So why is a website such an essential tool for business owners? First, your website can provide online users from all over the world the information that they need about the products or services that you are offering. In turn, this will help create awareness about your company while at the same time assisting in corporate branding.

Second, a website will advertise your business – no matter how broad or specialized your market is.  Unlike print, television or radio advertising, it costs you less to have your company advertised online. It also effectively reaches your core audience, even if it is a niche market that you are after.

More importantly, your website can work for you on a 24/7 basis.  This is especially helpful if you gather orders online.  Even while you are sleeping, your website will reap the profits that you need to make both the website and the company a rewarding success.

Advertising through Google

Now that you are already aware of the plus points that you will get to enjoy by having a website, the next thing that you should learn about is the importance of Google AdSense. As you already know, Google is the number one search engine online. 

Due to the fact that the company has billions of users from around the world, the company decided to tap into this resource where both Google as a company, and its users, can earn profit. This is easily done with their main advertising program, which is Google AdWords. 

Using this program alone, Google has earned more than $15 million in revenue. But their profits do not end there. The other advertising products that they offer include:

1. Google AdSense

2. Google AdWords Website Optimizer

3. Google Audio Ads

4. Google Click-to-Call

5. Google Grants

6. Google TV Ads

Why Google AdSense?

Basically, Google AdSense is a program that owners can enroll in.  Here, you can enable the text, images and video advertisements to be ran on your site.  Google administers these ads, and they generate revenue from this using a pay-per-click or a per-impression basis.

The good thing about Google AdSense is that it is a marketing strategy which allows advertisers to display their ads to a wide customer base. The fact that these ads are target-specific also helps increase the success of the program as a whole.

Now, if you are a business owner and you do have a website of your own, Google AdSense is a great way to add to your revenue. All you need to do is create an account in AdSense through Google.

As soon as the account is created, Google will do the job for you by specifying your website’s content and purpose – then targeting the specific audience and advertisers which visit your site.

Once the ads and clicks come pouring in, that is the time that your revenue on Google AdSense will slowly build up.

Other Benefits of Google AdSense

Here are other benefits that you will get to enjoy with the Google AdSense program:

-          Your website, your company and the product and services that you are offering can benefit from the great exposure of being featured in the Google AdSense program.

-          Google AdSense offers one of the highest payouts as compared to other search engines with similar programs.

-          Google has a large network of advertisers – so you can easily match your site’s content and maximize your Google AdSense returns.

All in all, it definitely pays to have your site advertised through Google AdSense. Not only will you benefit from having a website for your business – but you will also reap the rewards of having a supplementary source of income.

So what is social bookmarking?

Social bookmarking is very similar to the “favourites” feature on most popular browsers, only when a visitor uses social bookmarking; they bookmark your website on the social bookmarking sites. This then gives the visitor a much easier way of revisiting your site whenever they choose to or the need arise. It is much easier for the visitor due to them no longer having to remember or type in your sites URL. Dig.com is a perfect example of a social bookmarking site.

So what are the advantages of social bookmarking?

Social bookmarking can be very beneficial to you in the small fact that when other web viewers find out that your website has already been bookmarked by many people, this will then lead to more and more people being curious as to what must be happening on this popular website and will lead to them also bookmarking your site and revisiting it again and again. This will create a snowball effect which will continue to grow and will increase your sites traffic significantly, and in return this will also help your page rank on the search engines. In addition to bookmarking, you will also be giving your visitors the opportunity to leave a comment about your website. You can then maybe use these comments as a feedback on your site and use them to improve what you already have, remember it is the opinion of your site viewers that truly count.

If you are an online business owner and you are currently trying to create yourself a web presence, then you should consider social bookmarking, and if you are really feeling like taking on a challenge…why not try to mix up your blogging with your social bookmarking, this can lead to a very cost effective way of marketing your business.

You could spend endless hours of your time, giving your website every single last effort left inside you, but it will still not guarantee that your website will function in the correct way, or that your website will ever be a success. There are many important factors to creating a really cool website which will encourage people to visit again and again, and this isn’t something one can learn over night or on a crash course.

