Archive for the ‘Web Site Management’ Category

How to integrate a Payment gateway into a website

If you are ready to accept payments through credit cards for your online services or products bought by your customers, you need to have a payment gateway. For this you should understand what exactly you require for the integration of a payment gateway on your e-commerce website.

Payment Gateway
Payment Gateway is basically an application which enables the user to process all his transactions online or over the internet. If one wants to sell his services or products via internet or a website, he needs to have a payment gateway integrated on his website to facilitate easy payment transfer between customers and the business. Apart from this, the payment gateway shall also secure the financial institution which pays on behalf of the customer and the financial institution which is accepting payment on behalf of the seller. This software acts just as a liaison between the internet and your e-commerce website.

If one is running an online business and is selling products or services, but still has not yet made use of this incredible automatic payment processing service, then one needs to set up a payment gateway if he really wants to take up his website to the next level and receive more clients. If you are having a business web host, you may already have a payment gateway access; otherwise you may require asking your web host for this service or locating some other modes to integrate this into your site.

What all you need for integration of payment gateway
The process of payment gateway integration takes a little hard word. This is one of the software applications that require being stored on the user’s server. It means that a user may require a little more disk space and bandwidth. Check all the requirements of this software to ensure that your present hosting package can handle the development in technical requirements.

Next thing you need to do is to ensure that the payment gateway is compatible with all programming languages that are used on e-commerce sites. Check out if you are making use of one of the following programming languages: -
Visual Basic.Net PHP Perl/CGI ASP.Net or ASP
Ensure that the payment gateway you are using, allows similar languages as the rest of the web pages so that they can go well together. Finally, you also need to get what cost or fee is associated with integration process of payment gateway services.

About the Author
Article written by Mr. Neeraj Arora, Marketing Director of Himalayan IT Group, offers web design India and SEO services India.

Old but still applicable info for law firm web design

I ran across an article discussing a podcast from 2006 that interviewed some lawyers and web designers about the importance of having the right approach to launching their law firm web sites.

Although it was pod-casted 4 years ago, I found that many of the themes are still applicable. Here is a quick recap of the main points of the podcast:
• In the past year, there has been a dramatic change in the importance of the Internet in finding local products and services (vs. the yellow pages);
(This is still very true. Over 74% of Americans are online, which means that the majority of them will turn to the web for doing their initial research)

• Having a website, even for solo’s, is a “necessity;”
(Again, we agree with this as most people will use the internet as their primary research tool. Having your website address on your business cards allows potential clients to read more about you and your services at their own leisure)

• Content is still king, but emphasis should be on helping visitors (checklists are very useful). People are searching for answers/solutions to problems, and may not even realize they need a lawyer;
(Using Articles, and News items can vastly improve your presence on the internet and let visitors identify that they need a lawyer. Since they may find the solution or suggestion on your law firm web site, they are more inclined to reach out to you.)

• Emphasis should be on content of interest to your audience, rather than on SEO (search engine optimization);
(We find this particularly interesting. SEO has become a buzzword and people want to be #1 on Google. What most people don’t realize is that you can’t achieve that by simply putting up a website and expecting some magic. The point below emphasizes what needs to be done to help with search engine rankings, but its going to take some time before you see the benefits. Over time, as you build content via News or Articles, search engines will take notice and people searching for information you’re writing about will find you. Further, if you focus on your local area, such as writing about local topics of interest, it will help you even more)

• Yet, search engine “ranking is very important” as it indicates the popularity of your site, and being ranked in the top ten in results can make or break your site. Improve your ranking with: Inbound links, Content, Title tags, Keywords, Longevity of your site, Domain name registration.

• A good Internet presence (especially with a blog) can be the “great equalizer” between large and small law firms.
(This is the point that all lawyers and law firms should have a web presence. No matter how small you are, if you have some information on the web about yourself or your law practice, it will help)

We’ve taken the key points of the podcast and inputted our take on the important items. Many of these themes are the reason we launched LegalWebbie for all your law firm web design and hosting needs. You take control of your site!

Law Firm Web Design Considerations

There are a lot of factors to consider when thinking about a new website for your law practice. Doing your research is one of the most important aspects of searching for a provider for your new website. Depending on your comfort level with technology and your knowledge of web site principles, you can choose several paths to having your own web site.

