May 17th, 2008
Web templates by nature are created to aid and ease the
strenuous process of a typical web development phase. Idea
collection, analysis, research, design are just a small part
of a bigger picture. It is no doubt with the availability of
web templates, we can almost eliminate the need of research
and initial analysis, although not entirely.
Theoretically, most of the time and hard work spent on
initial research and development are packaged into one
simple idea which web templates. What you have to do is
simply to spend some time hunting for the right web
templates which coincide with all your ideas and research
plans.
If you need additional resources to enhance the looks of
your web templates, site like http://www.sxc.hu provides a
huge database of excellent high quality free images. You
might want to also try out http://www.bluevertigo.com.ar for
a comprehensive database of sites with free images, logos,
clip arts, photoshop brushes, etc.
An online business typically requires you to have a website
to get your messages and identity securely in place. In fact
in almost all cases, websites are the main backbone
depository for the most widely seek item on the net today -
Information. Although in numerous exceptional cases, there
are still loopholes for businesses to operate successfully
without even having a website, the risks of taking such
route is just unprofitable in the long term.
Regardless of the level of complexity on how “information”
can be, it’s one of the most flexible medium to be sold on
the Internet today. Digital information products are
relatively easy to compile and create, and given the fact
that it is packaged and delivered digitally, the prospect of
multiplying different variety of such products can be
accomplished within a reasonable short period of time.
Simply put, the more online business websites you produce on
the long run, the higher the level of multiplication of your
income will take place. Exactly like how you would work out
a couple of jobs a day just take make ends meet. Only in
this case and this time, it is so much easier to accomplish,
and consequently, save you a lot more of your time.
Each time someone brings up the topic about online
businesses, it is unavoidable to relate both quality and
quantity within the big picture. Realistically speaking,
quality always win above all when it comes to the definition
of a successful online business. Comparatively speaking, it
is undeniably better to have both quality and quantity going
at the same time.
As indispensable it is to have a nice looking website with
rich content, it is a very well known fact that
humans by nature, simply dislike heavy long monotonous
workloads. Based on the very definition of simplicity, web
templates can just simply provide that comfort and time
saving capabilities.
As more and more individuals venturing into various online
businesses today, it is not uncommon to come across web
design solutions that provide completion timeframe within
the range of hours or even minutes. Massive expansion
through ready made web templates as they call it, brings the
customers the satisfaction of expanding their online
businesses to a greater level, without sacrificing the
overall quality.
A majority of these sites usually fall into the informative
based category, providing visitors with guides, information,
and product recommendations on a selected niche.
Advertisements too, play a big supporting role in the income
generating picture. Although not a preferred method by many,
advertisements do provide extra relevant source of
information to the visitors, and that extra income for the
webmasters.
Looking at how Internet grows today, it’s almost impossible
to keep yourself in line with the latest and current flow.
The idea of a successful online business itself has
practically unlimited methods of penetration, making it a
field which is almost impossible to completely master.
Looking at the brighter side, infinite possibilities also
mean infinite income making possibilities.
About the Author
John Teh is a web designer and runs multiple web template
based services, hoping that they will help Internet
enthusiasts realize their online dreams.
Ready Made Income Generating Web Templates
http://www.whereismysite.com
Premium Web Template Database
http://www.dead0eye.com
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May 13th, 2008
If you think it’s simply a case of who will do it for the best
price, think again.
As with many things we buy there are several important factors
to take into account. For a moment let’s compare setting up a
website with buying a house. When you are looking for a new
house it’s not simply a case of comparing how many rooms you get
for your money. In fact there are lots of factors outside of the
property itself. What is its location like? How will it stand up
as an investment? The same is true of a website.
Here are the things you need to consider:
* Cost * Hosting * Domain * Design * Accessibility * Marketing
* Support
Cost
Cost is by no means the be all and end all but in a competitive
market place it has to be a decisive factor. Before you start
looking you should work out what you can afford to invest in a
site. You should look not so much at the one off cost of having
it built but the ongoing costs. When you get a quote for having
a site built you should ask about ongoing costs. Find out what
you have to pay for your domain name, for hosting, what they
will charge you for making changes to your site or adding new
pages. Also, find out what marketing if any is included in the
cost.
Hosting
Ask your would be designer about hosting. Be very wary of anyone
saying “we have our own server”. Professional hosting companies
have lots of servers running concurrently from different
locations so that if one goes down another seemlessly takes
over. They also have greater security and fire protection. This
means that your site stays up whatever happens. I have known
small companies where their own hosting server is kept in the
toilet. That is not to say that you should be wary of smaller
companies but you should ask them who they use for their
hosting. It’s far better if they leave this to the professionals
and outsource it.
