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WordPress Search: Best Practices

John — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:29:20 +0000

It’s not often you find articles related to WordPress search on the web for some reason. I don’t know why is this the case, but I’ll try to fill that gap here. Read below to find useful information on how and why it is important to add a good WordPress search box for your blog.

Why is a Good Search Box Important For Your Blog?

There are 3 reasons:

More repeated readers. If your users are searching for something, type their query and receive no results, they usually leave.
Better user experience. Important for getting more loyal visitors.
You’ll know what they search for and learn a ton from that data. I will later share with you one example where I’ve learned one surprising thing about my visitors from just tracking what they searched for on my blog.

WordPress Standard Search – Avoid It

Using the WordPress Standard search box is the worst option. In my experience the WordPress standard search returns very few relevant results. It can decently handle 1-word queries (if you type ‘people’ for example) but for more complex queries it’s terrible.

If you still want to use the standard search box for WordPress then I recommend you get the following plugins:

Why is it important to track what people are searching for? Allow me to share one story.

Several months ago, I was researching and writing a list of people search engines which soon became the most popular article on the entire blog. I started received tons of traffic and realized I could make use of that opportunity by analyzing the behavior of some of the people who came to the site and possibly gaining new insights.

So I installed a plugin like Search Meter (unfortunately that plugin is no longer working now so can’t really recommend it) and was SHOCKED to see that 99% of the people typed NAMES into the search box (I had 0 posts that mentioned any name)! Upon further investigation I saw that most people search sites worked this way, you just type a name and get results. Mine was different, mine was a people search help website (providing advice) but that didn’t stop people from typing names in the search box.

Lesson learned: People were used to the typical format of a typical people search site and expected mine to be no different (for your niche and industry, you may discover some even more surprising insights).

For me, I tried this on some other sites as well and always received types of searches I didn’t expect (which later gave me ideas for new articles etc.)

Google/Bing-Powered Search

Nowadays WordPress comes with a default widget where you can put a custom Google code and have your blog search powered by Google. There are many tutorials in case you don’t know how to do this, just type ‘add Google custom search in WordPress’ on Google and you’ll get a bunch of good articles.

Bing is a search engine from Microsoft (in case you’ve been living under a rock) and also gives you an option to add a ‘bing custom search’ that will allow visitors to search your site only. To do that, go to their advanced search page, complete the 3 steps and after that you’ll be given some HTML code.

Now, add a text widget to your blog sidebar (its description is “Arbitrary text or HTML”) and voila! I’ve tried this on my blog and here are the results:

Here you get the results as a ‘pop-up’ window. If you want it to be in a separate location, this WordPress Codex article gives you more info.

Action plan:

First, install Search Meter and Search Everything. See what are visitors searching for on your blog.

Second, decide between Google and Bing. I personally prefer Google custom search because they offer an easy option to track what people are searching for.

If you found this article helpful, let us know in the comments below!

About the Author :
I am Darren, a writer with 3+ years experience. I write mostly on web-design related topics

Web 3.0; The Next Generation

John — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:14:12 +0000

After the huge success of Web 2.0 applications like social networking, rich media, blogs etc, many people are wondering about the Web 3.0 applications. People are thinking about the potential of Web 3.0 to revolutionize the web.

Internet experts believe that Mobile applications are expected to play a big role in Web 3.0 as many companies are building upon apps allowing consumers to locate friends through their mobiles in their local area.

They believe that Web 3.0 browser will act like a personal assistant and will perform tasks like search for movies and food faster and easier.

It will analyze the response of its users from its records and will search the Internet for all possible answers and it then gives them the organized results. Users might be able to ask browsers open questions like “where should I go for lunch?” and Web 3.0 browser would consult users records for likes or dislikes, taken into account of the user current location it then suggests a list of restaurants.

Some of the world’s largest technology companies like Google and Apple have already launched their smart phone handsets and Google has also made mobile numbers mandatory for signing up for a new Google account; this gives us the idea of the importance of mobile phones in Web 3.0.

For businesses in the social space this could be incredibly helpful not only in staying on track, but in measuring how brands are engaging consumers. One part of this is measuring how effective social campaigns are in pushing the envelope to build more recognition.

http://www.solsnet.com is a Toronto based web design house.

The Secret To Finding Effective Web Design Consultants

John — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:11:11 +0000

It’s a known fact that lots of companies that are into website design abound everywhere on the internet; but I highly recommend that you opt for the service of an effective web design consultant. This will enable you understand the process involved and what elements are used.

