Moving from one hosting provider to another can seem like a near-impossible task. Fortunately, if you understand the basic steps that are required, regardless of your websites complexity and construction, then the entire process will be much easier. Once someone understands the entire process, they may opt to hire a professional to move their host for them, or still do it themselves. Regardless of what you choose to do, never make the decision until you understand everything that is involved with the process.

It is surprising how many people opt to stay with a hosting company that doesn’t make them happy, just because they don’t want to deal with moving their website to a new host. Fortunately, moving your website doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Depending on how complex your website is, the process can be fairly straightforward or extremely difficult. If the task seems like too much, then feel free to hire a professional. In fact, some hosting companies will transfer website for you to their server. However, before you decide who should actually do the moving, it is important to have a general idea of what the process entails.

Things to Gather Before You Begin

1. FTP username and password for your website
2. Administrative control panel username and password
3. Database usernames and passwords

How to Move From One Hosting Provider to Another

1. If you haven’t found your new hosting company, then now is the time. It is critical that you already have a new hosting account setup before you cancel your original account.
2. Once you have your new hosting account, you need to backup all of your files that are on the original host. This includes makings sure that the directory structure has been maintained. If possible, try to compress all of the files into a single archive. This will minimize the opportunity for mistakes to happy during the transfer. (Until the move is completed, do not alter or delete the files on your original webhost.)
3. Now it is time to upload the archive file(s) to your new hosting account. Once this is done, unpack the archive and make sure that the directory structure is still intact. Additionally, it is important to make sure that all of the sub-folders and files are all there as well.
4. The next step is to copy your databases, which is when most of the problems can occur. Normally, you will be able to simply dump the database information manually or using the provided database tools. Once this is complete, you can upload the database information into the new database. This process can vary a little based upon the specific type of databases that you use.
5. Once everything has been unpacked, take time to do an in-depth and thorough test of your website to make sure that everything is functioning properly.
6. Now that you know that your website is up and functioning properly, it is time to move all of the miscellaneous data to your new website. This often includes email accounts and other similar account-types.
7. The final step is to simply visit your domain registrar and update your DNS information. This points your URL to your server. It will not update automatically, however it should never take longer than 24 hours (it can also take as little as 5-10 minutes).

Once everything has been completed, it is time to cancel your old hosting account. This is often done via email or over the phone.

Additional Tips To Make the Move as Smooth as Possible

1. If you have no idea what you are doing, hiring a professional may be the right choice, otherwise you may end up wasting hours (or days) without getting everything done. Many hosting companies will even offer to move website for you. Even if this is for a nominal fee, it may be worth the expense to avoid the potential headaches involved.
2. If you are moving your website to a different domain as well, it is vital that you create a permanent redirect (301 redirect). It is important that you make sure that every redirect points to the corresponding page on the new domain.
3. Anything that required a password on your old site, should remain the same on your new site. This will ensure that you can avoid modifying password specific files. However, if you need to change your passwords, do so after you have already completed the move and everything is already functioning correctly. The same is true for usernames.

The team at Bruce Clay Australia had recently recapped the year that was SEO in 2009 and identified some trends we should all be looking out for.

The Key Trends for 2010 are:
- Many of the key factors from 2009 will still continue to have a major impact in 2010. For the coming year the key factors to consider are:

1. Speed of Site- roll-out and increased importance’
2. Mobile Search- improved geo- targeted search results using GPS, mobile and IP location
3. Social Media Optimization- increase in social media platforms
4. Personalized Search- will use more diverse and deeper data
5. Linking- Even stronger to push to relevant and natural links
6. Richer Search Listings- rich snippets will evolve to include new formats, and items will be added
7. Engagement Objects- video and audio will increase in importance
8. Spidering- Will continue to expand across formats and technologies
9. Search Results Pages- Page will continue to be refined and enriched

