Webmaster Tutorials - Seo - PHP - mysql

Firefox 1.5 free Web browser

2006-09-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Copyright © 2005–2006 Mozilla Corporation
The award-winning, free Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.
Better Web Experience
Firefox 1.5 has an intuitive interface and blocks viruses, spyware, and popup ads. It delivers Web pages faster than ever. And it’s easy to install and import your favorites. Packed with useful features like tabbed browsing, Live Bookmarks, and an integrated Search bar, Firefox will change the way you experience the Web, for the better.

SEO Services - Why You Need a Search Engine Optimization Maintenance Service Plan

2006-09-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

© Herman Drost

A search engine optimization maintenance service plan will ensure that your site will continue to increase in its rankings, attract more visitors and make more sales. It's
not enough to simply design your web site, have it optimized for the search engines and expect it to continually rank well. If left alone, you may soon lose the business your web site initially generated.

What should be included in a SEO maintenance service plan?
READ MORE..

1. Monitor search engine rankings - there will be many fluctuations in your search engine rankings. This may be
due to search engines changing their ranking formulas, or competitors trying to get ahead of you. More sites are
added to the web each day so you need to monitor your search engine rankings to be competitive. I create monthly
ranking reports on where your site is currently ranked for each of the major search engines.

2. Traffic Tracking - it's essential to know where most of your traffic is coming from so you can make adjustments to
your marketing strategies. For example if most of your traffic is coming from one particular page, you may want to
place your best products on that page to get more sales. analyze your site statistics (if they are available form
your web host) to check how much traffic you are receiving, where is it coming from and what keywords are being used to
find your site.

3. Keyword research - web sites are being added to the web every day, therefore keywords that once got high rankings
may no longer work. You may have high search engine positions for your most important keyword phrases but if
you are not receiving any traffic from those phrases, you will need to evaluate the keywords that you have used.
Attaining a #1 ranking for keywords that no one will search for, will not increase your traffic.

Researching new keywords is essential to maintain good rankings. I analyze the current keywords used on your site
and research and add new ones. Once the keywords have been chosen, the content should be updated to reflect them. This
may include subtle changes to the meta tags, page titles and text headings; or it could involve adding additional
sections to the site, rewriting content and reorganizing the web site's structure. It all depends on the specific
requirements of the site and market.

4. Competitive analysis - an integral part of search engine optimization is determining what keywords your competitors
are using. I analyze where your competitors are currently ranked for the same keywords you are using for your web
pages. I also check how many competitors you have for each of the major search engines. If there are too many
competitors for a particular keyword it may be better to use less competitive keywords for your web pages or use
them in conjunction with the most popular ones.

I will also analyze the link popularity of your competitors to determine how many incoming links they have and what the
quality of those links are. You should not link to unrelated sites and ideally link to sites that already
attract a lot of traffic.

5. Add fresh content - web sites that continuously update and/or expand their content, usually experience
higher rankings than stagnant web sites. New keywords should first be researched before adding new content. This
will help boost your traffic and rankings because visitors will have more ways to land on your site based on the
keywords they entered in the search engines. One great way to achieve this is to add new articles to your site on a
regular basis.

6. Web copy analysis - getting a lot of traffic to your site does not guarantee sales. It primarily depends on how
effective your web copy is. Read my article: " How to Write Effective Web Copy "

You want to convert visitors into sales. I analyze how your web copy is structured on the page, what words you use, if
it is written for your visitors plus check it for spelling and grammatical errors.

7. Boost link popularity - this refers to the amount of other quality web sites that have links pointing back to
yours. The more quality links there are, the better you will rank on the major search engines. I extensively
research other sites related to yours and add or exchange links with them. This may require a links/resources page to
be added to your site.

8. Tweaking web site structure and navigation - if visitors are having a difficult time navigating your site, reading
the content or experience broken links, then I will repair or tweak the site to make it more suitable for your
visitors.

Conclusion - your web site should be an integral part of your business plan. It may be the first view your visitors
have of your business. You therefore should update and maintain it regularly so your visitors will want to revisit
and keep doing business with you.

To choose a Search Engine Optimization Plan or SEO Maintenance Plan that fits your web site, visit:

Search Engine Optimization Services

How To Reduce Web Hosting Bandwidth

2006-09-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost

You just received a higher than normal monthly bill on your credit card for web hosting. Your hosting company explains that you exceeded your monthly minimum for “bandwidth usage” and suggests reducing the size of your web site
files.

What is bandwidth usage?
What does bandwidth mean?
How much bandwidth do you need?
How can you reduce bandwidth usage?

Let’s discuss each of these topics in more depth.

READ MORE..

What is “bandwidth usage?”
This refers to the total amount of information that has been served to your web site visitors each month. Every file on your Web Site has a specific size (e.g. 22K). Every time a visitor downloads that file, your bandwidth usage goes up by that amount.

The larger the file, the higher the bandwidth usage when it is downloaded. The more traffic to your site, the more bandwidth you will use. What does “bandwidth” mean? Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. The “data transfer rate” is the speed with which data can be transmitted from one device to another. Data rates are often measured in megabits (million bits) or
megabytes (million bytes) per second. These are usually abbreviated as Mbps and Mbps, respectively.

Bits and Bytes
8 bits = 1 byte.
1,024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (Kb).
1,024 kilobytes (Kb) = 1 megabyte (mb or meg)
1,024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (gb or gig)
Subscribe FREE to
Marketing Tips Newsletter
Please enter your e-mail address below to receive original in-depth Marketing Articles every 2 weeks.

How Much Hosting Space Do You Need?

Hosting from $30/year

How much bandwidth do I need? To determine how much bandwidth you need, estimate the
file size of each web page, and then multiply it by the number of pages on your web site.

Multiply this figure by the number of the number of page views you expect per month from your site.

For example, if your web page consists of two 15Kb images and 3Kb of html, you would have 33Kb of data for that page. Now multiply this by the number of page views you
expect to have per month (e.g. 100,000 per month). This would mean 3.3Gb of data needs to be transferred per month for that page.

Now recalculate this number for each page, and you’ll know approximately how much bandwidth your entire site requires.

How can you reduce bandwidth usage?
The easy way is to reduce the size of the files on your site, particularly images and other graphics. For example, you have a large image (i.e. 200KB) on your web page that is downloaded by each visitor every time the page is requested. If you
reduce this image to 20KB or remove it altogether, it will dramatically cut your bandwidth usage. It will also speed up your site’s performance.

For more information on optimizing images for the Web, read my article, “Preparing Images for Your Web Site”,

Web Sites that have MP3s to download, movies, music playing in the background and large images, will obviously have a higher bandwidth. Large web sites or sites that expect a lot of traffic, will also use a lot.

If your site has mainly html pages and small images, your bandwidth will not be that high.

Bandwidth Tools
Monitoring bandwidth
http://www.utoronto.ca/ucres/netup.htm

Web Page Checker
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/page_size.cgi

Tuning up your Web Site
http://websitegarage.netscape.com/

Bandwidth Tips
If you make changes to your site by adding
more files and/or web pages, recalculate your web site
file size.

Estimate how many visitors will be accessing your web pages
over the next few months.

Recalculate the bandwidth usage for your site. You may need
more web space and bandwidth for your site to function
effectively.

Check with your web hosting company to upgrade your
hosting plan.

Conclusion
Now you can avoid the shock of exceeding your
monthly bandwidth usage and paying higher hosting fees.
You are now ready to receive more traffic to your site and
therefore make more sales.