The consultant will first of all, inspect your website; carefully checking which areas need to be worked on or not; depending on the role they serve. He will also judge the function of the site and check for loopholes or backdoors. Most time, the most important pages have been pushed down under making a site difficult to come up in search engines.

What’s the end result? You will have powerfully designed pages on your website but they will fail to serve their purpose. Some search engines only put website that contain not more than three pages on their results list. Therefore, broken links will tell on your site.

Another major facet of a website is the content; which is the mainstay. Only relevant material should be contained in the site. The types of fonts used in the process and the length should also be considered.

If you are selling some products online, your customers need to know what the products really are. So you might see yourself doing some editing here. There are road maps that most search engines follow when judging a evaluating a site. The best website design companies know how to get your site to the number one spot. You should contact a consultant if your site is failing to achieve that spot.

You need to tell him about your business and ask for a proper guide on how to solve the problem. After all, it’s the duty of the consultant to interact with his customers as a mean to come up with a solution to problems on the customer’s site. Expert consultants separate all the important work to be done and attach goals to them. Adequate planning is what makes this possible.

So before you hire a person to design your website, you should contact a web consultant. These experts know how to make your website served the desired purpose. It’s not a difficult thing to come across people who are good at designing websites; but you should see to it that they do the work properly. An effective web design consultant studies the market trend, creates a strategy and then uses it. He can produce wonderments by making the best decisions for your online company.

This is not limited to large organizations only; small-scale and fairly larges firms can also benefit. Websites that have better arrangements are known to enjoy loads of sales because of their reliability. They do the job of decision making as to the types of website services that would achieve the desired objective of your business.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with creative web design consulting or need creative web design solutions [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

Mistakes to Be Avoided When Designing Your Own Logo

John — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:10:12 +0000

Creative logo designers are professional logo designers/artists that will give you befitting logos for your business. The fact that their services are usually slightly high makes many small business owners to want to design their company logos by themselves. It is a sin against your business to take your company logo design for granted. This logo is the gateway to your business and should not be toyed with. It creates an instant effect to anyone who is coming in contact with your business for the first time. The impression these would-be customers or clients get from the onset will go a long way in determining how they are going to be relating with your business. A very poorly designed logo may out rightly put some customers off and make them see your company as inferior.

Do not make the mistake of having a cheap and poorly designed logo for your business. Even if you can not afford to hire a creative logo developer to do a professional job for you, you can still have your logo carefully and professionally designed by you with the aid of some specific software.

It is not uncommon for company logo designers to make logo designs appear like rocket science thereby scaring you away from trying your hands on it. If you can afford it, hire a creative logo designer to do it for you but if not you can get not too expensive ‘do it your self’ logo design software that will place a good logo in your hands. This software, unlike what the company logo designer will give, avails you with logo templates and gives you a guide on how to create the logo by your self using the software. It is even more interesting to note that since you are the owner of the business and knows your entire business all round. You are in a better position to design a much befitting logo than the one a company logo designer will do for you. Though he will take instructions from you before starting the design, cases of logos themed strangely from the business concepts abound.

The do it your self logo companies works real hard to make logo design less stressful for you. They will supply you various pre-designed logo templates and it choice is on you to choose one that matches your business concepts and add your wordings and color tones. This route is cheaper than an average cost of hiring company logo designer. Do not make the mistake of rushing in to design your logo. You have to take time to reflect on what your business stands for and how you want the world to view your business. Then correctly choose a logo template that meets these aspirations.

The next thing is to meticulously study the do it your self logo design guide that comes with your order and apply the design one after the other. Before you know it, you will have a professional looking logo for your company. Also ensure that whatever pre-designed logo template you are choosing is as simple as possible for better comprehension without unnecessary ambiguity.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with company logo designers or need creative logo developer [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

Are You Considering Changing Your Companies Logo Design?

John — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:06:20 +0000

The truth that the logo of any company represents its brand is widely accepted. Therefore, it is important to make critical decisions before embarking on getting a new stationary design. It is essential to change logos in order to follow the ever-changing tastes of your customers. This does not involve any magical spells or whatsoever; the use of suppositions can be rewarding.

It is not an easy task to establish a business and drive it to success. What is more? It is even harder to maintain the path of success. This is why most successful businessmen change their logos often. Anticipating the behavior of people is a prerequisite to watching the changing desires of your customers. This is why a logo represents a company’s image and the first thing that should be change if ever you want to subject your company to some modifications.

Getting a new stationary design involves meticulous probes on you part. There are certain issues that you should bear in mind before you decide to get a new custom logo. It is highly recommended that you take care not to modify the image of your company.

