Getting Ready to Build a Website

Building your own website is not difficult, there are many great programs to use, people do it every day. But, it is like moving. Chances are you know you want to move, you know you have to move, but you are not packed, don't have a map, don't know where you are going, have wrong information about where you are going and don't know how to get there.

One of the most common issues I run into with new clients is a lack of content. After we get past how much the website is going to cost and start planning it, I ask about content. I usually get a blank stare, or they offer me a token 3 pages of information. Then I have to go into my long, boring, "all about content" speech...which you are getting right now.

If this is your first website, you are probably not thinking in terms of performance or the website making you money, you are thinking about how it looks. Focusing on looks primarily can lead you into a ditch. At the end of the day, after your website is built and you are used to it and have had it for a year or so, the newness wears off and you start to focus on the real elements of the website: functionality and traffic.

Without going into great detail about SEO, it is fair to say that if there was one singular item that will enable the success of your website it is content. New, fresh, original content, and you probably don't have much of it.

You are better off if you start to develop your content before you start building your website. If you have your content ready to go, that means you are ready to start building your site, you are ready to move. It makes it much easier on the person or company building the website also. Developing your content and building a website are two different things and it is easier to do one at a time.

At the core of good content is keywords. When I say successful, I mean you get as much free traffic as you can, from the people who have a good chance of buying from you or using your services, not lookie loos or tire kickers, real prospective customers.

One of the easiest ways to get an idea of good keywords is to use the free Google keyword tool. Type in just one of your main words and see what pops up, make a list, remove ones that are not relevant or you don't think will bring the right traffic and you should have a good list to work from.

The main words should be the main navigation items of your new site. The main nav items should have pages that have the main keyword in the file name, page title and at least one H1 tag. Use the other related words on that main page. You can find related words when you type in the main word. If you can prepare at least 15 to 25 pages of content, organized by keyword, then you are ready to build your new website.

Bear in mind that the more original, relevant copy you have on your site, the greater chance you have of people linking to it. It must be updated and added to often, but that is a subject for another article.

An easy way to develop good content is to make a list of the top ten questions your customers ask you, the most common. Write them down and then answer them, in detail. Then think of all the questions your customers should be asking you but are not. Write those down, with detailed answers. If this technique doesn't give you a good amount of content, pretend you are at a mixer or social gathering and people are asking you about your business, what would they ask? How would you answer? This can be another good technique for coming up with good copy.

For most of us, writing is difficult. If you are blessed with the ability to write, know that you are a special person in terms of the Internet. One of the most valuable things on the Web is original content. Original content is like honey to the bee in terms of traffic, so if you can write you have one up on everyone else.

If writing is hard work, like it is for me, you may want to hire a copywriter. Copywriters are not as expensive as you think, most are easy to work with and many are SEO and Web savvy. Many of my clients will have a brief phone conversation with a copywriter and we will receive well written, SEO'd content within a day or so...ready to go on the website, it is well worth the money.

After you have your content, then it is time to look at layout. Look at your competitors and compare your website to theirs. Make sure to position yourself against your competitors. Make sure you site can be navigated easily and people can find what they are looking for quickly.

Martin Walker is the President and CEO of Walker SEO, an SEO firm based in Southern California.

Marketing For Yoga Businesses - Planning Your Website

A great yoga website isn't a chance occurrence but planned, pondered-over, researched, tested and refreshed. Listen to professionals' advice, research and share your favourite sites with your web designer, and plan your site navigation, layout and contents early to avoid misunderstandings, rework, and escalating costs.

What makes a great website is the same regardless of the specifics - it talks to its audience, is easy to navigate, and is useful enough to warrant repeat visits. Web design has rapidly evolved and many websites have aged disgracefully. You don't need amazing Flash animation, streaming videos and thousands of links. You do need succinct, relevant information which is easy to find, no bugs, and a beautiful design. Start with your audience - what do they want? Do they need your address, latest timetable and contact number quickly? Are you hoping to pick people up from Google? Is your local online competition fierce? Will people be making purchases online?

