How To Turn Your Newsletter Into a Web Page… In

How To Turn Your Newsletter Into a Web Page… In 45 Seconds!

by: Michael Southon

Do you place backissues 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 itกs a very good idea to turn backissues of your Newsletter into HTML documents and then submit them to the major Search Engines

Hereกs a little trick that will help you format your Newsletter as an HTML document:

Copy the text of your Newsletter into a text editor such as NOTEPAD.

Then copy the text from NOTEPAD into Microsoft Word. Youกll notice that in your Word document, each line ends with a Paragraph Mark.

Now go to EDIT | REPLACE.

Place your cursor in the first field, where it says กLook Forก.

Now click on กMoreก and then on กSpecialก and select the first item in the list (กParagraph Markก). The symbol for a paragraph mark will now appear in the first field (a hat followed by a กpก).

Now place your cursor in the field below, where it says ‘replace Withก and type . Then click on ‘replace Allก.

Youกll find that every single paragraph mark in your Word document has been replaced with .

Now copy the entire Word document into a new NOTEPAD document and save it, using the file extension .html (Note: NOTEPAD doesn’t offer you the option to save as an HTML document, but don’t worry; just type .html after the name you gave the file, and it will be saved as an HTML document).

Close that html document and then open it again and youกll find that your Newsletter is perfectly formatted, with the exact same line breaks that you had in the email version of your Newsletter.

Using this technique it takes me about 45 seconds to turn a backissue of my Newsletter into an HTML document!

(c) 2000, by Michael Southon

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 get massive free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. Click here to find out more: http://www.ezinewriter.com

This article was posted on August 30, 2002

by Michael Southon

Why You Should Learn HTML

Why You Should Learn HTML

by: Debra Hamer

Do you have a website or are you planning on creating a website in the near future? You owe it to yourself to at least learn some basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Even if someone else is creating and maintaining your website there are some basics you should know. What if that person is not available and you need to add or make changes to your website? I’ve always believed if you have a business, computer, website, or whatever, you need to know how it works. Don’t depend on someone else. Besides why pay someone else when you can do it yourself free of charge.
In this article I will explain some basic HTML formats for you. Believe me it will come in handy at one point or another. I, myself, have only learned some of the basics and I have been able to add, change, and make corrections on my own website by myself.
When you come across a website you like and would like to use a similar layout or text pattern, look at the page in HTML code. You can do this by clicking on ขViewข at the top of the screen, then choose ขDocument Sourceข or ขSourceข and you can see the page as a HTML document. If you are using AOL then right click on any area on the page without any text or images, then select ขView Sourceข. At first it will look like Greek to you but after learning some basic HTML it will start to make sense.
First you will need a word processor program such as Windows ขNotepadข or any other word processor you might have. You are working with simple text. You will need to save your document using the ขsave asข command and give it an html suffix, ex: Mynewdocument.html or Mynewdocument.htm (you can use either suffix html or htm).
HTML works in a simple, logical format. It reads top to bottom and left to right. What are used to set sections apart like bigger text, smaller text, bold text, underlined text are tags. Tags are commands. If you wanted a line of text to be bold you will place a tag at the point you want the bold text to start and a tag at the end of where you want the bold text to stop.
All tags start with the lessthan sign , always. What is between these signs is the tag or command. You will need to learn what tag does what. Let’s first learn the bold command. The following is an example of making your text bold. The tag for bold is ขBข. You can use uppercase or lowercase, it doesn’t matter. Here is an example:
Note: Due to the HTML codes in the article being formatted and possibly not showing up on the page in normal view I have replaced the signs with the bracket characters [ and ]. Just remember to use the signs and not the [ and ] signs in your document.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B]This text needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look when converted to normal view – This text needs to be bold
Did you notice the slight difference in the ending tag? There is a slash / before the B. That means it is the end tag. Only the text between the start and end tags will be in bold. Now let’s add a twist by putting one of the words in italics.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B] This [I]text[/I] needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look in normal view – This text needs to be bold
There are some tags that are an exception to the rule about having to have a start and end tag. You don’t have to have an end tag when using these tags. Here are some examples.
[HR] this command places a line across the page. HR stands for ขhorizontal referenceข.
[BR] this command breaks the text and jumps to the next line, like the return key.
[P] this command stand for ขparagraphข, it does the same thing as the [BR] command but skips a line.
Every page you create with HTML will need the HTML tag [HTML] which denotes it is an HTML document and the end HTML tag [/HTML] will be at the end of your document. The next tags will be your start Title tag [TITLE] and your end Title tag [/TITLE]. The title of your document will go in between these two tags. The title will show up in the title bar on your browser when you are looking at the page in normal view.
The following are some tags for Headings (there are 6 heading commands) and Font size (there are 12 font size commands):
[H1]This is Heading 1[/H1] – H1 is the largest heading
[H6]This is Heading 6[/H6] H6 is the smallest heading
So, by using H1 through H6 you can change the size of your heading. Same applies to your font size. You will use [font size =ข+1ข] through [font size=ข+12] and don’t forget your end tags!
You may notice that your text always starts at the left of the page. If you want your text to start in the center or to the right you will need to specify where you want your text to start. Here are some examples of aligning text:
[CENTER]Center this Text![/CENTER] your text will be centered on the page.
Center this Text!
To align to the right you need to set the text as a paragraph unto itself by using the [P] tag and adding an attribute to it.
[P ALIGN=ขrightข]Text here will align on the right of the page[/P]
Text here will align on the right of the page
Why did I put an end tag [/p] since the paragraph command does not require an end tag (remember exceptions to the rule?) Anytime you use an attribute tag, as in the above example, you will need to have an end tag, whether you’re using the paragraph command [P] or the return command [BR]. Using the [P] or [BR] command by itself does not require an end tag, but if you are adding an attribute then an end tag must be used.
Adding an image to your page would require the following tag:
[IMG SRC=ขimage.jpgข] you would replace ขimage.jpgข with your own image file. IMG stands for image and SRC stands for source. You’re telling your browser where to find your image file. Your image file could have a gif, jpg, or a bmp association.
Ok now let’s get a little more complicated and create a hyperlink on your document. This creates blue underlined words on the page that someone can click on and go to another location. An example is you’re creating a link to another website.
[A HREF=http://www.profitfromhomebiz.comก]Profit From Home Biz[/A] this is what in looks like in HTML code. Note you are adding a description of the link that will be underlined, see the example below.
Profit From Home Biz – what it looks like in normal view. When someone clicks on this link they would be taken to my website.
This is a very important HTML format for when you need to add links onto your webpage. You may already know or will learn that reciprocal linking is very important in promoting your website and obtaining a higher page rank with the search engines. Sometimes the HTML code is provided for you and all you have to do is ขcopy and pasteข the code into your webpage. Often it is not, so you have to figure out how to put the information into HTML code yourself. Just learning this HTML command has been a timesaver for me.
I hope this article has helped you learn some basic HTML and how it can benefit you. I know, I know there are HTML text editors out there you can use and they can do all of this for you. I have used a couple myself, but I still like to know how to do things on my own. I bet you do too! Sometimes it’s just faster and easier to do it yourself.
I’ve just given you some very basic formats in using HTML, but you can find a lot more resources and information about learning HTML on the internet. Just do a search and I’m sure you will be overwhelmed at what’s out there. To view this article with the correct HTML formats please visit www.profitfromhomebiz.com/articles.

