Archive for September, 2009

Custom 404 Pages Are Recommended by Google

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Custom 404 pages that display an error message of “404 Not Found – You Have Reached This Page in Error” can be valuable. They provide a convenience for users who have made typographical errors, and they also inform users who have accidentally requested non-existent pages from your web site.

These “404 Not Found” pages can also provide “home” links and, if desired, suggestions from Google (if you use Google’s site-wide keyword search option) on possible misspellings the user might have entered, along with the familiar “do you mean …….?” prompts.

Having these pages display your logo and web site branding also assures the user that they still have easy access to your web site, and also increases the chances that the user will indeed return to your web site before going elsewhere.

custom404pagesCustomizing your “404 Not Found” pages is also recommended by Google. For more information regarding customizing your “404″ pages, or for further information about organic search engine optimization, see Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

For more information on search engine optimization, see Organic SEO.

(more…)

Posted in Advanced, Marketing Your Website | No Comments »

Inspyder XML Site Map Creator

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

For generating html and xml site maps, Inspyder Site Map Creator at www.inspyder.com/products/SitemapCreator can be very useful.

xml_site_map_creatorXML sitemaps are recommended by Google so as to facilitate the spidering of your web site: this will, in turn, help you with your search engine rankings.

Use Inspyder to generate your sitemaps — html and xml — and then simply upload the sitemap.xml file to your root folder on your server.

For more information see regarding xml site maps, as well as Google’s search engine optimization recommendations, see Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

Tags:
Posted in Advanced, Marketing Your Website | 2 Comments »

Why Won’t My User Name and Password Work?

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Working with multiple user names and passwords on your web site can be a frustrating experience, but here’s how to reduce the stress:

passwordsRather than retyping your user name and password into the appropriate text input boxes (and then having them be rejected time after time because of errors), always HIGHLIGHT the user name and/or password from the original source, then COPY the user name/password into the text box. This way, you avoid typos.

If you are verifying the information or giving the user name and password to someone else, follow the same routine as above: COPY and PASTE the user name/password into the email that you are sending them — but before you hit “send,” be sure to VERIFY that you have copied the information correctly by testing those SAME user names and passwords that you have on your email against the actual log-in page on the web site. If your user name and password work after HIGHLIGHTING and PASTING the information from your email into the user name and password input boxes on the log-in page, then you know you have the correct information — and that you are giving the correct information out.

Posted in Starting Out | 2 Comments »