Instrumental Pointer

by Robin Eldred, Apis Design

One of the hot new website promotion tips du jour is the Google
Sitemap. This is a small XML file that sits on a website and
provides information for Googlebot when it comes to visit. Is
this file useful? What does it do? How do I create one? How
do I get Google to find it? Well, let me tell you.

Firstly, the general consensus on whether or not a Google
Sitemap is useful is that, well, the jury is still out. The
official stance from Google is that this entire program is in
Beta so there are no promises or guarantees. Perhaps by
understanding what this file is for we can infer its
usefulness.

A Google Sitemap is, essentially, an XML file that contains
information on all the web pages in your site. You create this
file, submit it to Google, and Google will read it. What
Google does from there nobody really knows. You can specify
certain parameters in the file such as the location (URL) of
your web pages, when they were last modified, how often the
pages are updated, and what each page’s “priority” is.

Perhaps Google is relegating these Sitemap submitted results to
a secondary index where they compare the results to their
live index. This might let them know how people use (and
abuse) the program. It is my opinion that the vast majority
of participants in this program are website designers and
marketers who are trying to give their clients a
teenie-weenie leg up on the competition within Google. That’s
not to say that there isn’t any value, though.

It is possible that by telling Google where all of your web
pages are you can improve your web page saturation in their
index. This may indirectly improve your rankings by getting
an unlinked or deeply linked page into the index that wasn’t
previously there. But as I mentioned earlier, it’s difficult
to know if Google is even using Sitemap information in their
live index.

So now that you’ve decided that you want to create and submit a
Sitemap of your own, here’s how:

[1] Firstly, you need to create your XML file. Don’t bother
doing it yourself. There is an excellent free online utility at
http://www.sitemapbuilder.net/.

[2] You must now submit the Sitemap to Google. Visit
https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login and login with
your Google account. Don’t have one? Don’t worry – that’s free,
too. Once you’ve logged in you can add as many Sitemaps as you
like.

[3] Don’t forget – whenever you update your website (by adding,
removing or relocating web pages) be sure to repeat this
process. You won’t need to resubmit your sitemap to Google,
though.

Google is also touting their Mobile Sitemap program. This
one, I believe, may be of greater significance. I believe
that Google is building an index of mobile-phone friendly
websites (Mobile Web Search Beta) and they are using these
new Mobile Sitemaps as a way to get the public to help them
seed the initial directory. The mobile web is in its infancy
right now, so it wouldn’t surprise me if creating a Mobile
Sitemap gave mobile sites a significant leg up. But again; no
guarantees here – just opinion.

Happy Sitemapping everyone!

“The 9 WORST Internet Marketing Mistakes And How to Avoid Them Like the Plague!” © Copyright 2003 by Talbert Williams – www.leadsandtraffic.com

Have you ever wondered how can you possibly figure out how to market your Internet business when you’re bombarded with so much conflicting information? Lots of “how to” advice applies to many online businesses.

But avoiding common marketing mistakes will work for EVERY business. If you make even ONE of these mistakes, you’re leaving money on the table:

Mistake #1: Believing, “You can make a fortune online while you sleep.”

This mistake has a sidekick or two: “Make millions in just 2 hours a day!” or “Give us a month; never work another full day again!” and “Make a living working less than 2 hours a day!” These are tempting; they’re all dangerous.

But these promises aren’t the most amazing part – what’s outrageous is the number of people who buy into them – with their time, their money and their hearts.

Avoid Mistake #1: Ignore pie-in-the-sky promises – you’ll have to spend serious time on a serious Internet business.

Mistake #2: Believing, “You can support yourself online with just a small investment.”

This headline captures attention, but that’s all it does. Your Internet business is just that – a business. Develop a budget you can afford; don’t take a risk you cannot. Almost everyone loses some money along the way to making their business successful. Plan for that.

Avoid Mistake #2: Spend a realistic amount of money to grow your business.

Mistake #3 “Get in on the opportunity you’re excited about FAST – before it’s too late.”

