I subscribe to quite a few SEO (Search Engine Optimization) newsletters and blogs. I received a monthly newsletter from a reputable SEO company that sends out a monthly newsletter made up of user submitted articles. I generally appreciate the content and the quality articles that I receive. That’s until the newsletter I received the other day.

I by no means want to call out the company so I won’t even say what the subject matter was about but the article was horrible. That gave me the idea for this post because I couldn’t believe that a newsletter that I’ve subscribed to for at least 4 years would actually authorize this mailing.

Writing content for a website, newsletter or blog has to provide valuable information that a reader trusts or they simply won’t return. This newsletter was a list of 10 things and each thing was made up of a one liner that kept me wanting more but they failed to deliver. Here’s what this newsletter was like, this is merely and example.

<Start>”1. Write good content to keep the reader interested.”<End>

As you can see the statement is true but it didn’t explain a thing. When you’re writing an information piece you need to keep your reader in mind. Sure you know the topic fairly well but the purpose of the visitor to your website because they’re looking for information. Take the time to explain your statement so that the reader understands.

A very important part of getting traffic to your website is keeping them there. The last thing you want to do is confuse them or leave them wanting more. If that’s the case, they’re going to look elsewhere and they just may never come back.

The person that wrote the article for the newsletter was simply writing an article so that they could plug their actual website at the end of the newsletter. The problem is that they article was written so poorly that I didn’t even visit the website because I could only imagine the content.

This post probably sounds more like a rant rather than an informational post but it’s actually the very opposite. I’m using a personal experience to help you so that you don’t lose out on valuable traffic when you get to the stage where you’re writing posts for blogs, articles or even newsletters.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com

Historically, logos have been more a luxury than a necessity. Businesses attracted customers because they were the only game in town, so to speak. No longer. Today’s highly competitive industries, global markets and visually oriented consumers have catapulted the logo to prominence. Now your logo is one of the most critical components of your brand. So how can something so little make such a big difference?

Your branding efforts are dictated by your logo

Your logo appears on all of your sales tools, from your business cards to your website. As a result, your logo design influences the design of all your sales tools, for better or worse. A professional-looking logo can be leveraged to create professional-looking materials. A poorly designed logo cannot. In other words, you need a “brandable” logo one that you can make use of when designing other materials to brand your company.

“Brandable” logos are scalable, memorable and meaningful. If people can’t remember what your logo looks like, they won’t remember your brand. Think of the logos of some popular brands today. Perhaps M-shaped arches, a shell, and a swoosh come to mind. All are simple concepts, effectively employed by McDonalds, Shell and Nike. If you can’t look at a logo for less than 10 seconds and re-draw it with decent accuracy, it’s probably too complex to be easily remembered. (Besides being difficult to remember, most complex logos cannot be effectively reduced in size or rendered in black and white, as required for materials like fax cover sheets and other business forms.)

Your logo is the essence of your brand

Perhaps you’ve heard the writer’s lament that “nobody reads anymore.” In today’s markets, not only do you face ever-increasing competition, you also face an audience accustomed to visually stimulating media, convenience and instant gratification. Sure, a few people may read all of your ad, more may read some of it but everyone will SEE it. The overwhelming amount of choices faced by time-crunched consumers forces them to identify shortcuts. Your logo is such a shortcut: it instantly conveys your brand message and emotional appeal.

Logos are essential to the familiarity of your business

Your logo is your brand’s most basic graphic element. It ties together all of your sales materials – in fact, your logo may be the only visual element that your materials have in common. The right logo helps solidify customer loyalty while differentiating you from the competition.

Logo help potential customers judge your business

Think of small newspaper or Yellow Pages ads. Often all that fits is your contact information and logo. If your logo projects the right image, it may be the sole reason someone decides to try your company. Conversely, if it looks unprofessional or unclear, it alone may be the reason they choose your competition.

Finally, your logo affords a unique opportunity for you to look like a bigger (i.e., more established) business than you are. With the right logo, you can look like a large conglomerate even if you have only one employee. People will associate the positive attributes of big companies like security and financial stability with your company.

Building a solid brand identity is pivotal to success in business today. Lay the right foundation with a professional, brandable logo.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
CEO – www.WebsiteToad.com

I was registering a couple of domains the other day and was thinking about how all of the different domain extensions available and how this could be confusing to someone who is new to domain name registration.

What I’ve done below is list some of the more common domain extensions. I welcome any additions or corrections that you may have. You’ll find that you can register every one of the domain extensions at an affordable price through Sitetoad.com. Let’s get started.

