Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Monitoring Website Availability

Monitoring Server Uptime to Avoid Revenue ReductionMonitoring your website's uptime is imperative to the success of your online endeavors. Why? While it's important to know if your website is running and your host is providing a good service (so you can receive money back or a credit if there is a guarantee), it’s even better to be proactive about getting it back online faster so you don’t lose. . .

Testament to Testimonials

Should You Use Testimonials on Your Website?We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread strategically throughout the site or all together on their own glorious page. They’re there with the intent of leading us toward that high dollar purchase or convincing us of something’s legitimacy. Sometimes we read them and sometimes we won’t. Sometimes we believe them and sometim. . .

CSS – Site Design Basics Part One

When it comes to designing a Website, there are several modern programming techniques that can make the designer’s task much easier. Once the content and focus of the Website is decided, layout should become the focus of development. What fonts will be used for the various links and text? Which color will be used to make certain links more prominent than others? Most importantly, how will the d. . .

You Too Can Have an Amazing Website

It is a well-known fact that a successful business depends greatly on how it is marketed. With an ever increasing dependence on the web, the use of a professional website is not only a necessity, but a priority. Although it is a common thought that only large businesses can have top-notch websites, with the tools available today what seemed impractical can now be a reality. Best of all, desi. . .

How Much Bandwidth Does Your Web Site Need?

One of the most common concerns people have when deciding to host a web site is figuring out how much bandwidth they’ll need. Get too little bandwidth and you might be hit with overage fees or have your web site shut off altogether. Get too much and you’re paying for bandwidth that you don’t really need. The following is a helpful guide for determining the amount of bandwidth that’s right fo. . .

Content Management

More and more businesses are recognizing the importance of content management when it comes to their websites. Website content is more important than ever before, and as the Internet matures and changes, it is likely be become even more important. Many smart companies are beginning to make their website content the centerpiece of their Internet presence.Content management means many things to d. . .

Should You Renew With Your Current Host? - Your Website I...

Sometime during this year the chances are you're going to have to renew your hosting package. Can you be sure you’re still getting the best deal for your site?Hosting companies, as businesses, spring up all the time. This is because they are so easy to set up. Nowadays you can become a reseller for free.Starting a proper hosting company with your own server - simply put - involves buying a com. . .

Website Checklist

10 Basic Things Your Website Should Have ...__ all short sentences and paragraphs (more reader friendly) __ lots of "white" space (more appealing) __ graphics (makes site more interesting and entertaining) __ links (widens reader interest)(boosts search engine ranking) __ search engine listings (so people can find your site) __ banner at top (makes home page look professional) __ contact info (. . .

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Almost All Web Designers Make -- A...

Huge Mistake #1: Creating a Website with Flash -- Did you know in a recent study, top internet marketers discovered that having a website created with Flash, actually DECREASED the response from prospects and customers by as much as three-hundred-and-seventy percent?Here's why: Your prospects and customers are most likely visiting your website using all types of different computers, connection . . .

Track Your Visitors, Using PHP

There are many different traffic analysis tools, ranging from simple counters to complete traffic analyzers. Although there are some free ones, most of them come with a price tag. Why not do it yourself? With PHP, you can easily create a log file within minutes. In this article I will show you how!Getting the informationThe most important part is getting the information from your visitor. Thank. . .

MySQL Database Handling in PHP

Most interactive websites nowadays require data to be presented dynamically and interactively based on input from the user. For example, a customer may need to log into a retail website to check his purchasing history. In this instance, the website would have stored two types of data in order for the customer to perform the check – the customer’s personal login details; and the customer’s purch. . .

How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site

So youve decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo thats right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you are happy with your choice. 1. Decide where you want to purchase your stock photography. There are large agencies and small independent photographers. W. . .

Seven Things to do NOW to Look Good ALWAYS!

Fashion magazines target people every day with lists and charts telling them the latest trends and techniques to look better, skinnier, smarter, where to buy the hippest clothes or the latest shoes! If you’re a woman, you are probably bombarded more often than you like, and if you’re a man, you may not get the information that you really want to know! Due to the glut of information available,. . .

