From the category archives:

Web-development

Improve Your Web Site To Achieve Top Search Rankings

by Michael Fleischner on April 14, 2011

Starting any search engine optimization campaign with anything other than keyword research is a waste of time. To be truly successful with SEO you must begin with a well thought through keyword strategy and analysis. Once you′ve identified the most important keywords for your campaign, the next step is to optimize web pages for top rankings. I have found a number of techniques that work especially well for on page optimization.

There are variety of optimization factors to consider when optimizing your web pages. I have found three factors in particular to have more of an impact than others when correlating them to search engine rankings. In particular, meta tags, URL structure, and page load speed seem to have the greatest affect on where your website ranks for particular keywords or keyword phrases.

The concept of meta tags has been around for a very long time. At first, this was the primary vehicle by which search engines evaluated web sites. Over time their importance declined in relation to the number of factors being considered on an entire web page. However, as algorithms go more complex, the purpose of meta tags have changed. Once considered to be the most important aspect of optimization meta tags are now a way of validating site content. If your meta tags are consistent with on page content, the credibility of your page increases.

Properly formatted meta tags should include a title tag that includes the keywords that you are trying to optimize for. It is recommended that the size of the title tag is sixty or fewer characters as this is the limit shown on Google search results. The second tag, the description tag should be limited to fewer than one hundred and fifty characters and repeat your keyword phrase no more than two times.

The last meta tag worthy of description is the keyword tag. I see this tag misused all too often and it may actually be hurting your search engine rankings. When using a keyword tag, focus on only a dozen of your most important and highly trafficked keywords. You want the search engines to know that you are an authority site and worthy of top rankings. Do your research and only include the keywords that truly matter. You can also evaluate the sites in the top positions and model their keywords as long as they are included on your website.

In addition to having your meta tags in place, how quickly your site loads is very important. Slow loading websites are penalized by Google. What’s the big deal with a slow web site or web page you might ask? Google is all about giving the browser a good user experience. If you site has a lot of broken links or loads slowly, Google considers this a bad experience and will penalize you with lower rankings. Make sure that your page loads within 5 seconds on a standard connection. There are a number of tools that can help you measure load speed.

The final factor related to on page optimization we are discussing today is the web site URL. The best format is to have your keyword in root of the domain. For example, it may look something like www.keyword.com. Truthfully the days of picking up a domain like this are pretty much over but you can find some options on expired domain listings. You can also add your keyword next to the root URL by creating a separate page or folder on your main directory. The final strategy is a subdomain strategy where you would place your keyword before your domain. Most hosts offer this option.

Before you start any SEO campaign, evaluate your web site, landing page, or blog from the perspective of meta tags, load speed, and URLs. There are additional on page factors we’ll discuss in the next lesson, but the three mentioned herein are vitally important to your search engine optimization success.

Looking for help with your SEO? Learn more about our SEO training program. Also, if you’re looking to improve search engine rankings Learn more about our Webmaster Training Guide.

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QR Code Discussion

by Jay Connolly on April 13, 2011

QR Codes seem like the big brother to NFC – a new technology which seems to be the future way of things for mobile payments..

So what is NFC? NFC or Near Field Communication is a chip inside a device such as a bank card or mobile phone which allows you to swipe your phone or NFC enabled device over a NFC reader and go. Unfortunately their are potential security issues. Notably the fact that you can make up to 15,000 transactions without having to enter a pin.

QR Codes are much more adaptable and are currently used in many Asian countries. Currently QR Codes are more popular with a much large user base. Let’s see who dominates the mobile market.

QR Codes face one problem. Although a lot of people are aware of QR Codes existence they don’t necessarily understand their potential and what can actually be achieved with QR Codes.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and more boost the overall profile of QR codes and people over the next few years will understand them and start to use them more.

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).

QR codes can be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user′s device, to open a URI or to compose an email or text message. Users can also generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR code generating sites.

QR codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or on just about any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone’s browser. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.

Want to find out more about QR Codes, then visit thisQR Code Forum.

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Methods To enhance Product sales Via Your Website

by Annika Reyes on November 29, 2010

Anyone who has been marketing online knows that the lifeblood of a business is the visitors of a website. More guests equal more product sales. However, here are some ways that you can tweak your websites with to enhance product sales with out the need to get more guests.

The first technique is to weave in your personal touch in your sales message. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger, but many individuals will purchase what their close friends suggest to them. If you can convince your audience that you are a private friend who has their best interest at heart, they will be convinced to purchase your products. Keep in mind to speak to an individual in your salesletter, not to your whole audience.

