It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of WordPress.

As you no doubt already know, plugins dramatically enhance the appearance and functionality of your WordPress blog. From adding editorial calendars to search engine optimization, from spam comment moderation to image slideshows — plugins offer the simplest way to make changes to your blog with the ease of a few clicks.

Shortcodes are another blog enhancement that were first introduced in WordPress version 2.5. Essentially a WordPress shorthand, these codes enable you to add design and additional functionality to your blog with the addition of a simple one or two word command. With shortcodes, there is no need for writing mind-numbing code, or the need for having code-writing wonks on the payroll. Simply drop in the desired shortcode, and update the page.

We’re just beginning to see blog themes that embrace the shortcode utility. One of my favorite premium design groups, Woo Themes, is among the early adopters — you can also find quite a few shortcode-enabled themes at Theme Forest. But what if you love your current theme?

Never fear. A new plugin will enable you to add over 100 shortcodes to your site with the ease you’ve come to love and expect from WordPress.

Shortcode Kid (what a great name!) has crammed just about every possible shortcode you could ever want into this plugin. You’ll be able to add multiple columns of text, alert boxes, buttons of every color, tool tips, tabbed boxes, toggle boxes, RSS feeds, and highlighted text — you can even drop in videos, add protected gateways for membership content, social sharing buttons, and pull quotes. And, even if you decide to swap out your themes as often as I do, you won’t lose any of the formatting that you’ve added.

This is a premium plugin, so you will have to part with some cash to add this handy little gem to your site. But at $40, it’s a cost that is easily justified when you consider all of the time it’s going to save you. It’s a simple, handy way to give your blog some pizazz. This is one that I’d consider a must-have for any serious blogger.

Editorial Note: WordPress 3.0 or newer, as well as a self-hosted WordPress blog are required to run this plugin. It will NOT work with blogs hosted on WordPress.org.

Crestock, founded in Norway in 2005, was recently purchased by Masterfile, a stockphoto agency headquartered in Toronto.

Crestock.com has been relaunched with new graphics and a bold new logo, including the tagline “Good. Fast. Cheap.”

Crestock is a growing player in micropayment royalty-free stock photography and illustrations, helping clients with small budgets find creative images for their projects. With a fast and reliable image upload system, Crestock also gives photographers and illustrators a great platform for licensing their creative work. Crestock is a global business, with artists, editors and clients in over 100 countries.

Fischer added that Crestock is being introduced to a broad audience of users looking for the most affordable stock images. whereas Masterfile caters to advertising and design professionals looking for premium image selection, exclusivity and high touch service and support.

Although Crestock serves a global audience, the focus of the new advertising campaign will be in North America initially. The campaign launched on November 1, and will introduce new ads on a continuing basis.

For more information, or to set up a free account, visit their website.

Whether you’re preparing for your wedding, chronicling your travels or running a small business, a website or blog is the easiest way to share information with family, friends, professional contacts or customers.

What makes a website’s design successful? According to design experts, there are five keys to effective website design. These tips will help ensure that your website attracts visitors, encourages them to browse and — if you’re selling — entices customers to buy.

Minimalist design. Your website should look clean and uncluttered. Minimalist design makes it easy for visitors to concentrate on the content. If a page has too many elements, visitors may become confused. This doesn’t mean the design has to be boring — a simple approach, focusing on a few key details, will make it look modern and stylish.

Fabulous photos. Avoid cliché or unprofessional photography and find images that say something genuine about you or your business. For affordable, reliable photography that makes it easier to be creative, try stock photography websites like Veer, which has images for as little as $1, or for exceptional images, try Corbis Images, which has web-resolution images starting at $5.

Encourage action. Whether you want people to note your wedding details, view your travel photos or make a purchase, make sure that your “call to action” is clear and concise. Use short and snappy language, and large, boldly colored, clickable buttons that are in the top or middle of the page.

