One of the things that a webmaster needs in order to be sure that his site will make it big in the world of the internet is to make it known to web users. In fact, website promotion is a large part of site management, as much as web design is. Luckily, there are countless of useful tips and tricks to make this hard task a little bit easier.
One of the easiest means of website promotion is through the use of web advertisements. Here., all you have to do is to put your ads into other websites and people are guaranteed to see them. You can either use a standard ad or go for one that has a link back to your site, so that users can easily connect.
However, one thing that you need to note about this method is that you need to carefully choose the site where you are going to post your ads. Use those sites that are closely related to your own, else, your ads will be nothing than another piece of graphic on the site. Also, you can try out sites that are specifically made to carry ads like yours, these will have a wider reach.
In some cases, even with plenty of your ads scattered all over the net, there would still be times where no one would bother to visit your site. Then here, you need to be a bit more aggressive in promoting your site. Email marketing is one of the strategies that you can use. With email marketing, you go and send introductory information about your products or services to prospective clients. You then pursue them to visit your site to get more information, as well as purchase from you.
However, while email marketing will definitely get you the desired clients, there is s till a catch. Unlike ads, where all you have to do is put them on and forget (well, not quite. But you do get the idea), email marketing requires you to put in a lot of effort in order to respond to the queries that will likely come your way. On the flip side, you also need to send out hundreds of emails at one time, as many of them will often be ignored by your target clients.
Another method of site promotion that has become popular with many online businesses recently is through search engine optimization. Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is basically promoting your web site, such that it appears first in the listings of search engines. This way, your clients will be able to see you first every time they search for something within your field.
Take note that all of these methods have their pros and cons, as have been mentioned. Also, no single method will work perfectly for you. Thus, it would be a good idea to implement several of these in order to ensure a successful promotion campaign.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Creating Your Flash Banner
To many web design specialists, using Flash in a site is often a big problem. Not only that, there is often compatibility issues with users' computers (missing or outdated players), Flash also can't be read by the search engines, rendering it pretty much useless. Thus, they often try to avoid using it as much as possible.
However, Flash does have its own set of advantages. For one, it enables you to put in animation and videos into your site. This makes it attractive to your users. And not only that, but with this added feature, you will be able to put in more information, again, for your users' convenience.
And one of the places that you will find good use for Flash is your site's banner. After all this is the first one that your viewers will see, so you definitely would want to catch their attention. However, as have been mentioned, certain user issues will likely hinder you from using Flash banners. But with a few simple reminders, not only will you be able to use them, but you will also be able to make the most out of them.
One of the things that you need to seriously consider is the compatibility issues. Depending on your target audience, you can easily gauge whether or not they have the necessary tools to be able to view your Flash banner. For instance, if you are going after and audience that is is specifically into the type of sites just like yours, then you can safely assume that they would have the necessary plugins installed into their browsers for this. On the other hand, if your audience is of a broader range, then never quickly jump on this one. In fact, if this is the case, you should always assume that not all of them might have installed the plugins.
Another useful tip when making your banner is to actually consider designing it for use with an older version. For instance, the latest release of Adobe's Flash player is version 9, so you might want to design your banner in Flash 7 or 8. This way, more of your users will be able to see your banner, as some of them will likely have not yet been able to update their systems.
It is also important to take into account that not all of your audiences will have plugins installed. Thus you need to deal with this also. The easiest way that you can do this is by simply putting in text descriptions by using the ALT attribute in your code. Make sure that your text descriptions are concise and direct to the point in order for your users to easily understand what it means.
However, Flash does have its own set of advantages. For one, it enables you to put in animation and videos into your site. This makes it attractive to your users. And not only that, but with this added feature, you will be able to put in more information, again, for your users' convenience.
And one of the places that you will find good use for Flash is your site's banner. After all this is the first one that your viewers will see, so you definitely would want to catch their attention. However, as have been mentioned, certain user issues will likely hinder you from using Flash banners. But with a few simple reminders, not only will you be able to use them, but you will also be able to make the most out of them.
