When creating an email newsletter, it is important to have a ‘catchy’ subject line; one that will make people want to open your email immediately and learn more about you and your services!  We know that writing subject lines may sound daunting, so here are some helpful tips:

• Include a number in your subject line. Headlines with numbers imply that the content is simple, organized and easy to digest. By putting a number in your subject line makes what you're saying quantifiable. "Three quick points," "Eight simple tips," "Four seats left," etc. This lets readers know exactly what to expect and makes them more willing to read the content.
• Get inspired by others! Go through newsletters you have received in the past or search online and think about the ones that caught your attention. Don’t copy it word-for-word, but select ones that you liked best and adjust it towards your own newsletter.
• Encourage Action! This applies especially to promotional newsletters. Make sure to include a call to action with a deadline, i.e. Buy Tickets Now and provide a deadline for purchasing inside your newsletter
• Keep it short! Keep your subject line short and to the point. Research shows that subject lines should be five to eight words the most, otherwise, you run into the possibility of clients ignoring your email. Who has the time to read lengthy emails? Subject line should entice to open the email and then you can provide additional information.
• And most importantly, be creative and have fun!

We at IDS can provide service level objectives, service level monitoring and reporting, and developing and maintaining a service catalog based on the client’s requirements. Our methodology in delivering quality service is to develop a partnership; therefore providing a level of service that is “end-user focused.” Our strategy is to define service-oriented roles and responsibilities while offering a dedicated staff with cross training to augment staff in times of extended coverage. As a service provider, we can deliver a well defined and effective set of tailored processes and methods that is supported enterprise-wide and is continuously improved.

IDS has the experience and skilled staff to orchestrate an intimate support model that will utilize dedicated resources assigned to our specific clients. In brief we have a mature support model to reach the objective of your organization’s support goals in providing the following services:

• Incident and Problem Management
• Service Continuity
• Configuration and Change Management
• Service Level Management
• Security Management and Virus protection
• Capacity Management
• Availability Management
• Release Management

Clear and easy-to-understand language

Web content will be clear and easy-to-understand language for quicker reading. IDS works closely with our clients to gain and retain their business by giving them written information in a language they understand and appreciate. IDS has years of experience writing for a variety of audiences: schools (children & parents), businesses (consumers), artists (fans), government (communities), etc. The overall goal of the content writing for the website will be to use web content that is:

• Clear and concise and speaks to your ideal audience
• Well-composed and engaging to keep visitors on the website
• Rich keywords that will increase your website’s search engine ranking and organically drive targeted visitors to your website
• Free of grammatical errors and typos
• Speaks in the same tone as your branding strategy

Website Information Architecture

Information architecture defines the structure, organization, navigation, labeling, and indexing of a Website. It is the role of the information architect to decide how a site should be structured, what kind of content it should host, and how to accommodate future growth. Website navigation determines how many steps or pages it takes users to find the information they are searching for. The more pages visitors have to click through to find the desired content, the more lost they are on your website. As a result, IDS structures the website’s content in a logically, organized manner that makes your website user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Writing & Revision

Once the purpose is established, readers’ needs assessed, and content is organized, the writing will include polishing current content and writing new content as necessary. Content will be written with an appropriate style and tone with effective sentence construction and information flow. Content will be checked for accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness in achieving the intended purpose and meeting the visitor’s information-seeking needs and expectations.

IDS understands that any organization requires dynamic web content that will competitively establish the online venture and increase visibility to its community. IDS can direct and assist with writing and re-writing website content. Web content is written differently than any other technical or creative writing. Therefore, IDS approaches web content writing with the following considerations:

Preparation

In order to write for the targeted audience while keeping the website’s branding objectives in mind, the website must be established and context completed. IDS will research to understand the role that the website will play for your organization and your overall branding strategy.

Organization

Without organization, the content and message conveyed may not be understood. The current content will be reviewed and organized prior to making any edits or writing any new content. Content will be organized so that the content navigation is easy to follow and the site’s visitors do not get lost on your website. The visual layout of the content will also be enhanced where necessary with multilevel headings, bulleted lists, topical sentences in every paragraph, and additional highlighting and emphasis.

