By default, Gmail has nothing built to allow for the use of HTML signatures. Well, this little browser extension from Wise Stamp makes that possible. Enjoy!

How can you know if your web site is a good website? Or for that matter, what the heck is a good website anyway?

A good website is a good website if it accomplishes the goals set forth by you and your company. If you have built your website to sell products, for example, you can say that your website is a good website if it sells products. But is that REALLY it?? You need to consider a few things before you can go buy that new Ferrari 430 Scuderia (very cool car I might say).

• Are you selling as many products as a good website sells, or you are only selling a few products now and then?
• Are your sales pages good enough to consider your website a good website?
• Do you have enough visitors to your website to consider it a good website?
• Do you have enough return traffic or all your visitors are first time visitors?
• Do your visitors stay on the site long enough time to consider your website a good website?

Ask yourself the following questions to know if your website is a good one:

• Who cares?
• What are you looking for?
• What kind of visitors do you have?
• Which is your priority?
• How should you measure your success?

Who Cares?

If the website belongs to a larger company, it usually doesn’t belong to a single person, so there´s not just one person who can say if you have a good website. You may have to round up the people who are vitally interested interested in the websites success. CAUTION! Make sure you keep you website mastermind group as small as possible. If you want to see a cat fight breakout, get a room full interested, un-knowledgeable “web masters” fighting over what is important to your website (although, it is fun to watch!).

You will find the techno-geeks, the sales people, the public relations people, etc. etc. and every one of them will have their own idea of what is a good website. This is why determining the goal and what the end success of the website should be before arguing that the top banner should be purple vs violet.

What are you lookng for?

Every one of the people who cares about the website will have their own idea of what they want out of a good website. Many of them will just be talking on behalf of their own departments, but you must force them to think on behalf of the company. The look of the site, in many cases, tends to get a lot more attention than conversion in many companies. Remember, if you have no visitors to the site, or worse yet, you can’t convert visitors to buyers, who cares what the site looks like???

Every department can have its own objectives, goals and aspirations- everyone has his own idea about what is a good website- but the true need is to think as a company and, ultimately, of supporting the end goal.

What kind of visitors do you have?

Every website has first time visitors, returning visitors, curious visitors, buyers, people that arrived by mistake, people that spend a short time at the website, people that spend a long time at the website, etc.

What kind of visitors do you want – those who show up more often, those who read the most pages, buy more stuff, buy more frequently or spend the most money?

Which are the most important visitors for your company?

Once you have that all figured out, you just might be on your way to a good website!

What is your priority?

Once you understand what everybody needs, not wants, you will have to prioritize everybody´s goals.

Will you go after increasing visits, selling more products per visit, providing more information about the company and its products, improving customer satisfaction?

Every line of code, graphic, button, banner, no matter what department requests it, needs to fall in line with the ultimate goal of the site. If it doesn’t, scrap it.

How should you measure your success?

How can you be sure that the numbers that you are getting are telling you that your site is a good website? It depends…

• If your main priority is to get visitors, then www.Alexa.com and its ranking can help you on that, but using Google Analytics will give you most of the data you will need.
• If your main goal is revenue, then the sales will have the leading voice.
• If you are going after customer satisfaction then the team must agree how will you gather satisfaction data and how will you weigh it.

All the information that you gather must help you make your business decisions. It´s not a matter of getting as much information as you can, because too much information can be as bad as not enough information. Don’t over- analyze! Analyze, find a solution then take action!

Make sure that you keep measuring your success, make it part of a constant improvement process, because the web changes month after month.

Then you´ll really be able to tell if your website is a good website. THEN go get your Ferrari 430 Scuderia! Rock on!

