What will really help your web site? What idea, or feature will generate the traffic and sales you are looking for. Multimedia is a very effective tool, used with discretion and purpose. The old law of 'just because we can do a thing, doesn't mean that we should do a thing' holds true in this area.

Working with D-A-L.com, I discovered that creating short flash tutorials for particular subjects, was very effective. These tutorials show the tasks and computer fixes that I describe in the text of the article. They are not a substitute for good, clear writing, but they are definitely an enhancement. On top of this, they generate a better response than articles with out them.

The trick is to know what is helping your goal and what is not. The goal of your web site determines what is there, or at least it should. If your goal is to make money, through page views and ad-clicks, then you will use multi-media much differently than if your goal is for direct retails sales, or real estate sales which again would be a much different use.

Real Estate sales is a perfect example of what I'm trying to get at here. A few years back, around 2000 - 2001, a big idea was to create panoramic views of the rooms in a house that was going on the market. These 360 degree view files were put on web sites as a type of virtual tour. Problem is, they never really enhanced the sales. Buyers didn't want to spend the time on the web site looking at these fish lens views of the room, they wanted to see the house.

Same idea, with hotel rooms however works much better. Virtual tours are a great idea for particular items, and particular uses. Selling a house isn't one of them.

So, before you spend several thousand dollars on a great idea, make sure that it fits your goal, and your web site.

Glenn's Desk, Web Content, Web Design

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We talked before about the need for professionally written content on your website, but what we are talking about here is the need for content which will attract those looking for information which relates to the services or products of your website. For example, if you are selling lingerie on your website, then having articles relating to massage, oils, types of lingerie, gift giving, size issues, and other information which relates to lingerie itself as well as topics of interest to those who may also be interested in lingerie will attract even more people.

While it is true that many people may be searching for lingerie (886150 searches in November for lingerie), it is also true that other interests would gather more possible hits and sales. 724222 in November for massage, 22424 in November for massage oil, 29032 in November for romantic gift.

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Web Content, Web Design

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Creating and Maintaining Sitemaps

First off, what is a site map? Generally when we are talking about a sitemap file for a website we are discussing a index file listing all of the pages on your website which you desire to have searched by Google and other engines. The file is typically a HTML file, and called ‘sitemap.html’. The pages are listed on this HTML file with hyperlinks to each page file. Very simple. Sitemap files like these are created for both human benefit (allowing your visitors to scan the website looking for information), and for the search engines. Most of the major search engines look for these files and use them if the robots find them.

The other type of sitemap file is an XML index which Google also calls a SiteMap file. This file is strictly for the Googlebot to use and index your file from. These files would typically be created by the professional you are using to create your website. You can read more about these in an article I wrote here.

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Web Content, Web Design

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Marketing a website, any website, is basically the same as marketing anything else, anywhere else. Customers are still human, they still respond the same way to particular levels of communication, and react predictably to certain situations. For example the typical consumer will take personal references about a product far stronger than the best commercial on television, whether that personal reference is from someone we know or not.

Most website owners tend to believe their website must be listed high on the search engines for the site to be noticed and make a profit for their business. In reality what needs to happen is that they are noticed and found. While search engines are a very good way of getting this result to occur they are certainly not the only way, or even the most effective way.

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Web Content, Web Design

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