Search Engine Over Friends and Family

These days it is more important than ever to market your business online. A recent survey showed that an amazing 80% of shoppers now choose to visit a store's website before heading to the actual store, and 58% of people claim to do all their product research online before buying instead of consulting with friends and family. Combining this information with the fact that increased fuel prices and other costs are convincing more and more people to stay at home and shop, and you can easily see that online marketing and a strong website is vital for your company's success.

Website Content
One of the key aspects of online success in e-commerce is to ensure the customers value your website. Having incomplete product descriptions or none at all will result in customers quickly going elsewhere to find out more information about the product they are considering. You should also consider paying for some form of search engine optimisation (SEO) which customises your website and content to gain a better rank in the search engines.

A large part of SEO involves getting other sites to link with yours so submitting your site to web directories will be another important part of this area of your online marketing strategy. Some search engines will penalise you for things like having too heavy keyword saturation or other more subtle "cheats", so it really pays to hire a professional to handle your search engine optimisation needs.

Search Engine Marketing
One of the very best ways to raise awareness of your company and increase traffic to your website is with a structured search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. One of the simplest forms of SEM involves paying a search engine to put your website in a prominent position on the search results page, often as a "featured" link, this is known as paid placement.

Another great service offered by the search engines is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. As the name implies, this means that the search engine distributes your advert across its network of websites and you pay for the referrals this generates. With PPC, everyone's a winner; you get large coverage with your advert and only pay for the increased traffic (the clicks to your site) and the person who ends up with your advert on their website earns a cut of what you pay.

While pay-per-click schemes can seem a little expensive, there are some keywords that can still get you traffic but might be cheaper, so it pays to invest a little time researching search terms. You can also consider some of the smaller search engines that will have lower priced keywords. Whichever you choose, the costs of marketing when offset against your increased traffic (and hence revenue) will make it worthwhile.

Disadvantage of Free Domain Name

Everyone likes a bargain. It's even wise to keep one's costs down. On the other hand, you can be so cheap that you cut your own throat.
Here are two ways to register a domain name for free and some reasons why you might not want to.

• You Must Have Your Own Top Level Domain (TLD) Name
  Your business website should definitely have its own top level domain (TLD) name. This means a name like yourcompany.com. It doesn't mean a subdomain of someone else's domain name, such as yourcompany.someisp.net. Sometimes persons hesitate to register a proper domain name because of cost, lack of knowledge, or indecision. However, paying the nominal fee charged by the domain registrar for your own domain name can reap rich dividends. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Internet address like (ignoring the http part) someisp.net/hosting-accounts/yourco/, or yourcompany.someisp.net, just doesn't look as professional as yourcompany.com. It might be free (as in included with your web space) but it just doesn't cut it. Consider: If you put your URL on your letterheads, business cards, signs, et cetera, which Internet address looks more professional?
  If you mention your URL on your radio advertising or to a customer over the phone, which one will be easier to remember? As well, what if your web host goes out of business or you decide that you want to change to another provider. Now, you need to notify everyone that you have now changed to yourcompany.someotherisp.net. You will also need to change all your stationery, signs, and advertising to reflect the change. On the other hand, the domain name yourcompany.com, could be transferred from one web host to another simply by informing your domain name registrar of the change. So, to avoid losing business and incurring unnecessary additional costs, be sure you have your own top level domain name.
• Should You Get a Free Top Level Domain?
  It is possible to get a free top level domain from Dot TK (@www.dot.tk). (You may also get paid dot tk (.tk) domains from them.) However, there can be disadvantages to using a free top level domain name. Here are some of the restrictions noted on the Dot TK website. You may register no more than three free domain names. The ownership of the free domain remains with Dot TK. This means that you can't sell it. (Of course, if you pay for the domain you do own it and can transfer it to a new owner.)  Also, if you don't have 25 visitors come to your home page within a ninety day period, your free domain name registration is cancelled. You need to have existing web content somewhere so that your dot tk name can be forwarded to it.

 

There may well be other disadvantages.

Apparently, Dot TK uses frames to show your website. This being the case, you may have issues with navigation (bookmarking or finding specific pages) and search engine friendliness.
Therefore, for serious business use, consider carefully the true cost of free domain names

SEO WordPress Theme Ad Flex Niche

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is a free, advanced, fully customizable, SEO, AdSense and Widget ready WordPress theme for users who seek for an inexpensive and straight forward way to publish niche content web sites.

We're still working on the latest version of Ad Flex Niche 0.9. In the meantime, we've decided to publish the intermediary version 0.8.9.8w for WordPress 2.0.x, 2.1.x, 2.2.x, 2.3.x, 2.5.x, 2.6.x and 2.7.x.

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is flexible and customizable. It comes out-of-the-box with an exhaustive list of more than 150 customization parameters that can be graphically managed using the WordPress Dashboard. You can modify most of the layout items of the theme without touching a single line of code.

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ready. It permits your web content to adhere to a set of important SEO rules that are known to make your web pages rank better in Search Engines. You can focus more on your content and let Ad Flex Niche handle the more technical on-page SEO part.

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is AdSense ready. It permits your web site to easily display your AdSense banners. You simply add the code of each of your AdSense banners using the WordPress Dashboard.

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is Widget ready. The theme comes with a set of sidebar Widgets. You can also extend the theme by adding other WordPress Widgets of your choice.

The Ad Flex Niche theme can be set to 1 or 2 columns depending on your preference, with the sidebar on right that can be hidden. The theme layout can be set to narrow or wide. The header can display random banner images and random background images. There're 8 random images that can be displayed to decorate your web site and make it more attractive.

You can also add easily other useful items like your custom RSS feed code, your own sidebar and footer links, your stat counter code, your custom sidebar and footer section and of course other WordPress Widgets.

Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w is compatible with WordPress 2.0.x, 2.1.x, 2.2.x, 2.3.x, 2.5.x, 2.6.x and 2.7.x.

You can also look at the Wordpress theme Ad Flex Blog that shares the same design and features than Ad Flex Niche but more ready for blogs and blog oriented web sites.

