Affiliate Merchants Mistakes

Like any Affiliate Network Coordinator, I've did my share of Affiliate Marketing before switching the places at the table. It bought me dinner from time to time, paid for the gas and maybe some bills.

That doesn't make me a "superstar" but it really helps in laying out some of the things that matter most to affiliates and some mistakes that Merchants and Managers do.

Of course, I could go into details and lay out some very specific mistakes, but it would be far more interesting to issue some generic thoughts, because you can't fix things if you don't have the bigger picture and the general feeling of what needs to be done.

People seem to like and enjoy lists, so here is my

Top 5 Mistakes that Affiliate Managers do

1. Not helping affiliates make sales

I'm quite amazed to see a huge number of Sales/Affiliate Managers that don't really believe in Affiliate Sales. You heard me right. The exact same people that should set, grow and sustain any sales channel for their products miss to understand Affiliate Sales. Affiliates are an external sale force, part of the bigger sales Channel. If they don't understand affiliate sales, then they won't move a finger to help affiliates make sales.

They:

• don't send marketing materials
• don't send tips
• don't communicate their "sales knowledge"
• don't check the affiliate sites and the ways to improve

Now, really, it's very hard for an affiliate to understand a product, learn all it's features, see its strong/weak points then write insightful content about it. Even harder to find the best ways to promote it, use the appropriate "marketing slang". And if the Affiliate Manager doesn't help, then who else?

2. Affiliate leaks and not paying affiliates

That's actually a funny one (well not so funny to the affiliates that don't get paid). It's very sad to see Affiliate Managers looking for ways not to pay affiliates their rightfully earned commissions, based on the misconception that Affiliates don't do anything for their commission. I believe that affiliates actually take a bigger risk than an "employed salesman". They work to promote and sell a product, but they never know if it's going to work and for how long. They are not on fix payment, some days are better, some days are not so good, but they have to pay the bills.

If the fact that they work expecting their rightfully commissions to be paid is not enough for some Affiliate Managers to pay the commissions, then, there is an even simpler trigger: if they don't get paid, they leave.

3. Setting unattractive programs and commissions

Ah, it seems everything is related to Sales/Affiliate Managers that don't believe in Affiliate sales. I hear this every week: "I don't want to give affiliates more than 5%."; "If they want to be my affiliates, they should comply with my internal rules"; "let's cut the affiliate commissions".

To have affiliates, you need to "sell" your affiliate program to them. It should be nice, easy to use and benefic to them.

4. Bad affiliate support

This includes not answering to e-mails or requests in general. Each affiliate is different and has different needs for his particular sale mechanism. Not much to say here, but I really hate not getting any answers for a real good question, and most affiliate feel the same.

5. Missing human touch

We finally got to the only thing that really matters and could be a catalyst for affiliate sales: real and human contact with the affiliates. Affiliates are part of your business, your partners, and still, you never talk to them? (at least to the ones making sales)

I'm not sure how many affiliates got to be ever contacted personally by the Affiliate Manager, but it sure is one strong reason to build fidelity and step on the gas to make some sales.

Sure, newsletters, announcements and all this create some kind of communication, but nothing can be compared with that phone call to "get in touch". Affiliates are "solitary wolfs" - any human contact can make a difference in a dull life. Or let me put it this way. How many Affiliate Managers know something, anything personal about their affiliates?

Now that I’ve made the top 5 list, it’s time for a little bonus:

The Mother of all Affiliate Merchants Mistakes

That is trying to run or manage an Affiliate Program without being an Affiliate marketer for even one day. Yep, you heard me right, there are Affiliate Merchants that never tried to be Affiliates. This really makes their program and message to the market a bit strange. How can you tell, advice and help affiliates to sell your product if you don't know their business? How can you improve, promote and grow your program without knowing the driving forces for your partners, the affiliates? How can you feel the affiliates pains, needs and desire without being one, even for a little time?

Copyright © 2007, www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by Cristian Dorobantescu, Affiliate Network Coordinator at Avangate B.V. Avangate is a complete ecommerce provider for shareware sales incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional software marketing services and sales tools.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

Ivertech Software Central
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The Importance of Software Localization

Only being the best in your neighborhood is not good enough anymore. The present-day market is international. Even if translating software into other languages costs serious money, this allows companies to access foreign markets that would be otherwise difficult to penetrate. Also, the rumor according to which ALL foreigners understand English is a myth.

Most software nowadays is localized in order to be available on larger markets. If you plan to develop your software in several languages, or if you plan to start developing the software in your own language and afterwards in other languages for foreign markets, it's best, from the very beginning, to take into account certain localization and translation issues.

The best-case scenario is to do that before the software is even written. It is certain that keeping localization issues in mind while working on the specifications of the project will most certainly help reduce costs and will ease the effort associated with the localization of the product on foreign markets.

Localization: A Definition

Software localization implies more than just the mere translation of the product's user interface. Companies require that their software to be adapted to the culture of the target country, so that they can reach a larger audience.

Localization, in this case, stands for the complex operation that consists in translating the software and also in adapting it according to the linguistic conventions and cultural specifics of the users from the target country.

This process often requires a lot of work hours and tremendous effort from the development teams, but there are a number of tools that were specifically created in order to simplify the localization process. Also, many of the localization projects are outsourced to specialized companies in order to reduce costs.

Tips for Software Localization

Software must be written in such a way so that it would be quite easy to adapt (i.e. translated) later, according to necessities, into different cultures and languages. Localization and internationalization go hand in hand.

Internationalization consists, basically, in developing a product in several languages. All the parts of software that need to be translated are separated from the software itself and adapted to the specifics of the country for which the software is meant. It is best that the concerned software to be designed with this aspect in mind from the very beginning as the process of re-writing the entire software which was designed from the start with just a narrow target market in mind, is time consuming and expensive.

Concerning the translators, ideally, they should perfectly master the target languages and have a very good knowledge in the technical field and be proficient with the specific vocabulary. Last but not least, they should be familiar with the software in order to fully understand the context of the phrases.

Sometimes, this can cause problems for the people in charge with the translation: there may be rare occasions when the entire translation team is needed, or just some "know-it-all" genius. Anyway, the translators should collaborate with the development team at all times.