- Increased importance of SEO due to more relevant searches driving better quality traffic, higher conversions and a higher return on investment.
- SEO has been seen as a growth strategy but a mandatory defense play
- SEO will become more difficult to implement as sites become more complex due to increasing business requirements, evolving technologies, increasing breadth and depth of search engine algorithms and SEO touching multiple areas of a business
- Search engines will continue to focus on spam with harsher penalties spam tactics. White hat SEO is crucial.
- Growth in SEO training courses will be necessary to educate businesses on how SEO works.
- Search engines continue to provide more information and guidelines. Be careful that you accurately interpret these and apply them correctly. Ensure that you assess what they say but also what they do not say.
- Search engines will continue breaking the language barrier by indexing translations of sites and serving translated search results to users, providing a substantial amount of new relevant search results to the index
- Reputation Management will become even more important, due to the increasing complexity of search engine algorithms, and number of social media platform.
- Due to more targeted results, web analytics will become necessary for everyone

Therefore marketing departments, in-house SEO teams and IT departments need to ensure that they have adjusted their SEO strategy to take account of the SEO factors and trends raised in their report. This year will be a year of change and increasing competition in search results.

Sometimes called an index page, a sitemap, either in the XML or HTML format, is probably the most important page on the website which includes the links to all other pages on the website through keyword rich anchor texts. The sitemap is usually linked from the home page and the footer of each page. The site map doesn’t need to have a fancy design, it just needs to fulfill its job by helping the search engines to find all the links of the website, crawl them and find new links and content within the website. The sitemaps can be created manually or you can use automated scripts/programs to create them. Well now you’re thinking this might sound good and all, but why do i actually need this so called sitemap?

The sitemap can also be used by normal visitors to your website, but in normal circumstances, if the design of the website is good, they may not require referring to the sitemap. The sitemap also helps the search engines to control what they are looking for and how relevant a particular content is.

HTML Sitemap

The HTML sitemap, generally placed at the footer of all pages in a website, is intended for the visitors of the website, displaying titles, anchor tags, links, descriptions, and other related information about the web page. It is also scanned by the search engines to crawl deeper level URLs which are sometimes skipped otherwise.

XML Sitemap

A XML sitemap is now known to all the major search engines and is intended to give valuable information about any updates or addition occurring on the website. When a XML sitemap is registered with Google Webmaster Tool, it produces an analysis of findings and problems encountered with reports of errors, warnings and statistics. The XML sitemap reports Google about all the latest added pages of content in real time and thus helps to index the web pages faster.

Some of the important tags used by the XML sitemaps are:

• Changefreq Tag: This tag instructs the crawlers about the frequency of the scanning, especially in big websites with a large number of pages which change continuously.
• Priority Tag: This tag specifies which pages are the most important ones on a website.
• Lastmod Tag: This tag indicates the date of the last modification and is used with the frequency attribute. This is used with the large websites.

Usage of Robots

Robots.txt is a simple text file placed in the root of the website, along with the sitemap file, which advises robots and crawlers which files or directories they should not access. Usage of robots can avoid wastage of server resources by using them to restrict the access to pages which are only meant for users and not search engines, such as feedback forms, site’s search engines, etc. It can also save the bandwidth of the website, removes clutter from the statistics and refuse a particular robot to index the website. Now, you can also add a sitemap entry to the robots.txt file and the sitemap will be read when the spider of Google finds this file. Its syntax is:

Therefore by following this post & the previous web design SEO post, rest assure you will diffidently get on your way to the top of the search engine rankings for your targeted niche.

Simple Navigation

Simple navigation and search engine friendly web design are important aspects that forms a part of your SEO strategy, after all like I’ve mentioned search engines are stupid; so we need to offer as much as help as possible to Google, so it can potentially reward us for our efforts with a decent ranking.”Content is the King”, and hence it is always best to use keyword rich anchor text while linking to the pages on and off your website.

The ultimate goal in a simple navigational website is to link as many sub pages to the main landing pages (category) of the website and correctly structure those pages, so that the set of links contained from those pages can be easily found and followed by spiders. Remember, the more sub pages you have from that link to the main landing page, that is the more deeper your category structure is, chances are it will be harder for those pages to be found by spiders & crawlers.

