VisionSnap

2008-04-16T15:23:00.002-07:00

Importance of CSS in web development

CSS style sheets have made it easier to handle web pages during web development. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets as the name suggests is a style sheet that allows you to easily link to other documents in your website. It allows you to retain control over the various elements in different web pages of your website.

CSS only defines the structure and content presentation of a website it has nothing to do with the design of a website. A single CSS sheet can control the font, positioning, colour and style information of an entire website.

9 advantages of using CSS

* Web pages are easier to load and uses less bandwidth

CSS style sheets are preferred by web developers for website development because they are lighter than table layouts, which consumes lots of bandwidth. The style sheet is downloaded only once and stored in the cache memory, so subsequent pages load faster.

* A CSS style sheet compliments well with HTML

HTML is insufficient when used independently in website development, but when combined with CSS they can result in technically stronger web pages.

* CSS allows you to position your element anywhere in the webpage

Web developers love to use CSS because it allows them to position their element where ever they want in the web page. If during any phase of web development the developer feels that particular links or columns are not going well with the situation then it becomes easier for them to position them easily using CSS. CSS reduces the risks associated with maintenance of the website.

* CSS is compatible with all web browsers

CSS is combined with HTML or XHTML by web developers for web application development because it is compatible with all web browsers. The sites that use CSS appear similar in all the web browsers.

* CSS can be used to create print friendly web pages

Most of the web developers love to use CSS for building their HTML based web applications because they allow them to create print friendly web pages. These web pages can be easily printed. The colours, images and other things which are difficult to be printed can be eliminated and printed easily.

* CSS style sheets allows the user to customize the webpage

Now days many websites allow the user to change the layout of the website without affecting the content. The CSS style sheets which are stored externally allow the user to make requisite changes by themselves. Most of the modern browsers give user the liberty to define their own style sheets like changing some font properties etc.

* CSS style sheets makes it easier for your website to feature in search engines

The CSS style sheets are favoured by web developers because they allow them to position their elements as per their wish anywhere in web application. Positioning helps to project the main contents first, so that it is easily captured by web spiders. CSS also gives cleaner HTML codes thus cutting down the job of web spider to search the real content from junk code.

* CSS allows the web pages to have absolute consistency

One of the reasons for using CSS during web development is that they allow consistency to all web pages. All the expressions and texts will get their characteristics from external style sheet. Web developers need not to worry about the change in characteristics of the elements because they can be easily altered at any stage of web development by using CSS.

* CSS lends portability to content

By using CSS you can make separate style sheets for different media. This provides you the great flexibility in presenting your content. CSS allows you to redefine the characteristics of elements in a website to suit the need of the situation. For e.g.: A separate style sheet will allow you to redefine the characteristics of certain elements so that they are easier to be printed. Also the user will never come to know that you had restructured the characteristics for their benefit.

CSS is created to make the things easier for your website and also to give you control over different elements in your website. Utilising benefits of CSS will give you popular user friendly web pages.

2008-04-04T08:53:00.003-07:00

Ecommerce Marketing - Improve Landing Page Performance

Undertaking any new advertising campaign should also entail the optimization of your landing pages. These pages need to be set up primarily to convert the visitors that your advertising generates. No matter the method of marketing or advertising you use, even offline advertising, you should have a clear understanding of the visitors that it will produce.

- What keywords, if any, led a visitor to your page?
- Are your visitors looking for information or products?
- Where are your visitors likely to be from?

The first step to landing page optimization is getting to know the resulting visitors. With paid search and even organic search you should have a good level of knowledge of the keywords that those visitors have used to visit your site. Consider whether the keywords and your campaign in general is geographically targeted, whether it will lead to visitors that want more information or are ready to start the buying process, and their general demographics. The more information you can determine about your new visitors, the more effective your landing page can be.

- Have you included the most relevant keywords in your page?
- Are the images relevant to the topic your visitors want?
- Are ALL of your page elements relevant?

The landing page should be optimized so that it is relevant to these visitors. Page relevancy is always a popular topic. The more relevant a page is to its visitors, the more targeted those visitors will be, and the more targeted a visit is, the more likely they will convert and perform your desired action. Including keywords is a part of page relevancy but generally matching all of the page content to the needs of your visitors is vital.

- Why did a visitor choose to visit your site?
- What did you promise or infer in your advertisement?
- Do your visitors want information or do they want to buy straight away?

If you promise information in the advertising link then you should provide that information. In contrast, if an advertisement implies that your visitor will be taken to a purchase page, then that is where they should be taken. Most searches are done by surfers looking for information on a topic - this may or may not lead to an immediate purchase. By providing the information that a visitor is looking for it provides you with the opportunity to increase brand awareness, and even make an immediate sale.

- What makes your product better than your competitors' products?
- Why should visitors use your website rather than the next one?
- What do you have to offer that no other service, or very few services, also offer?

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what makes you stand out from your competition. It's the reason that your visitors should choose you over any other site. It's also one of the most powerful conversion tools you have available to you. Many websites do not include their USP because they have yet to identify it - virtually every website and every company has a USP and promoting it early or prominently in the content of your site will help to increase conversion rates.

- Does the first paragraph of content include a summary?
- Have you got all of the important information on the page before the fold?
- Have you used an appropriate web content writing format?

Reading from a computer screen is very different to reading from paper based media. We can't read as quickly, we digest less information, and we comprehend fewer facts and less information. As such, it is good practice to write differently for the Internet than we would for a magazine or other publication. The very first paragraph needs to be a concise and informative summary of the rest of the page. Sentences and paragraphs should be shorter in length and, therefore, simpler in their reading. Headlines and titles, as well as other formatting, should be well employed in the relevant areas.

- Have you removed any unnecessary links?
- Is advertising kept to less visible sections of the page?
- Have you moved distracting page elements below the fold?

The more external links that appear at or near the top of the page, the more likely that your visitors will leave your site. Similarly, distracting advertisements that aren't a part of your CTA (Call To Action) need to be placed somewhere less distracting, along with other potential diversions. While these page elements all have a place on websites, they shouldn't detract from a well optimized landing page.

- What do you want your visitors to do next?
- What will your visitors want to do next?
- Have you clearly defined and implemented your CTA?

The Call To Action, or CTA, is the online vehicle that will drive your visitors to take the next step in the process. What this step is will differ according to various factors. If you sell your own products then the next step for your visitors could be to make the purchase. Alternatively, the desired action could be to sign up for a free newsletter, click an affiliate link, or download a free ebook. Identify what it is that you want your visitors to do next as well as what you believe they will want to do next. Once you've identified your CTA you need to implement it on your page so that visitors recognize what they are expected to do.

- Do you have any special offers, reductions, or discounts?
- Do you have any promotional giveaways or other incentives to offer?
- Have you pushed these incentives above the fold?

Incentives are a great way to persuade undecided visitors to take the plunge and move on to the next step. Either have a creative ad made that is relevant to the incentive, or at the very least ensure that it is mentioned in or around the first paragraph of your page. It should also be considered one of your USPs so it is a critical part of optimizing your landing pages.

- Is there any way you can make improvements?
- Are you tracking results?
- Are you prepared to make changes according to those results?

Your landing page is all about getting results. This means you need a powerful analytic package so that you can track the performance of these pages. You should have this software installed on your site anyway, in order that you can track the results of the advertising campaign itself, determine your most successful and least successful pages, and gather important data. Make small changes in a bid to improve page performance, and ascertain the success of those changes before making any others. Keep monitoring and optimizing until you get the best possible results.

2008-04-02T15:34:00.002-07:00

Everything on the Internet starts with a domain name!

I know that may come off as a bit over reaching - but its true. From email to news, search, video or anything else on the Internet - you have to know where you're going which is only achieved by a domain name.

The ABC's of domain names, which as a title may come off as a little corny to you, is an exercise that makes you think about your industry or business, what you're doing in it, and how you go about doing what you do as it relates to domain names. The use of the ABC's format is to provide a simple, back to basics approach to deliver fundamental concepts that provoke thoughts, ideas and questions on domain names and how they are a part of your world.

