2010 February

February 13, 2010 By Herman 1 Comment

How to Promote a Website for Beginners

So you’ve built a beautiful website but want to drive traffic to it. Without any web traffic it will join the 1000s of abandoned ones on the Net where the site owners gave up. Most beginners can’t invest much money to promote their website so they should use free methods instead of paid advertising. Instead of providing 100s of methods I’ll just outline the most effective free methods beginners can use to promote a website.

Steps to promote your website

1. Create a marketing plan

Without a clear marketing plan you’ll probably give up. Write down your marketing strategies, how to do them and when will they be done. Create a schedule (e.g. write and publish an article three times a week) then stick to it until you begin to see results (e.g. increased traffic, subscribers, sales).

2. Optimize your website for the search engines

Search engines use keywords to find your web pages therefore include them throughout your website e.g. title and description meta tags, headings, subheadings, main content, navigation links, internal links, image descriptions (alt tag) and file names.

Research the keywords people use to find your website by entering your main keyword in the free keyword research tool….Wordtracker. It will provide a list of related keywords and display the number of searches per month for each one. Include one or two of these keywords in the content for every page you optimize.

3. Build incoming links

Search engines rank a website according to the quality and quantity of links pointing to it. Once you’ve optimized your website create a link building plan that builds links to your web pages.

Here is one very effective link building strategy:

3. Article marketing on steroids

Content is King on the Web so either learn how to write articles or get someone to write them for you. Add the content to your blog, website, article directories, social media properties (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) and/or repurpose it into podcasts (MP3 file), videos, short reports, ebooks, email courses and teleseminars. As a result you’ll generate lots of links, traffic and sales from your website.

Each article you write should target a keyword from the list you created above. Weave this keyword into your headline, paragraphs and resource box. Remember to link back to your website in the resource box at the end of each article. Submit the article to the top article directors (e.g. ezinearticles dot com). Convert the article to a video then submit it to video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube).

The key to successful website promotion is consistency and perseverance.

********************************
Atract a continuous stream of NEW visitors to your website by picking up a copy of 101 Highly Effective Website Promotion Strategies.

February 12, 2010 By Herman 9 Comments

How to Do Keyword Research: 7 Steps for Generating Backlinks, Rankings & Traffic

Are you currently generating free traffic to your website?
Are people finding your website in the search engines?
Is your website search engine friendly?
How can you increase your current rankings?

These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself if you want to build a profitable business on the Internet. The best free traffic you can receive is from an organic listing in the search engines (websites listed on the left). Ideally your site should be listed on the first page for a specific keyword. If your website appears on the second page or beyond no one will see it. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a first page listing (because search engine formulas change and more competitors come online everyday) therefore you need to create a list of many keywords then integrate them into your web pages.

Step by step process on how to do keyword research:

1. Create a list of keywords

Use the free keyword research tools such as WordTracker or the Google Adwords suggestion tool to create a list of at least 100 keywords. For example here are the first 3 monthly results when you enter “keyword research” in Wordtracker..

keyword research…………….. 1,018
keyword research seo…………… 44
keyword research tool…………… 44
seo keyword research………………2

The longer your list the more keywords you can use in your website content. Your goal should be to dominate your niche by obtaining good rankings for all your keywords.

2. Select long tail keywords

Long tail keywords don’t have a high number of searches per month and have less competition than the popular keywords. Therefore it will be easier to attain high rankings for the them. In the above example you would use the second and third results instead of the first because there are less competing websites.

3. Create a list of competing websites

Enter each keyword into the Google search box with quotations around it to view the number of competing websites. The higher the number the more competitors you have.

Example

“keyword research”…………………11,500,000 (competing sites in Google)
“keyword research seo”……………41,910,000
keyword research tool………………1,410,000
“seo keyword research”……………….432,000

After doing a little more research you’ve discovered the first 3 searches have too many competitors but the fourth one has much less. You should now check the number of backlinks of the top 10 websites for this keyword. This will determine what you need to do to rank above a competing website.

4. Analyze the backlinks of competitors

These are links that point to a website. It’s one of the main factors Google uses to rank websites. The quality and quantity of backlinks will determine your rankings. If you can outnumber the backlinks of your competitors you will outrank them in the search engines.