About The Author

Debra Hamer is the owner of the http://profitfromhomebiz.com website where you can find lots of tips, tools and resources for starting your own work at home business. Visit her PlugInProfitSite at http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main4256 to have your own website setup and ready to go within 24 hours, complete with everything you need to start making a profit.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 30, 2004

by Debra Hamer

PIM Team Case Study: Creating Text Effects With PH

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

by: Bobby Handzhiev

See how you can create graphic effects on text with PHP and GD drop shadows, arcs, fonts and colors.

Problem

Atec Signs and Sraphics Inc. launched a web site with the idea to sell decals online. To achieve better customers ineterest the website had to integrate online decal builder. The company is offering also decals for vehicles which brought some specific requirements to the builder like having the decal text turning arround 4 types of arcs.

Goals

Provide users with preview area

Allow visitors to choose font and color

Allow adding drop shadow and selecting drop shadow color

Allow turning the text into arcs

Real Time calculating

Solution

Because of the need for increasing customers interest we had to think about not for perfect math formulas when showing the graphs in the preview area, but for the people who will look at them.

As we will reaveal below, there were few problems going arround human appreceptions for something กperfectly smoothก and the matchematical perfect figures.

Methodology

We were going to extensively use PHP GD library for the text effects. It provided easy changing of fonts and colors, adding drop shawdows and rotating the texts.

We had also to create color palletes which to appear when user click and disappear when color is selected (You can personally try the decals creating here). Using hidden layers and javascript was supposed to do the work.

The main problem in this site was to create 4 types of arcs so when the user selects one of them the text is created arround imaginary arc (like in the vector graphical softwares). We were going to study Bezieกs formulas and create these arcs with its help.

Implementation

PIM Team Bulgaria had the task to build the full functional online decals builder with the following features:

Decal background

Some users were supposed to have their decals placed on colored background. We had to allow the preview area to be painted in a selected background. First we created the image in temp folder:

// the name of destination image

$dest=กdecals/ก.time().ก.jpgก;

//the background

imagefilledrectangle ( $im, 0, 0, 590, 60, $colors[$_POST[กbcolorsก]]);

$colors array contains the available color which are stored by the administrator in the database.

Thus, when the visitor selects a background it is passed as parametter to imagefilledrectangle function.

Font selection

Users should be able to select fonts for their future decals. Knowing that we can’t consider all the fonts will be available on all visitorกs computers we had to upload them on the web server directory.

We allowed the admin to manage the fonts, adding their names and uploading files in admin area.

