Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

6 Fatal Design Flaws “Newbie” Web Designers Make: These M...

Even if you’re not an accomplished webmaster you can still have a professional looking website. You may be like I was five years ago—you’re teaching yourself web design and you’re starting to catch on to that HTML stuff. You’re so excited about your new bag of tricks—but slow down partner, sometimes less is more. In fact the only time more is more is when it concerns chocolate cheesecake or som. . .

How to Find a Reliable Host

The website hosting business is very competitive these days with hundreds of thousands of reliable hosting companies out there but what company is best for your needs and that will provide you with a reliable hosting service from customer support to the reliability of there web servers.The following is what is the most important aspects you need to consider when choosing a web hosting provider:. . .

Get Real-time Adsense Channel Stats And Find Out Which Ad...

If you have multiple sites or multiple directories in your site for different subjects and you have placed Adsense codes in your site, I am sure you would like to know: (a) from which site or directory you are earning the most / least, (b) which Adsense ads are being clicked and (c) from which page? CREATE CHANNELS FOR EACH SITE To get separate stats for each site / section / directory / page w. . .

How to create an RSS feed

An RSS news feed can be used to communicate with your target audience. It is an ideal means of notifying people of new content on your website without the need for them to keep on visiting your site. You can send newsletters to your readership without having to use email and risk being accused of spamming. You will be comfortable in the knowledge that people who request your feed are actually i. . .

3 Tips to improve your RSS marketing

You have created an RSS feed, or maybe you have several feeds and you post at least once a week to keep your RSS subscribers interested. So now you can sit back and watch your hit counter tally up all those extra visitors. Well you may think you have finished but there are a few things you can do to improve things still further.1. Let browsers and search engines know you have an RSS available.T. . .

8 Ways to Build a Really Bad Web Site for Search Engines

Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors a day, whilst others only get a handful or none. The reason is often because the web designers or Webmaster has built the site in one ‘really bad way’ or other. This can end up hindering the potential success of the web site. If you want to make sure your site is not a ‘traffic flop’ then here are some simple rules to follow.Bad Mo. . .

About Your Web Design? - Panic No More!

The Net is bombarded with different kinds of websites. When you visit from one website to another, you can’t help but compare. In some instances, you do not even have time to compare, involuntarily, you are clicking away from the site. If you wondered what was lacking in those sites that you disregarded, or what was common with those sites you well-liked, well the answer will be just as easy as. . .

Seven Red Hot Tips for Linking

1. Vary the keywords in your link ‘anchor’ textUnless you provide only one product or service the chances are you will want to rank for many key phrases. One way to help achieve this objective is to change the link text you want all new sites to use periodically. Vary the anchor text slightly each time and by doing so you can cover more of your targeted key phrases. This approach can help your . . .

The 10 Most Important Questions To Ask Your Web Host NOW!

So, you’re looking to build a web site or so fed up with your current web host that you are desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can research further.. . .

Are Web Templates Aimed to Exterminate the ‘Web Stars’?

Since the arrival of web templates, there has been an unwritten haunch that plagued the Net. Many businesses and companies have turned to these templates to be aided for a less costly web design. Compared to sums which were then paid to web designers, only a diminutive portion of it is spent. Thus, it entails a great amount of savings. Nevertheless, how sure are these venturers that they are ge. . .

Designing your Web Site for ALL Browsers

Let's face it. Building a web site that browses consistently on multiple platforms and multiple browsers is not always as easy as we would like. It is safe to say that most designers spend most of their time building their sites on a given platform. Those with the highest standards should, upon completion, take a look at their creation in different browsers and different platforms. Sure, you co. . .

Link Popularity: Why It's The Best Investment You Can Do ...

More and more search engines rank your web pages based on the number of links that point to your web site (link popularity). Google uses link popularity as its most important factor in ranking sites. HotBot, AltaVista, MSN, Inktomi, and others also use link popularity in their formulas.In the near future every major search engine will use link popularity, so developing and maintaining good link. . .

Are You Thinking Of Republishing RSS Feeds?