So, whatever all of that means - lets dive into the ABC's of domain names and find their relevance in your line or work, personal life, hobbies, educational background, experience or special areas of interest to see what jumps out and comes naturally to you:

A: Advertising - domain names offer the perfect venue to advertise your product or services or to provide potential revenue by domain parking and/or affiliate programs.

B: Branding - the brand is in the name. Having a great targeted domain name can really build a brand, or can actually be the brand (eg: Google.com)

C: Community - the Internet is all about an interconnected community. Through domain names, you create a real destination and an identity for what can become a community.

D: Direct Search - having a generic word based domain name is your best path to direct search traffic. Direct Search is here to stay and will likely take an increasing share of the overall search marketplace. Direct search bypasses the likes of yahoo.com and google.com as the user types in the destination site directly into their browser (ie: http://www.computers.com/).

E: Ecommerce - want to conduct business online - you need to start with one primary thing - a domain name. Ecommerce is one of the leading uses of the Internet.

F: Friends & Family - connect with your friends and family with domain names - either by email, your favorite websites, or photo sharing sites and videos, etc.

G: Global - synonymous with the Internet - domain names (particularly .com) have mass broad appeal on a global basis, with global potential.

H: High Returns - where else can you buy a piece of virtual real-estate for $8.00 and sell it within a matter of weeks or months for over $1000? Fund.com just sold for $9.99 Million in March of 2008.

I: Investment - domain names are appreciating more than any investment for the price. Similar to investing in stocks, bonds, real estate or insurance - domain names offer what I believe to be stable long lasting appreciation with the potential to create astonishing returns. Want to learn more about domain investing - you can always check out http://www.domainprofitsbook.com/.

J: Justify - Justify your web presence and online business with a great domain name that demonstrates who you are and what you do.

K: Keywords - domain names can be based upon major key words for your industry or target market. Just the same, the key words you use in your Internet marketing can be generated from the domain name you choose and how it relates to your target industry/product/service/noun/verb.

L: Localization & Location - targeting niche audiences by location and a specific geography has proved to be a very strong, identifiable marketing opportunity for anybody online. Embracing localization for your domain investment objectives is a great path to consider.

M: Monetization - making money and creating multiple sources and streams of income are the cornerstones to the potential and reason why people buy savvy domain names.

N: New Markets to seize - new products and services are always being launched, just as new companies and markets are being formed. Finding with a good strong domain name to capture the essence of your business or target market for your online presence is always a great starting point.

O: Organization - a domain name is the perfect way to identify with your organization. Whether it's a product, service, or brand - your domain name is your face on the Internet.

P: Profits - Domain are a great way to make money and profits. Invest wisely and you can find yourself with a great windfall.

Q: Quest - Like any business venture, you are on a quest to explore, learn and make money.

R: Revenue - domain names offer a myriad of ways to generate revenues. There are numerous ways and avenues to generate revenues with domain names, however, in some cases are closely held ideas and resources. Becoming educated about domain names and being focused on creating a long lasting business is a great path towards generating revenue.

S: Search Engines - Search engines are the gateway to choices on the Internet and essentially, a directory of domains classified by the type of information, product or service they offer. Search engines are a powerful marketing tool and a source of traffic for the domain name owner.

T: Technology - simply, without technology, there are no domains, websites, search engines, email or the like. The beauty of domain names is that you really don't have to understand or learn too much technology to get started, or to make money.

U: Unique Users - people coming to your website/domains generate traffic. The more unique users that visit your website - the more traffic they create. The more traffic - the greater the value. The best way to create long lasting value with domain names is creating a venue where a consistent and growing base of unique users visit your domain name/website.

V: Virtual - Domain names are virtual real estate. Some represent ocean-front property while others can represent sky scrapers, apartments or vacant land in the middle of a barren desert. Build your portfolio of virtual real estate for the longer term or flip your domain name for a quick sale and profits.

W: World Wide Web - The world wide web and its beginning started with domain names and/or their underlying numerical identities. With the advent of the world wide web, email, search engines and the increasing convergence of communications and media - business and industry has created high demand and appreciating values for good domain names.

X: The X Factor - there is a mystique and certain unknowns regarding the true value of domain names, how to create revenue and profits, and what strategies are best to create traffic to your domain name or website. The more knowledgeable and prepared you are to dive into the domain name world - the better off you are in managing the X Factor when it rears its head.

Y: You - buying, selling, and owning domain names is a reflection upon you, what your goals are, where your interests lie, and how you want to make money with this virtual real estate. You need to decide what your objectives are and how you are most comfortable in approaching your investment and dedication towards making money with domain names.

Z: Zeal - approach your domain activities with passion and enthusiasm. The more positive your thinking and focus is with domain names - the better you will be able to manage it, be prepared, and have an open mind to seize new opportunities and make money with your domains.

Improving Your Web Page Speed

2008-04-02T15:22:00.009-07:00

Improving Your Web Page Speed
By Rene LeMerle

Google recently announced that web page load time was a contributing factor to their Google AdWords Quality Score. As an the AdWords Quality score impacts the success of Google Advertising campaigns, optimizing pages for fast loading is now essential.

Below are some quick tips to ensure the web pages for your Google ads are lightening fast. If you're not the author of your website, ensure your web designer has undertaken these strategies to optimize your site's speed.

Key web page load time factors
These are some of the key areas that impact a web pages load speed:

• Server speed - the computer that hosts your website
• Database - how reliant is your web page on a database
• HTML code - how much code makes up your web page
• Images and Media - what's the size of the images and rich media on your page
• Scripts - the use of Javascript and other scripts on your page

Images and Media

Images and rich media are the main cause of slow web pages. Often images are used where text could be equally effective, and when used are not optimized to load quickly.

While appearances are important, always ensure your images and media are providing real value to your web page, and if not - consider omitting them.

If the images and media are enhancing the page's performance, then ensure they are optimized for quick loading.

For images, generally optimize them to 72dpi and use GIF or PNG formats for the best results. Where image quality is vital (e.g. product images), use JPG. Trying keeping the total size of images and media on the page to under 50Kb.

HTML code

It's very easy for your web page's HTML code to blow out in size. Ideally, sub 20Kb sizes are ideal. The most common way to trim your HTML code is the use of CSS (stylesheets), which avoids the use of excessive coding, such as tables and style tags. For help with using CSS, visit W3C help pages.

Server Speed

Where you host your website can have big impact on your site speed. Many people look to cut costs in hosting to the detriment of their sites load time.

Often shared hosting or narrow bandwidths provided by hosting companies create load time issues. Where possible, seek dedicated hosting options and the widest bandwidth suitable for your site. It's always good to shop around for hosting packages.

Databases

Does your website rely on a database to load? Many websites which are driven by databases (many cms based sites use databases) would be equally effective as static pages. If you can avoid database reliance, then opt for a static format to streamline your speeds.

While its not always feasible or logical to use static pages, then ensure your database is set up to simplify the access process. Consult a database specialist or professional web designer if you're not sure that your db is set up optimally.

Scripts

Scripts are often used to create web page interactivity and functionality. As browsers have matured, often scripts are required less to achieve these results (e.g. mouse-overs etc.) If you really need to use scripts such as Javascript on your web pages - try to keep them in external files which help to keep your web page code clean and search engine friendly.

Now that's not the definitive list of elements that impact your web page's speed, but addressing some, if not all of the above, will surely have a noticeable effect of your web page's load time - and help to improve your Google AdWords Quality score.

Web Design - Simple Mistakes and Golden Rules

2007-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Web Design - Simple Mistakes and Golden Rules

Good web design is something that can be achieved relatively easily by sticking to a small set of guiding principles and avoiding some very common mistakes.

1. Keep Everything Obvious - Don't Make Me Think

The book entitled Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug is one of the best selling books on the subject of web design and usability. Personally, I think thinking is a good thing but at the same time I don't want to be struggling to figure out how to submit a web form!

