Tips to Protect Your Downloads or Products

Tips to Protect Your Downloads or Products

by: Radhika Venkata

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.webmasterscentral.com/wp/se/robotstxt.shtml

2. 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 ‘testก. Usually by default it will be chmoded to 755 or 777. Put some files like test.htm, test1.htm.

Now you type the URL of the folder yourdomain.com/test/

What will you see? You will see the folder /test with its files in it. Now upload an index file or chmod the folder to 711. Now access the URL. You will see index file or permission denied error.

3. Name the download folders something like กCDf54eSก. Not like กdownloadsก or กproductsก etc.

4. If your customer downloads your product once and don’t need or don’t have to access to your folder then you can set his access to expire for certain days.

For this you need a cgi script that controls your members access based on days, ip address or number of accesses. http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/ipppro/index.html This script also protects your thankyou.html pages and expires them after certain time.

5. If you have a membership site and you need to stop password abuse or sharing you can use scripts like:

http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/macpro.shtml

http://www.monstersubmit.com/sentry/

6. Protect your download links: Like if you keep …domain.com/downloads/product.zip, everybody knows the download URL. You can use cgi scripts that discloses the download path. http://www.cgiscripting.com/downloader.shtml

7. If you use If you are selling ebooks, you can use password protection to your ebooks. Once your ebook is protected, after your buyer downloads it, you can send it to him to open the ebook.

Some ebook compilers with this password protection features:

http://www.ebookeditpro.com/

http://www.ebookcreator.com/

About The Author

Radhika Venkata Subscribe to กEbookBiz Magazineก which is completely focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights every month!

http://www.ebooksworld.com/freetosell.shtml

Webmaster Resources: List Your product, ezine or web site free! http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

This article was posted on November 14, 2003

by Radhika Venkata

Defend Your Thank You Folders From URL Guessers

Defend Your Thank You Folders From URL Guessers

by: Robert Plank

If you sell downloadable products, you’re going to have a thank you page (a URL where the buyer is redirected after a sale). With just a couple lines of HTACCESS code you can make that folder airtight.

You shouldn’t be putting a buyer through a mandatory signup process to download the product. They already paid, just give them the file right away and offer a chance to optin for updates later. Otherwise youกll be getting lots of support emails from people asking where the product is they just paid for.

Itกs always smart to name your thank you page something with a number a name like postorder735.html or thankyou9987.html will do. You just want to make this impossible to guess.

When itกs possible I like to separate the sales page from the download, so I stash them in a folder called something like กdownloadก or กorder.ก Problem: If you have these separate folders, these URL guessers can see the contents of them.

The obvious solution is to put an index.html in the folder, which keeps its contents from being listed… but what if you have, say, 25 of these folders? Do you need 25 index.html files?

No, and thatกs where HTACCESS comes in. Open up a new text file in Notepad and put this text in exactly:

Options Indexes

Then save the file as: .htaccess (WITH that dot in front)

Upload it to the root of your web site. Now, if you try to view the contents of a folder thatกs missing an index.html file, your browser will show a ก403 Forbiddenก error.

Don’t worry, this won’t block out all files. It will simply keep a guesser from viewing a list of what files are in a given folder.

If you don’t want to see that ugly generic Forbidden page, you can supply your own by adding this line to that .htaccess file of yours:

ErrorDocument 403 /sorry.html

Now you can put your message into a HTML file (maybe it could be a link to the main page of your site), put it into a file named sorry.html and upload it. Now youกll have a friendly notice that says anything you want.

One last bonus tip for you. If your forbidden message is extremely short, you don’t even need to create a separate HTML document. If itกs possible for your message to fit all on one line you can remove that ErrorDocument line above from your .htaccess file and put in something like this:

ErrorDocument 403 กSorry…

Iกm aware that there is a starting quote and no ending quote. Thatกs just how you have to type it. If you put in a quote at the end there it would show up in your HTML document. I know it looks funny, but it works. Remember that กSorry…ก text is HTML so you could put in line breaks, links, bold tags, H1, H2 tags, and so on. Itกs all up to you.

About The Author

Robert Plank

Experienced PHP/JavaScript Tutor Solves 19 Of Your Most Frustrating Direct Response Sales Page HangUps

http://www.salespagetactics.com/Your_Clickbank_ID

The above article may be copied as long as this resource box is included, You may rebrand the above URL with your Clickbank ID however.

This article was posted on March 27

by Robert Plank

How To Use Articles To Build Your Affiliate Progra

How To Use Articles To Build Your Affiliate Program

by: Michael Southon

Articles are the perfect promotional tool for your affiliates they bring in more sales than banners, book covers, and ezine ads. Your affiliates can post them on their website, use them in their newsletter, or turn them into a free eBook.

One the easiest ways to build your affiliate program is to offer your articles as a zip file and allow people to replace the link in the resource box with their affiliate link.

Here is how to do it:

1. Copy all your articles as text files, formatted to 60 charactersperline, to a single folder on your hard disk.

2. Create another text file in the same folder called กindex of articlesก which lists each article by title and file name.

3. In the กindex of articlesก write a brief message explaining how to join your affiliate program and how to customize the affiliate link in the resource box.

You can see an example of this at:

http://www.ezinewriter.com/michaelsouthonarticles.zip

Then just zip your กarticlesก folder using WinZip. WinZip is free and can be downloaded from: http://www.winzip.com/download.htm

To create a zip file using WinZip, just follow these steps:

1. Open WinZip and click on กFileก and กNew Archiveก.

2. In the กNew Archiveก box, choose a folder where you want to save your zip file

3. Choose a name for your zip file and press OK

4. In the กAddก window, browse until you find your กarticlesก folder and doubleclick

5. Click on กAdd with wildcardsก

Thatกs it! Your articles zip file has been created.

Offer your articles zip file for free download in as many places as possible:

on the index page of your website

on your affiliates tool kit page

in the welcome message for your newsletter

in your email mini course

as a bonus gift to your customers

in your sig file

This technique will not only increase sales of your existing affiliates it will quickly bring you dozens of new affiliates.

Good luck with your articles!

About The Author

Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to build a successful online business.

Free Mini Course: [email protected]

Website: http://www.ezinewriter.com/

This article was posted on July 18, 2003

by Michael Southon

5 Simple Steps to Protect your Digital Downloads

5 Simple Steps to Protect your Digital Downloads

by: Priya Florence Shah

A couple of days ago, I was searching for a popular eBook online.