TLD – Top Level Domains

There are three types of top-level domains that are classified by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) which I’ve described below.

TLD – These are the most common extensions that you’re probably familiar with. They are made up of .COM, .NET & .ORG domains.

ccTLD – These are country code domain name extensions and they are generally made up of 2 characters. Some of the ccTLD extensions that you’re probably familiar with are .US for United States, .CA for Canada, .JP for Japan and .CN for China.

gTLD – These are generic TLDs and are generally made up of 3 or more letters. Some of the gTLD domain extensions that you may be familiar with are .BIZ, .INFO, .NAME & .MOBI.

Common Domain Extensions

Below you’ll find some of the more common domain extensions and the domain extension meaning.

.COM (Commercial) – Generally intended for commercial use. By far the most recognized domain name extension.

.NET (Network) – This was originally intended for network oriented sites such as internet service providers. This definitely isn’t the case any longer. People will register .NET domains for commercial use, generally if the .COM extension isn’t available or if they’d like to protect their main .COM domain by registering all available extensions.

.ORG (Organization) – This domain extension was originally intended for non-profit or trade organizations. Again, this is no longer the case and is generally registered by anyone looking to protect their main domain by registering all available domain extensions or simply because a better extension isn’t available for registration.

.BIZ (Business) – This is a gTLD that is generally registered to classify their website as a business. Although it’s not a commonly recognized extension, I feel that it’s a great alternative if the .COM extension isn’t available and for only $10.99 per year through SiteToad.com it certainly wouldn’t hurt to register the extension so that your competition doesn’t try to squat on it.

.US (United States) – This ccTLD generally refers to US based companies. Although the domain has been out for quite some time now it’s possible to find some very good domain names with this extension.

.INFO (Informational) – This gTLD is generally used as an extension for informational websites. I believe that other than .COM, .NET & .ORG, it’s the most popular domain extension used. If you are developing an informational website it’s definitely a domain extension that I’d register.

.MOBI (Mobile) – This domain extension, as of this writing, is fairly new. Although majority of the domain name owners registered their domain name with the .MOBI domain name to protect their brand, it is primarily reserved for website built for displaying on mobile devices.

.TV (Television) – In my opinion it’s used primarily for media, primarily video, related websites.

.WS (Website) – This is actually a ccTLD for Western Samoa but was converted to a domain extension commonly used as an acronym for ‘website’. Although it seems that it would be a great extension I don’t feel that it really ever took off and you can find very good domains available with the .WS extension.

.ME (ME) – This is the newest domain, as of this writing. It was originally the ccTLD of Montenegro but would generally be used for personal related websites such as family websites or blogs another option would be to pose your resume or even artwork that you may have done. The other use would be to create a very memorable personal email address.

.NAME (NAME) – This is a gTLD that’s intended for personal use. You’ll find that this extension is used for personal / family websites or simply used for name related email addresses.

.CA (Canada) – This is a ccTLD that is generally reserved for Canadian based businesses.

.CO.UK (United Kingdom) – This country code domain is generally reserved for commercial related websites based in the United Kingdom. Although it’s not restricted to just UK based business, I see very little value in registering the domain extension unless you plan on doing some sort of business in the UK.

.CN (China) – This is the ccTLD for China. This domain is not restricted to companies based in China and can basically be registered by anyone that would like a .CN extension.

That’s about it, there are many more extensions that I haven’t covered but I feel that these are the extensions that you may consider when registering a domain name. Don’t hesitate to take a look at the article I wrote on domain registration tips before registering your domain names.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
CEO – www.WebsiteToad.com

Probably the most common question that I get from family and friends is how to start a website. They are generally intimidated by the thought of learning how to program or the cost of hiring a web designer. I like to quickly point out that it’s not that tough. Now don’t get me wrong, when you get into databases, shopping carts, etc it can get difficult.

I tell them that it’s really about what type of website you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a simple informational site or a family website then it couldn’t be easier or more affordable. I lead them to Website Tonight which was developed for those that don’t know how to build a website.

As most people out there are familiar with applications such as Microsoft Word then Website Tonight will be a breeze. I just let them know that they browse through the 800+ professional web templates that we offer and then start filling in the blanks with text & photos. The formatting is exactly like that of any word processor.

You know, it’s just one of those things that you need to just dive into. With the cost for a smaller plan you’re looking at about $0.20 per day so there’s nothing left to loose.

Now this is for those who just want an informational site or a family website. In my next post I’ll get into shopping cart software for those who want to sell items online and what goes along with running a shopping cart.

Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteToad.com