Author: Elizabeth McGee

Article:
The idea to good website design is to offer your viewer a
logical flow while making it interesting and easy to understand.
Lead your viewers to the starting point and then direct them
through your site without confusing them.

Here are some excellent tips that can help you develop a user
friendly site and please your visitors senses. Give yourself a
chance before they get away.

1. Use lots of white space. Don’t feel that because you have a
whole screen that you need to fill it up with stuff. Your page
should follow a clean outline. Include your site name at the
very top. Below that list the subject of your page and below
that expand on your topic. Leave adequate space between each
section. Don’t cram a lot of pictures and ads. If you have an ad
keep it off to the side or subtly intersperse it between your
text. The idea is not to overwhelm your reader.

2. Don’t use animation and flashing objects. As advertisers we
feel the need to get our viewers attention. This is important
but we need to do it gracefully. Flashing objects and scrolling
images distract your visitor and take away from the content. If
your product is better demonstrated with animation or some other
multi-media, allow your viewer to select the option. Don’t force
it on them.

3. Every page of your site should contain an ‘about’ link. The
internet can be a rather cold and quiet environment. If someone
can come to your site and find out about who you are and what
you are about, they can feel a little better about doing
business with you or taking advice from you. Always include your
business address and phone number and email address as well.
This lets viewers know that you are serious about your business
and that you welcome contact. 4. Include a ‘Privacy’ Link
Viewers like the reassurance that you have a policy that follows
privacy guidelines. They want to know that you will not sell or
give away their information. In these days of rampant spam, your
privacy policy needs to be prominently displayed. Many viewers
and business partners won’t do business with you unless you have
it.

5. Always keep your links in blue. Why does that matter you
might say? It’s an expectation that viewers have along with the
links being underlined. There’s certainly no law that says they
need to be as such but people spend a lot of time on the
internet and it’s good practice to keep your navigation
consistent and recognizable. If it’s not you may lose out on
clicks.

6. Keep navigation consistent Keep your site’s navigation
consistent. What you do on your index page should be done the
same way on the rest of your site’s pages. Keep the colors
consistent as well. Don’t force your viewers to relearn each
page of your site. Keep your navigation bars and links the same
for each page.

7. Understandable buttons and links. Title your links
appropriately. Don’t use cute or misleading names. For example,
if you have a link to sports equipment don’t label the link
‘Great Outdoors’, call it ‘sports equipment’. If you have a link
to ‘cameras’ don’t label the link ‘hotshots’, label it
‘cameras’. Your viewers don’t want to waste time figuring out
what things are. Be clear with your labeling.

8. Focus on the ‘YOU’, not the ‘ME’. Make it obviously clear to
your readers that you are there for them. What can you do for
your reader? What benefits are there for your viewer? How can
you make their life or business better or more profitable?
Request feedback on their success. Find out what they want to
know or how you can offer them what they need. 9. Make sure your
page loads fast. If viewers have to wait for a page to load they
will click elsewhere. Here’s a site that will help you determine
how well your page loads. If a page doesn’t load in 8 seconds
you lose 1/3 of your visitors. Here’s a great free tool to help
you check your website’s load time:

http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.loading-time-checker.htm

10. Use a site map. A site map will give visitors a “guide” on
viewing your site and also eliminate confusion, especially with
larger sites. It’s a road map for your visitors to follow while
they are on your site. Sitemaps will also increase rankings and
placement within the Search Engines.

About the author:
Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support
industry. She has moved her expertise to the world wide web
helping businesses find trusted tools, enhance customer service,
build confidence and increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth
at mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at

http://www.pro-marketing-online.com

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Author: Englesos on the Web

Article:
My Mother never had a website.

It

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Author: Herman Drost

Article:
You may not bother with html validation or writing simple and
clean code when designing your web site. Later you may find your
site is slow loading, appears incorrectly in the main browsers
and does not rank well for the major search engines.

Now there are sites that still do rank well even though the html
code has many errors. This is because most of the current major
browsers are still very forgiving of html mistakes, however
future browsers will become more html compliant as the Internet
advances. Sites that have not bothered with html code validation
will then fall by the wayside or take time and money to be
corrected.

That’s why you should take the necessary steps NOW to make sure
that the code on your web site is validated.

What is HTML validation?

This is the process that analyzes an HTML document in comparison
to standard HTML rules, identifying errors and non-standard
codes. Web pages are rendered using HTML (Hyper Text Markup
Language). As with any language there are rules and standards
that should be followed. For example the HTML 4.01 Specification
(rules and standards) are available at
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/. You can check the html validation
of your web page by entering your url at:

http://validator.w3.org/

7 Benefits of HTML validation

1. Web Site Accessibility – validating your html code helps to
pinpoint areas of potential blockage that could prevent search
engine spiders or visitors from accessing your website. When you
run your site through a code validator it may produce many
errors that need to be corrected so your pages will render well.
ie include text with your “alt” tags for every tag.

