Here are a number of factors that will contribute to poor websites, most especially if any of these factors appear on ones home page. Remember you can’t undo first impressions.
1. Image maps/icons unfamiliar to viewers
2. Drop-down menus that obscure important information
3. Inconsistent use of Caps and lower case
4. Using too many colors
5. Distracting images with barely legible text overlaid on them
6. Poor formatting and vertically scrolling links
7. Tiny screen-shots
8. Unclear/vague link/menu titles
9. Bad use of or too much white space
10. Using a long sentence/paragraph as a link
11. Too much text distracting from images/links
12. Too many varied fonts
13. Too many blue links
14. Too busy/distracting background images
15. Text heavy and shadow-boxed graphics (dated…)
If your website suffers from any of these conditions, APT Web Design can help apply remedial action in order to improve the quality and perception of your website.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Basic Search Engine Optimization Tips
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to gaining more traffic to your website. When people search for information today, they don’t open up the phonebook, the dictionary or the newspaper. Whatever they are trying to find out, they head straight to the search engines. Therefore, if you want to improve your business’s presence it’s all about getting found in the results of the search engines.
That’s what SEO is designed to do. Basically, search engine optimization incorporates everything related to getting your site’s positioning improved within the search engines. If you can make it to the first page of Google, and eventually the number 1 spot on the page, you will see a whirlwind of traffic to your site. You’ll have more prospects and new customers than you know what to do with.
So how do you go about using SEO for your site in order to see better results? While the concept itself seems simple, there are actually many individual components that you have to consider. In addition, the world of search engine optimization is fluid, dynamic and constantly evolving. That means you have to stay on top of all of the latest changes and trends if you want to experience and maintain success.
The first step to the SEO process is researching your market. You need to find the keywords and key phrases that people use to search for information related to the products you sell, the industry that you’re in or the general market that you serve. These keywords are the foundation of what you will be doing with SEO, and you have to find the ones that are popular and widely used without being overly competitive.
Another step of research pertains to looking into your competition. You have to see how much competition there is in your market and for specific terms and phrases, and you have to see how strong that competition is. In addition, you should browse your competitors’ websites to see what you like about them and don’t like about them. Don’t be afraid to borrow from their strengths and learn from their mistakes when creating or optimizing your own site.
Now that you have performed the research itself, you actually have to go about the search engine optimization process. There are many different tactics and strategies here. The most basic of which is incorporating those keywords you found into the content of your page. Be careful not to stuff them in there excessively because you’ll end up looking like spam both to the search engines and to your visitors. Instead work your keywords in naturally so that you can become associated with those specific phrases.
There are also many offsite optimization steps you need to take to really maximize your results. These include establishing your presence in online communities related to your business and also link building. The more links you have, and the better they are in terms of where they come from, the more credibility your website will gain. This will raise your site’s ranking dramatically in the search engines.
This is just a basic overview of some of what’s involved in SEO. The foundation of good SEO work is really research, researching both your market and your competition. From there you’ll have many different factors to consider, including keyword inclusion and link building. Ultimately, proper SEO holds the key to your business succeeding in the online environment.
That’s what SEO is designed to do. Basically, search engine optimization incorporates everything related to getting your site’s positioning improved within the search engines. If you can make it to the first page of Google, and eventually the number 1 spot on the page, you will see a whirlwind of traffic to your site. You’ll have more prospects and new customers than you know what to do with.
So how do you go about using SEO for your site in order to see better results? While the concept itself seems simple, there are actually many individual components that you have to consider. In addition, the world of search engine optimization is fluid, dynamic and constantly evolving. That means you have to stay on top of all of the latest changes and trends if you want to experience and maintain success.
The first step to the SEO process is researching your market. You need to find the keywords and key phrases that people use to search for information related to the products you sell, the industry that you’re in or the general market that you serve. These keywords are the foundation of what you will be doing with SEO, and you have to find the ones that are popular and widely used without being overly competitive.
Another step of research pertains to looking into your competition. You have to see how much competition there is in your market and for specific terms and phrases, and you have to see how strong that competition is. In addition, you should browse your competitors’ websites to see what you like about them and don’t like about them. Don’t be afraid to borrow from their strengths and learn from their mistakes when creating or optimizing your own site.
Now that you have performed the research itself, you actually have to go about the search engine optimization process. There are many different tactics and strategies here. The most basic of which is incorporating those keywords you found into the content of your page. Be careful not to stuff them in there excessively because you’ll end up looking like spam both to the search engines and to your visitors. Instead work your keywords in naturally so that you can become associated with those specific phrases.
