Hightide Web Resources Articles, News, and Reviews

You know the oddities of life that send you back on your heels, making you scratch your head and wonder if you’re seeing or hearing things correctly? I’m about to throw you one.

I’m a web designer who is prepared to look you directly in the face and tell you that you don’t need me, nor any of my kind. No, I haven’t taken leave of my senses and I most definitely have not grown tired of having food on my table! I am, however, looking into other trades besides web design. You see, one Jim Edwards has gone and shortened the shelf life of us web designers! (And I had always been such a fan of his….) CONTINUE

Sometimes it seems that spam and viruses have a stronghold on all of us - a stronghold they have no intention of relinquishing. I’ve been reading alot lately about managed e-mail services and how they can help with the problem.

Managed e-mail services such as MailRoute are so deliciously appealing because they can be implemented immediately, require no software or hardware, and never become obsolete.

MailRoute.com will show you exactly how you can finally win out over spam and viruses.

by Jason Johns

Many people who start out in Internet Marketing, and some who have been doing it for years, overlook the importance of keywords. I mean, what possible relevance can a few simple words have to your business and your income?

They have more importance than you can possibly imagine. Select the right keywords and you get a flood of targeted traffic, which can translate into a massive increase in income. Select the wrong keywords and your site will disappear into the mire of the Internet and never be seen again.

Keywords are picked up by the search engines and used to help rank your site and determine the relevance of your site for potential visitors. With the rapid increase of spam sites in the search engines, keywords are playing a more important role than ever.

Selecting keywords helps you target your potential market. If your site was about stopping smoking then selecting the right keywords can bring you the right traffic. If you selected smoking as your keyword then you would get traffic about people who wanted to keep smoking and buy smoking paraphernalia. Quite obviously, these are not the visitors you want coming to a stop smoking site.

Your keywords also help you narrow down your target market. Stop smoking has almost sixty million entries on Google. Getting to the top of this may prove extremely difficult, expensive and time consuming.

However, if you were a hypnotherapist in Dallas and used the keywords “stop smoking Dallas” then the number of entries shrinks to just over four million. It’s much easier to get listed on the front page of Google with so many less entries.

So you can see that selecting the right keyword can help you define your market better and enjoy prominence in it.

If you are running a Google Adsense site then the right keywords are even more important as they can make the difference between a click worth a few cents and a click worth a few dollars.

The problem most people face is finding the right keywords. A lot of marketers will just make them up off the top of their head, guessing what they would search for if they were looking. Now this method is all well and good for something some basic research into the competition, but where it relates to your income and positioning in the search engines it just doesn’t cut the mustard.

You have to be precise in your keyword selection and find those that are going to bring you the maximum return on investment. If you can find a high paying keyword with little competition and a lot of traffic then you have struck gold and can rake in the cash.

There are a lot of tools you can use to find your keywords. Google adwords has a keyword finder tool, as does Overture. Both are pretty generic and not specifically targeted towards Internet Marketers. Nichebot is a popular tool for many, but is pretty basic in its functionality. There are many other tools on the market written specifically for Internet Marketers.

You will agree that keywords are vital for Internet Marketing, and now you will understand why and perhaps have a better idea on how to find targeted keywords for your niche.

About the Author:

Jason E. Johns is an successful Internet Marketer & personal success coach. He helps people like you become achieve success. To find out more about keyword research & tools to help you, visit http://www.stateofhypnosis.com/recommends/KE

SpamGourmet ( http://www.spamgourmet.com ) is a great free service for those who receive lots of spam. It’s simple, brilliant, and satisfying. Most people get spam because they post their email addresses in Internet discussion groups, on their own websites, or give it out to websites that don’t really need it - SpamGourmet helps you fight back.

For example: You visit XYZ.Com, and decide to buy a widget. They require your email address so you give it to them. XYZ.com sells your email address to a list distributor, who sells it to 200 advertisers, and you get spam. Or you ask a question about widgets in your favorite on-line forum or chat room, again posting your email address so people can reply to you. An email address harvesting program finds your email address in the forum that evening and sells it to another 200 advertisers, and you get more spam. Lots of it.

