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Our weekly Web design tip.
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t seems that some of you had problems with the puzzle last week. I got 3 reports claiming that it doesn't work.
f three people reported having problems, you can bet 300 more had problems and said nothing. I tested my script in five different browsers and I never had any problems whatsoever.
k, I admit that with Netscape it only seems to work when it wants to. All I can suggest is to reload the page and try again. I can't believe people still insist on using Netscape. That has got to be the world's worst browser!
nyway, if you're using Internet Explorer, you shouldn't encounter any problems, nor will you in Opera 6.x or higher. Mostly I think people just don't understand the directions. I don't know how to make it any clearer. Simply click on a picture square to move it into the blank space. There are only two possible moves each time. The picture square MUST be adjacent to the blank space.
o try again with this weeks brand new puzzle. You can still win some design work at significantly reduced prices! If you do encounter any problems, please let me know.
n next weeks issue of Web Sm@rts we will be beginning our series of interviews again. Our interview next week is with Web Designer and Business Coach, Ginger Geracitano. I had a lot of fun conducting this interview and I think you'll find it very interesting.
Tick, tick, tick. That's the sound of those all important 10 seconds slipping away - the average amount of time a visitor remains at a web site before clicking on.
That is, unless you give them a reason to stay.
Take a good hard look at your web site - is it optimized in your favor? What does a visitor first see when they arrive? Does the
headline make them screech to a halt? Does your sales letter's first paragraph hook them in? Tick, tick, tick.... remember, 10 seconds is all you have.
If your conversion rate is telling a dismal tale, it's time to make some changes. And, as unglamorous as it may be, it all comes down to your sales letter. If your sales are nonexistent, now's the time to act. Fast. Before your business becomes one of the 95% that fail.
Here's the infamous 'Top 10' checklist - does your sales letter do the following?
1) Does it engage the reader on a personal level? Write like you're talking to your best friend, your grandmother, whomever
your target market is. If it's not personal, it's useless.
Use the words 'you' and 'your' whenever possible - try to forgo the words 'I' and 'me.' After all, it's not about you — it's about them.
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2) Try to incorporate your target market into your headline. If you're going after car enthusiasts, say 'Car Enthusiasts Usually Disagree... Except On This One Thing.' If you're going after dog lovers, it would be 'Dog Lovers Usually Disagree...Except On This One Thing.'
Do everything possible to make your reader identify with the subject matter, to hook them into reading more.
3) Always use the KISS principle when writing (Keep It Simple Stupid). Don't get lost in your own words - this is not the time to impress with your astonishing vocabulary - write for the common man/woman. Don't bore them into clicking away.
4) Do you use stories to illustrate your point? Ever notice how CEO's and politicians always use stories in their speeches? They're communicating through mental pictures, to get their ideas across in another way.
Everyone has a different frame of reference - try using a personal story to produce that 'yes! they're talking about me!' reaction.
5) Break it up with bullets. For those readers who are into skimming, organizing your most important points in bullet form helps to communicate the benefits FAST.
Put your most important points at the top, in case the person doesn't make it to the bottom. And there's no rule that says
you're only allowed one bullet list - put one close to the top of
the letter, and perhaps another towards the bottom.
Do you have an article for Web Sm@rts? Send to Web Sm@rts
Placing your article in Web Sm@rts is a great way to
gain exposure for you and/or your business! Each article is
published with your name and web site, plus a short 'resource box' at
the end of the article.
Test, and keep whatever converts best.
6) Use benefits over features. Always. They don't care that
the refrigerator has a big vegetable bin or automatic icemaker.
They want to know that it keeps their vegetables from drying out,
and their beer/lemonade refreshingly cold on a hot summer's day.
7) Write in your own voice. We're not talking 'Masterpiece
Theatre' here. Formality is out; friendly is in. And I give you
permission to start your sentences with 'And' (note how this
sentence started!) and 'Because.'
When writing for the real world, write like you speak.
8) How long are your paragraphs? If longer than 2-4 lines, break them up. And keep sentences short - even 2-4 words are ok. Like this. Short, quick 'eye bites' communicate faster when you're racing against the clock.
9) Focus on one product/service per sales letter. Period. No exceptions.
10) And, finally, watch the grand, sweeping statements. Using 'Earn $1 Million In Two Days While You Sleep!' won't help build your credibility. Or conversion level.
