Websoul Inc.

Websoul - Custom Web Design "Challenge Seekers" (Xemion.com)

2011-03-18T08:20:00.006-04:00

Xemion.com, leader forum on web design interviewed Juan Carlos Carrillo, president of Websoul, Inc. Follow link below for more details.

http://www.xemion.com/interviews/websoul-custom-web-design-challenge-seekers/

CSS Positioning Pt. 1 - Floating

2010-12-10T16:14:00.002-05:00

CSS positioning can seem to be complicated but its quite easy. By default in our HTML pages, elements have a 100% width and they place themselves one on top of each other.Floats exist in order to change this. Their main focus is to show elements parallel to each other. When you float something, its regular width reduces just to fit it’s content (unless specified), and stops having the full width of the browser.

Floating Content

There are three float option:
* float:left;
* float:right;
* float:none;
CSS gives us the ability to float anything. Divs, paragraphs, images, lists, any HTML tag. The way to use it is always the same, but sometimes we use floats for pieces of content and other times for blocks in order to create a layout.
Examples
#cont_wrap {
margin:0 auto;
width:900px;
}

#left_cont {
float:left;
width:300px
}

#right_cont {
float:right;
width:600px;
}

The left_cont if being floated to the left and right_cont to the right.
I also defined a width for each div to fit inside the cont_wrap.
Float none is used to override previous floats. If nothing is floating, the float none property won’t do anything.

Clearing Floats

The sister property of floats is clear. The clear property has three possibilities as well:
* clear:left;
* clear:right;
* clear:both;
This basicly tells the item to stop floating. It must be applied to the first element that will not float located after an element currently floating.

Examples

#footer {
clear:both;
margin:0 auto;
width:900px;
}

Now the footer is clearing the #left_cont and #right_cont elements.
This helps the container element (#cont_wrap), to succesfuly wrap around it’s children once again.
Float none is used to override previous floats. If nothing is floating, the float none property won’t do anything.

TO BE CONTINUED......

Sale Online, Is it for me?

2010-12-10T15:21:00.005-05:00

We get tons of calls in regards to whether someone should sale online or not and the answer is very simple, Yes!
If you already have a physical store or running a retail business from your house, you should extend your clientele reach by having an online presence.

Electronic commerce is a reality and is not just for multimillion dollar corporations; Anyone can sell online.

But, what do you need to sell online?

A product,

An e-commerce store, and

Time to market your store.

Lots of people have done it and so can you! Give it shot! The number of online customers is increasing by the second, don't miss out!

What is HTML5?

2010-12-08T13:32:00.001-05:00

A lot of buzz has been flying around the web development community about HTML5. Years after the introduction of HTML, a lot of people wonder about what the web is and its true potential. What apps and programs would users find necessary, encouraging, and entertaining? What tools do programmers need to great more interactive and interesting websites? and ultimately? how can this be shown on a web browser?

Previously, HTML websites required plug-ins in order to watch videos, play animations, play games, or move objects on their pages. With HTML5, the next step in HTML, you can do all this with simple tags and no longer require the use of plug-ins.

HTML5, like the web itself, is in perpetual evolution, based on users’ needs and developers’ imaginations. As an open standard, HTML5 embodies some of the best aspects of the web: it works everywhere, and on any device with a modern browser. But just as you can only watch HDTV broadcasts on an HD-compatible television, you need to use an up-to-date, HTML5-compatible browser in order to enjoy sites and apps that take advantage of HTML5’s features. Thankfully, as an Internet user, you have lots of choice when it comes to web browsers — and unlike TVs, web browsers can be downloaded for free.

HTML5 is constantly evolving based on the user and programmers needs. HTML5 is standard and incorporates some of the best aspects online today. its open source and works on any modern browser. but just like HD monitors and televisions are required to view HD and 3D programs so too is it necessary to have the most up to date browser for the full use of HTML5’s features. There are various great choices for web browsers, the following being:

www.mozilla.com
www.opera.com
http://www.apple.com/safari/

What is a Landing Page?

2010-09-10T09:11:00.004-04:00

There seems to be quite a buzz on what a landing page is all about. It's very simple, a landing page is where your visitors arrive after clinking on a link, from your website or from a different website.

A landing page should provide a single strong call to action. This call to action can be to obtain information from the visitor, convert the visitor into a lead, make a sale, etc.

Well crafted landing pages have better results than home pages. As when visitors land on a home page, they would need to find their way around the website, not knowing what to do, most of the times giving up and leaving the website.

A landing page should give visitors exactly what they were looking for to be able to capture their attention right away.

Is a Custom Web Design Important?

2010-08-28T23:10:00.002-04:00

Uniqueness is important but to be unique is not only about "looks". You need to have unique content and present it in a unique way. If you can achieve that, you are in business.

