Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

"Get It All" with Good Web Content

No matr how goud th infomation... why wood you tak content like this seriusly? No mater how good the infomation, if is riddiled with typos its asta lavista baby. You lose. Typos, misspellings, hideous grammar, exclamation overkill and run-on sentences all undermine a Web site's message. Your reader will have to work too hard, and you won't have that reader long. Grabbing a reader's attention i. . .

10 Things All Webmasters Should Know

Geared Up with a website and lots of energy to make a mark online? Spare some time and go through this. You'll be glad you did. If you don't already, this is something you MUST know!1. Maintain an easy to follow Navigational system throughout your website. 2. Do not use frames unless it's really important. Visitors detest getting stuck up in frames and Search Engines find it difficult to index . . .

What to avoid to make your website design effective?

The effective design is this one, which is maximum simplified, conformable to your users because they are your main purpose. This one, simply and clearly announcing what is your website about. This one, quickly offering the users exactly what they are expecting to see on your pages without being troubled with insignificant information. The big mistake made by lots of web designers is to project. . .

How To Get Profits From Your '404 Page Not Found' File

"'Page Not Found' on this Server. Check the URL and try again. Or Refresh the page..."This is the annoying error that we will come across every time we surf the web pages. Internet will be changing every minute and day. The web sites that were here are not found next day. The web pages that were here with '/page.html' are changed to '/page1.html' next day. Webmasters update their sites and ch. . .

Design vs Content: Who is KING?

Well it is not Elvis, that's for sure.I am a firm advocate of good design but most of the time people tend to interpret design as amazing graphics and astounding visuals they tend to forget that design is the culmination of every aspect of good and effective presentation into one. We all know that design and content have equal importance in regards to websites but if you must choose which one i. . .

Top 10 Web Design Mistakes

As a webmaster, you want to keep your visitors content so they’ll come back again. Below you will find ten common mistakes made by webmasters that may deter people from returning.1) Poor Color ChoiceThere's one important thing to keep in mind when designing your web site, and that is always keep it simple. More is not necessarily better. Your web site should contain no more than three colors. . . .

The Top 5 Roadblocks To Web Accessibility

IntroductionAccessibility is often the last thing on a web designer's mind when creating a website. This is not a trait unique to newbies or people working on a personal page. It is also a trait common to professional web designers (large and small) and even multinational corporations. In fact, most web designers have no clue about what accessibility is.Many who do know what accessibility is wi. . .

A More Accessible Pop-Up Window

More and more commercial websites are featuring pop-ups these days. In many instances, I'm noticing more pop-ups being used for advertising, probably due to the harsh reality that is "banner blindness". In other cases, pop-ups are used to display supplemental content to the parent page. Unfortunately, many designers know little about how to make a proper pop-up window that will be acc. . .

Protecting Your Business From Spam

Even being as careful as possible with my email address, I still used to receive more than 100 email messages a day, which is no exaggeration. Only about 10% of those emails were from people that I knew and the rest of the messages were unwanted email…”spam”. And I’m sure you can relate to my frustration. It is estimated that over seventy-six billion unwanted email messages were delivered in 20. . .

Making The Business Case For Web Standards

Through the explosive growth of the Web, companies have realized the benefit of building a strong online presence. By publishing a website to the Internet, companies are able to build their brand, market their products, support existing customers, release publicity pieces, and even take orders. Lost in the feverish pace of growth however, has been an eye on the effect that their current web-bui. . .

Growing Your Business In CyberSpace

A synopsis of Philippa Gamse's Presentation to the National Speakers Association, Washington DC chapter on Saturday, January 10, 2004Someone had asked Philippa why Websites are such a 'pain' in a pre-seminar question. Her opening reply was simple, yet powerful, "when you stop improving your site, you stop growing." She believes that Websites are a work in progress much like a business plan or. . .

8 Steps to Design a Surfer Friendly Website That Search E...

1) Crystal Clear Source Code (HTML/CSS)Many web-designers give far too much importance to the look and the graphics of the website while ignoring the clarity of the source code. Clean and well-written source code is the first step to website design success. If a spider cannot find your keywords, you might just as well forget about search engine optimization.2) Keywords in Title Tags.Keywords in. . .

