Have you ever been doing something on a website and get an error?
Some programs will give you a little reward for reporting problems with there site.
Here is an example:
One of the Traffic Exchange programs I use, had a bug (or problem in their code) that I stumbled across. The problem was that when you added a website to your list, you had the ability to assign a percentage of your credits automatically to that site. The problem I found was that if you entered the percent sign with a number it would give you an error, i.e. 40%.
I submitted a support ticket, some programs may not have a ticket system and for those I would send in an email, with my findings.
A few days later they responded that they were looking into the issue, and gave me a free account upgrade for 60 days.
That was so cool. I'm a software tester by occupation, so this was just something natural for me and I didn't expect anything from them in return. So it was a nice surprise.
The upgrade increased my view ratio, so for the next two months I got a 3:2 ratio vs. a 2:1 ratio.
You never know when a suggestion, or bug report will get you a reward. So if you find a problem that isn't related to "user error", then feel free to report it to the site owner.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Check Terms of Service
Top Surfer was one of my favorite traffic exchanges in the past. I haven't used them in a while and signed up again recently.
My wife, who also has a site, also signed up and Top Surfer cancelled our accounts. Based off their response to my questions on this my assumption is that in their terms you can only have one account per household.
In my opinion, that is a very old approach to internet accounts, as anyone with multiple people in a house on the internet will come through the same IP address.
Due to this, I have removed them from my list of Traffic Exchanges, and caution you as well. Make sure to read all the terms for these programs (assuming you can get through all the BS). I generally take the approach they are all the same, but this is the only program that I've had this problem with.
In the end, it pays to take a few minutes and check the terms of service so you don't loose time and credit over silly things.
My wife, who also has a site, also signed up and Top Surfer cancelled our accounts. Based off their response to my questions on this my assumption is that in their terms you can only have one account per household.
In my opinion, that is a very old approach to internet accounts, as anyone with multiple people in a house on the internet will come through the same IP address.
Due to this, I have removed them from my list of Traffic Exchanges, and caution you as well. Make sure to read all the terms for these programs (assuming you can get through all the BS). I generally take the approach they are all the same, but this is the only program that I've had this problem with.
In the end, it pays to take a few minutes and check the terms of service so you don't loose time and credit over silly things.
Traffic Exchanges
What are Traffic Exchange programs?
Traffic exchanges are programs that facilitate people browsing other sites and earning credits so that their site gets shown to others as well. Some programs also display text links and banner ads.
Good:
These programs are very good at getting your site in front of people. You'll get lots of hits and feel good about getting some traffic. By referring others, you can even start getting more and more traffic without having to surf much yourself.
Bad:
Depending on what you are selling, the audience may not be very good. Most likely these are people that are doing the same as you, surfing for traffic. They aren't in the "I'm going to buy something" mode, but you never know. Also, check for which are auto vs. manual surfing. Auto surfing means the person doesn't have to manually click to go from site to site, so it raises the possibility that they aren't even paying attention when your site is shown.
I generally don't buy hits from these programs due to the items discussed in the Bad section, but as mentioned you never really know who will buy what, so it shouldn't be out of the question.
You can find a list of programs I've used here. I've used a bunch of these over the years, but have only recently gotten back into them, so my list is growing as I check them out.
Traffic exchanges are programs that facilitate people browsing other sites and earning credits so that their site gets shown to others as well. Some programs also display text links and banner ads.
Good:
These programs are very good at getting your site in front of people. You'll get lots of hits and feel good about getting some traffic. By referring others, you can even start getting more and more traffic without having to surf much yourself.
Bad:
Depending on what you are selling, the audience may not be very good. Most likely these are people that are doing the same as you, surfing for traffic. They aren't in the "I'm going to buy something" mode, but you never know. Also, check for which are auto vs. manual surfing. Auto surfing means the person doesn't have to manually click to go from site to site, so it raises the possibility that they aren't even paying attention when your site is shown.