Now Iกm not going to tell you the name of this eBook for reasons youกll understand in the next few minutes.

Okay, so here I was, opening Google, entering the name of the eBook clicking search, and checking through the first few pages of search results.

> Forward to Page 5 of Google

I saw a link that looked like a PDF document.

Right click > open in new window

There, in full glory, was the eBook I was searching for!

The complete eBook, mind you, not a trial or demo sitting there for the world to download.

And this is a product that sells for over $25 online!!

Obviously Iกm not going to tell you the name of the eBook because it would not be fair to the reseller.

But it just made me realise that one of the reasons digital theft is so prevalent is simply because… its so EASY!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t condone theft of any kind digital or otherwise.

But would YOU shell out $25 for a product that everyone can กlegallyก download off the 5th page of Google?

Most people would just shrug their shoulders, hit the save button and thank their lucky stars.

Result: The opposite of $ KACHING $ for the sellers

One of the problems with selling digital products online is that it is so SIMPLE to do. So now everyone and their grandmother wants to do it.

But most newbies have no idea that it requires only a few simple steps to ensure a moderate degree of security for your downloads.

So here Iกve outlined the five most BASIC security steps That anyone selling digital products online must take.

These will take you only a few minutes to do, and you do not need any special software or programming knowledge.

1. ZIP THAT FILE

The biggest problem arises when sellers store their downloads as PDF documents, as in my experience above.

Now you should know that Google, Altavista and many other search engines can read and list PDF files.

While this may not be a problem for those adding content to their sites in the form of PDF newsletters and reports, it also means that you must never store a product you want to SELL as a PDF file (unless it is in a password protected folder).

It gets worse. Google also converts your PDF files into HTML documents. So ordinary browsers not only have access to your PDF file, but horror of horrors they can download your SOURCE FILE as well!!

The next logical step is for them to customize it with their own links, compile it and sell it or give it away.

Result: The opposite of $ KACHING $ for the sellers …AND the author.

A simple way of keeping your files out of the reach of spiders is to upload them as a zip file. Search engines cannot look inside zip files (yet) and list their contents.

2. CREATE AN INDEX.HTML FILE

You MUST have an index.html file in EVERY folder. It acts like a curtain that keeps your files away from prying eyes.

A folder without an index file is like a house without walls. Everyone can enter and help themselves to the valuables.

The กindex.htmก file is the default file that opens when you click on the link here

http://ebizwhizpublishing.com/

If you don’t create an index.htm or index.html file, youกd be allowing everyone to directly access the root directory of the folder where you store your downloads.

Here is a folder I uploaded to show you what happens when you DON’t have an index file. http://ebizwhizpublishing.com/test/

As you can see, all the files stored in it are clearly visible and ready to download.

And yes, feel free to help yourself I won’t accuse you of stealing 🙂

3. SHOW PEEPING TOMS THE EXIT

You can use a simple script to redirect peeping Toms back to your home page.

Hereกs the easiest way to do it using what it called a กmeta refresh tag.ก Add it between the Header tags like this.

Just replace my URL with your own in the example above and paste it into the head of your document (before your text).

You can see how it works by clicking on the test folder here. http://ebizwhizpublishing.com/redirect/

Now even though you click on the folder URL, you will be sent to my home page.

4. SPIDERPROOF YOUR DOWNLOAD PAGES

To prevent search engine spiders from reading and listing the download pages that link to your eBooks add the tag below in the head of the document.

This กRobotก tag tells the spider that this page is not to be spidered or indexed. As a result it should never show up on a search.

5. CHANGE YOUR DOWNLOAD LINKS OFTEN

To prevent unscrupulous people from posting your download links on forums or message boards, change the folder or file name where you store them from time to time, even if it means having to change the download links in your merchant account.

Using these methods will give you a good degree of satisfaction, knowing that you have taken the most basic steps to protect your digital valuables and at absolutely no cost to you.

If you want greater security and more information on plugging the security loopholes in your website, you should take a look at this very revealing report by Bogdan Ravaru.

The HTML Security Report http://ebizwhizpublishing.com/secureport/

About The Author

Priya Shah is webmistress of http://www.1whey2health.com.

Subscribe to กHealth eBizก http://healthebiz.com for information on wellness marketing trends and online marketing tips for Health & Wellness Marketers

This article was posted on April 11, 2003

by Priya Florence Shah

HTACCESS Wrappers with PHP

HTACCESS Wrappers with PHP

by: Robert Plank

HTACCESS is a remarkable tool you can use for password protection, error handling (like custom 404 pages), or HTTP redirects. It can also be used to transform whole folders in seconds: adding headers to all your HTML documents, watermarking all your images, and more.

A wrapper is like a middleman. Using htaccess you can tell your web server to กforwardก certain files to PHP scripts of yours. When a visitor tries to load an image in their browser, you could activate a script that adds a watermark to the image. When an HTML page is loaded you could query an IPtocountry database and have your HTML pages translated into the native language of your visitorกs countryoforigin.

Every file in a folder, or all files of a certain type in a folder, can be instructed to go through a PHP script.

TORTILLA WRAP

Pretend you host several affiliate sites, or a fullblown hosting service like Geocities. Most sites running on free hosting services have some kind of advertisement the owners use to generate revenue. These aren’t applied voluntarily by the users of these services. The ads don’t even show up on their source files, just when displayed on the web.

Itกs possible to replicate this feature using less than 10 lines of PHP and htaccess code. To start off, make a folder on your web host called กheaderก. Create a new text file and enter the following:

AddHandler headered .htm

AddHandler headered .html

Action headered /header/header.php

This designates files with the extension ก.htmก and ก.htmlก to a type called กheaderedก. The name กheaderedก can really be anything, itกs just a way of labeling a group of files. The last line there tells the web server that if any of the file types in the group called กheaderedก are called, we should instead execute the script ก/header/header.phpก. This is the relative path, so if your URL is http://your.host, this will run http://your.host/header/header.php.

Thatกs all youกve got to do for the htaccess file. Save that as กhtaccess.txtก weกll get back to it later.

For the actual wrapper, create a new text file with the standard tags, then assign your header and footer file names to variables called $header and $footer.

$header = กheader.htmlก;

$footer = กfooter.htmlก;

Redirecting a user to our script doesn’t pass its contents to it, just the filename. If you call phpinfo() in your script and scroll to the bottom you can see all the server variables which give us the name. The element ‘reQUEST_URIก in $_SERVER gives us the relative path (/header/sample.html), but we want the full system path since we’re going to be reading the actual file (/home/username/wwwroot/your.host/header/sample.html), which is กPATH_TRANSLATEDก.

