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Question: How can you improve your visitor's experience of your website AND at thesame time learn how to improve your website (or learn how to increase sales)? Answer: cookies Cookies? Yes. Let me explain...
Cookies ExplainedA "cookie" is simply a small piece of text information which a web serverstores temporarily with your web visitor's browser. (Note: cookies are *not*programs.) This means your visitor's browser remembers some specific informationwhich the web server can later retrieve. So cookies simply allow your site to store information on your visitor's computer for later retrieval. A basic example of a cookie in action can be found here - http://www.jsworkshop.com/js3e/list24-1.html Another example is the "online shopping mall" that uses cookies to add itemsto a user's "shopping cart" as they browse. ==Aside== ==Aside== Why Your Website Should Use CookiesBasically, cookies allow you to improve a site visitor's experience of yourwebsite. I've listed a few examples to show how this can be achieved: - Cookies can store visitor preferences. This means you can present customised information to your visitor, as per their own requirements. (This is how portal sites like MSN work.)
- Cookies can pre-fill form fields for your visitor.
- Cookies can automatically login visitors to your site.
- Cookies can provide visitor statistics and therefore help you understand your visitor's needs. Cookies can provide site metrics like unique visitors, average number of page-views, percentage of repeat visitors et cetera. And cookie-generated statistics are much more accurate than using log files.
(Do remember though, that people sometimes share computers; some browsers are set to reject cookies; and cookies can be erased.) So not only are cookies an efficient way of keeping track of information,they also help personalise your site visitor's experience of your site. And that's the point with cookies - how can *you* help your site visitor?(No, it doesn't mean how can you invade your visitor's privacy! The use ofcookies can be abused by site owners, but this ultimately leads to cookie-blockingsoftware being installed and used; so set your cookies cautiously!) Use This Cookie ResourceCookieCentral is an excellent resource dedicated to all things Cookie. Thesite's described as providing "information of persistent cookies, HTTP cookies,cookies with JavaScript, magic cookies, [and] maintaining state with cookiesand more." But don't worry if that sounds too technical for you, CookieCentral reallyis a great place to learn about the pros and cons of using cookies. Fromthe concept of cookies through concerns about privacy to JavaScript and CGIdemo code - you'll find it all at CookieCentral. http://www.cookiecentral.com/content.phtml?area=2&id=1 Or Visit These Sites To Learn About CookiesIf you want to know more about how cookies work, then visit these sites: Or Just Do It Yourself!As ever, the web is filled with free programs and scripts that allow youto use cookies. Whether you want to use JavaScript, CGI/Perl, PHP or ASP- there are free resources that help you implement cookies on your site. Read More...You can find out a great deal more about using cookies on your site fromthe following excellent resources. Just do a search for "cookies" and offyou go! Cookies can improve your visitor's experience of your web site, through personalisation.Using cookies, your site may well run more efficiently too, and could provideyou with accurate site statistics helping you deliver just what your visitorsare looking for. Just use cookies carefully, so your visitors benefit! Steve Nash is editor of the popular monthly newsletter called Promote! Promote! Promote!To subscribe, simply visit http://www.HowIPromoteMyWebsite.com . To get more website promotion ideas take his free 7-day e-mail course, called Website PromotionThat Works!
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