Top Ten Grammar Errors that Haunt Web Pages ... Since content is crucial, isn’t it time to introduce a few grammar tips?
by Robin Nobles

(Part 1)

With all of this talk about content, don’t you think it’s time to have a frank discussion about grammar? Our Web sites are our online store fronts—our online images. If our sites are full of grammar errors, what does that say about the professionalism of our businesses?

The Internet tends to be a more relaxed atmosphere, so should we expect to see a more relaxed use of grammar on the Net?

No. Just because the Internet is a different publishing medium, and just because we’ve gotten a little lax in our editing or forgotten some of our grammar rules, that doesn’t make it correct.

It’s time to pay attention to our own Web pages and relearn some of the basic grammar rules that we may have forgotten along the way.

Let’s look at what I consider to be some of the top grammar errors that haunt Web pages:

1. it’s = it is

Example: It’s perfectly okay to bring your dog to work at Google. (correct)
Example: It’s goal is to increase productivity by 100 percent by the year 2007. (incorrect)

In example #2, replace “it’s” with “it is.” It is goal is to increase productivity ...

Doesn’t work, so you know it’s wrong. This is one of the most common errors I see, so comb through your Web pages for this one.

2. Web site (or page) vs. web site/page vs. Website/website (page)

"The Chicago Manual of Style" states that Web sites and Web pages are correct. After all, we’re referring to the World Wide Web, so Web should always be capitalized. The book uses Web pages (sites) as two words.

"Webster’s New Dictionary of the English Language" published in 2006 agrees with Chicago.

However, the online version of Chicago states, “But generally, I would recommend 'Web site' for formal writing, but 'website' for informal writing or friendly writing. Unless, of course, you prefer 'Web site' even when you’re being friendly.”

Now let’s look at it from a different slant. How do people search?

Capitalization doesn’t matter, because the major engines aren’t case sensitive at this point in time. However, if you’re in an industry where your keywords contain “Web site” or “Web page,” you may want to use both variations (one and two words) on your pages, because people certainly search in both ways, no matter which is correct.

Think about your target audience and how they’re searching. After all, you want a professional Web site, but your ultimate goal is to sell your goods and services.

TIP: The titles of books should be italicized. If the titles are set off by quotation marks here, it’s because I have to turn in my articles in text format. Also, all of the examples should technically be italicized as opposed to being in quotes.

3. Periods and commas: do they go inside or outside of quotation marks, or does it depend on the sentence?

Example: She said, “Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, just like this.” (correct)
Example: This is “incorrect”, because the comma is outside of the quotation marks. (incorrect) It should be: This is “correct,” because the comma is ...

4. E-mail vs. email, plus what is the plural of e-mail?

E-mail stands for electronic mail. According to Chicago, e-mail should contain the hyphen, and it doesn’t have to be capitalized (E-mail).

Here’s where it gets interesting. "The American Heritage Dictionary" considers e-mails to be the plural version of e-mail.

Chicago says that either is correct. After all, the plural version of “mail” is “mail.” Here are some examples straight from their Web site:

“How much e-mail do you get each month?”
“Send me some e-mails when you get a chance.”

If e-mail is a keyword for you, you may want to include “email” on your pages as well. Again, remember your target audience and the words they will be using when searching for your products and services.

Honestly, if I could make a prediction based on being an Internet person, it would be that e-mail evolves into email due to popular usage. Do you know anyone who uses “e-mails”? I sure don’t!

5. SEOs or SEO’s

This is one of those rules where I ran into some contradictory information. In "The Wordwatcher’s Guide to Good Writing & Grammar" by Morgan S. Freeman, he states:

“How to form the plural of letters and numbers is a stylistic decision. There are no rights and wrongs, merely eye appeal. Some writers would write the plural of O.K. with no apostrophe, and follow suit with the plural of letters (the three Rs) and numbers (the 1930s). Others think the apostrophe makes for clarity (the three R’s, the 1930’s). Consider ‘Hooray for the YMCAs.’ Take your pick.”

Chicago thinks differently. They believe that capital letters used as words that contain no interior periods can be made plural by simply adding an “s.” However, lowercase letters do require an apostrophe and an “s.”

