Having poor website usability is like driving your car without a map through an area that you’ve never visited before. Unless you have an incredible aptitude for finding your way around, you’re going to get lost. In addition, the more that you drive around, the more frustrated you’re going to become. The possibility that you’ll never want to return to that area increases significantly as the frustration is compounded. The same holds true for a website that possesses poor usability. Not only is the visitor going to have a difficult time finding their way around, but they could become extremely frustrated and never want to return to your website again. A lot of websites have great usability – why settle for one that induces headaches and forces the visitor to think too hard?

Shocking (but not surprising) usability statistics
According to Usability.gov (an official U.S. Government Web site managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services):

• Research by User Interface Engineering, Inc., shows that people cannot find the information they seek on a Web site about 60 percent of the time.
• Studies by Forrester Research estimate that approximately 50 percent of potential sales are lost because users can’t find information and that 40 percent of users do not return to a site when their first visit is a negative experience.
• A study by Zona Research found that 62 percent of Web shoppers give up looking for the item they want to buy online.
• According to Elizabeth Millard, “The best sites we’ve found are usable only 42 percent of the time.“

Although statistics are not always 100% accurate, these numbers illustrate the importance of having strong website usability. Whether you sell a product online or are trying to build a readership base around your blogging website, usability should be your number one priority.

The Many Parts to Website Navigation Usability
Implementing a successful navigational system on your website is not a hard thing to do. However, a few simple mistakes and your website usability will be severely compromised. Compromised usability will lead to higher bounce rates (visitors quickly exiting your website without visiting any additional pages besides the page that they arrived on (the landing page)), fewer sales, and generally unhappy and confused visitors. Avoiding navigational confusion is an extremely important part of website usability. Without navigation, it would be difficult for visitors to explore a website. There are many factors involved in creating successful, usable navigational menus. These include:

• Universal Navigation – navigation appears on every web page
• Placement Consistency – navigation appears in the same location on web pages
• The Importance of Text - text for navigation – good, images for navigation – bad
• Feedback on Location – breadcrumbs, hyperlink styles, colors, etc
• Flash Navigation - a sensitive subject
• Site maps – hyperlink hierarchical outline of website on one page

Universal Navigation
The simplest way to cut down on navigational confusion is to include your navigational hierarchy on every single page of your website (universal navigation). Not only is this good for Search Engine Optimization since it allows the search engine spiders to easily access most of the pages on your website no matter what page they are on, but it guarantees that your website will not have any “dead end pages”. A dead end page is a web page that is reached by clicking on a hyperlink within a website, but which has no hyperlinks to other pages. The visitor is stuck on the web page with nowhere to go unless they use the browsers “Back” feature or close out of the window and website completely.

Placement Consistency
To further minimize navigational confusion, keep your navigation in the same location on every page of your website, preferably in the upper-left section of the website. By doing so, visitors will not have to guess where to look each time they visit a new page. Surprises (such as a random placement of the navigational menu) are bad and should be avoided at all costs. Some websites have two different navigational menus: one for the home page and one for the rest of the website. If possible, use the same navigational menu that is located on the home page on the entire website. This will cut down on confusion and the element of surprise.

The Importance of Text
Textual navigation can be basic and boring, but the point of navigation is to easily communicate the subject of each hyperlink. When someone uses strictly images (commonly referred to as “Mystery Meat Navigation“), they are forcing the visitor to translate what they think the image means. People interpret images differently and it is for this very reason that using images with no text for navigation is a terrible idea. Keep your hyperlink text short, descriptive, and to the point.

Feedback on Location
When creating a website, it is important to constantly provide feedback to the visitor regarding their current location. There are several ways to go about doing this:

• Use “breadcrumbs”; breadcrumbs provide a path for the user to follow back to the starting/entry point of a website and are often displayed horizontally at the top of the content area on a web page
• Match the hyperlink text to the destination page’s heading
• Create URLs that relate to the users location on the website
• Change the color, style, size, etc. of the currently active hyperlink
• Change the color of visited hyperlinks

Flash Navigation: Proceed with Caution
Flash navigation should generally be avoided since it is bad for search engine optimization. However, if you’re going to use Flash navigation, then at least provide text links in a visible location for those visitors still using older computers and browsers which do not have Flash.

In addition, do not use Flash rollover effects that can confuse the visitors or make them wait for more than 2 seconds. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to navigate through a website with rollover transitions that last for 5 or 10 seconds.

Site maps

We’re not talking about XML sitemaps for the search engines. Although its not a bad idea to regularly submit an XML site map to the search engines, an HTML site map should also be used as a navigational tool for visitors. Displayed in either a table of contents or a simple index, a site map should list all of the relevant hyperlinks of a website in an organized fashion.

