Some Website Design Tips

Usability initiatives like contextual inquiry and usability testing help identify the information customers need to complete the sale as well as potential sales obstacles like shipping costs and ease of product returns. Usability research firm User Interface Engineering found that when consumers were given money to shop at well-known sites, 70% of their shopping attempts ended in failure. Because of poor site design, consumers just couldn't find what they were looking for.

In contrast, usability techniques like card sorting help design an intuitive navigation system. This means customers can find the products that they want to buy, increasing sales.

By making it easy for customers to achieve their goals, customers will return and buy from you again. According to Forrester Research, 42% of US Web buying consumers made their most recent online purchase because of a previous good experience with the retailer. A focus on customer goals will also identify the right products to offer for cross-selling, further increasing sales.

By providing a great user experience, customers are more likely to recommend the site to other people - and they are less likely to complain. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, once said: "If you have an unhappy customer on the Internet, he doesn't tell his six friends, he tells his 6,000 friends". (Last month, Bezos's prediction was put to the test when a dissatisfied student launched a Facebook group called "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-off!". The group quickly grew to over 5,000 members and they succeeded in forcing HSBC to reverse its decision to axe interest-free graduate overdrafts).

Products and to get on with my life as a person to achieve the goal using the Web site. Content buried in a small number of people per day, Web site spend navigate. Nowhere is this more relevant to the corporate intranet.

Focusing on what users want to do, rather than designing a product that does everything for everyone, helps you avoid featuritis. This means you spend time coding only those features that will be used.

Reference section of the new website optimization tips and tutorials, and tutorials, Web offers site optimization tips - fast, load and save bandwidth, to save space on the server, Web It is made of high-speed page. The speed automatically optimized sample code / crunch to find your PHP using CSS and HTML.

Want to maximize your Web site's performance, speed up your page load times, streamline and optimize your HTML, CSS, images, and scripts? Within the Web Site Optimization section you'll find helpful annotated links to articles, tutorials, scripts, and more on optimizing CSS, HTML and XHTML, Web site images, and JavaScript as well as server-side compression and optimization, too. Your pages can load faster, you'll save bandwidth, reduce file sizes, reduce server space, and much more by optimizing your Web site's performance. You'll also find a listing of recommended books on Web site optimization.

If you want the visitors to find your site, then you need to let people know of its existence, of course. Some of these ways is through search engine registration interconnected, online and offline networking, traditional advertising forms, such as through newspapers, radio, television and magazine advertisements.

What if you have a limited budget and limited time? There is much that can be done even without a lot of money or a lot of time.

In particular, search engine registration is important in any case, but it is only a part of helping others find your site. When budgeting your site construction and ongoing maintenance, I recommend earmarking funds for search engine registrations and follow-up, adding new content, and promotion in a variety of ways.

Here are a few things that you can do yourself or for low cost:

->Keep content fresh with regular updates, current information.
->Add an eye-catching signature tag at the end of your email.
->Participate in online discussion lists regularly, also using your signature tag.
->Add your URL and email address to all written materials (business cards, letterhead, brochures, literature, publications, products, etc.), and include it in all advertising.
->Tell your friends about the Web site. Word of mouth is very powerful.
->Send out announcements about your Web site, and send out news and updates.
->Start a newsletter that will be of interest to your clients, customers or potential clients or customers.

Coffee Franchise Opportunities: Does Starbucks Franchise?...and Other Coffee Business Franchises

Does the aroma of brewing coffee transport you to a sensory paradise? Is a steaming latte your idea of comfort food? Do you consider coffee its own separate food group? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then a coffee franchise may be for you! When someone says "coffee shop," the name that most often comes to mind is Starbucks. So it's only natural that coffee connoisseurs and entrepreneurs will immediately want to know if this wildly successful java chain offers the opportunity to buy Starbucks franchises.

Despite the seemingly ubiquitous presence the Starbucks brand does not franchise or sub-franchise its operations. Rather, the company operates most North American Starbucks stores. The exception is the situations in which Starbucks into an agreement with the companies who may be physical locations that would otherwise not available to Starbucks, such as space will come to offer in the airports, grocery chains, hospitals and universities, and universities. In addition, in certain areas, Starbucks may be an agreement with a group of individuals or companies in which the company or group is permitted to manage and operate Starbucks outlets in a given region.

