How To Build a Website :: Step by Step Guide

Color and Web Design

2009-11-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Many businessmen assume that the text and graphics you put on your website is the most important factor for marketing. However there is another, often overlooked, aspect of a website that is actually what people see first when they visit your site: colors. "Just as you use words to express yourself, colors can be used as an expression as well and are a language all on their own." Colors can either reinforce the marketing message you are making with your text, or they can contradict, confuse, and even offend people.

The color scheme you choose for your website is important. Websites have a variety of color options such as the background, text color, sidebar colors, headlines, and logos. Here are some commonly used colors and the meanings they have in the United States: Red is associated with love, adventure danger, warning, impulse, passion, excitement, and action. Blue is connected with loyalty, tranquility, success, productiveness, power, and proficiency.

Green is linked to growth, health, wealth, nature, healing, peacefulness, life, and harmony. Orange is coupled with flamboyant, comfort, safety, creativity, sports, celebration, and fun. Purple is allied with royalty, luxury, justice, creativity, and mystery. White is related to innocence, cleanliness, purity, and simplicity. Yellow is associated with curiosity, happiness, and playfulness. Pink is connected to romance, youthfulness, femininity, softness, and sweetness. Brown is linked to the earth, warm, friendly, simple, and organic. Gray is coupled with neutrality, sophistication, and stability. Black is related to authority, mystery, seriousness, and luxury. Consider your target demographic and the subconscious message you wish to send them. A doctor's office may wish to imply cleanliness, friendliness, and health and so might choose white, brown, and green as their color scheme. A web development site might choose a variety of white and blue shades to indicate productiveness, proficiency, and simplicity. Some famous examples of colors used in this manner include Oral-B's logo of blue and white to promote successful cleanliness.

Or Home Depot's choice of orange and white which signifies creativity and simplicity. Colors are memorable and subtle in their psychological meanings and thus extremely useful for marketing and web design.

About the Author
For more information about web development and design, please visit www.digitalsynergygroup.com

Beginners, Make Your Own Website For Under $400

2009-11-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proven Ways To Increase Your Website Traffic

2009-09-17T06:46:00.001-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Author

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

WEB HOSTING AND DOMAIN NAME

2009-07-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

With the help of website, you can present your business to the entire world. A good hosting service is required in order to put up a good and a successful website. Everyone is searching for an ideal website provider in order to provide their company website with a unique and appealing web design, web hosting and domain name. Today the corporate world is more dependent on web hosting. Website hosting is becoming one of the important factors for small as well as huge corporate houses.

There are some who require website hosting for commercial and business purpose and on the other hand, there are some who require it to set up their own personal website. There are many web hosting providers who are available online. There are some web hosting service providers who charge a huge amount. This procedure of web hosting may take up to a week or sometimes even a month is not sufficient.

Always search for a reputable web hosting provider. It is better to buy a life time subscription of web hosting services rather than paying for one which will last only for a year. Online you can find many good web hosting provider and that too at an affordable rate. They even provide quality services like website lay-outing, customer service and support, updates on the dashboards, etc.

All websites require a domain name. All the email servers and website can be identified by its domain name. "yahoo.com", "google.com", and "hotmail.com" are some of the well-known domain names. Most of the domain names end with .com, .net, .org. There are thousands of new domain names registered every single day. Many people are looking out for a way to make profit from domain names. Use a domain name to build a website; this is the first step towards profit. Since, registering of com, net, and org domain names is relatively cheap and you can register as many domains you want as there is no limit on the registration of this type of domain names.

When you make a website it is obvious that you will get an advertiser, who would like to advertise on your website. No matter whatever product your website sells or promotes you can always earn from the third party. It may be from an advertiser or from affiliate program links. Use relevant keywords in your domain name, which can be easily remembered by the visitors, as they are the ones that contribute to the search engine ranking. The key factor that brings profit to your website is a domain name.

The second profit that you can make out of the domain name is by reselling it. For example, invest few dollars in domain name registration and then sell the same to the third party at thousands of dollars. Be sure about the type of domain name that you have, as there are many domains, which cannot be sold and if some are sold then they bring in modest profit only.

Therefore, plan before you go for a domain name and web hosting service. Look out for the online dealer who can provide you with all services required to build a successful website. Budget yourself and look out for an online list of hosting service providers and see what they have in store for you.

About the Author

WJ Diggins is author of this article on Domain Names. Find more information about Web Site Hosting here.

Marketing benefits given an online form with SEO services

2009-06-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

Search engine optimization is one of the most important processes that is undertaken in the current scenario. The increasing number of websites has given a parallel increase in the volume of SEO services.

Therefore, with an increase in the volume, then ask for good quality has also taken place. Therefore, a SEO provider in the current scenario is required to be vested with a multifaceted outlook that harbors the knack of being aware about different happenings all over the world and how are they capable of influencing the website in terms of the traffic level etc.

For example, SEO articles on any fresh happenings are likely to fetch in huge number of hits provided the time for uploading those articles has been chosen in the right manner.

Being ethical is also one of the highly important assets for any type or degree of SEO services. Therefore, Search Engine Optimization providers should always confirm to the rules and the regulations of search engine optimization.

The world of websites is quite a volatile one with many different changes taking place with every passing moment. These changes can be in terms of implementation of some new protocol, or usage of a new type of a browser. Moreover, these changes can also include the arrival of new concepts in the field of search engine optimization itself.

A SEO company that is considered to be a good one would be aware of all the changes that take place and alter the level or the measure of their services accordingly. The process of search engine optimization is one that requires lots of other skill sets apart from having knowledge about the science of crawling and the mathematical precision of using keywords.

Good SEO services are those ones which take into consideration all the surrounding events and happenings apart from the requirements of the company for whom the services are being provided.

