Start Up Business Plans

We never had it so good as we do in today’s world where the world middle class has raised to new highs in numbers and there are so many things on the market to obtain compared to just a decade ago. Yet many of us have had economic wows that have placed us into a dismal financial future so we are seeking an alternative way of making money. We are tired of working in our current job or have even lost our job and our way of making a living. We hear that making a living on the internet is great and the yearly income from an internet business is more than double of what we make at our current job.

So many of us try to find a way to make some cash on the internet but it is a little confusing what with different programs promising you a great amount of money with in a short time for only such and such a price. Who is telling the truth and who are the those scam artist that you hear about on the net? Well, you know what they say,”If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is”, meaning that if the offer seems too good and too easy then it is most likely a scam. Think of how many thousands of people are trying to make money on the internet and how many really are successful, if it was as easy as some of these claims say they are then there would be millions of successful entrepreneurs on the internet.

Like so many thousands of others do you can use Ebay or some other internet equivalent to sell things on the internet but the competition can be overwhelming. There are many start up business plans for affiliate sales available and most are legitimate but the trouble I find is that you need a large pocket of money to continue in these programs or spend endless hours writing articles and submitting them to various directories and hoping that they are seen by many people who so happen to want your product. Of course, you can pay for your advertising but this route is not for the novice and the learning curve can be very expensive.

Truth is that there is about an 90% failure rate in new businesses on the internet as well as in the real brick and mortar world. One of the biggest reasons for such a failure rate on the internet is because of the learning curve. What I mean is that you and I need to discipline ourselves to working hard and not giving up even if we have tried many times in the past and failed. There are many wrong ways to build a business but there are very few right ways in order to become successful in our daily attempts.

Let us not reinvent the wheel instead we should learn from those that have made it and are successful. Instead of starting from zero we need to build on others foundations that work. I don’t mind failing at times when I know in the long run I will be successful in my attempts but if I really don’t know what I’m doing then I lose focus in the big picture and have to start all over again. With knowledge comes freedom to pursue your dreams of obtaining a comfortable living and a sustainable future.

There are many good people on the internet who are trying to present to you and me a working business plan. Some plans are not for everybody and some plans are confusing. The best business plan comes from those that have been in the business for years not months with a lot of experience to relate to. Nobody is in business for free so there will always be something that will cost you for the information. How much and how often is always different so beware of any free information without some kind of cost.

I have been working on the internet for some five years and have looked over many different internet business plans and the best plan for the beginner that I have ever found is from a guy name Geoff Shaw. You will learn from the best and the way he lays everything out is the greatest.

Confessions of A Web Designer

Introduction

When I decided I needed a website for my business I had no idea of the very many processes involved. Like most people, I thought web design meant deciding on the graphics and the look of the pages and then by some magic it would all happen.
I have a friend who is in the business of web design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so I approached him for a quote. As a complete novice who is computer literate up to a point, I was amazed at the depth of initial questioning required to find out exactly what my requirements were.

I had no idea about the various aspects and the structure of the site and I found it mind blowing when I learned about the amount of work involved. So I thought other people would be interested to know more about this complicated process and I have asked my friend to supply the technical information for this article.

Stages in the Process

Target Audience

Before building a website there are important questions to consider. I was asked who would be my potential audience. Who are my customers likely to be? Would they be children, businesses, home owners, sales people, parents or teenagers and so on?

The objective of the website

Then I was asked, what was the purpose of my website? Did I want to sell services on line or use it to market my business and get more leads for possible customers? Maybe I would want to use it as an online brochure to showcase products. Another possibility was to use the website to foster a community so that I was in contact with other like-minded people, with chat rooms, online discussion and being supported by advertising on the site.

I hadn’t quite realised the scope of a website but as I was asked these questions it became clear that a lot of careful thought went into the preparation before building a website.

How to be Found on the Web

One of the first questions I was asked was, ‘Do you want it to be found by Google the main search engine?’ If I did then there was a whole process of establishing Keywords. So finding the best keywords are vital if you want to be found in Google. Generally most users only look at the first page of results so you will also want to promote your website to get on this page for your chosen keywords. By using a keyword research tool you can find the single most popular keyword for your industry.

