Allowing application servers to relay off Exchange Server 2007

by: Scott Landry

From time to time, you need to allow an application server to relay off of your Exchange server. You might need to do this if you have a SharePoint, a CRM application like Dynamics, or a web site that sends emails to your employees or customers.

You might need to do this if you are getting the SMTP error message "550 5.7.1 Unable to relay"

The top rule is that you want to keep relay restricted as tightly as possible, even on servers that are not connected to the Internet. Usually this is done with authentication and/or restricting by IP address. Exchange 2003 provides the following relay restrictions on the SMTP VS:

Here are the equivalent options for how to configure this in Exchange 2007.

Allow all computers which successfully authenticate to relay, regardless of the list above

Like its predecessor, Exchange 2007 is configured to accept and relay email from hosts that authenticate by default. Both the "Default" and "Client" receive connectors are configured this way out of the box. Authenticating is the simplest method to submit messages, and preferred in many cases.

The Permissions Group that allows authenticated users to submit and relay is the "ExchangeUsers" group. The permissions that are granted with this permissions group are:

NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users {ms-Exch-SMTP-Submit}NT
AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users {ms-Exch-Accept-Headers-Routing}NT
AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users {ms-Exch-Bypass-Anti-Spam}NT
AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient}

The specific ACL that controls relay is the ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient.

Only the list below (specify IP address)

This option is for those who cannot authenticate with Exchange. The most common example of this is an application server that needs to be able to relay messages through Exchange.

First, start with a new custom receive connector. You can think of receive connectors as protocol listeners. The closest equivalent to Exchange 2003 is an SMTP Virtual Server. You must create a new one because you will want to scope the remote IP Address(es) that you will allow.

The next screen you must pay particular attention to is the "Remote Network settings". This is where you will specify the IP ranges of servers that will be allowed to submit mail. You definitely want to restrict this range down as much as you can. In this case, I want my two web servers, 192.168.2.55 & 192.168.2.56 to be allowed to relay.

The next step is to create the connector, and open the properties. Now you have two options, which I will present. The first option will probably be the most common.

Option 1: Make your new scoped connector an Externally Secured connector

This option is the most common option, and preferred in most situations where the application that is submitting will be submitting email to your internal users as well as relaying to the outside world.

Before you can perform this step, it is required that you enable the Exchange Servers permission group. Once in the properties, go to the Permissions Groups tab and select Exchange servers.

Next, continue to the authentication mechanisms page and add the "Externally secured" mechanism. What this means is that you have complete trust that the previously designated IP addresses will be trusted by your organization.

Caveat: If you do not perform these two steps in order, the GUI blocks you from continuing.

Do not use this setting lightly. You will be granting several rights including the ability to send on behalf of users in your organization, the ability to ResolveP2 (that is, make it so that the messages appear to be sent from within the organization rather than anonymously), bypass anti-spam, and bypass size limits. The default "Externally Secured" permissions are as follows:

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Authoritative-Domain}MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-Bypass-Anti-Spam}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-Bypass-Message-Size-Limit}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Exch50}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-Accept-Headers-Routing}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Submit}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Authentication-Flag}

MS Exchange\Externally Secured Servers {ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Sender}

Basically you are telling Exchange to ignore internal security checks because you trust these servers. The nice thing about this option is that it is simple and grants the common rights that most people probably want.

Option 2: Grant the relay permission to Anonymous on your new scoped connector

This option grants the minimum amount of required privileges to the submitting application.
Taking the new scoped connector that you created, you have another option. You can simply grant the ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient permission to the anonymous account. Do this by first adding the Anonymous Permissions Group to the connector.

This grants the most common permissions to the anonymous account, but it does not grant the relay permission. This step must be done through the Exchange shell:

Get-ReceiveConnector "CRM Application" Add-ADPermission -User "NT
AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON" -ExtendedRights "ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient"

In addition to being more difficult to complete, this step does not allow the anonymous account to bypass anti-spam, or ResolveP2.

Although it is completely different from the Exchange 2003 way of doing things, hopefully you find the new SMTP permissions model to be sensible.

Configuring the Hub Transport Server to Send and Receive SMTP Mail to and from the Internet

by: Thomas Shinder

The first thing that occurred to me was that we needed some way to send outbound SMTP messages to the Internet. That was pretty easy with Exchange 2003 and the SMTP service, because it is intuitive to think of configuring the SMTP service as sending and receiving SMTP mail. After all, that is what it is supposed to do.

After doing some searching through the Exchange Server Help file, I quickly found out that there is no such thing as an SMTP “service” on Exchange 2007. I do not know what they call the SMTP services now, but it is not the SMTP service. I guess calling it the SMTP service would have been too easy and Exchange Team realizes that the real fun in life is not in the having, but in the wishing. In order words, the real joy comes from the chase, not the catching.

