Is your website poised to deal with its growth

By Deepak Sharma

Is your web site poised to deal with its growth?

Pre-emptive measures hold answer to growth blues

The pangs of growth

Every webmaster nourishes the dream that his or her web site will make it the big way. This is very much human because people carry out any task in ardent hope. What is more human out here is that earthy fellows like us base our aspirations more on speculation rather than specific set of steps undertaken to bring the dream a bit closer to reality. And this is not all, particularly in case of growth of a site which brings newer problems in the wake of its growth.

The problems that are the logical outcome of the growth of a site can be gravest in nature if web master does not gradually prepare the site to deal with such problems in due anticipation of its growth.

Pre-emptive measures hold answer to growth blues

It does not take ages for a brand new site to become hit and popular. Once the site grows in traffic, popularity and size, a whole lot new problems begin to surface. The roots of these problems essentially boil down to hosting and design aspects like bandwidth allotment, amount of web space, a good web host, data transfer, disk space, technical support etc.

The heart of the matter is that there was nothing problematic with such aspects when you embarked on your way. Once you experience the popularity of site, and end up witnessing crippling losses due to down time, server crashes, or lack of timely and competent technical support, you begin to realize that you could have prevented such losses. You learn the hard way... only if you had taken into consideration the evolving needs of your site.

In order to save you from eleventh hour hassles, pre-emptive measures must figure out in your negotiation with the web host as to how and in what manner growing needs of your site will be catered to by host's extended services.

A stitch in time saves nine: Tackling issues around growth proactively

Glitches surrounding traffic and bandwidth

One can never loose sight of the traffic problem no matter whether the site is big or small, painfully obscure or profitably popular. To make the point a little clear, when the site is just new born, or in its infancy, it suffers from the traffic woes of no or very few visitors. The moment site jumps off on the way of getting more and more visitors, data transfer policy previously agreed upon with your host suddenly seems to be incompatible and not enough facilitating.

To ward off such glitches, you should discuss the traffic overage policy with your host hoping that your site is all geared up for an eventual growth. You should be crystal clear on the counts like how you can extend your data transfer allocation depending on your needs and wants, and do not fall prey to prepaying the charges for allocation you do not need at the moment.

Moreover, talk to your web host to be assured that technical or compatibility problems do not crop up once you are on a extension spree. To cut it short, your transition to more bandwidth has to be facilitating, smooth and hassle-free with least possibility of being on the receiving end.

Problems surrounding page updation

When you eye for growth, it is always advisable to keep all the common feature of site in a single location. This is because once you start updating your web pages in the aftermath of growth, you might encounter a cumbersome task of searching through numerous odd pages to update them.

There are certain convenient ways to simplify the updation process. You may well use server side includes (SSI), employ frames, and go for dynamically generating it from a template. These provisions will help you modify the design of your web pages when they are on headway to growth. Not to mention here, it will give you an escape from the huge headache you might otherwise be having. What's more, the updation process will be considerably synchronized.

Problems of robust and reliable technical support

In the glorious days of your web site growth in terms of size, popularity, and business prospects nothing seems to be so important as your upkeep time. The occurrences of downtime, that too in most crucial of the moments like peak period or so, can be a dreaded nightmare.

The growth of your web site makes it more vulnerable to technical failure, hardware crashes, or downtime instances. And hence comes the critical need of robust and reliable technical support like never before. Your web host which hitherto provided you bankable support may cease to continue to be reliable anymore. This is simply because newer problems might require a different set of technical preparedness and expertise on the part of web host to fix them.

So, a little deliberations on the technical solutions delivery of web host and its pace is the need of the such moments.

Price, reliability and web hosting

How much you can rely on the competence and ready willingness of your host during crisis moments is a vital consideration while giving a head start to your host. Interesting enough, there are certain inferences which shed light on the correlation between reliability and price of web hosting. It is not hard to find tempting offers of free web hosting all around. Be sure nothing comes for free, and reliability, not in the least.

There is also another dimension to it. Even if you finalize a web host who charges hefty fees, it does not necessarily promise the quality, agility, and reliability of web hosting. But as long as you are willing to pay, you stand a chance of getting better services, but it can misfire too.

