Website-submission- your gateway to top rankings

Till recently there was hell lot of hue and cry for website submission amid online marketers. Many business owners presume website submission as the first step of online marketing; perhaps it’s true to some extent but lets see how? In this post I will cast some light over ‘real advantages’ of website submission and whether it actually works or not.

Website submission is the gateway to get visibility on the search engines. Undertaking website submission makes your website visible on the search engines from where the major traffic comes. Obviously, howsoever good your product or service may be, it can’t get a hold of customers until it’s known to them. Let me take an example here, suppose you have a product which is far better both in quality and price than your contenders, but people would overlook it unless it’s displayed attractively. How can you expect a sale when customers don’t even know your product existed?

Website submission is the answer to all these problems. It ensures the presence of your website on internet. All the major search engines in business make use of indexes for their routine searches. Once your website is included in the indexes, automatically your visibility improves.

Now, ironically there are many who commend that website submission is a long-drawn-out activity. This is however at odds to the reality. In point of fact you don’t have to devote hours of your precious time in entering your website data on all the operating search engines simultaneously. As a matter of fact, you just need to submit your website on the major 4-5 search engines. Once it’s done, you have done it all. You don’t need to go into each and every search engine of smaller stature to submit your website. As all the small search engines utilize the data on major search engines to fulfill their search requirements. Thus, once the major search engines recognize you, you become visible on the smaller ones, automatically. But mind it that you carry out website submission on all major search engines to sail smooth on the net.

Acquiring top ten rankings on the major search engines is the most yearned dream of today’s online business. People are outsourcing SEO services and search engine marketing from SEO experts to make their sites shove to the top. However, this entire process demands colossal money and ultimately delivers what it promised; it still may not be apt for your business. Because as a brand new business entity your first task is to undertake website submission.

More importantly submitting your website to the big operators and directories flooded with customer traffic. This is a perfect head start for sites that has just made a debut on internet, for it’s free (as most directories are). Also there are directories that charge some amount for submission, but until and unless your site is crawled completely, it’s a sheer wastage of resources.

By now it’s evident that website submission to the major directories and search engines with enormous traffic is the gateway to better ranking and marketing. The plus here is that you can submit your website on your own or hire some inexpensive company to take the charge. The choice is entirely yours!

Despite of misconceptions the bottom-line remains that website submission has and will continue to be the primary need of search engine optimization and marketing. The major consideration is to get top rankings and attract unlimited traffic towards your website. Website submission makes it possible!

Courtesy: http://www.website-submission-optimization.com/

Six Proven Secrets to Writing a Trash-Proof Press Release

By Bill Stoller (c) 2008 PublicityInsider.com

In baseball, it's said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he's doing his job, he won't call attention to himself in any way. It's much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a press release focuses only on its content -- and not on its creation -- the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here's how to develop a style that can help give you a big edge in placing your press releases.

1) Master News Style By Reading News Stories

The folks who write wire copy for the Associated Press are masters at presenting information without calling attention to themselves. Read all the AP wire copy you can and get a sense of the rhythm and flow of their writing. Examine their choice of words and sentence structure (typically, they choose the simplest way of saying things) and their overall tone of solid objectivity. This is the style to which you should aspire.


2) Write a Great Lead

The lead paragraph in a press release should, theoretically, be able to stand alone as a news item. A standard news lead answers the Five W's -- Who? What? Where? When? Why? Successfully answer those five questions in one paragraph and you've summarized everything beautifully.


Bad lead:

The new Acme X100 is drawing raves from customers, who call it the best thing to happen to the flanging industry since the X99.


Good lead:

Philadelphia, August 15, 2007-- Calling it a "milestone day for our industry", the Acme Company unveiled the first flanger capable of creating widgets using only solar power. According to Acme President Joe Blow, the X100 is expected to find wide use in the developing world, where access to traditional electric power is unreliable.


The Five W's are answered! Who: the Acme Company. What: theintroduction of the solar-powered X100. Where: in Philadelphia (the headquarters for our fictional company). When: August 15. And, most important, Why: for use in the developing world.

Remember this: in almost every release that's successful, what put it over the top was the answer to "Why?". You must make plain the significance of your news by answering that question succinctly and without hype!

3) Write in Third Person

Perhaps it's a silly convention, but press releases really should be written as if they're coming from an objective outsider to your company, not from within your business. Of course, the journalist knows better, but nonetheless, they expect releases to be written in the third person. In short, here's the difference between first person and third person:

=> First person: We've developed the Acme X100.It's our most advanced model ever.

=> Third person: Acme Industries has developed the X100, which a company spokesperson called its "most advanced ever"


4) Attribute All Opinions

Never flatly state an opinion. If you want to state an opinion or, as in the above example, make a claim, always attribute it to a representative of the company (which very well may end up to be you!). Anything apart from entirely factual info (dates, store availability, product features, biographical information, etc.) should be attributed. Again, the best way to get a feel for this is to read wire copy. Start sorting out the things a reporter feels comfortable with, including without attribution and things for which he uses a named source.


5) Use the Inverted Pyramid

On the first day of Journalism 101, aspiring scribes learn about the Inverted Pyramid. Basically, it's way of organizing information so that the most important information is at the top -- the widest part of the Inverted Pyramid -- and, as you funnel down to the narrowest point, the information becomes less and less vital. There's a good reason for this: if a reporter's 10 paragraph story gets cut to 6 paragraphs because of space considerations, the reader will still be informed of the most important news. What's cut will be background, quotes and other nonessential material. When writing a press release, the Inverted Pyramid is equally important. First, it's the style the journalist is comfortable with and second, it assures that even if a rushed reporter can only read the first couple of paragraphs, she'll get enough info to decide whether to use the release or not. If you bury the best part of your release in the fourth paragraph, the recipient may never make it that far.

6) Remove all "Stoppers"

A "stopper" is something that will stop a journalist in her tracks and distract her attention. Once that happens, your release is toast. The point of your press release: to present information in the least obtrusive way possible. Consider it this way: the journalist isn't dumb -- she knows full well that you've sent her the press release for purely commercial reasons, hoping to get publicity that will make you more money. She can live with that as long as [a] there's something in it for her (a good story) and [b] she's not reminded of your commercial desires too often. A "stopper" breaks the suspension of disbelief needed for this little dance to be successful. It's the boom mike showing up in the frame of a movie -- once you've seen it, it's hard to convince yourself that you're really experiencing something that happened during, say, the Middle Ages. Here are some "stoppers" to avoid:

=> Clunky language. Journalists keep their language pretty simple. Long words, compound sentences and lofty, pretentious phrases are no-no's. Keep your sentences short. Don't try to present more than one idea in a paragraph. Avoid words you wouldn't use in everyday circumstances.

