Web Design Tips

While designing web sites it is important to keep in the mind the platform, popularly used web browsers and of course the users. One more important element of website design is search engines compatibility, since eventually the search engines will index the site to present it to the users in a search. How much the search engines give importance to your website depends a lot on the how the website is designed.
These tips will help web designers to justify what is stated above.

1) Use colors carefully such that they are brand appropriate or do justice to whatever the site is providing. This applies to the text, text fonts, background and the content provided.

2) Use tag lines, which highlight the essential features of the site and catch the attention of the readers, since visitors do not read the text fully. Set your content in proper paragraphs and columns for increased readability and appearance.

3) Avoid Flash and client side scripts on main pages. Do not use FRAMES since search engines find it difficult to index pages using the above technologies.

4) Use high-resolution graphics which are light in weight for faster downloading. The images should add to the content and help in describing the sites resources and services. The images should be appropriately placed on the web pages. Use alt text to describe the images properly for photo optimization.

5) For search engine optimization use descriptive title and meat tags since the search engine use these to some extent to index and rank your website.

6) Avoid using gate away or doorway pages which lead to the main page this is spamming and your website may be banned by major search engines. Do not resort to cloaking and over use of keywords.

7) Most important do not copy content from other websites to avoid facing duplicate content penalty. This was the practice widely resorted to earlier. It is wiser to have a content writer in the web development team.

Essential Web Development Tools

Developing a successful web site takes a great deal of planning and preparation. An important part of your preparation is obtaining the essential tools of the trade.

HTML Editors

An HTML editor is a software program used to create and edit HTML documents.

Although some Internet marketers prefer to write their own HTML code, most prefer to use an HTML editor, as it can greatly simplify a somewhat difficult process. However, using an HTML editor has its disadvantages, as some editors have a tendency to add a lot of unnecessary coding and may not support the latest technologies.

Whether you will be writing your own HTML or using an editor, taking the time to learn HTML is very important. Not only will you gain your independence, but you'll also have the ability to add special effects that many HTML editors don't support.

Here are some popular HTML editors:

Macromedia Dreamweaver
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
A popular WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) HTML editor. Great for beginners and advanced users alike.

Coffee Cup
http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/
A popular HTML editor that's great for beginners as well as advanced users. Includes a built in browser that will enable you to instantly preview your HTML as you go.

Hot Dog Professional
http://sausage.com/products/index.html
Three HTML editors, including HotDog Junior for children, PageWiz for the novice user and Professional for advanced and budding webmasters.

Text Editors

A text editor is a software program used for editing plain text that doesn't add any special formatting.

If you're considering writing your own HTML code, you'll need a good text editor. Although it will certainly be more time consuming, your code will be much cleaner and can reduce your file size considerably.

In addition to using a text editor to write HTML, it can also be used to edit scripts and write articles.

If you have a Windows operating system, Note Pad is the preferred text editor. It should already be installed on your computer.

Although Note Pad is a great little text editor, it can't handle large files and is much better suited for smaller jobs. You may find that you'd like an editor that is more powerful, such as:

NoteTab Pro http://www.notetab.com/
TextPad http://www.textpad.com/

FTP

File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure used to upload and download files to and from your web server.

Although many HTML editors will enable you to edit and transfer pages to your server, an FTP program is still an essential tool, as you must have complete control over the files on your server.

An FTP program will enable you to upload scripts, set file permissions, create folders and transfer files to and from your server.

In order to use FTP, you'll need to download and install a software program on your computer. The most widely used FTP program is WS FTP Pro http://www.wsftp.com/

Graphics Editor

A graphics editor is a software program that will enable you to design and edit graphics.

Graphic design is an intimidating subject for many Internet entrepreneurs. However, most of us must learn some basic design techniques in order to avoid the high costs of hiring a professional designer.

The most popular program used by Internet marketers is Paint Shop Pro. This powerful program is the only program you'll need to design professional looking graphics.
http://www.jasc.com/

Zip/Unzip Software

A Zip file is an "archive" of one or more files compressed into one file for easy distribution.

Zip files are used to compress and transport file archives over the Internet. It is the preferred method used for electronic file distribution, as rather than downloading several different files, you can simply download one Zip file. In addition, the download time will be minimized, as the files within the Zip archive are compressed.

