Are the Fonts You’re Using on Your Website Unreadable and Costing You Clients? - September 30, 2008 -
Colin Wheildon, in his book “Type & Layout” waxes on about this or that font in body text. The findings of his research, however, are decisive. “Body type must be set in serif type if the designer [website owner] intends it to be read and understood. More than five times as many readers are likely to show good comprehension when a serif body type is used rather than a sans serif body type,” he reports.
You may be asking yourself at this point whats the difference between serif and sans serif type.. To illustrate the difference, you might want to take a look at any large circulation newspaper. Youll discover that sans serif type faces are frequently used in article headlines and sub-headlines; they are seldom used in the articles themselves.
More often than not youll see that serif type faces, like Times New Roman and Geogia are used for body text and for good reason. Serifs, those little footies that appear at the base of vertical letters like ls, ks, and ts facilitate the eyes movement across the column, thereby, enabling the eye to capture groups of words at a glance.
In addition, the thick and thin elements of most serif faces aids the eye in distinguishing between the actual shapes of the characters; making letters more recognizable, and therefore words more readable.
By contrast, san serif types faces like Ariel and Verdana, tend to imped eye movement because the eye is forced to stop at each vertical character. The eye, instead of flowing across a line of type, shutters across the page. This is such a demanding task that readers frequently find themselves regressing - returning to the beginning of the sentence because the tedium of the reading process actually detracts from comprehension.
So should this be of concern to you?
If you are in the business of selling ideas, relying on content to convince your visitors to do business with you, then you might want to instruct your webmaster to convert large bodies of text to a browser compatible, serif type face like Times New Roman (Browser Proportional). If youre a retailer, who is just trying to get visitors to click on short blurbs about a particular product, the change probably isnt necessary because there isnt much to comprehend.
Ron Scott, The PR Guru Guy, is an experienced journalist who specializes in internet public relations. He spends most of his time teaching entrepreneurs how to use internet press releases to promote their online businesses. Most of his clients releases get top Google placement in a week or less.
Top Ten Absolutely Free Websites for Downloading Cool Fonts
The following list of websites is the best compilation of sites on the web where you can download many different fonts totally free. Also, there are a variety of different types of fonts and styles you can download from the following sites so start searching today. Keep in mind that these sites are not listed in any particular order.#1 www.1001free...
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Your Website Takes Just 1/20th Of A Second
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What a Professional Web Designer Should do for You - September 30, 2008 -
Once upon a time, a business could choose not to have a web site. They reasoned that they did not need a professional web site; they could do just fine without one. Then, one of their competitors decided to get a web site and a buzz was created. Not to be outdone, another competitor decided to follow suite. Then another and then another. Pretty soon customers were asking the business if they had a web site. Finally, they realized that they needed a website in order to keep up with their competitors. And so, the Internet exploded. These days, everyone has a web site. From large corporations to small businesses; families to individuals, everyone is on the Web. A friend of mine even created one for his infant child.
This article is created to speak to the few remaining businesses that have yet to tackle the Internet beast. You want to have a web presence, but it seems a daunting task. “Where do I start?” you say. “What issues will I need to address so that I make the most of my new web site?” you continue. This brief article will cover some of the areas of the webdesign process to pay particular attention to. We have designed many web sites for clients that had no idea where to start. We firmly believe that client education is a vital part of the overall success of the web project. Most professional web design companies have published some guidelines that will help potential clients answer some of their questions. It is with that in mind that we have written this article.
Why do you want a web site?
Will your web site be for personal use (just show some photographs to your family members, for example)? Will it be to advertise a business service? Will it be an informational web site, simply to pass on knowledge to the visitor? Will it be used to sell a product? Is it important that you show up #1 in Search Engines?
These are vital questions with which to begin. The answers you come up with will determine the direction in which the overall design should go.
Do you have a business logo?
If you have been in business, you may already have a logo or a trademark that your customers recognize. If that is the case, do you have the original graphic that can be emailed? It will be important to use that on your web site.
