Make Money Easy For You

Improving Website Performance

Images, graphic and flash animation ……..

Many sites have images or graphics that are too large. By too large, I don’t necessarily mean the dimensions of the images, but the file size is excessive and doesn’t load quickly in a web browser. There are no hard and fast rules about file sizes but if the website doesn’t load in a few seconds most visitors will move on to a different website. Have a qualified web designer check out the website and make sure there isn’t an abundance of large images that may slow down your website. You can reduce image size by reducing the quality, for instance with Jogs even a compressed image will still display fine for the web.

Another issue is flash animation. While animation can add a nice dimension to your website, it can slow down the speed of your website, and sometimes just become tiresome if over used. Once your visitors have seen the animation a few times they probably won’t want to wait each time while it plays again. Animation if used sparingly and with taste can enhance a website without bogging it down, but more and more websites that once had intro flash pages are removing them. Excessive us of Flash can also decrease your search engine rankings.

Web page code

Check your code and make sure that it is efficient and well written. If you have any comments in your code then take these out. Just reducing the code bloat of your site can save a few Kb each time your page is accessed – and given a site gets thousands of hits a day, that can save you a lot of money in bandwidth charges.

CSS and Caching

Having your web page style information in an external file can improve performance since CSS style sheets are cached the first time they are accessed. Therefore when a visitor goes to different pages on your site, any CSS style sheets that have already been accessed will remain in cache. CSS is also a great way to limit the amount of HTML code by separating code from content. Any style information can be declared in one place, but used throughout your web site.

Links

Make sure any links in your web pages are valid. So if you link to other web pages on external websites, make sure that the pages still exist. Occasionally page names change on external sites, which can cause links to become invalid. This is also a detriment as far as search engines. Search engines check for links and if there are bad link, they may penalize your site. Of course links to internal pages on your site should be valid as well. So if you add and remove web pages on your site, insure that any links to these pages remain accurate.

Hosting

If your website is still slow after cleaning up your HTML code, trimming back the size of your images, graphics and animation, you may want to evaluate the quality of your web host. I don’t recommend free hosting. You need reliability and accountability in regards to website hosting, and free hosting providers usually have servers that are overly taxed and lack the resources needed.

Design

Some websites are beautifully designed with lots of graphics, but if your visitors can’t quickly and easily navigate your site, what’s the point? Remember the goal of your website. Is it to sell a product or service, provide information, or is it to dazzle the visitor with animation and web design skills. I’ve found that most successful websites inform, provide an important message, or sell a product safely, securely and efficiently.

For more information on successful web design, visit http://www.naxtor.com.au

About the Author

Nasir – Naxtor Technologies- http://www.naxtor.com.au/

Read more: Improving Website Performance

Is Your Site Ready for the Average User?

What is the “Average User”?

If you have been using computers and surfing the Internet for some time, as is likely the case since you’re visiting a site for webmasters, you would probably have acquired a large number of skills that enable you to find things on the Internet, navigate a site, deal with the annoyances that some sites pose, and the like. The problem with such proficiency is that it is easy to lose touch with how a large portion of Internet users actually operate on the Web, and thus design a site that does not take advantage of the special needs of these “average users”.

I realize that some of you will probably take exception to my use of the term “average user”. After all, it is difficult to pinpoint what an average user is. The “average user” in the computer industry is vastly different from, say, the “average user” in the agricultural sector.
My use of “average user” here might appear to some to have the connotation of “novice user”. I refrained from using “novice” because many of these users are not exactly new to using a computer yet their level of competence in surfing the Internet and their knowledge of the use of the computer is at best rudimentary. With the explosion of the Internet reaching into many homes in the world, it seems to me that such users are continually increasing in number. Where once upon a time when we think of a computer user we imagine a nerd, now, just about everyone uses a computer, even my elderly parents. This widespread use of computers also means that the computer is no longer the province of an elite few who actually understand the innards of a computer. The average user is no longer that computer professional, but the large number of people who treat the computer as an appliance, somewhat the way we regard our toasters or VCRs.

This in turn has implications on the things you can do on your site and the things you might want to avoid.

1. Visiting a Site When a URL is Known

If I were to give you a URL like “naxtor.com.au“, how would you visit that site? Typically, you would type it into the location bar (also known as the “address bar”) in your browser and the browser would immediately retrieve the page from the site.

It’s amusing to watch how the “average user” actually handles a URL. Take my mother for example. After watching a TV show which gave her a URL “oprah.com” to visit, she went to her browser, typed “oprah.com” into the Google search engine form, and sent the query to Google. When Google returned the search results, among which was a link to (what else?) oprah.com, she would click the link to finally visit “oprah.com”.

She’s not alone in this. According to a report from Metacrawler, some of the top search engine queries were for terms like “hotmail.com”, “www.hotmail.com”, “google”, “yahoo” and the like! It looks like many people do not know that they can directly access the URL by typing it into their browser’s address bar.
The lesson here is simple. Even if your site is a local site that advertises its URL via local TV, calling cards, printed newspapers, etc, it pays to have your site listed in the search engines. Otherwise, some of your “average users” will come to you and complain that your site could not be found!

2. Reviewing Search Engine Results
I find it educational to watch others search the Net and then navigate the web sites they find. One of the things I notice among these “average users” is that they really read the title of the pages returned on the searches.

For example, when you search Google for, say, “chicken recipes”, Google returns a list of pages with the titles of the pages hyperlinked. My observation is that most people review the list carefully and only click those hyperlinks which have titles that appear relevant to them. In this regard, I’m fairly confident that most experienced searchers do the same too.

Lesson: make sure your pages have an appropriate TITLE tag. The TITLE tag should contain the keywords that you’re targeting in the search engines so that people who search for those words will see the relevance of your page and click on the link. The TITLE should also be more than just a string of keywords strung together – it should make sense and sound relevant.