How to Layout Your Web Pages

2006-09-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

How to Layout Your Web Pages
Copyright 2002 Herman Drost

Searching for the right information on a web page can be a very frustrating experience. Have you ever encountered web pages that are so cluttered with information and graphics, that you leave, totally exasperated? The same situation applies if you have a web site designed with animated graphics, pop ups, revolving text etc. It may dazzle your visitors, but if it takes more than 10 secs to load, you will lose them. See: How to Calculate and Speed-Up the Download Time of Your Web Site

Start With a Simple Plan – to design a good web site you must start with a good plan. Create a list of all the information and graphics you want to include on the site. To see how to sketch out your site, see my previous article: How to Build A Web Site That Sells
READ MORE..
Factors That Effect Web Page Layout.
1. Screen Resolution – Most Internet users these days use a 15-17 inch monitor. Therefore, use a screen resolution of 800x600 pixels when designing your web page. Some still use 13-inch monitors and many have large monitors over 17 inches.

The way around this is to use percentages when designing your web page. The web page will then resize to the particular resolution the visitor is using. For the designer, this takes more work than using a fixed width for your pages. If you want to design your pages with a fixed length, then it’s best to use a resolution of 800x600 pixels.
2. Contrast – strike a good balance between graphics and text.It is easy to have too much text on your site (unless it is a book or an article). Visitors usually scan web pages so make sure you use short sentences, small paragraphs and it contains
small headings. See: How to Avoid Sloppy Web Site Copy

Too many graphics on your web page may create too much clutter. It also slows the loading time of your site. Only use graphics to emphasize the points you are trying to make. Remember, a graphic can also distract people from the message you are trying
to convey.

3. Color – Have you ever gone to a site where there is a dark background and dark text? You can hardly read it. Try to stick to a light background with dark colored text. For example, a white background with black text is still the easiest to read.
Beware of using a dark textured background. The text will become unreadable. The color should not distract your reader from the main points of your site.

4. White Space – this is the space between the elements on a web page. If there is none or too little white space, your web page will appear disorganized. Try to make the page look clean, simple, easy to read and navigate.

5. Navigation – the key to good navigation of your site, is for your visitor to find the information quickly and easily. It must be clear and simple. If the presentation and organization of the content is vague, the visitor will get lost, frustrated and move on to another site.

The home page is usually the web page that contains all the initial navigation to your web site. However, planning your homepage is only a small fraction of your job when designing your navigation. The deeper you can plan your site’s structure
and navigation, the more successful your site’s navigation will be.

With clear, clean, simple and attractive layout of your web pages, information is easily retrievable. Your visitor will have an enjoyable experience and wish to return.

How to Set Up a Successful Google AdWords Campaign

2006-09-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

© Herman Drost
If you are looking for a fast way to market your productsor business, then Google AdWords is a great solution. Youcan set up an AdWords campaign within a few minutes and bemaking good money within days.

What is Google AdWords?
These are small pay per click ads that are displayed on the right side of Google search results. The ads provide highly targeted text or image ads based on what words people use to search for your product.
READ MORE..

Steps involved in setting up an AdWords campaign?
1. Read an overview of Google AdWords to become familiarwith how it works.
2. Find a product, service to promote that is in highdemand. This can be an affiliate product or one of your ownproducts. Don't create and promote a product which has nodemand. Do your keyword research first.
3. Keyword research - try to think of the main keywordspeople would enter into a search engine that is related toyour product. Then use the keyword research tools below tosee how many times these keywords have been searched onin last month. Also research alternative or similar keywords.

Google Adwords Suggestion Tool
Overture Suggestion Tool
Wordtracker

4. Create ad groups - create an ad group for each mainkeyword or keyword phrase. Use Wordtracker to researchanother 10 to 20 keywords related to your main keyword.This will enable you to target people who are specificallyusing those words for searching. Now you can create anumber of different ad groups for each main keyword.

5. Check the number of AdWords campaigns - enter any ofyour main keywords in the Google search engine and see howmany ads are displayed on the right side of the searchresults. This will tell you how many AdWord campaigns are running already. If there are only a few Google Ads displayedand your targeted keyword is in high demand (high number ofsearches), you have the potential to create a winning ad campaign.

6. Write your ad copy - look at the ads people are alreadyusing on Google to give you an idea of how to write them.Use your main keyword or keyword phrase in the title ofyour ad copy. You may even be able to include otherkeywords within the body of your ad. Here's an example of atypical ad:

Effective Web Site Promotion Promotion strategies formarketing your product or serviceisitebuild.com/web-site-promotion

You can write three lines of ad text with a total of 95characters. The Display URL has a 35-character limit. TheDestination URL can be up to 1,024 characters and is theactual web page users will land on after they click on yourad.
Write different ad copy for each of your ad groups. Younever know which one will pull the best.

7. Create a Google AdWords account - there is a US$5.00activation fee for Google AdWords. After that, you decidehow much you are willing to pay per click and per day. Youcan choose a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) from US$0.05 -US$50 and set a daily budget as low as 5 cents USD or ashigh as you want.

For example, if you set your daily budget for $50/day/ad at10 cents/click, you will get a maximum of 500 clicks/ad.Once you have reached your limit for that day, Google willautomatically suspend running your ad until next day.

8. Test and monitor your AdWord campaigns - start with 3 adgroups, then keep the other ad groups for later as you monitor your current campaign. Make the necessary changes to your ad copy, keywords or bid prices to improve your clickthrough rate. Google automatically tracks the clickthrough rate for each of your ads.

To identify how many of your customers clicked through toyour site from your Google AdWords ad, use a unique trackingURL for each ad. This will also give you an indication whichads and keywords converted the most clicks to sales.

To use tracking URLs, just place the following parameter atthe end of your URL: ?referrer=source.

Example: If your URL is: www.your-domain.com, your trackingURL could be www.your-domain.com/?referrer=Google

Once you've created your tracking URLs, you can get yourtraffic data from your Web server logs or from third partytracking software. Your log file has an entry for eachclick to your site. Just count the entries where "Google"(or another source reference) appears in the referring URL.

The tracking software I use is Adtrackz

Here you can set up any number ad tracking campaigns and easily view them all on one page.

If you follow these guidelines for creating your Google AdWords campaign, you can quickly attract thousands of visitors to your web site or affiliate program and generate instant sales.

Resources

The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords.
Google AdWords Tips
Google AdWord Campaign Article
Mastering Google Adwords Article

Create a Google Sitemap for your Web Site

2006-09-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Copyright Herman Drost
Google Sitemaps is a simple and fast way for your site tobe constantly indexed and updated by Google.This article will discuss the benefits of implementing thisnew technology, who should use it, how it works and how tocreate a Google Sitemap for your web site.

Benefits of having a Google Site Map

1. Speeds up the discovery and addition of your web pagesin the Google index.
2. Enables Google to quickly find web pages that have beenrecently changed.
3. A method for your site to be listed and appear quicklyin Google.
4. Helps Google to keep search content fresh, so peoplehave the most up to date information available.

Who should use Google Sitemaps?
READ MORE..

All site owners can use Google sitemaps whether you haveone page or millions of pages, however it's mostly gearedtowards people that make frequent changes to their webpages.

Normally web pages on a large site will not all get indexedbecause the links are too deep within the site. Byincluding all your pages in the Google Sitemap you have abetter chance of them all being indexed as Google thriveson fresh content. According to Google, it won't increaseyour site's rankings.

