Forums; especially those involving web design, often have administrators that abuse their power and abilities at any given opportunity. It was recently brought to the attention of Dreamco Design that a couple client’s who were happy with our services had gone out onto a forum, asked some questions, and then stated their fond opinions of our company.

Though they did not directly break any rules at all, the administrators immediately banned the users and deleted the posts off of the pre-assumption that they were not really customers even though they stated their website. It is unfortunate, but we do not live in a republic / democratic society on the internet on most forums, they are more like harsh dictatorships.  The mentality and reasoning behind it could be a range of different things, but it seems fairly typical that people that know how to work with technology (IE: websites) than they have the right to be a key-board hardass.

To put this into perspective, let’s use a fairly accurate analogy…

Being banned and deleted simply for stating an opinion and pushing someones brand because you like them would be likewalking into a grocery store, saying that you like coke and you would recommend it and then get tossed out of the store immediately along with having a tress-passing notice posted on the building.

The assumption is most often always guilty without an opportunity to prove innocence; so what did Dreamco Design do?  We did some research and we were able to draw some lines.  Whether we want to get involved in politics or not, it seems that most of these forums were administrated by teenagers or young adults who also had personal involvement on liberal minded anti-american forums.  Drawing an analogy off of this is simplistic for us but we will let you be the judge as you browse the internet.

This topic leads right in to what we like to call being a “key-board hardass”. Though this term has been around for quite some time it seems to be a subject that is growing in its rate and declining in age.  There is nothing like being in a chat room, an online game, or some message board, and having some 13 year old kid tell you how he “pwns” you and he is going to pound your face in and brags about sleeping with your mother.

What has happened to the internet? Being that more and more people are becoming computer savvy on a daily basis and the entire young generation can type faster than they can talk, maybe the question should be: What is happening to society?

The best advice we can offer is just to stay away from these abusive web design forums and keyboard punks though it may prove difficult. As always, happy browsing!

Categories: Web Design - Service
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As you already know, designing a website is a fairly intimate process for many.  Though thousands of websites are just slapped online everyday, many new websites that are fighting for true results are also in development.  So what makes a good website a great website?  Well first off, lets make it clear that we are covering all industies here, and the term “great website” means a successful, good looking one, that accomplishes the goal wanted for that specific industry.

 We have written past articles discussing the importance of the website owner standing behind their ideas and business and helping out with the concept of the website, but this goes to the next level.  After all, the post was “good web designer VS great web designer” and that is what we are looking at when you compare a “website” with a “great website”.

Web Design is a confusing industry for the consumer.  The person shopping for a website may hear a price range anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands when being quoted for the exact same thing.  Sometimes companies just try to take advantage of the people that don’t know the industry. Dreamco Design thinks this is immoral and childish behavior that can be compared to some in the auto-mechanic industry.

Others that are charging so little might be just trying to grab your money and run, or they might not have the ability to complete the task they are taking on. As you can see, pricing alone can often times confuse the consumer, nevermind all of the “web jargin” people may use when discussing the options with the individual seeking a site. So what exactly makes a good designer a great designer?

A good or normal web designer will do just that. They will take your money in exchange for just building your webiste. Often times they will just design something for you without really establishing the goal of the site or perhaps just use a strait forward template. The end look is a website for you, with your name and info on it. It may look somewhat professional, and it may be there on the internet, but deep down inside the owner of that site knows it could be more appealing to his or her audience.

A great web designer takes on a much more intimate process with the client. They will take the time to sit down with you and discuss over the phone, through emails, or in person, exactly what you are looking for. They will review and research your competition and get some in depth information from you on the type of style you are thinking about going with and they will also identify the goal of the site.

To Dreamco Design, this is the most important and core element when designing a website. It is a simple question… “What is the goal of the website?”  What do you want it to do? Do you want to portray who you are, what you do, and just give yourself or corporate image? Or do you want to dominate a specific audience and sell your products and services online? There is a big difference. Having a talented web design team on your side can be the difference between just a “good, hey it is out there on the internet” website or a “great, wow, this is working out awesome” website.

