1. Submitting your site to search engines often is crucial!
   There’s really no need to “submit” a site to a search engine unless the current year is 1998. Search engines, such as Google, will find your website in a matter of days. To get listed in Google, just have someone link to your site.
2. You will need unlimited bandwidth.
   This statement can be true, only if you receive millions of website visitors a month and you have a site with a lot of large files or videos. Otherwise, the typical website doesn’t need as much bandwidth or monthly data transfer..
3. We can get you to the #1 position in Google guaranteed.
   This statement may be true, if you are just Googling your business name and not the search phrases that can drive traffic to your site.

Don’t be fooled by these ridiculous statements that are often spoken during the initial sales stage with a web design firm. Just remember that the difference between a good salesman and a con artist, is the fact that the salesman can deliver what they promise.

WordPress is a well known and supported blogging platform and content management system. With the ability for developers to create new and useful additions or plugins, it’s no wonder why it has become so popular. When it comes to plugins to give you the advantage in SEO, Pagination and new blogging features these plugins come in first.

All in One SEO
This plugin allows you to set title and meta tags on posts and pages. It even has the ability to noindex categories and archives.

Spam Karma 2
Prevent spammers from spamming your blog with this handy plugin.

WP-PageNavi
Improve the usability of your blog by replacing the “Previous” and “Next” links with easy to use pagination.

Comment Relish
Improve your subscriber base by automatically sending an email to your commenters to ask them to subscribe to your RSS feed.

iflickr
Easily add Creative Commons photos from Flickr to your blog posts with this handy plugin.

Google Sitemaps
Automatically generate a Google compliant XML sitemap of your site.

Live
Want to watch visitors on your site? This plugin allows you to do just that. Monitor which pages your visitors are going to.

Redirection
Create seo-friendly 301 redirects from within WordPress. Simply enter the source location and the target location and you are done.

We’ve all encountered some form of spam or unwanted advertisements in our emails and blogs. Some are ads wanting you to purchase medications or scams that inform you that you have won the Nigerian lottery. Going through each message or comment can be a time consuming process. So here are three steps you can take to kill off spam.

Email Spam Filters

Make sure your web hosting provider has spam filters running on all of your incoming email messages. The filters will check each bit of the message to ensure that it is genuine and not junk. Filters such as Spam Assassin and Postini work wonders if you receive hundreds of emails daily. But be aware that every now and then non-spam messages may get trapped in these filters and never delivered to your inbox.

Blog Spam Plugins

Blog comment spam can seriously hurt your website’s credibility and even its search engine ranking. Thankfully, there are many plugins you can use for your blog, especially if it is powered by WordPress. Two of the most popular plugins to filter out spam comments is Akismet and Spam Karma. By having one of these plugins active will cut back on hundreds to thousands of spammy comments and allow you to be more productive doing what you love best.

Automatic Form Spam

Forms on your website can fall victim to spam as well or even worse be hijacked by hackers. Cut down on attacks and spam on your forms by implementing CAPTCHAs. A CAPTCHA is a human check puzzle that can be a randomly generated word within an image or a simple math problem. This human check process stops numerous automated form submissions or even form hijackings.

Spam can be the root of all evil and even put a damper on your day. With the above steps, you can easily cut back on the amount of spam on your website or in your inbox. Be more productive now, instead of sorting through countless hours of spammy messages.

Find a web host at Host YP.

When it comes to measuring a website’s overall success online, many will feel that traffic makes the difference. The true reality of website success isn’t measuring the amount of traffic, but measuring the amount of conversions. What is the value of having a lot of visitors when they don’t become customers? Here are five surefire ways to help improve your conversions…

1. Cure Website Tunnel Vision

Believe it or not internet users have tunnel vision when it comes to online surfing. Imagine for a second that your entire screen is blurry and that you can only see an inch and a half radius around your mouse. This is how your visitors are looking at your web site. To correct this, make visual cues available. Such as placing pricing close to an order or add to cart button.

2. Put Call to Action Above The Fold

Not all visitors are web-savvy users. Place your call to action “above the fold”. Imagine looking at a newspaper. Newspapers put the most important information above the fold. This tactic applies to the web as well. Place phone numbers, contact information or order buttons above the fold so users won’t have to scroll down to find them. This can also aid in search engine rankings as well.

3. Stop Web Page Inconsistencies

Does your website look good in different web browsers and systems? If your web pages look bad to your visitors, chances are they will not convert. For one, trust is a key element in website conversion and it’s most likely that inconsistent pages on your site won’t get your visitor’s trust to convert. Read up on cross browser compatibility and test your site out with Browsershots.

4. Add Missing Prices

If you don’t list pricing information on your site, you are scaring your potential customers away. Not knowing the cost will make them believe that it is more than what they were planning to spend and will make them move on. The exception to this rule is if you provide a service that requires an estimate.

5. Add Photos

People hate surprises when it comes to online shopping. If you do not have a picture of your product, you are losing trust of shoppers. If you cannot supply a photo, a relevant image or visual cue is very helpful. Informing the customer allows them to make the decision to buy.

And there you have it, five easy to remember tips to add to your online marketing to increase conversions. Be sure to have product photos, make your site consistent, provide an easy to locate call to action and cure website tunnel vision. By applying these tips to a site with lots of traffic will be a true blessing for your bank account.

Getting your first dot-com can be a great experience. I can remember how exciting it was when I first registered a domain name nine years ago. I sometimes get a chill every now and then when I register domains for my clients, especially those who are getting a website for the very first time. It is definitely a big step to take, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult one.

Research

Check the Internet Archive and Google to see if the domain previously existed. If you purchase a used domain that was banned from the search engines, you may be stuck with that penalty. Doing proper research first ensures that you will get a quality domain.

Costs

Back in the day domain registration used to cost $35 per year. Nowadays, you can find offers for as low as $1.99. But beware of additional costs when purchasing low priced domain names. Registrars such as GoDaddy have a great service and price.

Domain Hijacking

Beware when a web site company registers your domain name. Make sure that you have it in writing that you own all rights to the registered domain. Some companies do not allow you to retain ownership, which can result in a whole slew of problems if you decide to go to another company.

Cyber Squatters

Some companies and individuals will register similar domains hoping that either you will purchase them for a hefty price or will use them to gain traffic from your brand. Beware if you check the availability of a domain on Network Solutions. They have been notorious for registering domains people have searched for in hopes that they will purchase the domain from them.

Registering a domain name can be a great and exciting experience. Be sure to research accordingly, check for additional costs, be aware of hijacking and cyber squatting scams. Congratulations on your big step online.