Flow of Information

The Internet allows for greater communication and information flow than has ever been possible before. Web readers usually skim through web pages and tend to exit websites if the information they are seeking is not easily accessible. This is why it is important to balance the volume of text and make sure it is written with the web in mind. Knowing how information flows helps IDS decide what type of information the site will need in order to prevent visitors from exiting your site prematurely.

…. To learn more, please read our next blog!

Students:

From any Internet connection, students can view their class list, grades, stored documents, school announcements and events, and a district calendar. The portal also links to the district's instructional content, an online student-advising system, and an online resource that reinforces reading and math skills.

Parents:

Parents can view their child's class list and grades, assignments, school bus information, state graduation requirements, immunization guidelines, and links to many other resources.

Teachers:

Teachers can view their personal information; e-mail messages and calendar; stored files; class lists; a roster of students in each class; detailed data from the Student Information System; and a graphical "student scorecard" that shows each child's current performance and whether that performance is improving, holding steady, or decreasing over time. Instructional content and lesson plans are on the portal, tailored to grade levels.

Principals:

Principals can see personal information and documents, calendars, weekly district briefings, reports from key district systems, and links to other relevant resources. All these users can customize the appearance of their portal pages to display information of interest. For example, teachers can include links to videos and text used in lessons, and students can add content for research and homework assignments. Using extensive collaboration features such as online meeting spaces, team sites, discussion groups, instant messaging, and custom staff alerts, educators, parents, and students will be able to work together more closely. To alleviate information overload, users will be able to take advantage of extensive search capabilities to quickly and easily find the information that they need.

One of the biggest challenges in revamping a large-scale Website is dealing with the content contained in the existing site, which needs to be “migrated” into the new Website. Many sites typically have hundreds or even thousands of pages that need to be migrated, with each page having various page assets (images placed on the page, links to documents, embedded videos, etc.) which all need to be migrated as well.

Content Conversion

• Content must be migrated into the underlying content management system (CMS) which will power the new site, internal staff can to use the CMS over time to manage and update their respective Web pages.
• Content must be adapted to the new Website design, so that it is pleasing to the eye and is easy for end users to navigate and consume.
• Hyperlinks, contained within text of the Website, must be updated to point to new targets (when migrating content into a new CMS system, URL paths typically change).
• Browser testing must be performed on each migrated page, to ensure the page looks good in current and older browsers.
• Accessibility testing must be performed, to ensure the migrated pages are in compliance with the Website accessibility guidelines established for the Website.

Begin with a migration by performing an inventory of what content the client wishes us to convert. Then create a content migration plan, which maps out what content will be migrated “manually” by a Web developer and what can be scripted (e.g. information stored in a database).

The plan also establishes quality control checkpoints to ensure that content conversion goals are met, and outlines the review process for departments and programs to certify that their content is current and has been brought over correctly.

A well planned content conversion is essential to a successful Website redesign project.

A hard-to-use website is like a fuzzy phone connection, a sticky front door, a burnt-out sign, bad directions, and a broken cash register. It keeps customers from reaching you and reflects poorly on your business. By contrast, a good website experience builds relationships and keeps people coming back.

Because they are so intimately familiar with the inner-workings of their companies, many business owners and marketing professionals assume that everyone else will be able to use their sites as easily as they can. This is equivalent to assuming a guest will know exactly which drawer in your kitchen contains a spatula.

Web designers, in turn, can sometimes exacerbate the problem by focusing solely on aesthetics and addressing usability as an afterthought. Remember all those fancy Flash websites that could be so maddening to navigate?

Making a site user-friendly
The obvious but often-overlooked way to create a truly user-friendly website is to design it with the user in mind.

Plenty of research exists about what makes a site easy to use, and a good web designer will know how to make yours conform to the conventional wisdom: uncluttered design, accessible navigation, well-labeled links, and so on.

For more unique designs, you might also consider usability testing. This can be as advanced as software that tracks a tester's eye movements or as simple as watching over someone's shoulder as he or she tries to perform basic tasks.