Let’s face it - if you wanted to build an extension on your house, you wouldn’t go and buy all of the materials and a few tools and then attempt to build it yourself now would you? Well, building a website should be seen in the same light as this example. It takes a professional to design and build a website, because he or she will not only be able to make sure your website functions correctly, they will also implement important factors outside of just web design to make sure your website is a success.

You see - it is not all about the pretty design work of your website or the programming used to make it function, because the next thing in line will be your marketing. Once your website is fully up and running you will want to gain as much traffic as possible. This is also where using a professional web designer beats the cheap Do-It-Yourself option you were just thinking about, because a professional web designer will save you lots of £’s by ensuring that all of your web pages have quality keywords. Keywords are words or phrases which your potential customers will use on the search engines when trying to find what your website has to offer.

So let’s summarise: Building your own website could be a very cost effective way to choose, but will it fully function correctly, and will it attract the correct visitors? Sometimes, paying a little in the beginning will cost you less in the long term.

We’re a multinational web design company that has been operating for 4 years in India. Our unique company employs more than 40 professionals to serve our long list of clients worldwide. We’re pleased to announce that we have recently opened a new UK office.

Thanks to our remarkable visualization skills, experienced web designers and sense of commitment, effluxinc has been instrumental in creating renowned brands for many satisfied clients. We encourage you to visit our Web Services section and review our portfolio to discover how we can help your company succeed!

In this article we are going to discuss how using an RSS feed is a smarter option for you to build your site traffic.

So, what is the definition of an RSS feed? Well, an RSS feed is like a family of web feed formats which are used to publish digital content which is frequently updated, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts. There is one thing on the Internet today which none of us can dispute, and that is the unavoidable fact that all of your site visitors like to feel in control when browsing around your site. You can make your visitors feel more in control by allowing them to post comments on your blog, to watch audio and video through your site, to allow them to subscribe to an e-mail newsletter if your site has one of these, or your RSS feed.

Many site owners make the mistake of believing all they need is plenty of content for their website, which is true to a certain extent, but the more important factor in this is that the content is interesting for the reader to read. If you provide interesting content, people will be more likely to opt in to an RSS feed, giving them the opportunity to be in control and building you potential repeat traffic. Everyone on the net wants good site traffic, but the best traffic to have and to concentrate on getting is repeat traffic.

An RSS feed is mutually beneficial to both parties on either side of the RSS, its free repeat traffic to you and it is an easy way for your repeat traffic to keep up to date on the subjects that is of importance to them.

Your RSS will allow you to keep your site content fresh and interesting for your repeat traffic to read and in turn will create you even more repeat traffic.

Many people make the mistake of believing RSS feeds are only limited to blogs, but this isn’t the case at all. RSS feeds are often seen to be used via article feeds, forum posts, you may even use them to send out updates on any special offers your company may be having.

Another huge benefit to having your own RSS feed is, it isn’t classed as spam like some e-mail marketing techniques can be, and therefore you will not be getting an inbox full of complaints. So once people have subscribed to your RSS feed, you will have a much easier and much better looked upon way of keeping in-touch with your audience.

If you are trying to increase the traffic to your site, then using an RSS feed is a definite must do. It is really easy to setup and as you can see from the benefits we have already told you about, it is a great way to build your online business.

The first important factor to keeping your viewers hanging on to the edge of their seat’s, is the need to have high quality podcast content. Your listeners will only ever feel the need to keep coming back for more, if your information is helpful to them and/or entertaining. One way of making a podcast interesting is to have a co-host interviewing experts on a specific topic, or answering your listener’s questions etc. The key is to make it interesting by involving your listeners into your podcast; nobody wants to listen to someone who is simply reading from a script.

Towards the end of your podcast it could be a good idea to offer your listeners a little insight in to what will be coming up in your next issue. This will keep your listeners thinking about that short little “teaser” you just gave them, and they will be looking forward to then coming back and finding out more. You see TV shows using this technique all the time, you can almost guarantee after your favourite show it will have a “Next Time On…” this keeps their viewers interested and coming back for more.