Extreme changes in a logo can make your clients misconstrue the genuineness of your company. In the worst case, it will ruin your company. This is not however a scare to deter you from altering the company’s logo; you should on change it sparingly.

But you might be thinking if it is even necessary to change your logo in the first place. Changing a logo can be likened to changing the services your business offers. This will eventually lead to a change in the taste of your customers. Take for instance, shades of pastel’; they are highly appreciated these days. Therefore if you change your logo to one with such a shade, it means that you have kept the people’s taste in mind.

Some companies regard the issue of changing logos as high priority. This might be due to several reasons. It can happen if partnership has been divided in the company; hence the need for a new logo for each individual firm. In this case, each partner would want to gain something from the other person; and therefore use a stationary design that looks like the former one.

A good marketing tactic is very essential to post-logo creation. This is because the company needs to promote the new design in order to make their clients still trust them. Modifying your logo is also important when you wish to undertake new measure in your company. This being the case, the image of your company should be reflected in the new custom logo. After this, as mentioned earlier, you should seek strategies on how to promote the company’s new look. You should be changing for good and not for bad.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with custom logo or need stationary design [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

Long Term Profitability of Professional Logo Development

John — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:05:17 +0000

Nothing is as potent in identifying your company as a professionally designed company logo. It is not just a mere identity for your company but also shows the class, strength and uniqueness of what your business represents. Many customers and clients will associate your business with the way your company logo makes them feel. So this tells you that how your clients perceive your company logo is vital to your business in terms of sales and branding.

The well thought out logo you designed for your company today will be used for many years to identify your business. The logo may in future be used on T-shirts, prints, websites, emails, banner e.t.c in creating more awareness for your business. This is one good reason you should not think just cheap in your company logo development. The cheap logo may not properly relay all your company’s strength and uniqueness thus the need to look beyond where you are now and think of the when your business must have grown. Whatever you spend on hiring a logo developer today will benefit your business in many folds.

The awareness creation effect your company logo will have on your business can be unquantifiable. The long term benefits of towing the route of professional company logo development include but not limited to.

Your company logo can build trust and credibility to your clients. Some people love to associate with credible enterprises and befitting company logo is one tool to relay your latent position to your customers.

Your company logo creates a professional image for your business in the market place. A logo developer will help you in figuring which design is best for your business. While the logo will not directly fetch you money but it definitely will bring clients to your business.

A professionally done company logo helps to brand the business and this is even more necessary to be considered here because in today’s brand world many go for the brand instead of the product. The excitement, trust, strength and so on that your logo creates in the mind of some customers can keep them coming to your company.

Creative logo development is vital to the survival and growth of businesses in the world today. You may be leaving lots of cash on the table if you fail to have your logo professionally designed. This is easier now than it was before because with few clicks of the mouse you can start discussing with a professional logo developer that will design an effective logo for your business.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with logo developer or need logo development [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

Simple Versus Fancy Logo Designs For Your Business

John — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:55:07 +0000

Logo designs for your company should be very simple and straight to the point. It makes those who see it once to remember it even later. The simpler your custom company logo design is the easier it will be for the eyes to grab the message you are sending with it. Using a very simple logo design saves you money too when you want to print your logo because it may be just one color or a single letter design like that of Nike. Having a fanciful custom company logo design may end up beclouding the mind of those that see it while the message the logo should be spreading is lost in the design.

Your custom company logo design should be visible to the eye. There are many cases where some make the mistake of using unrelated initials in designing company logos. This is a sin against your brand. No one who does not know you earlier will easily recognize the initials you are projecting. It is much better to use a simple letter and follow it up boldly with whatever term the company is known for.

Your custom company logo design should be as simple as possible because simpler custom logo design stays in the memory of people more than complex and fanciful designs. It will even be more advantageous for your company if your custom logo design is simple because if your company eventually goes national, you can easily add a little touch to it rather than completely changing the ambiguous custom company logo design you may have been using. If there is a way to very simply project just one unique value your company adds to your customers in your company custom logo design, it is always a winner any day.