The second technique is to publish testimonials and comments from your customers. A good concept would be to publish both good and poor comments; that way prospects will be really convinced that these testimonials are real. When prospects see testimonials on your website, they’ll have the confidence to purchase from you simply because human beings follow the herd mentality; when others have bought and proven it authentic, they will jump on the bandwagon and buy too.

Use visual representations for that issues and solutions that your product offers. Not everyone will read your text copy from the head to the tail, but most people will pay attention to images on your website.

Offer quality bonuses to accompany the product. Whenever you provide bonuses that complement your product, your prospects will feel it’s a very good deal and it could be stupid to miss it. Be certain to state the monetary value of your bonuses so that people will be even more compelled to grab your great bargain.

Lastly, ask for the sale! Several individuals entice their prospects with the benefits of their product, sell to them with stories of how it has solved many issues, even offered killer bonuses but forget to ask for the sale. Give a clear instruction on how you can purchase your product (e.g. “click the button to buy now!”).

Carol Lee is an expert author specialized in web design and web development.

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Why Accepting Cards Is Essential for a Successful e-Commerce Site

by Annika Reyes on November 28, 2010

In the e-commerce industry, the vast majority of online transactions are paid for by credit card. With this established as the norm, customers have come to expect that if you are selling something online, they will be able to pay by credit card. While as a business owner, you may not see the necessity for this, it is important to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. When you start to understand why customers prefer to pay by credit card, you will also gain more insight into their purchasing habits. The more you know about your customers purchasing behavior, the more you can target your marketing campaigns to provide customers with something that will interest them.

Shopping Online Is Convenient

Many people choose to shop online because it is convenient. They don’t need to leave their home or office in order to search for the products they want. By shopping online, they can visit several stores simultaneously and compare prices. In addition, customers do not need to sit in traffic, find parking or wait in queues in a store in order to purchase what they want. For online customers, it is all about getting a product with minimal effort. You may think that it is just as easy for customers to make a bank transfer online however, they first have to leave your site, log into their internet banking, load your company banking details and then make the payment. While it is not a huge amount of effort, it does still take some time. Compare this to an e-commerce site that accepts credit cards. Without having to leave the site, customers can simply input their credit cards details and have the purchase confirmed in a matter of minutes. Online shoppers are looking for convenience as a high priority and credit cards as a method of payment provide this. This is one of the reasons that it is important that you make sure you can accept credit cards on your e-commerce site.

Make Sure Your e-Commerce Site Is Technically Advanced

Customers expect that if you are operating online, you have the latest technology available. It doesn’t help to have a website that showcases all your products but still requires customers to make cash purchases or bank deposits. The e-commerce sector is highly competitive and as a business, you need to be offering your customers quality and convenience. If you don’t, it is very easy for them to simply leave your site and shop elsewhere.

Keeping Track of Purchases and Payments

Many customers like to purchase on a credit card as it is easier for them to keep track of their purchases. This is especially important for small businesses. People can make multiple purchases and then settle everything through one account at the end of the month. Customers generally know what credit limit they have on their cards and often won’t mind maxing this on a purchase. When customers purchase on credit cards, they know that they can easily settle the amount at a later date or pay it off in part as they are able to.

Taking Advantage of Credit Card Loyalty Programs

Many credit card companies provide their customers with loyalty programs. Usually for every $5 or $10 that customers spend on their credit cards, they are rewarded with points. The way that the points are allocated varies from program to program but the principle is generally the same. The more a customer spends on their credit card, the more points they earn. Over time as the points accumulate, customers can cash them in for a variety of benefits. Many customers will therefore prefer to make purchases on their credit cards so hey can earn as many points as possible. Sometimes people will make large purchases simply to be able to benefit and earn points on their loyalty program. In a way, it actually encourages customers to spend more. You will only be able to take advantage of this kind of buying behavior if you have the facilities to accept credit card purchases on your e-commerce site.

Largest Purchasing Group

A smart business owner cannot ignore the statistics that show that at least 75 percent of all purchases are made using credit cards. With more and more people choosing to purchase with credit cards, this is a market too large to ignore. Imagine all the customers that you could be losing out on by simply not having a card processing service on your e-commerce site.

At Card Processing Pros.com we provide merchant credit card processing and debit card processing, literally setting up hundreds of clients per month to process card payments for storefront, Internet and phone/mail order-based businesses. We also offer services in electronic check and gift card processing. Visit online today.

