Software & Development Tips

You check your traffic every day but all you find are tumbleweeds blowing across the landscape of your blog. Well, there’s a reason you’re not building readership. Your blog sucks. Most do, and all for the same reasons. The same 7 reasons.

1. Your articles are boring – Remember that thick book we all have to go through during high school? Hint: Textbooks. Aren’t they the most boring thing we ever come across. Why? There’s no life in the writing. It’s robotic. Write like you talk or you’re going to make your readers fall asleep. Yep, just the same way we did back then.

2. Your blog revolves around you – Unless you are a celebrity, no one cares about what’s been going on with your life. Instead of personal ramblings, you’re way more likely to gain loyal readers by sharing tips that can help solve their problems.

3. You’re repeating what others are saying – So what’s the whole point of reading your blog? I’m not saying you shouldn’t gain insight on what to write by reading other blogs, but always make sure to put your OWN two cent on the matter. Not a blatant copy paste of other peoples work.

4. Oh no, not your favorite music on auto-play! – So as soon as I access your blog, the ukulele string quartet starts playing? I’d rather hear an accordion band. Don’t add music to your site. Half the people won’t like it and the other half will find it’s a distraction.

5. Nothing but a wall of text – I’ve written many articles on what makes a good articles. Not once is this point missed out. It’s that important. And remember to put some relevant pictures to go along with your articles. It may take some time to find one, but it’s well worth the effort.

6. You post once a month – If you are serious about blogging, you should at least post thrice every week, for the first half a year or so. This is the bare minimum, I would say. Big blogs have multiple posts every day. Now I’m not saying you should do the same, but at least you should keep your posting schedule tight until you build a substantial amount of audience.

7. Your blog design is lame – I’m sure you heard of the importance of having a good first impression. That applies to blog, unfortunately. If your design is unprofessional and clumsy, chances are, they are not going to read what you have to say. It’s sad, I know.

Good news is, its never too late to correct these mistakes.

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on blog setup. If you have no clue as to what constitute a blog, you can check his article where he answers the most basic question in elaborate fashion. What is a blog?

New Additions to Spry Widgets

The Property Inspector can be used to change the attributes of any element you select on an HTML page. In previous versions of Dreamweaver, changing the attributes of highlighted text would cause the program to create CSS classes with names like “Style1″, “Style2″, etc. in the head area of the current page. This random creation of styles was often responsible for getting new web developers into bad habits.

Whenever you open a file which contains linked files, Dreamweaver displays each of the linked files in the Related Files Bar. To access a related file just click on its name. If you make any changes to a related file and asterisk appears next to its name in the Related Files Bar to remind you to save your changes. When you do, the impact of the changes is immediately visible in the main file.

Brand new Spry widgets

Spry is Dreamweaver’s Ajax solution which uses JavaScript and CSS to add sophisticated interactivity to your web pages. Dreamweaver CS4 includes some useful additions to its existing range of Spry widgets. The Spry Validation Password widget allows you to specify the minimum and maximum number of characters, numbers, uppercase and special characters which can be included in the password entered. The Spry Validation Confirm widget checks that the entries in two fields are identical and displays a customizable error is they are not. This makes it ideal for creating “Password/Confirm Password” or “Email/Confirm Email” functionality.

Other new widgets include the Spry Tooltip widget which allows you to create a tooltip which will appear when the mouse is placed over the specified text or object. Since the tooltip is inside a DIV element, this offers tremendous flexibility as to the appearance of the tooltip. For example, it could include an image or a Flash movie.

Inserting Photoshop Smart Objects

The Photoshop integration which was begun in Dreamweaver CS3 has been enhanced in CS4 to offer via the use of Adobe’s Smart Objects technology. A Photoshop file can be imported directly into Dreamweaver and will automatically come in as a smart object.

Whenever you open a file which contains linked files, Dreamweaver displays each of the linked files in the Related Files Bar. To access a related file just click on its name. If you make any changes to a related file and asterisk appears next to its name in the Related Files Bar to remind you to save your changes. When you do, the impact of the changes is immediately visible in the main file.

HTML is a notoriously sparse environment which relies on files created with other technologies to add functionality to web pages. Typical examples of related files are server-side includes, CSS, JavaScript and XML. Dreamweaver now includes a feature called “Related Files” which enables you to edit the content of such files, without having to open them separately, and to instantly see the effect of your changes on the main file.

