Archive for Web Resources
07.14.08
Posted in Better Movies, University Of History, Web Resources at 12:03 pm by admin
The old theatre in Redlands remains a symbol of one of the many historically beautiful buildings in the city. A few years ago it went under a rather large renovation that initially seemed somewhat hush. Now it has been thoroughly renovated, but it is being used strictly for businesses. It is a wonder why the historic landmark could not have been used for something related to its rich past.
There are a handful of sites that have apparently documented and debated the issue, but none that really appear to have been aimed directly at fighting for its preservation. One can’t help but think that maybe if they had only made the effort to contact a firm that is web design Redlands based they could have reached more people that may have been interested. Now the building may be repaired, but it is not open to the public as many wish it was.
Over the years I’ve had many conversations with people passionate about the possibilities that lay in the future of that building. Some hoped it would be a modern theatre, some an indie theatre, and others still hoped for a blend of current, classic, indie and silent films to further embrace the artistic and culture-rich scene growing in Redlands youth.
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06.02.08
Posted in Web Resources at 8:56 pm by admin
With all of the web hosting companies, including resellers, out there today, and with all of the promises they make, choosing a web host isn’t always easy. Here are five factors you should consider when comparing web hosts and their hosting plans:
Support
Even if you prefer email support, see if the company at least offers a toll-free support number. Check the hours that it’s available. If something happens, and your site goes down, will someone be there to help you? Also find out what kind of support documents they make available to their customers, which you can use to find answers to your own questions. At the very least, email the hosting company with some questions, and see how long it takes them to respond to you. A good hosting company will answer you within a matter of a few hours if you email them on a weekday (some even on the weekend).
Price Plans
Don’t worry so much about the exact monthly price, but instead on how you’re expected to pay. You’re better off finding a host that allows you to pay on a month-to-month basis than one who requires you to pay up front, whether it’s for three months, six months, or even a year or more. Don’t just trust that a hosting company will be around for long, or that they’ll let you out of your deal without any problems if you find their service less than satisfactory. Comparing the simple price per month can be misleading, because you need to account for every small detail being offered between two competing hosting packages.
Services & Features
Most small business sites would be fine with 100mb space, and sometimes less, if they don’t have an image-heavy site. Other sites require more space and bandwidth, because they host many image, audio, or video files. You should find out what you need and compare similar services from different hosting companies. For instance, do you need to host unlimited domain names? Do you need to be able to create unlimited sub-domains? Do you want access to Fantastico? Do you need a certain number of email addresses included? Do you need access to set up a MySQL database, or even unlimited databases? Do you need a hosting provider that includes a stats package? Do you need to have FrontPage extensions or e-commerce support? Do you want a hosting company that provides free web site templates? These are all different features that you should consider when evaluating a lower-cost plan that may not have them, versus a higher cost plan that does.
Their History
Find out how long the hosting company has been in business. A larger number of new hosting companies don’t survive past their first year, so signing up for an account with one that’s been in business for several years is usually the best idea. You can find out how long a hosting company has been in business by running a WhoIs search on their domain name to see when it was originally registered. You should also do a search on the Web for reviews about the hosting company you’re interested in. Don’t simply believe the testimonials on their own sites. Specifically look for negative reviews to see what past complaints have been.
Your Freedom
Before you sign up with any web hosting company, find out what kind of freedom you will, or won’t, have when managing your site(s) through them. Something as simple as blacklisted email can be overlooked. For example, let’s say you run a small business, and you want to run a company-wide newsletter. You can sign up for email marketing services through companies such as Constant Contact. If your employees each have an email address associated with your hosting account, you may find out the hard way that your employees won’t be allowed to receive your newsletters.
For instance, if you were hosted through GoDaddy.com, you’d find out that they blacklist certain email providers from sending mail to their customers. So, with Constant Contact blacklisted (which it was at last check), you would be forced to sign up for a new email management service or a new hosting provider. Some hosts, such as HostGator.com, allow you to decide who you want to blacklist and whitelist, so you’re completely free to use whatever external services you choose. If you’re running a very small personal site, you might be willing to give up on some freedom for the savings you’ll find. But if you’re a business owner, be sure to find out all of the details about what kinds of freedoms you will and won’t have when running your business’ site through any potential hosting provider.
