Who says you can’t get anything for free anymore?

I was researching html validation, search engine spiders, and search engine performance today and came across a few websites that made my job SO MUCH easier. I’ve linked them below, so give them a look when you get a chance. On second thought – make a chance, the information’s THAT important.

Free Internet Marketing and SEO Tools – I was particularly impressed with #17, the Spider Viewer. It allows you to see your page as a Search Engine Spider would. I ran some of my websites through and was amazed at the lack of some keywords as well as the abundance of some nonesense! I have a little work to do.

Dr. Watson’s HTML Validator – Again, you enter your url, then you’re presented with a list of “errors” found in your html. Rest assured, there’ll be errors. I read an article on About.com and the author said that their own website had lots of errors. It does, however, point out some basic html validating errors that could be causing problems in other browsers and/or in search engine performance.

Below the list of errors found, you’ll be able to see your html code with numbers before each line – it makes it a cinch to find exactly where the problems lie. Did I find any errors on my websites? Again… I have work to do!

by Patrick Santry

Sometimes in the online world when approaching a project people seem to classify the issues facing a website as a technology issue. It’s as if building a web site is this mysterious thing wrapped in so much technology it’s just too much handle. Just sitting in the office of a technology provider gets nerve wracking; hearing all the techno geeks spitting out acronym after acronym and having no idea what any of it means – html, Ajax, XML, HTTP, Java, ASP, .NET, Web services, Web 2.0, what all does it mean?!

I’m here to tell you not to worry about all those acronyms, phrases, and geeks telling you what to do, do what you know. Websites are nothing but a different way of doing your business; bricks and mortar are the traditional way, but they both have something in common and that’s people. In this article I’m going to discuss community sites since they’re a growing influence on the web and generating plenty of interest.

Community; what do you think of when you hear community? Think of community as your own home town. Anyone who’s played Sim City should have some concept of what it takes to build a community. If you remember from the game, you had some cash to build houses, roads, and services. Now let’s look at that on the web, you have some money to build a site, network connection to the Internet, and some functionality to the site. The site is your community and to build it, you need to provide some place for people to live.

In the beginning in order to grow your community you have to provide a place for your users to live. Granted a site that is mostly static is nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there (sound familiar?). You have to provide something on your site to encourage people to want to live there. There are the usual features like forums, weblogs, profile pages and the like, that’s a good start, it gives a person a place to live.

When you add these “living spaces” for your users, consider what they provide, at a minimum they should provide your user community with the ability to express themselves. As in any community whether offline or online people want to express themselves and distinguish themselves from others in the crowd. They build this identity by the clothes they wear, cars they drive, and people they associate with. Online they do something similar; they create avatars, profiles to help them connect with others that have similar interests. And just like in the physical communities people go to churches, community activities, and other places to develop relationships with people that have similar interests. They’ll do the same on your website, but you need to provide them with a means to do. So when shopping for interactive applications ensure that they will provide mechanisms for your users to build those relationships.

As a community grows it needs leadership and this is the same online. For example, if your site becomes popular and has forums, usually you’ll see a few of your posters become pretty prominate in their activity, posting frequently. By providing them with moderator privileges or some special designation you allow leaders to step up, and provide the community with people who appear to have some connection to the site and help build community and participation. You could extend the moderator concept to enable your users to host online chats, or even participate in podcasts or weblog posts.

As time goes by your site leaders will come and go, and it will be up to you to monitor activity within the site and find leaders. This further enhances the community aspect and allows your community to be dynamic.

Another thing to foster growth and participation is to have periodic contests, contests that allow for some user contributed content is ideal. For example some sites have users submit stories, graphics like humorous graphics, basically anything that builds content for your site, but still enables your population to contribute to the site. The cost is relatively low, and if you have the traffic you may be able to work relationships with sponsors to provide the spoils to the winner.

The main idea to take from this article is community sites are not about technology, they’re about people. Find out what people like and enable them to “own” your site. If you do this your site is sure to grow and prosper. Good luck!

About the Author:
Patrick Santry has been conducting web and eBusiness strategy for over 13 years. He has authored numerous books on web technologies, and is a sought after speaker on web topics. His current project is helping his daughter on JonasBrothersFan.com which is a community for fans of the band The Jonas Brothers.

by Domenic Macchione

Anyone who is uses computers today will be familiar with Windows and Linux as operating systems. Some prefer Windows because it is extremely easy to use – both hardware and software – and some prefer Linux because it is much more flexible is use; above all it is open source ware and hence it is free. Those who enjoy Linux are totally baffled as to why people would want to pay for something that you can get absolutely free.