Once a Zip file is downloaded, it can be easily opened and extracted (unzipped) with a Zip/Unzip software program.

Although there are many Zip software programs available on the Internet, WinZip is the most popular. WinZip makes working with file archives simple. It features an easy point-and-click, drag-and-drop interface for viewing, extracting, adding, deleting and testing archived files.

You can download a fully functional evaluation version here:
http://www.winzip.com/download.htm

Email

Although most Internet Service Providers include email accounts for their customers, these accounts aren't adequate for an Internet business -- especially if you get a large amount of email. Not only do the email addresses contain your ISP's name, but they are also very limited on features and options.

The two most popular email clients used online are Outlook and Eudora. These programs will enable you to download email from your server and offer features, such as sorting and
filtering, and will enable you to easily organize your email messages. What's more, your email address will be your own domain -- not someone else's.

Eudora
http://www.eudora.com/
Outlook
http://www.microsoft.com/

Your webmaster toolbox will play an important part in your success. Take the time to ensure your toolbox contains these essential tools and you'll be well on your way to designing a professional web site.

10 great free ways to increase your website traffic

There are several ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective techniques you can start using right now.

1. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your website address in the by-line. If you can write good content, your articles will be published and a lot of readers who like your article will start using your website.

2. Arrange Joint Venture partnership with Webmasters and List owners.

3. Add your ad or website address to your own email signature. Thus, each time you send an email, you’ll promote your own website.

4. Start exchanging Links with Other Webmasters. This is another very effective strategy to generate targeted traffic to your website free of cost.It involves contacting other webmasters for a probable link exchange partnership.

5. Add a blog to your site and ping weblogs.com and the other search engines. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest and surest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog and attract a number of new visitors to your web site regularly.

6. Submit your blog address to different blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog’s URL to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Popdex and Blogdex.

7. Start creating RSS feeds for your site and submit the feed URLs to the major RSS feed directories online.
8. Become an active commenter. Try to leave your comments on the blogs that you visit regularly. Most of the comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog or website which begs a visit at the very least.

9. If you decide to have anything printed up, give your web address on it. You can print your URL on business cards, leaflets, stickers, etc

BidVertiser.com - Make Money from your Website or Blog

Display the BidVertiser text ads on your website or blog, get paid for every click and have the payments sent directly to your PayPal account. BidVertiser is a site-targeted marketplace whereby advertisers can place their ads on sites that are related to ads.







Join BidVertiser now and they will turn your advertising space into cash! Simply display the BidVertiser text ads on your website and let advertisers bid against each other!

If you have been banned from Google Adsense or wish to extend your publisher revenue, BidVertiser is just a perfect option

Solution : Rapidshare Download Trick

Many peoples have lots of problem in downloading from Rapidshare.
this post is specially for my broadband user friends.

1. Click Start
2. Click run
3. In the run box type "cmd" (without quotes)and click OK
4. When the command prompt opens type the following and hit enter after every new line.

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
exit

Explanation : As all Broadband users has dynamic ip they can simply change their ip address. by the commands mentioned above.


If you are bore of typing this much Command then simply make a batch file.
Creating a Batch file.
Open a notepad. type following in it.

@echo off
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
@echo on

Save this file with name you like and the extension as bat.
now simply execute this file.
Enjoy the Download.

Optimise Your Blog Traffic and Earn More Money

When blogging first came to prominence it was little more than a glorified – and public – online journal for many people. However, with its great increase in popularity, it has now become a popular way of making money via the use of affiliate links and advertising programmes such as Google Adsense. If you are considering trying your hand at earning money from blogs, or if you already have a blog set up, it is crucial that you know how to make it a success.

Produce a good quality blog

First of all, it is imperative that you are providing quality content. Make sure you know your subject well so that you can produce a blog which is informative and well written. If you are enthusiastic about your chosen subject, so much the better, as you will know what your target audience are interested in and can tailor a blog suited around those wants or needs.

If you have set up a blog purely as a potential get rich quick scheme and have not invested the necessary time and effort into researching your topic, it will show in your blog. Unless your blog is targeted at a particularly narrow niche there are likely to be hundreds of other blogs competing with yours for traffic, so if you have produced a poor quality site people will have no hesitation about going elsewhere. They certainly won’t be staying long enough to take a look at your affiliate links or click on any adverts.

