Design Website

Content is undoubtedly the most important element of a website. It is the defining factor for a website, that which catches the interest of your visitors and keeps them hooked to your site.

Unless what you say holds the attention and interest of the visitors to your site, the rate at which they would they hit the "back" button and say "bye - bye" to your site, will astonish you!!!!

So it is right to say that CONTENT IS KING!! And make sure you treat it like one! It is imperative for website owners to understand and follow the right process to develop content for their site.

Here are some of the basic points which should be kept in mind while developing content for your website ?

1. TARGET AUDIENCE

The first step is to define your target audience. You should have an absolutely clear picture in your mind as to who exactly will visit your site. Once you know that, you should write your content in such a way that talks to them.

2. CONCENTRATE ON BENEFITS NOT FEATURES

When describing a product you are selling or a service you are offering, concentrate on their benefits not their features. Make the visitor realize that they just have to buy your product. After all, that''s the only reason why he would stay on your site.

3. GIVE THEM WHAT THEY''RE LOOKING FOR, OH! AND QUICK!!

Visitors to your site are there for a purpose: They either want to buy your product, access the information you are offering or subscribe to your offer. And don''t forget! They don''t have much time to spare ?so you have to give them what they are looking for quickly, without any delays! Hence, your first few paragraphs of content ideally should hit the bull''s eye and get the message across!!

4. MAKE IT EASY TO READ AND FOLLOW

Keeping in mind your target audience, write and structure your content in such a way that it is easy to read, grasp and follow.

• Divide your content into easy to read paragraphs. (Make sure the first few sentences of which carry the punch lines.)

• Use bulleted lists

5. KEEP THEM HOOKED

Whatever you do, don''t let them leave your site without making your point. Your content must talk to your visitors: Keep them reading on ?It should be able to make a sale..and yet be subtle and informative?..

Follow these simple steps and see the difference!!!

About The Author

Akanksha Sinha - a freelance Web Content Writer and Web designer.

http://www.mygoogly.com/akanksha.htm

aks_design@rediffmail.com', 242, 'Content is Crucial!, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Content is Crucial! plus articles and information on Web-Design

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We will take a look at why your visitors may hate you maybe already do! There are many things that make YOUR visitors dislike you, but we take a look the top sex things that make your click the back button on their browser.

1. Broken links

Hyperlinks that do nothing when clicked are the pain in the butt for any surfer. Test your site often to ensure that all links work as they should.

2. Not putting your contact info on your site

If you are selling a product you must have a way your visitors can contact you! When visitors are thinking about buying a product they like to know where to contact you if there are problems with it and most won''t even buy from a site that has no contact information.

3. Outdated information

It''s OK to have old information that''s about history (Since it likely won''t change), but when it''s about a baseball team or about an event that''s going on all the time, outdated information is a no no.

4. Slow loading times

If you own a professional sites, you must have a normal speed server, if not and your pages are slow you will lose your visitors. Also make sure you haven''t packed them with too many images and flash.

5. Bad templates

Templates are one of the most powerful tools a web site has, not only does it tell the surfer how hard you or they worked on your site, but how professional your company is. Don''t use different colors for every image or use text that''s to small for visitors to see.

6. Broken links

Hyperlinks that do nothing when clicked are the pain in the butt for any surfer. Test your site often to ensure that all links work as they should.

About The Author

Matt Colyer is the owner of the Marhen.com Network and is a part-time SEO. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer.', 242, 'Top Six Ways To Make Your Visitors To Hate YOU!, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Top Six Ways To Make Your Visitors To Hate YOU! plus articles and information on Web-Design

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Every now and then, I receive a link exchange request from someone who wants a link from my directory (my high-ranking directory directly accessible from the index page), and in exchange, they''re willing to link to my page from one of their zillions of link pages about 18 jumps away from the home page. Needless to say, the proffered page has a Google PageRank of 0, and chances are it''s not even indexed by any search engines.

What an enticing offer.