Our company not only considers ourselves to be in the “great” category, but the feedback we get leads us to believe we are pioneering it. We build successful websites and don’t break the customers wallet doing so.  We aren’t saying we are the only ones that take on this approach, as there are dozens of talented professionals out there, but we certainly strive to be the best which puts us in that high category. Below you will see a list of bullet points that outline a “great web design” process.

 *Build A Relationship

(Building a relationship is a very important part of the process because the customer is no longer just the customer, and the web designer is no longer just the web designer.  You can establish a sense of trust and what type of benefits you are trying to exchange with one another.  Though to some this may come across as being odd, we don’t believe so.  We think it is important to really understand the motivation and mentality of our customer and help them out with their idea like they are one of our friends.

We can build this type of relationship with the client by having in depth conversations on the phone, through email, and by looking at the details of the project by going above and beyond what is expected.)

*Identify the Project

(Figuring out and developing exactly what the customer is looking for is something that is often overlooked by a typical web designer. Sure they might get the overall concept down, but did they truely deliver the wants and needs of the client? Our company has established a unique system of providing a scope of work to our customers which allows them to see the exact structure and layout we have agreed on and also gives them an opportunity to turn over content.

The cookie cutter style, typical page names and layout is what most web developers deliver and though the basic point might get across, it wont truely be delivered to the person viewing the website. Once again, this is  a key difference between a good web designer and a great one.)

*Develop & Display

(A lot of thought, time, and effort goes into each one of of the websites we design. Whether they are 2 or 3 page sites, or full blown shopping cart dynamic websites we invest our efforts into each one.  A great web designer will establish an overall theme, look, or appeal, either by starting from a general template that is very professional, or by showing the customer a mock-up. A good web designer will just discuss some basic ideas, and then go right to work without the client having a clear visual understanding.

While we develop the website, we give the client the opportunity to view it at a specific time. How and when we do this is a trade secret but it will allow the customer to provide us any revisions they have but at the same time we know everything originally asked for works, and is designed correctly. A normal or good web designer does not take a systematic approach towards revisions and it is done on a per situation basis.)

*Launch the Website

(This is where most good web designers believe the conclusion of the web design process takes place but it certainly is not in the eyes of a great web developer. Though releasing the website live on the internet is an important step, the battle to the top isn’t over yet. Once we launch the website, we release the competition, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the site we developed for the industry, and optimize the heck out of it so over time its natural search engine ranking will climb.

Aside from just strong SEO work, we will indentify if there is a need for any other type of marketing campaign for the website we just developed. Often times there is no need, and other times, there is a strong need for further marketing, and everything is handled on a case to case basis.)

*Continued follow up

(Just like a book begins with an introduction and then ends with a conclusion based on the thesis of the intro of the book, the same goes for the relationship process in a website.  Our clients remember our company name, the individual names, and so on, and there is good reason for this.  We continue to follow up with our client’s, not to sell them more things, but to see how everything is going and to make sure any assistance they need we are there for.

This continues to establish the relationship fundementals needed to progress as stated in the start of this article.  We hope by reading this article on web design you have identified some length between speaking with a good web designer compared to a great one. And as always, if you ever need any help, the Dreamco Design team is standing by!

Categories: Web Design - Clients
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Regular Expressions Tutorial

It’s very hard to find one complete source for information on the internet to learn about regular expressions in PHP. It’s one of the most intimidating things when coding using PHP, especially when you’re still trying to learn about it. The collection below is all of the information I could collect on and about regular expressions in PHP and I figured it would be a good idea to post them here so others didn’t have the same problems as I have had in the past. I have included links to the websites I pulled the information from, and if I didn’t then I got it from the main PHP.net website.

Enjoy!

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Categories: PHP, Web Programming
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Microsoft has recently updated all of their information on SEO and general tips for search engine optimization.  Dreamco Design utilizes a lot of these tips along with information provided to us by YAHOO, GOOGLE, and other large search engines.