If you incorporate these ideas into your sales letter, you're bound to beat the clock and begin building a better conversion rate.
**************
Paula Morrow heads www.idealmarketingcorp.com. She
specializes in public relations, information marketing and creating cashflow systems. Her newsletter, IDEALProfits, is now read in 12 countries. Subscribe and receive 5 BONUS ebooks!
www.idealmarketingcorp.com/subscribe.html
**************
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.......................................... This week's TIP
Trailing Forward slash
Here is a very simple trick you should employ if you have other sites linking to you, and you want your pages to load as fast as they can. It's a very simple trick, but not many people realize the logic behind it. The object is to make sure your links have a trailing forward slash on your URL, unless you are targeting a specific page. Here's what I mean:
http://www.yoursite.com/shop/
Note the final forward slash on this URL. This tells the server that shop is a directory, and not a file. If you don't use that final forward slash, the server will go through its entire directory tree searching for a file named shop. When it doesn't find that file, it assumes you really meant to find the default file associated with that directory, commonly index.html, or default.php, etc. By using a forward slash on directories, you save the server from redundant work, and pages will load faster.
This is especially important if you run your own server, and if you have many other sites linking to you. Get into the habit of using final forward slashes on your directory URLs.
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When burning audio-cd's it is absolutely critical that the data-stream from the harddrive to the CD-writer is as continious as possible. The CD-writer has an internal memory-buffer to compensate for small gaps, but if your harddrive or your CPU is interrupted for to long, the CD-writer will run out of data. Because the CD-writer cannot wait, this will cause gaps and noise in the music, or in the worst case, it will ruin the entire disc. Buffer Underrun errors are a common problem when burning CDs.
The source of the problem
So, why is the CPU interrupted? Windows is a multi-tasking operation system, meaning it can run many programs simultaneously. The CPU, however, can only do one thing at a time. To solve this problem, Windows divides the CPU-time into small slices and gives each running program a short period of time to execute, before the CPU is handed over to the next program. The more programs you run, the smaller each time-slice gets. If the slices are to small, there may not be enough time for the burning-software to fill the buffer on the CD-writer.
What about the harddrive? Just like the CPU, the harddrive cannot read everything at the same time. If, for example, some antivirus software or a screensaver starts in the middle of your cd-burning-session, the harddrive may get occupied with other things and stop reading CD-data.
The solution
What can you do to prevent "buffer underrun errors"? There are a few things you should always do before burning audio-CDs:
Reboot the computer before you begin to make sure the operating system is completely stable (You never know after running a few games).
Terminate all programs but the cd-burning-software. Of course you need WinTasks to be able to stop all the invisible background processes. If you are using WinTasks 4 you only have to do this once, since it is now possible to save the currently running processes and their priorities to a preset. To restore the optimal cd-burning process configuration later, you can simply click the preset button.
Don't use your CD-writers maximum burnings speed if you have get any gaps or jumps in the music. If your writer can burn at 4x use 2x, if can handle 8x use 4x and so on. This way, the CPU will only have to send half as much data to keep the buffer full. Making the whole process less sensitive to errors.
Try increasing the priority of the CD-burning software. You may have to try a few different settings before you find the optimal priorities for your system. Use WinTasks to change the priorities, and again, I recommend creating preset in WinTasks for the optimal settings once you have figured them out. You should not modify the priorities of the system processes (red), and use the built-in decriptions to find out if what a processes does. (WinTasks 4 have built-in decriptions for most system processes, and many other processes as well.)
Always cache to harddrive before burning. (This is usually an option in your burning-software)
Emil Malmberg is senior software developer for LIUtilities.
**************
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Web Sm@rts is a publication of Paradigm Web Design. All
rights reserved. ©2003
t seems that some of you had problems with the puzzle last week. I got 3 reports claiming that it doesn't work.
k, I admit that with Netscape it only seems to work when it wants to. All I can suggest is to reload the page and try again. I can't believe people still insist on using Netscape. That has got to be the world's worst browser!
nyway, if you're using Internet Explorer, you shouldn't encounter any problems, nor will you in Opera 6.x or higher. Mostly I think people just don't understand the directions. I don't know how to make it any clearer. Simply click on a picture square to move it into the blank space. There are only two possible moves each time. The picture square MUST be adjacent to the blank space.
o try again with this weeks 
