Oh yea, it's that time again. Time again for your daily dose of Merle.......admit it you're addicted and you like it. OK, don't admit it but keep on reading anyway.(LOL) Well, the cold and rain have returned here in Ohio big time. What a week. I've had to turn the heat on a couple times. Teddy Bear (my dog) and I are fr*eeezing.....it takes awhile for your body to adjust to cold again and Ted and I just aren't there yet. Hey, quite hogging all the blankets! Most people are crying oh winter is here, but I'm not b^ying it. I've lived in Ohio my whole life and we always have what's known as "Indian Summer". It usually comes mid October and is a brief period of summer weather before old man winter really sets in. It's nice and I know it's coming and am not ready to put the hard top on my Jeep just yet. So keep your fingers crossed, as I'm not ready to put my top on just yet <grin> Every time fall comes around though I do get an urge to bake Apple Pies, which for me getting an urge to cook would be like a Jewish Princess getting an urge to wash her kitchen floor on her hands and knees. It just 'aint' happening. But for some reason the cool crisp air sends me out looking for apples to turn into some yummy desserts. I found the apples now I just need to find the time to make them. It's on my "to do" list which looks more like a scroll, so let's hope I get to the pies before my apples rot. Have you heard about that new California Sp#m Law. How stupid?
Yea, let's sue a sp#mmer. That will get you real far.What
people don't seem to understand is that the real junk email
comes from overseas and from people who hide behind smoke
and mirrors sending out their Vi#agr ads with a vengeance.
You just can't stop them, because half the time you can't
find them. I'm sorry, the only person who will get hurt by
this new law is legitimate business owners like you and me.
The people making these new laws don't have a clue as to what
the real problem is, hell, most of them don't even know how
to use the net. Except for Gore, he created it. (LOL) See
the whole stupid story here.. If you notice every time the government get's involved in
anything it turns to shit. Turning the Net into a litigious
battleground is crazy and I for one don't want Have you heard about the changes over at Cl!ckbank? First
they announced they would cease the existence of your old
hoplinks as of Dec 2003 but enough people complained, including
"yours truly" and now they've taken down their new
changes and are back at the drawing board coming up with a
better plan. Hey, I'm all for changes if their for the better,
but leave our old links intact. Why should we lose money so
they can upgrade? Another brilliant idea at work. I do give
them credit for listing to our rants and promising to come
up with a better solution. They actually showed up over at
Tony's board in response to our cries. See.. Due to time constraints I'm running one of my past articles, but don't worry I've got some great new ones coming soon. Anyway, onward and upward. I'd love to hear your comments over at our discussion board. This week's winner for a free ad is....Charlotte of http://www.lovegiftz.com 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 Me.
Merle http://www.MerlesWorld.com
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"Ten Tips For a Better Website"
By http://www.MCPromotions.com
There are just some things that need to be included in every website. If you integrate these tips into your site your visitors will thank you for it later:
1) Navigation: Keep it simple (KISS), and make sure
it's consistent from page to page. No matter where you place
your menu bar -- either at the top or
down the side -- always include a small text menu at the bottom
of every page. Don't use Flash as a component of navigation.
There are still some people
who don't have or want the plug-in, so you will make it difficult
for them to navigate your site. Besides, search eng!ne spiders
can't read it, so won't be able
to spider the individual pages of your site if the navigation
is done in Flash.
2) Pr!vacy Policy: With all of the concern over privacy
on the Web, you need to include a privacy policy - even if
the only information you collect from your visitors is an
email address. There are many online templates that will help
you to create
one easily. Once made, post a link to it on every page of
your site.
3) Contact Information: Nothing drives me more insane
than having to search through an entire website just to send
the owner an email. Post your contact info at the bottom of
every page of your site, along with your email address.Don't
make me fill out a whole form when I just want to send a simple
comment. Include your
email address, hot linked and ready to go.
4) Logos & Graphics: Please keep your graphics down to a reasonable size. No one wants to wait two minutes while your huge, beautiful logo loads onto the screen. If you must use a lot of graphics to get your point across, I've got one word for you: Compression.
5) Fonts: Remember if you stray from using the standard
fonts that every*ne has installed on their computers (such
as Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman) the viewer
won't see your fonts as intended. Your users' computers will
display your site in their default fonts. Stick to standards.
If you must have a certain font used you'll
have to turn it into a graphic to maintain its look.
6) Make It Sticky: Include interactive features if
possible, such as live news feeds. Check out http://www.bignewsnetwork.com
for a fr*e news feed you can paste into your site. Use chat
rooms, discussion boards, etc. You want to create a sense
of community where people will want to return.
7) Newsletter: If you're going to have a website you
need to offer a newsletter, even if it's strictly going to
be about sale items, specials or site updates. You
need to start collecting a list of your visitors' email addresses
so you can keep in touch with them. Ezines help to keep your
site fresh in the client's mind while
establishing trust and credibility. For more on how to start
your own ezine see http://www.ezineuniversity.com
8) Browsers: You'd be am#zed at how differently your website appears in different browsers. Make sure you take a peek at your site in Netscape and Internet Explorer. Recent stats show IE has about 80% of the market share, but you'll still want to make sure the other 20% can view your site without any problems.
