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[2003-05-28] SEO Corner - JavaScript and Search Engine Visibility
Question: I am using JavaScript on my site, and I am concerned that my site may not being fully seen/indexed by the search engines and the spiders. How can I find out?
[2003-05-28] What Makes Email Professional?
I asked DevWebPro readers what they expected from professional email, and the responses poured in. Find out what people who are receiving your email expect to see. Read on for views on HTML mail, Outlook, a few criticisms of DevWebPro, plus grammar gripes and misspelling misery.
[2003-05-23] The Quiet Death of the Major Re-Launch
"It seems like a such a huge undertaking," the Senior VP of Marketing told me. "Frankly, we're terrified we're going to make things worse than they already are." The VP was sitting at the conference table with her senior staff. They'd been discussing the state of the web site and their desire to completely redesign it.
[2003-05-22] Usability and Cost Savings while Designing an Intranet
This article discusses the value of design in the development of an intranet and how it can create cost savings not only in it's development, but in the future as company employees leverage the system to save time.
[2003-05-21] Use JavaScript to Dynamically Update Your Website
If you've been on the Internet for a while, you've probably seen numerous examples of JavaScript use. JavaScript is a powerful scripting language used to create special effects on your website, but did you know it can also be used as a very powerful web design tool?
[2003-05-21] 10 Website Essentials to Increase Your Sales
If you are a serious Internet Entrepreneur, your top priority must be your website. Your website is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional website designed to sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your website to sell.
[2003-05-21] The Secrets to Building a Successful Website
If you're doing business on the Internet, one of the most important aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn't look professional, no matter what product you're offering your chances of success are minimal.
[2003-05-21] Increase Your Traffic by Recovering Your Lost Visitors
If you spend any time surfing the Internet, you've probably encountered a few error messages. Error messages have numerous causes, such as misspellings, outdated links or internal server errors. When an error is encountered, your server will display specific generic error pages according to the error. These error pages are not only dead ends, but they are also very frustrating for your potential visitors.
[2003-05-21] The Hits That Matter Most
So you know what hits mean. Unique hits or user sessions, I mean. And you know what CR means. Right? If so, you're in great shape, for many people don't. They think they do. But they've got it wrong.
[2003-05-21] The First Fold Makes Your Site (Or Breaks It)
Visitors to your site are not looking to make a new friend. They don't want to chat. And they don't give a darn what you think about anything, least of all your product. They only want to know:
[2003-05-21] Search Engine Optimization and Page Templating
Dear Ross I wonder if you can advise on how I should set up a menu structure (template) for a new site in a way which is optimal for search engine positioning:
[2003-05-21] Search Engines vs. Database-Driven Websites - Optimizing PHP
Dear Jim I have a question regarding a e commerce site using PHP extensions vs. html. That is, I have seen at this SEO site that there might be an issue with search engines being able to crawl this kind of a site, since these are javascript sites I think there might be reason to worry, is it true? What should I do?
[2003-05-21] Elevating PageRank and Choosing a Keyword Focus
Dear Ross, I'm still not too clear on this whole PageRank thing that Google does. From what I can gather, the incoming links have no weight in the PageRank, only links leaving my site and going to other sites (so competitors can't lower your PageRank by linking to you with low-ranked sites). So, all I have to do is find all the highly ranked pages out there, and link to them? Or do they have to be in the same general category as my site? What's to stop me from creating several sites at several different domains, each under a slightly different yet overlapping category, and linking to the top PageRanked sites (to give my sites high PageRanks), then linking each of my sites together to get even higher PageRanks?
[2003-05-21] The Other Side of Headlines
Since as many as 80% of visitors will never finish even the headline on a page, it's clear we need to put our best effort into creating them. And the headline on our home page is the one that matters most. Here's why.
[2003-05-20] Introduction to Relational Database Systems
If you collect and use any kind of data you probably have some kind of organizing system. Whether you use index cards, a filing cabinet, Excel spreadsheets, or some kind of database program, your system should let you add and change data, delete data, and retrieve data, and it should work faster and more efficiently than if you had to do it by hand.
[2003-05-20] Currency Formatting and Putting Commas In Numbers
This article will show you how to do two things: 1. Round numbers to the nearest hundredth, with two digits following the decimal point. This can be useful when displaying prices or the totals of orders. 2. Insert commas between every third digit (right to left) for numbers 1000 and larger. This can make numbers easier to read.
[2003-05-15] Arrays in PHP: Part 1
What exactly is an array? An array is a variable type in PHP that allows the programmer to associate one value directly to another value or simply take a set of data and organize it into a list format (much like a table). It can be used in many ways to store and organize data quickly and efficiently. It is one of the more useful data types available to any programming language.
