This interesting articles explains advantages of using website templates for your online business.
If you’re doing business in China, you will need to learn Chinese. If you’re doing business in Japan, you would need to learn Japanese. If you’re doing business in Italy, you would need to learn Italian.
What language, then, would you need to learn when you’re doing business online?
Why, the language of the Internet of course! HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is a series of codes and commands that would help you craft an intricate system to convey your business message throughout the entire virtual world. If you want to embellish your forum posts, you would need HTML. If you want to build products that would provide solutions for web users, you would need HTML. If you want to create fantastic innovations that can be carried out through the World Wide Web, you would need HTML.
But HTML is most important in one aspect of the online game, particularly in Internet marketing: website design. You would need some knowledge about HTML if you are to build a website that would attract the attention of online users and project a sense of professionalism and class that would make it easier for them to trust your business.
Seeing as how your website would serve as your online business’ digital store on the Internet, it is very important that you come up with a clean, organized and effective design. Much is at stake at how you will present your website. Hence, a modicum of knowledge about HTML would usually be insufficient in preparing a website built for business.
You could always hire a freelancer to create a website for you, of course. But outsourcing seldom comes cheap. Often, you would have to shell out a lot of cash just to ensure high quality work. And sometimes, what will be delivered would be contrary to your expectations. Also, miscommunication and disagreements with the freelancer should also be factored in. All of these combined would be enough to give anyone some genuine headaches.
So what are you to do if you don’t know jack about HTML and if you’re too hesitant to try outsourcing? Should you settle on doing business without a website?
Fret not, dear friend. There is another option you could take. You could always resort to ready-made website templates.
Ready-made website templates are ready-to-use website designs that usually come in .htm or .html file formats along with the accompanying objects therein. With these templates, all you have to do is to personalize them to suit the identity as well as the needs of your business, upload them on a web server, and they’ll be ready for all the World Wide World to see. Indeed, with website templates, it’s that simple.
There are a lot of website templates available on the Internet. There is always one which would be perfect for your business. And if the choices aren’t amenable for you, you could always mix and match and features and objects of different templates to come up with a design that you would feel would perfectly represent your online enterprise.
Website templates are the easiest ways to come up with your own website. The past two years saw a boom in the number of websites on the Internet. This is because of the effects brought by the Google AdSense program. A lot of people earn their keeps by creating countless mini-sites about different niches. You must bear in mind that it would be physically impossible for one NETrepreneur to create that many websites.
The need for fast, convenient, and highly effective websites has also spiked the demand for website templates. More and more are slowly learning their value in the field of online business.
Internet marketing is all about time, after all. In this industry, time is gold and every second counts. If you feel you don’t have the time to learn the language of the web, then you might as well avail of the many, many benefits of instant website templates.
Author of this article is Bob Bastian. Bob is a successful Internet entrepreneur and a prominent info product creator. His latest website distributes quality private label content for free: http://www.PrivateLabelPublishing.com
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Free Business Website Template 009
New free business website template is availabl for download.
This template is very simple and easy to customize. It can be used for various projects.
Download this SEO Friendly Business Website Template for free and use as you wish. Only thing I ask is to leave link back to this blog in the footer area of the template intact.
It is 100% XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS Valid template, has two columns, rounded corners, header, footer and horisontal and vertical navigation bars.
Click here to download this free css template.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Mistakes To Avoid When Using Web Templates
In this article explains you how to avoid mistakes when choosing and using website template.
Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.
The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbours.
To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognition. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort. However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template. In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.
Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.
The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbours.
To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognition. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort. However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template. In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.
Make a Professional and Attractive Website With Templates
This aericle explains step by step what to do with templates to make attractive and professional website.
Internet users will spend 3-5 seconds at a website before deciding to either stay, or try elsewhere. Take heed of this fact and realize that a website with great content can still be left behind without a professional, attractive look.
Unfortunately, designing and coding a great website isn’t always easy; it requires a good deal of creativity and knowledge, which a lot of us just don’t have. Web design companies can charge per hour, more than many people make in a day for just this reason. But there are other options, and this is where website templates come in. They allow you to take advantage of
other people’s creativity and expertise while paying a fraction of what you would (around $50). However, this drastic price cut does come with some strings attached, and you will need to do a few basic things to get your template-based website ready for prime time.
