June 07th, 2010

What is Google Wave?
Google Wave was launched last year which is an online document service allowing a number of users to edit documents and collaborate. There was a lot of excitement when it first launched but that excitement soon faded away. It is now a product in its own right.

How do I use it?
To use the Wave service, you had to be invited. Today, you can sign up to Google Wave without an invitation code. It’s now open to everyone and free to use.

Why use it?
Google Wave allows you to collaborate with other team members on projects. It’s very similar to a large virtual whiteboard where everyone can edit the document and make comments.

I have used it for a number of projects and it saved a lot of draft documents being emailed to everyone and getting lost in the process. Another problem with using an email to everyone in the team is that changes are not recorded and keeping track of the changes done makes it very difficult.

I recommend you try out the service. It is free to use and runs through any browser you can think of. It can be very useful for the right purpose and save a lot of time.

Allowing multiple people to edit a document plus it’s range of other features make it easy to collaborate.

How do I get started?
Click on this link to get started – http://wave.google.com

Tell us what you use Google Wave for…

My name is Nigel Burke. My blog – Internet Marketing and eCommerce Expert is to help businesses succeed on the Internet. You could be setting up your first website or looking at increasing sales on your current website. Check out my website – http://nigelburke.com

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Web design plays such an important role in creating a brand value for your product. Marketing being the backbone for any business promotion and generating greater profits, a good web design creates an impression in the minds of customers. Your business needs to reach the global market and the fastest means of achieving it is through online marketing. You need a good website which promotes your business services and products. For this design is necessary, and the quality of this design will decide your brand equity.

The first and foremost thing you need to remember while hiring web design services from a professional is, that your design shouldn’t look to flashy or the colors used must not be very bright and odd or gaudy. See to it that your design doesn’t take up too much memory space, which means it will take a longer time to load which is only going to test the patience of the customer. This means somebody is losing interest to read about your product half way through the time of loading.

Many web design companies are offering readymade templates which you can use for your business promotion. Be selective with what you choose and always make sure the design is simple, aesthetic and pleasant to feel. There are designs with light colors with graphics of trees and leaves, which can be added to the background. But, the users visiting your site shouldn’t be captivated into the design. The design must only be a background attraction to make them stay and read the content.

Using appropriate content which sticks to the subject with important keywords is also one important factor of web design. Linking your website with other sites is a good way of promoting your business. Just look for the best services from any of the web designing companies online and make the best use of them.

For web design news or web news, visit longmediagroup.com

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Looking to hire a web designer? While checking out the nice-looking sites in their portfolio, and thinking they do a really good job “I like the little blinking bright multi colored butterflies.” Did that tell you if that site also does it’s job which is to get targeted traffic that builds leads which turn into customers. Let’s face it any webmaster can build a site. But can their flashy looking sites take your business to the next level?

Chances are the local webmasters you are considering knows how to do HTML and how to add the latest flash animations or whatever happens to be fashionable at the moment, well that’s great for appearances but that has nothing to do with generating traffic to your business, and your website is your business not a fancy electronic Picture of your company or service.

You need someone who will talk about performing a thorough keyword research based on your business theme, your potential customers desires and what the search engines want.

If they don’t talk first about keyword research but instead talk about features they can put on your site, you’ll know that there is know reason for any of the visitors who might find your site to do business with you unless you’re selling multi colored blinking butterflies.

When a web designer doesn’t take the time… or worse doesn’t even know how to understand you and your visitor’s needs they can’t possibly customize a blueprint for you or your particular clientele. This also tells you that you have No chance of getting truly targeted visitors that turn into buyers and repeat customers.

Information about you and the solutions you provide, are what people search for online. Providing quality relevant content that builds confidence and credibility with your target audience will make your business easier to find when people do a search.

For example if you sell real estate, people looking to buy a new home, will not type “show me a cool looking photo of a house” into the search engines. Not when they want to know if it is near schools, close to transportation, the neighborhood, and shopping.