However, every source agrees that if interior periods are used, an apostrophe is required, like Ph.D.’s.

My recommendation? Do whatever works for you and be consistent. Personally, my choice is SEOs.

Increase Your Profits With a Marketing Calendar
by Marty Foley

Here's a tip for systemizing and increasing the profits of virtually any business: Create and use a marketing calendar.

As P.T. Barnum reportedly said, "Without promotion something terrible happens: Nothing." Since marketing is one of the most critical components of business success, a marketing calendar helps ensure that time is regularly set aside for it.

Just as with money, if time isn't budgeted properly it's more likely to be wasted or spent on less important things.

Without advance planning and preparation, marketing opportunities are more likely overlooked, less time is available to take advantage of them, and quality decreases as mistakes increase, according to the adage, Haste makes waste.

A marketing calendar helps systemize planning and preparation, minimizing such problems.

How To Create Your Marketing Calendar

Some develop their annual marketing calendars near the end of the year, in preparation for the next. Regardless of the time of year, if you're not currently using one now is a good time to start.

To create your marketing calendar you can use an Excel sheet (my preference), a desk or wall calendar, a day planner, or any other tool or system you're comfortable with. How you set it up is less important than that you set it up, and that you use it.

What you might record on your marketing calendar:

1) Specific day, week, or month assigned to each marketing project.

2) Project description.

3) Project cost.

4) Project notes or comments.

5) A rating of the results of each project (A = Excellent, B = Good, C = Fair, and D = Poor).

You don't have to list each task of multi-step projects on your calendar. Instead, you can describe projects briefly on the calendar and list the individual tasks comprising each one on a To-Do list (which you probably keep anyway if you're a productivity minded person).

Or you may assign different tasks of a project to separate consecutive calendar dates.

Give priority to proven marketing avenues that pay off best for you, allowing them ample time for completion.

Periodically add projects related to marketing avenues you haven't tried before. You may discover some that yield dramatically better results.

What's more, marketing diversification reduces risk. Just ask those whose businesses have nosedived as a result of adverse changes in an advertising medium they've relied too heavily upon.

For best results, include projects related to testing new approaches to marketing avenues you're now using, or have used before. Small changes can yield substantial response increases at little or no extra cost, possibly turning C- and D-rated projects into A- and B-rated ones.

Locate your marketing calendar for easy access. Consult and update it regularly, as needed.

When creating next year's calendar, recycle winning elements of your current one, especially A- and B-rated projects. Expand on what works, and test and tweak, or eliminate, what doesn't. As you develop, improve, and use your calendar it will become an increasingly valuable business asset.

Now that you understand the value of a marketing calendar, create and implement one right away and start enjoying better business results from it.

DNS Explained
by Jamie Macy

To your computer, everything is a number. After all, computers are much better at processing numbers than anything else. Unfortunately, we aren't quite as good at numbers and we prefer words. When it comes to website addresses, DNS helps bridge that gap.

Every computer on the internet has a unique number, called an IP address. When you visit a website, you are connecting to the IP address of the website’s server and you are receiving information from that website's server through that connection. In order to request a web page, you need to know the IP address of the website’s server. More specifically, your computer needs to know the IP address so that it will know what website you want to connect with. DNS to the rescue!

DNS stands for Domain Name Server and is a collection of servers that act like a phone book, storing an extraordinarily long list of domain names and their corresponding IP addresses, When you type "www.bravenet.com" into your web browser, it connects first to your Internet Service Provider's DNS server and asks it for the IP address that corresponds to the domain name "bravenet.com". If everything goes well, the DNS server replies with 65.39.176.94, and your web browser will then communicate with the Bravenet web servers and you will be able to exchange information.

If you were to call your long lost friend, you would take out your phone book and look up their name (Bravenet.com) to find the associated number (65.39.176.94). When you call the number, you are connected through to their house (server), where you finally talk to your friend (exchange information).

A phone book is updated yearly, while a DNS server is updated every 24-72 hours and this is why there is a wait period of 72 hours before your domain name will start pointing to the website that you are pointing it to.