How to Make Your Website Attractive Using Site Aesthetics

One of the biggest differences between a $1,500 sale and a $3,500 sale isgoing to be aesthetics. Site aesthetics dictate initial impressions on the site.

If the sitedoesn’t grab the user visually, they won’t stick around long enough to even get to theawesome content you have. Site aesthetics are important to turn StumbleUpon usersinto return visitors and also crucial for when you sell the site.

Website buyers arelooking for something that stands out against all the other garbage on Flippa, so havinga unique looking site, or even just a decent looking one, will set you apart from most ofthe crowd and drive your final sale price up significantly.

Since we’re using wordpress to handle all our content, we want to find a happy mediumbetween a “normal looking blog” and an abstract looking website, but we need to keepcost down. I’ll provide a few examples of what are great looking wordpress templatesthat will grab your visitors attention but also still allow for ease of organization andcontent management.

I love the following themes:

• Sight
• Imbalance
• Haralampi Lux
• Fartolino
• Blogum
• Suburbia
• Unspoken (Paid Premium Theme)

I love the simple aesthetics of black and white themes, they won’t goout of style, they always sell well on Flippa and with a bit of added fun to the websitesthey will look elegant, sleek, unique and VALUABLE.

I won’t go into detail aboutinstalling these particular themes in wordpress as most of you are probably familiar withthe process. I would recommend trying the Haralampi Lux theme if you’re only doing 1site, I’ve noticed the highest resale value on websites with that theme installed.

Whatever theme you end up with, make sure it has solid visual design and implementsimages throughout it, especially featured images for each post.So I’m going to use one of my sites, ThriftyVagabond.com as an example with use of theHaralampi Lux Theme. Thrifty Vagabond is a site dedicated towards saving money ontravel related expenses, be them before, during or after travel.

I’ve setup Thrifty Vagabond as a live demo showing all my settings so you can setup asite similar. Once you’ve installed the theme there are a few plugins to install as well(just search these within the plugins area in Wordpress as shown below)

Plugins:

• Slick Social Share Buttons (Free)
• Ultimate Twitter Profile Widget (Free)
• nRelate Related Content (Free)
• Ultimate Twitter Profile Widget (Free)

SocialBox (Paid but you can find similar widgets for free). I also add a Facebook like box, not a plugin but I do put it in with the widgets.

What these plugins are for is mainly bolstering the social aspects of your site and fillingeverything in, making your site look more full and active. And when I say “making yoursite look more full” it’s not to deceive people, there actually WILL be activity andengagement with these social channels and sharing mechanisms.

Install all those plugins and set them up. I leave almost all the settings standard excepton the Slick Social plugin (I’ve shown a screenshot below for getting that setup.) Youmay need to tweak a couple things depending on your theme. There are setupinstructions with each plugin – all will obviously need to go on your sidebar.

After setting your widgets up there are a few more things to do before posting content,first head to Settings ‐> Permalinks then click on Post Name then click save.

After doing that go to Post ‐> Categories and you’re going to setup a category structurefor your site.

Author Bio
Charles West is a professional content writer and blogger since last 2 years. I have writing expertise in technology and certification topics specially. I love to share that recently I passed my 640-864 exam from SAS institute and 642-642 exam from VMware. Thanks for reading.

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5 Main Components to Get Your Website Up and Running

There are 5 main components you will need to focus on to get your website up and running:

1. Get a domain + hosting
2. Install WordPress + theme
3. Configure the theme
4. Structure your website
5. Social setup

Some of these steps are very basic, but I am going to run down each section for you.

1.Get a Domain and Hosting 
I am going to show you how I do both of these for very cheap.

What Domain do I choose?? 
This is where you are going to brand your website. Do not make it look cheesy, create something trustworthy, professional and easy to remember.
Your domain will be your image, so pick wisely!

2. InstallingWordpress& Theme 
Wordpress is the framework of many websites and easy to use. Once you sign up for a host, there will be an easy wizard to help you setup Wordpress on to your URL.You should be able to find the above inside your host’s cpanel area, simply select Wordpress!

Sometimes it may take a few hours to show up, but you will be notified in your email address once the site is ready.

3. Configure Theme 
So you should have uploaded your theme by now and ready to configure it.
The following steps can be used for the Woo ecommerce theme, but may also be used for other similar themes.

A. Change the Logos on the page to your Own 
If you are using Woo ecommerce theme, you will have to replace the Woo logos to your own. This is generally the same for most themes out there.

B. General settings 
Add your Google analytics code in the tracking box. If you do not have a Google analytics account go here: http://www.google.com.au/analytics/

I highly suggest you do this so you can check all your traffic stats. You will get an understanding of where your traffic is coming from, how long people are staying on your site and if they are coming back to visit.

C. Subscription Box 
In the Woo Theme you can setup your subscription box here:
Theme options > Subscribe & Connect

It will allow people to sign up to your email list and social profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc.
Building an email list is VERY important, make sure you have an autoreponder such as Aweber or Get Response.

4. Structure your Website 
This is where you can add a slider to the front page with daily deals or featured products. Keep it clean, but do not go overboard with the widgets that you can use. I like to have a side widget with testimonials, my subscribe box, and social links such as Facebook and Twitter.

