Tutorial Blog » Web Design

4 Simple Steps to Optimize Your Photos for Search Engines

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:30:09 +0000

You spend hours laboring over text, creating the perfect blog post. If you read TutorialBlog, then you also know the importance of including photos on your blog, too. But, how much time did you spend making sure that your images are SEO-optimized for the best performance? Photos can be more than eye-candy for readers, images are a great opportunity to improve your on-page search engine optimization.

Savvy bloggers know to take every opportunity to increase their appeal to search engines. Why should you care? Because every time your blog or blog post comes up in the search engine results, you have the opportunity to drive additional traffic to your blog — and that means more readers and, if you are selling something, more customers! (...)
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Free WordPress Plugins and Add-ons to Promote Your Blog On Autopilot

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:56:47 +0000

There are WordPress addons available for just about any function — including automatic promotion of your blog posts! This article is specifically aimed at folks who are new to blog promotion or want to start their first website marketing campaign but aren’t sure where to begin. The great thing is, these plugins are so simple to set up, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be using these tactics to increase your blog’s following.

Here’s a guide to some of the best WordPress plugins for automating your blog promotion tasks without spending a lot of money. (...)
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9 Stand-Out Real Estate Themes for WordPress

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:30:39 +0000

A friend of mine just earned his real estate license and now he’s in the process of setting up office online. He’s already familiar with WordPress, so he came to me and asked if I had any advice on using WordPress for a real estate website. WordPress is really the hot ticket for building real estate site right now, which is both good and bad.

On the one hand, the demand for real estate themes and plugins has encouraged innovation among developers and they’re coming up with some pretty neat tools for agents to use when managing their properties online. On the other hand, you want to make sure that your website stands out from the crowd of similarly-themed websites so that you can attract clients and impress them with your marketing skills and web savvy. For an agent, a good website shows potential clients that they have 21st century skills and can do what it takes to sell a home in this tough market.

So, in answer to his question I rounded up a list of the top WordPress themes for building a real estate website that is sure to stand out in a crowd and help you—and your listings—get noticed.(...)
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Design is in the Details: Using CSS Selection Pseudo-Classes to Declare Your Team Spirit

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:30:25 +0000

I’m hesitant to admit it, but I’m not a huge football fan. My boyfriend, however, loves “his” team — the USC Trojans. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that football fans will use any excuse to dress up or decorate with their team colors. Actually, real fans don’t even need a reason to show team spirit.

So, in honor of football fans everywhere and to kick off the fall football season in America, I thought it would be fun to show how to use one of the new tools in CSS3 to decorate a web page with your team colors. Let’s play with the selection declaration.

There are many neat design tricks in CSS3. The selection declaration — ::selection — is a quick way to add some polish onto a design and give a website the “wow” factor that really makes clients happy. Using a .selection class can override the operating system’s default highlight color with any color you specify.

As with so many of the best html and css goodies, browser support varies. Safari and Firefox both recognize the selection declaration, but you’ll need to implement the code a bit differently for each browser. Here’s how to use CSS3′s new selection declaration to add a dash of unexpected color to your web design.(...)
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How to Choose a Web Design Agency to Build Your eCommerce Site

gary.stonehouse — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:00:52 +0000

These days, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can build a website. The question is, what kind of website will you get? Will your new website function well and be able to expand as your company grows? Your website is often the first impression that clients have of your business, so you need a professional web design agency—not some guy who pirated a copy of Dreamweaver with a stack of business cards using a VistaPrint template.

There are a few things which you need to check before signing a contract and handing over a deposit—especially if you are building an eCommerce site. Below are some of the key points to check before deciding which design agency to use.(...)
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How to design websites that appeal across cultural divides

Christian Arno — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:54:18 +0000

When you’re designing websites for a global audience, you need to be aware of cultural differences that will affect the way they are viewed in different parts of the world. You cannot expect the exact same website to be well-received around the globe. You need to adapt your websites to allow for cultural differences and make sure they are equally effective in whichever region you are targeting. (...)
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Beyond the Blog: Get on the WordPress Bandwagon

Barbara Holbrook — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:00:24 +0000

WordPress, long known as one of the most popular blogging platforms, has turned into so much more. With the release of WordPress 3 “Thelonious”, the platform really steps into its own as a powerful content management system for writers, designers and everyone else to create or manage stunning, cutting-edge websites.

Most people prefer WordPress because it is not only is it easy to use, it’s totally free. You can host your WordPress blog on your own servers or use free hosting with WordPress.com. Either way, using WordPress to manage your website is easy—add pages, delete pages, schedule content, add functionality with plugins and connect to the WordPress community.

The first thing most WordPress users learn to do is change their theme. There are hundreds of free WordPress themes available to download as well as many premium WordPress themes with special features such as built-in SEO. Installing and customizing WordPress themes is your ticket to creating brilliant websites that are also user-friendly. Changes to WordPress in the last year make installing new themes easier than ever. For newbies, it’s a good idea to start with a WordPress tutorial on how to install a new WordPress theme or change an existing WordPress theme.

In fact, most users will get the most out of WordPress by using and learning from the many free WordPress tutorials available online. Finding useful WordPress tutorials on the web will show you to create stunning websites with this free platform, and even add unique features to make your website stand out. (...)
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6 Tips to Secure Your Joomla Site

William Smith — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:00:30 +0000

It has been a boom year for hackers and web hacking. Tom Canavan, Joomla web security expert, identifies an increase of greater than 600% in overall hacking this last year. Tom’s book “Joomla! Web Security”, a Packt publication, expands on the threats of web security.

Hacker issues bothered a couple of our clients this year and if it didn’t do anything else for us, it sure kept us all on our toes. Hacking comes as more of an embarrassment than a true threat, however the results are damaging to intellectual property, brand identity and most of customer confidence. Hacking is a common occurrence on all public web platforms and CMS systems, however we continue to win the battle and have the ability to leverage one of the largest global networks of expert Joomla developers and programmers and are proud to say that the Joomla community is one of the fastest to respond.

It continues to be a battle to keep the bad guys out so we’ve gathered some tips and links to help you keep your Joomla website secure and safe. (...)
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How to Create a Hover Effect Using CSS

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:24:03 +0000

Hover effects, rollovers, super-fancy link styles — regardless of what you call them — are a great way to get extra bang for your buck when putting together a website.

Today we’ll be learning how to add a unique and creative feature to your website’s links using CSS. Using CSS Pseudo Classes, we can alter every aspect of a link when a visitor “hovers” over it, or puts their cursor over the link. (...)
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Cheap WordPress Themes: 5 Semi-Premium Designs for Business Websites

Barbara Holbrook — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:26:39 +0000

We’ve talked about Premium WordPress Themes ad infinitum on TutorialBlog. But, sometimes you need a cheap WordPress theme that you can get online and looking good in less than an hour. What do you when you (or your client) want it all … and your budget is under $25?

You call in reinforcements!

Take the pain out of working under an impossible budget by making it easy. Your “client” will be pleased as punch with any of these semi-premium WordPress themes and you’ll still have money left to buy a fancy coffee from your favorite java dealer.

What is a semi-premium theme you ask? These themes may not have everything as the expensive, bells-and-whistles-included brand of premium themes. That could mean fewer choices on the theme options screen or only a single page template or fewer plugins pre-built into the site. However, in most areas a good semi-premium theme has everything you need to build a quality website, quick and easy.

Elegant Themes is a WordPress theme club that specializes in semi-premium themes. (...)
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