|
|
|
Choosing the Web Site Host that's Best for You
There are few things as critical to your e-business success as having a reliable web hosting service ... Here’s How To Choose The Right Web Host that guarantees Your Web site Stays Up And Running! Whether your focus is affiliate marketing, niche...
Designing Your Website's Directory Structure
Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage. There are many "wysiwyg" webpage design applications that let you create a webpage as easy as typing text. But only a few people can create a WEBSITE. The stumbling block is knowing how to...
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH FREE VIRAL MARKETING
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH FREE VIRAL MARKETING
7 FREE easy steps to build a massive viral email list or obtain millions of website hits guaranteed! This is a very easy way to get your viral marketing campaign pumping out massive traffic for FREE....
How to Select a Webhost that Fits Your Needs
Whether you're considering starting a website or you have one and want to possibly move it, this article can help you decide what the best webhost means to you. To begin, every website is hosted on only 3 platforms: Unix Windows NT Macintosh ...
Search Boxes
One of my pet peeves is webmasters which make it difficult for me to use their site. I mean, I'm there, looking at a page and I just cannot find what I want. I look everywhere for navigation, and what I want to find just doesn't seem to be covered....
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 Steps to a More Successful Website in 2006
Another year has passed and a new one has dawned. It's an
exciting time to have an online business. More consumers have
computers and Internet connections than ever before, and people
are more comfortable buying things online than in years past.
As an administrator and consultant on over 100 domain names and
web sites, I get to hear all the stories of what works and what
doesn't from individuals and small business promoting their
online businesses.
Based on my own experiences and those of my clients, I wanted to
share with you a list of 6 essential steps any webmaster can
take to make their website more successful in 2006.
A full copy of this Article, as well as links to all the tools
mentioned in it is available at:
http://www.binarypros.com/Press/2006-01-05.asp
1. Ensure you have a reliable web host Nothing loses a sale
faster or creates a worse impression than your web site being
unavailable. It's especially costly when a potential customer is
looking to spend money right away. Unless you're fortunate
enough to be in a business with no competition (if so let me
know what business that is) website downtime could cost you
sales!
So many times I hear people bragging about their $2.99/month web
host and how much money they're saving on hosting. What they
don't realize, until they test their uptime, is that the
potential sales they lose when their web site is unavailable are
far more costly than paying a little more for a reputable web
host.
Several services are available to test your website's uptime.
Anything less than 99.9% is unacceptable for a business site.
Check out http://www.hosttester.com/ and test your site for a
month. For $9.95 you can find out for sure where your site
stands.
2. Get a fresh modern look for your web site First impressions
are important to potential customers. On the Internet your web
site is all you get to make a first impression. If you haven't
updated the look and feel of your website in a year or two it
may be time to consider updating your site.
Make sure your copyright dates are current, but also leave your
initial copyright dates on to show the customers that you are an
established business. For instance, on my site my copyright
reads 1999-2006. People will be more comfortable buying from you
if they know your site has been around for a few years.
Check out http://www.templatesresource.com/ for a selection of
over 2000 web templates (all under $19.95.) Use a template to
get a jump start on your new site design. Depending on your
level of expertise in web design you may still need to hire
someone to help customize the template you choose to your
business. Even so, having a template start with will drastically
reduce development costs.
3. Check your site's compatibility with all browsers and
operating systems Everyone knows the bulk of internet traffic is
going to be Windows users with Internet Explorer 6 but that
doesn't mean you should ignore everyone else.
I tallied up a summary of over 2,000,000 hits from the latter
portion of 2005 to find that IE6 users make up about 75% of the
web traffic to the average site that I administer. If your site
only displays properly for IE6 users you could be losing up to
25% of your sales due to browser incompatibility.
Unless you have several computers and a lot of spare time you
won't
Matt Wilson: Trios, Quartets And 'Don Knotts'
Like a comedian, the drummer knows something about offhand dexterity and split-second timing.
Leala Cyr And Ricardo Vogt: Live At Berklee
She's from a small Midwestern town. He's from Southern Brazil. But they've been collaborating for years — she with voice and trumpet, he on guitar — and they demonstrate their blend of musical traditions in a live broadcast Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. ET.
be able to test all the combinations yourself to know how
your site looks on other systems. Fortunately NetMechanic has a
service that solves this problem for $15. Check out:
http://www.netmechanic.com/browser-index.htm for details on the
service. Chances are you'll be shocked by how your site looks in
different browsers!
4. Add fresh and relevant content to your site Search engines
love it, and your site visitors love it, it's a win-win
scenario. Many people say they can't write or don't know what
content to add to their site, but neither is an excuse anymore.
RSS feeds are a great way to keep automatically updating content
on your site with no day-to-day work for you or your web
designer. You simply plug a feed of your choice into your
website and when the writer updates their feed your site
automatically updates with the new content.
Another great way to add content is using royalty free articles.
Writers and site owners write them specifically for you to use
on your site. The only condition is that you keep a link to
their site and their name on the article. It's a small price to
pay for adding relevant content and keywords to your site.
RSS Equalizer is a program that helps you find and manage RSS
Content for your site. Article Equalizer is a great program that
helps you find and manage Articles for your site.
5. Make it easy for customers to contact you, and be sure to
respond quickly Putting your email address on your page with a
mailto:// link is only going to ensure that you get more spam
than you can imagine. It not only takes up your time to delete
the spam but it also increases the likelihood that you will miss
real messages in the process.
The best solution to this is using a contact us web form. This
type of form never reveals your email address for spam crawlers
to spam but ensures that customers can get a message to you
easily. Contact forms are available for all web server types
either via CGI, or ASP, or PHP. Most hosting providers have
sample forms that are compatible with their hosting packages
available to their clients. If your hosting provider won't work
with you to set up a contact us form it's time to find a new
host.
Once your contact form is functioning and you get a contact from
a customer, don't delay in responding! Be sure to respond
professionally and in a friendly manner. When someone is looking
to buy, getting a quick and polite answer can be a big factor in
deciding to continue the purchase.
6. Advertise professionally and affordably Once you've followed
the steps above and your website is in good order and ready for
whoever visits it, consider doing some advertising. Google
AdWords are a great way to get some low cost, highly targeted
traffic to your site.
AdWord Generator is a great program that helps you brainstorm
and create profitable Ads. AdWord Analyzer helps you find the
most profitable and low cost keywords to run your PPC ads on.
May 2006 bring great success to you and your web site!
Chuck Hall Binary Pros http://www.binarypros.com/
About the author:
Chuck Hall is the owner of Binary Pros, a custom software
development and consulting firm specializing in Internet
marketing products and tools for webmasters. He is also a web
server administrator responsible for over 100 internet domain
names and web sites.
|
|
|
|
|
|