Visitors to a website expect certain conventions, breaking these is a great way of losing visitors. People expect to find the navigation at the top of a page or on the left hand side. Logos are mostly found on the top left. Much research has been conducted into how people view and use web pages. The good news is that you do not to know all of this; instead look at how larger companies such as eBay, Amazon, Google, Microsoft structure their pages and the language they use, then emulate them.

2. Limit Colours

A website using too many colours at a time can be overwhelming to many users and can make a website look cheap and tacky. Any users with colour blindness or contrast perception difficulties may even be unable to use the site.

Limiting a palette to 2 or 3 colours will nearly always lead to a slicker looking design and has the added bonus of simplifying your design choices, reducing design time.

Software like Color Wheel Pro can greatly simplify the creation of a pallet by showing which colours sit well together. If you really do not have the eye for design then software like this provides the perfect way of escaping monotone or badly combined colour schemes.

If your site uses blue and yellow together or red and green then it may present problems to anyone suffering with colour blindness. Vischeck.com provide free software that can simulate different types of colour blindness.

3. Be Careful With Fonts

The set of fonts available to all visitors of a website is relatively limited. Add to that the possibility of a user having a visual impairment then the options become even smaller. It is advisable to stick to fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Courier, Times, Geneva and Georgia. They may not be very interesting but your content should be more interesting than your font and if it can't be read, what is the point of having a site?

Black text on a white background is far easier for the majority of people to read than white text on a black background. If you have large amounts of text then a white or pale background is far more user friendly. Always ensure that there is a good contrast between any text and its background. Blue text on a blue background is okay as long as the difference in shade is significant.

Verdana is often cited as being the easiest to read on the screen. Georgia is probably the best option for a serif font.

4. Plan for Change

If you fix the height of your page to 600 pixels will you still be able to add additional menu items without completely redesigning your page?

The ability to add or remove content from a website is fundamental to the ongoing success of it. Having to rewrite the entire web page or website each time you want to make a small change is sure fire way to kill your interest in your own site and will negatively impact your overall design and usability.

Getting a good idea of how your website is likely to grow will clarify how best to structure your layout. For example, a horizontal navigation is often more restrictive than a side navigation unless you use drop down menus; if your navigation is likely to grow and you hate drop down menus then your design choice has been 99% made for you!

Understanding how to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), avoiding unconventional layouts and complicated backgrounds will all help enormously.

5. Be Consistent

Again, don't make your visitors think! About how to use your site at least. If your navigation is at the top on your homepage, it should be at the top on all other pages too. If your links are coloured red ensure the the same convention is used on all sections.

By using CSS correctly you can make most of this happen automatically leaving you free to concentrate on the content.

6. Keep it Relevant

A picture is better than a thousand words but if the picture you took on holiday is not relevant to your Used Car Sales website then you should really replace it with something which reflects the content or mood of the page; a photo of a car perhaps!

If you can take something off of your web page without it adversely affecting the message, appearance or legality of your website you should do it without hesitation.

Avoid the need to add images, Flash animations or adverts just because you have space. This wastes bandwidth and obscures the intentions of your website. If you absolutely must fill the space, then exercise your imagination to find something as relevant as possible.

Keeping your content focused will ultimately help your search-engine rankings.

7. Become a CSS Expert

Cascading Style Sheets should be any web designer's best friend. CSS makes it is possible to separate the appearance and layout of your page from the content. This has huge benefits when it comes to updating and maintaining your site, making your site accessible and making your site easy for search engines to read.

CSS at a first glance is very straightforward but is definitely worth investing in one or more books.

8. Avoid Complexity

Using standard layouts for your web page will save you development time and make your site easier to use. Pushing the boundaries nearly always leads to quirky behaviour, cross-browser problems, confused site visitors and maintenance headaches. Unless you really do like a challenge then avoid complexity wherever possible.

Many standard layouts are freely available online with much of the boring, repetitive work already done for you.

How to Convince the consumer to Buy Online Instead of Off:

2007-04-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

How to Convince the consumer to Buy Online Instead of Off:

1. Website must look professional. The art of seduction always begins with presentation. Sloppy never gets the girls.

2. Don't make me look a hundred different places for information. Give me product details until you've made me sick with them. Link to product reviews.

3. Don't try to be slick by overselling an inferior product. Be honest about why it's not as good as the higher-priced item. The consumer (that's me and you) appreciates being able to balance value and affordability.

4. Make all serious considerations clear. It builds trust. For example, if the TV's refurbished or needs an external tuner, let us know up front.

5. Shipping cost matters. It matters a lot. If I can get the same product at Target for the SAME or lower, I will buy it there. Don't try to trick me with giant discounts offset with huge shipping costs – it makes me think you're tying to pull a fast one.

6. Ease my mind more about the shipping. I worry when kids, wives, mothers, siblings, and products are in transit. I need to know returning the product won't be a hassle, that I can track it in case something seems lost in the shuffle, and that the seller won't ship-and-stick me with something I didn't order.

7. There needs to be positive user ratings about you and your product easily found. Link me to where people say nice things about you. Link me to where people say nice things about your product.

8. If you have a sale price, don't just mark through the original price and make me click to find the new one. That's annoying and wastes my time – and forms a (small) negative impression.

9. Don't make it complicated to buy from you. More than four steps to make a purchase? Forget it, just because your site's a pain in the butt.

10. Under-promise, over-deliver, and then deliver, deliver, deliver some more. As an online retailer, you online reputation is the most valuable web property you have. If you get customers gushing about you, other customers will come.

20 Things To Remember For Good Web Copy

2007-04-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

20 Things To Remember For Good Web Copy

1. Tight writing. That doesn't mean bad or easy writing.

2. Copy of about 600-800 words is better for SEO and catching the long tail of search.

3. Title – Subject – Support, in that order, like subject, verb, object.

4. Titles should be snappy and informative – clickable, but clear.

5. Leads (first sentence or paragraph) should get to the point. Tell the reader what the article's about first thing.

6. No fancy, wordy intros where it's not clear what you're talking about.

7. Information beats fluff every time. Pretty is for books and newspapers (and only sometimes).

8. Information does not beat style every time. Style keeps people awake.

9. Sans serif fonts are easier and faster to read on computer screens.

10. White space is awesome – even better than big, pretty pictures.

11. Content should be scannable.

12. Think in bullets and subtitles.

13. People like lists.

14. Pictures should be specific and informative, not generic, decorative and ad-like

15. Photos should be relevant to content.

16. People in pictures should look friendly and approachable (and have their whole head).

17. Photos should be full body if possible (so guys can check out packages and stuff).

18. Spell stuff right. It makes you look smarter.

19. Grammar IS important. Unless you're not really a professional.

20. Online press releases should be even tighter than Web copy.

Most Important Web Design Tips

2007-02-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Most Important Web Design Tips

Here's the main tip or advice I can give anyone starting a new web business: the only reason my site (any site) has value is because I have targeted certain keywords or keyword phrases with my site. Once these keyword phrases rank high in all the search engines you get targeted traffic to your site. Targeted traffic which companies would like to have a piece of to sell their products.

Actually if you do this one action right (get high rankings for your site's profitable in-demand keywords) then your site will earn you money. For example, if you get a top 10 ranking for 'Cell Phones' you will make money, regardless of how good or bad your site is designed!

Of course, this doesn't mean web design will not play an important role in the success of your site. You should always go for professional graphics, headers and logos if you can afford them, but you must realize other design elements will play a greater role in the success of your site.

You want a site that is easy to navigate with all links clearly visible and linking to your home page. You want a site that is easy on the eyes so keep all fonts and colors even and consistent throughout your site. Organize your content and material in a simple and straightforward manner featuring the one thing most surfers are searching for: information.

Please your visitors and the search engines by covering or discussing only one topic per page. Place a well defined page title at the top and include your main keyword phrase in your title and description. Feed the spiders but never forget you're writing for real human beings; the majority of whom will actually have a heart and a pulse!