Copyright 2006 Stephen Ashton
Find a web hosting plan to suit your sites needs at http://www.abetterwebhost.com or get programming tips and tutorials at http://www.programmertutorials.com
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05.30.08
Posted in Web Resources at 10:13 pm by admin
Website traffic and log files
Every time someone visits your website information like their IP
address, time and date of access and error messages are recorded
into log files that are saved on your server’s (i.e. your web
host’s) computer. These files can be used to analyze your
website traffic. If your web host doesn’t offer these log files,
it is well worth it to switch to one that does.
The statistics generated by these log files are important tools
for monitoring what your visitors do when they enter your
website. Using the information gleaned from them you can track
your website traffic and tailor your pages for maximum effect.
Below is a checklist of what to look for when analyzing your
website traffic.
Website Statistics and what they mean
Page views
A good measure of website activity, it is the number of HTML
pages served. If your visitor goes to ten pages on your site, 10
page views will be generated. This gives a measure for your
content. Generally, the more page views you receive the better
the content. Visits (unique visitors)
A trip to your site by one person, no matter how long they stay
there or how many pages they view. If they leave and come back,
another visit will be generated. Here is a measure of your web
presence. It shows the amount of exposure your website is
receiving from the web.
Most popular pages (i.e. top pages)
Tells you which pages your visitors request most. Helps you
learn what works or what subject matter is generating the most
interest! Be sure to note the content that is generating this
interest and build upon it.
Average number of pages per visit
If this is low, you know your site sucks! A visitor should want
to stay on your site for awhile and this equates to page views.
You need to do some revisions if your page views are low (i.e.
below 4-5 pages). But don’t give up! Just keep working at it
until that number goes up!
Referring pages
This is an important one because it tells you where your
visitors link FROM, who has links to your site, and what search
engines you’re listed with properly. Here is where you can gain
a great amount of insite into your audience. The who, what and
where of your source of visitors.
Browsers used
Tells you what browsers people are using and helps you know how
to design your web pages so that people can use them!
Implementing your website statistics
Once you understand what your visitors are doing you can make
your changes, wait one week, and then analyze your website
traffic again! Look for improved stats and make your plans
accordingly. Understanding your visitors is the first step in
becoming a good webmaster.
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05.23.08
Posted in Web Resources at 9:08 am by admin
Let’s look at what your user wants to see at your website.
1. No Flash
For many who visit your website time is money for you and for them. The last thing people need to see is a slow loading flash front page. Unless your flash page is very unique and interesting enough that it will hold their attention I suggest you loose it. For people on dialup, and yes there are many around the world, a flash page is a download nightmare for them.
2. Page Load Time
There is nothing worse than going to a website and waiting more than 15 seconds for that page to load. Many of your visitors don’t have the time to wait for a web page to load and nor should they. Timewise, many people will go on to something else if your page is slow to load. Ten years ago 15 seconds and more might have been acceptable but in this day and age of high speed internet this is highly unacceptable. Check this free site for help with load time for your website. Dcotor HTML http://www.doctor-html.com
3. Graphics
Do you hate it when your gonto a site for information and finding missing graphics. Worse than missing graphics are graphics that do not at least have an ALT tag which would at least give your visitor some idea of what the graphic was about. When you have ALT tags it also allows search engines to recognize all the content on your site. Make sure to use good keywords and use them often on your page, as it will help you rank higher in the search engines. Use the free link verification program at XENU http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html to ensure that all your graphics are loading.
4. Links Not Working
One of my major pet peeves is visiting a site and clicking on a link and finding it does not work. This is one of the fastest ways to loose a potential customer. Broken links are something you should be checking on a daily basis. This is your bread and butter and you can not afford to loose even one potential customer. Again, XENU at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html is an excellent free program to help you keep your website in tip top shape. Also note, search engines do not like missing links and you risk your ranking with them if your site is not up to snuff. Xenu will give you a comprehensive report that shows all broken links and their corresponding pages.