Be sure to indent secondary hyperlinks if they appear under a primary navigational category, tertiary hyperlinks if they appear under a secondary category, and so on and so forth.

Finally, make sure that your anchor text on hyperlinks are descriptive so that visitors will find exactly what they’re expecting to find when they click on a hyperlink. Site map anchor text should be longer than main navigational hyperlinks and is recommended in the chance that some of the web pages listed in the site map have similar topics (and chances are they will).

The Dos

• the same navigational menu should appear on every web page of your website
• the main navigational menu should have a consistent placement, preferably in the upper-left section of the website (for vertical navigational menus) or directly underneath the logo near the top of the page (for horizontal navigational menus)
• provide location-based feedback by using breadcrumbs, matching the hyperlink text to the destination page’s heading, etc.
• provide a table of contents or simple index by creating a site map listing all relevant links on the website in an organized, hierarchical fashion
• use descriptive keywords for the anchor text and page name so that visitors get what they expect when clicking on a hyperlink
• if you’re going to use Flash navigation, then provide the same navigational elements in text link form on your website for those who do not have Flash enabled on their computer

The Donts

• don’t use confusing or lengthy Flash transitions for your navigation; people hate to wait and people hate being confused
• always use descriptive text for your anchor text or Flash navigation – don’t rely on images to communicate your hyperlinks content
• don’t allow your visitors to arrive at dead end web pages or orphan pages; include your main navigation on every page of your website
• don’t position navigation in different areas on your website; keep the positioning consistent on all of the web pages
• don’t make navigation the same color, font, and size as your body text – navigational text should always stand out
• don’t play a sound clip each time an item in your navigation is rolled over with the mouse cursor; as mentioned above, people do not enjoy surprises. if you’re going to use sound, then always include some sort of warning or indication so that the visitor can adjust their volume accordingly

A Piece of the Puzzle
Website navigation usability is only a part of the website usability puzzle. Factors such as accessibility, hardware and software, the homepage, page layout, scrolling and paging, headings, links, text appearance, and lists are all important factors that must be taken into consideration when designing a usable website. However, without usable navigation, your visitors will become confused, frustrated, and may eventually leave your website in the search of something more straight forward and usable.

For more on website usability, visit http://usability.gov/.

Author: Matt Jurmann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Anti-angiogenic Food

When starting a new home based internet business, you can get overwhelmed with everything that you need to learn to get started and be successful. You will need to build and design your website, decide on how you will generate income from your website, and learn internet marketing techniques on how to promote and direct visitors to your new website.

One thing that will help you from feeling overwhelmed is to not feel like you have to learn and do everything by yourself. There are many products and tools available that will help you with many aspects of your new internet business. Choosing to use some of these time saving products will reduce your stress level and allow you to choose what you want to focus on most.

Choosing a turnkey website is a very smart time saving decision. You can almost totally skip the website design and build time and move straight to the website promotion phase so that you can begin generating sales and income from your new website.

Here are several things to consider when shopping for a turnkey website because they can vary greatly.

1. A true turnkey website is a fully functional website and includes absolutely everything you will need to be in business and start taking orders immediately. It includes the domain name, hosting, monetization methods (Google Adsense and affiliate programs), products and even content. You can purchase a turnkey website that is only sold to one person where you have 100% copyright to all the content, but it will be more expensive than if you purchase one that is sold to a limited (or unlimited) number of people.

2. If you buy a turnkey website that includes content, it would be in your best interest to add additional content and/or modify the included content. Adding fresh content to your website is an effective way to keep visitors coming to your website so you should be engaging in this task whether you choose a turnkey website or not. Check to be sure that you can easily add additional content to your turnkey website.

3. The lowest cost turnkey websites are the kinds that are sold to an unlimited number of people. They are a very affordable option for people who are on a small budget. If possible, you should add your own personal touches to the website to make it unique. You will find only a small amount of effort is required to change some of the design elements. Ask the company you purchase the website from if they will perform these tasks for you for a small fee or if they will refer you to someone who can. Keep in mind that as with most things in life, you get what you pay.

4. Choose a website in a niche that you have an interest in. Working on your website will be so much more enjoyable and it won’t even feel like work. On the other hand, if you choose a niche that you have no interest in, working on your website will feel like a chore and that might just lead you to abandon your website altogether! You will be spending time promoting your new turnkey website and having an interest and some knowledge in that niche will help you with these tasks.

5. Ask if the turnkey website your are considering is customizable and if it provides an interface that will easily allow you to make any changes that you desire. Learn some basic html skills so that you can make small changes yourself.