How does it work?

Google sitemaps are created using XML (Extensible Markup
Language). This is a coding language similar to HTML(though
a little more complex). It is often used these days in
syndicated feeds or blogs.

Here is the sample XML code you would include for each page
of your site:

http://www.yoursite.com/
2005-07-15
monthly
0.5

Here is a breakdown of what each line represents:

location - name of your webpage ie http://www.yoursite.com

last modified - when you last modified the page.

change frequency - tells Google how often you modify that
particular page, whether it's never, weekly, daily, hourly,
monthly or yearly.

priority - sets the priority you want Google to place for
that page on your site. You can prioritize your pages: 0.0
being the least, 1.0 being the highest, 0.5 is in the
middle.

This is only relative to your site. It will not affect your
rankings. Certain pages on your site may have more
significance than others because they are updated more
often ie home page, articles page.

How to Create a Dynamic Google SiteMap XML File

It would take a long time to create your Google Sitemap by
hand especially if you have a site that contains 1000s of
pages.

Fortunately Google provides the Sitemap Generator that
allows you to generate a sitemap very quickly. It's a
Python script that creates a Sitemap for your site using
the Sitemap Protocol. This script can create Sitemaps
from URL lists, web server directories, or from access
logs.

You can read more about it here:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

Other Sitemap Generators.

Google has also compiled a list of third party generators.

Personally I use the free sitemap generator
It's simple to use and quickly produces the necessary
XML code for your site.

Here are the steps on how to create your Sitemap using this
free Sitemap Generator:

1. Go to http://www.sitemapspal.com and enter your site's
address.
2. Copy the code that it generates for your site and paste
it into notepad.
3. Save the text file as sitemap.xml
4. Upload this file to the root directory (same place as
your home page) of your web server.
5. Open up a Google Site Map account and submit
your site's address.
6. Every time you modify a page or pages, login to your
Google account and click on the resubmit button.
7. Repeat this procedure for all of your web sites.

Conclusion

Google is still the largest and most accessed search engine
on Net. Each year millions of web sites get added to Google
making your site harder to find. Creating a Google Sitemap
will help your web pages stay fresh in Google's index.

How to Design a Search Engine Friendly Web Site

2006-09-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

© Herman Drost

Many web site designers don't design their sites for the search engines. This is a huge mistake because they miss out on attracting lots of free traffic. Your beautifully designed web site may have cost you thousands of dollars but it still needs to attract visitors to be profitable.Here are 12 highly effective strategies for designing a search engine friendly web site:

1. Research highly targeted keywords - do this even before you begin designing otherwise you may have to go back and clean up some of your web site design. Use the keyword research tool, Wordtracker to research the most popular keywords that pertain to the subject matter of your web site. Wordtracker will show how many people have searched for that particular keyword over several search engines within
the last 60 days.
READ MORE..
2. Create a list of approximately 100 keywords or keyword phrases that you can include within your web pages. After having completed the above research, you should have found the keywords that were searched on most frequently, but only produce a small number of competing web sites.

3. Write a paragraph of 250 - 500 words of text for the top of each web page. Weave your keywords within this text being careful not have them so close together that your copy reads strange for your visitors. Aim to please the search engines as well as your web site visitors.

4. Optimize meta tags - the most significant meta tags are the title and description meta tags. The keyword meta tag has lost its effectiveness due to people spamming it,
however include it anyway as some search engines still use it. Include your keywords within each of these meta tags. The title meta tag should be a short sentence about the purpose of your site. In your description meta tag, write a sentence on the greatest benefit of your site. Your keyword meta tag should include the most frequently used keywords contained within your web page.

5. Include Header Tags - these can range form H1-H6 most designers will only use H1-H3. These tags separate each section of your web page with subheadings. The H1
tag contains the largest font and is the most significant. Within the descriptive text of these header tags you should include the keyword phrases placed in the same order as your keyword phrases that are within your keyword meta tags.

6. Optimize images using the alt tag - write a short description for the alt tag of your image. The alt tag has 2 purposes:

a) visitors can read the description if they can't see the image.
b) search engines only spider text (not images), therefore this could help your site's rankings.

7. Reduce image size - too many images or very large images on your web page will slow down the loading time of your web site. Make sure your images have a resolution of 72ppi.Slice large images into smaller pieces with your graphics editor.

8. Find incoming links (backward links) - web sites that link to yours raise your link popularity. Search for web sites that are compatible with yours and have a PR 4 or more to do a link exchange. Write optimized articles and include them on your web site. This means your site has a greater chance of being indexed quickly as well as getting a boost
in its rankings.

Create absolute links (ie http://www.domainname.com)from all your internal pages to your home page. This willincrease the number of links pointing to your home page.

9. Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to implement a clean design throughout your web site. This will reduce the time to implement a consistent text (or layout) style for your web site. It will also enable you to easily update your whole site should you wish to make any future changes.

10. Place any script code into external files - when using javascript (ie for swapping images on your navigation bar)it creates a lot of code between the header tags, pushing down the text that search, engines would spider first. Placing the script code in an external file reduces the code to just one line.

11. Insert the DOC TYPE tag at the top of every web page. A DOCTYPE ( “document type declaration”) informs the validator which version of HTML you’re using for your web
pages. DOCTYPEs are a key component of compliant web pages:your markup and CSS won’t validate without them. i.e.

[!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"]

DOCTYPES are also essential to the proper rendering and functioning of web documents in compliant browsers like Mozilla, IE5/Mac, and IE6/Win.

12. Write clean html code - web site editors often write extra code. This can increase the loading time of your web pages. Check your html code by running it through a html validator.

Once you have implemented all the strategies above, submit your site to the search engines and get ready for lots of targeted traffic.

You now have built a profitable search engine friendly web site.

Resources

The Global Structure of an HTML Document
Page Validation and Loading Times
HTML Validator

Create a Simple, Effective PHP Form for Your Web Site

2006-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

© 2005 Herman Drost
If you have been struggling to set up forms on your web siteusing cgi, then definitely read this article. Installing asimple PHP form is much easier and faster than installing a cgiform and doesn't need any programming experience.
How does a PHP form work?
PHP is short for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor". It is aserver-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language

A server side scripting language allows you to create dynamicweb pages. Web pages that have been enabled with PHP aretreated just the same as any other HTML page, and PHP even letsyou create and edit them the same way you would create and edityour HTML pages.

This PHP form consists of 3 web pages, an html page, a PHP page(PHP script) and a thank you page. You collect the visitorsinformation when he fills out the form on the html page. It isthen processed by the PHP script which resides on the server.The visitor automatically receives a "thank you forsubscribing" message. The form results are returned from theserver to your email box.

READ MORE..
Server requirements for your PHP form

Check with your web host you have PHP4 installed on your server
Most Unix servers do - if so you are in luck and ready to go.

How to create the simple PHP form

You will create a very simple, effective form in which you will
collect the name, email address and comments of your visitors.
The form results will be sent to your email address.
Here's the Simple PHP Form in action.

1. Download the PHP script - once downloaded, copy and paste
the PHP code of Jack's FormMail.php script into notepad (not MS Word)
and save it as securemail.php (not formmail.php - this will
make it a more secure form)

http://www.dtheatre.com/scripts/formmail

2. Edit Recipient Field - the recipient field allows you to specify to
whom you wish for your form results to be mailed. For Multiple Recipients
separate the email addresses with commas (",").

