Web Designing Tutorials

This is a more detailed continuation from my October 31, 2009 post.  Tip #3 is to make sure you use a quality and reputable Web Hosting company for your Website.  Below is a list of things you should take into consideration before selecting your Web Hosting company:

1. Select a reputable company or reseller company.  Is this company known on the Web and have stood the test of time like Yahoo or GoDaddy.  Hosting companies and Internet businesses for that matter can come and go so make sure they have been around awhile.  Length of time in business does not guarantee they will always be there, but you will be more likely to find reviews of the company.  If they are a reseller, find out if the Hosting Company is a known company.  Google the business name and look for reviews about them.  Check out the CNET reviews as one of your sources.
2. Compare the Bandwidth and Storage space you are allowed for the price by each Hosting company you are considering and the Plans they offer.  If you have a lot of photographic content, video content or animation within your site, you may require more bandwidth and storage.
3. If you are developing an E-commerce Website, make sure you select a Hosting Plan which includes PHP and MySQL so that your Shopping Cart will be able to function.  I would consult with your Website developer before you make any decisions in this area unless you are using a “Do-It-Yourself” tool like Quick Shopping Cart ® to develop your product catalog.
4. If you are developing an E-commerce Website, make sure you have an SSL Certificate so your customer transactions will be processed securely.  You will most likely have to consult with your Web Developer or Hosting company concerning this item to make sure it is activated properly within your site.
5. Does the potential Hosting company offer annual payment plans so you will have the opportunity to save money in the long-term.

In summary, the most important things about Web Hosting is that they are reputable, have the Bandwidth and Storage you require for your Website at the right price and provide decent enough customer service so if you do have issues, you can get it resolved easily.

This is a continuation from my October 31, 2009 blog post. You should take some time in selecting a Domain Name for a couple of reasons:

1. The Domain Name is a representation of your business and could provide a potential client/customer with a look at your professionalism. For example, a domain like lovedtoys.com might be better than usedtoys.com.
2. While Domain Names with your business name are good for Branding, it would be better to select a Domain with a quality keyword or phrase. If your business is not already a well known entity in the Market for your products or services, selecting a Domain Name with quality keywords could provide you with a better listing result in searches using those keywords. I recommend consulting with an SEO/SEM for the best keyword selection for your Domain Name.
3. Select a Domain Name with as few letters as possible and easy to remember as many of your clients/customers will hopefully return to your site. They may not have Bookmarked or added your site to their Favorites, so they will need to remember your Domain Name or use a search engine.
4. Try to avoid using other derivatives of successful Domain Names. For example, if addidas.net was available, don’t use it in hopes a getting some of the traffic from users who type in the incorrect information. For one thing, Addidas would probably sue you for Trademark infringement, but most importantly, people using that Domain are most likely not looking for your site. There has been a lot of discussion in the industry over Domain Names and Keywords, some winners and some losers in legal battles. I would suggest just not making yourself the subject of one.

You can find a variety of tools available out there for selecting Keywords to use in your Domain Name selection such as Google Adwords and software that performs that function, but I would recommend seeing a professional SEO/SEM. If you were going to fight a legal battle you would most likely find an attorney. If you were going to have surgery, you would find a Medical Doctor.  Selecting a Domain Name is an important process as well,  so consult with a professional who will assist you to enjoy a successful business presence on the Web!

If you are believing all the Media or are taking all the negative in about how bad things are in the economy, you are doing yourself an injustice.  Many a business has gone through the cyclical flow of our economy without a hitch.  While it is true that some have failed, many have survived to become more efficient and solid.  Some businesses have been started in an economic downturn with some being a great success!  Why can’t this be you, the successful story?  Well it can!  We don’t know the whole story of the financials of failing companies and I imagine if you did, the reasons would be clear.  I spent over 25 years in the corporate world in Accounting and watched companies come and go.  Businesses and the population as a whole were more than worried during the 1980’s when double digit inflation was taxing our world.  Look at what came out of that later, the DOW at 14,000 points!  Did it burst, yes, as we all know and have experienced! Will it recover again, heck yes!

Any way, watch this video I found at Small Business News on “Marketing Opportunities In A Down Economy”:

Then check out the blog post at Small Business Newz for further information. It is a great video and article!

