When Web Development Starts to Take Into Account the User

Up until a few years ago, web development was gone about in a utilitarian kind of way. Something needed to get done, and a quick and logical solution was found for it. Technologies such as cgi, asp, ajax all came about to give answers to difficult questions such as how to create dynamic pages. Php eventually won out by being the most efficient and easy-to-learn language along with MySql databases. With great support and free software, these were the best web development solutions out there for the common user.

It is that common user that made this evolution happen. When people who were not trained in web design started making their own websites, then finally the most accessible web development technologies became commonplace. But still, web development was not being done in a way that was turned toward the user. It was done in a functional way that solved any issues that arose, but did not ultimately help the user get around a site or ever find the website. That is when the push for css-based design and url re-write mods came to be.

One of the heroes of this movement in my mind is Dave Shea. He pushed for standards in web development and for the use of CSS-based designs that minimized the amount of html and improved the versatility of websites and made universal access and compatibility a must. By keeping the user in mind, designs became more artistic and creative. Javascript and Flash often get in the way of a good web experience for many users and CSS takes care of that partially by creating desired effects without having to use these two programs. Of course, there are always limitless possibilities with Flash design, but in terms of usability, it is inferior to CSS.

The push for Search Engine Optimization has also pushed web developers to make websites with easy to remember url's and well organized content that makes sense to users and search engines. Google's algorithm becomes smarter and requires that page content be readable to humans and not just robots. Good use of headers and semantic page content as opposed to spam-dexing has become more commonplace. Web development has helped with this by generating attractive url's and, through css, has done image replacement for header tags for design purposes.

Al Keser is a journalist, video producer and web designer. He is very up-to-date on New York web development trends and recommends Blue Fountain Media for all New York web design projects.

Why You Need to Search Inside HTML Tags

When it comes to computer programming, codes become quite the essential parts. In fact, all computer programs would come with their respective codes. These codes are very important when you want to incorporate web design and development. What's more, these codes are used by web browsers and the search engine optimizers of MSN, Google, and Yahoo! Thus, any computer programmer would want to know just how to use HTML tags so that these tags themselves can be used as optimal tools in earning top search rankings. And for this purpose, it would also be better for computer programmers to familiarize themselves on how to search inside HTML tags.

Aside from HTML tags, keywords are also important when it comes to search engine optimization. However, when you combine these keywords in the HTML tags you are using, search engine optimization is better fostered. We all know how important title tags and Meta tags are in search engine optimization. This is because spiders and crawlers take all of the time they need to search the content of websites all over the information superhighway, and they use title tags and Meta tags in doing this as well.

Let us place this into context, to make it clearer. Let us say you are an entrepreneur just starting out your own online business and you are looking for strategies to attract as many clients on the web as possible. Your product: herbal weight loss supplements. You then decide for your company to go by the name of Quality Weight Loss Supplements Inc. The name of your product would then be the Fast Loss Pill.

Now, web pages actually come with a certain hierarchy, meaning there is a certain hierarchy that you will have to follow for your website. The first would be your HOME PAGE, followed by your PRODUCTS PAGE, and then the FAST LOSS PILL PAGE. For your FAST LOSS PILL PAGE, you should come up with a title that can encompass so many aspects all on its own. For instance, you can choose to have the title: QUALITY WEIGHT LOSS - The Fast Loss Pill - Lose Weight Fast! By incorporating this title, three birds are actually hit with one stone. There is Quality Weight Loss, which is the name of the company; Fast Loss Pill, which is the name of the product, and Lose Weight Fast, which is the primary aim of the your product, to aid fast weight loss for your customers.

As for Meta tags, it is important to avoid repeating words over and over again. The search engines would actually treat these as spam. To choose the right words, the wise thing to do is to think the way your customer would. What sort of information about your product would capture your attention, as a customer who is out to look for fast weight loss methods? "Becoming slim" would indeed be one of the phrases, and so would "weight loss supplements". Make sure to produce creative Meta tags for your product. This way, you are sure to grab the attention of your customers. More importantly, when you search inside HTML tags, all of these would be better understood and implemented.

If you are interested in search inside html, check this web-site to learn more about find within html.

Have I Got a Website For You

I can't help it. Almost every time I am asked to look at a Website with my Copywriter hat on I fall in love. I always see so many possibilities - so many small changes that can be made that will help attract more traffic and make the visitors to the Website more prone to buy their fine product or service.

I can't help it if my imagination runs wild and I see all kinds of possibilities to use articles and press releases to create a buzz about what they have to offer. I can't help it if I see the opportunity to gain valuable SEO back links that can lead to better ranking in the major search engines. I can't help it if I want to seize the moment and help make your new product or service all that it can be.

To my way of thinking copywriting and marketing are all different pages of the same book, maybe even part of an informative e-book give away that can be used as a freebie to get more people to subscribe to your mailing list.

I am always amazed at how many possibilities to maximize the potential sales of a new product or service are overlooked. The existing Website content cries out to me for revision and redrafting that can result in much greater consumer interest.

