Follwing Part 3 - “Hardwork”, Part 4 is all about Patience. You have to be able to use patience. Sometimes it takes awhile to get your plans in motion. One example is that the search engines usually take one to two months to acknowledge most free submissions of new websites.

If you become anxious and impatient, you will lose focus of goals, tests, past counsel. Instead you should patiently think over the processes you are working in. Consider reading some more articles or tutorials on problems that have evinced.

You may need to go to some forums or seek further counsel and general advice. Successful internet entrepreneurs didn’t make it by accident. Also, don’t be discouraged or fooled by the get rich quick schemes all over the net today. Promises of imediate success just by throwing up a website are virtually nonexistent.

You must exercise the principles of vision, goals, hard work, and above all patience. If you do this, and have some luck, you can measure your success versus time and resources expended via your goals and plans. (”Show me the Money on the Internet - Part 1” appeared in Ezine.com. Parts 2,3 and 4 - “Goalsetting”, “Work” and “Patience” will be discussed here in Web Templates Blog.)

Veritas,
Arthur Browning

Follwing Part 2 - “Goalsetting”, Part 3 is all about Hardwork and Persistence. Hardwork and persistence may pay off if you are working in the right direction - IF you are monitoring the results of your work in that direction. It would be a shame to work long and hard in the wrong direction because you never checked for results along the way.

A lot of people believe all the blab they read about ‘just’ put up a website and the money will knock you over. People will sell you anything if you pay for it. Your goals should guide your work, but your monitoring of progress tells you when you need to change directions - or kick into one of your contingency plans.

When you get tired or discouraged do not be tempted to throw in the towel. Get some rest, take a breather. Then hit it again when you aren’t out of gas.

When problems or accidents occur it can be tempting to just give up. Hard work shouldn’t be wasted here unless you know you are on the right track. You may need a consultation or try a new idea. Your contingencies may even need revision.(”Show me the Money on the Internet - Part 1” appeared in Ezine.com. Parts 2,3 and 4 - “Goalsetting”, “Work” and “Patience” will be discussed here in Web Templates Blog.)

Lookin’ Out for You,
Arthur Browning

Websites particularly designed for SEO and the SEO optimization of already established business webpages is booming.  This is especially so for businesses that are pushing to do greater volume and/or expand regionally or glogally.

I looked through the website of GSINC and saw an array of these services.  I contacted Gareth Davies, owner of GSINC, for an interview.

How did you get into web design?  “In my late teens and early twenties I was a songwriter/musician in a number of bands. Some of the music made its way to the music press and national radio stations, but alas the bands never made it ‘big’.  Through my time promoting the bands throughout the early – mid nineties I undertook the design duties for flyers, promo posters and CD covers. In around 1997 we set up our first website – which was really a web page.”

“I also studied design, helped out at the local college in the art department for a couple of years and had done some graphics training at college. I also loved photography too – so a combination of these skills was a pretty good foundation for web design.”

Do you remember the very first site you designed?  “Yeah – it would have been the band one – but it was really a montage of photos and bio info. In a way it was a bit like a crude MySpace page with no multi-media. Then the first site I can remember after that would have been for an artist and was a flash website. It had 5 minute animated sequences to get to each section – it was not very practical as it took about half an hour to navigate around the site but it was certainly an experience and quite different to a lot of other UK sites at the time.”

You now do a lot of SEO  - Is this a speciality for you?  “Yes – for the last 6 years where we have been involved in web design.  we also worked in promotion of the sites. Our priorities have moved more towards site promotion as technology has advanced and clients can now get better off the shelf products to build in house. It is not uncommon now for us to design flats, clients can integrate the designs and then we come on board again to promote the site. This works well for the client and ourselves.”

“The new site, www.gsinc.co.uk/ was designed by our team of designers. It was originally created as flat designs, then our CSS expert produced a coded version of the main homepage. The site contains a lot more multimedia than your average SEO firm site as it even includes SEO video tutorials!”