Actually there is a simple and logical answer to this question. When the Windows was launched some 20 plus years ago, it caught like wild fire because it was all of a sudden so easy to use and so convenient to install. The best things that it maintained a constant identity – as the product of Windows, while on the other hand Linux went along under many names, such as Knoppix, Mandrake, SuSe, Windows, and so on. With each name (different companies) Linux as an operating system had slight variations. Hence, it was bothersome for people to keep track, and sometime use Linux due to this aspect.

Then comes the inherent difference between these operation systems. Technically speaking, you will find the GUI is optional in the Linux operations system while it is part and parcel of the Windows. The separation of the GUI directly affects the reliability and speed – not to mention efficiency – of a server and hence here Linux scores over the Windows.

Another major difference is in the way these operating systems handle their command prompts. While Windows uses similar command interpreters for its Windows 9x versions, the NT series have a different style but common to each other. Linux on the other hand, being a UNIX version has the capability of handling multiple command interpreters, which can be a boon, though it mostly favors Bourne Again Shell (BASH). The other interpreters that you will find in Linux are C Shell, ash, Korn shell and so on.

The best and most highlighted difference is the price tag attached to the operating systems. Windows is an expensive to say the least, operating system which comes with a copyrighted license, while Linux is free for all, easily downloadable anytime you want it. The downside here is that Linux has instruction which will tell you what to do – which may be why people are indeed reluctant to move away from Windows; though there are a few low cost Linux versions which come with automation and manuals.

Another plus in favor of Linux is the lack of any security requirement. The viruses, spy wares, malawares and what not you have it are all a product of Microsoft, for Windows. Hence, while you have to use high security firewalls with Windows, you are free from any such headaches with Linux.

Lastly, you have the difference of availability of software. The majority of the software that you find on the market are for Windows and they will not run on Linux unless Windows is somewhere configured as a subsystem which actually goes against the reason of using Linux in the first place.

Hence, till a suitable interface is found where Linux can be compatible with Windows without using Windows itself, have a few clear-cut instructions for first time users and sufficient information on its technicalities, people will prefer Windows to Linux, even if they have to pay to use it.

About the Author:
Domenic is co-founder of Rebel Networks. Rebel Networks is a leading provider of outsourced Internet infrastructure and related managed web solutions. Rebel Networks services include the provision of managed dedicated servers, unmanaged collocation services, domain names services, & shared web hosting solutions. All backed by a 100% SLA visit http://www.rebelnetworks.com

by Jeff Casmer

As long as there are internet businesses, there will be people trying to steal your income. Affiliate theft and fraud are on the rise. More than ever merchants need to monitor the actions of their affiliates and arm themselves against fraud. Especially if you consider that the FTC is now making merchants responsible for the action of their affiliates. While good affiliates can make you money, naughty ones can cost you a lot.

The first action to take is to find out what type of frauds your affiliates may be capable of. Below are a few examples.

Typosquatting: Also know as URL hijacking. Typosquatters register several variations of a high traffic domain names and then sign up for that same merchants affiliate program to sell them what should have been their own traffic.

Spammers: Affiliates who send unsolicited e-mails featuring a net marketers product, this can essentially tarnish the product. Spammers also make it difficult for the legitimate e-mailers to separate themselves. In many cases complaints have gotten the merchant’s domain on blacklists.

Fraudulent and Fake Transactions: This can be in the form of the fraudster creating scripts to generate phony clicks, leads, or transactions. Or they may sign up as affiliates and then make large purchases uusing a stolen credit card.

Malware: Some affiliates use adware that is inadvertently installed on a person’s computer is designed to steal traffic from legitimate affiliates by replacing their links with new ones. Thus legitimate affiliates don’t get paid and eventually move on.

Once you are aware of the types of frauds out there, you will want to screen all your affiliate. Yes, you may have hundreds or even thousands of people signing up for your affiliate program, but among these may be unserious hobbyists, spammers and sophisticated con artists. It is important to weed people out in order to be left with serious marketers. You can not afford to be lazy.

Below are some screening tips.