As with anything, it helps to have a well-defined goal. The following are some of the most important usability principles:

• Provide effective navigation
• Provide appropriate functions
• Provide access to technical help and support
• Minimize errors
• Give the user control
• Support the user’s preferred way of working
• Speak the user’s language
• Keep the user informed
• Be consistent
• Implement a clear visual design

The bottom line
Many think that usability is ‘nice to have’ but not necessary. That's why the website world is littered with failed sites that didn't offer anything of value to the user or were too unclear and difficult to use.

Companies whose primary focus is on customer experience have shown over and over again that there is a very serious bottom line advantage on placing usability first. One of the best examples, Google, is currently at the heart of the web itself. There are countless others, in every industry imaginable.

So while some businesses might continue to count home page hits, the smart ones are realizing that a website user is much more valuable than a website viewer. They are taking steps to evaluate their sites and increase usability--with the goal of increasing profitability, as well.

The web has grown up. It's more sophisticated, more productive. No longer content to just supply information and entertainment, it has become a place of human interaction--where businesses have the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with customers.

Do you have a working web presence? Beyond simply creating a professional image online, a good website works around the clock to sell your products and services, interact with customers and vendors, generate new leads, and generally represent your business to the world. Today's websites are far more than glorified brochures; they are hard-working employees.

The internet allows small businesses to access and gain from a market that is not efficiently available through other channels. The web is an entire universe of customers; it is a market of demands and it is imperative that you as a supplier of flowers, baked goods, legal services, real estate, money management, massages, well-prepared meals, or widgets, be present. Additionally, unlike traditional marketplaces where folks go to buy and sell, the internet is increasingly becoming a place where people go to gather information before they act.

Your website is your voice in the vast online market. Make sure that you are taking advantage of technology and tactics that will keep it fresh and engaging--such as:

Using the internet as a custom application. One of the most overlooked values the internet offers to small businesses is its capacity to be used as a dynamic and powerful application. Forward-thinking companies have already begun using the internet to better communicate with employees and customers. Imagine having customers and employees interact and share data on one online system accessible anywhere and anytime with no software to install.

Inexpensive & frequent advertising. A website designed with a content management system (CMS) allows the owner to make quick and effortless changes anytime. Businesses can have an online brochure that displays products and services, and describes them in greater detail online than by using any other marketing channels at a fraction of the cost of paper media. Most importantly, they can also have a dynamic forum for interaction.

Your business stays open 24/7. Having a website means that your business is working 24/7, 365 days a year, in every country around the globe, and reaches a broader audience than any other medium. Therefore, it is an extra convenience to your customer base at no additional cost to you. Now that’s good customer service. A simple “Contact Us” page where customers can enter their information and ask you questions at any time of the day allows you to see what types of inquiries your business gets. By collecting email addresses, you now open up an avenue for emailing “prospects.”

Most content rich medium. The internet by far offers the most flexibility in communicating to your clients and potential clients. Anyone that visits your site is there to look for precise information that relates to them. You can use audio, video, or graphics to convey content.

Having a good website builds credibility. It sends a message that you are a serious investor in your own business by trying to make it as seamless as possible for customers to reach you. The web is the number one place that people turn to find information and, if your business is not there, you make it more difficult for people to find you and essentially remove yourself from the competition.

The purpose of the segmentation reports is to understand and analyze a subset of visitors whose behavior you would like to see and analyze. This helps to answer business questions and provide direction on how to best spend time and money on & offline efforts. These reports may include the number of visitors who searched for your project, who is sending you the most traffic, where the visitors come from, how they interact with your site, etc. Segmentation reports provide a great opportunity to better understand the mindset of the target visitors, strengthen the market strategies and strive towards a higher converting website.

Some of the key fields that should be included in the segmentation reports:

1. Number of visitors who used Google to search for your company:
   This custom segmentation focuses on providing the number of users who searched directly for your business and related keywords. This helps with updating the content of your site to get better search ranking in popular web search engines.
2. Who is sending you the most traffic?
   This segment focuses on determining who is sending the most relevant traffic and show people who stay on the website. From this segmentation you could determine the keywords that result in higher page views, and the referrals that provide the interested visitors
3. Determining Broadband/Dialup users
   This segmentation analyzes if majority of the visitors use dialup/broadband internet connection. This allows redesigning and improving the performance of the webpage periodically and the impact it has on the page views.

