«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Merle's Mission Ezine- "The Best of the Net Straight to Your Door" June 30th,2003 Issue #114 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 New Forum: http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« NOTE: This newsletter is by SUBSCRIPTION. 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 http://tinyurl.com/21se If you prefer to donate using PayPal use this link http://www.merlesworld.com/adtracking/lm.pl?paypal Your small gifts will help support the website and this newsletter (and bones for "the boys"). Dakota says "woof" which means "thanks". ______________________________________________ Sponsor ______________________________________________ "9 Out of 10 People Know the TAE-BO Brand Name." Would you like to learn how to use the TAE-BO branded name to generate big profits with their new product line? Find out how today by visiting: http://www.TaeBoHealth.biz/-enter (2x) «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«» One-Liners... "Drugs have taught an entire generation of American kids the metric system." Compliments of http://www.Coolsigs.com ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> E D I T O R' S N O T E ----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>>----<<>> Hi Kids! I had the most perfect day. I slept in after working till the wee hours of the morning at my night job then the "boys" and I went to the park to work on our winter weight. No, it's not as bad as it sounds but we could all stand to lose a few. Winters in Ohio are harsh and this past one was so bad there was nothing to do but sit and eat. Dakota's problem is he likes to sneak and eat "Teddy's" food. He's a real piggy. He's good at it too. He'll wait until you're out of the room before diving in. Sneaky brat! Poor Teddy, he never get's a good meal. Anyway, they love going to the park and running through the woods. Of course, I have to keep them on chains but I use the long ones that retract so they can have some freedom. I'd love to let them be loose but ever since Dakota was attacked by my neighbor's dog (125Lb Akita) and lived to tell about it I'm terrified of another dog attacking them. It's awful I'm down right paranoid about it. Teddy Bear is so small you could snap off his head with one bite. He only weighs in at 11.5 lbs and Dakota is 22.5. A big dog could have them for supper. That is one disadvantage of having a small dog, they get hurt easily, but they are easier to care for. Not like having a horse in the house. Besides if they were much bigger they'd take up the whole bed. My boyfriend complains now. I told him if he doesn't like it he can find someplace else to sleep, but he keeps coming back. Go figure (LOL) Have you seen the "Affiliate Cruise" coming up. If not you still have time to register. Looks great! http://tinyurl.com/fcjc To those of you who are subscribers and take the time to write to me I'd like to say "thanks". It's nice to know you actually read this rag and your comments mean a lot to me so keep em coming. I received one from a great copywriter named Larry last week and I wanted to share it with you. It's a bit long but it's wonderful. Merle, "Just a quick note to say "Thank You!" for all the tremendous help that you so graciously supply to us struggling "Netizens," who often find ourselves precariously dangling from a very thin thread of this "World Wide Web." You are amazingly well versed and knowledgeable in so many diverse realms of the internet game, and your writing style is authentically "Down to Earth" and very approachable! I often tell my friends and clients that you're an "Encyclopedia of internet wisdom, packed into a human frame." Once they check you out, they invariably always agree. The "WORD" is spreading! You certainly know your business, that quickly become obvious to any one who spends any time at all reading your comments, but what I find so amazing is your sense of truly caring, really wanting to help other. Your personality clearly comes through all that you say in such a strong fashion, that it makes us readers instantly feel at ease, comfortable, even trustful, as if we've known you all our lives. That is truly a rare and wonderful gift. Thanks for just being You!" Larry L. Nichols When Only the Right Words will do, http://www.WriteForMe.com It's Right for You- Right Now! ------------------ Isn't that the nicest compliment. If you're in need of a writer or editor Larry's work is top notch and he just launched his new website this week. Check him out at... http://www.WriteForMe.com Please take a minute to pop in at the discussion board. Go to... http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl Due to the amount of filtering being done by ISP's and maybe yourself please add this ezine's email address of mmezine@merlesworld.com to your "friend list" or approved" senders" list.All hard bounces are deleted from this list the very first time so if you want to keep this ezine coming and stay a subscriber, clean out your box. No, not the litter box, your inbox silly. This week's winner for a free ad is.... Bruce Baker 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. Have a wonderful 4th of July! 