Web Designer? You Dont Need No Stinkin Web Designer!
July 23, 2007
RIVERSIDE, CA August 4, 2004 ?- "Historically, small business owners have had a limited number of options to choose from when it comes to the development of an on-line presence," says Pat Spinelli, owner of The Web Site Tutor, a Riverside, California 1. web site design and training firm.
According to Spinelli, "Until now, small Southern California business owners have had two choices. They have had to out-source the development of their web sites to a professional or sign up with a hosting company offering ‘free’ on-line templates. If they have an unlimited source of funds and the need for a dynamic, interactive site, outsourcing is definitely their best bet."
"Entrepreneurs who are working with limited funds, however, have a need to look at less costly alternatives," she says.
"Until now the only real alternatives to costly outsourcing have been on-line templates," she says, "but most on-line templates have three major drawbacks. To use them one has to sign up for a year’s hosting at three to four times the ordinary cost, most templates offer limited functionality, and most cannot be optimized for search engines without a knowledge of HTML.”
How To Use the Multiplier Effect in Web Marketing
July 22, 2007
One of the most exciting things about doing business online is the Multiplier Effect. It’s the principal factor behind some of the fortunes that have been made on the Internet.
How does it work?
The Multiplier Effect occurs when your marketing technique either:
A) replicates itself over and over again, or B) feeds into other marketing techniques
A classic example of the first kind of Multiplier Effect is the Free E-Book.
Ten people download your Free E-book and offer it from their websites. Those ten people each get downloads and it’s now being offered on 100 websites, and so on.
The second type of Multiplier Effect occurs when one marketing technique results in benefits from another marketing technique.
A good example of this is Link Exchange.
Let’s say you get links on 100 different websites. When the Search Engines spider those websites, they find your link. Your ‘link popularity’ then increases and as a result, your ranking in the Search Engines goes up.
This kind of Multiplier Effect often results in a ‘feedback loop’.
Broadband - Will it Affect Your Online Marketing Future?
July 21, 2007
The coming age of general Broadband use bearing down upon us, minute by minute, is going to leave many changes in its wake. Some will be welcome; others will demand all we can do, just to keep up!
Of course, items like high quality graphics, streaming video and movies on demand will be commonplace. On the other hand, Broadband spells the end of most common text-only websites. Let’s face it: the consumer wants more! Offering a good deal with high quality service won’t do it anymore.
Websites that cater to the newfound appetite for quality audio and video content will get the sale. Obviously, that makes perfect sense! It brings to mind an experience I had while learning Photoshop. I purchased a very big manual and it took me three weeks just to get my feet wet. A good friend bought a video tutorial and arrived at my level of skill in two days!
There are many other things audio and video can explain better and in much shorter time than text, as in the example above. We’re not talking just innovation; but also, the very deep and long-lasting impact the technology is going to produce.
Being On-line Connects Us Off-line
July 20, 2007
Being On-line Connects Us Off-line
by: Allan T. Price
Pew Internet & American Life Project (http://www.pewInternet.org/reports.asp) has studied the ‘dreadful’ way the Internet isolates people from their friends and family. They’ve found not only does it not cut us off from our friends, it actually increases connectedness. ‘Rather than conflicting with people’s community ties, we find that the Internet fits seamlessly with in-person and phone encounters.’ They also report of ‘media multiplexity’, where people who connect on the Internet are more likely to see each other in person and talk on the phone.
They also report a few things I’ve noticed but without thinking about too much. The Internet and cellular phones link individuals more than buildings. If I visit someone at home or talk to them using a phone landline, I reach a house. If I email or call a cellular phone, I am contacting an individual wherever they are.
Another result of Internet connectedness are the positive effects of the wider social network cultivated by this new medium. This wider network gives people access to a greater range of people when dealing with serious life events. A few times I’ve seen someone in an on-line group announce that they have a life-threatening illness. Many people offer support and comfort, and often one or more of the ‘comforters’ have survived the same illness, offering hope and good News as well as practical help and advice.
What is Froogle?
July 19, 2007
Keeping in touch with other sites like Amazon.com, Buy.com and Yahoo.com, Google created a new shopping search tool called "Froogle". It has been called one of the most innovative price conscious tools on the Internet. Using the same technologies of Google.com, Froogle employs direct data received from merchants and through web crawls alone. Depending on the successes of the beta testing phase will provide adequate information as to whether Google continues with Froogle.
Housing over 15 different products and categories ranging anywhere from electronics, computers, food and gourmet, health care products, books, music and video, sports & outdoor equipment as well as toys and games, the list will only continue to grow in the coming months. Its searching capabilities mirror its mother page; it can be found at froogle.google.com and items can be found either in their product categories or by a dynamic keyword search. The results published are limited to one item per store. Every item appears with a thumbnail attached as well as a detailed product description, which includes price. Google doesn’t bias any website and often you will find products that exist on Amazon and Yahoo. This approach mirrors the Google philosophy of less details, more products.
