Bermudez, Mary

Joy F.
CCIT01-Multimedia System
PRELIM LECTURE

Multimedia

- means that computer information can be represented through audio,

video, and animation in addition to traditional media (i.e., text,
graphics drawings, images).
- is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of
text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video), animation,
audio, and any other media where every type of information can be
represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally.

Multimedia Application

- is an Application which uses a collection of multiple media sources

e.g. text, graphics, images, sound/audio, animation and/or video.

Hypertext

- is a text which contains links to other texts. The term was invented
by Ted Nelson around 1965

Hypermedia

- it is a combination of different media e.g. www other than that

powerpoint and acrobat.

Components of a Multimedia System

Now let us consider the Components (Hardware and Software) required for a
multimedia system:

Capture devices

- Video Camera, Video Recorder, Audio Microphone, Keyboards, mice,

graphics tablets, 3D input devices, tactile sensors, VR devices.
Digitising/Sampling Hardware

Storage Devices

- Hard disks, CD-ROMs, Jaz/Zip drives, DVD, etc

Communication Networks

- Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, ATM, Intranets, Internets.

Computer Systems

- Multimedia Desktop machines, Workstations, MPEG/VIDEO/DSP

Hardware

Display Devices

- CD-quality speakers, HDTV,SVGA, Hi-Res monitors, Colour printers etc.

Example of Multimedia Application

• www
• hypermedia courseware
• video-on-demand
• video conferencing
• interactive tv
• groupware
• games
• home shopping
• computer games
• vitual reality
• digital video editing and production system
• multimedia database system
• multimedia system

Multimedia Data

Input and format text and static data

SOURCE: keyboard, speech input, optical character recognition data stored on

disk. Stored of text is 1byte per character (text or format character) for other
forms of data e.g spreadsheet files. May store format as text others may use
binary encoding.

FORMAT: raw text or formatted text e.g. HTML, rich text format(rtf) word or a
program language source C and Pascal etc.

Multimedia system
 - is a system capable of processing multimedia data and applications.
- is characterised by the processing, storage, generation, manipulation
and rendition of Multimedia information.

Characteristics of a Multimedia System

A Multimedia system has four basic characteristics:

• Multimedia systems must be computer controlled.

• Multimedia systems are integrated.
• The information they handle must be represented digitally.
• The interface to the final presentation of media is usually interactive.

Challenges for Multimedia Systems

Supporting multimedia applications over a computer network renders the

application distributed. This will involve many special computing techniques --
discussed later.

Multimedia systems may have to render a variety of media at the same

instant -- a distinction from normal applications. There is a temporal
relationship between many forms of media (e.g. Video and Audio. There 2 are
forms of problems here

• Sequencing within the media -- playing frames in correct order/time

frame in video
• Synchronisation -- inter-media scheduling (e.g. Video and Audio). Lip
synchronisation is clearly important for humans to watch playback of
video and audio and even animation and audio. Ever tried watching an
out of (lip) sync film for a long time?

The key issues multimedia systems need to deal with here are:

• How to represent and store temporal information.

• How to strictly maintain the temporal relationships on play
back/retrieval
• What process are involved in the above.

Data has to represented digitally so many initial source of data needs to be

digitise -- translated from analog source to digital representation. The will
involve scanning (graphics, still images), sampling (audio/video) although
digital cameras now exist for direct scene to digital capture of images and
video.
The data is large several Mb easily for audio and video -- therefore storage,
transfer (bandwidth) and processing overheads are high. Data compression
techniques very common.

Desirable Features for a Multimedia System

Given the above challenges the following feature a desirable (if not a
prerequisite) for a Multimedia System:

Very High Processing Power

- needed to deal with large data processing and real time delivery of
media. Special hardware commonplace.

Multimedia Capable File System

- needed to deliver real-time media -- e.g. Video/Audio Streaming.

Special Hardware/Software needed e.g RAID technology.

Data Representations/File Formats that support multimedia

- Data representations/file formats should be easy to handle yet allow

for compression/decompression in real-time.

Efficient and High I/O

- input and output to the file subsystem needs to be efficient and fast.
Needs to allow for real-time recording as well as playback of data. e.g.
Direct to Disk recording systems.

Special Operating System

- to allow access to file system and process data efficiently and quickly.
Needs to support direct transfers to disk, real-time scheduling, fast
interrupt processing, I/O streaming etc.

Storage and Memory

- large storage units (of the order of 50 -100 Gb or more) and large
memory (50 -100 Mb or more). Large Caches also required and
frequently of Level 2 and 3 hierarchy for efficient management.

Network Support

- Client-server systems common as distributed systems common.

Software Tools

- user friendly tools needed to handle media, design and develop

applications, deliver media.

MIDTERM LECTURE

A Brief History of Computer Graphics

Computer Graphic is the discipline of producing picture or images using a

computer include modeling - creation, manipulation, and storage of geometric
objects and rendering, converting a scene to an image, or the process of
transformations, rasterization, shading, illumination, and animation of the
image.

3 Elements of Rendering
-Text
-Audio
-Video

Computer Graphics has been widely used, such as graphics presentation,

paint systems, computer-aided design (CAD), image processing, simulation &
virtual reality, and entertainment. From the earliest text character images of
a non-graphic mainframe computers to the latest photographic quality images
of a high resolution personal computers, from vector displays to raster
displays, from 2D input, to 3D input and beyond, computer graphics has gone
through its short, rapid changing history.

The History of Computer Graphics

In the 1950’s, output are via teletypes, lineprinter, and Cathode Ray
Tube (CRT). Using dark and light characters, a picture can be
reproduced.

 1950: Ben Laposky created the first graphic images, an Oscilloscope,

generated by an electronic (analog) machine. The image was produced
by manipulating electronic beams and recording them onto high-speed
film.
 1951: UNIVAC-I: the first general purpose commercial computer, crude
hardcopy devices, and line printer pictures.
 1951: MIT – Whirlwind computer, the first to display real time video,
and capable of displaying real time text and graphic on a large
oscilloscope screen.

In the 1960’s, beginnings of modern interactive graphics, output are

vector graphics and interactive graphics. One of the worst problems
was the cost and inaccessibility of machines.