Content
Your first task with a template will be to insert your content and format it properly. Take a look at the template and your content side by side and determine what should go where, and on which page (homepage, contact, about us, etc.). Then, open up one page (.htm or .html file) at a time in your favorite text editor, and copy and paste in your content. Make sure to save the file with .htm or .html as the extension and take a look in a browser. It probably won’t look perfect at first, so try playing around with paragraph length and font-size. You can do this by adding a simple font size style into your paragraph tags. You’ll also need to change the text of the links (also known as anchor text) in the navigation to reflect the flow of your website. If you’ve never worked with HTML or CSS, this step may take you a few hours, but this is a trade-off you should be a little more willing to make after spending $50 for a professionally designed website.
Image Editing
After you’re done adding content there is still work to do. Even if you get lucky and you’re happy with the look and images your template comes with, you should think about replacing them with your own. One of the unfortunate facts about web templates is that their purchase carries no copyright, and therefore many websites can use the same ones. So, changing colors, and replacing images can prevent your website from being almost identical to a competitor’s. Assuming you purchased a template to save money, buying an expensive image editing program would defeat the purpose. So, unless you already own an image editing suite like Adobe Photoshop, try out GIMP (http://www.gimp.org), a free, open source image editing program that offers most of the same capabilities. At this point a few really simple changes can make a world of difference. Web templates often make wide use of stock photos, so find an image that relates more closely to your content, make it the same size as the one it’s replacing, and your website will have a whole new feel. Editing the color of the background, and changing the color of navigational buttons are two more changes that are quick, easy, and give your website a new look.
Web Hosting
The last thing you’ll need to do is find a domain name, and web host to get your site online. There are thousands of web hosting companies online, and the vast majority of them will offer domain name registration. Make sure to look for one with an easy application to upload your files, high bandwidth, and e-mail addresses included. Go check one out, and get your professional, attractive website online quickly, easily, and for a fraction of the price your competitors.
Chris Lexmond runs Step by Step Websites - Make Your Own Websites which helps users create a professional, affordable website by offering comparisons of web services such as templates, web hosting, stock photos, and search engine optimization.
Internet users will spend 3-5 seconds at a website before deciding to either stay, or try elsewhere. Take heed of this fact and realize that a website with great content can still be left behind without a professional, attractive look.
Unfortunately, designing and coding a great website isn’t always easy; it requires a good deal of creativity and knowledge, which a lot of us just don’t have. Web design companies can charge per hour, more than many people make in a day for just this reason. But there are other options, and this is where website templates come in. They allow you to take advantage of
other people’s creativity and expertise while paying a fraction of what you would (around $50). However, this drastic price cut does come with some strings attached, and you will need to do a few basic things to get your template-based website ready for prime time.
Content
Your first task with a template will be to insert your content and format it properly. Take a look at the template and your content side by side and determine what should go where, and on which page (homepage, contact, about us, etc.). Then, open up one page (.htm or .html file) at a time in your favorite text editor, and copy and paste in your content. Make sure to save the file with .htm or .html as the extension and take a look in a browser. It probably won’t look perfect at first, so try playing around with paragraph length and font-size. You can do this by adding a simple font size style into your paragraph tags. You’ll also need to change the text of the links (also known as anchor text) in the navigation to reflect the flow of your website. If you’ve never worked with HTML or CSS, this step may take you a few hours, but this is a trade-off you should be a little more willing to make after spending $50 for a professionally designed website.
