One of the simplest rules in web design is the fact that a website has been designed for its users. While there are several designing errors that have been committed for a long time now, the ones that deter users from having a pleasant experience when they visit a website is the worst of the lot.

So here are a few errors that are considered to be web design no-no’s and that should be avoided at all costs:

#1: The Lack of Simple Search

Search engines these days accommodate for the usual typos, hyphens, plurals and so on and so forth in trying to get at what the user is looking for. There shouldn’t be any reason why searching for information at a particular site has to be difficult. Ensure that a simple ‘Search’ box is available at your site.

#2: The Use of PDF Files

One of the most irritating instances when one browses is when they come across a PDF file as it completed breaks their flow. Most of the time, PDF documents on the web will display as tiny fonts and the functionality of smooth scrolling is compromised. So, avoid PDF files and stick to web pages.

#3: Too Much Text

When a user opens a web page and finds a large block of text, the task of reading become arduous, painful and boring, to say the least. Remember that you are writing for the web and not for print so using methods such as sub-headers, bulleted lists, short paragraphs and a simple writing style is the best way to go.

One key aspect to knowing how well your website is doing, in terms of the rankings, is by making use of SEO ranking tools.

While most people are aware of the fact that Google uses an algorithm to determine which sites deserve a higher ranking in the search results, it is still unknown as to which factors actually determine a site’s ranking as it is being changed around so much.

To say the least, getting your website in the first few search results is something that needs to be experimented with, and thus, most entrepreneurs must understand that this takes a while.
Thus, in order to know whether or not the changes that you are making works, you have to use a tracking tool, one of which is the Google SERP Tool.

Yet the benefit of this tool is not just being able to monitor your website’s rankings but to also monitor how your competitors are doing. In being able to do so – you should be able to keep track of what your competitors are doing right if they are ahead of you.
Even if you are way ahead of them in the search rankings, it’s still good to know what they are up to in order to stay ahead.

One important thing to keep in mind is that you should use this tool only if your website is doing fairly well when it comes to search engine rankings. Or else, it will not be able to track the effects of the changes that you make to your website.

Content writing for the internet has very different demands as opposed to writing for a newspaper or even in writing a book. If you might be thinking as to why this is so, you have to remember that it is the audience that counts for a lot when writing such articles.

One of the biggest factors when it comes to writing for the web is the attention span of the individual who is reading what you have written. If you are a seasoned writer you will already know that this is significantly lesser as opposed to reading a book or a newspaper.

So here are three things to keep in mind when writing for the internet:

#1: Put the most important information upfront

Since readers over the internet have short attention spans, they almost always quickly scan what you write, so it is a good idea to write the most important right at the beginning of your article or write-up. A writing technique that is commonly used for press releases (known as the ‘inverted pyramid’) best exemplifies this style of writing. In putting up the most important information at the top, you will ensure that the reader will get the information that he or she is looking for as soon as possible and in this way you will help him or her to grasp the topic of writing faster.

#2: Keep the word limit to 700 words

Just like everyone dislikes a person who talks but never listens, writing an article that touches a 1000 words for the internet is a no-no because people generally won’t spend that much time reading your work as opposed to people who buy bi-weekly magazines. Of course, if your article is interesting enough and engages readers then this rule might not necessarily apply.

#3: Write crisply leaving out unnecessary words or sentences

Another irritating habit that can cause readers to stop reading your articles is by using words that are tough to understand, long sentences and so on and so forth. Remember you are writing for the common man so you have to remember to keep it short and simple.

While there’s no doubt that you should have a website for your business and which can cause you to miss out on profitability if not considered, you should also be able to find the best web hosting service for yourself.
And in order to do this, here is a list of questions that might help you to do so:
#1: Tech Support
a. What kind of tech support do they provide?
b. Do they charge extra for tech support?
#2: Security
a. What kind of protection do they offer for the site?
b. What measures have they taken in order to ensure that unauthorized users will not compromise the safety of your website?
#3: Storage
a. How much storage is offered with their package?
b. Do they offer extra megabytes as well that will facilitate the growth of your business?
#4: Domains
a. Is the web hosting company going to register your domain name?
b. Will they charge extra for doing so?
#5: Design
a. Do they have a website builder that is easy to use?
b. Will you have ‘control’ over updates and content changes?
#6: Email
a. Will you domain name be included for the email address that you obtain?
b. Are there any extra email addresses (and aliases) that they provide, and if so, at what cost?
#7: Value
a. How is what they are offering better than the competition?
b. If so, provide examples of why their product superior than their competitors?

There are a lot to learn about managed hosting, especially if you are new in the online business. Managed hosting is costly and before you decide on availing this type of service, you should be able to get all the information you need for you to be able to know the essentials of this service.

One of the things that managed hosting offers is the monitoring of all your servers. This is done to make sure that there are no interruptions to the connection and operation of your website. Also, technical support is available anytime you need it, especially in case of server downtimes.

As an added extra, the resources of your server will also be carefully monitored. This will ensure you that your applications or programs do not consume too much memory to avoid lag times. Each of these alerts and notifications are usually sent via email.

Managed hosting will also monitor your log files regularly. This will make sure that your site is monitored each day for intrusions and hacks. This will free your mind of any security threat that is posed on your site.

Not only does managed hosting protect your site, they also protect your files as well. The hosting service will be the one to filter all the software in your website for defects and the hosting service will also protect your files from certain viruses.

These are some of the essentials offered by managed hosting to ensure that the operations of the business are on going.

Guest Post By Sharon Housley

Subscribe to an RSS Feed

There are generally two different kinds of tools that allow visitors to subscribe to RSS feeds. These tools are known as aggregators, or RSS news readers. As the content of an RSS feed changes, the RSS reader/aggregator will update itself automatically and display the new RSS feed items.

There are two types of aggregators — desktop aggregators, and web-based aggregators…

Desktop Aggregators

These are downloadable desktop applications that contain all of the RSS subscriptions. In most cases, you can group and categorize the RSS feeds that you subscribe to. When open, the RSS desktop reader will update all the RSS feeds that you have subscribed to, and new posts will appear in the RSS reader.

Web-Based Aggregators

Web-based RSS aggregators are applications that reside online, through which you can subscribe to RSS feeds. The feeds are displayed on a webpage using a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. For example, one of the more popular web-based aggregators is Google Reader.

How To Subscribe To An RSS Feed

In order to subscribe to an RSS feed, look for the RSS icon on the websites you visit. Find the URL for the RSS feed, and paste it into your RSS reader and subscribe to it.

Many web browsers, such as Firefox, include auto-discovery features which will automatically detect RSS feeds. With those browsers, you will see an RSS icon in the left-hand side of the URL box — just click the icon to obtain the link to the RSS feed.

Once subscribed, the aggregator or reader will periodically check to see if the RSS feed has been updated.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll audio recording and editing software.

There’s been a new bot visiting my site lately. I think it might be a bot Google’s using for the next Pagerank update. It will be 3-4 weeks before we know if it’s right or not. Check out your site and see if there’s been a new Search Engine Bot, that’s visitored your site lately. Do this buy logging into awstats then look down the page until you see info about “Robots/Spiders visitors (Top 25) ”

“Only Time will tell”