Messages

No setup fees on all web hosting accounts!  Now through June only.

This site was a shambles when I took it over a couple months ago.  Let me know how it looks to you now.
http://www.scenicrealtycompany.com

I would be VERY careful of using the name F|NAL FANTACY |NC unless you are the actual owner of the brand name.

The first suggestion I have for you is to make the text something more traditional as far as font and color.  Font is something you really don't want to stray too far from the heard.  Use other things such as layout, graphics and backgrounds for your "look and feel".

Wow, that is great for you!  Did you get a traffic spike?  (Cool interview BTW).

[Take a look at the new ways PayPal is making a world of differencefor web developers like you.]

(Form the horse's mouth)

Take a look at the new ways PayPal is making a world of difference
for web developers like you.

******************************************************************
The Future of Electronic Payments
******************************************************************

Building Creative PayPal Platform Solutions

As the use of electronic payments grows, cash is no longer
king. Developers are. You and your e-commerce programming peers
have boundless opportunities to shape the future of online
financial transactions.

For instance, governments are now accepting taxes through PayPal.
Tenants pay rent. Businesses pay wages. Even alimony is sent
through PayPal. The examples are diverse, but the fundamentals the
same-easy, secure, and reliable transactions made possible by
PayPal developers.

Help Shape the Future of Electronic Payments

Build your own innovative solutions with resources at the PayPal
Integration Center, including SDKs, APIs, and sample code.
https://www.paypal.com/IntegrationCenter/ic_home.html?pal=CTA6V4XUA2ZU8

Give us feedback on bugs or improvements at:
developer(at)paypal.com

[Email Injection]

This is a big concern lately.  Security on websites is very similar to other forms of security -- there are no absolutes.  The game is to stay ahead of the bad guys.  In order to do that you must identify your vulnerabilities and secure them.  I believe a big loophole lately is with Email Injection where a spammer inserts potentially thousands of BCC lines into the form via an external script.  If your web form does not prevent against this then you will need to modify it for sure.  Other common vulnerabilities include:
- Naming your web forms "formtoemail" or "mailform" or like that.  That is just inviting for spammers looking for a new exploitable.
- Leaving email addresses "out in the open" where spambots can easily scoop them up.
- Leaving "testing" versions of form-to-email scripts up by mistake.  While you have forgotten they are there, spammers use google to find and exploit them!
- Forgetting to exclude your contact-me pages from search engine listings using either robots.txt or meta tag exclusion methods.

HostNed has a web dev team so they can evaluate and secure your forms for you if it is something that is too technical for you to do yourself.

There has been a new item added to the HostNed FAQ/Knowledgebase -- Site Promotion.  Take a look http://www.hostned.com/members/faqs_site_promotion.html
If you have any suggestions, feel free to present them to me.

Thanks

That is a really cool looking site.  I will use it when considering to buy an existing domain name.

...a web site I have almost literally stumbled across ...

Speaking of stumbling, another neat site is http://www.stumbleupon.com
They have a browser bar similar to google's but you use it to vote for or against certain web sites.  Ones you recommend will be shown to others randomly when they click the STUMBLE button on their bar.  NEAT!

I've already had some of my advertisers giving me a "free pass" to some of the $50 "shows".

Now I'm jealous.  I have never been offered a free pass to a virtual tradeshow

Check this out.  A virtual tradeshow.
http://www.ecomxpo.com/home.htm

eComXpo is the virtual tradeshow for search, affiliate and interactive marketers. Since the show is 100% online and virtual, you can attend from the comfort of your home or office computer. All the benefits of a top tradeshow, without the hassle or expense associated with traditional tradeshows. More than 7,000 advertisers, publishers, search marketers, merchants, affiliates, networks, agencies and vendors will attend, making this the world's largest tradeshow for ecommerce marketers.

neat

This topic has been moved to Critique My Site.

http://my.hostned.com/forum/index.php?topic=31.0

[So you know what your website is going to be about - how do you set out to design it?]

So you know what your website is going to be about - how do you set out to design it?
You need to think of two things. What content are you going to have on your site, and secondly, what is your site going to look like? And what will the layout of the pages look like, the colours etc.

Content

The first thing to think about is the possibilities that a website gives you. Even if your website is going to be an online store, do not think about the site as a catelogue. The benefits of the web is that your website does not have to follow a linear format - it is not restrictive like a book. The format of the web means your visitors will be able to dip into your site at any point, and also be able to jump around to those parts which are the more interest to them.

Don't, therefore, set your site out like chapters in a book, where later chapters rely on information which has been picked up in earlier ones. Instead your pages should all be able to stand as items of interest in their own right, and have links through to other relevant information your visitors might need!