Are Search Engines Worth It Any More?
July 19, 2007
The "Number One" Question - the question that I (and probably every other Internet marketing expert on the planet) am most frequently asked:
"How do I get to be Number One in the search engines for widgets? After all, my company is the world’s leading provider of widgets - it’s ridiculous that these other nobody companies are coming up in search engines ahead of us . . . "
My response is almost always along the lines of:
"Forget that right now, and get a life!"
OK, so I am a little more tactful than that - and I do occasionally encourage an in-depth search engine optimization strategy, but usually I’ll encourage clients to spend their website promotional budget in other ways.
Here are the main reasons why I’m not generally enthusiastic about free search engines:
1. You have to be really careful in choosing keywords
Many people make the mistake of focusing on very generic keywords. Not only are these even more difficult to get top placement in, but they also won’t generate you targeted traffic.
What You Need to Know About Choosing A Domain Name
July 18, 2007
Aside from the nuts and bolts of where to register your domain name and purchasing a good economical hosting service, there are a few things to know about buying a good domain name, that only experience can teach. Here are a few tips to get you started on the right foot:
1. Buy only “.com” and don’t trouble yourself with the others. Although the domain name players have gone to some trouble to publicize and market to us about the availability of other extensions such as .org, .net, .us and others…there is still no real reason to buy anything but “.com.”
If you currently have a domain name that is not a “.com,” I strongly suggest you obtain it. Or, if that’s not possible, consider finding a new domain name.
The rationale is simple: if the point of having a website is to get people to visit it, the best rule of thumb is to make it easy to remember. If your customers have to think in order to get to your website, and maybe even have to type in a wrong domain first before they finally reach you…you want to change that so they don’t.
Things to Consider Before Starting a Website
July 17, 2007
In the time that I have been using the Internet, (since 1996) I have seen a lot of websites. I have seen a lot of good websites and I have seen a lot that were just plain awful. Here are some things to think about before you start a website.
What is the purpose of your website? Is it meant to be primarily a sales site or is it meant to be purely informative?
Once you have decided on your website’s purpose, you need to decide on a theme. There is nothing worse than going to a website and having to play guess what this website is about. To pick a theme, I suggest that you write down a list of things that you are interested in and/or knowledgeable about.
Once you have written your list down, you need to do some research. Use a tool such as the search term suggestion tool on overture to see if there is a demand for your topic. If you type in your topic and see a lot of searches done for your topic then you should use that topic. If you don’t see a lot of searches done for your particular topic, try another one.
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Keeping Your CCNA Current
July 16, 2007
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Keeping Your CCNA Current
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
Passing the CCNA exam and earning this coveted Cisco certification is an important step in your career, but it’s not the end of your responsibilities as a CCNA! When you work with computer networks, you’ve got to be continually learning and staying up on the latest technologies and changes in the field. Part of this responsibility is keeping your CCNA current by meeting Cisco’s recertification requirements.
Cisco requires CCNAs to recertify once every three years. While most CCNAs will move on to the CCNP in that time, if you choose not to you must meet certain requirements in order to keep your CCNA valid. Cisco does this to ensure that CCNAs keep their networking knowledge current, which in turn helps the CCNA certification valuable. And that’s exactly what you want, since you worked so hard to earn your certification in the first place!
As of March 2006, there are five different options for recertifying as a CCNA. You can take and pass any of the following exams to renew your CCNA - the CCNA exam itself, the ICND exam, any 642 series exam, any Cisco Qualiied Specialist exam (except the Sales Specialist exams - those don’t count!), or any CCIE Written Qualification exam.
Web Design for Dictators
July 15, 2007
No question about it, web design is an art.
Finding the right blend of style and usability is a delicate balance that few, if any, fully master.
Which is why I am so tired af reading bullet-pointed lists demanding what you should and shouldn’t do while building your website. These dictators of web design are under the mysterious illusion that they have stumbled upon exactly the right balance of functionality and beauty.
Do you think Michelanglo painted his Sistine Chapel after reading an article entitled, “10 steps to perfect renaissance art”?
Hmm. What these designers are really saying is, “My view of what makes a good website is more valid than yours and any opinion to the contrary is doomed to failure”.
There are no right and wrong ways to design a website. Every technique you have ever been told is wrong, can be utilised succesfully in the proper setting. And, equally, every technique you have even been told is right, can be a complete failure in the hands of the inept.
Next time you read an article on web design, remind yourself, this is just one opinion. Not the right one, not the wrong one, just an opinion.
