There are millions of blog owners on the Internet who do not fully understand the capabilities and functions of their blog. Not unsurprisingly, they are truly not at fault.

Blogs remain excellent communication vehicles where you can collaborate intensely with any audience. In fact, you can quickly become a blog superstar within a matter of days.

Blog building breakthroughs, like WordPress, enable ordinary users to master the art and science of supreme Web publishing and acquire gobs of exposure and a following very quickly.

However, the key functionality of a blog is its critical components, which makes all things possible for interactive sessions to occur. In other words, the core software.

I want to share with you a simple psychology that prospective blog users go through. It’s not totally ideological or philosophical, but a higher performance blog standard every new or existing blog owner should be aware of.

I setup custom WordPress blogs that will benefit all activities you’re concentrating on now. Of all the options, opportunities and lucrative possibilities, my long term marketing and blog management is your most priceless asset – if you act NOW!

How you will benefit…

Upgrade Your Blog – Include upgrade plugins.

Blog Installation – Include standard plugins/setup, latest stable version of blog software.

Plugin Installation – Standard and advanced compatible version of plugins.

Custom Plugins – Reprogram (modify) or create a plugin of your choice.

I want you to have the clearest understanding how we both can become innovative minded, and build your new or old one better. I want to challenge your every belief and ask…

Do you currently have a blog?

Are you happy with the results your blog generates?

Can you easily change the content within your blog?

Would you like to be able to?

Contact me and let’s get started! My fees are extremely affordable.
In fact, for only $85 – $145 you can triple your blog results. I
want to help you continuously achieve traffic to your blog and show
you how to leverage off of all kinds of other untapped marketing
possibilities.

Contact Me: http://www.webdevelopmenttechnology.com/contact.php

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I sat down with Internet marketing professional, Abe Cherian to grill him on what makes his Internet Empire so unique and profitable. I wanted to get a real, in-depth approach to his many long hours of hard work.

With fluctuations in the economy, business decision making becomes critical to survive. What Abe shared with me about his unique selling advantage and his profitable enterprise with powerful management tools paved the way to critical elements of modern Internet business thinking.

Steven: Millions of people from various cultures feel they need to know more ways to survive. One such way, as you mentioned earlier, is for them to take their own entrepreneurial journey. What do you say to someone who comes to you asking for this type of advice?

Abe: Great question, Steven. Entrepreneurship is not really a means to survive, but an opportunity to thrive. I mean, no body dreams of just ‘surviving.’ Often times, dreams are about huge successes.

To be an Entrepreneur means turning ones dream into reality.

Being an Entrepreneur also means, a person who organizes and manages any enterprise. An employer of productive ideas and labor. A person who creates further prosperity, jobs, and opportunity in the community. A person who brings in value to the marketplace.

To me, that is a huge responsibility.

The good news is, Entrepreneurship is ‘initiated’ by a person. Nobody is born as an Entrepreneur, but any one can ‘initiate’ it.

The good news is, anyone can learn the skills necessary to run an enterprise and bring value into the marketplace.

Today we as humans have a tremendous opportunity to use powerful communication tools, and access to great information for little or no money.

Sooner or later, you will learn that, ‘knowing’ is one thing, but having the tenacity to ‘act on that knowledge’ is what makes every day people turn into entrepreneurs.

I would say to any one, who is pondering on the idea of starting a business, act on it quickly. Once you decide that this is the path that you want to take, then it becomes a journey. But, what a journey it will be.

Steven: Thinking back when you first started your business, did you have any idea you were going to become successful by doing what you are passionate about?

Abe: I have heard from other successful people, that when you do what you love to do, you will most likely enjoy success. Like most people starting out, my goal was financial freedom, but I did not have a clue that it could happen so quickly.

Success means different things to different people. I think success comes in stages. When you reach your goal of financial freedom, then success means something much greater than money.

I have a lot of work to do.

Steven: Realizing that we are still in a recession, and that millions of workers are out of a job, what impact have you seen in the Internet advertising industry as a whole from online companies going out of business? And, does it actually impact you at all?

Abe: Jim Rohn said…

“Life and business are like the changing seasons. A major lesson in life to learn is how to handle the winters. Winter time allows you to get stronger, wiser, better. The winters won’t change, but you can.

