5 surefire ways to stand out online

By Joanna L. Krotz

Online marketing now offers so many cost-effective options that it’s hard to know where to focus. Plus, recent studies estimate that a staggering 6 million documents are posted to the Web every day.

You can’t simply launch a site and sit back. You must take action to get noticed.

So here’s a cheat sheet: five smart, affordable ways to bolster your online profile and attract customers to your Web site.

1. Make it easier to find your site. All the buzz about search-engine marketing is because most people head for a major search engine when researching or purchasing goods and services. Since searchers rarely click below the first few listings, getting your company or product ranked high on results pages can help generate traffic.

   Much of search-engine marketing is complex and time-consuming. But there are three fast ways to improve the odds of prominent placement.

   • The right keywords. Top rankings come from having content on your site that matches the keywords or (better yet) specific phrases customers use to search for what you sell. The closer or more relevant the match, the higher the engines will rank you.

     You can identify those keywords or phrases by brainstorming with customers, friends and associates to learn the search words they use. You also want to find out keywords your competitors use. Check keywords every month or so to refine the process.

   • Affiliate links. Search engines like to "see" lots of links from your site and to your site, because that translates into a well-trafficked site, which leads to higher rankings. To find effective links, search for the phrases or keywords associated with the product or service you offer. In your search results, skip competitors, and choose marketers that support what you do. For instance, a kitchenware company might link to a table linens shop. Then send an e-mail or call to ask about exchanging links.
   • Vertical search engines. Besides the broad horizontal engines, harness the targeted power of engines specific to your industry. You can find these by a search or by checking with professional groups. Also, see the Microsoft Live Search Macros to customize what you need.

     An inexpensive way to boost your search-engine marketing is to sign up for a search-engine advertising service such as Microsoft Office Live adManager or Website Pros. See details here. Also, check out the adManager demo.

2. Reward customer error. Countless numbers of potential customers input a wrong address or misspell the name of the company when searching. Make sure they end up on your site anyway.

   First, buy all the domain names you can. If your primary domain is Widget.com, also register Widget.biz, Widget.net, and Widget.org. That way, you not only attract misguided searchers, but you discourage competitors from registering a version of your name and siphoning your customers.

   In addition, register common misspellings. So if someone types Wigdet.com, your site will still come up.

3. Offer e-learning. The technology to create online courses or solo webcasts is now relatively inexpensive. By investing in producing online courses, you can reach out to remote and large groups of prospects on an ongoing basis.

   One California tax accountant discovered she could create and deliver an online professional training course for less than $50 a month for an unlimited audience. Eventually, her course became so lucrative that she sold her tax practice and focused on conducting online courses.

   You need to keep your skills and knowledge up-to-speed to make this work. Also think about courses that will fuel interest and sales. A lawyer, for instance, might offer an e-course on drafting a will.

   Easy-to-use online software, such as Microsoft Office Live Meeting, can get you started.

4. Use offline ads to trigger a search. Offline and online marketing is increasingly blurred. You see a roadside billboard, a trade journal ad, a URL on a coffee mug and, bam! Next thing you know, you’ve pulled up the browser.

   A recent analysis by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association found that consumers "take cues from traditional advertising to determine when and where to search." That includes magazine and newspaper ads, store and direct-mail coupons and feature articles (send out those press releases to media contacts!).

5. Get friendly with Web 2.0. The rise of online social networking has been fast and furious. Such real-time and peer-to-peer outlets, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace, and the ballooning blogosphere directly reach thousands of customers for mere pennies. You can use these outlets to start online conversations, post editorials or product data, and to announce news or products that build your reputation and expertise.

   You can also launch your own blog to attract customers to return. Remember that blogs demand time and effort to stay timely. To start a blog, check the tips offered by the National Federation of Independent Business trade group (www.nfib.org).

Most of all: Think content, content, content. Good descriptions of your services and compelling calls to action on your Web pages will make customers care and return.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX102282331033.aspx

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
http://www.ArtDuane.com

Best Practices for Delegating Active Directory Administration (Windows Server 2003)

Program Manager: Sanjay Tandon
Writer: Mary Hillman

The Active Directory® directory service is an integral component of network infrastructures that are based on the Microsoft® Windows Server™ Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server™ 2003, Enterprise Edition; Windows Server™ 2003, Datacenter Edition, and Windows® 2000 Server, Windows® 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows® 2000 Datacenter Server operating systems.

Successful management of Active Directory environments requires distribution of administrative responsibilities among multiple administrators according to organizational, operational, legal, and administrative requirements. Having the necessary background information, requirements, practices, and recommendations can help you delegate administration to more securely and efficiently manage Active Directory services and data.

Chapter 1: Delegation of Administration Overview

This chapter provides an overview of Active Directory management categories and stakeholders and a roadmap for successfully managing delegation of administration in Active Directory. It is targeted at all stakeholders involved in Active Directory management.

Chapter 2: How Delegation Works in Active Directory

This chapter takes an in-depth look at how delegation of administration actually works in Active Directory and presents all the technical aspects involved in delegation of Administration. It contains a wealth of information that will be useful for all stakeholders involved in Active Directory management.

Chapter 3: Delegating Service Management

This chapter presents an end-to-end perspective of Active Directory service management, and provides guidance on how to create, implement, and maintain a secure and efficient administrative delegation model for service management. It is targeted at Service Owners and Service Administrators.

Chapter 4: Delegating Data Management

This chapter presents an end-to-end perspective of Active Directory data management, and provides guidance on how to create, implement, and maintain a secure and efficient administrative delegation model for data management. Though it is targeted at Data Owners and Data Administrators, Service Owners and Service Administrators will also benefit from the information in this chapter.