From my investigations it appears that we need to create a Send Connector. Without one of these Send Connectors you will not be able to send mail to the Internet, so we better create one. Go to the Organization Configuration\Hub Transport node in the left pane for the console. Click on the Send Connectors tab in the middle pane of the console. Right click on an empty area in the middle pane and click New Send Connector.

Figure 1

On the New SMTP Send Connector page, put a name for the connector in the Name text box. In this example we will name it Internet bound Mail. From the Select the intended use for this Send connector drop down list, select Internet. Click Next.

Figure 2

On the Address Space page, click the Add button. In the Add Address Space dialog box, put an asterisk in the Domain text box. I put a checkmark in the Include all subdomains checkbox, although I do not know if this is required, since the wildcard tells the Exchange Server to send all mail to any domain through this SMTP connector (except for those domains that the Exchange Server is authoritative for) . Click OK in the Add Address Space dialog box.

Figure 3

You now see the wildcard domain listed and the type is smtp. Click Next.

Figure 4

We have several options to select from on the Network settings page. The default setting is to Use domain name system (DNS) “MX” records to route mail automatically. When this setting is enabled, it becomes the responsibility of the Exchange Server to look up the MX records for the destination domain and resolve those to an IP address.

Another option is to offload this responsibility to another SMTP server. When you offload the MX domain name resolution to another SMTP server, that other SMTP server is acting as a Smart Host. It is not uncommon to use the ISP’s SMTP server as a Smart Host. One of the advantages of this is that it is likely that there is a reverse DNS record for your ISP’s SMTP server, so you do not have to worry about reverse lookups at the destination DNS server. That is because the destination DNS server only looks at the name resolution for the last hop, not each hop the SMTP message may take on the way to its destination.

Another option on this page is to Use the External DNS Lookup settings on the transport server. By default, the Exchange Server will use the DNS server configured on its NIC to resolve the MX domain names. However, you might run an environment where you do not want internal machines to resolve Internet domain names (for example, you want the ISA Firewall to perform external name resolution, which forces clients to be Web proxy and/or Firewall clients). This is in general a more secure configuration and something recommended by world class security experts such as Tim Mullen (Thor).

When you select the Use the External DNS Lookup settings on the transport server option, you have the option to configure the SMTP “service” to use an alternate DNS server that can resolve Internet host names. In this way, you enable the SMTP “service” to resolve Internet MX domain names while preventing all other applications and services on the machine from resolving any Internet host name.

In this example, we will use the default setting, Use domain name system (DNS) “MX” records to route mail automatically. Click Next.

Figure 5

On the Source Server page, you will see that our Transport Server is already added to the list. Since we only have one, we do not need to add any more. Click Next.

Figure 6

Review the settings on the New Connector page and click the New button.

Figure 7

Click Finish on the Completion page.

Figure 8

Double click the Internet Bound Mail Send Connector that you created. This opens the Internet Bound Mail Properties dialog box. On the General tab, you need to make an entry in the Specify the FQDN this connector will provide in response to HELO or EHLO. This is an important setting if you are not using a Smart Host because the public IP address where outbound mail exits your organization must reverse resolve to the name you put here. If you are using a Smart Host this probably will not matter.

Figure 9

Click on the Server Configuration\Hub Transport node in the left pane of the Exchange console. Double click on the EXCH2007MB entry in the middle pane of the console.
In the EXHC2007 Properties dialog box, click on the External DNS Lookups tab. Here you have two options:

Use network card DNS settings This option allows you to use the DNS settings on the NIC installed on the Exchange Server. If you have multiple NICs on the Exchange Server, then you can choose the NIC from the drop down list. When you do so, you will see the DNS server address in the This adapter contains the following DNS server entries list.

Use these DNS servers - Choose this option when you want to use a DNS server that is not listed on any of the NICs installed on the Exchange Server.

In this example, we will use the DNS server address bound to the NIC, which is the IP address of the DNS server installed on the domain controller for this network.

Figure 10

There is one more thing we need to do to allow anonymous inbound connections to the Default receive connector on this Hub Transport Server. In general, you should not do this since you are allowing anonymous inbound connections to an Internet facing host located on the same security zone at the domain controller and mailbox server (in this example, the mailbox server is collocated on the Hub Transport Server). In a secure environment, you would use an inbound SMTP relay on an anonymous access DMZ. This could be an IIS SMTP server, or an Exchange Edge Server.

Double click on the Default EXCH2007MB Receive Connector in the middle pane on the Exchange Management console. On the Default EXCH2007MB Properties dialog box, click the Permission Groups tab. Put a checkmark in the Anonymous users checkbox and click OK.

Figure 11

The Future of Web Design - What is DotNetNuke®?

by: Lee Sykes

Have you discovered that within months your website becomes out of date and becomes a headache to maintain? DotNetNuke is the answer to your problems.

