Your Website Resource - The OtisWorks.com Blog

16 Profitable Kinds Of Websites

2007-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

There are tons of different kinds of profitable websites you can build - yourself! Here is a list from DoshDosh of 16 types of successful and profitable websites:

Affiliate Review Website.

Product Fan Blog.

Auction websites.

Dating Websites.

Made for Adsense Websites.

Affiliate Product Website.

Online Games/Arcade Sites.

Forums or Social Network.

Specialized Search Engines.

Paid Memberhip Site.

Design/Coding Service Site.

File Hosting Website.

Web Directories.

Online Web tool.

Proxies.

Commercial Template Sites.

Read the whole article for descriptions of each kind of site and some ideas about developing that site. And then buy your domain here at OtisWorks and get your webhosting and start making money!

Four Blog Advertising Tips

2007-11-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

So, you've got a blog and you've put up advertising, but you're not making much money on your advertising. Here are some tips to help you make more money:

Focus your blog on a specific topic.
Tell people about your blog, hand out business cards, leave comments on other blogs.
Make sure your advertising fits your blog.
Display your advertising prominently. Put it up at the top left for best results.

Keeping it clean: how to stop good computers from going bad

2007-08-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Most of us keep our computers longer than their manufacturers would like. Like most modern miracles, they are designed to fail. Well, all right, probably not deliberately in this case. Instead of designing the components so they will wear out after a certain time, the manufacturers simply create new computers with features they figure we can't afford to miss. So they figure we'll "upgrade" - usually meaning we'll throw out the old, get the new - about every three years.

In fact, three years is starting to sound like "old". BUT! Many a computer can live a healthy, happy life well beyond that time frame. One way to help your computer last as long as you want to keep it is to keep it clean. Clear out the dust and broken stuff on a regular basis.

A good start on this fitness program is to find out what you've got in there to begin with. Use the Belarc Advisor. The Belarc Advisor is a web-based program that analyzes what you have on your computer and offers it up in a nice, compact, easily-readable (and printable) page. The page has so much information it will take your breath away. You'll get your processor, hard drive info (what they are, how full they are), memory info, and a list of all of your programs. You'll also see a list of the registration keys for those programs that require them. ALL in one place (so print this out; you never know when you will need those keys). You'll see a list of all the "hot fixes" (if yours is a Windows PC) installed and their status.

It's a terrific way to get all of the data about your computer in one place. And when you change something you may want to run it again. Oh, did I mention this program is free? All of the programs listed in this post are free. And come with no noxious fumes of advertising.

After you see what you've got you may want to look at the list of programs and see if there are any you can do without. Programs you installed that you thought did one thing but instead do something else, something you don't want. Programs that you haven't used in two or three years. You might want to mark those on your printout. And if the hotfix list indicates there is a fix that didn't take you might want to reinstall that fix.

Then get out a cleaner. I like Ccleaner, as do many techie folks. It's small, free, easy to download and install, and has several cleaning options. You can set it to remove different types of temp files, for example, as well as different types of files used by your applications. When you open it up you choose what you want to clean and click a button and wham! It's done. On my computer it usually cleans out tons of fluff and those dustbunnies don't have a chance.

When I've finished the cleaning I sometimes take a look at what else I can get rid of. Click the "tools" button. You can choose to uninstall programs or uninstall startup shortcuts.

I like this program for uninstalling programs. Just choose the program and tell it to uninstall it. It's faster and easier than the uninstall program that comes with Windows. I also like to clean up startup programs. These are the programs that start when you start your computer. A lot of them do not need to be running all the time and certainly don't need to start up with your computer. Again, it's easy to get rid of them. Click on one and tell it to delete it. Done. What I would like is if this part of the program would tell me the effects of removing each startup program. Unless I understand what I'm taking out I leave them in there.

But we aren't done with ccleaner yet. You can click "issues" and it will find where there are lost fragments of programs, left over from uninstalls and other changes, will pick up on obsolete software, much more. You can choose what you want it to find and then tell it to fix these issues. It will offer you the choice of deciding each issue by itself or you can tell it "just fix them all".

Finally, or firstly (your choice), get out the spyware cleaner. I use Spybot, but there are others coming on the scene all the time. Spybot keeps finding the latest spyware and checks your computer for it. If it find it you can leave it or kill it. Sometimes it isn't able to kill one or two but it gets most of them.

These programs are free, small, easy to use and fast. I have never had a problem with any of them and I've used them for quite a while now. You may find that you use them often because they are easy and they find problems faster than you could without them.

As the owner of a decrepit four-year-old computer who cannot afford the fancy dancy new one - yet - I take my own advice and clean early and often.

10 Things You Should Do To Your Blogger Blog

2007-08-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Want a better Blogger website that will earn you more money or secure a better reputation for your business? Then follow the Blog Bloke's suggestions:

Make your borrowed template your own
Change your template icons
Make Your Post Titles clickable
Make your Blog Title clickable
Put your descriptors first, and your blog name last
Put your rss newsfeed links somewhere prominent on your site
Clean up the clutter and start by getting rid of those useless widgets
Make a menu near your top banner
Make your blog look bigger
Some website design purists will tell you to use little (if any) images

Read his article for more details ->>

Send your posts out by email

2007-08-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

Some of us don't have time or the inclination to hunt down our fave blogs every day or every few days or to open up our RSS readers. So we miss a lot of posts.

