SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

by: Chesa Keane

Creating a welldesigned website is the first step in your internet marketing strategy. Once the website has been created and optimized, there are further techniques to employ that will drive traffic to your website for successful, longterm results. You wouldn’t consider opening a retail store in a major shopping mall without signage and you shouldn’t consider having a nice looking website designed without expanding your web presence in order to be found on the internet. But unless the website is designed correctly to begin with, followon SEO efforts will have limited results at best. The following strategy overview is designed to bring about productive SEO results:

Create an attractive website that is complementary to your company image and provides your targeted audience with information about you, your company and your products and/or services.

Design a website that has a calltoaction in the form of a purchase or providing you a contact, subscription or other commitment from your visitor.

Create a successful marketing arm for your overall business promotion and marketing campaign to promote your business, products and/or services with the many followon strategies that drive traffic to your website.

Become competitive in your industry and marketplace by meeting or exceeding the industry marketing standards and attracting a qualified audience for your products and/or services based on a strong reputation.

Generate and maintain or grow internet traffic to your website resulting in a conversion of traffic into sales of your products and/or services by evolving as your market demands.

This search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is composed of several processes in three stages: 1) Good web design, 2) Attracting attention from search engines and directories, and 3) Creating longterm popularity on the internet. However, it all starts with good web design. Website design is the foundation and beginning of a successful internet marketing strategy. It is true that there are websites on the internet that are unattractive but somehow seem to work. If there are aspects of these websites that work, imagine how well they could do if they simply followed basic design implementation tactics that resulted in a good image as well as simply pushed information out to the viewer.

These basics are essential for Tier 1 success:

Good web design will complement and enhance the company image and offline marketing campaign products creating a corporate branding if done well.

Easy, logical navigation that leads the viewer deeper and deeper into the web of information provided by the website will keep the visitor on your site longer and give you more time to sell your products or services.

Attractive but quickloading graphics that are pleasing to the eye and meaningful to the website will guide the viewer along the route you decide is important for explaining what you offer.

Keyword usage that is search enginefriendly depends on how the keywords are utilized, the placement of the keywords, the frequency of the most important keywords and their relevance to the website.

Website coding that is lean, clean and without errors will keep the search engines happy and your viewer seeing exactly what you intended to offer.

Relevance of content to the theme of the site is essential. Be concise, to the point and focus on your goals. If you have multiple themes and offerings, consider multiple websites to address the different markets, then tie each website back to the others by linking.

Changing content that changes frequently and stays fresh keeps your viewer returning and prevents the search engines from treating your website as if it were stale news. A stale site will be ranked lower by the search engines.

Content is king itกs all about content, content, content. But how that content is presented is what makes the difference.

(c)2005 TAO Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Chesa Keane of TAO Consultants has been involved with the internet for 10 years through internet consulting, web development and search engine optimization. Go to www.computergoddess.com for a free Search Engine Optimization Checklist.

This article was posted on September 14

by Chesa Keane

How To Choose A Camera System

How To Choose A Camera System

by: Amy Howard

There are many reasons to install a camera system. If you own a business, you may want to be able to identify or avoid theft or keep vandalism from your property. Or you may just want to be able to keep an eye on things without actually being there physically. As a homeowner there are a bunch of other reasons to have a camera system. You may be having trouble with a neighbor, trespassers, vandals, or perhaps you have kids and want to be able to keep an eye on them but you can’t be there every minute of every day.

Whatever your reason for wanting a camera system if you don’t get the right kind of equipment based on your needs, you will just waste your money. So if you are thinking of getting a camera system, you will need to look at your situation in order to get the right system.

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. Is what you want to see indoors or outdoors?

2. How many areas do you want to see at your location?

3. Is there a lot of light available throughout the day and night?

4. Do you want to see a wide area, such as a parking lot, or a specific location, like the front door?

5. Is it important to see the small details or is a general idea good enough?

6. Do you need to see the picture only on sight or is off sight viewing necessary?

7. Do you need record what the camera sees?

8. Do you need to record for a long or short period of time?

Okay, now that you have an idea of what you are trying to view, we can take a closer look at the equipment.

