Top 3 Google keyword tools for better ranking

We, webmasters run websites or blog and we update its content regularly. But without traffic your blog is just like a graveyard. So we need to do some analysis and research before writing a article.
Google offers some keywords tool for Adwords Advertiser but we can also use them to know popular queries and current trends on the search engine around the world and easily find What type of information people are looking.
But how to know good keywords for more traffic and higher ranking.
1) For a particular site, Visit the Search based tool and it will ask you about the site URL and the word or phrase. After the appropriate query, it will show you a complete table with Monthly searches, Ad bid price and more but it is specifically related to the site you have entered.
2) Now if you writing a new article then you need to check the search engine traffic related to particular keyword. This can be done with Google Traffic Estimator.
Just enter the phrase and Estimate on the basis of the country geographic location.
Well I looked for ‘IPAD’ and I got around 7,480,000 hits just in USA. So you can imagine the world traffic.
3) Google Insight is the Father of all the previously mentioned tools. It displays the result in the form of monthly graphs, traffic heat map, countries based popularity and shows highly searched other keywords related to a particular entered phrase. So it is better and more professional.
You can better customize results based upon the year timeline graph, categories, regions, popularity history. You can search multiple keywords at a particular time and make a comparison between them. Many SEO firms use it to get higher SERP. I suggest you to try it out.
I don’t think there is any need to use other 3rd party software because everything is available so easily from the big G itself

Blogging And Forum Traffic - Driving Traffic To Your Website One Posted A Time

Unless you're completely new to the Internet and you're reading this article on day one, then there's a good chance you already know what blogs and forums are. What many people are not aware of, is that both blogs and forums can be a considerable force for driving traffic to your website. More than anything, blogs and forums are about community. It is this community that will bring traffic to your website based on the frequency, and especially the quality of your posts.
Just in case you are new, blogs and forums.
In essence a blog or forum simply allows someone to post content, questions, or topics of discussion on somebody else's website. This means that you can post to these websites based on any restrictions website owners have placed upon that website. Blogs are usually articles or helpful posts as related to the topic of the block. Forums are usually more diverse and as they cover a larger range of topics geared to a larger community.
Why should you be using blogs and forums for traffic for your website?
One of the main reasons to create a blog or forums is to provide information to readers. Sometimes these can be specific to a website you own. However for this article we are not talking about owning blogs or forums as much as posting on sites owned by other people.
Posting on blogs often allows you the ability to include a link to your website. This will depend on the owner of the site and the quality of your post. If you are posting relevant and related content that the blog owner will approve of, then the owner may let you keep the link in the post. If not, the site owner can either delete your post or even ban your account to prevent you from posting at all.
Forums are much the same principle as blogs. Posts can be moderated, removed, and accounts can be banned for making posts that are unwelcome. Forums may have a much larger and more responsive community reaction when posting things that go against the community, such as short spam comments, flame posts, or completely unrelated topics.
What is the best way to get website traffic from blogs and forums?
The best way to get traffic from these types of sites is to join the community, and be an active part of that community. The best option is to not advertise directly in your posts. Most users of blogs and forums do not like to be actively advertise to in the content they are trying to read. Blogs normally link your username to a given website, or to your profile where you can post your link for people to find. Forums also have a profile, but most will allow the use of a signature file at the end of each and every post that you make. This signature file can include links to your websites that you want people to visit. If you are an active member of the community, then you will see an increase of traffic to your websites simply by posting quality useful content and helping other people with their problems.

Traffic generation an be as complex or as simple as you make it. It can also be as cheap as free and more costly then you can imagine. Consider which traffic method is best to increase site traffic and stick with it until your site is earning income.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6951740

Increase Web Traffic - Here's How

You big concern is how to increase web traffic,and that's a big one for all webmasters too. You are burning to get instant traffic, but realise that long lasting traffic requires methods that can be sustained and, in some cases, will sustain themselves after a while. Bravo! That's a very practical, professional and ultimately successful approach.
I have written about the methods you can use to increase website traffic before. Whilst these are successful ways of increasing traffic most people fail, not because of the methods themselves, but because of the way they are applied.
Do not start to build lasting website traffic until you have a website that is built to 'look the business'. That means it must contain a number of key elements or the search engines will give it lower priority. You can achieve this by such things as the selection of your domain name, the way the pages and posts on your site are named and the use of the META tags such as Page Title, Description, and Keywords.
Moving on there are a few essential pages every good website must have. First you must have an About Us page; this says who you are and how you can be contacted. Next you need a Contact Us page; you can use a website form, some helpdesk type software or just and email link. Then a Privacy Policy page that says how you will handle personal data and finally a Terms of Use page. Add a Disclaimer page if you are an affiliate marketer.
Now that you have a properly set up site with good foundations you can move on to the promotional tasks. You should always aim to do this in what must appear, to the search engines at least, to be a natural way. However, if you go off like a whirlwind promoting your website in every way you can think so as to try and drive early success, and then sit back to see what happens, that shows all the hallmarks of a desperate scammer. If a site is to be regarded as valuable and worth being lifted higher in the rankings then it needs to demonstrate that it has regular attention, so pick a pace that you can maintain.
Now we come to the crunch. And this is where many fail. Maintaining the pace. It's not technical, it's not difficult, but it does take both planning and then dedication to carry your plan through. Traffic will be slow to arrive at first; it seems discouraging and this is where you need your determination. But if you have done your research and know that your target is achievable, then you have every incentive to keep going. As soon as the visitors start to arrive your efforts will be well rewarded.
So now you know the secret put aside a bit of time every day to do your research and increasing your website traffic.Your reward will be an increasing number visitors to your website. Your visitors will see the value you have put into your website and will point their friends to it. This viral marketing is another way to increase website traffic as an indirect result of your efforts.
To Your Success!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6949870

