If you want to know how to make a wiki website, you’re in luck. Making a wiki website is a great way to compile information about a specific topic. Wikipedia, the website who made “wiki” a h0usehold name, uses the wikimedia software, which is available at no charge to Yakima websites hosting customers.
Installing the Media Wiki Software
The hosting Interface makes it very easy to install the wiki software. PMWiki, TWiki and MediaWiki are all available at no extra charge, for Linux hosting plans. Media Wiki is also available for Windows hosting plans. To install, simply:
launch your control center from your hosting account
select “my applications”
on the left sidebar, click “wikis”
click “see all in this category” to compare programs, OR
click the name of the wiki program you’d like to install
Once you’ve chosen which free wiki software you’d like to use, the hosting center will prompt you to choose a directory, to designate database information and to select a username and password.
The system will take a few minutes to create the database. I generally wait about five minutes before returning to my site to check the installation.
Log in using the username and password created during the installation process and begin customizing your wiki.
Yakima Networking is the best computer store in Yakima. And that’s not just me talking, they have been voted “Best in the Valley” for several years now. Be sure to check out their website for free computer advice for personal computers and business computers.
Here are their latest advice column article, they’re very helpful
Backing up your home network
It’s important to have a backup system for your home network, to protect you from damage of theft, disaster, virus attack or computer failure. Home backup solutions provide users with peace of mind, much like data insurance.
Hook your Computer up to your TV
HDMI, or High Definition Multimedia Interface, is one example of how a single cord can change your life. Think I’m exaggerating? Think again.
Managing Staff with POS Software
If you’re using an old fashioned time clock to manage your labor expenses and a cash register to track your sales, you’re losing money. Period. This method may have worked in the past, but these days, a POS system for your business is designed to handle so many different sets of numbers and replace so many old-fashioned activities, you may be surprised what a point of sale system can do for you
Parental Controls for the iPod Touch
If your kids are using any of Apple’s personal devices, like the iPhone, the iPod Touch or the iPad, take a look at the parental controls. You might notice that they suck. Users are given the option of creating a 4 digit passcode and then either enabling or disabling the Safari Browser, or other apps. What if you want to allow them to use the Internet, you just don’t want them accessing adult websites or explicit videos on Youtube?
Who is Phishing for your passwords?
More importantly, what is phishing? There are a few ways internet scammers can steal your passwords, and that’s what phishing is all about. Just like real fishing, all they need is the right trick bait for the right kind of sucker fish.
Whether it’s a classroom website, an educational blog, a tutoring service, a homeschool support group, a family learning blog, a daycare center or an other educational resource, there are several beautiful education themes for wordpress users.
This theme is simple and clean with a background reminiscent of an old-fashioned blackboard. A stack of books breaks up the design lines at the top, drawing attention to the header image area, which would be a great place for your portrait. It has several distinctive content areas, which are separated nicely. It’s designed for interaction, with comments featured prominently at the top of the page. The center column is designed to have recent posts listed, but it seems a bit repetitive if you’re using your post page as the front page of the blog. The content would be duplicated right beneath it. If that’s part of your SEO strategy, then go for it. But for most purposes, it would be repetitive.
This theme has a stack of books and reading glasses displayed on a background of weathered wood. It reminds me of hiding in the barn as a child to read a book and escape chores. The barn boards contrast nicely with the night sky and silhouetted tree with dream-like lights and shadows coming through. Imagine- falling asleep with your book and waking up to this crazy scene. The theme itself would make a great writing prompt. Like the “In the Classroom” theme, this one has a “recent posts” widget located front and center, which you may want to swap out with something less repetitive, at least on the main posts page.
Wordpress theme for education
Wp Woodblog
The Wp Woodblog theme is brght and cheerful- lined school paper looks like it’s torn from a top-bound spiral pad and laid on a wooden desk. A school style ruler is strewn diagonally across the “desktop” and yellow sticky notes show off page names. Bits of green ivy peek out from behind the header. One right sidebar is included and is widgetized.
Download the Wp Woodblog theme
This theme is clean, white and pretty. The computer on one side and the stack of books on the other side makes it great for homeschooling, or other technology-based educational situations. The lemons, tea and music notes with the books definitely imply home education or self-study. The theme has 2 columns and Feedburner subscription options are integrated into the admin panel Download Online Learning Theme
Yakima SEO experts for search engine optimized web content and design. Get natural incoming targeted traffic to your website simply by using the right words in your text.
What is SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a method of integrating features that make it easy for search engines to understand what your site is about. By placing relevant keywords, balancing terms that are frequently searched with more infrequent terms and constructing a site that uses language your customers use- you can attract more traffic from search engines, instead of paying to advertise online.