$recipient = "info@domain.com, steve@domain.com";

Note: If you use this option you cannot use recipient in your html form i.e.

If you already inserted this in your html form, then simply delete it.
This will prevent spammers from harvesting your email address
because it now can't be found on your html form.

3. Edit the referrers field - the only recommended field to edit in
the script is the "referers" field. This field defines the domains that allow
forms to reside on and use your securemail.php script. If you try
to put the form on another server, that is not the specified
domain or ip, you will receive an error message when someone
tries to fill it out.

ie: $referers = array ('ihost-websites.com','www.ihost-websites.com','209.123.240.161');

4. Upload the securemail.php script to the root directory of your server
(same location as your index.html file).

Note: Make sure you upload the php script in ASCII mode. This is
because it is a text file. You will get errors if you upload it in binary mode.

5. Create your HTML form - create a web page (ie contact.htm)
that contains your html form (see example html form below).

6. Point the action of your form to the securemail.php script you
downloaded in Step 1.

ie:

action="http://www.ihost-websites.com/securemail.php">

7. Add optional form fields

"subject field" - this allows you to specify the subject that
you wish to appear in the e-mail that is sent to you after this
form has been filled out. If you do not have this option turned
on, then the script will default to a message subject: "Form
Submission".

ie:

"full name field" - this allows visitors to fill in their name.
This will help you to personalize your return email by
including their first and/or last names.

i.e:

"email address field" - this allows you to specify your return
e-mail address. If you want to be able to return e-mail to your
user, I strongly suggest that you include this form field and
allow them to fill it in. This will be put into the From: field
of the message you receive. The email address submitted will be
checked for validity.

i.e:

"comments field" - this allows visitors to add any comments in
your form. You could name this field anything you like.

ie:

"required field" - these are the required fields you want your
visitors to fill in before they can successfully submit the
form. If the required fields are not filled in, the visitor
will be notified of what they need to fill in, and a link back
to the form they just submitted will be provided.

ie:

"redirect field" - if you wish to redirect the visitor to a
different URL, rather than having them see the default response
to the fill-out form, you can use this hidden variable to send
them to a pre-made HTML (ie thankyou.htm) page.

ie: value="http://www.ihost-websites.com/thankyou.htm">

"submit field" - this allows the visitor to submit the form

ie:

8. Create a thank you page (thankyou.htm) - this web page will
automatically thank visitors for subscribing. Add your own
comments you wish them to receive. Upload this web page to your
server.

Tip: Use your own domain name, email and IP address in the
fields above.

Here's an example of a typical web page using the PHP form.
(http://www.ihost-websites.com/contact.htm)

All the fields are included as was discussed above:
/*

Form Mail

method="post" action="http://ihost-websites.com/securemail.php">

value="http://www.ihost-websites.com/thankyou.htm">

Name

Email

Comments

*/
9. Copy and paste this html form into your web page - name it
anything you like (ie contact.htm), then upload it to your
server.

10. Test out your form - when you fill out the form, you should
immediately receive the reply from your thankyou.htm page
and receive the form results in your email box.

Conclusion - you now have a fully functional and flexible PHP
form on your web site to collect visitor information. You can
add more fields to the form if necessary. You may also add any
number of HTML forms to your web site and still use the same
PHP script.

Resources

Jack's PHP FormMail

Help/Support - PHP Form Forum

Mastering Google AdWords

2006-09-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

© Herman Drost
Then most difficult aspect of marketing a new product orweb site is to find enough people that are interested in itso that they are ready to buy. Mastering Google AdWordswill enable you to drive traffic to your web site and startmaking sales immediately. You can create a Google AdWordcampaign in a matter of minutes and be making sales within24 hours.

Benefits of Mastering Google AdWords
READ MORE..
1. Test Products - with Google AdWords you can quickly
test a product to determine if there is a demand for it.
If you generate a lot of clicks, this may mean you have
a winning product.

2. Generate sales leads - use Google AdWords to generate
leads by offering something for free to obtain their email
address. Following this, create an autoresponder series to
build a relationship with the person. Through this long
term relationship you can continually introduce new
products to them.

3. Sell your own products - this can produce large profits
because you don't have to deal with any middle men which
tend to reduce your total profits.

4. Sell other people's products through affiliate programs -
you become the sales person for a large company.
The company provides a quality product that is in high
demand, with a professional web site and sales page.
You simply direct visitors to this site and collect commissions
for every sale you make.

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Do extensive keyword research first - use Wordtracker to
find the best keywords that fit the product you wish to
sell. Make a list of at least 50-100 keywords or keyword
phrases. Create different ads based on your most targeted
keywords. Not all keywords will necessarily be profitable,
however you can use them later when developing content for
your web pages.

2. Create several ads within an ad group - an ad group
consists of a group of ads you create for the keywords you
have researched. Choose your most targeted keyword or
keyword phrase then create at least 2 different ads so you
can see which ad produces the highest click through rate.

The click through rate (CTR) is the ratio of the number of
times a person clicks on your ad based on the number of
times it is viewed. For example if 100 people see your ad
and only one person clicks on your ad to be taken to your
web site, then the CTR for that ad is 1/100, 1%.

3. Don't place too many keywords in one ad group - if your
keyword phrase is “red wagons” then create an ad group of 2
ads containing this phrase. If your keyword phrase is “blue
wagons” then create another ad group with 2 ads containing
this phrase. All your keywords must be similar.

4. Write an attractive ad - you have a very limited space
to write your ad so you need to make each word count if you
want your visitors to click through to your web site or
landing page. Start with a clear headline, followed by
benefit, feature then web address.

5. Use strong verbs in your ad - strong verbs link directly
to the five senses--touch, sight, smell, sound, and
taste--and to familiar emotions. They are short and
personal: "run," "fight," "love," "say."

Weak verbs seem abstract and impersonal. They tend to
be long words: "employ," "postpone," "construct."

Here’s a comparison of weak and strong verbs:

Weak verbs
Inform
Reduce
Indicate
Modify
Endeavor
Desire

Strong Verbs
tell, say
cut
show
change
try
want

Next time you visit the grocery store look at some of the
headlines of popular magazines ie Cosmopolitan Magazine.
They spend millions of dollars researching words which will
attract readers. By using strong verbs in your ads your
visitor will be more inclined to take action.

6. Write ads that have rhythm - ads that have a flow nice
flow to them effect people in a better way than ones that
don’t ie “simple self defense”

7. Set a daily budget - Google will recommend a specific
amount to spend for each click. Don’t go with their
recommendation as they probably have their own self
interest in mind. Start with a smaller daily amount than
what is suggested ie 5 cents per click and keep a eye on
your CTR. Ads shown at the top of the page don’t
necessarily produce the highest CTR. Aim for positions 6-8.
Google will rotate your ads periodically so each one of
them gets equal exposure.

8. Check on your ad regularly - when you first run your ad,
check on it 3-4 times per day until you have got at least
50 clicks.

9. Refine your ads - discard those ads that are not
producing a high click through rate. Continue editing those
ads that work or create new ones within your same ad group
until you find a winner. You can do this by using different
combinations of keywords or trying different headlines.

10. Track your ads - track which ads produce the most
clicks. The adtracker I recommend you use is Adtrackz:

http://www.isitebuild.com/cgi-bin/a/t.cgi?adtracker

This software allows you to create a different URL for each
ad and tracks how many clicks you receive each day from
placing the ad. You can also use the Google tracker that's
included with your AdWrords account, however it is not as
powerful as Adtrackz and has much less features.

