Advertising Online with Your Own Website

The best promotional venture for any home or home-based business is to invest time and effort into a website. Even if you aren't interested in reaching a global audience, a website can be the deciding factor with new clients. Is your company online? Do you have a good, professional website that offers company history and available products or services?

A website isn't just for those seeking to work in the global economy. It 's also for those who want to draw in regional traffic. Offering a web address, or URL, in your signs and advertisements shows clients you are eager to provide history, any necessary product details and a positive statement on your company.

Every business should maintain their own website. This will often save you thousands of dollars in set-up fees, design fees and monthly maintenance costs. Running your company 's site gives you the maximum freedom and flexibility with both costs and information. There 's no middle company to depend on. All updating and news can be added directly to the site without waiting 24-48 hours or more for a web design company to update what is basically your domain.

You can also look forward to direct communication with your visitors and clientel through your website. You can add features such as guest books, counters and interactive features as you wish. Instead of being charged for each feature plus extra for their upkeep, you can maintain all the extras for yourself. The only exception to the self-sufficient webmaster is if you plan on operating a very technically advanced operation as an online blog or web service corporation. Such ventures will require IT staffing with advanced web knowledge and capabilities.

The primary reason that managing your own site is so effective is the cost involved. Most professional design companies will start your business out with the maximum of everything, even though it will likely be years before you actually need the same amount of space as a major corporation, if you ever need that amount. This justifies the expense involved. Many more dubious companies will also imply that you are less of a professional because you are opting to take care of your own website. Don't allow these pressure tactics to sway you. Website maintenance is a simple process, and you will reduce a good amount of overhead by simply doing it yourself.

Your first step when designing your own website is to purchase a good program called an HTML editor. This editor should allow you to edit raw code and feature an item called a "WYSIWYG" (pronounced wizzy-wig) editor. This seemingly strange editor is really a simple acronym for "what you see is what you get." This editor allows you to simply click and drag your web page elements without advanced knowledge of HTML or other design languages.

Your HTML editor should also come with a spell checker. Better programs come with validating features to ensure your web page is completely accessible. Free programs are available online and are excellent for beginning webmasters to experiment with. You will want to use a good quality HTML editor when you design your actual business site. While you don't need to shell out hundreds of dollars for such a program, do intend on investing $50 or $60. Sometimes you can find a good deal on HTML editors. If that 's your situation, by all means save what money you can.

Cheaper HTML editors have a tendency to place much excess code into your web pages, and that can result in a low search engine ranking and little traffic. While you are getting into the field of web page design, you should visit any of the thousands of resources online to learn more about web page code.

Once you have found your ideal program, you can move on to the more technical aspects. Your next concern will be finding a domain name. Be forewarned that countless websites are currently completely unused, but are under the thumb of what we'll call a "domain developer." These companies buy up as many domains as possible and hope to make a profit by selling them at a much higher price to someone who just wants the name.

With the number of extensions available for your website (i.e., .com, .org, .biz, .net), you should never feel forced into purchasing a domain at a higher price. Domains generally run both consumers and businesses around $10 to $15 dollars a year. Anything more than this is unreasonable.

Your next venture will be to purchase server space with a hosting company. Hosting companies provide you with the structure, or home, in which to store your web page files. You will design your web pages on your computer and publish, or upload, them to the server provided by your hosting company. You should never pay more than $7 per month for hosting services starting out.

If you can avoid being overwhelmed by the process, you can make owning and operating your own website both rewarding and fascinating. Unless you intend on operating some venture that provides online services, it 's better to be your own webmaster. If you do it right, your website will bring you more customers for your home business.

About the Author

John Cantu provides expert analysis of home based business opportunities and invites you to visit his site that shows reviews and comments on the current Top 10 Work at Home Opportunities.

Visit: www.wahometop10.com for more information.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Who Should You Hire To Design Your Website?

If you just started an online business, you probably have no idea how to go about hiring a web designer. Who should you call? Should you look someone up in the yellow pages? Should you hire someone who works for a company that employs many different web designers, or should you hire a sole proprietor? Or, should you hire a freelancer who does web design part time? How much does it cost?

If you need someone to develop a very simple, static website that is merely a personal homepage or just an informational site about your business, then you pretty much have carte blanche. The only issue in this case would be cost. A freelancer will charge a lot less than a professional, but a freelancer might not do a thoroughly competent job. There are numerous website directories that contain a database of freelance web designers who are seeking work.

If you hire one of these individuals, make sure you request to see samples of web designs they have already done, just to make sure they have not done shoddy work in the past. I find it best to hire a professional in this instance, because even though a professional will charge more per hour, they can usually do much better work and get it done faster. So, in the end, a freelancer could actually charge more and you might end up getting a design of inferior quality.

Let us take a moment to delineate what the differences are between a freelancer, a sole proprietor, someone who owns a small, reputable web design business with a few employees, and a designer who is part of a huge company that employs up to one hundred web designers (there are quite a few companies out there that employ hundreds of web designers under a single company umbrella and also provide domain name registration and web hosting services all in one package).

First of all, a freelancer is usually someone for who web design is merely a hobby. This sort of a person has probably taken a few courses in simple web design at a local institute or college, or might be self-taught, and dabbles in web design as a part-time job or a way to earn extra cash. Some of these freelancers might be quite talented, but their designs are ordinarily not as crisp as what a professional can produce.

To reiterate, a freelancer is someone who only moonlights as a web designer. So, they are typically busy with their other career, and will take a longer time with your project because of time constraints. In the end, the freelancer probably will not give you the design you really want, and will refuse to refund your money.

A web designer who is part of a larger company that employs one hundred or more designers is just as bad as a freelancer. These sorts of web designers do not have much design skill, and are often given many different jobs to do at once. As a result, they will throw your design together haphazardly. You will be very disappointed with the work they produce.

The best web designers to hire are professionals who do web design as a career, and do focused projects. You should hire either a sole proprietor who has a large portfolio of work to show you, or a small firm of web designers who work together and have extensive web design experience. Professionals charge more than anyone else, but because they have so much experience and such a wide variety of designs for you to choose from, they will do a fantastic job in only a fraction of the time.

The only time you should use a freelancer or other inexperienced designer is if you can meet with that individual in person, explain exactly what you want, and if the project itself is very simple and the design work necessary for the job is not too extravagant. Do not make the mistake of hiring a freelancer over the internet that lives in a different state and only accepts payments via PayPal or some other sort of electronic payment processing service. Make sure your freelancer is someone who resides close by so that you can monitor their progress and visit them if you do not like the initial design they produce.

For almost all web design projects, it is best to hire a professional. Even though it costs more, it is generally only a one-time cost. A website is typically only designed once with major revisions only done once every few years; you may make changes here or there in the short run, but a web site usually stays the same for up to a few years or more. So, you might as well go with the most talented yet reasonably priced designer you can find.