Think like a Farmer. For a farmer, springtime is his most active time. It’s then when he must work around the clock, up before the sun and still toiling at the stroke of midnight. He must keep his equipment running at full capacity because he has but a small window of time for the planting of his crop. Eventually winter comes when there is less for him to do to keep him busy.”

Fortunately, following the turbulence of winter comes the season of activity and opportunity called springtime. It is the season for entering the fertile fields of life with seed, knowledge, commitment, and a determined effort.”

Jim’s attitude and philosophy has a lot of Impact on me, and how I run my business. Watch out, spring time is coming soon! And then harvest time, and winter again for sure. The cycles are never going to change. It hasn’t for over 6000 years.

Steven: With so much business creation, start ups, and product development information available on the Internet, what sets your business apart from other Internet media marketing companies? I mean, you’re one of the leading experts in this field, what has been the key to lasting this long?

Abe: During the California Gold Rush in the 1840′s, a lot more entrepreneurs made money by selling ‘picks’ and ‘shovels’. The Internet is still in the gold rush period, and my business sells them ‘picks’ and ‘shovels’ that makes it possible for entrepreneurs to make profits, (tools and channels necessary for the wealth miners on the Internet).

When I started this business in 1998, I knew it was going to be a Journey of a lifetime for me. Quiting was not an option for me. I guess that is the main reason, why my business lasted over 10 years. It is one of the best things that happened in my life, so I feel no need to stop now.

Steven: I’m going to switch gears on you and would like to know your thoughts about building relationships and the core to your lead generating success. Without displacing any secrets, what core model would you consider vital to your business?

Abe: I think ‘consistency’ and ‘discipline’ is probably the best practice for building relationships and generating leads. If you are consistently searching and providing the best solutions for your clients, in a highly disciplined way, then you will see growth in your business.

The models that we use are no secret. It’s about working on strengthening the pillars that hold up the fort. The pillars are your model.

For a business to sustain and bring value into the marketplace, the first and most important model to put in place, is your ‘Cash Flow Model.’

The “cash flow model” we use are as follows, in order…

1. Front end lead generation product
2. Relationship building and support
3. Subscription products
4. Advanced relationship building
5. Up sells and one time offers
6. High ticket services
7. Constant improvement in systems and products

Pretty basic stuff. But, it is powerful if you apply it in a consistent and disciplined manner. That is why I value ‘Consistency’  and ‘Discipline’ as the core practice. Models may change from time to time, but with any model, again, consistency and discipline is the key.

Steven: I remember one conversation you and I had years ago about social networking. It was lengthy and full of ideas. What is your take on the social networking craze, and what adjustments have you made in your business to fit in?

Abe: Social Networking is one of several ‘Pillars of Marketing’. It is powerful, but it is only one of several channels to keep your ‘lead generation funnel’ stocked.

At Multiple Stream Media, we use almost all major Social Marketing channels, like Twitter and MySpace — but we have realized that ‘hosting’ a Social Networking platform gives you the most leverage of time. We launched http://www.startupnet.com with that in mind, and have been experiencing a viral growth because of it.

Anyone can start a social networking website that is geared toward a specific market with the help of Social Networking platforms like the Ning Network, (ning.com).

It’s Exciting.

Steven: You are the true pioneer of multiple stream media. Many other Internet marketing firms still believe email is the driving force behind the success of their online business. What challenges have you faced and overcome using email as technology advances?

Abe: According to a survey we did on our blog, (Msmediablog.com) a month or so ago, email marketing still rules the roost. Here are the results:

Question: What 3 Internet Marketing tactics will you emphasize most in the next 3 months?

Option 1: Email Marketing – 63%
Option 2: Pay-per-click – 57%
Option 3: Social Networking – 48%
Option 4: Blogging – 34%
Option 5: SEO Optimization – 31%
Option 6: Offline Advertorials – 8%
Option 7: Video Marketing – 8%

Email marketing has it’s challenges; but with any challenge, there are other sub-industries who take advantage of the opportunity, and come up with solutions. Email companies can now take advantage of ‘Certified Email’ services like Goodmail.com to obtain more deliverability.

Entrepreneurs who wish to profit from Email Marketing without worrying about major deliverability issues and spam, can use the list management service that we provide, http://www.imediamarketingtools.com to boost sales and build relationships.

Steven: Obviously, the best website with the best offer doesn’t necessarily mean people will purchase from you. How do you know what tools online business owners want?