For an Internet marketer, this is probably the worst piece of advice. These pyramid-like “business opportunities” sound too delicious to be true, and they are. It’s never “too late” to begin with a solid business opportunity, and they are likely to generate profits whenever you set up shop.

Avoid Mistake #3: Do your homework before you do anything else!

Mistake #4: Having no marketing plan.

With a little help, anyone can write one. Get started by making lists: a daily task list, a weekly to-do list, monthly benchmarks, and so on. Figure out what you need to do every day to get the number of emails out, flyers distributed, ads placed, press releases written, and articles published to achieve your goals.

Avoid Mistake #4: Outline your battle plan and follow it to the letter.

Mistake #5: Not getting enough visitors to click on your site.

I’m sure you’ve read story after story about people who make mega-bucks on just a few hundred hits a day. Yes; it’s possible you could break the records, too. But it’s quite unlikely you ever will.

If you build your website, they will NOT come. You’ve got to push them there.

Avoid Mistake #5: Use as many methods as you can to drive traffic to your site.

Mistake #6: Sending out sales and recruiting emails all day long.

Some say marketing is a Numbers Game. Is it? Not exactly.

You can calculate the number of prospects you must have to get the number of hits you need to get the number of click-throughs necessary to end up with enough visitors who read your sales message. From there, you can determine how many visitors you need to convert one into a paying customer.

Everyone needs to know their conversion rate, but it’s not about pushing tons of warm bodies to your site. It’s about getting the RIGHT eyes to examine your offer.

Avoid Mistake #6: Get as many targeted leads as you can afford.

Mistake #7: Using weak headlines.

Weak headlines are deleted or ignored. If they’re going to bother to read your copy, you’d better knock ‘em down flat to get their attention first. Don’t spend more time writing sales copy than on writing an attention-grabbing headline. If your headline makes someone open your message or web page, you’re well on your way to making a sale.

Avoid Mistake #7: Learn how to write irresistible headlines.

Mistake #8: Not building a personal prospect list.

The mere fact that someone came to your website, and maybe even skimmed it, is a victory for you! Why let them click away? Make your traffic generating investment worth it’s weight in gold.

If you wouldn’t dream of asking someone for their email address because you just hate doing that, you’re trading principles for profits. You probably have a WEALTH of information about your niche that your visitor would gladly release their email address to receive.

Avoid Mistake #8: Provide an opt-in mechanism on your site so you can follow-up with every prospect.

Mistake #9: Once a prospect becomes a customer, they’re yours. Wrong! People are fickle, they constantly search for greater value, and they won’t be loyal to you – especially online. On the Internet, it’s fast and easy to click onto the next guy’s offer and then the next guy’s.

After all the time, energy and resources you’ve invested in getting them to purchase from you, don’t ignore them after making the sale.

Avoid Mistake #9: Don’t drop your paying customers from your marketing plan.

Talbert Williams has been involved in Internet marketing for almost 5 years. During that time, he was the #2 salesman for Living Young Today. Generating over $741,183 in sales. (Yes, he was #2, and he DOES try harder!) Talbert is currently running a very successful online marketing service, Leads and Traffic. He’s researched, tested and acquired countless marketing resources. With the expert team he’s assembled, Talbert can provide you with…

• Guaranteed targeted leads • State-of-the-art traffic generation software

• Headline-building templates and techniques • Proven methods to streamline your business; making every minute and dollar you spend work it’s hardest for you • All the free training you’ll need to use all of this, and more

In addition, Talbert and his team will teach you strategies and techniques to organize and run your Internet business, from now on and into the future – turning it into a money-making machine. Plus, Talbert is personally available to assist all of his clients.

Mistake-Proof YOUR business. Don’t take our word for it – Check out www.leadsandtraffic.com, take a test drive, and prove to yourself that it’s the best business-building investment you’ll ever make.

© Copyright 2003 by Talbert Williams – Leads and Traffic. All information, links, graphics, titles, words and phrases are protected by copyright. Dissemination of this report is strictly prohibited.