Your Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is often quite a challenge because every name you initially come up with will almost certainly have been taken. Domain names ending in .com are by far the most popular and internationally recognised; the snag is that it’s very popularity means that the majority of the shorter names have already been registered.
So looking at names with endings such as .net; .co.uk or .info may be able to provide you with the domain name you are after.

We were lucky with the latest Dryzone specific company domain name because we had sought advice about registering it ages ago and got one with the word Dryzone in it, which also happens to be really relevant to our business.When choosing your domain name it is very important to include one or more of your keywords if possible as this can apparently help with search engine rankings. So although the name of your business is the obvious choice for a domain name, it is not necessarily the only option.

Creating a Site Map

As with any project you must have a plan, the better the plan the better the project turns out. A site map for a web site is part of the plan for the site. The importance of creating a site map is to get it clear in your mind of all the pages you will have on your website so you can prepare the content for each page and begin to design the flow through the website, such as when a user adds a product to their basket, then enters their delivery and billing address and makes the credit card payment in the correct order.

The aim is to make the site as simple to use as possible so that there are no barriers to getting into the website. For that reason often user name and passwordz are set for the customer so that they are not put off making a purchase by having to register.
For a non e-commerce site things are simpler with a contact form which allows you to receive enquiries by email without publishing your email address on the website, thus avoiding junk email.Web forms can also validate the information before you receive it, so ensuring that the phone number provided does not contain words, and that the email address is in the correct format, for example. These things may sound very technical to us lay-folk but I assure you everything has to be decided in advance before starting on the construction of the site.

Copy

The next stage is preparing the copy. This is not the design of your website – just the words and visuals you want to have one each of the pages.Having gathered all the previous information you will need to decide what imagery you want to use within the website content. As we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words and remains in people’s memory far longer than just words.For each image you could also have a caption, as the caption of an image is the next ‘most read’ words on the page after the page title. Images and their captions need to be clickable. When you click on a picture it should take you to the next stage of the process such as the sale page or placing an enquiry if your website is for lead generation.

Navigation

Another important aspect when building a website is how you want your navigation to work. You can have links within the content of your website, in the text, so there are not just links from the menu. You will need to decide whether the links will open into a new window, retaining your original page open. Next time you go online, you will realise how much thought has gone into the way in which a website works.

Website Design

Finally we come to the design of your website. I asked my SEO friend about the design stage he says it is one of the most difficult stages of the process because it’s subjective.

What one person might like, another person might not like. If you are setting up a website for yourself alone then you will probably have some idea of what you want to see on the site. But if, as so often happens, the website is for a large corporation there will be inputs from many people or departments and you can be sure that they will never all agree!

There are a number of ways to approach web design but ultimately you need to create a design brief for the designer(s) to work from. Look at other websites and your competitor’s websites to find out what you like or dislike. The design brief should give reference to the logo, any existing brand guidelines or schemes and fonts and colour schemes, and should also detail which pages of the website that the designer is being tasked with creating visuals for.

The very best results will be achieved by using a graphic designer, and beware – not all graphic designers are the same. A graphic designer who designs specifically for print is working in a different discipline than a graphic designer who designs for screen and specifically the web. So choose your designer carefully, look at other work that person has done and determine whether or not you like their style.

If you are working in the big time and budget allows, use multiple graphic designers who have all been given the same design brief and request three concept designs from each designer. If the client themselves also do a graphic design, even if it’s a back of the envelope scribble, you will then have 10 concept designs. The next step is to get them all together and select the preferred elements from each design. Then give the work to the preferred graphic designer to work up as the final artwork.

The artwork should be finalised and agreed on by everybody before construction of the site begins.

Production

Finally the preparation has been done and the site is ready to be built. Now for the more technical stuff! You will need to have decided which programming language to use to build the website. There are two main types for developing a website, one is Unix based, and the other is Windows based. Each one has pros and cons. If you are starting from scratch then it probably won’t matter, so you can go with the preference of your professional doing the work. My website is built on the Unix platform (apparently!) which is the same as many of the more well known websites such as Ebay, Facebook, Google and Amazon. Also your website hosting must be compatible with the development language with which your website is built.

Accessibility and Compliance

The website has to meet the current standards for website coding and doing so insures that disabled users, such as the visually impaired, can still access the entire website if they are using a Braille web browser.