Social is a fantastic way to keep all your customers updated with any store changes or new products. Here are my tips for site structure:

• Have a special offers sliding bar at the top of your page.
• Have a subscribe box & social connect widget that offers some sort of free eBook or discount coupon.
• Use high quality images.
• Use appropriate categories.
• Include testimonials in sidebar widget and item description when possible.
• Keep your site simple and clean.

A great tip is to check successful site in your niche or other retail stores and pay attention to what they do in regards to site layout and structure.

5. Social setup 
This is extremely important for traffic, make sure you setup the following accounts:

• Facebook Fan Page 
• Twitter 
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Flickr 

Connect all these toyour page and update them regularly for a great stream of free traffic.

Author Bio
Charles West is a professional content writer and blogger since last 2 years. I have writing expertise in technology and certification topics specially. I love to share that recently I passed my 642-832 exam from SAS institute and 117-301 exam from VMware. Thanks for reading.

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How To Choose The Best IP Telephone System For Your Small Business

Today, the power of technology has made it possible to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve business procedures in every way possible.

If you are running a small business that deals with a lot of customers either worldwide or around the nation over the phone, you should consider switching over to VoIP technology since it is one of the most advanced telecommunications technology out there, and it could save your business a lot of money.

Statistics have shown that VoIP technology could help you save as much as 40 percent on local calls and as much as 90 percent on international calls. In overall, you could save a maximum of 50 percent on your monthly phone bill.

Instead of using a telephone connection for the transmission of voice data, VoIP use the Internet to transfer voice data as packages. Therefore, you won't need to rely on any telecommunications service provider when you choose VoIP.

Here are some tips to help you choose the best IP telephone system providers for your small business:

Know Your Options

You can choose between a traditional VoIP service or a PBX service. A PBX service is a service dedicated to a single business customer. The price will be higher, but you get higher call quality and reliability as well as a dedicated support team at your fingertips. For most businesses, a traditional VoIP is enough, and they can always upgrade to a PBX system when their business takes off.

Quality and Reliability Is Key

If you want to save yourself from a lot of troubles later on, it is best to search for a VoIP provider that offers the highest voice quality and reliability.

A Bundle of Value-added Features

If you are going to stick with a VoIP provider, make sure to choose the one with the most advanced features such as conference calling, 3-way calling, voice mails, call forwarding, call waiting, custom call greeting, corporate phone directory, and many more. The conference calling feature is especially helpful for small businesses.
VoIP

Price

This is an important factor in your decision. However, never make the mistake of choosing the cheapest one. Sometimes, you get what you pay for. You need to carefully compare different providers and make your best possible choice.

Technical Support

Once in a while, you may encounter problems with your VoIP service, and that's when technical support comes in handy. You should make sure the provider has a knowledgeable and dedicated technical support team to help you whenever you need them.

Stella Wilson contributes about the value of IP telephone systems and the advantage of cloud based telephone system for businesses.

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Top certifications for a successful career in IT

Having a degree in IT and experience is just not enough for being a complete IT guru. Therefore certifications were invented, which provide hands on and a real time experience of the latest technology. Here are some of the top certifications that will provide you an unassailable edge over others.

IT certifications have always been a matter of great discussion for the IT professionals as well as the whole industry as a whole. With so many options available out there, it is hard to decide on one certification, which is best suited to your profile and can fast-track your career towards betterment.

Enrolling yourself for different certifications just to add some weight to your resume will not only drain you financially and mentally but also will not add any value. Further, not all certifications are created equal.  While some are definitely worth it, there are others which are just meant to be a cash milking object for the certifiers.

As the industry demands for a better skilled manpower, people are flocking to certifications like never before. Research suggests that the following certifications have the ability to considerably improve your career and earning potential in the future.

VMware Certified Professional: Rather unheard of in this part of the world, VCP is a new certification meant for people who have to deal with virtualization. Awarded by the market leader in virtualization VMware, a VCP is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining VMware solutions. With virtualization being the next rage in IT, this certification is certainly going to be a hot cake. Currently VCP earn an average salary around $85,000 annually.

Cisco Certified Networking Associate & Cisco Certified Networking Professional: These twin courses have always been the favourite of networking professionals due to their immediate benefits.  A CCNA course has a global acceptability and provides an easy entry to those who wish to make their career in the field of networking.

CCNP is the advanced version of CCNA and is meant for upgradation of knowledge as well advancement in career in terms of salary and position. A Cisco certified networking professional earns an average of $85,000. A big catch with all Cisco courses is that they expire after three years; therefore it is necessary to apply for re-certification.

Project Management Professional:  This certification is awarded by Project Management Institute. There is a very high demand of certified project management pro that can undertake and accomplish projects of varying scales with complete expertise.

PMP certification is a stamp of approval on the person’s ability to manage projects and therefore is one of the most sought after skill certification these days. Completing a PMP certification is itself a very rigorous process and therefore it has gained a prestigious standing in the industry.

CISM: Certified Information Security Manager: This is a certification for information security managers, which promotes international security practices and understanding of information security management. The certification is awarded by ISACA and eligibility to take the exam includes a minimum three years of work experience in information security or related field.