Software localization is a process that requires specific knowledge and some serious project management skills. For each project, its manager, in close collaboration with the engineers, should develop a schedule that indicates all the necessary steps required to make the localized software lucrative.

A high-level description of the localization process would include the following steps:

• The identification of what must be translated from a software, and adopting a localization strategy based on the sales estimates.
• Establishing a strict schedule for the localization process, including deadlines for each stage in the process.
• Finding and recruiting adequate, professional translators, preferably with recent, significant experience in the target countries.
• Establishing a close collaboration relationship with the translators to ensure the accuracy and coherence of their work.
• Consulting the development team on aspects that could facilitate the localization process.
• Defining a properly internationalized product that won't need to undergo changes for each of the envisaged foreign languages.
• Testing the product for each and every one of the languages in question. Software localization mainly concerns the three basic components of a product: the graphical user interface, the on-line help and the documentation.

For the user interface, of great importance are the resource files, having the extension .rc. They contain what the user is most likely to see and displayed in the form of menus, dialog boxes, error messages, cursor shapes, bitmaps, etc. There are usually just segments of the resource files that need to be translated.

Some examples would be the text that appears on some of the most common bitmaps, the splash screens, or the text strings that are displayed in menus and dialog boxes / error message boxes.

Help files, initially in .rtf format, are compiled and converted into hypertext format. Most of what is included in such a file will be translated. What should not be translated is the hidden text that represents hyperlinks, as well as the "#" and "+" footnotes.

The documentation, which usually raises no issues for the translation process, includes readme files, Word processing and DTP files (documentation files per say), client-prepared file formats and incidental files.

Readme files are usually in .txt format, and contain information that was not included in the documentation, setup information or additions to the user manual.

Documentation files are the highly formatted user manuals that must reach the target users. The information in these files is usually overwritten during translation.

The Benefits of Localization

Software localization is beneficial for both developers and customers. We should take into account the fact that the number of non-English speakers that use localized software is in a continuous growth.

Most software users expect that their software be written in their own language. Even if localization is done at a certain cost for software companies, it entails obvious benefits: the users that perfectly understand a product can manage it more properly, can use it more efficiently, and are less prone to making costly mistakes.

All these have an influence on the final result. More competent and efficient users translate into fewer costs for support and customer service.

Localization allows users to interact with software in their own language via an intuitive configuration for them.

To exemplify:

• Messages are in their native language.
• The entry fields are formatted in a manner that is common to their respective country (name, address, date, hour, etc.)
• Different types of keyboard are taken into account for entering information.
• The error messages in the native language guarantee quick solutions for the problems.

  Competition in the software sector is fierce, with numerous high-quality products fighting over the same market. It is not possible anymore to gain advantage over the competitors by blowing fairy dust in the customer's eyes.

The winning scenario is the one where the customer's needs are met in the best way possible. Software localization proves to be the key of a strategic advantage over one's commercial adversaries.

Mistakes in Software Localization

• Neglecting the length of translated words, which would require redesigning the software to fit the foreign language version, and thus losing valuable time (and money).
• Disregarding localization (i.e. specific countries / regions) and their particular, characteristic elements (e.g. date format, number format, address structure, postal code length and structure, calendar format, etc.).
• Failure to use simple, concise text, familiar to most people and, primarily, to possible users of the software.
• Failure to provide clear, accurate text in the target language, rendering the instructions and commands in a nonsensical way or hard to understand.

Conclusion

Software localization practically equals to a guarantee that your software "speaks" the language of your customers. In the present context of globalization, localization might just make the difference between success and failure on your target markets.

With the commercial environment becoming more and more competitive, the stringent need to adapt software, documentation, on-line help files, Web pages and user manuals has arisen, so that they meet the cultural and linguistic needs of each and every customer.

Localization has really turned into the price that must to be paid in order to be able to perform commercial activities on a global scale.

Copyright © 2007, www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager at Avangate B.V. Avangate is a complete ecommerce provider for shareware sales incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional software marketing services and sales tools.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

Ivertech Software Central
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Tips on Software Versioning

I'm going to break the rules of journalistic writing and start with this: 1.0, 1.0.3, 2.3.4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.0.8 and so on and so forth. Yes, you guessed it, I'm talking about software versioning and what it can do for you.

When the slightest modification is made to a program, a new version appears, as software versioning. First, let's see what the most common schemes of software versioning are:

• The most common is a scheme in which different major releases of the software receive a numerical identifier, which is usually expressed as three numbers, separated by periods. The most often used structure for numeric schemes is major_revision.minor_revision or major_maintanance.minor_maintenance. The first commercially released version of a software product has the version 1.0, with numbers below 1 being alpha or beta versions, for testing purposes, internal use or that are not stable enough to commercially release. Generally, the major number is changed when significant changes occur, the minor number when only minor features are modified and the revision number when minor bugs are fixed.
• Date versioning scheme, which uses the year followed by the month and the day of the release.
• Year of release, a versioning scheme that identifies the versions by year.
• Alphanumeric codes, like Macromedia Flash MX or Adobe Photoshop CS2.
• Roman numerals, like Apple's Mac OS X, representing version 10.
• Apple versioning scheme is based on a structure which specifies a one or two digit major version, a one-digit minor version, a one-digit revision version, a stage indicator and a one-byte pre-release version.
• Some producers use different schemes for different releases of their software, like Microsoft, which started by using the numeric versioning scheme, then by years and alphanumeric codes. All schemes aside, software versioning must take into account the final destination of a software product: selling it to consumers. To do that, it must not get the customers confused with long segments of numbers or letters. The version should be easily identifiable, allowing customers to easily realize which version is the latest one, by comparing it with other copies of the software product.

Usually independent software developers use version 1.0 as a milestone, indicating the program is complete, having all major features and is considered reliable enough for being release.

Versions are also used to describe the program's history. When a new version has a different architecture, sometimes being incompatible with previous releases, another version may be released to be compatible with both previous versions (for example, when Winamp released version 5, to be compatible with versions 2 and 3).

There are also the so called "marketing" version numbers. That is significantly changing version numbers with no apparent reason, other than to better market it or keep up with competitors. One example is when Microsoft Access jumped from version 2.0 to version 7.0, just to match the version number of Microsoft Word.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

Ivertech Software Central
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How can you gain site accessibility?

