Tryangled Solutions web designing tips tricks

MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) based on SQL (Structured Query Language). First released in January, 1998, MySQL is now one component of parent company MySQL AB’s product line of database servers and development tools.

Many Internet startups became interested in the original open source version of MySQL as an alternative to the proprietary database systems from Oracle, IBM, and Informix. MySQL is currently available under two different licensing agreements: free of charge, under the GNU General Public License (GPL) open source system or through subscription to MySQL Network for business applications.

MySQL runs on virtually all platforms, including Linux, Unix, and Windows. It is fully multi-threaded using kernel threads, and provides application program interfaces (APIs) for many programming languages, including C, C++, Eiffel, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and Tcl.

MySQL is used in a wide range of applications, including data warehousing, e-commerce, Web databases, logging applications and distributed applications. It is also increasingly embedded in third-party software and other technologies. According to MySQL AB, their flagship product has over six million active MySQL installations worldwide. Customers include Cisco, Dun & Bradstreet, Google, NASA, Lufthansa, Hyperion, and Suzuki.

SEO, link building, website optimisation, article submission, directory submission, blog posting, the list goes on.

How many times have you sat at your PC and thought “OK I’m going to do some SEO for my site”6 hours later, you are still sitting there, your head hurts, your stomach is empty, and you have done nothing.

Search Engine Optimisation is a frustrating time consuming job. You can spend weeks working on SEO for your site, and your rankings are still no where near where you want them to be.

The most frustrating thing about SEO is you cannot really see the results of your efforts. It may take several weeks, or even months, before you see any change in your search engine rankings. So how do you know that what you are doing today, is going to benefit your site 3 months down the line? Well unless you are an SEO expert you don’t.

So what is the answer? Well the answer is to outsource your SEO work to someone that specializes in SEO. Would you consider rebuilding the engine on your car? No, you would probably employ a car mechanic to do it for you. So do the same with your SEO.

How do you know which SEO companies are good at SEO, and which are just good at talking? Testimonials are one way. Don’t just read the testimonials on their site, as most, if not all of them, are made up. Ask for telephone numbers of their clients and speak to them directly. Or ask them to show you results that they have achieved for their clients. If they will not give you this information just move on to someone who will.

A good SEO company will tell you exactly what they are going to do for you. They will try to explain SEO in a format that you will understand, not try to baffle you with tech speak.

Take SEO Unique for example, they are an SEO company based in London. They believe that the key to their success is customer service. They give their customers free SEO resources to help them understand what SEO is all about. They are also in the process of setting up a free SEO questions and answers section on their site.

Look for SEO companies like SEO Unique. Companies that are not afraid to explain SEO in lay mans terms. If you have a better understanding of what is involved, then you are in a better position to decide what you need. It is then down to the SEO company that you choose, to deliver the results that you are after.

Choosing an SEO company is very a difficult job, there is no doubt about that, but if you take a few of these pointers on board, then you should be better equipped to negotiate the minefield that is SEO.

Rather than use the services of a web hosting company to host your web site you could start your own web hosting company. If your business is successful this could provide secondary income and lower the hosting costs for your own site(s).

Basically, there are two ways to start selling web hosting. The first way involves leasing business space, buying equipment, setting up servers, leasing T1 or T3 lines to connect to the Internet, finding clients, and hiring staff to provide 24 hour support. Quite complicated and not recommended for anyone without the technical know-how.

The second way is to become a re-seller for an established host. For a monthly fee you can have an allotment of disk space and bandwidth which can be used to sell to other people. Re-selling is usually anonymous – there is no visible connection to the parent host and you are free to set your own prices and develop your own ‘brand’.

All that is needed to become a re-seller is the ability to pay the monthly fee. All the technical details are handled by the parent company. The re-seller package usually includes everything – even name servers under your own name. All you have to do is to sign up customers and watch the money roll in. Easy – right?

Signing up customers, though, may not be as easy as you imagine. There are literally thousands of hosting companies competing for customers, and making your web hosting business stand out from the crowd is no mean feat. Just think about the process you went through in choosing your own web host. You probably visited several hosting web sites, maybe asked for personal references from your friends or business acquaintances, and then after narrowing down your choices, perhaps did more in-depth research on each of the companies. Or perhaps you just signed up with the first host you saw.

So, in order for your own hosting company to be successful it has to build up a good reputation or be easy to find.  Advertising can make your company more visible, but advertising is expensive – especially in a competitive market like web hosting.

A re-seller account, however, may be ideal for certain situations. If you already have several websites of your own, your monthly costs may be similar to a re-selling account.  For the same amount of money you could switch all your accounts to your own hosting company. Sign up a few friends or associates and you are ahead of the game.

If this sounds attractive, make sure you are going with a reputable hosting company. You will be entirely dependent on them for technical support. This relieves you of many of the headaches of running a hosting company but you are still responsible to your clients if their sites go down.

There are many types of re-seller packages. Some require you to operate under the name of the hosting company while others allow you to set up a shop under your own business name. Pay attention to the billing aspect of the package. Some re-seller accounts have everything you need to get started immediately, while others require you to set up your own billing gateway.