Usually, there are three elements that can be used in a web page’s design:

Header - The header section mainly consists of the major sections of the website that includes the main categories that people usually are looking to click on in order to find information on a website i.e. about us. Try as best as possible to make this keyword rich without damaging website usability.

Footer – The footer links enhances the usability of the site and provides opportunity for promoting secondary/long tail keywords, legal links such as disclaimers, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and interactive URLs, such as contact address, sitemaps, link resources, feedbacks etc. The footer is particularly used when your website usually consists of a lot of flash or Java Script elements, that way search engines still have a chance in understanding your website.

Side links - The side navigation links include category and sub category of specific pages which again helps in the usability issues of the website.

Enhancing Web Design & Page Speed for SEO

Web Design
Web design and creating a search engine friendly navigation is all about getting users and search engines to the content by keeping the web page elements clean, simple, keyword rich and text based. That means that if you have a simple website, your website can be telling spiders “Here, here come look at me!” and they will happily come & take what they please from your website to include in its search results. If you have a decent understanding of CSS and HTML, you should try to control your page elements using these codes therefore reducing unnecessary clutter that would otherwise appear on your website.

Page Speed
The speed of the website can also have some bearing on the overall performance of the website. As indicated in this year’s SEO trends, it will be something that will be included in Google’s algorithm pretty soon. Optimizing caching, minimizing request sizes, reducing image sizes & actually specifying those image sizes, positioning & removing unused & unnecessary code to make the html document flow better, improves the ability to enhance the page speed of your website. It is recommended that each page be <100KB with a load time of 2.5secs per page.

Page Code
Content is what you must be striving to serve the search engine spiders and by creating a search engine friendly code, you would want to let the crawlers have an easy time crawling your web pages and the content and links therein, subsequently helping them navigate to the other linked pages of the website. Try to get the content as high as possible in the HTML page source and avoid on the page mark-up styles, such as font tags, inline formatting, heading styles, borders, colors, etc. and try replacing them with external CSS files.

Move the JavaScript codes into a single external JavaScript file further helping in optimizing your code. Implementing these strategies will help in reducing the HTML code, make the page size smaller, less complex and therefore will help to get the page load faster.

Until 2008, one of the common concerns for websites made in flash was the poor search visibility on Google. Google couldn’t follow the links and texts on the websites made using flash. Despite the usage of flash format in a large number of sites, Google and Flash had been like water and oil, they never mixed.

Then finally, Adobe released a breakthrough improvement over Google’s ability to index Flash. But currently it still needs a substantial amount of improvement in order to be read properly by Google.

In order to help the search engines index your Flash website’s contents, here are a few best SEO practices for Flash websites:

1. Build Independent HTML pages: Create separate HTML pages with different URLs for all your flash pages. Each of the HTML pages must deep link to the suitable portions of the flash movies.

2. SWFObject: Always embed the flash files using SWFobject and SWFobject2 which will help you exhibit the alternate content for HTML and use text content in alternate HTML which should be matching the flash content as far as possible.

3. Restrict the over usage of Flash: Try to avoid over usage of flash and try to wrap the flash elements in the HTML navigation as far as possible.

4. Creation of alternate HTML content: If the flash content is generated through an external XML file, use the same XML file to create an alternate HTML content.

5. Discoverability of Links: If the flash file includes links to the other pages of your website, you can increase your chances of Google indexing the links and content of the website.

SEO using Frames

Using frames in website design makes it difficult for the search engines to index your website’s content and links. A webpage with frames generally consists of three files (instead of the traditional one), where one is used for the body content, second for the navigation and the third is used to bind them together as a web page. Frames are now considered a dead technology. By using “NOFRAMES” you can combat the problem to some extent, but overall you would do better to avoid frames anywhere on your website.