DotNetNuke® Overview

DotNetNuke® is a portal content management system (CMS) ideal for creating any type of website from commercial web sites, corporate intranets and extranets, online publishing portals, to a personal blog.
DotNetNuke® is provided free, as open-source software. It allows individuals to do whatever they wish with the application framework, both commercially and non-commercially.

The Static Website Problem

So you’ve created your static website using Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or programmed it manually in HTML?
Your next job is to promote your website and keep it up to date with lots of fresh content that the Search Engines love.
You soon discover that keeping your website up to date with the latest news and articles is a lot of work, within a few months your website becomes out of date and the site becomes a complete headache to maintain.

CMS – The Benefits

Using the DotNetNuke® Content Management system enables you to:
Login to your website from anywhere in the world and update your content live
Quickly and easily publish articles, images, documents, news, important information and more
Save Money – Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) you no longer need to pay a webmaster to maintain your site
Support for an unlimited number of content contributors (ie. Give permission to members of staff to login and update certain sections of your website)
Easily change the look of your entire web site with just one click using skins
Extremely extensible admin interface to add and move content, panels and more.
Security - Every element of your website can have specific security settings applied to allow or deny users from seeing, editing, or administering the different parts of your site
Once you have used DotNetNuke®, you will not look back - your old web design programmes will gather dust!

What do you need for DotNetNuke®?

To run DotNetNuke® you need to use a web hosting package that provides ASP.NET and a Microsoft SQL-Server database.
The DotNetNuke® Community
An advantage with DotNetNuke® being open-source software is the vast number of users out there. There are many developers contributing in the form of improving the DotNetNuke® core code and ‘modules’ which provide extra functions to your website, such as photo galleries. There are designers creating ‘skins’ which you can use to change the graphics of your website, and there is also a central forum area where you can ask DotNetNuke® related questions.
This community is rapidly growing by the day and it demonstrates how DotNetNuke® is the web of the future.

Where do you get DotNetNuke®?

You can download the DotNetNuke® code for free from: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/ simply register with the website to gain access to the downloads.
How do I learn DotNetNuke®?
There are many resources out there supplying documentation, videos and tips from installation and programming, to web design using DotNetNuke®.
You do not need to be a programmer to use DotNetNuke®; the hardest stage is installing DotNetNuke®. This is just a matter of uploading the correct files to your hosting provider and setting up your SQL database. DotNetNuke® will then automatically install when you open your website.

All you now have to do is add the content!

How Can Small Websites Shine?

by: Bob Rose

The key to a successful Website is content. Content alone will drive visitors to your site, and compel your prospects or customers to form a valuable opinion about your company. With over 7 million Websites being added every month, how will your site stand out? The way to get your Web site noticed by search engines and then to get those prospects to stay and keep coming back comes from the content on your Website alone. There are no two ways around this fact.

Enterprise Website owners have entire teams in place that can manually update and refresh content on a regular basis; small Website owners simply don't. In a world where information changes rapidly, Websites need to be constantly updated and monitored. This is extremely crucial as users - and even search engines such as Google - pass over stale Websites. Manual configuration and updating of Websites takes time and can be messy too, involving integration with multiple systems like campaign management or CRM. With a skimpy IT staff and shrinking budgets, most small Website owners find it challenging to ensure that their sites reflect their dynamic business needs.

Web Content Management Systems (CMS) – a must-have for small Websites

Content Management Systems (CMS) have emerged to address these issues. In simple words, a CMS is a tool that eases creation, maintenance and management of the content a Website. The biggest advantage is that it allows non-technical Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to manage different aspects of a Website such as the general content as well as the navigation, page layout and links without any knowledge of programming tools.

Web content management is as necessary for small companies as it is for large organizations. Small Websites may not have mass popularity, but they have a simple advantage over large Websites: they are more focused and targeted. But still, that committed user community, though small in size, presents significant challenges for the small Website owner. Adding news items, making design changes or launching new products via separate Web pages is not a simple affair.

A CMS gives small Website owners the power to easily modify and change text, design and layout of their Website through well defined templates. It also becomes simple to quickly insert, delete or update anything from images galleries, forms, tables, styles or formatted lists.

Benefits

Traditionally, most small Website owners have relied on independent software consultants or vendors to keep their sites updated. However, as our experience shows us, multiple small changes conveyed for text or design is frustrating and wasteful. A CMS can ease these difficulties, providing users with a simple and non-technical way of managing the content and not the technology.

Key benefits include:

• Improved speed and ease of publishing content

Small Website owners can accelerate content publishing by giving SMEs tools that are simple to use. Content specialists can focus more on creating content and not worrying about publishing, approval processes and formatting changes--so the site still has the same look and feel.

• Maintaining consistency and link integrity

A content management system helps organizations maintain consistency across all pages of their Website (with style sheets, templates, etc.) so that branding and design are controlled to the level desired, regardless of who is responsible for the actual content. As a result, visitors have a consistent and professional experience. The CMS even helps to maintain link integrity –significantly reducing the chance of users reporting a missing link. This is critical, as a missing link in the Internet world means a missed business opportunity.