The Top 20 Web Mistakes Small Businesses Make

My parents made a monster. Little did they know 30 years ago that they would get exactly what they wished for. Like W.W. Jacobs' tale of "The Monkey's Paw", they got what they wanted, for better and maybe even for worse.See, my father is a virtuous man. Never cursing, never doing drugs, always honest and hard working, he is of the fiber that idealists say America is built upon. He tau. . .

20 Tips for Creating a Customer-Friendly Web Site

What annoys an Internet user the most? A quick unscientific survey of a local Internet café suggests the top three turn-offs are: Sites that are very slow to download; Ones that are confusing to use; Sites that do not contain the promised information;The single most common reaction to sites like these is that the visitor very quickly moves on to another web site. Clearly, if you get things wron. . .

In Search of Webhosting: First Understand the Industry

In search of a webhosting company for personal or small business purposes? We advise you to take a look at this article to understand the hosting industry and study its dynamics to know what to look for before you make your choice. First, a brief introduction to the webhosting chain: the end consumer is served by about 3 upstream providers: the webhosting provider that they have direct contact . . .

Weave Your Own Web

Many elementary school children know the miracle of Charlotte's Web. Weaving the words "Some Pig" into the center of her web, Charlotte keeps Wilbur from the frying pan. E.B. White's story provides some fascinating guidelines for web spinning. Charlotte's wisdom assures Wilbur about what matters. On the one hand, when Wilbur tries creating his own web, she instructs, "You can't spin a web... . .

Five FAQ About Google PageRank

Five FAQ about Google PageRank1. What is PageRank and why should I care about it?PageRank is a formula that assigns a value to every page in the Google index. Google displays search results based on an algorithm which includes the value of PageRank. So the higher your site's PageRank, the more likely it is that you will receive a top listing on the search result page when someone types in the k. . .

Why You Need A Web Site

"I have a small business with just a couple of employees and I don’t think my product can really be sold online. Do I need a web site?"In this day and time, there is very little that can’t be sold over the Internet. There are over 20 million people shopping online, buying everything from movies to cars to real estate property. Research predicts that revenues will be over $200 billion in 2004 an. . .

Having Your Personal Portfolio On The Internet Will Help ...

If you’re an up and coming graphic/web designer just out of university, you’ll know it’s quite hard to break into the workforce. You have to contact employers one by one, spend your time traveling and lugging your portfolio to their offices. Well, things have changed, and for the better let me tell you. Now you can make your own on-line portfolio on the Internet, and send its web page address t. . .

Affiliate Alternative; Google Adsense

The Rise and Fall of Affiliate ProgramsAffiliate programs were once a great source of online revenue, a savvy webmaster with an eye for marketing could easily parley a site into a money making machine with a little luck and effort. However, the evolution and growth of the Internet has hampered the growth of fortune making affiliate programs. Constant search engine algorithm changes, along with . . .

Web Site Monitoring Is A Global Necessity

Bill Huang sits down at his computer. As he connects to the Internet, he glances out at the sun poking its nose above the Hong Kong skyline. It will be another busy day, and he has to order those slippers for his wife before rushing off to a meeting.He types in his search terms and Google faithfully reports: "Results 1 - 100 of about 1,760,000. Search took 0.34 seconds."Bill clicks on a the Big. . .

Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Usability

Build a Web site and the people will come.Ha! If it were only that easy! The Web is the one sales environment where the customer has total empowerment. They have all the resources (i.e., your competitors) just a mouse-click away.Not only are you in competition with the millions of other Web sites owners who sell the same product/service as you, but you are also competing for users' time and att. . .

Part I : Getting Free Hits Using These Simple Tips & Tricks

Search Engine OptimizationSearch engines still remain the #1 tool to generate free targeted traffic to any website, so make sure that your site is indexed in every major search engine. Do a through check of all the meta tags and make sure you are not missing any one. The most important meta tag is the "Title" tag which should be kept short and sweet. Then there comes the "Description" and the ". . .

Get FREE copy of Fully-Working TierDeveloper Windows Edi...

AlachiSoft TierDeveloper is an O/R mapping and code generation tool that simplifies the complexities of N-Tier Applications and lets you develop real-life applications in matter of days instead of months. TierDeveloper Windows Edition let you map middle-tier data objects against database tables and generate fully functional MTS COM/COM+ components using VB or C++ language. It helps you accelera. . .

Web Hosting: Shared or Dedicated - Which Should You Choose?