I generally don't buy hits from these programs due to the items discussed in the Bad section, but as mentioned you never really know who will buy what, so it shouldn't be out of the question.
You can find a list of programs I've used here. I've used a bunch of these over the years, but have only recently gotten back into them, so my list is growing as I check them out.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Getting a Free Counter
When you have a site ready, you'll want to get a counter. A good counter will do more than just record visits to your pages, but also will give you the pages they saw, what site referred them, how long they stayed, and their geographic location.
All this information can help you in determining where your traffic is coming from, what pages are more popular, and even what pages they leave from.
The one I use is called SiteMeter. They have a free version and a premium version, but you get quite a bit with their free version. You can sign up for one here.
You can customize it so it shows the number of visitors or just displays a graphic. For a business site my preference is to show the image and put it out of the way.
After signing up, you can get a snipet of code to include in your site. Put it on every page and SiteMeter will collect information on all the pages that get visited.
All this information can help you in determining where your traffic is coming from, what pages are more popular, and even what pages they leave from.
The one I use is called SiteMeter. They have a free version and a premium version, but you get quite a bit with their free version. You can sign up for one here.
You can customize it so it shows the number of visitors or just displays a graphic. For a business site my preference is to show the image and put it out of the way.
After signing up, you can get a snipet of code to include in your site. Put it on every page and SiteMeter will collect information on all the pages that get visited.
How do I get a site online?
When you are ready, you can get a hosted site for a relatively cheap price. I've a link below to a page with a list of sites that you can use.
Hosting only gives you space to put a site, you also need to get a Domain Name. A Domain Name is what you see advertised all the time, such as www.compassmall.com. Each web host will have a place where you can get one of these and allow you to check the availability. If the one you want is taken, you'll have to thing of a different version of it or something totally different.
Web hosts list a monthly price for hosting, like $6.95/month, but generally you pay annually, so be prepared to pay for a full year. Also the domain name may not be included in the price, they usually go for about $13 a year.
Once you get that set up, you can work on building a site. Technically you can work on your site before you get a place on the internet, but either way if you aren't a techie then you'll want something relatively simple to use. FrontPage was a popular program, but its actually obsolete now, the new program to replace it is called SiteSpinner.
There are many different software packages that can help you build a site. Some of the hosting companies have a limited site builder you can use for free, so check out the companies and compare.
Hosting Companies
Hosting only gives you space to put a site, you also need to get a Domain Name. A Domain Name is what you see advertised all the time, such as www.compassmall.com. Each web host will have a place where you can get one of these and allow you to check the availability. If the one you want is taken, you'll have to thing of a different version of it or something totally different.
Web hosts list a monthly price for hosting, like $6.95/month, but generally you pay annually, so be prepared to pay for a full year. Also the domain name may not be included in the price, they usually go for about $13 a year.
Once you get that set up, you can work on building a site. Technically you can work on your site before you get a place on the internet, but either way if you aren't a techie then you'll want something relatively simple to use. FrontPage was a popular program, but its actually obsolete now, the new program to replace it is called SiteSpinner.
There are many different software packages that can help you build a site. Some of the hosting companies have a limited site builder you can use for free, so check out the companies and compare.
Hosting Companies
Real Men of Genius
I haven't heard them in a while, but I love those Real Men of Genius commercials they used to play on the radio. They were so funny.
Well, I finally found a site that has them in mp3 format so you can listen to them online. Go check them out, they are hilarious.
"Here's to you Pet Toy designer."
Real Men of Genius
Well, I finally found a site that has them in mp3 format so you can listen to them online. Go check them out, they are hilarious.
"Here's to you Pet Toy designer."
Real Men of Genius
How to Improve Computer Speed
How can I improve the speed of my computer?
Several things can impact the speed of your computer. Hardware upgrades will definitely help. However, at no cost there are things you can do to help your computer run faster.