Web hosting is an amazing industry wherein tall and tempting claims are made, available for free to huge prices, with technical support ranging from non-existent, namesake to robust backing. Ground realities are often shrouded in advertising gimmicks, and you need to dig a little to probe what you want and what they claim to offer. You can minimize the element of risk by checking out the credential of firms, word-of-mouth, and client testimonials but in an analytical fashion.

Timely and competent help is crucial once your site is experiencing terrific visitors. The resultant losses arising out of down time, frequent crashes, technical failure and lack of qualified and willing hands to timely deal with such issues can drastically negate the benefits of saving a few bucks in selection of your host.

Do not be penny-wise and pound foolish

It cannot be disputed that you can probably get some good web hosting on economy price. But if you expect top of the line service on this price, acknowledge gracefully that your are just asking for the moon. Probably you are not catching up with wisdom that business needs decisive investments.

Is the search tool on your website usable enough?

By Deepak Sharma

Is the search tool on your website usable enough?

The predicament of users on websites

Searching is one of the most frequent activities people do on the web, yet a great many web sites deal with their search engines in a haphazard way. This is a sorry state of affairs that a great deal of people has been traumatized with poorly organized websites, and a lot others has begun to perceive browsing as a nerve-racking experience.

Your website may be a paragon of elegance, and design but whether it facilitates the browsing of its visitors is a crucial dimension of your success on the web. Nothing else counts more to your website than the incorporation of a good search tool, and quality search results users so earnestly look for.

With today's basic search engines, the onus of searching the relevant information is placed on users. Users are fundamentally task-focused and wish to find specific information quickly and easily. More often than not users end up being uneasy and a little disappointed with the search results.

Programmers work diligently to ward off the failings of the simple search to make search engines "smarter. But they are, most of the time, in vain for lack of a consistent and well-directed approach. The complexities of the use of best algorithms, multiple sources of additional input, context, dictionaries, thesauri, grammar, search history, personal preferences, etc. stand tall between what information users are seeking and what information they get in turn.

Expecting too much of users may be counterproductive

When a reader comes browsing your site looking for a particular set of information, he or she clicks through a slew of links or uses a search process. The search process on the web often becomes misleading, and does not provide the users relevant and crisp answer to their search criteria.

The fault lies in the search capabilities of the website, and the search tools it employs.

Instead of making users more likely to get filtered and content based results, users are supposed to know what they're looking for, including spellings, meanings, and languages and higher-level search syntax, if available. To add to it, they are overtly or covertly expected to be prepared to sort through innumerable results with no clear guide to why certain results are valuable. This will tantamount to asking for the moon from the users in this era of consumer convenience.

Be user-focused: It is amazingly easy to build on your search capabilities

Let's have a look at how to prepare your site for search and what features you might need.

- Assess human psychology to the extent you can anticipate the specialty of their queries and include every possibility in your engine.

- Enable users to qualify or restrain their searches with additional check boxes or drop-downs.

- Establish an internal glossary of terms and a thesaurus that maps equivalents on your site .

- Search is a highly common activity, and it is preferable that the search box should appear on every page of your web site. Don't hide it anyway.

- The search box, where the reader enters his or her search query, should be spacious enough to accommodate a minimum of 20 characters to be entered.

- Arial is considered to be the ideal font for the search box because it is a narrow font and allows the reader to enter more characters. The font size in the box should preferably be 10 points and no smaller than 8 points.

- To the right of the search box should be a caption that read as "Search."

- The search should start with either the press of the return key or the click of the "Search" button.

- If you provide an advanced search option, a text link labeled "Advanced Search" should appear beneath the search box.

- The prime target of the basic search should be the contents of the entire web site.

- The fundamental search should backed by Boolean commands ("and," "or"), although this does not need to be explained.

- Structure the searching function as per specific needs. Don't use generic applications. It is worth the time and trouble to tailor-make your engine.

- The advanced search box should be larger than that for basic search (approximately 30 characters) as people will want to do more elaborate search requests.

