dental articles from 2 Dental.com

Recently, I was asked by a small business owner how he should go about choosing a website designer. Since I was not bidding on his project, I was able to offer him the following unbiased advice.

Develop an RFQ

First, as the owner of your business, you need to have a clear idea in your mind of what you’re looking for from your website. Perhaps you just want an internet presence for your business, or maybe you want something more dynamic. If you’re not sure what you want, then take the time to do some research. Take a look at what other similar businesses are doing and write down what you like (and what you don’t like!). Start to make a list of what features you feel your site must have (request form, forum, etc.). You should also start to list out the individual pages you want to see developed (about us, services, etc.). You are now creating an official RFQ (request for quote) document that you can present to a potential web designer for review. Once you’ve developed an outline for your site, you should also make some notes about your preferences when it comes to the site design and layout. If you want a flash intro or background music or some other design element, you need to note that. Put all your notes into a Word document and save it for later.

Next, you’ll need to solicit bids from interested web designers. Include a brief description of what you want your site to be, and invite interested designers to contact you with their information.

At this point, you should not expect full-blown estimates or proposals. No professional is going to be prepared to give you a quote on a project without having talked to you or seen your RFQ. Instead, you should concentrate on weeding out the designers who don’t meet your expectations.

So, what should you expect?

Good Communication

Right off the bat, any communication from a potential designer should be professional, clear, and friendly. It’s extremely important that the designer you choose is a good communicator. First, you have to work with this individual and if they can’t communicate well with you, the project will prove more difficult to complete. Second, you will be depending on him or her to independently create certain aspects of your website. You cannot write everything for them. If they aren’t able to communicate well, it will be reflected in their work and therefore make your site, and you, look unprofessional.

Previous Work

Next, your interested designer should be able to present some examples of their work, preferably in the form of a portfolio page within their own website. Assuming they have their own website, look at that first. Do you like it? Does it look professional? Would you consider them based solely on their website? A website should be a reflection of that business. If a web designer’s own website is poor, then they do not understand the purpose of a business website and you can move on.

Assuming their own website is up to snuff, then you should check out their portfolio. Take a look at the sites they’ve done for other businesses, particularly if there are some sites similar to your own model, and see what you think. If, on the whole, you’re not impressed with their work, move on to a different designer.

Personality & Knowledge

If you’re comfortable with the quality of work from a particular designer, it’s time to talk to them on the phone. They should be comfortable talking about themselves and what they can do for you, and pleasant to deal with. Remember, this is someone that’s going to become an integral part of your business, at least for a while. You need to feel confident that they can do the job and that you’ll be able to work with them.

Price

Once you’ve articulated exactly what you’re looking for, the designer should be able to give you a quote on the project. Certainly, the price needs to be an important consideration, but don’t let it make your decision for you. If someone gives you a particularly high price on a project, you need to consider the quality of their work and decide if it is marginally better than everyone else, and if they’re worth it. Similarly, if someone gives you a particularly low price, you need to consider their motivation as well. Do they simply produce cheap work, or are they trying to establish themselves and therefore charging below market rates. If you’re lucky enough to find someone in that situation who meets your other requirements, hire them immediately!

Local vs. Remote

Because of the nature of websites, most projects can be easily completed without ever having any face-to-face meetings between designer and client. Business owners should not feel any hesitation in hiring a remote designer, at least one within the U.S.

Certainly, there are specific projects which may require face time, but in general, those clients that insist on dealing with local designers are only limiting themselves to local talent and rates.

Business Experience

In your emails and conversations with your designer, you should also gauge their business experience. You’re going to be depending on him or her to give you suggestions on how to build your site to better your business. If, for instance, the designer has no sales experience, how can they ensure your website fits into your sales process? Additionally, a good designer will question every aspect of the site from a good business perspective and offer you advice to that end. For instance, the flash intro you wanted for your site may look outstanding, but a good designer might suggest that, while attractive, it does not actually benefit your business, and could potentially do more harm than good by deterring visitors who cannot view flash, or preventing search engines from searching your website. If your designer gives you a suggestion to improve your site, but one that will end up reducing their fees, then you know that this designer truly has your best interests at heart.

Search Engine Understanding

Finally, your new designer must understand how to build a site so that it is search engine friendly. This is typically where inexperienced designers fall short, so don’t skip this step! Ask them how they plan to make your site optimized for search engines. Going back to their ability to communicate; they should be able to explain what they’re going to do in a way that you can understand without any previous knowledge of SEO.

Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas on how to approach this task. Feel free to email me your questions or comments at michael@stadiastudio.com. Good luck!