[2003-05-15] Arrays in PHP: Part 2
Today we'll continue our discussion of arrays in PHP including the use of associative and multidimensional arrays. In my last article, we introduced a new array data type in PHP and covered its fundamentals. Today we'll dive deeper into arrays and introduce a type of array called an associative array and a more complex type of array -- the multidimensional array.
[2003-05-15] Content Thieves
Someone's been stealing your content. Really. It's easy to do, too. I'm talking about all the fancy jpgs, gifs, docs and pdfs on your site. Guess what? If I can hit them with a URL, they're mine.
[2003-05-14] Optimizing JavaScript for Execution Speed
JavaScript can benefit from many of the same speed-optimization techniques that are used in other languages, like C1,2 and Java. Algorithms and data structures, caching frequently used values, loop unrolling and hoisting, removing tail recursion, and strength-reduction techniques all have a place in your JavaScript optimization toolbox. However, how you interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) in large part determines how efficiently your code executes.
[2003-05-14] Traffic Analysis - Commission Thieves
Question: Jim, I caught your article on Traffic Analysis but was unable to unearth methods of avoiding commission stealing. Will a simple PHP redirect do the trick? I expect that the offending code changes the affiliate code in the downloaded HTML; doing a redirect off of a server would eliminate that problem if that is the case. Is this the silver bullet?
[2003-05-14] SEO Corner - Frames, JavaScript and Search Engines
Question: My site has frames and JavaScript. How can I tell if it is being fully seen/indexed by the search engines?
[2003-05-13] Building Web Sites with Macromedia Studio MX - Book Excerpt
Macromedia's release of the MX Studio essentially turned their entire web product line inside out and rearranged the molecules. Instead of separate products performing specialized tasks, the tight integration of the tools-Freehand, Flash MX, Fireworks MX, Dreamweaver MX, and ColdFusion MX-means an entirely new, more efficient workflow can develop.
[2003-05-12] Could This Be The End of Spam?
The war on spam has so far been waged on two fronts: legislation to make spam illegal and filters that prevent spam reaching its destination.
[2003-05-12] A Good Host Matters, But Be Ready To Move
Hosting services all have pretty much the same inescapable overhead. For example, servers and related gear all cost about the same. And maintenance costs are pretty constant. Thus when you find a low priced host, you know they are doing one or more of the following ...
[2003-05-09] Should Hyperlinks Always Be Blue?
Question: I am the webmaster for West Salem High School, additionally I run my own web design company (thus my subscription to DevWebPro). I read your article on the importance of underlining links and keeping them blue. I will start of by admitting that I am one of those people who sometimes takes design and puts it in front of purpose. I try to check myself on that and ensure that visitors to my sites have navigation that doesn't change throughout the website, but I do not stick with blue, underlined links.
[2003-05-08] Selecting a Search Engine Optimization Company
There are many factors to consider when selecting a search engine optimization company. Unfortunately, many businesses that haven't previously used search engine optimization to promote themselves are unsure how to evaluate potential vendors, and many are intimidated by the entire concept. The following article, divided into five major topics of consideration, is intended to help in the selection process.
[2003-05-07] Search Engine Robots - How They Work, What They Do (Part II)
Why Isn't My Website In The Search Engine? If your site isn't found in the search engines, it is probably because the robots couldn't deal with it. It could be something as simple as not being able to find the site, or it may be more complicated issues involving the robot's not being able to crawl the site or figure out what your pages are all about.
[2003-05-06] 3 Tips On Using Contrast
If you have a website, it needs to grab attention. You have to catch a visitor's interest and make him or her want to delve into your site. Otherwise, the site won't do you much good, no matter how much traffic you're getting.
[2003-05-06] 3 Reasons Not To Use Uppercase
Sometimes it's ok to use uppercase. Capital letters can add a touch of class to the apperance of your page. However, they should be used very sparingly. There are three reasons why you should avoid them in most cases:
[2003-05-06] Drop-Down Menus: They Aren't User-Friendly
On many sites, drop-down menus aren't a significant part of the design. However, they appear often enough that they deserve some attention. So exactly how should they be used?
[2003-05-06] Conscious Consistency: The Principle Of Repetition
If you take a look at the marketing materials of most Fortune 500 companies, you'll notice that they all have one thing in common: within each one, all of the company's marketing materials are similar in their appearance.
