My 2¢ Worth

ou've all seen the ads. "Be Your Own Boss! Set Your Own Hours!" So you're thinking, Sure. Tell me how.

ell, I agree. It does look good on the surface. It's the American dream, right? However, if you dig below the surface a bit you'll find that being your own boss isn't everything it's cut out to be.

ow don't misunderstand me. I am my own boss, so to speak, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

owever, in my line of business the reality is that although I do set my own hours, I ain't really the boss. Every single one of my clients are my bosses. You know dairy farmers always refer to their cows as "boss." Why do you think that is?

hose cows control the dairy farmer's every waking thought and much of what he does. It is the same with my clients.

nd then are those that think they know more about Web design principles than me. I always tell my clients when they want a certain thing if I thinks it's a bad idea and I always explain why. But, ultimately, they're the boss. I have sites I've designed that aren't even in my portfolio because, well, they pretty much suck. They are the client's vision of a great Web site, not mine.

nyway, I just wanted to make the point that if you desire to start a business, on or off line, take some time to look into it before you rush in. Being your own boss isn't always what you expected.

Feature Article

Tips for Search Engine Optimization

by: Sharon Housley FeedForAll

Not only do you have just a few seconds to grab the attention of the web visitor, but before that your site must be "found" when web surfers search on related keywords or phrases. Decent traffic will result if a website ranks well in search engines, that is why strong placement in search engines for critical keywords and phrases is essential.

When struggling with search engine optimization just go back to the basics. What do search engines want? Search engines want to return search results, that are relevant and useful to the searcher. Webmasters can help search engines discern what keywords or phrases their site relates to.

Search Engine Optimization Dos

1. CSS - Cascading Style Sheets. Use header tags and cascading style sheets in your website design. Many search engines value H1 and H2 tags more than others. The assumption is that header tags are used to highlight the most important items or themes that appear on a page. By using header tags, webmasters can bullet those keywords or phrases they deem to be most important. The CSS file will help your site load quickly and provide a consistent look and feel throughout the website.

2. Titles. A website is the collection of webpages under a single domain. A webpage refers to a specific page within a website. Unique page titles throughout a website is important. Websites typically contain many webpages and using unique titles on webpages will help highlight different key phrases while uniting all the website content in a single theme.

3. Related Links. Links from related or relevant sites are more important than generic links from unrelated websites. Links are seen as "votes" of quality content. Search engines weigh links from websites that contain related or similar content more importantly, than links from unrelated websites. Work to obtain relevant quality links from related or authority websites.

4. Anchor Text. Vary anchor text. Use a variety of phrases to link to a site. Using different anchor text to link to a website is seen by search engines as "natural" linking. Search engines use the anchor text of a websites incoming link as part of their algorithm to determine a websites theme.

5. Copy. A minimum of 200 words of copy is suggested for each web page. In order to spider a site a search engine must have sufficient copy to spider. Less does not necessarily mean more, when it comes to search engine ranking. In general try to keep copy "above the fold", so that visitors don't have to scroll. Copy above the fold is usually sufficient to determine the context of the webpage.

6. Fresh. Keep it fresh. Search engines take notice of how frequently content is updated or added. Search engines spider websites that update content on a frequent basis at regular intervals. Add new content or webpages daily or weekly to increase a search engine spider's frequency.

7. Consistent. Provide quality, consistent, fresh content. Consistent related content is critical to encouraging both visitors and search engines to return. Providing consistent quality content encourages links which will increase a websites popularity.

8. Themed. Relate the contents of a website by a single theme. Uniting content using contextual words will help websites rank well for less critical but very targeted related keywords and phrases.

Search Engine Optimization Don'ts

1. Keyword Stuffing. Don't stuff web pages with keywords that is similar to or the same as the webpages background color. Most search engines have ways to detect keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing will likely result in a search engine ban.

2. Cloaking. Cloaking is when the website identifies the IP address of a search engine spider and feeds the spider content that it is not really on the page. Essentially the search engine sees optimized content that is not currently on the web page that it is spidered. It is difficult for search engines to detect cloaking, but if a site is banned or cloaking it is very difficult to convince a search engine to relist the content.

