Many of you have had your sites hosted at Eclipse Hosting. This Utah-based company served us well and I hope you agree there have been very few problems with them. Several months ago, Eclipse was sold to Jumpline.com, a larger company based in Ohio. For the same pricing, we are getting more disk space and bandwidth. All Eclipse websites were automatically transferred to Jumpline. If you wish to learn more about your new hosting company, go to www.jumpline.com.
All posts by admin
Tips & Tricks: The New Yellow Pages
Buyers don’t rely on the Yellow Pages like they used to. Customers’ buying behavior has changed – for good. Traditionally, people headed to the Yellow Pages precisely when they were ready to buy, but new research by The Kelsey Group in March, 2005 found that 70% of US households now use the Internet as an information source when they are ready to buy. And this is often when they are shopping locally for products and services. These buyers aren’t going to the Internet for online purchases, nor to find distant providers. They intend to spend their money in their own community.
The Kelsey Group also found that interviewed individuals felt the search engines were a “better source of purchasing information than the Yellow Pages, newspapers and magazines.” The trend is being driven entirely by Internet users. Related data from other sources show that consumers who search online for purchases spend more than those using the printed directory.
The Yellow Page industry is a fifteen billion dollar industry in the US. While there are more choices of printed Yellow Page directories than ever, the buying habits of the public have moved away from using them. Computer-savvy buyers know the easiest way to find the information they want is through search engines (and since May, they can do searches on the run, on their cell phones). But many small or local businesses aren’t even listed online.
The Kelsey Group’s data is consistent with other statistics showing that the Internet has overtaken the newspaper for cars and real estate (major purchases). And it’s becoming the “go-to” place for information. A study by Imedia Connection found the Internet is “second only to spouses for finding referrals.”
To stay competitive, small and mid-sized businesses will be compelled to make sure they’re included in search engine databases. Enterprises that can’t be found by online searchers risk losing sales to businesses they find instead.
Improving search engine rankings is a specialty of ours at Nexxite. We stay on top of the research in this constantly changing field. So if you or someone you know has a website that needs help getting a better search engine presence, by all means, get in touch with us.
Newest Sites:
Here are some of Nexxite’s newest sites:
Ron Gartner – Ron is a successful Vegas-style singer offering everything from “Frank Sinatra to American Bandstand.” We have upgraded the design of his site, added a video clip, and continue to maintain the singer’s performance schedule online. www.rongartner.com
Urban Cat League – This charity focuses on helping feral cats in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City. Nexxite designed the original site and has since added newsletters, special features such as collecting donations for Animal Victims of Hurricane Katrina and other updates. www.urbancatleague.org
Ariane Sylva, PhD, LCSW – Dr. Sylva is a talented, very experienced Psychotherapist, Personal and Professional Coach who provides a variety of helping services in several languages. www.drsylva.com
Richard Glasgow – Nexxite designed an award-winning website for this world-renowned wedding dress designer. We continue to maintain the site with extensive additions each season as his newest wedding gown collections are launched. www.glasgowbridal.com
Yet Another Free Gimmick: Custom Cursor
I’m not sure if anyone will be interested in this one, but it is an amusing little gimmick you might like for one page of your site. Just for fun, I will add a custom cursor to any page of your website.
You can have the cursor turn into a pumpkin or a tiger or any number of other things.
To see an example of this in action, and see various cursors, click here: http://www.nexxite.com/CustomCursor.htm
Fact/Humor
Since I seem to have mentioned pets a few times in this issue, I thought I’d close with a pet item. Want a trouble-free pet? Count on the Japanese to build it. Ugobe’s Pleo is undeniably cute, modeled after a baby Camarasaurus, a type of long-necked, plant-eating Jurassic reptile. The Pleo is programmed to respond like a pet. It comes when called, purrs when stroked, and whimpers when hurt. It can be trained to respond to commands. It communicates with other Pleos via infrared technology. The company says it can even catch a cold.
Fact/Humor
Q: What is the difference between a cat and a comma?
A: A cat has claws at the end of its paws. A comma’s a pause at the end of a clause.
Tips & Tricks: Special Commands in Google
As you probably know, Google is the most widely used search engine on the Internet today. But did you know there is a lot you can do with it beyond basic searches?
You can learn more about how Google has indexed your website (assuming it has) by typing the following commands into the Google search window. Of course, substitute your domain name for the word “domain.” And when researching a particular keyword or phrase, type that word or phrase where it says “keyword.”
link:www.domain.com returns a list of backlinks that Google has indexed. Only
a small selection is listed, however.
related:www.domain.com returns a list of sites that Google sees as related
to the topic on your page. At present, it’s not very accurate.
allinurl:keyword returns a list of pages and sites that contain the ‘keyword’
in their url.
site:www.domain.com returns all pages of the domain that Google has crawled
and indexed.
allinanchor:keyword returns a list of pages and sites that contain the keyword
as anchor text in their backlinks.
cache:www.domain.com will show the current cache that Google has for the page.
info:www.domain.com will return information that Google has for the page.
allintitle:keyword returns webpages that have the specified keywords in the
title.
intitle:keyword returns listings of web pages that have only the specific keyword
as the title.
Newest Sites:
Here are some of Nexxite’s newest sites:
Ruth D. Raisfeld, P.C.. – Ms Raisfeld is an attorney specializing in alternative dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration, independent investigations and employee training. www.rdradr.com
Chris Kole Collection – This designer of women’s evening wear has entered the bridal dress market. We expanded their website, adding a bridal section. www.chriskole.com/BridalIntro.htm
Cindy Levitz, L.Ac. – Ms Levitz is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Certified Herbologist, and
Diplomate in Oriental Medicine. www.acupunctureandhealth.com
Steven Horowitz, Esq. – Mr. Horowitz practices intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, litigation, trade secrets law and unfair competition. www.patentny.com
Kim D. Sherman – Ms. Sherman is a composer for musical theater, choral music, song cycles, chamber music and opera. www.kdsherman.com
Yet Another Free Gimmick: Add a digital clock to your site
I’m not sure if this is something anyone is interested in, but I thought I’d make it available. We can place a little digital clock that tells the current time anywhere you like on your website.
To see an example: www.nexxite.com/clock.htm
Phishing Scams – Watch Out!
Perhaps you’ve heard of “phishing.” You’ve probably already been a recipient of it. (Hopefully, you’ve resisted.) It is devious and dangerous. And people fall for these scams every day.
Phishers use fake e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc. By pretending to be well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them.
Protect yourself:
> Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information.
> Phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are.
> Don’t use the links in an email to get to any web page. If you suspect the message might not be authentic, call the company or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web address in your browser.
> Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information.
> Always ensure that you’re using a secure site when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser. (To make sure you’re on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the Web address in your browser’s address bar – it should be “https://” rather than just “http://”)