines are working on the presumption that if you have lots of high ranking sites that want to have a link to your site then your site must have some valuable content otherwise they would not want to link to it and potentially send their visitors onto another site.
7. You can also help to keep your site high in the rankings by adding new content to your site and updating the pages as the search engines are looking for current content. Not a site that has been built and just left.
Once you have built your site and got some links to it you will need to tell the search engines about it (This is called submitting your site). You can manually submit your site to the search engines but there are several good programmes you can buy to do this for you. Just do your homework before you decide which one to use. ( I use addwebb but its quite expensive)
How to Play Russian Roulette with the Search Engines
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, August 27, 2011
How to Play Russian Roulette with the Search Engines
Want to play Russian roulette with the search engines? Try these techniques:
1. Link Farming
You have probably seen those sites with a directory page that contains hundreds of links. The problem is they bear no relation to what the actual website is all about. Putting up links about mortgage loans, acne, the history of wastebaskets etc when your site is about the quality of fishing in Great Falls Montana would be an example of link farming. There was a time when the search engines were okay with this but as is usually the case, people went overboard with it.
Make sure the links on your directory page relate directly or indirectly to the content on your website. In fact save yourself the time and effort by focusing on getting one way links to your site. A couple of quality one way links are worth way more than thousands of links unrelated to your niche.
2. The Sybil Attack
One of the most famous TV movies of all time is Sybil: The Girl with 16 Different Personalities starring Sally Field. This is the blackhat foundation for setting up mirror sites.
By creating multiple web sites with the exact same content but different domain addresses, blackhatters are able to trick the search engines into ranking their main website higher. Sybil attacks can also turn quite nasty and take control of large scale computer networks including peer to peer systems which are quite vulnerable.
3. Cloaking
Cloaking software was an underground rage a few years back. The concept is to present two types of content: One for the actual visitors to your website, the other was for the search engine spiders that crawl your web pages looking for updating content that has been keyword optimized. This was an elaborate way of getting the search engines to show a page they normally would not.
All of this may sound ridiculous and totally unnecessary. Yes on both counts. The easiest way to stay on the good side of the search engines is to give them exactly what they want; namely a website with good content (preferably unique) that grows at a more natural pace.
This maybe a slow way to success for some people but it’s safe and it works. You are building a business which hopefully will be successful for a very long time. Do not let anyone talk you into putting it at risk by using blackhat techniques.
10 essential components you need to create an effective squeeze page for your ezine
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, August 22, 2011
10 essential components you need to create an effective squeeze page for your ezine
1. Domain Name
Pick a compelling domain name that accurately describes the result of opting into your list or the nature of the list to which the visitor is opting into. You’ll want to forward this domain to a hidden page on your site that is not accessible via your navigation menu. Don’t mask the domain when you forward it (i.e. hide the internal URL to which the domain is forwarded — your domain registrar usually offers this as an option). If you use this domain in your resource box when you syndicate your articles, you want to reap the rewards of strong inbound links from high-traffic article directories, and that won’t happen if you mask the domain name of your squeeze page.
2. Client Attraction Device
The most effective way to entice a visitor to opt into your list is by giving something away. Typically this giveaway, or what I call a Client Attraction Device, is in an electronic download format and helps solve a major issue faced by your target market. Many savvy online business owners put several electronic downloads together into a kit (audio, ebook, and checklist, for example) for their giveaway, as the expectations have increased as to what visitors expect when exchanging their contact info for free information.
3. Graphic of Giveaway
The adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings quite true in the Internet marketing world. Have a graphic representation created of your giveaway, as that increases the perceived value of what you’re offering.
4. Value of Giveaway
Placing a monetary value on your giveway is another strategy to enhance the importance of this free item in the eyes of your visitors. Don’t be outrageous in your pricing — determine what you might actually charge for your giveaway if you were selling it as a product on your site.
5. Compelling Headline
A headline that grabs your reader’s attention will go a long way in convincing them to hang out long enough to finish reading the content on your squeeze page. Appealing to some emotion of the visitor is the most effective way to construct a compelling headline, like fear of loss, greed, vanity, lust, pride, envy, laziness…you get the idea.
6. Captivating Copy
It’s no longer sufficient to simply invite a visitor to opt into a list. Most visitors have become too savvy for that. In order to convince them to opt into your list, you must answer the “WIIFM” question, or “What’s In It For Me?” This means that you need to take a page out of the copy writing playbook and essentially create a short sales letter on your squeeze page. Outline the benefits they’ll receive if they opt into your list for the giveaway.
7. Enhance with Audio and Video
It never hurts to appeal to all information intake styles of your visitors. Record a quick audio or video that convinces your visitors that your giveaway is something that they cannot live without. Verbally instruct them how to opt into your list, as well.
8. Testimonials
Reading (or hearing) glowing reviews of how others liked the giveaway will often serve as the deciding factor to get a visitor to take action. Request written, audio, or video testimonials from others who’ve received your Client Attraction Device or from those who’ve purchased other products and services from you. Testimonials go a long way in convincing visitors that opting into your list is worth their time and energy.
9. Opt-in Box
You need an email marketing service to help you create an opt-in box to capture your visitor’s name and primary email address. If you plan on doing direct mail marketing in the future, you may also request their mailing address and phone number as optional fields. You’ll be surprised at how many visitors will complete the entire form with all of their contact info, even if the name and email address are the only two required items.
10. Informed opt-in
Let visitors know that they will also be receiving a complimentary subscription to your ezine when they opt into your list. Don’t hide this fact from your visitor. Give them a bit of info about your ezine, like how often you publish it. You may want to create a graphic image of your ezine to add to this page, as well.
A squeeze page for your ezine is an effective way to triple the opt-in rate to your email marketing list. Follow these 10 steps to skyrocket the size of your list today!
How to Get Your Article to the Top of the Search Engines
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, August 20, 2011
How to Get Your Article to the Top of the Search Engines
There are millions-if not billions-of articles on the internet. No matter the topic, people have already written about it online. So it can be difficult to get new articles to the top of the search engines. But, it can definitely be done.
It isn’t enough to select a topic people about which people will want to read. Let’s say that you went over to Google’s AdWords (or another website that determines which keywords are the most popular search terms at the moment) and then decided to write about one of the latest trends. While this does improve your chances of ranking higher on the search engines (and it is, in fact, a worthwhile step to take), it alone will not guarantee success. Instead, you will need to make your article stand out somehow.
- Tips on Writing Your Article
Writing about the current buzzwords and trends-also known as viral marketing-is a great start. But you can definitely take other steps to make sure that your article rises to the top of the search engines. These are some ideas that you might try:
* Choose your keywords wisely: Let’s say that you did research and found that a certain brand of candy bar was a big trend that a lot of people were talking about because of a contest that was going on. Keywords for your article could very well be ‘candy bar’ and ‘contest.’ The brand name could also be a keyword. Don’t, however, choose something extraneous, such as ‘chocolate’ or ‘nougat.’ For this type of article or articles, you won’t need to describe the candy bar.
* Select keyword placement wisely: You should include your keywords in the headline of your article. You should also make certain to include them in the body of your article several times, toward the beginning and the end.
* Keep keyword density in mind: Keyword density is the number of times your keyword appears relative to the number of words in total. Your density should be no more than 5% to 7%. Any more than that, and most search engines may regard your article to be spam.
* Include links to high-ranking websites (or other articles on your own website): Links will help you to achieve high search engine rankings, especially if they are links to popular websites.
* Remember: Content is King. If the quality of your article isn’t good, no one will read it-and, therefore, no one will click on any of the links. Make your article interesting and readable.
- What to do After the Article is Written
Once you have finished the article, there are still a few ideas you can try that can help to get your article to the top of the search engines:
* Submit your articles to the several article directories.
* Submit your article to ezine editors that accept articles on your topic.
* Look for blogs related to your topic, and ask if they accept outside articles for submission.
* Post a link to the article on Twitter and Facebook.
* Submit the article to social bookmarking websites, such as StumbleUpon and Digg.
Easy Ways to Improve Search Engine Ranking and Drive Traffic
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, August 15, 2011
Easy Ways to Improve Search Engine Ranking and Drive Traffic
To learn how to increase search engine rankings and drive website traffic you need to understand the concepts that govern the way the search engines work.
Without an understanding of these principles and a system to incorporate them into everything you do online, you will not get the success you are seeking.
On the other hand, learn how to effectively utilize them and you will start dominating niches all over the Internet driving thousands of visitors to your site on a daily basis.
So what are the principles that rule search engine rankings and how do I improve mine? Here they are:
1) Relevancy
Relevancy is something defined as having relationship to. For example if your website was about golf, related content would include information about such things as golf clubs, golf courses and golf lessons.
Content about anything other than the topic of the website or related topics would not score for relevancy, thereby having no chance of ranking in the search engines. Search engines check your site for relevancy.
You need to be right on topic for whatever it is you are targeting with the content you create. A final word of caution about relevancy: Relevancy alone will not rank your site. You could have the most highly relevant, best original content ever written posted at your site, however if there are no sites pointing to it, it will never rank in the search engines. Relevancy does not work without the concepts of popularity and original content.
The first step is to choose the keyword or keyword phrase you want your content to target. Let’s say you’re trying to get a higher ranking for this keyword phrase, the topic I am currently writing about, “Improve Search Engine Ranking”. First, you would want to find what people are searching for and specifically target that keyword if you want your content to rank for that phrase.
Make sure you include the keyword phrase in the title of the article. For example, your title could be “Strategies To Improve Search Engine Ranking”. Always try to put the keyword or keyword phrase as the first few words of the article title. Always remember to use the keyword phrase, several times throughout the article. Finally make sure your content remains 100% relevant to the keyword phrase.
2) Popularity
Popularity works together with relevancy to improve search engine rankings. Popularity is based on two key measures:
a) How Many Sites Link to Your Site
A site’s popularity is measured first by the number of sites that directly link to your site.
To demonstrate popularity let’s take a quick look at YouTube. YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the Internet, Why? All links and embed codes taken from YouTube and embedded on other sites, whether on Facebook, Myspace, a blog, a sales page or a website, create automatic links back to YouTube where the video is hosted. Every time someone shares a YouTube video a link is created.
With the number of videos shared, Youtube gets thousands of new incoming links daily. This is one of the reasons why YouTube videos rank very highly on the search engines. Their site is super popular.
b) The Popularity of the Sites Linking to You
The more popular the site linking to you is, the better the score given by the search engines.
The more incoming links to your site the more popular it is. It is therefore always important to syndicate the content of your site (with a direct link to the content on your site), to as many sites as possible. The Internet presents a host of sites where you can post your content for free to increase your search engine rankings, including popular high ranking sites like article directories, blogs, social bookmarking sites, video sites, press release and social network pages.
c) Originality
Originality basically refers to unique content. In simple terms the search engines ask the question, is this same piece of content all over the Internet? As an example, if I took a highly relevant and popular article from my site and posted it to hundreds of sites it would not rank high in the search engines as it would no longer be deemed unique.
There is no doubt that spreading your unique content across the Internet is important for driving traffic to your site. The secret is to make several unique versions of the same information all with a backlink to your original article posted on your site. Spinning is a popular term used to describe the process of changing the titles, key words and phrases throughout your article to make several unique versions. Placing these all over the Internet with a back link to your site will improve rankings.
Follow the steps above and I promise you will see an increase in the number of visitors to your site.
Create Professional RSS Feeds
More and more companies are using RSS as a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional and well polished will help differentiate your company from your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to the next level…
1. Feed Image
Add an image to your RSS feed. The image will be displayed by many feed readers each time your feed is displayed. This will help build and reinforce your brand or image in the minds of people who read your RSS feed. Adding an image to an RSS feed is relatively easy, and adds a level of professionalism.
2. Images And Links
Add images and links within the RSS feed. The process of adding images and links to the description field of an RSS feed is really quite simple if you are using software to manage your feed, while it may be somewhat complex if you are hand-coding your feed. Incorporating images or hot links in the feed’s content will allow your readers to explore further and dig deeper into your content. The added benefit, of course, are the additional web links back to your site from any sites that choose to syndicate or display your feed’s contents.
3. Validate
Properly formed code is important, in order to ensure that all RSS readers can read and display your feed. But it is also very important for another reason… nothing is more embarrassing or unprofessional than an RSS feed that is broken or stops working. Use software to manage your feed creation, and validate your feed on a regular basis.
4. Easy To Subscribe
Make your RSS feed easy to subscribe to. Include the traditional RSS icon, or an indicator site-wide, so that website visitors can easily locate and subscribe to your RSS feeds. Include basic directions on how website visitors should subscribe to your RSS feed.
5. Auto Discovery
Add “auto-discovery” code to the HTML header of your website. Many RSS aggregators include an auto-discovery feature, which allows them to automatically detect when a website offers an RSS feed. So, if your website visitors are using one of those aggregators, they will instantly know that an RSS feed for your content is available from your website.
Instantly create auto discovery code – http://www.feedforall.com/autodiscovery.htm
6. Favicon
Add a “favicon” to your website. Favicons (short for “favorite icons”) are typically a tiny version of a company or Web site’s logo, and appear in the URL bar of the user’s web browser. When a user bookmarks a specific Web page that includes a favicon, that Web page loads the customized icon into the user’s browser. Because the favicon is usually displayed next to the web site address, it can act like a small logo or an icon that visitors can use to remember the web site or the site address. Feed directories and RSS Search Engines will often use a favicon beside an RSS feed’s listings. So be sure that you have one on your website; otherwise, you’ll have nothing but a generic icon beside your feed. Webmasters can establish branding by creating a favicon for their website. Here is a free service from HTMLKit: http://www.html-kit.com/favicon
7. Subscribe To Your Own Feed
Always subscribe to your RSS feed, so you can see what your website visitors are seeing.
While it is not essential to incorporate the above elements in your RSS feed, the additions will result in a more professional and polished RSS feed that stands apart from competitors in news aggregators and RSS directories. Spending a few extra minutes here could easily draw more attention to your feed.
RSS Revisited – Why You Still Need RSS On Your Site?
One of the very first articles I ever wrote on Internet Marketing had to do with RSS and it was entitled “10 Reasons To Put RSS On Your Site.” That was in 2004 and RSS was somewhat new and many webmasters were just beginning to place blogs and RSS feeds on their sites. If you do a search in Google, you can still find that article on around 2,000 sites.
Most people now refer to RSS as “Really Simple Syndication” – although it originally stood for “Rich Site Summary” and was a very simple way of summarizing and syndicating your content in real-time to all interested parties.
RSS had its early beginnings with Netscape in 1991 which introduced the first version of RSS (RDF Site Summary). Later versions would be introduced and made popular by Dave Winer of ScriptingNews and Userland fame who is considered by many to be one of the major founding fathers of RSS.
Most people today associate RSS with blogs and blogging. You can read RSS content by using an RSS feed reader or “aggregator” which can be desktop or web-based. Some common feed readers include FeedDemon, My Yahoo!, iGoogle and Firefox (Live Bookmarks). You subscribe to your favorite RSS feed by clicking the small icon on your favorite blog or site and then when fresh content is published via RSS your reader can immediately retrieve and display it for you.
RSS is a very simple way of keeping up to date and in contact with your favorite site or topic. It makes staying informed easy to do and it provides site/blog owners a simple way of distributing their content.
* One can’t but wonder has RSS lived up to all that early hype?
Perhaps that question can only be answered by looking at the popularity of blogging and the role it now plays on the web. No one can deny blogs and their accompanying RSS feeds carry tremendous weight, no matter which way you measure it. Can anyone now imagine the World Wide Web without blogs?
But the importance of RSS goes beyond just blogging, we tend to forget how important it is for all the new social media sites like Digg, Technorati, Reddit… and not to forget fast growing applications like Twitter.
People also forget RSS feeds play a major role in online retail and affiliate programs. For example, you can get an RSS feed of all the latest Amazon products to place on your site. Many major online companies now have these product feeds to help promote and sell their wares.
XML and RSS have blended so seamlessly into many browsers and operating systems most users are blissfully unaware they’re even using RSS. Maybe that’s how things should be; with RSS, the ever-present workhorse, quietly doing its job behind the scenes.
RSS is just as important now as it was five years ago – actually its influence and presence has only grown stronger over the years. If you have not fully embraced RSS and placed it on your site and in your online marketing you’re missing out on one of the best opportunities to spread your message on the web.
RSS is here to stay and even has its own advisory board to help with the technical and programming side of RSS. They also list a very handy “RSS Best Practices Profile” for any webmaster wishing to create their own XML-based RSS documents. http://www.rssboard.org/
* Why should you use RSS?
Well, the list of reasons is quite long but RSS can help you: syndicate your content in real-time, sell your products, build your list, gather fresh content, promote your company and boost that one vital element everyone needs more of on the web – traffic. For those who have taken full advantage of RSS it has delivered in more ways than one for it has truly turned into that Golden Goose with the Midas complex. RSS has simply proven beneficial to those users who have fully embraced it.
Publishing Your RSS Feed Internet Wide
So you’ve created an RSS feed and it contains current cutting edge information in your field of interest. Now how do you get the word out to other webmasters who might be interested in putting the content from your RSS feed on their site?
Just how easy, or hard, is it to publish your feed and have other webmasters pick it up and publish it on their site?
If you’ve created your feed and validated it then most of the hard work is complete. Now you’re going to get the word out about it being available.
* So what should be your first step?
I think I would first give the search engines the easiest path to find your feed and index it. To get the search engines to do this you should add this short piece of html code to between the tags on the webpage that has a link for your feed.
Be sure to replace http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml with the URL to the RSS feed.
Next, I would be sure to display the Feed on your website using a graphic. The basic RSS or XML graphic in bright orange rectangles, will lead people visually to the feed.
Here’s an RSS graphics tool that will allow you to customize a graphic for your site:
http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm
Now that you have it on your site I would begin submitting your feed to all of the RSS directories and search engines you can find. The last time I reviewed them there was well over a hundred (that I could find).
There is a large list of RSS directories located here: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
By submitting to directories and search engines you will be helping to increase the link popularity of your feed and your site.
You can also use email to promote your RSS Feed. Simply include the feed url in your sig file on all outgoing mail. If you have an ezine be sure to include it in each issue. I would also go so far as to provide a link to a either or both a desktop RSS reader and a website reader for those webmaster who may want to use your content on their site.
Another way to promote your feed is to include the feed on a personal my.yahoo or my.msn home page. This is probably the fastest way to have your feed spidered by Yahoo and MSN. If you don’t already have an account and a personal webpage go to each site and create one. After you have created your account add your RSS Feed. In Yahoo, go to your personal page click on Add Content, then add the URL of your blog RSS feed into the Find Content box.
A good point to keep in mind is to have content available in your feed before you add it to either of your personal webpages on the SE’s above.
To keep the search engine spiders coing back you can implement a simple strategy to let them know you have posted new material and it’s time to come back. This strategy is simply called ‘pinging’.