[2003-05-05] Traffic Analysis - Turning Traffic Into Sales
Question: About 5 months ago I started on a quest to make the best site possible, with the best content for the users that I wanted there. My URL is http://www.skateservice.com. Now that I'm actually getting traffic, I can't turn it into sales. I am an affiliate of the #2 online skateboard shop, but I'm not seeing any turn around from it. I place banner ads, and feature ads on my site, but no one seems to be buying anything. The whole purpose of the site is to make it an E-Zine type, with the option to buy products that I know the customer is in the market for. Any ideas or thoughts would really help me out here.
[2003-05-02] Ten Ways to Make the Most of IIS
As an IIS administrator it sometimes gets downright annoying having to fend off all the insults from Apache admins I meet claming innate server superiority. Generally the discussion about Web administration starts first with all the various security holes plaguing IIS and the negative press the platform garnered over the last year.
[2003-05-02] Simple Bar Preloader Tutorial
The idea behind this preloader is that we halt the progression of the movie and find out our filesize. We find then find out how much of that is loaded, use these numbers to create a percentage and then affect the scale of our bar to represent this.
[2003-05-01] Creating PDF Files in PHP
The PDF (or portable document format) file is an amazingly versatile format for transferring what usually starts as a hard copy version of a document over the Internet.
[2003-05-01] Inspecting Your Web Site for Spam
Spam is an overused word. Describing everything from processed luncheon foodstuffs to the flood of advertising Email we all receive each day, the simple, four-letter word is as widely used as many other deceptively descriptive four-letter words are. Suffice it to say that SPAM is not counted amongst the most honorable words in the English language. The IT world has forced the English language to evolve very quickly as old words are applied against new technologies and ideas and thus, the word "Spam" has become synonymous with words such as "junk" and "waste". In the search engine optimization field, the word Spam is used to describe illegal techniques used to try to fool search engine spiders. This section will outline a few of the more frequent Spam techniques used by webmasters or unscrupulous SEO practitioners. Check your websites for any incidents of Spam and do your best to get rid of them as they could seriously damage your search engine rankings.
[2003-05-01] Streamlining Project Management for the Web Designer
The project management of a web design job can make or break the project. If you are a web designer who has to perform your own project management, the following guidelines can help you to stay on budget and hit your deadline.
Question: I am using JavaScript on my site, and I am concerned that my site may not being fully seen/indexed by the search engines and the spiders. How can I find out?
[2003-05-28] What Makes Email Professional?
I asked DevWebPro readers what they expected from professional email, and the responses poured in. Find out what people who are receiving your email expect to see. Read on for views on HTML mail, Outlook, a few criticisms of DevWebPro, plus grammar gripes and misspelling misery.
[2003-05-23] The Quiet Death of the Major Re-Launch
"It seems like a such a huge undertaking," the Senior VP of Marketing told me. "Frankly, we're terrified we're going to make things worse than they already are." The VP was sitting at the conference table with her senior staff. They'd been discussing the state of the web site and their desire to completely redesign it.
[2003-05-22] Usability and Cost Savings while Designing an Intranet
This article discusses the value of design in the development of an intranet and how it can create cost savings not only in it's development, but in the future as company employees leverage the system to save time.
[2003-05-21] Use JavaScript to Dynamically Update Your Website
If you've been on the Internet for a while, you've probably seen numerous examples of JavaScript use. JavaScript is a powerful scripting language used to create special effects on your website, but did you know it can also be used as a very powerful web design tool?
[2003-05-21] 10 Website Essentials to Increase Your Sales
If you are a serious Internet Entrepreneur, your top priority must be your website. Your website is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional website designed to sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your website to sell.
[2003-05-21] The Secrets to Building a Successful Website
If you're doing business on the Internet, one of the most important aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn't look professional, no matter what product you're offering your chances of success are minimal.
[2003-05-21] Increase Your Traffic by Recovering Your Lost Visitors
If you spend any time surfing the Internet, you've probably encountered a few error messages. Error messages have numerous causes, such as misspellings, outdated links or internal server errors. When an error is encountered, your server will display specific generic error pages according to the error. These error pages are not only dead ends, but they are also very frustrating for your potential visitors.
[2003-05-21] The Hits That Matter Most
So you know what hits mean. Unique hits or user sessions, I mean. And you know what CR means. Right? If so, you're in great shape, for many people don't. They think they do. But they've got it wrong.
[2003-05-21] The First Fold Makes Your Site (Or Breaks It)
Visitors to your site are not looking to make a new friend. They don't want to chat. And they don't give a darn what you think about anything, least of all your product. They only want to know:
- What's in it for me?
- Why should I believe you?
