How to style heavy content websites

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It is already well known that that content plays a truly vital role in the development of a website, at least as far as search engine optimization and appealing to website visitors are concerned. However, as websites grow around their constantly expanding content bases, it can be difficult to come up with a website style or template that is accommodating. Here are some basic tips for learning how to style heavy content websites for better visibility, better maneuverability and user friendliness.

The first thing to know is that both visual appeal and functionality are absolutely vital when it comes to styling a website. If you have a constantly growing collection of website content and are looking to style your website accordingly, you need to find a healthy balance between visual appeal and style, and functionality and maneuverability.

If you have a large amount of content on your website, then it is vital that you provide a site map to your visitors. This will benefit you in two different ways: First, it will make sure that search engine spiders can more readily find all of the content on your website. Second, it will help to make sure that human visitors can find the content pages that they are looking for, even when the navigation on your website prevents them from finding the pages that they seek. Continue reading →

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Outsourcing is on the rise – is it worth it?

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Outsourcing is the process of subcontracting with a third-party agency or company that provides a specific service using minimal time and costs.   Organizations (clients) and suppliers enter into a legally binding contractual agreement for a specified amount of time.  The contract defines the transferred services and both parties agree to use whatever people, assets, and other resources are available to fulfill the contract within that particular timeframe. The entire process first begins with the client identifying what is to be outsourced and searching for and choosing an outsourcing supplier.  A proposal is suggested and a supplier is chosen based on location and the lowest possible cost to the client.

There are many organizations that are already utilizing outsourcing.  Call centers, customer service centers, web developers, marketers, writers, and designers (and now lawyers) are only a few already tapping into this business.

But, is it worth it?

Well, let’s talk benefits: There is a great deal of benefits, but for the sake of time, we will focus on the three more prominent benefits: cost, convenience, and service.
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Top Job Boards for Freelance Web Designers and Developers

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Are you a freelancer in search of projects? Nowadays freelance jobs are growing rapidly across the internet, so you won’t find it difficult to get one. However, while these jobs are readily available, you should also take extra caution when getting them since some of them might be a form of scam. Thus, to avoid being in this kind of situation, you must search for freelance jobs at the most recommended sites. Some of them are listed below: Continue reading →

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What your image says to your clients

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The style in which you present yourself at work clues your employer in on both your personality as well as your work ethic.  Unless your job requires you to wear a uniform, choosing work attire becomes more than a simple task of picking out clothes.  It is ultimately a way to make a statement. Follow the key pointers listed below to ensure you are making the right statement before you head out the door in the morning.

Casual Doesn’t Mean Sloppy
Dressing casually to work can be confusing as to what is accepted and what is not. Whether your company is lenient enough to allow casual dress throughout the year or simply once a week the policy can be baffling.  When a casual dress code is allowed, some key factors should be kept in mind. Continue reading →

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What Exactly is Web 2.0?

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We have all been hearing of Web 2.0, as it is mentioned in almost every activity done in the internet today. Indeed it has been one of today’s buzz words, but what exactly does Web 2.0 mean?
Web 2.0: A Trend in the World Wide Web

While many others think that Web 2.0 is a new version of a certain internet application, it is actually term coined to describing the changing trends in internet technology through enhanced web design, collaboration and functionality and secure information sharing. Web 2.0 served as the evolution of the internet from being mainly an information superhighway into web-based communities via hosted services such as blogs, social networking sites, video sharing, wikis and folksonomies. The term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web itself, and not to a specific technical specification.

In Web 2.0, the internet has become more interactive and endowed with a more human technology. The main target of Web 2.0 is to strengthen global communities via live communication, and as well improve software developments via continuous updates to accommodate the changing styles of people and societies worldwide. People can therefore build communities out of the interactive facilities and run software-applications through a browser. Examples of these include rich media such as OpenLaszlo, Flex and Ajax. Continue reading →

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How a website can benefit your company

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Website can benefit your company!

Feel free to show this article to your clients!

In order to prosper in today’s market, it is imperative that your business has an Internet presence.  Having a website for your company broadens the scope of your business as well as provides a convenient way for your customers to shop.  The ways a website can benefit your company’s goals and objectives are vast.  Listed below are some key reasons to get your website up and running.

Convenience

Consumers today are extremely resourceful when choosing a product to purchase. Most consumers will use the internet to research the product they want to purchase prior to venturing out of their home to buy it.  With a website, a company can list the details of their product online which outlines the specifics of your prospective customer’s desired item.
Once your customer is assured of your products quality, a company website can also provide your customer with the convenience of purchasing the item online. With the ease of shopping at their fingertips, more and more consumers choose to do the bulk of their shopping online.  Your company should not be left out of this e-commerce profit boom. Continue reading →

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Benefits of a being a Freelance Web Designer

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Because of today’s changing trends in career and business, more and more people find it more beneficial to work on a freelance job. Among other things, being a freelancer gives you more space to work, more allowance to be creative, and doesn’t bind you under a company’s rules and regulations. But if you are looking for more reasons on why you should be a freelancer, then check out the perks below: Continue reading →

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Money Management – As a freelancer is it very important to plan ahead

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Proper money management is not a difficult process, but it usually begins with changing your thinking and coming up with new and unique ways to put money away or to get more out of the money that you do have to spend. One of the best ways to manage your money is simply to make your money work for you, which can be done by investing it wisely in investment tools that offer high interest rates, tax breaks or other unique benefits.