• Full control

Features like complete system auditing and reporting provide organizations the ability to manage and track history of all work, facilitating regulatory compliance. Files can be given a full document lifecycle, including check-in, check-out, versioning, rollback, approvals, and scheduling. A CMS has intelligent workflow automation, ensuring that content passes through appropriate quality gates before being published. Additionally, completely configurable workflows enable organizations to assign tasks to any person, with provisions to escalate in case defined thresholds are crossed. For example, e-mail alerts can be sent to content owners of specific sections on a Website, if these sections are not updated after a specific time period. This is difficult to do in a manual system.

In a digital world where content can creatively be used in a variety of forms such as whitepapers, podcasts or articles, effectively managing and using this content is critical for competitive advantage. A CMS can help in a huge way, by centralizing and streamlining the process of managing and publishing content. This centralized control medium also means that an organization, no matter what size, can effectively measure the success of various online marketing initiatives.

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) angle

While a CMS helps business users manage content more effectively, organizations must also understand that content management systems can be expensive to procure, complex to implement and configure, and even more difficult to maintain.

To address these issues, organizations can consider using a CMS delivered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). With this software model, organizations are spared the high initial cost of purchasing the license. Also since the software is hosted, so there is no hardware to buy, no software to install and no infrastructure to manage. As a customer, an organization just pays on a fixed monthly or quarterly basis and leaves the task of managing, maintaining and upgrading the software to the vendor.

Organizations also save costs, as they do not have to budget for a developer who tweaks HTML code, or a Webmaster who actually takes care of hosting. Players such as CrownPeak even provide a dedicated account manager, as part of their Lifelong Active Support. By using a SaaS model, organizations can also minimize risk and choose different functionalities as they grow. Further, as billing is on a monthly or quarterly basis, costs are spread across the lifetime of a product’s usage. This is an extremely attractive value proposition when compared to the traditional software model, where costs are paid upfront and the risk of product implementation and adoption is totally on the customer.

If you have an online presence, you need a CMS

The Internet is a great equalizer – and a user will not forgive an organization because of its size, if it has missing, incomplete or old content on its Website. In a scenario where millions of Websites jostle for attention simultaneously, a small Website owner needs the guiding hand of a CMS solution to increase its value for a niche audience. The difference between being seen as a pearl or as flotsam on the internet is too great – it is up to the small Website owner to make the right choices.

What a Website Needs to Succeed!

by: Jim Shutes

A Proven Formula for All Websites

Every business needs a website. It is an absolute MUST! Nowadays, it’s like not being in the phone book. The Internet is a digitally-indexed database that is searchable. Whenever anyone wants to know more about anything, they look it up on the Internet, in their own time, 24/7, without the pressure of a sales person. With search engines, such as Google.com or Yahoo.com, the information they are looking for can be found in seconds.

If you aren’t where people are looking, you CAN’T get the sale.

Even if you aren’t planning on selling anything online, you still need to have an Internet presence, telling your story and being a 24/7 sales person for you. The Internet is information. So, even if you just have an informational website, people can find out more about you, your company, what you have to offer, and why they should choose you over your competition. A website gives you the opportunity to get all of that across to your potential customer.

Following, are proven components of a website and why you will need them in yours.

A Home Page is the window into your website and should be short, sweat, and to the point. Statistically, it has been proven that you get about 3 seconds, once a person arrives at your website, to get them interested enough to click for more information. If you can get them to click, then you have them! If you try to give them all of the information at once, then you will lose them.

Some websites try to give you their inventory on the home page, or write a story that scrolls forever. This is not good. A home page should not scroll. This is a big “No No”. When people get to a home page and see paragraphs, trust me, they go on to the next website. It needs graphics that represent the services, happy pictures, happy customers, and a quick sales pitch. Remember, people are lazy and won’t read large amounts of text, unless they have a need to. And included on the home page, needs to be quickly gotten across, why someone should use you over your competitor.

The About Us page sometimes gets left off, in favor of making the home page the About Us page. You will want to have an About Us page that explains in detail what you have to offer, your history, your mission statement, and a good reason that a potential customer should use buy from you over your competitor. This can be seen as the detailed version of the home page. However, it is a mistake to forgo the About Us page in exchange for a detailed home page. Again, this will just push people away who do not want to read all of the details to find out who you are and what you have to offer. This information should be available for those who wish to see more information after they are intrigued by the home page.

Design rules. For uniformity and good design, websites (any marketing piece) should have rules for graphic elements and text. For example, all headings should be the same size/style/color, etc. All subheads should have their own size/style/color, etc. This helps the eye make sense of what it is looking at. Guide your visitor with well-placed graphics and text.

Make sure that your website has good navigation, with buttons/links for all main sections of your website. And be sure to keep these navigation buttons/links visible on ANY page. There is nothing more frustrating than to not be able to find your way while browsing a website. People will leave before becoming too frustrated. Don’t let this happen on your website!