How to Get Backlinks for Blog Posts

onnes of people every day set up blogs hoping to make money online via affiliate sales or selling their own products directly. Many put a significant amount of time into making their blog look really nice and getting the words on the page just right in order to try and maximise their sales. Eventually, and after not too much time if you are wise, it is time to address the dreaded question - how to get backlinks for blog posts that you have written?
Many bloggers feel that the problem is that there are too many options when it comes to generating the backlinks required to bring the traffic required for decent sales and profit. There is article marketing, blog commenting, forum commenting, video creation just to name a few. Each requires copious amounts of time to both learn how to do properly or large sums of money should you intend to pay others to do it for you. Depending on how competitive the keywords are that you are targeting, you could spend hundreds or thousands of dollars each month on content creation and submission services to get your keywords ranking well.
There are those that have been in the game a bit longer that will tell you that the problem is not that there are a lot of options but that many of the techniques you are taught just plain don't work these days. They did once, maybe in 2004, but the Internet landscape changes significantly and frequently and unless you are dedicated to understanding the latest methods you can quickly be left behind and the methods you use be rendered obsolete.
So what do you do? You still need to get backlinks to get traffic to get sales. But many find that they do not have the time to learn what they need to know to be the best in their niche. And wasn't the point of creating the blog and trying to make more money online so that you could have both more money and time in the long run? If you want people to create content for you, submit it to the right place, create blog comments for you etc. and you want it all done in a legitimate and effective way you will likely be forking out a lot of money for the services, right?
Well maybe not. You see the answer might not be for you to learn how to get backlinks to blog posts directly. It is likely to be the more indirect but effective route in learning how to find an effective service where you are dealing with genuine people who will do the work of getting backlinks and therefore traffic for you at an affordable price. Stress free success waits not for those who outsource individual components of the process of generating backlinks and then tries to project manage them all to work together, but for those who outsource the entire process to a trusted and successful backlinks service provider.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6952375

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website Fast

So you have a website and now you need to generate customers. What is the fastest way to drive traffic to your website for the best results? There are MANY ways to do that but the easiest and fastest way is to publish articles -- either through a blog or an article such as the one you are reading here.
First, understand that it is a numbers game. Simply put, whether you are an affiliate marketer with many quality items to offer fo different tastes, or offering a single product to a niche band of users, the more traffic you generate, the more sales you will make, period.
Two things are needed for article writing: keywords and writing skills. Keywords can be a complicated area but the short explanation is that keywords are what brought you to this page. If you punched in the search term "how to drive traffic to your website" into Google, you were brought almost directly to this page. "How to drive traffic to your website" is the keyword phrase. What you need to drive traffic to YOUR site is a program that will tell you HOW MUCH web traffic uses WHAT specific keywords, phrases, or search terms to locate YOUR specific product(s). Once you find which words or phrases generate the most activity, you can use those magic keywords to compose articles. That way, when someone searches for the keywords you've chosen to write about, they will read the article and ideally, be given a link to your site, where hopefully, they will like what they find. Many different keyword programs are offered through the internet and would give you the information you need.
If you do not consider yourself a writer, not to worry. You can outsource the articles. Many sites on the internet will offer a writing service. I would be sure that all articles are submitted to you before publication to make sure the articles are accurate and well written. In a short time, you should be well satisfied that the writers you use are competently composing articles the way YOU want them done.
If you have your own site that serves more of a niche marketplace, newsletters are an excellent additional way to drive traffic. Again, using keywords in your newsletter would be a powerful way to attract new visitors. Perhaps you would have one free newsletter with more general information and one for subscribers with more detail. A keyword program would help you find the more popular search terms so that YOUR writing would be listed first on the pages of Google.
Finally, don't labor under the misconception that if you have capital, you should not use article writing to generate traffic when there are so many other ways available. Don't forget; you are trying to leverage both time and money here and this is a VERY inexpensive way to drive massive amounts of web traffic your way. if you have the capital, outsource the article writing if you like, and move on to other areas of traffic generation. and market penetration.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6947459

Create Content - Sustained Web Site Traffic Tips Revealed

Are you a small enterprise that's drowning under the weight of advertising bills. You're not alone, many, many businesses have a similar problems. Suppose that I told you the resolution to your problem is both free and easy.
The perfect solution could in fact be as simple as to create content. I know what your thinking, "what type of content?", "How will that get me traffic?." Well relax! All will soon be revealed.
Since the arrival of the internet, whole new industries have emerged that utilise the principles that I will be speaking of. How do you think Google, Yahoo, YouTube and each and every single successful online organisation make their money. They use this same principle! Want to know what the best thing is? You can as well!
That's right! The utilisation of this principle doesn't really count on gaining access to a small fortune and you don't have to be a holder of a degree. All it takes is a passion and knowledge in an interest. For quite a few people this may be our work or hobby.
Create Great Content
Content, may be several things. For the search engines, content is the search results it gives to the users. It may also be Video, Music or some other medium that conveys information. But for most web surfers content principally means the written word.
The essence of providing great content is to ensure you have the basics right for instance spelling, grammar and punctuation. Most word processes have great in-built tools for this purpose or you can easily find free tools on-line for this.
Using a lot of white space and keeping paragraphs short usually between 2 and 5 sentences and pictures help in both drawing in your reader and aids in making the content simpler to read.
Backing up your statements by giving links to outside resources will also help in delivering credibility and making you a specialist within your field.
The next task is to produce content that you are interested by. Because the simplest way to project enthusiasm in your topic would be to have the voice of experience come through, which in fact is essential to adding life to your content.
Also to remember your audience when you write, don't pitch beyond or below your target market. However remember that the majority of people read easiest at level of a thirteen year old.
Tell a story, answer readers problems and ask questions to engage them. On this page for instance I recognize that the majority of my readers have or are interested in some type of small enterprise. In addition they have an interest in finding out how to create content to aid their site get a boost in traffic.
Create Sought After Content
The greatest written content on the planet won't deliver you traffic if there is no demand for it. With that said there are many methods to determine if the content you would like to write for your businesses website or blog has any demand. This is why Market Research is important and without this you probably won't get very far.
There are numerous tools free and paid for on the web to assist you in doing your market and keyword research and I have tried both. All I can tell you, is from my experience the free ones cost nothing for a reason. That does not imply that a few of them aren't any good. It just means they limited by their effectiveness.
In either case if you're serious in increasing targeted traffic to your blog via content, getting an effective keyword research tool is vital. I would recommend doing your own research and look up "Keyword Research Tools" on the net.
Creating Free and Valuable Content Is The Key To Going Viral
Giving anything away is scary to a lot of businesses. But when you think about it, it's really quite a clever means of marketing. Users of the internet have woken up to the fact there are a great many people on the web that simply want peoples money in return for pretty useless products. That is why when you provide high quality products (which can include helpful information in articles) to your reader, especially when it is free. They are much more likely to tell their friends about you and the neat thing is you stand out as the hero?
This is known as going viral and what it makes easier for readers to tell their friends about you are social media buttons. That's why smart bloggers will usually provide various social media buttons on their content such as the buttons provided by Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media platforms.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6924556

How does Google Work? SEO Understanding!