JavaScript and Indexing

If Flash is considered hard for indexing, JavaScripts are even harder to be found and spidered by the search engines, if they aren’t used properly. The browsers with turned off JavaScript makes your site completely unusable if it is developed with JavaScript navigations. In the worst circumstances, if you need to have JavaScript placed; try to avoid inserting the codes at the beginning of the HTML file and place them at the bottom instead or even better if placed in an external .js file. The latter has a few advantages as well:

1. It makes your HTML page load faster

2. You can instruct the robots of search engines NOT to read the .js files.

3. The indexing of the pages becomes faster

Dynamic Sites

The dynamic sites require focused search engine optimisation strategies as dynamic sites are still considered difficult to get indexed unless they are properly optimized. Even if the search engines claim that they can now index the dynamic sites, their positioning can be a major issue. Their crawlers currently are not trained to understand the dynamic databases of URLs containing special characters, also called string urls. To fight the indexing hurdle, conversion of the dynamic URLs into search engine friendly URLs is the first step. Alternatively, place the dynamic links on your static pages to help the crawlers to find your dynamic pages.

While the usage of Ajax, Flash and JavaScript enhances the user experience on your website, they still continue to offer less than ideal experience for the robots and crawlers. Do you think it’s practical to have these elements to compete in the highly competitive SEO industry? The decision is yours!

The Pen Tool is one of the best creative tools in Photoshop’s arsenal. But many designers avoid using it as they simply do not understand the concept of what it can do. I use the Pen Tool for many different applications, and in this tutorial I will be showing you a few ways to use it to your advantage.

Basics
The basic mechanics of the Pen Tool is simply that you create two points (called anchor points), and Photoshop will draw a Path between them. The Path can then be used for drawing, or, if the Path is a loop (a series of anchors that start at end at the same point) it can be used to create entire shapes.

In the picture above you will see 3 labels. What is each of these?

Anchor Point: The anchor points are what decides where each Path begins and ends. Think of them of a dot-to-dot picture you used to do when you were a child. To create a Path you must lay down anchor points at various positions, connecting them together in turn.

Path: The Path is the line between the two anchor points that draws out the shape or line you are trying to create. The Paths shape depends on the position of its two anchor points and the position of its handle.

Handle: The handle is used to bend Paths. Photoshop will always draw a perfectly straight Path between two anchor points, so if you wish to bend the Path you must move its handle accordingly. Think of it like a lever. The further away and more of an angle you put on the handle the more it effects the bend of the Path.

If you hold down the mouse on the Pen Tool we have a variety of Sub Tools.

The Pen Tool is the really the only selection I ever make off this selection. If you are careful when drawing your Paths and take your time you probably wont need the other ones.

The Freeform Pen Tool simply acts like the Lasso Tool and creates a Path wherever the Mouse Pointer goes.

As you can see this creates messy inaccurate Paths, and for as long as I have been using Photoshop I have never used this Tool.

The Add Anchor Point Tool does exactly what it says on the tin. You can use it to add extra Anchor Points along any Path you have drawn.

The Subtract Anchor Point Tool simply deletes any Anchor Point you click on.

The Convert Point Tool simply adds handles to existing Anchor Points by clicking and dragging.

Using Paths To Create Lines

Draw a simple Path, such as a letter S. You would simple make an anchor point to start with. Then place a second anchor point, but on doing so hold the mouse button down and drag the bend into it. Then, place the third anchor point and drag in the opposite direction.

This is simply a Path. It is not something that will be visual on our final image. To make it into something solid we must Stroke the Path. To do this we must first choose something to stroke it with. Choose the Brush Tool (B) and set your brush to a 5px Hard Brush and set the color to Red.

Next, choose the Pen Tool again, Ctrl-Click/Right-Click the image and choose Stroke Path.

In the Stroke Path Window you will see two options. A drop down box for the tool you wish to use on the selected Path (1), and the Simulate Pressure Check Box (2). The Simulate Pressure option will add tapers to the beginning and end of your Path. By choosing Brush from the drop down menu you are telling Photoshop to fill in the Path with the 5px Hard Brush we just set. Obviously if you are using another tool other than the brush, you would simply set the options for that particular tool prior to running the Stroke Path function.

Below is an example of work applying this particular exercise.

Creating Shapes Using The Pen Tool

To create a shape we must draw out some Anchor Points like we did before, only this time we must finish on the same point we started with.

Now we have our shape we must make it a Selection, for if we were to try and fill this now we would simply fill the entire background. Choose Window > Paths and choose the Load Path As A Selection button.