Image Editing
After you’re done adding content there is still work to do. Even if you get lucky and you’re happy with the look and images your template comes with, you should think about replacing them with your own. One of the unfortunate facts about web templates is that their purchase carries no copyright, and therefore many websites can use the same ones. So, changing colors, and replacing images can prevent your website from being almost identical to a competitor’s. Assuming you purchased a template to save money, buying an expensive image editing program would defeat the purpose. So, unless you already own an image editing suite like Adobe Photoshop, try out GIMP (http://www.gimp.org), a free, open source image editing program that offers most of the same capabilities. At this point a few really simple changes can make a world of difference. Web templates often make wide use of stock photos, so find an image that relates more closely to your content, make it the same size as the one it’s replacing, and your website will have a whole new feel. Editing the color of the background, and changing the color of navigational buttons are two more changes that are quick, easy, and give your website a new look.
Web Hosting
The last thing you’ll need to do is find a domain name, and web host to get your site online. There are thousands of web hosting companies online, and the vast majority of them will offer domain name registration. Make sure to look for one with an easy application to upload your files, high bandwidth, and e-mail addresses included. Go check one out, and get your professional, attractive website online quickly, easily, and for a fraction of the price your competitors.
Chris Lexmond runs Step by Step Websites - Make Your Own Websites which helps users create a professional, affordable website by offering comparisons of web services such as templates, web hosting, stock photos, and search engine optimization.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Advantages and Disadvantages Of Using Web Templates or WYSIWYG Editors For Web Designing
This article discusses the pros and cons of using website templates and WYSIWYG editors to design web pages as against traditional web programming. This article is intended for novice web developers and prospective website owners.
Template based web page development:
A lot of people get tempted by good looking web templates. Some template vendors even offer do-it-yourself kits to their customers. Web templates are designed by experts, using the latest designing software. They look stunning, compared to web pages developed by other means. While ready made templates offer several advantages, they have some disadvantages too.
Advantages of using templates:
1. You know how your finished site looks. You can choose the template that appeals to you. You need not rely on a web developer to get a good looking website.
2. Faster turnaround. You need not spend a lot of time on getting the colors and layout right. You can go straight to changing text and proceed with programming.
3. Templates are much cheaper than hiring a web developer. There are several sites that offer free templates as well.
4. Templates look much better than sites developed in traditional HTML programming. Templates are designed by professionals that are creative and competent and experienced.
5. Templates can be customized by anyone with basic HTML knowledge. You can customize the template yourself using a text editor.
Disadvantages of using templates:
1. You can get web templates for free or at a low-price. But these templates are not unique. Several people may have already bought or downloaded the template you have chosen. If you cant change the colors or layout a bit, your site looks like a clone of several sites. If you want a unique template design licensed only to you, you need to spend a fortune on it.
2. Often, templates don’t look good if you stretch them a bit. For example, if there is space for 100 words in a block and if you try to insert 200 words in that space, the template layout may change. And this may not look good. This puts limitations on text you can place in a template based web page, thereby restricting you from optimizing text or being descriptive about your business. It is well known that the more verbose in a page the more attention it gets from search engines. A template doesn’t come with Meta tags. You need to insert these meta tags.
3. Templates are good for static pages. If a site needs dynamic pages with a huge database to built, you need to opt for simpler templates.
4. If you are doing customization for yourself, always work on a copy of the template files. Templates are often done with simple HTML. But if you try to edit HTML tags instead of text between them, you might end up with bad page layout.
5. If there are template files with .tpl extension, locate the files where variables are defined. Then try to establish the logic behind the file system.
Using WYSIWYG editors:
Nowadays, several WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are available for creating web pages. With these editors it is possible to create good looking pages simply by dragging and dropping objects on the page, without any HTML knowledge. They come with a lot of menu options. If you are familiar with windows objects or windows based software, you can create a web page in time.
Advantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. It's great fun to create web pages this way. You can do it yourself, experimenting with colors and layouts. The web page is likely to be unique, unless you are trying to clone another web page. You can stretch your imagination.
2. It’s faster and easier to create web pages. You can make changes to a page layout by simply dragging the objects to their new positions.
3. You can make changes to content (text or images) in WYSIWYG editor, instead of searching for and inserting between HTML tags, or using a complex content management system.
4. WYSIWYG software runs on any windows computer.
5. you can also create background images on fly.
Disadvantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. A WYSIWYG editor produces files of large sizes. The web page may take a bit longer to download.