About the Author
Michael is the lead web designer and owner at Stadia Studio (http://www.StadiaStudio.com), a web design firm in St. Louis, and has been helping businesses get online since the 1990’s.

by Carolyn Clayton

Domain names allow Internet users to more easily find and communicate with web sites and other serve based services. Your domain name is the way in which people gain access to your website, it is what people type into an Internet browser in order to gain access to what your site has to offer; it is what allows people to find and use your site, which is why it is important that you choose the best domain name for your website.

The domain name that you choose for your website stands in as a more memorable name for your numeric IP address. They allow for any service to move to a different location in the topology of the Internet (or an intranet), which would then have a different IP address.

One great aspect of the domain name system is the flexibility that it offers you. This is because the domain name system allows you to assign multiple IP addresses to a single domain name or multiple domain names to be assigned to a single IP address. This means that one server may have multiple roles (such as hosting multiple independent websites), or that one role can be spread among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers, as used in anycast and hijacked IP space.

One comparison that domain names often have is that they are similar to real estate. This is because domain names are seen as real estate; they are seen as virtual properties in which a website is built and the highest quality domain names are sought after, just like property.

Before you rush out and choose your domain name you need to think about what your website is all about. Your domain name is how people will find your website so your domain name should be one that reflects what your website is all about. This is why you should aim to name your domain the same name as your website; this sounds obvious but despite what it sounds like many people often opt to not name their domain anything to do with what their website is about. It is important as people are more likely to remember your website name rather than your domain name so when they are looking for your website they will most likely type your website name into a search engine in the hope that your website will show up.

In the modern world of the Internet, where people automatically turn to the Web for information, it pays to have a domain name that reflects your site or business as you are opening your company up to more business due to the fact that more people will be able to find your website.

So when you are choosing your domain name keep in mind how easy it will be for people to find your website and choose a name that best reflects what your business is all about. Your domain name can be any length of up to 67 characters, which means you are more likely to find a name that you like, it easy to remember and that fits your business.

About the Author

Helen is the web master of Discount Domains, specialists in all aspects of Domain Names.

by cawn003

1) Never use splash pages

Splash pages are the pages that comes out first before you see the index page of a website. It usually very attractive image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. Sometimes it is an advertisement, in fact they are just that pretty vases with no definite purpose but gather traffic. Most of the time this is the reason why your visitors clicked the back button! Give them a purpose to stay and go back to your site without the splash page.

2) Avoid using excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, get the interest of the visitors by show what are really interesting and the benefits of your site then let your them feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You need to have a simple and visible navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Your site should be user-friendly avoid using complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors get lost and don’t know how to navigate your site, they will get pissed off and go to other site.

4) Provide clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are really interested of browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. By doing this, you already having their interest, you are putting your visitors to stay longer and browse relevant information or navigate into any section of the site easily. Never confuse your visitors because confusion leads to leaving your site!

5) Do not use audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site to read your content, you will want to make it sure they are not be disturb by some audio or even vivid colors you provide on your website. If the audio is important to you, just make it sure you provide some controls over it.

About the Author

{a href = http://web-design.teamcreatives.com}Web Site Development,{a href = http://www.teamcreatives.com}web site design company

Author: privateque

A great way to get your website popularized is by avoiding mistakes that are not search engine friendly. An SEO process should be initiated on a site taking some points into consideration. I would like to share some tips with you guys about how you can allure search engines to get your site up in the search results. Read this article and find the kith and kins of search engine optimization world.

Here are some of the mistakes that are usually ignored while carrying on the SEO process.

Don’t do it yourself or don’t let any SEO Company to submit your url in thousands of search engines and directories. That is rather a waste of time and money altogether. These sites are usually link farms and do get penalized by google.

People waste time submitting site url’s to search engines. The crawler will index your site sooner then you might think. The only effort to be made is gathering some quality links that crawler can follow to reach your site. If your site is capable enough, it will be indexed in no time.

Good back links are the key players in getting your site up in the SERPs. Avoid back links from link farms. It takes a good amount of time and effort to gather good links but that is the only way to see your site rising in SERPs.Its optimal in any search engine optimization process to get not more than 500 back links for a site as tons of links can look suspicious to search engines and could result in penalty.

As far as visitors are concerned, if you want good traffic on your site make it an interactive tool. Give your visitors a regular feedback to their enquiries and keep them updated with the new offers and products that have been launched.

The best option is to get your site listed in volunteer-edited sites like Wikipedia.Such sites can place your site as a reference for visitors in their articles. If your sites are potential enough they can be suggested to the visitors for more information in such sites.

