All Forums Threads for all open (public) forums http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:09:15 -0500 60 Favourite Graphics http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75527 Is there any particular reason for this, and do you ever try to step out of your comfort zone when designing?

Personally I like to do website design, but I sometimes find myself stuck in a rut and end up creating very similar things. I've been trying to vary my styles but sometimes it can be pretty hard when you don't have the motivation or inspiration tongue.gif]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:04:29 -0500 75527 What Would You Recommend? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75528 What would you suggest?]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:07:15 -0500 75528 Traffic From Facebook With Zero Work? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75532
I do nothing to get those visitors. I don't even have a personal presence at Facebook.

What can I do to increase that traffic? I am antisocial and I would rather spend any free time creating content for my site, so assume I don't want to participate on the Facebook site.

Any ideas?
]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:06:34 -0500 75532 Oranges (but No Lemons Please) http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73888
how does this one grab you: slow motion as a suitable pallete for my site (in signature)?]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:31:51 -0500 73888 How Many Words? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73587
Also, a pal (successful aff chap) told me that the ideal length to increase conversions is 250 words (based on someone else's research).

I had been keeping new articles short.

But (big butt)

Just looked at my most popular articles in the SE's and they are all in the range 800-1500 words.

Got me thinking:

1. maybe many recent articles need beefing up
2. is there an ideal length?
3. why did I drink so much Rioca on a Tuesday night?]]> Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:27:14 -0400 73587 Programs http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75526 ]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:04:08 -0500 75526 <![CDATA[Colors: Looking For Feedback On Website & Forums Color Schemes]]> http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75473
I'm looking for some additional input on the colors used on a website that's almost ready for site launch. I'm wondering if anybody can provide some feedback on things.

Here's a direct link to the message board to check out the colors:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/phpbbforum

The color scheme is currently being worked on so the colors in those forums might change after I post this.

The basic colors/shades that are being for the site consist of:

blue (mostly dark blue, though some light too)
yellow (a "gold" type of shade is the idea)
grey (light or medium shades)
black

Any thoughts or reflections, suggestions, recommendations, input, feedback, any of that would be greatly appreciated. smile.gif

]]> Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:29:43 -0500 75473 Which Site Gives The Most Accurate Results For Checking Backlinks To Sites http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75494 I got an error message saying they reached their quota for today
from yahoo.

Is there a toolbar for IE 8 besides Google's for finding out
backlinks to sites.
]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:03:27 -0500 75494 Who Creates Fud In The Seo Market Place? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75515 SEO love and hate, I realized that an instinctive reaction I had was wrong.

You'll see many people who feel that SEO is marketed using FUD, that's Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. The assumption is that all those spamming emails you receive offering to get you on the first page of Google use this. You must have thousands of web pages and thousands of back links or you will not achieve this obviously important ranking.

I realized in writing that the biggest creator of FUD in this scenario is Google itself. In some ways there was a similar FUD situation some years back when DMOZ.org (remember that) was widely touted to be an important place to be listed. DMOZ was overwhelmed by the volume of requests and given its very human editors it had to work behind an impenetrable wall. You got no feed back and you would only know you were listed when you were listed. Some had really nail-biting times around that one.

Luckily Google now finds so many good links that DMOZ no longer creates FUD for anyone. Unfortunately this now much more important entity is very DMOZ-like in its behaviour. It clearly can only deal with scaleable solutions, which means all significatnt interactions particularly for SMBs and entrepreneurs will only occur via computer communications. People in consequence are now biting their nails back to their elbows. If you unknowingly do something that puts an X against your website, you may not even be aware but the consequences can be disastrous.

To give Google its due, it does provide a full armory of tools to help you figure out whether you should be worrying. Unfortunately once Google has a URL in its index, it is sometimes elephant-like in its ability to keep it around even though it may be erroneous and have been corrected in real life.

Perhaps it's inevitable that such a huge enterprise will create FUD. What do you think? Could they avoid this in some way that would work?]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:22:33 -0500 75515 Beautiful Creative Sites http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=68274
Thought I would share some of those and hopefully you have some to add to the list. please try to post really good ones, interesting to see what sites inspire others, got some more to share (bookmarked at work)

Here's a few from me



http://www.saizenmedia.com/nightwish/

http://www.2advanced.com/

Interested to see your comments

D

* removed dead link]]> Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:51:21 -0400 68274 Flash Program http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75499 I am new here. Our website was originally designed in Dreamweaver and then I took it over (working on it) a few years ago, using Contribute, which is very easy to use. The owner would now like to have a slide photo on our home page and I have been looking at flash programs. Photo Flash Maker looks pretty good to me and not real expensive. Just wondering if anyone has used it and if a decent program? Or any other suggestions for a inexpensive program to use for this. We also have a navigation bar across the top of our site which I cannot get in to change I am assuming because done in Dreamweaver. So I would like to change that also, but am finding out that this is another program. Is there such a thing as a flash/slide photo program as well as a navigation generator bar built in together?
Thanks,
Linda]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:39:29 -0500 75499 Google - The Hungry Beast http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75517

Interesting video (2'46) by Austrlia's ABC TV program "The Hungry Beast"

See the video

For the record, I don't think Google has plans to dominate the world, take over world leadership etc. They're a huge company making lots of money and they plan/hope to keep it that way.