1. All affiliates must have an active website. A lack of one may mean theyre spammers

2. The affiliate site content must relate to your products and services. Having back links that do not relate to your site can harm your search engine ranking.

3. The site should be optimized with content.

4. Make sure your affiliates understand the policies surrounding the use of content from your site.

Most importantly you must communicate with your affiliates. A new product is not needed as an excuse to contact them; often a quick note to see how their doing, if they need anything, and to check up on them works fine.

The important thing is that you know what they are doing, how they are performing and what means they are using to make sales. You may feel as if you are annoying them but this is your business, the more control and organization you have the better you’ll do.

About the Author:
Jeff Casmer is an award winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His “Top Ranked” Work at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to Earn Money in the 21st century.

There’s a fascinating article on MSN about 25 web sites to keep your eyes on. They’re being pegged as the next Big Thangs, even being mentioned in the same breath as YouTube. Talk about walking in tall cotton!

Click HERE to check them out when you get a chance – you could be witnessing the birth of a phenomenon.

I’m actually smack right in the middle of a web design project at the moment, but I just found a website I wanted to let others know about asap.

Have you ever wondered what a certain font was…..maybe you wanted to use the same font on something you were designing…..but you didn’t really want to spend 30 minutes or more in Paintbrush or Photoshop trying to unlock the mystery?

I’ve been there so many times I can’t even tell you! Today was one of those days. I was googling a few different fonts that I didn’t have downloaded onto my computer – trying to determine which was used on a particular business card. I found a really slick website that helped me out in less than 3 minutes.

What The Font is a free resource on My Fonts.com. It’s an online tool that honest to goodness will solve the mystery for you. I scanned in the card, saved it as a .jpg, uploaded it to their site (you could use an image’s url instead), then watched as they solved the mystery for me!

There’s a forum on the site, as well. Apparently if you can’t get a result using the above technique, they have experts that’ll tell you what font you’re looking at.

Needless to say, I bookmarked this baby and will put it to very good use.

by Leva Duell

What if someone told you that if you made one simple change to your web site you could dramatically increase your sales, perhaps as much as 200 or even 300 percent, would you do it?

In fact, just adding a quality header image to your web site can accomplish that kind of sales increase.

Because it sits at the top of the web page, the header is the very first thing visitors will see when they arrive at your site. It is your first opportunity to make a positive impression, to let them know what your site is about, and to invite your visitor to go beyond the top of the page.

Your header has to clearly communicate what your web site is about. To have a positive impact, your header images must be relevant to the topic of your web site and the products you are selling. Your images must also be high quality to convey professionalism and trust.

Just like an effective headline, a header must catch the attention of your targeted audience immediately and invite them to explore the rest of the site.

A poorly designed header graphic will suggest to your visitors that you are not professional. If your visitors are turned off by your header graphic, it’s unlikely that they’ll continue reading your home page, view the rest of your site or buy your products.

Conversely, if your header gives them a positive impression, it will help to instill a sense of trust and confidence that your visitors will take with them as they read and explore more of your site. This, in turn, usually translates into an increase in sales.

Here are some options to get a quality, professional header:

1. Design a header graphic yourself. Creating a credible header on your own requires time, skill and software.

2. Purchase header templates. The better header sets include a variety of professionally-designed, quality header graphics. Some come as Photoshop files that you can change to suit your needs.

3. Use specialized header software such as Header Generator that makes it easy to create good-looking headers for your web sites without graphic design experience.

4. Hire a professional graphic designer who has experience in creating web graphics. This option allows you to focus your time and energy on generating your web content and marketing your site.

Revamp your web site with a stunning header image in just minutes and get the winning edge over your competition. It’s an easy change that will have a huge effect on your credibility and sales.

About the Author:
Boost Credibility with Images! Header templates – FREE 34+ clipart resources http://www.QualityHeaderTemplates.com - Copyright Leva Duell 2007

by Brian McGregor

I wonder if you knew that visitors to your website form an instant opinion? And they form it about you and your offer. The opinion that is formed in this instantaneous way is done so subconsciously. This happens automatically, and you might wonder why. It matters not a jot how clever the text is on your page. You can have paid an expensive professional to produce your copy for you. And yet your visitor will still form their instant opinion without even reading a single word of your costly copy.

