Websites

Website Designs

J. Warholic

Open Source Web Site Template DesignsTemplate

When it comes to creating the perfect template for a website, quite a bit of work is involved. Getting a head start on the design process can be aided by many of the Open Source templates available online.

With millions of websites already in existence, it is not like something has not already been done before in the way of a template layout. There are layouts with one column, or multi-columns. Menus can be on the right, left, top, and/or bottom. But, no matter what template is decided upon, there will be extensive modifications that will likely be required for branding it to your business name, colors, and tastes.

My personal feeling with colors is darker fonts on lighter background colors for the main body text seems to be the easiest on the eyes. Have you ever tried to read a long page of text in a website with a black or dark colored background with white or light text? After staring at the page for a minute or two, the eyes tend to have a burnt in image of the black background. This is very hard on the eyes. None of the big search engines have white text on dark backgrounds? None of the major websites from an e commerce perspective have white on dark. Why do many of the graphic designers think that white text on a dark background is a good option? Accentuation of the page can be done with graphic images that provide a balance to the overall look but do not interfere with the text message to be read.

Certain businesses tend to have some great natural images that can easily portray what their business is about. As the old saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words can be true on the web, but it is wise to have body text to go along with it for the search engines to pick up. Other businesses in the service sector require much more in the way of a creative image selection process in order to really tell their business story online.

Creative writing for the website and creative ad copy writing can be equally as challenging. For one thing, the keywords for your business must be used throughout the website< in order to have it have the possibility of it showing up in the keyword search results of the search engines. Ignoring this one area alone can spell trouble for your Internet marketing efforts. From an Internet marketing standpoint, to place a website in front of your target audience requires using the keywords that your customers use. In fact, writing for the target audience is more important on the Internet than any single type of promotional material generated. Brochures that are handed out or mailed can make an immediate impact without using many of the keywords within the printed items. That is because a sales person hands out or emails the information directly to a person that is probably already interested in what the business does. However, on the Internet, the website becomes the salesman for potential customers that may not know your business name but are looking for the equipment, products, or services provided, and therefore the Internet marketing messages must be more informative than any printed brochure.

For more information on Internet marketing, online advertising, search engine optimization, and web branding visit Professional Web Services today.

The DMOZ Report

J. Warholic

The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from directory.mozilla.org, its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. Cite: wikipedia.org

As many of you know, getting a website listed in the ODP DMOZ has provided in the past, an increase in the page rank weight factor in the search engine algorithms. In meeting with a couple of Google engineers at the 2006 Google Dance involved in improving search engine results, the weight factor given to certain categories of the ODP project have been limited in the search results algorithm. There was a Google Dance attendee present that spoke with the engineers about a certain DMOZ category that was severely limited from any other websites being added because the editor for this particular category had a conflict of interest. In fact, the editor was one of the website owners listed in this category and was preventing anyone else within a small group to be added to the list.

Google engineers have started taking more notice of this type of activity and are now taking a more proactive stance by what sounded like a change in the search algorithm to give less credit for links in this group.

One of the factors that is important to understand about the DMOZ is that other websites take the feed results from the DMOZ and produce it on their website. This has the effect of creating additional links for any website that is listed in the project.

We at Professional Web Services have tried for years to get listed in the Internet marketing area of the ODP. This has been a very frustrating experience and what we have read from others is in fact the typical reaction of most people trying to get their websites listed. The submission guidelines are very clear, however, once a website is submitted there is absolutely no follow-up emails from the ODP, or ever an indication that the website is ever reviewed.

Certain areas of the Internet have become like a closed knit group of individuals that go out of their way to prevent anyone else from gaining search exposure. Many of the large directories are simply no more than a link farm with old websites that are defunct. There is very little incentive for anyone or any editor to change the way it is currently being done.

We don’t have the answers, but we do know that this will become increasingly challenging for all the search engines to get a handle on. As the Internet adds websites at an ever increasing pace, the challenges facing other businesses to have their B2B or B2C websites found in the search engine results pages will become even more of an issue as time goes on.