Google is Microsoft, in other words. And I'm fine with that. I didn't like Microsoft's unfair competition crushing tactics and I don't like Google's ways of removing competition either.

I live with Microsoft because I find it a really nice operating system to work with with tons and tons of things to do and find for it. I like WIndows Live Writer, Office, Messenger...

In the same way I live with Google. Years later still nothing can come close to the smooth, smart presentation and interaction with email the way Gmail does. I use it all the time. Docs? Nuhuh... Street view? Awesome! I can be home away from home!

Search was starting to bug me, the way they were cluttering their SERP's. But you know what? No need to pretend Google's the only option: that was true 10 years ago, not today. I use Bing all the time -- you might prefer Yahoo. You'll soon notice how whichever it is, the main results are always more than sufficient ("good enough") while the stuff you have to dig for... is stuff you would have to dig for elsewhere anyway.]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:01:22 -0500 75517 Do You Date Your Blog Posts? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75518
I now think that leaving the date off doesn't remove the stigma of "old." I think that avoiding a fixation on "old" has more to do with a backlash against the pressure of having something new for RSS readers and social media. Readers will trust what's recently posted to be more current, if you date your posts or not.

Really, "old" is "old" only where the content is "news." Before blogging, web sites were more like showcases. Blogging has blurred the lines between what is news and what is a more-or-less evergreen showcase of reference material.

You don't want your evergreen to get lost in a long timeline full of time-sensitive posts, as is natural with an active blog over time. Taking the dates off just makes it harder for the visitor to tell if it's old news, without making it easier to tell if the content is evergreen.

There's got to be a better way.

I'm leaning in favor of periodic digest posts that are new news in themselves, but also have a list of links to evergreen references. This approach is worlds different than what a random "related posts" plugin would do, because it is curated.

What do you think?]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:19:12 -0500 75518 Are Keywords In Your Url That Important? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74027
It's domain age, page backlinks, domain backlinks don't even come close to competing with the other sites. And it's onpage coding is horrific (I noticed that the links point to another site, which is most likely the real vendor here)

Is it safe to say the having the keywords in your domain trumps all the other important elements of SEO by a mile? Is it THAT important? If so, that would be such a shame that people can game the system like this.]]> Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:18:02 -0500 74027 Are No Follow Link Worth Less..? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74205 ]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:52:37 -0500 74205 What Is Seo Pr, Where Can I Find Tools To Track This? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73959
I'm new at this forum, I found out about this site through Markus Frinds blog. He keeps talking about getting a high PR. I'm not any where close to finishing my site, but I would like to know where I can view this metric, if it is a metric? How do you get a high PR? Is it associated with keywords rankings?]]> Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:43:20 -0500 73959 What To Do With Old Pages With Good Pr? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74267
My e-commerce site sometimes has products that are discontinued. What should I do with these product pages? I was about to delete one yesterday, but it has a PR4, so it seems a shame to delete it, but it also doesn't make sense to have a page that says, 'out of stock' on it.

Should I do a 301 re-direct from this page to another related, but definitely different, product?

Thanks,

Risa
]]> Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:53:23 -0500 74267 New Design Approach http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75280
http://lawfirm.ionisis.com/

I am, notoriously, NOT a designer. Period. So i cannot understand what the competition is doing right, that i am doing wrong. I spent a day examining their sites, and i noticed that they had some common traits:

*) Almost NO text on the page! A paragraph, maybe two, 4 short paragraphs at the most.
*) A LOT of images! I hate images, and feel that they clutter up the real content....
*) "ORDER NOW!", All over the page. That seems like you are harassing the visitor, to me.....

As you can tell, i'm obviously not much for marketing either. So i am trying a new combination of page elements:
*) A SINGLE image (not a whole bunch of them), that attempts to quickly convey what the site is for, and what to do next
*) A reasonable amount of text, to explain the same
*) Some sample images (probably not the best idea, the way i'm doing it, though...)

So, i'm gathering feedback on this approach, and i'm running it for a couple of weeks to see where it gets me...

I just KNOW that there is a magic combination of on page elements that will catch and keep the user's interest and confidence. I just wish i could figure out what the heck that combination is! Until then, it's trial and error.

