Problems and controversies surrounding myspace

As much as the good things that myspace to persons of all ages, there are things that myspace seemed to have lack of power in controlling. Even with the tools that they have, they still have concerns on how to address them. But they are smarting up their ranks and try addressing these concerns as soon as possible. One of the controversies that caused some problems with myspace was the case that was filed against the website last February 2007. The parents of the kid that was sexually assaulted met the person online through myspace. Because of that, they were charge with fraud, negligence and misrepresentation. Even though the case was dismissed the website was magnified on what are the restrictions and norms they are doing to prevent these things. Under fire because of the accusations, the company created even stricter laws to protect those that are under age. There was also a report that the website was used by some as a spyware. Someone apparently found a loophole in the system of the website and used it to get vital information of the person. The bug was so powerful that it can take the information of the person looking at a website by simply clicking on a video to play that came from the source or even visiting the front page of the account creator. From there, it will look for the important information about yourself and eventually it will access some offline information and you’ll never know what hit you when you become a victim of identity theft. Another problem that most of the users have pointed out is that the website has virtually no customer service. There’s no phone number that you can contact and when you e-mail them with your concerns, you can just wish they will answer your questions within 24 hours. Sometimes the answer may never come so you’re better off with the FAQs again. If you’re very, very lucky and you can get hold of the phone number of the myspace headquarters, you can just wish you could talk to them about it. A corporate office won’t even bother talking to you. It’s a burden that we all have to face since the website is free and there’s absolutely nothing that you have to pay for their services. Lastly of course is the piracy and copyright infringement. Even though the website is not to be blamed, the website is really easy when it comes to posting something illegal for example, placing music online that can be downloaded for free. Streaming music are also the problem of some artists that they clearly voiced out their concerns regarding these add-ons. A simple code embedded on the site are all the users need to do to download and access the music. Whatever the concern, myspace always answers these concerns and tries as much as possible to protect the users and the artists with regards to the piracy. Especially with protecting the underage, myspace is continuing its efforts to prevent predators to get in touch with the vulnerable under-aged kids.

The website that had 5 hits a day

I guess this is my chance to start something similar to a blog to keep some kind of a personal record of my professional journey. During my school days in the National University of Singapore, I never thought I would be making a living creating websites for others. I started picking up HTML about 5 years ago. Surprisingly, despite coming from a non-programming background, I picked up the language almost effortlessly. I started putting up small websites on those free hosting sites. There were a lot of those companies back then. Before long, I was working on several projects for a few companies. It didn't take long for me to stumble upon Macromedia Flash. Once again, I was curious about how it worked and kept working on it. Those first few Flash files were real cheesy but in after just one year of hands-on experience with HTML and Flash, I managed to win a local web design competition. I got first out of slightly over thirty entries and won lots of software and several pieces of hardware. My friends kept telling me to start something on my own. Well, I did but it didn't quite work out as I lacked the marketing and business skills to run a proper Company. Before long, flocks of freelancers entered the market and the prices hit rock bottom. Anyway, I was running a personal website. It was doing well until I got a full-time job and due to neglect, it disappeared with the many websites at about the same time when the dotcom bubble burst. And when I said doing well, I meant getting just 5 visitors a day. Hence, the title of this article. I put up some simple articles on my website and also offered a free email service but without the marketing know-how, the traffic was trickling. It wasn't until 5 years later that I started getting between 20-50 unique visitors per day on each of my website. I'm now running close to 10 websites on my own and several others for my customers. I'd be the first to admit that I'm far from being successful but the results are encouraging. At least the websites are now paying for themselves and on some weeks, there is even some profit ;) At this point, I bet you want to know how I did that? Well, there really isn't any secret and if you look a bit harder, I'm sure you can find the information you need on one of those Internet Marketing websites. But I'll save you the trouble and give it to you here. There are two things you need to know to run a website that will eventually pay you back. The first is that your website MUST be search engine optimized. That means tweaking your website to make sure the website is friendly for the search engines. If you have a bit of time for experiment, here are some tips. Make sure that your keywords appear in your page title, and in your URL if possible. Get as many inbound links as possible but with anchor texts in your links. That means enclosing your keywords within your inbound links. Beware of websites that sell you a half-baked story about how they can guarantee you top rankings. I tried and tested all those information I found on the Internet and it took me MONTHS to see any kind of results. If you are in a hurry to get started, take a look at Instant Website. Instant Website is an in-house product developed by myself and I use it to host my corporate website. It took me months to build and I'm now hosting my customers' site on it. The second thing you need to know is that you MUST know how to build lists. This is critical to the success of your website. Search engine traffic brings in the visitors and you must have the tools to retain them! I'm talking about having some tools to reach out to those same visitors. One example is an email box. Instant Website has a simple one incorporated in it but if you need something more powerful, here are a couple of good ones. aweber and constantcontact That's it. Make sure your website is search engine optimized and keep building that list and you'll never have to worry about your website averaging just 5 visitors a day. What you want to do with all that traffic is completely up to you. On sites like this one, I place Google ads on them. Maybe I'll write more about that in another article but if you click on it, I earn some money. But only do so if you're really interested in what you see in the ad. So there you go, the story about the website that had 5 visitors a day but I'm sure after reading this article, you're on your way to running successful websites! So start one today!

