BuildAWebsiteTonight.com: November 2006

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

High tech umbrella - Pileus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/p04107si/305116018/

Now I've seen everything!

Ashe Moses of the Sydney Morning Herald alerted me to this amazing new technology today:

Asher Moses : SMH
November 27, 2006 - 12:27PM

Being stuck in the rain need not be dull, say Japanese researchers who have invented an umbrella capable of capturing and displaying photos and video.
The high-tech umbrella, developed at the Okude laboratory in Tokyo's Keio University, boasts an integrated digital camera, built-in Wi-Fi and an attached projector." [Read more ...]

How cool is this?!!

But how practical is it? When walking the streets with an umbrella, just how much time do you spend not walking? OK OK, so maybe it has OTHER uses than being inside an umbrella, and this IS after all a 'proof of concept' demo.

It does get the mind thinking, though, about how high tech we've become in such a short space of time. In the past few weeks an Australian invention showcased sports clothing which was able to show the results of the game - within the fabric. Ingenious!

And judging by the way the biggies [Google etc] have been gobbling up smaller companies lately, Ashe Moses was not surprised when he wrote this:

"Whether or not Pileus will ever make it to market is unclear, but the researchers make no secret of their commercial intentions - it's difficult to miss the "Yahoo buy me!" and "Google buy me!" logos slapped onto the bottom of their website."

I lurrrrrrrv technology!

28 Top Web Tips

I recently came up with a bunch of top website tips, for those about to jump into the exciting world of owning their own website or blog, and also for seasoned web folk too.

You'll get info on:

Getting Started
Branding
Moving Around the Website
Links
The Visitor's Experience
Images
Proofreading
Content
You think you're ready?
Bring them back!

If you'd like this f-r-e-e info, simply click this link and download the PDF. Let me know what you think! Post a Comment on the link at the bottom of this post.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

RSS feeds - I finally did it!

Today I'm jumping feet first into the 21st Century - I've finally started to read about RSS feeds. I know, I know, I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

I've slowly been building up visitors to my blog and a few friends have been suggesting I offer the opportunity for visitors to get updates via an RSS feed, so today I have done that.

Now I'm just adding the info to my blog template, very exciting! I'll be my own first web visitor sign-up :o)

Friday, November 24, 2006

Proofreading booboos on websites

Hi there,

I know you make sure you do it, but sometimes I come across something which really makes me shake my head in wonder and say, "Why didn't they do it???"

So, are you wondering what 'it' is?

Drum roll ..........

It's PROOFREADING.

Just visited a high profile business site and this was one of the first buttons on the website:

Can you see anything wrong with this? No?

Did you notice it says, "Click HER to download"?

OUch!! Such a silly typo - and yes, they meant it to be, "Click here ..."

Quick - pop over to your website NOW and read EVERYTHING on each page - not just content, not just headings, EVERYthing. You may find a booboo yourself ... fix it a.s.a.p. and always make sure your pages are proofread either before or after being uploaded. Your web visitors will appreciate it, and your online professionalism will be ensured - trust me!

PS - need proofreading help? Pop over to our other site to see how to get help!

http://humbleapostrophe.com/proofreading.html

Ciao for now
Teena!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Free PDF booboos to avoid

You've probably heard me mention [once or twice] that it is a great idea to have free downloadable PDFs on your website.

The benefits of this are many:

web visitors love freebies
PDF has all your contact details on every page
PDF might get emailed to friends/associates
PDF can't be changed
giving freebies encourages web visitors to return to your site.

All of this is true, is good stuff, and works marvellously! Take it from me, I've tried it over and over, and it works well every time.

Today I came across a wealth of information available on a website - I had to give them my email address before I could get to the download list, and I was happy to do that.

I accessed 7 well-named PDF and downloaded each one. [I closed the browser window showing that website as I had no need of it right then.]

I made a coffee, came back to my desk, got settled, opened the first pdf ... and was SHOCKED beyond belief! The company had created a great PDF related to their business, of much benefit to their potential clients and websites visitors ... and they forgot to put their business name and website name anywhere in the document!

There was no header or footer, nothing to connect this PDF to them at all. What a waste! What a shame!

Ensuring your business name, website name and contact details are on every page of every PDF you create is absolutely necessary - but so easy to forget to do.

Let this be a lesson ... don't let your potential clients end up with PDFs chock full of great info ... and then forget to give them a way to contact you again. Remember, those PDFs might remain unread for days or weeks, then the web visitor will not have a clue where they downloaded them from.

Learn by this mistake - check your PDFs today!

Cheers
Teena

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Does your image need to go on a diet?

Does your graphic / image need to go on a diet?

Do your friends and associates beg you to stop sending HUGE images via email? Do your website's pages take forever to appear because the image is appearing pixel-by-pixel, time enough to make a cup of tea?

