If the website seems to be tricky to navigate then customers are likely to leave the site altogether, which defeats the object of having a web presence to promote your company and increase sales in the first place.

After some research we have discovered that functionality goes hand in hand with knowing your target audience. This is key to the design of the entire site, as designers will need to make the website accessible and appealing to this market.

For example, a website built for information or to promote services to the older generation of online user’s needs clarity, bold navigation which easily guides the viewer through the website and doesn’t alter from page to page – both of which will reassure the user. Coupled with this a predictable and logical layout, with a design that compliments the content, are also required.

Evidently this particular generation of web users will utilize websites such as the CNN, NY Times or an ecommerce site like Overstock.com, which all ensure functionality takes precedence over groundbreaking website designs.

For the younger target audience or the design community, an opportunity to be creative and experiment with the parameters of web design is present. They can either be for an individual bespoke client or a portfolio site.

Some of the most innovative designs are evident in portfolio sites especially for creative industries, obviously website design as well as graphic design, fashion, illustration, film and photography.

Design takes priority over the functionality here, as the designer will presume that the target audience is web savvy and capable of exploring the site with a keen eye, quickly familiarizing themselves with the style and order in which the site is to be viewed in.

The user is prompted and stimulated with clever uses of flash galleries and the use of jQuery in the navigation, content and layout – all contributing to the interactivity of the site. Because of these elements it could potentially alienate the older web community from viewing a site like this, but because the designer knows the target audience this allows a free rein to showcase their skills and create a unique and exceptional website unlike anybody else.

There is an expectation within the design community that when you design your own portfolio website that it will be brimming with design, with functionality almost a secondary concern as the aesthetics are key. Tools such as nifty drop downs allow the site to be minimalistic yet pleasing on the eye.

So discussions of design vs functionality remain open to debate, but discovering and understanding your target audience seems a constant theme throughout. This allows the designer to gauge the balance between web design and functionality, and which should take priority.

And it’s not just the homepage – a good cover followed by unfriendly navigation, hard to decipher visuals, or simply too many graphic images will ruin a visit to a website.

Next, you have to be sure that the front end, “the market engine,” is tied tightly to all of your company’s back-office functions. Everything must work smoothly so that billing, customer care and relationship management, inventory, shipping, and even sales can use your web presence as an integrated business tool.

So in a nut shell, here is basically the steps to great web design when you tie it into SEO and SEM. Getting yourself a favorable listing in search engines is a matter of following these two steps when designing your website pages.

1 Use your TITLE Tag Properly!

Most search engines place a lot of weight on the content of your TITLE tag. Your page’s title is very important and you should design it properly. Do not set the title of your page to something totally unrelated to your site. For example: “Welcome!” or “Thank You For Visiting!” simply will not do.

When surfing the net I often see plenty of pages where the title is “Untitled Document” or “Title Your Page Here” – the page owner hadn’t even specified a title at all. It’s unfortunate because those pages are missing out on potential search engine ranking.

Your TITLE tag should clearly represent what your site is about. If you’re building a page that talks about your company’s products, the title should thoroughly reflect that topic. “Our Products” or “Product Listings” is a bad choice for a page title – people are probably going to be searching for your company by name or by the type of product you sell. Thus, using our website as an example: “Vancouver Web Design, SEO Vancouver, BC Web Design”. What ever business you are in, make sure your title tag reflects exactly who you are and what you do.

Also consider using keywords in your TITLE tag. For example, let’s say you’re selling real estate. You might want to make the title of your main page “Seattle Real Estate, Real Estate Agency in Seattle, Listing Homes, Property and Commercial listing for the Seattle Area!” As you can see, this title gets right to the point about the topic of the page. It also uses your keyword: “Seattle Real Estate,” and more specifically “Real Estate Listings in Seattle” (twice). Someone searching for “Real Estate” is more likely to find YOUR page than a page titled “Homes For Sale.”

2 Keywords aren’t just for META tags

Over the years, META tags have been hawked as “the” way to get good listings in the search engines. Early on, this was true – when META tags were first created in the HTML specifications, search engines put a lot of weight on them. Several years ago you could literally boost yourself to the top of the search results by including repetitive keywords in your META tags.