The fonts in the select box came from the database. Selected font was passed in the call to imagettftext funtion which is drawing on the previously created image.

Color Selections

The color selections had to be a palettes which appear when user clicks and disappear when color is selected. The palette had to look as a table with colors and these colors are also defined in the

admin area so they had to come dynamicly. We had to seed a static javascript function with dynamic content.

We created a PHP cycle which was taking the colors from the database and then creating a string for HTML table. This table is then passed to a javascript function which creates the palletes with the help of hidden layers:

function showTable(table)

{

mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;

if(table==กbackgroundก)

{

var content=กก;

var y=460;

}

if(table==กfontsก)

{

var content=กก;

var y=690;

}

if(table==กshadowsก)

{

var content=กก;

var y=810;

}

document.getElementById(‘tablerก).style.pixelLeft=mouseX;

document.getElementById(‘tablerก).style.pixelTop=y;

document.getElementById(‘tablerก).style.visibility=กvisibleก;

document.getElementById(‘tablerก).innerHTML=content;

}

Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:

function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)

{

document.getElementById(elid).value=color;

document.getElementById(‘tablerก).style.visibility=กhiddenก;

}

Thus we created nice palettes which appear and disappear on a single click and don’t take much space on the screen.

Drop Shawdows

The decals offered has the ability to have a drop shadow added so we had to add this option to the online builder. PHP however didn’t offered a nice function for that. We created a procedure which draws the texts twice once the original 100% saturated text and once the shadow with a percentage of the color and appropriate displacement. Of course the shadow was drawn on the image before the main text.

@imagettftext($img, 20, $gr[$i], $x+$dx, $ys[$i]+$dy, $scolors[$shadowcolor], กfonts/ก.$_POST[กfontsก],$word[$i]);

Arcs

The main problem came when we had to กrotateก the texts thru arcs. First we created perfect Bezie funtion which to draw the curves and adjust the letter above them. But what a surprise the curves looked perfect alone, but when we adjusted the letters above them they seemed rough.

After studying this problem we realised that the rough screen resolution and the disability to antialise the images wouldn’t allow us to create nice arcs. We were standing against insoluble problem.

We decided to create few arcs with a graphical software (CorelDraw) and to see what could be wrong.

We noticed that Corelกs curves were looking great after they are manually adjusted. However you can’t just leave the program to create perfect curves automaticly. A human eye was needed to judge when a curve looks right and when not.

We got a totally different direction. There wasn’t an universal function to help us. The solution we found was to กmanuallyก adjust each letter. We created a procedure with cases which were adjusting each letter on the appropriate place and with appropriate rotation depending on how long was the text. It worked!

We created 2 arrays for each arc type one array with the positions and one array with the rotations.

The rest was simple:

if($arctype)

{

$start=(35$l)/2;

if($start%2) $start+=1;

$gr=array_slice($gr,$start,$l);

$ys=array_slice($ys,$start,$l);

}

if(!$arctype)

{

$ys=array();

$gr=array();

//making the arrays

for($i=0;$i

You can go on the atecกs site and try the arcs we achieved (http://atecsigns.com/decal/step_1.php).

Results

Now Atec Singsกs web builder creates perfect decals with graphs, calculates the price and allows you to add the decals to your shopping cart and chgeckout (the shopping cart software is also created by PIM Team Bulgaria).

The builder allows the visitor to create the desired decals with any color, dropped shadow, background and shape, to preview it and to calculate the cost for different sizes and quantities.

The website and builder were promoted with massive radio advertising company. At that time it was the only decal builder which allowed creating texts arround arcs.

Conclusions

Use GD to create text effects

Do not forget that you can create you own functions for what GD does not offer

Do not always search for math perfect formulas. The graphical effects are intended to the human eye

Load fonts in the server

Use javascript and hidden layers to achieve great flexibility

About The Author

Bobby Handzhiev is a senior developer in PIM Team Bulgaria

http://pimteam.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 02, 2004

by Bobby Handzhiev

Information The Art Of Selling

Information The Art Of Selling

by: Dave Collins

Money may well make the world go round, but facts, details and data oil the machine that beats at the heart of it. We supposedly live in the age of information, yet many of us seem unable to use it to its full, and allow ourselves to drift along on a sea of missed opportunities.

If we can take it for granted that you have a good product, it should be a safe assumption that the single most powerful marketing tool at your disposal is information the simple truth. You’re not selling a duff product, trying to convince punters that underneath the rusty exterior lies a power beast… nor are you trying to sell ice to the Eskimos. You’re trying to sell your software to people who either need it, or could use it to the point where they’re actually prepared to buy it. So how do we get them? With information tools.

Information Tools

An information tool is any kind of device that you can use to show yourself and/or your product. Like any other tool, its primary purpose is to make life easier and more efficient. In our line of work, the most commonly used is a signature file. Your signature file should be around four to six lines of simple text, to be used at the end of every single email, letter, report or newsgroup posting. No exceptions; in your business correspondence, to your friends, family, everything and everyone.

