Business Website

The phrase web 2.0 is to mean “using the web as a platform”

But then again, does it really mean anything to the web world? The buzz was created 3 years back but only recently this year it took of seriously. Web’s after web’s are researching and transforming their sites into a Web 2.0 ideology.

So how do we identify the difference between older websites (web 1.0) and web 2.0?

Web-based applications are a big component of Web 2.0. Applications such as Podcast, feeds, RSS, ajax, blogs, rich user experiences, tagging, mashing, social bookmarking, infoware and web standards plays the big part to Web 2.0. For Web 1.0, news was provided by a handful of large corporations, Web pages were static and rarely updated, and only the tech-savvy could contribute to the development of the World Wide Web.

Controls of content by users and open data formats are credited for their production, not ideas. Stuff on individual people’s sites is as good as or better than the stuff read in newspapers and magazines. A good example of this is, top links on Reddit, feedburner, delicious, Rss are generally links to individual people’s sites rather than to magazine articles or news stories. This is where the transformation and emerging of the buzz Web 2.0 appears.

Web 2.0 is the moniker for an emerging set of Internet-based tools and an emerging philosophy on how to use them. The philosophy focuses on the idea that the people are active contributors, helping customize media and technology for their own purposes, as well as those of their communities.

Basically Web 2.0 is not about the technical stuff, it’s about the understanding of community and sense of ownership, Providing infoware, encourage user contributions such as reviews and comments, page ranking, the popularity, easy to re-use and re-mix and customer self service.

The application of rich user interface and integration of social networks can transform an information into knowledge and awareness.

Web design standards are also an important role in Web 2.0. CSS sheets clean,and clear cut layout has to be simple, bold and honest. More economical with pixels and content, using less to say more so there is a bit more free and easy with the amount of space used, and pad out content with lots of lovely white space.

I will say Web 2.0 is a lifestyle of a web that shares, interacts and connects. So it is important to have all this component that enables interaction and connecting the world into one portal. Plus clean, clear and trendy style of web design completes an environment of taste in a web space form.

One word, Web 2.0 can help you be heard!

Setting up your website is a very crucial stage and should not be rushed.

Your website is going to be your online salesperson to the world and you should properly and ethically represent your company.

This is why it is important that your website creates the right message.

If you put the effort into your website at this early stage and get it right it will pay dividends int he future and make optimizing your site easier and more effective.

When setting up your website, use the checklist below to ensure you are on the right track and not making silly mistake.

When creating your website do:

• Use CSS (our platform uses CSS)
• Choose the right domain name and extension
• Ensure it validates before signing if off
• Host it in your own country
• Use redirects correctly
• Use a logical and optimized structure

When creating your website do not:

• Use old technology such as frames
• Go for the cheapest option
• Use non-customizable dynamic sites
• Rush and throw it together
• Hide text on the page with keywords in it

This is a very simple checklist but if you ensure you follow it you will be saving yourself time and avoiding major problems further down the line.

If you don;t understand why this checklist are important to the website, you can always contact us for free consultancy at our office in Damansara Perdana.

The most important part of optimizing your website is the selection and implementation of your keywords.

If you do not get this part of the optimization process right then everything else you do will be in vain. Target the right keywords and your website will be a success; target the wrong keywords and you will miss out on the valuable traffic you are trying to canvas.

Keywords are very important to your website because without them your website theme will not be focused and as a result it is more likely that you will not rank well in Google.

Keywords should be identified and incorporated throughout the whole design of your website so that you can ensure it is focused on targeting the ones you have chosen. This will ensure not only that your content stays on track and is more relevant to your searchers but also that Google can see how relevant your website is. This will greatly increase your chances of gaining high positions within Google for search phrases that will generate real traffic.

Google can only recognize your site as being relevant to your desired keywords if you have used them in your website and in the links you have pointing to your website. This may sound very simple but most websites seem to miss out the keywords they are trying to target.

Some of the most common mistakes made when targeting keywords are:

• Targeting stop words
• Targeting keywords that are too broad
• Targeting too many keywords
• Targeting individual kywords
• Poorly representing keywords
• Not using different variations of keywords
• Worse, not having keywords at all

Make sure you do not make these common mistakes, as keyword selection is the foundation for your websites success within Google.

If you need our help to setup the right keywords for your website, feel free to contact us.

Businesses, now more than ever, are using Google to market their products and services as they realize the abundance of targeted traffic it provides.

This then poses the question: do you optimize your website to appear in Google’s natural search listings or do you pay to be placed in the sponsored listings?

It can sometimes seem an easy option just to pay for results, but is it really the right decision?