Internet Final FrontierProfessional Web Services provides Internet marketing services, search engine optimization, online advertising strategies, and web branding solutions for B2B and B2C businesses online.

Contact us today for the 24 x 7 x 365 solution to get your business found when searching the Internet.

Staying on Top of The Internet

J. Warholic

Understanding The Online Web

The Internet is becoming much more interesting in our life and times as time ticks on. Staying up to date with the latest technologies available is most important for the B2B – Business to business, B2C – Business to consumer, and the C2C – Consumer to consumer world. Most small businesses today are not taking advantage of even a fraction of the power available through the Internet. The Web has created a solid foundation for marketing, advertising, and sales for all types of small businesses.

Large corporations for years have been using the Internet as a means of having their websites be a supplement and in some cases the main tools for bringing products and services to the market place. Large corporations have worked hard to establish their brand with the consumer or in the case of B2B; other businesses. For the small biz community however, many have not even thought about how they can establish their brand online through Web traffic on the local Internet markets.

Even with the advent of the Internet, consumers still purchase goods and services locally which supports businesses, stores, and service providers in their local communities. However, marketing and advertising in the past was through a Yellow Page Ad or the local newspaper. Things certainly have changed in how consumers and buyers find things. Now, because of the behavior of consumers and buyers, there is also a need to market and advertise a local business using the Internet.

Consumers and businesses continue to push the big Yellow Page books off to the side. In fact, if you haven’t looked at a recent Yellow Pages book; the publishers are trying to reduce the costs to print these books by making the text type so small that you need a magnifying glass in order to read it. I have become most disgusted with our local Yellow Pages for this very reason. I am now much more inclined to go to Google Search and do a local search in my community rather than pull out the fine print. I suspect that the younger generation (post Internet) uses the Yellow Pages printed book even less.

Millions of consumers are using the Internet daily to search out small biz. These figures are growing, especially as High Speed Internet has become more popular. Local directories are sprouting up all the time. These directories are becoming a way of providing a link to your B2B or B2C website that can support your business. Having information related to the specifics of your business can be an excellent way of being able to market and advertise 24 x 7 x 365 days a year. See information about various small biz strategies and expanding market reach online.

We have heard the story from some businesses having had a website for years that, “no one ever comes to our website.” In their mind they have written off the Web and their website as being, “a waste of time and money.” These business owners have placed very little effort into marketing their business online through good search engine marketing strategies or what is known as SEO, Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization is actually a misnomer. The term SEO or Search Engine Optimization and another term often used is SEM or Search Engine Marketing are actually terms used to describe optimizing a website for the particular keywords and keyword phrases to be found in the search engine searches for industry specific keywords related to particular fields of business. The search results pages for keyword queries can be a boom for sales on all types of products, services, organizations, and brands if a company starts being displayed in the search results pages. The SEO and SEM needs to be much more than just an optimizer of the company website. There are hundreds of onsite variables that affect the ranking of a website. Additionally there are countless other offsite variables that directly affect a website showing up in the results pages. For example from a Search Engine Algorithm, the quality of, and the topics of other websites that link directly to another Web site is a key variable. Certainly as Search Algorithms have been improved over the years has had a direct impact on the value of links from other sites. See: Search Engine Optimization Question

The process of marketing and advertising online is in a state of flux for B2B, B2C, and C2C. But, that is no different than having to battle the competition in other media outlets for any business. The Search Engine Companies are looking for the best results possible. Search Engine competition is good for the consumer. If there was only one search engine on the horizon, with one group of search engine results, and only one online advertising model, then they would have a monopoly online. The search engine company could make it so no other website could ever get into the natural or organic search results. A monopoly search engine company could force everyone to start paying for online advertising. This however, would be very foolish indeed. Consumers and businesses are free to use Google, Yahoo, Bing or any number of other smaller search engines that are starting up.

