Archive for May, 2008

The Key to Better Websites [A] Navigation

Monday, May 26th, 2008
by Kim and Charles Petty

Introduction

Importance of the latter :

One of the primary implications of a well-organized / good website, is to keep your visitors in the website. A website is definitely created for a purpose, unless intended for personal use, which is the minority. For example, a portfolio website would want to be visited and it’s content viewed. For companies and internet businesses, your website certainly aims to provide product information, to make sales, or somewhat similar. However, most individuals undoubtedly prefer visually captivating designs, so on and so forth. It is undeniable that this causes no harm, but one must put himself/herself in other people’s shoes, as to understand how a visitor to the website might think, do and react

1 ) Navigation

As I said, a web designer has to learn how to think the way your visitors think.

Situation A : Website with good navigation ( 2-3 hyperlinks to target page ), well planned in terms of placement, and design.

Situation B : Website with poor navigation ( takes forever for the visitor to reach his/her target page ), hard-to-read navigation fonts and poor placement of the navigation buttons/bar.

In Situation A, a visitor will always want to be able to access his/her target page. For example, the individual comes across your website, and is interested in the product sold, but wants to find more information. He/she finds the navigation with no trouble, and enters the particular product information page.

As for Situation B, a visitor stumbles into the website, and would also like to find out more information about the product. Unfortunately, due to bad placement and fanciful font-types, the visitor takes forever, or even fails to find the navigation bar. Even when he/she does so, links to the product information are nowhere to be found, (example : home > about > products > product image > etc[a few more clicks] > product information ).

Analysis : In both situations, wouldn’t a website with characteristics similar to the Situation A be more rewarding ergo better?

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The Key to Better Websites [ Part B ] Design

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Kim and Charles Petty

Introduction

Importance of the latter :

Design, design, design. To put the wonders of a good design into perspective, imagine when we are purchasing a T-Shirt. First of all, what do we look at? The design of the T-Shirt, of course. Well most people do, other than the material factor. But let’s assume the all other factors are constant, wouldn’t the design or looks, become the key aspect then?

2 ) Design

Putting oneself in another individual’s shoes, as usual. Here are another two situations.

Situation A : A website with good design and breathtaking graphics. (Good color schemes with matching theme), pictures. (Optimum resolutions and relevant) and proper fonts and word sizes.

Situation B : A website inversely equipped with hideous graphics and pictures in terms of resolution, quality and relevancy. (Red pictures with a bright green background) Fonts used were not matching albeit too fanciful. (Too small, artsy font-types)

Situation A, visitors that enter the website are immediately awestruck by the design and artwork. The well placed pictures and designs will somewhat symbolizes the positive nature of the company/website. As we know, most people DO judge by impression.

As for Situation B, the shabby environment due to severe lack of creativity and badly taken pictures wouldn’t exactly help in attracting visitors. Fonts that were hard to be read, let alone comprehended, and mismatching themes in terms of color, isn’t exactly welcoming, is it?

Analysis: Now, the main idea here is to always plan your websites, try to get other individuals for feedback and perspectives. Each mindset might differ, but at least you will get room for improvement. Don’t get me wrong, even a plain website with proper design would generate plenty of positive implications, but the key idea here is to at least maintain an impressionable website.

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Problogging: Making Money From Blogs

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Kim and Charles Petty

A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that ‘publishes’ or features articles (which are called ‘blog posts’, ‘posts’, or ‘entries’), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:

Straight texts Photographs or images (photoblog) Video (videoblog) Audio files (audioblog) Hyperlinks

Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

Online journal or a web diary Content managament system Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:

Post date -the date and time of the blog entry

Category - the category that the blog belongs to

Title - the title of the blog

Main body - the main content of the blog

RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites

Comments - commentaries that are added by readers

Permalinks - the URL of the full article

Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins

A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the ’stats’ (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:

1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).

2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual’s day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.

3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.

4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.

5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.

6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler’s stories on a particular journey.

7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.

8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as ‘blawgs’.

9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.

10. Religious blog - on religious topics

11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.

12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.

13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.

14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.

15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).

16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as ’splogs’.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term “blogging” refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term “blogger” refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.

Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.

Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.

Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

Advertising programs RSS advertising Sponsorship Affiliate Programs Digital assets Blog network writing gigs Business blog writing gigs Non blogging writing gigs Donations Flipping blogs Merchandising Consulting and speaking

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.

2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.

3. Be an ‘expert’. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the “go-to” blogger on that topic.

4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).

5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.

Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.

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Good Design Practices

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Kim and Charles Petty

Your website is where your business resides — it’s like the headquarter of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practice good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.

Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.

Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.

Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.

Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.

Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.

Use CSS to style your page content because they save alot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.

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3 Ways to Start Building Your Opt-In List

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by John Neyman

The light bulb has finally started flashing in your head and you realize that you need an opt-in list to make money on the Internet. You’ve read hundreds of articles on the subject and sought expert advice. You’ve head all the stories of people creating a profitable business with opt-in lists.

With that light bulb still flashing away you finally decide to do something about it - start a list of your own. But how do you get started? And better yet, how do you build a list big enough to generate an income from?

It can be pretty scary when you’re first starting out. Do you need a web site? An opt-in form? Should you use an autoresponder service or a script on your own site? How should you format the messages? How many should you send a week? The list goes on and on.

The answers to a lot of these questions will greatly depend on how experienced you are on the Internet. If you have no knowledge of CGI or PHP, then hosting your own script may not be an option. If you don’t know HTML or don’t have direct access to your on-line files, then editing your pages to insert the code for an opt-in form will not be possible.

These, unfortunately, are just some of the obstacles that you will need to overcome if you want to give this ‘Internet Thing’ a go. Having your own web site is almost a necessity. Without one, you would only be able to promote other people’s products (as they would have their own web sites for you to send traffic to through your affiliate links).

Below are three easy ways that you can use to start building your opt-in list:

Offer a free report that contains links back to your web site or even includes an opt-in form on one of the main pages. You can also make it necessary for your visitors to fill out your opt-in form before they can access the report.

Join some of the Fire Sales and Giveaways that other marketers are running (sometimes called Joint Ventures). Add your gift to the site and when visitors want to download your gift make them fill out your opt-in form first.

Exchange ads with other opt-in list owners. You run an ad for them and they run an ad for you. Granted you probably won’t be able to join up with someone who has a huge list (as they won’t be getting much exposure in return) but if you can find other lists that are of a similar size to yours, you should be in with a chance.

Building a profitable opt-in list won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Keep at it and be creative. Try things outside of the box; put a twist on an old idea. And most of all - be persistent.

Our services at leaders excel include any where from a personal website to an elite Premium business package website. Our premium package features include creating a personal header with your company’s logo that communicates your product and/or services.

Check out Leaders Excel Solutions at www.leadersexcelsolutions today for all of your website needs.

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Why Choose XSitePro Over Other Website Building Software?

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Allison Thompson

If you are really interested in making a little extra money through running an online business then you will be interested in getting a software program which will help you to build your websites. Although there are lots of different software programs available today that can help you to create and build your websites not all of the are created equal. In this particular article however we will be taking a close look at the features to be found in the website building software program known as XSite Pro.

Compared to many other website building software packages now available XSite Pro contains a very comprehensive set of tools and applications that you can use. All of which will you to design and then build websites which meet your own particular requirements. Every site that you build using this software package will be completely viable and so will help you to move your online business in the right direction.

A big benefit to be gained from using this particular software package over some of the others which can be used to be build websites with is that it is extremely user friendly. Although there are some more technical software programs around unfortunately in order to use them you will probably need a degree just to understand what they are telling you. But with XSite Pro the developer of this particular software package has always kept the end user in in mind and therefore made every task and tool within it easy for them to use.

But not only is this website building software package very user friendly it also contains all the tools and applications a person requires to produce a great looking website layout. As well as allowing the user to produce those eye catching front pages it also provides you with the facilities to make changes (edit the content already on the web pages) as well as incorporating new content into it. This in turn will increase the chances of your site then getting noticed by their various different search engines as you can regularly update and include new content into it without too much hassle.

For those of you who are considering to buy XSite Pro Version 1.6 should be aware that Version 2 is going to be released in the future. Then those who have only recently purchased the latest version of this particular website building software package will be able to upgrade to XSite Pro Version 2 for free when it actually gets released to the general public. But as well as this software being regularly updated a person also gets a manual when they purchase it. This further will help you to understand and learn how to access and use the various tools and applications that come with the package.

Yet before you actually start to use your XSitePro software you will go through an in depth tutorial. This will then help you to learn first hand regarding how this software application actually works and how you can use it effectively and correctly. Plus you can also use the videos that come with the package and which will provide yet more instructions. Which in turn will help you to appreciate more the tools and applications which come with this particular website building software package.

Of all the advantages offered to those who choose to use XSite Pro is that they provide good technical and customer support. The people who developed this particular website building software package understand how important it is for their customers to know that they have assistance not just when they have brought it, but when they start to use it as well.

Therefore if you really want to make a go of your own online business and can not afford to get a website developer to create and build a website for you. Then you should seriously consider investing some money in buying XSite Pro.