Camera

First let’s look at the camera itself. There a hundreds of cameras to choose from. There are even fake cameras that you can use if you only want to give the illusion of having a system. Of course there are different prices ranging from cheap (poor quality) to the ridiculously expensive but does everything. If you don’t know what to ask for, you could be disappointed in what you get.

Do you want color or black/white? If you need to see the details clearly and you have good lighting throughout the time you need to keep watch, then a color camera is probably going to be the way to go. Color cameras are typically more expensive than black/white and they don’t see very will in the dark.

If you only need to have a general idea of what is going on in the area then you can go with black and white. Don’t misunderstand me, you can get a nice clear picture with a black/white camera but if you are looking to be able to identify someone and not have there be any question, then color is for you. If the lighting in the area is bad then color may not be the best camera for the job. If you only have lighting issues at night then you can get a day/night camera. That will get you a color picture in the daytime and a black/white picture at night.

Lens

Now let’s focus on the lens for a while. The type of lens you want will depend on what you want to see, how far away it is, and how wide of an area you want to see. For most applications you can get a lens that is adjustable to fit just about all your needs. There are some cases where only a very specific lens will work, but those usually only occur in high end jobs. If money is real tight, then you can get a camera that has the lens built in. I would like to caution you here and say that once you get a camera like this, you can’t just go and adjust it to get the picture you originally wanted. So, make sure you get a camera with the right lens.

Quads/Multiplexers

A quad processor will give you the ability to view more than one camera on one screen or one at a time. If you have a system with four cameras you can see all of them on one television screen or if you see something going on one camera you can choose to see only that location. Caution – the recorder you put on a quad will only record what the quad is allowing you to see.

A multiplexer is a step up from that. You can view your cameras any way you want. You can see each camera individually and multi cameras on the screen, in intervals. The playback, allows viewing the cameras in any form you like.

Recording devices

First you must decide how long you want to record. If you have a business and you are closed on the weekends and holidays, you may want to record for at least 72 hours. If it’s for your house and you go out of town for long periods of time you may want to consider a longer recording time. There is a time lapse recorder (very reasonably priced) that can record for 960 hours. That’s 40 days and a whole lot of video to watch if you are looking for something that happened a week ago.

Something that has been on the market for a while and is finally coming down in price to something that is almost reasonable is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The DVR comes with so many features it’s a little scary. First the picture quality is improved because you aren’t viewing it from a tape that has been recorded over again and again and again. Second, it has a built in multiplexer that will let you view more than one camera at a time on the same screen. Third, it’s easy to upgrade so that you can view your cameras remotely. So if you want to go on vacation and still keep an eye on things you can. Forth, the video is stored internally and it’s a whole lot easier to view video without having to rewind and fast forward. Plus there is no need for a tape library. There are probably a few more things a DVR can do but these would be the most popular.

Monitors

What do you want to see the picture on? Monitors can vary in size and picture quality depending on your budget and how much space you have. You can view cameras on your existing television or you can view them on your computer screen or over the Internet.

Wireless Systems

A word about wireless systems. Wireless technology has come a long way. It’s more reliable and the picture quality has improved greatly. I also like the idea that you can easily move the system. There is a system that just came out that has an awesome price. I have no idea how long the system will last, what the range is or if there are some environmental factors that can interfere with the picture. But if you are on a serious budget, this could be the answer for you.

I would like to thank you for reading this report. I hope this report has helped you learn a little more about camera systems. It’s not easy to make an informed decision when you know very little about the subject. I hope now that you have read this report you have gained some insight into what kind of system would work best for you. If your system is driven only by cost, then please don’t expect to get a great quality picture. If your system is driven only by features, then you had better open you wallet a little. I would highly recommend that whatever you are looking for, that you talk to a security consultant and discuss what is available for you in your price range.