 1960: William Fetter coins the computer graphics to describe new

design methods.
 1961: Steve Russel -- Spacewars, first video/computer game
 1963:
 Douglas Englebart – first mouse
 Ivan Sutherland – Sketchpad, interactive CG system, a man-
machine graphical communication system, it features:
 pop-up menus
 constraint-based drawing
 hierarchical modeling
 utilized lightpen for interaction

He formulated the ideas of using primitives, lines polygons, arcs, etc.

and constraints on them; He developed the dragging, rubberbanding
and transforming algorithms; He introduced data structures for
storing. He is considered the founder of the computer graphics.

 1964: William Fetter -- first computer model of a human figure.

 1965: Jack Bresenham – line-drawing algorithm
 1968:
 Tektronix – a special CRT, the direct-view storage tube, with
keyboard and mouse, a simple computer interface for $15, 000,
which made graphics affordable
 Ivan Sutherland – first head-mounted display

 1969:
 John Warnock – area subdivision algorithm, hidden-surface
algorithms
  Bell Labs – first framebuffer containing 3 bits per pixel

In the early 1970’s, output start using raster displays, graphics

capability was still fairly chunky.

 1972: Nolan Kay Bushnell – Pong, video arcade game

 1973: John Whitney. Jr. and Gary Demos – “Westworld”, first film with
computer graphics
 1974:
 Edwin Catmuff –texture mapping and Z-buffer hidden-surface
algorithm
 James Blinn – curved surfaces, refinement of texture mapping
 Phone Bui-Toung – specular highlighting

 1975:
 Martin Newell – famous CG teapot, using Bezier patches
 Benoit Mandelbrot – fractal/fractional dimension

 1976: James Blinn – environment mapping and bump mapping

 1977: Steve Wozniak -- Apple II, color graphics personal computer
 1979: Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle – MUD, a multi-user
dungeon/Zork

In the 1980’s output are built-in raster graphics, bitmap image and
pixel. Personal computers costs decrease drastically; trackball and
mouse become the standard interactive devices.

 1982:
 Steven Lisberger – “Tron”, first Disney movie which makes
extensive use of 3-D computer graphics
 Tom Brighman – “Morphing”, first film sequence plays a female
character which deforms and transforms herself into the shape of
a lynx.
 John Walkner and Dan Drake – AutoCAD

 1983: Jaron Lanier – “DataGlove”, a virtual reality film features a glove

installed with switches and sensors to detect hand motion.
 1984: Wavefron tech. – Polhemus, first 3D graphics software
 1985:
 Pixar Animation Studios – “Luxo Jr.”, 1989, “ Tin toy”
 NES – Nintendo home game system
 1987: IBM – VGA, Video Graphics Array introduced
 1989: Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) – SVGA, Super
VGA formed
In the 1990’s, since the introduction of VGA and SVGA, personal
computer could easily display photo-realistic images and movies. 3D
image renderings are become the main advances and it stimulated
cinematic graphics applications.

 1990: Hanrahan and Lawson – Renderman

 1991: Disney and Pixar – “Beauty and the Beast”, CGI was widely used,
Renderman systems provides fast, accurate and high quality digital
computer effects.
 1992: Silicon Graphics – OpenGL specification
 1993:
 University of Illinois -- Mosaic, first graphic Web browser
 Steven Spielberg – “Jurassic Park” a successful CG fiction film.

 1995:
 Buena Vista Pictures – “Toy Story”, first full-length, computer-
generated, feature film
 NVIDIA Corporation – GeForce 256, GeForce3(2001)
 2003: ID Software – Doom3 graphics engine

Computer Graphics

- are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the

representation and manipulation of image data by a computer.

IMAGE TYPES

2d computer Grpahics

- are the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from

two-dimensional models, such as 2D geometric models, text, and
digital images, and by techniques specific to them.

Pixel Art

- is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics

software, where images are edited on the pixel level.

Vector Graphics

- formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is the

representation of images as an array of pixels, as it is typically used
for the representation of photographic images.

3d Computer Graphics
 - graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric
data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing
calculations and rendering 2D images.

Computer Animation

- is the art of creating moving images via the use of computers.

Attributes

- location, orientation and size.

Image

- is an artifact that resembles a physical object or person.

Digital Images

- is a representation of a 2-dimentional image in binary format as a

sequence of one and zeros.
- It includes both vector images
- And raster.

Pixel

- arranged in a regular 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented

using dots or squares.

Graphics

- visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas,

computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or
entertain.
- often combine text, illustration, and color.
- Graphics design aims to deliver clarity or effective communication

Rendering

- rendering program is usually built into the computer graphic software

other available as plug-ins.

3D Projection

- is a method of mapping three dimensional points to a two

dimensional plane.
Raytracing

- is a technique for generating an image by tracing the path of light

through pixels in an image plane.

Shading

- refers to depicting depth in 3D models or illustrations by varying

levels of darkness.

Texture Mapping

- is a method for adding detail, surface texture, or colour to a

computer-generated graphic or 3D model.

Anti Aliasing

- rectify pixel problems, resulting in images more pleasing to the

viewer.

Volume Rendering

- a technique used to display a 2D projectin of a 3D discretely sampled

data sets.

3D Modeling

- process of developing a mathematical, wireframe representation of

any three-dimensional object.

Navigation shortcut keys in BLENDER

Items marked are compatible with Blender 2.50.

• G = MOVE
G then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = MOVE along specific axis only.
• S = RESIZE
S then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = RESIZE along specific axis only.
• R = ROTATE
R then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = ROTATE along specific axis only.
• X = DELETE
Displays the delete 'options' pop up.
• M = LAYERS
Displays the 'move to layer' pop up - selected object will be moved to
the selected layer. Displays current layer as selected on opening.
• NumPad 1, 3, 7 and 5
View port control; 'front', 'side', 'top' and 'perspective' respectively.
Pressing any of these will put the view port the mouse has control over
(the mouse is placed over) into 'orthogonal' or 'perspective' mode.
• Shift + F1-F12 = Window 'Type'
o F1 - File o F1 - File
Browser; Browser (load);
o F2 - Logic o F2 - File
Editor; Browser
o F3 - Node (export);
Editor; o F3 - Node
o F4 - Console; Editor;
o F5 - 3D View; o F4 - Data
o F6 - Graph Select;
Editor; o F5 - 3D View;
o F7 - Properties; o F6 - IPO Curve
o F8 - Video Editor;
Sequence o F7 - Buttons;
Editor; o F8 - Video
o F9 - Outliner; Sequence
o F10 - UV/Image Editor;
Editor; o F9 - Outliner;
o F11 - Text o F10 - UV/Image
Editor; Editor;
o F12 - Dope o F11 - Text
Sheet. Editor;
o F12 - Action
Editor.
• Middle Mouse Button (MMB)
o MMB Click Hold
By default moves the view port the mouse has
control over based on mouse position. Can be
altered to use different rotation focus points.
o MMB Scroll Up/Down
Zooms the view port forwards/backwards.
o MMB+Shift
'Translates' the view port, moves view left/right
and up/down.
o MMB+Ctrl
Zooms view port Uses a finer distance control
than scrolling MMB.
• Left Mouse Button (LMB)
o LMB Click
'Sets' an action. After moving or doing something
LMB Click is used to 'set' the action in place. For
example, a moved object stays placed relative to
 it's position when you click the left mouse button
during a 'move' action.
• Right Mouse Button (RMB)
o RMB Click
Selects object or item.
o RMB+Shift
Selects multiple objects or items.