- Why should I buy from you?
[2003-05-21] Search Engine Optimization and Page Templating
Dear Ross I wonder if you can advise on how I should set up a menu structure (template) for a new site in a way which is optimal for search engine positioning:
[2003-05-21] Search Engines vs. Database-Driven Websites - Optimizing PHP
Dear Jim I have a question regarding a e commerce site using PHP extensions vs. html. That is, I have seen at this SEO site that there might be an issue with search engines being able to crawl this kind of a site, since these are javascript sites I think there might be reason to worry, is it true? What should I do?
[2003-05-21] Elevating PageRank and Choosing a Keyword Focus
Dear Ross, I'm still not too clear on this whole PageRank thing that Google does. From what I can gather, the incoming links have no weight in the PageRank, only links leaving my site and going to other sites (so competitors can't lower your PageRank by linking to you with low-ranked sites). So, all I have to do is find all the highly ranked pages out there, and link to them? Or do they have to be in the same general category as my site? What's to stop me from creating several sites at several different domains, each under a slightly different yet overlapping category, and linking to the top PageRanked sites (to give my sites high PageRanks), then linking each of my sites together to get even higher PageRanks?
[2003-05-21] The Other Side of Headlines
Since as many as 80% of visitors will never finish even the headline on a page, it's clear we need to put our best effort into creating them. And the headline on our home page is the one that matters most. Here's why.
[2003-05-20] Introduction to Relational Database Systems
If you collect and use any kind of data you probably have some kind of organizing system. Whether you use index cards, a filing cabinet, Excel spreadsheets, or some kind of database program, your system should let you add and change data, delete data, and retrieve data, and it should work faster and more efficiently than if you had to do it by hand.
[2003-05-20] Currency Formatting and Putting Commas In Numbers
This article will show you how to do two things: 1. Round numbers to the nearest hundredth, with two digits following the decimal point. This can be useful when displaying prices or the totals of orders. 2. Insert commas between every third digit (right to left) for numbers 1000 and larger. This can make numbers easier to read.
[2003-05-15] Arrays in PHP: Part 1
What exactly is an array? An array is a variable type in PHP that allows the programmer to associate one value directly to another value or simply take a set of data and organize it into a list format (much like a table). It can be used in many ways to store and organize data quickly and efficiently. It is one of the more useful data types available to any programming language.
[2003-05-15] Arrays in PHP: Part 2
Today we'll continue our discussion of arrays in PHP including the use of associative and multidimensional arrays. In my last article, we introduced a new array data type in PHP and covered its fundamentals. Today we'll dive deeper into arrays and introduce a type of array called an associative array and a more complex type of array -- the multidimensional array.
[2003-05-15] Content Thieves
Someone's been stealing your content. Really. It's easy to do, too. I'm talking about all the fancy jpgs, gifs, docs and pdfs on your site. Guess what? If I can hit them with a URL, they're mine.
[2003-05-14] Optimizing JavaScript for Execution Speed
JavaScript can benefit from many of the same speed-optimization techniques that are used in other languages, like C1,2 and Java. Algorithms and data structures, caching frequently used values, loop unrolling and hoisting, removing tail recursion, and strength-reduction techniques all have a place in your JavaScript optimization toolbox. However, how you interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) in large part determines how efficiently your code executes.
[2003-05-14] Traffic Analysis - Commission Thieves
Question: Jim, I caught your article on Traffic Analysis but was unable to unearth methods of avoiding commission stealing. Will a simple PHP redirect do the trick? I expect that the offending code changes the affiliate code in the downloaded HTML; doing a redirect off of a server would eliminate that problem if that is the case. Is this the silver bullet?
[2003-05-14] SEO Corner - Frames, JavaScript and Search Engines
Question: My site has frames and JavaScript. How can I tell if it is being fully seen/indexed by the search engines?
[2003-05-13] Building Web Sites with Macromedia Studio MX - Book Excerpt
Macromedia's release of the MX Studio essentially turned their entire web product line inside out and rearranged the molecules. Instead of separate products performing specialized tasks, the tight integration of the tools-Freehand, Flash MX, Fireworks MX, Dreamweaver MX, and ColdFusion MX-means an entirely new, more efficient workflow can develop.
A major workflow change is how objects created in each of the applications move easily between the applications. Dragging and dropping, importing, copying, and pasting between the applications can accomplish this, but one of the more significant aspects of the new workflow is the use of symbols.
[2003-05-12] Could This Be The End of Spam?
The war on spam has so far been waged on two fronts: legislation to make spam illegal and filters that prevent spam reaching its destination.
