Category Archives: Internet / World Wide Web

Getting Your Site to Go Live

Registering your domain is an important part of starting an online business or establishing your online presence. While it does take time and effort to think of a domain name, website hosting does not cost a lot of money. At most, you will pay $10 a year for a basic domain and other one-time fees to register your domain for a year.

Domain Name registration

A Canadian domain name registration website can help you think of a domain name and register that domain at the same time. In minutes, you can buy and register your domain and start creating a site that you can be proud of with full control over how it looks and feels. When you have your own domain name, your customers will see you as a professional to respect as opposed to some stay-at-home parent looking to make extra cash on the side.

In some cases, it is a good idea to buy a domain name and then sit on it until you need it or until you want to sell it. As certain domain names are sought after due to their ability to attract traffic, it could be worthwhile to flip domains if you think that you can make a profit from doing so.

5 Important Facebook Updates in 2013

There were a ton of updates on Facebook this 2013 and they continue to implement new changes as the year comes to an end. Most of them, I’m pretty happy with as a social media manager, a blogger AND a personal user. However, there’s been a major update with their algorithm from probably a month or two ago that affected many businesses that have Facebook pages. As much as I’d like to get into that, I haven’t done any extensive research, but I have noticed the impact of this change on all my clients and my own pages.

So, I have listed some of the most notable changes on Facebook that affected me personally and at work. Let me know at the comments section about your own list of important Facebook updates for 2013.

 

Whole Photos on Facebook Pages

Before, at work, we used to worry about ensuring that the images we use, especially those with text, are resized into a square. Or at least have the most important part of the image seen when you reposition it on your timeline. Now, you don’t have to spend more time resizing your images as Facebook now shows the whole image on your Facebook page’s Timeline. Check out this screenshot from our food blog‘s page.

Facebook Photos are now showing up as a whole image instead of squares

This is what I loved about Google+ and was wishing for the longest time that Facebook will finally decide to do something about it, so I’m thankful they did! 🙂

The sad thing though is this update doesn’t apply to personal Timelines. You will still see that your images on your account page are shaped irregularly. For me though, I don’t think it should matter since most people will see your photos on their News Feed, so they will be able to view the whole image from there. Well, unless most of your friends or followers prefer to “stalk” your personal Timeline. 😀

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Quick Tips on Choosing Your Domain Name

Your domain name is the online version of you, and whether you’re looking to establish an online version of you, your magazine, your non-profit, or your brand, it’s important that you consider a few things when contemplating domain name registrations. Whether you plan to buy a domain at NetworkSolutions.com today, or you’re still in the planning process, the following tips will help you in choosing a domain name and getting it registered and set up on your hosting space:

Domain name

Go for the top three TLDs.

TLD, which is short for top level domain, is in reference to the extension of a domain name – the bit that comes after the domain name and the period. .com, .net, and .org are the top three TLDs, with .com being the most popular, but followed closely by .net and .org. If you’re serious about setting up your brand online, then you’ll want the .com first and foremost, but you’ll also want to register the .net and .org variations, too. By having all three, you’ll not only make certain that visitors will find you, but you’ll rank better in search engine listings, too.

 

Go for short & catchy.

Use as few characters as possible, and whenever possible, avoid articles like “a”, “of”, and “the”. These can be confused for one another or incorrectly swapped for the plural versions, which can lead your visitors nowhere. Try to be concise with your domain name wording. This is especially important if you want to be consistent with names and identities across domains and social networks. jennsellsjugs.com will work nicely as “jennsellsjugs” on Facebook and Twitter, whereas “jennsellshomemadejugs.com” is a little on the lengthy side, and thus might have to be shortened for social media usage.

 

Optimize & Advertise.

Use SEO tools or the skills of an online marketer to make sure your site is up to the standards of Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. Optimization includes using clean, validated code, implementing relevant keywords and relevant, uniquely written content, and using your content consistently throughout your domain. Advertising can be done in a multitude of ways that include promoting your site on your social media profiles (and vice versa), and spreading the word about it via business cards and even word-of-mouth advertising.

A Brief History of Web Design

Website design was a simple endeavor when the first websites started to show up on the Internet. The webmaster only needed to understand how to write a few lines of code that the browsers could pick up and read in order to get their message out to readers. The biggest challenge was trying to decide how to write the code for different browsers. It seems outdated now, but the browser wars of the 1990s made it hard to write a website for both browsers.

One browser could read advanced text attributes, which made for colorful designs, and the other browser could not see the font changes at all. This was frustrating and unnecessary, but until the programmers at Microsoft and the programmers at Macintosh stopped fighting, the designers had to use very limited code.

Once a truce was called in the browser wars, those with programming knowledge began to cooperate with one another to determine a universal language for all web design and code. Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) went through several revisions and updates until it was recognized by all the browsers that were on the market.

Browser compatibility

In cyberspace, time travels quickly, and it was not long before other types of coding and graphics were introduced in websites. Not all the changes were good, but people wanted more graphics, movies, design options and 3D formats. These things were complex and consumed a lot of bandwidth. While a small number of people were on either DSL or cable, most of the people were still struggling with dialup Internet. This meant that many websites were rendered useless due to the inability to load on slower machines with spotty service.

Like those days, the change in the way that people view websites has drastically changed. There are now tablets and cellphones that are designed to view pages of websites. Not all sites are optimized for these smaller screens.

If someone wants to get into the field of web design and graphics, they need to consider a digital media degree that will get them hands-on experience in the current technology. While the technology will continue to change rapidly, someone with a degree will also have the ability to catch up rather quickly because they will have the foundation to anticipate changes and work towards staying ahead of those changes.

The Web will continue to grow as technology develops. There will always be a need for someone who understands how to grow with it.

Why Your Business Should Have a Website

Having an eye-catching website involves the implementation of a visual design coupled with HTML and CSS codes. The appearance of your website often helps readers determine whether to purchase your products or services. You will acquire more traffic to your website with a compelling web design as well as credible content. Rather than struggling through the technical aspects of building a website, you have the opportunity to utilize the website builder from Web.com, whereby experts will help you build an attractive website that conforms to your business goals.

Online presence for your business

Most of the website traffic for many businesses comes primarily from people who use search engines to find the best results related to certain keywords. By implementing effective online marketing strategies, including optimizing keywords for search engines and utilizing online advertising methods, your business can rank within one of the top search results for specific keyword searches. Statistics show that most people use search engines to find information regarding just about any topic. By obtaining the assistance of web design experts, who are trained at optimizing a website for search engines, you can rapidly grow your business into national and potentially international markets. Because of the ever-increasing popularity of the Internet, creating an electronic version of your business is an important strategy for maintaining a competitive edge in your industry.