Google admires fair SEO and PPC practices. Optimize your site in a way that can lead crawlers to keep your site indexed and highly ranked in search engines.

About the Author
This article is for those SEO people who tend to practice good Search engine practices but don’t get good results even though. Try avoiding these mistakes and see how your site is boosted in a search engine. For more information on seo services visit my sites : SEO Company and Internet marketing Company

by: Terry Leslie

Internet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merging you will need another word. Traffic. Every article you will find about making your site or company successful would always include the importance of generating traffic.

So, we all know that in the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company’s internal organization well taken core of, it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, generating traffic.

If you already have a site and you want think that you’re not getting the traffic that you’re supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider. If you are contending in these very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.

Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with generating traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase your traffic.

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo’s advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

In the mean time, Good Luck on your journey to success…

OR if you would like to succeed immediately to create financial freedom working only 4 hours a week, check out http://www.Secrets2InternetFortunes.com

AND for a Limited Time, you will also receive a FREE copy of a limited number of the amazing 60 page eBook “52 Highly Profitable Instant Online Business Ideas That You Can Steal As Your Own And Start Today On A Very Tight Budget!”, which is jam packed with so many ideas you can use to instantly create an automated income for life! That’s my GIFT to You as a way of saying thank you for reading my articles.

About The Author
Terry Leslie is a very successful and world renowned authority figure in both on and off line marketing, and rapid business creation. A much sought after global speaker in the areas of internet marketing, business development, self-improvement and human peak potential training.

For more Secrets to Internet Business success, check out http://www.secrets2internetfortunes.com

Submitted by lzy9000

Page Rank (PR) is Google algorithm used to calculate the relative importance of a web page on the Internet and assign it a numerical value from 0 (least important) to 10 (most important). This value is calculated based on iterative analysis of link to the web sites. If a web page and links to related web pages, and then will receive 1 BB “vote” for their rating.
Fact: Page Rank is calculated on the Web page on the web page, rather than on the web site, Web site

The importance of web pages casting a vote, and the total number of outbound links on the web page of casting a vote are the main factors that determine how much “voting share” is a web page will be broadcast every reference to them. Google calculates a web page to page rank by summing all the voting shares in that web page using iterative calculation.

Page Rank is one of the factors that Google uses to determine their search Ranking Positions (extradition “s). Should be noted that this algorithm is only one part of their overall rating scheme, and not necessarily the most important, since many web whether you believe. Generally speaking, the Internet user has no appreciation of the concept of ranking pages, and I can not say that on a particular page PR-yes, if they do not have the Google Toolbar (or use the Internet page rank checking). at the top of Pages in Google search ranking algorithm understanding of the concept is still important for any webmasters involved in the traffic to your site.

Fact: Not all links to a web page, counting of votes, and that the web page

After Google introduced the concept of Page Rank unsavory webmasters developed ways to manipulate the rankings. These webmasters start building Web pages for the sole purpose of increasing the number of incoming links pointing to their site.

General Kryaker SEO methods:

* Link Farms - pages that contain long lists of links that are not created for the sole purpose of manipulating search engine rankings and the top of the page

* Admission page - orphaned web page, or at the same site or distributed via the Internet, stuffed with keywords that have links to the criminal site. Used to artificially inflate links to the site.

* Free for All Links pages - such link farms where, as you can see from the title, someone is free to place their link. As soon as a valuable way of disseminating information about your site, the abuse through automated material has a value of these objects, and is now seen as a search engine SPAM.

* Automated Hosting or link exchange - Web sites that offer to provide “hundreds” in a link to your site instantly. As you will have to install some html code to your site to display their catalog and the return of anyone else who found the code to your site will show you a link. This is a case of “if it sounds too good to be true it is.” In the search engine had meaning of this method for monitoring and unnatural “peaks” in the number of backlinks pointing to the site. In fact, you can catch the top of your method, but if the search engine on your wise practice (as they always eventually do), you risk being dropped from their index or black holed in their ratings.

As Page Rank calculated?

When Google introduced the concept of ranking pages they, as they are going to use the algorithm for the calculation. This formula in its current form is known only to engineers at Google, but it is fair to say that is very similar to the following formula.

PR (A) = (1 - d) + d (PR (t1) / C (t1) + … + PR (t) / C (t))

While at first glance this may seem complicated equation, in fact, the concept is not that difficult to understand. Let minute to break down the formula, and see what conclusions can be drawn.