Focus on fonts. Bold fonts help visitors recognize the important messages and call-to-action on a page, while more common fonts are perfect for explaining the details. Veer.com has thousands of unique fonts for just a few dollars.

Color counts. Color conveys meaning and encourages different reactions by visitors. Don’t forget to make good use of white space — the space between different elements of a design. Used well, it allows for easier scanning of your site.

Design resources like Smashing magazine or Daily Blog Tips provide more in-depth information to help solve specific challenges.

- Courtesy NUSA

For the average small business owner, mastering the art of online marketing

Tempe, Arizona-based Seyego’s innovative approach to search engine visibility presents small business owners with simplicity, affordability, and peace of mind. With an abundance of websites on Google, Seyego takes the complicated and expensive part of search engine marketing out of the equation.

By renting a pre-ranked website from Seyego, business owners can reap all of the rewards of owning a top-ranked website without any of the time or hassle of starting their own online marketing campaign from scratch. The site generates leads for the renting business, and are forwarded on to them.

Granted, renting a pre-ranked website is a bit of a head-scratcher. It sounds like cheating, really. Offering this type of service is a very new approach to the whole question of search engine ranking — and Seyego is the first firm to offer this service.

According to their website, “Seyego knows the service industry. For years, Seyego has been successfully generating leads for locksmiths, carpet cleaners, plumbers, water damage restoration services, and other service industries nationwide. Our websites have consistently ranked at the top of the search engines for popular keyword phrases and often out-perform the leading companies in those industries.”

Is this new solution better or more cost-effective than pay-per-click? Only time will tell. This is one story that you can bet SEO service providers and web designers alike will be watching closely.

As one might expect, availability for this solution is limited. Exclusive geographic rights for a given niche is limited to one company per industry. For more information, visit Seyego on-line at http://Seyego.com.

ChooseWhat.com, a leading resource of useful tools that help small to medium business owners grow their companies, has launched a how-to guide called “How to Build a Website” that teaches non-savvy users how to create their own website in 3 easy steps.

“How to Build a Website,” is a guide on everything a new website owner needs to know before creating their site.

We give them a starting point on the best tools to use and how to effectively use the tools to build a website that’s right for their needs. We spell out clear, concise steps on how to create and then promote their website and hopefully take away any of their confusion.

“We aimed to create a resource tool that was easy for users who have little to no background in building websites,” says April Coburn, designer of “How to Build a Website.” “We give them a starting point on the best tools to use and how to effectively use the tools to build a website that’s right for their needs. We spell out clear, concise steps on how to create and then promote their website and hopefully take away any of their confusion.”

Because the team behind ChooseWhat.com was routinely asked for advice on how to build a website, the guide was created to give those without design and HTML backgrounds the easiest steps on how to create their own sites from the ground up without the frustration or confusion of wading through a wide array of business website builders.

“How to Build a Website” will walk the novice website builder through every step of the creation process, including determining the type of website to create—an informational site or a retail site—and how to promote their websites through different marketing avenues. Additional resources include ChooseWhat’s “Best Practices” Tips, with advice on choosing a domain name and picking a layout, and a list of the best website building tools, such as photo and graphics editors and logo makers.

For more information regarding how to build a website, visit http://build-a-website.choosewhat.com/.

Wobzy.com

The new online store offers a diverse line of premium WordPress themes for individuals and organizations using the popular WordPress blogging platform. All themes are fully compatible with current WordPress releases, and display properly on the latest versions of commonly used browsers including FireFox, IE, Safari and Chrome. Easy-to-use intuitive interfaces slash learning curves, save time, and instantly add a modern look to any site.

“Today it’s easier than ever to set up a blog. You find a premium WP theme, customize it, obtain a host and a domain name, and you have a blog. The problem is, few people really understand a blog’s power, especially how they can use it to achieve their online goals,” said Mark Gavalda, CMO of Wobzy.com. “That’s why we’ll offer bloggers a variety of tools that teach them how to monetize their sites using our WP themes and how to optimize them to reap the maximum benefits, whether their blogs are for personal or business use,” he added.

