Get them right, and they become one major piece of a booming business online.

Get them wrong, and, well … *nothing* happens.

And that’s just the writing part.

If you’ve ever tried to *build* a landing page in WordPress, you know it can get very frustrating, very fast. The basic idea is to strip all the extras away — on that page only — so your reader focuses on the action or product you want them to focus on.

So, away you go…

Remove the sidebars. Change the header. But don’t change the header on all the other pages of your site!

PHP. HTML. Javascript. Track down the right images and graphics.

Play with color, add an opt-in form (one that actually looks good). Add video, add audio, and on and on and on.

Unless you’re a developer, this stuff can drive you crazy, and waste a lot of your time.

Here’s the thing, the Premise for WordPress landing page software was built to solve all these problems for you (and more).

Premise is a plugin for WordPress that takes all the hassle out of building effective landing pages that get results.

And it does it all, right from inside WordPress. Check it out here:

http://GetPremise.com

Beyond page building and design, you also get copywriting advice (right from inside WordPress), plus copywriting and conversion optimization seminars — all at no extra charge.

Premise for WordPress is the total package when it comes to getting people to take the action you’re looking for, without wasting hours trying to get your page just right.

Here’s a quick look at what you get when you buy Premise:

- Unlimited landing pages you can create
- Unlimited domains you can use Premise on
- Copywriting and conversion seminars
- Specific copywriting advice inside WordPress
- 1,100+ custom graphics library
- Technical support and updates

Anyway, if you want to take all the hassle out of building landing pages for your WordPress site, you should check out Premise right now:

http://GetPremise.com

If you’re not absolutely delighted with everything Premise for WordPress does for you and your bottom line, just use the clearly-marked contact form in the HELP section of the member area within the first 30 days and they’ll promptly refund your money.

                          

1. Outstanding Design. Hіring а сuѕtom wеb dеѕign ѕerviсe enѕurеs thаt your wеb lаyоut iѕ uniquе; and maintains а ѕophiѕtіcаtіоn thrоugh its соntеnt аnd deѕіgn. A сustom web dеsign ѕerviсe provіdеr wіll make sure thаt no сommоn temрlаtes are uѕed and thе laуоut translatеs grаphіcаllу the рhiloѕорhу and perѕonаlіty оf уоur brаnd and organizatіоn.

2.Hiring a professional is more cost effective then hiring an in-house team. Cоmpаniеѕ usuallу rіsk extravаgant exреnѕeѕ whеn thеу try to buіld an іn houѕe web dеvеlорmеnt team. When аnalyzеd – aррointіng а сustom wеb dеѕіgn sеrvісе providеr саn turn оut be a lоt more cost effective, mаіnlу bесauѕе of thе fасt thаt yоu are sіmрlу uѕing theіr prе-еxіsting reѕources. An іn-houѕe web desіgn team starts from ѕcratch and haѕ tо makе inveѕtments tоwаrds еmplоying thе ѕmallеѕt оf the wеb dеѕіgn tools. Thіѕ mаy lеаd to соmprоmiѕing the finаl quаlitу towardѕ thе web dеvelopment рrосеѕѕ.

3. Additional web marketing services. A custom web deѕіgn ѕеrviсe сan alѕo prоvіdе additiоnal ѕеrvicеѕ ѕuch аs sоcіal netwоrk markеtіng and seаrсh engіnе optimizatіоn. Theѕе ѕervіce provіderѕ allоw уоu tо build сrіsp соntеnt for SEO рurроѕes and рrоvidе rеlevant іnfоrmаtіon tо роtential cuѕtоmеrѕ аnd usеrs thuѕ drіving traffic towardѕ уour websіtе. An іn-hоuѕе team would probаblу laсk exреrіence in building strong Sосiаl Netwоrk Markеtіng аnd SEO ѕtrategiеs

4. Advice. Taking into consideratiоn the fаct that a сuѕtоm Wеb Devеloрment Cоmpanу hаѕ bеen in thе busіnеsѕ lоng еnough they can аdvice cоmраnіеs on dеѕіgnѕ and соntеnt trеndѕ keеping in mind the funсtional requirеmentѕ of thе future.

