Real-Life Lessons in Using Google AdWords

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By DARREN DAHL

Published: October 14, 2009

It used to be that business owners often struggled to afford advertising for their products or services. Google AdWords has changed that by offering an inexpensive way to spread the word. But if you don’t do some careful planning, you can easily find yourself spending thousands of dollars with little to show for it.

Quick Tips:

• Set a budget, a daily or monthly amount you’re willing to spend.

• Begin by casting a narrow net, advertising in your local market and then expanding to additional markets like Google’s AdSense network.

• Try to choose keyword terms that your competition has overlooked to keep per-word costs low.

• Remember that good campaigns require constant adjustment.

Suggested Readings and Resources:

• Google’s step-by-step guide to getting started.

• Google’s blog about AdWords.

• AdWords for Dummies

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Here are the basics: Google AdWords are keyword-driven ads that show up along the right-hand side of a Google search page under the rubric “sponsored links.” People who search for terms related to those you select — say, “widgets for sale” — will see your ad alongside the results of their search. How high up your ad appears on the list of sponsored links will depend, in part, on how much you’re willing to spend on your campaign. The more you spend and the more relevant your ad, the higher it will rank. Because AdWords is a pay-per-click service, you pay Google only when someone clicks on your ad.

When you begin your campaign, you create a text-only ad that includes a link to your Web site. Then you select the keywords that will determine which searchers see your ad. You can — and should — specify how much you want to spend, what language(s) your ad will appear in and even the geographical reach of your ad. Google also gives you the opportunity to post ads through its content network, AdSense, which will place your ad on Web sites that offer content that relates to your keywords.

Googling the term AdWords will return dozens of pages of links to experts of all kinds promising to help you construct and optimize an AdWords campaign of your own. What follows are lessons learned the hard way by business owners who’ve actually taken the plunge:

Be Sure AdWords Is the Right Choice

Brent Hollowell and Jesse Travis, co-founders of a travel accessory retailer in Baltimore called Zen Class, had high hopes when they began using AdWords to promote their Nirvana Seat Back Organizer, which slips over an airplane’s seatback tray. While they knew they might get clicks if they paid for words like “travel accessories,” they feared the cost of close to $1.50 a click would be prohibitive because not every visitor would be looking for their product. They decided to be more specific and set up an AdWords campaign using the keywords “airline seat back organizer,” which cost about 5 cents a click; anyone who searched on that phrase would see their ad along the right-hand side of their screen. The problem was that the campaign, after running for several weeks, produced very few clicks on their site. They realized that most people were unaware that seatback organizers existed and thus were unlikely to search for one.

“Given the challenge of having a product that hasn’t existed before, AdWords may not be the best tool for generating interest and sales,” Mr. Hollowell said. He and Mr. Travis have found they get better results advertising through more traditional product-placement ads and using search engine optimization (S.E.O.) techniques to improve their site’s performance on organic Google searches.

Set a Realistic Budget

About a year ago, Georgette Blau, who runs On Location Tours in New York City, set up an AdWords campaign to promote tours that were timed for the release of the “Sex and the City” movie. In doing so, she says she made a mistake: She ran the ad on the Google AdSense network but failed to understand how quickly she could run through the money she had budgeted for her campaign. An ad placed on the Google network can quickly appear on hundreds of Web sites and generate thousands of clicks. While this can be a good thing, it can also run up quite a tab. “Our ads were showing up everywhere, and we spent $600 before I could shut it off,” she said. Ms. Blau now sets realistic monthly and daily budgets for her campaigns to promote a “Sopranos” or “Gossip Girl” tour.

Focus on Local Markets

When Apple first introduced the iPhone, Matt McCormick, who runs a phone-repair business called Jet City Devices, saw an opportunity. Knowing that the iPhone’s screen was prone to damage, Mr. McCormick began bidding on keywords like “iphone repairs” and waited for business to flood in. A problem soon became apparent: while his site was swamped with traffic, very few people were actually mailing in their phones to get them repaired. But, after changing his campaign to run only on searches initiated within 50 miles of Chicago and Seattle — cities where he had physical shops where customers could drop their phones off in person — Mr. McCormick says his conversion rate jumped to 10 percent: “If you’re in business in only one or two cities, then Google’s localization feature can save you a ton of money, reduce AdWords competition, and bring great traffic.”

Narrow Your Keyword Net

Just as you might use quotation marks to limit the scope of a Google search, you can use brackets and quotes to focus your AdWords campaign. In fact, this is critical. If, for example, you select “widgets for sale” in quotes, your ad will show up anytime people search for those words — even if they search for, say, “blue or red widgets for sale.” If you use brackets to select [widgets for sale], on the other hand, only those people who search on the exact phrase will see the ad.

Catherine Wood, who runs an online designer clothing site calledLaGrandeDame.com, suggests being selective about the keywords you place within those brackets or quotes. Ms. Wood said she followed Google’s guidelines when she set up her first campaigns this past April. “They tell you to try to choose the terms that will collect the most clicks,” she said. Ms. Wood began with 20 or so keywords such as “plus sized dresses” and “designer plus sized clothing” — somewhat general terms that she put in quotes. The result was that she received lots of traffic and quite a few customers. But, for the first four months she ran the campaign, she spent more than $5,000 a month, which meant she was spending more than $200 a new customer.

After learning her expensive lesson, Ms. Wood narrowed her keywords and used brackets to focus tightly on product names like [David Meister black dress] and [Anna Scholz Peacock Neru jacket] to drive very specific traffic to her site. She also learned the value of negative keywords — words you can specify (at no cost) so that people who search for them are blocked from seeing your ad. Ms. Wood, for example, stopped paying for clicks for anyone who searched for Halloween costumes.

Create Landing Pages

Ed Scanlan credits AdWords with helping build his company, Total Attorneys, a firm based in Chicago that provides outsource support to small legal practices. He suggests creating specific landing pages tied directly to the ad you’re running to maximize your chances of turning visitors into customers. Sending a visitor to your all-purpose home page can leave them feeling lost or aggravated. By contrast, if Mr. Scanlan runs a campaign based on a term like “legal case support,” people who click on the ad attached to those words land on a specific page designed just for them. These pages should ask users to take an action, like signing up for a mailing list or filling out a survey, to capture the visitor’s contact information.

Stay on Top of Your Campaign ...

David Metcalfe has used AdWords to promote XNet, a data center in Chicago. About a year ago, he noticed something strange was happening — his click-through rates were going through the roof. That sounds promising, but he was getting traffic steered to his site from a Web site in Spain — even though he had set his campaign for the Chicago area only. Mr. Metcalfe eventually got his money back from Google, but it took him six months of daily contact to do so. While this was clearly a fluke — and possibly criminal on the part of the offending site — it demonstrates two things: Pay-per-click campaigns carry risks, and the burden of monitoring them falls upon the owner of the campaign. “When you’re an entrepreneur dealing with a major corporation like Google, it can be hard to get someone to have a conversation with you,” Mr. Metcalfe said. “I was grateful I caught it when I did.”