Use Yahoo Site Explorer to check the number of backlinks for a web page or website. For example if the first website you check has 6000 backlinks you’ll need to get over 6000 to outrank them. That would take too long. If the second result only has 20 backlinks you could outrank them by building more than 20 to your own web page containing the same keyword.

5. Use the keywords in your content

Only use one or two keywords in the content of each web page. Include it in your meta tags, headings, sub headings, paragraphs and links. Don’t over do it otherwise the search engines will think you’re spamming them and lower your rankings.

6. Build backlinks to your website

Build backlinks to all your web pages using a combination of article marketing, video marketing, commenting on blogs, forums and social networking. Avoid getting backlinks from unrelated websites. Focus on sites that compliment or relate to your own.

7. Add unique content

As you add more content you increase the places visitors find your website. Instead of just finding your business through the home page they find it from other pages. Therefore make sure you optimize each web page plus build backlinks to it.

****************************
Generate free traffic to your website with:
Search Engine Optimization Packages

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com
Web Design, Hosting, SEO

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: backlinks, How to Do Keyword Research, keyword research, Rankings, Traffic

February 11, 2010 By Herman 1 Comment

How to Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines

Do you want to generate lots of free traffic to your website?
How do you optimize your website so it’s search engine friendly?
How do you increase your search engine rankings?

If your website achieves first page rankings on Google on any of the other major search engines you’ll receive lots of free traffic. Keep in mind there’s no guarantee you’ll achieve and/or maintain top rankings because search engines often change their ranking formulas. Your site may be at the top for several weeks then disappear because the formula has changed or competing websites have outranked you. Sometimes you’ll get top rankings in one search engine but not in the others.

10 Ways to Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines

1. Keyword research

This is the most important aspect of optimizing your website because people find your site in the search engines by entering specific keywords. Use the free wordtracker tool or google adwords tool to create a list of keywords related to your niche. Prioritize your list by displaying the keywords containing the most searches in ascending order.

2. Meta tags

These include the title, description and keyword meta tags.

Title meta tag: Write a brief (approx 6-10 words) description that describes what your site is about. Use your main keyword(s) in the beginning.
Description meta tag: Describe one of the main benefits of your site in 170 characters. Longer is fine but realize it may be cut short by some search engines. Don’t use the same description as your title meta tag.
Keywords meta tag: This tag has almost become useless due to it’s abuse however it’s a good habit to include it as some smaller search engines value its presence. Keep the length between 200 and 500 characters. The keywords should be separated by commas.

3. Heading tags

These include h1, h2, h3, etc and are primarily used for headings and subheadings in your content. This tells the search engines this text is more important than the main content.

4. Content

The first paragraph is the most important section of your content. It should include all the keywords and keyphrases of your title and description meta tags. Try not to place images, flash or video before the first paragraph so the search engines will find your content easily.

Weave your keywords into succeeding paragraphs but don’t overdo it. Using too many of them dilutes their power. Optimize each page with only 1 or 2 keywords. Use the thesaurus to find similar keywords instead of always using the same one.

5. Images

Only include images that relate or add value to the content. Optimize the images by using the “alt tag.” This is an html tag used to describe what the image is about. Search engines can’t read images but they can read the text descriptions contained in the code.

6. Validate the code

Code errors often prevent web pages from displaying incorrectly in the major browsers and can slow the loading of your website. Check for code errors with an html validator

7. Cascading style sheets (CSS)

CSS separates the design from the content. Whenever you need to alter a design element (e.g. color, width, etc) you just need to edit the CSS file.

8. Links

Use text links in your navigation menu and internal linking (linking to other pages or websites) so search engines can index them. Use anchor text (linked text) within your content to increase link popularity.

9. Web page speed

Web pages should load within a few seconds otherwise your visitors will leave. Avoid adding large or too many images, video, audio, javascript to your web pages. Place your your CSS and javascript in external files instead of inserting the full code in the web page.

Often web hosts overload their servers with too many websites causing them to load slowly. Check the load times of your web pages. If your website is correctly optimized and still loads slowly check your web hosting service.

10. Redirect non-www urls

Search engines read non-url pages (e.g. http:// http://www. www. domain.com) as all different pages. Insert 301 redirect code in the .htaccess file then upload this file to your server. (Read “How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect“) Now whenever someone enters any of those combinations they’ll get redirected to your full website address e.g. http://www.domain.com

Once you’ve optimized your website start building links to all your web pages. Your rankings will increase based on the number and quality of links pointing to it.