Thanx!]]> Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:33:17 -0500 75280 Text On A Landing Page http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75486
I'm trying to figure out the balance between having interesting keyword-rich content on my landing page, and the fact that this content on top pushes the products I'm trying to sell down, so that you don't see them on the screen without scrolling down.

My product pages have 35 thumbnails on them - 5 across and 7 rows. My shopping cart is set up to put content above and below the thumbnails, but who is scrolling so far down to read a few more paragraphs? Although the content on the bottom is good for the search engines, it's not really good for usability.

Even 2 paragraphs of content on top pushes the thumbnails down to the bottom of the screen. I firmly believe that it is my selection and the photos that are the compelling part of the page, and what people are looking for, and will lead to sales. Interesting content is the bonus that might make people buy from me vs. someone else, but ultimately, it's the photos that make people click on the thumbnail to go to the detail page and buy.

If I push these thumbnails down, I really feel like I'm hurting myself.

How do other people balance the content vs. the thumbnails on landing pages?

Thanks.

Risa]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:39:59 -0500 75486 Html5 - Time To Start Getting An Education http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75495
And that's a good thing, imo. Otherwise, it will never happen.

So what is HTML5? Well, it's the next version of the web's markup language, simply put. One of its goals is to be able to free browsers from having to use plugins for things like audio and video (yay!)

Another really cool feature, and one that is of particular interest to me as an SEO, is that it brings about a new structure that makes it very easy to tell search engines what's what.

Nav is <nav>, footer is <footer>, header is <header>, etc. Some aren't quite as intuitive as they could be, but once you get the reasoning, it all makes sense. For instance, a sidebar is <aside>, which could also be any kind of content that isn't directly related to the ... you guessed it ... <article>. biggrin.gif

And of course, there's audio and video <audio> and <video>, which is really in the news right now, as people are excited about dumping Flash, but unsure about which video decoder format should be the standard.

Lots more goodies with HTML5 await those who are jumping in.

And don't even get me started on combining HTML5 with CSS3 !!!! Woot! Heaven!

Anyway, it's time, folks, to start dipping your toes in these future waters.

I've got a new site going that is just a few weeks old that has, as its goal, to provide free templates using HTML5 (and CSS3 sometimes too). Of course, the big drawback is that I'm not a designer, so while I'm managing to crank out about 1 new template per day, it would be nice if I could find some others to help contribute to it. So, that's another goal of mine - get contributors, and in return, I'll give them tons of love and appreciation and hopefully send traffic their way. So feel free to learn about HTML5 and even play around with some of my templates to figure it all out. (And please, don't expect perfection from me!) You can download any of my templates at http://freehtml5templates.com and make your own customizations to them.

Let's learn together and be ready for the future together.

If you already have some HTML5 experience under your belt, what are your thoughts? Favorite features? Wishes?]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:13:22 -0500 75495 Domin Age Signifigance http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75357
I have a question regarding the importance of domain age and organic
search optimization. I have a new site under construction that I am planning
on running an SEO campaign for and am considering the purchase of domain
through a broker that was identified by archive.org as being 5 years old.

However this same domain has no links pointing to it. Will it be worth the
money to buy this domain solely on its age? No matter which way I go ...
new domain or old ... I am planning on getting a strong link campaign going
for it. Would it be possible that buying the old domain will shorten the overall
time it takes to get my pages indexed and even ranked well?

Any advice here will be appreciated as always ...

Ben]]> Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:42:05 -0500 75357 Wav To Mp3 Converter http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75373 What is the best commercial wav to mp3 converter? Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:18:15 -0500 75373 Google Trying To Speed Up Websites http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75451
Web Sites That Suck Increase Stress

QUOTE
We know that slow, balky, and confusing websites aren’t a good thing. Traffic metrics show this, as does conversion data. Google, whom some think of as passively indexing the web, believes quick-loading pages are essential to a good user experience. Google is, in fact, actively trying to speed up websites (and keep their search users happy) by making page load time a ranking factor. (See Barry Schwartz’s article at Search Engine Land describing Google’s Matt Cutts commentary at Pubcon.)
]]> Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:18:51 -0500 75451 Better Site Planning Leads To Better Site Creation? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74748
I registered a domain, set up the hosting/server/etc., and started communicating with some people who shared similar Stargate type interests about creating a website for the online Stargate community.

The purpose in the website is to serve as a central location for the "guilds"/"clans" (called "commands" in the Stargate games) and for the "alliances" (combined groups of those "commands"). Basically, a social network kind of website that focuses on the formed groups and forming of groups within the Stargate games.

The primary feature of the site is to offer directories, or listings, of the groups so that they can more easily recruit prospective new members. Additional site features are part of the plans for incorporating into the site.