Listen I have only scratched the surface when it comes to cameras. There are so many varieties available today it can be a little overwhelming for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. There are cameras that can PanTiltZoom. There are covert cameras that would make James Bond proud. You just have to know what you want and how much you can spend. I’m sure you wouldn’t go shopping for a car or a house and not know what your budget is or have an idea of what you wanted. Take this information and use it wisely

About The Author

Amy Howard has been in the security industry for more than 13 years. She understands the frustrations that people can go through when trying to find a camera system that will fit their needs and not break the bank in the process. She has created a website for people to get more information on camera systems and camera equipment. You can visit her website at www.cctvhomeonline.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 31

by Amy Howard

SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

SEO Success: Step One is Good Web Design

by: Chesa Keane

Creating a welldesigned website is the first step in your internet marketing strategy. Once the website has been created and optimized, there are further techniques to employ that will drive traffic to your website for successful, longterm results. You wouldn’t consider opening a retail store in a major shopping mall without signage and you shouldn’t consider having a nice looking website designed without expanding your web presence in order to be found on the internet. But unless the website is designed correctly to begin with, followon SEO efforts will have limited results at best. The following strategy overview is designed to bring about productive SEO results:

Create an attractive website that is complementary to your company image and provides your targeted audience with information about you, your company and your products and/or services.

Design a website that has a calltoaction in the form of a purchase or providing you a contact, subscription or other commitment from your visitor.

Create a successful marketing arm for your overall business promotion and marketing campaign to promote your business, products and/or services with the many followon strategies that drive traffic to your website.

Become competitive in your industry and marketplace by meeting or exceeding the industry marketing standards and attracting a qualified audience for your products and/or services based on a strong reputation.

Generate and maintain or grow internet traffic to your website resulting in a conversion of traffic into sales of your products and/or services by evolving as your market demands.

This search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is composed of several processes in three stages: 1) Good web design, 2) Attracting attention from search engines and directories, and 3) Creating longterm popularity on the internet. However, it all starts with good web design. Website design is the foundation and beginning of a successful internet marketing strategy. It is true that there are websites on the internet that are unattractive but somehow seem to work. If there are aspects of these websites that work, imagine how well they could do if they simply followed basic design implementation tactics that resulted in a good image as well as simply pushed information out to the viewer.

These basics are essential for Tier 1 success:

Good web design will complement and enhance the company image and offline marketing campaign products creating a corporate branding if done well.

Easy, logical navigation that leads the viewer deeper and deeper into the web of information provided by the website will keep the visitor on your site longer and give you more time to sell your products or services.

Attractive but quickloading graphics that are pleasing to the eye and meaningful to the website will guide the viewer along the route you decide is important for explaining what you offer.

Keyword usage that is search enginefriendly depends on how the keywords are utilized, the placement of the keywords, the frequency of the most important keywords and their relevance to the website.

Website coding that is lean, clean and without errors will keep the search engines happy and your viewer seeing exactly what you intended to offer.

Relevance of content to the theme of the site is essential. Be concise, to the point and focus on your goals. If you have multiple themes and offerings, consider multiple websites to address the different markets, then tie each website back to the others by linking.

Changing content that changes frequently and stays fresh keeps your viewer returning and prevents the search engines from treating your website as if it were stale news. A stale site will be ranked lower by the search engines.

Content is king itกs all about content, content, content. But how that content is presented is what makes the difference.

(c)2005 TAO Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Chesa Keane of TAO Consultants has been involved with the internet for 10 years through internet consulting, web development and search engine optimization. Go to www.computergoddess.com for a free Search Engine Optimization Checklist.

This article was posted on September 12

by Chesa Keane

How to Generate Loads Of Free Traffic To Your Webs

How to Generate Loads Of Free Traffic To Your Website!

by: Paul Kellum

One of the most popular ways to generate free traffic to your website these days is to use a free traffic exchange service.

A traffic exhange is website service that enables you to view someones website, and others in turn view yours. You earn credits when you view someones site, and you use those credits to have others view your site.

Internet marketers would like to know how to bring traffic to their websites quickly, without spending any money. Traffic exchanges can accomplish this.

The greatest benefit comes in when you sign up others and receive traffic from their efforts.

The different types of exchanges are start page exchanges, manual surf, and auto surf.