One of the paths you may choose is to have a fully custom web site developed for your law firm. If you have special requirements and needs, this may be the most viable option for you. Sometimes, you just cannot get all the features you need in an “out of the box” solution. Working closely with a web development company that understands your needs and can also suggest ways to achieving your goals can be very important for this type of project. A fully custom law firm web site will provide you the freedom of having a totally unique design as well as functionality that is suited specifically to your needs. Of course, one of the downsides to this is that the cost of this type of project may be high. When web design firms take on such projects, you need to consider all the components that need to come together to make a site for your needs. The designers have to come up with a design you are happy with. The developers then have to translate this design into a functioning web application. Finally, it all has to come together and work! There is no sense in having a pretty looking web site without it working properly. Hence, custom law firm web design projects, although very flexible, may not be for everyone.

Another option you can choose is the “Do It Yourself” approach. Whether you actually pick up a template and do some HTML coding, or whether you sign up for a hosting service that promises you a website you can build in 5 minutes, you generally get the same result: A basic website with little or no functionality and a design that looks as though your 8yr old niece designed it. Although a very cheap option, this may not be the best approach to properly promote your business. Today, web sites not only have to be informative but they have to appealing to the eye. Hosting options are limited and a computer can only do so much. The human input can provide more value to your site and tailor it even more specifically to your needs.

Hence, this brings me to our LegalWebbie offering. Yes, the name is quirky, but it is meant to grab your attention and it’s working! LegalWebbie is a hybrid concept between a full custom law firm web design and a DIY approach. As outlined in the LegalWebbie process, you can see that it merges the out-of-the-box approach of an eye catching design while customizing it to fit your law practice. Once that is done, you have a hybrid of a web site that is unique to you, without going through the steps of a fully custom web design project. This helps you save money, get a uniquely designed web site for your law firm, and take control of your site.

What is unique about LegalWebbie beyond the design? Once you have your law firm web site up and running, you have total control over the content. By simply logging on to your site, you can edit each and every page, add or delete new areas of practice as well as update your clients with news. The news articles could also be used as your own law blog, which would help you get noticed by search engines when you write targeted articles for your audience. Just watch this quick YouTube video to learn more about LegalWebbie.

This hybrid approach is a blend of DIY and fully custom web design. If you want options added to your site you can easily add additional features such as Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds. As your law practice grows the site can grow with you.

To learn more about LegalWebbie and the law firm web design services, please visit www.legalwebbie.com.

The Personal Side To Obtaining Internet Traffic

Every online marketer truly yearns for guaranteed web site traffic and is usually willing to employ aggressive tactics as well as utilize any proven methods to achieve this highly important goal. Using applicable guidelines and marketing principles is certainly prudent, but all too often, many online business entrepreneurs ignore some of the nuances of a personal, every day approach to managing a company. By having a healthy balance of personal life and professional pursuits, your online business empire will thrive and any stress related issues will obviously be minimized. This personal approach as opposed to the work-a-holic routine will be positively reflected in your relationships with family, friends, and loved ones. As an online business owner, there are four steps that are needed to ensure the proper mix of personal and professional endeavors.

1) The first step involves a structured daily routine. Most internet marketers and online business proprietors who work from home fail to have established time frames when work is to be done. Sure, it’s important to work a certain number of hours each day and try to grow a business – after all, increased web site traffic doesn’t magically appear without hard work and sheer determination. However, by having a set time frame to work and keeping within those boundaries should give you the kind of steadiness that is preferable and gratifying. Anne McCullough, a personal coach and business owner describes how each work day at home should unfold. “Working at home should be the same as working at an office. Get up early, get a shower, have a nutritional breakfast, and for better concentration, dress in a business casual attire. Keep an eight hour day with the usual breaks if at all possible.”

2) Although it can’t be emphasized enough, be sure to have healthy eating habits. Multiple studies have shown that a healthy diet leads to lower stress levels and better productivity. Trying to manage the daily schedule is unquestionably time consuming and it is easy to frequent a fast food restaurant or consume junk food as a quick meal. By combining steps one and two, make sure to honor the times when a meal is required and keep snacks to a minimum. Too, it would be wise if unhealthy foods could be eliminated from the diet.

3) The third step entails a strong commitment to rest, relaxation, and exercise. Aiming for eight hours of sleep each night is generally recognized as the premise for a good period of rest. Also, taking some time to relax and unwind from a busy day is certainly encouraged. An appropriate exercise routine as prescribed by a physician or personal trainer will provide an avenue for stress relief and increased health benefits.

