Many web sites, even those owned by people we all think of as gurus in the Internet marketing business, have large blocks of JavaScript code at the top of their web pages, sometimes running to dozens of lines of code.
[2003-06-30] Making Your Site Accessible Creates High Rankings
A site review by Tiffany K. Edmonds of Dynamite-IT. My recommendations for improving Inf-inet.com - in a nutshell would be: 1. Address the accessibility issues on the site. It will also help search engine rankings to do so.
[2003-06-30] Can You Have Too Much Content On Your Site?
This is a peer review of Inf-inet.com by Mary, of Contractechies.com. I do believe this site has too much content. It makes for a messy web site. Simple is better and makes for easier navigation.
[2003-06-30] Check Your Site For Visual Balance
This is a peer review of Inf-inet.com by Rob Wiley of www.nadmedia.net. Before diving right in, lets break this down into three steps. The first thing I do when visiting a site is look at the site's index page at a glance. That involves taking the approach of squinting your eyes and only viewing shapes, checking the page for balance.
[2003-06-30] Keep Your Style Consistent
This is a peer review of Inf-inet.com by Valeria Vernon of www.vernondata.it. Well if you are interested in hearing the opinion of a former travel agent turned teacher turned translator and turned web developper and who is turning 61 next month, here I am.
[2003-06-30] Complete Your Description Tags!
This is a peer review of Inf-inet.com by Jane Sadowy of swaphandmedowns.com. I like the blue color on home page. The text is great and readable. The site map is great and the side bar is easy to navigate.
[2003-06-27] Great Homepages Really “Suck”
Where would we be today without vacuums? Think about it: The vacuum is a brilliant invention. It sucks up your household dirt and puts it exactly where you want it to go - off your floor and into that little bag. A successful homepage acts exactly like a "digital vacuum" - it sucks users in, away from the homepage, and straight to important content within the rest of the site.
[2003-06-27] How to animate a banner using Adobe ImageReady
This article covers step by step guide to animate a banner which has been created in Adobe Photoshop.
[2003-06-26] Help Installing Flash Player
Question: I am having trouble reinstalling the Flash player. I do not know how my Flash player got removed from my computer, but no matter what I do it will not install. There are some sites that I go that tell me I need to install a Flash player and it says to click here to install. Well, I click to install the player but nothing happens. I go back to the site that told me I needed to install a player and it tells me the same thing again. My computer is a year old and it has Windows XP on it. Any help you can give me will be appreciated. Thanks!!!!! - Lisa
[2003-06-25] Let Your Website Do Your Talking: How To Convert Your Voice To RealAudio On The Fly!
Have you ever wondered what it would take to quickly get your own voice file onto your website?
[2003-06-24] Deep Linking to Highlight Your Hidden Assets
Valuable content within your Web site - whether it is permanent or transitory - can be highlighted to your visitors through prominent linking to guide people directly to the deeper pages of your site.
[2003-06-24] Tips for an effective Website
A successful website is something that everyone venturing into the new arena of Internet marketing and communications wants to have. Your website will often be a potential client's first impression of you and your business. That being said, it is vitally important that your website represent you in a favorable manner.
[2003-06-23] How Web Designers Sell Themselves
Are you one of those Web designers who design quite well, but don't have time to work on your own site? Savvy Web surfers looking for designers expect a great deal from a site offering Web development/design.
[2003-06-23] Put Your Online Text To Work!
Do you struggle through a maze of Internet words, acronyms, and phrases, wondering if you'll ever learn enough to successfully operate your online business? Is your brain buzzing with thoughts of associate programs, e-commerce, conflicting statistics, just-in-time transactions, B2B, B2C, B2Whatever, and branding?
[2003-06-23] When it's Okay to Break Grammar & Design Rules
Will you break some of the sacred top ten Web Design Rules for Success if you create clumpy clusters of yellow text parked on an orange background, surrounded by bouncing hippos or cattle wearing shoes? It depends.
[2003-06-23] Does Your Site Tell The Truth?
Good copywriters are among the best paid people in the work force. Most webmasters are not in this group. Yet we need to sell. Should we emulate good copywriters? That is, should we do what they do to the best of our ability?