6. Ask if the turnkey website has been pre-designed with monetization models. After all, you are looking to profit from your website. At a minimum, it should easily allow you to add Google Adsense. If the website is a turnkey affiliate website then the products or services should already be setup so that you can start selling right away. In addition, the placement of Google Adsense ads should be displayed on areas of the page that increase the click through rate.

A turnkey website is a smart time saving tool that will allow you to start your home based internet business much quicker that you can imagine. Take some time to look at the various turnkey websites available today to see one if right for you.

Author: Nina Greene
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Benefits of electric pressure cooker

If you’re in the process of setting up a new website or redesigning an existing one then be sure to take the time to plan out the details of your website and avoid some common mistakes many small business owners make. So before you consider the design and content for your website, here are five common website mistakes many small business owners make and how you can avoid them.

Not defining the purpose of your website.

Before you spend money on setting up a website and even before you determine the look of your website take the time to decide what it is you want your website to do for your business. Do you want it to generate qualified leads? Do you want it to increase your website sales? Do you want it to build brand awareness? It’s important to define your purpose as this will be the foundation for the design, content and overall effect for your website.

Not including your website as part of your overall marketing plan.

If you treat your website as an independent idea outside of your marketing plan then you won’t really know how effective it is as compared to other ways your business may be getting clients. If you are generating most of your business through other marketing methods that are more effective than your website, knowing this information can help you determine how much time and money you want to invest in your website. It also helps you to know if you’re truly investing or wasting money on your website.

Not measuring the results of your website traffic.

It’s important to measure your website statistics. When you review your website traffic you can find out which pages visitors are going to the most, how long visitors are staying on your website or a particular page, how many of those visitors have turned into a sale and much more. This is especially important if using a pay per click service to get traffic to your website. Analyzing your website traffic can tell you how much it’s costing you to get that sale. This can help you determine your conversion rate and see if you’re making or losing money with pay-per-click. Remember, marketing is about testing and measuring different ways of getting clients. If your website is part of your marketing plan then you want to know this information.

Not addressing the “what’s in it for me” factor.

People use the internet to search for information. They are often trying to solve a problem or gather information before buying. If they come to a site that does not contain information on solving their problem they are less likely to stay. If your website is all about you and focused on the features instead of benefits, then you’re less likely to connect with the visitor. Web visitors want to know “what’s in it for me”. Be sure your website offers good content that speaks to the visitor’s problem and makes them want to stay longer, come back or provide you their contact information. The ability to do that takes research and planning on your part. You’ll need to understand who your audience is, what their problem is and how you can present information to them that lets them know you’re the expert at solving their problem. You can present content in the form of articles, checklists, frequently asked questions.

Not having a good incentive for the visitor to give their contact information.

Most website visitors do not buy the first time they come to a website. Remember they are often looking for information. If they leave your site without contacting you it doesn’t always mean they’re not interested. They may not be ready to buy. They may still want to search around. But the key is something on your website brought them there. So now it’s up to you to try and get their contact information so you can follow up with them. Many businesses have a sign-up form for their newsletter on their website so that visitor’s can join their list. But the person doesn’t know you yet and may not feel that’s enough of an incentive to contact you. They really don’t know if what you have to offer in your newsletter is going to be valuable to them. Let them get a taste of your expertise. Present them with an offer for a free special report, teleclass or a mini-course on a problem they may be trying to solve in exchange for their name and email address. This can be start of building a relationship with that website visitor.

If you’re serious about having success with your website be sure to define what success is and include all of the elements discussed above in your website design. At the very least you’ll be doing something different from your competitors.

Author: Janice Gentles-Jones
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canadian crossborder shopping

Just because you build it, and they come… doesn’t mean they’ll stay.

So you’ve got Google adwords, banner ads, co-registration and joint venture deals, postcards, print ads, radio commercials, your mother-in-law and everyone else you can bribe, cajole and threaten, driving traffic to your website.

Yes! You’re an absolute genius at driving traffic to your website. You’re getting a gazillion hits and unique page impressions-every minute!

You’ve got so much traffic, tying up so much bandwidth, that Al Gore is thinking of producing a new movie about you: An Inconvenient Internet Presence: How one marketer destroyed what I invented.

And yet, despite all your fame and glory… no one’s buying what you’re selling!

In other words…

Your Website Sucks!

Way back in the stone age of internet history… roughly five or so years ago… a website was a website was a website.

They all looked alike, they all worked alike (which basically meant they really didn’t do anything) and they all accomplished the same thing-pretty much nothing.

A website was a virtual business card. And since every business ordered business cards, every business ordered a website.

And then vanity and misguided creativity took hold of the entrepreneurial imagination.

The business card website quickly evolved into a multi-varied, multi-page behemoth. And as technology grew faster than our ability to master its consequences, the art of website design became an addiction-consuming the health, time, patience and money of the website owner-and the unwary visitor.