... or Consider Outsourcing It

Monitoring an AdWords campaign requires a lot of effort. That’s why some entrepreneurs, like Rick Smith, prefer to outsource the management of their campaigns. Mr. Smith, who sells kitchen supplies online at chefsresource.com, says he originally set his AdWords campaign on autopilot. But he realized that while he was spending a good chunk of money each month, he didn’t know what kind of a return on investment he was getting. After attending an S.E.O. trade show near his home in Laguna Hills, Calif., about two years ago, Mr. Smith hired a firm to run his campaigns for him. The firm now tries new keyword combinations or ad text based on Smith’s latest inventory of cookware or knives. They update or change the ads on pretty much a weekly basis, adding in seasonal or holiday hooks when appropriate, and they monitor the results. In return for a percentage of his monthly budget, the firm sends him a weekly spreadsheet showing how much he has spent and how much revenue has been generated. “I’m spending less than I did when I did it myself,” said Mr. Smith, “and I’m getting more sales as a result.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 16, 2009
An earlier version of this article referred incompletely to the basis for ad placement through Google AdWords. The relevance of an ad is a factor, not just the amount spent on a campaign. In addition, the article misstated the circumstances in which one AdWords client, Georgette Blau, said she had erred in her advertising planning. She ran through the money she budgeted for a campaign more quickly than expected; she did not fail to set a budget.

Using Google AdWords to Increase your Adsense Profits

by: John Gall
I had been using Google's Adsense program to generate some revenue from my various web sites. Prior to Adsense, I was never previously paid to run these and did so for a hobby. Overall I was pleased with the income I was generating. The only drawback was that I was always looking for ways to get people to my sites. I enjoyed working to bring in more visitors but felt that if I looked at my earnings vs. the hours I worked, the economics weren't making sense.
Then I figured out that certain sites were paying way more than the minimum .05 cents per click. I reasoned that if I could get pay visitors .05 - .10 to visit. Then if they clicked enough ads that paid much more than I paid, then Adwords could be a viable way to increase traffic to my sites.
So I paid my $5.00 setup fee and added my two most profitable sites. That same day my traffic jumped dramatically and as I thought. Visitors who came in via Adwords were more likely to click other Google ads on my site. My conversions went up and I thought why not put all my sites on Adwords.
This was where some careful research was needed. I found that some sites I run had adwords sponsors who were only bidding the minimum. Remember the concept was to under bid the advertisers on my sites. While my traffic skyrocketed, my expenses for a few sites seemed to outweigh any benefit. When my reports came in it was clear that I needed to use Adwords for only the sites that featured high bidding advertisers. This creates margin for those visitors who come in via paid ads but do not click to my own sponsored ads.
The exception would be if my site was offering a product or service. Then it would be well worth sticking with Adwords on those sites just to get more buying traffic. Because my sites are purely informational I had to watch carefully to ensure I was putting money into Adwords where it was working for me. In some cases I upped my bid on some keywords that were clearly bringing in steady traffic that converted well.
Google's new offering called Websense may change this a bit. By allowing you to put Google's search form on your site and then paying if your visitors search off your site and click other sponsored links it may make those underperforming sites profitable again. Time and further research will tell.
The moral of the story is that Adwords is a great way to dramatically increase your profits when using Adsense. Care needs to be taken to see that you are putting your money where it is most effective.
--
John Gall - Gall Consulting Elk River, Minnesota
http://www.gallconsulting.com/
About The Author
John Gall is a full time IT Manager and IT Consultant in Minnesota. He runs several websites as a hobby featuring content similar to that in this article.
http://www.gallconsulting.com/
http://www.sandalspictures.com/
http://www.napavalleypictures.com/
http://www.winesilove.com/

Metrics Matter!

by: Philippa Gamse
Recently, I talked with a speaker about her "extremely successful" Website. She based this opinion on the fact that she was selling several e-books every day and generating "some calls". When I asked if she was reviewing her traffic analysis, she said "No, why should we - it's clearly working - we can tell that from the sales". I didn't ask if she knew how her sales and calls compared to the actual visitor numbers for the site - I suspected that she'd have been shocked to learn how many more opportunities she was losing.
Metrics Matter!!
If you don't know what's happening with your Website visitors, where they go, what they're looking for, what they respond to, and what turns them off about your site, you can't possibly make the most of your online potential. Your Web traffic reports offer unprecedented opportunities to analyze these relationships on a one-to-one basis.
Here are some examples of using your metrics to ask intelligent questions and make informed adjustments to your site:
Tracking your Promotional Efforts
There are many ways to promote your site, both online and offline. Some are free and some, while not costing money, do take up time and effort. It's important to know the marketing options that generate the best return on investment for all your resources.
Joyce Weiss works with her public relations consultants to analyze the immediate impact of her radio appearances on her Website traffic (at http://www.joyceweiss.com)./ She said "This way we can decide if the Website needs to be tweaked for radio shows, or if I need to say something different on the shows to get people to sign up."
Following the links to your site (called "refering URL's in the reports) can be very useful in creating good professional relationships. Often, site owners won't tell you that they've quoted you so it's important to check that the reference is appropriate.
And, it's important to say thank you. I once followed a link to my site and found that one of my articles was required reading for a course at the University of Southern Oregon. When I dropped a note to the Professor telling him how honored I was, he replied "Not at all, I really like your ideas - and by the way, we're looking for a speaker for our next conference . . ."
Dave Paradi does this too: "I do check out those sites that link to mine. One time I found that the link was to an old page, so I wrote to them and suggested that they update the link. I was also able to mention my other articles that would benefit their visitors."
If you're paying for traffic, make sure that the keywords you've selected, or the sites that you're advertising on are generating good quality leads. Abby Marks-Beale told me how she does this:
"I've set up separate portal pages for those who come to me from my pay-per-click program through Overture. This way I can see if the program is really working."
In other words, you can create special entry pages for visitors from Overture, Google AdWords, e-zines that you sponsor, or other campaigns. If a visitor enters through one of these pages, they can only have come from this one specific source. Then you can follow where on your site these visitors subsequently go, how they respond and ultimately decide whether they're good leads and whether your money is well spent.
Hot Content Areas
Your traffic reports list the most requested pages on your site, telling you what's hot and what's not about your content. If you're offering downloadable articles or special reports, you can see which of these are most popular.
Mitchell Gooze makes a point of doing this: "We track white paper downloads by person, and we know exactly who downloads which white papers. We store this information in their data records. We also know which topics are most interesting to visitors."
Knowing the hot content areas on your site can give you great ideas for future product and program development. Rita Risser (http://www.FairMeasures.com) developed a whole set of online checklists and policy guideline documents based around the subjects that her visitors were searching for.
Calls to Action
One of my favorite mantras is "Every Page of your Site Should Have a Strategy". You should absolutely know which segment of your target audience each page is aimed at, what's in it for them and what you want as a result. Provide clear (and clickable) calls to action at every point in your copy where the reader might be ready to make the next move - whether it's "Sign up for our newsletter", "Buy our product", or "Contact me to ask about our services".
Sometimes this means directing the visitor to the next page that you'd like them to see. Dave Paradi told me:
"I realized that people were entering my site on one of two specific pages, which are a couple of my articles that now have great placement on Google. I also noticed that almost all of these visitors entered and exited on that page, not visiting any other pages.
"So how could I get them to see the rest of the site - particularly the products that I hoped they would buy? I included a link to my products page at the bottom of each article. And last month, the products page jumped to the second most visited page, and it appears that many visitors, based on the value of the articles, are checking out the products."
And he's taking this a step further:
"It hasn't yet resulted in increased orders, but I think the next area I need to address is writing more successful copy for the products page."
At the Risk of Repeating Myself . . .
I like to think of Web traffic analysis as "market research that cannot lie". The reports show you what visitors do on your site of their own accord, without prompting or other influence. Not to discount focus groups, surveys and asking your favorite clients for feedback - those are important tools as well, but not as powerful.
So, if you haven't clearly defined the strategies, target markets and outcomes for your site, and if you aren't looking at your metrics to evaluate the success of these, then you're shooting in the dark with your Web investment. The examples in this article show you just a few of the many ways that you can use this information - I hope that you're now motivated to find out more about your own site.
(c) 2003, Philippa Gamse. All rights reserved.
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317.