- Besides providing the reader with the possibility of entering Boolean and/or options in the advanced search query, the reader should be given radio button options which allow matches on "Any word", "All words", and "Precise phrase". This is due to the fact that many readers often don't make it out how to use and/or syntax correctly

- Advanced search should enable people to fully exploit the metadata collected on the content. For instance, if date, country, product type, author, metadata was collected, then people should be able to refine their search based on this metadata

The bottom line: Make your site easily searchable

It makes quite sense to rank search results by relevancy, putting the best matches first. You can signify the relevancy level by listing a percentage or showing a shaded graphic or partially filled bar. Moreover, another good feature will be to let the users filter the results subsequent upon their sorting out the information first.

To help users get the information quickly and effectively, you can show the original query in a search textbox on the search-results page. This will encourage the users to adjust the query and try again, thus catering to their needs in the best possible manner.

While searching if users do not get matching results, the provision of a search summary that includes additional information to help users decide where to look next talks of your commitment to usability and friendliness galore on your site.

Always remember that users browse your site with a question in mind that needs an answer. Build your search capability in a way that anticipates the questions and simplifies the answers.

How to Work With a Web Designer

By Leva Duell

To get the kind of web site you want, you have to clearly communicate to your designer what you want to accomplish. Most people don't know where to start.

You can start by determining what the purpose of your web site is. Your web designer has to know if you want to sell products, collect leads, or instantly provide information to your prospects.

Most people assume that their purpose is selling products or services. Even if that's your purpose, you must be aware that most people don't purchase from your web site the first time they visit your site. When considering this fact, you will realize that the most important function of a web site should be collecting leads. Without building a mailing list, you can't follow up.

Now that you understand the importance of collecting email addresses, building a mailing list, and following up, how do you collect leads? Will you give them a free report or newsletter? If so, think about what information will entice your prospects to give you their email address.

Another method that is becoming more popular is the squeeze page. This is an entry page that asks people for their email address before they get to your information. When done correctly, it's a very effective method to get your visitors' email addresses.

Regardless of what method you're using to collect email addresses and building a mailing list, you'll want to automate this. An autoresponder will automatically compile your mailing list and send your email messages at specific time intervals you determine.

Discuss the many options available to you with your web designer.

To get the web site you want, your web designer will need answers to these questions in order to help you accomplish your goals.

* What is the goal of your web site? * Who is your targeted audience? * What products and services are you selling? How many products? How many product categories? * What is the look and feel you want? What are your color preferences? Do you want to look like a large company or a one-person, home-based business? Do you want a modern, homey, or conservative look? It will help your web designer to get a feel of what you like if you show him a couple of web sites you like. * What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? In other words, what makes you unique? How will you set yourself apart from other web sites?

It's important to have your entire content ready before starting the design of your web site. The navigation will be affected by your content and the number of pages.

Effective copy is even more important than the design of your web pages. Write compelling copy or have someone write it for you.

Provide quality images or have someone design them for you. Most web designers can provide this service for you or have a graphic designer they work with.

To get the web site you want, determine your goal, do your homework, and write compelling copy. Get all your information ready, including your copy, images, audio, and video. Provide your contact information, email, phone numbers, and domain name. Then, give all your information to your designer at once. This will avoid redundant correspondence, confusion, and multiple edits.

Communicate your goals and needs to your web designer. The better your designer understands what you want to accomplish, the better he will be able to put together a site that matches your goals.

An Easy Website Makeover to Boost Your Image and Increase Clickthroughs

By Karri Flatla

Looks aren't everything, even on the web. However, appearances are a definite liability if they are unduly neglected, no matter how solid your website's content is or how well your pages rank with the search engines. A harsh color scheme or sloppy layout offends the senses and hinders credibility. And in an environment where prospects can literally shop multiple sites in a matter of minutes, first impressions (read: looks) count.

While usability and accessibility certainly present a designer with additional challenges in enhancing the user experience, these things need not trump appearance. In fact, a site with clean lines complimentary colors, and important graphics like nav buttons that are easy to find, is inherently more usable than its uglier counterparts. Give the following tips a try and see if you notice a difference in both traffic volumes and click through patterns. You might be pleasantly surprised.

1. Because information gathering drives user behavior on the web, easy to read navigation ensures visitors are getting the most out of your site. Resist the urge to use fancy graphics or wacky fonts for your primary navigation. And keep the number of primary nav buttons down to seven or eight--anything more is simply overwhelming and clunky, especially on a home page. If your site contains various subcategories and sub pages, use flyouts or dropdown menus where appropriate.

