Don't Get Burned By Web Designers

If you bring up the subject of web design with small business people, it wouldn't take long to find someone who has been burned by a web designer. Perhaps they have even come to the conclusion that a web site is not worth the expense. Let's look at how and why that happens, and outline some success principles that will help you when you need web design services. Since so many web designers get it wrong, the web design principles that actually work may surprise you.

One of the problems with web design is that software programs have made it seem easy to create a web site. If you have the software, it would not take you long to build a web site. There are an abundance of inexpensive templates available to make it even easier to put together a web site. Getting a professional looking web site is not difficult at all. So you may wonder, why is that a problem?
The process of creating a web site does not end with making it look professional. In fact, that could very well be one of the least important aspects of a web site design. Let's face it, there are ugly web sites that make a lot of money. Since life is not fair, there are great looking web sites that make little or no money. I'm not saying the professionalism of your web site is not important; I am saying it's not enough.

There is a serious flaw in the web design industry, and small business owners are especially prone to fall victim to it. The problem is that usually, very little business planning goes into a web site design. Too many web designers are more concerned with selling web design than taking the time to build an effective web site.

This deficiency stems from the fact that very few web designers are marketing people. Small business people do not have big advertising budgets, so they are easily attracted to the low rates of average web designers. Good marketing means setting priorities and effectively using your resources to accomplish goals.

The one element I find seriously missing in web design is the very thing that is fundamentally important; that element is uniqueness. A Unique Selling Point (USP) is one of the basic tenets of marketing. You must answer the questions: why should I buy from you, and, what makes you different from my other choices? If you fail in this area, your web site visitor will not be kind to you. They will leave and not come back; they will probably not tell you why they left either.

Read your web site copy to see if it contains another common error. Does it say, "We this," and, "We that?" Do not "we" on your web site visitors! Your web site copy should speak to the visitor, address their needs, and solve their problem. It must compel them in some way. You need to draw them in and sell them on your solution.

When you take notice of how many web sites violate these basic marketing principles above, you will begin to see how you have the opportunity to rise above your competitors. Just think, if the majority of business web sites are violating even these most basic principles, how much more could you benefit from hiring a web designer who understands marketing?

There is a lot of emphasis placed on search engine optimization (SEO), and there should be, because this is very important if you want to have your web site found by people using the search engines. For most web sites, search engines account for 80% to 95% of all visitors. However, as important as SEO is, if you have a web site that is not creating sales with the visitors you are already getting, SEO is the wrong priority.

The next principle is the one you will probably find the most surprising. People actually read web sites! Yes, they do have a short attention span, and we will look at that point next, but they do read. There have been many studies done to document the way people use web pages. Even though so much attention is given to graphics, the studies show that well over 75% of the time, web page users read the text before they notice graphics.

This does not mean that graphics are unimportant. Visual elements are one of the many advantages a web site can provide. When you consider that people use the Internet to seek information, then it does makes sense that they will read your web site's content. Providing the right information can mean the difference between winning a customer, or surrendering them to your competition.
I also promised to cover the short attention span issue. It is often called the 3 second rule. According to web studies, if you cannot capture the attention of your visitor in approximately 3 seconds, that's how fast they usually leave your web site. I suspect the reason is because so many web sites are such a horrible waste of time, that people's patience has been worn down. The solution is to have a fast loading page that quickly clues them in that you can solve their problem. If they can "skim" in a few seconds, and you grab their attention, you have successfully drawn them in so they will stay a while.

Statistically, it takes 7 visits before you make a sale. If your web site is not done correctly, you will have dismal results because you can't get them to come back seven times. That is why so many web site owners are disappointed with their success. That is why some web designers provide what seems to be a bargain, while other web designers have to charge more to give you a better value. It takes more time to plan and create a good web site design.

The good news is that most of your competitors will go for the bargain and suffer the same fate as everyone else who does not realize the value of an effective web site design. Very few of them will invest the resources needed for success. If you do, you can win. This does not mean you need the big budget of a major corporation, or that it has to be expensive, it just means you need to be willing to do better than average. The rewards are much greater when you stretch beyond the norm.