For most small businesses, the goal of having a web site is to attract customers, gather leads, and convert sales. But is that what YOUR web site is doing? When you get it right, web visitors have a valuable experience and clearly understand how your product or service fulfills their needs. Get it wrong and you could be sending web traffic and potential business right to your competitor’s door! Here are some common web site mistakes that can scare away visitors and hurt your bottom line:

- Too many choices – When you give your visitors too many options, it can become overwhelming, making them less likely to make any decision at all. All options are not equally important, so be careful to present your information in an organized, logical way that is easy to understand.

Editor’s Note – Please read this article I had written on another website.

- Non-relevant web site content – Be sure that the content on your site is focused on delivering your main marketing message. You are the expert on your business, so you already know what information customers need in order to make a decision. Extra information that doesn’t promote or support your message doesn’t belong on your web site.

- Unprofessional web design – The way your web site looks and functions speaks volumes about your business, even if it is unintentional. If your web site has poor layout, broken or missing links, outdated information, or looks unprofessional, your visitors will have a negative impression of your company, regardless of how great your business may be.

- Red flags – Most web users today have a healthy skepticism when they visit web sites, so make sure you show them immediately that your company is legitimate. Provide detailed contact information that includes your physical mailing address, phone number, contact names, and email addresses so visitors know your business can be trusted.

- Asking for too much information – When visitors want to make a purchase, sign up for your mailing list, or request information from your web site, what kind of a form will they be faced with? Make sure you ask only for the information that you absolutely need, and don’t try to gather too much information at once. Instead, keep the form short and simple, and then follow up later to gather any additional customer information that you may need.
Lauren Hobson is the Editor of Biz Talk Newsletter, a free monthly publication designed to provide small businesses and non-profits with tips and techniques to help them make the most of their web sites and marketing efforts without spending a lot of money. Biz Talk is published by Five Sparrows, LLC.

Editor’s Note — The easiest way to think of a business website is to think of it as a virtual salesperson. And to be considered successful, it has to convert traffic into paying customers. This article will tell you how to increase your conversion rates.

One of the biggest myths online is that it’s acceptable to have a conversion rate of 1% or 2%. Although this is the average, it IS possible to far exceed this. So if you’re sitting comfortably thinking you’re doing as well as you can. Think again!

Many sites have double-digit conversion rates. Although it takes work to initially get to that point, you’ll reap the rewards for a long time to come.

These great tips will help you get started:

- Use audio on your website to sell. If your site’s purpose is to sell a product or service, EVERYTHING on your site should be used for selling – including audio. Instead of an audio introduction from you like many sites have added recently, create a powerful 30 second commercial that tells people what you offer, the major benefits of purchasing from you and/or why you’re better than your competitors. You don’t have to use a hard sell approach. Keep it conversational and show your enthusiasm – but make sure they’re given information that takes them one step closer to buying!

- Make it a goal to create a “sales system” that works. Your ultimate goal should be to create a system that you know (with complete certainty) will make a sale to a certain percentage of people you put into it. This system should be mapped out from start to finish – that is, from the time a prospect first arrives at your site until they are a lifelong customer. Get started creating your system by planning out the steps you’d like customers take (or if you already have customers ask them what steps they took). Once your website, marketing materials and advertising plan are set up to work with your system, track every step and make improvements as necessary to make it as efficient and profitable as possible.

- Make your site navigation simple and straightforward. Studies show that when a customer cannot find what they’re looking for in less than 2 minutes, they leave and usually never come back. Make sure you don’t lose their attention by providing a consistent navigation system on every page. Also, remember that a link to your home page from every other page on the site is essential. That way, if the search engines bring a potential customer to a page other than your home page, they’ll be able to easily find their way around.

- Make it a habit to ask customers how they found your site. Although you should be tracking all of your site traffic it’s also a good idea to add a field to your order form asking people how they found your site. You may be surprised by the answers! This is another way to get a detailed picture of the best places to get targeted traffic from.

- Get their contact information so you can follow up with them again. A potential customer has to hear your message an average of 9 times before they purchase something. If you consider that only 1 in 3 messages actually gets read, you have to contact people an average of 27 times before they’ll be ready to buy! Therefore having a strong follow up system in place is key. If possible automate this with an autoresponder series using a service such as AWeber. This will allow you to set the messages and forget them!

- Make testimonials and endorsements credible. The best way to do this is to include lots of information on the person who submitted it. Some information to consider using is their full name, city and state, URL, photo, signature or an audio testimonial/endorsement. If the person is willing to take phone calls from potential customers then also include their phone number.

Website conversion rates of 1% may work for other site owners; however when you want to maximize your returns, 1% is just not enough. You must increase your conversion rate to increase earnings, and using the tips above is the perfect place to start.

Websites that you link to create your neighborhood of websites if you will. If websites that you link to are known to be spammy websites by the search engines then the search engines may also think that your web site is spammy. Link farms would most likely be included as spammy websites.

What you want to do is link to websites that have good content and websites that are reputable. If you choose to link to high quality websites then web surfers will associate you as a high quality website also.

It’s important to remember that sending people to other websites is not sending customers away from your site since they are going to leave at some point anyway. What is more important is creating a friendly neighborhood of useful information so you viewers will come back to you time and time again.