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Points to Take into account When Setting up a Blog

by Annika Reyes on November 25, 2010

Creating some sort of website is a great hobby to have. Whether you publish it for entertainment as well as amusement or if you would love to pursue a job in journalism, producing a blog has loads of rewards. While it can seem as though everybody writes a blog and you may not know how to start, creating a blog is in fact pretty simple and self-explanatory!

The very first thing you will have to consider is whether you want to have a free hosted blog or to host it yourself. You will find pluses and minuses for both. A free hosted blog suggests you do not have to pay for it but you have much less freedom to personalize the layout and a lesser amount of storage to keep images and documents online. Hosting the website yourself needs additional work and you have to buy an Internet domain and web hosting but it might be worth it if you want a personalized blog with increased creative freedom. Lots of bloggers start off with free blogs and then move to hosting it themselves. This will be a fantastic approach to find out what blogging is about and if you like writing ahead of needing to part with any cash.

The next step to take is to think about exactly what you want to publish. This may appear to be a stupid concern but it is definitely important and will have a big impact on how your blog grows as time passes. If it is a private blog then you will likely just blog about life and what you get up to etc. These are generally interesting to read and write yet they may also sometimes be tough to get famous simply because the majority of people on the web are looking particularly for something. Generally, a good guideline to follow though is to have your blog inside a particular subject and stick to that topic. This can be on anything you want it to be – television shows, movies, music, sports, traveling, cooking, learning, business, health, fitness and such like. What is important is to select a topic which you are interested in and you are sure that you will maintain a level of interest. Picking a topic helps on three levels. First of all, visitors will know what to expect when they come to your site. Secondly, you will find that your blog fits nicely into a network of blogs that gives you a greater feeling of community. Lastly, this will help you get picked up by search engines as they can understand the site more accurately if it has a strong blog identity. This in turn will mean you get more traffic.

You then need to consider is how you are going to write entries. Will you be humorous, serious or political? You may want to write each post differently and show your personality or stick to a specific style, the choice is up to you. It is very important to show personality though – this is what makes visitors like your posts and visit your blog again. Other things to consider are photos, music and videos. These can all add more depth to your website. If you are writing about a movie, why not feature a video for the trailer? Similarly, if you are writing about a sight you visited, take some photos and include them in the post. This will help make the blog more interesting.

The next thing people might want to look at is getting traffic for your website. This may be accomplished with many different ways. Overtime, your site should progressively find an increase in page views if you find a way to publish regularly along with good content. Having said that, there are numerous techniques to generate additional site visitors. Anyone can easily pay for advertising and marketing on sites and search engines or try to list your site higher in search engines. This is referred to as SEO (or Search Engine Optimization). Search engines have complex algorithms to determine how pertinent your blog is to specific search terms. The more relevant your website, the higher the position you will get in search results. One of the vital techniques search engines position sites is by the quantity of high-quality, in-bound, one-way links the website has. You can acquire these by creating content for article sites, submitting your site to web directories and utilizing a bookmark manager to get links. You are also able to target specific keywords inside the back links to get even more benefit.

It is also important to be a part of the blogosphere. Having a blog is much more pleasant if you feel like you are part of a network and can engage with others. It′s a good idea to leave feedback and send messages to other blog owners. It′s also a good idea to bookmark the blogs you visit often. Save your favorites with a bookmark manager and you should be able to network the blogosphere more efficiently.

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Working With HTML In Adobe Dreamweaver’s Design Mode

by Michael Jackson-Bryce on October 30, 2010

HTML is a markup language used to create web pages designed to be accessed across the World Wide Web using browser software such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. The version of HTML in current use is referred to as XHTML, a stricter, rationalised version of the original HTML specification. One important fact to note about HTML and XHTML pages is that they describe the content and structure of the page rather than the position and presentation of the elements on the page.

The first difference between an HTML and an XHTML page is the document type definition. There are a variety of ways in which this specification can be made in Dreamweaver. One of the easiest is to go to the Modify menu and choose Page Properties. Here, in the Title/Encoding section, one of the options reads Document Type (DTD).

There are quite a few options available in the drop-down menu next to this setting, some relating to HTML version 4 and some to XHTML version 1. These DTD settings specify the rules that the mark-up language must follow so that the browsers can render the content correctly. For any new content you may be creating, the best specification to choose is XHTML 1.0 transitional since it uses the current XHTML specification while allowing backward compatibility with slightly older browsers.

When looking at an HTML page, the structural content may not always be that obvious. However Dreamweaver provides a number of useful utilities for keeping tabs on the structure of your web page content. One of the most useful is the Tag Selector. Wherever you position the cursor, the HTML code relating to that part of the page is displayed in the bottom left of the page on the Status Bar in an area known as the Tag Selector.