If you only want to provide some basic details and you've already invested in some beautiful graphic design, then your site is straightforward. You need a static HTML site, preferably on a content management system (CMS), so that you can make changes yourself, even with minimal computer skills. Website CMS are software programs accessible online through a web browser (such as Internet Explorer) that allows for the easy creation, management and control of web materials of a website. Many web companies design their own CMS but there are many available for free, known as open source CMS. Some of the more popular and usable include WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal and CMS Made Simple. If you want a CMS, look for a web designer who specialises or is familiar with one of these.

If you'd like people to be purchasing class passes or yoga products through your website, then it's easier to design an E-shop website than a static website with an E-shop tacked on. Think about the hierarchy of information that you want web visitors to view and the journey you'd like them to take through your website - ideally landing up on your shop (or check-out) page or on your 'contact us' page if the goal is to have students contact you. Planning a hierarchy of information will make it easier for your web designer to know the purpose of your website will be and ultimately make for a more successful website.

Brook McCarthy is a part-time yoga teacher with a full-time business, Yoga Reach http://www.yogareach.com.au, an online marketing consultancy specialising in the health and wellbeing sector. Yoga Reach helps yoga teachers and wellbeing practitioners to clarify their business offering and goals, and then work together to creatively plan, produce and implement the best possible communications outcomes. Our broad range of services includes strategic online marketing, web news articles, email newsletters, and multimedia online content.

Website Planning - How Much Time is This Going to Take?

So you've decided to start blogging. Or you've been told that Google likes regularly updated content on your website. Tis true, and what's more, users like it too.

But before you launch into the blogosphere, do me a favour and stop to think awhile. For this reason - it looks a bit half-hearted if users arrive at your website only to see five or six posts that were written in a burst of energy a year and a half ago, and then... nothing.

Establishing and maintaining a blog requires effort. I actually find writing posts, articles, newsletters pretty enjoyable. But it does require some dedication. Here are a few tips I've picked up along the way:

• Start as you mean to go on. Don't start with a bang and then fizzle out. Think about how much time you can realistically commit on a regular basis to your blog or website. If that's just an hour once a month, then fine - but keep it consistent. That way, users know what to expect.
• Have a set time in your diary once a day/week/month when you'll update your website/blog. Set a reminder in your calendar so you can't avoid it! Ok, so this is real life, so things will crop up that mean you can't always do what you'd planned. But you can make sure you fill in the gaps as soon as you have a spare moment.
• Think about where you'll be getting your ideas from. Here are just a few suggestions, I'm sure you'll come up with more:
  • Keep an eye at what's going on in your industry/sector and share your opinions
  • Share some of the knowledge you use when working with your clients
  • Answer the questions that you had when first starting out in the industry
  • Share a solution you've arrived as a result of a problem in your day-to-day work


• Create a schedule with dates, future post titles and ideas - sit down every two or three months & plan out future posts. Print it out & pin it on your notice board - no getting away from it then! I started out with this strategy this year, and it's incredible the difference it's made to the regularity of posts on my blog!


• If you're limited on time, consider one of these options:
  • Rather than long, in-depth posts, just keep an eye out for useful, informative or engaging posts by other writers - and then link to them, with your own thoughts & comments on the subject
  • Re-use content you may already have accumulated - articles, user guides, press releases, etc. But make sure they're interesting, up-to-date and relevant!
  • Find someone else to blog for you - there are companies that will offer this as a regular service to clients. Ideally, you'll sit down to discuss & agree topics in advance. Work out who will be doing the research, and what input is required from you.


• Remember to publicise as well as write! Use article publishing sites; put a link to your blog in your email signature; use Social Media to tell people about your new post; link back to posts from your newsletter; and tell everyone you know about your blog & where to find it!

Sarah L Hills is the owner of Hexagon Webworks, an Oxford Web Design Company where we believe websites should be simple, stylish and effective. Getting a website doesn't have to be complicated! Visit http://www.hexagonwebworks.com to find out more, or email sarah@hexagonwebworks.com.

How Design Shapes Branding

Brand identity is an investment tool. With brand money is spent over determining the awareness about the brand with different persons. For example the brand would have an effect on the person's purchase; at times people really do not mind paying more for the trustworthy brand. For a person brand is an insight. For example Oxford University is a brand and people have perceived notions that university is a wonderful educational institute and many others would think that it is expensive. Thus these two opinions make up the oxford's brand.