Design For The SERPs

Keep your web copy and writing short, informative and witty. Some eye candy is dandy as long as you get your point across in the process. If you're selling from your web site, many professional marketers will suggest you start your marketing strategy not on your site but in the search engines' descriptions listing your site or page. Keep this in mind when you're writing your page descriptions, start to pre-sell to your potential customers in the MSN, Yahoo! or Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

These search engines, especially Google, will add creditability to your information or offer. This is one design trick or tactic you should be utilizing on your site to increase conversions if your goal with your site is to sell products or services.

Design For The BIG Picture
Along those same lines, I believe very few webmasters have a Big Picture when they're creating or designing their sites. You must look far beyond the actual pages you have uploaded to your web host... mainly because you must extend your site well beyond this limited concept.
You must fully understand your site's real power exists well beyond your web pages. You must extend the reach of your site to all corners of the web. You must build links, partnerships and content into these countless areas of the web. Use articles, blogs, social networks, viral marketing, directories, related sites and most of all you must pay attention to all your site's content in the major search engines.

Grasp the Big Picture of your site's design and keep it in mind at all times as you expand your site and watch it grow. Always have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish with your site's design and point it in that direction. Never forget your site doesn't have to be perfectly designed to be successful; you just have to get your information across in a frank and friendly manner. Just give your visitors what they're looking for and your site will be successful.

The Importance of Website Monitoring

2007-01-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Understanding what your visitors do on your site is crucial information, not to mention interesting. If your visitors proceed to purchase a product but then a large majority leave the site when they get to a specific page in the order process then you need to know about it. It could be that this page is confusing or hard to use. Fixing it could increase your sales by 200%.0 This is just an example; there are many reasons why you want a detailed analysis of your site visitors.

Most website hosting services offer a stats package that you can study. If you're not sure where this is, call up your hosting service and ask them. Statistics are a vital part of tracking your marketing progress. If you don't have access to website statistics get a package that can help you in this area. Do not get a counter that just shows how many visitors you've had. You'll be missing out on vital information that can help strengthen weaknesses in your site.

A good website hosting service would offer traffic logs that provide an invaluable insight into the traffic being referred to a web site from various sources such as search engines, directories and other links.

Unfortunately traffic tracking provided by web hosting services is often in the form of raw traffic log files or other difficult to understand cryptic formats. These log files are basically text files that describe actions on the site. It is literally impossible to use the raw log files to understand what your visitors are doing. If you do not have the patience to go through these huge traffic logs, opting for a traffic-logging package would be a good idea.

Basically two options are available to you and these are: using a log analysis package or subscribing to a remotely hosted traffic logging service. A remotely hosted traffic logging service may be easy to use and is generally the cheaper option of the two. WebTrends Live and HitsLink are two good, remotely hosted, traffic-monitoring services worth considering. However, WebTrends Live is a more complicated system and is suitable for larger ecommerce websites. "SuperStats" is another recommended traffic logging service.

These services do not use your log files. Typically a small section of code is placed on any page you want to track. When the page is viewed, information is stored on the remote server and available in real time to view in charts and tables form.

Log analysis packages are typically expensive to buy and complex to set up. Apart from commercial packages there are also some free log analysis packages available, such as Analog.
A good traffic logging service would provide statistics pertaining to the following:

* How many people visit your site?
* Where are they from?
* How are visitors finding your site?
* What traffic is coming from search engines, links from other sites, and other sources?
* What keyword search phrases are they using to find your site?
* What pages are frequented the most - what information are visitors most interested in?
* How do visitors navigate within your web site?

Knowing the answers to these and other fundamental questions is essential for making informed decisions that maximize the return on investment (ROI) of your web site investment.\

Did you know?

As with any marketing campaign you may run to assist your business, it is important to track the results of your Internet marketing campaign. This should be done on a continual basis so you can ensure the strategies you are utilizing are working. It can also help you to determine when a strategy is not working so you do not continue to invest time and money on a strategy which is not beneficial to your business.

The most important aspect of tracking visitors to your Website is analyzing all the statistics you get from your tracking software. The three main statistics that will show your overall progress are hits, visitors and page views. Hits are tracked when any picture or page loads from your server on to a visitor?s browser. Hits, however, can be very misleading. It is quite an irrelevant statistic for your Website.

The statistic that is probably the most important for a Website is Page Views/Visitors. This gives you a good indication of two things. First, how many people are coming to your site, and secondly how long are they staying on your site. If you have 250 visitors and 300 page views you can figure that most visitors view one page on your site and then leave. Generally, if you're not getting 2 page views per visitor then you should consider upgrading your site's content so your visitors will stay around longer. If you see the number of visitors you have increasing as well as the number of page views per visitor increasing then keep up the good work!

Always look for this stat as an overall barometer of how your site design is doing and if your marketing campaigns are taking hold. Also, a good stat to look for is unique visitors. Once a person visits your site they will not be added to the unique visitors? category if they visit again. This is a good way to track new visitors to your website. Page views are a good indication of how "sticky" your Website is. A good statistic to keep is Page Views divided by the number of Visitors you have. This statistic will give you a good idea if your content is interesting and if your visitors are staying on your site for a long time and surfing.

Some people are intimidated by web traffic statistics (mostly because of the sheer volume of data available), but they shouldn't be. While there are many highly specialized statistics that can be used for more in-depth web traffic analysis, the above areas alone can provide invaluable information on your visitors and your Website performance.

Remember - this data is available for a reason. It's up to you to use it.

Website Design: Welcome The White Space

2006-10-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

Website Design: Welcome The White Space
By Scott Lindsay

Individuals who are new to website development will often compartmentalize the web page and fill every available space with either text or graphics.

After all, why shouldn't you maximize the site design by including as much information as possible?

There seems to be an underlying fear that if there is ‘white space' the website will look incomplete. The term white space is a common term in publishing. For instance when a newspaper is developing an advertisement they will seek to allow for some areas of the advertisement to be free from text or graphics. Most publishers have learned that white space provides a sophisticated look while drawing attention to a very specific selling point.

The best way to describe it is to use music as an example. There are times when musicians will use a very roots-oriented approach to their music. They may sing with only a guitar. This approach of stripping away everything else helps the listener experience a more intimate encounter with the music. Sometimes adding more actually reduces the overall effectiveness of the music or, in the case of web design, the message.

If your online visitor has to take a significant amount of time to locate the important information they hoped to find on a web page they will likely lose interest rapidly.

Cable television contains reality television shows that attempt to help individuals sell their property. In most cases the very first thing the experts note is the clutter that may be distracting guests from visualizing the possibilities of the property. The experts will generally paint rooms a neutral color and most of the furnishings are removed from the home. The episodes generally end with the homeowners with a contract and very impressive reviews from those attending an open house.

Many web designers are reverting to a more minimalist approach to their webpage design. The use of links is a key strategy while removing unwanted clutter.

The use of great photos and a significant amount of organized white space allow visitors to concentrate on the reason they came to the webpage in the first place.

Another reason white space may be an important element in site design is to allow for the inclusion of advertising. If you fill every available space you eliminate advertisement from being a consideration on your webpage. In effect you may be driving away customers and advertisers at the same time.

For some, the thought of intentionally carving out white space in a web design requires a new way of thinking. I would encourage you to take some time and visit some of the most successful websites and see how much white space exists. What can you eliminate from your site design that gives it room to breathe?

The 6 C's Of Marketing Unleashed

2006-10-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

The 6 C's Of Marketing Unleashed

Okay, so we have all learned about the 4P's of marketing in undergrad: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. If not, you can open up one of your old marketing text books, blow off the dust and read about it there. The 6 C's, however, is a not a concept that replaces the 4 P's; rather, it just expands on the promotion element and provides a more granular approach to consumer marketing.