The unavailability of Starbucks franchises, however, should in no way dissuade the coffee lover from pursuing a coffee franchise business opportunity. There are numerous coffee companies that do, indeed, franchise their operations, and many even venture beyond the traditional coffee bean to provide gourmet coffees, food options, and even catering services.

The following represents a partial listing of the many coffee franchise opportunities available to java lovers everywhere.

Caffino

With its "60-second guarantee," Caffino is a drive-through coffee bar that first opened its company doors in 1993 in Napa, California. Franchising since 2003, Caffino currently has 27 locations in 3 states, and it is actively expanding. Caffino prides itself on roasting its coffee on-site using only the world's best coffee beans, Arabica Grade 1. The startup cost for a Caffino franchise ranges from $212,900 to $373,000.

Beaner's Coffee

Founded in 1994 and franchising since 1999, Beaner's Coffee offers from the flavor, caffeine, signature, obtained by organic fair trade coffee drink and various beans. In addition, Beaner's go beyond coffee service and businesses to sandwiches, salads and baking foods in the world. Beaner's 240000-300000 yuan with a start-up costs, and provides expressly or in the station franchise choice. Beaner's is currently being national distributor for its franchisees, available exclusive territory.

Woody's Chicago Style

Coffee and hot dogs? Is not a typical combination, but Woody's Chicago-style is no problem combining the two. Beginning in Honolulu, Hawaii, Woody's Chicago Style is a hot dog, beverage, coffee cart business has been since 1991, franchise business. Although there is no franchise available in every country, Woody is to seek in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma State, Washington to join, state, and Wyoming. And prices from five Dian Siyi 〇 Wan Zhi Si Liusi U.S. Dollar U.S. Dollar ○ ○ ○ ranging from labels, Woody, it could be the right choice for your purse!

Scooter's Coffeehouse

With franchise opportunities existing both in the United States and worldwide, Scooter's Coffeehouse ranked #26 in Entrepreneur.com's 2007 listing of the top new franchises. In business since 1998 and franchising since 2002, Scooter's is a specialty coffee franchise that also serves up brewed coffees, espressos, flavored coffees including sugar-free options, teas, and a wide selection of smoothies. Startup cost ranges from $60,000 to $410,000, and, in addition to training, Scooter's offers significant ongoing and marketing support, including regional advertising, national media, field operations/evaluations, purchasing cooperatives, newsletter, meetings, and a grand opening.

Dunkin Donuts

Who doesn't recognize this household name in the coffee and donut industry? Established in 1950 and franchising since 1955, Dunkin Donuts now boasts more than 7,000 stores worldwide, including 1900 locations in 30 countries. In the United States, more than 5,200 Dunkin Donuts locations dot the landscape in 36 states. Based on years of operation and experience, Dunkin Donuts has a 5-phase franchising process, which begins with an application, credit check, and criminal background check, among other things, proceeds through several steps including an interview, business plan development, application approval, training, site location, and financing, and ends with restaurant construction and crew training. To ease financing costs, Dunkin Donuts has partnered with preferred lenders who offer franchisees flexible financing options, including Small Business Administration (SBA)-backed loans for certain transactions.

In addition to the five coffee franchise opportunities briefly profiled above, no fewer than twenty franchise opportunities exist for entrepreneurs seeking to turn their coffee passion into a profession.

From Café Ala Carte cappuccino catering service and Grabbajabba gourmet coffee and European sandwiches to It's a Grind Coffee House and Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffee and Smoothies, numerous coffee franchises ranging from low-cost to high investment are available for serving up that morning cup of Joe, mid-day sandwich on the run, or afternoon tea or smoothie.

So next time you walk into your neighborhood coffee shop to fill your latte craving, imagine providing that same satisfaction to other coffee lovers like you...and even better yet, making a living at it!