Trust is the key. Without trust and another all to often forgotten concept, Internet ethics, consumers could very easily migrate to other search services. Search as we know it is quite new. In just the past ten years we have seen Search develop into what has become an Internet marketing facilitator. The whole process of search can be summed up for the business world as a Marketing Middleman. The industry for business is about connecting buyers to sellers; matching up the needs of some with the products and services of others, and focusing on the transfer of information from one entity to another. If everything was Black and White it would surely make for a very dull colored world. That is why we will continue to see innovations, new technologies, and powerful online programs that will provide a great benefit to all business in the world.

The future of Search is limitless. I suspect in another ten years that we will be blown away at the power at our fingertips. Consumers and businesses will continue to embrace the Internet for eCommerce, research, and a host of other solutions that have not even been invented yet. The only question is; will you be on the forefront of the solution and embracing the Internet for your business?

To get your business found online contact Professional Web Services today. With powerful solutions for your B2B, B2C, or C2C business through Internet marketing services, Online advertising strategies, and Web branding solutions. Get the Business Solution today.

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SEO School And Internet Marketing School

Pro1

Internet Marketing And Search Engine Optimization School

When it comes to developing your business, and building a quality online presence, there are some things to consider from an SEO and Internet marketing standpoint in order to maximize your return on investment of time, money, and resources. Let’s start off by answering the following question:

Internet Marketing Solution

What are the advantages and disadvantages to implementing business 2 business or consumer keywords and keyword phrases in the website that are seldom used?

There are two online schools of thought here. One SEO school says that the keywords selected to be used throughout the website should be the least competitive keywords and misspellings included, so it is much more likely to be found in the search results. The other SEO school says to develop the natural keywords throughout the website along with logical variations of keyword phrases including plural uses of the keyword and various tenses using proper writing syntax and grammar.

If we follow the first SEO school, a website may start showing up in the top results for very seldom searched for keyword phrases. While in the other SEO school, because of the numbers of pages with the same keywords, web pages are less likely to show up due to excessive competition.

Natural Language Writing vs Keyword Search Variations

Internet Marketing SEO Help

Actually, I believe that both SEO philosophies have ideas that are both right and wrong. First and foremost, I believe the emphasis should be on natural language writing and logical uses of the keywords. This will no doubt require extensive research, reading, and writing of quality content. It will certainly take an extended period of time to make a marketing impact in the various keyword market segments. At the same time, it is important to also develop other lesser used variations of those keywords and keyword phrases to help establish an online site theme or a type of Internet marketing trend in what a website is about. In essence, you have to write the way your customers think for the search engines to pick up on the keywords and keyword phrase syntax used throughout the website.

Are There Search Engine Optimization Shortcuts?

SEOs have used extensive Black Hat search engine shortcut tactics in the past for getting a website to the top of the search results. As search engine algorithms have improved, these black hat optimization tactics are becoming less effective. The emphasis today should be on developing good content, proper link building throughout the website, proper titles and meta tags, ethical search engine optimization strategies, unique marketing and advertising messages, and certainly strategic link building with various related topics and websites.

How Should we Measure Search Engine Software Algorithms?

No search engine company is going to come out and tell you exactly what is required to get your web page or website up to the top in the search engine results. Though they will give you some best practices guidance for webmasters to follow. First off when it comes to the Internet presence, every search engine company wants to have the best results possible. If a search engine tells you exactly what to do, then everyone would try to do the exact same thing. There are a multitude of variables involved in page ranking, that are factors in attaining top standing in the search results. We can not control what Google, Yahoo!, or Microsoft Bing Search do in their search algorithms. So, what we can control is the content and layout of websites under our control.

Present Relevant Information for the Search Engines and Users (Customers)

The number one goal of any website should be to provide quality content to get found online. Algorithms and software improvements at the Search Engines have made great strides in evaluating keywords throughout the page and site, along with Natural Language Processing (NLP), Text Analysis, and Automatic Classification Systems are some of the key areas for establishing what a website is all about. The days of just pasting a whole bunch of keywords over the entire page or hiding the keywords in the underlying html code to get a website in the top search results is all but over. Sure, there still are websites in the search results list that do this type of Black Hat SEO tactic, of hiding keywords, but that is only because other parts of the software algorithms might give higher Page Rank [Google PageRank™] to these pages based on the number of pages that link to them on the Internet. Read more insights into the Google PageRank perspective.