There is lively debate about the republishing of RSS feeds on other sites. The argument surrounds the use of RSS feeds from the feed publisher being used in an unfair manner. This includes republishing the entire articles and not displaying sufficient credit to the original source.Before we go into the details you may want to brush up on your understanding of RSS. This will help you fully appre. . .

What is SQL?

What is SQL? SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is the lingua franca in the database world. SQL is a standard that is used by all database vendors and programmers to define, extract and access the information that is stored in databases. SQL began life as an IBM creation but was standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for . . .

10 Prominent Website Mistakes

Nowadays, sites are getting better. With minimal design and highly maintained archives they continue to offer comprehensive services. However, prominent mistakes on several websites are still apparent.Here is a list of the website mistakes that scares visitors away and ruins the business reputation.1. The under construction sign. Putting an "under construction" sign on your website marks you as. . .

Breathtaking Color Power!

Colors convey character, emotion and intention. You are what colors you choose. Thus, your choice of colors should reflect the message or feeling you to hope to convey to the viewer.Red - Red is hot color. It is an established color of love, urgency, courage, danger, passion, blood, intensity, aggression, and competition. It is best used as an accent color. This color does not usually blend wel. . .

Basic Rules on Web Design

In every design there are basic rules to consider. For a web design, here are a few of the rules which you can take or break for your projects.1 Viewers do not want to scroll horizontally.As a personal experience, I find it really annoying to have to scroll the page to the right just to be able to read the whole content of the page. People should not be put to the task of having to pick their . . .

Creating Personal Web Sites

This is a two-part article about creating a web site on the web and the tools that you need to do that.During the last decade we have truly entered the information age. More and more people are becoming a part of the ever growing and wondrous community called the Internet. It was just over a decade ago that ‘Internet’ was just another new concept that a lot of people were skeptical about. Today. . .

How a Business Can Benefit from a Website

With over half of all U.S. households shopping online, the internet has become a massive market for small businesses to sell their products and services to consumers. The Internet is quickly becoming the “world’s market place”. Businesses benefit from websites because it saves money and time, reach a wider consumer market, gives customers what they want, and it will help keep up with competito. . .

Basic Rules on Page Layout and Color

For one to be able to stand out from the rest, one needs to go out of the box, break the rules, and some other clichés that apply to breaking out from the traditional. But before breaking any rule, you have to understand first the basic and foundation of the rule itself.First off, let's talk about page layout.The Rule – Too much boxes is bad for your health.One designer said that a mark of a de. . .

QuarkXpress Tips: How to Move Content Between Print and W...

Since its release in 1987, QuarkXpress had made an immediate impact to computer enthusiasts. QuarkXPress introduced precision typography, layout and color control to the desktop computer, and delivered those features to designers at a fraction of the cost of proprietary typesetting systems. Quark software programs had been widely utilized to create, design and manage their documents such as boo. . .

HSphere Control Panel Tips and Tricks - Power At Your Fin...

This series of articles is intended to give HSphere Control Panel knowledge. I will take you through the Hsphere Control Panel, step-by-step, item-by-item till we have discovered all the power that you have at your fingertips.Part One Discusses Setting Up Email Accounts.The first topic we are going to discuss is email. HSPHERE (the software running the control panel) offers many useful function. . .

How To Display RSS Feeds On Your Website

This article is intended as a guide for webmasters who want to display automatically updated content on their website in the form of RSS feeds. In this article I will cover the easiest method to implement using javascript for displaying RSS on websites to create additional dynamic content. This will allow you to display headlines from syndicated content around the web on your website.RSS to Ja. . .

Review on QuarkXpress 6.0

After almost two decades of existence, Quark has become the basic building block of any print designer’s toolkit. It has deservedly gained a reputation for reliable printing, offering consistent and dependable output that prevents costly mistakes. Now you can confidently add that tool to your Mac OS X workflow, because QuarkXPress 6.0 is available now and runs beautifully under Mac OS X.In this. . .

10 Ways to Achieve Superior Web Site Design

In order to achieve online success, one must have effective and reliable products and services and great web design as well. Many people are judging the book by its cover this is the reason why your website should also be superior.Here are 10 ways to carry out in order to ensure that your website design will turn out to be a superior one:1. Keep those banner programs away. Avoid plastering your. . .