If you do not have a logo or anything by which your customers currently know you, do you have any ideas about what you might like, a sketch, a doodle or something similar? Whatever the case, usually a professional web design company can design a professional logo for you or reuse your current one.
Do you have particular colors that you want to use?
Not all colors work well on the Internet. Generally, selecting a few colors is the best path to take. Your web designer can help you select quality colors that will come together in a design that you will be proud to show off.
Have you seen web sites that you like?
Providing an example (or examples) of a site that you like is a good way to help your web designer understand the look you are after. A professional webdesign company will usually get this type of feedback from their clients. Then they will have a feel for their “taste” and can use that as a pattern for their site.
Do you have a web site domain name?
This is the actual address of the web site. It is what you will rattle off when someone asks you, “Do you have a web site?” If you do not have one registered already, your web designer can take care of that for you. Some web design companies may charge a yearly fee for this service, anywhere from $10 to $50. However, some web design companies offer this service at no charge. Make sure to ask your web design company about this upfront so that there is no confusion.
Do you know how many web pages you want for your site?
Almost all web sites have a Home page, a Contact Us page and a Links page. However, after that, you have to determine what you want features to emphasize about your business. Is it important that visitors know some history about your company? If so, you will need an “About Us” page. Do you have categories of product that you want to feature on your web site? If so, each category will have its own page. Do you want visitors to be able to fill out an order form when they are ready to buy something? If that is the case, you will need an “Order Form” page.
Your web designer will ask you about this facet of your web site, but it is good to think about this on your own before you take that step. As a rule, the more pages a web site has, the higher the cost. So choose a web design company that you are comfortable with and don’t let them talk you into more pages than you really need.
Do you have graphics and photographs to use on your site?
If you have pictures to use on your site, are they in a high-quality digital format? As a rule, a scanned photograph will not look good on your website. The best pictures are ones taken with a digital camera. These can be used on the web site and formatted so that they have a professional look.
Many web design companies are able to take pictures for you. Usually, this service is an additional charge, so make sure you discuss this option.
Will you maintain the web site yourself?
If so, do you have an understanding of the Code Languages used to create your web site. Some of these languages may include:
If you are comfortable with these languages, your web design company can probably setup the web site to allow you to maintain it yourself. However, most companies will not support sites in which the client has made changes to the original code. Make sure to discuss this during your initial consultation.
Some companies will create Content Management Systems (CMS). These allow their clients to update the website without having to touch the original code. With a custom CMS, if you can create a document in a Word Processing program, you can change your website content. This means you do not have to learn any programming languages and, at the same time, you do not have to call your web design company every time you want to update your site. Of course, the company you choose should always be available to assist if you get stuck. They should also be willing to e-mail you a link to show a demonstration of their custom CMS.
Hopefully, this article has given you some good guidance to follow on the path to your new web site. With some advanced preparation, you will tackle the Internet beast with no problem. The web design company you choose should be willing to supply you with a list of satisfied clients. Take the time to review the list. Contact the clients listed and ask them for their opinions of the company. This will give you some good information to help you make a good decision.
Crystal Coast Technologies is a North Carolina web design team headquartered in Swansboro. We specialize in Flash web design and database driven e-commerce. Our blog discusses web design and contains more tips and the latest tech news, including security alerts.
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Web site design has gone through a radical change since the beginning of its exsistance. The New generation has it much more difficult than the past. With seemingly new technologies on the rize every single day, this generation of web designers and developers have it much more difficult.New techniques in web design make it hard for someone to jus...
Web / Graphic Design
When it comes to web design it is very important that you pick the right person to design your site. Taking your business online is just like opening a new store for the first time. The more you put into it the more you will get out of it. Your web site is everything when it comes to the internet. If it doesnt look professional you are losing busin...
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The Internet is more popular than ever and any business that is not online is losing out to its competitors. With many businesses and individuals now being aware of the tremendous power of the Internet, it has become very important for them to find a suitable web designer to carry out their project.Unfortunately, the success of the Internet has als...
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Business owners do not need to know and understand Web languages. It is possible to hire custom Web designers to transform trade ideas into useful Web sites. With the advent of the Internet, the demand for web designers grew. However, in modern times, development in technology and business needs have created huge growth options for custom Web desig...