***********************
Web Site Promotion Services
Web Site Maintenance
Search Engine Optimization
Link Popularity
http://www.iSiteBuild.com/SitePromotion.htm

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: How to Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines, search engine optimization, website optimization

February 10, 2010 By Herman 4 Comments

How to Make a Simple Video

Why is video marketing so popular these days?
How can you quickly and easily make a simple video?
How can you use videos to drive traffic to your website?

Why is video marketing so popular these days?

Most people grow up watching television or playing video games. Some people prefer to watch and listen rather than read text on a computer screen. In order to market to a wider audience. You need to utilize multiple methods of getting your message across. This.

How to quickly and easily make a simple video

Here’s a simple video I created in Windows Movie Maker by importing one photo, a music clip and writing some headlines. It took less than one hour.

1. Ready your camera

Use a digital camera or a video camera to create your movie. You probably already have a digital camera with video capabilities. At the very least, you can also use your cell phone to shoot a short video. You don’t have to use an expensive video camera to create movies for marketing your business. Your movies don’t have to be super professional to attract an audience.

2. Create the movie

There are several ways to create a movie for your business:

Talking head: this is where you create a video of yourself giving a presentation.
Screen capture: use screen capture technology such as Camtasia to record your computer screen. You simply goes through the steps on how to do something then record it with the screen capture software.
Slide show: create a Power Point sideshow with Microsoft Power Point, or if you don’t have that software use OpenOffice.org. Once the sideshow is finished use Camtasia to record your slides.
Windows Movie Maker: This software exists on your computer. To create a simple video, simply import one photo, a music clip and create text outlining your content (see the example video above).

Save the movie in any one of these formats: WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4. The most common format is a Windows media file WMV. Save a copy of the original movie clip to your computer in case you wish to edit it later.

3. Upload to YouTube

You Tube is owned by Google and is not only the most popular video sharing website on the net but also gets the most traffic. Log in to your YouTube account, click the upload button, browse to the video you stored on your computer and upload it. It will take from a few minutes to several hours for your video to appear on the net.

4. Optimize the video for the search engines

Videos often appear in the search engines above other popular websites. To increase the chances of your video appearing in the search engine’s. You must optimize it with keywords that people are searching for. Therefore, after uploading your video edit the title and descriptions by including your main keywords. Write a title attracts the attention of your visitors plus include one or 2 of your main keywords andyour full website address. Your website address will appear as a live link in your video title. Write a description that encapsulates the essence of your video and include your main in it. Name your file using the title of your video e.g. how-to-make-a-simple-video.mov

5. Share the video

The more places your video appears the more traffic you will generate. Create a free account at TubeMogul.com to distribute it to multiple video sharing websites at the same time. Include the video on your website or blog. Write a one or 2 paragraphs to describe the contents of your video. Include your main keywords in these paragraphs. Do the same for the blog post title, links and tags.

The key to marketing your business online using videos is to do it frequently and consistently. For example make a plan to create, upload and market a simple video at least once a week.

Video Marketing Benefits – Top 10

Filed Under: Video Marketing Tagged With: How to Make a Simple Video, Video Marketing

February 9, 2010 By Herman 11 Comments

How to Create an Interactive Website

If you want to marry someone do you walk up to them and ask “will you marry me”? Obviously not because there is no relationship. You must first start a conversation then slowly build your relationship with successive conversations and by serving them.

The same strategy works in online marketing. Visitors generally don’t buy from the first contact with your website. You need to interact and offer them valuable content so they’ll get to know, like and trust you. Once you’ve won their trust they’ll be more inclined to purchase your goods and services.

Creating an interactive website enables you to interact with your website visitors, build long term relationships, offer valuable content plus recommend your products and services.

How to create an interactive website

One of the quickest and easiest ways is to create a blog. It can be a stand-alone website (domain.com) or add one to your current website (domain.com/blog or blog.domain.com)

Steps for creating stand-alone blog

1. Register a domain

Go to Godaddy.com or your favorite domain name registrar to register a domain name for your business. Include your business name or one of your main keywords in the domain name (e.g drostdesigns.com) so it’s easy to remember and shows what its about.