3. Reading the Web Page
Where the design of a web page is concerned, the KISS principle (“Keep It Simple, Stupid”) may actually help you to keep your visitor. A cluttered page with too much information tends to confuse visitors, and cause them to think that the information cannot be found on your site.

It doesn’t mean that your site has to have the spartan appearance of the Google search engine or naxtor.com.au. It can be decorated with colours and images, etc. But if there is some central information that you want to convey, or product that you want to sell, making it appear prominently on the page helps the average user zero in on what he/she is looking for.

4. Dealing with Pop-ups
There are two conflicting views regarding how newbies or perhaps even the typical web user deal with pop-up windows.

Some webmasters say that when they put their newsletter subscription forms in a window that pops up automatically when their site is loaded, their subscription rates rise markedly. As such, they recommend that you do the same, suggesting that your newsletter subscription rates will soar when you do so.

My experience with watching a few people surf the Internet was quite different. One of them got confused by pop-up advertisement windows appearing, and being unable to figure out how to go on from there, closed all the windows (which alas also terminated his dial-up connection) and had to start all over again. Another person was faced with a site that opened a hyperlink in a new window. After that person was through with that window, she found she could not use the BACK button to return to the original window. (She could not go back using that button since the original site was in a different browser window!)

In general, these people did not appear to do too well when confronted with multiple windows appearing. In fact, although they use their computer often to do word processing, play games and surf the Internet, it looks to me like they do not how to run multiple programs simultaneously and switch between them.

These observations (which are fairly recent) presents a problem for me as a webmaster. Although I make it a policy never to introduce pop-up windows in my site, I used to habitually code all my off-site links to open in new browser windows. However, in view of this discovery, it looks like I have the massive job of removing this “feature” from all my sites, since it is possible that the “typical” user doesn’t know how to manage more than one window at a time.

As for the pop-up advertisement and newsletter subscription windows, all I can say is that if you really think you need that, you should do a test run on your site before you implement it site-wide. What works on one site might fail in another because the latter attracts a different crowd with a different level of expertise. If you can, try to garner visitor feedback as well as check the impact of those pop-ups on your advertisement click throughs and subscription rates. You should also see if it hurts the number of people visiting deeper pages on your site – this might be an indication that they got lost after they saw your pop-up.

5. Browser Start Page
The average user seems to rely on his start page which is usually set for him by default by his ISP. Since such users learned to access the Net from that page, and they access a search engine from that page, that start page becomes the launching pad from which they access the Internet.

Some sites apparently realise this, and thus try to get visitors to change their start page to point to a page on their site. This is easy to accomplish for visitors using Internet Explorer (“IE”) since the start page can be changed with a script in IE. They provide a link to the script which the user merely has to click to change the start page.

If you are planning to create your own start page for your visitors, my suggestion is that you also put links to search engines on that page or perhaps even put a search box directly on that page (some search engines even provide you the HTML code to do this). This makes the page more useful to those users, thus increasing the chances that they will stick to your start page. That is, don’t just stick your advertisements onto that page. Make it useful as well.

Note that the fact that they rely on the start page does not mean that they stay an inordinate amount of time on it staring at it. Bear this in mind before you persuade all your visitors to use your start page. You might wind up paying for the bandwidth each time they log on without correspondingly gaining from the advertising revenue.

The Average-User-Friendly Site
It is possible to take advantage of the idiosyncrasies of the “average user” in the design and planning of your web site. Doing so not only produces a user friendly site, but also helps you accomplish the goals for your site.

About the Author

Nasir is a well-known internet consultant and developer with Naxtor Technologies – a web design and web development firm

Read more: Is Your Site Ready for the Average User?

Less Is More – How to Keep Your Website Clutter-Free

All glitz and fizz…
The past was about ‘bells and whistles’. Websites were designed to showcase the technology behind the web rather than to be an effective communications medium. Flash was used to “excite” and “engage” – its effect however was often the opposite. And web navigation was sometimes an experiment in obscurity making it almost impossible for the visitor to find their way around. Entertainment was the mantra rather than communication effectiveness.

We want it now…
There are often only a handful of reasons or actions for which the majority of visitors will be at your site. They want to complete the task in hand e.g find a price, book a ticket or get directions with minimum fuss.

Unless a site is quick and easy to use it will be a barrier rather than a gateway. Usability guru, Jakob Nielsen, suggests users spend on average less than 2 minutes on a website. The key to engaging visitors’ must therefore be simplicity over complexity; the need is less not more – less clutter, less blurb and fewer barriers.

Why clutter-free design
“When we’re creating sites, we act as though people are going to pore over each page, reading our finely crafted text, figuring out how we’ve organized things, and weighing their options before deciding which link to click…

We’re thinking ‘great literature’ (or at least ‘product brochure’), while the user’s reality is much closer to “billboard going by at 60 miles an hour.”
–Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

The Internet is clearly a different form of communication to more established media such as printed literature. However, it is only in recent years that its intrinsic differences have begun to make an impact on web design. I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard of clients asking their web designer to ‘put our brochure online’ – a brief that reflects a common lack of appreciation of the web as a powerful but very different medium.

Ensuring that the design and layout of our web pages suit the medium they are used in will help to ensure a positive user experience.

Let’s look at a few practical ways of doing more with less to make things simpler for our visitors:

1) Make pages easy to scan
It’s a well recognised fact now amongst web professionals that people rarely read pages online – they scan, or “speed read”. Therefore, if the information they need is not readily available they will move on – and quickly. Sensible use of headings, subheadings and bullet-points help bring a logical hierarchy to the page and allow visitors eyes to scan through the page efficiently to find the information they needallows visitors eyes to scan through efficiently to find the information they need.