Well that question in the world of "Online Marketing" I guess is like asking "is there a God?"
The truthful answer is - no one knows for sure.
But there are many similarities. Like God, Google is seen as "all knowing" - as both are looked upon as having all the answers to our questions.
And because so many people turn to search engines like Google for answers, is precisely why they have become such an effective instrument in the "toolbox" of the "well informed" Internet Marketer.
There are plenty of clues as to how search engines rank the importance of website content. We know that all search engines like content - it's why they exist.
There are many myths about search engines that need to be dispelled - let's take a look at one of them here.
It takes a long time to get new web site content onto the coveted - page one of Google.
This myth is simply not true. I use Google to drive FREE TRAFFIC to brand new content on my website or squeeze pages within weeks of it being posted, using various techniques such as "long tail keywords" - this is a 4 or more worded "key phrase".
The opposite of a "long tail keyword" is the more common and highly competitive "short tail keyword" which is a 2 or 3 word "key phrase".
Short tail keywords have higher competition, and are more difficult to achieve a page 1 position.
I then use the Google keyword tool to gauge a specific "minimum number" of not less than 2000 popular global monthly searches, for my chosen "long tail key word".
The next step is to analyze the number of websites competing for the much sought after page 1 ranking.
You do this by Googling your "long tail keyword", ensuring you put quotation marks before and after the key phrase, this tells Google to only give results for web pages that have an exact match for your key phrase.
Lets say your keyword phrase is "black leather motorcycle jacket" Google will only give results for pages that contain all four words, in that exact order.
When the results appear, Google will also display the number of web pages in its database that are showing your keyword phrase. This is shown just below the search box. If the number is around 70,000 or less, then you have found a "long tail keyword" that has low competition. What this means is that with a little time and effort, you have a good chance of getting your new content onto page 1.
You can discover untapped powerful key phrases too that have low competition and high global monthly searches. These can then be seeded into your web page content, article, forum post or blog.
Use the key phrase 3 or 4 times but no more, in a 300 to 400-word article, blog or web page.
In a matter of weeks your "long tail keyword optimized content" can be ranking on page 1 of Google in the top 10 position. Bringing you a regular supply of free traffic.
All you need to do is spend time researching the keywords and writing content.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6951821

The SEO Tips And Techniques You May Have Forgotten

In ensuring that your website receives the best possible rankings on the various search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, it is important to implement an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Those who are not constantly practicing SEO are prone to forget some of the lesser publicized and known tips and techniques, but they are just as beneficial as the others you use all the time:
1. Header and sub-header tags
By using < h1 > (header) and < h2 > (sub-header) tags effectively, you can do more than just improve your website's layout. In order for these tags to be beneficial for SEO, you need to use them in a way that makes sense - the number one rule is to avoid spamming your website with various headers (the search engines hate this, so it actually ruins your SEO).
2. Remove unnecessary code
SEO is implemented into your website with the purpose of making it as visible to search engines and potential visitors as possible. Use an XHTML validator to determine whether all of your code is readable or not - be sure to remove any code that is useless for your SEO purposes.
3. Avoid using images as links
When the search engines index your website, they crawl absolutely every aspect that they can read - the point of SEO is to make this as easy as possible for them. It is because of this that you should avoid using images as links at all costs - the search engines have great difficulty reading images, so these links become useless for your SEO strategy.
4. Use keywords in your URLs
One of the first steps for implementing an effective SEO strategy for your website is to optimise your domain name and site content for relevant keywords. You should also do this for all of the URLs on your website, as it really does go a long way towards increasing your page rank.
5. Keep footer links to a minimum
There is one type of link that gets paid very little (if any) attention by the search engines, thereby making them completely useless for SEO. These links are known as footer links and, whilst they are beneficial from a navigational point of view, they serve for little SEO purpose. Keep these sorts of links at a minimum.
By constantly working on your SEO strategy, you can help to ensure that the above tips and techniques are rarely (if ever) forgotten. By including as many SEO techniques as you can, you can help to increase your chances of receiving a better search engine ranking.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6958217

10 Reasons Why Businesses Must Have A Mobile Website

You would have probably noticed by now that your customers are glued to their mobile phones even while seated in their office. Their mobile device brings them latest available information and enables them to stay connected on the go. So, have you given it a deep thought to reach them or make your business available on their phone? Is your website ready for a mobile audience? We give you 10 reasons why your business must go mobile:
1. 83 million people on the mobile web
As per the Neilsen's Report, there are 83 million mobile web users in US. This is in fact a large number of audiences which you could cater to for your business needs.
2. Mobile web traffic grew by 50-100%
In recent times, there has been a significant shift from desktop searches to mobile. The web mobile use has doubled in 2010 with the growth rate of 110% and it is likely to grow even more as smartphones continue to exhaust the market.
3. Mobile vs Web users in 3 years
Everyone is going mobile. The web searches on smartphones are rapidly growing, making it more important to have a mobile-optimised website. A recent study on Internet Trends found that the usage of web browsing on mobile will exceed the desktop web search by 2014.
4. Mobile websites reach all audiences, apps do not
Apps are the next best thing for smartphone users! Having said that, there are many drawbacks to it too - you have to make an app for each platform you target, which means you develop apps for three different platforms - one for Blackberry, another for iPhone and finally, one for Android. Also, every time you come across a good app, you have to go through the process of installing it unlike the mobile websites that are smartphone friendly. Mobile websites don't have any of these app problems, so everyone can view them and enjoy browsing!
5. Smartphone traffic will boost your overall traffic
The excitement of using a trendy smartphone itself generates a lot of traffic for mobile websites. Hence, you can significantly increase the overall audience visits by being available wherever and whenever they want to access your site.
6. Rise in demand for smartphones
Apparently, trend to own a smartphone is on the rise, everyone wants to own one and flaunt it. Nevertheless, its exclusive utility also attributes to the demand shift for the smartphone.
7. Your website might be hard or impossible to use on mobile
Mobile browsing is all about great experience. If you try to open normal websites on your mobile browser, you may find them broken most of the time. Besides, as an organization, it might also affect your brand image.
8. 43 million people check e-mail daily via mobile
With an audience of this size checking email via mobile, it becomes very natural for any business to tap their prospective customers in their inbox.
9. Either you go mobile or your competitors will
Mobile website is fast catching up as the latest trend and if you fail to get one, your competitor will definitely own one pretty soon. So, don't be left behind.
10. Tapping audience on the go
If you don't have a mobile website, you limit your website views to just desktops. Now-a-days, key decision makers who matter to your business are on the move, so get one and connect with them!