There are thousands of templates ready-to-go, if you find one that reflects your ideology and interprets what you or your organization are all about, buy it, tweak it, put your own content and you are ready to roll. But finding "that" right image is the problem, that's where you need experts.

An experienced web design company would be able to conceptualize your idea into a custom web design by making sure that it targets the right audience by looks, functionality and content.

Finis Terrae's Web site Lunch and Positioning

2010-03-04T10:32:00.002-05:00

WebSoul Designs launches Finis Terrae's Web Site last month as FinisTerraeHomeDesign.com. Finis Terrae is a Miami Company that sells Rustic Furniture made of Wood, Wrought Iron and many other rustic materials. These pieces of furniture are hand made by skilled professionals in Colombia and Chile, South America.

We, at WebSoul Designs, Inc., carefully created content to position this fine Miami Rustic Furniture Store in first pages of search engines such as Google.com, Yahoo.com and Bing.com.

Visit the search engines and see for your self. Another Success Story!

WebSoul Designs donates web site to Parkinson's Cause

2010-02-18T15:48:00.004-05:00

WebSoul Designs, Inc. donates 90% of the cost to develop a web site for Jesus Caparo. Jesus Caparo is a Cuban American 47 year old man diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
The objective of the web site is to obtain donations for his medical expenses. The operation is about 65k dollars. Visit the web site JesusCaparo.com and donate.

LePetBoutique.com launches successful E-Commerce Pet Web Site

2010-02-18T15:40:00.004-05:00

LePetBoutique.com, owned by Mr. Raul Cabral, launches a successful E-Commerce Web Site. LePetBoutique.com sells unique products for pets: from accesories such as dog tags to vitamins, you can find all your pet needs at LePetBoutique.com.

WebSoul Designs, Inc. configured an osCommerce platform for LePetBoutique.com.

Tracking and Monitoring Web Marketing Efforts

2010-02-16T16:48:00.006-05:00

If you think that your Web Marketing Campaign does not need tweaking, you are wrong. Every Web Marketing Campaign needs to be closely monitored and adjusted constantly as trends change in matter of minutes. You need to be able to track your efforts but more important you need to know what to track!

WHAT TO TRACK

When running web marketing campaigns, you need to track the following:

web sites your visitors come from
the pages they land on
the pages they exit from
keywords used to get to your web site
time spent on site
total amount of pages visited
Call to actions executed

These are just to name a few, the more data you have, the more knowledgeable on how you are attracting visitors and what they do once they are in your web site. Once you master that data, you can then make changes to your web marketing campaign to either invest more on what works and/or modify it to change strategies.

TRACKING TECHNIQUES

There are several tracking techniques that you can use to better monitor your web marketing campaign. You can create custom Landing Pages or even custom Landing Web Sites. You can also implement questionnaires on how they heard about your web site, products or services. Web site redirects can also be used to know where your visitors come from.

Convert web users into clients

2010-02-16T12:39:00.002-05:00

Now that you have made a good impression, your web site is usable and offers unique and attractive content, now it is time to persuade them to take action. In order to do that, we need to make sure users trust your web site and that strong call to actions are very well placed through out your web site.
Converting web users into clients or leads is where the magic happens. If your web site is unable to convert anyone, then you are in trouble.
Means to converting a web user are endless, these are some:

Purchase a product
Filling out a Sales form
Downloading some free material, etc.

TRUST

A web site needs to look trust worthy. The use of excessive banner ads will dramatically reduce the chances of someone trusting you with their credit card. People are terrified of Identity Theft, having a strong secure checkout or password protection can help put their minds at ease.

No Pop-ups
No excesive banners
Security above all

CALL TO ACTION

This is where the magic happens. Your web site needs to have strong call to actions in key areas of your web site. Users need to find it easy to understand what to do next:

Request more information
Purchase now, etc

But these call to actions need to be reinforced with additional incentives such as:

Purchase now and receive 10% off
Chat with one of our Specialists and receive a free gift
Register for our newsletters and receive free tickets to a movie

Use a clear and strong "call to action" at the end of every page on your web site or where you think it's best suitable. Build trust and a professional image through your web site, but do not lose track of your main objective which is make your visitor do exactly what you want them to do.

How to keep users in your web site

2010-02-15T20:54:00.004-05:00

Generating traffic to your web site is one thing, keeping users from leaving your web site is another. But, as much as we want to keep users from not leaving, they will.
Web users tend to jump from web site to web site looking for the best looking, more organized and more reliable source and even if you meet all of those, most of them will leave. The problem to solve is to make them come back and keep them in the site.

