Creating Content for Your Website
Most internet users are looking for some type of specific information. The most important factor in the success of a website is the amount and quality of information provided. Having quality content on your website will positively impact your website in several different ways:
1 - Search Engine Rankings
Articles and other types of content will increase your rankings with search engines.
2 - Draw In-Bound Links
Other websites will be more likely to link to yours if you provide valuable content that their visitors will want to read. Creating in–bound links will also help with your search engine rankings.
3 - Encourage Repeat Visitors
Content that is updated frequently will keep your visitors coming back for more. Repeat visitors are much more likely to buy from you than first-time visitors.
4 - Establish Yourself as an Expert
Using articles and information on your website, you can prove to visitors that you are an expert in your field. As an expert you will build rapport, and potential customers will look to you first.
Once you’ve realized that quality content can have a big impact on the success of your website, you will need to decide how to get the content and how to present it to your visitors.
Choice #1 – Write Your Own Content
Creating your own content will have the greatest impact. By writing your own articles and developing your own resources you will be able to present unique content that that can’t be found anywhere else. Some of the ways in which you can display your content include:
- Writing articles and posting them on your website.
- Developing a newsletter and posting the newsletter archives on your website.
- Creating a blog.
Choice #2 – Use Other People’s Content
If creating your own content isn’t an option, you can still provide your visitors with a better website by using any of the following:
- Other People’s Articles
There are a number of online article directories where you can find articles to post on your website for free. In exchange for posting the article you will have to include a paragraph written by the author about himself/herself. That paragraph will usually contain a link to his/her website, which could take some of your visitors away from your site. To find articles, visit Idea Marketers, Article Depot, Amazines, and Article Hub.
- Syndication from Another Author
Syndication allows you to have a page with an article that automatically updates periodically. For example, if the author writes a new article each week, your page will show the new article and will be updated automatically. For more information on syndication, visit Syndicated Writers. Many blogs will also allow you to syndicate their content.
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The Importance of Valid Code
Statistics indicate that 80% of website traffic is generated by search engines. Having a high search engine ranking for your most relevant keywords and phrases can bring floods of highly-targeted traffic to your site. Likewise, ranking poorly in search engines will can cost you a lot of traffic.
Each search engine has its own algorithm to determine how websites are ranked in response to searches. There are a number of factors that are used during the ranking process:; however, for your website to be accurately read by the search engine and to achieve high rankings, the search engine’s spiders must first be able to easily maneuver through your website.
Spiders are what the search engines use to “crawl†through web pages to provide the information that determines rankings. If there is content on a page that a spider is unable to access, that content will not be able to help your search engine ranking.
Generally, websites are designed for appearance with the user in mind. Of course this is essential to the success of a website, but proper coding must not be sacrificed for the sake of appearance. Spiders view the code behind the page, which determines how the page appears in the browser. To see what the code looks like, in Internet Explorer click on “View†in the toolbar and select “Source.†In Firefox click on “View†and select “Page Sourceâ€
Spiders easily read text on a page, but do not read Java Script. Websites that use large amounts of Java Script to accomplish the look and features may suffer from poor search engine rankings.
Also, spiders cannot read writing that is contained with an image. Every image should have an alt tag (which can be read by spiders) describing the image and inserting keywords when possible.
Valid XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) should be used in order to make the spiders’ job as easy as possible. Valid coding will also help to ensure that your pages are rendered the same in different browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Safari, etc.). Using word processors or other programs that are not designed primarily for website design can add a great deal of invalid code. Hand coding or using a product such as Macromedia’s Dreamweaver will produce the best results.
The W3C, the governing body of the Internet, provides an online feature that allows you to check your XHTML and CSS for valid coding. To validate XHTML visit http://validator.w3.org. To validate CSS visit http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator.
Using valid XHTML and CSS will:
- Make your website easier for search engine spiders to crawl
- Allow you to achieve an attractive appearance
- Help you to keep that appearance on multiple browsers
- Keep loading times to a minimum
- Allow for easier updates and maintenance
Courtesy of Vandeley Design
Popularity: 9%
Two Men Plant a Forest in Ecuador
A friend told me about this two amazing guys who are going two plant a forest. Yes that’s right, they’re going to Ecuador in October 2007 to plant 5000 trees in a month. Wow!
Richard Greenwood and Simon Carrington from Bolton have set out to this enormous task because of their concern with the rainforest.
Co-ordinated by the charity Rainforest Concern, they aim to plant all trees needed for a community watershed forest reserve project. You can find detailed information in their website Two Men Plant A Forest
On Sunday 1st April, they are holding a White Collar Boxing Match in
the Premier Suite of the De Vere Hotel, Reebok Stadium, Bolton. This
event is approved by the Academy of Applied Combat and will feature 14
fighters, including a celebrity fighter, Kevin Fletcher (better known
as Andy from Emmerdale!). All boxers are fully trained, including Simon
and Richard themselves.
The event will be televised and will feature entertainment between
fights from comedians, a charity auction, an after party at ‘The Bar‘
in Nelson Square in Bolton from 8pm onwards, and will be attended by
some of the UK’s boxing legends! It’s a HUGE event and it would be
great if anyone in the vicinity/anyone who’s into this wanted to go
along. This is a fantastic cause and you’ll have a great day!
All proceeds to the Two Men Plant a Forest fund.
Doors open 2:30pm, first fight 3:15pm.
Call 01204 526333 for tickets or email admin@twomenplantaforest.co.uk
Or if you prefer you can donate now for this cause.
Popularity: 7%
Dynamic Currency Converter for eCommerce Websites
Dynamic Converter is a service for webmasters that lets you show prices accurately in other currencies on your site.
It’s certainly a useful product that serves a real need, enabling site
owners to give users the option of viewing prices in their own
currency, potentially increasing conversion rates.
How it works
It’s all javascript-powered, probably using AJAX-style background
requests to get the up-to-date currency values from Dynamic Convertr’s
servers.
The system is very flexible, offering a variety of interaction
techniques, from simply showing alternative currency values
dynamically, to giving users the ability to select alternative currency
via a drop-down or clicking images. See their demo page for the full range.
Options
There is a free option, which will give you 10,000 conversions per month (features branding).
If you need more, prices for start at USD 13 per month.
Full details…
Popularity: 10%
