Just yesterday I had a long discussion with a client regarding SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Marketing/Advertising, and other topics related to the subject of website traffic to increase product sales.

I started by pinpointing the fact that his website had no value to the search engines because of his light content selection and the lack of valuable information for visitors. Even though his main goal was to increase sales, it doesn’t mean he can’t use content to generate traffic and sales. It’s this method of increasing sales that I have found to be very effective. There is also always the option of advertising, but in this situation it wouldn’t have generated a good ROI. (ROI = return on investment)

“So what type of content can I add to my site? It revolves around my product; not content.” I responded to his question by giving him some ideas…

• Start a Message Forum - Not only do message boards/forums generate unique content, but its an excellent way to get your visitors to keep coming back to your site. If your site sells purple widgets, then make a forum dedicated to the discussion of purple widgets!
• Write Articles, FAQs, Help Guides - Get some quality, unique articles that are valuable to customers. Article topics can include Help Guides and/or information related to your products. You may even consider having professionals in your field generate articles discussing the value of your products.
• Testimonials - Be sure to dedicate an area for customer testimonials. Even though you may think testimonials are small, they can add up to a great looking database promoting your products.

As you can see there are many ways to generate content; even for an eCommerce website. Along with properly targeted keywords, descriptions, and titles; your content will provide a winning combination for attracting visitors to your new and improved, valuable website.

-Smart Boy Designs

Ever wondered what you need to avoid when you build a website? These are just some of them.

• Using too many colors or too bright of colors - this will hurt your user’s eyes, and make your site un-enjoyable to visit. When building a website I would stick to around three main colors.
• Frames - search engines don’t always like frames, and they can also be confusing for people to use as well. This might just be something of a personal taste matter to me, but I wouldn’t recommend using them.
• Putting all of your content on one page - remember to split your content up on separate pages. Users don’t like to scroll forever, and it doesn’t hurt for search engine rankings to have more pages of unique content.
• Search engine cheats - tricks like hidden text, etc…are just plain unethical and shouldn’t be practiced. Once you are found using these techniques, you will be swiped from most search engines…forever!
• Too many graphics - try and keep your page’s loading time to a minimum, and don’t clutter your pages with hundreds of animated graphics. I am not saying you shouldn’t use images in the overall design of your site, but you shouldn’t just throw graphics on your site just because.

I will continue to throw things NOT to do when building a website here…

It was recently announced by Google (via their Official Google Blog) that a new content system is currently in a beta/invite only development stage.

This new system, which they are calling Knol (which they states stands for a unit of knowledge), will be similar to the well known Wikipedia publicly submitted article system. Their goal is to cover a wide range of topic including everything from medical to geographical topics.

Though this system will be similar to Wikipedia, it will have some major differences. One being that they will actually highlight the author’s names that contribute and post articles. Udi Manber on the Official Google Blog states, “We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content.”

Another significant difference will be the idea of allowing authors to make money from their articles - basically a profit share system will be worked out along with Adsense allowing Google and the content Authors to share profits generated from individual articles.

If you would like to take a look at the screen shot Google has provided of one of their “test” articles - check it out here.

What are your thoughts on this new system? Will it hurt online publishers who monetize content? Do you think that it will cause Wikipedia to lose visitors? I would love to hear your thoughts - so take the time to post a comment and let us all know what you think.

Yet another niche on the web that Google has decided to spread its long tentacles into - while catching the users of the web along the way…

If you like using awesome Photoshop Paintbrushes as much as I do then you will really enjoy this little guide I have put together of Holiday & Christmas Photoshop Paintbrushes. Hopefully this guide will make it quick and easy for you to find your Christmas brushes. (I would have provided a link to download each set of paintbrushes to make it easier for you; but don’t think it would be fair to these awesome paintbrush makers if you didn’t travel over to their site.)

PhotoshopSupport.com - This great collection from Photoshop Support was created by Janita and has a selection of flowers that were created in the shapes of snowflakes and crystals. They would be perfect to spice up any greeting card for the Holiday season. All paintbrushes are hand drawn.