2) Give me some [white] space
Subtle and thoughtful use of space in page design helps guide a visitor’s eyes to important information. It also helps to bring logical definition to different areas of a page, which lightens the load on our brains and allows us to focus on the task in hand.

3) Copy? Reduce it
Visitors often won’t have the time or inclination to read pages and pages of text in the hope of finding what they’re after. We need to prune our web copy to suit the medium – get rid of paragraphs and sentences that don’t add value.

4) Simplify site structure
Make sure that the sections of the site are divided up logically and that the navigation is clear and logical. Reduce the number of steps it takes
to complete tasks, especially when they lead to revenue generation – such as the checkout process on an e-commerce site.

5) Follow standards
When it comes to labelling navigation links, it’s a good idea to follow standards that have evolved with web development. For example, with contact details rather than giving it a navigation label, ‘call for more information/our offices’, the standard would be ‘contacts’ or ‘contact us’.

In closing…
Some might suggest that these principles constrain creativity. However, I believe that the ‘less is more’ philosophy heightens the need for a more creative approach to communicating ideas and messages – communicating an idea in 10 words is a lot harder than using 100 words.

About the Author

Jeremy Jarvis is a designer at Reflex Digital, offering web design services in Leeds, West Yorkshire and the UK. See http://www.reflex.net/ for more information.

Read more: Less Is More – How to Keep Your Website Clutter-Free

Major Features of Web Hosting

Storage
You need to know if your web host offers enough disk space. If you plan to host a small sized website with few graphics and html coding, 500MB to 10GB of disk space might be quite sufficient.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth determines the amount of data transfer you are allowed per month. This would be determined by the level of traffic that you are expecting to attract to your website. Bandwidth of 1GB can support more than 3000 unique visitors, which should be sufficient for a small web business.
Pop email
If you are running a web business, you would need pop3 email facilities. This means that you can have an email address of your own domain. You don’t need a lot of email addresses for a small website, but “unlimited aliases” feature allows you to have unlimited versions of email addresses going to the same email box. This makes it easier for you to filter your email. For example: order@domain.com for order related emails etc.
Free or paid
Should you pay for your web host or choose a free one? However, if you use a paid web host, you would have full control over the content of your website with no third party advertising. This would also create a more professional and reliable image of your web business.
CGI, MySQL, PHP, ASP
If you want to run interactive scripts (counters, form-to-mail, guest books) on your website you will need a CGI-BIN in your web hosting server. If you want your website to have a data base (mailing list, message boards) you would need php and MySQL facilities. ASP is also a data base related format that works with Windows servers.
Support
It is essential for a web host to give 24 hours customer support and address any problems of the customer immediately. You can check out the level of their support by emailing them before you setup an account with them. They should respond within 24 hours and answer all your questions in a satisfactory manner.
Cost
You can expect to pay anywhere from $7.75 to $20 for hosting a small website. If you are lucky, you can find a web host who will fulfill all your requirements at a reasonable price that suits your budget.
Uptime
Your web host should guarantee 99% uptime for your website. You can determine this by contacting some of their current customers. Some web hosts have a list of their customers on their website. If a list is not available, you can contact them and ask for testimonials from current customers about their level of service.Try to choose your web host carefully, as having a reliable and efficient web host would help immensely in the success of your web business.
Control Panel
Different webhosts tend to use different control panels. Although they might look and feel different, they usually accomplish the same type of tasks. Some popular control panels are Sphera, CPanel, Plesk, Ensim’s WEBppliance, and Zervex DSM.

Paid Back Warrant
You must read their “terms and conditions” and “Paid Back Warrent” terms before signing up.

About the Author

Kitty – Web Hosting Expert. Knowledge in technical and marketing.
Site Name:Third Parties Web Hosting Report, URL: http://www.pickto.net

Read more: Major Features of Web Hosting

Make Your own Web Site

If you can make your own web site for your small or home business, you can put yourself in a winning position immediately.

For most people the problem of going online will be the following:

1. How do I get a web site designed?
2. How do I get my web site hosted?
3. How do I market it to my target customers?

Fortunately, all these problems can be solved by modern all- inclusive ecommerce web site design packages.

The advantages of these all-in-one packages are that they save money as all the tools are in the same package. It saves a lot of time learning how to set up your business and it is easy to run because of the brilliance of the tools at your disposal.

It also saves a lot in web designer fees.

One of the best of these ecommerce web site design packages is Thirdsphere which is recommended by many leading internet marketers for its comprehensive features and affordable price.

It has the following unequalled features:

1. A Web-based WYSIWYG website builder.
This allows you to build quickly and easily pages in a fraction of the time it would take to use HTML. If you can use a word processor, you can build your web pages.

2.Web Marketing Automation Tools.
You have access to a set of tables that automate all your marketing. Some of the features include:

1. Follow-up Autoresponders
2. Secure digital product delivery
3. E-zine and newsletters
4. 2-Tier affiliates program
5. Advertising trackers and ROI calculation
3. E-Book Publisher

ThirdSphere allows you to publish a professional ebook, newsletter, e-brochure and any other kind of digital product.

Simply type your document into MS WORD, enter your e-mail address and press a button and in a few minutes you get a perfect PDF version of your document via e-mail.

4. Web Traffic building and Search Engine Tools
You are given a variety of search engine tools that include a keyword searcher, a meta-tag builder, and a search engine submitter that sends your website to 40 different search engines.

You also get a selection of tools to drive thousands of visitors to your website:

A. An E-zine and newsletter finder to advertise your site or to submit your articles.

B. A classifieds Ad submitter.

C. A pop-up window generator and more!

Remember, this is not difficult to operate. Anyone who can use a wordprocessor, can build a web site with Thirdsphere.

An additional benefit is that you have complete control over your web site. If you want to alter it, you can do it minutes and have the pages submitted to the search engines instantly.

There is no need to put the job out to your web designer and wait to have it done at extra expense to yourself.