4) Take time to spend with family, friends, and loved ones. Never discount the importance of taking a well timed vacation or spend the day with those who are the focus of your personal life. While running an online business and making decisions like trying to buy targeted traffic or seeking to outsource various tasks is certainly important, it should be stated that personal time is important too.

Every online marketer covets guaranteed web site traffic, opportunistic challenges, and the desire to make money. In addition to these worthy goals, there should be the recognition of having a daily schedule which has an emphasis on the personal routines and endeavors that will serve to enhance any business. Such a balance is a happy balance.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=182894&ca=Internet

About the Author:
Brad Farmer is a charter member of IMInsider. For more information, visit http://www.IMInsider.com, where you’ll find step-by-step video training for anyone interested in starting or growing an online business.

How to Choose a URL by Conducting a Domain Name Ownership Search

A successful web site or blog is always made meaningful by its domain name. The web address that you choose must suit the theme and tenor of the web site or blog. Make sure that your name matches the subject of the web site or blog. Almost all well-known web portals have a domain name that is short, easy to remember and type into the address window of the browser. You should understand the system by which a domain works and performs. An effective name is always catchy with a definite theme and subject. Your visitors will feel that the domain name of your web site is quite powerful as it can evoke very strong connections with something that is special to the web user.

As far as possible, use main keywords that connect to the theme and topic of your web portal. You may wish to avoid hyphens and underscores as they can confuse and mislead your site visitors. Complicated web domains are those that are very difficult to type and remember. Extra symbols and strange characters can put off web users.

Choosing a very meaningful and practical domain name is actually very simple and straightforward. You need to sit down and think over all possible combinations of good keywords and their phrases. If you want to choose a good name, you can start with a comprehensive list of prospective names and shortlist the best ones among them. When you create a list of good names, the next step is to check whether they are available for registration. To conduct this important search, you will need to use an online tool that tells you about the availability of names.

Domain ownership identification tool is a very simple utility where you will find out who is the owner of the domain is and whether the name of your choice is available or not. This tool provides you the complete details of domain ownership including the date of expiry. Choosing a domain name is a trial and error exercise most of the good domains are already in use and you may need to work hard to create a good name. Domain name tools provide you a number of alternatives when the name of your choice is not available. You can pick the one from the list that best represents your theme and business idea.

If there is a domain name available for purchase, you can pounce on it and buy before someone does it. Domain name industry is a highly competitive industry and you never know when someone is going to buy your domain name ideas. While searching for a domain name think of all possible keyword phrases and wordings because most web users have their way of choosing products or services. Keywords play an important role while searching for domains by using domain name ownership online tool. If you do not find the domain name of your choice, you can always sift through the alternative list to choose the best one. Most of the online tools are efficient in providing a listing of most probable choices that eventually allow you to find a domain name that best represents your business theme, topic, style and tenor. Another emerging trend is to buy expired domain names from registrars. You will need to be very careful while buying an expired domain because the name that you wish to buy may have a shady past. However, expired domain market is a very good place to find those domain names that are not available in the fresh domain name market.

The general rule of thumb is to buy a domain name immediately when it is available in a domain ownership tool. It is always better to buy the domain name of your choice even if you are not creating your web site right now. Never ever, allow someone to buy your domain name. You may regret your decision of not buying your domain name when it was available.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com

About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web site called www.expireddomaingain.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

SEO or SEM?

Make more money. That’s your newly defined goal for your existing website. Revenue, Sales, Profits! To do that you’ll have to get more visitors to your site and not only that, more buyers and fewer shoppers! You’re not a geek but you’ve read a little about some of the new Internet technologies designed to help you do that, like Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. What’s the difference between the two and which is better for you and your wallet?

The Differences between SEO and SEM

There are some misguided souls in the wonderful world of the web who think these two technologies are synonymous. Perhaps this is because the two essentially have the same goal: increased traffic, but the similarities end there. In reality, SEM is a subset of SEO in that it relies on specific techniques to achieve the end result of more visitors. Typical SEM techniques involve a variety of forms of paid advertising. Sponsored or Traditional Ads is one of them. You’re seen the results on the right hand side of a Google Search Results page. These are paid ads and they appear if the search query entered by the Internet user matches a keyword in the ad. But these ads are expensive and the sponsor pays a fee every time the ad pops up — whether the user clicks through the ad to get to the website or not. Another popular SEM technique is PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. Here the sponsor writes a text ad and selects the keywords which will bring up the ad and the amount they will pay. Google Adwords is a form of PPC advertising and the sponsoring company only pays here when the user actually clicks through the ad.