5. Experience. Thе mоѕt ѕіgnificаnt rеаѕоn thаt motіvаteѕ cоmрanieѕ tо opt for cuѕtоm web dеvеlоpmеnt оptіоns іѕ theіr exреrience. It іs аn exеrcіѕе thаt the service рrovidеrѕ’ dеal іn daу in аnd dау оut. A new іn-hоusе team wоuld most likеlу be learnіng on the јob, makіng іt а timе соnѕumіng аnd еxреnѕive affair.

Evеntuallу it is the соmрany that bеаrs the fruіtѕ of an intеractive, attraсtіve аnd user-frіendly website. Thіs аreа of internet mаrkеting must nоt bе tаkеn lightlу аnd cоrrect buѕineѕs dеcіsіons must bе taken kеeріng іn mіnd the lоng-term rеturn оn іnvеstmеnt.

                          

1. Swat Your Spam

Akismet. This is the most popular free anti-spam/comment plug-ins. Downloading is free however there is a minimal charge for commercial based blogs. In addition, it offers a library option in a variety of languages. With Akismet, the algorithm code that is usually based on the home website is on the Akismet server. It sends the comment back to the host website and determines whether it is spam or legitimate. It will hold content for fifteen days, just in case, and then delete it. Installation requires a WordPress blog which entails signing up for a WordPress.com API key account. After this, install the Akismet plugin into the WordPress plugin directory. It is important to follow the spam folder compiled by Akismet in the first few weeks or so of use. This way you can train it to recognize comments that may otherwise be considered spam and missed.

2. Keyword Tracker

SEO Rank Reporter is an excellent free plugin that will track keywords in your site. Every three days it will show an easy to follow Google ranking graph. As your ranking fluctuates Rank Reporter will send you emails alerting you of top rank changes.

3. Platinum SEO Pack

This plugin will utilize the titles of your blogs for search engine optimization by routinely generating Meta tags. In addition, duplicate information on your site is immediately brought to your attention.

4. SEO Content Control

A plugin that acts like a personal secretary is found in SEO Content Control. It finds content that you may have forgotten to tag, describe and/or categorize and offers ways to develop more optimal choices thus potentially increasing your search engine rankings.

5. Keyword Density Checker

By compiling keyword densities, Keyword Density Checker can create an overview of the density usage of used keywords and key phrases. Meta keyword suggestions are also offered plus prevention of content language and word filter usage.

Take note that because of continuing upgrades offered for WordPress plugins it is probably best to save your current plugins in the WordPress database. When you do this you can go back and decide the specific actions your plugin will take when the upgrade is applied.

About the Author: Miranda S. is a surgical tech by day and blogger by night. She loves looking for unique ways to improve her blogs (and the blogs of others) without spending a ton of cash!

                          

Kindle

A Kindle should have been the natural choice for someone who has been using Amazon.com for many years. Kindle uses proprietary DRM and Kindle-specific file type. Amazon does provide free Kindle apps for Mac, PC, Android, iPad, iPod and iPhone. You can easily sync across all devices.

Positives for the Kindle:

• Lightweight.
• Comfortable to hold, pages are easy to flip.
• Fast page flip.
• Goes from out of the box to reading a freshly downloaded book in literally five minutes.
• Connects to Amazon.com.
• It has a keyboard. This is really great for the search and find features which are also great.
• Two click font size adjustment.
• Plays audio books and connects directly to Audible.com. Purchased audio books show up on your archive list.
• Download thousands of free eBooks.
• Battery lasts for 20 days on a one hour charge.
• Emailing files to your Kindle email address will convert them to the Kindle format so you can download them. Some charges may apply.

Negatives for the Kindle:

• You can’t sell, trade or give away your eBooks.
• Can’t check out library books.
• Kindle displays Locations instead of page numbers, and as far as I can tell, they seem to be random nonsense. The percentage will give you an idea of where you are in the book. You can see how many pages are in the book before downloading it.

Nook

The Nook was not a first choice until it was recommended by others who had done their research. The Nook Color screen is similar to a big cell phone and has a bright, reflective reading screen. The black and white Nook and the Kindle are both ePaper and very easy to read. The Nook also has free reading apps available. To upload your PDFs, you do a separate converter like Caliber to convert books to the Nook format.