If you want people to trade links with you, thus increasing your PageRank and traffic, you must offer them a valuable link in return. Not all links are created equally. Here are some tips for making your site attractive to potential link partners:

Build a directory of links pages sorted by categories that relate to your web site. Avoid putting all of your links on a single page. Avoid putting tons of links on any one page in your directory. Avoid naming your links page "links.htm(l)".

Put a link to your directory on your index page. Every page in your subdirectory should have a link from that directory page and in turn link to that directory page. This helps spread Google PageRank more evenly to all your links pages and your directory page. Link pages with high PR will attract more link offers.

Avoid impersonal link managing services; give your links directory a personal touch and manage link exchanges in-house. If cutting and pasting a link onto one of your directory pages takes more than 30 seconds, you need to go back to webmaster school anyway.

Avoid tricks meant to keep from transferring PageRank to other people''s sites.

Don''t hide the link to your directory page.

Don''t force links to open in a new window. Most surfers have pop-up blockers that make this a pain to work around. I know you want to keep visitors from leaving completely, but let''s face it, if they''re browsing a links page, they''re already bored with your site. Get over it. Someone else will come.

That''s it. Follow these steps, and not only will people be more willing to link to you, but you''ll get a lot of offers as well. It''s more time efficient if people come to you than to hunt links on your own.

About The Author

TC Thorn wmakes a living from affiliate marketing and advertising. This article first appeared at Webmaster Articles.', 242, 'How to Make Your Site Attractive to Potential Link Partners, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'How to Make Your Site Attractive to Potential Link Partners plus articles and information on Web-Design

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In this article we will be looking at why you should keep your web page size small.

As any good webmaster knows you should keep the web page size small, but why? It''s really simple, both spiders and visitors hate web pages that take forever to load because it''s harder to spider the web page or for the visitor they just don''t have time to wait for your web page to come up, after all most web sites are not that great, so why wait if your the visitor?

You should keep images down in size, the best way to do this is with image compressors. Image compressors will crush the size to make it load faster, but there is a down side to using image compressors because they can make the image colors look like they are out of place and horrible looking. The best way to prevent this is by only doing this to images that are not photos instead this should be used on art work images and try to use the image compressors on images that are smaller, so it''s harder to see the image colors out of place.

A web page should use more HTML than images because this helps cut down the size of your web page. Web pages also should not be too wide or long. Instead cut the web page into two or three web pages, this will also help your visitors not to be forced to scroll down the web page to much and help them scan (Most surfers scan pages for the info they are looking for.) the page better to find the information the visitor is most interested in.

Flash can really slow web pages down even worse robots can''t read Flash and if your visitors don''t have high speed (Most Internet users still use dial up.) Internet it can take forever to load, like I said at the top who is going to wait to just see your web page when they can visit someone else''s site with almost the same information as your sites? Flash really looks great and can really make your site look outstanding, but there are other ways to make your site look great without Flash. If you have to use Flash try to make/get one that loads fast on dial up and don''t use a lot of it on your web site.

Java scripts can put a major load on your server and slow it down. Robots can''t read Java scripts and robots dislike Java scripts. What makes me mad about some web designers is when they use Java clocks, if the visitors need to know what time it is they can look at the clock on the left side of their computer and even if the computer doesn''t have one they can look at the clock in their house, it''s that simple with the Java clocks you don''t need one on your site!

You should try to keep your web page size between 10K and at the most 30K, so both the spiders are happy and most important your visitors are happy.

Matt Colyer began as a SEO Specialist in 1997. He founded Superior Webmaster in 2004 as a source of articles and tutorials for Web site owners looking to improve their Web site.', 242, 'Size Does Matter!, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Size Does Matter! plus articles and information on Web-Design

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If you are designing a web site for which the achievement of high conversion rates is a priority, focus your design efforts on showcasing and highlighting the content and copy.

For sites where conversion rates are a priority, the primary purpose of design should be to present the message in such a way that it delivers the maximum impact.

>> So "good" design doesn''t matter?

That''s not what I''m saying. I''m saying that design serves a function. For an entertainment or arts site that primary function may be to present images in an attractive way. That''s fine.

But for a site that is created to generate sales, the text must come first. Everything...from the architecture of the site to its design must work towards supporting your message and delivering people to the final checkout page.