Brand Design elements, like names, tag lines, custom logo design, packaging and trademarks, are the shortcut to all the opinions. People often use the shortcuts while making the purchase's decisions. At present we are studying what the designers could do to fortify brands and create the shortcut between element and brand and individuals' perceptions.

Recently, the researchers measured the strengths of main brands at the prearranged points with the experience of online user with a site. They have been attempting to watch if they could identify the connection between changes and design elements of the brands.

The preliminary results are much promoted. It has been discovered that when the people are over with the shopping on an accurate sites, their perception for the brand is most of the time intensified, while the other sites appear to constantly deteriorate their brands.

In a recent study it has been found that when people did the shopping on the sites of land's end and gap, their observation of those specific brands were quite much positive after completing their shopping. In the same research it was found that the shoppers on Macys.com constantly stated that their approach toward the Macy's was significantly decreased after the experience. It might be also that they are offering quality products. Some enthralling correlations were found after reviewing the data. The shoppers were interested in the definite products of land end's and gap sites rather than on Macy's site. The shoppers purchased their desired products and have built a more positive approach towards the website. Certain design elements associated well with the people's attitude towards brand. On the other hand the shoppers who utilized search that reduces in the brand strength.

Thus it showed that while we create brand design which focuses on ensuring of users achieving goals. Then we are more likely to have a long lasting effect over the strength of a brand.

Author has vast experience in the custom logo design. He is currently associated with the Ideaz Inc - A full service brand design agency in India

Importance of Good Website For Small Businesses

Many business operators are faced with this dilemma, especially when they see everyone carrying an official URL on visiting cards and letterheads. The doubt is greater when most of your customers and clients are situated locally. You may ask yourself why your customers and clients would go to your business website when they can easily drop by at your office or outlet!!

A Website is not just a fad - it used to be a fad maybe 10 years ago but not anymore. Your Website can be as important as your telephone connection, or even your actual business location. These days whenever people have to make a purchase or hire a Service Provider they instinctively log onto the Internet and try to visit the Website of the business. They simply assume that every business these days has a Website - and businesses that don't, don't mean business. Irrespective of the fact whether you can directly sell from your web site or not, a Website can be an integral part of your Shop or Office.

It is important that any website design gives prospective clients the right impression of your company and presents your company as a professional, competent business. To do this your website must convey such an image and will only do so if it is professionally designed itself.

Professional web design company for small businesses are specializes in small business web design and development. Small business web design company will focus on web design solutions that effectively meet your needs at a price you can afford. The investment you make in a web site for your small business may very well be offset by the time and money it saves you. A web site may also be used to pre qualify leads and increase sales whether or not your take orders online.

Small Business Website | Webdesign Company Delhi

How to Make a Website Without the Headache

Before you bang your head on the keyboard, let's run through a couple of quick tips on how to make a website. Making a website doesn't have to be hard, but when you're just learning how to make a website it can be frustrating.

The first step is very important: Planning. You should never skip this stage. The reason is simple, the web is full of competition. If you don't look at how many other other websites are in your planned niche, you won't know what to expect. For example, if you find out that there are 300 million other websites in the "bowling" niche and only 1 million in "fishing", which one has the most competition?

Okay, that was a trick question. You need one other piece of information. Search volume. This is how many searches are preformed for your given niche. Let's expand the example above as we continue down the road of how to make a website. If there are 100 million searches each month for "bowling" and only 10,000 for fishing (note: these are only example figures) we can calculate which one has a better ratio.

Divide the number of websites by the number of searches and you'll have your ratio. For "bowling" there are 3 sites for ever searcher. And for the "fishing" niche there are 100 sites for every searcher. Which one has more competition? The answer is "fishing". Even though there are fewer sites out there there is also less search volume.

This is the fundamental step in learning how to make a website. And one you should put it into practice no matter if you're building your first website or your 30th. Investing a little time in the beginning can literally make or break your efforts making a website.

The next step also directly follows your initial research. Registering a domain name. Why? Because you will be using the information you collected when you pick your domain name. While you may think that this is only logical, 99% of the people making websites don't realize how important this is. By ensuring that you get a domain with your desired keyword in it, your site becomes more targeted. Thus you immediately raise your chances to rank for that keyword.