Original web content

One of the most overlooked and misunderstood portions of web site designing and set up is the content. What do you actually fill the pages with, is the most common question today. Well the answer is rather simple, content and lots of it. One of the biggest problems with content these days is there is not enough original web content for your site. Why would you have an article that 500 other sites already have on theirs? This will not keep you in the race if you do not have original stuff. As every good web site designer knows, it is the use of keyword rich content that can make or break your site. These keywords are what are considered a beacon for the page, when the keyword is typed into the viewer’s browser. Not having keywords or very poor ones will not generate traffic to the site, leaving the site virtually in the dust of the competition. This is where creativity comes into play, you need to keep sharp to stay on top of the competitors and keep your site flooded with traffic. The more traffic you have the higher the page ranking. When your page ranking is high, you will have your site up around the top page or pages where most people surf. Many people for one reason or another rarely venture past the first few pages in a search engines listings, if your site is not in high rankings chances are you are not going to be seen. There is word of mouth yet someone actually has to stumble onto the site and view it for it to be noticed. For this one reason alone, you need to have content that can generate hits. Now there are many sites where you can grab free content for your site, yet this free content rarely has any keyword rich value to it and is surely not going to make you financially stable anytime soon. You need to find the stuff that no one else has in order to be original. Having fresh content that a viewer is actually looking for and has not found everywhere else online is the key to bringing in more business. This is not restricted to merchant based sites or affiliate sites, this goes all the way down the list of possible web site designs. Many people today write their own content with their keywords in it, to ensure that the indexing is updated regularly. If you do not have any writing skills or have no programs to ensure that the content has not been used before, this could easily be a daunting task. There are however, many sites dedicated to this very problem. You can go to a site such as Elance and employ a hired gun to do your content development. This is a site where web designers congregate, and you can simply put out ads on what you are looking for. Then a writer has the option of taking on the task of filling your site with proven content that will sell for you.

How a dallas flash designing service can add value to online marketing strategy

Online marketing is all about branding through internet. Online marketing is very similar to the traditional marketing mechanism because it requires a very good understanding of the underlying business strategy. Many of the website owners are unsuccessful in hitting the jackpot because they lack in understanding the underlying business strategy and consequently struggle to market their products and services efficiently. Simply owning a website is not the only necessity to strike gold in internet jargon. In the circumstances when the online businesses fail to impact the viewers the role of Dallas Flash design services become more prominent. Interactivity is the keyword to strike a chord with the website visitors. If the website fails to strike that chord then it becomes difficult for them to conduct the smooth online business. The Flash has become ultimate answer to bail you out from all your online marketing worries. Flash design can simply transform your non selling website to one which bypasses maximum traffic. Dallas flash designing services are one step ahead of other flash designing services around because they are successful in exploiting the benefits of the flash to the maximum. The flash designs by the Dallas flash designing services have often helped the clients to capitalize their other wise dull sites very wisely. Flash designs can aptly divert the focus to your website when they are incorporated into your e-commerce website. Many of the webmasters discard the flash design as non user friendly elements, but the reality is that these designs can very effectively alter your sales statistics. Some simple flash elements designed by Dallas flash designing firms which can work in your favor are: 1. Animated online presentations: Presentations are the first step to lure the customer to believe in your products and services. An effective animated flash presentation design can be beneficial in boosting your brand image and create first impact on the mind of the online or offline visitor who is seriously considering of employing your services. People love interactivity so adding a animated online presentation or introduction can be a novel way of approaching them. 2. Animate flyers: Animated flyers designed by the Dallas graphic designers can add face value to your online marketing initiative. An animated flyer can be used to portray the ideologies of any online business. Animated Flyer design is one of the most challenging tasks undertaken by Dallas graphic designers because the marketing trick will only work if the flyer is capable of leaving a strong impact on the mind of a web visitor. 3. Animated banners: Banners are still considered to be the strong marketing element used to market the products. Online banners are no different. But gone are the days when static banners had the power to lure the web visitor. Animated banners are loved by the web visitors because they have the capacity to interact with the customers. These banners can lure the customer to click and place the order. 4. Animated logos: logos are the first step towards building a brand name. A logo is an ultimate residual statement which every customer carries with them. An animated logo will be the novel approach towards crafting your brand image. An animated logo design has the capability of making or breaking your brand image before a customer actually tries out your services or products. Now you don't have to deal with the problems of having ineffective website. Start implementing the interactive tricks to gain maximum from your online marketing business.

