Web Design Discussion

If you wish to create a static web site and keep all the benefits of a blog or content management system (CMS) then use Word Press to build it. I’ve used a few of the popular CMS products to build web sites however none of them is as easy to use as Word Press.

Read the rest of this entry »

6. Community networking

A blog allows you to easily build a community for your niche whether it is painting, car racing, or gardening. Offering valuable, fresh content to your community members will make them want to return and also link to your blog.

7. Multiple users

If you have several members within your community that want to contribute to your blog, you can create separate logins for each of them. This can help to create fresh content without you doing all the writing.

8. Interactive

Visitors can interact with your blog by adding comments to your blog posts. They will link to your content from their own blog or add your blog to their blogroll.

9. Schedule your posts

If you want to add your content on a later date ie a few days or weeks later) you can use the time stamp feature in WordPress.
http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/05/31/can-i-schedule-a-post/

10. Offer email updates

Have people subscribe to your blog by email by registering with feedburner.
http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/10/11/how-can-i-offer-email-updates/

How to Convert Your Blog to a Static Site

If you want to create a static site (so it looks like a regular site and not a blog) but keep all the above benefits of a blog
please visit
Static Blogging

You will receive 4 hours of video tutorials, custom plugins and themes.

A static site is what most people have been using to get their businesses on the Net. These days blogs are becoming popular because they are easier to create and maintain, however there is now an easy way to convert a blog to a static web site and still retain all its benefits.

What is a Blog?

A blog is a database-driven web site that generates dynamic web pages. It can be easily and frequently updated. Often a blog is added to a static web site or stands on its own.

What is a Static Site?

A static site used html pages and is not database-driven. It is still the most popular type of web site because it’s relatively easy to build.

Top 10 Benefits of a Blog

1. Separate content from design

If you use blogging software such as WordPress you have hundreds of templates to choose from. Because the design is separate to the template design you can change the design of your whole web site in a few seconds and still keep the content intact.

2. Easy installation and set-up

Most web hosts enable you to do a one click installation of WordPress from the cpanel (admin panel). If your web host doesn’t have this feature find another. With the admin panel of your WordPress Blog you can change the theme with another click or choose from hundreds of doing a search on Google for “WordPress Themes”

3. Easy maintenance

Instead of using FTP to upload and download files, you simply login to the admin panel, write your content, then save it. You’re new web page is immediately generated.

4. Search engine friendly

Because blogs usually contain fresh content, the search engines love them and will index the pages faster than static sites.

5. Automatic RSS Feeds
Your content is automatically syndicated to RSS directories because RSS is already built into the WordPress blog. Every time you write a post the software pings the RSS feed directories. This means more traffic to your blog.

Blogging is a great way to rapidly build links to your web site. If you don’t have a website you can easily create a blog in a few minutes by installed the WordPress software that comes with your web host or add a blog to a subdirectory of your current site.

According to blog tracking firm Technorati, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added every day. And 30 percent of all 50 million internet users are blog readers. In short, a lot of people are reading and writing blogs.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve probably read those emails that guarantee your web site will be in the top 10 sites of Google, Yahoo or MSN or will submit your site to 250 directories.

My suggestion is to stay away from those offerings. You will be throwing your money away.

Why you should not use automatic website directory submission tools?

1. No control

You have no control what directories your web site will be submitted to. It may get submitted to a web site that is not related to the subject matter of your web pages.

2. Incorrect categories

If your web site is submitted to the wrong category it may not qualify for entry. If this happens with hundreds of directories you will lose money and be disappointed.

3. Incorrect titles and descriptions

Most website directories use different criteria for the titles, descriptions and anchor text to be submitted. ie Your website could be rejected if you enter 220 characters for the description but it only allows 120. Manually submitting your web site will prevent this from occurring.

4. Access to more directories

Many directories require a user name and password to prevent automated submissions or you use captcha forms where you need to enter specific letters or numbers. This is to filter out submissions from automated software. Manual website directory submissions will guarantee you get listed in these directories.

Benefits of Manual Website Directory Submissions

1. Get One way links
Submit to those directories that only require one way links. Avoid directories that require a reciprocal link unless it is directly related to the content of your site.

2. Boost link popularity

Obtaining high search engine rankings depends on the quality and quantity of links pointing to your website. Concentrate on high quality directories to get backlinks. If you can afford the cost, submit to some of the paid directories such as business.com, yahoo.com because these are viewed as trusted sites.

