ProBizTips Newsletter
** ISSUE #307 **

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

A Word From Diane

ProBizTips Mid-Sponsors

ProBizTips Feature Article
Cookies: How To Learn From Your Visitors and Improve Your Website

ProBizTips Business Tidbit
10 Killer Profit Boosters

ProBizTips Guest Article
Why You Should Ignore This Advice

Discount Mania

Weekly F*R*E*E*B*I*E
39 Success Tips To Make More Money

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Hey!

Good Day to you and I hope your day is going well so far! :)

Welcome to all our new subscribers this week and I hope you grow to love us as so many have... we couldn't do this without you!

=======** ON A PERSONAL NOTE **=======

Things are going great on the homefront! Kaylen is finally getting to sleep a lot earlier... 10:30 or 11:00 pm now. That's MUCH better than 1 or 2 am! She's starting to get her own little personality now and smiling a bunch. :)

====** FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE **====

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Without further ado -- sit back, relax and enjoy today's issue!

Your Friend,

Diane Hughes
ProBizTips Weekly

P.S. Just a reminder -- you can check out all the special deals,
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Cookies: How To Learn From Your Visitors and Improve Your Website
by Steve Nash

Time for a quick question and answer session.

Question: How can you improve your visitors' experiences of your website, AND at the same time learn how to improve your website (or learn how to increase sales)?

Answer: Use cookies

Cookies? Yes. Let me explain...

=> COOKIES EXPLAINED

A "cookie" is simply a small piece of text information which a web server stores temporarily with your web visitor's browser. (Note: cookies are *not* programs.) This means your visitor's browser remembers some specific information which the web server can later retrieve.

So cookies simply allow your site to store information on your visitor's computer for later use.

A basic example of a cookie in action can be found here:
http://www.jsworkshop.com/js3e/list24-1.html

Another example is the "online shopping mall" that uses cookies to add items to a user's "shopping cart" as they browse.

==Aside==
Here are two examples of how my own sites use cookies (I use them to make sure a pop-up window loads at a set frequency):

- Pop-up ONCE ONLY
  http://www.shoptour.co.uk/webmaster.shtml

- Pop-up ONCE PER DAY
  http://www.anyonecansellonline.com/tips.shtml

  For those interested, the cookie code is stored here
  http://anyonecansellonline.com/makemoneyfiles/cookie1.js
==Aside==

=> WHY YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD USE COOKIES

Basically, cookies allow you to improve a site visitor's experience of your website. I've listed a few examples to show how you can achieve this:

* Cookies can store visitor preferences. This means you can
  present customised information to your visitor, as per
  their own requirements. (This is how portal sites like MSN
  work.)

* Cookies can pre-fill form fields for your visitor.

* Cookies can automatically login visitors to your site

* Cookies can provide visitor statistics and therefore help
  you understand your visitors' needs. Cookies can provide
  site metrics like number of unique visitors, average
  number of page-views, percentage of repeat visitors et
  cetera. And cookie-generated statistics are much more
  accurate than using log files.

(Do remember though, that people sometimes share computers; some browsers are set to reject cookies; and cookies can be erased.)

So not only are cookies an efficient way of keeping track of information, they also help personalise your site visitors' experiences of your website.

And that's the point with cookies - how can *you* help your site visitor?

No, it doesn't mean you can now invade your visitor's privacy! The use of cookies is often abused by site owners, but this ultimately leads to cookie-blocking software being installed and used; so do set your cookies cautiously, and include a privacy statement on your site explaining your use of cookies! (See below.)

=> USE THIS COOKIE RESOURCE

CookieCentral is an excellent resource dedicated to all things Cookie. The site's described as providing "information of persistent cookies, HTTP cookies, cookies with JavaScript, magic cookies, [and] maintaining state with cookies and more."

But don't worry if that sounds too technical for you, CookieCentral really is a great place to learn about the pros and cons of using cookies.

From the concept of cookies through concerns about privacy to JavaScript and CGI demo code - you'll find it all at CookieCentral.

- http://www.cookiecentral.com/content.phtml?area=2&id=1

=> OR VISIT THESE SITES TO LEARN ABOUT COOKIES

If you want to know more about how cookies work, then visit these sites:

- http://www.howstuffworks.com/cookie1.htm
- http://www.newbalancecatalog.com/General/cookies.htm
- http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/index.html

=> OR JUST DO IT YOURSELF!

As ever, the web is filled with free programs and scripts that allow you to use cookies. Whether you want to use JavaScript, CGI/Perl, PHP or ASP - you can find free resources that help you implement cookies on your site.