Abe: True, creating a great offer is only the first stage in marketing. In order for people to purchase your product, you obviously have to find strategies that will give you maximum leverage in reaching your target audience.

Entrepreneurs now have a tremendous opportunity to use powerful communication tools, and access to great information for little or no money.

Testing is key, and there are many tools available to test and determine what will work for you. We offer tracking and survey tools with the iMediaMarketingTools.com service.

Tools are available for every stage of marketing your website.

Steven: I understand you are accepting one-on-one consultations with people who haven’t quite discovered their dreams or aspirations. How do you manage to nurture someone new to the Internet business model where they learn to empower others to become good at it, too?

Abe: For years, my team and I have been helping many aspiring entrepreneurs understand and take advantage of the Internet Medium to grow their business.

We offer free phone consultations, and one-on-one webinars on how to correctly use the tools to profit from their efforts. Anyone can call us and seek help. (845) 247 2565 Ext2.

I am working on publishing a book that will nurture, and empower, hidden dreams, and aspirations, from within people and motivate them to take action toward the first step (Stage One) in their Entrepreneurial Journey.

As you already know, Steven, I approached you for help with this book. Your experience in Marketing, and as a Journalist and writer, I realize that we can make this information available to thousands of people globally.

There are many business books available about success and self help.

What I want to share with others in this book, is my own experience in building an online business from $0 to 1 Million in sales. It’s a combination of my story and a how to book.

Steven: In closing, online advertising has challenges like any other business. Where do you see promotion on the Internet headed to in 2012?

Abe: Business owners in any Industry face challenges. Challenges are opportunities to learn. Without obstacles, no business will know what to avoid. The online advertising business is no different.

In 2012, it will be the same. Marketers will still want to find ways to promote their products. Consumers will still buy and consume goods and services. Authorities will still put in place rules and regulations that creates a safe environment for online surfers. Nothing will change. There will be huge opportunities, there will be challenges.

The only change that will happen is within YOU.

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Communication over the Internet and World Wide Web has evolved into a robust form of technology. As technology advances, so do those who perfect it. Computers and servers alike share a common bond among experts that provide direction along the Information Super Highway. A server administrator is that bond which connects us all to our online virtual world!

A server admin always remain in the background and never appears until every component or software functions correctly. They hardly get a chance to surface and get a breathe of fresh air before additional things to fix appear out of nowhere. They will not quit on something they know which makes a difference, and that’s the principal of staying connected.

These clever, yet dedicated individuals create a harmonious bond with computer networks to make you eligible – online. Their eclectic style of sophisticated movements inside a server ensures data continually transfers in order to meet current IT demand. They contribute to the glistening of our virtual well being. It makes prefectly good sense why we are the occupants in their house.

Thank a server administrator today!

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For the millions of US workers who lost their job, planning a daily routine around basic survival is a greater challenge. The desire to seek another job, or start some extra income producing project may be difficult to fit into your daily time schedules. There is a solution that will make it less painful than you think.

Today’s current economic climate tells us that people are very busy trying to find money to pay the bills. There’s no time to waste! If you discover that you simply can’t give up or change a few of your favorite past-times, plan to write out your daily schedule regardless of your income status. If you try this, you will have all the time you’ve ever wanted for doing whatever you want to do.

To begin, list your current daily schedule. You will need this to compare with your new list. Start by listing what time you wake up. Followed by everything you do during the day. Typically, you’ll have about 3-4 hours each day that can be used for more constructive and efficient things to do. Planning your daily schedule around job hunting will require basic time management practices without back-tracking.

Next, make another list of the things you want to do tomorrow. Do this every evening (or whenever) before you go to sleep. This is the key to managing your daily schedule. Write out your plans to go wherever to coincide with other things you have to do. Organize your trips to take care of as many things as possible while you’re out. Take notice of the time you spend standing around doing nothing, especially the time you spend on the phone, or the Internet, and eliminate non-productive things.

Make sure to list all your household chores. Set aside a specific time to do them. For example; you need to mow the lawn, paint a section of your house, fix your vehicle, repair a leaking faucet. Spending an hour each day on one particular task becomes more productive so you can accomplish other things. Don’t attempt your “to do” list in a week and try to hurry it along. Instead, do each task on your list and check off each one. You will be
amazed at your progress.