PR (t1) … PR (t) - Page Rank (PR) on each page, from page to t1 ton. (tons in the amount of 1 link to a web page, A)

C (t1) … C (t) - The number of outbound connections (C) on each page, from page to t1 ton

g - attenuation coefficient

Unlike the original Google Page Rank white paper:

The parameter d is a damping factor which can be set between 0 and 1. We usually set d to 0.85.

Knowing that these parameters, hence the importance of knowledge damping factor, we can simplify the formula for the top:

PR (A) = 0,85 * 0,15 + (A “share” in the PR of each page link to a page A)

The “participation” in each web page to page A badge can be calculated by dividing the Page Rank of the web page links to the number of outbound links on this page. Each of the links on this page will receive an equal share of the votes in the Page Rank page, which contains a reference to the outgoing. Total available at the top of each web page to send outgoing slightly less than the overall rating of pages of this page (PR page * 0,85), which can be easily obtained when the attenuation coefficient known.

Consequences

In a basic understanding of the algorithm, we can draw some conclusions on the top, and its implications for your website. For example, it could have a link to a web page X, which has a high ranking pages less than the top transfer of voting shares to a website than link to the web page Yu lower ranking pages.

How can that be? Let’s analyze example:

Page X - 4 rating, 10 outbound links

Page Y - the top 8, 100 outbound links

This page will channel N 0.85 (4 / 10) = 0.34 page rank voting shares of each of the links

Page JU will transfer 0.85 (8100) 0068 by the beginning of the voting shares of each of the links

Even if Page H has a much lower rating pages worth, the fact that the number of outbound links on the page N so much less than he actually visit JU transfers over the top voting shares of each of the links page than Y.

Pages that do not link to them will continue to have modest top pages worth 0.15 with (1 - d) part of the equation. It is important to note that although it is fair and in accordance with the equations, only Google engineers secret known whether actual top page in the voting share is transferred in this scenario. Google may well say that the links page to submit the top vote share from 0 to click, and no one will know exactly but themselves.

Fact: Dashboard displays Google Page Rank as a base 10 log scale that is not “factual” with Page Rank calculation

The average rating of all the pages in the index page 1. You can have “de facto” top-million, or far less than 1, using the formula page rank, but Google Toolbar displays only the numbers 0 - 10 of its pr meter. Only Google knows how to scale, and when the original is broken at every level. For example, it can take the actual beginning of the page 10000, using the formula above, in order to achieve the rank of page 4 / 10 scale on the dashboard.

Page Rank Voting Share - A simple example

Pages, which includes only a few references to them have little or no page rank in the vote share before the transfer of outgoing links. To calculate the rating voting page web pages link to it, we must focus on the second part of the page ranking forumula. Based on the attenuation coefficient of 0.85 Google whitepaper our calculations will be in the form of 0.85 (0.15 / # outbound links), which will always be equal to something close to zero. At 0.15 in the equation is found using this calculation = 0,15 (1-0.85) + 0,85 (0). As the number of outbound links on this page, a page will grow even lower ranking pages of the voting shares of each of the links.

Understanding this clear why in connection with the link farms and free for all links page does not help your page rank. Because nobody connects these FFA pages they have “low” top page with a small value of the top proliferation of voting shares. Busy free for all links pages have several hundred or thousands of outgoing links on them. If we execute quickly mathematics (being generous and giving ffa pages worth 0.25 ave)

Calculating Page Rank Voting Share Transmitted in each of the links to a page FFA

The number of outbound links FFA On Page: 50

* PR Voting Share Calculation: 0,85 (FFA PR / Outbound Links FFA) = 0.85 (0.25/50) = 0.00425 PR Voting Shares Transferred to each of the links

The number of outbound links FFA Page O: 100

* PR Voting Share Calculation: 0,85 (FFA PR / Outbound Links FFA) = 0.85 (0.25/100) = 0.002125 PR Voting Shares Transferred to each of the links

The number of outbound links About FFA Page: 500 (total FFA pages)

* PR Voting Share Calculation: 0,85 (FFA PR / Outbound Links FFA) = 0.85 (0.25/500) = 0.000425 PR Voting Shares Transferred to each of the links

The number of outbound links About FFA page: 1000

* PR Voting Share Calculation: 0,85 (FFA PR / Outbound Links FFA) = 0.85 (0.25/1000) = 0.0002125 PR Voting Shares Transferred to each of the links

From the calculations, it is not difficult to notice that there is very little in the vote share of the top transferred from FFA links on their pages outbound links, and you have several thousand links to pages of this kind see any real value at the top! That is assuming that Google does not blackhole these pages our index and actually allows top pages of the voting shares to deviate from these pages, in the first place, that in no way guarantees, and only at the discretion of Google.

