Is Your Email Address "Blacklisted?"

by: Jim Edwards

A lady emailed me yesterday very upset over the fact that her friend's Internet Service Provider (ISP) wasn't delivering important email messages.

This lack of delivery caused a real problem for the two of them with ruined plans, missed appointments, and just plain inconvenience.

If you don't use email, this might not sounds like a "big deal."

But this problem of non-delivery has dramatically affected the way businesses use email and is now about to reach epidemic proportions for consumers using email.

To put things into perspective, imagine if every time you dialed a friend's phone number you had no idea whether it would ring or not.

Now imagine how frustrated you would feel over time if you kept dialing the same number and it never rang for you, but others could get through and your friend's phone number never changed.

That's exactly how you'll feel when your personal emails start getting blocked for seemingly no reason.

The problem of legitimate email messages not getting through stems from the uncontrolled and unstoppable onslaught of spam that currently grips the Internet with seemingly no end in sight.

The fact that viruses can now "spoof" email addresses and make it look like someone sent a virus to thousands of people doesn't help matters either.

In an effort to cut down on spam, ISP's implement a number of counter-measures, including: text filters, spam databases, and IP blocking.

If your email message doesn't get delivered, most of the time it means you inadvertently got caught in an ISP's "defense system."

If you ever find your email messages don't get through, or if you'd like to head off problems before they occur, the following tips should help.

Encourage all your email contacts to "whitelist" your email address in their email program.

Just like you can say which email addresses you don't want to get messages from, you can specify a list of email addresses you always want accept.

In Yahoo or Hotmail you can set up your filters to accept email messages from a certain source regardless of the subject line or content of the message.

It takes a little patience to set up, but it pays big dividends by not losing important messages.

With Outlook and Outlook Express, you can set up message rules to always accept messages from certain senders.

If you send messages to people who use AOL, try this technique. Get them to add you to their address book "safelist" or "approved senders."

This helps AOL identify that the message recipient "knows" you and has a higher likelihood of actually wanting to receive your message.

Email AOL tech support for help on this if you encounter a problem.

If filtering and "white" listing don't work, then your friend needs to contact their ISP to sort out the problem.

Their ISP can certainly figure out why messages don't get through, but it may take some concerted encouragement to get the ISP's customer service to take the time to investigate the cause.

Introduction to Google Page Rank (PR)

by: Simon Melaniphy

For anyone looking to enhance their Google Page Rank (PR) to get a better place in the search results, we now have software that makes finding good links so much easier.

In case you didn't know, to get your PR rating up it is essential to have a significant number of good quality links to your site (the techy bit)... to make a link count, the page who is linking to you needs to have a PR of 4 or more (the higher the better). That's not all though... Every link that page has to another site gives some of the PR away, and every inbound link gives it more, so to know if having a link from another site is going to benefit you very much, you need to look at the PR and then find out how many inbound and outbound links is has! phew!

Not easy I would say, so that's why we now have special software - you give it a URL and the keywords you have optimised for, and it crawls its' way round the web looking for pages to link from and analysing them. You end up with a CSV or HTML file that saves you hours in searching and tells you which links are worth having.

Here's an example of the output for 1 potential link:

Keyword-to-Link search. Used keyword(s) "web site designer".

http://www.1234-find-web-designers.org/

Rank: 7 Estimated: 3 Outbound: 369 Backward: 2460

This tells you the PR of that site is 7, 369 links to other pages, 2460 links to that page, and it would give you a boost of 3 out of a potential 10 for getting a link.

We offer 2 services - 1 where you supply the keywords you want analysing, and we supply the file back to you with the hard work done, ready for you to approach the sites for links. As an introductory price for August / September this is only £99 + VAT.

We also do the complete link building and optimisation service.

Call for more information - 01202 242200.

Internet Tutorials are the Teachers of the Future

by: Jesse S. Somer

I know some people don’t even believe that the Internet or World Wide Web exists. They think that it is an abstract concept and that if asked to show it to someone they would fail miserably. Well, whether or not it exists I think that the collective consciousness of humanity is evolving everyday because of the sharing of ideas on the strange boxes called computers and the electronic network that connects them.

Every time I go on the Internet these days I am surprised by some new function that it has for our lives. My most recent discovery has been on-line tutorials. Tutorials are websites that have been created to help novices and amateurs alike learn more in their areas of specific interest. Just about any aspect of life seems to have tutorial sites dedicated to it that will teach you want you want to know. Of course some knowledge can cost you money but you’d be pleasantly surprised to see how much information you can get for free.

For example, I am interested in learning about how to play the guitar. You should see how many sites are out there, just look up guitar+tutorials on your search engine (E.g.: Google). There’s all sorts of great help from how to change your strings, hold a plectrum properly, and tuning, to learning complex chord scale systems and finger tapping on your electric guitar.

There are often diagrams, photographs, and intensive explanations relating to everything you ever wanted to know. Some sites have video and audio to help drive the lessons home. Life really has changed. In the past you had to get lessons from a teacher, drive to and from their house or music school, pay high tuition fees, and buy books on chords and songs. Everything is downloadable these days, and a lot of it is free.

Web designers could also probably learn a few things from these guitar tutorial sites. The ways the guitar teachings are expressed are often quite extensive but done so in a very simplistic manner. It’s a real one, two, three approach starting with verbal explanations of exercises, followed by diagrams, and then finally with audio and visual representations. It is an extremely thorough way of teaching without ever having to meet anyone in person.

However, a strange phenomenon is the fact that if the site is good, the visitor does feel a connection to the personality of the creator. Making the site individual is a major factor in both achieving success and touching a personal chord (no pun intended) with people. Many of the sites have means in which you can get direct contact with the site owner thus creating an opportunity for real personal interaction and tuition. Check out some of these sites:

• www.alanhorvath.com/tutorials
• www.ezfolk.com/guitar/Tutorials/tutorials.html
• www.learnthat.com/courses/fun/guitar/
• www.8j.net/~lwind/guitar.html
• www.tutorgig.com/t/Guitar

Get connected to the teachers of the future. Find a tutorial that helps you to follow your dreams.

Internet Safety

by: Sharon Housley

Parents are constantly struggling with ways to keep their children safe online. The Internet has a global reach and at this point no bounds, or limitations. Outside of installing filtering software children should be educated in order to protect themselves to this virtual monster. We've put together a collection of ten tips that should be observed while surfing online. At the very least these tips will prompt family discussions regarding safety.

1.) When on the internet personal information should be kept private. Just because someone asks doesn't mean you need to tell them. When someone asks for personal information, consider how they might use that information and whether it is necessary for them to have it.

2.) If you are conversing with someone online, don't assume that they are being honest with you. Just because they say they're 16 doesn't mean they are.

3.) Do not release your password to anyone, even if they say they are from your online provider.

4.) Overall it is best not to respond to unsolicited e-mail (SPAM), if there is something flagrant or inappropriate in the e-mail, consider reporting the sender to their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

5.) Do not give out or post identifying information, including address or telephone numbers.

6.) You may want to create a nickname for a screen name in chat rooms.

7.) Keep in mind when posting in chat rooms or newsgroups, that there may be lurkers (people who read but do not post). Your information can be read and seen by all.

8.) Keep an open dialogue with children surfing the Internet, remember if they come to you with a problem, your first reaction should not be to take away the Internet. Applaud child's confidence in confiding in you and work together to find a solution.

9.) Overall it is not a good idea to post or exchange pictures over the Internet

10.) Try to keep in mind the Internet is global and is *not* governed by any entity. This means that there are no limitations or checks on the information posted and accessible to Internet users.

Additional Resources:

The following resources will assist in staying safe online.

Collection of Internet Access and Filtering Software - http://www.monitoring-software.net/access-monitoring.htm

Contract for Safe Surfing - http://www.911paging.com/internetsafety/internetcontract.htm

Internet News Services Explode Online

by: Jim Edwards

It seems no matter how much information comes available online, people thirst for more.

To illustrate this point, just take a look at all the online news services sprouting up on the web like garden weeds.

With the click of a mouse you can instantly search thousands of news sources for specific and timely information on virtually any topic you choose.

Heck, if you're a real news junky, you can even get up-to- the-minute news emailed straight to your desktop!

Now, I'm the first one to say that nothing beats a good old-fashioned newspaper you hold in your hands.

Few things rate as relaxing as a cup of coffee, a quiet morning, and today's newspaper ready for my inspection. In fact, my day doesn't officially start until I walk to the end of my driveway to retrieve the paper (occasionally from under a bush).

But as much as I love the paper, it rarely contains stories on highly-specialized subjects such as the latest email marketing laws, html parsing, and search engine promotion.

Of course, it doesn't make sense for virtually any local newspaper to carry news about email marketing laws (other than how they affect consumers) because the market demand simply doesn't exist on that level.

However, around the world, thousands of people just like me want to know the instant a news story breaks on the latest "Can Spam" legislation, and that's where online news services come into play.

Log on to http://news.google.com, http://news.yahoo.com and www.news.com to search thousands of different news sources from around the world.

On these sites you can dig up information on anything from current world events and your favorite Spanish soccer team, to cattle tagging regulations in Argentina (no kidding) and the exploding online auction markets in mainland China.

News from around the world on virtually any subject waits literally just a few keystrokes and a mouse-click away.

An incredibly useful feature offered by many of these sites includes email notification based on your keyword search criteria.

So instead of paying a "clipping" service to find articles and send them to you, these websites will do it free.

Now how could you use this type of news notification service?

Well, imagine you own stock in a specific company. You could subscribe to a number of different news services and have them send you breaking stories about the company, CEO, affiliated companies and anything else you choose.

Or, let's say you deal in a very specific industry, such as real estate investment publishing.

You could sign up to get notified any time a news story gets published about changing regulations, interest rates or other factors affecting your business.

All this online news certainly does not rate a substitute for morning coffee, local and national news, and an important ritual to start the day, but it has a place, especially for extremely specialized areas of interest, hobbies, or business news.

Watch for many new services, software, and opportunities to arise from this growing and dynamic area of online publishing.

Internet Home Business Secrets That Payoff!

by: Jeff Smith

I can picture you exactly where I was just a few short years ago --

Sitting in another useless meeting organized by a group of senior managers that have a combined IQ less than your own child at 3-months old.

Around in circles you go, no progress again today and only those who play the game the best will collect the bigger paychecks - but even they can't outlast this game of roulette can they?

Listen - I get asked often, even by my own wife, "why are you so driven!"

It's true, these days I am passionate about just about everything I do - especially my internet home business.

Why?

Is it the thought of a new porsche sitting in my driveway that motivated me to succeed with my internet home business?

What about cruising up and down the Pacific Coast in my new yacht?

Maybe it's being able to take a dream vacation to Australia and New Zealand?

Nope! You guessed wrong.

In fact, what motivates me everyday is the thought of having my time, energy, health and family UNDER THE CONTROL of someone other than myself scares the heck out of me.

I mean all out spiders on my face, snakes in my bed and lizards in my pants scared!

When I hit 30 back several years ago - I was in a hotel, alone on business in downtown London, England.

Incredible city, but I realized that after spending 29 birthdays with my family - I was FORCED to spend this one alone thousands of miles from home.

Every day after, I became incensed each time someone at my old job controlled some aspect of my time, health, energy or family.

I don't mean a little upset - I mean DEEPLY ANGRY.

There's only two ways to deal with something like that in your life - curl over and die a slow death or take action until you change the circumstances

Trick was, to channel that anger in the right direction - postive instead of negative.

Then I discovered something incredibly powerful --

Anger and Pain Are Part of the Formula for Success!

Name me any highly successful person and chances are I can find a burning, gut-churning, unstoppable force within them that will not let them fail. That force usually comes from anger or pain.

LET ME SAVE YOU 5-YEARS OR MORE....

Even with this incredible passion I had to control my own destiny, success didn't come right away.

I tried opportunity after opportunity, scam after scam, UNTIL...

THE HOLY GRAIL - Internet Home Business

Ever since the beginning of business, the same principles hold true - you must have;

1. Compelling product to reachable market
2. Competitive Advantage or Unique Selling Proposition
3. Operation plan that is profitable
4. Constant Plan, Do and Review process to increase profits

Whether you want to market other people's products online or create your own products or services, you must follow these fundamental business principles.

What's great about an internet home business is:

1. You can find reachable markets and compelling product ideas sitting in your office in your underwear

2. You can easily discover and communicate your Unique Selling Proposition without having to spend thousands on competitive intelligence

3. You can develop very profitable operational plans taking advantage of instant download, or build to order systems

4. It's easier, and less risky than ever before to continually test and improve your internet home business.

So - snap out of it!

Stop settling for whatever it is that is eating away at you!

Take action - right now!

Find out all you can about starting and building your own internet home business - turn your anger or pain into health and happiness today.

Internet Chat Rooms: Are We Missing the Point?

by: Jesse S. Somer

In my short life, after years of talking too much, I’ve come to realize that if one is always speaking, one never listens. If you never listen to others, well, you’re limiting your access to a lot of knowledge and information. Recently, after much deliberation I thought I’d check out what the world of Chat Rooms is like. People talk to each other by text, voice, and web cam. This is a really big phenomenon; I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.

I expect there are many chat rooms where people with similar interests get to know each other, and share their perspectives on various aspects of life. These are great, much cheaper than telephones, and multiple, random people can chat to one another simultaneously.

But I speak the truth, and my preconceived ideas about mindless gossip from jaded humans were sadly affirmed as I arbitrarily checked chat rooms that supposedly discussed important subjects. It seems some people are just very bored, and want to be cool and swear on-line, insulting others, and giving this area of information technology a bad name. I think a lot of people are using the rooms solely for personal conversation that contextually no one else can understand.

I went to a chat room about religion, and then to one about tattoos and it seemed like the same people were talking. Most of the conversation didn’t even touch the supposed subject matter. It was definitely a disenchanting experience but hopefully with more research I hope to come across some serious rooms where the true intent of the creators has come to fruition.

I guess it’s good that bored people in our technological society have others to talk to. It means depressed adolescents may feel more connected to others and not so alone in the world, maybe even having a positive effect on a possibly suicidal youth. But, I do feel this nonsensical chitchat is a sign of our next generation’s apathetic view of present reality in our postmodern culture. When reading the text from a supposedly religious discussion, and hearing graphic use of derogatory terminology, I really have to wonder about the present spiritual beliefs of my culture.

I’m a true believer of the concept that technology is here to further the consciousness of humanity. Computers and the Internet can help bring all of us in the world together, thus evolving our society to the next level. After looking at chat rooms, I feel there is a need to integrate more wisdom and compassion into our ‘new world’ generation. Having the technology is great, but it is only one half of the equation. To make the Internet work properly, I think we need to instill the same faith we have in science, into a faith that encompasses the actual creators of the information and communication tools-humanity itself. We seem to realize that we can invent many great things, but it looks like we’re missing out on the great truth: that we ourselves are part of, and made of something great in itself: Life. (Existence!)

Incremental Outlook backup, file synchronization and Offline network in one solution

by: Vikas Kumar

Mobiliti, Inc has announced the release of Network/Unplugged 5.0. Users have been using Network/Unplugged for backing up user files including open outlook pst files incrementally, synchronizing user data transparently over LAN, VPN, wireless or the internet and accessing network files in the offline state. The new version 5.0 improves the administration and management of the software, makes bandwidth usage more efficient and utilizes data storage better.

Network/Unplugged aims to provide a wide range of solutions to its users for file management. Outlook backup is a major issue in the market today as for many, the mailbox data file is the single most important file. However, with its size hovering around a gigabyte, backup is not an easy task. Network/Unplugged provides a quick method to backup the mailbox incrementally even when it is open. Additionally, users can use Network/Unplugged to backup and synchronize other files too. It has a set of file differencing methods and an engine sitting on top to select the best differencing technique for a given file at a given time. Moreover, it is possible to maintain a different set of rules when synchronizing in a LAN environment and when synchronizing over a slower link. Besides, Network/Unplugged’s virtual network enables users to view their network offline using a caching technology. Users get the same look and feel of the network when disconnected along with the performance of synchronization attributed to Mobiliti’s intelligent Delta Selection Process (iDESP). It is possible to use the virtual network feature even when file servers are available. This feature coupled with background synchronization accelerates file access over a slower connection. Version 5.0 of Network/Unplugged builds upon this existing feature set to consolidate the usage further.

The administration and management of the product in version 5.0 is expected to be easier as the central deployment kit of the product has been improved to use multiple profile files. Secondly, the log repository and reporting tool feature allows administrators to collocate Network/Unplugged client log files in one centralized network location. This feature is expected to complement the existing synchronization alert feature where administrators are automatically notified when there is an error or a special synchronization condition is raised.

Network/Unplugged 5.0 uses the Lazy Real Time Backup solution to keep the source and destination always in sync, where the Lazy technique reduces the bandwidth consumption. Bandwidth throttling limits the synchronization process to use only a portion of the available bandwidth for better coexistence. These features couple with the existing file level differencing and compression techniques to keep the bandwidth usage to the minimum level.

The 5.0 version can compress the backup destination to make optimal use of storage space. Compression while transmitting data was available in earlier versions too. Additionally, project wise exclusion of files, folders and extensions, grace period for aging files and control of user space helps in better storage control.

The base product (client only version) of Network/Unplugged comes for $80. Adaptive file level differencing, compression, encryption and synchronization in disconnected state come with client server model, which is priced at $252. The trial version of the product can be downloaded from http://www.mobiliti.com/netUP.html. Mobiliti, Inc., based in Edison, New Jersey, is a leading developer of synchronization and backup products. Founded in 1997, Mobiliti has developed Network/Unplugged and Continuity@Work series of products using patented technologies. For more information, please visit http://www.mobiliti.com.

Ignoring These Tips Could Result in an Inbox Full of SPAM

by: Anti Spam League

Spam (definition) Unsolicited Bulk Email — noun. ‘Unsolicited’ means that the recipient has not given verifiable permission for the message to be sent. ‘Bulk’ means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having basically identical content.

Although there still seem to be some differences among the US Government, the lawmakers, the anti-spam organizations and the spammers regarding what is spam and what is not, identifying it is actually pretty easy: if you did not ask for it, you did not sign up on a mailing list related to it, and did not leave your e-mail address on a web form asking for more information on it…it's spam! The spam issue is not about content, but solely about delivery method. The content of spam is and has always been irrelevant. Again, if it is sent unsolicited and in bulk, it is spam plain and simple.

Sure we want spam to stop. Nobody wants their e-mail address cycling around from spammer to spammer. We can delete it, but have you ever stopped to consider how much time we actually spend each day hitting the ‘Delete’ button? We should not have to beg to be removed from something we did not ask to be put on in the first place! So where do we draw the line? When do we start thinking it is not worth logging into our email account to read our messages? Despite the effort of thousands of angry spam victims pushing for stronger laws against spammers over the last few years, not much progress has been done in this respect. Moreover, in January 2004 the U.S. Government has passed the CAN-SPAM Act, a law backed overwhelmingly by spammers and large corporations, because it legalized spamming instead of banning it. With the passage of CAN-SPAM, spamming has become legal throughout the United States. Now 23 million U.S. businesses can all begin spamming email addresses as long as they give users a way to opt-out. What CAN-SPAM makes illegal is the use of open proxies or any form of resource misappropriation as well as use of false headers, which for the top spammers to avoid is business as usual.

