The auto-responder can be your biggest online asset, since it gives you complete control over sending emails to your existing and potential customers in an organized and timely manner. What’s more is that you can also schedule your responses so that they are sent out automatically on the scheduled date and time. This can be really neat since if you want to send a simple welcome message to each individual customer as soon as they complete a registration form on your website, you can pre-program it and it will be sent automatically. You must have experienced this many times yourself. You might sign up on a website and immediately you receive a personalized email which welcomes you to their website as a new member. This system is very popular with online technical support departments, membership websites, online stores, newsgroups, web hosting sites, etc. just to name a few.

Another advantage which I spoke briefly about is scheduling of email messages. Suppose you sign up your members for a weekly newsletter, then you can schedule your autoresponder to send out at least one email per week. This feature can also come in handy in case you want to send reminders to potential or existing customers. Hence as far as messaging is concerned, your auto-responder can do as much stuff as you want it to. You will be saved the hassle of hiring a full time employee to manage your emails, and will also save you many hours of precious time. Since an auto-responder can automate your email tasks, there is absoultely no chance of missing any important deadlines or opportunities as far as communication is concerned. And besides you can send as many email messages to as many people you want.

In the coming years, your business growth will directly reflect your opt-in mailing list. And with growing business, you will have less time for other activities like email. Since it would be impossible to answer each email, or customer support individually. But the good news is that with the help of auto-responders you can almost completely eliminate the time spent emailing your members or customers. Hence it is best to start using an auto-responder early in your online career. In this way you can start in a small manner and also learn many features of the auto-responder, since different auto-responders have different features. And since it is very easy and convenient to handle a large number of users with the help of auto-responders, you will find the your opt-in mailing list and online business grows much faster.

So what do we think about auto-responders? Well it is not going to replace personal emailing entirely, and we still suggest sending personal emails whenever necessary. But for typical, automated and immediate online business responses an auto-responder is your best bet. Since it is convenient, less expensive, and above all a great time saver.

If you have a good old text website then there is nothing to worry about, since these websites do load very fast. But nowadays you hardly get text only websites. Some amount of graphics and images will be included on some of your pages. This is exactly where you have to be careful. Large images and graphics tend to slow the download time of your websites since there is usually a lot of information associated with them. Information like various shades of color usually takes lot of time to calculate and hence websites with heavy images load slowly. Hence it is very important to strike a balance between using a few images to spice up your website as opposed to using a lot of images which will slow down your website.

To enhance download times, you should consider optimizing either all your images or at least the ones which are very heavy. When you optimize your images the file size gets reduced. The best way to do this is by using a graphic or image editing software which strips out unnecessary information on your images without affecting their quality.

The best professional program for this purpose which comes to mind is Adobe Photoshop. In Photoshop you have several options of saving an image in various file formats. You can save it as either a JPEG, PNG or GIF. If it is a photograph, there is an option for saving it as a JPEG for the web. You can also adjust the quality of the image while saving it in this format, so that it reduces the file size without greatly affecting the quality. The JPEG format is used for saving photos.

For graphics other than photos, there are other formats such as PNG and GIF. The PNG format is very popular for saving images which can later be used in flash animations. In the PNG format you can get the best quality at the lowest file size. Hence it comes in handy with flash animations where you have to consider several graphics in a single animation.

Similarly we also have the GIF format. This is mainly used to save graphics for simple GIF animations. This format uses a palatte of 256 colors. And because of this limitation it is unsuitable for photos, but is a great format for saving general graphics and especially GIF animations.

Thus these image editing programs really come in handy while reducing file size of images. Besides Photoshop there are other image editing programs available. You can even download a few free ones from the net even though they might have a few limitations. But in any case optimizing your photos and other graphics is definitely worth considering if you want to consider as many users to your website as possible.

Whatever you do you should always try to be original and creative when it comes to developing your website. People are really bored of seeing the same things over and over again, and they would certainly appreciate a change. Try putting information on the website in a different way. For example you could change the way your navigation is set up. Or you could try various techniques with graphics and colors. Whatever you do try to be original and creative, but not too abstract which completely confuses and puts your visitors off.