You can let the main RSS/blog directories know you have placed new material by “pinging” them. Now you could go to each of the directories individually or you could automatically ‘ping’ all of them at once by going to this site:http://www.pingomatic.com
You type in your rss/blog URL, Click Submit and Pingomatic will send your ping to all of the large directories available on its page. Doing this will bring the spiders back to your site almost immediately!
Be sure to add relevant content to your RsSS feed as often as you can as the more often you add new content the more likely you will be to develop more traffic.
Once you’ve started implementing these ideas and strategies you should be well on your way to getting more recognition for your RSS Feed.
Pros and Cons of Using RSS Feeds
If you are struggling with the decision of whether to implement RSS feeds or not, consider the following pros and cons for webmasters who use RSS feeds as part of their content and communication plan…
A) Benefits (Pros Of Using RSS)
The benefits for a webmaster who opts to implement RSS feeds on their website are numerous:
1. Saves Time
RSS feeds save time. RSS subscribers can quickly scan RSS feeds, without having to visit each and every website. Subscribers can then click on any items they are interested in, to get additional information.
2. Timely
RSS feeds are timely. RSS feeds will automatically update themselves any time new information is posted, so the information your subscribers receive via their RSS reader or news aggregator is timely.
3. Spam Free
RSS is free of spam. Subscribers don’t have to worry about wading through huge amounts of spam in an attempt to get to the information they are actually interested in.
4. Opt-In
The RSS subscriber chooses what they want to see, and what information they wish to receive. Knowing they have full control, and that they do not have to provide any personal information to subscribe, they will be more likely to opt-in.
5. Unsubscribing Is Easy
It is also easy to unsubscribe from an RSS feed. If they do not like information contained in an RSS feed, they can simply remove the RSS feed from their RSS reader or news aggregator in order to unsubscribe.
6. Alternate Communication Channel
RSS provides you with an alternate communication channel for your business. And the more channels you provide, the more opportunities you have to connect with your customers and potential customers.
7. Expands Audience Through Syndication
The very nature of RSS is that it is designed specifically for syndication (i.e. publication by others). And wide-spread syndication can expand a company’s reach and strengthen the company brand.
8. Can Increase Backlinks
When an RSS feed is syndicated, it can increase the number of links back to the original website. And additional incoming links will often help a website rank better in organic search rankings.
9. Increases Productivity
RSS increases productivity, allowing people to quickly scan new posts and headlines, and only clicking through and spending time on the items of interest.
10. Competitive
Whether you decide to implement RSS feeds or not, your competitors likely will. So one way to remain competitive is to implement RSS feeds and other web 2.0 technology, and not allow your competition to get ahead of you.
B) Negatives (Cons Against Using RSS)
1. Not Widely Adopted Yet
Outside of technical circles, RSS has not yet been widely adopted. While it is becoming more and more popular, it is still far from being a mainstream technology.
2. Content Can Easily Be Copied
Content contained in an RSS feed can easily be copied and replicated, regardless of whether you want it to be or not. Few aggregators respect the copyrights of content contained in an RSS feed.
3. Tracking Subscribers Is Difficult
It is very difficult to accurately track the number of subscribers who read an RSS feed or the items contained in an RSS feed. This is due in part to the fact that at its heart, RSS is all about achieving the widest syndication possible.
4. Source Origination Difficult
It is sometimes difficult to discern the origin of an RSS feed item. When an item is syndicated, the source is not always indicated. The metrics available are not always reflective of the traffic received.
Weigh the pros and cons of implementing an RSS feed as a communication channel, and determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks in your own situation.
7 RSS Traffic Tips for Small Business Owners
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, August 4, 2011
7 RSS Traffic Tips for Small Business Owners
If you have a blog, you have an updates feed, most likely in the flavor of RSS feed, but quite possible in Atom feed. This is the file that’s linked to the weird-looking orange button you see on many frequently updated websites, such as blogs. These tips apply to both types of feeds.
Your feed’s job is to talk to other machines about your site on your behalf. Those bot to bot conversations increase your traffic and help more people see your site, either directly through feed reader subscriptions and listings, or indirectly by helping your search rankings. Do at least these basics to take care of your feed.
1. No one loves RSS, okay? I never actually liked it much, but I always understood that it was necessary to grow my site. Stop trying to hug it, and start having a basic understanding of how it helps your business.
2. If you don’t have a site newsletter, you can use RSS to make your blog posts into email newsletters, then put the email subscription box at the top right of your site, or otherwise unobtrusively remind people to subscribe. Aweber will create both the newsletter and the web form for you automatically.
3. About once a week, make sure your feed is validating. Sometimes all it takes is a rarely used character in the title to break your feed. FeedValidator.org will help you with that for free.
4. Submit your feed to the top RSS search engines and directories. There aren’t hundreds of them as there once were, but for the good ones remaining, like Syndic8, the links can’t hurt you.
5. RSS is what helps your site speak to social media sites automatically, but what if you aren’t sure what is helping and how often? Try FeedBurner. It’s my opinion that the service has been on the decline since Google took it over a year ago, but before you judge by that, take into account the height it was at when the fall began.
It’s still does a pretty decent job of tracking your traffic, and there’s no need to direct ALL your traffic through FeedBurner if you don’t want to, just use it to track sites that you give permission to repurpose your feed, like Twitter and Facebook.
6. Google Reader. Yes, that’s the whole tip. Of the minority of people who use a Feed Reader to follow blogs rather than email, Google Reader is the top choice. Stick the button on your site, glance over your headlines in Google Reader now and again. Wouldn’t hurt you to share some items over there too.
7. Should you use full-feeds or partial-feeds? It’s a controversial issue. I won’t go into as much detail about how my private findings differ wildly from conventional wisdom, just suffice it to say this. My solution with new sites is to offer both, and let readers choose when they come to your site, and allow the short feed to be syndicated by anyone, with a link at the bottom of each short feed post letting readers know you offer full text as well.
Learning about RSS may not be as big a deal as it once was, but don’t forget that your site’s feed is instrumental in helping your site grow.
Directory Submission: The Key to site Promotion
Most website owners fail to differentiate between a directory and search engine, failure to do so has resulted in failure to harness the powers of Internet directory effectively.
Search engine uses the spiders – (an automated software program) to locate and collect data from web pages for inclusion in a search engine’s database and to follow links to find new pages on the World Wide Web. While directories depends on human editors, who in most cases examine every single new listing before they are added to their directory. Most major search engines these days use links from human edited directory to measure the quality of the site they index. That is why you should place emphasis on the type of website or directory you list to and how to do that effectively.
However, there are some significant differences between the two link sources, Directories have only one purpose in life and that is to provide links to other sites. Directories are an established source of authority in regard to various subject matters. Being listed in directories serves as a level of measure as to the site’s worth.
A Directory Submission Service, in my opinion, is a company that will submit your website to directories. Now, the client must be careful when selecting a company. Many I have seen say something along the lines of “We submit you to over 800,000 Search Engines and Directories”. This statement alone lets me know that they are not trustworthy. We can all fire up ANY free/shareware submitter and boast the same statement. What I LIKE to see, when checking my competition, is a listing of directories they will submit to. And, of course, no one can guarantee inclusion.
There are several ways you can submit your RSS newsfeed to directories. The first, obviously, is by hand. You can get a list of the directories (http://www.rss- software.net/rss-directories.php), then go to each website and add your feed manually. Since there are many RSS directories, this can take quite a while. To save the webmaster time, two ways of automated directory submission exist.
While the article directory submission site is growing, granted yes, they may not get as much traffic as the big guys. But that means that the visitors that they do get, are more likely to see and READ your article. This means your article can find its way to ezines that want unique and fresh new content.
Search Engine Optimization is a fuzzy art in which the rules and techniques change as quickly as the Internet changes. Nonetheless, a good SEO consulting expert will always be able to help move your website towards better search engine placement, greater visibility, and consequently higher levels of targeted traffic. When it comes to choosing any professional — a dentist, doctor, travel agent or hair stylist, it may take you a couple tries to locate the right SEO professional for your business, but it’s usually better to focus on what you do best, and hire experts who spend all their time staying informed and practicing effective website promotion.
Link Building: When Will Backlinks Show Up In Google
Many times website owners who are new to link building simply don’t know what to expect when it comes to the timeframe for registering backlinks.
Here’s a common question I get:
“I’ve just started marketing my brand new website, and I know I have backlinks coming into my site, yet when I do a check for incoming links, nothing shows up. Am I doing something wrong?”
Probably not–A backlink check will tell you how many incoming links are registered with a particular search engine, but it will not tell you how many backlinks you actually have.
Why is that? Well, it usually takes search engines months to re-evaluate incoming links, so if you do a backlink check today, there are likely links that are going into your site that haven’t yet been calculated in.
It would be nice if we could build links and then immediately have them show up in a backlink check, but that’s just not the way the internet works.
As you’re building links to your site, here are some ways to keep track of your progress and build links effectively over time:
- How To Do A Backlink Check
It’s incredibly easy to do a backlink check for your site. In Google, just type this into the search box (replacing the ‘yourwebsite.com’ part with your URL):
* link:http://www.yourwebsite.com/
The results of that search will bring up a list of sites that are linking to your website address. In the upper right hand corner of Google you’ll be able to see a total count of your registered backlinks.
An even better tool is Yahoo Site Explorer https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com which provides a list of your registered backlinks and much more detailed information. Both of these backlink checking tools are free, so you can try each one out (or do both).
- Why Are Backlinks Not Showing Up For My Site?
Let’s suppose you know that you’ve build links to your site, but nothing is showing up when you do a backlink check (frustrating, I know!).
There are some logical reasons why backlinks may not be showing up:
1) Perhaps your website is brand new and has not yet been indexed by Google
When you launch a new site it does not automatically appear in Google–it usually takes several months for Google to realize that the site is there and to index and categorize it.
Until your site is indexed, it will not show up in any search engine searches and no backlinks will be registered. You can even do a search for your exact site name or URL and nothing will show up–that is how you know that your site has not been indexed yet.
If this is your situation, don’t fret! This waiting period is something that all website owners go through, and Google (and the other search engines) will eventually index your site.
It can take anywhere from 3-5 months for a new website to be indexed.
I remember the last time I was launching a new site it took about 5 months for the site to be indexed in Google. On that 5th month, all of the backlinks that I had been building over the preceding months finally showed up–whew!
2) Not enough time has elapsed since building the links
Even if your site is already indexed, it usually takes search engines several months (3-4) to recalculate the backlinks. So, if you have been doing article submissions for the past 2 months and you know for a fact that you have quite a few incoming links, those links will not show up in a backlink check for another month or two.
This doesn’t mean the links aren’t there–they are! The search engine just hasn’t registered them yet.
As you can see, one necessary component of any link building campaign is PATIENCE. There will be a time delay from when you build the link to when you see the fruit of your labor in Google.
Keep in mind, this time delay does not impact your marketing campaign–whether the links have started to show up or not, you should continue to market your website and submit articles. Immediate results are not the goal–you should be going for a long lasting impact on your search engine ranking for your keywords, rather than a brief shot of traffic that fades away after a day or so.
When you’re link building, you need to market your site consistently–develop an article submission schedule for yourself and stick to it, submitting articles each and every month.
You will be rewarded in the long run with an increased search engine ranking for your major keywords, which can of course build traffic dramatically for the long-term.
Free and Easy Link Building Tips
Okay, you’re the proud mama or papa to your brand new website. Now what? This isn’t like the movies – just because you built it doesn’t mean they’ll come. The Internet is a huge limitless space with ever-growing numbers of websites. You are just one small website among millions. How will anybody ever find you? How do you become visible? Right now, you just exist out in the web, untethered. You need to become visible when someone searches for you and one way to become visible to people is to become visible to search engines. And one way to become visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN is for your site to be tethered, or linked to other sites.
If you’ve spent any time reading Internet marketing blogs you know that link building is a huge part of a marketing campaign. Backlinks – links that point to your website – are a major factor in determining your popularity or ranking with the search engines. And of course, just like in high school, you want to be popular.
You can buy your way into links, but here we’re talking about a few free and easy ways. An obvious and natural way to build links is through content. When you start a link-building campaign for your new website, focus on attracting links that will add value for your website visitors and best represent your most important keywords too. It is invaluable to have visitors go to your site and share your content.
Here are a few easy and mostly free ways to build links for your website.
* Blog-Based Link Building
One way to get natural links back to your website is by setting up a blog for your company. Make sure you network online with other blogs that complement yours. If you share industry news and have useful and relevant content, you’ll attract links. Reference other bloggers in your content and link to other blogs in your industry.
For blogs, content is extremely important. Every time you add words to your blog or website, you are presenting yourself to a potentially huge audience. How does your blog’s content reflect your company? This content could be the page that carries your company’s name around the Internet world. Cheap content is just that – cheap. Create content that people want to read and that will make them come back again and again.
Reviewing products and services and posting those reviews on other sites is another way to build links. Your honest evaluations and smart opinions can also build your reputation as an expert in your field.
* Link Building with Social Media
Another way to build natural links to your website is through social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. These sites allow you to set up a user profile where you can add information about you and your company including a link to your website.
Some sites, Facebook for example, also have a way to promote your business with a page, ad or group. Just keep in mind that there are good ways and bad ways to promote your business on social sites and you should observe proper etiquette when you do.
* Link Building with Organizations and Directories
If your industry has professional organizations or associations that you belong to, check with them and see if they have an online directory with links to member sites. They may or may not charge a fee for this. If they do, it shouldn’t be much.
Check with your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau. Links from sites like these can be very helpful. Check with other local businesses and organizations that have lists of businesses and request links from them, too.
Online directories are another opportunity to look into. Yahoo! Directory is a good one. If your business is in a specific geographical area, you might also find some local directories to submit to that will boost your local visibility.
* Links from Charities or Non-profits
If your company makes charitable donations to organizations and non-profits, see if they have a “donors” list on their website and ask if they will link to your website.
* Links from Press Releases
Has your business just started or have you just launched a new product? A press release is a great idea to announce your news. There are quite a few press release distribution services available and some have a free first time offer.
* Links from Partners
If your website offers information about other partner websites like business directories, you should make sure to use all your linking potential. You could have a badge that your partner could put on their site linking to you and one for your site that links to theirs.
If you have an RSS feed or a widget on your site that has good value to visitors, those can be taken from your website and displayed on another person’s website, linking back to your site.
The Internet is constantly evolving and there are thousands of ways to build links. Look around at other websites and see what they have and how they work. Look at your business, think outside the box and you might come up with other ways to develop links. If it all seems like too much, there are many online consulting companies that can help with link building, SEO optimization and brandcasting.
Who Is Your Website’s Biggest Competitor?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Link Building: Who Is Your Website’s Biggest Competitor?
* Have you ever noticed that competitive runners achieve their best race times when they are pitted against worthy competitors?
You can be an excellent sprinter, but odds are you will not run your personal best on a track by yourself–most of the time it’s the spirit of a heated race and a determined runner breathing down your neck that makes you dig down deep give it all you’ve got.
The quest for a higher search engine ranking and more website traffic is much like athletic competitions. When you’re trying to get your site ranked higher in Google, you are not operating in a vacuum–you have competitors, whether you acknowledge them or not.
Your progress is not only dependent on your own efforts at marketing your site, but the efforts of your competitors–if other website owners are more consistent, more reliable, and more focused in their marketing, there’s a good chance that they will outrank you.
With website rankings, there is a constant jockeying for position, so it is extremely helpful when you’re trying to market your site and get a higher search engine ranking if you will use your competitors to your own advantage.
Before you start your next link building campaign, take a look around the playing field and gather some intelligence about those you’re running against.
* How Can You Tell Who Your Competition Is?
It’s actually quite easy to tell who your top competitors are–just do a search for each of your keywords in Google.
- What site is at the #1 position?
Unless it’s you, that website is your top competition. Repeat this search for each one of your keywords.
When you’re starting out, you may want to limit yourself to 3 main keywords whose competitors you’re keeping track of. That way you have 3 competitors to keep track of, and that will give you a good idea of how you’re progressing and also how far you need to go to catch up to the #1 position.
- What Type Of Information Should You Keep Track Of?
Alright, now that you know who your top competitors are, it’s time to do a little investigating. Here are the main bits of info that will help you get an idea of where your site stands in relation to site holding the #1 position.
1) How many backlinks does the competing website have?
You can do a backlink check by typing the word “link:” (following by a colon) and then the competitor’s URL into the Google search box. The results will be a listing of sites that are currently linking to their site, and at the top of the page you can see a total number of backlinks.
2) What is their search engine rank for the keyword?
For the first month at least, their ranking is #1.
Another thing that will be interesting to you is to see how the site that is ranked at #1 can fall if they are outdone by another site further down in the ranking. If you are consistent with your link building campaign, you can see your site climbing up the rankings each month, until finally your #1 competitor drops from the number one position and your site takes over.
3) What is the other site’s PageRank?
PageRank (PR) is a tool Google uses to reflect the authority of a web page. The rankings go from 0-10, where 10 is the best. You’ll likely notice that a website does not need to have a PageRank of 10 in order to hold the top ranking for a keyword–many times sites with lower rankings hold the top position. Why is this?
Remember, it’s all about competition–the top ranking website may have a PR2, but the other sites who are competing for top listing for that keyword have lower authority. Of course, there are many other factors that go into determining who has the top rank in Google, and only Google knows all of their criteria for judging.
At any rate, it is helpful to know the other site’s PageRank, especially in comparison to your own. If you see that the competing site has a PR4 and your site has a PR2, you can set a goal for yourself to achieve PR4 or higher.
With all of these indicators, it’s nice to get an idea of what you’re shooting for. Being aware of your top competitor’s stats can help you strategically jump up the rankings and keep your motivation going to earn the #1 spot.
Using Back Links to Improve Your Website SEO
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Using Back Links to Improve Your Website SEO
Using Back Links to Improve Your Website SEO Put simply, back links are inward-bound links to a particular internet site or page. What this means is that the other site has a hyperlink “pointing” directly to your website. Regarding search engine optimisation, you want as many back links pointing to your site as you possibly can, even more so if the site is directly related to your area of interest.
As the number one goal of a website is to achieve traffic, i.e. people actually looking at the site, it follows that you must make the website visible. Generally speaking, to make your website visible, people must be able to find it when they search for keywords directly related to your product, niche, service or whatever else your website represents. Individuals tend to be seeking such information via the big search engines, whose operators have rather complicated algorithms to help them decide whether a certain website is applicable to the searcher’s request, or not.
Although they will not divulge exactly how they go about composing these algorithms, the search engine operators do assure us that relevancy, as viewed by others, is most important. If they see that you have a back link or a number of back links from other websites that have some relevancy to yours, this is a plus. In addition, if the site linking to you has a fairly high “page rank”, this helps as well. Page rank is Google’s proprietary method of allocating a number (zero being lowest and moving up to ten) indicating how important a site is within its particular niche of operations.