Developing State-enabled Applications With PHP

Installment 1Developing State-enabled Applications With PHPWhen a user is browsing through a website and is surfing from one web page to another, sometimes the website needs to remember the actions (e.g. choices) performed by the user. For example, in a website that sells DVDs, the user typically browses through a list of DVDs and selects individual DVDs for check out at the end of the shopping. . .

PHP On-The-Fly!

IntroductionPHP can be used for a lot of different things, and is one of the most powerful scripting languages available on the web. Not to mention it's extremely cheap and widely used. However, one thing that PHP is lacking, and in fact most scripting languages are, is a way to update pages in real-time, without having to reload a page or submit a form.The internet wasn't made for this. The we. . .

Are your SEO efforts going to waste?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long and complicated process that can be highly rewarding if done correctly. SEO is not a waste of time, but can be if your site doesn’t appeal to visitors or function properly. Your potential customer will be turned off if your site lacks trustworthiness, an eye pleasing color scheme and easy to use navigation. Why lose visitors and possible sales because . . .

You've Got a New Website, But How Do You Get Folks to Loo...

I took a look at a new Website recently in response to a request for a site review on one of my favorite forums. And, while the appearance was pleasing, there wasn't really much there. Too often, new folks to the Internet marketing world make this crucial mistake. They think that if they build a stay at home job website, customers will automaically show up and start buying stuff. When those cus. . .

Thinking About Changing to a New Web Hosting Company? 5 S...

Perhaps your web hosting company has a technical support group that never answers their email, or their control panel is difficult to use. Maybe your website has been having more downtime than uptime. Whatever the reason you are thinking of switching hosts, make sure you have your ducks in a row before making the move. Here are five things to think about as you transition your website:1. Make s. . .

How Video Can Be Used Effectively Online

A powerful way to convey your communication messages to your audience is to be able to have your promotional video available on your website. Yet, we have probably all experienced visiting a website and clicking on a video only to have to been irritated that the content is not viewable or that the sound is inaudible. The result is we leave the website in frustration.So how do you make sure the . . .

How To Get A Site Online And Have It Making Money

When building and getting a site online you have to think of a number of things. Some of these include the following:1. What is your site going to be aboutIf you want to get a site online to make money then you need to do some good research before you choose what your site is going to be about. This is because there is no point in you choosing a topic for your site where other people have no in. . .

How to find good Web Hosting for your site!

When building your first site the main things that you will probably think about is what types of content you will be adding to your site, how you are going to get visitors to your site and how you are going to generate good revenue from your site.Well, all of the things mentioned above are crucial things to consider, but then again, what’s the point in thinking about them if you can’t even get. . .

Are Web Templates Worth It?

First off, I am a designer. Now you're thinking, here's this guy trying to convince me to hire a designer costing a few hundred to a few thousand dollars instead of buying a pre-made web template for about $60. Well, these days most companies don't have the money to invest in a costly web site and there are thousands of hungry web designers out there, plus now there are web template resources. . . .

Integrating Advertising into Your Web Design

If you are going to be placing ads on your website, you'll want to put some thought into how you'll integrate them. Poor integration of ads into your website will cause visitors to click away fast. Successful integration of ads into your site can be highly profitable. Before I show you where to position ads, I want to mention a few important points about ads. 1. Ratio of ads to content How many. . .

E-Commerce Is Back On The Fast Track

How much holiday shopping did you do on-line this year? If you are reading this, then chances are good that you made at least one purchase on-line. Over 54% of all Americans did it [1]. A much higher percentage (80%) of Internet users did it.Not only did you do it, you liked it! Less than 7% of on-line shoppers reported a bad experience with 88% reporting they were satisfied or very satisfied [. . .

eCommerce, How much does it cost?

Making profits with your existing website design or creating a new online store can be exciting, affordable and most of all; rewarding. Mmmm . . . that's what the last sales guy told me.What is eCommerce (or selling via the Internet)? It is similar to selling through a physical building's business storefront, with one big difference: the costs for eCommerce are lower. The lower costs alone make. . .