Domain
Make sure you get a proper domain name. It is important that
your domain is recognised as an independent entity. You should
watch out for being given a subdomain. www.yourcompany.com is
good, www.yourcompany.hostingcompany.com is best avoided. It’s
also important to find out what domain extension is best for
you. Don’t let a designer talk you into a particular extension
as they may be getting a bulk discount. .com, .net and .org
extensions are the top level domain extensions with the
individual country codes coming next. Decide if you want to
market to a worldwide audience (and risk getting lost in the
crowd) or specialise in one regional market (e.g. use a .co.uk
or .us extension).
Design
Design is not just about a page looking pretty. Functionality is
more important. Look at the designer’s previous work. Is the
navigation obvious? Do the pages load quickly? Is text easy to
read? Look through their previous work and look at it with a
critical eye. Try to find things wrong with the pages.
Watch out for templates. If your designer is using templates it
not only means that they’re doing minimal work for their fee but
your site could be penalised by search engines for being the
same as other websites. It’s much safer to have a site custom
designed for you even if it costs a bit more.
Accessibility
It’s increasingly important that your site is accessible to all
users. You want your site to display and function properly not
only on a PC screen but also laptops, palmtops, PDAs, digital TV
services, mobile devices and software for the visually impaired.
If your site cannot be used by all of these browsers you are
losing a large proprtion of your potential audience. Ask about
accessibility and request that your site be built in XHTML
rather than HTML (it’s on its way out) and that it uses CSS for
the styling.
Marketing
If you just build a site and don’t do any marketing it will just
sit there and never be seen. This is a mistake that too many
people make usually through trying to cut costs. Find out what,
if anything, is included in the cost of your design. Is your
page optimised for search engines? Do they submit it for you?
Will they give you any links? Optimising web pages for search
engines is a key part of any site’s success. There are companies
who specialise in this but if your site is built in a way which
makes it unfriendly to search engines there’s not a lot they
will be able to do for you. This is a crucial part of the design
process and should not be overlooked.
Support
What happens once the site is built? Does your designer just say
“that’s it, finished” and move on to their next site? You should
find someone you are able to talk to about your site and seek
advice without charge. A website is an ongoing project and a
good designer should never wash their hands of it.
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May 10th, 2008
Imagine spinning someone around so profoundly and for so
long that when you finally tell them to open their eyes,
they ask “Where am I?” not knowing if they are even on the
same continent they started from. When someone comes to
your web site from a search engine or through a link from
another site, it’s like that for them. They may have little
or no context within which to understand your home page - or
another page deep within your site that they’ve landed on.
By imagining and engineering your site for that profoundly
disoriented visitor, you can add subtle clues and explicit
messages to your site that orient the person arriving at
your site from who knows where. You can do this without
“dumbing down” your presentation in any way, turning
confused visitors into converted ones.
For instance, while judging sites for the Webby Awards, I’ve
sometimes found myself at a home page about a city that
appears justifiably proud of itself for all that it’s
achieved, yet I haven’t a clue what state or province or
even what country that city is located in. It’s easier to
appreciate what you’re reading if you know that Kamloops is
in British Columbia, Canada and not in Scotland or New
Zealand.
Likewise, when people are searching for a service provider
and you do what you do only in a specific geographical area,
say so right on your home page. For instance, if you
provide emergency on-site technical support throughout
Southern Vermont, say so. You’ll have fewer potential
clients clicking away in confusion and have fewer
inappropriate phone or email inquiries to deal with.
Sometimes the missing orientation pertains to your
profession rather than geography. For instance, I was once
sent to look at a site on “Japanese candlestick trading” and
found myself completely mystified. After reading a few
paragraphs, I gathered that this had something to do with
investing in the stock market, but even after I’d read the
whole page I didn’t know what it had to do with Japan or
with candlesticks. How much nicer to include a sentence
like this not far into the home page: “Since its origin in
14th century Japan, this method of stock trading according
to candlestick-shaped patterns of price shifts on a graph
has…”
Another time I evaluated a site for a firm that did
“information protection” and “intellectual asset
management.” Even after reading the entire site, I wasn’t
sure what kinds of information or intellectual assets the
firm protected and managed. I checked with the head of the
firm, and my top two guesses were wrong. In fact, the firm
helps companies protect trade secrets, confidential company
information and intellectual property from theft or
inadvertent exposure. Again, be specific and clear so that
you let first-time visitors understand whether you offer the
expertise or product line that they’re looking for.