Nowadays, it is a common knowledge among web masters and web specialists that the web accessibility issue is a key matter in order to gain more traffic. At the same time, this is also a matter of common sense that anyone should care about. Note that accessibility is different from usability! While usability stands for the interface ease of use and for the content's readability, the accessibility refers more to the ability of a site to be used by as many people as possible.

Why is accessibility important?

Broadly speaking, web sites have to cater for all tastes and needs. There are different kinds of internet users besides "normal" ones, which a site should be addressed to:

• persons with eye disabilities
• people who owe downgraded computer configurations
• people who use different internet browsers

Statistical data revealed that there are about 20% people around the world who can be included in the above categories.

On top of that, web content should also be more available to all users regardless of the user agent they have (computer browser, mobile phone or voice browser) or of the external factors that affect the environment (too much light or noise). Another reason why site accessibility is worth considering is the rapidity of finding information in which everybody is interested.

Language is a problem that must be taken into account: users from anywhere might visit your site and might not fully understand the language of your site.

But, maybe the most important explanation of the importance of accessibility is the fact that it lowers costs and brings profit. Subsequently, why not bother finding out ways to make your site more accessible?

8 Tips to make your site more accessible

• Validate HTML documents beforehand!
  Using HTML is certainly one of the most important features which should be considered with the view to increase your site accessibility. But the matter is not as simple as it may appear: much attention is needed, taking into consideration the fact that there are different types of browsers, some older and some newer, providing different ways of validating HTML. In order to be sure about your HTML text, you could use specialized programs like: W3C HTML Validator or WDG HTML Validator enabling you to correct the possible "spelling" errors that you didn't notice. Beware of the many programs claiming they can validate HTML
• Draw attention wisely!
  On the other hand, when you think of using HTML, do not employ it only in an aesthetic purpose; the emphasis should be laid on the structure and on the content, rather than the presentation itself. For instance, when you use bold, you should always use it in order to highlight a statement, an idea, a problem, not only for catching the eye. For strong emphasis, use EM or STRONG elements.
• ALT as a textual option
  With reference to the images, when using IMG and AREA, you should also provide ALT as an alternative; its purpose is functional, rather than descriptive. Nevertheless, should you want a decorative image, use ALT="", which is indicative of the absence of image content.
• Do not replace text with images
  Choosing to replace text with images usually reduces web site design accessibility. By and large, text is more flexible providing users the possibility to choose font. Consequently, not doing so may result in a poor image quality on some hardware configurations.
• Color suggestions
  1. Be sure to specify all color attributes; they are sure to provide accessibility for a good website! The risks of not specifying them all involve inaccessibility on the part of the users whose browser colors might not match those specified by the author. Specifying a hexadecimal triplet in the <#rrggbb> or <#RRGGBB> forms is almost of vital importance on the grounds of the fact that older browsers might not support color names.
  2. At the same time, authors should be sensible when choosing a color for the text, meaning that it should be easy to read on the screen; in this respect, the color of the text should obviously be in contrast with that on the background.
  3. It is highly recommended that the visited and the not visited links shouldn't be the same color, due to the users' potential confusion.
  To find out more about this issue read our article: Choosing the Right Colors for Your Web Site
• Use relative FONT sizes
  When talking about HTML, one cannot fail to mention FONT, which is another accessibility issue with websites. FONT should rather be avoided - this is certainly a strong tip to improve site accessibility. Make sure that you let the user the possibility to change font size! Relative FONT sizes are preferable. Again, FONT is another aspect related to the form of the website. So, do not try only to draw attention without having reasonable content!
• Do not rely on JAVA scripts
  Some browsers do not provide support for Java scripts; therefore sometimes it would be better if you didn't use it. Nonetheless, Java scripts are usually known as factors to increase accessibility, providing helpful hints to users.

  The main suggestions regarding this matter are:

  1. To ensure the Java scripts accessibility.
  2. To offer a non-Java alternative.
• Organize your Page
  • Ensure that you have a relevant content structure, for a better understanding.
  • When giving links, it is advisable that you mention the entire link lest the visitors be confused regarding its destination.
  • CSS might be a good idea in order to emphasize textual links; providing more visual impact on the user.
  • The presence of a site map, a search box or a site logo are hints indicative of an accessible website.
  • Testing your site on real users in advance is a good way to analyze its accessibility and to foresee to some extent future site traffic.
  The bottom line is to keep the content simple, clear and easy to scan.

Conclusion
Finally, you should bear in mind that a usable website is first of all an accessible website. Website accessibility is only a small detail in creating a web page, but it provides a strong asset in front of other sites that do not take it into account. Not to mention the fact that, speaking in terms of costs, the expenditure for this "feature" is quite low in comparison with the beneficial effects it involves.

So, the main benefits which is worth paying attention to are:

• website traffic
• ease of finding information
• rapidity of getting what you search for
• higher engine ranking
• preventing risk of legal action on the part of the people with special needs
• better server performance
• better website reach
• faster download times
• website PR increase
• avoidance of bandwidth bottlenecks

In order to take advantage of these, keep in mind:

• Validate HTML documents beforehand
• Catch the eye with ideas not with layout
• Provide ALT as a textual option
• Avoid images of text
• Use contrastive colors
• Relative fonts are better
• Offer non-Java alternative
• Keep content simple, clear and easy to scan

Read more free website usability articles.

Copyright © 2007, www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by Bogdan Popescu, member of Avangate WebMarketing Team. Avangate is a complete ecommerce provider for shareware sales incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional software marketing services and sales tools.

This article may be reproduced in a website, e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as the above information is included in full, including the link back to this website.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

Ivertech Software Central
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Flash and Search Engine Optimization

How to optimize Flash for search engines

Many web pages nowadays are embellished with Flash animation products, offered by Adobe. Flash technology allows, in a very simple manner, to insert small animated, vector-based drawings into your web pages.

Of course, these animations have some influence on the way your site is "seen" and indexed by the search engines. The problem of Flash Search Engine Optimization arises, which is a very serious matter in terms of conversion and web site profitability. What are Flash Animations? First, let's see what the structure of a Flash file is. When you create an animation, you get a file, named, for example, banner.fla. The ".fla" represents the Flash format extension. In order to display this file in a web page, you need to export it in Shockwave Format (extension .swf). It is this file, once exported, that you will be using for your web site.