With IT infrastructure growing more complex, there is a need of a better breed of security managers who can work their way around today’s technology and security issues. Being a manager level certification, CISM offers a solid platform for transition to higher echelons of management. A CISM certified professional earns about an average of $110,000 per year.

Oracle DBA: Every business has a need of a database. Oracle is one of the biggest database companies in the world and therefore it is quite obvious that most number of databases is based on Oracle platform. Therefore it makes perfect sense to become an Oracle certified database administrator. These are also one of the most well paid professionals with an annual average salary of $90,000.

Does having a certification guarantee a job in IT?

Sadly, the answer is no. A certification isn’t a guarantee of a job in IT. However, a certification definitely adds value and weight to your profile. Further, there are many companies where minimum requirements for being considered for an interview consist of one of the above explained certifications.

Working on Soft Skills: An indispensable need 

The final step to get a good job as an IT professional requires you to update yourself on the soft skills. Your ability communicates with the interviewer, your team members and your seniors are directly proportional to your success in this field.

As a network engineer, you will have to take a lot of queries on the phone as well with international clients. To initiate efficient troubleshooting process, it is necessary that you understand the issue and for that you have to be sound in your English comprehension skills.

There are plenty of reasons to work as an IT engineer; a number of opportunities to work with the latest technologies, never ending learning process, fat pay package and ultimate job satisfaction. But to get in a position like this requires a great deal of efforts, practical knowledge and a go- getter attitude.

Author Bio

Saurabh Tyagi is an expert author, with an experience of over 4 years in writing content for articles and blogs. He loves to write on topics related to career, education, various networking courses, real estate, IT institutes like Aptech Computer Education, Arena Academy and many more. A gadget freak and social media enthusiast, he also keenly follows the latest trends in digital marketing.

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7 Easy Steps for Converting Your Old Photos and Giving Them a New Life

Where do you usually store all your photos? Under the mattress or in those old shoe boxes or are they scattered all across your home? It is a sin today to be so disorganized especially when everything can be so easily digitized. Digital scrapbooking is the best way to go to keep all your photographs at one place copied in a DVD or a CD that are also very easy to use for viewing.

Mentioned below are 7 steps that can help you in digitizing all your photographs. The process can be a little time consuming but is worth the effort you put in.

Things Required

You need 5 things with you; a good quality scanner, a personal computer, a powerful photo editing software like ArcSoft PhotoStudio that has features of a professional photo face editor, a DVD/CD burner and a DVD/CD burning software that allows you to write all those photos on to a digital media.

Let us take a look at the 7 steps for digitizing your photos -

• Start with shopping around for one of the best photo scanners you can lay your hands on. Explain what your end goal is and ask as many questions as you want. Do some research on Internet to know about the kind of scanner that you can meet your requirements and fit the bill!
• Clean your scanner and photos. Make use of photo-wipe that is lint free and calmly remove all the smudges or dirt but make sure you don’t leave any fingerprints on your photos. With the same wipes, again clean the glass of the scanner and remove dirt, fingerprints and smudges.
• Set all the scanner parameters right. The software of the scanner usually allows you to mention the resolution of the image you want. Keep it somewhere between in the range of 300 to 600 dpi. Anything above this range will obviously take longer time but will also give a far clearer picture.
• Now you can start scanning the photo. Put the photo with its face down on the glass of the scanner and then start scanning. Do take a look at the preview to make sure the alignment is right. If you don’t see the right alignment, make necessary adjustments and preview again. Keep doing this until you feel it is correct.
• Next comes the editing part. After scanning the pictures, you can send those to the photo editor where it can be fixed and cleaned up. Most of the professional editing programs like PhotoStudio 6 will help you remove image background, speckles, dust, red eye, contrasts and colors. They also help in sharpening the images and adding the desired effects to spice up the photos.
• After editing you should organize the pictures and save them. While you are working with the pictures, it is always better to get them organized. You can do this by setting up three different files, namely raw pictures, edited pictures and unsorted pictures. After the pictures are edited and sent to the unsorted file, you can further organize them to save on a DVD or a CD.
• Burn the pictures onto CD/DVD; by making use of the CD/DVD burning software that you have, you can burn the pictures onto DVDs or CDs. Now you have all your pictures well organized in the format, which is great for showing to your friends and families.

The photos can also be burnt on one of the flash drives. As it is a small device, you can always carry it in your pocket or with your keychain. So, if you’re still living in the Dark Age, it’s time to digitize your photos, and store them on your PC instead of the physical photo albums.

Author Bio - Erin Sun is a nature and wild life photographer. Erik enjoys venturing into the forests and lonely lands to take beautiful pictures of wild life and nature. He recommends PhotoStudio 6 as photo a professional face editor, as one can remove image background and do a lot more using this powerful program.

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5 best apps for personal beauty and health

Not all smartphone apps are addicting games that you play to kill time when you are bored.

In fact, nowadays there are smartphone apps for just about everything, even personal beauty.

If you are looking for new ways to apply your make-up or tips on how to reduce the fine lines on your face, there are a plethora of different apps available for download that can help you along the way.

Here are 5 of the best personal health and beauty apps that you can use to learn the tricks of applying make-up like a professional make-up artist or for choosing the right hair color for your skin tone.