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Winter Soldier Investigation

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Col. Harry G. Riley (U.S. Army, Retired)

The anti American groups in our country who demonstate and shout hateful and disgusting un-patriotic slogans are rarely challenged by normal Americans who typically ignore their banter.

I completely disagree! The professional soldier experience I have does not accept this idea or the mentality that it is so because they are crazy or it has always been that way.

As we saw a generation ago, street theater can be turned into political muscle, especially when most of the country’s voters remain uninformed on the facts, and we have a weak-kneed Congress.

In the 1960s and 1970s the late President Richard Nixon questioned the commitment of “The Silent Majority” even as the vocal minority used media collaboration to give the impression that they owned the streets, and thus, the moral high ground.

The result of the “Street” pro-communist guided policies of our Congress which concluded in the abandonment of our allies, turned a victory into defeat. “Kerry Lied, Millions Died” could have been the rallying cry of America.

We will not repeat the previous generations pathetic history of home front surrender while our soldiers were winning all their battles in Vietnam. Our current warriors defending our freedom will be supported, there will be no repeat or stain of dishonor.

Now Kerry’s Veterans Against the War has modified itself into a new group called Iraq Veterans Against the War or IVAW. Using Kerry as a mentor, IVAW has scheduled a new “Winter Soldier Investigation” on March 14, 2008 in Silver Springs, Maryland. They are trying, as Kerry did in 1971 that our current US troops are also war criminals.

Their previous methods will not go with out a challenge this time. EaglesUP.us along with numerous other pro-troop groups will be there to voice the truth. We will be there in huge numbers to challenge and expose the lies that IVAW will attempt to bring to America. We will be there to expose and demand the truth be told. America will be educated the weekend of the 15th of March. Find out more at www.eaglesup.us

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Make Things Easier With A Web Hosting Directory

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Russell G. Stuart

No matter how good your products or services are, if you can’t make your presence known on the internet, you are likely to fail in your marketing efforts. Building a website is a smart move to reach the global consumers, but first, you need to think about your web hosting service.

But before all that, what exactly do web hosts do? Well, if you want a website on the World Wide Web, you need a server, or a host to place it there for you. Web hosts have servers that give you access to the internet - think of it in terms of actual space. They rent you some space online and connect you to the Web. Once you have that space, your website is part of the Web and it can be accessed by people all over the world.

The truth is, picking the best web hosting service is not so easy. If you do a simple search on Google, you’ll see pages and pages of results showing thousands of hosting provider services. Each service will have various claims, speaking of how unique they are and how much better they are than the other. Visiting each of these sites and trying to find something good for your site can be a tedious task. A web hosting directory is the best resource to help you avoid this situation.

Clearing out important facts such as server types, uptimes, experience level, support etc is very important when you are selecting a web host, because these are things that will directly affect your site.

The easiest way to do your web hosting services hunt is to get a complete, organised list from a web hosting directory, which will give you a methodical and practical way to narrow down your choices.

A web hosting directory is capable of providing you with a summarised list of companies, individual costs and each company’s contact details. You can take these facts in to consideration before deciding on the right web hosting service for you.

The services they offer, the space you will have for your site on the server, the security measures, the technical support and the customer service they provide are just a few of the things that you have to take into account before you make your decision.

Among the hardest things to do when you are thinking about running a website is getting it started on the right foot, so to speak. If you are an amateur at web hosting, it’s especially important to proceed with extra precaution when you are choosing the appropriate hosting service. The perfect solution may be hidden under hundreds of advertising-happy search results and the best way to get the most out of your research is to help yourself to web hosting directory services.

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Internet Marketing Services

Sunday, May 25th, 2008
by Gary Terrazas

In order for an Internet business to be successful, first-rate Internet marketing activities need to be drawn-up and implemented.

However, it is not an easy task to find good Internet marketing service or a good Internet marketing affiliate program. This is because there are just as many bad Internet marketing affiliate programs out there as there are good ones too.

Therefore, the very first key to finding Internet services for your company is to be able to tell the overall difference between the good and the bad Internet marketing service programs.

Being able to tell the difference right off will prevent a promising company from being ripped off by those out there who prey on businesses in need of Internet marketing services for their company.

A useful online marketing program is known as affiliate marketing. The first thing you should know is that any good Internet marketing service affiliate program will not charge you for membership or for services not rendered. So beware of any Internet marketing affiliate program that asks you for any money upfront to become a member of their specific program.

