1001 Proven Online Marketing Tips, Tricks & Secrets

by: Pawan Bangar

Web Design Tips:

Easy That’s how you’d like life to be, right? Especially when you’re creating a website on your own. But that doesn’t mean you want the site to look severe and just functional. you want it to be pretty , smart and also respond and move when you interact with it, while saying all that you want to say to its visitors . There are little tips and Features incorporated into software just for people like you.

Love what Flash can do but don’t know how to use it ? Macromedia thought of you and built a feature into Dream weaver that lets you create cool animated Flash buttons just by entering parameters. Want to have button respond to a mouse-over but have no idea or patience to create one with graphics software? You can make a quick and easy mouse-over button right from within FrontPage. What do you do if you need to optimize 150 images within an hour? No need to panic, image ready can help you out with a little droplet. Check out the different tips that make life easier or better for you as a Web designer.

• Animated Flash Button & Macromedia Dream weaver:

Dream weaver lets you create some custom vector graphics from within the software. You can make Flash and embed them into your Web pages. There are different kinds of style that you can choose for these from the available set-play back type of buttons .Arrow shaped button, shopping cart button And so on, or make some of your own.

Making a smart interactive button is simple in Dream weaver, select insert-interactive Image-Flash Button. Form the window that opens select different button style by looking at the preview image below. Customize the button the way you want it by adding the name of the button, the Font color and font size , then specify the URL that the button has to link to . The button is saved with SWF extension you can preview the button in your browser to see if it looks the way you want.

• Easy Mouse-Over Buttons :

Mouse-over and Front Page? Oh Yes. The software has quit a few convenient features up its sleeve, one of which is “Hover buttons.” Granted, these buttons don’t have snazzy graphics they look like typical button blocks, but they react to mouse-over and you can archive it very simply. Here’s how.

Select Insert –Web component. in the window that opens , select Dynamic Effect in the component type and select the Hover Button effect on the right . Type in the text that should appear on the button, choose a font for the text, specify the URL to link to on clicking, and select the size and color of the button. In the drop-down menu for Effect, Glow is the default selection. Try it – you can select the color of the glow-check the button in preview mode-the button light up when you move your mouse over it. There are several other effects available that are worth checking out, especially the bevels quite neat!

• Cool Effects With DHTML :

DHTML or Dynamic HTML offers some cool effects that could make your Web pages stand out click? Or your page to load with a transition Effect? DHTML will do this for you along with other little tricks. After you’ve built your Web page, from the menu bar, select Format-Dynamic HTML Effect. A tool bar appears in the work area. Choose an event from the first drop down list. This could be on ‘click’ double-click.’ Mouse over or page load. Depending on the event selected here, the next Drop-Down list offers the possible effect that can be achieved , This could be a change in the color and style of the font if it is text, a border added around it , or in case of an image , you can replace the image with another one by a swap .

Most of the effect toggle Meaning if there was a font change on click, another click will change the font back to what it was before. However, some effects are one-time like the disappearing act of an image or button .you select ‘fly out’ from the effects list for this . On ‘page load’ you could have the selected text drop in word by word, or hop in, spiral in, zoom out, and so on. This is especially useful for advertisements or parts of the page that you want to draw the user’s attention to.

• Animation In Reverse :

You’ve made an animation using image Ready-may be a tween of position, opacity or effects or a manually placed and manipulated animation backwards? No need to re-tween or manually place the frames backwards; simply click on the little arrow in the animated palette and select Reverse Frames. You can also create a rubber band effect by copying the forward sequence (small arrow > copy Frames), pasting it at the end of sequence (small arrow > Paste Frames > ‘Paste after selection ‘) and then, by selecting the newly pasted sequence and applying Reverse Frames on this.

• All It Takes Is A Droplet :

Want to optimize several images with the same settings? Create a “droplet “and save time.

Open the optimize palette in Image Ready with your image open. Set the optimization to what you want-file type (JPG, GIF or PNG), quality (low, medium, high), lousiness, dither and so on while previewing the result in the “optimized” tab of the main in the Optimize palette. This creates what is called a “droplet” that contains your optimization settings. Save this droplet anywhere you want, say on your desktop.

Now drag the folder containing the images to be optimized onto this droplet. All the images in the folder will get optimized the way you specified. This may take a while depending on the number and size of the images in the folder. You can also drop images one at a time onto the droplet.