You might also have invested in some really great pictures or images on your site. I’m afraid this will carry zero influence on your visitor’s instant opinion. Nor does your offer matter. You could be promoting a sensational deal, like selling dollars for dimes. But this too, will be overlooked by the site visitor. This is because the second your page is displayed your subconscious mind goes to work, and the instant opinion begins to form. By now, you are probably wondering just what it is that has this power. Exactly what can have an immediate reaction in your site visitors. You may have already worked out that the answer is colors. When your web page appears to your visitor, the colors you’ve used go to work on the subconscious of your visitors.

The spooky thing about this is that as a web page viewer we can do nothing about this. Colors evoke an intuitive reaction which we have no control over.’ The feelings evoked by colors are automatic, and there’s no way we can avoid them. As you will know, millions are spent by big companies in deciding the correct colors of new products and in their marketing campaigns. They invest this money as they know how the psychology of color works. The right colors can be the critical factor in the success of big company products. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.

The fact is, the color scheme you use on your web pages can have the effect of causing your visitors to very quickly click away from your website. If you’re selling a product from your web page, it wouldn’t matter how smart your sales messages are, it’s possible that they won’t be read anyway. The good news, however, is that you can use colors to engender a really positive reaction. This color psychology is nothing new. This has been with us for generations. It doesn’t make any difference whether you know about color power, your subconscious mind is affected.

For example, a particular color scheme could convey a good feeling in each of us. However, a different color scheme might convey not so good feelings. In essence, you might send a sense trust, warmth and belonging. Conversely, the feeling sent may be one of distrust, coolness and rejection. The following list gives an idea of the emotions associated with their respective colors:

RED Excitement, sense of power, energy, strength, love, leadership, danger etc

ORANGE Comfort, steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, cheerfulness, playfulness etc

YELLOW Cheerfulness, caution, brightness, intelligence, curiosity, playfulness etc

GREEN Harmony, money, health, healing, food, nature, life etc

BLUE Stability, tranquility, peace, harmony, love, acceptance, trustworthiness etc

PURPLE Ambition, royalty, nobility, wisdom, dignity, independence etc

BROWN Reliability, earthiness, nature, tribal, comfort, durability etc

BLACK Style, dramatic, power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth etc

WHITE Cleanliness, purity, innocence, fresh, easy, simplicity etc In summary, the color scheme you use on your web pages need to be reflected by the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can’t, it will lose interest. Which means, your visitor will be lost. You should spend time in determining what are the right colors for your web pages. Try and make sure your colors and message are in harmony. If you can achieve this, you will produce better results from your website. Be aware, your color scheme can cause your website to make a profit or a loss.

About the Author:
Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur and business consultant, and author of the ebook CASH COLORS. If the subject of designing my own web site is of relevance to you, CASH COLORS shows how to make your web page colors work for you. http://www.cash-colors.com

by Francois du Toit

It is clear that web audio and web video are taking the Internet by storm. Many webmasters are realizing that although it is very important to get more traffic to their websites that it is even more important to convert traffic into sales.

Many internet marketers agree that a conversion ratio, between website traffic and website sales, of between 1% and 3% seems to be the industry norm and that 2% is a good average ratio. What this means is that, on average, only 2 out of every 100 visitors will actually become a customer.

Webmasters often make the mistake of only focusing on ways to attract more traffic instead of also finding ways of converting more visitors into customers. However, more and more webmasters are realizing that website success is a two tier approach, namely:

1) Getting Traffic, and
2) Converting Traffic into sales.

In the case of paid advertising, very often website traffic can only be increased by spending more on advertising. It is common for the ratio between traffic and advertising to be 1:1, meaning that if you are currently spending USD 100 to get 500 website visitors you will need to spend USD 200 to get 1000 website visitors.

With the cost of paid advertising becoming more expensive, many webmasters are now looking for ways to rather increase the conversion ratio between traffic and sales instead of spending more money to attract more visitors.

A 2% traffic versus sales conversion ratio leaves a lot of room for improvement and by only increasing the ratio by 1% to 3% sales would in fact increase by 50%. Talk about powerful leverage, and without spending extra money!

Sounds great but seems like a daunting task? The advent of web audio and web video have given webmasters access to a great tool for breaking the silence of the world-wide-web.

Instead of visitors coming across a “silent movie” type of website (actually even worse than an old black-and-white silent movie) they can now be greeted by a warm and friendly voice that make the website seem a lot more human and customer friendly, thanks to web audio.

By using web audio, a webmaster can tell his visitors more about the site, the products or services being offered and let them know exactly what to do when they are ready to place an order.

