Here’s what we start out with ( keep in mind, these are tools for keyword building and research and don’t delve into issues such as keyword density, page flow etc., ). These are used primarily for Suggestions.

1. Adwords External Keyword Tool

This tool can be called the “big brother” of keyword drilling based on generic ideas.

It’s both a great tool for figuring out potential keyword combinations based both on ideas presented and semantic terms.

It also doubles up by showing search traffic for these terms according to Google. ( Even though I believe most of the data is skewed to an extent ).

OUR REVIEW SCORE

Usage - 3/5
Finding New Keywords - 4/5
Finding Search Traffic - 3/5

Total - 10/15

2. Keyword Discovery

CREDIT: PPC HERO

Keyword Discovery is yet another  service which tries to replicate the function of Wordtracker.

But, Keyword Discovery scores a separates itself from the rest when it comes to usability as well as finding regional search data.

If you’re trying to figure out the search data for regional terms or optimizing for google.co.uk or .com.au, this is one awesome tool.

OUR REVIEW SCORE

Usage - 4/5
Finding New Keywords - 3/5
Finding Search Traffic - 2/5

Total - 9/15

3. Wordtracker

I included Wordtracker in this list after much resistance, not because the tool is not perfectly a keyword research tool, but because its more of an antique tool.

Wordtracker hasn’t evolved one bit over the years and still sticks to its basic function of suggesting keywords based on a thesaurus type model and displaying the search data based on meta-crawlers like Dogpile.

The only thing I like with Wordtracker is its keyword basketing system ( almost like an ecommerce site checkout ) and its massive KEI functions.

OUR REVIEW SCORE

Usage - 2/5
Finding New Keywords - 3/5
Finding Search Traffic - 2/5

Total - 7/15

4. Google Suggest

Google Suggest is NOT EXACTLY a typical keyword research tool, its more of an attempt by Google to tweak their search quality.

But, this tool is awesome for finding our long keywords phrases!

I had to include this in the list for the amazing arrays of search phrases you can optimize your website with the help of this tool.

After all,  keyword search phrases are gold!

OUR REVIEW SCORE

Usage - 4/5
Finding New Keywords - 5/5
Finding Search Traffic - 0/5

Total - 9/15

5. Yahoo Search Assist

This feature is similar to Google Suggest. After all, Yahoo is the second largest search engine on the net.

OUR REVIEW SCORE

Usage - 4/5
Finding New Keywords - 3/5
Finding Search Traffic - 0/5
Total - 7/15

Although search results can never be guaranteed, I can promise you that these tools are some of the best you’ll find out there and the most important objective is these tools can help you create that foundation for a very successful search engine marketing strategy.

What are Directory Submissions?

Directory Submission is the process of submitting your website to web directories in order to acquire backward links. Web Directories are typically websites which allow you to submit links to them under relevant categories.

There are several different types of web directories:

1. Free Web Directories - Those directories which allow you to submit links to them for free are called free web directories. Often, there is a stringent approval method which is followed with these directories.

2. General Web Directories - Web Directories which accept General links are called General Web Directories. These directories allow you to submit any kind of links except for porn and explicit content.

3. Niche Directories - Directories which only accept links from a specific niche and/or genre are called Niche Web Directories.

4. Bidding Directories - Directories where you can bid on each permanent link position are called bidding directories.

5. Paid Web Directories - Web Directories which allow you to post links to them upon paying them a fee are called Paid Web Directories.

6. Reciprocal Link Directories - Directories which allow you to post links on them upon placing a reciprocal link from within your site are called reciprocal link directories.

Why submit to directories?

One of the major reasons why people submit to directories is in order to acquire backlinks.

Some other advantages:

1. You can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
2. You can get clean one way links to your website.
3. It enables you to acquire more relevant traffic to your site.

Click HERE To Take a look at our Online Marketing & Submissions Services to Learn More!

Learn More about What is Link Building? Why is it so important? Directory & Deep Link Submissions, Article Marketing, Blog Commenting, What are “Do Follow” & “No Follow” links? RSS Feeds, What is Social Bookmarking? “Do I need it?” What are PR Links? “Are they needed?” & Thematic Link Building.

Posted by Elsa Wenzel - Cnet News

Adobe released details Monday about Creative Suite 4, its first update to more than a dozen design and editing tools since Adobe CS3 some 17 months ago.