Here are the most recently added features that is provided with Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w:

    * META Description feature, that is dynamically built based on the content of the post/article.
    * Non-Duplicate Content prevention feature. It's very important to have such feature to avoid your WordPress web pages to be penalized by Google and eventually placed in Google Supplemental Index.
    * WWW / non-WWW Redirection.
    * AdSense Banner management.
    * Blocking Cookie.
    * Theme layout can switch between narrow and wide. It permits you to switch to a wide theme layout.
    * Now you can control about 180 customization parameters via the dashboard of WordPress, and perform all the changes from there without having to touch the code.
    * WordPress Widgets ready.
    * Other features you'll discover by yourself when playing with AdFlex.

Download the latest Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w

Please feel free to subscribe to our mailing list that will send you a release notification when a new version is released. You can join using the form below:

We would like to emphasize that we will never give your details to other companies.
The Unofficial Blog of AdFlex

We had to postpone the launch of The Official AdFlex Blog due to some other urgent development activities.

In the meantime, you can visit The Unofficial AdFlex Blog and there you'll be able to ask questions regarding Ad Flex and related other topics.

The unofficial blog for AdFlex is located at URL:
http://www.askvk.com/adflex/the-unofficial-adflex-blog.php
Easy Straight Forward SEO AdSense

This WordPress template with AdSense is easy to use and provides you with a straight forward way to increase your AdSense CRT, and a nice looking design for your blog. It can be used to combine AdSense and WordPress as well as other Ad banners like Amazon shop or any other affiliate products from affiliate programs.

This WordPress template with AdSense is easy to use and provides you with a straight forward way to get well ranked in search engine, increase your AdSense CRT, and a nice looking web site design. It can be used to combine AdSense and WordPress as well as other Ad banners like Amazon shop or any other affiliate products from affiliate programs.

The AdSense friendly WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche is free to use and it comes with the following techie features:
SEO Search Engine Optimized

Ad Flex Niche and AdFlex Blog are both SEO Search Engine Optimized to target the best rank possible in Google search engine. The target is of course the Google Top 10.
AdSense Ready

Ad Flex Niche is AdSense Ready. You can easily add 2 AdSense banners and 1 AdSense Link Unit and without any WordPress plugins. Putting AdSense on WordPress is as easy as installing the WordPress theme.
Niche Content

Ad Flex Niche is more appropriate if you want to use WordPress to host pure content articles like niche content articles. With Ad Flex Niche, only the list of articles is shown. There're no list of categories. You have just monthly archives folders.So the WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche is not appropriate to be used as typical WordPress blog as the post comments are never displayed.

If you're looking for a typical blog with the features as Ad Flex Niche, you'll be more pleased with the WordPress theme Ad Flex Blog. There're also other WordPress templates and WordPress themes adsense ready that you can see at VK Labs - WordPress theme for Internet Marketers.
AdSense Adjacent Images

Ad Flex Niche lets you easily add 8 images (or more) adjacent to your AdSense banners to increase your AdSense CRT. The 8 images are randomly sectionned from your own set of images (10, 20, 50 images or more). It's as easy as dropping your images in a folder to have them taken into account by Ad Flex Niche.
Random Banners

Ad Flex Niche displays random banner images. Everytime the page is displayed or refreshed, a new banner image is randomly displayed takenfrom your own set of banner images.
Random Backgrounds

Ad Flex Niche displays random background images. Everytime the page is displayed or refreshed, a new background image is randomly displayed from your own set of background image.
Stat Counter

Ad Flex Niche eases the inclusion of a stat counter. You can add the code for your stat counter(s) via a user friendly administration interface and your stat counter is just integrated to Ad Flex Niche.
RSS Feeds

Ad Flex Niche lets you easily add RSS feeds. You can add the code for your RSS feeds via a user friendly administration interface and it will be displayed in a fully integrated way with the Ad Flex Niche theme. Your RSS feeds will appear just at the end of your article/post content.
Newsletter Ready

Ad Flex Niche is read to be integrated with your own Newsletter service. You just need to add the Newsletter code to have it appear instantly as the first section of the sidebar.
Exhaustive Customization Parameters

Ad Flex Niche comes with an exhaustive list of more than 100 customization parameters that can be managed via the WordPress dashboard.

You'll see the special tab Ad Flex Niche Options located accessible via your WP Admin / Presentation lets you customize the Ad Flex Niche to fit your taste, colors and needs. You can for instance set the following parameters via WP Admin::

    Site Title
    Short Site Description
    Long Site Description
    Site Name
    Page Title Prefix
    Page Title Postfix
    Page Title Separator
    Layout Format
    Page Border Color
    Page Border Size
    Page background Color
    Custom Stylesheet
    Custom Stylesheet Code
    Search Engine Options
    Search Engines Access Permission
    Search Engines Duplicate Content Prevention Mode
    META Description Enabled
    Header Options
    Top Bar Visibility
    Top Bar Height
    Top Bar Background Color
    Top Bar Text Color
    Top Bar Text Visibility
    Top Bar Text
    Top Bar Text Alignment
    Banner Image Height
    Bottom Bar Visibility
    Bottom Bar Background Color
    Bottom Bar Color
    Bottom Bar Text Visibility
    Bottom Bar Text
    Bottom Bar Text Alignment
    Bottom Bar Height
    Link Unit Bar Visibility
    Link Unit Bar Background Color
    Link Unit Bar Color
    Link Unit Bar Text Visibility
    Link Unit Bar Text
    Link Unit Bar Text Alignment
    Link Unit Bar Height
    Ad Banner Link Unit Visibility
    Ad Banner Link Unit Code
    Headline Title Bar Background Color
    Headline Title Bar Color
    Headline Title Bar Height
    Headline Title Bar Text Alignment
    Images Top Bar Visibility
    Images Top Bar Background Color
    Images Top Bar Color
    Images Top Bar Border Color
    Images Top Bar Border Size
    Ad Banner Top Options
    Ad Banner Top Visibility
    Ad Banner Top Code
    Ad Banner Top Background Color
    Ad Banner Top Color
    Content Options
    Content Background Color
    Content Color
    Content Link Color
    Content Title Color
    Content Title Link Color
    Post Comments Form Visibility
    Post Pings Form Visibility
    Post Category Visibility
    Post Date Visibility
    Post Time Visibility
    Post Author Visibility
    Post Comments Summary Visibility
    Post Edit Visibility
    Post Content Display on Homepage
    RSS Code Visibility
    RSS Code Background Color
    RSS Code Color
    RSS Code Link Color
    RSS Code
    Sidebar Options
    Sidebar Visibility
    Sidebar Alignment
    Sidebar Border Color
    Sidebar Border Size
    Sidebar Background Color
    Sidebar Color
    Sidebar Link Color
    Sidebar Title Color
    Sidebar Width
    Search Code Visibility
    Search Code
    Sidebar Navigation Section Name
    About Text Visibility
    About Text
    Newsletter Code Visibility
    Newsletter Code
    Recent Posts Section Visibility
    Recent Posts Section Name
    Recent Posts Number
    Archives Section Visibility
    Archives Section Name
    Categories Section Visibility
    Categories Section Name
    Links Section Visibility
    META Section Visibility
    Custom Section Visibility
    Custom Sidebar Code
    Images Bottom Bar Options
    Images Bottom Bar Visibility
    Images Bottom Bar Background Color
    Images Bottom Bar Color
    Images Bottom Bar Border Color
    Ad Banner Bottom Options
    Ad Banner Bottom Visibility
    Ad Banner Bottom Code
    Ad Banner Bottom Background Color
    Ad Banner Bottom Color
    Footer Options
    Footer Bar Border Color
    Footer Bar Border Size
    Footer Bar Background Color
    Footer Bar Color
    Footer Bar Link Color
    Footer Bar Height
    Custom Footer Code Visibility
    Custom Footer Code
    Stat Counters Options
    Stat Counter Code(s)
    And other customization parameters that are added very week...

