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Labels: biz, resources

Turn off ZoneAlarm mailsafe in Outlook

Friday, March 30, 2007

If like me, you use ZoneAlarm as a personal firewall to protect your PC, you'll want to have the latest updates.

After upgrading to the latest version today, I noticed a new function - 'MailSafe', which is a great idea as it allows for sorting spam from genuine e-mails, warns on viruses etc...

However if like me, you already have spam-filtering in place, you might not want to use MailSafe.

I tried to turn it off in the obvious way - start ZoneAlarm, go to the 'Email Protection' tab and click on the 'off' radio button. Next time I started Outlook? MailSafe still started - not good!

This is how I turned it off:

In Outlook, click 'Tools'
Click 'Options'
Click the 'Other' tab
Click 'Advanced Options'
At the bottom you'll see a few buttons - click the one called 'Com Add-Ins'
Click on the 'Buddy Toolbar' entry
Click the 'Remove' button or just uncheck the Buddy Toolbar option to disable

Labels: email, security, spam

New links directory with a twist

The Million Dollar Pixel Homepage opened new doors for advertising on the Internet in new ways. Big Web Links Bid Directory is a website that has taken the paid aspect of pixel websites, the auction element of sites such as eBay and the search engine friendliness aspect of the best web directories.

As they rightly point out, with many web directories, you submit your site and end up on an obscure page that no-one ever sees (how many pages of search results do you look at...1...3?). With a search engine friendly directory, at least the link to your site will be acknowledged by the search engines and that it will be on a page of similar-themed links.

With Big Web Links Directory, you can bid on the amount you want to pay for your listing, with the highest bids are listed first. The top 10 listings are shown on the homepage and top 20 listings on the top links page as an additional benefit.

The site itself is well designed and easy to navigate - much nicer looking than many directories and with some of the now-ubiquitous Web 2.0 design ideas implemented.

Labels: pp, searchengines

Check your broadband connection speed

Thursday, March 29, 2007

InternetFrog has a neat little applet that reads your broadband upload and download speed. And while it's running (take the results a few times as an average), move your mouse near the frog to watch its eyes move!

Labels: internet, resources

Importing large files into phpMyAdmin

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Okay, so I moved to a Hostgator server earlier this week. It's gone fairly smoothly, and as I have unlimited addon domains, it means I can host all my sites on the one package. There are reasons not to do this if you're heavily into using one of your websites to promote the next which I'll cover in a different post.

In the meantime, one site had a MySQL dump file of 57,571 KB which is quite large. It's bigger than the allowed upload limit for phpMyAdmin and the thought of manually pasting it filled me with dread - it would take several hours, perhaps too much caffeine and definitely not much fun.

A quick Google search threw up 'bigdump' - a single PHP script that you input your database variables into, create a folder in your hosting account - 'dump' for example, and upload the large mySQL file in question to it.

The database to import to must exist, and if the dump file doesn't contain 'drop' commands, you must manually do this first in phpMyAdmin.

For more details, see this post I found called "How to Import Large MySQL Data Files" with a much more detailed explanation. And if you don't know what I'm talking about...lucky you!

Labels: hosting, programming

Guest Article: Think Global Act Global

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Think Global Act Global: Writing for Your Online Market

When you write web site content and design your pages, do you truly act with your target audience in mind? Or do you think global and act local?

I am amazed at the number of web sites I see that claim to target a global market, yet design and write their content for a regionally-specific audience. Not sure what I mean? Take the site I saw yesterday, for example. I won't embarrass the site owners by pointing to the specific domain, but let's just say the site is based in the U.S. and sells high quality gold chains throughout North America, Europe and Australia.

Now the owner of this site was complaining loudly in a webmaster forum that his pay-per-click campaign was having no luck converting sales from overseas visitors, particularly in the UK and Australia. He had spent a long time developing and tweaking a landing page for the campaign and he couldn't work out why hardly anyone outside the U.S. was buying. I took a look at his landing page and could see the problems straight away:

1) He used the American English spelling "jewelry" throughout the page without considering that persons who use British English spell it "jewellery".

2) He provided a toll-free phone number for persons in the U.S. to call, but did not provide any contact phone number for persons located outside the U.S.