You can make sure this doesn't happen to your blog posts by offering them by email. The reader signs up and every day or every week or however often they choose they will get a nice little newsletter in their email box, with your latest posts in it. Best of all, once you set up your blog to offer this choice, you're done.

One site that provides this service is FeedBlitz. FeedBlitz offers both paid and free options. Here's how it works:

Go to the page above. Scroll down to the "personal edition" option to sign on to the free option. When you click on the link in that paragraph you will go to a page that asks you to log in. It doesn't take long to set up an account. Once you are logged in you can get to your "dashboard".

FeedBlitz, understandably, wants you to go for the premium (paid) options. You may well find a reason to use this service eventually but for now let's stick to free. You will find that you have to be focused and keep aiming at "personal edition", avoiding the other bright and shiny buttons. Choose "personal edition center".

When you get to the center choose "create a new publication". Enter the URL of your blog. You won't need to enter the login info unless your blog is password-protected. Click "next".

Again, you are faced with premium options. Hunt for the "free" button and click that.

You then obtain the code for the subscription form. It's a simple form, just asks the reader to enter her email address and click "subscribe me!" You just copy and paste it into an appropriate part of your blog. If you can't use the form (as in livejournal accounts) you can simply use one of the links offered below. Once you have installed a link or form on your blog you are done.

If you want to be, that is. FeedBlitz offers several choices for delivery that you can go through to customize subscriptions (scroll down that form page to see the instructions). It also offers a widget that you can install in your blog that tells how many subscribers you have.

Easy, fun, and free. If you want to take it farther FeedBlitz certainly can help you. For most of us, though, the free options are plenty.

How To Get Started In Professional Blogging

2007-08-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

There are two things you should do once you’ve decided to blog for money:
1. Start blogging right away
2. Learn about blogging

To start blogging, you should set up a free blog. That way you haven’t invested any money, just your time. (By all means, keep your day job for now.) You can set up a free blog at blogger.com or wordpress.com to get started. Both are very simple to use. You don’t have to be an expert at web designing. Later, if you want, you can move your blog to another blogging platform.

Pick a topic or a couple topics to blog about. You can blog about your personal life, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have an awfully interesting or famous life. Pick something you are passionate about, something you know a lot about, or something you want to learn about. Some examples: global warming, sports cars, animal intelligence, travel, knitting, poker, urban gardening, budget living, weight loss, 70s retro gear…

Then start writing.

Write one blog post clarifying what this blog is going to be like, perhaps even listing other blogs you will model yours after. Write one post about yourself. Be specific. I don’t mean you should tell people your social security number or anything, just let your readers know you are a real person. Put a little humanity in your blog. Pictures help with that. Then write a few posts on your topic area.

Use the words in your topic often! Use them in the post titles and in the post content. For example, if you blog about animal psychology, use the words “animal psychology” often as wells as whatever words you notice other people use to describe you and your passions. If you blog has “tags” use them. Put your topic words (aka keywords) in the tags along with other relevant information. Be specific. Don’t just say “TV show” when it’s about American Idol contestant Bucky Covington. Use the words “American Idol” and “Bucky.”

Then get a few friends to read over your blog and help you improve your writing. They can spot errors you miss. And they can tell you what interests them the most so you can start to focus your writing on those areas. Try to get a few close friends or family to read your blog regularly. They can give you suggestions to improve your blog, suggestions the average reader won’t give.

To learn about blogging, read other blogs. A great one is problogger.net and another good one is copyblogger.com but there are lots of them out there. Find the most successful ones and see what they’re doing. Try to emulate them. There are also a number of books on the subject. Check out Clear Blogging.

Read the other blogs in your field(s) to see what the hot topics are and to get a feel for how they blog. You’ll want to find a blogging style that fits you and your blog. Don’t copy other bloggers, but feel free to make your blog similar.

As you’re reading other blogs, make sure to leave comments. Put your blog’s URL in the web address field and leave a thought-provoking comment. (I noticed that a whole lot of bloggers forget to do this). And ask questions! Most bloggers like helping other bloggers.

After you’ve got your blog going for a while, put up some ads or take a look at the other opportunities to make money by blogging. There are lots of articles about that, but you really won’t know what works for your blog until you try it. So experiment and be patient and eventually you will find what works for you.

Hope this helps get you started.

(This post was crossposted at Elaine's blog.)

5 Simple Steps to a Website that Makes Sales

2007-07-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

By Alicia M Forest

Is your website producing leads for you or is it just sitting out there in cyberpace looking pretty? Obviously, you want your website to work for you to generate leads and make sales, not just be a pretty brochure for your business.

Here are 5 simple ways you can make your website make more sales for you.

1. A Professional Look

It needs to LOOK professional - which is different that it being created by a professional (although that is certainly an option). By looking professional, I mean that there are NO ADS, especially anything that flashes, jumps around, or otherwise looks like a casino.

2. A Way For Prospects to Contact You

You want to make sure you give your visitors a way to contact you, preferably in the upper top right corner or sidebar on the left - but still above the fold (no scrolling down to try to find out how to hire you!). Include your dedicated email address* and your business phone number. Add a physical address at the bottom of your page to solidify your existence.

*You need to have a dedicated email address - which means that your email is something like alicia@clientabundance.com and not allyoop@yahoo.com. A dedicated email address comes with your web host. Follow their instructions on how to set one up.

You don't want a potential client slipping away because he or she can't locate your email address or phone number.