There are also many offsite optimization steps you need to take to really maximize your results. These include establishing your presence in online communities related to your business and also link building. The more links you have, and the better they are in terms of where they come from, the more credibility your website will gain. This will raise your site’s ranking dramatically in the search engines.
This is just a basic overview of some of what’s involved in SEO. The foundation of good SEO work is really research, researching both your market and your competition. From there you’ll have many different factors to consider, including keyword inclusion and link building. Ultimately, proper SEO holds the key to your business succeeding in the online environment.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Reports of Windows' Death Greatly Exaggerated
Much of the talk about the immenent death of Microsoft Windows is mostly based on sales figures for all end-user devices and relative numbers of page reads by different browsers and operating systems. If Information Technology's responsibilities were based on the number of end-user devices sold and on browser page reads, this would be interesting information.
IT's responsibilities, though, have a lot more to do with applications business users rely on to get work done. When you look in this direction, you get a very different bead on things. Let's check out infrastructure first -- in particular, the server OS, DBMS, app server, Web server, development kit, email, and content/document management solution. While IT has choices for all of these, Microsoft doesn't just continue to matter here; rather, it's probably the most innovative force in the industry in this space right now -- except in its ability to explain itself. The infrastructure story for Microsoft is excellent products coupled with incoherent storytelling.
Then there's the end-user computing environment (what's usually mislabeled the "client"). What a lot of analysts miss is quite simple and basic: Microsoft Office file formats are the industry de facto standard, and no amount of de jure standards setting will change that any time soon. Thus, any business that has to exchange documents with other companies has to use Microsoft Office, because the best any competitor can say is that its product can read and write Microsoft Office files.
That isn't the same thing as rendering them properly, and the fact of the matter is, no matter which Office competitor you use, it will scramble Word documents that do any serious formatting at all. As for PowerPoint, you have no idea just how bizarre the results can be until you try running a PowerPoint animation in a competitor's piece of software.
Every version of Windows Mobile so far has been at least one step behind the industry, and there's no hint yet that Microsoft has the ability to leapfrog its competition in the mobile arena. It's natural to figure Microsoft's presence in mobile computing is and will be limited to laptops, which will remain the portable devices of choice for those who plan to do serious work that requires a keyboard for quite a while.
Bottom-line: The increased importance of other platforms represents an expansion of what IT will be responsible for, not a substitution. Windows and Microsoft will be important for a number of years yet -- but so will other platforms and players..
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Most Browsers Have Known Vulnerabilities
Roughly 80% of browsers today are insecure, owing to their having a known vulnerability either in the browser itself, or due to a vulnerable plug-in, such as an outdated version of Shockwave, Flash, the Java runtime environment, or QuickTime.
That finding comes from research conducted by vulnerability management and security policy compliance vendor Qualys. The results are based on the 200,000 people who, over the past 6 months, used the company's free BrowserCheck tool, which looks for known vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera browsers, running on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux machines.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, more than half of browser vulnerabilities stem from plug-ins. "The number was very high for the plug-ins, higher than I had expected," said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, in an email interview.
The most common insecure browser plug-ins in use are (in order): Java, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, and Windows Media Player. Many of these plug-ins are widespread -- 97% of computers have the Adobe Flash plug-in installed, and 95% have one for Windows Media Player.
Meanwhile, only about 20% of browsers are insecure due to the native browser application (not counting plug-ins). Kandek said that's testament to browser makers' structured approach to updates, which includes alerting users or simply updating browsers automatically when a new version becomes available.
Unfortunately, few plug-ins auto-update. Accordingly, it's up to IT departments to secure them. "Focus attention on the plug-ins of the browsers, determine if plug-ins are actually necessary, [and] look for plug-ins that have an update program," said Kandek.
Some good news from this study, while 80% of consumers today are using insecure browsers, that's down from a high of nearly 90% in June 2010. What accounts for the improvement? "A number of factors play a role for the small decline, but we have seen good acceptance of the new Adobe Reader X, which has reduced the exposure for PDF users in general," said Kandek.
That finding comes from research conducted by vulnerability management and security policy compliance vendor Qualys. The results are based on the 200,000 people who, over the past 6 months, used the company's free BrowserCheck tool, which looks for known vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera browsers, running on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux machines.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, more than half of browser vulnerabilities stem from plug-ins. "The number was very high for the plug-ins, higher than I had expected," said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, in an email interview.
The most common insecure browser plug-ins in use are (in order): Java, Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, and Windows Media Player. Many of these plug-ins are widespread -- 97% of computers have the Adobe Flash plug-in installed, and 95% have one for Windows Media Player.