Website owners (and developers) frequently forget that a smooth site launch will yield positive results long after launch. That is why User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is one of the most important aspects of application development and deployment. This ensures quality so the business users understand how the system operates. In addition, the goal of UAT is to uncover system bugs, fix them and finally do a walk through system acceptance. This includes multiple test cases for each work flow and process. All these steps ensures a smooth deployment.

Every successful project should end with UAT because it allows for a ‘bug free’ launch.

The purpose of the segmentation reports is to understand and analyze a subset of visitors whose behavior you would like to see and analyze. This helps to answer business questions and provide direction on how to best spend time and money on & offline efforts. These reports may include the number of visitors who searched for your project, who is sending you the most traffic, where the visitors come from, how they interact with your site, etc. Segmentation reports provide a great opportunity to better understand the mindset of the target visitors, strengthen the market strategies and strive towards a higher converting website.

Some of the key fields that should be included in the segmentation reports:

1. Number of visitors who used Google to search for your company:
   This custom segmentation focuses on providing the number of users who searched directly for your business and related keywords. This helps with updating the content of your site to get better search ranking in popular web search engines.
2. Who is sending you the most traffic?
   This segment focuses on determining who is sending the most relevant traffic and show people who stay on the website. From this segmentation you could determine the keywords that result in higher page views, and the referrals that provide the interested visitors
3. Determining Broadband/Dialup users
   This segmentation analyzes if majority of the visitors use dialup/broadband internet connection. This allows redesigning and improving the performance of the webpage periodically and the impact it has on the page views.

Viral marketing is becoming a focus of all good web firms as part of their online marketing strategies. It is a great way to generate buzz and word-of-mouth through people's social networks. Think Facebook - they do not spend a penny on trying to acquire subscribers, but subscribers sign up at a rate of hundreds of thousands a day. Facebook falls into the extreme of viral marketing success, but is not all that uncommon.

It is important, however, to understand and use viral marketing to its full range of capability, because it allows marketers an easy way to create inexpensive and effective marketing campaigns. In most cases, the Return on Investment (ROI) of this type of campaigns are measured through number of impressions (whether it is clicks to the homepage, befriended on Facebook or viewed on Youtube ) and obviously, the more impressions made the better is the ROI.

At IDS, we understand that viral marketing campaigns use many techniques to ultimately direct a large number of audiences to a more precise marketing message. The more buzz is generated, the more successful the campaign will be. Depending on client goals, IDS adjusts and recommends techniques that will be the most successful and show the highest ROI.

All too often site owners just want to start building their site with very little regard to planning out the design, functionality, and content.  This results in spending double the time on development and organization of the site which frustrates not only the site owner but also their web company.  People just want to see their vision on the big screen right as quickly as possible and forget about the importance of planning and the designing phase.

That is why IDS places a great emphasis on the requirements gathering. The purpose of which is to refine and structure our clients vision and understand how the site should work with comparison to client goals.  

Gathering requirements up-front saves time, money, and effort.  It is a common sense practice, because all too often projects start before careful thought has been put into the project's purpose, desired results, and how success will ultimately be measured.  Spending the time to properly gather requirements ensures error-free project execution and it increases the success rate of the project because the process and build has been thoroughly planned out.  By working and communicating with our clients as partners we ensure expectations are always met and we carefully plan out every project – from beginning to end.

Most modern and forward thinking business owners agree that it makes good commercial sense to create a website in order increase customers and stay ahead of competition. And with millions of web surfers on the web today and with easy access to the internet, there has never been a better (and easier!) opportunity for business owners to bring their businesses online and increase profitability. However, there are some business owners who mistakenly believe that buying a domain name and creating a site will be enough to generate business and new clients. They could not be more wrong!

There is one fundamental question any business owner should ask, even before they decide on creating a website: ‘How will people know where to find my website and what will they find when they get there?’ There is no simple answer to this question, however. In the World Wide Web, there are so many different techniques, both on and offline to help a business get noticed on the web. These techniques include search engine optimization, pay per click, distributing marketing materials via email and hard copy and many others! No matter what approach is selected, there needs to be a lot of thought and attention given to not only the website itself, but also to the marketing of it.