The bottom line here is to arrange your priorities. When you receive your mail, try not to let bills or letters pile up. If you’re unable to pay a bill immediately, file it in a special place that’s visible and note on the envelope the date you intend to pay it. Answer your letters the same day you get them. If this disrupts your list, simply make sure to include an hour each day to accommodate your mail chores. The same applies to any top priority on your list.

Always think of your time as your most valuable asset. Plan what you must do and what you want to do on a daily basis. Once you start listing and planning what you want to do, you will find extra time to relax. If you take a moment and think about the time you waste each day, imagine what it will be like when you reorganize your daily activities. It’s a matter of managing your time in everything you do. When you find that you can accomplish a lot more, you will become much more satisfied and happier with yourself.

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As tough economic conditions have caused general advertising revenue across the board to diminish, newspapers across the nation are closing their doors entirely. Some are willing to take a chance of converting over to the Internet in hopes of keeping the local news in front of their loyal subscribers. Others who are currently using the Web to generate ad revenue have already experienced low volume ad sales.

The thing is, a local newspaper that once filled neighborhoods with the community news in print is NOT going to reach that same audience with the Internet. Why? Not everybody has the Internet that reads the newspaper. And Not everyone who does will read the online version. In fact, 23.7% of the World still does not have Web access. What’s more, 32% still uses dial-up from their remote or rural location. This makes it difficult to view all of what the media has to offer.

Newspaper owners have NO idea what they are about to face when it comes to Internet advertising. With all due respect to the industry I love, calculating profits and measuring metrics is venturing into unknown territory for most publications. With little or no way to know if online news or ads even reach their target audience, it’s shotgun marketing at its best! The only way to know is to measure it.

Online Advertising Analytics

More Web staff will be needed to help process log files for measuring and analyzing the effectiveness of their web site in terms of customer experience, return on investment, and site effectiveness. They must learn how to collect massive amounts of site visitor and usage data to provide a better customer experience and determine ROI. Employees will have to adjust with greater intelligence regarding how their online publication operates. Everyone will need to know how to execute precision marketing, effective sales, and real-time customer service. This will be extremely important in the current economy when they can’t afford to waste time, resources, or money.

Understanding Data Collection

Various niche publications that choose to place their entire operations online must enforce a niche concept that rests on the importance of customers to its company. They must determine the needs of their customers. Develop their competitive advantages. Select specific markets to serve. Determine how to satisfy those needs and analyze how well they’ve served their customers. Online sales and conversions are not enough. They need to find out who the customers are, what the customers want, where and when they want it. This type of research can also expose problems in the current news service, and find areas for expansion of current services to fill customer demand. This should also encompass identifying trends that may affect sales and profit levels.

Advertiser Experience

Every media kit from every publication is negotiable. One of the best kept secrets in newspaper advertising is how to get better rates than what the publication tell you is available. All will quote you their rate card numbers. And they will offer you a discount if you agree to do multiple runs of the ad. But, what about online ads? Will they be upfront and inform you about the banner impressions you couldn’t track? Or will you ever hear from a visitor who has been bombarded with pop-up display ads? How will they combine news and ads for a pleasurable reading experience without compromising standard business relationships? Clicking Web ads while reading the latest news column weighs heavily on whether the visitor will return to read more.

For once, newspapers hold an edge. While larger publications hire professionals to do their research, smaller ones are close to their customers. They can learn much more quickly the likes and dislikes of their customers and can react quickly to change in customer buying habits. While there is NO safe prediction on where our economy is heading, a decision to go entirely online is seldom a purely rational one. One that can influence your reader’s behavior. As you explore various techniques for presenting your publication online, do not ignore psychological and emotional appeals. It might save your paper!

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It is extremely important to keep accurate records in any form of email marketing. It is only through these records that you can determine which ads pull the best, which advertising lead is the most enticing, and how well your product or service is selling.

Good records are the follow-up of good testing!

Keep copies of all ads and conversion material in a spreadsheet or a reliable file. You may also include in that file, or a separate folder, a record of all of the addresses you have used. The separate records per addresses or publication will help you to compare which ads are bringing in the profits.

You may have your own way of filing these ad campaigns. You’ll need a separate document for each ad you place. At the top of the document, place the name of the publication the ad appeared in, the issue number or date, the date the issue was placed on sale, the address, the size and cost of the ad, which ad you used, and the price of the product or service. This will be needed to calculate your profits later.

The main body of the document has two main categories – inquiries and sales.