Plugging the Dreaded World Wide Web Black Hole is Just the First Step - September 30, 2008 -
You have created your custom error page so now all of that traffic that use to go into the World Wide Web black hole now stays on your web page. But if you don’t do the following 15 Minute exercise once or twice a month you are not Maximizing those Lost visitors
Custom error pages are a crucial part of your web page but they are just not enough. They are a failsafe. If you knew every bad address your surfers would type you could display a page that was more closely related to what the surfers was expecting then a catch all error page.
Most Web Hosts will provide you with a Cpanel, where you can create E-mail Accounts, Upload Web Pages and check your stats. Most of the Cpanel’s are very similar if not identical to the one my Hosts uses.
When it is time to check my web page traffic statistics I click on Log and then Web/FTP Stats and finally AWStats. I am now presented with a List of Stats to look at. This Article will discuss the stat related to Http Error Codes.
If you click on the Pages not Found link under the HTTP Error code you will see a list of all Required but not found URLs. This list will be sorted in order with the most requested on top and the least requested on the bottom. Start at the top of the list and work your way to the bottom. Simply create a web page for each URL that is listed with a significant amount of traffic.
You would create a custom error page that redirects the user to the proper web page. As an Example if the error page is http://mydomain.com/page1.htm (missing the l in html) and you have a page called http://mydomain.com/page1.html you simply create a page called http://mydomain.com/page1.htm (missing the l in html) and set up a redirect to the right page http://mydomain.com/page1.html
About The Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built
an Organization of over 100,000 Members
Get Mike’s Newsletter:
http://ewguru.com/newsletter
More Articles by Mike:
http://ewguru.com/tips
Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html
Copyright 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe
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Free Automatic Content - Can the Search Engines See Yours? - September 30, 2008 -
Ever heard any of this advice?
-
Content Is King - so Search Engines
and Visitors will Love your Site -
Make Your Site Sticky - so Visitors
will Return -
Add New Content Regularly - so Search
Engines will Rank your Site Higher
Are they true statements?
Yes.
Getting fresh, new content on your site on a regular basis is a must but you MUST do it right to get the results you want?
Now let me ask you, did you read the code you added to your site? Did the code contain something that looked like:
Well if it did then the search engines can’t see you’re adding fresh, new content regularly because search engines can’t read JavaScript. You don’t have to take my word for it. Read what Google has to say.
“Use a text browser
such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine
spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such
as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash
keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then
search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.”
Google Information for Webmasters at:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Having fresh new content on your site can be a real benefit for
getting more traffic but beware of using free JavaScript code
because it may not be helping as much as you think.
Susan Carroll owner of http://www.friendswhocare.us
has formed a global community of online business people through her weekly
newsletter.
Susan recently finished a free report about adding automatic content to your website that search engines can see. It’s available at:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/content.htm
You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated.
Automatic Search Engine Submission Services
Once you finished developing your site it is imperative that you submit it into the portals of search engines in order to get listed and obtain the traffic that is the common goal of every web master. You can either submit your website manually or make use of automatic search engine submission services. Some web owners ought to employ automatic sea...
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Build A Website - The Easy Way To Profitable Websites - September 29, 2008 -
Everyone talks online about how easy it is to build a website and make money online. Is is really that easy or pure hype to get you to purchase the next great thing to hit the online market.
All I have to say is that it is not that easy building highly profitable websites online. But, you can learn how to build a website, that will be fully optimized for the search engines and highly profitable in a couple of weeks, using the same simple tricks I use daily. It doesn’t matter if you want to build a website for free or for profit.
To win online, you have to build a website that gets free traffic from the search engines, and implement all other simple traffic methods like: posting to forums, using ads in ezines, submitting your site to link directories, writing reviews for other peoples products, reciprocal linking and pay per click.
First you have to learn how to do your onsite optimization, and for that you will have to:
1) Insert your keyword into the title of your page
It amazes me how many sites online don’t have their main keyword in the title page. Just make sure to always include your main keyword in the tile page of your site.