A simple website for any business should consist of a few standard pages, i.e. a ‘home’ page to welcome site visitors and provide basics on the company, an ‘about us’ page to give more details about the company’s functions and goals, a ‘services’ page which will outline what services are being offered to clients and a ‘contact us’ page allowing visitors to get in touch via email, phone, fax or regular mail. A website where the main goal is to sell certain products is usually more complex to set up with the need to display products, photos, shopping carts, and payment options. With so many different type of businesses out there, there are many goals for a website. But no matter what the goal is, the common denominator in it all is that a website should be clean, have an easy to navigate structure and be backed by a good functionality. With such heavy competition (both online and offline) it is important to remember that usability should be a top priority – after all, each business owner’s dream for their site is to have their visitors come back time after time and hopefully tell their friends about it!

To help achieve this, a website should offer for example a newsletter sign up for visitors – this will allow the business to collect email addresses to send out periodic newsletters or emails with coupons, specials or advice on specialized topics.

Another important element of deciding on a website is the actual web design! There are so many choices out there, but when selecting a web designer it is important to select one who will understand the overall business goals. Whether a business needs a simple website or a more complex online application, web Design Company must understand what is needed and have technical expertise to deliver the finished product.

As we enter into 2009, we hear the word “change” constantly. Not only is change the motto for the political arena, but it is also the cardinal theme of the business world. The internet allows every business owner to act as a change agent and take control of his/her business. A well designed website creates a professional image online, enables you to sell products and services, improves customer service, and allows your business to generate new leads. In today’s global economy, having a website is critical to staying ahead of your competition. The internet allows small businesses to access and gain from a market that is not efficiently available through other channels. The World Wide Web is an entire universe of customers; it is a market of demands and it is imperative that you as a supplier of flowers, baked goods, legal services, real estate, money management, massages, greatly cooked meals, and widgets, be present. Additionally, unlike traditional market places, where folks go to buy and sell, the internet is increasingly becoming a place where people go to gather information and dynamically utilize that information before acting. There are ways the internet can maximize returns for your business:

Using the internet as a custom application. One of the most overlooked values the internet offers to small businesses is its capacity to be used as a dynamic and powerful application. Forward thinking companies have already begun using the internet to better communicate with employees and customers. Imagine having customers and employees interact and share data on one online system accessible anywhere and anytime with no software to install.

Inexpensive & frequent advertising. A website designed with a content management system allows the owner to make quick and effortless changes anytime. Businesses can have an online brochure that displays products and services, and describe them in greater detail online than by using any other marketing channels at a fraction of the cost of paper media.

Your business stays open 24/7. Having a website means that your business is working 24/7, 365 days a year, in every country around the globe and reaches a broader audience than any other medium. Therefore, it is an extra convenience to your customer base at no additional cost to you. Now that’s good customer service. A simple “Contact Us” page where customers can enter their information and ask you question at any time of the day allows you to see what types of inquiries your business gets. By collecting email addresses, you now open up an avenue for emailing “prospects.”

Most content rich medium. The Internet by far offers the most flexibility in communicating to your clients and potential clients. Anyone that visits your site is there to look for precise information that relates to them. You can use audio, video, or graphics to convey content.

Having a good website builds credibility. It sends a message that you are a serious investor in your own business by trying to make it as seamless as possible for customers to reach you. As we enter 2009 with more uncertainty while hoping for greater economic change, businesses small and large need to understand the value of an impactful website. The World Wide Web is the number one place that people turn to find information and if your business is not there, not only will you be making it more difficult for people to find you, but you will be removing yourself from the competition.

Importance of Usability
Most people do not notice a user-friendly system, however, they do notice if a system encounters a usability problem – for example, we click around in circles trying to find certain information on a website and we can’t find what we are looking for. Or worse, we can’t figure out how to navigate back to the ‘home’ page on a website.

If it comes to defining website usability, simply it is the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve a certain task on a particular website. In other words: how user-friendly, intuitive and easy to use is a certain website?