Pop-ups, hover-overs and other hovercraft, web 2.0, RSS, flash media, video, audio, 4-wheel drive, GPS, this and that, inspired and invigorated web developers and designers to continually raise the bar. Their ultimate end game: keeping visitors hostage to a website-tossing them into the black hole of web pyrotechnics, where nothing, not even light can escape.

And it didn’t bother them in the least that their Frankenstein website creations required an eternity to load on the average computer screen-eating RAM, disturbing REM, crashing hard drives, destroying transmissions, shackling legs in irons-lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Okay, let’s get back on track here…

Today, there are basically two and a half types of websites… those that inform and educate, those that inform educate and sell… and those that only sell.

Do You Know to Which Group Your Website Belongs?

Are you sure?

As a marketing and sales copywriter-I can tell you in a heartbeat.

I get phone calls and emails-almost daily-from individuals and company representatives lamenting the fact that their website doesn’t convert, and they want to know if I can help.

My first question, of course, is… how much money you got, pal?

Just kidding… but it is in the back of my mind.

Anyway… here are those two and a half website styles in a nutshell… and in their absolute worst incarnations…

The “I’ve really got nothing to say” Website

Typically, this website belongs to a small business owner. They’ve got a single product or a single service that they’re offering-yet, they have 20 or more pages on their website.

They’ve got a home page, a contact page, an about us page, a mission page, a subscribe-to-our-newsletter page, a link page, a testimonial page, a preferred vendor page, a site page, a leave-a-comment page and a product page for each person, animal, business or situation for which this one product can be of use.

But… there’s only two or three sentences on each page-if that much! So by default or design, graphical wizardry fills the remaining and yawning void.

Now, is there anything wrong with having a “brochure” style website?

Of course not-if you’re GE, Amazon, Dell Computer or any other business that has a diverse and extensive product and service mix.

For quicker and easier surfing (read: optimized usability) such a company needs a website that will logically and intuitively segment their wares and information on to different web pages.

But, if your company is a one-trick pony… a microsite will do you just fine.

Why waste your visitor’s time, forcing them to click here and there (and out of boredom flee to your competitor’s website), when everything they need to know and find about you, your product or service can comfortably and ergonomically fit on one page?

“…But I don’t want my website to look like one of those long-scrolling websites, you know, the type that sells information products!”

You’re laughing. Trust me… I hear that all the time, and it kills me.

My preferred retort to that bit of ignorance should be: “Well, those sites, the better conceived ones, typically rack up millions of dollars in sales-usually in a very short time. And so how much did you make last week?”

But instead, I politely suggest that they be sure to tell their web designer that he or she should stay away from that sort of, uh, look-but still put it on one page (two at the most).

Which now brings us to “that” sort of look, or site, the long scrolling, one-page kind.

The Kick-butt, Killer Commando Website

Because I don’t want to get into the debate, again, over whether long copy outsells short copy (it absolutely does!)… let me just state that a long scrolling, one-page, “information product kind” of website has but one purpose in its virtual life. To sell one thing-and to sell that one thing right off the page-right then and there!

And because “properly executed” websites of this kind can sell, and sell very well… uninitiated and salivating entrepreneurs who won’t take the time-or spend the money-to achieve a similar level of selling sophistication… will blindly, poorly and sacrilegiously copy that type of website’s form and style-while ignoring its compelling substance.

They’ll slap up a website, using a website design program they downloaded off the internet the night before.

And then they’ll fill it up with pages and pages (the amount of which seemingly corresponds, oddly enough, to the entrepreneur’s age) of overblown, hype-filled, irrelevant, stream of conscious verbal diarrhea.

And Holy Baloney! the impossible promises they make-with no credible proof provided-and the multitude of “freebies” offered (valued at thousands of dollars more than the $49.95 or $495 program, system or product being hawked)-is an absolute marvel to behold.

And then, of course, there’s the false deadline and limited supply (without a reasonable explanation as to why).

The list of unadulterated snake oil BS, sales gaffs and obvious chicanery on these sites is endless-indeed, the list is as long as the website.

Fortunately though, few are swindled, and these sites disappear relatively quickly, simply because…they don’t sell well.

And yet… the online, long-copy, scrolling sales letter, when conceived with good and honest intentions and executed with consummate sales skill, can quickly create a fortune, and a loyal and well-deserved following for a gifted entrepreneur where neither existed before.

That cheap imitations have muddied the worth and image of one of the mightiest and most sublime manifestations of salesmanship in print… is unfortunate. But they will endure… to the benefit of seller… and customer.