$file = $_SERVER[กPATH_TRANSLATEDก];

The name of the file that just tried to be shown is now stored in the variable $file. Three simple things are left: output the header, output the actual file, then output the footer.

readfile($header);

readfile($file);

readfile($footer);

Thatกs it. Hereกs the entire header.php file:

All that, in just nine lines of code. Download it here: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/header.zip

That contains the htaccess file and PHP wrapper script, along with a sample header, footer, and a test page. Upload all five files to your web host, chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 then rename it to ก.htaccessก. It might disappear from your directory listing which is okay, it should still be there.

Load, in your browser, the copy of sample.html residing on your web server. The text ‘this is my headerก should appear at the top while ‘this is my footerก should show on the bottom. If you open up the actual file called sample.html, youกll see that these actually aren’t there. Theyกve been added in by the script all HTML files in the folder กheaderก must now pass through.

This is how wrappers work. Certain things, like adding custom headers and footers are done กon the flyก without modifying your original file. Youกll get the same effect if you create other HTML files and upload them to this folder.

Files without ก.htmlก or ก.htmก extensions, such as text files or images, won’t show these headers or footers. This is a good thing because text files aren’t part of the presentation on a web site and adding extra text to images will corrupt them. It affects all HTML files within your /headers folder, and none of the files outside of it.

If you wanted, you could add or remove any file extensions you want, just by adding or taking away those กAddHandlerก lines.

To get everything back to normal, either delete your .htaccess file or upload a blank .htaccess file in that folder, and all will be well again.

SHRINKWRAP

The same basic formula can be applied again for other uses HTTP compression, for example. This was an idea that used to be impractical because computers ran at slower speeds, and is now obsolete because of broadband technologies (DSL and cable).

It works like this: when an HTML page is loaded, the web server instead gives the visitor a zipped or compressed version of that page. The visitor downloads that file, which of course takes up less space than the real thing and downloads in less time, then unzips it and displays the original page.

In this age of lighting fast DSL lines, thereกs almost no noticeable difference. However, if you have a site that hosts large files whose audience is mostly dialup users, it might be something to look into.

Make a new folder called กcompressก. Create your htaccess file again, just as before, but set the extensions to include .htm, .html, and .txt. (The group name, folder name, and script name have nothing to do with one another, you can name any of these whatever you like I just like things to match.)

Our wrapper script for this should be called กcompress.phpก. Thatกs what Iกm naming mine. This means the htaccess file you have should look as follows:

AddHandler compress .html

AddHandler compress .htm

AddHandler compress .txt

Action compress /compress/compress.php

If our wrapper were simply going to pass through the file (in other words, just read its contents into a variable and display it), our handler script would look like this:

กGIFT WRAPPINGก YOUR OUTPUT

To make the HTTP compression work, we use two functions: ob_start() and ob_gzhandler(). Output buffering functions are strange. Any time you try to display something, you can have PHP save up everything you’re trying to output. At the very end itกs all dumped into a function of your choosing where the text can be changed or transformed before itกs output.

There is a builtin PHP function called ob_gzhandler() which takes one parameter (a string of text), compresses the data according to the gzip standard and does all the header trickery thatกs needed to tell the userกs browser that we are transmitting data that needs to be decompressed once itกs downloaded. When this line is used:

ob_start(กob_gzhandlerก);

It tells PHP: everything displayed afterwards has to go through the function ob_gzhandler() first. Put that at the top of our script and hereกs what weกve got:

Save that as compress.php. Upload both files, chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 and rename to .htaccess and you’re done. Thatกs all you need for it to work, and you can just as easily apply HTTP compression to any script by just adding that line.

To try this puppy out, I got on a dialup connection and put a copy of ‘the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire Volume 1ก on my web host, a 900 page book, about 1.6 megabytes in size. Without HTTP compression it took 5 and a half minutes to download. With the compression, only 2 minutes. Internet Explorer told me the download was going at 20 KB per second, impossible with a dialup connection… but since the file was zipped, I really was downloading 20 KB a second (once the data was decompressed on my end) over a 5 KB per second connection.

Though HTTP compression will work on sounds, video, and images, the space you save is negligible, usually only a few bytes. These sorts of media are already heavily compressed so zipping makes almost no difference. This is why weกve told htaccess to only use compression on text and HTML, because itกs with human languages like English where a lot of repetition occurs, which means more information can be compressed.

Not all browsers support HTTP compression, but ob_gzhandler() figures out if a browser can support HTTP compression. If the browser doesn’t, the original file is displayed, no harm done.

You can get a copy of this sample script at: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/compress.zip

Both of these scripts Iกve created for you will work only on static files, files that actually exist such as images or HTML files. If you tried to apply these wrappers asis to PHP scripts, Perl scripts or even HTML pages that use SSI. If your whole site is run by a single script itกs a better idea to hardcode these things right in, anyway.

THE BEST THING SINCE BUBBLE WRAP

This last demonstration of an htaccess wrapper is something that I think most people with content sites have a use for. On the Internet, people steal stuff. Theft of HTML source code is a nuisance, sure, but the lifting of images is more common. Someone likes a logo on your page, or an ebook cover, or a picture of a physical product you’re selling, and it becomes theirs to use.

A practical way to keep this from happening is to add a watermark to all your images, which is your logo or name on a corner somewhere, forcing anyone who takes your graphic to either unwillingly give you credit, or chop off a part of that picture.

Lucky for us, PHP has a set of functions to handle images, and in version 4.3 and above, itกs included by default. Wrappers come in handy here because you might have an entire site full of images and would rather not spend three weeks watermarking tons of images by hand. Maybe you just don’t want to have to juggle two sets of images, one watermarked and one normal.

Download this script from: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/watermark.zip

The only files you need to worry about in that zip are htaccess.txt and wrapper.php. Upload them to a folder called กwatermarkก, chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 and rename to ก.htaccessก.

The file wrapper.php remain as is. Iกve put comments in the file regarding most of what it does, so if you’re curious go ahead and take a peek.

What the script does is this: It figures out the original image that was supposed to be called. Then it loads the watermark, which Iกve set in wrapper.php to be กwatermark.pngก which is just a PNG image containing the text ‘tHIS IS WATER MARKEDก. The watermark is placed on top of the original, in the lower right corner, and output in the same format (i.e., JPEG) as the original.