You would find it necessary to take advantage of SEO search engine marketing opportunities. To do this you have to try to optimize your website for the popular search engines relating to your target market. Depending on where you are Google and Yahoo remains top choices. Make sure that any search engine you choose to work with is relevant to your specific needs.

By understanding how the individual search engines operate, you will have a better idea of what search engine techniques will effectively raise your ranking and which techniques are mediocre at best.

PPC is an Internet marketing medium that can also be used for greater exposure. Contact a search engine to work with them on a paid per click programme or otherwise find a website with high traffic and advertise with them.

Do not end up placing adverts on websites with high traffic but low in relevant traffic. An ad for video games might not said to be well placed if it was paid to be placed on a popular financial magazine website.

Choose the best Internet marketing firm or authority should you choose to make use of their offering. Remember to make enquiries about their pedigree, history and projects they have concluded. Also ask them to send through their curriculum vitae and all their details if they have traded under anther name in the past. Investigate the information you receive for authenticity.

It is a good idea to ascertain an Internet marketing firm’s abilities before employing them. Do this by asking them to describe how they intend to help your business grow. A good company is pleased to provide you with all the information you request, a bad company not.

There are hosts of Internet marketing services option available to you; you just have to take proper steps to make the right selection.

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5 Quick Newsletter Tips

Saturday, May 24th, 2008
by John Neyman

You know you need to stay in touch with the people on your list, but you’re in two minds about starting a newsletter. Will it take up too much of your time? What if you run out of things to say? Can you maintain quality over a period of time? How long should your newsletter be?

Your first aim should be to offer useful or interesting information. (If you don’t do that, you won’t have subscribers for long!) Your second aim should be to keep your newsletter short. Remember that people are inundated with email these days - they actually prefer something they can skim quickly and then put to use.

Spend some time thinking about the best format. You need a model that will be easy to reproduce week after week, month after month. Any one of the following five ideas will make your job easier. Choose one and keep it as a regular format, or combine several of them (for example, you could use the “Tip of the Week” format for weeks 1-3 each month, and offer a checklist every fourth newsletter).

—————– 1. Tip of the Week —————– This one speaks for itself. You can easily brainstorm enough content for six months of weekly newsletters (you need to come up with 24 tips, which you will present weekly). Anyone with a degree of expertise on a given topic should be able to do this without any trouble. A handy way to organize this is to (a) explain the problem then (b) offer the tip which will solve it. Length? Anything from 150 - 500 words.

———– 2. Top Ten ———– This is a tried and true format, and easy to create. Example: if you are an expert on finance, you could offer advice on the Top Ten Ideas for Getting Out of Debt, or the Top Ten Ways to Save Money on Car Expenses, or the Top Ten Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage in Ten Years. Make sure you keep a tight rein on word length - just offer a couple of sentences for each tip, not half a page.

—————– 3. Three Ways to… —————– Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to come up with ten ways to do things, whereas just three ideas is a cinch. You can also explore three ideas in more detail. Alternatively, you can alternate the “Top Ten” format with “Three Ways to…” the two of them will work together nicely.

—————– 4. Before and After —————– Who doesn’t like makeovers? This works in a similar way to ‘Tip of the Week’ in that you show the problem and then provide a solution, but the ‘before and after’ approach lends itself better to case studies. This is a good way to interact with your clients - invite them to send in details of whatever needs a makeover: an article, a website page, their wardrobe etc, then present your solutions. Alternatively, you can ask for ‘before and after’ examples from readers who have managed to do this themselves, then showcase it for the rest of your customers. (If you don’t use HTML for your newsletters, you can add a link to a website page for the accompanying photos.) This works particularly well if you have a health and fitness related newsletter - your readers will be motivated by seeing the changes others have made through diet, exercise and weight training.

———— 5. Checklists ———— When you’re learning to do something new, there’s nothing like a checklist to make sure you don’t leave out a crucial step. Checklists can save a lot of time, and your readers will be delighted to get one. Write a brief introductory paragraph, present the checklist, and then follow it with a few final tips. You can either base your entire newsletter on the checklist format, or present one at regular intervals as a change from the standard article format.

Final tip: set up an address at yahoo or gmail just for newsletters. Spend a few hours checking out sites related to your own interests, and sign up for any free newsletters. Every so often, check your new email account and browse, looking specifically to see what approach other editors use for layout and articles. When you see a format you like, print it out and put it in an ‘ideas’ folder. Unsubscribe from any that are constantly filled with junk or endless sales pitches.

Our services at leaders excel include any where from a personal website to an elite Premium business package website. Our premium package features include creating a personal header with your company’s logo that communicates your product and/or services. Check out Leaders Excel Solutions at www.leadersexcelsolutions today for all of your website needs.

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