Version Status

You can find the info about the current version and availability of a new version that is displayed in real-time at the level of the footer.
WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche demo

If you want to see Ad Flex Blog in action, go to our demo web site http://www.hqarticles.com where we've listed some of the web sites run that run AdFlex.
WordPress template Ad Flex Niche version

The current version is 0.8.9.8w released on December 30, 2008.

We're still currently working on the version 0.9.
Release Notification

We've put in place a handy mailing list that we'll send a release notification to when the new version of Ad Flex Niche 0.9 is out. You can join using the form below:
WordPress template Ad Flex Niche author

The WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche was developed by VK Labs, a creativity, tech and wellness research laboratory owned by VK Solutions Co., Ltd.
WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche support

Basic support of this WordPress template is free as a courtesy to you, so if you have installation issues, just send us an e-mail and we'll answer you quickly.

Advanced support requests for this WordPress theme and all customization work are for-hire services.

Donations are always welcome.
WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. For the attibution requirement, you must leave the credits and link backs in the footer intact with the link backs active and unaltered for this work and any derivative works.
WordPress template Ad Flex Niche disclaimer

Use of this application will be at your own risk. No guarantees or warranties are made, direct or implied. The creator cannot and will not be liable or held accountable for damages, direct or consequential. By using this application it implies agreement to these conditions.
WordPress theme AdFlex Blog installation

This page provides you with the installation instructions and useful information to exploit the full potential of this AdSense ready WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche and discover other features of Ad Flex Niche.
Download WordPress template Ad Flex Niche

We're still working on the latest version of Ad Flex Niche 0.9. In the meantime, we've decided to publish the intermediary version 0.8.9.8w for WordPress 2.0.x, 2.1.x, 2.2.x, 2.3.x, 2.5.x, 2.6.x and 2.7.x.

Download the latest Ad Flex Niche 0.8.9.8w

If you want to be notified when the new Ad Flex Niche 0.9 is out, please subscribe to our mailing list that will send you a release notification when the new version is released. You can join using the form below:

Below, you'll get the steps to follow to install Ad Flex and configure it.
Install Ad Flex Niche
Extract WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche

Extract the files from the archive ad-flex-niche.zip on your hard disk.

You will end up with the new directory:
Your_Hard_Disk\ad-flex-niche
Upload WordPress template Ad Flex Niche

Upload your local folder ad-flex-niche located on your hard disk to the folder WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes on your web server.

You will end up with the new directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche
Activate WordPress theme Ad Flex Niche

Now you'll need to activate the Ad Flex Niche adsense wordpress theme as follows:

Go to your WordPress admin.

Click on the Presentation tab.

Located the WordPress template Ad Flex Niche among the list of WordPress themes, and click on it.

You have now installed Ad Flex Niche and you already have a running WordPress web site.

You'll see the tab WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options where you'll find an exhaustive list of cutomization paramters. Most of Ad Flex Niche items can be customized via WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options.
AdSense Images

The wp adsense theme Ad Flex Niche comes with several images that appear adjacent to the AdSense banners.

If you want to have your own images, you can upload at least 8 of your images under the directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche\images\ad

Note:

    * The format of the images has to be GIF, JPG or PNG
      The recommended image size is of 144x104 for best CRT effect
    * The filenames of the images are not important but the extensions have to be .gif, .jpg or .png
    * The images will be displayed randomly
    * It is recommended to put at least 8 images

Random Link Images

If you wish, you can make an AdSense image pointing to a specific URL, so your image behaves like a link image.

For instance if you have the image in the folder WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche\images\ad\your_image.jpg (or your_image.gif, or your_image.png) and you want to add a URL link, you just need to do as follows:

   1. Create a new text file with the same filename followed by the extension .ini. In this case, you’ll create the new text file WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche-version-number\images\ad\my_image.jpg.ini. The file name must be my_image.jpg.ini and not my_image.ini.
   2. Open the file you’ve just created. So open WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche-version-number\images\ad\my_image.jpg.ini and add a simple line that contains with your URL like for instance:
http://www.yourdomainname.com/yourarticles/index.html
   3. Finally, just save the file, and that's it.