In short, if you can make your own web site, you can make and save a fortune online.

About the Author

John Lynch
http://noahsraindesign.com
http://noahsraindesign.com/our_art.html
email: selina_remic@yahoo.com

Read more: Make Your own Web Site

Managed Hosting vs. Unmanaged Hosting

If you own a large corporation, you have the internet infrastructure to host your own web servers. You have a team of IT professionals on call at all times to maintain and manage the site. You may even have web designers on staff to create new elements at any time an update is required. However, if you run a small business or even a medium sized operation, you probably don’t have these kinds of resources. So you need another option for hosting your website. For companies in Denver, managed hosting is a good option, and here’s why:

First of all, let’s look at unmanaged hosting. Unmanaged hosting is a term that is applied to the example we used when referring to large corporations. If you are hosting your own servers and taking care of all the software updates, hardware maintenance, and other necessities of this operation, you are using unmanaged hosting. There is no one else but you managing any part of the system.

On the other side of the spectrum is managed hosting. This can take on a few different forms. Some people use the term managed hosting to mean any hosting that is in any way managed by someone other than the website owner. If this is the case, then when you sign up for paid hosting on the web, you are signing up to have someone else manage your hosting. Your website will be run on the server of the hosting company you choose.

You can select various levels of involvement with these paid hosting companies. Some people who are only looking to set up a sort of online brochure will use the templates provided by the hosting company to create their own basic five to twenty-five page website. Others hire a web designer either through the hosting company or through another source to design from scratch a website that is suited for their clients’ needs and their marketing strategy.

Managed hosting, Denver businesses are finding, can also be more complex than this model. Today, you have the option of running your website with some partial ownership that is not available with the paid hosting companies. This method is called managed co-location and involves the rental of space and the use of someone else’s IT department.

Managed co-location works like this: You rent or purchase your own server machine and store it in a facility that has a dedicated server line for all serves stored in a single rack. The advantages to this set up are many. First, the cost of a high bandwidth DSL line is out of reach for most small businesses. But if several servers are sharing the same line, you can get faster speeds for less money. You also get better redundancy and higher security at a facility that is set up to run specifically for this purpose.

In addition, a managed hosting Denverco-location will offer you the ease of a team of IT professionals who can install software updates and maintain hardware as well. So if you are looking to have more control over your hosting, check out the companies that offer co-location in your area.

About the Author

This article was written by Sytsma Morris-Reeves. Mr. Morris-Reeves runs NewMediaDenver,an Internet technology company located in downtown Denver, Colorado (http://www.NewMediaDenver.com). Mr.Morris-Reeves is a highly respected Denver SEO Expert since 10 years, and he constantly develops and stays current with all the latest SEO and Link Building Techniques.

Read more: Managed Hosting vs. Unmanaged Hosting

Marketing Power of RSS Content Syndication

RSS content syndication is relatively new legitimate practice in the world of search engine optimization (SEO). Marketing professionals specializing in SEO techniques are beginning to recognize the value of RSS content syndication however, and it seems that the more popular this technique becomes the more effective the results.

The value of RSS content syndication lies in the links contained within the content. This is because the big search engines like Google and Yahoo! pay a whole lot more attention to incoming links to a website than they did in the past. We’ll get to content a little later, because it still counts, but it is so important to understand why syndicating content to RSS feeds across the web may make you more money and cost you LESS!

RSS feeds are appearing on websites across the internet in order to keep people up to date with the latest news or information on a particular topic quickly. And we all know that users expect quality content, but even more so they expect that content to appear immediately! And, they want to see the content. They do not want to look for the content. They do not want to link to the content. They want the content to jump off of the screen and into their brains in 10 seconds or less!

Perhaps this is why Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, came about in the first place. It’s great news for web site owners too, however. Taking advantage of the huge variety and sheer number of RSS feeds that accept submissions from other websites provides a very cheap and simple way to develop more web site traffic and higher income.

Did I mention cheap? A minimal amount of time invested will allow you to not only provide a way for your loyal visitors to stay aware of your newest updates, but also to expand the awareness of the world about your services or products. I did mention cheap, right? Well, RSS content and article syndication allows you to spend some time preparing content in the standard XML RSS format and then to make it available to many free RSS feeds across the world.

If you have ever spent a large amount of money on an online marketing program – you already know the drawbacks of traditional internet marketing. Mass emails are no longer effective due to the increasing power of spam filters. Directory listing services are finding that their clients are removing their links due to retribution by the major search engine algorithms. And, Pay Per Click… well it’s just really expensive if you intend to see real results.

With RSS syndication, you are never going to face any of these issues. If you can write an html file for your website, you can syndicate your own RSS content. The basic process is quite simple to master, and as you become more familiar your skills will expand quickly as well.

What’s even better news for web site owners? The major search engines are not only approving of RSS syndication, they are providing RSS feeds open for submission in a huge array of topic areas like sports, entertainment, world news, travel, health and technology. There is a topic for every web site owner willing to put in a little effort! And people use their sites already, so what a better place to syndicate your content?

When you place content in an RSS feed, a link appears to your web site. This is noticed by the major search engines, and helps to increase your link popularity among the search engines. Link popularity will potentially move your site up in the search engine results pages (SERPS). Combine these two facts, and you will see that no matter how you look at it, RSS syndication will get you more traffic.

It doesn’t really matter whether your additional visitors found you through an RSS feed, or if your visibility and increased link popularity allowed them to find you through a major search engine! Think about that, and you are sure to see the true benefit of RSS content.

There’s that word again… “Content.” RSS content is different from what you might normally expect in an SEO campaign. The reason that most web sites containing RSS feeds put them there in the first place is to provide extra information for their visitors.