Here's a list of the 9 main sections of the site:
* News (possibly blog-based for main site news; plus syndication for news from similar sites)
* Directories (for the 1st game) (database?)
* Directories (for the 2nd game) (database?)
* Chat (IRC, TeamSpeak, and Meebo)
* Forums (considering phpbb3 at the moment)
* Wiki (any wiki app, it'll be a basic section, nothing fancy)
* Gallery (maybe coppermine, but open alternatives)
* Info (basic information page, contacts, etc.)
* Links (to major websites affiliated with Stargate & these 2 online games)

The problem we experienced with the site planning and preparation process was a bit of double-edged sword. On one side, we had plenty of time to get things sorted out (considering the release date of the games has been a very very long time in waiting). That has given us ample time to establish specifics of site structure and content. And so, we discussed all kinds of ideas. On the other side, we had plenty of time to get things sorted out. That has given us ample opportunities to actually create the web pages for the website. And as such, given those opportunities, the volunteer group never actually created a single page.

Given the volunteer nature of the site - and it's being driven with a purpose of "of the people, by the people, and for the people of the Stargate community" - and the state of the online game(s) basically being put on hold... the site creation status basically ended up also being put on hold.

Originally, there was only one online game in production. Recently, a second game was announced (I believe it is to help collect funding to finish the first game). The game production company stated that the game will be released in the first quarter of 2010, which by my assumption is by March. That gave cause for a reawakening of the website creation process. So I have been attempting to revitalize the group, only hoping that pages will actually be created for the site.

Now, I feel like our previous attempt - last year - consisted of over planning, which ultimately resulted in zero pages being created for the site. There has been a sort of facelift in the planning process, I'm trying to implement a more active and hopefully more motivating approach toward the volunteer group physically creating the web pages for the site. I don't think one can really over plan something as long as they actually live up to their planning and actually create what they say they're going to create.

I'd say that more is not better. That might be a commonly mixed up interpretation of how planning a site plays out. The more planning there is, well, it can just lead into endless discussions not entirely unlike that of some planning committee from the bureaucratic bunch of Vogons of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Perhaps better is achieving balance between what is planned and what is physically done. So along with our redoing our entire site infrastructure, we've also devised a fresh task list. The list has already been revised. At first it included the "directories" (possibly requiring databases?) but we found out that there wasn't much help available from the volunteers in the realm of mysql or similar. So, we re-tasked the task list basically, and now the easiest pages are at the top of the list, if just for allowing us to get something created.

At the moment a friend of mine - the first "in person" person I know to participate in this seemingly massive project (everyone else in the volunteer group has been online-only, from across the world) - anyway, my friend said she could take a look at creating a "framework" (I think that's the word she used) for the site. That would be a wonderful step forward. Though she works with building professional websites at her job, so I'm not sure how much time she'll have for this. Either way, I'm waiting patiently (and excitedly!) to see what she comes up with.

My part thus far with the site has included a lot of creative input, wrangling together a team of Stargate fans who are interested in volunteering to help realize this website, I've been done some work with the server-side of things (setting up subdomains/accounts/etc.), and more recently... I made a weak attempt at creating the actual "registration forms" that will be used on the "directories" sections of the site. I cheated though, I used phpform.org to help me out. The forms still need revising though, some code stuff that is beyond me. (I'm not versed in html, php, etc. coding/scripting. I'm a professional musician, so that's where my talent goes.)

Long message, sorry about that. Ultimately, I'm hoping to just... well... get this website created so it can be officially "launched". The game production company even said they'd announce the website on their website when we're online.

Here is a link to a very simple group of pages that describe the site intentions:
http://sites.google.com/site/commandcentersite/

Does anybody have any input, suggestions, recommendations, advice, ideas to help with things?

Thank you!

cheers.gif]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:45:54 -0500 74748 Slogan For A Business http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73824
I'm debating what to choose. Honestly our strength is our customer service, but these days everyone writes "Best Customer Service" on their slogan. So much that it makes them look unreal. So I'm afraid if i put something like "No customers left behind" it would sound too generic and no one will believe it.

my second choice was to write a slogan about hookah itself.

the third choice is something about fast delivery.


what are your thoughts?]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:23:50 -0500 73824 Another Thanks To The Forums http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75444
QUOTE
We would like to extend our thanks to A.N.Onym and the people over at Cre8asiteForums for their support and input during the site development process and to everyone who has shared an interest in supporting the Command Center upon site launch.

http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/cont...cknowledgements]]> Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:37:24 -0500 75444 A Tale Of Two Carts http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75420
One is "checkout1" the other "checkout4"

I would love to get feedback from people here about the two versions, and information about what we could test next, barriers that are causing shoppers to leave, etc..

