9 Tips For Effective Website Content

Writing for the Internet is a different skill to writing for paper print or paper publications. Website readers digest smaller amounts of information in less time when compared to reading from paper.

Web readers may be a difficult bunch, they may take a while to digest information and they may need convincing of every single point you deliver but they are essential. They can become long term, loyal customers, as long as you give them what they want.
This means that website content needs to be very well organized, concise, well formatted, and appealing. Throw in the proper use of search engine keywords, a powerful Call To Action (CTA), your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and the natural skepticism of web users and it's easy to see why many website owners use professional content writers.

1 - Use An Inverted Pyramid Style Of Writing; this means getting your point across early in the text. Web readers are an impatient bunch and they need to know that the page they're reading is relevant. Include a summary or conclusion of the page's main points at the beginning of the text and then elaborate on this as you progress.

2 - Make It Concise; as well as being impatient, web readers aren't able to digest and process information as well on a computer screen as they are on paper. There are masses of studies and numerous sets of data giving statistics on this, but the general point is that basic pages need to be between a third and a half of the length they would be on paper. Try to aim for 300-500 words for web pages, with longer pages for technical articles, newsletters, and other web based publications.

3 - Use Headers and Sub-Headers not only enable you, as the writer, to properly structure the page; they also enable the reader to scan through and find the information that is most pertinent to them. Don't try anything too clever with your headers and do ensure that they are relevant and informational.

4 - Use Bullets and Lists; these are another method of enabling readers to quickly navigate around a page and grab the most important information. Many readers will simply scroll down a page and if no information jumps out at them then they won't read anything. Prevent these readers from clicking away from your website by offering bite sized chunks of information.

5 - Use Simple Language; another area where statistics and figures differ is in the comprehension level of website readers. No matter which figures you listen to, though, one point is clear - we simply can't process information as well when reading from a computer. Use simple language, avoid jargon that isn't necessary or clearly defined, and engage your readers using language that everybody can understand.

6 - Use Short Paragraphs And Shorter Sentences; a paragraph should contain text relating to a single, simple idea. When you reach the conclusion of that idea, you should also reach the end of that paragraph. Paragraphs should contain no more than 70-80 words where possible. If a paragraph requires fewer words then make it shorter. The same goes for sentences.

7 - Make It Easy to Scan; shorter paragraphs, more concise pages, and good headers make a page easy to scan. So too do bullets and lists. Add formatting such as bold and italicized text, quotes, and even hyperlinked text to make the page easier to scan. Remember to use a degree of caution, however, because a page that consists of different formatting techniques will be very difficult to read and understand. Many readers will simply close your page and move on.

8 - Write Objectively; we've already discussed how Internet users are impatient and find it difficult to digest information; they're also a highly skeptical bunch that will take convincing of virtually anything you have to say. Use objective language and avoid the use of too much marketing fluff. Avoid exaggerated claims such telling readers that yours is the best product in the world and instead show them why - convince them to come to that conclusion on their own and you will enjoy better results for your effort.

9 - One Idea per Paragraph, One Subject per Page

A single paragraph should contain a single idea and a single page should cover one topic. If a page is becoming too wordy because it includes information on other subjects, then break it down and hyperlink to those other pages. For longer pages remember the bookmark function and use it wisely to help readers navigate their way around your site and take in all of the information that you have to offer.

Giving Visitors What They Want

As stated at the beginning, Web readers may be a difficult bunch, they may take a while to digest information and they may need convincing of every single point you deliver but they are essential. They can become long term, loyal customers, as long as you give them what they want and that's why we love them so much. If you don't have the time or the resource to write your own compelling and effective website content then consider using professional copywriters.

Source: Entireweb Newsletter #581, 10/13/09

HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE

■STEP 1: Start by creating a basic road map. This will set the tone for what you’re doing. Keep in mind that this is an evolutionary process. In the beginning, don’t try to be Amazon.com. (It took them years to become a web powerhouse.) Grandiose visions are fine, but you need to build up to realizing them. Start small and grow big.

