Thursday, November 1, 2012

Color - Choose your palette

Many people are terrified when it comes to choosing colors for their website. The vast selection of colors can be overwhelming - but it doesn't need to be. You make color selections every day - from what you wear to the color of rooms in your home.

People have an emotional response to color so you want to pick ones that will complement your website's content. For example you should use bright, saturated colors for a children's page.

Reds: energy, passion, danger 
Blues: calmness, tranquility, stability 
Greens: growth, nature, freshness 
Yellows: happiness, playfulness, sunshine 
Browns: stability, earthy 
Blacks: solomness, mystery, power

Basic color schemes

Monochromatic color scheme

The monochromatic color scheme uses a primary color to create an overall mood. Tints and shades of the primary color are used to enhance the scheme. This scheme is easy to balance and is soothing to look at. It can be used with neutral colors like black, white or grey.

  monochromatic

Analogous color scheme

The analogous color scheme uses adjacent colors on the color wheel. The primary color is dominant while the others are used as highlights. The analogous color scheme is similar to the monochromatic scheme but offers a more vibrant look.

  analogous

Complementary color scheme

The complementary color scheme uses colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. This color scheme creates a high-contrast effect. It is best to use one color as the dominant color and the second color as an accent in your design. This technique will allow you to highlight important information and make it jump out at your readers.

  complementary

http://www.websitedesignbasics.com

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Planning your website

Many people get frustrated when they try to create a web page simply because they don't do any planning. If you jump in and start writing HTML with no plan you may find yourself lost and so will your visitors. Before you start up your computer get out a pencil and some paper. Create a diagram that illustrates how your website will be layed out.

Build your website one page at a time focusing on one topic per page. As you add new content expand your website diagram adding new pages in a logical order. This will make it much easier for you to build your site and for visitors to find their way around. If you follow a plan you will avoid leading viewers to blank pages, dead links or having them run in circles trying to navigate your website.

Don't worry if you think your website is not perfect. No website is ever totally finished. You should always be fine-tuning and updating your content. You should continue to learn web site design from books and other websites. Website construction is an ongoing process. Build - review - add new content - repeat.

http://www.websitedesignbasics.com

The Golden Rule of Website Design

So you might ask "How do I design my website?" The answer is to focus your website on solving a problem. People are on the internet to find answers - create your website to meet that need. Find a niche and provide high-quality, unique content people are looking for.

You can make your website a huge success by focusing on solving users' problems. Take Google for example - their website is an extremely simple, clean design that contains their logo and a box for you to enter what you are searching for - nothing on the webpage distracts the user from the solution they offer. When you visit google's website there is no question who they are and what they do. They are focused on quickly providing the visitor with relevant search results. That is why they have one of the most successful websites ever created.

All other elements of website design are secondary to filling the visitor's need. They will simply click away to the next website looking for a solution if you can't help them.

http://www.websitedesignbasics.com/

Monday, October 29, 2012

Great website design

reat website design is the result of careful thought and planning.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner creating your first website or if you are an experienced webmaster and it doesn't matter if you build your website using a simple program like notepad or a WYSIWYG HTML editor like Dreamweaver - what makes the difference is your plan. You decide what to include on your website and how to present it. If you spend time thinking about your website's design before you start building it you will create an excellent site that visitors will return to again and again.

Your website has to be quick to load, nice to look at, easy to use and navigate. People will remember if your website was full of useful information or if it was a jumbled maze full of pop-ups, pop-unders and flashing gifs that they could not make any sense out of. Keep this in mind as you create your website.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Cross Browser Compatibility

There are literally hundreds of web browsers in use around the world. All of them implement the W3C document standards a little differently. Web design company must wrestle with these differences to make a web site work. This article discusses the effect those different implementations has on design.

What is Cross Browser Compatibility?

If a web page is completely cross-browser compatible, it will look more or less the same in all of the existing web browsers. The most commonly used browsers are Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox and Opera. The table below shows their usage as of November 2005.