Positives for the Nook:

• Download millions of free eBooks.
• Convert and upload all of your PDF eBooks to be read on the Nook.
• Check out library books.
• Loan books to friends.
• Plays audio books.
• Preview the book covers in color.
• Clock in upper right of the display.
• Can read selected books for an hour at a time in the store at no charge.
• Connect to the Internet and view web pages in black and white with a small section in color.
• Page numbers are clearly displayed at the bottom of the screen.
• You can deactivate your account and sell your Nook. It’s actually easy to do.

Negatives for the Nook:

• It’s connected to Barnes and Noble’s website.
• Difficult to search for and download books.
• You need a credit card (not debit card) to download eBooks. Even free eBooks.
• Some downloads take half a day. *The last download took three weeks.
• If a download doesn’t work, it can take several hours for the error message to show up.
• Must register on BN.com and download software before downloading books to the Nook.
• Battery lasts only two or three days.
• Page turn is slow.
• Support is necessary by design.
• When the Nook goes online it displays advertising for Starbucks.
• There is no easy way to delete the sample chapters.

After all the research, I purchased the Nook.

Disappointment started the same day.

Setup time took way too long. The first day with the Nook I spent hours setting up the account, searching books, downloading software and trying to download books. It took several hours for one book to download. The first book I downloaded had a tiny, nearly unreadable font that couldn’t be changed. Further research showed this is the case with about half of the Nook books. There are no refunds on downloads, so make sure you download a sample chapter first.

The eight day battery only lasts two or three days and takes three hours to charge fully.

Downloads stopped working then it gave me an 800 number to call. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, the operator explained that it was a debit card, not credit card and that is why it doesn’t work. I asked why it worked at first since it has been a debit card all along, and she laughed. Yes, laughed. She said read the terms on the website for an explanation. Customer service anyone?  Three weeks after the initial “debit card” transaction wouldn’t go through, the book I was trying to order suddenly downloaded and my debit card was charged. Something to be aware of: the last credit card on file at BarnesandNoble.com cannot be removed.

After three weeks with the Nook, I purchased a Kindle.

The usability of the Kindle is impressive right out of the box. It was literally five minutes after the Kindle was delivered that I was downloading and reading books. No doubt it helped that I already had an Amazon account and ordered the Kindle through it. The battery was fully charged in an hour. After a week of reading, using the light and listening to audio books, the battery had only run half down.

The only down side is Kindle’s one-click purchasing through Amazon. To change the debit or credit card on file, just go online and change the one-click default card. It would be nice to have the option to download book through a business or personal account each time.

                          

Education can be expensive. College or trade programs are increasing their tuition.  For those who are already trained in a field, getting education in some other specialty or even increasing their knowledge within their specialty can be prohibitively expensive.  Even people who want to casually learn another language have to spend a couple hundred dollars for a combination of books and language learning software.

Luckily, there is lots of free information on the internet.  In fact, it is easy to put together your own training course using info, tutorials and free instruction available on the web.

Want to learn something without having to do more than pay for internet service every month?  Here are some places to look.

Fsi-language-courses.org is a not-for-profit web site that contains partial or complete language courses.  The material is dated, but the FSI courses (Foreign Service Institute) are used by the government to train foreign service personnel, so they are effective.  The courses are free.  Major languages like Chinese and French are well represented, as are less taught languages like Akan and Amharic.  The UCLA language materials project is a good resource for finding additional resources for your language of choice.  My Language Exchange is a social media site with peer tutors.  You can tutor someone in you language and receive instruction from them in the language that you are trying to learn.

Popular computer programs are easy to learn. You can get the basics from tutorials, which are widely available for free on the internet.  Sites like GCFLearnFree.org offer free tutorials for basic computer programs.  These start from the very basics and move up to an intermediate level.  Most programs have some sort of social site dedicated to information and online conversation about the program.  Message boards and chat forums allow people to ask questions and offer solutions and tutorials.  These are probably the best places to look for more advanced information beyond the basic how-tos of the program.  These forums are also a good place to find information about tutorials and other tools that can help you hone your skills.