Mark has been in the promotional products industry for the last 10 years. He writes on topics such as promotional products, Vector art, artwork services, embroidery digitizing, camera ready art, 24 hour digitizing, marketing tips, mobile website, business and entrepreneurship tips.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6177703

Boost Your Website's Mobile Prominence With a Search Engine Optimisation Company

Many website owners appear to be reluctant to embrace mobile users. But, with nearly 12% of website visits coming from tablets and smartphones, a number which is predicted to rise to 17% by the end of the year, you cannot afford to ignore the mobile market if you want a successful site.
A search engine optimisation company has pointed out that 45% of people in the UK have access to a smartphone; and tablets such as iPads, BlackBerry PlayBooks, and other devices are becoming increasingly popular. Failing to optimise your website for these mobile devices is effectively losing the half of the population who access the web while out and about.
But all websites can be accessed on mobile internet browsers. So what is the problem?
A popular search engine optimisation company has advised site owners to be aware of the difference between mobile and desktop and laptop internet browsers. Mobile users, including those on smartphones and tablets, have shorter attention spans than others. This may be due to a combination of their mobile nature, people are out and only able to temporarily remain online (perhaps because their access is used to fill spare time, find something particular quickly or they spending time with others). Limited internet access may only be available, and sometimes the smaller screen and awkwardness of use can put off users.
These factors mean that your website should be optimised by having a mobile site or app. Optimising for mobile users will allow them to spend their (perhaps limited) time on your site efficiently, therefore being more likely to result in sales. The results can be dramatic. It was reported that online fashion website ASOS found its mobile sales increased by 800% in a year since launching a mobile site, and Argos secures £2.6million a week in sales thanks to its app which enables users to reserve items on their mobile devices. Search engine optimisation companies believe this is due to their improved usability, faster loading time and quick and simple checkout and reservation processes.
Viewing non-mobile pages on mobile devices can mean users have to scroll around constantly to see aspects featured on the full page, often having to zoom in on particular areas. Text is sometimes too small to read, images are blurry or too large to load and buttons can be difficult to press when they are too small. Flash and Java are not supported by many mobile devices (the iPhone included), so these areas of your website will be invisible to a huge number of users.
Optimising your website for mobile users is likely to involve dramatically simplifying the content, creating an effective layout including white space and navigation buttons which are easy to select on even the smallest screens, and avoiding Flash, Java and pop-up windows. Speak to a search engine optimisation company for more advice on increasing your websites audience by optimising for the mobile market. 70% of companies have not optimised their websites for mobile. Optimise your site today to ensure that you stay in the top 30%.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6952651

Don't Just Shop Price When Selecting SEO Services

Many folks aren't aware of the fact that search engine optimization (SEO) is a labor-intensive, time-consuming task. Contrary to the message put across by many "quick fix" firms, a proper strategy demands a high degree of knowledge on proper practices and procedures, and ongoing study of Google updates and ever-changing algorithms.
Long-term SEO success takes a concerted effort and a lot of technical know-how. An effective SEO strategy requires in-depth and thorough research. It means generating fresh, engaging content and laborious link building. It demands long-term dedication, a custom-tailored technique, and a lot of intuitive skill.
You get what you pay for
Of course, prices will vary from one firm to the next; however, if a service looks cheap, it's likely an "expensive bargain." You could end up pouring money into an ineffective SEO service that turns out no real results.
A cheap service means just that - cheap service. Low quality SEO services typically employ questionable, spammy techniques that result in very little long-term success.
"Sizzle" usually ends in "Fizzle"
Be aware that a cheap "quick fix" SEO service may offer some very appealing packages. You've likely seen the pitch: "Your site at the TOP of Google's list in just ONE MONTH!" Such grandiose promises paired with a bargain price tag tend to sucker people right in. The truth is, when an SEO service "guarantees" a top spot in Google rankings, that's a sure sign of a scammy SEO firm.
In reality, absolutely no one can guarantee top rankings on any search engine. Algorithms are constantly changing, updates are regularly being made, and no one truly knows which way search engines will turn from one day to the next. Even top SEO firms cannot predict results, so anyone promising a "magic bullet" formula should be considered with serious skepticism.
Signs of a quality SEO service
A quality SEO service will be realistic in making pitches and predictions. A good firm truly understands its own limitations and will not offer a result (i.e. first page search rankings) that simply cannot be guaranteed.
A good firm will be honest about time frames. As we've discussed, no one can honestly promise "quick" results. It can take anywhere from months (for a small niche website) to years (for a very competitive field) to rank high, so don't fall for unrealistic promises.
A high quality firm will be realistic about the price to work ratio. They won't offer cheap prices and quick results, but will be transparent about the costs attached to the work that will be required for a given project.
In summary
What's really at stake here is the success or failure of your company. These days, a huge percentage of business is generated through the internet. If you've invested in a business, don't risk its success or failure on cut-rate SEO services. It's simply not worth the risk of wasted money, wasted time, and ultimately, even being blacklisted by major search engines. Do your research and make sure every dollar you put into SEO is getting results.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6951680

Website Structure - Website Link Structure Making - Tutorial

Like most things, building a web site will be much easier if you plan ahead. To just start off building and adding without a plan usually means redeveloping your entire site as its outgrows its lack of structure. A little extra work in the beginning will save you a lot of work in the end. Follow this 3-step plan and you'll be off to a great start.