2. Web Hosting

Find a web hosting service that allows a one click installation of WordPress. WordPress one of the most popular platforms for building an interactive website. Read Top 7 Benefits of WordPress. You’ll need approximately 50MB of disc space to allow room for lots of pages, images and other files and approximately 3GB of bandwidth to support thousands of visitors to your website. Make sure you can easily upgrade your hosting plan should you need more space and bandwidth.

3. Install WordPress

WordPress is the software of choice because it has interactive features already built into it. Some of these features include:

Automatic pinging of the search engines
RSS feeds
Comments
Automatic bookmarking of content
Automatic newsletter subscriptions
Multiple editors of content
Blog directories

To install WordPress login to your web hosting control panel (cpanel) and click on the Fantastico icon. Once installed enter the domain name in your browser. The default theme will now be displayed.

4. Select a WordPress theme

I suggest purchasing a professional theme from Studiopress, Thesis or Wpremix so it contains no code errors, is fast loading, search engine friendly and easy to customize. If you prefer a free theme visit: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ to select from 100s of themes.

Download the new theme to your desktop.
Unzip the files. It will create a folder containing the name of your template.
Upload this template folder to wp-content-themes folder
Use FTP software such as filezilla) for uploading your files to the server
Login to your WordPress administration panel, go to the design tab. You should now see your new theme displayed.
Activate your new theme by clicking on it with your mouse.
Enter your website address in your browser to view your new site.

There are many advanced strategies for customizing the appearance and optimizing your blog for the search engines, however start adding new content to your website immediately by creating new pages and posts.

************************
Get an Interactive Website Designed
for your business by visiting
Maryland Website Design

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: How to Create an Interactive Website, interactive website, wordpress, wordpress blog

February 8, 2010 By Herman 7 Comments

How to Make Your Website Interactive – Top 10 Ways

Do you currently interact with your website visitors?
What are the ways to make your website interactive?
How can you keep visitors to stay longer on you site?

Several years ago websites didn’t involve much interaction with visitors. They simply visited the website read the information, purchased a product or subscribed then left. Nowadays visitors want more interaction. This is one of the reasons blogs became so popular. Large offline stores such as BestBuy, Macys etc are now using social media applications.

Top 10 ways to make your website interactive

1. Add a blog

A blog can easily be added to your current website by placing it in a sub domain or a subdirectory. Visitors can interact with your blog by leaving a comment, subscribing to RSS feeds or newsletter.

2. Forum

Forums enable visitors to ask questions and receive answers from people who have similar interests. Sometimes a conversation can start on a thread that continues for weeks. A forum can easily be added to your main site as a sub domain or in a subdirectory.

3. Chat

Chat windows are often seen on ecommerce sites to help the visitor to immediately engage with customer service without leaving the website.

4. Ezine or Newsletter

This helps establish long term relationships with your website visitors. If you offer valuable information by consistently sending out your ezine, weekly or biweekly your customers will get to know, like and trust you. They will be then be more open to your product recommendations.

5 Autoresponders

It’s a general rule that your customer needs to be contacted at least 7 times before they purchase your product. An autoresponder allows you to automatically send email messages every day or every few days. The beauty of this method is that you can set it and forget it.

6. Mini ecourse

Ecourses are like a small tutorial where you send a new lesson every few days using an autoresponder. By educating your customer over time they will be more inclined to purchase your products.

7. YouTube

Not all people like to read text online. Some are visual learners. Adding a video to your website enables visitors to listen and watch your content.

8. Podcast

A podcast is an MP3 file of your content that a person can download from your website. They can listen to it on their computer, download it to their ipod, listen to it in the car or while they’re exercising.

9. Twitter and Facebook

These 2 applications can easily be incorporated into your website so visitors are automatically added to them by clicking on the icons. Whenever you have new content visitors signed up for these sites get instantly notified.

10. Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking enables website visitors to save content to their favorites or recommend it to others. If your article is very popular you’ll experience a huge traffic surge. Add social bookmark icons to your website to make it easy for visitors to bookmark your content.

If you wish to generate more traffic, subscribers and/or make more sales add interactivity to your website by incorporating some of these 10 methods.