The constant, flashing email (or other) button/advertisement is a "No No" these days. In the old days, flashing and blinking graphics were used. As websites became more graphically sophisticated, these types of elements were not used any more. It can be annoying to see something flashing just off your vision, when you are trying to read the web page.

Text links at the bottom are rarely used any more. They were implemented back in the day of the text-based websites, when they were just starting out. This was for the dial-up users who had the option to turn off graphics for faster web page loading. When this happened, there were no links for navigation, unless a webmaster placed text links at the bottom. Nowadays, most people have broadband connections, and this just isn't necessary any more.

The biggest problem I see with websites these days is that a person has to read quite a bit to see what, exactly, a website is selling. When people show up at your website, you get about 3 seconds to peak their interest. Get it across very quickly, with icons/graphics/bullet points that are easy to understand. Tell them why they should choose you over your competition. And then tell them where to go to get started.

Another very important element is testimonials. More important than telling them why a potential customer should use your services over your competitions’, is a customer of yours saying the same thing. Not only is a testimonial someone who used your services, but they can say "how" you were able to help them. This gives new potential customers ideas on how your services will help “them”. Testimonials are also sales pitches from your happy customers, people just like them. They are people who were in the same position as they are right now and they got through it, so they can too. They also build credibility. When you are endorsed by other people, you have credibility and that you can do what you say you can do. And even though they may be saying the same thing that you are saying, it is coming from someone just like them, and not someone who is trying to sell them anything. They have nothing to gain by saying this. You do. So they need to hear from them. You absolutely MUST have endorsements for your business; otherwise, you are just blowing your own horn!

The next best thing to a testimonial page is an FAQ page. An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page answers questions for your company 24/7, when you can't be at the phone to answer, and for people who would rather look over your information than speak to someone who might try to sell them something. FAQs also help to give scenarios of how they can be helped, by answering questions that other potential customers have asked, and they might not have thought of themselves. This gets them thinking and gives them answers in a risk-free environment. It is VERY important to have an FAQ working for you 24/7. It's like having a free sales person working for you around the clock, fielding all questions that might come up! It's a MUST-have for ANY website!

Your website should also have a clear "call to action". A lot of websites say that “we are here and we do this”, but they don't tell them how to get started, or tell them where to go to get started right now... no call to action. Now that they have the information, now what? People are like sheep. They must be led. You must lead them to the next level; otherwise, they probably won't get there. You should have calls to action by all services, and on your home page. You should sprinkle testimonials throughout, as well, leading them back to the full testimonials and then to the call to action, which should be placed on the testimonials page, as well. You could offer a FREE Consultation by calling right now… or click HERE now to email us 24/7 for a FREE Consultation… something that tells them where to go from here and a reason to get started right now and how.

There also needs to be graphics to help tell the story; high-end icons that help draw the eye to the item of interest, to get them to read it. Having a text-only page usually does not get read. People are lazy and will not usually read paragraphs of information in hopes of getting the information they are looking for. They would have to first be extremely interested before reading the “fine print”. And to get them interested, it should be broken up with graphics that represent each section. They will see the related graphic first, and then move to that area if interested. But to give them a page of information usually doesn't work.

You also need meta tags. This is very important to search engines. These are hidden key words and phrases that describe what you offer, but also your location, etc. Search engines rely heavily on key words and phrases in order to give your website as a result in a search done for your type of business. In fact, it is also good to have misspelled keywords that people might type in order to find you. Obviously, you won’t want to have misspelled words or phrases on your page, since this will give the wrong impression of who you are. With meta tags, misspelled words are hidden in the code of the website, but can be used to bring people to your website who may not be able to correctly spell some your services. Even putting your competitions’ names and products in your meta tags can help get traffic to your site, so that they can compare your products and services to your competitors’.

Another item that puts you high on the search engine results listing is having articles about your type of business, both on your website, and other websites that link back to yours for more information on the subject. Offering free information makes you an authority on the subject, not just someone trying to sell their wares. This plays heavily in search results, along with one-way links back to your website. When you get one-way links back to your site for more information, this gives you much credibility and definitely helps to make you an authority that other sites rely on. So when someone looks up your type of product or service for more information, obviously the search engine will give a site that has the most helpful and free information (and one that other sites rely on for more information on this subject) a higher rating and puts them higher on the search results list.

A FREE Tips & Tricks or Hints page is also a good way to get relevant traffic. People are always looking for How-To's and DIY information on all types of subjects. On my site I have FREE Tech Tips that get hits all the time, which pertain to my services. Again, a percentage of these hits click on my services. And the only way I got them there was because of the FREE How-To's that I offer. So, you have to entice people to your site, by offering more than your competitor's website. This is where these types of pages come in handy.