Developing a Keyword Search Engine

It becomes exceedingly difficult for Search Engines to say how much is too much for certain types of keywords in the body text. There are an infinite number of variables for establishing the density of a keyword. Certainly, the difficulty becomes even greater when one considers the use of certain words having different meanings for different industries. Then there is the aspect of how the word is used in the context of the text itself. Natural Language Writing has different styles, such as Argumentative, Narrative, Enunciative, and Descriptive Styles; along with different uses of grammar and even the proper spelling and even misspellings can significantly alter how a search engine responds to the classification and Keyword Density of the page.

What Additional Factors are used in Keyword Analysis?

Keyword Relationships

Graph Showing the Keyword Relationships in a Document

Search Algorithms need to be able to filter through all of the other words in a website. Every single word that is placed on a web page can have some degree of influence over the whole of the page and even the website itself. Simple words like: them, your, you, it, or, AND even and, need to be filtered and evaluated. Too many uses of those words in the web page can throw off the algorithm. Relationships exist between all words. The proximity of the Online words relative to each other, will also significantly influence the software algorithms of what the page is about (See Keyword Graph.) Writing on the Web has to be tightened up and more structurally focused toward the subject matter, in order to become more successful in establishing new pages online, especially when it comes to the highly competitive Internet keywords.

Search Algorithms Analyze Capitalization, Bold Text, Font Size, and Font Placement

To grasp the degree of difficultly that Search Engines face in cataloging a website is to consider what needs to be analyzed from their perspective. By somewhat of a Reverse Engineering Marketing aspect we can gain Internet marketing insight into what is looked at for establishing the ranking in the search engine results pages. Capitalization, bold text, font size, and font placement are all factors in page analysis. For example: as Google Search algorithms have improved, and certainly expanded over time to include other on-site and off-site website factors, the weight factor given to each of these hundreds of variables has changed slightly, and in some instances drastically affected the search results.

Understanding Search Engines and the Online Marketing Learning Curve

I believe that we are all on an online marketing learning curve. Search engines are continually learning about the World Wide Web by constantly traveling the Net with their Robots that catalog the pages. Then with analysis software, the companies can determine the so-called Mean, Mode, and Median of any particular criteria within the page or group of search results they wish to analyze. With such detailed analysis, they then can tighten or loosen a set of parameters to slightly change or drastically change the search results. Every update to a search engine algorithm in-turn creates a new round of learning by all the SEO Webmasters of the world. Through this type of online school teaching, the SEO is constantly being trained toward better content writing and layout quality. The whole of search is also trained, because as creativity and new technology are implemented into websites, along with the popularity of other types of online content sites, the search companies can continue to upgrade and improve their algorithms to reflect these new changes. Sure, there may be the law of unintended consequences that occur along the way, but in the long run, everyone will benefit with better content, websites, and search engine results pages.

Professional Web Services, Inc., is a SEO strategies, Internet marketing services, online advertising strategies, and a Web branding solutions company. Contact us today for Internet Marketing Services for your B2B or B2C business to be found in the search engines. Turn your business into a great online sales tool with a Pro. eBusiness Online marketing solutions with Professional Web Services. If you are serious about gaining more customers now, getting more online sales leads, and learn how we can help your business get discovered on the Web, then send us an email today for your online marketing solution.

Article by: Jim Warholic

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To help get your company to the top of the search line with online marketing services; contact Professional Web Services today.

Analytics And Google Base – Sales & Marketing Home Runs

J. Warholic

Internet Marketing And Online Advertising Just Got Better

Google has just empowered the Mom and Pop Small Businesses to be able to compete with their Big Business Brothers with a back-to-back 2 Home Run Sales And Marketing Impact

First, Google Analytics was released for Free to anyone that would like to be able to track what is going on with their website. This is a Professional high end program originally developed for Enterprise internet sales, marketing, and advertising use. The program is able to provide the advertising tracking feedback mechanism for new Ad conversions and website use tracking.

