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Make Your Web Site Stand Out

When visitors add your web site to their Favorites or bookmark your site, what shows up in their list of sites? There are at least two things you can do to make sure your site stands out on anyone's list of Favorites, including a great idea that very few sites use. If you have a webmaster, he or she should be able to make these changes quickly, and those who maintain their own sites can easily handle these simple tasks.

First, make sure each page of your site has a good title. When you view your site in Internet Explorer or Netscape, what shows up at the very top of the screen? If it says "Home Page" or, even worse, "Untitled," that is what visitors will see when they include your site in their Favorites. Use "title" tags and add a title that describes the page.

And here's the thing very few sites do: Add a favicon file so that next to your site title in the Favorites list (and in the address bar when they go to your site) your logo appears instead of the ubiquitous Internet Explorer logo. (In Netscape, your logo will only appear in the address bar. The Netscape bookmark icon will be next to your site name in the bookmark file.) This is easy and quick and adds a real professional touch to your site. To see what I mean, take a look at my site. Go to http://www.IdeaLady.com/ and click on "Bookmark this page." (Netscape users, press Ctrl + D.) Then, open your favorites file and click on the IdeaLady link. You should see my lightbulb logo next to the title in your Favorites list (in IE) and next to the URL in the Address Bar (Netscape and IE).

For a good how-to article about creating your own favicon, go to http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/favicon.html. There is software called Irfanview that can easily create the favicon.ico file for you. Download it free (commercial users are asked to send $10) at http://www.irfanview.com/ It is easy to use, and can be used for a variety of graphics functions, in addition to creating your favicon.ico file.

Make your site stand out from the rest!

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with inexpensive and free marketing ideas. Get free tips, articles and more at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

MORE RESOURCES:

Yahoo! News Search Results for website design
Yahoo! News Search Results for website design

• Digital agency website to include forum on digital design trends (dBusinessNe...
Black Hawk, Colo.?Digital agency Relish Studio , Black Hawk, relaunches its website today, March 18. The URL is unchanged, www.relishstudio.com . In addition to expanded Relish-related content, including agency work, theory and capabilities, the new site will feature running commentary on industry-wide digital design trends . Initial topics will include browser ...
• Official launch of Thea?s new fan website (Maltamedia.com Daily News)
Malta?s 18 year old entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest, Thea Garrett, launched her official fan site. The direct link for her new fan website is www.theagarrett.com The website has been designed by Storm Design and maintained by Mark Soler. Fans can access this website for updated information on Thea?s latest events and get in touch with [...]
• Stanton Park Media Announces its Production Services with a New Website (PRWe...
With the assistance of web design firm, Blue Water Media, Stanton Park Media launches a new website to promote is full service production capabilities.
• Virtual Assistant Solutions Launches Website Design And Development Services ...
Having a website for your business is now considered an important aspect of owning your own business, but many people have no idea how to build and maintain an attractive and serviceable website.
• UNHCR relaunches its global French website (AlertNet)
Source: UNHCR UNHCR relaunches its global French website with a cleaner design, more than 220 new landing pages and thousands of documents and images.

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