Examining the Substance of Studio MX

To all web designers out there, this article is for you! I guess you already heard about Studio MX (I think so!) – the ideal bundle for professional web designers, bringing together Dreamweaver MX for page design, Flash MX for animation and interactivity, and Fireworks MX for editing and optimizing graphics. With all these components, it certainly provides professional functionality for every a. . .

Know-How in Microsoft Publisher

For those who still don’t know, Microsoft Publisher helps computer users to easily create, customize and publish materials such as flyers, brochures, catalogs, newsletters and websites. It provides tools to create professional and compelling marketing materials that will help you take your business further. With professional page layout and text tools, you can build a strong visual identity for. . .

Hexadecimal Color Notation on the Web

When designing elements for your webpage, you will often be called upon to specify a color. For example, the code for a span shown below specifies that the color of the text within the span will be yellow. <span style="color:yellow;">Text</span> Colors can be specified according to their names, for example "yellow", "green", or "blue". In many cases, these simple color names will wo. . .

Hey, Client, This Is Me! Sell With Your Writing Voice.

In a crowded market, clients will be seeking personality as they read what you've written -- they'll click right past pages that feel "been there, read that." They're looking for a voice that says, "Hey, client, this is me!" They want to know not just what you deliver -- but how. Will you be funny or serious? A perky cheerleader or a sardonic commentator? Will your view of life be based on . . .

Choosing a Web Host Based On Price? Don't!

It's tempting. There are so many companies offering cut-rate hosting – loaded with astounding post-futuristic techno-gizmo features ! – that it just makes sense to save a few dollars, right?Think again. First, consider how much you would be saving. If you run a business site, saving $5, $10 or even $15 a month is not a big saving. No going concern will become a stopping concern on account of. . .

What is PageRank?

What is Pagerank? - Pagerank is based on how many links to one website. PageRank is a value that represents how important a page is on the web. Robots or Spiders figures that when one page links to another page, it is casting a vote for the other page. Also the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote is. It matters because it is one of the most importan. . .

Opinion – Search Engine Success

This article is actually the summary to a book soon to be released by the author, titled “Guaranteed Website Success”. Opinions are quite often controversial. Such is the nature of this one.There a many opinions and conclusions being expressed by so called “experts” at this time. We can’t turn a blind eye to all this information but nothing will replace our own logic and powers of observatio. . .

Absolute & Relative Links How Do They Rank?

The question for this article is whether or not you should use "absolute url's" or "relative url's"? Not only that, this article researches whether or not Google ranks these methods differently.Absolute: You use the entire url pointing to the designated page. ex. www.yoursite.com/page1/index.htmlRelative: You use an automatic path to the fileex. /page1/index.htmlRelative gives a path that is "a. . .

Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors?

**How Colors are Used in web design:**Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs his attention.You can relate different groups of element on your screen- If you want to keep a navigational menu also at the bottom of page, you can use the. . .

10 helpful tips to follow when switching web hosts

You've made your decision to move from your website from your current web host to a new web host. The following tips will help you make the transition easier and make you aware of some potential pitfalls to avoid.1) Make sure the new web hosting plan you've chosen offers you the storage capabilities to handle all of your current website storage requirements. If your website is 50MB, you need to. . .

Choosing the Right Website Designer

You've made up your mind. You want to have a website to represent your business. The next decision to be made . . . who should you hire to develop your site?There are many people capable of building their own personal sites. They can put cute little comments and pictures of their pets or kids up for you to enjoy. But, when it comes to having a website that will be a form of marketing for your b. . .

Do You Really Need A Website?

Having a website is the one form of marketing your business that just keeps on giving! But how do you know if you need a website?Well, with the amount of information that is available with just a few keystrokes or clicks of the mouse, why wouldn’t you want your business’ information to be included?More and more people and businesses use the Internet to find information. Whether it is locally or. . .

Marketing Your Web Site

Congratulations! Your Web Site is finished! Now what? Your first instinct is to submit to every search engine possible and leave it up to them to bring traffic to your site. Despite what you may have been told, it doesn’t happen quite that way. Yes, you will need to submit to the search engines, and they will eventually bring traffic your site. It will take anywhere from 3 – 6 months for . . .