>> Sounds obvious. Why make the point?

I make the point because the presentation of the message is often the last thing on the minds of web groups.

Web designers are higher on the food chain in these groups. All too often the writing of the message becomes a secondary consideration. "The site will look like this. We''ll arrange the pages like this. And by the way, we need someone to write the words."

This attitude of "text comes last" is nonsense and it has been from the day the internet first went commercial.

Hundreds of millions of visitors have always known that their primary need on arriving at a site is to find the key messages. "Am I in the right place? Will I find what I want on this site?"

Our visitors know that the words are the most important element on a web site.

Google knows that the words are the most important element on a web site. (Unlikely aside from the Googlebot: "Cool design. Better rank this page higher.)

The only people who haven''t understood this so far are web group managers and web designers.

Even marketing people insist on just dropping in for-print-approved text on their sites, without any thought as to the special needs of the medium. (Would they create a radio ad simply by using the sound track from their TV commercial? I don''t think so. Every medium has its own demands when it comes to the words, the web included.)

>> How to design to showcase the message

The first step is to bring the writer in at the beginning. The designer will find that the writer has a number of priorities and needs in mind. He or she might say:

"This is the page''s primary message. We need people to really get this on the first screen."

"We have three separate audience needs to address here. I need these three headings to have equal emphasis, preferably on the first screen."

"This message is just the first step in converting a visitor to a buyer. We need a strong pathway of three levels before he or she is ready to buy."

"This sales message is complex, it will take some space and longer copy. We need to format the text so that people will keep reading. We need strong subheads, some indented passages and emphasis at the following points."

Once the writer has outlined the needs of the copy, the designer can then focus on showcasing the key points in the message, giving the correct emphasis to the various headings, subheads, body text and links.

The designer''s job here isn''t to make the page "pretty", it is to deliver the message with the right emphasis, and with each point in the correct sequence.

>> How does a designer know what to do?

In some senses, this is new ground for designers online. Until now, too much emphasis has been places on design for its own sake, instead of using it to support the copy on a site''s pages.

If a designer wants to know how this works, he or she should go sit next to a direct marketing designer/copywriter team while they work.

See how the team communicates. See how the designer listens to the writer and places a great deal of emphasis on the type. Watch how the designer spends a lot of time selecting the right font, the right type size and color. See how a conversion-focused designer pays massive attention to the placement and appearance of every element of text.

Why? Because in direct marketing the response rates are intimately connected with the presentation of the copy. It matters where on the page each text element is placed. The font and its size and emphasis matters. The final formatting of the text matters.

Online? When you are building pages with a view to maximizing conversion rates, you become a direct marketer. That means thinking like a direct marketer, writing like a direct marketer and designing like a direct marketer.

>> Concluding points...

As it stands on the web right now, we have a couple of groups of designers.

There are the general web designers who create beautiful sites, without regard to how the copy should and can work harder.

And there are the online direct marketing designers who design single page sales sites that are created to maximize sales.

At some time in the future it would be good to see these two groups learn more from each other.

It would be good to see the general web designers learn more about increasing conversion rates by learning some of the skills of the online direct marketing designers.

It would be good to see the online direct marketing designers expand their skills beyond the scope of single, scrolling sales page.

And it is essential that every online designer pays a great deal more attention to the writers and the showcasing of every page''s message.

Nick Usborne is a freelance copywriter, author and speaker. For more articles and resources on writing for the web, visit his site, http://www.excessvoice.com.

To find out more about designing for high conversion rates, read his review of AWAI''s course, Graphic Design Success.', 242, 'Web Design: Use it to Showcase the Message, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Web Design: Use it to Showcase the Message plus articles and information on Web-Design

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1. Who needs an artists website?

Not everyone! If you are currently exhibiting in multiple high-end galleries and making a handsome income, a website may not be for you. In fact, it might actually work against you ? some galleries may not like the perceived threat of you showing your work independently on the internet. Better to make use of your gallery''s websites.