Random Banner images

If you want to have your own banners to the WordPress template, you can upload your banner images under the directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche\images\banner

Note:

    * The format of the images has to be GIF, JPG or PNG
    * The banner image width is 770 pixels if you use the default norrow skin, or 970 pixels if you've selected a wide skin.
      The default banner image height is 150 pixels but you may change the height value via WP Admin \ Presentation \ Ad Flex Niche Options panel.
    * The filenames of the images are not important but the extensions have to be .gif, .jpg or .png
      Now in term of SEO, it's good to put your keywords as filenames but do not use white space or special chars in the filenames
    * The images will be displayed randomly

You can find some sample banner images in the directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-
flex\images\banner-samples
Random Background Images

If you want to have your own background images, you can upload your background images under the directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-flex-niche\images\background

Note:

    * The format of the images has to be GIF, JPG or PNG
    * The filenames of the images are not important but the extensions have to be .gif, .jpg or .png
    * The images will be displayed randomly

You can find some sample background images in the directory:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-
flex\images\background-samples
AdSense Link Unit

You can simply add your AdSense Link unit by putting the 728x15 AdSense Link unit code in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Ad Banner Link Unit Code.

The AdSense Link unit code will look similar to the following:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-ID";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al";
google_ad_channel = "";
google_color_border = "FFFFFF";
google_color_bg = "999999";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"  src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
Top AdSense Banner

Ad Flex Niche is a WordPress theme banner ad that permits you to add your AdSense banner or any other type of banner ad at the top of the page.

If you want to add one of your AdSense banners at the top of the page, you just need to put your 728x90 AdSense banner code in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Ad Banner Top Code.

The AdSense banner code will look similar to the following:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-ID";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = "728x90_as";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
google_ad_channel = "";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
Bottom AdSense Banner

Ad Flex Niche is a WordPress template banner ad that permits you to add your AdSense banner or any other type of banner ad at the bottom of the page.

If you want to add one of your AdSense banners at the bottom of the page, you just need to put your 728x90 AdSense banner code in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Ad Banner Bottom Code.

The AdSense banner code will look similar to the following:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-ID";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = "728x90_as";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
google_ad_channel = "";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
Create Posts/Articles

You can simply add the content for each of your posts/articles by using the WordPress posting feature:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Post
    * Enter your title in Title field
    * Enter the article content
    * Click on Publish

The title will appear as H1 and H2. The right column will list automaticall your articles. The order of the list is sorted based on the publishing date. So you can change the publishing date is you want to change the order of the articles.
Friendly URL

The ads wordpress theme Ad Flex Niche works more effectiently if you activate the WordPress Friendly URL to have URLs like
http://www.yourdomainname.com/articles/articles-title.html instead of
http://www.yourdomainname.com/?p=xxx.

This will ensure Google will like your web pages and other search engines will see well your articles.

    * Go to your WordPress admin \ Options \ Permalink
    * Select option Custom, select below
    * Add in the field Custom structure:  /articles/%postname%.html
    * Add in the field Category base: /category
    * Click on the button Update Permalink Structure located at the bottom of the page

You will need to update your .htaccess file manually if wordpress cannot get permissions to do it itself.

You can find the .htaccess file in the root directory of your website. If the file .htaccess doesn't exist, you can create it

If you cannot see it via your FTP program (which is likely) try going into your the Control Panel provided with your web hosting and accessing the file direct from there. Then simply copy the code from the bottom of the permalink page and paste it into your .htaccess file.

Check that all is working by clicking on an article title, if it takes you to the article page all is well done.

This may seem to be confusing but when you'll do it, you'll understand much better.
About and Contact Pages

It's important to have at least the About and Contact pages on your web site.

It makes your web site looks serious and gives more confident to your visitors.

To create the About page:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Page
    * Enter "About" in title field
    * Enter the page content
    * Click on Create New Page

To create the Contact page:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Page
    * Enter "Contact" in title field
    * Enter the page content
    * Click on Create New Page

Terms Page

If needed, you can also create the Terms page for your web site.

To create the Terms page:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Page
    * Enter "Terms" in title field
    * Enter the page content
    * Click on Create New Page

Privacy page

If needed, you can also create the Privacy page for your web site.

To create the Privacy page:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Page
    * Enter "Privacy" in title field
    * Enter the page content
    * Click on Create New Page

If you need a Privacy content generator, have a look at the following URL:

    * http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Sitemap Page

If needed, you can also create the Sitemap page for your web site.

To create the Sitemap page:

    * Go to your WordPress admin
    * Click on Write
    * Select the tab Write Page
    * Enter "Sitemap" in title field
    * Enter the page content
    * Click on Create New Page

Installation completed!

Normally after you've done all the above steps, you should have a nice results when you access your web site.

If you want, you do other things to customize your web site like changing the default colors that come with the WordPress template, adding RSS feeds, adding a custom footer content, and/or adding a stat counter. All those steps are described below.
Extra Customizations / Features

Most of Ad Flex Niche items can be customized via WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options.

You will find some instructions below but the document has to be completed. So we invite you to go through the exhaustive lists of item that can be customized via WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options.
Stat Counter with Ad Flex Niche template

If you want to add your stat counter(s), you just need to put your start counter code(s) in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Stat Counter Codes.

Your stat counter code will be added just below the footer bar and before the </body>.

It's recommended to have an invisible stat counter.

You can find a free stat counter at URLs:

    * http://www.statcounter.com

RSS Feeds to Ad Flex Niche WordPress theme

You just need to add the code of your RSS Feeds to the file:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-
flex\syndication\syndication_custom_rss.php

Then you have to activate the visibility of the RSS feed code in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / RSS Code Visibility.

Your RSS Feeds will be added just after your post/article content.

TO BE COMPLETED...
Adding Newsletterto Ad Flex Niche WordPress theme

You just need to add the code of your RSS Feeds to the file:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-
flex\syndication\syndication_custom_newsletter.php

Then you have to activate the visibility of the RSS feed code in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Newsletter Code Visibility.

Your Newsletter code will appear as the first section of the sidebar.

TO BE COMPLETED...
Adding Custom Footer items

You just need to add the code of your footer items (your own links or extra information) to the file:
WP_ROOT\wp-content\themes\ad-
flex\syndication\syndication_custom_footer.php

Then you have to activate the visibility in the field WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options / Custom Footer Code Visibility.
Changing the default Ad Flex Niche Colors

You can change most of the color used by Ad Flex Niche via the WP Admin / Presentation / Ad Flex Niche Options.