Principles of usability
Having an understanding of usability is not enough. In order to have a ‘user- friendly’ website, we must think about the factors are impactful on a site’s usability. If it comes to setting goals, such as ‘make a usable website’ is easy to say, but unless there is a way of breaking down the elements of usability, we have a poorly defined goal and most likely it won’t be achieved.

Here are the most important usability principles:

• Provide effective navigation
• Provide appropriate functions
• Provide access to technical help and support
• Minimize errors
• Give the user control
• Support the user’s preferred way of working
• Speak the user’s language
• Keep the user informed
• Be consistent
• Implement a clear visual design

Usability bottom line
Many think that usability is ‘nice to have’ but is not necessary. However, companies whose primary focus is on customer experience have shown over and over again that there is a very serious bottom line advantage on placing usability first.

The website world is littered with failed sites because they did not offer anything of value to the user or they were too unclear and difficult to use than let’s say a competitor’s site. Why build a site that users won’t want to use? So the bottom line is, spend some time and have an analysis done to determine a usability of your site.

There are many popular sites that advertise shared hosting for $10 per month. But how far does that $10 stretch and what is covered? It means that there are literally over a thousand sites using the same machine for hosting and here are some issues that you may face as a result:

Slower Responses: Given that a physical web server is shared, websites in the shared web hosting have to accept slower server response times when compared to dedicate server hosting.

Reliability Issues: In many cases, web hosting providers take care of the security and performance of the shared server. But, it may happen that some websites hosted on the shared server run a malicious program/script or over-utilize the resources which can bring down the web server. As a result, your website can suffer downtimes and inaccessibility, making you look unprofessional and cause you to loose credibility in the eyes of potential clients.

Sharing Issues: All you need is one "bad" website in your shared web server to get your website banned altogether by ISP or search engine due to shared IP address. It is not enough to merely have a website, but having your website show up in search engines when certain keywords are entered is critical. Not knowing which other sites are hosted by your shared web server, and therefore having a “bad” site negatively impact SEO is unacceptable, and costly to reverse.

Security Issues: Shared web hosting is more risky and opens up potential security issues because other web masters have an account on the same web server. You could run the risk of someone hacking to your sensitive data.

Robust sites: Many of the sites we build have advanced functions to enhance the user experience and improve client’s business process. Such sites would not be able to be supported on shared hosting machines.

With all of that being said, who is shared hosting good for?

Shared hosting works well for hobby/personal sites, where security and reliability is not crucial. Because it doesn’t matter if your personal site is down for a few hours. However, it does matter for a business site!

Due to the misconception on the lower cost of hosting, the IDS team has created a model to provide hosting as part of our support. When our clients spend a certain amount of money and time on a website they need the most reliable infrastructure. Our servers are dedicated servers; they are significantly more powerful than the highest shared hosting servers being advertised online and on TV.

Here are some key guidelines to keep in mind when designing a site:

Look at your website as a continual advertisement. Make your site work like an attractive and eye catching ad.

Leverage or coordinate existing branding with the site, such as current logos and colors. It is important that you communicate one look and feel throughout multiple marketing channels.

Your website should be pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. Users should know where they are on the site at all times. They should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently.

People should feel the site is fresh and update, it shouldn’t feel the site was built 10 years ago. The colors and layout should have a good flow and compliment one another.

A website should make you money; there must be a purpose to the site so users have a call to action. For example, selling product/service or collect/view contact information, after viewing the site the visitor should have a clear path of what to do next.

We are experts in web design and we are happy to work with you to create your perfect site! Your Vision. Your Site.

Pay per Click (PPC) is a type of search marketing where advertisers pay a set amount every time their ad is clicked by a prospective buyer/client. All major search engines are now using PPC distribution as it is becoming an integral part of advertising in cyber world.

PPC is an effective way of marketing because it generates results fast and it is a good way to grasp attention of targeted audience, though one needs to have a clear idea how PPC model works and which platform to use. Dedication and monitoring your position is the best way to make PPC beneficial for you.

Pay per click advertising on search engines allows you choose keywords you would like your site to appear for when a search is performed. You decide how much you are willing to pay each time a person clicks on the search results. The more you are willing to pay per click, the higher your site will appear in the results for the keywords you choose.