5. Making Your Index Page As Small As Possible
The old saying that time is money is never more true than when someone visits your first page. Getting it to load quickly is one of your main objectives. This mean you need to run your page through an HTML optimizer. Doctor HTML http://www.doctor-html.com, a free website, can be invaluable to you when it comes to shrinking your page. Your site will still look the same but will take less time to load.
6. HTML Validation
Validating your HTML will help your visitors to have no problems while visiting your website. With valid HTML, browsers will function correctly at your site and with future browser updates people will have a smooth transition. Tidy GUI is a great free program for fixing errors and reducing the size of you page. It can be downloaded at http://www.emailpromotions.net/download/TidyGUI.exe
7. Reduce The Size Of Your Graphics
The size of the graphics on your site, and these graphics not loading quickly, can be one of the major reasons for your page to load slowly and for your visitors to leave. Always shrink the size of your images and watch how much faster your website will load. Spinwave http://www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html is a free online cruncher that can offer a maximum compression of approximately 30%.
8. Your Visitors Browser
Not everyone uses Internet Explorer and that leaves you with the problem of making sure that visitors to your site, using Netscape, Mozilla and others, all see the same thing. Unless you ensure compatibility then different browsers are going to display things differently than what you designed or what you see. With some browsers some people may not be able to see anything on your site. To check your website on different browsers visit Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer at http://www.delorie.com/web/wpbcv.html
9. Contacting You
No website owner can afford to take its customers for granted. When they need to get in touch with you in order to ask questions, it is imperative that you have easy to find contact information. Nothing is more frustrating than having to search a site to find how to reach you. Your visitors are your livelyhood…keep it simple for your customers. It makes for a great relationship with your visitors.
10. Spell Check
Last but not least, check your spelling. No one likes to read a page filled with spelling errors. Most HTML software offers this simple service and it should always be the last thing your check before you upload your page.
Jean Sutherland has successfully run her own ezine for over 5 years and has a subscriber base of 35,000. Her ezine revolves around people doing business online and beside offering free software, it also provides traffic & marketing tips, informative business articles, free ebooks and computer tips for those trying to work online. http://www.emailpromotions.net
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05.04.08
Posted in Web Resources at 5:09 pm by admin
When you consider the billions of individuals and companies on the net who are attempting to influence visitors with their wares, it is vitally important that your site offers something out of the ordinary. An important fact to remember is that what the site says is far more important than how it looks. Why? Because good copy sells!
Pretty is as Pretty Does!
I don’t mean to imply that a beautiful site isn’t going to attract visitors, but pretty is as pretty does! What happens once visitors get to your site? Your potential prospects will surely appreciate an entertaining and good-looking web site but they didn’t necessarily come by to be dazzled by the design. They came because they were looking for your product or service. So be sure your site is conveying an enthusiastic message about your business.
Content must be Exciting and Persuasive!
How often have you searched the Internet for information or a service only to discover that much of what was presented was disappointing? Of course that wasn’t the intention of the business owner but all too often written communication on the Internet falls short. The truth is your content has to be enticing and persuasive or you will fail to secure leads and new business.
What is your Site Saying about your Business?
Many folks are eager to draw visitors to their sites yet they don’t realize that the words are not grabbing the attention of the reader. Copy must reflect the enthusiasm you feel for your own business. After all, if you’re not excited about it, how can someone else get excited?
The Secrets of Exceptional Web Site Copy!
#1 Create Headlines or Slogans!
The number one rule when it comes to selling yourself on the web is opening with an enticing headline, one that describes what you do or how you can help a potential client immediately. You’ve heard it said many times before that words have power, and that never changes. Take advantage of your communication by showing potential prospects that you know what they need.
#2 How to Attracts Visitors!