If the animation you have created contains text, it won't be taken into account by most of the search engines, as they don't pay much attention to this format. Still, there are search engines (e.g. Google, dir.com, FAST Search) that know how to read the text inserted in the Flash animations. A web page (or even a site!) that is built entirely in Flash will therefore pass almost "unseen" by search engines, which index, almost exclusively, text content in HTML format. Nevertheless, the HTML file that launches the Flash animation will be crawled by search engine's spiders. Why use Flash for Sites?

It is not a secret for anyone that search engines don't really like sites that are built using Flash exclusively. These sites rarely contain enough relevant text to allow a good indexing. Above that, not all spiders can read the content of a .swf file. Flash is used though every now and then for mini-sites or for campaign sites.

Flash is interesting for at least two reasons:

• It maximizes the animation's impact, which is appreciated in the Internet interactive and visual environment. Also, leaving aside the size of the files, it is worth mentioning that Flash (mainly vector-based) is still "lighter" than videos (not interactive) or simple pixel photos (not animated).
• It can be combined successfully with other technologies (e.g. PHP, MySQL, XML, images, video, sound, etc.). It is therefore perfectly possible to create a dynamic web site in flash that also has content. A Flash animation placed on a web page has certainly more significance than a simple image. People like to be visually stimulated, and this is the perfect instrument to attract prospects and eventually convince them to buy a product.

Perception is everything. Marketers want to offer a great looking package, and customers want to receive it. Is Flash Friendly or Evil?

Pro's

• It allows the designer to put more content in a small-sized space without damaging the layout.
• It is an easier way to present slide shows or movies.
• It is a great tool to create banners and ads, and even Flash videos.
• It's a good instrument for creating great visual impact and drawing attention to specific points of interest on a web site.

Con's

• Flash requires quite a lot of bandwidth - Flash files, especially if they use sounds or embedded movies, will take a long time to load, and the visitor may not have the best connection to the Internet and, obviously, the patience to wait.
• Most search engines don't like and don't index Flash - not all the search engines can crawl and index the content of Flash, and if they do, it's not free of errors. They won't be able to direct the visitors to the proper page.
• You could be at the mercy of the Flash developers - if you use 3rd party Flash developers, they might code the project so that you won't be able to make any changes and - hire them again, even for the smallest modification. This could actually cost you a pretty penny.
• The "Back" button is usually disabled - if the Flash designer has used some trick such as meta refresh in order to disable the browser's Back button, it is highly probable that the visitors might get frustrated and not want to start browsing your site over and over again. So they will leave. Besides that, Google's AdWords doesn't approve pages that have the Back button disabled. So, beware of this if you intend to promote your web site by using a PPC campaign.
• Flash doesn't care about the visitors' needs - movies that seem endless- sounds that you cannot turn off they will drive your visitors away.
• Splash Pages don't favor your visibility - they lack the text that contains the keywords identified as pertinent to your services / products; they only include one outgoing link and, most of the times, no back-link from another page; they often include re-directions, and most of the search engines will not include re-directions in their page index.

What you can do about it?

Optimizing Flash for the so-demanding search engines is not an easy task. The effort that must be done and the amount of energy that must be spent on SEO for Flash are far greater than for the optimization of a HTML site.

Following are some tips on how to optimize Flash on your web site:

• One of the best methods to optimize your Flash pages is to use the NOEMBED tag, the same way the NOFRAMES tag is used to index the sites built on frames. It's between the noembed and noembed tags that text content must be inserted after you have defined a clear search engine optimization strategy for Flash.
• Another Flash SEO method is the use of a CSS element, .div (which incorporates search engine accessible content), associated with a JavaScript function called SWFObject. This will allow detecting when browsers can display and view Flash. Search engine spiders that cannot handle Flash will choose to view the primary content, which contains links, headings, text, etc. in this case, Flash will not create any problems. It may not cause your site to rise spectacularly in the SERPs, but it will eliminate most of the ranking disadvantages that come with Flash sites.
• If you're going for the "all-Flash" approach (although most SEO practitioners strongly advise against this), there is also the possibility to create a HTML version of the Flash site and to offer that one for the spiders to index. You can create distinct HTML pages for each Flash page, and install the Flash movie on each page. If the visitor can handle Flash, they will see it. Otherwise, there will still be the HTML version, also accessible to search engine spider for indexing. You might lose the seamless effect that comes with Flash, but you will gain visibility and, possibly, some good ranking.
• Use the Flash Search Engine SDK tool called swf2html. It will extract the text from the Flash file and transfer it into a simple HTML document, so you don't have to do it manually. You will thus be able to see what the search engine spiders see. Also, it would be useful to take into account some other aspects that might make a difference in your endeavor to make your Flash site compatible (and readable) with search engines.

Seriously consider the following suggestions:

• Avoid creating all-Flash-sites. They lack page structure, content and internal linking, while page titles cannot be well organized.
• Create descriptive page titles and META descriptions (use the title and meta tags).
• Check that your Flash links point to HTML pages and not to other Flash pages.
• Make sure you use a clean design for your pages and your site.
• Allow web users to choose if they want to skip or turn off animations and sounds.
• Go through all the possible solutions for Flash search engine optimization.
• Make sure your site is accessible for a variety of browsers (don't leave out WAP compatible mobile phones).
• Check that your code is valid and that it complies with standards.
• Make sure that your Flash web site functions correctly in Internet Explorer.

Copyright © 2007, www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager at Avangate B.V. Avangate is a complete ecommerce provider for shareware sales incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional software marketing services and sales tools.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

Ivertech Software Central
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How to Write a Press Release for the Web?

Self-promotion is an important factor for the success of a business. One way to achieve this is through properly written and promoted press releases.

WHEN

The first thing you should ask, before writing press releases, is when it is appropriate to use them. A news release can be used, for instance, when you win an award, introduce new products or services, open a new office or sponsor an event. The press release aims to connect with the media and is usually the first expected form of communication with the media.

WHY

Writing press releases comes with a number of benefits:

--> Free publicity. If your press release is deemed newsworthy by the editors of the websites you submitted it to, then it may be published, which means free advertising for you.

--> Improvement of your search engine rankings. The more links you have that point in the direction of your website, the better your rankings will be.

--> Keepin your business fresh in the minds of your customers.