Related Articles
Top 7 Benefits of an Interactive Website
7 Factors Affecting Website Performance

Get an Interactive Website Designed
for your business by visiting
Maryland Website Design

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: how to make your website interactive, interactive website, website interactivity

February 5, 2010 By Herman 1 Comment

Interactive Website: Top 7 Benefits

People buy from people they know, like and trust. If you don’t invest in building relationships with your customers they are less likely to do business with you. For example would you hire a contractor recommended by your neighbor or use the phone book to find one? Obviously you would choose your neighbors recommendation because you trust them.

For most websites, people visit the website once or twice then leave. An interactive website enables you to build relationships with your visitors. Instead of only visiting your website once then leaving, you interact with your visitors several times.

Top 7 benefits of an interactive website

1. Build long term relationships

Business people know they need to contact a person several times before they purchase their products or services. It’s easier to sell products to people who have already bought something than finding a new customer. An interactive website enables you to start a conversation with your customer that develops into a relationship.

2. Branding

Every time a visitor interacts with your business online it builds your brand in their minds. For example if they interact with your business on your website, on Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, in your newsletter and with email, your brand will stand out from your competitors.

3. Become recognized as an expert

Expert status in your niche is gained when people interact with your website, social media applications and read your publications. You become known as the “go to” person in your niche.

4. Build backlinks naturally

If you offer great content and answer peoples’ questions they’ll refer your business to their friends who may then link to your website. Instead of artificially building backlinks you build them naturally by engaging your customers.

5. Increase search engine rankings

One of the most important factors that determine rankings is the number and quality of links you have pointing to your website. An interactive website encourages others to link their website to yours thus increasing your link popularity.

6. Attract web traffic

If your website doesn’t attract traffic your online business will die quickly. It’s the lifeblood of your website. An interactive website attracts and retains traffic because you’re communicating with them. By integrating social bookmarks, Twitter, RSS feeds, YouTube, etc on your website you create multiple methods of interaction and generate traffic from high traffic web properties.

7. Generate more sales

Making a sale is like dating someone. You wouldn’t marry a person that comes up to you and says “marry me.” Dating helps the person get to know, like, trust and eventually love you enough to marry you. You’ll generate more sales by interacting and building a relationship with your visitors.

If you don’t have an interactive website, begin by adding a blog, forum, e-course, or newsletter to it, plus create conversations in your niche using social media applications.

Get an Interactive Website Designed
for your business by visiting
Maryland Website Design

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: interactive website, website interactivity

February 3, 2010 By Herman 4 Comments

Web Page Design: 7 factors affecting website performance

Are you happy with your web site’s performance?
Does your website convert visitors into buyers?
Do visitors stay on your website or leave immediately?

Your website won’t convert visitors into buyers if it it’s not designed correctly, loads slowly is not optimized for the search engines or doesn’t have effective web copy.

7 factors affecting website performance

1. Amateur website design

An unprofessional design will drive professional business people away. Some businesses have not redesigned their website for years. It’s obvious from the appearance they have not kept up with new design technologies. Make sure your web site has a clear navigation menu, the colors are coordinated on the page and there is plenty of white space between all the elements.

2. Slow loading web pages

A web page should load within a few seconds with a high speed connection. Many sites have a flash introduction but visitors must wait for it to load before it is displayed. Large images (or too many of them on one page), JavaScript and Video are just some of the elements that will slow the loading of web pages.

3. Place CSS and Javascript in external files

Instead of including the full cascading style sheet (CSS) or Javascript within your page code place it in an external file. This speeds up load times and keeps your code mean and clean.

4. Cross browser compatibility

Your website may look fine in your own browser but may look terrible in other browsers. Test how your website displays in the major browsers e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

5. Screen resolution

Computer users these days use various monitor sizes. Most of them have a width over 1000 pixels so design your site between 900-1000 pixels. A small width of 800 pixels means there’ll be a lot of white space on both sides of your web pages when viewed with a large monitor. If the width is over 1000 (e.g. 1500 pixels) a person with a small screen size will have to scroll horizontally to view your web pages.

6. Validate html code

Code errors prevent your pages from rendering correctly on all browsers and slows the indexing of your web pages by the search engines. Google “html validator” to find the website that will validate your pages then repair the code errors.