2) Add Meta Tags
Not as important as it used o be, but I like to include it in every site I build. Add Description meta tags and your keywords meta tags.
Use one or two keywords per page only. Add your main keyword into your page description.
3) H1 Header Tags
Use your H1 header tag on each page, I always like to use a smaller font size, like 14pt.
4) H2/H3 Header Tags
Try and use at least one H2 or H3 Tags within the first three or four paragraphs
5) Last and First Paragraph
Make sure to start your first paragraph with your main keyword and to end your last paragraph with your keyword
6) Bold, Italize ad Underline your keyword
You must Italize and bold your main keyword just once, and you must use your main keyword to link out of your site to another website (use that link to create an underline keyword) , at least once.
7) The Alt Image Tag
Well, this is very useful if you have pictures that you will be including on your site. Try to use the Alt Image Tag for your pages, I use the alt image tag on my website header.
Those are the only onsite optimization tips that you should use on each and every site you build. Try to not make it look too obvious, and over do your web site optimization. Learn to build a website the easy way by just following the simple tips I have outline here.
For more optimization tips, try to get your hands on VEO Report by Colin Mc. Dougal. This is the best and most understandable guide to building fully optimized websites online.
I will leave you with one tip I learnt from The VEO report; Before you add any affiliate links to your website, you must first build a website that focus on pure content and include an about you page, and then submit that site to the open directories, like DMOZ.org, etc. After your website has been added to those free directories then you can add your affiliate links and start building reciprocal links and the above mentioned traffic methods will deliver even more traffic.
http://www.veoreport.com/
Now that you know how to build a website for fun and profit, it is time to learn by actually doing something with the information you just read. Go build your first website, the second will be better and your third will be a master piece.
Alexander Marlin, Ebenezer St. Maarten A.N.
Discover the simple secrets I use to build a website that ranks high in the search engines. And make thousand weekly with affiliate programs this way.
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Tableless Web Designs: Why I Switched - September 29, 2008 -
Since I made the switch 6 months ago to a tableless design on my main site, Ive noticed some interesting things:
- My search engine rankings have dramatically improved
- My bandwidth usage has dropped about 50-75%
- I can now make changes to the look and feel of my site easily by just changing the one file, the stylesheet.
Lets look at why my search engine rankings improved. Now that I have less un-indexable code on my pages, the search engines can now spider my site quicker. Less code, more content, therefore a better ranking. Makes sense, doesnt it?
Bandwidth costs money, and unless you have a really good hosting plan with lots of bandwidth, then your larger files will take up more room on your server, and take a lot longer to load. Tableless designs use up considerably less bandwidth and are more accessible.
Every once in a while I may want to alter the look of my site. I like to change font colors, link colors, menu items, etcBefore I started using tableless designs, these changes took me hours to do. Now I just open up my stylesheet, make the changes I want, and in a few minutes I have my site updated with the new look and feel. Its so easy!
For a client who wants to make their own changes, tableless designs could literally save them thousands on tech costs.
Most of my clients still want sites with tables. I now give them the choice of either style. After all, the customer needs to be happy, right?
Some people have the misconception that utilizing tableless designs means having a boring and less graphical site. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Take a look at one of my favorite websites: http://www.csszengarden.com/. At that site you can really appreciate what can be accomplished through css-based tableless designs. Beautiful!
Make the switch to a more profitable, usable, and accessible website!
Copyright 2005 - Karen Blundell
Karen Blundell is a web designer and internet consultant based in Welland, Ontario. Her focus is to assist home and small business owners succeed on the internet. You can find out more about her services at http://karenblundell.com
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Proximity
Novice designers often place design elements arbitrarily. Some believe that filled space is good space. This misconception leads to bad design. White space is advantageous, and scattered design makes information inaccessible.
Proximity simply means you group related items together. Move them close together so the human eye can recognize them as a cohesive group. It’s a visual cue that the reader will understand almost immediately. Items or groups of information not related to each other should not be placed in close proximity. Don’t confuse the reader by forcing them to figure out what belongs where. Don’t confuse the idea of proximity with simply placing any items close together. The items should have a logical connection for proximity to make sense.
