|
|
Do You Want To Save Time With Your Web Design?
It starts off simply; a few HTML pages, a few hyperlinks, some affiliate links. Your mother is proud of her clever son. Then you install a forum, some more content, maybe consider using a Content Management System (CMS).
Before you know it, you have a monster on your hands. This monster is eating up your time and energy and money.
Here are a few tricks I've learned to save you time and money with your web design.
1. Avoid Windows servers, if you can.
I'll admit I've never used one. I've had too much trouble with Windows on the PC, to risk it on my web site. Most geeks favour Unix. It's been around longer, and is more stable. Web hosts offering Unix variants like Linux have always been cheaper. They also seem to offer a wider range of toys. I need SSI (Server Side Includes), SSH (secure Telnet), 10 MySQL databases, Cpanel, PHPMyAdmin and a UK IP number. And you can get this for $15 a month.
If you're in business for yourself, consider Unix/Linux. If you want to be a full-time employee, consider Windows/Microsoft. Many businesses use it, as it's compatible with their office software, they like that a major company supports it, and they distrust something that's free.
2. Server Side Includes are the poor man's CMS.
Each web page can be 'stitched' together using Server Side Includes (SSI). You can 'call' a header and footer HTML file, using SSI, in each web page. That way, you can make site-wide changes in an instant. For example, you can add Google Adsense to the top or bottom of your site immediately.
Dreamweaver (http://www.macromedia.com) can display SSI pages correctly. This is another reason, one of many, for its popularity as a HTML editor.
3. Which CMS to use?
A Content Management System is very handy if you have a community-based website, or want to let others add content to your site. It must have a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) add-on. This means a novice can type in formatted HTML the same way he could a formatted Word document. He presses on-screen buttons to bold or underline words, and make hyperlinks.
Another keyword to look out for is HTMLArea. This means someone has made an addon to cause all 'textarea' form boxes to have word-processor-style buttons above them. This allows someone who doesn't know HTML to add it to your CMS. Saves YOU having to do it, and that is good [grin].
Many are free. I can't really recommend one at the moment, except perhaps Mambo (http://www.mamboserver.com). I've tried quite a few others, especially PHPNuke.
A CMS allows you to set up a website with professional features in a day. The downside is you can spend weeks customising it. You may find, as I did with PHPNuke, that it's unsecure, that it can behave eccentrically, and that essential third-party addons may not work properly.
A CMS is for geeks with time on their hands. I would dearly love to be able to point to one and say to the small businessman "Put your trust in this". I can't yet.
4. Put keywords in the HTML.
Fairly obvious, but webmasters don't go far enough. *Any* image name, ALT tag, form field, bolded word or hyperlink can have a keyword in it. So why not do it?
This is where someone who tweaks his HTML code by hand gains a great advantage. Newlines and double blank spaces are redundant in HTML. A large document can have thousands of these. They obfuscate your Search Engine Optimsation (SEO) efforts.
Use a text editor that can strip them out, like Editpad (http://www.editpadpro.com), or a HTML optimiser. Broken lines are not ideal either. Dreamweaver can 'break' a tag or keyword at an inappropriate place. Why make it hard for a search engine to promote your page? Strip out the junk, and put in the keywords.
5. Put at least 500 words of paragraphed text in.
If your web pages have the same header, footer, left side-bar, right side-bar, and only a small bit of text in the middle, you may suffer a duplicate content penalty. This means a search engine deems your site has duplicate pages. It considers it an attempt to spam its database, and so shoves it way down its Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).
If you can't write your own articles, get someone to do it for you at a freelance site like ScriptLance (http://www.scriptlance.com). You can get free articles at sites like EzineArticles (http://www.ezinearticles.com).
6. Offer people what THEY want, not what YOU think they should have.
This is most important. Before making a site, go for a walk in town. Sit down on a park bench, and try to figure out what people really want; not need, WANT. Then figure out how you can get in on that business with your site.
People want sex, drugs, gambling, money, a house, a car, good food, nice clothes, self esteem. The first three are disreputable. Promote them, and get cut off from sections of society.
It makes me laugh when I see pornographers saying 'it's just a business, I'm not doing any harm'. They're making money *because* their subject matter is taboo. Most people don't want to be associated with pornography or pornographers. Likewise, a bar owner isn't welcome everywhere, and casino bosses rub shoulders with the underworld.
If you ever want to be on the school board, or run for local office, keep away from dubious content.
Look at what people really want, AND which will make your family proud, and then proceed with gusto.