What you need them to build is website the informs your potential new clientele what your service is all about and why they should choose you instead of your competitors. In addition it should be explained to them with keyword focused content pages with your customers firmly in mind, and in an organized professional manner that will achieve the results you want. Speak to a web designer that knows how to build credibility for you and confidence in your potential customers this will make your site look beautiful and your business image Great.

Visit http://www.beautypassionimages.com. Consult with a specialist trained to build websites that work for you. Call toll free – Use Contact form And Watch The Video Today.

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Do you have a website or an online store? If it is not doing so well then the time has come to revive it so that people get interested and visit your website again. If you do not pay attention to your website they can become outdated with time. However you can make efforts to keep them fresh and current. By following some tips you can revive your website.

1. Adorn your homepage with new pictures, text and information. New images with beautiful concepts will glorify your website.
2. Consider adding a creative banner. By adding a wonderful looking banner you can make your website attractive looking particularly for teens.
3. Overhaul your text with some effective keywords. Search engines will love it.
4. Add some interesting area on the website filled with resources, information and some special deals for your customers. By providing information and resources along with your products, you are giving people a reason to keep coming back. This is how you build trust with your visitors and get more sales.
5. Learn how to blog and get one blog added to your website. This improves your search engine ranking and expands your network.
6. Add a “What is New?” Page to your website so that everyone comes to know about all your updates now and in the future.
7. Colors and the color scheme you are using in website represent your brand. Be sure to change the color and layout you are using in your website if they do not fit with your brand.
8. Ask your visitors or customers what they would like to see and what type of products they are looking for. Add a survey on your site for this purpose.

If you keep your website current and up-to-date, it will keep it relevant and will keep visitors coming back again and again.

For more information please visit: Halwits.com

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Competitiveness in web marketing has grown over the years. It has evolved from simple marketing in to complex forms, making use of articulate layouts, excellent utilization of headlines and styles that could help marketers generate not just a big profit with perspective customers but also produce a lasting business relationship with them. However with large competitors it is tough for internet marketers to get an advantage against the others. A internet marketer must find ways to brand themselves. They need some thing to set them apart from the competitors. That is the reason many of them considered squeeze page design. So that they can have more mobility and better options in product sales marketing.

The squeeze page design, which is also known as lead capture page, is a single dedicated web page that contains interest grabbing headlines along with graphics and bullets which highlight the given privileges and answers the customers’ question of, “What is in it for me?”. The primary goal for this page is to motivate business prospects to trade their contact information, including name and email address, for access to the services or products the marketer is providing. To make it more understandable, when you’ve already developed a web page and started marketing you’ll sooner or later have individuals looking in to check out your products. If you do things right and obtain their attention these people may subscribe to your page giving you their name, email and other information in order to have access to your product offers and also be updated with new offers. As the list of potential customers grow so will the possibility of profit gain.

Your list of prospective customers may develop into one of your most valuable business assets so it is highly recommended to begin building a list at the earliest opportunity and be sure that your opt-in webpages convert as high as possible.

When it comes to getting customers, the graphics plays a crucial part. Giving off a great first impression is always essential because in all honesty visitors really don’t stop to read what is written on your web page. They will just browse trying to find any interesting stuff and then move on to the next web page. The second the visitor scans your web page, it’s the only time you’ve got to capture them, and only have seconds to do that. That’s precisely why you have to impress them and fast. This actually happens especially if the visitor is just a new comer to the page. So what on earth are you going to do? You need to create a squeeze page design and layout that would be radiant and eye catching, simultaneously giving off a professional look that could give the visitors an impression that you mean business. Should you manage to accomplish it then you certainly have already won half the battle.

Aside from creating a squeeze page design, there’s also one other way for internet marketing, this is by collecting prospective customers through opt-in from a blog’s sidebar. It is a process of subscribing by the customer to allow an internet marketer to send a message regarding an offer, information about a product, etc. But your sales will certainly suffer because there are way too many distractions in your blog like advertisements and even the background itself. I doubt that you’re going to get as much prospects as you will get if you use an online marketing web page. It’s better to make use of a dedicated web page that would provide you with optimum benefits.