Which now brings us, finally, to the website by half…

The Landing, Splash, Squeeze Page

This rose by any other name-should be short, sweet and to the point.

What a surgical military strike is to the field of combat, the landing page is to the theater of marketing. Its sole purpose is conversion-to get the reader to buy, subscribe or inquire-fast. All the “selling and persuasion” typically comes before the visitor lands on this short-copy, quick-strike page.

Interestingly, one mistake many marketers make in regard to the landing page is not in the design of one-but in the lack of one.

They’ll do all the right things (hopefully) to generate traffic-but rather than drive the visitor to a page that is a dedicated follow-up to the ad the visitor just read-they drive them to their company’s home page, instead.

Then the visitor has to hunt and click for their particular item of interest.

If you give a visitor/potential buyer the slightest opportunity to get sidetracked and not complete the desired action-they will!

Another mistake is not designing the landing page to look and read the same way as the ad that attracted them in the first place. In short, there’s no continuity-no sense that they’re in the right place-primarily because there’s no repetition of the offer made in the ad.

Even though the potential customer has already been seduced, persuaded and sold on purchasing your product or service-or just providing their email address-you still must continue to seduce, persuade and sell them on your landing page.

You just don’t have to take as much time doing it. Just repeat the salient selling points already made in the ad-including the guarantee or risk reversal element.

But don’t be too quick and smart about it, either.

Don’t request your customer’s credit card number in a cold, calculating and peremptory manner. Continue to entice and excite your customers on your landing page-so that they can’t bear to wait a moment longer to give you their name and email address… or their money.

Author: Barry Densa
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low-volume PCB maker

Website creation is a very popular activity on the internet. As more and more people discover the many possibilities of having their own website, more of these pages are being created on the internet. It is essential that a website is created in more than just a way that is attractive to visitors. It should also be protected in such a way that there is a higher level of security. There are many individuals who actually spend a majority of their time hacking various websites online. In this article, you will learn about the importance of website hacking prevention measures.

Website hackers use numerous kinds of computer programming languages in order to break down the security on websites on the internet. The most popular computer programming language that can be invaded is that which uses XXS. This is a cross scripting type of computer language that is often used to cross websites. When creating your online website, it is essential that you ensure that all fields and other areas of the website are properly protected from the potential hacker.

Many website owners have a special area on their website where they attempt to gather personal information from the visitors. This may include gathering an email address, an address, and other types of information. It is important that this part of the website is properly protected from hackers. Not only can this type of hacking jeopardize your website, but it can also jeopardize the personal information that your visitors enter on the website. It is important for you to make sure that this part of your website is properly encrypted by HTML.

Many website hackers engage in a practice that is commonly referred to as “Google Hacking”. Individuals who use this type of hacking often attempt to discover information about a particular website that is listed on Google by searching for information that is normally considered to be unauthorized. They will attempt to retrieve information that pertains to the tracking tools that are often used by website owners. This information, when in the wrong hands, can actually jeopardize your website.

Individuals who gain access to information on a website through Google hacking techniques may get access to the following information:

- The cache of the website

- Various types of files that are listed on the website

- The link that is used to promote the website

- The intitle and the inurl may also be accessed

Many website owners create their website in such a way that they can access the information across many platforms. However, this can prove to be a danger when it comes to website hackers. By using Google hacking techniques, the pages that are on the website can be easily hacked because the pages are often available for editing purposes. If there is a query made into the search engine, these pages can easily be accessed. If a hacker accesses this information, they can do virtually anything to your website pages. This can prove to cause you financial loss. This is especially true if the hacker places information on your website that can hurt your reputation.

Luckily, there are many techniques that website owners can use to prevent the possibility of hacking. First, the data that you use to compile your website pages should never be allowed to sit on a server. This information should be saved locally. This means that it should be saved to your computer. In turn, you should make sure that the computer is protected by a password that contains alphanumeric characters. This way, if someone attempts to access your computer system remotely, they will be unable to do so.

You should also ensure that the password that you use to make changes to your website is also secure. When saving the documents that are part of your website, it is important that you create them in such a way that others are unable to access this information. Many tips for this include integrating a “disallow” function on the website and attached to all the documents. By taking these steps, and being aware of what the dangers are when you do not, you are sure to prevent the possibility of hackers.

Author: Kevin Sinclair
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Pressure cooker

If more photographers knew how to build a photography website, they would easily take their photography business to the next level. Most photographers know that without a website, they aren’t taken seriously. A photographer that is not taken seriously is simply not successful. This is known and understood by most. What isn’t known as well is “how to build a photography website.”

Building websites is like riding a bicycle and like driving a car. Both are methods of transportation that require specific knowledge and specific skills for each. For the most part, the specific “how-to” knowledge is very simple and very easy – for those who already “know!” If you don’t know the specific skills required (regardless of how “easy” and “simple” they are), it might as well be “rocket science!”