The costs of the applications, set to reach consumers in October, haven’t changed since CS3, but remain hefty. Should longtime users upgrade?…

Of course that depends on the specific tools you need. However, we suspect that only the most well-heeled will jump at the chance, as CS4 shares the majority of tools with its predecessor. Perhaps more dramatic, life-changing alterations will come with the next Creative Suite. That said, time-saving tweaks to Illustrator and Flash in particular could lure professionals immersed in them to upgrade.

With CS4, Adobe aimed to unify the interfaces of more than a dozen applications, including Flash and other former properties of Macromedia. You’ll see similar pull down menus for toggling among workspaces that you can customize, as well as Flash-based panels that nicely snap open and shut. Corporate design departments will find plenty of enhancements for their teams to share work more quickly.

Adobe continues to improve integration among the applications. After Effects, as only one example, can import Photoshop 3D layers and export content directly into Flash.

Options for working with high-definition video and mobile content expand too, with support for the latest formats as well as for making Adobe AIR applications. Among other highlights:

Photoshop CS4 will use your computer’s graphics chip for the first time, while offering support for 64-bit Windows.

At long last, you can handle more than one project at a time in Illustrator, thanks to the new multiple Artboards feature.

Flash CS4 has a rebuilt animation model, so you can make objects move on the stage in two quick steps. And Flash introduces a new, XML-based file format.

Dreamweaver provides plenty of shortcuts to CSS coding, including within the Properties panel.

We’ve been toying with the beta code of CS4 for several weeks. Check out our first take reviews and videos of the six suites and their individual applications for more details. We’ll report back with rated reviews after working with the final code.

Content Management System

One of the best tools in having a website is what is known as CMS, which stands for Content Management System (or some cases, Software). Content Management Systems allow websites more flexibility, features, automation and organization as well as take away a lot of the stress in updating websites manually.

There are many type of template based Content Management Systems on the web. One of the most powerful CMS we have used to develop websites…

is called Joomla. Joomla is known as an Open Source CMS which means the source code is accessible and able to easily modify. Joomla has many features, known as modules or mambots, that can be used when developing the website. Features such as video and photo galleries, shopping carts, polls, news articles, message forums, stats packages and so on.

E-commerce websites also use Content Management Systems to create inventory, track orders, create customer accounts, manage coupons, marketing & promotional materials and so on. There are also Open Source E-commerce Content Management Systems on the internet such as OsCommerce and ZenCart. Both are an “out of the box” solution to creating an online store.

BMD Media has also been developing our own in-house E-Commerce Solution that is fully custom and can also be sold as a turnkey E-Commerce Store. The latest website in development using this is RAHFurniture.com

Content Management Systems come in all different variations and can be used for virtually any type of website. For example, we developed a Custom CMS platform for an online school registration website which also includes an online store, course calendar, student registration and full administrative backend. Berklyn.com . CMS can be used for a number of other websites such as Real Estate to manage & show listings, roofing company to manage customer leads, car dealerships to manage inventory, online school to manage students and classes and so on…

So now the question “Do I need one for my website?“.

There really is no right or wrong answer, it really depends on the purpose of the website and how flexible, automated and organized you would like it to be, but to make your life a lot easier and your website more powerful, user friendly and easy to manage, we strongly recommend a Content Management System.

The new World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack coming out end of ‘08!

In the cold of the of the Northlands, the lion king Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth! With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plaque threatening to sweep across the land ,only the mightiest heros can oppose the Lich King’s will and end his reign of terror for all time!

:Features:

1. Master the necromantic power of the Dark Knight - World of Warcraft’s first hero class.

2. Quest to level 80, gaining potent new abilities and talents along the way..

3. Learn the craft  of spell  augmentation with the new inscription profession…….

4. Brave the harsh new continent of Northland, the icy domain of the Lich King.

5. Engage in epic siege warfare, depolying mighty siege engines to lay waste to destructible buildings in your path.

6. Transform your hero’s looks with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.

7. Explore perilous new dungeons filled with some of the deadliest creatures,and greatest treasures on Azeroth.

8. And Much, Much More! I’m excited!!

My husband works daily on it and I have always watched him and thought it was so interesting how everything worked and how just one program had all these super neat features, like …..

….all the different types of brushes there are and all the ways you can use them!

His parents are out of town and we’re house sitting for them and they are way into photoshop. They have Photoshop lesson books around, so I just decided to grab them and so far I have read up to 170 pages in 2 days!