First, the number of days should be listed in a column at the left. These don’t necessarily coincide with the days of the month, rather, start with the first days responses came in.

The subheads under “inquiries” should be:

- Date Received
- Number Received
- Running Total

The subheads under “sales” should be:

- Number of orders received
- Running total
- Cash sales
- Running total for cash sales

These records will help you figure out the responses to ads, orders from sales copy, and how much money you’re making.

To calculate the cost per inquiry, divide the cost of the ad into the number of inquiries received.

To find the cost per order, add the total of sending the sales copy to the cost of the ad and divide that by the number of orders received.

The ratio of conversion is the number of orders compared to the number of inquiries. For example, if you get twenty orders from one hundred inquiries, the conversion is twenty percent.

How To Calculate Profit

This is total the amount of cash sales. That is your gross profit. Subtract the cost of the product or service, mailing, conversion of the ad. That is your net profit, the one that counts. Just stick with it and you can watch your profits grow larger with each ad – each conversion – each sale.

How To Segment Your List

Building a email list for your business should be a top priority. It is the most important marketing tool where you can build a mailing list and segment them according to your geographic, demographics, psychographics and product benefits for your target market.

No email list is ever going to pull as effectively as your own email list created from thousands of prospects that your business will have the opportunity to market to, as well as the hundreds of customers who have tasted or selected or used one or more of your products or services.

Just names and addresses aren’t enough. You need to segment your prospective client email list like the big mailing houses do.

The way you do this is ask your clients and prospects their preferences. Why they purchased? Their reading habits? Their spending habits? You could ask them where they heard about you? TV? News? Interent? Radio? Paper? Other?

As soon as they become a customer, you record their purchase whether it was this particular product or that product, this service or that service. Track every purchase, every phone call you make to them, and everything else you’ve ever talked to them about on your computer.

You need to know how long they’ve been a customer. Whether they’re current on their payments. Whether they respond to an advertisement. What other subsequent purchases they’ve
made? What caused them to make those purchases? Was it a letter you sent, a follow-up? The list goes on, and on.

You want to be able to improve and offer them more things based on the pieces of information you know about them. You can segment your customer file as:

- Calculate the value of your customers. This is the value of every lost name that you don’t capture.

- Capture names through registrations, drawings, coupons, free subscriptions, consultations, charge card verifications, and photocopy their checks.

- Design surveys, registrations, etc. to solicit personal information from your customers regarding those variable, important pieces of information for your business.

Of course, testing your campaigns will allow you to clarify and organize many of the foundational procedures and processes of any business. These concepts and processes, though basic and often lost in routine are ones that, if mastered, could potentially bring you immense wealth very quickly.

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Selling when the consumer wants to buy is a fundamental factor in the marketing concept. Promotional efforts, whether in-store or through mass media advertising, should be timed to coincide with maximum seasonal or cyclical demand.

Advertising

The major portion of a business’s promotional budget is advertising. Some advertising media, such as the Yellow Pages, where a specific amount is charged each month, can be budgeted as fixed advertising expenditures. The mass media-newspapers, radio, TV, direct mail, internet and magazines-should be individually budgeted to achieve sales goals, improve your image and expand your customer base.

Promotion

Many businesses classify promotion as a separate budget category. In this case, promotional efforts include in-store displays, sampling, specialty advertising, giveaways and other nontraditional media efforts including online freebies such as ecourses and ebooks.

Publicity

This is the no-cost element, meaning there is no charge by the newspaper or other medium for carrying a news release or feature. There will be an internal cost, however, for the preparation of publicity releases and photography. Many businesses miss publicity opportunities because they do not have a written marketing plan. Every promotion or addition of personnel is an opportunity for free publicity, but only if the news release is prepared and sent to the media. Business expansion, remodeling, automation or changes in product name all deserve a publicity program.

Promotion Strategy

All advertising and other promotional activities should be in tune with the company’s stated position in the marketplace. This suggests that not only advertising themes but also media selection must be based on building and strengthening that position.

Benefit Approach

Regardless of your media, to make your marketing concept work in advertising messages you must analyze each product and service in relation to these two elements: Product Point and Benefit.

Product Point

Those features built into the product or service. Product points are usually highly touted in advertising messages, but they are relatively ineffective unless they are integrated with the second ingredient.