[2003-05-12] A Good Host Matters, But Be Ready To Move
Hosting services all have pretty much the same inescapable overhead. For example, servers and related gear all cost about the same. And maintenance costs are pretty constant. Thus when you find a low priced host, you know they are doing one or more of the following ...
[2003-05-09] Should Hyperlinks Always Be Blue?
Question: I am the webmaster for West Salem High School, additionally I run my own web design company (thus my subscription to DevWebPro). I read your article on the importance of underlining links and keeping them blue. I will start of by admitting that I am one of those people who sometimes takes design and puts it in front of purpose. I try to check myself on that and ensure that visitors to my sites have navigation that doesn't change throughout the website, but I do not stick with blue, underlined links.
[2003-05-08] Selecting a Search Engine Optimization Company
There are many factors to consider when selecting a search engine optimization company. Unfortunately, many businesses that haven't previously used search engine optimization to promote themselves are unsure how to evaluate potential vendors, and many are intimidated by the entire concept. The following article, divided into five major topics of consideration, is intended to help in the selection process.
[2003-05-07] Search Engine Robots - How They Work, What They Do (Part II)
Why Isn't My Website In The Search Engine? If your site isn't found in the search engines, it is probably because the robots couldn't deal with it. It could be something as simple as not being able to find the site, or it may be more complicated issues involving the robot's not being able to crawl the site or figure out what your pages are all about.
[2003-05-06] 3 Tips On Using Contrast
If you have a website, it needs to grab attention. You have to catch a visitor's interest and make him or her want to delve into your site. Otherwise, the site won't do you much good, no matter how much traffic you're getting.
[2003-05-06] 3 Reasons Not To Use Uppercase
Sometimes it's ok to use uppercase. Capital letters can add a touch of class to the apperance of your page. However, they should be used very sparingly. There are three reasons why you should avoid them in most cases:
[2003-05-06] Drop-Down Menus: They Aren't User-Friendly
On many sites, drop-down menus aren't a significant part of the design. However, they appear often enough that they deserve some attention. So exactly how should they be used?
[2003-05-06] Conscious Consistency: The Principle Of Repetition
If you take a look at the marketing materials of most Fortune 500 companies, you'll notice that they all have one thing in common: within each one, all of the company's marketing materials are similar in their appearance.
[2003-05-05] Traffic Analysis - Turning Traffic Into Sales
Question: About 5 months ago I started on a quest to make the best site possible, with the best content for the users that I wanted there. My URL is http://www.skateservice.com. Now that I'm actually getting traffic, I can't turn it into sales. I am an affiliate of the #2 online skateboard shop, but I'm not seeing any turn around from it. I place banner ads, and feature ads on my site, but no one seems to be buying anything. The whole purpose of the site is to make it an E-Zine type, with the option to buy products that I know the customer is in the market for. Any ideas or thoughts would really help me out here.
[2003-05-02] Ten Ways to Make the Most of IIS
As an IIS administrator it sometimes gets downright annoying having to fend off all the insults from Apache admins I meet claming innate server superiority. Generally the discussion about Web administration starts first with all the various security holes plaguing IIS and the negative press the platform garnered over the last year.
[2003-05-02] Simple Bar Preloader Tutorial
The idea behind this preloader is that we halt the progression of the movie and find out our filesize. We find then find out how much of that is loaded, use these numbers to create a percentage and then affect the scale of our bar to represent this.
[2003-05-01] Creating PDF Files in PHP
The PDF (or portable document format) file is an amazingly versatile format for transferring what usually starts as a hard copy version of a document over the Internet.
[2003-05-01] Inspecting Your Web Site for Spam
Spam is an overused word. Describing everything from processed luncheon foodstuffs to the flood of advertising Email we all receive each day, the simple, four-letter word is as widely used as many other deceptively descriptive four-letter words are. Suffice it to say that SPAM is not counted amongst the most honorable words in the English language. The IT world has forced the English language to evolve very quickly as old words are applied against new technologies and ideas and thus, the word "Spam" has become synonymous with words such as "junk" and "waste". In the search engine optimization field, the word Spam is used to describe illegal techniques used to try to fool search engine spiders. This section will outline a few of the more frequent Spam techniques used by webmasters or unscrupulous SEO practitioners. Check your websites for any incidents of Spam and do your best to get rid of them as they could seriously damage your search engine rankings.
[2003-05-01] Streamlining Project Management for the Web Designer
The project management of a web design job can make or break the project. If you are a web designer who has to perform your own project management, the following guidelines can help you to stay on budget and hit your deadline.
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