The Five Different Levels of the Adsense Publisher Spectrum

The Google Adsense program pays out hundreds of millions of dollars to its publishers every single month, and there is a very wide and differing variety of all the webmasters and bloggers that currently make use of this contextual advertising system. Each of the publishers follows different rules and methods when it comes to using Adsense, and the members of each group all earn a different amount of money.

I have been a participant in the Adsense program for a few years now, and a significant chunk of my monthly income comes from this program. I have talked with dozens of different webmasters and publishers and seen thousands of different Adsense sites, and from my own experience I have found that there are really five different levels that Adsense publishers fall on. I will describe each of these levels, and if you yourself are an Adsense publisher then it may be fun to find out where you fall on the spectrum.

First Level of the Adsense Spectrum: Monetizers

The first group is what I call the 'monetizers.' These are the guys that really do not know too much about web design or search engine optimization, they would never imagine worrying about keywords or ad relevancy, and for them just finding that they can copy this super-fabulous amazingly cool javascript code to their website that will actually *earn them money* (!) is just the neatest gosh darn thing they have ever seen. There are a great deal of publishers that fall into this category, and rarely do they ever earn over $150 per month. These are usually the non-profit websites or the mom-and-pop type sites, and they will usually use their Adsense revenue to pay for their hosting costs.

Not to over-generalize, but older people that have trouble using Windows make up alot of this category. I find that some of these types of people remind me alot of my mother: very kindhearted with good intentions but they type at 10 WPM and they do not have a clue about computers. And they are happier than a kid on Christmas when they log into their Adsense account and see a whopping $0.23 for their daily earnings.

Second Level of the Adsense Spectrum: Wannabes

The second group is the 'adsense wannabes.' I actually feel a bit sorry for this group because they usually end of failing miserably at being an Adsense publisher (that is if they can ever get accepted into the program!) and they accomplish nothing except lowering their already low self-esteem. I can deeply empathize with this group of folks because this is actually where I started out.They approach the Adsense program with a type of 'get rich quick' mentality, sometimes due to the exaggerations of an ebook writer and sometimes because once they begin to learn about the Adsense program their brain has trouble accepting the fact that this is an actual business.

I mean come on, a business is where you work 60 hours per week to make somebody else rich, right? There is no way that you could build up a high 4-figure monthly income from this crazy Adsense thing, is there? Well I hope you know better, and this is the level of thought that these people are stuck at. These are the opportunity seekers, the people that will sign up for a new network marketing 'business opportunity' once per quarter and then whore themselves out to their family and friends because they have failed at everything else and are always jumping back and forth so that they never succeed at anything.

But I do not want to be overly critical, because like I said this is the level at which I started out. These are the people who have been convinced that this is the next big thing and that once they set up a single website they will make enough money to retire. Most of these types will fail to generate any real income and will move on to the next 'big thing.' But those who do start off at this level and stay at it long enough will move up to the third level.

Third Level of the Adsense Spectrum: Noobs

Statistically speaking, if you are reading this then there is a chance that you are an Adsense Noob (short for newbie). It is by far the largest category of Adsense publishers. This is not something to feel bad about, and in fact I consider it to be something to be proud of because you have demonstrated your devotion to learning this new business and actually making a decent residual income with it. If you were not devoted then you would still be at the penniless level of the wannabe, so take heed noob for you are on the path to success.

I define an Adsense Noob as someone who makes less then $300 dollars per month. They are probably pretty intelligent people and are very web-savvy, and they probably read tons of material and ebooks related to Adsense and internet marketing, but they simply cannot seem to get past this invisible threshold that is keeping them from higher profits.

I was stuck at this level for longer then I care to remember, and if you are at this level then please allow me to offer some humble advice that may allow you to advance to either level 4 or 5 depending on your personal preference. If you are really trying hard to make your Adsense earnings high enough to live off of and make a big change in your life (maybe quitting your job) and you are frustrated because you simply cannot figure out what you can possibly do to earn more money, then please for the love of all things good and sacred in this world pick a single website and stick with it!! This was my biggest mistake that kept me at the level of a noob for far too long, because I would pick a new topic and make a new website, and then a few weeks later I would do the same thing to the point that it felt like I was running in place.