This post is a continuation from my October 31, 2009 post.  Tip #1 is about using WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) HTML editors.  They include those that you can purchase such Dreamweaver, Contribute, FrontPage and Coffee Cup or many FREE editors such as Dynamic HTML Editor or Eclipse.  You can Google Visual HTML Editor and cruise around to see what you can find.  No matter which editor you choose, realize that they are not perfect in their code creation.  HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is just that, a Markup language that for the most part just provides the style and location of text and images on a page for a Website.  The more sophisticated editors such as Dreamweaver can create a site that incorporates other scripting such as Javascript, CSS and even FLASH along with the HTML.  As the editors get more sophisticated, the more training in the use of the software that is required.

No matter which editor you select, you should take the time to pick up some basic books on HTML, CSS, and Javascript.  Not so much to become an expert, but to learn some basics so you can understand a little about the code that is being created by the editor.  In this way, if something goes astray, you can take a look at the underlying coding the editor has created, and just maybe find what might be causing your issue.

Even though I am formerly trained with all the coding, I will work in a split view, both visual and code so I can take advantage of both worlds while making sure I am in the correct locations for editing and placement of certain things.  Let’s face it, in many respects it is faster to let the editor do the work rather than typing in a long string of code manually, but I do keep an eye on it and can place things or correct things as I go along.

A basic series of books you can use are the SAMS “Teach Yourself…..” that all relate to Web Design.  They will not make you an expert by all means, but they are pretty straight forward and provide you with a good foundation for learning some HTML, CSS, and  JavaScript which are the most used languages in the HTML Visual Editors you will find.

One thing that I have noticed in our local community where I live is that some business owners seem to be just treating their business like a job and not the freedom from one!

I look at the storefronts and I really wonder sometimes whether they care about their business.  It does not appear that way with chipping paint and in some cases structure.  You would think that, with that as the first thing a customer sees, that they would care about how it looks?  Would you select a box of cereal that was damaged or  purchase something that was old and dusty, probably not!  I would select something else, wouldn’t you?  Look at the packaging inside and out for your business, be honest with yourself and ask the question:  Would I shop here if I had another choice?

I worked in retail for many years, whether as a clerk or in management and I worked both Saturday and Sunday.  Through the Holidays, my store was open expanded hours and I worked even more hours.  Well, you drive through our town on the Weekend, and many businesses are closed or have very limited hours on Saturday and most are closed on Sunday!  Surprise, surprise that people shop at our local Walmart or go to a neighboring town to shop where the stores are open! Most these businesses will use some form of local marketing to promote their businesses whether it be the newspaper or the local radio. Too bad that many of them close at 5:00pm during the week and are closed or have limited hours on the weekend.  Hmmmm, I guess consumers don’t work a regular job and they just want the retirees on fixed incomes to shop in their stores.  I doubt that any business here has ever done a “Busy Hour” study to determine their scheduling.  Maybe, just maybe, being closed Monday and Tuesday would be better than Saturday and Sunday.  Just maybe, being open 11:00am to 7:00pm might be better business week hours.  During the Holidays, if you are not open evenings and weekends, you should just close your business now.

Only a few of our local business owners take advantage of the variety of the local chamber functions we have where they have the opportunity to meet people and promote their businesses.  Instead, when they do show up, it is more about visiting with who they have not seen in awhile and not creating business.

Oh they do their share of blaming the folks that live here for not shopping local, but when you look at the packaging, the lack of open hours, and in some cases the crazy pricing, do you really blame them?  Do you just expect people to shop locally just because they should be loyal?  Customers have the freedom to make choices, and if you are a business owner, I would be concerned about how you can steer that choice to your business.  I believe the business owner needs to provide the first push to customer loyalty, not the other way around.

It not only takes the business owners doing right by the customer, but the customers to let the businesses know what they really want.  It takes the business owner believing in their business, caring about their business, caring about their customers to be successful, especially when consumer spending is at a 65 year low!

This post may not win me any friends and I may lose a few, but the bottom line is, if nobody speaks up about what they expect or see, nothing will ever change.  Change is hard, but with one voice, it can begin!

In this economy, it does not surprise me that there are many people who try to build a Website on their own, without the assistance of a trained professional.  If you are one of those people and want to try to save some money, here are a few tips and things to consider before going off on your own.