[2003-06-23] Ezines: Creating Potential Customers
If you are not publishing an ezine, start one yesterday. Here's why.
[2003-06-23] Fear Can Destroy Your Business
Fear is funny stuff. On the one hand, it keeps us from climbing too high in the tree. And from walking too close to the edge of the cliff. When fear cautions of such things, it pays to listen attentively.
[2003-06-23] Gateway Pages Versus Great Content
Gateway pages are called by many names. Bridge, doorway, entry, and portal pages, to name a few. Their purpose is to trick search engine spiders into believing the page is highly relevant for a given keyword, and thus warrants a high position on the list offered to the searcher. At best such pages suggest a lack of ethics. At worst, they will bite you badly in two ways.
[2003-06-23] Great Content And Fish
Most have become convinced the basic ingredient of a great site is practical and useful content that potential visitors are looking for. (Those not yet convinced, will not succeed until they embrace and implement this fundamental.)
[2003-06-23] Make Your Web Pages Easier to Read
Computer screens are hard on the eyes, and their limited size forces users to scroll. This makes reading online harder, slower and more uncomfortable than reading on print. Following are a few simple tips that you can follow to make the experience of reading online easier to your visitors:
[2003-06-23] Reorganizing Your Site May Help Your Rankings
Hi Mike, there are a few quick and easy changes you could make to your site that would make it more visually appealing and rank higher in the search engines.
[2003-06-23] Website Hosting 101 - Choosing The Right Website Hosting Provider
As a beginner trying to find the right web host for your website is often daunting. The jargon used by most web hosts often goes way over your head. In this article, I provide 4 lessons for anyone who wishes to learn the basics of finding a web host.
[2003-06-23] Three C's of Successful Internet Content
With the number of Web sites growing day by day, it is the content that makes any good site stand out from the pack. But what distinguishes the content from the chatter? Good content scores highly when measured against three vital criteria - the three C's....
[2003-06-20] SEO Corner: The Search Engine Marketing Cycle - Part 1
Reader Question: I am in the typical quandary of the Internet small business owner. I am trying to find a submission/optimization company that will do a good job for us at a reasonable price. We have found that the sales go up for about a three-month period when we take on a new service, then the sales level, then they fall. We are not opposed to paying a reasonable monthly fee, but we need a company who will actually be concerned about long-term results without us having to think about it and remind them.
[2003-06-19] Boomerang, Don't Ricochet your Web Site Visitors
You don't win your Web site visitors' trust right away. It may take from 4-7 visits before they buy. You must always give them a reason to buy, and not offend them in any way because they will ricochet to other sites. Here's some ways to get people to keep coming back to your site:
[2003-06-19] Organizing a Dual-Language Site
Question: I am an avid reader of Website Notes newsletter. We have a very heavily visited website of Pakistan's national daily. The design of the web site is very lifeless and disorganized (please have a look at http://www.jang.com.pk). The problem is that this page is gateway to two newspapers websites one out of them is in English while the other in Urdu (local) language. Could you give your suggestions (some URLs or your own comments) on how can we make this home page more attractive, user-friendly, comprehensive yet compact; and meaningful. We also need to have latest news update ticker in both languages (it's a demand) and a lot of stuff that's available on the website but is not presented on the home page. - Asif Lateef
[2003-06-19] The Importance of Links
Link: {(noun) - lin[ng]k} 1 : a connecting structure: 2 : something analogous to a link of chain: as a : a connecting element or factor
[2003-06-19] Metadata Is Essential Web Writing Skill
Metadata is one of the most misunderstood aspects of content management and website design. Editors and writers tend to look at it as a technical issue. Technical people look for a software solution. Both are wrong. Metadata is a fundamental skill that web writers and editors must acquire.
[2003-06-19] Design Your Home Page to Motivate Prospective Buyers
Step 1. Headline Start your home page with a compelling, benefit-oriented headline, followed by a subheadline.
[2003-06-18] Cookies, P3P, and IE6
Since the majority of web users now use IE6, you need to understand how Internet Explorer deals with cookies.