Spam Gourmet helps break the life cycle of spam. It allows you to create an unlimited number of temporary email addresses as you need them, which forward to your ‘regular’ email address automatically. For example, when you sign up for SpamGourmet, you select a user name of “Bob”. Your SpamGourmet email address is:

“bob@spamgourmet.com”.

Now you go to XYZ.com to buy your widget, and when they ask you for an email address, you just make one up using your SpamGourmet account - say:

“xyz.4.bob@spamgourmet.com”.

The first part of this address (xyz) starts a new temporary address which tells you who you gave this address to. The second part (a number from 1 to 20) tells the service how many emails you will accept at this address before it self destructs. After that number is reached, all future emails will be deleted automatically. So in the example above, 4 emails will be accepted to this address, and they will automatically be forwarded to your “real” email address (bob@realestate.com, bsmith@aol.com, etc).

This is great for several reasons -

1. When you start getting spam you know who sold you out because you never gave that address to anyone except XYZ.com - when the mail is forwarded to your inbox, the service adds a line telling you what email address it was originally addressed to.

2. After allowing the specified number of emails, that address just stops working - no need to unsubscribe (which normally doesn’t work anyway)

3. All your email winds up in the same inbox. Some people maintain a free Hotmail or Yahoo account to use as a giveaway address, but that requires you to check your mail at yet another email address. Sometimes you want that initial email from XYZ (which might be your receipt for the widget order) but don’t want anything else from them. Keeping a separate account means you have to check it once in a while and delete the spam- if you don’t check it, they shut down your account.

4. Once you set up your account, you never have to go back to the SpamGourmet website, ever. You make up email addresses when you need them, ‘on the fly’ - it’s simple and brilliant.

5. It’s satisfying. Every time I make up another address and watch the spam come in a few days later, it’s nice to know that after 2 more messages I’ll never hear from them again and I beat them at their own game.

What it won’t do

It won’t stop the spam that is currently coming to your real email address. That address has already been sold to the top spammers - it may be beyond salvaging at this point. The best thing to do is change your ‘real’ email address and then stop giving it out to anyone except friends and business associates. Use your SpamGourmet address for anyone you don’t know personally or do business with.

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Copyright 2006 Chuck Cutler. All rights reserved.

Chuck Cutler is a technology consultant to the commercial real estate industry. His web site, The Commercial Broker ( http://www.TheCommercialBroker.com ), is Commercial Real Estate’s Online Community for brokers, leasing agents, developers and property managers.

Permission is given to reproduce and post this article on your website as long as the entire article including author information and all links are kept intact.

About the Author:
Chuck Cutler is a technology consultant to the commercial real estate industry. His web site, The Commercial Broker ( http://www.TheCommercialBroker.com ), is Commercial Real Estate’s Online Community for brokers, leasing agents, developers and property managers.

About 7 years ago, our family started a Web Design and Publishing business (Hightide Web). When blogging caught fire, we launched 14 blogs and recently added Blog Configuration and Hosting to our Hightide services.

Blogging is a whole different ballgame from web design/web publishing. Just when we reached ownership status with html, php shows up at the door. Along with it, comes all sorts of headaches like rss (migraine), content management, databases, etc.

To get my mind around blogs, I put my first one on Blogger. I didn’t have any bad experiences with them - aside from the fact that I didn’t have my own domain name, and the strip at the top annoyed me. But the rest of the experience was a breeze.

When I felt like I could take the training wheels off, I researched the heck out of TypePad and WordPress. I went with WordPress and have never, ever regretted it. All of our blogs are WordPress blogs, and we’ve never encountered any reason(s) to change that status. WordPress is even more of a breeze than Blogger, and it’s 100% easier for readers to leave comments on than the others.

