WebNewz4U

By Mike Marinaro  

A common question that I get is, “Does my business need a newsletter?”

My answer is simple…”No, not if you would like to lose your customers to your competition!”

In other words, the answer is, “YES, every business and organization needs a newsletter!” You see, if you are not using a newsletter as a marketing tool in your business, then you are missing out on turning your existing customers and prospects into long-term buyers! Newsletters keep customers.

It is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. You don’t want your clients to forget about you, so you should not forget about them. Now with the Internet, there is no postage to worry about with your newsletters. What a great, cost-effective way to keep your name in front of your customers. Make your newsletter interesting and informative so it will be read. Offer money saving specials or introduce new products and services to your readers. If you just don’t have the time or patience to put together a newsletter, contact me and I will do it for you; my rates are very affordable.

Mike Marinaro: mmarinaro@nc.rr.com. Newsletter is sent via e- mail in both HTML and text format.

By: Mike Marinaro

Just like so many of us, your computer is also a junk collector! Over time it will accumulate all kinds of stuff that is no longer needed. Here are a few tips to help you clean up your computer and speed it up.

Unused Files

Take the time to look for files you no longer use or need. They are taking up valuable disk space and bogging down your hard drive. Look for old pictures or files that you don’t need anymore.

Use your disk clean up tools like “disk cleanup” and “disk defragmenter”. You will find these tools in your program files usually in “accessories” or “system tools”.

Obsolete Programs

Go into your control panel and select “add/remove programs” then look for programs that you don’t use anymore and remove them. There is no sense in cluttering up your hard drive with programs that aren’t being used.

Anti-Spyware

Make sure you run anti-spyware programs on a regular basis to remove spyware and malware from your computer. This will not only clean up your hard drive it will also stop some of that unwanted e-mail you keep getting!

If you don’t have an anti-spyware program you can download a FREE program called Ad-Aware.

Click Here to download Ad-Aware.

Store Your Files Somewhere Else

If you have a whole bunch of pictues, videos, or audio clips consider storing them on a CD or external drive so they are not bogging down your hard drive.

How To Drive Traffic To Your Website
By Mike Marinaro

Everyone wants more people to visit their website. My clients
are always asking me how to accomplish this. Well, I can answer
that question in just one word — ARTICLES!

More and more people are using articles to generate traffic
directly to their website and it works great! The secret is to
provide something interesting and closely related to your
website. For example, if you are selling insurance, you could
write an article explaining the difference between term life
and whole life insurance and the benefits of each.

Make sure your article is well-written, grammatically correct
and free of spelling errors before you submit it. You should
provide links in your article pointing to your website, and
most importantly, there should be a resource box at the end of
the article. A resource box tells people a little bit about
you; directs them to your website; and gives others permission
to reprint your article as long they include the resource box.

Okay, now you have a well written article; what’s next, where
do you submit the article? There are many places to submit
articles, just google “free articles” and you will get millions
of links.

Here are just a few of the ones that I use:

http://www.isnare.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com

Another great place to submit articles is in your own
newsletter. If you have a newsletter that is mailed or e-mailed
you should also be writing articles there that link to your
website. It’s a good idea to also archive your articles on your
website so they can be read over and over again. This also
increases the chance of another publisher picking up your
article for use on their own site.

Your own articles also make great fillers for your newsletters
when you need to fill that white space. The best way to use
articles in an e-newsletter is to just have the first paragraph
or two as a teaser then include a link to your website where
readers can get the full content of the article. What are you
waiting for, start writing your articles and watch your website
traffic begin to increase!

About the Author: You may copy this article and place it on
your own website, as long as you do not change it and include
the live links. This resource box must also be included. Mike
Marinaro designs websites and e-zines, he specializes in
affordable Christian website design. You can visit his site at
www.webdesign4him.com

To contact Mike e-mail
mmarinaro@nc.rr.com.

Source: http://www.isnare.com

Web Design - Top 5 Mistakes
By: Mike Marinaro

There are many mistakes that web designers make. Here are the top 5 common mistakes I have seen.

#1 Too many Ads
It’s ok to have ads on your website; however, you do not want to have so many ads that they become intrusive. Remember your visitors came to your site for information not ads. Don’t let your ads overwhelm your content.

#2 Weird Fonts
Just because you found some fancy font that you think is great doesn’t mean that everyone else has the same font. Stick to the common fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, and Veranda. That way you will be sure that everbody can read them.

#3 Broken Links
Check your links often. Nothing is more frustrating than clicking on a link that doesn’t work.

#4 Poor Navigation
Make sure your site is easy to navigate. If your visitors can’t figure out how to find the information they came there for you can be sure that they will not be back.

#5 Clutter
Keep your pages crisp and clutter free. It is much better to have a site with 20 pages of fresh, clean content than one with 5 pages that are so cluttered and messy that it is impossible to find anything!

Mike Marinaro is a web designer and published author.
Visit www.webdesign4him.com or www.womensempowerment.info for more articles.

Basic Web Site Design

By: Mike Marinaro

Rule #1 - Make it Easy to Read

Your web site should be easy to read. Black text against a white background is my recommendation. You want contrasting colors that are easy to read. Another good combination is light yellow background with dark blue text. Graphics in the background may look nice; however, they usually make your site harder to read.

Font size and style must also be easy to read. Size  14-16 pt. is a good size to use. Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman or Veranda are easy styles to read. Fancy fonts and italics become harder to read.

Remember, if you use fancy fonts, your visitors may not have those same fonts installed on their computers, so they won’t be seeing what you intended. If you must use fancy fonts then you will have to put them in a graphic image to display properly on everyone’s computer.

Rule #2 - Graphics  Images Can Slow Your Download Time

Graphics are cool but if they are on your web site just because they look cool, you are making a big mistake. Remember, graphics slow down your download time.

Graphic images should serve a purpose. Here are the basic purpose of graphic images for your web site.

Navigation buttons - Used to help visitors navigate your site. Well designed buttons can be much easier to read and find than plain text links.

Logo - Used to establish brand name recognition for your corporate identity.

Bullet Points - Used to draw your visitors’ attention to the main points of your page.

Photos- Used to add a personal touch to your web page. Visitors’ eyes are naturally drawn to photos of people.

#3 Keep it Simple

I always use the KIS method (Keep it Simple). Things like Flash and animated graphics are cute; however, people are not visiting your website to see a show. They are coming there to get information. Keep your site fresh and clean and easy to navigate and you will see many more visitors!

Mike Marinaro is a web designer and published author.
Visit www.webdesign4him.com or www.womensempowerment.info for more articles.