Have a glance at the simple steps that you can follow to have a good SEO friendly domain name:

Insert Keywords in the domain name: Keywords trigger the success of domain names by playing an active role in making the entire SEO process run at a higher speed and at a better Click Through Rate (CTR). These keyword-rich domain names serve as sign post and build strong website-niche relationship. Also if the URL of the website is constituted by keywords, Google indexes it fast and the website theme also appears uniform throughout.

Choose a top level domain (TLD) name: TLDs continue to rule the Internet business, especially .com (the most extensively used TLD). Since it is the most popular domain extension, you must try to get your domain name ending with .com as it would make your users recall it fast. Although there are instances of many successful websites with other domain extensions too, yet .com happens to be the most preferred choice of netizens across the globe.

Insert SEO friendly Inbound Links: Links are highly recommended since these play a considerable role in SEO. The keyword-rich domain names give way to SEO friendly inbound links as many netizens try to connect with your website using your domain name. If your website is devoid of SEO friendly inbound links, the search engines draw an inference that your website has no relevant content. However, the inbound links that you acquire must be quality links as poor links can adversely affect your SEO endeavors. Hence, stay away from ‘Black Hat SEO’.

Easy-to-remember domain names: A domain name must be short and easy to remember so that the users recall it fast and there is heavy web traffic to your website. There would be increased scope of conversion and online sales for your business. Avoid tricky and complicated domain names as they might work against the success of your online business.

Avoid hyphenated domain names: It’s recommended that you must avoid hyphenated domain names as these give rise to a large number of complications and users tend to forget the positioning of hyphens in the domain name very easily. The results can be very detrimental since a large number of your visitors can be misled to other similar named websites, all without any hyphens.

Attract great Type-In Traffic: Some of the users have a tendency to type the keyword directly into their URL bar and add a ‘.com’ extension to the same. Hence, I’d advise you to select a domain name that comprises of an exact keyword that matches your business as the chances of higher web traffic get a remarkable boost.

The thing to bear in mind about most web team managers is that they hate the process of hiring people. That’s why we don’t work in the HR department. I would much rather be working on something to do with our web sites than wading through a sea of resumes.

I’m also really busy. It’s a sad fact, but you probably have about 30 60 seconds for me to review your resume, before I make a snap decision as to whether to put you in the shortlist category or the discard pile.

That’s the reality of the situation. As an applicant you’re dealing with someone who’s doing something that they really don’t want to be doing and doesn’t have the time to do it either. So you have to make sure that your application stands out.

1. Be Focused

Don’t tell me everything you did since you started working – I’m sure your life’s story is interesting to someone, just not me; especially with a pile of resumes to plough through on top of my regular work load.

Focus on jobs that are relevant to the position (preferably leave out ones that are not web-related). And within those jobs, focus on the activities that are relevant – make sure they’re not hidden among projects and work about which I am not interested because it doesn’t relate to the position.

Don’t worry about accounting for every working moment since you left college – I really don’t care about that. I just care about what you’ve done that is relevant to the position.

2. Use Lists

As I mentioned, I receive a lot of resumes for positions I post and so I tend to skim over them initially to get a sense of whether the applicant has the general skills and experience.

Lists help me to easily scan through your resume and pick out the highlights.

3. Sell Yourself!

Make it obvious why you’re right for the position. If the position is for a web producer, tell me about projects you managed, the tasks you were responsible for and how everything ran like a well-oiled machine.

If you’re a developer, tell me about your expertise in whatever programming language and the amazing applications you’ve built.

4. Be Human

Stay away from business speak and talk to me like a real person. Try to inject a little personality into your resume in order to differentiate it from all the others. Too much business jargon just makes my eyes glaze over.

5. Be Concise

Remember, it’s quality not quantity. It’s hard for me to see the important stuff if it’s hidden in a forest of words.

Feel free to use appropriate abbreviations and acronymns (e.g. IA rather than information architecture – if I don’t know what IA means, do you really want to be working for me?)

6. Provide URLs

If you want to work in the web industry you are going to need to provide examples of work you’ve done or sites you’ve managed. Unless you’re applying for a job as a graphic designer, providing me with screenshots, no matter how pretty, isn’t going to cut it – I need to be able to look at real sites that you’ve worked on.

Provide links to your sites so that I can look behind the scenes at the code, check out the IA and see how usable they are. Don’t forget to point out the highlights within those sites so that I see the things you are most proud of.

If you haven’t got URLs to provide me, then frankly, you haven’t got much of a hope.

Interview Tips

Congratulations, you made it through to the big day. Here’s how to win me over in person.