If you access our site www.toolup.com - place anything into the cart, and then click the "Proceed to Checkout" button - you will see that your URL will contain either "checkout1" or "checkout4". You can, at that point, change the url to be either 1 or 4 and you will both of them.

www.toolup.com/secure/checkout1/checkout.asp
or
www.toolup.com/secure/checkout4/checkout.asp

Obviously - you need to access these from the shopping cart - and not just the links above.

I welcome thoughts and ideas regarding our take on shopping carts - and any ideas that you think might help us to increase conversion rates.

Thank you,
Kevin
]]> Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:18:15 -0500 75420 Weird Dreamweaver Design View Issue http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75457
Something strange happenned. All of a sudden one of my sites is showing without the CSS alterations in the design view of Dreamweaver. Basically it looks as if there was no css files linked to it.

If I upload it to the test server, it's all good ( as before )

Also, i have another site which was based on a copy of the first site, it behaves normally.

Now here is a clue. I use root-relative links. i.e. /css/style.css
This has never been a problem in the Dreamweaver design view.
When I change it to document relative, i.e. ../css/style.com then the styles are starting to come back. I really don't want to waste hours changing all my links now.

The weird thing is that one site behaves well and the other not. And I have not changed anything as far as I can tell. Any ideas on this? Is this some setting? or maybe a glitch?

Thanks
Peter]]> Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:56:01 -0500 75457 Browser Caching For Faster Websites http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75450
I'm using the Firefox Addon to measure Page Speed and it gives some great advice. I recommend it to all. Apparently a similar plugin for Chrome is on the way. I'm not sure whether Microsoft has got on to this band wagon at all.

The number one issue on many of my sites is browser caching. I'm not signaling how long objects should be cached. Unfortunately after searching around I know this is something that gets handled in the HTTP connection but have not the faintest idea where to start on handling this.

Please can someone write or point me to the Browser Caching for Dummies article or explain where I go and what I do.]]> Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:07:55 -0500 75450 Doing Sums In Php http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75437
Been far too long since I last visited and I miss you all. Got two new jobs and am now a qualified Tai Chi instructior so not a lot of time free.

Anyway, got a little project that has a payment portal. If the customer decides to use this there is a 2% card charge. Before they enter the amount in the 'pay me' box we would like to let the customer calculate the 102% cost. I can't alter the payment portasl code (it's not mine to fiddle with).

I'm assuming there is a simple way in php/js to calculate the new amount but I'm the world's worse programmer.

It's going to be something like: input value > $value=$value*1.02 > echo $value

If I try to do it myslef there will be a semi colon missing or an extra ! so any help woiuld be most appreciated.

Graham

]]> Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:49:20 -0500 75437 B2evolution Pinging Twitter http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75434
I've not been here for a long time and am very glad to see C8 still going strong.

Once again i'm going to test your motto that ' there's no such thing as a dumb question'.

I'm new to blogging and have recently set one up with B2Evolution ( www.occasionalramblings.com ). Every time i write a new blog it gets pinged to various places, one of which is Twitter. But it says that to be pinged to Twitter i have to have an account with them. I opened an account with Twitter yesterday and what i would like to know - here comes the newbie question - is how do i let my blog know that i now have a Twitter account and that it can ping Twitter successfully.

I look forward to any answers.

Thanks.

Mike

]]> Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:01:35 -0500 75434 Problem With Mysql Query http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75400 The date is formatted from mysql format yyyy-mm-dd into my forms format which is dd-mm-yyyy as shown in the query below. it works when no condition is set, but when I set a condition, it does not show anyhting and returns the following error message:

Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in

This is the sql qyery

$result = mysql_query("SELECT destination date_FORMAT(departureDate, '%d/%m/%Y') as formattedDate from holidays where formattedDate = '$dep' ");


It doesnt like the formattedDate in the condition bit where etc.

I have formated the departureDate as formated date and it the value should be in the formatted date but why it doesnt like it?

Note, the '$dep' returns a valid value when I print it

Any one knows how to solve the problem?

thanks in advance
]]> Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:18:33 -0500 75400 Www.skintactix.com http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74898
I am new to this forum but have really enjoyed the ideas of many of the contributors. I thinks it's time to get feedback on my site. Let me know what you think.

I have made some changes over the last year to help drive sales and traffic. Any ideas are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan

www.skintactix.com]]> Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:43:58 -0500 74898 Website Review...! http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74872
How can i improve my toronto apartments rent website. I would like if you people can give ideas for toronto apartments rent website.How can i make my toronto apartments rent website more professional

please look at http://www.4rentgta.com]]> Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:13:56 -0500 74872 Photo Not Positioned Correctly In Ie 7 http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75380 http://www.bestbuymetals.com/vizualizer-1.html

The photo is made with one photo that has the entire picture, then a layer with a transparent background that just shows the roof color.

This roof color photo changes when you hover over the colors on the bottom.

But... In IE7, the transparent photo that changes isn't lined up correctly with the photo in the background.