One of the most important aspects of proper money management is to have an emergency fund that will be there when you need it. You can begin the creation of your emergency fund simply by putting away a little bit of money for a rainy day whenever you can. If you have trouble finding the money to put away, or if you have trouble leaving it put away, then it would be wise to regard your rainy day money as an obligation rather than a savings.

Put away a pre determined amount of money every two weeks or month depending on how often you receive a paycheck, treating it like a mandatory bill. Once it is put away, this money is “out of sight, out of mind”, and will have a better chance of staying under wraps. Once you have saved up a pre determined amount of money, say $5000 as an example, the next step is to move your money from a traditional savings account into a high interest savings option. Continue reading →

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Make Google Analytics Work for You

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A Detailed Review of Google Analytics

To those engaged in the internet business, Google Analytics (GA) has probably been the most effective tool in optimizing their website’s statistics and tracking incoming traffic into one’s site. So, to take a deeper look, let’s check out what the newly reinvented Google Analytics has to offer:

  1. Advanced Segmentation. Among the most useful features of Google Analytics is advanced segmentation, where you can activate segments such as Visits with Conversions and Paid Traffic. You can also create new custom segments using the segment builder, giving you more freedom to compare segment performance based on the categories that you need. To those who have long been using Google Analytics, this feature can definitely lead them to ways on how to optimize their site’s performance since the current and historic data can be thoroughly compared.
  2. Motion Charts. Motion charts provide you with a multi-dimensional analysis on Google Analytics reports. You can select different metrics for the x-axis, y-axis, bubble size, and bubbly color, and then check out how they interact over time. You can also deselect those metrics you don’t find that important at present, and display data relationships which are not easily monitored in traditional reports.
  3. Custom Reports. While most web analytics applications provide you with standard data reports, Google Analytics meanwhile does more than just provide you with information. It presents the information according to your needs, so that you can easily understand them. Your data is displayed according to how you want it to look with the help of a user-friendly interface which allows you to choose the metrics and get define multiple levels of sub-reports. You can change and reorganize these custom reports anytime you want.
  4. Keyword and Campaign Comparison. Through this feature, you can check and compare your marketing materials ranging from paid links, keywords, ads, affiliate campaigns and email newsletters on different search engines such as Google.
  5. Tracking Code. Probably the most popular feature, the Google Analytics tracking code can be pasted on your site’s pages so you can constantly monitor your site’s performance real time.
  6. Adwords Integration. Since Google Analytics is integrated with AdWords, you can then search for the most profitable keywords that you can buy and use to promote your business over the web.
  7. Benchmarking. Through benchmarking, you can gauge whether your metrics are producing positive or negative results to that of your industry vertical. You can then compare your key metrics against performance metrics without exposing your data to other sites.
  8. Trend and Date Slider, GeoTargeting. By using these features, you can locate where the bulk of your visitors come from based on geographic locations and varying time zones without losing long term trends.
  9. E-commerce Tracking. Meanwhile, you can identify your revenue sources and trace loyalty and latency metrics and transactions to campaigns and keywords via this feature. You can reach as far back as to when your site has started to become operational.
  10. Email reports. What else completes Google Analytics but up-to-the-minute email reports?

With some of its previous site problems corrected, most users now find it much easier and efficient to use Google Analytics, since the features (especially the ones featured above) do serve their purposes at very minimal downtime. However, despite these new functions that provide outstanding benefits in tracking and monitoring our websites, Google Analytics can still be found with issues, including the following: Continue reading →

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Fixed vs. Liquid Layouts

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When designing a web page, you will stumble upon two different ways on how to do a layout. You can either go for fixed width layouts, in which the width of the whole page is set within a specified numerical value, or liquid layouts, where the width of the page moves depending on how wide the viewer’s browser is.

Both kinds of layouts provide benefits to the web page you are building, but in order to make either or both of them effective, you must first understand the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. Through this information, you can make a sound decision on which method to use.

Fixed Width Layouts

Fixed width layouts, or simply fixed layouts, are the type that begins with a specific size that is designated by the web designer. The layout stays at the specified width, no matter what size the viewer’s browser uses in viewing the page. Fixed layouts give the designer more freedom to work on the page, so that it can adapt with different situations. This kind of layout is preferred mostly by designers who have a background in print media, since it remains consistent across different browsers and open doors to last minute adjustments and improvements.

Liquid Layouts

A liquid layout on the other hand is the type of layout that relies on the percentages of the viewer’s browser size. It is more flexible and adapts to the size of the window, even the viewer changes the browser’s size while viewing the site. Liquid layouts provide an efficient use of the space in any screen resolution, and they remain consistent with the size and page weights regardless of who views the page. This kind of layout is chosen by designers who want to make the most out of the little space given for them to work on.

Pros and Cons of Fixed and Liquid Layouts

With fixed layouts, the most prominent benefit you can get is the freedom to build pages that will look the same regardless of who is looking at them. Another important benefit is that fixed width elements will not dominate the text on smaller browsers, since the width of the whole page will include those elements. Lastly, the scan length will not be affected on large segments of text, regardless of the size of the web browser. Continue reading →

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