Alignment
Novice designers sometimes put elements wherever they’ll fit. This can create a messy unprofessional appearance. Good alignment means nothing is aligned on the page arbitrarily. Each item should have a visual relationship with something else on the page. Paying attention to alignment forces you to pay close attention to what’s actually on the page.
Properly aligned items create a pleasing appearance. Readers know that, although the items may not be in close proximity, they certainly are all a part of a system. Lack of cohesive alignment is a major cause of bad design.
Repetition
The idea of repetition involves including reoccurring images that repeat throughout your piece. It doesn’t matter if you’re designing a newsletter or a website, repetition is important. The repetitive element can be a logo, font, photo, or whatever you want. Repetition unifies your design.
To create a consistent web page, stationary system, or e-book, you need a strong display of repetition. Readers must be able to understand that all of the pages are related. Repetitive elements establish continuity, and present a professional appearance.
Contrast
Contrast is a terrific way to add visual interest to your graphic design. Contrast results from placing two vastly different elements together in close proximity. If two elements are slightly different, then it may look more like conflict than contrast. Contrast is good. Conflict is bad.
Contrast can be created in a variety of ways. You can use an extremely large font with an extremely small one. You can contrast a large sans serif font with a small serif font. The possibilities are endless. But remember, you want contrast not conflict. Conflict occurs when two items are too similar to have an immediate noticeable difference.
For example, using two serif fonts in one design is likely to create conflict. Even if they’re different weight sizes or colors, their characteristics are still too similar to create good contrast. However, graphic design rules aren’t set in stone. Just remember that you must know the rules before you can decide if it’s a worthwhile idea to break them.
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Web / Graphic Design
When it comes to web design it is very important that you pick the right person to design your site. Taking your business online is just like opening a new store for the first time. The more you put into it the more you will get out of it. Your web site is everything when it comes to the internet. If it doesnt look professional you are losing busin...
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Graphic Design refers to a specialized area of the Visual Arts.
Generally, it is considered to be for commercial, advertising or educational purposes. It involves the enhancing of a product, service or information by designing a pleasing visual or set of visuals.Traditionally, this field has included both the creative
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Flash Templates Advantages And Disadvantages - September 28, 2008 -
Flash templates - sweet poison. There are many aspects of flash templates which you should take into consideration before using a flash template for your website. I will try to discuss some,
so that I can make your life easy. Lets start with advantages:
1. Interactive - Flash templates are much more interactive and impressive than html ones. With a good idea and better presentation you can convince your viewer, which you are not able to achieve with html templates. No body wants to crawl through lengthy text, they want moving pictures, sounds to explain them your point. A flash site is able to lure the viewer for coming back again.
2. Artistic - Exploration area of flash is much vaster than html. Wild thoughts can be put to work to get amazing work. You can have a look at top most flash sites and they will amaze you as never before.
3. 2 in 1 - First you present a media add before your customer and second you provide information about yourself. And it costs you much less than the other media which you use for advertising
4. Audio/video integration - Your video and audio files can easily be integrated to your flash site without using much space and without using those odd looking plug-in players.
5. Bye-Bye distracting refreshes - The full site is loaded in one go. And after that its smooth drive.
Now disadvantages 
I never like these)
1. Crawling - Thats a major problem which flash sites are facing today. As flash is a compiled file, which search engines cant decompile to read your text. If you want to provide a lot of information, just relax, use html.
2. Most of the flash templates have very less space to provide information. If you try to force more text design will commit suicide. I will never want that to happen, do you?
3. Loading time - No, one likes that including me. Think of a guy on a 64k. He will shoot you. Trust me he will never come to your site again.
4. Flash plug-in - A small stone. But it bothers some who dont like creativity. They want simple text scrolling around. Its very difficult to change there mind. And they will never pay you for your work.