3. Your Enticing Copy and Sign-Up Form for Your Free Taste

You need to have a way to capture your visitors. By this, I don't mean the number of people who visit your site (your web host's stats can tell you this if you want to know). I mean that you need a way to capture your visitors email addresses so you can continue to build a relationship with them.

Put a sign-up form to join your email list in exchange for a 'free taste' of what it is that you're offering in a prominent place on your homepage (and every other page, for that matter, as you never know where someone will "enter" your site first).

4. Connect with Your Visitor on Multiple Levels

Do this by adding a picture of you, if possible. This is not necessary, but it truly does lend credibility when people can see the person behind the text. You don't have to have a professional photo taken, but again, do try to look professional in it.

You can also add an audio welcome if you desire. This will appeal to your visitors who prefer to hear your voice and it adds to your credibility as well.

5. Your "yes" Questions Prominently Displayed...

...followed by your call to action, which is the offer to sign up for your Free Taste. Your yes questions are a way that your visitors resonate with what it is that you're offering. In other words, when they read them, in their mind they are answering "yes, that's me" and nodding their heads.

There's much more that you can do to tweak your website to make sure that it's giving you a return on your investment, but this will get you started. Take a look at your website today and see which of the 5 strategies above you can implement now to start creating more sales for you today.

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & CoachT, founder of ClientAbundance.com and creator of 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success SystemT, teaches professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com .

How To Compete In the Cut-Throat World Of Online Freelancing

2007-07-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

By Geek Crets

If you are competing for work of freelance websites such as Scriptlance, Elance or Rent a Coder then you'll be bidding against many equally qualified freelancers. Please take this advice if you plan on staying competitive and justifying a higher price for your work.

Ask Questions. I get really upset when I put an advert out for a Freelancer and I get bids which begin with "I understand everything and can do this job". It's insincere and the people who write this usually haven't read what I want at all. I prefer people who bid with phrases such as "I have read your requirements and before bidding would like to ask you a few questions so that I can be certain to deliver what you need ...". Even if you don't have any questions you can ask them to assure the employer that you have understood what's required.

NEVER start your bid with "I have read and fully understood your requirements". This is the most cliched line you will see on freelance sites. 99% of people who've written it have made far too many assumptions about the work to understand what's needed. I put a joke project online a while ago. I asked for a freelancer to relocate Australia for me a few kilometers to the west. A handful of people recognized that I was joking but I still received at least 5 bids from freelancers who had supposedly "read and understood my requirements".

If you plan on telling a potential customer something then there is no reason at all why they should believe you. You need to 'show' proof. To show that you have read and understood a project, re-phrase it in your own words and ask questions about it. Your bid will be much more credible if you are realistic and admit to not understanding something (and asking to clarify it) rather than being overly confident that you know what you need to do.

Don't just bid on every project in a category. You'll soon get overwhelmed with work and you'll probably end up doing projects that you cannot do efficiently. Pick projects that you believe you'll do a good job of and take the time to communicate with the employer rather than look for more projects.

Show enthusiasm for the project. I once received a bid which began "wow, your website idea is excellent and I'm certain you'll do well with it". It made me feel good and I hired him.

Offer a free sample before being asked. If you are bidding on a writing or a design project then you can give the person a sample design or the first paragraph of an article to help them decide. By getting the sample to the employer before other bidders get a chance you have a huge advantage over them.

Don't send people many different examples of your previous work unless it's truly relevant. Employers are not going to look at every work you've ever done so just provide them with a small sample that's the most relevant to what you are bidding for.

Use formal and professional language. Don't use slang or casual language until you've been accepted for a project. Understand that phrases such as "Cheers dude", "catch ya later" do not impress employers.

Suggest that you telephone them to discuss a few details. Some employers really prefer telephone contact but because freelance websites are online, Freelancers never consider the value of a telephone chat.

Offer some free research. I put a project up for an application that integrated with Amazon.com. One bidder replied to me that he'd telephoned Amazon that day and was being emailed some technical information that we'd both need. I was very impressed.

And Finally ' create a portfolio as your work develops. This doesn't have to be on a website, you could create a portfolio using PowerPoint, word or Photoshop and provide it to employers. I would try to avoid doing something with PowerPoint though as its possible that not everybody will have it. You need to make your portfolio as accessible as possible.

If you are considering making money as a freelance worker online then this report will get you started. There are many opportunities available if you are just getting started as a freelancer and these valuable tips shoud help you to attract a steady stream of clients.

How To Increase Blog Traffic Using Articles

2007-07-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

By Gobala Krishnan

When it comes to getting traffic to your blog, enough is never enough. To put it in plain simple, the more traffic you get, the more money you make. However, getting a steady stream of traffic to your blog is very often a major problem for a lot of people.

There are tons of ways to get more traffic to your blogs, but one of the most effective is to write and publish articles related to your market.

1) How To Write Articles Easily

The trick to writing articles is to write and publish them regularly, which really sounds easier than it is. If you're not outsourcing the articles, you need to write and publish at least one new articles every two weeks. One of the easiest ways to do this is to look back at some of the blog posts you've written, and try to turn these into full-fledged articles.

Generally, this would mean anywhere between 500 - 800 words. Anything shorter and you're likely to be rejected by most article directories. Anything longer is still ok, but would mean your readers get bored.Recycling blog content is a smart way to write articles. Think of your blog as a more informal place where you can write the initial article, and edit it easily from time to time. When pieces of the article has blossomed into a complete piece, you can submit them to article directories and get instant links to your blog.