=> Hype and puffery. The ultimate "stopper". Confusing press release copy with advertising copy is a pervasive problem with businesspeople. Don't call yourself the greatest, the hottest, the coolest, the most unique or anything of the sort. If you must make a claim of superiority for your product, service or company, attribute it. Acme President Joe Blow said the X100 "has the opportunity to revolutionize the industry" is much better than The revolutionary Acme X100 is the greatest industrial advance since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.

=> Trademark Symbols. Including TM or copyright symbols that scream, "hey, check me out! I'm a press release! I come from a business! The legal department made me include this stuff!"

The bottom line: write like a journalist, avoid the stoppers and answer the Five W's and you'll succeed!

About The Author

Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider", has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses he's sharing -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, including our no-cost report, "Press Release Secrets", go to: PublicityInsider.com.

Top Ten Tips for Directory Submission

Boosting page rankings is easily achieved through directory submissions and to get the most from this means of grabbing quality one-way links you need to learn about the following ten useful tips for directory submission.

Submit to directories with quality links

You would profit from submitting your link to only those directories which have outgoing links that connect with other sites that seem useful, and if you find a page with such links, you can then put your link there even if there are many other links on the page.

Choose to submit manually

Though you may be tempted to submit automatically, manual submission is safer and you can also ensure that you submit only to the best directories.

Ensure that the directory has an appropriate category as well as sub-category

It is a good idea to submit your site to a directory that has the right kind of categories and also sub-categories, and if you don’t find these features, you may as well as look at other directories.

Text or title need to be anchored

If you ensure to anchor text that in turn has sufficient numbers of keywords as well as phrases you will improve the functioning of incoming links though remember that at the same time that you should not saturate your text with these keywords and phrases. However, there is nothing wrong with mixing up primary keywords and phrases with secondary ones.

Describe your link well

A link should have its description properly formed as it helps visitors and also search engines, though makes sure that these descriptions don’t turn out to be just sales pitches since such promotional words and phrases are not allowed by the better directories. It would be much better to have the description spell out what the anchor text is all about and it must also be objectively spelt out as well.

Determine the proper numbers of links per page

You should know how many links are contained in a page and ensure that they do not exceed ten in number, though less than ten can prove to be helpful as far as search engine optimization goes.

Don’t submit to more than twenty directories in a single day

It is not recommended that you submit to more than twenty directories in a single day – at least not while using a single IP address.

Are pages cached or not?

You need to also determine whether sub-pages as well as sub-category pages are cached by the search engine.

Are pages of the directory included in supplementary index?

Look and see whether there are not a few pages of a particular directory that are included in a supplementary index. A Google search is the way to find out this information.

Meta descriptions should not contain “no follow” or “no index” attributes

This is not a good thing for your site and thus should be avoided.

Courtesy:Permalink

How Many External links are Required for a Certain Google PageRank?

Although nobody knows the exact Google PageRank values the table below gives a fairly good representation of how many external links, of certain PageRank values, are required to achieve a certain Google PageRank.

PR	Links For PR3	Links For PR4	Links For PR5	Links For PR6	Links For PR7	Links For PR8
1	555	3,000	17,000	93,000	508,000	2,800,000
2	101	555	3,000	17,000	93,000	508,000
3	19	101	555	3,000	17,000	93,000
4	4	19	101	555	3,000	17,000
5	1	4	19	101	555	3,000
6	1	1	4	19	101	555
7	1	1	1	4	19	101
8	1	1	1	1	4	19
9	1	1	1	1	1	4
10	1	1	1	1	1	1

Courtesy: www.checkpagerank.net

Free Website Promotion...Why Not?

Can you ever avail of free website promotion? Is that even feasible?

Of course yes! Nowadays, your baby website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are things to be done?

1. Enlist your website.

Look for the hottest Internet directories and enlist your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Start with this step and the rest of the good things will follow.

Just don't forget to prep your website and make it all spruced up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you attract instant visitors right there.

3. Write a press release.

Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto!

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters. Why, you ask? So they can link you immediately! Establish contacts and never tire of link requests and exchanges.

5. Write an article.

Say, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.

6. Just let the whole world know about your site.

What is free website promotion without the word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!

7. Make a banner ad.

Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap!

8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

Yes, there are free website promotion tutorials. But don't you know that you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you out further? Part of the free website promotion program is signing up for newsletters.

When you make a website, you need not pay anything to promote it. You just read it -- there is such a thing as free website promotion!

About the Author

More Internet Marketing Tips and Strategies at http://journeytofinancialfree.blogspot.com

What does Directory Submission do for my Website?

Directories used to serve as the main method in finding relevant sites before search engines like Google and Yahoo took over. Many people don't use directories anymore to find websites, which is why you won't get a lot of traffic from directories that you submit to. Directories however, have become an important part in SEO and are very useful in obtaining backlinks to your website, which in turn can help you improve your websites ranking in the search engine results. They can be a great way to get your websites indexed into the major search engines if your website is new or have the search engines favour your website if you target your keyword and phrases propertly in the directories.


Should I submit manually myself or pay someone else to submit for me?

It doesn't really matter if you submit to the directories yourself or if you pay someone else to do it for you, as long as it's done properly. You should be careful who you're paying to submit for you however, as some of these businesses don't know what they are doing and will submit to directories incorrectly as all directories are different in how they work and what kind of information you must submit. Paying $5 - $10 for 500 directory submissions for example is a very low price to pay and you'll end up getting what you pay for. Many of these people actually use automated submitters even if they don't admit to it, which automated submissions are not very accurate and could get your website banned altogether from the directories that they submit your site to. Also, if you're always paying different people to submit for you, then there's a high chance that these people are going to have some of the same directories and by submitting your website twice to the same directory could get your URL banned from the directory forever. PL Backlinker prevents the user from submitting twice to a directory. By doing manual submissions yourself, you're able to ensure that quality is being accomplished and that you are submitting your website information correctly. It's much better to take the time and do the submissions propertly the first time yourself, then to have to try and go back and fix what's been submitted incorrectly by someone else, as usually you only get one chance to submit correctly with a directory. There are some people you can pay that do a great job in submitting, but just be aware of who you choose.

Some things to keep in mind while submitting to directories to ensure that your website has a higher chance of being accepted:

Many directories are humanly edited, which means that another human actually visits every website that is submitted to them to determine if they should include it into the directory. This is also the reason why it can take a very long time before your website is included in the directory and why you won't see the results immediately upon submission.