Think about it, if you publish a web site geared towards IT professionals you might be providing content that is of a fairly specific nature. You may be giving information, tutorials or even advertising for a certain software package. Although this information is important to a large majority of the visitors who click on your link, some visitors may be more interested in a different area of the IT field.

Providing an RSS feed that displays the latest in the world of IT news may be a great answer. If the information found in your RSS feed is quality and relative to your visitors’ interests, they will bookmark your site. Then they will COME BACK!

But what does that mean to you as the RSS syndicated content provider? It means that you will need to produce quality content – because it’s your content that keeps the users coming back to the original site. As long as your content is quality, and you remain a part of that RSS feed, you will see increased new and return visitors.

And generating traffic is the largest goal of an SEO campaign, so why wouldn’t you want to syndicate quality content for RSS feeds? This simple and inexpensive method of marketing your website is gaining popularity, and becoming visible now as a content provider will only mean greater returns in the future.

About the Author

Michelle McClory is an online marketing expert with 5 years of experience who is proud to be a member of the eByro team. If you would like to explore more Internet Marketing techniques visit eByro – the Vertical Portal for Internet Entrepreneurs

Read more: Marketing Power of RSS Content Syndication

Miva Merchant Web Design � A more affordable Ecommerce Method

For today’s business owner wanting to either have a new ecommerce website built or needing to take their brochure website and turn it into a money generating tool, finding the right web designer can be difficult. There are so many companies and designers out there, it’s hard to say what one is right for your specific needs. The next problem is finding a designer or company that can perform the necessary work your business needs to complete your website for an affordable price. That’s where the option of third party shopping cart solutions come in.

There are many programmers than can build an ecommerce website that works specifically for your exact needs and wants. If you are looking for a highly complex and very specific shopping cart system, then having a programmer that specializes in that field is where you are going to want to look. If your ecommerce shopping cart needs are more basic, there are very affordable options available that you can utilize and have your website online and running in no time at all. The best part is, it will be for a very affordable price.

One of the systems that comes highly recommended among the ecommerce world is the Miva Merchant third party shopping cart system. This third party shopping cart system is very affordable to use. Although Miva Merchant comes ready to use with some really great features, it is easily upgraded with specific types of modules that experienced Miva Merchant programmers have developed over time. Utilizing the additional modules for a nominal fee per module, is a great way to enhance the great shopping cart system that Miva Merchant already provides.

In addition to using the Miva Merchant third party shopping cart system, finding the right web designer to make it look professional is one of the last pieces to the puzzle. Having an ecommerce website that functions properly is just not enough. Your ecommerce website needs to be laid out and designed in an organized and professional fashion, as to encourage your shoppers to purchase and then up-sell them as well. Finding the right ecommerce web designer to do this for you is essential in your website’s success.

Finally, advertising your ecommerce website is your last step. We all know that having a website, well designed or not, does not give sales. You have to bring people and customers to your website to find the merchandise or products and services you sell, to get that sale. There are many methods to do this. Advertising on tv, radio and venues such as this are one way. There are also two different ways online that can bring traffic to your website. The first is pay per click advertising. This is a method of advertising that is immediate. You decide what keywords you would like to bid on for search engine placement, and pay a certain determined amount by the pay per click company. The second way of driving targeted traffic to your ecommerce website is by naturally getting your website listed in the search engines. This is called search engine optimization and needs to be completed by a seo professional that knows what they are doing. There are many seo companies out there that will tell you they can get you listed, but many are frauds.

Do your research when deciding to open your ecommerce website. Find the right third party shopping cart system that will work best for you and your business’ needs. Then find the right web design company to design your Miva Merchant Ecommerce website. Once you have that completed, drive targeted valuable traffic to your website to increase your sales and revenue. Bringing the online community to your website is a great way to increase your sales and provide more income for your business. Finding the right combination of software and people to get the job done is what will make your online ecommerce business successful.

About the Author

Miva eCommerce
info@aarcmedia.com

Read more: Miva Merchant Web Design � A more affordable Ecommerce Method

Open Source Code behind PoloMercantil

As we started the project of the electronic auction PoloMercantil.com, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for our financial resources. Our only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares.

However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.

In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.

We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.

Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.

Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.

Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.

For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.

As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.

Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.

As we came to the end of the project PoloMercantil, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.

Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).

Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.

PoloMercantil is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.

Roberto Sedycias

IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Articles section of the page www.polomercantil.com.br/mp3-mp4-audio-portatil.php.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article & biography must be kept.

About the Author

Roberto Sedycias has a bachelor degree in Business Administration and over 20 years experience in systems analysis and computer programmer. Currently working as IT consultant/chief software engineer for www.polomercantil.com.br.

Read more: Open Source Code behind PoloMercantil

E-Commerce Hosting – Factors to Consider

So you have decided to take the plunge and take your business on the web. This most likely means you will need a reliable hosting service to host your e-Commerce website. What are the key factors that you should consider when considering various web hosting companies?

When considering a web hosting service you should consider at least three factors, how reliable the service actually is, how knowledgeable and prompt are their support staff and what is the actual cost of using this service. Let’s break down each factor and really consider this situation in depth.

The reliability of the web hosting service is perhaps the most important to your business as a unreliable service can seriously hamper the reputation of your business. So how do you determine if a host is actually reliable? The first and perhaps the easiest way is to join a public newsgroup of web developers and simply ask them who they use to host their websites. For instance if you should want to use a ASP/ASP.Net hosting service I would go to aso.net and simply ask who is the most reliable hosting service. Also, searching through these newsgroups will reveal quite a lot of information regarding how knowledgably and helpful the support staff is as well. Simply stay away from hosting providers that have a poor reputation as those service companies most likely are only concerned with separating your money from your wallet and not actually helping you grow your business.