This will convert the Path into a Selection. You will see this by the visibility of the so called “walking ants”.

Now this is a selection you can fill it with a color or gradient and can then start to apply Layer Styles as it is now a solid object in our document and no longer merely a Path or selection.

Drawing Complex Shapes

In order to draw complex shapes it is important to learn how to edit the handles of your Paths. If we draw a curve Photoshop automatically adds a handle to the second Anchor Point so that the curve can be continued smoothly into the third point. However sometimes we do not want to continue the curve. To edit the handles we hold down the Alt Key and either reposition the handle, or click the Anchor Point to remove it completely.

1. This shows the route the Path will take between the three points if we simply do nothing to the handle.
2. This shows the route when we hold down Alt and move the handle.
3. This shows the route when we hold down Alt and click the middle Anchor Point to remove the handle.
This allows us to draw much more complex shapes.

Using The Pen Tool To Add / To Subtract From A Selection

When doing complex selections we can use the Pen Tool to accurately tweak the edges. Below is the XBox 360 Logo, I have made a select of three of the points and now need to add the fourth.

With the Pen Tool selected draw your Path over the remaining leg. Choose Window > Paths.

Now when we choose the Load Path As A Selection button we hold down the Alt Key first to bring up the Make Selection Options.

Make sure you have the Add to Selection Box selected and click OK. This will convert the Path and add it onto our selection.

To subtract from selection we do everything exactly the same but obviously we check Subtract from Selection instead of Add.

Now you have the knowledge, embrace the Pen Tool. Make cleaner selections, and therefor cleaner work.

When we talk of effective webpage design, most of us think it’s the look that matters. Sure, it’s important! But, what’s more important and effective in bringing all those visitors to your page is the ‘usability and utility’ of the page to the visitor. The visitor is the boss, to say, because with one click of his mouse, he decides whether your site is worth visiting or not. So, even if your page does not look very sleek or even attractive but your content is strong and credible, you would still see a lot more traffic.

Make your visitor stay
So now you have brought the visitor to your homepage. But then you see although the traffic is there, there seems to be no sustainability (what we techies call conversion) on your page. People visit and leave as quickly as they come. Now is where the ‘look’ part comes. Either your webpage looks shoddy and unprofessional or may be your website takes a long time to even load. Remember, the user may be intelligent, but he is extremely impatient. If you make him wait for too long, he is just going to walk out on you, because there are thousands of others waiting for him. There are many websites that open with Flash animations that redirects you to another page. Why waste a page and waste the users’ time? Take them directly to your homepage, which is your trump card. Tell them who you are, what you do and how the user will benefit from your site. Be precise.
While we are discussing the looks, what’s important to take care of is to be consistent in your looks. Don’t use more than three fonts. Don’t mix too many colors such that it becomes difficult to even recognize the words. Use a consistent style for all your headlines and text, and please don’t use text or buttons that don’t stay in one place. Sometimes, crisp information outlined in bullets or numbered can be effective visually and also can get your message across quickly.

Key words
Ok, let’s get this straight. The user does not actually read. He is only scanning to find out what the page has to offer him. He is sort of looking for an anchor that will eventually lead him to what he wants. That is why SEO (search engine optimization), where keywords enhance user readership, is very popular. The right keywords will take your visitor right to your webpage.

Traditional can be good
Contrary to popular belief that conventional is boring, you can actually win over a lot of visitors just by conforming to a traditional design. A known look gives the reader a sense of comfort, and reliability. One look at the site and he knows how to navigate the page. But be conventional without being redundant.

Cater to different users
So we are ready with good design, good content and all. What about the browser? Maybe you think all your users are equipped with huge broadband width. Maybe you are right! But why don’t we also cater to those less-than-lucky souls who do not have the optimum hardware and software. It is good to avoid bandwidth-guzzling graphics. If you still have to include detailed images, show a sample thumbnail version; let the user decide whether he wants to see the larger image or not.

So to sum it up, like someone said already, keep in mind the three ‘Es’ when designing your webpage. Your webpage should be easy to read, easy to maintain, and easy to understand.