We will not argue here about the motives of the US law makers to pass the CAN-SPAM, but rather focus on the problem of doing something about the spam in your mailbox. By doing more than "just hitting delete", you are helping to solve the problem. We should all exercise our right of control, or we will lose it.

The million dollar question is whether it is possible to stop spam. The most honest answer to this question is probably not -- but you can significantly reduce it. Below are some clear and simple tips to greatly reduce the amount of spam you get:

1) Use a separate email address when you post messages to public forums, such as newsgroups and mailing lists. Never use your personal email address for this purpose -- or it will end up flooded with spam.

2) Consider acquiring multiple email addresses for different purposes. This helps to identify different sources and senders, and allows you to filter more effectively. For instance, you may have one for personal use only by friends, family or colleagues that is never used to request information or to subscribe to newsletters, discussion lists, etc. Another might be used just for sales inquiries or orders, or for making online purchases.

3) You can subscribe to services online that provide you with disposable addresses that can be deleted if they begin to attract spam messages. This works because the disposable email addresses actually forward to a real email address of yours. The software lets you track which addresses are getting spam, and you can just resubscribe using a new, spam-free address. One company that offers disposable email accounts is Sneakemail.

4) Remove your email address from your website. If you list or link to your email address, you can expect to be spammed. Thus, remove them wherever possible and use web-based forms instead. This will drastically cut down the amount of spam you receive if you have a website.

5) NEVER buy anything from a company that spams. Do not visit their sites or ask for more information from a spam email that you have received. Over 95% of spam offers are scams! In fact, not responding to spam is the single most effective way to not get scammed on the Internet.

6) Filter your email. Using filters is key to managing your email effectively.

7) Consider subscribing to a spam prevention service. Make sure that any software or system you select gives you control of which email you get and does not automatically erase messages. Also, safeguard your newsletter and discussion list subscriptions. If you, your ISP or web host use spam filters or white lists, be sure to let them know that you want to receive messages from any newsletters or discussion lists that you subscribe to.

8) Report the spam to agencies that maintain statistics. Such agencies generally compile statistics that may be useful in setting policy. One trusted anti-spam organization where you can report spammers is the Anti-SPAM League. Learn how to become a member for free by clicking here.

9) Report fraudulent or otherwise illegal content to appropriate authorities. While fraud per se is an issue separate from spam, unsolicited email often contains offers for illegal or fraudulent products.

10) Contact your Internet Service Provider. Although this is unlikely to affect the amount of spam you receive since it is not their fault that their system was attacked from outside, ISPs want to know about spam attacks, either to learn how to protect their system, or to set policy.

11) Contact the sender's Internet Service Provider(s). Most ISPs in the world forbid their members to send spam. Therefore, if your complaint is valid, then there is a good chance the spammer will lose connectivity.

12) Demand restitution from the spammer. If you continually receive spam from a single source, you have a right to demand repayment for the time and resources the spammer used.

13) Initiate legal action against the spammer. This should be a last resort, as legal action is troublesome and expensive. However, well-executed legal action may do more than just get one spammer off your back: it may lower the amount of spam on the Internet in general.

By forcing unsolicited and objectionable materials into our mailboxes, spam impairs our ability to communicate freely and costs Internet users billions of dollars annually. You do not have to put up with it: your best recourse is to protest to those who dump their trash on your disk drives! Organizations such as The Anti SPAM League give you the chance to report spamming companies and individuals and access valuable information on how to control the spam problem. The Anti SPAM League serves as a resource to identify companies on the internet that are safe to do business with. Also, to target which companies are trying to capture your personal information for the use of unsolicited mass marketing. Take a step forward in the battle against spam. Learn how to become a member for free by visiting www.Anti-Spam-League.org.

I Too Was An Internet Marketing Junkie!

by: Russ Wilson

I too was an Internet marketing junkie!

I spent every waking hour at my computer, looking for the ‘Golden Fleece’ of marketing. I spent hours, and days, and more hours in hopes of finding the one Marketing plan that would allow me to achieve my dreams, and goals.

I spent thousands of dollars that could have been more wisely spent paying my bills, and necessities of life; on one marketing program, or E-book after another. Joining one affiliate program after another until like so many others, I no longer knew which program I was attempting to promote: and giving none the attention that was necessary to really make it a success.

Then a fortunate (?) thing happened: my computer DIED! It didn’t just crash, It laid down and died. As in un-repairable completely dead!

There I sat, day after day in front of a blank screen with literally thousands of dollars worth of programs locked up inside of a dead computer going thru withdrawal. I had spent three years chasing the ‘GOLDEN FLEECE’, and had nothing but a dead computer to show for it.

My wife (Bless her) seeing my misery, decided to give me a new computer for Christmas. I was overjoyed; my addiction reared its ugly head to be heard again. But good fortune had smiled on me while I sat without a computer.

I had had a reprieve from my addiction. I knew what had been my downfall before, and vowed not to make the same mistakes again. I had finally learned; that the shotgun approach to business, while accelerating (the hunt for the ‘GOLDEN FLEECE’ was exciting,) it by no means was the avenue to success.

I spent 2 more months deciding what it was I wanted in a business. I decided I wanted a business that had a HUGE MARKET, a CAPTIVE MARKET…

And I would only promote one major product with 2 minor products that tied into it.

I had learned that in order to achieve the financial success that had always been just (in the next program) out of reach; I needed to finally settle in, and promote the one best program I had,

Just one, and give it my full attention…

The 2 minor products not only support the major product, I couldn’t do without them; they were opt-in list builders. The Major product I finally decided on is one that every person that surfs the web must have. Not wants, but must have!

I’ve overcome my addiction; I’m a happy man. I’ve found my Niche!

HTACCESS Wrappers with PHP

by: Robert Plank

HTACCESS is a remarkable tool you can use for password protection, error handling (like custom 404 pages), or HTTP redirects. It can also be used to transform whole folders in seconds: adding headers to all your HTML documents, watermarking all your images, and more.

A wrapper is like a middleman. Using htaccess you can tell your web server to "forward" certain files to PHP scripts of yours. When a visitor tries to load an image in their browser, you could activate a script that adds a watermark to the image. When an HTML page is loaded you could query an IP-to-country database and have your HTML pages translated into the native language of your visitor's country-of-origin.

Every file in a folder, or all files of a certain type in a folder, can be instructed to go through a PHP script.

TORTILLA WRAP

Pretend you host several affiliate sites, or a full-blown hosting service like Geocities. Most sites running on free hosting services have some kind of advertisement the owners use to generate revenue. These aren't applied voluntarily by the users of these services. The ads don't even show up on their source files, just when displayed on the web.

It's possible to replicate this feature using less than 10 lines of PHP and htaccess code. To start off, make a folder on your web host called "header". Create a new text file and enter the following:

AddHandler headered .htm

AddHandler headered .html

Action headered /header/header.php

This designates files with the extension ".htm" and ".html" to a type called "headered". The name "headered" can really be anything, it's just a way of labeling a group of files. The last line there tells the web server that if any of the file types in the group called "headered" are called, we should instead execute the script "/header/header.php". This is the relative path, so if your URL is http://your.host, this will run http://your.host/header/header.php.

That's all you've got to do for the htaccess file. Save that as "htaccess.txt" -- we'll get back to it later.

For the actual wrapper, create a new text file with the standard tags, then assign your header and footer file names to variables called $header and $footer.

$header = "header.html";

$footer = "footer.html";

Redirecting a user to our script doesn't pass its contents to it, just the filename. If you call phpinfo() in your script and scroll to the bottom you can see all the server variables which give us the name. The element "REQUEST_URI" in $_SERVER gives us the relative path (/header/sample.html), but we want the full system path since we're going to be reading the actual file (/home/username/wwwroot/your.host/header/sample.html), which is "PATH_TRANSLATED".

$file = $_SERVER["PATH_TRANSLATED"];

The name of the file that just tried to be shown is now stored in the variable $file. Three simple things are left: output the header, output the actual file, then output the footer.

readfile($header);

readfile($file);

readfile($footer);

That's it. Here's the entire header.php file:

All that, in just nine lines of code. Download it here: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/header.zip

That contains the htaccess file and PHP wrapper script, along with a sample header, footer, and a test page. Upload all five files to your web host, chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 then rename it to ".htaccess". It might disappear from your directory listing which is okay, it should still be there.

Load, in your browser, the copy of sample.html residing on your web server. The text "This is my header" should appear at the top while "This is my footer" should show on the bottom. If you open up the actual file called sample.html, you'll see that these actually aren't there. They've been added in by the script all HTML files in the folder "header" must now pass through.

This is how wrappers work. Certain things, like adding custom headers and footers are done "on the fly" without modifying your original file. You'll get the same effect if you create other HTML files and upload them to this folder.

Files without ".html" or ".htm" extensions, such as text files or images, won't show these headers or footers. This is a good thing because text files aren't part of the presentation on a web site and adding extra text to images will corrupt them. It affects all HTML files within your /headers folder, and none of the files outside of it.

If you wanted, you could add or remove any file extensions you want, just by adding or taking away those "AddHandler" lines.

To get everything back to normal, either delete your .htaccess file or upload a blank .htaccess file in that folder, and all will be well again.

SHRINK-WRAP

The same basic formula can be applied again for other uses -- HTTP compression, for example. This was an idea that used to be impractical because computers ran at slower speeds, and is now obsolete because of broadband technologies (DSL and cable).

It works like this: when an HTML page is loaded, the web server instead gives the visitor a zipped or compressed version of that page. The visitor downloads that file, which of course takes up less space than the real thing and downloads in less time, then unzips it and displays the original page.

In this age of lighting fast DSL lines, there's almost no noticeable difference. However, if you have a site that hosts large files whose audience is mostly dialup users, it might be something to look into.

Make a new folder called "compress". Create your htaccess file again, just as before, but set the extensions to include .htm, .html, and .txt. (The group name, folder name, and script name have nothing to do with one another, you can name any of these whatever you like -- I just like things to match.)

Our wrapper script for this should be called "compress.php". That's what I'm naming mine. This means the htaccess file you have should look as follows:

AddHandler compress .html

AddHandler compress .htm

AddHandler compress .txt

Action compress /compress/compress.php

If our wrapper were simply going to pass through the file (in other words, just read its contents into a variable and display it), our handler script would look like this:

"GIFT WRAPPING" YOUR OUTPUT

To make the HTTP compression work, we use two functions: ob_start() and ob_gzhandler(). Output buffering functions are strange. Any time you try to display something, you can have PHP save up everything you're trying to output. At the very end it's all dumped into a function of your choosing where the text can be changed or transformed before it's output.

There is a built-in PHP function called ob_gzhandler() which takes one parameter (a string of text), compresses the data according to the gzip standard and does all the header trickery that's needed to tell the user's browser that we are transmitting data that needs to be decompressed once it's downloaded. When this line is used:

ob_start("ob_gzhandler");

It tells PHP: everything displayed afterwards has to go through the function ob_gzhandler() first. Put that at the top of our script and here's what we've got:

Save that as compress.php. Upload both files, chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 and rename to .htaccess and you're done. That's all you need for it to work, and you can just as easily apply HTTP compression to any script by just adding that line.

To try this puppy out, I got on a dialup connection and put a copy of "The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire Volume 1" on my web host, a 900 page book, about 1.6 megabytes in size. Without HTTP compression it took 5 and a half minutes to download. With the compression, only 2 minutes. Internet Explorer told me the download was going at 20 KB per second, impossible with a dialup connection... but since the file was zipped, I really was downloading 20 KB a second (once the data was decompressed on my end) over a 5 KB per second connection.

Though HTTP compression will work on sounds, video, and images, the space you save is negligible, usually only a few bytes. These sorts of media are already heavily compressed so zipping makes almost no difference. This is why we've told htaccess to only use compression on text and HTML, because it's with human languages like English where a lot of repetition occurs, which means more information can be compressed.

Not all browsers support HTTP compression, but ob_gzhandler() figures out if a browser can support HTTP compression. If the browser doesn't, the original file is displayed, no harm done.

You can get a copy of this sample script at: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/compress.zip

Both of these scripts I've created for you will work only on static files, files that actually exist such as images or HTML files. If you tried to apply these wrappers as-is to PHP scripts, Perl scripts or even HTML pages that use SSI. If your whole site is run by a single script it's a better idea to hard-code these things right in, anyway.

THE BEST THING SINCE BUBBLE WRAP

This last demonstration of an htaccess wrapper is something that I think most people with content sites have a use for. On the Internet, people steal stuff. Theft of HTML source code is a nuisance, sure, but the lifting of images is more common. Someone likes a logo on your page, or an e-book cover, or a picture of a physical product you're selling, and it becomes theirs to use.

A practical way to keep this from happening is to add a watermark to all your images, which is your logo or name on a corner somewhere, forcing anyone who takes your graphic to either unwillingly give you credit, or chop off a part of that picture.

Lucky for us, PHP has a set of functions to handle images, and in version 4.3 and above, it's included by default. Wrappers come in handy here because you might have an entire site full of images and would rather not spend three weeks watermarking tons of images by hand. Maybe you just don't want to have to juggle two sets of images, one watermarked and one normal.

Download this script from: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/watermark.zip

The only files you need to worry about in that zip are htaccess.txt and wrapper.php. Upload them to a folder called "watermark", chmod htaccess.txt to 0755 and rename to ".htaccess".

The file wrapper.php remain as is. I've put comments in the file regarding most of what it does, so if you're curious go ahead and take a peek.

What the script does is this: It figures out the original image that was supposed to be called. Then it loads the watermark, which I've set in wrapper.php to be "watermark.png" which is just a PNG image containing the text "THIS IS WATER MARKED". The watermark is placed on top of the original, in the lower right corner, and output in the same format (i.e., JPEG) as the original.

You can tell the difference by looking at these two images:

http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/thomas.jpg

http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/wrapper/thomas-watermarked.jpg

I've included several types of images (GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs) in the zip file for you to test out. Once you've got everything setup, upload those images and see how they look with the watermark.

This script will work with GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs. Due to a patent issue (which expires worldwide in July 2004) GIFs can only be read, and not output. To make up for this, any of your GIFs will be output as PNGs, which should still work.

THE WRAP-UP

If you think about it, a watermark script like this could also be used for a number of things. For example, if you decide to run an image hosting service like AuctionWatch does for eBay users, you could watermark your site's URL to the bottom. Your users get a free service and everyone else sees a possible place to get free image hosting, there's some nice viral promotion right there.

You could also adapt the script to check the HTTP referer (in the variable $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"]) to see if the image was called offsite. If it was, the script would put the watermark on there but if you called it from a page on your own site, the image would be shown without one.

Even I have put wrappers to good use. Last year I wrote a product for Teresa King called Codewarden, which uses htaccess wrappers to display all the files of a directory in an encoded JavaScript string in an effort to hide HTML source.

How to REALLY Profit from SEO

by: John Alexander

I want to give you a few more things to think about as you excel and grow in the craft of search engine marketing. If you are anything like me, you were hooked the first time you really made a difference to someone else's success. I soon realized that being able to help business owners to get results from these optimization methods and strategies could also be amazingly profitable. I found out that customers are your greatest resources and many of them are quite generous when you make an impact on their business. So the topic here is for those who want to profit from their skills (if you are not already doing very well and having an awesome time already).

It may seem like a strange thing to talk about but before I begin, I'll say this. There are many folks out there offering various SEO services and they are still not getting the profits that they would like to make. They are not REALLY profiting the way they might if they took a little different approach. The solutions that business owners need to really make a difference in the bottom line, require more than just bringing volumes of traffic to a site. You need targeted traffic mixed with a web strategy to compel response.

Then another group that seems to be doing well at first but the truth is they are making lots of promises and sales but they are not able to hang on to clients very long because they are not delivering long term results.

Many of my SEO clients have been with me 5 years plus. (I am still taking on new ones too.)

Let's talk about the benefits of SEO to you as a search engine marketer, then we'll give you 5 ways to profit:

Here are just a few legitimate benefits of offering SEO services to your clients.

--Increase your sales There's no telling how many sales you can make when you not only can talk the talk but you can walk the walk and REALLY deliver results. Prospects can sense there is something different about you and your services. You are known as the one who fixes up Web sites that don't work.

--Increase your repeat business I learned that just because someone buys a web site, it does not mean that they are happy with it. But if you can turn that Web site around and make it work, then that same client may even BUY a second or a third Web site, not to mention, buy various promotional services. All they need to see is, that what you do… really does work!

--Increase your referral business What can I say, but word gets around quick! Business owners talk to other business owners and every time you help someone out and make them successful on the net, it's like they tell everyone else they know. Referral business is wonderful!

--Increase your credibility With the right training and talent, your client comes to think of you as simply brilliant. This is not because you are REALLY brilliant, but you just look after your client's business as if it were your own. If your client insists that they have the best web marketer and SEO on the planet, why burst their bubble? You make them prosper and they make you prosper.

--Increase your confidence There is a difference your client notices in you...right down to your body language and that inner knowing that if I've gotten other folks awesome results last week, I can do it again no problem this week.

--Increase your authority I can not say enough about solid communication and managing client's expectations honestly.

--Build Client loyalty Let the competitor just try and steal your clients with false promises or tricky claims. You've done a great job of educating your client and making them web wise. Now these things are quite profitable sounding but honestly, they are really just fringe benefits. Lets move on to talk about real profit options.

5 Ways to Profit from SEO: Here's how it starts~

1. Stop focusing on sales and start focusing on your clients success!

There are so many "webmasters", web designers, graphic artists in this business. Does it not just scare you a little bit? Don't we have to enter into competition with other web developers and does it not become a rat race?

Start focusing on your client's success.

Do all that you can do to make them successful. Pour all of your talents into making their projects work. So many folks I talk to can never stop thinking about where they will make their next sale instead of delivering results to the clients they ALREADY have and in so doing, you establish lifetime residuals.

Make your client successful and they will literally become part of YOUR sales team.

2. If you're not up to speed, you better catch up fast. A difference in your performance is a difference in your profits!

If you are not up to speed on solid SEO marketing techniques and methods, start learning now. Take a course or study at a live workshop, but however you do it, get your SEO skills up to speed so you can really help people. If you can show them a strategy that really puts dollars in their pocket, they'll put dollars in YOUR pocket!

3. How's your batting average? How about profit sharing?

If your skills are medium to above average, why not share in the profits yourself. I am referring to offering someone a vertical contract. This would be a deal where you own part of the company in return for making it successful with your SEO skills. Don't brush this off. There are some exceptional deals to be had if you start thinking laterally.

4. Don't forget your community and charitable work.

When's the last time you helped promoting a charitable work at NO cost. Build a site and promote it for the Literacy counsel or the Easter Seals Society or your Local Rotary Group or your Chamber of Commerce. Don't forget that this work will often open unusual and even surprising doors. Help make others successful and you will not fail. Many important leaders within your local community will be serving on these committees right next to you! A great way to network and meet new people and help the cause.

