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Blog Post Date: Nov 14, 2007
Necessary Elements Of Website Development by Omaro Ailoch
Most businesses can benefit from a good, online presence. Whether a website is used as an online portfolio and contact method or a more complex customer management and shopping cart doesn't matter. What matters is that your website matches the professionalism of your organization. Many websites that fail to make the impact expected fail because they are inaccessible or simply look unprofessional. The effectiveness of a website design comes down to a lot more than colors and code.
Quick To Load
Pages and page elements must be quick to load. A surfer's attention span can be measured in seconds, and very few of them. Bearing in mind that while high speed Broadband connections have become much more popular, there are still a large number of people using 56k dialup modems. Masses of graphics and multiple streaming videos that play automatically will make a page slow to load. Poor design and coding can also cause a page to load slowly, along with an overloaded server, and excessive traffic.
Accessibility
Web site accessibility is vital and there are a number of facets that should be considered. At its core, accessibility means that the site should not be prone to regular outages. These are usually caused by unstable host servers but can be caused by poor programming and maintenance. Your site should also be accessible to people regardless of disabilities, usually overcome by providing the option to increase text size or have an audio version of your site. Check your site loads properly in all browsers, on all systems, to ensure the greatest possible level of accessibility.
Easy Navigation
Site navigation needs to be simple and easily visible. If you intend to attract visitors from the search engines then navigation menus also need to be accessible for the search engine spiders. Text links are usually best, but if you use Flash menus or images, then include a sitemap and link to it directly from your homepage. This will help people that are looking for specific information, and the search engines appreciate the effort too.
Clean and Crisp
While partially a design element, keeping your site clean and clutter free also assists visitors and helps improve your site's performance. Too much clutter distracts users' attentions away from the main point of the page. If there eye is caught by a flashing banner at the side of the page then most visitors will give up trying to read the main content and look for another site.
Functional and Intuitive
Depending on the purpose of your website, it needs to fulfill the desired functions. If your website is an informative website with contact details and some basic details then the functions are relatively limited. However, if you are selling products, then use recognized and user-friendly shopping cart software. Try to limit the number of clicks a user has to make to get from the beginning to the end of the purchase process. The more clicks your visitors have to make, the less likely they are to make them.
Good Content
Everything from graphics to photos and menus to videos are considered content. Even advertisements for other websites that are used to monetize your pages can be considered web content. Ensure that all content is relevant and is beneficial to your visitors. If there is no real value in including a two minute video clip, then remove it. This will help make the page quicker to load, more accessible, and cleaner. It will also ensure that your visitors are not distracted from the content on the rest of the page.
The Important Website Design Factors
It can be tempting to try and include as much information and as many features and design elements on a page as possible. This is a temptation that is best avoided in the vast majority of cases. Surfers want access to relevant information, and they want to access that information as quickly and painlessly as possible. This means quick loading pages, an accessible site and good navigation options. You should also ensure that the pages are not too cluttered, but are still functional and provide high quality content.
About the Author
Omaro Ailoch is a senior software engineer, an entrepreneur and the founder of OC IT Services a highly skilled California based web development, design, and search engine optimization firm.
http://www.ocitservices.com
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Blog Post Date: Nov 12, 2007
Increasing Link Popularity
by Cre8iv SEO
Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are the first tool that potential customers use to find the products and services they need. This is why link popularity is so imperative. If the customers do not find your website, you have no possibilities of making any sales.
You're probably wondering what the blazes is popular about a link! Well, in a word - plenty! Link popularity refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines, and it determines the ranking your page gets when keywords are entered into a search engine. So, you're probably wondering, how do I make my link popular?
Search engines are discretionary, giving status and ranking to sites that have links to their pages from related, quality sites. It's a simple formula, but a very important one. Google created the system, and now virtually all the most popular search engines employ it to rank your web pages in their indexes.
The more commonly used your keyword is, the harder it will be to achieve link popularity, but without achieving this step, it is almost certain your site will never rank highly on any search engine. But don't be discouraged; there are tried and true ways of achieving link popularity using the most competitive keywords.
There are a few things you should be aware of. The first is that just linking up with a large number of other websites will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when pertaining to websites that are nothing more than "link farms" - pages containing line after line of indiscriminate links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against your website if you are associated with a link farm, so steer clear of them!
The next thing to bear in mind is the quality of the site you are linking to. Never link to a page you have reservations about your visitors seeing. The last thing you want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap. Linking to sites of poor quality will only lessen your link popularity, if not completely destroy it.
So let's get to what you need to do to achieve supreme link popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on all the popular search engines.
The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo, and despite the fact that it will cost you around $300 a year, it will be money well spent. If your site is non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take time and follow-up to actually get it listed. Open Directory is gives you a free listing whether you are business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site listed.
You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of appropriate category, and this just takes some common sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny State, do NOT submit your listing to "Retailers from Nowhere, Tiny State." BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is look a little deeper - and submit your listing to the "Fine Alpaca Wool" category. You will not only associate yourself with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a national category.
