Optimizing your Web site, the new priority

In the Internet world in constant evolution, it is no longer enough to make a site that has a beautiful appearance and a series of random links to be successful. A series of new strategic sites are now essential to make your investment worthwhile.

These techniques go through what is called optimizing sites for search engines (SEO - Search Engine Optimization).

OEP in three main areas of work are essential:

Optimization of the page

Optimization of the page requires a knowledge of programming languages and HTML. A site of impeccable design becomes more attractive to search engines and is part of the equation of a successful indexing.

Effect of keywords

For a site to be found among the millions of Internet users, it must provide what they want, how he tries. A keyword analysis and revision of texts are an essential key to good optimization of a page.

Promotion strategies

We must avoid at all costs the construction of a large number of links to your site without a real strategy for promotion. A number of companies offer paid or unpaid, which gives a large number of links pointing to your site that are ignored by the search engines that constantly reinventing their own indexing after-use of the miracles of Referrals . A real strategy is now necessary and knowledge through the Web as it evolves.

Do not leave your site at random and do not spend money unnecessarily in the design of a beautiful site but invisible in the eyes of search engines. Hiring professionals is essential!

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How To Boost Your Marketing Campaign With Visitor Tracking

Who cares, as long as they visit your site, right?

Wrong!

It is a fact that traffic, or the number of people who visit your site, could make or break an online business. After all, we cannot sell our products if no one would get to know about them. The problem is, most webmasters would rather concentrate on generating more traffic by dabbling in countless marketing strategies instead of honing a particular one to perfection. The former is susceptible to new risks, while the latter eliminates old problems for improved performance. Clearly, tweaking your site is the way to go. And you could do this efficiently with the aid of visitor tracking.

Visitor tracking has long been hailed as a science, and for good reasons! The accurate findings that visitor tracking can provide is the key to creating a site that is both friendly to everyone who would grace its pages, and enticing to everyone so that they may try its features.

How is visitor tracking capable of all these, you might ask. Consider the powerful deeds that visitor tracking is capable of:

* With visitor tracking, you would be able to know where your visitors are coming from. With this knowledge, you could make corresponding adjustments to your marketing campaign. Know what area to target, what kind of people to focus your attention on, and how to win their interest so that they would come to your site.

* With visitor tracking, you would also be able to know the sites your visitors would go to after lingering in yours. You would be able to ascertain an aspect that has eluded even the best socio-oriented marketers in the world: consumer behavior. Visitor tracking would allow you to determine a pattern based on the conduct of online users, and you could make this work to your advantage.

* With visitor tracking, you would know how much time your visitors spend in your site. If their visits last for mere seconds, then such is a telltale sign that something is wrong with your pages, and adjustments need to be made to sustain their interest and make them stay longer.

* With visitor tracking, you’d know which links work best. This is awesome for two reasons:

A. You’ll be able to find out which of your links are producing the best results, and you could pattern subsequent campaigns based on that method; and

B. You’ll be able to increase your Google AdSense revenue by knowing which ad links are actually being clicked and which ones are just collecting dust.

* With visitor tracking, you would be able to know how your visitors go about in every visit to your site. Which pages do they open first? Where do they go next? Where do they stay longer? This is an invaluable knowledge as it would help you tweak your site to lead your visitors where you want them to go, instead of relying on where they would rather proceed.

It has been said that success can only be attained and sustained by constantly improving ourselves to meet every challenge thrown our way. With all the benefits that visitor tracking provides, success won’t be that far away.

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How Not To Get Web Design Work

Get the occasional web design lead from my website. I wanted to find a company I could pass these onto. So I put an ad on a freelance site. It specified the programming qualifications needed, stated that the successful candidate should have good English, and was for companies only. The replies I got were enlightening. So much so, I made a list of things applicants did wrong. Here it is. I should point out I was initially prepared to give everyone a fair go. After the first twenty-odd emails, my attitude changed. I was looking for reasons to delete applicants. I only needed one successful one; with 100 replies it was getting to be a headache, so I decided a brutal approach was needed.

1. Failed to read the spec. Many applicants couldn’t write properly in the English language. Many were individuals only. Result: instant deletion.

