My 2¢ Worth

'm going to ask one more time for those who haven't and those that may be new to this publication to sign the petition at ReformUS.com.

s I mentioned last week, this country has a problem with our unsecured Southern border. Illegal aliens flow across that border like water over a damn. Ten thousand a year into California alone!

ven Governor Arnie recognizes there's a problem — and no — he is NOT a bigot! Despite what some of the media in this country would have you belive this has nothing to do with race.

llegal immigrants to this country are costing you money. Do you have any idea how much it cost the State of California to support the ever growing population of illegal immigrants? I forget the exact figure, but it in the billions (that's billions with a b) of dollars per year!

f it were up to me, I'd have the National Guard stationed at strategic points along the Southern border with standing orders to shoot to kill.

hat being said, however, I do not have a problem with anyone who wants to immigrate to the United States, so long as they do it legally.

Feature Article

Understanding Web Logs; And Why it Matters

by: Sharon Housley NotePage, Inc.

General web statistics give pertinent information about website visitors. Webmasters analyzing these statistics have a better understanding of who their website visitors are and how they perceive the website. A lot can be learned by evaluating navigation patterns, most-viewed pages and exit pages. Deciphering web logs could easily become a full-time job. The information that can be gleaned from close log scrutiny is extremely valuable.

When a visitor comes to a website, the site has just a few seconds to grab the visitor's interest. Slow-loading pages or broken graphics will send visitors and potential customers looking elsewhere. In order to make sense of web statistics, consider using a log analysis program. These programs tend to format the information in an easy-to-understand way, often providing graphs or visual representations that make understanding and seeing patterns that much easier. The downside to using software for web log analysis is that webmasters can easily be confused about what the actual results mean and which results matter the most. The information contained in the log file should be analyzed in conjunction with other information.

Let's take a look at some of the critical areas. How many unique visitors visit the site each day? This statistic, by itself, is not terribly important, but when compared to a previous week's or month's logs, patterns will generally emerge. Sudden declines in site visitors might be indicative of downtime or dropped links, while sudden increases might be indicative of a successful ad campaign or improved search engine ranking. This assumption can only be made if sales for the corresponding time period have increased as well. Traffic alone is not the goal; qualified website traffic that converts a visitor into a buyer is generally the goal of most webmasters. Web statistics on their own do not always paint a true picture. Webmasters need to use logs to validate advertising campaigns and track where traffic is coming from. While details in a log file alone are not conclusive proof of an ad campaigns success or failure, general assumptions can be made based on the patterns. General statistics will help determine who your visitors are and what habits they have.

Specific areas to take a close look at:

How long are users staying on the website or a specific page?

This question addresses a website's "stickiness". Stickiness gives webmasters an indication of how important their content is. If users return on a regular basis or remain on a specific page for an extended period of time, generally the content is considered valuable.

Site entry pages?

What pages in a website are visitors coming into? Is a specific page on the site drawing an unusually high amount of traffic? Do users come back to the website? Is there a reason for a visitor to come back to the website? Generally, content that is refreshed often will attract return visitors. What specific areas on the site are of interest to web visitors, and can those content sections be expanded to increase the overall value of the website?

Site exit pages?

What pages in a website are visitors leaving from? If a specific page has a large number of visitors leaving the site, perhaps the content needs updating. It is critical that you consider the source of the traffic. Are visitors coming to the website through a pay-per-click campaign with a landing page that does not relate to the initial search terms? Directing visitors to content-specific landing pages will help reduce quick site exits.

Who is making the referral?

What kind of website is sending traffic to your website? Assumptions can be made based on the quality of the referral source. Let's face it, if a crack site is the leading referral generator to a software site, it is unlikely that the bulk of visitors will be interested in purchasing.

Bad requests?

Are visitors attempting to access pages on your website that are no longer active? Be sure to check logs for any pages or graphics that are generating errors for visitors.

Number of unique visitors?

Don't get too hung up on the number of "hits" a website has, as this can be interpreted differently. Sometimes logs interpret graphic access as a hit. A more accurate reflection of traffic can be seen by tracking unique visitors.

There are a number of inexpensive yet quality log analysis applications available for download from:
www.monitoring-software.net/ and
www.monitoring-tools.net

By evaluating web logs webmasters can continuously improve their site and measure their success. Online or off, tracking results is critical to achieving success. If you don't track, you don't know what works. How can you improve what you don't measure?

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

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

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.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for yourweb site, free. *

Second Article

Software Teaches Your Computer New Tricks

by: Nora Tulley-Gears

It's likely that even people who don~t have computers have heard the word software. The reality is that almost every American home now has a PC. Software is an integral part of your computer's make-up. You can look at the motherboard and components as the skeleton and the software would be its nervous and muscular system. Without software, the PC would not even boot up.

Programs are running inside your computer at all times that it is on. The first program is always going to be your operating system, or OS. Microsoft Windows is the most common, Linux is also used and Macintosh's OS for Mac owners. These operating systems are both similar but will vary slightly. In the end, they give you the same result; allowing your computer to boot and all basic functions to work. The basics that will come with most computers aside from the OS are a word processing program (such as MS Word), a paint program, games and accessories (such as Solitaire and a calculator).

Aside from your basic software, there are many other types. There's software to assist you in designing web pages, graphic design and even for architecture. There is software to help you with your budget and other finances. You will find software that is designed for fun and entertainment, such as games. Gaming software involves many categories and topics designed for all ages. Many of your popular console games can be found with versions for the PC. You will find software games for toddlers and for adults.

Basically anything you use your computer for will need software. If you buy spyware or adware removal, games, or any program for your computer it will often come with a software disc to download. If you have the internet, you likely had to use software to get the internet browser to work on your computer. Some computers come with this software already installed but either way, software is required.

You will see when you buy a new software program that it comes with a registration code. This is due to hackers and peer-to-peer software sharing. A person could buy a program and share it with people they know or even with other folks on the internet. This type of piracy is illegal but hard to catch. Software companies were losing money from this type of software sharing and had to safeguard against lost sales and profits.

The market for developing software is large. One of the ways to make money online is to create your own software and sell it. That can be very profitable as long as you have a method to promote it. Creating a product that is so unique that it becomes viral - in other words, software that people will share with everyone they know because it is such a time-saver is something to consider as you develop the software and you could be on your way to riches!

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

Download of the Week

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