Therefore, having an online advertising webpage, the internet marketer can increase on-line sales, strengthen your overall identity, and drastically boost web site traffic. It’s an extremely helpful tool.

The writer is a web producer. I create, edit and arrange the text, video, audio, images and other materials that may be included on a website. To get more information, visit the following link: Squeeze Page Design

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

There are a number of vital website design tips that all website designers should follow to generate a striking first impression for visitors to their site.

The main problem that often occurs is when people log onto a website and then find it takes far too long to load. It does not matter how fantastic the site may appear, if it takes more than a few seconds to load, then you will quickly lose your visitors.

In order to achieve this, it is vital to minimise the use of images. They may enhance a website page, but it is best to avoid placing too many on a page. Instead, keep things simple by using HTML. You will see that major sites have very few images and this is because for them the load time is very important. Simple is often best. Optimise the images prior to placing them on your site. They should be in jpeg of gif format. You can also minimise the size of an image by choosing the colours you need from the colour palette, so the less colours you choose, the less the size of the image.

It is possible to use tables in a creative way because they load very quickly being simple HTML code. You can use tables on your home page, for menus, or wherever you like. Try to reduce animated gifs unless it is absolutely necessary. They take a long time to load and many people find them very irritating. However, used correctly they can be attention grabbing, so minimal use of small ones may add interest to your site.

Experiment with CSS styles and achieve some interesting effects. Once again, CSS is simple code and will load very quickly. Try not to over use Flash. There is a great deal of hype about this subject, but whilst it may look fantastic, it can take a great deal of time to load and may well put off your visitors. Design the majority of your site in HMTL, use tables, experiment with CSS, minimise the use of animated gifs, Flash and bulky images.

Unambiguous navigation is essential. Once a visitor has come to your website, they need to stay on it and look at the pages. All important links should be in prominent places, preferably right at the top of the web page, which is where a visitor usually looks first. Make effective use of the menus on the right and the left, whilst trying to link to as many pages of the site as you can. You should allow your information to be easily accessible from all part of the sit because you never know what a visitor may be interested in.

Links on the web pages should be well organised in accordance with the order of importance. Visitors should easily be able to find what they are looking for under varying categories. Once you have decided on how the site should be navigated, you should then think about the best place to have them. The navigation should both clear and consistent. Designers should try to design navigation at the top or on the left, as this is the first place our eyes visit. Furthermore, the primary links should high enough on the page so that they are clearly visible, without scrolling. Any navigation images used should be seamlessly integrated into the site design. Placing the main navigation links at the foot of the page should be avoided, but it is quite a nice idea to have navigation links both at the top and bottom of the page, so visitors do not have to scroll up and down and in this way, visitors will not miss important links.

Consistency in navigation is essential, with the most important links on a website being on every page in the same location and the same sequence. If you place them in differing places, visitors will become confused.

All resolutions should be catered for so your site is browser compatible. These range from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and may go even higher. The most effective way to do this is in terms of percentage rather than pixels. As time goes by, more and more people are going to switch to higher resolutions so it is vital to design for this. Prior to starting a design, you should decide on your lowest screen resolution. Once you have done this, you then design your site for that resolution.

Readable and professional looking fonts are a must. Therefore, do not use Comic Sans and other fanciful fonts that are not available on many computers. If the font you have chosen to use is not available on the site visitor’s computer, the website will use the default font of your computer, which is far worse.

The use of white space is important because visitors will not want to see a site cluttered up with far too many images, background and colourful fonts. This is too confusing for the eye. Once again, keep things simple by minimising the amount of graphics and using a lot of white space, which will give a sense of spaciousness and overall neatness to a website.

Always check for broken links within a website prior to uploading it to the server. This is fairly straightforward in Dreamweaver and several other packages of this kind, so there is no excuse.

If these simple guidelines are followed, then your site visitors will have a rewarding experience when they visit your web pages.