Page Rank in complex networks

The above example is not actually duplicate the real world, such as calculating the percentage of the top vote in an idealized ffa page in a situation where the top page to page, is already known. In complex networks with references and links to related web pages, the actual beginning of the page on the web page may not be known because of the interdependence of each web page with each other, to calculate page rankings.

Think of “chicken and egg” situation. This problem can be solved by taking the best guess on the original cost of each rank Web pages in the network, and its connection to the rank of the page formula. The results of these calculations are then used to calculate the additional property to the next rank web pages in the network. This calculation is repeated again and again until the top of the page limits. This limit, the actual start of this page to page. In the complex web page to be found at the top of all web pages can take millions of iterations.

Click here for more examples and web pages rank calculator

It is also worth noting that when the web page translation of the top voting shares to a different web page on the top page in the development of the page is not restricted in any way. There is no actual transfer of top pages only weighted “voting turned to outbound links.

Links to related web pages with high Page Rank, and virtually no other outbound links on them, but they provide the best opportunity for boosting your page (if it is your goal, and it should not be, the reference to no movement, and more villages. ). Make sure to work on your content, as well as the development and approaching other webmasters on the link. The bottom line is you need to have a web site for people to link to it.

Article From Software Cool

About the Author
From Software Cool

Author: bpdart

With the present boom in e-commerce, a well designed website that attracts the attention of potential customers is indispensable to the owners of various small-scale and large-scale industries. Endowing the website of a particular company with a prominent online presence requires an in-depth understanding of the needs and business objectives of that company. Therefore the business owner would do well to sit and discuss his requirements with his web designer. Most importantly, the web site should be so interesting as to keep the viewers glued on to the page. However, shoddy work is often noticed in websites for which a hefty amount had been paid. This can prove to be distressing for small business owners who often lack the means of employing a professional to redo the damage. Thus, the foremost criteria for building up a good website are to get hold of a good professional website designer who understands his employer’s objectives. It would be of immense benefit to follow a few guidelines to help identify a competent web designer.

Before embarking on the search for a competent and affordable website designer, it would be better to keep in mind a few points-

• The website should inform the customers about the kind of services provided by the company.

• Whether the site will require frequent information updates.

• The budget of the particular company.

• The needs and tastes of the targeted audience.

• Whether the company will depend on search engines to optimize it’s sales.

• The web designer should be acquainted with all the above criteria in order to create a profitable website.

The next stage is starting to look for a web designer. Here again certain things need to be considered.

• It is recommended that the business house should check the portfolio of the web-designing firm with whom they are entrusting their work.

• It should also talk to the previous clients of the concerned web designing company in order to ascertain whether they got the right service and guidance from the website development firm.

• Besides understanding the pros and cons of the company’s objectives, the web designer should also be able to improvise and build up a site that is capable of standing out from the crowd of millions of other websites.

• The company should also ask the web-designing firm to show them examples of their previous work. This will reflect on the capability of the web designing company to design professional websites.

• The website should also be easy to navigate. In order to retain the impatient online reader the web designer should ensure that no information is more than a couple of clicks away.

• It is important to form a long-term relationship with the web designer. Otherwise it will prove costly to add new features to a website, if the original website developer who built it is not there to update it.

• It is important that the website should load quickly. The concentration span of the average reader is very little. Therefore if the page takes longer to load it will have grave repercussions for the company. Prospective customers will veer away from the site.

• While designing a website, the web designer should stick to the particular layout which users have become accustomed to.

• If the company wants an e-commerce website, then the website should be so designed as to make it easy for buyers to buy products online.

• The web designer should not use too many special effects as this will lead to increase in loading time, which in turn might have a negative impact on visitor retention.

Following the above mentioned points, will increase the chances of getting hold of a competent web designing firm who understands the business of its customer and provides valuable services which helps in meeting the cherished business goals. There are lots of affordable web designing and web development companies in India who are dedicated in their mission to help clients meet their targets in various web-marketing programs. They provide solutions in customized web design and web development that helps to maximize profitable returns.

Source: Free Articles

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About the Author

Abir Roychowdhury is a professional Internet marketer. For Affordable Web Site Design, Development Company India with Professional SEO & Content Writing Services or to Outsorce | Hire an eCommerce, Shopping Cart Web Design | Offshore Web Application Development Company with SEO & Content Writing Services India visit BusinessProDesigns.com.

Author: tkdterry

Whenever folks want to store this getting involved in Internet marketing the first thing that comes to their mind is what the difference between natural search and paid search is. Both strategies have their pros and cons but can be very effective as part of a marketing strategy. The following article is a brief description of both natural and paid search strategies.