The key is to join more than one exchange, it could be start page, manual or auto surf exchange, and promote them to get referrals.

Go to any search engine such as yahoo or excite, and search for traffic exchanges. There are hundreds, with new ones being established everyday.

With all the traffic exchanges you find from the searh engines,if you join them,you will increase your traffic greatly.

About The Author

Paul Kellum is the webmaster of a new website that sells over 3500 products with some of the lowest prices on the internet. Our fantastic affiliate program is free to join.

http://www.greatwebdeal.com

http://tinyurl.com/4vgt4

This article was posted on September 13, 2004

by Paul Kellum

Do You Make This Success Mistake?

Do You Make This Success Mistake?

by: Mike Litman

This success mistake has cost me so much money that Iกm almost embarrassed to tell you.

กSo Mike, why are you telling me?ก

Because I know that if you can steer away from this success mistake, it can help you improve your income and change your life. Thatกs my goal.

Hereกs how this came about:

Yesterday, I was reading a book about investing from the very successful money manager Peter Lynch.

Even though he was talking about กinvestingก, he zeroed in on a success principle that so many people miss.

I did.for 7+ years and it cost me a fortune.

And it caused me a bunch of stress.

Whatกs so interesting is that Warren Buffett used this same success insight to become the 2nd richest person in the world.

Hereกs the deal:

I used to be so กshortsightedก and wanted immediate gratification.

If my new กbusiness ideaก didn’t work out in 3060 days, I quit.

Then Iกd try something else and, after a week, I went onto something else.

This downward spiral happened for a while because I was กruledก by a shortterm vision and the desire for immediate gratification.

This is how 98% of the world operates.

THIS is why only 2% of the world live their dreams.

Hereกs what Peter Lynch was saying and what Warren Buffet knows.

Also, Michael Dell knows this, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Oprah and others all know this.

***One of the biggest กsecretsก to success is taking the LONGTERM VIEW.

(Let me say that again)

***One of the biggest กsecretsก to success is taking the LONGTERM VIEW.

When Warren Buffett makes an investment, heกs looking 515 yrs out, sometimes more.

All great entrepreneurs understand that in order to WIN BIG they must take the longterm view.

3years, 5years, 15years, 20years+.

You need to give yourself time for your idea or business to grow.

Most people never do this itกs unfortunate. AND.itกs also never too late to start.

You need to EXPAND your horizon.

Change your perspective.

You need to take the NEXT STEP today and keep in mind your longterm view. Not necessarily a specific long term goal, but a longer term VIEW.

Thereกs a season for everything.

Take the time to plant the seeds, water them, and be patient for your harvest.

Stay disciplined.

I know you can do it.

by Mike Litman

About The Author

If you’re scattered, if you procrastinate too much, and if you want to ‘rev upก your income, see Mike Litmanกs site at: The Power of Concentration http://www.powerofconcentration.net

This article was posted on February 18

by Mike Litman

Increasing Site Revenue: Forget the Gizmos

Increasing Site Revenue: Forget the Gizmos

by: Rosalind Gardner

Forget the 3D logo. Toss the animated graphics and pictures of pretty women.

Cool scripts don’t help you much, and music will kill the deal.

What the heck am I talking about?

Iกm talking about all the things webmasters and developers use to make their sites กbetterก.

But better for whom?

Unless your objective is beautiful design, or to showcase your talent as a developer, those elements contribute almost nothing to your bottom line.

In fact, they often clutter and detract from your real objective which should be to sell products!

To get the message out about your product, you use words, not gizmos.

Your words persuade people to visit your site, subscribe to your newsletter and buy your or your merchantsก products.

How you use your words makes the difference between your siteกs success or failure.

Here are two examples of how words are used to sell real estate:

1. Lakefront home on 60 feet of beach in Penticton. View.

2. Once in a lifetime opportunity to own one of Pentictonกs premier lakefront homes with approximately 60 ft of soft sandy beachfront. Awesome view down lake.

Which listing would persuade you to to call your realtor?

Number two, right?

But why?

If you are like most of us, you respond emotionally to the words กpremierก, กsandyก and กawesome viewก.