You see, one of the things that search engines base their results on is the relevance between the website URL and content on the page. The more relevance you have, the better chance you have to rank.

Learning how to make a website is more about learning how to avoid the little mistakes that can have a major impact on your website. Ready to take your knowledge even further? Click here to read more of my articles on how to make a website.

Optimizing Your Web Site to Make Money Online

In order to make money online you want to optimize your web site. What does this mean and how do you accomplish that?

First of all you need to appreciate that there is no one optimum web site. What makes an optimum web site depends on your point of view. A web site a designer may feel is optimum a user may feel is awkward and difficult to navigate. Even two designers may not agree because of personal likes and dislikes of designs and functionality.

So let's accept the fact that there is no one optimum web site to make money online, and look at the approach you need to take and the elements you need to include or not include when designing or having your web site designed in order for it to approach optimum.

1. Don't be afraid of white backgrounds. The most effective web designs use white backgrounds and very clean lines so as not to distract the reader from the sales message of your site.

2. Do not overdo pictures and images. Use them sparingly. Pictures and images can spice up a site, but when overdone they slow down the load of your site to the reader's computer and are annoying. After you have your site designed, check out the loading time, to make sure it loads reasonably rapidly. If not, cut out a picture or two and recheck it, until you are satisfied that it is not too slow. By the way, if possible do this check on a small less powerful computer. Not everyone has a computer like yours.

3. Make navigation of your site simple and straight forward so your reader will find the content he is looking for easily. You must remember that all users are not computer savvy, so the easier your site is to navigate the better.

4. This really relates to navigation, but make sure your site is built on rudimentary rules of web design like having clear buttons, describing links accurately and displaying links in the conventional blue. This will make sure that users have the least amount of trouble accessing different pages of your site.

An optimum web site brings together a classy look with easy navigation. When a user open up your site, their first impression should be "Wow! What a great site. And then when they start to work their way around your site, they should find it easy to navigate to find what they are looking for.

These elements are the technical aspects of your web site. When you have these covered, you must make sure that your content of your site is of top notch quality. It has to be well written and without grammatical or spelling errors. It is a question of balance. You want to spell out your complete sales pitch, but you want to be concise and not overdo it. So keep in mind that for you to be successful and make money online you need balance. It's the secret of life.

Follow these simple ideas and your web site will come as close to optimum as possible and help you achieve your goals in your goals to make money online.

Don McCobb is a retired international oil executive and CPA currently promoting Money Making Online Ideas. His blog, http://marketingourvisions.com, is full of interesting ideas on internet marketing and other stuff. His website is http://www.workingforourfuture.com.

Should an External Link Open in the Same Window Or in a New Window?

There has long been a controversy between those who think that all links leading offsite should open in a new window, and those who think they should open in the same window. I maintain that this is not a real controversy.

The "controversy":

Usually, but by no means always, those wanting to open a link in a new window are the owners of the website, and those in favor of using the same window are standards-supporting web designers.

The usual reason for favoring a new window opening is that the owner of the website is afraid of losing viewers. If the link opens in the same window, then the viewer has left his website. Of course, this does not mean that the viewer is gone forever. To my knowledge, there is no evidence for or against this.

The reason for favoring the same window is that strict adherence to web standards requires not using the target attribute of the link to open a new window, as this attribute has been deprecated.

In addition to this argument, the web designer usually points out that the viewer has two ways of dealing with an off-site link. He can choose to just click it, with the idea of using his BACK button to return to the original website. Or he can right-click the link and choose "Open in a New Window".

Why there should NOT be a "controversy":

To the best of my understanding, the reason for the W3C ban on the target attribute is that HTML - the language they are being "strict" about - is supposed to contain only information about WHAT is to be shown in the window of the browser. It is not supposed to concern itself with HOW or WHERE it is shown.

HOW the information is shown is dictated by CSS. Interactions between the viewer and the browser are governed by the DOM. So consequently, opening a new window should be done by scripting.

This is why there should be no controversy. If the site owner wants offsite links to open in a new window, then the web designer can do so by using scripting. This will not violate the "strictness" of the W3C, and the webpage will validate. See the paragraph below for an easy way of accomplishing this.