• Precise Hot Spots :

Want to link different parts of an image to various URLs? You can do this by slicing the image and assigning links to the relevant slices, but the disadvantage of this is the lack of precision: slice is necessarily rectangular. Also, slices are pieces of the image.

Say you’re working on a Web page for children about the different parts of ancient castles. You would like the parts-dungeons; moat, guard towers, and so on-to have precise rollovers and links so that the information is conveyed correctly. Rather than slices such an images and allot links, use image maps, select the polygon Image Map tool in Image Ready and outline the part you want to talk about precisely . Even circular image maps work fairly well in some areas. You can adjust points of the map edge after finishing the shape, too .in the image map palette, you can specify the URL to link to along with ALT text. To preview your work, save Optimized as a HTML file and check it in a browser.

• Optimize Your Web Graphics Easily :

Despite the cable Internet connections and high-speed modems, Web graphics are still limited speed-wise. The sites that load fastest and work most efficient have well-optimized graphics .GIF images are generally good for line drawings and illustrations while JPG ones are best suited for photographs. Besides file format, there are various factor that affect the optimized image like the ‘lousiness’-the amount of data in the image that you’re willing to sacrifice for smaller file size-the number of colors you need minimum, whether you can have dithering or not, so on .

In Photoshop, to try out different optimization settings, click Save for Web . A window opens up showing the current image along with various options and menus on the right . in the image window itself, you can see two tabs: 2-up tab to see two versions-the original and the optimized-for comparison along with time needed to load the image according to various modem speeds . The 4-upshows you 3 versions against the original. These previews are useful and convenient, rather than having to manually save the image repeatedly in different ways and comparing each of them.

• Making A Banner Ad:

We’re all familiar with banner ads that we see all over the Web: a strip with an image and text that changes into another and another conveying some information. Clicking on this ad takes you to the site that the company is advertising for. You don’t have to use GIF Builder or any other graphics software to animate such an ad. You can make it easily using Front Page. Select Insert-Web component-banner ad manger. In the window that opens, specify the size of the ad, the transition effect, the number of seconds to display each image, the URL to link the ad to and add the images you’ve prepared. That’s it.

This feature could also be used you want to share a few photographs coiled also be used when you want to share a few photographs or images but don’t want the images to be save-able on the cline’s side; right-click will not work on these images. Although the images may be found in the cache, at least they won’t be able to be copied directly.

by: Maria Marsala

Have you ever visited a web site and been attacked by screaming pop-up ads, gotten lost in a clutter of banner ads, had things flash and go boom? And have you ever visited a site that was informative, easy to navigate and generally pleasant to peruse?

Which site gained your trust? Which site would you revisit? The more user-friendly building tools you use on your site, the more trust will be developed with your viewers. With this in mind, here are expert tips for making your online store trustworthy…

Purchase an appropriate domain name.

Paying for your own domain name builds trust and is professional looking. Your own domain name will be – free of all advertisements (except products you sell or recommend). You want to sell your visitors on the content of your site – not the products of other advertisers.

Use domain name email addresses

When searching for a host for your site, look for packages that include POP3 accounts (preferred) and alias accounts (second in line). This will enable you to send email from your site (you@yourbusiness.com) which looks much more professional than you@freeemailaccount.com It is easier to trust someone who has evidently made an investment in their business.

Include contact information

Provide phone numbers, hours of operation (including time zone), a business mailing address and an email address. PO Boxes are not considered addresses. Many companies won’t deliver to PO Boxes, and many visitors won’t purchase from you if you use one. Work from home? Add a suite or building number to your home/apartment. Or use a mail forwarding service for a real address.

Add contact links

Place at least one way for your visitors to contact you on each page and place your Webmaster’s contact information on at least the bottom of the front page. This way your visitors can request information from you, and if there is a problem with your site, they can write to the Webmaster. Even if you and the Webmaster are the same person, place the Webmaster’s email address on the site.

Keep your content updated

To be current, the content of your site must be no more than 6 months old. The pages must include an up-to-date “Last Updated _________”. Even if you don’t change the site information (because it is completely correct and updated) do keep the date updated.

Include a personal touch

Provide an “About Me/Us” page. Provide the names of the owner, president, executives, and staff on the contact page. Include individual and group pictures, small biographies if relevant, and email addresses where they can be quickly contacted. Don’t make it look as though your site’s owners want to be anonymous, which obviously generates suspicions.