1. Dress Appropriately

Once I’ve hired you, I really don’t care what you wear as long as you do great work. However, if I don’t know you, part of the impression I form about you will be determined by your appearance.

You don’t have to wear a suit – business casual is fine. Do stay away from jeans and trainers. Just look smart, okay – it shows you care. If you’re not sure what to wear, remember that as a rule of thumb that it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed.

2. Sell Yourself!

Are you detecting a theme here? For goodness sake, sell yourself. This is probably the most important tip once you get through to this stage, and the area in which most candidates fell down. In a couple of interviews it became a real struggle for me to stay interested in the conversation.

Make sure that you tell me why it is that I should hire you. If I don’t ask you about a particular piece of experience, make sure you tell me about it. Believe me, I want to know – however, I may not ask the right questions to bring it out without you helping me.

3. Ask Questions

The interview is a two-way conversation. I want to see if you will be a good fit for my team and my organization, but you should also want to see if the job and the company will be a good fit for you.

Don’t appear as if you’ll take the job without properly understanding what it entails and what the organization is like. So ask questions, both about the job and the immediate team/department and the organization in general.

4. Do Some Research

Research the company. Research the web site. Come up with some ideas about improvements you might make or areas you might look into, in case you’re asked (but, see #5, below, first).

See if you can find anything about the members of the web team – perhaps they have personal blogs or have developed other web sites (Google is your friend here).

Don’t forget to show me that you’ve done some research – drop it into the conversation somehow. It shows me that you’re interested enough in the position to go the extra mile. Also, show me that you have a strong interest / passion for the web.

5. Don’t Criticize My Site

Come up with ideas about improvements you might make to the site, but don’t critique my web site unless you’re asked. Don’t start telling me what’s wrong with my web site or what you would change unless I ask you for some ideas.

You don’t know what process we have gone through to develop the site, what issues we’ve faced, who our audiences are, or the goals of our site.

Developing any large web site is an exercise in organizational politics and compromise, and to critique it without knowing the history of why things were done as they were will only succeed in getting my back up. Believe me, this one is important.

6. Bring Stuff to Show

Bring a portfolio of your work and be prepared to leave some examples with me. Depending on the position, you could bring screenshots of sites you’ve designed, code samples, process flowcharts, IA diagrams, functional specs, creative briefs, writing samples, and so on.

Make sure they look nice (color, nice paper, in a plastic folder or something similar). Don’t bring too much, just enough examples to provide more evidence of the quality of your work and to show that you are prepared and organized.

Just whatever you do, don’t turn up empty handed.

7. Follow Up Afterwards

Send me an email saying how you enjoyed meeting me, how keen you are and reemphasize how your skills fit the position.

It’s probably not going to make a great deal of difference if I didn’t like you that much, but it might help swing the balance if I am weighing you against another candidate.

Websites Date

Just like hairstyles, websites date. What was all the rage a couple of years ago is now seen as passé.

Sometimes this is down to design trends – like the 3D buttons and interfaces that were so popular a few years back when graphics tools made it easy to create bevel and emboss styles. Other times it’s because the web is maturing and web designers develop a better understanding of what visitors want. For instance, Flash intro pages were all the rage until web designers realised that users didn’t like them and wanted to get straight to the content. Flash introductions are the beehive hairdo of the web design world: dated, impractical and utterly pointless.

So if your site is looking a little old, tired and sporting a beehive, it’s probably time for a makeover!

Stay ahead of your competition

The web makes it easy for people to find information about your company and services at the click of a button. The down side is that this holds true for your competitors as well.

It’s important for your website to make an impact and stay ahead. Surfers are an impatient and fickle lot and usually make up their mind about a site in a few seconds. Your website needs to out-do your competition or you’ll face losing valuable clients. Spend a bit of time looking at your competition; analysing competitor’s sites is one of the most important parts of the redesign process. How does your website compare to theirs? If they are ‘better’ than yours it’s definitely time for a redesign. If your site is of a similar standard you may think it unecessary to redesign, but it’s much better to be leading the pack than following.

A timely redesign could enable you to steal a march on your competitors rather than waiting for them to redesign and then having to play catch-up.

The design does not reflect your brand or the aspirations of your clients

When people visit your site, they see it as a reflection of your company. If your site looks professional and is full of helpful content they will see you as professional and helpful. Likewise, if the site looks amateur and out-of-date they’ll make the same assumptions about you. This is why it’s so important for your site to reflect the identity and ideals (brand) of your company.