The Photoshop integration which was begun in Dreamweaver CS3 has been enhanced in CS4 to offer via the use of Adobe’s Smart Objects technology. A Photoshop file can be imported directly into Dreamweaver and will automatically come in as a smart object.

Improvements in working with CSS

The Property Inspector can be used to change the attributes of any element you select on an HTML page. In previous versions of Dreamweaver, changing the attributes of highlighted text would cause the program to create CSS classes with names like “Style1″, “Style2″, etc. in the head area of the current page. This random creation of styles was often responsible for getting new web developers into bad habits.

In Dreamweaver CS4, the Property Inspector contains buttons which allow you to switch between HTML and CSS options. When working in the CSS options, you can now target a specific CSS rule before choosing an attribute or, if necessary, create a new rule.

The author is a training consultant with TrainingCompany.Com, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver training courses in London and throughout the UK.

If you ever need to price around for SEO services you might begin to wonder why there seems to be such a wide range in fees from one SEO company to another. It’s not uncommon to find prices ranging anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand dollars per month for what appears to be the same type of service. You may also be asking yourself why these charges seem so high to begin with.

It’s typically a rule of thumb that the more time needing to be spent on a project the more that project will cost, and there’s no exception to this rule when it comes to hiring an SEO company. The fact is that much of the work required to get your website ranking higher on the search engines is overwhelmingly time consuming. You can choose to work on it for only 10 hours per week or 100 hours per week. The more time that is put in the quicker you will see results (if the work is being done properly) and this is one of the main reasons why some SEO specialists are charging more than others, they are simply planning on devoting more or less man hours to your project each month.

If they spend only 10 hours per week working with your website how much do you think they should charge? At only $10 per hour that’s still $400 per month not counting any additional expenses you might incur such as any link “buying” you might want them to do for you, or Pay Per Click campaign management which is yet another aspect of SEO marketing services. Now if you throw in an employee or two you can easily see how even a very tiny company can be forced to charge at least double this price if not more. This is all taking into consideration that you’re dealing with a reputable person or company who’s doing the work for you. Finding someone who is both honest AND good at what they do is a challenge in itself which I will save for another article on another day for now.

So as you shop around you should now realize that the pricing will most certainly be in direct correlation to how much time they are planning on working with your website each week. A good SEO Company will provide some sort of weekly or monthly report either oral or in printed form that will clearly outline exactly what was performed for that time period and what if any changes have occurred yet. While you can’t expect many changes right away (these things tend to take many months before they start to pay off) they should still provide the information and if they’re really an honest company they will also provide information about how much time was actually spent on the account as well, but don’t count on it. Just remember this…if they offer all sorts of fancy reports that include all sorts of technical information like metrics that compare your site to your competitors, while that may be all well and good (if you truly require that sort of information for your own records), it’s not going to tell you anything about your SEO’s performance and how much it’s costing you over the long run…so ask about it before signing your life away.

Obviously an SEO expert who can achieve your goals has a perfect right to expect to be well compensated for his services and certainly deserves it as long as he can deliver on your expectations. Seeing prices of $800-$1200 per month should be seen as perfectly reasonable as long as the cost doesn’t outweigh the benefit, which of course depends upon just how much your sales might increase for being on the first page of Google for a particular key phrase. But it’s not an SEO’s job to predict your return on investment. His real job is to get you improved search engine rankings and more traffic to your site. These are all factors that need to be considered between you and your SEO service and the most important point to remember here is that you should be looking for someone who is willing to take the time to openly discuss them with you.

Looking to find the best deal on SEO Marketing Services, then visit www.the-web-manager.com to find the best advice from a well respected SEO Company .

One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content. In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere. So make sure to use these tips and make the next post you write your most popular post ever.

1. Time is more important than talent – Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. Spending more time on an article means you can refine, format and fill your post with more values. My advice is, take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product.

2. Use your best idea – A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. To generate ideas, there are lots of questions you can ask yourselves. For example, what is something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet?

3. Use formatting to your advantage – These days, a post can never become popular without the help of social media. However, social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.

4. Brainstorm headlines – Headline is important as it serves the purpose of drawing attention of readers to read your articles. If a headline does not instantly give an indication – i.e., an idea or hint, not the entire story – of not only what the page is all about but also the reasons why people should read further the moment they read it, it will actually deter prospects. So make sure to take some time to brainstorm your headlines.

5. Examine what worked before – Study your most popular posts so far. What’s common about them? Why did they work? What needs did they address? In creating your most popular post, it’s important to learn by example and build on what has worked for your blog in the past. Another good idea is to analyze the most popular posts on other blogs in your niche. Why did they work? What’s remarkable about them? You can transfer those qualities over into what you write.