Visit the author's website, Professor's Coding Corner for useful code snippets and tutorials on various aspects of web programming. In particular, there is some easy-to-use open new window code that will satisfy strict web standards.

Designing a Website

If you are ready to start an online business and you've determined that you need a website, and you've properly planned the site, you're ready to get it built.

Just as a reminder, these are the types of things you should consider (in no particular order) when you are planning for the design of your work at home business website:

* Select a color scheme for throughout the site.

* Prepare Logo or other ID for your business.

* Plan Navigation throughout the site.

* Select a home page look; your home page must put the user at ease.

* Determine your inner page look.

* Will you store a database of visitors?

* Do you need an Affiliation with an Autoresponder?

* Do you need a Newsletter?

* Do you need a Blog?

* Do you need a Shopping cart? Do you need a Merchant Account or PayPal affiliation?

* Do you need a Business affiliation links? Select site advertising.

* Do you need a site information search?

* Do you need keywords and meta tags?

Do you build the site yourself, or should you have someone else build it? Or will the business you're going into build the site for you? Having the option that the business you're working with will build your site for you is a huge benefit. This can get you into business very quickly, in some instances overnight.

If you are going to build your own website and you have properly planned it, you are probably ready to get started at this point. Building your own website will save you a lot of money. But it requires that you can program in the various languages that websites must be programmed in, or that you have access to, and know how to use, website creation software. But not everyone can build their own website, and not everyone wants to. If you can't build your own website, or you don't want to build your website, and you aren't associating your business with one that will build your site for you, then you are facing having someone else build your site.

Since you have already carefully planned your website, it's important that you convey your ideas about your site design to those who will be building your site. They won't know what you expect your site to look like, and the functionality you envision for your site, unless you describe it to them in detail. So in working with your website designer, be thorough in detailing to them about what you expect in your site.

Two additional items that you must resolve before your site is built are

* the URL that visitors will use to browse your site, and

* the host where your site will be stored.

The URL should make it easy for a browser to find your site, so select it carefully. You may not be able to get your first choice in URLs; if not, try variations of the word(s) you want to use.

The host for your site is important because you are relying on this host to be up and running around the clock, 24/7. If the host is down, your site is off the air. Reliability is a must. It's also helpful if your host can provide you with statistics about your site: who is visiting? how long do they hang around? what pages are they viewing? what page is the last page that they view (i.e., what page is causing them to leave your site)?

Once the site is built, test . . . test . . . test! Testing is important because you don't want your site visitors to be the ones to find your errors. That's a quick way to lose customers. Once the site is thoroughly tested, you're ready to go online.

Mary Stansifer and http://www.WorkAtHome-Online1.com review popular home business ideas and opportunities. Click on the link to find out about where you can get your own money-making website set up in 24 hours, complete with 30 days of detailed instructions, prepared by those who have already become successful using this program, for making the site a successful business. Believe it! Your own site, your own business, up and running tomorrow.

What You Have to Do Before Choosing Right Web Designing Firm?

Manchester is one of the most famous cities in England. It is the capital of Lancashire County. Manchester houses many famous companies, industries and is home to some of the famous football clubs in the world. If someone lives in this city or aspires to do web designing about the city of Manchester or for any business firms in and around Manchester then city of Manchester has lots of provisions and opportunities for web designing.

Before going in depth one has to first think about the budget they have. They must be sure about their economic status, because Manchester website design depends on the budget. Then she/he must make sure whether they are in need of a domain name or just web hosting etc. Then they must decide whether the website is just a pool of advertisements of shops or business centers in and around Manchester.

After analyzing all the above quoted things the next step in a Manchester web design is to contact any web designing Manchester Company. Before contacting the company, go through the portfolio of the company. Make sure that the company is not a bogus one. Analyze the website design Manchester Company's competency by analyzing the websites of its precious customers.

For a website to be more successful the ecommerce parameter is necessary. Look after for this parameter in the websites created by the company. Make sure that those websites are very attractive for the viewers. Then next important thing is its loading speeds. Any website which takes more than 5 seconds is annoying.

There are web designing companies in Manchester which provides provisions for all the web design related activities like hosting, domain name, email etc. So it is better to approach these types of companies because the whole process will be much easier.

For more information please visit our Manchester website design studio.