Browser plugins and applications that block advertisements are becoming increasingly prevalent, and without an optimized website, your customers might not even be able to find your website.
The trouble with All-Flash websites
Adobe flash websites are impressive to look at, but don’t often communicate well with search engines. Designers who wish to use flash these days, will create a flash-y landing page, or header bar instead of constructing an entire site from flash.
Content Management Systems
Content management systems like Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress work with the php coding language and css stylesheets to create pages that are read quickly, consistent throughout the site and utilize shared elements, for faster loading. Search engines “like” content management systems. As much as an algorithm can like a site. In fact, a popular article on the subject is called “Why Google Loves Wordpress” and explores the metaphor in a way that makes all that complicated code sound like, well, a love story.
Finding SEO help in Yakima
An independent group of writers in Yakima have been working online since 2007, providing Search Engine Optimized web content for several different websites. Their expertise ranges from home & family to business management, social networking, health & nutrition, education, psychology, home decor, nonprofit management, advertising and beyond. To reach their call center, dial (509) 731-3770 for an estimate. Generally, every 400-500 word article runs around $30, depending upon how much research is expected of the writer.
According to one of Yakima’s SEO writers, the best self-check for optimization is to “Think like your customers.” If your website is for a shoe store in Yakima, your readers will likely use phrases like “Yakima shoe store” or “shoe stores in Yakima” or “Yakima kids shoes” or even “where to buy cute rain boots in Yakima” but very rarely will they use terms like “Sole Mama’s Tootsie Toasters” unless that’s the name of your business and they’re specifically looking for you.
Social Networking
Often confused with SEO, Social networking is an entirely different skill. The two complement one another, but are different. A SEO specialist makes sure that the categories, tags, image captions, alt text and meta tags are formatted in a way that each of the 4 major search engines can categorize your site effectively.
Social Networking Specialist
A Social networking specialist operates your company’s Facebook page, Twitter account, MySpace, LinkedIn and or other social networks that may be specific to your industry. Think of a Social Networking Consultant as a Digital Customer Service Agent.
Social Media
If your business website is using video content, if your SEO campaign involves having a blog on your website, if you’re wondering which of the several social networks your company should maintain a presence on; then you may need a social media consultant. Hiring one now can reduce your wasted efforts and help you create solid goals for your web activities.
A Virtual Dedicated Server offers affordable flexibility for site owners who need full control of their server space at a price that won’t break the bank. Get custom results by building your own server or choose a pre-configured Windows® or Linux® plan, each featuring Plesk® control panels, optional managed backup and more. There’s never any need to buy additional hardware — our virtual server technology makes it easy to grow your server size as Web traffic increases.
A Dedicated Server is perfect for eCommerce, multimedia, gaming and other sites that need advanced performance, reliability and control. Choose from pre-designed Windows 2008 and Linux plans featuring multi-core processors, enhanced options like managed backups and much more – or build your own server for customized results.
NEW features now available for your server: Choice of Windows 2008 Standard Edition 64-bit or Ubuntu OS, and an 8GB RAM option. Add them to your server today!
Admin access: Install and run virtually anything on the server.
Manage multiple Web sites: Host multiple Web sites on one server account.
Versatility: A dedicated server/virtual dedicated server can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including gaming, virtual (i.e., shared) hosting, and hosting of traffic-intensive Web sites.
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If the source of the technical problem you are experiencing lies within systems or technology under our exclusive management, no charge will apply.
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You’d be surprised how much you can learn about your website visitors just by taking a peek at your site’s analytics. unless you know how to use that information, though, it can look like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.
Site Analytics helps you gather, manipulate and report the make-or-break data crucial to your site’s success. Eliminate costly errors that might otherwise go undiscovered. Focus your offerings and target new customers with a laser-like certainty.
You can download your site analytics reports to a .pdf file or to a spreadsheet.
Site Analytics generates reports based on the analysis of log files, real-time data, or both. Each day at a regularly scheduled interval, Site Analytics reads the log file generated by the Web server hosting your site and makes appropriate updates. Real-time data is available, too, if you opt to install the JavaScript code to each of your pages.
Site Analytics is the right tool at just the right time! Here’s just some of what you get:
Get separate statistic reports for each Alias and Subdomain assigned to your primary domain—simply add them as separate Site Analytics accounts. Real Time Stats means you’ll stay in-the-know with stats that update every 30 minutes. Conversion Tracking helps you determine if your online marketing efforts are giving you the proper return on investment. Site Summary Information assembles your most critical Web statistics in one place for quick review. Export the data you capture to Microsoft Excel® Get fast, easy access to your raw log files – and manipulate data for revealing results. Choose from three graphing options: Bar, Area, and Line for at-a-glance conclusions. Visit-path reporting tells you how customers navigate through your site. Custom date ranges gives you down-to-the-minute answers. And much, much more!