Also, it is very important to hire a designer who has a contract that you can sign that stipulates certain terms and conditions. You should be able to pay the designer a down payment of 25% - 50% of the total quoted price for the job, with the balance due upon completion. This is critically important, because it can be very frustrating to flush money down the toilet on a design you hate without any way to recoup any of your funds afterwards.

Also, the designer should be able to quickly produce some sample layouts after they have been assigned the job so that you can at least pick a particular design that you like the most, and then the designer can begin working on that design rather than using their artistic license to create a design from scratch.

Follow all of these recommendations and be careful when hiring a web designer. Always work with a professional if your project requires a certain level of expertise and skill, and make sure you request a portfolio containing samples of their work so you can see what they have already done. Make sure their prior designs meet your standards.

About the Author

Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Website Design Influences Users' Credibility Judgments

It is commonly argued that substance is more important than presentation; and that website content is likely to be judged on the basis of what it expresses, not how ideas are visually dressed up. Although substance is important, it is surprising how much additional influence superficial trappings contribute to users' perceptions of web content. In fact, research suggest that it 's not enough to just hire talented website developers, editors and analytics experts; but talented designers can influence how much faith users may place in a given website.

Marketing researchers have conducted extensive investigations to understand how a product endorsers' credibility influences potential customers. Traditional marketing literature suggests an association between visual attractiveness and source credibility. With few exceptions, numerous authors report that attractive communicators are more liked; and this positively impacts the products they are associated with. According to the source attractiveness model, a message 's impact depends on the endorser 's likeability, similarity and attractiveness. When looking at the impact of credibility on purchasing behaviour, researchers have shown that the willingness to buy a product is statistically associated with perceptions of an endorser 's trustworthiness, expertise, and visual attractiveness (Ohanian, 1990).

Given a strong empirical relationship between an endorser 's attractiveness and their source credibility, it appears that that the same trend also holds for websites. In a sense, websites can operate like social actors who make endorsements. Across various investigations, researchers are discovering that website attractiveness is related credibility in a number of interesting ways. First, researchers concluded that website design may have a greater impact on consumers' attitudes towards websites then their offline perceptions of the organizations. Furthermore, they found a significant association between website design and users attitudes towards websites; in this study, three out of their six dimensions were trust and credibility based (Long and Chiagouris, 2006).

Second, website visuals can trigger a user to form a strong and lasting first impression; and the strength of their emotional reactions to that website can influence their memories of given products. It has been argued that emotionally evocative web designs can increase a website 's influence while strengthening users' memories of products. These factors are cited as reason why developers strive to develop emotionally evocative websites (Kim et al., 2003). But more importantly, visually attractive websites have been shown to produce a 'halo effect' that forms a positive impression in users' minds which can persist despite successive negative experiences. This first impression can be formed in as little as 50 milliseconds (Lindgaard et al., 2006). These investigations suggest that visually attractive websites deliver an emotional payload that can create a strong first impression which can influence users' memories and cause them to overlook obvious risks.

Third, one experiment which examined the role of images in content credibility showed an article on health to three groups. The first group who read the article, had a photo of a high-credibility ranked doctor; the second group, a low-credibility ranked doctor; the third, a control group with just the article, but no photo. Even though the article remained the same, subject believed the article with the more credible looking doctor photo was most credible, the text without a photo was second, and the text with a low-credibility image was ranked the least credible (Nguyen and Masthoff, 2007). Amazingly, this research showed how the correct photo could enhance or decrease perceptions of article credibility.

Website design seems to operate like rhetoric, which takes the substance of an argument, spins it, restructures it, and presents it in a more persuasive manner. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle argued that persuasive rhetoric could make a weak argument stronger; and it could make a strong argument even stronger. Perhaps, website design operates in the same way, by making content appear more believable than it deserves, and the website operators to be more trustworthy than is warranted.

Given that website design can evoke users' emotions and impact their credibility judgements, the practical ramification for website operators is simple: web design can impact the success of your online enterprise. It can boost users' likelihood of believing content; it can influence their probability of trusting the organization operating a website; it can create a strong and lasting first impression. Likewise, poor design can evoke mistrust, disbelief, and disregard. When competing in saturated online environments--by either promoting products, ideas or behaviours--credulity is a factor that can increases or decreases a users' willingness to believe, act or buy from you, as opposed to your competition.

Obviously, the best way to appear credible is to be credible, by being honest and reliable, and building a reputation over time. However, for honest, but new online ventures, in some cases, potential clients may have no way to figure out if your organization is credible or bogus. And to show these persons you are a credible organization, you'll have to draw upon all possible means to show that your enterprise is legitimate and reliable. Although there are many things that can be done to foster trust, a professionally designed website, appropriate to your target audiences, is a good start.

The implications for Internet users are also simple: be cautious. Since people 's judgements of credibility is easily manipulated by design and editorial skills, it 's not surprising that the Internet has become an incubator for conspiracy theories, pseudo science, and urban legends that are serving as substitutes for fact-checked and empirically grounded knowledge (Thompson, 2008). And considering that 90% of people cannot identify well designed online scam, even when they're looking for it (Dhamija et al., 2006), it is no surprise that online crime has become a booming business. Given these trends, it 's best to only extend belief in content form reputable sources; and find ways to verify the legitimacy of sites before believing, buying or acting on their services or information. The traditional signals of criminal intent are very difficult to detect online, and with design-based-credibility easily copy'n pasted, it 's important to exercise caution because looks can be deceiving.

About the Author

Brian Cugelman is a Consultant with AlterSpark e-Services; and a Researcher focused on online social marketing. AlterSpark provides web design, online marketing, research and website development services.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Big Hazards To Avoid When Building Your First Website

In today 's business world all small businesses should have some type of web presence. This web presence whether it is an information web page or an e-Commerce website is crucial to reaching, engaging and interfacing with certain growing market segments.

Today 's customer likes to spend their money in ways that are most convenient for them. This may mean that they want to spend 10 minute researching your product or service online before investing 30 minutes driving to your physical location.

Different groups of customers will desire to do business with you in various ways - depending on what creates the most value for them. Those who are 50+ in age may be fine with traditional 9:00 - 5:00 business hours for everything from information gathering to an actual sales transaction. Those who are in their 20 's will not be content.

They will want the ability to find information and perform transactions with your business via their computer or smart phone. This, to this age group, is considered a matter of convenience as it saves them time which in their fully connected, busy lifestyles, is a critical commodity. This thought process is even becoming prevalent in the Gen X and younger Baby Boom customer base who range in age from 32 - 50.

We have started several websites over the last year. We made some mistakes, but these mistakes have made us build a better foundation for the future. We thought that we'd share some of the lessons that we learned from these mistakes. Maybe you can learn from our experience so that you can focus more time and energy on the other mistakes that you are going to make as you grow your business.

