Everyone can use some advice now and then, from the neophyte to seasoned web veteran. If you’re new to web design, then tips are crucial to your understanding of how things work, how they should be crafted, and how to do things the right way. If you’re already an expert, then tips and advice can at least reinforce that you’re doing things right. Besides, who doesn’t like a little positive reinforcement now and then?

These six (6) tips aren’t “Web 101″ advice, but they’re not Graduate level either. They’re just good, solid advice for crafting your website to elicit positive results, both from your visitors as well as from search engines.

1. Content means content

If you create content, make sure it’s useable and searchable content. To put this another way: text means TEXT! Catch phrases, company slogans, site/personal/business messages, even addresses – if it’s meant to be displayed as text, then display it as text. Do NOT embed text in images. Sure, it may look cool when you create it in Photoshop, but search engines can’t read text embedded in images (at least not yet). Take some time and learn how to use style sheets if you want to stylize your text. That way you can not only make text look pretty, you also leave it visible to search engines.

2. Act as a Visitor

If you’re building a website chances are you’ve used the web to look for something. You’ve visited a site to buy something, research something, or look at something. You’ve experienced the hassles of searching and you’ve either easily found what you want or you’ve spent more time than necessary finding it, so use that knowledge to your advantage. One of the most useful things to remember when building a website is that search engines want what users want: useful, relevant, easily searchable and understandable content, site organization and information. Make it as easy as possible for people to buy, for people to learn, for people to do whatever it is you want them to do on your site.

3. Keywords in Page Titles and Descriptions

Okay, so maybe this IS a little Web 101, but it’s still very relevant, and falls in line with #2. Be sure to use the words people search for in your page titles and page descriptions. Don’t “stuff” keywords in there, but DO use them.  If you sell custom widgets to pipe fitters in the greater Philadelphia area, then the page showcasing those widgets should be called “Custom Widgets for Pipe Fitters in Greater Philadelphia”. Clear, to the point, and a phrase like “custom widgets Philadelphia”, a solid targeted search phrase, is in there. As far as how “much” to say, a good rule of thumb is to keep page titles to 70 characters (including spaces) and page descriptions to 250 characters (with spaces).

4. Link to YOUR Own Stuff

Internal links can be as important as external links. Besides, you don’t want to send visitors somewhere else for information as that means, quite simply, they’re leaving YOUR site. Once they’re gone, they may not come back. If you can at least recreate content found elsewhere versus just linking to it, then do that, but organic content (that is, content YOU create versus content you rip from somewhere else) can make a huge difference and it is always a good way to keep people coming back for more. The web was built for sharing information, but if you DO use someone else’s content ALWAYS give credit where credit is due – it’s not only the right thing to do, but you may make a few friends, and receive reciprocal links, in return.

5. Create a Foundation for your Site

Okay, this is a little high level, but it’s an often-overlooked part of creating your site. We’ve discussed linking, page titles and descriptions, and the importance of site content. This tip relates to site structure and organization. Think of the “Three Click Rule” – that is, it shouldn’t take a visitor more than three (3) clicks to find the content they want. Now, carry that over to how your site is organized from a folder and sub-folder standpoint. The closer your pages are to the root of your site (that is, the main entry point of your site), the easier it is for search engines to find the pages. In addition, from a URL and linking standpoint, this URL [www.YourDomain.com/products/custom-widgets-philadelphia-pipe-fitters.html] is much easier to crawl, not to mention understand, than this one [www.YourDomain.com/products/custom/widgets/pipefitters/philadelphia.html] as the page is sitting closer to the root of the site.

6. Dashes, Not Underscores

One final simple suggestion: use dashes in page names instead of underscores. Not only do people process dashes as clear separations of words, but search engines (particularly Google) see words separated by dashes as completely separate terms. However, words that are separated with underscores are seen as a single term.  Therefore, use custom-widgets-philadelphia.html and NOT custom_widgets_philadelphia.html.

So there you have it. Are there any questions about any of these? What about YOUR suggestions?

When you start diving into the world of advertising, creating landing pages that a customer will be directed to is critical to the success of your conversion rate. The job of the landing page is to give the customer all the information they will need in order to take an action such as purchasing a product or entering their information into a form. Here are three tips to following when designing your next landing page.

Everything needs to match

When creating your landing page, keep in mind the visual elements of the ad that the user clicked on to get to your landing page. Make sure your landing page matches the ad they just saw. If you have an image that has blues and whites with a picture of dollar signs, then those same elements should be present in your landing page.