Step 1

Think about all the things you want your site to have and seperate them into specific content related categories. For example, if your site were to have Recipes, Kitchen Hints, Family Photos and Family Personal pages; the Recipes and Kitchen Hints would fall into one category and the Family items would fall into another category. From these categories you'll build a basic structure for your site. Jot down all the categories you plan to have.

Step 2

After jotting down your categories draw a simple diagram of the layout. It will help you organize your site's navigation structure. Using the sample site mentioned above, I've drawn an example site plan:

As you can see in the chart the Index Page has links to the jumpstation level pages, which are the Food Links and Family Links category pages. Think of jumpstations as topical sub-index pages into your specific content areas. The jumpstation level pages are linked back to the Index Page, to each other and downward to the individual content pages relative to that jumpstation. As you add new pages, you only need to add a link to the new page from it's respective jumpstation category. If you add an entirely new content section, you only need to create the jumpstation and tie it to the other jumpstations, keeping the boring work to a minimum.
In addition to the links from a jumpstation to its content pages, you can optionally link between the pages of a particular category, as indicated by the red lines on the bottom of the chart. I wouldn't put a link to every page in a certain category on every page within that category or you're defeating the purpose of the jumpstation. Just have a "next page" link if you do it, and when you add a new page of content you only need to update the last page in the chain with the "next page" link.
An important point to remember is that at the bottom of your navigation structure you DO NOT want only the "next" link in a chain of pages. If someone doesn't want to continue with a particular chain of pages they need an easy way to choose content from another area of your site or they'll go elsewhere. Besides, no one likes to be led around by the nose without other options.

Step 3

To make your site easy to develop and be consistent it helps to make a basic page template before starting. With a template you can just add the content and not have to continually code whole pages. For this site my template has all the basic html commands a document needs, the basic two-column structure, and the SSI code to insert the top and bottom navigation systems and the right-hand column content that is common to every page. To make a new page I just fill in the stuff in this column and save it with a new name. When I want to change the navigation structure or right-hand column content, I only have to update one file for each to have that change reflected on my whole site.
Instructions for using SSI can be found in the members site. You may want to read about the benefits of becoming an Inner Circle member.
Your navigation structure can make or break your site. All my pages have the same structure as seen at the top or bottom of this page. Each page has the links to the Home page and all the jumpstations. You can go from one area of my site to a completely different area with one click from any page. Now that's navigating made easy! If you're welcoming contact from your visitors then include your contact link on each page.

Content Creation - Content Creation For Website Tutorial

To put it bluntly, your content can cause others to wish their site was a good as yours—or allow it to drown in a sea of mediocrity and sameness! There are four keys to successful content creation:

Creativity

Creativity in presentation and layout sets your site apart visually.

Uniqueness

Writing in your own style or voice, using your own words, is the uniqueness that sets your site apart mentally.

Quality

There is no substitute for quality. Without quality your creativity and uniqueness will be lost in the noise of information overload.

Updates

Adding new material regularly brings visitors back for more. Too often web sites sit there gathering digital dust with nothing new added for weeks or months at a time. I've been guilty of this myself when I have big projects underway, such as writing another book, and I can definitely see a slow-down in traffic when I let that happen.

So What's Popular?

To build your site around what's currently popular is to build on shifting sand. Istead, let's look at how successful sites are developed, because a successful site can be developed around nearly any subject matter. The online population is just too large for there to be many topics that can't enjoy a good measure of success. Granted, some topics will have a bigger audience, but they will also have more competition for that audience. Building a site around what you enjoy can often bring more success to you than if you deliberately set out to build a popular site about a topic you're not that keen about.
Sites that enjoy high traffic and keep 'em coming back have one or more of the following elements. The more of these elements you incorporate, the better your chances of developing a successful web presence.

Depth

Create an ever-expanding world. Even if you plan on a specialized site you can find different subjects to tie in with it in an entertaining or useful way. If you were doing a site on Stress in the Work Place, for example, you could have serious articles about ways to cope and manage stress, but you could also include humorous looks at ways not to deal with stress. Try to be creative. Try to imagine what you'd find if you were the visitor and someone else were making the site. What would David Letterman do with it, or Rush Limbaugh, or Dear Abby, or anyone you admire for their creativity, talent, intelligence, or for other qualities you can emulate.

Originality

Are you a recreational poet? Are you good at drawing? Do you write short stories or tell good jokes? Put it up—or if that's not what your site is about, think of ways to incorporate those traits into what you are building. Whatever makes you unique and sets you apart from others is a great place to start. Everyone is good at something. Think about your strengths.

Know this about yourself...

From the beginning of time to all eternity, there is and will always be only one you. Celebrate who you are, for no one can be you better than you can, and you can be no one else better than you can be yourself.

That makes you very special indeed. You are far more rare than one-in-a-million. You ARE a singularly unique and wonderful person in a cosmic ocean of eternity! Think about that. I mean really think about that.

When you really understand you are that special you never have to play follow-the-leader. The "leader" you follow may not know where he or she is going, or may not be happy on their chosen path. Even if they are, their path is not your path. Being a first-rate you is always better than being a second-rate copy of someone else. You're a beautiful person! Be that person rather than trying to be like someone else. You can never succeed at being someone else, you can only succeed at being yourself.

It can be pretty boring to cruise through a site with absolutely no personality to it because the webmaster is playing monkey-see monkey-do. If you're not being yourself, who will? People don't want to read the same old stuff they can read in a thousand other places that all sound the same. They would much rather read about your unique point of view as long as you're willing to put forth the effort it takes to present your point of view in a coherent manner, rather than just rambling on and on without a good flow of thought.

Serve a Purpose

Serving the needs of others means traffic for you. For me, it means sharing my talent for graphics, teaching, and my . . . um, let's call it my unique sense of humor. I manage to sell enough of my products along the way that I earn my living at this. Maybe in time I can sell enough to become filthy, stinking rich, who knows? I wouldn't mind being a little stinker in that way! I try to entertain as I serve a purpose. Sure, some folks think I'm nuts, but that's just a lucky guess. Think about what kind of service you could offer. Put up a help page on a topic you know about. You don't have to be an expert, there are plenty of people who know less. If you get questions you don't know the answer to, find it. Then you have new content and something fresh to offer. There are many ways to serve the internet community, find your own angle and go with it.