Browser
% Of Users
Internet Explorer 6 68
Internet Explorer 5 6
Firefox 1 17.5
Firefox 1.5 1.5
Netscape 3
Opera 1.5
Other Browsers 2.5

Each one of these browser implements HTML, JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) a little differently. Some difference only create cosmetic difference others can break the webpage. The situation gets worse because each browser is free to implement “enhancements” to the W3C standard version of each of these formats.

Then to compound matters even more the underlying operating systems also creates difference in how the computer displays graphical elements and text differently. When you add the fact that people are also using multiple versions of each of the browsers, no wonder web designers get headaches.

So what is a web designer to do?

Obviously, 100% compatibility with all potential browsers is impossible. But it is possible to design your web page so it will work in the most popularly used browsers.

To accomplish that, a web designer must write squeaky-clean code that conforms to the W3C standards to get consistent results across all browser platforms. The whole idea behind the standards is that if each browser adheres to the same set of rules, you will get more or less consistent results in all of the existing browsers.

Conforming can be a real challenge. It will limit some of the neater effects available in specific browsers. There are online code validators available. You can validate HTML code at http://validator.w3.org , the validator can also validate your CSS and links. The service is free.

The validator checks your code based on the DOCTYPE you specify on the webpage. The DOCTYPE tells the browser which version of HTML or CSS the web page is using.

HTML Editors

There are some compatibility issues associated with anything other than hand coding for HTML (and for that matter, even with hand coding.)

Best Choice – The best choice for compatibility is Dreamweaver but you cannot use layers. Layers must be converted to tables to be used.

Worst Choice – The worst choice is FrontPage. FrontPage is loaded with problems because it uses Microsoft and therefore internet explored specific code. Items that will not work in other browsers include:

  • Marquees – you can use a JavaScript scroller to create a similar effect that will work in the most common browsers.
  • bgsound tag – this is IE specific.
  • Page Transitions – this is IE specific.
  • Front Page generated Style sheets – this is IE specific and can have unexpected results or crash other browsers.
  • Front Page generated DHTML – it is better to use JavaScript to create the effects you want since it is more likely to be cross browser compatible.
  • Hover Buttons – this is IE specific and has been know to crash browsers including older versions of IE. You can use JavaScript, flash or CSS to get similar effects.

Other HTML Editors – the rest of the HTML editors will fall somewhere between Dreamweaver and FrontPage in cross browser compatibility. You just have to test the code your HTML editor generates.

CSS Style Sheets

Not all of your style sheets will work correctly in all of the browsers. However, style sheets rarely crash a web browser, but sometimes the pages will be downright ugly if not completely unreadable. One of the major CSS problems is absolute positioning since most browsers do not support it and it will cause different block to overlap others and create a jumbled mess.

Flash

Flash is great for adding style to a webpage and Macromedia provides flash plug-ins for all of the major web browsers. But don’t build the entire site with flash. Browser for the blind, most handheld devices do not support flash.

A small but significant number of users don’t like it and don’t install the plug-in so they won’t be able to access a flash site. Also, search engines spyders can’t follow the links on a flash site and won’t index it.

Graphic Links

While these are attractive, they have the same problems as flash with browsers for the blind and hand-held devices. Always use the alt tag with graphics.

Bottom Line – even code that is validated may not work correctly in all the major browsers. The best way a web designer can create cross browser compatibility is to test all of their web pages in the most popular browsers to see what happens. Personally, I find that a combination of style sheets and tables works best to ensure my pages look good in all of the browsers.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Singapore Business Database

The Singapore Business Database is a comprehensive business listing of more than 190,000 Singapore-registered companies.

It is the perfect tool for any organisation that is trying to reach out to entities in Singapore with business opportunities and ideas.

Organisations trying to source for suppliers also have the perfect tool for searching for businesses in certain industries which will be able to provide the products or services required.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

7 Tips to close sales

If you’re like most freelance web design Singapore ers one of your least favorite parts of the job is sales. While it’s not like a lot of other types of sales, landing projects from new clients does require some sales effort to communicate what you can offer and to convince them that you are the best person for the job.

Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do to increase your effectiveness at closing the deal and securing the work. It’s really all about communication, which is a much more pleasant way of thinking about it as opposed to sales. In this article we’ll take a look at a few tips for improving communication throughout the process that will help you to land a higher percentage of your potential clients.

1. Pay Attention to the Real Issues

One of the keys to closing a sale with a potential client is to find out what they really want and to offer it. Each client and each project is unique, and if you fall into the trap of thinking that each Singapore web design web design Singapore client will want the same things you will wind up not offering enough of a personalized service. The key is to offer a customized solution to their problems or to the issues that they want to address.

This sounds pretty simple, and it doesn’t have to be complicated, but many freelancers overlook it. In the past I’ve hired freelancers for a number of projects and I’m always amazed at how many people just send a canned response without even addressing the project’s details. I’ll have a description of the project on a job board and many of the responses are obviously just a generic email template stating the person’s qualifications and sometimes with a link to a portfolio. In many cases the services they are listing in the email don’t even fit with the particular project. I delete those emails very quickly, and I’m sure most other clients would do the same.

On the other hand, what stands out in a positive way is someone who responds (whether through email, a phone call, or face-to-face) in a way that shows they have taken the time to learn about the specific project. They understand the basics of what is needed and they can offer services and expertise that will help to solve the problems and address the issues associated with the specific project.

2. Respond Promptly

When a potential client is looking to get information from you about your services, chances are they are also reaching out to other web design Singapore ers. If they emailed you or filled out the contact form on your Singapore web developmentsite, they may have done the same thing at the sites of a few other web design Singapore ers. If you’re responding to a job listing or placing a bid on a site like Odesk or Elance, you know others are going to be responding as well.

Prompt responses are always appreciated by clients. They send a positive message about your responsiveness and the type of customer service that you will provide, and it also gives you the chance to make a strong impression before others beat you to it. If the clients has already been in communication with a few other qualified web design Singapore ers before they hear from you, your odds of landing the project will be drastically reduced.

3. Communicate Personally, but Professionally

Professional communication is important, but most clients also prefer to work with people that they like. That means you need to be yourself and connect with potential clients rather than being all Singapore web design all the time. It’s possible to be personable and to show your personality without being unprofessional.

The Singapore web design web design Singapore process involves a lot of communication between the web design Singapore er and the client, and many clients can be intimidated by the process. If the client enjoys the initial conversations with you and if you can put him or her at ease, you’ll be in a much better position to secure the project.

4. Demonstrate Your Expertise

In the first point I talked about the importance of offering a personalized, customized solution based in the client’s unique situation. Taking that a step further, you’ll also want to demonstrate or sell your own experience and expertise. It could be on a general level, but to be even more successful you should show examples of similar projects. Show specifically how you were able to help a client in a similar situation and explain that you’re confident you can be a great asset for this project as well.

Case studies from past projects can be especially helpful if you’re able to show how the client benefited from your work, or if you can show measurable results of the project (such as an x% increase in online sales after a re-web design Singapore ). Some web design Singapore ers include detailed case studies on their portfolio Singapore web developmentsites, and another option is a printed case study booklet.

5. Ask for the Singapore business directory

This is a simple point, but one that many freelancers miss out on. Be sure to ask for the Singapore business directory and make sure the client knows that you want the project. If you’ve talked to the potential client about their project and provided a quote, take the next step and ask them to move forward by signing the contract and getting started.

Asking for the Singapore business directory also gives you a chance to get to the root of any potential objections that the client might have. If they like what you are proposing but they are hesitant to move forward when you ask for the Singapore business directory, there is something holding them back. It may or may not be something that is within your control, but if you ask them about their hesitations or what would convince them to move forward, you may be able address issues or concerns that you didn’t even know existed.