Keep your custom company logo design constant. What this means is to simply try to create a design that will last without the need for its change. This is necessary because while starting out in business, many small companies tend not to have logos that their enterprises will be associated with. There is no problem with this but ensure that as soon as you company’s client base start increasing, you get a logo designer that will design a lasting company logo for you. It is not good for your business to be known with one logo only for it to change the next day. This may create confusion in the minds of some of your clients while others will plainly switch their loyalty. If you can, use only one color for your custom company logo design and try as much as you can to keep it as simple as possible.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with custom company logo design or need custom logo design [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

A Corporate Identity Package – Very Valuable For Your Business

John — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:54:21 +0000

Most of the small to medium business make a great mistake concerning branding through corporate identity. Many small to medium business owners are not focus when it comes to branding. For example, most of these businesses have multiple logos, multiple versions of the same logo and multiple color combinations that do not correlate. Also, these companies have no sense of thinking for a well developed and very unique corporate identity. In fact, some do not have any logo at all.

Every small business should starts with a unique corporate identity, if it wants to succeed. Such a small business which includes logo, color and identify should have a feel concerning her identity. It is these feel and logo that show and sell her to the market. This is the type of business that grows in America. The way you present your company to your market depends on things like, a successful branding with a unique logo that is very easy for people to recognize and your company’s identity. So, your corporate identify should be able to provide or put interest in customers or clients concerning your products or services.

So, your company’s corporate id is the same thing as your companies packaging. So, your corporate identity is just about how you package your company and your services. In fact, your corporate identity package determines how your company appears to the market. It shows how clients or customers see your services or products.

Therefore, you need a good corporate identity package. Not only this. You must advertise your company’s corporate id to the world or market to see. You can do this by placing your logo in specific areas where people will easily find or see it. You can make your logo visible to people whenever they see any of your employee. This means that your logo can be on the vest your employee put on. Your logo can also appear on your abs that appears on radio or TV. You can even use both; this however depends on your market place. You can use the internet also for advert.

The internet gives you access to millions of people at the same time. Therefore, it is a good place for you to sell your corporate identity package. The internet is where people go to now to find more about a product or service before they do any thing. Let them be able to find information about your business also.

There fore, I am recommending that every small or medium business should find time to develop and produce a good and unique logo. Do not just give your logo to anybody to design look for a professional logo designer to do that for you. Also come out with a good identity that attracts customers and clients to you. Have a good and perfect branding. Your company needs it now.

Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with corporate id or need corporate identity package [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations and assure you results.

Common Mistakes Made in Web Design

John — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:52:32 +0000

The main reason you would have set up a Web site would be to generate hits. This holds true for company web sites, blogs, ecommerce sites, etc. and it is particularly important for a small business. Maybe you are getting hits, but it does not translate to the kind of traffic you need for your business. So, what do you do next?

You can check out your Web site statistics, and maybe you will see a pattern emerging. Do all your visitors exit the site immediately after viewing the home page? If they do, something is radically wrong with your Web design. A developer with insufficient experience can make a lot of mistakes that can result in chasing visitors away from your site. This would make building the Web site an exercise in futility. You will be glad to know that there are others who share this problem with you. You will be even gladder to know that this problem can be solved – fairly economically and easily.

Here are some of the key problem areas in the Web design of Web sites built by inexperienced developers:

1. Abuse of Multimedia

Multimedia undoubtedly enhances a web site and makes it that much more attractive for site viewers than using plain text and images. However, using audio, video or animation can create obstacles for visitors to a web site if the Web design has not been properly implemented.

The other problem is that all visitors to your site will not have the same kind of connection speed, plug-ins, screen resolution or browser as you have. In other words, you need to take all these factors into account. The navigation on your web site should ideally not be in Flash (animation) and you should stick to images or text. Nothing is more discouraging than to visit a web site and being faced by a lot of X’s with no navigation options. Even if you let your audience download Flash, they just might find it easier to visit your competitors site. So another prospective customer bites the dust due to ineffective Web design.

Now, as far as plug-ins are concerned, they aren’t always a problem but the connection speed can be a problem. A small piece of animation can easily be 4 or 5 MB’s, hence a dial-up connection may take anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes to download it properly.

Another word of caution – a video intro may be a bad idea. Even if you provide a ‘skip intro’ button, it still may be wiser to communicate your message on your home page in a way that the visitor sees it right away with the least delay and effort.

2. The Problem with Adobe Acrobat

If you place Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files on your Web site, the process will slow down even more. A cable or DSL connection notwithstanding, downloading a large file will take ages. Your viewer may not even have the right Acrobat Reader version which could also throw a spanner in the works.

Of course, you may have to place some information in PDF because it needs to be printed out and mailed. However, you should ideally place everything on a regular Web page if you can. And a PDF may not be located by a search engine. Effective Web design should take this factor into account.

