Building a credible website community from scratch takes a lot of dedication. Even more so than dedication is the requirement for patience. Networks take time to build and will require daily care in order to mature into a strong web entity.

Why Social Networks?

An interesting comparison relates to the growth of the Internet and how lacking our society is on trust. Many people will connect with strangers via social profiles yet wouldn’t even pass a “hello” onto the very same person had they met physically.

Websites support this node system because a large user base finds the services appealing. Having a direct connection to a large list of people you may talk with at any given point is priceless. Couple this theory with a beautiful user interface and you’ve got a well-oiled social machine.

We are evolving as a species, and thus finding more enjoyment in creating and interacting with networks. Connecting with other people has proven to show boosts in overall mood and general outlook on life. With so many of us busy at work it’s hard to find time to connect. The Internet is a medium which fills the role very well, almost to the point of dependence.

What is Community Essence?

Ideas will pop up from time to time that may change your way of thinking. Imagining a community website as a series of interconnected nodes helps to demonstrate a larger point among all social networks. The essence behind these connections is to grow and share information in ways previously unavailable.

What keeps visitors coming back is the strong surrounding user base and like-minded ideals. You’ll attract more visitors if you have a goal or interest in mind. It isn’t common to see active networks of people without a common goal or interest at heart.

Offer tools to your visitors which they can’t find elsewhere. For example, if you were to develop a Twitter-themed network you may place profile information from each user’s Twitter account. You could also implement the option for an OAuth connection between each user profile and their Twitter account. This is a small scale example but can work in all niches.

Solid Programming Techniques

Community will build much quicker with a good foundation. When building a web application keep all file structures and database tables neatly organized. There have been many situations in the past where a startup network won’t have enough computation power to load the site after a large influx of users. Servers crash and the site is rendered unusable – this can either cause your current base to flee or stir up some interest in the media.

If you aren’t as strong with programming it may be wise to partner up with a close friend or acquaintance. Many web frameworks are available to ease the workload on projects where intensive function libraries are required. This will also free your mind to work on other strategies in design and marketing.

However not all of us know web developers, never mind top notch professionals. The learning curve for PHP/MySQL or Ruby on Rails is steep for the initial 2-4 weeks. After a few practice applications and spending some time in the development environment things get a lot easier. If you find yourself curious about development set time aside to learn. You don’t need to depend on anybody else for updates and you hold full control of the work pace.

Don’t Leave Your Members In The Dark

Members of your website are like fans to your brand. When you have people not only registering an account but also returning to your site daily/weekly it’s fairly obvious you’ve built something great. There is a level of trust placed between users and website administrators. If this is broken it can spell the downfall of any social network.

A recent example is the release of Digg v4. Closing in to the release date many top Diggers in the community were fighting the changes. The Digg staff wasn’t updating much on the blog aside from a small beta program (for those who got invited). The launch was very sudden and came with more down time than I’ve ever seen at Digg.

Since the launch many now ex-diggers have fled to other networks such as Reddit. The community has gone through a major collapse, although Rose and developers plan to add more functionality and fix issues over time. The new design has come a long way since first release. This community still hasn’t fully bounced back from the incident and it’s difficult to predict if Digg will ever return to king status.

Be Original

Original ideas are hard to come by. These days it seems anybody with sub-par development skills is launching the next hot app. These will die of faster than most and may earn the creator some small revenue. But money should not be the main purpose of launching a new community.

It’s perfectly acceptable to borrow and innovate off others’ ideas. This has been happening for centuries and will continue to govern laws of creativity well into the future. It’s a difficult transition, but learning how to adapt and inject your own ideas is a science which can only be learned through practice.

These tips should give you a good idea of how communities develop. Over time you can track analytics and learn about your userbase from an objective perspective. It’s a very rewarding experience to provide a small mass with services they truly value.

There are plenty more tips online for marketing and promotion but the best way to fight curiosity is diving head-first into building a community. Take away as many lessons as possible from your initial launches and apply these to future projects. When it comes to social networking it seems there is always room to grow.

