Spring is right around the corner, and now is the prefect time to add more heat to your website. This month our focus is on helping you become web-savvy so you can draw users and potential clients to your website like moths to a flame.
Want to understand your Webmaster when they start explaining an exciting new development on your website? Maybe you'd like to learn more of the basics so you can take care of the simpler upkeep of your site yourself.
We give you the skinny on how to get up to speed - without spending a dime. Keep reading for more on our top computer training sites for the month, our newly improved Website Resources section and a sneak peak at our latest expert articles, and news on the Wellington Bizzone Expo.
Contents:
- Top Ten Sites
- Website Resources
- Articles from the Experts
- A Sneak Peak at the Latest Website Resources
- Bizzone
Fascinated by the wonderful world of the web? Like to improve your computer, Internet and website knowledge? If you want to master the fundamentals with some basic computer training, check out the Top 10 most popular websites from our computer training category this month.
| Rank | Site Name | URL |
| 1. | 360° Training | www.360training.co.nz |
| 2. | Department of Computing and Information Technology Manukau Institute of Technology |
www.manukau.ac.nz/cit |
| 3. | Academy Business Training NZ | www.academynz.com |
| 4. | Teach-IT | www.teach-it.ac.nz |
| 5. | Computer Troubleshooters | www.ctw.co.nz |
| 6. | Computer Science Unplugged | www.csunplugged.org |
| 7. | Learning Post | www.learningpost.ac.nz |
| 8. | AMES Training and Resource Centre | www.ames.ac.nz |
| 9. | Computer Training | www.computer-training.co.nz |
| 10. | SeniorNet | www.seniornet.org.nz |
If you haven't already claimed your website and made the most of adding your business details to be featured on your very own Site Profile, make sure you jump online and do it now.
Since the last newsletter we've made a few changes to enhance the usability of this section and make the process faster. This has made it even easier for you to directly promote your website and business for free with NZS.com.
Have you claimed your website and added your Business Details? You must Claim Your Website to have your Business Details approved and published on your Site Profile. We've made this process as simple as 1-2-3, so it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes.
Simply follow the instructions as you proceed and you'll have some valuable business information published on your Site Profile in no time.
Not only can you include all your relevant contact and address information, but you can also include a comprehensive business marketing description complete with links, business search tags, and business marketing URLs so you can direct your clients and potential customers to your business blog, your YouTube videos, or one of your social networking pages, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
So what are you waiting for? Claim your website, add your details, and get connected now to start making the most of the new and improved NZS.com Website Resources.
The NZS.com Website Resources include inside tips on website design, how to increase traffic to your site, and how to understand web industry tools for New Zealand webmasters.
This month we've also brought industry leaders on board to bring you the latest and best advice, guidance and tips. As experts in their chosen fields, our Featured Contributors are offering quality articles to keep you in the know on web-related issues, short cuts and strategies.
Our featured contributors range from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) experts and online marketing consultants to website designers, developers and hosting specialists. Prominent Companies such as Freeparking, SureFire Search, Netconcepts, Avatar, and Web Widgets are on board bringing you fresh hints and tricks, and new contributors and resources will appear on the site regularly.
From online marketing strategies to choosing the right payment gateway and much more, NZS.com is creating a user-friendly resource for all New Zealand website users, written by Kiwis, for Kiwis.
If you've been looking for a place to find reliable, quality tools, tips and tidbits to help improve your web status, then look no further. Check out the NZS.com Website Resources now.
Struggling to stay in step when you give your Webmaster a call? Want to know your SEO from your CMS so you can stay in the know about your website's development and progress?
Here are some sample snippets from the five latest Website Resources articles - click through to read each articles in full, learn the lingo, and grab the best Webmaster tricks of the trade.
Search Engine Optimisation involves optimising a website to rank highly for certain keyword phrases that are input by users on the major search engines - namely Google, Yahoo and Bing (formerly Live).
A good SEO strategy makes the search engines send quality traffic to a website through natural or organic results displayed on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The higher a site is ranked on the SERPs, the better visibility it gets and attracts a lot of visitors.
So is SEO an exact science or art? Read Is SEO Art or Craft by Netconcepts to find out more.
This common SEO issue can be hard to avoid, and chances are your website has duplicate content which could potentially have a detrimental impact on search engine rankings.
The good news is that this problem can now be fixed easily due to the introduction by search engines of the rel="canonical" tag. This strategy can help you avoid problems associated with duplicate content.
To find out more about the rel="canonical" tag check out the Dealing with Duplicate Content article by SureFire Search.
Online shopping carts and e-commerce have changed the face of modern shopping, but how do you pick the right payment gateway for your own online business?
If you're interested in e-commerce and selling your products and services online, there are now more than a dozen ways to accept credit card payments via your website. It's great to have options, but how do you pick the payment gateway that's right for you? And how do you ensure you're getting a fair deal?
Choosing the Right Payment Gateway by Web Widgets gives a great overview of payment gateway benefits, costs and issues in New Zealand.Interested in using a Content Management System to update and manage your Web site content?
CMS style websites have become increasingly popular in recent years, because content can swiftly be updated, allowing businesses to communicate to their target audiences in an efficient and timely manner. Website visitors like to be met with fresh and relevant content when they browse the web, so having up to the minute content can give companies a real competitive advantage against their online competitors.
Find out more about CMS benefits, features and examples by reading Choosing a Content Management System by Avatar.
Does there seem to be no end to the amount of junk emails flooding your email? More than 95 percent of all email on the Internet is unsolicited or Spam, but as fast as there are new ways of blocking it, new ways are being invented to get Spam emails through the filters and mail scrubbers.
Spam may be here to stay, but there are methods you can use to reduce the volume of unsolicited emails you receive.
Read up on some useful and easy Spam-busting tips from FreeParking in Can Spam Be Stopped?
While you're busy improving your website and prompting it online, why not take a break to check out the Wellington Bizzone Business Expo and get some other great business ideas?
Following the success of the Auckland expo in May, the Wellington expo is right around the corner, from July 22 - 24 at TSB Arena, Queen's Wharf.
Organised by Bizzone, the three-day expo for business owners attracts 3,200 attendees in Wellington and features leading international business brands through to local service providers. If you're in the area, make a day of it and check out the latest business products and services, get information to manage your business better, improve productivity, increase profitability, and network with thousands of other business owners.
The theme of the 2009 Bizzone Business Expos is Smart Marketing, and all attendees will go in the draw to win $100,000 worth of smart marketing tool, including a $4000 online advertising package from NZS.com.
So there you have it! Take advantage of the NZS.com Website Resources section and you'll be feeling web-savvy and in control in no time.
We're always interested in your opinion, so if you have anything you'd like to hear about in the newsletter, let us know.
Images from Flickr: duplicate.