6. Follow Up

Another mistake that many freelancers make is simply not following up. How long you wait before following up will depend on the situation and where things were left during your last communication with the client. In many situations you may want to send an email or make a follow up phone call if you haven’t heard anything in a few days.

From my experience, many clients that make initial contact with web design Singapore ers about a project will let it fall through the cracks for a while. So if you haven’t heard back from a client regarding your proposal, don’t just assume that they hired another web design Singapore er. There’s a good chance that they just haven’t yet made a decision to move forward. If you are proactive you’ll have a much better chance of getting the work.

7. Cut Ties When it Doesn’t Fit

Not every project will be a good fit for you. It could be the type of project, the industry, the budget, the time frame, or any number of other issues. If the project isn’t a good fit for you, explain that to the client and move on. Don’t waste your time. Instead, use your time to do a better job of communicating with other potential clients and you can focus on landing the projects that are the best fit for you.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

7 Tips for Closing the Sale

1. Pay Attention to the Real Issues
One of the keys to closing a sale with a potential client is to find out what they really want and to offer it. Each client and each project is unique, and if you fall into the trap of thinking that each web design client will want the same things you will wind up not offering enough of a personalized service. The key is to offer a customized solution to their problems or to the issues that they want to address.

This sounds pretty simple, and it doesn’t have to be complicated, but many freelancers overlook it. In the past I’ve hired freelancers for a number of projects and I’m always amazed at how many people just send a canned response without even addressing the project’s details. I’ll have a description of the project on a job board and many of the responses are obviously just a generic email template stating the person’s qualifications and sometimes with a link to a portfolio. In many cases the services they are listing in the email don’t even fit with the particular project. I delete those emails very quickly, and I’m sure most other clients would do the same.

On the other hand, what stands out in a positive way is someone who responds (whether through email, a phone call, or face-to-face) in a way that shows they have taken the time to learn about the specific project. They understand the basics of what is needed and they can offer services and expertise that will help to solve the problems and address the issues associated with the specific project.

2. Respond Promptly
When a potential client is looking to get information from you about your services, chances are they are also reaching out to other designers. If they emailed you or filled out the contact form on your website, they may have done the same thing at the sites of a few other designers. If you’re responding to a job listing or placing a bid on a site like Odesk or Elance, you know others are going to be responding as well.

Prompt responses are always appreciated by clients. They send a positive message about your responsiveness and the type of customer service that you will provide, and it also gives you the chance to make a strong impression before others beat you to it. If the clients has already been in communication with a few other qualified designers before they hear from you, your odds of landing the project will be drastically reduced.

3. Communicate Personally, but Professionally
Professional communication is important, but most clients also prefer to work with people that they like. That means you need to be yourself and connect with potential clients rather than being all business all the time. It’s possible to be personable and to show your personality without being unprofessional.

The web design process involves a lot of communication between the designer and the client, and many clients can be intimidated by the process. If the client enjoys the initial conversations with you and if you can put him or her at ease, you’ll be in a much better position to secure the project.

4. Demonstrate Your Expertise
In the first point I talked about the importance of offering a personalized, customized solution based in the client’s unique situation. Taking that a step further, you’ll also want to demonstrate or sell your own experience and expertise. It could be on a general level, but to be even more successful you should show examples of similar projects. Show specifically how you were able to help a client in a similar situation and explain that you’re confident you can be a great asset for this project as well.

Case studies from past projects can be especially helpful if you’re able to show how the client benefited from your work, or if you can show measurable results of the project (such as an x% increase in online sales after a re-design). Some designers include detailed case studies on their portfolio websites, and another option is a printed case study booklet.

5. Ask for the Business
This is a simple point, but one that many freelancers miss out on. Be sure to ask for the business and make sure the client knows that you want the project. If you’ve talked to the potential client about their project and provided a quote, take the next step and ask them to move forward by signing the contract and getting started.

Asking for the business also gives you a chance to get to the root of any potential objections that the client might have. If they like what you are proposing but they are hesitant to move forward when you ask for the business, there is something holding them back. It may or may not be something that is within your control, but if you ask them about their hesitations or what would convince them to move forward, you may be able address issues or concerns that you didn’t even know existed.