Mode switch shortcuts

• TAB = EDIT mode (including UVEdit mode)

• V = VERTEX PAINT mode
• F = UVW mode (TAB in 2.46 & above)
• Ctrl+TAB = FACE SELECT TYPE - Edit mode
In edit mode allows the selecting of faces by polygon,
edge or vertex 'groups'. Allows working on a mesh in
different modes, facilitating slightly different working
methods.

Function shortcut keys

• A = SELECT/DESELECT
Mode sensitive - will select/deselect items based on
which mode you're in.
• E = EXTRUDE
Mode sensitive - will extrude polygons, vertices or
edges either individually (so the create their own
'children', or as a group.
• U = UVWunwrap
UVWmode only (for later versions, including 2.5, UVW
editing is done in Edit mode).
• Ctrl+R = LOOPCUT
Cuts a 'loop' - a line that follows the contours of a
model.
• B = BORDER/Loop SELECT
Pressing 'B' once activates the 'grid' border select tool.
Pressing again activates the selector 'brush' that allows
'paint selecting' objects. Useful for selecting multiple
faces or vertices in edit mode.
o Alt+B = Loop Select 'Cut/Show'
Using Alt+B toggles on/off the loop 'cut' feature
whereby Blender will show only the areas of a
scene or object inside the selection loop drawn
on screen. Alt+B toggles this feature on/off so
the rest of the scene is unhidden when the
shortcut is used again.
 o Shift+B = Select Zoom
View zooms into selected areas
• F = Create FACE/EDGE
Creates a polygon ('quad' or triangle') depending on
'select type' - vertexes, edges or faces.
o Ctrl+Shift+F = Edge FLIP
Flips orientation of corned-to-corner edges.
Selected polygons should be triangles.

PREFINAL LECTURE

Targeting Your Web Site

Questions to consider:

1. Who are your current and past customers? Your

customer is not necessarily just the end user, but also
includes the person who makes the decision or choice
to purchase your product.

2. Who do you want to convey your message to (and win

over)? You don't need to narrow this down to any one
specific group. Nor do you need to know anything
about how to market your product or service to these
people. Rather, use this as a guideline to compile a
general profile or two of your average target
customer/s:
• Gender
• Age
• Economic status or average income
• Marital status
• Family status (with or without children, etc.)
• Occupation
• Needs and wants
 • Geographical region
• Culture
• Lifestyle
• Hobbies
• Health status
• Emotional status (happy, sad, optimistic, rushed,
confused, relaxed, wishful, etc.)
• Education or expertise

Targeted web design is one of our great strengths and a

major factor in our clients' online success. We use our
experience and skills to design every aspect of every web
site with the target market in mind. Simply: it works.

Choosing a Domain

If you want higher placement in search engine rankings, it's

important for your web site to have its own domain name.

When choosing a domain, keep in mind that a domain is just

a label for an ip address. However since only one person can
have use of a particular domain name, having one gives you
a unique identity - just like a social security number, or a
house number / ZIP code combination.

An ideal domain name is:

• Catchy
• Short and concise
• Easy to remember
• Easy to spell
• Easy to type
• Strongly identifyable with your business name or
identity
• Something people can easily guess at if they can't
quite remember the url

Offering Function in Your Web Site

Every web site has a function, even if it's a simple one-page

"Business Card" web site to tell people who you are and what
you do.

Your web site can also offer function. That is, it can offer a
way for people to do something at your web site.
Here are some examples you may want to consider:

• Email links: simple email address links

• Email forms: fill-in-the-blank form in which the user

provides specific information

• Search functions

• Online catalogs to display your products

• Shopping carts: full e-commerce capabilities with

ordering, checkout, and payment processes

• Databases

• Entertainment

• Subscription service to join your email list (Note: you

should offer something of real value to make it
worthwhile to people to join a list. You must also
provide a method of return confirmation to ensure that
the person whose email address is submitted is really
the person who submitted it. You can be accused of
spamming and lose your web site and/or your hosting if
you send out commercial emails to a mailing list for
which you have no verification or confirmation of email
addresses.)

• Interactivity between you and your visitors or clients:

o Support desk
o Real-time chats
o Polls
o Forums

• Calculators

• Postcards

• Galleries

• Guestbooks

and many more.

Look around at different web sites, this time with an eye to

what they can do. What do you want your web site to do?
Can you do it better than your competition? You should!
Caveat: If a function requires you to respond to input from a
visitor, such as a support desk, forums or chats, DO make
sure you have the time to do it or that you can delegate
someone to deal with those responsibilities. If you choose to
use utilize such functions in your web site and do not stay
actively involved daily, you risk appearing unresponsive or
uncaring -- very bad for a Customer Service image. On the
other hand, if you are actively involved with your visitors and
maintain a helpful, professional presence, your reputation
will grow quickly and it will be obvious to new visitors (and
potential customers) that you provide excellent customer
service.

Setting Your Web Site's Structure

The structure of your web site is how it is set up: the

Navigation scheme. The navigation of your web site is one of
the most important considerations in constructing your web
site. If people can't find what they want in 3 clicks or less,
they will leave and likely not return.

You must also make your web site's structure intuitive -- that
is, there should be a natural and logical flow which people
can understand and follow with ease.

It's easier than it sounds. Here's our tried-and-true method:

1. Brainstorm your topics. Write down all the topics you

can think of which you want covered in your site.