SEM — although it can be expensive — does have the advantage of “right now” in that it has the potential to draw visitors to your site quickly. SEO is a more involved process that seeks to make your site more “organically” attractive by improving things like the links within the site and to the site from other places. An organic result — the sites listed on the left side of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) — is one that comes up strictly based on the content and popularity of the site with no paid prompting involved. But this process takes time. Another way to look at what SEO can do is to dig into that highly technical term — “stickiness.”

Stickiness: What Do They Do When They Get There?

The most expensive, well designed, and well written SEM campaign may get visitors to your site, but they do nothing to ensure the visitor will “stick” or stay on the site and not take a glance and immediately hit the back button on the browser. If your site is poorly designed making it hard for the visitor to navigate and it contains poorly written content visitors will head for the button. SEO looks at all aspects of what makes a site attractive to a Search Engine. If you’re truly interested in getting the biggest bang for your buck consider getting into an SEO campaign with some SEM techniques as part of that campaign. Good luck meeting your goal!

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com

About the Author:
Wolf21is an SEO company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, providing internet marketing solutions for local, national and international clients.

SEO in the Web Design Process

If you’re just starting to build your website now is the best time to start planning your search engine optimization and search engine marketing strategy. The best time to introduce the SEO planning of a website is when the site design is ready and the site is ready to be launched but there is no content yet for the site. Just before the site launches is the time to bring in an SEO consultant to provide some SEO services. After the design of the website is done an SEO consultant can give you suggestions about what keywords and key phrases you need to add into the site HTML as Meta tags and where those tags should go. Once the site is tagged and the design and navigation has been tested it’s time to add in content. Having SEO content on your site from the start will give your web site a big advantage over older websites that might already have a bit of a following but haven’t had any SEO services by a professional SEO consultant.

For a new site where that site ends up on the search engine results pages can be critical to its success. In order for the site to get a high ranking on the search engine results pages its imperative that a professional and experienced SEO consultant creates search engine optimized content that is ready to be part of a broad search engine marketing campaign. It just makes more sense to get all your ducks in a row before you launch the site doesn’t it? Bring in an SEO consultant when you’re ready to start putting content on the site so that when the site launches your site will be instantly indexed by the search engine spiders and can start drawing traffic from search engines immediately.

If you have an existing site that is due for an overhaul or a design revamping then you should also consult a professional SEO consultant before the site is redone so that you will have a good idea of what SEO services that you need. Cosmetic work on the site is important so that your site doesn’t look outdated but changing up the content on the site will be very important. Most of the traffic that websites get comes from searches done by people who use Google or another search engine to look for website dealing with a particular topic.

You want your site to be at the top of or at least near the top every search that is done by a search engine for the topic that your site is about. In order to achieve that you need an SEO professional to write great search engine optimized content before the site launches. If your existing site has had the same content on it for more than six months you should get an SEO professional to write new content. Changing the content is a great search engine marketing strategy to draw new web site traffic and improve your search engine ranking.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com

About the Author:
For more free resources visit here http://www.seo-prediction.com

How to: Automate Your Blog with WordPress

In this article we’re going to look at how to automate blog posting using WordPress and WordPress plugins. This can be a huge time saver and also draw a large number of readers and potential customers to your web site and blog. Here are 7 simple steps to make sure your blog is constantly posting new, fresh relevent content for your readers.
Step 1. Make sure you have a WordPress blog installed on your web site or that you are using a WordPress hosted blog. Find free WordPress software to install on your site here: http://www.wordpress.org
Step 2. Once your WordPress blog has been installed and/or setup, you will need to download the FeedWordpress plugin, which can be found here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedwordpress/ . Install this plugin according to the instructions that come with it.
Step 3. Setup your FeedWordpress plugin. Once you have installed it, go into your WordPress Admin area and click on Plugins. In the list of plugins that appear, you will see FeedWordpress and an option to activate it. Go ahead and activate and notice that at the bottom of your Admin section sidebar a new button appears called Syndication.
Step 4. Click the syndication button. The first part of setting this up is to find an RSS feed somewhere that you would like to syndicate. Google news is a good source, just enter your keywords and click the RSS icon in the address bar that appears when the search results do. Copy the link to the feed and enter it into the Add New Source text field in your Syndication settings. Make sure the feed address starts with http:// and not feed://
Step 5. Click Syndicate. You will now be taken to a sample article from that feed and you have the option to confirm that it is the feed you want to use.
Step 6. Once you have confirmed which feed or feeds you want to use, click Posts in your sidebar under the Syndication heading. You want to select “Publish syndicated posts immediately” for total automation, or any of the other options if you would like to review each post first. Comments and permalink settings are totally up to you.
Step 7. Click Settings in your sidebar under the Syndication heading. In the drop down menu for “check for updates” select “Automatically” for total automation. All other options are up to you.
Your blog will now post automatically, every post that shows up in the RSS feed or feeds you chose. The entire post will not be posted so as to avoid copyright infringements, and the original source will always be given credit. You can take this a step further and install the WordPress plugin Twitter Tools, found here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-tools/ to autmatically tweet all of your blog posts as well.
If you would like somebody to set this all up for you, we are offering this service, normally a $199USD service, for $149USD – just email me by clicking here.
Also, remember to get your first or updated free analysis at our web site: http://www.abalone.ca to find out how your site is doing in the eyes of the search engines!