The better way to do this is to have a section which is dedicated to some humorous topics in addition to some humor throughout ther website. You can either have a few pages for this section, or to make it more user interactive, you might want to have a blog. A user interactive blog will give you lots of original content since there will be other people besides you who will be posting to it. This regular updation will make it a big hit with other users as well as search engines. And it won’t be long before you blog attracts users from various places every single day. If you have smart links pointing from your blog to your website, there is a big chance that you will get most of the traffic from your blog to your website. It is simple common sense.

Today there is a new concept of vlogs coming up. A vlog is simply short for “video blog”. With the emergence of video sites such as youtube, google video, myspace, etc. this form of advertising has really taken off. Alongwith funny caricatures you could also have some funny video clippings or a humorous slideshow. A few short 1-2 minute videos can really make your website more appealing and popular since people would certainly love to sit back and relax for a few minutes. These vlogs are also popular with search engines, and there is a big chance that they might rank you higher.

Other popular ways of getting lots of traffic is by getting lots of incoming links to your website. At the same time try and focus on linking to websites which are related to your industry. Since search engines notice these things. There are many places where you can exchange links. Just type in a search for link exchanging websites, and you will find many of them. In this manner you will get good directed traffic.

These methods and ideas discussed above are a sure fire way to make your website original, humorous and get lots of targetted traffic to your website.

As far as website aesthetics and design are concerned, the website has to  be appealing and readable. Since web surfers nowadays are very impatient, you can be certain that if your text copy is in anyway hard to read or understand they will leave almost immediately. So to ensure your website’s high appeal make sure that your navigation is in the right place and not confusing. The links have to be clear, easy to follow and access. Similarly the body text has to be laid out in the most efficient manner. Choose an appropriate and readable font, font size and font color. Dark fonts against a dark background and light fonts against a light background are certainly not readable and are a sure fire way to make your visitors run for cover.

Try to use muted and sophisticated colors as much as possible in most cases, since that gives an impression of professionalism, and such websites are easy to read. vibrant and flourscent colors can be used in very rare cases, but it’s best to avoid them in regualr business websites. Such colors can be distracting and at times also very offending.

Keep your website as simple and less confusing as possible. You might have come across other websites which have a lot of stuff and functionality on them, and they only add to your confusion. For a moment the user is in a situation where he doesn’t know what to do next. When this happens then most likely your users are going to leave your website. As far as feedback forms are concerned, try to avoid asking too much information. People are quite skeptical in providing personal information upfront and also quite irritated while filling long unecessary forms.

Always try and provide fresh content to your visitors whenever you can. It will not only make them come back often, but will also make the search engines happy. Yes! search engines love new, fresh content and websites which are updated regularly. They tend to rank such websites highly. It will also prove to your visitors, that you are really a professional who is interested in the website.

Participate in link and banner exchange campaigns with related websites. This increases the usefulness of your website. The more relevant links that point to your website improves your search engine ranking. You can also publish a monthly newsletter to keep your visitors interested. The latest trend which is catching up is writing informative articles and recording videos. This has a tremendous impact on your users and search engines.

Thus if you design your website keeping the users in mind, your website and business can go a long way. This is precisely what professional web developers like EffectWave.com do regularly.

Suppose you own an offline business. Wouldn’t you expect professionalism and dicipline from your salespersons? Would you like them to behave and be dressed in a shabby and unprofessional manner? Your staff might be the best in the world, but unless they present themselves in an appropriate manner, people are going to form a bad opinion about them and your company.

In the same manner, your customers also expect your website to be professional and cutting edge. But if your website is put together in a shabby and unprofessional manner, then your customers are going to get a bad impression of your business upfront. And since first impression is the last impression, this matters a lot.

On the other hand by designing a high-end and professional website, you are sending out the word to your users that you are concerned about quality in every aspect. Just as you care about your website in meticulous detail, your users will get an assuarance that you will care about them in the same manner. They are likely to feel that you are the person they should be doing business with.

Just as you care about your website, you should also have other aspects of your business well designed and organized. This includes your company logo, business cards, letterheads, brochures, advertisements, etc. All these little things when put together will really improve your business image in the eyes of your customers. Because these things in a very short time will become the corporate identity and image of your business, and it might just all begin with a good web design. Remember to care about your web design and online business just as you would care about a physical offline business.