No one needs to start with a blank sheet of paper - there are millions of web sites already out there. The first thing you can do is research. Look at what other people have done - no, you are not going to copy their ideas, but you are trying to see what appeals to you, what you think works well, and what turns you off completely!

So you've looked around, had a few ideas. How will you know that your ideas are going to work? How can you waste hours of abortive effort?

What you want in three clicks.

Want to know the golden rule? You should make sure your site visitor can find what they want in a maximum of three clicks! You should remember the three click rule when deciding how to set out your pages.

A common suggestion is to use a story board approach but the problem with a story board is it makes you think in a linear way - and as we discussed above, with a website you've got the ability to go backwards and sidewards as well as forwards!

One method of thinking about designing a new website is to use a mind mapping process, or to draw up a spider diagram.

You start with just your main subject in the centre - this will be your home page.

First layer
Next think of the main topics which people may expect to find in a site such as yours - on a retail site for example, the first layers may well include the catelogue as a general heading. On a site about dogs the first layer may be 'breeds'.

Second layer
You are now able to go further into each of your subjects. A catelogue for clothes may be divided here into Men's clothing, Children's clothing etc., and the dog breeds may now be listed as Gun Dogs, Toy Breeds etc.

Third layer
Not all of your first layer menu items may lead to a third layer, but some will. To continue our examples above, Chidren's clothing may now be divided into boys and girls. The Gun Dogs will be divided into the Retrievers, Spaniels etc.

By playing around with your ideas on paper in this fashion you can see where your topics fit best. It may be that some third level pages fit under two second layer pages - no problem, you can link a page to each, and have it appearing on more than one menu. It is what makes sense to the visitor that counts!

Having your site set out in a diagram also makes it easier to see how to link up your pages using hyperlinks, i.e., but clicking on a word on your site, the visitor gets taken to a different page without having to go back through the menus.

Colour scheme, templates etc.
Once you have the plan of what you are going to put onto your site you can start to think about individual page layout and colour schemes.

Again, look at other people's sites, especially those you like. What looks good about them? Sites which have a uniform layout on each page often look far more professional than those which experiment with different colours on every page and different templates. This isn't to say that every page must be the same, but have some consistency, for example, where you place the menu buttons, so that people know they are still on your site. If the navigation menu buttons are always in the same place people will quickly become familiar with the feel of your site, and be able to move round it a lot quicker, and therefore take in a lot more of the information which you want to provide them with.

Making your site look professional is important unless you are just putting up a few pages to share with family! Let's assume the reason you wish to make a website is to earn some extra money at home, or to advertise your business or promote an activity. Apart from colour and consistency here are a couple of other tips. Firstly, look at the size of font you use - don't mix it up too much, or use too many different colours. Make your the type face you use can be seen clearly on the background colour. Secondly, is it easy to get to the information

The most important person!
Finally, don't forget that YOU have got to like your site. You will be having a very close relationship with it and it will be very demanding on your time, especially in the early days. Take advice from friends or colleagues, but at the end of the day, go with what you are happy with. If you are uncomfortable with your site you will not have the same enthusiasm to work with it.

Your first pages
Now you have the schema for your website, you have chosen your colours and background, you can start to put together your first pages.

Here are a few tips:

1. Get a few pages together and get your site up there and published! It will take anything from a few weeks to 7 or 8 months to be indexed by the search engines. The main search engines such as Google like to give comprehensive listings only to mature sites. The sooner you get your site published the sooner you will get good rankings in the search engines.

2. Do not use the words 'under construction'.

3. Get other people's opinion on your site - good comments will give you confidence. If your hosting company has a forum you may be able to showcase your new website there to get advice from others using the same software.

Conclusion

A website doesn't just emerge – it takes a lot of work and an awful lot of planning. But if you make the investment of time you won't lose out. If you don't have a website no one is able to tap into your knowledge or see your creations. If you build your website badly your visitors may not be able to find their way around, and a lot of what you do will be wasted. If you take that bit of extra effort and care you will have a site that is very easy to use, and which will become popular because of that!

Pat Ransom has worked in the IT industry for 15 years and is experienced with local government and company websites. Having designed and published a successful and acclaimed website in her own right the secrets of website design and publishing are now available to be shared at http://www.webmasterproductions.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Ransom

***************************
ARTICLE -- CONTENT AND SEO

First and foremost, the content you have on your site is the most important and most crucial thing over anything else that you can do to your site. What I advise my clients to do is to actually THINK like a search engine or if that is too abstract, think like someone who speaks a different language.

Although search engines are getting much better at figuring out exactly what it is that is on the page, remember it is often impossible for them to decipher Java, Javascript, Flash, and other non-HTML components. This is NOT to say don't use them, just use them when they are to be used appropriately.

Because search engines ARE getting better at figuring out what is on a page, spelling and grammar are also very important. The rule of thumb is no more than three misspellings and no more than three gramatical errors on a page. Sentences should be of short to medium length and paragraphs should also be rather short.

