Good web design is an important part of developing a successful web page.  Operating a web site can be a difficult and trying experience if you neglect this area, so if your site is having issues, taking a look at your underlying design can help resolve a lot of problems.  By correcting common usability errors you can help your customers, your search engine performance, and your advertising revenue, all while making the process of maintaining and updating your site easier.

            First and foremost, the style sheet for your page is a perfect starting point.  You need to pick a color scheme and stay with it.  Figure out what backgrounds you want and what fonts look good with them and don’t deviate.  In the same vein, use only specific colors for links, active and already clicked, and don’t use those colors for other text.  It is even advisable not to underline any non-hyperlink text, as this confuses visitors.  Choose commonly used font families to avoid display issues, and only use fonts that scale well.  Take a look at your site and think about the style sheet from a customer’s point of view, if anything seems gaudy or wrong, don’t hesitate to make a change.

            Layout is equally important in terms of page design, as many sites lack good organization and contain such pointless distractions as splash pages.  A splash page is usually an annoyance to visitors, and more importantly, helps your site lose search engine performance, since the index page is the most important one for SEO.  Your site should be laid out logically, each page having a specific purpose, and no page trying to do too much.  Do not put too much text or content in one place, keep the design simple, that way your customer can access what they want without having to read through unrelated text.

            While font, color, and layout are all extremely important, the most important part of proper usability is making sure the user can intuitively access ever part of the site they need.  This may involve a menu with dropdowns or a more simple means of navigation, but without this important aspect of site design users will lose interest because they do not wish to search the site for what you should have made easy to access.  More important links should be first or easiest to access, and hopefully your users will be able to find what they need.

            With these changes, your site can become much more effective at drawing in customers and serving their needs.  Without, your site won’t attract return visits and your customers will be confused and unlikely to use you.  Once your site is functioning properly, it is time to move on to more detail oriented changes, like search engine optimization and targeted marketing, but you cannot reach these steps until you cover this basic one.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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    Web 2.0 is a phenomenon that has occurred, as a process of evolving technology and growing broadband internet access, across the internet.  The transition represents growth from an internet with limited resources intended to facilitate communication to a repository for nearly endless content.  This, combined with a change from emphasis on large companies making site and content to individuals making content and social networking.  These changes are affecting how people interact in the real world and where they go on the web.  Suddenly Myspace and Facebook are fertile grounds for advertising, reaching millions of consumers.  Google is increasingly a way for individuals to monetize their sites for advertising, and in general the economics of the internet have changed.
    With these transitions, it is important to stay well versed in the up and coming aspects of Web 2.0.  Flikr, Digg, Technorati, Del.ici.ous and other sites are becoming how users browse the internet, by letting their peers guide them.  That means that succeeding on the internet is less and less how you sell yourself and more and more what you’re hawking.  The web is getting smarter and there are less and less ways to fight to the top without actually being the best.  But this is bad news for more than just mediocre websites, the big movers and shakers have to keep up and stay dominant in order to maintain their success.  But this also means that if you have a good idea it can take off quickly and reach a lot more people.  The environment is constantly changing and presenting new opportunities.
    The web is settling into a position as central to many people’s lives.  Because of this there is an ever expanding market for content creators.  It is a perfect time to develop an idea or to share your artistic creations, and its never been easier.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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Syndicating your article is definitely a topic that is up for discussion. It is one of those topics that has people who sit on both sides of the fence and a handful who are right in the middle.

Here we will discuss both pros and cons of syndicating your article. After learning about both sides of the issue you will be able to decide which side of the fence you would like to sit on when it comes to syndicating your article.

We shall start with the pros of syndicating your article. One is that there is a brand-name awareness that occurs. Your company’s name becomes well known when your company’s name is published on many web sites and newsletters all over the web. A second pro is that visitors are attracted to your site. People read your articles on other web sites and then go to your site in hopes that they will find articles that are similar. The third pro to syndicating your article is that your Page Rank is increased on Google. The more sites your article is syndicated on the higher your Page Rank will be.

Now that we have looked into the positive aspects of syndicating articles let us look at the cons or the problems that can occur. One problem is that your article can easily become obsolete. Few articles are written on topics that never change. When you syndicate your article to various sites the control is easily lost. Your article could easily be on hundreds of different sites and it would be virtually impossible to know exactly which sites it is on. It is not so easy to just go in and update your article. Your reputation can then be damaged because you do not have up-to-date information out there. Another problem with syndication your article is that the webmasters who have your article on their site sometimes think that it is okay to edit your article in any way that they see fit. Yet another problem that frequently occurs is mirror pages. Google does not like mirror pages and gives mirror pages a Page Rank of zero. Therefore if your articles are all syndicated then your web page would be considered a mirror and would receive a Page Rank of zero.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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