Accessibility is a crucial factor in website designing. Investing thoughts and elements on how the website looks is all well but what is more important is how accessible the it is to visitors and prospective customers.

An ideal website design focuses on letting the visitors attain a higher level of accessibility into the website. Here are some tips that can help you create a website design that allows visitors to come through with minimal troubles:

ALT Text
Do make sure to include meaningful ALT text in your website design. Visually impaired users are able to browse through the site when their screen readers read aloud the ALT text. With the ALT text missing from your website design, your website will potentially be unusable for your blind visitors and you could end up losing out on potential customers.

Correct Spellings
Screen readers are not able to pronounce words that are misspelled. So, if the content of your website has any spelling errors the screen readers will completely ignore the word and the sentence will make no sense to the user. Visually impaired users have a sense of your web design through what the screen readers portray. And if they have a bad impression, you stand to lose business. Avoid Abbreviations As much as you can, avoid using abbreviations.

Just like screen readers don’t recognize spelling errors, the same way it fails to know abbreviated words. They try to spell it out and end up pronouncing some undecipherable word. For example you might be able to know that ‘eg’ is example but the screen reader may pronounce it as ‘egg.’ Thus, it is always better to use good website design practices to make life easier for your users.

Contrasting Colors for Text
Dark text on a light or white background is the tried and tested best for most people as it increases readability. Even if you are using other colors make sure to keep the text color in dark contrast to the background.

Readable Text
Make your text resizable so that people with poor eyesight are able to resize the content matter to suit them.

Colors and CSS
Adjust the colors of your website using web design solutions such as CSS. Thus, if by chance visitors find your default stylesheet hard to use, they can turn it off and use their own stylesheet.

Sensible Links
Make sure that all the links on your website make sense even out of context. Visually impaired people often skip through the links on a page. Links like ‘Click here’ does not make any sense to them. rather try framing ‘Click here for more information about website design.’ This would tell them what exactly are they for.

What are RSS feeds?

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format. An RSS document which is called a feed includes full or summarized text plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

Does my website have a RSS feed?

If you are using a platform as WordPress or similar content managament system then you have,if you use static html pages then you can use some scripts to create rss feeds for your website, if you are using a php, asp or similar dynamic pages connected to database than this is a easy task to acomlish with few lines of coding.

What information you need to prepare for submission?

You need url of your main website, url of your rss feed, description of your website or service, and few keywords you try to rank your website in search engines.

How to submit?

Submmision process is easy, you need to navigate to proper category where you wish to submit your url and rss feeds.After submitting your website and feed will be reviewed by directory editor and will be approved if it is under directory submission guidelines.

Follow submission guidelines

Rss feeds and web directories have submission guidelines read them before you submit you url and rss feed to any web or rss feed directory. If you website is in adult,gambling or illegal niche you will probably be rejected. Also do not submit sites that are not finished or are under construction, the title field should have the name/title of your site, not a bunch of keywords.

How submission of rss feeds to rss feeds directory will help my site?

After a successful submission you website willl be included in rss feeds directory with all links in your rss feeds which point to pages of your website.This way your web pages will have more visibility for search engines and will better rank in major search engines like Google and Yahoo.

So Start to Submit your rss feeds to free rss feeds directory like for ex: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

Unless you’ve built a website just to showcase your collection of salt and pepper shakers, you probably want to attract some visitors. If your business depends on your site attracting visitors and soliciting sales, then web traffic is essential.

Simply submitting your site to search engines is not enough. You should work with your Webmaster to implement these ten tips to increase the level of traffic to your site.

1. Content, Content, Content!
First and foremost, make sure that your site is informative! Don’t just list your services, elaborate on what you do and why you do it well. The more detailed you are in your website, the better your search engine results will be.

2. Classified Ads
Take advantage of the variety of free online classified ad websites and get the word out about your new site!Be sure to always post a working link to your website. Get help from your webmaster on the proper html coding for a classified ad post if you need it.

3. Articles
One of the best steps you can take to promote your site is to write and publish articles (just like this one!). First, an informative article helps establish that you’re an expert in your particular field. Once a reader finishes the article, they may be inclined to follow a link to your website to learn more about you and your business.

More importantly, once you’ve distributed your article to some of the many online article directories, you’ll have created additional links back to your website that search engines will see and count. More on that in a moment.

4. Local Directories
There are two basic kinds of directories that should interest you. First, there are regional directories, perhaps for your local metropolitan area, then there are industry-specific directories. These are similar to search engines in that they list other web sites, but they’re compiled and organized differently. Additionally, many directories allow you to create an online profile that will include information about your business, rather than just a link to your website.