2. People read differently on the web than they do print. While your local newspaper is probably written in a "serif" font (e.g. Times New Roman), reading print on a monitor is much easier if it is written in a "sans serif" font (e.g. Arial). Serifs are simply the extra little bits of type that hang or dangle from the ends of printed letters. On paper, serifs lead the eye smoothly from one letter to the next. This is why most headlines in print are in sans serif as these visually jolt the eye and ask us to take notice.

3. One of the most poorly executed aspects of web design is color. A nasty color scheme is usually the result of too many colors being used at once and/or the designer did not conduct browser testing (not all colors are "web safe"). All colors are "complimented" by other colors (and often insulted by others). Go to your local craft or paint store and pick up a color wheel for about ten bucks. On the color wheel you will find countless suggestions for attractive looking color schemes, many of which you had not thought of. Or, check out www.colorschemer.com/online.html. The main thing is to keep your website's color scheme simple, no more than three for sure with the third color used very sparingly as an accent.

4. Your website will automatically be more visually pleasing to its visitors if your chosen color scheme speaks to the needs and perceptions of your target market. For example, a more conservative audience will appreciate muted or traditional color themes while a trend-oriented or entrepreneurial audience might enjoy colors that are bold and crisp. While there remains debate around the true impact of color on our moods and perceptions, one cannot deny its impact when used judiciously on the web. Here is a great rundown of the alleged effects of color: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html.

5. Keep an eye on margins and text justification. Nothing screams "amateur" like a webmaster that has neglected the details. Make sure text does not appear squished up against borders and graphics and left justify large blocks of text for readability. Also be generous with white space around text and graphics, imparting a more organized, intentional feel to your pages. If you have a lot of important information to convey about a particular topic, "more info" links or printer friendly pages are a nice touch.

6. Tempting as it may be to go overboard, be judicious with your use of graphics, photos, and other multimedia. Remember, for most business sites, the overarching purpose is to provide useful information; graphics must compliment this purpose, not drown it out.

Implementing the above suggestions is relatively easy and quick to do, even if you are not a web design professional. And your hard earned traffic will no doubt appreciate the added effort and polish when they arrive at your site.

What You Need To Design Your Web Site

By Leva Duell

You'll need the following items to start designing a web site to sell your products and services.

A computer with an Internet connection and an email address to receive orders.

A domain name. Having your own domain name is a must for a commercial web site.

Hosting. You'll need a reliable hosting company that can handle your current and future needs.

A merchant account processor, payment gateway, and shopping cart to accept payments online. Most online customers pay by credit card, debit card, electronic check, or Paypal. Very few people will mail in a check. The shopping cart on your web site collects the payment information, communicated with the payment processor and gateway, verifies that the credit card or echeck is good, and returns the authorization or denial to your site. This all happens very fast. You can set up a thank you page that will automatically appear when the payment is authorized. When selling ebooks or software, you can put your download links in your thank you page and automate the complete ordering process.

To take payments online through a shopping cart you'll typically need a merchant account. Some order processors like Paypal, Clickbank and 2checkout will process the payments for you without needing a merchant account.

Web design software. You can design your web site yourself or hire a professional web designer. Hiring a professional allows you to focus on running your company instead of the numerous technical issues involved in web design.

If you want to design your own web site, you can either learn HTML and hand-code your web pages, or you can use a web editor. A web editor is software that creates the HTML code for you. But even when using a web editor, it helps to learn the basics of HTML to solve some design problems. WYSIWYG editors allow you to design your web site using a What You See Is What You Get interface. This is similar to a word processor where you can see what your page will look like as you're typing it.

Dreamweaver is the most popular professional web editor today but has a steep learning curve. FrontPage is popular for non-professional users. However, it is incompatible with other programs and will cause problems if you need help from a professional designer.

Some hosting companies offer free online wizards and template-based software that will guide you through setting up web pages. Using those makes it easy to start creating web pages but it will be difficult to make changes. Also, you may have problems moving your pages when switching providers.

If you plan on creating a simple web site, you can use one of the many free web editors that are available on the web. Below are resources for free HTML editors, WYSIWYG editors, and trial web page editors.

