December 25, 2007

Life: Merry Xmas

Hi All

I hope you have a merry xmas and a very happy and prosperous new year :)

Mark

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December 20, 2007

Web Hosting: Web Hosting Options

To get your site live on the Web, you have to have web hosting. A server owned by a web hosting company allows the site to be connected to the internet, taking your site live for all to see. The first step in setting up a website is usually buying the domain name followed by choosing the web hosting. Some companies do, both providing you with a central location to buy your domain and set up its hosting.

The multitude of websites that have sprung up in the last decade has lead to a multitude of web hosting companies. This allows consumers a wide range of options when it comes to web hosting. The best way to choose a hosting company is to evaluate what you want your site to do and come up with a list of what your web host will need to provide. If you want a large site, the host should allow its customers a lot of space. If you want one that makes web design simple, you should choose one that provides templates and items you will need to build your site.

There are ways to host your site on your own, but doing this is a less effective method than going with a web hosting company. Because the internet connection you have at a home or an office is usually not enough to support hosting, it can result in complications and a lot of additional expense to upgrade.

Because web hosting varies wildly in pricing, once you know what features you will need you can look for the best price. Most hosts will offer lower monthly or yearly prices if you sign up for several years of service. If you need nothing more than a basic place to park some company information, there is free web hosting available. Free web hosts typically offer very little space, and sometimes limit the number of pages you are allowed. The services will probably be the bare minimum and will likely not support all of the functions you want. There are some free web hosts that put their own ads on your site to support their service, which keeps many people from being interested in their services.

Because web hosting is so important, the host you choose should have a high percentage of uptime as well as effective customer service. Nearly everyone wants their website available to the public at all times, so the uptime should be as high as possible. Most people at one time or another will have questions about their hosting or how to configure their website, so good customer service is equally important. If the web hosting company offers customer service with a quick turnaround, you can be assured that any problems you have can be resolved quickly with their help.

Mark

PS
I am giving 90% discount to my blog readers on ALL our web hosting packages for 12 months as an early xmas present! Contact me using the general enquiry form with your requirements.

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December 14, 2007

SEO: Traffic

Getting traffic to your website or blog can be as difficult as getting hundreds of backlinks or as expensive as taking out ads at popular websites. It can also be as simple as using a few SEO techniques to make sure your site is getting the traffic it needs through popular search engine searches. By using the principles of search engine optimization, you can get a better placement in the search engine results and more traffic to your site. This traffic is known as organic traffic, and the search engines are not paid for these placements. The search engines benefit by giving their users the information they’re seeking, bringing them back to the same search engine again for the next search.

So, where are the search engine placement rules? In a perfect world, perhaps they would be written out for all to see and benefit from. But search engines keep these secret, leaving site owners to speculate about what has worked for them and what has not. By drawing on all of that experience, you can see what the best techniques are for getting high placement to bring in more traffic to your own site.

Keywords

One of the easiest SEO techniques is to master the use of keywords. The keyword density is the percentage of the article made up of the keywords you have chosen. While most search engines won’t say exactly what percentage they are looking for, there is an optimal percentage range for each search engine. For this reason, the recommended keyword density will vary, depending on what SEO resource you read. Most sources recommend a keyword density of anywhere from 1.5 to 5 percent.

Getting the keyword density you need can be done in one of two ways: counting the words in each piece and placing the keyword enough times, or using a keyword density tool. If you choose to count, just divide the number of times a keyword appears by the number of words in the entire piece. The answer is your keyword density percentage. If you use a keyword density tool, you can paste the copy directly into a box, click a button to calculate the density, and be given the answer. Either method is reliable, so it’s just a matter of personal preference which one your choose.

Original Content

To get good search engine rankings, you also need good, original content. If the item has been printed elsewhere, it will not rank as well as if it were original to your site. Getting your original content should be an ongoing process, however. If you put all of your content on a site at one time, never adding to it, you will not rank as highly as if you added to it often. Search engines like large sites, and they like sites that continually add to their content. A stagnant site is not one that is likely to be looked at again and again, and search engine owners don’t want their users being turned off by them.

If you can implement some basic SEO techniques, you have a much better chance of getting one of the coveted top spots in the search results. And, these results aren’t dependent on your ad budget or whether your backlinks stay in place.

Mark

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December 4, 2007

Internet Marketing: Internet Marketing for Products and Services

To sell a product or service these days, it has to have a web presence. If your item is largely being sold online, it’s essential to market it on the web. The best way to market your particular item greatly depends on what the item is and how saturated the market is for that item. But there are several general ways to market products and services online that can be adapted to different types of products.

Connecting With Customers

Making a connection with your future customers means getting the word out about your site or product. If you’re offering something that people want, viral marketing can be your best friend. Viral marketing can be started by offering something interesting that’s easy to pass along. If you offer an astonishing video clip, a page of jokes or other content that people will want to send to each other, the marketing virus soon rages out of control. As people email it to each other and post links to it on their sites, others see it and do the same thing. This has been shown to be extremely an effective marketing technique.

Email and blog marketing are other ways to connect directly with customers. Email marketing requires an email list of people who have chosen to receive the marketing messages. Many people do this by offering a free newsletter that will be packed with information- and your marketing message. Blog marketing can take the form of a blog you create market your item or paying others to blog about it. Keeping a blog as part of your website is a way to draw people into the site with new, fresh messages about what you have to offer. Paid messages placed on diverse blogs around the internet can create a strong presence that may even lead to viral marketing.

Search Engine Marketing

SEO techniques bring people into your site by matching their search requests. If you can arrange your site with enough words that people are looking for, they may find you through their own searches. This is an inexpensive way to market your item. It is usually used in conjunction with other marketing techniques. Using a marketing blog that has been search engine optimized gives the blog a better chance of being seen by your customers.

Buying Ads

Buying ads is a part of many successful internet businesses. Ads can be bought directly from popular websites, or they can be bought through search engines. Some pay per click ads are placed directly on the search engines. Other PPC ads are placed on individual websites that have similar content to your ad. You pay for the number of clicks your ad receives. PPC advertising has the reputation for being very expensive, but it also can be extremely effective.

To get larger ads on websites, you can contract with each website directly or you can go to a company that contracts with many site owners. Choosing either of these methods will get your site the extra exposure that can lead to more visitors and perhaps more sales.

Mark

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