Business owners everywhere are hopping on the social media marketing bandwagon. Hundreds of thousands of people are creating new profiles on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Corporations haven’t let this trend go unnoticed, so you shouldn’t let it pass you by, either. Read on to find tips to help you develop a social media marketing strategy which will increase your reach and provide you with great results.

Intriguing and engaging titles can be your company’s best friend on social media, whether in your tweets, posts or YouTube videos. When you draw in readers with enticing titles, you are going to have better luck directing readers in the direction that you want.

Keep your tweets interesting and rich in content. Tweet tips or suggestions related to your type of business. Some of your tweets, of course, will be more bold in their promotion of your business. If you mix in informative tweets you will be less likely to run away potential customers.

You should invite all of your friends and professional contacts to visit your sites. Whether they’re loyal customers, potential customers or have no chance at all of ever buying from you, it’s a good idea to have a large network. The reasoning here is that your page is going to be advertised on their profile as long as they’re in your network.

Put a “like” link for Facebook on your blog. This can let people “like” you on your Facebook page. When you have this box on your blog, it makes it easy for your visitors to show their appreciation without being distracted from your page. Making things easy will make it more likely for people to perform an action.

You have just learned a handful of practical and useful tactics for developing an effective social media marketing strategy. Put what you’ve read into practice to take your first steps towards building your campaign. Social networks allow you to expand your business and reach out to more potential customers.

Consumers join clubs and organizations for the express purpose of getting something in exchange for a fee and/or some basic information such as name, address, phone number and email. In some cases these rewards are discounts or limited promotions. But it can be exclusive deals, passes or engagements that only the members are privy to and can take advantage.

It’s why discount super box retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club have hundreds or thousands of repeat customers. It’s also why clubs and organizations like AAA and AARP have such large, sustained memberships.

Marketing Online

The strategy of marketing is to get as many consumers aware of your products and/or services. If you’re a retailer, you want to get the word out not only to people in the local community but to those outside the locality. If you’re a plumbing service, you want to separate yourself from the competition. Of course, this is the entire purpose of a website/blog.

Retailers use their website to give consumers the world over access to their goods–simply click, purchase and ship. While geographic businesses like landscapers use their website to inform the public of tips, tricks and mistakes to avoid. When it comes time to hire a professional, visitors will go to the provider which has already given them free advice.

Exclusivity of Membership

Membership has certain privileges for consumers. But it also has benefits for the provider. With membership comes the ability to grow a loyal audience. And readers become customers. It also gives providers a bit more insight on trends. With exclusive content, access count by members which rises demonstrates popularity while little traffic means subscribers are less interested. The result is being able to give the members what they want by measuring their actions.

Inherent in membership or subscribership is trust. The reason people join is some level of trust already exists. That trust only grows after becoming a subscriber or member–unless the provider does not deliver.

Adding Subscriber/Member Content

In order to make your WordPress site “act” as a partial-member’s only site, special code will need to be inserted. This is done by logging onto your WordPress dashboard with your username and password.

1. Type yoursitedomainname.com/wp-admin into your browsers’s address bar.
2. Enter your username and password on the log-in screen
3. Allow the dashboard to populate
4. Go to “Appearance” on the left vertical navigation menu
5. Hover over it with your mouse and select “Editor” or “Theme editor”

[php]
add_shortcode( ‘member’, ‘member_check_shortcode’ );
function member_check_shortcode( $atts, $content = null ) {
if ( is_user_logged_in() && !is_null( $content ) && !is_feed() )
return $content;
return ”;
}
[/php]
Once the “add_shortcode” is inserted into the functions.php file through the dashboard editor, a link can be placed on one or more select pages or in specific posts which will only grant access to the proprietary information to registered subscribers/members:
[html]
[member]
Insert text here which will be only be displayed to registered users of your WordPress powered site.
[/member]
[/html]

That’s it, you’re done!

This creates a great way to relay certain product specials or service specials only to members/subscribers. It likewise encourages new and repeat visitors to register in order to get in on these exclusive deals. It also makes your WordPress site appear more professional because it has exclusive content only available to registered users.

If you have trouble inserting the code, cannot make it work properly or want to expand its use, contact XTELWEB. We’ll design code based on your specifications that will both impress your readers and help to grow your business.