How to Create a Useful, Popular Website

by: Michael LaRocca
In this free email course, I'll tell you everything I know about setting up your website and placing it highly in the search engines.
Everything I tell you will also be free. You'll spend some time, but you won't spend your money.
Your two goals, useful and popular, are related. Search engines can bring you a lot of first-time users, but quality will keep them coming back.
How technical will I get?
Well, you have two choices. Learn HTML, or use some free software that lets you create a site without learning HTML.
If you choose the latter option, writing the site isn't much different than creating a Power Point presentation or a word processor document.
I'll address both options. Plusses, minuses, how-to. So whether you're a computer geek like me or a technophobe like most of my family, I'll tell you how it's done.
So don't let the possibility of technical language stop you.
** GETTING STARTED **
First, decide what you want on your site. I do this with pen and paper. What menu options, what graphics, what sounds (if any). How much stuff to put on each page, because I want each page to be "the right size."
Every graphic (including your background) and every sound takes time to load when someone visits your site. Text (including links) is fast. No page should be larger than 64 Kb, and that size means HTML plus graphics, sounds, etc.
I always try to strike a balance between speed and appearance. If it isn't necessary, it probably shouldn't be there. Only you know what "necessary" means.
I also draw a "flow chart" for navigation, and refer to it as I plan and again as I create. If it looks way too complicated when it's done, I'll create a special page called "Site Map" to help users navigate the site.
In my case:
Index (my home page) leads to:
FreeBooksOnTheNet
BookReview
Bookstores (which leads to OnLineFictionBooks)
Etc.
I always ensure that a "Tier 3" page like OnLineFictionBooks leads back to the Tier 2 page that leads to it (Bookstores). A Tier 4 page should lead back to the appropriate Tier 3 and Tier 2 pages. Etc. All my pages lead back to Index, which is the only Tier 1 page.
Whenever someone visits your site, their browser automatically looks for a file called INDEX.HTML (or INDEX.HTM for files written with Microsoft.) That's what makes it the Tier 1 page.
If the user's browser doesn't find Index, you don't have a website. So your home page will be called INDEX.HTML (or INDEX.HTM). You can call the other files anything you want, as long as the file extension is HTML or HTM.
A link to a Site Map on your front page that lists all your pages, regardless of what tier it's on, is convenient for users and it ensures that Search Engine spiders find all your pages.
Throughout this lesson, I'm going to assume you're not using Microsoft and call everything an HTML file. (Files that end with HTM, the Microsoft default, are also HTML files.)
As you work, put all your website files (HTML, graphics, sounds) into the same directory. And, remember where it is! If you like, you can give that directory some subdirectories and sort things a bit, but I never do this.
I mention file locations because this, too, is part of your planning.
Your planning stage might take longer than actually writing your website. But for me, writing pages with no plan never works.
So plan!
** DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HTML? **
Once you have a plan for your website, all that remains is writing it, uploading it, and helping people find it.
The big question is, can you learn HTML? If so, do you want to?
If you can and want to learn HTML, you can make your website do anything you want it to. Otherwise, you may find your options limited.
I'll admit that I've only written one page without using HTML. Not one site -- one page. I learned HTML for my job, then maintained my employer's site for two years. All in HTML. The power of HTML impresses me. But, learning it isn't mandatory.
So, how to decide...
Here's a list of sites that will teach you HTML. Look them over and decide if learning this language is for you.
Interactive HTML Tutorial
http://freereads.topcities.com/freebooksonthenet.html
This is the site where I give away about a dozen free ebooks and link to thousands more.
Writing HTML Tutorial
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/
HTML Goodies
http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/
HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/
HTML Primer
http://www.htmlprimer.com/
Webmonkey
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/
Your homework -- forgive me, I'm a teacher -- is to refine your plan. Also, think about the "learning HTML" issue a bit more if you need to.
** HTML OR NOT HTML? **
So now you have a plan for your website, and you think you've decided whether or not to use HTML. It's time to do the work and make your site a reality.
First I'll show you how to write a website without learning HTML. Then I'll show you how to write a website after learning HTML.
** WRITING A WEBSITE WITHOUT USING HTML **
The title is a lie. All websites use HTML. But you can get the computer to write the HTML without learning it yourself.
If you choose to do that, here are five possible methods:
(1) Netscape 6.2 is a free program. If you don't have it, you can download a copy from http://www.netscape.com.
Choose FILE, then EDIT PAGE. Now you can design a web page by clicking menus and dragging things around the screen. There's really no HTML function it can't do.
Once you're done, you can look at your HTML files using Netscape Navigator and/or Internet Explorer. Once you know they're perfect, you can upload them.
(2) If your computer has Microsoft Power Point already installed, you can use it to write a website.
Use it like you normally would, and create a Power Point file that looks just like you want your web page to look. When you're done, click FILE and SAVE AS WEB PAGE.
You can use your browser (Internet Explorer and/or Netscape Navigator) to see how it will look before you upload it.
(3) You can use Microsoft Word. (I haven't investigated whether or not it will add backgrounds.)
Just open Word and create a document like you always do. BUT, when it comes time to save it, Choose FILE, then SAVE AS, then under "Save As Type" choose WEB PAGE.
Again, you can use your browser(s) to see how it will look before you upload it.
(4) Almost every free web host has a series of "templates" that allow you to set up a web page in minutes.
http://www.bravenet.com may have the best.
http://www.topcities.com is also very easy to use, but they only have two templates.
If you can't find a template at either place that is close enough to what you want to use, you can go to any search engine and look for "free web hosting."
If you just can't find a template that's close enough to perfect for you, maybe you can set something up with a template anyway and learn enough HTML to change it later.
After the "Writing A Website Using HTML" section of this lesson is a section on "Choosing A Hosting Service." If you're going to use a template, you might want to look at that now. Or you might just want to go to Bravenet or Topcities and be done with it.
(5) Buy Microsoft FrontPage. I've never used it, nor will I. I like having control of my HTML, and no website generator (including the four above) will give me that. But I do know some folks who use it, and they strongly endorse it. One of them even knows how to write in HTML.
But before you buy any program, ask yourself if you think it'll ever pay for itself. Meaning, are you selling stuff? If you are, can you sell enough to get your money back in profit? If you can't, do you care?
** WRITING A WEBSITE USING HTML **
If you're going to write HTML, I salute you. Three choices are:
(1) You can use Notepad or a similar text editor. Not a Word processor! Save the text file with the extension HTML, not the default TXT extension, and your browser will recognize it at as an HTML page.
(2) Many free web hosting services have on-line editors that serve a similar purpose, but I prefer to do my writing off-line because it's faster. And, if you're paying an hourly rate for your Internet access, off-line is cheaper.
(3) I used Notepad for many months, but then I found a better way. It's called CSE HTML VALIDATOR LITE. Imagine Notepad with the ability to open five pages at a time, and the power to validate your HTML code (making sure it's right) before you upload it. That's CSE HTML VALIDATOR LITE, and it's free at http://www.htmlvalidator.com.
