Setting Up Your Signup Form And Custom Thank You And Error Pages For Your Email Newsletter

Writen by Brandon Milford

Keeping things simple; when setting up your sign-up form for your website keep three things in mind:

1. What information to ask from those signing up for your email newsletter

2. Setting up a custom 'Thank You' page. This is where the subscriber will be re-directed after successfully signing up for your newsletter.

3. Setting up a custom 'Error' page. This is where the subscriber will be re-directed if there is a problem during the sign up process, such as entering an invalid email address.

Ask for Minimal Information

When possible it is always better to ask your visitors for minimal information. I typically ask for first name and email address. This is important because your website visitors will most often read quickly and will not bother completing a long form when signing up for your newsletter. Remember, you can always ask for additional information later if needed.

Thank You Page

After signing up for your newsletter, be sure to re-direct your visitors to a custom 'Thank You' page. Email marketing software, such as IntelliContact, include a default 'Thank You' page but allow you to simply insert a URL to redirect subscribers to a custom page hosted on your server. This page should contain a simple message such as:

"Thank You for signing up for the XYZ Newsletter. Our newsletter is a monthly publication that will help your business by bringing you up-to-date information on the technology industry."

Implementing a custom 'Thank You' page will also allow you to provide consistent navigation after a subscriber has successfully signed up for your newsletter (IE: the 'Thank You' page looks like the other pages of your website). This will encourage the subscriber to extend their stay on your website.

Another great opportunity in having a custom 'Thank You' page is co-registration. Co-registration is a great way to build your lists. Basically, within your 'Thank You' page you can include links to partner websites where visitors can sign up for other newsletters that compliment yours. In exchange, these 'partner websites' include a link to your website from their 'Thank You' page where subscribers can sign up for your newsletter.

Error Page

When creating your sign-up form and 'Thank You' page, also include an 'Error Page' where subscribers will be re-directed in the event that they neglect required information or fail to enter a valid email address. Most email marketing software programs allow you to enter a custom 'Error Page' as well. It is also a great idea to include your sign-up form again on your 'Error Page'. This will allow the subscriber to simply fill out the form within the same page and save them from clicking the back button. For your custom 'Error Page' include text similar to the following:

ERROR
There was an error in completing your subscription request. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please use the form below to sign up for our newsletter. If you continue to receive an error please email us at name@yourcompany.com.

Remember to include these two pages when designing and implementing your sign-up form. By keeping it simple, straight-forward, and thinking about the subscriber's experience through the process, you'll see an increase in the number of subscribers signing up for your email newsletter.

About The Author

Brandon Milford is the Director of Marketing for Broadwick Corporation, makers of IntelliContact. IntelliContact is a web-based email marketing and surveying software. Visit Brandon's Blog where he covers Marketing, Design, & Entrepreneurship.

Does Your Small Business Need A Website

Writen by Carrie Webster

Many small business owners still grapple with the possible benefits of investing in a website for their business. This article is aimed to inform those people of some of the reasons why your business can benefits from being online.

Small business has been embracing the internet at a growing rate over the past five years, and this continues to grow. Not all small business will require an e-commerce solution, but this is certainly not the only reason to think about having a website for your business. Purely informational websites can benefit your business enormously. These websites are affordable, and some would swear, essential for your business.

What a website can do for your small business

• Reach new customers and support current customers

• Save money on time spent responding to off-line enquiries.

• Improve customer service

• Save money on printed catalogs/brochures and traditional advertising. Use your website to promote all your products and services. Update your content on a regular basis with special offers and promotions to keep your visitors coming back.

• Present your business with a professional image

• Capture email addresses of your visitors with a simple newsletter subscribe featured on your home page. You can then market to a list of targeted potential customers with email newsletters. This will help generate valuable leads.

• Take advantage of the growing number of people who only search for products and services online – customers that you would not usually get through your traditional marketing channels.

• Your website is viewed by a highly targeted audience. Search engines direct traffic to you based on the description of products and services on your website.

• Have your business open to the world 24/7, 365 days a year

Other Marketing costs If a small business compares the costs associated with other forms of marketing, a simple website is very affordable in comparison.

Below is a list of off-line marketing costs to consider:

• Advertising in the Yellow Pages

• Advertising in local or mainstream newspapers

• Advertising in magazines

• Printing stationery and brochures.

When you ultimately weigh up the costs and possible cost-saving benefits of a website, it should then become clear whether or not your business will benefit from this investment. You need to also consider that a website is a communication tool, not an advertisement. If your business is doing well and you are just managing to handle all you enquiries, you may not need a website.

If you have a requirement to have your information available to a wider range of potential customers, to provide useful information for existing customers, to access new customers, and compete at least equally with your competitors, perhaps it is time for a website!

Web Genesis specializes in providing small Australian businesses with high quality, yet affordable website design and development. For more information on our affordable website design and our other services, please visit our website at http://www.webgenesis.com.au

Writing Effective Alt Text For Images

Writen by Trenton Moss

Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images need alternative, or ALT, text assigned to them. This is because screen readers can't understand images, but rather read aloud the alternative text assigned to them. In Internet Explorer we can see this ALT text, simply by mousing over the image and looking at the yellow tooltip that appears. Other browsers (correctly) don't do this. The HTML for inserting ALT text is:

img src="filename.gif" alt="Alternative description goes here"

But surely there can't be a skill to writing ALT text for images? You just pop a description in there and you're good to go, right? Well, kind of. Sure, it's not rocket science, but there are a few guidelines you need to follow...