You can tell the difference by looking at these two images:

http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/thomas.jpg

http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/thomaswatermarked.jpg

Iกve included several types of images (GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs) in the zip file for you to test out. Once youกve got everything setup, upload those images and see how they look with the watermark.

This script will work with GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs. Due to a patent issue (which expires worldwide in July 2004) GIFs can only be read, and not output. To make up for this, any of your GIFs will be output as PNGs, which should still work.

THE WRAPUP

If you think about it, a watermark script like this could also be used for a number of things. For example, if you decide to run an image hosting service like AuctionWatch does for eBay users, you could watermark your siteกs URL to the bottom. Your users get a free service and everyone else sees a possible place to get free image hosting, thereกs some nice viral promotion right there.

You could also adapt the script to check the HTTP referer (in the variable $_SERVER[กHTTP_REFERERก]) to see if the image was called offsite. If it was, the script would put the watermark on there but if you called it from a page on your own site, the image would be shown without one.

Even I have put wrappers to good use. Last year I wrote a product for Teresa King called Codewarden, which uses htaccess wrappers to display all the files of a directory in an encoded JavaScript string in an effort to hide HTML source.

About The Author

Robert Plank is the creator of Lightning Track, Redirect Pro, Rotatorblaze, and other useful tools.

Want to pick up more programming skills? Then purchase the ebook กSimple PHPก at http://www.simplephp.com

You may reprint this article in full in your newsletter or web site.

This article was posted on January 25, 2004

by Robert Plank

Keeping Your Email Box Organized & Ready for Busin

Keeping Your Email Box Organized & Ready for Business

by: Stone Evans

Learning how to get the most organization from your email software is very likely the most important skill you can learn to conduct a successful online home business.

There are three primary email applications on the market that folks use to manage their incoming POP3 email. Those three are:

Microsoft Outlook Express

Eudora

Netscape Mail

In order to get the most from your email software, there are three key processes that you should learn. These processes are concerned with data organization, saving time and email database management.

SET UP EMAIL FOLDERS

Organization is key to any emails that you intend to save. Having 2000 emails in one folder is a surefire road map to confusion and lost communications and information.

You are the best judge as to how to organize your email into topics that provide an easy method of retrieval of the information when you need it most.

Fortunately, the primary email browsers make it easy to organize your information. By allowing you to create folders within your email software, you can file specific emails into folders dedicated to the topic of the email.

To create new folders:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: 1. Click File Folders New alternatively, you may also right click an item in the Folder window and then type in the name of your new folder. Highlight the folder above where you would like your new folder to be placed, and then click OK.

EUDORA: Click on Mailbox New or right click on Eudora in the folders window and then click on New. When the window opens, type in the name of your new mailbox and click OK. If you want to create a folder to place other mailboxes into, click the checkbox before clicking OK.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click File New Folder. Then from the dropdown menu, select the folder that you wish to be the folder directly above your new folder, before clicking OK.

FILTERING EMAIL

Email filters are a tool to help you save time and frustration. Have you ever lost an incoming email under the deluge of email coming into your mailbox? With filters, you can direct the important email or notsoimportant email into certain preordained folders.

As part of the war against spam, most ISPกs use filters every day in an attempt to keep the spam out of your mailbox. In fact, I even use filters to sort my incoming mail trying to catch the spam my ISP missed.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need some special software to filter your email. Setting up filters is actually quite easy.

To setup email filters:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Click on Tools Message Rules Mail. A wizard will open to help you create your new email filters. Just follow the instructions provided to direct mail based on certain criteria into certain folders.

EUDORA: Click on Special Make Filter. Once again, just follow the instructions in the Filter wizard.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click on Edit Mail Filters. Then click on New in the wizard. Once you click on New, you will be taken to a new wizard window. Follow the instructions here, then when you are done, click on OK. This will return you to the first window where you will set up the sorting order of your filter.

CLEANING AND COMPRESSING YOUR MAIL DATA

This is an important part of your email management. When you no longer need an email, it should be deleted. When you first delete an email, your software will send the email to the Trash Bin. Your email is not actually deleted until you first empty your trash bin.

Emptying your trash bin compresses the mailboxes from where the email was originally filed. This is absolutely paramount to the protection of your email data. If you go too long between compressing your email data, then your email data could become corrupted and you might need assistance in recovering your email data.

Even after you have emptied your trash, Compressing Folders is a recommended step to prevent other data corruption. Once you understand that an email does not actually move from one folder to another until the folder is compressed, then you can better appreciate this advice.

As an example, when Email A comes into your main Inbox, the data connected to Email A appears in two files. One file contains the header and body of the email. The other file contains only the email header information.

When an email is moved from one folder to the other, only the header information is actually moved. The body information will not be deleted from the original folder until which time the original folder is compressed.

This explains the purpose of emptying the trash AND compressing folders. If the email was simply moved from the Inbox to another folder, then emptying the trash is not enough. The original placement of the email is not actually removed from the file that contains the body information until the message has been designated for compression.

To empty your trash:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Click on Edit Empty กDeleted Itemsก Folder. To compress the remaining folders, click on Tools Options, then click on the tab for Maintenance. Then click the button that says, กClean Up Nowก. Once the compression is completed, click OK.

EUDORA: Click Special Empty Trash. To compress the remaining items that need compression, then click on Special Compact Mailboxes.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click on File Empty Trash Folder. To compress the mailboxes, click on File Compress Folders.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that you utilize the tools for emptying the trash and compressing the mail folders. Protecting your email data on a regular basis is good practice for avoiding disaster in your mailbox.

So many of us rely upon our email software to keep our online business running smoothly. Once you master the tools provided in your email software, your online business will run smoothly also.

Let me share one important lesson I lกve learned about computer software. One should never be afraid to try new things. Learning how to get the most out of your software relies upon your willingness to dig in and learn how to use it.

Once you learn how to use your software to its full potential, then your life will be greatly simplified and your effectiveness will be dramatically improved.

About The Author

Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything youกll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: http://www.HomeBusiness.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Stone Evans

Save $100 in 5 Minutes Backing Up Your Web Site?

