Optimizing Your Site with SEO

Search Engine Optimization is a way to get directories and search engines to give your web-site a better indexing position so that customers or anyone who is looking for your web-site can see it. The higher you are in the search engines and directories, the better chance you’ll have doing business on the internet.

Here are simple steps to optimize your web-site:

Step 1: Modify your web-site - This step includes adding optimized content to all pages in the website.

Step 2: Add tags - Add or make changes to Meta tags, Title tags, H1 tags, H2 tags and alt tags for images, after keywords research.

Step 3: Link building A,
Website statistics monitoring and conversion tracking
There are offline tools that you can use to optimize your web site and it all involves your URL or your Web Domain name. I would put my web domain name on business cards, stationery, have a sign on my car, use bumper stickers or have tee shirts  and coffee mugs made with the URL. I would do everything to advertise my web-site offline. This is called offline optimization of your web-site.

So web site optimization is both and online and offline deal. Online, you must use keywords to attract customers and get good search engine rankings and offline, you can advertise your URL to the public to get the to visit your web site.

Using cPanel to Manage Your Host Files

CPanel is an easy user-interface site that lets you control your host account environment. The main peculiarity of this operating system is that it so simple to use that your below average computer user can’t mess it up. It’s got great features embedded into its panel and some of the features are listed below.

Site Tools

There are such tools available for your use, which are Web Protect (.htaccess editor), Custom error pages, Redirects, Ability to edit MIME types, Ability to edit Apache handlers, Install/Uninstall FrontPage Extensions, Search engine tool submitting and File Manager.

Email

The email program provides you with the possibility to add, remove, and change passwords while managing email accounts. CPanel is also provided by Webmail for the accounts, Auto responders, Forwarders, Mailing Lists, Spam filtering and some more.

Backup

Backup allows you to create copies of account files and databases.  The backup menu also allows you to download any automatic backups that were downloaded by your CPanel administrator.

Stats

Here are different tools to survey your site popularity and efficiency. Those are Webalizer web stats, Webalizer FTP stats, Analog stats, AWStats, View latest visitors, View bandwidth usage and View error log modules. 

FTP

There is a module that controls FTP accounts (add, remove, change password for its access), Anonymous FTP controls; Ability to change FTP login message and Ability to kill FTP sessions.

Advanced Stuff

You have an ability to add or remove subdomains, Subdomain Redirects and its Stats.

Advanced Tools

You are provided with tools of SSH access tools, Manage GPG keys and Cron jobs.

There are also Pre-Installed CGI Scripts. Those are Interchange Cart, Agora Cart, Bulletin Board, Java Chat, HTML Chat, phpMyChat, CGI Wrapper (for non-suexec installs), Random HTML generator, Advanced Guestbook, Counter Generator, Java Clock Generator, Java Countdown Generator, Secure FormMail clone, CGIEmail, Entropy Search, Entropy Banner. Network Tools are DNS Lookup and Traceroute. Database Management tools includes Managing MySQL databases and phpMyAdmin access.

For beginners, CPanel has a lot of options that are easy to use.   CPanel works with most of browsers, such as IE, Opera, Firefox and others.

Developing Cold Fusion Hosting

Cold Fusion Hosting is all about databases, really. Cold Fusion, a software suite brought to us by the fine folks at Macromedia, which allows web-interactivity with databases. With Cold Fusion web hosting, you can now query, update, index, and chart databases from any web browser.

Cold Fusion hosting adds versatility and interactivity to ecommerce sites. Cold Fusion allows you to publish and then have automatically removed from your site time-sensitive content, such as flight schedules or event calendars. It adds functionality to creating and managing mailing lists and business reports. It allows you to offer your visitors printable content and customized menus.

Anytime you see .cfm as the extension on a web page, as opposed to .htm or .asp for example, you know you're dealing with Cold Fusion Markup Language (CFML).

Though cold fusion is built on the Java platform, CFML allows web developers the benefits of Java without its inherent technical complexities. You need not know Java scripting in order to use cold fusion. CFML is a tag-based language quite similar to HTML and XML which makes it easy for anyone with even the most basic knowledge of web scripting to learn.

Cold Fusion is a server-side language which means that any web pages using CFML are read and interpreted by the Cold Fusion hosting company's server and converted into an HTML page prior to being sent back to the user's browser.