6. Follow Up
Another mistake that many freelancers make is simply not following up. How long you wait before following up will depend on the situation and where things were left during your last communication with the client. In many situations you may want to send an email or make a follow up phone call if you haven’t heard anything in a few days.

From my experience, many clients that make initial contact with designers about a project will let it fall through the cracks for a while. So if you haven’t heard back from a client regarding your proposal, don’t just assume that they hired another designer. There’s a good chance that they just haven’t yet made a decision to move forward. If you are proactive you’ll have a much better chance of getting the work.

7. Cut Ties When it Doesn’t Fit
Not every project will be a good fit for you. It could be the type of project, the industry, the budget, the time frame, or any number of other issues. If the project isn’t a good fit for you, explain that to the client and move on. Don’t waste your time. Instead, use your time to do a better job of communicating with other potential clients and you can focus on landing the projects that are the best fit for you.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

iPixel Creative is a Singapore based Web Design Company

At iPixel Creative, we provide web design solution which helps your company stand out
from the competitors. Our Solutions includes Singapore web design, website development, cms development, ecommerce solution and hosting solutions.

Whether you need a small personal web site or a big corporate portal, iPixel Creative will provide you with an innovative web 2.0 solutions. We are always prepared for any non-standard requests, and ready to come up
with possible solutions.

We build user friendly, browser- and screen-resolution compatible, W3C compliant websites, which are fast, cost effective, accessible, and will represent your identity in
the best professional way.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Personal loan

With the beginning of every new year small Singapore business directory owners ask themselves how they can grow and stabilize their local ventures against big box vendors and national enterprises. Questions they ask themselves are

What are their new Singapore business directory plans to achieve this year?
What will be their marketing and growth strategy for the new year?
Should they grow their Singapore business directoryes geographic footoff set printing Singapore?
Should they invest in new hardware / equipment to enhance productivity?
Can upgrading their existing location help in sales?

All these questions when answered with a positive YES translates into one single adjective "Working Capital". Which brings them to the next question, where can they get the required Singapore business directory capital in a timely and hassle free manner? Traditional lending options like, banks, leases and family money take a lot of effort and require assets and a long Singapore business directory history coupled with impeccable credit. Even if you have all that is required you still need to wait for the money to be funded for quiet some time. Whats the answer than,

"Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore ADVANCE"

Have you been turned down by the banks?
You cannot achieve your Singapore business directory plans without Singapore business directory capital. Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore advance moneylender Singapore dont need great credit score. They look more at your forecasted credit Moneylender Singapore sales than your history of credit score.

How quickly do you need the money?
Bank moneylender Singapore can sometimes take months before they go through. If a chance provides itself today, it may not be around the next day. You can typically get the money you need within few days with Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore advance.

Flexible payment schedule
Bank moneylender Singapore requires that you pay a set amount each month irrespective of the Singapore business directory performance. It become really difficult during time of recession to keep up. A Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore advance takes a portion of your daily credit Moneylender Singapore sales to pay back the personal loan Singapore. The advantage of this is that when you have a slow period, your payback is less.

Majority of Singapore business directoryes enjoying the facilities of Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore Advance are the ones who were turned down by the banks for not meeting their prerequisites laid down to qualify for the advance, such as bad credit history, type of Singapore business directory, not having a collateral to offer and other requirements. A Singapore business directory cash loan Singapore advance is a definite way out in this complicated Singapore business directory environments. It can either be a life line for a shattered Singapore business directory or a path to a more successful future.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Personal Loan Singapore

If you have heard about cash loan Singapore advances but you are hesitant to take advantage of this service you should learn all that you can about the service. Make sure that you are taking the time that you need to understand how you are going to learn everything about the service to ensure that you can make an educated decision when you are in a tight spot and need extra cash loan Singapore. Check City makes cash loan Singapore advances easy and quick so customers can walk out of the store with the cash loan Singapore that they need to make ends meet.