[2003-06-18] Plan Your Web Site for Profits
Most businesses fail to plan for online success. Knowing your purpose, audience, and uniqueness are the first steps to developing a successful web site. Follow these three steps to position your web site for Internet profits.
[2003-06-18] Converting visitors to customers
THE PURCHASE DECISION Whenever we make a purchase, there is a three stage mental process: want, need, and rationale. A website is unique because it can direct and focus a shopper on each of these stages. The website can be as effective as, and more efficient than, a full color brochure. And, the website has the added advantage of providing a shopping cart to respond to an impulse buy.
[2003-06-18] Getting Publicity Through the Newsgroups
NEWSGROUP ADVERTISING With everything one hears, after a while you start to think that news groups are just for posting porno pictures. Not true. news groups almost define the niche market. There are over 40,000 newsgroup categories on just about every subject you can imagine.
[2003-06-18] Do Your Pages Download Fast?
You can answer this question yourself. It is easy to do, and we will get to it. First, let's be clear about what fast means.
[2003-06-18] Tools For Site Design
Site design: layout Now that you know the four the elements of good site design, it's time to put the knowledge to work. The objective of the website will dictate the content which in turn imposes conditions on navigation. Navigation, in turn, imposes conditions on the pages themselves. This is counterintuitive. One would expect pages to set the direction of navigation.
[2003-06-18] The Definition Of A Good Site
Site design: defining a good site In the previous article we pointed out that web sites don't lend themselves to the clear distinctions of text, visual, or verbal medium like print, radio, television, and movies do. Sites tend to be a mix of all medium. That not withstanding, there are four universal elements to making a good website.
[2003-06-18] The Basic Elements Of Site Design
Site design: mechanics Books are a text medium and, in spite of its visual content, television is regarded as a verbal medium. Movies, on the other hand, are a visual medium. To test this, close your eyes while watching a television program and do the same while watching a movie at a theater. Compare the time intervals where there is no dialog. You'll find that with television, the dialog is nearly continous.
[2003-06-18] Your Guide To Successful Site Design
The Path to Online Success Online success begins and ends with the commitment that's made by the merchant. It's that simple. While the Internet is still in its infancy, the baby has stopped crawling and has begun to walk. Let's not go to the theoretical of how a web site can benefit you.
[2003-06-18] Does Search Engine Traffic Matter?
The short answer is, "Sure." And it likely always will. But the amount of free traffic search engines now deliver to many small online businesses doesn't amount to much. And what there is of it continues to decline in importance. Pay-for-submission models are rapidly eliminating free options.
[2003-06-18] Post Process Detection Helps You Avoid Fraud
Unfortunately the holiday shopping season brings with it an increase in the unauthorized and fraudulent use of credit cards to pay for on-line purchases. Fraudsters and hackers will to try and take advantage of you during this season in the hope that you will be too busy to notice a bad transaction.
[2003-06-18] Bulleted Lists: Capitalization and Punctuation
Before the introduction of word processing (via word processors and computers), most publications displayed lists in either outline form or numbered lists. Now we have bullets. This creates a new layer of confusion on how to use capitalization and punctuation in such lists. Following are some questions and answers to use as guidelines:
[2003-06-18] Failing as a Web Designer? Specialize!
Did you struggle to create your own business Web site, deciding along the way to become a Web designer? Or did you plan on becoming a Webmaster from Day One? Are things working out as you'd hoped? If not, read on.
[2003-06-17] Lacking Local Customers
My main problem is that I get few orders from within New Zealand. Most of my customers are from overseas, which is great, but why am I not reaching my local market? - Jean Books'n'Print
[2003-06-17] eCommerce Site Advice
Hi Jim, I know you are busy so I'll make this short. Would you if you have time, look at my web site and tell me what needs to be changed if anything. I have no one else to look at it that has your knowledge. The URL is http://www.theholistichorse.com. - Ruth Ann
[2003-06-17] Commas, Semi-colons, and colons
Here's what they look like: a colon is two dots - : a semi-colon is a dot on top of a comma - ; a comma is a little curly thing (for want of a better description!) - , The colon is often used to introduce a list, like so: point one; point two; point three.
