The Secret to Great Idea's Coming to LIfe

Pre-Production - Step 1 Project Definition: How many of you really take the time to plan your website thoroughly? Do you really sit down and develop a strategy – a plan. It does take a lot more time to actually define a project but that is what building a strong foundation is all about. With a strong foundation you will be able to build a website that is robust and will be a money magnet because it will be exactly what your customers are looking for. Sit down with real knowledge of who your target audience is and what this website will do. Do you want a website that will collect leads? Do you want an E-Commerce site that will actually be an online store – are you selling a service? Are you a non-profit organization? Do you want a marketing website? Do you want to become well known and want to get your name out... This is where a really good web developer comes in, they can help you define what your project goals are and if you would be better working in phases or building your website all at once. In my experience (and I have had years of experience!). A website is a work in progress, it is ever evolving and will grow and change with time. Everyone involved in developing the website must understand all aspects of what is being developed – the size, scope, schedule and goals (long term as well as short range) of the site. Questions That Help Define the Project. 1. What is the content of the site 2. What will make this site successful? Hits? Publicity? Revenue? 3. Who is the user? Young, Conservative, Wealthy? 4. Why will a user visit the site? 5. What are the bandwidth considerations? Can you rely on plug-ins? 6. Is there a particular event driving the launch? Once you have all this information compiled you can now begin to map out your site and its contents... It may take more time but it is well worth it... To ask questions contact me pamela@artistadesign.com

Everybody Wins with Article Marketing

Who knew writing a few articles and giving them away for free could be one of the best things you could do for your own web site? This is the precept behind article marketing, and comprises the ultimate in “white hat” or honest and straightforward marketing techniques. With article marketing you provide what other web sites need, you give a reason for the search engines to send traffic your way, and most of all you give readers the information they seek. This chapter will briefly outline how article marketing works and what it can do for your web site. There are two primary factors affecting your place on the search engine results pages, how relevant your page seems to a particular search and the number of quality links coming to your page from other sites. It is obvious a search engine wouldn’t stay in business long if someone searched for “roses” and was led to a page about “muscle cars”, so the more clearly your page can position itself as relative to a particular search term the better. Incoming links to your web page are seen by search engines as popularity votes, so the more you have from related sites the better. But the key to both of these factors is found in the word “relevant”. Posting an article on your web site that is optimized for relevance to a particular search term will go a long way in convincing the search engines to include you in the search results for that term. Submitting articles to related websites with a link back to your own makes you appear popular with the right crowd, the “in” crowd of relevant web sites. Did you notice both of these activities involved the use of articles? Article marketing is the practice of providing articles you’ve written (or had written on your behalf) to other web sites, blogs and ezines. These articles are provided for free, and in return you are allowed to insert a short bio and a link back to your web site. This bio is usually at the end of the article. Now if that link back to your website, leads to great content that is related to the article, you’ve just managed to kill two birds with one stone; you’ve shown your site is relevant and you’ve made a link to it from a related site so you’ve created the impression your site is popular within that niche. Viola! You are on your way to being recommended by the major search engines and because of that, building traffic. Article marketing truly creates a win-win situation for everyone involved and if you want to get your share, here are some of the top article directories you will submit your articles to get free traffic and back links to your website: http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.goarticles.com http://www.articlecity.com http://www.searchwarp.com http://www.articledashboard.com This is from the book Ultimate Guide to Free Traffic... On sale now!