5. Watch the latest SEO trends and position yourself to take advantage.

The study and practice of SEO has been very good to me. Five years ago, I never dreamed that my study of Optimization would lead to the Internet lifestyle. I look after my clients well and sometimes go a little beyond what some might do in the call of duty. I have clients that pay me well for my services and demonstrate that they care about my business. As a result of the work I have done, I have enjoyed wonderful repeat business and client loyalty. Referral business is the best type of business going because it does not really involve a lot of preparation or hard work. You know that when you arrive, that they really want YOU to do the job because of your track record. It's wonderful business.

I could write a lot more but I hope you get the picture. If you have not been enjoying good profits, a rewarding lifestyle and being appreciated by your clients your need a plan of action.

SUGGESTIONS:

1. You MUST be able to "deliver" and really make a difference. Do whatever it takes to get your SEO skills and lateral thinking skills up to speed.

2. Run a balanced business. Are you charging for what your services are worth?

There are some folks who charge steeply and don't know how to get the results. For gosh sakes, if you're good at what you do, make sure you are charging well for your services. You DESERVE fair reward if your considerable skills are helping other business owners to prosper. (some people are afraid to charge for their work)

Note: The ones that charge steeply but DON'T deliver may make a few dollars initially, but they won't enjoy the customer loyalty, the referral business, repeat business that you do and they won't have a "customer for life" like you will.

3. Don't forget to recognize and be thankful for the progress you've already made. Be sure to benchmark your victories but even more important, celebrate your CLIENT'S VICTORIES too! After all, you helped bring them about.

4. Give something back to your community (with gladness). Look for opportunities to help others who genuinely need help and avoid those who are only after your talents to exploit them. (Trust me, when your SEO talents and success stories increase, you'll have strangers coming out of the woodwork to take you to dinner and pick your brain). Proceed with wisdom.

5. You must be willing to change and take action! Performing the way you perform now has delivered a certain result. So if your happy with that result, carry on exactly the same way and you should get very similar results. If you are not happy with your results now, then you must change the way you do things.

Same action = same result

Different action = new results

Are you looking for new results?

Is it a time for a change of action?

Here’s wishing you the ultimate success.

How to Protect your PC from Spyware in the Cyber Age

by: George Papazoglou

Wouldn't you be shocked to find that your personal sensitive information, like files, credit card information, operating system / software and other non-disclosed data to be penetrated by unscrupulous prying eyes? Even worse...

"Is your computer infected by Spyware?"

What is Spyware? Spyware are infectious programs developed to secretly subtract and transfer electronic information over the Internet, without a User's apprehension.

Norton Anti-Virus or any other "virus protection" solution, will not protect your computer from malicious applications like Spyware.

Ever Downloaded any kind of Music, Video or "Free Software"?

On the Internet, anything "free" has a hidden cost... much more than the cost of a highly-priced product.

How much is your Privacy's worth to You?

To diabolic marketing companies, your identity my friend, is worth thousands of dollars... they get rich by capitalizing and selling your privacy to third parties, who will in return, sell (again!) or use you as a guinea pig for their promotions -

your Anti-Virus won't protect you from Spyware!

Hint: Some even sell your information to telemarketers, or bulk e-mail marketing companies.

The question is... are the gigantic companies selling "anti-virus solutions", a part of this greedy industry?

Two of the best "Spyware Scanners" you must-have to protect your computer and identity from prying Spyware.

Free Spyware Removal Tools

No Adware : Stops privacy invaders like Gator, Kazaa or Adware and PC cluttering pop-ups.

http://cyber-software.com/spyware-removal

X-Block Probably the most powerful tool to automatically tracking, cleaning and informing you about malicious spyware, Trojans and Privacy-intruding programs.

http://cyber-software.com/x-block

Scan your Computer now for free. Open the program here and then opt to choose "RUN" instead of downloading it. You will be probably shocked to see how your Computer's system is infected with several spyware programs.

How To Manage Your Username And Password The Easy And Secure Way

by: Jerry Yu

Have been an Internet user for more than 9 years, I have 100's of logins and passwords to keep. I'm paranoid. I'm now even more paranoid after I joined YMMSS because I use online payment systems on weekly basis if not daily.

I used to use Microsoft Excel to manage my usernames, passwords, and other registration information, both online and offline. Excel is not safe because there are programs to crack password protected Excel workbooks and I even cracked the spreadsheet and VBA source code password for one of my old Excel financial models I developed. Today I still use Excel to store some personal information but I only save the Excel file on my another PC that is not connected to Internet.

In my article "6 Essential Steps to Protect Your Computer On the Internet", I highly recommended the award winning RoboForm. Free version of RoboForm (http://www.roboform.com) does come with limitations such as 10 Passcards only. If you don't want to buy the Pro version (costs $29.99 as of my writing), there is an easy-to-use freeware (see below) you can download right now and manage unlimited usernames and passwords.

Download freeware Password Safe from SourceForge.net - the Open Source community.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/

Here are some great features of Password Safe:

• No installation is required. Simply download and double click the pwsafe.exe file.
• Easy portable. Just copy and paste the EXE file and .dat database file to any disks. Be aware that when you open Password Safe in the other disk, you need to specify the database file location (the .dat file).
• One master password unlocks an entire password database that can contain all your other passwords.
• Grouping. Usernames and passwords can be grouped into different categories you define, eg. Email Address, Payment, etc. You are in total control.
• Strong, random password generation.
• Copy username and password to clipboard so that you don't have to type them. Always keep in mind that you should never type any username and password.
• Browse to URL. With one click, the URL related to your username and password can be opened in your default web browser. Another save on typing.
• You can create more than one password database (but you have to memorize more than one master password. Not recommended.)

Here are some tips of using Password Safe (version 2.04) and managing password in general.

Tip #1 - Always create a strong master password (Safe Combination as used in the software).

Strong password should meet the following criteria:

• At least 8 characters long to prevent cracking. The longer the better.
• The password should contain lowercase, uppercase, numeric, and any other characters that are available on keyboard.
• Ideally you should not use any meaningful words or numbers in the password. Totally random password is the best.

Tip #2 - Let PasswordSafe generate random password for you.

To generate random password:

• Click the menu item Edit.
• Select Add Entry (or use corresponding icon button).
• When the dialogue window opens, on the right hand side, you can see a Random Password Generate button. Click it, a random password will be automatically inserted in the Password field.

The generated random password is constructed according to the password policy defined in Password Safe. You can modify the default policy.

• Click the menu item Manage.
• In the dropdown menu, click Options.
• Click the Password Policy tab.
• Change the policy based on the strong password criteria stated above.

Some sites only allow alphanumeric passwords so make sure you select the appropriate check boxes when this is the case.

Tip #3 - Very Important: Never type your master password when open PasswordSafe.

Keylogger spyware can record keystrokes.

How can you enter master password without typing? I do this.

Step 1: Open a Notepad file (.txt).

Step 2: Copy and paste an article from any Internet website to this .txt file.

Step 3: Select characters from this article and copy, paste to form your master password.

Tip #4 - Very Important: Never lose your master password.

I memorize my master password. In addition, I also physically write it down to a hand written study material that has my previous uni works. Among the 1,000's of words, I placed my 22 characters master password in two different pages in encrypted format that can let me derive my master password.

Tip #5 - Categorize username and password.

When you add a new entry, you need to specify Group, Title, Username, Password, and Notes. The entries that share the same Group name will be gathered together automatically.

One Group can contain another Group as its sub Group. For example, I have Email Address group which contains three sub-groups as Friend, Work, Family.

Tip #6 - For security reasons, always use Copy Username to Clipboard and Copy Password to Clipboard.

Remember, never type username and password on a web form. This is how to do it.

• Highlight an entry.
• Right click mouse.
• In the pop-up menu, select Copy Username to Clipboard or Copy Password to Clipboard
• Go to your login form, paste the username or password.

You can use mouse to do copy and paste. If you prefer short-cut keys, this is how.

Copy: Ctrl+C Paste: Ctrl+V

Tip #7 - Use "Browse to URL" rather than typing URL in browser address bar.

When you enter a new entry or edit an existing one, you can enter a URL (must start with http://) in the Notes field. You can save website login page's URL in this field. When you need to open a login page in browser, right click the entry and click Browse to URL in the pop-up menu. Then the login page will be opened in your default web browser automatically.

Tip #8 - Don't forget to backup your password database file.

Use the Make Backup menu item to save a second copy of your password file.

Tip #9 - Store your backups in a different offline computer or location.

This is a widely used backup strategy.

If you don't have two computers, you need to use other storage media to save a second copy of your backup file and version them by date (easy to track back). Other storage media can be zip drive, thumb drive, floppy disk, CD, etc.

Off site backups are also important. Don't overlook this. You lose all your data if you lose both your computer and your other storage media all together for any reason.

Many companies provide online storage services for a fee. You can store any digital files (you should password protect these files first) on their secure servers. Search Google and you will find a lot.

I have two computers. One is used to surf net and it does not have any sensitive info stored on it. Another one is for my development work (not connected to Internet) and it has my backup files. I also store my backups in a thumb drive and CDs sometimes.

How To Host Several Websites Under One Account

by: Mario Sanchez

If you operate several websites, each with its own domain name, signing up of separate hosting accounts can be an expensive proposition. Even if your hosting company offers the add-on domain feature (which will allow you to add different domains to the same hosting account) you will be charged a monthly fee for each domain you add, sometimes costing almost the same as your full hosting fee.

The solution is to open a reseller account. Reseller accounts were created to allow web designers to offer hosting services to their customers, to create a one-stop-shop for all their web design and hosting needs. However, you don't need to be a reseller to buy a reseller hosting plan.

Reseller accounts are usually slightly more expensive than regular hosting accounts, but they will allow you to host different domain names without incurring in the add-on domain fees, making more efficient use of your space and bandwidth.

You want to choose a reseller account that offers:

• no limit to the number of domains you can add.
• the possibility of hosting your main website free, without using any of the space and bandwidth in your hosting plan. If you are a reseller, your main website will be your business website, and the space and bandwidth will be reserved for your customers. If you are not a reseller and just want to manage different websites, you can designate one of your domains as your main website (usually the largest and/or most popular, since you won't accrue any space or bandwidth for it).
• the possibility of upgrading to another plan without any penalties or fees.

To find out how much space and bandwidth you will need, first determine how many sites you are likely to host, how many pages each site may have, and how many visits will those sites most likely have. If you plan to host 10 sites with 20 pages each, at an average of 50KB per page and 100 page views per site per day, you will need 10MB of space (10 x 20 x 50KB) and 1.5GB of bandwidth per month (10 x 100 x 50KB x 30).

As far as pricing is concerned, there are reseller accounts costing as little as $10 / month up to several hundreds (or even thousands). It all depends on your requirements and the hosting company you choose, so shop around to get the best possible deal in terms of cost and reliability.

How To Get Paid Instantly Via Stormpay?

by: Gerardas Norkus

E-currency is very popular on the internet today. People use such electronic money as Stormpay, E-gold, Paypal, Moneybookers and so on...

It helps us to pay for online products and services, it also saves our time.

The problem is -- how to get paid instantly via stormpay, e-gold or any other e-cash?

Online companies that trade real money for e-currency usually charge quite big commission, and as there are more and more web sites where e-money is accepted people seek places to get paid through stormpay daily or even immediately.

There are couple of reward programs on the internet that let you get paid instantly via stormpay or egold. However, you must dedicate some of your time selecting offers that pay instantly to your reward program's account. When you complete instant offers some of them may also require your credit card. Most of the offers are great trial deals. After you have earned a payout minimum, you can request your payment by stormpay, e-gold or check. Before processing the payments the rewards companies usually verify member accounts by phone in order to avoid fraudulent activities.

So, if you would like to get paid instantly via stormpay, paypal or e-gold always check out reward companies first before using e-currency traders' services.

How To Get Free Stuff From The Internet!

by: Jonathan White

Have you ever wondered how many free things you can get from the Internet? If you take a step back and looked at the situation you will realise that you can get thousands of free stuff from the Internet. These freebies can be things like free pens, free scripts, free web hosting, free memberships and subscriptions to some online sites and even free cash.

So now you know that there are lots of free stuff that you can obtain from the Internet, the only thing that you are probably thinking now is “where’s the best place to find all of these freebies.”

Well, truthfully there are many places across the Web where you can find freebies. The best places are probably specialty directories that offer free stuff. These are normally large categorized directories that contain and list a large amount of freebies that are offered by many different websites/ businesses across the World Wide Web. For example, http://www.1freebieseeking.com is a large categorized directory that offers free stuff.

So your question now is probably, “why do so many businesses give away free stuff and why are there so many of them doing this?” There are many reasons why businesses give away free stuff. One of the main reasons why businesses give away free stuff is so that they can promote their business. When these businesses give away free things, they normally imprint their business details on the free stuff. This is so they can promote their business, which will in return give their business more exposure not only from the World Wide Web, but also from the offline world.

Other than finding free stuff from using free stuff directories, you can also find free stuff from using other sites on the Web. These include individual sites that offer free stuff, but also offer other services other than free stuff. For example, you can get free reprint able articles from http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/articledir.php where you can use them on your site for free.

How to Download Music From The Internet

by: Gary Hendricks

Most of you have probably heard of the RIAA's quest to crush online music piracy. The illegal sharing of copyrighted songs via the MP3 format over the Internet costs the music industry billions of dollars. This is conventionally done using illegal file sharing programs like KaZaa and iMesh. This article explores the legal ways to download and enjoy music from the Internet.

Method 1: Check out Free Music Sites

There are many free music websites which provide free music downloads. These are not the websites of your music pirates - they are totally legal. Don't expect to find full albums to download, particularly if the song is from a famous artist (only music pirate websites allow full album downloads). You'll only find a few "teasers" intended to make you want to buy the artists' CD. Independent, less well-known artists are an exception - many of them will let you down their complete song catalog to promote themselves.

Here are a few of the free music websites which I recommend:

• AMPCAST.com
• Amazon.com Digital Music Downloads
• RollingStone.com
• ElectronicScene.com
• The Internet Underground Music Archive

Method 2: Buy Music Online

An increasingly popular way to find and download music online is to head for legal online music services. The most popular of these is the Apples iTune service. Currently it provides over 400,000 songs from all five major labels. Each song is available for a standard price of 99 cents each. Here are the best online music services I've come across:

• EMusic.com
• iTunes
• MusicMatch Downloads
• Napster 2.0
• Rhapsody
• Weblisten.com

Conclusion

It is very tempting to use KaZaa and other file sharing programs to download music - but please don't. If you wrote a song and sold a CD, would you be happy to see millions of people distributing that song for free? No. You don't have to break the law to find and download free MP3 music. There are many websites out there offering free music - you just need to find them.

How Do You Deal With Internet Fraud

by: Articsoft

Summary

Internet fraud should be addressed as two specific issues: fraud that uses Internet technology as an integral part of the fraud; fraud that is already taking place by other means and the Internet is merely another method of delivery.

Methods exist that stop fraudsters misusing the technology, which can be rapidly implemented, but factors such as industry acceptance and concerns over potential liability if previous security claims could be claimed to be inaccurate will delay introduction. Much effort is spent promoting logos and confusing self-regulation, and trying to catch fraudsters, whilst the adoption of formal standards and accreditation for security (such as ISO 17799) are only starting to take place.

New Internet environment crimes may exist, such as defrauding machines or causing business harm by denial of service or virus attacks, and these will require social and legal steps to address them. However, the Internet has provided the fraudster with access to a significantly bigger market than ever before and effort will be required to create an environment where fraud is resisted by design rather than by insurance.

Introduction

Internet fraud is said to be big business. But what is it, and does using the Internet create the fraud, or is the Internet just a different way of delivering ‘traditional’ fraud.

Fraud is essentially persuading someone of something with intent to deceive, perhaps with criminal intent. The deceit may be to persuade you to part with money, goods, services, rights or information.

For the purposes of this paper we are not going to examine methods of fraud, but look at the general techniques, how they are applied, and how, if at all, the Internet can be used to make those techniques easier for the criminal to use either to carry out a fraud or to escape detection.

General techniques of fraud

The key to fraud is to persuade you that something is real, when in fact it is not. Once you accept that the fake is real then the fraud can take place - whatever it is. Whether you are buying the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco (both are real and have been seen by millions of people - and have been regularly ‘sold’) the essence is to believe the proposal that is put to you.

Other types of fraud essentially persuade you to do something in the (wrong) belief that it should be done, or to accept something in settlement that proves to be without the value you were led to believe. But they all come back to the same thing - the fraudster has to persuade you that his vision of the world is the correct one.

How do we normally counter fraud

In ordinary life there are many things set up to help avoid fraud. Mostly we rely upon physical things - buildings (such as banks) help to prove to us that we are dealing with something real - talking to people on the telephone on a number that is in a directory helps us believe that they are who we expect. At a more sophisticated level, businesses have to be registered and the directors names and addresses made public. There are also agencies with a duty to respond to complaints over the trading practices of businesses.

How does the Internet map to the real world

The Internet is rather different. The biggest problem for the Internet user is that there is no physical reference to use. You can’t go to a physical bookshop at www.amazon.com. You have to believe what the computer tells you, and that is the start of the problems.

We have many practical examples where people get the physical world wrong - they put their bank cards into fake ATMs and enter their PINs, they tell their friends and children their passwords (sometimes in public), they sign up to ‘get rich quick’ deals with people they don’t know - so how well are we set up to handle the Internet world, where web sites are just exactly as good as their designer intended?

The practical answer is just barely. The Internet is marketed as an anonymous zone. Information is free and users are anonymous. Now some of those features are desirable. When you go into a store it is the store that has to tell you who they are. If you pay with cash they will never know who you are and none of your legal rights are affected. They give you a receipt and you can check any of the details and get corrections made on the spot. If you want credit you have to tell them more about you, but not necessarily very much.

The Internet, by comparison, is anonymous whether you are the seller or the customer. For the seller it is as anonymous as they want to make it. This, of course, might be thought of as attractive to a fraudster.

Avoiding obvious frauds on the Internet

Some potential sources of fraud - misrepresenting a business as that of someone else - are being slowly dealt with. Domain name registration has almost reached the point where there is some certainty that www.harrods.com is the web version of a famous department store in Knightsbridge, London. But it is still very far from being fully resolved. It is still possible to register www.harrodds.com, www.harrodss.com. You can copy the real thing without too much difficulty, and with a bit of luck and some spelling mistakes a fraudster can still be in business.

But this type of fraud could be avoided by legislating to bring web site name registration into line with company registration rules, where similar names and “passing off “ are already dealt with. The methods for obtaining web site names that are primarily for ‘trade’ could also be addressed to ensure that they can only be obtained by registered businesses, and that the link between the domain name and the registered business is a matter of public record.

Some less obvious frauds

The Internet uses a technology called TCP/IP in order to send information between one point on the Internet and another. Unfortunately it was not designed to be secure, it was designed to be resilient. As a result it is possible to read information that travels around the Internet, and also to alter it. Therefore, it is possible both to read information that is not protected and copy information that has been protected using cryptography, (a technique that makes information unreadable to the unauthorized) and to change the unprotected information without being detected.