One of the things that you need to seriously consider is the compatibility issues. Depending on your target audience, you can easily gauge whether or not they have the necessary tools to be able to view your Flash banner. For instance, if you are going after and audience that is is specifically into the type of sites just like yours, then you can safely assume that they would have the necessary plugins installed into their browsers for this. On the other hand, if your audience is of a broader range, then never quickly jump on this one. In fact, if this is the case, you should always assume that not all of them might have installed the plugins.
Another useful tip when making your banner is to actually consider designing it for use with an older version. For instance, the latest release of Adobe's Flash player is version 9, so you might want to design your banner in Flash 7 or 8. This way, more of your users will be able to see your banner, as some of them will likely have not yet been able to update their systems.
It is also important to take into account that not all of your audiences will have plugins installed. Thus you need to deal with this also. The easiest way that you can do this is by simply putting in text descriptions by using the ALT attribute in your code. Make sure that your text descriptions are concise and direct to the point in order for your users to easily understand what it means.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Choosing Your Blog Host
Blog writing is definitely one of the best ways that you can use to get information across to people. In fact, blogging have become a very crucial tool that many organizations have incorporated it into their information campaigns. However, a blog would end up becoming totally useless if you don't know where to put it up in the web.
And that's where the blogging platform, or blog host, comes in. Choosing the right blog host to get yours online can really mean the difference between getting read and being just another of those unknowns on the web. But, this isn't going to be easy, since there is many blog hosting sites available online.
professional web site design
And even before that, you need to think about whether to get a hosting site or put it online yourself. The main advantage of hosting a blog yourself is that you have total control of how it operates. You can even set restrictions to further limit or delimit access to your blog. The main disadvantage with this one is that you actually need to own a server or at least a computer that can handle all the incoming traffic. Besides, you will have to pay for the space to put it on the web, i.e. you have to buy your own domain name. And both can be quite expensive. Thus, this one is more suited for corporate blogs or those kids who can afford them.
For the rest of us, there are plenty of free hosting sites out there. Here are two of the more popular ones and the pros and cons of getting each.
Blogger is, by far, the leader of the pack in terms of market share. The main draw of the site is its ease of set up. In fact, all you need to do is to click the large “Create your blog now” button and it will automatically whisk you to the blog creation page. Creating your initial blog post is also very straightforward ad intuitive. The best part of using Blogger is that you can tweak the CSS code to add more style to your blog's overall appearance.
The only downside with the site is that it has no categories to sort your entries. This can be especially problematic when organizing your posts, but nonetheless, this doesn't deter from Blogger's other features.
Coming in close is Wordpress (both the .com and the .org). Though this site doesn't really allow you to customize your blog (its major drawback) in much the same way as Blogger gives, it still has plenty to offer which compensates a lot for it. For one, it offers real categories so you won't get too confused in sorting your posts.
Second, and more important, Wordpress allows you a greater deal of traffic management. The site has a built statistics analyzer, so you can determine how much traffic is actually going to your blog. It also offers users a good spam protection system so you wouldn't need to worry about your blog being flooded by junk comments.
There are still other blog hosts that you can try out. But for the most part, these two will surely be the best ones available.
web development services
And that's where the blogging platform, or blog host, comes in. Choosing the right blog host to get yours online can really mean the difference between getting read and being just another of those unknowns on the web. But, this isn't going to be easy, since there is many blog hosting sites available online.
professional web site design
And even before that, you need to think about whether to get a hosting site or put it online yourself. The main advantage of hosting a blog yourself is that you have total control of how it operates. You can even set restrictions to further limit or delimit access to your blog. The main disadvantage with this one is that you actually need to own a server or at least a computer that can handle all the incoming traffic. Besides, you will have to pay for the space to put it on the web, i.e. you have to buy your own domain name. And both can be quite expensive. Thus, this one is more suited for corporate blogs or those kids who can afford them.
For the rest of us, there are plenty of free hosting sites out there. Here are two of the more popular ones and the pros and cons of getting each.