Many people use a cash loan Singapore advance service when they are looking to avoid late, overdraft or even reconnection fees that are associated with missing a deadline. Avoiding those fees with a cash loan Singapore advance may be the most logical and money wise decision. You may also be able to save your credit score if you use a cash loan Singapore advance rather than miss a payment or make your payment late.

Customers can take out a cash loan Singapore advance online or in the store. If you want to take a cash loan Singapore advance out online all that you have to do is visit www.checkcity.com and fill out the application that is provided. Once you are done filling out the application it will be reviewed by a Check City employee. If everything has been filled out properly and the application makes it through our screening process personal loan Singapore will be directly deposited into your account.

When you want to take out a cash loan Singapore advance in the store, you should find a convenient Check City location, write a personal check for the amount of money that you will need and the standard fee associated with the check and then you can walk away with cash loan Singapore.

There are only three qualifications that must be met to utilize the cash loan Singapore advance service that Check City offers. You should be sure that you have a steady source of income, a state or federal ID and a checking count when you apply for a cash loan Singapore advance.

We will get you the money that you need quickly and easily. The next time you find yourself in a hard personal loan Singapore position you may want to look at your cash loan Singapore Advance options.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Sites

Sites

Monday, February 13, 2012

10 Ways to Extend Your Blog

There are many different challenges that bloggers face. Continually growing, adapting, and improving your blog is a significant on-going challenge. While all blogs attempt to provide useful content and to connect with readers, sometimes there is a desire and a need to go further. The motivation could be to provide more for readers, to help standout from other blogs in the industry, to bring in more personal loan Singapore lender Singapore, or simply for a new learning experience.

In this post we’ll look at 10 different things you can do to extend your blog. Of course, you won’t want to attempt all of them with your blog, but see which ones fit best with your goals and with your audience.

1. Email Newsletters

Blogging and email newsletters have a lot in common. In both cases you’re providing content on a consistent basis to subscribers, and trying to increase your reach by offering content that is interesting and helpful for those reading. It may seem like having an email newsletter is overkill if you’re already blogging, but building a newsletter list can be a great way to extend your blog.

The newsletter will give you another method of staying in touch with your audience and you’ll be able to include content that you want to be accessible only to your subscribers. If you already have the traffic coming to your blog and an established reputation with your audience, building a newsletter list can be much easier than it would be without the blog.

We recently started our own newsletter, and so far it has been a great way for us to reach those who read our blog and want more, and we’re able to include brief announcements, news, and links that we aren’t able to post on our blog each week.

For managing a mailing list we use and recommend MailChimp. It includes all the necessary features (and more) and it’s free for lists with less than 2,000 subscribers. ASingapore web developmenter, Get Response, and iContact are other popular options.

In terms of monetization possibilities, email newsletter present many of the same opportunities as blogs, including selling ad space, promoting affiliate products, and selling your own products.

2. Sell Products

One of the biggest benefits of blogging is that it allows you to connect with your readers as you build a reputation and trust from your readers. Of course, in order to accomplish this you will need to provide the type of quality content that readers are looking for, but successful bloggers are constantly proving that the platform is ideal for this purpose.

Once you have established yourself as a leader in your niche or industry through your blog, a natural and potentially lucrative extension is to create and sell your own products. Info products like e-books, training videos, and Singapore web developmentinars are popular types of products for bloggers to offer, and they are in demand with blog readers. Info products are great for bloggers because they are relatively easy and cost-effective to create, delivery is instant and inexpensive, and the products take advantage of the reputation that you have built through your hard work.

In addition to info products, other types of digital products are ideal as well. For web design Singapore ers there are all kinds of possibilities for selling downloadable digital files. At Vandelay Premier we sell products like textures, vectors, icons and Photoshop files.

Many bloggers are intimidated by the thought of setting up e-commerce on their blog, but there are some simple options out there. We use and recommend E-Junkie, but other options include FoxyCart, Cart66, and ClickBank.