The effect of this is to create a situation where fraud can be carried out even when a genuine transaction is taking place. Fraud might include putting other recipient’s names on the distribution list to make you believe they are also involved or in agreement with what is going on. (This can happen in the physical world – processing a credit card transaction multiple times on paper and forging the signature from the valid bill.)

The fraud is subtle because it is impossible for either party to detect. It is effective because the fraudster may have gathered information that allows them to completely impersonate both parties in the future.

Solutions for technical problems

These frauds require a manipulation of the Internet technologies, and so can be resisted by technology. However, the technology being marketed to solve this problem Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), in the way in which it is usually implemented, has fundamental weaknesses, and has been shown to be capable of being defrauded. Many other schemes, based upon codes of practice and logos shown on web sites, although worthy in themselves, are equally capable of being defrauded. It seems strange that some advertising appears to suggest encryption technology using a 40 bit algorithm is perfectly secure for commerce, whilst also saying that 128 bit algorithms are essential.

Alternative technologies such as those from ArticSoft are being delivered now that allow end users to gain immediate validation of web site content itself. They require software to be present in the machines of the end users to act on behalf of the user to carry out checks that the user can be prevented for doing themselves by competent fraudsters.

They also require competent registration procedures for Internet traders to make it more difficult for a fraudster to enter the system and pretend to be genuine. Such registration procedures are claimed to be in place for SSL.

One of the most important international developments for defining security behaviour has been the adoption of the international standard ISO 17799 Code of Practice for Information Security Management. It is a comprehensive management standard for addressing the full range of issues for protecting information. Sensible adoption and application of the standard could provide significant benefits both to business and consumers. Self regulation schemes would do well to consider adopting it as a means of providing a common frame of reference for security and privacy claims.

Solutions to help user understanding

Web site design

The basic approaches to developing and designing Internet many web sites are based upon ease of implementation for the web site consistent with current ‘fashion’ for both appearance and implementing the latest technology. The user security experience is largely of unexplained transitions to web site addresses that do not relate to where they started. That contradicts the user’s real world experience and actually promotes fraud potential by forcing the user to either accept inconsistency or ignore it. Both positions mean the fraudster can insert his version of reality without ready detection.

The move to adding unexplained pop-up windows, unexplained other windows, moving information and other similar features have to be contrasted with the user confusion of the site he or she is dealing with and the fraud potential that brings. Also the introduction of monitoring software and similar programs can only increase the level of fundamental mistrust the user has in the Internet. From a domestic user point of view this is little short of hacking. So how do you know the good guys from the bad?

Re-making the presence of entire sites overnight contradicts the physical world where change has to be announced and is very evolutionary. It happens in slow time where regular customers build up acceptance and experience. Trying to educate users to live with rapid change is creating cultural change in Japan where new product take-up rates are reducing rapidly.

Security presentation

Security information needs to be proactive and tangible. Security solutions that rely upon static logos or that require the user to perform specific actions and then carry out manual checks of their own are flawed. Physical world checks do not work that way so there is no transfer of experience to the Internet.

Security information goes far beyond making claims about ’40 bit SSL’ technology. In the physical world you know where the store is and it can’t move rapidly. The location of an Internet site is less than clear. Provable information is needed to show the trading address of the business, real contact information, governing law and an effective link from that to any transaction being undertaken.

Security information must be considered when transactions fail to complete just as much as when they succeed. In the physical world the user can see when a transaction has not completed, but the Internet lacks that visual experience. Forms that re-set without explanation, or fail for reasons that are not explained fully on them, contribute to the inability of a user to detect fraud taking place. Such techniques are commonly used by fraudsters to gain information.

Does the law help users

Considerable efforts are being made by law enforcement agencies to prevent fraud (any many other criminal or civil wrongs) using the Internet and to prosecute wherever possible. Data protection, whether stemming from the European Directive, Human Rights, the US Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), seems to have enjoyed less visible action, although that information is needed in addition to credit card information in order to commit Internet frauds such as identity theft.

The problem the law faces is created by the non-national nature of the Internet, and the national nature of law. Even if there are suitable offences, being able to proceed successfully is difficult, and for the ordinary consumer rather daunting. For the consumer, producing available evidence long after a fraud has been detected is also problematic. The situation is further confused by the desire of valid industry to collect as much consumer information as possible - something the fraudster also wants, but for different reasons.

One also has to be careful that law is not used instead of industry action. Making something an offence does not mean that nothing need be done. The recent US Digital Millennium Act is perceived by some as preventing the exposing of inadequate security mechanisms. Given that the user is actually the one exposed by security inadequacies, careful consideration needs to be given over user reaction to such a situation.

Conclusions

Internet fraud has two distinct strands to it.

One results from the differences between doing business in the physical world and the dematerialized world of the Internet. This gap has been accentuated by the ‘world of the Internet’ to the point where the user has no conventional reference points. This leaves the user ill placed to make adequate judgments of any kind, not merely about security and the possibility of fraud.

The other results from technical inadequacies in the infrastructure used by the service providers. Lack of clear regulation has allowed registration practices to develop that are not acceptable anywhere else for doing business. Previously available security mechanisms have been implemented in ways that fail to protect the user and which require, if followed, unreasonable user effort and significant user education.

Mechanisms such as the law may be able to provide some assistance, but care needs to be taken that the law is not used as an excuse for inadequate business practices. It would be sensible to ensure that a duty of care to implement best practice is included in legislation to expose any who have failed to protect themselves, their shareholders or their customers. Self regulation is another essential approach, but it must avoid becoming all self and no regulation if it is to carry real conviction to a suspicious user community, and its practices must be clear, obvious and understandable to the ordinary man. The paper world has already done this so wheel re-inventing is not required.

The introduction of new technologies places responsibilities upon their implementers. The developers have a responsibility to get it technically right. The implementers have a responsibility to deal with its social and cultural dimensions, and cannot stand back and ignore these. Professional web site design carries a great deal more responsibility than merely sorting out key words, search terms and a site map.

References:

1. Web spoofing allows an attacker to create a "shadow copy" of the entire site. www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/pub/spoofing.html
2. Spoofing the Whole Web. www.bau2.uibk.ac.at/matic/spoofing.htm
3. What is web spoofing? www.nmrc.org/faqs/hackfaq/hackfaq-9.html
4. Dartmouth PKI Lab Web Spoofing Demonstration - www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pkilab/demos/spoofing/index.shtml
5. Some Web spoofing may be noticeable, so it is helpful to keep these tips in mind: www.washington.edu/computing/windows/issue22/spoofing.html
6. Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web spoofing allows an attacker to create a "shadow copy" of the entire World Wide Web. Accesses to the shadow Web www.secinf.net/info/www/security16.txt
7. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA is being used to silence researchers, computer scientists and critics. www.anti-dmca.org
8. Provisions in Chapter 12 of the US Copyright Act, enacted in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") must be repealed or struck down as unconstitutional - www.petitiononline.com/nixdmca/petition.html
9. The New York lawsuit appears to be the first to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to try to restrict a computer program - www.wired.com/news/politics
10. Authentication Who’s Site Is It Really? by ArticSoft www.articsoft.com/wp_authentication.htm
11. The Changing Face of Web Security by ArticSoft www.articsoft.com/wp_changingface.htm
12. Credit Card Fraud, Link to Top Ten Home Page. The Bait: Surf the Internet and view adult images www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/dotcon/credit.htm
13. Credit card fraud hit 1 in 20 users. And identity theft hit 1 in 50 during past year, study shows. By Bob Sullivan MSNBC. www.msnbc.com/news/718115.asp
14. Around 900,000 victims across 22 countries. The biggest credit card fraud ever. Fraudulent credit card transactions generated using adult web site merchant. www.faughnan.com/ccfraud.html
15. 5.2 percent of respondents saying they'd been victimized by credit card fraud in 2001 -- and 1.9 percent said they'd been victimized by identity theft www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/03/04/fraud.online.survey/
16. ISO 17799 (2000) references may be found at www.bsi-global.com and at www.xisec.comm

History of World / Regional Search Engines and Directories

by: Julie Wartes & Joel Ennis

Computers have become a way of life for people around the world. They are used to research term papers, check weather forecasts, track military progress, exchange ideas (blogs and chat) and to find the cheapest price on items etc. It is no surprise that as the computer age takes hold computer usage has increased. The number of websites that are being developed on the World Wide Web is growing at an ever increasing exponential amount. And because we live in a quick-fix society, with limited time on our hands, we need something to make surfing the web a lot easier, something that will sort out all this influx of information into a logical order. Hence the wonder of search engines, which have transformed the meaning of search and has made our jobs easier. This paper focuses on search engine case studies around the world. Different search engine regions selected for research in this paper were: American, European, Canadian, Australian and the UK.

American Search Engines

Introduction

As of January 1, 2004 the estimated human population of the United States of America was 292,287,428 and there were 164,100,000 computers (1). An estimated 90,000,000 households have access to internet (2). With this many people surfing the web, curiosity might cause one to wonder about the search engines being used in America. Two of the most popular and well known search engines in America are Google and Yahoo. Although most people have a preference to one or the other search engine it is difficult to say one is truly better than the other as the quality of search is similar. According to some users, Google is the most powerful search engine in the world (3). However, others users argue that between the two search engines, “There is an imperceptible difference in the quality and relevancy of results.” (3).

History of Google

Google, www.google.com, was created by two Stanford University students. The original name was BackRub but by 1998 the name had been changed to Google and it became a private company (4). A Googol is (10100), the word Google was created as a variation (5). Some argue that Google is the top search engine in the world and indeed it has become so popular that it is now known as a verb (5).

General Information

Google has grown from indexing 25,000,000 pages in November of 1998 to 4,285,199,774 pages in of June 2004 (6). Google is a crawler based search engine, meaning that the search engine sends out crawlers which automatically visit sites, follow links and create indexes which are then searchable (7). Google is currently in a legal battle with the court systems to keep its name out of the dictionary (5). Google was the first major search engine to index non-HTML web content allowing PDF files to be accessed (8). Google also offers services such as “cached” links that allows a user to view older versions of pages. Other features include spell check, dictionary definitions, integration of stock quotes, street maps, and telephone numbers (4).

Google Homepage

The home page offers a user many convenient features. Google has an easy to use tool bar that users can download onto their personal computers (3). If a user wants to search specifically for pictures the “Images” button will give them access to the entire web but only those results containing images will show up. The “Groups” button allows users to participate in discussions that are taking place on Usenet newsgroups. The “News” button will provide headline news stories and you can have news alerts on specific subjects sent directly to your email. “Froogle” is a simple, easy way for a user to search for a bargain or even a specific item online. The “more” link provides access to human-compiled information from the “Directory”, allows a user to get travel information or even simply use a calculator. The “Advanced Search” will allow a user to limit a search to PDFs or .edu search results. “Preferences” allows customization of Google services. “Language Tools” will translate any website or article into an understandable language. If you’re curious about Advertising, Business Solutions or about Google, click below the search box on one of the links. The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button will take a user directly to the first page result of their search and not show any other pages. Google lists its sponsored links separately from its general search results.

History of Yahoo

Yahoo, www.yahoo.com, was created in 1994 (4). Most people are familiar with the phrase, “Do You Yahoo?” created as a Yahoo advertising slogan.

General Information

In 2004 Yahoo is believed to be indexing about 3 billion pages (9). Yahoo is the oldest directory, “relying on human editors to organize web sites into categories” however, Yahoo decided to make a giant shift towards crawler based listings in October of 2002 (4). Yahoo previously relied on Google for search results but in February of 2004 Yahoo created its own search technology (4). “It is important to note the new search engine is for web results only. Image search is still powered by Google, and News search is a combination of Yahoo’s own editorial and technological resources.” (10). Yahoo has many of the same features Google provides such as “cashed” links, spell check, dictionary, yellow pages, and mapping programs. Yahoo also provides email services for free as long as the user doesn’t mind sharing the page with advertisements. In fact, Yahoo’s knowledge and experience from the email services are believed to be helpful in providing Yahoo with a deeper understanding of spam and an ability to keep it out of their web page index (10).

Yahoo Homepage

Yahoo’s home page is cluttered compared to the simple format of Google. Yahoo has the typical advanced search options and preferences allowing for customization of features. To the right of the search box is a pull tab that allows a user to limit their search to the web, images, yellow pages, news, or product information. A user can look up movie times, send yahoo greetings, search for a house, or find travel information, just to name a few things. Yahoo’s website directory has sites organized by subjects such as, education, science, health, and government. Towards the bottom of the page is a list of local Yahoo’s. Who knew that there was a Yahoo Singapore let alone a Yahoo Catalan. Like Google, Yahoo lists its sponsored links separately from its general search results.

European Search Engines

Introduction

There are 44 nations in the European region. These countries are home to 567,095,995 people, 9.33% of the world’s population (11). Each of these countries has at least one regional public search engine. Some of them have several (12). Booz-Allen & Hamilton, one of the United States’ older and more respected consulting firms conducted a study which pointed out that “…22% of European households have access to the Internet” and in 2004 it is expected that, “Western Europe should have more than 215,000,000 users on the Internet on at least a quarterly basis (13).”

The countries of Europe have been involved in a long and complex process of European integration. The EU was formed 1 November 1993 and is a union of 25 independent states (Appendix 1) (14). As one of its objectives; the EU has taken on the challenge of integrating member states and surrounding countries to provide them with stable Internet and E-commerce development and growth (15). Alltheweb and Ezilon are two of the many search engine companies that are seeking to capitalize on the opportunity provided by the EU integration.

History of Alltheweb

Fast Search and Transfer (Fast) ASA started business operations in 1997 in Oslo, Norway. In June 2001 they went public. Fast is an outgrowth of academic research and development from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (16). Fast Search and Transfer launched Alltheweb in May 1999 and gave it the brand name of “Fast” until 2001, when the site was redesigned under the “Alltheweb” brand. Alltheweb, www.alltheweb.com, then became a public search engine and technology showcase for the Fast Search Company (17). In February of 2003, Overture announced they would purchase Alltheweb from Fast. The acquisition, coupled with their previous announcement to purchase the AltaVista Company, helped Overture to bolster their leadership in commercial search and aligned the company to create the most comprehensive search capability on the Internet (18). Yahoo! Corporation bought Overture on October 7, 2003 to fortify itself for an eventual showdown with Google and Microsoft (19).

General Information

Alltheweb now has all of the indexing power of Google. Through the acquisition process, Alltheweb has increased its prowess to become a leader in the search engine community throughout Europe (19). Its employees strive to help Yahoo provide the best public search engine not just in Europe, but the world.

Alltheweb Homepage

Pulling up the Alltheweb homepage (20) the user is provided with a simple and easy to navigate site. Alltheweb homepage contains five tabs: web, news, pictures, video and audio. However, the user has to search for a specific topic to find information in these categories rather than information being available for them on the site. All “sponsored links” are viewed to the right of the page where they are available if desired. Only after glancing through all of the paid links does the viewer come to the most relevant search returns. On completion of a search for a topic the user is provided with an option to “Refine your search” which provides further subcategories on the topic. Other features offered on Alltheweb are the ability to filter potential offensive content, restrict the number of results per page, highlight search terms, change text size, and the ability to open search results in a new window. You can select up to 8 preferred languages from a list of 36.

History of Ezilon

Ezilon.com search engine was founded to allow individuals and companies around the world to access information easily, particularly by the EU community. (21) The Ezilon homepage states that Ezilon.com is a European Union International Search Engine and Directory. (22)

General Information

Ezilon search engine provides a searchable directory for European websites ranging from Europe travel links, business, hotels, news and classified ads and most especially links from the Western European countries. They also accept listings for non EU websites, but they must have contents of interest to the EU or general Europe. (23)

Ezilon Homepage

Ezilon homepage has immediately accessible information on it. Unlike other websites which present “Sponsored links” Ezilon provides “Sponsored matches” prior to the search results. Ezilon’s “Sponsored matches” can be viewed to the right of the page.

Ezilon specializes, through the guidance of the EU, in pooling and distributing information for the advancement of a united Europe. Other convenient features available to users are: popular links, weather forecast and headline news. Various categories are available for search e.g., art, science, business, technology etc. Users have an option to search the EU, UK or the World. In addition to all above mentioned features free email is provided to members of Ezilon.

Canadian Search Engines

Introduction

As of July 1, 2004 estimated population of Canada is 32,247,874 with 16,19,000 internet users (24). Canada today stands at the number 7 position among countries with internet users (25). There are 13 provinces and territories in Canada and the usage of search engines varies by these provinces and territories (26). This section will focus on only two of the top five most commonly used Canadian Search Engines: AltaVista Canada and AOL Canada (27). The following sections will provide a brief history, general information and information about the homepages of these two search engines.

History of AltaVista Canada

AltaVista, which means “a view from above,” was inspired by the creation of big ideas from a team of experts with fascination for keeping track of information (28). During the spring of 1995, scientists at Digital Equipment Corporation’s Research lab in Palo Alto, CA, devised a way to store every word of every HTML page on the internet in a fast searchable index (28). This led to AltaVista’s development of the first searchable, full text database on the World Wide Web (28). Compaq became the owner of AltaVista after it purchased Digital in 1998. AltaVista was later spun off into a private company, controlled by CMGI. Overture, purchased the AltaVista in April 2003, eventually Overture became part of Yahoo which led to the ownership transfer of AltaVista to Yahoo (29). AltaVista Canada was launched in January of 1998. Over 1,500,000 unique users visited the site and traffic to the site grew by over 300% within the first year of its launch. AltaVista Canada was a result of an agreement between TELUS advertising Services and Compaq Computer Corp.’s AltaVista Search Service (30).

General Information

AltaVista was the first to deliver internet’s first Web Index in 1995. It was also the first in offering multilingual search capabilities on the internet and to launch image, audio and video search capabilities. It has been awarded 61 search-related patents, more than any other internet search company (28). AltaVista is great for international sites. It will find sites not only in English on a topic, but in just about every language imaginable. In case the user isn’t bilingual, Alta Vista also includes a very handy translation tool (31).

AltaVista Canada Homepage

The homepage of AltaVista offers users various convenient and easy to use features. The homepage houses Canadian web index of more than 14,000,000 pages. It allows you to search worldwide or within Canada. For the convenience of its users, AltaVista Canada provides a feature to select a language in which to present the results of its search. AltaVista provides a toolbar which is free, customizable and gives the user the research tools to perform searches and translations from their own browser anywhere on the web. Popup blocker feature on the toolbar gets rid of annoying pop-ups. The “Web search” searches within all AltaVista indexes, including the best image search on the web. The homepage also provides specific features that help you narrow your search for only images, music files, videos, news and directory based on specific topic. “Advanced search” option provides different features for search options e.g., phrase, keywords, date, file type, location and sites per page option.

