Article: Studies done by Jakob Nielson the man touted as the, "King of usability" by Internet Magazine showed that people do not read on the web like they would normally read offline.

So what does this mean to you and why should you care?

Visitors to your web sites are in a rush, they want the information you promised and they want it NOW.

Article: What annoys an Internet user the most? A quick unscientific survey of a local Internet café suggests the top three turn-offs are:

- Sites that are very slow to download; - Ones that are confusing to use; - Sites that do not contain the promised information; The single most common reaction to sites like these is that the visitor very quickly moves on to another web site. Clearly, if you get things wrong there is usually no second chance.

Article: Here is a quick list of components that make a website attractive. They are listed in layers of attractiveness beginning with the "must" haves, to "nice to haves."

1. State the website's purpose up front and clearly of the site. Do this as quickly as possible. The visitor needs to know immediately if they have landed on the right site. They also need to know "what's in it for me to stay here." If you don't provide this, they are gone. 90% of the sites on the Net don't do this.

Article: When I surf the Net, I often see web sites filled with beautiful graphics that strive to capture my attention. Well, they do so for an instant, however I click away when I don't immediately find relevant content. The content you add to your web site needs to attract both visitors and search engines.

Part I - How to add content to your web site to attract visitors

Part 11 - How to add content to your web site to attract the search engines

14 ways to add content to your web site and attract visitors

Article: With all the talk of how to make a great website and ways to keep visitors, it is important to also understand the other side of designing an Internet business.

Every day, thousands of websites are finding unique ways to turn away visitors and potential customers. Although many webmasters know about the obvious "turn-offs", there are many little details that "tick-off" visitors and make them leave.

Article: Tips and tricks on effective web design

The Number 1 rule that every web designer should follow is to create a fast loading web site. You might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. While designing a web site always think about how long it will take to load. Try out our tips to build a great looking web site that also loads fast.

A very well known and apt adage for many circumstances, but today I'm not going to talk about the virtues of a picture in it's ability to replace words or describe more effectively. Today, I want to use this space to help those unfamiliar with the ways in which we can make images work for us on the Internet, especially beginner webmasters or those who haven't had a lot of practice at using images so they aren't a liability to their website.

1) Crystal Clear Source Code (HTML/CSS)

Many web-designers give far too much importance to the look and the graphics of the website while ignoring the clarity of the source code. Clean and well-written source code is the first step to website design success. If a spider cannot find your keywords, you might just as well forget about search engine optimization.

 Building an Innovative and Effective Website, by making full use of available technologies, is crucial for the future success of your current or future online business. There are literally 1000's of great ideas out there, but finding the right ones and applying them to your website, is where the real trick lies.

Applying the best tips, tools and other design principles to your website, can bring you untold success on the internet. At the same time, using powerful and innovative ideas in the design and development stages of your website, will level the playing field for your business, and raise it's competitive edge on the internet.

 In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for any successful business. But there are web sites that will win you customers, and there are web sites that will lose you customers. Good design has a lot to do with which category your web site will fall into. But what is it that makes good or bad web site design? In my personal opinion, a good web site is one that's simple, informative and gives me a reason to come back frequently. That's what you should get from a good web designer/writer team. Bad sites, on the other hand, are complicated to use, slow loading, confusing or just plain annoying. Here's a list of my personal top 7 turn-offs as far as web site design is concerned:

1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising One of the most cost effective and efficient means of advertising is on the Internet. Pay-per-click advertising, for instance, allows you to place ads on behalf of your business for as little as 5¢ per lead.

The best thing about this type of advertising is that you only pay a fee when someone clicks on your ad. That's right! You only have to pay once the customer clicks on your link and enters your web site. Pretty cool!

Tips to brand your website

Include your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page. Complement your logo with a tagline or catchy sentence that summarizes your business purpose. For example "Always low prices" is the tagline for Wal-Mart. Create a favicon. A favicon is that small graphic that appears next to the URL in the address bar. Have a consistent look and feel in all your pages. Use a color scheme and layout that are clearly recognized across your site. Have an About Us section, that includes all relevant information about you and your business. Include a copyright statement at the bottom of each page.