■STEP 2: Determine what tools you need to help drive the right traffic to your site. The web is a very competitive space—today there are over 11 billion web pages, so you need to be strategic in deciding what works best for you. Some of these tools include search engine marketing, e-mail marketing and search engine optimization. This then is the time to decide how and where you’re going to spend your (limited) marketing budget.

■STEP 3: How will you determine what’s working on your site and what isn’t? Some industry best practices will work for you; others may need some tinkering. Deciding how to measure your ROI (return on investment) and other crucial metrics is key to the success of your business. The best way to find this out is through website traffic reports, but you should listen to your customers as well. They will let you know what market tactics are working for you, what ones aren’t, and how to improve your results. You’ll need to go further than that—but don’t worry, there’s a lot of help out there to make these tasks easier.

■STEP 4: Apply what you learn from your metrics. These include page views, length of visits, site traffic volume and trends, and you should study them to improve your site’s content, navigation and performance. This enables you to offer a better experience to your visitors.

Sounds simple, but like any successful venture, it will take hard work and refinements to ensure the success that you desire from your Internet presence.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT FOR WEB

Internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website in the blink of an eye, a study shows. Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. They were surprised as they believed it would take at least 10 times longer to form an opinion.

Speedy conclusions
The study, published in the journal Behavior and Information Technology, also suggests that first impressions have a lasting impact. The Canadian team showed volunteers glimpses of websites, lasting for only 50 milliseconds. The volunteers then had to rate the websites in terms of their aesthetic appeal. The researchers found that the speedily formed conclusions closely tallied with opinions of the websites that had been made after much longer periods of examination.

Gitte Lindgaard, of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, the lead researcher of the paper expressed her surprise at the results. "My colleagues believed it would be impossible to really see anything in less than 500 milliseconds," she told the website of the Nature journal, which reported the research. The judgments were being formed almost as quickly as the eye can take in information.

Lasting impressions
The researchers also believe that these quickly formed first impressions last because of what is known to psychologists as the "halo effect". If people believe a website looks good, then this positive quality will spread to other areas, such as the website's content. Since people like to be right, they will continue to use the website that made a good first impression, as this will further confirm that their initial decision was a good one.

As websites increasingly jostle for business, Dr Lindgaard added that companies should take note. "Unless the first impression is favorable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors," she warned.

Story from BBC NEWS, Published 01/16/2006

10 WORDS NO LONGER IN VOGUE

Here are a few terms that have faded from everyday use over the past 10 to 20 years and this info should be helpful for 20-somethings; when the more senior people in your life use one of these terms, you'll know what they're talking about. [1]

1. Intranet

Popular in the mid-90s, the term "intranet" usually referred to a private business network running the Internet Protocol and other Internet standards such as HTTP. It was also used to describe an internal Web site that was hosted behind a firewall and was accessible only to employees. Today, every private network runs IP, so you can just use the term virtual private network or VPN to describe a private IP-based network.

2. Extranet

An "extranet" referred to private network connections based on Internet standards such as IP and HTTP that extended outside an organization, such as between business partners. Extranets often replaced point-to-point electronic data interchange (EDI) connections that used standards such as X12. Today, companies provide suppliers, resellers and other members of their supply chain with access to their VPNs.

3. Web Surfing

When is the last time you heard someone talk about surfing the Web? You know the term is out of date when your kids don't know what it means. To teens and tweens, the Internet and the World Wide Web are one and the same thing. So it's better to use the term "browsing" the Web if you want to be understood.

4. Push Technology

The debate over the merits of "push" versus "pull" technology came to a head in 1996 with the release of the PointCast Network, a Web service that sent a steady stream of news to subscribers. However, PointCast and other push technology services required too much network bandwidth. Eventually, push technology evolved into RSS feeds, which remain the preferred method for publishing information to subscribers of the Internet. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

5. Application Service Provider (ASP)

During this decade, the term "Application Service Provider" evolved into "Software-as-a-Service." Both terms refer to a vendor hosting a software application and providing access to it over the Web. Customers buy the software on a subscription basis, rather than having to own and operate it themselves. ASP was a hot term prior to the dot-com bust. Then it was replaced by "SaaS." Now, the latest buzz is to talk about "cloud computing."

6. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Coined by former Apple CEO John Sculley back in 1992 when he unveiled the Apple Newton, the term "personal digital assistant" referred to a handheld computer. PDA was still in use in 1996, when the Palm Pilot was the hottest handheld in corporate America. Today, the preferred generic term for a handheld like a Blackberry or an iPhone is a "smartphone".

7. Internet Telephony

You need to purge the term "Internet telephony" from your vocabulary and switch to VoIP, for Voice over IP. Even the term VoIP is getting old-fashioned because pretty soon all telephone calls will be routed over the Internet rather than the Public Switched Telephone Network. It's probably time to stop referring to the PSTN, too, because it is headed for the history books as all voice, data and video traffic is carried on the Internet.

8. Weblog

A blog is a shortened version of "Weblog," a term that emerged in the late 1990s to describe commentary that an individual publishes online. It spawned many words still in use such as "blogger" and "blogosphere." Nowadays, few people have time to blog so they are "microblogging," which is another word that's heading out the door as people turn Twitter into a generic term for blasting out 140-character observations or opinions.

9. Thin Client

You have to give Larry Ellison credit for seeing many of the flaws in the client/server computing architecture and for popularizing the term "thin client" to refer to Oracle's alternative terminal-like approach. In 1993, Ellison was touting thin clients as a way for large organizations to improve network security and manageability. Although thin clients never replaced PCs, the concept is similar to "virtual desktops" that are gaining popularity today as a way of supporting mobile workers.

10. World Wide Web

Nobody talks about the "World Wide Web" anymore, or the "Information Superhighway," for that matter. It's just the Internet. It's a distinction that Steve Czaban, the popular Fox Sports Radio talk show host, likes to mock when he refers to the "Worldwide Interweb." Nothing dates you more than pulling out one of those old-fashioned ways of referring to the Internet such as "infobahn" or "electronic highway."

[1] Source: Carol Duffy Marsan, 8/09

10 USABILITY PRINCIPLES FOR WEB DESIGN

1. Motivate – Design your website to meet specific user goals.

2. User Taskflow – What are your users tasks and online environment? For a site to be usable, page flow must match workflow.

3. Architecture – Build an efficient navigational structure. Remember if it can’t be found in 3 clicks; they’re gone.

4. Affordance makes obvious – Make controls understandable, avoiding confusion between emblems, banners, and buttons.

5. Replicate – and use consistent color, themes, and navigation throughout your web site.

6. Usability – Test users with prototypes early in the design. Don’t wait until the end when it’s too late.

7. Know technological limits – identify and optimize for target browsers and user hardware; test HTML, JavaScripts, etc. for compatibility.

8. Know user tolerances – they tend to be impatient. Design for a 2-10 second maximum download. Reuse graphics so they can be loaded from cache. Avoid excessive scrolling.

9. Multimedia – good animation attracts attention to specific information, then stops. Too much movement distracts reading and slows comprehension.

10. Use Stats – Monitor traffic through your site. Which pages pique user interest? Which pages make users leave? Adjust the site accordingly.

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What Makes a Website Effective?

3 things that make a website effective:

1. Keep it Simple

Use easy to understand English, instead of the nerd-jargon or inside lingo that is often seen and only understood by those most close to the subject. Provide a message that kids as young as 10 and retired persons in their 80's can understand and really know what you are trying to say and sell.

2. And Practical

Leverage your many years of experience to help filter out all but most essential parts of your message. Use graphics that are understandable and are on-point with respect to the products or services that you are promoting. Don’t overwhelm your audience and the internet with volumes of information that take time to be displayed.

3. And Concise

The shortest distance between to points is a straight line - draw that straight line for your website! By steering clear of long-winded discussions and useless nerd-theory and yammering, you have a much better chance of getting your message across.

People’s attention span is relatively short. If you don’t follow these basic steps, you will not get your message to your website viewers and thus your website will be mostly ineffective.