2. See which topics you can arrange into categories.

Complicated or long topics should be broken down into
subcategories.

3. Look for logical sequences, and rearrange as

necessary.

4. Assign a page name to each category and

subcategory. What you will end up with is something of
an outline.

5. Count your pages.

Remember: It is better to have several short topics or

subcategories than to have everything on one long page.
Subcategories will also help visitors find specific information
easier.

Deciding on Web Site Content:

Text (Copy)

1. For each web page you named in Step 4: Setting

Structure, grab a page of blank paper. Put a page
name at the top of each paper.

2. Now comes the hard part: writing your text. We'd love
to say we'll do all it for you, but since you know your
business better than anyone else, you'll get the best
results providing at least the basic information for your
own text.

3. Keep it simple. Don't get too wordy. Vary the length of

your sentences. Don't worry about spelling and
grammar at this point, just get the information down.

4. As you write, keep this old marketing adage in mind:

** When logic and emotion come into conflict, emotion

always wins.**

No, this doesn't mean to put a lot of exclamation

points!!! or use a bunch! of BIG text and different
colors!! to get your point across !!!!!!!!!!!

(ew, tacky, wasn't that?) What it does mean is this:

People aren't going to stay at your site just to read
about you bragging about your company. They want to
know what's in it for them. Always. How can your
service or product make their lives better, make them
happier, better-looking or healthier, give them more
time, or whatever? Always gear your sales pitches to
the customer's point of view, asking yourself, "If I were
a potential customer here, WHY am I here? What would
I want to know or see?"

5. Not sure what your customers are looking for? Uh oh.

Boy are you in big trouble. Nah, not really! Just do
more surfing. Millions of web sites have support
forums. Go back to the sites you were surfing in
Section 1 and look for FAQ's and support forums.
 People ask all kinds of questions. This will give you an
idea about what potential web customers will want to
know about your own products or services, too.

6. Keep your credibility intact while you're writing your

text. There's a fine balance between jazzy, engaging
ad copy and the snake-oil-salesman oversell. If you
have any doubts about the effectiveness of your
writing, or if your text needs proofreading for spelling
or grammar, we provide a service to do this.

Deciding on Web Site Content:

Graphics

Graphics are a very effective way to break up text and create

"white space" -- an open area that gives the eye a break
from reading.

Used properly, graphics can be an extremely valuable and

indispensable tool to hold interest and generate enthusiasm
for your web site, your products, your services, and your
business.

Used improperly, graphics can distract from your message,

slow page loading to an intolerable level, or actually turn
people off of your product or what you have to say.

Below are some guidelines for putting together the graphics

content to be used in your web site. (Caveat: If you are going
to use graphics in your web site, you MUST either own all
rights/licenses to use the images, or you must have written
permission from the copyright owner/s to use the images in
your web site. You must also have written permission from
all identifyable people in your photos to publish their
likenesses online.)

Digital Images:

• Digital graphics on disk are preferred only IF they are

of exceptional quality with sharp focus, good detail,
and 72 to 96 pixels per inch resolution.

• Preferred digital formats: EPS, PNG, BMP, TIFF or TIF,

and GIF. JPG's or JPEG's are ok if not overly
compressed or blurry. Try not to "tweak" or re-save
your jpg's. Every time a jpg is saved, it is further
 compressed, which removes pixels from the image and
results in a blurry, low-quality image.

• Resolution of digital images: We use 72 to 75 pixels

per inch for web images and we speak of images in
pixel height by pixel width. This means if you provide a
3" x 5" digital image that has a resolution of 300 pixels
per inch, it will be 900 pixels by 1500 pixels. However,
when that same image is converted to 72 pixels per
inch to make it web-ready, it will end up only 216
pixels by 360 pixels. To give you an idea of what size
that is, the image at the top right corner of this page is
159 x 110 pixels.

• We can make any digital image smaller with very

minimal loss of quality.

• We cannot make any digital image larger without

significant loss of quality, because the enlargement
process results in a "spreading out" of the pixels and a
dithering type of effect to create "filler" pixels.

• If images need to be enlarged, OR if they are already

at proper dimensions but are higher than 100
resolution (instead of 72-75), please provide print
photos or graphics. Our professional 45-bit-color
scanning equipment can quickly scan a photo or image
to nearly any size and resolution with much better
results.

Print Photos or Images:

We can do some "tweaking" of photos and images to

improve lighting, colors, and contrast; repair red-eye; crop,
disguise, or eliminate undesirable elements; repair cracks,
spots, etc. However, there's not much we can do for a blurry
or badly-focused photo or image.

When selecting photos and images for your web page, keep
these in mind:

• Content and quality matter

• Product photos should be clear, close-up, with good

lighting, and well-focused. If you can afford it, hire a
professional photographer.
 • Consider including a few good-quality "people shots" --
photos of people enjoying your product or service. This
is like a built-in testimonial. Be sure you have written
permission of all subjects to use their photo/s online. If
you can, also get your subjects' permission to use their
names with their photos on your web site.

• If you offer gift packages, include good-quality close-up

photos showing what they look like with what items are
included etc. People like to see what exactly they're
sending especially if they order items to be sent as
gifts.

• Print Photos: We can scan these quickly and easily with

our professional scanning equipment. Results are
usually far superior than images scanned by customers
with home scanning equipment.

• For Logos: Provide letterheads, business cards,

brochures, or whatever has your logo on it or displays
your current business "look".

Custom Graphics:

• If you need a custom graphic such as a logo, then just

draw or doodle what you have in mind on a piece of
paper. You don't have to be an artist. You can add a
written description with labels etc. to tell us what you
have in mind. We'll create a new logo for you based
upon your concept and ideas. You will, of course, have
final approval.

Deciding on Web Site Content:

Color and Style

The colors and style of your web site will have a large impact
upon your web site's visitors, and should be carefully
considered with your target visitor in mind.

Ideally, your web site's colors should coordinate with those of

your business logo or business colors. This is a part of
"branding" -- establishing your business identity firmly in a
consumer's memory through consistent use of name, colors,
style, trademark, slogans, etc.
Your web site's style or theme should be an expression of
your business and its services or products. Is it professional,
entertaining, fun, informative, soothing, educational, or
strictly utilitarian?