1. You will need a WYSIWYG (”What you see is what you get”), Visual Editor or some online Web Hosting tool.
   • You will not have to know any HTML coding is what the publishers of these Visual Editor software packages will tell you.  Well, you should at least pick up a book and teach yourself a little as working only visually can wash out your code in some cases.  You should work both in a Visual View and a Code View so you know where your cursor is ALL times before inserting or making any edits as visually it may look correct, but in reality you could be replacing or deleting needed code that presents a page correctly in a browser.  The two best known editors out there are Dreamweaver and Frontpage.  There are many others, one in particular that I used when I was getting my start and that is Coffee Cup.  Coffee Cup sells for about $50.00 and for those new to Web Design it will be all you need.
   • Many of the Web Hosting companies including myself, offer Website Builder tools with their Hosting.  These tools can be quick and easy to use, but with that usually comes a big limit to what you can do visually for your site and you are restricted to using only the templates they have available.  They can produce a decent looking Website, but it may not truly be what you want for your business.  The big advantage to these, if money is your only consideration, they will save you a ton as you don’t have to pay a Web Designer or buy Visual Editor software.  My Website Builder tool is called Website Tonight so feel free to check it out.  I can also help you with this tool if you get into trouble or you can call my 24/7 technical support.
2. You will need your Domain Name/URL which you can purchase from any Domain Registrar (including myself).
   • Pricing can vary annually for a Domain from about $10.00 to $35.00 per year. Make sure you know when your Domain expires and who you purchased it from as there are some companies that will attempt to transfer your Domain by sending you an invoice before your Domain expires. Please read them carefully before paying anything, as they will look like an invoice, but in small print will have a disclaimer that says it is not an invoice and only an offer. If you know who you purchased your Domain from, you will know it is not an invoice from your provider and to not pay it.
   • The more years you purchase, the less expensive it will get per year in general. Buy more years if you can afford to as it will prevent you from inadvertently allowing your Domain to expire.
   • Check out our Full Service Domain Registration for quality service and pricing.
3. You will need quality Web Hosting.
   • Web Hosting is where your Website will reside out in the world. You will need to consider how much storage space you need and how much potential traffic will be coming to your site and viewing your pages(bandwidth). If you have a lot of photos, video or are selling on the Internet you will need more storage and bandwidth. If you have just an informational site, I would stick with the cheapest package which you can always trade up or change providers.
   • I offer a variety of Web Hosting Plans that will meet your needs. Our plans are very competitive so check them out.
4. Optimize your site for the Search Engines and natural search results.
   • Select Keywords for your site that have the fewest competitors and the most searches. You can use Google Webmaster tools for this process as well as Google AdWords has a tool for selecting keywords. Place those keywords in the TITLE (seen at the top of the browser window) of your page as well as it least 2 or 3 times in your body text. Make sure it looks natural and still reads well. Place Keywords in the “alt” tags for your images. Use those keywords in at least a couple of paragraphs of text.
   • Submit your site and a site map to Google, Bing and Yahoo (I will address this process in future post or you can search it out in Google, Bing and Yahoo)
   • Build quality back links to your Website
   • You can use my Search Engine Visibility tool to do some of it yourself
5. Keep your site updated and monitor the traffic
   • Update your text on your site monthly and/or use a Blog( I addressed this in an earlier post) as part of your site. The Search Engines prefer that a site have new information and look like it is being kept up.
   • Review the traffic to your site like what keywords are being used, which search engines is traffic coming from, which pages are they viewing, how long are they staying. Many of your Hosting companies offer this as a service or you can find an SEO like myself to track this for you.

There is a lot there, but if you do all these things, your site can be successful on your own, but I would recommend using someone at least on a limited basis to assist you as it is easier to keep it maintained and working well for you than it is to pick it up out of the muck later.

In another Blog Post I came accross recently, it referred to ways to optimize a Website both “on page” and “off page” which off course I am familiar with them both being trained in SEO/SEM.  “On page” are bascially those things that you do to a page itself like keyword placement and relevant text.  “Off page” are thinks like Link Building.  In the article he speaks of Blogging to increase traffic and I cannot agree more!  Create a blog for your Website and read this article in the Net Gazette to see why!  I probably should have just Tweeted about it, but this article says so many things that I tell my clients, and I just did not want to let it go unread or infringe on the authors content.   It is worth the read!

So many Web Designers work in the visual area with an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver rather than hand code.  You can get into trouble with the code that the editor uses if you restrict yourself only to that method.  It is best to work in the “Split View” and find what you need in the “Visual” view then work in the “Code” view.  Understanding the CSS that an editor uses is important to be able to find and make tweaks to it through the process.  I would also make sure you take all your CSS off page, so many times I see it created on-page and then you end up with a mountain of code to go through when making edits.  In addition, the CSS an editor can create may use naming conventions that it knows, but are illogical to you as a designer making it difficult to actually find a piece of CSS that is effecting your document unless you understand HTML and CSS. At any rate, I found a little article that discusses CSS formatting and I found it to really provide some good tips for those new to using CSS. It basically sets Five Rules to Writing More Readable CSS Files. The rules are as follows and please check out the article for more details:

1. Order CSS properties alphabetically

2. Indent child elements

3. Use comments to separate logical sections of code

4. Use extra spaces and tabulations to separate single properties from their values

5. Group elements with the same properties

Enjoy the article, it is a nice little read!