When the browser reads the page, the tags surrounding text and other elements communicate to the browser the structural importance of each element. Thus, for example, the ˑ tag tells the browser that a piece of text is a major heading, while the ˒ tag signifies a sub-heading, and so on. When these tags are displayed in the Tag Selector, you can get an idea of the structure of the page and you can also click on any tag to select the element(s) it contains.

The tags tell the browser the structural importance of each element but the page doesn′t contain any information that helps the browser decide how each element should be displayed. This job is done by CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). An XHTML page is still basically an HTML page. However, the syntax used is stricter.

One example of this difference is that XHTML is case sensitive while HTML is not. In XHTML, all tags are lowercase so the ˑ tag has to be written h1. In HTML, h1 or ˑ can be used.

In XHTML, the closing tag of an element cannot be ommitted: in HTML it is permissible to have an opening tag without a closing tag. One such example is the horizontal rule element (hr) which creates a dividing line between two sections on a webpage. This element is represented by a single tag, since it can never be used as a container for other stuff. In XHTML, there is a special syntax for such non-container elements: a single tag which is both an opening and closing tag (hr/). In HTML, the single opening tag is used without the need for a closing tag (hr).

In summary, XHTML is the current version of HTML and this is the standard that you should use for any new projects. However, existing projects that you may inherit may well contain HTML rather the XHTML. Therefore, you should be aware of both. Remember also that HTML and XHTML describe only the structure of web page content: neither of them should contain information regarding the presentation and display of this content. The display and presentation of web content should be done using CSS.

If you want more information Dreamweaver training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Dreamweaver training courses at their central London training centre.

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What To Look For In Drupal Development And Web Design Victoria Companies

by Maija Lundgren on October 29, 2010

The best web design Victoria and Drupal development companies offer cost-effective, easy-to-use solutions for both web and print media and have offices all across Canada, so clients will receive the same high standards of service no matter where they′re located.

When it comes to web design, a good company believes it should be easy to use, unique and clever. Their graphic designers not only create exquisite designs, they preserve your brand identity while capturing the essence of your company. They use cutting-edge Flash software, including 3D studio Max, Maya Technologies and Adobe Flash, to build rich, captivating content. Worthwhile web design Victoria teams also design compelling brands and logos that are original, audience-appropriate and timeless.

These days, many companies use content management systems that simplify the website updating process. With just a few easy steps, businesses can add content, files, galleries, images, news releases, categories, content, navigation and pages, and even control the copy. They should be skilled in multiple CMS platforms, including WordPress, Joomla and the number one platform in the world– Drupal. The development framework, used by the White House, Popular Science and NASA, has a basic interface and a vast features library that gives you absolute control of your site’s text, photos, content, pages, templates and design.

As Drupal is an open-source CMS, its success depends on frequent contributions, improvements and customizations from developers around the world. For example, northStudio, a Victoria company, was one of the first web development companies in Canada to adopt web 2.0 standards, and has since become the largest Drupal development shop in Canada. Their contributions range from modules and themes to educational opportunities. As an active advocate for this CMS, northStudio hosts single-day learning sessions, camps, and regularly attends and contributes to summits around North America.

To enhance their Drupal development and web design Victoria services, businesses also need to administer social media marketing and search engine optimization. With such a wide variety of services available, they can make your dreams a reality.

If you’re looking to upgrade your website or build a new site from scratch, you will need the best Drupal development and web design Victoria has to offer. To learn what qualities a solid web business should have, read this informative article.

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Services Provided By Website Design Leeds Can Improve Business

by Alex Jones on August 22, 2010

Are you just starting out in a new business venture and need a great website to showcase your products or services? Or perhaps you have an existing business and want to create a website to give you an online presence. Whatever you need web design leeds can help you, but what can they do for you?

The main thing that this type of company will do for you is to build a website. This will be based on the client’s needs and will be tailor made to suit them. To get this right the design company will have detailed discussions with their client.

Next it is likely that you will need 3rd party software adding to your site to process sales for instance. This might seem like a large task but not to a great website design company. You can have such software added and use it on your website straight away.

Next clients will be provided with the means to change any of the content on the website. As products, services and even prices change updates will always be required. With this in mind it is important that clients are able to change content whenever they like without having to contact their web design company.

You will also be offered other services by this kind of website design company. These can include: SEO for the site, internet marketing if that is needed and so on. In fact such a company can help you out with anything that is related to website creation and maintenance.