Sidenote: I was no expert when I first started posting HTML tutorials. I only did it because I kept getting emails asking how I did this or did that. After answering the same questions over and over I made some tutorials. One thing led to another and a publisher called me out of the blue and asked me to write a book on web site design for them. You just never know what interesting and profitable twists life will take when you serve others.

Variety

You can offer as many experiences as you can think of. I have more planned than I have time to implement. Build depth with variety. You needn't do it all at once and create a big project. Work on it one idea at a time and do it up right. Become a mini-expert on the things that interest you. If you work on your interests you're likely to do a good job of it and others will recognize your effort and reward you with return visits, email, links to your site, and purchase your products or services if that is your focus. In life, and on the Internet, when you give, you set the wheels in motion to receive.

Friendliness

Think about your favorite sites. Do they have a sterile, officious approach or do they have a bit of personality? The answer for most is the second choice. One of the nicest unsolicited comments I've ever received said..."I really love your site, it feels like you're right there with me." Makes a fella feel good. Doesn't pay the bills but it feels pretty good just the same. The point is, talk to your guests like you talk to your friends and you're on the right track, providing you're not a complete jerk in real life. If you are a jerk in real life—grow up—or you will always suffer the consequences of your attitude. Even business sites can benefit from having a little personality to them. One of the complaints I've noticed about web sites is that they are sterile. No personality, sterile antiseptic writing, and a lack of imagination and creativity all add up to BORING with a capital SNORE!

Rules of Thumb

Here are a few rules of thumb for developing a web site. These are not the only considerations, but they are the most important ones that apply to all topics.

• Create your own content. Copying others is not only redundant and unimaginative, it could be illegal. Each page published has inherent copyright protection whether a copyright notice is posted or not. Fines can go as high as $100,000 plus damages. Original content is the best content.
• Keep download times in mind as you build. Try to keep each page under 40k and 4 screen lengths. I call it the Rule of 4's - mainly because it's my rule so I can call it what I like. That, and it made more sense than calling it pudding.
• Be yourself. There will be plenty of folks who will like you for who you are. This is especially true for personal sites. People visit personal home pages to learn about YOU...your originality, your creativy, your uniqueness. You know you're wonderful, let your light shine!
• Keep developing and expanding on ideas that are working for you. If you have a page you're happy with or get compliments about, find a way to expand the theme with related material or simply go for a series of pages with the same topic. That's basically how my site has grown from the original site of about 15 pages, to over 500 pages by the end of year 2000. (Many pages have since been moved to the member site, which has even more pages than that.)
• Find a way to serve. In many ways the net is one big sharing community. Find your niche, serve it well, and you'll be rewarded.
• Variety is the spice of life! Expand the web world of you with all the things that interest and amuse your own self. If it's something you're interested in, so too will others be.

Navigation Structure - Website Navigation Structure Making Tutorial

Avoid My Newbie Mistake!

In the first incarnation of Boogie Jack's (way back in 1997) I used to provide a link to every page from every page. It was easy to navigate, but as my site grew larger this navigation structure quickly became a big chore just to add one new page. You can learn from my mistake and set your navigation structure up right from the beginning, rather than having to redesign out of necessity as I did. The best way to provide navigation is using server side includes (SSI). SSI can call a file into a web page. For example, I use SSI to load my navigation system into the top and bottom of each page. I can change one file on my site and have my site navigation changed on every page. You can learn more about SSI as an Inner Circle member or by grabbing a copy of my book, Web Site Design Made Easy. Not everyone has SSI available to them, so I'll show you the best practice that is available to everyone.

A Better Way

When I designed my next navigation system I created topical sub-indexes that I called jumpstations. I called them that because it sounded more intelligent than calling them Fred. I still use jumpstations. For example, the Web Design Tutorials index is the jumpstation you used to access this tutorial unless you came to this page directly from another site. When I add a new HTML tutorial, I only have to update the main Web Design Tutorials jumpstation. Jumpstations can also help with search engine positioning because the content is so tightly focused.
In some areas I've also put a "next page" link to the next page in a particular content circle. Using this page for an example, it is part two of a 4-part tutorial on site planning, so each page is linked to the next page to make it easy to go on to the next tutorial without backtracking to the jumpstation page.
All the main jumpstation indexes are listed at the top and bottom of each page so at any point you can jump to another area of my site without backtracking. After I came up with jumpstations, visitors were never more than one to three clicks away from what they're looking for even though I had over 500 pages of content! Some content has since been moved to my Inner Circle members area.
Your site visitors will appreciate the ease of navigation you provide and will be more inclined to explore more of your content—if you offer quality and original content. If you don't have quality, original content, little else will help you retain visitors or gain new visitors.

At the Very Least...

Always have a link to your home page (index) from every page of your site. You have no control over which page someone else may link to within your site, or which page turns up in search results. Many newbies won't know how to get to your main page if they arrive on a page without a home link. You think not? Every month people come here from search engines where they searched specifically for "BoogieJack.com" so most of those folks probably didn't know how to type a web address they already knew into their browser's address bar.

Another Good Idea

I also like to keep my links in the same set up. You'll notice my links set up at the bottom is the same on every page. Once you get it set up the way you want you only need to copy and paste for your other pages. Easy! And your guests quickly become familiar with the way your site is arranged so it aids in their navigation and enjoyment.

Test It

Be sure to test all of your links before going public with your site. You don't want your first email to be complaints about this link or that link not working. Speaking of email, if you want to receive letters from your guests you should also include your contact link on every page. Someone may want to write and tell you you're the coolest cat since Felix, but if there isn't a contact link on the page they are on, they may well just move on rather than hunt for it - and you may never get that ego boost!

A word about frames...

Some people advocate using frames to have a navigation system that allows you to change one file that will be reflected across your entire site, but—did you know there is a large percentage of surfers who hate frames? There are even "I Hate Frames" clubs. A quick search on Google for "hate frames" yielded 223,000 web sites that talk about their hatred of frames . . . and those are just the people that hate them enough to make web pages about them, millions more just dislike them, but not enough to make a web page about it. If you're thinking of building a framed site, that's not the only drawback. You'll also have trouble getting a framed site indexed with search engines, and even if you do, getting a good ranking is also more difficult, and that is plenty hard enough as it is.
Frames also prevent users from bookmarking their favorite pages because all they get is the frameset page. Then there is the frame recursion problem where frames get nested inside other frames, sometimes to the point where a browser crashes. I recommend thinking long and hard about the benefits and drawbacks of frames before using them.

