http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/internet/web-design/website-building-101.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/web-design/website-building-101.html Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0500
The first option is to hire a designer. If you are willing to invest a good sum of money into the initial stages of developing your business, hiring a professional website designer or web design company should be something to seriously consider. The job will cost you thousands of dollars (if you hire a reputable designer) but all the pressure and work will be on someone else’s shoulders. Spending a lot of money right at the beginning of your venture may seem a little risky, but compared to other business endeavors the cost - and risk - are minimal. And the amount of money you have the potential to make after your site goes live will far outweigh the amount of money initially invested in its construction. Also, if you expect a professional job, hiring a professional is the best way to attain that objective.

A designer will consult with you regarding what you need in a website - a simple basic website, flash-based design, and e-commerce sites are the most common. You will also discuss form, functionality, color scheme, graphics, and other important points. Sometimes content can be obtained through your web designer as well, or you can fulfill your content needs after the basic website design is completed. In the end, hiring a web designer offers you a lot of flexibility and gives you the ability to fully customize your website in all aspects of its design.

Go it Alone

If you don’t have the money to spend on a good web designer or feel it’s unnecessary for your purposes, there’s no reason why you can’t create the website yourself. And this option applies to everyone - even if you know nothing about HTML or web design. Of course, if you do know a little bit of HTML - or are willing to put your nose to the grindstone and scour the Internet and your local library to learn HTML - you can certainly build a website from scratch. But nowadays there are other ways to make your own business website without struggling with HTML or a costly designer.

Website templates, for example, combine the professional design talents of an experienced web designer with the cost-effectiveness of going it alone. Templates are ready-made web pages that a designer or design company sells for a small sum - the cost is so low simply because the template can be resold over and over again. In addition, if you purchase a website template that won’t be resold after you buy it the cost will rise but still ends up being much more affordable than working with a designer one-on-one. The cost is kept relatively low because, although the template cannot be sold to another person, the design was already created and the buyer agrees to purchase it "as is."

When you visit a website selling templates you are given the freedom to browse through a wide selection of different styles of website designs. Once you find the perfect match for your business you simply purchase and download. All that’s left is to edit it using a simple HTML editor to add content, graphics - you name it. One such website template company I found that offers quality, reasonably priced templates is http://templatedogma.com/.

The final option is to use an online website builder to do the job. This type of program holds your hand every step of the way so that you can build a website without knowing anything about computer languages or design techniques. Even if you use a WYSIWYG editor it is possible to get lost along the way, and as mentioned above, templates do require editing after you make the purchase. A website builder is the only option that essentially automates the entire process. You might not be able to customize every aspect of the site, as templates are usually part of the procedure, but adding content, pictures, charts and tables to the site is made entirely hassle-free.

As you can see, there are many different ways to build a website from the ground up. In the end, choose the option you think will lead you down the path toward online success and you’ll be happy with the results.

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This article was written by Katerina Mitrou sponsored by http://templatedogma.com/. Template Dogma offers a huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates and custom products too. Build your professional website in minutes with the help of Templatedogma.com. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://templatedogma.com/

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/pr/high-rankings-how-do-search-engines-fit-into-your-business.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/pr/high-rankings-how-do-search-engines-fit-into-your-business.html Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0500
So what is the best way to optimize your site without getting into trouble with the search engines? Set up to constantly work against spammers and provide search results that users can trust, Google and Yahoo! work with search algorithms in order to come up with relevant search results. They change these algorithms on a continual basis to stay one step ahead of those looking to exploit the methods employed by search engines and reach the top of the list unfairly. But there are legitimate ways to optimize your site without landing in hot water with Yahoo! and Google.

One method of achieving a good rank in the major search engines is to optimize your site’s content using keywords, although this technique is losing ground in favor of newer ranking systems. Including particular keywords in your site’s content makes it easier for the search engines to find you on the web. You must also keep up with relevant keywords over time and continue to optimize accordingly. Keep in mind it’s best to focus on Yahoo! and Google search engines because they are the top 2 in the search engine world and will drive the most traffic to your website.

Keywords can help improve your rankings, but you have to be careful when using them. Only use keywords that are relevant to your site’s theme because inserted keywords that are unconnected to your site are a cause for penalty. One great place for a keyword is in your domain name. Just be sure that the keyword shows up in the root of the URL, rather than the stem, as some search engines do not take kindly to sites that include keywords in a URL’s stem.

Also add keywords to any content you have on the site. Other places to put keywords include: title tags in your source code; in the meta description of your site; and in your meta keyword tags.

But now the best way to become popular in Google and Yahoo’s books is by proving your popularity in the online world. The way the search engines determine a site’s popularity is by analyzing how many other sites link to it. So let’s say you run a website selling cookie cutters. You will rank high in the search engines if a lot of other quality websites, related to your business in some way, contain a link back to your site. For instance, you might ask the person running a site selling cookie dough or baking accessories to place a link to your site on one of their pages. Getting your link on a site offering cookie recipes, baking tips and other cooking information might be a good idea as well. In turn, offer to list their websites, and you just might start showing up higher in the rankings.

Of course, the pure number of links you have is not the only test of popularity. In fact, the major search engines mostly look for quality links. If you have a bunch of links to irrelevant websites, you won’t really turn up in the search engines. But if your links show up on high-traffic, quality websites relevant to your own site’s theme, the search engines are going to pay more attention to you as a trusted site.

Another effective way to rise in the search engine rankings is by including high-quality content on your site, such as articles. Good information related to the theme of your website will ensure that real people find your site useful and want to link to it. Sprinkling keywords throughout the text naturally is also a good way to make use of the content on your site as a way to attract search engines.

Next, submit your site to online directories, such as Yahoo! and the Open Directory Project. Search engines also scour these directories so being listed in as many places as possible can’t hurt.

You can also create several sites all related to your overall theme or product as a way to boost rankings. This establishes a community of sites that is easier for the search engines to sniff out. Then use your group of sites to link to one another, thus making all your product sites more popular in the eyes of the search engines.

If you work hard to establish your site and avoid the pitfalls that can get you kicked out of the search engines, your site will climb the search engine ladder before you know it.

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This article was written by Katerina Mitrou sponsored by http://templatedogma.com/. Template Dogma offers a huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates and custom products too. Build your professional website in minutes with the help of Templatedogma.com. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://templatedogma.com/

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>