Internet Domain Registration - Establishing and Transferring Your Domain Name

f you're in business, one of the most important things to you may be your ability to establish an internet presence. Operating some type of functional web site for your business helps your customers find you, can present additional marketing opportunities through e-commerce, and offers advertising opportunities that you can not get elsewhere. Companies that do not have a web site lose business to companies that do all the time.

Of course the real key to your web site is the internet domain registration. Everybody wants mybusiness.com - the problem is that domain names are unique and can be taken by anyone. If you don't register your desired domain name right away, someone else could take it. The fact is that internet domain registration can turn into a sneaky competitive game. In many cases business owners have gone to register a domain name and found that it had been registered years before they every started the company by some group that is in the business of registering domains and then turning around and selling them for exorbitant rates.
A humorous story came from the 2005 municipal election in North Las Vegas, Nevada when one candidate realized that the incumbent mayor had not registered an internet domain name. The incumbent registered the mayor's name dot com and as many variants of it that he could come up with, literally stealing the Mayor's plans for a web site out from under him. The tactic didn't win him the election, but the candidate managed to annoy the mayor quite a bit and still owns the internet domain registration names to this day.
The key to avoiding these sorts of problems lies in early registration of your desired domain name. If you find the one that you want (or a close variant of it), register it immediately. Even if you're not prepared to set up a web site yet or won't be for several years, register the domain right away anyway.

Registering a domain name before being ready to set up its web site will require the domain name being transferred to the servers of your desired host when you are ready to establish the site. Transferring the domain name once you have selected a web host is a very simple process, but does require you to establish the change with both the registration company and the new host. The new host will provide you with the server information that you, in turn, will need to provide to the company with whom you originally registered the domain. There may be a short waiting period (typically 24 to 72 hours) while both servers get the information updated. Once that process is complete, you'll have your domain safely residing on your host's servers and your site (as long as it's been built) will be ready to go.

The internet domain registration and transfer for your business web site is a simple process and can be completed through automated online systems in most cases. Clearly the most important part of this process is the registration of the domain name and this should always be done as soon as possible, even if it is going to be years before you're ready to get the actual web site up and running.

Adding Social Bookmarks to your Blogger site

All bloggers struggle with one important question, How to drive traffic to our blog ?
We need to have quality content and backlinks to drive traffic to our blog and occupy first place on google search engines and create goodwill.

The most important factor is the quality of post (The Material). Secondly, you need to put the main keywords/Tags for the article in the post for easy search (Tags).

One of the very effective ways is to have bookmarks in various social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl etc. But the author just can’t just submit each and every post to bookmarking sites as its very time consuming.

The below post will guide you through the step by step to add these links to your blogger site so that the visitors/readers can submit our article to bookmarking sites

This Social bookmarking widget contains Post Link submission to major bookmarking sites like Digg , technorati , Blinklist , Del.icio.us , Furl , Stumble Upon , Reddit & Yahoo.

Just Follow these simple steps to add social bookmarking sites widget to blogger:

Step 1 :
Log in to your Blogger Account and navigate to Layout Section. Then go to Edit HTML Page and check the Expand Widgets box.

Step 2:
Now search this code : <p><data:post.body/></p>

Step 3:
Copy and paste the below code immediately below <p><data:post.body/></p>.

Note: If this code has worked out for you- please digg, reddit, stumble, Mixx this post and leave a comment as well.

THE CODE:

<span class='post-author' style='font-size: 95%;'><br/> Add Post To: | <a expr:href='&quot;http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&amp;url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Digg' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/digg.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://technorati.com/faves?add=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'><img alt='Technorati' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/technorati.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Delicious' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/delicious.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='StumbleUpon' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/stumbleupon.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Reddit' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/reddit.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://www.blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&amp;Url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;Title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Blink' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/blinklist-16x16.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?t=&quot; + data:post.title + &quot;&amp;u=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'><img alt='Blink' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/furl-16x16.png'/></a>| <a expr:href='&quot;http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?t=&quot; + data:post.title + &quot;&amp;u=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'><img alt='Yahoo' src='http://shaisoku.software.googlepages.com/yahoo.png'/></a>| <br/></span>

How to Choose a Web Host ?

There are some simple rules to follow when looking for a web host.

The first rules is to avoid free hosts whenever possible, it is easy to think that a free service is preferable to paying a monthly fee however with web hosting this is defiantly not the case. Of course not all free hosting is bad . I prove it with 000webhost.com. This web hosting serve me best. I actively use it’s mail service and it’s wordpress host.

Paid hosting has several important advantages over free hosting. Firstly you will receive more useful features with paid hosting. Technical support will be much better with help available when you need it. Generally speaking Paid hosts will have much faster connections to the internet so your site will appear quicker. Most importantly with paid hosting you won't have to display a banner on each page advertising the Hosting Company and advertising to the world that you are on a free host. With excellent hosting packages starting from $6.99 per month there is no reason why you shouldn't go with a paid host.

The second simple rule concerns what operating system to choose. You will find hosts offering you Windows Hosting or Linux Hosting, it is tempting to choose windows as it's a name everyone knows and many people mistakenly believe that because their PC runs windows they need a Windows Host but in this case they'd be wrong. Whichever hosting package you choose you will receive a control panel through which you administer your site these are graphical environments through which you can control many aspects of your website from configuring your web mail and installing forum software to creating a database. Take a lead from the marble halls of business most major companies host their websites on Linux Servers. Linux Servers generally runs faster and are more secure than a windows server. This is partly due to how the operating systems are built. Windows try to include every possible function in the base package whilst Linux allows the host company to add the functions they need.

The final thing to consider when choosing a host is the list of features they offer. If you don't know much about html you can look for a host that supplies you with free website building software and some of the better ones will even supply free Domain names. You should look at a number of different companies and compare what they offer as standard with their hosting plans. Technical aspects to consider are; the amount of disk space available to you and how much monthly bandwidth you have to use. Look at how many email accounts you can have the more the better. Customer support features should not be overlooked check to see what their response time is and if it's anymore than an hour look elsewhere, also consider if they offer a money back guarantee.
Look to see what additional services they include in the package for example do they offer daily backups? Make sure that they offer support for PHP as this is quickly becoming the programming language of choice with web programmers.
To conclude when choosing a website Host look for a paid host with Linux hosting and then compare the packages on offer from a variety of companies.