If you have no need to validate your code -- changing contact information or background colors, for example -- I recommend Edit Pad. It's also free, and it's like Notepad with the ability to open multiple pages. HTML Validator Lite limits you to five, but Edit Pad is unlimited. http://www.editpadpro.com/
Once you've written the code, preview it with your browser(s) before you upload it. It might not be quite right. It rarely is for me on the first try.
** WHERE TO GET SOUNDS & GRAPHICS **
I'm guessing you have some photos of yourself, friends, family, pets, school, whatever. That's probably why you're setting up your website.
But what about backgrounds? What about music?
Whenever you visit a website, if you see any UNCOPYRIGHTED art you like, just right click it and choose "Save Target As." Then you've got it.
As for music, I don't put MP3s on-line because:
The files are quite large
I never know which are copyrighted and which aren't
So on one of my sites, I have MIDIs. All public domain, meaning you can take them and use them yourself. Just right click and choose "Save Target As."
OR, you can just go to any search engine and type "free wallpaper" or "free background" to get some artwork, or "free MIDI" to get some free music. Right click, Save Target As.
It's that simple.
** CHOOSING A HOSTING SERVICE **
If you wrote your site using a template or an on-line HTML editor from one of the free hosting services, this step's done. But you still need to download all those files as backups. Sometimes free hosting services vanish suddenly, and you DON'T want to lose your whole site that way! So keep reading!
If you wrote your site on your own system, you need to get it onto the Internet now.
First you need to choose a web hosting service. A free one, definitely. It's always possible to start with a freebie and move to a paid provider later, but I haven't left the freebies and I've been at this for years.
There are a lot of freebies out there. If you don't believe it, go to any search engine and type "free web hosting." I have no idea what you're looking for in your free provider, but I can tell you what I looked for in mine.
* Lots of storage space. Thanks to all the photos and music, my largest site takes 12 Mb. Since you have all your files in a single directory, look at how large that is. Open Windows Explorer, find the folder, and right-click it to look at the properties. How much do you think it'll grow? Pick a server with AT LEAST 20 Mb.
* No popup ads. This is a BIG deal to me. All free hosting sites have ads, but you'll note that Topcities doesn't use popups. Just a banner at the top of all my pages. I can live with that. My no-popup rule knocks Tripod and Angelfire out of the running.
* Accessibility from anywhere in the world. This knocks out very popular freebies like Freeservers (formerly my favorite) and Yahoo Geocities. Oh, and Tripod again. China doesn't like them, and I live in China.
So now, your assignment is simple. Decide where you're going to put your new website. I chose http://www.topcities.com but you don't have to.
Once you've made a decision, you'll have to apply for an account and fill out some information about yourself, including the name you want for your site.
Usually the web host will send you an email to confirm your address. You respond to it, and you have access. Then it's just a matter of sending your files.
** UPLOADING YOUR FILES **
For the beginners... Upload means to send files to another computer. Download means to take files from another computer.
(If your files exist on a server but not on your own hard drive, you'll be downloading!)
Some web host providers have excellent file transfer abilities built right in. Topcities is especially strong in this regard. Or, you may need an FTP server program.
FTP simply means "File Transfer Protocol." In short, a way for your computer to talk to the one your hosting service is using.
You can pick up a free FTP program at http://www.ipswitch.com/. Drop down to the bottom left and click Try WS_FTP Pro. It's a stripped-down version of the commercial version, but it'll do everything you need and it never expires.
Depending on the speed of your connection and the sizes of your files, this step can be very quick or very slow. But either way, you don't have to do much work. Just click a few buttons and let 'er rip!
(Now might be a good time for a refill on the beverage of your choice. I know I had a few as I wrote this lesson.)
Once you transfer all your files, you have a website. Your hosting service will tell you the URL (address). Make sure it works, surf it a bit, and just enjoy the fruits of your labor. Then tell your friends and take a break!
Congratulations! You're a webmaster now!
** FINE TUNING & SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT **
Hello, webmaster!
That's right, you're a webmaster. You've got a website.
But, you probably want to improve it, and you probably want people to know how to find it.
This is the final lesson, and probably the one you'll keep referring to. Fortunately all its resources are online, so you can just bookmark a few pages and go to them as necessary.
Now that you have a website up and running, you might want to look at Is Your Website Unfriendly? (http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/HTMLtips.html)
If you're programming in HTML, Web Colour Codes (http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/colors.html) is an easy way to find the six-digit hex code for whatever color you may be seeking. This is especially useful for background colors, as fast good-looking graphics can be hard to find.
After you've uploaded your web pages, running a diagnostic Will tell you how long it takes them to load at various modem speeds, how compatible they are with older browsers, how to improve problem areas, if you have busted links, etc. These are all free.
Speaking of busted links, download Xenu. I have over 1000 outgoing links on one of my websites, and it checks them all automatically. I manually check the ones it claims are busted.
You can find my complete list of diagnostic tools at: http://freereads.topcities.com/bookpromo.html
That page also contains a few more goodies you might want to use. Software & Graphics, and CGI Scripts.
Speaking of CGI scripts, visit http://www.bravenet.com if you haven't already. (This won't work in China.)
Scripts are defined as things where the user can send info back to your website. Guestbooks, feedback forms, newsletter subscriptions, chat rooms, games, you name it. Things HTML just can't do.
Bravenet lets you use their scripts, free. You just copy and paste a small bit of HTML code into your site and they handle the rest. It's worth a look, AFTER you use the scripts that your free web host gives you.
http://freereads.topcities.com/websitenewsletter.html contains my analysis of Search Engine placement. It'll take you some time to go through all that.
I recommend running the diagnostics before you submit to the Search Engines, because some Search Engines penalize or even ban pages with badly-written HTML.
Then, swing by The Web Marketing Checklist at http://www.webmarketingtoday.com/articles/checklist.htm to make sure you've done everything you're supposed to.
http://freereads.topcities.com/freebooksonthenet.html contains a large selection of free ebooks. Many are about website and newsletter promotion.
Have you subscribed to my free newsletter yet? It's called Mad About Books, but it covers more than that. As I discover new ways to improve and promote my websites and newsletter, I include them in my newsletter.
Good luck with your new website!
Best regards,
Michael LaRocca
http://freereads.topcities.com/archive.html
Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.
Copyright 2004, Michael LaRocca
About The Author
Michael is an American who's lived in Asia since 1999. He currently teaches English at Shaoxing University in Zhejiang Province, China. He telecommutes to Hong Kong as a legal transcriptionist, edits for Books Unbound, and he published four novels in 2002.
His website will show you how to improve your writing, find the right publisher, and promote your book after the sale. It explains why you should never pay to be published. It has won two Sime~Gen Readers Choice Awards and was listed in Writers Digest's The Best 101 Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. http://freereads.topcities.com
michaellarocca@yawweb.org