Paid search is when your ad shows up at the very top of a Google search or down the right hand side of the results page. These are called “sponsored ads”. You pay for those positions. When every you click on one of those ads the owner of the ad pays Google. This is also called “pay-per-click”. The amount you pay is determined by several factors including what you are willing to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Natural Search is when you type in a “keyword” and a link and a description shows up on left hand side of the search result page. The only way to get on the first page is to have very relevant content on your web site and links to your site from other relevant sites. This is a long process for people in it for the long haul. There are a lot of companies that claim to be able to get you on the first page of Google. That may be true if the “search term” is very specific and no one else would ever search for it but you or they are using a “black hat” method that could get you site banned from the search engine.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are really just data bases. When you do a Google Search you are not searching the “world wide web” you are searching Google’s data base. There are two ways to get in to these databases. One is to submit your site to the different search engines. In about 6 to 9 weeks the search engine will index your site. They have software that comes to your site and index every page and adds it to the database. They come into your main web URL and follow the links to all the pages of your site. They capture key elements from the code on your page to the content. These are then stored in the data base. When someone puts a keyword in the search box the “algorithms” determine the best page or links to the best pages for your search.

The other way to get added to the search engines data base is to have the search engine software find you through a link to your site from another web site back to yours. The software, called “spiders” will periodically comeback and re crawl your site to see if you have updated it.

One important thing to know is that each page on your site is indexed individually and each page stands on its own. The ranking are based upon the combination of correct meta tags, relevant content to the keyword they are trying to get rankings for and link popularity. Mostly one way links back to their site from relevant sites.

As long as the search engine can index the site, clearly read the meta tags and content, the better. The big issues come when a site is built in flash with very little content (search engines cannot read or index “flash” sites. Also, if the bulk of the relevant content is in PDF format this is bad because the search engines cannot read PDF. If the search engines cannot index the relevant text there will be no rankings.

You all ready know this but “sites” are not ranked, individual pages are ranked for specific terms found in the content of that page as well as link popularity, (relevant links pointing back to that specific page) for the term that you are trying to get ranked on.
This is why each page has to be giving very specific attention.

Bottom line: Paid search means you pay for your position. The benefit is if you have the $$ you will get instant traffic. Stop paying and the traffic goes away. Natural search is free traffic but it is built over time. The advantage is that if done right, it can provide traffic for a long time.

Search traffic (paid or natural) is the BEST traffic to have because you are being found by folks who are specifically looking for what you have. It does not get any better than that.

About the Author
Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: http://www.clickadvant.com/se101.htm

by: Linda Lullie

Wanna Website? Better yet, wanna website within your time frame and budget? Choosing the right designer for the job is critical for success. But before you hire, or even interview designers, you need do some “goal-searching”. Defining your scope and educating yourself will help keep delays and disappointments to a minimum.

Every company needs a website which should include their logo, marketing message, location, phone number, and products or services. Your ultimate site may include information collection, product sales, or integration with internal systems. Once you determine what you expect from your website and what functionality you need, you can begin searching for a web designer. Bear in mind the best design professionals act as consultants – understanding your scope, and proposing solutions.

Step 1: Build a “Wish List”

Whether you’re creating a website from scratch or updating an existing one, the first thing to do is to identify your goals and objectives. It’s not good enough just to have a website; you should expect tangible results from the investment and setting goals will help you measure your results. Here are some common website objectives. Do you want to:

• Provide information? Many businesses just need services offered, contact information, directions, and hours. This type of website is the least expensive and works for doctors, dentists, restaurants, vets, local stores, pet service providers, and other small businesses.

• Sell your products online? An Ecommerce solution is more expensive, but can yield big profits for companies that offer unique products and can ship them.

• Provide customer support or customer service? Many companies have reduced staff just by including FAQs, Email capability, complaint forum, policies, instructions, troubleshooting tips, use and care info and more on their website. Some solutions include Real-Time chat with a customer service representative.

• Gather data for sales or marketing purposes? Like email messages, newsletters, testing products and services. These features can be added to static and Ecommerce websites.

Once you know the goals, you can address more specific questions:

• Do you need a URL (domain name) purchased?

• Do you need a hosting service for your website?

• What pages do you need to include in your website to meet the goals listed above? (About, Location, Rates, Menu, Services, Products, Customer service, Press Releases, Articles, Sign Up pages, Photo Gallery, Events Calendar, Archives)

• Do you need interactive features? (database connection, order tracking, log-in, calculator, or any feature where visitors would interact with your site)

• Do you have a content writer or do you need to have that service provided?