“The site is always changing and we do not stay with a static design – we track site activity and our pages will change every time we learn something new – so building a website and leaving it online for months, for years is no longer an option.”

What will be the next big development in Web Design?  “Difficult one to answer – but I suspect we will see a move away from static text driven pages and use more multimedia – however I don’t mean lots of animations that serve no purpose but more what we thought would happen in 2000 – 2001 (but the bandwidth was not there for users). Both technology and connection speed make interactive PC TV style browsing the likely next step for web design.”

“The other industry development we can see happening is that companies will become more niche and specialise more. The days of the ‘one stop shop’ little web firm that says it can do every design job under the sun will go. People want specialists and I think this is the way commercially things are going. Some firms will just code ECommerce templates, others will just do CSS, others will just do Flat designs and others just the Marketing. This will work better for clients as they get the best people for each part of the job.”

Have you worked with website Templates?  “No. Though we have had clients bring them to us where they have bought them and have then wanted to enhance the site. Some of the web templates out there these days are impressive. Our experience is that some clients will never be able to edit them as easily as they would like too and will probably need some professional assistance to get a site finished and looking great.”

What do you think about Flash Technology?  “Flash revolutionised web design really. It brought the web to life and opened up many possibilities. As it became more accessible and widely used it inevitably got overused by some folks and its here it got its reputation for being annoying animations – but the beauty of flash was its ability to allow great motion graphics and bring TV to the web. In 2007 Flash is very powerful and the flash player has allowed what we thought it could do and is the platform of choice on so many big sites now – including Youtube. . .Well from an SEO point of view flash is a bit of a non-starter. It is just not going to cut it. So if high rankings are part of the plan then Flash pages alone are not enough and you have to figure in some static HTML text. Another downside is poor use of the medium – there are so many newbies using flash and trying to make everything spin and move on a web page they lose site of functionality. If every copy of flash came with a usability guide written by Jacob Neilsen and you had to read it before you could start building in flash the web might be a better place. . . The advantages are that 95%+ of people can see it. Its fast to download most content and its probably the best streaming media content out there right now – so great for streaming websites, audio, video, games and interactive competitions.”

What are your sources of inspiration?  “In terms of great web designers I would say:
1. Hillman Curtis (probably my overall favourite - GD)
2. Hi Res! (agency in UK)
3. Joshua Davis
4. Eric Jordan

But design ideas and themes can come from art – I have had lots of ideas from artists, visiting galleries, TV/Film trailers,
photography, advertising billboards, product packaging,  flyers and sales letters – the list is pretty endless.”

Thankyou Gareth for your insights and experiences.

Arthur Browning

Follwing Part 1 - “Vision”, Part 2 is all about goal formulation and subsequent planning. Goals are the only measure that you have to know when you are winning - or losing. When you start goal-setting I advise you to know ahead of time what will make you feel like a winner or loser so that you write those things down as measurable goals.

Heavy emphasis on the word “measurable”. If you write a goal that sounds like ‘make a lot of money’ or ‘don’t lose too much money’, then you will no longer be working on logic or reason and you will be basing your goals on ‘feeling of the day’.

Reason and consultation might be needed to formulate the goals or for revision. But you should know ahead of time what you will do when you fall above or below a goal.

An internet business, whether retail, wholesale, advertising or marketing - must be seen as a business, with a business plan. Without goals no plan is possible. Without a plan you can get lost in your forgotten ideas that you once formulated in the clear light of logic and with the wisdom of friends or consultants.

If you forget or abandon your plan, you will not know what’s going on. You will eventally feel like your throwing dice while wearing a blindfold, and waiting for someone else to tell you if you’ve won or lost, usually too late to make meaningful adjustments.

The best plans have contingency plans, in case something goes wrong or there is an unexpected turn of events. Devise as many contingency plans as you can without ignoring your primary set of goals.(”Show me the Money on the Internet - Part 1” appeared in Ezine.com. Parts 2,3 and 4 - “Goalsetting”, “Work” and “Patience” will be discussed here in Web Templates Blog.)