HOW

The better you know how to write a press release, the more successful it will be.

Tips

--> Make it newsworthy. When writing press releases you should always bear in mind that you need to give the media a story, not an advertisement. Most journalists are not interested in your latest products or services unless they are truly revolutionary. They are looking for information that is of importance and of value to their readers. If you can find such an angle, your chances of getting coverage will greatly increase.

--> Keep it short. Try to concentrate what you want to say in one or two pages at most to make it easier to read.

--> Stick to the facts. Avoid exaggerations and embellishments. Be honest. If your story sounds too good to be true, then you may end up hurting your own credibility.

--> Use only enough words to tell your story. Do not use unnecessary adjectives or flowery language.

--> The less jargon the better. You will need a bit of jargon if you want to optimize the news release for online search engines; however, it is best to communicate your news by speaking plainly, using ordinary language.

--> Do not address your target audience directly. Avoid using “I”, “we” and “you” outside a direct quotation, or else your copy will look like an advertisement rather than a news release.

Online press release structure

--> Header. When writing press releases for online distribution, the header consists of the following line: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

--> Headline. The headline needs to be catchy yet informative. It should be placed a few lines below the information in the header and written in bold type. Do not write in all CAPS, because many online news services will not accept a title in all CAPS.

--> Dateline. None of your press releases should be sent without a dateline. The dateline is usually placed either under the header and before the headline or at the beginning of the press release body, along with the city and state/country.

--> Press Release Body. The first paragraph (the lead) of the press release body should answer the questions of who, what, when, where and why. The second paragraph of the body should elaborate on the news and provide further details. Continue discussing various aspects of your company’s or site’s news in short paragraphs.

--> Boilerplate. You should include a boilerplate, which should remain the same on every news release you send, with a short description of who you are and what you.

--> Contact Info. Provide your contact details so that you could be reached in case someone wants more information. They should be ordered like this, each on its separate line: Contact Info, Contact Name, Company Name, Mailing Address, City/State/Zip or City/Country, Phone, Email, Web.

Optimizing your press release

Always remember when writing press releases to use a language that is compelling to both humans and “machines” (software) that use sophisticated algorithms to determine the meaning and subsequent categorization of the release. Optimized press releases will rank higher in search engines.

In order to optimize your press release, the first step you should take is to select those keywords relevant to your field of activity. Choose your keywords efficiently before you begin placing them in a keyword-rich content. Don't forget that keyword density should be no more than 5 % - 7 %.

Placing your keywords in header tags is also relevant. Most important is H1, followed by H2 then H3. Try to add keywords in you press release copy and also include text links on your keywords.

How to promote press releases

You have written and optimized your press release for search engines. All you have to do now is to put it on your website and add a link to it on an already indexed page and the search engines will find it. Another way to promote press releases is to send them by e-mail to website editors. Even more efficient is to submit your news releases to online press release services, such as Business Wire, PR Newswire and PRWeb.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu

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Optimizing for MSN? Is It Worth the Effort?

Whenever you need to find something on the web, you "Google" it. Most of the web surfers do this, and the percentage of those who "Yahoo" or "MSN" for information is considerably lower.

Google has imposed itself as the "top-notch" search engine on the market, leaving little room for others. Little, but enough, some would say. Among the search engines, Microsoft's MSN comes third, after Google and Yahoo. So, how do you approach search engine optimization nowadays? Where should your site rank better?

Ideally, optimization for the web should satisfy all major search engines, but each and every one of them has its own likes and dislikes. Most of the SEO is done for Google, because what they advertise is quality, relevance and low spam content. Given that Google's brand is so strong, is MSN search engine optimization worth the effort?

MSN vs. Google

Opinions vary. Everybody knows that it's rather hard to get Google to rank your site high in the search results. Most of the search engine optimization techniques used nowadays are meant to be relevant almost exclusively for Google. Every webmaster is concerned with code structure, sitemaps, keyword density, anchor texts, links and so on. Google is rather hard to please, especially when it comes to newly created sites.

The much-feared "sandbox" is a side-product of Google, where the new pages end up until Google considers them mature enough to be ranked in the search results. It's a drawback, and there's not much anybody can do about it, because one of the things that are valued by Google is the age of a web page.

What about MSN? In this case, things tend to be a little smoother. MSN seems to really like new pages, and it has no sandbox. It doesn't use an "age filter" and classifies sites much faster. Therefore, it is highly probable that the amount of results that a web user might get for a given search to be significantly higher than the one obtained from Google. Also, it appears that the search speed is higher with MSN than with Google. This may be because their index is considerably smaller than Google's.

Reports show that Google is already a saturated search engine. Its users see so many websites that they don't have the patience to spend much time on any given site, but still want to visit others as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it appears that MSN users are more likely to produce conversions (sales). This probability is 48% higher for MSN users than for any other Internet users.

This can be a factor that might influence the adoption of some MSN marketing strategies. The conversion ratio is paramount for any commercial website, and such indicators could most probably lead to actions meant to improve the MSN ranking for this type of sites.

MSN Optimization? How?

It is almost impossible to get it right from the start. Much of the SEO process is based on trial and error. There are no precise criteria for each search engine. Basically, what is good for one might be good (or better, or even worse) for the other.

Experts say that, in order to get as much MSN traffic as possible, it's enough to follow the basic guidelines with, of course, some adjustments that will differentiate your MSN marketing strategies from the ones you might use for Google ranking.

MSN is dedicated to satisfying the visitors. Therefore, MSN wants to make sure that they can offer web surfers a high probability of finding what they want on your site. A well-developed site, with many pages and homogenous content will rank much better than a smaller site with poorly organized content (supposing that these two sites apply the ranking factors in a similar manner).

Creating a good, easy-to-navigate sitemap will not only help the search engine's spiders crawl your site, but it will also add to its value for the visitors.

Microsoft's search engine has a great response to an increased keyword density (as opposed to Google, which is quite quick at identifying and penalizing sites that, according to its algorithm, are clearly spamming - and sometimes it is not far from the truth). This orientation towards quantity rather than quality makes MSN more spam oriented. But the criteria for choosing the right keywords for your site remain, basically, the same.

Therefore, the more back-links you have, the better. Bear in mind though that the quality of the links is a plus, as well as their relevance to the optimization aiming website. This will help spiders to completely index the website, thus leading to an improved visibility among search results. The logical approach is to focus on building high-quality links towards the site and its content, which will eventually help you rank well in other search engines too.