About the author: T. O' Donnell (http://www.tigertom.com) is an ecommerce consultant in London, UK. His latest projects are a mortgage calculator and ebook, available at http://www.tigertom.com/mortgages-uk.shtml
Adding the Right Keywords to Your Website Content
You've made your website, added a great title and keywords in the meta tags. That's it, right?
Wording Up Your Website
Back to basics. Forget funky design, good copywriting is the key to a clear and intuitive website.
The Importance of Choosing Your Website Keywords Carefully
The importance of choosing your website keywords carefully is very high. The reason for this is many search engines rely on keywords, at least partially, to help determine the rank of your web page when certain keywords are searched for. As a result, you want to make sure you know how to utilize keywords properly so that you get the most benefit from this wonderful tool. However, if you do not know what you are doing keywords can work against you, so make sure you know exactly what you are looking for and what you need to optimize the text on your website in order to increase traffic because due to keyword inclusion.
Ten Tips For Your Web Site Home Page
1. Loading time:
Increase Your Credibility With Web Site Awards
Web Site Awards are given from other sites to reward your site for a specific reason. They will usually give you an award graphic or text link to include on your site if you win. Awards are great to display on your Web site because they will give your business more credibility to your visitors and customers.
Website Promotion Ideas: 10 Tips On How To Use Your Picture Effectively To Increase Your Sales
Seeing is believing.
One-Product Sales Sites: Avoid These Top Blunders
One product, one long web page: this kind of web site is sometimes called a sales letter site or mini-site, and it focuses on one and only one goal, as many sales of that one product as possible. With a one-product sales site, no distractions, no subsidiary goals, such as newsletter signups, are allowed to interfere with that goal. So let's look at some common mistakes and omissions for a sales letter site.
Web Usability: The Basics
What is web usability & why is it important?
7 Web Site Design Mistakes That Will Lose You Clients
In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for any successful business. But there are web sites that will win you customers, and there are web sites that will lose you customers. Good design has a lot to do with which category your web site will fall into. But what is it that makes good or bad web site design? In my personal opinion, a good web site is one that's simple, informative and gives me a reason to come back frequently. That's what you should get from a good web designer/writer team. Bad sites, on the other hand, are complicated to use, slow loading, confusing or just plain annoying. Here's a list of my personal top 7 turn-offs as far as web site design is concerned:
How To Create A Stunning Drop Capital Effect On Your Web Pages
Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in the majority of publications you come across.
How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site
One of the simplest things you can do to give your site 'identity' and to make it stand out from other sites is to use a favicon (favourite icon). They are the little logos that go next to the website listing in your favourites folder, and pop up in other places, (depending on your browser and operating system). To see one, go to www.bigwowwebhosting.com. Bookmark the site, open another browser window and then go to open the bookmark you have just made. The 'B' next to the words 'Big Wow Web Hosting- Home' is the favicon.
The Newbie?s Guide to Small Business Web Design
You've got a concept for a business, are excited about putting it out on the Internet, know a little bit about computers and the Internet, but know nothing about building a web site, or web design.
Copy Editing: 10 Powerful, Mind Blowing Secrets For Writing A High-Impact Ad
No matter what product or service you're promoting, unless you are able to write and use a highly persuasive Ad, you may not generate a lot of traffics and sales.
A Landing Page is Not an Order Page (and why it matters)
To explain my point I need to first confuse the issue a bit (you'll see why): While a landing page is not an order page, it can, and in many cases should, contain the order form.
Simple Lines and Shapes for Your Logo Design
Geometric designs come in all shapes and sizes? and lines. You can create your logo design or customize your illustration by using simple lines and shapes to create your very own unique image.
The Technology May Change, But Human Nature Remains The Same
Let me repeat that..
Website Conversion Secrets Revealed
In my last article entitled, Maximizing The True Value Of Your Traffic (found at http://tinyurl.com/2cf84), you discovered the importance of generating positive responses from all your visitors.
Website Design Basic Concepts
So, what's in a website design anyway? And, how do you get a design that is appealing to the broad and varied tastes of all those Internet surfers out there?
Color Psychology in Marketing
On the internet we don't deal with face to face selling. The internet is a visual and psychological medium. The words, or sales copy, on your website have by far the greatest psychological impact on your visitors and thus becomes your most important communication and sales tool.
What You Should Ask a Web Designer Before You Hire Him
You've thought about it and you're ready to go. You're ready to give your business an online presence. You want your own website. That's great but unless you are doing it yourself, you would be shopping for a website designer. Some people would design their own websites but most people prefer to save themselves the time and money and hand the job over to the professionals.