Fewer and fewer people use resources offered at libraries. A lot of these public book emporiums are plugging into new technology and increasing the number of computers and online resources that they offer.  Sure, you could scan the shelves of your local library and find a ‘how-to” book or a “For Dummies” edition for whatever you wanted to learn, but there are plenty of online resources for library card holders as well.  The focus is mostly on research and providing access to documents in scholarly journals and specialized publications.  This could be useful if you are learning something specialized.  However, many libraries also offer access to tutorials or academic-style programs that can be accessed online.  Resources can include basic subject taught in high schools (physics, algebra and languages) and even specialized knowledge (courses on various computer programs like CAD or Quickbooks).

Don’t forget about new media. Professors, enthusiasts, bored college students: there are many different people putting information on the internet for different reasons.  When you get into the actual learning process, you will have to test a lot of the info that you find on the internet against what you already know or what others are teaching.  You can take advantage of free podcasts from iTunes or other sources.  Some lecture-like podcasts can be very useful when you are learning a new subject.  Some professors use new media like this to communicate with students or just hone their teaching skills.  Youtube is another place to look for instructional videos.

Finally, sites like Openculture.org have a list of free courses from a variety of places around the web.  Some of these programs are akin to taking an online college course (minus the cost and credits).

Nicole has been blogging on the tech industry for 3 years, she currently helps companies choose personal finance software and how they can utilize enterprise microblogging.

                          

With today’s technology, you could do almost 100% of your work electronically, never having to touch or use a piece of paper. But in reality, printing on paper is still extremely essential to most business practices for documents that need to be signed, marketing materials that need to be sent to clients, and more. If you’re a business owner, and you’re looking for a printer for your business needs, there are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind. And each type of printer will offer you different services.

Laser Printers

Laser printers are really great at printing high-volumes of documents quickly and still retaining a crisp, clean look. Laser printers are also very cost effective. When you add up printer cost, maintenance, ink, and more, printing on a laser printer usually tends to come out at a lower price per page than other types of printers. Low-end laser printers can be found for under $200, but those models will generally only print black and white. For a couple hundred dollars more, you can get a color version. Most laser printers also come in a workgroup model that is larger and meant to be used by multiple people, usually in a business setting.

Inkjet Printers

Inkjets are great printers if you need to print high-quality, color graphics or photos from time to time. But you’ll need to keep your color printing to a minimum. The paper and ink cartridges needed to print high-quality graphics and photos can be expensive for a large business. Also, speed may be a consideration if you have a multiple people who need to use the printer. Inkjets are much slower than lasers, but what they lack in speed, they make up for in quality.

All-in-one Printers

Multifunction, or all-in-one, printers are probably the best solution for small businesses. As the name suggests, they include a number of functions in one device. Most all-in-ones combines the functions of a printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine into one compact device. All-in-ones can come equipped with either a laser of an inkjet printer. Prices will vary widely based on the function they perform and the type of printer they house.

Other Printers

Depending on the type of business you have, you may need a specialized printer. For example, if you print a lot of high-quality photos, you’ll probably need to look in to a photo printer. On the other hand, if you are constantly on the run and need to print documents while traveling, there are a number of great compact, portable printers that might be good for you.

The printing needs of your business are unique to you, so it’s best to understand the qualities of each type of printer and research different brands, so you’ll know which printer is best for your business needs.

About the author: Diane Johnson primarily writes about online schools, and anything else that interests her. She enjoys traveling, reading, sledding, and shopping.

                          

There are countless places (and things) that inspire creativity. Seek out artistic inspiration in commonplace, day-to-day living, even if—at first glance—these sources seem anything but interesting. Here are just a few that come to mind:

Vanity license plates
Vanity plates are everywhere and are consistently far more interesting than they have any right to be. The best ones aren’t the ones that are immediately comprehensible (though the immediate payoff of a genuinely funny or weird vanity plate is often worth it), but ones that read like puzzles and take time to decode. These often stay with me for days, if not months, and often end up manifesting themselves in some art project I undertake later on.

Old cookbooks
Dated, unfashionable cookbooks—the kind that probably exist in yours or your friends’ houses somewhere—are often full of deeply strange narratives, dated trends, a collection of quotes or photographs so out of step with a contemporary worldview that it’s hard not to laugh at them.  Sometimes you get lucky and find entire histories within them. Consider Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, which claims to feature the Virgin Mary’s favorite Spinach recipe and proposes that teriyaki is the worst method of meat preparation before explaining how to make it. It’s hard not to be completely fascinated and to feel challenged to take on something similarly epic and bizarre after reading.