#1:  The Yves Saint Laurent ColorMirror App   

If you want a high-fashion make-up look, this is the perfect all-around make-up app to download.  What makes this app unique is that you can upload your photo and try out various application styles on your own face to see how they will look.

Try a dark eye, a nude lip, smoky eye shadow, and all of the colors that you can imagine.  The app also includes video tutorials and tips from infamous artistic director Lloyd Simmonds so that you can learn application techniques.

#2:  The Clairol Studio App 

Have you been dying to dye your hair?  If you want to dramatically change the color, the idea might be a bit intimidating.  If you want to experiment before you take the plunge, the Clairol Studio app is a great experimental tool.

Find out what you would look like going from light to dark or dark to light by using one of more than 100 different shades.  Now you can do more than just look at hair swatches at the beauty supply store.

#3:  The MySkin App 

If you have ever been to the skincare aisle of a retail store, you know how overwhelming it can be to find a new product suited just for you.  The MySkin App is like having your own dermatologist in your pocket.

After completing a detailed survey on your skin type, the app will recommend products that will deliver the results you are looking for.  Unlike some of the other apps available for download, MySkin is unbiased and is not affiliated with a specific brand.

#4:  Sleep by MotionX

Every woman needs her beauty sleep.  If you want to wake up feeling refreshed, it is all about getting a good night's rest.  The problem is that many people do not know when to go to sleep, and how their heart rate throughout the day can affect them.

The Sleep by MotionX has a heart rate monitoring function to track your daily activity trends.  By tracking this, the app will recommend when you should go to sleep based on the time you need to wake up.

#5:  L'Oreal Paris Color Genius 

Have you ever had trouble picturing what your outfit would look like with a specific nail or lip color?  If you are not sure whether the colors will match or clash, this app can help you.  Take a picture of the outfit you plan on wearing, select the match or clash function, and the app will suggest nail polish colors, lipsticks, and eye shadows that will blend perfectly.

Your smartphone can become a personal stylist, a hair stylist, a make-up artist, and even a dermatologist when you have the right apps.  Try these powerful tools, try new things, and feel even more beautiful than you already do.

Byline: Suzie Withrow recommends visiting http://www.draltamira.com/houston-botox to get more information on personal beauty products and procedures.  

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Upcoming Tablets for Your Business

The tablet computer has been around us only recently but it is poised to become an important device in the excellent performance of everyday personal and business activities. 

The smartphone, in contrast has been around us for a couple of decades and has since become a useful handheld gadget for various tasks, providing an indispensible tool by which we can do basic and advanced business communication jobs by serving as an extension of the features provided by such services as a RingCentral business phone or any other phone service for that matter. 

While the tablet can never be as portable as the smartphone, it is packed with more computing power that even the most high-end smartphone can only dream of achieving.

Last year, there are a number of tablets that have captured the interests and imagination of consumers and this include the fourth generation iPad, Google Nexus 7, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, among others. 

This year, at the Consumer Electronics show, another set of tablets were showcased that are to take the tablet market by the storm anytime soon. We compiled what we think are the best CES devices below for your consideration.

Razor Edge. This tablet is jam-packed with excellent hardware that can play match to the best tablets around. Equipped with a Core i5 processor with a 4GB of Ram and Nvidia GT640M graphics, this 10.1” tablets is considered the most powerful tablet yet—and one of the most expensive at $999. 

It also is capable of multiple user modes such as Gamepad Controller, Keyboard Dock, and Docking Station. With this tablet, mobile gaming is changed completely.

Microsoft Surface Pro. This tablet sports the full version of the Windows 8 Pro operating system and features an Intel Core i5 processor inside, allowing users to use Windows desktop programs and support pen input. 

This device sells at $899 and provides users with good performance, though the battery life remains to be improved at just 4 hours at fully charge.

Archos 97 Titanium. This tablet features a 9.7” display that has a whooping 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution that can compare with Apple’s Retina display at half the price ($249). 

This tblet also runs with Android Jelly Bean with a 1.6GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor, a 1GB RAM with 8GB onboard storage that can be expanded with a microsSD. It is also equipped with a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing camera.

Vizio 10-inch Tablet. This tablet features Nvidia’s new 72-GPU core Tegra processor as well as a screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels that is better than the Apple iPad’s Retina display. It also has 32GB onboard storage, and 5MP rear-facing and 1.3MP front-facing cameras.

Acer Iconia B1-A71. This tablet is marketed as a secondary tablet and features a 1.2GHz dual-core Mediatek processor on top of a 512MB RAM that makes this tablet virtually lag-free when in use. It is also affordable at less than $149. 

While its display resolution is not something to write home about, it has an expandable memory of up to 32GB on top of the 8GB onboard storage.

Alcatel One Touch Tab 8. At a low price of $179, Alcatel’s One Touch Tab 8 may not be as famous as the more established tablets but certainly represents a good deal for cash-strapped small and medium-sized businesses. 

It runs with Android Jelly Bean operating system and sports an 8” 1024 x 768-pixel screen resolution, a 1.6GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor with 1GB RAM.

