Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tracking Your Visitors

How important is it to track your visitors? You can place a hit counter on your website or blog, but that only tells you how many visitors you have. What about tracking your visitors? What country, what state, what city, what time of day, how many times a day and so much more.

Just about every website or blog has a tracking tool on it. Of course you won't see it because it's in HTML code.

I've been using Stat Counter for as long as I have had my blogs and website.

Let's use this blog for example. Whenever I make a new post, I can use the information from my stat counter that shows me what are the popular pages that people come to look at. Of course, you would then want to add more of the same. If I had a page on gardening and it did not have one visitor, then I could take that info and I would change it or remove the gardening page. But let's say I discussed the ordeals of child support.... My stat counter would show me the overwhelming visits, where those visits came from, what time, how long, if they came back more than once and what other pages they looked at. This is vital information !!!



Once you learn how to use the information properly, this can help you create a better website or blog. Add more content that is popular.... Take away what is not..... And the extra perk you get with stat counter is that you are able to download and save (years worth) of all of this data, which will help your website or blog succeed.

If you are looking for a free way to help improve your website or blog, I recommend using stat counter, or another stat service like it.

To all my loyal visitors.... Come back and I will try and add more of what you are looking for.

Thanks,

Friday, May 23, 2008

Caught! What To Do About Content Stealers by S McIntyre

First and foremost anything you write, draw, paint and photograph is protected by copyright laws and it is known as intellectual property.

I think one time or another each of us have had something stolen from us. I, for one know I have had ad copies, blog post, contest ideas and even a portion of my home page's content stolen from me. Certainly it's not a good feeling and it's not a considered a compliment or flattery in any way, shape or form! It's pathetic and downright wrong on so many levels.

Do they think they can get away with it? Do they think it's okay? Just because it's on the Internet it doesn't mean it's a free-for-all. To understand copyright laws, visit www.copyright.gov

What can you do when you find your content taken without your permission?

When they steal an ad copy, ask them to remove it. Report it to the website administrator where you found your stolen work. Most administrators will not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

When they steal an article, let them know you are the original author and ask them to credit the work with your resource box or have them remove the plagiarized work immediately.

When they steal your website's content, notify them via email with a cease and desist order. You can Google for a sample of a cease and desist order letter. If they fail to respond or fail to remove the copied content within the timeframe you presented, contact their web hosting company and let them know of the situation. You can also contact their advertisers and let them know their ads are shown on a site containing copied/stolen content. If all fails, it's time to report the offending site to Google and other search engines.

To prove you are the owner of the stolen work start searching through Google and screen capture the results from a cached file. You can use screen capturing software or use the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard and then copy it to Paint.

Let it be known, people who resort to these tactics really don't belong online. Their lack of credibility and integrity will not get them far and they will fail.

S McIntyre owns Work At Home Space http://www.workathomespace.com, a free work at home resource focusing on telecommuting companies, daily telecommute job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related topics. You can also visit her blog Healthy Perspectives http://healthyperspectives.blogspot.com, featuring an array of health topics, nutrition, reicpes and fitness for maintaining an overall healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Inexpensive Ways To Advertise

Advertising costs can ad up quickly. If you are on a tight budget you may feel that you can not afford to advertise. The fact is you can't afford not to advertise. Fortunately there are ways to advertise free and almost free. Here are several suggestions that will help you launch your business and achieve success.

Signs and Cards



* Design a card that is the size of a business card with 2 questions. These questions should ask your targeted market questions that lead them to a decision to call you. Example: If your targeted market is a consumer market, you might ask a question regarding using "Green Products." Then drop them every where you go. You can leave them in grocery carts, book stores, and every where you go. Drop them like bread crumbs in stores, business, school, and any where possible.
* Magnetic vehicle signs, lawn or sidewalk signs, T-shirts, fliers and so on are inexpensive.
* You can design business cards that stand out on your computer. Hand them out to everyone you meet and ask relatives and friends to do the same.

