What does it take to have an award-winning Web site? According to the Web Marketing Association, it takes a combination of qualities.
Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association's Web-
Award Competition has set the standard of excellence for Web site development.
Here are the seven criteria on which Web sites are judged in the annual competition.
* Design. Many people judge a book by its cover and the same goes for Web sites. If a site looks old and unsophisticated, it will lose much of its credibility.
* Content. "Content is king" has been the mantra of most award-winning Web sites. People visit a Web site for its content. If the content they are looking for is missing, they will leave the site disappointed.
* Innovation. Sometimes called the "wow" factor, innovation is something new and attention-getting that adds value to the site and enhances the user's experience. It could be a new technology, new search method, new navigation system, new content or a new design.
* Technology. Use of technology could either enhance or hinder a Web site's usefulness. If a site uses too much technology, users may have to work harder to get what they are looking for. No matter how impressive a new technology is, if it slows the site or hinders the user's search for information, it's not an enhancement.
* Interactivity. Some Web sites are designed only to supply information. Other sites use calculators or tools to make the site more interactive. Some sites also offer games to improve the online experience.
* Copywriting. Oftentimes, thousands of dollars are spent designing and programming a site with little attention paid to the words used. The best sites are well-written and use simple language, short sentences and bullet points to convey their messages. And, most importantly, they are carefully proofread to eliminate any typos.
* Ease of use. In the early days, some of the "coolest" sites were impossible to navigate. Today, Web sites are much better at showing users how to find the information they are looking for. The best Web sites make sure that users can get to any other area on the site in three clicks or less.
Award-Winning Web Sites Place Visitors First
Airline Dispatcher Job Sites
In several related articles I made mention of finding work as a flight coordinator, as a flight attendant, or as a pilot. Each specialty, as you can imagine, has its own requirements, hence the job sites that feature these types of opportunities are not always the same. If you have some idea where to look – besides contacting an employer directly – you can narrow down your searches and, hopefully, shorten the entire job hunting process. The following list contains some of the sites that are most helpful in listing viable opportunities for airline dispatchers.
Aviation Employment Board – This site offers free registration and allows for you to post your resume for free as well. Airlines featured include United, Continental, Trans States, Spirit, Southwest, Northwest, Mesa, EOS, Champion, Pace, and a host of others including many European and Asian carriers. Please visit www.aviationemploymentboard.net for more detailed information.
Monster –Monster regularly lists over 800,000 opportunities, including many airline openings. There is no charge to register and you are permitted to list your resume for free as well. Please visit www.monster.com for more information.
Avianation – One of the largest aviation related job sites online, Avianation features a variety of opportunities, including many dispatcher positions. There is a fee involved for their service, currently set at $9.95 per month or $80.55 annually. Occasionally, posted specials drop the price considerably so visit this site for current information: www.avianation.com today.
Air Jobs Daily – As one of the leading job posting sites for the aviation industry online, Air Jobs Daily features a variety of opportunities for business and commercial aviation employees. Air Jobs Daily charges an annual fee of $77.95 which also includes a subscription to the Air Jobs Digest, a periodical featuring additional job listings and aviation related information. Please visit www.airjobsdaily.com for more information.
Hot Jobs – Hot Jobs, owned by search engine giant Yahoo, is an employment site featuring several hundred thousand opportunities, including airline jobs. Registration is free and you may list your resume for free too. Please stop by www.hotjobs.com for more information.
Career Builder – The largest job posting site online is Career Builder which at any given time lists more than one million jobs. Airline jobs, such as flight dispatchers are listed, perhaps not in as abundance as some of the aviation sites, but a good place to look nevertheless. Membership is free and you can list your resume for no charge too. Visit www.careerbuilder.com for all the details.
Other sites that feature airline dispatcher opportunities include: AEPS, Plane Jobs, Jet Jobs , and Skyjobs. Please note that most of the paid sites contain the same job opportunities as each of the other sites, therefore belonging to more than one is not cost effective.