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-"The Key to Effective Website Design" => 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- Overture Releases Contextual Ad Product http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2229301 -------- Consumers Flocking to Do-Not-Call Site http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2229901 -------- Wired News Yahoo Spam Filter Thwarts FTC http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59427,00.html ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>> Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv "Created BY the Members, FOR the Members!" The "NEW" iCop has been created BY the MEMBERS! All members can give input into what they want and need. They discuss - they vote - they participate - they build their online businesses -and they have fun doing it! That makes this an UNBEATABLE membership site! http://www.i-cop.org/ref.cgi?id=msmerle --------------------------------------------- 2. FEATURE ARTICLE --------------------------------------------- "The Key to Effective Website Design" by Breal *********************************************** The key to effective web site design is good planning. Without planning and organization, you will end up with chaos. Once you have a design plan, content is the next consideration. This applies equally to new and existing web sites. To create your plan for a new or existing site, sit down and consider what your site will achieve. Get out a piece of paper and a pen, draw a circle in the middle and mark it'home'. Draw boxes connected by lines radiating out from the centre circle and mark them with each of the main areas your site will cover. Don't forget a site map if your site has more than 8 or 9 pages. Repeat this process for each secondary circle until you've planned your site. If you've already got a site, do this exercise and include every page on the web site. Good navigation is vital and poor navigation leads to visitor frustration. Once you've created your plan, you can create logical navigational links. Make up to 8 main navigational links to use on all pages of your site. You don't want to confuse your site visitors with too many options. You can offer more choices later, as your customers drill down into your site. If you have lots of links, then consider creating pages that list each group of links instead. For example, Click Art Gallery, (www.clickart-gallery.com) has hundreds of pages within the site, but only 8 main links. Two of the main links are to sub navigation pages. The first is an 'arts' page. This lists all the pages on the site only relating to the displayed artworks. The second is a 'services' page that lists all the extra services on the site. Once your navigation is taken care of, it's time to focus on content. Common questions we hear are, how much information should I put on a page and how big is a web page? The size of a web page, and therefore the content are dependent on the type of information being provided. However, many site visitors don't want to read a condensed version of 'War and Peace' on a single page. See if you can logically break the content down into easy to read chunks. Unless your site is an art gallery, keep images to a minimum. Try using simple 16 colour GIF images as they're small and fast loading. The following list gives you a few good design tips to consider when preparing your web site content. -> Do make your text easy to read. -> Do use short sentences. -> Do break up your text into paragraphs. -> Do use bullets and lists to make your point. -> Create textual variation with heading size and colour but don't make your text too small to read easily. -> Be consistent - consistency creates a professional image. -> Don't use fancy fonts except as 16 colour GIFs as your masterpiece may not display correctly on every browser. -> Don't use weird text colour/background colour combinations. -> Stick to one colour for each font type (eg Headings - blue, sub headings - teal, main text - black) -> Don't be too adventurous with changing hyperlink colours. Many people, especially newbies, expect blue, underlined links. -> Leave white space to create a 'clean' looking design. -> Ask two or three friends (who's opinions you value) how they find your site navigation and layout. You can also experiment with cascading style sheets (CSS) and bold, italics or even highlighted words and phrases. For example, this code inserted into your document will create a yellow highlight over the word 'Highlight'. Highlight All the preparation may seem like a whole lot of hard work, but it will pay off. Over the lifetime of your web site, good layout design and navigation allow your site to grow without creating you massive headaches. ************************************************** copyright Breal 2003 Breal provides cost effective web site design and hosting with a full 30 day money back guarantee. Web hosting even comes with six months free hosting on yearly accounts. To find out more visit http://www.brealweb.com For a complete list of current articles, send any e-mail to mailto:articlelist@brealweb.com ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ 3. WEBMASTER RESOURCES ------------------------------------------------- Basic tips A nicely done well laid out site that is a powerhouse of information. Articles and tips on web design, CSS, graphic design, color theory and much more. You'll like this one I promise. http://www.basictips.com/ -------- CSS Coder If you're a novice when it comes to CSS you may want to try out this online CSS code creator. Pick your fonts, your link colors, and more then just copy and paste the code between your tags of your webpage. http://www.xhtmlcoder.com/css-coder.htm ------ No Kill PopUP Boxes OK, everybody hates pop up boxes but the fact is for marketing they work. With=20 everyone surfing with pop up blocker killing software turned on they'll never see your pop ups. Good for you WillMaster has come up with a script that's a pop up that doesn't spawn a new window and slips right past pop up blocking software. Get the script at. http://willmaster.com/possibilities/demo/NoKillPopBox2/ «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Tip «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« To grow your browser to full size just hit your F11 key, hit it again to reduce it. ----------------------------------------------- 4. PROMOTIONAL RESOURCES ----------------------------------------------- Articles Review Looking for a new place to submit your articles? Check out this brand new site that allows you to maintain your copyright while giving you exposure for your hard work. http://www.articles.reviewinc.com/ ----------- "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/ *** LIVE Affiliate Marketing Workshop *** Learn from 12 affiliate marketing experts EXACTLY how YOU can bring home $10,000 or more every single month...for the rest of your life! Space is limited, so get details TODAY: http://tinyurl.com/fcjc ---------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------- STWebFX Marketing eZine you'll discover unique online marketing tactics that are sure to increase your traffic and sales. Receive a Free ad submission each week and lots of FREE contests for subscribers! mailto:newsletter@stwebfx.par32.com --<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ FREE ! I will give you hot new product ideas. Write Killer sales letters and compile highly profitable marketing strategies for you all for FREE! http://regina.theideatoolbox.com -------------------------------------------- 6. JUST FOR FUN OR USEFUL -------------------------------------------- National Do Not Call Registry If you're tired of getting a sales call everytime you sit down to eat dinner or go to bed you'll want to sign up at the brand new "National Do Not Call Registry" now online. You'll have to register with your phone number and email address and the promise is they'll never call you again and if they do you can file a complaint against them. http://www.donotcall.gov/ ------ Strobe Balls If you're easily amused you may want to pick up a strobe ball or two. Their hard rubber surface will remind you of super balls of old but whenever they hit a hard surface they start flashing. Only 5.00 each and you can even have your logo imprinted on them. Get some for your next drunk party. You're friends will be thoroughly impressed especially if their intoxicated. http://StrobeBall.com -------- Foto Time "FotoTime is the one-stop destination that makes organizing, sharing and storing your digital images simple. Join and learn how to easily transfer, update and synchronize your entire digital image library. " Free 30 day trial. http://www.fototime.com/ ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>---- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ "Are you looking to earn serious cash?" Become an affiliate of ModernRomance.com, and each surfer you send our way who purchases a 'subscritption'earns you a very generous cash reward! Become our Number 1 affiliate now by visiting http://www.ModernRomance.com ------------------------------------------------------- 7. E BOOKS AND THINGS OF INTEREST TO EZINE PUBLISHERS _________________________________________________ The Secret Is Out! TaxMama's Secrets: How to Start 10 Online Businesses Without One Thin Dime is finally available! Get tried-and-true advice from one of the Internet's most trusted marketers. Click here for information a nd inspiration. http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=79997 ------- Free Ebooks Who says you can't get anything for free anymore. Now you can search and download hundreds of ebooks broken down by category. http://free-ebooks.net/ ------- EbooksNBytes Eva is the online Queen of Ebooks. Visit her site for everything ebooks. You want an education on ebook publishing, you'll get one. http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/ ---------------------------------------------- 8. SOFTWARE-FREEWARE- SHAREWARE- TRIALS TO DOWNLOAD ---------------------------------------------- Speedy Search Next time you need to do a search instead of going over to your favorite search engine you try this software. Free to download and very powerful. Type in what you're searching for and it goes to work. http://www.entireweb.com/eng/speedysearch/ -------- Opera 7.11 If you want to download the latest version of Opera 7.11 is now available. http://www.opera.com/ ----- NoteTab "NoteTab is a leading-edge text and HTML editor. Winner of software industry awards since 1998, this application does it all: it easily handles a stack of huge files; lets you format text to your heart's content; does system-wide searches, and multi-line global replacements. It even corrects your spelling mistakes". Free http://www.fookes.com/notetab/index.php ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>----- Please Support our Sponsors ---<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----<<+>>-----sponsor adv/ Amazing Web Site Tools! Brand NEW Amazing Web Tools you need to Create, Maintain, Promote, Protect and Transform your Web Site Into an Eye-Popping Masterpiece! Get Yours Today! http://www.netbizmarketinggroup.com/software.htm ------------------------------------------ 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 5,600- 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. 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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://tinyurl.com/aohr 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. Comments in this ezine are strictly the opinion of the publisher. Merle does not endorse, and is not responsible for, the above ads. Please use your own discretion when responding to ads in this ezine. Copyright 2001-2003 All Rights Reserved.