Source: http://webdesignledger.com/

Here is a sum up of the main innovations that the Apple CEO has announced:

• The release of iOS 4.1, an updated version of iOS4. Bugs that are fixed with it: Proximity, bluetooth and iPhone 3G performance issues. It also features Game Center support. Available next week for iPhone and iPod Touch.
• iOS 4.2 available for iPad. It features airplay wireless music and video streaming from iTunes.
• The new and very small Multitouch iPod Nano. $149 for 8GB; $179 for the 16GB version.
• The latest version of the ”#1 portable game player in the world”, the iPod Touch. It’s thinner than it’s predecessor and it comes with both a font facing and a back camera that can record HD video. It will be available next week for $229 (8GB), $299 (32GB) and $399 (64GB).
• iTunes 10 and Apple’s social network for music: Ping! Like other social networks, you can update your status, post content, follow people and they can follow you back. The only difference is, while doing all that, you’re going to have music suggestions and concert propositions from iTunes and you will be able to pass your music around very easily.
• Last but not least: the new Apple TV! It fits in the palm of your hand, streams content from your computer, streams Netflix content, it allows you to rent HD TV shows for $0.99 each and you can buy it for the surprisingly affordable price of $99.

Real improvements or just the same old Apple products?

Understanding the searcher intent

Every search query has a motivation behind, segmenting the searcher’s intent gives you a better perspective on which keywords to target depending on your business.
It is generally accepted that there are three types of search queries:

• 1. Navigational
• 2. Informational
• 3. Transactional

Navigational queries are made with the intention to go directly to a specific website or resource. The user will type the domain name, the brand name, a company, or an organization.

EX: Yellow Pages, Expedia, Amazon, United Nations.

Informational queries are used by users while trying to learn about something or need information about a topic. They will use query triggers like `how to…` `what is…`

EX: How to repair a laptop, what is the capital of France, who is Fidel Castro

Transactional queries are about searchers who want to take a specific action, purchasing an item or registering to a service. These queries can be split into 2 categories, commercial investigation and buying mode.

Commercial Investigation queries can be defined as comparison and review modes. They use query triggers like ‘best ‘ `recommended ` ‘review’ ‘rated’

EX: best laptop, top rated smart phones, smart phone comparison, best dating sites

Buying queries are used by surfers who know exactly what they want . They use query triggers like ‘cheap’ ‘discount’ ‘price’ ‘buy’

EX: cheap laptops, HDTVs on sale, discount flights

Build your keyword list around searcher’s intent; it will help you building targeted web pages with better call to action and click-through rates, leading to higher conversion rates.
Understanding the long tail

most search marketers are chasing head keywords, the very popular ones with large volume of searchers. When this strategy may be good, it still missing on a huge volume of traffic from the invisible long tail.

“At Google’s Universal Search announcement, Udi Manber put up a slide stating that 20% to 25% of the search queries Google sees every day are search queries it has never seen before. “

Capturing searches within the long tail has become an obligation in today’s competitive market. The long tail queries may have a very low volume of search but the number of queries largely compensates this weakness.

How to tap into the long tail?
Since you’re targeting queries that have never been used in the past, you will need to take a proactive approach by adding more contextual content using your keyword research. Identifying the patterns into your niche is essential, what content your users are looking for? Use Google trends and social media tools for more ideas. Use your analytics data and PPC data if available to dig deeper.

Build your website content around these themes; define a content strategy for your blog using trend previsions.

Understanding the keyword difficulty
It is all about picking keyword fights you can win, it is essential to understand the work required in order to achieve top ranking. Some keywords may need months or years of work before attaining the top 10, especially when building a brand new site. Analyzing keywords difficulty and making the right choices can make an SEO campaign success or fail.

Link building

4 ways to use Twitter for link building: find new link building opportunities with social media

Link building strategy phase one: How to save time and build links with little effort

A BlueGlass conference in LA on how to measure and attain links with major industry speakers like Rand Fishkin & Dave Snyder

Great link baiting sites and how they proceed to attract links on a regular basis

Keyword Research

Capitalize on the long tail: Keyword research optimization for existing content to leverage the missing long tail opportunities.

SEO

How SEOs can destroy the information architecture of a website: Why information architects knows more about the user’s intent.

A 2010 portrait of SEOs: Probably the funniest Seo article so far this year

SEOs the villains and why we hate them

Site Speed for SEO: The correlation between site speed and pages crawled by Google

How Web design and SEOs are merging: Examples of great web designs that help increasing organic traffic opportunities.

Another session from BlueGlass reported on BruceClay’s blog: Learn how to not fail at getting organic traffic from search engines.

