Category: Domain Related

May 30, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Once in a while, about every 3-4 years of years, your website should be updated ensuring it has a fresh modern look; utilizing the latest and greatest web design methods. A website which looks outdated can damage your credibility & ultimately cost you new customers. A redesign starts by planning what you want create from your existing website into the next finished upgrade. Step 1 - Planning the project... A good exercise is to list what you like about other websites that you have encountered and bookmarked. Consider how you can integrate the features that you like into your own website. While perusing through other websites you will also get a better feel for what your site already does well and where it doesn’t shine so well. Before you begin, you have to work out what you want your website to do exactly. The goals should be realistic and specific. Ask yourself: who and what is my website for ? · A means to communicate with customers? · To build brand awareness? · Is it’s main function to be a sales funnel? Every website has a slightly different purpose. Define what your website’s purpose is precisely. At the start of your project you should create time-line of of what needs to be done; and when. If you have a project team of other people you should also include who is responsible for each part. Step 2 - Design for building a high level of trust between yourself & your audience Getting your visitor(s) to trust your brand should be the overall goal. Mostly your website to be considered credible & trustworthy is to continuously update it with original high-quality content. Original content helps customer prospects find you in search engines; and in turn establishes you as a thought leader in your market segment. Also keep in mind that you don’t want your visitors to see you as just selling something. The first goal should be to get your visitors to trust your website as an authority. The other avenue to build trust with your customers is to create and maintain an active social media presence. Today’s consumers expect some communication...

May 9, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Since about the beginning of 2016 a new simplifying trend in website design is coaxing website managers and businesses to rethink their web presence strategy. A significant number of websites have begun redesign sites that have visual depth and 3d-elements to flattened out plainer versions which project more “flat” “single-surface” experiences. “Flat design” is becoming one of the hottest trends in 2016 web design. Looking into this trending web design model is, we can consider both the pros & cons. Here is a great gallery of flat design examples: http://www.awwwards.com/websites/flat-design/ (Make sure you give this a look to see better what is being talked about.) 1 step flatwards, 2 steps forwards... There is an age-old theory that simply states that history repeats itself, - fashion trends, hairstyles, marketing campaigns. Flat design isn’t new. However in 2016 taken on a fresh modern flair; which appears to be resonating with “millennials” who are most tethered to their handheld computers. Using smartphones by default demands bigger text and larger images; which happen to be key elements in flat site design. The advent of responsive design considerations for mobile screen necessitated a need for easily scrollable 2-dimensional designs which depend more on unique colors & shapes rather than realistic-looking 3d graphics and animated GIFs; popular on “skeuomorphic“ designs. Efficient responsive design, with faster page load time along with with a sleek appearance, all which is great on on mobile devices, is the main advantage to flat design for websites. Form & Function What is a flat website designs? And what isn’t. Flat designers take a minimalistic approach that values function over most everything, except the content itself. Today mobile-active consumers today are looking for responsive brands, mobile friendly and functional. When online forms social share buttons first appeared, people were unfamiliar with these design elements and had to guided through the process. One example is fields forms. Before people needed to be helped by stating “Type your e-mail address here” or “Type First name”. Nowadays, the average person knows more intuitively about how to get around a web page or site; therefore the simplicity of flat design are became more popular. With flat design...

May 2, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

After you have secured hosting and installed WordPress (or another CMS), it is time to pick out a theme. Figuring out which theme is best is definitely overwhelming at first because there are about 40,000, free and fee, templates and themes to choose from. In order to help you get through the process of theme selection, the most important things to consider while choosing a theme are listed below. If you utilize these tips, you will have an easier time getting started in the right direction. Customization One of the great things about themes is that it gives you a place to start and you don’t have to spend days or weeks of work to make it all look good. Another more expensive option is to hire a talented designer to create a personalized blog theme for you, but it’s also great to have some customizable options. This details include being able to alter the general color of your theme, being able to change the header image, and perhaps also the ability to tailor the theme code, that is - if you know what you are doing. The more options you have for customization, the better. High Readability A very important aspect of theme selection to consider is to make sure it provides for high readability. The main point of getting visitors to your website or blog is for them, not just to see colors and fancy graphics, but to actually consume and be influenced by your content. So you should choose a theme that utilizes a font which is easy on the eyes and consistent. Even if you think a particular font is cute - if it makes the word is hard to read; then skip that theme if you are unable to easily customize the overall font. Some additional tips to increase the readability of your website/blog: * The important of adequate amounts of “whitespace”. Try to find a theme that allows plenty of blank whitespace. Pictures, graphics, text and other design elements can go a long way - there also should plenty of whitespace, in between blocks, in order to give your visitor’s eyes a break. *...