If you are like me, sticking with a single website or blog as opposed to trying to build up many different ones simultaneously will be a real turning point for you. Think of it like this: when you go out of your way to focus all your attention like a laser on one single project, you will be building this one website up to a 5 instead of building 5 websites up to a 1. Not only that, but you are literally building up an asset because if your website was making you $2,000 per month on a fairly reliable basis, there is a good chance that you could sell it for 8-14 months of revenue.

Another factor that goes into graduating from the noob level is having all of the information you have been reading about Adsense, traffic generation and internet marketing to sink in on a subconscious level.This can take a while, because you need to read or hear something at least seven times before it will really sink in. But once you keep reading and absorbing information for a long time then it will eventually become habit and you will find that you are able to build highly optimized pages intuitively, and it is at this point that you should be able to move on to level 4 or 5 if you wish.

Fourth Level of the Adsense Spectrum: Empire Builders

Empire builders are the people that approach being an Adsense publisher from the perspective of building a business. They do not mess around, and they spend a decent portion of their mental energy focusing on the cold, hard numbers. The empire builder has many websites, and he/she focuses on things such as finding profitable keywords, improving CTR, discovering which websites topics tend to be the most profitable, testing page configurations and traffic generation methods, and so on. If this does not sound like fun to you, it certainly isn't, and that is what separates the empire builder from the noob.

But just because focusing on improving CTR and split testing page layouts is not exactly fun does not mean that it is hard, and the potential payoff can seriously be worth the inconvenience of taking the time to do it right. There is an important paradigm shift that needs to take place in your awareness if you want to be a successful empire builder: you must realize that your profession is literally to connect advertisers with people who are interested in what they are promoting.

By creating content sites around a certain topic, you are drawing in people who are interested in that topic, and then you are 'giving' those visitors away to other websites that may not be as good at marketing as you are. The main thing to be aware of here is that even though you are building up a base of website visitors with the intention of having them leave your website by clicking on relevant ads, they will be leaving some money in your virtual tip jar as they go! If you are an empire builder, it is important that you do not get too attached to your websites and spend most of your attention focusing on how you can connect your visitors with relevant advertisers.

Fifth Level of the Adsense Spectrum: Adsense Whores

Due to my poor choice of words you can do this for one thing, but it is not, and can be potentially extremely profitable, Adsense is a whore. The business model of AdSense whore is a single site and ads that have potentially millions of pages on the site. The main difference is that most of the time the only website that focuses on that person is a community site or a networking site, and there are thousands of members that effectively create unique content every day. And with its unique all sides, creating your member base, you can use your code on almost every singe one of them.

A forum or a social networking website are great examples of websites that can make a killing using this type of business model.Many sites that are powered by user-generated content will employ an ad rotating script so that their adsense ads are rotated continually with other types of visual ads, so that the visitors do not become 'banner blind' and ignore the ads completely.

If you run a popular website and a member base numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, not a 6-digit monthly income is in question, if you are able, the large number of pages that are created to earn money constantly. This level is out of reach for most people because it is usually an extensive knowledge of web application programming required and you must set a rule experienced programmers to access the rear of the field work and make sure that it is safe. This can be expensive, and there is a chance that you will also need to hire people to do the content, create the user, are rather modest. It is a full-on business, and it pays accordingly.

As you can see, Adsense publishers come in all types and sizes, and I hope this has been an enlightening aside on your journey towards higher profits.

Coffee Franchise Opportunities: Does Starbucks Franchise?... and Other Coffee Business Franchises

Does the aroma of brewing coffee transport you to a sensory paradise?Is a steaming latte your idea of comfort food?Do you consider coffee its own separate food group?If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then a coffee franchise may be for you!When someone says "coffee shop," the name that most often comes to mind is Starbucks.So it's only natural that coffee connoisseurs and entrepreneurs will immediately want to know if this wildly successful java chain offers the opportunity to buy Starbucks franchises.