• Do you need to have photos taken or stock photos purchased?

Your website can be as simple or complex as your imagination and budget. Having your “wish list” will help the designer develop an accurate quote, schedule and resource list.

Step 2: Gain an Understanding

Understanding how a website is created is important. If you’re not educated in the basics, you leave yourself vulnerable, risking a poor vendor choice and unexpected problems.

Website design and development is a two-fold process that involves three parts. It consists of design (front end), what your website looks like (including images and text). Graphic designers concentrate on the front end, choosing appropriate images, fonts, and layout. A good designer has an understanding of what works visually on screen, how a visitor scans a page, and what technical limitations exist for web development. Your designer will rely on you to provide the content – written and visual, or help you find a writer and secure photos as well.

The second part of the process is web development (back end), programming needed to make your site functional. A good web developer will know several programming languages, most importantly HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). This code allows browsers to display images and text. Other code terms you may hear are:

• Javascript – for simple client side interactivity, pop ups, and some animation.

• DHTML – for interactive menu navigation

• ASP and PHP – for customization and interactivity (database connectivity, account information).

• CSS – control the look from a central file.

• Flash – creates interactive menus, tools and animated messages.

The third part to consider is future growth and updates. Most websites should be updated at least three or four times a year. Retail stores may want to change featured items weekly, and Ecommerce sites may need daily updates.

There are three ways to handle ongoing maintenance:

• Your design team makes updates. Typically you’d pay a set monthly fee, or by the hour.

• You make updates. Upgrading to include a content management system would allow edits of text and some images without programming skills. Cost depends on complexity.

• Your staff makes updates. If you have the staff in place or have the budget for an additional person, this option may be cost effective and give you more control.

You may find a combination of these solutions fits your needs. For example, your Ecommerce website allows you to add, change and edit products, but other parts of your site need the attention of a designer.

Step 3: Compare Options

Some firms can provide all the services needed to fulfill your wish list. These types of companies may have a staff of designers, developers, and technical support, or they may outsource portions of the job to another company, or to freelancers. Having your website designed under one roof provides these advantages:

• One point of contact and project management

• Better communication and integration of job elements and phases

• Big picture performance rather than simply completing daily tasks

Many larger companies offer other marketing services, such as email campaigns, search engine marketing, and other programs to help drive visitors to your website. Be sure to ask what additional services are available, whether you think you may need them or not.

Narrow down your choices for design companies – you need to select a group that will complete your project on time and within budget. Start by looking at the designer’s portfolio. Established design companies have a comprehensive portfolio of work on their website. Thoroughly review the portfolio for samples that have the same features you’re interested in (design style is important, but a good designer should be able to create a variety of looks). Features are super important because a company that designs a gorgeous static website may not have the programming capabilities to create a database driven Ecommerce site for you.

Here are 10 Clues that point to a successfully completed design project:

Clue #1: If you’re looking to hire a designer and they don’t have a website… RUN! These days there is NO excuse not to have an online presence for your advertising and marketing company.

Clue #2: If all or most of the samples on a web designers site say “Coming Soon” or “Page not found”… RUN! Obviously they’re probably a company that doesn’t finish projects.

Clue #3: If their portfolio has many samples, but they’re all for the same campaign or company (and one you’ve never heard of)… RUN!! Most likely these are samples done for design school, not real world business.

Clue #4: If their website or work samples have typos, broken links and outdated information… RUN! If they’ve done it before, they’ll do it again.

Clue #5: If you’re interviewing a designer and they don’t ask the three key questions… RUN! Your designer has to have these questions answered: what does the client do, what does the client want done, and what is the project deadline.

Clue #6: If you have trouble getting the design company on the phone, or they’re not answering your emails in a timely and efficient manner… RUN! This is just a foreshadowing of what’s to come when the real work begins.

Clue #7: If you don’t get a price quote (and or printing estimate) in writing… RUN! Verbal estimates are amateur, indicating that that designer is as well.

Clue #8: If the price sounds too good to be true… RUN! It probably is too good to be true. You’ll either never get the final project completed, or you’ll get what you pay for. Get several quotes to see what the ballpark figures should be if you’re new at this. And don’t rely on internet companies as many are in foreign countries making communication impossible, and again… you’ll get what you pay for.

Clue #9: If you aren’t asked to sign a contract… RUN! Do you know what the payment terms are, who owns the copyright, are there royalties or usage limits, and so on. Don’t hire any contractor without some agreement in writing.