It is also good to have a Privacy Policy page. This shows integrity and also builds credibility and a higher ranking in the search engines. This is one item that search engines look for, in particular. Websites with a page dedicated to a Privacy Policy get a higher ranking and your site will show up higher in the search results.

A Guarantee page is also a good idea. Again, this gives credibility and will give you an edge over your competitor, who may not offer a guarantee. A website that has a guarantee, but is hard to find, makes a potential customer feel like they have something to hide and may not purchase from that website. However, if you have an easy-to-find Guarantee that you put right in their face (whether you dedicate a page to it, or you put it right on the Home page), it eases potential customers into a buying position.

You may want to have a form that allows a customer to request more information about your product or service, and which also lets the customer type in their personal information and what they are looking for. This not only helps you by getting their contact information, it also helps by prompting the potential customer into thinking about other aspects. By doing it this way, you will also get all of the information needed to correctly quote a product or service more effectively, without having to make additional phone calls to the customer. The more common way of requesting information is just by posting an INFO email address and hope that the person requesting the info knows enough about what he is looking for to provide all of the info to get a good quote. This is not usually the case. Most of the time they need a form to fill out. In most cases, there is info that is left out. A form ensures that you get everything needed to quote the product or service accurately. And, also, by offering a form to request more info, leads will be generating 24-7 for you. All you have to do is the quote and give them a call. This reduces the need for cold-calling, and gives you an excuse to call and close the deal.

If you incorporate all of the above pages, along with the “way” these pages should be shown, your website will have a higher ranking in the search engines, which puts your website higher in the search results, thus significantly increasing the traffic to your website!

The above categories aren't the only things you can do to increase traffic to your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should also be done, as well as swapping links with relevant websites, and posting articles and links back to your website from online article and content websites.

Build A Website : The Costs And Benefits

by: Tem Balanco

These days in a world ruled by technology, virtually anyone can build a website, but few have the skills to build a website that functions. Even though there are plenty of low cost tools and services out there, far too many web sites are virtually useless, gathering virtual dust on their virtual shelves.

You can design and build your website with a lot of effort. But that alone does not guarantee that your website will be a success. You have to give importance to factors that will encourage people to visit your website. You can market your website in many ways, to increase traffic to your website. However, online marketing is quite expensive.

When you are operating on a small budget it is essential that you build a website that is optimize for search engines. You will save a lot of advertising dollars by ensuring that all your web pages have quality keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that the world uses to find what they are looking for in the web.

If you want to make your web page appear live for the world to view, you simply need to research a hosting company with experience, register your domain name, create your account, build your personal site, and then publish it. It is a very simple process! The important part is finding a hosting company that provides you with a domain name (your personal website name) registration, site builder tools, and hosting.

Some site builder tools require you to be proficient in HTML (Hyper Tex Mark up Language). Otherwise look for site builder tool that does not require you to learn the language. To build a website that works require upfront planning. After deciding on what niche you want to pursue, you will need to come up with a name for your website, build a keyword list, register your website name, sign up with a hosting company, and submit your website to the search engines. All this can end up costing you quite a bit.

In summary, building a Website that works is going to cost you. But, you have control over how much it costs you financial and emotionally. All you have to do is to figure out exactly what you want the website to do, identify the resources that you will need, establish a budget, then go build your site. It is that simple.

Build Web Page Which Is Effective

by: Tem Balanco

There are a few critical places in building a web page where you must make the right decision, or you'll have to repeat this task again and again until you get it right. The better you grasp these essential points, the better your web page will work and the happier camper you'll be.

As a website builder, make sure you know what the project can do for you. If you are the owner of a business, you want to maximize your business opportunities. But if you are an employee who just has to get the job done, you may want to stick to something basic that will please the boss and not cause any headaches. And if your a volunteer, you may want to use this as a chance to increase your skills and do a good deed.

Make sure the needs of the business or organization are met when you build web page. Develop a brand identity and help potential clients and customers to find out who you are and what you do. An online brochure is a good way to start.

You're trying to enhance your brand or organization image. But this is very legitimate for some kinds of companies, especially local businesses or organizations that aren't trying to conduct national or international commerce. You want people to know who you are, what you do, where to find you, and how to contact you.

A good strategy is to provide product information that will improve local sales of your goods and services. Car sites are a good example. Car companies don't often sell their cars through the internet, but they guide people to local dealers. You can also sell advertising, but right now, there is more space than ads to fill it.

Though the industry is improving, internet advertising is rather under-priced. Sites that are portals for many other sites may be able to sell some advertising space, but this should not be a counted on form of revenue. Instead, view the revenue from advertisement space sales as a bonus.

Construct a web page and become an Internet direct seller of products or services. You want to engage in e-commerce and sell to a domestic or worldwide market. You will have a system for ordering one or more products, or maybe you will feature an in-depth online catalog. Your online service may offer delivery over the Internet, or it may be initiated online.