There are a number of ways to achieve back links for your site:
* Article Marketing
As Bill Gates once said, “content is king”. Article marketing is known as one of the most solid Internet marketing methods. By writing highly relevant and informative articles and submitting them to high profile article directories you do several things, not the least important of which is to help establish you or your site as an expert in your niche. Within your article, published in the article directory, is a resource box which contains your details – who you are and what you do, and a link back to your site, the all important Back Link.
* Social Bookmarking
There are many hundreds of social bookmarking sites, and their primary motive is basically to provide a way of informing people about the existence of content related to any niche or interest in a very manageable format. You can sign up and initiate a process of notifying social bookmarking sites about fresh content, including back links in many cases. You should note at this stage that some webmasters apply a “no follow” tag which can void the effect of a back link, as the tag instructs the search engine spider not to give you points, or what’s called “link love”.
* Social Media – Twitter
Whilst Twitter and other similar sites are becoming increasingly more powerful in marketing terms, you should know that to include links within your “tweets” or in your URL profile box is not a powerful back linking strategy, as these are all allocated the dreaded no follow tag. However, you may find that it is possible to link within a bio box and get some link love this way. Also, if you syndicate, your Twitter feeds are updated via the RSS aggregators, earning you back links.
* Blog Commenting
First of all, you will have to locate blogs or forums that are relevant to your area of expertise. This is fairly simple to accomplish as a straightforward and pertinent search will locate hosts. Once you find these blogs you can sign up and create a profile. Often you will be allowed to create what is called a “signature”, and within that signature you incorporate your links. Note, you should check to see if there are any no follow tags, as these will appear occasionally.
Enter into the spirit of the place by interacting with other members and making entries and posting comments that are relevant, useful and educational. As well as a back link being displayed each time you post a comment, you’ll also create a potentially profitable bond with other members – and this has the potential to lead to all kinds of new possiblities.
Backlinks for Search Engine Optimization: How Important are They?
Backlinks are a key component in search engine optimization. Search engine consultants talk about the importance of backlinks for achieving higher search engine ranking. That’s because the more one-way backlinks you have leading to your website, the more important the search engines believe your page to be.
There are two types of backlinks: one-way links and reciprocal links.
One-Way Links are basically backlinks that only go one direction. Maybe it’s a link that goes from your website to another website. Or maybe it’s a link that goes from another site to yours. Either way, it’s only going one way.
Reciprocal Links are backlinks that go from one website to another, and then back to the original website.
It’s important to differentiate between one-way back links versus reciprocal links. Many search engine optimization experts believe that one-way back links are more valuable than reciprocal links because they’re much harder to earn. The thinking is that since they’re harder to earn, they must be more valuable, which means other people think very highly of your site. If people think highly of your site, it must be an important site, which means the search engines will give it a higher ranking than those sites that do not have a lot of one-way backlinks.
As search engines like Google grow and improve, they’re putting more emphasis on how popular a website is, not whether they use all the right keywords. This popularity is measured through one-way backlinks. They’re like votes to Google, and search engine ranking is more like a popularity contest: have a lot of links to your site and your site achieves a high ranking. The easiest way to find the number of backlinks that lead to your site is to visit Google or Yahoo! and type in the following command:
link:www.yourwebsite.com
You will be shown a list of all the websites that have backlinks to your own domain. If you want to see who has links back to a particular page on your site, then type in the whole URL to that individual page.
Although no one can be sure of the exact algorithm Google and Yahoo use to rank sites, it’s commonly believed that if a website has more backlinks, it will achieve a higher search engine ranking. There are other factors that go into the whole search engine ranking, but backlinks are one of the more important ones.
But it’s important you have good quality backlinks, not just links that appear on any page you can find, like a link farm or sticking a comment on a page that has nothing to do with your website at all. That is, if you sell hammers, don’t put any backlinks on a page that sells children’s shoes.
That’s because search engines like Google have started cracking down on link farms and backlinks spammers. The search engine spiders know how to tell the difference between backlinks on a link farm and links on a quality website. If you are caught spamming, you will be dropped in the rankings, or possibly even dropped completely from Google’s index.
So you need to pay attention to the quality of your backlinks, now more than ever. One way to do this is to make sure you use the proper anchor text in your backlinks. For example, do not ever hot-link the words “click here.” What you’re basically telling the search engine spiders is that the website is about Click Here. Instead, use the keywords about the site that the backlinks are leading to. If you’re creating backlinks to a site about hammers, put the word hammers in your links. “Click here” isn’t about hammers.
In short, if you want some great search engine results, be sure to include backlinks as part of your search engine optimization strategy. You’ll see it pay off with improved search engine rankings.
How Many Links Does It Take To Get To The Middle Of Google Page One?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
How Many Links Does It Take To Get To The Middle Of Google Page One?
Everyday it seems, people are asking me the optimum numbers of inbound links they need to acquire for their website in order to rank well in Google.
My answer is going to seem a little flip, but it is the honest, best answer.
Answer: You need more inbound links – of equal or higher quality – than what your competitors have.
Albert Einstein argued that any mathematical formula that required pages of calculations did not contain within it “the mind of God”.
So when Albert Einstein developed E=mc2, then Einstein had fulfilled the promise of a simple formula that could encompass the brilliance of God.
When people wonder as to how many inbound links they might need to acquire in order to rank in the Top 4 of Google’s search results or even the Top 10 of Google’s SERPs, they are generally hoping that someone will be able to give them a numeric answer, so that they know whether they can afford to undertake the process or not.
I understand the WHY of the question, but there is no canned answer that will work for everyone.
Remember, your competitor may be asking the same question and undertaking the same processes as you are, trying to accomplish the same goal.
No one can truly begin to understand the answer to this question, until one has take the time to do an Inbound Link Comparison Analysis of all of your competitors in the Top 10 spots of Google’s SERPs.
* You need to look at the Top 10 listings in Google for a particular keyword.
* You need to do backlink checks for all ten URLs in Google’s search listings, and you need to check those numbers across a variety of sources, including Google, Yahoo and any other tool you can find to do a check. (Google and Yahoo both tend to understate the actual link counts. While Yahoo will show you more than what Google does, they also show a number of “no consequence” links in their results.)
* You need to look at the quality of a few of the pages that offer links to the URLs in the search results.
This is not an easy process to undertake. I have done it before, but the best you can hope for is a “snapshot” of what is out there, and therefore, what you need to accomplish.
Note: If Wikipedia turns up in your search query, few people with small budgets will ever be able to dislodge Wikipedia in the search results. What they make up for in a small number of inbound links, they more than make up for with links from dozens or hundreds of PR4, PR5 and PR6 pages. Wikipedia is the king of Internal Linking, and they use that to a great degree to rank extraordinarily high in Google’s search listings.
Your analysis should seek to uncover how many links a page has to it.
As a general rule of thumb, Google will show you less than 1% of the existing number of links for a web page. Yahoo will sometimes show closer to 5% of the existing number of links for a web page, but they will not show you the highest quality of those links.
So, as you strive to gain a “snapshot” picture of the playing field, you want to take Google’s Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 100. Then you want to take Yahoo’s Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 20, then cut the number in half to acknowledge the number of worthless crap links they have in their database. Once you have achieved these two numbers, then I tend to call the truth “somewhere in the middle”.
With your “somewhere in the middle” number in hand, then you need to look at the quality of links to a few of those search listings, to get an idea of whether those links exist on higher quality pages or simply junk pages.
If those links are on junk pages, then the goal could be achieved by just working the numbers. But if there are a lot of high PageRank pages in the mix, then whatever number is in your hand, should be multiplied, perhaps 100-fold, to overcome the quality of pages that link to your competitors.
If you get the idea that my simple formula leads to a complicated answer, then you are right.
All of the numbers that I have included in my sample formula are based on rough speculation, as the “snapshot” offers you your best hope of understanding the challenge in front of you.
While the number of inbound links may be relatively easy to determine, the link quality is a factor that is really hard to pin down.
* If you determine that you only need 300 inbound links to rank with the big boys, you may be right.
* Your 300 inbound links number should also be quantified against the number of links that Google will count worthy, so you may need 1200 links to get 300 links that Google will deem worthy. This calculation depends more on the “quality of your content”, rather than the “quantity of your content”.
* When all is said and done and your 300 Google-worthy links have not yet put you on page one, then you know that the quality of the links pointing at your competitors is greater than the quality of the links pointing to you.
If you were hoping for an easy answer, I am sorry that I could not help you with that.
But with this explanation of the challenge, you may be better prepared to answer the big question, the question that is really on your mind:
Are my hopes of achieving good rankings in Google within my reach?
I tend to throw “worry” to the wind and just start working. I don’t worry if I can afford to do it or not. I simply start doing, and I know that in one month, one year or five, I will have built enough value in my website that my competitors are going to be the ones who are trying to figure out if they can unseat me!
Targeted Web Traffic – 5 Tips For Great Traffic
Targeted Web Traffic is the “holy grail” of webmasters who want good sales results at their sites. It’s a simple concept.
You want traffic. Otherwise your site sits unobserved and unvisited in the blackness of cyberspace.
But you don’t need just ANY type of traffic. You want, for your “rain umbrella” site, customers coming to you that typed in, ideally, “buy rain umbrellas.”
Now, one of the problems with generating targeted web traffic is the fact that there are a LOT of webmasters out there trying for the same thing. Competition, in other words.
It can appear daunting, but if you keep these 5 tips in mind, and you work at it, you can increase traffic to your site and have the happy coincidence of “better quality” traffic from what we call in the business, “buyer keywords.”
1. Know thy target!
You need to know certain things about your typical buyer, but the one most important thing to know is “Which keywords do they use to search for what you are selling.” Right there is an “aha!” moment.
And don’t neglect putting content on your site that is highly relevant to your targeted audience so that they will find your site informative and interesting and return to your site in the future.
2. Writing Articles
A good strategy for making articles work for your site, and thereby pushing the site up in the rankings for certain keywords, is to write an article that… a. Interests your target and… b. targets your keywords.
Here is the “aha!” moment for the prospective article marketer.
There’s a “resource box” at the bottom of the article and in that box you are to put links back to your site! But here’s the nugget, those links are to be “keyword text links” wherein “your keyword here” is the clickable link. Google loves keyword links and you WANT Google to like you.
3. Links – One Way And Only One Way
One of the surest ways to get your site ranked high on your specific keyword is to get “one way links” from high PR sites that are relevant to yours. Google loves this. Google sees the one way link as a “vote” for your site for that keyword.
You’ll accomplish building one way links with the article strategy above, but you need a variety of links, and many sites that are relevant to your target will NEVER publish your article.
An awful lot of the article sites are of low page rank (PR). There are many hundreds of article submission sites and out of all of them all there probably isn’t 50 with good PR. Those are the ones you want!
I highly recommend Ezinearticles and Goarticles and especially Sitepronews. A mass submission company like Submit Your Article can be a real help, too!
A blog comment works too. Find a high PR relevant blog and make a comment! Easy. You can get a link back to your site on the comment. Make sure it’s a good, meaningful, well written comment with relevant copy.
So, backlinks count. And from higher page rank sites…all the better. Pass the link juice, please. Targeted web traffic can be right around the corner.
4. Optimizing Your Website
Search engine marketers are looking for targeted traffic and they insist on having the basics of search engine optimization in place on their site. This is made up of good and relevant content in the form of articles and posts.
This, and your link building efforts can put your page at the top of page one, resulting in a great flow of targeted web traffic.
5. Building A List
A list is typically made up of people that decided to get onto your list because they were interested in what you have! You can’t get much better “targeted” than that. So build one. It’s a grand experience and can be very profitable, too!
One of the things we all like about targeted web traffic from the search engines is that it generates a higher quality prospect AND it’s free! You really can’t beat it.
Link Building in Online Marketing: Tougher Than It Sounds
You probably don’t need to read the latest advice from the online marketing consultants to figure out the basic idea behind link building. Without links, your site won’t develop authority. Without authority, it won’t move up on the search engines. But even the most savvy online marketing consultant would have to admit that doing that is just not as easy as it sounds.
* More Is Not Better In Link Building
Just going out and getting a bunch of links won’t necessarily help your site. You need quality links to get higher search rankings. But sometimes figuring out what makes one link better than another is tough. This is where you do need to keep up with what the online marketing consultants are recommending or you may just be wasting your time.
* Targeted Anchor Text Is A Must
When you start pursuing links on sites, you need targeted anchor text. However, you don’t want to use the same text everywhere. Google will notice that in a bad way. You want to use two or three different phrases and the proper name of your website. If you can’t get anything but an image link, make sure the site owner puts your anchor text or the name of your site in the ALT tag of the image.
* Pay Attention To Links In And Out
Google looks at the site where your link appears and decides how much benefit your site gets back. A site with a lot of inbound links passes more authority to your site. At the same time, being linked on a site full of low-quality, outbound links probably won’t help you much.
* PageRank Isn’t Everything
Don’t be one of those site owners who sees nothing but PageRank. A site with high PageRank can still have low link value. This is especially true of sites that sell links. Steer clear of sites that use phrases like “sponsored by” or “paid for by.” Google may not let that site pass PageRank at all. Move on. They’re not worth your time.
* Concentrate On Site Relevance
Let’s say your site is about red widgets. You get a link on a site about purple doohickeys. That link isn’t worth as much as one on a site about red widget management. Make sure you’re pursuing links in relevant places and look at how those places are optimized. If a site owner gives you a choice of having a link on a page titled “About Us” or one with the title “About Red Widgets,” which one do you choose? The link on the optimized page, “About Red Widgets,” has more value.
* An Online Marketing Consultant Checks What’s Not Obvious
Take your cue from the pros and check sites in ways that aren’t obvious. For instance, in any search engine, you can type in “cache:” followed by a site url and find out if the site has been indexed and when it was last crawled. But what do those dates mean?
Chances are good that if the site hasn’t been crawled in 30-45 days, it’s not a good place for a link. But some domains have more value than others. For example, links from .edu domains are better than from a .com, but .info is worth less. All these factors should be weighed in judging a site’s worth in your link building efforts.
* Does Social Networking Matter?
We’ve all seen the little link bars under blog posts and in forums asking people to Digg or Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon. Do you need to try to get links in places where social networking can happen? Yes. Alone those links may not have a lot of value, but Google is increasingly looking at the “active Web” in determining site authority.
It’s time consuming, but participating in forums and social sites and getting blog owners to run your articles with your linked anchor text included can be worth your time. But remember, relevance is a basic rule in online marketing consulting.
* Are You Getting Clean Links?
When you get a link on a site, do you go look at the page’s source code? Is there anything extra in the “href” tag on the link? Is the site using redirect code? Is there a “nofollow” in the site’s meta data? If there is, the link is useless to you. It won’t pass any authority to your site because that code tells the search engines not to follow the link. Make sure you’re getting clean links.
When you’re on a tight budget and trying to develop your site and get higher search rankings, it can be a tough decision to work online marketing consulting into your thinking. The Web used to be pretty much a do-it-yourself place. That all started to change in 2004 when people began talking about “Web 2.0.”
It’s harder than ever to judge quality link building in the new world of Web applications and social networking. You can do it, but try to stay up to speed on what the online marketing consultants are recommending as good strategies. The Web is changing all the time. Good link building takes time and effort; you don’t want to waste those any more than you want to waste money during hard times.
What Strategic Link Building Means To You?
Strategic link building can gratify your desires to make it big online. Despite the fact that you might find that even a minor tweak in your site can get you enough traffic through search engines, there are other more sensible procedures to use your time and money to ensure a high influx of target traffic. For one, you could incorporate your link building campaign with competitive intelligence and see the change. Achieving this will not only double, but triple your conversion rate.
* Strategic Link Building: How To Use It?
We all know that link building is related to SEO. This is why many web users also fail to see that link building can have a separate strategy away from search engine optimization as well. By itself too, strategic link building can get you a lot of traffic for your website. Let’s discover how:
The first approach is straightforward to use. Go browsing the on the internet and zero in on the sites you like. If you like them, in all probability your visitors will like them too. Once you have a list of some great sites, set them in priority and choose the number of sites you’d like to link with.
Request a reciprocal link or a one-way link from these site owners. As all websites might not respond favorably to your request, it’s advisable to request links from a number of sites. With time and effort, you’ll notice that websites won’t refuse your requests as often.
While you’re sending requests for links, be certain you let those sites know that you’ve visited their site, liked what you saw, and find that a link with them would benefit both parties. This will make your e-mail sound more sincere and not a spammish.
The second strategic link building method involves submitting articles to free content sites. By doing this, you’ll reach those sites, e-zines and newsletters where you’ll get a amazing chance to market yourself though the utilization of your resource box at the end of each and every article you write.
With each article that you write, you can do some strategic link building by placing your website URL into the resource box. Your prospective clientele will read your articles, and if they like what they read, should click over to your website and view what you have to offer.
The third strategy involves writing a press release. If it’s very good and gets publicized on numerous websites, you might even get to publicize your work and website on TV or even in a nationwide magazine. You could begin with writing press releases for the community media in the beginning.
The fourth strategy entails posting to forums and news groups. It’s an easy and fun way to make strategic links. While going about it, be honest. Seek to post in only those forums that you like, and those that deal with topics you believe in.
The fifth strategy is to use competitive intelligence to give a boost to your strategic links. You could use the Google toolbar to know the keywords that your competitors are using, and also to know the websites that are sending target traffic to your competitors.
You’ll have to use the link called “Backward Links” on the tool bar for this work. Many of such competitive intelligence tools could help you to monitor your competitor’s traffic sources. All in all, strategic link building can make you a favorite with search engine spiders, and enable your website pages to enhance in the rankings as well.
Tips On How To Promote Your Site
If you’ve got your own web-based business, you might be asking yourself how you can market your site. There are lots of ways to make this happen, and this article talks about all the demonstrated strategies that would make you have favorable outcomes in this particular field.
The traditional way of promoting a business venture would be to pay for want ad space in your local newspapers. This would let everybody know about your website, but carrying this out regularly would make your overhead costs go up.
A lot of people utilise the web to obtain details, plus the constant progression of the internet means that there will always be many different strategies to market your webpage. Among the choices that you could utilize is pay per click advertising, wherein you will spend money in order to put your ad on the results pages of search engines. While this is a proven way to market your site, it can get costly if you are bidding for keywords that are popular. One other way to publicise your webpage is by making use of weblogs. Crafting blog entries about your products or services and also placing the right amount of information in your weblog would draw in potential customers.
But the fastest method to publicize your site is to write content pieces and also submit them to many different article publication sites. The reason why this strategy gives the most results is due to backlinks: if your content is posted, you’ll be required to include a backlink. This particular link will let your readers visit your site if they want more information about your services and products, and you will acquire more page views.
You need to create articles that are short and educational, and you have to come up with lots of articles so that you’ll be seen as a specialist in your chosen field. Article directory websites will always be in need of new and also excellent content since this would help them receive better search engine rankings, and people will always be on the lookout for specialized information for their own webpages. When your content piece is published in an online directory and that specific article directory website acquires a high page ranking, that result could be achieved by your webpage as well since you will lead your readers to your site through your posted write-ups. In other words, everybody wins in this scenario.
