_________________________________________ 互户互户互户互互户互)  Merle's Mission Ezine- "The Best of the Net Straight to your Door" April 15th,2003 Issue #109 ISSN: #1527-3105 Edited & Published by: Merle- Merle@MerlesWorld.com http://www.MerlesWorld.com/ Tell A Friend: http://recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=3463949 Forum: http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl __________________________________________ 互户互户互户互互户互)  NOTE: This newsletter is by subscription only. The only way it could have ended up in your inbox was by YOUR SUBSCRIBING to it. If you no longer wish to receive it please see the link at the very bottom of this ezine and I shall never darken your doorway again. ****************************************** Donations Wanted: If you enjoy this ezine and feel you have gained valuable information from it, please make a donation through Amazon's Donation Service. http://tinyurl.com/21se Your small gifts will help support the website and this newsletter (and bones for "the boys"). Dakota says "thanks". If you prefer to donate using PayPal use this link http://www.merlesworld.com/adtracking/lm.pl?paypal ______________________________________________ Sponsor ______________________________________________ "Breakthrough! Profitable business on the Internet!" Imagine this: Having 17 top quality programs at your disposal, for personal use and reselling. Products that not only build your website, but help market it, automate it, and protect it from thieves. Everything you need. And these products are so efficient, they can have you running in less than a day. Imagine the possibilities! Click below to find out more: http://www.HyperTracker.com/go/rand88/merletop5000/ __________________________________________ 互户互户互户互互户互)  Bumper Stickers... "Life is too complicated in the morning." Compliments of http://www.Coolsigs.com ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> E D I T O R' S N O T E ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> Hi Kids! Welcome to another fun filled edition of Merle's Mission. If this is your first time, I'm glad to have you and hope this ezine soon becomes something you look forward to twice a month. Are you as sick of all the sp#m talk as I am? If I get one more email that tells me how to grow a bigger pem#s when I don't even have one I'm going to scream. Is this all men think about? I'm just wondering since this seems to be the one I get most often maybe this is on men's mind more then I realized. If it is let's set the record straight, it's really not a big deal. If you can take out the trash, give us a kiss and a hug once in awhile and remember our birthday's, we're happy. Women are pretty simple creatures really. It's the simple things that count. But not only am I getting sick of the crap in my inbox I'm also tires of hearing about all the sp#m solutions. I even get spam#ed about that. Then there's the sp#m vigilantes who think it's their sole purpose in life to kill all people who send unsolicited email and get fanatical about it. They complain on lists, they complain on forums, even moderated discussions have turned into battle grounds over this touchy subject. The kicker this week was when Yahoo launched a "report a sp@mmer contest". Way to go, let's encourage people to make false reports to win a contest. Simply Brilliant! Thanks to all the yahoo's (no pun intended) the Government is getting involved trying to pass anti-sp#m laws. No offense but that's not what we need. Every time they get involved in something it get's regulated and ruined. Sorry Uncle Sam but you've already got your fingers in way too many pies. Besides there's enough frivolous lawsuits going on without giving "gold diggers" who don't want to work for a living another way to make a fast buck. Do you feel this way? I've opened up a new discussion board for Webmasters and site owners at the site, please stop in and post your feelings. http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl I gave up getting crazy with sp@m a long time ago. I installed a great mail filtering program... http:www.mailwasher.net and I've moved on with my life. I'd suggest the rest of you get a clue and move on as well. On another note, I received a message from Overture the other day. I have a pay per click account with them for my sites. Anyway, the email contained a list of new keywords they had come up with for my site that I hadn't even thought of. All I had to do was approve the words I wanted, set my minimum bid and hit reply. Great! Good thinking on their end as with all of the tasks I have to do now, coming up with new keyprhases is not at the top of my list. Thanks Overture. IMPORTANT- Please Read ######################## Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL have all increased their sp#m filtering. See I can't even say that dirty word for fear of being sent to the trash. So if you use one of these services to get this ezine, please add the email address of mmezine@merlesworld.com to your "friend list" or approved" senders" list. Yahoo's New Mail Sp!mGuard If this ezine is showing up in your "bulk mail folder" and not your in box do the following to correct it: Open the message in your bulk folder and click on the tiny link that says "this is not sp@m" leave both boxes checked on the next page and from that point on my ezine will be in your address book and always get thru. If you do not want Yahoo! to send messages to your bulk mail folder anymore, you may opt-out of this service. In order to opt-out, go to Mail Preferences and click on "Inbox" under "Bulk Mail Delivery." Don抰 forget to "save" your preferences before you leave the page. In the future any and all bounces will be automatically taken off this list so if you want to keep every issue coming make sure you do this so we don't get bounced or sent to your trash bin