This is specific to computers that run the Windows operating systems.
There are some applications native to windows that can help you maintain your computer's health. There is a simple three step process that will do wonders for the speed of your computer.
Do these steps in order:
1. Remove any unwanted programs.
Do this through Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs.
Be careful what you choose to remove, if you are not sure, you should probably keep it until you find out what it is. Remove any old software that you don't use anymore. That will free up space on your hard drive, which will be useful in the next steps.
2. Run the Disk Cleanup application.
Do this through Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup
This application will scan your hard drive and list areas of files that you can safely remove from your computer. These are old install files, temporary files, etc. Choose to remove all the files found. (you can use the check boxes to select which get removed)
3. Run the Disk Defragmenter application.
Do this through Start>Program>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Deframenter
This application will scan your hard drive and take all the fragmented files and put them together so that they can be accessed quicker when your computer looks for them.
Doing those three steps once a month will help keep your computer running better.
What's a fragmented file?
Files get fragmented all the time. One example is when you open an existing Word or Excel file and modify it. When you save the file again it's bigger than it was, so the computer can't put it all back into the space it was using on the hard drive. You might think, "no big deal, it'll just move it to an area with enough space". In actuality it puts part of the file in the old location, and the rest in another location on the disk.
Now when the computer needs to access this file it has to find both parts and put them together to have a valid file to open. You won't notice any speed difference on one file, but as you can imagine there are files all over your computer that get updated and saved back many times. By doing the above steps you can bring all these files back together and your computer will not take as long to access them.
Several things can impact the speed of your computer. Hardware upgrades will definitely help. However, at no cost there are things you can do to help your computer run faster.
This is specific to computers that run the Windows operating systems.
There are some applications native to windows that can help you maintain your computer's health. There is a simple three step process that will do wonders for the speed of your computer.
Do these steps in order:
1. Remove any unwanted programs.
Do this through Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs.
Be careful what you choose to remove, if you are not sure, you should probably keep it until you find out what it is. Remove any old software that you don't use anymore. That will free up space on your hard drive, which will be useful in the next steps.
2. Run the Disk Cleanup application.
Do this through Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup
This application will scan your hard drive and list areas of files that you can safely remove from your computer. These are old install files, temporary files, etc. Choose to remove all the files found. (you can use the check boxes to select which get removed)
3. Run the Disk Defragmenter application.
Do this through Start>Program>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Deframenter
This application will scan your hard drive and take all the fragmented files and put them together so that they can be accessed quicker when your computer looks for them.
Doing those three steps once a month will help keep your computer running better.
What's a fragmented file?
Files get fragmented all the time. One example is when you open an existing Word or Excel file and modify it. When you save the file again it's bigger than it was, so the computer can't put it all back into the space it was using on the hard drive. You might think, "no big deal, it'll just move it to an area with enough space". In actuality it puts part of the file in the old location, and the rest in another location on the disk.
Now when the computer needs to access this file it has to find both parts and put them together to have a valid file to open. You won't notice any speed difference on one file, but as you can imagine there are files all over your computer that get updated and saved back many times. By doing the above steps you can bring all these files back together and your computer will not take as long to access them.
Educational Software for Children
Have you been looking for educational software for your children?
Children love to play games and with such advanced technology today there are hundreds of different software titles available to help kids of all ages learn. Math, Science, Languages and more, you just need a safe and reliable place to purchase them.
Compass Mall can help you get in touch with some of the most reliable merchants on the internet, and we have a special section dedicated to children's educational software. Come check us out and get your child learning today!
www.compassmall.com
Children love to play games and with such advanced technology today there are hundreds of different software titles available to help kids of all ages learn. Math, Science, Languages and more, you just need a safe and reliable place to purchase them.
Compass Mall can help you get in touch with some of the most reliable merchants on the internet, and we have a special section dedicated to children's educational software. Come check us out and get your child learning today!
www.compassmall.com
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