But there are a few vital things to bear in mind when composing content pieces. You have to make an effort to compose around three to five articles every day, as well as restrict your write-up to 300 to 500 words; people will not read through content pieces that go past that restriction. Also, originality is of high importance. Never ever reproduce a posted content piece online or in publications and call it yours. Plagiarism isn’t accepted in any industry, plus your write-ups wouldn’t be posted if you’re caught. You can borrow an idea from another article and extend it, but remember to cite your sources.
If you do not have the time or ability to craft your own articles, you can employ freelance content writers or maybe content creation services to make your content pieces for you. Aside from offering you extra time to pay attention to various other aspects of your internet business, outsourcing this endeavor would mean getting a lot more write-ups for you to send for publication.
The main ideas guiding this specific site publicity tactic would be to provide valuable material and compel your audience to take a look at your site to obtain more details on your products and services. The secret is to make them desire more of what you are offering.
Quick Link Building Tips
Link building is the most dreaded task of all serious SEO’s. Here are five quick and easy backlink building tips that you can apply today!
* Link Building Tip #1 – Get Active in Your Community
I’m not talking about joining the local country club here (although that would be fun…), but rather about joining forums that are relevant to your niche. You want to find a forum (or forums) that is active and well ranked, and place your link in your “signature” section. This way, whenever you contribute to the forum (i.e. say something), you’ll be building backlinks. It is vital that your posts are of informational and educational use, and that you don’t just abuse the system in order to gain links. You’ll get banned quicker than you can say “backlink” if you do this. Contributing to the community is of the essence here.
* Link Building Tip #2 – Suss Out Your Competition
Write down the website addresses of the top five results for your desired keyword. Then, using Google, type in “link:website” (replace website with the actual website address). This will show you where each site is getting their links from (well, most of them in any case) and hopefully spark some ideas for your site.
* Link Building Tip #3 – Get Writing…
Writing and submitting articles is definately one of the most popular link building tactics around. You simply write a short article (400 – 600 words) and publish it on as many article directories as possible. Each directory will allow you to place your link in the “resource box”, thus growing your number of backlinks. You might be wondering “But what do I write about?”. The answer is simple – write about your area of expertise. So if you’re a handyman, write about some basic DIY tasks that people can carry out. Write how-to’s, 101’s and the like – Just give it some thought, it’s well worth it…
* Link Building Tip #4 – Submit To Directories
Wherever there is an industry, you’ll find directories, especially on the internet. Do a search for your keyword and the word “directory”. Sign up to as many of them as possible – it’s a free link every time, and you might even find organic traffic (people) finding you on these directories (that’s what they’re there for, after all).
* Link Building Tip #5 – Get Blogging
My final tip is to get blogging, or at least commenting on other people’s blogs. Have a look for relevant blogs and post some useful comments where suitable. Each comment will earn you a free link, plus potential direct traffic if the blog is popular and well followed. A word of warning though – make sure that the blogs don’t use “nofollow” tags, as this will render your link null and void in the eyes of the search engines.
And there you have it! Five easy link building tips that you can apply today. Best off all – they’re all absolutely free… Remember, link building is an ongoing exercise, and the more you make it a habit, the easier it will become. The only cost is your time and effort.
“Five Tips To Increase Your Backlinks”
Getting a top position in the search engines is no easy task. The key to achieving this is constantly building links to your site – here are five simple strategies…
1) Put Pen to Paper
Whatever industry or niche you’re in, you should have an above average knowledge of that topic, so put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!) and write some informative short articles (300 – 500 words) that would appeal to your target market. You can either syndicate these articles through article directories, or head to the publishers and try to get them published on high ranking sites. Doing both is always a good idea. Every time your article gets published, you score free links – so get going now!
2) Social-ize…
Explore the realm of social bookmarking and get your links featured on as many social networks are possible. The potential for a viral linking explosion is huge in any social network, so work on a good value offer to promote to these networks (something free and useful).
3) Break Into the Forum Community
By registering on, and actively participating in forums that are relevant to your niche, you can quickly build up the number of backlinks to your website using your signature file (provided that they allow this and that the links are “dofollow”). Whilst the “SEO weight” of these links is debatable, you still get the benefit of publicity and who knows, you could learn a thing or two whilst online! A word of warning though – don’t spam the forums with rubbish comments purely to score backlinks to your site – you’ll get kicked out pretty quickly.
4) Follow Some Blogs
Blog commenting is quite a popular link building technique in the SEO community. You simply follow some popular blogs in your niche or industry, and provide constructive comment where suitable, leaving your link in the comment. Make sure that the blogs are “dofollow” type, as the “nofollow” ones are useless.
5) Differentiate or Die
This classic business phrase has a slightly different meaning in terms of link building. When building links (whatever method you may use), always try to differentiate your anchor text used across the web – at least to a certain degree. Having identical links and anchor text all over the web is likely to raise a brow with the search engines.
* Most importantly, commit to the journey of link building
The best link building strategy is a long term, consistent one. Set a target for how many links you want to build monthly, and aim to achieve this amount every month. Be patient and have a little faith – your hard work will be rewarded.
“10 Steps To Getting The Click”
There are a number of steps a webmaster can take to encourage visitors to “click” on a link or graphic located on their website. The following steps will help “get the click”…
1. Colors
Use contrasting colors for links. This makes the links easier to discern from other text on a web page. Also, avoid placing links against a patterned background, as it will make it much more difficult to read the link text. Bottom line, the link color should stand out from the rest of the web page, and be easy to locate.
2. Link Traits
Underlining is still the universal indication of a link. Using the “underline” for links will send a clear message to website visitors about which text on the webpage is just text, and which text is actually a hyper-link. And along this line of thought, you should avoid using underlining for text that is not a link, just to avoid confusion.
3. Visible
Make all the links visible. Do not hide the links or navigation on a web page. Avoid using scripting to display links, as these links will not be visible to website visitors who have turned scripting off in their browser for security reasons.
4. Textual
Text links have a higher rate of clicks than linked images. The one exception is typically a “Buy Now” button, which tends to be more effective than text-only “Buy Now” links. Keep this in mind when creating a linking scheme for your website.
5. Consistent
The location of links should be consistent as the visitor moves from page to page through your website. Do not move links around as the content of the web page changes.
6. Position
Place important links in a location that is easy for the website visitor to see without having to scroll. Position important links “above the fold” on the website.
7. Font Style & Size
In order to make links easy for the visitor to see, be sure to use a font style and size that can be easily read.
8. Graphic Links
If you use image links, the clickable graphics should be vibrant and should stand out from the other content on the page. Use bright or bold contrasting colors for the graphic. Be sure to include appropriate ALT text for each linked image, so the visitor will have an indication of the material being linked to as they move their mouse over the graphic.
9. Split-Test
Conduct split-testing by changing colors and moving links around, and then monitor and track which options and locations result in the highest number of clicks. What may seem intuitive is not always as obvious as you might think.
10. Fresh Eyes
Ask a friend or family member to navigate your website. It may surprise you to learn what they see and where they click. A fresh set of eyes will give a good indication of how others will perceive your website and the clickable content.
“Generate Backlinks To A Weblog In Natural Way”
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, June 11, 2011
“Generate Backlinks To A Weblog In Natural Way”
One of the toughest areas of gaining publicity for a weblog is ranking in nature for targeted key phrases. If you have only started your weblog newly, you are likely competing alongside weblogs which have been around for many years, with countless entries already listed and ranking high inside the major search engines.
It may be daunting in the beginning – a thousand-entry disadvantage right from the beginning – but with the proper blogging tactic it is potential to outrank any older competitors with only a fraction as numerous posts and backlinks.
How? It is all about quality, and the tipping point. If you maintain a very high quality weblog, your posts are picked up much more often than the ones of a relatively high quality weblog. The online audience is discriminator for that last 10% that bridges the gap between the good and the excellent.
Good content? It will go for miles, making the best way through social media sites plus perhaps several social bookmarking services.
Excellent content? You will rapidly see good – high quality articles and blogposts rank at the frontpage of social bookmarking sites, attracting much more traffic than their mildly successful competitors. Building natural backlinks is about that one thing: quality. Like several search engine optimization pursuits, it is potential to increase your way to the top spot with low quality work, but it places you in a position that is very difficult to maintain.
Low quality work just goes so far, particularly when it is spread sparingly. Give it some thought when it comes to a highly trained group of troopers facing off against an untrained military. One has influence in numbers, but is rapidly spread apart and controlled. The other is powerful not only in mass but in relatively small quantities.
While the massive military can manage ground, it is rapidly pushed away by the good – high quality troopers. Take care of your content in the same way. Whenever you are looking to get backlinks, concentrate on using good quality content to achieve your target. While countless low quality weblog posts spread over various weblogs can provide your site several linking power, they are rapidly brought down by one well-targeted opponent.
Utilize a direct, high quality method. Generate backlinks through the work of others; submit high quality content to social bookmarking sites and allow the users spread it for yourself, all through their enthusiasm.
One well written article will spread 100 times further than 10 low quality written ones, and is definitely the better backlink tactic. So next time you may need to build backlinks for your weblog or site, concentrate on the 10% content gap that actually matters. Low quality content can only be spread through brute force and ridiculous quantities of work, and is rarely a cost efficient option.
Good quality work goes far, but often falls short with regards to climbing to the top spot.
Good – high quality work may travel through social media sites, social bookmarking sites, and eventually through sheer word of mouth. That is the kind of content that builds weblog backlinks, and that is the kind of content that you need to be focusing on.
Link Back To Your Site In Simple & Effective Ways
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, June 10, 2011
Link Back To Your Site In Simple & Effective Ways
You have finally set up your own site & are eagerly waiting for your business to flourish. But have you given a thought to how users online will know a site like yours exists? Well, if no one knows your site exists how would you sell your product or get more clients? The entire e-business world relies on one simple thing to gain visibility and get more profit. Yes, search engines like Yahoo, Google and Bing determine which sites are visible and which are not. And for a search engine to place your website at the top, you need to have good backlinks.
The high page rank that you crave for is attainable only if you have done your homework and set up good backlinks. Making your site appear in the top pages of a search engine requires a great deal of backlinks which will ultimately ensure that you have traffic in your website. And the procedure is simple. There are many legal ways to create backlinks to your site. First you have to learn how to create a backlink. An anchor text is all you need. It should look something like this:
<a href=”your” website url>Your keywords here</a>
Now let’s take a look at the various ways you can create backlinks to your website:
• Submitting articles to directories:
This is one of the most trusted methods of getting great backlinks to your site. All you have to do is write an article with good content and submit it to the many online article submission directories. While you are at it here are some points to look out for:
1. Add Variety: Content is king. So make sure that you don’t just submit the same articles to every directory. Chances are there that the search engines will mark them as ‘duplicate content’ and all your hard work will prove futile. So have good content and variety in your articles.
2. Submit Manually: True time is money, but to save time don’t get lured by the many ‘automatic ‘submission software. Instead submit the articles manually and only to the relevant directories where you know the search engines will look first.
3. Always Link To Your Site: Make sure that your backlinks contain your own website URL and also throw in a keyword that which in turn links to that specific keyword related page in your site.
• Using Social Media:
Make use of social media like Facebook & Twitter to spread the word. Upload videos of your site and add them to YouTube channels. Or you can also use your articles in an innovative way by converting them to slideshows which can be submitted to many websites. Also posting to forums in communities helps spread the word. It’ll surely generate more traffic to your site.
• Posting to Blogs & Sites:
With the huge no. of blogs that are being created every minute, you can surely link back to your site by submitting the backlinks to the blog with keywords that matches with yours. Use the many blogs and websites that allow you to submit your articles too and thus give you good backlinks in return. You can even make use of Google keywords alert that will alert you whenever a new blog comes up that has keywords useful for your site.
• Link Exchange sites:
If time isn’t what you have in plenty then worry not. Many link exchange sites have now come up that assure you a higher page rank when you submit your links to them. But make sure you opt for sites that have a good PR & are relevant to your keywords. And of course you need to shell out a few bucks too for this service.
• Using Comments Effectively:
A simple yet tricky method to link back to your site is to effectively use the comments section that you find in many blogs & websites. All you have to do is give a good comment and add the anchor text to it and now you have another backlink! But be careful not to end up marked as spam. Make sure that the site or blog is closely related to your comments & link. Don’t just go about commenting on home loans when the blog is about culinary skills!
So now that you have successfully added backlinks everywhere, watch the traffic flow to your site & get a better page rank. But don’t rest for too long as you need to keep updating and adding more links to ensure the PR stays good. Keep abreast of the latest changes so you wouldn’t lag behind when it comes to popularizing your site.
A Phone of Promise, With Flaws
Doesn’t it realize that Apple has a three-year, 70-million-phone, 300,000-app head start? And that Google’s Android phone software has a two-year, estimated 30-million-phone, 100,000-app head start?
And does Microsoft really think that the world needs yet another black rectangular multitouch app phone design?
Well, clearly, the answer to the last question is yes. Windows Phone 7 is new software that Microsoft hopes will run on new phones from various manufacturers and cellular networks. I tried it out on the nearly identical Samsung Focus (AT&T), HTC Surround (AT&T) and HTC HD7 (T-Mobile). Each will go on sale in the coming weeks for $200 (with two-year contract).
The name “Windows Phone 7” is misleading twice. First, it’s not Windows. It doesn’t look or work like Windows, doesn’t run Windows software, doesn’t even require a Windows PC. (There’s an iTunes-like program for loading the phone with music and videos, but it’s available for both Mac and Windows.)
Second, this is not “7.” That number implies some relationship to Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft’s latest phone software attempt, which is corporate, cramped and complicated. No, Windows Phone 7 is most definitely a 1.0 release.
That may sound like a slam. But “1.0” can mean “unfinished” as well as “a fresh start loaded with innovations.” So while Windows Phone 7 shows some real genius, it is missing an embarrassingly long list of features that are standard on iPhone and Android. Ready?
There’s no copy and paste. No folders for organizing your apps. No way to add new ringtones. No way to send videos to other phones as MMS messages. No video chat. No front-facing cameras.
And there’s no multitasking. You can play your own songs while working in other programs, but you can’t listen to, say, Pandora Internet radio.
Sound familiar? These are precisely the features that were missing from iPhone 1.0, too. Furthermore, there’s a search button, but it can’t search your whole phone at once (for apps, contacts and e-mail simultaneously, for example). There’s no visual voice mail. And there’s no tethering option (where you pay an extra $20 a month to use the phone as a glorified Internet antenna for your laptop).
Like the iPhone, the Web browser doesn’t play Flash videos on the Web — but it also won’t play the HTML5 videos that the iPhone plays, or even videos in Microsoft’s own Silverlight format. So, no YouTube, no Hulu, no online news videos.
The e-mail program can’t unify your e-mail accounts into a single in-box. In fact, each e-mail account winds up as a separate icon on your home screen. There’s no message threading.
The calendar can sync with online calendars like Yahoo’s or Google’s. But, incredibly, it can show only one category at a time, like home or work. If you’ve color-coded your life’s appointments, then this feature is all but useless.
The address book has the opposite problem: it displays everyone from all of your accounts, including Facebook, in one long list. If you have hundreds of Facebook friends, they clutter up the list of people you call often. (There’s no Twitter integration at all, only a separate app.) That sounds like quite a lengthy to-do list for Microsoft, and it is. But heaven knows, if any company is famous for its slow, dogged, multiyear, multimillion-dollar approach to software improvement, it’s Microsoft. The company swears that it’s going to make Windows Phone 7 a contender. At the least, it’s safe to assume that it won’t kill the project completely after only two months, as it did with its Microsoft Kin cellphones this summer.
Here’s the thing: WP7 is a 1.0 release in a good way, too. It’s a complete rethinking of app phone software design. Somehow, Microsoft has pulled off the inconceivably difficult task of coming up with a fresh, joyous, beautiful new software design that doesn’t look anything like iPhone or Android.
The WP7 home screen doesn’t have evenly spaced app icons on multiple side-by-side home screens, like Android or iPhone. Instead, you see two columns of scrolling, multicolored rectangular tiles. Each represents an app, a speed-dial person, a favorite Web page, a music playlist — whatever you want to put there. They’re easy to rearrange, organize and remove. (Thank goodness. Microsoft lets cell carriers, like AT&T or T-Mobile, install their own junkware. At least you can delete it on Day 1.)
These big, finger-friendly tiles are also informative. A number on a tile tells you how many voice mail messages, e-mail messages or app updates are waiting. The music tile shows album art, the calendar tile identifies your next appointment, and so on.
Cool Combination: Internet And TV
Households without internet and a television set are hard to find. How about the advantages of a combination of the two? Try internet and tv.
It sounds logical to combine internet and tv. Let’s face it, everyone has internet and very few people don’t own a tv. But it’s not so clear for many what exactly the combination of internet and tv really is. Let alone how you can get it and what it takes to install it. It really isn’t that complicated. Promised!
* What are the advantages?
Internet and tv is nothing more than a combination of the two in one package. With a lot of cool perks! For example, you’ll get to know the superb sensation that is digital tv. It’s possible to choose the channels you want to watch. Less costs. But you do need to make sure you’ve got a decent (or at least the one that suits you best) internet connection.
* Can I select the channels myself?
No and yes. With internet and tv you can dedide which channels you want to watch. But they come in packages (choose between two) so you won’t be able to pick out the channels one by one. There’s two packages to choose from; a standard package and a premium package. The standard package contains all the channels you’ve got on your tv right now. The premium package extends the channel offer. Pick for example Eredivisie Live (all the Dutch football games live on tv) a theme channel (travel, cooking) or HD TV. With HD TV you’ll watch tv in a whole new way. Thanks to a higher resolution the colors are brighter, the sounds are better (depends a bit on your stereo though) and everything is sharper.
* What do I need for internet and tv?
One of the most important ingredients has got to be a phone line. Not even a connection to that line (so you don’t need a phone at home) but just the line itself. It should be hidden in your house somewhere, just look for a little box. Then of course, you’ll need an internet connection. But you definitely don’t need to get the fastest, most expensive connection. That depends on what you do online.
* Which internet connection should I choose?
There are severel internet connections to choose from. Make sure you get the right one, in other words the one that isn’t overprized. For internet and tv you don’t necessarily need an expensive, rapid connection. Just think about how you use your internet. Are you online to look up stuff and to send emails? Then the standard connection will do. But are you one of those downloading freaks with several computers at home (several people using the same connection) you should opt for the connection with high download speed.
* What about the installation?
It’s possible to install internet and tv yourself. The user guide is clear and convenient and with a bit of knowledge you should be able to fix things yourself. However, there are always adjusters available if you do need any help. Try it yourself first though! You don’t want to pay a guy that fixes things you easily could’ve done yourself.