Outrider for the Future, Arthur Browning

WordPress Themes and free WordPress hosting make it possible for anybody to write a blog. But bloggers usually want visitors to read the blog as well. If you can’t answer the big “So What?” your readers will evaporate.

Your headline must interest the reader immediately. As much as possible it should cause them to want to ask “So what?”, AND want to read your article to get the answer.

Ideally your headline provides the impetus to read on for the answer to “So What?”. It should also provide an invitation to read on and get the “Know What?”.

I will use this article’s headline as an example - “So What? The Answer is In Your Blog”. It asks a question - THE question, then it alludes to an answer, a solution. Not just in a blog, YOUR blog. - KNOW WHAT? You better read on!

And your WordPress blog post should then succinctly answer that interesting question. It gives the reader a sense of satisfaction and gratitude to you and your blog when you help them to discover and learn.

A Legend In My Own Mind,
Arthur Browning

Dogs have a special place as “Man’s Best Friend”. There are a lot of proud dog owners and enthusiasts who want to communicate with other dog lovers about their pets, shows, prizes, breeding, boarding, vet services, and dog related products and services. Wordpress provides the free platform - you get FREE hosting for a FREE WordPress Theme.

One beautiful thing about a dog lover’s website is that there are so many interested readers. A premium WordPress Theme can impress them with your pet or business. Inexpensive WordPress Themes make a classy looking statement about your dog’s webpage. Below is just one example of a well-designed WordPress Theme for dog enthusiasts.

WordPress Theme #13404 - Dog Weblog

This and many other dog-related Wordpress Themes can be seen at Template Monster. They range in cost from approximately $45-80. A small price to pay for a professional look with high-quality WordPress function. Make your website “Best of Class”.

The Snoop Dog of Templates, Arthur Browning

Yes, I’ve been cruising the web again - always looking for interesting webpages. I was looking for graphic design as incorporated into webpages and found GJ Studios. After looking at GJ’s portfolio I contacted them for information. Laurie March, the Owner and Creative Director consented to interview.

How did you get into web design? “My career in web design happened purely by accident. I was a well known teddy bear artist selling my wares through shows and in stores. I had done a website or two just for fun and I thought that perhaps the internet would be a good way to reach teddy bear collectors and potential customers. I networked with many other teddy bear artists and before I knew it I was designing their websites. Within 11 months I had my first corporate client and had to make the decision of which way to take my career. Here I am - a decade later.”

Do you remember the very first site you designed? “I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was a fun site to share all of my favorite internet finds with my friends.”

You are doing a lot of graphic design, is this a specialization for you? “My specialties are graphic design, layout and writing. Currently I am working on several outdoor adventure related sites (http://www.wildernesscleanup.com and http://www.friendsofchiniguchi.com  which aren’t in my portfolio yet. It is a specialization for me because backpacking and canoeing are also my hobbies. I also own http://www.outdooradventurecanada.com.”

Where do you get your art for these webpages? “I create all of my own art except in a few cases. Often clients will already have a logo or photographs and I will work those into the design. Sometimes I will use elements from client provided artwork.”

What will be the next big development in webpage design? “I think that the next big development is actually a return to a more simple style of page. We’ve already watched it happen with Flash intros. For the longest time everyone wanted a little intro movie for their site. I find that people are going back to basics with the style of the sites. I do feel that along with clean, minimalistic design, you will see more interactivity and personalization.”

What kind of templates have you designed? “I’ve designed templates for customers who needed graphics and simple html that they could work with easily. I’ve also designed graphics/layouts for other designers to use. I only design exclusive templates which can be used in many ways.”

What do you think about Flash technology? “Flash as a medium is interesting, creative and allows for more flexibility. I enjoy sites that combine flash with other technologies.”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Flash?
“I find that flash is not very search engine friendly and that editing the site later on requires a little more effort than a standard HTML based project.”

What are your sources of inspiration? “Clients are my main source of inspiration. Sometimes it is their personality and other times it is what they are trying to acheive that inspires. Mother Nature is my second source. Color is everywhere in the natural world and you can see beautiful combinations everywhere you look.”

