.: Andy MacDonald Profile and Articles
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1). Using Graphic Images On Web PagesPerhaps one of the biggest mistakes web page designers make is to misuse or overuse graphic images on web pages. Designers become so enthusiastic about using new technology that they tend to focus on "look what we can make for you" rather than a web page's functionality.
Web page graphics must serve a function. If a graphic image's only function is "to look cool," you are unnecessarily increasing the download time of your web pages.
2). Finding The Best Host For Your Company’s Needs
So your business has decided that it is time to make its presence felt on the internet. You have your all your information ready, and you may even have created your website which it is ready to go live on the internet.
The next step is to find a web hosting provider, but how do you evaluate web hosting, and then make a choice on which provider to pay your hard earned money too?
Choosing the correct host for your company’s needs is a very important step, if not the most important step when taking your business online.
3). Designing sites for search engines and directories
In terms of layout, many web sites are not designed for optimum search engine and directory visibility. People or companies seem so centred on their corporate or personal images, products, and services that they neglect to design their web sites with search engines and directories in mind. Search engines and directories vary in the way they rank your web site in a search query.
4). Print Design vs Web Design - Part 1
One of the costliest mistakes companies make when creating their web sites is hiring graphic designers who specialise in print design. Many print designers believe that if they can learn HTML, they can easily transfer their "vision" from the printed page to a web site, thus having a special advantage in designing for the web.
Print design specialists tend to make one profound mistake: using print layouts and print marketing strategies to design and market a web site.
5). Using Animation & Rich Media In Web Design
The use of special effects on web pages has literally exploded. Special effects are used either to draw potential client's attention to a web site or to show off technical expertise. However, many web site designers, graphic designers, and programmers, or HTML "newbie’s" often use special effects without considering how their target audience will react to them.
6). 4 Stages of Website Design
Stage 1 - Style over substance
The first stage is to design a site that the chief executive officer, venture capitalists, and ad agencies like to see. There are all types of "bells and whistles" in this design. An entire site might be a Flash animated site. Or there might be some beautiful JavaScript mouse over effects or drop-down menus in the design.
7). Protecting Your Website From Online Thieves - Part 1
Why people steal
Publishing online is very easy for anyone to do; it's also very easy for others to steal. As the web expands in size, so do the number of thieves. Online thieves steal anything from a single image or a paragraph of content to an entire web site. Every web site is vulnerable.
If you have a web site, chances are you will come across another Web site showing your original work and passing it off as its own.
8). Tips for getting your website listed on yahoo
Treat Yahoo as both a directory AND a search engine. Yahoo offers a number of different search results. Part of their search results come from an actual search engine, and some of their results come from human editors, called surfers.
Every Yahoo directory submission is viewed by a person. (Search engines use spiders and indexing software). Admission into the Yahoo directory is entirely at the discretion of the Yahoo surfer viewing your site.
9). Protecting Your Website From Online Thieves - Part 2
Prevention cures copyright
In this design article, we will go over the most important steps to take for protecting your web site and web graphic images from these online thieves.
1. Place a copyright notice on every web page
The first thing to do is display your copyright notice on the bottom of your home page - and preferably on all pages of your web site.
10). 5 Basic Rules of Web Design
5 Basic Rules of Web Design the most important rule in web design is that your web site should be easy to read. What does this mean? You should choose your text and background colours very carefully. You don't want to use backgrounds that obscure your text or use colours that are hard to read. Dark-coloured text on a light-coloured background is easier to read than light-coloured text on a dark background.
11). Link Popularity and Search Engines
Link popularity has become increasingly important among the search engines. Because link popularity goes hand in hand with search engine optimization, it is important for any company with a web presence to build a link development strategy.
Many online marketing specialists believe that link popularity is simply obtaining as many links as possible.
12). Unlimited Web Hosting Offers Explained
If you have been looking around for a web host, you probably already have seen some of these offers: Unlimited Data Transfer, Unlimited Bandwidth or Unlimited Disk Space. The truth is; these deals are not possible.
Unlimited data transfer, or some web hosts might say unlimited bandwidth, is not possible, because if a web host has a server that is connected at 1.