Therefore, SEO services in the virtual world today are the makers or the breakers of the fate of websites from every conceivable angle. Thus, they play a big role in improving the business of the website in terms of revenue generation. They also play an important role by marketing the website in a global manner. The world today is, therefore, one that has each and every one of its websites thriving upon the fantastic levels of search engine optimization services.

About the Author

Naman Jain is an Online Marketing professional, presently working with Rupiz Media, one of the leading SEM company offering expert SEO services, PPC Advertising , Article marketing services,drupal development, UK web development solutions and website designing over the globe.

Creating a Business Domain Name

2009-02-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

To create a good domain name many factors are put into consideration. First of all you must have a reason for setting up a domain. And this reason could fall into any of this two broad categories; 1.) For business reasons 2.) For personal uses BUSINESS DOMAINS To pick a domain name for a business purpose/reason, there are certain factors that will help you pick a good domain name, these includes; a.) What type of online business do you intend running with your domain- the type of business you wish to do online will definitely affect what you pick as your domain name, this is because your domain name has to be related to what ever business you do. For example you don't expect people who are looking for health related issues to visit a domain that bears a name on real estates. b.) Use .com domain tags for domain business- this is because domains using the .com tags have universal acceptance compare to others like .org, .net, .ng, e.t.c. Must people who come online are familiar with .com tags after every domain/website name and it is by far the most marketable. Therefore there is the tendency that someone who wants to remember your domain name may mistake it to end with a .com tags when your domain ends with a .net, or .org. c.) Avoid similar or familiar domain names- why you should avoid similar domain names is that a company may also be using that name and they may press against you to relinquish your domain especially when they have all it takes to do so. So to avoid you having a bad turn around in your business online after a little success avoid the similar domain names. d.) Catchy domain name- to attract people to your domain it must be catchy in the sense that it is easy to read, understand, interpret and remember. You domain should be once that makes people curious to know what it's all about. Make it short. e.) You domain name should suggest what it is all about- if your domain is on political issues it should have a name that will suggest it is politically inclined f.) Be specific about your domain name- to increase value to your domain and there by draw goo traffic to it, it should be a domain that tell what area it is focused on e.g. if you deal on Nissan motors instead of making your domain for example autodealers.com you should make it more specific like nissanautodealers.com. g.) Use common names- use common words that are familiar to people so as to help increase traffic to your site .

About the Author
Nomnso Muoka is a business fellow online who is into domains, expired domains, blogging, article writing. For more on expired domain you can visit http://expireddomaininfo-nomnso.blogspot.com and for related blogs http://domainnames-nomnso.blogspot.com

Search Engine Optimisation - On Page Factors

2009-02-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

When we discuss search engine optimisation we are really discussing how to set our web pages so that the Google bot will notice them and index them well. As seen as we know we have to set things up for Google on our pages there are some things that need to be clear.

Hilltop this is an algorithm created 10 years ago and it basically analyses how sites link to together and distinguishes between expert and authority pages. Expert pages are those pages which have a lot of out bound links to back up their resources. The authority pages have the links pointing at them as they or provide the unique information, or at least that is how Google sees it.

The Sandbox is a term used for one of Google's so called filters. It relates to new sites that have recently been indexed. When your new site enters the sandbox it will no longer be indexed and may stay that way for 6 to 12 months. However not every new site goes through the sandbox and it is simply speculation that it exists.

Ok now that's out of the way lets discuss some on page SEO factors that you are going to need to implement in order to optimise your site. One thing that I must bring up immediately is the false premise that meta tags for descriptions and keywords are going to help in your fight for relevancy. They will help users looking for your site and help search engines describe it correctly but will do nothing for your rank or index result.

Some things that are musts for any search engine optimiser are keywords in the domain name, title tags, heasd tags and content. You may also want to include 3 to 5 outbound links to sites with similar content, this will help establish your site as an authority site. Another thing to do to enhance any search engine optimisation campaign is to bold any keyword text within your content.

It is good practice to choose around 50 keywords for your site and to dedicate a page to each one of them ensuring each page follows the above rules. Also ensure to build links to each page individually ensuring the relevant anchor test is used.

Search engine optimisation is a vast subject and one that can take years to fully master, you have to patient and consistent if you really want your efforts to pay off.

About the Author
I am a professional seo consultant, if you want to know more about search engine optimisation please visit search engine optimisation.

How You Can Increase Your Ranking Through Website Designing?

2009-01-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Appropriate web design is not an easy task; it is just a matter of designing your website from a viewer's point of view.. Designing the video jacket, website, figuring out how to market the video and get advertising all while trying to lose weight hard enough to do when you're not stressed and food is you're only vice. Here's an idea how you can add value to your service and charge. Besides designing product cover, you can also design matching website header, footer, background image, and order button. I am happy to say I have made a couple of friends through my articles, one Bipolar man overseas that might collaborate on designing a website with me, and another Bipolar girl in my own city who is going to become a café latte coffee friend and someone to chat to on the phone. The website for top search engine placement and ranking*Submission of your website, including allowing for all the quirks of various search engines and directories, Com specializes in building, for more details visit to www.google-friendly-page.com designing, implementing, managing and maintaining corporate website to boost sales of your company. In order to increase the search engine optimization some new website designing needs to be done. Our services include top 10 SE rankings, Pay per Click (PPC) targeted traffic campaign, Paid Listing Management, Keyword Advertising, website development and designing. When designing your website, you need to ensure that it is compatible with other internet browsers, or your website will appear with a messy layout. This article will help point out some key areas you should focus on when designing your own website. Irrelevant Content Is King when designing your website, and is equally important to both of the major groups who will determine the success of your web site. One method of thinking about designing a new website is to use a mind mapping process, or to draw up a spider diagram. I wouldn't name the website here, but I know well about them because I was trying to compete with them for most competitive keywords "web design company" and "web designing company" If you doubt that these keywords are so competitive, I would like you to have a look at this great tool which would tell you how competitive a keyword and a phrase is, it's fun to play with. When designing your website or any promotional material, for more details visit to www.impacts-audio.com make sure you use language that all your customers understand. Design depends on individual taste and designing a website from a first draft that the client will like from the start, can be a real challenge. It is essential that you switch from your own profit-oriented perspective to the prospective customers' perspective. Keywords and Search Terms Your business keywords and search terms are also critical considerations when designing your website. Though there are certain things which you would love to see on your website, there are other things that you need to take into consideration when you go through website designing. There are some very important things you must do SEO-wise while designing your website.

