GMail, a free email solution provided by Google, is taking the email world by storm. It allows POP, IMAP, and webmail access, and again, it’s FREE! Why consider using a free, hosted email solution?

FREE!

Firstly, it’s free. You don’t have to pay anything, and it’s accessible nearly 99% of the time. You’ll only notice GMail go down every once in a while, and this is usually due to scheduled maintenance. If it’s not due to maintenance, you can always check the GMail Blog to see what’s going on. By the time you figure out the issue, GMail’s probably already back up and running.

Storage Space

Each GMail account offers a considerate amount of storage space. At the time of writing, GMail accounts allow for up to 7140 MB, which is over 7 GB of space. I doubt your current email host allows you to store this much space on your server.

Instead of paying your hosting provider to increase your total storage space, simply let GMail take care of it.

Google is a name to trust

We all know that Google is one of the biggest players when it comes to the internet, so why not trust them with your email? Being such a large, progressive, and solid company, you can expect over time greater enhancements, increases in storage space, and cool features to come.

Accessible

GMail provides its own portal for webmail, and it’s pretty nice. Taking advantage of today’s technologies, such as AJAX, javascript interface enhancements, and a slick user-friendly design, you’re sure to get comfortable using the interface quickly and easily.

In addition to a webmail portal (gmail.com), you can also POP or IMAP your email to your client software, such as Mac Mail, Vista Mail, or MS Outlook. This makes it much easier to keep your email account synched, so it’s always the same from wherever you may be, whether on your laptop on the road, at the library, on your phone, or in your office on your daily machine.

Searchable and Taggable

GMail allows you to tag or label each message, so it’s easy to keep your messages organized. Unlike normal email client software, GMail arranges folders based on tags. So instead of your email folders being arranged in a hierarchy, each folder contains a collection of emails having a given tag. In this way, an email that may pertain to two tags is allowed to be displayed in two folders, without the need to duplicate the message and store it in two separate folders.

Plus, all your emails are searchable. Instead of being forced to store your messages in some hierarchical folder structure, you simply ‘move’ them to an Archive folder. Your tags and labels are enough for you to find the messages you need to, quickly and easily.

SPAM Control

Google’s pretty good with algorithms (hence the best search engine on the web). So when it comes to SPAM, I’d be a fool not to trust Google’s algorithms. Google’s technology gives you more power over controlling SPAM and keeping your mailboxes clean.

More info

For more info, take a look at GMail’s notes on how GMail makes email easy and efficient. Signup today! GMail Home

With Chrome, Google hopes to further chip away at the Microsoft stronghold among internet users. Currently, around three quarters of all internet users still use Internet Explorer to browse the internet. That’s a ton of folks using a horribly bad browser.

The crappy part about that is, from a developer standpoint, Internet Explorer is the worst to develop for. Internet Explorer doesn’t follow web conventions the way the other browsers do, it’s slower, and it doesn’t display CSS and valid markup the way the other browsers do. This means we have to jump through more hoops to make certain things work specifically for IE, causing our clients’ bills to rise.

Looking at Google’s Chrome cartoon though, it looks as though they might really be onto something. Without going into the details, Chrome looks to be a much faster, more stable, and more user-friendly browser than all the rest. Reading the cartoon really explains it quite well.

The world will probably be a better place with Google’s new browser. Although it will be interesting to see just how much it takes hold. When Google introduced their free chat service, Google Talk, it was met with pretty big fanfare, but still pales in comparison to AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN chat services. Hopefully, this time enough people make the switch and make all of our lives easier.

It’s quite simple. High bounce rates are bad, low bounce rates are good. If people click on your website, and immediately leave, you will get no sale. It will also inflate your stats, and deflate your CPM if you are paying for those clicks. The goal is to have the lowest bounce rate you can. There are numerous ways to lower that bounce rate, and save money on paid ads.

Lets first look at some of the reasons people leave your site the moment they arrive, leading to an excessively high bounce rate.

Slow loading websites destroy healthy bounce rates

Slow loading websites can destroy a healthy bounce rate because people (especially nowadays) are extremely impatient when it comes to the web. If a website is slow to load, the human will simply click the back button or close the window, therefore squishing any hopes you have of a sale, just like grape.

The fix

Websites that are too slow to load are generally caused by one of a few things. If a page is too graphic-intensive, it can take too long to load. That beautiful huge splash page might be nice, but is it helping your brand, or hurting your bounce rate? If you think a too-large splash page is slowing down your website, try lightening it up some, and monitor your stats for changes. Chances are you’ll start to notice your bounce % drop.

Keep in mind though, that not all visitors come to your site via your splash page. A correctly built, and properly indexed [in Google] website will have multiple pages in which visitors find your website.