Save $100 in 5 Minutes Backing Up Your Web Site?

by: Robert Plank

Hereกs an easy way to backup your web siteกs files and database (worth thousands of dollars, no doubt) that costs $0 to learn and perform. It only takes seven easy steps.
You don’t need to know a lot about how to use Unix or how to use databases like mySQL. The only real tool you need is a telnet client. Also, you need to know a few commands which Iกll show you now. (You could even write the commands Iกm about to give you on a cheatsheet.)
STEP 1: CONNECT & GET IN THE RIGHT FOLDER
The web host you’re trying to back up needs to allow shell access (most do these days).
If you have a Windows computer, download a program called กPuTTYก which you can use to login in your web hostกs shell. Search for กputty sshก on Google or get it here: http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe
Open up PuTTY and at the top type in your hostname (your web site address without the http or www, just กyourname.comก). Your web host either uses SSH or telnet, first try logging in using SSH and if it won’t connect try it using Telnet. Click the กOpenก button at the bottom to connect.
When it connects you will be asked for your accountกs username, and after you enter that, it will ask for your password. If these both take, youกll see a command prompt of sorts. What you have to do is browse to the document root, depending on your host itกs usually a folder like กpublic_htmlก or กwwwrootก.
If the wwwroot or public_html folder has more folders inside of it, in the form of yourdomain.com, don’t browse into them yet, just stay in the folder you’re in.
Browsing in the Unix command prompt is just like DOS, to view a folder type กdirก or กlsก, and to go into a certain folder type กcd foldernameก. If you messed up you can type กcd ..ก to move up one level.
STEP 2: BACKUP THE DATABASE
The first step if you’re backing up a site is to dump your mySQL database. To do this obviously you need the mySQL username and password you want to back up. If your mySQL username is กmyuserก and the mySQL password is กmypasswordก, youกd type:
mysqldump umyuser pmypassword A > dump.sql
mysqldump is the program we run to dump the database into a file, then we type กuก followed by the username (no spaces) and กpก followed by the password (also no spaces). The uppercase กAก tells the program we want to dump every database this user has access to. It MUST be an uppercase A.
The ก>ก afterwards says we want to put this programกs output into a file (otherwise it would show up on the screen) and กdump.sqlก is the name of the file we’re going to dump to.
This may take a while depending on the size of your database. Be patient. Once you have a command prompt again, itกs done.
STEP 3: BACKUP YOUR FILES
Now you can put everything into one big file, which you can easily move over to the new host in one go, instead of one at a time. Unix doesn’t let you create Zip files, but you can create a TAR (Tape Archive) which just rolls a bunch of files together without any sort of compression.
To create your TAR archive, type:
tar cvf dump.tar *
The กcก tells the program to create a new TAR archive, the กvก following right after says to be verbose, in other words, give us the name of every file thatกs being added to the archive. กf: means we’re saving this to a file, as opposed to showing it on the screen (youกd just see junk).
กdump.tarก is the name of the file we want to save into, and the ก*ก means we want to put everything into this TAR archive files, folders, everything.
You may get some sort of warning about not adding dump.tar to the archive, thatกs no big deal because we don’t want this file to add itself.
Your files are backed up. At this point itกs time to move things over to the next host. Thereกs a way we can do this without you having to download the whole thing, and reupload it.
STEP 4: ARRANGE YOUR FILE FOR PICKUP
Remember how I said when you were in กwwwrootก or กpublic_htmlก not to browse into the folder containing a domain name? Well now itกs time to move that dump over into one of them so it can be picked up.
If one of your folders is, say, yourdomain.com, type:
mv dump.tar yourdomain.com
This moves กdump.tarก into the folder กyourdomain.comก.
STEP 5: MOVE THE NEW FILE OVER
Login to your new host. Browse to its กwwwrootก or กpublic_htmlก folder.
Most hosts include a program called กwgetก which works sort of like a browser in that you give it a URL to pickup that it loads. Only this browser also saves the file you want to load.
If your old host was at yourdomain.com, youกd just type:
wget http://www.yourdomain.com/dump.tar
This will load that URL and save it as กdump.tarก. Youกll probably see some sort of progress indicator as it goes.
STEP 6: DECOMPRESSING THE FILE
Once you have the file, you use that same TAR program to decompress it. Type:
tar xvf test.tar
The กvก and กfก are still there, but instead of กcก (create) we use กxก (extract). This will unpack each file and let us know which one itกs working on.
STEP 7: RESTORING THE MYSQL DATABASE
Before you can put the mySQL dump back into the database, you have to go into this new web hostกs control panel and create blank databases with the same names as you had before.
You also have to create a mySQL user and make sure that user has access to all those databases youกve created.
Once thatกs done find the dump.sql that was unpacked with all of the other files.
Instead of using the program กmysqldumpก to dump the files, we use the program กmysqlก which letกs us put commands into the database. Thatกs basically what a dump is, a file full of commands that, when run, will recreate the old database exactly.
This time we don’t type in the database name right away. To get into mySQL from the command prompt, type:
mysql umyuser pmypassword
Where กmyuserก and กmypasswordก are your mySQL username and password. Once you’re in youกll get kind of a weird looking prompt. All you have to do at this point is type:
source dump.sql
This says, open up the file dump.sql, read through it and do whatever it says to do in that file. You will see a bunch of lines telling you a command has been entered (0 Rows Affected, 1 Rows Affected, something like that).
If everything goes smoothly, type กquitก and you will be back in the shell.
Youกve just moved one site (or a bunch of sites) over from one host to another in about 5 minutes.

About The Author

Article by Robert Plank

Want to pick up more useful PHP and programming skills, even if you aren’t ‘the programming typeก? Subscribe here http://jumpx.com/newsletter

This article was posted on June 06, 2004

by Robert Plank

How to Put Your Bookmark on Top Every Time.

How to Put Your Bookmark on Top Every Time.

by: Ron Hutton

Do web surfers really bookmark websites anymore? A good friend and very successful marketer online recently said to me, กRon, bookmarks are a complete waste of time.ก It was said so matteroffactly, that we were off onto some other topic in the next breathe.

A little later, as I was returning to the Breakaway Marketing World Headquarter, this very brief conversation popped back into my head and I asked myself… กIs he right?ก กAre bookmarks a complete waste of time?ก I visualized the favorites list that Iกve developed in my own browserกs memory bank and I thought if I lost that list, Iกd have to reconstruct it and I utilize my favorites folders constantly.

Bookmarks aren’t a complete waste of time, especially considering that it only takes a couple minutes of your time to set up a bookmark link that will put your bookmark at the top of the favorites list every time.

Thereกs a little trick that Iกll share with you that youกve probably never seen before and you can download a text file with the exact scripts to modify for your own use.