About the Author

www.killer-mini-site.com www.impacts-audio.com

Increase website traffic

2008-12-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Everyone wants to increase website traffic. However at the same time they do not want to spend a whole lot of money. It might surprise you to know that there are some very cheap and even free ways to help you do this. Here are 5 cost effective methods.

Search engine submission: This is free and easy to do. The only thing you will have to do is to optimize your website and make it ready for the search engines. This requires putting in Title, and Description Meta tags and using keyword rich, 3% density, web content. Add content every week and submit the webpage to the search engines. It takes a little while for your website to be indexed in all the search engines but it is worth it in the long run.

Blogging: this is a fun way to promote your website. Write an interesting 300 word article for your targeted market on blogger.com and link it to one of your web pages. Both visitors and googlebots will follow the link. Your visitors will be led to your website and the googlebots will index this web page within 48 hours. This promotion will bring in traffic that will continue to build as you gain more readers to your blog.

Article distribution: article distribution is a powerful way to increase website traffic. You write interesting articles and product reviews, and submit them to the article directories. In this way you will attract more traffic and gain valuable back links as others use the articles. This promotion will also snowball as more of your articles get distributed.

Google Adwords: this is the fastest way to promote your website. Within hours you can be receiving good quality traffic and be making sales. It is wise to start some campaigns while you are waiting for other promotions to kick in. This form of marketing is also a great way to get truly targeted visitors to your site.

Viral marketing: viral marketing or word of mouth marketing is a wonderful way to increase traffic to your website. Here is how it is done:

• Create an e-book or report with a couple of links to your website imbedded in it. Do not put more than a couple or it will put off your reader. They can be one for your newsletter and the other for a product. Remember to choose an in demand topic that your market will be very keen to know about. • Give it away free and encourage readers to also give it away, by granting resale rights. If you make a good product that your readers enjoy they will be more than happy to share it with their friends, subscribers etc. • The more people read your publication and give it away, the more visitors will come to your site. This is another promotion that will snowball and increase visitors to your site.

As well as these cost effective methods to increase your website traffic you can also place ads. You can do this on related websites that have a reasonable amount of traffic and ezines in the same market.

You can have a traffic system and a manual to help you put all these methods into practice simply and easily at www.trafficarrest.com

About the Author

Michael John Arnold provides Internet Marketing tools for the novice to the expert. His videos will guide you through the process to insure your online success. http://newbiecashonline.com/

Web Design an Introduction

2008-11-17T05:12:00.000-08:00

So you have finally decided that you want to have a website. Maybe it's to promote a business you're putting up, or to announce schedules for your Saturday golf club tournaments, or maybe have your very own personal website or blog (the Internet equivalent of a personal journal).

One of the perks of the Internet is the convenience and easy access to information it offers people without them having to leave the comfort of their own homes. There is something attractive in knowing that there is access to information at literally one's fingertips anytime and anywhere. Even groceries, banks, shopping malls and services/product suppliers have all made their way on to the information super highway via web sites and through web promotion.

What ever plans or use you may have for your website, one thing is certain, if you're planning for people to view it, it should be made as efficient, easy to navigate and attractive as possible to generate maximum site traffic.

Here are some things you may want to watch out for in designing your website:

Website Structure & Navigation

Only the most basic websites with only a couple of pages can do without proper structure and navigation. But even if your website is simple it is best to start with the right sort of structure to be able to accommodate site expansion should there be a need for it in the future

There are 3 basic structures in web design: linear, hierarchical and matrix-based. (Kerr, 2001, p.20)

The linear structure is characterized by pages that follow a strict sequence much like that of a book. This structure gives you the most control on how users use your site. The downside is it is not very interactive. Though limiting in nature, this structure is ideal for text heavy content or in laying down processes or complex explanations.

In a hierarchical structure, you would have parallel menus or directories which in turn contain sub-menus and sub-directories. This structure allows more information to be readily available from the homepage. Movement between sub-menus and sub-directories is not so necessary in this structure except in the top level pages. A good example of use of this structure is a news website like CNN.com. When you click on the entertainment link you are taken to the entertainment stories page from where you can choose specific stories or jump to other main menu choices such as U.S. or world news.

Web sites for business, sales and commerce apply the menus and sub-menus system in organizing their wares. Having clearly designated categories make it easy for the consumer to see the products that you have as well as access the products that they are interested in without having to spend time going through your entire inventory. Good examples of this would be the web sites of Best Buy, Ebay and Barnes and Noble

In a matrix-based structure, all content in the website is treated with equal importance with no strict hierarchy of content. A rule of thumb for this structure is to be able to access any part of the site from any part. In this structure, a well organized directory system is important since you give users maximum interactivity as they decide which part of the site to go to at any time.

Mixing them all up

It is important to note at this point that in the real world of web site design, most sites use a combination of these structures. There is no right or wrong structure but what is important is understanding how these structures work which in turn will help when you begin designing your navigation options (menus). The menus make up the user interface which in turn is core of the appearance and functionality of a site. (Brush, 2001)

Labeling Links

Make link labels more descriptive or use floating tags which show more information when you hover the mouse pointer over the links. Links labeled such as 'FAQ', 'News' or simply 'click here' does not help the end user. It is better to label them or have specific tags such as 'Company News,' or 'Frequently asked questions.'