When you have created a winning ad (high CTR) adjust the
landing page of your web site until you convert the
visitors into buyers.

By mastering Google Adwords Ads, you can confidently
expand your marketing campaign to include other PPC
advertising companies ie Overture, FindWhat and also try
offline advertising.

How to Create an RSS Feed for Your Web Site

2006-09-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Copyright Herman Drost

Are you always looking for new and better ways to market your web site? Search engines are always on the look out for fresh content. When doing a search you don't want old content popping up, you want to have the most up to date information. Search engines will generally reward those sites which provide new content on a regular basis ie daily or even bi-weekly.One of the best ways to provide fresh content is to create
an RSS Feed. What is an RSS Feed?
READ MORE..

RSS stands for "really simple syndication". For example I
write articles every 2 weeks and place them on my web site.
I then link to that article from my home page and from my
article headlines page. I make that article available to
others as an item in my RSS file. People who use RSS
readers or news aggregators can read then link to your
article from their web site.

To explain further about RSS readers visit:
RSS Readers

You have now syndicated your content for others to view.
This is a great way to improve or maintain your search engine
rankings by naturally getting incoming links. Every time
you write a new article it will be instantly available to
1000s of web site owners.
How to create an RSS File

RSS files use the XML language. This is similar to html
except you must be careful to use closing tags and be sure
to validate it before you use it. An XML file contains the
information (Title, Description and Link URL) that your
audience will receive through a RSS reader.

Here is all you need to create an RSS file:

-Title
-Description
-Link

1. Open notepad on your computer, then copy and paste the
information below replacing it with your own title,
description and link information.

The first part contains information about your web site.
The second part contains information for one of your articles.
You can also include optional information in your headlines
such as language, copyright info, contact email addresses,
or an image.

Try to limit the number of articles you wish to include in your
RSS file to 5 or less. Enclose your RSS information with
the xml and rss versions you are using followed by the
channel and item tags. Finish off with the RSS closing tag.

Here's the example:

Web Site Design | Hosting | Marketing
http://www.isitebuild.com
Affordable Web Design in Maryland
en-us

How to Add a Search Engine to Your Site
http://www.isitebuild.com/add-search-engine.htm

When visitors arrive at your web site you want them to find
the information quickly otherwise they will lose patience
and move on. A great way achieve this is to add a search
engine or search box to your web site.

You have now created your first RSS file that is almost
ready for syndicating.

2. Save your RSS file - save your RSS file in plain text
format with an XML extension ie
http://www.isitebuild.com/rss/rss-feed.xml. You can also
save it as .rss however when I originally tried this some
RSS readers did not read the file.

3. Check your RSS file - since RSS is an XML file some
characters are illegal in XML so you have to 'escape' them,
that is, insert a text string in their place.

Here are the main ones to watch out for:

-Replace all instances of '&' with: & For example if
you use quotation marks ie "Click Here" change it to
"Click Here"

-Change every apostrophe to ' For example: It's a boy.
becomes It's a boy.

4. Upload your RSS file - upload your RSS file to your root
directory ie the same directory as your homepage. I saved
mine in a special folder called RSS where I keep all my RSS
articles. ie http://www.isitebuild.com/rss/rss-feed.xml

5. Validate your RSS file - don't assume your file is
correctly coded. If not, it won't be read by RSS readers and all
your hard work will be in vain.

Here are some validators:

http://feedvalidator.org/
http://aggregator.userland.com/validator

PHP Include File - How to Use PHP Include to Easily Maintain Your Web Site

2006-09-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

Copyright Herman Drost

When visitors arrive at your web site you want them to find the information quickly otherwise they will lose patience and move on. A great way achieve this is to add a search engine or search box to your web site. Since most visitors are already familiar with using search engines such as Google, they can easily use the search feature on your site.
READ MORE..

In this article I will discuss:

A. The benefits of adding a search engine
B. Types of search service providers
C. Where to place a search box on your site
D. How does the search engine work

A. Benefits of adding a search engine and types of sites
where it can be used.

1. Ecommerce sites - your ecommerce site usually has many
different types of products so the navigation menu is not
focused enough to rapidly find the specific product your
visitor is looking for. Adding a search engine to your
ecommerce site will help the visitor to easily and quickly
zoom in on the product by entering their keyword in the
search box.

2. Dynamic sites - search engines have difficulty spidering
dynamically generated web pages. These are pages often
generated from a database, so the information on your pages
will not appear in the search engine's index. Add a search
engine to each page of your site. If a visitor arrives on
that page from one of the large search engines, they can
then do a quick search from that page instead of searching
elsewhere.

3. Small sites - web sites that contain 5-10 pages don't
need a search engine because visitors don't have to search
through many pages to find the information. Instead, make
sure you create a simple navigation menu at the top or side
and bottom of your web pages.

B. Types of search service providers

1. Atomz (www.atomz.com) - Atomz Express Search is a free
service where you can integrate basic search capability on
your personal web site or on one of your commercial sites.
It can be used on sites with 750 total pages or less and
allows customization of look and feel to match your site's
design. Some third-party text ads are shown above and below
the search results. You can use it for as long as you like
for there is no trial period.

2. Freefind (www.freefind.com) - features include the
ability to customize search and results pages. The free
accounts are limited to 3,000 pages or 32MB of storage.
Site search is hosted on FreeFind's server. It generates a
site map for you, tracks visitors searches and indexes
password protected pages.

3. Google Free site search service
(www.google.com/services/free.html) - searches only the
specific domain(s) that you list when you create your
search box. You can customize your results display to
include background, text and link colors you select. The
search box itself will reside on your web site. The search
results page will be served by Google with the customized
look and feel you specify. Google may serve ads on the
results page. You can do an unlimited amount of searches.
You must display the Google logo on the web pages that
contain the search box.

C. Where to place the search engine on your site?

1. Place the search box in a prominent location on your web
page...preferably top center or top right.

2. Place the search box on all pages of your web site.
Visitors may enter your site from any page.

3. Make the search box large enough to accommodate all
search terms the visitor would use to find the information.

4. The search box should be a type-in box, not a link so
visitors don't have to wait for another page to load.

5. Limit the search results to 50 per page. Visitors
lose their patience if they have to scroll through long
lists of results.

D. How does the search engine work?

It works similar to the major search engines that search
the web, however instead of crawling the web they search
engine spider will search your site. The results of the
crawl are stored in a database that resides on the search
company's server.

The company provides the necessary code to add a simple
form to your web page. This usually consists of a search
box for inserting your keywords and a send button. When you
click the button it sends the query to the search company.
They process the query to create a search results page.
This shows those pages in your site that match the
visitor's query.

The quality of the search results the search engine spider
collects depends on how much information is contained in
your site. Therefore take time to correctly optimize your
site i.e. provide lots of good content that includes your
keywords. Optimize your meta tags, images and create an
accessible navigation structure.

Optimizing your site will not only provide focused results
from your internal search engine but also boost your
rankings in the major search engines.

Create a Blog - 10 Top Reasons to Create a Weblog for Your Business

2006-08-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Copyright Herman Drost
I postponed creating a blog for my business because Ithought there was no marketing value in it and the ones I'dseen were primarily news blogs or personal blogs. Well,
that was some time ago for now many businesses are creatingblogs to attract more visitors and make more sales.