Success is a system, not a secret Leads and Traffic www.leadsandtraffic.com

Here’s how to get started…

The first requirement is a webcam. These are available widely on the high street or from online retailers and cost from around £25.00 in the UK, 36 Euros in Europe or $44 in the US. Most have headphones/speakers so you can talk as well as view the other person. After linking the webcam to your PC and installing the webcam software you then need some webcam chat software.

Chat software is available for free, MSN and Yahoo for example both have programs that allow you to chat using your webcam with audio and images.

A better option is to join one of the webcam chat networks. This means you join a community of registered users and have a large number of new people to chat to throughout the world. The free software provided by this network integrates with MSN Yahoo ICQ and AOL messaging systems so that you can add your own personal contacts.

A small yearly subscription charge usually applies to chat networks but after that there is normally no cost involved (apart from your internet service provider subscription) and you can chat whenever you wish with no time constraints. Certainly much cheaper than an international telephone call.

Beware of free webcam chat networks, they provide no security for members, are usually crammed with distracting adverts and the video and audio quality is generally poor and unreliable.

Chris Smith works developing 3 webcam chat networks:
World Webcam Chat
Webcam Chat (UK)
Local Chat (UK)

The biggest mistake that people make when getting divorced is that they fail to plan. They simply decide to leave the relationship and then enter and ugly and expensive battle that ends up hurting everyone involved. There are some things that you could accidentally do that will make your divorce 100 time more miserable than it really has to be.

As with anything in life, you need to have a plan. The same is true for divorce. If you dont plan for what you want – chances are you won’t get what you want. The first step towards having a plan is to know exactly what you want. After you know what you want you can plan to get it.

Here is an excercise: (Get our a piece of paper and a pencil. Write the answers down to the following.)

1. Decide how much money you want (realistically) our of your divorce.

2. Decide how often you would like to see the children (if you have any)

3. Determine if the divorce will be uncontested or an all out battle.

4. Determine “when” you want to be divorced.

5. Write down all the possessions that you want (realistically).

6. Write down any other ‘details’ that you want established in your divorce.

Take a few minutes and try to put everything you can on this list. You will always be able to add to it later.

Now that you have made your list, go back and reread the list. Cross off everything on the list that isn’t worth fighting for, or doing hard work to get. You can save yourself a lot of hassle by knowing what not to ight for. If it really isn’t worth it to you – then don’t worry about it.

Important Note: The things that you crossed off the list as things you didn’t want to fight for are things that you can ‘pretend to be willing to fight for’! So when you negotiate you can mention that you have to have these things. Then you can “trade” them for more important things that you really want.

Now you have a list of everything that you want. Be sure to include intangible things like “peace of mind”, and other concepts that aren’t related to physical stuff. This is important because you will be using this list to get every thing you want out of your divorce.

Now you need to take your list and figure out a time line. If you want to get divorced in 3 months, you should probably already be contacting a lawyer. This brings up another point. Choosing the wrong lawyer can absolutely devestate the entire divorce process for you. There is a way to choose the perfect lawyer but you can ask me about that later.

It is also important that you DON’T tell your spouse that you want a divorce until you have followed the right steps to make sure all of your bases are covered. There may be some financial things that you want to take care of BEFORE you tell your spouse you want a divorce. If you just lose it and tell them you want a divorce, they won’t let you change names on the mortgage, car, checking account, etc…

So you need to plan ahead. If you can plan ahead things will go smoother. Now if you are already in the middle of a divorce, there are still things you can plan for and other ways to get everything you want also. You need access to come easy to use tricks that can help you negotiate for everything you want. This article does not cover those tactics because there are too many to list here. A key factor in your negotiating skills is making your spouse believe that they are getting a better deal than you. There are ways to do this. If you can’t get them to believe they are getting a better deal, then you need to employ stronger tactics to get what you want. You will be able to use the items that you crossed off of your list as leverage in your negotiations.