Boring pages lead to high bounce rates

It’s true. You’ve certainly seen this by now. If you click on an ugly website, you are more likely to leave and move on to the next one. When one really catches your eye, you naturally stay longer on the website.

The fix

Making changes in your header graphics can often increase interest in your viewers, and thus leading to a decreased bounce rate. Talk to your favorite web developer for more on this.

Crappily-built websites hugely impact your bounce rate

The trouble with ‘old’ websites, is that they are built to outdated and antiquated standards. Look, the web changes FAST. A shopping cart that was the best today will certainly an old, outdated cart tomorrow. It might suck, but it’s just the way it is.  Websites using tables can take forever to load, because the browser MUST render the entire table before it can display the content within the table cells. Semantically correct websites however, allow content to be displayed SEPARATELY from the display, thus allowing content to be loaded much much faster.

The fix

Update that old website! Your web developer can talk to you about what all is involved in converting old table-based markup to new, modern, valid CSS & XHTML. In most cases, this does not involve a tremendous amount of work, as the graphic design is already built. You’ll be amazed at what a semantically correct website can do, compared to it’s old school brethren.

Excessive javascript and flash can fry your bounce rate

Javascript and Flash navigation can negatively affect your bounce rate. Some people disable Javascript, because they don’t like popup windows. Lots of people still don’t have Flash. Why anyone would require a visitor to have Flash or Javascript enabled in order to simply browse a website is beyond me.  If you want people on your website, you need to build it where EVERYONE can navigate it.

The fix

Changing your navigation to a more proper format will help people move around your website, instead of being stuck having no choice but to click that back button. Accommodate the widest possible range of visitors that you possibly can. That Flash navigation might be really awesome looking, but seeing ’sales = 0′ is not worth the coolest laser beam light show navigation bar. The KISS method really, really applies here.

Improper marketing text will ruin your bounce rate

There is a tremendous difference between quality, pre-qualified traffic, and junk traffic. Back in my heavy duty traffic trading days online, it was a common thing to trade someone 5-10 thousand hits per day. The trouble with junk, bulk traffic though, is that you won’t make any money. Junk traffic actually can cost you more money in bandwidth bills and ad clicks than you make.

For example, you are trying to sell funt lamp widgets for $29 each. If you make a banner ad that reads ‘click here to see Britney naked’ you will probably get a gazillion hits. But what percentage of people of all those gazillion would actually buy a funt lamp widget? Now imagine a banner that reads ‘funt lamp widgets, now only $29′. Someone that clicks on exactly what they THINK they are clicking on, is far more likely to stay at your website.

The fix

Make sure your marketing efforts are TARGETED! Pre-qualifying your traffic is one of the best possible ways to increasing your traffic!  Junk traffic does have it’s place, but not in this situation. There are times when you want to send a billion hits and you don’t care who they are or where they’re from, but in terms of bounce rate, quality destroys quantity.

So there you have it. A few really good, proven methods to reducing your bounce rate, and increasing your sales. If you are unsure of your bounce rate, we can help you find where to look and help tell if it’s cause for concern or not.

But, with every negative, there’s usually a positive. As website owners, high gas prices means more people are staying home and ordering online. Now is a great time to promote your website hard and take advantage of the current economic landscape.

Every Monday, I’m going to discuss ways for you to increase your traffic, all while spending very little, if nothing at all. There exists an abundance of FREE ways to drive eyeballs to your website that every website owner should take advantage of. All it takes is time!

Stay tuned for our first article in a series of many. They will really help you stay on top of your marketing efforts, which is exactly what it takes to keep your website successful!

But Apollo has decided to search for a new career path. He’s not quite sure where he’ll end up, so he’s questing across the country–and maybe the world–to find the perfect career for himself.

Apollo will be documenting his experiences searching for new and interesting career opportunities. So be sure to follow Apollo on his journey over at Apollo Creed Travels!

Mosaic Mix offers multicultural clothing for kids, with emphasis on creating positive self esteem. Through clothing, accessories, and other products, they hope to improve kids’ self image and enforce the idea that “they matter”.

So have a look, buy a shirt, help enforce your kid’s self image: http://www.mosaicmix.com/.

But don’t let that worry ya, we’re still building some pretty cool websites over there. Soon to come:

• A lesser known presidential candidate named Rex Vanderwoodsen will be taking the country by storm. We’re voting for ya, Rex!
• Mosaic Mix launching real soon… check mosaicmix.com soon for updates.
• Groovy Web Design puts together some custom packages, tailored to meet the most popular requested components for small business’ websites.

Also, don’t forget to stay up to date with the happenings by subscribing to our RSS feed.

Stay tuned!