2. The HTML code generated may not be compliant with existing web standards. Some of these editors are meant for web sites to be hosted with particular servers. Some WYSIWYG editors even produce files with their own extensions.
3. You need to fill in a lot of details, such as Meta tags and link colors for each page. Some WYSIWIG editors support CSS while editing and some don’t.
4. You need to preview the page in different browsers more often to see if the page is shaping up as you intended.
5. Web pages designed using WYSIWYG editors are rigid. They do not stretch if you put more text or images on a page. Instead they overlap on each other. Some WYSIWYG editors produce excessive div tags. It is difficult to edit these pages in an ordinary HTML editor.
6. Often these web pages are difficult to optimize for search engines.
I believe this article will help you in deciding the tools to use for your next website. If your site requires a huge database and pages need to produce dynamically, it is always better to opt for traditional programming methods. If your site is static, then a great looking template or using WYSIWYG editor will be a good option. Another factor you need to consider is SEO. If you want to rely on traffic from search engines, traditional HTML, CSS gives you the best results. If you can promote your site by spending huge amounts of money, you can go for flashier and visually stunning templates without much regard to SEO.
About The Author
Jaya Kumar Patchala is a web hosting provider and web developer. Author sites http://www.hotbusinesssolutions.com and http://www.hostingplans4all.com. Author’s email : jkpatchala@gmail.com
Template based web page development:
A lot of people get tempted by good looking web templates. Some template vendors even offer do-it-yourself kits to their customers. Web templates are designed by experts, using the latest designing software. They look stunning, compared to web pages developed by other means. While ready made templates offer several advantages, they have some disadvantages too.
Advantages of using templates:
1. You know how your finished site looks. You can choose the template that appeals to you. You need not rely on a web developer to get a good looking website.
2. Faster turnaround. You need not spend a lot of time on getting the colors and layout right. You can go straight to changing text and proceed with programming.
3. Templates are much cheaper than hiring a web developer. There are several sites that offer free templates as well.
4. Templates look much better than sites developed in traditional HTML programming. Templates are designed by professionals that are creative and competent and experienced.
5. Templates can be customized by anyone with basic HTML knowledge. You can customize the template yourself using a text editor.
Disadvantages of using templates:
1. You can get web templates for free or at a low-price. But these templates are not unique. Several people may have already bought or downloaded the template you have chosen. If you cant change the colors or layout a bit, your site looks like a clone of several sites. If you want a unique template design licensed only to you, you need to spend a fortune on it.
2. Often, templates don’t look good if you stretch them a bit. For example, if there is space for 100 words in a block and if you try to insert 200 words in that space, the template layout may change. And this may not look good. This puts limitations on text you can place in a template based web page, thereby restricting you from optimizing text or being descriptive about your business. It is well known that the more verbose in a page the more attention it gets from search engines. A template doesn’t come with Meta tags. You need to insert these meta tags.
3. Templates are good for static pages. If a site needs dynamic pages with a huge database to built, you need to opt for simpler templates.
4. If you are doing customization for yourself, always work on a copy of the template files. Templates are often done with simple HTML. But if you try to edit HTML tags instead of text between them, you might end up with bad page layout.
5. If there are template files with .tpl extension, locate the files where variables are defined. Then try to establish the logic behind the file system.
Using WYSIWYG editors:
Nowadays, several WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are available for creating web pages. With these editors it is possible to create good looking pages simply by dragging and dropping objects on the page, without any HTML knowledge. They come with a lot of menu options. If you are familiar with windows objects or windows based software, you can create a web page in time.
Advantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. It's great fun to create web pages this way. You can do it yourself, experimenting with colors and layouts. The web page is likely to be unique, unless you are trying to clone another web page. You can stretch your imagination.
2. It’s faster and easier to create web pages. You can make changes to a page layout by simply dragging the objects to their new positions.
3. You can make changes to content (text or images) in WYSIWYG editor, instead of searching for and inserting between HTML tags, or using a complex content management system.
4. WYSIWYG software runs on any windows computer.
5. you can also create background images on fly.
Disadvantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. A WYSIWYG editor produces files of large sizes. The web page may take a bit longer to download.