Before you begin your search for a web host you should first determine whether you need shared web hosting or dedicated web hosting.A shared web hosting account is an account on a web server that hosts other shared accounts. The number of accounts on one shared server can vary widely; some servers host a few hundred, while others have thousands of sites hosted on one server. Hosting your websit. . .

7 Steps to Web Sites that Sell

Your web site is like a fight of stairs into your business. Once you've got prospects to your home page - your online front door - you want to move them to action. If you miss a step or two, prospects will fall and won't make it in the door to your business. If you put the last step first and your first step last, prospects won't find the steps you want them to take. There is a hierarchy of inf. . .

Website Development: Become Your Own Expert

Starting and maintaining a business is challenging enough without the additional financial burden of hiring a web site expert to put your vision on paper. If you are starting your business on a “shoe string budget,” hiring someone to take your written materials to type in a basic format, add a few pictures and edit what you tell them periodically may not be sound money management.It is not nec. . .

The Reality of Successful Web Site Today

For a number of reasons, the analysis of customers' feedback is too often given little attention. Still, people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals (c) David Ogilvy. It's an inexcusable omission for those, who strive for having a successful web site. There are dozens of ways to receive feedback and unlimited ideas for your customer service improv. . .

Simplify Your Web Site for Clarity and Ease of Use

There are plenty of web sites out there in which basic elements of design are ignored. The viewer may experience overkill and frustration, instead of gently receiving the message or information. Here are some simple ways to help clarify your web site's message for your company or organization. Use the web as a tool for sales, community contact, and to improve, rather than detract from a busines. . .

How Do I Submit My Site To Search Engines?

You've built up a good site, put in a lot of content, but none of the search engines lists your site? If you'd like to know how to go ahead with Search Engine Submission the right way, read on. How do I get my site to be included in search-engines? That's a question a lot of people ask me. My question back to them is "Is your Site Search-engine ready?". A lot of sites don't get spidered in. . .

Keywords: The First Step To Recognition

Open Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.com/ ] and you'll see following proclamation by Brent Winters, President, FirstPlace Software, Inc., the makers of award-winning web promotion software, WebPosition Gold [ http://www.webposition.com/ ]: "Target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain." Why are keywords so important? And what indeed is a keyword? To an occasional web visi. . .

Enhance Your Website With A Yahoo-Style Directory

Does your website have a links/resources page?Do you exchange reciprocal with other websites to help boost your targeted traffic and search engine rankings?Do you believe that a relevant, yet comprehensive resources page provides tangible benefits to your site's visitors?If you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions, then you should consider adding an inexpensive (or free!) Yahoo-styl. . .

what Do Your Site Statistics Mean, Anyway?

What Do Your Site Statistics Mean, Anyway?The purpose of analyzing your web site statistics is to look for trends and to research the success level of your marketing campaigns. The numbers themselves can be misleading, as statistical packages count “hits” in different ways. If someone visits a page on your site doesn’t mean that they read it completely.The idea with web site statistics, then,. . .

Are You A Bill Clinton Webmaster?

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about my ebook, Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines, is whether I amended it to include post-Florida Google. "Florida" is the code name that search engine optimizer wizards gave to a November, 2003, shakeup at Google that left many webmasters covering themselves up with makeshift fig leaves while dangling upside down above the proverbial crocod. . .

The Contrast And Similarities Between A Web Designer And ...

The concept of web designing based on the nature and rapid growth of the Internet is nothing to boast of any more. This is because of the large number of web sites published to the Internet everyday, so as to showcase one’s presence and dominance on the World Wide Web. You may ask why this is so, well, the so simple answer is the rate at which technology is evolving.An example is illustra. . .

Why Dot-Coms Fail - a Webmaster's Perspective

Everyday we hear that another company goes out of business. When and why does a dot-com become a dot-bomb? After checking few dozen defunct companies, I think the main reasons for dot-coms failure are: Poor business plan. In the last years, a lot of investment capital was spent on poorly planned companies that clearly couldn't reach profitability. Poor company promotion. This applies both. . .

Why Aren't You Using CGI?

The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. For years I put it in the 'too-hard-basket'. But like most things in life, CGI is not as scary as it seems. If you have a cgi directory on your website and you know how to FTP files, chances are you can have a CGI script up and running in less than 20 minutes. CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is not a programming language but a standard that all. . .

What's Wrong With My Website?

