ONE Step to a Successful Homepage

It's funny the terms we use on the internet don't you think?

We describe our activities as Surfing, Searching, Browsing, and the internet as the Web, Engines, Spiders and Crawling etc

Let's redefine a few things shall we...So how about...?

• Surf > > Decide

• Search > > Find

• Browse > > Answer

And as for webs, engines and spiders, I mean it doesn't sound very friendly does it? Anybody have arachnophobia? I mean do these images reflect what you do...?

I didn't think so..."Alright Julian, so what does this have to do with successful homepages..?"

Ah ha! Well believe it or not, the internet was built some time ago; the principles that websites, web pages and online businesses adopted at that time no longer work; and if they do - not very well.

The great thing about the internet however, is that because it's based on technology we can track everything down to the last click - and have been doing for years (how exciting I hear you cry ;-)

So what does this mean for you - the business owner? Well it means that we now have a pretty good idea of what you should and shouldn't do.

So let's cut to the chase shall we...I'm going to tell the #1 mistake most companies make with their homepage

Which one is your homepage?

Get it? Most homepages give their visitors too many options and oftentime the visitor doesn't know what to do; which door to go through?

They might click the biggest button or most interesting link; but not necessarily what you really wanted them to do.

Q: So what to do?

A: Give them one major task to complete at a time...Simple

As an example, if you look at B&Q's website they give you a very simple choice to make which then segments the visitor to a relevant page. Similarly on the PureOnlineGenius homepage (toot toot) we present a number of our services on the front page with very little blurb and let people make a simple choice.

In summary, think about the reason your website exists (is it sales, leads, loyalty, content, branding etc) and consider the steps someone takes to satisfy those needs..Then start from the beginning of that process.

Consider...you can only click one link, button or image at a time. Make it easy for your visitors and in turn they may reward you with their business.

Getting a Grasp On Search

UK being in the forefront of the IT sector has undoubtedly doubled its chance of utilising the online business as one area of both for growth of its GNP as well as employment potential. Search engine optimisation would no doubt pave the way for more profitable online business.

All across the world, be it a remote third world country or even bigger power centres, like the US and the UK SEO is the buzz word in technology circles today. A revolution of sorts have occurred in the internet marketing arena with the introduction of search machines which are basically a software program so designed that it searches information on the World Wide Web which otherwise would never have seen the light of the day. This information may consist of web pages, images and other types of data. Some search engines also extract data available in the news books, databases or open directories. Unlike web directories which are maintained by humans mainly by their own efforts, search engines operate algorithmically or with a mixture of algorithmic and human effort over the internet.

Regardless of the location in the world, Asia, America or UK SEO can target different kinds of searches and these include image search, local search, and industry specific vertical search engines. Search engine optimisation allows for editing the content of a website and HTML coding in order to increase its relevance to specific keywords. Besides, it also removes whatever barriers are there to the web inducing activities of a search engine. There are many SEO tactics that are incorporated into websites. One of these tactics is used or website development and design. Another method is using link farms whereby search engines reject or skip those techniques and remove those unwanted ones automatically.

In order to search for data in the web, search engines use a web crawler, commonly known also as web spider, web robot, worms etc. It is in fact, a program so written that it would seek out only that information which it is pre planned to carry out. For instance, a crawler would seek out HTML files and discard others. Some crawlers download as much particular data or resource as possible from a website. Again, some crawlers focus on the similarity of a page to a given query or questionnaire. These are usually called focused crawlers. Then there are others which are programmed to go deep enough in the web in order to search files that invisible and can be brought to surface only by giving a series of queries to the database. They are usually called crawlers of the deep web.

Yet, complete dependence on search engines can have disastrous effect on the company's sales if the search engine optimiser suddenly stops traffic to its website. Again, there is no guarantee that the search engine would not channel the traffic flow elsewhere. There are also numerous instances of search engines charging for specialised functions for what was once free organic search.

It is quite apparent that whether it is in the US or the UK SEO is a unique tool designed to be web friendly especially for the sale and services of products. Online marketers never had it so easy.

Is Handy Manny a genius or what?

Is Handy Manny a genius or what have a look - http://ping.fm/TYIFp