Focus on your message

Keep focused on the intent of the landing page. If you are trying to sell an electric screwdriver then your landing page should only focus on that screwdriver. Once you start promoting other products you can confuse the potential customer and lose the sale. Don’t forget they came to your site for the product you were promoting on the ad so only discuss that product on your landing page.

Keep important elements above the fold

Keep all essential elements that a user will need to convert above the virtual fold of your landing page. If the user has to scroll to convert or to look for information that is vital to the decision making process, there is a strong likelihood that the user will exit your site without converting.

Bonus Tip: Test, Test, and More Testing

Once you have finished designing and coding your landing page, make sure you take the extra step of testing everything in a useable environment. Make a checklist of all the important elements and check them off once they pass with flying colors. Some areas you should test:

• Does the landing page match the creatives
• Is your message Focused
• Are the vital elements above the fold
• How long does the page take to load
• Are all links working properly

When we talk about commercial enterprises on the web, we’re usually talking about two different types of websites, with two very different approaches to generating revenue.

On one hand, there are ecommerce websites—businesses that sell products and/or services online.

And then you have content-driven websites—businesses that either create or curate content on the web, such as news sites, blogs, and even social media spots like YouTube and Facebook.

For content-driven websites, or even content in print, for that matter, monetization is typically limited to advertising—the selling of ad space. This model, however, leaves businesses at the mercy of a fickle advertising market, which has been in a substantial recession since last spring.

So what’s a content provider to do?

The New York Times will be moving toward a subscription-based model for its web content next year. But what if you’re not a big shot like the New York Times—the paper of record? Sure, millions may be willing to pay a flat fee to read Times content, but what about your blog?

This all brings me to an interesting panel discussion I attended at South by Southwest Interactive last week, called “Merch – The Other White Meat of Monetization.”

In a nutshell, the panelists,  including Mikhail Ledvich of BustedTees.com, discussed the benefits, and challenges, of content-driven websites moving toward a merchandising model as a source of additional revenue. For those of you who may not be familiar with BustedTees.com, this website actually began as an effort to further monetize its sister website, CollegeHumor.com.

If your content-driven website has a dedicated or passionate audience, selling merchandise can give your readers a way to be active “patrons of the arts,” so to speak, for your content, in much the same way fans actively support CollegeHumor by purchasing funny t-shirts from BustedTees.

So if selling merchandise, or merch, seems like something your content-driven business would like to do, here’s a quick checklist of things to consider.

1. Have something worthwhile to sell

If you have a comedy blog, selling funny t-shirts makes sense, but if your blog is about, say, food culture in southern California, you may want to consider regional cookbooks or something that is naturally connected to the content of your blog.

2. Add a shop page or shopping cart to your site

BustedTees.com might be a separate website from CollegeHumor.com, but this doesn’t mean you’ll need a whole new website just to sell merchandise. Contact your web master to see how you can add a shopping cart to your site. This can be as easy as installing a cart application, like Newtek Cart, to your hosting account.

3. Get a low-fee Merchant Account to process payments

If this is your first stab at ecommerce, you’ll want to minimize your cost by going with a payment solution that doesn’t kill you with fees. Avoid solutions that come with annual or start up fees. Check out our NewtPay & NewPay Pro merchant solutions.

So what do you think of “merch” as an option to bring in additional revenue for content-driven websites? If you’re already selling products from your content-based site, let us know about your experiences.

Last week, I offered three reasons to give a Do-It-Yourself website builder a try. While many of the emerging builders perfectly fit the needs of business owners desiring a hands-on approach to the website design process, it’s not for everyone.

There are many reasons to consider going the custom web design route, especially if you have more complex needs and are willing to invest more resources into the overall process.

Without Further ado, take a look at three reasons to go the custom website design route:

1.) You don’t even want to entertain the thought of doing it yourself

Let’s face it. When the lawn needs mowing, you’d rather make a call to a landscaping company than head out there to start yanking on the mower chain. (I’m right there with you on this one…no judgment.) Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean you should.

More importantly, as a small business owner, spare time is likely something you don’t often encounter. I was talking with my hairdresser about the builder vs. custom route the other day and she said, “I have no idea where I would find the time in my day to do it. Besides, I’d rather be doing what I love…cutting hair.” Therefore, if you’re a person already pressed for time, custom is definitely your solution.

