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Posts Tagged ‘web development’
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Website development is part science, part art. The science part is in the coding and developing your marketing strategy based on solid historical and trending data that you know to be true. For instance, we know that user eye tracking studies have demonstrated the hottest part of a website are in the top left corner of the page and the bottom right, with lesser hotspots in between in a zigzag fashion from left to right and down.
The art part of website development is the web design. You want your site to be attractive. You want it be functional, but attractive.
So how do you achieve both functionality and attractiveness and can the aesthetic aspect of website development (web design) increase your revenue? You bet it can.
There’s an old saying among web developers – “An ugly website that makes money is more attractive than a pretty one that doesn’t.”
That may be a true statement, but even more attractive than an ugly site that makes money is a beautiful website that makes money. And you’d better believe that your visitors will judge your business by the attractiveness of your website just as they judge your business by how you dress.
So when it comes to ensuring that your website is profitable, make sure that you plan its functionality well and don’t leave out its attractiveness. Make sure your web designer is in his best form.
Tags: web design, web development
Posted in website development | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
This may sound like a chicken and egg question, but which should come first – content or design?
Different people will tell you differently. Talk to many designers and they’ll tell you design should come first. Web developers usually fall into the same category. On the other hand, content writers usually tell you to write the content first. Two against three, so I guess the writers lose. Huh?
Well, not so fast. The writers actually have a good point.
When you write content you write for a specific page. You should do your keyword research first – before content writing or design – and determine what your site will be about. But if you design your site before you write any content then you could very well set yourself up for some design issues that need to be fixed down the road. It’s best to write your content so that you know what size containers you’ll need. If you don’t, you could end up with containers that are too large or too small and trying to write content that fits into the containers. That content will likely not sell well.
The most important thing on your site is content. It should dictate to everything else, not the other way around.
Tags: content, content writing, design, web development
Posted in website development | No Comments »
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Remember when going to buy an auto part meant driving a couple of miles, going into a store–and hanging out for a few minutes? You’d meet other weekend mechanics, teens and old-timers, and you’d chat (brag) about what you were building, ask a question, and even show a picture or two? That’s how small businesses used to operate. They were the local hangout–the gathering place for people who had something in common.
People still need a place to go. What’s changed is that much of the gathering happens online.
They still need to hang out with their “tribe” and ask questions, brag, show pictures, and enjoy getting to know the newbies. You can buy so much online–knitting supplies, spices, building supplies…you name it–but people still have a need to connect. So give them a place to do just that.
If you know how to do it right, your blog, and your website could be that gathering place.
How do you create an online hangout?
Keep a friendly tone. Welcome comments.
Write an article for your website or a blog post about one of your customers–their question, or something cool they did with your product that’s unique.
Ask a question or take a poll.
Answer questions–and solicit them.
Make your comment area easy to access–and encourage people to post and talk to each other.
Consider adding a forum.
Post pictures–your customers, their kid’s birthday pics, a charity event your company participated in–show you welcome community involvement.
Even if you’re an internet based small business, you still have clients who identify with you, your products and/or services. Give them a friendly place to come, chat, ask questions, and hang out.
Tags: Blogging for Small Business, Small Business Internet Marketing, web development
Posted in Business Writing, Local Internet Marketing, Networking for Small Business, Small Business Internet Marketing, website development | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Small business websites can benefit from including government sources in their content.
There’s plenty of public domain information, and you’ll be surprised to find relevant content that your readers will find helpful. Updating your webpage with content and important keywords is the fastest way to improve your rank on search engines.
But what about copyrights?
Much of the information is public domain and copyright free.
Public domain government sources are generated with your tax dollars–so you have every right to access this content.
Do a search on public domain government sites and you’ll find a vast array of subjects such as transportation, maps, psychology, photos, statistics, education, finance, engineering, art and entertainment, and the list goes on…
Some uses for public domanin, government sources are: for marketing research, as a statistic to prove a specific trend, as fun facts, or for data gathering in a particular area or field.
One word of warning: Some information is outdated and can be riddled with errors or biased opinions–not that other web content articles don’t contain similar discrepencies–but check the facts and strive to be as accurate as possible.
Look for copyright and permission notices on U.S. Federal Government publications and websites, but if you don’t find one, don’t assume there isn’t one.
You can check public domain use by visiting the Copyright & Intellectual Property Working Group (CENDI).