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Action Steps For Getting Paid As A Writer In 48 Hours Or Less

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the stage where you start taking action. If you are reading this, then I am sure you have no need to go anywhere to search on this topic. I know, even when it’s all been said, we can still use a little pat on theshoulder.

Thing is, to succeed with any system, we really need to take action and that’swhat I want to you to get to right now.So let’s get started… shall we?

Head over to your favorite browser and start from task number one.

1. Gather email contact details of the companies listed in Getlisted.org
2. Gather email contact details of the companies listed in Topseos.com
3. Email your pitch to these companies
4. Log into your LinkedIn account. If you don’t have create one, fill up yourprofile and make a few connections
5. Go to groups’ directory on LinkedIn.
6. Search for groups using relevant keywords and join as many groups aspossible (10 at least)
7. Post your availability for hire on each of the groups
8. Search for matching jobs on the “Jobs” section of each group and apply
9. Leave a few comments on the discussion section on each of the groups
10. Log into your Google+ account. If you don’t have, create it, fill upyour profile and make a few connections
11. Go to Google+ communities
12. Search and join as many relevant Google+ communities as possible (10 atleast)
13. Post your availability for hire on each of the communities
14. Go to Big-Boards (http://directory.big-boards.com/) and find as manyrelevant forums as possible
15. Join at least 5 forums
16. Offer your skills for hire with your forum signature
17. Create a short free report (5 -8 pages at most)
18. Upload your free report to your blog or a free file sharing service and getthe download link
19. Log into LinkedIn and share the report with all the groups you joined
20. Log into Google+ and share the report with all the communities you joined
21. Update your forum signature and add the download link to the report
22. Keep your email account, social accounts, and forum accounts open andrespond to messages
23. Get in touch with me support@magnd.com if you get stuck (please don’thesitate)
24. Get hired and paid!

Author Bio
Charles West is a professional content writer and blogger since last 2 years. I have writing expertise in technology and certification topics specially. I love to share that recently I passed my 640-875 exam from SAS institute and 640-878 exam from VMware. Thanks for reading.

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Four Sins You May be Committing When Developing an eCommerce Site Design

How an eCommerce site looks and behaves makes a great deal of difference. When these aesthetics are ignored, your site is guilty of poor designing and thought process.

Not only it results in poor browsing experience but is also harmful for your online personality. If you don’t look into the matter immediately, you may lose a chunk of your loyal customers.

We are in 2013, when everyone is in a hurry and has ample of options to quickly switch on to a better looking and working ecommerce site, businesses really can’t afford to appear with poor site design in front of their audience.

Your site is your best sales guy in today’s 24/7 connected world and how it behaves decides how visitors trust you. A significant amount of traffic is based on ease and convenience of using a site.

Ignoring these aspects can be sinful and can bring you in the category of some unforgivable online sellers. Let’s see what sins you might be committing, knowingly or unknowingly, during eCommerce development:

1. You kept your site complicated

Keeping it complex is the biggest sin that you can commit in 2013. People have short attention spans and thus need small and quick-to-consume bites of information. They are not going to delve into the complexities of your website. In fact, you will end up losing them to your competitors.

Your products are basic and simple. This is why you tried to look different from your competitors by using such layout. Agreed, but different shouldn’t turn into weird. Keep things simple and provide your visitors with ready-to-consume content bites. They will come back to you for more.

2. You didn’t make your website design responsive

2013 is the year for responsive web site design. It’s downright sinful not to optimize your site for mobile platforms. Gone are the days when people used mobiles just to attend and make calls. The scenario has changed.

Most mobile/tablet users now access internet while on the go. So, it’s really important to give them a mobile-specific shopping experience.

3. You have blurred/too small/few images

The idea is to compel people to shop online while giving them a real time shopping experience. Photographs and videos are crucial for them to know how exactly a product looks like and how it works.

As a rule of thumb, it’s important to provide them several large images along with a zoom option. This helps them in making an educated purchase decision, making them come back to you again and again.

4. You force your users to register

Most people will be interested in registering on the site only if they are getting an additional discount or benefits on their purchase. Otherwise they would like to just browse/shop, without registering on the site.

Try not to force your visitors to register on your site just to have an additional email id for email promotions.
Finally, it is recommended to hire an experienced eCommerce web developer to build your site. Not only this, your active participation is also required in the process. After all, it’s your business and you’re going to decide what goes well with your audience.

Author Summary: Kuntal Mehta (KJ) is the managing partner of Seashore Partners, a web development, e-commerce solution and SEO company headquartered in New Jersey, United States. In this article, he highlights the mistakes that businesses generally make during eCommerce development.

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Best 5 apps to track traffic and traffic accidents

It often feels like sitting in traffic is a necessary evil within most cities. Whether it is a daily commute or heading out on the weekend, many people will find themselves sitting in their car for hundreds or even thousands of hours every single year.

Luckily, one of the best tools for driving may be sitting in one’s pocket, and that is the smartphone. Traffic apps have become one of the most popular genres of mobile programs and more drivers than ever are turning this technology into their preferred tool when behind the wheel. Here is a closer look at five of the top apps to locate and avoid traffic when on the road.

Waze

Waze has quickly risen to prominence as one of the most popular traffic apps in cities around the world. The unique nature of this app, which also gives directions, is the fact that it is supposed to be turned on every time that the driver gets into their vehicle.