Nvu - http://nvu.com/ Netscape Composer - http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/ Arachnophilia - http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/ First Page 2006 - http://www.evrsoft.com/ HTML-Kit - http://www.chami.com/html-kit/ Free trial of Dreamweaver - http://www.Macromedia.com

Images. Your web site wouldn't be complete without images. These can be photos, illustrations or clipart. The inclusion of the right images will have a positive impact on the success of your site. The two most important guidelines to keep in mind are: Always use high quality images that are appropriate for the content they are illustrating; and always try to use original, or at least not overly used images. A picture can be worth a thousand words.

Statistics. You need to know the number of visitors you receive and where they come from. Make sure you ask for this feature when selecting a hosting service.

Arming yourself with the right knowledge and the right tools will make it easier to create and maintain a successful site.

Five Secrets to Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

By Daegan Smith

With so many companies swarming the World Wide Web with their products, how can you and your products and services stand out?

Your ready answer would most likely be effective marketing. But how? How can you catch the eye of a surfer skimming carelessly through web pages? How can you keep the attention of a typical website reader who spends no more than 30 seconds to read any given article online? How can you garner sales online?

One marketing technique is to be listed in search engines - but again, with thousands of companies offering the same products and services as you, how can your scream for attention be heard?

One technique is pay per click advertising, or PPC. You write out and place an advertisement in a search engine, list yourself under keywords of your choosing, and bid on the placement of your ads. This narrows your field to the people who are actively searching for your products and services.

If someone finds the ad and clicks it, that person goes to your website, and you pay the bid price. As a rule, the higher you bid, the higher your ad goes in the list of search results for a certain keyword, and the more people will go to your site.

PPC can be used to widen your reach, but it can be very expensive, especially if people click your ad only out of curiosity, or if you bid on more keywords than your budget can handle. However, PPC can get you customers and increase your profits. If done well, it can earn you money.

Here are five tips to get the most out of PPC.

Get Ten Specific Keywords. If you are a company specializing in exercise equipment, don't select "exercise equipment" or "gym" as your keywords. Chances are, there will be hundreds of thousands of other bidders waiting to jump on those same keywords. Be specific. Try "treadmill" or "stationary bike." Select a maximum of ten words, just to test the waters and see how your potential customers respond. If the first ten keywords succeed in getting you a larger market, then research additional keywords which are not as specific. However, if your first try yields less than satisfactory results, then try another set of keywords if you can still afford it.

Write Your Ads but Write the Truth. Most ad writers will broadcast their wares as being the be-all and cure all of all ills and pains. If they do this, web users will click on their ads and storm the site. This is well and good if the product or service will live up to the ad's promise - but what if it doesn't? A customer clicks, you pay, but the customer doesn't buy. You lose.

Write a succinct but accurate ad that doesn't sue vague language. Avoid using words such as "free," "low cost," "extremely effective," and "cheap." Tailor your ads to fit the keyword, and if you can, include your prices on the ads. This way, you will get a buyer who is ready and willing to purchase your product or service.

Budget Your Bid. It's tempting to go all out and set your prices, especially if you think your product will sell. But what if it won't? Set a monthly budget of about $100 for your bids, and bid just right - bid too high and you will run out of money, bid too low and your ads won't show up.

Even if you believe in your product, keep within bid budget, and do not get into bidding wars, especially with another advertiser who has a much larger budget than you. Don't waste your time thinking about your bids. Instead, invest your time in designing what your ad is linked to, which brings us to:

Make Your Site a Professional One. The standard rules of web design apply. Check your web content for spelling and grammatical errors. Update your web content regularly. Fix any broken links and images. Design your website so that it will be easy to navigate and load, so do not use Flash animation, as this will slow down your buyers' browsers. Link your ads to the exact place on your site where your product or service appears.

Know When to Stop. PPC ad campaigns can lead more buyers to you, but take care to check profit against spending. If you have already spent double your advertising budget, but have had little or no sales, consider dropping your campaign. You can also measure your progress in clicks. A total of 300 clicks is average for any ad. If your ad has reached 300 clicks and you have made no sales yet, then terminate your PPC project.

Equally as important as knowing when to stop is knowing that all is not yet lost and you can still go on. Running a web-based business means investing time, money, and effort, so keep your PPC up and running as long as you are raking money in. PPC, after all, may first mean pay-per-click, but, if you're successful, can soon mean Profiting Perfectly in Cash.