When determining what verbiage to incorporate on your site, be mindful as to what attracts you when visiting other sites. Have you noticed that there are words that grab your immediate attention? Notice what inspires you to request information from a site. Those are the clues that reveal the secrets of good web site content. Basically the message you convey should be sincere as a reader connects more easily if they feel comfortable.
#3 Use Descriptive Words!
The way you sell speaks volumes about you, therefore send a message that says: “My product or service will enhance your life, fill a need and make things better for you and I can prove it.” How is that achieved? By making sure that you not only write descriptive words but demonstrate benefits. Think about why the visitor is at your site. What does he or she really want? To gain access into someone’s head, heart or wallet, your words must not only evoke curiosity but they must appear authentic.
#4. Simple is Still the Way to Go!
Whatever content you choose for your site, make sure it’s easy to read. Most experts will agree that content should be understood as easily by a young person as it is to an adult. Simplicity is what counts. Too often excessive information can be overwhelming. The trick is to say a lot in as few words as possible. Well-written content makes it easy for visitors to buy your products and services. Therefore, spend lots of time writing and rewriting your copy.
#5 What is Your Intention?
Having a real intention to help others comes through very clearly. Rather than just selling your services or products, show your interest in your clients by including tips, articles or suggestions that are considered useful. Give something away in your copy and it will come back to you tenfold.
#6 Make it Somewhat Interactive!
Since your goal is to make sure the content speaks to your audience in a manner that invites inquiries, instead of conveying only what you can do for your potential clients, include some pertinent questions in your content that evoke responses. Encourage your visitors to think.
Whether you are designing a new web site, or revamping one that is already online, the content of your material must be offered in such a way as to appeal to your target market. Regardless of the service or product, it is wise to put attention on what you are ultimately trying to communicate. Think about what visitors want to see and what they would like to know about your company. When choosing your words make them appealing and professional. Although you may not win over every potential client, you can do a great deal to ensure victory by knowing the secrets to a well-written site.
Copyright 2005
About the Author
Charlene Rashkow brings 15 years of experience as a Writing Stylist to her creative efforts as a freelance business writer/consultant. She has successfully helped companies and individuals reach their objectives by writing outstanding web site content, press releases, bios, articles of interest, business plans, resumes, letters and all other forms of marketing material.
You may visit Charlene at http://www.allyourwritingneeds.com
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04.24.08
Posted in Web Resources at 2:27 pm by admin
First, using a lot of web graphics, flash, banners and pictures on your home page may make it look fancy or cool; but it will slow down the loading time extensively. And lets be real here, most people that look at your web page will leave if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds or less. Because most people are naturally impatient. If they click on a banner or link that leads to your home page, they expect to see it the second they click, all of it. Not too many people will sit there and wait for your web graphics, flash intro, banners or 30 pictures to load. Keep in mind that not all visitors computers will load pages as fast as yours may. Set your screen resolution at 800×600, or at least put a notice on your page what resolution your site is best viewed in, because people hate to have to scroll back and forth to read from side to side.
Second, professionalism in the way a home web page looks doesn’t usually include distracting backgrounds (use solid soft colors or white), loud and annoying background music or three inch tall caps that try to convince your visitor to buy now or feel like an idiot and lose out for the rest of their lives. Fonts should be clear and easy to read and in colors that don’t clash with one another or the background. And be careful with text, too much is a turn off, people don’t need to read a book about your service or product. Don’t use colors such as bright red fonts on a blue page, they tend to bleed, blur and make the visitor feel like there is something wrong with their eyes.
Third, navigation should be as easy as looking at the screen. Navigation bars should be clear, in easy to read fonts and usually in alphabetical order, as well as in colors that don’t clash with the rest of your page, make your visitor feel like their starring at the sun or have to squint to read font colors that blend in too much with the background. All contact and information page links should be easy to find as well. The worst thing you can do is make a visitor search for a link by hiding it in a corner somewhere or make them click link after link just to find out how to contact you. Keep you pages clean, clutter free and from appearing as if it is all over the screen.