These three site components help you provide clues to first-
time visitors to your site: the page title - the text that
appears in the top left corner of the browser; the site’s
name and tag line, which normally appear as unifying
elements on every page; and the wording or text that
appears on the home page or other page. Explicitly or
through the accumulation of strong clues, make sure that
someone coming to your site without any advance warning of
what you do will feel oriented within their first 20 or 30
seconds.
Marcia Yudkin is the author of Web Site
Marketing Makeover and 10 other books. A four-time Webby
Awards judge and internationally famous marketing
consultant, she critiques web sites and performs web site
makeovers for clients. Learn more about her detailed
critique sessions on five different kinds of web sites
at http://www.yudkin.com/websitequiz.htm .
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May 3rd, 2008
In this article you’ll be provided with helpful information about how to choose a web host. There are several things to look for when choosing a reliable web host. Below, you will be provided with frequently asked questions and the answers to common questions.
Q. How reliable is the service of a web host?
Most surveys indicate that reliability is an e-businesses main concern. You should look for at least a 95 percent guarantee uptime, to ensure that the service is indeed reliable.
Q. What kind of performance can I expect?
A great hosting company has one or more T3 lines that are always connected to the Internet, not going through someone else’s network operations center. The servers should be fast, ideally Pentium Pro or Linux. You should also let your host know if you plan to use bandwidth killers such as streaming audio or video.
Q. How good is phone support?
When it comes to phone support, you should look for 24/7 phone support that’s always available with a live operator. Once you have found out, you should always check it. Call or email the technical support line at 10 o clock on Sunday night then expect it to be answered.
Q. How much will it cost me?
The entry level hosting service with a single domain name, 20 - 30 MB (Mega Bytes) of hard drive space, email services, and up to a 1 GB (Giga Bytes) of monthly bandwidth should cost you no more than 50 dollars.
Q. How is security handled?
The passwords to your website or domain should be required to control the host as well as manage the web site. Every file on your server should also be backed up on a daily basis. You should always look for a host that offers you secure transactions as well.
Q. How much bandwidth will I need for data transfer?
Roughly estimating, 2GB of bandwidth should be perfect for a very small personal site. If you’re going to running a medium site with text and images but no large files, 5 GB would be ideal. Larger sites on the other hand, require 30 GB of bandwidth. Good hosting company’s will send you an email if you’re about to run out of bandwidth, letting you know that your site may go offline if you exceed the quota. This way, you can upgrade your plan if you choose to do so.
Q. What about a control panel?
Almost all hosting packages come with some type of control panel, enabling you to configure your hosting packages as well as your settings without having to learn the entire operating system that powers the site. Control panels can be accessed through a secure webpage, and then they will appear in your web browser. The most popular control panels are Helm, Cpanel, Hsphere, Plesk, and Ensim. The most common is Cpanel, which only runs on Linux. Most beginners and other users would be more suited to Cpanel, as it runs on the cheaper platform of Linux.
Q. What about a POP3 account?
When sending and receiving email, POP3 counts are very important. These types of accounts you can assign to individual users as their own email addresses. You’ll need enough POP3 accounts for the amount of email addresses that you wish to assign to other people. Often times this number will be quoted as being unlimited, although there are only so many email addresses that you can actually create.
Q. What about spam and viruses?
These features are classified in a separate category, and can include autoresponders, spam filters, even anti virus protection. They may be important to you, but they will actually vary from host to host. Basically, these are all free things that the host will give to you when you sign up for an account. If you’re plan doesn’t quite offer what you want, your host may be flexible when setting up your account.
Q. What about running my own online store?
If you are planning on running your own store on the internet, there will be a few factors that will be involved with that decision. First of all, you’ll need an SSL certificate for your website, so that you can process credit card transactions. Basically, these are 3rd parties that will take care of each and every transaction, for a small percent fee, eliminating the need for extra security on your server. You’ll also need to ensure that the server as well as the software is capable of running the script you have for your shopping cart.
Q. I need help making that final decision.
If you plan on having a website that you’ll be relying on for income or storing important data, you’ll need to make sure that you go with a host that will offer you a high level of customer support. A lot of hosting companies will offer forums as well as their contact numbers; however the forums can be excellent when you are dealing very small problems.