accidently. Now you wouldn't want that to happen, would you? This week's winner for a free ad is.... Barry Miller For your own chance to win fill in the survey. You'll find the link at the very bottom of this ezine. A winner is pulled twice a month. Enter now. Thanks for joining me, let's get to the good stuff. If you have any comments you can send them to mailto:merle@merlesworld.com Merle http://www.MerlesWorld.com http://www.EzineAdAuction.com http://www.MCPromotions.com -------------------------------------------------- IN THIS ISSUE -------------------------------------------------- => 1. News From the Net => 2. Feature Article-"Speed Up Your Web Site For More Sales" => 3. Webmaster Resources => 4. Promotional Resources => 5. Other Ezines of Interest => 6. Just for Fun or Useful => 7. E Books and Things of Interest to Publishers => 8. Freeware and Shareware to Download => 9.Subscribe/Remove Information ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. NEWS FROM THE NET ---------------------------------------------------------- Senate Anti-Sp#m Bill Introduced http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2184741 -------- Kinko's Goes Wireless http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article.php/2190301 ------- Yahoo's Report Mail as Sp#m Sweepstatkes http://mail.promotions.yahoo.com/ymail_spamguard/static/rules.html ------- FTC Pledges to Continue Sp~m War http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2183991 ------ Browser Stats- Who's Using What http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>> Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv "Breakthrough! Profitable business on the Internet!" Imagine this: Having 17 top quality programs at your disposal, for personal use and reselling. Products that not only build your website, but help market it, automate it, and protect it from thieves. Everything you need. Ready by Today! Click here to find out more: http://www.HyperTracker.com/go/rand88/merlemission/ --------------------------------------------- 2. FEATURE ARTICLE --------------------------------------------- "Speed Up Your Web Site For More Sales" by Alvin Apple http://AlvinApple.com Margaret spent a lot of time and money to get her web site just right. The big photo of a professional at work beckoned visitors to stay and learn how they, too, could be as successful. Links to her main pages flashed when a visitors' mouse passed over them. She even featured a classy animated mailbox at the bottom of the page to encourage visitors to send her email. But something went wrong. When Margaret checked her web site visitor statistics after one week, she noticed most people clicked to her site, then clicked away after just a few seconds. No sales. Like many sites, Margaret's takes too long to load. The very graphics and programming tricks that seem so exciting are loading at a snail's pace on the dial-up connections 85 percent of her customers have. For a while there I thought all we needed to do was wait for a few months and most North American's would have fast cable or DSL hook-ups. Even the fanciest sites crammed with eye-popping graphics would download in a breath. But Wall Street's telecom melt-down has all but sealed our fat-pipes fate. It looks like most of us will be using dial-up to get on line for several more years if not another decade. Here's what you need to do to get on the right side of this important trend: Step 1. Start cutting. Right now you can't do better than to scale back the time it takes your site to load. Last year Zona Research estimated 40 percent of sales were lost due to customers who left a site early after waiting on slow web pages. That translates into $21 billion in lost sales. If you've visited the FedEx site lately to track a package, you may have noticed their pages come up much faster. Now pages download in less than two seconds. Big sites like FedEx have special server tricks up their sleeve, but some of the time-cutting things they do will work for anyone. Step 2. Reduce those graphics. FedEx took the big jpeg file photo off the page and replaced with a much faster loading gif file graphic. Jpeg files, commonly used for photos, require thousands of colors. A gif file, used for drawings and simpler graphics, can be compressed to include only a few colors. Think of your favorite cartoon character. Chances are he or she is created with a just a few colors, maybe as few as two. That translates into a graphic that downloads fast. A designer confided you can get killer graphics with just 16 colors. FedEx made their pages speedier by replacing the little graphics next to links with HTML dots. The old graphics popped onto the page one by one. Done tastefully, the dots appear instantly and look just as good. For outstanding examples of just how good plain old HTML can look, see http://www.the5k.org The site is dedicated to clever designers who create outstanding pages all under 5k. Even on the slowest of dial-up lines, these pages load in less than a second. Step 3. Bag the Java. Java enabled links that change their look when you wave a mouse over them require three different graphics to work. A visitor's computer also has to take time to interpret the Java code. Use non-Java links instead. Also reconsider those Java scrolling news headlines. They also take time to load. CNN took their Java ticker down, making their page load faster. Visitors never missed it. Step 4. Cut down on links. Lots of sites have a big thick forest of links at the bottom of each page. It's doubtful many visitors even see all of these. If you've got more than ten links, you have too many. Cut some out and watch your page load just a bit faster. While I'm all for copy-intense sites, very long copy can make a huge difference in how fast a page loads. Keep your text at around 300 words on the opening page. Inner