Ten Reasons Why Interactive TV Is A Must
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Ten Reasons Why Interactive TV Is A Must
* Not as complicated as it seems
Interactive tv? Sounds complicated but really it isn’t. Interactive tv is a form of digital tv and that means nothing more than razor sharp images with lots of details.
* Better quality and sound
Because interactive tv actually is digital tv, you’ll experience a unique way of watching tv. Brighter colors and a killer sound: everything is clear and it feels like you’re right into the middle of it all. With interactive tv you’ll have the same kick ass quality as digital tv.
* You get to choose
With digital tv you no longer depend on your tv guide. It doesn’t matter anymore if you miss a show or two. With interactive tv you can watch whatever you want, whenever you feel like it. Just the way you like it.
* Create the ideal tv evening
You can now create the perfect evening of television. Just select your favorite shows and/or movies and watch them in the order that suits you best. There’s always something on with interactive tv!
* Pause
You’re the one who’s in control with interactive tv. Walk the dog while your watching? Just pause it! Interrupting airings is possible when you feel like it and you can resume watching. when it suits you. You no longer need to miss parts of the programs you were watching. Just pause and continue, whenever you’re ready.
* Record
Does your partner want to watch the big game but you actually want to watch a movie? No problem, just tape it! You can watch it when the time’s ready. Your time. When you’re ready. That actually goes for that big game as well, but is might be more fun to watch is you don’t know the score.
* No more commercials
Because you can fast-forward through movies and programs, you no longer need to endure those endless annoying commercial breaks. Toilet paper, tampons, shampoo…from now on they’re only in your own bathroom, not on tv!
* Movies on demand
With interactive tv you’ll get the video store right into your living room. Just press the button and there’s a wide selection of new, cool movies. Apart from movies you can choose from the best and most popular tv series as well. No need to go outside on a rainy day. Sit back, relax and watch some movies!
* Missed airings
Although you create your own tv guide with interactive tv, it can still happen that for some reason you miss something on tv you actually want to watch. With interactive tv it’s possible to watch programs that have already aired and you forgot to tape. The main three stations offer their programs from today and yesterday. You can also watch aired programs from other channels, but you need to arrange this yourself. Just adjust your subscription details.
* Participate on tv
With interactive tv you can actually be part of what’s on the tube. Give the answers in a game show, guess the questions during a test; just use the remote control to vote or to select your answer.
Choosing the Right One for You: Video Conferencing or Telepresence
Sometime, there is a level of confusion between the terms – video conferencing and telepresence. The line of distinction gets blurred, as web conferencing technology continues to improve. It is easy for inexperienced persons to get confused with the various collaborative technologies. There are a number of factors that must be explored for a balanced assessment. For instance, image resolution, bandwidth requirements and connection stability.
* Which is Better?
Since being introduced in 2006, telepresence has gained momentum in the communications field. It seeks to create a more immersive experience than that offered by video conferencing or web conferencing solutions. Many business people are satisfied with the video conferencing hence they consider it as a highly evolved technology than telepresence. With the help of large screens, participants are presented life sized and it is the combination of both video and audio communications between two or more end users.
Ultimately selecting one over the other depends on the end user’s requirements. There is wisdom in using an online collaboration solution that grows as the company grows, hence the popularity of web or video conferencing. For smaller companies the cost of telepresence technology is prohibitive. There are efforts underway to develop reasonably priced options to capture all segments of the market.
Telepresence might be the best option for the people who consider “immersive” aspect vital to the success of a meeting. Users of video conferencing are generally happy with their choice, notwithstanding the possibility of connectivity and image quality issues.
The only real option that successfully combines the best of both worlds is web conferencing. These two options are seen as appealing to different sectors of the market often. Nonetheless, both online meeting options serve the same but bit differently. Web conferencing not only allows interactive web conferencing, it enhances it with a number of useful features such as:
- Whiteboards
- Application sharing
- Meeting recording
- Remote access and remote support
While companies like RHUB Communications have helped to define the communications landscape, some end users still have questions. This company and other providers have delivered quality web conference solutions that are easy to use, reliable and help to cut costs.
Email Overload? Gmail Priority Inbox Can Help!
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Email Overload? Gmail Priority Inbox Can Help!
I have been using Gmail for quite some time now and it’s been really a great help. I especially love Gmail Labs! As if that wasn’t excellent enough, Google’s creative ideas now has another innovation for a lot of us who are overwhelmed by too much email: Gmail Priority Inbox.
* What is Gmail Priority Inbox?
You know how our inboxes are often flooded with a lot of messages daily? There’s mail our colleagues, from our subscriptions, from family and friends, and spam. Some of these emails need to be answered right away, some can be ignored and deleted and some may need responding at some point later. It can be very difficult keeping track of it, right?
If you’re having trouble dealing with your mails daily, then this is the perfect solution. It can be really time-consuming to figure out which mails need to be read or deleted and what needs a reply ASAP.
What if your mail could predict what’s really important for you without you having to sort through everything one by one?
This is what Gmail’s Priority Inbox does. It’s a great new way to handle information overload in Gmail. It helps you focus on the messages that really matter, without any complicated rules.
* How it works
In the words of Google itself, “Priority Inbox splits your inbox into three different sections: “Starred,” “Important and unread,” and “Everything else.” When you activate Gmail Priority Inbox, as your messages come in, Gmail automatically flags some of them as important. Amazingly, Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict:
Which messages are important, including the people you sent an email the most (if you email Jack a lot, a message from Jack is probably important); and
* Which messages you open and reply to!
Your daily use of Gmail should “teach” it to categorize your messages for you! How cool is that?
Also, by clicking the plus or minus buttons at the top of the inbox to properly mark a conversation as important or not important, you help Gmail learn your email reading and replying pattern! What’s more, you can:
- Set up filters to always mark certain things important or unimportant; or change and customize the 3 inbox sections!
The Gmail Priority Inbox is undoubtedly a great system, and easy way to quickly see what needs immediate responding and what can wait – great for your time management techniques!
Try it now and let me know what you think!
12 Reasons Your Website Is Failing
1) The Site Has No Focus
A website should be designed with its primary purpose in mind. You should have ONE thing that you’d really like most visitors to your page to do. Almost everything on that page should lead the visitors toward deciding to take that primary action. Nothing on the page should distract them and “lead them off down other trails.”
Common primary actions that you’ll want your visitor to take are to join your list, buy your product, download a free trial version, or join an online community. Make sure that you know what you want your visitors to focus on, and get rid of the other distractions. It’s been proven that if you give your visitors too many choices, or confuse them, they will simply choose to leave!
2) The Site Has No Email Capture Mechanism
Most honest copywriters will tell you that in most Internet marketing type niches, a 1-2% response rate to a sales letter is VERY respectable. You’ve worked very hard to get visitors to your site, and if you completely ignore the 98% who don’t buy you’re not going to be in business very long.
Incorporate a form into your website that gets them into an autoresponder so that you can follow-up with them. Offer them a free report, access to an MP3 on the topic, or access to an exclusive community. Get them to opt-in, and then you can follow up with them on their topic of interest.
Your opt-in form can be set up “in-line” as a part of the webpage, and even take them back to the point on the webpage where they were reading before they stopped to opt-in. You can also have an exit popup, or pop- under, that offers them a freebie as they’re leaving your site. Once they’ve decided to leave, you’ll probably NEVER see them again unless you have a way to invite them back. An autoresponder is the perfect way to do this automatically.
3) The Owner is “Hiding Behind the Website”
Web surfers are skeptical and distrusting. You need to let them know that there is a real person behind the site. Give them contact information, show them your photo, and even let them hear you. You can easily add audio or video to your website, and allow it to “touch” your visitor on such a deeper level. When people hear your voice or see you talking, and get to watch your body language, you communicate so much more effectively than just the written word.
To add audio to your website, all you need is a microphone plugged into your computer. To add video to your website, all you really need is a webcam plugged into your computer. There are services that will take this audio or video, allow you to edit it with a few clicks of your mouse, and then stream it from their servers or upload it to your server.
A totally amazing service that I use is called Audio Acrobat. I use it to have customers, subscribers, etc., call in and leave testimonials. I use it to record some teleseminars, interviews, product recommendations, and for dozens of other purpose. I do record video from my webcam to this service too. You can also upload video recorded on a regular video camera to this service, and then stream it from their website.
As I said, I Love Audio Acrobat. If you want to check it out, you can get a free 30-day trial from here: http://williec.audioacrobat.com/ It’s where I have dozens of testimonial lines, dozens of audios, and a few videos. It’s also how I save on my web hosting bandwidth 
4) The Owner of the Site Offers No Credentials
The very first question I ask when reading a magazine article, watching a television show, or reading a web page, is “What makes this person qualified to teach ME this topic.” Most web surfers don’t trust you, and believe that most Internet sites are out to rip them off. You need to show them that your experience and training makes you qualified to teach them the topic. In addition to formal credentials a professional looking website also shows that you are a serious business person. Don’t skimp on your website’s design!
5) Not Offering Proof of Statements
It’s natural for you to say how great you and your product are. That means nothing to potential customers. Get others to share how your product improved their lives. Use media interviews, and statements by officials in professional organizations, to provide third-party validation.
Testimonials with photos, audio, or video, are very powerful. Testimonials with just a set of initials, or with just a first name, have NO credibility.
6) Offering the Wrong Payment Options
The majority of Internet users prefer to pay via credit card. If your product allows you to do it, and still make a satisfactory profit, consider taking orders through an answering service or call center, via fax, via snail mail, and through third party processors such as Paypal as well. Evaluate each of these options and decide which of these make sense for you. As an aside, I once considered even offering my customers the option to order C.O.D (cash on delivery). My local postmaster strongly suggested that I NOT do that and also pointed out that it’s almost never done these days. He convinced me that it was more trouble than it was worth.
7) Using the Wrong or Too Many Fonts
When you use different sizes and colors of letters on your webpage you need to have a real reason. When you highlight or underline text on your webpage you need to have a logical reason.
As your site visitor reads your webpage, he will subconsciously ask himself why you emphasized a certain word or sentence on the page. If you had no logical reason, you pull him out of your message as his mind “wrestles with the why.”
Your page should be structured such that a “skimmer” could just read the headlines and sub headlines and get the message. He should be able to read just the highlighted text and get the gist of your webpage. He should be able to just go to the bottom of the page, read the “P.S.” where you’ve restated your offer, and order without being forced to read the rest of the page… if he’s in a hurry.
Using Header Graphics that Distract from the Message
Your header graphic should spell out or emphasize the main benefit of your product. It should be simple enough that the visitor is not forced to waste time trying to decipher its meaning.
Sometimes, it’s better not to even have a header graphic. This is something you should test. You want to get your visitor reading the text on your page and discovering how your product can help him, as soon as practical. This is what will sell him… not cute or fancy graphics.
9) Not Focusing on Benefits Rather than Features
Don’t tell your visitor how great the product is, tell him how it will improve his life. Your testimonials should also provide concrete, and very specific, examples of how it improved someone else’s life.
10) Focusing on “I” Rather than “You!”
Look at your webpage and make sure that it talks about the customer and his problem more than it talks about you, your company, and your products. Your customers don’t really care about you. They care about how you can help them! Read through your copy and make sure that it answers that question. Make sure that you’re not talking about yourself too much, and that when you do talk about yourself, it’s answering the question of how you can help the reader.
11) Not Emphasizing the Guarantee
When a customer purchases with a credit card, or through certain third-party processors, the guarantee is implied anyway. So, why not make your guarantee a selling point? If a customer goes to Visa or MasterCard and states that they are unhappy with their purchase from you, they will get their money back in most cases… and you’ll pay an extra fee for the “chargeback.” If a customer goes to Clickbank or Paypal with a complaint, they will end up issuing a refund in many cases.
Make it easy on yourself by offering and honoring a guarantee. It will increase your conversion rate, and unless your product is total JUNK, it won’t increase your refund rate.
12) Not Using a P.S.
Many busy surfers will jump right to the end of your webpage and read the P.S.(s). If they were somewhat pre-sold before they arrived at your page, many will go ahead and purchase at that time. Use the P.S.(s) to restate your offer, emphasize the guarantee, showcase your bonuses, and to emphasize any scarcity factor in the offer.
15 Important Web Design Tips
Here are 15 important website design tips that you might not be
aware of or have overlooked. Consider taking advantage of them
if you haven’t already done so…
1. Custom 404 Pages
Create a custom 404 web page, so that any time your website
visitor mistypes or misspells a URL on your site, they will
still be provided with navigation options for your site
(instead of getting nothing but a “Page Not Found” error
message, which is neither friendly or helpful).
2. Redirect Non-www. To www.
Website visitors will often leave out the “www.” portion when
they type a URL or link to your website. Set the website up so
that it automatically redirects any non-www version of your
domain urls (http://domain. com) to the www version
(http://www.domain. com) of your website.
3. Properly Sized Graphics
Size and define all graphics and images on your web pages
properly and correctly. Web pages will load quicker if the
graphics contained on each page are properly defined so they
don’t require the web browser to re-size them. Properly sized
and defined images can reduce the web browser workload and speed
up the page loading time.
4. Favicon
Add a Favicon (favorite icon) to your website, so that your
company or product logo appears in the URL box. This icon will
also show up in a bookmark list, and gives the web site an added
level of professionalism.
5. Include RSS Auto-Discovery
If you offer an RSS feed for any content on your website, be
sure to include auto-discovery code in the header of your
website. This will allow many browsers and RSS readers to
automatically detect the presence of an RSS feed and alert the
visitor that it is available.
6. Alternate Domains
Domain names are relatively inexpensive, so you should register
multiple domain versions and extensions in order to protect your
brand. The varied domains can be parked on the main website,
simply to prevent others from obtaining them. Registering
alternate domain versions will help protect your brand.
7. Consistent Navigation
Navigation should remain consistent on a website. As a website
visitor moves through the website, the navigation bar should
remain in the same place on each page. This will make it easier
for visitors to navigate your website, and become more
comfortable as they move through your site.
8. Home Goes Home
The main graphic, company logo, or “header” at the top of the
site should be included on every page in the site, and should
always return the visitor to the home page of the website. This
has become a web standard, and most visitors now expect to
return to the main page of the site simply by clicking on the
main top graphic from any page within the site.
9. Copyright Notice
Include a copyright notice on the bottom of each page contained
on the website, and keep it current! It may seem trivial, but an
out-of-date copyright notice can send a message to your visitors
that the website and its content may be out-of-date as well.
10. Meaningful File Names
Use meaningful file names for any files, graphics, or web pages.
Many search engines look at file names as part of their search
algorithm, and using keywords in file names may help to improve
search engine rankings.
11. Hyphens vs Underscores
When naming files and webpages, use hyphens
(i.e. web-page.html) rather than underscores (i.e. web_page.html)
for the file names. It is much easier for search engines to
separate and index the keywords when hyphens are used.
12. Alt Tags
Use ALT tags to describe what images represent on web pages. ALT
tags not only assist visually-impaired visitors in knowing what
the images are, but they also help with search engine ranking.
13. Spell Check
Use a spell-check feature on the text of all web pages in a
website. A website that contains mistyped or misspelled words
just shouts “unprofessional”. Take the extra few minutes
necessary to check the spelling of text on each page of your
website.
14. Test
After making changes to a website, test it! Many times, a
webmaster will upload changes, confident in their abilities,
only to later discover that in their attempt to fix one thing,
they have “broken” something somewhere else. Make testing a
habit after making even the most minor changes!
15. Keep It Simple
Simple is good. Remove unnecessary clutter and distractions
from a website and navigation menu.
Landing Pages: What You Need to Explain to your Website Design Company
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Monday, August 23, 2010
Landing Pages: What You Need to Explain to your Website Design Company
The definition of a landing page is simply “the first page
that visitors hit on your site,” so it is not strictly a
certain page but any page that a user “lands” on. All
websites have landing pages, whether they like it or not,
even if it was not specifically designed as such.
Landing pages can have a substantial impact on your e-
commerce website. A poorly-developed one can hasten its
breakdown just as an effective landing page can drive
traffic to your site, respond to calls to action and make
your business website a success.
One vital measure of the effectiveness of your website is
the “bounce rate,” or the percentage of visitors who
immediately leave your site without making any other click.
The bounce rate is inversely proportional to the
effectiveness of the landing page. Basically, this means
that a high bounce rate indicates that your landing page
isn’t compelling enough for the visitor to pursue his
interest or take some other action.
Normally, the home page is the primary landing page of most
typical websites. But more and more, site owners are
designing landing pages outside of the home page, and for
good reason.
Most users prefer to skip information which is irrelevant to
their needs. They want to get directly to their search,
hence the need for a landing page that delivers just that.
They can avoid the delays caused by having to click through
pages and pages of information when they already have
something in mind.
Landing pages serve their purpose when the site owner knows
the kind of visitor they are targeting. This is determined
by knowing what the visitor clicked on to arrive at your
site. A visitor who clicks on an ad for your product would
not want to go through other pages to get the information
about the product. Webinars, other event registrations and
special offers make use of this same principle.
Not all visitors are looking for the same information. One
may click on your link after reading an article you
submitted to a consumer review site while another may arrive
at your site after viewing your infomercial ad.
For each specific visitor, you can design a landing page
that will cater to his needs and contain the information he
is looking for. For example, infomercial viewers can be
directed to www.yoursite.com/infomercial, while visitors who
clicked on your banner ads for this month’s special will be
directed to www.yoursite.com/specials.
These landing pages should be evaluated for their
effectiveness. The bounce rate is a key measurement for
determining the effectiveness of landing pages.
Another measure for landing pages is the success of a “next
action.” It might be purchasing the product, requesting more
information, signing up for a free trial, etc.
Determine your conversion rate by dividing the number of
action takers into the number of visitors. A typical
conversion rate is 3 to 5 percent for lead generation pages
and 1 to 2 percent for e-commerce sites. If your site is
successful, you should be getting twice those numbers.
A concept that is intrinsic in creating effective landing
pages is “alignment.” This is the connection between your
source (where the visitor came from) and your landing page.
The more connected they are, the higher the success of
conversion.
A good example is a banner ad for a specific product from a
beauty products company. Clicking on the banner ad and being
directed to a landing page showing the exact same product
yields a higher conversion rate. If the alignment is not
present, on the other hand, there will be a significant
reduction in conversion rates.
In general, a landing page must stir these positive emotions
in a visitor for it to be effective:
Credibility
Your page must be able to capture the visitor’s trust by
presenting a credible appearance. Remove anything that can
cause a negative effect in the minds of your visitors, such
as a lack of contact information, grammatical errors and
typos, buzzwords, “marketese” and jargon, fuzzy or blocky
graphics and too much use of serif fonts, like Times New
Roman.
Recognition
Your page must provide your visitor a “This is what I’m
looking for!” moment upon landing.
Persuasiveness
Your page must be able to convince visitors that your
product or service can help them achieve their goal. Keep in
mind what attracted the visitor to your product in the first
place so you will understand what he is looking for.
Action
You must highlight an action for the visitor to take while
he is on your landing page.