Conclusion - Yeah, I know you need a simple way out. I will try to show you three. Divide your site into two parts flash and html. One part for advertisement and other for information. Second integrate flash into html (my favorite). Third, little desperate, put all your text into Meta tags (not appropriate but you can try)
by Bikramjit Singh
author for
sycamore.in and
sarvpriya.com
Build a Website the Easy Way: For the Technically Challenged
Want to build a website? If yes, but you have no programming or html knowledge this article is for you. You have four options:1. Hire a web designer2. Use a free template3. Affiliate website4. Buy a WYSIWYG editorLets take a look at each of the above options, including advantages and disadvantages, and then decide on the best one.Option #1: Hire a ...
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Hire-a-Designer
Agriya Infoway has a team of enthusiastic designers who can provide you services as per your requirements.
We provide you our dedicated Web Designers Data Entry Operators Web Programmers Data processing Operators Customer Support ExecutivesHire-a-Designer NEEDSAt TemplateMuseum.Com we have been providing Web Designing/Graphic Design solutions and ...
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Seven Secrets For A Better Website - September 28, 2008 -
Have you ever wondered why it is that some web sites enjoy super success while many others fail miserably? Below are seven secrets to help you make YOUR site one of the winners!
1. SPEED
Several studies indicate, that you have only 10 to 30 seconds to capture visitor’s attention. If your site is slow to open, your customer will likely lose patience and close the window. And that means bye.. bye..to your site! Worse..no sale.
Solution: Avoid having too much animation in your site. Compress the image files and host your site with a good hosting company.
2. Website Design
Remember you have only 10 to 30 seconds to capture visitor’s attention. So website design is very important. Most people judge something on their first look! When visitors come to your site, they will see the reflection of YOU. Be certain they will like what they see.
Make your site comfortable to look at. Be consistent with the feel and design. Don’t use bright colors that jolt the eye and senses. Use a text that is easy to read. Better yet, put a really great picture of yourself on your site. Let your visitors know who they are dealing with, and show them that there is a real human behind the website!
Did my picture capture your attention the first time you visited my website? I hope so. I hope you could see that I was a real, geniune, caring person that you would feel comfortable doing business with. 
3. Focus Your Site
Make sure to focus your website on the intended goal. This will help you to target your market easily. For example, if you are interested in a car selling business, most of the contents of your site will naturally be about cars. For instance, your topics could be; My Car Collection, Tips for Buying A Good Car, Millenium Cars, The Secrets of Washing a Car, etc..!
Car Lovers will enjoy visiting your site, because you give them exciting information about a topic they are personally interested in.
When you have laser focus, and great contents, this will create happy customers coming back to your site again and again. This makes it possible for you to repeatedly offer them new sales items to purchase from your site!
Don’t clutter your site with too many unrelated products. When you have more than one or two unrelated products, make a unique page for each instead of putting them all on the same page. And do it with some style and thought. Your customers will not appreciate feeling that they have been tricked with an unworthy product.
4. Keywords Density
Many site owners ignore or are ignorant about the importance of Keywords. I have found sites which don’t have any keywords at all. This is death for a website! A Good keyword density will help your site listing in search engines!
Remember, 90% of web surfers find what they want by typing in the search engines. So design your site to maximize the placement. Focus on your keywords. Utilize the meta tags keywords, description and title.
If you have no idea what I am talking about or if you don’t know how to use HTML code, please, find someone who does or purchase a few good books (I can suggest one or two). I know this may sound terribly confusing but it is one of the most crucial things needed to build a better more successful website.
5. Simple Navigation
Make your site navigation easy. If the customers find it hard navigating your site to find what they want, they will go elsewhere. So, limit the choices, and make the sales process uncomplicated.
6. Make Payment Easy
If you sell a product, offer your customer a variety of payment methods. If your site does not offer a credit card, you are hurting your business…get one right now. You can set up a merchant account such as ClickBank, or use one of the many credit card clearing companies. Take checks online. Provide an address for those who prefer to pay by cash, check, or money order. and provide them with a guarantee.
Make the payment process obvious, easy to access and intuitive to use.
7. Credibility Is Vital
Your professional website design will not sell, if the customers don’t trust you! So, provide legitimate contact information online. Your email address, mailing address, phone number and a fax number, if applicable. If you are reluctant to give this information to your customers, why should they trust, or buy from you?