We can choose a color scheme for you and suggest an

overall look for your web site. Or, if you have a specific
"vision" for your web site, describe it to us. We'll advise you
what is likely to work consumer-psychology-wise, and what is
not.

When you order your web site, we will request that you send
us 6 URL's (web site addresses): 3 for web sites you really
love, and 3 for web sites you really hate. This will give us a
feel for your own personal preferences in various web sites'
"personalities."

Staying Within Budget

The cost of a commercial web site can vary widely, and if

you're not careful about getting a reputable web developer,
can rapidly grow out of control. The best way to stay within
your web site's budget is to plan it along with every detail of
what your site will entail. To do this you need to know what
the expenses are or can be.

First, be realistic about your web site's budget. If you want to

pay amateur rates, hire an amateur or get a do-it-yourself
program and hope for the best. Of course, that may blow
your budget in the long run because you may find you'll need
to have your web site completely redone at some point to
attract and keep visitors and customers.

That said, most professional basic web designers start at

around $100.00 per page, with many closer to $300.00 per
page. Extra programming such as special scripts are usually
at an hourly programming rate which can go as high as
$250.00 or more per hour. If third-party scripts are used, you
can often save many hours of programming time, but there
are usually license fees to pay for the use of these scripts.
These vary depending on the program or script. Also keep in
mind that even a third-party script requires some extra time
to configure it, customize it, and integrate it into your web
site.
Basic expenses for a web site:

1. A domain name costs about $10.00 to $35.00 per year

through a reputable domain registrar. You can usually
get a lower rate by registering the domain for several
years at a time.

2. Web hosting costs vary, starting at around $5.00 per

month ranging upwards to $400.00 per month or more,
depending on the web site's size and use of server
resources. Expect to pay from $10.00 to $40.00 per
month for a reputable, dependable web host for an
average medium-size web site which will also provide
domain-based email, forwarding, auto-responders,
statistics and tracking, and other features to help you
do business through your web site.

What about "free" web hosting with "unlimited space

and unlimited bandwidth" ? There are some reputable
companies offering free web hosting, but usually with
restrictions on space and bandwidth, usually at the
cost of your own domain identity (you have to use an
address such as
www.theirdomain.com/yourusername/), and usually
also with forced pop-up ads all over the place. The
ones offering "Free Unlimited" hosting tend to be
extremely unreliable, unpredictable, and also usually
force pop-up ads all over your web site. This annoys
visitors and makes you look unprofessional. Unlimited
space and bandwidth really means "it's unlimited until
the whole server crashes because of too-heavy
demand on server space and cpu." With one of these
"unlimited" accounts, be prepared to find your web site
down frequently. Better to budget a small monthly fee
to keep your web site on its own domain, live, online,
and not annoying to your visitors with pop-ups.

3. A Search Engine Listing service (sometimes called

"paid inclusion") is highly recommended if you can
afford it. Normal search engine can take several weeks
to get your site listed. A listing service ensures that
your site is listed within days, not months, and that
your site is re-submitted and crawled frequently by the
search spiders to keep the listing fresh. Some of the
more inexpensive paid inclusion programs start with a
flat fee of about $49.00 per year PLUS additional per-
click fees of about 15 cents (USD) for every click from
 the search engines to your web site.

Our own Search Engine Submission sevice provides

submissions to about 45 major search engines
worldwide on a carefully timed quarterly schedule for
the best results. This service costs $105.00 per year. It
does not include Search Engine Optimization of your
pages, nor does it include paid-inclusion or per-click
services. We also provide an alternative to the yearly
subscription with our One-time Search Engine
Submission Service for $35.00.

4. Your web site development itself. As stated above,

costs for this can vary widely from as low as $500.00
all the way to $50,000.00 or more, depending upon the
number of pages, special programming, and other
features.

5. Take maintenance fees into account. These usually run

at an hourly rate. How often will you make changes or
updates to your pages? Will you be running sales or
specials which require updates? Posting
announcements? Updating a Calendar of Events?
Having contests or sweepstakes? Plan ahead for this so
you don't let your web site go stale.
NOTE: You may save on maintenance fees in the long
run by paying extra for Administrative features
programming which allows you to do your own
updating of certain parts of your web site.

There are things you can do if you can't afford the "web site
of your dreams" just yet:

• Start with some basic web pages, a few nice graphics

and photos, and perhaps a simple contact form.

• Let your web developer know if you plan to expand

your web site later, and discuss how you would like to
expand it. This may save you money during the later
expansion because your web site can be designed with
the future expansion in mind, resulting in less
reconstruction later on. Examples might be:

o Adding pages
o Adding functions
o Adding or expanding e-commerce capabilities
 o Any other features you may consider adding in
the future

We can make suggestions to make the expansion or

transition easier and cheaper in the long run.

What not to skimp on:

• Domain name: Get your own. Don't go with one of

those
www.myphonecompany.com/~username/myfolder/
web addresses.

• Web hosting: Make sure it's reliable, includes statistics

and tracking, and offers support. If PHP, MySQL, ASP,
CGI, etc. are to be used in your web site, be sure your
web host supports these.

• Great META tags and quality search engine submission.

These two work hand-in-hand. Not all search engines
index META tags any more, but most still do. You won't
get your best results without both great META tags and
savvy search engine submission. (The only reason we
list them separately in our Rates page is because we
sometimes provide these services individually: e.g.
submission service on a site that already has good
META tags and keyword page design; or META tags on
a web site that the client is already using a
submission/listing service for.)

NOTE: Run, do not walk, from search engine

submission services which claim to submit your site to
"50,000 search sites!!" There are simply not that many
reputable or worthwhile search engines in the world.
These "services" submit your web site to FFA sites, or
Free For All link sites. Listing your web site with FFA's
will eventually get your web site permanently banned
from the reputable search engines such as Google.
Although fairly effective years ago, most FFA's are now
simply link grinders which list your site for a few
minutes or hours as they rotate links in and quickly
out, then they start sending you tons of spam claiming
"You agreed to receive this email when you submitted
your site to our FFA link site."
Hint for a website success

A good web site is one that:

• Meets the needs of the target visitor

• Is credible
• Meets your objectives

To meet the needs of your target visitor, your web site

should:

1. Load quickly
2. Be compatible and work well with the lowest-common-
denominator browser and operating system being used
by your target visitor. This can vary widely depending
upon who your target is (for example, computerless
WebTV browsers vs. high-tech geek types).
3. Be easy to navigate. The visitor should be able to find
what they want in 3 clicks or less.