What is a Blog?

This is a small or large online journal that allows theauthor to frequently write on topics of personal interestor of interest to his/her visitors. The writing style is
usually informal. Visitors can instantly add their commentsto the end of the authors writings or posts. The posts arein chronological order ie day, month and year. Topics mayinclude commentary on the Internet, brief philosophicaldiscussions, or social issues plus links to other sites theauthor favors.

The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger.
READ MORE..
Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs.However, "blog" is less likely to cause confusion, because"web log" can also mean a server's log files.

10 top reasons to create a blog for your business

1. Ability to add content in minutes. You don't have to spend time uploading (FTP) files to your host like static sites. You can update your content from any computer that has internet access. If you have a brilliant idea you want to write about you just need to log in to your administration panel and enter your post.

2. Separate design from content. Blog software is database driven. This means you can alter the theme or template of your blog without affecting the content. Therefore you can immediately test different colors and designs to determine
what best appeals to your visitors.

3. Search engine friendly. Blogging software such as Word Press allow you to generate search engine friendly pages.Instead of your pages ending in long URLS ie

http://www.mysite.com/main.php?category=books&subject=biography
they can end in .htm ie
http://www.mysite.com/pagebooks-biography.htm

Search engines like web sites that are updated frequently.Sites that don't receive new content quickly become stale.One of the main characteristics of a blog is that it is frequently updated so search engines will visit it often.

4. Create RSS Feeds. RSS (really simple syndication) feeds are integrated within blog software. So every time you post something to your blog it will create a RSS feed automatically. It will also notify some of the larger sites that carry these feeds and make them available for syndication. This is a great viral marketing method that will quickly attract many visitors.

5. Build link popularity. To increase your sites' rankings in Google and other search engines, you need to generate many incoming links to your web site. The more links you have the better. If you create a blog that contains valuable content, you will have many people linking to you. RSS feeds are becoming a very popular and an easy way to read content quickly. Since your blog has this feature already built in, your link popularity will build faster than if you had a site with no feeds.

6. Encourages interactivity. Visitors can immediately add their own comments to your posts. This helps build a long term relationship with them and win their trust. It will also make your blog stickier because you will get many returning visitors eager to read others' comments or write more of their own.

7. Make money. Blogs also offer a great way to place AdSense Ads on your pages. Word Press blogging software has a plugin that easily allows you to place AdSense Ads anywhere on your pages as well as all current pages on your blog. With a static site you would have to add the AdSense code to each page. You can also make money by promoting affiliate sites or selling your own product.

8. Customizable. Word Press blogging software has over 500 plugins and hundreds of different themes to choose from. This gives you the flexibility to make your blog the best it can be for your business purposes.

9. Easy administration. Here are some of the features of the Word Press administration panel:

-add content immediately

-change the theme (look and feel) of your blog without
altering the content.

-create different permissions for people who will add
content to your blog ie administrators, editors, contributors.

10. Help market your newsletter. Many emails don't get through to your subscribers these days because of spam blockers residing on your visitors computer or web host's
server. A blog that contains RSS feeds will enable visitors to receive your newsletter automatically by subscribing to the feed on your blog. You can also send your visitors an email that includes a link back to your blog. This will also help build links to your blog as people visit it.

Tip:
Before you create a blog make sure you put some
thought into the purpose of it and what topics you want to
write about. Make a schedule to write often (ie daily,
weekly or monthly) so it doesn't grow stale and lose
interested visitors. If you have been putting off creating
a blog, START NOW as you may be leaving money on the table.

SEO Services - Why You Need Search Engine Optimization Maintenance Service Plan

2006-07-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

© Herman Drost

A search engine optimization maintenance service plan will ensure that your site will continue to increase in its rankings, attract more visitors and make more sales. It's not enough to simply design your web site, have it optimized for the search engines and expect it to continually rank well. If left alone, you may soon lose the business your web site initially generated.

What should be included in a SEO maintenance service plan?
READ MORE..

1. Monitor search engine rankings - there will be many fluctuations in your search engine rankings. This may be
due to search engines changing their ranking formulas, or competitors trying to get ahead of you. More sites are
added to the web each day so you need to monitor your search engine rankings to be competitive. I create monthly
ranking reports on where your site is currently ranked for each of the major search engines.

2. Traffic Tracking - it's essential to know where most of your traffic is coming from so you can make adjustments to
your marketing strategies. For example if most of your traffic is coming from one particular page, you may want to
place your best products on that page to get more sales. analyze your site statistics (if they are available form
your web host) to check how much traffic you are receiving, where is it coming from and what keywords are being used to
find your site.

3. Keyword research - web sites are being added to the web every day, therefore keywords that once got high rankings
may no longer work. You may have high search engine positions for your most important keyword phrases but if
you are not receiving any traffic from those phrases, you will need to evaluate the keywords that you have used.
Attaining a #1 ranking for keywords that no one will search for, will not increase your traffic.

Researching new keywords is essential to maintain good rankings. I analyze the current keywords used on your site
and research and add new ones. Once the keywords have been chosen, the content should be updated to reflect them. This
may include subtle changes to the meta tags, page titles and text headings; or it could involve adding additional
sections to the site, rewriting content and reorganizing the web site's structure. It all depends on the specific
requirements of the site and market.

4. Competitive analysis - an integral part of search engine optimization is determining what keywords your competitors
are using. I analyze where your competitors are currently ranked for the same keywords you are using for your web
pages. I also check how many competitors you have for each of the major search engines. If there are too many
competitors for a particular keyword it may be better to use less competitive keywords for your web pages or use
them in conjunction with the most popular ones.

I will also analyze the link popularity of your competitors to determine how many incoming links they have and what the
quality of those links are. You should not link to unrelated sites and ideally link to sites that already
attract a lot of traffic.

5. Add fresh content - web sites that continuously update and/or expand their content, usually experience
higher rankings than stagnant web sites. New keywords should first be researched before adding new content. This
will help boost your traffic and rankings because visitors will have more ways to land on your site based on the
keywords they entered in the search engines. One great way to achieve this is to add new articles to your site on a
regular basis.

6. Web copy analysis - getting a lot of traffic to your site does not guarantee sales. It primarily depends on how
effective your web copy is. Read my article: " How to Write Effective Web Copy "

You want to convert visitors into sales. I analyze how your web copy is structured on the page, what words you use, if
it is written for your visitors plus check it for spelling and grammatical errors.

7. Boost link popularity - this refers to the amount of other quality web sites that have links pointing back to
yours. The more quality links there are, the better you will rank on the major search engines. I extensively
research other sites related to yours and add or exchange links with them. This may require a links/resources page to
be added to your site.

8. Tweaking web site structure and navigation - if visitors are having a difficult time navigating your site, reading
the content or experience broken links, then I will repair or tweak the site to make it more suitable for your
visitors.

Conclusion - your web site should be an integral part of your business plan. It may be the first view your visitors
have of your business. You therefore should update and maintain it regularly so your visitors will want to revisit
and keep doing business with you.

To choose a Search Engine Optimization Plan or SEO Maintenance Plan that fits your web site, visit:

Search Engine Optimization Services

How to Create a Custom 404 Error Message

2006-06-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

by Herman Drost

Have you ever received the dreaded " 404 error page not
found " message when you surfed to a web site?
This is usually due to typing the wrong URL or clicking
on a page link that no longer exists. If you are the site
owner, you lose the visitor and a potential sale. Creating
a custom 404 error page on your site will prevent you
from losing visitors and increase your web site traffic.

