Websites

In the offline world, when you pay by credit card, you simply swipe your credit card through a point-of-sale device and either show your identification, sign the receipt or enter your pin number (if you are using a debit card, for instance), and the purchase is paid for. If you want to accept credit cards online, the process is a bit more complicated. Online merchants don’t have the luxury of swiping a physical credit card or asking you for your signature or identification, so they have other measures in place to make sure they get paid. continue

Your website should be the place where prospects go to learn more about how you can help them solve their current problem, obstacle or frustration. Unfortunately, most service professional’s websites are plagued with cluttered design, meaningless graphics, confusing navigation, poor writing and too much focus on the business rather than the prospect’s problems. Here are 6 tips for creating a powerful website that successfully generates leads for your business. continue

If you want to create a successful website that ranks well in search engines, you will need to know who your competition is, what they are selling, and how they sell their products and services. Here are three steps to online competitive research. continue

When visitors first come to your website, they want a clear, concise explanation of who you are, what you do, and how you are uniquely qualified to help them. Here are a few ideas for how you should set up your website to demonstrate your credibility and expertise. continue

Most websites are ineffective at capturing leads because they are little more than a corporate brochure divided into web pages. Each page talks about the company and its products and services, but does little to address prospects’ problems and concerns. If you want to make your website more effective at capturing leads, use these four steps. continue

One of the easiest ways to drive traffic to your website is by providing valuable content your visitors are searching for. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an expert writer to benefit from article writing - you simply need to follow a few steps. Here are six steps for writing articles that will flood your site with traffic. continue

Author: Hurol Inan
Publisher: Longman
Year Published: 2002
Rating:
Buy From Amazon.com

If you’ve been looking for a thorough guide to website metrics, this book is it. The book is written for anyone who wants to tackle the question of ‘is my website really working?’ - from newbies unfamiliar with metrics to experienced marketers looking to measure results. continue

A reader asks:
I’ve added a domain name to my web host, but my webpage isn’t showing up. Instead, it’s taking me to a coming soon page. What’s wrong?

I’m going to assume it’s been a few hours since you purchased and set up your domain name, as it can take 24-48 hours for everything to work properly - though the process called “domain name propagation” (defined below) has become a lot faster recently. If it hasn’t been that long, give it a few hours. Otherwise, read on… continue

A few days ago, I noticed traffic to one of my sites had decreased to a trickle. Sensing something was wrong, I clicked to the site only to be notified:

After browsing through the StopBadware site, I determined I must have some malicious code somewhere on my website… Sure enough, at the very bottom was a strange block of code pointing to some foreign site.

This type of hack is more common than you think, so if this happens to you, here’s what to do: continue

Author: Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg
Publisher: Wizard Academy Press
Year Published: 2002
Rating:

Buy From Amazon.com

Web content is the heart and soul of your website. If it isn’t interesting, engaging, and informative, your visitors have no reason to stick around. Believe me - they won’t. continue