Paid Search

A very interesting forum post on Webmasterworld about Quality score VS quality of traffic

How to use Ad sitelinks to maximize conversion rates by getting more control on your CTR and landing pages.

Automated PPC Bid Management? A good overview on what the industry is really offering now

Web analytics

Another great article by Avinash: Which data to analyze to make analytic reports more clear and useful.

How to use Google Analytics to redesign a website: Why our web analytic data is important to make effective marketing decisions.

Mobile Search

The mobile search landscape: Why you need to take this field seriously

A video interview featuring the director of engagement strategy for 1000heads: the evolution of Mobile Ecommerce.

First, what’s an Ad Network?

Ad networks appeared to solve a problem for advertisers wanting to reach a large audience like they use to do on traditional media: TV, newspaper etc…
Since the internet audience is fragmented on different websites, Ad networks start managing Ad spots on multiple websites and offered this audience to large brands. It’s a win-win situation for both, giving the ability to advertisers to reach large internet audiences and publishers to ability to sell more inventories.

The majority of Ad networks work like the following:

1.    Forecast the inventory available to sell on their publishers properties
2.    Make deals with advertisers to sell the inventory
3.    Deliver the sold inventory

Examples of Ad networks:

•    Google Adsense
•    Yahoo publisher network
•    AOL Advertising
•    24/7 Real media

Ok then what about Ad exchanges?

Ad exchanges are an auction marketplace where each impression (banner /creative impression) is auctioned in “real time” between multiple advertisers. They provide advertisers with a high level of Data about the visitor and the web page the Ad spot is auctioned, enabling the advertiser to modify/manage his strategy in real time.

Instead of selling the whole inventory of a website in advanced, by forecasting the needs and ending up with un-sold or oversold inventories, Real time ad exchanges optimize the operations for both, publishers and advertisers while maximizing the profits and revenues.

When advertisers bid for an impression, they usually base it on 3 levels:

1. •    The visitor: Behavioral and demographic of the user
2. •    The Ad spot context: the subject of the web page
3. •    The creative: the size of the ad, rich media etc..

The auction process is done in milliseconds.

Examples of Ad networks:

•    Double Click
•    OpenX Market
•    Yahoo Right Media

Definitely, Ad Exchanges are a new opportunity for publishers to achieve higher revenues per CPM.

• 1.  Set Your Title Tags

Did you know that each page on your website has a space for descriptive title tags? The tags must be filled out with a brief description and a title in order for your site to reap the benefits of proper search engine optimization. These titles are found to be blue, bold and very distinct when searchers look for websites on search engines. The search engines construct the titles that come up with your brief description and link on search results from – you guessed it – the actual title tags on your pages that you set up.  So if you were trying to sell lakefront property Utah homes, you might want to put the term, ‘lakefront property Utah homes’ as a title tag for your main page. Typically, people put their main keywords as their title tags on various pages in order to receive optimal SEO value.

• 2.  Online Press Release

Why would anyone want to send out a press release? Well, basically you’ll be spreading the word. Every blogger, journalist and other type of website owner is constantly looking for new information online. So give it to them! It’s a great way to spread your presence online, to promote your products and to build backlinks to your website. Backlinks are an essential part of SEO, which means that online press releases should absolutely be incorporated into your SEO strategy. It’s simply a fantastic method for pulling in more targeted traffic to your website.

• 3.  Create a Blog

It’s been recently speculated that Google has changed their algorithms to place more emphasis on websites that have more content on them. Therefore, less is not more in this case. More is always better which means the more content you can put on your site, the better the chances it has of ranking. This can pose a problem for the smaller websites that are only promoting a handful of products. Since they won’t have pages and pages of products to list, instead they can add a blog to their website and have pages and pages of blog posts. This is a fantastic way to build up content on a website with rich (but not too rich) keyword density.

So there you have it. There are three SEO techniques that are effective, inexpensive and available to any website, regardless of their size or marketing budget. It doesn’t cost anything to set your title tags on your website’s pages. It also doesn’t take much effort to throw together an online press release about your company and products. Creating a blog will take some upkeep, but it is also free to maintain which leaves no excuse for not taking advantage of these three techniques. Put them to good use and watch your ratings rise.

Author: Ryan Chaffin

I have compiled a list of five very interesting package design related sites. I am not inferring that this is the best you will find out there since I have not seen it all. These are the best results I came across while researching.