On the other hand, any artist who can classify themselves as either "emerging" or "mid-career" will probably benefit from having their own website to promote their work. At this stage of your career it is important to be able to have a place where anyone in the world can easily access and view your work. It is also important that your work looks as wonderful as you know it is!

2. Who are you trying to impress?

Are you trying to engage a Soho gallery to sell your $20,000 paintings or sell $5 prints to children in Korea? "Art" encompasses a huge variety of media, audiences, and budgets, and you need to be very clear about who you are targeting with your site. That Soho gallery might not be impressed when they see your online-store selling prints and art cards ? but on the other hand, you could make a very handsome living if you really knew how to market those art cards. If you want to have multiple marketing strategies, you might even need to think about more than one website and maybe using a non-de-plume.

3. How should your website fit in with your overall art marketing strategy?

This is maybe the most important question you will need to consider in developing a website presence. A website is not an end in itself ? it is only really effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This would include old- style hard-copy portfolios, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4. Is there a real market for art on the internet?

There is art business transacting on the internet, although we have not been able to find reliable statistics on the level of sales or the segmentation of the market into sales of originals and reproductions. It is probably fair to say that well-known work from established artists will sell because this art has a known market-value. For emerging artists, the picture is more complex ? there is something to the experience of an original work of art that can never be seen or felt on a computer screen.

The sale of reproductions is another issue ? their lower cost makes them a less risky gamble for the customer especially if your website provides a satisfactory return policy.

One thing is for sure ? it will be increasingly important to have a website presence as an artist as more buyers become comfortable with the internet.

5. Should I have my own website or should I simply use one of the many artist website portfolio services?

This is an excellent question. There are many great artists website portfolio services available online today. As an example, check out Absolute Arts (www.absolutearts.com) and Artspan (www.artspan.com). These services are really online galleries where for a variable fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. The advantage of this type of approach is that it is a "connector" site ? meaning that a lot of people visit there including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn''t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services ? but there is a chance.

A great example of the value of this type of website was the jurying process for the 2005 Florence Biennale. Hundred of artists were selected simply because their work looked great and they had it available to see on these large connector sites. We think that this type of jury process will become more prevalent in the future as galleries and show curators become moresavvy with the internet.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you''ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website ? as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

6. What do galleries and art dealers like to see when they look at an artist website?

Galleries have about as many views of how work should be showcased as there are stars in the sky. But the wonderful thing is that these skills and preferences have been developed through the process of really selling art. Don''t ever under-estimate the experience and skill required to do this consistently ? at Beautiful Websites For Artists we take out hats off to good art salespeople.

There are, however, some common elements which most dealers and galleries would agree on which could be summarized as follows:

? Keep it simple and elegant ? Keep the focus on the art itself ? Don''t overpower the look of the art with a site that looks too busy ? Be VERY careful of "Designerish" effects like flash movies. In the time it takes to play your exotic flash-based entry page, the gallery will have already moved on to look at the next artists website. ? Everything you would have in a hard-copy portfolio should be there ? bios, artist statements, resumes, etc as well as clear information on how to contact you by phone, email, fax, and snail-mail. ? Be aware of the potential positive or negative reaction you might experience from selling reproductions of your work online. Some galleries will be impressed that you are obviously business-savvy enough to be able to sell your work in this way. Others might consider it a threat to any potential sales relationship they might have with you.

7. How can I showcase my work in the most beautiful way?

There is really no getting away from the fact that you need to have visual design skills to create a beautiful artist website. One of the main reasons we started Beautiful Websites For Artists was because we were tired of seeing so much beautiful art showcased so poorly on some of the ugliest websites you could hope to find!

That said, here are some basic thoughts:

? Keep the website simple and elegant ? Keep the focus on the art itself ? Structure the site into different galleries and sections to compliment the work ? don''t put everything on a few pages. Think of a gallery with different exhibition and information spaces. ? Choose a background color that compliments and does not overpower the work. Think of the colors you would use in a physical gallery to showcase your work ? neutral colors like crèmes, whites and grays are normally safe. Black can also look surprisingly good ? it has the effect of totally focusing the attention on the art itself ? Lean towards a minimalist layout ? a "busy" site design will normally detract from the work. ? Choose fonts, logos to harmonize with the work ? Copy should create the underlying feeling or environment for the site ? it can create a sense of mystery or openness to compliment the feeling of the art. ? Use high quality images from professionally photographed work ? the "Garbage in ? garbage out" principle applies here too!