2) How To Publish Your Articles

Writing the article is really just one part of the traffic building campaign. You still need to publish your article to as many sites as possible. Although you can manually visit a handful of websites and publish your article on each, a smarter was would be to us an article publishing service.

There's one service I currently use to publish and syndicate all my articles, which is MyArticleMarketer, available at http://www.MyArticleMarketer.com. The service will syndicate all your articles to other article directories, and depending on your niche, this could mean 200 - 500 instant back links to your website. Some of your articles, if they are good, will end up in other people's ezines and blogs.

With a free account at MyArticleMarketer.com, you will only get distribution on the "partial list", but an upgrade for a reasonable amount of money will give you unlimited article submissions to a list of more than 5,000 websites.Each article you submit comes with reporting features so you can check exactly how many sites have published your articles.

All your articles will be examined and approved by a human editor. If you don't upgrade it takes up to two weeks, but upgrade authors can expect 24-hour approval of their articles. You can post as many articles as your want, based on your membership level.

3) Using Private Label Articles

Although there's been a lot of controversy regarding using Private Label articles recently, the fact is that it is a useful back-up supply when you run out of ideas.

Private Label means that those article were initially ghost-written by someone else, and if you have the rights to use them you can pretty much do whatever you want with them. I recommend that you edit and reword not less than 60% of the PLR article so that it becomes unique content instead of the same article that is being used by the other marketers out there.

One word of caution: most article marketing services like MyArticleMarketer.com will not accept PLR articles, so make sure you also change the title and reword most of the content. Other article sites like EzineArticles.com may even penalize you for using PLR articles, so use them wisely and at your own risk.

If you don't want to hire someone to do it, you can opt for article publishing services like http://www.EasySubmitArticles.com where they have trademarked a rather powerful "article regeneration" tool. With this tool, you basically enter the article once, and also variations of random sentences in the article. Using heir algorithm, each article submitted will be up to 60% unique before it reaches the article directories.

That being said, not all PLR articles are created equal. Some PLR articles look great, but when you actually read them, you start to see exactly how dull and informative they can be. Source for good PLR articles that focus on the quality rather than the quantity.

------------------------

Gobala Krishnan is the author of the best-selling "Wordpress Adsense System" at http://www.easywordpress.com and also a niche-blogging specialist. To discover how you can get more traffic to your blog, based on the experiences of successful blog owners, visit http://traffic.easywordpress.com

How to Blog Anonymously

2007-06-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

You want to blog, but you want to conceal your identity.

Perhaps you live in a country that does not support free speech and you fear you will be put in jail. Perhaps you work for an authoritarian boss and you fear you will lose your job. Perhaps you blog about a controversial issue and fear repercussions from people who disagree with you. Or maybe you just don’t want to be known. Whatever your reason for blogging anonymously, there are a few things you should know before you start. Most of us learn these lessons the hard way; let’s share our information and stories so others don’t have to.

First, remember that some people who want to find information will go to extreme measures to do it. If you choose to blog anonymously, you are taking a risk. There’s no guarantee your privacy will be respected. There’s no guarantee your identity will not be revealed. But there are some things you can do to protect your anonymity.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) suggests these six things you should do to be anonymous: Use a Pseudonym and Don’t Give Away Any Identifying Details, Use Anonymizing Technologies, Use Ping Servers, Limit Your Audience, Don’t Be Googleable, Register Your Domain Name Anonymously. But there’s more you can do, too. Here’s a list of ways to protect your identity while blogging anonymously:

Use a Pseudonym

Choose a pseudonym unlike your real name. Names often signify gender, nationality, or age. Consider using a name that suggests the blogger is a very different person than you. The EFF says, “don’t use pseudonyms that sound like the real names they’re based on–so, for instance, don’t anonymize the name ‘Annalee’ by using the name ‘Leanne.’” Likewise, don’t use your pet’s name, the name of a friend or relative, or even your favorite movie star’s name. Use a name that does not relate to you at all.

Use a pseudonym email for your blog. Don’t use the same email you use for other things. And never mix the two. Keep your anonymous life separate from your real life. If you maintain two blogs, keep them on separate hosts. For example, use Blogger for your regular blog and WordPress for your anonymous blog. The same with email, for example, use gmail for your regular mail and a disposable email address for your anonymous mail.

Don’t Give Away Any Identifying Details

If you really want to be anonymous, don’t be specific. Don’t give out your email address, your AIM name, your phone number, or anything that can easily be traced to you. Don’t display photos of you, your home, your workplace, your car, anything revealing about yourself. Don’t use other people’s real names. Change the little, insignificant details of all your stories. Instead of a Chinese restaurant next to your workplace, make it a Tapas bar.

EFF reminds us that, “Even general details can give away a lot. If, for example, you write, ‘I work at an unnamed weekly newspaper in Seattle,’ it’s clear that you work in one of two places. So be smart. Instead, you might say that you work at a media outlet in a mid-sized city.” And they say, “if you are concerned about your colleagues finding out about your blog, do not blog while you are at work. Period.” In fact, if you want to be anonymous for any reason, it’s a good idea not to blog at work.

Use Anonymizing Technologies

For serious anonymity, you should conceal your IP address. You can do this with Tor, Anonymizer, or another IP concealing device. Make sure your IP concealer is on when you post blog articles, when you leave comments on other blogs, when you post in forums, and even when you surf related websites.