Understanding the importance of PPC means understanding the importance of its content, main thing about PPC is its ‘headline’ as it will draw more clicks. It does not need to be sensational because it may result in high traffic but lower sales. So in order to utilize this form of marketing, it’s important to focus on high quality service.

As the level of maturity increases for Internet and Search engines, their rankings are beginning to put more and more weight on the age of the domain. Driven by that fact, many businesses that are just starting out are looking to purchase already existing, and well-known domains even though buying an existing domain has its own pros and cons.

The major drawback of buying an existing domain name is that it may have been previously banned from search engines for inappropriate search engine tactics, better known as black hat techniques. Therefore, buying a previously banned domain can not only waste resources, but small businesses must definitely exercise caution when considering that option. Another negative is that some existing domain owners ask for very high prices; one example is merk.com, asking for over 1 million dollars.

The major advantage of buying an existing domain is that the domain has already been indexed and is thus easier to optimize that site for certain keywords than generating keywords for a new domain. For this reason, buying a domain name that is already indexed is indeed a valuable commodity. The bottom line: when buying domains make sure that the domain is worth the money and energy you are investing.

In general terms, a blog is a lot like an online journal or diary where the author is free to jot down anything and everything. Even though blogs can be completely free-form, many blogs do have a focus. For example, if a blogger is interested in technology, the blogger might write about technology or if a blogger is interested in a certain disease, he/she might post every news article and every piece of research he/she finds on that disease. In all, blogging is the ‘in’ thing nowadays, not just on personal level but also on corporate level as well.

Business sectors are now using blogs not only to boost their image, but also to build credibility and advertise. Professionally, blogs are used to as a tool for collecting customer feedback and creates historical records of your content. Blogs have other uses as well; blogging is a simple, cost-effective way to create a professional online presence. A blog creates a conversation between you and the people who matter to you and it’s one way to build trust amongst clients. A blog is also a tremendous way to boost your search engine rankings because search engines love blogs and it is a great way to come to increase rankings. A blog is also a great way to be discovered because it delivers a huge impact for very little money and allows you to take control of what you publish in addition to developing a position of thought and leadership.

Having said that, do you have time for a blog? Writing a blog takes time and need good content in order to build credibility and content. A blog is only effective if you are able to maintain fresh content and keep up with industry standards. A blog is also a popular form of networking, if your business needs networking then blogs can help you.

Large corporations pay thousand of dollars to boost their cyber image. But what about the rest of us? Just because you don’t have a huge marketing budget, doesn’t mean that you cannot promote your business online. In fact there are just as effective ways to boost your cyber image and make your website a profitable venture for you.

Little things can create a big impact for small businesses. For example by including the URL in your email signature, visiting cards, letter heads or taking part in group discussions on internet using your URL, those too can boost the number of hits your site receives. Sending a well planned email blast to your target audience also helps.

It also depends in what kind of business you’re in. If you are in the food industry and are running a pizza or burger business then you can put coupons on your site to further promote campaigns such as one free pie after every 10 orders online.

Interactive Design & Solutions team knows the right techniques to improve your cyber image in creative ways and that is why we are offering our services to you because we believe in creating the right the promotion for your company while meeting your budget.

The main question is: what’s the importance of having a website?

It’s like asking the question of what is the importance of advertising. Or marketing? Or even our identity?

Consumers expect businesses to have a website to gather information; anything from store hours to details about the business. Today, it is second nature for people to Google what they are looking for instead of flipping the yellow pages.

Consumers often create a quick impression of a business based on the website. Websites that look outdated or have incorrect data reflects that the business is unprofessional. In my personal experience, when searching for a new restaurant, I tend to try out a restaurant with a nicer website first

Websites provide dynamic & impactful content that other marketing channels can not. Websites can market your business; they are also economical & time saving. For brochure ware, portals, application based clients website can be used to boost businesses (Such as providing product detail & online ordering.)

Having that perspective in mind, IDS team specializes in making highly productive website according to clients’ needs & business. We know the importance of having a website for your business & that’s why IDS can definitely give you an edge when it comes to products & services.