8. How will customers and galleries find my website?

There are really three primary ways that someone would find your website. They could find you through a search engine like Google. Typically after your site has been up for a couple of months, search engines will find you easily if someone was to perform a search on your name.

Lets say however that your work is classified as "Southwestern Art" and someone did a search on that term. It is very unlikely that your site would be listed in the first few results pages because there are so many other sites in competition. Getting your work to show up in the top results of such a search will require optimization of the website for search engines during the design process AND a lot of work from you afterwards to link your site to as many possible relevant sites on the internet. This is a lot of effort ? no matter what anyone tells you!

The next way that people will find your site is very simple ? you will tell them! Example Phone Conversation with Gallery dealer:

Dealer (Bob): That sounds nice Michelle but I''m a very busy person. I''d prefer to take a look at your work before we arrange a meeting. Do you have a website I could look at?

Michelle: Well of course Bob, please check out my work at www.michelleartist.com.

Dealer (Bob): OK Michelle ? let me just take a look. ??.. Oh My gosh, what awesome work! I''ve never seen anything like it. I''m sending out a truck right away to come and pick up your work. Do you accept credit cards ? I''d like to pay you $100,000 right away so that I don''t miss this chance. And would Tuesday at 12 noon be convenient for an interview with Art in America?

Well ? we can dream! But you get the idea. This is actually the most powerful way we have found to make use of a website. If you think of your audience you are probably going to require a highly focused marketing campaign to a relatively small number of potential clients and partners.

Of course you might build your art career around selling thousands of reproductions ? in which case understanding how to rank highly with search engines is important.

Another way to tell people website is to participate in online forums. There are a number of these ? some specializing in art subjects. If you become visible in some of these forums people will check your website.

Email marketing is yet another way to tell people about your site. You can use mailing lists you have developed yourself, or you can purchase email mailing lists. In addition, Rich-Text emails allow you to showcase your work as beautifully designed images ? just like a web-page.

The third primary way in which people will find your website is through on-line advertising. For example, if your art is minimalist and modern in style, a banner add on an interior design website focused on the same minimalist ethic could draw a lot of traffic to your site. Some artists have experienced considerable success in this way!

9. Do I need to be able to sell my work on the internet?

Another important question. It really depends on what you are selling. If you want to sell originals for thousands of dollars, our experience suggests that a buyer will probably want to see your work in-person, or have an existing relationship with you. In which case you could easily transact the sale over the phone.

On the other hand, if part of your business model is to sell inexpensive reproductions, you probably would want to have at least basic e-commerce capability on your site. That way, business can be transacted on the site regularly without you having to personally supervise each sale ? you still need time to be an artist remember J

To some customers, the fact that you have an e-commerce capable website also signals that you are "real" and "a serious business".

Some people still have issues with purchasing over the internet, but it is becoming a trusted buying environment.

10. Should I develop my own website or pay a designer?

It really depends. Some things to bear in mind:

? Do you have visual design skills/training? Be honest - Many great artists don''t J ? When do you want the site ready (Next month or next year?) ? How much of your artist-time can you afford to give up to develop the site and what is the $ value of that time? ? Will you need to invest in new software or even a new computer to do the work? ? Will you need to invest time and/or money in software training?

11. What should I look for in choosing a website-designer?

The most important thing here is to remember what you are trying to create ? most likely you want a beautiful online gallery space to elegantly show your beautiful work ? this is very different from building a high-volume website selling printer ink cartridges and paper rolls!

So, simply put, you should not be interested in technical jargon as much as the ability to design a space to present your work. You might also want to consider a designer proficient in both web and print-based design. That way, should you choose to, you can coordinate the look and feel of all your marketing materials ? website, letterhead, brochures, etc.