Last, Ad banners and outside links should be kept to a minimum on the home page of your site, nobody wants to visit a link farm. If you belong to a link exchange or trade links (which is a good idea for the search engines and link popularity), make pages that are just for links or ad banners. One or two banners on your home page is plenty, and are usually placed at the bottom or in a skyscraper on the right hand side of the page. However, if you belong to google adsense, it’s okay, and a good idea, to place those links at the top of the page just under your header, because they produce revenue.
If your home page and other pages are easy to read, clutter free, easy to navigate and don’t take long to download or make your eyes blur out, then you’re probably doing okay. To get some ideas, surf the web and look at other business and product web sites to see what they have done.
A good website can eventually produce a very good income. Good Luck!
R.L. Young is the owner of National Wholesalers, a wholesale website to businesses and the public and to help those who would like to have their own home business. Mr. Young began web marketing in the fall of 2002 with many experimentations and much research in web marketing, advertising and sales; including studies with affiliate web sites, and always learning more
Visit his site at http://www.natlwholesalers.com
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04.14.08
Posted in Web Resources at 11:27 pm by admin
Shopping in a brick and mortar store for customers is a whole
lot different from them shopping online. In a normal shop this
customer knows that he or she can pick up anything and pay for
it and walk out of the store. However online the same customer
has to first make the purchase and then wait for the company he
or she has made the purchase from to ship the product to them.
He or she therefore has to be made to feel that the company that
they are purchasing from online is a trustworthy company who
after collecting their money would actually ship the product to
them. The onus to prove that the website is owned by a
trustworthy company lies entirely on the website owner.
The website is the face of your company (and you). Its through
your website that people judge your company and make a decision
to buy a product from your website. People will only make a
purchase on your website if they feel secure that you are
trustworthy company to whom they can give out their credit card
details and would ship the product to them.
As a result of this you have to actually go out of your way to
ensure that every person who visits your website feels safe and
secure as he or she navigates throughout your site. On every
page of your website that this visitor browses you have to
ensure that the page adds to the security that the user wants to
feel before taking the decision to make the purchase on your
site.
We have compiled a list of few things that you could do based on
our experience of working with other websites to help them
increase their online conversion rates.
1. Display a toll free number or at least your telephone number
prominently through out your website so that visitors feel that
they can call you for any questions they might have and know
there is a human person available at the end of the line.
2. Display the complete mailing address and any registration
numbers of your company given to you by the your Government on
your website.
3. If possible display a photo of your office/building so that
customers can know that you actually are present at a physical
location and are not just another online business.
4. Get your site certified by companies like Verisign, Thwate
etc that check your site up and allow you to display a logo
stating that your site is a secure site to shop on.
5. The look and feel of your website also plays an important
role in making your customers feel at ease as they navigate
throughout the site.
6. Provide an easy navigation to your visitors so that they are
not lost as they go through your website.
7. Prominently display all costs including the shipping cost
right at the beginning with the price of the product. Customers
do not like surprises at the end.
8. Test your site thoroughly to ensure that it does not have any
broken links. Customers instantly leave if they come across any
broken link.
9. Make it a point to tell your customers that the data you
collect about them will not be given out or misused in any way.
10. Display testimonials from your existing clients prominently.
Visitors like to know that they are not the first people to
visit your website and that other have visited your website and
made purchases before them.
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03.29.08
Posted in Web Resources at 1:11 am by admin
It’s a fact that one website will pull many times the leads or sales as a competing website. What causes this large variance in results? It’s the copywriting on the website.
Here’s what we’ve learned works best from actual results and testing on dozens of websites we’ve done the copywriting for.
1. Make your website easy to “scan” with headlines, sub headlines, boxes, sections, colors and the like that give the reader the main benefits he will get. Almost all people are “scan first” or “scan only” readers. Your headlines and sub headlines should take advantage of this fact.
2. “Just Sell, Baby”. Websites have one main end purpose and that is to sell your products and/or services, to move people to action, to make money. In today’s high-tech world, most copywriting on websites forgets this vital fact and that is why they don’t perform better.