Great Site Ranking in Google The Secret's Out

Google recently filed a US patent which reveals a great deal of how they rank your web site. Some of it you could never have guessed at...By Darren Yates, 6/11/2005

Google recently filed a US patent which reveals a great deal of how they rank your web site. Some of it you could never have guessed at... How many years did you register your domain name for? If it was only one then Google could hold that against you. Why? Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain name for one year. A domain name registered for a longer period implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site. This is just one of the unusual factors possibly considered by Google when indexing and ranking a website. Factors you could never even have guessed at in some cases. How do I know this? Google recently made public, March 31 2005, the contents of their filing of United States Patent Application 20050071741. In which many of the search giant’s secret ranking criteria is revealed and it makes very interesting reading. You must read this if you are serious about ranking well in Google. The days of Spamming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent they reveal just how hard they're coming down on Spam sites. You Do Not want to get caught out. Listed below you will find the hard facts, I recommend that you bookmark this page now. You will need to reference it each time you optimize a new site. • Links. It's common knowledge that Google relies heavily on inbound relevant links to rank a site. Now they explain exactly how it works. As well as the number, quality and anchor text factors of a link. Google seems to also consider historical factors. Apparently the Google 'sandbox' or aging delay begins count down the minute links to a new site are discovered. Google records the discovery of a link, link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the link life span. With this in mind, fast link acquisition may be a strong indicator of potential search engine Spam. Gone are the days of pages and pages full of links. You must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be careful who you exchange links with. That means no more buying hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics. PR is now very valuable. Your link anchor text should vary but remain consistent with your site content. No more using your main keywords on every link exchange you gain. That's 'anchor Spam'. Instead vary them around your top five to ten keywords. Link exchanges are still very important but you must work and utilize them ethically. If you don't and you get caught, the recovery from a ban can be months and your host and IP may also be recorded. Softly seems to be the message. The fact is fewer but better quality links will benefit you more and they will be much more likely to be over the long-term which is good too. • Site click through rates (CTR) CTR may now be monitored through cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites via the Google toolbar or desktop tools. Many have suspected for some time that sites are rewarded for good CTR with a raise in ranking. Similar to how Adwords works. CTR is monitored to see if fresh or stale content is preferred for a search result. CTR is also analyzed for increases or decreases relating to trends or seasons. • Web page rankings are recorded and monitored for changes. • The traffic to a web page is recorded and monitored over time. • Sites can be ranked seasonally. A ski site may rank higher in the winter than in the summer. Google can monitor and rank pages by recording CTR changes by season. • Bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes, deletions or additions. • User behavior in general could be monitored. As Google is capable of tracking traffic to your site you should closely monitor the small amount of copy returned in search results. Ideally you will want to integrate a call to action in there to increase your listings CTR. Clicks away from your site back to the search results are also monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors there longer. As mentioned above it may also help if you could get your visitors to bookmark you. • The frequency and amount of page updates is monitored and recorded as is the number of pages. Mass updates of hundreds of files will see you pop up on the radar. On the other hand, few or small updates to your site could see your rankings slide --unless your CTR is good. A stale page that receives good traffic may hold it's own and not require an update. So don't update for the sake of it. Depending on your market, fresh content may not be a requirement. If the information your pages contain do not go out of date then updating may not be necessary. If your market is more news based for example, then changes regularly are a must. In general changes don't necessarily have to mean fresh content. They could involve simple edits to current content. A further indicator that Google is really cracking down on Spam is made clear in the following extract from the Patent. Reference is made to changing the focus of multiple pages at once. Here's the quote - "A significant change over time in the set of topics associated with a document may indicate that the document has changed owners and previous document indicators, such as score, anchor text, etc., are no longer reliable. Similarly, a spike in the number of topics could indicate Spam. For example, if a particular document is associated with a set of one or more topics over what may be considered a ’stable’ period of time and then a (sudden) spike occurs in the number of topics associated with the document, this may be an indication that the document has been taken over as a ‘doorway’ document. Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of the original topics associated with the document. If one or more of these situations are detected, then [Google] may reduce the relative score of such documents and/or the links, anchor text, or other data associated the document." There's still more to look out for:- • Changes in keyword density is monitored and recorded as are changes to anchor text. • The domain name owner’s address is considered, most likely to help in a local search result. • The technical and admin contact details are checked for consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains. • Your hosts IP address. If you are on a shared server it's possible somebody else on that server is using dirty tactics or Spamming. If so, your site will suffer since you share the same IP. The impression I get here is that Google has learned from the Spam 'attack' they suffered in early 2004 and they are determined to eradicate it from their listing results. So what do you do? There's a lot to take onboard here and consider. But you can't go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as possible. If you know what you are doing you can take short cuts. Carry on with link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to your site regularly. Check your search engine listings and edit your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make your site more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh, and register new domain names for at least two years. Before you do anything remember to reference the above info first. It may just save you months of misery as your site gets banned and 'Sand boxed'. Overall keep it ethical and you can't go far wrong. Do not be tempted to Spam. Stick to the guidelines above and you are much more likely to outlast and out rank your competition.