In Conclusion
By taking your time and checking to see what each host has to offer, you’ll find which service best fits your needs. There are many hosts and many different packages out there to choose from, which mean you shouldn’t go with the first one you see. Take the time to compare plans, costs, and customer service and you shouldn’t have any problems choosing a web host.
About the Author
Martin Smith is a successful freelance writer providing advice for consumers on purchasing a variety of
Web Hosting Service which includes
ASP Hosting Service,
Low Cost Web Hosting, and more! His numerous articles provide a wonderfully researched resource of interesting and relevant information.
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April 29th, 2008
Developing a writing website is fun and can be a potential moneymaker. But if it cannot easily be distinguished from its competition, it will not likely succeed. To ensure its success, you’ll want to avoid the following mistakes:
- Not focusing your material and audience. When you first thought about developing such a website, did you consider a specific audience or “anyone who is interested?” For example, if your website is focused on a specific audience, such as teenagers who want to write for publication,” you will be able to visualize that audience and tailor your material and tone to it much better than you could with a vague, undefined audience. So giving your potential audience plenty of thought will help you to build a good foundation and establish a good focus for your website.
- Forgetting your audience’s purpose for visiting your website. In other words, what kind of information would teenage writers be looking for? What kind of stuff do they want to write and why?
- Selecting the first domain name that you think of. It is easy to get carried away with the excitement of developing a website and choosing a good domain name for it. It is also tempting to choose the first name or two that occurs to you. Don’t give in to temptation! Take the time you need to brainstorm a list of possible names and forget about it until the next day. You will be able to review those names more objectively and eliminate those that are unsuitable. And don’t worry if this process takes a few days. You will eventually find and select a great domain.
- Overlooking the importance of your website’s content. Think about it for a minute. Will you include links for articles on your site? Will you have a Q&A page? Will you include a Resources page, an All About Me page? These pages and their development will also take time to create and write. Consider working on these pages as you are developing your domain name.
- Overlooking the competition. This is probably the biggest mistake. Your website will have plenty of competition and one of the first things you should consider doing is finding out what it is and how your website will stand out from it. Visit a few writing websites and decide what you like and dislike about each. For example, does a competing website focus on new writers? How does it meet their needs? Even more important, what’s unique about it? What could that website have also included? Answering these questions will clue you in as to what your own website should be like and define its unique qualities.
- Not updating the website/overlooking the importance of new features such as writing challenges and forums. When visitors come to your website, what do you want them to do? How will you make their visit productive and fun? How will you keep them coming back?
By paying attention to these mistakes, you will be so much ahead of potential, but clueless, webmasters who make haste in developing their sites, but wind up regretting their hasty decisions.
Thanks for reading!
A published writer, Dorothy Zjawin’s credits include a number of Instructor articles and a book, Teaching Ideas for the Come-Alive Classroom (Parker Pub. Co./Prentice-Hall). Her website http://www.profitable-pen.com
includes ideas for new and experienced writers.
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April 26th, 2008
There is an ongoing debate about web copy. Some say that it should be similar to direct mail copy. Others state that is should be written in a more editorial, news offering style. However, both styles work. Both styles generate thousands of dollars of money for the website owners. Why is this?
The reason is quite simple really.
The reason that both styles work, and work well, is because the copywriter has learned one overwhelmingly important aspect to writing web copy, and any copy for that matter. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! This is THE most important aspect to writing effective web copy that there is. You must know your prospect or audience. And that’s the ticket to writing seriously great web copy. Web copy that effectively pulls in large amounts of cash.
This is vitally important and cannot be overlooked. You can do everything else right, but if you don’t know your audience, your copy will fail miserably. You have to take the time to get to know your audience as well as you know your best friend. You have to know what it is that makes your audience tick. You have to know what keeps them up at night.
In getting to know your audience, you must learn what some of their deepest desires are. If you don’t? You’re wasting your time and money. This holds true for direct mail copy as well as web copy. This is what makes those long, direct mail style websites sell the product or service that is being promoted. It’s also what makes those editorial, news offering websites so effective.
This is SO IMPORTANT that it cannot be overstated. It cannot be overlooked. You must know your audience. Only then can you, or the copywriter that you have hired, write effectively. Knowing your audience will also dictate which style of writing web copy will be the most effective.
So the next time you hire a copywriter to write your web copy, supply them with as much information as you can get your hands on about your audience. And if you are writing the web copy yourself, make sure that you take the necessary time to learn as much as you can about your audience. If you do this, you will be greatly rewarded by increased sales, increased leads, or increased sign ups.