The text should contain all your critical contact data at the very least your full name, your company or product, URL of your website, email address, and some sort of slogan or catchphrase. If you have a work phone number, then make sure you include it. Ensure that you also include the email address in the signature having it hidden away in the ReplyTo part of the email client does little good if someone prints out your letter, or even cuts and pastes the content into a new document or file. Have it there for all to see. Have you ever clicked on a link in a signature, just out of interest? You’re not alone.

The next tool is the stock text. Chances are that you find yourself writing the same text time and time again the same phrases, features and pricing information. Write them out in full, so that you have them there for use as needed. As well as saving you time in the future, having them available will also ensure that you’re sending out a wellwritten version of the information, that includes all relevant details, without forgetting a thing. Never rely on your memory alone. When you try and describe your software at the end of a long, problem filled day, you won’t do it justice.

The actual content of the descriptions is critical here. Make sure you write the text in the first person either I or we. Thereกs nothing wrong with referring to yourself as either of the two but make sure you’re consistent. Make sure you also use positive phrasing, and keep it simple. Be as concise and precise as possible; an exact number looks far better than vagueisms such as loads, lots, many or heaps. If your writing skills aren’t so good, get someone to help. Chances are you’re going to use these texts many times, so itกs worth getting the content just right.

A newsletter is another useful information tool, and can be a great way of keeping in touch with your customers or anyone else who may interested in your product. They are fairly easy to setup and administer, but pay attention to a few dos and don’ts. Make sure that you include details of your own product but don’t let it be the main content of the newsletter. If all you’re sending is a longwinded advert, people will unsubscribe quicker than you can whisper กlost saleก.

Again, content is king. If you can provide some sort of tips or information that people either need or will find useful, theyกll want to receive your newsletter, but be careful not to drive them away. If you send out a mailing every week, some are bound to get fed up and unsubscribe. While you’re at it, make sure itกs easy for someone to subscribe and unsubscribe; itกs very bad form to make it difficult to do so. Some sort of stock text explaining how to do this is a very good idea.

Another golden rule is to stick to pure, clean ASCII text. You may like HTML in your mailings, but if the recipientกs email client doesn’t they’re gone. In brief, useful is good; short and sweet is even better. And before you announce your new mailing list, make sure that you have the time for it. You can end up looking awfully silly when you close before issue one even comes out.

Press releases are probably the most wellknown information tool of all. Iกm not going to go into the whatกs and howกs here take a look through past ASPects issues, and check out Al Harbergกs tutorial at www.dpdirectory.com. Once you have your press release, use it. Make it easily available onsite, and keep it updated when you have new versions or changes. Long after your press release has been sent, you can still be putting it to good use.

Take Advantage Of Your FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions are another golden information opportunity; chances are that youกve already read over a fair number of these yourself, and it may even be one of the first things you look for on a site. I know I do. Practically speaking, you can’t throw every bit of information you have on the front or main page of your website. It doesn’t look good, and will simply overwhelm most visitors. But when a person goes to read your FAQ, they already know the basics, and want to know more. Feed them.

Use your FAQ wisely. Don’t use it as a data dump, but do include the questions you get asked the most. If you can, also make it downloadable, as a PDF or HTML file. Make sure you also put your contact details at the end of the document, something along the lines of กWhat do I do if I have more questions?ก . Theyกve asked for the information, so don’t be shy to give it them. I list my email address, website URL, phone and fax numbers, mailing address and ICQ number as standard. All have been used on numerous occasions.

Many email clients also allow some sort of auto responder to be setup that can send out a stock text when a certain address or specific subject is received. Better still, many webhosts have this sort of feature.

We supposedly live in an age of information overload, where quality loses the battle to quantity on an ongoing basis. Don’t let your product become another casualty. Keep it short, keep it sharp, and use it wherever and whenever you can. Think of every opportunity to write an email or note as an opportunity to reach a customer; don’t waste it. Be seen, be sold.

Copyright 2004 Dave Collins

About The Author

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UKbased company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com.

This article was posted on December 09, 2004

by Dave Collins

10 Elements Every Direct Mail Piece Should Have

10 Elements Every Direct Mail Piece Should Have

by: Joe Niewierski

Don’t want your direct mail to end up in the trash with the rest of the unread mail? Studies show an effective direct mail campaign should draw a .5 to 1 percent response. These 10 tips will help you get the results you want:

1. A clear, bold headline. On the envelope or front of the mailer there should be one central message. The best way to achieve that is with a bold, clear headline that’s not cluttered up with other text. A good guideline is to have the headline fill up at least 15% of the front of the mailer.

2. A graphic that supports the message. The graphic should be easy to understand and add to the message the headline is trying to convey. For instance, if you are trying to get people to list their home you would want to show a home with SOLD sign clearly visible out front. That graphic reinforces the message more than a simple picture of a home.

3. Color that pops. Make the headline and other text stand out by using a color that stands out from the background color. When you look at the card, ask yourself, กWhat do I see first?ก If your answer isn’t the headline, you might want to tweak the colors.

