Stephen Spry 
Tip Timeline Tip Sheets What I Like Following Timeline
Tip Timeline
The latest tips I've posted to TipDrop.
| Check out the Google Webmaster Guidelines. You'll be surprised that it is fairly easy to "do the right thing"... That also means you will probably not have to worry too much about any future Google "slap" affecting your site rankings. Tip Credibility: 53 |
| Can a visitor determine what your site is about within just a few seconds? And that's NOT just your home page, but ALL your internal pages too. If not, they will leave fast. There's no chance of fixing a poor first impression on the net! Tip Credibility: 40 |
| If you include audio and or video on your page, consider letting your users START it themselves so you are not "in their face" as soon as they arrive at your page (could be awkward for those on the net at work) Tip Credibility: 31 |
| "Pretty" is not always the best! A lot of "ugly" web sites have great conversion rates, which shows it is the MESSAGE that counts. But a business site should still look as "professional" as possible, as that adds to your credibility. Tip Credibility: 30 |
| Is your web page compatible with different web browsers? Check it in different browser software, and on different computer operating systems, to see if there are any glaring problems that may need attention. Tip Credibility: 30 |
| Not everyone has 20" monitors running at super high res! So make your web page display width is no more than around 800 pixels wide. Check it on different monitors. This will help avoid another visitor nightmare - HORIZONTAL scrolling. Tip Credibility: 31 |
| Avoid talking in the "we" tense... i.e. "We do this, we also do that!" Concentrate your web site copy on addressing your visitor and put them into the picture by using "You" as much as you can. Tip Credibility: 33 |
| Changing link colors & not underlining them can reduce their effectiveness. Unless there's a design need for it, stick to the DEFAULT colours (blue and purple) & keep links underlined. It's what people expect and are used to. Tip Credibility: 31 |
| Don't cram everything too close together. Here's a tip from the days of print... remember that? Make good use of WHITE SPACE! Use it to improve readability & to attract the eyes to elements you want people to click on. Tip Credibility: 30 |
| Unless you have a VERY good reason for it, avoid DARK backgrounds & light text - it's far too hard to read! Go for dark text on a light background. Good old black & white for content blocks - just like here on tipdrop - usually works best! Tip Credibility: 30 |
| Not everyone has super fast broadband. Remember users on slow ADSL/dialup. Limit the total number of pictures/page, & optimise the file size of any graphics you use. A fast loading page, with little waiting, is better for all visitors! Tip Credibility: 35 |
| Home pages which feature a Flash animation/intro not only annoy visitors, they are extremely poor for SEO purposes. Tip Credibility: 43 |
| Check your links! Often. Make sure ALL your links - to your OWN pages, and to other sites - are working! Nothing is more frustrating to your visitors than following a link which is dead! Tip Credibility: 33 |
| Offering too many choices/links on a web page will usually result in visitor confusion. Don't make it hard for them. Avoid offering too many options which DISTRACT visitors away from whatever your PRIMARY page objective is. Tip Credibility: 33 |
| Make your site hard to navigate & visitors will leave as soon as they arrive. Simplicity & consistency in your navigation is essential for people to initially understand what your site is about, & then dive in to use the information. Tip Credibility: 43 |
| Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net is an excellent, free multi-platform (mac/PC etc) software for audio recording, editing and mixing - can create MP3 files Tip Credibility: 24 |
| Avoid blantant promotion of your links on your Tip Sheets at TipDrop! It does nothing for your credibility :) Tip Credibility: 26 |
| I'd prefer to go directly to the Blender service at Feedage.com here http://www.feedage.com/blender/ to mix multiple RSS feeds - without being framed by the eca.sh advertising :) Tip Credibility: 26 |
| Remember the PRIMARY purpose of a resume - for employers to screen candidates! So ensure your resume addresses the specific requirements of the job advertised to maximise your chance of an interview. Tip Credibility: 26 |
| Set up a TEST blog in a subdirectory on your site - learn how to make changes to themes etc on this and ensure they work BEFORE doing it to your main site. Make sure the PRIVACY on the test blog is set to block search engines. Tip Credibility: 24 |
| If you set up your WP site with default permalink structure, then later realise the error of your ways & change to custom %postname% structure, you'll LOSE existing links if you do NOT have Permalinks Moved Permanently plugin installed Tip Credibility: 21 |
| Wordpress.com Stats - another plugin which requires the wordpress.com API key. This provides a good alternate view of important stats for your blog, with facility to include ALL your WP blogs under the one stats dashboard. Well worth installing! Tip Credibility: 23 |
| Akismet comes standard with all new WP instals... so make sure you get your wordpress.com API key and activate this essential plugin! You will save yourself from administering a nightmare of spam posts if Akismet is running! Tip Credibility: 21 |
| COPY/modify page.php - call it sales.php - add comment at top to label as custom template - <?php (new line)/* Template Name: Sales Page*/(new line) ?> - now when creating WP page, look to RHS to select the sales template from pop-up Tip Credibility: 22 |
| Modify page.php to remove call to sidebar & change header.php to remove page navigation. Under Settings/Reading set the first option "Front Page Displays" to be a static page (select page from pop-up list) Tip Credibility: 25 |
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