Cold Fusion web hosting can be significantly more expensive than other forms of web hosting, and should therefore only really be considered if its unique set of tools are relevant for your site's intended uses. Cold Fusion hosting is usually run on Windows 2000/NT/2003 operating systems, though you can also find support for Cold Fusion hosting on Linux and Sun servers.

In addition to all the usual factors you must consider when choosing any web host - cost, disk space, bandwidth, uptime, scalability, support - you now also have to consider certain factors specific to cold fusion hosting, including: potential tag restrictions, additional security concerns, whether the cold fusion hosting company provides database support, and which version of Cold Fusion they're using.

One type of tag restriction that is also a security concern is "high risk" tags, such as those that can be used to find and erase selected files from a server. For some larger businesses, this functionality is crucial to their operation, though potentially detrimental if accessed by the wrong hands, in which case a dedicated server is probably in order. Fortunately, cold fusion hosting is offered on shared, virtual, and dedicated servers.

Cold Fusion is well worth considering if you'd like the functionality of the Java platform with the facility of a comparatively autonomous and user-friendly software system. Especially if your website is expected to generate an income, you may find that the intimidating price tag, in the long run, turned out to be a bargain.

An Abundance Of Pyramid Schemes

Are you a candidate for working at home on your computer? You might just be, but there are some hot issues you need to understand first. Not all companies or job sites have legitimate offers. This has become a hot topic as more people have become frustrated after finding out you have to pay so much money to work online. The advertisements in your email box tend to arrive quickly, but the money just never appears. One thing many are unaware of is that you never should pay to work online. You are supposed to be paid for work you do.

One issue that never seems to go away is the pyramid schemes. If you receive an email to join a program free and earn money from your down line, this sounds like the easiest way to make money. In all reality, it is a nightmare. You have to sign up and then “upgrade to a status member” by buying the product in question, whether you want it or not. After that, you are told you can make money from those under you, but only if they in turn buy the product as well. Now the pyramid scheme is taking place.

Therefore, to make twenty dollars, you may have to spend sixty dollars. There is no guarantee that someone under you is going to buy the product. You could wait until the pyramid scheme falls apart and learn a valuable lesson, or you could stay away and look for a more legitimate way to make money. The companies that pay for work done are on the Internet, you just have to know where to look and how to tell if they are legitimate. A legitimate company already has people working for them and has a good standing on the Internet as far as people experiences with the particular company.

There are many websites that offer opinions and advice for working at home and these websites or forums as they are called, offer some valuable information about specific companies and there reputation. A few years back, you may remember hearing about pyramids schemes and other types of moneymaking ideas. If everyone can make money then why are there so many people losing money on these types of pyramids? The answer is quite simple, who has money to buy sixty dollars worth of product that you will never use to make a few dollars.

Therefore, people may be hooked into signing up because the advertisement does not tell you that you have to buy something in order to make money. After you sign up, they continue to send you emails, telling you that someone else has joined under you, “upgrade now” to start making money. Well, in order to upgrade, you are going to have to buy that product and take a chance that someone else will feel the same way. In many cases, you are going to find out that you were the only one to do it.

After waiting to make money, you will give up and be out the sixty dollars for a product you never used. If people would just understand that pyramid schemes only benefit the original product owner, then maybe it would be easier to find real work at home jobs. The Internet would then become a place to find work at home jobs without the need to investigate before applying or signing up for anything.

Staying On Top Of Blog Marketing News

Blog marketing is something that many take seriously. However, if you are into blog marketing and make your living off of your blogs, you are quickly going to realize how important staying on top of the blogging news is. Blogs are also known as web logs, and are used for many things. They are used for journaling, promoting things, and just getting your point across at times. Using a blog to get any of these things done is a great thing. That is because so many people love to read blogs, and they like to hear what others have to say. If you are a blog owner, then chances are you read blogs yourself and often appreciate other’s views on things. Whether it is something that you are looking to purchase, a hobby, or news. Blogs are loved by many.

Blog marketing is only as hard as you make it. You market a blog a lot like you do a website. You are going to find that blog marketing is somewhat less expensive than owning a website though. For example, when you buy a domain, you do not buy it for life, you only buy it for so many years. That can be just one year, or more. Which is a personal preference. So, starting a blog does not have that cost up front that you are looking at for a website, nor does it cost anything monthly to host as a website would. With all of the free blog options that are available to you, there is no need to pay for one.