1. NEVER submit a site that is under construction. Make sure that your entire website is working properly before submitting.
2. No mirror sites. These are sites that contain the same content but are on different URL's.
3. NEVER submit the same website twice. Many directories will ban your URL if you do this and that's why it's always important to keep track of where you submit.
4. Make sure your website looks professional. Websites that look cheap or look like they could possibly be a scam will more than likely not be accepted.
5. NEVER submit a website that redirects.
6. Submit the main url and not trailing directories. (Example: www.mywebsite.com NOT www.mywebsite.com/services/)
7. ALWAYS try to submit to the correct category for the topic of your website.
8. NEVER submit a website that has illegal content.
9. ALWAYS make sure that your information that you submit is complete. Don't submit your information if the description or title gets cut off due to max character restrictions in the form. This is a big reason why automated submissions don't work and most directory owners will think that you used an automated submitter and ban your URL.
10. ALWAYS make sure that you take the time and effort to submit correctly the first time, as you might not get a second opportunity to submit again due to your URL being banned.


What is PR?

This is what the websites page ranks in the Google search engine. A webpages PR can rank from as low as 0 to as high as 10. A webpage with a PR 10 means that the website is well placed in the search engine and will more than likely show up as one of the first listings for it's keywords in a search result. Everybody aims to get a PR 10 for their website and having a link on a website with a good PR will most definitely increase your own websites PR in the search engines. This is why submitting to directories is a great way for you to increase your backlinks in order to raise your websites PR.


Should I only submit to directories with a high PR?

No. The PR for a website can change and if you submit to a directory with a PR 0, that directory may one day have a PR of perhaps 5. As soon as a directory gets a high PR, everybody wants to submit to that directory, which means that there'll probably be a lot more rejections because the owner can now be picky in which websites to include. They may also remove the FREE submission option and start making people pay, but if you've already submitted to the directory when it had a low PR and when nobody wanted to submit to that directory, then your link should still be in that directory and you can enjoy all the benefits of having a link on a website with a high PR without spending any money. Directories can also lose PR over time as well and perhaps go from a PR 5 straight to a PR 2 or even lower. It all depends on the kind of websites the directories are including into their database and also the search engines and whether they change their ranking algorithm, in which case they do every so often.


When will I start seeing results from submitting to directories?

Every directory is different in how they include links. Some directories will take 24 hours to 2 weeks for your link to be included whereas others may take up to 3 - 6 months. It all depends on the directory and who maintains it. You also won't start seeing results immediately in the search engines because the search engines can also take up to several months to update their database before you can actually see the backlink results. Sometimes it can be as high as 6 - 8 months or even a year before you start seeing the real results from your directory submission campaigns. You shouldn't expect to see results immediately upon submissions to the directories and should always keep submitting to different directories even when you don't see many results. Keep in mind that not every directory will accept your website either, depending on the quality of your site.


Should I try to submit to as many directories ASAP?

Yes, of course, but there are literally thousands of excellent directories on the internet for you to submit to. The more quality directories that you can submit your website to, the better for you in gaining backlinks for your site and they'll give your website better exposure in the search engines. You really don't need to try and submit to all of the directories as that would be pretty much impossible considering the amount of directories that are on the internet, but submitting to 30 - 50 directories each day is a good campaign and a good goal to set. The results aren't going to show up immediately anyways, so you might as well take your time and make sure that you are targeting your keywords in your title and description and submitting the information correctly. If you put the time and effort into your campaigns, then you will surely get some excellent results. Also you want your link building to look natural otherwise, search engines might take notice and give your website an infraction, so it's not important to try and submit to as many directories all at once as soon as you can. It's all about quality, not quantity, so just make sure your website is 100% ready and that you're submitting to the right category in the directories and submitting the information correctly, otherwise you're just wasting your time and efforts.


Can I use any tool to manage my Directory Submission?

There are hundreds of such tool actually. A semi automatic site submission tool called KnowboForm, can keep track of submissions to directories (and many other systems of submission also). It has many features to help make directory submissions easier and quicker for the webmaster. It's the most affordable way to ensure that you're submitting properly to the directories and to prevent your website from being banned and given a bad reputation. You're able to update the directory URL database in the program by adding as many directory URL's as you want as there's no limit. It can also help you to ensure that there'll be no duplicate URL's so that you don't submit to the same directory twice (if that directory doesn't accept multiple submissions of the same url, however many directories do accept). You're also able to keep track of which directories you've successfully submitted to, if you've already submitted your link and how many days ago that you did. You also have the ability to skip the directory URL's that you've already submitted to in order to save you time and prevent you from submitting again. You can even know what PR ( and many other site performance matrices ) the link has before you submit so that you can be picky in which directories you would like to submit your website to. The KnowboForm is very easy to use and will save you time and money.

Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo

The world's top software company could boost its online presence dramatically if Yahoo accepts a
$44.6 billion bid to be purchased.

Microsoft has offered Yahoo shareholders a 62 percent premium on their shares to sell the company.
Yahoo's latest disappointing earnings announcement helped to depress the stock price, making it a
renewed target for a takeover.

"We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions
for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online
services market," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

With online advertising projected to grow to $80 billion by 2010, Microsoft can grab a larger slice of
that pie if it can pull in Yahoo, which ranks as the world's heaviest trafficked web property.

Read More at WebProNews.com

Directory Scripts that Support different Payment Systems

Name: IndexU
URL: http://www.nicecoder.com/
Price: Free, US$99 for single domain, US$499 for unlimited domains
Platform: PHP, MySQL
Demo: Demo
Sample Sites: AToZFitness Internet Resource | eBusiness Directory | IndexU Directory | IndexU.Net
Comments: IndexU allows the user to easily create a web indexing website just like Yahoo and DMOZ. It has some very powerful features available. Features like Search Engine Friendly URLs, different level of pricing for listings, support for different payment systems, IP Blocking, template system and much more. For the paid version, you get free installation as well with lifetime support and upgrades. Furthermore, they provide free database migration from other directory scripts!

Name: PHPMyDirectory
URL: http://www.phpmydirectory.com/
Price: US$99.95 for single domain, US$189.84 for 3 domains, US$499.50 for 10 domains
Platform: PHP, MySQL
Demo: Demo
Sample Sites: Latin Dance Directory
Comments: This is a very powerful yet easy to use directory script. However, it is more like a Yellow Pages kind of system than a directory. It offers it's users a flexible membership system, different payment modules (includes printing of invoices and payments), detailed statistics on the performance of your directory, powerful banning system like words, IP address or URLs, banner management, image gallery, product gallery, documents gallery, allows ratings, allows pdf export of listings and much more. Support is provided throughout their forums, helpdesk or email.