Update your blog regularly

If you have produced a good quality blog you should receive a steady stream of interested visitors and be earning a little money. However, the bloggers you are probably aspiring to – those who are earning 6 figure incomes from their sites – are earning good money because they are constantly building on their success by constantly adding fresh content, maybe even as frequently as several times a day.

It is in your best interest to keep your target audience hooked, and returning to visit your pages again and again. A regular reader is much more likely to tell people about your blog or link to it from their own sites, and in the long term this is going to be very beneficial to driving up your traffic.

There is a second way in which regular blogging can greatly increase your traffic. There are sites specifically dedicated to bloggers announcing the new addition of content to their sites. Post a link to your new blog entry every time you add new content as when the search engines trawl the internet these links will help speed up the indexing of your pages. Services such as pingomatic.com can help you do this automatically.

Use of keywords

Keep in mind what keywords are likely to draw people to your blog. Within the text, some keywords are going to be given more value than others by the search engines, such as those included in the header, bold text, or those used for hot links. The more emphasis given to the targeted keywords on your blog, the better your search engine ranking will be.

However, try to find a balance between your use of keywords and providing quality content. Over use of keywords can mean the quality of your blog suffers as the text may not ‘flow’ so well. It is also worth noting that if the keyword density is much more than 5% some search engines may regard your blog as potential ‘spam’, and your engine ranking will suffer.

Blog Directories

Seek out blog directories such as blogwise.com and bloghub.com. As well as increasing the number of back links to your sites (thus raising your search engine ranking) you will also be taking advantage of the fact that many people searching for blogs do so through these directories rather than using search engines. This is particularly beneficial if your blog is still fairly new and not particularly prominent on the search engines yet.

Building a succesful blog takes time. Do not be discouraged if it does not immediately attract good traffic as this will come with time and perseverance. Your efforts will eventually be rewarded and with an increase in traffic will come great money making potential.

About the author:Leanne Williams, Leanne has had several articles published on the subject of making money. http://www.savingmoney-makingmoney.co.uk

How do I track visitors to my blog

Many bloggers are interested in knowing how often their blog was viewed. What you need is a hits counter. You can get a free hit counter here at StatCounter.com. After you sign up for an account, you will be taken through a series of steps to generate codes to paste into your template. You will have to provide a title and give the url of your blog, choose a category and select from a series of options. You may just accept the default if you want a counter similar to what you see at the bottom of this page (you may also select the invisible option). There will be just one option where no default is given and that is whether your website uses frames. Select NO. There is a further option of whether you want the script generated for your counter to be XHTML compliant or not. For the New Blogger, I have earlier found that leaving this unticked can give a working counter. But if you are using a New Blogger template, it is probably betting to tick that option. When the codes are generated, highlight it and copy the codes.

Sign into Dashboard, select the relevant blog, click the TEMPLATE tab to get to the template editor to edit the template. Paste the codes after the tag and before the tag (this is for those using the old classic Blogger template. If you are using the New Blogger template, see update below). Which part of the template will depend on where you want the counter displayed. To put it in the bottom as on this page, paste it just before the tag as shown in the codes above where you see Paste codes here. This section will be almost at the end of the template. Scroll down the template editor and you will see it

The A to Z Guide to Getting Website Traffic

In September of 1999, Brett Tabke wrote "26 Steps to 15k a Day" in the Webmaster World forum. A lot has changed since then, and now is the time to consider a new 26-step plan that meets the current needs of webmasters in 2006. Some of the old ones still apply (writing new content everyday, for example), and some don't (submitting to the search engines is no longer necessary), and we're here to tell you which is which! As you probably already know, bringing in traffic is not easy - it takes hard work, determination and lots of elbow grease. So if you're ready, roll up your sleeves and follow these 26 simple steps, and within just one year you will generate enough traffic to keep you busy for a long, long time!

A) Keyword Research
Before you do anything else, use a keyword research tool and do an extensive job researching the right keyphrases to use for your site. What keyphrases are your direct competitors using? Are there any keyphrases that create a potential for market entry? Are there any that you can put a spin on and create a whole new niche with?