The กopportunityก to live a กpremierก lifestyle, and feel the sand between your toes as you enjoy your awesome view appeals to your senses in a pleasurable way.

Appealing to your readersก emotions is critical. A few choice words can skyrocket your conversion rates.

And you don’t need to be a seasoned writer or an established author to make your words sell more of your products.

Writing is a skill that can be learned like any other.

When you combine your desire to improve your writing skill with expertsก books, courses, and seminars copywriting becomes easier and much more fun.

Best of all, just a little effort to improve your writing will reap huge financial rewards.

Just ‘tweakingก one paragraph can double or even quadruple your current conversion rates.

Try it The rewards you gain by learning to write copy well are worth much more than a few bucks and a couple hours of your time.

© Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

About The Author

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the bestselling กSuper Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peopleกs Stuff Onlineก. To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://NetProfitsToday.com.

This article was posted on March 30

by Rosalind Gardner

Introducing GRML

Introducing GRML

by: Toby J. Rhodes

Creating a new markup language.

Introduction.

General Reuse Markup Langauge, or GRML, is a markup language for web browsers. It has the data definition features of characterdelimited files and XML, with the hyperlinking and form support of HTML.

The purpose of this article is to show why GRML exists and how it complements HTML, XML, RSS, and characterdelimited formats.

Background.

GRML is not the result of a specific plan. It was developed as a solution to another problem, namely reusing data from a web service. It began with the development of a web frontend to request content from a few web services. A data format was needed to handle responses. Having data in some arbitrary format was too limiting. Something formal was needed.

HTML and XML were considered, but they did not quite fit the frontend being developed. There needed to be another choice, one with…

support for multiple views (the frontend used a List control that has 4);

a way to define multiple sets of data for multidimensional views;

content that translates to/from other formats; and

a distinction between the display of the form and view.

Since there was no format that met all the requirements, the frontend was going to need something new. Using the frontend, it was possible to develop a format and test it for these requirements. In other words, the frontend existed before the markup language!

The format that resulted was GRML. It was designed to use forms and views, supports multiple and multidimensional views, works with existing web servers, and adapts to other formats. Once the markup language was finished, the web frontend became a web browser.

Now that the objective for GRML has been explained, the next step is to understand, in detail, why existing formats were not chosen.

Understanding Markup Languages.

Before going through the process of understanding why GRML is necessary, the existing formats need to be introduced and their design goals identified. The formats are considered from a data handling perspective, so no discussion of games, movies, music, advertising, and entertainment are mentioned.

For the purposes of creating a markup language, the two major features for browsing web pages are the form and view. A form contains any input control for user requests. A view displays content, or data from the web page without the markup tags or formatting elements.

Given the requirement of the form and view, it is possible to compare each format.

HTML is the most prevalent format on the web. It is designed for data display. There is form and view support.

XML is a minor format on the web. It is designed for data definition. It lacks form and view support.

RSS is a minor format on the web. It is designed for data definition. It lacks form support but has a view.

CSV or characterdelimited formats are rarely used on the web. It is designed for data definition. It lacks form support but has a view.

Now that each format has been introduced, it is possible to understand the place for GRML on the web.

Letกs begin with…

HTML.

There is really only one markup language in widespread use on the web (in other words, 99% of all web pages use this language), and that is HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. HTML describes how data is displayed. It tells the web browser how the web page looks in the web browser view. With HTML, all content is displayed in the view, including forms, text, and images. HTML decides how to display the web page.

Web page content, using HTML, is defined only for images and hyperlinks. Text content is not defined, making it incompatible to use in other formats. Therefore, adapting HTML content to other formats is the most limited of all formats considered.

The single view approach of HTML prevents dynamically switching the content in the view. There is no way to present related sets of HTML content (e.g. 2 different pages from a message board, or 4 different pages of news headlines, or 8 different pages of auction results, etc.) in the view without loading different pages and navigating between them. Hence, HTML does not support multidimensional views.

Because HTML decides the web page display, it prevents multiple views of content. HTML does not support multidimensional views and is not easy to adapt to other formats. Also, it combines the form and view in one display. For these reasons, it proved to be an inadequate choice.