2. The HTML code generated may not be compliant with existing web standards. Some of these editors are meant for web sites to be hosted with particular servers. Some WYSIWYG editors even produce files with their own extensions.
3. You need to fill in a lot of details, such as Meta tags and link colors for each page. Some WYSIWIG editors support CSS while editing and some don’t.
4. You need to preview the page in different browsers more often to see if the page is shaping up as you intended.
5. Web pages designed using WYSIWYG editors are rigid. They do not stretch if you put more text or images on a page. Instead they overlap on each other. Some WYSIWYG editors produce excessive div tags. It is difficult to edit these pages in an ordinary HTML editor.
6. Often these web pages are difficult to optimize for search engines.
I believe this article will help you in deciding the tools to use for your next website. If your site requires a huge database and pages need to produce dynamically, it is always better to opt for traditional programming methods. If your site is static, then a great looking template or using WYSIWYG editor will be a good option. Another factor you need to consider is SEO. If you want to rely on traffic from search engines, traditional HTML, CSS gives you the best results. If you can promote your site by spending huge amounts of money, you can go for flashier and visually stunning templates without much regard to SEO.
About The Author
Jaya Kumar Patchala is a web hosting provider and web developer. Author sites http://www.hotbusinesssolutions.com and http://www.hostingplans4all.com. Author’s email : jkpatchala@gmail.com
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Traffic Warning: Is Your Website Template "Killing" Your Search Engine Rankings?
This is very informative article that explains you how important is clean and well organized source code for search engine optimisation.
When it comes to optimizing websites for search engines, most people spend all their time on only creating keyword-optimized content. They include their desired keywords in their headline and frequently in the web page text.
Does it sound like you?
Well, creating optimized content is good, and it WILL increase your chances of ranking in the top 10 results.
But you know, there's a problem here …
It's NOT the only factor that search engine spiders consider when they arrive at your site. Let me explain why…
You see, search engine spiders have a different kind of eye from what we have, so they see your web pages differently. When you visit your website, you see images, colored text, that nice header graphic, and so on.
But search engine spiders only see ONE thing: the source code.
Yes, these "behind the scene" codes are the only language they understand.
And they have to wade through this code and interpret it to discover your valuable content that they will pass on to the indexing robots.
So to make them understand that your website is really about your desired keywords and should rank high, you need to speak in their language … and speak it very well.
What does it mean?
It means that the source code of your website needs to be clean, organized, and easy to understand for search engine spiders. And putting your valuable content as close to the top of the source as possible.
This is an important secret that most people are not aware of. Something that most of the 'guru's' want to keep it that way.
And this is good news for you, because when you use this secret that you just learned, you will get ahead of your competition because the vast majority of them don't even know about it. So you will outrank them more easily.
Now, many people may tell you that SEO optimization isn't that important, because there are other traffic generating methods.
But then again, if you CAN have extra free traffic using an optimized page, why not do it? It doesn't cost one cent more to accomplish this!
So "how" can you create a search engine friendly layout for your website?
Here are 3 options for you:
Option #1: You Can Do It Yourself
Of course first you need to learn a lot about HTML and also Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to learn how you can make your website HTML codes easy to read for search engines.
The use of XHTML is advised, because it results in neat coding. I also advise you to validate your pages at W3.org, to ascertain clean coding.
Also you need to learn CSS to avoid tons of redundant source code for lay-out reasons. Preferably a bit of PHP too to make your pages more interactive.
Thus you can use the CSS to make up the lay-out and elements of the page and use minimal clean XHTML coding for the rest.
That makes your content stand out perfectly and that will lead to better recognition of what your pages are about by the search engines.
As you see, that's a big hassle which will also take you a lot of time.
So let's go to the next option…
Option #2: You Can Hire A Professional HTML and SEO Expert
That's a pretty good solution because it will save you a lot of time and doesn't come with the huge burden of learning everything yourself.
But there's a big problem here: There are so many so-called Search Engine Optimization experts out there who claim to be king of SEO, but in reality do not know more about more than you do.