My favorite part is all the great plug-ins you have at your disposal with WordPress blogs - they’re really amazing! The techlicious brainpower that goes behind developing these themes makes my jaw hit the carpet. (If you’re a plugin developer, you pretty much rock!)

FeedBurner is another gift from the blogging gods - if not for them, I’d be decked out in a white jacket today - the one that ties in the back. And I haven’t nearly enough of a tan to pull white off yet. Like WordPress, FeedBurner has a style and approach that is impossible not to catch. IF you read their site thoroughly and ask questions when they arise, you’re home free.

If you currently use WordPress, I wanted to throw you a few links you may or may not be aware of. There’s a wealth of information here and is more than worthy of printing out and reading through:

WordPress Advanced Topics
WordPress Terminology
WordPress Lessons

Blogging isn’t going anywhere - in fact it’s just getting hotter and hotter. Companies aren’t ditching their websites (as a web designer I breath a huge sigh right about here), but they are adding blogs to their sites. It’s getting to where Blog is one of the first things I look for on a website - and if I don’t see it in the navigational column or tabbed menu, I kind of wonder why they’re out of step!

If you have any questions about blogs or blogging that I could answer, feel free to shoot me an e-mail - joi@hightide-web.com.

by Robert Bercume

A short definition of blogging:

A “blog” (derived from the term “web log”) is basically just a website — with two key differences:

First, it’s extremely easy to add information to it. A blog is like an online journal, so you just log in, type what happened today, post it, and you’re done!

Second (this is the really cool part) you can add a simple little feature that automatically tells a whole bunch of other websites that you’ve made an update to your blog — every time you make a change!

Blogging has actually been around since the 1990s. However, it didn’t start to gain popularity until 2003, when mighty Google got involved…

These days, getting a #1 ranking in the search engines is MUCH more difficult.

There are literally BILLIONS of competing websites, so until blogs came along recently, you only had two options for guaranteeing yourself a #1 ranking in the search engines (FAST):

In the OLD days, you only had TWO choices:

#1 You could buy your way to the top with pay-per-click campaigns (this strategy is effective and fast, but obviously, it eats away at your bottom-line profits!)…

#2 Or, you could spend thousands of dollars on search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, and get them to do all the grunt work for you.

But in this case, it could take MONTHS before you see any results… and even then, with all that money invested, your results still aren’t guaranteed!

Fortunately, thanks to blogging, there’s now a BETTER option.

Using a blog to advertise a business is also a great tool that anyone can do with ease.

Take me for example I created 3 very popular Dog Training related websites (seen below) and promote them for free using my blog.

Anyone can set up a blog and use them to earn an extra income either promoting affiliate programs or your own product.

One thing is for certain if you are not using a blog or not using it to it’s full potential you are missing out on a great opportunity.

Robert Bercume
http://www.marketingtips.com/trafficsecrets/t/818357

About the Author of this Article:
Robert Bercume is the creator of 3 Very Popular Dog Training Websites http://www.PuppyTipster.com, http://www.SimpleDogTraining.com, and http://www.Dog-Training-Sites.com. Helping thousands of dog owners worldwide with their Dog or Puppy Training needs. Robert is also considered a Marketing Guru helping fellow affiliates get started and succeed with their own online ventures.

by Jim Edwards

Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards

One of the top news stories this week that got virtually no popular press involves the judgment against Microsoft by a small company with a big software patent.

University of California and Eolas Technologies, Inc. hold a patent which Microsoft, according to several judges, violated with its popular Internet Explorer Web browser.

Without going into painful technical detail, the patent involves the “ActiveX” technology enabling Web browsers to display both web pages and content such as streaming audio, Flash, QuickTime video and other “rich” or “dynamic” content.

Despite heated input by the Internet community to invalidate Eolas’ patent because of its broad nature, Microsoft lost every appeal and effort to get the patent nullified.

Bottom line: Microsoft faced two choices. First, they could pay the patent owner and keep things moving along, business as usual (much the way Blackberry did recently when a judge found them guilty of patent infringement).