How do you determine which service has the most knowledgeable and helpful staff? This one is again fairly easy to determine. If the staff of the company takes the time to answer questions on public newsgroups and is willing to share their time and knowledge to help out others then this is the company you should utilize. For instance I have noticed that on some public newsgroups or forums many of the questions being answered are from various web hosting services. This not only reinforces their reputation of being really knowledgeable and helpful but it allows the company to get some “free advertising” as well.

Lastly is the cost factor to consider. There are many low cost web hosting providers out there. All you have to do is a search on Google and you will obtain potentially millions of hits on that key term. However, even low cost web hosting services can turn out to be expensive when you consider the various add-ons that you may have to attach to your website to make it truly useful to you. So therefore when considering a web hosting service write down your exact requirements you need to make your website run. Also consider the amount of growth that you anticipate when using this website. A website that may work for you now may not work for you in the near future if your business should really take off and you have not factored that consideration into account. Also take into account any cost of upgrading your service should you outgrow it or you need to move to a high end hosting solution.

When considering a e-Commerce hosting service or any web hosting service these are the key factors to consider before making any purchase. While certainly not an exhaustive listing of everything you need to consider this should get you on the right path to narrow your choices down to at least three or four services.

About the Author

Nasir is a lead web designer. For all web site development and web promotion needs, you can get in touch with him at http://www.naxtor.com.au.

Read more: E-Commerce Hosting – Factors to Consider

eEnterprise: NetSuite Business Management Software Offers E-Commerce Solutions

“With the continuing explosive growth of e-commerce, small- and medium-sized businesses that are able to reap actionable information from a rich online platform are uniquely positioned to compete in the online marketplace,” says Michael Emaus, President and CEO of eEnterprise (www.eEnterprise.com), a global integrator of NetSuite, the world’s leading on-demand, Web-based business management software. “Today, e-commerce demands sophistication, in terms of the online shopping experience, which products are presented to customers, and how sales are tracked.”

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce sales rose to $25.2 billion during the first quarter of 2006, an increase of more than 25 percent over sales during the first quarter of 2005. Adjusted for seasonal variations, the first quarter 2006 growth of e-commerce over fourth quarter 2005 was more than double that of retail sales overall.

“Although online sales currently represent only about three percent of all retail sales, that number is sure to climb,” says Emaus. “It’s crucial that online retailers position themselves to take advantage of this trend. NetSuite business management software integrates a flexible e-commerce platform with the critical, real-time information e-tailers need to make sound decisions.”

With NetSuite, online retailers can easily increase sales by automating up-sell and cross-sell recommendations on the shopping cart page, as well as by allowing customers to purchase and use gift certificates and coupons online. “Because accounting is integrated into NetSuite’s e-commerce solution, a customer can shop with a gift certificate any number of times, until the balance is used,” says Emaus. “An e-tailer can even offer downloads for purchase, using NetSuite’s ability for password protection and license codes.”

Behind the scenes, NetSuite gives a business owner or marketing team real-time, actionable information that they can leverage to increase their exposure to potential customers. “Instead of simply seeing which paid keyword campaigns are driving traffic to the site, an online retailer can see which campaigns are generating the most sales revenue, and make adjustments as necessary,” says Emaus.

The same holds true for inventory management, since NetSuite allows just-in-time restocking by dynamically calculating reorders based on seasonal demand or historical sales data. “Successful e-tailers don’t have inventory sitting around, nor are they caught with an item out of stock,” says Emaus.

He continues, “NetSuite removes the limits imposed by a traditional Web architecture and provides the online retailer with a marketing powerhouse. Small- and medium-sized businesses simply don’t have the resources to support the in-house staff necessary to design and maintain the e-commerce solution that NetSuite provides. Best of all, NetSuite is a Web-based application that can ‘turn on’ fully supported global resources in about five minutes.”

With the growth of online sales clearly outpacing traditional retail sales, NetSuite helps small- and medium-sized businesses level the playing field.

About the Author

Press Direct International (http://www.pressdirectinternational.org) is a global information website providing reliable information tailored for professionals in financial, media and corporate markets. Senior Editor: Kris Nickerson.

Read more: eEnterprise: NetSuite Business Management Software Offers E-Commerce Solutions

Factors to Consider When Hiring a Web Design Company

With today’s technology, more and more companies are utilizing the World Wide Web to promote their businesses. Prior to putting a website on the Internet for individuals to view, the company must first set up the website. This is where web design companies enter the picture. A web design company is hired to construct a website for an individual or company that is suitable to their tastes. There are a few factors to consider prior to settling on a specific web design company to construct your new website.

Examples of Prior Web Designs
One important factor to consider when choosing a web design company to develop a website is the type of web designs which the company has produced in the past. Many web design companies will make portfolios available for potential clients to view so that they may see the style of the web design company and determine if their finished product is what the client is looking to achieve in the way of a website. This is extremely helpful when trying to determine if the work product of the web design company is up to one’s standards. Therefore, always ask to see samples of a web design company’s prior work before signing them up to construct a website.

Estimated Completion Time
Another important factor to consider when selecting a web design company to design one’s website is what their estimated completion time may be. This is beneficial to know up front so the client can expect the finished work at a certain time. Since many individuals are using the Internet for conducting business, it is important that the client get their website up and running as soon as possible. This will also give the web design company notice that the client needs their completed product at a certain point in time and they will be less likely to push it to the side and work on other client’s projects.

Cost of Web Design Project
It is also crucial to know up front how much the completed web design project will cost the client. Since many businesses are on a tight budget these days, it is vital that one knows how much they will need to pay for their web design. Along with the total cost of the web design project, the client should also receive a breakdown of the individual costs of the project.

What Is Included with the Total Web Design Price?
One who retains a web design company to construct their website should also ask about what items are included in the total web design cost. Some companies will include follow-up consultation in the web design price or web design help in the future. It is important to inquire about these things in the beginning so as to know what type of items they can expect with the amount that they paid for the web design.

