By Tinu Abayomi-Paul

It even surprised me. Yes, even though I have been pointing out the possibility since July, and was forced by demand to release my study findings before my book was even half finished, I was shocked when I heard the news as well.

You see, I was sure we were at least a year off from this glorious day.

The News

Yahoo has had a little facelift, which you’ve probably read about by now. The real news is more important for your site – the “My Yahoo!” page looks different too.

On September 28, 2004, surfers who logged in to their personalized Yahoo area saw an announcement explaining the RSS and Atom files that show updated information to a website as content feeds, effectively pushing news feeds into the mainstream.

The new look to this section of Yahoo was presented as a full page ad to every single account holder upon first log in that day, and even now, there remains a notice posted.

When I logged into my page in the “My Yahoo!” section, I saw a big difference in the number of feeds left to choose from, as well as in the way they were presented.

Currently, the RSS module boasts “150,000 sources”. If your site isn’t one of them, its crucial that you act now. If you have one and you’re not getting the results you’d like from your set-up, there are small changes you can implement that will make a huge difference in your listing.

Best results aren’t as easy as submitting your feed now, but you’re still within the window of opportunity – if you do it properly.

What the News Could Mean For Your Site If You Act Now

One of my clients recently called this “the back door into Yahoo”. Whether that statement is accurate as far as getting included, or receiving an increase in rankings within Yahoo’s search engine via your feed, depends on your site, and whether you create your feed correctly.

If you could use a daily stream of traffic from even a small portion of Yahoo’s estimated 20 million users, this could be your final wake-up call. You’ll want to learn how to create a feed that gets well listed immediately.

Currently, the RSS module boasts “150,000 sources”. Yahoo will still need hundreds, perhaps thousands more, even if it only intends to list the “creme de la creme” of the submissions it gets. Being in that group is as easy as submitting your feed.

Being at the top of the list isn’t. However, you’re still within the window of opportunity if you take the time to learn how to do this properly. You can get free details on how to do that at helpmerss.com .

“My Yahoo!” RSS Headline module Coming Out of Beta?

If I had to guess, I’d say all signs point to yes. When that happens, Yahoo’s RSS/Atom directory will likely contain only those who added their feeds early. New feeds seeking to be included will probably face stricter standards.

If you don’t have one yet don’t worry, because it’s never been easier to make one. If you can cut and paste, there are tools all over the Net that will show you how- some will even generate the file for you.

However, there are still certain guidelines you need to follow with your feed to get a good result out of Yahoo – it’s not as simple as adding your feed now that there are more competing listings.

Yahoo is still accepting new sources for RSS feeds. Readers of my last book state that they are getting excellent results following my instructions, though initial inclusion no longer occurs at the same rate. Plenty of markets have few feeds available, or none at all. Your site could fill that void.

That means you still have a chance at a first page ranking. The traffic I get on a daily basis from My Yahoo readers alone sounds like I just like to brag.

And I do, but that’s hardly the point.

The point is, there’s no place you can even go to buy the caliber of exposure to the quality of audience that reads feeds. The typical audience that accesses information by feed are also blog readers. A study this summer estimated that the 69.3% of blog readers are aged 29-50, and that 40% of this audience are people who have household incomes greater than $90,000.

The type of surfer that would subscribe to your feed has pre-qualified themselves as a lead, with a certain level of understanding and interest in your topic, often on a professional level. And if you don’t spend every post hitting them over the head with your sales pitch, they can be both loyal and interactive.

(If you do, they’ll unsubscribe from your feed faster than you can spell s-p-a-m.)

And if you’re in the business of providing information you can use, in a way that shows how you can solve their problem, it’s like preaching to the converted. If your product solves their problem, and you show that you deserve the trust of this subscriber, you’ll also find the route to a sale an increasingly downward slope.

The bottom line – this is the power surfer’s favorite toy. And if your content appeals to them, you need to learn how to play.

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About the Author:
Learn how Tinu saw a 75% increase in both traffic and sales from feeds at http://freetraffictip.com/rssbook . For free reprint rights to her articles (and a potential $500 bribe) send a blank email to moneyarticles@freetraffictip.com .

This article is from from the WebProNews newsletter, click here to visit them.

Last week, WebProNews featured an article concerning the submission/approval process of the Open Directory Project, DMOZ. Featured in the article were comments from various forums about negative experiences people had while waiting for their site to be accepted or denied. After the article was posted, there were immediate reactions, pro and con, concerning DMOZ, editors, and the approval process.