B) Domain Name
If you want to brand your company name, then choose a domain name that reflects it. If your company is Kawunga, then get www.kawunga.com. If it's taken, then get www.kawungawidgets.com. No dashes, and no more than two words in the domain if appropriate.

C) Avoid the Sandbox
Buy your domain name early, as soon as you have chosen your keyphrases and your company name. Get it hosted right away and put up a quick one page site saying a little about who you are, what you sell, and that there will be more to come soon. Make sure it gets crawled by Google and Yahoo (either submit it or link to it from another site).

D) Create Content
Create over 30 pages of real, original content on your site. This will give the spiders something to chew on. It will also give you more opportunities to been seen in the search engine results for a wide variety of keyphrases.

E) Site Design
Use the "Keep It Simple" principle. Employ an external CSS file, clean up any Java Scripts by referring to them off the page in an external file, don't use frames, use flash the way you would an image, and no matter what, do not create a flash site. Do not offer a busy site with lots of bells and whistles to your visitors. Keep things nice and simple. Make it easy for them to find what they are looking for and they'll have no reason to look anywhere else.

F) Page Size
The less kilobytes your page uses, the better - especially for the home page. Optimize your images and make sure the page loads quickly. Most people and businesses in the Western world may have high speed, but cell phones and other countries might not. If your site loads slowly, you may have already lost your visitor before they've even had a chance to browse around.

G) Usability
Make sure that your site follows good usability rules. Remember that people spend more time on other sites, so don't violate design conventions. Don't use PDF files for online reading. Change the colours for visited links, and use good headers. Look up usability for more tips and tricks, it will be worth your while.

H) On Site Optimization
Use the keyphrase you have chosen in your title (most important), your headers (when appropriate), and within the text. Make sure that your page/content is ABOUT your keyphrase. If you are selling widgets, than write about widgets. Don't just stick the word widgets into the text.

I) Globals
Globals are the links that remain the same on every page. They are the reference for new visitors to keep them from getting lost. Sometimes they are on the left of the page, sometimes they consist of tabs at the top. Often they are in the footer of the page as well. Make sure that you have an old style text version of your globals on every page. I usually create tabs at the top, and put the text versions in the footer at the bottom of the page. Find out what works best for you.

J) Headers
Use bold headers. On the Internet, people scan they don't read. So initially, all they will see are the headers. If your headers don't address their concerns, they won't stick around long enough to read your content. Use appropriate keyphrases when you can.

K) Site Map
Build a site map with a link to each of your pages. Keep it up to date. This will allow the spiders to get to every page. Put a text link to the site map on the main pages.

L) Content
Add a page every 2-3 days: 200-500 words. Create original content, don't copy others. The more original and useful it is, the more people will read it, link to it, and most importantly of all - like it enough to keep coming back for more.

M) White Hat Only
Stay away from black hat optimizing techniques. Black hat optimization consists of using any method to get higher rankings that the search engines would disapprove of, such as keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, cloaking and more. Stick to white hat methods for long-term success. People who use black hat optimization are usually there for the short-term, such as in porn, gambling, and Viagra markets (just look at your email spam for more black hat markets). These black hat industry sites are usually around just long enough to make a quick buck.

N) Competition Analysis
Who is linking to your competition? Use Yahoo's "link:" service to see the back links of your competition. For example, type in "link:http://www.yourdomain.com" into Yahoo search without the quotes). Try to get links from the same sites as your direct competitors. Better yet, see if you can replace them!

O) Submit
Submit to five groups of directories:

1. Dmoz.org and Yahoo (local, such as Yahoo.co.uk, or Yahoo.ca, etc... if you can).
2. Find directories in your field and get into them. Pay if you must, but only if the price is reasonable.
3. Local directories that relate to your country or region.
4. Any other directories that would be appropriate.
5. If you are targeting the local market, make sure that you are in the Yellow Pages and Superpages (because search engines use these listings to power local searches)

P) Blog
Start a blog about your industry and write a new entry at least once a week. Allow your visitors to comment or, better yet, write their own entries. This will create even more content on your site and will keep people coming back regularly to see what is new.

