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Website Builders provide an easy way for small business owners to create a website without learning HTML, CSS, or other website coding languages. With dozens and dozens of options, which one is right for your website?
The best way to find the right website builder for you is to know what you need before you make [...]
If you’re running Magento Commerce on shared hosting, loading speed can be a challenge. Slow loading websites cause customers to click away and shop elsewhere.
Before you begin working to optimize your website, test your speed with a tool like webpageanalyzer.com or iwebtool.com/speed_test Run several tests at different times of the day to get a better [...]
Learning to understand your website statistics can help you improve your website for visitors, measure if your promotional strategies are working, and find new opportunities to promote your business.
How can you measure your website statistics?
There are two common ways to measure this important information.
One is with software that analyzes the server logfiles. Each time someone [...]
If you track your website analytics, you may wonder what “bounce rate” means and whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. “Bounce rate” means a visitor clicked through to your website, and only visited one page. They didn’t browse around any. They viewed one page and left.
Whether a high bounce rate is reason [...]
Imagine that you sit down at your computer one day, type in your domain name, and instead of the business website you’ve worked to build you see some crazy page that’s definitely not your website. What happened? What do you do next?
You may see a suspended hosting page asking you to contact your website host, [...]
Website builders are popular because they’re a quick and easy way to create your own website. Most are “point and click” style, requiring no knowledge of HTML or CSS code and offer dozens or hundreds of nicely designed templates to choose from.
But since everyone using the website builder has access to those same templates, you’ve [...]
You’re ready to create your first business website and get it online. You choose a site builder and put hours into your website. A month later, it’s no where to be found in the search engines. You wait a little longer hoping it just needs a little more time. But another month passes with no [...]
An up-to-date and well maintained website is important for a small business. It’s your 24/7 salesperson and customer service representative, always there promoting your products or services and answering questions for your customers.
It can be a challenge for a small business start up to afford frequent website updates by a professional web designer (hourly rates [...]
What is a banner ad? A banner ad is a graphical (picture) advertisement. The most common size online is 468 x 60. Banner sizes are measured in pixels. This means it’s 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels high.
There are many other sizes of banner ads. These sizes are also common:
120 x 240 - Vertical Banner
125 [...]
Are you getting dismal results from your banner ads? You may be making one of these mistakes!
If you generate a high number of click-throughs from your banner ads but very low or no sales, you’ll need to investigate the possible reasons. Some possibilities to consider:
- Is your ad misleading or confusing? Don’t advertise a product [...]
Are you considering ordering a banner ad design? Having a professionally designed banner advertisement created for your business can be a great choice. There are many designers out there to choose from, so here are some tips to help you select and work with a banner ad designer.
1) Start with referrals. If you have friends [...]
Here are some easy and free ways you can promote your newsletter to gain subscribers. Print off a quick copy and then check off each promotion strategy as you complete it.
- Add a subscription form to every page of my website
- Edit email signature to include info about my newsletter
- Edit signature on forums to [...]
It’s a newsletter publishers nightmare–being accused of sending spam and then blocked from reaching their subscribers.
One of the most difficult things to deal with is being accused of spamming. It can cause all sorts of frustrations.
If you use a newsletter script hosted on your own website it can result in your IP being blacklisted and [...]
If you struggle to come up with ideas for your newsletter articles, you aren’t alone! Many small business owners aren’t sure what to write about. You want topics that will be interesting to your readers and help them get to “know” you so they learn that you can be a trusted source of the information [...]
What are affiliate programs? Affiliate programs allow you to earn a percentage or set amount on sales of a product or service that you refer a new customer to. Thousands of businesses offer affiliate programs. You get to decide what products or services you’d like to promote.
There are 3 important things to consider when choosing [...]
Do you use article marketing as one of your business strategies? If so, you need an ArticlesByYou.com website.
You can start out simple and forward your domain to your author page at your favorite article marketing directory.
Or you can use your domain along with a Wordpress blog to build a directory of all your articles available [...]
You need to know what you want and need before you start looking for an e-commerce solution. The more details you plan in advance, the better off you’ll be.
As a website designer I worked with clients all too often who had chosen their e-commerce solution only because it was “free” or because their website designer [...]
Are you considering starting your own blog? You may wonder whether you should:
* go with a blogging service that’s hosted on another server where you get a subdomain like yourbusiness.bloggingsite.com
* put your blog on your own domain and hosting space so your blog is at yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.com/blog
Here are five great reasons to consider using [...]
Put your blog promotion on auto-pilot with these “set it once then forget it” promotional strategies.