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Let’s Compare Free Blogging Software

With the increased interest in Blogging (web Logging), many web hosting providers now provide an assortment of free usage, open source blogging software packages. Among the most popular of these blogging tools are B2evolution, WordPress and Nucleus. Each of these programs offer similar basic features, so the question arises as to which one is easiest to use and would be appropriate for the requirements of your particular website.

The answer lies in the true purpose of your blog website. If your primary goal is to share your opinions and ideas with the general public, you would want to utilize a different blogging tool than a user who was creating product blogs as a commercial sales effort. A blog for search engine promotion would have entirely different requirements. All of these uses are viable reasons to create a blog, however each requires different features to be successful.

WordPress Blogging Software
Available for free download at: http://wordpress.org/
It is hard to beat WordPress for general personal blogging. WordPress is an open source, state-of-the-art personal publishing platform with a focus on presentation and usability. Everything related to creating and updating your blog is available through an intuitive graphical interface. With WordPress there is no need to compile your work. You simply write your column. You then select the features you want and your blog is instantly created and published to your website.
If you are on vacation, you can schedule your uploads for some date in the future or even email your column to the server! The system allows multiple users with multiple blogs divided into categories and sub-categories. This allows multiple family members or friends to create their own blogs along with yours.
Easy customization and the availability of many "plug-ins" that provide more functionality (add new features as you learn) makes this software a very good choice for most individuals.

B2evolution
Available for free download at: http://b2evolution.net/
B2evolution is another advanced web log tool that features an integrated XHTML validator. It supports recursive subcategories, cross posting and has a really cool integrated "skinning" system.
The "skinning" system allows you to create multiple blogs in separate categories with different appearances for each blog. You simply "change the skin" for the blog to create a totally new look and feel.
The "skinning" feature, combined with the built in multi-user administration management tool, makes the system robust enough for more commercial endeavors, such as product promotion blogs. If you have much to publish with multiple themes, this is the software you are looking for.

Nucleus Blogging Software
Available for free download at: http://nucleuscms.org/
Though Nucleus is an extremely robust blogging tool in its own right, it also contains some powerful features that can provide benefits in promotion of your blog.
Nucleus offers the ability to optimize its URLS, creating simple page addresses that do not have and "&" or "=" characters. This makes the pages search engine (and user) friendly. Another great feature is the ability to show the contents of multiple weblogs on one page. This could allow a website owner to manipulate the optimum text / keyword balance on pages for better search engine rankings.
Nucleus also provides RSS and Atom feeds that can be extremely helpful when promoting a website. If part of your blog's function is to work as a search engine marketing and promotion tool, Nucleus is an exceptional software package.

Each of these blogging software packages offer the basic tools that you would need to create a successful blog and all three are PHP - MySQL open source (free to use) packages. You should try to select the software that helps you achieve the long term goal that you have in mind for your website based on the unique extra features offered by each.

 

The Four Smartest Ways to Spiral Your Website Traffic

People are paying pretty significant dollars for website traffic these days. Pay-per-click charges of $1-10 are not uncommon for top search terms. Multiply that by the 300 unique visitors per day that my log furniture website gets, and you are talking at least $300 per day, or $9,000 per month—depending on how many days are in the month.

There Must Be Some Easier Way

Following are some of the best ways to grow website traffic:

#1: Website Optimization
A local business magazine recently ran an article calling SEO (search engine optimization) the equivalent of “hocus-pocus”. The author of the article, who apparently worked for an SEO firm, described optimization as a somewhat “shady” activity that’s impossible to get a handle on. I say “Baloney!”
SEO is not pseudo-science. It is a very tangible and real way to increase website traffic. If you haven’t taken care of the basics—e.g. making sure your website has a relevant title, focuses on the right keywords, avoids practices that are disdained by the search engines, etc., you can be sure that, once found, your website will not rank as highly (or get as much traffic) as it otherwise would. Begin your traffic-garnering efforts by making sure your website is up-to-snuff.

#2: Publish Helpful, Relevant Content
Publishing helpful articles on the Net with a link back to my log furniture website seems to result in traffic spikes nearly every time. Notice the emphasis is on “helpful” articles. There is plenty of useless drivel out there by people who are being paid $5 to write an article. Not to insult anyone, but I spend 2-8 hours on the articles I write—depending on how much research is required and how technical the article is—and that costs more than $5. It doesn’t seem to matter what you write about. My topics so far have included SEO, the simplicity of Amish life, improving your bottom line, and understanding Google operators. The key is to make them relevant, short and helpful.

#3: Add more products to your website
Our experience has been that adding more products to the website helps us to come up in the search engines more often. A person who finds a rustic night stand at our site might notice that we have log bunk beds. Somebody who is shopping for an unfinished pine dresser might not be thinking of rustic furniture at all, stumble across one our products, like the whole site, and end up furnishing their cabin. Each product is like a fishing line cast in the sea. The more well-described bait you have out there—the more “fish” will bite.

#4: Improve your website conversion rate
Five years ago, we used to get one log furniture order for every 100 website visitors. Now it seems like closer to one order for every 300 unique visitors. Part of the reason for this, we believe, is that the web has become more competitive. But we also pay attention to our conversion rate. We are in the process of making a change right now that might really help. Someone pointed out that when you click on an item to buy it within Miva Merchant’s standard interface, there is no confirmation that the item has been added to your shopping basket. This might lead some customers to believe that the website isn’t working properly. They might not be savvy enough to check the shopping basket. They might even leave the site without ordering (perish the thought!) These “glitches” can really hurt website sales. We went to the Miva Merchant site for third-party modules and found a script that displays the shopping basket after each item is added. We purchased the script and install, and are watching to see how it affects website sales and conversion rate. Our guess is that this will have a positive impact on sales.

10 Ways Bloggers Can Use Twitter

Twitter is a fun and useful way to promote your blog and drive traffic to it. While it might seem that micro-blogging through Twitter might just be a fun thing to do, you can actually use Twitter to grow your blog. Remember, building relationships is a key part of growing your blog, and Twitter is an excellent tool for building relationships.

