Saturday, August 13, 2011

Yes, in a world that is obsessed with makeover madness, even your website needs to follow specific color guidelines when picking out "what it will wear". The colors you use when designing your website tell an awful lot about your business, though you may not know it.

I had this problem myself. I loved my website, it was so cool looking. I had a red, black and white color scheme, and it matched all of the material I sent to meeting planners. They were my colors and I fought changing them.

That is, until I paid $640.00 an hour for Corey Rudl, arguably the most successful small business marketer on the Internet, to critique me. That may sound like an absurd amount of money to pay for a consultation, but Corey is the best, and he definitely came through. Corey told me point blank, my website says "I am trying to sell you something".

That is not the look I was going for. I wanted my customers to be at ease on my site.

Corey taught me that colors that make people feel comfortable are those that they are used to seeing. So, I toned down my harsh (but still cool) colors and replaced them with gray and blue. I did this because some people are still new to the computer and the Internet. They are tentative with new sites and many haven't a clue what they are doing.

However, many of those same people are very comfortable navigating Microsoft programs, which are gray and blue.

My hopes were that the similar colors of my site would put newcomers at ease, giving them the same sense of simplicity and control they have when using Microsoft programs.

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Colors have long been known to have psychological affects on mood and interpretation. So, when you are designing your website, you should keep in mind the influence color might have on your visitors. Do some research to find out which colors promote your product and services best as well as which colors make visitors interested in buying your products. You should take all of this into account in order to create the best atmosphere for buying that you can.

Also, keep in mind; colors have different meanings in different cultures. If you are promoting a product in an overseas market, you should also research what colors stand for in that culture.

There are many pitfalls that people fall into on a regular basis because they are unaware of the many effects color has on their visitors and ultimately on their wallets. Read the following suggestions in order to know what to avoid when incorporating color on your website.

Pitfall #1 - Colors that do not Associate

The product or service that you are selling should determine the color scheme you choose as well as the target market you are selling to. For instance, men and women prefer different colors in varying hues, luminosity, and saturation. For the most part, women prefer colors with less saturation and men prefer colors with more saturation. Keep this in mind if your product is geared to one of the sexes in particular.

Pitfall #2 - No Palette

Make sure you use varying colors on your website from the same palette. This means colors that have some degree of relation to one another. Doing this will create a better layout which is more pleasing to the eye and one that will have a better psychological effect on your visitors. If you do not know anything about palettes then choose the Microsoft color palette, click on an exterior color you like, and the follow it either horizontally or vertically to choose your palette. It really is that easy!

Pitfall #3 - Consider Your Entire Audience

Different colors indeed have different effects on different people because of gender, culture, and life experience, however there are people who also have difficulty seeing certain colors because they have mild to severe color blindness. While this only represents 8-10% of the population, you still want these individuals to be able to view your website. Try not to use only red and green which are typically the colors individuals with color blindness have the most problems seeing.

When you keep color schemes in mind and consider how they will affect your audience, you will be able to create a climate that better sells your product and inclines your visitors to become your customers.

Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A website should firstly be searched out by visitors before talking about attracting or retaining those visitors. Nowadays, a "well designed website" does not only relate to a web site's visual attractiveness but more importantly, how friendly it is with search engines.

Below are 10 SEO friendly website designing tips where web designers should pay attention to during the early stage of their web designing process.

1. Avoid creating menu on the left-hand side of a website. If unavoidable, an alternative way is to put some text with rich keywords at the top or above the left-hand menu so that this text will be the first thing to be read by search engines.

2. Headlines are rated more important than the rest of the web page by search engines. To take advantage of this, you should have your keywords in the page headline. Since the header tag (h1) is quite large, you should format it to make it smaller.

3. Every page should contain the "title" and "description" tags with good keywords to describe the page content.The number of words for the title should not exceed 9 and that for the description should not be more than 20 words in order to keep within the limits of most search engines.

4. Try not to use Flash when possible. Flash cannot be read by the search engines to date and will cause slow page loading time and make people run away. If you really have a reason to use flash, try to make it smaller (e.g. as a flash header) and leave other area of your website for keyword-rich content.

