The following is a list of a few of the enhancements or fixes made to WebWriter CMS within the last month:

• Tab Settings: Page Specific Title and Meta Tags - Page Title and meta tag Description and Keywords may now be applied to every page. Prior to this enhancement, every page title, description and keywords used the same information. This default information is updated through your Site Settings found under the Admin tab. By default, the description and keywords entered in Site Settings will still supply the content for these meta tags for each page. However, you can now override the default title and meta tag contents by entering page specific keywords using Tab Settings. Tab Settings is accessed by clicking on the tab edit (pencil) icon found in the left uppermost corner of each page. If you do not enter a title for a page, the new default will use your Site Tile concatenated with the Tab Name.
  
  
• Tab Settings: Submit Tab to Google Search Engine - Similar in function as the Google submission found in Site Settings. The difference being that using the submission link in Site Settings submits your website URL to Google where the Google submission link found in Tab Settings submits specific pages.
  
  
• Documents Module: File Icons - All documents will now display with their corresponding application icon, e.g., PDF and Word files will display the PDF and Word icons, respectively, in the Documents module. This enhancement helps your visitors locate the resources for which they are searching. Showing file icons also lets the visitor know what type of file they may be downloading.
  
  
• Files Module: File Icons - As with the Documents module, we added file icons to the Files module (Admin). We also increased the number of files listed per page to 500 (user selectable).
  
  
• Links Module: Image Column - The layout of links when using images has been improved so that images all align in a separate column in the Links module.
  
  
• Image Module: Align, Border, BgColor, BorderColor, Caption - Several new properties are now accessible within the Image module to improve the display of single images.

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Online Marketing: Getting More Visits to Your Site

One of the most asked questions from Tennis Network customers is, "How can I get my site listed at the top of search engines?" Unfortunately, many search engines now "sell" those high search result rankings. While you may not be prepared to shell out the bucks for the #1 listing for your keywords, I have a few tips on how you can help improve your listings with just a little effort.

Give search engines the information they need. All search engines have their own method of website ranking. Please refer to the Help section for each search engine for assistance in understanding what changes, if any, can be made to your site to improve ranking. For Google, you may find their Google Technology page to be a place to start your research.

That being said, some basic rules of thumb include:

• Title Meta Tag - Include page titles that contain the keywords on which you want your site or pages found when users conduct searches. Generally, what works well is having the organization name with the page description in the title. For WebWriter CMS sites, the default site Title is updated under Site Settings (Admin). All WebWriter CMS site pages contain the default Title with the Tab (Page) Name appended. The default page title is general good, but you can override any page title using Tab Settings.
  
  
• Description Meta Tag - Include a clear description of your site. For WebWriter CMS sites, the default Description meta tag is updated in Site Settings (Admin). The page description can be overridden in Tab Settings. Having a unique description for each page is generally a good practice.
  
  
• Keywords Meta Tag - Include words, separated by commas, that related to your site. For WebWriter CMS sites, the Keywords meta tag is updated in Site Settings (Admin). The page keywords can be overridden in Tab Settings. Having a unique set of keywords for each page is generally a good practice. Be sure to include core site keywords in your Tab Settings.
  
  
• Page Content - The publicly viewable content is often given more weight by search engines than the meta tags named above. When reviewing your pages, look for opportunities to revise your content so that terms or phrases, on which users may search for a site like yours, appear near the top of your page. Placing these keywords in headings also has been found to help elevate the association of those terms with a site or page.
  
  
• Image Alt Text - Search engines ignore images as they provide no textual context for indexing a site. However, image tags do contain a property named Alt. Alt is short for Alternate Text. When used, this alternative text is displayed when placing your cursor over an image or for visitors who have the browser graphics turned off. Most importantly, to our discussion, is that some search engines will used text in the Alt property of image tags to index your site. When using the HTML Designer, right click on an image to Set Image Properties.
  
  
• Links - Some search engines, e.g., Google, give additional weight to the number of links from other sites to your site and pages. The more links from other sites to your site and pages, the higher your ranking. This implies that getting other sites to add links to your site and pages can improve your site's ranking.
  