(they are both positioned using CSS, but have to be relative positioned because of the way I have the page centering).

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

It works fine in IE8, Chrome, and Firefox, best I can tell.]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:40:01 -0500 75380 Forums + Site = Without Additional Scrollbar (how Do I Do This?) http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75342
I did some digging around in these forums for a subject that might address what I'm trying to do but my specific case either hasn't come up (it probably has in some form or another) or I didn't find a close-enough subject. In any case, here's what I've got and what I'm trying to accomplish...

CMS: Drupal.
Forums: phpBB3.
Bridge: "phpbbforum" module in Drupal.

Goal:

To display the forums within the Drupal site without using an iframe (or similar) so that only one scrollbar is used. (I would really like to have just the one scrollbar, for the whole site and the forums.)

What I have done so far:

Drupal, phpbb3, and phpbbforum module are all installed and configured, the user accounts are synchronized between the CMS and the forums, it is very nice.

During configuration of the bridge I ran into some difficulties setting phpBB3 to display within Drupal without having to resort to an iframe temporary solution, which is where I'm at right now.

The phpbbforum module features 3 display options: 1) in window, 2) in frame, and 3) in drupal page - with "in drupal page" being, what I assume, actually within the page without using a frame. However, even with "in drupal page" enabled, when accessing the forums with this setting they take up the entire window (the rest of the site is not present).

I added an "iframe" module within Drupal and it is forcing the forums to display within Drupal, though obviously as a frame, which includes that second scrollbar. I tried adjusting the iframe height and setting the iframe scrollbar to enabled, disabled, and automatic. None of those really do the trick, as some forum pages are short, while other forum pages are long, and with a fixed height and disabled frame scrollbar that presents new issues that are farther from a possible solution than where I started.

So, I'd like to just disable iframe entirely, which I will be experimenting with.

There is a "URL alias" module that I am supposed to use to bridge the forums with the CMS, where the forums are located in "main/forums" and the bridge is "main/phpbbforum". (I was following the bridging instructions exactly, though it was actually during this stage that some things started getting hinky (aka weird.))

Any ideas on how I can accomplish the goal of having the forums display in the site's page without using either an iframe, a fixed height, or an additional scrollbar?

Here is a direct link to the forums within the site:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/content/forums
(Please forgive the current incomplete state of the site. We haven't launched yet, hope to soon.)

I'm currently experimenting with the forums+site, so there's a chance that it might look different from when I post this to when anyone looks at the pages in that link.


Thank you!



EDIT:

Great news... no more need for a frame and that annoying 2nd scrollbar.
The only trick is... figuring out how to implement the style settings now.

I only made the change to the board's index, so there are still URL aliases floating around (if you click on any of the forums from the index it'll go back to the previous view).

Here's the board index with the correct layout, actually embedded into the site with 1 scrollbar:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/phpbbforum
(I had to remove the board index URL alias and link the menu item to the bridge instead of the iframe page. The forums, in this state, are quite literally blending in with the site, though there are some missing elements. I think I'm going to just remove all of the URL aliases, just not yet, they seem to be interfering with the board's ability to be truly embedded within the site (at least without having to use iframe and 2nd scrollbar.))

Here's one of the pages within the forums using the previous iframes setting:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/cont...center-forums-3
(The version we won't use, simply because it's in a frame, even if no scrollbar, the limitations of a fixed height really do more bad than good for the site. However, the forums theme/style is present, we need to implement that style into the "main/phpbbforum" link. If that can be done then everything will be perfect.)

Here's one of the in-between settings, it obviously isn't going to be used:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/content/forums

So, the frame/scrollbar issue has been resolved, yet it introduces the theming/style issue: How can the forum style be implemented within this page:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/phpbbforum

There are 2 folders in the board's styles directory for the 1 style:
subsilver2
subsilver2-embed
(These were provided with the module that bridges Drupal and phpBB3. At present, or at least by default, the two directories should be working together. The images are obviously working, I uploaded them to both directories (the stargate chevrons, stargate icons, similar). Would the style apply correctly if the CSS files were copied over into both directories?)

EDIT 2:

Okay, quick update...

One of the people working with the look/feel/styles/colors on the site has been working with the CSS files for the colors and such with the forums. He said he copied his CSS files over into both "subsilver2" and "subsilver2-embed" but there's no change. :-\

EDIT 3:

Okay, I've been doing a lot of digging around, various settings, file edits, etc. and things are fixed now.
]]> Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:49:53 -0500 75342 Prioritizing The Role Of Social Media In An Internet Marketing Plan http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75382
I'm struggling with where/how to prioritize social media, as part of an overall internet marketing plan, especially when time and resources are limited for my e-commerce website.