Selecting a theme

Have you ever tried decorating your home from scratch? Chances are when you got to the paint store you had quite a challenge deciding which colors to get. But hard as it is, you simply have to select a motif or theme, lest you run the risk of having a house with a hodgepodge of colors. The same goes with your website. You have to have a theme of some sort to tie in together all of your web pages. A theme may be found in your use of color, having a similar layout in all of the pages, the use of a particular picture or design all throughout, or a combination of these. A theme gives your website identity. Not having a theme will surely confuse your site visitors and your site will come off as cluttered.

As a conclusion to this article, it has to be noted that there are many overall factors involved in a good web design. These factors are more than the above mentioned points. These factors will be discussed further in the next article titled "Effective Web Design Strategies".

About the Author

Eugene Yeng is a professional Malaysia Web designer. He likes to write about Web design.

How to create your business website

2008-11-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

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

Specification

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

Domain name

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

keywords and meta tags

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

Website hosting

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

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

Software options

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

Search engines

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

Tips

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

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

• Update your site often to keep it fresh.

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

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

About the Author

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

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

2008-10-16T04:17:00.001-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

About the Author

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

What is the goal of the website?

2008-10-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

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

About the Author

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

How to designing and maintaining websites?

2008-10-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

The time and effort you spend on designing your website will be obvious to your visitors and will result in sales. In the same manner that color bears great significance in our daily lives, so too does color play an important if not crucial role when designing a website. A website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. Just to name a few, there are, preferably a niche product the website for top search engine placement and ranking, including allowing for all the quirks of various search engines and directories. Designing your website, writing a business plan, sending out press releases, you name it. You need to ensure that it is compatible with other internet browsers, or your website will appear with a messy layout.

Let's talk about couple of important point I choose to discuss -Web Designing & Web hosting - Lets say you have chosen one of the best web designing company in your area to design & develop your website with the best of your knowledge and they have completed the website designing in couple of days now your website is ready to host on a server or go to www.automatic-content.com To build your own website and the following some reasons will convince you that designing a website that suits you and your market may lead to increased profits. However, it always happens that HTML editors write clumsy HTML tags, especially when you amend the webpage layout again and again during your website designing process, which may possibly deter search engines from reading your web page and in turn poorly affect your search engine ranking. Website designers can work as freelancers, designing and maintaining websites for a variety of clients. This article will help point out some key areas you should focus on when designing your own website. Irrelevant Content Is King when designing your website, and is equally important to both of the major groups who will determine the success of your web site.

A website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. Just to name a few, there are, preferably a niche product the website for top search engine placement and ranking, including allowing for all the quirks of various search engines and directories you can visit www.google-friendly-page.com I wouldn't name the website here, but I know well about them because I was trying to compete with them for two most competitive keywords "web design company" and "web designing company" If you doubt that these keywords are so competitive, I would like you to have a look at this great tool which would tell you how competitive a keyword and a phrase is, it's fun to play with. Conclusion Building and designing website is not as difficult as you think. Design depends on individual taste and designing a website from a first draft that the client will like from the start, can be a real challenge.

Use website templates if you don't have any designing flair. There are some very important things you must do SEO-wise while designing your website. Lots of printing and business gift companies like ft promotions provide all the information you need to know about ordering, shipping and designing promotional mugs right on their website. Well, driving high traffic to Website is very important, but what's even more essential, is designing a website in that way which makes them stays longer. I am happy to say I have made a couple of friends through my articles, one Bipolar man overseas that might collaborate on designing a website with me, and another Bipolar girl in my own city who is going to become a café latte coffee friend and someone to chat to on the phone.

About the Author

www.handy-color-schemer.com www.impacts-audio.com

Effective Website Designing Tips For Traffic Pulling

2008-09-29T19:43:00.001-07:00

When every business and answers to every question is being inquired on the web, no matter websites are swelling with importance. Since, diverse types of operations are being performed entirely on online basis. And a website happens to be the foundation of all types of operations. Therefore, to trigger an online business, one needs to start up with designing a website. Now, having website is declaring your presence on the web ï¿½" to spread accessibility of your website you need professional website designing abilities. There are some web standards that can make or even can break brand image of your site. It is the brand image that spread visibility of your site amongst the audience you target. So how to achieve high level of visibility and be known by the traffic you need to pull by the website you own or planning to own? Here are some effective tips -

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

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

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

Avoid use of abbreviations as much as possible. Often most of the readers cannot figure out abbreviations you have included in a site which may result in their loss of interest and leaving site early. At the same time, make sure texts are made re-sizable ï¿½" so the people with weak or partial eyesight, particular preference in font size can resize texts as per their convenience of readability. There are some web standards that can make or even can break brand image of your site. It is the brand image that spread visibility of your site amongst the audience you target.

Make sure you do not dedicate all your concentration in a specific area of the site ï¿½" therefore, plan your website designing 'to do list' accordingly by spreading all the important points evenly and throughout the website and link them well.

About the Author

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

The dos and donts of good web design

2008-09-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

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

The donts:

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

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

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

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

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

The dos:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Author

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

Google Adsense earns you high profits you dreamed of

2008-09-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

Latest craze sweeping the webmaster world is creating 'Adsense Websites'. Webmasters are busy cranking out a number of websites aimed to earn entirely from Adsense, with few of them finding the success they hoped for. Creating Adsense Websites is a wonderful idea provided you play by the rules. Creating spam my websites with hardly any content and a whole of links based on 'high-paying keywords' is more likely to get you banned from Google Adsense than earn you high profits you dreamed of.