Carol Forrest is the Managing Director of Webs Galore Limited which is a professional website design agency specialising in the creation of cheap and affordable website design for small and medium sized companies.
Website: http://www.websgalore.co.uk
Email: info@websgalore.co.uk

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

The internet is the most powerful tool at nearly everyone’s fingertips. Being used every day, all day, all over the world, the internet is now a necessity in our lives that we cannot live without. This is the reason why so many businesses use the internet as a device to gain interest and prospective clients for their companies.

There are many reasons why businesses should have a website, and why they can gain so much success from them. One of the main and simplest reasons is because by having a website you can provide basic information that establishes credibility. Having your own company domain reinforces you as a serious business.

An additional plus to having your own website for your business, is that you can update your information as frequently as you choose, you are able to let customers know in seconds any vital information that will benefit you as a company. The information you display through your website will be available to the world, not only to the local market. Information that is crucial for the consumer are areas such as basic information, map and contact details for the company, having business information available to them 24/7, viewing feedback from other consumers and to learn of any special offerings from the company being made.

As a business, a website is crucial, it not only allows you to gain more clients, more consumers, but also allows you to connect with other businesses over the internet. Contacting potential clients and seeing how similar businesses market their product. Through having a website you can reach the media easily. Newsletter editors and other businesses may like the content on your website and they may refer to it in their own articles, this is free publicity.

In all the internet is something to get on board with, it has dominated our world, and is still rapidly expanding, I recommend all businesses, especially small businesses to take advantage of the power of the internet, and produce a website to market and publicise your company.

Notes for editors: Louise Gandolfi recommends Bing Productions who offer website design kent

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Here is a list I have compiled of the top 10 best free website tools I have found on the Internet. In my opinion these tools are essential for anyone starting out in the web business and wants a head start.

1. WordPress - Quite simply the best free website blogger you will ever use. There are literally thousands of ready made themes available to choose from and the good news is you will be liked by Google in the natural listing. Use a hosting company with cPanel and install it with the click of a button.
2. Joomla – Award winning Content Management System. Like Wordpress Joomla can be installed with the click of the mouse using cPanel also. Some stunning templates for truly professional looking websites. Try Rockettheme.com or Yootheme.com. A must have!
3. Firefox Browser - Forget about Microsoft Explorer, this is the King of Browsers, especially if you want stats about your competition! Download plug-ins such as SEO4FireFox and Keyword Spy. You will wonder why you ever used Explorer after using this.
4. Filezilla FTP Client – Forget all the other FTP clients out there. This is simplicity in itself. Another MUST HAVE tool! To upload your files you simply “drag-n-drop” from the left window to the right; and not one at a time either, this little baby will handle your whole directory at once!
5. Google Keyword Tool - Want to know what everybody in your niche is typing into Google? Now you can and it’s easy to use straight from the website. Find the best keywords to maximise your on-page SEO from the leading search engine giant.
6. Kompozer – If you need an HTML editor for designing a few squeeze pages then this is the best free one I’ve found.
7. Paint.net – Can’t afford Photoshop! This is the next best thing and you’ve guessed…it’s FREE! Edit all of your photos, design your logo for your website…even airbrush out your wrinkles! This is a great little package without the price tag.
8. Inkscape – Design your company logo with this great FREE vector drawing package. Design logos, flyers, posters, even catalogues with another great piece of software
9. Camstudio – Can’t afford £200 for Camtasia, then give this freebie a try! You will be able to record your screen and talk at the same time to create some great little videos that you can then upload to YouTube. Perfect if your website traffic needs a little boost!
10. FavIcon – Always wondered how the little icon before the http:// got there? Here’s how! Is means “favourite icon” and you simply choose a photo or image, select the area you want to create as your favicon and the correct size and file type is automatically generated. Give it a try to make your site look professional.

To download all of these free tools and for more great ideas to help you get started with your website please visit my website Michael John German or if you want to start your own web business check out my business partners site Make My Own Web Page for your FREE eBook and video course and start making money online.

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Web design has since become very sophisticated while still retaining the core framework of HTML. JavaScript has added to the interactivity that HTML web pages can have and CSS and XML-XSL have improved the formatting options of web pages.