History of AOL Canada

AOL Canada Inc. is a leading interactive service company focused on enhancing Canadians online user experience. The company is a strategic alliance between American Online, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner and RBC Royal Bank, the personal and commercial banking division of RBC Financial, one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies. This alliance took place on July, 1999. The company operates three interactive online services tailored to the Canadian marketplace, AOL English and French services, CompuServe and Netscape Online as well as several leading Internet brands including AOL.CA, AOL Canada Search, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Netscape.ca and MapQuest (32).

General Information

Members of AOL Canada Inc. have an added advantage. In addition to regular Web access, clients may choose to surf inside of the AOL environment, which is only available to AOL Canada Inc. members. Inside the AOL environment, members receive a great deal of Canadian content that has been streamlined to meet their needs. Surfing on the World Wide Web can sometimes be overwhelming and frustrating due to the excessive amount of information available. AOL Canada Inc. has chosen the most popular channels and listed them on the Channel Menu, each channel offering an abundant amount of information provided by AOL Canada Inc. and their partners on that particular topic (33).

Homepage of AOL Canada

AOL Canada’s homepage presents a variety of features to make search and web surfing easier for its users. Some features presented on its main page are: a sign in for AOL instant messenger, mail, parental control, reminders and calendar etc. It has a section for “Shopping online” which gives its users an option to choose the specific item they are shopping for. “Web channels” feature gives users a chance to search the web for careers, auto, entertainment, health news, sports etc. It also contains a section for yellow and white pages search. Users can search for people or places in this section. AOL Canada search, which is powered by Google, gives users a chance to search by topic or key words. The “Advanced search” feature only has options for words and phrases rather than file type or specific sites e.g. .edu or .org. Search results include “Sponsored links” and matching sites. It also has a “devices” tab where AOL offers Palm Organizers. Other information included on the homepage is company information, news, pricing plans, employment and contact information.

Australian Search Engine

Introduction

Although the internet is globally accessible, the majority of its users reside in the more developed nations where computer usage is most common. Australia has a high percentage of computer usage which resulted in increased usage of the internet and development of search engines. The Australian population is currently 20,141,793 (34) with 10,600,000 (35) computer users. Of which 9,240,000 (24) have internet access.

History of Web Wombat

As computers were being integrated into Australian businesses and homes, companies, such as Web Wombat, began to develop search engines to make information more accessible to Australians and the world. As the internet grew and more pages began to be indexed, Web Wombat turned its focus inward on Australia (36). This strategy proved to be very successful as evident by the fact that today Web Wombat’s spiders crawl the web for new sites to add to its already vast cache of 100,000,000 web sites, making it Australia’s leading search engine (37).

Homepage of Web Wombat

Web Wombat indexes and stores a tremendous amount of information and the way in which they chose to present it is slightly different than other search engines. The lay out of Web Wombat’s home page is initially dominated by advertisements. To the left of the home page there is a box titled “Premium links” which are not organized in any specific order. An example of this is the fact that, of the twenty one listings within the box, there are three separate links to car rental sites, two to hotels, and miscellaneous links to things such as online dating. This information would be more useful to consumers if it were categorized in some fashion within a directory or if it were displayed to the side of a related search. Under the “Premium links” box is the “Daily resources box” which provides links ranging from links to world newspapers to Grumpy’s humor. At the top of the page there are a number of headings ranging from careers and education to auctions. The interesting thing is that when you click on auctions it takes you directly to ebay.com.au. However, the careers and education tab is far more objective. This link provides a menu on the left with a variety of helpful links and then articles with links in the center of the page. The “Search” field is displayed in the center of the page however; it is not very prominent once barraged by ads, premium links and advertisements. The “Advanced search” has an interesting feature which enables people to search by “nice to have words”, “must have words”, “nice to have phrase”, and the ability to eliminate certain words. This feature becomes very convenient when a user wishes to narrow the results to a desired city under “nice to have words”. By focusing the search in such a way, the information delivered is made more relevant without eliminating too many possible matches. Another nice feature is that “Advanced search” enables people to specifically search all Australian pages, Australian government sites, or Australian educational pages.

UK Search Engines

Introduction

The population of UK as of July 2004 is 60,270,708 with 25,000,000 internet users (24). There are approximately 40 top Search engines in the UK; some of them are familiar to the United Stated such as Google, Yahoo and Overture. These search engines are custom suited to have optional searches, whether regional searches within the UK or on the Entire World Wide Web. Some search engines within the UK are more specialized; where you have to pay a subscription to use that particular search engine, for example UK Plus and UK Index. And some search engines like Great British Pages, only search for British websites (39). Being a developed country, it is not surprising that the UK has a large number of search engines. The following section of the paper is focused on UK originated search engines.

History of Excite

Excite was originally formed in 1993 by five Stanford university graduates who called their search engine Architext. This was further developed by students attending Stanford and in 1994 Excite Inc. came about and was launched in 1995. Excite only acquired a web crawler in November 1996 and over the years they added features and software and the option of search on the World Wide Web. Regional search engines such as Excite UK were added to their search engine. Excite has an index of 250,000,000 pages and multimedia items in 2000 and about 19,000,000 monthly users (40).

General Information

Using a specific UK search engine such as Excite UK can be beneficial. Excite UK will limit your search geographically and the users results will come out in a smaller scale providing more relevant results (41). If a user in the UK wants to find out about local news or check the stock of UK companies a regional search engine will provide more relevant information.

Excite Homepage

Features of Excite UK are different compared to the usual “dot com” American search engines. The Excite UK search engine homepage has the search box in a prominent position at the top of the page with options located below to search the World Wide Web or only UK sites. In this respect it is a dual search engine (UK and World Wide Web) (40, 42). Excite UK has a General User Interface (GUI) which is very busy, meaning that it has a lot of information on its homepage ranging from UK news headlines and images, UK stocks, UK online shopping, UK stores, standard horoscopes, local weather, a directory, and various other services targeted for people living in the UK (42). The Excite homepage is also customizable, in that you are able to change the color of the homepage (skins) according to your favorite color or to the colors of your favorite football team. Besides just searching the web on Excite, you can search using “Categories” for images, videos, mp3s, news, and people. The excite UK homepage also has a currency calculator under the “Tools” section. Excite UK displays minimum advertising. When a user clicks on the “More” button different subcategories within a search can be selected (43).

Conclusion

Search engines have become an integral part of internet use for the average computer user. As more information becomes accessible on the internet, the need for credible search engines increases. As Professor Krishnamurthy stated in class, the amount of content available on the internet has grown exponentially in recent years and as it grows people’s search cost will increase unless search technology improves (38). Throughout the world, internet users are provided with various search engines that offer different features depending on their user needs. The fulfillment of these needs result in the success of search engines around the world.

Having A User Friendly Website

by: Jean Sutherland

Let's look at what your user wants to see at your website.

1. No Flash

For many who visit your website time is money for you and for them. The last thing people need to see is a slow loading flash front page. Unless your flash page is very unique and interesting enough that it will hold their attention I suggest you loose it. For people on dialup, and yes there are many around the world, a flash page is a download nightmare for them.

2. Page Load Time

There is nothing worse than going to a website and waiting more than 15 seconds for that page to load. Many of your visitors don't have the time to wait for a web page to load and nor should they. Timewise, many people will go on to something else if your page is slow to load. Ten years ago 15 seconds and more might have been acceptable but in this day and age of high speed internet this is highly unacceptable. Check this free site for help with load time for your website. Dcotor HTML http://www.doctor-html.com

3. Graphics

Do you hate it when your gonto a site for information and finding missing graphics. Worse than missing graphics are graphics that do not at least have an ALT tag which would at least give your visitor some idea of what the graphic was about. When you have ALT tags it also allows search engines to recognize all the content on your site. Make sure to use good keywords and use them often on your page, as it will help you rank higher in the search engines. Use the free link verification program at XENU http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html to ensure that all your graphics are loading.

4. Links Not Working

One of my major pet peeves is visiting a site and clicking on a link and finding it does not work. This is one of the fastest ways to loose a potential customer. Broken links are something you should be checking on a daily basis. This is your bread and butter and you can not afford to loose even one potential customer. Again, XENU at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html is an excellent free program to help you keep your website in tip top shape. Also note, search engines do not like missing links and you risk your ranking with them if your site is not up to snuff. Xenu will give you a comprehensive report that shows all broken links and their corresponding pages.

5. Making Your Index Page As Small As Possible

The old saying that time is money is never more true than when someone visits your first page. Getting it to load quickly is one of your main objectives. This mean you need to run your page through an HTML optimizer. Doctor HTML http://www.doctor-html.com, a free website, can be invaluable to you when it comes to shrinking your page. Your site will still look the same but will take less time to load.

6. HTML Validation

Validating your HTML will help your visitors to have no problems while visiting your website. With valid HTML, browsers will function correctly at your site and with future browser updates people will have a smooth transition. Tidy GUI is a great free program for fixing errors and reducing the size of you page. It can be downloaded at http://www.emailpromotions.net/download/TidyGUI.exe

7. Reduce The Size Of Your Graphics

The size of the graphics on your site, and these graphics not loading quickly, can be one of the major reasons for your page to load slowly and for your visitors to leave. Always shrink the size of your images and watch how much faster your website will load. Spinwave http://www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html is a free online cruncher that can offer a maximum compression of approximately 30%.

8. Your Visitors Browser

Not everyone uses Internet Explorer and that leaves you with the problem of making sure that visitors to your site, using Netscape, Mozilla and others, all see the same thing. Unless you ensure compatibility then different browsers are going to display things differently than what you designed or what you see. With some browsers some people may not be able to see anything on your site. To check your website on different browsers visit Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer at http://www.delorie.com/web/wpbcv.html

9. Contacting You

No website owner can afford to take its customers for granted. When they need to get in touch with you in order to ask questions, it is imperative that you have easy to find contact information. Nothing is more frustrating than having to search a site to find how to reach you. Your visitors are your livelyhood...keep it simple for your customers. It makes for a great relationship with your visitors.

10. Spell Check

Last but not least, check your spelling. No one likes to read a page filled with spelling errors. Most HTML software offers this simple service and it should always be the last thing your check before you upload your page.

Guide to Safe Online Shoppin

by: Zoink

Despite the many benefits of shopping online, many people still have some reluctance towards parting with their cash on the net, therefore we've compiled a general checklist and answers to the most common questions to help put your mind at rest.

Vendor Checklist

If the answer is no to any of these question then do not purchase from the retailer in question.

1. Do they have a secure server?
2. Are their contact details clearly visible on the site?
3. Are their contact details authentic?
4. Do you trust them?

How Do I Know I'm in a Secure Server?

Whilst in a secure server a closed padlock symbol should be visible somewhere along the bottom of your browser, you should also notice that the beginning of the site address will have changed from http:// to https:// again signifying that you are on a secure server.

It should be noted that a large majority of sites only make use of their secure server during the payment procedure.

Note about Actinic Sites

Please note: shopping sites powered by the Actinic software use a 128-bit encryption Java applet to encrypt credit card information this method is approved for merchants account holders at Barclays Bank, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Always email the retailer in question if you have any doubts.

Helpful Hints

1. Always keep a copy of the order confirmation .
2. Always read the small print.
3. Contact the retailer if you have any questions or doubts.
4. Never shop with a retailer you don't trust, no matter how good their prices.

Useful sites:

Office of Fair Trading

www.oft.gov.uk

Includes helpful online shopping advice.

Trust UK

www.trustuk.org.uk

Non-profit organisation endorsed by the Government to enable consumers to buy online with confidence

Trading Standards

www.tradingstandards.gov.uk

Offers consumer protection information in the UK.

The Consumer Gateway

Google Catalogs - Old fashioned mail order meets high tech search

by: Jakob Jelling

In addition to Google's Froogle shopping service (still in beta), which features a searchable database of online merchants, Google is also beta-testing their Google Catalog service. Google Catalogs provides a searchable central repository of hundreds of mail-order catalogs.

The service includes the full scanned contents of the catalogs, not just a photo and subscription information. And these aren't database entries, but real high-quality images of the catalog images themselves. When you are browsing Google Catalog search results, you will see user interface controls at the top and bottom of each page. These are reminiscent of Acrobat and many other browser plug-in controls or common Windows print preview controls, and you can page through each catalog, zoom in/out, switch between one, two, and thumbnail views, jump to a specific page, and search within the current catalog. As with other Google searches, an advanced search feature is also available.

Available catalogs cover a full range of goods from business to consumer, from household names like Harriet Carter to obscure supply catalogs for specialty manufacturers. For easy online shopping, even the order forms, toll-free numbers, and vendor web sites are easily accessible. While beta testing, many of the catalogs are from one to three years old, but that's to be expected. When fully released, this service will almost surely feature not only current catalogs, but a lot more of them, as merchants become aware of the service.

Google recommends using a broadband internet connection to search their Google Catalog service. This is because all search results include images of the catalog pages themselves, and download speed over dialup will be too slow for most users. Google states that they aren't associated with the catalog merchants in any way, and receive no compensation when you buy something from an included catalog.

Get Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site

by: Mario Sanchez

With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal to be eager to submit your page and have it indexed as soon as possible. However, submitting your page is not your only option, and it's not the best one. If this sounds strange keep reading.

Talking about its indexing process, Google says:

"We add thousands of new sites to our index each time we crawl the Web, but if you like, you may submit your URL as well. Submission is not necessary and does not guarantee inclusion in our index. Given the large number of sites submitting URLs, it's likely your pages will be found in an automatic crawl before they make it into our index through the URL submission form."

We can therefore draw two conclusions:

• 1. Submitting your site does not guarantee inclusion.
• 2. Most pages are found and indexed automatically, when Google crawls the web.

The Google folks have also made it clear that Google gives a page more importance when it is found through an automatic crawl. This can be easily verified when we consider how Google's PageRank system works: when page A links to page B, part of page A's PageRank trickles down to page B, increasing page B's PageRank (and, therefore, its importance). A manually submitted page will not enjoy this benefit.

Now that you know that manual submission is neither necessary nor the best way to go, what can you do to make Google find your pages?

The best way, at least in my personal experience, is to write an article on your area of expertise and submit it to popular article syndication sites like http://www.marketing-seek.com or http://www.ideamarketers.com . These sites will post your article, so that online publishers can use them for free in exchange for including your resource box at the end of the article. A resource box (a.k.a. bylines) is a small paragraph about yourself, written by you, which contains a link to your homepage.

In very little time, your article will show up in websites and ezines across the web. It will then be just a matter of time (usually days) before Google crawls those pages and finds your links. If you followed good web design practices and have included a link to a site map in your homepage, Google will follow it as soon as it finds your homepage, and all your pages will be indexed. It's as simple as that.

The most popular articles you can write are those that list a collection of tips related to your area of expertise. One of my most succesful articles is called "50 Surefire Web Design Tips", and it is nothing but a checklist of guidelines to follow when designing a website.

Another good way to help Google find your pages is to exchange links with other sites. Google will crawl those sites, find the links to your page, and add it to the index.

Finally, remember to optimize your pages before you try to get them listed, so that you have a better chance of ranking high in the search engine results pages (SERPs). After all, what good would it do to get your pages listed if nobody can find them?

Future for Internet Marketers

by: Jakob Jelling

Have you ever attended a class where the instructor followed the Socratic method of teaching? You remember, only questions, no direct answers. Some discussions lend themselves best to that format, and this look at some possible future trends in Internet marketing is one of them. Mainly because there are no answers at this point, only the questions we pose!

Internet marketers by and large are used to creating products for, and selling to, a predominantly western audience. Whether inside the marketing niche or not, today's web sites, autoresponder sequences, mailing lists, payment processing systems, and overall way of doing business have evolved around the needs and wants of target markets in the western world. And any experienced marketer knows it can be difficult. Despite popular notions that you can start an Internet business and watch the money roll in, the reality is that there is a lot of competition from other webmasters, regardless of the market or type of products you promote.

Looking ahead, have you considered the impact of even more competition - lots more? In Asia, in particular China and India, large, well-educated populations, a lower cost of living with much-improved standards, and more widely available Internet access may combine in the near future to create a lot more Internet marketers. Many are well-versed in technical aspects of the Internet, including programming and site development. In fact, if you've ever used any of the various freelance sites to outsource technical projects, you've seen that many of the bidders are from Asia.

With populations of one billion people and more in those two countries alone, the current generation is certainly well-attuned to the Internet, and being avid surfers, are no doubt aware of the commercial opportunities and worldwide reach available only on the net. It's likely only a matter of time before they begin marketing to western audiences themselves.

Whether through affiliate marketing, or by developing new products to sell on their own behalf, the prospect of increased competition for current Internet marketers is very real, and likely very near. The biggest hurdles will be language and market understanding. After all, it's difficult enough to write effective sales letters in ones native language, even if addressed to a market and culture you understand. Over time, even those barriers will fall - face it, just as programming can be outsourced, so can marketing and language assistance.

The potential competition can sound ominous. And depending on your outlook, it can be. For every new product that pays affiliate commissions, there soon could be lots more marketers trying to promote it to the same audience. And for every new product of your own you develop, similar products with more features and selling for a lower price could appear. That already happens now to an extent. What will it be like with even more marketers and developers competing?

But change can also be good news. You as an individual marketer can either complain about the unfairness of it all, or you can choose to adapt your business to the inevitable and prosper. As new marketers, and surfers in general, from China, India, and elsewhere come online, they will also create entirely new markets to sell to, markets that weren't there just a short time ago. After all, as marketers they will need the same types of products and services that western marketers need. And as surfers and eventual online buyers, their consumers will want not only western, but also regional and cultural goods, just as online shoppers in the western world do now. Of course, marketers in those regions will also compete in their local markets, as well as western ones.

The globalization of Internet marketing will continue rapidly, no doubt about it. To stay in the game, western marketers would be well-advised to begin their strategic planning for this trend now. New markets and new opportunities are forming - learn to spot them at a distance through global binoculars!

By Jakob Jelling

Free Traffic vs. Extra Revenue - Earning From PPC Search Engines

by: Krzysztof Wojtowicz

Pay Per Click Search Engine ads are one of the most cost-effective ways of targeted internet advertising. According to Forbes magazine PPC Search Engine advertising accounts 2 billion dollars/year which is expected to increase to 8 billion dollars by 2008.

This article explains how easily you can profit from this 2 billion dollars industry.

But what are Search Engines?

A Search Engine is special database-driven web site designed to index and categorize internet addresses. Search Engines focus to help people to find information stored on the Web.

There are four basic types of Search Engines: Crawler-based (automatic), Human-powered Directories, Meta and PPC (Pay-Per-Click).

Although most of the Search Engines that operates today shall be classified as Hybrid Search Engines because it has become extremely common for two or three types of gathering and ranking results to be utilized for presenting them on results pages to the end user.

How the PPC Search Engines work?

PPC Search Engines create listings and rate them based on a bid amount the web site owner (advertiser) is willing to pay for each click directed from that Search Engine. Advertisers bid against each other to receive higher ranking for a specific keyword or phrase. The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase will have their site ranked #1 in the Pay-Per-Click Search Engine results followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to hundreds or even thousands, for the same keyword or phrase. Due to bidding process required to get your site ranked, PPC Search Engines are also known as Pay-For-Placement Search Engines, as the ads will appear prominently on the results pages based on the dollar amount (bid) you will agree to pay for each click.