Why should you do this?

-Allows your site to be accessible to a larger audience (vision
impaired, motor skill impaired, cognitive impaired)

-Allows your site to be accessed by wider range of devices (hand
helds, screen readers, text browsers, search engines)

-Is a requirement for Federal and State Government sites

2. Search engine friendly pages – clean and simple code enables
search engines to spider your pages more quickly and completely.

Here’s an example:

What’s wrong with this code?

< p keyword1 sentence, well written copy, etc.

keyword2 paragraph with more choice content.

This code is missing a “>” The issue is not that the page will
necessarily get skipped altogether but that the “keyword1″
sentence looks like part of the tag – like a tag attribute. So
the words in the “keyword1″ sentence probably won’t be included
in the search engines computations, even though the page itself
will be indexed.

Once a spider sees a correct tag further along in the page, then
it’s back on course. So, the keyword2 paragraph would make it.

3. Faster Loading – if your web page contains html errors it
will take a longer time for the search engines to spider it,
therefore slowing the loading time. If your page doesn’t load in
under 10 seconds your visitors may click away to your
competitors’ sites.

4. Less load on servers – clean and simple code won’t tax your
server as much as a site which has complicated code or contain
many nested tables. Cascading style sheets (CSS) will greatly
reduce the amount of code within your web pages. This will also
cut down on the amount of web space and bandwidth used thus
saving you money for hosting your site.

5. Easier to update and maintain web site – with no mistakes in
your html code it is easier and faster to make changes to your
web pages. For web site designers, this means you will save time
and money when maintaining clients’ sites.

6. Browser compatibility – validated code ensures your site is
compatible with the current browsers and future browsers. You
might say “well, it looks fine in Internet Explorer, so why
bother with any other browsers?” Current browsers will continue
to update their rules and future browsers will make sure they
are html compliant.

7. Access more visitors – if you ensure your web pages appear
correctly in all the major browsers you will be able to reach a
larger audience which then increases the potential of your site
to make more sales.

Part 2 of this article will discuss:

What documents to validate The validation process Validation
tools Common validation errors

About the author:
Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and
author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com. Affordable Web Site Design
and Web Hosting. Subscribe to his

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Author: Matthias V. Pupillo

Article:
Not having a website for your business cost you more than
having one built by a web designer. In every sector of business,
there is a competitor that has a website. It may not be flashy
or very good, but if they have a website and you do not you
loose. A website brings a degree of professionalism to a
business in a way that nothing else is able to. A website
enables you to charge higher prices thus increasing profits
because of the professionalism presented. Without a website you
must incur the added cost of extra sales force. The money made
by having a website for your business will always out way the
cost of having a website built by a professional web designer.

The business lost to competitors is one of the largest expenses
of not having a website. Customers like having 24 hour access to
a company. It makes them feel more informed and more secure
about their business decisions. Your competitors with websites
are stealing customer after customer from you, and doing it for
a very low cost. In order to stay competitive your company must
reach more customers for less money than your competition. A
website is a must have to stop losing money to people who are in
the same industry.

What is the difference between a large law firm and a one person
ambulance chaser? Professionalism. The large law firm usually
has large libraries, a large staff and large everything. The
aura of professionalism makes people willing to pay more to the
large firm. A website gives the ambulance chaser the ability to
present the image of a large, professional firm. A professional
website can make the difference between people choosing your
business or going with your competitors. Thus, even the
ambulance chaser, can obtain just as many customers because of a
professional website. The lost revenues that an unprofessional
looking company has because of their image are a good example of
why it cost more not to have a website than is does to build one.

Every business has to make sales to stay in business. There is
nothing new about that. The new twist on business is the fact
that a website is virtually a 24 hour sales force. It does not
sleep, eat, drink, take a nap, or a vacation. It is a machine
that can inform current customers and attract new customers. A
website can dramatically cut down on customer service cost. The
added cost of staffing to make up for what a website could have
easily done makes up for the cost of having a site built. How
much money could your business save on staffing?

A professionally designed, built, and maintained website is well
worth the money spent on the investment. Some of the expenses
that a business normally runs into can be reduced by a website.
Everyday that a business owner waits to contact a web designer
is a day spent wasting money and losing ground to competitors
that are unafraid to make the investment. Get your business on
the web today.