DO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK. The search engines can penalize a site heavily for plagiarism.

TAGS

Title Tags -- The most important of all tags is the Title tag. This is what shows up on the bars on the bottom of your computer screen. Most people make the mistake of putting their company name in the Title Tag and that is the worst thing to do (other than putting no tag at all). A Title Tag should be short and to the point and tell what the page is about and if you want to add your company name then add it at the END of the title tag not at the beginning.

Meta Tags -- Meta tags were how search engines would know what was on a page... many years ago. However, with that said it is important that Meta tags are still added to your site and more importantly there are new meta tags (more than just description and keywords) that should be added to the web site such as content type and content language.

Meta Description -- Meta description should start out with the SAME thing your TITLE tag says and then go into more detail.

Meta Keywords -- Meta keywords are words used to describe what is in your page. First use keywords that are in the title and the description first. Then use keywords that are in the content of the page. DO NOT try to spam the search engines by using keywords that are not relevant to your content.

Alt Tags -- With the advent of XHTML, ALT tags for images are now REQUIRED. The Alt tag is used for people who have their images turned off so it is important to have in the alt tag exactly what the image is but also expand on what it is. An example would be a HOME button. Instead of just having HOME as the Alt Tag, use Home -- Site Name.com.

I have noticed that search engines love geography and it is good to put that in there whenever appropriate. If your company is in Kansas City, MO then put those in the Content and in the Tags.

LINKS

Having links that send people to sites relevant to your site is always a good practice. People ask me where I get links and how do I get people to link to my site. The answer is very simple. First I ask. I write e-mails (NOT SPAM) to sites asking if they wish to reciprocate links with me and I also have on some of my pages a "Link to this Page" button so that web site owners can do it on their own.

There is great debate as to whether links to other sites that are not of the same category help, hurt, or are indifferent. From my ten years experience I have found that appropriate links DO NOT hurt your web site and could very well help in some instances.

PRIVACY POLICY

I won't go into much detail here but make sure you have one. So many people forget this and it is extremely important. You will NOT find a major web page that does not have a Privacy Policy attached to it.

TRAFFIC

Obviously the more traffic you have coming to your web site the better. Not only are web sites tracking how many people come to your site but where they go within your site and how long they stay on your site. Traffic sounds like a double-edged sword since this is probably what you are looking for to begin with, so use other techniques described above to start growing your traffic SLOWLY. Sites that have an immediate hit of high traffic are usually penalized because of fear the traffic is computer generated. Again don't spam your own site.

ADVERTISING

Advertising with Google Adwords, Yahoo, or other Ad Agencies (Burst!Media, FastClick, CJ, etc...) has shown to boost traffic (that you pay for obviously) but also has spiders (described later) come to your site more often. Advertising can be very difficult to manage and you may want someone who knows what they are doing to get the best ROI (Return on Investment) for your dollar.

SPIDERS

Say you go to the mall and you buy a POLO shirt for $75 at a major department store. In the same mall in a small store there is the same shirt for $20 less. Why did you not buy from the small store? There are plenty of reasons but the MAJOR reason is that you didn't know it was there. The same with your web site. You must let the search engines know your site even exists. Using a free service like HTTPSEND (link below) is a great way to get search spiders to your site to start crawling the good work you have done.

TIME

Remember it will take up to a month or two to even be ranked by the search engines, three months for your results to show up when someone is looking for the content your site has and a year or more for your site to be ranked in the top ten -- and that is if everything is done correctly.

Be patient, do things properly and you will see results.

There are many more things about SEO that I cannot even go into at this time, but visiting many different SEO sites will help you along your journey. Remember though, not everything you read is true.
Source(s):
http://www.zelo.com/blonde
http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery...
http://www.zelo.com/firstnames
http://www.httpsend.com

C. Thomas Wright III, author and webmaster of Zelo.com which has brought the web such pages as First Names & What They Mean (#2 Google [first names]), Zelo Nursery Rhymes (#1 Google [nursery rhymes]), and his ever-funny Blonde Jokes (#1 Google [blonde jokes]) is at it again with a brand new web site... Name-Stats.com.

Says CT3 (his nickname), "this site goes beyond the origin and meaning of names and explores the popularity of names from all over the world. A lot of time researching popularity of names, not just here in the United States but from other countries is something I have not seen on the internet before, and thought it was time people had easy access to such information."

Name-Stats.com includes name statistics for first names (male and female) and surnames (last names [US only] from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Scotland, and more are being added every day. Like all of his web sites, this web site is basic in design and heavy on information.

CT3 says he has plans for a site about people's birthdays as well as other ventures he is working on. He can be reached at zelo(at)zelo.com.