However, META tags have now become the most abused part of web pages. People routinely add META keywords to their page which have no relevance to their site’s topic. For example, many webmasters use META keywords like “pics” or “mp3″ even if their site has nothing to do with those categories. They’re hoping that people who search for hot topics will stumble across their page and stop by.

Those tactics do not work anymore. META tags now carry a surprisingly low weight in all of the popular search engines. What is important now is the overall content of your page. Search engines have algorithms (methods) for determining what your web pages are really about. These algorithms are closely-guarded secrets, for obvious reasons. However, they all focus on one thing these days: the REAL content in your web page. If you create a web page about “The CompanyABC Business Opportunity ” but include META keywords like “free pics” and “download music,” your site’s not going to be indexed under the topics you defined in your keywords. In fact, it might be rejected altogether!

Not only should you make sure that your META keywords tag appropriately reflects the content of your page, you should ensure that the text content of your page contains a good distribution of your keywords. Mention your company name often (and evenly) throughout your site.

For Example: “Our Company is the best company around. Imagine working at home and being your own boss – Our Company makes it possible! Your potential for earnings with Our Company is unlimited. Our Company allows you to sell as much as you want or as little as you want. The amount of money you make with Our Company depends on how much effort you put into your Our Company business.” Using your company name strategically and through out your web page is going to get you much higher rankings when someone performs a search for Our Company.

As you can see, the keyword (Our Company) is evenly distributed. Don’t try bunching up your keywords at the end of the page, that doesn’t work and may prevent you from being listed at all. You should concentrate on using keywords as part of your site’s content, and spreading them evenly throughout your text.

As you can see, these two steps are pretty simple. It’s all a matter of incorporating them into the design of your web pages – or redesigning your pages to fit, if your site is already live and submitted. There is never any guarantees that your website will end up #1 in the search results, but I do guarantee that if you follow these two steps you’ll achieve better overall rankings.

Above all else, avoid common spammer tactics like grouping keywords at the bottom of your page, or trying to “hide” keywords by making the text the same color as your page’s background. Search engines look for these methods and will often disqualify your page if they encounter what they think is spam.

Powerful, intuitive applications like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs can help reduce your IT costs and help employees collaborate more effectively – all for just $50 per user per year.

Proven cost savings – Google’s web-based applications require no hardware or software.

Mobile email and calendar sync – Employees can be productive on the go.

99.9% uptime reliability guarantee – Apps will be available at least 99.9% of the time.*

50X more storage than industry average – 25GB of email storage per employee.

Data security and trust – Google’s network is designed from the ground up with security in mind.

24/7 customer support – Phone and email support are available for critical issues.

Free online messaging and collaboration tools for groups.

Google Apps Standard Edition makes it easy for your club, family, sports team or group to communicate and collaborate online – and it’s free.

Google Chat Chat with friends and coworkers through email using Google Chat.

Google Calendar Organize your schedule and share events with friends.

Google Docs Share online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Google Sites Create websites and group wikis.

If you’re a small business with most of your clients being local, there’s a chance that you haven’t thought much about your business website. After all, the majority of your customers live right nearby. Perhaps they stop into your business on their drive home to make their purchases. Other folks have become regular customers ever since they found you in the local business pages. And you’re hapy with your local clientele. So why do you need to worry about taking your business online?

Several very good reasons, is the answer to that.

In today’s times, many small, local business owners are recognizing the important of a strong online presence. Why? Because sales are slowing and they realize the internet is where potential customers are searching for services and products.

With every passing year, more business owners are abandoning their large yellow pages budget for a reason. They’re focusing their efforts on their website, because more and more users are using quick and easy tools like Google Local to find what they want. Go ahead. Try searching your industry followed by your zipcode (ie: accounting 83814) and see which of your competitors are claiming all of the internet traffic in your industry.