When you are blog marketing, it is a great idea to stay on top of the news for blogging as well. This will ensure that you are aware of the new things and tools that become available to bloggers. Whether they are promotion tools, or tracking tools, any of them will allow you to keep track of your blog and market it better than ever. Whenever a new tool or technique comes out, you can bet that it will be talked about in the blogging news. Which is great because that makes you as well as other bloggers aware of what is going on.

Not only does blog marketing news make you aware of new things, but it also keeps you up to date on old things that you all ready use. For example, if pinging your blog no longer was good for a blog, you would definitely find out about it in the blog marketing news. So, it can be used for new techniques and tools as well as old ones.

Blog marketing news can be found anywhere that you would go to find website marketing news. You will see that it is also blogged about so if there is anything particular in the news that you are looking for to read about blogging, you will not have to go far. But by reading other blogs about the new news, you are able to get others views on the tools and techniques as well.

As you can see, it is very important to keep up to date on blog marketing and the new things that come out for it. You never know when the latest thing is going to hit the blogging world again, so keeping your eyes peeled is great idea.

Creating Online Communities

Looking for somewhere online to meet new people, discuss hobbies, plan events, or just have fun chatting? Online forums have been around for some time on the internet and often free and easy to setup. Forums are basically online discussion web sites where people share information and chat grouped around a set of topics. One example might be a local photography club. You could setup topics around types of cameras, locations for shooting, local events and meetings, printing tips, etc. Often there are administrators and moderators that help to keep the discussion orderly and on topic.

Some items to consider when starting an online forum include…

Cost – Often you can find them for free. There will probably be some advertising on the site, but don’t most sites now a days?

Features – Does the forum support avatars, private messages, user levels, themes, etc.

Security – Is it possible to create forums that only register users can post in? Helps to avoid those spammers.

I cannot stress the last one enough. You should be completely able to control who is in your forums. One bad apple spoils the bunch. On that same note, it is common for a forums to have moderators. These are people that help enforce the rules in the forum. Make sure your choose your help wisely. When it comes to administrators, there should only ever be one. Administrators have the keys to the city and can set your forum ablaze.

Finally to make a forum a success you need to attract people to it to join. Obviously if it is for a church or some other established group, this is relatively easy. Tell your friends, family, club members. If you are starting from scratch, do the same. Tell people, show people, invite people. Check to see if your forum site is listed in search engines like google. Once you get past that initial setup and recruitment your will soon be on your way to having a forum that you and your friends can enjoy.

Blog Marketing Scams: Being Aware

You are ready to get out of the corporate world; you are ready to make that much needed move. Working for someone else is not always what it is cracked up to be, and you need a major change. Working for yourself can be rewarding and something that you might even be good at. However, you need to know where to start.

Blog marketing is a wonderful to get started with working for yourself. There is no risk involved other than time, and it cost nothing to get started. This makes it something that almost anyone can do and start. However, you will need to be motivated in order to make it work, and also someone that does not need a boss breathing down their back to get things done and done on time.

With the internet being something that everyone in the world has access to, it is no wonder that everyone is starting a blog and making money with it. However, you have to be aware of the scams that are out there and the people that will take your money from you and give you nothing in return. These people are the ones that will tell you that you are getting a great deal, and just what you need, and will in return give you nothing for the money that you give them.

With all of the scams and scammers that are known of in the in internet marketing world, you have to watch your back when you are blog marketing as well. Knowing how to spot the scams will help you immensely, and let you get the most for your money and not be scammed.

Because the internet is constantly changing, you have to keep up with the changes, as well as the scams. Someone that has a website can simply change the URL and face of the site in a matter of hours, and be back on the scamming end of things again. Trying to take money from those that do not know better is what scammers do, and you want to avoid them if at all possible.

The best way to keep from getting caught into a blog marketing scam is to follow someone that has been there and done that. Anyone that is successful as a blog marketer can give you tips and mentor you along the way. Find someone that you trust that is willing to take your hand and lead the way. All you need is to be shown once and you will know the direction to take your other blogs if you plan to have more than one.