Buzz lets you share updates, photos, links, and pretty much anything else you’d like with your Gmail contacts; it’s an easy way to follow your friends, too. When you click Buzz in your Gmail account, you’ll see the stream of posts from people you’re following, and a box for you to post your updates. Here’s a run-down of the basic functions:

• Post some buzz: Click in the text box next to your name, and share what’s on your mind.
• Comment: if you see something in your stream you’d like to comment on, just click the Comment link under that post. Your comment will appear alongside it, and the author of the post will be notified.
• Like/unlike: If you don’t have something in particular you want to say, but you just happen to like someone’s post, you can click Like. It will show up on that post that you liked it; if you have a change of heart about something you’ve liked, you’ll see an Unlike link; just click it to remove your name.
• Reply by chat: Click this link if you’d like to send a Chat message to the author of an update
• Delete comments: You can delete comments people have posted to your buzz, or comments you’ve posted.
• @replies: Write @ in front of someone’s username as a way of directing your buzz at that person (it will automatically go to their inbox).
• Mute: You can mute buzz that appears in your inbox by enabling keyboard shortcuts and pressing the ‘m’ key while you’re reading it. Muting keeps the update from continuing to appear in your inbox as people reply to it.
• Link to: Click the down-arrow to the right of a post, and select Link to this buzz. This allows you to send a link to this content
• Email: Click the down-arrow to the right of a post, and select Email; a new Gmail message will open with the buzz content in the subject and message body.

In today’s crazy Internet world, we sometimes find ourselves with multiple email accounts that serve different purposes: work, home, Internet provider etc. In order to make our lives simpler, lets direct all those pesky email accounts into one central location.

This video will show you how to re-direct your email from a different account and load them into Gmail or your Google Apps account. Also, you will see links to web sites that have the POP email setting you may need to pull off this web ninja move!

POP email setting from some top providers:

• Gmail
• ATT
• Comcast
• Earthlink
• GoDaddy
• MSN
• Network Solutions
• SBC and Yahoo

Let’s make a PDF! For FREE!! Yes, its true!

I ran across this little gem of a web tool a few days ago. The site is convert.neevia.com and here is how it works. You choose the file output you want to convert to: PDF, EPS, BMP,JPEG, TIFF, PCX or PNG. Then upload, most any file type, to their system and let the magic happen! The video below is a nice demo. Great way to save money without buying Acrobat! Enjoy.

Installing WordPress with Fantastico is a breeze!  Just login to your cPanel and have your WordPress site up in minutes.

Earlier today, Google added new features to the Google Doc Tools:

• Thumbnail view in the Docs List which allows you to preview your Docs.
• Spelling correction when searching for a doc.
• Upload any file limit increased from 250MB to 1GB.

Editions Included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions

Languages Included:
All languages supported by Google Docs

While the standard “list view” displays the item title and information like sharing state, the thumbnail view displays small previews of your files. We generate thumbnails for all Google Docs types and most common files (photos, PDFs, etc). You can toggle between the two using new buttons on the top right of the toolbar.

When combined with search by relevance, the thumbnail view makes it really easy to find the file you’re looking for.

And for all us spelling-challenged and typo-prone folks, we added spelling correction in search. Never again will you need to wonder how your search for “agedna” (agenda) came up with zero results.

Finally, Google recently finished rolling out the upload and store any file feature, so everyone should now be able to upload, store, and share any file in Google Docs. Google has also increased the maximum file size based on user feedback, so you can now uploads files up to 1 GB in size. Very nice!

Take a moment to think about how you would really answer this question. If given enough thought just about any business owner who utilizes the Internet for any purpose will likely find that whether or not they intentionally organized an Internet marketing campaign, they may already be marketing their products and services on the Internet. This article will examine some subtle ways business owners may already be marketing their business on the Internet.

Do you have a website for your business? Business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their products or services online just by virtue of the fact that they have a website online. Having a live website means there is the potential for curious Internet users to access your website. You may not be actively promoting your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors; this is a form of passive marketing.

Do you participate in message boards and include a link to your website in your signature? Again business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their website online. Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts. However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing which result from message board participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.

Do you include keywords which are relevant to your business in the content of your website? Business owners who answer yes to this question are also already marketing on the Internet by optimizing their website for these keywords. These search engine optimization (SEO) affects the websites whether or not they were even aware of the concept of keyword density and how it can help to SEO a website. Business owners will likely use certain words often depending on the type of products and services they offer just because it is natural and logical to do so. This tendency, however, can result in search engines boosting your website rankings for these particular keywords. The concept of SEO is much more involved and complex than simply using keywords frequently but business owners can gain some benefit just by naturally applying relevant keywords to their website.