Benefits of creating custom 404 error messages
READ MORE..
1. Stop link rot - as your site becomes larger, it's more
difficult to keep track of pages that once existed,
resulting in link rot.

2. Redirect old cached pages - old web pages are cached
by Google for a long period. If someone types in the URL
of your old web page they will get the dreaded 404 error.
A custom 404 error page redirects those visitors back to
your main site.

3. Capture mistyped urls - visitors often type the wrong
URL resulting in the " page not found " error message.

4. Increase traffic - instead of losing visitors that
receive page errors you keep them on your site resulting
in a small increase in web site traffic.

How to create a custom 404 error page

Example: http://www.isitebuild.com/error404.htm

1. Create a new web page and name it error404.html (or
whatever you like).

2. Include these points on the error404 page:

a) clear message that they have arrived at the wrong address.

b) navigation bar or site map so visitors can quickly find
their way to around your site (if you have a large site you
may want to include a search engine).

c) contact information, so visitors can inform you of a
broken link or ask you a question directly.

d) a link that points back to the main page of your site.
You want to make it as effortless as possible for them
to find your site.

3. Create a .htaccess file - this is a hidden file that is
placed in the root directory. This is what directs users to
the custom error page, when they type in a wrong URL or
click on a broken link. This file affects the directory and
all sub-directories in which it is placed. Since you want
it to affect your whole site, place it in the root directory.

To create a .htaccess file, open notepad and add this line
to it:

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.domainname.com/error404.htm

If you already have a .htaccess file in your root directory,
then don’t create a new one. Just add the above
line to it. Make sure it is all typed on one line, the E
and D letters are capitalized, and there is a space before
and after the 404.

The URL can be absolute:
( ErrorDocument 404 http://www.domainname.com/error404.htm )

or relative
( ErrorDocument 404 /error404.htm )

4. Save the file as “htaccess.txt” and change the name
remotely after you FTP it. (i.e.change the name of the file to
.htaccess when it has been up uploaded to the server).

5. Upload the htaccess.txt file and the error404.htm page
to your root directory (same location as your index.html
page) using your FTP software. Upload in ASCII mode (not
binary) or it won’t work.

6. Change the name of your htaccess.txt file to .htaccess

7. Test the custom error404.htm page by mistyping the URL
of your web site. Check the URLs on the error404 page.

Tip: Create a custom error404.htm page for every web site
you have, so you will stop losing precious visitors and
increase your traffic and sales.

How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site Part 3

2006-05-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost

Image optimization significantly improves your site's effectiveness. Whether your success is measured in revenue per user, page views, unique visitors, or pure profit, accelerating your Web site makes a huge difference.

Part 1 of this article discussed when to use images for your
web site and what image file formats to use on the Web.
Part 2 discussed how to optimize your images for the Web
Part 3 will present more ways to optimize your images so
your web pages will be fast loading.

Studies show that a one-second improvement reduces click-aways up to 65%. Faster page views means more page views and a better user experience. This leads to higher user retention and therefore more revenue.

Here are a few ways this can be done:
READ MORE..
Creating Thumbnails
Make 2 copies of your large image in your favorite image
editing software (Fireworks or Photoshop). Make a small
“thumb-sized” version of your large image and put it on
your first page. Put the large version of your image on another page. Link the small image to the larger one. When visitors click on the small image it will take them immediately to the larger image.

Pre-load graphics
If you want a large image to load fast, you can pre-load the graphic on another page. Create a 1x by 1x pixel of the larger image and insert it at the bottom of an earlier page
(it will appear as a dot and the visitor won't even know it is there). The browser caches the image. When the visitor arrives on the page with the large image, it appears almost immediately.

Slicing
This is where you divide a large graphic into smaller pieces. This keeps the file size of the images smaller enabling them to download faster. Slicing a graphic can also help with design and layout of your web site.

Use Height and Width Attributes for your Images.
The browser doesn't have to calculate the image size because you've told it the height and width values already. If the height and width attributes are not included, the browser has to load the entire image, then calculate its size before displaying it.
Height and width attributes are inserted automatically in the HTML code by WYSIWYG page editors.

Don't use the height and width attributes to make a graphic appear smaller on the page than its actual size; this just creates a larger download time plus added computer processing time. Resize the graphic in your image editing software instead
and use it in your page at its true size.

Interlacing
Have you noticed web graphics appearing on the page gradually in layers? As each layer appears the image becomes clearer until it is in full focus. It gives the viewer a rough idea of what your image will look like and decide to wait or click onwards while the image is rendering. On a fast connection the image will load quickly, so you won't notice the rendering effect.

Interlaced images increase file size slightly. Only apply it to large GIFs where the file size is less noticeable.

Use of Alternate Text
Some people surf the Web with the graphics turned off (for faster web page loading), or they are disabled (visually impaired people use the text-based Web). A good Web
Designer will accommodate these situations by adding the ALT attribute to the HTML element. The ALT element allows you to put text in place of the image so the readers have an idea of what the image is without having to view it.

The ALT attribute will show up if your image is broken. It can also be inserted as one of your keywords, for search engine optimization.

Using the Gif Wizard
This is a handy tool to reduce the file size of your graphics.If you go to www.gifwizard.com, it will compress your graphics online, on any platform.

Optimizing your Web Site will deliver faster page downloads, increased page views, improved user retention, a better user experience and therefore more sales.

Free web browser toolbar

2006-05-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

A toolbar sits on your web browser and enables quick access to many useful functions making online surfing easier. Here is a list of popular toolbars for your web browser.
Most Popular toolbars

Google Toolbar- Search with Google from any web page, block annoying pop-ups and automatically fill out forms are just few of the popular features. Check spellings, Autolink and see the pagerank. Quick access to all major Google services.

Yahoo Toolbar - allows searching the web with pop-up blocker. Anti-Spy Window Spyware protection. Quick access to Yahoo services and add fresh content to My Yahoo! easily to name a few features. And now with tabbed browsing in IE.

Windows Live Toolbar - tabbed browsing in IE, form filler, pop up blocker, mutiple search options, self updating and feed detector.

MSN Toolbar - Browse smarter with tabs and switch between Web sites within the same Internet Explorer window . Search the Web and easily locate documents, e-mail messages etc. Fill out online forms and one click Access to MSN services.

Alexa Toolbar - a free search and navigation companion that accompanies you as you surf, providing useful information about the sites you visit including traffic information and contact info. Find related links for each page and share opinions.

Stumble Upon - Lets you browse, review and share great webpages while meeting new people. Vote sites you like and read reviews about them. Firefox requires an extension instead of the .exe file in IE.

How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site Part 2

2006-05-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost

When surfing the Web, you will have noticed web sites where the images load very slowly whereas other images don’t match with the theme of the site or appear blurry. Presenting a professional image for your business means your web site design must be professional also.

Part one of this article discussed when to use images for your web site and what image file formats to use on the Web (www.isitebuild.com/imageoptimization1). In this article (Part 2), we will discuss how to optimize your images for the Web.

Image optimization is the art of making your images suitable for the Web. There is a large difference in preparing your graphics for print compared to the Web. In print you have to have as much data as possible to get a good graphic. The main factors that influence the display of graphics for the Web, are the size of the file and the screen display quality of the graphic.
Factors Affecting Web Graphics
READ MORE..