Blog marketing has scams in that market and field just like all of the others. Know who you are doing business with and what is involved. Ask for references and if in doubt, never do business with someone that just does not seem to have all of their ducks in a row. That is a great way to avoid getting scammed and losing your hard earned money to someone that has no conscious. Ask your blogging friends for recommendations and use the people as well as services that they trust.

You can protect your self from blog marketing scams if you know how. Research everything that you can about any company, or new service that you are interested in. Doing might prevent you from giving your heard earned money away to someone that is up to no good. You are going to find that when questioned, most scammers are quite defensive, so take that into consideration as well. You can avoid blog marketing scams if you research and check out anyone that you are thinking of giving a try before you use them. You will be glad that you did in the long run, and it will end up saving you time and money from back tracking and fixing their scamming mistakes.

Domain Names 101

Without a domain name, websites are specified by an IP address.  What is an IP address?  It is an identifier that is used by computers or humans to determine the location of a server or website.  However, for humans, an IP address, (which is expressed in a numerical format), can be difficult to remember.  This is why domain names were invented.  With a domain name, a human can locate a website through more user-friendly words or phrases.  And although numbers can be a part of a domain name, they usually do not make up all of it, like what is seen with an IP address.

In terms of format, domain names have several parts.  The first part is known as the URL, (which stands for Uniform Resource Locator).  The URL tells the browser what the domain name is going to point to.  This will usually be 'http', which means the browser can expect to locate a hypertext document.  In layman's terms this means webpage.  In the rare cases the URL is not 'http' it may be 'ftp', which means file transfer protocol.  A webmaster would opt to use ftp if they would like visitors to download files from their server.

The second part of the domain name will be "www," which stands for "World Wide Web."  This phrase lets computers and humans know the site the domain name is pointing to is indeed from the Internet.  It is followed by the actual domain name, which can be a combination of letters, numbers or phrases.  A good domain name will be short, memorable and most importantly, search-engine friendly.  In fact, good webmasters tend to concentrate more on a domain name's effectiveness with SEO, (or Search Engine Optimization), than they do its creativity.  To do this they make sure to choose a domain name that has a widely searched keyword. 

The final portion of the domain name has what is known as an extension.  This lets a person know a little bit more about a website's origins.  For example, take .com, the most common domain name extension.  It stands for 'commercial', and was originally intended for organizations in that vein.  However, now the extension is used by virtually anyone looking to create a website.  And this is for good reason, since most web surfers will think about the .com before they would think about .org, .biz or .net.  Yet, don't think the other extensions can't become memorable either.  Consider Wikipedia.org which is a wildly popular website despite its .org extension.

Domain name extensions can also specify things on a geographical level.  An example are country-based extensions such as .fr, (which stands for France), or .jp, (which stands for Japan).  They can also be state-based, such as .ca, (which stands for California).  Both can serve as excellent tools for localized Internet marketing.

To get a domain name, a person can either: 1) get one from their web hosting company, provided they offer that service or 2) get one from a separate domain name company.  Price-wise things will vary with both options, though typically the cost will range from $6.50 to $35.

New Year's Resolutions

Have you kept to your new year's resolutions? Sadly most of us haven't, and many of us have given up trying. But why is this? Are you going to wait another 12 months before you try again? Many people give up if they fail once. You are putting unreasonable pressure on yourself if you do this.

In one of the British Heart Foundation publications I came across a lovely phrase: " A lapse is not a collapse". In other words, because you've failed once, it doesn't mean you've failed completely. Sometimes you have to fail several (or even many) times before you succeed. Thomas Edison said: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." It is said that Edison was asked how he could bear to have so many failed experiments, and he said: “I’ve learnt 700 ways not to make a light bulb.” I’m not sure if this story is true, but it really shows graphically the power of positive persistence.

So, pick yourself up and try again, but before you do – think again. Think about the goal you’ve set yourself, and ask yourself some questions: Is it worth achieving? Is this the best way to achieve it? Do I need help from others to achieve my goal? Should I break a big goal down into several smaller goals? Have I set myself too many goals?

Then be persistent and tenacious. Louis Pasteur said: “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity".

Make 2006 a year when you got closer to the person you could be:

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof." Barbara Kingsolver

Apparently a baby falls at least 1500 whilst learning to walk. Now that's an interesting thought - think of all those things that we would have never learnt as babies if we'd given up as easily as we do now!