This video will discuss adding a Custom 404 Page Not Found to your Website by XTELWEB

What you will need:
-Text Editor (Notepad, Notepad ++)
-Access to .htaccess file
-A Website (of course)

If you need assistance, or need a Custom 404 Page, visit www.XTELWEB | or call 727-569-1079

Google is launching a new feature in its web search that allows a user to “Preview” a website in its instant search results before the user actually visits the site.

The new technology is called Google Instant Previews and it will start working today.  This new feature will give web searchers the ability to see a website before they actually visit it.  The idea behind this is that it will save users time, and allow them to quickly view a page to ensure it contains the data they are searching for.  Google is able to show a preview of a website by taking a screenshot of said site, and storing it in their index.  When you see the screenshot, or preview, of your site, Google enhances its image by giving users access to the screenshot via a magnifying glass icon that is placed to the right of every search result.

When a user clicks or hovers over the magnifying glass (as depicted in the image above), a screenshot of the web page in question appears on the right side of your search results.  It’s basically a quick, or instant look at the website without having to visit the site.  This is especially useful if you are doing a search and some of the results on the page appear to be spoofs of the real thing.

The best part of the Google Instant Previews is the fact that Google highlights the section of the web page where the search terms occur.    So if you are trying to find some information on a product, and when you search for a review or specs of that product, you come up with a few dozen different pages about what you are searching for.  Instead of having to skim and scan for the information you are looking for, Google automatically highlights the keywords and phrases in the document, and you can look at the Instant Preview to see where the information is on that page.

So is it faster?

Google Instant Preview may not be the right approach for every type of search out there.  The new feature doesn’t aim at speeding up the actual searching of terms, but the decision process of choosing a result.  Google also provides other information in its search engine results page, such as sitelinks, dates of articles, cached content, jump to links (such as download, products, shopping, etc) and now even Google Places. Instant Previews is another example of a snippet as it takes a screenshot of the page and allows you to preview it.

Only time will tell if Google Instant Preview is worth it to speed up the users experience.  How will this product help search engine optimization companies?  Is there a place for Google Instant Preview when it comes to marketing?  Go ahead and leave a comment with your ideas and thoughts on the new feature.

There’s a huge secret in the SEO community and it’s all about you–the client. Because there’s so much information out there about search engine optimization, true, untrue and half-true, it’s difficult to know what to believe. What’s all the more frustrating is finding an SEO team that doesn’t talk down to you, keeps an open line of communication, and answers questions in an understandable way.

But Google’s big algorithm changes aren’t the largest problem facing SEOs–it’s you and your company. Because few clients actually understand what optimization really is and isn’t, there’s a disconnect between parties. Search optimization professionals face all kinds of obstacles and clients don’t need to be part of the problem. Trouble is, most SEOs don’t explain what they expect from their clients and that creates an untenable situation right from the start.

Building a Lasting Relationship

You do your due diligence, asking family, trusted friends and other business owners about their SEO experiences. After checking websites and reading through client testimonials, off the the local Better Business Bureau’s website you go. You check out a few SEO firms’ ratings and just to be through, send a lengthy email with all kinds of questions.

You want to settle on a team that fits your needs, stays within your budget, and gets measurable results. Guess what, those professionals want the same things because you’ll be their next big testimonial.

Relationships are instrumental in building a strong network of brand advocates and will provide the most value for your business. However, if your teams are uncoordinated, it can lessen their credibility and damage new and existing relationships. —Inc.com

Relationships, so the cliche goes, is a two-way street. Unfortunately, there are far too many businesses which expect far more than they’re paying for from their SEO. It’s not unlike demanding–and getting–to pay the Kid’s Menu price for the most expensive entree in a restaurant and then complaining it wasn’t good enough.

By clearing establishing what your SEO will do and won’t do, what you will and won’t do, the relationship will grow. If this isn’t done from the get-go or very early on, disappointment is inevitable. And, you might ruin what would otherwise be a very productive arrangement where all involved win.

What SEO Teams Expect of Their Clients

When you take your car to a mechanic, you rely on his expertise to fix what’s broken. But in the SEO world, many clients exacerbate problems, create them out of whole cloth or put into motion a series of unproductive events. In their quest to understand search engine optimization and to “help” their SEO, clients make a lot of mistakes.