Yahoo Hosting Unsuitable for Directory Script?

Yahoo hosting does not allow you to upload .htaccess files therefore you will not be able to use search engine friendly URLs which may limit your directories performance in search engines. There are some other issues that combined make Yahoo hosting unsuitable for use with the directory script.

Search Engine Marketing and Blogging Techniques

By Peter Nisbet (c) 2008

Search engines are the web's most used means of driving traffic
to websites, and knowledge of search engine marketing is
essential to anybody wanting to succeed online. However,
knowledge of blogging techniques is also instrumental in gaining
you a high position in the search engine listings for your
chosen keyword.

Sure, you can promote your site in many ways and there are more
ways than a top listing on a search engine to drive traffic to
your website, but there is nothing to beat a top ten listing on
Google or one of the other major search engines such as Ask,
Yahoo or MSN to provide you with consistent sustained traffic
day after day after day.

It is not difficult to get listed in a search engine, but it's
not so easy to be listed in that all-important top 20 position.
The top 10 is the ideal, but if you are listed on one of the
first two pages of a major search engine, then the traffic will
come to you. That is guaranteed. Naturally, the higher you are
listed the better, and you will do an awful lot better on the
first page than on the second, but if the best you can do is
page three then you are going to need a lot more than search
engines to help you attract business.

So what are the main essentials of search engine marketing? You
have two objectives, the first being to get listed and the
second to reach the top 20. It is easy, as I stated earlier, to
get listed on a search engine. Many design their site, submit it
to Google and then wait for the Google Dance, when Google
carries out its World Wide Web search for websites.

Forget that: do not submit your site to Google or any of the
other search engines because that can delay your listing.
Instead do one of two things. The best is to write a few
articles on the topic of your website and submit them to the top
article directories. If you can't write, or if English is not
your main language, then use an article ghostwriter. There are
plenty people online offering article services at good rates.

Google and the rest frequently visit the higher ranked article
directories and will pick up on the link to your website in your
'author's resource', or bio. When they find your site, you get
listed, and that can happen in less than 24 hours. That is the
main way, but the other is blogs. Add a blog to your site, and
it will soon be listed. Google, especially, likes blogs,
particularly if it is a Blogger blog, since Blogger is owned by
Google. You are virtually guaranteed a listing. If you are not
too keen on Blogger, you can switch once your site has been
listed. Wordpress is arguably the most versatile blogging
software available at the moment, especially if you are running
it from your own web space.

Once you are listed, you can improve your position by
optimizing each website page for the topic of that page. Don't
forget that search engines list each page separately, and so
each page should be optimized separately. However, you should
initially focus on your index page, since it is that page which
almost invariably gets listed highest. Once your site does have
a reasonably high listing, it is possible that another page
could get listed higher than your index page, although this is
not generally the case.

You can then post a blog on the topic of the page and add new
postings on a regular basis. You should also include a link to
your blog from your web pages and a link on your blog sidebar to
your website. This will enhance the probability of your home web
page being listed, as it also will your blog, since your blog
can also be listed on Google and other search engines.

There are some simple things that you can do to make your index
page more attractive to the search engines. Bear in mind that
your listing is for one search term only, as used by someone
seeking information related to the topic of your page. You can
receive another listing for another search term (or keyword) on
a different index. So, what you must do is to determine the best
keyword for which to optimize your index page.

Once you have decided that, include it in the title of your
page and place the title in 'title' tags. Try to make the title
a bit longer than your keyword, so if your keyword is, say,
'lock design', make the title 'The History of Lock Design', for
example. The main heading for the page need not be the same, but
should also contain your keyword. A good heading, for example,
would be 'Lock Design from the 18th Century'. Place that in H1
tags to tell the search engine algorithm that the heading
contains important text relating to your web page.

In order to accentuate the fact the 'lock design' is an
important term in your web page, use it in the first 100
characters and again in the last paragraph of the page. You can
also use it once for every 300 words if you want, but don't
overuse it. Use plenty of words that relate to the term, in
order that the algorithm used to determine the relevance of your
page can decide what the actual subject is. Hence, in the
example used, it is still not clear if the locks referred to are
canal locks or security locks. You should make that clear in the
syntax of the page.

For example, your title could be changed to 'Canal Lock Design
from the 18th Century', and you could make lots of reference to
canals, barges, longboats, plan, construction, locks and design.
These words will make it clear to the statistical mathematical
formula that makes up the LSI (latent semantic indexing)
algorithm that determines the meaning of the words used on your
page, and determines that the page is about canal locks and not
locks and keys.

There are many other ways in which you can optimize your web
page to make it more relevant to the search term, and the more
relevant the search engine deems it, then the higher the listing
in the index for that specific keyword. Blogging can enhance the
effect of your SEO, and not only improve your listing position,
but also be listed itself, thus providing even more traffic to
your website.

Search engine marketing involves a good knowledge of search
engines and how they work, but if you get it right then the
rewards can be very high in terms of traffic highly targeted to
your product. The problem is, unless you know how, or have the
right advice from people who know what they are talking about
rather than trying to sell you a service, then it takes a long
time to learn.

Courtesy: SEO-News: http://www.seo-news.com

The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions

By David Eaves (c) 2008

Submitting to directories is a great way to build links and increase your search engine rankings. In semi-competitive industries it can produce great results. If you add article creation and social media marketing into the link building equation then you can achieve great results for any industry.

The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions

Free or Paid Directories?

When choosing directories going for the paid ones can be better, mainly because the links seem to last a lot longer. Many of the free directories seem to disappear or delete links after a year or so. However, there are a few free directories out there that should always be used - directories that have stood the test of time.

Niche or General Directories?

Submitting to a combination of both niche and general directories is usually a good idea.

For most industries there are a variety of niche directories out there - the best way to find them is through a search engine. Do a search on Google, MSN or Yahoo for directories in your niche area - those that come up in the first few pages of results are usually the best ones to use.

With general directories it's better to go for those that are more established. The older a directory is, the better.

PageRank - Does It Still Matter?

Because directories are generally quite large, they need a certain amount of PageRank to get all of their pages indexed properly. However a high PageRank isn't the be-all and end-all. Google's recent crackdown on directories has made visible PageRank even more irrelevant when it comes to choosing directories. There are directories out there that have no PageRank whatsoever that can offer value.

