Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #10
October 27, 2003
Contents
Business
First Editorial
Center Stage
Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter
Picky! Picky! Picky!
Random Ramblings and Miscellaneous Musings
Readers Respond
Write Thinking
Preview of coming distractions Our
oracle goes belly up
Business
First (Editorial)
This
edition of Petey's Pipeline is running a few days late because
of an extra-heavy workload last week. From Friday of the previous
week to last Friday, I completed an article for Old
Pine Footwear, proofread and edited Ginger Geracitano's
new tutorial, edited six articles for Transition
Home, rewrote some of my own material for inclusion in Ginger's
tutorial, wrote about half of a new article under my own byline
and wrote numerous e-mail messages. I spent the weekend putting
this issue together.
There
have been some new subscribers since the last issue and I'd
like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to each
of them. As always, I invite readers to contribute their ideas
and opinions to our Reader's Respond section.
The
bulk of this issue revolves around critiques of the Perfect
Text Web site that were originally published in Theresa Cahill's
WizWorld MRC Newsletter. All of our regular features have been
incorporated into Guest Writer, not Ghostwriter! (for
this issue, only) as part of our response to the various critiques.
Ginger
Geracitano dominates Readers Respond with some important
information about search engines. What you don't know will
hurt you. Enjoy!
Phil
Center
Stage with Tom LeBlanc
Our
ongoing mission is to find, test and evaluate free and low cost
products and services that are aimed at helping Internet entrepreneurs
('Netrepreneurs) build and grow successful on-line businesses.
Tom
takes time off to start up a new business (off-line) and build
a Web site from which to promote it. See Warren Contreras' critique,
below, for a link to Technorealm, where you can learn how to
spruce up your navigation links.
Tom
LeBlanc is a licensed physical therapist, published author,
home entrepreneur and 'Netrepreneur. His Web sites include Home-Entrepreneurs.com
and Transition-Home.com.
Guest
Writer, Not Ghostwriter
For
this issue, we're going to do something different—feature
several guest writers, each of whom contributed a brief critique
of the Perfect Text Web site to Theresa Cahill's WizWorld MRC
Newsletter, a couple of issues back. We'd like to thank Ms.
Cahill for granting us permission to reprint those critiques
here, thus giving us an opportunity to express our thanks to
the people who took time out of their busy lives to review the
Perfect Text Web site. Thanks, Theresa! And, thanks to all of
you who sent in your comments.
(Please
note that the critiques appearing here are in their original
form, as copied and pasted from the MRC Newsletter. They have
not been edited.)
Review
submitted by:
Peg Bastin
Recurring
income?? Need it?
Come learn how to get it!
http://www.bastinmarket.com/
mailto:peg@bastinmarket.com
Hi
Phil! A very businesslike and professional looking website.
Easy to navigate and lots of good content. I bookmarked it for
future reference. Black and gray would not be colors I would
choose for my website but you've done a good job with them.
I guess that's just a woman thing! LOL
My
answer to Peg: Could it be a "guy thing," do you
think? Anyway, Peg, thanks for the kind words. Thanks, too,
for bookmarking the Perfect Text Web site. I hope you'll take
advantage of it, often. With new content being added to the
site approximately every two weeks (a new issue of Petey's Pipeline
E-zine goes on-line every other Thursday or, as in the case
of this one, whenever I get around to it), you're sure to find
something of value and of interest.
All
of Petey's back issues are archived on the Perfect Text site;
the archive is accessible from most of the pages on the site.
You'll find articles and other information resources aimed at
helping newsletter and e-zine publishers overcome some of the
obstacles publishing on the Web presents.
You'll
also find articles, written by some of the best thinkers doing
business on the Web, today, that are geared to helping 'Netrepreneurs
build, and promote, their on-line businesses sensibly and effectively.
What
you won't find are pop-ups, hype, relentless advertising or
a ton of obnoxious e-mail in your "in" box. Because
Petey's Pipeline E-zine is only available, on-line, from the
Perfect Text Web site, subscribers receive one brief (very brief)
e-mail message, every couple of weeks, containing a link that
takes them to the latest issue.
But,
I digress. (End of shameless self-promotion!) After you visited
the Perfect Text Web site, Peg, for purposes of writing your
critique, I made some minor changes to the page design. Instead
of using light gray-over-black with title text in bright red,
I'm now using white-over-black with title text in dark red.