Is social media for every website? Are there some niches that just don't lend themselves to Twitter and Facebook? Or is social media definitely right for every website, and it's just a matter of finding the most appropriate social media platform, finding my voice, and finding my audience?

When trying to balance the other things that take up time, like keyword research, content creation including articles, blog posts, and newsletters, adding new products including good descriptions with photos that I take, link-building, and analytics, exactly where does social media fit in and what % of my time should I devote to it, which means time away from other things that I'd rather be doing and enjoy more.

I've made lame and vain attempts at Twitter and Facebook. It just falls flat for me. I can't get excited about it. It's forced and it bores me. Yahoo answers is easier for me to do - it's more straightforward and I'd do it more, if I only prioritized it more. I know I should be commenting on blogs in my niche, and guest blogging, and other social things like that.

When I do spend time on internet marketing, is there anything wrong with focusing just 100% of that time on direct manual link building - researching relevant sites and contacting them? (I think social media is indirect link-building.) Is it OK to do internet marketing one thing at a time, like get a good handle on link-building before moving on to another piece of the social media pie.

Any advice would be appreciated. (And if it supports my non-involvement in social media, even better!)

Thanks.

Risa]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:24:09 -0500 75382 Leaving Comments In My Wordpress Blog http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75383
In my Wordpress blog, it doesn't seem easy to leave comments, so I'm wondering if this is just the way it is, or if I picked a lamo template.

Right now, to leave a comment on my blog, on this line:

Posted by Risa on February 20th, 2010 — in New Items, Holidays | No Comments

you have to click on 'no comments' which is a link to leave a comment. But what is not obvious is that after you click on 'no comments' at the bottom of the screen, the comment fields appear.

There's no way that anyone would figure that out.

What's normal and if it's the template, how do I pick one that has a good commenting system?

Thanks.

Risa]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:34:02 -0500 75383 Mine Data From The Internet? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75365
How would one mine data from the internet? I was reading about this and I still don't understand how this works. Do you need to write a program to "get" or "scrape" data from different sources from the internet and then take that data and put it onto your site? How is that even possible ....]]> Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:19:03 -0500 75365 What Is Database Marketing? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74831
It is mentioned a in a job description.

Do you think that gaining a Marketing qualification (not a bog one, maybe a 1 year course etc.) would help me land a job in SEO/SEM?]]> Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:58:58 -0500 74831 Linked In Nightmare Helped Needed http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75254
Having HUGE problems getting my website to show.

They show to me, but others say they don't show.]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:34:09 -0500 75254 How To Give Or Take 2 Days In Mysql http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75264 I have a query in php that displays the date from one range to another and it works. In my table sometimes there are no records for the dates selected but I want to display records from alterantive dates for instance, the next couple of days. Is there a query I can use to show the next 2 days as well as the dates selected by the user. something like give or take 2 days?

This is the sql query:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT departureDate, returnDate, type where departureDate = '$dep' and returnDate = '$ret' and type = '$typeof' order by returnDate asc")

so its the departureDate that will nedd the interval adding to 1 or 2, the same holds for returnDate.




Any advise would be appreciated


Thanks]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:45:14 -0500 75264 Bounce Rate On B2b Websites http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75306
I'm working on a B2B website that offers software development services and has a pretty high (60-80%) bounce rate from search traffic for related phrases.

I know we need to work on the website more, but are there some industry average for bounce rate in B2B areas?

Also, does it matter that we have a pretty long sales cycle: should it influence the bounce rate or not?

I checked and we do have some interested visitors who find exactly what they were looking for with significantly lower bounce rate, but most of rest just bounce. Also, we don't get much SE traffic at the moment, so GA sees bounces for 1 visit keyphrases as 100% bounces.

I guess I'm much more clueless regarding assessing bounce rates, than I thought.

Thank you.

P.S. I wanted to post in the SEM forum, but the subforum is about promotion. In this case, I think we need to work on either design, content or both. To think about it, it's probably more suitable for the SEO forum, but it only focuses on on-page SEO, not analytics (only "get found in SEs").]]> Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:22:09 -0500 75306 Help! My Site Sucks On Mobile Devices http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75355
What do you do? How do you do it? Do you have to make a new web site version for mobile?

Looking for experiences and advice from those out there who know what to do, since there is a growing need for us to know this. nanacomputer.gif]]> Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:54:42 -0500 75355 <![CDATA[Developing Requirements Documentation[]]> http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74887 Developing Requirements Documentation.

I had mentioned this in a talk at SMX East last year and was literally pounded on my folks afterwards for more information, as well as cheered on for even noting the importance of requirements gathering.

I need to get to writing up more about the topic and teaching how to do this on a budget.]]> Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:58:15 -0500 74887 Really Frustrated With Resolutions/fonts/monitors! http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75354
I upgraded to a newer version of Thesis for that one and that's when the trouble started. I use the same custom CSS on another blog, but it has an earlier version of Thesis and is so far behaving.