So you might end up hiring one of these scams and end up spending your valuable money and don't get any results. The question is, HOW are you going to find a "real" professional and not fall for the wrong ones?
Another issue with this solution is that it will cost you money… and quite a lot of money if you really want to hire a good SEO expert who knows what he's doing.
And finally, it also means you depend on a third party expert, not always available when you need her.
This all brings us to the last option…
Option 3: Use A Proven Ready-Made Website Template
This is the best, most proven, and most cost-effective solution of all.
You just need to find a template that is already proven to work, and simply add your website content to it … and that's it! Now you have a search engine friendly website that is ready to put online.
No learning hassle like the first option. No risk of being ripped-off and a big cost like the second option. It's very easy to do. You don't even have to lift a finger.
There are many websites out there that offer all types of website templates, but the problem is that none of them has really been optimized for search engines. They are just designed to look good to the human visitor's eyes - not search engine spiders.
That's why I use my own, hand coded website template, that I have developed over the years.
But does this template really work? Is there proof?
You bet! One website I have created using this Ace Website Template has ranked #8 for a highly competitive keyword out of 92,700,000+ competing websites.
As you see, this template has really proven to work.
So if you're serious about making your website rank in the top 10 results for your desired keywords and drive a lot of free traffic automatically every day to your website, you definitely want to use such a powerful website template yourself.
Author of this article is Case Stevens
When it comes to optimizing websites for search engines, most people spend all their time on only creating keyword-optimized content. They include their desired keywords in their headline and frequently in the web page text.
Does it sound like you?
Well, creating optimized content is good, and it WILL increase your chances of ranking in the top 10 results.
But you know, there's a problem here …
It's NOT the only factor that search engine spiders consider when they arrive at your site. Let me explain why…
You see, search engine spiders have a different kind of eye from what we have, so they see your web pages differently. When you visit your website, you see images, colored text, that nice header graphic, and so on.
But search engine spiders only see ONE thing: the source code.
Yes, these "behind the scene" codes are the only language they understand.
And they have to wade through this code and interpret it to discover your valuable content that they will pass on to the indexing robots.
So to make them understand that your website is really about your desired keywords and should rank high, you need to speak in their language … and speak it very well.
What does it mean?
It means that the source code of your website needs to be clean, organized, and easy to understand for search engine spiders. And putting your valuable content as close to the top of the source as possible.
This is an important secret that most people are not aware of. Something that most of the 'guru's' want to keep it that way.
And this is good news for you, because when you use this secret that you just learned, you will get ahead of your competition because the vast majority of them don't even know about it. So you will outrank them more easily.
Now, many people may tell you that SEO optimization isn't that important, because there are other traffic generating methods.
But then again, if you CAN have extra free traffic using an optimized page, why not do it? It doesn't cost one cent more to accomplish this!
So "how" can you create a search engine friendly layout for your website?
Here are 3 options for you:
Option #1: You Can Do It Yourself
Of course first you need to learn a lot about HTML and also Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to learn how you can make your website HTML codes easy to read for search engines.
The use of XHTML is advised, because it results in neat coding. I also advise you to validate your pages at W3.org, to ascertain clean coding.
Also you need to learn CSS to avoid tons of redundant source code for lay-out reasons. Preferably a bit of PHP too to make your pages more interactive.
Thus you can use the CSS to make up the lay-out and elements of the page and use minimal clean XHTML coding for the rest.
That makes your content stand out perfectly and that will lead to better recognition of what your pages are about by the search engines.
As you see, that's a big hassle which will also take you a lot of time.
So let's go to the next option…
Option #2: You Can Hire A Professional HTML and SEO Expert
That's a pretty good solution because it will save you a lot of time and doesn't come with the huge burden of learning everything yourself.
But there's a big problem here: There are so many so-called Search Engine Optimization experts out there who claim to be king of SEO, but in reality do not know more about more than you do.
So you might end up hiring one of these scams and end up spending your valuable money and don't get any results. The question is, HOW are you going to find a "real" professional and not fall for the wrong ones?
Another issue with this solution is that it will cost you money… and quite a lot of money if you really want to hire a good SEO expert who knows what he's doing.