Second choice: Microsoft could avoid future licensing fees by changing their IE browser and removing the offending code.

Which do you think they chose? Ding-ding-ding!

You guessed it, Microsoft chose to avoid paying millions more by simply removing the offending code.

Unfortunately, that decision means a bit of trouble for a few million web designers who use Flash, streaming movies, and more.

Ultimately, the change to IE may force visitors to sites with rich content to click on an object to enable it before they can interact with it.

Not a huge deal. However, time will tell what ultimately happens and the actual impact on sites running rich content.

But before everyone starts screaming that “The sky is falling” and “our websites are broken,” let me ask you a question.

Do you really think that companies like Macromedia (makers of Flash) and sites like Google Video will let a few changes in Internet Explorer put them out of business?

I don’t think so!

If anything, this change will force companies to step up to the plate and discover ways to serve dynamic content that does not depend on ActiveX.

Sure, it will mean some pain for both content creators and users in the short term, but in the end I honestly believe that, through innovation, we will all end up with a better solution than what currently exists.

In other news today…

** Hollywood Goes Online **

Six major movie studios recently announced their intentions to start selling new-release movies via Internet download from the site MovieLink.com.

But before you jump for joy at watching “Brokeback Mountain” on your pc, understand a couple of facts.

You can’t burn the movie to DVD, and the downloadable films carry a price tag of around $15-30, a price comparable or more than a physical DVD you can purchase at Wal-Mart.

As a rabid DVD consumer and enthusiastic computer user (with six in my home office alone), I can tell you right up front, there is no way in @#$%* I’ll pay 20 bucks for a movie I can’t “veg” out with in front of the TV.

Are they insane?

Until it gets to the point where you can download a new- release movie, burn it to DVD or put it on your iPod, downloadable flicks will remain, at best, a novelty.

About the Author:
“Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites… Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!” Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com

by Pj Germain

Strategy plays an important part in the success or failure of any affiliate marketing program. Many affiliates fail to devise a strategy that will help them succeed. There are several strategic techniques that can greatly improve your chances of success if followed diligently and consistently.

Strategy One: Choose a product that is needed & easy to sell. Amazon.com’s affiliate program is a huge success because books and CDs are easier to sell online then say, a car or boat. Downloadable products, like software and ebooks, are also potentially good sellers.

Strategy Two: Dedicate your website to the topic of your affiliate sponsor. If your affiliate sponsor sells paint, then start a website about art, painting, or some related subject. However, make sure it’s one you’re passionate about. If you don’t care about the subject, then you won’t be motivated to support it and it will show.

Strategy Three: Write articles on the appropriate subject, and submit them to article resource sites. Article resource sites and groups, like Yahoo’s Article Announce, allow the posting of articles. The articles are free to use elsewhere, but the author’s information must also be included. If you place a link to your website in the article resource box, you’ll have a link on any site that posts the article.

Strategy Four: Dedicate a certain amount of time each day to affiliate marketing efforts. The key word in affiliate marketing is “marketing”. The more time you spend marketing, the more residual commission you earn.

Strategy Five: Consider advertising in popular ezines or email newsletters. An ad in a targeted ezine or email newsletter can generate a huge amount of interest. Most online users subscribe to at least two ezines or email newsletters dedicated to a topic they’re passionate about. Try to reach as many people as possible.

Strategy Six: Start an email newsletter or ezine. Granted, this may be more work than you want to do, but it could be a winning strategy. If you’re in charge of all the editorial content, you can dedicate more space to promoting your sponsors. You’ll also be able to make recommendations on products your readers would find of interest.

Following a strategy is simply smart planning. If you follow these tips consistently, you will see an increase in your residual income. Never stop thinking of ways to make your situation better and more lucrative. Who knows? You may even develop a winning strategy that’s better than those listed above.

Pj Germain is a Webmaster, Trainer and successful Marketer. Visit our sites for explosive sales & magnetic marketing!

http://www.affiliate-success.org
http://www.knowyourpc.net
http://www.directmatches.com/movingup

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