Initially the best thing to is do some research. This can be done in several ways. By reading reviews about the company and trying to find out about them from previous customers. You can also find out about them by surfing their portfolio, so you can get an idea about the kind of work they do. Be sure to surf their website completely so that you can understand the various services they offer, alongwith their other terms and conditions.

The next thing to observe is how adaptable they are with current as well as future technological advancements. Since the internet is evolving so rapidly, it is imperative that they keep up with the latest technology. So you have to find a web design company which addresses all these concerns or else there is a big chance that this company’s slow approach will have an adverse effect on your business as well.

Once these things are dealt with, you need to look at the core technical issues. Is this web design company fluent in all the latest programming languages, and software? What kind of design do they have in mind? Will they be showing you a few mock-ups, or using a template? Then other things like color schemes, resolution, browser and platform compatibility should also be discussed. Also, ask them if web hosting is thrown in the deal, or is it an extra charge. This is important since different hosting plans have different costs.

Then enquire if the company has a search engine optimization department, and whether the website they develop will be based on it. This is crucial, since it’s of no use having a great website only to be lost somewhere on the internet. That’s the reason many companies also have content writing facility. These writers are seasoned professionals who write keyword rich content, not only for your users but also for the search engines.

Then you should enquire about general and technical support. Do they offer support only during the development phases or also after the website is complete. If yes, then for how long and what are the charges for the same. Ask them whether they have live online support 24/7. Do they have a toll free number. What are the other ways of contacting them. For example online messenger services, email, phone, fax. How fast are their responses, and how many days and hours per week do they operate.

You might think that all the above things when put together will definitely increase the cost. Well it might, but there is good news. Because of the outsourcing boom, many web developers from all over the world can offer you high quality web development at affordable prices. So if you are sure to consider all the things discussed above then your dream website, developed by your dream web development company should be a reality sooner than later.

A proper mini site typically has information about the product, download instructions, contact information, and also testimonials of satisfied customers. However some mini sites do go a step ahead and also include a short biography of the business owner, testimonials, and an affiliate program.

Such a website is very easy to build, since they do not rely on heavy graphics and artwork, but only textual content and limited images. So let’s find out how to go about building such a mini website.

The first thing to do is find an appropriate domain name and a stable webhost for your mini website. Always make sure that the domain name in someway resembles your business or industry. In this manner you can immediately alert your visitors about the nature of your business. Try to include some relevant keywords in the domain name since this greatly helps in search engine placement.

Once that part is out of the way. The next thing is to actually design and develop the website. You can start by putting together a keyword rich title and meta keywords and description. Always be sure to include your most important keywords and keep them short and concise. As far as the actual design is concerned, you can either put together a simple design, purchase a template, or obtain a free template design from the internet. Since, all you need is a simple and professional web design, such a template should not be difficult to find.

The next and the most important part is the textual content of the website. The best thing to do is to write the content yourself, since it is you who knows your product and company in and out. But if at all writing is not your cup of tea, you can outsource it to a professional. In either case, see to it that the content also contains your prominent keywords. Also, don’t forget to use header, bold and italic tags wherever required. Always try to keep space on your website for various type of advertisements like banner ads, text ads, etc. Another technique which is gaining prominence is a floating hover ad, which slides in from the top. You can put a small form which captures a prospect’s name and email address and sign him up for a newsletter or some free goodies.

you can also have an affiliate program, so that interested people can also promote your product for a share in the profit. And the best way to do it without any programming is to sign up with Clickbank, which is the internet’s leading retailer of digital products.

After all the product and information designing is done, then you need to provide them with an easy purchase and a secure checkout option, so that they can place their orders in a hassle free manner. This is crucial, since because of messy and confusing order pages, buyers do get frustrated and many times abandon the entire sales process. So if you have a simple website, I would suggest using some of the most popular merchants like PayPal and 2Checkout.

Always sell one particular product or service, so that you stay focussed. If you follow the steps above in the right manner, then mini websites have been proven to be very effective and profitable in selling your products.