Build web page and earn affiliate commissions for sales and leads generated through links on your web page. Savvy marketers are building micro sites designed to generate search engine traffic for a particular hot product or service. When a visitor clicks on one of their links, he is referred to an e-commerce site, and, if a sale results, the affiliate gets a commission. Perhaps a form on your site generates leads or subscriptions for another company.

Create Successful Business Website

by: Gally Reznor

Congratulation, you finely decided to upgrade your business with a website. This is really important step which can take your business to a new level structurally and financially.

1. Well built and properly advertised website can bring you hundreds of new customers who wouldn't have heard about your business otherwise.

2. Most of people do not search for services on yellow pages no more but open Google , Yahoo, MSN, etc. Therefore your presence on the net is a very important strategy to earn new clients.

3. Website is your face when it comes to clients who arrive to you via the net. If your website is well built, even if you are a small business owner, clients will be more willing to work with you.

Now that we understand the importance of a good, reliable website for a business, let's go over some basic steps to make sure your website will be a success story:

Determine your budget:

Website building can cost you nothing or cost you thousands of dollars. I think that the best site is the one which benefit will excel its cost. Therefore every business owner must determine his appropriate budget.

Some companies offer absolutely free websites. There are some advantages and some disadvantages in such a website. The first and the biggest advantage is the zero cost. If your website turns out useless , you don't lose any money. The main disadvantages of free websites are usually the limited storage space (which means you can't build a large website) and limited bandwidth (if many users enter your site at once, it might become slow or even unavailable).

If you have a large sum of money to put on your web site, you may go to a custom Web Design firm. They will usually offer you two or three unique design sketches which they embed in their Content Management System and a directions about how to enter your content into it. The problem about this option is it's high cost.

There is no second chance to create a first impression:

Design is naturally one of the most important aspects in website success. Website design must represent your business as a prosperous, impressive and trustworthy therefore there is no place to disregard it.

Quality content:

In order to be found in search engines and attract serious visitors you must fill your website with high quality content. We suggest you enter information about yourself , your business and products. Professional articles and further information from your field of interest might add more value to the website and present you as an expert in your field.

Keeping in touch:

Once you have earned clients you better keep in touch with them. There are number of fast and cost effective ways to do so:

1.By mail. Today spam mail is a felony, but once a customer signed up at your website and gave his agreement to receive your e-mails, you should keep in touch with him , informing him about new products, services and sales.

2. By SMS. If your business is very dynamic you might use the SMS technology to keep in touch with your clients at real time.

3. Keep in touch with your clients by blogs and forums where you can offer them technical support

Advantages of a Custom Website versus using a Website Builder Tool

by: Rodney Ringler

The internet has revolutionized business all around the globe. Almost every competent new or existing business wishes to exploit the incredible potential of the internet, and the first step is to have a web site designed done and maintained by a professional web site design service or build and maintain it yourself. One of the first things to consider is your computer ability. If you despise computers and software and find them confusing and frustrating then building your own website can be quite a task. One that you may not want to undertake. However, if you enjoy working with computers and learning new things or if you just have the patience to stick with it, then building a website is within your grasp. You may also decide to do it yourself to save cost. If you still feel that you want to build your own site you should choose software that is easy to use and user friendly.

Your website should be as unique as you and your business. You should select the website that is specialized in what will meet all your needs, both now and in the future. Custom based websites are for those who already have a website but are looking for those special finishing touches that quality custom graphics can provide. Designer graphics can make your website stand out above the rest and a custom website specializes in taking your original graphic or photo and turning it into a unique work of art. Quality graphics make an incredible difference in the visual appeal of your website.

Actual site "content" continues to be essential to the success of a website. More often than not though, visual appeal is the determining factor as to whether or not a client or customer will remain on a website long enough, to actually see the product or service the business is providing. Custom websites are for those who don’t have the time to design or create, but want to get things mush better and fast with a nice graphics.

Web site builders are online tools which anyone can use to build a professional looking Web site without programming and have it hosted instantly. No software to buy, no code to learn, all you need is to be a little Internet savvy and know how to click your mouse.

Most business owners today know that having a web site is an essential component of marketing. In the past, the choices were to hire a professional web designer, hire a local teenager to create a site for mall money, or learn to do it yourself. The last two options, are the least expensive, and were the preferred method for small businesses. The results are often not what businesses need to grow, reach, and impress new potential customers, however. They seem good at the start but quickly become limiting.

If you operate or manage a business, you surely must realize the increase in e-commerce taking place today. Many businesses find themselves searching for the best way to increase their exposure on the internet, and for most a website is the first course of action. As most businesses operate on firm budgets, finding cost effective solutions are usually one of the first thoughts when looking to make new purchases. When it comes to creating a website there are many affordable software programs that can produce professional results. Business software should be capable of handling your needs today and in the future. Business are always changing, adding new products, changing or removing old products, offering specials, having sales, etc. By choosing a business website builder over a professional web designer you will be able to make changes to your website whenever you want to. Another benefit is that you will be avoiding the high costs associated with developing the website and costs for making any necessary changes.

