With new technologies, algorithms and sources emerging on a daily basis, webmasters are constantly struggling to stay informed. The quality of content on the web and the number of products available to webmasters can seem overwhelming. The goal of creating a site that can be quickly found can be a struggle. Unless webmasters have a well-established brand, a great domain name and a huge marketing budget, it is important that they appear in search engines via specific keywords. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of resources and products that will benefit webmasters in their efforts to be found.

1. Webmaster Articles & Tutorials – The Internet is rich with resources for webmasters who are developing and optimizing web content. The web hosts a vast variety of web design tutorials and articles. For the novice, sifting through these resources can be daunting and overwhelming.

Site Point – New Articles, Fresh Thinking for Web Developers and Designers – With a vast variety of web design tutorials and articles coupled with a vibrant and well informed community, SitePoint is the natural place to go to grow your online business. www.sitepoint.com

WebProNews – WebProNews is an article portal for Internet and Technology professionals and has thousands of articles on web design and development. The articles are from iEntry’s network of expert writers through hundreds of relationships with authors around the world. www.webpronews.com

2. Webmaster Forums – Not only can participating in various forums and posting your various views and ideas potentially bring new growth and life to your online business, it can help you stay informed about industry news or changes. This is particularly important when working in a new, quickly advancing industry like web design and search engine optimization. The following forums are great places for webmasters to participate and monitor.

ThreadWatch – ThreadWatch is a nifty tool. The concept of Threadwatch is very simple: finding the signal amongst the noise of internet marketing media takes too much of what we all value most, time. Threadwatch.org cuts through the chatter and produces a clear signal for the time-starved professional Internet marketer. www.threadwatch.org

Webmaster-Talk – The WebmasterTalk forum covers material related to Web Design, PHP Help, Coding, Hosting, Domain Names, graphic optimization and related webmaster topics. The forum is extremely popular and generally, posts will receive almost instant responses from knowledgeable professionals. Of course, like any forum, there are bound to be opposing views ensuring that all sides of every issue are raised. www.webmaster-talk.com

3. Website Submission Tools – According to research more then 90% of Internet traffic is generated by search engines. Submitting your website to all major search engines is the most effective way of promoting your website on the Internet. In order for web surfers to locate your site you must be included in all the major search engines. There are a number of tools available to assist with the submission process.

Internet Business Promoter – Internet Business Promoter is a suite of 10 professional web promotion tools in one software application. All of the tools are designed to assist web developers with all aspects of web site promotion and search engine optimization. We found that IBP’s strength was in the website submission options. Once a site is created it must be submitted to search engines and directories. IBP streamlines and simplifies the submission process, saving significant amounts of time. www.axandra.com/ibp

FreeWebSubmission.com – Free Web Submission is the source for free search engine submission. They provide webmasters and site owners with free manual and auto submission to the highest-rated, free internet search engines and directories. www.freewebsubmission.com

AddMe - AddMe is a leading resource for webmasters and small-business owners specialized in website submission and promotion in the search engines. AddMe offers free online website submission to 14 major search engines in exchange for a reciprocal link. AddMe is well known and respected in the industry. www.addme.com

Many of the online submissions require an e-mail address. In order to limit excessive unwanted e-mail many webmasters will use a “throw-away” e-mail address that would allow them to initially receive notification that the site is submitted but is ultimately an e-mail account they can discontinue after the submission process. This practice is suggested for anyone using a free service for site submissions.

4. Online Tools – A number of resource sites are available on the web to assist webmasters. The resources are generally free and contain useful analytical tools.

DigitalPoint – The DigitalPoint site contains a variety of tools specifically for webmasters. The tools are a collection of useful online tools, from a Google AdSense Sandbox that shows which Google AdSense ads will be displayed for any webpage on the Internet, to web ranking tools that track Yahoo’s web rank. www.digitalpoint.com/tools

SEO Survey – Tools to help SEO specialists and webmasters automate some of the important tasks involved in the routine of optimization. www.socengine.com/seo/tools.html

5. Webmaster Software – The aim of many applications is to save time, money or productivity. Webmsters can often use software to replace a task they do manually, freeing up their time to pursue other tasks.

