webDrawing

Advertising Costs Money – Doesn’t it?

terry — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:32:36 +0000

Whether you are advertising on the web using PayPerClick systems (Google Adwords, Yahoo Sponsored Search, MSN AdCenter and such), there’s something else you should investigate.

Not only can you post messages and links in your own blog, there’s an advertising blog that exists so that you can post your ads!

Linking for Traffic

terry — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 23:17:43 +0000

One of the best ways to get traffic is to trade links with other sites.

To get started, you don’t have to spend a lot, maybe not even spend a cent.

All you have to do is… read more in Getting Traffic to Your Web Site, part 2

Web hosting – shared, dedicated and virtual

terry — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:34:29 +0000

Wondering what the difference is between shared web hosting, dedicated web hosting and virtual web hosting?

How about the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Read my article Dedicated Web Hosting, Virtual Web Hosting & Shared Web Hosting

And, check out Powweb’s October 25% OFF Special at $5.77/month for their super One Plan shared web hosting package.

Can misspellings help?

terry — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 23:24:24 +0000

You bet they can. I’m amazed at the search engine results I get from one accidental misspelling.

Read more in The Power of (Mis-)Spelling at my “Drawing on the Web” web design blog

Don’t you just love web browsers?

terry — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:50:09 +0000

Don’t you just love web browsers? Especially the inconsistencies between them?

I just posted some image tests in this blog at wordpress.com, which uses the “Contempt” theme. The images were 512×384 pixels.

WordPress properly set the image sizes in the HTML to 512×384.

However, the fixed width of the web page body plus the right-hand column width didn’t leave enough space to display the image in the correct aspect ratio.

Opera 9.01 and Firefox 1.5.0.7 showed the proper 384px height, but squeezed the image horizontally. That way, everything could fit on the web page.

Internet Explorer 6 (XP SP2), on the other hand, showed the image at the correct size — but it pushed the whole user interface column down below all the articles.

Using the same “fence” picture on my other WordPress blog which is hosted in my Powweb account and using a different theme, the images look fine and the navbar/user-interface looks fine in Firefox and Opera.

View the images in my Drawing on the Web WordPress blog at Powweb.

Just love it… Can’t wait for IE7, which is supposed to be more compliant with HTML and CSS standards.

Install your own Apache+MySQL+PHP+Perl server

terry — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 15:56:00 +0000

A little more on XAMPP — first, I didn’t mention how easy it is to get XAMPP, the cross-platform web server platform.

You might want to use XAMPP for production, that is, real access via the Internet. If so, be sure to check its Security settings and security comments.

Personally, I use XAMPP for development purposes. It was a quick install on my notebook. This way, I can design and test sites and web pages without putting them up where they can be accessed by the public.

Read more at Drawing on the Web, my main web design blog.

Getting Traffic to Your Site

terry — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:47:06 +0000

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site.

Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent.

Read this article

Should I Create a Web Site?

terry — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:45:52 +0000

Do I Need A Web Site? Should I create one?

Web sites have become a necessity for almost every kind of business. Companies, businesses, and individuals need a web presence to show that they are “up to date.”

Sometimes, the web sites are designed for e-commerce, the selling of goods via the web site. other times, they’re designed to guide prospective purchasers into buying the seller’s goods off-line or to provide technical and customer support after purchase.

Individuals of almost all ages have created personal web sites with their respective purposes, be it for profit, or for entertainment.

However, before creating a web site, we have to consider a number of issues, such as purpose, design cost, site maintenance, use of the site, and a web hosting service.

Cost is often a very important issue. We must find an affordable web hosting service, not spending too much, nor being too frugal. A cheap host may damage your site’s credibility via poor service or poor uptime. On the other hand, and expensive host may provide the features you need, or they might be just high priced.

Cost of site design and maintenance is the other main cost component. Can you afford a design professional? Is that the best option? Or, can you use a free or inexpensive WYSIWYG site design tool?

When it comes to more complex web sites, when you want it to do even a little more than just providing static information, hiring a designer may be the best way. Not only in terms of design, but security is also a key factor in assuring a quality web site.

Of course, if the web site also acts as an ecommerce portal for businesses or individuals, security of visitor/customer information will be a critical issue.

So, having considered the things to do before building a web site, do we actually NEED one?

No matter what your justification, if you’re going to create a web site, work hard on two things:

First, the web site’s content. You have to have a reason for visitors to visit.

And, second, make sure your design results in a good looking, functional site. Not too cute, not too stark, but just right.