I ask myself that question about once a month. My website looks fine to me, but what are other people seeing? And what are the Search Engines seeing? Here's a checklist of 10 ways to optimize your website for peak performance: 1. Browser Compatibility The first thing is to look at your website through other people's browsers. I do this regularly and I've sometimes been shocked at what I saw! AN. . .

What’s In A (Domain) Name?

Choosing a domain name is a very important first step for anyone starting a business on the Internet. This name is the first impression that strangers are going to have about you and your business. You are going to need to give this decision some real thought.It is very likely that you have a name in mind already. Something catchy, perhaps? Something that has meaning to you. Maybe you alwa. . .

Choosing the Right Web Designer

Introduction Creating your web site can be a tricky process. Choosing the best web design company for your site is extremely important. Unless you run a web-based business, you probably do not have web design experience within your company. Building your web site will take time and a little homework!To create a web site for your business, follow these 4 simple steps: Establish your goals Determ. . .

Get FASTER Download Times By Making BIGGER Web Pages!

As a webmaster you already know how important it is that your web pages download fast. In a nutshell, if your pages are slow, then you're losing visitors. And if you're losing visitors, you're losing money. To speed up your download times, most web design experts will suggest that you optimize your GIFs and JPGs so that they download faster. They'll suggest that you make your images smaller or . . .

Web Site Templates

How to make web website x 10 times cheaper and x 10 times faster.Take a look: http://www.templatemonster.com/~david/article/106-m.jpghttp://www.templatemonster.com/~david/article/107-m.jpghttp://www.templatemonster.com/~david/article/109-m.jpghttp://www.templatemonster.com/~david/article/110-m.jpghttp://www.templatemonster.com/~david/article/137-m.jpghttp://www.templatemonster.com/~david/articl. . .

The Immutable Laws Of Effective Navigation - Part 1

The first immutable law of effective navigation: It's gotta be readily available.Visitors should not have to hunt for your navigation or wonder where to find it. If you've done your job right, it will be right there when they are ready for it.The struggle in creating good navigation is to figure out what type of navigation the visitor is going to need, when he is going to need it, and where the. . .

Advantages for Using FrontPage... maybe this HTML editor ...

Ever since I've been doing SEO work, I've always griped and complained about FrontPage and all the extraneous code it puts in the section of the page, etc.Then recently, I had the opportunity to visit with a group of advanced search engine optimizers, and I was shocked to find that many of them use FrontPage and love it.FrontPage??!!The first thing I learned is that there are ways to keep out . . .

I Don’t Need A Website!….Do I?

Once upon a time, in a small home office, a busy entrepreneur wondered why he wasn’t quite as busy as he would like to be. “I market my business as much as possible”, said the entrepreneur, who has implemented many marketing procedures while running his business.Our entrepreneur, we’ll call him Bob, runs a computer repair business. His services allow him to provide his clients with his expert a. . .

Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?

The great debate: how much copy you should have on your site, particularly on the home page?Do you subscribe to the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words--and therefore images, not a lot of text, should be the main thrust of your home page? Or do words have more power to capture a visitor's attention and compel them to buy--meaning you should aim for powerful copy?As a graphic designer,. . .

How To Turn Your Newsletter Into a Web Page... In 45 Seco...

Do you place back-issues of your Newsletter on your website? There are two good reasons why you should: (1) It shows potential subscribers that you're serious about your Newsletter (2) Newsletters are rich in keywords, so it's a very good idea to turn back-issues of your Newsletter into HTML documents and then submit them to the major Search Engines Here's a little trick that will help you form. . .

Leave those Links Blue!

Don't mess with those links! When you're designing your site, you should leave your text links in their natural state--blue and underlined. We all want to be creative and not do the bland, expected, normal thing. We want to change our links to red, green, yellow, even black--anything but blue. And we have the urge to take off those underlines. Resist the temptation. It's hard. But there's a goo. . .

Why Choosing Form Over Function Kills Your Site

Never put form over function. Why? Because it's crucial that visitors actually be able to USE your site. Everything you do must be designed to be as easy for the visitor to understand as possible. Everything should be functional first.If you put form before function, you sacrifice your visitor's best interest for your own preferences. By definition, putting form over function means you sacrific. . .

Designing Professional Web Pages

If your Web site doesn't project a professional and polished image to your visitors, your credibility and that of your products and services will suffer. Image is everything -- especially online where your competitor is only one mouse click away!Before your first HTML code is written, you will need to consider your Web site's navigational structure, color scheme and page layout. Is your content. . .