Take a look at the suggestions below for how you can use Twitter to drive traffic to your blog.

1. Drive Traffic
   Twitter has a viral marketing effect to it wherein your tweets could spread quickly across the Twitter community if they are interesting. For example, if you're hosting a blog contest or launching a new feature on your blog, send a tweet to let your followers know. Chances are they'll spread the word as well. As word gets out, more and more people will visit your blog to check out what all the hype is about.
2. Network with Like-Minded People
   Twitter is set up inherently to act as a networking tool. People "follow" users whose tweets they enjoy or interest them. As such, you'll be able to connect with like-minded people by using Twitter which could lead to more traffic to your blog and much more.
3. Make Business Contacts
   Just as Twitter is a great networking tool for finding like-minded people, it's also very effective with connecting users with business contacts. Whether you're looking to hire someone to help you with your blog or business (or both), looking for a new job, or just looking to bounce ideas off your business peers, Twitter can help.
4. Establish Yourself as an Expert
   Twitter can help support your efforts to establish yourself as an expert in your field or blogging niche to the online community. By communicating through tweets about subject-matter you're knowledgeable in, answering questions via tweets, and searching out new contacts, your efforts to be viewed as an expert (which gives your blog greater credibility and appeal) will grow.
5. Get Ideas for Blog Posts
   If you're having a dry spell in terms of coming up with post ideas, Twitter can help get your creative juices flowing. Read and send some tweets and see what people are talking about. Something you read is apt to spark a post idea or two to get you through a temporary state of blogger's block.
6. Ask Questions
   Just as you might use Twitter to establish yourself as an expert in your field, other people use it for the same reason. Don't be afraid to ask questions. You just might learn something new and find new bloggers and users to connect with!
7. Provide Live Coverage
   If you're attending a conference or meeting that you'd like to share, you can send multiple tweets real-time to share the information you learn then expound on your tweets with blog posts.
8. Ask for Diggs, Stumbles and Other Promotional Help
   Twitter is a great place to ask your followers to Digg or Stumble your blog posts. You could also ask other users to blog about your post with a link back to it or spread the word to their own Twitter followers to drive more traffic to your blog.
9. Accuracy and Fact Checker
   Imagine you're writing a blog post about a recent event but don't know how to spell the names of the people involved in the event. Send a tweet to get the information you need, and while you're at it, give your followers a heads up about your upcoming blog post.
10. Find and Share Resources
    Need a quote, interview or guest post? Want to offer your services as a source? Send a tweet!

Google Apps : Can There Possibly Be a Downside?

If using Google Apps has any disadvantages, they mostly revolve around your personal relationship with your Internet connection. Assuming you do have a decent connection (something high-speed in nature is best), you’re good to go. If you don’t have an Internet connection, turn off the lamp and start dreaming. You must be online to use Google Apps. Checking your e-mail, updating your calendar, and collaborating on a document require online interactivity. Google Apps doesn’t work without an Internet connection. Internet connection speed is important, too: Google Apps does work over dial-up connections, but it’s so slow. (Nevertheless, you can always connect with dial-up when you’re away from your high-speed connection.)

When deciding whether to use Google Apps, remember that all these services are in perpetual beta, meaning that unlike traditional software that gets a new, big update every year or so, Google is constantly updating its services and adding new features. Although the most common features are fully implemented, you should check to make sure that the features your organization needs are available. (Along those lines, you may occasionally notice a slight difference between what you see on your screen and what you see in the figures in this book if Google made an update after this book was published.)

The upside, of course, to the perpetual beta model is that by the time the features of the new version have been rolled out, Google Apps users are already familiar with the changes, so you have to deal with only a minimal learning curve. When you and your fellow users get up to speed, you just need to keep using the products to stay up to date. And keeping ahead of the curve is an advantage, all by itself.

Google Apps : What’s in It for My Organization?

As part of the Google Apps program, Google hosts your e-mail, documents,spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, and more at little or no cost. A team,business, school, or organization of any size can have Google Apps up and running quickly. When you use Google Apps, your IT resources aren’t so drained because Google takes care of the technical details. Oh, yeah and they keep your information safe and secure.

Here are a few additional features of Google Apps that may grab the attention of decision makers and your IT department:

1. You don’t have to purchase or set up any hardware.
2. Because Google Apps are Web-based applications, you don’t need to download, install, update, or pay for software again when new versions are released. (Except for a Web browser, of course, and at least you don’t have to pay for that.)
3. Your organization can use its own domain name for e-mail addresses and Web pages when you use Google Apps.
4. Google boasts a 99.9% reliability rate, which means that the service rarely, if ever, goes down.
5. Google takes care of all the data backup and support operations.
6. Google provides online support resources for free and gives 24/7 support — including phone-based support — for Premier Edition and Education Edition users.
7. You can set up users quickly by using the Dashboard.
8. A single sign-on adds convenience for Premier Edition users. Users can sign in once and access all their Google Apps in addition to other corporate intranet or school resources.
9. Gmail can support an existing e-mail gateway.
10. Administrators can access e-mail migration tools for Premier Edition and Education Edition customers.
11. Gmail protects users by constantly updating and running very effective and efficient spam-blocking, virus-protection, and filtering software. Don’t forget one of the biggest advantages of using Google Apps: Whether you’re at the office, traveling, working from home, or sipping a latte in a café that has a wireless hotspot, as long as you have a live Internet connection, you can log into your Google Apps account. Also, you can check your e-mail and do other tasks from your mobile device.

Choosing the Right Google Apps Edition

As we mention in the “Meeting the Google Apps” section, earlier in this chapter, Google Apps consists of four main programs: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk. Anyone can use these services without signing up for Google Apps, but to help organizations replace or complement their existing systems, Google has some powerful administrative and collaborative tools for those ready to take the plunge.