Avoid enter pages and splash screens

Do you have an “Enter page” or splash screen on the front of your site? If so, delete it now! You will lose visitors who want information quickly because they’ll go to a rival site instead. Worse than an enter page is an enter page that forces someone to download a program such as Flash. If you want to use the option of Flash pages, fancy pointers etc., give visitors the option of viewing them. Don’t force them to download any programs.

Cater to everyone

Include tags with your images to assist those with sight disabilities and the hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who use library-based text-only computer software and Web browsers.

Make it quick

Ensure that a majority of your pages load in less then 20 seconds with a 56K modem. Most visitors will not have the patience to stick around much longer than that and will simply move on. A site that loads quickly and is neatly designed, will show that you are a professional company. It will also boost confidence in your potential buyers.

Request recommendations

Ask your clients for testimonials and permission to use their whole name on your Web site. If they don’t feel comfortable doing so, find others who will.

Link it

Make sure that links within your site work. Ask your Web designer to design an interesting “error” page that will allow your visitors to get back on track if a page they bookmarked no longer exists. Make sure that links to sites outside your website work. Download a links checker and use it monthly. Sometimes you’ll find that you’ve linked within your site to a page you’ve moved or removed. Other times you’ll find that pages outside your site have disappeared or are changed.

Spell it right

If you want your site to be as professional as it could be, put each page though a spell checker or hire an excellent proofreader. Don’t underestimate the value of a properly spelled site.

Provide guarantees

If you have a money back guarantee on your service or product, say so. If you don’t, say so. Do guarantees include or exclude returning the shipping or handling fees? How about a privacy policy for your newsletter emailing list or code of ethics? Clearly place any type of guarantee on your site.

Secure purchases

When you purchase from the best sites, the site owner will provide you with the most secure purchase program available. This includes a secure server, secure gateway, and information that informs you that your purchase is as secure as is currently possible. When you are taken to another website to make your purchase, notice if the new site mentions that it’s been secured. If it doesn’t say so, go find the product on a site that does.

by: Jason OConnor

There are 5 elements that every page of every Web site must have. They are standard, and expected by Web users. When one of them is missing, it screams to a viewer that it’s an amateur site. If a few or all of them are missing, don’t expect anyone to linger for very long.

These 5 elements make site visitors’ life easier and saves them time, two extremely important characteristics of an effective Web site.

1) Consistent colors, fonts, and look & feel.

This is a basic tenant of Web design. If you ran a traditional ad campaign that used three different creative ads, would each one look totally different? The answer is `no’. Using the same fonts, the same colors and keeping the general look & feel consistent is fundamental to presenting a unified, dependable, and congruent image. If your look & feel is all over the place, your potential customers may think you are all over the place.

Try for one main font throughout and maybe a secondary font. Two primary colors are best with a third as a secondary color. A shade of one of the two primary colors works well for the secondary color.

2) Consistent navigation and a `Home’ link.

If you present a navigational scheme on your homepage, then your users immediately start to learn where to find all the ways to locate elements of your site the minute they arrive. If you then place the same links in different spots on other pages you are making it unnecessarily difficult for your viewers. It is unconsciously annoying to users, and gives the impression once again that you and your company are inconsistent and undependable. Don’t make users work harder than they have to get information from your site.

Also, provide a way for a user to get back to your home page on every page of your site. Often this is the page a user is most familiar with so they may want to go back. If someone emails an associate a link to an inner page in your site and they click on it, it is a good idea to provide a way for that new user to get to your home page.

3) A search function.

This is another one of those standard features that most people expect now. If there is a specific bit of information that a person wants to find, don’t make them wade through every page of your site. Implementing a search function is easy and free. You can get one at (http://www.atomz.com/search/trial_account.htm). This truly makes a site user’s life a lot easier.

4) Text, not just images, and text links, not just buttons.

Advertising agencies who also make Web sites have a tendency to use too many graphics, often at the expense of text. A good rule of thumb is that if you have words in an image, take it out and replace it with html text. This is good for a number of reasons; including making the site more search engine friendly and loading faster. Search engines can only key off text, not words found in images. Also, graphic-intensive site take longer to load.

If you don’t include text versions of your links, and only use buttons (which are images) then a number of popular search engines can’t index your site because they can’t read links embedded in images. So it’s important always to include text links as well as buttons.