Techniques to Use with Landing Pages
Here are some major principles to guide you in the process
of developing an effective landing page:
Make the Visitor Feel an Instant Affinity With Your Page.
The top half of the first screen should be effective in
making the visitor feel that he has come to the right place.
The use of the right taglines, images and a position
statement (usually about 12 to 15 words) can help to
establish your declaration and inform your visitor what the
site is about.
Use Specific Headlines and Sub-headings.
Throughout your page, include relevant headings and sub-
headings so that as the visitor skim reads the page they can
see what a particular paragraph or section is all about.
This helps him decide whether he will read the text or which
section he is interested in. The longer the page, the more
you should be using sub-headings. The headline should be
aligned as closely as possible with the banner ad or
whatever the visitor clicked on to arrive on your landing
page.
Focus on a Primary Goal.
A landing page can achieve only one primary goal. Examples
of these goals are a lead capture mechanism, such as a free
demo or product trial, or to lure the visitor to go further
and view your main site. The best results come about when
you focus on your goal. However, a secondary goal is possible
in a landing page. For example, if your primary goal is to
make the visitor purchase your product, your secondary goal
would be to entice them to sign up for newsletters or emails
to receive special offers.
Use Multiple Calls to Action.
Using multiple calls to the same action supports the one
primary goal principle. This holds true on a long landing
page. A page that doesn’t go below the fold may need only
one call to action. Overall, one call to action above the
fold and another at the bottom of the page are good.
Pay Attention to Your Layout and Graphic Design.
To make them easy-to-read, keep text columns narrow – about
80 characters or so wide – and left-aligned, not centered.
Place an image of the product (commonly called the “hero
shot”) and make sure the quality and clarity are good.
Images are attention-getting, so put your key text, such as
your offer, below the product image or other appealing
graphics.
If your offer requires the visitor to fill out a form, it
will be more effective if placed on the landing page rather
than needing a click-through to another page.
Layouts and graphic designs depend on the products and their
market and can be very diverse. In spite of the variety,
however, they can all use the same design principles to help
them be effective in achieving their goal.
Driving traffic to your site will require an investment on
your part, so it is only sensible to maximize the impact of
that traffic for a quicker ROI. Increasing website
conversions is also an important consideration.
Developing effective landing pages for your business website
only requires the simple implementation of changes, yet their
impact is significant to the success of your business and
the user experience of your website.
HTML5 – The Future of the Web
Steve Jobs was recently quoted as saying “No one will be using
Flash. The world is moving to HTML5″ igniting interest in HTML5
and sparking numerous debates online in blogs and forums.
Jobs’ prediction that flash is dead invokes memories of the
famous Mark Twain quote “reports of my death are greatly
exaggerated”. While the debate rages on over the future of
Flash, HTML5′s destiny is assured.
It’s not just Apple pointing to HTML5 as an internet revolution,
Microsoft, Google, Opera, Mozilla, W3C and even Adobe themselves
agree. In fact HTML5 may become historic for that very reason.
It is arguably the only time Google, Microsoft and Apple have
ever agreed on anything.
How HTML5 evolved was largely due to a disagreement with the W3C
over Error Handling and the failure to embrace modern Internet
applications. In 1997, W3C announced it would no longer extend
HTML4 and saw XML and XHTML as the future. Draconian Error
Handling, (Draco was the Greek leader that issued death
penalties for minor offences), instructed that browsers were to
treat all errors in XML as fatal. With 99% of web pages showing
minor errors, and the lack of new features in XML, many
webmasters ignored the new standard or continued to serve their
websites as HTML, even when adopting XHTML.
In 2004, a group of developers and browser vendors including
Apple, Opera and Mozilla gave a presentation to the W3C on
evolving HTML4 to include new features for modern web
applications. The W3C rejected their proposal of extending HTML
and CSS. Those interested in evolving HTML4 rebelled and broke
away from the W3C, forming their own working group called WHATWG
(Web Hypertext Applications Technology Working Group). At the
core of the WHATWG beliefs was backwards compatibility and
forgiving error handling. WHATWG’s vision was to extend HTML
features including form handling while ensuring that it would
degrade gracefully in older browsers. While the W3C wanted the
world to move to a new standard XML, WHATWG planned to evolve
existing HTML to support a modern Internet.
In 2006, Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the W3C, recognized
that the rebels at WHATWG had gained momentum and announced that
the W3C would work together with WHATWG to evolve HTML. The W3C
HTML Working Group was formed, working with HTML in conjunction
with XHTML. HTML5 was officially born. In October 2009, W3C shut
down XHTML2 making HTML5 the future of the Internet. The pirates
had taken over the ship.
HTML5 marks a change in attitude from the W3C and seeks to
support the diversity of HTML rather than just enforcement of
web standards. It is an incredible achievement that HTML5 is
backward compatible, meaning most of HTML5 can be used straight
away albeit with some JavaScript hacks on semantics for IE.
Ideas from W3C, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Opera and
many other experts combine to pull the best bits out of HTML and
browsers past into an exciting upgrade of the HTML language that
promotes inclusion not exclusion.
In many ways HTML5 simplifies web pages, taking laborious tasks
such as form validation away from web authoring and into the
browser. The idea of making the browser do the work probably
stems back to IE3, where Microsoft provided the first browser to
build in CSS support. HTML5 introduces new tags for page
structure and semantics of documents.
New markets in Typography are opening up with the implementation
of “@font-face”, meaning designers at last can transfer the visual
appeal of print to the web thanks to advances in CSS and HTML5.
Large JavaScript libraries such as MooTools and JQuery can be
slimmed down as HTML5 transfers many common tasks directly into
the browser. Client side storage, session storage and client
side posting are set to change how we communicate on the web.
Web applications such as video are embedded by HTML without the
need of JavaScript. Sites will begin to move away from Flash to
deliver their video and onto HTML5, especially when current
codec concerns with Mozilla Firefox are resolved.
New HTML5 API’s, such as drag and drop, are reverse engineered
from Microsoft, ensuring that they are supported from the start
by IE. What developers of HTML5 such as Ian Hickson (Opera) have
done is to view the modern web and say, “OK that’s what people
are trying to do, how can HTML5 support that”.
Unlike previous web standards based releases such as XHTML 1.1
and the never finished XHTML 2.0, HTML5 is backward compatible
and is here to stay. With the involvement of people that have
been critical of the W3C, HTML5 brings a standard based upgrade
of HTML that is fully supported throughout the industry. HTML5
will genuinely future proof your site without the danger of your
markup depreciating in a couple of years.
HTML5 timetable for completion is in 2022, which has left many
webmasters confused as to its relevance now. However, any
website can begin using the new specification immediately by
simply changing the doc type to “<!DOCTYPE html>”, the lowest
number of characters required to trigger standards mode in IE.
Currently, only beta versions of browsers IE9, Chrome, Safari,
Firefox and Opera support advanced HTML5 elements. However,
typography “@font-face” is fully supported in current
browsers. For more information have a look at Ethan Dunham’s
“FontSquirrel.com” and Jeffrey Veen’s “Typekit.com”. Other
HTML5 features such as “Drag and Drop” and “ContentEditable”
are also currently supported. You can follow the implementation
of HTML5 in modern browsers at “HTML5Readiness.com” and
“Caniuse.com”.
Further information:
http://www.whatwg.org/
http://diveintohtml5.org/
http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html
An Informal Look at Writing Online Content
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, August 7, 2010
An Informal Look at Writing Online Content
I get many questions about my job as a copywriter and SEO
practitioner, and for the most part they follow a similar
theme- ‘what do you do?’ and ‘could I do it?’ In an attempt
to address these questions once and for all and possibly
also give an insight into the life of an internet marketer
I’ve put together an article: this article.
A large portion of my day is spent writing. From articles
to press releases, website content to blogs: countless
hours are spent staring at a blank page, frantically
scrambling for inspiration or that perfectly sculpted
sentence. The phrase ‘writer’s block’ is an often derided
cliche, but there is no denying that sometimes you
just can’t quite work out exactly what you’re trying to
say, or even more infuriatingly, the best way to say it.
Some will go for a walk to clear their mind, others to
their cigarette packet or porcelain throne in an attempt to
find clarity.
In the realm of content writing and SEO based copywriting
in general there is a very simple reason why these personal
catalysts are turned to with persistent regularity: it can
be boring. There, I said it and to emphasise my conviction
will say it again: Writing For Seo Purposes Can Be Boring.
Now hopefully you’ll grant me enough time to justify this
outburst before reporting me to the various authorities,
oh, and please forgive my reliance on personal experience
in portraying a more universal point.
I go into work every day knowing that I am required to
write intelligently and enthusiastically on topics which I
may have very limited previous knowledge of, and due to
what I assume to be some sort of genetic defect: utterly
love it. It is my love of writing that stops me from
finding it boring. I am fully aware that the majority of
people wouldn’t revel in this challenge, which is great for
me as it reduces my competition. Consequently, the odds are
that you’re reading this purely to find out a little more
about writing on just one broad topic: and to make another
assumption, I expect that your writing on this topic is to
promote your own website. It is to you non-reveller, single
broad topic focussed, committed website owner that I level
my ‘it can be boring’ battle-cry as an explanation for your
writer’s block and seek to show how you can get round it.
You have passion for your chosen topic, well, I sincerely
hope you do (if you aren’t enthusiastic about your
product/website/company/field of operation then it won’t be
poorly written content that jeopardizes your company’s
longevity and more importantly in this instance: my whole
argument rests on it). It is this passion and the resulting
knowledge you have amassed on the subject that is key to
your success in writing copy, articles and press releases
for your website. No amount of literary flair, cunning word
play or EXCESSIVE USE OF formatting Tools is ever going to
appeal to your target reader more than the sound advice and
authoritative content that you, the expert on this subject
are capable of providing. Equally important is the very
fact that if you’re passionate about something then surely
you aren’t going to find it boring.
Having established that you are more than qualified to
advise others on your chosen subject and have enough
interest in it to apply yourself to the time consuming task
of writing accurately about it, all I can really do is give
you a few pointers and tips on converting your knowledge
into something which others can benefit from and in doing
so raise the profile and credibility of your website. To
avoid taking up too much of your time, I’ll keep it brief:
1. Provide Original Content.
Whether you’re writing the content for your homepage or an
article explaining the finer points of your industry and
associated benefits, you must ensure that what you’re
saying isn’t said elsewhere. Inevitably there will be
others who have said something vaguely similar, but focus
upon being better and different. You will get no credit
from search engines for duplicating someone else’s work and
gain no customers by rehashing a competitor’s article.
2. Research Tone and Style.
We all write differently depending on the context. A blog
on celebrity gossip will read very differently to a
governmental department’s homepage and the way you
construct a text message to a friend will differ to the
structure of an email you send to a business associate.
It’s well worth researching the homepage content of similar
websites when writing your own in order to judge which
style you find most effective, relevant and credible. It is
more than likely that the style you find most suitable will
be the style your prospective visitors will find most
suitable: so copy it (NOT THE CONTENT…just the tone and
style). Once you’ve established this starting point then
write in a way you find comfortable but adhering loosely to
the tone you’ve chosen to emulate. The words should come
naturally, don’t worry if it doesn’t sound quite right you
can always come back and edit the text.
3. Double Check Grammar and Spelling.
Having spent hours crafting your text, there is nothing
more irritating than publishing the piece to discover an
abundance of easily avoided errors. Get others to read your
copy with a critical eye before making it live, they may
well spot something you’ve missed. Having taken onboard any
amendments: read it again…and again before committing it
to the archives of internet history.
4. Enjoy It.
I know, I know…easier said than done, but if you care
about the subject matter and the benefits the content will
have for your business then I’m sure you won’t find it that
hard.
This post was supposed to be brief but I got a little
carried away, I just hope it provided a little guidance to
those hovering on the precipice of a first foray into
writing online content. If you republish this, then please
include the resource box- a vast number of my more
conventional and less formal articles have been ‘stolen’ in
the past and put on websites in the guise of original
content.
Web Design FAQ – 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Friday, July 30, 2010
Web Design FAQ – 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website
Many site owners make the mistake of building a website
without laying out a clear plan for their online business.
This is a sure set-up for failure. There are 1000s of
abandoned sites on the web due to lack of careful planning.
Before designing your website you should ask yourself some
questions to avoid making mistakes down the road.
10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Designing a
Website
1. What Are Your Business Goals?
It’s easy to say, “I want to make money,” however, this is
not a great motivator. Think of a deeper motivation that you
feel passionate about e.g. “I want to have the financial
freedom to spend more time with my kids as they are growing
up.”
2. What’s the Purpose of Your Website?
This is the question most visitors will ask when accessing
your website. Your home page must clearly explain the
purpose and benefits of the products and/or services you are
offering.
3. What Type of Products or Services Will You Sell?
Research the marketability of your products or services by
doing keyword research. Use the free Google Keyword Tool to
find out how many searches your main keywords receive every
month. If there are no searches, it means there is not much
demand and therefore not worth marketing.
If it is a very competitive market (millions of searches per
month), it may be difficult to stand out from your
competitors and create a profitable online business.
4. How Many Products Will You Sell From Your Website?
This will determine how many pages your website will have.
If you’re only selling one product or service, you may only
need 4 web pages e.g. Home, Product (or Services), About,
Contact. If you’re selling 100s of items, you will need a
database driven site to store and manage all of them.
5. How Many Variables Does Your Product Have?
Variables may include size, color, type, sku#, shipping,
tax? Make sure your shopping cart allows you to include
these variables.
6. How Will You Accept Online Payments?
To accept credit card payments online, you will need a
shopping cart, merchant account, payment gateway and SSL
certificate for secure transactions. This means you will
have monthly fees and processing fees every time a customer
purchases something from your website.
A less expensive option for accepting payments online is the
Paypal shopping cart. You don’t need to purchase a separate
merchant account, shopping cart, payment gateway and secure
certificate. For a small processing fee it takes care of all
this in one place.
7. Do You Have a Web Hosting Plan?
Your website needs to be hosted on a server for it to be
available online. Select a hosting plan that has sufficient
space for all your files and bandwidth to receive 1000s of
visitors each month. Make sure you have the flexibility to
upgrade your plan should you need more space and bandwidth.
8. Will You Need to Maintain the Website Yourself?
Asking this question before the design will determine what
software your designer will use to build your website. If it
only consists of a few web pages which don’t need regular
updating, then use software such as Dreamweaver to build it.
It creates clean code and you will have only a few files.
If your website has 100s of pages, consider a content
management system such as WordPress, Joomla or Zen Cart.
They all enable 100s of items to be stored in a database.
The website can be managed (add, edit, or delete items or
pages) by logging into an administration area.
9. Do You Have a Marketing Plan?
To create a profitable online business you must create a
plan to promote it. Some methods may include, search engine
marketing, pay-per-click, article marketing, press releases,
social media, video marketing, etc. Website promotion needs
to be done frequently and consistently to be effective.
10. How Will You Monitor Your Website Statistics?
Check if your web hosting plan includes site statistics
(e.g. AW Stats). If not, create a Google Analytics account
and insert the code on your web pages. It will track how
many daily, weekly, monthly, yearly visitors you receive,
where they are coming from and what keywords are being used
to find your site in the search engines.
If you answer these 10 questions first, you’ll avoid the
pitfalls of designing and building a website and increase
your potential of creating a profitable online business.
“My mechanic told me, ‘He couldn’t repair my brakes, so he made my horn louder.’” – Comedian, Steven Wright
We all want our websites to be more effective, and if you’re like most business people you are constantly searching the Web for anything that will help. What you find is a cabal of experts armed with statistics, analysis, charts and graphs all pointing to how they can get you high-up on the search engines and drive more traffíc to your site. The problem is that like Steven Wright’s mechanic these guys are adjusting your horn when it’s your brakes that need fixing.
There is little point in attracting more visitors to your site if your site has little of interest to say. Even if your site is jammed packed with useful products, services and solutions if it doesn’t connect with your audience, they won’t ever invest the time necessary for you to make your case.
When websites fail it’s most often because they do not function effectively as your primary communication tool. The Web is overcrowded with options and unless you’re prepared to deliver a compelling differentiating presentation you will be quickly dismissed as irrelevant. Let’s face it; business is tough, probably tougher than it’s ever been before.
Something is Missing
You’ve done all the technical tweaks and responded to all the research and analytics. You’re blogging, micro-blogging, social networking, and search optimizing, but still something is not quite right, something is missing. What’s the missing ingredient? You know it’s out there, but you can’t for the life of you figure out what it is.
You know the Web offers the potential to access new markets, find new customers, and reach new heights, but with all that potential, the results always seem just out of reach. If research and analytics were the answer you’d already be rich. Of course it was an over-reliance on research that brought us the Edsel, New Coke, and that wonderful Wall Street goody called Derivatives, one of the greatest investment boondoggles of our time.
There is something artificially comforting about putting your faith in seemingly logical yet unfathomable solutions based on indecipherable scientific modeling and over-hyped research analysis, all brought to you by computer scientists and mathematicians who haven’t ever run a marketing department or launched a new product or business.
Business leaders have adopted the attitude that, “It must be right, because I sure as heck don’t understand it.” And when it all goes wrong, or results are anemic, well, “What are you going to do? It’s not my fault, it all looked good on paper.” Ad agencies and Wall Street have been getting away with this kind of bunkum for decades, and look at the mess they’ve made of things.
What’s It All About, Alfie?
Business success is all about your ability to engage your audience with a message that compels them to action. Simply put, your business relies on your ability to communicate. Eureka!
And your website is the best communication vehicle you have. The question is how do you use your website to communicate your marketing message in the most engaging, compelling, and memorable manner? What is the missing ingredient that will turn your scientifically sterile online cookie-cutter presentation into something that cuts through the massive sameness of Internet clutter, and makes a statement that your audience will respond to?
Finding Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
One of the hardest things for tough-minded business people to accept is that sales and marketing success is based on the subconscious emotional and psychological appeal of a brand. That’s the reason, reliance on feature selling rarely works, and only tends to commoditize a product or service – the guy with the most bells and whistles for the least amount of money wins, and why would you want to play that game?
Even the most casual market observer must recognize that all leading brands have one thing in common, no matter what they sell: the promise of their brand is based on a concept that is established through an emotional or psychological appeal. Apple is about thinking and acting creatively without the worry of technical issues; Starbucks is about reconnecting to the original coffee break ideal of a relaxing oasis away from the hustle bustle of everyday life; and Ikea is about stylish living on a budget. Each concept appeals to the deep-seated desires of the targeted audience. It is this singular concept that makes each of these companies special and different from their competition; it is the message that all their marketing, advertising, and promotion is based upon, and it is the true value they provide their audience that attracts interest, holds attention, and delivers promise.
Implementing Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
In order to implement a company’s emotional and psychological value proposition, we use a process called the ConceptCreator. It starts with various sales’ points that need to be covered. Based on the supplied information, we develop a focused marketing concept using the Law of Dissatisfaction that enables us to discover the experiential human subtext of why people will want what you sell. The presentation concept is boiled-down to a movie-style logline that states the brand story to be presented in the Web Video campaign.