Do you have anymore DMOZ stories? Discuss at WebProWorld.

In fact, the WebProWorld thread had to be temporarily locked because the discussions were getting out hand due to personal attacks. The thread was moderated by cpb, also a DMOZ editor. After reading through the thread, it becomes apparent that the understanding of ODP operations and standards are subject to one’s beliefs. If a person feels a DMOZ editor has treated them unfairly, they will garner ill will towards the directory. And if an editor has worked their butt off during the editing process, they will be very defensive of DMOZ. Both sides have valid points.

One of the many quotable statements from the thread came from cbp when he stated the duties of a category editor: “An editor’s job is not to review sites. An editor’s job is to build a category of resources – reviewing submitted sites is just one of many sources editors use…” His statement hopefully goes a long way in clearing up some misconceptions about submissions. There is NO guarantee your site will get approved, whether it’s a quality site or not.

Getting sites “approved” was not the goal of the previous article; the aim was to shed light on how some people have had negative and perhaps unethical dealings with editors. I should have included this in the first article but, if you have an indication that your submission was treated unfairly, or in an abusive manner, you are encouraged to contact the DMOZ hierarchy through this link and by selecting “Abuse Report” for the subject.

If have submitted your site, don’t keep resubmitting it. This is considered spam. Again, cbp offers some advice about submissions and discusses how repeating the process can hurt you: “Every time you submit, you usually overwrite the previous one with the new date – you keep moving your site to the back of the pool if the editor sorts the unreviewed by date.” He also provides these guidelines for those waiting for DMOZ acceptance:

How to get listed in DMOZ:

1) Have a site that would really add value to the category and has lots of unique content.

2) Write a perfect guideline compliant description and title (I list them quicker and initially ignore the spammy ones as they require more work)

3) Submit once to the one best category

4) Check at resource zone after a month to see if waiting (tech problems do happen)

5) NEVER resubmit, unless told to by an editor

6) Forget about it. There is nothing more you can do. Move on. Promote your site elsewhere.

Because of DMOZ’s stance of building a directory with quality content, not a place to submit your site for immediate approval, these ideas and guidelines are quite valid. If you are concerned about your site being accepted into ODP, go to the Open Directory Public Forum and post your inquiry there. This seems to be the only way of communicating your feelings because DMOZ editors are encouraged NOT to answer emails concerning the acceptance process.

However…

While there are measures set up to ensure that editorial abuse doesn’t go unpunished (if it can be proved), another question rears its head: should editors that have a competitive interest in a certain category be allowed to supervise that category’s approval process? Cbp made a point in saying that he included his competitors into his category (without them submitting), but is this the norm? Will every editor who has competitive interests do the same? That’s a hard question to answer.

But, there is no denying DMOZ as an effective directory. Google collects most, if not all of their directory listings from DMOZ. That alone indicates some level of quality. There are, according to cbp, around 2000 sites that are accepted into DMOZ daily, which illustrates that most of the editors ARE working. Not to mention that the directory boasts an inventory of close to 5 million sites. If you plan on submitting to ODP, keep in mind that there is no guarantee of acceptance. Use the contact methods that they provide to find out the status of your submission. If you don’t get accepted, move on, or improve your site and try again.

Since he did an incredible amount of work moderating, I’ll leave the last word to cbp. “An editors job is not to review sites. An editors job is to build a category of resources – reviewing submitted sites is just one of many sources editors use. Submitted sites are the worse source of new sites for an editor. It is really an inefficient use of an editors time.” Or, submit it and forget it.

Discuss this at WebProWorld.

Chris Richardson + The WebProNews Team

This article is taken from the WebProNews newsletter, click here to visit them.

Dear Visitor,

Welcome to the new WNW Design blog.

If you are not aware what a blog is, visit this link, where you will find definitions for the phrase ‘blog’.

In this blog we will be featuring articles about WNW Design Ltd as a company, industry related news articles about web design and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and general comment on the state of the internet in general.

Please come back regularly as we will be looking to update this blog on a regular basis.

Alternately, you can keep yourself updated by using the RSS data feed available here.

If you would like to know more about RSS data feeds and how you use them, click here.

We hope you enjoy our new blog and find it of some use.

From all at WNW Design Ltd

According to a Nielsen//Netratings study, Google holds the top spot for search engine destinations. However, if you take a closer look at N//N’s findings, you see that Yahoo and MSN share the second and third positions, respectively. Because MSN search is still using Overture to serve their search results more people are vicariously using the Yahoo method of search than they do Google.