This app then carefully logs the location of the car as well as its average speeds and lengthy stops. It then compiles this data from millions of drivers around the world to locate traffic hotspots as well as roadways that may be moving smoothly.

According to The New York Times, up to 10 percent of commuters in Los Angeles use this app while driving, though users in flyover states may find that their experience is less accurate than those in urban areas.

Beat the Traffic

This app is an all-in-one program that allows drivers to use a single product for all of their driving needs. In addition to giving basic driving directions throughout the world, Beat the Traffic also keeps a close eye on gridlocks and traffic jams that have been reported by a number of information gathering sources.

As an added bonus, and one that not many other apps offer, Beat the Traffic also offers a single-touch option to find the quickest route to avoid these traffic jams.

Twist

As the name implies, this app offers a twist to traditional traffic apps. While it also gives basic directions to the driver, the primary goal of this app is to inform other parties of traffic on the driver’s behalf. This frees up the driver from making multiple phone calls or texts while behind the wheel.

Twist carefully tracks one’s route as well as any traffic that they can expect. It will then relay this information to the driver as well as anyone they have selected on their contact list via automatic texts. No more calling home to let everyone know you'll be late for dinner.

Tom Tom

This company is one of the oldest names when it comes to GPS directions and it remains one of the most popular choices for drivers. In addition to giving standard traffic information such as rush hour jams and backups, it also guarantees to be the most up-to-date app when it comes to route changes.

This app also offers another unique feature known as the eco route, an option to find the most gas-friendly route to a location.

Sigalert

Sigalert is one of the most commonly downloaded traffic apps due to the fact that it is the company from which countless other products draw their traffic information. Instead of relying on secondary sources, Sigalert compiles its information directly from highway patrol data along with road and traffic signal sensors.

When using this app, drivers can be sure that they are getting the most accurate and pertinent traffic information that is available.

Byline: Jeff Swanson understands that Auto Accidents can cause huge traffic delays, which is why he is working on an app of his own to help mediate the effects of traffic accidents.

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How Much Effective The Quality of The Product And Service Being Offered

It is essential that you focus you efforts on promoting quality products.  If you adopt a ‘best of breed’ philosophy, then you are going to benefit from:

• Developing a reputation for promoting quality.
• Developing trust which will boost your list conversion rate
• Quality product means lowers refunds and more commissions
• Lower attrition rates mean more dependable passive income

However if you are blinded by attractive commission payments, and fail to do your ‘due diligence’ then you are going to spend your time ‘spinning your wheels’.

Promoting low quality products will means that:

• Refund rates are high which means your efforts will lack the continuity income you seek.
• You will damage your relationship with your list, undermine trust and inevitably find it more difficult to make sales.
• You won’t be able to get ahead because your customer attrition rate is always higher than your customer acquisition rate.

One of the most effective methods of analyzing a potential business is to check out what people are saying in the forums.  Google phrase such as:

• Product Name Review e.g. traffic geyser review
• Is Product Name Any Good e.g. is traffic geyser any good
• Alternatives to Product Name e.g. alternative to traffic geyser
• Best Product Type e.g. best video marketing software

Spend more time reviewing the comments in forums rather than review sites.  Review sites are most likely affiliates trying to sell you the product, so their opinions will be biased.

Reading through forums posts and comments will enable you to see a wide range of opinions, and enable you to make a more informed decision.  Always use your gut instincts when assessing these reviews.

Remember not everyone is going to have something positive to say, most often because some people’s expectations are unreasonable.  Taking this into account will prevent you from discounting products worth your selection.

The Stickability Factor

The stickability factor refers to how badly the product is ‘needed’.  Remember we are mostinterested in promoting products / services that satisfy a ‘need’ as opposed to a ‘want’.  A need is a compulsory requirement whereas a want is a ‘luxury’.  For example you need ‘Food and Water’ but ‘Alcoholic Beverages’ are a want.

So when assessing a potential program ask yourself does my target market really need this program or is it more of a ‘nice to have, as opposed to a must have’.Not every Freedom Continuity Program you promote will satisfy a ‘need’ but the more they do, the great the stick-ability factor.

Author Bio
Charles West is a professional content writer and blogger since last 2 years. I have writing expertise in technology and certification topics specially. I love to share that recently I passed my 640-875 exam from SAS institute and 640-878 exam from VMware. Thanks for reading.

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Factors Motivating Sales of Ecommerce sites

The number of e-commerce websites are multipying day-by-bay extensively. Apart from this, online buyers are visiting the sites frequently to purchase better products in easy ways. These shoppers don't want to waste their time in reading out the description about every single product.

They are expecting crisp and short information about every product in a single view. The site shouldn't have too many pages to login which will be headache to visitors. Site should be trust worthy to share their credit card information.

Crispy information:

Users dont want to read out the text and waste their time in online shopping carts. Their expectation is to mention the price of the product, quantity available, shipping and tax details, service details, payment methods and the different sorts of product in the cart.

So this could be helpful for customers to know about a product, which is time saving. Nowadays this scenario is possible by some  magento checkout cart extensions which are applicable to so many e-commerce websites to upload “n” numbers of products in a single page. It would be easy for customers to view.