How Much Is A Concept Worth?
“Wait a minute – did he say a movie-style logline? That sure doesn’t sound business-like, and I haven’t heard any corporate CEO or MBA talk about movie loglines.” Maybe so, but think about it. Hollywood studios spend enormous sums of money to produce a movie with the potential of making hundreds of millions of dollars, and each financial investment starts with someone coming up with a clever logline that captures the imagination. Television commercials can cost ten thousand dollars a second to produce and without a guiding conceptual premise they become DOA when implemented. So why wouldn’t you start your Web Video campaign using the same proven formula.
The logline, mission statement, or elevator pitch if you prefer needs to state the characters, goals, obstacles, differentiating factors, and resolution within the context of a story scenario.
For Instance…
If it works for the movie industry will it work for the advertising and marketing industry? Let’s take a look at one of the most successful, popular, iconic marketing campaigns of the last number of years, The MAC versus PC campaign.
Example Logline Concept: A stylish, pleasant, mild-mannered young man verbally spars with his geeky competitive opposite (characters) in a series of humorous, relatable incidents (story scenario) that illustrate the people-friendly advantages (resolution) of the brand compared to its rigid, unbending competitor (differentiating factor) whose sheer size dominates the market (obstacle) in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the computer buying audience (goal). – The MAC Versus PC Ad Campaign.
“The Time Has Come The Walrus Said…”
- Lewis Carroll from ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There,’ 1892
The time has come to realize that Web Video is the best communication tactic available to deliver your marketing message to a worldwide audience; an audience that craves answers and resolution to their every need, concern and desire. It is not good enough to list a bunch of features and hackneyed bulleted points or even to dump pages and pages of search engine optimized hard-to-read text, especially when it’s aimed at an audience raised on television, movies, music and video games. We must learn to speak the language of the audience, and use the appropriate communication tools they can understand in a way that connects on a human level.
It all starts with finding the emotional and psychological value proposition your product or service promises. In a world of frustrated, cranky, attention deficit consumers, the onus is on you to present what you provide in a way that relates to the human elements that make your brand relevant.
We believe you don’t start the design of a new or revised website by sitting down with the designer and coder of the website. Rather, we recommend you review the approaches, ideas, processes and other methods listed below to determine if they apply to your situation.
Think about your audience. Are they looking for immediate answers and solutions? We bet they are. Most likely these visitors to your website are very much like you. Chances are you use the Internet more than other types of media to search for information. If a web page doesn’t “grab your interest” within 8 – 10 seconds after landing on it… you move on!
As a “first step” we suggest that you start by reviewing the questions listed below. We are convinced that once you get to the last question… you will have a list of action items identified that will greatly improve the productivity of your current website. The success or failure of the site and/or business may very well depend upon the decisions you make after reading these questions.
What Do You Know About Your Clients and Prospects State of Mind?
When visitors land on your website, they have very little time to read what you say. They have a need for information or a product and don’t want to listen or read verbose descriptions and comments. You have about 8 seconds to engage them and get them to take action. Do most visitors land on your website wanting:
1) information,
2) a “quick fix”,
3) a bargain,
4) a large selection,
5) or a telephone call, etc.?
It is imperative to know the answers to these and many other questions BEFORE you design the pages within your website.
Do You Make Website Visitors Feel You Can Satisfy Their Wants and Needs?
Landing on any page within your website [especially the Homepage] must make the visitor know that you understand their needs, business, wants, and desires. The more you put yourself into the “mindset” of the website visitor, the better chance you have of converting their visit into something you want to happen i.e. buy, complete a contact us form, bookmark the page, pick up the phone and call you or any other method of measurable conversion.
What Approach Do You Take When Developing Pages Within Your Website?
What do you think you would want from your website if you were the prospective visitor or client? Assume you don’t know as much information as you want in order to make an informed decision. Talk to these visitors in a language they will understand. If visitors want more insight or information, tell them to click on the more info link or give you a call. They will follow your direction ONLY if you have built some level of trust or understanding.
What are You “Selling” to the Website Visitor?
Are you focused on telling them about your product or service or are you making them understand that choosing your firm will deliver that special feeling they are seeking by making the purchase? Are you sure that you made the visitor know that you understand their needs, wants, problems, etc.? What techniques did you implement to get your points across?
How are You Going to Get the Visitor to Stop and Think About Your Service or Product?
Remember… they are ready to pass by your website in a blink of an eye. What are you going to do to engage them? The answer you come up with will be critical to the success you have in gaining their confidence enough to buy or call you. Make sure what you say is NOT the same old thing they are used to seeing or reading on other websites. Be boring and you lose! Address the issues that appeal to the visitor and they WILL STOP! This is hard work… but worth the effort.
What Kind of “Call to Action” Statements are You Placing on Your Website?
Turning a visitor into a prospect or client is one of the most critical actions of your website. How will you engage them? Once they know that you understand their needs and wants, they are more inclined to follow your CTA direction. Call to Action statements are critical to the success of any website’s conversion. Guide them in a manner that is more telling, rather than selling. Don’t be afraid to be assertive.
How Does Your Website Address the “Who Are We” Issue?
Again, it is about making the website visitor feel confident that they are choosing a reputable firm or organization with which to do business. They need to read about your success. This can be done by exhibiting your affiliation with associations, awards won, satisfied client statements, client success stories, examples of your work, etc. Show them you are a “player” in your industry.
Are You Prepared to Answer: “What Makes You Different”?
What have clients and prospects said about you and your company? Have they applauded you for your approach to doing business? Did they say you made them feel like you understood their needs and wants? Think back to the reasons clients buy from you. How did you meet their needs and wants? Give your prospective clients reasons to do business with your firm.
A final thought…
Make it your primary goal to understand the potential client. Look at your website through that client’s perspective. Who are they? What makes them different? What do they individually want and need? Be informative… do more telling than selling. They will “get it” and appreciate that you have made them an educated buyer. Finally, tell them what you want them to do next. Get them to take the first step and be ready to deliver on the expectations you have set throughout your website!
Finally, be sure to hire Internet marketing professionals to do the job if you don’t have the capabilities in-house. Too much is at stake to leave this part of your business to chance! We are pleased to provide you the insightful comments contained herein.
Top 10 Issues in Website Design and Usability
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
You’ve tested your website, you’ve visited it a few times, you’ve gotten some feedback on it, and you have a bit of data about your visitors.
You might want to make some changes. Here are the top ten issues in website design and usability.
Think about these things in relation to your website and consider what you might want to do to perfect your site.
1. The First Glance
In general, people look at the top left corner of your website first. You should have your essential information there: what your offerings are and how your potential customers can get it. Some visitors are at your site only long enough to confirm that you sell what they want, and some are ready to buy. All visitors need to be able to tell what you do right away. Don’t hide behind a splash page or make people wait while something loads – many won’t take the time.
2. Navigation
When your customers want and need more information, they’ll stay and look for it. Make sure they can find it easily. Put your navigation in the usual places, and make it very obvious what your visitors need to click in order to find each section. Don’t have more than 5-7 choices in your main navigation and keep it consistent on every page. Let your creativity and uniqueness show in some other way – follow the rules when it comes to navigation.
3. Contact Information
Can customers (and search engines) find you when they need you? Your contact information must be clear and accurate. It must also be easy to find. Visitors will visit your website several times before they choose to go for your services or purchase. Don’t make it hard for them to contact you when they’re ready.
4. Call To Action
What do you want your visitors to do? It should be easy to find out how to complete an order through your website or get more information. Regardless of the content of the page make sure that you include a clear call to action. Make it easy for visitors to purchase or request information from you. Just be sure to make it very clear.
5. Above the Fold Focus
Many visitors won’t scroll; most won’t scroll unless you have already convinced them that it’s worth their while to do so. Make sure important aspects are above fold. The unimportant things – why are they on your page? This is especially important on the home page. Visitors who’ve reached your FAQs page or your blog are probably interested enough to spend some time reading.
6. Inviting Content
To develop relationships with your clients, you need to have them visit more than once. In fact, most people won’t commit themselves the first time they come to your website. You need to offer them something of value so they’ll return. Do you have a blog, or frequently-updated featured products? Have you got any useful information that you could offer your customers?
7. Well-Organized Pages
Don’t make your visitors search. Always ensure that your page layout is clear, concise and gives the visitor exactly what they want without having to search for it. Try to put yourself in your customer’s position and use what you learn from testing. Decide what you want to say and plan its organization before you write, so you can be sure to have coherent paragraphs.
8. Visual Appeal
While the content on your page is the most important thing, an attractive page will be more enjoyable and appealing for visitors. Choose colours that work well together, leave some open space so it’s not too busy, and make sure you have everything lined up nicely. Even if you have not got artistic skills you can make a good impression – and you should.
9. Sincerity and Trustworthiness
The internet is all about trust. If you can ensure that your website is trustworthy, people will be more likely to complete an order. What’s more, the search engines also base your rankings on how trustworthy they think your page is. Don’t undermine your future success by trying to trick the search engines or mislead your visitors.
10. A Polished Finish
Do your links work? Make sure you check your grammar, spelling and layout are correct? Is all the information up to date and accurate? Your visitors would prefer to shop in a well kept and clean shop in the high street. They would prefer to purchase in a clean and well kept website too. They’ll have less faith in you if you have errors on your website.
Is your website perfect? Maybe not. We’ll be providing more information on all of these points as we go along, and your site will become better and better as you follow our suggestions and learn more.
Writing for the Web
Content is one of the most valuable things you can focus on
during development of your website. Consider each page of your
website an opportunity to capture or lose your audience. If a
web page has paragraph after paragraph of text, many visitors
won’t bother to begin reading. There are various other things to
be leery of when writing for the web. This article covers eight
tips to help you succeed when writing content for your
website.
Entice with Communicative Headings
Visitors decide whether to invest their precious time reading
your content, typically after scanning a heading or two.
Consider which headline will receive more attention:
* PHP solutions (http://www.webassist.com/
php-scripts-and-solutions/?WAAID=898) for the Web
* Three eCommerce PHP Solutions for the Web
While both could be headings for the same content, the second
heading will attract more attention because it clearly denotes
what will follow. Additionally, it adds a level of expertise. It
is also important to keep your headings concise. When headings
wrap to multiple lines, they start becoming paragraph-like and
readers cannot scan them. Sub-headings are another way to make
your content easier for visitors to scan. Once readers have
decided your heading is worth investing more time in, they often
scan the sub-headings to jump to the section that is most
applicable to them.
Conclude Before You Expand
Every page of your website should cater to the most impatient
reader and clearly state what the page is about in the first few
lines. Most readers won’t want to read an entire page to get to
the point. Write an introductory paragraph that summarizes the
most important parts.
Many successful writers outline the points they want to get
across, fill in those points and only then do they write their
first paragraph. It is not necessary to write from top to bottom
and this method can help you write a stronger introduction.
Create Effective Lists
It is quicker to scroll down a web page than it is to read from
left to right and keep your eyes wrapping from line to line. For
this reason, readers appreciate lists. However, it is important
not to use overwhelmingly long lists. Studies have shown people
can remember 7 things at a time. A list of seven bulleted items
is digestible, while a list of 50 is intimidating. If it is
crucial for you to list 50 points, break up your lists with
sub-headings so readers are able to jump from section to section
efficiently.
Write Clearly and Succinctly
Whether your visitors are coming to gain information, make
buying decisions or simply be entertained, respect that they
don’t have all day to read your content. If you are wordy, you
can expect your visitors to drift to competitors’ websites.
However, don’t sacrifice clarity for brevity.
Similar to print writing, each paragraph should contain only one
idea. The attention span of a web reader is shorter than that of
a print reader though, which makes it important to trim your
paragraphs to a few sentences each.
Eliminate unnecessary words. For example, there is no need to
say, “at this point in time” when you can say “currently.” It is
useless to say “an awful tragedy” when tragedies are awful by
nature. Avoid describing an object as “round in shape” when you
can just say round.
Avoid the passive voice. For example, replace, “My life has been
made easier by templates” with “Templates simplified my
life.”
The above paragraph helps illustrate that examples are useful;
however, I should specify that repeating yourself is not. Do not
say the same thing in three different ways.
Use consistent language. Consider your audience when writing in
first, second or third person and be careful transitioning from
one to the next. Jumping from a formal paragraph to a first
person story sounds like two authors wrote the content.
Finally, read your content aloud and trust your first reaction.
If you have to re-read to put the emphasis in the correct part
of the sentence or to understand your own point, you can bet
that others will too.
More importantly, have someone else read your content -
preferably, your target audience, not your business partner. You
are too close to the ideas you want to communicate and others
may find ambiguities that you will certainly want to clarify.
Create Content Relative to Your Audience
Know your audience and speak to them, not at them. Whether your
objective is to sell toilet seats or convey a change in the
stock market, play to people’s emotions. Don’t use technical
terms for a less than savvy audience.
Don’t assume your readers have been to certain pages of your
website before others. With a growing dependence on search
engines, visitors often arrive at a website two tiers down from
the home page. Consider the visitor’s point of view: If I knew
nothing about this company or website, would I understand this
page?
Be cautious of tangents, information and links that will
distract a reader from the web page’s primary purpose.
Specify Links with Style and Language
Links are another way visitors can scan your web pages as they
stand out from normal text – or at least they should. Make sure
your links differ in color or style from other text on your
website. Using “click here to learn more” is a waste of space.
Instead, use “learn more.” Your links should tell readers where
they are going, but they shouldn’t be reminded they need their
mouse to get there.
Be specific with where the link is leading to. There are many
websites that break up articles into two or more pages. Readers
are more apt to click on a link that says, “Part 2: Mortgage
Lending” than they are to click on a link that says “next.”
Proofread – Forward and Backward
There are some people who are a magnetic force to typos and
grammatical blunders. While some will gloss over these errors,
the people who do notice are typically repelled. Websites with
typos look unprofessional – or worse – like the author didn’t
care enough about the reader to take the time to proofread.
Tips for proofreading:
* Use spell check and grammar check.
* Read backward. When we read forward, our eyes skip over
small words and miss mistakes.
* Have someone else proofread your content.
* If in doubt, look it up!
Trusting copy/paste is a common mistake; be sure to proofread
your content after it is on the web page.
Conclude with Action
Although many of your readers won’t make it to the end of your
content, it’s important to summarize for those who do. Include
your overall point, as well as where you would like to lead your
reader to next. If you are fortunate enough to have your readers
want more, don’t miss an opportunity to provide it!
For example, I would like to conclude by articulating that web
writing has similarities to print writing (entice and be
concise!) but differs in that readers are more impatient and can
easily “surf” elsewhere. The more you understand how people read
on the web in general and what your audience wants to know, the
more you will keep visitors coming back for more.
Web Design For Beginners
Define your audience and their needs
Defining the purpose and objectives of your website should be your first step. Focus on what you want your website to achieve. Create a profile of your intended audience and try to understand their needs and tastes, and design the site with them at the forefront of your mind at all times.
Take a look at competitor websites to gain an idea of what works and what doesn’t.
Easy navigation
In order to make your content easy for your intended audience to navigate, make sure the links to the main sections of your website are easily visible from each web page. You want to invite people to view as many pages of your site as possible, so make it easy for them to find each page.
A good way to help you visualise the structure of the site is to create a flow chart of the whole website on paper. Think about think about how your users might structure the information within the site to help them find the information they need easily.
Try to keep the information on your first page a general overview so you don’t bog people down with too much information. They can then click on the (clear and easy to use) links to view more information about the topics that they are interested in.
Layout
Most web pages have a common structure consisting of a header and footer, a horizontal navigation bar along the top and / or a vertical navigation bar down the left of the page and a central section for the main content.
This structure is based on simple, easy-to-understand layout principles.
If there’s a lot of content, split it up into several different pages so your viewer doesn’t have to digest too much information on one page.
Keep text simple and to the point, and make sure grammar is correct – check and check again to avoid looking unprofessional. Text is more difficult to read on screen than in printed media, so it’s crucial get your message across in a succinct and easy to understand way.
You should always keep your text blocks relatively small. Huge paragraphs are more difficult to read and may make your audience lose interest quickly.
Stick to 2 or 3 different fonts at the most – and make sure they are ones generally found on most computers. San serifs are easier to read on computer monitors so stick to these for the main text, and make sure your text is large enough for everyone to read.
Bullet points, lists and relevant photos can help to break up the text.
Learn the basics of html
Learning the basics of html – even if you are using WYSIWYG software Front Page or Dreamweaver – will help you gain an understanding of how a web page in built, and deal with problems you encounter using the software. A good beginner’s guide to html can be found at: http://htmldog.com/guides/htmlbeginner/
Try and stay away from tables, and create the pages using layers (divs) and cascading style sheets (CSS).
Tables mix ‘presentational’ data in with your content, which makes the file size of your pages unnecessarily large, as users must download this presentational data for each page they visit.
But by using structural markup to create web pages, you can keep the actual content of your page separate from the way it is presented.
Table-based pages are also much less accessible to users with disabilities and viewers using mobiles and PDAs to access the Web.
And to change the layout of the site, all you need to do is change the style sheets; you do not need to edit the pages themselves at all.
For more info about the advantages of using divs and CSS over tables, take a look at http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/index.html
Using colour
Creating a balanced colour palette from which to choose your website colour scheme will help you to create a professional looking website. Bright clashing colours scream amateur.
If you are creating a website for a company with a logo, start here. Upload the logo to your host server and go to a colour palette website such as (http://www.colorhunter.com/) to create a palette, from which you can choose colours for the main banner, buttons and text rollovers etc.
And keep things simple and uncluttered – empty space makes colours stand out and text easier to read.
Optimising photos and images
Don’t use a graphic just for the sake of it – make sure there’s a reason for it’s presence, i.e. it improves the user’s understanding and experience. A site full of unnecessary graphics looks amateurish, and it can be an obstacle for accessibility tools such as screen readers.
Make sure the photos and images you do use are clear and well optimised to reduce file size and increase page loading times. One sure sign of an amateurish website is a page with a huge image that takes forever to load. And your viewer will probably click away from the site before they even get a chance to see it.
Creating clear, professional looking graphics
GIFs are really grids made of tiny pixel squares. Data about every pixel is saved (so it’s lossless), and you can save up to 256 colors. Pixels may also be transparent.
A GIF may contain more than one frame, so it can be animated.
It is a good format for saving images with fewer colors, like charts and small graphics, images containing text, and drawings.
JPEGs are a good file format for images with millions of colors, like photographs, drawings with many shades, images containing gradients etc.
For more information on optimising images for the web, have a look at this tutorial: http://inobscuro.com/tutorials/read/35/
Design tips:
a.) Use design to highlight functionality. For example; using gradients on button also helps make them seem more ‘button like’, different coloured mouse over text draws attention to links.
b.) Be wary of animation and sounds unless they serve a specific function. It is difficult to concentrate on reading what’s on your site when there are things flashing on and off and flying around the page. And visitors with slow connections may resent that you wasted their time by forcing them to load animations and sound files against their will.