We’re going to shift gears from bookmarks to autoresponders for a second, and as you follow along youกll see the connection. Trust me.

When I set up a new autoresponder series I always incorporate the following copy into the first message. Hereกs what it might look like…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi New Autoresponder Subscriber,

Welcome. Thank you. Congratulations. This is just super!

If you’re receiving this message, it’s because you (or someone pretending to be you) successfully subscribed to my weekly eZine, GoThrive Online. If you did not intentionally subscribe, youกll find กhow to unsubscr!beก info at the end of this message.

Before we do anything else, I want you to set up a new mail folder in your email client where you can safely store all incoming GoThrive Online ezine issues and messages. Whether you use Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Express Plus, Calypso, or whatever software, you can typically create a new mail folder by clicking file / new / folder.

Name this new folder ข! GoThrive Online Ezine !ข.

Just like that. ข! GoThrive Online Ezine !ข.

Save all of the messages that you receive from me in that folder. This will save you the trouble of having to look very far for messages when you want to go back and reference a tool, service or article that we discuss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why the wierd looking folder name (! GoThrive Online Ezine !)? I learned this trick from Alex Mandossian. When you name a folder beginning with ก!ก it will be listed first in alphabetical order. In fact, the ก!ก beats out every other special character in this regard.

So, by naming the folder ก! GoThrive Online Ezine !ก, the email client (software program), which by default sorts all folders alphabetically, will put my new folder above everyone elseกs folder. Iกm now the first folder that my new subscriber sees every time he or she opens the email client. Very cool.

This same tactic can be used with website bookmarks!

Letกs go test three bookmark examples and you can download the scripts for your own use. Go here now:

http://www.pluginprofittoolbox.com/standardbookmark.html

Are you back? Did you test this out? Great.

Honestly, itกs hard to predict what kind of mileage youกll get by implementing this little bookmark trick, but it surely can’t hurt to be at the top of the favorites list for everyone who does bookmark your site.

Copyright 2005 Ron Hutton

About The Author

Ron Hutton is a 20 year sales and marketing veteran with a passion for coaching and training. Subscribe to กGoThrive Onlineก, for big juicy marketing tips in small, easytochew, bite size servings. 17 Free Cool Tools…

http://www.gothrive.com

This article was posted on April 15

by Ron Hutton

What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers

What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers

by: Roman Kramar

Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an interesting screensaver and can’t install it on your computer? This article will help you to never have it again.

Back to when Windows 95 started to find its home on many computers there was just half a dozen of screensavers preinstalled with the system. All you could do was selecting one of these. It was as simple as boring.

Luckily those times are left behind. Now we have hundreds of screensavers developed throughout the years and available for download. Finding a nice screensaver matching your taste and style can be a hard task. How much disappointing is it when you are unable to install the discovery on your computer then? I bet you know.

Often you come across a screensaver with an intriguing description and no screenshots. You are curios to see it in action. But: SLAP! You can’t figure out the way to make it work on your system and you will never know what you have missed. What a pity! I know.

Well… Enough! Enough of this! There should be a way to make us, screensaver hunters, luckier. Keep reading. Thereกs something that can open a whole new world of screensavers to you.

First, in order to fight this evil, we should find its roots. Why is it so that we have the problem? Mainly itกs because there are several ways to distribute screensavers:

As selfextracting installation packages

As ZIPped installation packages

As individual .SCR files

The selfextracting packages are the easiest to install. You just download the screensaver and double click it. Then the installation program starts and performs all the steps necessary to install the screensaver. That is, you have it ready for use just with a few mouse clicks.

You can recognize the ZIPped installation packages by their names. They have ก.zipก at the end. Double clicking such files will probably get you nowhere unless you are well prepared.

The third category is represented by files with names ending with ก.scrก. Activating such file usually launches the screensaver. Thatกs not bad. At least you can see what itกs all about. But this way it won’t appear in the list of available screensavers that the operating system starts if your computer goes to rest. That is, you have to use a little trick if you like the screensaver.

Now that the reason of our problems is a bit more obvious, I almost hear your question. Once the selfextracting packages are the easiest to install, why just not to stick with them? Okay, you are right. It makes a perfect sense. But you forget one important thing. Screensavers are created by programmers.

And programmers differ from other computer users in that they see everything from their very specific and technical point of view. Itกs not a problem for them to extract files from ZIPped packages as they work with them very often. It is rather natural for them to copy files into secret system folders that 80% of users didn’t hear about and don’t have to.

Thatกs why they create screensavers and put them on download sites in the form that is hard to install for you. But don’t hurry to blame them. They mostly do it unintentionally, not because they hate people who can’t handle ZIP archives or bare screensaver files.

I know it because I am one of them. In fact (my face goes red here) my Rainy Screensaver ( http://www.elasticsystems.com/rainy/ ) was distributed as a ZIPped package until version 1.7. Thanks to the people who provided me with their feedback. I really don’t see any reason to hurt those who use their computers as tools or source of entertainment. These people don’t have to know all technical aspects.

I hope more and more screensaver writers will understand this and will make their screensavers easier for you to install. Meanwhile you yourself can get the knowledge needed to handle not so friendly installations without a problem. So letกs get back to installing ZIPped packages and bare screensaver files.

* ZIPped installation packages

These ก.zipก files are known as archives. It is very popular way to spread software and information over the net. They let you to กpackก many files into one that is much easier to download. They also use special methods known as compression to reduce the final size of the packed files and thus save your time and money spent downloading them.

In order to unpack (extract) files from a ZIPped package you should use a special program. Probably the most popular and easy to use is WinZip. You can download it from http://www.winzip.com. Windows XP has a builtin support for ก.zipก files so, if you use Windows XP, thereกs no need for additional software.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that a ก.zipก package usually contains a collection of files that should be extracted somewhere before you can use them. It doesn’t matter what program you use to extract the files. Just follow its instructions to do it and put extracted files in the place of your choice. Itกs better to create a special folder for such cases. Alternatively you can use temporary folder provided by Windows.

Once the files are extracted you should examine them. If you see one named กInstall.exeก or กSetup.exeก among them then you can double click it to complete the installation process. Even though archives are very convenient when used on a bunch of files, they can be used to pack a single file to reduce its size. So if you have extracted a single file with its name ending with ก.scrก then you should keep reading.

* Bare screensaver files

As I have said before, these files have their name ending with ก.scrก. They are screensavers themselves. That is, they are the programs that create all these amazing effects when started. You can find some details about them in my article กWindows Screensavers Explainedก at http://www.elasticsystems.com/articles.html .