It is vitally important that you plan for divorce with the right divorce method. From the list you just made, you can make a detailed divorce method of your own to get exactly what you want from your divorce. You should also seek out special techniques that will accelerate the results of your plan. If there is a way that you can tap into the experience of thousands of people to get results, you should do so. I am not saying this to be mysterious. If you read every last word of this article you will know where to find those resources.

Now take action and work your plan!

Wishing You Happiness in Divorce,

Kyle Chambers

About The Author

Kyle Chambers is a specialist at getting the most financially and mentally out of your divorce. Hundreds of people have already benefitted by little-known tricks in getting more money, custody rights, and just about everything else you want from your divorce. To get the most out of your divorce go to http://www.DivorceMethod.com.

If you are reading this, then you are probably either thinking of filing for divorce — or have a feeling that your spouse may be filing for divorce — whether you want to separate or not.

One of the common questions that an individual going through the divorce process asks is “What is a Divorce Mediation?”

Mediation is a process which allows both you and your spouse to maintain control over your destiny and the terms of your divorce settlement. Both parties and attorneys attend either a four-hour or eight-hour mediation, depending on the complexity of your case.

Is the Mediator a Lawyer?

Although some mediators are social workers, most commonly the mediator is a lawyer who acts as a neutral person to help you settle your case.

How is the Mediator Chosen?

The mediator is chosen and agreed upon by the attorneys. Every Family Law attorney has a “short list” of competent mediators who specialize in family law with whom we are familiar, whose style we are comfortable with, and who we have found to be effective, particularly considering the individual aspects of your specific case.

What is the Role of the Mediator?

The role of the mediator is to facilitate an agreement between the parties to prevent the necessity for a trial.

Can What I Say Be Used Against Me Later?

Everything said during mediation is confidential. The mediator cannot be made to testify in court if a settlement is not reached. The mediator will only report one of two things: “settlement”: or “no settlement”.

Further, you and your attorney will advise the mediator what you do or do not want shared with your spouse and your spouse’s attorney!

How Does This Work Exactly?

Procedurally, you and your attorney will remain in one room, while your spouse and his or her attorney stays in a separate room. The mediator travels from room to room conveying each side’s offer and/or counteroffer.

Sometimes, the parties mediate by all being in the same room together. This is common if your mediation is taking place at a county dispute resolution center.

Law Office of Marilyn Gale Vilyus
Attorney/ Mediator
16151 Cairnway Drive Ste. 210
Houston, TX 77084
281-550-6650
http://www.westhoustonattorney.com

Not certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

This article is designed for general information only. This information is not intended to be legal advice. Consult an attorney for before making any legal decisions based on your individual circumstances.

Marilyn Gale Vilyus is a Houston Lawyer focussing on Texas family law, child support, child custody, and divorce mediation.

The very worst part of hair loss for guys is that there is no cure. A receding hair line has been a massive issue for lads all over the country but there are fantastic things that might often reduce further loss of hair.

There is a lotion based treatment for hair loss called Minoxidil that can often be taken in tablet or topical lotion form and might often help girls regrow their hair and reduce further receding. The topical lotion comes in a variety of strengths with five percent being the most used. The hair loss treatment is used under the supervision of a pharmacist and should be made aware that it is not an incredible miracle cure. However, the marvellous success of this hair loss treatment is approx 66 percent. The hair loss treatment medication course is a minimum of four months before superb results will probably show and all males are recommended to continue the hair loss treatment for at least 8 months.

For chaps that don?t get any hair growth with Minoxidil they might try hair plugs. This is a long term solution and involves moving the hair follicles on the scalp to prevent bald areas. Hair transplants can be pricey and involves a surgical procedure so may not be for every girl. Get expert assistance in Hair Loss now.

At this moment you can inquire rates quickly online and enter if there are possible traps you should be aware of.

Translated it means: Woon je in Woudrichem of Noordenveld en heb je BKR notering. Lenen met zonder BKR registratie is nergens zo eenvoudig. Verwen jezelf met een nieuwe caravan met lenen zonder bkr toetsing, 131866 euro is altijd mogelijk om te financieren. Van Haren tot Druten, financieren met BKR is hier geen enkel probleem.