If you have a personal website then perhaps site traffic is not a big deal for you but if you use your website to make money then Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a big deal. Large companies even hire SEO consultants to boost their site ratings.

To improve your webpage ratings, first you got to have clear idea about Search Engine Optimization. It’s basically about optimizing your website so you will obtain a high search engine results position. For people to find your site via a search engine, the site will require a high Search Engine Results Position (SERP). This means when they search keywords phrases, they will find you site page on the first page of the search engine results.

However it is not easy to do so, several techniques are applied everyday by thousands of people to make their website appear in top 10 list. Here are few essential techniques to boost your ratings on internet:

SEO Friendly URLS: Your domain name should also be easy to spell & easy to remember.

Keyword Phrases: Use keywords that are being searched for, add keyword synonyms to your content to boost ratings.

Great Site Design: If your site in not attractive, chaotic or even cheesy looking then all your effort for SEO will go to waste. It’s important to have great Design if you want visitors to be impressed & visit your website again.

Quality Content: Quality content will bring people back. Content should be written with keyword phrases in mind. It’s good to change the content after appropriate time so content after a while won’t appear monotonous.

Start a Blog: Having your own blog boost not your image but give your potential clients some confidence to initiate business with you. Besides, it’s a good way to know what other people say or suggest about your site or business. Reading & commenting on other blogs can also increase your exposure & help you acquire new links. Besides this, it’s good to be patient. As results can not be achieved overnight plus SEO algorithms change regularly so SEO requires long term requirement & commitment.

There are many ways to make money on internet. Up until 2000 banner adverts were the main form of advertising on the internet & were highly valued as an advertising medium because when it was started, it was a totally new idea of advertisement. Since banner ad is nothing but a special sort of hyper link, it gained popularity.

Banner ads are losing their effectiveness as it’s not a new thing anymore & honestly speaking, they tend to be annoying & distract you from the main content on the website. People on internet are treating it as any other traditional regular advertisement & seldom click on them. A large part of banner ads are now being ignored mostly because of these reason.

Banner ads are now being slowly replaced by AdSense (Pay Per click or PPC) as results of AdSense are faster & they can catch the attention of targeted traffic. There are many advantages of AdSense a its comparatively more economical, fast result oriented, target the right audience & hence high static of sale. All these advantages of AdSense combine together to result in downfall of banner ads.

Small and medium sized businesses tend not to utilize enterprise level web sites. With constant challenges of growing and running a business, small and medium businesses now more than ever need to utilize the same resources as large business.

Most small and medium sized businesses don’t leverage online enterprise technology because of the initial cost of implementation and licensing. Most of these organizations use Open Source technologies; a free code created by freelance developers. There is a cost advantage because there is no licensing fee & lower implementations because developer rates are cheaper.

In the long run these solutions become as expensive as large enterprise technologies due to the lack of standards & consistency. Imagine the construction of a house built by many contractors that do not communicate, follow a common blueprint, and use free materials. These contractors are cheaper than contractors who follow a blueprint. It is obvious how the initial cost of building this house can be inexpensive but think about quality and long-term results.

Large organizations have all the resources and money to implement the best technologies. Enterprise technologies offer feature-rich functions such as simple content management and collaboration. When we think of enterprise technologies, Microsoft comes to mind. These technologies are very economical in the long run, because Microsoft provides continual standards and support. Maintaining and building off these technologies result in lower costs and more functionality than Open Source.

Interactive Design & Solutions (IDS) saw an opportunity to leverage and create an enterprise level platform to provide these advantages to small businesses at the same cost as implementing an Open Source solution. We have configured Microsoft Share Point and focus on providing ease for small and medium business. Share Point is one of the most functional and feature-rich technologies large organizations have adopted.

Of course there are many situations when Open Source is economical for small businesses for the short term. As businesses grow and want to expand their offerings, starting out with the right solution will position the business for long-term savings and time.

Going back to the previous analogy: if you can get an industry leading house for the same price as an open source house why not? You get the best tools and resources (same as the big boys) at the price as any other solution.

It is possible to provide Enterprise Solutions under reasonable budget. The implementation and maintenance is hassle free and certainly more user friendly. Contact us to see how we can provide you with the best tools to help your business save money and grow.