Studies show that to be credible, your web site should:

1. Present a professional appearance

o Clean, easy-to-read text
o Good color balance
o Clear, good-quality graphics
o Good fit in browser windows
o Its own domain name
o Ad-free hosting
o Good design and layout
2. Function Properly
o Free of JavaScript errors and other programming
errors
o Free of broken links and missing images
3. Provide information clearly, concisely, and coherently
o Good grammar and spelling
o Good focus and organization
o Useful information
 Product and/or Service information
 Contact information
 Policies (Shipping, Support, Guarantees,
Privacy Policy)
4. Have some degree of recognition or referral. Visitors
are more likely to become customers if they recognize
 your name from advertisements, word of mouth,
reviews, or testimonials.

What to Avoid:

Below are things to avoid in a business web site. All of these

will make your site appear amateurish to most visitors and
will detract from your credibility and professional reputation.

• Animated GIF graphics and bright blinking text, unless

they have a specific purpose such as in a game
• Looping music/MIDI's/sound effects/etc. which cannot
be turned on and off by the visitor.
• Flash®-only web sites with no alternative content
provided for non-equipped browsers
• Java applets with no alternative content provided for
non-equipped browsers
• Busy backgrounds
• Images with large file sizes or too many images on one
page. These slow page loading to a crawl. Ideal is to
keep the total size of the page to about 50-60K or less,
including the page file itself (HTML etc.) and all the
page's images and dependent files (JavaScript etc.). As
an example, this page's total components add up to
51K.
• Bloated code which makes your web pages take
forever to load (Sorry Billy G., but all Microsoft web-
page-creation products tend to do this).
• Exclamation points!!!! Don't annoy! your visitors with
sensationalism!!!!!!!!!!
• Text too similar in color to background
• Text too small or too large
• "Courier" and other difficult-to-read fonts that don't
scale well across browsers
• Long pages requiring long loading times and excessive
scrolling
• Pop-ups unless used very sparingly and for a specific
purpose
• Excessive frames - don't make people scroll in multiple
places on one page just to see different parts of your
page. Frames not only hurt your credibility, they will
also hurt you in the search engines. In fact there are so
many "cons" and so few "pros" for frames, we advise
our clients against them entirely.
 • Entry pages with no navigational purpose other than to
access the web site. Don't make people click more
than they need to.

Domain Power

What's in a domain? That depends upon whether you're a

person or a search engine.

Below are some hints for how you can make your domain
name a workhorse for your web site.

Should you use a generic domain name or your

company name?

A generic domain name is one that describes what your

company does, rather than who you are. For example,
instead of having "acme-carpeting.com", you might choose
"carpeting-bargains.com".

What are the advantages and disadvantages? Well, the

generic name can get you visitors who simply type a
"generic" address into their browser's address bar. It can also
result in slightly higher search rankings for searches on the
specific keywords in the name, as discussed in the next
section below. However, if you use your company name, this
is likelier to be remembered by return visitors and by anyone
you have name recognition with.

To use hyphens or not to use hyphens?

The jury's still out on this one, frankly. If your domain name
contains more than one keyword, some search engines will
index these and will rank you slightly higher if the keywords
are separated by a hyphen: acme-carpeting will have extra
keyword indexing of "acme" and "carpeting" in the search
listings, which will help keyword relevancy scores for
searches on those words. If you want to go totally generic,
try something like "carpet-bargains" to get higher indexing
on the words "carpet bargains".

If you don't hyphenate and use something like

"acmecarpeting", that's one heckuva keyword but it
will be indexed for searches specifically on
"acmecarpeting".

If you plan to rely totally on search engines, by all means go

for the hyphens for the extra little boost it may give your
ranking. However, remember that hyphens tend to reduce
ease of typing a URL, and many people confuse hyphens with
underscores_. Hyphenated names also are often longer and
more difficult for many people to remember. Additionally,
because of the hype a few years ago about "hyphenless
domain names", many people expect to type a url as run-on
name with no hyphens.

Note about keywords: Just because you have a keyword or

two in your domain name does not guarantee a high ranking
in the search engine listings. Rank is dependent upon many
other factors as well - as discussed HERE.

Audio File Format is a file format for storing audio data on

a computer system. It can be a raw bitstream, but it is
usually a container format or an audio data format with
defined storage layer.

The general approach towards storing digital audio is to

sample the audio voltage which, on playback, would
correspond to a certain level of signal in an individual
channel with a certain resolution—the number of bits per
sample—in regular intervals (forming the sample rate). This
data can then be stored uncompressed, or compressed to
reduce the file size.

Types of formats

It is important to distinguish between a file format and a

codec. A codec performs the encoding and decoding of the
raw audio data while the data itself is stored in a file with a
specific audio file format. Most of the publicly documented
audio file formats can be created with one of two or more
encoders or codecs. Although most audio file formats support
only one type of audio data (created with an audio coder), a
multimedia container format (as MKV or AVI) may support
multiple types of audio and video data.

There are three major groups of audio file formats:

 • Uncompressed audio formats, such as WAV, AIFF, AU
or raw header-less PCM;
• formats with lossless compression, such as FLAC,
Monkey's Audio (filename extension APE), WavPack
(filename extension WV), Shorten, TTA, ATRAC
Advanced Lossless, Apple Lossless, MPEG-4 SLS, MPEG-
4 ALS, MPEG-4 DST, Windows Media Audio Lossless
(WMA Lossless).
• formats with lossy compression, such as MP3, Vorbis,
Musepack, AAC, ATRAC and lossy Windows Media
Audio (WMA).

Uncompressed audio formats

There is one major uncompressed audio format, PCM, which

is usually stored as a .wav on Windows or as .aiff on Mac OS.
WAV and AIFF are flexible file formats designed to store more
or less any combination of sampling rates or bitrates. This
makes them suitable file formats for storing and archiving an
original recording. There is another uncompressed audio
format which is .cda (Audio CD Track) .cda is from a music
CD and is 0% compressed.

The AIFF format is based on the IFF format. The WAV format
is based on the RIFF file format, which is similar to the IFF
format.

BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) is a standard audio format

created by the European Broadcasting Union as a successor
to WAV. BWF allows metadata to be stored in the file. See
European Broadcasting Union: Specification of the Broadcast
Wave Format (EBU Technical document 3285, July 1997).
This is the primary recording format used in many
professional audio workstations in the television and film
industry. BWF files include a standardized Timestamp
reference which allows for easy synchronization with a
separate picture element. Stand-alone, file based, multi-track
recorders from Sound Devices, Zaxcom, HHB USA, Fostex,
and Aaton all use BWF as their preferred format.

Lossless compressed audio formats

A lossless compressed format requires much more

processing time than an uncompressed format but is more
efficient in space usage.
Uncompressed audio formats encode both sound and silence
with the same number of bits per unit of time. Encoding an
uncompressed minute of absolute silence produces a file of
the same size as encoding an uncompressed minute of
symphonic orchestra music. In a lossless compressed format,
however, the music would occupy a marginally smaller file
and the silence take up almost no space at all.

Lossless compression formats (such as the most

widespreadFLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, ALAC/Apple
Lossless) provide a compression ratio of about 2:1.
Development in lossless compression formats aims to reduce
processing time while maintaining a good compression ratio.

Free and open file formats

• wav – standard audio file container format used mainly

in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing
uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which
means that they can be large in size—around 10 MB
per minute. Wave files can also contain data encoded
with a variety of (lossy) codecs to reduce the file size
(for example the GSM or mp3 codecs). Wav files use a
RIFF structure.
• ogg – a free, open source container format supporting
a variety of codecs, the most popular of which is the
audio codec Vorbis. Vorbis offers compression similar
to MP3 but is less popular.
• mpc - Musepack or MPC (formerly known as MPEGplus,
MPEG+ or MP+) is an open source lossy audio codec,
specifically optimized for transparent compression of
stereo audio at bitrates of 160–180 kbit/s.
• flac – Free Lossless Audio Codec, a lossless
compression codec.
• aiff – the standard audio file format used by Apple. It is
like a wav file for the Mac.
• raw – a raw file can contain audio in any codec but is
usually used with PCM audio data. It is rarely used
except for technical tests.
• au – the standard audio file format used by Sun, Unix
and Java. The audio in au files can be PCM or
compressed with the μ-law, a-law or G729 codecs.
Open file formats

• gsm – designed for telephony use in Europe, gsm is a

very practical format for telephone quality voice. It
makes a good compromise between file size and
quality. Note that wav files can also be encoded with
the gsm codec.
• dct – A variable codec format designed for dictation. It
has dictation header information and can be encrypted
(often required by medical confidentiality laws).
• vox – the vox format most commonly uses the Dialogic
ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation)
codec. Similar to other ADPCM formats, it compresses
to 4-bits. Vox format files are similar to wave files
except that the vox files contain no information about
the file itself so the codec sample rate and number of
channels must first be specified in order to play a vox
file.
• mmf - a Samsung audio format that is used in
ringtones.

Proprietary formats

• mp3 – MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format

for downloading and storing music. By eliminating
portions of the audio file that are less audible, mp3
files are compressed to roughly one-tenth the size of
an equivalent PCM file sacrificing quality.
• aac – the Advanced Audio Coding format is based on
the MPEG2 and MPEG4 standards. aac files are usually
ADTS or ADIF containers.
• mp4/m4a – MPEG-4 audio most often AAC but
sometimes MP2/MP3, MPEG-4 SLS, CELP, HVXC and
other audio object types defined in MPEG-4 Audio
• wma – the popular Windows Media Audio format owned
by Microsoft. Designed with Digital Rights Management
(DRM) abilities for copy protection.
• atrac (.wav) – the older style Sony ATRAC format. It
always has a .wav file extension. To open these files
simply install the ATRAC3 drivers.
• ra & rm – a Real Audio format designed for streaming
audio over the Internet. The .ra format allows files to
be stored in a self-contained fashion on a computer,
with all of the audio data contained inside the file itself.
 • ram – a text file that contains a link to the Internet
address where the Real Audio file is stored. The .ram
file contains no audio data itself.
• dss – Digital Speech Standard files are an Olympus
proprietary format. It is a fairly old and poor codec.
Gsm or mp3 are generally preferred where the
recorder allows. It allows additional data to be held in
the file header.
• msv – a Sony proprietary format for Memory Stick
compressed voice files.
• dvf – a Sony proprietary format for compressed voice
files; commonly used by Sony dictation recorders.
• IVS – A proprietary version with Digital Rights
Management developed by 3D Solar UK Ltd for use in
music downloaded from their Tronme Music Store and
interactive music and video player.
• m4p – A proprietary version of AAC in MP4 with Digital
Rights Management developed by Apple for use in
music downloaded from their iTunes Music Store.
• iklax – An iKlax Media proprietary format, the iKlax
format is a multi-track digital audio format allowing
various actions on musical data, for instance on mixing
and volumes arrangements.
• mxp4 – a Musinaut proprietary format allowing play of
different versions (or skins) of the same song. It allows
various interactivity scenarios between the artist and
the end user.
• 3gp - multimedia container format can contain
proprietary formats as AMR, AMR-WB or AMR-WB+, but
also some open formats
• amr - AMR-NB audio, used primarily for speech
• awb - AMR-WB audio, used primarily for speech

Container Format (digital)

A container format is a computer file format that can be

contain various types of data, compressed by means of
standardized audio/video codecs.The container file is used to
identify and interleave different data types. Simpler
container formats can contain different types of audio
formats, while more advanced container formats can support
multiple audio and video streams, subtitles, chapter-
information, and meta-data (tags) — along with the
synchronization information needed to play back the various
streams together.
Some containers are exclusive to audio:

• AIFF (IFF file format, widely used on Mac OS platform)

• WAV (RIFF file format, widely used on Windows
platform)
• XMF (Extensible Music Format)

Other containers are exclusive to still images:

• FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) still images,

raw data, and associated metadata.
• TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) still images and
associated metadata.