What are your favorite website designs that you did NOT design yourself? “Now that is a tough one. I really like http://www.blackfeather.com, http://www.guelphflowers.com/flowercare.html and http://www.macrophotography.com.”

What was the toughest project or customer situation you’ve encountered? “The toughest customer situation I’ve encountered was telling a client that the entire site was lost because our business and home burned to the ground two days before the launch of his huge online store. We had a meeting scheduled for 1 pm and everything was lost that morning. I was so frazzled at almost losing our lives that I forgot to call and cancel the meeting and he showed up to a smouldering pile of ashes. He was great about it. Everything worked out in the end, the insurance company covered his losses and I still do work for him.”

What are your interests and dislikes in webpage design? “My interests in webpage design are purely graphical. I love to see a site where a designer has broken out of the traditional mold. I dislike cookie cutter sites that have nothing interesting to offer the eye. I dislike overly cluttered sites and overuse of animation.”

Thankyou Laurie for the viewpoints and the beautiful graphic layouts.

The Maestro of Web Templates,
Arthur Browning

Indexing has been changing as search algorithms have evolved. Presently, if you enter a search query into Google search you see the websites that are displayed are somewhat optimized to an exact word or phrase. As a continual effort to “improve”(?) search Google has employed a form of “latent” semantics into their indexing algorithm - and it’s called LSI.

What is LSI? It’s another form of indexing that supposedly moves Google search closer to “human” search parameters. It will assist in finding websites that are based on the theme of the site instead of whether or not the exact word or phrase is repeated on the page.

Search engines may further adopt Latent Semantic Indexing to prevent a rigid response that values keyword-loading as opposed to assessing meaningful content.

LSI seems to have had some effect. Some websites that had impressive links based on a keyword have seen their pages drop in the rankings. Other pages with more variance in their inbound links have moved up in the ranks.

SEO must respond to LSI with better content and quality inbound links. SEO can no longer depend on keyword density and placement or link-farming.

Content For LSI is better if naturally written and worded. LSI supposedly moves closer to assaying “natural instinct” of the writer of content. Using different tenses, plural and singular forms, as well as synonyms may well be rewarded.

Your link profile should no longer needs thousands of links with the same anchor text. Now you can look for relevant and similar terms and improve your link profile by gaining links using these as your anchor text.

What this offers searchers? LSI offers some advantages over earlier form of indexing. In example, LSI will recognize that the word “pickle” in “dill pickle” is not related to searches for terms like “metallic pickle process” and is instead related to food. LSI will supposedly give more accurate results as well as a broader range of pages on a particular topic.

Google has been pushing many changes in search engine function and latent semantic indexing is one of the latest. Yahoo and MSN may adopt LSI over time. This effects your website’s success in SEO. With natural content including keywords and keyword alternatives, and a link profile that is diversified for a number of related keywords then your rank may begin to improve.

Search for Tomorrow,
Arthur Browning

Travel agents can offer great travel packages nowdays. Most of them have a website, but do they have a Flash Template
website. If not it may be time to upgrade - or put together a new website if you’re just starting out.

The Flash Template below is one of 43 excellent and varied template designs is Flash - each a complete package.

Flash Template #13529

Next time you take a trip make sure you book a great tour with a Flash Template travel agent.

Around the World and In Your Face,
Arthur Browning

5 Blog Essentials for Your Wordpress Theme:

1) HTML basic code for occasional punctuation, bold, breaks, etc.

2) Notepad for copy-and-paste - so you don’t dump your work.

3) Flash Drive for portability of files.

4) StatCounter or SiteMeter to find out what posts hit the spot.

5) Gmail - the best. Your emails are saved as conversations, like message strings. And the most unique feature is Gmail Chat. You can instant message with other Gmail users right in Gmail.

You can use a WordpPress Theme on a WordPress platform blog, and with these tools you can speak to the world - loud and clear.

Wordpress Wizard,
Arthur Browning