About the Author
Courtney Heard has had a hand in starting many SEO businesses including, Abalone Search Engine Optimization, Influx SEO and Optimizeforengines.com. She currently is the Founder/Director at Abalone Designs Inc.

Search Engine Trends

Search Engine Trends by Andrew Marshall

Internet use is increasing all the time. There are now thought to be over 150 million website on the World Wide Web. The number of Internet users is now almost a quarter of earth’s population; around one and a half billion of a total population of 6.7 billion (approx) use the Internet. Inevitably this means that the amount of search engine usage is also increasing. It is the prime tool used by people looking for a website. If someone doesn’t know a website address or exactly what they are looking for, they will use a search engine.

Statistics show that a massive 99% of internet users use search engines – that’s over 1.4 billion people worldwide. 33% of these use search engines on a daily basis. Over half of search engine users use one search engine exclusively, with just over 30% interchanging between different search engines. Between 10 and 15% use different search engines for different purposes; for example one for websites and another for images. The overall numbers using search engines have increased dramatically over the last couple of years. There was a 38% increase between April 2008 and April 2009.

Google dominates the search engine world. Between 60 and 70% of searches are performed using Google, with Yahoo and Bing currently the second and third most popular. Bing is Microsoft’s new search engine, and is gaining in popularity. The recent merger between Microsoft and Yahoo means that between them their market share has shot up, but Google still lies out in front. This merger does mean they could be more of a threat though.

Search Engines can have many uses. Traditionally they were mainly used to find information on the World Wide Web. There are now many other purposes for search engine’s though. With many business having online stores an increasing number of people are purchasing products online. Holiday bookings and price comparison are two other popular online activities than can start with a search. 75% of people now search online for products before buying. This may be to find information on a product, compare prices, or actually purchase something. Price comparison sites are becoming more widely used all the time. 62% of people wanting information on local activities now search online and 45% of those looking for flight and hotels use search engines for at least part of the process.

One area that has increased with regard to the search engines in recent times is video search, which has doubled. 90% of those aged between 16 and 19 are shown to look for videos online on a regular basis. This number decreases for higher age groups, but is still around half for people over the age of fifty-five. You Tube’s success has got a lot to do with this, and they are now one of the world’s best know internet brands.
As the Internet continues to grow, so will people’s reliance on search engines. It is an ever increasing part of our daily lives, and the upward trend is expected to continue.
Andrew Marshall ©
SEO London

About the Author
I am a student, who enjoys writing on a variety of subjects.

Need of search engine marketing

Now a days marketing is a way to make popular the brand image and improve the product selling.
Marketing may be of any type like direct marketing , internet marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, pay per click etc.
Search Engine Marketing is also the process of product selling or improving the brand image ,we can say make visible the product to the globe via internet marketing. If you have a website but your website has not participating in improving the image of your brand and not improving your product sell.
Then you need a search engine marketing expert that can make visible your website in Google top rankings and people will know about your product that will increase your profit also.PPC i.e pay per click is the best and fastest way that can make visible your product in a day and you can make profit but you have to invest some money before make money because you have to pay when any one click on your add on engines according to your set price. But some effort can make your business more profitable.
In this high competition market every one wants to be on top in Google rankings ,this can be happened only via internet marketing techniques like search engine optimization , pay per click , social media optimization.
So don’t loose your time and try these techniques to improve your business.

About the Author
Gaurav Kumar is an internet marketing professional, Presently working with Ebizon NetInfo, one of the leading online marketing company offering expert ,SEO services, affiliate marketing services, US web development services and website designing solutions over the globe.