Do you solicit feedback from your customers online? This is yet another example of how business owners may be accidentally marketing their business on the Internet. Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes and business owners who offer products online might solicit feedback in the form of online surveys. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for a business purpose the fact that it is done online makes it fall into the category of Internet marketing.

We have already discussed several ways in which business owners may already be marketing online but what about business owners who want to have an increased online presence? Business owners who may already be marketing online accidentally may wish to launch a full scale Internet marketing campaign. The best way to do this is to hire a consultant with experience in Internet marketing to assist you in creating a campaign which is effective for your target audience.

To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills back.
With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also getting popular.

There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story.
Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

1. Publishing content that does not help your readers.
Maybe in the process of writing articles, you are thinking that all that is you wanted is links back to your site. And any visitors it can generate are fine.
Guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications on the articles that they are accepting.
You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with other people. All it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential audience overnight.
Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work the most effective way for you. This also means you have to obey the standard guidelines, spell checks, researching on a good topic and even hiring a writer to produce a good content on your behalf.
In the end, it is all really a matter of choice on your part. You can start getting a little exposure from increased links back but on a very basic level. Or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra time making quality contents.
It will be your choice. You may not be aware of the fact that an article submitted on directories is not meant to have the same level of exposure as highly-targeted content ones geared on a narrow group of people.
Learn the difference between these two and it will surely help you know what kinds of articles to write and to submit.

2. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. You can achieve this by producing better contents.

3. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your site. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that same articles?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor texts which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your site. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of audiences and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your site.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.

4 Things ALL Articles Must Have – Don’t Forget!

The importance of articles in today’s websites and internet based companies are immeasurable. They dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic into one’s site.   It has become a key element in making a site work and earns a profit. A website operator and owner must have the good sense to include articles in his or her site that will work for them and earn them the many benefits articles can give to their site.

Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.

But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more.  They would also be able to recommend your site to others.

Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.

•    Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.

The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts.  There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.

•    Keyword Density

Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.

Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.

•    Good Article Content

Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.

•    Linking Articles

And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON’T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.

You’ve just signed up for this fantastic new affiliate program. They have great products, free referral websites, training, pre-made ads for you to copy and the best compensation plan on the internet. This is the best affiliate program on the internet! Put a few ads out there and you’re on your way to becoming the next internet millionaire. Right?

Before you break ground on that big mansion on the hill, here are a few mistakes many new affiliate marketers make that you’ll want to avoid.

5.  Believing the hype

And yes, I do mean the hype promoted by your own program. Those income projections that every program makes are just that, projections. You can make that much. Will you within your first few months of the program? Probably not. Look at this as a long term investment in your future, not a way to get rich quick. Believe in yourself and your ability to make your dreams come true. But don’t believe the hype.

4.  Expecting instant results with little effort

Expect to work your business. And expect to work it daily. If you opened your own neighborhood store, you’d expect to have to go in to work daily, wouldn’t you? You’d expect to have to advertise and get people to come to your store. Well, you just opened your own brand new internet store, what are you going to do to make it work? How are you going to get people to come look at your product?

3.  Lack of a plan and specific goals

You’ve probably heard the saying, plan your work and work your plan. You need to have a specific plan and clear, measurable goals. Many people join affiliate programs with the vague goal of wanting to make a lot of money. How much money? How quickly do you want it? (Try to be realistic here, making a million dollars in one month is not realistic.) Okay, you have your clear, specific goal. Now how are you going to get there. Again, think clear, specific steps here.

2.  Advertising your affiliate link

Wait a minute, if you don’t advertise your affiliate link, how are you supposed to get sales and downline members? Create your own website that has a link to your affiliate program. Every affiliate for your program gets the same website that you do. You have to be able to make yourself different from everyone else. The way you do that is with your own website.

1.  Quitting

You’ve been working your affiliate program for 2, 3, maybe even 4 months now with very little to show for it. You’re getting discouraged and beginning to wonder if this is worth it after all. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and figure out what it is you need to be doing. Learn more. Bug your sponsor and your upline members until they help you out. Don’t quit. No one ever achieved success by quitting. Neither will you.