  
• Submit Your Site - Finally, you may need to occasionally submit your site and specific page URLs to the search engines in which you want your site listed. Doing so too frequently could get you black listed from a search engine. Consider resubmitting your site to search engines every 3-6 months a safe frequency. For WebWriter CMS sites, a Submit Site to Google Search Engine link is provided in Site Settings (Admin) and a Submit Tab to Google Search Engine link is provided in Tab Settings. For other search engines, please visit their site or contact us for a quote on our submitting your site to quality search engines.
  
  AddPro is a site that will submit your site for free to 20+ search engines.
  
  
• Buy Placement - If following the practices outlined above does not get you listed as high as you would like in your favorite search engine, then pull out your wallet. Some search engines sell placement of sites. Refer to the sales and services for search engines for which you wish to purchase placement.
  
  
• Results - Do not expect to see immediate results. Free search engine submittals can take up to a few months before your site is even indexed. The new website activity from paid search engine submittals will mature in about 3 months. To keep your rankings though, you should update your site often and be sure to have as few broken links as possible.

Let your visitors market your site. Page Options is a small, but powerful module we recently added as a Standard Module for all WebWriter CMS customers. The module contains 4 web tools: Add To Favorites; Tell A Friend; Print This Page; and Rate This Page. Tell A Friend is the web tool that is appropriate to our discuss on marketing your site. Tell A Friend gives every visitor to your site an opportunity to tell someone else about your site. When used the Tell A Friend web tool will include in the referral email the page Title and Description. If no title or description is provided in Tab Settings for that page, then the default title and description are provided from Site Settings. Page Options - Tell A Friend is a great tool to help get more visits to your site.

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Quick Tip

You logged on as site administrator, then navigated to a page on which you want to add more information. You selected the Module from the pull-down menu at the top of the page that meets your needs for the type of content you want to add. You then clicked Add Module. Bang! The new module rests at the bottom of your page. You use the arrows on the admin bar to move the module to where you want it on your page. You Edit (or Add) content, then update your changes. You click the Preview checkbox in the upper-right most corner of the page to proof your work. You're satisfied with what you see, so you Log Off. Log Off deposits you on your Home page. Job done. Right? Yes, if you only want Administrators to see the new module. What step is missing?

Security! WebWriter CMS wraps everything, pages (tabs) and modules in a security blanket. By default, added modules are only given view and edit rights to Administrators. To make added modules visible to the masses, Edit the Module Settings. First, uncheck Preview so you can access administrative edit controls. Click the Module Settings Edit (pencil) icon located in the upper-left corner of the module (just above the module title. Click "All User" to VIEW this content, then Update your change. Now, the job is done.

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Site of the Month

Forst Crest Athletic Club (FCAC) offers tennis players in the Mountlake Terrace and north Seattle areas of Washington easy access to a full range of tennis programs and services. FCAC wanted an easy-to-use website that would be easy on the budget. Forest Crest performs frequent updates to their site to keep their members informed about club activities and events. Forest Crest Athletic Club has been a subscriber to Tennis Network WebWriter CMS since April 1998.

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Wish List

Here are customer submitted additions to the WebWriter CMS features wish list. We like hearing your ideas about improvements to WebWriter CMS. Please send yours to support@tennisnetwork.com.

• Statistics Usability - A customer liked WebWriter CMS version 4.x statistics better than version 5.0. We need to look back at v4.x to see what we may have left behind when rewriting Statistics for v5.0.
• File Thumbnails - Add image thumbnails to the Files module (Admin) to help identify files rather than downloading to view.

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Special Offer

Try our new Photo Gallery module for 30-days free. If you like the module, then we can add it to your subscription.

The Photo Gallery module makes image presentation attractive and management easy. No fussing with sizes. When uploading images, Photo Gallery automatically creates your thumbnails and correctly sizes your large size images. Capture photo details with image data fields: caption, photographer and date. Photo Gallery will automatically watermark any of your copyrighted images. The most powerful feature is the ability to place each photo in multiple categories for topic specific photo album viewing. You can also see when a photo was last viewed and how many times each photo is viewed.

You can see a live online demo here. If you would like to try out WebWriter CMS Photo Gallery, please send your request to sales@tennisnetwork.com.

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