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About the Author: Steve Chittenden seeks to help business owners and organizations market themselves effectively and succeed. His company, Creative Business Services, provides carefully planned web design, graphic design, writing, and marketing services aimed at achieving this goal. Please visit www.cbscreative.com for more information.

Search engine optimization

“SEO” redirects here. For other uses, see SEO (disambiguation).
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks," the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As a marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevancy, SEO considers how search algorithms work and what people search for. SEO efforts may involve a site's coding, presentation, and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Other, more noticeable efforts may include adding unique content to a site, and making sure that the content is easily indexed by search engines and also appeals to human visitors.

The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

I like it :-)

I do not get tired to be surprised genius Art Lebedev Bravo!!! :-)

Seo Marketing Solutions

For instance, you may begin by Pondering over the locutions/keywords that users/customers demand. Irregularly searching for your range, service, etc is a good start in SEO marketing solutions. SEO keywords are what drive traffic to a web page, which makes optimizing important. Users insist that marketers employ relevant keywords to locate your website. For instance...employment, recruiters, interviewers, corporation, wage slave, etc. Now, if the client typed in one of the keywords, will he/she find your web site easier if you have relevant keywords embedded into your pages?

Relevant keywords can tag in your URL, title tags, environment or domain name, description tags, Meta Tags, keyword Meta tags, and the ALT text, as well as the links on your page. Google rates this behavior fairly, high.

What makes, one position ahead of another is the Bestsellers. If your keywords are invariable, it hurries traffic to your web pages, which Google considers. However, you must leave off particular means that have been using for a diffusive time on the Internet; otherwise, Google's will kick you out.

In short, to rank high at Google's top ranking engine you could at least insert 10 to 20 percent of the keywords consistent with what you are promoting. Cramming is not acceptable by Google's, Yahoo, or kin search engines. Logically, the initial line, or centerline, determinates the paragraphs that should have relevant keywords within the personage of the article, as well as somewhere in between.

By: Martin Lukac
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Engine Promoter, www.EnginePromoter.com search engine marketing web-site for search engine optimization and website submission. Promote your website and get top rotating positions on over 250+ search engines, including a niche website submission. Engine Promoter also operateswww.1ShoppingOnline.com and real estate portal www.RateEmpire.com

Secrets of indexation of dynamic pages in search engines

I think, nobody will argue, that advertising in search engines - one of the most effective and cheap ways of promotion of a site. Searchers (anyway, their overwhelming majority) are ready free of charge indexing your site and to show links to it to people who search for it. Thus you receive very qualitative traffic, involving on the site many interested visitors. All is good, but unexpectedly there is very serious problem: many searchers refuse to index dynamic pages of your site. The most pleasant for us that, what is it occurs not because they dynamic that is why, that the search robot so thinks. But we can force to think it differently.

Personally I was engaged in this problem, when have started to untwist the catalogue of the goods of the best web-shops webshops.ru. PHP + MySQL well affected catalogue development, but it is very bad, on desire of searchers to index my site. Google and Yahoo have at all refused to index more than one (main) page of my site index.php. From here the conclusion, expansion does not render any influence on indexation, instead of indexed. ONLY the pages containing "?", "and" and "=" in URL.
Here we have closely approached to article subject, we should change URL all pages and to result it in a normal kind.

I know 4 ways as it to make.

Most lamer,s way. We write:

ErrorDocument 404 script.php

In a file.htaccess where script.php - the file in which it is processed requested URL and is deduced the necessary page. The way is based that you can invent any URL on which you then can unequivocally display the necessary page, having processed it (URL) a script which will be called if the page to which you refer does not exist.

In httpd.conf or.htaccess we write a line

Options Multiviews

Now the server at inquiry URL of a kind /one/two/three will search for a file one with any expansion (for example one.php) which you beforehand place in . And already in one.php it is assorted an environment variable $REQUEST_URI and it is shown the necessary page.

