This is a good list to go through if you are looking at designing a new site, getting a make-over or switching to a content management system.

The Visible Part of Your Website

• Does your home page grab attention?
• Is your navigation simple and intuitive?
• Is the design visually easy to follow?
• Is the site design professional?
• Is the most important information visible (without scrolling)?
• Does you home page explain the following: who you are, what you do, why you do it, and how to buy or contact you?
  

Drupal is content management system that is flexible and packed full of features. It is open source software that is free for you to use and modify.

Over the last couple of years or so, Drupal has become the platform to run websites that require a lot of community and content management features. Its range includes simple brochure sites and personal blogs, to full-featured social networking sites, news sites, portals and e-commerce websites. It allows users to easily publish, manage & organize a wide variety of content on a website.

Think About Your Customer While You Design Your Website!

Before you design your site, you should know your customers. The following questions will help you focus on designing a site that meets the needs of your customers.

• Who are you trying to reach? Is there more than one type of customer using your site?
• What do you want your visitors to do when they are on your site?
• Who are the visitors that will bring you the most profit?

Open source software (OSS) is software where the source code is made available to the public as public domain or an open copyright license. This permits users to use change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form - free of charge! It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner where developers contribute to its features.

Your home page is the most visited page of your website. It is the page that will either retain your visitors or send them away. You must make a good first impression! Remember that the most effective sites are simple, clear and easy to navigate. Your design should be professional and reflect your branding. The following describes key elements required in an effective homepage.

Logo & Header

A Content Management System (CMS) uses a combination of software and a database to manage and organize your website content. Content is added to the database and then displayed in a customized template. A CMS makes it very easy for non-technical users to edit and expand their website. Edits can be made in minutes from any browser by logging into your website as a user with specific editing privileges. The CMS (site) allows an editor or content provider to login and access a simple user interface to make edits and add new content including images, multi-media files and more.

Edward Lear must have had some precognition about what was in store for us all with the development of the internet when he wrote this nonsensical poem.

Last week I heard an author speak on a book he recently published. He explained that most books on the topic he chose were very dry and he wanted to produce a more human book that would allow readers to identify with the people who were there experiencing the incident he wrote about….so readers could feel what it was like to be there.

His goal was to write a book that was a living history.

Sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? For someone like me who is not that interested in history, it certainly would make a more enjoyable read.

Each month I write an ezine with one main article. One of these articles was picked up by an ezine publisher who sends to over 750,000 subscribers each week. The same thing could happen to you…but only if you get started.

Some of you find the prospect of writing one article a month too much to face. You may justify not writing the article by rationalizing that your list is so small it can’t bring you much business, if any at all.

Here are 4 reasons why you should start your ezine today

• To test your messages and see what prospects are interested in.
  

As I mentioned in Part 1 of Achieving Dynamic Balance in last month’s issue, it is important that you don’t allow the complexities of dynamic balance scare you.

Yes, modern life is hectic and many people struggle with juggling work, family, relationships, financial concerns and social commitments, however, achieving a state of dynamic balance is actually easier and more instinctive than you might expect. It requires employing 7 essential skills, some of which you may already proficient with.