A small content website created on a specific theme with Adsense ads integrated properly into it, is the correct way to earn from this revenue model. How to logically create a new website based on Adsense Revenue Model is discussed here:

1. Identify High-Paying Keywords
The first step is to decide the theme of your website. Since you are creating a website entirely for Adsense, it might help if you first took time to find out the highest-paying keywords/ads. Advertisers bid for keywords on Google. Some keywords are very expensive and if ads for such keywords are displayed on your website, and clicked upon, your earnings may increase dramatically.

For a list of High Paying Adsense Keywords
> To do your own research
Type in the desired keyword and the tool will tell you the highest bid on it.

> If you have a Google Adwords Account, log in and use the tool for finding the bid rates for different keywords.
Choose a topic which is fairly high-paying as well of your interest.

2. Build an SEO Website with Useful Content
Once you have chosen the theme topic, start building your website. Register a Domain Name, Set up a Web Hosting Account, choose a simple and fast loading layout for your website and add start adding content. Add at least 10 articles on the topic you have chosen. You can get the articles for free from an Articles Directory but it is best to put original content into an Adsense website.

Write the articles yourself or Hire a Content Writer.

Optimize all pages for Search Engines. Use Heading tags, proper titles and keyword-rich content. The more SE optimized your page, the more relevant will be the ads that are displayed.

3. Integrate Adsense Seamlessly
Add Adsense code to every article page. Take time and choose ad formats depending upon your website layout and integrate the ads seamlessly within the content on each page.
Read more about integrating ads seamlessly in your website content at

4. Increase Website Traffic
Your website is now done and you need interested visitors to visit your website, read your content and click on your high-paying ads. Start promoting your website by submitting articles, using signature tags, link exchanges etc.

a website with useful articles and advice for webmasters on topics such as starting online business, setting up websites, marketing and promotion, increasing revenue and sales, search engine tips etc.

About the Author
For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website www.adsense-dollar-factory.com www.adsense.infozabout.com

Marketing a website in Simplest ways

2008-08-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

Along with the constant growth of the internet, new technologies and how search engines like Google collect and use data, website marketing has also had to constantly progress. Many of the techniques used to market a website in the past can now get you banned by search engines. Even though basic website marketing has remained the same many new techniques have become increasingly popular ways to market a business. One of the best ways to market a new or old website is with article marketing.

Article marketing is basically free unless you choose to outsource the work. Article marketing is a simple way to market a website. It's simply writing articles related to your product or service that you'll then submit to article directories and post on your websites, blogs, and forum in an effort to build traffic to your website and to make money, most importantly.

As an editor for Article Post an owner and Seo of various websites I've created 10 great tips that I use and will help you get started building traffic and making money with article marketing.
To start, you write articles to then be published online. Write the articles with a specific target market in mind. When writing the article, ensure that the article has relevant information. If the article isn't relevant or a self server ad for your website, it may not even get added to article directories you submit it to and if it does get added it will not attract web traffic that includes prospective consumers. It is very important that the article contain accurate, useful information on whatever your articles subject is based on.

Spend some time reviewing articles based on your target market to see what's being read and information being provided. Do a keyword search on your target and see what people are searching for; this is usually a good sign of what information you should base the article for your target.

In order to make money and build traffic with article marketing, you must ensure that the article is appropriate for your target market, and you have provided all the necessary information about your product or service, information for which your target market is looking.
When the article is completed, it should be proof read by another person and checked for any grammatical spelling and typos. Proofreading and editing is very important to make a good article. Your credibility could be reduced in the eyes of your readers. In many cases you may lose customers as a result of sloppiness.

Follow white hat techniques where the information is genuine and appropriate; otherwise, such a website will be barred from the search engines.

When writing your articles keep them precise and to the point. If the article is written in an awkward manner, it will lead to confusion that makes the reader lose interest in the article.
When you layout your article it should have an introduction to the topic that introduces the readers to the topic, follow that by paragraphs that have the topic and then a conclusion to your topic. Using the above layout gives the readers a way to understand your article and you will be able to convey your message better to your readers. Articles with lists such as this one are also popular.

Another way of making the article attain high SEO rankings is the use of keywords in your articles. Keywords is one of the old basic's that is still essential to your website or article ranking high in most search engines.

Adsense and Adwords is the most popular way to earn additional money, and you can use your article marketing to promote those products you've created and your Adsense ads or another internet marketer has created.

One more useful tip that should be remembered that answers how to make money with article marketing is to make the article simple and lively in order to make the reader enjoy reading the article.

A way of making the article more enriched is to include links to other websites that might help your readers. Remember they need to be helpful your reader's not self full filling links and ads.
Last but not least, it is necessary to upload and submit the article online, so it can be accessed by numerous people, who may well be converted into new customers. There are a vast about of article submission websites that will submit your articles to article directories for free and websites that charge a fee. There are also lists of article directories available on line if you want to submit it to each directory yourself.

As with any business the success of good article marketing does not end there. You have to frequently write and upload new articles. Article marketing is not a one time magic pill - like everything else it requires you to work at it, consistently posting new articles. You will see an increase in traffic and back links after the first article is submitted the rest is up to you. Out sourcing all the steps to article marketing is a technique used by many webmasters presently and also another option you have. Good luck and have fun.

For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:- www.press-release-profits.com www.articlemarketing.infozabout.com

About the Author
Author

How to approach Web Design

2008-08-12T23:00:00.001-07:00

A Web site is a collection of information about a particular topic or subject. Designing a web site is defined as the arrangement and creation of web pages that in turn make up a web site. A web page consists of information for which the web site is developed. A web site might be compared to a book, where each page of the book is a web page. In typical examples of web pages they are either classified as static or dynamic.

