Articles and fun links you may have missed this week

30 Most Popular CSS Web site designs of 2011
How Google polices its search rankings
Testing your PHP Codebase with EnhancePHP
How Anonymous tricked the public into attacking websites
Internet Freak-out Over Google's New Privacy Policy Proves Again That No One Actually Reads Privacy Policies
Why Pinterest has gaming potential
Embracing The Open Web: The Technologies You Need To Know
Google Thinks I’m a Middle-Aged Man. What About You?
30 jQuery Tooltip Plugins to Improve User Experience
iPad2 simulator /w Css3, Jquery and HTML5
7 mistakes developers make
30 Inspiring Sites with Illustrated Backgrounds
Adobe Edge Tutorials to Design Animated Web Content [Fullest Compilation]
Codecademy Launches Peer-to-Peer Coding Lessons
Photoshop CS6 Turns to The Dark Side [VIDEO]

Ten articles worth reading that you may have missed this week

10 super useful PHP snippets you probably haven’t seen
10 Better Ideas Than Looking at a Top 10 List For Advice
Refresh your templates with HTML5 Reset
How To Build A “Navy Seal 6 Team” Of Search Marketers
Apple: We want to reinvent the textbook
E-retailers’ Facebook pages produce few holiday sales
A better SOPA: Create Silicon Valley jobs in Hollywood, give Washington the boot
Apple's mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement
Google’s Crawl Rate Slowed for SOPA; Bing Sped Up [VIDEO]
Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips

Top Web Site Design Links of the Week

Design Trend: Circles

The Developers' Wish List for HTML5 In 2012

An Introduction To The CSS3 Multiple Column Layout Module

Follow this link to read the full article: An Introduction To The CSS3 Multiple Column Layout Module

A Forward-Thinking Search Engine Optimization Company

In selecting a search engine optimization company, look for one that offers a glimpse or even bigger picture of what the future of search engine optimization services looks like. While the actual marketing practice is named after search engines, the fact is that the SEO tool is outgrowing that space and now moving into other areas, including social networking sites. A search engine optimization company must now provide more than just a web site optimization service; they need to take what has become a commodity service and go to the next level.

Today’s successful search engine optimization company offers more than just affordable search engine optimization. They help businesses create an SEO strategy that is creative and targets the right audiences through the most effective medium to maximize the value of a website. Search engine optimization companies now become innovators in terms of developing more sophisticated online marketing tactics that cross all channels and media as well as deliver the analytics that prove they are the best search engine optimization company.

How to Write Effective Email Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns should be short and sweet. Research has shown that you need to grab the attention of the end user quickly with your marketing piece and you want to do that with minimal text, an attractive layout that is pleasing to the eye, pleasing graphics, and strong calls to action. Your verbiage communicating your message should be engaging and make them feel like you are discussing it to them directly as if you were in the room with them. Your call to action should be repeated several times with different font types and color schemes. A call to action can be directed to an email address, a website, a phone number, an exclusive offer like saying the first 50 orders will receive 25% off.

If the user wants additional information that is where the link to your web site from your marketing piece comes in. Once they click on your email then your landing page can provide them with additional information for them to read if they choose to do so.

You want to make your offer exclusive with a strong call to action so the user is compelled to act right then and there. The strength of the offer you make will influence the overall success of your marketing campaign.

8 Simple Web Design Tips

1. Keep Your Design Simple
2. Minimize Scrolling be Scroll-Conservative
3. Use a Good Linking Scheme and don't forget to Create a Mobile Site
4. Keep Featured Products Above the Fold 
5. Keep It Current and Fresh 
6. Your Homepage Should be a Reflection of You 
7. Allow Surfers Who want to Link to You to Also be Able to Link to a THumbnail of Your Homepage 
8. Be Creative with your Design abd Have Fun with it

Limitations of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is generally seen as a way for a site or business to generate more traffic (and importantly, targeted traffic) to a site, but it is not without limitations. When one begins utilizing SEM services, target keywords (for search engines) must be chosen. If those words are not chosen properly or if they are even slightly (even unintentionally) misleading, a consumer will not stay long on the site they were redirected to and more importantly, will most likely not do business there.

A search engine marketing consultant or search engine marketing specialist should be able to help a site generate the proper keywords, but there is a very diverse audience using the internet for ecommerce activities and their searches and search results could be the result of many different kinds of inquiries. The best a site or business can do is stay true to the set out target service or statement to reach those seeking their services.

SEM Benefits

SEM offers a number of benefits for small and medium companies looking to get attention on the World Wide Web to reach millions, if not billions, of potential customers that now primarily do their shopping online. SEM allows businesses to advertising locally and across a wider audience within the confines of a relatively small budget. SEM offers speed, flexibility and control, which traditional marketing never provided. Ad messages and keywords can be changed in minutes if the ecommerce marketing program does not seem to be working. SEM also allows a business to only target customers that would be interested in the services or products they have to offer, rather than hoping that you somehow reach those intended targets among the millions of people who are not interested.

The budget for SEM is flexible and usually only involves paying when there is an actual interest or connection with your PPC search engine Internet marketing efforts. Another benefit is that your budget can scale up as you grow or down as you need to conserve resources.

Beginning Search Engine Marketing

If the decision has been made to market a site using search engine marketing, one can begin search engine marketing via multiple methods. A site must be focused and geared towards a specific target audience and market in order to specifically meet unique needs (to stand out amongst the infinite amount of existing websites and hundreds that potentially offer similar services).

Keywords to used to utilize SEM services must be chosen wisely and offer the best reflection of a site’s services. Site content is also important as an SEM company or search engine marketing may be able to drive traffic to your site, the overall goal is for a consumer to stay on your site and conduct business and use your services. Proper, well-delivered and well-targeted content will ensure consumers stay after being directed to your page.

The World of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is one of many types of Internet marketing that is being used today in place of traditional marketing efforts. It focuses on increasing website visibility on the search engine result pages when users enter specific keywords. There are a number of ecommerce marketing tactics that fall under the major heading of search engine marketing, including search engine optimization, paid placement, paid inclusion, and contextual advertising. Essentially, search engine marketing services involve the purchase of paid search listings that improve the ranking of a company within a search engine. Because of the complexity of search engine marketing, most companies look to a search engine marketing consultant or a search engine marketing firm to assist them with the creation of an effective ecommerce marketing program.

A search engine marketing job has also evolved to include many aspects of SEM, including the development of PPC search engine Internet marketing programs and related tactics that are designed to increase awareness on the Internet about different companies with a Web presence.