CUSTOMER:

In this day and age, a company's marketing strategy needs to be customer focused. It's about understanding the target consumer; their wants, needs and motivations. Not as demographics, psychographics or any other graphics, but as real people. Its understanding why customers do what they do (or don't do),when they do it and why they do it. Such knowledge is critical in marketing since having a strong understanding of buyer behavior will help shed light on what is important to the customer. It's about focusing on the target customer first and then working back to the brand. It's imperative that companies have mindshare before focusing on market share.

CONSISTENCY:

Companies need to maintain consistency in their message; a practice called integrated marketing communications - from packaging and advertising to sales promotion and publicity. This will maintain and reinforce a brand's personality and image in a real life context and avoid doing something brainless like changing the distinctive color of the UPS truck to orange. I am sure it's been talked about.

CREATIVITY:

Creativity is imperative to attract attention in a world cluttered with thousands of messages. Creativity means laying aside the rules, and engages in out-of-box thinking so that marketers can reach beyond logic and structure and tap into their imaginations.

* Creativity Informs: Marketing's responsibility to inform is greatly enhanced by creativity. Creativity makes marketing more vivid, and many researchers believe vividness attracts attention, maintains interest, and stimulates consumers' thinking.

* Creativity Persuades: The ancients Greeks created legends and myths about gods and heroes -symbols for humankind's instinctive longings and fears - to influence human behavior and thought. Today's marketers are doing the same thing; they are creating new myths, heroes and symbols like Ronald McDonald, the "Can You Hear Me Now" guy from Verizon, and more recently the Gecko from Geico Insurance.

* Creativity Reminds: Imagine using the same invitation, without any creativity, to remind people to try a particular product everyday for a month. The invitation would become stale very quickly. Only creativity can transform boring reminders into interesting, entertaining marketing communications. Nike is proof. Several commercials in a Nike campaign never mention the company name or even spelled it out on the screen. Each communication told a story. And, the only on-screen cue identifying the sponsor was a single "swoosh" logo inscribed on the final scene.

CULTURE:

All marketing communications needs cross-cultural research to be able to succeed. It's simple to see things from your own perspective, assuming that everyone else in the world thinks exactly like you and should understand what's so great about your product or service. Just reading about all the mistakes made by large corporations proves that even the most sizable and experienced marketers have made errors time and again.

One of the most famous examples is Coca Cola translating the name into Chinese without back-translating it ("bite the wax tadpole"), ultimately resulting in a horrible response from an insulted society. Marketing books are full of examples like these. As David Ogilvy, known as the Father of Advertising, states, "If you are trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language in which they think".

COMMUNICATION:

This one is basic. Consumers don't want to be "marketed to". Rather, they want to be "communicated with". Good marketing communication creates value with target customers, speaks in their language and tells your story. It's about building long term, trustworthy, and profitable relationships with your customers. As Seth Godin states, it's about reinforcing the lies that consumers tell themselves everyday (i.e. I look much better in these jeans from Abercrombie; they make me look sexy).

CHANGE:

Marketing is not just a business function, but a process. There is a beginning, middle, but there is never an end. Marketers must constantly CHANGE as society changes. They should never be afraid to try something new. Marketing today is not what it was 2 - 5 - or even 20 years ago. Marketing needs to be an evolving process that considers change in the world, economy, market, consumers; as well as internal change within the organization.

Conclusion (not the 7th C)

So there it is; the 6 C's of marketing - Customer, Consistency - Creativity - Culture - Communication and Change. I am sure that these will be published in every text book in the country within the next ten years and I will be a rich, well known author. Yeah right!

Elements To Improve Web Site Navigation

2006-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

Elements To Improve Web Site Navigation

By David Davis

As you browse the Web, you will find sites that implement just about every type of navigation scheme you can think of and then even some more!

However, certain common factors do emerge. The use of menu bars, either horizontally or vertically oriented, are the most common way of allowing users to move through your site.

Sites with a great deal of content often implement dynamic menu bars that change to present the most relevant options on each page. Sites often use some kind of "feedback" or special effect to let users know where certain navigation elements are located, such as graphics that change colors when the users point their mouse at them.

You can use a variety of technologies and design elements to implement Web site navigation. As you consider different navigation techniques, keep the following seven basic comparison factors in mind:

Visual

Does the technique look like a navigation element that users are accustomed to seeing? In other words, is it a button or a menu that users will recognize as a navigation element?

Feedback

Does the technique offer some form of feedback to indicate that a user has pointed at or clicked a particular navigation element? This type of feedback can be important because users often explore a site by moving their mouse around to see what happens. Navigation techniques that allow individual elements to respond to this activity make the overall navigation more likely to succeed.

Accessibility

How does the technique work when a visually impaired person attempts to use the site with a specially equipped Web browser? If this demographic is important to your company, pay special attention to this capability.

Overhead

Some techniques require the server to transfer more data to the Web browser than is required by other techniques. If your customers will be accessing the site over slower connections, then using techniques with a high overhead will result in slow page loads, and possibly bored customers who will give up and move on to the competition.

Scalability

Does the technique offer any particular advantages to make growing the site easier? Some navigation designs may require you to redesign the entire site every time a new feature is added. Others may simply require a few minor modifications to add several new departments to a menu.

Space

Some techniques, combined with your site's browsing philosophy, require considerable space on the screen. Other techniques allow you to present a wider array of navigation choices while using less screen space. Keep in mind that your navigation elements should never occupy the majority of the screen. It is the content that your customers came for, not the menu bars.

Compatibility

How well will this technique work within the available range of Web browsers? If one of your objectives is to have your site usable by as many customers as possible, pay attention to the techniques that offer a broad range of compatibility, and steer away from those that are limited to a smaller set of browsers.

Navigation Technologies

To implement Web site navigation, you can use one of four primary technologies. The oldest and simplest of these technologies is the basic, static HTML page. A step up from that is the static HTML page, which is dynamically generated on the Web server. Web pages can be given more interactive capabilities with Dynamic HTML (DHTML), whether programmed in VBScript or JavaScript. Java presents the opportunity to program a complete, standalone application to use as a navigation aid.

Static HTML

Static HTML links are the oldest and simplest form of navigation on the Web. They can be less exciting than their dynamic counterparts, but remain one of the most effective navigational techniques on the Web.

Dynamically Generated Static HTML

If your site is constantly growing and changing, static HTML will require a constant effort to keep the navigational elements in line with the site's growth. A common solution to this problem has been to dynamically generate the navigation elements when the page displays. When using the DHTML, you don't have to manually update elements as the site grows, because an automated process generates the navigation elements as necessary, based on the information in a database.

VBScript and JavaScript Dynamic HTML

DHTML is a technology that allows you to embed programming code in the Web pages that are sent to user's computers. DHTML code actually executes within the users Web browser, and can change the appearance and content of the Web page in response to the user's actions on the page.

In Finality

You can use a variety of technologies and design elements to implement Web site navigation. As you consider different navigation techniques, keep the above seven basic comparison factors in mind. Visitors are becoming rarer and rarer in this competitive globe of e-commerce. Retain those who visit your site for longer periods in order to convert them

Well-Written, Well-Optimized Product Pages

2006-09-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well-Written, Well-Optimized Product Pages
By: Michael Pedone

I recently had the pleasure of writing SEO copy for a business owner who really "gets" it. It's a useful case study for any business that sells or plans to sell a line of products online...

...and it can be applied to everything from greeting cards to cars.

Lynn sells a line of all-natural beauty products. When she planned out her ecommerce site, she knew she wanted each product to have its own sales page for several reasons:

-to illustrate the product with good-sized images.

-to fully describe the product and its use with informative, colorful and persuasive copy.

-and to allow the page to be properly optimized so search engine users could find it independently, without necessarily going through the home page navigation.

The site's main navigation is clear and user-friendly, so visitors certainly can locate the products and information they seek that way. But having correctly optimized web copy on each page gives search engine users another way to find the site and that's always good for traffic and business.

Then Lynn asked me to prepare 200 or so words of informative, conversational copy for each product copy that seamlessly incorporates her keyword phrases into lively descriptions that speak directly to the reader: "Your feet work hard for you every day. Do something nice for them with our natural peppermint foot cream that soothes away that rough, sandpaper skin on your heels and toes" etc.