In addition, Site Analytics lets you access these log files yourself to conduct further analysis.
Conversion Detail Report
Conversion Summary Report
Calendar Summary
Country Report
Daily Visitors Report
Key Phrases Report
Regional Report
Server Errors Report
Export Data to Microsoft Excel
Easy Access to Raw Log Files
Three Graphing Options
Custom Date Ranges
Visitor’s paths Through Site
Entry Pages
Exit Pages
# of Sessions
File bandwidth Report
Bandwidth Used
Daily Page Views
Hourly Page Views
File Type Report
Referring Domains Report
Server Hits Report
General Summary
# of Page Views
Most Active Visitors
Referring URL’s
Referring Search Engines
Keyword Report
Browser Report
Operating System Report
Pages/Files Requested
NOTE: Site Analytics works exclusively with Yakima Websites Shared Hosting, Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated Hosting, and WebSite Tonight®, as well as with Web sites hosted by third party hosting companies
Discover an easier way to view, share and manage your photos online! Photo Album gives you an online photo album site for sharing photos, as well as easy-to-use editing tools to make sure your photos look their very best.
HOT TIP- You can add your gallery to the rest of your site, using subdomains, so that on one domain you can have a blog, a photo gallery and whatever else you want.
Best of all, Photo Album provides login-free photo sharing at your personal domain name*, so your friends and family don’t have to hassle with signing up or logging in just to view your pictures. It’s the perfect solution for viewing, sharing and storing all your favorite images!
• Login-free photo sharing at your personal domain name
• Quick, easy online photo uploading
• Organize photos, add captions & make galleries to share
• Keep your photos organized and safe with public, private
& password-protected galleries
• Online editing tools let you crop, adjust, rotate, remove
red-eye & more
• Customize your galleries with 100+ themes
• 2.5 GB storage / 150 GB Bandwidth
Sharing your favorite photos should be fun and easy - so why post your pictures on a site that asks your friends and family to sign up for their service or log in to their site in order to see your pictures? Photo Album provides top-quality photo sharing and storage features, without the hassles and annoyances you’ll find on other sites. Photo Album includes:
Login-free photo sharing.
Simple, effective photo editing features, including the ability to return images to their original state
Display your photos on other Web sites! Create a custom photo badge with your choice of layout, color and more and use the HTML code we provide you to show your photos on other Web sites.
Mobile-friendly galleries
Secure Links to Photos/Images available.
Photo Montage Creator. Turn your favorite photos into an entertaining multimedia slideshow , Choose fun transitions and even add music!
Sure- your website will have an “About us” page and a page about “Our services” but here are a few more ideas for your business website:
A Blog
And you don’t have to post funny pictures of your cat or your vacation pictures. You can publish short little articles that answer your customer’s questions, promote other local businesses you can vouch for, share your experiences or wisdom or anything else you want. Websites that are updated regularly often rise to the top of search engines results
Recommendations
If you’re in the business of auto body repair, consider having a page on your site where you recommend a tire shop, a muffler shop and other associated, but not competitive websites. This is a good way to build up web karma with other businesses. Send them a note to let them know you’re recommending their services and they just might do the same.
History of the company
Did you start your business from scratch? Did you buy an existing company? Some customers will love knowing the history of your company and keeping it online is a great way to instill loyalty and let them know you plan to stick around for a long time.
Employee Profiles
It helps your customers know who they’ve dealt with when they visit your shop. When your staff knows their names and faces are on your website, they know that when they deal with your customers, their own name is on the line. A rotating “employee of the month” or similar page can help your clients know your staff, and can also inspire your staff to promote your business. “Look ma, I’m on the internet.”
“Follow me” page.
If your company has a Facebook Fan Page, a MySpace Account or a Twitter Account, be sure to provide the links to those pages on your website.
Company News
In lieu of or in addition to a blog, a page that houses your press releases or news reports is a good way to provide regular updated content and keep visitors abreast of your latest achievements. You can also use this page to stream your television and radio commercials.
Terry Finch, In an article entitled “Creating a Successful Website for a Dance Studio” advises dance studio owners about different features their site should have. He states that the studio’s website should introduce potential clients to the business’s primary personalities, including the owner and their staff. He goes on to state that the website can be used to communicate with members, whether that simply means listing contact info and office hours, having a parents-only area, or a newsletter.
Here are some other features that may be helpful on a dance studio’s website;
-A photo gallery where parents can upload and share pictures from the latest recital or an impromptu visit to rehearsal. If you use a commercial site for the uploading, you can sometimes make money when parents order prints of the pictures.