Departika Holiday Brushes! - These brushes are absolutely gorgeous! They look very professional, clean, and would make a great addition to any design project. Though the main package of 25 paintbrushes is $6.99, they offer a FREE trail package of 2 brushes. These paintbrushes are only compatible in version CS and above, but when you purchase the brushes you have the choice of downloading the brush package compatible with previous Photoshop versions.

EasyElements Snowflake Brush Set - Here you can see examples of the EasyElements Snowflake Brush set in use, and are available for download at their download center. The zip file was 3.4 Megabytes and contained snowflake and icicle paintbrushes. There were many different paintbrush variations in this package.

Obsidian Dawn Snow & Snowflakes Photoshop Paintbrushes - The package on this site includes 26 assorted snowflake/snow brush styles. Some styles are vector, some look real, and some are crocheted.

Silent Night Holiday by KaliJean - A set of 31 holiday light brushes made for Photoshop CS or higher. This package includes lanterns, lights, fireplaces, and candles.

39 Holiday Brushes - This set of 39 holiday brushes is made of real image brushes; not silhouettes or vector brushes. In this package your can find cookies, wreaths, presents, mistletoe, nutcrackers, and much more.

Studio Brushes’ Tis the Season - A collection of snowmen, snowflakes, stars, packages, gingerbread men, and even candy canes.

Holiday Brushes by Seleneheart - 30 brushes come in this package and it includes everything from holly to candles.

Now you may be wondering how to install your new Holiday paintbrushes. This is easily done by selecting the paintbrush tool in Photoshop and then clicking LOAD BRUSHES… in the brush selector drop down menu. After you have selected LOAD BRUSHES, just navigate to your .abr paintbrush file and select it. And that’s it! You have selected your paintbrush package to begin use on Photoshop.

Enjoy your creations!

Looking back at old posts on message forums made by myself I realize that at one time I truly was a newbie to the world of web development. I didn’t understand anything regarding web design and development; yet in my own eyes I thought that my websites were amazing. I would ask other developers for comments regarding my site, yet would be turned off by negative comments and criticism. Yes, I admit I probably was a bit of an irritation, but I must say that there was much room for growth when it came to the “niceness” of experienced developers to newbies. So in essence I believe BOTH parties have some work to do when it comes to being more understanding and kind with the transfer of knowledge from one to the other. And so it begins…

Tips for the Experienced

Criticism is an excellent tool in helping others to learn what they can do to become better, yet I believe that it must be moderated to be constructive and helpful. When I first started web design I was put down immensely by others who had more web knowledge. I remember a couple instances in particular that were so bad they almost made me rethink pursuing a career in web design. A couple individuals told me my websites were horrible, that I would never be able to improve, and that I should quit web design immediately. Though I was turned off by these rude comments, I am glad today that I decided to shrug off their ideals and continue my work in web development. My advice to advanced web developers it to use criticism, but with the thought that these are real human beings we are dealing with, and real human feelings are associated with the people we are helping.

Tips for Newbies

We’ve all been new to web development in our careers, and understand the feelings associated with this position. This budding enthusiasm is a great tool, but understanding that there are others that are more advanced takes humility and a willingness to learn from others.

Like I mentioned before, after looking at some of my posts (and others as well), when I was first starting in web development, I could see that I could’ve easily be taken as annoying or a Mr. “Know it all” - and I was! In particular I would argue with web designers just because they thought my website wasn’t good or designed well. Though people DO have different tastes, more experienced web designers usually can see whether a website really does need work or improvement. So my advice; listen to them. Though they may be harsh at times, just take the most pertinent information from their comment, and move on. They actually took the time to help you out - and that’s something to be quite thankful for.

Conclusion

The basic learning process of the web has always been a free flow of information and knowledge from the advanced to the beginners - and this is what makes the web so great.

Easily obtaining knowledge from others is a true blessing, but I think that both skill levels need to meet half way when it comes to giving and receiving information from each other. Yes, newbies can be annoying and advanced individuals can be harsh - but it’s that interaction between the two that is an amazing advantage to working on the web.

Feel free to share your own thoughts regarding this topic using the comment box.