Archive for the ‘Website Designing’ Category

Gotta admit, I’m TOTALLY addicted to this web forum!!

Digital Point Forums is by far the best place to get free help and low prices for all webmaster needs. I just purchase a web directory for $40 BIN (buy it now). And it’s a PR1 with about 200 websites already listed. I had my eye on 2 others before I grabbed this one; probably best to start with a super low priced site. The other one was a smackin’ deal, too: a PR4 directory with 4,000 listings, AdSense, and a small revenue for $249 BIN. You can’t make a website for that let alone market it to be grow to this size!

Right now, as I write this post, I’m downloading 28,000 Wallpapers I purchased for seven bucks. Total file size is 2.84GB, downloaded from 3 800MB zip files.

And if you have a problem with coding, HTML, CSS, SEO, or anything related to webmastering, you’re likely to get help within the hour. They also feature a “Review Websites” spot where you can get members advice on your own website. All members have to post 10 times there before being able to use the better features of this forum.

Need to buy/sell web services? Go here 1st! You can find super prices (and freebies!) for programming, web design (Web Design by Steve included), link and traffic purchasing, content creation, and more.

But can these member services be trusted?? This is up to you; there is no control on quality. But you can get a good evaluation of the goods/service providers/buyers by viewing the feedback from other customers/sellers. Just click on their iTrader link.

Now for the super addictive function of this web forum: on the top navigation is a link, “Fun Stuff.” On the drop-down click on “Spy.” This takes you to a page that continuously loads with all new postings and listings. You can be the 1st one there to grab the deal you’re looking for.

… but maybe this is bad advice: you’ll likely get as addicted to this as I am!

stevestuff

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SEO: Search engine optimization -techniques that enable your site to appear higher in a list of search engine results.
SEM: Search engine marketing - the practice of marketing and advertising through the search engines.
SEP: Search engine placement.
SERP: Search engine result page - this is the position you web page gets in a search engine.

FACTS:

• There are 300 million searches carried out every single day.
• A great website with great SEO/SEM is a powerful combination.
• Most web design companies do not optimize for search engines.
• Most SEO companies do not design websites.
• If your website was build prior to 2004, chances are that it is not optimized or needs new optimization.
• SEO is not and will never be an exact science.

Even though webmasters are getting search engine optimization services, there is still a lot of misunderstandings:

• How can I get on Google front page?
• Who can I go to that will bring me valid results?
• Should I go with a company that guarantees results?
• How much will it cost me?
• Do I need an ongoing, continuous SEO service?
• Is it possible for anyone to get Google front page?
• Will I need to re-design my website?

Getting on Google front page (in the top ten organic results) is actually a simple task for professional SEO companies. But what you have to realize is that many of these companies will optimize for irrelevant or uncommon search terms. Some will guarantee Google front page but actually mean within the first 100 results (a user’s search option).

So, what if you’re on Google front page for a term that returns 2,000 results? And what if the search terms are don’t properly represent the product you offer? What type of return will you be getting?

I’ve seen many SEO companies that guarantee Google front page and was always leery of such a statement. Then today I entered the search term, “guaranteed Google front page” (without quotes), and could not find one legitimate company (on page one) actually offering this.

You also need to be aware of Google personalized search. When you are logged in to your Google account, you will receive personalized searches. This means that your searches will be modified by your search history - not displaying what everyone else necessarily sees.

What you need is a company that will allow you to see it happen before you pay in full.

SEO services are usually sold as an ongoing continuous service. I can see this as being valuable, as you wouldn’t like to one day wake up and notice your site dropped to page 147. But I offer an alternative where changes are made only if it is necessary. And this is the SEO service I offer all of my clients, included in all new design work.

For an initial website search engine optimization, I have been charging $500 or less, depending on how many pages you need done. But from the big SEO companies you can expect to dish out between $3.00 to $6.00 PER DAY … and then some. With a required one year contract, this represents a minimum of $1095.

How do I know when it’s necessary to re-optimize my website?

Through the free services offered at sheerseo.com. At Sheer SEO, you list all of the keywords you are targeting along with the web pages you want to keep track of, and whenever there is a change in SERP’s, you will get an email notification. They also supply a chart showing the history of each key-phrase/keyword.

But not all websites can be SE optimized. A few examples:
Websites that are incomplete or display “Under Construction”
Affiliate program sites (you do not have access to alter these)
Google AdSense sites (has 3 or more AdSense displays)
Sites that contain nothing more than links to third party websites.

Often it’s required to redesign or at least add more content to the web page being optimized, especially if the text is inside of an image. This is why you should use a designer that also optimizes for search positioning.

For an outstanding web design with SEO, I charge around $600 for up to five pages and $800 for ten. For SEO added to an existing website, the rate is between $200 and $500 for up to ten pages … another reason to use a designer that includes SE optimization.

I also offer link building campaigns and marketing services.
Get a free quote today!

Outside Articles:
Beware of Certified SEO Consultants
SEO Company with True Google First Page Service Be sure to read EVERYTHING before signing up.
FAQ: Search Engine Optimization Any other questions should be answered here.

stevestuff

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Databases - dynamic website pages - PHP and mySql - ASP/Microsoft SQL - content management (CMS) systems. It’s all about automating information via the internet.

I must admit, most clients-to-be fail to realize the immense savings, both of time and cash, when choosing a content management system over static HTML content for their website. And most people who fill in my contact form, fail to realize the need for as well as the price of dynamic pages.