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You’ll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

Second, Google Base was also released for Free to everyone that would like to market their products or services, OR information on the Internet. Base is an online version of quite a number of different types of concepts from: Classified Ads, Want Ads, Recipe Sharing, Newsletter Listings, Services For Hire, Items For Sale, Cars And Houses For Sale, and even the Ebay concept of allowing companies to upload their database of inventory for sale.

E Business Base Features That Stand Out For Me

  • Complete control of what is displayed
  • Pictures can be uploaded
  • Labels can be applied to the information page for it to show up in various categories of the Google Base Search results
  • Privacy can be maintained through an automatic private type of email process
  • A link to a more information page can be applied
  • Free hosting of information for those without a website

Click on this Internet marketing , advertising, and sales tools example of how the information can be hosted for free. Additionally, it is cool how the pictures will change automatically when the cursor is placed over the small thumbnail versions. There is even a slideshow option. This can be a great way of displaying a product or service to anyone searching online. To see how the results come up when doing a search see: Internet Marketing Services San Ramon Newsletter

Sign up for our free Internet marketing online advertising and web site branding technology newsletter to stay on top of this information today. Get from Google First Base to home plate with an Internet marketing and online advertising plan from Professional Web Services today.

Above The Fold Internet Marketing

J. Warholic

Courtesy of USA Today

The term “Above The Fold” was used in the newspaper business which represented everything above the fold on the top half of the page. The Premium Content Area.

Internet marketing for a B2B and B2C site today requires the same key concepts that were once only in the news print industry. Deciding what to place at the top of the web page may be the most important marketing decisions to make.

The issues:

How do you design a page that is going to capture the attention of the reader when they first visit a web site?

How do you make a page search engine friendly at the same time?

Key factors of understanding

First, it is important to understand that someone will arrive at a website in one of two ways. The first is they know your website by name. The second is they found your website through a search engine, web directory, or reference link. Each of these has its own set of variables when deciding what to place above the fold.

In some businesses it may be very easy to sum up and describe what your company does. Others may find this exceeding difficult to place a description on it. Take for example a B2B business which fabricates widget pieces for hundreds if not thousands of broadly different industries. Each of these industries has a different understanding of the engineering terminologies involved in the manufacturing process to fabricate the various components used in their company’s final product. This might actually be more typical then what most might have thought.

Bridging the gap between the first time visitor and a repeat customer is definitely a challenge. In the example above it is important to cover the bases to the best of your abilities on each web page. Graphics can tell a lot about the company brand. Sometimes the graphics displayed just does not tell the right brand story. Typically most websites have a graphic image at the top quarter or third of a displayed page. Using this area wisely can provide a powerful E marketing impact. Many times the company name can give a great indication of what the company is all about. Highlight the name if this is the case. Other times providing an image of what is manufactured can bring a viewer quickly to an understanding of what your company does.

The old adage that “A Picture Tells A Thousand Words” can certainly be true right here. Graphic logos can even be used both as a functional tool and a visual advertisement of what the site is all about.

Then comes the meat and potatoes. This is where you want to place your most important online information at the top. Get to the facts and issues as quickly as possible. Some have said that you only have three seconds to grab the attention of the viewer. If attention of the reader is captured in these first few seconds, they are much more likely to expand their knowledge of your business or consumer website by reading more information online. Just like in writing a newspaper article the facts and issues are at the top, and from there the story details are expanded upon.

Stories are great to read if they are interspersed with helpful illustrations or pictures depicting the subject matter. Going to new sites I personally want to find out as much information as I can especially if it is something I am interested in. Improperly assuming the new visitor is going to have an understanding of what it is you do with only a few words and a few pictures may be the wrong assumption indeed. Not only that, but with few words in the body, this will not provide the search engines enough information to really categorize the web page and place it in the search engine results pages.

Yes, it is possible to go overboard on your webpages at times. From an Internet marketing perspective it is important to continually revise and improve the story line. Online revision is an area that should never stop occurring.

For help with your Internet marketing story line and Online Advertising contact Professional Web Services.

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