Affiliate Programs and PPC Search Engines:

Most affiliate programs only pay when a sale is made or a lead delivered after one of visitor’s clicks through from your site. Depending on the program, your web site content and traffic target, earnings may be slightly different.

The reason why you should consider joining a PPC Search Engine affiliate program is that it is much easier to earn from PPC Search Engines than other affiliate programs. You will earn from your visitor’s click-thru’s to an advertisers site and not per sale or action.

Plus PPC Search Engine affiliate programs can very well collaborate with your existing web site’s content or ventures.

Resourceful of your web site:

With PPC Search Engine affiliate program you will be able to profit from visitor’s who are not interested in your product or service and more likely they would leave your site and never come back. Providing those with an opportunity to search the Web and find the service or product they are looking for will not only earn you commission but also will build your site’s brand recognition as a valuable resource. The visitor who finds what he/she needs on your website will more likely come back and review your services more carefully, eventually will be back to search the web for other products.

Key benefits: extra money or “Free” targeted traffic:

As you should have noticed PPC Search Engine affiliate program is an easy way for you to generate additional revenue. When a visitor on your site does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser bided listing, the advertisers account will then get deducted for that click. Depending on the Search Engine, you will be compensated with from 30% up to 80% of the advertiser’s bid amount.

PPC Search Engine affiliate program shall not be only considered as additional source of income, since it also can help you to promote your own site. Most programs allow you to spend your commission for advertising with them instantly with no minimum earning requirement. This is the most effective method to exchange your raw visitors for targeted surfers who will more likely purchase your product or service.

PPC Search Engine affiliate program integration:

PPC Search Engines usually have a ready-to-use suit of affiliate tools that you can easily integrate to your web site. The most common tools are search boxes, banners, text links and 404 error pages. Many Search Engines utilize custom solutions and provide with a white-label affiliate program, which enables you, with only few lines of code, to integrate remotely-hosted Co-branded Search Engine to your website.

Also referring your webmaster friends to the engine will grant you a lifetime commission for your 2nd tier earnings or deposits.

Five reasons you have to stop your web site

by: Mahmood Bashaash

That’s right. Your method, behavior and strategy you are now using to manage your website may be justifiable reasons to stop it as soon as possible.

Right now, there are millions of websites on the Internet, many of them are dead static pages with not or very few visitors. The owner of websites are paying lots of money and effort to make the website up and running and are giving service to visitors. From within these much of website owners, a little of them are earning money from their website or their website is beneficial for their business, most of the others are wasting their time and money.

However if you do not have a web site on the Internet, your business is under a very serious risk to be bypassed by your competitors, but if you are not running your website in a right way, then it would not only be a useless but also a threat to your whole business. If you ask why, just read just five more important reasons that you have to stop your website.

1-Your website is not well designed.

People trust to their eyes more than their other senses. So, if your small website is not well designed, it is crowded, bad colored and improperly written text, so they might think that your real store or your office should also be something like that. Having technical problems like JavaScript error messages, run time errors on loading pages, slow page download, useless graphics and flash animations are also factors that should be considered.

2-Your website is not up-to-date.

If you have put old and obsolete data and content on your website and you do not pay enough time to make it up-to-date, then how visitors could trust on your knowledge. How could you prove you and your team’s knowledge is not obsolete too? There are millions of websites that deliver very new information and are updated daily or even hourly. Visitors would not tolerate with old content. If they reach to useless and out of date information on your web site, then they leave your website to visit your competitors’ web site.

3-You do not reply your e-mails regularly and without delay.

If you do not pay enough attention to your website visitors and their e-mails, then you may have the same manner in your real world business with your customers. Replying e-mail is the simplest routine that you should have put in your daily tasks. You are not expected to reply e-mail immediately. Replying every 24 or even 48 hours is also acceptable. If you delay in response, then your competitors would win in reaching hopeless visitors that have sent you a price quote weeks ago and still are waiting. Even they have not received a simple auto responder to be sure you have received their e-mail.

4-Your website is not optimized for search engines.

So, all your potential clients that search for your services and products would be captured by your competitors who have invested to be on top in search engines. If you are paying a lot of money for your website hosting, design and support, if you make your website content up-to-date and pay time and energy to reply your e-mails, but have not a good ranking in major search engines, then you are losing your money. Being visible in the huge world of Internet is vital for your online business and search engines are very useful for this purpose. However, you should target your audiences in many other promotional methods rather than search engines, like, banner ads, e-zines, e-books, articles, forums and newsletters.

5-Insufficient information and facilities in your website.

If you have not mentioned your complete postal and contact address or you have not included price list of your services and products on your website, then you won’t be able to capture visitor’s interest. No pricing information means no path for decision. Visitors decide on many parameters, price is the most important one. Besides, a very intuitive shopping cart that could be easily managed and online credit card processing with security considerations would be the next thing your visitors would search for on your website. Not having these items, better to stop your website.

There are lots of reasons you could find in articles that having a website is vital for your business. There are also check points that you can follow to make a good website. You can use those check points to run a very successful web site to help your business and who knows, you may some day stop your real world business and just rely on your website, like many other businesses that you can find them just on the Internet. eBay, Amazon and Yahoo!. But if you are deciding to have a successful business online, you have to consider that not having set a strategy for your online business means losing reputation, money, energy and resources both on your online and real business.

This article tried to make you aware that, some day you may reach to a point for a hard decision that is, stopping your website or your very expensive website just because of your incorrect management methods. Hope you never see that day.

Finding keywords to build your web site traffic

by: Tony Cooper

What are web site keywords and how do I go about finding keywords that will work for me?

You may have the dandiest web site with eye popping text and graphics, but if you have missing keywords then you are going to be out of business quick.

Web sites revolve around traffic. No traffic = no sales. It’s a simple equation but one that many web site owners are unable to resolve. The good news is that it’s reasonably easy to select your web site keywords and deploy them, and I’m going to show you how.

Web site keywords are the words that people will use to search for your product or service. These are the words that people actually type into a search engine to find your site – so you can see how important they are.

So how do you go about selecting your keywords?

Selecting and finding keywords and phrases most likely to drive targeted traffic is THE single most important exercise that you can undertake when planning your web site deployment. Omitting this step will result in a marketing failure. Choosing good keywords is the basis on which all of your future traffic will flow.

You may have your own ideas about the specific keywords that people will use to find your site, however I can tell you from experience that if you are the business owner or proprietor then you are probably well wide of the mark.

Don’t believe me! Write down the top five keywords or keyword phrases that you think people will use to find your site now! Go and grab a paper and pen and scribble them down. Then compare them to what you are going to end up with at the end of this article.

Firstly ask your customers how they would search for your product!

This is important because these are the real human beings that will search for your product, service or information. Draw up a list of ten of the most popular keywords and keyword phrases that your customers tell you they would use to discover your web site and then put them into a spreadsheet.

2. Expand Your Keywords into a List of Key Phrases

Starting with the obvious keyword build your spreadsheet like this:

search

search engine

search engine optimization

search engine optimization Birmingham

search engine optimization Birmingham UK

3. Got to word tracker.

Sign up for the free trial and enter your one word keyword. In this case “search”. When you press the search button you are returned a list of related terms. The first term is the same as the keyword followed by a list of related terms – search, search engine, etc. Choose your main term “search” and in the right hand pane you will see the associated terms for your keyword.

4. Organise your workload

You can now see that you are beginning to build up a sizeable list of keywords, keyword phrases and search terms. Compare the results of your word tracker research with the results from your customer polling.

The Word tracker results are fact. These are the terms that are actually used in Real searches. Hopefully these should closely match. But they are probably different to the terms that you initially wrote down yourself!

Five keywords is a good workload to start with. If you are a beginner and you attempt more you will likely end up confusing yourself. Five keywords and keyword phrases is a good start.

Take the first keyword and then make a keyword phrase so that it looks like this:

search

search engine

search engine optimization

search engine optimization Birmingham

search engine optimization Birmingham UK

5. Prioritise your terms

There is a huge amount of competition for your primary keyword “search” but much less for the fifth ranked. Your word tracker results will tell you how popular each term is and how many searches are carried out for each keyword phrase.

It’s unreasonable to expect to get top search position for “motorcycle” as the competition is just too intense. However it’s perfectly possible for the last term and if you are serious about search engine traffic then you should be able to achieve good results for all of your other keyword phrases.

List your terms in REVERSE order and go to work. The reason I suggest doing them in reverse is that you should get good results from the less searched for terms and this will give you the encouragement to be more adventurous when you repeat the process for another keyword set.

Another keyword set!

Ah yes, I omitted to tell you that building traffic is a tedious and time consuming pastime, but hey! Someone’s got to do it!

6. Putting your keyword phrases to work

OK, so now you have your keyword phrases you can put them into action. Allocate each keyword phrase to a specific page and build the content around them.

What do I mean by this?

There are “hotspots” on your pages that search engines look for when they are indexing your pages.

These hotspots are the page title, the page description and the page heading. By incorporating your keyword phrase into these hotspots you are telling the search engine what your page is all about. Sprinkle in some eye-popping copy with your keyword phrase repeated once or twice and you are well on your way to receiving copious amounts of search engine traffic.

7. Repeat the dose

As I mentioned above, you need to build on your basic five keyword phrases and build up a stack of “keyword sets” Once you get to five or more keyword sets then you should be well on your way to a successful web site By allocating each keyword phrase to a page you will know that you need five pages for each keyword set. So five keyword sets will give you twenty five pages of search engine content. That’s a good target for a small web site

Summary

Finding keywords is a process that you simply can not afford to leave out of your marketing mix. It’s important that you target the correct keywords and build your content around them to induce good search engine traffic.

If you miss this vital step then all of your marketing efforts will crumble around you.

Start with five keywords and keyword phrases to make a keyword set. Use word tracker to sanitise your own research findings. Allocate each keyword phrase to a page and fill the hotspots. Sprinkle liberally with good, quality content and repeat your keyword phrases within the main body text.

Now go and service that traffic!

Finally - New Spam Prevention Product That Works!

by: Lee Traupel

Businesses and consumers are drowning in a never-ending deluge of Spam (junk mail) - according to reports just released by Quris, Inc. Spam has increased 450% from June of 2001 to now. Furthermore, 70% of respondents indicated they are receiving so much e-mail in the form of Spam that it's negating their acceptance and responsiveness to legitimate opt-in e-mail messages (permission based). The average business user is forced to spend 20-30 minutes a day wading through Spam clogged e-mail in-box es trying to separate legitimate e-mail from the junk in order to delete the latter.

Many companies have tried to offer Spam solutions that are based primarily on filtering technology. But, most of these products and services have not worked well in practice - the ingenious spammers have learned work arounds by constantly changing their fake e-mail addresses and text to avoid the blocking filters. It's been a war of attrition to date and the spammers have been wining so far!

I am pleased to report that one company has developed an elegant but simple solution that has blocked 100% of the Spam that was sent to me during a test period of five days. The company is DigiPortal Software, Inc. www.digiportal.com and their Spam killer application is called ChoiceMail. It works extremely well, is easy to setup and only costs $29.95 (introductory price) and they even offer a fourteen-day trial period for no charge to test drive the product. And, the solution runs on your desktop and does not necessitate your working with a third party server and doesn't require any service charges. Most importantly, it puts the burden of proof on the Spammers, forcing them to have your permission to contact you.

Here is how DigiPortal's clever solution and software work: You download or purchase the software and install it on your PC (sorry PC version only right now) and setup your approval list by exporting your address book. From that point forward ChoiceMail automatically assumes all inbound e-mail is Spam and it blocks any e-mail that is not on an approved list that you have created.

If the e-mail sender is on your approved list it makes it through to your inbox; if not, then ChoiceMail blocks the mail address and adds it to a rejection list and sends the sender a notification that you're on a "permission network" and that he/she has to click through to a web site and send you a message by filling out a form that automatically forwards the person's message to you, so you can elect to receive it or not.

DigiPortal is effectively acting as a trusted middleman in a process that reminds me of PGP ("Pretty Good Privacy") the defacto industry standard e-mail security application that incorporates a similar process via a key held by a trusted third party. You're ostensibly guaranteed never to receive any Spam based e-mail as spammers will never receive your e-mail, let alone reply to it - most use automated systems that have no human intervention in the process. It's relatively painless for you to manage new contacts - if you're receiving in-bound e-mails from a new a person (contact) that you have no existing relationship with, it's easy to accept his/her request to reach you and the software also automatically updates your permission list.

ChoiceMail is an elegant solution that works well, is easy to use and solves a problem very cost effectively. There are a few hiccups with the software - but, these are minor when you consider the significant benefits of the product and assuming the company will broaden its support for other applications in the near term. At present DigiPortal only works with standard ISPs such as Earthlink, ATT, etc. and with specific desktop clients including Outlook Express and Eudora - no web-based e-mail services (HotMail or Yahoo mail) work with the software yet and there is no support for AOL at present. My biggest complaint is that they don't support a standard Outlook e-mail - you have to manually import your contact list from Outlook, which can be painstaking depending on the number of recipients in your address book. And, their initial focus is on the small business user or consumer, as they offer no support at present for the corporate enterprise.

Faster Browsing Tips

by: Pawan Bangar

IF WE say that it was mainly because of the Windows operating system that a Computer could become a personal computer it would not be an exaggeration. The revolution is still on. Windows is far beyond what a common man presently knows and uses.

Internet surfing

For searching something, search engines are being used. However, if you know a Windows trick, then searching for information on the Net may become easy, all you need to do is simply locate the address bar in Internet Explorer and write in the phrase that you want to search on the Internet. Here it is important to remember the Internet Explorer (IE) recognizes a phrase and not a single word. If it’s a single word, then Internet, Explorer assumes it as a domain name and attempts to create a URL in its place. However key in a few words and IE will run your phrase through a search engine on Microsoft’s Web site.

If you want to search for a single word then you should put a question mark at the beginning of the line to tell IE that this is a search keyword. The same thing applies to the Netscape Communicator also and searching the Web is as easy using the Netscape as it is with IE.

Transferring files

Another common use for which the computers are being used is for transferring the files over the Internet. Normally FTP client is being used for transferring files, which is a common application among the Internet users. However, very few persons realize the power of Windows.

You do not need a separate FTP client for transferring the files. The basic Windows constituent IE already has a feature of FTP. Thus if you type an FTP address in the address box of any Explorer view, whether on the Internet or while browsing your own hard disk, you can go to the site and be able to use the window as an FTP client.

Create link in MS Word

Windows users sometimes complain of working on too many applications for a single work, for example, work related to the Web. However, this is probably due to the ignorance of the persons as all major applications have features that arc quite universal in nature. Take for example, MS Word. Most of us know about MS Word as the most wonderful word processor. However, quite a few of us know that it is a good tool for Web based applications also. The Web-based functions of the MS Word are worth trying as it gives you endless features. One such feature is the option of creating a link to a Web page in a Word document. Thus if you are creating a MS Word document, you can create a link to a Web page or other HTML document rather than just including the address in text. The procedure for this is simple first copy the address (URL) to which you want to link, then select the word, phrase or sentence in your document that you want to create as the link. Now on the Insert menu in Word, click hyperlink and then in link to file or URL, paste the address by pressing Ctrl + V. This will create a link to a Web page in the Word document.

However you can use your computer for purposes other than the Internet also and make better use of it. Normally we all crave for faster performance. In a Majority of the cases you do not require a replacement or up gradation as you can enhance the performance of your existing computer running Windows.

Manage hard disk

The first thing in this regard is better management of the hard disk; it has been discussed many a times in the article on tips and tricks that you can manage your hard disk better by defragging it regularly. However, there are some more steps, which should be performed before you defrag your hard disk in order to optimize the performance of your hard disk.

These steps are:

• Delete the IE temporary files and history regularly before defragging your hard disk.
• It is also important to delete all TMP and BAK files present in the hard disk as these files are not generally required and unnecessarily consume the hard disk.
• Normally you will find *.TMP files in the TEMP directory or WINDOWSTEMP directories. Thus you must locate these directories and delete the aforesaid files.
• As a next step defrag your hard disk without the swap-file. The instructions for this can be found at defragmenting the swap file. It is a standard feature of Windows 98 as per which it has a built-in utility called Disk cleanup.

You can run it from either Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup or directly run CLEANMGR.EXE. This is also an important feature of the Windows that takes care of all deleted files and other junk files as this feature deletes them as a part of disk cleaning exercise.

Use Address bar

Windows makes your work so easy that it can actually take the unnecessary load off you. For example, if you are a Windows 98 user, then you can use browser for purposes other than browsing the Net.

Did you know that you could use the address bar to run programs on your computer?

This is very much possible as all you need to do is just type the program name, including its path its location, you may type c:msofficewinwordwinword.exe. This will open MS Word depending upon its location.

Send Web page via e-mail

For sending a Web page, while viewing the page, click the File menu, and then click on Send sub menu, then click either Page by e-mail to send a copy of the page or Link by e-mail to send a short-cut to it. This way you can simply send a Web page by e-mail. This is also a great option of keeping a site in your record, as it will also facilitate in viewing it offline. Similarly, it is also easy to send a video clip or an audio clip, which you may find on the Internet.

Thus to send a video or audio clip simply right-click the icon or link for the item you want to send, and then click Save Target As. Specify the location, where you want to save the file. Now open your e-mail client and click Insert file or attach file as the case may be. You can also add your message in the message window if you wish to send a message to the recipient of the mail.

#PageBreak# Enjoy the power of World Wide Web in lesser time with these tips.

Do you feel anxious whether your important mails have reached their destination?

Use the feature which is available on most e-mail clients and requests the recipient to confirm that he has received the message by a return e-mail. It is called Read Receipt in Outlook Express.

To do this while composing a mail in Outlook Express, click on Tools > Request Read Receipt in your message window. If you desire, you can have all your outgoing messages sent with the Read Receipt notification. For this, go to Tools > Options, click on the Receipts tab and tick ‘Request a read receipt for all sent messages’. Remember, the read receipt confirmation is dependent on the e-mail client the recipient is using and also whether he wants to send the confirmation.

Adding signatures to your e-mail

If you send a lot of mail each day, then a repetitive task like signing your name at the end of each mail can be quite tedious. It’s easier to create a signature and attach it automatically to every mail that’s sent.

To do this in Outlook Express, go to Tools > Options > Signatures. Then go to New and add the contents of the signature in the Edit Text field. Also select the option of sending the signature automatically with all outgoing messages. In case you don’t want to send this with replies or forwards, enable the option, ‘Don’t add signatures to Replies and Forward’. For creative signatures, use the option to append a file that contains the signature you have created. If you happen to have multiple e-mail accounts, select the account with which you want to send the signature. To do this, go to Tools > Options > Signatures and click on the Advanced button near the Edit Signature tab. A new box will appear saying ‘Advanced Signature Settings’ where you can select the account with which the signature should be automatically added.