404 Error Pages-What are they and how do you create one?

We’ve all seen them, you’ve been browsing a website and you click a link and nothing loads apart from the words ‘404 Error’ along with the usual stuff.So what is a 404 Error page? The 404 Error page, basically informs the user that the server cannot find the file they are looking for. However, instead of using the default 404 Error page you can create your own, this is how you do it.First, you . . .

Windows vs Linux : Hosting

The Basics of Linux & Windows : Linux (and its close relation Unix) and Windows 2000 (and its close cousin Windows NT) are types of software (known as operating systems) that web servers use to do the kind of things that web servers do. You do not need to know any real detail of either to make a decision as to which you need but here a few guidelines.Just because you use a windows desktop PC do. . .

How Does Your Website Measure Up?

Does your website make a good first impression? Is the navigation intuitive? Is the content appropriate for your audience? You've had your website up and running for a while now but you've always had a nagging suspicion that your website is lacking effectiveness and you just can't put your finger on it. You've dabbled with colors, added/removed images re-written the text but it still feels as i. . .

Web Hosting: Which Is The Host With The Most?

So you want to publish a web site do you? Welcome to the club. These days it seems that almost everyone has a web site of some kind, and thousands more continue to be launched every day. It's challenging enough to design a site and fill it with interesting content, but when all is said and done another challenge still remains - where to host it?A popular choice for newbie webmasters, and even e. . .

PIM Team Case Study: Creating Text Effects With PHP and GD

See how you can create graphic effects on text with PHP and GD - drop shadows, arcs, fonts and colors.ProblemA-tec Signs and Sraphics Inc. launched a web site with the idea to sell decals online. To achieve better customers ineterest the website had to integrate online decal builder. The company is offering also decals for vehicles which brought some specific requirements to the builder like h. . .

Three Way Linking - Webmaster Strategy

Three way linking and concerns.For many years SEO experts were happy with two way linking or reciprocal linking but in due time researchers anticipated a change in Search Engine’s Algo.Not before too late it happened and the value of reciprocal linking started decreasing, it can never die but was almost like a dead. Now only escape was one way link, and getting one way link was close to impossi. . .

CSS - Maximum Benefits

What is CSS? CSS is a simple file which controls the visual appearance of a Web page without compromising its structure. Using CSS we can control our font size, font color, link color and many other attributes on our web page. This will make our HTML code much more readable and the page size will be reduced.Why to use it and how to use it properlyIf you don't use CSS on your web pages and you h. . .

Determine Your Popularity On The Web

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" I'm going to bet that it's not you, um I mean, not your website. With all of the new websites popping up all over the place how do you know where you rank? How popular is your site compared to the next one?In most cases it's safe to say that we all want our website to be popular. Maybe it means our business will be more profitable or m. . .

If You Build It They Will Come - Not Without Web Marketing!

I'm sure everybody has received an email from a company promising to get their website placed first on all the major search engines. Maybe some of you have even tried these services or may be thinking about it right now.NetSource would like to say BE CAREFUL! Did you know that it is possible that some search engine optimization companies could actually do things to get your website banned from . . .

Basic Web Design Principles

Home PageHome page should clearly indicate what the site is about. Provide top level navigation on the first page, your logo, and tell to the visitor what he can found on your web site. Your home page should be informative, and should call your visitor on action. Home page is the place where the visitor decides what he will do, click on some of your links, or leave the site. If you have a disco. . .

What makes a good Web Hosting Provider!

When building your website and getting it hosted online, you want your site to be up and running on the World Wide Web 24/7 without any hitches so that it is making you money all the time and all you have to worry about then is getting visitors to your site, doing seo, getting repeat visitors, maximizing your sites revenue, etc. You don’t want to have to worry about your web hosting and it’s st. . .

Make your site quick to load!

The time it takes to load your site can make or break a visitor’s first impression of your site. If your site takes too long to load, the visitor will click “Stop” or “Back” and leave your web site. If you are a business and offering people important information, it is critical to have a nice design, with a quick load time. You may want to check out the load time of your page, to indeed see if . . .

Web Design Tips To Grow Your Online Sales

The way you design your web site affects your visitors’ online experience. As each visitor to your site is a potential customer, the easier they find your web site to use and the more they enjoy being on it, the higher the chance that they will make a purchase. Therefore, a well designed web site really CAN boost your sales!In this article I’ll share my five favorite web design tips to help you. . .