Spacer images and missing ALT text

Spacer images should always be assigned null ALT text, or alt="" . This way most screen readers will completely ignore the image and won't even announce its presence. Spacer images are invisible images that pretty most websites use. The purpose of them is, as the name suggests, to create space on the page. Sometimes it's not possible to create the visual display you need, so you can stick an image in (specifying its height and width) and volià, you have the extra space you need.

Not everyone uses this null ALT text for spacer images. Some websites stick in alt="spacer image". Imagine how annoying this can be for a screen reader user, especially when you have ten of them in a row. A screen reader would say, "Image, spacer image" ten times in a row (screen readers usually say the word, "Image", before reading out its ALT text) - now that isn't helpful!

Other web developers simply leave out the ALT attribute for spacer images (and perhaps other images). In this case, most screen readers will read out the filename, which could be 'newsite/images/onepixelspacer.gif'. A screen reader would announce this image as "Image, newsite slash images slash one pixel spacer dot gif". Imagine what this would sound like if there were ten of these in a row!

Bullets and icons

Bullets and icons should be treated in much the same way as spacer images, so should be assigned null alternative text, or alt="". Think about a list of items with a fancy bullet proceeding each item. If the ALT text, 'Bullet' is assigned to each image then, "Image, bullet" will be read aloud by screen readers before each list item, making it take that bit longer to work through the list.

Icons, usually used to complement links, should also be assigned alt="". Many websites, which place the icon next to the link text, use the link text as the ALT text of the icon. Screen readers would first announce this ALT text, and then the link text, so would then say the link twice, which obviously isn't necessary.

(Ideally, bullets and icons should be called up as background images through the CSS document - this would remove them from the HTML document completely and therefore remove the need for any ALT description.)

Decorative images

Decorative images too should be assigned null alternative text, or alt="". If an image is pure eye candy then there's no need for a screen reader user to even know it's there and being informed of its presence simply adds to the noise pollution.

Conversely, you could argue that the images on your site create a brand identity and by hiding them from screen reader users you're denying this group of users the same experience. Accessibility experts tend to favour the former argument, but there certainly is a valid case for the latter too.

Navigation & text embedded within images

Navigation menus that require fancy text have no choice but to embed the text within an image. In this situation, the ALT text shouldn't be used to expand on the image. Under no circumstances should the ALT text say, 'Read all about our fantastic services, designed to help you in everything you do'. If the menu item says, 'Services' then the ALT text should also say 'Services'. ALT text should always describe the content of the image and should repeat the text word-for-word. If you want to expand on the navigation, such as in this example, you can use the title attribute.

The same applies for any other text embedded within an image. The ALT text should simply repeat, word-for-word, the text contained within that image.

(Unless the font being used is especially unique it's often unnecessary to embed text within images - advanced navigation and background effects can now be achieved with CSS.)

Company logo

Websites tend to vary in how they apply ALT text to logos. Some say, 'Company name', others 'Company name logo', and other describe the function of the image (usually a link back to the homepage), 'Back to home'. Remember, ALT text should always describe the content of the image so the first example, alt="Company name", is probably the best. If the logo is a link back to the homepage then this can be effectively communicated through the title tag.

Conclusion

Writing effective ALT text isn't too difficult. If it's a decorative image then null alternative text, or alt="" should usually be used - never, ever omit the ALT attribute. If the image contains text then the ALT text should simply repeat this text, word-for-word. Remember, ALT text should describe the content of the image and nothing more.

Do also be sure also to keep ALT text as short and succinct as possible. Listening to a web page with a screen reader takes a lot longer than traditional methods, so don't make the surfing experience painful for screen reader users with bloated and unnecessary ALT text.

This article was written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.

Web Coach Tip What You Should Know About Diy Web Sites

Writen by Donna Payne

Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY companies that advertise "How to get a website with everything your business needs for under $20 bucks a month?". "How can they do that?" she said.

"First impressions are very deceiving!" I told her...let me share my past experience with you!

First of all... folks get excited by the low price—don't do their due dilligence and end up with buyers remorse when they get their credit card statement.

And for many reasons.

One, all that company is doing is creating cookie-cutter websites to niave, misguided folks who are impressed by all their "features". Beleive me this is true, years ago—I was one of them!

Let me tell you, the hosting company I use offers almost the exact same thing packaged differently and get this...for LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE! 1 year hosting, features, domain, bells-whistles, support, blah,blah,blah, etc,etc,etc..

"Their company": 12mo/$203.76 yr (actual price taken from "Their" Website 5/30/05. Company name withheld, write me and I'll tell you)

My hosting company: 12mo/$94 yr. Ya see that, LESS than HALF!

Two, folks who work hard and take the time to create one of these flim-flam websites usually find out in the end they wasted their time because their site isn't pulling in the results they expected. Why? Cause their copy and over all site content stinks. (lets be honest!) They are so FRUSTRATED because no one ever explained the psychology of a web site to them in the first place!

What? Psychology?—YES, PSYCHOLOGY! Who cares how flashy or pretty it is. When they create "instant" sites, people are so excited to "see their name in lights" they lose all rational thought and don't even consider the purpose or copy content. (Remember, years ago—I was drooling over my new web page too!)

Three, these same customers who thought they were getting such a great deal either abandon their website (that's what I did) because "the internet won't work for my business" (lack of proper marketing) or get smart and seek advice from an expert or coach (I found a coach later, wish I'd have done it sooner!).

Have you done this too? Do you have a site already, but don't know what else to do with it??

Save yourself NOW! :) Find an web development coach so you can get back to business!

Copyright 2005 Donna Payne

Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net and is known as the gal to call when you're feeling overwhelmed by the internet. To spend some more time with Donna and to experience Web technology, Development and Marketing in the most SIMPLIFED way possible go to http://thewebcoach.net