Auto-respond facility

Won’t be checking mail for some time? Activate a feature called ‘vacation reply’ (if you are using a Web-based service). Most e-mail services such as Indiatimes provide this feature which can be activated through the options menu. You can type a short message which will be sent to all who e-mail you while you are away.

In Outlook Express, you can do this from Tools > Message Rules > Mail and clicking on the New Rule option. Select the ‘For all Messages’ options from the condition for your rule field and in the Action select Reply with a message. You will have to select a message that you have already created and saved.

Keep a copy of the message

If you are on a trip and want to access your e-mail from another machine, keep a copy of your messages on the server of your e-mail service provider. Go to Tools > Accounts and select the account (if you have multiple accounts), then go to Properties > Advanced. Check ‘Leave a copy on server’. This has one more advantage: if you’ve formatted your machine without taking a backup of your mail, you can retrieve the mail as a stored copy.

Disable MSN Messenger from auto-starting

Whenever one opens Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook XP, MSN Messenger loads automatically. To disable it, go to Tools > Options in Outlook Express and uncheck ‘Automatically log on to MSN Messenger Service’. Then go to View > Layout and uncheck the option of Contacts. In Microsoft Outlook XP, go to Tools > Options > Other and uncheck ‘Enable MSN Messenger’. The over-eager Messenger won’t be so eager now!

Optimizing your Inbox

A three-step process to ensure that your Inbox never looks cluttered.

Organizing: Outlook Express allows you to create folders within which mail can be organized. To create a new folder in Outlook Express, go to File > Folder > New. This will display the directory tree of your Inbox. Just select the location (say Inbox) where you want to create a folder and enter the Folder Name. Or, you could use the shortcut [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [E] and enter the Folder Name. You can also drag and drop folders to change their location. Folders can be quite useful, especially if you have multiple accounts configured on the same identity or to sort out e-mail messages on the basis of sender, subject, etc.

Filtering: Message Rules can automatically sort your mail into the appropriate folder as soon as it is downloaded. Specify the folders where you want the messages to be downloaded based on names in the from address, names in the to address, certain words in the Subject line or in the message body.

Go to Message > Create Rule from Message. Create a rule selecting the appropriate options offered, and the next time you download your mail, it will be sorted according to the rules created.

You can also sort your existing messages based on the message rules created. In Outlook Express, go to Tools > Message Rules and click on Mail. You will get a list of the message rules you have created. Click on ‘Apply now...’ select the rules to apply, and click on Apply to filter your existing folder.

Grouping: Outlook Express allows you to group e-mail messages on the basis of the conversation carried. To enable this, go to View > Current View and click ‘Group Messages by Conversation’ (In Outlook, this option is available from View > Current View > Conversation Topic).

With this feature, all e-mail messages are sorted on the basis of the subject line and the messages that are a reply to that particular subject are grouped together. A ‘+’ sign next to a message indicates responses based on that subject.

Download Mail to your PC

If you use a Web-based e-mail service, download a copy of your mail directly to your browser. This is much quicker than using the bandwidth-hungry Web interface and also allows you to access your mail without having to be connected to the Internet. To do this first add a new account by going to Tools > Accounts > Add and select the Mail option. You will be prompted for personal details and account information.

Select the POP3 server option in the screen that asks you for your e-mail server information and enter the appropriate POP3 server address for incoming mail.

Browsing offline

Quite often you may want to refer to a page that you have visited at some point in time. While finding the link in your browser’s History is not too difficult, you can view the site without actually logging on to the Internet by going to File > Work Offline. Then just click on a link in your History folder to view the complete page from your hard disk.

Split files

Splitting files can increase download speeds tremendously. Usually, splitting the file in three or five segments is sufficient. However, if you are downloading a particularly large file which is available from several servers, you could get better speeds by increasing the number of segments being downloaded simultaneously. The number of segments that you want the file in can be set in the option box that pops up when a download begins. Just set the option for the number of segments that you want the file to be split into.

Email and Newsgroup Etiquette

by: Sharon Housley

Email Etiquette

In order to effeciently communicate on the Internet it is critical to understand the unwritten rules of email communication. Please use these tips as a guideline to online email communication.

1.) Unless you are using encryption, Internet E-mail is not secure.

2.) Do not use all capitals in email exchanges, it is considered SHOUTING and is considered rude.

3.) Keep in mind that the Internet is international, words and humor can be perceived differently by different cultures.

4.) When replying to messages be aware of "cc:" field. Recipients listed in the "cc:" field will receive a copy of the post. (The "bcc:" field sends messages blind, meaning recipients don't know that someone else has received a copy of the email or been carbon copied)

5.) Use emoticons :-) or to indicate expression.

6.) When forwarding email be sure not to create a loop in the system. In addition, be sure not to setup auto-responders to reply to every email, or endless loops will be created.

7.) There can be costs associated with Internet connectivity and downloading emails. Do not send attachments that take a long time to download, without the recipients consent.

8.) Include in the "subject" line a heading that relates to the message body.

9.) Use 4-6 lines for your signature line, this is an opportunity to highlight your business or company information, but don't be ostentatious..

Mailing Lists & Newsgroup Etiquette

In order to participate in news groups, you must have an understanding of newsgroup etiquette.

1.) Be familiar with lists/newsgroups prior to posting, read posting.

2.) Keep in mind that newsgroups and mailing lists are frequently archived and that posts will be preserved.

3.) If you are replying to a message be sure to include the text of the original message which you are replying to. Use ">" indicators if your mail program does not do this for you.

4.) Don't get involved in flame wars (or material which is personal and unproductive).

5.) Keep in mind that the Internet is international, words and humor can be perceived differently by different cultures.

6.) Use 4-6 lines for your signature line, this is an opportunity to highlight your business or company information, but don't be ostentatious..

7.) When responding to a post, keep the subject line the same, so that it will appear in the same thread.

8.) Cross posting to multiple lists is often prohibited. Read posting guidelines.

9.) Expect delays in moderated forums, each posting must be approved.

10.) Anonymous posts are unaccepted in many newsgroups.

11.) Be aware that some people use aliases when posting to Usenet groups to avoid SPAM (unsolicited email). Also keep in mind that anything goes on unmoderated Usenet.

12.) Most lists don't allow for binary attachments.

Resources -

Library of Emoticons - http://www.instant-messaging-software.com/instant-messaging-emoticons.htm

Library of Email Acronyms - http://www.email-software.org/email-acronyms.htm

Email Client Software - http://www.messaging-software.net/e-mail-client-software.htm

Do I Need an RSS Feed?

by: S. Housley

Do I Need an RSS Feed?

RSS has been around for more than 10 years but has only recently become popular. RSS provides headlines and summaries of information in a concise and standardized way.

Benefits for Publishers

1.) Avoid Spam Filters

Statisticians estimate that 70% of the email transferred each day is spam (unsolicited email). With that statistic, even opt-in users risk losing valuable messages in the cesspool of spam. RSS feeds effectively nullify spam as an issue. Requesting feeds allow users to maintain complete control over the content they view. Users can easily opt-in and out of feeds that provide content of interest or importance.

2.) Expanded Reach

RSS allows publishers to reach a number of new and different markets that typically are less crowded with competition. Many small businesses are often slow to adopt or learn new technologies, giving businesses that lead the way a competitive advantage.

3.) Content Syndication

Syndication of feeds increases exposure.

4.) Repeat Visitors

RSS is all about repeat visitors. Users who have previously visited a site often have a stronger connection to the site and are more likely to purchase or trust the information on the site.

5.) Free web traffic

As the internet has evolved, many webmasters have found that what was once free traffic must now be paid for in order to sustain decent visitor statistics. RSS is in a unique position to bring free traffic because they are content-driven, and if they include interesting or valuable information, will pique the curiosity of web-surfers and entice them to visit a particular site.

6.) Less Effort

Newsletters and E-zines undeniably bring visitors, but the effort involved in creating, distributing and maintaining a newsletter can be a burden. Maintaining the list, ensuring the list is clean, growing the subscriber base, updating and removing bad e-mail addresses, all take time. RSS feeds are not burdened with those issues. There are easy-to-use RSS feed creation tools that require little effort, allowing publishers to recycle content, often simply cutting and pasting into RSS feed creation software.

FeedForAll RSS feed creation - http://www.feedforall.com

Consider supplementing existing communication venues with RSS. Place the contents of newsletters into feeds and measure the results. You might be surprised at the added traffic.

Examples of various feeds with different intended purposes -

RSS feed - http://www.rss-specifications.com/blog-feed.xml

Establishing expertise in a specific field.

Business Feed - http://www.notepage.net/blog-feed.xml

Contains product and industry information.

Marketing Feed - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog-feed.xml

Builds relationships, endorses products in industry sector.

RSS has potential to help companies develop strong relationships with consumers and creating brand loyalty with customers. While the world will not end tomorrow, nor will business come to a screeching halt if you don't use an RSS feed, there are a number of reasons online businesses should consider using RSS feeds.

Different Models For Making Money On The Internet

by: Rob Rawson

There are several strategies for making money on the net. Here are some possible options:

Strategy 1: Affiliate marketing

This is probably the quickest and easiest. You don't need to get your own products - you simply sell other people's products and services. You don't even need a merchant account, and it's possible to start out without even having your own website (but if you are serious about affiliate marketing you will have to build websites). For a list of top affiliate programs go to: http://www.profitpuppy.com/top-affiliates.htm. If you don't know what affiliate programs are you can get a free course which explains what they are by sending a blank email to: tamsaffiliatemarketing@sitesell.net

Strategy 2: Writing an ebook or other type of information product, recording an information CD set or shooting a DVD/video series.

This is a great strategy because there are infinite possibilities for the type of product that you can create. There are so many niche markets that you can write about: It could be a course on Japanese gardens, How to start your own babysitting business, How to sell your paintings or artwork … there are thousands of possibilities and many that have not yet been touched by online marketers. Of course you don't have to write the information yourself, you can get a ghost writer or hire someone to produce the DVD. It is easy to find these people, for example you can go to http://www.profitpuppy.com/elance. By the way if you are intending to go down this track then you should definitely check out the Bill Myers membership site (http://www.profitpuppy.com/bmyers) which has the best information on this area.

Strategy 3: Search Engine Optimization.

Learn how to get a site to the top of the search engines and make money on the site by promoting affiliate programs or by Google Adsense. I have included this as a business method because there are some people who focus just on Search Engine Optimization and do nothing else.

Strategy 4: Drop-shipping.

You can develop a relationship with a manufacturer so that you can get orders for their product on the Internet; you process their credit card and then just send their details to the manufacturer who sends the product directly to the customer's door.

Strategy 5: Joint Ventures.

Similar to affiliate marketing, but with this strategy you set up relationships with people who have products that they sell online.

Strategy 6: Lead Generation.

You create sites that generate leads for companies online. For example, you create leads for mortgage brokers; you give them the details of the people who are interested in getting a new mortgage and you get paid for each person. The mortgage broker will then call the lead and try to sell them on their particular mortgage offer.

Strategy 7: Email marketing.

Of course you need to stay away from spam, and new legislation makes it more difficult for legitimate opt in email marketers, but this is still a highly effective way to make money on the Internet. Don't try email marketing if you don't know what you are doing - don't even think about buying a list of emails and sending out a promotional message unless you know exactly what you are doing. You have to know that any emails you have are legit and ‘opt in'.

Strategy 8: Selling software or software services.

…Another great way to make money online.

Strategy 9: Selling services online.

For example you could start a site providing niche legal services or doing web design. This is ok, but it is not as highly leveraged and automated as other Internet businesses.

Strategy 10: Selling your own products online.

This is the option that 90% of businesses pursue online. It also has less leverage and is more difficult to automate than other Internet businesses.

Strategy 11: Domain name strategies.

You can make money buying and selling domain names (although this strategy is quite difficult nowadays). You can also buy expired domains with existing traffic, you can buy domains with misspellings in order to get free drive-by traffic.

Strategy 12: Buying websites.

You can buy websites that have good positions in the search engines but are not utilizing their positions very effectively, and you can improve the marketing and utilization of their site and make money. This is a very powerful strategy if you do it correctly.

Other strategies:

There are many other possibilities that you might not have thought of such starting an affiliate network. There are several other possibilities but most of them are a bit more towards the more difficult end of the spectrum.

Have a think about which strategy you want to look at. Each strategy has advantages and disadvantages and each strategy has a lot of stuff that you need to learn to be able to apply it effectively.

http://www.profitpuppy.com

Designing Your Website's Directory Structure

by: Stephen Bucaro

Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage. There are many "wysiwyg" webpage design applications that let you create a webpage as easy as typing text. But only a few people can create a WEBSITE. The stumbling block is knowing how to link webpages together to form a website. I have seen many websites that consist of a single webpage - about a mile long!

The first problem is that websites are contained in virtual directories. You know that your webpages can be found at yourdomain.com, but the actual path to yourdomain.com on the web server may be known only by the system administrator. And the system administrator can move your website to a different folder, or even a different computer, without changing its virtual address.

The second problem is that most people don't know how to write a relative link. Relative links have the advantage that you don't need to know the path to the webpage that you want to link to, you only need to know where it is "relative" to the webpage containing the link.

Designing Your Directory Structure

The first step to implementing a website is to design the directory structure. Let's design a directory structure for a simple download website. The website consists primarily of articles and digital material that visitors can download. You could just dump everything at the top level of the website. Good luck maintaining that website!

To keep the files organized, you need to create sub-directories (folders) on the website. Even though the website consists only of articles and digital downloads, you need five sub-directories, as described below.

• articles
• downloads
• general
• common
• cgi-bin

You understand what the "articles" and "downloads" sub-directories are for, but what are the other three sub-directories for? It's standard practice to provide certain features on your website, as listed below.

• About
• Contact
• FAQ
• Privacy Policy
• Search
• Sitemap
• User Agreement

Each of these features requires a webpage. Instead of dumping the webpages at the top level of the website, or mixing them in with articles or downloads, let's put them together in a folder named "general" (I'm sure you can think of a better name).

All of your webpages use certain things in common, for example, your logo graphic. If your web server provides SSI (Server Side Includes) all your webpages can share a common header file and a common footer file. You might also define all your website's styles in a common style sheet. Let's put all of these files in a folder named "common".

Your contact page might use an email form. If your server provides server-side scripts, you would place the email form script in a folder named "cgi-bin". Cgi-bin stands for "Common Gateway Interface - Binary". Few people use CGI any more, and those that do don't use binary files, but the folder name has stuck as a traditional place to store scripts. Almost all websites come with a preconfigured cgi-bin folder, and the website may be configured so that the cgi-bin folder is the only folder with rights to run scripts.

I would also recommend that you create certain sub-directories for some of the above mentioned directories. Most web pages contain images. You could dump all the images in the same folder with the webpages, but when you get more than about 50 files in a folder, it becomes difficult to maintain. You should create an "images" sub-directory in the articles, downloads, and general directories. The downloads directory should also have a "files" sub-directory to store the downloads.

This arangement of directories and sub-directories will provide good file organization for the example website. Understanding my reasoning for this directory structure should help you to design a directory structure for the website you have in mind.

Default Page Configuration

Every website has at least one default webpage configured (also called the "home" page). The default webpage is the webpage that is returned when the user enters or clicks on a link containing only the domain name, without a specific file name. On a Unix or Linux web server, the default webpage will usually be "index.htm". On a Windows web server (IIS), the default page will usually be "default.asp".

The website administrator, or if your webhost provides the required "control panel" feature, you can actually configure any page to be the default page. If your web server has more than one default page configured, I would recommend removing all but the default page that you intend to use.

Now, let's assume that all of your webpages need to link to an image file named "logo.gif" stored in the "common" folder. The relative link on your default webpage would be as shown below.

"common/logo.gif"

The website file manager interprets this as "look in the folder named common for the file named logo.gif".

However, the link on any webpage contained in one of the sub-directories would be as shown below.

"../common/logo.gif"

The website file manager interprets this as "go up one level, then look down in the folder named common for the file named logo.gif".

This difference in the link may not be a problem unless you use SSI or ASP (Active Server Pages) to build your webpages from a common header file and a common footer file. Then you need a different link in the common file depending upon whether the page linked to the common file is the default webpage (where you would use common/filename) or a webpage contained in a sub-directory (where you would use ../common/filename). There are several ways to solve this problem.

1. If your website has a server-side scripting engine like ASP or PHP and you know how to program, you could implement code that selects the proper link.

2. You could use the complete path, including the domain name, on all pages. This will cause problems if you ever have to move your website to a different web host (Until all the dns servers across the planet have been updated).

3. You could put your home page in a sub-directory, for example "common", and make your default page into a re-direct to your home page. Then you would use "../common/filename" for all links. The following meta tag, placed the head section of your default webpage, will immediately redirect the users browser to your real home page.

meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0,url= "http://yourdomain.com/common/homepage.htm"

In this article, I showed you how to design a directory structure for your website and how to create relative links to link all your webpages together to form a website. Website visitors don't like to do a lot of scrolling, so try to keep your webpages to only two or three screens high. Please, no more websites that consist of only one mile long webpage!

Cut Out the B.S. in Your Internet Marketing

by: Stephan Miller

Are you getting disgusted with your results as an internet marketer? Staying up until two in the morning looking for that information that will give you that extra edge over everyone else out there? Slowly changing your goal of working for yourself into a dream again instead of the reality you once knew it to be?

Think of the last great idea you had and never used. What made you give up on it? Not enough time? Not enough money to get it up and running? Did you think it just would' nt work? One more question. Who gave you all of these quick answers that made you so sure you were wrong?

I have one suggestion. Go out and get a gallon of gas, dump it all over your living room, and light a match. Now that your house is gone, tell yourself that the only money you can use to buy a new one is from your Paypal account. Now do you know exactly which efforts are working for you online?

Or call your boss right now and tell him you are quitting. Now all you have is internet marketing. I bet you can double your sales in a week.

Okay, I am really not suggesting that you do this, but put yourself in that state of mind for a few minutes. What project would you start on tomorrow? Is your answer different than it would have been before you started reading your article?

Necessity is the mother of invention. It also is the mother of motivation. If everything in your life is comfortable right now, you have no need to go online and rake in those dollars. You may think you are putting in the effort, but, if you are like me, a lot of this energy may be wasted surfing, checking out pyramid schemes, and finding the easy way out.

Once you have a need for the money you could be making, it's amazing how quickly you can cut out the B.S. and go quickly to that one project that you know will make money. The next time you see your sales dropping, put your life in false crisis. You will quickly narrow down your options.

Common Sense Approach to Search Engine Optimization

by: Mario Sanchez

Most web surfers start their sessions at a search engine or a web directory. There are a number of different methods you can use to capture their traffic and drive it to your site:

1. Stick to the big names: The two largest directories: Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) and the Open Project Directory (http://www.dmoz.org), and the two largest search engines: Google (http://www.google.com) and Inktomi (used by MSN search (http://www.msn.com) and AOL (http://www.aol.com) are likely to deliver 80% of your traffic, so concentrate on those and don’t spend too much time on anybody else.

2. Yahoo and the Open Project Directory are administered by humans, so an editor will inspect your site before it's added. They receive so many submissions that it can literally take months before your site is reviewed, and nothing (not even paid subscriptions) guarantees that it will be listed. It’s worth to keep trying, though, so check back every month or so and, if your site isn’t listed, submit it again.