There have been various articles on how to create good interface designs and how to create website designs that will drive traffic to your business. But very little is there on the web on what drives people away from your website when compared to topics about what welcomes them. Learning the darker side of it gives you a better understanding on how you can create a successful website design and what are the main things you should avoid.

Here is a list of 5 things that will drive traffic away from your website and result in insane bounce rates.

1. Usage of extra-large and extra small text has to be minimized. When you always go by the design point of view, you sometime forget to think how the commercial users would feel about your website. Also see to it that you do not use creative and design based fonts that are hard for the people to understand. A good website design is not always about the graphics, colors and design. These minute details have to be well taken care of. These days there are options of letting the user choose between the font sizes for the website which is a good idea.

2. Right from the beginning, annoying pop-ups have been a big disturbance. These pop-ups immediately give a bad impression on the website. These days there are a lot of browsers that have pop-up blockers. Even then, it cannot be completely eradicated. Pop-ups hide a portion of the message on the whole which makes the users close the browser immediately or switch to another website.

3. There are certain other web designers that a lot of information needs to be shared. That of course is true. But too much information on a page is a bad idea. It is of no use to nobody. Is a user comes across excessive paragraphs, blocks of content, too much detail in a page; he would opt out of the website in an instance. Be wise enough to add content to your website. a few lines of text that explains the business services is sufficient. Also make sure the sentences are not too long.

4. Implementing flash based websites can be a great idea. But not when the design looks to be the center of attraction. Excessive usage of flash can slow down a website to a great extent. Business people do not prefer waiting for the flash content to load. All they want is information. Flash can be used just to enhance the look and feel of the pages. Make sure it does not dominate the website or the webpage.

5. Avoid using large images and high graphic materials on the website. A website is not a part of a picture gallery. It is the other way round. Make sure the image and graphic content you use are optimized and compressed for web usage. This again can slow down the loading of a page.

The above mentioned points clearly explain what you shouldn’t be doing when designing a killer website. This is one of the key reasons why companies practice the idea of staff augmentation to hire skilled developers. Be it PHP web development, ecommerce web development or a flash based one, these concepts apply to all.

Then one day as I was reviewing all of my articles, I realized that there was a structure and a formula behind each article I wrote. By recognizing these formulas I’m able to write an unlimited amount of articles – and write them in record time.

If you want to overcome writer’s block and start writing articles faster, then you want to model proven article writing formats, such as those found at “Complete Instant Article Writing Templates Kit”.

Here Are 10 Different Article Writing Templates That Will Help You Overcome Writer’s Block So You Can Write Articles Faster…

1. Myth Buster Article Template – With this template, you crush your prospects’ preconceived thoughts and notions about a subject. Take 3 myths people have about your industry. Explain to people why it’s a myth. And, then show them what can happen if they clear this myth from their mind.

2. Top 10 Article Template – Have you ever seen a Jay Leno, David Letterman or any other late night television show that doesn’t have a “Top 10” segment? Well, neither have I! It’s because people love top 10 lists. So give readers and prospects what they want.

3. How-To Article Template – It’s no secret that “how-to” articles and blog posts are some of the most sought after, linked to and bookmarked content online. People want useful information and they’ll reward you by promoting it to others when you provide it. It’s also one of the easiest articles to write.

4. Step-by-Step Article Template – If you think writing a how-to article is easy especially if you’re using article templates, then you’ll think the step-by-step article template is a cinch. In how-to articles I start off with the problem or pain that my prospects are experiencing. Then I give them a solution and end with the results. In a step-by-step article, I like to sell the dream. I want to instantly connect with my prospects’ desires, wishes and needs. So, I explain the results up front that can happen if you follow my advice that I give in the article.

5. Quiz Article Template – Why do you think magazines publish quizzes all the time? Why do you think the quizzes you find on Facebook are so popular? It’s because people love taking quizzes, unless it’s a pop quiz in school. So, why not use a quiz format for your articles that will enable you to do a soft, pre-sell for your products and services. When readers answer “NO” to your questions, you’re implanting thoughts of “Maybe, we should be doing this.”