Avoid being scammed by survey sites
There are lots of paid survey sites out there, most of them out to get your hard earned money. But like everything there are some exceptions. I myself have been tricked more than once. Is everyone out there really willing to give you cash and free merchandise for your opinion? The answer is NO. But there are a few out there that are for real.
In this article I will try to clear up the mystery surrounding “paid surveys”.
While some people may find it hard to believe, it’s absolutely true that companies are willing to pay you to take surveys. Why? Simple there interested on what you have to say.
A paid survey, are a serious of questions that are presented to individuals to get their opinions on a product, this product may already exist or might be a new product the company surveying is planning on launching. Their purpose might be also just to improve their current product or to make changes due to the fact that its not performing like they planned.
How does it work?
Its actually very simple you just need to join a market research panel. The more panels you join the more paid surveys you will get. The good news is that there are real survey sites out there that can provide you with this opportunity; the bad news is that for every legit survey site out there are at least 20 more that are out there just to get your money.
Be careful before joining one of this paid survey sites out there. You should really do your research before you join one of these companies. Make sure to read testimonials, read their FAQ and make sure they are the right pages to join.
How much can I make?
The potential is up to you there are companies out there that will pay you anywhere between $1 to $75 for 12 minute online survey, and there also some companies that will pay you with gift certificates or products. Take into account there is no limit on the amount of paid surveys you can take so the possibilities are endless.
How am I Paid?
Normally they pay by mail with a company check. But there are also some that will do direct deposit, or online gift certificates.
Are these paid survey sites worth the money?
Yes, in my opinion they are very worth the money. They establish relationships with hundreds of survey companies; they usually carry the best opportunities out there.
In conclusion
Its very important to do all your research and find out all that you can regarding paid surveys, you can definitely make some good money online. Good luck!!
this article was created by Alan B owner of Paid surveys
Advertising On Celebrity Fan Sites
Online advertising isn’t quite the same as advertising anywhere else. On the web, ads are everywhere. In fact it is safe to say that the Internet is one gigantic billboard.
Online advertising also differs from regular advertising in that glitzy, gimmicky logos or images or even taglines don’t cut it. Usually, the people who use the Internet are looking for specific items of information and just tune out the various gimmicks that companies use for their commercials.
This may be because when the net was young and still mostly dial-up, the ads were banner types which were pretty but really heavy. Though broadband has now replaced dial-up, Internet users prefer ads that are light and easy and preferably unobtrusive to their research.
What is the same, whether you advertise online or offline is that people connect with people. In general, they respond better to ads that appeal to their values or feature something they can relate to. They relate better to commercials that feature people.
For example, if your product is about health care, they are more likely to respond to a doctor than to anyone else. If your product is about basketball shoes, they are more likely to respond to a basketball player. Basically, you choose a spokesperson that your prospective buyers will believe or listen to. The only exception to this rule seems to be celebrities. For some reason, people will believe almost anything celebrities say, whether or not they themselves are suited for the product or not.
Now, hiring a celebrity to endorse your product can be a really expensive thing. Most celebrities charge high, after all you are trying to ride on to their popularity. Their manager will make sure that they get the most out of being your commercial model.
Unlike regular advertising, however, there is a way to cash in on the popularity of celebrities without having to pay an exorbitant rate. They are called celebrity fan sites. These are sites about a celebrity that may or may not be owned or maintained by the celebrity who is featured. Usually these sites are run by a fan of the celebrity, hence the term celebrity fan site.
Here is a truth that artists who last long in the industry know. The fans control their world. The acceptance of the public of their image, their composition, their design, their performance determines how much money they will earn.
The fans are also the ones who search the Internet the most about information about their favorite, and some not so favorite celebrities. Celebrities are among the highest searched items on the net. Over 40 million queries about them are made a day.
Thanks to search engines, these celebrity fan sites get quite a bit of exposure. They talk about their favorite singer, actor, model, or athlete. They have interesting information that attracts even more fans of their favorite star.