5) Phone number, logo, tag line.

Don’t make your Web site an obstacle or wall for your prospects and customers by leaving off your phone number. Every page should have your phone number listed. It is very frustrating to go to a company’s site and have no way to reach them except through a form or email.

Always include your logo and tag line on every page as well. If you don’t have a tag line, start thinking about creating one, your site is a great place to repeatedly get your message out.

All of the above mentioned elements can be included on an html template that is used for every page in your site. Templates make it easy to include all of these and quickly update or change them too. Templates are for another discussion, but keep in mind they are very useful.

Most importantly, make sure every page of your site incorporates these top five elements; they are a very necessary foundation for any effective Web site.

About the Author:
Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works The synthesis of Web marketing, design, and technology Jason is a Web expert, e-strategist, and e-marketer who builds sites and programs for the Web

by: Shelley Lowery

If you’re doing business on the Internet, one of the most important aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn’t look professional, no matter what product you’re offering your chances of success are minimal.

Before you begin, if you’ve never designed a web page, it would be wise to become familiar with HTML. (Hypertext Markup Language.) A great place to start is NCSA Beginner’s Guide to HTML:
(http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html)

15 Tips for designing a successful web site:

(1) The main page of your web site should load in 8 seconds or less with a 56K modem.

According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

(2) Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you’ve done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, “Building Your Site.”

- (http://www.web-source.net/building.htm)

(3) Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well. Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based upon the type of effect you’re trying to achieve.

(4) Use minimal animated graphics. These can be very distracting and can cause your page to look unprofessional. In addition, animated graphics cause your page to load more slowly. Fancy graphics won’t make the sale.

(5) Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you’re offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential customer can’t find your product or service, they definitely won’t waste a lot of time looking for it. They’ll go on to the next site and probably never return. They’re visiting your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers. Whether it is information, a product or service.

(6) Try to avoid placing banner exchange banners at the top of your page. These can instantly take your customers or even be indexed by search engine robots. Limit the number of banners on your site to no more than two per page. One is ideal.

(7) Always, include your contact information on each page of your site and try to reply to all comments and suggestions within 48 hours. This will help promote good business relationships. Your business relationships are the key to your success.

(8) ALWAYS check and double-check your site for spelling errors and make sure your images and links are all working properly. If you have several errors, this will make your site appear to be unprofessional. If you are designing your site using an HTML editor, use spell check. Proper grammar is also very important. If you’ve been out of school for a while it’s probably a good idea to refresh your memory. Visit any of the following sites for a crash course in writing and grammar.

- Guide to Grammar and Writing -
(http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/original.htm)

- A Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation -
(http://www.grammarbook.com/)

- Exploring English -
(http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/english/)

- Simpler Words And Phrases -
(http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/tpl5.htm)

(9) Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text links to keep your load time down.

(10) If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames.

(11) Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always have good navigational links on every page and place your company logo on each page.

(12) If you must use Java on your site, use it sparingly. Offer your visitors a choice. Java verses No Java. Java can be slow and has a tendency to crash browsers. Try to avoid using those pop up boxes asking for your visitor’s name, etc. Those pop up messages are very unprofessional and can be very frustrating to your visitors when they’re trying to view your site.

(13) Do not set sound to “autoplay” when someone visits your site. This can be very distracting.

(14) All web browsers are not created equally. View your site through different browsers and screen resolutions so you will see how your visitors will view your site. Visit:

- Site Inspector – Check your web pages for HTML validity and browser compatibility.
- (http://www.siteinspector.com/)

- NetMechanic – Provides a variety of free services for your web site including; browser compatibility testing, graphic file size reduction, link check, HTML check, load time check, spell check and more.
- (http://www.netmechanic.com/)

(15) Continually add new content to your site. Give your visitors a reason to keep coming back.

* Design a quality e-book to give to your visitors. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. If you can create a web page, you can create an e-book. The focus of your e-book should compliment your web site. Simply write about your passion. If your passion is sales, then you could share some of your knowledge and experience by designing your e-book to provide a complete sales training guide. If your passion is home based business, you could write an e-book about how to start your own home based business. If you’re writing about your true passion then you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with something to write about. For further information on e-books, read the article entitled, “How to Create an E-book and Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site by Giving It Away.”

- (http://www.web-source.net/ebook_creation.htm)

If you’d rather not write your own e-book, here’s a list of sites where you can pick up some free e-books to add to your site.