The easiest and most effective way to keep your listeners coming back for more, is to involve them in each and every one of your shows. They will become not only interested in your show but even dedicated to it, if you can somehow make them feel a part of it. When you think about radio stations and some of the tactics they use to involve their listeners, such as giving out a phone number which their listeners can call in on, or record a promo message. Something as simple as “you’re listening to xyz 105.4 fm” can really make their listeners feel connected and feel as though they have hit a bit of fame by being on the radio show. You can use a similar tactic as this in almost any podcast these days, and it is another great way to keep your visitors coming back, and even spreading the word to their friends, family, colleges, etc.

If you feel that your podcast just isn’t taking off as well as you had hoped, don’t give up on it just yet. Keep working and developing its content, market it well, and after some time you are sure to have a steady and loyal audience, and this is where all of that hard work will finally pay off for you.

The more websites we visit and look at, the more often we are noticing websites offering audio to their viewers. Audio is fun and simple to incorporate, and can even add a lot of value to your website. It allows you to connect and get your message across to your site visitors in a way you cannot with print.

It can be a very time consuming decision to implement a podcast in to your website, it isn’t as easy as just uploading a podcast and then that’s the job finished, and if you do think it is going to be that easy…well don’t be putting your feet up just yet because there is a lot of planning involved to creating the perfect podcast. You need to take your time and think about your target market. I am sure back when you decided to develop a website you tried out many different ideas before you came up with the finished result of what your website is today.

The first thing you should do is define who your target market is, and what part of your website would your target market be more interested in learning more about. The best way to do this is to take a deeper look at your website, and you can do this by answering the following questions…

 What are the most popular areas on your website?

 If you have been using social bookmarking, what kind of comments/feedback have you been getting from your site visitors?

Being able to answer these two questions would give you a good start and ensure you are on the right path to podcasting success. Once you have answered the questions above and identified who your target market is, creating your podcast will be a really simple process, as all you are really doing is adapting the written content from your website into an audio form.

For example, if you have a website which is all about the catering industry, your podcast should have the same sort of information. You may want to include a recent interview you took part in, on how to create the perfect dish. You could even consider a questions/answer session, or simply just speak to your audience recommending certain dishes which would suit a certain taste etc. This podcasting technique can work for almost any sort of business, and the more involved you make your audience feel – the longer they will stay on your site to hear more.

If you have tried all of the above tips and you are still having difficulties in deciding on your podcast content, you should consider asking your audience. If sending out a weekly newsletter is something you already do through your website, simply send out a form asking people what they would like to learn or hear more about. If sending out newsletters isn’t something your business currently does, then set up a form in the same way and place it on your website. Try to be clever with the questions you ask on this form, so that you can gain specific information and detailed feedback, this way you will be able to better tailor your podcast to your listeners.

All of this planning and research is essential for your podcast success, and if you can manage to give your audience what they really want to hear, then you can be sure that they will be coming back again and again for even more.

If you are a small organization such as a non-profit club, you may be seeking an individual who is willing to complete the work at no charge.  Some inexperienced programmers will be happy to volunteer their time in exchange for some much-needed experience and a boost to their portfolio.  However, most businesses require an experienced PHP programmer to assist them with their website.  They will usually seek a professional programmer who has a long track record of successful past projects. 

In order to help you distinguish from an amateur programmer and an experienced professional, you should ask potential candidates some of the following questions:

Ø  How long have you been working in the industry?

Ø  What additional computer skills besides PHP do you possess?

Ø  Have you ever been involved in a similar project to yours?

These types of questions can help you find the type of programmer you require.

Experienced PHP programmers should possess detailed knowledge of multi-browser compatibility, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO) and security issues.  They should also be adept at creating and modifying JavaScript.  SEM and SEO experience are particularly important if your website will be focused on e-commerce; search engine traffic is the most important determining factor of online sales.