If you choose not to conceal your IP address you will eventually be identified, guaranteed. Someone will figure out who you are. If you don’t want that to happen, you MUST conceal your IP address. Using internet cafes or friends’ computers is inadequate. True anonymity can only be achieved by hiding your IP address.

Use Free Services and Don’t Tie Your Bank Account To Your Blog

Paid services leave a trail of bank account numbers, addresses, phone numbers and more. Anonymity and money are like oil and water, they do not mix. In order to protect your identity, you should use free services that don’t require credit card numbers, home addresses or other revealing information. Likewise, if you plan to make money with your anonymous blog, forget it. You won’t be able to maintain your anonymity.

Limit Your Audience

This is not a technique to remain anonymous. This technique is something you can use to protect your privacy. If you want to have a blog, say of stories and pictures of your baby that you do not want to share with the world, only with your family and friends, consider using a password protected blog. Blogger, LiveJournal, and most other blogware allows you to make your blog private. Remember, however, that passwords can be broken and blogs can be cracked. Use strong passwords such as combinations of letters, numbers and symbols and change your passwords frequently.

Use Ping Servers

EFF suggests making your blog post, letting it sit for up to an hour while your blog software pings search engines, and then removing your blog post so there is less trace. The search engines will often cache the entry and store it for users to view.

“Pingomatic www.pingomatic.com is a tool that allows you to do this by broadcasting to a lot of news venues at once, while making you untraceable. The program will send out notice (a ‘ping’) about your blog entry to several blog search engines like Feedster and Technorati. Once those sites list your entry…you can take the entry down. Thus the news gets out rapidly and its source can evaporate within half an hour. This protects the speaker while also helping the blog entry reach people fast.”

Don’t Be Googleable

Another way to keep your blog private is to use a robots.txt file to tell search engines and other bots to ignore your blog. However, the robots.txt file is just a courtesy. Not all bots will respect the requests you specify in your robots file. If you want to keep certain information private, bury it deep in nested folders and password protect those folders and files. Better yet, don’t put them online anywhere, ever.

Register Your Domain Name Anonymously

If you use a registered domain name for your blog, you can choose to make the registration private. It will usually cost a small fee but it’s well worth it. In fact, I like to keep all my domain registrations private regardless of blog anonymity because domain registration information is so easily accessible. I’d rather not let the whole world know my phone number, address, and such, so I keep them private. The small group of people who have access to this private information have a duty to protect that information, so your identity is a bit more secure when you choose the private domain registration option. However, if you want to blog anonymously, it’s best not to use any paid services in relation to your blog.

Useful Resources on Anonymous Blogging:

Global Voices: www.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=125
Electronic Frontier Foundation: www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php (needs updating; some dead links)
CNET: news.com.com/FAQ+Blogging+on+the+job/2100-1030_3-5597010.html
The Free Site: www.thefreesite.com/Anonymous_Freebies/

Make More Money with an Ugly Website

2007-06-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

When you build your website or blog don't worry too much about how it looks. Worry more about the service your website provides. Does it help people? Does it convey information about your business? Does it do what you want it to do?

Moreover, ugly websites do something pretty websites don't do, they suggest to the reader that you care more about function than form.

"Ugly sells.
That's right – ugly websites are surprisingly effective in making money." says Mark Doust.

You and I know that form and function are not mutually exclusive. A website can be both beautiful and helpful. A smooth web design does not mean the person behind the website is a slick and sleazy sales person.

But many people don't know that. To them, they see a simple, ugly website and they think it's a mom&pop organization. They automatically trust ugly sites, even if they haven't done anything to earn that trust.

So next time you worry and fret about how your website looks, just relax. Chances are your minor errors will be signals of your humanity and they'll help you build trust with your website visitors.

7 Things You Must Do To Build Your Brand

2007-06-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Your blog is an extension of you. It's your voice, your ideas, your words. In order to make your blog successful, you must develop your personal blog brand. These are the 7 things you'll need to do to build your website's brand:

build trust
be personal
use story
establish expertise
be generous
establish relationships
be consistent

The list is from Problogger, who offers terrific advice for blogging. Read his post to get the details for each item on the list.

xhtml: The King is Dead; Long Live the King!

2007-05-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

If you, like me, have grown up with the old html and haven't paid a lot of attention to the changes in the web world, or if you are just looking to get started in actually learning how to create your own web pages, have I got a tip for you!

Whatever you do, don't look at the old books on html, thinking that maybe you can just dip your toes in that way and pick up css (cascading style sheets) later. It's actually easier to start fresh with css and xhtml.

The world has changed. The web world, that is. We can now do more with less, more easily.

There are dozens of books on cascading style sheets and xhtml (extensible hypertext markup language). If you are serious about learning just a wee bit (or a wee bit more) about web page design, you will probably want one of these books.

Briefly: CSS is used to define how each element (an "element" can be just about anything - a paragraph, an image, a list of items...) of a web page is presented on the page. XTML is used to define what each element on that page is. The two are used together to create web pages that are faster to load, more consistent in layout, easier to edit, and ultimately easier to develop than pages with plain old html are.

Even nicer, it is now possible to put together pages using just CSS and XHTML, without any scripts (although javascript would be nice for some things) and no knowledge of programming, and have those pages look professional.