2.) You have some specific needs for your web design

Don’t get me wrong…website builder tools can meet the needs of many, but for those with specific needs, a custom design is the right choice.  Here are a few reasons why:

• You have a WordPress blog (or perhaps a Drupal or Joomla CMS) that you’d like to integrate into your website design
• You already have a shopping cart application, and want to carry it over to your new website design
• You’ve envisioned a website that has lots of advanced Flash applications
• You’d like to integrate a Pay-Per-Click campaign and need the help of a web design professional
• You need a custom database, or segmented log-in pages

3.) You’re not quite sure what you want…

If you know you need a website, but you’re having trouble envisioning the look and feel, tapping the creative mind of a professional is a very enticing choice. Or maybe you have a loose idea of what you want, but would like to see and hear some different options from a well-established web design professional. This is probably one of the biggest benefits when it comes to going the custom route, not to mention the SEO advantages that come along with seeking the expertise of a professional. P.S. If you’re looking for some inspiration to get your own creative juices in motion, this is a great place to start: www.smashingmagazine.com

Whether you go with a website builder tool like  Newtek SiteCenter, or opt for a custom solution, the fact is, there is a solution for everyone, and we’d be happy to help you.

We’d love to hear from you. If you just completed, or are in the process of completing a new website using a builder tool, do you have any tips to share? Same question goes out to those of you currently working with a custom web designer.

We’ve become an increasingly self-reliant society. Ten years ago, instead of installing new flooring ourselves, we would have called in the professionals to do it for us. This is not to say that everyone opts to go with the DIY route (when it comes to manual labor I certainly don’t), but the point is, it’s become a viable option in just about every area of our lives.

One company exemplifies this “DIY” movement. We’re all familiar with the incredibly popular Home Depot tagline, “You can do it. We can help.” Brilliant. In the wake of their success, many other companies have adopted the DIY concept, empowering their customers to get their own hands a bit dirty, with the expertise and backing of the providing company – a safety net of sorts.

So you still don’t have a website? Why not?

That same level of autonomy and empowerment is spilling into the online marketplace, which is why it’s surprising that 60% of small businesses still don’t have a website. This figure is according to a recent 2009 study conducted by Discover® Small Business Watch.SM

While I’m sure there are a million different reasons why businesses are NOT online (too busy, focused on building traffic to their brick-and-mortar stores, etc.), with the emergence of DIY website builders, the reasons keeping business owners from taking their business online are diminishing. So without further ado…

Three reasons why you should give a DIY website builder a go:

1. It’s time already!
   Perhaps you have a successful brick-and-mortar business and you’ve grown entirely by word of mouth. If you have, congratulations! WOM marketing is one of the best types of marketing and speaks volumes about the quality of your business. Take that success and apply it online. You’re poised to hit an untapped pool of customers who (shockingly) have not yet heard of your company or establishment. The time for modesty has passed, friends. If your customers and critics are saying nice things about you, tell the world. After all, your mother can only do so much…
2. Get your goods online
   Whether you’re an independent artist, a mom-and-pop shop, freelance consultant or a multi-location small business owner, your products and services have a very limited reach if only available in-store or through networking events if you’re a professional services freelancer. DIY builders make it easy to get your products online quickly. If you’ve got products to seel, you can have them up and available to a much wider base within minutes. Once your bottom line starts to soar, you’ll be glad you made the push for Ecommerce.
3. Chance to be artistic – no graphic design education required
   No one knows your business better than you, so who better to reflect that visually? With a multitude of different design schemes to select from, (we offer more than 700) you can bring your vision to life, and let the builder carry out all of the necessary back-end coding and programming. So, really, by using a website builder you can get a personally designed site up and running quickly and skip out on four years of classroom time (not to mention the painful remnants of student loans that still haunt many of us.) Best of all, with most builders, while you get to play with the look and feel and overall design of your site, you’ll still have access to a team of professionals available 24/7/365 to assist you

So there you have it: Three excellent reasons to give a DIY Website Builder a try (even better if you can try it out for free.) Honorable mentions include:

• The ability to change your content on a whim rather than having to coordinate with a designer and wait for the next website publish window
• A chance to really peel back the curtain and  connect with your customers by adding a company blog that embodies your unique corporate culture
• Websites are an easy place to point customers looking for more information, and a handy addition to any business card

Now then. What are you waiting for? It’s 2010. By now you’ve run out of reasons to let another year slip by without establishing a strong web presence. To borrow from a well-known brand that set the stage for the DIY movement, “You can do it. We can help.”

And if DIY isn’t your style, stay tuned. The next blog will discuss why a custom design may be a better choice for you…