• 1. LOVELY PACKAGE – lovelypackage.com
  

This is by far my favorite site! I frequent it as often as possible. Lovely Package features amazing package designs of products from around the world and provides brief descriptions of the designers and the package’s product. Sometimes, they fail to mention the package’s intended product which poses a problem especially when the writing on the package is in a foreign language and typography; it makes the package difficult to appreciate. They have daily additions, and keep previous ones, so for those who are new to the site, you will have hundreds of archival pages to explore. Every time I visit the site, I spend at least an hour going backwards because of the massive amount of posts that accumulate in little time.

• 2. THE DIELINE – thedieline.com
  

This site/blog provides a lot of goodies for package designers. Similarly to Lovely Package, the site features internationally innovative package designs. There is also a Directory with a useful list of package design companies, organized by country location. The Dieline also has an Awards page where the site administrators choose from package designs, and extol a select few. There is a very useful Jobs page that features an extensive list of package design jobs in North America (US/Canada). This site is quite a treat.

• 3. PACKAGE DESIGN MAGAZINE – packagedesignmag.com
  

This is perfect for those who are really into the business of package design and want to know the latest info about everything. Package Design Magazine Online is basically a hub for everything package design related. This site features articles about the Industry, design, companies, package material news, etc. The articles feature pictures related to the topics of discussion, for those of you simply looking for captivating visuals. Thankfully, the articles themselves are quite illuminating in terms of Industry trends, which can have overlapping resonance in web design trends. Their Calendar announces important package design-related events, conventions, and expos. There are podcasts and newsletters, but I must admit that I am not too fond of the site’s architecture; it could use some improving and reorganizing. This is a great site for practicing package designers and hopeful students.

• 4. DZINE – dzinebites.blogspot.com
  

I stumbled across this design blog that featured a list of cool package designs. It is a lot like Lovely Package, but of a smaller magnitude. On the right sidebar, there is an interesting list of design sites under the title ‘Inspirations.’ This means more sources to discover! I am sure there are dozens of other bloggers out there posting their favorite designs on their own personal blogs too. On DZINE I also came across another blog’s link [www.payal-shah.blogspot.com]. This blog also features pretty interesting designs and ads. I was impressed by a collection of ads, made for a clothing brand called Stori, which portrayed comic book superheroes as every-day men.

• 5. LOOKS GOOD – looks.gd
  

This is an online Design Magazine that provides resources and inspiration for designers of all types. It really is a delicious site! There are so many interesting posts to explore that feature original works in their designated fields (i.e. Advertising, Web Design, Typography, etc.). What more can I say? Go check it out for yourself!

DID I MISS SOMETHING?

I may not have mentioned some sites you may know and find important. I apologize for not knowing all the good ones, but that’s why the Comment section exists! Please share any other links you know and love so that we can all benefit from the gold mines.

By Marie-Ange Audigé

MORE LINKS

“100+ Minimal & Typographic Package Designs”

“Cool Packaging”

“25 Examples of Amazing Packaging Design”

“50+ Examples of Beautiful Packaging”

“Beautiful and Expensive Packaging Design”

A great site for Designers in general

Bittbox – A blog with a lot of useful material for designers

Design Muse – A package designer’s blog

That is what makes web design not only a craft, but a vital part of Website Development. It is an art form in itself, and consists of many tasks. There are tricks and steps one can take in order to become a real certified Web Designer…

1. The Lingo

The online language is always a good place to start. When you want to travel to a foreign destination, you first think of how you will communicate with the locals, right? Well, the same goes for the internet. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the basics, the ‘matrix code’ behind a website. Although it seems intimidating, it is easily picked up. Afterward, it is all a matter of practice and repetition. It is essential to know HTML and really helps one get around site building software and all the little interface variations one may encounter. The next steps are XML, XHTML, and CSS for more advanced scripting. Further on, you can pick up PHP and MySQL to develop dynamic websites in which you design a base template for the site and edit each page instead of having to design each HTML page one by one. Be careful! Try not to bite off more than you can chew, which will only lead to discouragement and abandoned efforts. Learn each component at your own comfortable pace and take your time where necessary. For more technical details and information, check out the WikiHow.com Source Link below on how to become a web designer.

2. Applications & Software

There is a whole list of software, costly and free, that one can acquire for web design.