These local business owners are the ones who will have open doors for much longer due to their ability to recognize where the market is and move in the direction required to capture these new customers. If your business is not online with a website, or you haven’t given much thought to having a website built, you not only are missing a chunk of business, but it may just cost you the future of having those doors open.

What Can a Well-Written Site Do for You?

With a business website design done right, it will act as a literal extension of your company that generates its own web traffic and opens up new opportunities for sales. Your website would be an easy for you to:

• Build traffic and find new clients
• Establish your brand
• Sell your goods and services online
• Advertise promotions
• Tell your story and set yourself apart from your competitors
• Build credibility by providing quality information
• Develop a relationship with your customers through a personalized “e-zine” mailing

A well-written business website is a powerful marketing tool for your brand. And because it is available 24 hours a day, potential clients can find your site and learn about your services and products, or even make a purchase from your shopping cart during the hours that your brick-and-mortar storefront is closed.

Unlike the cluttered yellowpages your business website won’t be distracting your viewers with ads from competitors. With quality content on your business website, you’ll have a captive audience who is eager to do business with you. And with tracking software on your website, you’ll know exactly how many people have visited your website and what keywords they were searching for when they found you! Contrast that with overpriced local print ads, where you often have no idea how many folks have seen your advert.

Take It to the Next Level

Maybe you haven’t considered a website, because you’re unsure of the process or what goes into creating your online presence. That’s where GrowIt Media is here to help. We explain our process of website design, and work to make the entire job as pleasant as can be.

If you already have a website up and it hasn’t generated a lot of traffic, consider asking us for a free evaluation. What do you have to lose? There are so many factors that go into creating a site that is Search Engine Optimized, not to mention that search engines are changing their techniques and approach to indexing so often. We will send you a report of where your website is lacking, and what we can do to bring in those new customers.

So what are you waiting for?

In our current market it is vital to stand out from your competition. Don’t let your competitor attract all of the new business away from you. Give your local business the promotion and exposure that it deserves by letting GrowIt Media design a website that that over-delivers. Developing a solid web presence will strengthen your business by leaps and bounds.

1. You’ll need to set goals to achieve and have a vision of your company’s future. Your business goals should be clearly stated; otherwise you will lack guidance in what to work towards. These goals will guide your actions in your everyday business affairs. Your business action plan should outline all of the steps you’ll take in order to become successful with your online business and website.

2. Allocate a budget to be used for promoting your business. The best way to establish yourself is by promotional advertisements and that will require investing some money. There are several ways to promote your business, some are free and others will cost money. If you plan on really establishing yourself, expect to spend some money.

3. Be confident. Believe in your ability to make this business become a success. So many new business start ups flounder out due to a lack of self-confidence on the part of the owner. Commit to the end goal, believe you can accomplish it, and you’ll tackle the obstacles that come your way.

4. Apply yourself. Nothing great comes around by itself. Work hard to develop your online business. Do your homework and spend the time researching the ins and outs of your industry, and how to stay ahead of the competition. Dedication and application will carry your company far.

5. Never stop learning. Always study your competition, and the trends that surround your line of work. The internet is a wealth of knowledge that only requires your time. This will give you the edge forecasting advantages or potential problems. Learn well all of the available tools at your company’s disposal such as a CMS or eCommerce software. The more you know about it, the more you can use it toward growth.

6. Stay focused. In a world of gadgets, technology and social networks, it is easy to get distracted from your business goals. Focus your efforts on singlular goals, and don’t allow yourself to be scattered or spread over too many business opportunities at the same time. Take it step by step, and move to the next goal after the previous is completed.

7. Keeping a positive attitude will improve your work ethic, and make it easier for partners and clients to gel with your business. Mistakes will inevitably happen, obstacles will be faced, but optimisim will always pay dividends with your online business.

8. Treat your business professionaly. Many people will start up a business that is inclined toward a hobby. Don’t let this affect your discipline in running a business as it should be run. Every day should include doing something that will grow your business.

The tips outlined above can help you achieve any level of success you want with your online home business.