A word about JavaScript...

Another way to read a navigation system into a page is with an external JavaScript file. With that you can update the one file and have that update reflected throughout your site. I use an external JavaScript to rotate the daily specials you see at the top of each page. I wouldn't use it for my navigation system though. The drawback is that some people have JavaScript turned off in their browsers. If JavaScript is not enabled, those visitors won't see any navigation system. I can live with someone not seeing my daily specials, but they have to be able to navigate my site.

HTML Tutorial: Create a Web Page

Are you ready to make your first web page? You need Notepad or another text editor open—a crash helmet is optional.
If you're using Notepad, first go to the Format menu and put a check mark by Word Wrap. This keeps your text from appearing as one long line that you'd have to scroll sideways to see.
As noted earlier, an HTML document starts off with:

<html> 

This tells the browser it's an HTML document. Clever, huh? Go ahead and type <html> into Notepad now. Next is the:

<head>

...tag. Now that you're a an old hand at typing HTML commands, type the <head> tag under your <html> tag.

Note: Technically, you don't actually have to type the head tag under the html tag, but it will help you to visualize the structure. I often start code on new lines because it breaks up the source code with white space, making it much easier to locate the places you want to edit later on. As your page complexity grows with your skill level, this habit can be a valuable time-saver.

There are several items that can go in between the opening head tag and closing head tag, but for a simple page like the one we're creating, we're only concerned with one, and that is the:

<title>

...tag. The title tag, as you might guess, contains the title of your web page. The title shows up in the title bar at the top of the browser window, as the text when someone bookmarks your page, and as the link text of a search engine query on many search engines. If you look at the top of your browser you should see the words, "Making Your First Web Page" in the title bar because that's the title I gave this page. You'll also use your first cancel command.

</title>

The cancel command, also called the close command, means you are canceling a previously opened HTML element (tag). In this case, it's telling the browser that the TITLE of the page is complete, or canceled. The forward slash before an HTML element tells the browser that element has been canceled. Note that an element and command are the same thing. Go ahead and add:

<title>My First Web Page</title>

...to your HTML document under the HEAD tag now. Since that is the only element we're adding to the head section, and because you've become such a whiz-bang ding-dang student at typing HTML commands, go ahead and type the </head> command under your title line to cancel the HEAD element.
Next is the:

<body>

...tag. The area between the opening and closing body tags is where you put the content you want to show up on the web page when viewed with a browser. Other HTML elements are used within this area as well, which allow you to add images, create paragraph spaces, and to code other display instructions. These other formatting tags do not show up on the web page, but merely tell the browser how to display the information you want to present. When you've completed this tutorial you can go to the individual tutorials and add whatever elements you wish to play around with to your first web page. As I said, after the BODY tag is where you put the content you want to show on a web page. Your pictures, jokes, links and all else goes here. So for now, just enter the <body> tag under the </head> tag and type a brief message for demonstration purposes. Anything will do, such as "Boogie Jack is so kind for providing these tutorials I think I'll make his next mortgage payment for him." Yeah, that works for me.
Done? Great! You can get my address from my contact page later to send the mortgage payment to me, but for now, we're almost done. The last thing to do is to cancel the BODY and HTML elements. In HTML we always cancel tags in the reverse order they were opened, so type:

</body>
</html> 

...under your pledge to make my mortgage payment. Your test page should now look like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>My First Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>

Boogie Jack is so kind for providing these tutorials I'm going to make his next mortgage payment for him. I might even name my next son Boogie Jack, or Boogie Jill if it's a girl!

</body>
</html>

Okay, so I might have ad-libbed a little in the content section, but naming your baby Boogie Jack or Boogie Jill is better than naming him or her Wubbyknuckles! I mean, come on, let's get real. The last thing to do is to save the page you just made. You can call this test page anything, but when you build a web site for real, your home page should always be called index.html. You might as well save this one under that name.
It should be noted that some people name their documents with a .htm extension instead of .html, but not all servers look for the .htm extension when it can't find .html, so it's wise to get in the habit of saving them as .html right now.
Note: When saving your document, enclose it in quotation marks to prevent your system from adding .txt (for text file) to the end. In the box where you type the name you want to save the file under, type it as:
"index.html"
...and be sure to include the quotation marks around the name and file extension.
Now that you've saved it, open it in your browser and see what you've made! To do that just hit Control and (the letter) O on your keyboard then hit the Browse (IE) or Choose File (Netscape) button to navigate your computer. Find the trial index page you just made and click it, then click OK. Then just hit the back button to return here.

HTML Tutorial: HTML Tag Attributes and Values

If you've followed this series from the beginning you've already learned what HTML tags are and the you've learned the basic HTML skeleton. Now I'll introduce a new tag, plus tag attributes and values. Tag attributes and values provide additional instructions to the browser. For example, suppose you want to put an image on your web page. An image tag is written as follows:

<img />

That's the basic image tag, but it doesn't tell the browser which image to display or where to find it. We give the browser that information by adding the source attribute and value. The source attribute is written as src, with the vowels removed from the word source. If the image you wanted to add was a picture of your new bicycle and the picture was saved as bike.jpg, and it was kept in the same folder as your HTML page, then the attribute and value you'd add to the image source tag is:

src="bike.jpg"

In that example, src is the attribute and bike.jpg is the value of the attribute. IN HTML, an attribute usually either indentifies a source or defines an element. In this case, the attribute identifies the image source. An example of an attribute defining an element would be adding the width and height attributes and values to the image.
So then, an attribute defines or identifies an element, and the attribute has a value attached to it by the equal sign (=), with the actual value enclosed in quotation marks. The entire code then, would be written as:

<img src="bike.jpg" />

Note: Most HTML elements have a corresponding closing tag, but there isn't a closing tag for the image element. To make HTML tags that don't have a corresponding closing tag up to date, which means compliant with XHTML, a space and forward slash is added to the end of the tag, thereby making it a self-closed tag. This is optional, however, and coding an image without the trailing space/slash is perfectly valid at this time.

