My 2¢ Worth

've recently heard a lot of talk about "new beginnings." Some from some personal friends of mine and also in an E-zine I receive.

ne of my friends is looking at a possible change of career and also making some big changes in her personal life. A few others are making changes in their personal lives as well.

 guess with the arrival of Spring we all get thinking about "new beginnings." I love this season — it is second only to summer. I watch as the birds return to our state after wintering down south. Soon they will lay their eggs and care for their young. The grass is getting greener every day and the buds are coming on the trees. The perennial flowering plants are now poking their heads out of the ground.

o you're wondering where I'm going with this? What is my point? Well I'm thinking that perhaps this is a good time for a new beginning with your online activities too.

've recently made some changes to my Web site. The copy on the home page is completely different and there is a brand new design. The old site was getting stale — it was time for a change; a new beginning if you will.

erhaps your Web site is stale too. Would you like to make a new beginning? Do you want an attractive design that draws your visitors eyes and makes the want to explore your offerings? A site that is cross browser compatible and coded according to the standards set forth by the W3C? And all this at prices that won't break your bank?

ead on over to my site, fill out the Client Inquiry form and see what I can do for you. This might be a great way to invest your tax refund!

Feature Article

Mini Site or Content-based Web Site?

by: Herman Drost iSiteBuild.com

Are you in a dilemma whether to create a mini site or a content-based web site for your new product or service? The purpose of creating a web site should be to attract visitors and convert them to paying customers. Is a mini site with a few pages enough to do this or should you spend more time and create a content-based web site which contains many pages?

Let's look at some of the Pros and Cons:

Mini Sites

Pros

1. Easy to set up - you don't have to be a programmer these days to create a mini site. Web site templates or software allow most of the work to be done already.
2. Little time - you could create a mini site within one day if you have your entire content ready to go.
3. Laser focused on selling one product or service - a mini site can simply be one long sales page with an order button at the end.
4. No distractions - customers are distracted by other options on the web site. With no banners or links to other sites, the customer can be directed to purchase immediately.
5. Inexpensive to create - if you use a free hosting account (not recommended), you would just pay for registering a domain name. Paid hosting services for a mini site can be acquired for only $30/year.

Cons

1. Difficult for search engines to spider - a web site containing many relevant pages of content will tend to rank higher in the search engines than a one page mini site.
2. Lacks pages of content - mini sites often lack in-depth information about their product or service.
3. Difficult to increase link popularity - getting links from other web sites increases your link popularity. Webmasters form other sites want to link to a web site which contains valuable information that expands their visitors experience.
4. Less traffic - less pages means fewer chances for people to find your site in the search engines, thereby limiting the amount of traffic your web site receives.

Content-based web sites

Pros

1. Search engine friendly - creating a content-based page for every targeted keyword will enable visitors to enter from numerous points within your site.
2. Easy to acquire links from other sites - webmasters want to link to web sites that will expand their visitors experience by providing more information (ie articles) or simplify their tasks (ie software).
3. Become an authority on your product or service - adding pages of content related to your product, helps people to make an informative decision before purchasing.
4. Lots of traffic - creating lots of keyword focused pages and acquiring incoming and outgoing links to and from other sites generates lots of free traffic.

Cons

1. Too many options - customers can become indecisive if their are too many options to choose from.
2. Too many links to other web sites - this may take visitors away from your site and not return. Ideally you want to keep them at your site.
3. Can be expensive to build - content-based sites can cost thousands of dollars to develop if you take into account the cost of graphics and/or hiring someone to build it for you.
4. Takes a lot of time to develop the web site - building content-based pages takes time. It may take several years to create hundreds of content-based pages.
5. Attracts "tire kickers" - visitors want to look around to glean free information but may never buy.

Conclusion:

Before you decide on what type of web site to develop, first think of the purpose of your site. If you just need a sales page and want to drive targeted traffic to your site using paid advertising (ie paid per click search engines, ezine ads) then a mini site could be sufficient.

If you plan on becoming an authority on your product or service and want to attract lots of free search engine traffic, then a content-based web site will serve you better.

Alternatively, you may create a combination of the two ie begin with a mini site, leaving room to expand it to a larger content-based web site in the future.

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Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of www.iSiteBuild.com
Affordable Web Site Design and Low Cost Web Hosting
Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original
articles. subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more
of his in-depth articles at: www.isitebuild.com/articles

Adding Color to Table Borders

The <table> tag is the opening tag used to create a table within a web page.

You can add color to your < table> borders by adding bordercolor= "#colorcode" within the <table> tag. This only works in IE. Netscape viewers will just see the default table border.

For example:

<table border="2" bordercolor="#336699" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="50%">
<tr>
<td>table cell</td>
<td>table cell</td>
</tr>
</table>

Displays:

table cell

table cell

 

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for your web site, free. *

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Second Article

How the Internet Can Help You Customize Your Sales

by: Scott F. Geld Marketing Blaster, Inc.

One of the big secrets of making a sale is in knowing what potential customers need and making sure that your service or product meets these needs.

Customers can always spot a one-size-fits-all kind of pitch...you know, the one that is generic in nature and intended for a broad audience. If you can customize your sales pitch and outline benefits tailored to your customer's needs, then you are well on the way to standing out from the competition.

How can the power of the Internet help you, you ask? It's true that much of the information you need to put a sales proposal together can come directly from your customer. But sometimes getting that information is like pulling hen's teeth isn't it? A less painful approach is to use the internet to research and fill in the details. You can find out a lot about your prospective customer without exchanging a word. Today, using the Internet, it's possible to find out almost anything you want to know by searching online. Product information, annual reports, even information about your contact's favorite hobbies may be revealed. All of this information can help you to put together a presentation or proposal that is customized just for your customer.

When it comes time for that sales contact, you'll be armed with information that will ensure you appear knowledgeable and confident. Your customer will notice that you made the effort to get to know what their needs are. Remember one of the key elements in making a sale is meeting the needs of the customer. Use online research to help you determine those needs.

**************

Scott F. Geld is the Director of Marketing for MarketingBlaster.com, a company specializing in affordable traffic (5 cents/visitor) and direct links for $5/link. For more information please visit: www.MarketingBlaster.com

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Download of the Week

CacheMonitor (For Internet Explorer) This utility gives you more detailed information than a normal Explorer view of the cache. Additionally it monitors changes and allows you to sort the listing by any change or type of information stored in the cache. (It now even monitors stray files!) A great program for getting to the bottom of Internet cache problems and inefficiency. Download CacheMonitor

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Recommended Reading

I highly recommend the following E-zines.

ThePortalToSuccessE-Zine

Interactive Marketing Ezine

Looking for free newsletters? Just visit the EzineXchange, Select the ones of interest and subscribe. It's free!
ezinexchange.com

Find other great e-mail newsletters and Ezines at the Cumuli Ezine Finder: www.cumuli.com/ezines/

Web Site and E-zine Promotion for Idiots
Get your copy from PWD and get lots of traffic to your Web Site or E- zine instantly.

Use Link Crafter to drive more traffic to your site. Free download from PWD.
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Tutorials

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