That’s a lot of traffic that businesses can utilize. All the companies need to figure out is which ones of the many celebrities will their target group be likely to visit. This will help you get the necessary exposure that your product needs.
One way to look at it is as sponsorship. A lot of TV shows or segments are sponsored by various companies. They allow these TV shows or segments to stay on the air. In exchange, these shows flash their logos of their sponsors during commercial breaks.
Online advertising has an advantage here. Unlike TV where the sponsor has to wait for their commercial spot, online advertisers have their ads constantly on the page on specified areas. Visitors can see them all the time as they surf the celebrity fan site. Depending on the agreement, some sites will even allow the advertiser to have their ads on various pages of the site, so no matter where they travel on the actual site, they still see your product on display in a prominent area.
Putting an online ad on celebrity fan sites is a lot less expensive than paying for airtime on television. The cost is a lot lower and you get more exposure since you are not limited to just your national public. Keep in mind that the Internet is on a global scale.
These celebrities have fans all across the world. The celebrity fan sites, being on the net, have a global reach. If your business caters to the international market here is another reason why you may want to place your ad on a celebrity fan site.
People like to be in touch with people. They like to know what’s going on with their favorites. So of course, they will look up news on their idols and voila! When they visit the sites about their favorite star, there’s your ad. Isn’t that great exposure?
People often idolize celebrities because they see something in these people that they would someday like to achieve, whether it is a physical, mental, social or maybe just a financial thing. They long to be as beautiful or as smart or as attractive to the opposite sex. Some may just long to be as fit or as skilled an athlete. Whichever aspect it is that they admire in these stars, if your product is something that can help them come close to achieving that goal, they may just click on your ad.
You will need to do some research to find the best celebrity fan site on which to place your ad. You do want to get the most for your money and there are hundreds of celebrity fan sites out there. You are looking for the one that attracts the most number of fans who are also part of your target market.
If you find the celebrity fan site you like, make sure to check out the contact details of the site owner right away. Most of them will have a link on their site marked as “contact us”. Once you get in touch with them, you just need to negotiate for a prime spot on their site. Don’t wait too long! Other businesses want that spot.
10 Tips To Build Better Sites For You Or Your Customers - part 1
1 - Easiest to guess: idea. A good idea is almost 100% success. If You think best graphics or best animations are the keys You are wrong. People come to You because You've got the information they want or they search. Think of it: build an another site with the same content or build a site with a new content? Don't You want to be first? Don't want to give something new to potential customers? Even don't You want to earn some money for Your time and informations or products? Find Your niche and be the one in it. Let the people come to You.
2 - First look - very important. If I enter a site which has dark colors I'm out and never get back. OK, I return only if that site sells or promotes some kind of dark movie or horror books etc. i like or search for. But dark background isn't good idea for ordinary sites. People doesn't want to look at black sites because they pushes off. People want to look at bright sites with cool colors but not aggressive to them.
3 - Animations - irritate or not? Yes. Another important element. I like sites with flash animations but not too aggressive and not in full screen mode hiding the rest of site. I prefer small amount of animations. They should be tiny and integral parts of site. Also they must have a "skip" button to pass intro and get to proper site. Of course animations can be huge but only if they have some photos of products You sell or promote. Interactive catalog is good but flying dog chasing motocat isn't good if You don't sell pet accessories...
4 - Navigation - where's my hotel? People don't want search for anything else they looking for. Where's navigation bar? Where's site-map? Where's the coolest window cleaner I'm looking for? How can I buy it? Hello?! Damn... and never get back to You. The answer for that is simple: give him/her a search-box, FAQ, instructions "how to find", "how to buy", "how to search" etc. Think that the customers don't want to think about what, where, how etc. and You have to give them an answer to their hands. Maybe this is rude to say: "everybody are idiots" but that's a fact: they are lazy and don't want to search more they are have to...