MSN will give credit to the new content and to the inbound links quite quickly. You should not forget about clean code. It is a major factor for site indexing, and even MSN, which is not as demanding as Google, will rank poorly sites with badly written code.

The TITLE tags are among the most important code elements which you can rely on if you want to improve your MSN traffic. They occupy a top position in the algorithm used by MSN. Consider it your exhibition room. When somebody is looking at the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), the first thing they see is the title of your page. In order to encourage a web user to click on it, it has to be as descriptive and as "appealing" as possible. But don't exaggerate; about 80 characters should be more than enough.

One of MSN's drawbacks is represented by its robots, used for page indexing, so keep them in mind. They have difficulties in indexing pages that contain frames, pictures, flash elements, Java script or dynamic URLs. If your site uses image or script based navigation, it is advisable to use text links as well, both within the content and at the bottom of the page. Text links are easier to follow and, more importantly, they give you the opportunity to link to your home page thanks to the anchor texts.

So... Should We?

To make a long story short, MSN is more permissive than Google. Adopt the right tactics, and you can be riding the MSN wave in no time (as compared to Google, where you have to wait in the sandbox for a painfully large - for your business, mostly - amount of time). But there is the risk of dropping from that high position in the MSN ranking as quickly as you got there. This is because your MSN SEO tips can be overthrown by those newly arrived sites that MSN likes so much to welcome. Such an inconvenience can be quite easily avoided by keeping the content constantly fresh.

There can't be a "Yes" or "No" answer to the question above. Yet, there could be a "Why not?" MSN does what Google avoids, and likes what Google frowns upon or regards with suspicion. And then there's also Microsoft's potential marketing power that they can bring to the search engine business. So, the value of MSN should not be underestimated. Of course, it is a rather feeble match for Google now, but this situation can change dramatically overnight.

Similar situations have been seen before, and Microsoft has the financial power to make enough changes and adjustments relatively quickly so as to turn the tables in MSN's favor. Bottom line, if you have already optimized your site for Google, it can't hurt to do some MSN optimization as well.

Read more free software marketing articles.

Copyright © 2007, www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager at Avangate B.V. Avangate is an eCommerce platform for electronic software distribution incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus additional software marketing services and sales tools.

This article may be reproduced in a website, e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as the above information is included in full, including the link back to this website.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu


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Writing for the Web

When you're browsing the Web for information, you're coming across variously structured pages. Some contain the exact information that you need, while others are full of details that prove to be inconclusive. The rule of thumb when writing for the Web is to keep the information well structured, and to respect some basic, very simple directions. Failure to do so will result in web users never attempting to access your web page again.

Theoretical Basis In 1997, John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen have conducted a study to determine the way users read various texts on the Web. Their conclusion was that people tend not to read the text thoroughly, but they scan it instead. They browse through it, looking for the relevant information at the surface.

Web users are people that want to find information as quickly as possible. They seem to prefer short, right-to-the-point pages, and factual information to the overcharged, insipid and sometimes incomprehensible (due to the hyped language) "marketing fluff" that characterizes most of the writings that populate the Web nowadays.

The quality, credibility and relevance of the information are of utmost importance. Failure to satisfy any of these needs will determine users to never access a web page that has not provided concise, scannable and objective information.

In support of the above, the following paragraphs will attempt to cover some of the most important details that you should consider when writing for the web.

Text Format

• Sections

Since scanning is the universally accepted norm for web texts, do try to make your text short, or, if not possible, split it into sections/chunks with relevant headings and subheadings. Web users are usually in a hurry. They need bite-size information, and fast. Help them and you will also do yourself a favor.

• Headings and Subheadings

The first heading on the page is the most important. It tells the reader why the text is worth reading. The next headings that you use must have more of an objective value than a stylistic one. They should sum up the content of the corresponding paragraph or sub-paragraph.

• Bulleted and Numbered Lists

The purpose of the bulleted lists should be to make information more obvious. It also contributes to reducing the amount of text on the web page and improves scannability. Information that is obvious is easier to remember.

For example (See our Usability Evaluation Services):

The usability concept A usable sales website is one where: o Your visitors can easily find what they are looking for; o Your answers to frequently asked questions are helpful and easy to locate; o Your ordering system is easy to use and intuitive; o Your visitors feel comfortable trusting you, the company that operates the website.

• Tables

A table that contains relevant results of a study, for example, can be useful. It draws the reader's attention and also adds to the scannability of the text. Tables of contents are also useful, since they give users the opportunity to see right from the beginning if the information that they are looking for could be found in the text.

• Captions

When you write for Web users, include pictures, tables, flowcharts, or diagrams in the page structure to support the text. Make sure that you also insert captions that identify the illustrations or table. Remember though that illustrations need captions only when the context is not clear enough.

• Links

Use links to support the text's credibility. According to the nature of the text on your web page, you could provide links to glossaries that explain certain terms and concepts that you use in your text or to resources that you have used.

Nevertheless, refrain from using too many links. Users may think that what they read does not have a significant personal touch, and this will affect the credibility of your text. Avoid using terms such as "Click here" or "follow this link".

If your text is long, or split on several pages, add navigation links to other sections in your text, as this also improves scanning. Always make sure that you have no broken links (either internal or external) and that it is clear enough where the internal links will take the Web user.

• Highlighting

If you want to bring something to your reader's attention and add to the scannability of the text, highlighting is a good policy. Highlight only key information-carrying words. Do not highlight entire sentences or long phrases because a reader that scans your page is only able to pick 2-3 words at a time, and larger chunks of highlighted words may become tiresome.

Highlight words by using: o boldface characters o italics o colors o upper case letters

Text Content

• Clarity

Writing for the web means that you have to be a good organizer. The information that you will place on your page for the whole world to see must be carefully organized. Use words that make sense to the audience. Use simple, meaningful language.

Check your spelling (use a spell checker). You wouldn't want your readers to encounter something like "Our software provides state-of-the-art soultions that "?.