- links to the school’s FaceBook page. The FaceBook developers apps make it easy to integrate Facebook’s user profiles and create discussion boards that parents can easily use without leaving FaceBook. The event calendar can be used to help remind parents of other events, special practices, emergency school closures, upcoming fundraiser, tuition due dates and uniform fittings, things like that. Later, you can use FaceBook to advertise your school to other parents in the community.
- Video greetings or mini lessons. Keep a video camera in the corner of your studio so teachers can create small videos to share on you tube. This will increase your web presence and allow more people to follow your site. Embed the videos into your site, so people can “follow you.” (No students’ faces in the videos- this raises security questions)
- Online payment center where parents can log in and pay with credit card. Often this results in direct bank transfers, easy-to-access account records and reduces the amount of cash in your establishment or in transit.
- Press releases. Whenever one of your students is in a school play, a local commercial, wins an award, or anything else notable (and public) link over to the school website or post a note of congratulations. Also- publish your parent appreciation lunch, your dance troupe’s visit to Orlando, your 10th anniversary and your contribution to the children’s hospital.
- Webcam (again, not so close as to get children’s faces)
- Place where students can purchase Tshirts with your school’s logo. If you upload your graphics to Cafe Press or Zazzle, your site’s visitors can order your Tshirt, tote bag, duffel bag, backpack, mouse pad, poster, or whatever else you can imagine. You get a small commission for the sale, but each customer becomes a walking advertisement.
Here are some of Yakima’s Dance Studio websites.
Notice that when you google “Yakima dance studio” the one that comes up first is Melody Lane Performing Arts Academy. This means that their site has the best search engine optimization (SEO) for that keyword. Basically, you want to be sure that the words a potential customer would use are the words you’ll want to include in your website.
The second google listing (and this changes as more sites use the phrase) is for Party Pop. That entire website is garbage. All it does is list minimal, incomplete, often outdated information about certain types of businesses in an area. This site makes money when your dance studio’s website sucks, just because it comes up higher in the search. Dance schools in Yakima need to increase their SEO to get party Pop lower in the ranks. By all means, do not PAY to advertise on Party Pop when you could be optimizing your own website to rank higher for keywords.
Kent School of Dance ranks 5th for the same Google Search. As long as you’re on the first page, you’re fine. Broadway Bound of Selah is also on the first page (but don’t click it- the auto-play music is annoying. In general, that’s considered bad netiquette, unless your website is for a band, or published on MySpace. Studio West is the last to show up on the 1st page SERP (Search Engine Results Page) I’m going to laugh if this very article ends up on the first page, just because the “competition” isn’t using this technique.
If we change our search term to “dance schools in Yakima” the results are a little different, we see the addition of a lot more SPAM (useless “listings” websites, like topix and magic yellow pages)
Google’s map search comes up first on both, though, which is a good thing. BUT- every now and then, spammers will CHANGE the link on the map to go to their own website. The only way around that is to click “claim your business” on the google map. This gives you the only access to changing things like the hours, the website, the address, etc.
So far, CoMotion, 11th Ave Ballet School, Dance with Sara and Dance with Mary might as well not even HAVE websites because not only are they invisible in a google search (many people don’t look past the first page of results) but their Google map listing leads nowhere.
If you’re with any of these schools, consider purchasing your domain and hosting right here at Yakima Websites.com and check out our previous article about Web Developers and Designers in Yakima.
Looking for a Web Designer in Yakima? If you’re looking for a company in Yakima to build your website, there are plenty of reputable Yakima web designers to choose from.
In Command Web Design
The process at In Command begins with gathering information about your company, then analyzing your web design needs. Will you be selling products online, are you in a very competitive market, are there other factors about your business, industry or market that need to be considered? Their portfolio is impressive, with an analysis of their client’s old website followed by the steps they took to solve the problem. They also work with clients after the web launch to ensure that the site’s marketing and maintenance are taken care of.
Volume down when you visit Daniel’s website, his artsy-edgy page has an auto-play feature that showcases his amazing graphic design skills. Whether or not you choose Daniel for web design or for graphics (he does both) you’ll be impressed with the simple, clean layout of his websites. Here are a few from his portfolio:
Invisible Ink has an impressive portfolio, and seems to work well with both large and small companies. Chris Duren of Invisible Ink strives to help brick-and-mortar businesses use new media technology in their marketing, with beautiful, high-tech websites that are easy to navigate.
I have to mention Davanti Studiosand 3rd Studio. I’m not sure if they’re still in business, these two companies have been in Yakima for many years. Their websites are showing news from 2009 and 2007, as if it’s the latest. It’s not a good sign when a web designer has an out-of-date website. However, maybe they’re just busy working for clients, who knows? I do know that the $16.95 a month hosting plan on Davanti’s site is a lot more expensive than the $3.99 a month that we charge here at Yakima Websites. I’m just saying…