What search results do you prefer or find more relevant? Yahoo/Overture or Google? Share your thoughts at WebProWorld.

To most in the search industry, it is common knowledge that Google values “off-page” optimization (backlinks, in-bound links), while Yahoo seems to prefer on-page optimization (title tags, keyword density). Although there are some indications that Yahoo is placing more value on links.

This topic of search engine preference has been discussed extensively. In this WebProWorld forum thread, a comment about using both engines equally and receiving satisfactory results was made, leading to a discussion about the relevancy of Google’s results. Poster Downstrike had these thoughts:

“Time was – and it was quite some time – Google was the best place to do most any search. The kind of people who send spam to our Inboxes quickly realized that sending spam to our search results was even better.

[In this regard,] Google’s reaction [has been similar to] email networks trying to filter out virus messages. For several months earlier this year, they were filtering out more legitimate emails with attachments than viruses… If you want to see all of the best results, you’ll need to get a second opinion. In your case, it’s Yahoo.”

Several forum participants share Strike’s opinion with comments like; “Google is slowly dropping the ball” and “I agree that Google is not the same it used to be”.

Yahoo’s results didn’t necessarily receive the highest marks either. On ihelpyou, moderator Chrishirst said, “IMO, Yahoo results seem to be more about the $$$ than relevancy and notably the same site doesn’t even appear in the first couple of hundred results at Google.” If you take a quick scan of the SEO forums, the Yahoo categories are littered with topics like, “I’ve just lost all my Yahoo listings. Please help.” These situations indicate that each engine still has some growing pains to work through.

Which set of results do you find more useful? In the WebProWorld discussion, Venividi summed the state of search results quite nicely, “Normal sites are buried deep beyond the first 6 to 10 pages. Google and Yahoo have become a list of portals and other search engines, which is really a waste of time.”

To be fair, Google results aren’t the only ones being taken to task. In a post on WebmasterWorld, Isitreal offered a scathing evaluation of search engine users, “Who uses Yahoo/MSN? People who don’t change their default browser search settings. IE is set to MSN. Yahoo website users [use Yahoo search], and that portal [has] heavy traffic… People who know nothing about search engines, and just [search with] what they’re used to.”

Another poster on WebProWorld defends Google, saying, “Until MSN and Yahoo can update their results daily (like Google does) they will not compare to the big G.” However, the point made about results updating is disputed in the HighRankings forum, where Semko says, “Yahoo search results are very dynamic, they get updated nearly every second, as tons of info are constantly added to Yahoo.” The truth undoubtedly lies somewhere in between.

With the increased search engine bot activity Google and Yahoo may be trying to streamline their indexes in order to root out spam and provide more relevant results. In the end, it comes down to preference. The search engine gives you the results you are looking for, no matter your level of experience, is likely to be the one you use.

The question remains, which engine gives you these results?

Comment on this article in WebProWorld.

Chris Richardson

This article was taken from the WebProNews newsletter, visit them here.

Do’s and Don’ts of a Professional Website

A professional website is, above all else, professional. What constitutes professional though? This question has been asked by many, and the answers are as varied as those asking the question. There are at least a hundred or more possible aspects to consider, some consisting of parts of others, such as demographics and content. Each factor has its own affect on how customers perceive a website.

Being professional is an attitude portrayed by you, the business owner, your business and your website. You don’t have the luxury of smiling real big, wearing your best suit, and shaking hands with the customer. Your site has to do that for you. This brief list of what to do and what not to do when creating a professional website is only the beginning, one small step towards success.

DO’S

1. Know Your Visitors.
Your site should be designed to fit their needs and wants. If you’re selling, know the demographics of the people you’re selling to. If you’re just providing information, know who you are targeting. Rule of thumb: Know more about your audience than they know about you.

2. Know Your Product.
As strange as that may sound, people know when a site offers products or services that they themselves know little about. If you are letting someone else write the content for your site and that someone doesn’t know the product, then your customers won’t know it either. Anticipate questions from customers and answer them before they are asked.

3. Make Your Site Visually Pleasing.
Just because bright red and bright blue are your favorite colors doesn’t mean that they should be the dominant colors on your site. Red and blue are at different ends of the spectrum and will give viewers a headache if viewed too long. You want to make viewers feel welcome, comfortable, and that they are
able to trust you.

4. Outline the Concept of the Site Before It is Created.
Know the answers to those golden questions: who, what, when, where, why and how. While these questions apply to your demographics they are also helpful in deciding what information is truly important and what isn’t. Pinning down your tacit knowledge is often a challenge, and not all tacit knowledge is valuable. What do you want the customers to know and what do the customers want to know?