You can choose from four Google Apps editions: Team, Standard, Premier, and Education. Each edition has been customized to meet the needs of different types of organizations, large and small:

1. Team Edition: This is the easiest way to start using the collaborative tools available with Google Apps with your school or work team. You don’t have to change your e-mail address or worry about any administration tools. Sign up for free with your existing e-mail address (see Chapter 2 on how to do this) and you can start connecting with other people in your domain right away. Gmail is not included in this edition.
2. Standard Edition: Use this edition if you’re a family, group, or small business. Register or transfer your domain to access Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs, and the Start Page. This version is free (meaning adsponsored) and supported by online help. You can always upgrade to Premier Edition later, if you want to.
3. Premier Edition: Medium to large organizations should generally use this edition. At the time of this publication, it costs $50 per user per year, but you likely currently spend more than that on maintenance of your existing setup. Because this is a paid edition, you can choose to turn Gmail ads off. This edition also has additional administration tools and security settings. Your users receive significantly more storage space than with the Standard Edition.
4. Education Edition: Built for — you guessed it — schools, colleges, and universities. Nonprofit organizations can also use this version. This version is free (although not supported by ads), and it includes many of the features from the Premier Edition (albeit a little less storage space). If you’re interested in the Education Edition, Google requires you to provide proof of accredited not-for-profit status.

The best program is the one that best meets the needs of your organization.

Google’s cloud computing

Google believes that you want to spend more time doing things with your organization, family, group, or school in an online environment.Called cloud computing, the premise is that users can create, edit, and store massive amounts of information through the Internet (or “cloud”) with any device that has a Web browser (such as a computer or cellphone) and Internet access. The Web applications (or apps, for short), as well as the files themselves, are stored securely on powerful servers in data centers throughout the world, as illustrated in Figure 1-1.

Users can share their information with others, including friends and coworkers, and collaborate in real time on important projects. Because the files are already online, a user simply sends a message to his or her friends that contains a link to a file, and those friends can click the link to see and contribute to the sender’s great work. Using Google Apps, you don’t need to send attachments back and forth or keep track of different file versions.

Google Apps brings cloud computing to the masses. And it helps alleviate some of the issues of traditional computing:

1. Cost: Computer hardware and software is expensive. For schools and businesses alike, buying PCs and servers, and all the software that goes with them, is making less and less financial sense — especially when it all becomes obsolete before anyone figures out how to use the new stuff. These organizations want solutions that can provide a better return on investment.
2. Maintenance: Maintaining all those PCs and the network software is a pain. Information technology costs even more money and uses a lot of resources — especially when organizations grow and someone needs to maintain all those new users.

So, why not go with Google and leave all the tedious technical stuff to the people not savvy enough to jump on the Google bandwagon? If you keep your information in their Internet cloud, you don’t need to buy any servers, load any software, scan for any viruses, or back anything up. No more rebooting the server or your PC when the system crashes, again. Everything just works with a lot less cost, maintenance, and hassle because it’s coming to you directly from Google.

To put it all into perspective, here’s an analogy for you: Would you rather hide your life savings under your mattress and risk it being stolen or lost in a fire, or store it in a bank where you have access to it anytime, anywhere, from an ATM machine?

In this new, Web-enabled world, your Web browser becomes your ATM, and Google becomes your bank. You can use your own domain name, company logo, and all that branded identity stuff to personalize your Google Apps. You can preserve your corporate, school, or organizational identity and slash your costs in a dramatic way.

Google Apps – new Game to play

Google is building a radically different way of working that can shatter the primacy of the current methods and reduce the need for all the tired, old office productivity software on your hard drive. Google provides most of the apps for free or at a fraction of the cost of traditional software.
Google Apps is a powerful set of tools that Google has bundled together to meet the needs of businesses, schools, government agencies, and other  organizations of any size. You can use Google Apps as a powerful digital communications infrastructure for your business or school that Google maintains for you. (Very sweet.) The key Google Apps are

1. Gmail: An e-mail app based on Google’s popular Gmail platform. This version lets you use your organization’s domain, such as user@ yourdomain.com.
2. Calendar: A calendar and scheduling app that allows easy collaboration.
3. Talk: Instant messaging, available directly from within Gmail or as a standalone software application. Talk also allows voice calls, voice mail, and file sharing.
4. Docs: A simple, yet powerful, set of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation apps.
5. The Start Page: An app that you can personalize by adding gadgets to access any or all of the other Google Apps, as well as news, weather reports, entertainment information, and more from one place.

In addition to the apps themselves, Google provides some powerful tools for administrators in the Google Apps Dashboard. Features for administrators include

1. Web page creation tools
2. Domain settings
3. Advanced tools, including administrative support and migration tools
4. Individual apps settings
5. Custom Web addresses for your Google Apps
6. Phone-based support tools

What Makes Google So Successful

As you can tell from the title of this section, Google, like Frisbee and Kleenex, has become a household name. Web surfers everywhere use the word ‘‘Google’’ to describe the act of searching for something, many times not even realizing (or caring) that there is a powerful company that shares the same name. That works both ways, too; businesses both large and small hope they will be ‘‘Googled’’ by those same consumers, who will go on to find out more about what they have to offer and eventually make a purchase.

The place to start with Google is to determine how it can help your site become more visible on the Web. And the way to understand that is to understand how the Google search works. Here’s an overview to give you the gist of it.

1. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, came up with formulas for indexing the contents of Web pages, storing them in a huge database, and retrieving pages based on keyword searches.
2. Google uses automated programs to scour the contents of Web pages on a regular basis (just how frequently is one of those trade secrets I already mentioned). The programs record the contents of many pages and the URLs and store them in a database.
3. You, the end user, type a word or phrase like ‘‘Irish dancing’’ into Google’s search box and click the search button. When you do this, a program is activated on Google’s servers. The program searches the pages that have already been stored in the database. That’s right: when you click the search button on Google’s home page or in the Google Toolbar, you are searching Google’s database of Web pages, not the ‘‘live’’ Web itself.
4. Google compiles a set of search results ranked in the order of highest relevance to your search. It’s Google’s system of page ranking—of determining which items are on the top on the first page of the results—that’s as notable as anything in this system.

As an end user, you already know how the search system works: it helps you find Web pages that contain information you’re looking for. But ‘‘Going Google’’ means you want to make use of the system from the standpoint of someone who wants to do better business. You can take advantage of the system of keyword searches and page rankings to achieve the business objectives outlined in the sections that follow.