Do you think this is an improvement?
If
you'll send me an honest appraisal (the truth, as you see it,
not what you think I want to hear), I'd be delighted to publish
your comments in the next edition of the Pipeline. Be sure to
send me a link to YOUR Web site, so I can link back to YOU.
mailto:phil@perfecttext.com
Phil
Review
submitted by:
Phil Hanson, Editor/Publisher
Perfect Text
Petey's Pipeline E-zine
http://www.perfecttext.com
mailto:phil@perfecttext.com
"Butt
ugly" is the best way to describe this site. It was obviously
cobbled together one table cell at a time, in Dreamweaver, by
a clueless Web idiot whose time would have been better spent
writing a novel. To be fair, though, I'd have to say there's
lots of excellent written content on this site, and the writing
is superb. However, the guy who writes and publishes that e-zine—that
Petey's Pipeline thingy—seems to be thinking with his own
brain (if he thinks at all) and, frankly, that scares the hell
out of me. If you enjoy a steady diet of pabulum or if the truth
annoys you, don't go there.
My
answer to Phil: No comment! I'd just be talking to myself.
Review
submitted by:
Warren Contreras
http://www.wii-fm.com
mailto:warren@wii-fm.com
Site
#3 - Very nice logo design but why is it at the bottom? I love
the way you used red on black for impact but spared us from
reading the whole page that way. There is something distracting
with the menu box being so much brighter and I think it could
use a rollover effect on the items. A simple one line style
can do it for you using the hover attribute. See: http://www.technorealm.co.uk/scripts/hover.html
My
answer to Warren: Ah, yes! The logo is at the bottom of
the page because it was too small to go at the top of the page.
However, the story is a little more complicated than that.
When
I was surfing the Web, one night, I saw a link to a site called
Cool Text. Thinking it
might be a competitor's Web site I clicked on the link, so that
I could sneak a peak at what they were up to. What I found,
instead, was a cool little Web site whose specialties are small
text logos and buttons.
From
various options that they provide, you select the ones you want.
In a short while you've got a .gif, of your own design, that
you can download and use on your Web pages. During the design
process, if you don't like your original design, you can go
back and modify it, as many times as you want, until you get
it just right. Best of all, the service is free.
The
biggest drawback I could find was one of size. The Perfect Text
logo you see at the bottom of the page is the largest that the
Cool Text graphics generator could make. However, Ginger Geracitano,
of WebWench Graphics and Design, is about to provide a solution.
She's going to replicate the logo in a size that will be suitable
for use as a header graphic.
You're
right about using red text against a black background—a
little bit goes a long way. If you thought the navigation box
was distracting, let me know what you think about the rest of
the page being brighter.
Warren,
I really like that hover attribute. I'll be installing the scripts
as soon as I have some time to tinker with them. Thanks for
the link to Technorealm. Thanks, too, for your input.
Phil
Review
submitted by:
Ronald Dunn
Publisher, The Christian Marketer
Building YOUR Business Through The POWER Of Ezines!
mailto:rjdunncm@TheChristianMarketer.com
http://TheChristianMarketer.com
Phil.
Your site shows that there has been a lot of thought and work
put into it. In fact, there's probably too much information
for just a quick review. So, for the purpose of this, let me
just mention a couple of problems I see.
The
pages are too wide and caused me to have to scroll back and
forth to see what was on the right side and I have a 17"
monitor. This is probably caused by your use of specific widths
in your tables. Many people have monitors that can't view 867
pixels wide. I suggest changing over to the use of percentages
instead. That will cause the pages to fit the screen no matter
the size monitor and settings being used.
The
menu appears to be different on every page. There really should
be a complete menu on the home page subdivided by categories
of information. I like the use of a site map and site directory,
though. There is a form for subscribing to "Petey's Pipeline
E-zine", but I don't see anything on the home page that
tells me what this E-zine is to give me a reason why I would
want to subscribe.
My
answer to Ron: You're not the only one who's complained
about having to scroll horizontally to see my pages, Ron. That's
one of several problems I'll be tackling in the near future.
Thanks for the advice on using percentages. I had another fix
in mind, but this may be the better option.