The easiest known way to install ก.scrก files is to right click on them and then choose กInstallก from available menu options. Once you do this, Windows will set the screensaver as default and open Display Properties dialog where you can adjust screensaverกs settings if you wish.

This way has some disadvantages though. First, you should be careful with where you keep the screensaver file. If you have put it in the temporary folder and it is likely to be deleted or moved somewhere else later, then the system won’t find the screensaver anymore. So youกd better create a special folder for screensavers that you choose to install this way. Second, if you select another screensaver from the list in Display Properties dialog then Windows will forget any screensaver installed using the described method. That is, you will have to right click it and choose กInstallก once and again.

Nevertheless, this way is very convenient if you just want to take a look at the screensaver, play with its settings and delete it. If you really like the screensaver and want it to brighten boring cloudy days then youกd better find a cozier place to keep it.

How do you find such place? Itกs easy. What you need is to drag the screensaver into your Windows folder. If you use Windows 95/98 or Windows Me then chances are this folder is on your drive C: and has a name of กWindowsก. If you use Windows NT/2000 or Windows XP then itกs probably on your drive C: and is called กWINNTก. Once you put the screensaver in this folder it will be available in the list of installed screensavers in Display Properties dialog. Now you can select it whenever you wish. Furthermore, you should worry no more about reinstalling it every time you change your mind and select another screensaver.

TIP: Sometimes you download a ZIPped installation package for screensaver, extract its contents to some folder and find there both กSetup.exeก (or กInstall.exeก) and ก.scrก files. In this case double clicking กInstallก or กSetupก is the preferred way. Thatกs because the installation program will perform all the steps needed to install the screensaver like copying necessary files, updating system registry, providing uninstaller and so on. Simply copying the ก.scrก file to Windows folder apparently won’t do it.

Now that you have a few more useful tricks under your belt, you can install much more screensavers. Add here acquired confidence that those screensavers you like are ready to please you whenever you wish and thereกs a good reason to become a bit happier.

About The Author

Roman Kramar is a software developer who enjoys writing screensavers as his time permits. Visit his site at http://www.elasticsystems.com/ to find out more about screensavers and his work.

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 17, 2003

by Roman Kramar

Designing Your Websiteกs Directory Structure

Designing Your Websiteกs Directory Structure

by: Stephen Bucaro

Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage. There are many กwysiwygก webpage design applications that let you create a webpage as easy as typing text. But only a few people can create a WEBSITE. The stumbling block is knowing how to link webpages together to form a website. I have seen many websites that consist of a single webpage about a mile long!

The first problem is that websites are contained in virtual directories. You know that your webpages can be found at yourdomain.com, but the actual path to yourdomain.com on the web server may be known only by the system administrator. And the system administrator can move your website to a different folder, or even a different computer, without changing its virtual address.

The second problem is that most people don’t know how to write a relative link. Relative links have the advantage that you don’t need to know the path to the webpage that you want to link to, you only need to know where it is ‘relativeก to the webpage containing the link.

Designing Your Directory Structure

The first step to implementing a website is to design the directory structure. Letกs design a directory structure for a simple download website. The website consists primarily of articles and digital material that visitors can download. You could just dump everything at the top level of the website. Good luck maintaining that website!

To keep the files organized, you need to create subdirectories (folders) on the website. Even though the website consists only of articles and digital downloads, you need five subdirectories, as described below.

articles

downloads

general

common

cgibin

You understand what the กarticlesก and กdownloadsก subdirectories are for, but what are the other three subdirectories for? Itกs standard practice to provide certain features on your website, as listed below.

About

Contact

FAQ

Privacy Policy

Search

Sitemap

User Agreement

Each of these features requires a webpage. Instead of dumping the webpages at the top level of the website, or mixing them in with articles or downloads, letกs put them together in a folder named กgeneralก (Iกm sure you can think of a better name).

All of your webpages use certain things in common, for example, your logo graphic. If your web server provides SSI (Server Side Includes) all your webpages can share a common header file and a common footer file. You might also define all your websiteกs styles in a common style sheet. Letกs put all of these files in a folder named กcommonก.

Your contact page might use an email form. If your server provides serverside scripts, you would place the email form script in a folder named กcgibinก. Cgibin stands for กCommon Gateway Interface Binaryก. Few people use CGI any more, and those that do don’t use binary files, but the folder name has stuck as a traditional place to store scripts. Almost all websites come with a preconfigured cgibin folder, and the website may be configured so that the cgibin folder is the only folder with rights to run scripts.

I would also recommend that you create certain subdirectories for some of the above mentioned directories. Most web pages contain images. You could dump all the images in the same folder with the webpages, but when you get more than about 50 files in a folder, it becomes difficult to maintain. You should create an กimagesก subdirectory in the articles, downloads, and general directories. The downloads directory should also have a กfilesก subdirectory to store the downloads.

This arangement of directories and subdirectories will provide good file organization for the example website. Understanding my reasoning for this directory structure should help you to design a directory structure for the website you have in mind.

Default Page Configuration

Every website has at least one default webpage configured (also called the กhomeก page). The default webpage is the webpage that is returned when the user enters or clicks on a link containing only the domain name, without a specific file name. On a Unix or Linux web server, the default webpage will usually be กindex.htmก. On a Windows web server (IIS), the default page will usually be กdefault.aspก.

The website administrator, or if your webhost provides the required กcontrol panelก feature, you can actually configure any page to be the default page. If your web server has more than one default page configured, I would recommend removing all but the default page that you intend to use.

Now, letกs assume that all of your webpages need to link to an image file named กlogo.gifก stored in the กcommonก folder. The relative link on your default webpage would be as shown below.

กcommon/logo.gifก

The website file manager interprets this as กlook in the folder named common for the file named logo.gifก.

However, the link on any webpage contained in one of the subdirectories would be as shown below.

ก../common/logo.gifก

The website file manager interprets this as กgo up one level, then look down in the folder named common for the file named logo.gifก.

This difference in the link may not be a problem unless you use SSI or ASP (Active Server Pages) to build your webpages from a common header file and a common footer file. Then you need a different link in the common file depending upon whether the page linked to the common file is the default webpage (where you would use common/filename) or a webpage contained in a subdirectory (where you would use ../common/filename). There are several ways to solve this problem.

1. If your website has a serverside scripting engine like ASP or PHP and you know how to program, you could implement code that selects the proper link.