Also be careful of some "high-end" designers. If you take a look at some websites from design firms, you will notice a lot of visual complexity and sometimes high- tech effects that can be cumbersome and slow. This will not showcase your art well as it draws attention to the design rather than the art!

There is no getting around it - you have to do your homework!

12. How much does a website cost to develop??

An art website could cost you anything from a few hundred dollars to many tens of thousands of dollars. Typically, the bigger design firms have larger overheads and will be significantly more expensive. On the other hand, Joe down the street can probably build you a website for $200 ? but you probably don''t want that website J

At Beautiful Websites For Artists we have packages ranging from $500 to $2000 for simple elegant artists websites with different levels of functionality. We can also develop fully customized sites to your specifications with prices based on requirements.

In addition to development costs, you will need to pay monthly web-hosting and ecommerce fees that could range from less that $5/month for a simple sight to $100/month for a site with complex ecommerce functionality. Typically, the hosting cost for a typical site is between $5 and $25/month

Josse Ford and Daniel Tardent provide creative services for artists including web design, artist weblogs and marketing materials at Beautiful Websites for Artists. Visit our website at http://www.beautifulwebsitesforartists.com', 242, 'Designing Beautiful Artist Websites ? 12 Tips To Showcase Your Art, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Designing Beautiful Artist Websites ? 12 Tips To Showcase Your Art plus articles and information on Web-Design

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~A man [woman] is a success if he [she] gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he [she] does what he [she] wants to do. Bob Dylan~

I''m smart. Wicked smart. Too smart for my own good. At the same time (as they said when I was as kid and as it still applies), I''m too big for my own britches.

So I put those prissy pantalones to some good effort and I teach others how to write. I win a few awards, send a few hopefuls off to higher learning institutions where they in turn win their own awards and accolades. I do this till my seat gets burned one too many times by the politics of academia, and I go into freelance writing.

I research for 1000s of hours, submit to literary contests and magazines, start working writing gigs, and keep researching. I build a web site. With what it costs to maintain an ISP and web hosting account and little else, I create this ambitious masterpiece, believing I am now a self-taught web host, writer, teacher, and confidant for academic writers, mental disability writers, and elder memoir writers.

But as your confidant, I have to confess: as much as I''d like to think those 300 hours of study and application for usability, keyword-rich, to-the-letter-of-the-law of interstate/inter-country/internet navigation design and creation make me a self-taught smartass, I did little but the legwork by myself. Actually, five virtuosos of the web world made making a website possible:

Jakob Nielsen After creating a really bad mess of a site overloaded with spinning, flashing, color blobs of coolness, I discovered www.useit.com/alertbox and Dr. Jakob Nielsen. His stellar advice, delivered in a no-nonsense tone, is backed by his many years of theoretical and practical work. After reading and studying articles such as the following, I completely reconstructed my site:

Current Issues in Web Usability

Misconceptions about Usability

Ten Most Violated Homepage design Guidelines

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003

Usability for Senior Citizens

Writing for the Web

Ed Zivkovic As I was catching on to using the experts to build a user-friendly, usable site, I was catching on to the language that indicates the writer knows what he''s talking about. This is the redeeming value of Ed Zivkovic''s site, Tips for Work at Home Webmasters, at www.ezau.com. He uses candor and directness. He provides technical content in understandable terms. And defying the popular and trendy, he tells you directly and honestly what is crap, what is not crap, what is effective website technique and what is a waste of dough. Try some of these instrumental articles for starters:

Domain Name and Web Hosting Hell
Exit Traffic Exchange-Traffic multiplier Alternative

R.I.G.H.T.S., www.rightsforartists.com As any artist/writer will attest, the work that goes into creation is an interminable challenge. But we do it because we like it, because we are good at it, and because we have to do it. We are compelled to create. But we do our own work, not the work (or art) of others. This site contains all of the legal and ethical guidelines for copyright; R.I.G.H.T.S., a coalition of contributing artists (rather than a corporation or organization, that is) thoroughly, relentlessly provides information, definitions, answers, and directions for copyrighting and protecting creative work.