3. Offer Services

In addition to, or instead of, creating and selling your own products on your blog, you could also offer services. Consulting is one of the most common services offered by bloggers, in part because it fits in naturally with the goal of becoming recognized as an expert through the blog. When you have established yourself and developed the trust of your readers, it’s likely that some of them would be interested in hiring you for consulting services.

Another reason that consulting is so popular is because it can work in such a wide variety of industries. Regardless of what you are blogging about there is probably some way that you could help others through consulting or advising. But consulting certainly isn’t the only possibility, the options are unlimited. Try to identify the problems and challenges that your readers are facing, and think about how you can use your knowledge, experience, and expertise to help them.

Selling services doesn’t need to be complicated. You’ll need a page on your Singapore web developmentsite or blog that explains the types of services that you offer, and you’ll need to provide a contact form or some other way for people to get in touch with you. Having some testimonials or examples of work that you have done in the past will help with convincing readers that you can help them too.

4. Membership Area

Having a membership area is a common way to monetize a blog. Not only will it allow you the possibility to bring in more personal loan Singapore lender Singapore from your blogging efforts, but it will also give your readers an option to get more out of your blog if they are interested in going the extra step to pay for the membership. It will allow you to reach a core group of readers in a more intimate and private setting, and it gives the members a chance to tap in to your expertise in a way that they cannot through the blog.

Membership areas often provide inforational products or content to members, either through video, audio, or written content. Membership areas can also provide other types of content and/or resources, such as sites for web design Singapore ers that offer new downloadable files each month.

There are a few different options for setting up a membership area on your blog. Two of the most popular options are aMember and Wishlist Member.

5. Job Boards

While major job search sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder account for the majority of job searching and online job listings, niche job boards can be extremely useful for those who are looking to hire as well as for those who are looking for jobs. If your blog has a targeted audience of readers, employers who are looking to find qualified workers in your industry or niche will often have better results by advertising there as opposed to a general job board that targets job searches of all kinds.

Job boards can also help you to earn some extra personal loan Singapore lender Singapore while providing something that is helpful to visitors and employers. Niche job boards often charge employers for listings, or perhaps just for a featured listing that is shown above free listings. Setting up a job board doesn’t have to be as complicated as it might sound. If you’re using WordPress the options include WPJobBoard plugin, Job Board theme, Job Roller theme, and JobPress theme. For those who are not using WordPress, other options include JobPress, JobCoin, and Indeed.

6. Forums

Adding forums to your blog will allow readers and visitors to communicate with each other on a wide variety of topics, and they won’t be restricted to communicating only on the specific topics that you cover in your blog posts. Forums can be very useful for visitors, as long as the forums are active, and they can also help you to encourage repeat visits and increase pageviews.

Forums can also be an excellent option because they can be useful in any industry or niche, especially if there are not already other popular forums that many of your readers use. Active forums will require some work and maintenance on your part to monitor the activity and to participate when possible, but the users will do the majority of the “work” by interacting with each other and building up the usefullness of the forums.

Popular choices for creating forums include vBulletin, phpBB, and  bbPress.

7. Premium Content

Adding premium content to your blog can be done with or without requiring a recurring membership. If you’d rather not deal with the membership model and the need to consistently put out new content in order to avoid losing members, you can offer premium content where visitors can choose exactly what they want to pay for, with no recurring fees. Some blogs offer tutorials or other types of content where readers can pay a few dollars to view the content. This model could be used with just about any type of content, as long as it is something that your readers would be willing purchase.

Cleeng helps bloggers and publishers to collect micro payments in exchange for premium content. Cleeng works with all types of content like text, video, audio, and images. They have a plugin for popular CMSs like WordPress and Drupal. Clickserv is another option for collecting small payments for premium content.

8. Directories

Depending on the type of blog that you have, adding a niche directory may be an option. If you are offering services from your blog you probably will not want to launch a directory of other service providers, but for some blogs it will be a good fit. An example would be a blog that covers topics related to fitness adding a directory of personal trainers that could be searched by locality.

