Many people don’t know there is an official Magento user guide that is accessible online for free!

The thing is that the link to it is hidden very deep inside the Magento official website and it’s almost impossible to find it! If you search for it on Google you’ll only get links to the (paid) Magento User Guide ebook or some other pdf, or to some random wiki pages that belong to the online user guide but from which you will not be able to navigate to the other pages of the online user guide.

I don’t know if this was made on purpose to push people to buy the ebook, or if this is just some sort of navigation and SEO mess, but here is the link to the official (and free) online Magento user guide for you to enjoy:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/welcome_to_the_magento_user_s_guide/welcome_to_the_magento_user_s_guide

We’re proud to announce the launch of our latest project: Magento Expert!

Magento Expert is a platform where Magento experts answer Magento questions from the community. We get tons of these questions so we created Magento Expert as a platform where people can easily ask their Magento questions and get expert answers that will benefit the entire commmunity.

Experts promote their business by being in direct contact with Magento users who need their help, and by adding quality inbound links to their own website.

Users get quick answers to their Magento questions and help their store’s SEO at the same time if they decide to add links to their Magento site.

The service is 100% free and most questions are answered very quickly so why not post your Magento question?

If you consider yourself a Magento expert, why not answer some questions and promote yourself?

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If you change your site’s URL structure, you’ll probably need to redirect entire directories of your website to ensure that no links are lost.

This is very important for SEO and to not loose any incoming links to your site. So here’s how it’s done: (more…)

I’ve seen this happen many times over!
Companies have great intentions on keeping up with their blogs and online social networking efforts, regularly adding great articles, updating their Twitter statuses, etc… But then  after a few weeks, these tasks become somewhat of a burden and they start investing less and less in these efforts. Well, the thing about Inbound Marketing (i.e. promoting your site using blogs, social engines, search engines, etc…) is that the results won’t happen overnight. You can get great results over time, but you need to consistently invest in promotion efforts, content creations, etc…

The problem starts when you try to come up with great articles to post on your blogs, and think about writing a new post as one of the many tasks you need to accomplish. Inevitably, this approach leads to procrastination, until one day keeping up with your Inbound Marketing efforts become another line at the bottom of your long to-do list.

So how can you quickly and easily create new and interesting content for your blog and Twitterstatuses? The answer is rather simple – write about what you do! You do all kinds of things everyday. And a lot of what you do would be very interesting to your company’s readers and followers. Don’t plan too much – just write something about what you did lately, or found interesting yourself. Share a great resource you use, talk about a design update you finished, mention something that happened within the team you work with, talk about how your company was interviewed, or spread the news about a new project that your company launched. Better yet – give something for free!

These are all interesting posts that generate a lot of traffic and interest to our web design company. And if really you have nothing to say at all, well you can always link to the latest post on our blog! So stay tuned.

Hi Folks,

We relocated our Web Design Gallery (formerly at www.noamdesign.net) so be sure to update your links. We have a permanent redirect set up just in case you don’t . We’re also working to make the Web Design Gallery faster (the automatic thumbnail generating script is running a bit too slow for our taste).

You may still submit your favorite web design to showcase your own web design, improve your SEO or direct attention to a web design that you truly admire. While we’re fine-tuning the website, it is still functional and you are welcome to use it.

I was recently interviewed by CNN Money to review a  recently redesigned Ecommerce website.  So I looked at the website and to be honest, the site was still very far from having the potential to become a successful online store (i.e. designed with conversions in mind). And really there are no excuses because in today’s internet, it is so easy and cost effective to get a professional Ecommerce website up and running within a matter of days! There are countless platforms and website solutions out there – many of them are very professional and it is easy to get a website that converts and generate profits.  (more…)

Our web design company has done it again! We’re pleased to announce the launch of a new project: The Web Design Gallery

When you’re in the web design business, you run across many impressive sites built by talented web designers. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before we started a web design gallery collection of our own. Many websites were already added, feel free to do the same to show case your web design work and submit your favorite web design! While you browse through the web design gallery, you may vote and comment on any of the designs listed. When voting, please keep the web design category in mind. Depending on the website’s purpose the design rules are very different. For example: an E-commerce site might not be the most artful, but the quality of the user interface and clear visual communication would make it a superior website in its own niche. A personal portfolio site would have different web design criteria. (more…)

I have a website, now what?

I. Content

What is “content”?

Content is all the text, images, videos and sound files in your website. “Rich content” pertains to content which has a lot of visual and interactive elements aimed keeping your visitors entertained.

I’ve never written web content before, how do I get started?

If your website is for a company, and not a personal website, you will need to think about your target audience.

Dry for ideas? Look at other company’s websites related to your industry for inspiration. Make note of any websites you’d consider well-executed and study them. What makes their content so good? (more…)

There are a few factors that come into account and that can influence your current website’s Search Engine ranking:

1. When your website’s content and/or structure changes significantly

It can be expected to see a drop in some of your website’s rankings, just because search engines update their registries and re-evalutate the site. Consistency is one of the most important factors of SEO, and if there is a significant change on your website, Search Engines may consider the site as less valuable for a while. I am not talking here about updating your website while remaining consistent with your targeted keywords – this is a very good practice that ensures that your website stays “alive” and relevant in the eyes of major Search Engines.

2. Search Engine algorithms change

When the algorithms change, so do the search results, and ranking can sometimes vary very significantly. That is one of the reasons why SEO is (and must be) considered an ongoing work. Both on-page and off-page techniques must be consistently applied and the website must continue to grow in popularity, traffic, content, etc.

3. If you’re not working on your site’s SEO, it’s a sure bet your competitors are

It is very likely that your competitors are working on their website’s SEO and improving their ranking – leaving you behind. Again, SEO (like most advertisement or promotion technique) is something that should be worked on continuously – even if only on a low flame, just to maintain your status.

MUST-READ POSTS ABOUT SEARH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION:

• All About Search Engine Optimization
• Increase Your Website’s Traffic And Page Rank With These Simple Steps

Hi everyone,

I’ve distilled some of our company’s design guidelines down into article form! I hope you’re able to take away some useful info on good web design practices. 

Your website design is the foundation upon which your web presence will be built. It affects you (or your company’s) identity, your user’s experience, the strength of your message, and much, much more. Web design is about more than just a strong visual. It consists of a myriad of separate details that accumulate to provide a strong website and a smooth user experience. (more…)