Thanks,
too, for the "heads up" on the subscription form.
You're right! There's nary a reason in sight. You can bet I'll
be adding a few reasons, soon.
Site
navigation has been an ongoing problem. Right now, it can be
a little difficult, at times, but it's rarely impossible. New
pages go up, old ones come down, and content gets shifted from
place to place. The site keeps growing and, until site growth
stabilizes, navigation will continue to suffer.
Your
feedback is much appreciated, Ron. Thanks! You've been a big
help.
Phil
Review
submitted by:
Kathleen Craner
http://www.yournetsource.com/members/kasey/index.htm
I
visited the http://www.perfecttext.com
I
liked the site... It was very easy to navigate and read (easy
on the eyes is always a plus!)
There
was a lot of good content and all the hyperlinks worked.
Just
a good clean site!
My
answer to Kathleen: Thanks for taking the time to review
the Perfect Text site, Kathleen, and for your nice comments.
Are the lighter pages still easy on the eyes, or not? Now, if
I could just get all those hyperlinks to work for me…!
Sorry,
Kath, I don't promote affiliate sales pages on the Perfect Text
Web site, nor will I link to them. I checked your link, above,
looking for some contact information. Unfortunately, I found
none, so I can only hope that you'll have a chance to read this.
If you have a Web site of your own, hosted on a paid server,
please send me your URL. I'd be delighted to install it, live,
below your name.
Phil
Review
submitted by:
David Tishendorf
For all your lawn and garden needs
http://www.all-gardening.com
mailto:tish@all-gardening.com
Pretty
good-looking site, although it was too big for my screen and
I had to use the crossbar. Having said that, I have to add that
I'm afraid this site, at least for me, has one fatal flaw. Make
that three fatal flaws: Phil uses "quality" as an
adjective, not once, not twice, but three times. Phil, Phil,
Phil. There is a wonderful quote about what awaits the man who
uses quality as an adjective that I shan't repeat here. I know
that it has become more or less common usage, but I find it
unforgiving in someone who wants to write my copy. And so, click!
I'm gone.
My
answer to Dave: Hi, Dave. Dave! Dave! Dave! Since you presume
to teach perfection to a perfectionist, let me point out that
a number disagreement exists where you've written, "Make
that three fatal flaws:"
To
be technically correct, in the strictest sense, that part of
the sentence should be written, "Make those three fatal
flaws:"
However,
that sounds kind of awkward, so I would rewrite it to read,
"Or, rather, three fatal flaws." Yes, I'd replace
the colon with a period for further improvement.
As
I'm not familiar with the quote you mentioned, I don't know
what's waiting for me. But, whatever it is, I'm ready for it.
Does something sinister, I wonder, also await the person who
is excessively redundant? If so, I venture to say we're both
in trouble.
Writing
conventions, especially those that apply to grammar, can be
such pesky things, at times. Nouns are often used to modify
other nouns (thus making the modifying noun an adjective), such
as flower bulbs, grass seed, lawn care
and compost bin, to cite some examples from your own
site. I see no good reason to make an exception of quality,
even though the word has an adjectival form. To my ear, qualitative
sounds stodgy, stilted and pretentious.
Common
usage and the flexibility of language sometimes give the writer
license to work outside the bounds of what is grammatically
correct, providing such departure from the norm serves to enhance
the reading experience and doesn't render the intended meaning
vague, or worse, meaningless.
Less
forgivable than the misuse of quality, perhaps, is the misapplication
of website, written here just like it appears on your contact
page. Web site is two words, not one, and Web
(as it pertains to the World Wide Web) is always capitalized.
Always! When "web" is spelled in the lower case, a
web site is likely to have spiders living in it, whereas Web
site will only have spiders crawling through it. Sure,
"website" is common usage, but it's still wrong.
You
have a great-looking Web site, Dave. The layout and design are
nothing short of excellent and, from those aspects, I'd have
to rank it in the top 2% of the Web sites I've seen. Your Web
page text is good, far better than average, but it's somewhat
less than perfect. For instance, on your lawn care page,
I found two glaring errors, both of them hyphen-related.
The
first involved your writing of the word "overfertilize."
It should have been written, with a hyphen, to read "over-fertilize."
The second error had "back-breaking" written as a
hyphenated word when it should have been written as one word—"backbreaking."
