Making Websites

A little while ago my old laptop needed replacing, it was over 3 years old and the battery had a 10 minute charge life and the charger was needing to be replaced. A quick visit to ebay and for less than $500 Australian a new Toshiba laptop was delivered.

About the same time I visited a friend who had spent over $1,500 on a laptop from a large electrical retailer. My friend mainly uses the laptop to check emails and create simple word documents, I was thinking that maybe a $1,500 laptop was extravagant to their needs.

As a web page designer and article writer I feel that my $500 laptop completes my tasks with complete ease.

Most visitors to my MakingWebsiteBlog are beginning their learning path, my blog covers information in regards to content, domain names, web hosting and SEO. I though why shouldn’t computer hardware and software be covered to, after all it is what is use to browse, compose and submit our work.

As you can see I don’t think bigger is better, the $500 laptop has Vista as the operating system, 2GB of ram, 160GB of Hard Drive and the CPU is a Celeron 2.2Ghz. The tasks that this laptop needs to undertake are, web browsing of course, simple picture editing (cropping, resizing and compressing for the web), text editing and when I just want to be slack, my favourite game.

Now you know what hardware I use for my web design, I will now run through the list of my essential software;

• Web browsers – IE8, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari. So I can check that the page views ok across a variety of platforms.
• Gimp – For my picture editing.
• Dreamweaver MX 2004 – Mainly used in text editing mode, and I like the site manager.
• Xampp – Xampp creates a server on my PC so I can create a full working page so it can be tested before I upload.
• Fireftp – A Firefox plugin to transfer files.
• And the last and most used software is windows notepad – I am using it now as I am writing this article. My Blog and EzineArticles have a feature where I can copy and paste text in to the “new post” form.

The above are my choices for hardware and software, some of you may like to use a desktop machine and would prefer to use a graphical interface to create your pages. I would like to know, and I assume that some the readers of my blog would be interested what you use. Please take time to comment, and share with us your hardware and software that you use to make your websites.

6 figure income from a website, does it really happen? Of course it does, all you need to do is to follow these 3 easy steps and you will be on your way to financial freedom never needing to work again.

1. Select a niche product
2. Market the niche product
3. Build a rapport with your customer

How many stories have you read that promise 6 figure incomes, lots I am assuming, my in-box is full of spam saying that it is possible.

I am wondering, how many of these website owners are actually earning their cited 6 figure income?

I guess I am or can be very cynical when it comes to get rich quick stories/schemes, I believe a website should have credibility that has been created over a period of time. The websites that promote financial freedom all have the same feel and design, like they have all come from the same template.

Yes I do earn an income from my websites, and if you include the cents it is a 6 figure income. My style is to create websites that I have an interest in, something I enjoy doing. I focus on getting a good ranking on the search engines, provide quality advice and content, and getting visitors to my site.

Once I have accomplished these items I explore methods of making an income from the site. To be able to sell a product I find it easier to endorse if I believe in the product.

In most cases I will use affiliate marketing to produce an income from my new site. Affiliate marketing is being paid for a lead, referral or click to a merchants website by means of a commission, a set referral fee or cents per click.

When you are deciding on your path of earning an income from the web, will you go with the template style website that will provide you with riches beyond your dreams, or will you go building a reputable presence on the web?

I have been creating web pages for some time and have spent considerable time researching SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques, and as the owner of several blogs have always wondered about one of the techniques.

Quoted from the results of a recent Google search on “SEO Blog Comments”:

“By taking the time to comment on blogs, even one or two comments per day can lead to extremely positive results such as reputation building, expert positioning, and the building of inbound links, even if said blogs use the no follow attribute in their comment fields (and if they do not, all the better).”

The above has some valid points, and as long as the comments are on topic and are well thought responses then I guess you may have a positive moderation and your comment allowed.

Before you make a comment, place yourself in the webmasters shoes and ask. How will a comment of “Nice site” or “That is a valid point” followed by a link to a site selling “Viagra” enhance their their Blog? The answer is, quite simply, it will not.

As a webmaster, one of my blogs is for my accounting practice, and any comments like the preceding one will always be treated as spam and deleted. Most webmasters, myself included, have spent considerable amount of time on their blog, writing posts and promoting their site. We appreciate comments on topic and in fact encourage it, and if a URL is added to the comment then that to must be on topic and very relevant to the comment.

I guess the last thing I would be doing is to denigrate my site with a “Nice site” comment and a link to sell Viagra. To give you an idea of the success rate, of the 3500 comments posted only 11 comments have been approve and are displayed on my blog, the remainder are all “Nice site” comments.