[2003-06-17] Copywriting: A Great Place To Start
If you're new to website building or just getting started, one question may haunt you. With so many different things to be learned, where is the best place to start? I always suggest copywriting as a great way to begin. At this point, your eyebrows may be raised. But take a closer look.
[2003-06-17] The Crazy EBook Craze
The Web is awash in ebooks. Is this a passing thing? Or will interest sustain? Maybe even grow? My sense is that people will continue to be interested in ebooks, and that this interest will grow. However, I expect the demand for better quality content and presentation to increase substantially.
[2003-06-16] Boring Is Best
In sorting accumulated bookmarks recently, I found I could not recall why I had saved some of them. After clicking on a few, I was struck by the fact that so many sites looked so much alike. Boringly alike.
[2003-06-16] Content Really Is King
Here's a news flash for you: Content is king! You have heard this so often, you may tend to overlook the meaning of this simple statement.
[2003-06-13] Choosing Domains for Search Engine Placement
Dear Ross: What is your perspective on the search engine placement advantage conferred by a domain name that's identical to the main search phrase for a site?
[2003-06-13] Google Has Been a Mess - Take this Time to Prepare
I just wanted to ask you if you have had anyone complain recently about Google and their rankings? I normally rank #3 or #4 for the search term "custom glass". In the past few weeks I have dropped to page 4. The weird thing is that an unrelated hosting company appears on page 1 of the search results. They have nothing to do with custom glass. Also, I checked the link popularity of some of the sites that are ranking higher than me, and I have more links to me than they do. Do you know what is going on? It is really hurting my business.
[2003-06-13] Site Map and Meta Tag Questions
Hello Ross, Here are my questions: 1. What are the differences between a typical site map page and a crawler page? 2. Is there any wisdom in having the meta tag with key words only on the Home page of a twenty page site?
[2003-06-13] Splash Pages & What it Takes to Get Listed
Hello Ross: I recently opened my business on-line at
[2003-06-13] A Simple Web Search Engine
Every user expects a search engine on any Web site they visit. Unfortunately, search engines are extremely complex to develop. They require massive amounts of resources and time to implement. Today I'll show you how to use a MySQL (or any SQL database) to create your own basic search engine.
[2003-06-13] 5 web design tips you can't live without
The web design world is filled with excitement and experience, creativity and skill. Often, experienced web designers utilize a set of solid, proven techniques that others may not notice. Let's take a look at a few of these techniques and how you can implement them into your own site quickly and easily.
[2003-06-13] How to make non-text elements accessible - some notes
Making non-text elements, particularly images, accessible is fundamental to accessible web design; even if you attended to this issue alone, you would make a big impact on the accessibility of your site.
[2003-06-12] 5 Ways To Get Other Websites To Link To Yours
In-bound links from other web sites to yours provide two avenues to success for your site.
[2003-06-12] Speed up Your Web Site and Increase Sales
Your web site's loading speed has a significant impact on your visitors' loyalty. A slow web site will cost you sales. Most visitors won't wait more than10 seconds for your web pages to load. Apply these techniques to speed up your pages, keep potential buyers at your site, and increase sales.
[2003-06-12] Three Tips to Prevent User Frustration From Killing Your E-Business!
I've just spent a frustrating couple of days with an e-marketing "service" which shall remain nameless. The sad fact is that they've been down for well over 24 hours now. When they come back up, I'm likely to cancel my account. So I'm writing this article to warn *you*, the e-marketer, about what *you* need to be doing to keep this from happening to you. User frustration kills e-businesses! These tips apply to you whether you run your own servers, or buy some kind of service from a vendor.
[2003-06-11] How To REALLY Use Google
In a matter of a couple of short years, the Google.com search engine has become the world's favorite way to find what they're looking for online.
[2003-06-11] 9 Easy Ways to Skyrocket Your Online Sales
Apply these marketing strategies to skyrocket your online sales.
[2003-06-11] Increase Sales with Easy-To-Read Web Pages
Web pages with readable text will generate more sales than fancy pages that are hard to read. Follow these design tips. Not only will your web pages be easier to read, but you'll keep potential buyers at your site and position yourself to increase sales.