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A PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS

This statement refers to the idea that complex stories can be described with just a single still image, or that an image may be more influential than a substantial amount of text. It also aptly characterizes the goals of visualization where large amounts of data must be absorbed quickly.
I completely agree with this principle and encourage clients to utilize graphics and photos in their websites. They are both visually eye-catching as well as informative.

However, one has to be careful that the beneficial use of graphics and photos do not pose the detrimental side effect of slowing down page rendering. Slow page rendering can be very frustrating and will surely drive Internet visitors away from a website.

Thus, care must be taken to ensure that images used on a website load quickly. To do this a number of considerations must be made. Image files should be as small as possible without dostorting/loosing resolution and clarity. There are a number of tools available that can be used to adjust images to provide very reasonable clarity and color and at the same time maintain a reasonable small size. Other tricks, where many images on a page are available are to pre-load the most importatnt images, e.g. headers, logos, etc., so that a viewer knows very quickly what he/will be looking at.

The truth remains that “a picture is worth 1,000 words” and even more so on the Internet where viewers are looking for as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time. When designing a website, one just has to apply a few techniques to ensure that the pictures show up on the screen in a timely manner.

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Build It and They Will Come... Almost!

If you are in business in this day and age, you must have a website to describe your products and services. You can be sure that your major competition is already using the Internet to promote their business.

The cost of developing websites is continuingly rising. Businesses are paying from $3,000 to $5000, to $10,000 to have their websites build today, depending on complexity and functionality.

However, even with a website, you still have to market your website. You have to have mechanisms that draw or send people to your website.

One such method is Search Engine Optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO. SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. SEO will be the subject of future bolgs.

Another, surprisingly often overlooked method is done by including ones website address in their advertising, brochures and signage, stationary; any where that their business name is displayed. People then will know where to go to find out more about you, your business, and examples and testimonials of your work. It is amazing how people will spend time and money for the development of their website and completely forget that they have to let other people know that it exists and how to get to it.

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SPRING CLEANING YOUR WEBSITE

Here are some things to consider relative to spring cleaning a website:

• Give your website, especially your home page, a facelift. Redo your banner/header, replace old graphics with new ones, change colors if and where appropriate, and write a new introduction.
  
  
• Update your content: messages, keywords, products, services, pricing, locations, contacts, etc. Remember, like cash, “Content is King.”
  
  
• Clean-up dead links, outdated information, etc. People get annoyed and frustrated when encountering out-of-date information and more especially, broken links.
  
  
• Consider adding new features/content to your website; such as:
  
  • What’s New page
    
  • Resources Page
    
  • FAQ and/or Tips Page
  
  
  
• Also, if you are in the business of selling products or services, consider offering a printable discount coupon as an incentive for your website viewers.

Remember, Spring is a time of renewal and it is a good time to clean up your website as well as your house. A stale and outdated website turns off views. So take this opportunity to refresh and renew your site. This will send the message to viewers that you are very much alive and well!

Happy cleaning…

Picking A Good Domain Name Is Important!

You can't underestimate how important choosing a good domain name is. Let’s take a look at what makes a good domain name:

1. It is short – Until people bookmark your site name, the fewer keystrokes, the more likely it will be that a potential visitor will land on your site the first and every time.

2. It is easy to remember – People will not waste time trying to think of what your website name is.

3. It is easy to spell – Watch out for the spelling impaired and fat-fingered typists (like me).

4. It is descriptive or brandable – A name that goes without saying!

5. If possible avoid hyphens and numbers. Though there may be instances where these may be appropriate; e.g. Flight93memorialproject.org or chick-fil-a.com.

6. It has a .com extension if at all possible for a commercial business. However, organizations should consider the .org extension and with the continuous growth of the number of sites in the world wide web, in some cases commercial operations may have to consider either the .net or .biz extensions.

6-Step Website Development Process

6-Step Website Development Process

There are a number of steps in the website design and development process. The number will vary slightly from designer to designer, but basically the process can be summarized by the following six steps:
1. Information Gathering
2. Planning
3. Design
4. Development
5. Testing and Delivery
6. Maintenance

Phase 1: Information GatheringThe first step in designing a successful website is to gather information. Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of a website is created. This first step is actually the most important in that involves a solid understanding of the company or organization that the website is being created for. It is important that a web designer start off by asking lots of questions to help them understand the target business and needs in a website.