With static web pages it generally means that these web pages don't change their content or layout with every request. If these web pages need changing or up-dates need to be made to them they have to be done manually by a web professional or programmer who will go into the site and update whatever pages need to be done. This can become a challenge if you are busy running other aspects of your business, which is why if you want you website to be made up of static web pages you should enlist the help of a web designer who will have the time and knowledge to be able to perform manual updates frequently on your website.

Dynamic pages on the other hand adapt their content and appearance depending on the end users input or interaction. With dynamic pages content can be changed on the client side by using client-side scripting languages (JavaScript, JScript, Actionscript, media players and PDF reader plug-ins, etc.) to alter DOM elements (DHTML). Dynamic content is often compiled on the server utilizing server-side scripting languages (PHP, ASP, Perl, Coldfusion, JSP, Python, etc.). Both approaches are usually used in complex applications.

As the Internet has grown and advanced so has web design and in the process mark-up language has changed to become more complex but also flexible, which allows you to add aspects such as images and tables to a web page.

Before creating and uploading a website, it is important to take the time to plan exactly what is needed in the website. You should also thoroughly consider the audience or target market, as well as defining the purpose of your site and deciding what content will be developed are extremely important. When you are looking at the purpose of your website you should note down what you hope to achieve with your website and what users of your website will benefit from it. After defining the purpose of your website you should go onto describing the audience of your site this is because you need to know who you are aiming your website at and you need to known what your audience is looking for within your website.

The purpose and audience of your website should be reflected through the content of your website. When you are thinking about what content to place on your website you need to evaluate and organise what content needs to be placed on your site. Anything that doesn't fit the purpose of your site or that doesn't reflect your target audience should be removed from your site.

If you want the best from the design of your site then you should enlist the help of a web design company who will be able bring out the best in your site and as a result you will get more traffic to your site.

About the Author
Helen is the web master of Discount Domains, who offer professional Web Design.

How can I design my website to make its search engine friendly

2008-08-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

When you design a website, it's easy to focus on what your visitors are going to see. What you have to realize, though, is that you're going to have another kind of visitor with a completely different agenda: they're not going to be looking at your pretty logo and they're not going to be passing judgment on your background color. What they're looking for is the content and structure of your page.

They're the search engine spiders, and they are in control of probably the largest section of your traffic. You need to please these spiders if you want your site to be successful. Here's how.

Make Your Structure Clear.
Resist the temptation to lay your page out in non-standard ways: you want it to be very clear to the search engine where the navigation is, where the content is, and where the headings are. As a rule, put navigation first in your page. Always use the heading tags (h1, h2, etc.) for headings and sub-headings.

Avoid using generic span and div tags and only making things clear to the user through CSS font sizes: instead, use every 'semantic' HTML tag that applies to your content. If you're quoting someone, use the block quote tag; if you're posting program code, use the code tag. Search engines love this.

Keep Keywords Consistent.
It's not usually worth deliberately saturating your content with keywords in hope of a higher search ranking " the engines have pretty much wised up to this tactic " but do make sure that your keywords appear consistently when they occur naturally. For example, for these articles, I have stuck with 'website' throughout, as suddenly writing 'web site' instead would bring down my rankings.

HTML and JavaScript.
It's worth noting that search engines read HTML, but they don't, in general, read JavaScript. That means that using JavaScript to insert text into your page is a bad idea if you want search engines to see the text. On the other hand, you might want to have just the text in HTML and insert all the other parts of the page with JavaScript: this will tend to make your page appear more focused, although you should be careful not to insert navigation links this way if you want the search engines to follow them.

Use Meta Tags.
Yes, Meta tags are out of fashion, and search engines pay no attention to them any more when it comes to ranking your site, but they're still important in one way: the Meta description tag is still often used to decide what text search engines' users see when they find your site in their results! This can be just as important as the ranking itself " write something here that will look useful to the searcher, and you're more likely to get them to click-through. Don't forget that, while search engines are just machines and algorithms, the end result of it all does involve a human decision: to click, or not to click?

Avoid Splash Pages.
You might think it's a great idea to have a 'splash' page displaying a full-page version of your logo (or an ad) to every user who arrives at your site, but search engines really hate that. Using this trick will get you ranked far lower than you would usually be, so you should avoid it â€" it's annoying to visitors anyway.

Include Alt Tags.
Any time you use a graphic, include alt text for it " especially if there is text in the graphic. Remember that, as far as search engines are concerned, all your graphics might as well just be big black boxes. Test by removing all your graphics and seeing if your content remains relatively intact. If it doesn't, then you'll be turning search engines away.

Finally, Write Great Content.
The key with modern search engines (and, at the same time, the thing you have least control over) is how many people decide to link to your page from their page. How can you make more people link to you? Make your content useful. Make it something they'll want to quote on their blogs. Content is more King than it's ever been, and the best way to design for search engines is to make your content really stand out.

About the Author
Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips & hints, Points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques & insights pertaining to Google Ad sense, Do please browse for more information at our website :-
http://www.seo-prediction.com http://www.seo.reprintarticlesite.com

Issues in web design-what colors make a difference

2008-08-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

Color plays a very important role while designing a website. The color you choose can make a difference in attracting internet users to your site. Use of right color in web pages can affect the mood of the visitors and hence enhances business growth.

Mainly a website communicates to its visitors through two ways. One is content and the other one is creative use of color. Creating a balance between content and color of your webpage makes a big difference and creates an impact in the mind of visitors and it can help you in selling your product or service.

The primary colors used in web pages are red, blue and yellow. You can mix two to get a third color. All types of colors are associated with some kind of emotions. Understanding different variations of color and using them appropriately can make a powerful impact on internet users. That's why a web designer should spend several hours choosing exact color of the website. Color always matters more than what you think and you can't change them after a site is built.

Before deciding on color, you must keep in your mind the type of product/service you are trying to promote through your website. Think who your customers are and which color will appeal them. If it is a web-designing site, your choice may be blue, which means you are dependable enough to make a business. Psychologists have shown that colors can influence moods. When some one visits your website and likes the color, an impression is made within seconds. Let's see which color makes what kind of impact on web visitors.