Getting a website started is probably a breeze if you understand web design, programming, search engine optimization, key words, image loading, file transfers, web analytics and all the other bits and pieces of internet value creation.

If you do not have a basic understanding of these processes and the sequencing, priorities and relationships that they have to each other and your website success, then you are in for some frustrating and possibly costly mistakes.

One of the most important things that you can do when you start a website is to decide what you want the website to do. Who do you want the website to speak to? This will not only help you target your content to your audience, it will also help you to decide which website design, functions and features are best for your target audience.

Spend a considerable amount of time trying to decide if you want an information site or an e-Commerce site. This decision begins and ends with you knowing your customers and their needs.

When you have figured out what you think that you want then you should find someone to help you. Knowing what you want your site to do and then finding someone to help you do that is much better than turning over your web presence development to technicians. If you know your market you will want control in any interaction that you have with your customer.

A flashy website with problems and poor content will be of little value to your money spending customers. Remember, creating value for your business on the internet still requires prudent business skills - the internet is just a medium of interfacing with your customers. It has changed the communication rules but it still follows basic business principles.

Your customers are people with problems, concerns and interests. They want to feel as if they were treated great and got a good deal. Who wants to feel like they were treated like crap and like they got a bad deal? Only utilities can treat their customers that way and watch their sales grow. Making your customers feel great will make them come back. No technician is going to generate that type of feeling through your website.

The team that you select to help you design and build your website should be experienced. They should understand the type of site that you want as well as its purpose and functionality. If they do not, keep looking. This is not the time to get a low cost web developer who knows that they can build this type of website if they are just given the chance. Choosing this type of developer will cost you time and some functionality as there will probably be more minor glitches than you had anticipated.

Communicate clearly with your website development team. Make sure that you both understand the meaning of the different terms that you use. A due date to you may mean website completion date but to a developer it may mean beta site delivery date. Clear these points of potential confusion up at the very beginning of the website development project by making a simple project table that includes task, date, person responsible and notes. Also, it is very important that you determine who is going to develop and edit the content for the website. This may or may not be included in the website development project.

Make it easy for your customer to find what they need on your website. Your customers will visit your site to do one of two things. To find information to to take action.

Make it easy for them to do either. Taking action may mean getting more information or performing a transaction. Make sure that you have a way to capture some information from your potential customers in either case. An email address is a great start. You may want this later after you get the hang of creating business value on the internet.

Test everything on your website. Test it after every change. You would be surprised what a little glitch in code can do to a website. Just as improper grammar and poor punctuation can kill a business image, poor coding can destroy a web presence and any and all functionality that it may have.

Do not assume that just because it works on your website developer 's computer or on your computer that it will work with all of your potential customers' computers or browsers. Again, image and perception are important and they can be directly tied to building relationships on the internet. A PC and a MAC can display the same web pages differently. Internet Explorer and Firefox can also display the same web pages differently. Make sure that your team tests under all of these scenarios. Your target customers definitely will.

It is a good idea to you tie all payments to milestones such as:

20% - project start
35% - site concept acceptance
35% - site launch
10% - debugging and final acceptance

This type of payment schedule will help to insure that you get a product that you are happy with. Paying too much up front can slow down your website development or give you a site that is almost what you wanted. Neither one will make you happy.

Paying attention to some of the details when you are starting your first website can save you lots of time and money. Delays and mistakes with your website development can discourage potential customers from ever spending money with you.

Know your customers and make sure you give them what they need on your web real estate. Also, don't forget to include all of the other support services such as email management and customer relationship management. These other services, though not directly related to your website development will be key to your internet success.

Being aware of these hazards will help you create your business value on the internet and increase your entrepreneur profit.

About the Author

Art Espey is a serial entrepreneur who has grown several businesses in both good and bad economic times. Art can be reached at thebusinessninja.info or www.4steps2.com.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Web Application

Pump, Calgary, is a one stop solution for all the web-presence needs. Located in Calgary, Pump provides all the web based Calgary organizations a number of essential, dedicated web services including:
• high-octane web designs
• interactive marketing solutions
• proven, full-serve client engagement process
• award winning and result driven, interactive marketing campaigns
• practical web applications
• E-commerce
• Flash development
• Hosting and maintenance
• Web application development
• Content management systems (CMS)
• Search engine optimization
• Internet marketing strategies
• Pay-per-click campaigns
• Search engine marketing
• Email marketing
• Online contest and promotions
• Keyword analysis & discovery

Calgary web design services are among the best in the industry because the professional in house team knows the importance of visibility in the near-anonymous internet world. Pump provides Calgary organizations the best in web designing and internet marketing and e-commerce. The high-octane and proven, full-serve client engagement process adopted by the in house web-solutions professionals understands needs and goes beyond customer expectations. Pump caters to every minute detail involved in internet marketing and has contributed consistently to the success of client on & offline initiatives. The commitment to transparency and drive has enabled the development of media solutions for a number of Calgary businesses, small and large. Pump, Calgary is a client-centric company and the processes strategies that lead clients from the start to the desired search engine ranking.

The in house professionals are dedicated, devoted and driven challengers whose endeavour is to rule the wireless. The team leaders are three go getters whose passion is fuelled by 10 years of experience in web development. The Pump Calgary web designing key guidelines come from the World Wide Web Consortium. The lure of new technologies and sensitivity to the dedicated needs of the clients gives the team engaging online experiences. The team work and efficiency touch every aspect of the undertakings at Pump Calgary web designing, including:
• quality planning
• stunning visuals
• meticulous crafting of every pixel
• integrated coding process
Pump Calgary web designing and web development has given the desired visibility to a number of sites. The web site designs are inexpensive to maintain and easy to navigate because when they come from Pump, they conform to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. The benefits of such conformity include clean and easy to maintain semantic coding to save on cost in event of a revision of development or addition, seamless cooperation between the website code and content management system, consistent web browser display and on devices such as mobile phones and PDAs, organic search engine optimization (SEO).
The advent of the internet technology and the subsequent need for great web presence has only one solution – the timely submission of the website to SEO directories. Pump Calgary web designing is a dedicated Search Agency that provides Professional SEO Services in Search Engine Optimization, Pay per Click, eCommerce Promotion, Internet Branding and SEO Services that are industry-specific. The Pump Calgary web designing team allows you to focus on your business, while they apply tried and tested techniques to your business website the desired search engine ranking. Pump Calgary web designing believes in the application of quality solutions and services and focuses on customer satisfaction.

About the Author

aaron caldwell is author of this article on calgary web design,ecommerce.

Find more information about internet marketing here.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Turning a Breakthrough Concept into a Web Site

How can a brand new concept use the Web to flesh out and attract attention to the concept? Let me share my experience in this area.

The youngest people working on the 400 Year Project (looking to describe and promote ways of making improvements 20 times faster from 2015 through 2035) assured me in 1995 that we had to have a Web site for the project. They explained that a Web site was going to be the universal medium for finding important information. Although none of us had ever been involved in creating a Web site, I was told that there was nothing to it.