4. Subheads that lead into text. If you have a couple of paragraphs of text with no lead in, there’s nothing to entice people to actually read the copy. A subhead will give people a place to start reading. If you have only a 100 words or so you may be able to get away with it, but if the text gets any longer than that the average reader will want to have some guideposts along the way.

5. Benefits, benefits, benefits. One of the biggest errors people make in advertising is stating features, rather than benefits. For example, never assume recipients know what benefit can be derived from a lower interest rate on their mortgage. Let them know how their monthly payments will go down.

6. The offer. An offer is always a good idea and should represent a specific reason to call now, such as ขLimited supplyข or ขInterest rates are climbing.ข

7. Your company name and logo. Although this needs to be on the mailer, it shouldn’t overshadow the offer. Customers care most about what you can do for them.

8. Call to action. Tell prospects exactly what you want them to do. ขCall today for more informationข or ขSee us onlineข are two of the most common desired actions.

9. Contact information. Provide your name, phone number, and Web address directly following the call to action. Whatever you ask prospects to do, give them the means to do it easily.

10. Return address. A return address ensures you’ll get returned mail from the post office and sends a message that you’re an established professional. People feel better knowing the company they’re dealing with has an actual location.

About The Author

Joe Niewierski, the VP of Marketing & Promotion at PostcardMania, became a published writer after graduating with a BA in Advertising from the University of South Florida. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on February 21

by Joe Niewierski

A Simple Ebay Money Making Trick Revealed!

A Simple Ebay Money Making Trick Revealed!

by: Dayne Herren

Let me guess, you hear of all these people making thousands if not millions on eBay and you are just completely baffled as to how they do it. Well, most of these people either sell high ticket items or sell hundreds and hundreds of specific กhotก items.

As you may know, finding items to sell on eBay can be tough and most of all, it takes time. You have to search through junk at garage sales and even thrift stores.

But what Iกm about to reveal to you will be an easy way for you to make some extra cash on eBay. It may even be enough to pay your mortgage or car payment. And best of all, it is very simple. You don’t even have to search your local garage sale or flea market for that hidden treasure to sell on eBay.

So here is what you do. First of all, you have to find a market on eBay that is buying. Take a look at expired auctions or current hot auctions. Once you find a hot subject, write up a 35 page report that gives solid content on that subject. If it solves a type of problem or explains กhow toก do something, even better. Sell your report on eBay for something around $2.99 to $5.99. Be sure to make your listing keyword rich so it gets viewed but the right audience.

Now, here is the part that may earn you even MORE money AFTER the sale of your report. If you haven’t heard of กaffiliate marketingก, then you are missing out! In a nutshell, affiliate marketing means that you sell someone elses product, and you get a percentage of the sale. There are multiple places you can sign up to start promoting other peoples products. A couple big ones that come to mind are cj.com, Linkshare.com, Clickbank.com and even Amazon.com. When you sign up, you find a product you want to promote, and then you you can pick either text links or banner ads to promote the product. When someone buy from that link or ad, you get paid. Plain and simple.

If you really want to make SERIOUS money on affiliate products, I would highly recommend you pick up your own copy of Rosalind Gardnerกs Super Affiliate Handbook. She makes over $400,000 a year just by selling other peoples products! She will show you exactly what to do to make great money. Go to http://dayne.us/affiliatehandbook.html and grab your copy.

The key to making more money off your report is to make sure you put in affiliate links within your report. I wouldn’t use more than two. I would advise using text links, that way you can blend them within the report text. Once you create your text links, they will be long, so go to www.tinyurl.com. This is a great site that can shorten the link for you.

Once you have your affiliate links shortened, blend them in within your report and hype them up a bit to promote the sale. But don’t overdue it. If you push it too much, people will realize that you are just trying to make a sale.

Lastly, when your report is complete with content and links, make sure you put in PDF format. If you don’t want to write the report yourself, just go to Elance.com and find someone who will write it for you. For a small report, it should only cost you around $20$40. Remeber, you can sell this report over and over again on eBay and you have exclusive rights to it!

Thatกs it! Now, you have the opportunity to make $5.99 from one sale on eBay and maybe even MORE with your affiliate links…and you didn’t even have to go hunting for items to sell! Just think if you get 10 reports selling on eBay. The profit potential can be huge!

About The Author

Learn how you can make THOUSANDS of dollars a month by selling other peoples products at http://dayne.us/affiliatehandbook.html.

Dayne Herren is a freelance artist, writer, and online marketer.

This article was posted on April 20

by Dayne Herren

SMS Text Messaging … 21st Century Vice or Virtue?

SMS Text Messaging … 21st Century Vice or Virtue?

by: Jo Wintour

The Short Message Service (SMS), more commonly known as text messaging, is currently the most used mobile phone service. Frantic wrist action is enjoyed everywhere, even to the point of etiquette, as consumers are spotted texting in restaurants and bars, at weddings and in meetings. The semianonymity of ‘text’ seems key to its popularity, as it provides a comfortable amount of distance, but allows almost instant communication. The world of SMS is expanding so rapidly that many people are of the opinion that text will overtake talk as the preferred form of communication. It could be argued that a great percentage of people find ขtextข easier and perhaps less embarrassing to articulate their thoughts. Many intimate confessions have been communicated by text, including the recent escapades of Paris Hilton and Charlotte Church.