Determine Your Popularity On The Web

by: Craig Neidel
"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" I'm going to bet that it's not you, um I mean, not your website. With all of the new websites popping up all over the place how do you know where you rank? How popular is your site compared to the next one?
In most cases it's safe to say that we all want our website to be popular. Maybe it means our business will be more profitable or maybe it's just good for the ego. Now there is a website that ranks the popularity of your website. The website is http://www.alexa.com.
Alexa.com is a blast to use and is one of those websites that is hard to leave. For starters, Alexa.com lists the most popular websites starting from the #1 position. It also lists the “Movers And Shakers”, which are websites that are rapidly gaining or loosing popularity on the web. Alexa.com is a great tool for discovering new websites to visit because you can see where everybody else is going. It's fun, informative, and can be a good tool for comparing your website to the competition.
So how does Alexa.com work? In 1997 Alexa.com created a tool bar that tracked which websites people visited on the web. The tool bar was incorporated into early versions of NetScape and Internet Explorer. Today there are over 10 million Internet users who browse the Internet while using some form of the Alexa.com tool bar. These users are constantly generating statistics about their browsing habits. Alexa.com uses the data to create reports that outline the popularity of websites on the Internet.
So the next time you want to see how popular your website is, visit Alexa.com. Simply type in your website's address (www.yoursite.com) into the “search the web” box and press go. It will send you to a page full of statistics showing you how popular your website is right now. Just remember that being popular isn't the only important thing in life. There are good looks, money, and Monday Night Football too.
About The Author
Craig Neidel has worked for NetSource Communications Inc. for 6 years and has experience in web development, e-commerce solutions and web marketing. NetSource Communications creates custom e-commerce solutions and web applications. http://www.ntsource.com.

Color Psychology in Marketing

by: Al Martinovic
On the internet we don't deal with face to face selling. The internet is a visual and psychological medium. The words, or sales copy, on your website have by far the greatest psychological impact on your visitors and thus becomes your most important communication and sales tool.
But another important psychological aspect of your website that is often overlooked are the colors. Yes, that's right... I said colors.
Just as you use words to express yourself, colors can be used as an expression as well and are a language all on their own.
The background color of your website, the color of your header, the color of your text, headlines and sub-headlines etc. can all have a psychological impact on your visitors.
Here is a list of some of the common colors and what type of psychological emotion they invoke in people:
RED is associated with love, passion, danger, warning, excitement, food, impulse, action, adventure.
BLUE is associated with trustworthiness, success, seriousness, calmness, power, professionalism.
GREEN is associated with money, nature, animals, health, healing, life, harmony.
ORANGE is associated with comfort, creativity, celebration, fun, youth, affordability.
PURPLE is associated with royalty, justice, ambiguity, uncertainty, luxury, fantasy, dreams.
WHITE is associated with innocence, purity, cleanliness, simplicity.
YELLOW is associated with curiosity, playfulness, cheerfulness, amusement.
PINK is associated with softness, sweetness, innocence, youthfulness, tenderness.
BROWN is associated with earth, nature, tribal, primitive, simplicity.
GREY is associated with neutralality, indifference, reserved.
BLACK is associated with seriousness, darkness, mystery, secrecy.
You can use the above as a guide when choosing colors for your website. It really boils down to your target audience and what psychological message you want to convey in colors.
Blues and white backgrounds work best for business sites. Maternity sites should consider some pink. Golf or lawn sites sites should consider green. Food sites should consider red, etc.
There are also numerous shades of the same color that you can use too. Here a link that lists 216 colors that work in all browsers: http://www.geocities.com/webtvbeth/hexchart.html
It also boils down to common sense too. As far as using colors in text, black text on white backgrounds may be dull but it is the most readable and pleasing to the eye.
Yellow text on white background is not only unreadable, but causes eye-strain which will have people leaving your site quickly. Nothing will lose sales faster than eye-straining text.
Here's a link for a "color wheel" that shows which colors compliment each other, and which ones don't: http://www.saumag.edu/art/studio/chalkboard/c-wheel.html
In conclusion, not only can the sales copy on your website have a psychological impact with words but the colors you use can as well.
Use them wisely...
About The Author
Al Martinovic works from home and runs a successful mlm business at http://www.ineedsmokes.com and also publishes a popular internet marketing newsletter: http://www.milleniummarketers.com

Can Your Visitors Contact You From Your Website

by: Dave Tan
Argh, where's the contact button?! Believe it or not, some websites just DON'T WANT any visitors (even customers) to CONTACT them. There's no email address, no contact form, no NOTHING!
What if a potential customer wants to BUY something from your website but have a few questions or doubts that he/she needs to ask you first? If you have a FAQ page, that's the first place he/she will definitely seek answers...but what if your FAQ page still can't provide the answers he/she seeks?
Don't care?! Not your problem?! Would rather prevent spam than going through all the trouble?!
If your website can't even provide even HANDLE the SIMPLEST form of communication, you will definitely lose lots of potential customers (even loyal customers) because simply can't contact you!
That's why the Contact Us button or link should be placed in a highly visible or accessible position. This is common sense. Who would feel SAFE to buy from a someone let alone a website that don't even provide the most BASIC form of customer support. What if the product they bought is defective or they're having some trouble accessing it?
If you're HIDING your website's email address purely because of spammers, especially from those email harvester software, you do NOT really need to REMOVE your email address from your web site. You can create and place a simple GIF image with your email address on it using the same background color as your web page.
Example 1:
To contact us, send us an email to:
If you don't want to use an image, you can separate your email address so that it doesn't look like an email address to email harvester softwares...
Example 2:
To contact us, send us an email to: sales at ebookok dot com
This approach is NOT recommended, because some visitors will actually send an email to sales at ebookok dot com without first changing it to sales@ebookok.com. Of course you can tell them to remove the at and replace it with @ and dot with "." before sending it.
Alternatively, you can create a web form that allows visitors to submit their questions to your email DIRECTLY from your website. You will need a little PERL programming knowledge for this, or you can simply hire someone else to write it for you!
If you do use web form as the ONLY way to contact you, make sure (1000 percent) that the script is WORKING properly! Make sure you've set the permission for the script, no errors, etc.
Note: When scripting in Perl, usually a simple MISSING ";" or "{", or "}" or "Permission Not Set" errors are the main reasons why your script is not functioning the way it should be! Always make sure your script is as BUG-FREE (not containing any errors) as possible!
When your visitors submitted their questions to your through your website, it's a good idea to display a friendly message like: Thanks for submitting a question, I will be in touch with you shortly!
This is a good practise and it is highly recommended because your visitors will know that your script works and their questions was indeed successfully submitted. Some websites don't even bother to add a simple message like: Your question was submitted.
They will just display a silly BLANK page or REDIRECT you back to their contact page or homepage...leaving you to wonder if your message was indeed submitted properly.
Always try to answer all emails ASAP and personally - within 24 hours. Customer service is IMPORTANT! Let them know that you care about them and they will be happy to do business with you! :-)
That's all for this article, have fun placing those contact link!
Best Regards,
Dave Tan
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About The Author
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5 Tips For the Perfect Domain Name