My
purpose hasn't been to engage you in a war of wits or one-upmanship,
but to prove to you how damnably difficult it can be for one
to effectively proofread one's own work, and to demonstrate
the need for serious Web site owners, e-book authors and e-zine
publishers to hire the services of a qualified editor.
Thank
you, Dave, for a qualitative review. I'll be returning to your
Web site, about mid spring, when it's time to plant the garden.
Or sooner, if you want me to proofread and edit your Web pages.
Phil,
Phil, Phil
Review
submitted by:
Karen W. Wehrle
http://www.wehrleportraits.com/
mailto:wehrle@wehrleportraits.com
Phil,
a perfect site, especially after I read the entire letter, then
found the 7 steps to success and got a chuckle. I almost didn't
look at it as it went off screen on the right, but I shifted
the page over and was glad I did. Best wishes to you.
My
answer to Karen: You have such a nice, subtle way of telling
me, in two sentences, both what's right and what's wrong with
my Web site. On the one hand you told me that my humor wasn't
lost on you (many people don't understand my humor, least of
all those who take themselves too seriously), indicating to
me that this is one of the things I've done right.
On
the other hand, you relate your horizontal scrolling experience
in a way that makes it sound almost as if I'd done you a favor.
Sideways scrolling does no one a favor and, personally, I hate
it. I'll be putting various fixes in place, as time permits.
Your
thoughtful comments prompted me to visit your site. Wow! Joe
certainly has a talent worthy of envy, doesn't he? Your Web
site is nicely rendered, and your on-line business is of the
kind I like to promote. The one brings value to the Web, and
the other brings value to the marketplace. Not a bad combination!
Thanks
for taking the time to write, Karen, and best wishes back at
you.
Phil
Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
Readers
Respond
Hey
there, Phil!
How's my favorite copywriter? I enjoyed today's issue very much,
and not just because you published another of my articles, either.
(Thanks for that by the way... yes of course, we should definitely
swap articles for archiving!)
I thought it was ironic... I had just sent off a completed SEO
project to a client of mine when I received this issue of yours.
Your comments about your Google listing were very interesting.
I have a wonderful relationship with Google myself, and thought
I would share some information with you that may help your situation.
Regarding ANY search engine spider/robot that visits your site...
one of the things they've been programmed to look for is text
that matches the background color of your web page. The reason
for this is that there was a 'search engine spamming' technique
used a couple of years ago (still used by some today), where
people were just listing hundreds of keywords on their pages.
These lists were usually included at the bottom of the page,
in the same color text as the page background color. This way,
they wouldn't be seen by the viewers, but the robots WOULD pick
them up, as relevant 'content'.
Well, as soon as the search engines caught on to this, they
programmed the robots to actually 'penalize' web pages that
use a font color that is the same as the background color! I'm
sorry I didn't make the connection earlier, having been to your
site numerous times. I should have mentioned this before now,
but it was your article that spurred this memory.
I know you said in your article that your ranking has improved,
but since I know you're planning a redesign, I thought you should
be armed with this info first. If you'd like to share this with
your readers, feel free to use anything here as feedback! I
look forward to hearing from you, and trading some articles
for our archives... take care.
Ginger Geracitano
===============================================================
If
you have ideas, opinions or commentary of your own regarding
subjects or responses appearing in Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous
Musings, why not share them with Petey's Pipeline readers?
Submit
your thoughtful, thought-provoking comments to editor@perfecttext.com.
===============================================================
Write
Thinking
This
issue's Write Thinking writer's on-line tutorial for
right-thinking right-on writers rightfully appears in the body
of my response to Dave Tishendorf's critique of the Perfect
Text Web site, right near the end of the Guest Writers, Not
Ghostwriters section, right above the section that's right
above this one. Write on!
Preview
of Coming Distractions
Unfortunately,
our oracle is still in the shop and it may be several weeks
before we get it back. It seems we blew the present-future
connectivity circuits when we tried to establish an interface
between the space-time continuum equalizer and the event
probability sequencer, during an experimental testing procedure.
In
other words, there's no telling what's going to happen, and
everything's in a mess.
Disclaimer
The
articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information
believed to be true at the time of publication.
Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher
assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or
efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted,
advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus
offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!