In httpd.conf or.htaccess we write

ForceType application/x-httpd-php

To these we say to a server, that if there will be an inquiry /index/one/two he should consider, that index, it not a folder, and a file. Besides it also a PHP-script. Naturally you will need to create a file index (without expansion) in which you will assort all inquiries.

And at last the most powerful tool of substitution URL program module mod_rewrite. In httpd.conf or.htaccess we write

RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index / (. *) $/index.php / $1

It we start the module, we establish module action only on the current catalogue, we define root URL and we say to a server, that at inquiry of the user index / <какой_угодно_текст> the user will be redirected to/index.php / <¬á¬«®_Òú«ñ¡«_ÔѬßÔ address. Like practical benefit from such redirection is not present, but if we use points 3 and 4 simultaneously the interesting result can turn out. On the site (webshops.ru) I have made so:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index / (. *) $/index.php / $1
ForceType application/x-httpd-php

I.e. has switched on the mechanism mod_rewrite, has defined root URL, has told to a server to change all inquiries index / on index.php / and has told, that such URL it is necessary to accept for a PHP-script, having executed index.php. Simply and with taste.

Now, for example, having written to a line of a browser http://testsite.com/index/testsite, you (it not suspecting) will be redirected on http://testsite.com/index.php/testsite, and this inquiry will be executed as http://testsite.com/index.php with that only a difference, that in a variable $REQUEST_URI it will appear "/index/testsite", that after safe processing by a script, will show you the list of web-shops with their descriptions.

Such URLы will have on taste to any search robot (and from the aesthetic point of view they look better). There was last stroke.


In the script text, to a conclusion to the screen something (!) we send in header two magic lines:

Header ("HTTP/1.0 200 OK");//the line is necessary only for item 1
Header ("Last-Modified:".gmdate ("D, M d Y H:i:s", filemtime ("index.php")). "GMT");//the line is useful in any case

The first line speaks to the robot, what is it usual page, and the second - registers updating date, being based on date of last change index.php (a file which you process all inquiries).

If at you pictures on page are not displayed, you can register absolute ways to each picture. But it is better to register instead in given out pages a line. It you will tell to a browser, that if the visitor has come in a virtual directory (namely so directories by which we have just learnt to do are called), it is necessary to count a way to a picture not from it (it is not present), and from http://youirsite.com/.

All! Now you are ready to submit search engines all pages of your site with its full complement. I wish good luck!

It is a little business philosophy.

The success depends on where the person puts the forces and time: whether he wishes to study, develop and be free from corporate oppression. If, for example, forces are directed on street sweeping as a result you will have ideally pure street, but, alas, there will be no money, or them will be a little, it is not enough.

As a result it is possible to tell, that the one who to the given purpose went earns on the Internet only, went a thorny road, received experience by a trial and error method. Well and to raise the budget of the country at the expense of Americans on pair kilodollars ;) this sacred. And it is possible!

If you wish to create to yourselves the REAL workplace on the Internet, in any way not connected with pyramids, banner networks and other doubtful activity, this site, probably, will open to you eyes on how it is possible to earn.

HOW TO ADVANCE

What for it is necessary to work with search engines when there are so many other advertising platforms? Number of pages on the Internet more than inhabitants on the Earth and to find the information without use of help services (search engines) it is almost impossible. Users understand it, and the role of search engines every year grows: them use for detection of new sites, for search of the goods, for an establishment of contacts to partners.
Researches show, that visitors from search engines at 6-10 time become more often buyers, than the users who have come on banner advertising; users in half of cases search for the goods through search engines; the site seen in results of search, is remembered in 3–5 times better, than if it is noticed on an advertising banner. If you wish to receive interested visitors and profit, your site should be present at results of search in target inquiries. And not easier to be present, and to be on the first or second page of results of search because the majority of users do not go further.