Firelily Designs Just as much about the science of such vital concerns as color design for web users with color vision deficiency as about aesthetics of web design, this site practices what it preaches-as it preaches, well, teaches, graphic design. I don''t create my own web graphics. That would take me a year or two to master, when I have enough to do with getting words crafted into readable forms. But I found the advice on color at www.firelily.com fascinating and functionally useful.

Angela Hoy, Writers Weekly There are writers newsletters aplenty. And then there''s Writers Weekly. What does the site and the owner have to do with web design, specifically? They are proactive protectors of writers and creative people, in general. Hoy stands up for the rights of freelancers by refusing the requests of tightwads who solicit her to recommend writers to work for 3 bucks an hour on copy for them so they can make millions while the writers starve. Hoy encourages the ethics of hard work by way of informative how-tos. And Angela Hoy, with husband and co-owner, Richard Hoy, pours an acid tongue on the plague that is the scamming POD publisher or the conniving money-charging agent-in a section of her [their] site called "Whispers and Warnings." For the newbie, novice, wannabe freelancer, or even for the work at home woman or man creating a website she or he wants safe from scummy scammers, www.writersweekly.com is an advisory imperative.

Robert Woodhead of Self Promotion.com Finding www.selfpromotion.com shaved centuries off of not only my design and development but my publishing and promoting the site. With uncluttered pages and cutting-edge (constantly updated) information, Woodhead (who even makes self-effacing jokes about his name) walks a web wannabe through every stage of the process, and then provides [shareware] support by helping you submit your site to hundreds of search engines and indexes that you need to have crawl your site for rankings-the latest (2004) must-have for any online business.

Of course, if you were to look at my Favorite Files, at the 900+ categories, subcategories, and links, you would find that many others pulled my smart ass up by the seat of the pants. I name a few of these helpful gurus here, too:

Andrew Starling''s Top Ten Sites Compared, in the Web Developer''s Virtual Library at www.wdvl.internet.com

Jill Whalen''s www.highrankings.com

Jim Heath at www.viacorp.com

Keith Instone''s www.usableweb.com, 970 Links about Web Usability

Kevin Lee''s Free Keyword research Tools and Keywords revisited at Click Z Network, www.clickz.com

The PSP Interactive Zone, www.pspiz.net

www.smallbusiness.sbc.yahoo.com

Assistant Professor Stan Ketterer''s Design Fundamentals News Writing/ Newsletter coursework at www.cas.okstate.edu

Stephanie Hetu at www.stephaniehetu.com

Sumantra Roy''s SEO course, Choosing the Correct Keywords for a Site, at www.thejunglemarketer.com

Karen Zoldan of www.bridgemarketing.com

As you might have figured out, I write this not to share any of my own personal technological truths-which are wanting. I write this not to embellish the careers of any affiliates. I don''t have an affiliation with nor do I know the people in the Top Five-who do not need my small time embellishment or exposure. I write this not to create an entity I had no previous knowledge of creating-though how I do like to brag.

I compose this guide to humble myself to the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants in most cases-except where I was lucky enough to intuit some strategies (which are still in the making, so don''t get an attitude when you visit my site and find it still needs work: I know it does).

I compose this guide to honor those who put in way more than 300 piddly hours of research, study, and practice to find out what works to make it work even better.

And I compose this guide to help you avoid even 300 (not so piddling when you are doing it yourself) hours of stitching and tearing out the stitches of the britches of a tailoring project. Smarty pants just had to do it the hard way. May your way be easier.

N.H.-born prize-winning poet, creative nonfiction writer, memoirist, and award-winning Assoc. Prof. of English, Roxanne is also web content and freelance writer/founder of http://www.roxannewrites.com, a support site for academic, memoir, mental disability, and creative writers who need a nudge, a nod, or just ideas?of which Roxanne has 1,000s, so do stop in for a visit, as this sentence can''t possibly get any longer??.', 242, 'Caveat Scriptor: Use the Advice of Those Who Know Before You Build a Site, Web-Design, Web-Design articles, Web-Design information, about Web-Design, what is Web-Design, Web Design Information', 'Caveat Scriptor: Use the Advice of Those Who Know Before You Build a Site plus articles and information on Web-Design

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