Unfortunately, many PHP programmers have insufficient experience or knowledge concerning search engine optimization.  Therefore, you should look for a programmer who knows exactly how to improve the search engine ranking of your website.  If this isn’t possible, at least ensure the individual won’t lower your search engine rankings.

An experienced PHP programmer should also be very familiar with database technology.  This is important because the majority of PHP-based web applications require MySql or another hosting database.  In addition, a professional programmer needs to know how to use cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript because they can greatly enhance the functionality and visual appeal of a website.  They enable a programmer to customize the layout, appearance and fonts of a website, as well as create various interactive web applications.

You also need to realize that many online surfers do not use Internet Explorer.  Many other popular web browsers exist that read JavaScript code and CSS differently.  Therefore, if the programmer you hire does not ensure cross-browser compatibility, certain features of your website may be inaccessible to anyone who uses a different web browser.

The bottom line is to ensure that the PHP programmer you choose is very familiar with JavaScript, CSS, SEO and MySql or a comparable alternative.  Also verify that the website they create will be compatible with most of the popular web browsers, rather than just Internet Explorer.  Don’t be afraid to ask the potential candidates lots of questions.  This will help you to ensure you’re hiring the PHP programmer who will do the best job for you and your company.

Paid & Free Services

Many online service providers can create and install your shopping cart and payment software very quickly, but their services may be very expensive.  Several reliable and free online merchant solutions exist including online payment services such as PayPal.  Instead of charging you up front payments, these free services charge a percentage of any online payments you receive. 

How They Work

You can easily install payment software on your website by completing an online form with certain details regarding your payment and business procedures.  You will then receive software code that is instantly generated; this means you can copy and paste the HTML code directly into your site.  Online payment processors will also assist you during this process.  Once you have copied the code, you will be able to accept debit or credit card payments from your online customers. 

The main difference between customized online merchant software and free payment options is the fact that the money will not be directly deposited into your bank account.  Payment for free online payment processors will have to be withdrawn from the company’s account and transferred to your bank account; you generally have to pay for this service.  However, smaller online businesses often find this relatively low cost far outweighs the high cost of software development.

Why Use An Online Merchant Account?

The Internet has become the world’s largest marketplace.  Surveys reveal that approximately one million new people became acquainted with online services including search engine and email services every 100 days.  Statistics indicate that 80% of all online sales begin as a search on some of the principal search engines such as Yahoo!, MSN or Google.

Current technology has evolved so rapidly during the last 10 years that electronic online payments have become the standard.  More than 40% of all online payments are processed electronically via debit or credit cards, rather than online payment portals or wire transfers.  Businesses today can advertise, sell and collect payments online without every actually meeting their customers.

New Payment Methods

Mobile phones have become one of the most recent payment methods.  Many industry experts predict that this will become the preferred online payment method for shoppers all around the world.  You will soon be able to use your mobile handset to pay for your online purchases just as easily as you would send an SMS.  Businesses need to adapt their payment policies and procedures to make it as convenient as possible for their customers.  Therefore, you should establish online merchant accounts with convenient payment processors to cash in on the huge percentage of business currently being transacted online.  Many online merchant solution providers have created software and products that greatly minimize the risk of fraud.

Transaction Processing Solutions

Transaction processing refers to the process of completing a transaction from making a payment for a product or service to the actual delivery.  Most online transactions are completed with the help of advanced software.  Sophisticated transaction processing software can record each step of the transaction for future reference.  Effective software will not only record each transaction, but will also enable you to easily reproduce any or all of them at any time.  This will help you to correct any errors or identify any problems.  You can retrace each step made by any of your customers, until you discover the source of the problem.  Online transaction processing enables you to maintain an electronic ledge of all business transactions completed on your online merchant account.

You can choose to purchase ready-made transaction processing software or have one customized specifically for your online merchant account.  Although the security levels of the two options are nearly identical, the cost will normally vary greatly.  If you have an online merchant account, make sure you purchase a reliable transaction processing solution for all of your online business transactions.  You want to ensure the process is as smooth and reliable as possible from accepting your customers’ online order and processing their payments to transferring the funds into your business account.