Now that you know what is offered by web design Leeds you can decide if they can help you. However if you need a website it is worthwhile turning to the professionals. Leave it in their hands and you will have a great website to be proud of.

If you need to improve your social media Leeds then talk to an agency called england experts in social media Leeds call and speak to mark

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Developing A Following, How To Make A Powerful Impact

by Reed Slidell on August 9, 2010

You have a new business online that is selling a great product or service. How do you go about developing a following? If you plan out everything just right you will be successful in what you do. Let’s take a closer look at what you have to offer others.

Social media is a great place to start. You can influence your customers to buy from you if you put out great stuff. What you want to do is to start building up your character. People have to want to listen to what you have to say. I′m lucky for I write lot of articles that tell people how to do SEO, so I have my share of a following of people that read that stuff that I write.

When I first started out, I didn’t have anyone that read my stuff. You have two sides to everything. There is my side and the other side. The other side says that everything is all just a numbers game and if you play your cards right you can really do some amazing things with social media.

This is really out of date when you have a TV station that says that they have a million viewers. A million viewers don’t really denote something. You have lots of celebrities that say they have millions of views and they may use social media, but it doesn’t really count for anything because they are lacking the interaction.

It’s not the number of followers that you have that is important; it is the number of people that interact with you that’s important. So they retweet you, they actually have an ongoing conversation with you; they are recommending to others what you recommend. Those people see you as putting out valuable information.

When people ask me what to work on first, I tell them to work on their personality. You want to take a look at a few things? What kinds of things are you really good at doing? How are we going to work with that? Can you put stuff out on a regular basis? It’s all about having your very own personal brand.

When you use social media it can be a one on one deal. You’re putting a personal brand on something that has a voice. It doesn’t matter if it is a large company, you have to stay consistent and you have to plan it all out. It is so very important that you do that.

Give people what they want. It doesn’t matter who is going to be listening to what you have to say. It doesn’t have to be that impressive, just get out and deliver something to your audience.

You have to be what your customers expect you to be. If they are looking for something, then give it to them. When you go about developing a following it is all about information and giving it to them on a consistent basis.

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The Best Make Easy Money Online Guide!

by B.A. Spider on August 2, 2010

When the internet exploded onto the scene in’95, people found a new way to send emails, read the news, share photos, find recipes, and “whatever”. Many people still do these same things today, but a select few are using their computers to make extra money. Here are five great ways to use your computer to make money:

IDEA #1) Why not write for Web Logs…Blogs for short. Writing for some of the more established blogs is one of the easiest ways that you can make money online. You can make between $5 and $100 for each article you write, and you won′t even need to have your own web site. Exactly how much money you will make depends on various things, but here are a few: popularity, Alexa Ranking, Page Rank, RSS Subscribers count, etc. Check out these established blogs:

a) ReviewMe b) SponsoredReviews c) Blogsvertise d) Payperpost e) Smorty f) Linkworth

IDEA #2) You can fill out Online Web Surveys. While some of these web sites are SCAMS, there are legitimate and profitable sites out there. You just need to do your homework to find out which is which. Be sure to check out their payment history, and see what other users are giving them in terms of comments and reviews. Here’s one potential candidate: CashCrate.com Check them out!

IDEA #3) Writing Content for Other Web Sites. If you have some knowledge that other people are always asking you about, people online will pay you for this info. Perhaps you have a certain technical skill, or hobby you enjoy? If making money in this way interests you, you should check out:

1) About.com 2) eHow.com 3) Helium.com 4) Bukisa.com 5) AssociatedContent.com

IDEA #4) Working at Freelance Jobs. If you can do computer programming, or design web sites, write technical info, draw, etc. you can leverage these skills to make some extra money online. People are looking for these skills in the online marketplace today…and they will pay you good money for it. If this interests you, check out:

- Guru.com – GetaFreeLancer.com – Elance.com

IDEA #5) Via Online Affiliate Sales. If you have an established website, there are companies out there that will pay you for sending paying customers their way. Companies such as: Commission Junction, Amazon, ClickBank, and LinkShare will provide you with the names of these companies. Put one of their ads on your website, and whenever someone purchases an item via your ad, you will get some $. With Amazon you can make 5-15% for each product sold through the ad on your website. For ClickBank, the percentage is anywhere from 50-75%. The key to this method of making money online is that you need to have an establish web site…one that a lot of people look at.

Learn more about the Make Easy Money Online Guide. Stop by Mark Goodwin’s site where you can find out all about making easy money via your computer and the internet.

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