I hired one staff member, Jason Breyan, to work full-time on the project, and he led the charge for developing the Web site. Fitting in with my preference for aesthetics, he located a designer who could produce intriguing looking pages.

We had a hard time figuring out what to put on the Web site. Someone had the good idea of using Tobi Kahn 's iconic paintings developed for the project to spruce up the pages. With Tobi 's kind permission, we did exactly that. This arrangement worked out well for Tobi because he didn't have a Web site in those days, and many people came to know his work through our project 's Web site.

However, being attractive wasn't going to be the most important factor for the Web site: We needed to decide what content to use. An early resource for helping with this thinking was our friend, Robert Metz, who had founded the Marketplace column in the business section of The New York Times and later served as New York bureau chief of Financial News Network, a cable news network that was later merged with CNBC.

From this collaboration, key concepts began to emerge. Perhaps the most important of these early ideas was that some forms of thinking and behaving delay improvements. After much discussion, we decided to call these factors "stalls" and to begin to identify the individual stalls.

We weren't sure how to identify all of the stalls. Someone suggested we invite those who visited the Web site to share their ideas about stalls that they had observed or experienced. We decided to try that approach.

The hardest part of creating the Web site was figuring out how to describe why the project 's purpose is a reasonable one. One of the key documents we created was "Time Telescope" that considered what a company might look like in 2395 if 2 to 3 percent a year productivity gains continued.

We focused on that aspect of progress because companies have been the most effective sources of improvements for the last few centuries. The bulk of productivity improvements have come in the fields of manufacturing, farming, mining, electronics, computing, and medicine though the directions taken by the companies that wanted to expand their sales by improving products and lowering costs. Governments, by contrast, usually experience negative productivity as do many nonprofit organizations.

Here are some of the projections we shared in that section:

-A well-run manufacturing company would have sales per employee of $1.5 billion in constant dollars.

-New products and services would be designed and put into production in less than a day.

-The cost of doing a constant computing task would decline by more than 99 percent within 20 years.

As I look back on those examples, I'm struck by how conservative they turned out to be:

-A company could already use a lot of outsourcing and reach revenues of tens of millions of dollars per employee.

-Many Internet marketers develop products and services now in less than a day and deliver those new offerings in the same day.

-At the recent rate of progress, the cost of a constant computing task usually declines by 96-98 percent in only 10 years.

We managed, however, to intrigue large numbers of people who shared good ideas with us, read excerpts from our books, and helped spread the word about the project among over a million people around the world.

What are the lessons for you?

1. Get as many people involved as possible.

2. Use as many intriguing graphics and videos as possible.

3. Create simple concepts that anyone can grasp to help understand the bigger ideas.

4. Provide lots of user-friendly features to help people find what they are looking for.

5. Make the abstract concrete by providing potential examples if you don't yet have real ones.

About the Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through 2,000 percent solutions and receive tips by e-mail by registering for free at

http://www.fastforward400.com .

Article Source: Content for Reprint

10 Unmistakeable Signs Your Website Needs an Overhaul

Most business people know they need some kind of web design. Learning HTML and CSS means learning a whole new language (and if you don't know what those initials mean, you probably hired a designer).

But many people are convinced they know how to speak and write. So, they reason, why bother with a copywriter? They'll just write their own words.

Sometimes that works. But if you're making one of these 10 mistakes, your copy -- the words on your website -- are killing your business.

1.Your headline says, "Welcome."

Hey, come on. Visitors who come to your website know they're welcome. You created the site. You bought a domain. You're paying for web hosting. Of course they're welcome! Let 's cut to the chase.

In fact, if your headline does say welcome, don't bother with the other tips. Move directly to find yourself some copywriting help.

2.Your sign-up box is hidden at the bottom of your page and/or you don't offer an irresistible freebie to motivate visitors to leave their contact information.

No sign-up box at all? Ouch. Read no further. You're using the web like a billboard, not a means to interact, communicate and build relationships.

3.Your home page doesn't communicate what you do and why you're different.

Never mind the vague stuff like, "I help people reach the dreams their souls yearn to find." How about, "If you're huffing and puffing to climb a flight of stairs, you may be climbing directly to a heart attack. I specialize in clients who think "exercise" is a 4-letter word and couldn't tell you where to find the nearest gym. Ask me about my 90-Day Fitness With Finesse Program."

4.You keep getting compliments on a beautiful site, but nobody 's calling you.

Congratulations! You've got a work of art, but you really need a direct response advertisement.

5.You've got something at the top of your home page that isn't a headline.

A nice photo? A logo? Are you making visitors scroll down to get to your message?

6.You haven't created a path for visitors to take through your website.

Menus are great but you also need to suggest a logical sequence, from your home page to your "free stuff" and "contact" pages.

7.Your bio reads like a history lesson: where you've been, what you did, and where you went to school.

Sure, those features are important. But your bio should demonstrate why you are the best person to provide your service. Show, don't tell.

8. Your testimonials say you're "interesting" and "helpful."

Get convincing, results-oriented testimonials signed by real people. If you're a b2b, get URLs. Edit your testimonials to show how you got results.

9. No success stories.

Unlike testimonials, success stories showcase your process and need not refer to specific, identifiable people. Often this section will be the strongest client attraction magnet on your whole site.

10.You keep getting queries for the wrong service.

You're targeting HR managers. But you keep getting calls from individuals who just got handed a pink slip or the performance review from hell. Or you now offer marketing communication services and you still get calls about the time management service you offered five years ago.

When you overhaul your target market, mission or position, your copy deserves an overhaul, too. Confusion rarely leads to customers.

Bottom Line: Coy isn't what you learned in school. Your English teacher might faint dead away if she saw what you're creating. Copy for websites comes from direct mail copy -- those long mail pieces you like to toss. It 's called "direct response" because people either ask for more info immediately -- or wander away forever. With TV and magazine ads, you can win customers through repetition: you're in their face.

Not so with direct response: you get one shot. And copy helps you make the most of it.

About the Author

FREE 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Really Attract Clients: My Special Report gives you insider tips to convert tire-kickers to buyers and earn money while you sleep. From Cathy Goodwin,Ph.D. at Website Marketing Strategies

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How to FAIL stylishly and properly in your web design business

Several years ago, I launched a small web design company in a rural area of California. Market conditions couldn't have been better, my skill level was above average, and I had a large pool of acquaintances to which I could market.

Within 12 months I went broke.

My business failed because I made some very fundamental mistakes, and made them consistently.

I now work in the web hosting industry. I have had the opportunity to interact with numerous self-employed web designers and have found that the mistakes which I made are extremely common, and usually fatal.

If you are hoping to make a go of your business over the long term, you may want to memorize my top 5 mistakes, and avoid them like the plague.