Other flexible containers can hold many types of audio and

video, as well as other media. The most popular multi-media
containers are:

• 3GP (used by many mobile phones; based on the ISO

base media file format)
• ASF (container for Microsoft WMA and WMV, which
today usually do not use a container)
• AVI (the standard Microsoft Windows container, also
based on RIFF)
• DVR-MS ("Microsoft Digital Video Recording",
proprietary video container format developed by
Microsoft based on ASF)
• IFF (first platform-independent container format)
• Matroska (MKV) (not limited to any codec or system, as
it can hold virtually anything. It is an open standard
and open source container format).
• MJ2 - Motion JPEG 2000 file format, based on the ISO
base media file format which is defined in MPEG-4 Part
12 and JPEG 2000 Part 12
• QuickTime File Format (standard QuickTime video
container from Apple Inc.)
• MPEG program stream (standard container for MPEG-1
and MPEG-2 elementary streams on reasonably reliable
media such as disks; used also on DVD-Video discs)
• MPEG-2 transport stream (a.k.a. MPEG-TS) (standard
container for digital broadcasting and for
transportation over unreliable media; used also on Blu-
ray Disc video; typically contains multiple video and
audio streams, and an electronic program guide)
• MP4 (standard audio and video container for the MPEG-
4 multimedia portfolio, based on the ISO base media
 file format defined in MPEG-4 Part 12 and JPEG 2000
Part 12) which in turn was based on the QuickTime file
format.
• Ogg (standard container for Xiph.org audio fomat
Vorbis and video format Theora)
• RM (RealMedia; standard container for RealVideo and
RealAudio)

There are many other container formats, such as NUT, MXF,

GXF, ratDVD, SVI, VOB and DivX Media Format

Single coding formats

In addition to pure container formats, which specify only the

wrapper but not the coding, a number of file formats specify
both a storage layer and the coding, as part of modular
design and forward compatibility.

Examples include JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF) for

containing JPEG data, and Portable Network Graphics (PNG).

In principle, coding can be changed while the storage layer is

retained; for example, Multiple-image Network Graphics
(MNG) uses the PNG container format but provides
animation, while JPEG Network Graphics (JNG) puts JPEG
encoded data in a PNG container; in both cases however, the
different formats have different magic numbers – the format
specifies the coding, though a MNG can contain both PNG-
encoded images and JPEG-encoded images.

Issues

The differences between various container formats arise

from five main issues:

1. Popularity; how widely supported a container is.

2. Overhead. This is the difference in file-size between
two files with the same content in a different container.
3. Support for advanced codec functionality. Older
formats such as AVI do not support new codec features
like B-frames, VBR audio, VFR natively. The format may
be "hacked" to add support, but this creates
compatibility problems.
4. Support for advanced content, such as chapters,
subtitles, meta-tags, user-data.
5. Support of streaming media.
FINALS LECTURE

Why Web Sites Die

It happens all the time: a new web site is launched, and

fizzzzle... it just dies a quick death without ever getting
anywhere, OR it shows some results for the first few months,
peaks, and then dies within a year or so.

WHAT HAPPENED?

It never got off the ground to begin with. The most common
reasons for this are:

• Bad design: Images, color, grammar, unreadable text --

all can be turn-offs
• No promotion
• Poor search rankings
• Not user friendly: Long loading times and difficult
navigation are the worst offenders
• Poor function or performance caused by errors in your
site
• Poor customer service resulting in bad word of mouth.
This includes word spread via newsgroups, discussions,
forums, etc. This also includes the bad word of mouth
you give to yourself by not answering forum messages
on your own web site if you have functions such as
this.
• No credibility - a result of any or all of the above

It did great for awhile, then fizzled out. This is usually the
result of one thing: COMPLACENCY. Many web site owners
assume that once their web site is online, they can relax and
forget about it. Or, once the web site finally starts to get
rolling, the web site owner assumes it can continue
succeeding on its own momentum. WRONG!

Complacency often results in:

• Failure to resubmit on a regular basis to search

engines, which eventually drops the web site in
rankings or drops them from the indexes altogether.
• Content gets old, stale, outdated, and/or irrelevant.
o Old news and announcements
o Expired offers
 o Invalid contact information or outdated email
addresses
o Unanswered questions or comments in
forums/message boards
• Decreased or discontinued online and offline
marketing. This includes failure to solicit reciprocal
links for higher exposure as well as failure to advertise
• Decreasing or discontinued customer service and/or
customer support
• Failure to notice or keep track of market trends
• Failure to keep track of the competition

Keeping it Fresh

Keeping your web site fresh

• Increases credibility
• Engages visitors' interest
• Maintains visitors' enthusiasm
• Maintains search rankings
• Helps keep you one step ahead of your competition

How to keep it fresh:

• If you have any external links (to other sites), check for
broken links at least once a week.

• If you have any message boards or forums on your web

site, check them at least daily or more frequently.
Delegate someone to do this for you if necessary.

• Be sure to remove or update old news and

announcements regularly.

• Remove old or expired specials and sales postings.

Vary your sales or specials frequently, offering
different percent discounts or specific amounts for
different periods of time.

• Emphasize or promote different products or services as

"Featured Products". Holidays are a great time to do
this.

• Always answer promptly all correspondence related to

your web site.
• Use web site statistics as a tool.
o Which pages are people visiting most frequently?
o Which keyword or phrase searches are bringing
people to your web site?
o Which pages are people exiting from?
o How many return visitors and new visitors are
you getting?
o How long do people spend at your site, and on
what pages?

Do these fit with your goals and objectives? If not, can

you use this information to capture a new target
market or change your approach?

• Resubmit to search engines on a regular basis. Make

small updates to web pages so that search engines
detect newer files and index your content higher
because it's newer.

• Use a paid inclusion program to automatically re-crawl

your web site for search engines so that new content is
automatically updated in the listings. With such a
service, your site is automatically checked for updates
and indexed in the search engines approximately
every 48 to 72 hours. Caveat: Even the less expensive
of these can get expensive. Overture's Site Match for
instance charges $49.00 to sign up for a year, PLUS
$.15 for every click from the search engines to your
site. That means if you have 1000 clicks from the
engines to your site, you pay $150.00 in click fees
alone.

• Spend at least one hour every week looking up high-

ranking but non-competing relevant web sites. Send a
brief, friendly email requesting they post your web site
link on their site. Offer to feature their link at your web
site in return. This is called "reciprocal linking". The
more high-ranking sites which carry your web site link,
the higher your site will rank in the search engines due
to higher link popularity. Be careful who you link to,
however. See "What's With Those Search Engines?" for
more information.

• Advertise, Market, Promote! and keep doing it on a

regular basis. Say for instance you sell widgets and you
think widgets would make a great gift. Would the
average person think of even looking for widgets to
give as gifts if they didn't see or hear it suggested in
an ad? Maybe, but why not make it the more likely
choice?