Meanwhile, only about 20% of browsers are insecure due to the native browser application (not counting plug-ins). Kandek said that's testament to browser makers' structured approach to updates, which includes alerting users or simply updating browsers automatically when a new version becomes available.
Unfortunately, few plug-ins auto-update. Accordingly, it's up to IT departments to secure them. "Focus attention on the plug-ins of the browsers, determine if plug-ins are actually necessary, [and] look for plug-ins that have an update program," said Kandek.
Some good news from this study, while 80% of consumers today are using insecure browsers, that's down from a high of nearly 90% in June 2010. What accounts for the improvement? "A number of factors play a role for the small decline, but we have seen good acceptance of the new Adobe Reader X, which has reduced the exposure for PDF users in general," said Kandek.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Key Factors 4 a Good Website
Making a website is easy. But making the “perfect” website takes more work than a simple use of html. Therefore we see a lot of poor websites that have bad design, wrong text, boring content etc. So here are the key factors that make the difference between a bad website and the perfect website.
• Name of the website:
Your page title should speak for you. Page title should not be too long and should be content based. The title should go with the content and the topic of the page. The title should be descriptive enough so that the users are not misled.
• The Content:
The content must be interesting and useful to the user. The content should engage visitors and keep on making them come back for more. Nice graphics and icons cannot hold back visitors if the content is bad. They might get offended and never visit the website again, so the matter must be good enough for the users to visit again and again.
• Proper Spelling and Grammar:
Incorrect spelling and grammatical mistake can ruin a web site completely. So it is better check it before somebody else catches you mistakes.
• Proper Layout:
Now comes the layout part. The layout must be simple and clear. As all the browsers are not same so before launching the web site it must be tested. Proper use of font size is another thing you should keep in your mind. Always try to use the standards/popular font, over using of images can make the website look very messy and cheap. Website must look simple; the simpler it will be the more it will be soothing to the eyes.
• Quantity of the Page:
It is not an essay or article which should be lengthy or boring; it is web content so it must be short yet full of information and interesting. Articles and web content are two different things. You can write a very long article but writing for web content is completely different. Web content should be brief and short. The normal index page should be the ideal length of the page; the page should carry proper information which the users need.
• Using Appropriate Keywords for “links”:
Use proper keywords for links; use innovative, catchy words rather than words such as “click here”, only then will it attract the users. Link should not go beyond the content of your site, so the link must be a part of your content. So choose a standard link for your page.
• Helping the users:
Getting the proper feedback from the users is a very important and crucial part for every web site developer. Sometimes users can encounter a problem while surfing your site, so you must be ready to help your users to rectify their problem and clear the doubts. This can be done by another link, the “contact us” link, which aims to serve the users helping them to enjoy surfing the site in a better way.
• Name of the website:
Your page title should speak for you. Page title should not be too long and should be content based. The title should go with the content and the topic of the page. The title should be descriptive enough so that the users are not misled.
• The Content:
The content must be interesting and useful to the user. The content should engage visitors and keep on making them come back for more. Nice graphics and icons cannot hold back visitors if the content is bad. They might get offended and never visit the website again, so the matter must be good enough for the users to visit again and again.
• Proper Spelling and Grammar:
Incorrect spelling and grammatical mistake can ruin a web site completely. So it is better check it before somebody else catches you mistakes.
• Proper Layout:
Now comes the layout part. The layout must be simple and clear. As all the browsers are not same so before launching the web site it must be tested. Proper use of font size is another thing you should keep in your mind. Always try to use the standards/popular font, over using of images can make the website look very messy and cheap. Website must look simple; the simpler it will be the more it will be soothing to the eyes.
• Quantity of the Page:
It is not an essay or article which should be lengthy or boring; it is web content so it must be short yet full of information and interesting. Articles and web content are two different things. You can write a very long article but writing for web content is completely different. Web content should be brief and short. The normal index page should be the ideal length of the page; the page should carry proper information which the users need.
• Using Appropriate Keywords for “links”:
Use proper keywords for links; use innovative, catchy words rather than words such as “click here”, only then will it attract the users. Link should not go beyond the content of your site, so the link must be a part of your content. So choose a standard link for your page.
• Helping the users:
Getting the proper feedback from the users is a very important and crucial part for every web site developer. Sometimes users can encounter a problem while surfing your site, so you must be ready to help your users to rectify their problem and clear the doubts. This can be done by another link, the “contact us” link, which aims to serve the users helping them to enjoy surfing the site in a better way.
These factors can go a long way in making your website perfect!