Blogger is, by far, the leader of the pack in terms of market share. The main draw of the site is its ease of set up. In fact, all you need to do is to click the large “Create your blog now” button and it will automatically whisk you to the blog creation page. Creating your initial blog post is also very straightforward ad intuitive. The best part of using Blogger is that you can tweak the CSS code to add more style to your blog's overall appearance.
The only downside with the site is that it has no categories to sort your entries. This can be especially problematic when organizing your posts, but nonetheless, this doesn't deter from Blogger's other features.
Coming in close is Wordpress (both the .com and the .org). Though this site doesn't really allow you to customize your blog (its major drawback) in much the same way as Blogger gives, it still has plenty to offer which compensates a lot for it. For one, it offers real categories so you won't get too confused in sorting your posts.
Second, and more important, Wordpress allows you a greater deal of traffic management. The site has a built statistics analyzer, so you can determine how much traffic is actually going to your blog. It also offers users a good spam protection system so you wouldn't need to worry about your blog being flooded by junk comments.
There are still other blog hosts that you can try out. But for the most part, these two will surely be the best ones available.
web development services
Monday, February 8, 2010
Online Web Editing
One of the most tedious parts of building a website is editing it. In fact, you will most likely be spending several hours just working on one page. And to top it all, it would definitely be even harder if you don't have with you one of those point and click editors available today.
Indeed, getting one of these editors isn't that easy. For one, the best packages out there will set you back by at least three hundred dollars. On the other hand, trying out one of those free editors might leave you shortchanged, as many of these often don't have all the features that are available with top end editors. Besides that, you will have to go through all the hassle of downloading and actually making them run on your computer.
Luckily there us another way for you to edit your web site without having to install all of theses programs just to edit your website. In fact, if you are in a hurry, you can actually go online and edit your site there. You see, online HTML editing sites are now fast becoming popular among designers as a good alternative to using software to construct your pagers. This online sites provide designers with a place to edit their sites.
One particular site is HTML Editor.org (www.html-editor.org). Here, you can quickly open your pages and edit them, either in a graphical manner or through code writing. After editing, you can then reuplaod your pages to your site's hosting server.
One good thing about using online editors is that you don't need to install additional software in order to use them. Also, they are actually quite easy to use, since their interfaces are usually presented similar to that of popular programs, which means those familiar with this programs can quickly adapt to editing online. And since almost all of them are free, these are proving to be a good and cheap alternative for designers.
However, one major downside of using online editors is that they, like any other free service, often do not offer the full range of functions that can be found in full fledged website authoring software. Most often give only basic HTML editing capabilities, while others will provide support for, at the most, three coding languages. However, this can be easily remedied by using an assortment of sites to meet your needs.
One thing that you need to keep in mind when using online editors is that, though they will be able to provide you with a quick editing tool, they are not suitable for use in the whole site. Most usually don't have an HTML validation feature, so you will not be able to know if your codes will be accepted or not. Thus, it is still a good idea if you have web site authoring software on hand for this purpose.
Indeed, getting one of these editors isn't that easy. For one, the best packages out there will set you back by at least three hundred dollars. On the other hand, trying out one of those free editors might leave you shortchanged, as many of these often don't have all the features that are available with top end editors. Besides that, you will have to go through all the hassle of downloading and actually making them run on your computer.
Luckily there us another way for you to edit your web site without having to install all of theses programs just to edit your website. In fact, if you are in a hurry, you can actually go online and edit your site there. You see, online HTML editing sites are now fast becoming popular among designers as a good alternative to using software to construct your pagers. This online sites provide designers with a place to edit their sites.
One particular site is HTML Editor.org (www.html-editor.org). Here, you can quickly open your pages and edit them, either in a graphical manner or through code writing. After editing, you can then reuplaod your pages to your site's hosting server.
One good thing about using online editors is that you don't need to install additional software in order to use them. Also, they are actually quite easy to use, since their interfaces are usually presented similar to that of popular programs, which means those familiar with this programs can quickly adapt to editing online. And since almost all of them are free, these are proving to be a good and cheap alternative for designers.