FeedForAll - FeedForAll creates, edits, manages and publishes RSS feeds. As webmasters realize the benefits to RSS, software related to RSS is becoming an instrumental tool in their arsenal. www.feedforall.com

TNT Screen Capture – TNT captures everything with only 3 simple capture modes, from application windows to controls, to menus and popup windows. Many integrated unique features like shadow options, transparency, quick scaling and individual shapes make it quick and simple to create stunning screenshots at a mouse-click. www.ec-software.com/tnt.htm

6. Free Content – Free content comes in all shapes and sizes. Understanding who your target customer is and what appeals to them will go a long way in finding content that will increase your site’s value.

GoArticles - Providing a fresh stream of content-specific articles is a great way to encourage visitors to return to your website on a regular basis. GoArticles is a directory of quality articles that is searchable based on keywords. www.goarticles.com

Small Business Software – Collection of small business and marketing-related articles available for republishing.

FreeSticky – FreeSticky provides a directory of content available to webmasters free of charge. The available content is a variety of items including syndicated cartoons, games, horoscopes, photographs, forums and articles. The supplemental content is designed to encourage visitors to return to your website. www.freesticky.com/stickyweb

RSS - RSS stands for really simple syndication, RSS feeds generally contain content available for syndication. Meaning that you can often publish content contained in an RSS feeds to provide fresh website content. FeedForAll www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm has a free PHP script available to display RSS feeds. Additional resources to learn more about using RSS as web content can be found at www.rss-specifications.com and www.rss-syndication.com

7. Alerts – Using web alerts is becoming increasingly useful to webmasters interested in tracking their search engine position, trademarked terms, to monitor competitors and stay abreast of online occurrences.

Google Alerts – Google Alerts is a solution for monitoring your professional interests online. Track the entire web for your personalized topics and receive new results by daily e-mail. There are two companies doing this: Google Alerts, www.googlealert.com and www.google.com/alerts

PubSub – PubSub is a matching service that instantly notifies you when new content is created that matches your subscription. Using a proprietary Matching Engine, PubSub is able to read millions of data sources on your behalf and notify you instantly whenever a match is made. www.pubsub.com

Tools for Online Tracking Alerts – Article detailing additional tools available for online tracking and alerts. www.small-business-software.net/tools-for-online-tracking.htm

8. Blacklist Checkers – E-mail delivery problems often occur when an IP address or domain is black-listed. The following tools will ensure that your IP address and domain will not have delivery issues.

DNS Stuff – DNSstuff: Free fast, advanced and comprehensive web-based DNS tools, going beyond just ping, tracert/traceroute, WHOIS and DNS lookups. www.dnsstuff.com

SpamNews – spamNEWS is a concise aggregation of vital information relevant to professionals in the anti-spam sector: Up-to-the-minute press coverage and topical editorials about e-mail abuse, related online security matters, legal and political issues, as well as articles on Internet marketing and privacy. www.spamnews.com

9. Keyword Tools – Keywords to improve search engine placement and ranking. Finding top Internet marketing keywords is critical in the quest to be found. Choosing the right Internet marketing keywords will help your search engine placement and ranking. A little keyword research goes a long way in the search to be found.

WordTracker – WordTracker helps you choose the right Internet marketing keywords that will help your search engine placement and ranking. Use WordTracker for keyword research. Web marketing is all about search engine ranking, and that starts with the proper Internet marketing keywords. Get a free keyword report and web site promotion information! www.wordtracker.com

10. Newsletters – Email newsletters continue to be one of the most important ways to communicate and find information on the Internet. The following e-mail newsletters contain great information for webmasters.

SitePronews – A free newsletter and webmaster resource site for Webmasters focusing on web site promotion, submission, positioning, design and marketing. The newsletters and websites contain articles by noted web experts. The SiteProNews site was the first of more than 12 web sites that focused on niche areas of particular interest to webmasters, marketers, newsletter publishers, authors and entrepreneurs. www.sitepronews.com

iEntry – The iEntry network has a really great collection of useful newsletters. iEntry publishes over 50 targeted e-mail newsletters that cover various aspects of the IT and Business industries. www.ientry.com

Like most of the copious amounts of information on the Internet, it is a matter of sifting through to find relevant, accurate, helpful information. Occasionally we stumble across some little-known gems. As a result, we have compiled these webmaster tools.

