Web Concepts

By Mitch "Self Helper" Keeler

The question is, "How do I make my web site better?" and the answer could be given to you many different ways by many different people.  There are often seven rules I tend to live by when it comes to webmastering, so I thought I would share them with you so that you too can learn from my own trial and error.

1.  Look towards your friends - Many people overlook their friends as people who can help with their web site.  You can use your friends to write up content for you, hire them for work (design, writing or other) or even just ask them to spread the word around about your online resource.

2.  Update on a schedule - You need to find a schedule for updating your web site and stick with it.  If your web site it static (not updated often) then you might be able to get away with checking up on things every two weeks or so.  If you have a lot of content being posted though, you need to set aside a certain time to work on the web site.

3.  Do it right the first time - Don’t half way do things right and then think, "well, if it becomes a problem I can always fix it later" because chances are later will never happen because you’ll find something else to fill your time with.  Even if it takes a little more time, doing it right the first go around might save you on time and aggravation later on down the road.

4.  Branch out your ideas - Don’t be afraid to branch out to related topics.  For an example, if you are running a web site about shoes and you want to add some more content to your web site, then why not talk about shoe laces or those gel thingies you stick in your shoes to make them feel better?  Find areas you can branch out in so your idea well never runs dry.

5.  Find others like yourself - You can’t run a successful site these days without socializing yourself.  Get out there virtually or in the real world and meet others who do the same thing that you do.  Talk about how they cover things, how you cover things and you might even build a business relationship that will benefit you later on down the road.

6.  Don’t waste time on design - Having a aesthetically pleasing to the eye is a grand idea to be apart of, but if you have all cosmetics and no guts to your web site, then you are left with 9/10 of the Baywatch life guards. 

7.  Features are nice, but content is king - I feel like I have given this last tip the most, mainly because I would consider it the most important and if you can hit this proverbial nail on the head with your webmastering hammer you don’t need me helping you.  Make sure the content you have is not just there to take up space.  Make sure it is both quality filled and that somebody is getting something out of it.  Check out each of your pages, and if you can’t say that somebody is better off by reading your page then you need to ditch it or re-work it till it is serving a purpose for the average user.

One more suggestion, not on this list, that I can share with you is have a passion for what you are doing.  If you are working on a web site of any kind, and you don’t care about it - it will show in your final product.  You have to think of your web site as a child of your own, and treat it as such.  Take care of it right, and it will grow to become a success, no matter what your final target might be.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

By Mitch “Tipster” Keeler

Think of it as one of those sticky fly traps you hang outside in the summer to keep the flying insects away from your BB&Q. You don’t want to just lead people to your site, you want to lead them to it - get them interested and then catch them. Don’t let them go because they might not come back. Hooking visitors is a sweet science I am not sure anybody has really mastered to a T (or Mr. T). These tips should help you get on the right track though when it comes making your visitors come back.

Social Interaction - Add something like the AddThis.com or ShareThis.com badges to your web site so that people can share that information with others in the way that suits them best.

Vote - Don’t overlook the idea of adding polls to your web site layout. Giving your viewers something to do will keep them on your web site a little longer. One easy way of getting a poll up and running would be via PollDaddy.com.

Blog it - Think your web site is a little light weight, and could use some more “meat and potatoes”? A blog would be a great way to fill your web site out a little more and keep your visitors coming back for more. I would highly suggest installing WordPress for your blogging needs, but there are many alternatives.

Build a Community - Forums always come in handy to help build a community or start one. SMF is probably the most reliable of the bunch in my opinion. With it your visitors can talk with you and each other.

Syndication - If you can, toss in some RSS feeds for your visitors to grab. This way they can subscribe to your web site’s content, get updates about your latest news, and have a trail back to your web site past that first visit. Once you do get an RSS feed going hook it up with a service like FeedBurner to track how many people are subscribing.

Know of anymore helpful tips to make you web site viewers come back for more? I’d love to hear ‘em.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

Need help with importing your e-mail accounts into Gmail so that you can use Gmail as your e-mail client of choice? As long as you follow along (step by step) this should be an easy thing to do. Now why would you want to do this?

Well for an example you might really enjoy the Gmail interface? You want to have access to multiple accounts at the same time via webmail? The reasons are endless.

Setting up and using Gmail’s mail fetcher is easy and free. Won’t cost you a penny.