Below you will see a series of questions, answers, and suggestions when it comes to the SEO work on a website according to Microsoft and with some input by us.  Many companies charge hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to optimize your website using a lot of these ideas which we incorporate right in during and after the design process.

Search engine optimization can be difficult and confusing. Knowing this we decided to put together some tips to help you with the process. They cover everything you need to know about optimizing your web pages for the search engines quickly and easily.

Search engine optimization tips listed in order of importance:

1.    Potential site design/set up problems

Unfortunately for some of you there are some site design/set up issues that can make it very difficult for the search engines to list your web pages no matter how well you optimize and submit them. We list them here, before you get into all the optimization tips, to hopefully save you from trying to list a site that that will be very difficult to get listed. Almost everything can be fixed or worked with one way or another before you submit. The most common problems are:

SITES THAT USE FRAMES:

If your site uses frames, you’ve got problems - as far as the search engines are concerned anyway! The problem is that search engines do not index framed sites very well. In fact, the search engines do such a poor job of indexing frames that we recommend redesigning your site without them if you want to get good listings in the search engines.Now, if your site must use frames there are some tips we recommend you implement to make sure that you get the best listings you can even with frames.The problem:A frame is exactly what the name conveys - they are an HTML page that “frames” other HTML pages. Now, the problem arises when you go to submit.

In most cases a framed site will only have one page you can submit, the home page. Since your site uses frames the home page actually has nothing that the search engine can use (i.e. page copy) to determine how to list your site. Why? Because your home page is actually a frameset which does not have any real content.  Here’s an example that should help you see what we mean. Keep in mind this code is what the search engines see:

We can’t explain everything about frames here, but you should easily be able to see in the above example that their is no real content for the search engine to use to determine how to list your site. All that is there is HTML code. The result is a framed site will often not get listed at all, and if it does it will usually be listed very poorly.The solution:Not really a “solution” (the solution would be to get rid of the frames!), but the best thing you can do to improve your results is to use the <noframes> tag within your frameset. This tag was originally used for displaying content to people using older web browsers that did not support viewing frames.

While just about all web browsers now support frames the <noframes> tag can still be used for content that will help your framed site get listed. In addition, you should also implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can.Where it belongs:The <noframes> tag belongs just before the </frameset> tag for your frameset, as you can see below in red.

Tag tips:        Place optimized content within the <body> tags that you see above within the <noframes> tag. An easy way to do this is to create a new regular (not framed) home page for your site that describes your site, products & services. Often the content can be taken directly from one of your existing framed pages. Once you have the page created view the HTML of the page and copy everything from within the <body> and </body> tags. Then paste the new content within the <body> and </body> tags found within the <noframes> tags of your frameset. A complete page (including all the HTML) can be placed within the body tags.        Search engines like simple HTML pages, so since it is very unlikely anyone will ever see this <noframes> content we recommend keeping it very simple and text based for best results. Make sure all your <noframes> content is optimized following all our tips. If it is not optimized, it is not going to help you very much.        Include links in the <noframes> content to all of the other important pages on your site so that the search engine will crawl and index them too.        Implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can on the frameset page.SITES THAT USE DYNAMIC URLS:Most search engines cannot or will not list any dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are most commonly used on database driven sites, or sites that are running scripts. They commonly look something like this one from MSN Search: http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=dynamic+url If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered a Dynamic URL as far as the search engines are concerned: ?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi

(commas above are just used as a separator) If your URL contains any of the above elements it is very unlikely that it will get listed at any of the major search engines. We recommend that you submitting a different URL that is not dynamic if possible. If all of your URLs are dynamic you should probably consider making static pages (i.e. not dynamic) with URLs that do not contain any of the elements noted above so that you can get listed in the search engines. SITES THAT USE FLASH:Flash itself is not the problem. The problem is how it is used. The 2 largest problems with how Flash is used are: 1.     Flash is often used on home pages as a “splash” page. The problem with these splash pages is that many times they are made entirely from Flash, which the search engines can’t index. That means your splash page will not get listed.