If, on the other hand, you are determined to run your web design business into the ground, the following list may be used as an expeditious roadmap to failure.

1. Underprice your services

This is the most common mistake web designers make. The temptation is to break into the business by producing a few cheap websites in order to build a portfolio. Don't do it!

Remember that you will only be spending about 40% of your time designing sites. The other 60% will be spent hustling up the next client. If you think your time is worth $10.00 per hour, consider asking for $30.00. This will give you sufficient revenue to pay for all the non-paying time you spend marketing your business.

2. Fail to set and enforce boundaries

Everyone loves a nice guy, and the temptation to be one is a trap which many of us fall into. It 's crucial to remember, though, that you are in business for one primary reason - to make money.

You will, doubtless, encounter clients who will pay you for a small website, then end up wasting all of your time with questions about how to remove spyware from their computer and requests to add "one small thing" to an already completed website.

You can avoid this, somewhat, by establishing clear boundaries with the client from the very start. A contract is useful here. Make sure that your client knows exactly what can be expected of you, and what you expect of them.

If your client asks for extras, and you're amenable to providing them, give them a quote. Never toss it in for free. The only thing you have to sell is your time and expertise. Don't give away either.

Remember, you're in business. Try asking a service station owner for a little free gasoline. They would be shocked by your question. Likewise, you should be shocked when someone asks you to provide free service.

3. View your clients as temporary

Many of us get into this business because we love creating something new. By the time we finish a website, we're tired of that site (and sometimes that client) and we're ready to start a new project, and put the old project well behind us.

This attitude can cut deeply into your potential gross.

Over time, your client will need numerous updates to his or her website. updates are sometimes bothersome, but can add a significant revenue stream to your business. More important, a satisfied client becomes one of the major links in your marketing network.

4. Ignore recurring revenue opportunities

During the best of times, web designers live from project to project. While finishing one project, you will be lining up the next.

Every business, however, has slow stretches.

Unfortunately, your own creditors will still expect payment, even when your own revenue slows down.

A wise web designer looks for ways to provide his business with some sources of recurring revenue. Even $400 a month which you can count on can get you through a dry spell.

There are numerous ways to set up some recurring revenue. Take a look at maintenence contracts with your clients, reselling webhosting, etc.

5. Build pretty websites which do nothing

Your best source of advertising is word of mouth. Nothing generates great word of mouth like a satisfied customer. You can build the flashiest, prettiest, most cutting edge websites on the net, but it 's all for naught if your site doesn't perform.

Every website has a purpose. That purpose might be to sell goods, leverage an advertising budget, disseminate information, assist in personnel management, or one of a million other possibilites.

Your first job, as a web designer, is to ascertain what the web site is supposed to do. Once you find that "thing" - the thing it should do - make sure that the site you deliver does that particular thing like nobody 's business! By doing so, you will ensure a client who will sing your praises at the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce meetings, and to his or her friends and family. A client like this is golden, and will bring a steady stream of customers to your door.

About the Author

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to computers, software, viruses and data recovery, do please browse for more information at our websites.

www.infozabout.com

www.data-recovery.infozabout.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How To Understand Website Hosting

Whether you're a growing business planning on starting a website business or just a website programmer looking for a good hosting account, its a good idea to learn how web hosting works to ensure that your website launch goes smoothly.

There are many website hosting companies on the internet, and all of them offer a different list of services for different types of websites. Here are some of the common features that you'll see on most web hosts and how to decipher them.

Website Space: Website space is the actual location of where your website files and images reside. Your HTML web pages and even your web programming pages will be stored at this location. Some web hosts offer 100MB and others offer up to 10,000MB or more.

If your company 's website only uses up five to seven pages then even 100mb might be too much space because almost all average web pages take up very little space.

If your website is content based and requires tons of images, text, articles, videos, then you should ensure that your host has more then 100mb of webspace. Many times though webspace will not be a major factor when searching for a webhost. Most hosts will provide you with a lot web space for the average website.

Bandwidth / Traffic / Monthly Transfer: Bandwidth is how much information can be transferred from your website.

Think of it this way. If you have 1 webpage which takes up 1mb and you're monthly bandwidth limit is 100mb. This means that once 100 people visit your website, then your bandwidth limit will be maxed out. You will not have any bandwidth available until the next month. Most of the time though website hosts offer monthly bandwidth limits of 3,000 MB or 10,000 MB. Don't worry about bandwidth because 99 percent of your webpages won't take up 1mb.

Once you start generating thousands of visitors monthly and see your bandwidth increase then you may have to pay additional fee for that month for the extra bandwidth, and consider upgrading your hosting account. As with website space bandwidth should not be an issue when searching for a webhost because most will provide you with adequate bandwidth for your website.

Website Programming Language: If you have features like Comments Form - to email comments directly from visitors to online email account, Newsletter Opt-in for your visitors or any other dynamic features then you need to have support for a web programming language. There are several web programming languages. To find out which one you need for your website ask your website development team and find out. They might already know which programming language they plan on using for your website. Common Web Programming languages include PHP, Net and CFML.

Web Programming language will be a big factor when searching for a webhost because each firm will offer a different combination of support for web programming languages, so pick carefully.

Database: If your website needs to store visitor 's email address, name and other important information, or keep a catalog of all your products then you will need to use a database. Some of the most common databases that are widely used include Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and Access. Almost all hosting plans will provide support for atleast one of these databases. As for web programming, you need to ask your website development team which database they plan to use.

Domain Hosting: Most of the time though a website hosting company will allow you to host one domain name such as a com, or net, but some website hosts support hosting for several website name. This is a great feature because this allows you to host multiple websites on one host, and manage everything from a convenient place. The downside is that you will have to share your website space, your bandwidth, and maybe even several other features with your other website. If you're goal is to have more then one website then it 's a good idea to find out exactly how many domains your web host allows on your account.

Email: Email should not be an issue when searching for a webhost. Many web hosting firms support some type of email account which allows you to have an email address with your website name: sales at yourwebsitename or something like that. Remember the amount of website space you use for your email may be limited to your overall website account, so if possible delete large and unwanted emails.

Customer Support: Support won't be a factor until it becomes one. This is why its a good idea to speak with a hosting staff and see how they respond. Great customer service will become a very important factor, and usually up to your website firm that will be working with them.

So how do you decide which webhost is right for you?

A good method is to first find out which of these website hosting is more important for you. If your website offers business training videos that takes up a lot of bandwidth then you should find a website host that can provide you a lot of bandwidth unless you'd rather wait until it turns into a bottleneck. Videos often take up hundreds if not thousand times more bandwidth then regular webpage and in this case your first priority during your search should be to ensure that your host includes adequate bandwidth. If you find a host that you like and if bandwidth does turn into an issue then make sure that the hosting firm allows the ability to upgrade your hosting services. Be prepared and make sure to find out the expenses for the upgraded plan.