1. Red-It represents danger or stop. It is the color of power and can easily grab the attention of online visitors.

2. Blue- It is the widely used color in websites. Blue emphasizes on seriousness, trustworthiness and success. Visitors may feel you are a dependable source.

3. Yellow-It is good in creating banners and logos. Yellow is associated with movement.

4. Black-The use of black is good in writing text and it is easy to read black words and phrases on white backgrounds.

5. Green- It is associated with money and security.

6. Purple- This color denotes royalty and justice. Therefore, many legal companies use purple in their web pages.

Use 3 to 4 colors while designing your web pages. The background color should be either black or white. White pages loads quicker than dark pages. The text color should be black as it is easier to read on white background. You can use contrast colors in headings and logos and links.

Sometimes contrast colors are used in web pages like green and red to attract attention.

The use of right color will improve look of your site and hence helps in getting heavy traffic from your visitors.

About the Author
Ajay Prasad is the President of GMR Group of Companies. GMR Web Team is a website design company based in Orange County, California. The company purpose is to provide small and medium businesses website design and maintenance services at affordable rates. They have been in this business for the past 7 years.

Web Design Difficulties - 5 Ways to Get Inspiration

2008-07-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

Every Web Designer has experienced it on more than one occasion - the lack of inspiration for that next stunning design. Whether you are swamped with projects and simply cannot focus, or you just have not designed in so long that you have lost motivation, these tips will work for you.

1. Take a break - When you are trying to create a new design for a client, there really is no point to staring at the computer screen watching your mouse draw boxes on the Photoshop canvas. Take a break: exit out of Photoshop completely and do something else for a bit that allows your mind to open up. Try going for a jog (or maybe a walk if you are not the running-inclined), or even playing a video game or watching television. The key here is to take your mind off of the fact that you are having a hard time coming up with a design. Then, when you return to your favorite image editing program (do make sure to return), you will have a fresh mind. Or, better yet, an idea will have already hit you when you were on the break!

2. Colors - Color is a big part of design. So, instead of just sitting there, go find something colorful to look at. It can be something physical like a painting or sculpture, or it can be something digital such as color sharing websites (like http://colourlovers.com and http://kuler.adobe.com/). A nice thing about the latter is that those kind of websites usually allow you to download a pallet for Photoshop so you can quickly jump in and start playing around with the colors. If you don't like a certain pallet, just switch to another one - easy.

3. Start somewhere different - Instead of starting where you usually start, try something different. If you usually start creating the logo first, begin by designing the general structure of the website. Use different shapes to give you inspiration - try different rounded borders radii, try not using rounded borders. If you usually start at the opposite end of the spectrum, try creating the logo first. Start out with some basic text - maybe the website name or URL. Then spice it up... would that ampersand look better as a different font? Maybe you should use different colors separating different parts of the title? Play with font styles and sizes.

4. Get new fonts/brushes - No designer can have enough fonts & Photoshop brushes. Go searching for new ones - download a whole directory of fonts and brushes and play around with them in Photoshop. Brushes are a great way to give inspiration: pick a good brush at a decent size and start splatting it on the canvas. You may be able to actually fit what you make into a design, but if you don't you might find a good color contrast or an interesting effect.

5. Use other designers to your advantage - Web designers can be of great inspiration to each other, either directly or indirectly. Go out and talk to other web designers on IM, in person, on the phone, on social networking websites, etc. Let them know of your designer block - they will probably share similar experiences with you and how they overcame theirs. If you are not feeling so socially inclined you can also go out and look at other website templates for motivation - but be careful, you don't want to rip anybody off.

So use these tips to your advantage. Let's start with the first one - take a break! Good luck.

I am a professional Web Developer and Designer. If you are interested in my services please visit http://designandprogram.com/ - I also have a blog about anything of interest in my field.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Mackus

Starting a Website? Then Choose Your Domain Registrar Carefully

2008-07-16T05:52:00.001-07:00

A domain name is a valuable property of any business or any individual who would like to establish a presence online. It is extremely important to register your domain name carefully and with the right registrar. I would like to share my experience with you and hopefully you can use it to pick a domain registrar that will treat you fairly.

When you set up a website there are two important institutions that you must deal with, first the registrar and secondly the hosting firm. If your hosting firm treats you badly all you have to do is to change the "DNS" settings and move to a new hosting firm where you can upload your files. The process takes only 24-48 hours and involves little disruption.

However, if your domain name registrar mistreats you, you can end up losing your domain name entirely. A registrar is simply a company that has been entrusted to sell domain names to companies and individuals for a certain fee. The fees that are charged vary considerably and the service that the registrars provide also varies quite a bit.

A good price for a dot com name nowadays is about $10 per year. Beware of someone selling them very cheaply. For example, Yahoo was advertising domains at $1.98 and $9.98 per year and now is going to raise the price (July 2008) to $34.95. Anyone who stocked up on a lot of domain names will be in difficulty.

Yahoo is a big company and they are a problem. Even worse are small companies who actually resell domain names as agents for larger companies. Some of these firms have no contact details (telephone, physical address) and if they go out of business it can be a problem for you.
There are other firms that never notify you when your domain is about to expire. I have had particularly bad experience with Enom and with resellers of Enom domains. The minute your domain name payment is overdue, they shut down your domain (putting up ads instead) and if you wait for more than a month you may lose the domain entirely or have to pay a huge fee to get it back.

So choose a domain name registrar that has proper contact details and that has a good record in notifying its clients about pending expiration and renewal dates. A very solid company that I have used is www.directnic.com . They notify you 90 days, 30 days and one week in advance of renewal dates and do not shut down the domain if you are late. They currently charge $15 per year.