5. Think twice on how to use graphics. Make them relevant to your content and use an alt tag with relevant keywords for search engines to read as they cannot read graphics and also for your visitors so that they can have something to read when waiting for the graphics to load.

6. Do not only use images to link out. You should always use text links to link out to important content on your web site. Spiders can follow image links, but like text links more though.

7. Avoid using frames. Some search engines cannot spider web pages with frames at all. For the other search engines that can, they can have problems spidering it and sometimes they too cannot index the web page.

8. Avoid using too complex tables when laying out your page but to keep them simple for the spiders. There are some engines which find it difficult to navigate through to the other pages on your website if the navigation bar is too complicated.

9. Use external Cascading Style Sheets and Java Script files to reduce page size and make the download time much faster. It will allow the spider to index your web page faster and can help your ranking.

10. Use standard HTML. Software such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver or a WYSIWYG editor will often add unnecessary scripting codes that will make the page larger than is needed and make it harder to crawl. It will sometimes add codes that cannot be read by search engines, causing the spider not to index the page or even the whole website. If to use, you should use those web page creator software wisely with a good understanding of html so that you may manually avoid or even delete those unnecessary scripting codes.

Want to learn more about how to design website and how to conduct Internet marketing? Siuchu Suga is a specialist on the above subjects. She is also the webmaster of About-webdesign.com.

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets has opened up tremendous possibilities for improving web site designs, web page layouts and adding new features. The HTML code can be made shorter, cleaner and simpler by CSS resulting in faster loading of web pages, and making them more accessible to search engines. Here I am narrating my experience with only one part of CSS - using it to eliminate tables.

If you look at a traditionally designed web page, you are likely to find number of tables in the layout. Tables were earlier used only for displaying information in a tabular form. But web site designers soon started using tables for other applications such as showing images, graphics and other decorations.

My own web pages were earlier checkerboards of tables. Each web page was almost fully covered with tables and many tables were nested inside other tables. As I tried to add more features the design became more and more complicated resulting in longer loading times. It also took lot of time to "adjust" the tables on the page to make it acceptable.

It was not an easy task to redesign all the pages using CSS. But once I started, the improvements were more than I had bargained for. The design became simpler, the appearance improved and loading time came down considerably. The code looked real clean. Most of 'td' and 'tr' tags were gone.

My purpose of this exercise was not really to change the appearance but to make the design simpler. Now the tables which were earlier used only for design purpose have been eliminated. For eliminating tables first step is to decide which tables or more specifically which cells have to be removed. For applying CSS each cell of a table can be considered as a "box".

These boxes are given separate identities and description of each "box" goes into CSS code. The "boxes" can be given names such as box1, box2 etc. The description of the "box" can include size, its location on web page, background color and image if any, font details, padding, border details etc. The location of the "box" can be made "fixed" on the web page, or it can be floating in which case location can be defined with respect to another "box".

If the location and dimensions of the boxes are properly worked out, they neatly fit into the web page giving it a clean look. Since the code associated with table designs are done away with, the content of the page attains more prominence in the code. This makes it easier for search engine spiders to locate the actual content of the page.

If you have several web pages with similar design, the CSS code with these and other details can be put in an external file. This will further shorten the code for each page. With CSS lot many improvements can be done in web page design and layout. CSS can also be used for search engine optimization of the page.

My experience with CSS has been great and I wonder why it is not used more often. My advice - convert to CSS based design.

Sanjay Johari contributes articles regularly to various ezines. His website contains information, articles, resources, opportunities and more for small business owners and home based business owners. http://www.sanjay-j.com

Join the longest running internet business opportunity - because it works!http://www.sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html

Monday, August 8, 2011

I bet this little secret is going to get YOU excited... just like it did me. I just discovered public domain treasures and it's a perfect business opportunity for many new internet entrepreneurs.

Did you know there's a little known loophole in US law that allows anyone to distribute, resell or give away expired copyrighted content? Officially, its called public domain, and savvy marketers "borrow" it to publish instant products.
Public domain refers to anything that is NOT protected under US copyright law.

