If you are hosting a personal site, then make sure that your page doesn’t have unnecessary large files. Remember that every time a particular page is requested, the same amount of files is forced over the internet. So for example, if your page is 100 KB-worth, then 100 KB of your bandwidth is used. Besides, if your site is designed to have pages go back to one particular menu page to access other links, large files can make your broses crash. Even if the page is already in the cache of the browser, it is till rebuilt every time that particular page is being accessed.

Use video and audio only when necessary. Images can be resized or save in a less but still acceptable resolution. Text can also be split to several pages. In this case, light is right.

A domain name can make or break your website. So before typing in anything on your form, be sure to have considered the following first:

Be sure that the topic of your site shows in the name. Put keywords there. So for example, if your site is about wine tasting, then it should have “wine” and “taste” in it. Think of at least three possible names and write them on paper. Keep the titles short but memorable. We want people to remember the site and not have them scratch the back of their heads remembering it. Don’t forget to check the availability of each name.

Although the probability of coming up with original material in the web is a little tough, what with the continuous appearance of hundreds if not thousands of niche blogs and websites out there, nothing beats original content. Original and quality content will attract a lot of traffic to a particular website, and more so if the content is continually updated. By maintaining quality and consistency of your posts, visitors can not help but return. It won’t be long before the number of visitors will grow.

Ahh… a term that many competitive professional bloggers love. SEO or short for search engine optimization, is a process that enables the number of visitors to a particular website to increase. This is done by making the site rank high in search engines’ search results. The higher the rank of a certain website is, the more probable it is to be visited by users. I’m sure that many internet users agree that we only browse the websites that appear in the first few pages of search engine results. So what SEO does is to ensure the accessibility of a site to a search engine.

Image source: www.digitalphotoguides.com
Picasa is a delightfully easy way to organize, edit and share photos. It’s basic, yet goes beyond the basics of the basic photo editing software that is ususally bundled with a digital camera.

Advantages of Using Picasa
-Free!
-Easily upload images and video to Picasa Web Albums, free online web hosting.
-Beautiful and elegant interface including slideshow and timeline.
-Intuitive and straightforward navigation.
-Excellent set of easy-to-use editing tools and filters.

Robust set of features including labeling photos with keywords and star ratings, emailing images from within the program, Geotagging photos, creating videos, Photo CDs and backups, support for RAW files. It’s latest version has a slew of improvements and new features such as a Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes, face recognition with automatic red-eye removal, and the ability to add text and watermarks to photos.

Manually set the program to “watch” specified image folders on your computer hard drive.

Organize, rearrange and sync Picasa Web Albums from your desktop

Generally, websites have been designed to facilitate information dissemination and knowledge sharing like the World Wide Web. Its quality significantly depends on its content and the way it was published. And for your website to be a sure hit, you better make sure that you have accurate profiles to be promoted in your site and establish specific goals. In using thumbnails, 57×57 thumbnails are okay and better make it capture the content’s details and will give visual meaning for the headers of your site. It should be an active link as well. The simple, the better. Visitors should not find your site complicated, so simple words and navigations are effective. And of course you have to be straightforward, always go directly to the point, in that way your visitors will know the implications and benefits of your site.

The word is accessibility. In website design, it is the measure of how easy the content of a website is to access, read, and understand. One thing about this feature is that it is more of an interactive document that can be interpreted in different ways by different browsers on various platforms.

I have seen pages where the fonts become garbled, the size too small, and the color is too hurtful in the eyes. I suggest that when designing, it is best to stick to simple fonts and color since users’ settings may override the document, therefore making the page appear differently from intended.

Guidelines when revising body copy:

• Compose text as simple as possible – reading on screen is slower than on print so it is better to keep sentences short and plain. Highlighting the keywords gets the readers’ attention because words seem to leap out of the page.
• Place significant messages before the fold – when placed above, it can be easily noticed upon loading of the web page and readers can decide whether the site is important to them or not.
• Respect people’s time online – scanning is preferred to reading in-depth so make sure the copy specifically tells what is on offer and the actions to follow are arranged reasonably. Avoid making your readers guess the next step to take.

Revision is done not only for the headlines but may be done for the body copy as well. Sometimes, it is quite a dilemma where to start. You can evaluate an existing copy by asking these few questions:
• Is your point easily presented? – There are times when the essence of an article is not clearly understood so a revision is needed.
• Is the copy reserved about the offer?
• Is it easy to react to?
• Does the copy leave the reader with no other option but to do something?
• Does it address the reader as “you”?
• Is it made up of clear-cut sections and bullet points?

• Give a straight order – this technique openly addresses the people and you can go t once to the paybacks.
• Build a need – then follow it up with how your product satisfies it. This will get your consumer thinking and be made aware of a possible need and you have the ready solution.
• Ask a provoking question – this initiates a need for the data you are to provide. You are talking directly to consumers and this stirs their interest.
• State something new – if you’re offering a new product, there is a tendency for readers to wonder what it is all about.
• Plainly position the offer – if you have a good proposal to tell the people, simply say it.