Some recent research does indicate that visitors assaulted by blinking ads are more likely to leave the site immediately, and are far less likely to bookmark the site, return to it, link to it, and recommend it.
c.) Don’t use images as a web page background. Image backgrounds scream “amateur”, because it’s mostly amateurish sites that use them. They take longer to load and the text over the background image is usually difficult to read.
d.) Design the webpage including all elements within it for your audience. For example, create a chilled out mood for a massage / therapy website using colours like lavender and blue. Use darker, more restrained, stronger colours for a more traditional finance website.
e.) If your business doesn’t already have one, make a logo for your site, display it at the top of every page, and add a link from it back to your homepage. It will make your site look more professional and create a sense of branding to help people remember your site and recognise it as yours.
Going ‘live’
Hosting
When it comes to hosting, cheapest is not always best. For a small-ish ‘beginner’ website you shouldn’t need much bandwidth (unless you’ve not been following the ‘image optimisation’ guidelines!) But I wouldn’t recommend hosting your website with the cheapest offer available until you have checked that they can give all the support you may need as a newbie.
I would always recommend looking for a local contact telephone number on the website of the hosting company you are considering using, and ringing it to make sure there is an actual person at the end of it.
Ask if you can get technical help from this number – they may only communicate via email for technical support. If they give you another number, ask how much it costs per minute, and ring it to make sure there is someone at the end willing to help you as a beginner should you have any problems connecting to their server, uploading your files, or sorting out your email accounts.
You should also make sure email accounts are included in the cost, and, if you have any dynamic elements such as a search facility or enquiry form on the website, check that the server will support the PHP or ASP etc needed to allow this facility to work, and if that is included in the hosting price quoted.
Ftp
You can download free ftp software to upload your new website to your new hosting space from Filezilla (http://filezilla-project.org/) or Smart ftp (http://www.smartftp.com/), or you could try a free trial with Cute ftp (http://www.cuteftp.com/cuteftp/).
Search engine optimisation
Although professional web designers have the optimisation of the website in mind from the start of design and development, as a newbie, you have to take it one step at a time! So now you’ve designed, built and uploaded your website, take a look at some of the ways you can now begin to optimise it for search engine ranking:
http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
http://www.seo-news.com/archives2009.html
In addition to design, a business website should offer the right features for its users. Although professional web design is important, usability of the website is crucial to its success. A professional website should be rich with features and allow customers to interact with the business.
Customer expectations have evolved with time. When internet users visit a website today, they expect the website to offer a certain level of interaction. With the popularity of second generation websites, popularly known as Web2.0, it has become common for businesses to offer a range of interactive features on websites such as videos, podcasts, and many ways in which customers can offer their feedback. Many of these features are easy to implement on a website and most web design companies and professionals will offer them as standard features with their websites.
Businesses can benefit from this trend by offering interactive features on the company’s website that are easy to implement. Building an effective web presence is vital for any company today and the company’s website is its greatest marketing tool. Improving the interactivity of the company website can help increase conversion rates and improve brand loyalty and recognition.
Discussed below are some the top interactive features that are easy to implement on your website. It can add value to any website.
Newsletter Subscription
Collecting email addresses of potential customers is vital for direct marketing or sending newsletters. Most websites offer an automated system for subscribing or unsubscribing to their mailing list via their website.
Commenting on articles
This is commonly found on blogs. Allowing users to comment can be useful in many ways. In addition to feedback, it also allows the content to build with user generated content. It should only be added to relevant sections of the website.
Most Recent Posts
If you have a blog, then you can display a list of 10 most recent posts from your blog on your main website. It can add value to your website especially if your blog and website target the same niche.
Google Map
An interactive Google Map can make your website interactive. Google map can be used in many ways. You can use it simply to display an interactive map of your location or you can use one of its built in features such as distance calculator, etc to add more functionaility. It is also possible to custom applications for your website using Google Map’s powerful development API.
Most professional web design companies and freelance web designers today will be able to work with this technology to add to your website if required.
Google Custom Search feature
Google’s custom search feature has become popular with websites in recent years. Google custom search allows websites to implement search functionality on their website using Google’s powerful search algorithms. It is possible to restrict the search to your website only or include other partner websites in your searches. Ad revenue generated by Google using your custom search feature can be shared so there an opportunity for generating revenue on your website.
Related Articles
This can improve the readership of your website by providing users with content that are related. It is relatively easy to implement on a website and can be automated or work by assigning manual tags or keywords.
RSS Feed
RSS is a commonly used format for sharing content on the web. By offering RSS feed of your website content, you make it readily accessible to millions of internet users who use feed reader applications to find information on the internet. It also makes it easier for users to subscribe to website updates by email. RSS feeds also make it easier for users to share content on other social media sites.
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking has become quite popular on the internet. Millions of users use social bookmarking to organise favourite content and share it with others. It also helps in promoting your website and can generate massive traffic. A website should offer a shortcut for adding the web page using leading social bookmarking accounts.
Latest Content Tab
A list of latest content from relevant sections of the website can improve the usability of the website.
E.g. List of the Latest Articles, News and Jobs can be displayed at the side of a website; similar to what is found on leading blogs and portals today. This offers better utilization of space and adds interactivity.
Feedback forms to gather information
Feedback forms are still an effective method to collect response from website users. It is used by many websites. The form should be customized to the specific needs of a website.
Survey/polls
Surveys and polls on website is another also important and widely used to collect information from customers. This feature is now standard with most leading CMS or blog platforms.
There are many features that can make your website interactive and more effective. Websites designed by a professional Web Design Company or designer will most likely include a range of interactive features to start with.
Any type of online business can grow through some basic solid SEO techniques. Here are some straight-forward answers to the most common SEO questions.
1. What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. A search engine is a tool many internet users use to find sites that are relevant to their needs. The three biggies when it comes to search engines are Google, Yahoo! and MSN (Bing). There are however, hundreds of search engines available to internet users. Search engines work by sending out spiders to crawl through the World Wide Web and gather information. If you have the information they’re looking for, in the places they are looking, they’ll find you and place you in their search engine results page.
The task of understanding what search engines are looking for and putting it in the right places on your website and in your content, is the essence of search engine optimization. So now you might be asking…what do search engines look for and where do they look for it? The answer is keywords and links. Keywords in your html coding, keywords on your webpage content, keywords in your content, and the number of incoming links you have to your website.
2. How important is SEO?
Let’s just put it this way. What’s better? a few visitors who stumble upon your website or hundreds of visitors that go to your website with the direct intention of learning more or making a purchase? With more and more people searching and shopping online, getting on the first page or two of the search engine results can mean the difference between keeping your day job and becoming an internet millionaire.
3. What are text links?
Links are just one of the tools you can use to increase your search engine optimization. The more quality links you have, the better your search engine ranking will be. Text links are links that contain only text. Wikipedia is a great place to examine internal text links. The links are contained within a sentence and when a reader clicks on them they are taken to a different page on the same website. The kind of text links you’re looking for will be text links that will take readers from your article, eBook, or web copy to your website.
An excellent tool to generate incoming links is to write copy for online audiences like article directories, blogs, and ezines and insert text links in the copy. Webmasters will link to the content and thus to your site. Additionally, when you allow free reprints of your copy provided the links are maintained, you’re encouraging links to your website.
4. What are link farms and link exchanges?
Search engines don’t accept just any old link. The link has to be from a relevant and quality company. This means you don’t want to participate in link farming. If a search engine suspects your links to be lacking, they’ll actually penalize you. Link farming or link exchanging is essentially the process of exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase your search engine ranking. A link farm is a Web page that is nothing more than a page of links to other sites. Stay away from link farms. When you generate a link from another site, it had better be relevant and coming from a real web site.
5. What is duplicate content?
The definition of duplicate content is web pages that contain substantially the same content. Search engines will penalize you for this. How do you avoid duplicate content? Don’t publish the same article in several locations. There are many tools available online to help you re-write your content so that it is 30%, 40%, and even 50% different. However, the best way to avoid duplicate content is to simply write new content.
6. How do I find the right keywords?
There are several steps to finding the most profitable keywords. The first step is to generally do a bit of brainstorming and come up with a list of keywords you think people will use to find your products and services. The next step is to research supply and demand for those particular keywords. Supply means how many other websites are using those same keywords and demand is how many people are looking for those particular keywords. The key is to find keywords with high demand and relatively low supply. There are many effective and useful keyword tools to help you find this information and to generate keyword ideas. Once you decide on a few keywords, it may be useful to do a bit of testing before you commit to them.
7. How do I optimize my web pages?
Placing your keywords in the right location is a good start to optimizing your web pages. Search engines look to the headings, subheadings, domain name, and title of your website. They also look in the content on your page and primarily focus on the first paragraph. Try to get a domain name with your primary keyword included. When you include your keyword in your URL it tells the search engine spiders immediately what your site is about.
Title Tag: Your title tag is the line of text that appears on search engine results pages that acts as a link to your site. This is a crucial element of your webpage as it describes to your visitors what your page is about. If you view your source code, your title tag will look something like this: <TITLE>Search Engine Optimization Tips</TITLE>. Keep your title tags brief, descriptive, up to date, and keyword rich will help to increase the relevance of your site in the eyes of the search engines, as well as giving your potential visitors a good idea of what they can expect from your site.
Meta Tags: it is helpful to place your keywords in your Meta tags. In your source code they look something like this: <META NAME=”description”
8. Do I need to submit my site to the search engines?
Need? No, Should? Yes!. Search engine spiders are always out there doing their job and collecting information. Every time you update your website, add content, or change your keywords, the search engines capture the information and record it. However, if you want to be listed on a directory, like the DMOZ Open directory project, then you will need to submit to those. You can be reactive, but you should certainly be thinking with a more proactive approach; If you tell them (the search engines) what your links are, your links will be submitted a lot faster and no pages will be missed.
9. What are spiders?
Search engine spiders are also called web crawlers or bot. They’re basically automated programs which scan websites to provide information to search engines often for the purpose of indexing or ranking the pages found.
10. How does content help my SEO?
Content is one of the best tools to improve your search engine ranking. It is a great place to emphasize keywords, encourage linking to your site, and increase traffic. The key to content is to make sure you’re offering quality content and you’re updating your website and your content frequently. Content can be provided in many forms including:
· Blogs
· Forums and chat rooms
· Articles
· Reviews
· Case studies
· Reports
· How to guides
· Tutorials
· E-books
· And much more
Link Web Services: http://www.LinkWebServices.com
Web University: http://WebUniversity.LinkWebServices.com
The Web Store: http://www.LinkWebServices.com/mm5/merchant.mvc
Your Website’s Missing Ingredient
“My mechanic told me, ‘He couldn’t repair my brakes, so he made my horn louder.’” – Comedian, Steven Wright
We all want our websites to be more effective, and if you’re like mo t business people you are constantly searching the Web for anything that will help. What you find is a cabal of experts armed with statistics, analysis, charts and graphs all pointing to how they can get you high-up on the search engines and drive more traffic to your site. The problem is that like Steven Wright’s mechanic these guys are adjusting your horn when it’s your brakes that need fixing.
There is little point in attracting more visitors to your site if your site has little of interest to say. Even if your site is jammed packed with useful products, services and solutions if it doesn’t connect with your audience, they will never invest the time necessary for you to make your case.
When websites fail it’s most often because they do not function effectively as your primary communication tool. The Web is overcrowded with options and unless you’re prepared to deliver a compelling differentiating presentation you will be quickly dismissed as irrelevant. Let’s face it; business is tough, probably tougher than it’s ever been before.
Something is Missing
You’ve done all the technical tweaks and responded to all the research and analytics. You’re blogging, micro-blogging, social networking, and search optimizing, but still something is not quite right, something is missing. What’s the missing ingredient? You know it’s out there, but you can’t for the life of you figure out what it is.
You know the Web offers the potential to access new markets, find new customers, and reach new heights, but with all that opportunity, the results always seem just out of reach. If research and analytics were the answer you’d already be rich. Of course it was an over-reliance on research that brought us the Edsel, New Coke, and that wonderful Wall Street goody called Derivatives, one of the greatest investment boondoggles of our time.
There is something artificially comforting about putting your faith in seemingly logical yet unfathomable solutions based on indecipherable scientific modeling and over-hyped research analysis, all brought to you by computer scientists and mathematicians who never ran a marketing department or launched a new product or business.
Business leaders have adopted the attitude that, “It must be right, because I sure as heck don’t understand it.” And when it all goes wrong, or results are anemic, well, “What are you going to do? It’s not my fault, it all looked good on paper.” Ad agencies and Wall Street have been getting away with this kind of bunkum for decades, and look at the mess they’ve made of things.
What’s It All About, Alfie?
Business success is all about your ability to engage your audience with a message that compels them to action. Simply put, your business relies on your ability to communicate. Eureka!
And your website is the best communication vehicle you have. The question is how do you use your website to communicate your marketing message in the most engaging, compelling, and memorable manner? What is the missing ingredient that will turn your scientifically sterile online cookie-cutter presentation into something that cuts through the massive sameness of Internet clutter, and makes a statement that your audience will respond to?
Finding Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
One of the hardest things for tough-minded business people to accept is that sales and marketing success is based on the subconscious emotional and psychological appeal of a brand. That’s the reason, reliance on feature selling rarely works, and only tends to commoditize a product or service – the guy with the most bells and whistles for the least amount of money wins, and why would you want to play that game?
Even the most casual market observer must recognize that all leading brands have one thing in common, no matter what they sell: the promise of their brand is based on a concept that is established through an emotional or psychological appeal. Apple is about thinking and acting creatively without the worry of technical issues; Starbucks is about reconnecting to the original coffee break ideal of a relaxing oasis away from the hustle bustle of everyday life; and Ikea is about stylish living on a budget. Each concept appeals to the deep-seated desires of the targeted audience. It is this singular concept that makes each of these companies special and different from their competition; it is the message that all their marketing, advertising, and promotion is based upon, and it is the true value they offer their audience that attracts interest, holds attention, and delivers promise.
Implementing Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
In order to implement a company’s emotional and psychological value proposition, we use a process called the ConceptCreator. It starts with various sales’ points that need to be covered. Based on the supplied information, we develop a focused marketing concept using the Law of Dissatisfaction that enables us to discover the experiential human subtext of why people will want what you sell. The presentation concept is boiled-down to a movie-style logline that states the brand story to be presented in the Web Video campaign.
How Much Is A Concept Worth?
“Wait a minute – did he say a movie-style logline? That sure doesn’t sound business-like, and I never heard any corporate CEO or MBA talk about movie loglines.” Maybe so, but think about it. Hollywood studios spend enormous sums of money to produce a movie with the potential of making hundreds of millions of dollars, and each financial investment starts with someone coming up with a clever logline that captures the imagination. Television commercials can cost ten thousand dollars a second to produce and without a guiding conceptual premise they become DOA when implemented. So why wouldn’t you start your Web Video campaign using the same proven formula.
The logline, mission statement, or elevator pitch if you prefer needs to state the characters, goals, obstacles, differentiating factors, and resolution within the context of a story scenario.
For Instance…
If it works for the movie industry will it work for the advertising and marketing industry? Let’s take a look at one of the most successful last number of years, The MAC versus PC campaign.
Example Logline Concept: A stylish, pleasant, mild-mannered young man verbally spars with his geeky competitive opposite (characters) in a series of humorous, relatable incidents (story scenario) that illustrate the people-friendly advantages (resolution) of the brand compared to its rigid, unbending competitor (differentiating factor) whose sheer size dominates the market (obstacle) in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the computer buying audience (goal). – The MAC Versus PC Ad Campaign.
“The Time Has Come The Walrus Said…”
- Lewis Carroll from ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice
Found There,’ 1892
The time has come to realize that Web Video is the best communication tactic available to deliver your marketing message to a worldwide audience; an audience that craves answers and resolution to their every need, concern and desire. It is not good enough to list a bunch of features and hackneyed bulleted points or even to dump pages and pages of search engine optimized hard-to-read text, especially when it’s aimed at an audience raised on television, movies, music and video games. We must learn to speak the language of the audience, and use the appropriate communication tools they can understand in a way that connects on a human level.
It all starts with finding the emotional and psychological value proposition your product or service promises. In a world of frustrated, cranky, attention deficit consumers, the onus is on you to present what you offer in a way that relates to the human elements that make your brand relevant.
How To Use Web Analytics To Grow Your Business
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 10:03 AM
Sunday, February 15, 2009
How To Use Web Analytics To Grow Your Business
By Mike Tekula (c) 2009
Got a website?
If you own a business, chances are you do. But don’t pat
yourself on the back too quickly.
By now it’s widely-accepted that if you have a business
card you should probably have a website. It doesn’t matter
what your company is selling – a website, however modest,
has become a standard.
Interesting Links Makes Us Interesting
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 10:44 PM
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Content and inbound links are most important for SEO, according to experts, and in that order. Even though this is old news for experienced SEO experts, it is still good news for new ones joining the online community.
Experts were often left to theorize and test—and worse, try to game, in response to Google’s silence on the subject. However, when Google started hitting the PageRanks of paid directories, they seemed to confirm basic SEO tactics.
Having a website that effectively communicates your image can be a rewarding and profitable experience if you follow five basic concepts:
1. Know you Audience, you can be proud of your site but remember, it’s the customer who buys. You are designing your website and logo for your customers, not for yourself. Your likes and dislikes may be similar to your clients’ likes and dislikes, but since they come first, your website and logo should reflect what they need and will respond to.
There are no tricks here, just a bit of work and some time. So let’s get started by reading the following list of SEO Techniques!
1. Domain & File Names: Choose your site domain name that contains words from your primary keyword phrase.
2. Keyword Phrases: Use keywords that are being searched for.
Having a game plan can get your site up and running without all the headaches. At the end of the project, the outcome should be measured by, “Did we get a good-looking, usable Web site deployed in a reasonable amount of time?”
Initial Web site design and redesigns of existing sites may each face a few different challenges, but overall, they are similar. Experience shows that these problems are not technical issues, but project management and cultural issues. Here are some of the things I’ve learned to do that will help make any Web site design project go smoothly.
Avoid these elements that should never see the light of day on your site. Poor planning and neglect of your Web site can lead to lost business, security concerns, slow traffic and other problems.
When it comes to your company’s Web site, there’s no shortage of advice on what you absolutely have to have there. However, Web site missteps are preventable. Here are nine items to avoid.
Here are 8 points you NEED to know to have success in emailing campaigns.
Point 1, Know your audience
Before you sit down to write your email sales letter, you`ve got to determine exactly who your audience is. This is a
master key to getting results from email marketing, knowing what appeals to your target market.
Point 2, Get the emails opened with great subject lines
Before an email can generate results, recipients need to open it. But what can you do to spark their interest and get their interest “motor” revved up? The SUBJECT LINE.
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