3) He used the word "national" throughout the page, immediately isolating anyone outside the U.S.

4) He promoted "free shipping throughout the U.S." but did not specify shipping costs for persons outside the U.S.

The owner of this site had not even considered that persons outside the U.S. might search for keywords in anything other than American English. It didn't even occur to him that there may be an alternative spelling of his main keyword and he didn't think about the logistics for purchasers outside his country. No wonder the page wasn't converting outside the U.S.! He had made the classic mistake of isolating a large chunk of his audience by sending everyone to a one-size-fits-some page.

What he should have done was to create a separate landing page using British English spelling and shipping/contact information applicable to persons overseas. He could then have set up a unique PPC campaign targeting only UK/Australian searchers with regional keywords and ads leading to the British English landing page.

I see similar problems occur quite often in the online travel industry where you not only have to deal with regional spelling options, but also regional jargon. Think about the word "accommodation". Apart from the fact the word is commonly misspelled, it is used most often in the UK, Australia and New Zealand to describe places to stay while traveling. In the U.S., the words "accommodations" and "lodging" are more commonly used. Same goes for "holiday" and "vacation", with the latter being more common in the U.S. The word "traveling" itself is spelled "travelling" in British English! So you can imagine the minefield of problems webmasters must face promoting their travel sites online to a worldwide audience.

I don't mean to single out a particular country, but Americans seem to find it especially difficult to step outside their regional mindset. I am always receiving emails from the U.S. with helpful suggestions for fixing my "spelling mistakes".

The funniest email exchange I ever had in relation to this was from an American web designer. She had seen our Australian-based web site (with a .com.au domain) and emailed me to tell me it was "full of errors" and that if I wanted to present a professional business to site visitors, I should correct them. So condescending! I asked her to elaborate and she pointed me to these words she felt were spelled incorrectly:

optimisation
counselling
organised
enrolment
colour
catalogue
favourite
centre

Resisting the urge to use a few offensive words I'm sure she would recognize, I tactfully explained that our site was only targeting the Australian market and that we use British English spelling in Australia. Her response? Perhaps if we wanted to be taken seriously by an international audience, we should consider using the "more proper" American English. Flabbergasted, I pointed out the fact that American English was a derivative of British English and was not widely used outside her own country. Wikipedia has more about the differences between the two here. And let's not forget that although it is the most common language used on the web, English is used by less than 30 percent of the world's total Internet users.

The point of this story is that you absolutely have to think outside your market if you are going to advertise on the web. As ignorant as she was, my email friend did make me realize that many of her compatriots might also think our site was full of errors. American English is more common on the web and I've since learned to cater to that trend. I try to remember that in all writing I do for the web now, whether it's in my daily blog, the syndicated articles I write regularly or web page content.

Whenever you design or write for a web site that has an international audience, make sure you address each market. It pays to undertake detailed keyword research into your markets you are targeting so you can capture the correct regional jargon and spelling that people are searching for. Remember it's not enough to think global, you've got to act global too.

About the Author:

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

Emma's note: I read Kalena's Search Engine Advice column regularly. Despite being aimed at 'newbies' it's a good reminder of some of the basic search engine optimisation principles.

Labels: seo, webdesign

Domain Name Price Comparison

Saturday, March 24, 2007

If you're looking for domain names, there's plenty of choices. Until recently I've recommended 1and1 for UK domain names and GoDaddy for all others.

However, someone told me that 1and1 (US) are cheaper than GoDaddy and include free private domain registration.

1and1 UK:

£1.99 for UK domains
£8.89 for COM, NET, ORG, NAME, US, INFO, BIZ domains

1and1 US:

$5.99 for COM, NET, US, ORG, INFO, NAME, BIZ domains

GoDaddy:

£9.99 for UK domains
$8.95 for COM domains
$8.99 for NET, ORG domains
$7.99 for US domains

GoDaddy states the ICANN fee of 22 cents per year is added on top whereas 1and1 (US) does not mention additional fees. UK domains at 1and1 (UK) incur VAT at 17.5%. Oh and you have to be a resident of US or Canada for 1and1 in the US. These prices are as listed on their respective websites today (24 Mar 07).