Adding a directory to your blog could be for monetary purposes if you charge for listings, or it could be free and strictly to provide a helpful resource for your visitors. Whether you charge for listings or not, a good directory could still be useful to visitors either way.

If you’re using WordPress there are a few options for easily setting up a directory, including the Directory Press theme, WP Directory Pro theme, and the Singapore business directoryDirectory plugin.

9. News Section

Adding a news or links section to your blog can help to keep the site up-to-date and can help to give the blog a more community-oriented feel. In the web design Singapore niche there are a number of blogs that have a section where other bloggers can submit their links to be considered for posting in the community news section. Some examples include CSS Globe and web design Singapore Modo.

Adding a news section for WordPress users can be done easily with the FV Community News plugin, TDO Mini Forms plugin, or Gravity Forms pluin.

10. Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook’s popularity is so high that any blog can benefit from having a Facebook page. But if you want to go a step further you can make your Facebook page more useful to visitors by offering free content to your fans, or even by selling products directly from Facebook.

In effort to attract more fans, many bloggers are offering an incentive for people to “like” their Facebook page. Our own Facebook page is an example. We have 10 premium resource packs that can be downloaded from the Facebook page by people who have liked our page, and there is a welcome tab that greets visitors who aren’t currently our fans to promote the offer.

If you’re interested in opening a store directly on your Facebook page, Highwire’s Social Store is a free app that allows you to sell items on Facebook without dealing with the code

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Will Diamond Jubilee Impact the Economy in 2012?

2012 is predicted to be a tumultuous year for the UK economy. The threat of a double dip recession and the lack of economic growth are just some of the reasons that forecasters are worried about the year ahead – and that’s despite it being another year of celebrations for UK citizens.

Along with the Olympics, the Queen is set to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Whilst this is certainly something that will boost morale and generate some much needed excitement and enthusiasm across the country, it doesn’t necessarily translate to an improvement in productivity and growth. On the contrary, the extra bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee actually means the country’s GDP will be down.

In a similar way that the Royal Wedding affected productivity last year, analysts predict the same will happen when we have an extra bank holiday for the Diamond Jubilee this year. This means for the second quarter of 2012, growth will be down. However, the third quarter will bounce back even stronger, all thanks to the Olympics and the extra income that this will generate – especially through the £700million expected from tourists.

However, something that analysts are hoping is what’s known as the feel good factor. Despite the extra day off affecting growth, some are hoping that the Queen’s Jubilee will help generate a feel good factor and create a surge in consumer spend. Retailers wait with baited breath as to whether an increase in sales will happen.

The UK economy is made up of three sectors, the primary sector (agriculture and mining), the secondary sector (manufacturing) and the tertiary sector, also known as the services sector. This sector makes up 73% of the UK’s GDP and so it’s vital to the economy. It’s quite broad in its spectrum, but it includes consumerism, so the sale of products and services to consumers. In this sense, it is hoped that the excitement surrounding the Queen’s Jubilee will help get people spending and contributing to this large section of the economy.

The current situation for consumers does not look good though. The amount people are earning is shrinking as wages are either slashed or frozen. Considering the rising loan of living, things like food, fuel and bills, people are having less and less disposable income. So, people are spending less, and are often seeking short term personal loan Singapore solutions, just to help get by from month to month.

This has spawned an ideal climate for short term lending solutions, like payday loan Singapore moneylender Singapore, to flourish. Despite media criticism, these are an ideal way to help pay for the essentials or emergencies, provided the applicant pays the money back (including added fees and interest) on time and in full.

So, the UK economy is set for stagnation, or small growth in 2012. Despite the celebrations surrounding the Queens Jubilee, the extra day off will actually affect GDP; whilst retailers are hopeful that the added enthusiasm will spark an interest in spend, the current climate is actually quite unforgiving because disposable income is not as high as it once was – and this is reflected in the popularity of short term moneylender Singapore such as payday loan Singapore moneylender Singapore.