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![[ Useful Links 999 Art Direction Offers its Clients - Web Designers in Toronto ]](PageMill_Images/999_Links.JPG) |
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WE PROVIDE THESE
LINKS as an addition source of information, should our explanations
appear too short. We have chosen these for our own use and consider
these to be reliable sources of information.
_____Please
note that the links open a NEW window, in order to make your
return here effortless. The accuracy of the information on these
sites is the sole responsibility of the respective site owners.
999 Art Direction has no control over that content. |
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Recommended
Web-Related Reference Sites: |
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Canadian Copyrights Database: Search to see
if the Name you want is available BEFORE registering for a 'dot-com'
with Network Solutions below. A highly recommended procedure.
Why? |
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U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: Also
search to see if the Name you want is available BEFORE registering
for a 'dot-com' with Network Solutions below. A highly recommended
procedure. Why? |
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Domain.ca: The only place where you can get
a Canadian domain name for more than 1 year and
at a very reasonable cost. Seriously consider their 5 year offer.
We recommend these folks over Internic. |
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Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) & Searrch Engine Marketing (SEM):
While we only offer an initial
version of SEO with each site we create, most small businesses
would be well advised to get involved with SEM themselves --
especially the SEM portion. What follows is a short list of our
recommended resources. More can be found by searching "search
engine marketing" (with the quotes). |
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Search Engine
Optimization: An Hour a Day: This book (available at Indigo or Amazon.ca) will guide the small business
owner through the morass of doing their own Search Engine Marketing
-- One hour a day. Easy to read for the non-digeratti! Well recommended.
(Note: 3rd edition out in December 2010) |
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SearchEngineWatch.com: Search Engine Watch
is the authoritative guide to search engine marketing (SEM) and
search engine optimization (SEO), offering the latest news about
search engines. Enormous insight for the resourceful small business
owner relying on leads from their website. |
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Recommended
Online Directories:
If you plan on a campaign
of 'organic search', you should get yourself listed in these
two important directories. The specific reasons are outlined
below in each. |
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DMOZ.org: This directory is the first
place you should list your new site. Search engines consider
this directory the tops, as it has been in existence since the
beginning of the internet in 1994-95. Be warned, though, it can
take months to get listed as each application is reviewed
by an actual person. They may also choose not to
list you, and they won't inform you as to why. You may need to
re-apply periodically (every six months). Applicants are well
advised to read and adhere to the submission guidelines found
in the FAQs. Meanwhile, you should look for directories
within DMOZ in you region and consider applying to those. These
are often used by actual people, and will not only count as inbound
links from a DMOZ directory, but they may also yield actual
prospects. |
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Alexa.com: Submit your site to this directory,
as it holds great importance in the 'organic' search world as
well. You will have to 'claim your listing' with a code addition
to your site, but we can help you with that. The Alexa process
happens much faster than DMOZ. Also, like DMOZ above, you can
look for regional directories to submit to, as well. Ignoring
these directories could hamper your 'organic' page positioning
on major search engines. |
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Recommended
Small Business-Related Reference Sites: |
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CanadaOne: CanadaOne
has repeatedly ignored our requests to help us update our out
of date listing on their site, so we no longer recommend them. |
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SmallBizXpress: See: 'Electronic Commerce'
> 'Establishing a web presence'. |
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Royal Bank: Order their small business guidelines
books. Highly useful! |
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The
State of the Internet: |
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Defend
Your Windows PC Online -- for FREE: |
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Much
of our work here is Mac-based, which means we are extremely
immune to viruses, trojans, spyware, and general nasties
online. BUT we do use an IBM laptop for a small number
of internet related functions, so we RECOMMEND CONSIDERING the
following 'defense mechanisms' that we use. These
work. Period! Of course, your best defense overall would
be a Mac -- but these are FREE. |
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MailWasher Free v6.5 (PCWorld) (FREE) Win98-XP: Check your email
BEFORE it arrives on your computer. This program allows you
to see and read a portion of your mail as it sits on your
ISP's server. You then can delete suspicious SPAM and the likes.
When you're done, open Outlook (or any other) and download the
remaining mail. No more nasties! |
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Lavasoft: Ad Aware SE
(FREE) Win98-XP: Has your PC been acting weird
lately? Maybe slow? That is likely to be the result of tonnes
of junk that you have picked up JUST by innocently browsing the
web using Internet Explorer 5/6. Simply download this and run,
and you'll be surprised the nasty stuff Internet Explorer has
allowed in. Now you can take back your PC by nixing the meanies! |
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Firefox 4.0- Rediscover the web (FREE) Win2000-Windows 7: Internet
Explorer for Windows is like a magnet. It attracts junk from
all corners of the web! Even with ALL the recent security
patches, Internet Explorer 6 STILL leaves you vulnerable to those
with 'dark ambitions' and Internet Explorer 7 is marginally better.
Take decisive action with Firefox and put an end to it all. PLUS,
put an instant end to those annoying POP-UP ADS with this speedy,
full-functioned modern browser that is W3C compliant! We like
the fact you can set it to dump ALL cookies on exiting the browser.
A true blessing -- at last! Also Mac OS X & Linux. |
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Zone Labs: ZoneAlarm
(FREE) WinXP-Windows 7: Do you know who has been
IN your PC while you've been online? With this firewall installed
at DEFAULT level, now you can see who is TRYING but CAN'T get
in. This is EXTREMELY important especially if you have an 'always-on'
broadband connection to the web! PLUS you become 'invisible'
so your actions are not tracked. According to the experts, this
little freebie is MUCH MORE SECURE than "the wimpy one included
with Windows XP". 'Nuff said. Go get it! |
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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 10.0 (TRIALWARE)
WinXP-Windows 7: Why fiddle around with the Anti-Virus
that starts to nag you to 'pay up or get left behind' after a
year? Download AVG now and start to enjoy the peace of mind
you deserve. Today. Every week or two AVG will remind to download
its FREE virus definitions so you will NEVER have to worry about
the 'bad guys' infecting your files. It is a fast download and
a quick update. AVG also checks incoming and outgoing email for
suspicious activity. More info about AVG Free Edition 10.0 found
at our linked download site (CNET Downloads). |
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Utilities
For Your Windows PC That We Use -- for FREE: |
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CutePDF™ Writer (FREE)
Win98-Windows 7: Ignore the goofy name. This is a
perfect utility to create PDF files from your Word documents
-- on the fly! We highly recommend you use this for Quotes,
Invoices, Proposals, or any other kind of MS Word-type
document you want to preserve the formatting and layout integrity
while securing your document by making it non-editable. You
will also require free GPL Ghostscript 8.15 which can be downloaded
from the same page. Install it first. Then download and
install CutePDF™ Writer. When you want to make a PDF of
your document, simply hit 'PRINT' and select 'CutePDF' from your
printer list. Check settings then -- 'print'. In moments you
will have a perfect PDF file that you can send via email. CAUTION: Remember to add a file name AND the
extension (.pdf). This will NOT work with very complicated
documents, but will be fine for about 99% of your needs. We
use it all the time and HIGHLY recommend it!! |
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