Work at Home - Websites Are No Longer Optional

Do you work at home? Do you have a website? If not, you are placing yourself in a very difficult position. The fact is that in order for a business to survive today, be it online or offline, it needs a website. The good news is that the costs associated with building a website have dropped drastically over the past decade. Hence, where it used to cost thousands of dollars to build a website, nowadays it costs just a fraction.

While I hate to caution against giving business to one entity over another, I have to do so in this instance. When searching for someone to build your website, I have to caution you to stay away from the larger companies. These entities have too many fixed expenses, which need to be passed onto their customers. Of course, every brick and mortar business in the world does this. However, in the case of web design, not every business is brick and mortar. Take advantage of this.

My strong recommendation is that you focus your attention on those web designers who work at home. Often times these designers have full-time jobs, but are looking for freelance projects to supplement their income. They do not have to pay rent for a 2400 sq.ft. office space, and therefore do not have these expenses to pass on to their customers.

Having just endorsed freelance web designers, I must also warn you that every designer has their own style. Thus, it is important that you see examples of their previous work before moving forward. Most will have a portfolio website, which links to examples of past work. This is an important step which should not be overlooked.

Finding freelance designers to choose from will not be a problem. There are several websites out there to facilitate this. For example, Elance, Guru, iFreelance, oDesk, and Scriptlance are great freelance portals to work with. Essentially, you will need to register, and then provide of listing of exactly what you need done for your project. Thereafter, freelancers will bid on your project. You will be able to see how satisfied, or dissatisfied, past customers were as each bidder has a rating if they have completed past projects which were commented on by past customers. You have complete control whether to accept or reject a bid.

However, if hiring someone to build your website simply is not in your budget, do not panic. You still have options. The best option which I can come up with is utilizing a Content Management System (CMS), such as Joomla or WordPress. Both of these give you the capacity to simply purchase a template, and build your website based off of the template and CMS platform. Just make sure that you take you time in selecting a template. It is of the utmost importance that your template be relevant to the theme of your business. Furthermore, since templates are not unique to you, it is best that you choose a less popular template so that another online business does not have a website which is nearly identical to yours. Nonetheless, whichever direction that you go in, just make sure that it ends up with you getting a website. You need a website if you work at home.

If you have made up your mind to Work At Home, I can tell you first hand that you are making a wise decision. However, anyone planning to Make Money Online doing so, you are going to need a website. The good news is that it is not difficult to build you own website nowadays.

Website Content - Spring is Finally Here - Is it Time For Some Website Spring Cleaning?

Yes, it's true - what has been eagerly anticipated by millions as the dreary days of winter slowly pass by is finally here. Spring is in the air, and as is traditional, it's time for new beginnings and spring cleaning. Now it might seem a little bit silly at first, but the truth is, most of our web sites could probably withstand a little bit of springtime sprucing up of their own.

Where To Start, Where To Start...

Perhaps this is the most complicated dilemma of the whole notion-where to begin. Probably the biggest first step that you can take here would just be to jump in and begin with a good in-depth review of your website. Sit down for a reasonable length of time with your website on the screen and a pencil and paper in hand and think about the following questions:

• Does my home page seem up-to-date with recent news and content?
• What about the look-is it modern and still relevant in today's web-centric environment?
• Is there too much clutter on the home page?
• What about the inside pages of the website...has the content built up to a point where some purging or spring cleaning would be beneficial to the sanity of your visitors?
• Are all of the links working correctly throughout the site, still pointing to existing, relevant resources?
• Phone numbers, addresses, and emails do change from time to time-is the contact information on your site still up to date?
• Are any old products listed or promoted on your site that should be removed?
• Any other dated content that you might want to keep, but should at least be archived?
• What about dated graphics or other like site components?
• Is it time to spruce up the look and feel of your website?
• What about adding new products or promotions to the site?
• Are you using clear, effective calls to action throughout the site?
• Could your landing page use a sales-driving makeover?
• How is your SEO performing...time for a review or updated plan in the traffic department?
• Any other new or potentially big ideas you can think of that might be worth at least brainstorming and reviewing further?

Sure, these are just a few things to think of in your website spring cleaning review, but should help you get started and come up with a good plan of action to bring some new life back to your website this season. Remember, high-performance websites are really no longer optional; they're essential to doing good business.

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The Minimum Pages For Your Website

It is agreed that the core function of a website is to communicate with the visitors to the website. For this reason your website must be able to provide information about yourself or your business, have information available if visitors wants to contact you and also be able to showcase your services or products.

Therefore the 4 pages that must always be on any website are:

• Home Page
• About Us
• Service or Products
• Contact Us

The Home Page or Landing page is your website's most important page, as this is window to the rest of your website and usually the first page your customers will see if they go to your website. For this reason you should put the most effort into this page's layout and content. The page should also include abbreviated pieces of information that is linked to your other web pages.