- Web-Source.net
(http://www.web-source.net)

- Book Locker
(http://www.booklocker.com/)

- LD Publishing
(http://www.ldpublishing.com)

* Provide your visitors with quality, informative articles. Everybody loves free information. It’s the top-selling product online, so use it to your advantage. Write your own articles or you can pick some up at the following sites:

- Article Announce – Writer & Publisher Exchange
(http://www.web-source.net/article-announce.htm)
Subscribe: mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

- Marketing & Advertising Supersite
(http://www.drnunley.com/)

- BizWeb2000
(http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm)

- Success Doctor
(http://www.success-doctor.com/archive.htm)

Before using any articles, make sure you view the author’s copyrights and make certain the article may be published. If you’re not sure, contact the author and request permission to publish their article whether it be on your web site or in your e-zine. Most articles for publication can be used free of charge as long as the authors credits or resource box is included.

The best advice I can offer is to Keep It Simple. The simple,
well-designed, professional looking web sites make the sales.

Always strive to learn. Knowledge is the key to success.

About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source – Your Guide to Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator, our new, free article syndication program and display complete articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated each week.

by: Carole Pivarnik

People rely heavily on sites that are most useful to them. They go to Dictionary.com to look up or translate words. They go to BankRate.com to use financial calculators. They go to SmallBusiness.com to get and give business advice. They go to Coupons.com to save money. They go to 1800flowers.com to quickly and easily order gifts for loved ones. They go to HomeDepot.com to learn how to install a ceiling fan.

All of these sites and others with a large, loyal visitor base have one thing in common: they provide a useful service or product to their visitors. Usefulness is one of the key factors in attracting repeat traffic. Here are some tips for making your site more useful and more competitive:

1.Teach something. There is a huge demand for concise, wellwritten how-to information. If you have a business Web site, you have an area of expertise. What can you teach your visitors?

2.Simplify a complex task. Many tasks are so complex that people have difficulty figuring out where to start and what to do. Some examples are buying a home, changing careers, or starting a business. By providing checklists, online wizards, or other tools to organize and automate complex tasks, you can make those tasks significantly easier for your visitors.

3.Offer extraordinary value. People calculate value by comparing what they get to how much it costs. Value exists for them when they perceive that they’re getting more than they pay for. If you offer an expensive product or service, create value by showing how the benefits of purchase exceed the cost. If market conditions make it difficult for you to compete on price, increase the value of your offer by packaging it with “free” add-ons or companion products.

4.Provide superior quality. In today’s competitive market, people simply expect high quality. To wow them, your site must provide that extra feature, service, or customer care that puts you in a different league than your competitors.

5.Offer unparalleled convenience. People take the path of least resistance. Make it a snap to find and use your Web site. Make it easy to remember. Design it for easy access. Make it clear what visitors can get from you and where they can get related material that you don’t offer.

6.Assist with decision-making. People often have trouble sorting out the details that go into complex decision-making. Provide them with an organized, easy way to do that and they’ll love you for it. For instance, a small business portal might offer a checklist or worksheet that helps entrepreneurs figure out what paperwork they must submit to local and state government to incorporate their business.

7.Invite participation. Allowing your visitors to participate in forums, share advice, publish articles, or otherwise interact with other visitors creates a sense of community. Since we all like to belong, sites that provide valuable communities for visitors tend to foster great loyalty among them.

8.Give something for nothing. People respond to getting good stuff free. Can you offer something free for which your competitors charge? Can you offer more or better free stuff than your competitors?

9.Differentiate. Take a close look at your competitors’ sites. What do they lack? Set your site apart from theirs by offering a different mix, more content, better quality–whatever it takes to rise above the din. And then make sure you tell visitors why your site should be their first choice.

10.Diversify. Offer your audience as many different reasons as possible to find your site useful. Offer content, tools, and services for different levels of expertise, areas of interest, or professional focus.

Conclusion

By providing a more useful site, you encourage your visitors to not only return frequently, but linger. This can greatly increase the chance that they’ll become paying customers. Take the time to carefully assess your site and make changes that enhance its usefulness. Doing so is one of the best investments you can make in your Web site and your business.

About the Author:
Carole Pivarnik manages audience development and affiliate programs for SureCode Technologies, Inc., which offers fullfeatured, customizable Web databases that plug right into any site with no programming.