What do I mean by "seamlessly" integrating the keywords? Using them only where it makes sense to do so. Sometimes when I reread a section of copy I've written, I have to go back and remove or swap out a key phrase that didn't fit because it made the sentence sound awkward and forced, or there were too many of the same key phrases in the copy surrounding it. Sometimes I find a place to fit in an extra keyword repetition in a new location that I missed the first time around, like in a link or a subheading.

As long as you think "seamless" when you write SEO copy, you'll reduce the risk of overstuffing or alienating your readers with choppy, repetitive copy.

And as long as you always put the visitor first by providing lots of informative, well-written sales copy, your web content will succeed in two of its most important missions: to inform and to persuade.

RSS Feed Tips To Help SEO

2006-09-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

RSS Feed Tips To Help SEO

By: Sharon Housley

RSS feeds are a great communication medium, and when properly managed, web feeds can bring in significant Internet traffic.

RSS feeds should contain compelling themed content with episodic titles that are united in common broad theme.

Use RSS feeds as an online marketing and search engine optimization tool. Just as optimizing an HTML web page will increase exposure, so too will an RSS feed that is properly optimized and promoted. Use these simple tips to improve your web feed exposure.

Channel Title
The channel title in your RSS feed is one of the most important aspect. The channel title should be keyword rich and contain information related to the general theme of the RSS feed. In order to maximize compatibility with RSS readers, it is best not to include any HTML in the channel title. The channel title is a website visitors first glimpse at the RSS feed, so its important to make an impression and attract the interest of casual browsers. Additionally, many of the RSS feed directories and search engines use the information contained in the RSS feeds channel title and description to index the feed. In order for the feed to be properly categorized, it is important that the information contained in these fields be relevant to the contents contained in the feed. If included at all, the blog, brand, or company name should be at the end not the beginning of the RSS feed channel title.

Channel Description
The channel description field provides an opportunity to expand on the broad theme of the RSS feed. The channel description should contain related keywords and phrases, but it should be written to capture the interest of readers not search engine spiders. HTML can be used to decorate and emphasize specific text in the description field. In summation the channel description should provide a compelling overview of the RSS feeds contents.

RSS Feed Item Titles
The item titles should be 50-75 characters with spaces. In order to increase readability and compatibility with news readers, the RSS feed item titles should not be encoded with any HTML. Think of an RSS feed item title in the same way that you would a webpage title. The RSS feed item title is your opportunity to capture the interest of your reader. Really an RSS feed item title is nothing more than a headline. The most effective item titles are calls to action that grab the readers attention. Include pertinent keywords or keyword phrases in the items title and this will help any individuals doing deep feed searches for specific content.

Optimize RSS
Optimize all aspects of the web feed. While the feed should be optimized for search engines, using the same techniques a webmaster uses on a website, the optimization should not be at the readers expense. The content in an RSS feed is often what leads readers to click or not click through. Readers will judge RSS feeds on the quality of the content. This means that grammar and punctuation do matter. Consistent grammatical errors will reduce the writers credibility and the number of subscribers.

Anchor Text
Using RSS feeds, publishers have the unique opportunity to determine the anchor text that will be used to link to internal website pages. RSS feeds are often syndicated, and even more often compelling feed items will often be re posted by other publishers. With that in mind, when including links back to a website in the item description field, use anchor text that is a relevant keyword or phrase. Anchor text is one factor that search engines use in determining a websites ranking for specific keywords and phrases.

Number of Feed Items
Routinely prune the old items in an RSS feeds and archive the content contained in the feed to ensure that feeds load quickly in RSS readers. If you are using a third party service to host your feeds, keep in mind that FeedBurner will truncate or not display RSS feeds that it finds to be too large.

Heading Tags
If you are displaying an RSS feed as an HTML web page it makes sense to use H1 or H2 tags to display the RSS feeds item titles. If the RSS feed is optimized, the website will benefit from the keyword emphasis by using the header tags.

RSS Feed URLs
As with HTML web pages, the URLs contained in an RSS feed should contain keywords if possible. Use hyphens not underscores, to separate the keywords in the RSS feeds URL.

Add an Image
Consider adding an image to your RSS feed to enhance its appearance in an RSS reader. The image should be no large 144x400 and it is recommended that the image be 88x31. Most RSS readers will display the feed image above the feed contents, this is a great way to reinforce brand and establish brand recognition. Additionally you can add images to the RSS feeds description field. In all cases, it is important that the full URL to the image be referenced, because if the feed is syndicated it will report a broken image if its attempting to retrieve it locally.

Some of the RSS feed directories use the feeds website favorite icons to flag the RSS feed. The RSS feeds containing a favorite icon stand out from others in the directories so be sure to include a favicon in the domains root directory. RSS feeds are a great marketing tool, but like web pages, they must be optimized so that you can reap the full marketing benefits. Taking the time to implement some basic optimization tips will steadily increase your RSS feeds exposure.

5 Things Your Search Marketing Campaign Can Teach You

2006-09-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

5 Things Your Search Marketing Campaign Can Teach You
By: Michael Pedone

Search marketing, like all online marketing, is very measurable. One of the great things about paid search, in particular, is how easy it is to launch a campaign and how quickly you can start measuring the results (often within 24 hours).

We've put together a handful of top-line learnings that anyone can glean from their search marketing campaign. This helpful information ranges from learning what your customers want (in the language they're familiar with), to testing and measuring the effectiveness of your messaging.

Your search marketing campaign can help you learn:

1. How to speak your customer's language. One thing search has taught us over the years is that our clients' and their customers can often speak very different languages. For example, you may call your product "financial planning", but your site metrics and search campaign results may show (via conversion tracking) that your clients are looking for "investment help."

2. That your web site needs improvement. Search ads are targeted - if they are effectively written and relevant to the keyword you are targeting, you can practically predict high clickthrough rates. However, this does not necessarily mean you are going to get high conversion rates. When you have a large amount of visitors, which are not translating to sales, the next step is to look at your web site itself. Are your landing pages relevant? Is your navigation intuitive? Are you targeting the right terms?

3. How to measure ROI. Analyzing the impact of your marketing initiatives is no small task, and can be overwhelming for a lot of marketers and business owners. Search is a great way to get your feet wet with marketing accountability. Both Google and Yahoo offer built-in conversion tracking so you can see the effectiveness of your media dollars in near real-time, down to the keyword level.

4. What your competitors are doing. It is almost impossible not to analyze some competitor activity when maintaining any type of search campaign. Organic SEO, in particular, is a great way to root out websites in your space and see what they've got that you haven't got (and why they may be ranking better than you in the search results). It's easy to monitor competitive activity with paid search too - all the ads are right there lined up neatly in a row, and services such as AdGooROO and KeyCompete are popping up all over the place to help you monitor your competitor's search activity.

5. What messaging works. Paid search ads are a great way to test your messaging. Google and MSN, in particular, make it very easy to swap out ad copy and monitor ad effectiveness. Paid search ads are also a great way to test a new message before rolling it out to other (more expensive and less maneuverable) media channels.

10 Not-So-Obvious Ways to Promote Your Website

2006-09-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

10 Not-So-Obvious Ways to Promote Your Website
By: Wendy Suto

It is interesting to think that out of the numerous ways in which business owners can advertise their products and services, many of them neglect to place their company's URL in the very advertising they are already paying for.

Sometimes simply placing their website URL in their paid advertising is not that obvious. Here are 10 not-always-so-obvious ways to promote your Web site.

1. Include your URL on business cards, stationery, brochures and other literature. As silly as it may seem, this no-brainer is often overlooked. You'd be amazed how many business owners either forget to place their URL on their business cards or don't think doing so is all that important. Be sure when printing your company's promotional and marketing materials, to leave off the http:// part and include only the www.domain.com portion.

