Web Design Galway – Web Design, SEO, and Internet Marketing

Archive for May, 2011

You have carried out the hard part and that’s creating the web site. The next step is to get it hosted as to allow the public find your site. So why do so many first time web host seekers fall into the trap of a bad web host company? Well there are a number of factors to consider and none bigger than the price. We all want cheap web hosting but unfortunately price is not always what you should go for.

You have to be more aware of the web hosting company that you choose. If you have a budget stick to it, if you see hosting for little or nothing and find yourself thinking “how do they make money” stay well away, the chances are your web site will be hosted with very little bandwidth resulting in a very slow accessible and unprofessional web site. You may also find that the customer service is little or none.

You need to clearly outline your own requirements to the web hosting company, if you do not do so you are at fault and not in any position to point the finger at others. If you make a list of requirements such as particular files you need etc you can send your requirements to multiple hosting companies and see who comes back with the greater service.

If you have more than one web site to host such as affiliate marketers it is not a good idea to put all your sites with the one web host company server to start with, you need to be 100% confident with the service, so start with one web site first as a test. Remember if you do host all your websites with one host company, all it takes is one problem to bring all your sites down and could result in lose of revenue for you. At least if you have some web sites hosted by another company they will still be online.

Some web host companies offer testimonials on their own web site from valued customers recommending them. Seeing is not believing, call these customers and get a face value recommendation for yourself.

What if I have problems?

Lets be honest, problems can occur and they maybe your fault and sometimes the web host company is to blame. Problems with technology can occur any time but it’s how the hosting company react to the fault that will determine if you stay with them or not. If you find your web site dropping off line or downloading slowly at a regular basis simply change to another web host company. On going problems not fixed is a very bad sign and it shows arrogance towards their customers. Support is vital from a web host company and it should be 24 hour if it’s a large organisation.

Virus Problems and Hackers

It is up to the web host company to ensure that your files are protected from virus and hackers at all times. There has been plenty of companies who have had their web sites hacked only then to find out that the web host company had not got the latest patches and security software applied. First timers to web hosting should always ask how often updates and what software is used to protect web sites.

Tips:

In business your web site can be a large source of revenue or sometimes your only source. Always do your own backup of the web site. If the web host company experience problems and for whatever reason has no backups available your whole business could be on hold. Backups are vital so do it as regular as possible or face the consequences. Some companies have testimonials on their web site from customers, do not be afraid to call these guys for an up to date reference.

If you where taking on an employee you would check all references, this is similar. Always get the full contact details of the web hosting company, many people simple go online and have an email address only as the contact. If their email goes down and you need to contact them you should have their full details at hand. Always shop around for the different web hosting plans and compare, you will find large differences, after you settle with a budget ask the necessary questions before you sign up.

This introduction to getting more traffic to your website without spending a lot of money is what any business on the internet strives towards and we will cover the basics, which will be followed by a more focused look at other ways to get traffic to your site in subsequent articles.

Anonymous to many there are a few ways of attracting visitors to your site that do not require risking a lot of cash. But consider the fact it’s not that simple and takes more work on your part.
So, if you prefer to work to get traffic to your website, instead of paying for it, then here are a few simple ways to accomplish that:

1. Submit to article directories is perhaps one of the most valuable ways of driving traffic to your website. By writing and submitting articles with a theme associated to your website, you are almost guaranteed of getting traffic to your website for an extended period of time. As long as your articles stays in the directories that you suggest to, people can find it and the odds of receiving traffic to your website is substantial. Some of the submission sites where you can submit to are goarticles.com, ezinearticles.com, dime.com, articlecity.com and Marketingtooltime.com.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a procedure that you apply on your web site pages to rank higher in the search engines. Search engine optimization is not hard to learn and there are several software applications that do a good job of SEO.
Search engines first look at your meta tags to determine what your site is about. Here are a few key factors when preparing meta tags:

As you continue to read this article, pay special attention to how parts 1 and 2 relate to one another.

a) Your domain name should have your keyword in it.

b) Title tag for each page of your site should include your keyword.

c) Your keyword should be on the first paragraph of your page.

d) The image alt tags should include your keyword.

e) The directory and file names of each page of your site should also have your keyword.