2. Failed to address the spec’s criteria. Applicants bragged about how great they were. Many copy-and-pasted standard marketing guff about ’solutions’ and ‘partnerships’ into their emails. To engage anyone’s interest about a proposal you need to talk less about yourself and more about the benefits to *them* of using you. One of the first things I learnt about applying for jobs is you need to show how you meet the criteria in the job description; see if you can find the employer’s wavelength.

3. Lots of jargon. You quickly tune this out. Anyone dealing with web companies probably gets a lot of this. Applicants should talk to the client about *the client’s* site and *their* needs, and avoid techno-babble. Write an application letter. Leave it for a while, then edit it. Brutally. Short punchy sentences, no guff. Talking convincingly about how you can make the client money would be an attention-getter.

4a. ‘Coming soon’ client-listing pages. You say you’ve done work for lots of clients, then put up a ‘coming soon’ sign on the web page where your client list is supposed to be. Hmmmm.

4b. ‘Under construction’ pages on your company web site. This looks bad; something you’d see on an amateur’s site. Another reason to bin your application.

4c. Only put up pictures of sites you’ve done, rather than links to the actual sites. I’d have liked to see some working example sites. Pictures can be faked, and they don’t show background programming.

4e. No mention of your main web site URL. Let us guess where your own site is (if you have one). It’s more fun! I tried guessing from the email address. After a while I didn’t bother.

4d. No hyperlinks at all. Just a short email spiel saying “I am great designer, hire me”. Next!

5. Using Yahoo.com or Hotmail.com for your email address. A pro designer shouldn’t use a freebie email address service. Basic web hosting costs $5 a month these days. I can conceive that a web designer might use a freebie account for some special purpose, but your own domain name is a basic advert that goes out in each email you send.

6. Bad spelling and grammar. Western civilisation is doomed, if using SMS jargon becomes the standard way to write to people. It doesn’t impress old frts lik me, fr strtrs :( Especially if you’re looking for work where good spelling and grammar are important.

7. Front-loading Flash designs. I admit it, I don’t like Flash. I especially don’t like it when it loads slowly on my broadband connection. I suppose it might impress an ignorant client, who doesn’t know the economic consequences of having a Flash-heavy site.

8. Don’t phone the employer up. Unless they say ‘canvassing will disqualify’, ‘phoning the employer is a good idea. Why? Because geeks are famously introverted and tongue-tied, supposedly. So if a web site designer can communicate clearly over the telephone, that, coupled with a good application, puts you streets ahead of the email-only applicant. No need to jabber. A polite enquiry to establish contact will do. “Just checking you’ve got my CV”, that sort of thing.

9. Keep yourself mysterious. Emails are impersonal. Anything that can establish you as a human being, a person, a potential ally and friend, is good. It’ll make you more memorable. No need to jump out of a giant cake, ‘though! However, you have to fulfil all the other criteria as well. However great a guy you are, if you’re a Unix man and they want Windows, forget it.

10. Leaving unclear phone messages. One chap left a phone message, in which he mentioned his site, twice, but not his ‘phone number. His pronunciation was bad, so I guess I’ll never know how good he was.

11. Too far away. Most replies were from India, Ukraine, Romania etc. Anyone who was closer to home (the UK) stood out. I mention it simply as a winnowing criterion. Also, I needed someone who could land contracts from UK residents; good English, written and oral, was important.

12. Give your rates per hour. Forget that. You’re not a lawyer. Web design jobs can be clearly defined, in terms of time, work and software required. A definite price can be agreed on in advance. It’s called a contract. Otherwise, you leave the client open to escalating bills, and yourself to mission-creep.

13. Delay applying. The first few applications were more scrutinised. After that, fatigue set in. After one hundred, only an applicant who seems a real prospect would be given more than five seconds’ scrutiny.

About the author:
Dave Robitaille template store http://www.superbow1.com

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10 Tips For Web Success

The webmaster’s biggest job is to get their traffic up and keep customers/visitors coming back. Building the site is one thing, but simply building and posting a website does not guarantee traffic. In fact, a website could be beautiful and an example of all the latest technology and still not attract a single visitor if not promoted correctly. Here are 10 tips to guide you to success with your website.

(1) The internet is a new medium. At least compared to print, it is. A website is a waste if it simply re-hashes something which could easily be put into print. Don’t have the site be just an online brochure. Put up features which take advantage of the internet as a medium of communication. Filter information for them. Provide search capability. Provide interactivity with features like forums, quizzes and tools. Web visitors like to interact.

(2) Treat the Customer’s Time as Valuable. When a person visits your website, you have their attention for that point in time. You either need to use it or you will lose it - fast. Most visitors have short attention spans, what you need to design your site homepage so that it grabs their attention and provides what they are looking for right away. Its like walking into a restaurant. If you walk in and just stand there and nobody comes to greet you, you might wonder what is happening. But, if the hostess comes and greets you right away and walks you to a table, then you will be there for awhile and eat. The same analogy goes for websites. Don’t overcomplicate your website homepage. Best results will be obtained if you make it very clear where to click to find what they need.

(3) Design the site for customers, not the company. Your site needs to satisfy the needs of customers, not the company. So, don’t post content which is not really useful to the site’s customer. And avoid over-flattering marketing hype about the company. It inflates the ego of the company more than it helps your customer.

(4) Involve the Visitor. Keep the visitor involved and make them feel like a valuable contributor. Actively ask for the feedback and suggestions. Ask for communication from your visitors and answer that communication swiftly. When getting that communication, capture their email address. This will allow you to communicate with them long after they have moved on and forgotten about you.

(5) Keep it Current. You need to have content on your website which is timely and relevant to the customer’s life. Posting month-old news is not interesting. Posting dry product information which never changes is not interesting. Yes, you need to have product information and other information on your site that won’t change much, but you can also post more timely content. You can, for example, post content about how your products can be used in certain situations in life. Provide tips and techniques - things which are immediately applicable and solve a problem.

(6) Pay Attention to Form/Design. Some sites simply over-do it on the eye-candy. Big graphics just for the sake of graphics often impress the site’s designer more than the visitor. Do not use graphics that are large and purposeless. Remember, some visitors may still be accessing your website via dial-up. Your site needs to load up quickly for all users. A slow website will cause your users to leave quickly. Also, pay attention to graphic and design size. Many web designers operate on fairly large screen resolutions and sometimes forget that even though a graphic looks great to you, it will appear enormous to somebody on a smaller resolution. On the flip side, don’t go too light on graphics. A site which is poorly designed and using the default font and no color is not very aesthetically pleasing. Any web visitor, whether they admit it or not, judges your company by your website unless they have something else to go on. A well-designed site communicates professionalism. A poor design makes the site seem like an afterthought.

(7) Promote. When a visitor communicates to you via email, it is best to use a web form. not only will this keep your email address from being picked up by spammers, it will also allow you to ask your customers for their email address and then store that address for later use. Employ the “push/pull” marketing strategy. A visitor coming to your website is the pull, but later you want to push content back to them in the form of a newsletter or other promotional material. Start a mailing list and use it. Invite visitors to sign up. Promotion makes or breaks a business, and as long as you respect the ethical considerations of your mailing list, you should use it.

(8) Don’t Operate in a Cocoon. The internet is a medium which is shared by millions. When you set up your website, don’t operate as if you are a self-contained island. Get out there and keep in tune with what is happening on other websites related to your own. Participate in forums. Post links to other websites and ask for a link in return. Form partnerships with other sites if it is appropriate. When it comes to communication, people like personal contacts. Hiding behind general email address like “sales” and “info” is OK as long as there is a way to also email you directly. A company site which allows email direct to the management is good. Just remember how much you hate calling a company and getting stuck in their phone system. Sometimes you just want to talk to somebody. Give your visitors that ability.

(9) Have a Plan to Attract Repeat Traffic. Use newsletters, out-going email, contests, forums, clubs, auctions - anything that will cause people to return to your website. When posting links to other websites, don’t just send your visitors somewhere else. They may never return. Provide them an exit page. Give them a pop-up when they try to leave your site. Or at the very least make external links open in a new window.

(10) Track Your Visitors Pay attention to your site’s statistics and react accordingly. What are people reading? How are they finding you? Do they just come and leave right from your homepage? How long as they are on your website? Do they return? This data is immensely valuable in fine-tuning your website based on customer needs and wants. Remember, the biggest mistake of any webmaster is designing the site for what THEY want. A successful website is designed for the target audience, not to impress the site’s owner.

About the author:

Dave Robitaille template store admin http://www.superbow1.com

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