Ready to get started? There are many sites on the web that are helpful in teaching CSS. Some of those sites, like W3 Schools, have been mentioned in other posts here. Some people need look no further.

If you prefer to step through a book rather than through several web pages, though, we recommend stylin' with CSS by Charles Wyke-Smith. Wyke-Smith writes in refreshingly plain English and has a knack for spelling it all out without making it tedious. He annotates his lines of xhtml and css with bracketed comments and highlights each new line in color so we don't miss it. The book takes you from complete novice to designer of a complete website, and the book isn't even all that long! At the end is an excellent appendix of css properties and values, plus an index to help you find what you need.

Five stars out of five!

Charity Search Engines - Contribute to Worthy Causes Without Spending a Dime

2007-05-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

Some search engines give money to charity. Each search you do can earn money for charity. According to DoshDosh, “Most charity search engines will donate approximately $0.01 cents per search to charity.” Here’s a list of some search engines that are donating to charity:

Good Search - You choose the charity. 50% of ad revenue goes to charity.
EveryClick - Again, you choose the charity. They give 50% of gross revenues to charity.
Search Kindly - It’s a regular Google search. 100% of ad revenue goes to charity.
MagicTaxi - 50% of ad revenue goes to charity. They change the charity each day.
GoodTree - Uses three major search engines. 50% goes to charity.
Jikolp - 100% of all profit goes to charity. Charity changes monthly. A Google custom search.
Oblatoo - They donate one pound (UK currency) for each search. For the record, 1p is much more than 0.01 cent these days.
Zap - another UK charity search engine.
Rectifi - UK search. They have a store too.
HolySeek - You guessed it, religious charity search. Revenue goes to St. Judes and Red Cross among others.
Charity Cafe - 100% of profits go to some of my favorite charities: Greenpeace and Oxfam. Uses ask.com.
ClickNow - Uses ask.com and lets you pick the charity.
Kazazz - 10% goes to charity. They give to four major charities.
Catch Tomorrow - They donate to US public schools.

Originally posted by Elaine Vigneault at 2kbloggers.com

Who Gets?

2007-05-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Bloggers often host contests on their blogs to increase readership. They give away things like Joost invites, books, even links. If you have a creative idea to market your website, just go for it and see if it works. You'll never know unless you try.

There are lots of creative ways to develop online communities, but whogets.com is revolutionary. I've never seen this type of web 2.0 online community before.

Here's how it works: Members sign up and select prizes they'd like to win. They vote for each other to win the prizes in two rounds. The discussions are about who should win the prize and why. And the prizes vary dramatically from necklaces to giftcards to electronics.

The first round narrows the pool to seven contestants. Then...

"Each of these seven contestants will have the opportunity to make a statement, up to 100 words long, explaining why they want or need the displayed product or whatever they feel like writing or they can leave it blank. The final round will usually last for another 7 to 14 days. During that period, WhoGets.com members vote for their favorite contestant. The contestant who receives the highest number of votes wins."

The sponsors include a wide variety from PetCo, the AppleStore, to eToys. The list is long and I bet it will get longer.

I took a look at some of the discussions and it turns out this community could really develop into something when people list their interesting reasons for wanting a certain prize. For example, one guy wrote he wants an ipod shuffle because:

"I have been trying to get this for my wife for a long time and i am just not able to afford it. By voting for me you will be making a mother of 2's job much easier"

And another poster wants the shuffle for his daughter:

"There is no way I can buy this for my daughter, as I cant afford it. Would appreciate if you would vote for me."

I just have to wonder how long it takes to actually get a prize. There are the two rounds of voting and then there's the shipping. I bet some of these prizes take FOREVER to get. But it seems like a good idea if it actually works.

This post was sponsored by whogets.com.

Six Surefire Methods to Make People LIke You (and your blog)

2007-04-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

I came across a blog post called "6 Ways To Make People Like You." Here's the list, with special blogger comments I've added in italics:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people and their blogs.
2. Smile like this :) or like this LOL.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. And their blog's name is the second most important sound.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Leave comments on other people's blogs. Ask them questions in comments or email.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. Make your comments relate to their blog, not your blog.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Become genuinely interested in other people and their blogs

Don't force it. If you don't like a blog, move on to another blog. Spend quality time at the blogs you like. Get to know the blog and it's writer(s). Here are some things you can do to show your interest:

Ask questions and respond to their questions

Subscribe to their feeds

Leave comments or send email

Join their MyBlogLog communities

Favorite them in Technorati

Digg their blog posts

Smile like this :) or like this LOL

Or just try smiling as you write. Often just the act of smiling will make you happier and that reflects in your writing and speech. Try it on the phone sometimes, too. It works! Your smile will come through your words even without one of these :)

Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. And their blog's name is the second most important sound

Use names in comments or emails. Use names when you refer to people in blog posts. Use blog titles when you don't know names. Try to make things personal, unless you're arguing, in which case you should try to make it non-personal :)

Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Leave comments on other people's blogs. Ask them questions in comments or email

Don't just be friendly with the blog writers, get friendly with the other blog readers, too. Ask them questions and exchange info. Get to know the regulars where ever you hang out.
About being a good listener: read things carefully. If you just scan posts, stop now. Slow down and pay more attention.

Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. Make your comments relate to their blog, not your blog.

Always make sure your comments on other blogs are relevant. Nothing smells like spam more than non-relevant comments. Write to others online as though you're in a regular conversation with them elsewhere, like in a coffee shop or at work. Ask questions and answer a few yourself. Keep the conversation going.

Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely

Tell people when you appreciate their blogs. Or if you like a particular post, let them know by emailing them, commenting, or submitting that post to a bookmarking site, like StumbleUpon. A great compliment is to quote another blogger in your blog and link back to them.

People are often interested in people who are interested in them. So be interested and you'll probably be interesting.

Just Get Started! Make A Website or Blog Today

2007-04-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Starting your first website or blog is intimating. But don't let yourself get overwhelmed by the information and the possibilities.

Just get started!

Get a blog. You can use Blogger, LiveJournal, MySpace, Typepad, or any other number of free blogs. Just pick one and get started now. The sooner the better. You can always change later if you decide you want something better.

Just get started!

Then add a few other websites and link to your blog. Make a Squidoo Lens or you can create an Amazon"So, you wanna..." list or a Wikipedia entry about yourself if you have even the slightest hint of notoriety. Or get a Flickr account or a Facebook account.

Just get started!

The best way to learn is to just jump right in and start. It's not rocket science, it's the web. And there are lots of options just for you and your skill level.

Buying and transferring domain names: not as simple as it seems

2007-04-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's possible to get into a web of difficulty when you purchase or transfer domain names. From our own experience and from discussions with our web development customers (see TechiGrandma) we have learned some ways not to do it. And in fact it was these experiences that led us to start up OtisWorks as a safe, reliable source of domain names for us as well as for our customers.

A few rules:

Most importantly, do not purchase a package deal that includes domain name and hosting unless you are in complete control of the name (as well as of the hosting package). If you are not listed as the "technical contact", with your contact information, you may not be able to transfer the name to another host if your hosting becomes less than reliable. A company that is only interested in keeping your money and account can prove to be difficult to work with. Always make sure that you have direct control over your names and hosting accounts. Look at the way OtisWorks offers accounts. This is what you are looking for.
Choose a company that is located in your own country or in a country that has laws that can protect you from fraud or other unscrupulous business practices. You want to be able to file a complaint to the appropriate agency if anything goes wrong.
Once you have your name(s), be sure to keep on top of them. If you neglect to renew a domain name on time, most registrars will maintain a "grace period" that allows you to renew late. Some charge exhorbitant fees for this late renewal, and if you want that name there is nothing you can do about it. OtisWorks offers many reminders of renewal dates so that you will not forget, and does not charge outrageously if you do miss the date. You can also set your account for "automatic renewal". Even in this case OtisWorks will send you reminders in case you want to change the arrangement.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. This corporation is a private non-profit corporation set up under an international agreement, so that domain name registration follows the same rules in all countries.

Many of the rules set up by ICANN were developed to protect the domain name holder from theft. However, at times these rules can actually get in the way of what you may want to do. For example, if you want to transfer your domain name to a different registrar you can only do so within 60 days of the date of registration or renewal of that name. This may mean that you are stuck renewing the name with the company you want to leave, then waiting 60 days before you attempt again to transfer it. Some of the less scrupulous companies will make these transfers unwieldly for you to try to discourage you or delay the process long enough to put it into that 60-day period. OtisWorks provides you with numerous reminders well ahead of time so that you do not miss the chance to renew or transfer your domain names.

If you deal with a reliable company like OtisWorks you can relax.

Little programs, lots of fun

2007-04-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes being creative can be hard work. Sometimes we just want to get a thing done or get some inspiration easily. The following programs and websites offer some fun that can make website building or photo editing a lot easier. They are also programs I use myself.

ZPaint is a little (286 K) program that is especially good for creating buttons, but which can be extended well beyond that, with some imagination. It is easy to use, quick to understand, and does its one thing very well. You can adjust size, shape, transparency, depth, and more and in an instant create cool shapes. You can load your own pictures as "textures" and create interesting, professional-looking effects. Take a look at this review for more information and a link to the download site. FREE.

Foto-Mosaik is a little program that puts together many little pictures to make a mosaic. You choose the directory of pictures to be used, and you choose the picture to be made into a mosaic. The program is easy to use, small, and "postcardware". This means the creator wants you to send him a postcard. The program will not stop working if you don't, but who can't manage to send a postcard? That part is fun, too.

Elvan Online offers an online color picker. You choose the primary color for your website and it offers several different color schemes incorporating that color. For those of us who don't automatically know what color goes with what, this site is a real treasure.

Another website that might inspire you is wigflip, which offers the all-important "make your own speech bubble" widget. Type in some text, choose from a couple of options, and bam! You have your own little speech bubble. You can save it and take it into a photo editing program and add it to an appropriate photo. Or just use bubbles as decoration on your web site! Many possibilities.

All of the above programs and sites are free. Xara 3D is not. But it's worth knowing about because it is so much fun to use and can be so useful. In a minute or two, I created this:

The program costs $45 to download, $55 for the CD. Not cheap but not horrific either. And the 3D options are endless, including font, angle, lighting, textures, and colors.

Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of fun to get you going.

Pictures, pictures!

2007-04-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Images make the page. At least on the web. Web pages filled with nothing but text can be hard to take.

But how do you get your pictures to look right for the purpose? How do you fix mistakes, crop, stitch two or more together, make them smaller, make them look like paintings...?? When you know how to edit images you can draw more people to your site and can describe what you do or see more accurately.