How to Create A Web Site In 20 Minutes or Less

By Dan Farrell

If you are like me and not a 'techie' or web designer, but want to create your own web pages, here are the steps I use. First, I used to use Frontpage2000 and still do with some old web sites but have fallen in love with XSitePro.

I can't say enough about this marvelous web builder extraordinaire! The ease with which you can create a full blown web site or a quick mini-site is...well just awesome! You have to check it out for yourself to see what I'm talking about. But if you are baffled with how to use templates, add a link page, navigation, ftp uploading, site maps, and adding Google Adsense and affiliate links, XSitePro will walk you through it with video tutorials as well as a very responsive support group. I can build a great looking web site in 30 minutes or less, complete with Adsense, affiliate links, images and uploaded!

Here are a few I've created and I'm no web designer, believe me!

http://thebest-fishing.com http://www.bestjob-hunting.com http://www.identitytheftcop.com Ok, I'm not that artistic but I like to keep them simple and easy to navigate. That is important as most surfers click, scan for a few seconds and either stay or click off. You need above all, CONTENT! for the visitor or the Search Engines.

You need to choose the market you want to sell to, either your own product or an affiliate product. Digital Informational products are the best, still, because they don't require you to physically handle them, ship them etc. But you can find companies that will package your ebook,software product in a CD/DVD or printed manual. One that I recommend is http://ifulfill.com/

You can charge more for a physical product, DVD, audio or manual then a pdf doc. And you will out shine your competition.

Ok, a little off the subject :o)

After your choice of market or niche topic, you need to decide what kind of web site it is to be...an affiliate site where your main goal is to sell affiliate products or again your own product. You can get resell products all over the place at very good prices. The one I love is Surefirewealth. Jeremy Gliason is constantly adding new products and software plus has a new search box so you can find a reseller product in seconds.

Now that we know what direction we are heading, it is time to start to put it on paper or virtual real estate. This is the easy part, particularly with XSitePro (think I like this software? lol). I have to admit, I don't like writing my own sales copy and don't want to pay someone $1,000's to do it so I use already created sales letters at Infogoround and Content Goldmine by Ryan Deiss and Jimmy D. Brown. Content Goldmine gives you articles, e-courses, keyword lists and even their own research on the best affiliate products to sell! The bad news is that they only accept new members a few times a month and you will most likely have to be put on a waiting list. This is a good idea as you don't want 1,000's of other members competing for the same targeted audience. They give you the sales copy, images and the product (usually an ebook) with articles to plug in.

All you need to is import the sales page into your html builder with the images, add the articles with links to your product or affiliate or adsense (I have read that it is better to only have one...either adsense or affiliate links and not both as it dilutes the effectiveness). I haven't tested it myself but others have. Add your meta tags, (even though Google and other se's don't use them, but some se's do) create a site map so Google can find your articles and add keywords to your title, first paragraph and throughout the pages.

Upload your web pages with images to your web host and...Voila! A brand new web page for millions to see :o)

Oh yeah, make sure all the links and order buttons work! A great site with tons of freebies is http://www.echoecho.com/ Don't forget to get some traffic, and I have covered that thoroughly in my blog. But to get listed in Google within 24 hours submit an article to the article directories, ezine publishers and other article web sites with your resource box or bio with a link to your new web site. For a good article submitter that will shorten this tedious task drastically check out Article Marketer.