That’s why now you really need to check over and ascertain if you can have a bank loan at a serious percent interest rate. Many of the merchant banks wil show you a rate that looks safe but doesn’t feel good or so after a while. Be impudent today to investigate if you have a special offer or if you don’t with the moneylender that offers you a money loan. 14 percent rate of interest may come along so fairish but will that be unceasing after you’re going to repay your money loan. Inspect to see if the bank who wants to give you a credit loan is serious. It doesn’t matter if you live in Albany New York or in Orange California a respectable online inspection will prohibit you often a lot of disoblige. A merchant bank in Fort Smith Arkansas or so can have a total completely different actual loan rate for a 32500 dollar deferred payment then a bank in Ann Arbor Michigan and that makes a large clear gap in your monthly pay backs.

Every year it seems like Christmas gets earlier and earlier; the adverts come quicker, the tinsel goes up, and the whole thing can feel a bit overwhelming – a bit all consuming. With that feeling, and with that awareness, comes a greater acuteness when it comes to buying for your loved ones; the earlier we’re reminded that Christmas is on the way, the more quickly we start thinking about that perfect gift, and we start mulling it over in our heads. To help alleviate that stress as early as the Christmas lights start appearing in shops, Notting Hill based spa, Scin Boutique, is offering a variety of beauty vouchers in time for the most difficult of gift seasons. And, with a number of gorgeous organic and natural products endorsed and sold through their spa and website, Scin Boutique gift vouchers are not only perfect present ideas, but they will also open the door – and even politely hold it open for you – to a number of brilliant brands, including Green People, Loopdeloop, Taer, Circaroma, and Bod. Or, if a pamper day suits more, beauty vouchers can be bought for treatments at the boutique itself – found in Notting hill, London – so that your loved ones can feel truly special. On the Scin boutique website, they have this to say about their gorgeous spa: “Scin Spa and Beauty Boutique opened in December 2005 in Notting Hill. The founders of this fine London Massage and Beauty Spa establishment are Anna and Nicky Noble, who are dedicated to creating a warm friendly environment in which to enjoy beauty and spa treatments”. And they had a roaring review from Times Online: “Located in achingly hip Notting Hill, just around the corner from Portobello Road, Scin combines boutique charm with the practical philosophy of providing simple, quality treatments that work. Bespoke facials and specially designed massage are just a taste of what you can expect…Notting Hill is known for many things but gorgeous day spas isn’t one of them. All that could be about to change with the arrival of the bright, white and clinical-looking but ultra-friendly new spa Scin. The spa, which firmly emphasises skin and wellbeing is run by attentive therapists who offer a host of no-nonsense treatments including excellent facials, massages and manicures for both sexes.” What a combination! Great products, a practical and alluring boutique, and beauty vouchers that make the whole thing stress-free. And they are by no means impersonal; for those who like to indulged and pampered, or those who like to detox, Scin boutique beauty gift vouchers are perfectly tailored and thoughtful presents. So, if it comes towards Christmas, and you just don’t know what to buy your loved one, maybe try a beauty voucher from Scin Boutique, and introduce them to some beautiful and successful treatments, or some natural and organic beauty products. Get shopping!

Most of the visitors to your website are going to spend 99% of their time doing one thing: reading your content. Given that the web is a medium mainly devoted to reading, it’s surprising just how ignorant most page authors are about typography. If you use the wrong font, you make your page painful to read – or even impossible.

The right one can make your readers stick around for much longer, and read more than they otherwise would have. But how can you know what to pick?

The Problem

The web has a big font problem that you might not know about. The problem is this: you can only specify fonts by name in HTML and CSS. That means that, apart from logos (which can be done as images), you’re relying on the people visiting your site to have installed the fonts you’re using for headings and body text. Most people aren’t designers, and so will only have the basic fonts that come with their operating system – and, worse, they don’t even all use the same operating system!

