The Web Design Success Blog
Helping Your Business Succeed on the Web
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What is V7ndotcom Elursrebmem?
V7ndotcom ElursrebmemSEOs battle it out for Google placement for the keyword "V7ndotcom Elursrebmem" in new SEO contest. Today the Wall Street Journal commented on a new Search Engine Optimization contest for the keywords v7ndotcom Elursrebmem. It seems that this contest has drawn interest from Matt Cutts (the...
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Internet Security Programs Flawed?
Internet SecurityHave Internet security programs gone too far? I want to know if other people think that this is as insanely stupid as I think it is. I had to help a client today that couldn't access https (ssl encrypted) sites. It just kept giving him a "This page cannot be displayed" error. We ran through...
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Google Sitemaps
Google Sitemap StatisticsGoogle Sitemaps are getting better at showing you a compiled snapshot of how Google views your web pages. Ever really wondered how Google views your pages? Well if you haven't used Google Sitemaps yet, you might just consider it. You don't even have to create a sitemap for your site to benefit from...
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2005 Website Browser Statistics
2005 Website Browser Stats
2005 Website Browser Stats Review I have gathered together some statistics from multiple sites that I oversee for 2005. These are total percentages for the entire year of 2005 for websites in multiple categories. For example, site 2 is an e-commerce site, site 6 is a tutorial site for Macromedia...
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What really is Search Engine Optimization?
Customer OptimizationSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is not merely validating HTML, keywords, alt tags, and descriptions. SEO is all about "Customer Optimization". Too many people do not understand what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) really is and what it is not. Even "Professionals" disagree....
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Judge Website Visual Appeal in 1/20th of a Second
Website Visual AppealThe visual appeal of your website is key because internet users can judge your site in 1/20th of a second. According to a test performed by Canadian researchers (I believe it was Carleton University in Ottawa) users were able to rank a site after seeing the site for only 1/20th of a second. In the...
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RSS Feed Consistency
RSS Feed Icon ConsistencyRSS feeds are becoming more consistent from browser to browser (Firefox and Internet Explorer) and should make RSS marketing in the future easier than ever before. Every internet marketer out there should be standing up and doing the happy dance. RSS has won another victory through Microsoft adopting...
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Whitehat SEO versus Blackhat SEO
Whitehat vs Blackhat SEOThe showdown between whitehat SEO and blackhat SEO is heating up and search engines are backing the whitehats. Whitehat and blackhat SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are two different (and normally opposing) views of how to do search engine optimization. Whitehats are those website designers that...
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Increasing Conversion Rates through Search Engine Optimization
Customer Conversion RatesSearch engine optimization can directly increase your customer conversion rates. I've recently been reading "Call to Action" by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. So far they've really focused on increasing conversion rates without the need of increasing the number of "eyeballs" that view your site. I liked...
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Are reciprocal links losing their importance?
Reciprocal Links vs. Authoritative LinksOne-way, "authoritative" links, may become the new wave of linking and leave reciprocal links in the dust (or the grave). As long as there are people in the world that do search engine optimization (SEO), there will be change in the ways that search engines rank sites. This latest change...
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Earning Customer Loyalty
Earning Customer LoyaltyTruly caring about your customers is the real key to earning customer loyalty. I recently read this blog on "The Easiest Way On Earth To Earn Fierce Customer Loyalty. And It's Free." I thought his list was pretty good for earning customer loyalty: following-up before they can calling to...
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And this is freedom
And this is freedom.© Shayne Charlesworth. All Rights Reserverd.And this is freedom For all of those who wonder what the "war on terror" means to me. I have a friend who has fought/is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan right now (He is the one in the...
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Jagger Update - Google's October 2005 PageRank Update
Jagger UpdateJagger Updates - Google's October 2005 PageRank/BackLink Updates will come in smaller pieces and quick frequent updates. The recent October 2005 PageRank update has changed from the normal 3 month PageRank updates we have been seeing. This update, codenamed "Jagger", will come out in...
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More Free Stock Photography
Free Stock PhotographyMore Free Stock Photography I've found another place (besides stock exchange) where you can get some free stock photography (even though it normally isn't free). If you go to the weekly archive for istockphoto.com, you can find a free image download every week. Although it isn't as robust...
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Do you use these 7 copywriting steps
Copywriting TipsWriting great articles (copywriting) can be done in these seven simple steps. Say something that gets attention. Tell them why they should be interested. Tell them why they should believe what you are saying is true. Prove it is true. Itemize and describe...
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Opening and Closing the Sale
Ask Questions, Listen, Be PersistentAsking questions, listening, and being persistent can help you open and close more sales.Recently, my monitor blew up. Sparks, terrible smell, and then POOF. Darkness. I hurried and set up my "back up monitor", a dinky little monitor I have setting around for testing broken computers. It became...
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Live Bookmarks in Firefox 1.5
Live Bookmarks in Firefox 1.5It is even easier to add live bookmark RSS feeds in the newest Firefox v. 1.5.Firefox has again added the "automatic" recognition of RSS feeds in a website and added a quick way to bookmark the live bookmark. Any website that has added the following code to the head of their code will automatically...
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Website Browser Statistics and Design Quality
Website Browser Statistics
Too many web designers don't make quality websites because their websites only work in Internet Explorer (version 6) and not other browsers like Firefox, Netscape, Opera, and Safari. Recently, one of my known website design competitors redesigned their website....
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Correct Font Sizes for Arial and Verdana
Arial vs. VerdanaYour desired font size should determine if you should use Arial or Verdana on the web. I recently ran across an article by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson about the readability of different fonts in HTML documents . Serif fonts are commonly used today in many types of printed material including books, newspapers,...
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Scannability - How People Read on the Web
ScannabilityIncreasing the scannability of your website can determine just how many people will read what you have to say.Did you know that 79 percent of website users do not read pages on the web word by word. They scan them. This has to do with how the web presents information. People cannot leisurely read a little...
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Why You Need to Use Iterative Website Design
Iterative Website DesignIterative website design is the process of perfecting your website by testing, evaluating and retesting. As you design your website, you should be focusing on very specific goals. However, how do you know if you are meeting those goals? Iterative web design is the way you can evaluate your progress...
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Goals - What is the Real Purpose of Your Website
Website GoalsWriting specific goals is the only way to know if your website is being successful.One of the first things I ask new clients is "What are your expectations for your site?" Understanding what they feel is success will ensure that I address their specific needs and desires. If I fail to address...
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Blogs a New Way of Doing the Same Old Thing
Blogs - Information SuperhighwayBlogs or web logs are great, cost efficient ways of providing up-to-date information for clients and search engines.Lately it seems that Blogs have become the craze of the Internet. Everyone has one: dentists, artists, CEOs, poor starving college students, everyone. Blogs are a wonderful way to quickly...
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What exactly is a bot like Googlebot
Googlebot and other SpidersGooglebot, Yahoo Slurp, and MSNbot and similar spiders, bots, and crawlers are the programs that harvest information for search engines. For anyone tracking statistics on their website, Googlebot, MSNbot, and Yahoo Slurp can be welcomed guests. These three search engine bots gather (harvest)...
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Taking the Time to Do Something Wrong
Worth DoingToo many people are so nervous that they are going to make a mistake that they let the world pass them by without really getting better. I recently read the following quote in The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams. "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly until I've learned to do it better....
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