Protecting Your Website From Online Thieves - Part 3

By Andy MacDonald


Act now for your copyright
In the previous design article Prevention Cures Copyright, we covered how to protect your web site files and gather evidence of your copyright ownership. Now we will look at how you can take all of your preparation and use it to find your online thieves.
Use the major search engines
To tell if someone has stolen your web site or your web graphic images, you can use the major search engines.
Start by searching for words or phrases unique to your site, such as your company name. This is where we catch many online thieves. They steal our web content without remembering to take out every instance of our name.
For further quality searches, we recommend typing the article titles and headlines from your most popular web pages into the search box.
For each search, go through the first three results pages. If the content looks familiar, check the web address (URL). If it shows a link to a page you are not familiar with, click on it and review the page.
Make sure you are given full credit for your work that another site displays - especially if another web author has used your work without your permission. If there is no reference on the page to the original author or to your web site, you might have a case for copyright infringement.
Some search engines allow you to do searches for graphic images. You can also search for unique graphic images that you use on your site, particularly if you named your graphic image an unusual name. It can even be a 1 pixel x 1 pixel transparent GIF with an unusual name in an unusual place. Most online thieves are usually not savvy enough to find that image within your HTML documents.
Review your log files
Your log files can be helpful in finding online thieves. These statistical reports are carried by most web hosts and include updated records of who links directly to your web site.
Generally, your web host will provide you with password-protected access to these stats, which you can view online and print out. We recommend that at the end of every month, you print out your stats for that month and look through the list of web sites linking to yours. See which sites look unfamiliar and review those pages individually.
Before contacting anyone - alleged thief, web host, ISP, their partner sites, anyone - gather all evidence of theft first.
Make hard and digital copies of the stolen web page content and the source code. Print the web pages that were stolen and make sure the date is contained on every page you print. Include URL's and titles. You must have a date on the printed pages and the URL's in the event the host or the webmaster takes down the site.
Next, view the source code, that is, the HTML code, and print that. You can do this by going to the Menu command and View/Source in your web browser. Compare the code of the offender's site with your own to see how closely they match. Many online thieves will take HTML code without making any changes -- same font settings, same graphic bullet points, same table formats.
Then make a list of all web pages that have the stolen items and write down what was stolen on each page. List the content and the names of any graphic images which were stolen.
Research The Offender
Conduct a WHOIS search to see who hosts the site and who is the administrative contact.
See if the web host has an Acceptable Use Policy that speaks to copyright infringement. This is more evidence you can use against online thieves. Print the Acceptable Use Policy web page and source code.
Before you contact the offender, notify the following people regarding the theft of your copyrighted material:
1. A solicitor (optional).
2. The offender's web host.
3. Major newsgroups - in your industry and your offender's industry. This can be particularly useful if you are a regular contributor and 3rd parties recognize your original work.
4. Major search engines and directories.
It is usually not required to bring in a solicitor to handle the initial stages of a copyright dispute, as most claims are settled early on. However, if the alleged thief's web site appears to have a substantial business presence, you might wish to consult with an solicitor, preferably one specializing in intellectual property and/or Internet law.
Then request that the stolen web pages and graphic images be removed from the thief's server.
Once you've done all this, speak with the company owner or the manager of the offending web site. If you can't reach one of them, speak to the webmaster. It is better to make a phone call before sending an email message so you will be more likely to catch them in a lie.
Once online thieves have been discovered, they might try to avoid responsibility, pass blame, claim that they were merely "testing" their site, or say they were really doing this to help you. Keep them talking but never let them off the hook.
Document and demand removal of copyrighted materials
Immediately after ending your conversation, send a carefully worded email message or a certified, registered letter to the offender explaining the copyright infringement.
Order the removal of all offending material. All you need is a few pages of evidence to send, but you will have to list every graphic image they have used or stolen without your permission before you contact them.
Demand that you receive at least the following:
Agreement to have the copyrighted materials removed. 24 to 48 hours is a reasonable time frame.
A signed notice - or at least an email message - from the offending parties stating they acted with impropriety; that the files have been removed and will stay removed; that no copyrighted materials from your web site will ever be copied by them again under any circumstances (or, at least, without your expressed written consent); and that you will pursue a lawsuit against them if they do not comply with your order or if at any time they are found to be responsible for any damages.
Why is this important? Because now you have acknowledgement of wrongdoing. If these pages ever appear again without your permission, you have the email, letter, and signed notice as evidence.
Pull The Legal Trigger
If the online thieves do not take down the stolen pages and/or graphic images, remove the disputed material to your satisfaction, or agree to your terms within 48 hours, hire an solicitor to send them a registered, certified letter. Make sure the letter is printed on the lawyer's letterhead.
It is always best to avoid a lawsuit - better to come to some settlement, especially if you've suffered no significant losses. Lawsuits can prove costly and time-consuming.
It is not up to you to fight online thieves everywhere. The important thing is to keep yourself and others informed about what legitimate web site owners can do to protect themselves so they can spend more time running their businesses and less time worrying about who's stealing their business
See also Why People Steal and Prevention Cures Copyright.