Things to consider in this step include:
• Purpose - What is the purpose of the site? Should the site provide information, promote a service, sell a product… ?
• Goals - What is expected to be accomplished by building the website? Two of the more common goals are either to make money or share information.
• Target Audience – Who are the specific people that will help you reach your goals? It is helpful to picture the “ideal” person trageted to visit the website. Consider the demographics: age, sex or interests - this will later help determine the best design style for the website.
• Content - What kind of information will the target audience be looking for? Are they looking for specific information, a particular product or service, online ordering…?

Phase 2: Planning
Using the information collected from the first phase, the next step is to put together a plan for the website. At this point a site map is developed. The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics, where applicable. This serves as a guide as to what content and structure will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigational system. The end-user of the website - aka your customer - must be kept in mind when designing the site, after all, these people who will be buying your products or learning about your services. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate website

Phase 3: Design
With the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of the site. A web designer may create one or more prototype designs for the website. This can be accomplished using graphic (bmp or jpg) images of what the final design will look like or developing prototype pages that can be viewed by access to a non-public area of the website. This latter approach also facilitates review of work in progress.

Either way, the designer should allow previewing of the website project throughout the design and development stages. The most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design. In this phase, communication between both you and your designer is crucial to ensure that the final website will match your needs and taste. It is important to work closely together, exchanging ideas, until you arrive at the final design for your website.

Phase 4: Development
The developmental stage is the point where the website itself is created. At this time, a web designer will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site. This is typically done by first developing the home page, followed by a “shell” for the interior pages. The shell serves as a template for the content pages of your site, as it contains the main navigational structure for the web site. Once the shell has been created, the designer will take your content and distribute it throughout the site, in the appropriate areas.

This entire time, a designer should continue to make your in-progress website available to you for previewing, so that you can suggest any additional changes or corrections you would like to have done.

Phase 5: Testing & Delivery
At this point, web designers will attend to the final details and test the website. They will test things such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well last testing for last minute compatibility issues (viewing differences between different web browsers), ensuring that your website is optimized to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.

Once you give your web designer final approval, it is time to ‘Launch’ the site where the website is either uploaded to the hosting server, or the website is moved from a non-public area to the public area on the hosting server. Most web designers offer domain name registration and web hosting services as well. Once these accounts have been setup, and your website uploaded to the server, the site should be put through one last run-through. This is just precautionary, to confirm that all files have been uploaded correctly, and that the site continues to be fully functional.
This marks the official launch of your site, as it is now viewable to the public.

Phase 6: Maintenance
The development of a website is not necessarily over, though. One way to bring repeat visitors to your site is to offer new content or products on a regular basis. Most web designers will be more than happy to continue working together with you, to update the information on your website. Many designers offer maintenance packages at reduced rates, based on how often you anticipate making changes or additions to your website.

Other maintenance type items include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SES (Search Engine Submission). This is the optimization of you web site with elements such as title, description and keyword tags which help your web site achieve higher rankings in the search engines. The previously mentioned code validation is something that plays a vital role in SEO, as well.
There are a lot of details involved in optimizing and submitting your website to the search engines - enough to warrant it’s own post. This is a very important step, because even though you now have a web site, you need to make sure that people can find it!

The Bottom Line
All in all, your web designer should work closely with you on a very similar process to this one. A good working relationship with your designer, including an open line of communication, is important to ensure they are creating a successful web site that will help your business grow.