JavaScript cookies
- http://webdeveloper.earthweb.com/webjs/cookies/

CGI/Perl cookies
- http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Cookies/

PHP User Personalization System with Cookies
- http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/Cookies/

ASP and cookies
- http://www.w3schools.com/asp/asp_cookies.asp

=> PRIVACY WARNING!

More and more web users are becoming sensitive to their online privacy. Rightly so. And this includes cookies, and how your site uses them. So do make sure that you understand the issues involved, and set your privacy statement accordingly.

This article explains more...
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/p3p-cookies-ie6/1

=> READ MORE...

You can find out a great deal more about using cookies on your site from the following excellent resources. Just do a search for "cookies" and off you go!

http://www.workz.com
http://www.iboost.com
http://www.sitepoint.com

--

Cookies can improve your visitors' experiences of your web site, through personalisation. Using cookies, your site may well run more efficiently too, and could provide you with accurate site statistics helping you deliver just what your visitors are looking for.

Just use cookies carefully, so that your visitors benefit!

(And continue to learn from the invaluable resources above, and below ;-) !)

---------------------------------

STEVE NASH is the author of the ebook: "3 Super-Tips To
Build, Promote And Profit More From Your Website." Download
your free copy now! http://www.wise-buys.info/bonus.shtml

WANT MORE TIPS? Sign-up to his free monthly Build-tips
course here! http://www.wise-buys.info/newsletter.shtml#tips

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10 Killer Profit Boosters

1. Gain an advantage over your competition. You should find one benefit your competition doesn't offer and use it as your main selling point.

2. Design your e-zine so it creates multiple free advertising streams. Ask readers to forward it to people they know, offer ad trades, etc.

3. Allow your visitors to subscribe to an update e-zine. Anytime you make changes to your web site they can receive an informative e-mail.

4. Focus your articles on information the targeted readers and e-zine publishers want. They will get published more often, which means free publicity.

5. Use problems to attract online traffic. Find a common online problem and use your web site to solve it. People will visit and see your ads.

6. Have an informative FAQ page at your web site. Anticipate questions your prospects or visitors may have; this will help improve your sales ratio.

7. Improve your negotiation skills. This'll improve your business because you're always negotiating ad swaps, supply prices, joint ventures, wages, etc.

8. Beat your competition by giving away a similar product or service that they charge for. It could be add on products, warranties, servicing, etc.

9. Build a larger online community by giving your visitors bonuses for participating on your message boards or chat rooms. Try free products, ads, etc.

10. Instead of starting an affiliate program, start a referral program. Give people discounts and free products for referring people to your site.

---------------------------------

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Why You Should Ignore This Advice
by Steve Shaw

Doesn't make too much sense does it? Am I really going to give you some advice that asks you to ignore the advice I'm giving you? Well, that's not strictly true. I am however going to show you how to qualify the advice you are given, so you can sort the wheat from the chaff, and help you to survive the information overload on the Internet.

Firstly, you need to find out who is giving the advice. Are they speaking from a position of experience? Is the advice they are giving first-hand? Or is it second-hand advice, something they have heard somewhere else, have not put it into practice themselves, and are simply handing it onto you and presenting it as their own (and perhaps somewhat altered).

For example, if you read an article from someone on how to get more visitors to your web site, you need to ensure it is written by someone who has high traffic levels themselves. If you visit their web site, and discover it ranks somewhere below a million on Alexa, are they really someone you should be taking advice from on traffic? After all, would you take financial advice from someone who is bankrupt?

Ensure that if you get advice, it is coming from someone who knows what they are talking about from personal experience (and that you can see adequate proof).

Secondly, does the person giving the advice have an underlying motivation - or is it 'independent'? If they are recommending the use of a particular widget on your web site, and they are actually selling that widget, even as an affiliate, how useful is that advice? This is where you need to look for supplementary advice from third parties, such as via testimonials.

Thirdly, ensure that it works for you. Something may have worked for someone for a whole myriad of reasons, such as time, place, coincidence, a particular type of business, a particular type of visitor, and so on; but, that doesn't mean it will work for you.

For example, the use of banner graphics has completely different results on different web sites. On some sites, they improve sales. On other sites, it's been found that sales can be increased by removing the banner. The same can be said for the use of guarantees. In brief, something that works well on one web site may have the opposite effect on another.

You always need to test it out for yourself, and make up your own mind based on your own results, before coming to a conclusion on whether a particular piece of advice helps you towards your own goals.

---------------------------------

Steve Shaw creates systems and software for effective
e-marketing. His powerful PopUpMaster Pro software creates
popups that beat the popup blockers and can significantly
increase your conversion rates. For more information:
http://www.popupmaster.com

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>> 39 Success Tips To Make More Money

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