Community:



* Think about donating a free services or products for fund raisers in your area.
* Always include a drop card or business card in the envelope when paying bills.
* Use your local high school booster club news paper for inexpensive advertising. It goes for a good cause and it is normally cost effective.
* Give free seminars for community groups, mops, businesses, and organizations.
* Try a booth at local expos and fairs.
* Attend local business groups, networking groups, meetings and business card exchanges.
* Patronize other home-based and small businesses. Participate in cooperative advertising for special newspaper business supplements. Let other small business owners know that you want to business with them and would for them to do business with you.
* Post your business's drop cards, fliers, business cards and brochures on community bulletin boards.

Internet:



* Free Classifieds
* E-Zines
* Newsletters
* Exchange advertising with other sites
* Exchange links with other sites
* Submit your site to search engines
* Use a business card signature on your emails with a link to your website
* Write articles for other sites and submit them with a back link to your site

Media:



* Send out newsworthy press releases to your local newspaper and through the Internet.
* Look for Free online Newspapers to place classified ads in.
* Be available for interviews on local radio and cable television shows.
* Contact your local news paper and offer to write articles once a month in exchange for a free ad.
* Place classified ads in free shopper papers.
* Look for online classifieds where you can place ads.
* Check with your local specialty publication to see if they do feature articles.

Local Seminars:



* Find local organization or communities where you can hold a fee demonstrations at trade shows and community or store events.
* Teach a course at local school or community college.
* Conduct workshops at business conferences or expos.
* Get creative and think about who needs to hear about what you offer and where you can find a targeted audience.

Use Your Customers To Help You Create More Business:



* It takes less effort to keep a customer than to get a new one! Let your existing customers know they are appreciated. Send a thank you, Birthday Card, or Seasonal Greeting Card. In that communication let them know you love referrals.
* Do something special for your long time customers.
* Always go the extra mile.
* Design a refrigerator magnet for your customers as a thank you. This keeps you and your product infront of the customer.

These are just a few of the many creative methods you can use to promote your business. Learn to think outside of the box and be creative. Don't be afraid to try ideas. If they don't work, you'll learn from it.



Written by Diane Gardner

Diane is a mother of 2, grandmother of 4, and the author of http://www.parentawarenesscenter.com/ and a work at home moms site http://www.wahmhotline.com that provides articles, help, free tools, and more for the mompreneur. Diane has been a successful entrepreneur for 20 years developing both off line and online businesses. She is dedicated to helping women and is a personal success coach. She has a passion for helping parents with health issues, natural alternatives, toxic awareness and much more. She is also dedicated to helping women in business and moms who would like to work from home successfully.

Friday, May 16, 2008

I Love My Family



No matter what anyone says, parenting is the hardest job in the world..... I look at parenting like this: I am a first time mom to my son. So that's new for me. And I am a first time mom to my girl. And that's new to me as well. So I am learning as I go.
I make alot of mistakes along the way. Probably more than I care to admit. But I try. I try to be a good mom. A mom that listens when needed, lends a shoulder, tries to understand and stay structured. I believe in structure. I always have. Ever since my son was born. I knew my son was one of those kids that needed 2 naps each day. We as a parents pick that up when we are around our kids every day. It's also a given when your child nods off to sleep at the same time. LOL.... My daughter is a 1 nap a day kind of kid... If that.
Whether you are a new mom, old time mom, stay at home mom, or single mom. Parenting, GOOD parenting is hard at times.
Tonight I experienced a moving moment with my little girl. She has graduated from preschool and is moving up to kindergarten. While she was wearing her cap and gown, I could see into the future and picture her as if she was graduating high school... LOL.... Tonight was just a test for the real thing. And right next to me sat my son. Who seemed so proud of his little sister. He is such a great Big brother.
The added extra touch for her was knowing that my sons dad was there with his girlfriend. She looked over at them a couple times and she just lit up like a candle.... LOL.... Which only makes me happy that there are people in her life that really care about her.
















Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Top 5 Web Design Pet Peeves

The evolution of web sites over the past ten years has been amazing. What started out as a motley gathering of crassly designed personal sites has evolved into a varied collection of multimedia presentations, dynamic online journals and stylishly designed online brochures. What hasn’t changed, however, is bad web page design.

As a small business owner, it's usually wise to hand over the design of your web site to an expert. After all, your time and energy is best spent attracting and providing service to your clients.
However, the more you know about web design, the more you can guide your
web designer towards an end result that fits your needs.

This is YOUR web site, and is the online face of your business. Don't let your web designer make these mistakes on your site – please.

My Top 5
Web Design Pet Peeves:

5. Page Overboard

Your web designer might enjoy showing off his or her mastery of the latest techniques, but that doesn't mean they belong on your site.

Going overboard by adding animation or a "splash page" not only adds to the page loading time, but it can really irritate visitors who just want to see the information they came for.

Irritated visitors equal lost revenue and lost opportunities, so keep your web site clean, simple and easy to navigate.

4. Irrelevant Content

Content Is King when designing your website, and is equally important to both of the major groups who will determine the success of your web site.

The first group is your web site visitors. They've come in search of specific, current and relevant information, and they want it now. If they can't find it, then poof, they're gone!

The second group is the search engines. If the
search engines find relevant information on your site, then they'll pass along your site as a source of that information.

To keep your visitors and the search engines happy, a web site requires your ongoing attention. Outdated information sends a message to your visitor that you're not taking care of business.
They can easily assume that you also won't take care of them as a customer.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the kind of impression you will make with bad grammar and typos; enough said.

3. Graphic Takeovers

Don't let your web site be taken hostage by your graphics. Whenever you introduce non-text elements to your web design, you reduce the accessibility of your pages, and this creates problems for visitors with special needs.

You may have visitors who are visually impaired and rely on screen readers, or who are still relying on
dial-up connections (up to 30% of Internet users).

So to make your
web page dial-up friendly and accessible, limit the number of graphics, displaying only those that truly complement your page. Then, make the graphics web-ready by taking these steps:

1. Compress the file to either JPG (for photos) or GIF (for icons, buttons, etc.) format.
2. Crop out any dead space.
3. Resave the image with a resolution of 72 dpi, which is the ideal resolution for web sites.
4. Add appropriate "alt" tags to all graphics so that screen readers can properly "read" the graphics, menus, buttons and text.
5. Graphic Monstrosities

Having large graphics that slow down your page is bad enough. Blinking, scrolling, or animated text is even worse. But using fuzzy, distorted, or unprofessional graphics is the absolute worst offense you can commit on a web site.

This will immediately create the impression that your work is of a low quality – remember, your web site is the online face of your business.
Adding professional graphics doesn’t have to be expensive. You can pick up web-ready photos at
http://www.istockphoto.com/ for a buck!

1. And my NUMBER 1 WEB DESIGN PET PEEVE is …. Keyword Stuffing

There is a very disturbing and unethical web design trend occurring right now. Designers will "stuff" a site with keywords so that it's identified in the most popular keyword searches, WHETHER OR NOT that web site has anything to do with the subject of the search.

Disappointed visitors may spend a couple of minutes at your site trying to find what they were looking for, but the naïve hope that they will then get sidetracked from their search because your site is so interesting is a risky tactic.

More than likely they will click away in frustration and you will have lost their trust forever by misleading them.

Folks, web design is really quite simple. People visit web sites because they need something – information, a product or a service.

When they get to your site, they want quick access to accurate, relevant and up-to-date content that's easy to see and not cluttered by advertisements.

Your web site doesn't have to be the prettiest or have the latest gizmos and cool tricks to get your point across and serve your visitors.

Stick with the basics and if your web designer is pushing you to commit any of these pet peeves
, watch out!