HTML Tutorial: Basic HTML Tutorial - Basic HTML Tags

Below are the tags every HTML document must have. In the past you could type the HTML tags in either lower case or capital letters, but there are a few that cause problems in certain browsers when entered in upper case.
Nowadays, because other languages such as XHTML require that tags be in lower case, and because many people are calling for the same requirement for HTML, I strongly urge you to code in lower case at all times. It may seem fussy, but cross-platform display consistency is the goal, and that can only be accomplished by having standards everyone follows.
These tags are the bare necessities:

<html>
<head>
<title> Title Text Goes Here </title>
</head>
<body>

Content Area

</body>
</html>

That is the basic HTML skeleton, but it's not really as confusing as it looks. I've shown the HTML tags in red, but the tags themselves do not show up on a web page unless an error is made. They are in the "source code," which is simply the underlying text file that contains the HTML code and content you want displayed for people see. The browser interprets the HTML tags in the source code and displays your content according to those tags. It may help you to understand the concept by thinking of HTML tags as little instruction sets that inform the browser how to display the actual content.
If the above code were a real web page, the words "Content Area" would be the only thing that would show up in a browser window.
Here's a brief explanation of each tag...

<html>

Identifies the language used (file type) for the browser, in this case, a web page written in HTML language.

<head>

Acts as a container for the page title and meta data. The title is necessary, but meta data is not. You can learn more about meta data later, I don't want to clutter this up with too much information.

<title>

The title is the name of the page. The title shows up in the title bar at the top of your browser, as the text for bookmarks unless it's changed, and in some search engines as the link text. If you look at the very top of your browser window you should see "The HTML Skeleton Explained" as the title of this web page.

</title>

Closes the title. The forward slash ( / ) in front of the HTML element means that command is now canceled.

</head>

Closes the head section.

<body>

Between the opening and closing body tags is where you place the actual content you want displayed to the public.

</body>

Closes the body section

</html>

Closes the html element, end of page.

HTML Tutorial: What is HTML?

HTML is short for HyperText Markup Language. How the language got so hyper is beyond me, too much caffeine maybe, but anyway, web pages are built using html tags.
So that you understand what a "tag" is, here is an example:

<html>

Each tag consists of the containers, which are the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) arrows, and the HTML element within them. The arrows and the HTML element together are commonly called an HTML tag, or an HTML command by some. The example tag above is the beginning of an HTML document. It tells the browser the document is a page written in the HTML language so it can be interpreted and displayed according to the specifics of that language. There are dozens of tags, but only a few that you have to know to make a simple web page. If it looks confusing, just play along, it really isn't that difficult. These lessons in the basic section will walk you through it one step at a time. In about 20 minutes you'll have made your first web page!
To begin with, you'll need a browser, (d-oh!) and a text editor. There are HTML editors that make web page building easier for some people, but for this tutorial we'll assume you don't have one. If you do and want to use it, feel free, as long as it allows you to enter code directly it doesn't matter what you use. It is best to learn to code by hand even if you plan on using an HTML editor later on. That's the only way you'll know how to troubleshoot problems, and problems do arise from time to time even for the most skilled webmasters.
I use Notepad, so will refer to that later in this tutorial. Notepad comes with every Windows PC, and if you learn the simple language, it's all you really need. You'll find it in your Accessories folder. Mac users will probably want to use SimpleText.

How To Make A Web Page And Create A Website

Congratulations on your decision to learn how to make a web page! Having your own website provides you with the ultimate way to communicate your message to the world. There is absolutely no better way to reach your target audience than by having your own website. Whether you are interested in designing a business website or would like to create a website that is for personal use, you have just taken the first step towards making your dream a reality.

Build a Website

Now that you have made the decision to build your website, how exactly do you do that? What options do you have? Well, that's a great question and one that you will find the answer to right here.

First of all, there are some things that need to be taken into consideration. Your first step will be to think about your budget and how much money you really want to invest in developing your website and how much time you have to invest.

If you don't have a big budget, but have a lot of time, you may want to consider learning how to design your own website and write HTML code. However, if you don't have a lot of time, but have a larger budget, you may want to simply hire a professional web designer to build your web pages for you.

Website Design Options

There are also some other website design options you may be interested in, such as using some pre-designed web page templates you can edit. Or, you can even use an online site building system that will enable you to build your website right online without having to learn any HTML coding. You may also want to consider using a software program you install on your computer to create your own website. Or, better yet, you can use a combination of options, such as purchasing a web design course and using web page templates to make your web pages.

How to Make a Web Page using HTML Video

Although the following video will teach you how to write your own HTML code, you won't have to learn HTML codes unless you choose to. There are many ways you can make your own web pages, such as using an HTML editor, ect.. However, it is HIGHLY recommended that you learn Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), as it is very easy to learn and will enable you to create and edit your web pages whenever you'd like.
Above all else, make sure that you take some time to educate yourself before you begin. For further information on learning how to make a web page or create a website, please click on the links on the right.
To your success!

Creating an HTML Email Form - Tutorial

If you would like to provide your web site visitors with a simple way to contact you from your web site, but really don't want to display your email address, this HTML form code may be what you're looking for.

You can create a simple form, as displayed below, to enable your visitors to send you comments, questions, product support requests, or whatever you'd like.

Name:
Email:
Comment:

Copy and paste the following HTML code into the HTML portion of your web page:

<FORM action="mailto:you@yourdomain.com" method="post" enctype="text/plain"> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="4" WIDTH="90%"> <TR> <TD width="30%"><DIV align="right"> <B>Name:</B> </DIV> </TD> <TD width="70%"> <INPUT type="text" name="name" size="20"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><DIV align="right"><B>Email:</B></DIV> </TD> <TD> <INPUT type="text" name="email" size="20"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><DIV align="right"> <B>Comment:</B> </DIV> </TD> <TD><TEXTAREA name="comment" cols="30" wrap="virtual" rows="4"> </TEXTAREA> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD>&nbsp;</TD> <TD> <INPUT type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit"> <INPUT type="reset" name="reset" value="Reset"> </TD></TR> </TABLE> </FORM>

Change the text indicated in red to your email address.

Displaying an email form on your web page provides a great way to enable your visitors to contact you.