However, one major downside of using online editors is that they, like any other free service, often do not offer the full range of functions that can be found in full fledged website authoring software. Most often give only basic HTML editing capabilities, while others will provide support for, at the most, three coding languages. However, this can be easily remedied by using an assortment of sites to meet your needs.
One thing that you need to keep in mind when using online editors is that, though they will be able to provide you with a quick editing tool, they are not suitable for use in the whole site. Most usually don't have an HTML validation feature, so you will not be able to know if your codes will be accepted or not. Thus, it is still a good idea if you have web site authoring software on hand for this purpose.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Benefits Of Hiring An SEO Company
Search engine ranking is very much important for websites, as this determines how one will plays in the eyes of viewers. Thus, many administrators have given a lot of effort in doing search engine optimization work in order to increase their rankings. However, there will come a point where your rankings do not change, no matter the effort you put into it.
This is the time where you might want to consider getting yourself the services of an SEO company. However, many site administrators often think that outsourcing SEO is just a waste of time and money. But contrary to this, hiring a company to do the work for you, in fact, offers plenty of benefits than doing everything on your own.
The biggest thing that you will be getting from hiring an SEO company is that it will take all the burden off from you. Since optimization is such a laborious task, outsourcing will certainly help in alleviating that one from your worries. And with that gone, you can then focus yourself into doing other things, like managing other components of your online business.
Aside from saving you a lot of time, hiring an SEO company will also actually save you a lot of money. How will this be so, you might ask, if you are the one to pay them? Actually that is indeed true, you do have to pay them. However, this is actually very small compared to the cost that you will incur when doing it by yourself, as you will likely have less experience doing it and will have to rely on trial and error methods.
Since SEO companies are especially trained for the job, they will be able implement methods specifically design for the job. Thus, they will be able to provide you with much better results. And another thing that you can get out of hiring an SEO company is that they will be able to better manage your optimization tasks for you, making it all the more organized and easier to analyze.
And you will definitely get more out of the money you pay them, as many SEO companies now offer their clients a complete package. This includes not only optimization work, but also web site design, thus, you will essentially be able to accomplish more with less, since you need not to get separate services for each.
Lastly, the search engine optimization services companies go well beyond search engines and web design, as they offer a multitude of customer support services. And the best part of it is that they are open 24 hours a day. Thus, you will be able to get in touch with them easily everytime a problem occurs.
This is the time where you might want to consider getting yourself the services of an SEO company. However, many site administrators often think that outsourcing SEO is just a waste of time and money. But contrary to this, hiring a company to do the work for you, in fact, offers plenty of benefits than doing everything on your own.
The biggest thing that you will be getting from hiring an SEO company is that it will take all the burden off from you. Since optimization is such a laborious task, outsourcing will certainly help in alleviating that one from your worries. And with that gone, you can then focus yourself into doing other things, like managing other components of your online business.
Aside from saving you a lot of time, hiring an SEO company will also actually save you a lot of money. How will this be so, you might ask, if you are the one to pay them? Actually that is indeed true, you do have to pay them. However, this is actually very small compared to the cost that you will incur when doing it by yourself, as you will likely have less experience doing it and will have to rely on trial and error methods.
Since SEO companies are especially trained for the job, they will be able implement methods specifically design for the job. Thus, they will be able to provide you with much better results. And another thing that you can get out of hiring an SEO company is that they will be able to better manage your optimization tasks for you, making it all the more organized and easier to analyze.
And you will definitely get more out of the money you pay them, as many SEO companies now offer their clients a complete package. This includes not only optimization work, but also web site design, thus, you will essentially be able to accomplish more with less, since you need not to get separate services for each.
Lastly, the search engine optimization services companies go well beyond search engines and web design, as they offer a multitude of customer support services. And the best part of it is that they are open 24 hours a day. Thus, you will be able to get in touch with them easily everytime a problem occurs.
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