This is their (your?) lucky day! Through my subscription to SEOmoz News & Updates, I got news of this article. Along with his SEO perspective, CEO Rand provides an answer about Choosing the Right CMS Platform for your Website. This article, along with all the comments, should give you a good idea for your decision on whither or not to employ content management - even if you only skim through it. As everyone who rated this article, I also give this article a thumbs-up.

Click on the image above (from Answers.com) to get an excellent visual of what a content management system does.Answers.com goes further in depth about the database here.In this issue of Industry Insider, Seth Gottlieb gives key incite into selecting an open-source CMS. And oh - by the way; you’re reading material posted here through a content management system.
- This one is known as WordPress, a blog CMS.

stevestuff

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This list is a reference for myself, my classmates, my clients, and all inquiring web masters. It is semi-inspired from my December 2007 Web Design Meetup Group in Gig Harbor, WA. I will be adding content here when I find additional noteworthy articles, so be sure to BOOKMARK THIS NOW! Photo from Stock.XCHNG

All links open in a new window …

From: Site Reference

Engineering Smarter Landing Pages
by Dan Lok
40 Simple Ways to Build Trust in Your Website Visitors
by Ankur Patel
Reaching The Top of Page One In Google In As Little As One Week
by Clinton Douglas IV
Web Marketing - Webmaster Tips - Not all web marketing needs to cost money.
by S. Housley
Top 10 Reasons Why You Might Want to Redesign Your Website
by Rajesh Tavakari
Create Professional RSS Feeds
by S. Housley
Using Stats to Succeed With a New Site
by Cralan Deutsch, Eddie Moojen, Wart Fransen

From: SiteProNews

Sitemaps Improve Site Value
by Lisa Barone
Selecting a Quality Domain Name
by Shelley Lowery
Establishing Your Web Presence
by Vishal P. Rao
What do People Want Online?
by Jay Conrad Levinson
The A to Z Guide to Getting Website Traffic
by Shawn Campbell
Tools for Online Tracking
by Sharon Housley

From: Miscellaneous Sources

2007: More Web Design Trends & Cliches or The Biggest Web Site Cliches of 2007
by Stuart Brown
How to choose a web host
by author at plusone.com
How to Choose a Web Host - Frequently Asked Questions
by author at twospots.com
How to Start / Create Your Own Website: The Beginner’s A-Z Guide
by Christopher Heng
How to Choose Your Ecommerce Hosting
by Joshua Mabilia
The Google Sandbox Explained
by author at twospots.com
Google’s PageRank Explained - and how to make the most of it
by Phil Craven

stevestuff

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Being new to web design has its advantages; you aren’t caught up inside of traditional concepts, over-alluring attention grabbers, and misconceptions of search engines.

Today’s top-edge designers are bringing more relative, optimized content to the internet. We are seeking out what a client needs to get traffic on his website. Rather than creating attention-getters, we are creating attention-keepers - user friendly, search engine optimized, usually accessible, and generally clean of coding errors.

We are fresh, we are new and we are the competition. Why offer a client the option of good design or high page rank, when they can have both? Getting hits to a website is no longer the responsibility of an SEO (search engine optimization) pro - today’s top-edge designers are now required to include optimized coding that is noticed and easily read by search engine spiders. After all, what good is a website if nobody visits it? Why would a client use your services if you cannot design with good conversion in mind?

Before I got into web design, I spent three years sitting in front of my monitor, searching web content. I’ve never been a “gamer,” I’ve always been a seeker. And seeking for information, sometimes 50 pages deep into Google, I taught myself keyword discovery.

Approaching my second year of web development training, I can now code pages without any errors. I can generate a website that receives its formatting from a separate (CSS) style sheet. I can create product specific copyright, company specific design, image enhancement, and image manipulations, including Photoshop font imaging. To combine all that into a search friendly website doesn’t require rocket knowledge, the main requirements is to use spider-attracting markup, and repeating desired key words.

After much study on website traffic, I came across this article that motivated my writing, “Successful websites built on ‘good foundations’.”

“Good foundations underpin the potential success of any website,” said Matt. “And it is vital that every website is built so it can be as search engine friendly as possible.

“In the same way a building will fall down if it no has foundations, a website is rendered invisible on the Internet if it is not built in a way that allows it to be easily signposted online.

“If it came down to a simple choice, I’m sure every business would rather have a mediocre looking website which attracts lots of visitors, than one that is stunning but nobody can find it on the Internet.”

“For many years we, along with other SEO’s, and search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) have been trying to re-educate web designers to consider search engines and how they navigate websites.”

“Building search engine friendly or accessible websites is not complicated, in fact it’s relatively easy …”

It makes me wonder - if I had received my web development training five to ten years ago, would I be one of those web designers that don’t consider search engine importance? Would I seek training in this area? Maybe like so many designers, I just wouldn’t have the time for it.

So when seeking out a web designer, be sure you get a designer that doesn’t suggest or outsource search engine optimization - they include it.

stevestuff

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As with any adventure, a little strategic thought is needed to ensure that the experience is enjoyable.Sharon covers 5 key points to consider with your web design:

1. Respect me: your viewers are intelligent beings
2. Tell me a story: get them emotionally involved
3. Engage me: make their visit an experience
4. Inspire me: to take action

The principles of good human-to-computer interface design are simplicity, support, clarity, encouragement, satisfaction, accessibility, versatility, and personalization. While it’s essential to heed these, it’s also important to empathize with and inspire your audience so they feel you’re treating them less like a faceless user and more like a human being. In doing so, you will extend their affinity with the design and foster positive attitudes towards your brand, company, or product.

(Sharon Lee director of richapplefool.com)

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stevestuff

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