Website Development

The best way to develop a website is on the web Server where the site is going to live. This way, those involved in reviewing the work can see work in progress and provide comments throughout the development.

Unforeseen items

There are always some things that arise in any project which you suddenly realise you have forgotten, so no matter how well the website designer prepares and asks the right questions, there will always be a last minute change or addition. The main aim is to minimise the number of glitches that might arise because they aren’t calculated in and they could cause extra costs and delays on the date of the web site going live.

Publishing Your New Website

The moment of excitement comes when your site finally is published to the internet and you see the results of all the thought that has gone into the whole process. We put in a lot of work collaborating on the website texts for our new website at http://www.spikedrunningshoes.com with the design agency and when the site went live it was a real feeling of achievement.

Reporting and Monitoring

Once your website is up and running, you will want to know how many people visit your website and from that number how many actually buy the products or place an enquiry. From these statistics you can work out the ratio of visits to sales and gradually make changes to improve the ratios. There are some reliable statistics packages such as Google Analytics or Web-Stat.com which allow you to collect and review website visitor data in near real time. All you need to do this is to have a small block of code inserted into each web page on your site.

Another useful service that Web-stat.com provides is to monitor the website and warn you by email or text message if the site is offline. Google Analytics doesn’t yet provide a comparable uptime monitoring service, maybe they just decided it was too much of a headache as it is an intensive service checking a website every 5 minutes to make sure it is still responding and indeed web-stat do promote this difference as one of their unique selling points but it is pretty hard to compete with free. In fact Google Analytics is not quite free, which makes it an even better marketing decision for Google because sometimes it is harder to give things away for free than it is to sell them! Google Analytics is a free service available to Google AdWords advertisers, you don’t actually have to have any AdWords campaigns running but it will cost you a one-time activation fee of £5 (or similar in your local currency) to open your AdWords account, but once you have done that you can go on to use Google Analytics for as many websites as you like.

Marketing

Once the website is live there are lots of things you can do to market your product or service. The first step is to submit it to the search engines and at the same time write articles, and press releases. Getting links to the site from forums, blogs and other social networking spaces are other options. For more on this subject ask your designer about SEO

Conclusion

Wheww. What an amazing amount of work! I hadn’t realised when I started the process of getting a website up and running, how complicated it all is and how many factors you have to consider before even designing the website. The word web design is really a misnomer, as people often think it’s just about the graphic design on the home page, and the branding of the product. Unless you are a computer buff, most people have no idea how much goes into designing and building a website and the systems that support the work you want it to do. I hope that this article will give readers an understanding and insight into the whole process of website development from start to finish.

How to Find Dropship Companies to Make Money on Ebay

Raising Money Using Online Auctions

Everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Large companies successfully use eBay auctions to clear leftover inventory, the Postal Service rids itself of unclaimed merchandise, police departments sell confiscated goods. Thousands of nonprofits are doing business with eBay.

Are eBay auctions the fundraiser’s cash cow or are the dangling cash-carrots never quite attainable?

There you have both ends of the online auction spectrum. Likely, your organisation’s ability to generate donations in this fashion lies somewhere in between, hopefully toward the high end. Merely registering an account with eBay doesn’t guarantee that sellers will be prompted to donate part of an item’s selling price to your group. Or that buyers will gobble up your items. Philanthropically minded people are only beginning to see online auctions as a serious avenue of charitable donations.

Successfully trading on eBay is far more than a mechanical process. You’ll need staff and/or volunteer commitment, and sales and marketing know-how. It takes little skill to get on the bandwagon; it takes a lot not to fall off.

There are several main reasons to use eBay as part of your overall fundraising plan. Not because its the cool thing to do. Not because it takes the place of person-to-person campaigning.

But because:

* EBay enables your group to reach a huge, new market of non-constituents, uncultivated strangers who will immediately participate in funding your projects by buying your items.

*You can fit a few hundred people in an in-house auction room, but you can reach millions online.

*You’ll capture new prospects. A percentage of buyers will turn out to be donors to future campaigns if your follow-through is sound. Otherwise, why not simply run an online membership auction from your organisation’s web site?

* It’s cost effective. No space to rent, tickets to sell, caterers to hire, and so on.

* Its novelty will captivate volunteers who are used to performing the same campaign tasks year after year.

How you can capture a profitable share of this new market depends on the sales direction you take, the items you offer, how they’re presented, and your game plan.

Direct and Community Selling

You’ll obviously receive the most income and acquire the most new prospects if your group uses donated items to auction. For nonprofits, eBay terms this “Direct Selling.” It’s the same technique used by organisations that produce in-house, live auctions by soliciting in-kind gifts.

“Community Selling” is a term eBay uses to describe the process whereby sellers designate all or part of the selling price to an organisation. This offers your present donors new opportunities to support your drive.

For example, the Brown’s annual gift is $125. Your latest newsletter describes and promotes the benefits to the campaign from members selling unwanted items on eBay. The Browns’ decide that two 17″ hand painted platters are items they haven’t used for years. They list them on eBay at $19.95 each and designate your group to receive 80% of the selling price.

The remaining 20%, they figure, will take care of shipping. The platters each sell for $25. You have an additional donation from the Browns of $40. If 99 other present donors did the same you’d have an additional $4,000 on top of their cash gifts. And what about the members who couldn’t afford to give you cash donations? Surely, many of them would find an item or two to sell on eBay on your behalf. So, you see, the potential for raising funds through eBay is real, but eBay is only the vehicle, not the driving force. Selling the concept is the organisation’s job.

What Items to Offer?

While it’s been shown that many non-constituent eBay buyers react favorably to knowing that proceeds of a sale are helping fund a nonprofit organisation, their interest is driven by an item’s appeal, not necessarily an organisation’s mission.

People will buy anything, especially when they think they’re getting a deal. Last time I looked, a set of 10 real shark teeth was about to be auctioned for $7.99. But since you’re in the serious business of raising money, not running online garage sales, offering genuine collectable teeth will do little to help fund your annual budget. Stay away from trinkets when soliciting direct selling items if possible. However, memorabilia is a natural for online auctions.

The more your items play to a universal audience the more they’ll be seen, and the higher the selling price. For example, a vintage Cowboy type belt buckle from a city in Arizona could sell to a local organisation member or be even more valuable to an Australian outback buyer.

Most everything sells on eBay, but collectibles have always been big sellers, also electronics in all categories, music, books and games. Everyone has a few old books and CDs lying around that you can convert to cash by selling them on ebay. And certainly one-time, high profile items with special appeal, like seats in a corporate box at a big game. Or a trip to the Barrier Reef.

If your group, school or club is looking for school fundraising ideas and easy fundraiser ideas, have a look at Goldstar Gifts and Stationary is easy to manage ideas for fundraising.

Why You Should Apply For Credit Cards With No Interest Rate

Right away, what does it mean to have free credit cards? We don’t discuss about free charge cards for the perennial cyberpunk in Internet auction places such as eBay or banking and payment solutions sites such as PayPal, Moneybookers and American Express, free plastic cards may have to do with charge card numbers ready for them to make fake transactions over the Internet. Here we want to discuss about the best offer on a free credit card refer to something that’s absolutely legal and widely acknowledged by credit card issuing companies. The free credit cards we are discussing may have to do with credit cards that come with free interest, which is best exemplified in a student credit card and in a first time credit card, and in charge cards that are processed via third party companies.

Best credit card rates offerings are designed in particular for clients who have either zero, fair, good, or excellent credit score. With free plastics, you are entitled to 0 percent interest rates and a 0 percent annually percentage rate (APR), at least on the oncoming of the credit card offer. For good measure, you also usually do not get charged extra for a number of transactions such as for money transfers, purchases, and privileges or enrolment in benefits like cash reward bonuses and frequent flier miles. If the free charge card is a student credit card, you do not have to establish a stable or high paying job for you to qualify for it.

Free credit cards are largely used for balance transfer. Getting free from debts by transferring balances from any high interest credit card to no interest cards, so as to pay it off very quickly, is a good plan. When it comes to apply for free credit cards Barclaycard Kreditkarten will be the best bargain you can get because of the many benefits they will offer.

Credit cards for free are really an excellent option to unlock superior savings. With proper precautions and using it the right way, these can offer a great financial relief that will enable you to save some bucks since you don’t have to pay interests can be some additional dollars in your wallet.

But there are also things to watch out in free credit cards. Most important thing is the terms and conditions. When you study the small print will tell you any hidden charges and deals using your credit card. Search for the following issues: May be your zero percent interest and APR is only available for a certain time period, or if you don’t follow the limits or pay off your balance within a certain number of days, then your rate of interest may increase.

Using eBay Auctions for School Fundraising

Everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Large companies successfully use eBay auctions to sell excess stock, the Postal Service rids itself of unclaimed merchandise, police departments sell confiscated goods. Thousands of nonprofits are doing business with eBay.

Are eBay auctions the fundraiser’s cash machine or are the dangling cash-carrots never quite attainable?

There you have both ends of the online auction spectrum. Likely, your organisation’s ability to generate donations in this fashion lies somewhere in between, hopefully toward the high end. Merely registering an account with eBay doesn’t guarantee that sellers will be prompted to donate part of an item’s selling price to your group. Or that buyers will gobble up your items. Philanthropically minded people are only beginning to see online auctions as a serious avenue of charitable giving.

Successfully trading on eBay is far more than a mechanical process. You’ll need staff and/or volunteer commitment, and sales and marketing know-how. It takes little skill to get on the bandwagon; it takes a lot not to fall off.

There are several main reasons to use eBay as part of your overall fundraising plan. Not because its the cool thing to do. Not because it takes the place of person-to-person campaigning.

But because:
* EBay enables your group to reach a huge, new market of non-constituents, uncultivated strangers who will immediately participate in funding your projects by buying your items.

*You can fit a few hundred people in an in-house auction room, but you can reach millions online.
*You’ll capture new prospects. A percentage of buyers will turn out to be donors to future campaigns if your follow-through is sound. Otherwise, why not simply run an online membership auction from your organisation’s web site?
* It’s cost effective. No space to rent, tickets to sell, caterers to hire, and so on.
* Its novelty will captivate volunteers who are used to performing the same campaign tasks year after year.

How you can capture a profitable share of this new market depends on the sales direction you take, the items you offer, how they’re presented, and your game plan.

Direct and Community Selling
You’ll obviously receive the most income and acquire the most new prospects if your group uses donated items to auction. For nonprofits, eBay terms this “Direct Selling.” It’s the same technique used by organisations that produce in-house, live auctions by soliciting in-kind gifts.

“Community Selling” is a term eBay uses to describe the process whereby sellers designate all or part of the selling price to an organisation. This offers your present donors new opportunities to support your drive.

For example, the Smith’s annual gift is $125. Your latest newsletter describes and promotes the benefits to the campaign from members selling unwanted items on eBay. The Browns’ decide that two 17″ hand painted platters are items they haven’t used for years. They list them on eBay at $19.95 each and designate your group to receive 80% of the selling price.

The remaining 20%, they figure, will take care of shipping. The platters each sell for $25. You have an additional donation from the Browns of $40. If 99 other present donors did the same you’d have an additional $4,000 on top of their cash gifts. And what about the members who couldn’t afford to give you cash donations? Surely, many of them would find an item or two to sell on eBay on your behalf. So, you see, the potential for raising funds through eBay is real, but eBay is only the vehicle, not the driving force. Selling the concept is the organisation’s job.

What Items to Offer?
While it’s been shown that many non-constituent eBay buyers react favorably to knowing that proceeds of a sale are helping fund a nonprofit organisation, their interest is driven by an item’s appeal, not necessarily an organisation’s mission.

People will buy anything, especially when they think they’re getting a deal. Last time I looked, a set of 10 real cattle teeth was about to be auctioned for $7.99. But since you’re in the serious business of raising money, not running online garage sales, offering genuine collectable teeth will do little to help fund your annual budget. Stay away from trinkets when soliciting direct selling items if possible. However, memorabilia is a natural for online auctions.

The more your items play to a universal audience the more they’ll be seen, and the higher the selling price. For example, a vintage Cowboy type belt buckle from a city in Arizona could sell to a local organisation member or be even more valuable to an Australian outback buyer.

Most everything sells on eBay, but collectibles have always been big sellers, also electronics in all categories, music, books and games. Everyone has a few old books and CDs lying around that you can convert to cash by selling them on ebay. And certainly one-time, high profile items with special appeal, like seats in a corporate box at a big game. Or a trip to the Barrier Reef.

HTML clipboardIf your group, school or club is looking for school fundraising ideas and easy fundraiser ideas, have a look at Goldstar Gifts and Stationary’s easy to manage ideas for fundraising.

Building My New Website

Introduction

The term ‘Web Design’ creates a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. The word design suggests graphics and layout so many people think that’s what designing a website is all about. Most people think that website design is very simple, all you need to do is install the company logo, add the relevant wording, decide on the arrangement of the pages and that’s it.

Well I am about to shock you by outlining the many complicated processes involved in web design. Think of it this way; when an architect designs a house all we see is the way he lays out the rooms, how the available space is arranged. We normally do not concern ourselves with the amount of technical detail that goes into the design. The architect has to work out the stresses on the walls and the weight of the roof. If there are fireplaces he has to know about draughts and the shape of chimney for it to do the job. He has to plan heating systems, plumbing systems, drainage and sewage, what type of windows to use, door fittings and many other details so that when it’s finally complete the overall effect is pleasing and suitable for the purpose intended. Web design is similar. A customer may have an idea of the layout of the website but will need the services of the Web Designer to make it all happen.

Stages in the Process

There are many items to be decided on before even starting to build a website. Some of the important questions to consider are:

Who will be the target audience?

What is to be the purpose of the website?

Do you want it to be found by the search engines?

What is the domain name for the site?

What links need to be in place?

What type of graphics do you want to use?

Do you want to include photographs?

Do you want a system of monitoring visitors to the website?

Once the webmaster has the answers to these questions then she can start the process of designing the site to give you what you want.

Target Audience

What sort of people are going to visit the new website? Are your customers likely to be businesses, sales people, home owners, parents, teenagers or children and so on?

Objectives of the Website

Is the website to be used to sell products on line, or to market your business to get leads for new customers? Maybe you wanted it to be an online brochure to showcase your services. Balloons for trade have a website for resellers only so that they can look up the products before placing an order. Because there is no selling on line there are no contact details on the site. You may want to use the website to foster a community to be in contact with other like minded people. You would need a design that incorporates a chat rooms and online discussions.

Being found on the Web

I work in a Nottingham web design company and one of the things my boss always makes me ask the client is how you want your website to be found on the search engines. This involves a whole process of establishing keywords for your products or services. The first step is a search of key words in the industry. Finding the best keywords is vital if you want to be in the top ten listed in Google. By using a keyword research tool you can find the single most popular keyword; the one everyone puts in. For example people looking for a vacuum cleaner might type in Hoover although this is in fact a brand name.

Domain Names

Domain names can be the hardest part of setting up your website, because nearly every name you come up with will most certainly have been registered already. By far the most popular are domain names ending in .com as they are internationally recognised. For that reason alone the majority of shorter names will already have been registered.
Choosing names with endings such as .net; .co.uk .org .info may provide you with the domain name of your preference. When choosing your domain name it is a good idea to include one or more of your keywords. Although the name of your business may be the obvious choice for a Domain Name, it is not necessarily the only option.

So as you can see choosing domain names and keywords right at the beginning of the project will determine how the site is constructed so that it is suitable for the purpose required.

A brand new domain name space has just been created.

Companies can now apply for their name in this brand new .tel name space and it is intended to replace the telephone directory. When the domain name is viewed in your web browser it will provide the companies details and telephone number.

Creating a Site Map

It is very important to have a site map to outline the pages on your website, e-commerce website or forum space. It shows the design and flow through the website so that when selling on line, items work in order such as; adding product to basket, entering delivery and billing address and on to making credit card payment. The site map helps to identify how user friendly the website is so that there are no difficulties in getting onto the site. Often the user name and password are set for the customer so there is no hindrance to achieving the initial sale.

Non e-commerce sites are easier because it is possible to receive enquiries by email, without publishing the email address on the website. By using a contact form you will avoid spam and also validate the information before you receive it. The aim is to create a balance between discouraging junk mail, and making it easy for the enquirer to use the site.

Links

An important consideration when designing a website are links. These can be links to other pages of content within your website, and links within the content of your website in the text, as well as links from the menu. Consideration has to be given to whether the links will open in a new window so you still have your original page open or will the new window replace the previous one.

The Copy

The copy is the words and visuals you want on your website. Having made decisions about the target market and relevant links, along with the keywords and using the site map information, the next stage is to decide what imagery you want displayed. A picture speaks a thousand words and remains in people’s memory far longer than just words. So images are important to reach your audience. Each image needs a caption which is the ‘most read’ words on the page after the title. The caption of an image need to be clickable so that when you click on a picture it takes you to the next stage of the sales process.

Design

The final design of the website is often the most challenging stage of the process because it’s subjective. In a large corporation, many people from various departments will have an input for their division. Everyone has their own ideas of what they think the site should look like and trying to gain a consensus can be a nightmare because not everybody will agree on the same things.

If you are setting up an ecommerce web design project just for yourself then you will probably have a clear idea of what you want to see on the site.

Even then unless your ideas are workable in the medium, you may have difficulty getting something you like. Firstly to achieve a good design it is recommended you review other websites and find out what you like or dislike about them. Look at competitor’s websites to make sure your design will be an improvement on what is already in the market place.

Once you have done that you will need to create a design brief. The design brief should have a reference to the logo and any existing brand guidelines, colour schemes and fonts adding in any other relevant information.

Having done a design brief look for an experienced graphic designer. Choose your designer carefully, finding one who designs specifically for screen and the web to achieve the very best results. Beware of choosing a graphic designer who designs for different discipline such as print as they are very different processes. Look at other works the designer has done and decide whether or not you like their style.

Using several graphic designers is the best option if you are working in the big time and budget allows. Give each designer the same brief and request three concept designs from each one. The client might also do a design, even if it’s a scribble on the back of an envelope, there will then be ten concept designs. Get everyone together and choose the preferred elements from each design. Once the items you want are selected choose one graphic designer to workup the final artwork.

All parties need to agree on the final artwork before building of the site begins. Consideration should be give to the fonts used for the titles and buttons etc. Fonts have to be licensed so if the designer has not supplied something then the developer will need a copy of the fonts to achieve the task. Professional graphic designers will usually provide the artworks in a layered Photoshop file so if titles are not going to be in plain text get the designer to also supply the fonts.

Production

At last all the ground work has been done and the site is ready to go into production. This is where it gets technical! You may not want to go into the detail in which case leave it to your Web Master to choose for you. There have to be decisions about what language to use, either Unix or Windows based, to build the website. Each have advantages and disadvantages with multiple variants but sites such as Ebay, Facebook, Google as well as other well known websites are built on Unix. Your website has to be built with the development language of your web host provider so that they are compatible.

Accessiblity and Compliance

These are current standards for website development to insure that disabled users, such as the visually impaired, can still access all sections of the website.

Development

Development of the website is best done on the web server where the site will reside. Those involved in reviewing the work can then monitor work in progress and provide comments throughout the development.

Unforeseen Items

As the site building progresses the customer suddenly thinks of something they must have. No matter how well the web master prepares and asks the client the right questions, there are always some last minute adjustments to the programme. The main aim is to minimise last minute additions because they aren’t calculated in and will generate extra costs and cause delays to the date of the website going live.

Going live

At last your site is up and running and you see the results of all the planning that has gone into the whole process. There is no substitute for real world testing so as soon as the site is live ask your friends and colleagues to view the website from their own computers and give comments.

Marketing

Once the site is up and running it’s time to turn your attention to marketing your products by submitting the site to the search engines, writing articles, and press releases and generating links from forums, blogs and other social networking spaces.

Reporting and Monitoring

Stats from your newest web design are invaluable to let you determine the success of the project.

Use a reliable statistics package such as Google Analytics or Web-Stat.com to collect and review website visitor data. All you will need is a small block of code inserted into each web page on your site to collect visitor information to help you assess the success of your products in near real time. Web-stat.com also monitors the website and alerts you by email and text message if the site goes down.

Conclusion

The title ‘Web Design’ is a bit misleading in that people often assume it means the graphic design on the home page and the branding of the product. Unless you are a computer expert, most people do not realise the amount of work that goes into designing and building of a website. Clients are not aware of the amount of complicated technical work necessary to build the systems that support what they want the website to do. In such a complex process anything that gets tacked on at the end will end up incurring more cost to your budget.