Crowded coffee shops
Coffee shops have the bonus of coffee itself, which may aid your creativity you if you’re one of those need-my-caffeine types. Coffee certainly helps me get into a mindset for creating art, and being surrounded by noise may yield fragments of conversations to listen in on and borrow from, musical ideas to explore later, and other jumping off points.

Dive bars
Bars and coffee shops have similar draws: beverages, loud noise and ambiance. However, a drink or two (and not much more than that, or things can get sticky) can help address one’s inhibitions when trying to start a piece of writing or a project. There’s also the goldmine that is bar graffiti, where a stray phrase or a particularly unique arrangement of words (likely grammatically incorrect and profane) can suddenly seem like the strangest, funniest, or most moving thing in the world; when it does, borrow it.

Bike paths, trails, and other outdoor surroundings
From time to time, it seems utterly vital to the creative process (if not to all processes, creative or otherwise), to step outside for fresh air. Getting your blood moving helps to get the brain going as well, and it’ll be far less difficult to create when you’ve taken a minute to process. You may even stumble upon a source of inspiration you’d never considered before.

Gerald Arnolds is a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on online nursing classes for the Guide to Health Education.

                          

Here are the best of these programs.

NetObjects Fusion is one of the better drag-and-drop website builders available.  It costs less than $200.  This product has stood the test of time; it has been around since the mid-1990s.  There is no need to know any code with NetObjects.  For most basic and intermediate sites, NetObjects is a powerful-enough design tool.  It even has built-in ecommerce and traffic tracking tools.

Freeway Express, a Mac-centered design program, is another powerful design tool for novices.  It offers a what-you-see-is-what-you-get environment similar to desktop publishing software.  The nice thing about Freeway is that you can upgrade to Freeway Pro, which allows more complete control of coding and advanced design elements.  If you are looking to grow your site or launch a freelance web design career, Freeway might be a good and practical place to start.

And then there is WordPress.  For very basic information sites, WordPress blogs might be a decent option.  These blogs are highly customizable because there are thousands of plug-ins and unique designs available.  There is a large community of developers, so if you need to troubleshoot, you can find help on the program’s forums.  There are numerous designs to choose from, though customizing often requires a bit of coding knowledge.  The best part about WordPress is that it is free to download, so you only have to pay for web hosting.

Joomla – If you are a little more ambitious, Joomla, a content management system, can integrate different parts of a web site together so that it is easier to control.  Using this program requires overcoming a bit more of a learning curve, but it is easy enough, even for novices, to build a site with, say, a blog, a chat forum, and photo gallery, without too much effort.  Like WordPress, it is free to download.

Realmac RapidWeaver is another Mac-oriented web design program.  It has themes and built-in layout designs that users simply have to fill in with their content.  Other programs might offer a bit more control, but if you are in search of a basic site building program and aren’t overly concerned about the small details, then this might be a good, low-learning-curve option that is even easier to use than the other design programs listed above.  If you want to eventually get into advanced site building, Freeway might be a better option, but for most designers, RapidWeaver is more than enough.

Microsoft Expressions – With all those Mac-centered web design programs out there, Windows users seem to have few viable options.  Microsoft Expressions is a good choice for designers.  The price is competitive with the other basic software out there, and the program is part of a suite with a code editor (for advanced users) and a preview tool.  There is also a souped-up version for pros that retails for over $500.

Coffee Cup Visual Site Designer is a cheap option for creating basic sites.  The good thing about CoffeeCup is that is produces lots of web design and development software, so you can upgrade or purchase different products that will work seamlessly with the sub-$50 WYSIWYG web site design tool.

SiteGrinder is a very interesting tool, especially for people who are already familiar with Photoshop.  The program allows you to design your page in Photoshop and then convert it to a web page with clickable content and automatic HTML coding.  This sounds great, but after a free trial, the software costs over $300, so it is only for people who really want to build a high quality site (or perhaps even sites) and are already very Photoshop-savvy.

Nicole Rodgers has been blogging about the tech industry for 3 years.  She currently helps people figure out how to do online faxing and enjoys wearing funny t shirts.