Knowing how to build a photography website has been a serious challenge for many photographers, until now.

The Myth of “Web-Designers”

Similar to transportation options, someone else can be hired to do the work. Usually, this is a “web-designer.” This isn’t the best option for the long term. Web-designers can design, build and publish your website – but they don’t (can’t) “drive it” for you. Besides, building and publishing a website is only about 10% of what it takes to have a successful and profitable photography website.

The Myth of “Simple and Easy”

There are many website building products available. A great many of them are very, very good. Quite a few of them are actually “great!” However, too many of them have their instructions and directions written by people that already “know” how to build a photography website (and wrongly assume that the rest of us “know” what they know).

Often the “simple and easy” products require us to take the tedious time to learn far more than we really wanted to know. And we still find that “simple and easy” is relative. It isn’t a matter of intelligence or being smart. Photographers would rather spend their time “doing” photography – not becoming an “internet-techno-wizard!”

Also, many of the “simple and easy” photography websites wrongly assume that “one-size-fits-all.”

Website Builders To The Rescue

The advancement of technology has, once again, come to the rescue of photographers. “Website Builders” are the tools that put the full capacity and control of how to build a photography website totally in our hands! Really! And, many of the great website builders are FREE! As you may know, on the internet, free has value. Many vendors are so confident in the superior quality of their products that they offer them for free. They are convinced that once we try their free tools we will want to pay for continued use of the tools and/or other products that they sell. Some vendors even provide full versions of fully functioning website building tools for free and allow use of the free tools forever!

The beauty of “website builders” is that users can “test-drive” the tools again and again until the users are completely and fully satisfied that the tools are user-friendly and can help them to be successful! These tools continue to get better and more powerful. Competition among the website builder companies is fierce. Improvements are always taking place. All of them want you and me to use their product to learn how to build a photography website. No knowledge of HTML or coding is required! Most website builders let us drag-and-drop what we want on our website. All of them allow 1-2-3 publishing. Your competition and customers will be stunned by the professionalism and quality of your website. You can make changes when you want to by a couple of clicks.

And it even gets better! Many of these “website builders” are FREE! Do an internet search for “free website builders” in Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, etc. and you will have the choice of thousands and thousands of free website builders. You may have to spend some time trying them out. But, you will spend significantly much less time trying them out and finding a great website builder for yourself than you would be spending trying to use one of those “easy and simple to use”

Your quest for how to build a photography website has found the answer: website builders. Do yourself a favor and take your photography to the next level – find a website builder that meets your style and works for you. Test-drive them and be more profitable.

Author: Kalem Aquil
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

It’s a massively populated world wide web out there. Every minute, millions of users swarm all over it clicking here, clicking there. That definitely comes as good news for website owners. But if they feel that just by hoisting a well made website the job is done and there’s no stopping website from being visited by the marauding hordes of Internet users, then they couldn’t be more wrong.

And that’s because for millions of Internet surfers, there are millions of websites, each one trying to outdo the other in their attempt to grab eyeballs. But do not let that depress you. Because if you have built a quality website which you well and truly believe in, you can make a blockbuster of it by dedicating some time on it. And this is how you can get the desired traffic to your website.

Top 10 Ways Of Getting Insane Traffic To Your Website

1. Develop original, quality, informative and entertaining content and plug it into your website. You see, the average netizen desires to get his eyes on some original and entertaining material. And if he gets it at your website, then you can expect that he’s going to blow bugles and announce your website to his friends and family. Content rocks – and rolls – so get original and well made content built into your website. Do not accept any duplicate material, or your website will be blacklisted by the search engines.

2. Heard of SEO (search engine optimization) articles? SEO is a technique where the writer strategically sprinkles important keywords into an article – keywords that search engines are looking for. The search engines pick up these keywords and display your website on their search results’ pages. If you plan your articles well and do not resort to keyword stuffing (which the search engines can detect), then you can be reasonably sure that sooner or later your website will worm itself into the top rankings. There is a programming side to SEO too, where programmers fool around with tags, which too are picked up by the search engines. For obtaining best results on the programming side of SEO, talk to an expert programmer.

3. Build in interactivity into your website. If you are selling your product, involve your visitors by offering them a free trial. If you are a content-based website, collect emails and send out newsletters or e-zines. You can also hand out a free e-book, a technique that is bound to get you the visitors. Just one thing: remember to make all your e-zines, e-books and newsletters informative, unique and entertaining.

4. Submit your website articles to reprint directories. Just make sure you add in a resource box at the bottom that screams out your website’s address and a small line about you.