You can begin by asking yourself why exactly do you want to redesign your website. You might ask this question to yourself as well as a couple of other trusted people. If you do not find a convincing answer to that question, you might as well not redesign your website at the moment. You must have a reason to redesign your existing website. For example, the design might not be up to industry standards, or might be too cluttered and disorganized. Or else your services or products might have increased or changed over time. In fact your current website might have a specific use or a reason and you might even lose that if you go about redesigning your website.

But then there are many other occasions when a redesign is an absolute necessity. If your website design is too old and needs a new makeover, then perhaps you do need a new design. But while doing this, do not forget your existing user base. It is for their convenience that you are redesigning your website. Always try and warn them that a new web design is just round the corner. In fact you could also ask their opinion on what changes they would like to see and then try and implement them.

Whenever you redesign your website, please make sure that it retains some of it’s old characteristics. It may be the colors, the company logo, or even the fonts. This is important, since you don’t want your existing users to go through a case of mistaken identity. Yes! this has happened before, when users have temporarily abandoned websites since they could not recognize the new design to be the same old website.

That’s the reason it is so important to keep your existing users involved in the process to a certain extent at least. You could try a feedback form or an opinion poll to gather user feedback, and then take the appropriate steps in redesigning your website.

If you are one of those guys who started everything by yourself and made it quite big, then you know the importance of time, hard work and hard earned money. So you migh find asking yourself, “why should I give away my money for something that I would rather do myself?” Well, that’s sounds like a fair question, but you also know that your current website is not upto the mark and maintaining it is not all that easy. It requires a lot of time and research. Besides there are many advantages in hiring a professional web designer than outsourcing some or all of the work that you don’t want to do.

Whenever you outsource your project to a responsible web development company or a freelance web developer for a small price, you are letting them worry about all the tedious tasks and and minor details which you might miss easily in the beginning and realize much later. In this way you will have more time for yourself and your business.

Another advantage of hiring a professional web developer is that you can be assured of the quality and standard of work. if at all there any future problems with your website or there is a need for any editing, you can always ask them to do it for you, thereby saving you more precious time. Since they are professionals they can do it in good time and in a much better way than you could.

Since you are paying these professionals a handsome fee gor their work, your website is going to look more professional and targetted. So you could be in a better position to compete with other business in your industry. Hence a small step in hiring a professional web developer along with a simple gameplan can go a long way in promoting your business and helping it grow.

First and foremost the website has to be user friendly, clean and free of any clutter. It should be designed according to the appropriate theme. For example a doctor’s website could have sophiscated colors, photos, and to the point textual content, as opposed to an entertainment website which is full of pictures and vibrant colors.

Nowadays, many new web users are in complete awe of these cool flash websites which are full of gimmicks, animations, sound and fancy intros. But since the internet has matured so rapidly, these things hardly impress anyone and can have a negative effect on your users. Having said that, I would suggest that you can use these gimmicks on your website, but try to keep them to a bare minimum since too much of it can make your website look amateurish.

The website’s navigation system is another major concern of many websites. Many times the navigation is at strange locations, is not very clear and is generally very confusing. Today’s web users are used to a certain standard of navigation, and if it is in anyway confusing or too cluttered then chances are that they will simply leave.

Next see that your website loads very fast, since web surfers nowadays are extremely impatient.  Having too many heavy graphics and flash can make your website load very slowly. Even though graphics are an essential part of your website, without which your site might appear dull, see to it that all your images and flash is properly optimized so that your website loads quickly.

The other big problem facing even many experienced web developers is that of quality content. It is never an easy task to write quality content which is liked by your users and at the same time is optimized for the search engines. Secondly however good your initial content is, it has to be updated regularly for your users as well as the search engine spiders, so that both of them keep coming back. So if writing quality content on a regualr basis is not your thing, then you might try outsourcing it to a professional writer.

The last and the most important problem is that of getting your website indexed and ranked higher by the search engines. When you put all the above things into practice when you design your website and even after that, chances are that you will get a good search engine ranking. Try keeping your website as user friendly as possible with a clear navigation system and lots of keyword rich content. Also, build a search engine friendly sitemap.

So if you avoid all the common mistakes which many new website owners make and build a clean and user friendly website, your website can develop into a very powerful sales tool.