And finally, it also means you depend on a third party expert, not always available when you need her.
This all brings us to the last option…
Option 3: Use A Proven Ready-Made Website Template
This is the best, most proven, and most cost-effective solution of all.
You just need to find a template that is already proven to work, and simply add your website content to it … and that's it! Now you have a search engine friendly website that is ready to put online.
No learning hassle like the first option. No risk of being ripped-off and a big cost like the second option. It's very easy to do. You don't even have to lift a finger.
There are many websites out there that offer all types of website templates, but the problem is that none of them has really been optimized for search engines. They are just designed to look good to the human visitor's eyes - not search engine spiders.
That's why I use my own, hand coded website template, that I have developed over the years.
But does this template really work? Is there proof?
You bet! One website I have created using this Ace Website Template has ranked #8 for a highly competitive keyword out of 92,700,000+ competing websites.
As you see, this template has really proven to work.
So if you're serious about making your website rank in the top 10 results for your desired keywords and drive a lot of free traffic automatically every day to your website, you definitely want to use such a powerful website template yourself.
Author of this article is Case Stevens
Website Design for Newbies
This is an article that every Website Designer newbie should read. I think it is simple and has a couple of useful tips for web designer newbies.
In making your website, You must pay attention to the fundamental designs and details, to create a pleasant looking and yet optimally functional site. Several rules should be observed before it can qualify as a search engine friendly site.
1.Do not use flash intro or ezine subscribtion pop-ups
splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very flashy intro with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- unnecessary luxuries for your site. Do not let your visitors leave your slow loading website! Give them the information they need to know up front without the splash page. Opt-in list popup ads can be unwelcoming if you set it to load as soon as they enter your page. A discreet Opt-in form anywhere on the page can be a better way to get your visitors to join your mailing list. You can also set the popup for time-release so it deploys later.
2. Do not use too much banners
Even the least net savvy people have learned to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website space. Instead, provide more valuable content and insert affiliate links into it, and let your visitors decide if the product is good instead of being given an ultimatum to buy. Flashy banner ads do not account for most of the successful clicks like text ad links do.
3. Have a nice and presentable navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from fancy dropdown menus . If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4. Have a clear indication of where the user is
Try to provide a root map for menus and submenus, e.g. "You are here : F.A,Q". Visitors like being in control when browsing your site, because this gives them the ease to concentrate on what your site is about.
5. Avoid using video or audio on your site
Video and audio can help your marketing endeavor,if you use it wisely. If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your articles, you will want to make sure they're not distracted by an audio message looping on and on on your website. If you must add video or audio then, make sure they can adjust it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
Author of this article is Devan Kumar
In making your website, You must pay attention to the fundamental designs and details, to create a pleasant looking and yet optimally functional site. Several rules should be observed before it can qualify as a search engine friendly site.
1.Do not use flash intro or ezine subscribtion pop-ups
splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very flashy intro with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- unnecessary luxuries for your site. Do not let your visitors leave your slow loading website! Give them the information they need to know up front without the splash page. Opt-in list popup ads can be unwelcoming if you set it to load as soon as they enter your page. A discreet Opt-in form anywhere on the page can be a better way to get your visitors to join your mailing list. You can also set the popup for time-release so it deploys later.
2. Do not use too much banners
Even the least net savvy people have learned to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website space. Instead, provide more valuable content and insert affiliate links into it, and let your visitors decide if the product is good instead of being given an ultimatum to buy. Flashy banner ads do not account for most of the successful clicks like text ad links do.
3. Have a nice and presentable navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from fancy dropdown menus . If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4. Have a clear indication of where the user is
Try to provide a root map for menus and submenus, e.g. "You are here : F.A,Q". Visitors like being in control when browsing your site, because this gives them the ease to concentrate on what your site is about.
5. Avoid using video or audio on your site
Video and audio can help your marketing endeavor,if you use it wisely. If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your articles, you will want to make sure they're not distracted by an audio message looping on and on on your website. If you must add video or audio then, make sure they can adjust it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
Author of this article is Devan Kumar
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