What you end up having to do, then, is providing an order of preference: what this usually comes down to is a list of similar fonts, with your favourite first. The list will then end with either ’serif’ or ’sans’, depending on whether the font had serifs (that is, the extra little parts of the letters, like a little kick after a small d, for example). ‘Sans’ is short for ’sans-serif’, meaning that the font has no serifs.

So what are the ‘web-safe fonts’? In practice, there aren’t that many at all: you’re pretty much limited between choosing either Georgia/Times New Roman/Serif, or Verdana/Arial/Sans. As a general rule, it’s better to use sans-serif fonts on the screen, and serif fonts in print-outs: serif fonts are difficult to read on a monitor because they’re hard to represent in pixels, while sans-serif fonts have a tendency to look ‘chunky’ when printed.

Some Other Choices

There are a few other fonts that most users have installed and that might be useful to you, although not for body text. These include Courier New (a typewriter-like font), Trebuchet (an interesting font for headings), Impact (a tabloid newspaper-like font) and Webdings (a set of images with things like fast forward and rewind symbols, a tick and a cross, and so on).

Pay Attention to Size

Having read that, you might be off now to go and set your web page in Verdana, but wait a second. Verdana looks terrible in larger sizes – it’s just too wide and large. You need to set it to around 80% of its default size before it’s really tolerable. This also means that Verdana is largely bad in headlines – you might try Arial instead for this, preferably in bold. An ideal combination for many sites is large Arial for headlines with small Verdana for body text.

However, you should also make sure that you don’t make your fonts too small, as older users or others with bad eyesight may have trouble reading them. Always specify font sizes in relative units (such as percentages), not absolute units (such as pixels). This will make sure that your font sizes pay attention to the preferences the user has set in their browser: if they’ve asked for very large fonts, they’ll get very large fonts. Never forget that it’s ultimately up to your users how they want to see your site, and you have to respect this.

Avoid Comic Sans

Finally, it’s worth adding a special mention here for a font that is a hate object for designers everywhere: Comic Sans. It’s a font that you’ve no doubt seen, with its trademark child’s handwriting-like letters. It was designed to have a ‘playful’ look, but the use of it has just got out of hand – if you’ve ever tried to read a whole web page in Comic Sans, you’ll know the pain I speak of. In a design sense, using it is a faux pas right up there with misplacing all your apostrophes. Read more at www.bancomicsans.com.

While a new video game console can bring your family entertainment for many hours, picking the wrong one due to bad information can lead to serious disappointment. There is a baffling number of choices on the game console market. The information you are looking for can be very difficult to find, but you will find there’s a lot of misinformation out there.

What type of games do you find interesting?
Are you an HDTV owner, or do you intend to buy one?

What type of budget do you have to work with?

Which piques your interest the most, playing games with a group or the solo playing experience?
Have you got any of the old school gaming systems?

The PlayStation 3 was the most pricey for quite a while. It’s a good thing that you will now find lower prices on them. Now priced at four hundred US dollars (it all depends on the model you plan on buying)this price is more comparable. Prices change constantly so chech the latest games consoles prices online.

The PS3 is an experience, it is more than just a game console. It has the capability to be a Blu-Ray, CD, or DVD player; as well as; it can upgrade DVDs to HD. Blu-Ray is now the leading high-definition film format; thus, if you’ve got an HDTV but no HD movie player, a PS3 might be a great means of getting both your movie and your gaming needs met in just one place. Without an HDTV display, movies in Blu-ray format don’t provide any better quality. This feature doesn’t translate well for use with a standard definition set.

While the PS2 controller is nearly identical to it, this unique controller utilizes a motion sensing technology known as Sisaxis. The controller can be tilted Six different direction for interactive game play. The results vary from game to game based on well this has been incorporated. If it is not done properly it can be very annoying, but it can add to your experience if it’s done correctly. The vibration feature is missing from the Sixaxis controller. The newly released DualShock 3 controller with vibration will not be included with newly purchased PS3s until June 12, 2008.

You will find a lot of the same games for Xbox 360 and PS3.