April 25, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In this article we will help bring you up to date with current website development standards. HTML5 was a many year project that was launched in 2014; mostly as the concerted effort by the W3C organization. The plan was, from that point forward to continue to publish regular incremental updates to the HTML standard; but a few things didn’t happen as planned. Now a newly named organization, the Web Platform Working Group (WP WG) is working towards a HTML5.1 to be released within the next 6 months. The project centers around a general workflow; which means the group will be releasing a stable version of HTML, as a W3C recommendation, about once annually moving forward. HTML Specification Goals The core goals for future HTML specifications are to: * match reality better, * make the specification as clear as possible to readers, * to make it possible for all stakeholders to propose improvements, * and to understand what makes changes to HTML successful. HTML 5.1 Timeline The current schedule is to ship an HTML5.1 recommendation in September 2016. This implies they will need to have a Candidate Recommendation by the middle of June 2016, following a “Call For Consensus” based on the most recent working draft. The updated working draft is published approximately once a month; changes are noted within the specification itself. They practice an evolutionary schedule of “rinsing and repeating”; making regular incremental updates to HTML that is relatively straightforward to implement. If you are interested you can see current chatter from the working group members @HTMLWG on Twitter. read_more Specification development The HTML 5.1 specification is on a public Github server so anyone who can make a “pull request” and can propose changes. Simple changes will generally be accepted by the editors after their review. The group is tasked with generally removing things which don’t have adequate support in at least two shipping web browser engines. HTML is a quite a large specification. It is developed from a set of source files. This automates links between the various sections; such as sectional element definitions. For substantial new feature requests/implementations, they prefer submissions separate modules to be developed or...

April 11, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Truly a picture is worth hundreds or thousands of words. Often we do not apply that knowledge towards improving the quality of our personal and small business websites. Images are naturally better, in many cases, because they are much much more conducive at communicating emotion, setting a mood or creating impact. There are many different kinds of visual media: video, artwork photographs, charts, infographics. Video is the new black Wherever presentable, video is becoming a “must-have” media for almost any professional marketer. Amazingly, all you need today is a smart-phone. We have all become video camera men and women. It becomes easy to film a basic overview or any kind of video on your phone, and touch it up by utilizing many video editing software applications which make it ready to add to your blog or website. Video can even create more engagement than static graphics; making it easier for you to allow your brand to shine. It can make it easier to explain the value of your products in a more engaging style and in more detail. People have limited time and limited attention span on the internet: so try to keep your video: smart, basic, and simple. Photography Today we have high definition cameras in our pockets and persons in the form of a smartphone. Ironically we still seem to find it a chore to present great or the best images for small business websites. If you’re not a DIY photographer, there are dozens of stock art websites. Here is our recent blog post detailing that: read_more https://4goodhosting.com/blog/two-dozen-free-valuable-wordpress-plugins/ Regardless of the imagery or video source, once in a while, spend time to make sure your site provides powerful & relevant images that will bring various content of your message to life. Graphs & Charts It turns out most people especial enjoy information when it presented visually; near 99% of time no matter who your customers are. For example, you can diagram the value of or the savings your product or service creates. You can also chart the performance of your product vs. a competitor? Intuitively simple graphics which express ideas in a focused, visual style; can have great...

March 29, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This article brings to you information about how you can find freely-distributable copyright free photos and images for you website designs. The following 10 easy to use and searchable websites offer you images free of any cost. StreetWill.co StreetWill organizes and present owner-submitted photos under the increasingly popular Creative Commons Zero license (CCO). CCO permits you to use the images in any way that you want; from person to commercial uses, without cost, or even have to mention the photographer/artist. Stokpic.com StockPic allowing individual images to be freely downloaded from their site. They are bundling new highly rated images into weekly emails. Images on the site are lightly watermarked for their marketing purposes, but when they are downloaded watermark-free and high resolution. Stockpic has its its own distributional license which allows the images free for commercial use and no requirement creator attribution (although giving credit is always a nice touch). The only logical license restriction is that the images cannot be redistributed; so their site cannot just be cloned. LifeOfPix.com LifeOfPix.com hosts hi-res photos and artwork provided by the Leeroy Advertising Agency in Montreal, free for personal and commercial use. Life of Pix also offers videos via a related service, Life Of Vids. read_more U.S. Government Image Search USGIS and most government agencies are obligated by law to make any graphics they produce freely and publicly available; paid for already through taxes. This site allows visitors to search US government image archives. This includes assets of the NASA Goddard Space Centre Flickr account , the US Nation Parks Service, and the US Marine Corps Instagram account. UHDWallpapers.org UHDWallpapers.org provides wallpapers in UHD (4K) resolution under Creative Commons CC0 . While the images presented for personal desktops, they are of very high resolution and CCZ0 licensing permits them to be used on your website as well. Superfamous.com Superfamous offers a limited but exceedingly beautiful collection of photographs: Scenic natural landscapes, architecture, abstract art, and even fonts. The images are complimentary of Folkert Gorter, and provided under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license. Kaboompics.com Kaboompics offers downloads of individual images and eMail subscriptions. This site features mostly Food, Fashion, Interior design, and...