But, I've noticed a trend with client sites too. Nobody's sites render the same on all browsers anymore! Either they're too wide and create a horizontal scrollbar or are designed for the main content to sit in the middle with space on the left and right sides, but depending on the monitor you have, that space can be huge!

Font sizes...rule of thumb, I thought, had changed to using font size percentages instead of pixels, because that gave a better chance of the correct size font rendering the way you wanted it to. However, I see cases where that's boloney! Percentages render differently on IE and FF.

So I'm frustrated! I like flex width layouts with some breathing room on the sides, top and bottom. Does anyone know what's happening out there? Is there some code that makes margins and fonts work the same way on all browsers or do we need to put in different styles for browsers AND different versions of browsers.

This is nuts! frustration.gif]]> Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:36:09 -0500 75354 Review http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74724 I am new to wordpress and thesis, but it is so fun, and user friendly, and the community is amazing. OK, I am in the industry of real estate, so this means I see things differently than people not in our industry, so I would honestly enjoy some fresh new eyes to look into the site and concept. preforeclosuretours.com Remember I am brand new into the world of blogging. Thank you for any of your help that you can give me. Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:42:32 -0500 74724 What Do You Think Of .net Domains? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75349
So, if you could not get widgets.com would you be happy running a site on widgets.net?

Just looking for opinions and feedback.

Thanks! smile.gif]]> Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:52:57 -0500 75349 How Do We Maintain Forums Style While Embedded In A Site? http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75345
I recently posted in another forum here about an issue with an iframe and 2nd scrollbar being (previously) required in order to successfully embed forums into a site. That case was solved, yet it introduced a new issue... the message board's style is not present anymore with the properly-embedded version of the forums within the site.

There are currently a few settings going on, some with iframe (allowing the board's style/theme), and the actual "board index" has iframe disabled, and it fits perfectly into the site (no 2nd scrollbar/frame/etc.), yet there is no style. It's almost as if the site's style is overriding the board's. However, the board has 2 simultaneously enabled styles (as per instructions from installing a bridge), with one of them intended for making it work in the site (embedded).

Here's what I have:

CMS: Drupal
Forums: phpBB3
Bridge: "phpbbforum" module within Drupal

I only made the change to the board's index, so there are some old URL aliases floating around (if you click on any of the forums from the index it'll go back to the previous view).

Here's the board index with the correct layout, actually embedded into the site with 1 scrollbar:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/phpbbforum
(I had to remove the board index URL alias and link the menu item to the bridge instead of the iframe page. The forums, in this state, are quite literally blending in with the site, though there are some missing elements. I think I'm going to just remove all of the URL aliases, just not yet, they seem to be interfering with the board's ability to be truly embedded within the site (at least without having to use iframe and 2nd scrollbar.))

Here's one of the pages within the forums using the previous iframes setting:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/cont...center-forums-3
(The version we won't use, simply because it's in a frame, even if no scrollbar, the limitations of a fixed height really do more bad than good for the site. However, the forums theme/style is present, we need to implement that style into the "main/phpbbforum" link. If that can be done then everything will be perfect.)

Here's one of the in-between settings, it obviously isn't going to be used:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/content/forums

The theme/style issue:
How can the forum style be implemented within this page:
http://stargate.commandcenter.cc/main/phpbbforum

There are 2 folders in the board's styles directory for the 1 style:
subsilver2
subsilver2-embed
(These were provided with the module that bridges Drupal and phpBB3. At present, or at least by default, the two directories should be working together. The images are obviously working, I uploaded them to both directories (the stargate chevrons, stargate icons, similar).

The CSS files have been copied over into both directories, and even into the necessary directories within the actual bridge's path, though still no luck.

Any ideas what to do?

Thank you!

cheers.gif

Edit:
(Had to fix the 2nd link, it was broken. Should be fine now.)

Edit 2:

Okay, I've been doing a lot of digging around, various settings, file edits, etc. and things are fixed now.
]]> Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:20:34 -0500 75345 Articles And Seo http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73734
I recently came across a web based article program that lets me take one article, modify it so it is 3 unique articles and from there anywhere from 700 to 6000 unique article are created. The system will then submitt the articles to hundreds of article sites and blogs based on the keywords I designate.

Each article has a resource box with links to the site that I want to promote.

Article site like ezinearticles.com and technorati aren't in the system they recommend those be posted individually.

I have test the system with 5 articles so far and I'am seeing a few articles make it page 1 of google for some of them.

My questions is will this help the website's that the article's are linked to? I know if the article where all the same then it would but with the article spinning site it changes it enough I hope.

Does any one have experience with this?

]]> Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:06:36 -0500 73734