About the Author
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds and NotePage wireless text messaging software.

Source: ArticleTrader.com

We live in a sea of information. And information overload is an increasingly common complaint. Part of the complaint arises because we get hit with different headlines that point to the same content. So we waste time on things that have no added value. Bummer.

When you email your list or put up content on your site, and assuming you want to generate loyalty, it’s necessary that you have content others haven’t seen a dozen times elsewhere.

If this makes sense to you, here are some ideas you can use to EASILY generate fresh content with a minimal amount of time and effort.

First of all, think about a subject in which you are interested. Let’s say it’s horticulture. Now if you’re not aware of it, let me put you in the picture. Most people do web searches from Google’s home page and stop there. Not at all creative. Not at all digging for information from which to develop original content.

So let’s go exploring…

1 – Google has lots of tools besides just web searches. They let you check the news. (http://news.google.com) As of this writing, there are 1,680 news items listed by Google on the word horticulture. Bet you could easily do a summary of some of these articles and create your own content. But let’s not stop there.

2 – Google also has “groups.” (http://groups.google.com/) These are folks who like to discuss *your* subject. So now you can go even farther. Look up horticulture in their groups. Now this information is potentially gold. Why? Because you can see what it is about horticulture that lots of folks are interested in.

Think you might be able to do a little research and come up with a free or even a for-profit report that gives them what they want?

Check out Google’s other tools, too. You can even get research info from universities through Google. Start here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

3 – Next method: Do this search (keeping in the punctuation as written):
+horticulture +free +filetype:pdf

As of this writing, Google shows 196,000 hits for this query. What you get here are free downloads in pdf format about your subject.

Now you can’t simply copy and use it as your own information. You have to create your writing in your own words. But there’s no law that says you can’t summarize what you find in other people’s works. To make the point, you could even call your work something like: “Survey Report: Latest from the Horticulture Front!”

4 – Go to Alexa.com. Do a search on your subject, in this example, horticulture. It provides the exact same results as Google because it’s powered by Google. So why bother, right? Wrong. Because Alexa *does* provide value added information.

When you do the search, you don’t want to click the link that takes you to the listed site. Instead you want to follow the link that says “Site info.” When you do this, you’ll find a section called: “People who visit this page also visit.” This can be very valuable because it potentially shows *what the marketplace is interested in.* This can enable you to tailor your information product to what people want.

These are just some of the easy ways to branch out your explorations and find gold to weave into golden braids.

Not long ago, I didn’t know ANYTHING about Internet marketing… However, within just 2 weeks, I launched my own website AND learned how to profit from an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and setup my own BLOG! Here’s how: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10193

Ryan Ginster
Internet Marketer/Web Designer Inspired by Stone Evans’s Plug in profit sites
View all articles by Ryan Ginster
Article Source: ArticleDepot.net 

Today, most businesses want a website. Some already have one. Others want one. They don’t want to hire IT staff and probably can’t afford any. And in most cases, an in-house IT staff, especially for your typical small business, just isn’t necessary. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to go without or will be forced to use some cookie cutter website or a personal FrontPage experiment gone awry. You can hire a web developer/designer to create a professional website for you, set it up, and then hand it over to you for you to do what you want with it. But, how should you go about finding someone to do this? What should you look for? There are literally thousands of companies/individuals out there offering to do your website. How do you pick from this large group?

What Do You Want?
The first step is to decide exactly what you want on your website. This is very important as it will determine what the requirements are and, in turn, what skill set your web developer needs to fulfill your needs. Here are some questions to ask of yourself:

• What kinds of information do you want to have on your site? Approximately how large do you envision the site (# of pages)?
• Will your site require regular updates? Do you want to do these updates yourself?
• Will you be engaging in e-commerce on this website?
• Will you need a database?
• How fast do you need the job done?
• What is your budget?

Start Your Search
Doing a web search for someone that has the skills you will need for your website will still give you a humongous list of possible choices. Referrals are often the best method of weeding people out. IF someone recommends a developer, it is because they are happy with the service they were provided. So, if someone recommends a developer to you, you should check that developer out and see if they have the skills you will need from them.