Research suggests that introverts prefer texting as they have the opportunity to think about what to say, removing the pressure of articulating an instance response. Some people also find text a useful timesaving medium by removing the opportunity for smalltalk. With text, mobile users can get straight to the point, much appreciated by people who simply do not enjoy talking on the phone.

Text opportunities are endless. The Live 8 ticket lottery was a very high profile use of text. Over 26 million people took part in the text messaging campaign this month to support the work of Live 8. Throughout the concerts, viewers were urged to send a text message consisting of their names in order to strengthen the message sent to the world leaders. As text is such a convenient option, many believe that this campaign was more successful than a ขphone inข campaign would have been. The appeal posed little challenge for the public viewers, who sitting in the comfort of their own homes, could easily reach for their mobile phone and interact with the Live 8 campaign. Furthermore, the lucky concert attendees were encouraged to send a quick text in between dancing to the live acts. As this took very little effort the response rate to the text appeal was phenomenal.

There are many companies keen to exploit entertainment products and packages through mobile phones. The media industry, particularly radio and reality TV shows, is continuing to cash in on this popular method of communication by engaging viewers to text in and express their opinion. Hit TV shows, such as Big Brother, Pop Idol and Celebrity Love Island, are inundated with texts from the public wishing to save their favourite person. Other media companies promote text as a convenient way to enter competitions. Text messages ease the tedious routine of entering a competition via a phone call, where engaged lines and automated instructions are inevitable, they are also faster and less hassle than snail mail and often more costeffective.

Entertainment isn’t the only industry to exploit SMS. According to textually.org, the top 10 uses for SMS in the US include:

1) Alerting mobile technicians to system errors

2) Alerting mobile execs to urgent voice messages

3) Confirming with mobile sales personnel that a faxed order was received

4) Informing travellers of delays and changes

5) Enabling contract workers to receive and accept project offers

6) Keeping stock traders up to date on urgent stock activity

7) Reminding data services subscribers about daily updates

8) Alerting doctors to urgent patient situations

9) Letting mobile sales teams input daily sales figures into corporate database

10) Sending mobile sales reps reminders of appointments and other schedule details

A more advanced form of text messaging, dubbed the XHIBIT, involves witnesses in criminal court cases automatically receiving a text when they are due to appear in court. Many have favoured this easy method, claiming it effectively reduces the time witnesses of crime have to spend waiting around in court. This is also in place to support the police force, who claim that less time is wasted in the court through this technology. Research suggests that XHIBIT text could save 80,000 police days every year.

Additionally, text provides an additional medium for support services. Examples include encouraging messages for those trying to give up smoking and messages of advice for those suffering from anxiety problems. Furthermore, some people rely on receiving texts with the latest news, such as stock quotes and weather updates.

With the digital and communications market expanding so rapidly, research suggests that text will continue to see many improvements and will consequently become a more fundamental part of our everyday lives.

For more information about text opportunities and the latest developments see:

http://www.sonyericsson.com

http://www.newindpress.com/

http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/news

http://www.textually.org

About The Author

Jo Wintour

Loves travelling, good music and eating out

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 19

by Jo Wintour

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager – worki

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager – working with text file

by: Andrew Karasev

Great Plains Integration Manager advanced programming, working with text files, aggregation, unionizing, VB scripting, translation

Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application Microsoft Great Plains has multiple integration options: MS SQL Scripting (stored procedures and views), ADO.Net programming, Microsoft SQL Server DTS packages. You certainly can deploy such SDK tools as eConnect. However here we would like to show you how to program the simplest user friendly tool: Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager.

Multiple times in our consulting practice we saw the need to integrate General Ledger transactions from one text file and here we give you this and even more complex case, when credit and debit amounts are present on the same line with their own account numbers. Let’s assume that we have tab delimited text file, GLSOURCE.txt. Here is how the line looks:

ก11242004ก (date) ก11020016000ก (debit account) 212446.68 (debit amount) ก15260005400ก (credit account) 212446.68 (credit amount)

Pretty challenging, isn’t it?

Let’s begin

First of all and this is probably easy – you need ODBC DSN, use Microsoft Text Driver, change default directory, select the file and switch to tab delimited type.

Next, open Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager and create two new queries – one will be for the Header and the second for distribution lines in GL transaction. In both cases use Advanced ODBC type of text queries.

GL Header should aggregate by date, so in its SQL window enter this:

select F1 from GLSOURCE.txt group by F1

Now the lines – here we need unionizing and checking if amount is not zero:

select F1, F2, F3, 0 from GLSOURCE.txt

where F3กก

union

select F1 F4, 0,F5 from GLSOURCE.txt

where F5กก

The one above is the most difficult part of this article. Please understand it – we are splitting line into two by union, first we create debit part and then we attach credit part, plus we are weeding out 0 amounts.