References
For those clients who wish to be on the safe side and know exactly who they are dealing with, requesting references is always an available option to the client. Many times the web design company will offer references that will vouch for their professional behavior and wonderful finished product. References are a good way to weed out the bad web designers from the good ones.

Volume of Past Experience
It may also be beneficial to inquire about the company’s amount of experience. Companies that have been in business for a good many years may just have a bit more experience than newcomers to the web design scene. Although this is just one of the many factors which should be looked at with regard to hiring a web design company, it does help to sway the decision maker one way or the other with regard to hiring or not hiring a specific company to prepare a website for them.

Customer Service
It is also important to consider the customer service skills of the web design company. One who is paying good money to have their website designed wants to make sure they are dealing with a company that will listen to what they want and make themselves readily available to their clients. If one is considering a particular web design company that has bad customer service skills, it might be more advisable to choose a company that is more client-oriented.

Summary
There are many different web design companies one can choose from when they want to have a website designed. By considering the factors mentioned above, one can help to ensure that the company that they select to take on this important task does so in a professional, reasonably priced manner. In addition, the client should determine that the web design company has an adequate amount of experience and will produce a product that is exactly what the client is looking for.

About the Author

This article is written and contributed by Tetsu Liew of Visualscope Studios, a Seattle web design firm. Using the latest technologies coupled with a healthy dose of creativity and professionalism, we work closely with our clients to provide comprehensive and integrated online solutions.

Read more: Factors to Consider When Hiring a Web Design Company

Finding a Search Engine Friendly Content Management System

What is a Content Management System?
A Content Management System (CMS) is a third party software application which allows web site administrators to add, update or delete content, photos, and documents to their web site in “real time”. Many web sites are modified using these web-based tools as they require little to no knowledge of HTML or web scripting languages. CMS programs make it easy for a webmaster or site owner who does not know HTML or have access to a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML Editor, such as Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, to update their site.

In today’s high paced web world, a good CMS is integral to the efficient operation of a web site. Many webmasters and web site developers are building database driven, or dynamic web sites, which require a third party solution, such as a Content Management System, to update the content that lives in the database. In addition, a CMS allows the web site owner to outsource content development remotely to contract copywriters and other willing contributors. With built in access level hierarchies, webmasters can allow various users to register as authors and start submitting articles and news to be published on their site.

How do Content Management Systems Work?
Content Management Systems create a dynamic web site environment, where all the content is stored in a database or XML file. Using a web-based interface, the webmaster can select which page they want to update and then can modify the web content in a text editor, with many of the familiar formatting keys that can be found in a word processing program. Once the content has been updated, with the simple click of a button, the CMS will turn their text into HTML code and publish the content to the web site.

Problems Between Search Engines and Content Management Systems
Historically, search engines have had difficulty indexing dynamic pages. While their ability to index and rank dynamic pages has improved dramatically, there are some basic things to avoid. One of the greatest enemies of search engines is URL strings that contain many URL parameters. URL parameters are variables that are passed to the CMS through the URL, which tell it what information to retrieve from the database. URLs with too many parameters generally make little logical sense to the average user and may also scare off search spiders.

It is suggested to limit the number of URL parameters to two or three per URL to ensure that that search spiders will not have difficulty indexing pages deep within the web site.

Certain URL parameter names may automatically flag a filter on the search engine. One example is the URL parameter names that contain ‘ID’, such as ‘sessionid’, ‘sid’ or ‘userid’. Historically, search engines detect the term “ID” and assume it is associated with a session dependant variable. As a result, search engines have learned to flag these parameter names and it can cause problems with page indexing. Passing session dependant variables through the URL is a problem for search engines because the spider essentially sees a unique URL each time they visit the site because the session dependent variables change with each visit. For example, on one visit to the site, a page URL may be www.naxtor.com.au/page.aspx?sessionid=12345. The next time the spider visits the page, the URL may be www.naxtor.com.au/page.asp?sessionid=56789 This creates a situation where a spider may think that there are multiple URLs with duplicate content, resulting in penalties which will negatively impact search rankings.

Based on the above, it is imperative to employ a CMS that does not pass session dependent data, such as session variables, through a URL string. Doing so will not only create potential usability issues for the end user, but will also result in indexing problems for the search engine spiders.

Finally, search engines gather understanding from your web site’s content by filtering through the HTML code. For this reason, it is extremely important that your CMS generate HTML code that adheres to the latest requirements of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Use the W3C Code Validator to determine if your code meets the W3C standards. Be aware that some CMS’s add in many lines of proprietary code or JavaScript at the top of the file, which can choke search spiders. This violates a cardinal rule of SEO; ‘To always have more content then code’.

Finding a Search Engine Friendly CMS that will Work for You
Now that we have explored many of the potential problems with Content Management Systems, lets look at how to go about finding one that will be both search engine friendly and suit your specific needs. First you will need to determine what server platform you will be using. Many Content Management Systems use scripting languages and databases that are platform dependant. If you are married to a particular platform, it may limit your CMS options. Ideally, you will want to find a CMS that is platform independent, which can run on any server.

There are many search engine friendly CMS’s that will allow the web site owner to generate a URL structure that is both meaningful to their users and digestible by search engine spiders. Instead of having a URL that is packed with parameters, you can create a URL structure that looks like this: http://www.naxtor.com.au/children/hats/prodid/121576. Your next step is to check whether your CMS builds HTML pages to the latest standards established by the W3C. Most CMS providers will be able to tell you if their solution generates valid code. If they can’t, then ask for a sample page and run it through the W3C Code Validator. In order to rank effectively in organic results of the search engines, it is imperative that your CMS allows you to update your title tags, meta data and alt tags on a page-by-page basis.