3. Tell the reader what he/she will LOSE if they do not take the recommended action. Fear of loss is a great motivator.
4. Build up excitement, enthusiasm, passion and urgency to get the reader to take the desired action right now. We analyzed the most successful copywriting we’d ever done back to 1978 and found it all had one thing in common: excitement. Yes, excitement is contagious and it sells!
5. Make a great offer to get their email address. In today’s overcrowded environment and with spam concerns, it’s not enough to just say “enter your email address for our newsletter”. You need to make a great offer including special reports, bonuses and the like in addition to your newsletter to get the maximum number of qualified signups.
6. Focus your copywriting because people want to buy from the expert specialists in a field. If your copy is too broad you will lose a lot of your best prospects, who of course, are the most likely to buy. A great way to do this is to have separated focused web pages for separate types of people or industries on your website.
7. Make your website as easy to use and find things as Amazon.com (for consumers) or Dell.com (for businesses). The copywriting and organization of these sites is a key reason they are ultra-successful.
8. Start thinking like your website reader (your prospect) and stop thinking like yourself (the marketer). Figure out what your prospect wants most from your products or services that they deliver, then come right out and tell him what benefits he’ll get, why, and what he needs to do now. Simple but it brings in Billions.
9. Test everything, measure it, use the winner, and always keep testing. This is the key to “optimizing” your website and all of your marketing. Don’t guess - test and let the only vote that matters (your prospects) tell you what works best.
10. Compare your product or service against your competitors to show and prove your superiority. We’ve used this secret very, very profitably for our clients.
11. Copywriting is king and queen for your website to sell the maximum number of people. The right copywriting can bring you up to double, even triple or more your current results for no additional marketing cost. Hire the best copywriter you can afford, and don’t skimp because this one-time investment can be the best investment you make.
Mike Pavlish of Profit Boosters Copywriting has done the copywriting for dozens of successful websites. Fees start at $3,000.00 and up. He can be reached at www.ProfitBoostersCopy.com
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03.19.08
Posted in Web Resources at 6:53 pm by admin
The internet is a sea of knowledge. Getting your information to ‘float’ by the right audience can be like finding that one special grain of sand on the seashore. Paying big bucks for marketing can strain your already limited budget. What is a webmaster to do? Let’s discuss four valuable and proven ways to market your site without breaking the bank.
1. Join forums. Yes, even if running a forum is something you already do, join forums similar to what you have and become a moderator. No, I do not mean for you to siphon traffic from that site to your site. Rather, show yourself useful to that community and you will naturally draw people to your site. Bonus: Very helpful if you can offer a link to your site in your signature too!
2. Business cards. A good idea and not that pricey. Search the internet and you can design your own cards right online. I’m not talking about cheap cards, but professionally done cards. Check out how many cards you can get for less than $100! Give them away like crazy and watch your traffic soar.
3. Create content. There are some decent sites online where you can get other people’s content and put it on your site. It can be especially helpful when you don’t have the time or knowledge to get the job done. However, you will have to link back to their site and you may lose traffic. Why not consider writing an article yourself? You may not be the best writer but your ideas may be valuable. You’ll value the link back to your site!
4. Business associations. Whatever field that you are in, join that field’s association. Do not rely strictly on internet contacts, you need to push away from the keyboard, get in your car and go out and meet people. Attend special meetings and conferences…sell yourself in person instead of online. People still like to meet people in person; you will benefit tremendously by the face to face contact.
You are continuously marketing yourself whether you utilize paid schemes or one of the points mentioned above. Never rest on your laurels and take nothing for granted. Life is not constant while change is. Learn what works for you and build a proven marketing strategy. Who knows, but once you have reached the pinnacle of success you just may be able to afford much more comprehensive - and expensive - marketing strategies.
Matt Keegan is the webmaster for the Aviation Employment Board at http://www.aviationemploymentboard.net and the Corporate Flight Attendant Community at http://www.corporateflyer.net and http://www.cabinmanagers.com Both sites are top performers in their respective categories.
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