Often, the developers you are pondering are not located in your town. In today’s day and age, this is not usually a problem. Yes, there are instances where a face-to-face meeting is really beneficial, and if you are the kind of really considers this meeting important, you should limit your search to developers within driving distance of your location. Otherwise, the internet and phone system provide all the communication you will need, regardless of distance.

The first thing to do when considering a developer is to check out their website.

• IS the site well-designed and attractive?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Are there any broken links?
• Is the information complete (introduction to staff, company location, contact methods, etc.)?
• Does the site load quickly?
• IS there a portfolio? (Very important. A developer without a portfolio to display is a total question mark. You simply don’t know if the people are good or are snacking on Doritos trying to figure things out as they go).
• What skills does the developer have? Do they do design only, or can they do dynamic web development and database design? Also, ensure that they do not advertise themselves as a web designer but focus mainly on print media. Internet design and print design are different ballparks with different requirements. Also, keep in mind that good use of Dream weaver or FrontPage does not in itself make a web designer. Check their portfolio and ensure the developer really knows his stuff. A person well-versed in internet development should know not only about creating the site, but also maintaining it, marketing it, and promoting it. Ideally, a web developer has successfully done all of the above on his own sites.
• Does the site offer customer testimonials? Read them. And, you might even contact those clients independently to ask them questions of the service you were provided.

Small Freelancers vs. Big Firms
You need to decide if you want to work with a large design firm or a small freelance company (or even single developer). There is more security for the client when working with a larger firm. The skills they offer vary widely because their staff is so large, and they often have a very large portfolio. The caveat, though, is that large companies often charge more money. The overhead costs for such companies are larger, so they will charge more. Additionally, larger companies often come with more bureaucracy. With so many developers, often communication is just not what it should be, leading to inconsistencies in the project due to miscommunication. Also, sometimes you will find that these companies pay a little too much attention to process rather than simply getting the job done.

Freelance developers offer better value for the money, and because they are a single person, the communication flow between them and the client are usually much better (one-on-one). If there is a staff, usually the size is small, meaning communication will still be more tight-knit. This will lead to more consistent coding and coordination. Also, you know who is responsible for your project and there is more accountability. In larger firms, nobody is responsible in some cases. (Or so they say). The downside of freelancing is that their skill set is their skill set, and if you need something that they don’t know how to do, they must research it. Also, freelancers are limited by their size. If they already have a high workload, then their throughout is limited and it may force you to wait. So, depending on the size of your project, a large firm might guarantee the job gets done quickly.

Rates and Guidelines
Check out the rates of the developer. Often, you will not find the rates directly posted on their website. This is usually because they like to do things by estimate, so simply contact them, give them a few specs, and go back and forth until you get a ballpark figure. When getting an estimate, make sure it is detailed and exact. Ask any questions that you have. If you think the price is too high, ask them about it. Don’t be afraid to counter-offer. They can always refuse.

Check out the developer’s contract. Make sure the client is protected. Pay attention to guarantees of response time. You want to make sure your developer is available for you. Also, look for their policy on project changes. Obviously, you cannot alter the specs of your project once an estimate is agreed upon without expecting additional fees. Ask them about this. Also, inspect the contract for warranty of work. Who will they handle bugs in the work they have done?

Talk With Them
Any developer you consider should have a method of being reached by phone. Call them and gauge their personality. Make sure they are good people who you can talk with and bounce ideas off of. See if they treat you right or act like they barely have time for you. Good communication is very important to a successful project, and if you can’t properly communicate to your developer, you should not hire him/her.

Evaluate
Evaluate your potential developers using the advice above and you will be more likely to have successfully completed project with minimal frustration

About the author: Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to web design, do please browse for more information at our websites.

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For small businesses, having a quality website can make all the difference between success and failure, but finding the ideal web design company can be a daunting task. There are numerous professional web design firms and freelance web designers all around the world so HOW do you go about selecting the right one to design your company’s website? Once you’ve planned what you want your site to achieve, you can start searching for the company that will bring your plan to life. You want to hire the best company for the job, so just as you would interview prospective candidates for a job vacancy, you need to ask web designers some important questions to ascertain whether they are suitable to undertake your project. I have put together a list of the 5 questions you must ask when selecting a web design company to help you through the selection process.