Benefit

The advantage a customer receives after purchasing the product. Your advertising should promise benefits and make those promises believable by naming the product points that will produce the benefits. For example, “You’ll feel better about your family’s safety (benefit) when they are riding on the new steel-belted radials from Goodyear, thanks to the interwoven blankets of steel embedded deep in the tread (product point).”

Media

Consider many types of media in your promotional campaigns.

• Newspapers
• Shoppers
• Television
• Radio
• Billboards
• Direct Mail
• Magazines
• Internet

In conclusion, the importance of promotion in the overall marketing strategy suggests you devote time to its written plan and constantly monitor the plan’s performance. Be creative but avoid cuteness. Stick to the benefit approach, and your customers will respond.

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In submitting any display advertising message to the Internet media, the only way to ensure that your ad looks the way you intended is to provide adequate instructions. Layout means blueprint to the image editor. Your layout should be a full size replica of what you want the finished advertisement to look like.

Here are some guidelines to use in preparing layouts.

1. A layout should accurately indicate where all parts of the completed message are to be located with respect to the borders. This must include the location and approximate, if not actual, dimensions (pixels) of all artwork.

2. There are five parts to a comprehensive Internet display ad layout:

a) Headline – Type all headlines right on the layout, making the headline fill the width you want. Give the editor a close approximation of the desired type size by the size of your lettering. On each line, put the exact words you want to appear and use capital letters or upper and lower case letters the way you want the type set.

b) Illustrations – Use a scanner, if possible, and paste a copy of any artwork or photograph on the layout where you want it to appear. If you plan to reduce or enlarge the artwork, show the finished height, width and the location on the layout page.

c) Copy – Copy refers to the text in your advertisement. Do not letter in the copy on your layout. Use two parallel lines to represent each line of copy and create these lines in the exact position on the layout page. These parallel lines should show whether you want the copy set flush on both right and left margins or if you prefer, a ragged edge on the right margin. Each block of copy should be positioned properly on the layout page and then should be keyed. For example, assign a circled letter of the alphabet that matches a separate block of copy supplied in most image editing software. The copy should be evenly spaced and should include all words and prices, including any headlines you have lettered on the layout.

d) Price – It is generally a good idea to letter your prices right on the layout if they appear anywhere other than within regular copy lines. Show the price as it should appear, including the relative size of the cents to dollars portion of the price and any dollar or cent signs you want used.

e) Logo - The logo is your company’s name, whether you have a standard, exclusive design or you merely want your name set in type. Let the layout show the desired location and size. It also is helpful to letter in your address and phone number. If you have a digital logo design, paste the original art work on the bottom right hand corner of the layout. The worst place for your logo is the lower left and corner; the eye prefers to leave the ad at the lower right-hand corner, so your logo will have greater impact there.

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The single most important step before you begin designing your website is defining the structure and purpose of your site. Once you have your structure planned out, you can unleash your creative genius.

What kind of navigation buttons do you want? Would animations, photos or diagrams help get your message across? What sort of layout do you prefer? How will customers navigate through your site? While keeping in mind a few basic guidelines for attractive design, feel free to experiment and be creative with the look and feel of your site.

It may help to draw your ideas on paper first. Decide which colors you want to use. Do you already have an attractive logo on your advertising, letterhead or business cards? Use it. Try to visualize any graphics you want to liven up your content. You may be able to find suitable images in an off-the-shelf image art collection or on the web at one of the image art repositories.

Depending on the size of your company or business and your priorities, you may also want to consider paying a design professional to create the graphics for your site. Alternatively, you could invest some time and money buying and learning to use one of the many commercially available image editing programs.

Most websites utilize some variations of the same two or three layouts. The most common is a left navigation setup, in which you place logos and graphics along the top of the page, include links and navigation buttons along the left hand side, and place content below to the right.

This layout draws attention to your logo while keeping navigation in a set position. Another common layout places both graphics and navigation links along the top of the page. Focusing activity and attention at the top and creating more room for content below.

Before you get carried away with your newly found design freedom, however, remember that there are a few widely accepted design rules to keep in mind.

Make Your Site Easy on the Eyes

Use high contrast colors, dark text on a light background is easier to read. Patterned background designs, though an old popular one, are usually more distracting than appealing. You don’t want your customers to skip reading about your big sale just because they can’t stomach the dancing teddy bears behind the text.