The next step after you have attained directory listings is to locate other quality sites that will increase your link popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related to yours, so not only will your link popularity increase, but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful to your site's visitors. Let's look at the Alpaca Wool site example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are also greater. By linking to a related site that will be relevant to your website's traffic, you are increasing both of your site's business prospects - and both of your sites' link popularity.
Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have to do some research when you are looking for possible linking partners. Google is an excellent starting place for your search. Make sure you enter keywords that you think quality customers will also enter to find your own site. Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked, non-competing websites that have a links or resources page. Go to these sites and objectively assess them. Look at the quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use. Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.
When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must set out to woo them. The first thing to do is to add a link on your own links page to their site. This is an essential first step; it shows good faith, and ups your chances significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site. Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat that you have added a link to their page on your site. A hook like this almost always insures the reader will read on.
Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much you appreciate their website. Make sure you emphasize that you have actually visited their site, and that their site is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your links page, and ask them to check out the link for themselves. It's a good idea to mention that they will not only benefit from the increased traffic your website will direct their way, but you will also increase their link popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don't sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would greatly appreciate if they would reciprocally add a link on their own links page to your website.
Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and non-competitiveness. After you have emailed all relevant sites, be sure to check these website frequently to see if they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month, and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then give it another month, and if your site is still absent from their links page, it's time to remove their link from your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial to your link popularity and your business needs. Just remember to keep all your communications complimentary and cordial.
Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search engines frequently to see if your link popularity has improved. This is not achievable in the blink of an eye. It will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with such importance.
By the way - make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you. Be prepared to keep plugging away at this process, as long as it takes, until you achieve link popularity stardom!
If you are looking for the fastest and easiest way to rank high quickly in search engines then Click Here!
About the Author
Cre8iv SEO enjoys writing about Search Engine Optimization. He currently lives in Southern California.
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Blog Post Date: Nov 12, 2007
Selling Other People's Products Via E-commerce Mirror Sites And Affiliate Links
by D. Hurley
Today, more and more people are choosing to work from home selling other people's products via an E-Commerce site. If you are also thinking about going down that path, I have some good news for you! The great thing about an E-Commerce site is that you don't need to fill up your spare room with stock inventory, and you don't have to ship any of the products either as all that side of the operation is handled for you. Depending on the products that you sell or promote, you can have quite a lucrative business without having to do anything more than to promote your site. That makes running an online business so easy that many people who have never before been involved in managing a business quickly learn how to operate one of these sites.
In most cases, you make a contract with a company that set up the E-Commerce site. (Before you sign the contract, make sure that you are dealing with a reputable company.) The E-Commerce company then provides you with a "mirror" site, which is a replica of their original site but with your own website address and affiliate codes. The affiliate codes are built into the site so that when you make a sale your account will be credited with the sale and you will earn commission.
While you will not be handling the shipping or maintaining the inventory, your job is to promote your site. This is the perfect business for someone who has a busy lifestyle or who hates to be tied down to a desk all day. Furthermore, you are not obliged to sit at your computer waiting for someone to buy something because the sales side of things will be automated for you, including the installation of credit card links. Again, the only thing you will have to do is promote your site. Promoting your site is an absolute necessity if you are to generate a steady flow of traffic and sales.
Of course, running a mirror site is not the only E-Commerce option available to you. You may prefer to set up your own personal or business website and post links and banners to companies with whom you have agreed to be an affiliate such as http://Amazon.com and thousands of others besides. When you post an affiliate banner on your site, the concerned company will pay you for click-throughs that generate a sale. Although affiliate commissions vary widely, they are often not as profitable as the type of E-Commerce site I described above. Indeed, unless you generate a great deal of traffic your profits will be slim as some of the companies only pay perhaps ten cents a sale, or offer just four or five percent of the total sales price in commissions. On the other hand, other companies such as ClickBank pay much higher commission rates so it is definitely worth checking out the commission structure and payment methods of companies that you are thinking about affiliating with. Of course, if you have the time and motivation to promote your site, you may generate enough traffic to earn a worthwhile income from affiliate commission checks.
So it all comes down to promotion in the end. Promotion is the key issue with both an E-Commerce mirror site and a website with affiliate links. How much money you make is directly related to how much time you spend promoting your site and how visible your site is on the Internet. A well promoted site will be highly visible and generate enough visitors to earn you a reasonable income. However, the amount you make depends on the scope of your site, the way you have laid it out, the information you provide on it and the nature of your target audience. A well focussed site that is easy to navigate and has a lot of regularly updated original content will do much better than a site that lacks those attributes. But getting a site to that condition takes effort. You have to sow the seed before you can reap the harvest.
About the Author
David Hurley writes articles on a variety of subjects. For more information about Internet success strategies, sign up to his free Internet marketing tips newsletter at: Grasp-The-Nettle.com
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