pages can be longer. Step 5. Repeat graphics. One of the best ways to speed up your site is to use the same graphics on every page. Once a graphic has loaded, it doesn't have to load again. I like to have a medium-sized logo at the top of the page, then a small logo at the bottom. It adds color and personality to an otherwise plain page, giving your site a feeling of continuity. Once you've paired down your pages, try comparing them to your competition. Clean out the cache on your browser, then time how long it takes your page to load. Now time how long it takes for competitors' pages to load. Results will vary from one user to the next, but you will get a pretty good idea of where your pages stand. ------------------------------------------------ 3. WEBMASTER RESOURCES ------------------------------------------------- CGI Installation Service When it comes to setting up CGI scripts I wince. OK, so I'm not all that technical, but why do I have to be when I can pay someone to do the dirty work for me. Nice selection of scripts to choose from and have installed all in one place. http://www.mycgiscripts.com/install.html ------ Free Script- Merry Go Round "With Master Merry-Go-Round, you can rotate text ads, Flash, images, sounds, scripts, applets -- in any combination. Whatever you can put on a regular web page, you can use as rotating content. It is an easy to install, easy to maintain CGI program written with Perl 5. Master Merry-Go-Round will display different content every time a page loads." http://willmaster.com/master/merrygoround/ ------- Dynamic Drive If you want to enhance your website with really cool scripts that won't cost you a dime, check out Dynamic Drive. You'll find cool site menus, text effects and more. http://www.dynamicdrive.com/ ----- LINK CHECKER Need to check your website for broken links? It's easy to do with this online form. Just type in your url and away it goes. http://validator.w3.org/checklink ====================================== Tip ====================================== Internet Explorer 6.0 If you don't remember to occasionally delete your temporary Internet files you're Net surfing could get really slow. It's easy to tell Internet Explorer 6 to do the job for you each time you close your browser. No more remembering to do the job yourself. Here's How: 1) Open IE, pick tools then Internet Options 2) Then click Advanced, scroll down and select the box that says "empty temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed". 3) Say OK and that's it ----------------------------------------------- 4. PROMOTIONAL RESOURCES ----------------------------------------------- "Only $10.00 to Advertise?" Sure you can, at EzineAdAuction.com it's EASY! You'll reach Thousands of prospective customers in the process.Why Waste hundreds of dollars on advertising when you can test your ad campaigns so inexpensively with us. The answer for a "small ad budget". Click Here to start Saving.. http://EzineAdAuction.com ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>> Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ $ $ $ NEED TRAFFIC? NEED HITS? NEED SALES? $ $ $ Special offer for Merles Mission newsletter subscribers. 10,000 Hits/Visits USA - browser redirects & pop-unders, for only $35, Target any of 13 different categories. 100,000 Hits/Visits USA - browser redirects & pop-unders, for only $350, Health, diet, webmasters, and more. Your choice! http://www.gaminghits.com/order-traffic/sale-pop.html (1X) ---------------------------------------------- 5. OTHER EZINES OF INTEREST ---------------------------------------------- If you'd like to swap ads with this ezine please send your requests to mailto:adswap@merlesworld.com Please include your ezine name and the number of subscribers. --------------------------- Attention Small Online Business Owners! If you're trying to market your Website and are not sure where to turn, subscribe to M.C. Promotions Press Newsletter and get the information you need to be a success online. Sure-Fire Promotion/Marketing Tips. Sites that will help you. Little known advertising tricks.....and much more. Start increasing traffic to your site Now http://www.mcpromotionspress.com or send mailto:subscribe@mcpromotions.com ------- ParentPreneur Weekly Ezine is geared towards parents working from home. Subscribe today and get HOT news & access to the latest tools & tips for home workers. All new subscribers will receive FREE gifts mailto:mcp-subscribe@parentpreneurclub.com http://www.parentpreneurclub.com?s00mcp ======================================================= <<<< T H E O R I G I N A L E Z I N E - R I N G >>>> Free Samples of the Best Internet Marketing Ezines ... Previous: mailto:mewsletter@autobots.net Next: mailto:2000fastracksample@sendfree.com *Full List and 3 Freebies: mailto:ering15@writead.com* ======================================================= ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ MILLIONAIRE GUARANTEES YOU MAKE MONEY! You can quickly make thousands of dollars on the Internet regardless of your age, education or current financial situation. Your success is guaranteed. Finally, someone is willing to put his money where his mouth is. Click below for the details on your guaranteed success: http://www.mininggold.com/?53217!101 (1X) -------------------------------------------- 6. JUST FOR FUN OR USEFUL -------------------------------------------- Google Viewer I've mentioned this before but it's worth mentioning again. Google Viewer is a fun way to do a search and then have the results shown to you in a slideshow..Very Cool. http://labs.google.com/gviewer.html ------- Check Your Speed Want to know how fast your Internet Connection is? Just click test now and you'll know if you're a crawler or a racer. Who says "My car's faster then yours". http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/ ------- Ugly Dress If you've ever been in a wedding and were forced to wear the ugliest dresses you've ever seen while the bride thought they were just "the bomb" you'll love "Ugly Dress". A collection of the worst bridesmaid and brides gowns imaginable. http://www.uglydress.com/ ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>---- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ Software created to MANAGE your online business! http://www.softwarewarrioress.com/GED/Software_Ours.html Made for a marketer and publisher- (Jan Tallent- Dandridge,Marketing Warrioress and publisher of Rim Digest ezine) (2x) ---------------------------------------------------------- 7. E BOOKS AND THINGS OF INTEREST TO EZINE PUBLISHERS _________________________________________________ Free Ebook with 44 free ebooks you can sell or give away http://www.ebooks-made-easy.com/brandingbook2.htm ----- Linking Matters If you've ever doubted the importance of a good linking strategy for your website you'll want to download this free PDF report that spells it out. Excellent. http://www.LinkingMatters.com ---------------------------------------------- 8. FREEWARE- SHAREWARE- TRIALS TO DOWNLOAD ---------------------------------------------- IE Killer If you have multiple browsers open and need to kill all of them with one click you'll love this free utility. This would be great if you're surfing the web at work and your boss sneaks up behind you. Free, http://www.codefoot.com/software/iekill/index.html ------ Notes Bar Free little program that adds on to your browser window and allows you to take notes and file at will. Pretty cool and you can even include url's. Say goodbye to sticky notes and hello to "Notes Bar". http://www.memobook.com/ -------- Pop Up Stopper I admit it when I browse the web I always have multiple windows open. Call me a power surfer if you want but if I didn't run pop up window killing software my PC would crash due to all the advertisements people stick on their sites. Say no to pop ups with this free pop up blocking software. "Supports ALL Browsers Including: AOL, MSN, Internet Explorer,Netscape, Opera and more! BONUS: Blocks Windows Messenger ads, GAIN and Desktop Pop-Ups!" http://www.panicware.com/ ------ NewsMon Brand new free software offered up by Paul Myers aimed at saving all publishers from the terrible new sp@m filters and get your ezine read. Here's a quote from the site "Publishers: Puts an end to delivery problems, bogus sp@m complaints, and expensive and difficult to use technologies. Get your message to the people who want it." If you can upload your ezine to your website you can use this software. http://www.newsmon.com/ ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ Fiber Optic Web Hosting From $14.95/ Web Hosting By BRANDBLAST- BRANDBLAST offers fiber optic web hosting for individuals, small and medium sized businesses looking for a higher level of customer service, speed, and reliability. **SPECIAL OFFER** Merle's Mission Subscribers receive ADDITIONAL MONTH FREE. http://brandblast.com (2x) ------------------------------------------ 9.IMPORTANT STUFF ------------------------------------------ Well, that wraps it up,once again thanks for joining me. If you have any comments please send them to comments@merlesworld.com or visit http://www.MerlesWorld.com For advertising rates for this ezine send... mailto:advertising@merlesworld.com Current subscriber base is over 6,000- My list is clean as all email addresses are removed the very first time they bounce. Back issues can be reviewed here... http://www.MerlesMission.com If you would like to be taken off our mailing list: PLEASE click on the link at the very bottom of this ezine for instant removal. If you're an AOL user and the link doesn't work please cut and paste it into your browser or mailto:remove@merlesworld.com If you are not a subscriber and would like to be send mailto:subscribe@merlesworld.com *********************************** For Back Issues: http://www.MerlesMission.com *************************************** For great web hosting or if you're in need of a programmer contact mailto:DavidBlack@SiteDesignandHosting.com He's wonderful and an expert at what he does. Tell him "Merle" sent ya. P.S. I am currently in need of testimonials for this ezine. If you enjoy it please let me know. Send to mailto:testimonials@MerlesWorld.com ========================== If you haven't yet filled in the subscriber survey, get your free gifts by doing it now..and be entered into a drawing for a free ad in this ezine. Winner pulled twice a month. You'll find the survey at: http://www.advancedsurvey.com/ when there put 901 into the survey number box at the top left to take the survey. -------------- I'm now offering my articles for syndication on your website All you have to do is paste SOME code where you want the article to appear and every 10 to 14 days when I update it on my end it will display a fresh article on web design/ maintenance on your site. Easy to do and gives you fresh content without any work whatsoever. For more info and to get to the code go to.... http://www.merlesworld.com/SyndicationColumns/syndication_columns.htm Thanks for being a subscriber and I'll see you next time! If you enjoy this ezine and would like to make a small donation please go to ... http://tinyurl.com/21se ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>---- IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER ========================= Disclaimer: Merle's World does not accept any responsibility for any liabilities as resulting from any claims in this newsletter or by the advertisers in it. This newsletter is for informational purposes only. We respect your privacy and do not share our mailing list with anyone. All content provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Copyright 2001-2003 All Rights Reserved