Back at it!

I took a little break over Easter to visit with my family. Also needed some time away from my office :) Although I was back in town today, I wasn't back to work. But I did want to check my email and clean out my inbox so I could be back on my game tomorrow.

I continued work on my newsletter. Last week I signed up to use VerticalResponse.com and have been testing it. It's an online postcard and email tool that's really slick. You can create email marketing campaigns or newsletters, as well as postcards. They have several templates to choose from or you can import your own images, logo, etc.

Check it out--you can even send yourself a free sample. Or do what I did--I sent it a client so he could see firsthand the quality of the end product.

Cool! Super easy and a great time-saver whether it's for your own use or for a client.



Ciao, Paula

Web Images...

Don't Forget!

One thing most sites forget when using images in web pages are the use of alt text tags.
Alt text makes images viewable for people who surf with 'images turned off' in their browsers. This way even if the image doesn't appear, there is a bit of descriptive alt text. If the image is a link, it can still be clicked if the image doesn't load.

Instead of seeing an empty box--they get a description of what's in the image. So be sure if you use images, to optimize for the web by resizing them, use the correct format, and use alt text to describe what's in the image.

-Paula

The Use of Images on Your Site

Keep Your Web Images Small
Small images means faster page loads. Not everyone has a DSL connection, so you have more flexibility if you keep images optimized, but small.

Web images take the longest to download on most web pages. Optimizing so that you have a faster loading site will keep your visitor around. Remember you only get a few seconds to make a first impression and if they have to hang around waiting for your page to appear--they won't! If you have many images or items that have long download times, make sure you stagger them on your page open so that some text comes up first and they can start reading while the rest downloads.

Learn how to resize images. If you have a photo, make sure it's cropped so that only the relevant part is shown and be sure you use the correct format--most web images are either .jpeg or .gif.

Here's a helpful website for managing images with Microsoft Editor:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6470/photoed.htm

Until next time...
-paula :)

Search Engine Marketing Activities: Where should I submit my site?

You can list your website free to the top 3. It may take several weeks for your listing to show up, and there is no guarantee that they will index your site. But it's free--so once you're up and running you might as well submit your site to Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search. Just click to these sites, and follow the instructions listed:

Google Add URL http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Yahoo! Site Submission http://submit.search.yahoo.com/
MSN Search URL Submission http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

Sign-up for my newsletter and find out reasons why you should extend your search engine marketing activities beyond the Big 3.

Practice Kaizen

[This is a little tidbit passed along to me by Perry Marshall :)]
'Kaizen is a Japanese word that means continuous, incremental improvement.'

There are always ways to improve...

In business, try to apply one new thing every day--or at least one every week--to your site, your blog, your newsletter, etc. See the big things that can come from small changes and improvements.

In your personal life, make quiet time to contemplate ways you might improve your relationships with family and friends. Make time for these important people--they are what makes your world a more joyous place!

Until next time--continue to learn new things.

Paula