by: Niall Roche
What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what you become known by online so it's important to get it right.
Each website on the Internet is labelled with something called an IP address which is the actual address of the website online. A typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name translates all those numbers into something like www.amazon.com. This is far easier to remember.
#1 Dot what?
Each domain has what's called an extension. The most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however, is not the only type of domain extension available. There is also:
.net
If you can't find your preferred .com domain name you could always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as a .com.
.org
These domain extensions were orginally designed for educational and more formal websites. Anybody can register a .org however so you have more options for domain selection.
.info
A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains available. With a little creativity you could really make a .info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.
Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more easily than anything else.
#2 Branding vs Business Name
There is an age old debate on the whether or not you should establish a brand name online or use a domain that more actually reflects your real business. Let's look at Amazon as an example. Amazon sells books online. Most people setting up a business would have chosen say www.booksonline.com instead of www.amazon.com. Amazon has since established itself as a brand name of global recognition - proving the value of building a brand name.
You'll need to choose between the two. Brand name or your own business name. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might look on a business card and how well it relates to your business.
There's no one right answer to this question. You need to choose what makes most sense for you, your website and your business in general.
#3 Hyphenated or not
This is another area of debate. Should your domain be one single word or should the words be separated by hyphens? There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Single word domain names can be easier to explain, use on header paper and lend themselves to brand names very well.
Single word domains are in very, very short supply.
Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to explain, may not look as well on headed paper and possibly harder to establish as a brand name. There's no shortage of multiple word domains.
The single biggest advantage a hyphenated domain has is that searche engines can "read" the domain more easily. For example in a domain like www.foreignholidaysonline.com the search engine can only read the first word "foreign" and that's it. It can't tell anything else about the website domain name.
If you hyphenated that to www.foreign-holidays-online.com the search engine can read "foreign", "holidays" and "online" as separate words and therefore knows that this website is about foreign holidays.
A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as a single word domain name.
#4 Your Domain Registrar
These are the people you pay to register the domain for you. There are dozens if not hundreds of these companies out there so which one do you choose? This takes some research but things worth checking are:
Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar keep some level of control over it?
Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar
Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another registrar?
Is there an online control panel for domain administration?
How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?
Shop around for domain registrars. What you really want to find is a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you buy.
#5 Cheap Domain Names
You can save a lot of money on the domain names you purchase. A typical .com domain costs about $15 to register from most registrars. However you can get the same domain for as little as $7.95 from other, very reliable, companies.
Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good customer service as their more expensive competitors.
Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to both is a definite No.
If you'd like more information on choosing and setting up your domain name then visit http://www.affiliate-advocate.com for our Domain Guide.
About The Author
Niall Roche
http://www.affiliate-advocate.com is run by Niall Roche. The site offers reviews of affiliate marketing ebooks and software as well as advice and tips for new and existing affiliate marketers.

Website Backgrounds: 5 Cool Tricks for a Professional Look

by: David Leonhardt
Most websites feature white backgrounds. Or they sit on a navy or gray background -- but most of the screen is still white, like a page of paper set against the darker background. Occasionally, you might run across more interesting colors - reds and purples and greens and rust – often looking more gaudy than professional.
But every now and then, there is a website with a photo or a drawing or a pattern background. This tutorial will show you not just how to place a background on your website, but five clever ticks to spice up the background without resorting to gaudiness.
The basic html code to place a background on your web page is very simple:
To place a background in a table, perhaps set against a solid color page background, here is the basic html code:
The image file called image.jpg now becomes your background. A typical image would show up "tiled". In other words, it repeats itself horizontally and vertically to fill the screen. This usually does not look very professional, so here are five tricks to clean it up and spice it up.
1. Use "strip" graphics. Strip graphics are simply very long images that stretch across the screen. When they repeat, they repeat one below the other. To see this in action, view my page at http://www.thehappyguy.com/SEO.html. The yellow strip along the right side looks like it is part of the top banner image. But it is a 650 by 20 strip image, mostly white, with a touch of yellow along the left side. This works well with patterns that vary only from left to right
2. Hold the background in place. When a visitor scrolls down, the text rolls over the image. I used this trick at my personal website: http://www.leonhardtonline.com (Please forgive the mess – I never seem to find the time to clean it up.) The html code to do this is:
This works for patterns, but it works best for photos or drawings, such as a faded image of your company logo or a faded scenery shot or a faded photo of people interacting. (Remember that the background should not stand out at the expense of the foreground text and images, which is why you want faded images.)
3. Another great background trick is to place a smaller picture in the background, such as your company logo or some other image that you do not want to take up the entire screen. This works best against a white background. Here is the html code:
If you want the image to show up just in a table:
I used this function in just one cell of a table by inserting it in my tag for my navigation menu at http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net . Notice how the faded bottle is in the background behind the navigation links, but it does not repeat down the page.
4. You can further control the position of the background image. Consider the following code:
We now have a background that fills the top right corner of the page. Depending how big it is, it might cover most of the screen or just the corner.
5. Another way to use background images are as navigation buttons. While search engines can easily follow image links, they don't carry the same relevancy as keyword-rich text links. A background button image can make a text link look like a button. Each navigation link would have to be placed within its own table or cell, then apply the code used in the previous example.
Used properly, background images can greatly enhance the appeal of your website. If you are looking for a way to spice up your website, these four tricks can help.
About The Author
David Leonhardt is a freelance writer and SEO specialist. Contact him at Info@thehappyguy.com or visit his website at http://www.thehappyguy.com. Read more webmastering and online marketing articles at http://www.thehappyguy.com/marketing-articles.html or pick up a free motivation ebook at http://www.thehappyguy.com/l/daily-motivation-inspiration.php

Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors?

by: Radhika Venkata
**How Colors are Used in web design:**
Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs his attention.
You can relate different groups of element on your screen- If you want to keep a navigational menu also at the bottom of page, you can use the same blue background. This tells the visitor that both blue areas on the screen has the same information.
Highlights information- If you want to make a line of text prominent, you can use different colored text instead of regular text or use a background for that line of text.
Looks nicer- Always colors associate with our mood and perceptions. We always feel the colors. Colored objects draws peoples attention.
**One should always use web safe colors?**
Nah... Unless your audience purely rely on 256 colored monitors. Mostly a remote possibility. You can experiment and enjoy in applying colors in your web design. The worst thing that will happen is the colors are shown to it's nearest color on 256 monitors. They won't look like exactly as they look on your monitor.
**What colors are best?**
One cannot say this exactly. Because the blue which means professionalism to some is death to some.
Here are some colors:
To indicate necessary action, use warm colors
Red, orange, yellow.
To provide calm and content feelings use cool colors
Green, blue, violet, purple.
Green means growth and vitality.
Red means energy and passion.
Blue means intuitive, cool and trustworthy.
Yellow means enthusiastic and optimistic.
Orange means courage and success.
Purple means passionate and spiritual.
Grays and browns seem dull. But they can take on a more cheerful attitude with compliments of red and orange. Emotions like this will help your visitors to associate your site with stableness and confidence.
**Tips to follow in appying colors on your website:**
1. White background is always preferable to keep your content. It makes easy to read and eye fatigue will be lessen with plain white background.
2. To make the things elegent use one or two contrast colors next to white. Like blue, green, orange etc.
3. Never use more than 3-4 colors on a page.(unless your site goes with graphics or other multimedia themes)
4. Check the colors and it appears on different browsers using online tools like- http://www.anybrowser.com/
5. Background of your web site pages: ALWAYS use a web safe color as a background color to your web site. This makes your graphics and text appear on a clean interface on any type of monitors.
6. Download and use this color picker for your web designs. Easy to use and very good free utility software: http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html
About The Author
Radhika Venkata
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Simplify Your Web Site for Clarity and Ease of Use