Copyright 2005 Gary Glasscock
Gary Glasscock is a freelance copywriter specializing in writing effective web copy and direct mail copy. He has studied under many of the current “great” copywriters as well as studying many of the all-time great copywriters. As a result, he has developed a style that is cumulative of all these influences. Gary’s website is located at http://www.gc-copywriting.com
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April 19th, 2008
Web design is a very competitive area and there is no longer any
reason why people should pay large amounts for website design
services.
This article describes and explains where to find very very
cheap website design services.
The first place to try of course is the internet search engines
themselves. The best place to try could be paid adverts on the
right hand side of the search engine Google. These are called
Google adwords and these companies are actively seeking
business. The results on the left hand side are normally the
more established companies who will probably try to charge a lot
of money for their services.
I have heard a lot of people who have had great success on
auction websites, like ebay. People or companies at times offer
their services for a very cheap rate, normally to drum up some
very much needed business.
Other areas to look are in places like the yellow pages,
newspapers or by asking family or friends.
I myself know of many people offering expert website building
skills who only charge between £50 and £100 per website. There
are many great deals to be had out there for people who are
willing to make lots of phone calls or send lots of e-mails and
who are patient.
When finding a company or person to build the website always
take a look at their portfolio as this will give you an insight
into the work they do. Obviously if you are not impressed, there
is no point in carrying on, even if it is very cheap.
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April 17th, 2008
Today, eBay is considered to be one of the most lucrative
auction sites available in the Internet.
However, selling on eBay is not that easy, and the very first
thing a seller should do is to find the ways on how he or she
will get paid once the item is sold. And so, here are the
different ways how a seller can be paid:
1. PayPal
PayPal is the most common and convenient way of sending and
receiving money based on an eBay transaction. Here, the payment
for the sold item is sent directly to the seller by means of an
established bank account or a credit card.
2. Personal Check or Cashier’s Check
Sellers may choose this kind of option. However, the drawback of
using this kind of payment method is that the seller still has
to wait for a number of banking days before the check gets
cleared.
3. Credit Cards
Sellers must have a merchant account to be able to accept
payments from its buyers through credit cards. This is
applicable only if the buyer will be paying directly to the
seller. If the buyer still wants to use credit card but wants a
safer transaction, he or she may opt to pay the seller through
PayPal with the use of the credit card.
4. Bank to bank wire transfers
In this type of payment, the seller can be paid through a
bank-to-bank transaction. Here, the buyer will transfer funds
from his or her bank account to the seller’s bank account.
5. Money Orders/Bid pay
This is one of the recommended payment methods of eBay. This is
considered safe because the seller or the buyer can track down
the mailing address of the concerned person.
6. Escrow
This is strongly suggested for high-priced item transactions.
The escrow service guarantees full protection while the
transaction is not yet closed. Through this service, the seller
has to wait for the confirmation that the buyer had received the
product before receiving payment.
However, sellers and buyers should take extra precautions on
dealing with escrow services. There are a lot of counterfeit
escrow services lurking on eBay these days. It’s best to check
if the escrow service was approved by eBay.
8. Cash
Sellers on eBay may receive payments through cash. However, this
is a high-risk activity and offers no guaranteed protection.
8. Instant Cash Wire Transfers like western Union and Money Grams
Sellers may opt for this type of payment method. But, they
should keep in mind eBay is strongly against this mode of
payment and that insisting this to the buyer may result to
suspension or termination of account.
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April 2nd, 2008
Web design is something that most people think only big
companies can do. People do not know that these companies over
charge in price and make the same web page for every customer
they deal with. They have very little customization done to
them. I find that the best work is done by the small independent
people working on there own like myself. I have researched the
internet looking at other pricings for web design. I found that
companies are over charging for there work.
Why should you over pay for something that does not take that
long to do? Crx graphic design can do the same work but for a
very low price. What do you get from Crxgraphic design? 3
package deals to choose from. Basic, Basic 2, and Advanced. Best
value is the basic.
1. 5 web pages cost to you $50 ( most companies charge $25 per
page )
2. Ad space on our site so traffic will flow to your site.
3. Ad banner to place on any site that allows you to advertise
on it.
4. Room for 10 images on the site.
You get all of the above for only $50 with the basic. You will
not find cheaper pricing for web design any where else. We use
the programs that every other web design company uses to design
and build web pages. We just cut the cost because we feel you
shouldn’t over pay for web design.
Visit Crx Graphic
Design for more information about all our package deals and
see what else we have to offer.
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