Internet Payment Gateways Options

Any online merchant account requires a reliable Internet payment gateway in order to sell goods and accept payments.  The e-commerce process is very similar to sales made in traditional stores where customers purchase a product and then pay with a debit or credit card at the checkout.  The main difference is that customers don’t even need to use their actual card to make a payment; they merely enter card data such as the card number, CVV number and name of the card holder into a secure online form.  Generally within a few days, the payment will be debited from their card and credited to the merchant’s bank account.

Most online payment gateways are very secure.  However, online customers should only shop at reputable websites.  One tip is to look for an “s” after the “http” in the URL of any site; this will indicate that the site is secure.  This will obviously not guarantee that a site won’t use your card information fraudulently, but it will certainly help.  

Advantages of An In-House Gateway

You may also be considering creating your own in-house Internet payment gateway.  Many customers will appreciate the fact you have developed your own secure software rather than merely obtaining any software available online.  Another advantage is the fact that your payment gateway will blend seamlessly into the design of your website rather than displaying annoying third-party logos or advertisements.

Although the cost will be slightly higher, you will instil a greater sense of security in your customers.  You will also maintain full control of the software.  This means you won’t have to waste precious time for a third party to rectify any problems that may occur in their online processing solution.

Establishing An Online Merchant Account

Online merchant accounts are also known as “payment gateways,” and they are very easy to establish.  They require software that your web developer or hired professionals can incorporate directly into your website.  The software you choose may include a shopping cart; this type of system enables online visitors who visit your website to browse through all of your available products and add them to a virtual cart.  The process is very similar to adding carts to a regular shopping cart at a traditional mall or store.  The visitor can decide to keep or remove any items from their shopping cart.  Once they are done shopping, they can pay for the remaining items via the payment gateway offered by your website.

You can also choose to link your payment gateway to your merchant bank account.  This will depend on the type of online merchant solution you choose to implement.  If you prefer to have special software created just for your website, you will be able to accept all credit cards from your online customers.  The software will be linked directly to the major credit card processing companies such as MasterCard and VISA, as well as to your merchant bank account.  This software enables customers to pay for any products or services using a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.

Whenever anyone uses online banking or a card to pay for their online purchase, the shopper will be connected to the bank that issues the card.  Within days, the money will normally be transferred to the bank.  Fortunately, you can complete the transaction and deliver the product to your customer instantly without having to wait.  Because the payments will be processed, you eliminate any wait and can provide your customers with an improved shopping experience.

Online merchant solutions enable you to bring your business to your valuable customers instead of waiting for them to come to you.  Make sure you take advantage of the many online payment system options currently available.  They will make the shopping experience much more convenient for your customers, and will convince them to keep returning to your online store.

Step 1

You will find many search boxes where you can search for available domain names.  If possible, choose a “.com” name containing no dashes for your principal website.  Make sure the name is easy to pronounce and spell, and is not too long.  Including an essential keyword as a part of your domain name is not necessary, but highly useful.  For example, if you own a site related to selling products about dogs, you may want to choose “dogitems.com” as an appropriate name.  However, it’s better to choose a domain that is short and easy to spell, rather than including a length or awkward keyword.

Step 2

As soon as you have found a suitable name, conduct a search for that particular name in a major search engine such as Yahoo!, MSN or Google.  Check to see if your proposed name was ever owned by anyone else.  If so, ensure it didn’t have any unsavoury connections that may hurt the reputation of your business. For example, if your desired name was previously owned by a gambling, spam or pornography site, I would find another one.  Previous site owners who used your domain name may have also resorted to using unethical black hat tactics in their business.  Therefore, if your proposed name appears on websites that appear unethical, don’t waste your time using it.  It is much safer to choose another domain name so you can establish a positive impression right from the start.