Here’s some of the things you can do to make the venture worth your while:

• Don’t make requests outside the SEO’s roll. You hire an SEO team to do a specific job, so let them do it and give other tasks to those who are best equipped to handle them. In other words, don’t ask your SEO to put a new contact form or another feature on your site–that’s the job of your IT or web design personnel.
• Keep your SEO in the loop. If you want to change hosting providers or make any other changes, like a website redesign, let your SEO know before you make the move so you don’t sabotage your organic standing or endanger your current search rank.
• Count on performance, not where you rank for keywords. When you consider how many other companies are in your industry and the ubiquity of competition, it’s not realistic to think your site alone can “own” one or more key phrases. Rather, put emphasis on what’s happening like getting more traffic and/or more conversions.
• Let things play out and don’t panic. There’s a cold, hard fact you have to accept as an SEO client, and that’s things change. Google and Bing can drop bombs at any time. Even subtle changes can have a big impact. But that’s just like doing business, there will be obstacles and challenges from time to time.
• Give your SEO room to work. In other words, don’t muscle in on their territory. The news you’ve seen on that big tech blog probably isn’t news to your SEO, or it may be completely inaccurate. These professionals stay up-to-date on the latest tricks, tips, insights, trends and changes.
• Don’t create more problems with so-called fixes. You’re not doing your site or your relationship with your SEO any favors by trying to put a patch over an ever widening hole. Get to the root of the problem and take the time to correct it with the right tools.

If you are looking for a dedicated SEO team that focus on the task of getting your site found in search and is optimized for rank, then contact us. We not only provide superior SEO services, but give our clients full access to their site’s performance through our proprietary SEO portal.

TomatoCart is an open source e-commerce application that uses OSCommerce as its core. Its a great free solution to starting an online shopping experience for your customers. Opensource software is often a better alternative to paid eCommerce shopping cart software.  Its easy to install, easy to setup and packs a lot of features.

It comes with a totally new front and back-ends where the back-end is an impressive desktop-like ExtJS-powered interface.

The application supports selling any type of item from simple products to digital goods and services

Also, there are lots of features for marketing them including:

Products highlights include:

• Simple Products
• Virtual Products
• Downloadable Products
• Gift Certificate
• Support unlimited products
• Support unlimited product images
• Wysiwyg html editor for product descriptions
• Separate price and stock management based on attribute combination
• Product Variant
• Product Attribute
• Product Comparison

TomatoCart uses SEO Friendly URLs for your products, making them easier to find via search engines. This is one of the main features to look for in an eCommerce solution.

TomatoCart uses Piwik, an open source analytics application, which is integrated into the dashboard of the admin console.

With all these features built in, its no surprise that TomatoCart also  included its own email solution right into the dashboard,  which helps receiving and replying customer e-mails within the back-end. No more going to different screens to check orders or reply to customers, everything is handled within TomatoCart.

TomatoCart currently supports many languages, and is asking for translations from the community, as with most opensource software, community support in development is always welcomed.

If you want to try your hand at website creation, then read on for suggestions on how you can make that happen. This article will provide you with necessary advice for designing your website. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned web designer, there’s lots to learn about the subject.

If you are creating a website, make sure you view your site in different browsers. What you see on one browser is not necessarily what others see on other browsers. Research the different browsers that are popular and design your site accordingly. You should also check your website from a variety of different computers to see how it looks as well.

Avoid using frames. The fact is that while frames were popular in the past, they were simply one of many early techniques that were necessary then but are not today. They are the stone wheel of the Internet generation and should not be used today. Frame-based designs cause readers to have trouble bookmarking your site, and scrolling can also prove burdensome. You can employ easier techniques for better site usability.

Pay attention to the way the different colors you use on your website interact. Choose a font and color that will help your words stand out from the background. Dark text colors on light backgrounds are usually easier to read compared to the other way around. If you aren’t sure if your color scheme works well, show it off to a friend for some feedback.

Now that you have gained some valuable knowledge about website creation, you can feel more confident when it comes to taking that step in designing your own website. Always be looking out for ways to improve and learn everything you can about this skill, and you will be on the right path.

Many people want to custom design their website, but don’t know how. Like many aspects in life, you must learn proper information to make your sites stand out. This article has plenty of useful tips and pieces of information that will help you design the most efficient website possible.

Unless your website can be viewed on a variety of browsers, it is unlikely to produce the desired results. Ensure that the site can be easily navigated on the most popular browsers. Some things that work in Internet Explorer might not work correctly in Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Monitor how the pages look in major browsers before taking your website live.

Make it possible for users to cancel action if they want to do so. Actions include registering for any e-mail notifications, browsing the site, or filling out forms. If you don’t let visitors back out of an incomplete action, it can be perceived as forcing them to do something, which will probably make them go elsewhere.