Use correct grammar. Make sure that you know the difference between "it's" (contracted form of "it is" or "it has") and "its" (possessive pronoun, 3rd person singular), between "you're" (contracted form of "you are") and "your" (possessive pronoun, 2n person singular and plural), or between "they're" (contracted form of "they are"), "there" (adverb of place, antonym of "here"), and "their" (possessive pronoun, 3rd person plural). These examples may sound a bit "too much", but you'd be surprised how often they occur.

Avoid word play (puns), euphemisms and metaphors: you could be taken literally. Also, think of your non-native speaker audience. If you have to have abbreviations in your text, use only the standard ones. If you use your own abbreviations, explain them (between brackets), at least once in the beginning.

• Quantity

Since web users are usually people in a hurry, they need information that can be seized easily. Limit each paragraph to only one idea (topic sentences). Be concise: web readers prefer short texts, from which they can extract the information with minimal effort. Studies show that web reading is slower than regular reading by 25%. The information that you offer must be condensed enough to fit in one screen. Users don't enjoy scrolling too much. They want to get the information fast, so web texts must have half the word count used when writing for print.

• Relevance

Do not overcharge your page with information. Provide only what is necessary. The text that you write for the web page must be relevant for the target audience, organized in an intuitive manner. The short bits of text that constitute your paragraphs must be self-explanatory, so that your readers will understand your point on the spot and will not require much mental effort to do that, or additional information to support them.

• Style

o Verbs Use active verbs (provide, assess, implement, focus, validate, etc.) rather than passive ones (is being done, are solved, were built). Active verbs give a sense of vivacity to the text, which becomes more energetic and powerful.

o Pronouns Use "you" rather than "I", "we". Like this you will show readers that they are the target, and your text will have a greater impact on them.

o Language Use easily understandable language, with familiar, everyday words, short and simple sentences. Avoid jargon by all means: jargon is usually technical or abbreviated and difficult to understand for people not in the profession. Establish a balance between promotional (marketing) style and the useful information that you include in your text. For example, when writing a presentation web page for a product, it is understandable that it is meant to help sell the product. Nevertheless, avoid marketing exaggerations and overstatements. Too much enthusiasm can be a turn-off. Refrain from using (too much) humor. All Web users have different perceptions on humorous instances.

o Keywords Identify the keywords in your text. Highlight them to add to the scannability of the text and to add to the probability of your web page being found much easier when searching the Web.

o Graphics Graphical elements must complement text. Insert only images that have relevance to the text, and avoid full-page graphics, as they can take quite a while to load and this gets users annoyed.

Article by Cristi Dorobantescu
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How to Build the Semantic Web with Dublin Core

Attaching Dublin Core Metadata to HTML

Developed by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is a set of 15 elements that can be used for resource description. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an organization dedicated to promoting the widespread adoption of interoperable metadata standards and develops specialized metadata vocabularies for describing resources that enable more intelligent information discovery systems.

Concept Overview

Even if its name reminds of Ireland, it actually comes from Dublin, Ohio, USA, where it appeared in 1995 as a result of a workshop. The second part of its name, "core", stands for the main characteristic of this standard, that of being rather broad and generic, but expandable and usable for describing a quite wide range of resources.

Dublin Core is more of a standard rather than a meta-tag system. The aim of DCMI has been from the very beginning to keep this standard simple and flexible in order to allow authors to provide metadata by themselves, so that it can be used within the context of any Internet document and it can be easily adapted into other languages.

The basic element set is intended to capture most of the fundamental descriptive categories necessary to facilitate the effective search and retrieval of information. Additional building blocks can be created to provide modular compilations of metadata that can be built into more complex descriptions for information resources.

Therefore, the main characteristics of Dublin Core are

• Simplicity (of creation and maintenance)
• Interoperability (among collections and indexing systems)
• International applicability
• Extensibility
• Modularity

The semantics of Dublin Core have been established by an international, cross-disciplinary group of professionals from librarianship, computer science, text encoding, museum community, and other related fields of scholarship and practice.

Functionality of Dublin Core

At the time of the creation of the Dublin Core standard, the DCMI have identified an apparent so-called "crisis" for Web search and information retrieval. Given that the web search engines only cover a small fraction of the Internet, the solution that the DCMI had found was to develop a standardized vocabulary that could be used efficiently for the description of Web pages. The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is intended to facilitate the discovery of electronic resources.

It is generally accepted that the Dublin Core standard comprises two levels: Simple and Qualified. The Simple Dublin Core includes 15 elements, whereas the Qualified DC also includes three additional elements (i.e. Audience, Provenance and RightsHolder) and a group of element refinements (or qualifiers) that refine the semantics of the elements in order to improve resource discovery.

The Simple Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is composed of the following 15 elements:

• Title: a name given to the resource
• Creator: an entity primarily responsible for making the resource
• Subject: the topic of the resource
• Description: an account of the resource
• Publisher: an entity responsible for making the resource available
• Contributor: an entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
• Date: a point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of a resource
• Type: the nature or genre of the resource
• Format: the file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
• Identifier: an unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
• Source: the resource from which the described resource is derived
• Language: a language of the resource
• Relation: a related resource
• Coverage: the spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of theresource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
• Rights: information about rights held in and over the resource

It is important to know that each of the DC elements is optional, it can be repeated if necessary, and that there is no prescribed order for using or presenting them.

As stated above, the Qualified Dublin Core comprises a set of element refinements, whose main purpose is to make the meaning of an element more specific. This means that a refined element will share the meaning of the "unqualified" element while having a more specific scope.

There exists a guiding principle (called the Dumb-Down Principle) that has been devised in support of the qualification of the Dublin Core elements, which states that, if an application fails to understand a specific element refinement term, it should nevertheless be able to ignore the qualifier assigned to that specific element and treat it as an unqualified element.

Even if this equals to a certain loss of specificity, there still remains the general, broad term, which holds a value that is correct and useful for discovery.

Beside the element refinements, there also exist, in the same class of DC qualifiers, the Encoding Schemes. These qualifiers identify schemes that are helpful in the interpretation of an element value. These schemes include controlled vocabularies and formal notations or parsing rules.

A value expressed using an encoding scheme will thus be a segment selected from a controlled vocabulary (e.g., a term from a classification system or set of subject headings) or a string formatted according to a formal notation (e.g., "2007-01-17") as the standard expression of a date.

