Something that I advise my customers to do and don’t do enough of myself is to write articles.
One of the things that brings me the most satisfaction is to see one of my articles on another site and visiting that site to find that along with my work there is more good information to share. I spend a good bit of time researching and writing this blog, but writing a good article always makes me feel better about my work.
One of the sites that I use to distribute my articles is EzineArticles. On their blog they talk about ways to improve your article writing & marketing skills to acquire qualified traffic back to your website.
Here’s a good example of one of their helpful posts.
If you are looking for some free icons that you can use on your web pages or program here’s a great collection. There is some really cool stuff here.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License.
I have a page on my site with some of my favorite new sites that are showing up on the web. These are not my sites, but they are the kinds of things that I like in a website. There are different reasons that I picked these sites, they all look good, and are clear and easy to use. They don’t use Flash at all or use it only when necessary and never for navigation. The graphics are good, but not overpowering. Sometimes I just like a picture or the name. Some of them are not in english and I still know what they are about.
The newest one is called HOPE 4 MS. This site strikes my senses on many levels. I like the bright colors, but there’s plenty of whitespace so the text is easy to read. I’m a sucker for sunsets and this is a nice one. The rays of sunshine for the navigation are very cool and goes well with the rest of the theme. Multiple Sclerosis is something that, unfortunately, I am very familiar with. My wife suffers from this horrible disease so we both appreciate the bright uplifting theme.
Please support the National MS Society or your local chapter.
Here’s something just for some fun on a Friday. (Not responsible if you get caught playing at work)
Here are some wonderful free wallpaper images from all over the world. There are plenty of these kind of sites out there, but this one has some really nice photos.
In case you haven’t heard pay-per-post is something fairly new in blogging where advertisers pay influential bloggers to mention their site, service, product, etc.
I’m not against this at all and I think that if you can make a buck at what you are doing more power to you.
Many critics say that these bloggers need to disclose this relationship. I suppose that if you want to be totally above board you should tell your readers that you have been paid to recommend something. Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t feel that disclosure of this type is even necessary. I recommend many sites, articles, software and just fun stuff on this blog. If you didn’t like my recommendations you wouldn’t be reading this now. While I have made a couple of recommendations for customers who have paid me for my site design services I also thought that their sites were worth recommending.
Anyone who takes money or any other compensation to recommend something that they don’t really believe in risks much more than their creditability and I believe most any audience can tell when you are not sincere. They may let you get away with it once of twice, but not on a regular basis.
I have never been offered any compensation to specifically write about something and I will probably never be that influential, but I’m not sure what I would do if that happened and I didn’t like what I was to recommend. Generally, I would prefer to just ignore something that I don’t like because I don’t like to be negative, but I also believe that any publicity can be good publicity and I would rather just see bad stuff fade away. I hope that I could say no, but it may just depend on how much the offer was.
Here’s a post on the subject by Max Kalehoff that I have been saving for a while called “People As Advertising: Risky Business”
It looks like things have gotten worse on the e-mail clients front in regards to CSS compatibility.
I was hoping that things would be getting better and e-mail would become more like web page design and conform to standards. From what I’m reading things are moving farther away from it. Tables are almost a necessity for layout and the only style tags that are used by most readers are the inline ones. These are the least preferred kind.
David Greiner has updated his year old post and talks about how far we have gone back. If you are e-mail marketing you should read this.
My new customer’s website.
http://allamericaroadside.org/
Check out their Affiliate Program.
If you know anyone who’s into fundraising they offer a very good program for:
- School Groups
- Religious Organizations
- Scouts
- Youth Leagues
- Neighborhood Groups
- Civic Organizations
- Volunteer Fire Departments
- Anyone Looking For A New & Exciting Fundraiser
Are you looking for a new way to raise money for your group or organization? Let us provide you with the perfect solution. We will provide you with our fliers with your 5 digit code number stamped on them at no charge to you. All that you have to do is to pass them out.
When one of your supporters buys a Roadside Assistance Program either by mailing in your flier or by signing up on our website and typing in your 5 digit code when they check out, WE PAY YOU!
There’s no inventory to handle or money to be collected, we handle everything. How much easier can you get? Your supporters will get the best Roadside Assistance Program available at the best possible price and be helping you at the same time.
Please contact them for more information. There is no obligation.
I have a page on my site with some of my favorite new sites that are showing up on the web. These are not my sites, but they are the kinds of things that I like in a website. There are different reasons that I picked these sites, they all look good, and are clear and easy to use. They don’t use Flash at all or use it only when necessary and never for navigation. The graphics are good, but not overpowering. Sometimes I just like a picture or the name. Some of them are not in english and I still know what they are about.
The newest one is called Neonblack Media. You would expect with a name like Neonblack the site would be something like that, mostly black. The fact that it’s not black is a pleasant surprise. I like the colors and shadows and as expected from a graphic design company, their graphics are great. It’s not cluttered so it shows off their great work.
I have been reading to the Site Pro News website for almost six years and subscribing to their newsletter/rss feed.. It is still one of my favorite sites for news and tools for my favorite topics, web design, web promotion, and search engine optimization.
Today’s article is Part 1 in a series called “Freeware SEO Tools for the Do It Yourself Webmaster”. Today’s list if SEO tools and there will be more to follow. It’s a list well worth reading and bookmarking. This site has always had some of the best tools anywhere and most of them are free.
Here’s something just for some fun on a Friday. (Not responsible if you get caught playing at work)
This is cool. Ever wondered how far that you have walked? Want to find out?
Here’s a site that uses Google’s mapping application to help record distances traveled during a running or walking workout.
You can record distance in English or Metric, calorie counter, it even shows the elevation changes during your walk/run. You can also save your route.
I think it’s great that Google will let people do this kind of thing with their stuff.