Importance of cartoon logos in your business

Cartoon logos are images or symbols depicting certain characters and conveying the desired message in a light-hearted manner. They are not only funny but at the same time appealing and can generate excellent brand image recall. These logos speak in a unique language of their own. This is entirely based upon the expressions and colors used by the artist in line with the customers cartoon logo design brief. They can be multi dimensional and shaded to give a real life impression. One thing is for sure - Cartoon logos never fail to please any person of any age group. No matter how serious the thought; it gets conveyed in the lightest manner possible to the public. Many a times cartoon illustrations and cartoon characters are very effective in quickly and compellingly communicating community issues e. g. in public health, education, etc. Who wouldn’t want to see a memorable logo depicted by a cartoon (cartoon logo) that lays emphasis on core values like integrity, governance and compliance without having to go into the seriousness of the message? Cartoon logos, cartoon characters and mascots convey the message with a child-like innocence. Many psychologists will agree that people like to associate themselves with their childhood. The innocence and curiosity inculcated in our minds through cartoon logos takes us back in time and enables people to view the products/services being emphasized in the message through the eyes of a child. Cartoon logos are a humorous way to represent ideas and concepts. If your company wants to lay emphasis on its culture and virtues creating product cartoon characters, brand cartoons and mascots could be an excellent approach - The expressions of a character who says it all without having to essentially speak. In today’s time when technology is so advanced, man has become a machine; this human aspect is almost invisible. Work pressure and stress have led to the deterioration of the mind and body. It is very important to have an element of humor to be present in life. Cartoon logos bring about that human touch in day to day life. One tends to stop and think for a while that life is not all about work, there is need to be play and fun along the way. Once a thought is depicted through this medium, people are motivated by curiosity and are inspired to gather more information. No other way is more effective than a funny thought that can initiate a spark to bring about a change for the welfare of the people. A company should, besides developing a cartoon logo consider drawing illustrations, cartoon characters and mascots to enforce their brand message and company philosophy. Generally cartoon logo is customized by experienced artists, illustrators and cartoonists. These artists could both be freelancers or working for a graphic design company or even a website design and development company. REPRINT RIGHTS statement: This article is free for republishing by visitors provided the Author Bio box is retained as usual so that all links are Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.

Website design and development

There's two ways to get a website developed - pay, or design it yourself. If you've chosen the latter, you'll need several things. First, you'll need web hosting. Web hosting can range from $2 to $200 per month, depending on your needs. Consult a web hosting review site for more information. Next, you'll have to have some background in computing or internet programming. You'll need to know at least HTML. Thirdly, you'll have to have a way to upload your files. Some hosts have online uploads, others require FTP. Today's web design encompasses many different technologies that must blend seamlessly to allow for the best combination of form and function in a site. If you've decided to design your first website, it can be a daunting task. Rather, most professionals suggest finding a low-cost alternative. Many web developers have a forte - either design or programming. Finding a well-rounded website design firm or individual is difficult, but the business' portfolio is the best indication. In order to be certain of the firm's abilities, further scrutinizing is imperative. The firm has a nice looking site that flows well and has an aesthetic appeal, a great testament to their abilities. But does this eye for the creative flow through its clients' sites, too? It's importance to be certain of this question. Browsing through the portfolio alone often isn't enough. Get feedback from the clients if possible (with the firm's approval). Are they satisfied? Do they feel that the firm was easy to work with? And moreover, is there site an adequate representation of what they wanted? Once you've found a firm that you feel is worthwhile, it's time to ask for a quote. Hopefully, the firm has a questionnaire that you can easily fill out. These surveys will ask questions about how many pages your site will have, whether writing is necessary, and if there is any extra functionality. You probably already have a budget in mind, but it's better for a company to tell you what they think the work is worth. They know how many hours of work are involved, and will (hopefully) break down the price for you to let you know exactly what you're paying for. Web design can range from $5 to $100 per hour, and many web designers have a forte that they will charge more for. Sometimes, it's even necessary to work with multiple firms to get the best deal. Today's trend is outsourcing. Many Indian and other overseas programmers and designers are willing to work for exponentially less than American web designers. This trend has its pros and cons. While the money saved is beneficial, the overseas designers rarely speak fluent Englishmunication is an imperative part of web design, and often projects can go awry without it. Obviously, you have a difficult design ahead of you. With all the great web design firms out there, sometimes cost does equal quality. Make a decision, get a second opinion, and always be thorough in your explanation of what you're looking for.