Next is…

XML.

XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is designed for adaptability. Databases, spreadsheets, CSV, or characterdelimited files are all potentially able to format their data using XML. It defines what data is, rather than how it is displayed. This makes XML adaptable to other file formats.

There is no one XML document format. It is a standard for defining how to structure data. This lack of a specific data format prevents XML from defining any view of its content. It also does not define input controls for use in a form.

A lack of view support in XML prevents multiple AND multidimensional views. Without form support, a user is not able to send requests. While XML is adaptable to other formats, it is not an adequate choice.

So far, HTML and XML have proven insufficient. The next to consider is…

RSS.

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a specific data format of a XML data structure. Therefore, RSS is able to support a view of its data. Also, since it is based on XML, it defines its data rather than how it is displayed. View support with data definition means that RSS supports multiple views of its content.

As an XML format, RSS lacks any form support. Input controls do not exist using XML, hence are missing from RSS. For this reason, it is not sufficient.

Only one format remains, and it is…

CSV or characterdelimited.

CSV (comma separated values) or characterdelimited formats are used by databases, spreadsheets, and many other dataoriented applications to store information to file. It is a format that is adaptable to other formats because it does not use any display tags. The format consists almost entirely of content, except for the character used for the delimiter.

This format has a view because it is almost entirely content and lacks markup tags. Its focus on content means that it is the most reusable of any format considered. No display tags are used, so it supports multiple views.

The lack of data definition tags means there is no way to distinguish between sets of data. Hence, CSV or characterdelimited files do not support multidimensional views. In addition, it is not possible to define input controls for a form. This means no form support.

Therefore, this format is an insufficient choice. This is why it was necessary to create…

GRML.

GRML defines the form and view separately. Input controls for a form are defined separately from content used in the view. Also, content is defined explicitly in GRML, with text defined separately from hyperlinks and images. Display tags do not exist in GRML. The web browser decides how to display the web page. This means support for multiple views.

Using data definition tags allows GRML to be adaptable to other formats (HTML, XML, RSS, CSV or characterdelimited). It also enables different sets of content to be named, which means support for multidimensional views.

Conclusion.

After considering all the available formats for a markup language, each lacked at least one of the listed requirements. None met the design goals of the web frontend. Therefore, it was necessary to create a new format, GRML.

Quick Reference.

HTML is used with multiform, singleview, one dimensional, displayoriented web browsers.

GRML is used with singleform, multiview, multidimensional, dataoriented web browsers.

RSS is used with no form, singleview, one dimensional, dataoriented web browsers.

About The Author

Developing with MFC for a couple of years now. Working at getting my new web browsers just right.

Take a look at GRMLBrowser.com.

Living in Memphis, TN and it is great coz there are absolutely no major sports teams (well, except for the Grizzlies).

This article was posted on September 22, 2004

by Toby J. Rhodes

Business: Deliver Safe Information

Business: Deliver Safe Information

by: Bob Power

Businesses that are not using feeds today, as part of their marketing and advertising plans, will soon do so, or should thinking of implementing them soon. Although this is a fairly new communications tool it is growing rapidly. The reason is that the information gatherer, consumers, etc., are or will be using >readers to view information. The main reason is that information can be viewed with No Spam, No Junk Mail and No Viruses threats.

Don’t worry, if you think you are behind the times, because you are not. People are just starting to get wind of the กFeeds Methodก of gathering information. But if you prepare now, thereกs a good cahnce you may be well ahead of your competition.

The good news is that feeds are good for any size business, even if you don’t have a web site. Companies such as ours provides for any size business, online or offline, big or small, to get their information to their customers safely.

The big reason feeds are becoming so popular is that there is no transfer of information to the userกs computer. Unlike email there is no data sent to the userกs hard drive. The user cannot be spammed or sent junk mail or download a virus using a feeds reader. The feeds reader user, your customers etc., controls the information they view.