No matter who your target audience is or what your site is intended for, you should always aim to keep loading time to ten seconds or less. This will make people want to stay on your site. Most Internet users are looking for instant returns, and it would behoove you to make that happen.

Newsletters can generate repeat visits. Giving your customers a reminder that you’re still online and have some great deals or new content that will bring them back to your site for more. Put the form for signing up in a prominent location, such as a sidebar, and use it to compile a list of visitors who opt in to your newsletter. Make sure the newsletter only goes to those who actually asked for it, or you’re going to get some serious blowback.

Avoid using too may font types. Also, think about the way various fonts look on a standard screen. Little serif fonts (such as Times New Roman) can be difficult to read. The majority of sites utilize Verdana, which is easy to read in any size or color.

When creating pages that have links, be sure the links contain text content. Visitors can easily see links that provide content. If your links don’t have text, they may not be helpful.

Popular Browsers

Make sure to check whether your site works on all Internet browsers. Different browsers will read and display a site in different ways, which can have some unintended results for site visitors. You can do a little research to find out what the popular browsers are. Use all popular browsers to test your site, including the mobile web ones.

As the you saw at the start of this piece, information is the most important start to any website build. Now that you know these things, you can proceed in a steadfast manner. Use what you learn here to get you started on your first site design.

Every day it seems new technologies come out which connect our world even more tightly, changing how we communicate with one another. If you want to learn about the current big trend of blog posting, this article is the perfect resource.

Comment on other’s blogs in order to generate more interest in yours. If you like Google reader, create a separate folder in it for other blogs you’re following. Comment regularly, if you’d like to say something.

Don’t copy anything when creating your blog. People take a dim view of plagiarism, and your reputation will be ruined immediately if people find out you are doing this. It’s not necessary to work as a professional writer, as long as you are passionate about your subject.

It can be helpful to have a domain name of your own rather than creating a blog through a free blog service. You will increase the professional appearance of your blog for the small fee. Including your business’s name or some other memorable phrase in your title will make it easier to remember.

Blog about things people care about. While you might want to blog about vacuuming your house or washing your dishes, these are tasks that almost everyone does. If your information isn’t presented in a unique way then readers aren’t likely to care. Choose an interesting topic that most people can relate to. After all, your ultimate goal with blog posting is to get people to your website.

Guests posts are a great way to build your blog. This builds your relationship with other bloggers, creates backlinks to your website and gives your readers a new point of view to read. Good relationships can frequently work in your favor. If you are in need a favor, a blogger that you have a relationship with may be willing to help.

Remember that people throughout the world can view your blog. You can’t know who you may affect with your writing. You need to remember the impact of your blog posts since potentially so many people are reading it at a given moment.

What are the 10 best open source web development tools?

Choosing the “best” open-source web development tools can depend on your specific needs and preferences, but here’s a list of ten widely used and highly regarded ones:

Visual Studio Code (VS Code): This is a popular source code editor developed by Microsoft. It’s highly extensible, supports numerous programming languages, and offers features like debugging, syntax highlighting, and Git integration.

Git: Git is a distributed version control system widely used for tracking changes in source code during software development. It’s essential for collaborative web development projects.

Node.js: Node.js is a runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript on the server-side. It’s commonly used for building scalable web applications and APIs.

React: Developed by Facebook, React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It’s component-based, making it easier to manage UI elements and their states, and it’s widely used for building interactive web applications.

Vue.js: Vue.js is another popular JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. It’s known for its simplicity and flexibility, making it a great choice for both small and large-scale projects.

Bootstrap: Bootstrap is a front-end framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites. It provides pre-designed UI components and CSS classes, making it easier to create consistent and visually appealing web interfaces.

jQuery: jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It simplifies things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, and animation, making it a valuable tool for web development.

Express.js: Express.js is a minimalist web application framework for Node.js. It provides a robust set of features for building web servers and APIs, making it a popular choice for developing back-end applications.

PostgreSQL: PostgreSQL is a powerful open-source relational database management system. It’s known for its reliability, robustness, and support for advanced features like JSONB data type and full-text search, making it a popular choice for web applications.

Docker: Docker is a platform for developing, shipping, and running applications inside containers. It simplifies the process of deploying web applications by providing a consistent environment across different development and production environments.

These tools cover a wide range of aspects in web development, including code editing, version control, front-end and back-end development, database management, and containerization. Depending on your specific project requirements and preferences, you may find some of these tools more suitable than others.