For automated sites php and mysql are a perfect match

You’ve decided to automate your web site. Now what? Here are some ideas to help you choose how to automate your site. A bit of programming is going to be necessary if you want to automate a site. There are many types of programs that can be used to automate a web site including JavaScript, PHP, Perl, ASP, Java and more. So, which do you use? For many, it is a personal choice. I prefer PHP for programming. PHP is a particularly useful programming language because it allows for advanced programming and is easy to integrate with web pages. Another plus of PHP is that the language interfaces very well with MySQL, a popular type of online database. Yet another plus of PHP is that it is Open Source Code. The actual code that is PHP is available to the public for free, while the source code for products such as ASP are not. Because PHP is open source, there is a large community of PHP programmers that help each other with code. This means PHP programmers can rely on each other by using reusable pieces of code called functions and classes rather than constantly reinventing the wheel. This can dramatically cut down on production time. Overall, PHP is flexible, cheaper than many alternatives, and built around a community. PHP and MySQL are excellent choice for webmasters looking to automate their web sites. What Can PHP and MySQL do for me? Just about anything you can think of. That is the beauty of custom programming. A few ideas of what you can do with a PHP and MySQL driven site include: 1. E-commerce 2. User Polls 3. Keyword Tracking 4. Set User Preferences 5. Manage Password Protected Member's Areas 6. Lead Follow Up 7. Customer Relations 8. Content Management 9. Email Newsletters 10. Accounting 11. Invoicing 12. Scheduled Updates The list is limited only by your imagination. Once you have decided to go with a PHP and MySQL site, you can either get a custom program created, use a prepackaged version or a combination of both. Many PHP and MySQL programs that come prepackaged are easy to customize and can save you a lot of time and money over starting from the ground up.

How to create meta tags to optimize your web site

: In this article, I will teach you the basics about Meta Tags and their functions. Learning how to create Meta Tags is essential for your companies web site ranking. What Are Meta Tags? Meta Tags are a series of sentences created by either you or your web designer in order to let the search engine know what each individual web page in your web site is about. These meta tags are NOT visible to your visitors but are within your code for search engines to read when they visit your site. Your meta tags will help the search engine determine: - What your page is about - Whether your meta tags relate to your content within your page - The relevance of your content - Were to rank your site within the search engine. VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT META TAGS! The key to Meta Tags is to let search engines know what the content within your web page is supposed to be about! Creating meta tags that do not relate to your content will give very negative results and may get your web site banned from search engines. Ex. Your content is about "Creating Meta Tags". You'll want to include within your content specific information about "Creating Meta Tags". Once your content is complete, select a few "Key Phrases" and include them within your meta tags. Make an attempt to keep each individual web page about 1 specific topic. This will help your page relevance within search engines. What do Meta Tags look like and how do I view them? To view meta tags it s actually quite simple if you know what to look for! There are 3 specific things to look for: 1) Title, 2) Description, 3) Keywords. Here's what an example of what meta tags look like... Before you say "Huh?", I'll explain everything after the given example. Ok now... Here's what you're looking at... TIP: You must include the "code" indicated in bold in order for your meta tags to work. So many web sites have meta tags that are never read by search engines because there is a flaw within the meta tags. Don't forget to include the "closing tags" ( "> ). Please Note: Each individual search engine looks at your key words differently. No one knows what the search engines are looking for except for the people that program them. Any business claiming that they know what search engines are looking for are trying to sell you false hopes. How to view a web site meta tags! Right click on your mouse and select the option "View Source". This will open another word document to show you the web sites "Code". Meta Tags are typically near the top of the document.