Take a few minutes to do some searches for directories in your area and in your industry, and submit your site to any you find appropriate.

5. Newsletters
Online Newsletters or eZine’s are a great way to keep your existing and potential clients aware of news or changes within your business. If your business model can support a regular newsletter, you should encourage visitors to your website to sign up for it. You might offer them a free copy of one of the great articles you’ve already written, as a reward for signing up.

When you’re writing for your newsletter, make sure that each of your topics has a Title, a Teaser, then a link back to your website to read the rest of the topic. If your topics are interesting and timely, then you’ll ensure repeat visits to your site.

6. Forums and Newsgroups
Another way to attract new visitors is to participate in online forums and discussions. Be sure to take the time to understand what the forum or newsgroup is about, and be respectful of other members. Simply posting ads or links to your website will likely just get you banned. Instead, post comments or questions that are on point, including a simple link to your site in your signature, and you’ll be rewarded with interested responses and visitors to your site.

7. Press Releases
Many businesses forget the power of a press release. When you have something that’s newsworthy, like the opening of your business, let the press know! They’re happy to print your release if they think it will be interest to their readers. When distributing press releases, be sure to look for online PR distributors, as well as your local news media. There are sites you can post your release for free, and other sites that will distribute your release for a nominal fee.

8. Blogs, Social Networking and Social Bookmarking
Blogs are online journals, and there are a number of websites that offer free blogging accounts. With your online journal, you can post a few tips or even full-fledged articles. If you submit new posts consistently, and the topics are interesting, you’ll start to attract a variety of visitors. There are a variety of networking sites, both social and professional, that will allow you to create an online profile for yourself and your business.

Finally, you should look in to creating accounts on several of the social bookmarking sites that have cropped up. These are sites that allow you to simply bookmark and comment on other websites.

9. Reciprocal Links
It’s very important that you find other websites that are willing to put a link on their site to yours. Some of the above methods will help accomplish this, but you should also give some thought to other site options, particularly sites that are related to your business. For instance, you might see if your Chamber of Commerce has a website, and if they do, make sure you have a link by your membership name. You might also consider other businesses that compliment yours, like how a mortgage company and a title company are complimentary. When approaching these businesses, you would offer to put a link on your site to their business, in exchange for a link on their site to your own business.

Not only will visitors to these other sites see the link to your site and follow it, but as we discussed previously, these additional links to your site will help your search engine ranking tremendously. Each link on a non-directory website is like a vote of confidence in you and your website.

10. Email and Letters
There are a variety of other ways to promote your website. For instance, every piece of communication that comes from your business should include your web address. Your email can have it in the signature, your letterhead can have it in the address area, and certainly it should be included on business cards.

Make sure that your email address is from your website and not your internet service provider. Why advertise for ABC.net when you could be advertising for YourCompany.com ?

So, I hope that you’ve gained a couple of ideas on how you can promote your website, and note that none of the above methods has to cost you any money, just a little time and effort.

The abbreviation known as DNS stands for domain name servers. They are an important but invisible part of the Internet. But first let me tell you a little bit about domain names…

A domain name is what appears on the address bar of an Internet page such as www.example.com. It is the address of the website that you are visiting. Your domain name is highly important to the success of your website; for a start your domain name should reflect what your business is about. So if you are in the business of selling phones your domain name should ideally have the word phone in it. This is because if someone conducts a search for phones your website will have more of a chance of appearing if you have this keyword in the address of your website.

New domain names are usually registered through the registrar for annual terms with a minimum of one year. The maximum length of prepaid registration is often 10 years, but varies depending on the policies of the sponsoring registry of the top-level domain under which registration is sought. Registration periods may be extended, usually at any time, until the end of a grace period after the registration expiration date. Domain names should also be kept short and should be something that is easy to remember so that people will be more likely to type your websites address into their browser.

Your domain name doesn’t actually appear as words, well it does to us but the actual name of your website is a 32 bit number, for example 199.249.130.4. Every website on the Internet has a number like this, they are known as the sites IP address. As well as every site having an IP address, every computer that is connected to the Internet also has their own IP address.

The reason that these IP addresses are changed into words is simply down to the fact that words are easier to remember. It is difficult to remember IP addresses, especially with how many IP addresses there actually are. Think about all of the sites that you visit daily, if these sites were all named with numbers would you be able to remember them all? The vast majority of us certainly couldn’t!