Step #1:
Click Settings from the top of any email page.

Step #2:
Click Accounts.

Step #3:
In the Get mail from other accounts section, click Add another mail account.

Step #4:
Enter the full email address of the account you’d like to access (you@yourdomain.com), then click Next Step.

Step #5:
Google will populate the Username and POP Server fields when possible, based on your email address. If you have problems later on down the road you might try changing it to “yourdomain.com” or “mail.yourdomain.com”. Next enter your password for the e-mail account in question. After you do that, click on Add Account.

To edit your account after it is setup, login to Gmail and then go to Settings and then the Accounts tab. Look for the section titled: Get mail from other accounts. Next to your e-mail address click on edit info to change your setting or Check mail now to manually have Gmail check for new e-mail. You can also click on View history to get a log of the last 4 times Gmail has downloaded mail from that account.

Hint: Double check and make sure your not leaving a version of the e-mail on the server (unless you want to). If no messages are being downloaded this can often cause your e-mail account to run out of space - and causing you problems with e-mail later on down the road.

Also be sure to follow the POP3 e-mail setup advice that comes with your Lunarpages welcome e-mail. For more information about using Gmail with your own e-mail account check out these links:

Gmail Help Discussion:
http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Discussion

Gmail Support:
http://mail.google.com/support/

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

By Mitch “Ain’t No Hemingway” Keeler

Having done my fair share of content writing for a number of years, I can say that I have seen what works and what does not work. If you want to master the written (or keyed in our case) word, follow these three simple rules.

1. Don’t be Afraid of Headlines

Tossing in a few headlines into the mix on an article, blog post or any web page filled with content is a good way to lead the eyes through your writing. We have all see the huge one paragraph web site that we groan at. Why do you groan? Your eyes have no direction to go. Think of it as driving cross country without a bathroom break. Your eyes might be able to hold up better than your bladder - but neither will be happy once you make it from coast to coast.

2. Break Your Text Up (or Paragraphs are your Friends)

This sort of goes into the same camp as the headlines rule. Break your writing up by paragraph so that any eyeballs viewing the page, post or article in question does not start to stray. In the world of instant gratification we all want our news short, quick and to the point. Attention spans are lacking and I’d rather quickly scan through a few paragraphs of text than one really big one.

3. Inform, then Define

Often people get in a hurry to tell you why, how or who will make your life better but they don’t tell you what this thing really is. You get a gitty as a school girl on her first date, only to find out by the time you get to the end of the post you really don’t know what it is they were talking about. When discussing something that many or most might not know about do your best to define it before you get into the details of how it will help. Give me a dictionary definition and then you can tell me a story about it. Without you are causing the vistor to get over excited about.. well, what was it about again?

Exactly.

Maybe you will not notice the difference right away, but if you modify your own writing to match at least these three rules I can almost promise you that you will see more page views, higher clickthroughs and more happy bloodshot eyeballs than a bad science fiction movie. Don’t give people a reason to turn away, because once they do it is awful hard to get them to look back.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

Author: Mitch Keeler

I don’t like paying for a lot. Why pay for advertising and marketing when you don’t have to? Here are a few was you too can become a cheapskate thrifty Online marketing mind.

Hit up the Forums and Message Boards

Posting your links in forum or message board signature sections might be another way to keep people coming to your web sites. It doesn’t cost a thing - and if your an active member of several forums it is a good way to grab people’s eyes.

Advertise with Your Message Board Profile Icon

Message board icons or graphics are a good way to go too. Instead of just having a picture of yourself there - put in your picture and your domain really small on the bottom of the graphic. This way you can have a double wammy along with the forum signature link to get more attention without paying a dime. (more…)

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

Author: Mitch Keeler

I don’t like paying for a lot. Why pay for advertising and marketing when you don’t have to? Here are a few was you too can become a cheapskate thrifty Online marketing mind.

Hit up the Forums and Message Boards

Posting your links in forum or message board signature sections might be another way to keep people coming to your web sites. It doesn’t cost a thing - and if your an active member of several forums it is a good way to grab people’s eyes.

Advertise with Your Message Board Profile Icon

Message board icons or graphics are a good way to go too. Instead of just having a picture of yourself there - put in your picture and your domain really small on the bottom of the graphic. This way you can have a double wammy along with the forum signature link to get more attention without paying a dime. (more…)

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch