Is It Easy to Create our own Website? What is HTML?

Is It Easy to Create our own Website? What is HTML?

Creating a website is not so much a feat, if we compare it to the
education of other technical skills. Most people tend to give up and
pack their bags as soon as they hear the word "programming" and
"technical". They think it`s too much of a hassle to actually learn a
whole computer "language". HTML, the most basic computer language in
building websites, is actually pretty simple to understand, as long as
we have the interest in learning new things.

What is HTML?

HTML is the acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. For learning
purposes, just think of it as a language that the computer
understands. For example, as humans, we were taught different
languages; i.e. HTML as a language, is mostly and specifically used to
create a website. The web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer
or Mozilla Firefox, will then decipher and interpret the code or
rather, language(HTML), and display it in a way we can understand it,
just like in a basic webpage.

Coding.

Coding the HTML language might be a bit tough for some people, so we
can actually purchase programmes, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, or
even Microsoft Frontpage. These programmes are solely created to help
individuals in designing professional webpages/websites.

Furthermore, one could also gain access to online web-builders,
website builders that are inbuilt and can be directly controlled from
the net. There are many different and specific builders online.

Books and magazines contain guides that can help in offering tutorials
and ways to put up our own websites. Even online tutorials are
credible, as in the modern world, information technology is the best
and most cost efficient way in retaining knowledge, especially in this
particular field.

So, you could start and build one right away. If you enjoy coding, it
might even become a favourable past-time.

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Who Is Your Audience?

Who Is Your Audience?

Understanding the type of people who visit your site is a very
important task because you can use that information to enhance your
site to suit them. As a result, you will gain more loyal returning
visitors that come back again and again for more.

What is the age level and what kind of knowledge does your audience
have? A layman might linger around a general site on gardening, but a
professional botanist might turn his nose at the very same site.
Similarly, a regular person will leave a site filled with astronomy
abstracts but a well educated university graduate will find that site
interesting.

Take your audience's emotional state into consideration when building
your site. If a very irritated visitor searches for a solution and
comes across your site, you will want to make sure you offer the
solution right up front and sell or promote your product to him
second. In this way, the visitor will put his trust in you for
offering the solution to his problems and is more likely to buy your
product when you offer it to him after that.

When you design the layout for your site, you have to take into
account the characteristics of your audience. Are they old or young
people? Are they looking for trends or are they just looking for
information served without any icing on the cake? For example,
introducing a new, exciting game with a simple, straightforward black
text against white background page will definitely turn prospects
away. Make sure your design suits your site's general theme.

Try to sprinkle colloquial language in your sites sparingly where you
see fit and you will create a sense that your audience is on common
ground with you. This in turn builds a trusting relationship between
you and your audience, which will come in useful should you want to
market a product to your audience.

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Why Hire A Designer?

Why Hire A Designer?

A lot of online business owners start with no money. They have to do
everything themselves -- the preparation of a product, the development
of a marketing strategy, the actual building of a website to cater to
their product's marketing needs. As their business expands over time,
they will find that their simple "homemade" site might not be enough
to cover everything, and they will have to take a day or two away to
simply dedicate that to the website expansion.

Sounds familiar? Chances are, you're someone who started everything
with no money too, so you're pretty skeptical when it comes to giving
away your money in exchange for something that you could have done
yourself. However, there is a lot more to hiring a designer than just
finishing up a job that you don't want to do.

When you hire a web designer to do your job for you, you are doing
more than just handing over the "dirty job" to someone else. In fact,
by paying a little money, you can let the designer worry about the
little annoyances that always evade the main picture and only come
haunting when you're halfway through the job. That way, you will be
more focused and have more time to spend on your actual business
strategy.

On the other hand, the designers you hire a professionals so they are
good at what they do. By outsourcing your web design jobs to them, you
won't have to worry when problems surface because you can always get
them to fix it for you. Again, they will be able to pin point the
problem and fix it faster than you probably will be able to.

Also, the work you pay for will turn out more professional than what
you can achieve because the designers have been doing it longer than
you have. After all, they do it for a living so they have to be good!

So, remember to not just work your business, but grow your business too!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Why You Should Use Graphic Templates

Why You Should Use Graphic Templates

When it comes to graphics, most Internet marketers shy away from using
graphic templates whether it's ebook covers, website layouts or
promotional banners because they firmly believe that by using graphic
templates, they are tarnishing their own business. They want to own a
unique identity and hence will always find a professional graphic
designer to do the job. Well, you're in for a big surprise!

When you purchase a graphic template, you will be able to customize it
to an extent or even build a totally new design based on it! What's
the point of using the template then, you say? Well, it serves as a
source of inspiration and ideas for a totally new design. You can't
derive anything from a blank canvas, right?

On top of that, you are actually saving a lot of precious time that
you can otherwise spend on more important matters like developing new
products or market your products. When you buy a pre-made template,
you only need to edit a thing or two to give it an identity of your
own, and that gives you more time and flexibility to work on other
stuff.

Okay, let's say you argue that hiring a designer to do the job is
equally fast. That may be true but don't forget, hiring a professional
designer to do a custom design for you will cost you a lot of money.
Unless you need a totally unique identity that you are aiming to
establish firmly in your niche market, you don't need to get a
designer to design it for you.

Not all graphic templates are suitable, so you have to be careful when
choosing one. Consider quality over the price, and you're on your way
to creating a positive image for your business while saving more time
for more productive chores!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Web Design Elements You Should Avoid Having on Your Site

Web Design Elements You Should Avoid Having on Your Site

As a web designer, you should design your websites to give your
visitors the greatest ease of use, the best impression and most
important of all a welcoming experience. It doesn't matter if you had
the greatest product in the whole world -- if your website is poorly
done you won't be able to sell even one copy of it because visitors
will be driven off your website by the lousy design.

When I'm talking about a "good design", I'm not only talking about a
good graphical design. A professional web design will be able to point
out that there are many components which contribute to a good website
design -- accessibility design, interface or layout design, user
experience design and of course the most straightforward, which is
graphic design.

Hence, I have highlighted some features of the worst web designs I've
come across. Hopefully, you will be able to compare that against your
own site as a checklist and if anything on your site fits the
criteria, you should know it's high time to take serious action!

1) Background music

Unless you are running a site which promotes a band, a CD or anything
related to music, I would really advise you to stay away from putting
looping background music onto your site. It might sound pleasant to
you at first, but imagine if you ran a big site with hundreds of pages
and everytime a visitor browses to another page on your site, the
background music starts playing again. If I were your visitor, I'd
just turn off my speakers or leave your site. Moreover, they just add
to the visitors burden when viewing your site -- users on dial up
connections will have to wait longer just to view your site as it is
meant to be viewed.

2) Extra large/small text size

As I said, there is more to web design than purely graphics -- user
accessibility is one big part of it too! You should design the text on
your site to be legible and reasonably sized to enable your visitors
to read it without straining their eyes. No matter how good the
content of your website or your sales copy is, if it's illegible you
won't be selling anything!

3) Popup windows

Popup windows are so blatantly used to display advertisements that in
my mind, 90% of popup windows are not worth my attention so I just
close them on instinct everytime each one manages to pass through my
popup blocker (yes, I do have one like many users out there!) and,
well, pops up on my screen. Imagine if you had a very important
message to convey and you put it in a popup window that gets killed
most of the time it appears on a visitor's screen. Your website loses
its function immediately!

In concluding this article, let me remind you that as a webmaster your
job is to make sure your website does what it's meant to do
effectively. Don't let some minor mistakes stop your site from
functioning optimally!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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When Is the Right Time to Redesign?

When Is the Right Time to Redesign?

If you run a website, chances are you often wonder whether it is the
right time to do a total redesign of the layout of your website. Here
are some points to consider:

Are you thinking of a redesign just for the sake of it? If you
answered yes to that question, it is not yet the right time to do a
redesign. Remember, a design serves a specific purpose. If you are not
sure whether to do an overhaul of your site, keep in mind that your
current design might have a specific purpose that you might not know
about. You will lose that function if you do a redesign.

On the other hand, if your website has had the same website design
since 1990, perhaps it is high time to do a redesign. The last thing
you would ever want to happen to your site is when visitors leave your
site without taking a look at your content just because the design is
old fashioned. If this is your case, here are some points to ponder
before doing a redesign.

Redesigning your website is like performing plastic surgery on it.
Your website loses its current identity (for the better or worse) and
your regular visitors might not recognise your new design at first
glance. You risk losing them just because they thought they landed on
the wrong page. Hence, it is very important that you retain a
characteristic feature from your old layout. Perhaps it is the logo of
your site; perhaps it is the same text style for the title for your
site.

To play it safe, put a poll on your site to let your visitors do the
talking. If they think it is necessary for the website to have a fresh
look, give it to them!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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மரங்களை வெட்டுங்கள்- CUT THE TREES - TAMIL

உலகமே ஒட்டு மொத்தமாக வெப்பமயமாதல் ( குளோபல் வார்மிங் ) பற்றி பயந்து
கொண்டு இருக்கும், இன்றைய காலகட்டத்தில் 'மரங்களை நடுங்கள்' என்ற ஒரே
கோஷம் தான் எங்கும் கேட்கிறது, இந்த நேரத்தில் 'மரங்களை வெட்டுங்கள்'
என்று கூறுவது முரண்பாடாக தோன்றுகிறது அப்படிதானே. ஆனால் இங்கே நான்
சொல்வதை முழுவதும் கவனித்தால் நீங்களும் ' ஆமாம் கண்டிப்பாக வெட்ட
வேண்டும் ' என்று சொல்வீர்கள். அப்படி அந்த மரத்தை வெட்டினால் தான் நம்
மண்ணின் மாண்பை காப்பாற்ற முடியும் என்பதுதான் விஞ்ஞானிகள் நமக்கு
கொடுக்கும் ஒரே எச்சரிக்கை.

மண்ணின் வில்லன்

அமெரிக்க தாவரவியல் பூங்கா , 'வளர்க்க கூடாத நச்சு மரங்கள்' என்று ஒரு
தனி பட்டியலே வெளியிட்டு இருக்கிறது. அதில் முன்னணியில் இருப்பது தான்
நான் குறிப்பிட போகிற விஷ மரம். தமிழ் நாட்டின் ரோட்டின் ஓரங்களிலும்,
பல கிராமங்களின் வயல்வெளிகளிலும் சகஜமாக இருக்க கூடிய முள் மரம்
எனப்படும் 'காட்டு கருவேல மரம்' தான் அது. ( பேராண்மை படத்தில் கூட
ஜெயம்ரவி மாணவிகளுடன் சேர்ந்து காட்டுக்குள் இருக்கும் மரத்தை
வெட்டிகொண்டே விளக்கம் சொல்வாரே ! )

நம் மண்ணின் தன்மையை கெடுப்பதற்காக வெளி நாட்டினர் இந்த மரத்தின் விதையை
இங்கு தூவியதாக ஒரு கருத்தும் , கிராம மக்களுக்கு அடுப்பு எரிக்க விறகு
வேண்டும் என்பதற்காக ஒரு அரசியல்வாதி ( நல்ல எண்ணம்தான், இதன் நச்சு
தன்மை பற்றி தெரியாமல் இருந்திருக்கலாம் ) வெளிநாட்டில் இருந்து
தருவித்ததாகவும் இரு விதமான கருத்துகள் உலவுகின்றன. உண்மை எதுவென்று '
யாம் அறியேன் பராபரமே'

ஆனால் எப்படி வந்தது என்பது அல்ல...., இப்போதைய பிரச்சனை....!?
, இம்மரத்தால் என்னவெல்லாம் பாதிப்பு ஏற்படுகிறது என்று பார்பதுதான்
அவசியம். முதலில் இந்த மரத்தின் தன்மைகளை பார்க்கலாம்.

இதன் கொடூரமான குணங்கள்

இவை எந்த வித வறட்சியிலும் நன்கு வளரக்கூடியது . மழை பெய்யாமல்
போனாலும், நிலத்தில் நீரே இல்லாமல் இருந்தாலும் இவை கவலை படாது.
பூமியின் அடி ஆழம் வரை கூட தன் வேர்களை அனுப்பி நீரை உறிஞ்சி , தன்
இலைகளை வாடவிடாமல் பார்த்து கொள்கிறது, ( அடுத்தவர்களின் உழைப்பை
உறிஞ்சி வாழும் சில சுயநல மனிதர்களை போல...! ) இதனால் நிலத்தடி நீர்
முற்றிலுமாக வற்றி அந்த பூமியே வறண்டு விடுகிறது...!

இதன் கொடூரம் அத்துடன் நிறைவு பெறுவது இல்லை, ஒருவேளை நிலத்தில் நீரே
கிடைக்கவில்லை என்றாலுமே தன்னை சுற்றி தழுவி செல்லும் காற்றில்
இருக்கும் ஈரபதத்தையும் இம்மரம் உறிஞ்சிவிடுகிறது..... ??!! இப்படி
காற்றின் ஈரபதத்தையும் , நிலத்தடி நீரையும் இழந்து அந்த பகுதியே
வறட்சியின் பிடியில் தாண்டவமாடும்.

தென் தமிழகத்தில் விருதுநகர், ராமநாதபுரம் போன்ற மாவட்டங்களின்
வறட்சிக்கு இந்த மரங்களே முக்கிய காரணம் என்பது அதிர்ச்சியான ஒன்றுதான்.
ஆனால் இதை அறியாமல் அந்த மக்கள், இன்னும் புதிதாக மரங்களை வளர்த்து
பராமரிக்கிறார்கள் என்று என்னும் போது அறியாமையை குறித்து வருந்த வேண்டி
இருக்கிறது.

உடம்பு முழுதும் விஷம்

இந்த மரத்தின் இலை, காய், விதை என எதுவுமே எந்த உயிரினத்துக்கும்
பயன்படாது. முக்கியமான விஷயம் ஒன்றும் உள்ளது , ஆச்சரியமாக இருந்தாலும்
உண்மை அதுதான். இந்த மரத்தில் கால்நடைகளை கட்டி வைத்து வளர்த்தால்
அவை மலடாகிவிடும் , அதாவது சினைபிடிக்காமலேயே போய்விடும், ஒருவேளை மீறி
கன்று ஈன்றாலுமே அது ஊனத்துடன்தான் பிறக்கும்....?!!

ஒருபுறம் இதன் வேர் நிலத்தடி நீரை விஷமாக மாற்றிவிடுகிறது மற்றொரு
புறம் இதன் நிழலில் மற்ற உயிரினங்கள் வாழ முடியாத நிலை இருக்கிறது.
இதன் பக்கத்தில் வேறு என்ற செடியும் வளராது, தவிர மரத்தில் எந்த பறவை
இனங்களும் கூடுகட்டுவதும் இல்லை.

காரணம் என்னவென்றால் இந்த வேலிகாத்தான் மரங்கள், ஆக்சிசனை மிக குறைந்த
அளவே உற்பத்தி செய்கிறது , ஆனால் கரிமிலவாயுவை மிக அதிக அளவில் உற்பத்தி
செய்து வெளியிடுவதால் சுற்றுப்புற காற்று மண்டலமே நச்சுதன்மையாக
மாறிவிடுகிறது .

அறியாமை

நமக்கு தெரியாமலேயே இப்படிப்பட்ட மரங்களை கண்டுகொள்ளாமல் இருக்கிறோம்
என்பது வருத்தத்துக்கு உரியதுதான்.

கேரளாவின் விழிப்புணர்வு

நமது அண்டை மாநிலமான கேரளாவில் இந்த மரத்தை பற்றிய விழிப்புணர்வை
வனத்துறையினர் மக்களிடம் ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளனர்.....!! அதனால் கேரளாவில்
இந்த மரத்தை ஒரு இடத்தில் கூட காண முடியாது. ஆனால் நம்
தமிழ்நாட்டில் விறகிற்க்காக இந்த மரத்தை வளர்த்து வருகின்றனர்....??!
என்ன முரண்பாடு...?? என்ன அறியாமை..??

ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்களும், இந்த மரங்கள் இருக்கும் இடங்களில் வாழும்
மனிதர்களின் மனதையும் இந்த மரம் மாற்றி வன்முறை எண்ணத்தை கொடுக்கும்
என்று கண்டு பிடித்து உள்ளனர்.

நல்ல மரம் ஆரோக்கியம்

வேப்பமரம் வளர்ப்பது எவ்வளவு நல்லது என்பதை யாவரும் அறிவோம், மற்றும்
ஆலமரமும் , அரசமரமும் மனதிற்கு மகிழ்ச்சியை கொடுக்கிறது என்பதை
உணர்ந்தவர்கள் நாம். இருந்தும் இந்த முள் மரத்தை பற்றி சரியாக
விழிப்புணர்ச்சி நம்மிடம் இல்லையே என்பதே என் ஆதங்கம் .

சுற்றுபுறத்தில் புல், பூண்டை கூட வளரவிடாமல் தடுக்கும் இந்த முள் மரத்தை
பூண்டோடு அழிக்கவேண்டும் என்ற விழிப்புணர்வை அரசாங்கம் தீவிர முயற்சி
எடுத்து மக்களிடம் கொண்டு சேர்க்க வேண்டும் . சமூக ஆர்வலர்கள் இந்த
மரத்தை பற்றிய பிரசாரங்களை செயல் படுத்தலாம், செய்வார்களா?

இந்த பதிவை படிப்பவர்களும் முடிந்தவரை இந்த செய்தியை மற்றவர்களிடம்
கொண்டுபோய் சேர்க்கும் ஒரு சிறிய விழிப்புணர்வை ஏற்படுத்துங்கள்.

மரங்களை வளர்ப்பது எவ்வளவு அவசியமோ அதை விட இந்த மரத்தில் ஒன்றையாவது
வெட்டி அழிப்பது அதை விட அவசியம்....

இந்த மரத்தை வெட்டி வீழ்த்துவோம்.....! நம் மண்ணின் மாண்பை காப்போம்..!!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Ways To Improve Sales Through Your Website

Ways To Improve Sales Through Your Website

Anyone who has been marketing online knows that the lifeblood of a
business is the traffic of a site. More visitors equal more sales.
However, here are some ways that you can tweak your sites with to
improve sales without the need to get more visitors.

The first method is to weave in your personal touch in your sales
message. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger, but many
people will buy what their close friends recommend to them. If you can
convince your audience that you are a personal friend who has their
best interest at heart, they will be convinced to buy your products.
Remember to speak to an individual in your salesletter, not to your
whole audience.

The second method is to publish testimonials and comments from your
customers. A good idea would be to publish both good and bad comments;
that way prospects will be really convinced that these testimonials
are real. When prospects see testimonials on your website, they will
have the confidence to buy from you because human beings follow the
herd mentality; when others have bought and proven it authentic, they
will jump on the bandwagon and buy too.

Use visual representations for the problems and solutions that your
product offers. Not everyone will read your text copy from the head to
the tail, but most people will pay attention to images on your
website.

Offer quality bonuses to accompany the product. When you offer bonuses
that complement your product, your prospects will feel it's a very
good deal and it would be stupid to miss it. Be sure to state the
monetary value of your bonuses so that people will be even more
compelled to grab your good bargain.

Lastly, ask for the sale! Many people entice their prospects with the
benefits of their product, sell to them with stories of how it has
solved many problems, even offered killer bonuses but forget to ask
for the sale. Give a clear instruction on how to buy your product
(e.g. "click the button to buy now!").

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Web Design Elements You Should Avoid Having on Your Site

Web Design Elements You Should Avoid Having on Your Site

As a web designer, you should design your websites to give your
visitors the greatest ease of use, the best impression and most
important of all a welcoming experience. It doesn't matter if you had
the greatest product in the whole world -- if your website is poorly
done you won't be able to sell even one copy of it because visitors
will be driven off your website by the lousy design.

When I'm talking about a "good design", I'm not only talking about a
good graphical design. A professional web design will be able to point
out that there are many components which contribute to a good website
design -- accessibility design, interface or layout design, user
experience design and of course the most straightforward, which is
graphic design.

Hence, I have highlighted some features of the worst web designs I've
come across. Hopefully, you will be able to compare that against your
own site as a checklist and if anything on your site fits the
criteria, you should know it's high time to take serious action!

1) Background music

Unless you are running a site which promotes a band, a CD or anything
related to music, I would really advise you to stay away from putting
looping background music onto your site. It might sound pleasant to
you at first, but imagine if you ran a big site with hundreds of pages
and everytime a visitor browses to another page on your site, the
background music starts playing again. If I were your visitor, I'd
just turn off my speakers or leave your site. Moreover, they just add
to the visitors burden when viewing your site -- users on dial up
connections will have to wait longer just to view your site as it is
meant to be viewed.

2) Extra large/small text size

As I said, there is more to web design than purely graphics -- user
accessibility is one big part of it too! You should design the text on
your site to be legible and reasonably sized to enable your visitors
to read it without straining their eyes. No matter how good the
content of your website or your sales copy is, if it's illegible you
won't be selling anything!

3) Popup windows

Popup windows are so blatantly used to display advertisements that in
my mind, 90% of popup windows are not worth my attention so I just
close them on instinct everytime each one manages to pass through my
popup blocker (yes, I do have one like many users out there!) and,
well, pops up on my screen. Imagine if you had a very important
message to convey and you put it in a popup window that gets killed
most of the time it appears on a visitor's screen. Your website loses
its function immediately!

In concluding this article, let me remind you that as a webmaster your
job is to make sure your website does what it's meant to do
effectively. Don't let some minor mistakes stop your site from
functioning optimally!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Reducing Load Time Through Image Optimization

Reducing Load Time Through Image Optimization

Even though more and more Internet users switch to broadband every
year, a large portion of the web's population is still running on good
old dialup connections. It is therefore unwise to count them out of
the equation when you're designing your website, and a very major
consideration we have to make for dialup users is the loading time of
your website.

Generally, all the text on your website will be loaded in a very short
time even on a dialup connection. The culprit of slow-loading sites is
mainly large images on your website, and it is very important to
strike a delicate balance between using just enough images to attract
your users and not to bog down the overall loading time of your site.

You should also go to a greater length and optimize every image on
your site to make sure it loads in the least time possible. What I
really mean is to use image editing software to remove unnecessary
information on your images, and thereby effectively reducing the file
size of your image without affecting its appearance.

If you own Photoshop, it will be obvious to you that when you save an
image as a JPEG file, a dialog box appears and lets you choose the
"quality" of the JPEG image -- normally a setting of 8 to 10 is good
enough as it will preserve the quality of your image while saving it
at a small file size. If you do not have Photoshop, there are many
free image compressors online that you can download and use to reduce
your image's file size.

On the other hand, you can opt to save your images in PNG format to
get the best quality at the least file size. You can also save your
images in GIF format -- the image editing software clips away all the
color information not used in your image, hence giving you the
smallest file size possible. However, saving in GIF format will often
compromise the appearance of your image, so make your choice wisely!

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Search Engine Friendly Pages

Search Engine Friendly Pages

There is no point in building a website unless there are visitors
coming in. A major source of traffic for most sites on the Internet is
search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Altavista and so on. Hence,
by designing a search engine friendly site, you will be able to rank
easily in search engines and obtain more visitors.

Major search engines use programs called crawlers or robots to index
websites to list on their search result pages. They follow links to a
page, reads the content of the page and record it in their own
database, pulling up the listing as people search for it.

If you want to make your site indexed easily, you should avoid using
frames on your website. Frames will only confuse search engine robots
and they might even abandon your site because of that. Moreover,
frames make it difficult for users to bookmark a specific page on your
site without using long, complicated scripts.

Do not present important information in Flash movies or in images.
Search engine robots can only read text on your source code so if you
present important words in Flash movies and images rather than textual
form, your search engine ranking will be affected dramatically.

Use meta tags accordingly on each and every page of your site so that
search engine robots know at first glance what that particular page is
about and whether or not to index it. By using meta tags, you are
making the search engine robot's job easier so they will crawl and
index your site more frequently.

Stop using wrong HTML tags like <font> to style your page. Use CSS
(Cascading Style Sheets) instead because they are more effective and
efficient. By using CSS, you can eliminate redundant HTML tags and
make your pages much lighter and faster to load.

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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The Importance of A Good Design

The Importance of A Good Design

Your website is the hub of your online business; it is the virtual
representation of your company whether your company exists physically
or not. When you are doing business online, people cannot see you
physically like how they could if they were dealing with an offline
company. Hence, people do judge you by your covers. This is where a
good design comes in.

Imagine if you are running an offline company. Would you allow your
salespersons to be dressed in shabby or casual clothes when they are
dealing with your customers? By making your staff wear professionally,
you are telling your customers that you do care about quality. This
works simply because first impressions matter.

Similarly, the same case is with your website. If your website is put
together shabbily and looks like a 5 minute "quick fix", you are
literally shouting to your visitors that you are not professional and
you do not care for quality.

On the opposite, if you have a totally professional looking website
layout, you are giving your visitors the perception that you have
given meticulous attention to every detail and you care about
professionalism. You are organised, focused and you really mean
business.

On the other hand, you should also have anything related to your
company well designed. From business cards to letterheads to
promotional brochures, every little bit matters. This is because as
you grow your business, these items become the face of your business.
Once again, think of the "salesperson dressed shabbily" anology, and
you will get my point.

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites

Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites

Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as
Macromedia compiles more and more great features into Flash, we can
only predict there will be more and more flash sites around the
Internet. However, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated
and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple
breakdown.

The good:

Interactivity

Flash's Actionscript opens up a vast field of possibilities.
Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactve
features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive
Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always
leave visitors coming back for more.

A standardized site

With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser
compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays
differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position
your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as
long as the user has Flash Player installed.

Better expression through animation

In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a
message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a
lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence
smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster
based and hence much larger in size.

The bad and the ugly:

The Flash player

People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can
view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease
considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the
Flash player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in
additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if
he or she doesn't have the player installed.

Site optimization

If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't
be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank
well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your
site.

Loading time

Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to
regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their
patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to
load, the more you risk losing visitors.

The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the
interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture
of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present
simple textual and graphical information.

--
Regards,

Jeyasithar R
(www.CO5.in)

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