Promoting deals:

The store owners can even charm their visitors by promoting some daily deals. Usual method to attract visitors by promoting the deals by monthly, daily or for a certain period. There are so many  Magento daily deals extensions for promoting our e-store deal. Promoting the daily deals by pop ups, side and top banners might helps to get a visit to the site.

Easy Login:

Customers generally prefers to login in an easy way and they would hesitate to get tied up in the chain process to signup. As of now, so many social networks have been popular and people were online  24*7.

So allowing your customers to choose their own social accounts to login is no more going to disreagard your site. There are a few Magento social extensions which allow customers to sign up using Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo accounts, etc.

Reviews and Ratings:

The product reviews may be the next big thing for any investors. And this is the same for any buyers. They would go through the sayings of the users already purchased the product and decide whether to buy a product or not.

Allowing users to write a review and rate the product in your site might increase the level of trust. Few Magneto review module might help to get the review and rating from the customers and promote it in social media.

Social sharing of your product reviews and ratings, most accepted reviews, perma-link for reviews, voting for reviews, recently added reviews might promote your site to a great extent.

These factors are mainly considered for any e-commerce store to motivate your sales and increase the rate of customers.

Author Bio:

This article was written by Kathy Daunt, she is a Marketing Manager and technology blogger specializing in  magento deals extension and magento shopping cart extension.

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V-Book Next to U-Book

In purchasing laptops, all prospective buyers have almost the same standards: top performance at fastest operation speed, an “around the house” size and weight, clever functionality, and of course, value for price. Thankfully, there’s Asus Vivobook.

Asus Vivobook is one of the first – and arguably the finest – ultrabook to marry the features of a laptop and a touch screen interface, especially now that Windows 8 has come. Other laptops have to undergo certain software modifications to run Windows 8 smoothly, but Vivobook comes along with other ultrabooks which offers full Windows 8 compatibilty.

But compared to its competitors which have the same feature and even to Windows Surface prototypes, Asus Vivobook has left them behind; its ten-point touch screen is as fluid to the touch as you want it to be, without any wobbling of the widgets on screen.

It also has full Charms support, which makes it a laptop through which one can learn using Windows 8 all the more. Moreover, Asus has also developed the Smart Gesture utility which allows you to turn the Charms mode when you want a simple mouse-like trackpad.

The screen also promises 1366 X 766 resolution which makes text in apps and websites larger and easier to read, plus it can scale down a 1080 motion picture without much difference. The images it produces are as crisp and clear and bright as you want them to be.

With its system running on Intel Core i5 plus a 4GB memory and 500GB hard drive space, you can expect swift operations on this ultrabook even with heavy programs. You can also store away your files on Asus WebStorage 3GB online cloud storage for up to three years (smart). Meanwhile, it also allows you to start up in just 12 seconds with its 24GB caching mSATA SSD; you can wake it up from sleep mode in just the same time.

The typical laptop features go with it. The keyboard is comfortable to type on and has features just the same with most laptops. External memory can be managed through two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. It has a dark brushed metal lid and a matte silver keyboard deck; the chassis built makes it sleek to the eye as an ultrabook.

Of course, it still has drawbacks. It’s a bit thicker and heavier than the other ultrabooks in the market. In addition, it only lasts for 4 hours on a maximum rundown. But those are only of little cost to the fairly solid touch screen Vivobook offers.

On the other hand, it only has 2.4 GHz WiFi capacity, but still it is able to deliver fast connections to the Internet and access phone services offered by providers such as RingCentral; to compensate, the Vivobook has a full-sized Ethernet port.

The screen may not have as wide a viewing angle as other ultrabooks boast of, but it is forgivable since it is intended for a single person’s use.

With Asus Vivobook, you’ve got a desktop replacement on your lap, plus the wonders of the Windows 8 craze. But having read all its advances and drawbacks, you might be thinking, “Why should I settle with this ultrabook?” Take note.

We haven’t yet reached the last criteria: value. Who could have guessed that a touch screen ultrabook operating on Windows 8 can be purchased for less than a thousand dollars? It’s way below. For only $700, an impressive, up-to-date laptop is in your lap. That makes it value-wise.

With high performance at top speed and full Windows 8 compatibility with solid touch screen manageability, I believe the Vivobook is going to be the bar which is going to set the standards for the ultrabooks to come. Beat that.

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Protected your home with new security technology [Infographic]

Are you living in Perth and concerned about the security of your home while on vacation? If so, then it is imperative that you get the best home security system to safeguard your valuable possessions. Like many people, you may believe that intruders smash windows to gain access to homes; however the reality is that they are far more likely to sneak in through unlocked storage areas, back doors or poorly secured basement windows.

You will be astonished to know that most burglaries occur between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at houses that are without perfect security systems. As such, unprotected houses are more likely to be targeted by intruders. The good news is that buglaries do not have to occur. There are plenty of things that you can do to secure your home, ensuring a stress-free vacation with your family members. Here are some of the prominent tips that will enable you to make your house burglar-proof:

• Do not announce your travel plans on social media websites, as some burglars closely watch for these types of announcements to confirm whether you are home.
•  Do not hide spare keys under the door mat as thieves can easily find your hiding spot and take your priceless belongings.
• Use the best SMS security system to get an instant alert on your phone in the event of your home being burglarised.
• Make it a point to trim the overgrown bushes as these places prove to be a good hiding point for thieves. 