Step 3

Once you have confirmed the suitability of your domain name, you need to apply for an account with a domain registrar and purchase the name.  Most companies allow you to register your domain name for several years, but this depends on the company.  I recommend paying for a domain name that is reserved for a minimum of two years.  The reason is that many fraudulent or spam sites remain registered for only one year.  Therefore, new sites that are only registered for one year may be viewed negatively by search engines such as Google.

Good luck with your new domain name!

You probably didn’t think about this when you first set out on your journey to building a website for you business, but it is always going to require ongoing maintenance, and the actual development work of your website is never actually going to end. Your website should be treated in the same way as you would take your car to a garage for it to be serviced, or in the same way as you would employ a contractor to do a little bit of garden maintenance. Your website must be treated in the same way due to the longer you have your website running, the more little errors that will begin to appear. Plus technology is always growing around us and by having your website regularly serviced/maintained, you will be ensuring to gain yourself a very high spec website.

It is good for your business if you can show your site to be ever changing, this is because once a consumer has visited your website once…they are not really going to have much of a need to keep coming back unless your site content is changing and offering something new. You can manage this by writing and publishing articles to your website, or even manage a blog that focuses on topics related to your website and business.

Here are some frightening website survey results that should spring you into action and convince you to take more care of your website and start to have it serviced regularly.

From an online survey taken we found…

85% of respondents said they would have reservations about buying from a business with a poor quality website. When a person lands on your website, it’s as good as a person walking in to your store or office. So make sure you give all of your potential clients, investors or employees a five star reception when they land on your website.

30% of respondents refuse to give their favourite web sites a second chance if they hit problems. So, just as you think you are hitting an all time high with your site traffic and client base. Just one small error which leads to your site having problems could lose you up to 30% of your near future traffic and clients. Which will then lead to lots more expensive marketing, and efforts to gain people’s confidence back in your web site.

72% of respondents said they are unlikely to buy from a website with poor performance.

42% of respondents have experienced web site crashes. You are normally one of the last people to know when your website is experiencing problems, by which time you can be sure lots of other people will have experienced your websites errors. 

Now, if those statistics are not enough to spring you in to action and force you to take extra care of this new investment you have just made…well then nothing will.

Here are a few tips to keep your website up to spec and on top of the game…

·         Always add new and fresh content to your website, this will provide your visitors with something new to read, and will give them a reason to bookmark your site and keep coming back for more. A regularly updated website shows that the company is trading and gives your potential customers much more confidence in you and your product.

·         Keep a close watch on your website traffic analysis and statistics. Being able to see which of your website pages are most popular can help you to keep developing the correct areas and will ensure that you can keep giving your visitors what they actually came to see.

·         Create a forum, this will allow your visitors to be able to interact with each other, meet new people and make new friends. Having a strong popular community behind you can be great for your website.

·         Allow your visitors to opt in to a free newsletter. You can create weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly newsletters, it doesn’t really matter how often you send them out, but it will keep reminding your visitors about your website and will encourage them to keep returning.

·         Link exchange is another important factor to your websites success; it is all part of your ongoing SEO and will help your search engine ranking no end.

·         Use one of your life lines by asking the audience, by placing a feedback form on your website. It is good to hear back from your site visitors, you should use this feedback seriously and use it to make sure your site is giving your visitor what they want. Always remember to reply back to any feedback given ASAP.

In this constantly evolving world which we call the internet, you cannot just build a website, launch it, and then think the jobs a good one and you can now put your feet up. You must keep up with this ever growing world and make sure your website and business always survives the upcoming changes. So before we end, let’s take a quick look at the benefits of having your website regularly maintained.

·         Ensures that your website will always be kept up to date.

·         Ensures that your company’s latest information is always published to your website.

·         Keeps all of those search engine spiders happy with your ever increasing and changing content. This then gives you a better shot at reaching a high search engine ranking.

·         Always keeps you on top of knowing who is linking to your website.

·         Improves your company image and gives your potential customer more confidence in your business.

·         Keeps all of those little bugs and errors under control.

·         Increase the value of your website.

By not taking care of your web site and having it regularly serviced, you could be driving your business to your competitors and not even realise it.