So when you type a websites address into your browser why doesn’t it appear as numbers, how does the computer find the site you are looking for? This is where a domain name server comes in. A domain name server converts the IP address of websites into words. The flexibility of the domain name system allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned to a single domain name, or multiple domain names to be services from a single IP address.

This means that one server may have multiple roles (such as hosting multiple independent websites), or that one role can be spread among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers, as used in any cast networking.

If you are using the Internet on a daily basis, you are already aware that the majority of Internet traffic is generated by search engines and directories. You’ve probably surfed the web and spent hours looking for instructions on optimizing your web site and submitting to search engines and directories. Much of this information is confusing and overwhelming and I can hear you screaming for help.

Getting ready to submit your site to search engines and directories can be time consuming if you do it yourself but it does not have to be complicated. I have reviewed hundreds of web sites as part of my business services and I discovered ten simple steps you need to take to get prepared for search engine and directory submission.

1. Build a professional web site. Buy your own domain name and get reliable hosting. Create or purchase a simple template design that fits the theme of your site.

2. Create a clear navigation structure and site map. Decide on your navigation in advance and make sure it is easy to use and it leads to all the pages on your site.

3. Add original content written for visitors and not search engine spiders. If you feel you cannot write well then visit Guru.com or Elance.com and hire an affordable copywriter.

4. Do your keyword research. Use free or paid keyword tools to find the most popular and targeted keywords for your text, headlines and meta tags.

5. Finish your website. Although you will add new content frequently it is important to show that your existing content is finished. Never use “under construction” signs and remove blank pages.

6. Regularly check all internal and external links to make sure they are working. Search engines and directories will not list sites full of broken links.

7. Don’t hide your contact information or privacy policy. Let visitors, search engines and directories know you are accessible and professional.

8. Check your grammar and spelling. Search engines hate sloppy, unprofessional text and I bet your visitors will too. See tip #3 above if you need to hire a proofreader.

9. Choose a tracking system and learn to use it to analyze your web site traffic. Without this you will have no idea if anyone is visiting your site.

10. Check your search engine ranking and link popularity reports regularly to monitor your results. There are many web sites that offer these tools. Find and use them.

When you have gone through and finished all ten steps then you are ready to begin your submission to search engines and directories. This is a complicated and time consuming task because you have to evaluate the reputation and ranking of each site, the available web site topics, how often you need to submit, the information they require from each site and you will need to determine if submission is free or paid.

There is software available that will help you with the preparation and submission process and reduce the time you have to spend significantly. If you decide to purchase software use due diligence before spending your money and make sure it is search engine friendly and that it performs the necessary tasks. Check for references from satisfied customers and make sure the software provides various reports so you can monitor your progress.

You may be on with your first website or you are redesigning a existing website, which is not functioning well. When you begin a website, your purpose should be very clear. For example: If you are a web design firm, you want to show off your high tech services keeping a particular kind of customers / visitors in mind. Keep it as simple and as direct as the functionality and purpose of the site allows you to.

A web designer has very little control on the page display since it depends mainly on the browser. However, making a webpage look similar on various browsers is challenging as well as rewarding. While creating a site, a web designer has to keep certain things in mind such as:

1. Various browsers
2. various versions of browsers
3. Operating system used by the customer
4. screen display area
5. Availability of plugin

One thing you must remember that a website is designed keeping visitors and customers in mind. Good designers look at their website through the eyes of their visitors. For example- if you run a site, which sells a product for elderly, you should make the layout easy, the font size large and design simple.

Optimizing web pages is the most important aspect of web design. An optimized web page loads quickly on the client’s system and your web visitor can quickly get the information they had come for.

Your website should reflect what your company is all about. That is why, the color is an important aspect in portraying your company. Blues and greys are considered as good colors for professional websites. The color used in your website should complement your company website’s logo.

While thinking of font size on your web page, write only in browser compatible fonts, because what looks good in your browser may not look the same in your customer’s browser.

Simple and clean website with little color and lots of white space can be a good site. Graphics should be few. The navigation system should consist of -

1. Left-side menu
2. Site search in the top corner
3. Major categories in the dark color bar
4. Services, shopping in grey blocks
5. Recent releases.

Photos can be effective on business websites. Well-composed photos can add a touch of class to your web pages. Commercial web sites are built from templates. You should build a template that constructs each part of typical webpage with a hole at the centre for content. You can create page after page from the template. For each page, you have to insert a page title, meta tag content, a headline and text content.

What actually makes a good website? Well, some of you might say a good website must be function-riched; others might think different and says that a good website must be nicely design, or fresh contents, or info-riched, the list goes on. Apparently, we can never have clear guidelines on a good website as different people have different preferences.