It comes with a CD-rom “Classroom In a Book” that you install for each book.  Each Book has approx. 10 to 15 lessons in each book, and about 3 or more projects in each lesson. I am only on the first book..”Adobe Photoshop CS2″.

In the first lesson, it taught me how to have one student from a class picture stand out and the rest be darkened around him (lighting effects). I thought it was quite easy to learn that since it was my first project using Photoshop! I did it rather fast and I even impressed my husband and he learned something new! - haha!

I also think it’s very easy to follow the instructions in each lesson. It is very word to word intructions and even tells you to undo something if you mess up! That is one thing I find pretty neat because you can go back and redo something if you mess up on something.. rather than if you were drawing on a piece of paper and had to get a whole new sheet of paper!

In one of the other lessons it had me repair grafiti on a rock wall, that was also very easy to do!.. I was so proud of myself about getting that done because it looked like it wasn’t even there in the first place! In the same lesson -different project- it had me do a mans face and repair his wrinkles, that was also easy and very exciting to do!

I never thought that something like photoshop could be so fun and entertaining! I am glad that I now have some free time to learn something that catches my attention!

Hope you enjoyed my blog on “Learning Photoshop”.. and if you ever have the chance to learn it, I highly recommend it! It’s a lot of fun and you can even brag to your friends about what you did:P

Have Fun and Good Luck!

Photoshop Paint Brushes

So last night I was doing some browsing around the net for some Adobe Photoshop plugins and brushes and I came across some really awesome and artistic brushes and I couldn’t wait to try out! I have been using Adobe Photoshop for over 12 years now and I just can’t believe how simple it is to create masterpieces just by using simple elements like a brush….

Would you believe that image above was created by only clicking ONCE for each brush… all that I needed to do was change the colors and voila! There are literally thousands of Photoshop Brushes out there, most free to use!

Being that we do website design, these brushes are an every day tool in developing eye catching designs. Some people might think it’s “cheating”, but you have to be open-minded. There is literally NO limit to what the creative mind could come up with!

Now it’s time to play with some Filters! (Plugins)

This is the million dollar question we see quite often. A client’s website has just been completed and after a few months….. nothing. “Why isn’t my website making any money?”.

One of the things we HIGHLY stress to new clients, when developing clients, is that website design is only one piece of the puzzle. You could spend months and develop the most awesome looking website design you have ever seen on the internet, and no one will ever know… Why is that? One answer… Marketing!

Just like any business, the word needs to get out! Websites need a little bit of “virtual elbow grease” to get a little jump start. There are many types of ways to market an online website in today’s world.

• Search Engine Optimization
• Pay Per Click advertising (Google Adwords, Yahoo, etc..)
• Blogs
• Podcast
• Youtube
• Message Forums
• Chat Rooms
• Social Bookmarking
• Press Releases
• Webinars (video seminars)
• Online Radio
• Banner & Link Exchanges

Just to name a few! Then there are…

…the more conventional ways such as Print Media, TV Commercials, Radio Commercials, Billboards, etc…

So the next step after your website development is complete is the FUN part! Naturally, you can do a lot of your own online marketing and search engine optimization or the other option would obviously be to hire a company (such as BMD Media — gotta plug us somewhere!) to handle the marketing for you.

Either way, it is crucial to the success of a website! Happy Marketing!

Here in Phoenix, Arizona gas prices are $3.60 per gallon and from what I hear from the media, that’s the $0.16 cheaper than the National Average! So what is that doing for businesses? If it cost more to get to a store than it does to buy something from the store, will that hurt business? Of course!

Over the last year, I have seen an incredible amount of businesses having a new website design or an e-commerce web site to sell their products, and why shouldn’t they? The benefits of having an online store built over a “brick and mortar” are huge! Less in-house inventory, no utilities bill, not worrying about spending $100 a week in gas to drive to work, less overhead cost, the list goes on…

But the biggest benefit to having a company website designed or an online shopping cart / store is that there really is no hours of operation… the internet is open 24/7/365 (366 this year haha)

Even here in Phoenix, you go online to Safeway.com and do your grocery shopping online and have it delivered! How cool is that?

In my opinion, I think that the more and more cost of living goes up (gas, food, utilities, mortgage, etc..), the more people (and companies) are going to turn to the internet to live. That’s just my thought…