7. Web copy

Content is what keeps visitors on your website. Your header graphic, titles, subtitles, paragraphs, bullets, images and navigation should work together to easily and quickly provide the information visitors are seeking. The first paragraph should clearly outline the purpose of your website followed by paragraphs explaining the main benefits. The navigation menu should link to deeper information. Don’t try to cram too much information on the home page.

Your web copy should include a few of the main keywords people use to find your website on the search engines. Include these keywords in your meta tags, headings, file names, internal links and navigation menu.

If you optimize your web pages by implementing these 7 factors your website will be ready to receive visitors and search engine traffic. Use web site promotion strategies to generate a continuous flow of traffic to your site.

**********************
Attract a continuous stream of NEW visitors to your website by picking up a copy of 101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site .

Herman Drost is the CEO of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Web Design, Hosting, SEO.

Filed Under: Web Design Tagged With: screen resolution, web copy, Web Page Design, Website Design, website performance

February 2, 2010 By Herman 1 Comment

Home Page Design – 7 Crucial Elements of a Beautiful Design

The design of your home page is the most important part of your website because it’s what visitors see first. If it grabs their attention they’ll explore other areas of the site. It’s often the first view they’ll receive of your business so you need to create a good impression. If your home page doesn’t have a professional design your visitors will go elsewhere.

Let’s look at the 7 crucial elements of home page design:

1. Design

There are 100s of different designs that can be applied to the home page however there are common elements that should be included in all of them. Some of these include:

Headings
The top heading should include a brief description of your business e.g. Web Design, Hosting, SEO and/or include the name of your business e.g. iSiteBuild.com. Include a tag line if it helps define your business ie “helping businesses get online”

Header graphic
This attracts attention to the top of the page. Some alternatives include, a flash or video introduction, an introductory audio message and music.

Subheadings
These help split up the content into easy to read portions. Most website visitors scan web pages so subheadings draw attention to the content.

White space
This increases the readability of your home page. Use white space around images, content and navigation. A cluttered home page prevents the visitor from focusing on your content.

Short paragraphs
Use short paragraphs of 10-20 lines and keep the lines short. Include plenty of white space on all sides of your content so it is easy to read.

Bullets
Bulleted points enable visitors to quickly scan your web page and capture the essential content.

2. Navigation

Top navigation provides more space for content because it can occupy the full wide of the page. You can also use drop down navigation links to help visitors navigate your website.

Left navigation is the most popular because people read from left to right however it reduces page width.

Right navigation is used by some site owners because the html code gets pushed under the main content (left navigation code typically comes before the main content). It also focuses visitors on your content instead of the navigation.

Bottom navigation helps visitors to return to the top of the page or visit other pages. If the home page is long they won’t have to scroll back to the top.

Navigation design may use images, javascript, flash or CSS (cascading style sheets). The most user friendly is css because you can use text links and still create colorful background images that change color when hovered over by your mouse. Text links are the only links that can be spidered by the search engines.

3. Visuals

Images
Only use images that contribute to the content. Don’t use images that don’t relate to the content. Too many images will slow the load times of your web page.

Video
If you create a video presentation, keep it short and stream the file from another server such as YouTube so it won’t slow down your home page loading time. Flash presentations should also be kept short because the visitor has to wait for them to load.

4. Cross browser compatibility

Make sure your web pages display correctly for all the major browsers particularly the tow main ones internet Explorer and FireFox.

5. Screen resolution

Gone are the days of small monitors so make sure your web site displays correctly for 1078×764 pixels and larger. Most websites have a width around 1000 pixels so it will fit into any screen resolution. Be careful if you use a flexible width as often the page elements get stretched on large monitors making your website look out of shape.

6. Clean code

Clean coding practices will help to correctly display your web site across all the major browsers, improve load times and help search engine spider to index your content. Validate your code before your site goes live.

7. Use cascading style sheets (CSS)

CSS enables content to be separated from the design. This makes it easy to change the layout or colors without affecting the content. For example if you want to change the colors or alter the size of the navigation links just edit the CSS.

Keep in mind even if you have the most beautiful design it still doesn’t guarantee your website will be profitable. You also need to create a marketing plan that will constantly attract new visitors.

Need a new design for your website?
Visit…Maryland Web Design

Herman Drost is a Master CIW Designer,
owner and author of:
http://www.isitebuild.com/portfolio.htm
http://www.drostdesigns.com