Q) Links From Other Sites
Simply submit your website to appropriate sites, asking that they link to your site as a reference because it will benefit their visitors. Don't spend too much time on this, if your content is good and original, they will find you and link to you naturally. Remember that Linking is Queen (http://www.redcarpetweb.com/promotion/0409.html#feature).

Stay away from reciprocal linking, links farms, link scams, and any other unnatural links. They may not necessarily hurt you, but Google tracks when you get a link, how long you have had a link, who links to the site that links to you, where you live, what you had for breakfast, and more (not really... but kind of).

R) Statistics
Make sure your server has a good statistics program. Use it! If you don't have access to a good program, then pay for one. Without the knowledge of who is coming to your site, from where, and how often, you will be missing out on some essential tools to improve your site.

S) Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Sign up for Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Spend money getting people to your site. Use it for branding too. This will create a steady flow of visitors to your site, and will make your site more accessible to your potential clients. You don't have to be #1, you don't even have to be #5... just make sure you are on the first page of search results for most of your keyphrases, when the cost is right.

T) Look Ahead
Stay informed of what is coming up in your market. If a new product will be out next season, write about it now. Take advantage of being a first mover. The search engines, and linkers, will reward you.

U) Articles
Write an article once every week and get it published in as many online publications as you can (with a link back to your site). Include the article on your site. Not only will this create many links to your site, but it will also get people to click to your site, and most importantly you will become an expert in the eyes of your visitors. They may even begin looking for your site by querying your name!

V) Study Your Traffic
After 30 to 90 days you will have enough results to analyze in your statistics program. Go over them with a fine tooth comb. Get the answers to these questions:

• Where are your visitors coming from?
• Which search engines do they use?
• What queries do they type in?
• What pages on your site do they visit the most?
• What are the entry pages on your site?
• What are the exit pages?
• What path do they follow when they browse your site?

Use this information to tweak your site.

• Use the most popular page to encourage the visitors to make you money.
• Adjust the paths they use to send them where you want them.
• Figure out why they leave from the exit pages.

Also, see what search terms people use to find you, and fine tune your keyphrases. If you targeted "green widgets", but your visitors are finding you with the query "green leather widgets", then start creating content about "leather widgets"!

W) Verify Your Submissions
After 3-4 months, check that you got into Dmoz.org and all of the other directories that you submitted to. If you have not been included, then submit again, or better yet, write a polite email to the editor and ask why. Also, find any new directories that would be worthy of your submittal time and submit to them.

X) RSS Feeds
RSS (Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is becoming a powerful tool for Internet marketers. You can quickly and easily add fresh content to your website. Article feeds are updated frequently, so you can give your visitors (and the search engines) what they want - fresh content! You can use RSS to promote any new content, such as new pages, articles, blogs, press releases, and more!

Y) Press Releases
A press release is a written communication that you submit to journalists in the media (newspapers, radio, television, magazines) which are used to make announcements that are newsworthy. Create press releases announcing publication of any new articles or new company information or products. If it is interesting/original enough, a journalist may pick it up and write an article about it. Before you know it, your website address may get published in the NY Times.

Z) Keep Your Content Fresh
Remember to write a new page every 2-3 days. I only mentioned it briefly, but it is probably the most important point in this article. Keep writing! Without fresh content, your site will gradually drop in the search engine results. To stay on top, your content has to be the most up-to-date, freshest, and most interesting and original content in your field.

Follow these 26 simple steps and I assure you that within one year you will call your site a success. You will bring in a massive amount of traffic from within your industry and watch as your business grows!

So start writing, and write yourself to the top!

About the author: Shawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.. He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field.

Find Profitable Keywords for Your Online Business

Keyword Country 5 (KC2) has recently launched in beta stage. It is a free keyword research tool you can use to find unlimited number of profitable keywords and traffic attracting keywords from any niche.

http://www.keywordcountry.com/beta/

For AdSense and affiliate marketers, they can use KC5 to find profitable keywords and generate more niche ideas helpful for them to create their niche sites and blogs to make money online with AdSense and affiliate programs.

And for search engine optimizers, it lets them research what are the highly popular keywords they can target to and find semantically related keywords to include to their content pages for the purpose of gaining more search engine traffic.