by: Edward Robireds
There are plenty of web sites out there in which basic elements of design are ignored. The viewer may experience overkill and frustration, instead of gently receiving the message or information. Here are some simple ways to help clarify your web site's message for your company or organization. Use the web as a tool for sales, community contact, and to improve, rather than detract from a business entity’s image.
Choosing Your Images
Choose site images carefully. Collect simple illustrations or photographs that are in sync with company mission or philosophy. A few select images will have more impact than many images competing for the eye’s attention. Avoid images that are distracting or trendy. Don’t simply use graphics to be cool.
How many photos or images are appropriate? A good rule of thumb is one to two images per web page. Select photos and images as carefully as you select the text, and you’ll be on your way to a better site. The exception to the rule is for sites that market a large amount of products or contain many points of interest, where small thumbnail images may be more appropriate.
Placement of Images on the Page
Do you want the photo or graphic to be the centerpiece? The first thing the eye sees? If so, place it in the central position. If not, maybe the photo or graphic is related to some of the text, and it can be placed nearby this text to accentuate it. Remember, we read from left to right. Some say the left represents the past, the center the present, and the right the future. Content may be organized this way on the page intentionally, to heighten this resonance with the viewer.
Don’t let site images be a distraction or hindrance to understanding. Instead, they should blend well into site content and not be a contrast to the message on the page. Images should not compete with content, they should enhance it.
Image Quality
Images should look as nice and clear as possible. There is an important balance to keep between image file size and quality. Always keep in mind that the file size and dimensions of your images will ultimately control overall page loading time. A slow-loading site will be frustrating to any user. Generally, pages load from the top down, so it is an important point to remember not to design your pages with large image files that fill the top of each page.
Site Text
It’s important not to overdo the writing on a page. Consider how much the user will read and write site content to capture the typically short attention spans of the viewers. Be succinct, and most importantly: be clear. Write subheads and set them in bold, slightly larger type. Carefully placed subheads allow the casual viewer to scan the content of your site.
Write for Search Engines
Research your clientele, and your targeted audience, and always develop content that sells your products, services, or organization. If you or your organization are lacking the expertise to write good copy, hire a professional writer to do the job.
Some web specific writing techniques are important. Try to use select keywords on each page that will lead new users to consider your business or services. Write this text directly into your copy. The first 20 words of your web site text should be what you want people to see in search engine results as a summary of your site.
Site Organization
To simplify the user’s experience, set your site up so that he can get to the intended location easily with no more than three clicks. The overall design of your site must be clear and intuitive so the user can navigate the content easily. If you must use symbols to direct the reader, always attach some explanatory text for the user, so they know where clicking the symbol will take them.
These are just a few of the basics of effective and clear web design. These tips provide ways to guide the user around your site, rather than frustrate them. With site clarity and ease of use, your clients and prospects are educated about your products and services, and have more reason to purchase them.
About The Author
Edward Robirds is a success-driven artist and interactive media developer based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since 1996, Edward has been building business relationships with several association and commercial clients around the world. Founder of www.DreamseaArtworks.com, Edward uses his artistic skills, expertise and passion to design and develop web sites, interactive CD-ROMs, and print media for his clients.
mail@dreamseaartworks.com

Seven Things to do NOW to Look Good ALWAYS!

by: Renu Dalal-Jain
Fashion magazines target people every day with lists and charts telling them the latest trends and techniques to look better, skinnier, smarter, where to buy the hippest clothes or the latest shoes! If you’re a woman, you are probably bombarded more often than you like, and if you’re a man, you may not get the information that you really want to know! Due to the glut of information available, most people know the obvious things to do to look elegant or well groomed, such as getting a good haircut or wearing certain brand name clothes. However, this may lead people to overlook some simple, basic things that can be done RIGHT NOW to add that subtle flair and polish to your everyday look!
Renu Dalal-Jain, a certified image consultant and the owner of Flair Consulting in Philadelphia, PA, works with men and women to help them put their best personal face forward in social or corporate settings. She maintains that there are seven essential things any man or women can do, and often overlook, to help them present a well-groomed, neat, and elegant appearance to the world! And all this without spending a dime!
1) Keep your skin and lips well conditioned. Ashy knees, flaky skin and chapped lips do not look nice, and will make your skin look old and tired. This is especially important in colder weather. If you wear lipstick, it is imperative that you keep your lips moist, because chapped lips are even more apparent under color. Keep lip balm in your car and your bedside table and apply it whenever you get in the car and before going to bed at night.
2) Make sure your nails are well shaped and all a similar length. Nothing says you don’t care like ragged nails or nails that are different lengths! (Ladies, I know you worked hard to grow those nails but just because only one broke, you shouldn’t think nobody would notice!) If you polish your nails, keep your everyday color one shade brighter than your skin-tone. This looks professional and clean and makes your hands look elegant, especially if you wear rings. If you like brighter colors make sure you repair chipped polish right away! Chips in bright polish are extremely noticeable and make you look sloppy.
3) Make sure your clothes and accessories are in a similar color family – don’t wear shades of beige or brown clothing with black shoes or a white belt. As a rule of thumb, make sure your belt, shoes, and watchstrap are in the same color family. Sometimes a strikingly different purse or shoes can make a statement, but it has to be well planned. The article in question must be of good quality and in good condition, since you want people to notice it.
4) Your socks or hose must match either your shoes or your pants. Do not EVER wear blue socks with brown shoes, or black socks with sneakers! If you are wearing sling-back or open-back shoes, make sure your socks or hose are the color of your shoes or nude-colored. If you are wearing sandals, do NOT wear hose unless it is patterned (think fishnets) and “deliberately worn to make a trendy statement”.
5) Wear the highest length socks you can (at least mid to high calf-length). NOBODY wants to see shiny shins peeking out when you sit down!
6) Polish your shoes and clean your sneakers! The number one thing people forget to do when going out is to check their shoes for scuffs or dirt. Polished shoes show that you care about your appearance. The most expensive shoes in the world will look horrible if they are dirty or scuffed!
7) Keep your wallet or purse organized all the time. Nothing makes you look disorganized like an overstuffed wallet hanging on for dear life in your back pocket, or a purse bursting at the seams! Make yourself a system to keep the business cards, credit cards or receipts you don’t need all the time, in your briefcase or at home.
And a bonus: an understated use of scent (aftershave, cologne or perfume) shows that you take an extra step with your grooming and can have a positive effect not only on your own mood but on those around you. According to the Social Issues Research Center in Oxford, UK, subtle fragrances can have dramatic effects in improving your mood and sense of well-being. In addition, in experiments, subjects exposed to pleasant fragrances tend to give higher ‘attractiveness ratings’ to people in photographs. The regular use of pleasant fragrances helps to reduce mood disturbances in men and women.
About The Author
Copyright © 2004 Renu Dalal-Jain, MS, CIC
Flair Consulting
http://www.flairconsulting.com
rdalaljain@hotmail.com