About the author:
Matthias V. Pupillo is an internet solutions specialist and a
guest writer for Learn 2
Seo.com. His company Pupillo Group provides a
wide range of internet solutions which include web design,
search engine optimization, hosting, and e-mail. Check out www.pupillogroup.com

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Author: JP Lafferty

Article:
1)After creating quality theme related content for your site
getting inbound links is the most important activity a site
owner should get up to. Quality links are not only highly
regarded by search engines, visitors to your site will realize
your efforts and consider you a pro in your field of choice.

2)Remember if you cant find your way around your site then
neither will your visitors be able to. Create a site map so
navigation becomes easy. Don

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Author: Demetria Zinga

Article:
If you need a web designer, but have no clue about the typical
web design process, I am quite certain that you must be feeling
a bit overwhelmed about what to expect. As web designers, we
oftentimes have a myriad of roles to fill when working with
their clients, but as the client, you always have a right to
know the complete design process up front. Let

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Author: Sumantra Roy

Article:
When it comes to framed sites and the effect that the use of
frames by a site has on its search engine ranking, there are two
schools of thought.

Some people say that framed sites, if done properly, have no
problems in getting good rankings in the search engines.

Others claim that if search engine optimization is important to
you, never use frames.

In my opinion, the truth lies somewhere in between. Yes, the use
of frames does throw up a few issues when it comes to getting
good rankings in the search engines which don’t understand
frames.

Hence, when you are designing a new site, I would recommend that
you avoid using frames, unless you have a specific reason for
doing so.

However, if you already have a site which uses frames, all is
not lost. You can still get good rankings in the search engines
even though you have used frames.

Furthermore, using frames also has its own advantages when it
comes to search engine placement, as we shall later on.

This article assumes that you have a working knowledge of
frames. For more information on frames, go to

http://www.webreference.com/dev/frames/

In case your site uses frames, the key to getting good rankings
lies in using the NOFRAMES tag. The NOFRAMES tag is intended to
help framed web sites display some content for those people who
are using browsers which don’t understand frames.

The search engines which don’t understand frames also look at
the NOFRAMES tag. Hence, if you are using frames, you need to
add content to the NOFRAMES tag.

What you should do is to add a complete web page within the
NOFRAMES tag. Ensure that this page repeats the important
keywords for your site a number of times.

Also, in order to ensure that the content within the NOFRAMES
tag is as prominent as possible to the search engines, you
should put the NOFRAMES tag right after the FRAMESET tag.
However, don’t put the NOFRAMES before the FRAMESET tag. If you
do that, Internet Explorer will display your site correctly but
Netscape will display the content present in the NOFRAMES tag,
rather than the content present within the frames.

Furthermore, you should also place a link to the page containing
your navigation links in the NOFRAMES tag. This ensures that the
search engines are able to spider the internal pages in your
site.

One problem that occurs when you use frames is that the search
engines may often display one of the internal pages in your site
in response to a query.

If this internal page does not contain a link to the home page
of your site, the user will be unable to navigate through your
entire site. The solution, of course, is to add a link to the
home page from that internal page.

When the visitor clicks on that link, she is brought within the
context of the frames.

However, simply adding a link to the home page presents yet
another problem.

If the visitor had already been viewing that page within the
context of the frames and then clicks on the link to the home
page, a new set of frames will be created in addition to the
frames already being used. I

n order to solve this problem, you have to use the TARGET =
“_top” command in the link, i.e. the HTML code for the link
would be something like

Go to our home page

Wrapping things up:

As I mentioned earlier, there is also an advantage to using
frames. Since most Internet users are now using frames enabled
browsers, it means that not many people are going to know what’s
present in your NOFRAMES tag.

This allows you the repeat your keywords a few more times in the
NOFRAMES than what you could have done if you were writing a
page which humans would also see (of course, don’t repeat the
keywords too many times – that can cause your web site to be
penalized for spamming).

You can also avoid using tables, graphics etc. which you would
otherwise need to use if humans would also view that page.

However, it is debatable whether this small advantage is
sufficient to justify using frames.

For more advice on how you can take your web site to the top of
the search engines, subscribe to his FREE newsletter by going
to: http://www.the-easy-way.com/newsletter.html

About the author:
Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected
search engine positioning specialists on the Internet. To have
Sumantra’s company place your site at the top of the search
engines,go to http://www.the-easy-way.com/main.html

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Author: Ruben Zevallos Jr.

Article:
Muitas pessoas j

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Author: John Teh

Article:
As the Internet blooms at an alarming rate, so as the number of
websites out there. Appearance, layout, presentation and loading
times are just a few of the main essential characteristics of a
successful website. It would seem that it is generally
manageable if you own a wide level of knowledge on web /
graphics design. But the main question of today’s online trend,
is how you can eliminate the need of going through the
traditional web designing processes and timeframe.