Make Your Site Easy to Navigate

Place your links or buttons in a prominent place and keep them in the same place on every page. Your design should help users access the information you want then to see. To this end, keep your colors, layout and buttons consistent. Label every page so customers always know where they are. Every page should provide links back to the homepage.

Make Your Site Professional and Appropriate for Your Company or Business

Your design, no less than your content, should support, compliment and promote your business and it’s products or services. Keep the design clean and simple. Remember, when it comes to design, white space is beautiful and less is more, unless you have a very unique product or service that is well served by something more avant-garde.

Check Out the Other Guys

When it comes to design, you’ll find that a little time spent looking at what other companies are doing will pay off handsomely, you’ll discover for yourself what works and what doesn’t. There are, unfortunately billions of poorly designed web sites on the internet – look for them and learn from their mistakes.

Write Your Content

Only after you’ve defined your goals and fully planned out your site should you actually begin to create your content. Avoid the temptation to just sit down and start creating web pages. If you hold off until you’ve got a good plan in place, you’ll save yourself a huge amount of time and effort in the long run.

Use your site plan or diagram to identify every page that will be on your website.

You can number them, name them or find another way of listing them that works for you. You should already know generally what each page will contain (contact information, list of services, FAQ, products, photos, etc…). Now you need to decide exactly what you want on each page. Write all the text that should go on each page. Indicate where you want graphics or photos located. Create captions and sidebars. Organize each page around your navigation scheme, and plug in content where it fits.

Make it Short and Sweet

Studies have repeatedly shown that internet users have a short attention span for text on the web. few things on the internet are more intimidating and less inviting than a long page of text scrolling down into the distance. With few exceptions (articles, white papers or other publications), avoid long, uninterrupted word masses. Break up your content with visuals and decorations. Better yet, be concise. Customers aren’t looking for dissertations on your products and services, they just need enough information to make an intelligent decision.

Avoid Scrollbars

Sometimes you’ll need to make your visitors scroll down the page a bit in order to see all your content. But, if you have to scroll down more than an extra page height, it’s a good indication that you have enough to split between several pages. This will give your visitors manageable chunks of text and keep them interacting with your site.

Check, Double Check and Triple Check

Few things are more unprofessional than poorly written or misspelled text on your business website. And inaccurate information is even worse, nothing will destroy your credibility more quickly than misstating the facts. Read through everything you create, have someone else proofread, and run the text through a spell checker. Because not every web editing program includes one, you might want to create your content in a word processor and then copy your finished text into your web pages.

Gather the Site’s Components

After creating your content, gather all of your site’s files together. If you’ve identified logos, buttons, photos or other graphics that you want to include, either create or collect the specific files you want to use and store them in a folder on your PC. Save the text you’ve written in the same folder. Keeping your content in one place will save you time and frustration when you are actually building you site.

Create the Pages

You’re finally ready to make some web pages. You will most likely be creating your entire website in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), so picking up an elementary understanding of the technology behind your site wouldn’t hurt. Basically, HTML is a programming language that gives instructions to an internet browser, telling it how to display text and images. You’ve already created that text and collected those images, all you have left to do is arrange them on each page and define their appearance.

When creating your pages, follow two crucial rules of smart technology implementation.

1. Products Should Drive Technology, Not Vice Versa

When creating your web pages keep both your audience and your business objective in mind. The features you include and the technology you utilize should be appropriate to target your audience. Don’t waste time and energy on bells and whistles that your customers won’t appreciate or can’t take advantage of. If you sell old fashioned gadgets to a nontechnical customer base, your visitors probably aren’t interested in your prowess at creating cute scrolling messages on-screen.

They just want to know if you sell the best gadgets at the lowest price. At the same time, however, you should be prepared to take advantage of whatever technical enhancements suit your business needs. If you sell services that could benefit from the creation collaborative and interactive community areas for your site with discussion boards, mailing lists and online customer surveys.

2. Speed is Everything

Make a conscious effort to limit file sizes and keep download times to a minimum. Most web editing programs will estimate page load times, and you can test them yourself (use dial up connection to test) once you’ve posted each page to the web on your personal host server or your own. Everyone who has surfed the internet has experienced the frustration of sitting around waiting for a site to load. Don’t be that site. Optimize all of your images on your site for web delivery, reuse navigation buttons and logos wherever possible (this will improve page speed because the files have already been loaded once), and keep each page small enough to load quickly.

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