There are so many image editors out there that it can make you tired just doing a search. Here are a couple of suggestions that might make your work easier:

Make a list of what you want to do with your pictures. You may want to add to this list later, when you have more experience, but for now list what's uppermost in your mind.
Be realistic about your own persistence and capabilities. How much time do you want to spend learning a new program? Decide if you are a "beginner", and "advanced amateur", or beyond. Are you happy to sacrifice some options to get a program that you can use immediately?

If you want to search: Use keywords that express what you want. For example, "easy image editor crop stitch artistic" might be words you'd use to find a program that includes cropping, stitching, and artistic edits and that is easy to use. When you find some possible solutions, though, how will you know if the program is as good as it looks?

Look at some reviews: Consumersearch.com rates reviewers. They say that PC World, PC Magazine, and CNET provide the best reviews of photo-editing software. Consumersearch combed through their reviews and offered these top three photo editors:

Adobe Elements 5: This new version of Elements edged out a previous favorite, Paint Shop Pro, which happens to be one of my own favorite tools still.

Google's Picasa 2: Free, easy to use. This tool is more an organizer (the best) than an editor, but you can do a number of simple edits with it. It also includes something you'll love if you don't already: picasa web albums. Create your own web albums in seconds. Lots of space and flexibility.

Gimp: Open Source software that gives photoshop a run for its money.

When you're ready for more (if ever; most people aren't that ready) go for full-on photoshop, from Adobe.

There are also several single-purpose image editors that are fun to use. These will be outlined in a future post.

Reading the Live Web: Blog Search

2007-04-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

We all know how to search the web. But do we know how to search "the Live Web?" The Live Web is the name given to the conversational parts of the web, mostly the blogosphere. Here are some blog searches to try when you're wondering how the conversation looks:

Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/
Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/
Sphere: http://www.sphere.com/
IceRocket: http://www.icerocket.com/

If you're just looking to read new and interesting blogs give these blog community websites a try:

Free Blogs! Free Blogs! A Quick Review

2007-04-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to get a free blog. Here is a list of some resources along with a few comments about each.

They Host:

LiveJournal - Offers both free and paid accounts. Easy to use. Specifically for blogging/ journaling. Very popular. Open source.
Blogger - Free accounts. Very easy to use. Indexed by Google
MySpace - Free accounts. Very popular. Not specifically for blogging.
WordPress.com - Offers both free and paid accounts. Easy to use. Open source.
TypePad - Free trial.

You Host:

WordPress.org - Free. Open Source. Very popular.
Moveable Type - Free if for personal use. Paid if for commercial use.
Serendipity - Free. Easy to use. Easy to upgrade.

There are more blogging platforms available, but we at OtisWorks.com recommend these.

What's the difference between hosted blogging and hosting your blog yourself? Hosted blogging is easier and often cheaper, but it gives you less flexibility and makes you dependent upon your blog host. We have both. There are reasons for each. Whichever you choose, using your own domain name will give you the ability to change hosts later if you need to. Also, make sure to do regular backups of your blog.

The Top Three Tutorials on Traffic

2007-04-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few great lessons on website building and blogging related tricks and tools:

Dosh Dosh offers a complete guide to using StumbleUpon to increase your website traffic
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger offers a few lessons of blogging. Read these through; they're great!
CopyBlogger gives you the ultimate guide to attract links and increase web traffic, which is really just another list of resources, but it's a really really good list

Web Site Affiliate Marketing - Four Programs

2007-04-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

You can make a lot of money on your website if you have some good affiliate programs. But how do you know what programs are good and which ones aren't worth the time and effort? It's a difficult question to answer since a lot depends on your website's niche and your website's visitors. Here's a rundown of some of your affiliate options:

AGLOCO
AGLOCO is a different type of advertiser. This company works by recommending products to all of its members and paying the members dividends from the sales. The concept is good, "own the Internet," but the payout hasn't begun yet so it's a bit difficult to gauge how well you'll do as an affiliate. Go to AGLOCO for more info.

Amazon
Amazon tends to pay fairly low referral rates, so some website owners don't use them. But even a low rate on a high priced item is a lot of money. So if your website is about technology or gadgets, and you recommend high ticket items, you might do just fine as an Amazon affiliate. The other way to do well with Amazon is to sell a lot. The more you sell the higher your affiliate rate. Visit amazon and click on associates at the bottom.

TextLinkAds
TLA is a matchmaking system for advertisers and bloggers. You can use the service to advertise your website or you can sign up to host ads on your website and make money. TLA is best for niche websites that do not contain adult material and that get plenty of traffic. Go to their site for more.

HostGator
Hostgator pays pretty high referral rates and you don't have to use their hosting in order to be an affiliate. It's always a good idea to actually use a product before you recommend it and this author has used Hostgator and likes the service. Hostgator offers cheap and reliable web hosting. Visit their site for more information.

*
Readers should note that the author is an affiliate of the above organizations and may earn a small referral fee if you follow the links provided.

How to Make Links in MySpace

2007-03-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

Do you want to link to another web site or web page from your MySpace account? Here's how:

type <a href= before the web address
type the web address in quotes like this: "http://blog.otisworks.com/"
then type >
type the web address again without quotes like this: http://blog.otisworks.com/
finally, type </a>

The reason you type the web address twice is so people can copy and paste the web address into emails or bulletins. You can type anything you want in step 4, but it often makes the most sense in MySpace to type out the whole web address.

Are you ready to move beyond MySpace and really get your own space? Get your own dot com with OtisWorks today!