The time and effort you put in making a comment on another blog will be matched by the time and effort of the Blogs owner.

I have been comparing web hosting packages lately, mainly as research for a websites I am working on so my visitors will know which hosting package will suit them.

The web site www.lowcostplans.info provides information of hosting plans for your first website.

One of the web hosting packages I examined has 10 GB of webspace and 300 GB of transfer per month for a reasonable fee of $US 4.99 per month, so what do all these figures mean?

I will attempt to put into perspective for you. The page that you are reading now has an approximate file size of 140,000 bytes. As you can see this page consists mainly of text with a few small graphics, a typical blog page. A page with graphics, photos and flash media will of course be larger in size than a page consisting mainly of text.

So how does this web page of 140,000 bytes fit in to the 10 Giga-Bytes of web space and 300 Giga-Bytes of transfer per month?

The web space and transfers also includes any databases that you may have, as well as the sending, receiving and storing of emails. The calculations and estimates will only include the storage and transfers of web pages. As you will see in the following calculations, these extras, are merely incidental

First off I will look at the webspace. The 10 GB of webspace means that 76,000 pages can be hosted at the file size of 140,000 bytes, that is a huge amount of information, I would seriously doubt that any one person would be able to create that much data.

Now for the transfer of data from your web site, 300 GB how many page views does that equate to. This blog page as mentioned before is 140,000 bytes of data which equals 1 page view so the 300 GB will give this page over 23 million page views per month.

For $US 4.99 per month you can host 76,000 pages and have over 23 million page views per month, as a comparison www.debian.org has over 20 million pages views per month.

Assuming the above is still not enough, then for $US 14.99 per month at the same web hosting service you can recieve unlimited web space and transfers.

404 error pages, we all know what they are, right. I will refresh your memory, a 404 error occurs when your server is reached by a user, but the page the user is looking for, can not be found. This may happen for a variety of reasons;

• A typo by the user, by simply missing the “l” in “html” will result in the 404 error,
• An external link to a moved/deleted page,
• An internal link to a moved/deleted page.

I read an article recently that stated that most users of the internet when encountering a 404 error page assumed that the whole website is no longer available, not just the one page. Bearing that in mind, after attracting a user to your page and for them to find a 404 error page, all your hard work is undone as they are browsing away from your website to your competitors site.

Stop making your 404 error page the exit page to your website. Create a 404 webpage that replaces the default error page. How I created my 404 page on my websites is to make the error page in the same format as any other page on my site, and then place the error information where the content would go.

If you do not want to create your page as above, make sure that you have;

• A link to your website as big and as clear as possible so the user will prows to your site,
• Make sure your page is less than 512 kilobytes, as windows explorer may display a default 404 page.
• If applicable have a search box so the user can type what they are looking for and be directed to the correct page.
• If applicable a drop down menu so the user can browse to the page of interest.
• If your site is small, maybe a sitemap showing all your pages.
• An apology for not have the page there, eg “We apologise for the inconvenience, please browse to the home page www.yourwebsite.com”.

Most website hosting services will have the ability to change your 404 error page, cPanel is a commom interface used by web hosting business, please contact your hosting company and they should be able to direct you on how to make the changes.

To get your new 404 error page up and running, first create in your favourite html editor and then upload.In cPanel you first need to logged in, click on the error page icon at the bottom of the configuration page, click on the “404 (not found)” link and then copy and paste your html into the text box. Save the information and it is completed.

To view the updated page live, browse to a page that you don’t have on your site and the new error page should be displayed.

If you have any ideas that have worked for you, please add to the comment box below

I have a Free Open Directory, over the past week or so I have been reviewing the websites that have been added. I am checking for dead links and making sure the web pages are suitable as per the guidelines of the directory.

In my browsing of the web sites in my directory I have come a cross many web pages that are displaying “Web Page Under Construction”.

Why does the owner/designer of the web site feel that they need to announce to the world that they have not finished constructing their web page yet? If your plans are to provide a fantastic web page with all the bells and whistles and you’re not quite ready with the completed product after registering the domain name. Wait, I know, lets create an index page that says, “Web Page Under Construction”.

Or, maybe a better solution would be to have a website with at least 1 page that has been constructed with thought saying who you are, how you can be contacted, where you are located, what type of business you are. Something that will give more information about your business than, “Web Page Under Construction”.

Would you ask a printer to print pamphlets that say “Web Page Under Construction” or similar, of course you wouldn’t. I am also guessing that the printer would say otherwise to.