Your best bet search engine wise is to avoid submitting any page that is made mostly of  Flash. If you must submit a page that is mostly Flash you can improve your chances of getting listed by to adding as much page copy to the page that you can. You should also make sure you have good meta tags and title tag. 2.     Hyperlinks made with Flash can’t be spidered by the search engines. Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine you can expect the search engine to follow the links on the page you submitted and spider the rest of your site, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, unless you have (or add) standard HTML hyperlinks to the other pages of your site none of your other pages will be able to get spidered by the search engines, which is a bad thing. An easy way fix this problem is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

SITES THAT USE IMAGE MAPS FOR NAVIGATION:

Due to the code that makes up an image map search engines often get trapped in them and can’t spider your site. If you use image maps for your main site navigation you should consider switching to standard HTML hyperlinks or your site will most likely not get spidered. If you want to keep the image maps you can, but you should add another navigation scheme to your site that uses only standard HTML hyperlinks so that your site will get spidered. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

SITES THAT USE JAVA FOR NAVIGATION:

Search engines can’t follow links that are within Javascript, so your site will not get spidered unless you also have some form standard HTML hyperlinks that they can follow. You should add some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your site will be spidered properly. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

2.    Selecting the correct keywords

To get listed correctly in the search engines each page of your site that you want listed needs to be optimized to the best of your ability. Since the keywords that you decide to target will be used throughout the optimization process choosing the right keywords is essential. If you choose the wrong keywords you will not be found in the search engines. If you are not found in the search engines how will anyone find your site?Since the keywords you choose to optimize your pages with are so important we have put together some tips to help you make sure that you make the right choices. You should utilize these tips when selecting keywords for each page that you plan to submit to the search engines. 1.     Think “specific keyword phrases” not “keywords”.

Why? Due to the extreme amount of competition for general terms in the search engines, if your keyword phrases are too general it is very unlikely you will rank well in the search engines. You stand a far better chance to rank well for specific phrases where there is less competition. The resulting traffic, since it is more highly targeted, should also be much higher quality too!

2. 

3. Try to think like your target audience. What would they search for when looking for the page you are optimizing? It is very easy to fall in the trap of coming up with a short list of what YOU would search for, but what about everyone else? They will not necessarily use the same keywords as you. You should try to come up with as many keyword phrases as you can think of that relate to the page you are optimizing. Try asking a few friends and family what they would search for when searching for a site like yours.
4. Check out your competition for ideas. Do a search using keywords that you already know you want to target and click through on the top sites that come up. Once on the site view the source HTML code and view the keywords they have in their meta tags - this should give you many more ideas! Make sure to only use keywords that relate to YOUR site or page. To view the HTML code simply click the ‘View’ at the top of your web browser then select ‘Source’, or ‘Page Source’.
5. You should develop a list of keyword phrases, following the tips on this page, for each page that you optimize for the search engines.

3.    Your title tag

Without question the title tag of your page is the single most important factor to consider when optimizing your web page for the search engines. This is because most engines & directories place a high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag. The title tag is also what the search engines usually use for the title of your listing in the search results.

What it looks like:

Here’s the title tag of this page:
<TITLE>Your Title Tag - learn to optimize your title tag</TITLE> Where it belongs:

The correct placement for the title tag is between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags within the HTML the makes up your page.

Tag limits:

We recommend that your title tag be between 50-80 characters long - including spaces! The length that the different search engines accept varies, but as long as you keep within this limit you should be ok.

Tag tips:      

  We recommend that you include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords. If you just list keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines. Your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems. Make your title enticing! Don’t forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes the surfer want to clickthrough and visit your site.       

Since the length of your title tag could be a little long for some engines we suggest placing the keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible so that you do not risk having them cut off. Each page of your site should have it’s own title tag with it’s own keywords that related to the page that it appears on.

4.    Your copywriting

The copy on your page is also very important in order to achieve better search engine listings. Actually, it is very close to being as important as your title tag so make sure you keep reading! By ‘copy’ we mean the actual text that a visitor to your site would read.