13). Copywriting For Search Engines & Directories
To get optimal listings in search engine and directory queries, keywords and key concepts must be placed strategically throughout your web pages. To summaries, you need these words and phrases in:
1. Title tags
2. Meta-tags (keywords and descriptions)
3. Headings (if used)
4. Body text, and
Alt-attribute in the image source tags
When online marketing.
14). Protecting Your Website From Online Thieves - Part 3
Act now for your copyright
In the previous design article Prevention Cures Copyright, we covered how to protect your web site files and gather evidence of your copyright ownership. Now we will look at how you can take all of your preparation and use it to find your online thieves.
Use the major search engines
To tell if someone has stolen your web site or your web graphic images, you can use the major search engines.
15). Very Cheap Web Design Service In England
Are you looking for somebody to build you a website, however do not have a very large budget? This is the position many people find themselves in and are on the lookout for very cheap web design services.
There are companies out there or people who are just starting out in a career building websites who to start with will often offer their services at a very reasonable rate, basically to build up a portfolio.
16). Email etiquette-losing business when you miss manners
Network etiquette is understood to be one basic rule: show consideration for the other party online. Until now, the edict has been written mostly from the point of view of relationships between individuals, or between businesses and consumers. One important group has often been overlooked: business-to-business (B2B). Business-to-business etiquette is a growing, evolving behaviour model for how to present oneself and represent one's company when networking online.
17). Print Design vs Web Design - Part 2
One of the costliest mistakes companies make when creating their web sites is hiring graphic designers who specialise in print design. Many print designers believe that if they can learn HTML, they can easily transfer their "vision" from the printed page to a web site, thus having a special advantage in designing for the web.
Print design specialists tend to make one profound mistake: using print layouts and print marketing strategies to design and market a web site.
18). Web Site Promotion Scam site submission and search engine lead times
Web Site Promotion Scam site submission and search engine lead times Has your inbox been flooded with emails from online promotion companies shortly after you submit your web site to the search engines and Yahoo? Be very careful how you proceed, because these companies could be online scam artists. Here is why.
First, all search engine and directory submissions have lead times.
19). What to look for in a search engine optimization specialist
Search engines are the primary way most people find web sites, but web site designers forget to think of this when they create their sites. Often, site designers will make the mistake of building the web site first and then contacting a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist to make that site search-engine friendly. What most site owners do not realize is that a search engine optimization specialist should be brought into the design process early, not after the site has been built.
20). Getting Listed In Directories
The rules for being listed well in directories are completely different from the rules about getting listed in the search engines. Your web site needs to be in the most appropriate category, and directories do NOT have the same categories. Plus, some directories allow a 15-word description. Some allow 30 words. Some allow 200 words. Directory submission is very time consuming because you need to have a strategy for different directories.
21). Search Engine & Directory Submission Tips
Site submission to search engines and directories is often done incorrectly. In order to get the best results from search engine and directory submissions, Swift Media UK offers the following web site submission tips:
Treat search engine submission and directory submissions separately
Most people incorrectly believe that search engines and directories are the same.
22). Getting Listed In Search Engines
What exactly is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is designing, writing, and coding (in HTML) your entire web site so that there is a good chance that your web pages will appear at the top of search engine queries for your selected keywords and key phrases. The majority of the search engine optimization specialist's time should be spent targeting the search engines that will give you the most traffic.
23). Essentials of Search Engine Optimisation Campaign
The search engine optimisation (SEO) process consists of designing, writing, and coding web pages to increase the likelihood that they will appear at the top of search engine results for targeted keyword phrases. Many so-called SEO experts claim to have reversed engineered search engine algorithms and use strategically created "doorway pages" and cloaking technology to maintain long-term search positions.
24). Changing Web Hosts Made Easy
It is recommended you start the process at least a few days before the time runs out on the account with your present host. This will keep your website from experiencing any downtime between the moves.
The first thing to do, after you have searched and found a new web hosts, is create a backup of your website. Make a new folder somewhere on your computer.
25). Tips For Writing Website Content
Online businesses need to reflect the concept that "Content is King" in the design, marketing, and writing of their web sites to truly be successful.
At Swift Media UK, we always ask these 3 questions to online business professionals to see if they really understand the concept of "Content is King." We find that if they cannot answer these 3 questions immediately, then that gives us a clearer idea of how prepared the client is to be online.