6. Utilize your network – If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there’s no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they’ll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.

7. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors – You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on blog setup. You can check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

HTML is a markup language used to create web pages designed to be accessed across the World Wide Web using browser software such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. The version of HTML in current use is referred to as XHTML, a stricter, rationalised version of the original HTML specification. One important fact to note about HTML and XHTML pages is that they describe the content and structure of the page rather than the position and presentation of the elements on the page.

The first difference between an HTML and XHTML page is the document type definition. There are several ways in which this specification can be made in Dreamweaver. One of the simplest is to go to the Modify menu and choose Page Properties. Here, in the Title/Encoding category, one of the options reads Document Type (DTD).

There are quite a few options available in the drop-down menu next to this setting, some relating to HTML version 4 and some to XHTML version 1. These DTD settings specify the rules that the mark-up language must follow so that the browsers can render the content correctly. For any new content you may be creating, the best specification to choose is XHTML 1.0 transitional since it uses the current XHTML specification while allowing backward compatibility with slightly older browsers.

When looking at an HTML page, the structural content may not be immediately apparent. However Dreamweaver provides a number of useful tools for keeping tabs on the structure of your web page content. One of these is called the Tag Selector. Wherever the cursor is positioned, the HTML code relating to that part of the page is displayed in the bottom left of the page on the Status Bar in an area known as the Tag Selector.

When the browser reads the page, the tags surrounding text and other elements communicate to the browser the structural importance of each element. Thus, for example, the H1 tag tells the browser that a piece of text is a major heading, while the H2 tag signifies a sub-heading, and so on. When these tags are displayed in the Tag Selector, you can get an idea of the structure of the page and you can also click on any tag to select the element(s) it contains.

The tags tell the browser the structural importance of each element but the page doesn’t contain any information that helps the browser decide how each element should be displayed. This job is done by CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). An XHTML page is still basically an HTML page. However, the syntax used is stricter.

One example of this difference is that XHTML is case sensitive while HTML is not. In XHTML, all tags are lowercase so the H1 tag has to be written h1. In HTML, h1 or H1 can be used.

In XHTML, the closing tag is obligatory: in HTML it is permissible to have an opening tag without a closing tag. One such example is a horizontal rule (hr) which creates a dividing line between two sections on a webpage. This element is represented by a single tag, since it can never be used as a container. In XHTML, there is a special syntax for such elements: a single tag which is both an opening and closing tag (hr/). In HTML, the single opening tag is used with no closing tag (hr).

In summary, XHTML is the current version of HTML and this is the standard that you should use for any new projects. However, existing projects that you may inherit may well contain HTML rather the XHTML. Therefore, you should be aware of both. Remember also that HTML and XHTML describe only the structure of web page content: neither of them should contain information regarding the presentation and display of this content. The display and presentation of web content should be done using CSS.

Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver Classes at their central London training centre.

XML schema definition languages are derived from the recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They use XML 1.0 syntax and their role is to explicit describe the structure of XML documents and constrain the data which they may contain. They offer a distinct improvement on the more limited schema features offered by the Document Type Definition (DTD) recommendation which formed part of the original XML specification released in 1998. The most widely used schema language is the one defined by the W3C in 2001: W3C XML Schema. However, there are alternatives, such as RELAX NG and Schematron.

Schema documents are the more sophisticated successors to DTDs and overcome some key limitations associated with them. Firstly, DTDs do not support data types. Secondly, DTDs do not support namespaces. Thirdly, DTDs do not allow developers to accurately define the number of permitted occurrences of elements within their parent element.

XML schema documents describe the structure of an XML instance document by defining what each element must or may contain. An element is limited by its type. For example, an element of complex type can contain child elements and attributes, whereas a simple-type element can only contain text. The diagram below gives a first look at the types of XML Schema elements.

Three main purposes are fulfilled by schema documents. Firstly, they can be used to validate XML documents. Secondly, they can be used as a dictionary or grammar for the creation of a given class of XML document. And, thirdly, they can be used to provide documentation for XML documents.

Each XML schema is itself an XML document and contains definitions of all elements and attributes permitted in a given class of XML documents. The schema also specifies the structure or hierarchy to which elements must adhere and the type of content each particular element may contain. Elements may be of the simple or complex type. Complex type elements may contain child elements as well as attributes. Simple type element may only contain data. XML documents using a particular schema are referred to as instances of the schema. An XML instance that correctly adheres to its associated schema is said to be valid.

