Learn To Update Your Website Content

September 30th, 2009

In the previous article we have touched upon the topic of website maintenance and highlighted its key points in general. One of the first aspects to mention concerned content update which is an integral part of your website proper support. Today we will get closer to the issue and identify the main principles of refreshing your website content which will help you to keep your web resource on top positions.

In spite of the fact that website content updating is one of the easiest steps of your website maintenance which doesn’t require some extra knowledge and efforts it is very often neglected. And this tends to be a big mistake which prevents your website from being appreciated by the visitors and breaks its image. Moreover, fresh content is your way to high rankings as search engines like it very much. So if your website is not updated regularly it will lose its popularity not only among people but within search engines as well.

In order for you to update your website content at ease it is better to think over some plan or scheme which will help you to cope with your website update. First you need to decide what exactly you are going to post, so here are several useful suggestions concerning the type of updates.

1. News
News may comprise announcements of the new products releases or new services available for your customers as well as various internal promotions, newsletters notices and much more. Just a piece of current information concerning your website or events that are related to your business. Such kind of updates is rather fast and laconic so it won’t take you a lot of time to prepare it.

2. Portfolio
If you have completed some project or have done some kind of work that can be showcased display it within your portfolio page and let the visitors see what you can do. This will not only appear a content update but an attract visitors as well and let them estimate your endeavor.

3. Blog
A weblog contained on your website is the most effective way to keep in touch with your website visitors and see their direct reaction to what you do for them by means of comments they leave. The content you post within your blog may be as various as you want but it is better to make it meet your website topic and purpose. Your blog is a perfect place to post how-tos and tutorials as they will be appreciated by those who came to find some useful tips and solutions related to your business. Thus you will grant your visitors with valuable knowledge and position yourself as a professional. Before & after stories and case studies which touch upon your products and services will also appear to your visitors taste and moreover allow you to show the solutions your are able to provide.

4. FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions section is another opportunity to refresh your website with some written content. The thing is a lot of your site visitors may have questions concerning either your services or your website operating and you should provide proper and sufficient answers to them. So if you have noticed that some new issue has arisen update your FAQ page with new question/answer set.

5. Newsletter
Writing regular newsletters to the clients is the common practice for online business which helps you to keep in touch with your customers. Newsletters carry out the main function of your website updates – they remind your visitors of your business and get them informed.

6. Statistics
People like statistics as it lets them see the real course of business they are interested in. So it won’t be surplus if you add some historical data which will allow your visitors to see your products and services advantages clearly.

7. Interviews
If you want to update your website content and at the same time strengthen your relations with clients interviews and stories are the right way to go. All you need to do is to ask some of your customers about the products and services you offer, about the way they use it, how useful it was and so on. Such interviews will appear very interesting and valuable information for others as they will see your business reviews that rely on the real facts. And of course, will add to your benefits.

The way you embody the ideas listed above is completely up to you – whether you will do it yourself or hire a professional enthusiastic writer which will do the work according to the schedule you require. But in both cases your significant task is to think over the way you want it to be – what topic should be covered, what points to highlight and how often your website should be updated. You are fully responsible for your website updating strategy and need to dedicate some time to it even if you hire someone to write – be attentive with that. If you need to identify the frequency of your website updates then statistics will come in handy. It will let you see how often your website is visited and help you to provide fresh content in proper time so when the most of your visitors come to your site they will see that updates are already published.

The main rule to learn implies that you must not update your website too often or too seldom – you should provide fresh content timely and make your updates relevant. Moreover, it is advisable to keep an eye not only on statistics but on what your competitors do as well which will help you to be abreast of your business development and maintain the leading positions.

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The Basics Of Website Maintenance

September 23rd, 2009

If you decided to establish a website you should be aware of the fact that it will require your constant support over the time of its existence. Of course website design and construction are a serious and responsible process you need to take most thoroughly but it is not your sole task. What is not less important after your website is constructed and launched is the maintenance of what you have created, and the most important thing you should remember is that your website maintenance should be endless.