Business finds it exciting because people will use the feeds reader to gather information and stay updated on products, services and information they have an interest in. Some businesses that have been using mailing lists, have been frustrated in the last couple of years with the increase of spam and junk mail filters. Many of their customers simple do not receive or read the messages sent because the filters read the mail as Spam or Junk Mail and most times deleted.

As well small, and home based businesses, can now get equal billing with the worldกs largest companies. On our site we list the smallest company with the biggest. Itกs up to the user which feeds they enter into their reader to view.

How It Works

Consumers, or web surfers use a reader to view feeds. Letกs say a consumer visits your web site and you have a feed for them to use if they wish. You would list the feed URL for them to copy and a small icon theat indicates if it is an RSS or XML file etc. They copy and paste the feed URL into their reader an view you feed. The feed has one or more items. each item has a title, such as กABC Home Decorก, a small description such as กVisit our store or web site to get 40% off all in stock furnitureก, and a link to the page you want your visitors to view on your web site or if you don’t have a web site a page we would provide you.

The feed itself, that can contain one or many items, is a basic file. It is a RSS or XML file, that is stored on your server or on ours. The file is read with a reader by the consumer. The file is not a web page but similar to an email message without the data transfer to the userกs computer.

You can update the feed 24/7, thus having the most up to date information on hand for the viewer of the feed. Whether you run a large online or offline corporation, a small business in a small town, or a home business, you can update your customers and potential customers immediately and 24/7.

You can have a free reader customized with your feed included that you can give away, even if you don;t have a web site.

The Bottom Line

Really you don’t need to know how feeds work, unless you are going to do it yourself. Simply understand that feeds are an exciting new communication tool that anyone can use. They are safe, and can be updated in real time. Feeds are easy to add to readers and easy to implement on your web site or from your offline business. They are something you should seriously consider for your business.

Try out feeds and how they work with our free reader at 1feed.com.

About The Author

Bob Power has been an Internet entrepreneur for longer than he would like to remember. He is the president of 1Feed.com and Clubrss.com, both of which is deducated to the education of feeds.

These articles my be reproduced exactly as shown above. No revisions or changes are permitted.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 30

by Bob Power

Mobile Accessibility Your website in the year 20

Mobile Accessibility Your website in the year 2005

by: Philip Wylie

Throughout 2004 the number of web enabled portable devices boomed. By ขportable devicesก I mean PDAs and smart phones. What does this mean for you? Well it depends whether or not you care about your visitors’ experience you build your website for visitors so you really should!

Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft and others have already applied to ICANN for the new TLD (Top Level Domain) .mobi. If the new TLD is accepted not only will this create hundreds more ขdomain for saleข sites but will it will also help mobile users find optimized pages.

When a website optimized for a desktop computer is viewed on a small screen, the horizontal scrollbars are usually stretched by the header and footer, inevitably this means the textual content area is also stretched. กFit to screenก on Pocket PCs shrinks images on the page and attempts to display the text on one screen without horizontal scrollbars.

There is no need to create a whole new site dedicated for mobile users, as not only would that be time consuming it is also unnecessary, due to mobile browsers being able to render most code without problems. Simply make your new site with a more logical, clean appearance. You should avoid relying on drop down menus for navigation as they use ขmouse overข and JavaScript which doesn’t necessarily work.

When building your website I recommend that you use a top header with a horizontal menu underneath preferably not made from images as the user may have selected not to view images. If you must use images for navigation remember to add alt tags. If your content area uses columns be sure that the main contents are on the left. The ขfit to screenข function will move the text to the left hand side saving the visitor from having to scroll. The footer should contain a link to the top of the page in the form of an anchor tag. A link to your sitemap is important as it allows visitors to reach the information they want quickly.

Optimize your images as usual in GIF/JPEG formats. Testing your website is vital before you fully launch to the public, try viewing your site with a number of different devices. If the browser is able, use กfit to screenก and view the page without images. It doesn’t have to be perfect just as long as you can easily navigate all your pages and view the content without scrolling.

About The Author

Philip Wylie is the CEO of PWnet, a company offering web solutions to all types of business. For more information visit www.pwnet.org.uk or to contact him email [email protected].

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This article was posted on January 04

by Philip Wylie