Did you know that just like a visitor to your site would read the copy on your page to figure out what you have to offer, the search engines do too? And what do you think the search engines are looking for when they ‘read’ your page copy? Keyword phrases, of course! Page text tips:        For best results we recommend that each page you submit has at least 200 words of copy on it. There is some cases where this much text can be difficult to put on a page, but the search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase the amount of copy where you can.        This text should include your most important keyword phrases, but should remain logical & readable. Be sure to use those phrases that you have used in your other tags (i.e. metas, alt, headings, title, etc.) during the optimization process. Add additional copy filled pages to your site. For example, how-to articles, tips or tutorials. These types of content pages not only help you in the search engines, but many other sites will link to them too.        Don’t ignore this tip! Seriously, optimizing your page copy is one of the most important things you could possibly do to improve your listings in the search engines. So, make sure you have plenty of it even if you need to redesign your site to work it in!

5.    Your meta tags

Meta tags were originally created to help search engines find out important information about your page that they might have had difficulty determining otherwise. For example, related keywords or a description of the page itself.

Many people incorrectly believe that good meta tags are all that is needed to achieve good listings in the search engines, which is entirely incorrect. While meta tags are usually always part of a well optimized page they are not the be all and end all of optimizing your pages. In the early days of the web people were able to get great listings from optimizing just their meta tags, but the increasing competition for good search engine listings eventually led to many people spamming the search engines with keyword stuffed meta tags. The result is that the engines have changed what they look at when they rank a web page.

 The search engines now usually look at a combination of all the best search engine tips to determine your listings, not just your metas - some don’t even look at them at all! What this means is that your page should have a combination of all our tips implemented on your page - not just meta tags. That being said, there are two meta tags that can help your search engine listings - meta keywords & meta description. What they look like: Description Meta:
<META NAME=”description” content=”This would be your description of what is on your page. Your most important keyword phrases should appear in this description.”> Keywords Meta:
<META NAME=”keywords” content=”keywords phrase 1, keyword phrase 2, keyword phrase 3, etc.”> Where they belong: 

 The correct placement for both meta tags is between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags within the HTML the makes up your page. Their order does not really matter, but most people usually place the description first then the keywords meta.

Tag limits: 

 We recommend that your Keywords Meta not exceed 1024 characters including spaces. We recommend that  your Description Meta tag not exceed 250 characters including spaces. 

Meta description tips:

 Make sure you accurately describe the content of your page while trying to entice visitors to click on your listing.  Include 3-4 of your most important keyword phrases. Especially those used in your title tag and page copy.       

Try to have your most important keywords appear at the beginning of your description. This often brings better results, and will help avoid having any search engine cut off your keywords if they limit the length of your description.

Meta keywords tips:

 Aside from what we mention in the other tips below you should only use those keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags. Any keywords phrases that you use that do not appear in your other tags or page copy are likely to not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.       

Don’t forget plurals. For example, a travel site might have both “caribbean vacation” and “caribbean vacations” in their keyword meta tag to make sure they show up in both searches.        If you know of a common misspelling of a popular keyword that could be used to find your site you should enter it in your keywords meta tag. For example, a travel site might use “caribean ” in their keyword meta since it is a common misspelling for “caribbean”.  Watch out for repeats! You want to include your most important phrases, but when doing so it can be difficult not to repeat one word many times. For example, “caribbean vacation” and “caribbean vacations” are two different phrases, but the word “caribbean” appears twice. This is okay to do in order to make sure you get the phrases you need in there, but becareful not to repeat any one word excessively. There in no actual limit, but we recommend that no one word be repeated in the keyword meta more than 5 times.       

If your site has content of interest to a specific geographic location be sure to include the actual location in your keyword meta.

6.    Your images “alt” attribute

Did you know that any images on your page can help your listings too? Each image on your page can include a keyword phrase or two that relates to the image. This text will also show up & help those that may have their images turned off when visiting your site. This does not work for all engines, but it certainly does not hurt so we recommend you give it a try where you can.