Labels: domains

Moving Servers

Friday, March 23, 2007

Just a short blog post to let you know that LittleFish Web Design is moving servers this week, so I may disappear off into cyberspace for a while before returning.

I started off hosting with Supanames, who provide a convenient 'all in one' package - domain name and hosting in one. However, I quickly outgrew what they could provide and decided to look for an alternative host. I still recommend them for good, basic web hosting when you're not trying to do too much with dynamic (PHP) files and RSS feeds (if you want RSS you have to apply for that particular feed address to be added to their firewall rules).

I considered GoDaddy and Hostgator - both are big reputable hosts with 99.9% uptime guarantee, more traffic (bandwidth) than you can shake a stick at, allow subdomains blah blah blah. Customer service for both has been really good so far.

In the end, I transferred our .com and .co.uk domain names to GoDaddy and 1and1 respectively (you've got to get the cheapest deal!) and chosen hosting with Hostgator.

Now, I'm just waiting to set the nameservers and then have to wait for them to resolve. Simple as that!

Labels: domains, hosting, internet

Creating RSS feeds on your website

Thursday, March 22, 2007

If you've used the Internet for any length of time, you're bound to have come across the term 'RSS' which stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS feeds are basically a simply way of letting other people subscribe to your content or display it on their website. You can even use it to show your latest blog posts on another part of your own website, or to promote one of your websites on another.

If you use any blogging platform such as Blogger, Wordpress etc...then RSS feeds are automatically generated and if you visit a site with a feed you'll probably see a little blue or orange button somewhere that says 'RSS' or 'XML'.

There are plenty of ways to display an RSS feed on your site - just search Google. However, most of these use JavaScript and you might not want to use this on your site.

Here's how to do it with Open Source software using PHP:

Download MagPieRSS from Sourceforge.
Unzip the files - there's lots of useful documentation but you only really need five files:

rss_cache.inc
rss_fetch.inc
rss_parse.inc
rss_utils.inc
extlib/Snoopy.class

Upload these five files to your website into a directory called 'rss'
I like to create files on a modular basis, so that if I create the RSS feed file once, I can then re-use the code wherever I like on my site. Some people like to create the feed instructions exactly where it will appear in the site. This is up to you. These instructions are for the modular version.
Create a new file called rss.inc.php - go to notepad and save the file as "rss.inc.php" including the quotes where it asks for the filename.
In this file put the following code:

EDIT: in the above code
foreach ($rss->items as $item)
should read
foreach ($items as $item)

Taking it step by step - in the first two lines (after the PHP opening tag) you are telling the script exactly where to find the files it needs. In the third line, you put in the RSS feed you want to display. The fourth line limits the number of items to 5 (want to show 10? Just change the 5 to a 10!). The following line says that the results are going to be shown as an unordered list. Then the for 'loop' shows the RSS item for entries 1 t0 5 in the feed. The last line closes off the unordered list.
In the loop, I've specified that the list item should consist of the RSS item title ($title), hyperlinked to the item itself ($link), and that the description ($desc) should follow. You can display the information in any way that you wish, using the three $link, $title and $desc variables.
What if you don't want to limit the number of items? Just take out the line

Upload rss.inc.php to your rss feed folder
To integrate the feed on your website, decide where on your PHP page you want the feed to go.
Insert the following code:

...And that should be it! Obviously this is just a very brief guide to outline the basics and I can't guarantee that this will work on all hosting packages. RSS feeds can contain a lot more information than just the title, link and description that I've outlined above so for more detailed information see MagpieRSS.

For "The Anatomy of an RSS feed" - see http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/feeds/ and if you're wanting to create a feed 'on the fly' with PHP and MySQL see http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/custom_feeds/

Labels: programming, rss

Linking Strategies - straight from the experts

Friday, March 16, 2007

I came across a blog post today that poses questions to five link development experts and shows their answers. Some of the information is slightly contradictory but is a fascinating insight into how the experts go about gathering links to their own and their clients' sites.

The experts are:

I've come across all of these people at some time or other, and they're all well respected in the SEO (search engine optimisation) / Internet industry for using ethical, honest approaches to website promotion.

And the questions asked?

