Previous ci-Insider News
May 2006
Internet Fax Service
PR Techniques
Online Safety
Blogging Software
Podcasting
Google Guidelines
March 2006
Adware Suite Settlement
Quality Links
Advertising Terminology
SEO Myths
DMOZ
Analyze a Competitor's Website
Top Sypware Threats
January 2006
Computer Virus Protection
RSS Advantages
Screen Resolution
Web Traffic Analysis
Winter 2005
Sticky Sites
RSS
Website Traffic Analysis
Summer 2005
ICE your Mobile Phone
Adware - Spyware - Malware - Scumware (cont)
Increasing Website Traffic
Writing Articles
Spring 2005
Email Marketing - Helpful Tips
Adware - Spyware - Malware - Scumware
Search Engine Spam (Spamdexing) (cont)
Helpful Tools - Download Free - IE6 - Flash Player v7 - Acrobat Reader
Winter 2004
Resetting Your Monitor
Search Engine Spam (Spamdexing) (cont)
July 2004
Alexa and Google Toolbars
Search Engine Spam (Spamdexing) (cont)
April 2004
Search Engine Spam (Spamdexing)
January 2004
Looking back at 2003 - What did we learn?
November 2003
WayBackMachine - a look back at Naples and Marco Island area websites
October 2003
Changes Coming to Internet Explorer
August 2003
Scumware Revisited
A Tale of 2 Islands
Anti-Spam programs
May 2003
It's Your Web - Help Clean it Up!
March 2003
Increasing Website Traffic
January, 2003
Security Alert: Fake Email Greeting Cards
Yahoo and Google - New Search Results
SpamNet from www.cloudmark.com
October, 2002
Virus Hoaxes
Who are you doing business with? Check them out!
Google and cached copies
August, 2002
Using Email Signatures
FLASH sites - How to Avoid Search Engine Roadblocks
June, 2002
Calculating Customer Acquisition Cost
Don't Believe the Email FROM Line
Google's Page Rank Formula
April, 2002
SCUMWARE
HOAXBUSTERS
Latest Computer Virus Threats and Global Virus Tracking
How to Check Who is Linking to Your Website
February, 2002
Reliable Web Host - Discount Prices???
Link farm Scam
Search Engines and Paid Submissions
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Microsoft Releases 12 Security Updates - 8 Critical
On June 13, 2006 Microsoft released 12 security updates. Information at the Microsoft Website states:
"
As part of Microsoft's routine, monthly security update cycle we released the following security updates on June 13, 2006:
- MS06-011 - is a re-release, addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2003 only, and has a maximum severity rating of important
- MS06-021 - addresses several newly discovered vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-022 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-023 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-024 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Windows Media Player and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-025 - addresses two newly discovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-026 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-027 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Word and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-028 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint and has a maximum severity rating of critical
- MS06-030 - addresses two newly discovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and has a maximum severity rating of important
- MS06-031 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4 only and has a maximum severity rating of moderate
- MS06-032 - addresses a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and has a maximum severity rating of important"
For further information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/bulletins/200606.mspx
All About Website Images - Right Way and Wrong Way!
Have you ever visited a website and noticed the images looked a little strange - maybe reminiscent of a trip to the house of mirrors at a local carnival - stretched, pulled and out of shape. Here are examples of correct and incorrect image resizing:
 Sample Original Image - RIGHT
WRONG - Image height distorted - the image above has been resized but proportions were not constrained - meaning the height of the image was reduced but not the width.
WRONG - Image width distorted - again, the image above has been resized but proportions were not constrained. This time the width of the image was reduced but not the height.
RIGHT - Overall image is smaller - both the height and width were reduced and proportions were constrained which means the percentage of width reduction was the same percentage as the height reduction.
WRONG - The image above had both the height and width reduced to try to make it square - when the original image is a rectangle - again, the image is distorted.
RIGHT - This shows the image correctly reduced and cropped into a 100 pixel x 100 pixel square. It requires reducing the overall image - proportionately - to a height of 100 pixels ( the width would then be 151 pixels) and cropping the additional width down to 100 pixels to get the image square.
WRONG - This image was enlarged from the 100x100 pixel image above it - trying to make a large image from a small image distorts and blurs the image.
Search Engine Marketing Ethics
If you're planning to be around for the long haul and want some success on the internet, then you need to be ethical in your promotion. Unless you have daily time dedicated to studying SEO and making the needed changes, you should contract with a reputable SEO company. You need a company that studies the SEO industry on a daily basis to keep on top of what it takes to rank at the top for the long run. A company that is above cheats and quick fixes. A company that offers solid optimization that can keep you on top of the search engine results. A company that will take the time to target your specific audience to get you visitors that are interested in your product or service.
Many SEO companies will promise thousands of visitors a day. Unless those visitors are interested in what you have to offer or ended up at your site and did not find what they searched for, they will remember you. They will remember that you did not have what they wanted....read more
First Quarter 2006 - Email Open and Click Rates
The Center for Media Research released the following information for email open and click rates:
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First Quarter 2006 Click and Open Rates
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Sent
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Open
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Click
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Sunday
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3,623,215
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25.9%
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6.6%
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|
Monday
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10,741,952
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25.2
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4.5
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Tuesday
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18,207,620
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26.4
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6.2
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Wednesday
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17,475,817
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24.8
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5.9
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Thursday
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15,367,549
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24.8
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4.8
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Friday
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14,842,879
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25.1
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5.0
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Saturday
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2,047,889
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24.1
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5.0
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Source: eROI, May 2006
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The study indicated that Sunday was the best overall day for sending an email with at 25.9% open rate and 6.6% click rate. Although Tuesday had a higher open rate of 26.4%, the click rate was 6.2% which was slightly lower than the click rate for Sunday.