Having your own domain name is also very vital for your credibilty. It will make you look more professional. Choose a domain name that easy to remember and suitable for your business.
Putting testimonials from happy customers is one of the best way to improve your credibilty. When the customer can read what other people say about your service, they will be more inclined to trust you!
Applying the seven secrets above probably will not make your site become as famous as Amazon or Yahoo overnight! But..If they are applied correctly and included into an overall website design and marketing campaign, you will see great improvement to your site’s traffic and sales!
By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com
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How to Add a Search Engine to Your Site - September 28, 2008 -
When visitors arrive at your web site you want them to find the information quickly otherwise they will lose patience and move on. A great way achieve this is to add a search engine or search box to your web site. Since most visitors are already familiar with using search engines such as Google, they can easily use the search feature on your site.
In this article I will discuss:
A. The benefits of adding a search engine
B. Types of search service providers
C. Where to place a search box on your site
D. How does the search engine work
A. Benefits of adding a search engine and types of sites where it can be used.
1. Ecommerce sites - your ecommerce site usually has many different types of products so the navigation menu is not focused enough to rapidly find the specific product your visitor is looking for. Adding a search engine to your ecommerce site will help the visitor to easily and quickly zoom in on the product by entering their keyword in the search box.
2. Dynamic sites - search engines have difficulty spidering dynamically generated web pages. These are pages often generated from a database, so the information on your pages will not appear in the search engine’s index. Add a search engine to each page of your site. If a visitor arrives on that page from one of the large search engines, they can then do a quick search from that page instead of searching elsewhere.
3. Small sites - web sites that contain 5-10 pages don’t need a search engine because visitors don’t have to search through many pages to find the information. Instead, make sure you create a simple navigation menu at the top or side and bottom of your web pages.
B. Types of search service providers
1. Atomz (www.atomz.com) - Atomz Express Search is a free service where you can integrate basic search capability on your personal web site or on one of your commercial sites. It can be used on sites with 750 total pages or less and allows customization of look and feel to match your site’s design. Some third-party text ads are shown above and below the search results. You can use it for as long as you like for there is no trial period.
2. Freefind (www.freefind.com) - features include the ability to customize search and results pages. The free accounts are limited to 3,000 pages or 32MB of storage. Site search is hosted on FreeFind’s server. It generates a site map for you, tracks visitors searches and indexes password protected pages.
3. Google Free site search service (www.google.com/services/free.html) - searches only the specific domain(s) that you list when you create your search box. You can customize your results display to include background, text and link colors you select. The search box itself will reside on your web site. The search results page will be served by Google with the customized look and feel you specify. Google may serve ads on the results page. You can do an unlimited amount of searches. You must display the Google logo on the web pages that contain the search box.
C. Where to place the search engine on your site?
1. Place the search box in a prominent location on your web page…preferably top center or top right.
2. Place the search box on all pages of your web site. Visitors may enter your site from any page.
3. Make the search box large enough to accommodate all search terms the visitor would use to find the information.
4. The search box should be a type-in box, not a link so visitors don’t have to wait for another page to load.
5. Limit the search results to 50 per page. Visitors lose their patience if they have to scroll through long lists of results.
D. How does the search engine work?
It works similar to the major search engines that search the web, however instead of crawling the web the search engine spider will search your site. The results of the crawl are stored in a database that resides on the search company’s server.
The company provides the necessary code to add a simple form to your web page. This usually consists of a search box for inserting your keywords and a send button. When you click the button it sends the query to the search company. They process the query to create a search results page. This shows those pages in your site that match the visitor’s query.
The quality of the search results the search engine spider collects depends on how much information is contained in your site. Therefore take time to correctly optimize your site i.e. provide lots of good content that includes your keywords. Optimize your meta tags, images and create an accessible navigation structure.
Optimizing your site will not only provide focused results from your internal search engine but also boost your rankings in the major search engines.
Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com
Affordable Web Site Design and Web Hosting.
Read more of his
in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles
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