Once you find a good host try hosting your website on a monthly basis instead of the long term discounted plans. Just like other companies, firms will offer lower price to motivate you to buy long term contracts. There 's nothing wrong with having a long term contract, but it 's not worth it if you decide you don't like this host, or if you find a better host.

If you're still not sure which host to sign up with then just ask you webmaster. They can recommend web hosts or offer to host your website with them. You will also see website hosts provide you with additional features such as ecommerce functionality, website statistics, easy to use control panel software such as Plesk, and other great features and software programs that can help you manage and create a great website.

Dedicated Server
If none of those plans sound right or if you plan on creating a gateway type website, with tons of content, images, videos, and if you want to be able to install your own custom software then there 's another option for you, a dedicated server. With a dedicated server you can install your own software, support for your own choice of programming languages, and as the title suggests it is dedicated for your website or websites depending on what you need. The cost is usually 8 to 10 times more then your average web host, but it allows you more control and provide you more ways to customize it. And if you plan on hosting dozens of websites then you should consider using a dedicated server.

About the Author

To find out more information visit Netlyte | Houston Web Design. You can also request free information to find out how we can help you build your Website at Website Design Houston

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How To Choose Your SEO Web Designer

Web designing and search engine optimization (SEO) seem to be two very different concepts. Nevertheless, you need to be able to combine both these elements in your business website for two reasons: good design will drive traffic to your site while excellent optimization of your webpages will increase your rank in search engines. All in all, you will benefit through obtaining your desired ROI for your business. There’s much better sales conversion rate.

Where do these things differ?

Certified web designers and SEO specialists see things in different perspective. This could be because of the orientation they have about their own respective roles in website building. Take these, for example:

1. The use of Flash in websites. At an SEO standpoint, the use of Flash in business websites is often discouraged. First of all, it doesn’t really improve your rankings in search engines. As a matter of fact, it can be very detrimental as it becomes a lot harder for crawlers to check on your content and have your web pages indexed. Second, Flash takes sometime to download. Because there are wide choices of websites available, Internet users don’t have to actually wait for your web page to download.

Meanwhile, for a typical web designer, Google has the ability to read Flash. Hence, you will not only capture the fancy of your Internet visitors, but you can also not worry about not getting indexed at all.

2. Multiple optimized content pages. Though Flash websites can still be indexed in search engines, SEO specialists believe that for you to be able to do that you must be able to compensate this elaborate design with a lot of well-optimized pages. If not, you wouldn’t be able to guarantee any inclusion, as search engine crawlers can only read texts, not Flash, Java, or HTML files.

3. Conversion. Web designers, meanwhile, believe that it doesn’t really matter if you have well-optimized pages or not because what’s actually important in any business website is your conversion rate. You should have the capacity to convert your traffic to regular customers. Because of the beauty of Flash, web designers have an inkling that it will be a great method for easy conversion.

How do you exactly choose a web designer?

Based on the things above, you know that you both need a web designer and an SEO specialist working on your website. However, looking for them is like searching for a needle in a huge pile of haystack. It’s even difficult to search for just one competent person, how much more for two individuals? Yet you should always persevere as the rewards are always long term and something that will truly be beneficial to your business.

Here are some ways on how you can pick the right web designer:

1. Make sure that he is competent to do the job. Keep in mind that a true-blue web designer will get you that far. You are looking for someone who doesn’t only know how to create fabulous designs but also understand why he needs to settle for this layout and not the other one. He must know the essence of SEO and apply these to his own web design.

For example, when it comes to SEO, linking related pages in your website will guarantee excellent search engine rankings. You may also need to add a sitemap to contain all the links in your site and make it convenient for search engine spiders to index your pages.

2. Look for a portfolio to prove their worth. You basically don’t need to work with an experienced web designer for your website. What’s important is that the person is capable to do the job. For him or her to be able to do that, you may want to ask for his/her portfolio. Make sure that you have certain criteria in your mind by now, so you will be able to have something to compare their works with.

3. Make sure that they’re very easy to work with. Communication can sometimes be a headache once you start working with a web designer. Usually, they work in their respective homes, so you have to rely on instant messengers and e-mails. Ensure that they can easily be reached and that they can instantly pick up whatever concept that you may have in mind. After all, it’s still going to be your business website.

4. He can actually maintain your website. The process of online business will always be continuous. Everything doesn’t end with having a business site. You shouldn’t just stop on optimizing your website today. Rules in SEO will change over time, and you must be able to cope with it. One way to do that is to look for a web designer who can maintain your site, so you don’t get lost among the pages of search engines.

About the Author

Moe Tamani is a Marketing expert with a leading Dallas web design company specializing in SEO web design services.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

SEO Web Marketing, The Evolution of SEO Design, Development and Marketing

In order to acquire a degree of search engine visibility you must pass a battery of litmus tests on three fundamental levels. Those criteria are divided into three categories (1) site architecture (2) content and (3) link building and web site promotion.

By developing quality for these criteria consistently your pages can develop authority and elevate them to the top ranking positions for multiple phrases.

Site architecture (including internal links, titles, tags, the programming platform, the choice of a static or dynamic site and how the programming is configured) is oftentimes the most overlooked component for procuring a high ranking search engine position.

In SEO the balance is three fold, one part site architecture, one part content and one part promotion and links. Balancing these components ensures (1) that your content can be indexed from search engine spiders (2) that is has the necessary grammatical indicators and keyword placement to gain phrase rank / approval (a new method of determining quality) and (3) multiple visitors to read and engage the pages.

A site build with impeccable architecture for example may have the ability to get indexed rapidly, but without quality content it fails to create the necessary semantic hooks required to determine relevance for that topic. A site with great content and poor site architecture for example means that despite the indicators and use of synonyms, keywords and their proximity to contextual information may be omitted since search engine spiders may have difficulty in located the page due to flaws in HTML code or inability to find the page as a result of weak internal links.

Or a site that just has links and bland content, despite the site architecture will send people packing every time they land on one of your pages due to the fact that it is lackluster and fails to impress the reader.

As marketing, form and function unite, it is not enough to just have a website, the purpose is for your pages to reach their target audience and make an impact and entice them to take action.

Traditional marketing is great as a foundation, but with consumer attention receding and online options expanding, your pages are scrutinized for value and visitors either know if (a) they like it and it piques their interest or (b) they will simply move on and find a better proposition.

Before there was SEO web design which evolved from web design, now we have SEO web marketing which has evolved from marketing and web development to craft the ideal landing pages that convert.

As more an more consumers have mobile devices capable of browsing the web seamlessly while conducting day to day activities, depending how visible your site is in search engines can determine if your embrace the technology and position yourself accordingly or hold on to outdated modalities of business and keep advertising in the yellow pages in hopes of breaking even.

With the competition as fierce as ever, I would rather minimize the risk and work on quality content, appealing design and offer functions that benefit the target audience vs. taking shots in the dark based on assumption or prehistoric marketing tactics.