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Protect your business by outsourcing ICT

Often small scale businesses are prevented from badly needed growth by a lack of knowledge or the financial ability to employ administration staff.

One solution to this is to outsource this to a specialist company. Luckily, for businesses looking for IT services London has a lot to offer.

Connectivity
We live in the age of connectivity, a world where the distinction between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred.

Unlike traditional high-street commerce which operates in standard business hours between Monday and Friday; on-line businesses need to be able to operate a 24 hour service and ensure that it is fully equipped to provide its customers with access to its services seven days a week.

This model of business can demand the installation and operation large ICT infrastructures which can prove expensive. This cost can be significantly reduced by outsourcing with one of the specialist IT services London is renowned for.

Continuity
Continuity is the key to success. Customers will come to expect a service which is prompt, easily accessible and continuous. Any glitch in a company's ability to deliver this can have a catastrophic effect on its revenue. Online customers, unable to access a service, will simply navigate away to a competitor that they can access successfully.

Downtime is unwanted and costly and can cause an unwanted pressure in an already stressful business environment. Employing the services of an outsourcing company can help to minimise downtime and service glitches and allow your company to do what it does best; which is focussing on service and growing its business.

Infrastructure
Developments in ICT happen at rapid pace. In addition to ensuring a continuity of existing service; an outsourcing company can help to design an infrastructure that will protect your business in the future.

In addition to designing a robust and stable network for your employees and customers, your ICT network can be designed to be flexible to future developments; therefore allowing new services, workflows and equipment to come online without disruption to your core business.

Backup and storage
As we move further towards the 'paper-less office' it has become necessary to find ways to store the vast amounts of data created by computer systems. Backing up this data needs to be carried out in a safe and secure manner to protect your company's sensitive data.

Robust data collection services and security systems not only enable your business to build trust with its customer base, but also allow you to interrogate data and analyse consumer trends. This analysis can indicate new markets, generate fresh revenue streams and help to safeguard existing revenue.

System Support
Outsourcing ICT management to a specialist can often work out much cheaper than your company employing its own administration team. You can take advantage of the best IT services London has to offer and only pay for the level of support that you need.

However, that doesn't mean that you are without support when you really need it. Most outsourcing companies offer telephone based support with experienced operatives that provide cover out of hours. They can monitor your systems, provide server management and even provide remote administrative support.

AUTHOR BIO: 
John Wilson is an experienced ICT consultant based in London. For more information on how ICT outsourcing can help your business click here.

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Top SEO Strategies for Beating Google Penguin Changes with Your Website Design

The importance of crucial marks is followed in this order- quality of content, social media promotion, user experience, building websites, and SEO. All the aforementioned elements are pretty important components when it comes to SEO strategies.

Effectiveness of SEO strategies lie in utilizing and understanding the usage of social media, link building, and written content. Online branding, reputation management and visibility of work is in association with SEO.

Based on broad research, it is recommended to follow the SEO tips to match with the latest Google Penguin updates.

Get Rid of Similar Looking Anchor Links
Your content looks much better without any monotonous anchor links. Make sure that your content looks well written with appropriate graphics. The wiser option for you is to spread links for online branding.
Get Rid of Destructive Domain Names and Detrimental Websites

Before buying a website or domain name, research background and history in order to evade buying spam websites with deprived reputation in eyes of search engines. Once the website is declared disreputable or spam by leading search engine, it is not that easy to get into first page of search engine sooner.
Building Relationship through Social Media

Getting social is the best and highest rated significance. Instead of generating spam links, it is better to plan things to improve your presence online as well as improve the brand reputation. The major objective here is to gain sophisticated preference with the targeted audiences.

Start Building Mobile Friendly Websites

Nowadays, internet browsing is completely through smart phones, tablets, and hand held devices. You website should have mobile interface to offer thought-provoking mobile apps to use the website in easier manner for your mobile visitors. There are several cool mobile designing services as well as templates obtainable online to create customized design. Mobile SEO has got faintly different compositions as well as structure, since consumers use different approach in using their mobile phones for searching.

Develop Appropriate and Quick-to-Respond Design

It is necessary that you review the website design and make elements in the header more reflective for enlightened vision. Your structural mission should be displayed conspicuously. On the ongoing basis, you need to analyse page content, outgoing links, and semantic structure.

Content Characteristics

Your content should be creative, never read, unique, exclusive, to the point, terrific, and non-duplicated.

Content that you develop should have immense power and it is also considered as the best SEO tool. Always, be sure to create innovative and original content; you need to analyse what exactly has to be written in the content, and then start publishing. Later, you can monitor visitors' reactions and comments. Make this as a habit and keep doing it over and over again.

However, the Google SEO updates for 2013 will certainly affect the white hat as well as black hat users. In order to achieve better results, you need to consult a specialized and professional web design firm. Click here for more information.

Author Bio
Richard Johnston is a graduate degree holder in literature. By profession, he’s an SEO analyst and a hard core content writer. Click here for more information.

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