WEB DESIGN

A web site needs to have a good look & feel. It needs to appeal to your audience. It needs a good navigation structure; Users need to be able to find their way around fast and easy.

Eye Candy
User friendly

CONTENT

If users are interested on what you are offering, they will return again and again, but if they realize that the web site does not change, they will stop coming back. Many web sites are never updated, therefore never re-visited. And, who would want to visit a web site that never changes, there is no point in that. Keeping your web site up-to-date lets your visitors know that you are serious about your business. But do not get carried away, there are billions of web sites and users have less patience in finding out what your message is all about, keep it simple, keep it light, keep it fun! 30 seconds is a looooonnnnng time.

Regular updates
Fun

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

An understanding of the needs and goals of your visitors is the best way to ensure your efforts are effective. Keyword reports will allow you to better understand the interests of your visitors. Are they finding what they want? What are the pages that they leave mostly. From what pages are they registering from? What pages are your users relating to more? In order to truly know your audience, all of these questions need to be answered.

Visitor's Statistics

INTERACTION

Web to User interaction is a great way to increase user's retention. Create a Message Board and allow users to discuss about topics related to your field, to praise about your products or services or even handle complaints. Newsletters registrations are also a great way of interacting with the web site. Having a chat solution for inmediate assistance is also a great feature to have. This increases trust and defenetly increases chances of users staying on the web site.

Message Boards
Newsletters registrations
Online Support/Chat Support

Drive traffic to your site

2010-02-08T16:57:00.013-05:00

There are many ways to drive traffic to your web site. Some will be for free, and some will cost you money. Below you'll find legitimate ways to boost the number of visitors to your website.

Web Design

Although looks are very important, your web site does not need to be eye candy for the user but eye candy for search engines. That is done by having a well structured web design.

HTML Structure: Pass all HTML, CSS validations

Content

Content is one of the most important components on attracting visitors to your web site. When writing content, focus on Keywords. Make sure the keywords you choose flow smoothly within your content. Also, do not copy and paste from other web sites, be original, that's what visitors look for, originality. Keep your content alive, do not write a few pages and then forget about your web site, keep it fresh. Making sure that your web site has the right content and that it continuously grows will increase your page ranking on Search Engines.
Make sure the content is:

Keyword Oriented
Original
Fresh and in Constant Growth

Search Engine Submission

And how important is Search Engine Submission? of utmost importance!!! Traffic is generated mainly by Search Engines, if your web site is not listed in them, no one will know your web site exists. For a list of the Most Popular Search Engines, please visit http://searchenginewatch.com/2156221

Link Exchange

Find partners on a similar niche and exchange links. Exchanging links with high ranking web sites will help your own ranking but be careful who you link to, bad sites can also hurt you. Don't over do it!

Backlinks

Backlinks are vital to the success of a Web Marketing campaign. Search Engines, such as Google, increase the relevance of your web site by the amount of backlinks to your web site. Make sure you understand how to create a backlink, do not just create links to your web site, do them right. Creating backlinks is a tedious task but it must be done. Do not get discouraged if they do not work right away, be patient. Below are some places where you can place backlinks:

On Blogs/Forums web sites
Classfied ad web sites
Article web sites
Message Boards
Online Communities

Paid Advertisement

Paid Advertisement is an easy way of generating traffic to your web site. You can open an account with Google Adwords and start seeing results right away, just be sure you don't over do it, this can be costly.

Pay Per Click
Directory listings

cost per acquisition

Cost per acquisition is where you pay for each specified action (a purchase, a form submission, and so on) linked to the advertisement. This is a great way to drive traffic to specific products or services. You only pay when the action you need is performed.

Web Marketing

2010-02-07T12:37:00.015-05:00

Web Marketing, also referred to as Internet Marketing, i-marketing, online marketing, or e-Marketing, is the marketing of products or services over the web.

Businesses and organizations have different goals and purposes but most would like to achieve the following:

Increase online visibility/exposure
Drive traffic to their web sites
Convert traffic into qualified prospects/leads

These days, a company's web site is the hub of any marketing campaign. Mostly every Ad on any medium has a URL on it.

Components

In order to run a successful Web Marketing Campaign, it is necessary to cover four major components:

Attraction: Drive traffic to your site
Retention: Keep users in your site
Conversion: Convert users into clients or qualified prospects/leads
Measurement: Monitor campaigns successes/failures for further improvement

There are several techniques and tools to achieve any or all of the Web Marketing Components above.

Advantages

Cost: when compared to the ratio of cost against the reach of the target audience, Web Marketing is relatively inexpensive.
Informatative: The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and purchase products and services at their own convenience.
Measurement: Web Marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively.
Accountability: Web Marketing can offer a greater sense of accountability for advertisers.