Submit Your Blog to Blog Directories
Once you’ve requested a listing, you’re done!
blogcatalog.com
bloghub.com
blogarama.com
blogexplosion.com
blogflux.com
blog-search.com
blogbunch.com
iblogbusiness.com
quickblogdirectory.com
bloglisting.net
blogrankings.com
weblogalot.com
Ping When You Post
If you’re using Wordpress, it’s probably already set to ping rpc.pingomatic.com Add that to your ping list if it’s not there already. Ping-O-Matic will receive your [...]
More than 50 million domain names have been registered and more are registered every day. Are you ready to join in and get your own domain? This article covers some of the important things to consider.
What is a domain name? Wondering how and why they work?
Here’s a great link:
The Domain Name System: A Non-Technical Explanation [...]
Have you chosen the perfect domain name for your online business? Great! Time to get it registered.
Be careful where you search for your domains. “Domain kiting” is a very common problem and many unethical companies monitor domain searches. So be prepared to immediately register your domain, or the chances are it will be registered by [...]
Finding the right company to host your website can be overwhelming. Where should you begin?
Let’s start with the basics. A website is “hosted” on a server. A server is the computer that holds the files for your website and responds when someone wants to view your website.
So, what do you need in a server?
Do you [...]
1) Rely on Yourself First
You might be surprised what you can solve quickly by taking advantage of the “self-help” resources most technical related companies offer. Check for flash (video) tutorials, a searchable knowledge base, or a customer forum. Very often the most common questions can be answered in just minutes if you look at those [...]
It’s the event every website owner fears… your host’s server goes *poof* in a fantastic crash and burn… and takes your website down with it. Don’t panic yet, there’s hope!
Let’s begin with what you can do to minimize your risk of a crash and maximize your ability to quickly and fully recover, then I’ll give [...]
If your site isn’t easy to navigate, your customers will get confused, and confusion does not lead to happy shoppers or to more sales! Here are two quick tips to help keep you from confusing your customers.
1) Make it intuitively clear where to find things and easy to navigate.
Is your site easy to navigate? It [...]
Is your website running as smoothly as it could be? Here are eight important points to check the function and professionalism of your website.
1) Compatible
Is your website compatible with all the major search engines? Test it on as many browsers as you can, and do a check at http://www.browsershots.org to see what it looks like [...]
Is your website working for or against you in gaining clients and sales? Be sure that any “bells and whistles” are used carefully to enhance the visitors experience.
Watch for these four important factors:
- Quick Page Download Time
With too many fancy features or large photographs, the time it takes for visitors to load your page may [...]
You’ve only got seconds to grab a visitors attention and get them to stick around and browse your website. What can you do to help keep them there? Here are two easy ways to add an element of professional fun to your website.
1) Slide show of Your Products or Portfolio
There are several options for creating [...]
Now that you’ve got your newsletter up and running, are you ready to make it distinctive? Using a custom template can help your newsletter catch the eye of the subscriber as they sort through their email. It can also reinforce your brand and professional status. A custom template will put your logo, photos, colors, and [...]
Are you capturing visitor information so you can stay in touch with them? If not, I’ve got good news! It’s easier than you might think and more important than you may realize.
Often a visitor will find your website as they surf, or search, but they aren’t quite ready to purchase your products or hire you [...]
Once you’re all signed up for hosting, the next step is to get your website online. Where should you begin?
First, you need to know what the purpose of your website is. Is it an informational website where you can provide details of your organization, group, or services? Do you want a blog? Or are you [...]
Are you considering adding video to your website? It can be a great way to connect with your visitors and boost your conversion rates.
This article will assume you already have a video file you want to use (you can use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to create one). Here are two options you may consider [...]
When you’re just starting your business online, the policies page is easy to overlook or create too quickly.
Well thought out policies will save you stress and frustration later. Take time now to decide how you will deal with troublesome situations, while you’re unemotional and not in the heat of the situation—it’s much easier to create [...]
An effective website should focus on meeting the customer’s needs and helping them be sure that the products you offer are exactly what they want. To help customers determine if your products or services are right for them, you need to answer their questions. Only when their questions are answered will they feel comfortable making [...]
Comment on High Traffic Websites: One great way to not only boost your website rankings but to also increase your visibility and get additional traffic to your website is to post meaningful comments on blogs and websites that are relevant to your website’s products/services.
Specialized Directories: Use the search engines to find trade associations and product [...]
Do you often send email acknowledgments of orders? Follow up emails to check that products were downloaded or received and the customer is happy? Emails requesting feedback or reviews? An auto-responder can save you time!
Auto-responders are programs that send automatic responses when they are triggered. You set up the response one time, and the triggers, [...]