All of Wobzy.com’s premium WordPress themes are competitively priced, Adsense and Google Analytics enabled, and feature Widget-ready sidebars as well as customized features not readily found in most premium WordPress themes.

To learn more about how to use the power of social networking and leverage Web 2.0 technology, visit Wobzy.com.

Small Business website solution provider SimpleWebBox.com has announced that they will provide a free website to non-profit organizations.

“We wish to help non-profit organizations focus on their not-for profit business and not on the cost to have a website solution,” stated Adnan Konjic, CEO of SimpleWebBox.

The offer extends to any non-profit organization and covers setup fees and a free domain name for one year. SimpleWebBox will donate one website per month to an organization of their choice that submits an application through their website — winning non-profit organizations will only have to cover the monthly fee that includes website hosting. Among the features offered are a custom design, content management system, search engine marketing, and online gallery — and no software installation is required.

So who can apply? The offer is available to any non-profit organization with submitted 501C3 or other proof of non-profit status. For more information, or to submit an application, visit http://www.simplewebbox.com.

Flash website building tool Wix has launched a series of new improvements to its editor that will make the customization process of its free website templates even better.

These new upgrades will make it easier for any John Doe to create a fantastic free web design. Amongst the improvements are:

• New Menus and Buttons with lots of great new skins and customization options.
• Smoother movements in the carousel gallery and mini-pages.
• Brand new editor shortcuts. The new shortcuts include group selections, precise layer selections etc.
• The Wix loader is now small and gray and will soon be customizable, just like any other object in the editor.
• The editor loading speed has also been improved, as a result of enhanced image caching and a reduction in file sizes.
• Better search engine optimization for Wix websites. While Wix has always been search engine friendly, the free websites now have even better HTML representation of the website content – making them highly legible and compatible for SEO purposes.
• Editor screen size flexibility. Adjustments to screen size compatibility will make it easier to work with Wix in smaller resolutions.

Wix.com is a fast-growing website that offers its users both free Flash templates and free website builder software that is both intuitive and professional. Wix has also developed a solution to make these Flash website designs compatible with search engine crawlers.

While the company has been active for a couple of years, recently it has been introducing a series of new innovations, improving customer experience and usability. Many of these new improvements are a result of the ‘Wish List’ program which Wix has been implementing for over a year. The Wish List is a forum in which Wix users are encouraged to send in ideas for improvements and changes in the Wix editor and free website templates. As more requests come in for a specific feature, it rises to the top of the list of priorities.

Wix was established in 2005 and has its headquarters in NY and offices in Tel-Aviv. It is backed by Mangrove Capital Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. More information on can be found at http://www.wix.com.

A few months ago I was working with a client in Detroit.

I was in the first phases of getting them in a position for people to find their establishment: they had an old number in the yellow pages, 411 information didn’t have them listed, and they were no where to be found on the internet. After correcting these issues for them, I was able to sell them a website job, however they opted out of SEO efforts.

While working on the website project for this client, I was absolutely dumbfounded to hear that they had been working with a very prominent PR firm in Detroit, which will remain nameless. I couldn’t believe it.

What exactly was this PR doing for this client? I found out they had worked on logos, brand image, and menus, but neglected even the simplest things, like listing their place in information!

After chatting with this PR firm, I discovered that they did not offer website development or marketing. Their standpoint was , “we make sure that the client’s web developers portray the same image and message.” Talk about leaving money on the table!

I thought this would be a great opportunity for any marketing company. I then approached the top four PR firms in metro Detroit, and none of them offer web site development. Yet after many conversations and meetings, I was unable to convince any of them they needed to offer these services to their clients.

To me this is a mystery. How can a PR firm neglect addressing or providing website development in this day and age of technology? Newspapers are dropping like flies. Everyone is looking to the internet for information. Newspaper ads are being replace by blogs and articles. You Tube and Podcasts are replacing TV commercials, yet none of these PR firms think it prudent to offer or provide internet based services to clients.