Monday, January 10, 2011
High Quality Web Design is Important
There once was a time on the Internet when web design wasn’t very important. Maybe a decade ago or so, the main thing you had to do was just have a website. That factor alone would give you a strong advantage in the marketplace, and you’d have a leg up on your competition who didn’t yet make the move to the online realm. However, those times have long since passed. Now merely having a website isn’t enough. You need to make use of high quality web design to help your business stand out, attract new customers and ultimately be successful on the Internet.
One factor playing into this is that the Internet has expanded greatly over the years. Now nearly every business has a website or multiple online presences, and millions of individuals do as well. That means that there is a huge supply of competition, and it also means that the bar has been raised in terms of what quality web design actually is. Today, if you have an unattractive website or one that doesn’t operate easily you are going to scare away all of your visitors and you’ll lose out on all of that extra money.
Your web design needs to be setup in such a way that the most important information is easily found, and all of the pages can be quickly navigated between. Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor who comes to your site. What are they really seeking out, and how can you provide that for them? It’s about meeting their needs by implementing specific solutions.
Web design will help you take any website visitor and draw that person into the path you want them to take. If you’re trying to sell a product, it should be simple and intuitive to continue to make an order. If you want people to send you an email for a quote, getting to that online form has to be as easy as possible. Whatever your goals are, you need to use your web design to bring people to that.
Of course, being attractive and visually pleasing is important in and of itself. A site that has contrasting colors or a poor layout or scheme isn’t going to draw much attention or interest. More often than not people will see a bad looking website and they will just click immediately on the back button. That’s because the site sends off vibes that it is unprofessional, it doesn’t care or perhaps it doesn’t know any better.
None of that is any good to try to establish your brand and your image, or to find new customers and prospects. Therefore an aesthetically pleasing website is extremely important. It will add value to your image and it will make you seem professional and trustworthy.
As you can see, high quality web design plays a huge role in your online success. A poorly designed website will send your visitors running off as they have difficulty finding what they are looking for, as they don’t appreciate the quality or appearance of your website and as you fail to successfully convert them in the ways that you’d like to. Therefore, take all steps necessary to ensure that your website has a unique, top notch web design.
One factor playing into this is that the Internet has expanded greatly over the years. Now nearly every business has a website or multiple online presences, and millions of individuals do as well. That means that there is a huge supply of competition, and it also means that the bar has been raised in terms of what quality web design actually is. Today, if you have an unattractive website or one that doesn’t operate easily you are going to scare away all of your visitors and you’ll lose out on all of that extra money.
Your web design needs to be setup in such a way that the most important information is easily found, and all of the pages can be quickly navigated between. Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor who comes to your site. What are they really seeking out, and how can you provide that for them? It’s about meeting their needs by implementing specific solutions.
Web design will help you take any website visitor and draw that person into the path you want them to take. If you’re trying to sell a product, it should be simple and intuitive to continue to make an order. If you want people to send you an email for a quote, getting to that online form has to be as easy as possible. Whatever your goals are, you need to use your web design to bring people to that.
Of course, being attractive and visually pleasing is important in and of itself. A site that has contrasting colors or a poor layout or scheme isn’t going to draw much attention or interest. More often than not people will see a bad looking website and they will just click immediately on the back button. That’s because the site sends off vibes that it is unprofessional, it doesn’t care or perhaps it doesn’t know any better.
None of that is any good to try to establish your brand and your image, or to find new customers and prospects. Therefore an aesthetically pleasing website is extremely important. It will add value to your image and it will make you seem professional and trustworthy.
As you can see, high quality web design plays a huge role in your online success. A poorly designed website will send your visitors running off as they have difficulty finding what they are looking for, as they don’t appreciate the quality or appearance of your website and as you fail to successfully convert them in the ways that you’d like to. Therefore, take all steps necessary to ensure that your website has a unique, top notch web design.
Adapted from a Sept.’10 article found in Reblog
Friday, December 3, 2010
ATTORNEY ADVICE Re. Credit Card Theft
This is Not A Joke!! Even If you dislike attorneys --- You will love them for these tips.
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards . Instead, put ' PHOTO ID REQUIRED .'
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers . The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.
4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine . Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel... Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards..
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Dell computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know.
5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation
(if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important of all (I never even thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:
1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271 1-800-269-0271
We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.
If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards . Instead, put ' PHOTO ID REQUIRED .'
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers . The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.
4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine . Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel... Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards..
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Dell computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know.
5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation
(if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important of all (I never even thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:
1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271 1-800-269-0271
We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.
If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.
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