2. Don't neglect e-mail and e-mail newsletters as a way to bring visitors to your Web site. Utilize the signature file option (company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address) in your e-mail program. Many business owners sign their e-mails with just their first name, nothing more. Moreover, many business owners still send and receive business-related e-mails using a free e-mail account or their ISP's email, like Hotmail, Yahoo, or Ameritech, rather than using their corporate e-mail account - another free Web site promotion tool.

While it's a big commitment in time, publishing a weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. Don't forget to place your URL in each newsletter you send out.

3. Take a moment to use your traditional means of advertising to add your URL. Be sure to include your URL in any display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, magazines and more. View your Web site as an information adjunct to the ad - to capture the readers' attention with the ad, and then refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order. Look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising. Consider other traditional media to drive people to your site, such as direct mail, classifieds, post cards, etc.

4. Become an online expert in your field. Use your expertise to become an expert in your field and promote your Web site for free. Sign up for Yahoo Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/) or Google Answers (http://answers.google.com/answers/) and answer questions asked by online visitors. You will have the opportunity to write your company's URL in your profile. This is a great way to gain additional Internet exposure as well.

5. Issue press releases. When your business has a newsworthy event, send press releases to print and online periodicals. Use these opportunities to mention your company's URL near the bottom of each news release. There are many online PR Websites, including PRWeb.com, PRWire.com and others you may use to promote something exciting happening within your company.

6. Promote your site in mailing lists and news groups. The Internet offers hundreds of targeted e-mail based discussion lists, chat rooms and news groups made up of people with very specialized interests. Spend at least one hour each week searching for groups where a conversation is taking place. Do not use aggressive marketing and overly plug your company, even if you see some people doing so. Instead, add to the discussion in a helpful way and let the signature at the end of your e-mail or post message do the marketing for you. People will gradually get to know and trust you, visit your Web site, and do business with you.

7. Ask visitors to bookmark your site. It seems so simple, but make sure you ask visitors to bookmark your Web site. Use a text link or graphic on the homepage of your Web site.

8. Place URL in any yellow book advertising you already do. I once knew of a company who was spending $90,000 in yellow page advertising, across numerous books in the area, and included front yellow book cover ads as well as full-page, full-color ads throughout the yellow pages. Not once did they mention their Web site, which has been on the Net for many years. The company surprisingly saw no value to it.

Whether placing full-page ads in your local yellow pages, or only paying for a bold listing in the white and business yellow pages of your local directory, consider leaving open one line for your company's Web site address. Because you are already paying for the directory advertising, this is one particular place you definitely do not want to overlook.

9. Write articles for use in newsletters and other Web sites. You can dramatically increase your Internet visibility when you write expert articles about your field and distribute them as free content for other article directories, e-mail newsletters and other related Web sites. At the bottom of each article written, request a link back to your Web site and a one-line description of what you offer. This is an effective viral marketing approach.

10. Devise other viral marketing techniques. Viral marketing uses the communication networks of your site visitors and current customers to spread the word about your Web site exponentially. Some examples include word-of-mouth, public relations, referrals, blogs, creating "buzz", and other forms of network marketing.

Choose & Use The Best Colors

2006-08-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Choose & Use The Best Colors
By Andy Eaton

Are you using the best colors for your web site? Many web designers often overlook the issues of color in web design. When choosing colors for your web site there are three main areas that should be addressed.

The psychological effect of colors,
The effect on the readability of your site, and
The complementary choice of colors for your background, graphics, links, and text

These are all areas that must be well satisfied to create an effective and professional web site.

Listed below are a few characteristics of color that should always be considered when designing your graphics.

Colors have an effect on our emotions within 90 seconds of viewing.
Color choices can motivate, impress, and persuade your prospect to buy from you.
Colors not only intensify the item, they greatly influence our behavior.
The effects of color differ among different cultures.
Color choices alone are sending a specific message to your viewers.

Given the fact that people respond more to non-verbal cues than verbal cues, it's all-important that you choose the corresponding colors for the emotional trigger you want to trip. The following colors are associated with certain emotions or qualities in North American culture.

White - Suggests truthfulness, purity, clean, devotion, mild, and contemporary. White is the best color for a background color on the web. For business it can be refreshing and sterile.

Black - Suggests elegance, boldness, power, authority, seductive, evil, sophistication and classic. Black is the ideal choice for text on a light background. It is hard on the eyes when used as a background on web sites.

Red - Suggests strength, sex, excitement, passion, speed, danger, aggressiveness, and demands attention. In business it is associated with debt. Red is the most emotionally intense color. It stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing.

Blue - Suggests security, trust, reliability, coolness, faithfulness, belonging, and dignity. Blue is the most popular color. It is the second most popular color. In business it suggests fiscal responsibility and sanctuary.

Green - Suggests abundance, health, fertility, freedom, healing, nature, growth, jealously, and cool. In business it suggests status and wealth. It is the easiest color on the eye.

Brown - Suggests effectiveness, politeness, richness, and helpfulness. Brown is the color of earth, and is abundant in nature.

Gray - Suggests earnestness, authority, and practicality. In business it suggests traditional and conservative. Pink - Suggests softness, sweet, femininity, well-being, innocence, and nurture.

Purple - Suggests dignity, spirituality, royal, luxury, wealth, authority, mournfulness, and sophistication. In business it is upscale. Purple is favored by the artistic.

Orange - Suggests playfulness, pleasure, cool, warmth, cheer, vibrant, strength, endurance, and ambition.

Yellow - Suggests sunshine, warmth, cheer, happiness, cowardice, and jealousy. In business it is appealing to intellectual types and is good for accents. Yellow enhances concentration, increases metabolism, and is the most difficult color for the eye to take in.

Gold - Suggests expensive, and prestige. Silver - Suggests cold, scientific, and prestige.

Whenever you begin to choose your colors, think about your target market. What emotions do you want to evoke? Give some thought to the current emotion of your prospect and to the message you want to send. Then choose your colors.

10 Tips forKiller Website Design

2006-08-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

10 Tips forKiller Website Design
By Jan Peterson (c) 2005
Does website design make a difference in how long people will visit your website or if they'll stay and shop? You bet. You've seen the websites that scream "bad idea" and you know those folks are losing potential customers to their ineffective website design. Whether you are an internet newbie or an experienced marketer, you should understand that good website design is part of the success equation.

So here are my 10 tips on how to create killer website design that will invite potential customers in instead of scare them away.

1. Easy Navigation- The Road To Success
When people come to your website they are usually searching for something in particular. It might be recipes for a healthy low fat diet that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare or what is the best business to start online. Whatever they want, you need to have the answer. So ask yourself, why do people come to my website? When you know that then you know you should make it easy for them to find it.

I have been on countless websites that make it difficult for me to do business with them. And you know what my first response is? "Next!"

I am onto the next website to see if they can answer my question. People don't want to waste their time hunting for things that should be easy to find.

So, if people come to your website to find widgets, have a button easy to see and locate that says "Widgets". People have been trained to look to the left of the website for the navigation bar.

2. Flashing Gizmos - The Exit Ramp To A Dead End Street
You've seen those sites where the elephants are dancing and the poker chips are running across the screen asking you to click on them; the only thing they have ever done for me is give me a headache and to reach the "let me get out of here as fast as I can" button on my computer.If you are a running a professional site, please don't use flashing graphics. Guaranteed you are encouraging people to leave your site. People have come to you for information. Not to click on an ad or have their brain scrambled.

Make your website a pleasant environment for the customer to be in. Just like a store. Think about when you go to the mall. You want to go in a store that is clean, well laid out, has good customer service and the products you are looking for. Your website should reflect this. If it is what you expect in your shopping experience, then isn't it reasonable that your customers are looking for this in your website.

What about music? Well, it depends. On most business sites I would suggest not. But let's say you have a realtor by the ocean who rents out homes for summer vacations. They have music that sounds like the ocean is lapping at the foot of your desk. I think music is appropriate in this venue, but I would definitely have it "off" as people log onto your site and give them an option to turn it on. Don't forget many people are surfing in their office environment and don't want the boss to find out. If your music is loud or on as people log onto your site and can't find a quick way to turn it off, they will leave your site faster than a cat that just saw the jaws of a Doberman!