Validation is usually the principal role of schema documents. Validation offers many benefits. It ensures the consistency of data within a document. It ensures that data has the right structure and internal hierarchy. It ensures that data within the document structure is of the correct type. It allows us to receive data from multiple sources.

Most XML documents are created by programs and scripts designed to extract information held in databases and transform it into XML. However, it is also possible for human beings to create XML documents. Schemas can be used during this process to assist in the document creation process. XML schemas also provide a mechanism for documenting XML documents and form an important part of the specification of XML vocabularies.

The The writer of this article is a training consultant with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering XML Classes in London and throughout the UK.

I’m sure you have heard that blogging takes time to take off. Yet I have seen many bloggers who make the mistakes of giving up early when the matter of fact is, they are on the right track. So how do you tell?

1. Growing subscriber count – If your blog’s subscriber base is growing, even slowly, you are making some progress. Gaining trust and subscribers is not easy, so try not to get your expectations unrealistically high. If you have realistic goals for subscriber growth you will more likely be able to feel good about your progress and stay consistent with your blogging.

2. Increasing Numbers of Inbound Links – For bloggers, incoming links are also representative of how well you are known in your industry and your number of links will grow as you start to become recognized as an authority.

3. Increasing numbers of valuable comments – The more comments you have, the better. If you are seeing an increase in the number of comments in your blog, make sure to participate in the discussion as well. If you have little to no comments, try commenting on other blogs for starters. This way, other bloggers will be aware of your blog. If they find your blog interesting, they would usually leave a comment.

4. Increasing visitors and pageviews – Many bloggers are stats junkies. While growth in traffic isn’t always representative of meeting or surpassing your blogging goals, it certainly isn’t a bad thing. There are many channels for you to market your blog and increase your visitors. Guest posting and making use of social media is some of the ways to reach out to new readers. If you make use of these channels, over time your blog stats will increase as more and more readers visit and subscribe to your blog.

5. Consistent posting – Consistent posting is perhaps one of the most important element to blogging success. For new bloggers, in order for your visitors to pay attention to your blog, it’s vital for you to provide new articles for them to read. If your blog looks dead, the chances are, they won’t subscribe. If you are posting consistently, you’re already one step ahead of the vast majority of bloggers.

6. Improving quality of articles – Though this may be a subjective issue, but I think most bloggers can make good comparison through going through their older posts. If the quality of your articles improves overtime, which it should, you’re on the right track.

7. An increasing network of bloggers – Networking is crucial. Look at it this way; bloggers support each other. Instead of seeing other bloggers as your competitors, try to see them instead as your partner. By networking with other bloggers, you are more likely to get links, guest blogging opportunities and comments.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in building your own blog, check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

Working for a company that runs Dreamweaver training courses, I am increasingly finding that there is no longer a typical user of this great web development program. Dreamweaver users now seem to come from all different types of company and from all walks of life: private individuals, financial people, marketing people, people in the health service, academicians It seems everyone needs to learn the basics of web development nowadays.

Just as the use of a graphical interface has changed computing, making it more user-friendly, the use of Adobe Dreamweaver renders people with limited understanding of web construction capable of putting together a quality site. It is also an excellent platform for learning how web sites should be put together. For example, when you create a new page, Dreamweaver lets you choose from a series of standard layouts based on CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), the recommended specification for creating web pages. The code produced by Dreamweaver contains useful comments explaining how the page layout works.

Many small organisations have already learned to rely on Adobe Dreamweaver to build and manage their own website, creating and modifying pages and then uploading them via FTP to make them live and available to the public. Those organisations with a more urgent need to establish a web presence may still turn to a professional web development companies to get them started and then use Adobe Dreamweaver when changes need to be made, often saving themselves a small fortune.

Another way that organisations can save money is by hiring web designers to create Dreamweaver templates and then basing their website on these templates in-house. This also has the benefit of giving organizations control of their site right from the outset.

Although Dreamweaver is pretty easy to use, it is not likely that many users can simple load it onto their machine and start using it like a pro. Most people will benefit from having some form of Dreamweaver training. This will allow them to learn the essential aspects of the program and the process of creating basic sites and making them live. An effective Dreamweaver training course will also give users an insight into the underlying web technologies and the code which Dreamweaver generates as the users create their pages using visual techniques.