But your site shouldn’t just reflect how you wish to be seen, it’s important that it also reflects the ideals and aspirations of your clients. People like doing business with people they can relate to, feel they are similar to or who make them feel good about themselves.

Sending a strong clear message about who you are and what you stand for makes clients want to do business with you. If your site is sending the wrong messages, it’s time to get a redesign.

A site that reflects where you’re heading, not where you’ve been.

It’s a bit of a cliché, but we do live in a fast paced world these days. Markets change, clients get more savvy and businesses evolve to meet new demands. If your site is more than a couple of years old the chances are it’s more a reflection of where you’ve been than where you’re heading.

Redesigning your site not only gives you the chance to align it with your current message, it also gives you the opportunity to think about where you’re heading and to plan for the future. It allows you to sit down and really work out a strategy, learn about your clients, your competition, and set new business goals and success criteria.

Your website should be a reflection of where you are now and where you are heading, not where you have just been. After all wouldn’t you prefer to do business with somebody who is looking to the future rather than being stuck in the past?

You want to update the content yourself, to keep your site fresh

One of the best things about using the internet rather than traditional channels is the ability it gives to respond to market changes, new business opportunities or customer requirements. You don’t have to wait until your current brochure run is used up before you make changes; you can simply update your site whenever you want. Well that’s the theory at least, but how many websites have you seen where the content looks like it hasn’t been changed in months, or even years?

Often this is because the websites have been built so they can only be updated by the person who designed them. This is fine for some small sites but it really doesn’t make the most of the benefits of doing business on the web. If your site’s content is stale and out-of-date, it’s certainly worth having your site redesigned to enable people in your organisation to update content themselves.

Fresh website content is an extremely important factor in encouraging people to revisit your site and can help give you the edge over your competition. Why would anybody come back to your site if it hasn’t changed in months?

Attract more visitors

“If you build it, they will come” may have held good for Kevin Costner, (Field of Dreams) but it doesn’t cut the mustard where websites are concerned.

Just because something is there doesn’t mean people will come and use it. If people have never heard of your site, don’t know what’s there and don’t know how to get there why on earth would you expect them to visit it?

A site redesign can help you attract more visitors in a number of ways. Building search engine ‘findability’ into a new site is much more effective than trying to increase your findability once a site has been built. Your site also needs to offer visitors useful information that helps them achieve their goals.

If your visitors’ goals – and your business objetives – are not the focus of your website, it’s time to think about a redesign.

Increase your turnover, get prospects to convert, shoppers to buy

It’s amazing to think how many websites still get built without any goals or success criteria being set. These sites will get visually “designed”, existing content will be “dropped in” and then 6 months later it’ll be dead in the water.

If this is ringing any bells then it’s time you thought about having your site redesigned.

While it’s relatively simple to build a basic website, it’s a much more involved proposition to build a website that actually performs.

The first step is to set some goals and success criteria for your site. What exactly are you trying to achieve and how will you know how when you’ve achieved it? Who are your users, what do you want them to do and what do they want to do?

With firm goals and an understanding of your visitors you can make informed decisions on how the site should look, work and sound. Does the site design back up your goals? Does the navigation encourage people to click on the section you want them to click on? How about the content – does it have the right tone? Does it encourage people to buy that product, register for that newsletter, read that article?

Make the site easier to use, help clients find what they (and you) want

We’ve all been there before. You’ve found a website through a search engine or by following a link on a site. You’re after something specific but try as you might you just can’t find what you’re looking for. It’s almost as though the site is conspiring against you and you come away feeling that it’s your fault that you couldn’t work out were the thing was.

Well here’s a news flash: It was not your fault, it’s the fault of the website! First and foremost, a website should be easy to use and easy to navigate. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, if the site navigation frustrates you or makes you feel stupid, the website is not doing it’s job.

Site designers and site owners sometimes fail to see these problems because they are so familiar with the site design, content and navigation. Other times it’s simply down to a lack of planning and bad design.

Whatever the reason, a site redesign will enable you to listen to your users, find out what helps them (and what frustrates them) and build a site that is easier to use and thus more effective.

Make the content more relevant, communicate with your clients more effectively

You may have noticed a common theme appearing amongst our top reasons for a redesign and now it’s now time to hammer this home. Having relevant content is one of the most important things about having a web presence.

Relevant content does not mean just repurposing old brochures, leaflets and adverts. It means providing content that is interesting and useful to your site users while supporting your core goals.

Content needs to be written specifically for the web. Why? Simply because people don’t read a website like they read printed material. Most people scan over web pages trying to determine if the page is going to be of any use. Only once they have decided it looks useful will they start to read the page and even then many people just skim read.