If you're ready to learn a quick and easy solution to putting less-weighty images on your websites, and in your emails, then pop over to the new Snipshot.com INSTRUCTION I have written on my website to make this the easiest thing you've done in years!

http://buildawebsitetonight.com/fix-your-photos-online.html

I first wrote about this fantastic online tool back in May when it was called Pixoh, but they had to change their name and Snipshot is a good one, I think.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Five Tools for Spying on Your Competition

I just read this article by Kim Roach, and it was so good I wanted to share it with you.

Five Tools for Spying on Your Competition
By Kim Roach (c) 2006

Did you know that an ancient Chinese military document unlocks many of the secrets to your online success? This book is called "The Art of War" and was written during the 6th century by Sun Tzu. This famous document is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on military planning as well as business tactics.

Sun Tzu wrote about the importance of knowing your competitors before competing. This wisdom is crucial to your online success. Here are some quotes that verify this truth in the art of war as well as business.

"If you know yourself, but not your enemy, for every battle won, you will suffer a loss."

"If you know your enemy and yourself, you will wín every battle."

Before you create your own marketing strategies, you must first know your competitors. By understanding your competitor's strategies, you can always stay a step ahead of them.

The key is knowing how to obtain all of this vital information without having to hire a PR firm, an FBI agent, or an undercover spy. Luckily for us, all we need are a few online tools to find out exactly how are competitors are running the show.

1. SPYFU.COM - http://www.spyfu.com
The first tool you should add to your arsenal can be found at SpyFu.com.

SpyFu.com is the long-awaited sequel to Googspy.com, a free competitive research tool that allows you to research your competitors marketing campaigns. SpyFu.com, however, stands head and shoulders above its predecessor, providing over twenty times more data.

This website monitors nearly 4.5 million domains, showing you exactly how much your competitors are paying for search advertising on a daily basis, the total number of clicks they are receiving, and their average ad position. SpyFu also reveals the exact keywords that your competitors are ranking for in organic search and who their top 100 competitors are.

2. Internet Archive - http://www.archive.org

The next spy tool will enable you to explore a website's history and how it has changed over time. You can find all of this information at http://www.archive.org.

Many of you have probably heard of the Internet Archive. However, you may not realize that it is an extremely powerful tool for spying on your competition. Using this free and simple tool you can discover:

How often a website has changed their copy?

Whether or not a website is split testing? (This alone could show you years of data on what type of copy works best. Testing your own website copy is extremely important, but you should also be checking to see what your competitors are doing as well. You can learn volumes just by looking at what their salës page looks like over time.)

Find out if your competitors have made any big changes in their offer, including price, bonuses, guarantees, etc.

If you're just looking to have a little fun, then look up Google in the Internet Archive and see what their site looked like in 1998:

http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/

You see, competitive intelligence can be informative as well as amusing!

Next up is one of my favorite search tools.

3. Search Status - http://quirkbiz.com/searchstatus

Search Status is one of the best SEO tools around. It is a plug-in for the Firefox browser so it comes completely free of charge.

You can use this tool to:

Highlight no-follow links
View any page in Archive.org
Show all Whois information. This is especially useful if you want to find out who the owner of a website is. (great for setting up a joint venture)
Show robots.txt file. This feature will show you exactly which pages and directories a website does not want listed because they want to keep them private. (can be quite informative.)
Show Indexed Pages. Find out exactly how many pages a website has listed in all 3 major search engines.
Show Backward Links. This feature will show you exactly which sites are linking to the current page or website that you are visiting. This is especially useful for finding link partners and affiliates.
The next tool will allow you to find out which web host a company is using. This information can be found at:

4. WhoIs.sc - http://whois.sc

Once you arrive at this site, you simply enter the domain name into the search box. You will then be taken to a page that will give you a wide variety of information on that domain. Scroll down to where it says "name servers". In this column you will often find the exact URL for the web hostíng company they use.

Our final spy tool comes straight from Google, allowing you to keep full-time tabs on the Internet without the hours of research it would normally require.

For many years, companies paid lots of monëy to PR firms to provide news items and updates on their competitors, often referred to as a "clipping service". With the onset of the Internet, these tools are now automated and free.

One such tool is:

5. Google Alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts

Using Google Alerts, you can easily monitor what is being said online about you, your company, your products, and your competition.

Google alerts shows results from the Web, Google News, and Google Blog search. All of this competitive intelligence can then be sent directly to your email inbox.

Simply enter the terms you want to track and Google will scour the Internet on a daily basis to keep you updated on your particular industry.

These alerts can notify you of when new links start pointing to your website, when someone uses one of your articles, or when the blogosphere mentions your name.

If you want to keep up with your competitor, simply enter the company name or their product and you can begin tracking what people are saying online about them.

Google Alerts is an indispensable tool for market research. Start creating your own Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts.