Another very important page is the Contact page. There should be contact details or at least a link to your contact page on every other page of your website. This will ensure that customers can easily contact you. Your contact page must provide the customer with various methods of contacting you, including an email address, telephone number, fax number and also a contact form.

The About Us/Me page should be providing more information about yourself or your business, giving a bit of history and also your direction for the future. You can also include photos of yourself and your family or business on this page.

If your website is for more than just informational purposes, then you must also include a page or pages showcasing your services or products. You can either put them all on a single page or have separate pages for different services or products.

Even though there are numerous other web pages that one can create for a website, these four are the minimum required to have and must always be included in your website. This will ensure that you have an appropriate internet presence for your website.

Look out for a future article where I will give more detail on other web pages that can be included in a business website to provide a greater experience for your customers, as well as to boost the professionalism of your website and internet presence.

Petrus Keyter

http://www.pankey.co.za

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Websites - The Cheap Way

It can cost you heavily to have a top quality website built for you, paying out several hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You still might not be guaranteed you'll get what you want.

1 It can be a rip-off. No doubt you've seen ads in magazines where companies are charging hundreds of dollars for a simple website with, say, five pages. They may be a physical business which has overheads to account for, such as office space. In any case, it's a risk using one unseen and you're better at least following a personal recommendation.

Even then, you'll be dealing with coders, not internet marketers. So, unless you can describe in exact detail what you want, you may have problems. They will probably not adjust their coding themselves to fit the internet marketing purpose of the site.

2 Freelance. Another option is to finder a coder on a place like elance. These can be cheaper because they don't have the overheads but can work to just the same quality as the more expensive larger companies.

However, the same reservations as above, about coders and internet marketing, apply. You're best testing a coder out with a smaller project first to see how they do in terms of following your specifications, not needing to keep coming back to you, and timing. You could test out a few and choose the best one.

3 Do it yourself. If you only want a simple five page site you can work on it yourself. You could do it for free by downloading a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor like Kompozer. Or you could invest in a program like XSitePro which helps you build multi-page sites as well as single sales pages. There is a learning curve but you are in control of the process yourself and one payment covers as many sites as you want to make. Once you know how, without using any coding, you can repeat it again and again.

Get my new free ecourse on the keys to a successful business: http://www.computer-home-business.com and to get information on starting your own internet business, click here: http://www.web100k.com

The First Steps to Create My Own Website

Those who are new online might be wondering how you create my own website and the truth of the matter is that it is much easier than you ever would have expected. At the same time, however, you cannot simply throw a few lines onto a website template and expect anyone to visit it, as there is a certain science behind creating a website that people will actually want to visit.

This is especially true if you want to make money online, as your website must be something unique and have content that people will want to read or see whenever they visit. In the end, you must know how to create a website in the correct manner, or else this entire venture will end up being a waste of time for you.

Since the internet is relatively new, there are many things about it that are not yet common knowledge. In today's society, pretty much everyone knows how to start a car because they have been around for generations. Not everyone, however, knows how to start a website because it has, up until now, been a specialized field.

There are a few things that anyone who is wondering how to create my own website should know about, as these tips will make it possible for the building to come up with someone that people will truly want to see.

The first thing that you should do is find yourself a teacher who has done this before, as this will help out with many of the growing pains. You probably have a friend who has created a website in the past and this friend will hopefully be able to guide you along the way. If you are unable to find a friend with this experience, you will be able to find a mentor online.

There are many different website out there that will help you along the way, as there is a great deal of information that you can use to help yourself. Remember, the goal here is to create my own website, so it is not wise to find someone who will simply do everything for you. You want someone who will teach you the various techniques, so that you can design the website on your own.

Once you have a found a teacher, make sure that you ask plenty of questions, as that is why these people are there. If you have some basic knowledge already, you can begin designing and then contact your mentor whenever you run into problems. If you have no prior knowledge whatsoever, it is a good idea to find an e-course that includes this information. An e-course will be able to give you a step by step outline of how to create my own website, which will give you the knowledge base that you need to get started.

Remember that even though most web hosts will provide you with a tutorial, it is always best to have additional information on things like HTML, so that you can make your own decisions and create the website that you truly want. In fact, if you are using a mentor to help you along the way, it is highly advisable that you learn the basics of how to create my own website before you ask for any help. That way, you will not waste the person's time with basic questions.

Since this person is helping you out, you will not want to waste his or her time, especially if you are not paying for the service. Learning the very basics will definitely give you an advantage, just like being prepared for a test in class. Once you have learned and you have found yourself a mentor, be sure that you ask for as much feedback and possible on how to create my own website.

Your mentor will be able to tell you what works and what does not work, which will allow you to avoid many of the mistakes that other people make.

As you become more experienced, you will learn to tweak things yourself and when someone comes to you with questions about how to create my own website, you will be able to help these people out in the same way that you were helped in the past.

Now that you know this, let me show you a simple all-in-one tool I used to create my own website.