1. “Can you build the type of website I want?” This is one of the most important questions to ask. You can generally get a reasonable idea of the answer to this question by checking the web designer’s portfolio. If you can see examples of sites they have created for other companies in the same line of business as you and those sites look similar to what you have in mind, then the answer is more than likely going to be yes.

2. “What online marketing solutions do you use and do you have case studies/testimonials to prove that your techniques are successful?” Once you’ve established that a web design company can build a site to match your precise requirements, you need to consider how they will market your site. Particularly in the case of small businesses and companies just starting up, a well designed website is as good as worthless if potential customers can’t find it. Optimizing text to make it search engine friendly, designing e-mail marketing campaigns, managing pay-per-click campaigns and offering advice on affiliate marketing programs are all examples of the ways a professional web design firm can help you with Internet marketing.

3. “Does your company provide additional services such as web hosting or graphic design?” Small business owners often like to have all of their web related matters dealt with by one Web Design Company. Not only does this make the whole process easier to keep abreast with, but it can also work out cheaper if you have an ‘all inclusive’ package of services.

4. “How will you maintain my site once it is launched?” You need to know that your site will be managed properly after it has been launched. Bear in mind things such as the need to update content regularly, make modifications to the site’s layout and the possible expansion of your website once your business gets recognized. If your website has a content management system then you can update/add content yourself but changing the layout or enlarging your site is a job for the professionals.

5. “How long will it take to complete my site and how much will it cost me?” If you’ve received similar answers to the above questions from the designers you’ve talked to, this final question will probably determine which web design firm gets your business. A fixed price quotation is generally going to be a better bet than one based on hourly rates. If the web design firm is going to offer additional services such as Internet marketing and web hosting you may be able to negotiate a yearly fixed price contract.

Article Directory: http://www.article-tree.com

Colors that are in some way opposite to one another are referred to as complementary colors. Such colors make up the complementary color wheel. Avery defined Complementary Colors as early as 1895. In color science, two colors that combine to produce gray are known as complementary colors. In most color models, complementary colors lie roughly opposite to each other, with white towards the center. Colors that are placed opposite to each other on the Blue, Yellow, Red color wheel are complementary color wheels and when mixed, they produce the color gray.

In complementary color wheels, in most cases, fully saturated hues are considered. However, brightness and saturation are characteristics of colors. Brightness is basically the amount of the color wavelength. Thus, in a formal complementary color wheel, any color made of a particular wavelength can be balanced to produce white or gray by adding a particular brightness of the complementary wavelength.

Complementary color wheel comprises of:
Red and cyan a mixture of blue and green
Green and magenta a mixture of red and blue
Blue and Yellow yellow being the mixture of green and red

However, traditionally, complementary colors consist of the following pairs:
Green and Red
Orange and Blue
Purple and Yellow

Primary colors are red, blue and yellow. Usually, the compliment of a primary color is made by combining the other two.

Additive and Subtractive Color Mixings:
Light mixtures are called additive color mixing. As for example, the addition of red and yellow gives green. The behavior of dye or paint or pigment or ink mixings is referred to as subtractive color mixings. For instance, the combination of the complmentary colors, yellow and cyan, give green.

Color contrasts can be used to accentuate information or highlight items.

The complementary color wheel finds its use in the preparation of aesthetic arts and graphics. Complementary colors placed adjacently make each other come out and look vivid. This property is very useful when mixing colors. The human eye fails to focus on both red and blue simultaneously. This creates eye fatigue. As for example, using red type on a blue background will repel the readers and the message will not be registered by the target audience. Complementary colors should be chosen keeping this aspect of colors in mind. It is a wiser option to go with colors that belong to the same color family warm colors or cool colors. The two groups should not be mixed in type font.

In artistic complementary color wheels, the complementary colors may not follow the precise scientific definition of complementary colors. While mixing the color of paints, Newton’s color wheel is taken as the reference for complementary colors. According to this, complementary colors are those that cancel each other out to give any achromatic hue. An achromatic color is Gray, White or Black. In this complementary color wheel the fiery hues, which are the most saturated ones, are placed on the outer margin. The achromatic white is again at the center.

Keyword Articles: http://www.keywordarticles.org

Gary Terrazas is an online marketing consultant and co-owner of RGB Hex Color Wheel. An interactive color wheel allowing users to create complementary colors by picking a color on their desktop.