Keep Your Website Up-To-Date

In almost every business publication there are articles telling us how, as a small business, we need to have a website. This is very true! The Internet is where most people go to find a product or service that they are interested in or may have heard about. And, if your business is capable of serving customers throughout the globe, what better way to keep your information available to that huge. . .

Website Theft - Part 1 of 3 ~ What exactly is Copyright?

(Please note that some of the information included in this article has been quoted from various locations while other information is simply my personal opinion and you will probably feel my passion in my words.)The hot topic on many business related email discussion lists for the past little while has been website theft, both content & graphics. Either there seems to be a rash of this dishonest. . .

Website Theft - Part 2 of 3 ~ How do I know if my website...

(Please note that some of the information included in this article has been quoted from various locations while other information is simply my personal opinion and you will probably feel my passion in my words.)In the first instalment in our series on Website Theft, we looked at the definition of Copyright and what Copyright Law covers. In this instalment, we will look at how to find out if som. . .

The Importance of Links

Link: {(noun) - lin[ng]k} 1 : a connecting structure: 2 : something analogous to a link of chain: as a : a connecting element or factor b : a unit in a communication system c : an identifier attached to an element (as an index term) in a system in order to indicate or permit connection with other similarly identified elements (as defined by Merriam-Webster Online - http://www.m-w.com/)LINK… it. . .

Tips to Protect Your Downloads or Products

1. Upload robots.txt file in to your root directory and include the folder name where you set your downloads.More information on how to set robots.txt: http://www.webmasters-central.com/wp/se/robotstxt.shtml2. Set the permission of the download folder to 711 OR upload an index file to that folder. This makes that folder web inaccessible.For example create a folder named 'test'. Usually by defau. . .

Web Site Professionalism? What Is It?

Your web site should be- visitor friendly to navigate search engine friendly for the crawlers Automated with ecommerce and subscription forms...Your visitor should get the feeling that you know your 'stuff'.Here are few tips to show your web site professionalism:1. Uniform Layout and colors:When you see Arial font on one page, Verdana on another or some other on different page and top menu navi. . .

Reasons Why You Should Have A Weblogger Installed On Your...

I don't know about you, but when I built my first web site three years back I don't know anything about the webloggers. One day when I checking the features of my web host control panel (after two months of uploading my first home page) I saw the link 'Webstats'. That was the first time I get to know that I can know how many people are comming to my site. For few days I was thrilled to know abo. . .

Using "Title Tags" With Your Web Links & Images

Using "Title Tags" for your web links & images is an arsenal many companies fail to utilize when planning out their web site optimization. These tags will help search engines to navigate through your information.In the last topic we talked about Meta Tags within your web site source code. We also discussed how important it is to use the same words in your content that you included within y. . .

Is Reciprocal Linking Dead?

Is reciprocal Linking dead?I just read an article at SitePro News that really rings my bell.It was written by Mike Banks Valentine. Obviously being a very successful webmaster, one must pay attention to his words and his most recent article really mirrors my thoughts.Having just completed constructing a new website for my personal use, I have been looking for optimization improvements.The curre. . .

Metrics Matter!

Recently, I talked with a speaker about her "extremely successful" Website. She based this opinion on the fact that she was selling several e-books every day and generating "some calls". When I asked if she was reviewing her traffic analysis, she said "No, why should we - it's clearly working - we can tell that from the sales". I didn't ask if she knew how her sales and calls compared to the. . .

Web Hosting: To Switch or to Stay?

That’s a question that can only be answered by you. Depending on your current status and relationship you have with your provider, along with your evolving business objectives and needs, can determine what course of action to pursue. What are your issues and concerns? Ask yourself some basic questions and see where you stand after you’ve answered them. -Are you no longer satisfied with your cur. . .

Boost your Application Development

“Reduce Time Intensive Phases during Software Development with TierDeveloper”Software must be delivered faster than ever before, without sacrificing the time taken to design and implement architecture. Research bears that less than 70 percent of development projects are actually completed, and more than half come in late and over budget. TierDeveloper is a time saving OR mapping and. . .