What I find most amazing is that the selling points are almost always there, they just have to be reformulated into hard hitting attention getting copy that can properly reflect the unique benefits the particular product or service has to offer.

The time has past when it is all about the offer. Today you have to have the right goods and services, but you still need to offer them in an irresistible way.

Why not use a new medium - the Internet - to solve an age-old problem with speed and substance and imagination.

Why not take advantage of the opportunity of a worldwide showcase to put your best product or service in front of a huge audience of prospective buyers.

Why not take this wonderful new product or service of yours, and make it all that it can be?

Why not permanently brand the image of your product or service on the minds of your Website visitor and potential customer?

Why not make the most of your Internet marketing opportunities?

Hi this is Arthur Levine. To find out all the ways I can help you maximize the potential of your Website, please visit me at http://freelancecopywriter123.blogspot.com and leave a comment.

Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box.

© Copyright Arthur Levine 2008

Is Your Website Too Fancy?

I've written numerous articles on how you can improve your conversions and one of the aspects that I like to hammer home in those articles is the fact that it's vital for your website to appear professional. Put your best foot forward and create a good first impression.

Now, for some reason, a lot of people translate that into more graphics. So they try to utilize as much graphic as possible and soon their websites are so graphic laden - they actually saw a drop in sales even if those website now look "fancy and cool".

I'm not saying graphics are bad or anything... but do you know why is there a drop in sales? Well, here's a snippet from Marketing Sherpa's 2008 landing page handbook that might explain it, "As of 2007, roughly 50% of the US Internet population gets broadband and 80% of heavy users (which includes offices and your webmaster's home) are on broadband. That still means tens of millions of Americans are not on super-high bandwidth. Plus, anyone who uses a satellite service for Internet access may only have high bandwidth part of the time."

That means websites that too graphic laden lost customers simply because they take too long to load. We are impatient creatures. In fact, we don't even read things online anymore and you expect your customers to wait for your websites to load?

So how do you design a page to load quickly? Here are some tips for you.

1. The most obvious way to reduce load time is of course to use lesser graphics. Eliminate graphics that don't add value to your website - and I know you used graphics for the sake of using them.
2. If you absolutely need graphics, try to re-use them whenever possible. The same graphic used several times are only downloaded once and displayed wherever it's supposed to appear, so it doesn't bog down a website like 2 different graphics would.
3. As a rule, don't use animated graphics. Animated graphics are really several images strung into one moving-picture so they'll naturally take more time to load.
4. If you have a huge image, remember to predefine its size so that the browser knows of its size. There are two benefits: faster load time and it makes sure your graphics appears the way you want it to.
5. If you don't know much about coding, I suggest you let somebody else do it because excessive code is one of the culprits of lengthy load time. Use css based design and separate css files rather than containing it in the main code. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you definitely need to outsource it.

Depending on your market, these optimizations by itself can dramatically boost your sales. It works especially well if you are targeting elderlies. They generally use slower internet connection so they'll be most affected by load times.

Now, would you like more in-depth lessons on these copywriting tips? Due to space and linking limitations I can't complete it here but I've set up a website where you can continue to discover the details.

Andre Thomas was a freelance copywriter for 8 years. He now works at home as an internet marketer around his family. You can find his latest best-selling copywriting course at his website.

Is Your Website Driving Customers Away? Strategies For a Successful, Profitable Website

The Internet is an amazing place and getting easier and easier for people of all skill levels to operate. This means a great opportunity for businesses to utilize the power of the web to increase their profits and expand like never before. Exactly the same applies to other organisations, be they charities or members clubs.

One of the biggest pitfalls many small businesses and organisations fall prey to, however, is the temptation to cut corners and save a few dollars with all of the seemingly simple ways of putting a website online. Yes, there are hundreds if not thousands of hosting companies that will allow any user to build a website with simple site builder tools. These are terrific for individuals wishing to chronicle their daily experiences, share pictures and videos, or just stroke their egos. However, for a business, a simple amateur website can actually drive customers away.

Some of the possible reasons your website could drive away potential customers are:

• Long Load Time: Internet consumers are not only savvy, they are impatient. The high-speed world has made shoppers demanding and they expect immediate results at the click of the mouse. Studies have determined that a website page has about 3 seconds to load before potential viewers think about leaving. Research from Zona Research in 2001 showed "...7 to 8 seconds is a critical period; further, that the difference between losing or keeping 20% of your audience is 1 second". Pictures that are not sized appropriately, or fancy graphics, that take minutes to load are a killer for your website. The potential customers will not wait for your pictures and information to load, there are too many competitors on the web who have taken the trouble to ensure that their pages download quickly.
• Garish Design and Poor Layout: These are typical amateur mistakes that take an experienced eye to rectify. There can be a fine line between elegant and gaudy. A professional web designer will know what works best from having created many successful websites. An amateur designer will be tempted to use too many garish displays such as multi-media and banner ads to get a point across. Amateurs may be tempted to include all sorts of technically interesting special effects. All of the available media techniques have an important place but knowing how to use them, and the best way to incorporate them into a website without overpowering it, is vital to success.
• Poor Navigation: Like short load times internet consumers expect a website to be easy to navigate and fast to move between pages. If they are looking for a specific piece of information such as contact details, service pages, or even individual product information and it is not readily found they will go somewhere else - fast. Equally frustrating are broken links, between pages or related sites, or an inability to get back to any part of the site within two clicks.
• Poor Security: One of the most important things on a consumer's mind is how safe their personal and financial information will be if they shop with you. Regardless of how impressed they are with your products if they are unsure of your site's security measures they will go somewhere else.
• Poor SEO: Search engine optimization is one of the most vital marketing tools a website has. If your site isn't showing up high on search engine lists you won't have the chance to drive customers away from your site because they will never get to it to begin with!

If you have an existing website it is important to give it an honest evaluation. How does it stack up to the above pitfalls? As essential as a good website is to your business it is better to have no website at all than to have a poor one that turns customers away.

Rob Kent is a partner in the UK web creation firm, ITinsite We deliver cost-effective and tailored web solutions, comprising site design or improvements to your current site, content creation, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and site performance analysis.
We focus on your business goals, not web technology, whatever type or size of business or organisation you represent, and wherever you are based.
We don't just create websites, we create 'websites that work'!

Choosing the Right Company For .Net Application Development

When you have to choose a software development company for .Net application development you should know what exactly you need. On the net you can find many custom software development companies but only few of them will match your criteria. And fewer will give you warranty and full technical assistance for the software developed.

Going for outsourcing of .net development in India not only saves your time but importantly, a significant amount of money as well. One of the major advantages that a company gets while outsourcing services, apart from the major amount of money that is saved is quality solutions. India is the best place to choose for .Net application development because India has come a long way ahead in the field of technology; to be more precise there has been lot of converts and modifications in the "Software Development Company". One of the fastest growing areas in IT is Asp.Net application development and it is not surprising that more and more technical up gradations are taking place in this particular field. India's huge number of software professionals is doing just this and a lot more.

Companies in India follow the entire software development life cycle. This is executed with the help of the expert professional staff including the software architects, project managers and the quality analysts. This facilitates the customers to receive a quality product, in the desired time frame, on cost effective terms.

For this reason large numbers of companies are looking towards the India as More and more companies are therefore looking towards India as the most ideal place for of outsourcing of .net development services. Companies in India are therefore always in the forefront, when it comes to offering quality software solutions.

Rapidsoft Technologies is one of the offshore software development companies in India providing customized, cost effective, technology driven internet/ web based solutions all across the world. They offer full range of software application development, web application development and open source customization and Portal development, e-commerce site development services, custom web application development using PHP, ASP, ASP.Net, AJAX, VB.Net, C++, Java and XML and also offer software development services. All these aspects make it the right choice for global companies to outsource ASP.net development services.

Cathy Brown is a well known writer for offshore outsourcing companies in India. Presently, she is writing on .Net application development, Asp.net application development outsourcing in India for http://www.rapidsofttechnologies.com

Have I Got a Website For You

I can't help it. Almost every time I am asked to look at a Website with my Copywriter hat on I fall in love. I always see so many possibilities - so many small changes that can be made that will help attract more traffic and make the visitors to the Website more prone to buy their fine product or service.

I can't help it if my imagination runs wild and I see all kinds of possibilities to use articles and press releases to create a buzz about what they have to offer. I can't help it if I see the opportunity to gain valuable SEO back links that can lead to better ranking in the major search engines. I can't help it if I want to seize the moment and help make your new product or service all that it can be.

To my way of thinking copywriting and marketing are all different pages of the same book, maybe even part of an informative e-book give away that can be used as a freebie to get more people to subscribe to your mailing list.

I am always amazed at how many possibilities to maximize the potential sales of a new product or service are overlooked. The existing Website content cries out to me for revision and redrafting that can result in much greater consumer interest.

What I find most amazing is that the selling points are almost always there, they just have to be reformulated into hard hitting attention getting copy that can properly reflect the unique benefits the particular product or service has to offer.

The time has past when it is all about the offer. Today you have to have the right goods and services, but you still need to offer them in an irresistible way.

Why not use a new medium - the Internet - to solve an age-old problem with speed and substance and imagination.

Why not take advantage of the opportunity of a worldwide showcase to put your best product or service in front of a huge audience of prospective buyers.

Why not take this wonderful new product or service of yours, and make it all that it can be?

Why not permanently brand the image of your product or service on the minds of your Website visitor and potential customer?

Why not make the most of your Internet marketing opportunities?

Hi this is Arthur Levine. To find out all the ways I can help you maximize the potential of your Website, please visit me at http://freelancecopywriter123.blogspot.com and leave a comment.

Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box.

© Copyright Arthur Levine 2008