3. Google and Inktomi are robots (software programs) that “crawl” (find and read) millions of sites on the web, and add them to their index. That's why it is not absolutely necessary to manually submit your site to a search engine, since they may find your site and add it automatically when they find a link to your site on another page.

4. You don’t need to submit all the pages on your site to a search engine. Once the search engine finds your main page (homepage), it will find the other ones by following links. To improve the chances of your secondary pages being found, create a link called ‘site map’ in your homepage, and have it point to a page that is nothing but a collection of links to all the pages on your site. This way, the search engine will follow the link and “suck in” all your pages. Try putting this link as close to the top of your homepage as possible, since it will have a better chance of being picked up by the search engine.

5. Your site will stand a much better chance of showing up at the top of the search results list if you choose keywords that are as specific as possible. In general, niche sites that use very specific keywords have a better chance of being at the top of the list than generic sites that use more common keywords. For example, a restaurant that specializes in brick oven pizza (keywords: brick oven pizza) has a better chance of showing up in a prime position than an all-encompassing Italian restaurant (keywords: Italian restaurant).

6. A good search engine ranking is also conditioned by the amount of inbound links to your site that the search engine finds in other websites. A significant amount of links to your page from high ranked, quality sites with content related to yours, will significantly boost your rankings. Try contacting the webmasters of the leading websites for the keywords of your choice and try to get them to link to your site. You can offer a link exchange or place a paid link (advertising) on their pages, if that’s an available option.

7. Creating a good page title tag is also key, since it’s usually the first thing the search engines display in the search results page. Also, you must create a well written, easy to understand ‘Description’ meta tag, since some search engines will use it to describe your site. The more your title and description match your preferred search keywords, the more likely web users will click into your site. Don't pay too much attention to the 'Keywords' meta tag, since most search engines ignore them nowadays, due to the potential for abuse.

Finally, one last word of advice: don’t obsess with search engines, since they are not the only way to generate traffic to your site. Try different approaches, like writing articles and posting them in discussion groups and newsgroups. Also, don’t overlook bricks-and-mortar techniques like passing around business cards embedded with your website address, or advertising in traditional media. It is a combination of all these things, and high quality, original content, what will make your site popular.

Choosing an Ecommerce Shopping Cart

by: Danna Henderson

Choosing an online shopping cart is a big decision. Unlike a traditional brick and mortar business, your website is your only chance to impress potential customers. It needs to project a professional image to capture the trust of your visitors. The shopping cart is a particularly important part of your website because it deals with people’s personal information and credit card numbers. People are nervous about online purchases and need to be assured that they are giving their credit card numbers to a reputable company.

There are several types of ecommerce shopping carts available. They range from merchant services, which require no programming skills, to fully integrated shopping carts that require custom programming. The three main categories of shopping carts are:

• Merchant services such as eBay and 2Checkout
• Hosted shopping cart services
• Fully integrated shopping carts

Merchant Services

Most shopping carts require you to have your own merchant account and gateway. A merchant account is a bank account that allows a business to conduct credit card transactions and the gateway allows the transaction to be conducted over a secure connection. It’s okay if you don’t have a merchant account or gateway. Merchant service shopping carts allow you to use their merchant account, gateway and shopping cart for a higher cost.

Merchant services are beneficial for very small businesses or those that are just starting and don’t have a lot of orders. Merchant services provide the merchant account, gateway, hosted shopping cart and will maintain your customer’s personal information. They usually require a set-up fee between 50 and 200 dollars, transaction fee between 30 and 75 cents, and 5% to 10% of each transaction. Because you are using their merchant account, your customer’s credit card statement will show the merchant services business name not yours. In some cases, customers will not recognize the charge and may dispute it.

Merchant service shopping carts have an administrative interface, which allows you to login to your account to add products, prices and shipping options. The shopping cart generates the html for the purchase buttons and you simply copy and paste the html into your web pages. When your customer clicks on the purchase button, he is taken to another website to enter the credit card information. This indicates to the customer that you are a small business. Some potential customers will abandon the shopping cart rather than enter their credit card information on a website they know nothing about.

Once your business grows to the point where you are processing over $1000 a month, it’s more cost effective to apply for your own merchant account and switch to either a hosted shopping cart (little or no programming) or a fully integrated shopping cart (programming required).

Hosted Shopping Cart

The hosted shopping cart is a great solution for a small business that is processing over $1000 a month but does not have the resources to create or customize a fully integrated shopping cart. Hosted shopping carts are similar to the merchant services because they provide an administrative interface for you to enter products, pricing and shipping options. They will generate the html for the purchase buttons, which can be copied and pasted into your html pages.

Hosted shopping carts face some of same problems as merchant service carts because your customers will be transferred to a different website to enter the credit card information. Some hosted shopping carts allow you to customize the shopping cart so that it has the same look and feel as your websites. Customizing your shopping cart may require some programming skills, but it could also prevent customers from abandoning their shopping carts.

The main difference between the merchant services shopping cart and the hosted shopping cart is the name that appears on the customer’s credit card and pricing. Hosted shopping carts allow you to use your own merchant account and gateway, which means the customer’s credit card statement will show your business name next to the charge. This can decrease your charge backs.

If you are using your own merchant account and conducting over $1000 of transitions each month, the hosted shopping carts can be less expensive than merchant services. Your merchant account will probably charge a monthly fee between 20 and 60 dollars, transaction fee between 10 and 50 cents, and a percentage of the transaction, usually ranging between 2% to 3.5%. In addition to the merchant fees, your shopping cart service will also charge a monthly fee between 10 and 30 dollars and could charge a transaction fee. These fees sound more expensive than the merchant service option, but if you are processing over $1000 a month and growing, it’s better to pay flat monthly fees than continue to be charged 5 to 10 percent of the each transaction.

Fully Integrated Shopping Carts

The fully integrated shopping cart is a great option for any business that can afford it. The shopping cart will be dynamic and will have the same look and feel as your website. The ZIP Baby Potty Training Store is a great example of a fully integrated shopping cart. Fully integrated shopping carts like this contain features that are not found in merchant service or hosted shopping carts. For example, you can discount items, display customer reviews, assign products to multiple categories, display out of stock notifications, sort products and prices, and display shipping estimates without requiring the customer to create an account.

Integrated shopping carts require advanced programming skills and can often be used with your own merchant account or with a service that allows you to use their merchant account for a higher fee. There are many integrated shopping carts available. Free carts require the most programming skills, but if you don’t have the programming skills necessary to customize a free shopping cart, there are many companies that specialize in customizing fully integrated shopping carts.

Your choice of a shopping cart can have a dramatic impact on your business. Your website is the first and only impression you get to make so you’ll want to make it as professional as possible. While shopping for a shopping cart system, put yourself in your target customer’s shoes and browse the Internet. Review your competitor’s websites as well as those outside your industry. Make a list of shopping carts that you find appealing and research them thoroughly before choosing one.

Copyright 2004 Danna Henderson. All Rights Reserved.

Blog Construction

by: Jesse S. Somer

Blogs like all forms of writing are an art form that takes knowledge and practice to do well.

Writing…Blogs…Blogs are on-line journals where people express themselves through writing. Writing…Writing is the process where one puts down words of a language on a format that others can read. This process has not been around very long, to use one of my writing teacher’s favorite sayings, “Writing has only existed for one day in the one year that humanity has existed.” Speaking and thinking come much easier than writing. These processes just flow out naturally like a river of consciousness; sometimes we hardly have to think about doing them. Anyone and everyone can write words down on paper but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘good writing’, myself included. Like most things in life, our society already takes writing for granted which is proving to expose more of our ignorance. Writing is a new form of expression, and if we want to do it in a way that the masses can connect with our ideas, we have to think much more simply and clearly about this art.

Now that was quite a big paragraph, you’ve got to wonder if I really needed to say as much as I just did to introduce this article on the best way to write your blogs on the Web. I didn’t even mention this main idea, and that’s what an introduction paragraph is meant to be for. This is a common mistake in many blogs out there. We try to get too many ideas across in one paragraph, sometimes even in one sentence! The key, as in all things in life-is to keep it simple. Simplicity means that readers won’t get confused about what your journal entry is actually about. Introduce your main general topic at the start, and use the subsequent paragraphs to discuss separate ideas that relate to this topic. Try to tie everything up in the concluding paragraph, your main argument and the reason why you’ve written in the first place.

Grammar and sentence construction are not easy systems to master, especially if you come from a school system that spent more time telling you about historical battles and quadratic equations than on how to read and write. This is a real problem. When we speak we can get messages across to others easily, but if we put these words down on paper, the writing just isn’t interesting and doesn’t connect with people’s curiosities and fascination. When you write you are not talking to a close friend. You can’t use slang and colloquialisms that only your local community can understand. The aim is to connect with all the people in the world, so let’s make it crystal clear and enjoyable to read.

Your computer has spelling and grammar checks, as well as access to a thesaurus. Use them, but remember that the machine can’t decipher all the intricacies of language. Language is a world in itself, and much of its territories are undiscovered by the masses. So, again keep it simple. Short, precise sentences with single ideas are great. Many words in the English language have the same meanings (synonyms). Use the thesaurus so you don’t repeat the same word over and over throughout the text. It keeps the story fresh and doesn’t turn the reader off. There’s nothing more boring than repetition. Using different words can be a lot of fun and a learning experience, just make sure you use a dictionary (also on the computer/Internet) to make absolute sure of the word’s definition.

Readability…Simplicity…Make your blog accessible by all people. You can even take into consideration that many readers will have learned English as a second language. As I’ve said in previous articles, keep to the point-don’t go on tangents. Stick with the article’s topic, and definitely stay within the realms of your blog’s main area. If your blog is entitled “Jazz music”, people who go there don’t want to hear about how your football team won on the weekend! Please be consistent. How irritating is it to visit a blog that hasn’t been written on in months or years?

I hope these little tips will help you on your quest to producing ‘good’ writing that brings new friends and acquaintances of similar outlooks into your world. If you want people to read, the aim is to produce an emotional reaction in your reader. Pretend you are writing to another form of yourself, if it were not readable, interesting and fun…would you stick around?

By Jesse S. Somer

‘Bad Blogs Have Got To Go, Blogging Could Be Really Cool If Done Properly, Maybe Even With A Pinch Of Love.’

by: M6.net

There’s a lot of blogs out there on the Web, most of which don’t entice one to go back regularly to read updates. What is missing from these on-line journals that would essentially make them ‘good’ blogs? Well, the answers in life usually come down to simplicities. So let’s look at the problem like we were children. Children don’t complicate life with miscellaneous information, and when they speak they tell you straight to the point exactly how they feel and think about a subject.

First of all, we should ask the questions,” Why do blogs exist? And what are they here for?” Well, in an ideal world ‘good’ blogs would help people connect, sharing knowledge and feelings about issues in life. As they are journals written by individuals we would hope that they’d be readable and open to comment by all other people, not just a select group of friends. The key is speaking in a way that is understandable by the masses, get rid of acronyms and local slang that only few will comprehend. Keep the sentences grammatically simple and generally short and concise.

Try to write in your blog as often as possible because if people enjoy reading your thoughts and ideas they’ll want to communicate or at least be filled in regularly on ‘your world’. Ask questions, comment on other blogs of similar content, start communities with others you’ve never met, based on your interests. Keep focused; if your blog is about thoughts on war and peace, keep your thoughts on the latest movie and how hungry you are for somewhere else. The idea is to incite intelligent communication so that in time our collective stockpile of knowledge and wisdom will gradually grow like a tree in fertile soil.

I think of most importance is the fact that you want this journal to be ‘good’ reading. Of course we all have ideas about what genres and styles we like, but writing from your heart and soul is imperative for the connection with others that you’re looking for. Share yourself; don’t hide behind walls of fear of ridicule and judgment. In real life relationships trust, respect, intimacy, and unity are all necessary for a bond to form. It’s the same in the ‘virtual’ world; people want to hear from real people-not just one-sided, highly opinionated arguments from egos that don’t want to hear the ‘other side of the coin’.

Now, in my last article I really tore apart most writers out there, and here I’m giving some pretty complex ideas on how to fix the problem of ‘bad’ writing. In my next article I’ll attempt to go back to the simple basics of how to write for beginners. I hope I haven’t come across as too judgmental, I just truly believe the ‘blog world’ could become a real asset to humanity, and at the moment it’s missing the mark.

Ideas about sentence structure, grammar, paragraphing, using a thesaurus (varying terms used so as not to sound repetitive), whether or not your blog is suitable for a personal or professional approach, are all important to creating a simple and enjoyable read for the blogging visitor. If you are a beginner, please check out my next article on the basics.

By Jesse S. Somer

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

by: Mario Sanchez

When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however “cool” they may seem to be. Usually, keeping things simple and consistent are the best way to go. Here are five easy ways to improve your website and make it more appealing to your visitors.

Put your logo on every page of your site, and in the same location. Usually, the best place to put it is in the upper left corner of the page. Remember to make your logo clickable, linking to the main page of your site (an exception is the logo of the main page itself, since you are already there). The benefit of doing so is that if your visitors get lost they can always come back to a familiar location.

Don’ t use a splash screen. Splash screens are seen in many websites before they give you access to the main page. They are usually slow-loading Flash animations that only delay and frustrate users. Remember, when your users want animation, they can turn on the TV. When they go to your website, they usually want information, and they want it fast. Some sites that use splash screens now provide a “Skip the Introduction” link, which most users click anyway, further validating the uselessness of flash screens.

Avoid using heavy pictures. They unnecessarily delay the page upload process. It is OK to use graphics, but they have to be optimized for the web. Use only .gif and .jpg formats. If the pictures are too heavy, try using some of the on-line graphic optimizing tools. They can reduce the weight of your pictures by more than 50% with no noticeable decrease in quality. Another thing you can do is to use thumbnails (clickable miniature versions of a picture). If a user is interested in the picture, he can click on the thumbnail and wait until the full size picture is displayed.

Try not to use animated banners or fancy icons. Just because you can is not a good reason to load up your site with neon-colored, flashing-and-popping, Vegas-style graphics. They usually take away from the content of your site and distract users. Plus, it has been demonstrated that less and less users click on banners every day.

Don’t make your pages too long. People don’t like to read from a screen. Instead, try to use the advantages of hyperlinks to present a summary of the topic or article, with a link to the full article in another page (similar to what newspapers do in their main page, with the added benefit for web users that it is easier to click on a link than to turn a page). If what you have to say is too long, break the discussion in several parts, each of them with a link to where your visitor can continue reading.

Remember, the goal is to give your visitors fast access to your information, through an interface (website) that is visually appealing and easy to use.

Alternative E-Commerce Solutions

by: Janice D. Byer, MVA

Over the past several years, the Internet has emerged as a breakthrough technology that has and will continue to transform the way we live and communicate, and especially the way we do business.

No matter if you are selling a product or a service, the Internet is a means of reaching markets that had otherwise been unreachable in the past. And, it also provides ease of purchasing and selling almost anything online�also known as E-Commerce.

But, for many businesses, especially start up and small to mid size businesses, having a website that includes the usual E-commerce capabilities is just not in their budgets. Setting up merchant accounts and secure servers can get quite costly.

So, if you are really wanting or needing to have e-commerce capabilities on your website to sell your products, but your budget just won�t allow it, there are a variety of alternatives to the expensive online route that you can consider.

Your first choice allows you to accept credit card payments but without a secure server. Some financial institutions, which offer credit cards, also offer Traditional Merchant Accounts. This allows you to manually verify credit card information from those that want to purchase from you. But, you should be aware, if you ask for credit card information from your website without the guarantee of a secure server, you may run into hesitation from potential customers.

Another alternative to the expensive merchant account is to accept cheque payments online. For this you will need to acquire software or a program that will allow you to print MicroPrint (the small numbers and characters at the bottom of a cheque� ie. routing #, account #, etc.). There are several cheque writing programs available, including those found at Checker.net and Checkman.com.

The procedures involved to use this payment method are to first set up a form on your website. You then send an invoice to your customer with direction to the cheque-form page, which they must fill out and submit, via your cgi program. You then verify the funds and information and then the software prints the cheque on special cheque paper, which you can purchase at most business supply stores.

You can also have the above type service online, via such sites as Paybycheck.com.

Another alternative, which is rapidly becoming the choice of many online product and service providers, is Online Payment Systems. There are several of these systems available but I have only found one that has features available to Canadians. Called PayPal.com, this service allows you to set up an account with them and they verify the credit information of those buying from you. Now, many features that this system has to offer are still limited for Canadian retailers but you are still able to set up an account, bill your clients, and receive payments into your Canadian bank account or credit card account with only minor service charges being applied.

Taking advantage of the expansive market of the World Wide Web does not mean that you have to go bankrupt. You can still get on the E-Commerce bandwagon and accept payments with the above listed services and other alternative payment systems that may be available. Actually, most of these services are all that the average small business, especially those in the service industry, really need. And they don�t cost a fortune.

An Introduction to Text Messaging

by: Deryck Richards

Why Text?

Text messaging is a quick way to stay in touch with people for personal or business purposes. With text messaging, you can chat with a partner by typing on the keyboard and reading what they write to you on the screen. Many text messaging products can work with cell phone text messaging (aka SMS or Short Messaging Service) so you can chat with people who aren�t in front of their computer. So, why not just pick up the phone and talk?

It�s faster than e-mail and phone calls. And you don�t have to pay anything to text. If you need to chat with someone briefly or ask a quick question, it�s much less intrusive than calling someone. As with most developing technologies, several types of text messaging are available and each one is incompatible with the others. But don�t let that keep you from trying it out. The main text messaging products are ICQ (www.icq.com), MSN Messenger (www.msn.com), AIM (www.aim.com), and Yahoo Messenger (www.yahoo.com).

btw (By the Way...)

Each one is free and simple to download, install, and sign up. You can locate your �buddies� by searching in an online directory by their screen name, e-mail address, name, or telephone number. Once you get the hang of it, text messaging can be extremely addictive. As you continue to use text messaging, you will find yourself learning to abbreviate words and sentences. When you leave an online chat, you might say BRB (Be Right Back), I�m afk (away from the keyboard), or TTYL (Talk to You Later). See glossary below.

Some text messaging products are beginning to offer voice and video chat. The future of digital communication is an integrated product, since voice, video, interactive text messaging, and e-mail are all effective means of communication. In the future, you will be able to switch between text, voice, and video with ease. Until then, we will continue to use different methods for different communication needs :-(

Glossary

:-) Smiley face. Means that someone is happy

;-) Smiley face with wink.

:-( If someone sends you this in an e-mail, they�re probably not having a good day

BTW - By the Way

FYI - For Your Information

FWIW - For What It�s Worth

IMHO - In My Humble Opinion (or IMO)

TIA - Thanks in Advance

WRT - With Respect To

LOL - Laughing Out Loud

ROTFL - Rolling on the Floor Laughing

AFK - Away From Keyboard

TTYL - Talk To You Later

CYA - See You Later