HTML’s options to allow objects to be embedded opens up a lot of possibilities, the most popular of them being Flash that provides unparalleled sophistication in presentation, visual appeal and animation. Flash is a program that runs as an object within HTML. It is possible to create different objects within HTML that run on their own but within the layout of the web page.

Good design makes a strong impact on the reader and helps define and change perceptions about the brand and the company. Good design is also essential for search engine optimization (SEO) as the design that includes good practices that are search-engine friendly have stronger prospects of good ranking for specific keywords.

Web design must address the dual needs of being search engine friendly and being very communicative, exhaustive with its information content and motivating the reader to feel good about the brand and delve further into the website.

Web design has challenged people who have questioned its versatility and possibilities. In the early days I recall a friend with a distinguished career in information technology contemplating that web design will reach its limits as there is only a certain amount that one can be creatively within the boundaries of the display. We now know that the 1024 x 768 pixel rectangular area offers almost infinite possibilities in web design, layouts, creativity and presentation.

Good design is about good looks, readability, cross-browser support, excellent usability and clarity of communication. Web design is not merely the purview of a graphic designer. A lot of thought needs to go into it for the right method of communication and the mood or theme that the web page should address. HTML and JavaScript programmers, Flash animators, content writers and SEO specialists all have a large role to play in the construction of a web page. Good design must include a team that at-least comprises of thought in communication, visual design, interaction design, content writing and SEO analysis and structure.

All this makes web design a very sophisticated activity and a deeply satisfying one with immense possibilities and potential. Constant innovation, new technologies and business applications will ensure that web design keeps growing in stature and content and becomes increasingly sophisticated and versatile. Improvements in telecommunications, 3G mobile networks and broadband have reduced the constraints on size and data transfer. Websites can now have more advanced features including high definition video and audio and animation with real-time viewing over high speed networks.

Nikhil Narayan is Managing Director of Digital Horizons UK Limited, a company that provides Technology and Digital Media services. He is actively involved in web design and SEO projects for customers around the world.

Posted in Web Design

June 07th, 2010

Creating your own website used to be considered difficult, people had to know HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) and if you didn’t have a degree in web design then it just didn’t seem plausible.

This has all changed, now – website design has got cheaper and cheaper and one reason for this is because people are designing and building their own sites.

Now whether this is to build your own fan website or to build a website to make money, never has their been a better time to get cracking in this fun and somewhat lucrative pass-time.

Everyone wants to show off their online skills, showing their cool photo’s, video’s articles and stuff, where better to display what you do or know, than on your own website?

Now I have to admit something to you – when it comes to design, I cringe at the word, as my design skills are practically zero but even I can make great looking web pages designed to THRILL!! simply by following a few simple steps.

If you don’t know your ftp from your http, don’t worry you soon will.

Now I use a little free html editor called “Komposer” this handy tool is what I design my web pages in – you can write text, import photo’s and even upload everything (barring e-books) to the web all in a few strokes, so your first task is to download Komposer, next you will need a domain name this is the web address your website sits on – this you can get from Go Daddy for a yearly fee of about $9, make the domain name relevant to what your website is about.

Next you will need a hosting account – Hostgator is good as you can host unlimited web pages for about $10 a month. A hosting account is necessary as you will be renting space (like real estate) to park your website.

Now, is this a fan site or are you wanting to make money with this site? If you want to make money, you are going to need to create your own list of prospects to market to, and you will need to send emails to your list of prospects using an autoresponder.
An autoresponder is a piece of software that lets you submit emails to your potential customers in sequence, all on auto pilot – I can recommend Aweber, this is the same one I use myself.

Now you will need to learn to put this all together to make it work, and boy will it work, that is more than I can do in a short article like this – I have a FREE 125 page eBook for you about creating your own website, get yours now

I am an author and marketer on the Internet, I enjoy discovering new ways to make money every day, whether it’s tweeting on Twitter or finding friends on Facebook, the internet has the power, the ultimate power to persuade and to mix, socialise, to learn, and to earn money at home – FREE eBook – “How to Create Your Own Website by 3.45 This Afternoon” http://www.keitheverettonline.com

Posted in Web Design