3. Don't Sacrifice Quality. Don't sacrifice quality for optimization. While search engine optimization is important, it is equally important that the content on a webpage should make sense. Placing well in search engines at the expense of a quality professional image with decent web copy, will not usually result in sales. It is a matter of striking a balance.

4. Spam. Not much to be said about this one, don't spam. Don't spam search engines, don't conduct email spam campaigns, and don't spam forums. Being labeled a spammer is a hard reputation to shed.

A website is an important part of a business, search engine optimization is a business investment and requires attention and effort in order to succeed. Website creation is more than just pretty images and an attractive design. In order to "sell" your product or service your information, your site must be found. Therefore it is imperative that search engine content is optimized for search engine placement.

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

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

Adding Audio to Your Site

You can add sound to your site that will be compatible with both Internet Explorer and Netscape as well. Add the following code to the HTML of your web page where you would like the control panel to display.

Change the text indicated in red to your sound file.

<embed src="yourfile.mid" autostart="true" loop="false" hidden="false">
<noembed>
<bgsound src="yourfile.mid" loop="1">
</noembed>

The "autostart" determines whether or not the music will play when the page loads. "True" specifies that the music will start on load and "False" specifies that music will not start on load.

The "loop" determines how the music should be played. "False" specifies that the music should not loop and will play it through one time. "True" specifies that the music should loop and play continuously. I highly recommend that you leave this set on false.

The "hidden" specifies whether or not the music's control panel should be displayed. "True" specifies that the control panel should be hidden. "False" specifies that the control panel should be displayed. This will enable your visitors to stop the music if they prefer. Once again, I highly recommend that you leave this set on false.

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

Second Article

Electronic Payment Processing

by: Jimmy Sturo i-PaymentProcessing.com

Electronic payments only came into existence about a decade ago when the Internet became widespread. It provided an option for different banks and financial institution to be linked together that allowed consumers like you to shop online with the use of credit cards. Now you can simply make purchases online by giving our credit card information, click the send button on the page and wait for the item to be shipped right in front of you doorstep.

But electronic payment processing is not as simple as that. For one, many people are hesitant to conduct electronic payments due to lack of security. Internet scams that jip you out of your hard-earned money also abound. Fortunately, with the advent of more advance software, steps are being taken to change this. New security measures are being taken by most reputable sites to ensure that your credit card information would not be splattered all over the Web. There are also secure online payment systems that you might want to check out.

So, how does electronic payment processing take place? First, you make the intent to make a purchase with your credit card online. The E-store generates an invoice for the purchase and selects the credit card that is going to be utilized. The store then submits a payment request to your credit card company.

The information sent is then verified. If authorization is given, a request is then sent to the credit card company for payment to the E-store’s bank. The credit card company sends an approval or denial of the payment request. If the transaction is approved, the E-store then generates a purchase order.

With the PO, the people from the site would then manually process your purchase. A payment would later be sent by the credit card company to the E-store’s bank to close all transactions.

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

Payment Processing provides detailed information on Payment Processing, Internet Credit Card Payment Processing, Electronic Payment Processing, Credit Card Payment Processing and more. Payment Processing is affiliated with EFT Software

Comments?

If you'd like to comment on any aspect of this publication, send an E-mail to
comments@ paradigmwebdesign.net

---

If you enjoyed The Web Sm@rts Newsletter, forward it to your friends, family and associates. They'll thank you for it!

---

Do you know someone who might be interested in receiving
Web Sm@rts?
Recommend us!

---

NOTE: You have received this message because you or one of your friends added your name to our list of those who may wish to receive this newsletter.

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please point your browser to http://paradigmwebdesign.net/unsubscribe.html

FYI: Web Sm@rts will never share your E-mail address or personal information with any other party for any reason what-so-ever.

---

This newsletter is never sent unsolicited.
To unsubscribe, point your browser to http://paradigmwebdesign.net/unsubscribe.html

Tell them Web Sm@rts referred you!

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.
lc.exe

Text Tally from
Harmony Hollow software
is a handy text counting utility. Download it free from PWD
Download now

E-Zine Advertising WORKS!
Place your ad in 100s of e-zines like this one. The E-Zine AdSource Directory is the place to find discount e-zine ad space. Come see!
ezineadsource.com

Tutorials

Elated Webdesign Tips
Javagoodies JavaScript Repository
Website Abstraction Westciv: CSS Resources