Another popular domain registrar with a good record is godaddy.com (Although I don't like their website interface which always tries to convince you to buy various services that you may not particularly need).

I would avoid Enom.com and any reseller of Enom and, I am sad to say, Yahoo should also be avoided like the plague! Visit the prospective registrars and see if it is easy to understand their websites. Look at their contact and support information, and if necessary take the help of friends and colleagues who already have websites.

About the Author
Donald Nelson is a Search Engine Optimization specialist. Visit his website www.a1-optimization.com for articles and information on website promotion.

More tips the Pros use for SEO

2008-07-16T05:47:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the second article in our series on what you can do to increase your SEO rankings. The first in the series we looking at what you can do on your website to make the search engines happy. Now that you have optimized your site with text, landing pages, alt and title tags, what's next?

In fact your SEO journey has just begun! Your site is built and functional, but so are a lot of sites out there. What is going to make your priority according to search engines, better than the other guys?

There are quite a few things we can do for good SEO. The first we are going to look at is the domain name. If you have a domain name such as IWB for selling a butter product, called I Want Butter, youre not going to get very far. It's not to say you will fail completely at SEO, but to optimize your chances, you should have a domain name that contains your keywords.

The domain ILoveButter or IWantButter would be optimal. You might have to get a bit creative depending on what domain names are available. These days you can register a domain for as little as seven dollars a year, it is a great investment that will insure great SEO rankings.

Some people will tell you that you're site will take months to be crawled by the search engines if you register a new domain. Not True! Last week I built a brand new site on Tuesday. It was finished at 3PM. By Wednesday at noon, search engine bots were all over it. How did I achieve that? Well, I had optimized my keywords, homepage text, and landing pages. But I also did the below steps. If you do these too, you can ensure great SEO rankings.

Get Others to Link to Your Site
I'm sure you remember as recent as a few years ago, webrings were all the rage and directories that were just link after link. These were done to drive audience traffic and SEO rankings. Now, search engines aren't as keen on link farms, but the good ones will still work. Link exchanges where you put a link on your site because the other site did it for you, also have lower importance with SEO than they used to. These days what is all the rage is a one way link. Search Engines consider this as a vote of confidence. Such as, hey this guy has a great and popular site! He links to other site I never heard of, but it must be good if he says so!

Boom. Your importance improves in the search engines eyes. This is a great lesson and key to learn for SEO. The more high quality sites link to you, the more important the search engines will think you are. But how can you get high priority sites link to you? There are a few ways:
First, make sure they have a high Google Page Ranking. Anything over a 1 or 2 would be optimal, but if they dont have a page ranking at all, I would skip them all together. Why waste your time on SEO that isn't going to work?

1. Issue a company press release with links back to your site. Many free sites with good rankings let you do this. Its great for SEO rankings.

2. Submit your business to directories such as Yahoo, or any directory or search engine related to your field.

3. Create a blog and write information of interest. Remember to include your back links. Also make sure to use your keywords 2-3% of the time.

4. Respond to other blogs with useful information. Include your URL in your signature.

5. Get active in a forum community that is in your field of interest. Include your URL in your signature.

6. Write articles, like this one, and focus on your keywords. Post them on article sites and groups with a high page rank.

About the Author
Creating a website with a high SEO ranking is possible, but there is work involved. For information on tools that make this job easier, please visit: http://seosoftware.topconsumerproductreviews.com/ For more information on how to find article sites, blogs, and forums with a high page rank please visit: http://seosoftware.topconsumerproductreviews.com/

Dot Biz or Dot Com-Which is better for you?

2008-07-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

There are more than 30 million registered web domains in the big world of internet. A bulk of these names comes from .com, .net and .org registrations. With so many registered domain names over the internet, it is becoming increasingly hard to get a decent expired domain name. A good expired domain name is a big necessity for your expired domain name business. The domain expiring name that you choose must be credible and commercial enough for your future success. A relevant and practical expired domain name will tell your prospective buyer that it makes sense to buy your domain. However, with so many extensions, which one are you buying for your customer?

Top level domains are getting scarcer day by day and those expired domain names with a .com or .biz extension are also getting fewer day by day. Though .com expired domain names are the most common names in expired domain name industry, other extension names are also becoming famous day by day. However, .com expired-domain names carry a number of benefits over a conventional .biz or .net name.

Dot com expired domain name is instantly recognizable by almost all people in the world, while a .biz or .net extension is still in the second place as far as their commercial appeal is concerned. In the current scenario, buying a .com expired domain name seems to make sense to you. Most of the famous browsers still consider .com names as the de facto standard names. For example, just type mynameisxyz into most browsers without entering www. or .com. The result is that you will end up invariably at www.mynameisxyz.com! For sometime, .com extension names will be the preferred flavor and preferred standard for all expired domain names.

Though .biz is becoming well known as a preferred domain name for a number of businesses, it may take some more time for ordinary people to accept it as a good alternative. The reasons are very obvious; .com expired domain names are perhaps the oldest domain names apart from their extended usage. The average rate of return for a .com expired domain names is much more than a .biz name; under normal circumstances, the average selling price of a .biz name could be just $30 while a .com name could be climb steeply to more than $500.

Dot com expired domain names offer you another unique advantage. It offers you a unique selection of very good to average names in a broad price range. You can pick and choose your own domain name at a price that is most suitable to you. Dot com names also offer you a number of other benefits like easy transferability and transactions with least hassles. As of now, a dot com name provides you a bright business opportunity followed by a dot biz name. However, the latest trend in internet domain registrations is witnessing a fresh scenario of people shifting over to country specific domain name extensions. It is estimated that these domain names are expected to trade for very higher prices in the future, as the demand for a dot com name comes down in a steep manner.

About the Author
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is the owner of the path breaking web site called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.