One of the best ways to make a site useful for visitors is making it interactive, allowing users to search for the specific content that they want. By attending an advanced Dreamweaver training course, staff within an organization can learn to add database-driven content to their website using technologies such as ASP, PHP or ColdFusion. And, here again, Dreamweaver does the lion’s share of the work, allowing users to create sophisticated search and results pages using the same simply point-and-click and drag-and-drop techniques used to create basic content.

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Dreamweaver training courses at their central London training centre.

Blogging is a bandwagon that took off with startling speed, one that all and sundry wanted to get on. Most did get on the blogging train, but there were very few who tasted the kind of financial success that they dreamed of. Below is the list of things you should keep in mind before starting your blog.

1. Be realistic – Don’t expect overnight success. It hardly happens. Of course there are few exceptions, but you don’t want to compare to them. These people not only have the skills and knowledge, but also got the timing right. It’s better to set a more realistic goal, break it down into stages and work on your plans.

2. Don’t quit your regular job – The blogosphere is full of enthusiastic people. The promise of financial success can lure people to make silly decisions, like quitting your day job to focus on your blog. This is a big mistake. Blogging takes time to take off. If you quit your day job, you’re putting yourself into a big risk, when you don’t need to. Sure, sometimes this risk pays off. But it doesn’t happen to everyone. A better option is to spent a few hours each day on your blog, after work.

3. Be passionate – If you write on topics that you are passionate about, you are most likely able to stick to it and make it work. Your passion will really show in your posts, through the details information provided, along with the consistency in your posting frequency.

4. Focus on a niche – Blogs that focus on a niche tend to do better than those that just prattle on about any random topic under the sun or those that are more personal in nature. So choose a niche that you enjoy and one which you can portray creatively so that other people will be interested in reading what you have to say. This way, they will know what to expect from your blog, and may choose to subscribe if the topic of your blog interest them.

5. Know that patience pays – One thing you must remember when beginning a blog is that you must be patient in order to see even a modicum of success. It takes a long time to popularize a blog, and even when that happens, it may be some more time before you start to see monetary results.

6. Spend some – It’s undeniable that blogging is cheap. You don’t even need to spend a dime if you don’t want to. There’s free hosting and do-it-yourself design options that is enough to start with. Though, I would recommend to at least get a self hosting option, if you are serious about blogging. This is to show professionalism to your visitors, which is important if you want people to subscribe to your blog.

Blogging is not hard if you know what you’re talking about. The learning curve is not steep, if at all. It does however, takes some time to take off. So don’t make the same mistakes others make, and success will eventually come to you.

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in building your first blog, you can check out his guide on how to choose domain name.

When I started blogging, I always remember what has to be done. Overtime however, these things are often forgotten. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one here. I hope this post will serve as a healthy reminder for us bloggers.

1. Backup your blog regularly – I don’t think I can stress this enough. If there is one thing you should take from the tips listed here, it’s this one. And I speak from experience. Waking up early in the morning only to find your blog crashed and you have no backup data, is like having your soul mate killed right in front of you, and there is nothing you could do about it.

2. Link to older posts – Linking to older posts can increase your traffic and search engine rankings. Additionally, it can also give more information for the readers that want to go deeper into certain subjects. If you have been blogging for months already you probably have a vast and rich archive, so use it.

3. Network – Ask 10 successful blogger and at least 7 of them will answer you this; “The key to blogging success is networking with other bloggers”. Sometimes, who you know is more important that what you know. There are many ways to network. Things like commenting on other blogs, guest posting and befriends them in social media.

4. Proofread – If you browse around the blogosphere you will notice that the vast majority of the bloggers do not proofread. Confusions with its and it’s, your and you’re, and their and they’re are very common. So the next time you finish writing a post or article, remember to proofread it.

5. Answer to comments – You just started blogging not too long ago and few comments comes in. You got excited, and you answer each of them. Usually, this is the case. However, over time, when your blog has become more popular, it’s easy to start neglecting the comments. Although it can be very time consuming to reply all the comments, at the very minimum you want to answer the people that post direct questions to you.

6. Answer to emails – Depending on the size of your audience it might become cumbersome to answer to all emails, but you should try nonetheless. It might be the difference between an upset visitor and a faithful reader.

7. Upgrade WordPress – Common sense, yet many bloggers are reluctant to upgrade their WordPress software. Some people deliberately choose to use older versions. That could be possible if you know what you are doing (i.e. if you know to patch the security holes).

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check out his guide on how to choose domain name.