1. File Size
When you design web pages you need to create a balance
between visual appeal and page download time. If your
page has too many images on it, it will take too long too load and visitors will not stay around to wait.

2. Cropping
This means cutting out unwanted areas of your image.
It decreases the file size and helps visitors to focus on your
image.

3. Anti-aliasing
Jagged edges of an image can be prevented by anti-aliasing.
This creates a blended edge around an image.
Because of the extra colors necessary to create the blend, file
sizes of anti-aliased GIFs are a little larger. Use
anti-aliased graphics in almost all cases, except when creating
very small type as graphics.

4. Bit Depth and Screen Resolution
Bit depth refers to the number of colors in an image or the
number of colors a computer system is capable of displaying.
To calculate bit depth, one bit equals 2 colors, then multiply
2 times 2 to arrive at each higher bit depth. Quality and file
size decrease as bit-depth decreases.

New computers support thousands or millions of colors (32-bit),
but many older color systems can only show up to 256 (8-bit)
colors at a time. This reality imposes limits on the size of
files and number of colors that can be included in Web
graphics.

Check how your image appears with a 256-color monitor and a
true-color monitor. Do this on your PC using the
Setting/Control Panel/Display option, then select the Settings
tab/256 color option.

5. Image Resolution
Monitors typically display data at 72 dpi (dots per inch).
Therefore, always save your files on the Web at 72 dpi.
Always resize your image in your graphics software
before you insert it onto your web page. If you resize its
dimensions when it’s already on your site, it will look
distorted.

6. Browsers
Someone viewing your site is subject to a completely
different result depending on which browser he is using. Your
images may appear harmonious in Internet Explorer (IE) but may
be broken up in Netscape Navigator (NN). Therefore check your
image for differences with Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape
Navigator (NN) browsers. Your images should appeal to all
users.

Unfortunately AOL has its own browser, which filters sites
through its own AOL proxy system. This means all graphics are
converted from JPEG and GIF to the ART format.

Most AOL users also use their browsers with the default
“compressed graphics” checked, so what normally looks good in
IE or NN, will look blurry or distorted on AOL. To change this,
AOL users need to go to preferences and check “never compress
graphics”.

7. Caching
This is a temporary storage area of your hard drive where
browsers keep files while they display them. You can
create a consistent look and feel to your Web Site, by reusing
another graphic on another page. You will be retrieving it from
the cache. The more graphics that you reuse, the faster your
pages will load.

Testing
To test load times of your pages you need to first
publish them and then clear the cache in your computer before
loading them, and timing them, from the Internet. Put the url
in your browser address box, start timing when you hit Go and
stop when the word 'Done' appears in your status bar.

Images are the main factor that contributes to slow loading of
your web pages. By implementing these techniques for optimizing
your images, visitors will have a far more pleasing experience.

Part 3 of this article will discuss other methods for creating
fast loading images when creating a professional web site.

How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site Part 1

2006-05-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost

You are staring at the your monitor waiting for the image to
download. It finally appears but it has blurry edges. You go to the next page but can’t read the text because of the dark image in the background. The next page has animated images, that don’t seem to stop. The spinning globes keep spinning. The last page has a large graphic on it, which is a link. You click on it for more information but it goes nowhere. You leave the site in frustration.

Images are an essential ingredient for Web Site design.
You want visitors to have an aesthetically pleasing
experience. Properly preparing your images is necessary to
enhance the appearance of your web site. In Part I of this
article I will explain:

When to use images for your web site?
What image file formats should you use on the Web?
READ MORE..
When to use images for your web site - Navigation
Graphical buttons can link to other pages or resources.

Image Maps – this is a graphic that contains several links on it. It has several “hot spots” or invisible buttons, you can click on. For example you could have a photograph of your family and put a hot spot on each person’s face that links to that person’s web site.

Logos and Trademarks – your business or organization’s trademark are crucial for name recognition and branding.

Thumbnails – this is a small, “thumbnail-sized version of an image. When you click on it, you jump to another page with a larger version of the same image. The visitor can see many different, small images on the first page without having to wait for larger files of the larger images to load.
Subscribe FREE to
Marketing Tips Newsletter

Please enter your e-mail address below to receive original in-depth Marketing Articles every 2 weeks.

Hosting Plans from $30/Year

What are the different image file formats?
Web graphics can be categorized into two file formats:
bitmap and vector.

Bitmap – these are composed of individual values for each color
displayed. The larger the dimensions of the image, the larger
the associated file size will be for the same graphic. When
viewed with magnification, a bitmap resembles a series of little
squares, each of which has a color value that contributes to the
overall shape. Bitmaps have a very rough appearance when viewed
closely but form images when viewed from a distance.

Bitmaps are best suited for photos, drop-shadow effects and
soft, glowing or blurry edges.

Vector – these store information about the image in mathematical
instructions that are then interpreted and displayed.

Vector graphics are best suited for line art, shapes and
illustrations.

Image File Formats
Graphic file formats used on the Web are GIF, JPEG and PNG

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)
GIF is a platform-independent file format that is limited to a
display of 256 colors. GIF has been adopted by most developers
because of its small file size.

GIF is considered a “lossless” format. This means that as the
image is compressed, no information is lost.

Types of GIFs
Animated GIF (89A) This 89a version of GIF allows storage
and playback of a sequence of still images to create the
illusion of animation. Animated GIF files consist of sequential
frames that reload from a browser’s cache and replay in an
infinite or predetermined loop to simulate motion.

Transparent GIF
An advantage that a GIF has over a JPEG image is that the
designer can designate a color of the GIF image to be
transparent. For example, you can create a circular logo in a
square image by making the background color transparent. The
image appears circular, when, in fact, it is square with
information to appear transparent.

Interlaced GIF
Graphic interlacing (the progressive rendering of images)
is unique to GIFS and is the preferred method for
display of large graphic files. Many people find the
“fuzzy-to-sharp” animated effect of interlacing visually
appealing, but the most important benefit of interlacing is that
it gives the reader a preview of the full area of the picture,
while the picture downloads into the browser.

When to use a GIF
Buttons, bullets and navigational tools that accent your
Web pages. Interlacing is best for larger GIF images
such as illustrations and photographs.

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
Graphics in the JPEG format are capable of much greater color
depth than GIFs, but usually require more time to download.
JPEG can contain up to 24 bits of color information
(16.7 million colors). Remember though, that most users are only
capable of displaying 8-bit color.

When to use a JPEG
JPEG enables you to use brilliant colors and provides support
for complex images and digitized photographs but it is not
designed for use with simple images.

JPEG compression is not as effective as GIF compression and may
distort images with few colors or large areas of the same color.
JPEG compression is therefore not designed for low-resolution
images.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
The PNG file format is emerging as the new format for Web graphics.
PNG files are lossless and support transparency like GIFs, yet also
support compression and high bit depth like JPEGs. In addition,
PNG bit depth can be adjusted, unlike GIFs or JPEGs, which must
be 8-bit and 24-bit depth.

When to use a PNG
PNGs behave similarly to GIFs and work best with flat-color,
sharp-edged art. PNGs compress both horizontally and vertically,
so solid blocks of color generally compress best. They also support
better interlacing than interlaced GIFs.

Knowing what types of graphics to use and when to use them for
your web site will help you avoid the many pitfalls of bad web
design.

Part 2 of this article will discuss how to optimize graphics for
your web site and factors that affect optimization.