=> 1. News From the Net => 2. Feature Article-"Create Custom 404 Error Pages" => 3. Webmaster Resources => 4. Promotional Resources => 5. Other Ezines of Interest => 6. Just for Fun or Useful => 7.E Books and Things of Interest to Publishers => 8. Freeware and Shareware to Download => 9.Subscribe/Remove Information *************************************** Hi Kids, It must be GroundHog Day. I'm up early again. I awoke with my Significant Other about 6:30 am this morning. How often does that happen? Now it's not even noon and I fell like I need a nap. Did you ever see that movie GroundHog Day? This guy keeps waking up to the same day over and over and over......ever feel that your life is like that? I do. I've had some major stress this past week and Merle is not a happy girl. Nothing a week away probably wouldn't cure. I haven't had a vacation in over 6 years. Now that I think about it I probably wouldn't even know how to relax if I tried. Maybe if I drank enough of those umbrella drinks I'd be able to unwind....dunno. It's so cold and miserable today. Raining off and on and just what I call a yuck day. I've been rather busy and so has George so we haven't gotten around to putting the hard top back on my Jeep Wrangler and I have to go out today. I'm dreading it. I'm in the house and shivering. Nothing like the chill of a wet October day running through you on the highway at 65 miles per hour. Oh well, I guess I won't melt. Besides it's the kind of thing that makes a man out of you...is that a good thing? <LOL> It's my Brother Sean's Birthday this weekend and I know how much he enjoys this ezine so I'd like to say "Happy Birthday Sean". As with most brothers he is a pain in the as....but I do love him. Most days that is. There have been times when I'd like to kill him but I guess that's normal. I have 3 sisters that I dont' see or talk to as much as him, so I guess that makes us close. My family's a bit disfunctional, long story, so if any of us talk that makes it amazing in and of itself. I'm going to be dressing up "the boys" for Halloween this weekend. It's that time of year for their annual Halloween Picture to be sent to all of Merle's special friends. If you want in on the mailing list let me know. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get 2 dogs in full costume to sit still for pictures? I don't know who needs a sedative more, them or me. They do look at me like I'm nuts almost as if to say "here we go again, just sit still and humor her so we can get out of these dumb outfits". They do look adorable when they're all dressed up, even if they do hate me for it at the time. Hey, tell it to a shrink! Do they have those for dogs? So if you like getting a newsleter from a strange girlthat likes to dress up her dogs for Halloween keep on reading. I'd really like to see you over at the discussion board. Please give me your thoughts at http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/ Don't forget to bookmark the Blog. You'll want to pay an occasional visit for extra goodies I find. http://merlesworld.blogspot.com/ This week's winner for a free ad is...Ankesh Kothari of http://www.BizTactics.com, but he or she has been contacted. For your own chance to win fill in the survey. You'll find the link at the very bottom of this ezine. A winner is pulled twice a month. Enter now. Thanks for joining me, let's get to the good stuff. If you have any comments you can send them to Me. Merle http://www.MerlesWorld.com http://www.EzineAdAuction.com http://www.MCPromotions.com

FCC rules on fiber, power-line broadband regulation
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041014-4310.html

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E-shopping: When Things Don't Click
http://www.bizreport.com/news/8174/

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Google's New Threat to Microsoft
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3422131

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Optimize Your Site for Lead Generation
http://tinyurl.com/6umxo

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"How to Create a "Custom 404 Error Page" and
Get Your Lost Visitors Back"

By Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com

One thing that's certain on the Web is nothing
stays the same for very long. This is especially
true when it comes to pages of your website.
When you first create your site you may think
you'll never need to alter the structure. But
as your site grows, chances are there will
come a day when you need to move or change the
names of existing pages.

So what's the problem, you ask? Well, if you've
been busy promoting your website (and you
should be) specific pages are going to be out
there in "cyberspace" listed in search engines,
on other websites in the form of link swaps,
in directories, articles, etc. It would be
impossible to contact all of these people and
give them the new url- So what's a Webmaster
to do? Create a custom 404 error page.