This includes all works published before 1923 and under certain conditions, works published up to 1978. A "work" can be anything, a book, movies, plays, songs, photographs, instruction manuals, posters, courses, reports, etc. You could take these works, repackage them and sell them for a profit. By tapping into public domain content, all the nitty gritty work has been done for you.

There are almost an endless number of ways that you can make money with public domain content. Let me suggest 10 different models you can use to activate and tap the public domain treasures.

Model 1: Resell It.
You can re-publish public domain content exactly as it is. Whether it's a book, a movie or even music, you can take this content and quickly turn it into a product. Just copy it as it is and start selling it.

Model 2: Website Content
You can take the text of the public domain work which relates to a product you are selling or an affiliate program that you are promoting. You then create web pages and include links back to your product page.

Model 3: Repackage
You can repackage a public domain work into a new product. You can use the ideas and some of the content of public domain works to create new and better products.

Eg. Walt Disney characters Snow White, the Little Mermaid were all stories from the public domain.

Model 4: Multimedia
You can change the books in print into a CD or even a video set. Add to the perceived value of the product by offering ways to consume the information. What was once simply a "book" can now be a complete home study course or training program.

Eg. The famous "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill has been made into an audio CD which is a more convenient format.

Model 5: Reprint Rights
You could sell your version of the information product along with marketing materials. People love reprint rights and it's a quick and easy way to make tons of money immediately. You can sell reprint rights only to a derivative product you have created from the original public domain material.

Model 6: Upsell
You can use public domain works and use then as an "upsell" to a regular version of your best selling product. You simply present your buyer with an additional opportunity to "upgrade" their order or add something to their order.

Model 7: Bonuses
Simply use the work as a bonus to your main offering. People love bonuses and will buy a product just for the bonus, if its unique and not something they've seen all over the net already.

Model 8: Viral E-books
You simply take parts of the book and turn it into a viral e-book by allowing others to pass along or even sell this e-book as their own. Once you trigger the "virus" its nearly impossible to make it stop because people keep passing it on and than these people keep passing it on etc, etc.

Eg. Rebecca fine from Seattle, WA used this exact technique to accidentally launch her six figure business with an interesting book, written in 1910 "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D.Wattles.You can "super-size" this strategy by creating a viral e-book with the material and then including affiliate links that pay you commissions anytime someone buys from your recommended resources.

Model 9: Google AdSense
You can use the material to create an information-rich website and then place a tiny piece of code from Google to run their AdSense program on your site. You'll essentially partner-up with Google and get paid a percentage for everyone that simply clicks on the ads Google places on your site.

Model 10: Articles/ Mini Courses
You could use little contents from public domain works and create a mini-course that people would subscribe from your site. You just load a series of 4 to 10 articles into your auto-responders and it delivers it on a total auto-pilot.

You can also use the material into 500-800 word articles to distribute for free publicity and traffic to your sites. Editors of e-zines and owners of web sites are always looking for hot fresh content and in exchange they'll send you over targeted traffic.

Eg. Matt Furey discovered a little unknown book on "Catch Wrestling" and turned it into a complete manual and video e-course of 12 lessons for his market of fitness and wrestling buffs. He had earned over $1million dollars in sales from this one book.

Among the topics available in the public domain treasures are:
  1. Health and Fitness
  2. Fun and Games
  3. Sports and Recreation
  4. Hobbies and Crafts
  5. Education and Self Improvement
  6. Food and Cooking
  7. Animal and Pets
  8. Home Garden and much much more.

Public domain works provides a huge opportunity to newbies in the internet world to tap these vast treasures. Simply put, you can use these works to instantly create e-books, manuals, articles, reports or any other type of information products in a snap. GOOD LUCK!

You'll find step-by-step advice on 19 killer internet business and internet marketing models as marketed by TOP internet Entrepreneurs at http://www.e-HomeBiz.net. It is one of a kind mini-encyclopedia with Master Resell Rights.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

It may be surprising to some to learn that more often than not people will continue to do business with a web hosting company that provides excessively horrible service. Simply because they do not fully understand how to mitigate risks and efficiently transition from one hosted provider to another. There are several unattractive hazards associated with web site relocation, such as: Loss of consumer base due to lengthy downtime; Loss of improperly backed up content, and; A decreased professional image.