In conclusion, sometimes you do not have to look any further than your own site to determine if it 's time to step up your game, redesign it from scratch (keeping the best aspects), removing obstructions and adding features and benefits.

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression, and every visitor your lose from failing to cater to their needs is another competitor your are aiding to garner more market share in your industry.

You owe it to yourself to engage the market on all four cylinders and hone your pitch, have an appealing site and most of all have the ability to promote it to reach thousands of pre-qualified traffic each and every day.

So, in case you are still thinking about keeping that java script in your navigation (to send search engine spiders away from your content), not distinguishing your headlines or structuring a call to action on your pages (to miss engaging potential clients), or worst yet doing all of that without building links to promote (so you get 10 hits a day instead of 1000), the choice is up to you.

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Smith is an seasoned search engine optimization Specialist and founder of SEO Design Solutions SEO Web Marketing Company. Jeffrey has been involved in online marketing since 1995 and brings fresh optimization methods as a Search Engine Marketing Consultant for businesses seeking organic search engine placement. Call 1 (866) 471-5377 for a free 20 min consultation.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

What Sitemaps Can Do For Your Website

While your homepage will give visitors the basics and general idea of your website, what if visitors want to know exactly what information is present, and where it can be found? A sitemap is the solution to this conundrum. Like a table of contents, a sitemap may be quickly scanned to see what information the site contains.

Undoubtedly, your next question is: What 's a sitemap? Simply put, a sitemap shows the structure of your site; e.g. how the pages of your site link together. If there are a very large number of pages on your site, it may end up being a challenge to create, and confusing to visitors. This can be helped somewhat by listing links the way the site maintainer would see them, as a sort of "tree" - this is called a hierarchical view.

Sitemaps are not just for humans anymore, however. Search engines bots, aka spiders, search through sitemaps compiling links in their search for certain keywords. Having a well organized sitemap in place can help you show up in more searches.

Benefits of a Sitemap

You may be thinking that this business of creating a sitemap sounds like a lot of work. While it can be so, there are a lot of benefits to having a sitemap, for instance:

1. A sitemap can be used as a tool for planning web design.

Eaven if your site is very small, having only a few pages, it 's a good idea to have the structure of your website plotted out this way. This will be a big help when adding pages in the future, as you will already be able to see where they will go. Your site will not become a tangled mess pages without their relation to one another difficult to decipher.

2. No page will be left unvisited.

The search engine spiders will visit each page of your website if you have the foresight to create a sitemap. Your pages will be included in search engines databases, increasing your page rankings, meaning more visitors for your site in the long run.

3. Visitors will have an easier time to navigate your site.

One factor why visitors stay on a site is ease of navigation. A sitemap gives your visitors an idea of what the contents of your site are. They can also easily find those pages they'd like to see within your site. Without a sitemap, your visitors may not stay on your pages, returning to search engines to search for information that may right there on your site.

4. A sitemap can encourage more traffic.

As your website grows, you must update your sitemap to keep pace with that expansion. This way, visitors can see that content is being added, which encourages them to become repeat visitors. This is doubly important if your site sells products or offers a service. Potential customers will know right away about your newest products or services by examining your sitemap.

5. There is potential advertising value when using a sitemap.

With a sitemap, potential advertisers have an easier time evaluating targeted ad placement on your site. This, of course means extra income for you.

The benefits of sitemaps are well worth the time and effort of creating them. Not only do they aid you in designing your website, they make navigation more easy for visitors, help your website get higher search engine rankings, increase traffic, and help you get more income from advertisements.

About the Author

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

12 Benefits Of Having A Website

Do you think having a website is an avoidable cost? Although the Internet no longer remains a "new" technology there are still many business owners who are averse to the idea of having a business website either because they are not comfortable with the new medium or they simply deem it unnecessary. Now, we are not suggesting that the guy selling hotdogs at the street corner should definitely have a business websites (well, why not?), but if there is business somewhere and you cannot do it simply because you don't have a website then we will say that you are missing a big opportunity by not having a website.

Having a business website immediately propels your visibility and reach to a higher level. All of a sudden you are accessible to your customers and clients 24x7. Both old and new customers find you approachable and progressive. We at ForeScene Creative Solutions don't mean to proselytize you but here is a list of 12 benefits of having a website, whether business or personal.

1. Instant visual representation

Just imagine what thrust your business would get if people from all over the globe could visually see the products or service options you have to offer. All information pertaining to your business can be put on your website so that your prospective customers and clients can view it at their own convenience and without you having to be there each time something needs to be explained.

2. Keep your business open all the time

When you decide to offer business through your website, it is like a store or an office whose doors are never closed; people can come in and review your products and services at their convenience. In between if they want to do business with you and if your website is automated enough they can do even that. This way you can run your business non-stop without having to put in the extra hours.

3. New customers and clients can find you through search engines

Once you have accumulated a decent amount of information on your website people begin to find you on the search engines for the keywords and expressions relevant to your website. For instance if you sell perfumed candles and if someone searches for "sandalwood aroma candles" and if you have information on "sandalwood aroma candles" then there is a great possibility that people will find you on various search engines, come to your website, and place orders for sandalwood aroma candles.

4. Easier and cheaper advertising

Publishing on your website doesn't cost you extra unless you are paying for every new page you create. Once you have set up the basic website structure you can keep adding new pages without incurring extra cost.

You can also complement your advertising efforts with your website. There are two ways of doing this. Whenever you publish your advertisement you can include your URL so that the information that you cannot include in the advertisement can be easily viewed on your website. Once your online traffic has gained momentum you can even run advertisements directly on your website. The best way of doing this is developing an online community so that lots of traffic builds up.

5. Highly enhanced public relations

You might not know that hundreds of or even thousands of your customers and clients might be using the Internet for all their information and research needs. Millions of views are exchanged on the World Wide Web. If some disparaging news regarding your organization gets circulated you can easily counter it, or at least present your own side of the story, through your website. High-value content and regular interaction with your visitors makes sure that you have a dedicated community of evangelists who would like to protect your brand and reputation even at the cost of putting in extra effort.

The more you interact through your website the more solid your reputation grows.

6. Reach distant markets

Although ForeScene is a New York based web design company we get web design projects from all over the world and from very high-profiled clients. This becomes possible because our website is easily accessible to everybody who has an Internet connection. If you provide a service that can be delivered via the Internet or if you have a product that can be easily dispatched after taking an online order then you should definitely tap into this vast online market and promote your business in different parts of the world.

7. Create extra income streams

You can start new business ventures from scratch if you run them through your website. Unlike starting business ventures in the brick-n-mortar world the Internet ventures require very little startup income and they can be initiated in a matter of few days, or even few hours. In order to start a new business all you have to do is, have a great idea or product ready, register a domain suitable to your business, obtain a web hosting account, design the website or get it designed and voila! You are ready to go.