5 - Functionality - how big is a cart? Every site must be functional. Several links and no FAQ? I'm out. Be Your first customer who's entering Your site. What do You see? Do You know everything what, where, how? What do You do if cart is full? What if You didn't find what You looking for? Is there a wishlist? Or mail-contact? Or online service? Think of it. Maybe You find there are many things to change, maybe not. Be a YourSite.com beta tester today to avoid mistakes and build better functionality.
8 Important Elements for Small Business Web Sites
Key visitors to your commercial pages include web robots that crawl the internet and catalog your content. Having proper HTML source code, plus the right combination of text and graphic presentation, is just one secret to success. Proper code may mean higher robot ratings, and the "look" is equally important. Once a new prospect finds your web site, you have 5 seconds to get them to stay.
As a small business web site owner, you may have asked "Why don't we get any hits?". Did you know web pages can load and appear correct with improper or deprecated HTML code? A browser may ignore your mistakes, and display what it thinks you meant, and it may look great. Web robots may not be as forgiving.
Following is a list of 8 basic elements for good search engine placement that need to be considered in your design and web site promotion. For details on code issues from the worldwide authority, visit the World Wide Web Consortium to view DOCTYPE and other quality standards.
1. DOCTYPE Statement
2. Page Title
3. Proper HTML Code
4. META Description
5. META Key Words
6. First Paragraph of the Home Page
7. An Extra Page of Just LINKS
8. Backlinks (Links to your pages)
These 8 key items are either missing or poorly designed in 85% of all web sites. Some search engines may only list the other 15% in their directories. In other words, as few as 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it into some search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being blacklisted, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it's corrected. This could explain why you "never get any hits".
Web sites can be simple and professional without using fancy software to create your pages. Veteran programmers hand code and many create the HTML in NotePad. Web authors who choose to use flash, frames, or the latest software may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because the visitor may lack the technology or newest version of browsers. If they are turned off and leave without giving your site a fair viewing, it could mean lost profits.
Most designers use prepackaged software to create web pages. If the software leaves out any of the key elements, the code is hidden, and you'll never know your site was not optimized for search engines. The designer may not know, or care, about these items as long as the page looks attractive. Note: Search engine algorithms vary by company, so some elements such as "an extra page of links" may not be as important today with some search robots. Backlinks refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.
Finally, business visitors want information. They do not visit your home page to be entertained. Most have a need (problem) and want a fast answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video unless that's your core business. Anything that distracts from a positive first impression may violate my "5 Second Rule".
Aviation Dispatcher Job Sites
Employment opportunities for flight dispatchers are often available through one of the major airlines as well as with one of the regional carriers. However, the best opportunities for pay and autonomy is typically through a private jet operator. Finding work with
Aviation Employment Board – A free site, the Aviation Employment Board features job openings for business and commercial aviation. Registration is free and you may post your resume for free as well. Visit www.aviationemploymentboard.net for all the details.
Hot Jobs – Owned by search engine giant Yahoo, Hot Jobs is a job board that lists hundreds of thousands of opportunities at any given time. Aviation opportunities are, however, fairly limited. Registration is free and you may list your resume for free too. Visit www.hotjobs.com to find out more.
Climb to 350 – One of the largest aviation sites online, Climb to 350 lists an assortment of opportunities including Aviation Dispatcher positions. Their annual fee is $105, but occasionally the site runs specials where the charge drops to $49 for one year. Visit www.climbto350.com for more information.
NBAA – The National Business Aviation Association is the premier organization representing private jet operators. If you are a member of the NBAA – annual dues are generally assessed at $350 per person or organization – then you have access to the association’s job board which lists opportunities generally not found elsewhere. Visit www.nbaa.org for more information.
Other sites listing Aviation Dispatcher positions include: Aviation Jobs Online, Skyjobs, AvCrew, AEPS, and JS Firm. Belonging to more than one paid site is generally a waste of money as virtually all the paid sites share similar job opportunities.