A custom 404 error page is a special HTML page
that you create on your server that automatically
comes up if someone types in a wrong url,
misspells a url, or tries to call a page from
your server that no longer exists. By creating
one of these pages you can capture what would
be "lost traffic" and send them to the correct
place or guide them to a new page.

So what does a good custom error page contain?
There are important ingredients you'll want
to include:

1) Contact Info: Tell them how they can reach
you by email or phone.

2) Brief Explanation: Tell them why they have
reached a page that no longer exists or has
been moved and give them other options.

3) Include a valid link menu, site map or
search function so they may still find what
they are looking for, or perhaps another page.

So now that you know what to include in your error
page you need to create it, and give it a name --
something like "error404.html."

Once that's done, you need to connect to your web
server and look in the root directory for a file
called .htaccess You may not see it using your
FTP program because all files that start with a
dot are hidden under UNIX and Linux systems. You
can fix that by changing your file display filter
to "-la" (list all).

If you still don't see it you'll need to create
it.Make sure it is named with the .dot in front
of the htaccess, like this: .htaccess. If the
file is already there, open it up and add the
complete path to your error page like this:

ErrorDocument 404 http://YourDomain.com/404errorpage.html

Make sure the text is all typed on 1 line and you
leave a space on both sides of the 404 part and
that the E and the D in ErrorDocument is in caps.

Now just FTP this revised .htaccess page and your
404errorpage.html up to your server and you're
done. Test it by typing an incorrect url into
your browser and make sure your new
error page is working correctly.

From now on you'll never need to worry about
losing another visitor due to 'rearranging the
furniture," so to speak. By helping your visitors
get to where they want to go, you'll be helping
them and yourself to a visitor who would otherwise
been lost in space- and that's a good thing!

**********************************************
Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com
"Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Ads are Made"
Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting!
Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers
pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.
************************************************

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RSS Digest

"Place items and headlines from any RSS or Atom
enabled site onto your site, no programming or
required. It can use either JavaScript, PHP, or
an IFRAME as the inclusion method."

http://www.bigbold.com/rssdigest/index.html

-------

NameDroppers.com

Type in any name and this little baby comes back
with any and all domains that contains your word
or phrase. Great when you're trying to come up
with domain naming ideas.

http://NameDroppers.com

---------

Flash and Webpages

Search engines have always had a problem spidering
Flash web pages. Not anymore. Macromedia has
come up with the perfect solution.

http://tinyurl.com/4g6j5

---------

CGI Factory

Plenty of scripts to add fun things to add
to your website. Some will set you back a few
bucks and others are fr.e. News boards, message
boards, banner rotation scripts and more.

http://www.cgi-factory.com/software/

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***********************************
Useful Tips
***********************************

Yahoo Search Tip

Need to know what's playing at your local movie
theater? Type the word "showtimes" and your area
code to find out.

For example:

showtimes 44143

Anturl

Another great free url shortening service. Don't you hate
when you have a long website address and you need to
include it in your ezine or on your website? Use this and
presto like magic it's instantly shorter.

http://www.anturl.com/

---------

For the first time ever you can get inside the mind
of one of the World's Greatest Marketers as he reveals
strategies and secrets from his private collection,
and more than 20 other top gurus - all in one place.

We combine 3 4 of his best selling packages in one
amazing collection....right here.... RIGHT NOW.

http://tinyurl.com/3noqw

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If you'd like to swap ads with this ezine please send your
requests to mailto:adswap@merlesworld.com Please include
your ezine name and the number of subscribers.
-------------------

Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's
F-r-e-e Ezine "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for
their Business on his Web Page? Subscribe at:
http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm
Great Business and Computer Tips Monday thru Friday
Instructions to place your ad are in the Newsletter.

---------------

ATTENTION: Small Online Biz Owners!