It will be your mentor as it shows you step by step how to build a profitable website, while providing the tools and support we have mentioned above.

Check it out now at http://createmyownwebsite.create-website-easy.com/.

5 Strategies Undertaken by Professionals For the Best Website Development

In today's world, no one takes the initiative to start cultivating something. It does not matter to anyone whether it is for their personal requirements or to meet their business requirements but people prefer hiring professionals to accomplish the same. It is definitely advantageous to hire someone to get the best services but you should have some knowledge so that you can also judge the same on your defined parameters.

A website development service is a typical portion while considering the website deployment for any organization. It is not tough but a bit complex one. While developing the websites one should keep in mind various standing instructions, which might help on later progress of the business. Web development India is progressing in a rapid way because Indian web development professionals are keen towards the development strategies and thereby meets the required criteria.

5 Important Website Development Strategies:

While developing websites, it is expected by most of the organizations to follow few strategies that could bring the best result in terms of traffic and business. These strategies may not be known to normal people who are outside of this technical world but it is somehow very important to know the different strategies so that the success constraint can be measured effectively. The various strategies that are kept in mind while developing the websites are as follows:

* Market Analysis:
Before developing the website like a layman apply some sensitivity and perform a serious market research as like some reputed offshore web development company. This will help in finding out what is the current demand of the market and whether you are creating something unnecessarily. In this way you would be able to save your precious time as well as money. During the time of deployment you can easily make out whether your website is developed based on the present market niche or not.

* Develop Customize Website:
If you are planning to indulge your thoughts while developing websites then keep your thoughts apart. World has changed now and entrepreneurs wants their choicest websites to be viewed by the web surfers. But, how is it possible? The easiest solution is, to indulge the clients whenever you are planning to develop websites for them. By this way at least you will be able to meet the customer satisfaction.

* People hate Backdated Technologies:
Are you thinking of implementing the same technology, which you have implemented till date? Then your act is really obnoxious. Technologies are changing every fortnight. So, you have to update yourself accordingly. You can not follow the same track. It is the time for your up gradation. It is up to the people whether they know about the technology or not but you should be updated always.

* Avoid Coding Complexities:
If you are the programmer you might get fascinated creating codes but in reality it dims everyone's fascination. Complex codes are easy to understand by website developers but not by general people. Redundancy of codes is another factor that annoys people to the extent, therefore better avoids your client's irritation. Coding complexities are the foremost factor that is needed to be reduced in order to make everything simpler after deployment of the websites.

* Save Time Reducing the Code Length:
Do not write unnecessarily lengthy codes. You might predict your potential observing your written codes but your clients might not. They always search for something short and stealthy. So, just separate your talent quotient from your development work while prioritizing the customers. Short codes behind the websites saves time as get uploaded easily so do not waste your time and talent behind unnecessary things.

All these are certain strategies that are followed by the professional website development services providers while developing the websites for the clients. If you are still confused regarding the checking factor then, consult the professionals who share their expertise for the offshore web development services. You can surely update your knowledge from web development India to get the best result. If you are working on your own then, do the best you can. The fact is the learning lesson is just initiated, which has no ending.

Author is related with offshore web development company, Aditech Web Development. Are you in search of professional website development services? Then log on to AditechWebDevelopment.com

Web Branding of Your Business

So, you have a business or just started one. You need to get 'out there' and there are a thousand and one terms and companies that can help you do so. Costing probably an arm and a leg, or they're just down right suspicious. Well, if you have a little bit of IT knowledge, boosting your business may not be that hard.

First off, you'll need a webpage. Not just a MySpace or Facebook page. A proper website. Something that's you and reflects your business. Get a reliable web host. They'll look after your page. While you look for that, most of them offer a domain name. Choose something thats related to your business name or type, and geographical location.

Next, get a CMS. Its a Content Management System that is web based, and is usually easily installable by the web host. Joomla and Drupal are some of the best with extensive support and free add ons as well as templates. Make sure your template design is something that you can identify with as will your future customers.

Now start keying in words and setting up categories that will make the page easy to navigate and read. Google rankings increase with relevant keywords in your web page, so that kind of takes care of your Search Engine requirements. Get good images too. You can buy pictures for as low as $0.20 or take some of your own. Remember the page must be pleasing to the eye, easy to read and simple to navigate.

The worst thing you could do is to pepper the pages with too many blur or pixelated pictures and non-relevant text. Trust me, there are many pages out there with claim to such notoriety.

Have your contact details at the footer of each page, such as your phone number. Have a members area to make them feel special. You could send them updates from the web page, have members-only specials and even have a private forum. This improves traffic, which in turn generates sales. Remember, potential customers always search for businesses on the web, and if your web page represents everything about your business, you'll go a long way. That's branding and Internet marketing in a nutshell. Have fun and do write me if you need any more advice.

P Ryan Joseph
Your Business Online
http://www.ybo.com.sg
info@ybo.com.sg