WestHost Webmaster Connection May 30th, 2007

Specials    Huge Increases!  Web Development Tips    Design Inspiration  Marketing Tips    How To Create 'Buzz,' Boost Traffic At Your Site  Notable Site    eMarketer.com  Quote of the Week    Success

Specials

Huge Increases! Take advantage of WestHost's huge increases to disk space and bandwidth by purchasing an additional hosting account! For more information, please visit our corporate Web site. back to top

Web Development Tips

Design Inspiration By: http://webmaster.learnstuffonline.com/ The first steps in a creative endeavor can often be the most frustrating. You know what you're trying to do, but you're not exactly sure how to do it. Now if you really don't know how to do it i.e., (you don't know how to use the tools of the trade), this article may not be for you...You're better off first learning how to use the programs, coding and such. If you're past that however and instead find yourself at a creative road block, there are some things you can do to get those creative juices flowin! Start with the basics And sometimes that means getting away from the computer and using more primitive tools...A pencil and paper. Just put the pencil in your hand and put it to the paper. Start doodling, start drawing, start writing down words that mean something to your project. Maybe they take the form of feelings that you want your site to emote, or important things you want to make sure are incorporated in your website's final incarnation. In any event, just getting something down on paper will often get your brain to begin churning out ideas. Think about your audience Taking the time to consider your audience will almost definitely put you in the right direction. Focus on what things your audience likes, what colors, what people, what television shows. Also think about how different forms of media present information to your audience. For instance, if your site is geared towards kids or children, you may want to think about bright colors and a more joyous atmosphere. On the other hand, something presented towards working professionals may have a "cleaner" look to it and may tend to focus on presentation of content and navigation ensuring a smooth and efficient experience. (Click Here to continue reading this article) back to top

Marketing Tips

How To Create 'Buzz,' Boost Traffic At Your Site By: Boris Mordkovich Over the last year or so, "social media" has quickly become the next "big" thing online. A plethora of social communities with names like Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Wikipedia and YouTube have popped up to connect people who share common interests. As impressive as all that may sound, what does it actually mean to you, the operator of a small- to mid-sized ecommerce site? What benefits can you reap from social media optimization (SMO), and how should you approach it? First, let's review what SMO is. In a nutshell, social media optimization is the use of any sort of content that creates buzz within a specific community and attracts audience participation. A good example is Digg. At this site, Digg community members identify news stories and articles they like by "digging" them or express dissatisfaction by "burying" them. The upside is that stories with a large enough number of "diggs" make it to the front page of a website that can attract literally thousands of visitors within a very short time period. Let's take another example. StumbleUpon is a service by which users suggest websites they like in specific categories so other users can randomly check them out at their leisure. The name comes from the site's toolbar, which allows people to "stumble" from site to site within the preferred category. If you create a profile and consistently recommend interesting sites of good quality, then your recommendations will begin to carry weight and eventually may help you promote your own website. (Click Here to continue reading this article) back to top

Notable Site

eMarketer.com eMarketer.com offers online articles on E-Business and Online Marketing, a free newsletter, trends analysis and reports, along with subscription-based marketing data mining. To find out more, please visit http://www.eMarketer.com back to top

Quote of the Week

Success "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill                                  back to top

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