If you're trying to market your Website and are not
sure where to turn, subscribe to MC Promotions Press
Newsletter and get the information you need to be a
success online. Sure-Fire Promotion/Marketing Tips.
Sites that will help you. Little known advertising
tricks.....and much more. Start increasing traffic
to your site Now http://www.MCPromotionsPress.com

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Pet Drawings

Now I think this is cool and would make a great
gift. You submit a few photos of your furry friend
and they turn it into a beautiful drawing. Anyone
would be thrilled to get this.

http://www.sistersdraw.com/

---------

Designs by Mark

If you use Photoshop you should know Mark? He's
the absolute PS King. He put together a new
training CD but even if you don't want to make
a purchase he offers 6 of his tutorials right
online you can watch for fr.e.

http://www.designsbymark.com

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Traffic School

"The Internet's most popular online traffic school
course. They have online traffic school programs
for ticket dismissal, insurance reduction, safe
driver points, and fleet driver safety programs. "
By taking a course here you may be able to save
money on your car insurance and more.

http://www.gototrafficschool.com/

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Internet Marketing: Special Report

John Reese is an Online Marketing Genius.
In this Free 16 page report he gives away
some of his best kept secrets for building
traffic to your website.

http://www.merlesworld.com/e-books/merle.pdf

--------

Free "How To Make Money With Affiliate Programs"
from Dirk Dupon get the Ebook from here:
http://www.ebooks-made-easy.com/superaffiliates.zip

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Google Desktop Search

Now you can search your hard drive as easily as
you search for things on Google. Download this
free software from Google and you'll be able to
find whatever you need in a jiff.

http://desktop.google.com/

-------

Mark Lyon

Are you a Gmail user? Since Google's new email
service is not yet available to the general public
not many people are. But there were some accounts
given out for testing purposes while they're still
in beta. Mark has devoted an entire page to handy
add on's for Gmail that just might make your life
as a Gmailer a little sweeter.

http://www.marklyon.org/gmail/gmailapps.htm

-------

Recall Toolbar

Another add on for Internet Explorer. "Recall
Toolbar is a better browser history. It's like
your very own personal search engine that helps
you instantly find that needle that you're trying
to find again in the haystack of pages you've
already visited. It creates a local (i.e., on
your hard drive) index of pages when you visit
them.

http://RecallToolbar.com

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Well, that wraps it up,once again thanks for joining me.
If you have any comments please send them to comments@merlesworld.com or visit the site.

For advertising rates for this ezine visit http://www.merlesworld.com/advertising.htm

Current subscriber base is over 3,400- My list is clean as all email addresses are removed the very first time they bounce.
Back issues can be reviewed here...http://www.MerlesMission.com

If you are not a subscriber and would like to be send mailto:subscribe@merlesworld.com

For great web hosting or if you're in need of a programmer contact mailto:DavidBlack@SiteDesignandHosting.com .He's wonderful and an expert at what he does. Tell him "Merle" sent ya.

P.S. I am currently in need of testimonials for this ezine.If you enjoy it please let me know. Send to mailto:testimonials@MerlesWorld.com
«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

If you haven't yet filled in the subscriber survey, get your free gifts by doing it now..and be entered into a drawing for a free ad in this ezine. Winner pulled twice a month. You'll find the survey at:http://www.advancedsurvey.com/ when there put 8243 into the survey number box at the right hand side to take the survey.

I'm now offering my articles for syndication on your website All you have to do is paste SOME code where you want the article to appear and every 10 to 14 days when I update it on my end it will display a fresh article on web design/ maintenance on your site. Easy to do and gives you fresh content without any work whatsoever. For more info and to get to the code Click Here.

Thanks for being a subscriber and I'll see you next time!

If you enjoy this ezine and would like to make a small donation please go to http://tinyurl.com/21se


Disclaimer: Merle's World does not accept any responsibility for any liabilities as resulting from any claims in this newsletter or by the advertisers in it. This newsletter is for informational purposes only. We respect your privacy and do not share our mailing list with anyone. All content provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Comments in this ezine are strictly the opinion of the publisher. Merle does not endorse, and is not responsible for, the above ads. Please use your own discretion when responding to ads in this ezine. Copyright 2001-2004 All Rights Reserved. View our Privacy Policy and our...Site Disclaimer

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