If a directory is ranking well in the search engines then you can rest assured that it has enough PageRank. If you're unsure then check how many links it has via Yahoo! Site Explorer or another link popularity checker.

Anchor Text

It's always best to get the main search phrases that you are targeting in the links to your site. However this isn't always possible and unfortunately many of the best directories won't let you do this. Sometimes you can get around this problem by slipping in a search phrase at the end of your company name.

Before submitting, have a good look around a directory and get a feel for what you can and can't get away with. Some directory owners will let you use a search phrase on its own, whereas others are very strict and will only use your business/website name. In between you have those where you might just be able to slip a search phrase in.

Doing your homework comes in handy - if you try to use a search phrase on its own and they change it to your business/website name then it's very unlikely you'll be able to get them to change it to your website name with a search phrase at the end. If you'd submitted it like that in the first place you may have got away with it.

Always try to get one of your search phrases in and vary the anchor text as much as possible - this will appear more natural to the search engines.

Varying Your Description

Many directories will provide you with your own page about your business. If you have the same description on every page across different directory websites, then many of these will be seen as duplicate content by the search engines and your links will get devalued.

To avoid this, write a unique and substantial description for every single directory (200+ characters works best). Make sure the descriptions accurately mirror your products and services and that they read well.

Deep Linking

Many directories allow you to add extra links directly to internal pages of your website. You should take turns in linking to different pages of your website using different variations of the phrases you're targeting on each page. Using the same anchor text to link to the same page over and over again will appear unnatural to the search engines and this could work against you.

How Many Directories Should You Submit To?

There's no fixed number of directories that you should get listed in. Work out a 12 month directory submission budget for each site and then do so many each week or month for the full duration.

When you're building links to your site via directories or any other method, you should do it over time. Submitting to 100 directories in a week and then forgetting about it won't be as effective as spreading the 100 directory submissions over a 3 month period.

The Top 10 Directories

Finally, here's a list of the top free and paid general directories to get you started.

5 of the best free directories include:

Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org/)

World Site Index (http://www.worldsiteindex.com/)

Domaining.in (http://www.domaining.in/)

Web World (http://www.webworldindex.com/)

Search Sight (http://www.searchsight.com/)


5 of the best paid directories include:

Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com/)

Best of the Web (http://botw.org/)

Business.com (http://www.business.com/)

Aviva (http://www.avivadirectory.com/)

Ezilon (http://www.ezilon.com/)


About The Author: David Eaves has been working in the search engine optimisation industry for the last 5 years. More of his articles can be found at his SEO blog.

Courtesy: sitepronews.com, the Original article can also be found here.

A German Culture Overview

Fact file

Official name – Federal Republic of Germany
Population – 82, 424, 609* (July 2004 est.)
Official Language – German
Currency – Euro (EUR)
Capital city – Berlin
GDP – purchasing power parity $2.271 trillion* (2003 est.).
GDP Per Capita – purchasing power parity $27, 600* (2003 est.).


Overview

Since unification in 1989, Germany is Europe’s most populous nation and the continent’s largest economy. Situated at the heart of the European continent, and fundamentally shaped by Europe’s history, it it characterised by deep regional identities while at the same time also conveying a “national” German culture.

In today’s global business environment, developing successful business strategies and valuable business relationships, based on an awareness of this German culture, is essential for your organisation.
German culture - Key concepts and values

Ordnung: Most aspects of German living and working are defined and regulated by structures, for example, through laws, rules, and procedures, which are evident in all economic, political and even social spheres. In German business culture, for example, this is reflected in adherence to prescribed rules and, consequently, a low degree of flexibility and spontaneity.

Focus on Facts: Objective facts are considered essential in decision-making and problem-solving; in business negotiations, for example, the preferred approach to successful decision-making is based on logic and analysis of information, rather than on intuition and well-developed personal networks.

Focus on Tasks: In their approach to work, Germans tend to focus on achieving the task at hand. This, coupled with their well-defined structures, implies that interpersonal relationships play a secondary role in business dealings. The attention paid to targets to be achieved is evidenced, for example, in the precision of timetables, meeting planning and achievement of milestones. Close adherence to time schedules is also considered vital.

Communicating: A vital component to understanding business negotiations is the direct, seemingly confrontational, German communication style. In business discussions or planning, for example, openly-expressed criticism tends to be directed at aspects of the problem, project, or business at hand; it should not be considered as personal disapproval.

Individualist, yet consensus-seeking: As most Western European cultures, Germany is marked by a strong sense of individualism. Nevertheless, the desire to achieve one’s own goals and successes is coupled with a keen sense of responsibility for “the good of the community;” for example, in many business decisions, not only the financial benefits to the company are important, but also those of its employees. The structure of much German business decision-making requires consensual input from both employers and employees—which can render decisions comparatively slow.

Germany has played a central role in Europe’s history, and is today a major player in its economic and political organisations. Following the country’s reunification, Germany now has the world’s 3rd most productive economy in the world. Situated at the centre of Europe, Germany is an ideal base for tapping into all other European markets. However, before considering doing business in Germany, it is necessary to take into consideration a number of aspects vital for your success.

Germany Business, Part 1 - Working in Germany (Pre-departure)

* German working practices
o Punctuality is essential. Arriving even five or ten minutes after the appointment time is considered late-and disrespectful. If running late for an appointment, it is best to notify the person.
o Appointments are made for most situations, and sometimes several weeks in advance.
o Decision-making is often a slow and detailed process. Do not expect significant conclusions to be reached based on spontaneous or unstructured results.

* Structure and hierarchy
o German business culture has a well-defined and strictly observed hierarchy, with clear responsibilities and distinctions between roles and departments.
o Professional rank and status in Germany is generally based on an individual's achievement and expertise in a given field. Academic titles and backgrounds are important, conveying an individual's expertise and thorough knowledge of their particular area of work.
o In formal German business meetings, it is customary for the highest-ranking person to enter the room first. However, in more informal business situations this is less important.

* Working Relationships
o The Germans are very private, evidenced, for example, in the strict separation between private life and work. It therefore takes time to forge more personal relationships.
o Business relationships are often based on mutual advantage, with the overall task as the central focus.

Germany Business Part 2 - Doing Business in Germany

* Business practices
o First names are generally only used with family and close friends and colleagues. Therefore, always use last names and appropriate titles. You will often find that colleagues who have worked together for years still maintain this level of formality.
o Business meetings follow a formal procedure. German managers work from precise and detailed agendas, which are usually followed rigorously; moreover, meetings always aim for decisive outcomes and results, rather than providing a forum for open and general discussion.
o German business protocol requires that colleagues should be greeted with a firm, but brief, handshake on both arrival and departure.
o In German business dealings, it is important to provide solid facts and examples to back up proposals, given the German preference for analytical thinking and rational explanations.