Search engines will crawl your “Under Construction” page, and will display the results accordingly, after the site is finished, your search engine listings will still show the page as being under construction until a crawl is done. One of the factors that search engines look at is the time your site has been online, get all your simple SEO factors in place from day one, even if it is on a simple one page site.

Website Design Best Practices

By Elizabeth McGee

Good website design can be defined as giving your visitors a logical way to navigate through your site so they can easily find the objects or information they are looking for without being distracted and confusing them.

That’s a tall order and unfortunately, few websites fit the mold, however if you want to design a website that gets traffic, sales and better ranking, pay special attention to these few but powerful website design best practices.

They’ll not only benefit your human visitors but if done correctly, they will help your search engine ranking as well.

1. Use Clear & Quick Navigation

Typically a site’s navigation will be either down the left or right hand side of your website. Whatever side you choose is not important, it’s really more about keeping your navigation consistent on every page of your site.

Also keep in mind that most of your visitors won’t initially land on your home page, so to help them pick up your navigation wherever they are, have your subjects and categories organized logically. Including a link back to your home page on every page of your site will also help visitors should they get lost.

I like to use breadcrumb trails. This is a row of links, usually displayed at the top of your page that show your visitors what page they are on and where they just came from, it also demonstrates how your site is organized. Not all website software has this feature but if you have it I recommend using it.

2. Use a Clean Page Format

Give your page a clean, easy to read format by using lots of white space and resisting the temptation to fill every nook and cranny. Actually the more white space the better.

Start by placing your site’s title at the top of your page using your best keyword phrase. Next, expand on your main title with a subtitle, again using your best keywords. Leave adequate space between each section.

Don’t cram a lot of pictures and ads. If you have an ad, keep it off to the side or subtly intersperse it between your text. You don’t want to confuse or distract your visitor.

Keep your paragraphs small, 2-3 sentences each and get to the point quickly.

3. Interlink Your Related Pages

Link your category and sub-category pages. For example if you have a ‘cameras’ category with sub categories that include ‘digital cameras’, ‘video cameras’, ‘waterproof cameras’, include text links that cross-link each of these pages. This not only helps your readers, it helps the search engines navigate logically through your site.

4. Keep Links in Blue

This is certainly not a hard and fast rule but most of us expect a link to be underlined and in blue so it makes sense to stick with what’s consistent and recognizable for people. Chances are links in another color or links not underlined will be recognized as links however why take the chance on possibly missing out on clicks?

5. Use Clear Titles for Buttons & links

Title your links appropriately and don’t be misleading with your link names. For example, if you have a link to sports equipment don’t label it ‘Great Outdoors’, call it ‘Sports Equipment’. If you have a link to ‘cameras’ don’t label the link ‘Hotshots’, label it ‘Cameras’.

You don’t want to waste your viewer’s time by having them figure things out. Be clear about where the link is taking them.

6. Include a Search Box

Just in case a visitor can’t find what they are looking for you could save them from hitting the back button by having a search box that they can use to quickly find what they need. Place the search box on each page of your site, it will save them time and frustration and it will help you serve them better.

7. Minimize Animation & Flashing Banners

Don’t be tempted to grab attention with flashy objects or wild animation, it distracts your visitor but it also takes away from your content as well as slow down your page load time.

You’re much better off grabbing attention with a catchy headline or text phrase, but also animation and flashing banners scream ads for many people so they will most likely just ignore them or find them annoying.

8. Focus on the ‘YOU’, not the ‘ME’

Make it obviously clear to your readers that you are there for them. What can you do for your reader? What benefits can you offer? How can you make their business more profitable or their life better or easier? Request feedback on what they need or want to know.

9. Include an ‘About Me’ Page

Your site visitors want to know about who’s behind curtain, so to speak, so having an ‘about me’ page gives them a personal glimpse into who you are and what you are about.

A well written about me page will create trust and let your visitors know that you are genuine and serious about your business.

10. Ensure Your Pages Load Fast

I remember reading that you can lose about 1/3 of your visitors if your page takes 8 seconds or longer to load. If viewers have to wait for a page to load they’ll use the back button.

Here’s a link that will tell you how fast your pages load:

http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.loading-time-checker.htm

11. Use a Site Map

A site map will give visitors a “guide” on viewing your site and also eliminate confusion, especially with larger sites. It’s a road map for your visitors to follow while they are on your site. Site maps can also increase rankings and placement within the Search Engines.

12. Include a ‘Terms of Use’ Link

With the legal requirements placed on internet business owners today I like to include a ‘terms of use’ link that includes privacy information, disclaimers, disclosures and any other legal information required of your website. This keeps all the legal information contained on one page for easy access.