Limitations

New Technoloy: Web Marketing requires customers to use newer technologies rather than traditional media.
Internet Speed: Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier.
Experience: From the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, smell, taste or "try on" tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting.

In Summary, Web Marketing is the general term for a cost effective way of generating web exposure of products & services by providing extensive informational resources to web users and converting them to clients/prospects while monitoring the campaigns in real time to quickly change directions, if needed.

How to Create Backlinks

2010-02-07T07:42:00.013-05:00

A simple text backlink:

<a href="http://www.google.com">Best Search Engine</a>

which translates to:

Best Search Engine

A text backlink in a paragraph:

Last year I was asked to do a little bit of research on which search engines were the most popular and which one was the <a href="http://www.google.com">Best Search Engine</a>. I found out that Google was the best.

which translates to:

Last year I was asked to do a little bit of research on which search engines were the most popular and which one was the Best Search Engine. I found out that Google was the best.

A simple image backlink:

which translates to:

If you hover over the image above, you will see that it displays a text over the image.

Web Design

2010-01-23T09:29:00.001-05:00

Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content in a way that it is well interpreted by the end user. It requires a good understanding of Usability, Problem Solving as well as Graphic Design. Web design is the ability to transform a collection of documents using elements such as HTML, XHTML, XML, JPG, GIF, FLASH, etc. into a web site.

Typically web sites are classified as static or dynamic:

* Static web sites don’t change content and layout with every request unless a web master or programmer manually modifies a page. A simple HTML page is an example of static content.
* Dynamic pages adapt their content and/or appearance depending on end-user’s input/interaction or changes in the computing environment (user, time, database modifications, etc.)

What are Dynamic Web Pages?

2009-07-07T16:31:00.000-04:00

Dynamic Web Pages, unlike Static Web Pages, utilize a means of interactivity within a web page. This ranges from using client side scripting to change a behavior of the website through mouse of keyboard actions to server-side scripting which changes the page source between pages through url parameters, or time.

What are Static Web Pages?

2009-07-07T16:24:00.001-04:00

A static web page is a web page that is presents the same information to all users. The user navigates through this information by the use of Hypertext. Static web pages are quick and easy to put together and are great for demonstration of how a site will look. However, these sites offer little visitor personalization and are difficult to keep up-to-date.

What is GOOD Web Design?

2009-07-07T16:08:00.000-04:00

It's important to differentiate between good and bad web design. The most important aspects of a good web site are that they:

- Loads Quickly
- Well Structured HTML
- Be compatible with a large range of monitor/browser sizes.
- Easy to navigate
- Good Color Balance
- Professional Quality Graphics

Aside from these large factors, it's also vital to pay attention to the smaller details. Have a good internal linking structure, present clear contact information, and most importantly... a proper maintenance strategy!

What is Web Design?

2009-07-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

Web design is the process of creating content for others to see on the World Wide Web. The visual appearance can range from static pages, which provide the same basic information, to dynamic pages, which determine its content and images on the user that accesses the site. But perhaps the better question is what makes GOOD web design?

Center a page horizontally using CSS

2009-05-06T13:59:00.000-04:00

The following is an example of how to center a page without using the 'center' tag and using CSS.
Create a DIV tag and give it an id 'container'. Within this DIV, you can create your content or place whatever you like. This DIV container will contain all the elements that you would like to have in a centered block of the page, note: not the center of the page but a block that is centered on the page.

Then put the piece of code in your style section or file:

#container{
width:500px;
margin: auto; /*This makes the trick*/
}

The trick is simple, the width in combination with margin: auto; makes the container block be centered.

That is all!

Follow the link to see it in action.

Internet Explorer (IE) & Transparent png Images

2009-05-04T13:47:00.000-04:00

IE version 6.0 and earlier versions do not do a good job display png files with Transparency. Below you will find the solution to the problem.

#bkgrnd{
width:100px;
height: 100px;
background-color: pink;
background-image:url('images/transparency.png');
_background-image:none; /*IE Fix*/
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(enabled=true, sizingMethod=scale, src='images/transparency.png');/*IE Fix*/
}

The fix is simple, the line:

_background-image:none;

makes IE remove the background image and then uses the one specified in the filter:

filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(enabled=true, sizingMethod=scale, src='images/transparency.png');

Follow the link to see it in action.

WebSoulDesigns.com Launches New Site

2009-05-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

WebSoul Designs, Inc. is proud to announce the launch of its new web site WebSoulDesigns.com. The site features the same products and services but offers a fresh look and feel that is more artistic and glamorous.

The new web site offers 4 main areas. These main areas are: About the Company, Blog, Portfolio and Contact Forms.

We invite you to visit the new www.websouldesigns.com today.