What are the factors you would take into account before buying a link from a directly contacted site (not a link broker or seller)?
In sectors where links are particularly tough to come by (retail, B2B in boring industries, etc.), what are content tactics you?ve taken to appeal to relevant sites in those industries (specific examples would rock)?
What is the current climate with paid links, and how can I navigate the paid links landscape so that I come out smelling like a rose on the other side?
Automating the link acquisition process: How far do you recommend going with it? What are the benefits and pitfalls of automation?
Name 5 specific techniques (queries, tools, process, or starting points) you would use to get links for a statewide real estate agent.
What are the top 3 over-rated and under-rated criteria for determining how valuable an individual link will potentially be to your site?s search engine rankings?
If you were in control of the search engine algorithm at Google, what are the top three changes you would make specific to how Google values/counts links?
What?s the most common mistake you see people making in their link building activities?
How do you think that nofollow links and redirected links are treated by the various search engines and do you see any value in obtaining these types of links?
So many people complain about competitors who are ranking solely on reciprocal links. Do you believe reciprocal links still works as a complete strategy or do you believe age, trust and grandfathering (for lack of a better word) are taken into account? How important do you feel age is to a link?

As you can see, real relevant examples are given by the experts and there are a few simple strategies in their for checking out potential link partners. For 10 minutes of your time, "Five Link Development Experts: A Group Interview" could be an invaluable investment for your site.

Labels: internet, searchengines, seo

The Secret I Must Share

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I've had a few friends recommend "The Secret" to me in the past, and said that it's a life changing film. Ever one for being skeptical I never quite got around to watching it.

Then, I got a marketing e-mail from Scott Boulch with a link to the film to watch it online for free. It's been featured on Oprah Winfrey, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Larry King on CNN, Newsweek, Time Magazine, The New York Times and many more...so I can now see why both the book and film are ranked in the Amazon top seller lists (US here and UK here).

Well, I don't think I ever will look back. I really think this film will change people's lives, and could be the answer to many of the challenges we face every day. It's not for everyone, but why not watch it and see whether you have a similar 'light bulb' moment to me?

"The Secret" online or buy at Amazon:

Labels: internet, resources

A millionaire's personal rolodex...for free?

Monday, March 12, 2007

Mike Filsaime has just released his personal 'rolodex' of every resource he uses (some on a daily basis) to build and run his multi-million dollar business. Some sources claim he's worth over $7 million, so I assume he knows what he's doing.

Apparently, before now, the only people who got access to the 'rolodex' paid $5,000 to attend his 2007 Figure Business Workshop. But he's now offering the report for free.

I've already checked out the report and found some useful pointers. My usual cynical self decided that all the links would be affiliate ones, making money everytime someone signed up to a product via the report. In actual fact, there is a healthy mix of affiliate and non-affiliate links - quite a surprise.

Download The Resource Report and see for yourself.

Labels: biz, internet, resources

Different affiliate websites to join

Friday, March 09, 2007

If you want to make money from your website, there are plenty of choices available. I have just put a new page up on the LittleFish website with my basic guide to which affiliate programs to join. All of them are very straightforward, and with a few choices you get a piece of JavaScript or HTML code to paste directly onto your site. They deal with all the click tracking and commission payments, which means all you have to do is promote your site (and yes, there are one or two hints for doing that too!).

See the turnkey instructions page for ideas..!

Free Software Every Day!

It's not often that you find a website that gives away free commercial software which is actually useful and of value. Giveaway of the Day and Game Giveaway of the Day do just that.

So far I've had free mindmapping software worth $119 and a powerpoint-to-flash converting software worth $199.

They guarantee that the software is AdWare and SpyWare free and it's really simple to install - just download the file, unzip it, run 'activate.exe' then run 'setup.exe'. You must do it the same day though else the software won't run.

Positives:
+ Free commercial software
+ They don't take any details, just download it straight away

Negatives:
- Can only download it within a 24 hour period (hence 'download of the day' I guess!)
- It seems that if you reformat your hard disk, you may have lost the use of the software - it can only be installed and activated on the day that you download it.

Labels: misc, resources

Speak out against child pornography

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

With a similar idea to 'Light to Unite' which I blogged about here, 'Light a Million Candles' petitions against online childhood pornography. It takes less than a minute and you can make a difference.

Labels: charity, internet

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