No matter how stunning and usable your web pages design is, if you are not going to refresh its content and keep every aspect in order soon it will lose its sense and reputation. To stay up-to-date and be in demand your site requires relevant timely information update for the visitors to keep coming and appreciating it. This is the first rule of your website maintenance - provide fresh and interesting information and stay friendly to you readers.

Website maintenance is about keeping your site working properly no matter what. You can not take your web pages down in any way, you must not forget to update it for weeks while you are occupied with something else, otherwise you will make wrong impression both on the visitors and potential collaborators. Looking unprofessional is forbidden if you are going to achieve success by means of your website.

You should always take into account that your target audience wants to get the most out of your website and take part in its development. That is why you must provide your  visitors the ability to leave comments and feedbacks as well as offer their own suggestions for your website. This can be easily done by implementing a simple feedback form where every user will be able to submit his opinion. Visitors’ feedbacks can be very useful for you as they give you fresh ideas for your site further growth and help you to keep in touch with your visitors which in its turn creates a user-friendly image of your website.

But your readers’ feedbacks should not be the only source for your ideas, you must also check out similar sites, examine what they are about as well as find some popular and successful sources to draw inspiration for fresh content and new design concepts. Carrying out such research will be useful for your website development and the novelties you will implement will help you to keep your visitors interested in your site coming back for more updates. Another aspect of your website maintenance implies adding RSS feeds, newsletters and online articles which were published after your website start up. Such practice will also keep your website content up-to-date.

It is recommended to track your results to see how successfully you cope with your website maintenance and identify the strongest and the weakest points to make a more effective plan for the future activities if necessary. Besides, website analysis will be useful for your site optimization as well. And don’t forget to respond your visitors from your website as it is an integral part of its maintenance which builds trustful and stable relations with your audience.

If you want to learn how to maintain your website properly and make it popular among the readers stay in touch with LayoutsPack and follow our updates as we are going to provide with more pieces of valuable information. And feel free to leave your feedbacks as LayoutsPack appreciates every opinion!

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5 Top Simple Portal Templates

September 16th, 2009

Establishing web portals is quite a common practice nowadays as it allows you to create a separate niche for your interests and unify the diverse topical content in one place. It is also a great opportunity to find like-minded people and launch a powerful community which will extend day by day. Creating a web portal you of course want it to stand out against the background of others not only by the exclusive content comprised within it but also by attractive and qualitative design. That is why today we offer you to have a look at the selection of simple but undoubtedly eye-catching Portal Templates which will help you to start up the popular web portal dedicated to any topic you like.

1. Game Zone Template

Computer games are extremely popular nowadays and number millions of fans especially among young people. Game Zone Template was developed just to become a perfect basis for a website portal aimed at providing players with necessary support and relevant information, tips and tricks for different online and offline games which are always in demand.

2. Job Portal Theme

Job Portal Theme is a stylish template which will become an excellent basis for the portal of a company which provides services for those who are looking for job. It allows the employees to post resume and find a job which corresponds their particular requirements. The official style of the Job Portal Theme highlights your professional intentions and allows you to establish an attractive and usable job related website.

3. Music Portal Template

There is hardly a person who isn’t fond of particular kind of music that is why music portals are so popular among web users. If you are going to create your own one Music Portal Theme will undoubtedly become a proper solution allowing you to share music news, albums reviews, artists information and much more.

4. Racing Portal Template

Racing Portal Template will appear an ideal choice in order you have decided to create a kind of online racing fan club. With its help you will establish a web portal where every member will access information about contemporary events in the world of racing, discover useful and informative resources as well as will be able to follow the results and schedule of races.

5. Building Business Template

If you need a template for establishing a web portal for your company Building Business Template will satisfy your requirements for sure. It is the right way to present your small business online describing your services and offering the solutions to every visitor. Simple but very pleasant-to-the eye design combined with easy navigation will help you to start up usable and customers-friendly business website, whether it is Joomla, WordPress, Drupal or a simple HTML website.