Keep in mind, however, that these are only tools. Some of the most powerful competitive intelligence comes from actually surfing around your marketplace, visiting the forums, and buying your competitors' products. This is the only way to get a complete picture of what is happening in your industry.

If you want to wín in your marketplace, it's time you go undercover.

About The Author
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the http://www.sitepronews.com and http://www.seo-news.com SEO-News newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the http://blog.sitepronews.com - SiteProNews blog. Kim's email is: kim @ seo-news.com

Hope you can use some of Kim's great ideas. I personally have been using Google Alerts for the past few years and LOVE it!

Cheers
Teena

Sunday, November 12, 2006

YOUR BIZ HOT TIPS #074 : Newsletter

Your Biz Hot Tips with Teena Hughes
http://BuildAWebsiteTonight.com

News #074 : November 2006

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If you're not a subscriber to 'Your Biz Hot Tips', please click here to sign up today:
http://www.buildawebsitetonight.com/newsletter.html

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Hi there,

It's been way too long since my last Edition - I do hope you're all doing well and that this year has been successful in many ways!

Spring has sprung into 'summer' in Sydney, and it promises to be a hot Christmas. Did I say 'Christmas'? Yikes! When I just counted the weeks and discovered there are only a mere handful until 25th December, I got a bit of a shock. Always happens this time of year, doesn't it?

Are YOU prepared? Christmas/holiday cards written, ready to post? Client gifts purchased and wrapped? Or do you specialise in that 'last minute scramble', still writing cards on the 20th December, hoping they'll arrive before the end of business that week.

OK - write a list - what's left to be done? Take little bites out of your list, do a little bit each day - maybe write one or two cards a day [personally written is always best] and before you know it, you can tick that off the list as 'done'! Get started now ...

Good luck,
Teena!

================================
In This Issue
================================

1. Blogs can help business

2. Bloglines

3. Holiday Season Ideas

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1. BLOGS CAN HELP BUSINESS
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Lots of studies have been done and continue to be done in relation to blogs helping owners of websites. The question is, "Can blogs help business?" The resounding answer is yes, they do, if used properly.

You can increase traffic to your website by having a complementary blog [one which has matching content] - the blog allows you to be a little less formal [websites tend to be more formal, more 'professional'] and helps your blog visitors to get to know you. Once they do, they'll feel even more comfortable buying your products and services.
Things you might not know:

=> blogs are free - sign up at Blogger.com or **Wordpress.com

[**If you are already a Client of BuildAWebsiteTonight.com, you have a blog included in your hosting account already - read more below.]

=> when you write blog 'posts' [messages] don't forget to put links to pages on your website [and vice versa]

=> if your blog is interesting enough, your visitors will email others about it - this is called 'viral marketing', and will bring new web traffic to your blog, and then to your website [potential new customers]

=> announce new products, Press Releases, new staff, etc etc on your blog - build up an interest in all things related to your business

=> write on your blog at least TWICE per week, more if possible [the search engines love new fresh content and will keep coming back to visit your site]

=> read the newspapers or industry newsletters daily - if something is of interest, write about it on your blog and link to the original article - this provides good reading material for blog visitors, showing you're interested in your industry and want to share what you find, not just interested in your own business and your own sales

=> read other blogs and post messages, remembering to link back to your blog with your website link / url.

If you follow these simple steps, you'll be well on your way to ensuring your blog will help your business in many ways.

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BAWT CLIENTS : HOW TO ACCESS YOUR BLOG

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Our clients have WordPress included with their hosting. WordPress is a personal publishing script, which offers a cross-blog tool, password-protected posts, importing, typographical eye candy, Multiple Authors and Bookmarklets. To install your WordPress blog, simply login to your Hosting Control Panel:

=> select WEB TOOLS from the top Menu
=> scroll down to Elephante Tools
=> view the list and click on WordPress - follow the Installation Instructions
=> you're all set!
=> if you have any installation questions, view the 24/7 Help Center [click 'Help Center' in the top Menu bar] or view the Help Videos
=> enjoy!

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2. BLOGLINES

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Check out the latest blog posts - post comments, interact with other web visitors - click the links for previous posts on the right of this page [or use the blog search]:

TIP! To read the following blog posts, click the titles in the side menu bar under 'Previous Posts', and also view the 'Archive Folders' further down the list.

>> PUI : Posting [blogs] Under the Influence - don't drink & click!

>> Google Docs - so easy to use! An alternative to MS Word?

>> Be careful what you put in an email!

>> Australians are addicted to technology!

>> War on anti-spam! $5.5 million fine!

>> Let's go PHISHING - don't hand over your login and password!

>> See Your Website Through Your Visitors' Eyes

>> SCAM :: FRAUD with DOMAIN NAMES
Link

>> The importance of proofreading : or How To Get A Free Fiance!