It has also been proven that web audio can significantly increase ezine opt-in rates by simply explaining to visitors the benefits of signing up for a free newsletter in a couple of sentences.

Research have shown that by adding web audio, it is not uncommon for website performance to increase by up to 312% This is equal to increasing a 2% traffic versus sales conversion ratio to over 8% without spending any additional money on advertising.

A common concern for webmasters, that have no prior experience using web audio as a marketing tool, is that they think it is difficult to install web audio buttons on their web pages. In fact, nothing can be further away from the truth.

A good flash audio software program should allow you to add web audio to any web page in less than 3 minutes.

It is clear that web audio has had a dramatic impact on internet marketing and we can safely assume that it will continue to grow in importance as more and more webmasters realize the importance of converting more traffic to customers instead of only focusing on ways of getting more traffic.

About the Author:
Francois du Toit is the owner of http://www.FlashAudioSofware.com, a site dedicated to providing webmasters with easy and affordable solutions for adding web audio to their websites. Sign up at http://www.FlashAudioSoftware.com for our FREE 7 part “Audio Secrets” course and receive great tips for maximizing web audio.

by Jean Pardue

If you’re new to the world of web design, then designing a website for business or personal reasons might seem like a daunting task. Fortunately, there are many resources and tools online today to help you get a website up and running quickly.

Outlined below are five steps to creating your own website.

1. Decide on a Website Theme

Choose a website theme that will flow with your business or personal goals. If you’re selling photographs, choose a theme that fits well with photographs. Perhaps you’d like a website that offers training in a particular field or that provides useful information or services in fields such as health, insurance, marketing, finance, family, home and garden, web design, etc.
Use search engine optimization tools such as Wordtracker.com to determine popular keywords in your field. This will help you narrow your theme and find a niche market. The more specific you are, the more likely you’ll reach your targeted audience.

2. Choose a Domain Name

You can visit almost any web host to find out what domain names are available. Your domain name is the web address people will type in to find your website and it is completely unique to you. It could end in .com, .net, .org, or a variety of other suffixes. Example: www.domainsitings.com
Choose a domain name that meets the following criteria:
*Not too long. *Easy to spell – even for kids. *Simple and easy to say. *Fits your website theme. *Easy to remember.

Remember, your domain name will be used in all advertising campaigns whether in print or online, so keep it simple.

3. Choose Web Hosting

Web hosting is a must for a website. This is the “web space” you’ll buy so your website can appear on the World Wide Web. You can choose from thousands of web hosts today, but be aware of the pitfalls if you choose the wrong host. Choose a web host that is dependable, affordable, offers excellent customer service, and offers the features you need for your website. Free web hosting services are available if you’re starting a personal website, but are not recommended for business websites.

Be aware that not all hosting services offer special add-on features such as PHP or MySQL capabilities. Not all hosting services offer a reliable control panel for site management and following your website’s visitor statistics. So, be sure to choose a web hosting provider that offers what you need for now and future growth.

4. Design Your Website

Once you choose a domain name and secure web hosting, it’s time to design your website. You have two options: a) Learn web skills such as HTML and PHP so you can design your own website. b) Hire a web designer.

If you choose to learn web design, there are many tutorials and courses online to help you learn. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars taking a college course. Or, you can find a website that has the same features you want and ask who designed it. This will help you find a dependable designer who already has the skills needed for your project.

Either way, determine what type of programming language you will use beforehand. This will be based on the features your website will have.

5. Get Your Website Noticed

It’s time to promote your website. You can promote in many different ways: search engine optimization, paid search engines, free search engine submission, e-zine advertising, and even off-line advertising. Include your website address on everything you print such as business cards, newspaper ads, letterhead, envelopes, etc.
Probably one of the most effective ways to promote is by adding content articles to your website. Articles get noticed by the search engines because they are informational and useful. The more information you offer, the better your search engine rankings will be. If you sell insurance, write many articles about insurance for your website or hire a writer to write them for you. Whatever your theme, provide plenty of content for your users.
Use these five steps to get your website going. You’re on your way to Web success!

About the Author:
Jean Pardue is a freelance web content writer and can be contacted at speed-writer@hotmail.com . Subscribe to the DomainSitings Newsletter and receive 5 Steps to Design Your Own Website. http://domainsitings.com/newsletter/subscribe/