Examples

The Dublin Core metatags can be placed within the HEAD section of the HTML code of web pages. Normally, the Dublin Core elements are preceded by the "DC" abbreviation. The best method to be used whenever you need to use Dublin Core elements in your HTML code is to have this metadata embedded so that it will not affect the way in which the browser sees the data and validates the XHTML. You need to embed this metadata so that it will not interfere with the browser's understanding and then rendering of the HTML.

Please check the Dublin Core metadata editor for more details.

Pro's and Con's

Pro's

• It is a basic description mechanism that:
  - can be used in all domains
  - can be used for any type of resource
  - is simple , yet powerful
  - can be extended and can work with specific solutions
• It makes it easier to find information wherever located (Internet/Intranets)
• It is a successful standard on the Web
• It records a growing use in specific communities with high quality requirements, such as Public Sector and Government Information and Corporate knowledge management
• It may be seen as an essential building block for the Semantic Web(s)

Con's

• Many of the DC meta names are not taken into account by major search engines, such as Google. DC meta names are mainly used by governments, libraries, museums, archives, publishers, environmental science repositories, print and e-print archives.
• Given the fact that Dublin Core elements are so versatile, there could be the tendency to over-use them. Many web developers and webmasters consider this tendency as too "spammy" and may result in a web site not getting the desired ranking from a particular search engine.

Conclusion

Dublin Core offers a standardized frame for resource description, in particular Web pages. For the time being, even if the use of DC is not a trend per se (the webmasters don't find any direct benefit in using Dublin Core), it answers nevertheless to a constantly growing need for the definition of metadata that can be placed within the global whirlpool of information. At the end, when the standard is used and the metadata is properly documented, a great step forward will have been taken towards the emergence of a Semantic Web.

Article by Avangate

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Does your Website Need W3C Validation?

How to help search engines and browsers "read" your website better?

Although it's not yet proved without doubt that W3C validation gives you better search engine rankings, it's sure that errors in your code can cause you big problems. Converting your website pages to XHTML will help you reach more customers, as your site will work better in more browsers and non-traditional devices.

The W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium and provides guidelines based on best practice, regarding how websites and web pages should be structured and created for long-term durability. The W3C validation is just a standard for specified machine language, checking web documents, spelling, grammar, syntax, and proofreading.

XHTML is the newest standard for this hybrid markup language designed for web documents. It is a combination of classic HTML and advanced XML. Validation is in fact, the process of checking documents against this formal standard. Converting your HTML web pages to XHTML takes time. This will definitely help your website in the future. Although the easiest way of creating XHTML pages is to start a new project, redesigning and updating old pages could also be a viable solution.

The rules W3C outlines are not compulsory since they don't have a certification program, but there are reasons why you should bring your website into compliance.

Main advantages that derive from W3C compliance:

• Your website will be more easily accessed by people with disabilities and the user experience will be improved; (read more website usability articles)
• W3C validation helps you reduce the amount of coding on your pages thus emphasizing the importance of content. Your site will have the chance to get indexed and as a result get higher rankings in the most important search engines, since spiders are known to crawl websites with relevant content;
• Your website can be easily accessed from different devices - PCs, laptops, PDAs, cellular phones, etc.;
• Validation is fully compatible with a wide range of dynamic pages, scripting and active content, multimedia presentations, etc.;
• Different current and future browsers will display pages in the same way, or at least in a very similar fashion.

Pay attention that search engines check the HTML or XHTML code of your website in search of relevant content. If they find invalid HTML or XHTML code - meaning code that is not following the official rules, you might be removed from indexes. If there is an error on your web page code, spiders will stop searching your whole website, and this could very well be the end of your optimization efforts.

Not all errors are so severe as to cause problems with search engines rankings. Take the time to run your web pages through a validating tool, after you've made all the necessary modifications.

Fortunately there are free services that allow you to check your documents for compliance with web standards. The W3C's free online Validation Service (validator.w3.org) is used by many professionals to ensure their sites comply with web standards.

There is a active debate whether valid HTML or XHTML will take your website to the top of the most important search engines. There are still many big names on the web, with good rankings, which haven't validated their websites. But be prepared for the future and include in your SEO techniques W3C validation. Though the impact of valid HTML or XHTML is still of low importance compared to other SEO factors, when it comes to improving your visibility on the internet, no method should be neglected.

At present working with web standards doesn't guarantee you first ranks, but it helps you reach a larger audience and improve your long-term search engine optimization strategy for your business. In a continuously growing industry, where new websites appear every day, it is better to take advantage of every method, and stay one step ahead of your competition.

Article by Avangate

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Why Can't I Access Certain Websites With Vista?

One of the visitors to this site left a comment the other day stating that he had problems visiting certain sites. I noticed this problem has occurred to others on my daily forum and research routines. Some users are unable to reach vital websites that are important to work and school. According to a variety of sources, the problem could be because the type of sites being accessed are secure (SSL - Secure Sockets Layer ) sites. For individuals with this access problem, I did a little research and found a few answers.

Basically, from what I have read, this inability to access certain websites stems from the security measures that Vista comes with. All it takes is a little tweak of a few options and the problem should be solved. The following is one step by step solution to this problem:

1. Go to "tools" in the Internet explorer or firefox. (I don't think it matters)

2. Go to the sub category "Internet options" (This is only in Internet explorer - for firefox, you must go to "options" at the bottom.)

3. Now, go to advanced (IE) and uncheck, "use TLS 1.0" ( For firefox, you don't have to go to "advanced, you can see the box there.)

This is the basic rundown of what must be done. If you have this problem, there is a chance the above steps may not help you with your problem. That's okay because you may have a very similar problem in which the sites you are viewing are set to only allow SSLv3 enabled explorers. The steps to solve this problem are the same as the above except this time you check the SSLv2 box.

Similarly, if a site you visit frequently is not displaying anymore, it may be because the site has not updated the configurations yet and has not changed from SSlv3. When Microsoft updated Internet Explorer to version 7, they changed the settings from SSlv2 to 3 in an act to make surfing the web safer. All you need to know is how you can change the settings on your explorer. I hope, your problems are solved.

If you have any personal problem that is related or not... please feel free to leave the comment. If you surf through the site, you will see that I try to answer everyones questions with well researched and experienced answers.

Article by George Christodoulou
If you are still asking, "Why Can't I Access Certain Websites With Vista?", please visit, http://download-microsoft-vista.com for more information today.

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