>> Blogger : getting the most out of it with colour

>> Words and phrases for marketing ideas! A tongue-in-cheek look at words the marketers use

>> Shhhhh! I know your secrets from your cellphone!

>> Websites : Having PDFs on your site

Read more by clicking the Archive Folder links at right.

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3. HOLIDAY SEASON IDEAS

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I've been reading a lot these past weeks on different ways to capture your clients' and newsletter subscribers' attention with the upcoming holiday season, and I'll share a couple with you on our blog - here's what you'll find:

=> Offer gift certificates for your products and services, to keep your 'return rate' low

=> Acknowledge the Holiday Season on your website.

Read more on the Blog post for the full details:

http://buildawebsitetonight.blogspot.com/2006/11/holiday-season-ideas.html

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Have a busy and exciting November, talk to you next month!

Ciao for now,
Teena!

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Teena Hughes :: Director :: Build A Website Tonight!
It's so easy, even an *adult* can do it!

Website: http://www.BuildAWebsiteTonight.com
Blog: http://BuildAWebsiteTonight.blogspot.com
Domains: http://www.BuildAWebsiteTonight.com/buy-a-domain.html

Please visit our other websites:

Apostrophes & Grammar: http://www.HumbleApostrophe.com
Travel stories, best price flights & accom: http://PurpleGiraffeTravel.com

24 Hour Hosting & Domain Support
http://www.BuildAWebsiteTonight.com/support.html

PO Box 1333 * Rozelle NSW 2039 * Australia
PO Box 190 * Trinity Beach QLD 4879 * Australia

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Holiday Season Ideas

I've been reading a lot these past weeks on different ways to capture your clients' and newsletter subscribers' attention with the upcoming holiday season, and I'll share a couple with you here:

=> IDEA #1 : Offer gift certificates for your products and services, to keep your 'return rate' low Whether you're selling services or products, Gift Certificates are a great idea. Your shoppers will be buying:

a terrific gift for THEIR client [or staff or family]
of a specific value
with an expiry date [don't make this too long - aim for 3-6 months]

Set up your online payment system so they get a downloadable Gift Certificate:

immediately emailed after the payment goes through
ready to print within minutes of receipt of the email.

All you have to do is :

create a couple of Gift Certificates
have different value depending on your product/service prices
upload them to your website
set up your payment-received email to provide the link for download
easy!
if you're too busy, get someone to help you do this.

Results?

Your clients will receive your Newsletter and think, 'What a great idea! I can have this as a gift in minutes from now!'
The chance of this gift being returned is practically zero - a win-win for you both.

=> IDEA #2 : Add something to your website home page to acknowledge the Holiday Season is just around the corner ... This lets your clients and website visitors know your website is not stale or static, and that you're thinking of them.

Have you ever noticed how Google.com always adds a little cartoon to their logo on special days? This is a fantastic idea - not suited to EVERY website - but it lets us all know that the folks at google are paying attention to what's going on. To check out Google's selection of logos, click here. I've included one for their birthday in September 2006 - very clever.

Now - put on your thinking caps and see what you can come up with!

Cheers
Teena!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

PUI : Posting [blogs] Under the Influence

Recently I've read a few articles about people who have a few social drinks and then get on their computers, to find to their horror the next day they went 'shopping' or writing under the influence of alcohol.

For some it's been humorous, for others, it's been a nasty shock, and they find they've bought or signed up for something they just don't want. They might have even posted on a blog or forum in the most inappropriate way.

Today in my BuzzWhack email newsletter, the 'word of the day' is PUI:

PUI
Posting Under the Influence. Posting on blogs or Internet forums while under the influence of any mind-altering substance (usually alcohol). You may have a tinge of regret about a PUI the next day, but you're going to feel really stupid when it comes up at your next job interview.
Nominated by Chris Cox on http://www.BuzzWhack.com

I was chatting to a woman in a shop recently, and she actually confided that she had a Spanish boyfriend last year, and after a night of fun, she logged on and signed up for a Spanish Language Class for a year ... broke up with the boyfriend a month later, and couldn't get out of the language class contract ... at $US90 a month! She said she lost her desire to learn Spanish, and tried everything to get out of the contract ... a costly mistake made when under the influence. And a monthly reminder, over and over and over.

So next time you've had a few drinks in the evening, and get online, think twice before that mouse-click to buy something you may regret in the morning. :)

Cheers
Teena

So easy even an adult can do it!!

: Name: BuildAWebsiteTonight; Location: Sydney, Australia

Teena Hughes says, "BuildAWebsiteTonight is so easy even an adult can do it!" If you need a website but haven't got a clue where to start, our automated online Web Builder is perfect for you. Teena will add snippets of information to this blog about websites, the internet, and other small business topics - we hope you enjoy them.

View my complete profile

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