* Business Etiquette (Do’s and Don’ts)
o DO take plenty of business cards with you and ensure they include full details of your background, qualifications, and titles.
o DO maintain direct eye-contact when addressing German colleagues, especially during initial introductions.
o DO use the formal version of you (“Sie”), unless someone specifically invites you to use the informal “Du” form. It is usually best to let your German counterpart take the initiative of proposing the informal form of address (this implies readiness to develop a personal relationship).
o DON’T discuss personal matters during business negotiations, as this is considered to deviate from the task at hand.
o DON’T attempt to continue negotiations after a contract has been signed. Your German colleagues may view this with suspicion, which could lead to an unsuccessful business agreement.
o DON’T use exaggerated or indirect communication styles during business meetings with you German counterparts. It creates an impression of insincerity and dishonesty.

German Culture Quiz - true or false

1. Germans sometimes gently rap their knuckles on the table instead of applauding at the end of a business meeting.
2. It is impolite to shake hands with one hand in your pocket.
3. At a dinner party, nobody may drink until the guest has made a toast.
4. The "thumbs up" gesture is not only a sign of appreciation and agreement, but also means the number
5. German executives prefer to keep their office doors open to create a feeling of openness and mutual trust.

Cultural Quiz - Answers

1. True
2. True.
3. False. It is customary for everyone to wait until the host has drunk first.
4. True.
5. False. You will generally find that Germans are very private people and will therefore keep their office doors closed.


Author: Jodie R. Gorrill, M.A. Intercultural Communication

To find out more about Communicaid's intercultural communication and awareness programmes, please
contact us.

* Source: CIA The World Factbook 2004

How the Company Logo Can Increase Website Conversion Rates

By Bill Haig - Fri, 01/25/2008 - 4:06pm.
Credibility and the First Glance

A small business friend complained the other day that his website really isn't worth the small amount of business it brings in. There are some estimates that say the majority of all small business websites fail to make money. Clearly there is a major problem in this early era of small business websites employed as sales tools.

The culprit is at the first encounter with a company website at a time which is crucial if the customer is to go on and buy something. The problem in a nutshell is the lack of trust in the company behind the website. This trust is missing at first glance.

Credible Company Logos Add Website Trust

Recent research (1) has concluded that the company logo can increase (or decrease) conversion rates at first glance on the company website. For most first time visitors to a new website, the company logo embodies the company brand image. The company logo on the home page (aka landing page) must communicate trust or the visitor will leave almost immediately.

In fact, most websites loose visitors rather than convert visitors to customers at first glance. Small business company websites, which are generally unknown to the visitor, loose over 90 percent or more visitors within a few seconds upon landing on a website.

New Google AdWords research concluded:

"So, you've refined your keywords, optimized your bids, and written AdWords text ads that pull in tons of targeted clicks, but after looking at your Google Analytics reports, you realize that your landing page has a bounce rate of 91%. Which means that 91% of the users coming to your site are quickly glancing around and leaving, deciding immediately that this site isn't for them. Recent research suggests that users decide to stay or leave your site in 8 seconds or less."

Further research by the author concluded that credibility-based logos will increase conversion rates over four times compared to logos which are not considered credible. With a credibility-based home page designed to non-verbally communicate company credibility consistent with the company logo, conversion rates are even more so. Company logo and home page design is a new opportunity for website effectiveness.

Websites at First Glance

What happens when visitors first click on a website? In this short time frame, visitors don't have much time to read anything about the site. Like most perception at an early stage, website impressions are a visual thing. What is going on? Research on website credibility by Stanford University's Dr. BJ Fogg concludes that people want to know whether the company behind the website is credible or not in an instant. Visitors are looking for expertise on the Googled subject and trust that the company can deliver. In a blink of the eye!

First Glance Web Optimization

Enter "first glance web optimization" where a credibility-based company logo communicates "trust" AND "expertise", the two requirements of credibility persuasion. Trust and expertise together mean "credible" which is important when it comes to website persuasion goals. Just being "liked" isn't enough when the goal is making a sale.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and most recently, Blink, calls first glace impressions leaping to conclusions as "adaptive unconscious" or "thin slicing." Adaptive unconscious studies examine how we draw conclusions intuitively in an instant as apposed to careful deliberation and analysis. Thus the term "thin slicing." The author reminds us of meeting someone for the first time, interviewing someone or being interviewed, or reacting to a something new. We use our adaptive unconscious mechanisms to make judgments at first glace. It is our "gut feeling" about something or someone. On a website, this is "first glance" web turn on, or turn off.

Website First Glance "Thin Slicing"

Like other first time encounters, the visitor and vendor on a website do not have a personal relationship history. The visitor makes a first glance evaluation on what information, most often visual, is available. This is primarily based on the company logo, and the design of the home page. Otherwise, the vendor is faceless.

Credibility-based Logo Design

The company logo can be a credible face if planned and designed appropriately. Expertise and trustworthy define the two import credibility traits for a given company. Take Housen Painting, a small house painter in New York. House painting is the company's business. This is the company's expertise. The main symbolism in the company logo then is "house" and "painting". This is the "expertise" dimension in the Housen Painting logo.

The "trustworthy" dimension is communicated in the overall design. The Housen Painting logo above communicates "trustworthy" traits non-verbally through design with a clean contemporary style communicating efficient, cutting-edge and on-time. These credibility traits are also how Housen Painting operates, so substance and logo image are comparable. Specific company credibility traits communicated in a company logo is credibility-based logo design.

Credibility-base Home Page Design

The company home page must also be designed to communicate the same credibility traits as the company logo. Logos and home pages are perceived almost simultaneously. Thus, the company credibility-based logo design and the home page design must have a consistency in design. For example, the logo cannot have a contemporary design and the home page a dated design.

In Summary

The bottom line with first website impressions is that the visitor perceives a credibility-based logo and home page so the visitor continues the website experience. First impressions are key to credibility building and continued visitor conversions toward being a customer.

Stanford University has been researching web credibility for several years under the leadership of Dr. BJ Fogg. The research has concentrated mostly on web credibility from functional perspectives such in ease of navigation, no errors, and showing company credibility with an address and owner photo.

New research supports (1) that first glance web optimization can increase conversion rates applying a credibility-based company logo and matching credibility-based company home page. Further, the research concludes that at least four times as many visitors become customers when there is a credibility-based logo and home page compared to company logos and home page design which are not credibility-based. Using the company logo to communicate credibility is the new niche in website design.