2. You could use the complete path, including the domain name, on all pages. This will cause problems if you ever have to move your website to a different web host (Until all the dns servers across the planet have been updated).

3. You could put your home page in a subdirectory, for example กcommonก, and make your default page into a redirect to your home page. Then you would use ก../common/filenameก for all links. The following meta tag, placed the head section of your default webpage, will immediately redirect the users browser to your real home page.

meta httpequiv=’refreshก content=ก0,url= กhttp://yourdomain.com/common/homepage.htmก

In this article, I showed you how to design a directory structure for your website and how to create relative links to link all your webpages together to form a website. Website visitors don’t like to do a lot of scrolling, so try to keep your webpages to only two or three screens high. Please, no more websites that consist of only one mile long webpage!

Copyright(C) Bucaro TecHelp.

Permission is granted for the below article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included.

About The Author

Stephen Bucaro

To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com. To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter visit http://bucarotechelp.com/search/000800.asp.

This article was posted on October 06, 2004

by Stephen Bucaro

Design a Web Album Using Adobe Photoshop Part 2

Design a Web Album Using Adobe Photoshop Part 2

by: Robert Kennedy

So letกs begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe Photoshop from start to finish. When I say กcrunchingก, to some 300 images may seem like allot, but itกs not. I have done jobs for clients that have 100,000 plus images. When you have that many images to produce there are other programs I use that are designed for this. We’ll cover that another day.

To this point we have ensured that our images are web ready, cropping, retouching, watermarking, etc. So letกs get at it. I will assume that we are all using Adobe Photoshop version 6 or greater.

First we will go to the กfileก menu and select กAutomateก shown here http://weprintcolors.com/screens/screen_dw_create_photo_menu.htm. Now you are ready to create the theme of your photo album by filling in the required textfields. Remember to be as brief and descriptive as possible, as this information gets published on all html pages generated by Photoshop. This is where Photoshop is seems to offer more that Dreamweaver. You will notice the first pull down menu ‘styles’. There are many different horizontal and vertical styles available. The second menu allows you to enter an email address that you may want to be available to your visitors. However, I advise against it. Remember that thing called SPAM. Then next pull down menu allows you to specify .htm or .html extensions. Now we’ll click the ‘browse’ button and locate your image source folder. Click the ‘destination’ folder. This folder should be located somewhere in you website folder. If you don’t have one, make one. ‘Options’ is, again an area that Adobe seems far more thorough that Dreamweaver. The ‘options’ menu let’s you specify every aspect of your photo album…size of small thumbnails, size of large thumbnails, add custom colors to better tie into your corporate scheme. Remember to complete the ‘site name’, ‘photographer’, textfields tactfully; this is what tells the search engine what your subject matter deals with.

Are you ready now? Go ahead click OK. Like magic your photo album manufacturing itself. This is a great tool that can be used commercially or just for fun. Create commercial product pages for your clients or create an online photo album for family and friends in minutes.

About The Author

Robert is the marketing director of an online print and design firm http://www.weprintcolor.com. Robert covers all aspects of graphic development and digital media designs.

This article was posted on December 11, 2004

by Robert Kennedy

Dollars In The Details!

Dollars In The Details!

by: Daniel Levis

When it comes to your marketing message, the little things count. Trouble is, you’ll never come to respect how much, until you make a commitment to science.

Let me ask you something. Do you practice Kaizen?

Kai what?

Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning gradual and orderly, continuous improvement. Sound like you?

Or do you just wake up one morning & decide that you need to re do your site?

Do you keep a diary?

Not the Anne Frank kind, a chronological record of the results revealed by your ongoing marketing experience. Documentation of exactly what happened last time you changed the copy on your web site, ad campaign, or sales letter.

If you’re like most, you don’t bother to go to this trouble, & you don’t practice Kaizen.

Now I don’t expect you to take my word for it that seemingly trivial changes to your marketing message could have a DRAMATIC impact on your results. I know better than that, see.

But here’s a simple threestep method that you can try out for the next six weeks to prove it, for yourself.

There’s nothing more fascinating than watching human nature in action, & you’ll be amazed at the improvements you can make in your profitability in just a short period of time!

A Simple Three Step ขHow Toข

Follow this roadmap to easily & clearly document your experience with minimum hassle.

Go ahead & try it. It’s not rocket science.

Step 1 – Take a web page that you’re running right now, & decide what you would like to see it do better than it does. Would you like to improve the conversion rate? Are average dollars per visitor your thing? Maybe you need to drive cost out of generating optins, or referrals?

Make a copy of it

Now think about the flow of the page & what might be discouraging people from taking the desired action. Sometimes it’s the words you’ve used. Sometimes it’s the order of the words, or the phrasing of the words. It could be the headline, or the opening paragraph, take your best guess.

As a rule of thumb, changes to the headline & the opening paragraphs, or around the ขcalls to actionข will have more impact than changes elsewhere on the page. But sometimes even subtle changes like indenting the paragraphs, moving images from right to left or left to right can have surprising effects.

Make just one change on your copied page, and republish.

Now, create a folder on your hard drive with today’s date included in the file name, and save both of your pages as HTML files in it.

Step 2 – Advertise your pages with a redirect link that splits the traffic evenly between the two pages. This is known as ขsplit testingข. There are a number of products out there that you can use to do this.

Step 3 – The page that records the most conversions, is your ขcontrolข. You will want to reserve this judgment until you have seen it make at least 30 conversions for statistical validity.

Once you have your control, go back to your folder, & rename it by adding the current date to create a date range. So for example, your file name will change from ขsplit test 1 May 25 04ข, to ขsplit test 1 May 25 04 – Jun 25 04ข.

Now, carefully summarize the metrics that you have recorded in a note pad, & save it in the folder with the HTML files. Be careful to provide enough text explanation as necessary to ensure that you will be clear on the meaning of the results when you revisit them at a later date.

Also, be sure to document the traffic source. Different sources of traffic can have a remarkable impact on results, but that’s a whole other topic of discussion.

You are now ready to repeat the process.

Copy your ขcontrolข & make another change, thereby creating a new ขchallengerข, and so on.

To your success, & until next time, Good Selling!

Japanese Proverb

กIf a man has not been seen for three days, his friends should take a good look at him to see what changes have befallen himก

About The Author

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & worldrenowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author ขMillion Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!ข, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!

http://www.AdvertisingOnlineStrategies.com/adstrategies.html

This article was posted on November 29, 2004

by Daniel Levis