6. 3 Mistakes Article Template – When you mention mistakes within your title and throughout your article, you will automatically grab attention. People will think in their minds, “Am I doing this right? I better find out!”

7. The Why Article Template – How-to articles are great. And, as I said before, it’s the most popular article template. But sometimes, when you give too much of the “HOW,” you give prospects no reason to go to your website for more information. So, why not write an article that focuses on the “WHY” and give prospects a reason to visit your website and join your list.

8. Differentiate Yourself Article Template – This template helped Article Marketing Experts make more than 10,000.00 in less than 2 months. I created an article entitled “How to Choose an Article Submission Service.” Within this article, I created 10 questions that prospects should ask. Now these questions were designed to show everything that my service includes that no one else offers. It educated prospects and at the same time, it pre-sold my article submission services.

9. Failure to Success Article Template – Did you ever notice how speakers (especially those who sell from the stage) would always tell you about their hardships? Why do speakers do this? Because we want you to connect with us. We want to show you that if we can achieve success, so can you. By opening up and revealing your failures or your scars, you add realness to your written words. People will look up to you and they will want your guidance.

10. What I Learned From Article Template – Through my years as the article marketing expert, I’ve learned that I can connect almost anything – no matter how unrelated it may seem – to various secrets that I teach my clients, subscribers and readers. For example, I’ve written articles such as “7 Article Marketing Lessons I Learned From Being a Martial Arts Champion,” 3 Lessons I Learned From the Mother of a Fearless PR LEADER,” and “5 Relationship Building Lessons I Learned From My Parents.”
These templates are guaranteed to help you write articles faster. In many cases, you’ll be able to write your articles in 30 minutes or less. Now, I invite you to check out 3 of my favorite instant article writing templates all fleshed out with article samples so you can see exactly how each template should be used.

As the popularity (and affordability) of internet-capable mobile devices grows, more and more webmasters are starting to optimize their sites for mobile browsers in order to reach this new generation of internet users. Optimizing your site for mobile browsers can make it easier for mobile users to find you, leading to increased traffic and revenue. Here are a few things to consider when optimizing your site.

How will mobile users access your site?

Deciding how you want mobile users to access your web pages is the first step in the process of optimizing your site for mobile browsers. You have several different options.

The first, and one of the most common ones, is to simply use the same URL for both the desktop and mobile versions of your website. There are many benefits to this option, the main one being that users don’t have to worry about imputing different URLs. They can follow any link or search result to your site. You’re only task here is to modify the design and content of your site so that it is as mobile-browser-friendly as possible. Of course, if the content of your page is rather complex, making your entire desktop site mobile friendly might be impossible.

The other option is to add a subdomain to your site specifically for use in mobile browsers, usually something like mobile.yoursitename.tld. This is a great way to deliver mobile-specific content to your users. You can adapt the design and content of your mobile site so that it caters specifically to the needs of mobile browsers, which will result in a smoother and faster browsing experience for mobile device users.

Optimizing content for mobile browsers

Mobile users tend to go online in search of specific information. Movie times, transit schedules, etc, so they can do without excess content. Here are some of the things you should take into account when optimizing your site content for mobile devices.

Remove all content that would not be relevant to people on the go. If you have a retail page, for example, your mobile users probably don’t need to know the full set of technical details and drawings of a product. Basic features and retail price are enough. You can also do away with most of the small print. You don’t need to include the fact that you’re an equal opportunity employer, for example. You can also leave out things like mission statements and detailed company history. Provide basic background information in your about page and way for users to contact you.

Content for mobile optimized sites should be succinct and to the point. If you think users would benefit from more information, instruct them to visit the desktop version of your site for further details on any given topic.

Try to avoid placing large advertisements on the mobile browser’s screen. Small mobile screens fill up very easily, and large banner ads will not only take away from the main content of the site but they will also increase loading time. For the fastest results, considers running your mobile optimized site entirely without online advertising displayed.

Finally, give all of your mobile optimized pages a MOBILEOPTIMIZED meta-tag, so that mobile browsers know that they don’t have to shrink down the content for that page.