This is why web copy has to be short, punchy and to the point. The main concepts need to stand out and not get hidden halfway down the page.

People tend to use the web to get factual information, not marketing blurb. Nobody wants to feel like they are being marketed to (even when they are!), they want to feel that their needs are being understood and met.

Does your site force visitors to wade through pages of marketing fluff? A site redesign would give you the opportunity to re-address how you communicate with your clients and to write copy that is simple, on target and more effective.

A great marketing and PR opportunity

People have short memories and attention spans. They need to keep being reminded about things. There is a common belief that it takes around seven ‘touches’ (interactions between your brand and a potential customer) before they become a client.

Having a site redesign is a great opportunity to contact your existing customers, potential customers and the press. It gives you an excuse to contact them and let them know what you’re doing, what’s new and that you’re keeping things up-to-date.

Simply put, a site redesign can be a great marketing and PR tool for your business.

Write better web content.
Understand how people (don’t) read on the Web
Reading on the web is too much work!
Reading from a computer screen tires the eyes. People read 25% more slowly on the web than they read print material.

That’s why, web content has to be 50% shorter than print.

Readers on the Web scan text
According to a study by usability expert Jacob Nielson, 79% of readers on the Web tend to scan or skim text rather than read word for word.

Highlighted text (bold or color, also hyperlinked text) and bulleted lists aid scannability.

Readers on the Web are impatient
Readers on the Web are in a hurry to get the information they want, and move on.
They don’t have the patience for obscure and complex text. They don’t enjoy scrolling through masses of text either.

Since there are millions of alternative websites in cyberspace, they will quickly move to another site if they don’t enjoy the information gathering experience on your site.

Attracting attention and retaining reader interest is a challenge, specially as you have just

10 seconds to grab attention with your web site content
55 seconds to develop an understanding of your company or product

To combat reader fatigue, make it easy for your Web users to get relevant information. Put the most important information at the top. Use clear and concise text.

Readers on the Web are skeptical
Credibility is a major factor in retaining reader interest on the Web.

Use objective language, write meaningful headlines and subheads and avoid marketing jargon or exaggerated claims to build credibility. Cute or clever lines could mean that the reader takes longer to get to the main point.

Hyperlinks to the sources of your information or to related information also add to credibility.

Readers avoid information overload
In an average workday, people suffer from information overload . They already have a large number of emails in their inbox to contend with, and several documents to read.
They don’t want to spend time and effort reading content that they may not find useful.

Offer your readers information in bite-size chunks which are easily digestible. Use short sentences, short paragraphs, one idea per paragraph.

Use meaningful headlines and sub-headlines which help them nail the information they want, quickly and easily.

2. Make sure the dress fits the occasion.
Your logo — it gives people the first impression they will have of you and your business, so make sure it reflects your identity, tone, and service. One designer came to us with a charming graphic for our business — an old-fashioned tandem bicycle. We got the concept — there are two of us. It looked great and classy, but the image said nothing about our public relations business. Had we been opening an antique store, it would have been ideal.

3. Colors are key.
Choose colors (black and white counts) that reflect your corporate identity and appeal to your potential customers and clients.

4. Perfect big or small.
Your logo may be reduced, enlarged, colorized, or printed in black and white over the course of your business, so make sure the logo you pick will look perfect in any incarnation.

5. Don’t choose the wrong icon.
This is a business decision. Don’t fall in love with a logo that you know is not right for the services or products you are selling.

6. Get feedback.
Show your logo to respected friends, family members, and acquaintances. If they don’t respond positively, ask them why. Ask what the logo “says” to them. If it’s what you want people to say about your company, you could be on the right track.

7. Versatility is key.
Your logo must look good on a variety of promotional materials, including letterhead, business cards, signs, stickers, magnets, or even a web site, so make sure it is versatile. Also, be sure it will show up when faxed or photocopied. A designer created a really hip logo for a friend’s freelance writing business, however, when it was faxed, the logo, along with all of the important contact information, disappeared.

8. You might not need a logo.
If you are opening a law practice or offering bookkeeping services on the weekend, then save money and just get a generic business card and letterhead with your contact information on it.

9. Use professionals.
While the guy at the local copy store may seem really enthusiastic about creating a logo for you, invest in hiring a professional graphic designer with a track record. Ask to see their portfolio or check out their web site for samples.

10. This isn’t going to be cheap.
Designing a great logo and identity package is worth the investment. Shop around for designers, printers, and paper, but make sure you go with the best option. If you have a limited printing budget, do things in stages and just get business cards and letterhead done right away.