5. Make Your Prices Readily Available.
Hide your prices and customers will wonder what else you are hiding. Don’t wait until after you ask for their credit card information to tell them how much it costs. You don’t make sales that way; what you do make is frustrated customers who tell other potential customers to stay away from your site.

6. Keep Your Site Credible.
Back up what you say with statistics or links to articles that support your claim. If you have experts in your company, highlight them. Show the customer that there are REAL people running the business. Update the content as often as possible – if updating the content isn’t possible, add links to news articles and update those links. It is time consuming, but in the end it is worth the time and effort.

7. Ask for Input from People Who Know Nothing About Your Product/Service/Business.
This is the best way to get true feedback. People who know nothing about what you are doing can find the smallest error and ask the best questions. They can give you a fresh perspective on your site and sometimes your business. They don’t know what you know, and they often see what you don’t.

8. Use Images that Portray Confidence.
You want the customer to trust you right? Then show them that you believe enough in yourself and your product that there is no doubt that you are trustworthy. Dress for success. You wouldn’t wear snow boots on a hot summer’s day, would you? Then don’t let your site wear images that could make you look cheap and untrustworthy.

9. Keep Your Site Translator-Friendly.
This can sometimes be challenging as we tend to use different terminology than other countries. What we would consider ‘normal phrasing’ may be considered ‘odd’ or offensive to someone else. Avoid slang and check your site with a translator. Check to see which words are translated and which ones aren’t, then try to figure out why.

10. Be Consistent Throughout the Site.
Making each page of your site different can be entertaining to teenagers and new internet users, but most of your potential customers aren’t new to the internet. If a viewer feels as though they’re on a different site each time they click a link on your site, they are likely to go to another site. Consistency
counts in site design and professionalism, and your customers will expect it.

DON’TS

1. Don’t Guess at Who You’re Trying to Reach With Your Site.
‘Guesstimation’ is for horse shoes and card games. If you don’t know your demographics, then you might as well have thrown your site together.

2. Don’t Get Too Technical.
Your customers are the ones reading your site, so it should be written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site as well, but they already know the business jargon. Besides, you aren’t trying to sell to them anyway. Remember, other business owners may browse, but your customers are your buyers.

3. Don’t Give Your Customers A Headache.
There are 256 colors available for site design. 216 of those are browser ‘safe.’ Just because there are an abundance of colors does not mean that they all should be used at once. Warm colors shouldn’t be used with cool colors because of the conflicting hues. Meanwhile, bright colors make the eyes work harder to focus and after a few minutes will likely give your viewers a headache.

4. Don’t Keep Content That Isn’t Being Read.
Keeping track of what your customers are actually reading is very helpful. You want a customer to peruse your site as completely as possible. The more they know, the better your chances are that they will purchase or sign-up. If a page isn’t being read then try something else. Rewrite it. Add psychological triggers. Rephrase. Find a way to make the page valuable.

5. Don’t Repeat the Same Information on Every Page.
The viewer doesn’t want to read the same material over and over. Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to go back and read the previous page, give them that option.

6. Don’t Hide Contact Information.
You’ll find conflicting information on this topic. Some designers will tell you to put your contact information on every page, but customers tend to find that redundant. One page with multiple ways to contact you is more effective even if the customer never visits the page. Just having the page there tells them that you can be reached and that you really are there for their convenience.

7. Don’t Use Animations.
Some would say use animations to draw attention to your ad, product, ‘new’ idea/newsletter/etc. but by following that suggestion you frustrate the customer. Flashing, moving objects distract the eyes. A customer is there looking for information, if their eyes are distracted while reading, their comprehension decreases while their frustration rises. The use of colors such as yellow and orange become helpful in this area. Bolding or italicizing words is another way to emphasize phrases, or items you want the customer to notice.

8. Don’t Use Multiple Fonts.
It only takes the eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but those seconds are distracting to the mind. Different sizes, styles, and colors are confusing. Choose one font and stick with it. Consistency is more important than creativity when it comes to text.

9. Don’t Take Control Away From the Viewer.
Creative cursors, full screen browsers, and other ‘entertaining’ aspects of site design are great, if your target audience is teenagers or new internet users, but for a professional website they give the appearance of being cheap, second rate, and amateurish.

10. Don’t ‘Bunch Up’ the Text.
Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don’t feel overwhelmed with information. Placing a small picture pertaining to the content gives the eyes time to relax before reading further.