In a recent study, Google found that searches were 72% more likely to click on a natural listing than a pay-per-click advert. This shows that although you can pay to get your website seen at the top of Google, it is not as effective as having it appear there naturally.

Searches look for relevance in the advert they click on, in the same way that Google looks for relevance in the websites it shows in its natural listings. This is why natural search offers a much greater conversion rate: People know that the natural listings will tend to be more relevant to their search as they cannot be bought, only earned.

The main benefit of natural listings is that they are free to earn and maintain. There are no click prices or fees as with pay per click. This is not to say that pay per click is not worth doing, just that natural listings are deemd more relevant and cost-effective.

Well who would have thought about doing a snooker portal for the Malaysian Market while branding Omin snooker cue at the same time. Killing 2 birds with one stone.

Founder of OriginalOmin.com, Mr JH Leong was approached by Joanne Lee sometime back last year December about building a website, an identity for his passion and his love for the game of snooker. It was not because of business that she proposed her idea. She saw a great potential in the network, the passion and the idea that JH Leong has for the game snooker. So she says ‘put them all into the web’! With the experience she has in the blogosphere and the web 2.0, they created and illuminated OriginalOmin.com.

Here is what Joanne says about OriginalOmin:

‘Anyone can build a website, but maintaining it is hard. Besides scripting and coding, there has to be a concept, a marketing plan and a long term focus. OriginalOmin is only less then 3 months old, but we are fetching people from almost 25 different countries into the website. I wasn’t so concern about grabbing the Malaysian market because it was something that is already achieved. Looking beyond the capacity and delivering it into the world wide market is very challenging and that is what my focus is on. Our platform plays the biggest part in the success. Updates, editing and adding is all by minutes and seconds!

Search engine plays a very big part in fetching traffic from all over the world. That goes to building the right keywords, lots of articles and lots of articles and lots of articles. We are hoping to put OriginalOmin in top 100k websites in the world by end of this year. By that time, OriginalOmin will be on its way into advertising avenue enjoying a company of its own.’

www.originalomin.com

It’s getting harder and harder to make a splash in the blogosphere these days, because there’s so much competition for reader interest. Many says that writing lots of great posts is enough to grab attention, but we’re not convinced. We know from personal experience and from talking with other bloggers that more should be done.

Hit the ground running

As popular and effective Business Website are, you still can’t just open your blog up for business and then sit back and wait for thousands of visitors and customers to arrive. The first successful business website were the result of accidental entrepreneurship. This lucky accident no longer serves much purpose, and having a launch strategy is key.

Our launch-specific advice is to hit the ground running with a well designed and properly functioning blog. Have several posts ready on your first day, asking for reader feedback. Respond quickly to comments to show you’re listening and contributing to the conversation. A great example of a succesful launch is Zillow (www.zillowblog.com), a real-estate site. On the day they launched their property-valuation site, they launched a log with it to answer questions, explain how Zillow works, and introduce the people behind it. As thier head of marketing said, “when we first decide to have a Zillow blog, we all agreed that this could be a powerful way to talk to people, hear from people, and engage in conversations with real customers using the site.” Zillow by all measures was a huge success.

Great Business bloggers seem to have sixth sense for capturing the latest information relevant to their subject areas. Being consistently first with important information can you an edge over other websites, and the best bloggers know the tricks for staying on top of breaking news. There are hundreds of tools and techniques for knowing what’s going on in your market space, but here are the essentials that can give you an immediate edge.

Most importantly is to start using some kind of RSS newsreader software or service immediately. Your newsreader will serve as the customized central “dashboard” into which all the information you’ve asked to receive will flow. There are are many dozens of other programs and sites that can manage subscriptions, including all the major web browsers.

Finding the time to blog, can be a challenge, and even many of the high-visibility bloggers find it tough to squeeze in several posts a day. Many say that if you religiously schedule an hour or two daily towards research and posting, you’ll be able to achieve the momentum required. Many find early mornings or late nights provide for quality blogging time. whatever your schedule permits, a focused set of minutes, each day dedicated toward monitoring, reflection, and writing will serve you well.

Your readers are the heart and soul of the blog conversation and will often give you great leads to follow up on. Also, take some time to review your traffic stats. You may discover that clicks are coming in from a source that you hadn’t been aware of. Knowing who is talking about you, and gathering some insights from a visit to their site can provide you with unforeseen editorial ideas.

Engaging your audience with posts that bring something new to the conversation and dedicating your energies toward the writing process will reap dividends. After a few months of effort, you should begin to see your readership grow and your writing skills improve.