Archive December - Total Online Services

Archive for December 2009

Web Hosting Reviews – Oklahoma City, OK - Web Hosting Directory and Review site www.FindMyHost.com released its December 2009 Editor’s Choice Awards today. Web Hosting companies strive to provide their customers with the very best service and support. We want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the hosts per category who have excelled in their field. The FindMyHost Editors’ Choice Awards are chosen based on Editor and Consumer Reviews.

Customers who wish to submit positive reviews for the current or past Web Host are free to do so by visiting the customer review section of FindMyHost.com Click here to submit a review for your Web Host and nominate them for next months Editors’ Choice awards.

We would like to congratulate all web hosts and The following list of web hosting providers excelled in their field of service, congratulations to all and keep up the great work!

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Social media optimization (SMO) is an important ingredient within your SEO and SEM campaigns. In the past, social networking sites were not much more than an oddity. Today, many have received enormous ranking authority from top search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to increase your exposure and communicate with your niche consumer, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors. In this article, we will describe the influence that SMO currently has on search engine marketing. We will also give you the rules of engagement for executing an effective social media optimization campaign. We’ll explain what SEO social media is, and the advantages of hiring an experienced SEO consultant to spearhead your social media optimization efforts.

The Influence Of Social Media Optimization On Search Marketing

Search marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traffic. For years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search engine marketing.

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Next year may just prove to be one of the most challenging times for pursuing online or Internet marketing on the web. It may just be a watershed moment for many marketers struggling to keep abreast of all the different factors which have come into play in recent months. Most of these changes will stem from two main sources for potential upheaval: the first being the New FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Guidelines regarding Testimonials and Endorsements and the second being “ALL” the recent changes within Google. Actually, we already have the new FTC Guidelines which came into effect on Dec. 1st of 2009, but how these new rules are enforced will play out in the coming year as test-cases are brought to court. Basically, these new rules call for absolute disclosure and full transparency regarding Testimonials and Endorsements when a product or service is being offered for sale. Any business (monetary) relationship between the endorser and the company must be made known to the potential buyer. Obviously for those in online or affiliate marketing this could have a great impact if these new rules are strictly enforced. Just imagine all the website owners and bloggers who slap a few banners or affiliate links on their sites to cover hosting or operating costs… will they now have to disclose all these business arrangements?

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Dec/09

16

Breathe New Life Into Your Websites

Make some noise online by giving your sites a well-considered refresh. Craig Grannell finds out how to clear away the cobwebs

As the global economy continues to stutter its way through 2009, companies are increasingly fighting to be heard. In recent months, investment has shifted abruptly from traditional media and ‘real world’ environments to the internet, which provides the means to reach the largest possible audience in a relatively cost-effective manner.

In theory, this is great news, but in practice the picture isn’t entirely rosy. As Clearleft’s managing director Andy Budd explains: “Many people view a website as a one-off project, rather than an ongoing concern. Organisations often go through a big redesign and then let a website fall into disrepair.” Instead, he recommends training yourself and your clients to think of a website as a staged process, which should be updated every three to six months: “That way, it’ll always be up to date and will last longer, rather than spending the majority of its life underperforming.”

Instead of tearing a site down and rebuilding it from scratch, figure out ways to make the existing site work harder. “Breathing new life into a site through a design refresh is one such option,” suggests Budd. “Smart companies also explore usability improvements to help conversion rates – small tweaks to registration and checkout processes can see conversions skyrocket and pay for themselves in no time.” The trick is in knowing the difference between an expense and an investment. While some sites are too outdated to make do with subtle tweaks and need a radical revamp, you can often do a lot with a little, thereby finding yourself in tune with companies cutting back on large capital expenditures.

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Dec/09

16

Exploring the Myths of Web Design

Everyone knows it, so it must be true, right? Wrong! Craig Grannell talks to industry figures to uncover some major misconceptions in web design and development.

The moment you start working as a web designer or web developer, you’re told ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’. Official and unofficial rules abound. You soon internalise them and start passing them on to others, either consciously or subconsciously.

But here’s the bad news: not all of this advice is correct. Some of these firmly held ‘truths’ are based on outdated assumptions, and some were just wrong to start with.

It’s time to take a step back and reassess some of the myths and misconceptions circulating in the world of web design. With our sword of truth and shield of keen analysis, we’ll begin to break the cycle of bad advice and free our minds from outmoded dogma.

We’ll start at the very beginning of the design process, when you’re investigating potential audiences. And our first myth is, in the words of standards guru Eric Meyer, “the idea that global browser statistics matter in the slightest”. In fact, he points out, “What matters are the browsers visiting your site.”

By way of illumination, Meyer notes that a recent client had 14 per cent IE 5.01 usage – so Microsoft’s ancient browser suddenly became significantly more important than global statistics would otherwise suggest.

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