(1) Research conducted by Dr. Bill Haig as part of his 2006 PhD thesis, How and Why Credibility-based Logos are Effective in Marketing Communication in Persuading Customers to Take Action: A Multiple Case Study Toward a Better Understanding of Creativity in Branding.`

About the author:
Dr. Bill Haig taught logo design, website design and branding strategy at the university level following over forty years developing successful company logos for companies such as AT&T and Rockwell. Dr. Haig is the co-author of The Power of Logos: How to Create Effective Company Logos , New York, Wiley Publishers, 1997. The book first introduced the concept of credibility-based logo design. For more on first glance web optimization and credibility principles in communication persuasion applied to logo and home page design visit Dr. Haig's website, www.powerlogos.com

Make Your Site Become Search Engines Friendly

A very important point made by Google, MSN and Yahoo (and the others) is that your website should be designed for humans, not for search engines. I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment but you still need to make sure a search engine crawler can find it's way around your site.

You have to make sure every page on your site will be found by search engine crawlers and crawled properly. Your site and pages have to be set up correctly for this to happen. You need at least basic HTML knowledge to understand how to do the following.

Your website will need internal links that a search engine understands.

Your website should be linked together so that every single page can be found by clicking a link from another page. The best way to do this is to have a site map. A site map is a single page (or series of pages if you have a huge site) which links every page that exists on your website. If you use a javascript menu, you will need a "noscript" section as well. Another important point to remember is that, generally speaking, the more clicks away from the home page a webpage is, the less likely that page is to appear in the search index (but we'll cover the exceptions later).

Your web pages will need a unique title

Choosing titles for your web page is not hard - just choose a short sentence or phrase which accurately describes what your page is about. If your page is about growing cactus in the UK, there's your title... Growing Cactus in the UK. This is also what people will see in the search engine results pages, so if they see your relevant page they will click on your link, even if it is number four or five in the search results. Make sure every page has it's own unique title.

Your web pages will need a unique meta description

Make sure your pages have a unique meta description. An effective meta description is a short synopsis of what visitors will expect to see on the webpage. This is NOT a place for repeating keywords or telling lies about what the page is actually about. To use our example of growing cactus in the UK, an appropriate meta description would be "How to successfully grow cactus in the UK, with practical tips and examples". If you don't have different and unique meta descriptions for each page, the search engines may presume that all your pages are the same.

Your pages need < h1> and < h2> tags

These tags, as well as < strong> and < em> tags, emphasize to the search engines (and more importantly, visitors) the overall theme of the content of your page. Remember, use these tags honestly and appropriately. One heading with < h1> is enough. A < h2> or < h3 >for each relevant block of text is OK. One or two strong tag on a particular keyword or keyphrase is more than adequate. If your headings look ugly and contrived to a visitor, you will probably be penalized by search engines now or in the future for them.

Check for errors on your site

It's easy to check for errors on your site, and there are a couple of great tools available for free to do this. The first I use is Xenu Linksleuth. You can read about it and download it from here. Basically Xenu crawls your website like a search engine spider and reports any broken links. This is very valuable information, because broken links can stop search engine crawlers from crawling your site. Broken links can arise from misspellings or pages that were deleted.

Another useful tool is Google Webmaster Console. There are many useful functions in Webmaster Console which we will talk about later but right now we'll highlight their error reporting. (At this point don't upload a sitemap to the Webmaster Console, I'll talk about that a little later). Once you validate your website at Webmaster Console go to the crawl error screen and you will be presented with any errors the Google crawler encountered on your site. Obviously if the Google crawler has a problem navigating your site then other search engine crawlers will also have a problem.

Using these two tools gives you the opportunity to diagnose and fix any errors with linking on your site and ensure greater success when your site is indexed.

Courtesy: http://www.asktheblogger.info

Self Confidence Crucial To Business Success

By Wayne Hurlbert

Self confidence is important to anyone's success in business and in life.

It might sound obvious that having confidence in your future, and that of your business, is an essential ingredient, it's not a trait everyone enjoys. In many ways, self confidence can be described as self respect and enjoyment of life's challenges.

Self confident people are more successful in everything they do than those who lack confidence. Hanging back while others take a leadership position won't help your business or career succeed in the ways that you would prefer. Taking an active role assures your ideas get heard and implemented. If those concepts and proposals are helpful to the organization, they should be expressed openly, and with confidence. The company's profits could depend on your speaking up and voicing an opinion.

The bad news regarding self confidence is it takes some work to achieve. The good news is self confidence can be learned with practice, and by making a personal commitment to excellence. A lifetime of self doubt, often amplified by parents, teachers, and employers is a difficult habit to break. No one expects it to change overnight, but the attitude change can happen more quickly than most people think. It just takes developing a different outlook on life.

Do something that makes you happy and proud of your achievement. I'm not suggesting becoming an overbearing, arrogant, know it all. What I do recommend is you show passion in what you accomplish, and that you enjoy your job, business, and life in general. That passion will show in your face. Instead of slumped shoulders, and a perpetual frown, your head will be held higher, and wearing a smile. Life is much more pleasant when you smile and enjoy its gifts.


Set a short term goal to achieve in your job or your business. Once that goal is reached, take a moment to consider what you did, and how it will enhance the overall organizational plans. You will see immediately that your efforts make a difference. Set a new and slightly more challenging goal, and reach or exceed it as well. You will find that accomplishments grow and multiply, and you will become more confident that you can get the job done properly and well.

The first thing you notice as you feel more confident is how other people treat you at work, at home, and in the outside world. People will smile at you as you show your inner glow through your smile. You will be given more respect everywhere, and your ideas will receive the attention they deserve. Your enjoyment of work and of life will increase many times over. Life becomes more fun.

Practice achievement and boost your self confidence today. Wear a smile, and hold your head high. Look other people in the eye when you speak to them, and they will respect you for what you have to say. Self confidence can be developed, and can take your life and business to even greater heights.

About the Author:

Wayne Hurlbert
provides insigtful information about marketing, promotions, search
engine optimization and public relations for websites and business
blogs on the popular Blog Business World.

Check out Blog Business World for yourself.

Courtesy: ActivePro

Google Indexes Site in 24 Hours

By Michael Jensen

I created a new site on Friday, and by Saturday exactly 24 hours later it was in Google’s Index. I posted about this just over a month ago in my post, 7 Steps to Get Your New Site Indexed in 24 Hours.