Next – we need to link two queries – simply link them by F1 field (date). Do it in query relationship. When you are done with linking, right click on the arrow, open properties and in Select Relationship Type window change to:

There can be 0 or more records in the child for each record in the master.

This is important – we’ll have more than one line in GL distribution.

The rest should be familiar for IM consultant.

Select destination as GL Journal, assign transaction date and batch ID as F1 from Header query, switch to entries and select them from debit and credit parts of the lines query.

As additional tools in filtering your text query you could use VBA scripting and even translation.

Translation is the way to go when you need to replace account numbers from the text file with different or translated accounts in Great Plains.

Happy integrating! if you want us to do the job give us a call 16309615918 or 18665280577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Colorado, Arizona, New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 15, 2004

by Andrew Karasev

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 Tweak Your Website For More Sales

How To Tweak Your Website For More Sales

by: Michael Southon

There are two pillars to a successful online business. One of them is traffic and the other is sales copy the text on your your website. Thatกs what this article is about getting more sales from your website.

(1) Format. The fastest selling websites have the following format: a onepage sales letter; a single column of text occupying half the screen width; and a maximum of 2 or 3 linked pages (eg. partners.html, testimonials.html, author.html etc.)

(2) Headline. This should be in font size 4 or 5 and offer a strong benefit. Writing a compelling headline is a delicate balancing act you need to grab your readers attention but you don’t want to strain their credulity. Here are some tips on writing effective headlines: http://tutorials.findtutorials.com/read/id/28

(3) Date. A date at the top of your page adds to the feeling that your sales page is a letter, which makes your page more readable. It also assures visitors that your site is uptodate and still relevant. Here is a javascript code that will insert the current date: http://www.ezinewriter.com/datescript.html

(4) Paragraphs. Keep them short no more than 1 or 2 sentences per paragraph. It makes your page much easier to read.

(5) Bolding and highlighting. If you emphasize certain keywords your sales page will be much more effective. It draws your readers attention to your benefits and it also breaks up the monotony of the text. To highlight text, use these tags: your text here

(6) Book covers. An attractive book cover will increase your sales by up to 300% so if you don’t have one, get one! Here are some websites that design book covers:

http://www.killercovers.com/

http://www.ebookwow.com/

http://www.ebookcoverart.com/

http://www.ebookcreators.com/

http://www.dynamitecovers.com/

(7) Testimonials. These will also dramatically increase your sales. If you don’t have any, ask your customers for them. Every testimonial will always contain a key phrase or benefit make that phrase leap out at the reader by using bold type. Always provide the website and/or email address of the person who wrote the testimonial. If you make the website URL and active link, youกll get more testimonials but youกll also lose traffic when your visitors click on those links.

(8) Bonus Gifts. Offering freebies with your product is an old trick in web marketing nearly everyone does it. My advice is take the freebies off. Why? Firstly, chances are the freebies you offer are also being offered by hundreds of other websites your visitors have seen them all before and are not impressed. Secondly, offering freebies sends the message that your product is not really worth it on its own.

(9) Unique Selling Proposition. You must differentiate your product from your competitorsก products. One way to do this is to have a กWarningก near the bottom of your page that says กDo not buy an eBook on XYZ unless it meets the following criteria…ก And then list the unique features of your eBook (or product).

(10) A Call to Action. This is the biggest cause of lost sales. Most people procrastinate so you must create a sense of urgency. You can do this in various ways a price rise after a certain date, a price rise after a certain number of copies have been sold, or a bonus report for the next 15 orders.

© 2003 by Michael Southon

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 get massive free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. For more information visit: http://www.ezinewriter.com/

This article was posted on February 15, 2003

by Michael Southon

AntiAliasing for GreatLooking Text Graphics

AntiAliasing for GreatLooking Text Graphics

by: Grannyกs Mettle

Macromedia has a wonderful software application that helps users create greatlooking text graphics by using antialiasing capabilities. In Fireworks MX 2004, artists and designers can create readable and attractive text graphics by substituting shades of the font color around the lines and curves, which otherwise can be broken and craggy in appearance.

Fireworks AntiAliasing Capabilities

Antialiasing capabilities have been with Fireworks for quite some time now. With the new edition, Fireworks MX 2004 enhanced further its four antialiasing options and added two more features.

Its antialiasing options include: None AntiAlias, which disables text smoothing; Crisp AntiAlias that allows the creation of a sharp transition between the edges of the text and the background; Strong AntiAlias for a very abrupt transition of the text edges into the background, while preserving the shapes of the text characters and improving on the detailed areas of the characters; and Smooth AntiAlias that lets the users create a soft transition between the text edges and the background.

On the other hand, the new antialias options are the System AntiAlias that uses the text smoothing method which can be found in Windows XP or Mac OS X; and Custom AntiAlias, which provides expert level controls (such as oversampling, sharpness, and strength) over the antialiasing.