5. Trade links with quality, like-minded websites. Do not exchange links with a link farm or with websites that spam. Remember, more links will get you a better Page Rank, and a good PageRank will have the advertisers knocking on your doors.

6. Incorporate a PHP BB (Bulletin Board programmed using the PHP language) on your website and throw open interesting topics for discussion – topics that are related to your websites content. PHP BBs are available free and all you have to do is tell your programmer to weave one into your website.

7. Visit bulletin boards that have content relevant to your website, and leave your comments. Remember to leave a link to your website in your sign-off box. This way, you can get tons of backlinks linking back to your website. Great tactic to increase traffic and PageRank!

8. If you have the time, ask people who need knowledge related to your product or content to call you up on a toll free number and speak to you for some free advice.

9. Do offline publicity. Get funky stickers (with your website’s name on them) made and stick them on your car, and also give them away free. Same with tees. Plus, tell your friends and relations to spread the good word about your website.

10. Okay, here’s the last tip – NEVER, NEVER EVER: (i) spam, (ii) use any Black Hat or illegal SEO techniques to fool the search engines, and (iii) sign up with any website that promises you thousands of hits.

These are the top ten ways that, if followed rightly, will get you insane traffic. So, what are you waiting for? Go out there and put these babies into practice. And don’t forget to send us your link. Adios, amigo.

Author: Kevin Sinclair
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
PCB stencil online quote

A custom website design is always worthy and its importance shall never be underrated. Web design is defined as a method of perception, preparation, and implementation, and it is extremely vital that this method is followed accurately. Creating a custom website design is not an easy task and needs years of expertise. An amateur without sufficient knowledge and experience cannot execute the task properly and hence only a skilled professional who has acquired abundant proficiency in this field is the appropriate person who not only can give your website the desired aesthetic look and feel but along with it will ensure that your website has a professional look too.

Most importantly you need to remember the fact that your website primarily targets your visitors, who come seeking some kind of information. Your website will manipulate the visitor’s preliminary insight of the website’s significance and convince them to explore deeper into your website.

Your website is the spokesperson on behalf of you and so it must expose your business and the products or services you provide positively facilitating the very purpose it is intended to accomplish. A custom web design should therefore should lay its optimal stress on the requirement of your customer both in terms of accessibility and information, thus helping in successful decision-making.

Therefore, it is crucial that a custom website design is structured in such a manner that the visitor can at ease find all required information instantly and quickly, and does not have to wonder for too long or may get lost in the website. Improper website layout and poor information can puzzle the visitor and make him quit within a few seconds not bothering to explore further into your website. Hence the result is you end up losing a visitor, who could have probably turned up as your customer.

The fundamentals of custom web site design is not simply a combination of magnificent graphics and use of superb colors on the website, but along with its great look there are other delicate aspects that make your website well-balanced thus carrying out the message for your business effectively and without a glitch. Some such useful hints that should be taken into account in order to label a website as ‘good’ are as following:

a. The website should have a neat and proper navigation. This is one of the most important point to be taken into account while designing your website. The Homepage of the website must possess a Top and a Left Navigation in order to give the visitor a glimpse of what is available within your website.

b. The Index page of a custom website design has a link back from all the inner pages of your website via a ‘home’ link on the website navigation menu, which ideally comprises of ‘home’, ‘about us’, ’site map’ and ‘contact us’. But this can be different for different cases. In addition the Logo of the website should idyllically have a link to the Homepage of the website.

c. ‘Site Map’ is one more very important aspect of a good custom website design. It helps to understand the visitor about the layout of your website like what are the main menus and what are the sub-menus located under those main menus etc. All that the visitor needs to do is choose the page he wishes to visit and can land there by a simple click of his mouse button.

In a nutshell, a custom website design adds value to your website and its performance.

So what can possibly go wrong if you are not sincere about your website’s design and do not concentrate on it?

A flamboyantly designed website is sure to dissuade users from even entering your website. Also a design that is that has got nothing to do with the theme of the website can cause much damage. Endowing your visitors with poor quality design you can, be rest assured that you will in no way have visitors coming back to your website.

Therefore, why not bestow your site a custom website design with that ‘professional’ element thus carrying out a sturdy message to your visitors about your genuineness and that they can have faith on you with their money for guaranteed quality results and complete satisfaction.

Author: Monalisa Boral Maitra
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Programmable Multi-cooker

In today’s world it is nearly impossible to get by or succeed in business without having a website. By creating a website you can dramatically increase your customer base, keep your current customers up to date on what is going on with your business and get the word out about your products or services.

The problem is that if you are like many people, you don’t have the budget to hire a web designer to create your site for you, and you don’t have the HTML skills to create a website for yourself. That’s where an online website builder can help. An online website builder helps eliminate budget constraints and gets rid of the learning curve to make building a website so easy anyone can do it.