3.Create a blog that links back to your website.
Blog Posts at Blogger.com are readily indexed by Google and other search engines. By updating your blog you are feeding the search engines. and each time you put new content out, the search engines will spot it and th spiders will come.
Putting your keywords in the content of your pages will help you rank higher in the search engines.
By placing a link in your blog back to your site the search engines will follow the link and your site will get indexed and updated more often .
Blogging is painless and it adds a lot of your web pages to the search engine index that and without these pages you will not be found on a keyword search,
There are several places to get unlimited blog accounts started with some that are hosted free such as Blogger.com, Another popular blog application is WordPress.com that is hosted on your website.

4. Posting in forums relevant to your theme will give you the opportunity to place your links, to your products and services in the signature line, so you will get visitors from the forum members and search engine, that follow your link.
Make sure the signatures you publish in forums are memorable to magnetize readers and make them click on your related link and come to your website.

These 4 marketing tactics are simple and cheaper ways of getting visitors to your website. By implementing the above strategies on a regular basis would warrant a flow of traffic not only for the brief term but also for the long haul.

Automating your online business is one of the most important steps you can take to insure your success on the internet.

If you have been on the internet for any time at all, you know that there are just too many tasks to do each day to be really efficient and productive with them all.

Learning to delegate some of those routine, daily activities is one way to insure your site’s success and to give you much more time in the day for the most important task which is that of promotion and marketing your site.

HERE ARE 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO AUTOMATE TODAY:

1) USE AUTO-RESPONDERS:

Probably one of the best-known and popular ways to handle routine messages to inquirers is the use of auto-responders.

It is simple and easy to set up your messages which usually involve several follow-up messages to remind your visitors what you are offering and how to find your site again.

Here are some free ones:

http://www.freeautobot.com/ (ad free also.)

http://www.getresponse.com/

http://www.sendfree.com/’

http://www.sendthisfree.com/

2) MAILING LIST MANAGEMENT:

If you are trying to run your own newsletter, handling the process by yourself can eat up a lot of valuable time. In the beginning this may be possible, but as your list grows and the tasks involved keep multiplying, your time demands will increase also.

There are lots of ways to manage a mailing list including installing your own scripts and purchasing your own software. Weigh the pros and cons, but be sure and check out the possibility of *farming out* the responsibility to a mailing list service.

Here are some to consider:

http://www.ezinedirector.com/

http://www.mail-list.com/

http://www.zinester.com/ (free and paid versions)

Free ones include:

http://groups.yahoo.com/

http://www.topica.com/

3) USE SOFTWARE:

There are many software options available depending upon your work online. Here are some possible software applications available. Just do a search online.

~Creating links to your site and others.
~HTML editors
~Ad swaps
~Promotion
~Subscription management
~Survey forms

4) PAYMENT SYSTEMS:

Well, this is just a no-brainer. It is just too simple not to do this one.

Having an automated payment system that allows you to accept credit card payments for your products or services and is something that everyone has to have to be successful online.

Here are a couple of third-party ones that I use and recommend:

ClickBank– http://www.ClickBank.com/
PayPal– http://www.PayPal.com/

5) AD TRACKING SYSTEM:

If you are going to advertise your products and/or services online, then it is critical that you track your results.

Knowing how many hits you got to your site is nice, but it won’t take care of your questions like, “Where did my traffic and sales come from?”

Here are some ad tracking systems. (Some offer free versions.)

http://www.BusiToolz.com/

http://www.hypertracker.com/

http://www.adminder.com/

Implementing these five time-saving helpers is a very important benchmark in moving your business into a phase that will free up some time to insure your success online.

Best of luck with your promotional efforts.