[2003-06-11] Every Busines Needs Its Own Slogan or Tag Line
Tell people in a short phrase or sentence what you want them to know or remember about the business. It should conjure up a strong mental image that will be forever linked with you in their memories.
[2003-06-10] Drive People to Your Site to Buy Your Products
Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying BRAVO! They will create a buzz about your great site, and send you many more visitors through word of mouth. These visitors are your personal marketing force.
[2003-06-09] SEO Corner - Attributes, Variables, and Search Engine Visibility
Question: Do search engines read information contained in JavaScript variables, the page head, and in the page body? Do search engines follow JavaScript links?
[2003-06-09] Web Design Mistakes - Text and Fonts
The main purpose people use the Internet is for research, according to most user surveys. While not specifying the kind of research being done, it is safe to assume that people are spending a lot of time online reading.
[2003-06-09] Create Cool Site Navigation in a Flash
So you were just at a website and were so impressed with their navigation bar you want something just as cool for your own site. No problem. If you know where to look you'll find plenty of generators that will allow you to easily pump out some very slick menus.
[2003-06-06] Search Engine Friendly PHP Pages
When writing scripts, it is extremely important to have to ability to transfer information from one script to another. A common method to do this is with the
GET convention. Search engine Web spiders, however, tend to ignore pages whose URL contains GET method parameters. If you're not sure what a GET method parameter is, here's an example of a URL with GET method parameters:
[2003-06-06] How To Pull More Profits From Your Website Even With Low Traffic
Sure, making money online with tons of traffic is easy. But what if you don't have much traffic? Is it still possible to make a good income online?
[2003-06-06] 80% of Your Web Site is Maintenance
Once your Web site is up, you must maintain it. Maintenance means changes, and each time you make a change, you may make a mistake. If your visitors get a link that doesn't work or incomplete instructions, or if your copy is lackluster instead of passionate, they will leave your site and not bookmark it.
[2003-06-04] New Generation Web Design Annoyances
Web is a constantly changing medium, so does web design. Designers like to experiment from time to time. Some of the results may be attractive, but do they really add to the overall value of a design, or are they there just to decrease usability? I believe the latter is true for the following five design decisions.
[2003-06-04] Do-It-Yourself Web Design for Home-Based Businesses
Home-based businesses need a strong web presence to combat the inflated advertising and marketing budgets of their larger competitors, but establishing that presence through a professionally designed and developed web site may not be an affordable option. In many cases, the only cost-effective way to get the web site you want for your business is to do it yourself.
[2003-06-04] Improve Your Web Site Design with a Fancy Font
Have you ever tried to design your web site with a beautifully selected font, only to realize that most folks don't have it installed on their computer?
[2003-06-04] Four Tips On Choosing Your List Management Software
Hi Michael: I am just getting started on creating my e-newsletter. Do I need a program to help manage and maintain my subscribers? And if so what programs would you suggest? I have seen some such as Broadcast and Constant Contact. But I have no idea how to choose the right one or if I even need one. Help? Cathy Holden
[2003-06-03] Keep Your Website Up-To-Date
In almost every business publication there are articles telling us how, as a small business, we need to have a website. This is very true! The Internet is where most people go to find a product or service that they are interested in or may have heard about. And, if your business is capable of serving customers throughout the globe, what better way to keep your information available to that huge target audience than an Internet presence?
[2003-06-02] Are You Losing The Search Engine Game?
Many wannabe and newbie webmasters tend to view search engines as their salvation. While certainly important, they can not generate the traffic some hope for. Other marketing methods must be employed as well.
[2003-06-02] Art Comes Much Later
One does not hire an architect to design a building until the function of the structure is clearly defined. First one needs to know what will go into it and what is to be accomplished within it. A restaurant business does not have the same needs as those of a machine shop.
[2003-06-02] Beg For Questions; It Works!
On the Services page on my site I ask, "Want a second opinion?" I offer to give one for free regarding a proposed change in your site. Several of my friends issued dire warnings about this offer. They were wrong. It works very, very well.