What it looks like:

<IMG src=”SubmitItLogo.gif” mce_src=”SubmitItLogo.gif” width=”10″ height=”10″ alt=”Submit It! Web Site Submission Service”> Where it belongs:

 You can add the “alt” attribute to any image on your page.

Tag limits:

We do not recommend using more than a brief sentence or two to describe an image.

Tag tips:

       Be sure to use the keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags.        Do not try to cram a bunch of keywords into the “alt” attribute. We recommend using no more than 2-3 per image.        Describe the image - do not just list keywords.        The “alt” attribute is also a good place for misspellings and plural keyword phrases that you may not have used elsewhere.

7.    What you should not do

There are several things, considered “spamming”, that you can do to try to get your page listed higher on a search engine results page. Basically, you should never try to trick a search engine in any way, or you risk being blacklisted by them. Since the majority of your traffic will come from search engines the risk far outweighs the benefits in the long run. Below is a list of the more common things we recommend that you never do when trying to achieve better listings.

Do not:       

 Do anything to trick the search engines into listing your site better. If what you are doing is not listed as one of our search engine tips the search engines will likely view it as spam and penalize you.        List keywords anywhere except in your keywords meta tag. By “list” we mean something like -  keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, keyword 4, etc. There are very few legitimate reasons that a list of keywords would actually appear on a web page or within the page’s HTML code and the search engines know this. While you may have a legitimate reason for doing this we would recommend avoiding it so that you do not risk being penalized by the search engines.       

Use the same color text on your page as the page’s background color. This has often been used to keyword stuff a web page. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam. Use multiple instances of the same tag. For example, using more than one title tag. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam.        Submit identical pages. For example, do not duplicate a page of your site,  give the copies different file names, and submit each one. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam.        Submit the same page to any engine more than once within 24hrs.        Use any keywords in your keywords meta tag that do not directly relate to the content of your page.

8.    How long it takes to get listed

Here’s the length of time it currently takes to get listed at each of the major search engines once you have submitted your web page.  

 Yahoo varies significantly and is often times 4-6 weeks much like Google.Additional search engine optimization tips:These tips are here because they can be useful to those that can implement them on their web site, but they are not necessary to achieve good listings in the search engines.

1.    Hyperlinks

Did you know that text based hyperlinks can help improve your listing in the search engines? The search engines basically figure that if you are linking to something from your page whatever it is you are linking to is likely to be closely related to the content of your page. For that reason some of the engines actually look for keywords in the hyperlinks and any text immediately surrounding the hyperlinks. What this means to you is that if you can you should include your most important keyword phrases in the link itself and possibly the surrounding text.

What it looks like:

A text based hyperlink is a standard HTML hyperlink like this one (the example link does not go anywhere). Tag tips:       

Try to include your most important keyword phrases within the hyperlink itself.        Try to include your most important keyword phrases in the text that immediately preceeds, or follows the the hyperlink.        Becareful not to keyword stuff! Make sure your links and surrounding text are still readable and make sense after you include a keyword phrase or two.

2.    Headings

     Although they are not used very frequently any longer HTML heading tags can help improve your listings in the search engines too. Since they are “headings” the search engines figure that they are very closely related to the content of the page that they appear on. So, just like with all of your other optimization efforts you should include your most important keyword phrases in heading tags on your page if you can.

   What they look like:

 Anything with the <H> tag with an h1 / h2 / h3 / h4 / h5 / h6 and so on.

Categories: Website Marketing
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Web Design.  It is something that nearly each and every business needs to deal with at some point in time, especially in today’s day and age.  Building a website means building a corporate identity for many companies and it takes a very specific approach to do it the right way.

Unfortunately many individuals think that they can easily throw a website online, file their business, and start to make money, but it is not that easy.  Websites and web design for a business is not a get rich quick scheme like many people think.  It is a lot of hard work, creative thinking, and extremely in depth marketing.  If all of these things are done the right way however, a website can be a business owners best friend.

Many people think that the supposed “.com” boom ended around the year 2001 but I beg to differ.  The current U.S. economy for new and young businesses is at a near all time high, despite the thoughts and broadcasting of a lot of media related propaganda schemes that state otherwise.  It has never been easier to file for a company and start your dreams than it is right now in today’s day and age, and that is a great thing.