All of these pitfalls can easily be avoided by taking the time to research the availability of reputable web hosting companies and carefully implementing a strategic migration plan.


Before selecting an alternative hosting provider, it is important to make note of all of the features that are essential to the web sites operation. Cross reference the necessary features with the web hosts that are capable (and well known) for providing those features. Carefully research reviews about the providers that make your short list, and ask questions about each provider on web hosting forums. Once you are satisfied, and have narrowed your selection down to one or two web hosting companies, send each provider two emails; one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Note the response time of each provider, as this will provide a good insight in to their customer service abilities.


After you have determined which host is the least likely to cause you any problems, initiate a service agreement. Upload your files and then test the site. Once all of the necessary coding has been adjusted you can then test each link, page and image file and begin to create your email accounts.


Once the above steps have been completed, you must next transfer the domain. Altering DNS server details is far less complicated than it sounds. After receiving both the Primary and Secondary name server details from the new web hosting company, simply go to the domain registrar’s web site and access your personal control panel. Once logged in, locate the DNS option and alter the name server details to match the new information. Domain transfer can take up to 24 hours, during this time leave access to your old site open to ensure that there is no loss of emails or other pertinent information.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

There can be zillions of reasons why your visitors return to your web site. One might be very interested in seeing your animated photo on your main page, but kidding aside I've gathered 12 elements that invites your visitors to repeat their visits.

1. High-Quality Content.
We have all read that "Content Is The Thing" according to Michael Dean of Kittyfeet.com. We have not set-up our website to just fill-it with endless links of your favorites but we're there to discuss what can we contribute to the web. Fill it with regularly-updated quality content and they'll return asking for more.

2. Ease Of Use.
We have all heard of "user-friendly" computers and softwares. Why not do the same to our web site. Provide a navigation bar that's easy (and fun) to use forgetting the fancy stuff.

3. Quick To Download.
Assume your web site is going to be viewed by the oldest browser, slowest modem and limited number of palettes.

4. Updated Frequently.
You have prepared high-quality content but the problem is you only update it once a year. Set a realistic goal first that at the least you'll bring new content to it once a month and then increase the frequency.

5. Rewards, Contest and Incentives.
Make sure your visitors enjoy a very "rewarding" visit to your site and expect him to return or just remind him to get his prize, reward or a mention of his name in your monthly newsletter. He'll sure return. Contest is one great idea. Email me on this one and I'll give you the free code.

6. Favorite Brands.
We all know zdnet.com is the site for free downloads, cnn.com for up-to-the-minute customizable news. Why not link to them? Do you know that zdnet.com offers link partnership? (I don't get money from this one, folks :-)) I know a site that just updates their visitors on what's happening to over 200 branded ezines and you know what visitors like it and return.

7. Cutting-edge Technology.
We can't all compete with this category but I'm sure there are lots of software out there to simplify the task. So grab one!

8. Games.
Online game sites are becoming famous nowadays. Visitors too need sometime to play online. Give what they need and they'll ask you for more.

9. Purchasing Capabilities.
Web surfers also shop around and they're looking for convenience on how to do it. Be the first one to do it for them. Add a shopping cart of some sort to your web site and it would be better if you can accept credit cards online.

10. Customizable Content.
Try to create a simple database (Excel of MS Access would do) and connect it on your web site. Every visitor will have its own content and experience. An example of this is planetit.com (tell them I referred you, just enough to receive thank you from them, yes, no money involved here either.)

11. Chat and BBS.
Message Board or interactive forums replaces BBS (bulletin board system) nowadays. Even I have one on my web site (just to make sure) and I'm amazed at the number of visitors from around the globe who post on it. Just make sure you get their email addie so you can reply.

12. Freebies, Jokes and Quotes.
I don't know about this but I've received return visits on this one. I even got a search engine for jokes on my site and people return just to read jokes. These same people who spent considerable amount of money reading jokes and quotes will soon ask for a price quote.

You know studies have shown that it takes 4 to 5 visits for a person before he sets his eyes on what you can offer. A simple element (but it's not included on the 12 elements I've mentioned) is just to place a text on your web site (bold letters, not caps) saying "Please bookmark this site" can go a long, long way.

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