Have you ever own the burning desire to have not only one but a
number of websites out there to send your messages out, but only
to know in the end that you don’t have the knowledge or tools of
getting them done?

Fear Not! As today’s technology improves, so as the simplicity
of getting certain things done, without even sacrificing the
overall quality and your personal time.

Getting a website done has never been easier nowadays, and it is
extremely and highly affordable. Here’s why …

Reason #1 : Variety

Nothing beats the selection power you have out of huge variety
of web templates, covering various industries you are in, and
not to mention, level of variety which is expanding daily even
as you are reading this article. Having options right in front
of your eyes to help you to make your decisions are always
better than having multiple consultation sessions with a hired
web designer for customized solutions.

Reason #2 : High Quality

People tend to say that the quality is frequently mediocre when
it comes to the emphasization of quantity. In the world of web
design, quality has never been more emphasized on. The long term
survival of a website depends solely on the first time
impression it gives out, thus why quality is extremely
essential. With such attention given to such area, the only
problem anybody will face is choosing one, as everything you see
within a web template database just simply looks too good.

Web templates are mostly designed by seasoned and experienced
web designers themselves, catering various industries, from baby
products to golf website templates. The concept and theme of
these templates are well designed to give the impression it
should have.

The range of templates do not only cater for static page-to-
page websites, but also templates with multimedia elements such
as the usage of flash. Internet users have generally mix
opinions on animation & audio on websites, but given the point
that it is implemented correctly within the right theme, the
level of interactivity could contribute to a more enjoyable
online experience.

Reason #3 : Customization

Web templates are also designed specially for easy and straight
to the point customization to take place. Customize your links,
pictures, logo, content, etc. anyway, anywhere you prefer. In
addition to that, in most cases, free images, logo templates &
cliparts are also provided with your purchase.

With the availability of free web editor softwares nowadays,
customizing web templates should be a walk in the park. For
graphical related customizations, getting a free trial of
Macromedia Fireworks (www.macromedia.com) or Adobe Photoshop
(www.adobe.com) would help greatly for your overall graphical
customization needs. A rough estimate of 95% of the web
templates are provided within a Photoshop sourcefile template,
and the remaining 5% usually drops in the Fireworks category.
You still be able to open Adobe Photoshop source file from
Macromedia Fireworks, but the editing capabilities will be
rather limited.

You might need certain additional software like Macromedia Flash
if you intend to customize any flash files. As complex as it may
sounds to certain group of people, customization services are
usually offered on top of the purchase of any web templates, if
you don’t have the editing knowledge. Customization is usually
highly affordable as the work is relatively minimal and usually
can be done within a 24 hour period.

The only drawback for an overall customization perspective is
that you need a programmer to have programming elements
installed within your web templates should you need one.
Programming issues usually can be considered as the next step of
implementation.

Reason #4 : Speed

Large variety and availability of quality templates. There’s no
reason to doubt and totally safe to say that in most cases,
considering that your list of requirements are not too long, you
can have a high quality and presentable website as fast as
within a 48 to 72 hour period.

Reason #5 : Affordable

Whether it’s on the long run or short run, the price range for
web templates are generally affordable. With the availability of
large varitey ot templates, anyone can spend their money more
effectively, selecting the ones which suites their idea the best.

Reason #6 : Additional Resources

Web templates are not complete if there are no additional
resourcess that come together with them. It is common for Web
templates enthusiasts to acquire additional resources such as
images, fonts, logo templates, buttons, cliparts, etc for their
customization efforts. Not to mention extra resources on how you
can market your newly acquired website to the World Wide Web.
Most of the time, web templates provider will provide such
materials free of charge.

As automated as the world has become today, areas such as web
design can’t afford to be left out altogether. Automation such
as this, if taken advantage of, will surely yield great results
both on the level of productivity as well as being time
efficient.

All the best in your online endeavors.

About the author:
by John Teh

Premium Web Template database http://www.dead0eye.com

Web Design Solutions http://www.motionedgedesign.com

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Author: Sherry Holub

Article:
Over the years, the internet has grown into a marvelous avenue
to promote your business. In my last article, “Why Your Business
Needs to Have an Internet Presence”
(http://www.jvmediadesign.com/info37.html), I discussed 5 valid
reasons why your business needs a website. In this article, I
discuss some things to avoid and how a custom, professional
website can help your business succeed.

Professional is the key. Remember, the internet has a global
reach. Some of your new potential clientele may be learning of
your business for the first time by visiting your website and
the old clich

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