Clue #10: If you aren’t asked for money up front… RUN! Think of it as a retainer, and typically, an assurance that your job is taken as a serious priority. If you’ve gotten to this point with your research, a deposit of 30 or 50% shouldn’t scare you.

After looking at samples, check references. Get a minimum of three and ask these questions:

• Were deadlines met?
• Was the company flexible?
• Did they make suggestions?
• What were their strengths?
• What were their weaknesses?
• Would you hire them again?

There are tons of reputable, talented, and yes, affordable creative service companies around. The care you take at the beginning should pay big when you receive a finished project that’s what you expected (or better), that’s within budget, that’s on time, and most importantly, that’s effective at meeting your marketing goals.

Step 4: Getting Started

Your selected website design team will interview you to understand your business, your goals for the site and your budget. They should prepare a project plan with pricing which lays out each step of the project, who is responsible for what, deadlines, included features, pricing, and extras with their costs. A contract is a must! Make sure your contract lists who owns what, the terms, the deadlines, and the method of approving additional charges.

Armed with good information, a well-thought out plan and scope, and answers to some questions up front, your website development should be smooth and painless from start-to-finish.

About The Author

Linda Lullie is co-owner of Inspired 2 Design, LLC, a full-service Advertising and Creative Services agency located outside Atlanta, Georgia. With over 20 years in the field, I2D puts their experience to work for businesses across the U.S. in all areas of marketing and business growth. Visit their website at http://www.inspired2designllc.com.

Submitted by ecochuck

You can find many ways to get more visitors to your website. You can go to forums that allow it and answer a question and put up a link to your site. On some of these sites, it helps you to get more traffic from search engines. Sometimes your answer will be ideal for that person asking the question.

Someone on a forum wanted to know what Kevin Trudeau’s miracle cure for being overweight was before spending all that money for his book. I sent him to my site and he read about it. Then he thanked me for saving him all that money which would have made him feel like a sucker who was ripped off. Since then, the F.T.C. Federal Trade Commission) has gone attacked Kevin Trudeau for claiming that you can eat whatever you want on the infomercial while the book says that you should not eat any unhealthy food.

Another way to create more traffic is by finding directories online and putting your link on their website. There are some companies that you can pay to do this for you. You may find that some of these site want you to put a link back to them, but others do not. These links can help you get more traffic from the search engines. There are hundreds of these directories out there. Some let you use the code to make a keyword (or term) the link instead of the address of the site. So you can make “vampire antidote” the link to your site.

Then this will help you when someone does a search on a search engine for “vampire antidote.” This is better than a link that just says “www.henderson.com.”Another way is to write articles and submit the article to article sites like with what you are reading right now. In exchange, they put up a link to your website. The link is usually in the author or bio information. Some only allow text, so you have to just put up your url like “www.henderson.com.” Some allow html where you put in the code so the link will say “vampire antidote.”

Some of these article sites gets lot of traffic so you can even get people coming to your site from the article. There are others sites that get a small amount of traffic but the links can help you with search engines. To see how much traffic a website gets, see the Alexa.com site. Also you can check on a site’s Google PR rank to see how much a link from them will help you with the search engines.

There are hundreds of these article sites and they are growing everyday. I may put up a list of them on my website in the future. Also I may create my own article site in the future and I already have a blog. These articles create a great deal of free information on the world wide web. Sometimes you can get some valuable information from reading these articles. Also when you get one of these articles put up on a site (published), you can say that you are a writer who writes articles.

This way the information that is out there is not just controlled by the publishers, but it is controlled by the people, like you and me. It is a great example of the first amendment of the United States Constitution at work. It will be interesting to see the changes that happen with the world wide web being so new. Many of the founders of the U.S.A. were writers.

I check out these links and most of them have active links to my site. Sometimes a site will have an inactive link and I will contact them to let them know that it is part of the condition to be able to have my article on their site. There are sites that have problems with getting their site to do what they want. Once in a while they use the code rel=”no follow” which means that they have the intention to benefit from using your article without you benefiting as far as the search engines go. I click on VIEW and then SOURCE to look for this code.

Tell the sites that do this to remove your article. You can also tell them that you will spread the word about them. You can even write an article about it and they may even put it on their site without realizing what they are doing. A few days ago on a forum I saw someone asking if the article sites actually put up a link to you or just use your article without doing anything for you so this has answered that question. Copyright 2008 by Chuck Bluestein www.phifoundation.org

About the Author
Chuck Bluestein is an herbalist, webmaster, nutritionist, and an expert on fasting. His website has information on losing weight, colds and flus, healthy diet, weight loss, lemonade diet, depression and anxiety self help, fasting, natural cures and finding happiness.