Case Study: A Delegation Scenario

The case study walks through the creation, implementation, and maintenance of an administrative delegation model for a fictitious Active Directory environment based on the recommendations presented in Chapters 3 and 4. While it is primarily targeted at Service and Data administrators, service and data owners will also benefit from the case-study.

Best Practices for Delegating Active Directory Administration: Appendices

The appendices contain step-by-step procedures to help you administer and maintain Active Directory.

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
http://www.ArtDuane.com

Visual Studio Team System - Web Test Walkthroughs

These walkthroughs are designed to be done as a series. The later walkthroughs build upon the work begun in the earlier walkthroughs. The first two must be completed in order.

Walkthrough: Creating a Simple Web Application

In this walkthrough, you create a simple Web application, to which you can make arbitrary changes, to use as the basis for the rest of the walkthroughs.

Walkthrough: Recording and Running a Web Test

In this walkthrough, you create a Web test from a browser recording, and verify that it works correctly. You will also view request properties and specify a proxy server.

Walkthrough: Adding Validation and Extraction Rules to a Web Test

In this walkthrough, you will add validation and extraction rules to a Web test and verify that they work correctly.

Walkthrough: Adding Data Binding to a Web Test

In this walkthrough, you add data binding to a Web test and verify that it works correctly. You also create a Microsoft Access database data source to bind to.

Walkthrough: Adding Data Binding to a Web Test (CSV File)

In this walkthrough, you add data binding to a Web test and verify that it works correctly. You also create a simple CSV text file data source to bind to.

Walkthrough: Adding Data Binding to a Web Test (XML File)

In this walkthrough, you add data binding to a Web test and verify that it works correctly. You also create a simple XML text file data source to bind to.

Walkthrough: Creating a Coded Web Test

In this walkthrough you convert a recorded Web test into a coded Web test. After you convert the Web test to a coded Web test, you add new code to the Web test, and verify that it works correctly.

Walkthrough: Creating a Web Test that Requires a Login and Logout

In this walkthrough you create a Web application that requires the user to login and logout, and you create a Web test that tests the application. In this walkthrough you also create new Web tests by extracting requests from existing tests, and by composing existing Web test components.

Related Sections

• http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182537(VS.90).aspx
• http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182536(VS.90).aspx
• http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb385835(VS.90).aspx

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
Chief Technology Officer
http://www.ArtDuane.com

Antispyware helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software.

To keep up with the latest forms of spyware, you must keep your antispyware updated.

• Software that displays pop-up advertising on your computer, collects and relays your personal information, or changes the configuration of your computer, without appropriately obtaining your consent first, is called spyware.
• Many kinds of unwanted software, including spyware, are designed to be difficult to remove. If you try to uninstall this software like any other program, you might find that the program reappears as soon as you restart your computer.
• Windows Defender is designed to protect you against spyware. It features a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions.
  
  If you use Windows XP, you can download Windows Defender for free. Windows Defender comes with Windows Vista. If you use Windows Vista, do not download Windows Defender. For more information, see Windows Vista: Windows Defender.

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
Chief Technology Officer
http://www.ArtDuane.com

Digitally signed components causing slow startup of applications when there is no network connectivity.

Action
You attempt to start a digitally signed .NET Windows application or Windows service.

Result
The application starts very slowly. Digitally signed Windows services may time out during startup, with the Service Control Manager returning error "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."

Cause
This occurs because the application needs to download the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) for authentication purposes, and a lack of network connectivity causes the download to fail by timing out. A firewall can potentially block the download and when Windows first starts up, the network connection is not initialized yet.

Resolution

1. One way is to cache the certificates locally, but it will expire within 15 days.
2. Another method is to minimize the default network timeout setting. To change the default timeout please follow the "More Information" section in the following Microsoft Knowledgebase article:
   
   841632 You receive the "403.13 client certificate revoked" error message after you install the MS04-11 security update http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;841632
   


3. For a Windows service, you can increase the default timeout setting to allow the service to start by following these steps:
   
   
   
   1. In Registry Editor, locate, and then right-click the following registry subkey:
      
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
      
   
   
   2. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value. In the right pane of Registry Editor, notice that New Value #1 (the name of a new registry entry) is selected for editing.
      
   
   
   3. Type ServicesPipeTimeout to replace New Value #1, and then press ENTER.
      
   
   
   4. Right-click the ServicesPipeTimeout registry entry that you created in step c, and then click Modify. The Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears.
      
   
   
   5. In the Value data text box, enter the desired timeout value in milliseconds and click OK. For example, if the new service timeout should be 60 seconds (60000 milliseconds), then enter 60000.
      
   
   
   6. Restart the computer. You must restart the computer for Service Control Manager to apply this change.
      
   
   

APPLIES TO
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
Chief Technology Officer
http://www.ArtDuane.com

Getting Smarter on Windows Server: Tools and Resources for Windows, Linux, and UNIX Administrators.

Many software companies offer solutions that can help your organization to perform at a higher level. How Windows server products compare and work with other platforms?

Skills development is very important for all technology solution providers to remain competitive. Given the dynamic change in the technology market, IT professionals look for reference material, training, and support resources to help them get-up-to-speed quickly and learn best practices for managing their server and desktop systems.

You should also check out Getting Smarter on Windows Server Tools (pdf), which contains a treasure trove of links to resources helpful to IT managers. It has links on scripting and management, server and workstation deployments, using Windows Server for different roles, and how to protect data.

This document is a roadmap that provides a quick snapshot of books and online resources to help you to broaden your skills-base and make best use of Windows tools and technologies. Whether you are a Microsoft® Windows Server™ operating system administrator, a Linux/UNIX administrator or work in a multi-platform environment, you can use this as a road map to help you find the help you need.

Best Regards,
Duane Aritonang
Chief Technology Officer
http://www.ArtDuane.com