Learn more about effective internet marketing with candid, honest ideas and internet business building tips from Ms. Liz at http://www.homenotion.com. Sign up for her free marketing tips newsletter and get your free guide on ‘Strategies for getting tons of free traffic to your site”.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_McGee
http://EzineArticles.com/?Website-Design-Best-Practices&id=3363425

I received this email from a user of one of my websites recently, this question is typical from a person wanting to make their first website. The reply below is not conclusive, more information can be found on this blog,http://www.makingwebsitesblog.com

Question: I would like to know what is the first step with registering a domain name and then web hosting,do I type up the contents I want in a word document before I register for a domain name and web hosting. I also want to know how to link my web page to other sites and how to set up the pay pal and other options, thank you.

Reply:

The first step is to work out what you want from your website, and register a domain name that is relevant to your website content. Look at keywords that are associated with your site. One of my websites that I have previously mentioned on my blog before is www.surveys4cash.com , some of the keywords used on the website have been incorporated in the domain name.

Most business that register domain names, also sell web hosting and vica versa, as this is your first site I would recommend getting your domain name and hosting at the same place. GoDaddy is my favourite for domain name registrations, a dot com domain name should be available for about $10 us.  GoDaddy provide hosting as well as many tools needed to run your site.

Word documents are not the best way to go for creating a web page, I would suggest that you use a free html editor like CoffeeCup to format and create your page. A good editor will let you look at you page in a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get ) or code format. Coffee cup also has a built in FTP (file transfer protocol) for uploading your files from your PC to your web site

Listing your page on the major search engines like, Google, Yahoo and Bing is the best tip for getting inbound links, reciprocal linking to 1000 sites is not always the best idea, I have a site with 6 inbound links ranking 1 on page 1 of Google.

For some, the only reason to have a website is to make an income. I fall into this category, all web sites that I own in some form help me to make money. So how can you monetize your site?

Google Adsense,  is an excellent place to start. To be eligible for Google Adsense you will need to be over 18, own a website, comply with their program policies and in certain cases owned your website for more than 6 months. More information is available at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9724.

Google restricts “Adsense for Content” to a maximum to 3 per page. You will see up to 3 Adsense for Content units on my page. The content boxes come in a multitude of sizes, 728 pixels x 90 Leaderboard, 160 pixels x 600 Skyscaper, 336 pixels x 280 rectangle, these are some of the most popular.

Google Adsense displays ads that are relevant to the content of the site, once again if you look at the Google ads on this page you will notice that they are showing information relative to the website.

With any advertising program to work your web site will need a steady flow of visitors, the more visitors you have, the more income will be made from your site

Some simple tips to know to help you along, apply for AdSense account via blogger.com for faster approval and once you are approved, you can put Adsense on any of your websites without requiring further approval.

Read and reread Google AdSense Program Policies and Terms and Conditions, whatever you do, don’t click on your own ads, or ask people to click, even if you are using proxies, don’t use click-bots, don’t encourage your visitors to click on ads. The only acceptable text is “Sponsored Links” and “Advertisements”.

Please take some time and leave comments or feed back on this article.

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation techniques can be applied while constructing the content of your web page. These simple steps can increase the ranking of your site dramatically.

Keywords, what do expect your visitors to type into the Search Engine to find your web page. Talk to friends about your site, source ideas of what search engine keywords can be used to find your site. I created a web site for my accounting business, I asked clients and friends what keywords they would use to find my site, their answers mainly involved the keywords “Tax Accountant Adelaide”. Please search and you will find my site www.accountantplus.com.au ranked highly on the first page.

Content, now that you have your keywords they need to be used through out the content of your web page. Your keywords should be placed in the <title> tags, <h1> or <h2> tags and then sparingly through out the content of your page. I also use the keywords as anchor text to the home page of my sites.

Compliant html markup, yes there are rules to writing html markup script, please spend some time making sure that your page complies, search engines are more likely to crawl a compliant site. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides a free validator at http://validator.w3.org/

Anchor text, when listing your site on search engines, directories or any other sites, always keep the url and anchor text consistently the same. For my accounting website the url is http://www.accountantplus.com.au and my anchor text is Tax Accountant Adelaide. Search engines treat http://www.yourwebsite.com and www.yourwebsite.com and http://yourwebsite.com as 3 different web page addresses, even though they all arrive at the same place. The best example of anchor text is “click here” , do a search and the top listing will be the Adobe Reader website. It is the top listing because, we all “click here” to get our free copy of adobe.