Food for Thought

Here are some things to consider when designing a website:
• Keep in mind the purpose of your site is to provide current information about your business or organization. This information should be presented in a concise, consistent and tasteful manner.
• Site continuity is very important. Keep organized and avoid “dead end” pages; those that have no internal links.
• Avoid poor navigation; people will get lost, especially with recursive linking. Having been lost once they will likely remember the feeling and be reluctant to return.
• Keep the website layout fairly simple; too much clutter creates confusion and mental congestion.
• Page backgrounds should be kept relatively simple. It can be very difficult to read words on a busy background.
• Avoid poor color combinations. You may have some favorite colors, but using one for a font and the other for a background may be REAL hard to read, e.g. red on blue or vice-versa.
• Also, colors that look good on your display or monitor may not on look good on others. Photos and graphic images on your monitor may look darker or brighter than other people’s monitors due to differences from manufacturers and/or the brightness and contrast settings people use on their monitor.
• Don't have different fonts on all your pages. It's better to stick to one theme, using only one or two fonts throughout your website.
• Don't use high density photos and graphic images as this can lead to viewer frustration due to slow loading times. A JPEG of about 75kb is should be quite sufficient for a good rendition.
• Also, don't have too many photos or graphics images per page. Again, this will lead to excessive long page loading times resulting in people going elsewhere!
• Use pop-ups or pop-unders only where necessary as they are annoying to most people.
• In this day and age, don't say: “This site is best viewed with [browser]”. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the dominant browser in the Industry. However, FireFox, currently used by about 20%+ of viewers continues to grow and one can not forget Safari used by most MAC owners.

A Philosophy

As part of establishing APT Web Design, I had to think about a philosophy regarding my approach to developing websites. I was aware of my somewhat limited skills and knew I was not interested in developing a large staff to tackle monster websites for major corporations. My target market was, as myself, small businesses and organizations, be it in any industry. With a target market established, I then studied what were the major obstacles and pitfalls that frustrate people from using the Internet. Surely, if a small business did not present a clear, concise message on the Internet, they would loose the interest and business from their online visitors.

So, based on my own experiences visiting numerous websites and hearing from others on the same subject, I decided the following three areas would be those that I focus on while developing websites for my clients. These areas include:

» STYLE: As a proponent of the “KISS” principle, I believe that being too fancy with exotic background images or elaborate Flash introductions, though artistic and/or technologically impressive, can be a major distraction or turn-off. I believe a clean, aesthetic appearance (structure and design), consistently applied across the entire website is the most effective approach.
» CONTENT: In the financial world, there is a saying that “Cash is King.” Well, in the Internet world the saying is that “Content is King.” It is important that ones website contains a meaningful, well presented message supported by clear, concise, consistent content.
» NAVIGATION: One of the worst offences encountered in a website is not finding what you were looking for and then getting lost. A successful website will make it clear how to navigate throughout the site and how to get back to where you started from.

There is another old saying: “If you build it, they will come.” Many website developers/owners really believe this. But by ignoring these basic principles: Style, Content, and Navigation, I believe a website will quickly loose any visitors who have come. I believe that my approach of focusing on these three basic principles, a website can be effective ands successful.

The Beginning

After almost 40 years in the computer industry, first as a programmer (now they are called software engineers) and advancing to various management positions (in hardware, software and systems development), I was faced with the decision of what to do with the rest of my life. Or, stated differently, what do I want to do when I grow up?

In 1996, I was assigned as a Department Manager in a product development group where I had responsibility for people (skills development and assignments) and as technical interface to our marketing group. It became obvious that the use of the company Intranet could be a valuable assist for me to execute all of my responsibilities. I started to learn how to develop web pages that I then used to provide current organizational and technical information easily accessible by everyone throughout the company. After the closing of that project, I became a Resource Manager in a hardware engineering organization. Again I continued to learn and leverage the Intranet to assist in providing easily accessible organizational information as well as an online New Hire Orientation program.

During the last ten years with the company, my work of Intranet development to support my primary job assignments gave me a much satisfaction and a great sense of accomplishment. Additionally, many in the company, at all levels, acknowledged the quality and usefulness of the work I was doing using the Intranet. Other groups would request linking to my work and even a couple used me as a consultant to help them develop their own Intranet websites.

So, given the satisfaction I derived from developing web pages and websites, I decided that perhaps I could leverage my somewhat limited skills and resources to help others, that is small business and organizations, to capitalize on the Internet to foster their products and services. Thus, APT Web Design was born.