Despite the seemingly ubiquitous presence the Starbucks brand does not franchise or sub-franchise its operations. Rather, the company operates most North American Starbucks stores. The exception is the situations in which Starbucks into an agreement with the companies who may be physical locations that would otherwise not available to Starbucks, such as space will come to offer in the airports, grocery chains, hospitals and universities, and universities. In addition, in certain areas, Starbucks may be an agreement with a group of individuals or companies in which the company or group is permitted to manage and operate Starbucks outlets in a given region.

The lack of Starbucks franchises, however, should in no way dissuade the coffee lover from the exercise of the franchise business opportunity coffee. There are many coffee companies do, indeed, franchise their operations, and many even venture beyond the traditional coffee bean to provide gourmet coffees, food choices, even catering.

The following represents a partial listing of the many coffee franchise opportunities available to java lovers everywhere.

Caffino

With its "60-second guarantee," Caffino is a drive-through coffee bar that first opened its company doors in 1993 in Napa, California.Franchising since 2003, Caffino currently has 27 locations in 3 states, and it is actively expanding.Caffino prides itself on roasting its coffee on-site using only the world's best coffee beans, Arabica Grade 1.The startup cost for a Caffino franchise ranges from $212,900 to $373,000.

Beaner's Coffee

Founded in 1994 and franchising since 1999, Beaner's Coffee offers a variety of the coffee beverages made from flavored, decaf, signature, organic, and fair trade beans.In addition, Beaner's goes beyond coffee service and ventures into the world of sandwiches, salads, and baked goods.Beaner's carries a startup cost of $240,000 to $300,000 and offers the option of express or kiosk franchises.Beaner's is currently seeking franchisees nationwide, and for its franchise owners, exclusive territories are available.

Woody's Chicago Style

Coffee and hot dogs? Is not a typical combination, but Woody's Chicago-style is no problem combining the two. Beginning in Honolulu, Hawaii, Woody's Chicago Style is a hot dog, beverage, coffee cart business has been since 1991, franchise business. Although there is no franchise available in every country, Woody is to seek in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma State, Washington to join, state, and Wyoming. And prices from five Dian Siyi 〇 Wan Zhi Si Liusi U.S. Dollar U.S. Dollar ○ ○ ○ ranging from labels, Woody, it could be the right choice for your purse!

Scooter's Coffeehouse

With franchise opportunities existing both in the United States and worldwide, Scooter's Coffeehouse ranked #26 in Entrepreneur.com's 2007 listing of the top new franchises.In business since 1998 and franchising since 2002, Scooter's is a specialty coffee franchise that also serves up brewed coffees, espressos, flavored coffees including sugar-free options, teas, and a wide selection of smoothies.Startup cost ranges from $60,000 to $410,000, and, in addition to training, Scooter's offers significant ongoing and marketing support, including regional advertising, national media, field operations/evaluations, purchasing cooperatives, newsletter, meetings, and a grand opening.

Dunkin Donuts

Who doesn't recognize this household name in the coffee and donut industry?Established in 1950 and franchising since 1955, Dunkin Donuts now boasts more than 7,000 stores worldwide, including 1900 locations in 30 countries.In the United States, more than 5,200 Dunkin Donuts locations dot the landscape in 36 states.Based on years of operation and experience, Dunkin Donuts has a 5-phase franchising process, which begins with an application, credit check, and criminal background check, among other things, proceeds through several steps including an interview, business plan development, application approval, training, site location, and financing, and ends with restaurant construction and crew training.To ease financing costs, Dunkin Donuts has partnered with preferred lenders who offer franchisees flexible financing options, including Small Business Administration (SBA)-backed loans for certain transactions.

In addition to the five coffee franchise opportunities briefly profiled above, no fewer than twenty franchise opportunities exist for entrepreneurs seeking to turn their coffee passion into a profession.

From Cafe Ala Carte cappuccino catering service and Grabbajabba gourmet coffee and European sandwiches to It's a Grind Coffee House and Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffee and Smoothies, numerous coffee franchises ranging from low-cost to high investment are available for serving up that morning cup of Joe, mid-day sandwich on the run, or afternoon tea or smoothie.

So next time you walk into your neighborhood coffee shop to fill your latte craving, imagine providing that same satisfaction to other coffee lovers like you... and even better yet, making a living at it!