9) Resolution: This is a highly debatable subject.
"What resolution should I design for?" The norm
these days seems to be 800X600 although there are still a
small
number of people limping along in 640X480. Look at your site
in different resolutions to get an idea of what I'm talking
about. If you don't mind letting the small majority scroll
right and left, I say go with 800X600 (that's what I do) and
it still looks acceptable to those surfing in mega resolutions
of 1024 and higher.
10) Index Page: This may seem like a given, but I'm
going to mention it anyway. On the very first page of your
site (the homepage) the first paragraph should
answer the "5 W's"; basically telling them who you
are and what you're offering. You'd be am#zed at the number
of websites that leave this out; making me think "what
do these people do, and what's in it for me?" You need
to answer these questions and do it fast. Surfers are a very
impatient group. Stop them before they cl!ck away.
If you remember the above 10 pointers when putting together
your next website, you'll create a destination that visitors
will want to return to, and not run away
from in frustration.
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Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com
"Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising
are Made"-Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction
setting!
Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers
pick up some Fantastic bargains. Free E-book on how to
write "glowing" ezine ads.....Download Now at
http://www.ezineadauction.com/ebooks/greatezineads.pdf
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Anyone may reprint the above article in your ezine
or website as long as the sig line is kept intact.
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Fancy Form Buttons
Learn how to dress up your form buttons and lose the boring gray.
http://www.boogiejack.com/howx026.html
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Lockergnome Message Boards
Need help with Windows, programming or the Net in general? Check out Lockergnome's forum and get help with any and all questions you may have. Some very intelligent people hang out here. Chris has an avid group of followers.
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ListaMatic
"Can you take a simple list and use different Cascading Style Sheets to create radically different list options? The Listamatic shows the power of CSS when applied to one simple list using samples from Eric Meyer, ProjectSeven, SimpleBits, Jeffrey Zeldman and others."
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CSS Tutorials
If you're like me you struggle with CSS but are using it
on your site. If you'd like to
get up t* speed quickly and see live code with examples of
what it makes your webpage look like, check this out.
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Useful Tips
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CSS Tip
With Cascading Style Sheets you can set your links to do
display different colors depending on if they are clicked
on, hovered over or displayed. But what about
links that go outside of your site? What if you'd like them
to be a totally different color then your other links that
link to your inside pages.
Here's the CSS code to do this:
First decide on a color for outside links and set the code as follows:
a.external:link {color:#93f}
Then whenever you link to an outside site use this in your linking code.
<a class="external" href=http://www.sitehere.com/">
That's it. You can now identify outside links in a glance and even use this to your advantage in your navigation scheme.
"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..
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Webmaster World Forums
If you need to learn about running a web business, promotion,
website design, search eng!nes and every other topic under
the sun this is the place to be. Some
pretty intelligent people hang out at Webmaster World and
you can really learn a lot from them. You do know how to read,
right?
http://www.webmasterworld.com/home.htm
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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 Biz Owners!
If you're trying to market your Website and are not
sure where to turn, subscribe to MC 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
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Tour of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
Want to go to prison? Well, maybe not literally. Now you
can take a virtual walk thru tour of this Maximum security
prison as if you were really there. Doesn't
give me the warm and fuzzies especially the DeathWatch section,
but hey, it's interesting.
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Hit or Stand
Hit or Stand is a fr*e online blackjack game and trainer that teaches you blackjack strategy while you play. The goal of the game is to make a high percentage of correct moves, not to earn money.The game let's you select y*ur own screen size and gives you useful player tips as you go. The goal of the game is to teach you strategy you can carry over next time you go to the cas!nos.
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Google Code Jam 2003
If you're a programmer and love to tackle code Google wants
you for it's new completion starting on Oct 1st. The pr!zes
are awesome so if you're a
techy you might want to enter.
http://www.google.com/codejam/
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Earn Money Referring Others to PayPal
Earn a bonus by referring new merchants to PayPal;you can collect up t* 100 for each new merchant you refer. They must s!gn up for a business or Premier Account.
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Do You Write Articles?
If so why not submit them to one of the largest article
databases online today. Imagine Free exposure of your
work, as it's reprinted in ezines and websites across
the Internet. Be seen by thousands by submitting your
writings now to...
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Mater Pre-Installation Tester
"With Master Pre-I"stallation Tester, you can test
your server to see if it meets a script's requirements before
you purchase/download and try to install it."
Free Download.
http://willmaster.com/master/pit/
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Spam Fighter
"A small tool that you can easily install on your computer.Whenever
new mail arrives, it will auto-matically be tested by the
SP#Mfighter server and if
it's sp#m, it will be moved to your spam folder."Only
works with "Outlook" email clients.
--------
Belarc
Need to keep a record of what's installed on your computer?
Download this fre* software and run it to reveal a complete
listing of all hardware and software
installed on your pc.
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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 the site.
For advertising rates for this ezine send...mailto:advertising@merlesworld.com
Current subscriber base is over 4,800- 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 are not a subscriber and would like to be send mailto:subscribe@merlesworld.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
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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 thesurvey.
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 Click Here.
Thanks for being a subscriber and I'll see you next time!
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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. View our Privacy
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