Read the entire report
Visit eROI for full .pdf study.
Algorithm, Linking and SEO
Website links, the primary off-the-page factor in optimization, has been subject to a considerable amount of spam. Before Google, spam consisted mostly of keyword stuffing and doorway pages. One of the most common forms of spam today is link spam. Recently Google seems to have tightened the reins on what they consider a true and valid link.
Deciphering this can be quite difficult. What is a good link? What is a bad link? As link spamming became more and more common, Google and other engines looked for better ways to value a link. It used to be that any link was a good link, didn't matter the source. Then it evolved into seeking out high PR links (links from high PageRank sites and pages). A good link today is a link from a site that is considered relevant to you.
Linking sites that are not related by industry or common value to the user may still work, but the time on that is running short.
Link aging is also now a major factor in the Google algorithm. By looking at how long a link has been in place a search engine can assign weight and relevance based on time. A new link has little or no value while a link that has been in place for several months has some value, and a link that has been in place for a year may have the most significant value.....read more»
On Page Search Engine Optimization
What Is The Difference Between On-Page And Off-Page Search Engine Optimization?
The difference is that on-page optimization involves changing elements of your actual webpages that most visitors to your site wont even notice. For example, having your keywords in specific places or writing the title a certain way. Basically it's tweaking all elements of a page which are a factor for ranking well in the search engines.....read more»
Email Newsletters
Make it worth their while....Give your readers something valuable. You know your audience. Develop the newsletter for them. Don't approach it with what you want them to know.
People love free resources. They want fresh, new information. They like to hear from experts. Boring your readers will get you nothing but the delete button.
Every expert proposes a different theory on the length and type of newsletter content. Personally, I've found that people appreciate brevity and substance.
Don't forget your newsletter can be more than just text and graphics. I included a link to a podcast in my last newsletter. I'm working on a video to include in a future issue. Use the technology out there. It will improve your click-through rates....read more about Email Newsletters »
SEO Spam That Will Get You Banned!!!
There are a number of techniques that webmasters have used over the years to try an outsmart Google. Today, many of these will get you banned, or at best penalized, so that your sites don't rank well, and consequently don't get the traffic you need....read more »
ci-Interactive accepts article submissions for publication on our travel and leisure portals - Authors and travel writers interested in submitting articles should email patti@cyberisle.com - Currently our portals include New England, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Islands (worldwide), Florida, California, Chicago, Orlando, Miami and New York - Florida Fishing, Florida Golf and Florida Outdoors, and Tropical Island Weddings or Unique Destination Weddings. Sites that will be launched in 2006 are Washington D.C., Tropical Island Spas, Georgia Golf, and Florida Artist's Gallery. Please check our submission guidelines - click here.
Search Engine Friendly Sites
Another relevant factor of search engine friendly sites is the content itself. Although obtaining a good ranking is important, your content should be well written and make sense to the visitors who will read it. Don’t concentrate solely on stuffing the right mix of keywords into your article. It is just as important that your content sounds natural and flows easily. A good trick for writing online content is to break the article up into smaller paragraphs. This is much easier for online readers to absorb. Also, be sure to include proper headings so visitors can easily locate whatever information they are looking for. The use of bullets will make lists stand out and catch the reader’s eye. Writing content for online purposes is much different than writing a novel or newspaper article. Try to break the content down into small bits for easier reading....read more»
Clearing your Cache - What is cache? Plus, step by step instructions and screen shots for CLEARING your cache.
Classic Scams - BEWARE
The Nigerian Scam owes its long held popularity to the Internet. The swindlers in Logos and elsewhere send hundreds of millions of spam emails seeking their pigeons. The Nigerian Scam was born of the NAZI Sting and the Mafia Swindle. The basic story for all three swindles is the same. Someone stole millions of dollars. The thief was either a relative or client of the party contacting the pigeon. The contacting person needs your help to move or launder the stolen money. For your help, the swindler is willing to pay you millions of dollars and allow you to manage all the funds in your country. Lots of pigeons think this is a great way to quickly get rich. However, the pigeon quickly learns that there are a few financial obstacles on their path to untold wealth. These obstacles usually start with taxes and fees that must be paid to release the money. Of course, the pigeon is expected to pay these fees. Once the pigeon has paid to overcome a few low-priced obstacles, the obstacles grow larger and the costs steeper.....read more »
How to Send Images in Emails
Open your Email program and prepare to send a new email -
1 - fill in the email address TO field with the email address of the person you want to receive the email
2 - fill in the SUBJECT field - Example: Photos of my birthday party.
3 - Click on Insert / Double Click on File and you will be able to browse your computer hard drive for the location of the image you want to send by email - once you locate the image on your hard drive, highlight the image, select and click INSERT and the image will become an ATTACHMENT to the email.
Type your email message and click SEND
JS.Yamanner@m Worm Threatens Yahoo! Email
Symantec Security Team identified a mass-mail worm that exploits a vulnerability in Yahoo! Mail. JS.Yamanner@m is a worm that is written in JavaScript, arrives as a Yahoo! Email and when opened, does the following:"
Exploits a vulnerability in the Yahoo! Mail service and executes a script.
Scans emails in the personal folders of the Yahoo! Mail account. The worm gathers email addresses that contain @yahoo.com and @yahoogroups.com domains.
Note: The personal folders are email folders in the currently logged in Yahoo! Mail account. These include folders such as the Inbox, Sent, and any custom-named folders in the account.
Sends a copy of itself to the email addresses gathered. The email may have the following characteristics:
From: Varies
Subject: New Graphic Site
Message Body: Note: forwarded message attached.
Redirects the Web browse..."
For additional details and removal instructions visit the Symantec Security Response Website
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