March 21, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Most of us haven’t built and don’t operate a e-commerce store but all of us are consumers! Buying things online is also so easy these days, as you know. And when we have the desire to consume, as easy as it is these days, we don’t even having to leave home... just a couple of eager and willing clicks is all it takes. So have you ever bought something and regretted it as soon as the hour after the purchase? Surely it has happened to most of us at some point. We can just see an advertisement on a webpage, and one moment, click on some new website, and if we feel the need to just buy something, we can spend hundreds by just entering a credit card number or a paypal email address. Poof! Your money/credit is now in other hands; and your real-life shopping bag is physically still empty. Next we have to wait for the product to arrive, if we can actually trust the retailer, and some kid on a skateboard doesn’t steal the box from your doorstep. Usually not long after you buy something important, you might then re-balance your checkbook; maybe finding out that you have went too close to your limit. There can be a multitude of reasons that can make you feel regret. Here are some good tips on how you can minimize buyer's remorse. A. “Planning ahead” is best prevention for post-purchase impulse-buy regret. Advertising is designed to manipulate us to buy. Advertisements are not overall bad, but so many utilize manipulative tactics to influence us in psychological ways. "Limited time offers," such as those 1-day deals, and plenty other marketing tactics - can easily trip some of up. So first, take at least 10 minutes to think of meditation to sense if there is anything about the purchase that could cause you feelings of regret. If you can wait, make a rule to wait a week before pulling the trigger on substantial purchases; perhaps anything over $80, or $100. Then jot in a reminder note in your calendar to remind you to buy it a week from now; or equivalently stick...

March 14, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

To allow for your business to grow maximally you probably already know you need to be on social media. For best results, it is important that have a thought-out strategy strategy. Here are a list of common issues that tend to minimize results. A. Not having a separate profiles for your business Imagine having your business mixed with your personal life on facebook. That could easily be a disaster, so the same applied for other social media channels as well. This will create an atmosphere of purely business conversation with your audience. B. Not responding to messages If you have many social media account, then you will have the more places that you are going to have to manage and check for messages. If you are able to forward your messages to your email, that will help you keep track of everything. Generally ignoring messages or not responding in a timely manner will only produce dissatisfaction customer in your customer base. Start small r with social platform first and then only build another network after you have mastered and feel comfortable with engaging your current audience. Start with the social network which has the highest percentage of your target audience online. C. Boring your audience Are your status updates too similar, or exactly the same, each day. If you are tuning out, your customers probably are too. To cure that, brainstorm some more. Also you can also try different themes/styles once in a while, perhaps ever quarter, or 3 months to help keep a fresh image. Humor is also good medicine to insert in place of writing blocks. You can easily search google images for various humorous images Also check out Buffer.com where you can profile and analyze your social media statistics; to find the content type & style that audience will like the most. read_more D. Talking about yourself too much The full definition of “social media” is about two-way conversation. If you are promoting your own offerings and not talking about your audience, or lettering them speak, or new people; then there is a good chance that your channel(s) audience will dissipate as fast as you can build...

March 7, 2016

Domain Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For the past 1-2 weeks your Google desktop search results pages have begun looking a little different; depending on how much you notice the ads. Google has begun to stop displaying ads on right-hand side of the search results page on desktops. Google has officially has confirmed the development as well. Instead of showing ads on the right-hand side of the desktop view - Google’s search results pages will now show “4” ads on the top, and some on the bottom of the results page. Google AdWords, the company’s advertising service, will be displaying 4 ads above organic search results; 0 ads on the right of search results, and 3 more ads below search results. Google had tested displaying 4 ads atop search results; as we observed in December. The removal of these ads from the right sidebar of results makes Google’s desktop search results pages look a lot more like mobile search results pages; which are displayed in a device-wide column. It also means advertisers will have to pay a premium for the smaller number of available ad-slots on search results pages; especially the 4 spots atop search results. Google’s “Product Listing Ads” (P.L.A.s) is the only possible tenant of that page space and still appears in the right column of more commercial search results. The Knowledge panel, which shows business information, will also appear in the right sidebar of desktop search results. read_more “We’ve been testing this layout for a long time, so some people might see it on a very small number of commercial queries,” a Google spokesperson said. “We’ll continue to make tweaks, but this is designed for highly commercial queries where the layout is able to provide more relevant results for people searching and better performance for advertisers.” According to a statement that Google put out, the change is global and will affect all regions in all languages. This news has shocked many that the company was limiting the number of adverts to only the top and bottom of search results pages shows. Although some adverts are being removed - an additional advertisement will be shown at the top of the page for advertising; and...