Web Design Discussion

Have you ever visited a web page where you’ve had to scroll past the large header banner or ads to read the content?

Google recently made a page layout algorithim improvement where it rewards sites that display content above the fold. When an internet user searches for information they want to see it right away rather than having to scroll horizontally or vertically to find it.

7 ways to create a web page layout that is visitor and search engine friendly

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If you don’t keep up with the current web design trends your website may no longer attract visitors and/or the search engines. For example I haven’t redesigned one of my static html websites for at least a decade. Even though I still get new clients and some pages still rank well in the search engines I’ve experienced a drop in traffic.

Why?

Because the website still displays an old design, is not regularly updated and no new backlinks have been added. My suggestion is not to procrastinate redesigning your website if you’re not converting visitors into paying customers.

7 Web Design Trends To Watch For In 2012

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One of the best ways to draw attention to your blog post or website is to place images within your content. Internet users read a lot of text online so spicing up your content with images helps make it stand out from your competitors.

If you’re willing to invest a few dollars for each image go with istockphoto. You can easily search for professional images using their search box. It’s quick, easy and you even have the option of downloading great videos. The only problem is that it can get rather expensive if you regularly add their images to your blog or website. This is why I want to discuss alternative resources for finding free images.

Where To Find Free Images Online For Your Website or Blog

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Your website is usually the first impression your visitors receive of your business so if it is poorly designed and/or contains lots of mistakes it will drive them away. Due to the lack of website traffic you won’t generate many sales and may conclude starting an online business is a waste of time and money. 95% of businesses fail in the first 5 years so your chances of being successful are not high.

Since your website is the window of your business to the world you need to avoid the common mistakes website owners make when building their site.

30 Ways to Create a Bad Website

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Do you judge a book by its cover?
Do you judge people’s character by the way they look?

The design of your website may be preventing potential customers from doing business with you even though it contains lots of valuable content. First impressions count. If a visitor is is not immediately impressed by the appearance of your home page he or she will go elsewhere.

7 Reasons Your Website May Be Driving Away Traffic

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Have you ever been to a website and couldn’t find the information due to poor navigation? You work hard to attract visitors so don’t make it difficult for them to navigate your web pages otherwise you’ll lose potential sales and/or subscribers.

When I’m searching for information I want to find it as fast as possible. I don’t want to click through a ton of links to find it. Ideally I should find the information within 3 clicks otherwise I’m out of there.

7 ways to improve your website navigation

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Are you tracking the visitors to your website?
What is the total and unique number of visitors?
Which is more important?

If you’re not tracking how many people are visiting your website and where they are coming from it will be difficult to measure your site’s growth and understand why it’s happening. To achieve this you need to utilize the statistics software usually included with your web hosting plan (e.g. awstats) or install Google Analytics Code on your web pages.

What are unique visitors?

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Want to do more with the time you have?
Want to become more efficient?
Want to grow your business faster?

Over the years I’ve zeroed in on how to make my day more productive. I used to start off my day checking my email, forums and social media sites. By the time I had read and replied to all these sites half my morning had gone plus I often lacked motivation to work on the main tasks of the day.

Are you or have you been in the same boat?

How to make your day more productive

1. Do creative work at your most creative time of the day

The morning is my most creative time so I devote the first 30 minutes or 1 hour writing an article for publication. If I don’t finish in one hour I complete it the next day.

I try to get all my most important tasks completed within the first 5 hours of the day (8AM-1PM) since that’s my most productive time of the day. After that I’ll work shorter periods of 30 minutes to 1 hour with breaks in between to maintain my energy level.

2. Prioritize daily tasks.

I keep a notepad beside me throughout the day that lists the most important tasks that need to get done in terms of priority. For instance if I need to send out a newsletter on a particular date it’s the first task I complete in the morning the day before.

3. Take breaks

I usually take a 10-20 minute break every 2 hours to stretch, go outside, drink a glass of water and rest my eyes. It helps maintain my energy level for the next 2 hours.

I take a 2 hour break in the afternoon to recharge my batteries. I’ll jog, walk or bicycle to get a cardiovascular workout plus keep my muscles toned. After exercising I’m re-energized have a large appetite, can do more work and sleep well.

4. Set goals

Create long term and short term goals and work to accomplish them. Short term goals refer to what you want to accomplish this week. Long term goals refer to what you want to accomplish by the end of the month and year.

5. Reward yourself

After accomplishing one of your goals reward yourself e.g. take your wife out to dinner or a movie.

Review your day to see how you can make it more productive.
I hope these tips will help you.

Please share your own productivity tips in the comment box below.

Do you want to add video to your WordPress blog or website?
Do you want to host videos on your own server not YouTube?
Do you want to create a play list of videos on your own site?

Recently a client asked me if I could build a WordPress site to host his own videos. He didn’t want to upload them to YouTube because it would send visitors to other sites after watching his own video. He wanted to keep visitors on his own site. Also Google rewards websites where visitors stay for longer periods than just a few seconds.

Why I chose the JW Player for WordPress

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Does having your own website still matter?
Why build your own website when you can use Facebook?
Should you use Facebook exclusively?

It’s true, Facebook and Twitter have become the most popular websites used by people for social interaction. Many businesses now use these social media platforms to interact with their customers and build awareness of their brands. Perhaps you’re thinking you should just build a Facebook Fan page and forget about your building and maintaining your own website.

Here are 7 reasons why websites still matter:

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