Visit
http://www.coast2coastbusiness.com/small-business-web-site-design.html to find out about the web design services from Coast2Coast Business Support Solutions.
Copyright ©2006 Lisa Wells. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Wells is an IVAA Certified Virtual Assistant providing quality virtual office and business support to small businesses and small business owners, busy individuals, real estate professionals, coaches, entrepreneurs, and executives coast to coast.
As the owner of Coast2Coast Business Support Solutions, she helps small business owners get back to doing what they are good at -- meeting clients and generating revenue. Learn more about how we can take care of your administrative needs at
http://www.coast2coastbusiness.com/

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Happy Mothers Day To All The Moms



I wanted to let all the Moms know that I am thinking of each and every one of you. From one mom to another...... Happy Mothers Day!!!!!








As a mother, I often wonder


Will my children see my ponder


I have alot that is on my plate


But I try so hard to hide the weight





A super mom, I have to be


I have four eyes, that look up to me


I cook and clean, and joke around


I tell them stories, and laugh out loud





I strive so hard to reach my dream


And I will be there, if you know me


For all I do, is for my kids


I will provide more, than what, just is





So for all the striving moms out there


Don't give up and don't despair


You will be where you want to be


Along side of you will be your family


Yes, I wrote it.....LOL











To my kids, I love you both so much. And I thank you for showing me that there is more in me than I ever knew. You both enhance my life in a way that only Mothers know. And I am blessed to have two great kids that are so special. I love you with all my heart and I am sending big hugs and baby kisses, just from me to you........








The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Just A Brief Update

Ok, I wanted to give a little update for this blog and my website. My rankings are getting way up there.....( Kudos ) for me. And thank you to everyone that has found my personal blog. (Kudos) to you.

Business is doing well. There is just NOT enough time in a day to accomplish everything I want to.

It's great to have a home business that I am excited about. And I'm not pitching or trying to sell myself. Actually, we don't sell anything... LOL.. I just mean that I can't wait to get home and work. I love what I do and I feel rewarded in what I do. This is something I am making a difference in lives with. I am touching people and helping. And when it comes to other single moms, that's the best... When I can take another single mom, knowing her struggles and difficulties and help her to stand up and make a difference in her and her children's lives.

When you are looking at a dead end street, with nowhere to go.... It's hard to see your way out.
Most single moms right now have younger children that need daycare. And believe me, that's expensive. So let's say you work your 40 hours a week...You have kids to take care, school supplies, clothes, activites..., Rent, Utility Bills, Most people have a credit card, GAS, which is another issue I have.... LOL... Food, Household necessities, phone, cable....You are just having a hard time. I know that feeling. And if something unexpected happens, say, with your car..... You are out of luck!!!!!

So you start looking for part time jobs in the evening... Let's say cleaning, or working at a local store. You may make minimum wage ($7.00 an hour here). You then pay a babysitter and the gas to get there.... You walk away with a about $1.50 - $2.00 an hour..... Now you are not making anything and you don't see your kids either.....

There are legit
work at home opportunities out there... And not just what I do. It does get frustrating when there are so many scams out there as well..... The best thing you can do is check the BBB in the state that the business you are looking into is located and see what they have to say. They are what can make or break a company.

I hope you all have a great night.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

New Pledge of Allegiance



WRITTEN BY A 15 yr. old SCHOOL KID IN ARIZONA:Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore Because the word 'God' is mentioned....A kid in Arizona wrote the attached:

NEW School prayer: -

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd
If Scripture now the class recites
It violates the Bill of Rights
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now
Our hair can be purple, orange or green
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene
The law is specific, the law is precise
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate
God's name is prohibited by the state
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible
To quote the Good Book makes me liable
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong
We can get our condoms and birth controls
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed
No word of God must reach this crowd
It's scary here I must confess
When chaos reigns the school's a mess
So, Lord, this silent plea I make
Should I be shot; My soul please take!

Amen



Spring and Win Contest!


Spring Around Cyber Space:
Starts: April 25, 2008 Ends: May 31, 2008
Winners Announced anytime between June 2-9, 2008.
What’s the Deal? There are several ways you can earn credits for the drawing that will come at the end of the contest.