Added for You - Internet and Businesses Online

New Business Design - All You Need To Know To Start Trading In Style
So you've decided to set up a new business, the idea is good, the bank has given you the green light and everything is looking peachy. Wait a minute haven't you forgotten something? Yes, that's right - your trousers! With all that excitement you clean forgot to put any on this morning. Anything else you air brained fool? Yes 5 points there at the back - what you need above all else is an unforgettable look to knock the competition dead.Step 1: The Logo DesignWhat are the things to look out for when thinking about your new business logo design? Well we could bore you to tears on the subject or we could just get right in there and divulge the secrets every successful company has learnt at some stage about good logo design. What? you want to hear the long, boring answer? All right we'll save the secret to a successful logo design for another tutorial then. The first thing you need to do is establish your market, its no good trying to be all things to all men - it can't be done. Lets say we are aiming at pretty young girls - and thats not a bad

cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames.

(11) Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always have good navigational links on every page and place your company logo on each page.

(12) If you must use Java on your site, use it sparingly. Offer your visitors a choice. Java verses No Java. Java can be slow and has a tendency to crash browsers. Try to avoid using those pop up boxes asking for your visitor's name, etc. Those pop up messages are very unprofessional and can be very frustrating to your visitors when they're trying to view your site.

(13) Do not set sound to "autoplay" when someone visits your site. This can be very distracting.

(14) All web browsers are not created equally. View your site through different browsers and screen resolutions so you will see how your visitors will view your site. Visit:

Site Inspector - Check your web pages for HTML validity and browser compatibility. http://www.siteinspector.com/

NetMechanic - Provides a variety of free services for your web site

What Cross-cultural Training Can Do for You
International business is more complex than ever before. Success in every sector is now seen in global terms. Yet success in working with colleagues from different cultures is no easy goal. In order to connect, we have to communicate effectively and we can only do this in an atmosphere of mutual respect, understanding and trust. Cross-cultural training helps you understand the underlying cultural values that drive behaviour—you first understand your own cultural background and then other people’s.Its outcomes should be first to take the confusion out of cross-cultural encounters. For example, you arrive in Madrid for a business meeting. In your own working environment appointments are made and only changed in exceptional circumstances, and usually with plenty of notice. But when you arrive at your hotel in advance of the next day’s meeting you find a note telling you the appointment has been rescheduled. From your perspective this is tantamount to an insult. You feel angry, frustrated, perhaps puzzled. But that’s because you come from a typically

If you're doing business on the Internet, one of the most important aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn't look professional, no matter what product you're offering your chances of success are minimal.

Before you begin, if you've never designed a web page, it would be wise to become familiar with HTML. (Hypertext Markup Language.) A great place to start is NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html

15 Tips for designing a successful web site:

(1) The main page of your web site should load in 8 seconds or less with a 56K modem.

According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

(2) Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you've done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, "Building Your Site."

(3) Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well. Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based upon the type of effect you're trying to achieve.

(4) Use minimal animated graphics. These can be very distracting and can cause your page to look unprofessional. In addition, animated graphics cause your page to load more slowly. Fancy graphics won't make the sale.

(5) Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you're offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential customer can't find your product or service, they definitely won't waste a lot of time looking for it. They'll go on to the next site and probably never return. They're visiting your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers. Whether it is information, a product or service.

(6) Try to avoid placing banner exchange banners at the top of your page. These can instantly take your customers or even be indexed by search engine robots. Limit the number of banners on your site to no more than two per page. One is ideal.

(7) Always, include your contact information on each page of your site and try to reply to all comments and suggestions within 48 hours. This will help promote good business relationships. Your business relationships are the key to your success.

(8) ALWAYS check and double-check your site for spelling errors and make sure your images and links are all working properly. If you have several errors, this will make your site appear to be unprofessional. If you are designing your site using an HTML editor, use spell check. Proper grammar is also very important. If you've been out of school for a while it's probably a good idea to refresh your memory. Visit any of the following sites for a crash course in writing and grammar.

Guide to Grammar and Writing http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/original.htm

A Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation http://www.grammarbook.com/

Exploring English http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/english/

Simpler Words And Phrases http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/tpl5.htm

(9) Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text links to keep your load time down.

(10) If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames.

(13) Do not set sound to "autoplay" when someone visits your site. This can be very distracting.

(14) All web browsers are not created equally. View your site through different browsers and screen resolutions so you will see how your visitors will view your site. Visit:

Site Inspector - Check your web pages for HTML validity and browser compatibility. http://www.siteinspector.com/

NetMechanic - Provides a variety of free services for your web site i

What Do Your Links Tell the Search Engines? How to Tell Them What Counts
There is a lot of confusing information on the web - “secret techniques”, tag writing, and of course the complicated algorithms the search engine optimization specialists swear by. Just like content building, list building, and website development take a long time, so does complete website SEO. However, there are a few things you can do, today, to get the most out of the current links your website has. Here's a quick checklist to go over to tweak your links for better search engine results. Next time the spyders crawl by, you'll be able to see the difference in your link popularity and ranking.What do your outgoing links say?If you have a resources section in your website that lists your link partners, it's time to go over them. Search engines look at the words you use to describe links. This is great in one way - if your links are relevant to your website's content, then those keywords are applied, on a small scale, to your own website.What to tweak:· If you have any links that say "Click Here" or titled as the company's name

e a good idea to make sure you've done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, "Building Your Site."