I’ve noticed over the months that a number of visitors have come to this site as a result of a Google Image search for “vintage robot” or “vintage toy robot.” I’ve used the robot image in one place or another on Sparkling Dawg for well over a year, most recently in the “Search Engine Optimization” post. I also use it on my spam tips site: ctrl-zweb.com. Here’s where I found this image: iStockphoto.com. If I’m not using one of my stock photographs, or creating a new illustration, I often use iStockphoto to save time and client expense....

I’ve opened a new category to give clients a place to leave comments and ask questions. The Dawg is a blog now to make it easier to share the kinds of information you ask for, and to get a sense of questions that might come up about making the most out of your Web or advertising presence so that I can answer them or invite guest contributors to answer them. It’s all yours. Enjoy! –Lynn

As much as I like to do business locally, I am purchasing Web hosting elsewhere. I am also a hosting service reseller. This enables me to manage multiple clients from a single Web Host Manager control panel. The time I save is time spent on checking client’s Web sites and server data routinely, as well as responding to problems (very few, usually having to do with client configuration of email accounts or email quotas) which is what they get for their money when they buy a hosting package through me instead of vendor-direct. I don’t expect clients to use my hosting service, and for...

A lot has been written about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it can be confusing and contradictory. Without going into great depth about costly models (pay for results placement, or per click, or hiring SEO consultants) versus the free methods, I thought I’d offer some basic free steps for improving your position in search engine results. For clients wanting to improve results for free, I take the simple steps described below. These have been working well for me and my clients. Note that the very best thing that you can do is to use good page titles and to write rich content for your...