I had a lot of comments about whether or not Adwords was necessary, so I thought I’d try it again without running Adwords this time. Here’s how it all played out:

1) I created 5 pages of content (Home, FAQ, About Us, etc.).
2) I put them in a simple template with site-wide links. I also linked to it from one of my other sites (it’s very relevant so it makes sense).
3) I added tagged the site on only 2 social bookmarking sites.
4) Commented in 1 forum, put the URL in one directory (niche specific), and submitted it to Digg.
5) Installed Google Analytics
6) Created a sitemap, pinged Google, and put the sitemap in my Robots.txt. Logged into Google Webmaster Central and submitted my sitemap there.

When I checked exactly 24 hours later I was sitting in the index and had already begun to get a few visitors from Google.

I had previously done Google adwords out of both necessity (get quick traffic) but also because of the trust factor I believe it gives to Google, and the fact that Google integrates a quality factor into their quality score (so they come to your site and look at it). Obviously this is just one test compared to several others I’ve done with Adwords, but it seems its very possible without running some ads.

Anyone else seeing 24 hour indexing for new sites?

About the Author: Michael Jensen is a co-founder of SoloSEO.com, an online service for SEO project management and do-it-yourself SEO tools. SoloSEO.com allows web marketers of any skill level to manage keywords, content tracking, link building, and competitor data.

.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5

Visual Studio 2008 (code named Orcas) supports 3 versions of the .NET Framework. Thats a great feature because in the past you needed VS2002 for .NET 1.0, VS2003 for .NET 1.1 and VS2005 for .NET 2.0.

The fact that VS2008 supports the three most important versions of the framework is essential for a smooth upgrade path. I notice that there is still confusion about the differences between .NET 2.0 and 3.0, and 3.5 (beta). Time to outline some differences!

	.NET 1.1	.NET 2.0	.NET 3.0	.NET 3.5
CLR Version	CLR 1.1	CLR 2.0	CLR 2.0	CLR 3.0
C#-version	C# 1.0	C# 2.0	C# 2.0	C# 3.0
Pre-installed on OS	Windows Server 2003	Windows Server 2003 R2	Windows Vista	Windows Server 2008
Foundations	N/A	N/A	WPF WCF WF WCS	WPF WCF WF WCS
ADO	ADO.NET	ADO.NET 2.0	ADO.NET 2.0	ADO.NET vNext= LINQ
Special editions	.NET Compact Framework 1.0	.NET Compact Framework 2.0	.NET Compact Framework 2.0 .NET Micro Framework 2.0	.NET Compact Framework 3.5 Silverlight 1.1 .NET Micro Framework 2.0
New features			The 4 foundations	Faster garbage collection Smarter, faster NGen requiring smaller working set RAM 64 bit client improvements ThreadPool performance improvements Security check caching during NGen New class additions in BCL BigInteger HashSet TimeZone2 (info) Cryptography Integration with Event Tracing for Windows New Addin hosting model for extensibility Workflow enabled Services (codename 'Silver'). Build workflow-enabled services using WF and WCF. This allows a .NET Framework developer to build business logic for a service using WF and expose messaging from that service using WCF Build Ajax style web applications using WCF services Project templates for WCF services, WF business logic, workflow enabled services, and AJAX services in Visual Studio 2008 More WS-* Standards support RSS and ATOM syndication API Partial trust support for WCF hosting Improved rules engine WF and supports C# 3.0 features Visual Studio designer for WPF WPF has smoother animations, faster startup and better overall performance New data types available for data binding with LINQ Integration with Silverlight (source) More info about the new feature can be found here.

Version 3.0 is basically the same as 2.0, but contains the 4 new foundations:

• WPF, Windows Presentation Foudation;
• WCF, Windows Communication Foundation;
• WF, Windows Workflow Foundation;
• WCS, Windows CardSpace

Version 3.5 of the Framework is a bigger change. It contains a new compiler in order to handle the new programming language features and LINQ.

If you are about to install the .NET Framework, its better to install version 3.0. All 2.0-applications are compatible and version 3.5 is still in beta. By the way, you can run all version side-by-side (SxS, = on the same machine).

• .NET 3.0 is not a major change to the core .NET Framework as was 1.0/1.1 to 2.0
• If you currently have only .NET Framework 1.0 or 1.1 and you are looking to install 2.0 or 3.0
• If you currently have .NET Framework 2.0, installing .NET Framework 3.0 is not a major change as the version numbers would suggest
• If you currently run .NET 2.0 applications, they will not know or care that you have installed .NET 3.0

By the way, .NET versions can coexist in the same machines in the following directories:

v1.0.3705
v1.1.4322
v2.0.50727
v3.0
v3.5.20404

Online Payment Systems

• Berggreen Service - Scandinavian Shareware Registration Service
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• downloadAtoZ.com - Provides and promotes software for IS/IT professionals, developers, business users, and personal users.
• eSellerate - E-commerce system that integrates with your software
• Kagi - Provides online stores for companies selling digital and physical goods. Includes hosted shopping cart software, worldwide payment processing, backoffice accounting, fraud prevention and customer care.
• NorthStar Solutions - Software registration service taking 4% + $2.5 commission for online orders and 4% + $4.75 for other orders. $15 initial setup fee.
• Order1.net - Registration service, takes 14%. Fully customizable order forms. Fraud protection
• OSoLiS - Software licensing and registration service
• Overview of Shareware Registration Services - Lists what registration services are available, what each charges for processing orders, and has a comparison chart showing the fees charged by each service, at various program prices.
• Register Now - A service of Digital River. Provides, non-exclusive shareware registration service. Takes 20% commission. Free key code generation using supplied list/program.
• RegNet - The Registration Network - Registration Service, Charge: 10% + 3%, Optional use of their own registration code system.
• RegSoft.com - Georgia, USA based registration service for only 10% or $3 (whichever is higher). Free key code generation using supplied list/program. 800 number, FAX. By RegSoft.com, Inc.
• Share*It! - Shareware registration service with presences in Europe as well as in the United States. Accepts payments in USD and Euro. Takes 4% + $2.95 commission.
• Shareware Promotion - Marketing services for shareware developers
• Shopthings - Offers shareware registration service with competitive price and with free 7 level affiliate system
• SWREG - Fully automatic creation and maintenance of accounts in realtime. Fees: $1 + 4% per sale. No sign up fee. Affiliate plan, multicurrency, tollfree numbers in 20 countries. Also used by Compuserve for their SWREG service.
• Sw-reg.com - Provides a UK-based shareware registration service to authors of shareware products. Takes payments in GBP with 15% commission.
• Zerotec Independent Fulfillment - Zerotec provides software registration, secure file download, tangible product fulfillment, and payment services.