3. More web traffic

Select the directories that have the highest amount of traffic first. You achieve this by checking their page rank, alexa status, search engine rankings and number of backlinks. Continue submitting to directories that are less popular depending on the amount of time you have.

Tips

Manual website directory submissions is a time consuming task. Make a plan how many directories you want to submit to, then set some time aside each day to work through them all. You may not see a significant increase in your web traffic immediately because it takes time for your site to be reviewed and included in each directory.

Check the website statistics from your web host every few weeks so you can monitor the increase in traffic and where it is coming from.

Submitting your web site to the top directories in your
field is a strategy that will gain you a lot of links and
improve your search engine rankings. The best directories
to submit to are the paid directories because they contain
the most inbound links (except for Open Directory which is
free), are a trusted resource and keep their links up to
date.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to redirect several domains to your main web site, you need to use a 301 redirect placed inside the .htaccess file on your server.

Definition of 301 Redirect

A 301 redirect tells web browsers and search engines that a web page(s) or web site(s) has been permanently moved to a new location. The 301 redirect code includes the web site address to which the resource has been moved. Web browsers will automatically redirect the person to the new location.

When to use 301 Redirect

A 301 redirect should be used to move a web site to a new domain name (URL). Search engines will preserve the search engine rankings the web site had at the previous domain.

Requirements

Apache server (the 301 redirect described will only work on apache servers. Most servers used to host web sites these days run apache.

.htaccess file - this file contains the 301 redirect code and must be placed in the root folder of your server (same location as the inidex.html page)

Same DNS- all domains you wish to redirect should have the same DNS information.

Parked domains - all domains you wish to redirect should be parked on top of your main web site.

301 Redirect Code for redirecting Multiple Domains


Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com[NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]


1. First block you need once only.

2. Second block: you need one for each domain.com that needs redirecting.

3. Third block: you need one for each www.domain.com that needs redirecting to www.newdomain.com.

4. Remove all of the blank lines from the above example.

5. Place all code in the .htaccess file in the web root folder.
Check if there is any code in the .htaccess file already as you may overwrite it. If there is, place the 301 redirect code
under this code.

6. Upload file to server - place the .htacess access in the public_html folder or the same folder as your home page.

7. All redirected domains should be parked on top of your main web site. You can usually do this from within the cpanel
that comes with your hosting plan.

8. Prevent duplicate content issues by redirecting all non-www domains to http://www.domain.com/


RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]


These domain name variations:

domain.com
http://domain.com
www.domain.com

will now get redirected to http://www.domain.com/

9. Redirect www.domain.com/index.html to http://www.domain.com/
Within your web site navigation structure, you often have pages linking to the home page with the file name: www.domain.com/index.html. This will also cause duplicate content issues. Use the code below to redirect to your main URL…http://www.domain.com/


RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.*)index\.(html?|php|asp|cfm)\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.(html?|php|asp|cfm)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]


Tips

All spaces in the code are exact and important.
Make sure you copy and paste the code correctly.
Be sure to include a space before each [NC]

The code shown above must go before the other redirects otherwise it will create a redirection chain.

Conclusion

Now your web site can be accessed using multiple domains. The 301 redirect code used above prevents your web site from being accessed by both domain.com and at www.domain.com for each page of the site. If you did not use the 301 redirect code, Google would spider and index them both, treat them as duplicate content and then penalise one version of each page.

By creating the 301 redirect from non-www to www for each domain, only www will be indexed. If you own both a .co.uk and a .com you would redirect everything to www.domain.com if you wanted to be found globally; or if you want to rank well in UK results but are hosted outside the UK, you would redirect everything to www.domain.co.uk.

Resources

301 Redirects for multiple domains

How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect

Most link building strategies are attained online, however offline techniques will enable you to acquire visitors that don’t normally spend all their time online.

Read the rest of this entry »

Link building is crucial to attaining high search engine rankings, so I thought I’d mention some methods which are beyond the usual ones I’ve discussed in previous articles ie link exchanges, articles, forums, blogs, e-books, press releases.

Read the rest of this entry »

Finding keywords that a similar to your main keyword is
essential for expanding the audience for your business. The
ultimate goal of keyword research is to obtain high
rankings, increase traffic and boost sales.

Read the rest of this entry »