The depth of initial questioning is an indicator of how competent your Web Master will be. Every aspect of the construction has to be decided upon before you even start the design. These things may sound very technical to us non techies but it is essential for the Web Master to find out exactly what is required so that everything can be costed accurately and built into the design from the beginning.

How To Find Cheap Used Cars

It’s easier than at any other time in history to find cheap used cars by owner, thanks to the World Wide Web. Car prices can be compared, features examined, even purchases made on sites like eBay motors and independent car sites. Avoid the sucker bets by keeping a few things in mind.

Not everything on the Internet is true. People often rely too much on the information in media such as television and the Internet. Not everything on the radio or television is true. The Internet is no different. It’s all too easy to create a convincing lie online, even faked images and movie proof. Unscrupulous individuals flock to the web. All the signs of a bad deal can be hidden in the remote world of the Internet. Photoshop lets people air brush out defects like bad paint. People ignore the normal used car precautions when buying online. Diligence is always wise even though every online car seller isn’t a crook.

Let a good mechanic look at cheap used autos before the purchase. Test drive it with a stop at a garage. If the whole transaction is made remotely, ask a mechanic to inspect it in your absence. Many mechanics offer a remote inspection service. There’s no need to rely on the seller’s inspection or garage. Make sure someone not related to the seller looks it over. Often $50 now can save a lot more money later.

Don’t haggle monthly payments, negotiate price. Even if the salesman keeps telling you about low monthly payments, ask for the price. Dealers often use the financing to add a few dollars to the price, so don’t use their finance company. Pay cash or find your own loan. Remember to demand a discount for a cash payment.

It is possible to buy cheap used cars. There are a lot of modern tools to aid in their purchase. But it’s true for used cars just as it is for anything, if a deal looks too good to be true it is.

Never pay full price for video games again

How can you be sure you’re getting the lowest price on video games? It used to be that renting video games was a great solution and as inexpensive and pain-free as visiting your local movie rental store. But avid gamers who rent several games at once found how quickly those rental costs can add up. Include the heart ache of forgeting to return a stack of games by the due date and you’ll find that those late fees can really cost you.

Here are some timely hints on getting the best deal on games and video game rentals.

First, check out your public library. Many offer free video game rentals to their patrons. You already paid for their selections with your taxes so you may as well get your money’s worth.

Video Game Review Websites – Most sites offering video game reviews include game details, ESRB ratings, available platforms, even actual gameplay footage. Check out the video graphics online first. You might find the game is too violent for your appetite or not acceptable for your small children, even though the ratings indicate it’s age-appropriate.

Never Pay Retail – With online discount companies like eBay and Amazon, there’s simply no reason to pay full price ever again. Many times you’ll find games for PS3 on sale by checking these sites first.

Rent Video Games Online – Several companies offer online game rentals for a low monthly price. Members select from over 6000 of the latest games, delivered right to their home, can hold them as long as they like, never pay late fees for keeping them too long, and return games to the company with postage-paid envelopes. If you find a game you want to keep, simply notify the company and you can keep it for a small fee. A few sites like GameFly offer a free trial period. Try them out to see how their service works before you join.

Avid gamers who are serious about their hobby can save a ton of money when they know how to find them.

www.buyfromonline.com

Free legitimate work at home jobs and a MLM business

Is it possible to find legitimate work at home jobs. Well of course, but you just have to know which one is the best, Today you have so many options online from affiliate marketing, article marketing to selling on ebay, niche marketing, MLM and I can go on and on.

Free legitimate work at home jobs and a MLM business opportunity is feasible and profitable? How can one succeed in this kind of business?

Here is a Simple 2 step procedure to finding free legitimate work from home jobs

Step number 1. Recruit First

Focus your energy on recruiting people who want to succeed, if you have someone who thinks a program is too expensive to join then he is not serious about succeeding online, leave him and move one. Get people who are ready to spend some money. In any business one should understand to make money you have to spend money.

Step 2. Build a Relationship

People who have given you a commitment, be with them all the way, make it your personal motto to make them successful online, if you manage to do that and teach them to do that with their team you are going to build a great source of residual income for yourself.

To conclude its just these two basic princples that you can help you run any business successfully, and will build your team and then build a relationship with them and they will make you more money than you can ever imagine.

Next Page »