About the Author:
Stan Thornbury is the owner of Mongo Marketing in Detroit. For more information go to http://www.mongomarketing.net. If you have any thoughts or comments, please feel free to share. This website is posted in our company blog at: http://nowebsitesatprfirms.blogspot.com.

Organic optimization is fundamental to a successful website.

Completing Organic Search Optimization Programs ensures web design elements are completed correctly and accessible to both Search Engines and humans.

Organic Optimization is remarkably similar to other Organic products — naturally good for the consumer — this holds true when the term Organic is used in reference to web promotion and design.

Naturally Optimized web sites focus on elements important to humans, completed correctly and the beneficial effects flow onto Search Engines as a matter of course.

Organic Optimization and Keywords
Looking at keywords and phrases from the “Natural” perspective make it quite clear the importance of high quality keyword research. Completion of a comprehensive keyword research program will provide an extensive list of keywords used by Internet users to find your business’s services and products.

Consider keyword phrases, an example may be “Electric Bass Guitars.” When considering that keyword phrase is it not natural Internet users will use that phrase when using Search Engine to discover a web site relevant to that topic?

Taken a step further, “Electric Bass Guitar Sales Online”, now you are really naturally targeting users who are thinking along those lines and seeking to purchase Electric Bass Guitars online. The thought processes are natural, both humans and Search Engines will quickly determine a web pages’s topic and relevance.

Organic Search Optimization and Content
Natural integration of keywords into web content is the real power of Organic Search Optimization. Well developed content naturally using keywords and phrases captures the attention of site visitors.

Providing content is well written and using keywords and phrases naturally, ensures content is readable and easy to interpret. Overuse of keyword phrases within content to fool Search Engines doesn’t work making the content difficult and unnatural to read. Search Engines and humans are very sophisticated and are capable of determining when over use of a keyword or phrase occurs.

Human nor Search Engine like spamming, and both penalize web site owners for the over and unnatural use of keywords in website content.

Navigation and Organic Search Optimization
Website navigation designed for human use should offer visitors intuitive methods to navigate web sites and find content important to them. A component important to Search Engines and Humans are the web site’s link labels.

Internal web site links utilizing keyword Anchor Text offers easy identification of what users will find upon clicking the web site link. Anchor text links provide Search Engines with information to determine web page topic and relevance.

What works for Search Engine crawlers to index web pages for categorization and placement in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), doesn’t necessarily work for humans.

When considering natural and web design, HTML is the core web site programming language, anything other than HTML may be considered a highbred. JavaScript is widely used for web site navigation however, JavaScript navigation although working well for humans, is not Search Engine friendly and may block Search Engine indexing software. If web sites cannot be indexed the web site will not be found in the SERPs.

Google has improved the ability to index JavaScript navigation systems but it has not been perfected.

The Other Natural Elements
Organic Optimization requires all web site elements to work together.

The Organic Search Optimization Content Structure
Developing the web page content structure is not much than the structure used to write business reports. Headings are important to identify topics and importance. Web Page code the tags H1, H2 etc are used to create headings to identify the topic and importance Search Engines and Humans.

Description META Tags are used for the snippet in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A short well written description including calls to action and the keyword phrase will encourage links to be clicked.

Organic Search Optimization – Conclusion
Organic Search Optimization is beneficial to business due to its effectiveness in creating a user focused web site. Add to the fact that over 80% of Internet users click on an Organic search result prior to a paid result and Organic Search Optimization should be prioritized in your business’s online marketing strategy. Organically Search Optimization offers long term benefits and results.

About the Author:
Pete Hollier is an Information Scientist and Web Site Promotion Consultant at http://www.seowizardry.ca/. SEO Wizardry uses a holistic approach to Search Engine Optimization, Web Design Usability and Social Media Marketing to improve the overall business web site performance: http://www.seowizardry.ca/.