So what does this all mean for your website?  In short, it means that if you have the drive, ambition, and determination to make something work, you can easily start your own successful business and utilize your website to the fullest.

We are turning into an internet based society in which more and more consumers of all products and services start their searching online long before they hit the road.  We Mapquest for directions, we use Yahoo to check for movie times, we browse real estate listings online, and yes, we look for a lot of other things on the internet as well.

Some people think that by building or creating a website and starting their dream that they will just simply be washed away with the billions of other pages online.  This can, and does happen to many, however there are obvious ways around it.  Many people will explain to you the “top 10 SEO tips” or “the best way to optimize your website” and so on, but that is not what this article is all about though some of that advice can be good advice.  This article goes beyond that and gets down to the core basics before those other items.  The most important thing you can have at your side when starting an online business is determination.

Many entrepreneur minded individuals live and breathe that word on a daily basis and it can be your best friend.  If you have the drive to put something together and do it the right way, then you can make it happen.  If you expect to pay a couple hundred bucks for a website, walk away, and then watch it blossom into a multi-million dollar business, you got another thing coming most of the time.

This is what sets Dreamco Design aside from nearly all other web development companies.  Each individual within our company is a highly trained web development expert that knows what it takes to build an unbelievable looking website, and also help you make it work.  Though our team may be the best tool in your toolbox, you, the business owner, and the website owner, are still the ones holding the handle.

We have outlined some information below that many consider to be obvious suggestions however they are still often overlooked.  If at any time you ever have any questions or want suggestions on your website or want to get it setup correctly, just contact any of our highly trained web development experts at Dreamco Design.  You can call 1-866-572-3434.

                BUILD YOUR IDENTITY

*This is your business and your website.  Establishing a catchy, memorable name is often times very important.  You should try to remain consistent with color schemes and fonts throughout your website and all print material.  Dreamco Design assists our clients with all of this, including the printing.

                BE UNIQUE

*Starting your business shouldn’t be just “starting your business”.  It should be an exciting opportunity that you, as the business owner, are totally behind.  Though we may be building the website for you and assisting you with your ideas and content, you are the one that owns the business.  Think outside the box and come up with things that make your website different than others.

Whether you are offering content that can’t be found elsewhere, have a unique web design, offer a specific product or service, or create a niche, it is often times important to brand your identity differently and give people a reason to use you and not the other guy.

                THINK SIMPLISTIC

*Though your website may offer a huge range of services and you might be the greatest company in your industry, you need to portray that to the potential customer and current visitor very quickly.  When you walk into a store, there is branding everywhere you look.  How clean the store is, how it smells, what the traffic and organization is like, how the products are arranged, what their specials are, and so on, are all put forth by the company.

Within 7-10 seconds that individual that walked into the store has already subconsciously decided on their overall opinion of where they are.  The main difference is, often when people walk into a store, they will complete their shopping or browsing experience whether they like the place or not, rather than walking out which few do, though they might not go back.  However when it comes to websites, a simple click of an X is all it takes for someone to exit your company.

This displays how very important it is to make sure you show who you are, what you are all about, and what types of products and or services you offer on your website in a very quick fashion.  Sure it would be great if your website had a ton of text based information to help explain to the world why the web services you offer are great, but who reads it, really?  At the same time, you don’t want to shove things down the visitors throat with crazy flashy ads and marketing where they get the “it’s too good to be true” feeling.  You need to hit a happy medium and this is what many of the Dreamco Design client’s feel our company does best.

                FOLLOW THROUGH

*As a business owner or entrepreneur relying on your website you need to follow through with everything. Above and beyond getting the website setup, you need to expand your marketing, further promote yourself, and personally assist in bringing more traffic to your website. Though it may seem easy to walk away and let your site do its own thing, you won’t see many with much success that way. Just because it is online and all it takes is a keyboard to put together, it does not mean it is easy.  It is your business, be passionate about it.