Nevertheless, regardless of people’s preferences, there are five essential elements that you cannot afford to miss if you wish to server a good website to your users.

Firstly a good website should always have a consistent style of content and design. Changing font colors and tone of writing from page to page will give weird feelings to your web users. Inconsistent stance on certain and change of tone in your writing style will definitely confuse your web users and harm the site creditability.

Secondly, a good website needs a proper navigation. Imagine your website as your garden; you do not want your users to lost middle in the way unless you’re planning to build a maze. Good site navigation will assure pleasant user experience and smooth information flow from the web publisher to the users. As a common standard (but not a must) of web designs, main navigations are often placed on top or on the side of website first fold for user convenience.

Also, on top of proper designed site navigation, an on-site search function will be a huge plus. A search function allows your users to get his/her desired page faster; a search function allows your buried deep content to get on top of the surface; a search function allows web owners to keep track on what he wrote previously easily. There are tons of ways to place a search bar on your website without knowing any programming skills. Google on-site search bar is a very good tool where very webmaster should use.

Thirdly, a reliable web hosting is a must for all websites. Fast response time, reliable server uptime – all these are must have for a good website. Your website must be accessible all the time and users should not be waiting too long for the website to response. Picking up a reliable web hosting is crucial for starter websites, upgrading your hosting plans or improving your own server resources are some of the instant step you can take to improve.

Accuracy is the fourth important element for a good website. You might not have too much time organizing your website but the info served should be accurate and up to date always. Your users are there to obtain information and its no good at all if you’re serving incorrect info to them.

Last but not least, give your web visitors a chance to contact you. Unless you are trying to con your web users, else your website contacts should be displayed with extra care and attention. Make sure that you placed your contacts, such as emails and phone number, are properly displayed. This is very important so that you web visitors can contact you if they feel the need to.

Listed above are the top five elements that a good website must have. Does your website have it all? You better start working on them if the answer is no.

If you read any internet e-book or guru’s guide, and you’ll find pages of information on how to build a landing page, SEO, article writing, and more. When you have those elements accomplished, they say, launch that puppy and watch the money roll in! But go to their sites, and you’ll see something at the bottom of each page that is not mentioned anywhere. You’ll see links to a Privacy Policy Page, Terms of Service, Disclaimer, Contact and Site Map.

Do you need these pages? And if you need them, how do you get them?

I say you really should have them: here’s why and how :—

A Privacy Policy page first guarantees your visitors that you won’t be distributing their information on the internet, and second lets them know how the information they submit to you will be used. This is key to building trust. Be specific and let visitors know how you will contact them. Writing this is a specialized job. It’s easiest to do a search for “Privacy Policy Generator.” This will bring up hundreds of websites who will do it on the spot for you. Don’t worry if some of the questions don’t fit your site, you can edit later. When it is finished, cut and paste the policy to your text editor, then you can personalize it to match your site. It’s nice to mention who generated it for you.

There is some crossover between your terms of service and your disclaimer. If you are selling a product or service, or representing something, make sure that you clarify that service is for visitors who are 18 and over. Terms of service covers your policy on returns, warantees and guarantees. Spell it out clearly, because people are sticklers for accuracy! You may also list your copyright information, let people know you are not responsible for information on sites that you have external links to, and if you are claiming a certain outcome of the use of a product or service ( i.e.- amount of income, clarity of skin, pounds of weight loss), make sure you note that your results may not be typical. Generators for TOS and disclaimer can be found free too.

Your contact page lets your visitors know how to contact you. The best way is to set up email within your host- it’s usually included- and make it match your site. For example: yourname@yoursite.com. You can also buy email names from places like GoDaddy, or you can purchase an auto-responder service like Aweber.

The site map is one of the most important elements. This has the purpose of helping the search engines find your site when a keyword is being searched, letting you watch how deeply linked your site becomes, and helping you find broken links within your site. One broken link can mean the difference between being found, and forever wallowing in the ether. I suggest using something that is compatible with Google. Personally I went to xml-sitemaps just to get my site crawled and indexed. Then I got verified by Google, and I keep track of my information through them. This can be a tedious and frustrating process, but it’s worth it.

Finishing your website and getting it launched is a joy like no other. However it’s important to make sure that with your great content you make sure your bases are covered. You can probably get away with not having a Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, TOS and Site Map- but you leave yourself open to unscrupulous players. Given that you can find all of this for free on the internet, there’s no excuse for not adding these valuable elements to each of your pages.