Free Software

* GIMP
* Inkscape
* See Links below for more

Major Software

* Adobe Photoshop
* Adobe Illustrator
* Adobe Fireworks
* Adobe Dreamweaver (for putting your website online)

3. Be Versatile

Compatibility is something many may not think of immediately, but it can be an issue in web design and development. When you decide to build and design a website, make sure your methods are compatible with all the top web browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape, Google Chrome, etc. Also consider the different computer screen sizes. What may happen sometimes – especially with online content management systems (CMS) – is that you may design a page layout according to your computer screen’s size and someone with a smaller monitor will open the website and find that things are misplaced and jumbled. With the different web browsers, some web components may not function on one even though they worked perfectly with another.

4. Content & Design

A web designer needs to know how to master layout, color schemes, placement, legibility, accessibility of presented content, attractiveness of each page, navigation bar design and interactivity, among other visual and interactive website components. Knowing how to copyright is also very useful. Being the site content editor is a huge advantage because not only do you get to present and write the material, you also have the flexibility of making it fit into your ultimate design. Integrating text and art becomes much more enjoyable.

5. Tutorials & Classes

The internet is full of tutorials on HTML, Photoshop, and other such Web Design features. The trick is in finding them. Some people prefer to go the formal route, even though it is not crucial in this field. It does help to have a formal Certificate or Diploma certifying your knowledge in the field of Web Design, and signing up for programs does lead to Networking opportunities that are otherwise inaccessible. However, School programs can be quite expensive and do not guarantee you a place in the field of Web Design. Below in Links I have provided a link to a free online HTML Tutorial.

6. Observation

Another useful pass-time is observation. Surf the net, check out award-winning websites and look up the sites of leading firms for inspiration. Notice the color choices, the layout, navigation bar, the amount of information present and how it is presented. Try to notice everything, in detail.

7. Practice, practice, practice

Along with observation comes action. Learn from what you see and start by trying to re-create your favorite designs using whatever program you have access to. Try to practice one project per each program mentioned earlier, so as to ensure you cover the basics and know your way around a bit. Practicing is the only way to stay relevant and move forward in your skill development.

8. Portfolio

Practice would be nothing if it did not serve a purpose. Take what you have learned, what you have built, what you are most proud of, and put it in a special place. Build a portfolio, and keep working on it even after you have reached your Web Designer status. An up-to-date portfolio breathes more life and makes you stand out as a designer. The best way to showcase your designs is by designing a website to sell yourself! It is the ultimate project. Not only do you get to really focus on developing an identity and a style that can be associated to your name, but if done well, it will also make your portfolio look better. A lovely platform makes anything that stands on it lovelier. If anything, that is the one investment you should make. You do not have to get a diploma in web design, or buy all of the fancy software, but you should get yourself a personal domain name to showcase what you can do. Invest in yourself and others will want to as well.

9. Contractor: Freelance or Design Firm?

After you’ve learned all you need to learn in order to get your foot in the door, you can either decide to be a contractor or work for a firm. As a freelance contractor, you work on a contract-per-contract basis, and nothing is static or routine. You get clients, work with them, complete your mandate, and then take on the next job. A lot of people prefer a salary, an office, and a hierarchy. You can work for either contracting firms who find the work for you, or other type of web service companies.

10. Keep Learning!

Being a Web Designer is a continuous process. Nothing is set in stone. There are always new tricks, new designs, and new ideas surfacing out there. Also, as an artist, you need to keep an open mind about what it is people want to see and what it is people maybe have never seen. It is your job to make sure you stand out; keep in mind the growing competition in this fast-paced Industry. The only way you stand afloat is by differentiating yourself, or offering your services at a very attractive price/quality ration.

By Marie-Ange Audigé

LINKS

* HTML Tutorial

http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp

* Free Web Editors

http://webdesign.about.com/od/windowshtmleditors/tp/free-windows-editors.htm

* Free Hosting Sites

http://freehostia.com/hosting.html

http://www.110mb.com/

* Great Design Site with interesting Articles, Tips, Inspirational Content for Aspiring and Practicing Designers

http://dezineblog.com

SOURCES

http://webdesign.about.com/od/jobs/p/aa031703a.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_2222858_become-web-designer.html

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-become-a-web-designer

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Professional-Web-Designer-and-Programmer

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/a_recipe_for_learning_web_design

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Upcoming SEO webinars:

Finding the Right Keywords for Your Website

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And finally, Yahoo will start testing this month the bing powerd organic search results