Design Your Site For Traffic In 2005

What better way to start the new year than with more traffic to your web site. Web traffic is a critical part of your internet business and it is imperative that you design it to bring you the most amount of traffic possible. Designing your site for traffic includes offering good content, easy navigation and a logical flow. Additionally you must also build your site to draw traffic from the sea. . .

Basic Design Principles Part 2

Tone and TextureThis specifically applies to drawings more than photography, but tone and texture are very important. Tone refers to shading of light and dark on an object and texture is the visual and tactile surface characteristics of an object.Here’s a list of things that affect the tone and texture of an objects appearance.1. The direction from which the light is coming. (Left, right, above. . .

The Meta Tag Myth

The more the better right? Wrong. At least when it comes to meta tags. The history of the meta tag started off as a nice tool that web sites could use to show the search engines what the site was about without the words showing up on the actual page. It seemed like a great idea until people started to abuse the meta tag. They would add highly searched for keywords that were unrelated to their s. . .

All About Google

If you read The Search Engine Showdown at www.abalone.ca/resources/searchenginetest.html, you know Google is my favourite search engine. Why? Google always offers the most results for any given search (they currently have over 8 billion pages indexed), it's faster than the Audi Quattro we test drove this morning, and 9 times out of ten, in my experience, all the front page results are relevant . . .

Domain Names Security : How safe is yours ?

The security of domain name registrations is an increasing concern for domain name registrants and registrars. However, there are steps you can take to increase the security of your domain name registrations.Domain Name Security is often neglected by most organisations. Infact a large number of hacking attempts do not really need to happen at the Web Server level. Most hackers can fairly disrup. . .

How I reached #1 in Yahoo!

By accident, no all that reading and studying statistics finally paid off. I started out by reading articles from people with opposing views and trying to figure out who was wrong and who was right. To find the right person to listen to I didn’t only look at his educational background, but was more interested in his results. Good thing too, because results I found. And I hope people look at. . .

Mobile Accessibility - Your website in the year 2005

Throughout 2004 the number of web enabled portable devices boomed. By “portable devices" I mean PDAs and smart phones. What does this mean for you? Well it depends whether or not you care about your visitors’ experience - you build your website for visitors so you really should!Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft and others have already applied to ICANN for the new TLD (Top Level Domain) .mobi. If the n. . .

Web Sites Share Your Dream With The World

With over 16 million web sites on the Internet, how do you get your home-based business's site noticed?There is much to discuss when it comes to web sites, but this article will consider some basic ideas for your web site's design.Ask three people for their Internet design opinions and you'll get three different answers. One thing's for sure, though:K I S SThat's right, Keep It Simple Stupid. . . .

Link Popularity for a Successful Website: How (Not) to Go...

A classic way of getting seen and noticed on the web is to make sure your site is linked to as many other sites as possible. The strategy of link-exchange has been so overused and abused that search engines are now wary of it and may penalize sites that are linking to "link farms", or to any other sites with non-relevant content. This is the way it should be. We all want our web browsing experi. . .

Dotcom Business Plans Archive project

One of the most important initiatives in the domain of business documentation is that of professor David Kirsch from the University of Maryland, who thought of a dotcom Business Plan Archive - , a project that consists of collecting business plans for posterity. The project was started in 2002, through the Web portal businessplanarchive.org. The site was built by Webmergers.com and the Universi. . .

The Smartass Series #1 -- Guide to Building the Perfect W...

~A man [woman] is a success if he [she] gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he [she] does what he [she] wants to do. Bob Dylan~I’m smart. Wicked smart. Too smart for my own good. At the same time (as they said when I was as kid and as it still applies), I’m too big for my own britches. So I put those prissy pantalones to some good effort and I teach others how t. . .

Score BIG With The Search Engines - Maximising Your Site'...

I often get asked, "How do I improve my site's performance in the search engine's." or "I have a small budget, how can I compete with the larger sites." It can seem daunting when you type in your key search term and you see Google returning 200,000 results! Over the course of this article I am going to teach you some techniques that you can use to improve your sites ranking in the major search . . .