3. Color - Enhancing The Highway Scenery
Color is an individual preference, but studies show that colors have an affect on people's emotions. Look at the top sites like Amazon; their layout is simple and so is their color scheme.

My recommendation would be to go with the flow. If you have a financial investment site, then conservative colors seem to follow. If you sell beach items, then lots of fun colors apply. If you have a bridal shower website, I would say soft pastels. Think about your audience and you will know the color scheme.

4. Page Links - I-95 To Your Destination
This is a no brainer but make sure all of your buttons are hyperlinked to a page and the right destination page. No one including Google likes broken link pages. It can be tedious but do it anyway. As you hover over the button and look down in the left-hand part of your screen, you will see the hyperlinked page. Just verify that yours are correct.

5. About Us - Is Your Map Reliable?
People usually want to know basic things before they do business with you. Who are you, how do I get a hold of you, what is your product or service guarantee, will you resell my email address, what is your privacy policy, when will I get the product, etc. You need to answer these questions to create trust between you and your potential customer.

6. Sitemap - How Do I Find My Way Around This Big City?
Let's say you have a lot of products or pages and resources. A sitemap helps people to find what they are looking for quickly without have to rummage through your whole site like a lost soul. They are not hard to create but are useful for large sites. It also helps the search engines to know what you are about very quickly.

7. Fast Loading Pages - All Lanes Are Go!
There is nothing worse than slow loading pages. You can optimize your graphics for your website. People hate to wait. You can check your page load time and page rank on Alexa.com. Slow pages equal death to an online business.

8. Shopping Cart - Need To Buy Some Souvenirs
If you are selling items or services, you need a reliable and well organized shopping cart. I have seen some websites that have a zillion products listed and to email them for orders. What a nightmare! Yes, the shopping carts will charge you a fee, but it is worth it for them to handle the transaction. There are many good shopping carts available and I would research them based on your business' needs.

9. Templates or Original Design- Chevrolet or Porsche
People often think that to have a website designed is going to cost thousands. So they opt for the templates and throw together sites. There is nothing wrong with this approach except I can tell the difference between what I call a "canned" site and one that was created from scratch. While I don't think a website that uses templates will turn off a customer, I just think it may not be as appealing.Have fun with your online business. You can go to any number of photography sites and download professional photos from cows to race cars. This will make your site look more customized.Again, I recommend that you shop for a good web designer. I paid around $400 for a basic site to go up. I know others would have charged me $1000 or more. That's why you need to shop and see examples of their work.

10. Customer Service - The Finish Line!
Okay so how is customer service a website design? Well, customer service should be written all over your site. From tips, to frëe reports, to guarantees, to fast and reliable shopping. People want to know you know what you are talking about and can deliver the goods they want. Give a little and I guarantee you'll get in back tenfold..

Do's and Don'ts of Launching a Small Business Website

2006-08-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Do's and Don'ts of Launching a Small Business Website
By Alicia Harper
Launching a small business website can seem like an enormous task, although it does require some research, if done right it might be just the marketing tool your business needs.

The road to a website is filled with website designers, website developers and graphic designers. This in itself is very confusing. A website designer is someone who produces the design. A website developer is someone who creates more of the program side to your websites rather than the actual design. Nowadays most website designers are also developers. A graphic designer is the person who makes the images at the top of web pages, the buttons, and menus on a website. The whole process should not be so difficult and full of surprises. Therefore the 6 Do's and Don'ts should be a great start to help you launch your small business website.

Don't concentrate on images and how pretty your site will be. Remember that your sites' purpose is to answer your customers questions and inform your customers of what you have to offer, such as services and products. Don't use too many images because if your site is so "new age" a lot of people will not be able to navigate and find their way around it therefore they will get frustrated and not stay on your site and that would defeat the sites purpose.
Don't compare web designers by their price. Not all web designers are created equal. You must not only compare the price but the type of service you will require such as internet marketing and updates, will they continue to create the site until you are satisfied, and can they write the content. Some designers will create you a site and mail you a CD with the files and you will then have to figure it out on your own how to get it on the web. Others will help you choose a domain and a hosting company, upload your files to your site, and will write your content. Writing on the web is different from writing in print. A good content writer will know what to say to keep your visitors on your site. Keep these things in mind when choosing a web designer.
Don't hire a web designer until you are ready. Once you are finished shopping around for a web designer, do make sure you have purchased a domain name, hosting, have a general idea of what you would like your site to look like and written your content, if you will be doing this yourself. This is important! Web designers work virtually, that is directly on-line (through the Internet). You might not actually ever meet them. This style of work is very different from working face to face and have times set up as to when you will meet. It actually benefits you, the designer can get your website on-line faster. Therefore it is important for the web designer to have all your information. If they have to wait a week or so for your website content then you will be pushed to the back burner.
Do request a quote from a few web designers before you decide on one. Once you have looked at some websites find a few who you like and request a quote from them. Explain that you are interested in a website, explain a little bit about your business, how many pages would your site need and what are other services you would need from them. Ask them to send you a price detailing what would be included. Understand that this is a quote and if you are requesting any other additional services there will be an additional cost although designers will usually let you know beforehand.
Do plan on keeping your site up-to-date. Keeping your site updated keeps your customers coming back to either find out what's going on with your company or about new promotions or sales. It also gives your customers the impression that you care about keeping them informed and that you value their business. The benefit of having a website is it's easy to update and don't cost much. Usually a web design firm will have special packages for updates. Find a designer who also can provide updates and when your site is finished discuss an update schedule and what they can suggest to keep your site looking fresh.
Do find a designer who specializes in small business. Small design firms understand the needs of another small business and are more likely to be more personal with your questions. A big design firm might have 5 people working on your website and they might not all have gotten the e-mail that stated what you want. Whereas a small design firm would have one person working on your site with whom you communicate directly.

This guide to launching a small business website is just the tip of the iceberg. The best thing is always know what you are going to receive in return for your hard earned cash. Make sure that your website is like an investment and that you are actually going to receive a return on your investment. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions! Most designers will answer most of your questions, no problem.

Online Virtual Tours

2006-08-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

VisionSnap Now offers high resolution online virtual tours!

Virtual tour or panoramic tours are used to visually show customers online your interior or exterior of your business. VisionSnap offer the latest state of the art full immersive virtual tours and panoramas. Our virtual tour services are more than your basic panoramic tour, we shoot our final product in high resolution, in order for your customers to see and feel the detail or your locations.

Virtual tours are created with a still camera, taking a number of pictures from a single point. The camera is rotate on what is called a nodal point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges) which then the images are stitched together using special software and rendered out into a QuickTime movie or flat image.

Our QuickTime movies are rendered to optimize on-line viewing yet having no distortion and keeping the high resolution and detail. Depending how you would like to display your area, a spherical (360 degree bubble) or cylinder virtual tour can be created. If interiors or exteriors are next to each other hotspots can be added to click on to go to the next area. Using hotspots allows users to really get the feeling of your business area.

Due to the high resolution and the detail in conducting a photo shoot these virtual tours are not cost efficient for real estate agents turning homes. But these virtual tours are perfect for businesses, restaurants, malls, doctor offices, etc.

Custom e-mail Newsletter Systems

2006-08-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Need to send out e-mails to your customers?
VisionSnap has developed a custom email system that incorporates your web site design so when your current or new potential clients receive your email in their inbox it looks like your web site with your email and content. We can build the body area to fit your text, pictures, ads, specials or whatever you need to send via email.

This is a cost efficient way to send out to your existing customers. There isn't any postage, they opt-in so you know they are interested in your information, and all you need to do is type, cut, paste, and send. Then 100's to 10,000's of your clients have your specialized email!

Interested in how to get started, call or e-mail VisionSnap today...
602.885.1393 / contact