After having this Blog for the last few months and just now finding the time to read comments and make a post more often, I really wonder what is the purpose of a Blog.  Is it to write something that spawns a legitimate interest and many thoughtful comments?  Or, is it a place where people can just post their links and a comment with no meaning in the world to anyone?  Is it just for you to build up your own presence in the world through thousands of links back to a Website you hope to promote?  How do the Search Engines of the world really treat that?  Do they consider Blogs, Forums and Social Media relevant content enough to consider links from those avenues in boosting a Website in its rankings or Search results?  If they do, then they allow us all to influence the Natural Search results and makes me think as a consumer or a person looking for information, that I should find a way to get better results in my search for information.

Well, I will leave you with those thoughts and move on to some suggestions in promoting your Website. There are a couple of things to consider in your link building to promote your Web Presence:

1. Quantity does not do anything for you.  You need to obtain links from QUALITY sites that are Ranked high enough by Google for them to consider that link worth anything.  It goes like this, if this person we (Google) think is important, thinks that a Website is important enough for them to link to, we (Google) will give more importance/relevance to that link.
2. I have seen out there, many Websites that have a Google Ranking of a 2 or less with thousands of Backlinks.  Now, if they those same Websites have thousands of Backlinks and they are only rated a 2, do you think the quantity of links matters?  Oh maybe it does in some way in the total scheme of things, but longevity and better results for your site all around, depend on having the best links possible.

Is anyone out there, including myself, truly consider themselves an authority enough on what the Search Engines do or not do in determining search results?  I know I don’t, I just look at the logic and then analyze what I see, and I have seen some strange things out there in the top listings to make me feel like I really don’t know everything about what they do to consider a site for the top 10 return.  Mind you, I am professionally trained in Web Design and in SEO, SEM and have been working in this industry since 2003.

I will leave you with this:

• Always design for the user, not just the Search Engines
• Maintain and update your Website frequently for an improved Google Ranking
• Only put relevant content in your site with the keyword spread throughout at a user friendly ratio and not appearing spammy.
• Quality Backlinks are more important than Quantity
• Promote your Website not just online but out in the world elsewhere
• Realize there are a ton of competitors on the Web, so find a niche and promote your site there
• Lastly, check out and follow Google’s Webmaster Tools and Webmaster Guidelines for premium performance on your Website.

I hope that you will post thoughtful comments in response to this post showing me you have truly read what I have written and are making a comment to enhance its relevance in the world.

E-Newsletters are a way to stay in touch with your customer base.  Customer retention and creating repeat business is an important factor in staying afloat for a small business in today’s economy.  An E-Newsletter is not SPAM, as your customer base may opt in or opt out to receive your newsletter.  They have a choice!  If they are opting in, that of course means they would like to hear from you regularly, and it becomes your opportunity to promote your business to someoine who believes in what you have to offer.

You can collect contact list a couple of ways for this purpose.  One is to build in a form to your Website where your customers or potential customers can sign-up.  Another is to have a card in your place of business that the customer can complete.  Either way, you should do something to encourage sign-up by having a drawing and/or giving something away to those who complete your form.

At Siskiyou Web Design we offer this service by the name of Express Email Marketing.  Express Email Marketing shows you how to use email to your advantage and stay in-touch with your customer base.  Best of all, it offers all the tools you need to comply 100% with anti-spam laws.  A summary of the service is as follows:

• Provide prospects and customers a sign-up form for requesting emails from you. The opt-in magnet also offers the ability to create and manage special interest groups so that you can target e-mail campaigns to specific subscribers.
• Comply with anti-spam laws. You can now upload your existing customer list without an email confirmation requirement. In addition, an opt-out link is located at the bottom of every campaign mailing, allowing subscribers to opt-out of future mailings.
• Create dazzling, eye-catching emails. Image Library includes more than 1,500 images or upload your own! They’re automatically resized to fit your email. No design skills necessary! View Samples
• Track the results. Easy-to-use reports tell you how many emails you sent, how many were opened, how many people responded and much more.
• Create and send surveys of your customer base.

Whatever you do in your business, staying in touch with your customers or clients can build a positive long-term relationship with them and encourage repeat business.  It has the potential to create additional business as these preferred customers and clients refer other business to your company.