If you want to see more web portals designs you are welcome to browse the category of Portal Templates created by LayoutsPack professional developers. And don’t forget that you have the unique opportunity to enjoy unlimited downloads and tons of high quality website templates subscribing to templates membership which tends to be the most reasonable web design solution.

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CSS Editors to Speed Up your Work

September 7th, 2009

I continue to share useful tools with you and today I’m going to give you the list of good CSS editors.
Of course there are HTML editors with CSS support and most CSS professionals don’t use any editors except Notepad, but I’m sure many of you would appreciate a more sophisticated development environment for CSS coding these CSS editors offer. Besides, if you are new to CSS, you can learn by analyzing the style sheets and using live-editing, thus getting to understand how the design is actually built up.
The idea of a CSS editor lies in combining the HTML-source code with editing features of CSS-stylesheets and the website layout within a comfortable interface. Many CSS editors also offer some additional tools and features for debugging and testing, validation and preview in different browsers and many more.

Well, here is my list of good CSS editors you might find handy:

* Free CSS Toolbox

Among the features this editor offers are error check, cross-browser compatibility check, W3C CSS validator and many more.

* Xyle

Modifying the CSS-code with this advanced editor for Mac users you’ll see the changes immediately in the browser window. Among key features are the ability to filter large CSS files using smart groups, automatic formatting and selector matching

* Simple CSS

If you are a CSS beginner you’ll like this free editor. True to its name it is really very simple.

*  JustStyle CSS Editor

This powerful and easy to use editor is highly interactive and platform independent. With this editor you are able to edit the whole CSS file or select the fragments of it and edit them separately.

* CSSEdit

CSSEdit offers real-time styling of style sheets for Mac users. The editor features W3C standards validator, live-preview, integration in web-browsers, project management and others.

* Rapid CSS Editor

This editor for Windows users offers integration with W3C CSS and HTML validators,  CSS checker and validator, syntax highlighting for CSS and HTML documents, CSS code compressor, save and open files directly from FTP, fully customizable interface and many other useful features.

Well, if you have anything to share about the above mentioned CSS editors or if you’d like to give us a hint about the editor that wasn’t named in the list, do not hesitate and let us know in the comments below.

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7 Characteristics of a Good Website

September 2nd, 2009

Designing and developing a website is a complicated process which requires taking into consideration huge number of elements and details. There are though few key features which every successful website possesses. Check if your website design has these features:

* Enjoyable Visual Design
As they say – fine dress helps to impress. The first impression is always the strongest one; if your website is poorly designed your visitor will most likely leave it in seconds. The question of what is an enjoyable visual design has of course a subjective answer. There is a number of good articles describing the web design trends of the year, I suggest you to read them. I would add for myself that you should know when enough is enough. Trends are good but overusing them is not good at all.

* Plain Navigation
Every good website is user friendly. You should always remember that you design for people, and people should be able to find where to click. The navigation is to be obvious and easy.

* Quality Content
Content is king. Always remember that when creating a website. People visit your web page to find information, so give it to them. A good visual design without a meaningful content won’t make you successful.

* Web Optimized Pictures
All the images you use when designing for web should be compressed to 72dpi. If you use Photoshop for designing just use a “Save for Web” feature that will compress your images automatically.

* Contact Information
Your website visitors should be able to easily get in touch with you to give you their feedback and suggestions. Thus do not hide your contacts from them. Make a simple contact page and include it to your main navigation.

* Search Feature
As said above – you design for people and people should be able to easily find what they are looking for at your website. No one likes browsing through hundreds of pages in search of a thing.

* Cross Browser Compatibility
If you use only Firefox it doesn’t mean that everyone out there uses it either. Do remember that your visitors might use other browsers and never forget to check your websites for cross browser compatibility.

Would you suggest more features every good website should posses?

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