Website Builder tools advantages to you are increased revenue, cost control, caters to the large demand existing for web designing in the SME sector and can increase the client base without adding to your overhead. The advantage that your customers gets is a professional quality website, up and running in minutes and a User friendly and easily customizable interfaces that gives a complete website with all its frills and features and a nice attractive design. The downside is that you are limited to the look and functions of the tool and the templates or designs they provide.

On of the advantage of a custom website design is that the web site will look and function exactly as you want. A custom made web site can promote your brand and increase sales. The functionality and design of your website is important, because the images and text on the screen can make an indifferent visitor turn into a keen client, and the goal is to optimize your site to evolve maximum traffic conversion.

As more and more people are starting their own small home business many are finding that having a website is an important factor to consider. When one starts to consider building a website, especially the novice, many questions arise including…. can I create a website myself or should I hire a professional?

Hiring a professional is a great way to go if you can afford it. Although there are several things to keep in mind: how much will it cost? How much will ongoing maintenance cost? What will changes cost? How long will changes take? etc. As a result, many people opt to build their own website and begin searching for software that can easily help them.

As you start searching for an easy web site builder, there are some factors that you should take into consideration so that your new software will serve you now and the future.

There is quite a variety of easy web site building software and content management(CMS) based websites on the market today. In addition, some of the software available today is very expensive, geared more for the professional web designer, and come with a huge learning curve.

The options for small businesses to get a site developed have changed from the past. There are now sophisticated "site builder" tools available to small business owners, bundled with many web hosting packages. By using templates, and a content management system to manage updates to the site, it became easier to set up and maintain a web site, and many development companies have canned this functionality, for a fee. Hosting providers are increasingly offering tools to automate the web site building process, and with good reason. This new option has many benefits, as long as the business owner recognizes that there are trade offs and limitations to getting a web site this way. Some of the downsides are…the design is limited to their predefined templates. The functionality is limited to the tool. Also, in most website builder tools it is hard to perform search engine optimization, which is essential for a site to be found in the major search engines.

One of the biggest attractions for site building tools is the cost. It won't necessarily cost less to get your site this way, but it does provide a way to spread the cost over time. The cost for a custom website varies as per the feature and function it carries with itself.

Many people are concerned with building their own website, fearing boring designs and complexity. However, it is now becoming apparent that there are many custom web site builder software products on the market that promise dynamic layouts, professional templates, and user friendly web design tools. The professional web designers know there are a few more things to know, but sometimes they find some irony in the fact that web developers, in their quest to improve and better the web, have made themselves "optional". Most site building tools today are very robust, making it simple to add forms, searching, maps, guest books, calendars, and a whole variety of elements to a web site. Even better, the hosting company sometimes offers an entire suite of services - the site builder, email marketing, search engine optimization and statistics, all in one package along with the hosting.

There is also a possibility that the service will require you to keep some branding on the site telling people that you used their website designs and tools. This is more common with the free site builders - which pay for themselves by putting ads on your site. If your goal is to build a business web site, it's really not worth sacrificing your professional image by getting something free, which screams CHEAP.

Low quality websites sometimes attempt to sell expensive products or services. These websites cannot succeed. Studies reveals people spend more time on a well designed web page than on a low quality web page. There is a comparative relationship between the amount of time that an average visitor will spend on a web page and the amount of time that was spent building the web page.

Websites are an important aspect of online businesses. They are the first face of interaction between the user and the business. The website creates the first impression on the user and hence needs to be effective and impressive too. It is the job of web design services to make the website user friendly and search engine friendly too, so that it can serve the purpose of both effectively.

A tool can make things happen - but if you don't know what to make happen, it is either a useless tool or a dangerous one. There is a learning curve in knowing how to present information online (called information architecture in the profession), as well as for using the site builder. In other word, the fuller featured the tool; the more there is to learn. If you aren't familiar with color theory, use of typography, information architecture, navigation and interface design, and page layout and design, you can potentially make something that will hurt your business more than help it. So, unless you are already computer and web savvy, figuring out all the features within your web hosting and site builder package can be time consuming and frustrating.

In the end there are ways that a business can take advantage of these new options and still create a functional and professional web site. One way is simply take your time and research the available website templates, and find the one that has the most features and flexibility, that meet your functional requirements. In other words, spend the time to learn the things a seasoned pro would bring to the table. The internet is a massive library of "how to" information, where you can literally teach yourself anything - and with enough time spent, you could potentially learn how to layout information, what colors and fonts work well together, how to conduct your marketing online and optimize the site for search engines. The second is choosing the best suitable custom website design company and work with them to build a professional website that meets your needs get your imaginations carried and make business a great success.

My First Post

Thanks God, finally I've created my first blog here...fieewwww!
Ok, now I can concentrate to fill in my posts. Hopefully everything I'll share here will be usefull for everyone.