Many government sources offer articles, statistics, and graphs written directly on a webpage or placed in an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.
If you find information you’d like to use that’s in a PDF file, you should consider converting them to a webpage. Why?
Because Web pages load quicke
You can place a liink from that document directly to your site
Keywords are picked up by search engines in web pages
PDF files don’t rank well on search engines
Some government sites that aren’t public domain are:
The U.S. Postal Service is exempt (you may not use).
Some governmental works were writen by private individuals and companies and are copyright protected.
Certain governmental organizations such as the NTS (National Technical Information Service) has a five-year copyright protection, so check the dates.
Sounds like a lot of rules? Not really. Not when compared to the mammoth amount of information available.
By doing a simple search on public domain content, you can find great information for your small business website, build content, and improve your website ranking.
Tags: government sources, keywords, public domain sites, Small Business Internet Marketing, web development
Posted in Blogging for Small Business, Business Writing, Market Research, SEO for Small Business, Small Business Internet Marketing, Tools for Small Business, Uncategorized, search engines, website development | 1 Comment »
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
SEO is getting more complicated all the time. I read a blog post just a while ago where the author said splitting up the components of a web design was a regular pattern for him. But he’s working with larger corporations.
The way he does it is he separates the elements on the page. The template is in one file. The CSS is in one file. The html is in one file. The content is in another file. One reason for doing this, he says, is so people who are not developers can write keyword-rich content without knowing or having to learn html. Then the optimization team can do their thing without messing with the content.
Makes sense except that content is the biggest part of optimization. Sure, templates contribute. CSS contributes. HTML contributes. But if you want to get to the top of Google, you can do it with an off-the-shelf template, no CSS, and just plain great content. That’s the advantage of being a small business, I guess. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a design team that will get all fancy on you. Just keep it simple and focus on the basics and you’ll do fine – with your SEO and your content.
Tags: content, css, html, SEO, web development
Posted in SEO for Small Business | No Comments »
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
Google has announced that it has improved its ability to crawl and index Flash files. Specifically, Google can now index any kind of text within Flash files, Flash gadgets, and self-contained Flash websites. So does that mean you should run out and find the best Flash developer you can find and build the coolest Flash website on the Web? Not so fast, buckaroo.
Flash is still a very information-intensive program. It will slow down your load time and that’s every bit as important as being indexed. When you take a look at Google’s algorithms, they include all sorts of criteria, few of which are more important than any others. While Google may be able to read and index the text inside of your Flash files, my bet is it will still be better to have actual text outside of the files than to rely solely on text within the files. SEO doesn’t change just because Google adds a new development.
And you’ve also got to keep in mind that Google isn’t the Internet. They may have the lion’s share of searchers looking for information in their search engine, but Yahoo! and MSN Live are still players. You still have AOL, Ask.com, Dogpile, and a host of other search engines that don’t read Flash files. While I wouldn’t build a business model on Ask.com, I wouldn’t ignore it either. You’ve got to develop a website that feeds all the spiders, not just one.
All of that aside, however, can Flash be useful? You bet. Include it in your web development plans. Just don’t let it take over.
Tags: Flash, google, SEO, web development
Posted in SEO for Small Business | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Is SEO the same for the small guys as it is for the big boys? Do small business owners have the same considerations as large corporations when it comes to search engine optimization? In a word, yes; and no.
Yes, SEO is largely the same when it comes to ensuring that you get high rankings for your key terms. Both small businesses and large corporations must write web content based on keywords and use the latest Web standards to ensure websites are developed with search engine friendliness at the core. But it can’t go unmentioned that there is a difference between how small businesses are capable of going about SEO and how large corporations do it.
Mega-national corporations can afford to hire in-house SEOs and website developers, but small business owners have a more difficult time hiring a full-time SEO to manage their websites. It may seem as if small businesses are economically disadvantaged, but it really isn’t the case. You can do a lot of things yourself, saving you the money that large corporations shell out for website development. Or you can hire someone who specializes in small business SEO.
Small businesses can move a little quicker online than large corporations. That’s an advantage. So while there might be disadvantages, you can move more quickly to adapt to market changes, making SEO for you as a small business owner actually an advantage despite the hurdles otherwise.
The short story, you don’t have to feel out of place online just because you are not an SEO or web development expert. Just jump in and learn at your own pace, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Tags: SEO, small business, web development
Posted in SEO for Small Business | 2 Comments »
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