The enhanced features from Fireworks allow the users to have a complete toolbox of กsandpaperก for antialiasing of text graphics. Users can quickly and efficiently smooth the edges of any working text using the Fireworks application.

To utilize the antialiasing options, simply apply any text object through the Property inspector ot the Text Editor.

AntiAliasing Options

To help you further maximize the capabilities of Fireworks and its antialiasing features, the following is suggested:

1. For antialiasing to be useful and maximized, it is best to use it on larger font sizes.

2. Do not apply antialiasing features on a bitmapped font.

3. Do not export antialiased text as a GIF with the Web 216 palette. The reason for this is that the Web 216 palette does not have the colors that you will be using to properly antialias your text.

4. Antialiased text which is exported as a transparent GIF then placed in a web page with a background color will appear more aliased. This means that the text would appear to have jagged distortions in its curves and diagonal lines. It is better to just alias the text at the beginning since you will have the same result anyway.

And,

5. Always try one of the preset antialiasing options first before developing your final output. This is to help you achieve your desired appearance. Try out the Non, Crisp, Strong, Smooth or System options. If you still do not achieve your desired requirements, then use the Custom AntiAliasing option.

About The Author

Grannyกs Mettle is a 30something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: กWriting gives me pleasure… pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine.ก

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

About Color Printing Wholesale

Color Printing Wholesale is a company that offers a wide range of quality digital printing services from brochures, flyers, business cards, postcards and posters, to digital, inkjet and web solutions, as well as laminating services. For further information, visit their website at http://www.colorprintingwholesale.com/category/POSTCARD/PostcardPrintingServices.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 06

by Grannyกs Mettle

The Wrong Email Format Can Destroy Your Offer

The Wrong Email Format Can Destroy Your Offer

by: Rich Hamilton, Jr

Which email format is more effective to use, Text or HTML?

A good question, many experts have been debating over for awhile now, is which email format is more effective. It all depends on who you ask, many people prefer the text format over the HTML format. There are also many people who would rather use HTML over the text format. You can pretty much draw a line right down the middle between the text users and the HTML users, itกs that close.

The truth of the matter is that the most effective format to use for your email really depends on the offer you’re presenting.

Both text and HTML email formats have their advantages and disadvantages. In this article I am going to go over the advantages and disadvantages of text and HTML email formats. Letกs jump right in and start with the format text.

Text

Obviously the real advantage to using a text format is that you have a white background with black font making it very easy to read. The text format loads fast, no matter what size the email is.

If the email loads fast and is easy to read how can text formats have a disadvantage?

Easy!

The real disadvantage of using text format is when you are using email as a source of marketing. To effectively use email marketing you need to use some sort of tracking software. Without tracking you will never know if the subject line and/or email offer needs work.

The point I am trying to make is that people are very cautious about clicking on tracking and affiliate links. As soon as they see a lengthy url, they get the impression that you are trying to sell them something and immediately delete the email. With a text formatted email you cannot hide long tracking urls from the recipient. With an HTML format you won’t run into this problem, which brings us to…

HTML

The biggest advantage of using HTML is that you can hide your tracking urls from the viewer. Instead of having a long url in your email offer, you can use a simple กclick hereก. Not only can you hide your tracking url, but you can also mask it from appearing in the browser window.

Moreover, HTML has a lot of disadvantages. For instance, some people can’t view HTML email, while others can view it with a limited amount of space. HTML email files can be sizable and take up a lot of space. Most people who use HTML formatted email use a lot of images and other graphics to make their email have a professional appearence. But they don’t stop and think about the size of the email that they are sending, and whether or not their recipients may have limited space.

Sending large email files is a sure way to get your recipients upset. You don’t want to strike out before you have the chance to swing!

You can see that both email formats have their advantages, as well as their disadvantages. As for which format is the right one for you, it all depends on your offer.

If you are sending an email offer that doesn’t require any lengthy tracking urls or has no affiliate urls, then text should be your format of choice.

Moreover, if you do have tracking or affiliate urls in your email offer, then HTML is the way to go. When using an HTML format be conservative, not everyone has broadband, youกll find that a lot of people are still using 28.8k modems for their Internet connection.

When sending out an HTML email offer it should have a solid white background with black text, and absolutely no images or graphics. This way the email offer appears to be text and loads fast, when itกs actually HTML. Your viewer won’t be able to see your long tracking or affiliate url which will increase your click through ratio and that means more sales.

Most autoresponders and email softwares have the ability to send email in both formats, but not all of them. There are still some that don’t.

Rich Hamilton, Jr is the CEO/President of www.ElitesMarketing.com a.k.a. Elites Marketing, Inc and the Author of: กInside Internet Marketingก http://www.InsideNetMarketing.com

About The Author

Rich Hamilton, Jr is the CEO/President of www.ElitesMarketing.com a.k.a. Elites Marketing, Inc and the Author of: กInside Internet Marketingก www.InsideNetMarketing.com.

This article was posted on August 03, 2003

by Rich Hamilton, Jr