3. Stock Photographs

Many Web designers try to save money by using stock photographs off the Net. Stock photographs can be accessed by anyone and can be used for any purpose. If the images used by you are commonly used across the internet, they will make your web page look commonplace.

4. Disadvantages of Free Fonts

Again, many designers use free fonts to save money regardless of whether they suit the design or not. This comes in the way of your website looking unique and interesting. It also makes it evident that the web designer was attempting to cut costs while designing your website.

5. Content Heavy Pages

It is quite common to see designers cramming pages with content in order to reduce the total number of pages on a site. This can result in the creation of very heavy pages that take time to load and open, and effectively put people off from staying on your Web site. This is an important aspect of Web design as it affects your communication objectives.

6. Template Trouble

Many Web designers try to cut corners and save on time and expense by using standardized templates which are available online. The problem with these templates is that they are generic, commonly used by many sites and have no distinct personality of their own which would represent the identity of your business or site. It is much wiser to design the look and feel of your site based on your company’s image, this is a priority in Web design and should result in a design that would be unique to your Web site.

7. The Importance of Code

Rookie designers are known to try and take the easy way out by using a design code that is known to ‘work’ rather than opting for a more complicated code that may be required for the site. This can result in making your Web site look amateurish and unprofessional and defeats the purpose of investing in Web design.

8. Irregular Updates

It is very important for a Web site to constantly provide new, updated content. Having to read the same information can pall on people and after a while they will simply stop visiting your site. So you will need to have a design that lends itself easily to regular updates with fresh content to attract repeat viewership.

These are basically the most common mistakes made in Web design, although you may have problems that are more specific to your Web site and not so generic in nature. But it would be worth addressing these issues at an early stage in order to build up traffic on your site.

Need help with Web Design? Visit community of Web Design Professionals

The Main Points Of Website Credibility

John — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:51:53 +0000

One of the main aspects that may assure your website popularity and reputation is its credibility, especially when you are involved in online business. Your main aim is to build trustful relationships with your customers and prove them that you are responsible and reliable. Credibility is a very essential aspect that will make your visitors click your ads, download the software, subscribe to your services and much more. Make people trust you and they will definitely return to your page.

Most webmasters neglect website credibility issues though it is very easy to follow simple steps in order to increase your site reputation significantly. So in case you are interested in the way you can make your online business more successful, take a look at the several simple steps to make your website credible.

1. If you want to tell your customers about the team you work with provide real information about real people. If you publish the photos of your staff make sure they are real as well. Such aspect possesses two benefits at once: first, you will show respect to your team and, secondly, you will make your business a little bit more personal which your customers can’t but appreciate.

2. Dedicate a separate section of your website to provide your physical address and telephone number. The visitors must believe that there is a real company behind the website – thus they will cooperate with you more confidently and willingly.

3. In order to show that you respect your customers and care about them you must provide timely help if they require it. Give clear and flexible responses, avoid autoresponders, don’t make your clients wait for your answers too long. If you want your business to be estimated as trustful and reliable one pay enough attention to your customers’ needs.

4. If you place some resources or references to other websites within your web pages make sure that these links are correct and contain the information which can really become useful for your customers. Your visitors like the information they can easily verify, so let them get evidence that every element on your web pages works perfectly and don’t disappoint them!

5. Avoid making errors of all types if you want your customers to consider your website a respected place. Spelling mistakes, even a few of them, can make your visitors doubt concerning your website reputation so don’t break your online business because of that.

5. Ask those clients who were satisfied with your service to give you a testimonial as it will increase your website credibility greatly. To make it even more beneficial provide your client full name, company and website as well as pictures and video material, if possible.

6. Make sure you have provided Privacy Policy and Terms&Conditions sections – these matters are extremely essential for your online business as they increase clients’ trustfulness significantly.

7. In order to add to your website credibility you can make your web pages printer-friendly. Very often it happens that a customer needs to get some information listed on your website, so make your web pages easy to print and, moreover, put a special indicating icon at the top of your site.

8. Implement the option of the live-chat and provide your customers with real-time support. Your clients will definitely appreciate the online discussion you will provide them with.

9. Make the most of your web pages available for all the visitors and don’t oblige them to login until it is really necessary. Most of the users don’t want to waste their time on online registration so don’t make them go away even before they open your web pages.

10. Construct your website in the way it is easy to use and navigate it. The more user-friendly your web pages design is the more visitors may become your customers.

Of course, these are only main credibility points which generally depend on your web pages design and there are far more aspects to take into account. But paying attention to such simple issues you will dramatically improve your website reputation and will build stronger relationships with your clients.

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