Names cannot be more than 67 characters long, including the dot(.), and the extensions, (.com, .org, and .net). Letters, numbers, and the dash(-) are all acceptable, but you can’t begin or end the name with the dash. DotBiz and DotInfo domains cannot be less than 3 characters in length (excluding the extension).

Can I do multiple registrations?

Yes, but at this time, you must fill out a form for each name. However, if you are registering the same name with different extensions, you can do up to five at one time. In the near future, we will be streamlining the process so that you can do as many as you need. Please check back for future developments.

How do I renew my domain?

Renewing your domain name is simple. First you must log into the domain management system using your domain name and your domain password. You will then see the option to renew. Fill out the renewal form and submit it. You can renew your domain for up to ten years. So, for example, if your domain registration still has two years until expiration you will be able to renew it for at most eight years. The sum of years after the renewal cannot be more than ten years.

Transferring my domain?

Transferring your domain name is simple. Click on the “Domain Transfer” link on the left side of this page. Inside of this page you will enter any domains to be transferred to our Registrar. Domains ending in .org .info and .biz require a verification code that can be obtained from the current registrar. All other extensions will be sent a verification email that must be returned. A transfer is a registrar change only and comes with a one year extension to the domain expiration date.

What is a name server?

A name server is a computer that can be accessed from the world wide web. Name Servers are identified by numerical addresses (example: 111.111.111.111). Your domain/website must be kept on a name server so that the rest of the world can find your webpage. You should check with your ISP or web-hosting company for the name and address of their name servers.

I am having problems with name servers. Help?

Definitions:

• Second level domain => mydomain.com
• Third level domain => ns.mydomain.com

Important points:

• Only the current registrar of the second level domain can create/modify a related hostname.Example: If ‘mydomain.com’ is registered with Network Solutions Incorporated, only NSI can add the hostname ‘ns2.mydomain.com’ to the system. AWRegistry (and all other registrars) do not have the ability to add this hostname.
• Only one hostname can be associated with an IP address at a given time.Example: You try to change the IP address associated with ‘ns2.mydomain.com’ from ’111.111.111.111′ to ’222.222.222.222′. The change fails. The problem was either 1) ’222.222.222.222′ is associated with another hostname (like ‘ns1.notmydomain.com’) or 2) the registrar you are attempting this modification through is not the registrar for ‘mydomain.com’.

What is an “NIC” Handle?

If you have ever registered a domain name in the past, you may have been assigned or ‘given’ an Contact “handle” or “ID” (i.e. MG123-AWR). This way, you would not have to ‘re-fill’ the information each time you submitted a request for a new domain name. If this is the first time that you are submitting a request, you will not have a handle to use. However, if you submit a request, you will be assigned or given a ‘handle’ that you can use to simplify future registrations.

What is”whois privacy”?

Customers can now choose whether or not they want to display their whois information publicly. The Privacy Whois Service will allow customer to hide the current whois information associated with a domain from public whois services. With accordance of the registration agreement and in the interests of ICANN, the whois information may be obtained per requester at our convenience.

What is “parking”?

If you have not decided where your site will be hosted or if you have not created your site yet you will want to “Park” it. “Parking” is setting up a temporary hosting place for your domain name.

What is “domain email forwarding”?

If available to your domain, you are able to use the URL/Email forwarding service to forward the domain name to an existing web site and forward all emails coming to the domain to an existing email account.

For example you can forward mydomain.com to the url of http://icann.org. In this case when mydomain.com is entered into the web browser the browser will be redirected to the ICANN web site. (You may choose to mask the url as well, this will cause the domain entered in the browser to appear in the browser url field).

Forwarding of emails will act in this way. Anything@yourdomain.com will be forwarded to the email address specified in the entered filed. (There are not separate email accounts for the forwarded domain, the service acts as a catchall for the emails).

What is “domain locking”?

To improve domain security we have implemented a locking feature allowing you to lock/unlock your domain(s). The status field to the left of the domains option page likely shows either “UN-LOCKED” or “LOCKED”. If your domain is in the “LOCKED” status it is significantly less vulnerable to unauthorized transfers. NOTE: .info .biz and .org extensions do not need to be locked.