8. Interact with your customers and clients regularly and obtain their feedback

Compared to telephonic conversations it is a lot easier to interact with your customers and clients through e-mails, blog posts and regular updates on your website. You can also host a forum where your customers and clients can leave feedback and exchange ideas regarding your service. This will improve your goodwill and reputation a lot and will also nurture a sense of trust and transparency. Getting good feedback to your website can be extremely critical to your further product development and service improvement efforts. You won't have to wait for months and even years to know how your products and services are being received by your consumers.

9. Conduct low-cost market research

Since it hardly costs your visitors any money to participate in quizzes and polls on your website you can use these marvelous tools to conduct low-cost market research and launch new products and services or make improvements to existing products and services.

10. Save on office space

If you manage most of your business operations through your website then you hardly need office space. There are many online store companies that conduct millions of dollars of transactions online every month and still don't need a place to stock their inventory. Some online companies don't even have regular staff; all they do is take orders from the website and then forward those orders to the original manufacturers and suppliers. All they have to do is maintain and promote a website and this can be done from your basement too.

11. Establish your brand

Many artists, authors and consultants establish and promote their brands through their websites and blogs. They make use of their authority and knowledge to create a fan following. Numerous bloggers and webmasters have got great book writing contracts through their websites.

12. A website opens a slew of new opportunities

There is a complete new world out there on the World Wide Web. Millions of people access the Internet for leisure, communication, education and business every day. It is a huge business, marketing and promotion potential for your organization.

About the Author

ForeScene, a New York web design company, develops and deploys cutting-edge websites and online applications. Feel free to browse for articles.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

All You Need To Know About Website Building And Hosting To Get You Started

There are only three things you need to know about Website Building And Hosting

1. It 's far easier than you think
2. The software is free
3. You already have the technical expertise required

The first statement will be a surprise to many. The reason for this is because when we have seen what the background code is like, it is obvious that html is a complex programming language. You can view the source code of this web page now, just select "View" then "Source" in your browsers toolbar. Chances are you are as bamboozled as I was about what it all means. Many of us would not even contemplate the prospect of being able to deal with this level of programming. Don't you need years at college or university to become a software engineer?

Well, the reason it is far easier to build websites than you think is that to produce your own websites, you don't have to understand html or JavaScript. The software does all of that for you. It is true that you will have to dive into all that code to do some of the things you will need to do, like inserting html scripts to display material from other websites, but even that is a simple process once you know how.

As for the second statement how can software to do such a complex task been free. Have you seen how much programs like Dreamweaver cost? And won't you need to produce graphics? How much is Photoshop? You also need to get your website uploaded to your web hosting provide. What software does that?

Well it is true that Dreamweaver and Photoshop each cost hundreds of dollars. And they are both remarkable programs, the favourite of professional designers. The reason that professional designers like this software is because it is full of highly advanced functionality which for us mere amateurs would never get used. In fact, if I was to splash out for this software I would be simply wasting most of the purchase price because I would never use, because I don't know how, nost of the software I was paying for.

Actually the software you need is far simpler to use and totally free. First of all there are a number of great web page editors available through open source. My favourite is NVU. This software means I can build websites from scratch and I can import existing online websites. For graphics, I have discovered that combining the functionality of my word processor with a free graphics package, Irfanview, means I can produce great looking web page headers and advertising banners at no cos. For FTP I use FileziIla - another great Open Source program,.

Now, when I was first faced with designing a website, I didn't know what to o. My reasons for choosing to build a website myself, is that I could not find an alternative which exactly met my needs. I tried online website builders and found that each offered a different set of feature, but I couldn't find one that did everything I wanted. So, I had no alternative to build my own.

I am an average computer user, I can use a word processor, a spreadsheet and write emails. I was amazed to discover that I had all of the technical expertise that I needed. To be fair it did take me many hours of research to learn how to apply that knowledge. But each time I learnt something new, I was amazed at how simple it actually was. Yes you do have the technical knowledge to create your own websites from scratch. You just need someone to show you how and then you can build site after site after site.

About the Author

Craig Summer is creator of

Internet Publishing Made Easy

a simple video course which will enable anyone to create site ...after site ...after site

www.e-bookcountry.com/ipvideo.html

Article Source: Content for Reprint

The 7 Essentials of Successful Websites

If you want your website to succeed and become a powerful lead-generating tool for your business then you need to ensure that you have these important bases covered.

1) A site that can grow with you

You will rapidly outgrow a site that offers you a fixed number of pages. Although you may think that 5-10 pages is sufficient now you will quickly find that it is nowhere near enough.

Once you read all about implementing a marketing strategy to build your online business you will discover that you will need a site that is flexible and can grow with you. With all this content you also need a content management system (CMS) in place otherwise you'll be swamped by the complexity of creating and linking static html pages. A good CMS is as easy to use as an office program and can create, manage and publish your content.

Instead you need a solution that offers this level of flexibility, scalability and the choice of two leading content management systems.

2) A quick start then the stamina for the long term

Many hosting and website companies offer a quick start solution to get you online quickly but then leave you high and dry. The problem is these quick start solutions where you select a template and build your site in minutes lack two of the most important ingredients that a website should have - content and customers.

Instead you need a solution that offers both a quick start solution backed up by a long term strategy to build a winning website.

3) Arm yourself with the knowledge you'll need

Most small businesses that create a website are doing so for the first time. Unfortunately, the majority of companies in this market only seem to care about one thing - getting your cash.

Instead you should look for a solution that offers you free information and email courses that explain all that you need to know about setting up, designing and marketing your new website.

4) A marketing strategy = Getting customers

To survive your website needs customers. Not hits, or traffic, or any other vague term used by lesser companies but actual customers that buy your product or service.

You need help to realise your passion and analyse your customers so that you can build and implement and successful marketing strategy.

5) Building on sales so that they're the beginning not the end

The secret of long term success is to regard a sale as the beginning and not the end of the process. By using "back end marketing" you can nurture your existing customers and turn them into regular clients that buy from you for years to come.

You should get help to create and implement a back end marketing campaign to nurture your website visitors.

6) Passionate support

No matter how skilled you are or how much time you dedicate to creating your website it is almost inevitable that you will need some help. Unfortunately, so few hosting and website companies offer support, and if they do, it is usually only technical support.
Instead you must have the combination of technical, design and marketing support.

7) The chance to upgrade

Too many hosting and website companies offer a "one size fits all" approach to creating a website. You create your quick start, fixed page website and that is that.

You need to develop and upgrade your website as your business grows. You need to invest in your website success or get additional help with graphics and additional functionality whenever you need it.

About the Author

Jon Beal, MD of Netflare, has recently launched www.businesswebfactory.com that offers you the complete website start-up solution and a 7 week email course to guide you through everything you need to know to build long term success. you through everything you need to know and articles and further email courses unlock the marketing secrets that will build long term success.

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