Online website builders allow you to build your entire website right through your browser, which means you don’t have to hire someone to make your site for you, you don’t have to buy expensive software, and you don’t have to spend hours learning how to make a website. Be careful when choosing which online website builder you are going to sign up with since not all online website builders are created equally.

Some online website builders require you to host your website files with them. If you ever decide to move your website to another host or change your service these companies often won’t let you take your files with you when you go. That means that you can lose all of the work that you put into your site and be left starting over from scratch. When you choose an online website builder you need to verify that if you cancel the service you can take your files with you.

Next, many online website builders that are supposedly “free” place their advertisements on your website. That means that the customers you have worked so hard to bring to your website can easily click away on one of the ads on your page and you won’t benefit from it at all. Make sure that the online website builder that you choose doesn’t require you to display their ads or any other links on your website.

Finally, many online website builders claim to be easy to use, but are actually more difficult that building your site from scratch. Not only that, but some online website builders can create code for your web site that makes it difficult for the search engines to find your site. That means that no matter how much work you put into the text and graphics on your site it may never be found by the search engines.

As long as you choose a reputable online website builder and pay attention to their rules and requirements, using an online website builder can make building your website very easy and very fast so you can spend your time building your business instead of building your website.

Author: Sandy Curtis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Electric Pressure Cooker

Congratulations! You’ve started your new business and now you’re ready to have your new website built. It’s an important step in your business success. Naturally, as this may be new territory for you – you have some questions. We’re here to help you!

Whether you’ve decided you’d like an online business card or catalogue, or you’d like to open an online store (Ecommerce website) – it’ll help if you understand the basics of the Internet and websites and how it all works.

Once you understand the basics, it’s not complicated at all. For simplicity, I like to use the analogy of your home to describe how websites work:

* Website: A website is your “home” on the Internet.

* URL: A URL is your “address” on the Internet, and it includes your Domain Name.

* Hosting: Hosting is your “rent” for being on the Internet.

Where to start?

First you’ll need a domain name. What is a domain name? Your domain name, or URL, is your “address” on the Internet, with your website being your “home”. Take your time in selecting a domain name, as it will be a reflection of your company and its offerings, as well as instrumental in directing people to your website.

Next up, you’ll need to find hosting. Many web design firms are now offering hosting in addition to website design and you may be able to find a designer that can help you with all four of your requirements:

1. Domain Name

2. Hosting

3. Website Design

4. Website Maintenance

Finally, you’ll need to work on your website layout in order to communicate with your web designer what you’ll require for your website. We’ve listed the basics for you:

Decide what type of website you’d like to have:

* Brochure: A website that showcases your products or services with images and descriptions.

* Educational: A website for people to read information about your company or services.

* Ecommerce: A website where you can sell your products or services directly online.

Once you’ve decided what type of website you’d like, you will need to figure out what features you’d like your website to have:

* Will you have members sign up for use of your site?

* Will your members require a special area to sign in before viewing their members area?

* Will you require video or audio uploads?

* Will you require a CMS (Content Management System) to enable you to make changes or updates to your websites?

* Will you require a custom contact form for your site? (i.e. online application)

* Will you require a photo gallery?

* If you require an online store, how many products will you be selling?

Now that you’ve planned what type of site you’d like to have and what features your site will require, choosing a specific look and design options for your site is the next step:

* Do you have a company logo? Would you like your site to match your logo colors/style?

* If you don’t have a company logo, what color scheme would you like to have in your website?

* What style (if any) would you like your website? (i.e. classic, professional, high tech, whimsical, Web 2.0)

* Would you like a flash intro or some other flash element on your website?

Next you’ll need to plan the structure of your website and how you would like your website to be viewed. Most websites contain main Menu items and individual Pages under those menus.

* How many Menu items would you like to have? (i.e. “Home”, “Company”, “Products”…)

* How many pages under the individual Menus would you like to have? (i.e. “About Us”, “Mission Statement”…)

* Do you have images you’d like placed on the pages?

Now that you have your basic information you can communicate clearly with a web designer in order to begin creating your business website.

Other important aspects of your website that should not be overlooked are your website keywords, meta tags, page descriptions and analytics. Make sure that you choose a designer that will help you to market your site using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so that you don’t have to spend a bundle on an Adwords or PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign.

We created a form on our site if you’d like to download it that includes the basic information covered in this article. For our potential customers, we also have the form located online for you to fill out. We also have additional information for small business planning in our Articles section of our website.

Best of luck to you in your new business and in building your business website!

Author: Joanne Pele
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Make PCB Assembly