The most important aspects of a good CMS are the ease of use and richness of content formatting features. This one is a no-brainer because the very reason that you are looking for a CMS is that YOU DON’T WANT TO CODE. Any good CMS should provide an editing stage that is similar in feature and function to a standard word processing program, such as Microsoft Word. The technical term for this is a WYSIWYG Editor or a Rich Text Editor. This important feature will allow you to type and format your content using standard buttons and keyboard shortcuts. When you publish the content to the live web site, the CMS will write the HTML, CSS and scripting to display your content as it was formatted during the editing stage. Many Content Management Systems are offering additional technologies, such as RSS feed, shopping cart solutions, forums and live chat integration, which can really enhance the functionality of your web site. The key is to find a CMS that will suit your core needs and then determine what add-ons would be beneficial. The ends result will be a web site that is easy to manage and usable for both your customers and the search engines.

About the Author

This article reviews the basics of Content Management Systems (CMS) and details the key aspects of a search engine friendly CMS. This article was written by Nasir. Nasir is the Project Manager at Naxtor Technologies, http://www.naxtor.com.a

Read more: Finding a Search Engine Friendly Content Management System

Flash Design for a More Dynamic Web Presence

If you have been running with a basic website since the inception of your online presence, you may want to look into developing something a bit more dynamic. Today’s World Wide Web is full of competitors. Your competition is doing what you are doing on the web, but they may be doing it better. The key is to stay up on the latest technology and to not be afraid to try new things on your site. Obviously, you want to do a bit of market research before you plunge ahead with an entire new set up, but if you get together with any of the fine Denver flash development experts available, you can get some wonderful ideas for how to do a lot on your website with a few changes.

Flash design has been around for a while now, though most website owners who are not computer professionals do not really know what it is. You may have downloaded the Macromedia Flash Player for free in order to see movie previews, company presentations, or music videos, but you may not be familiar with flash technology beyond that daily use. Flash development, Denver web design, or systems development teams are all capable of telling you more about flash.

Basically, your website is probably written in HTML, a code that is used to tell the computer what to display on the screen. There are other codes gaining popularity now, but the older ones are still constructed with HTML. This code language allows the computer to display images and text in a static manner. In other words, you can display an article or a photograph, but not a cartoon or a moving title. HTML is limited to fixed positions.

If you want a more dynamic site, you need to move beyond this language and enter the world of flash. So many websites online include some form of flash today that it is unusual for a large company not to have something in motion somewhere in the site. You can make text, images, and animations move around on the screen. But this is just the beginning.

Before flash really took hold, programmers used GIF images or java applets to create movement on the screen. GIF images are simply loops of the same images played over and over, and they take forever to load. Java applets are very limited in how they can be used and tend to come with some inherent kinks, such as limited color variability.

But firms can now take you to the next level, by allowing you to play movies, virtual animation, and other dynamic elements on your site. That’s because flash is interactive. Your client can point the mouse at flash animation and make it stop or start, can click and drag it somewhere, or even add to it if the program allows for that. In fact, flash movies are actually easier to create than java applets but allow for much more interactivity.

Flash movies also work with up to 256 colors, the standard for online full-color images. And although the original movies seemed to take forever to load, now that almost all internet users are online with a high speed connection, the flash movies load faster than the old GIF animations.

So talk to a professional flash developer today about how you can make your customers’ online experience more dynamic.

About the Author

This article was written by S. Reeves Morris. Mr. Morris runs the Internet technology company New Media located in downtown Denver, Colorado http://www.NewMediaDenver.com which for 10 years has been dedicated to helping businesses succeed online. Mr. Morris is a SEO Expert who keeps himself updated all latest Search Engine Optimization and Link Building Techniques

Read more: Flash Design for a More Dynamic Web Presence

Flash Opens New Windows and Opportunities for Game Designers

There are three main aspects: the player, the file format, and the authoring tool/IDE. Flash games can be developed for websites, interactive TV, as well as handheld devices. There is no need to adopt multiple programming languages to build games.

It is the universal tool that permits the development of multimedia driven complex games. Games means fast, furious, efficient with rich graphics.
Flash enables developers to build the most popular games for online gamers. It just needs to support:

• Rich engaging graphics.
• Smooth download of files from the net.
• A playback device that can interpret downloads.

There are three main areas: design, development, and hosting.
The first step is creation of graphics. One must use Fireworks as well as Freehand for this aspect. The tools are compatible and fireworks allows the addition of Java script to images.

The game development will be done in Flash by importing graphics created in Freehand and Fireworks. The graphics are then placed in Director the parent tool of Flash.

The next part, hosting, uses a Web server. Dreamweaver MX is the tool that will create Web pages to host the game.
And, finally ActionScript is used to provide enhanced functionality.
Advantages:
• Integrates almost all features needed for developing a game. It is a great interactive tool.
• Can be used anywhere does not need additional software or plug ins.
• It is Mac friendly.
• Permits conversion from a full game to web version and vice versa.
• Low cost and free to distribute. Licenses for decoders MP3 and Sorensen Spark are included.
• Artists that can use flash easily are in plenty.
• Flash delivers broadcast quality images over the Internet.• Permits embedding of game in power point for use in presentations.• Plenty of information as well as guidelines can be accessed as well as understood by all –tutorials, articles, as well as blogs.
• The size of the game file remains small as the vector graphics and sound files are compressed.
• Learning Flash language is easy.
• Permits copy-paste to test components
There are traps one must be wary of and a few cons. Know the system well to maximize its use. There are plenty of tutorials inline that can be used as guides. Flash interface is ideally suited to both designer as well as developer, you can have fun while creating the game.
Flash is simple to use and a game can be developed in a few hours in a packaged form that can run on a PC, Mac, or Linux. One can make use of a browser or run the game as a stand alone.

About the Author

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com, the premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle games and more. He also freelances for www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com.

Read more: Flash Opens New Windows and Opportunities for Game Designers