• Intro
  
• Article - Should we value Search Engine Optimization?
  
• The Office Corner
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - Emphasizing words in plain text
  
• Tech Tips by Terence Kierans - Outlook and Word
  
• Tech Corner
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Word of the Month - Corroborate
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  

I hope your offices are productive and enjoyable. I hope that from time to time I have something in my ezine that helps make your work day go better. You'll find some "fun" websites listed below. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving time (if you're in the U.S.). And a wonderful November if you live elsewhere!

I'm so thankful for family, friends, colleagues, and a solid business. The Internet has made a significant difference in my life. In how I communicate with others, and how I operate a business. How about you?

Please visit my blog at www.ossweb.com. I'm offering writing tips along with many of the other things bloggers do, and I'll also use it to ask my visitors for help with questions I get from visitors to my other sites. Feel free to pitch in and respond, and also to ask questions on small business, webmastering, writing, photography, language, technology, etc. I'm blessed to have many excellent resources. What a marvelous way to focus on finding solutions!

What do you think of search engine optimization (SEO)? Value it? Ignore it? Marketing Sherpa has a powerful report on the top three search marketing trends to watch in 2006. It says that they're delighted and appalled by the yearly data on search marketing spending.

Delighted that more marketers are devoting a larger part of their search budget to search engine optimization. Appalled at the continuing disconnect between paid search engine spending and SEO investing. For more on this report, go to http://tinyurl.com/8xya6.

What do you think? Are people paying enough attention to SEO? We know that usually if they're not, it's 1) because of budget constraints and 2) because it's a difficult area to understand. Plus there's the trust factor. It's difficult to know whom to trust when there are so many businesses out there that are sleazy or simply don't provide effective SEO.

Example: I have to study as much SEO as possible in order to write and edit according to the current SEO trends. This takes a good deal of time, but it helps my clients. I also see that a client's (or potential client's) website is only going to get significant ranking if I recommend someone who specializes in SEO.

What do I mean? I can do a good job of writing or editing, but there are many behind-the-scene activities that a good SEO person handles, in addition to running a multitude of databases. Like making sure that the clients are listed in local directories if their business is both local and virtual. Like creating superb, text-rich site indexes and keeping them current.

It is difficult to describe all the things an SEO specialist must do to stay current, just as it's difficult to describe all writers and editors must do so that site visitors totally understand their importance in the scheme of things.

We place high value on writers, editors, programmers, graphic designers, and technicians. And we're right to do so.

Let's also give credence to skilled, honorable people who do fulltime SEO work. Read everything you can on SEO. Of course. But if your business is sagging and needs to reach more people . . . people who can use your product(s) or service(s), consider hiring an SEO specialist for a year or so and see if it doesn't help grow your business.

How do you find a good specialist? Referrals are best. Check around.

1. GRAMMAR CHECK: Monthly text ezine full of examples and tips.
http://www.grammarcheck.com/

2. NEED TO MAKE PDF FILES BUT DON'T HAVE ACROBAT?
http://www.pdf995.com/

3. NEED NEWSLETTER TEMPLATES?
http://tinyurl.com/c937z

Asterisks aren't the only emphasis indications people use. One of the oldest for text-only communication that was used long before there was a graphical World Wide Web are slashes as in, "This /word/ is emphasized. Also, some email clients "translate" asterisks into bold if the recipient's email client is set to show it bolded.

I completely agree with you that most people probably don't know the original reason for the asterisks and just use it because they've seen it done. The slashes "translate" into italic in email clients that are set to allow styling. So to be sure an email recipient who may have turned off html knows what words the sender wants emphasize, there are two choices:

1. Use asterisks around the emphasized words for bold
2. Use single slashes around the emphasized words for italic

Recipients with html activated will see the symbols and words styled in bold or italic; those without html activated can tell where the emphasis is intended by the symbols.

I see a lot bloggers lately using the asterisks around emphasized words on web pages where they have no affect on the styling, so I'm at a loss to understand why they are being used. It's easy to bold or italic words on web pages.

Ronni Bennett http://www.timegoesby.net

OUTLOOK
PRINT A BLANK CALENDAR IN OUTLOOK

If you want to print a blank calendar page, there is no need to clear all your appointments for that time period. Instead, create a blank calendar folder in Outlook and print your blank pages from that folder. The terminology may differ slightly depending on your version of Outlook.

1.	Choose File/New/Folder from the menu bar.
2.	In the "Create New Folder" dialog box, type a name for the folder in the "Name" text box.
3.	Select "Calendar Items" From the "Folder Contains" dropdown list.
4.	In the "Select Where To Place The Folder" list box, select the "Calendar" folder then click OK. If you receive a prompt to add this folder to the Outlook Bar, click "No".
5.	Select the new folder in the "Folder List"; choose File/Print.
6.	In the "Print Style" panel, select the calendar style you want to create - Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Tri-fold.
7.	In the "Print Range", select the dates you want to include and click "Preview" to see what the page(s) will look like.
8.	When you are satisfied with the result, click "Print" in the "Preview" window, click OK. Your blank calendar page(s) will be sent to the selected printer.

WORD
CROP IMAGES TO GET RID OF UNWANTED BACKGROUNDS

Have you ever inserted a picture into a Word document, only to find that the image is nearly all background? Word makes it simple to trim the edges of an image, so you can zoom in on the important part of the picture.

1.	Go to View/Toolbars and select "Picture".
2.	Select the image to be cropped. When you do that, the "Crop" tool will become active in the Picture toolbar. (It looks like two "Vs" on top of each other.)
3.	Click the "Crop" tool and position the cursor over one of the handles on the image.
4.	Click and drag toward the middle of the picture to start cropping the image. Word will tighten up the border on that side, reducing the overall size of the image without any distortion. Crop from the corners first, then the sides. If you want to undo part of the cropping, click the "Crop" tool and drag away from the middle of the picture. If you drag one of the handles of a cropped picture, the image will be distorted.

Terence Kierans
Cyberspace Virtual Services
tkierans@virtualservices.com.au
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep

1. THREE SCRIPTS THAT WILL AUTOMATICALLY PRINT THE YEAR: Perfect for using in the copyright area of your website. Created by Will Bontrager, they are clean, simple, and (as always) have more than a touch of his special creativity.
http://willmaster.com/blog/javascript/Automatically_Printing_the_Year.html

2. LINK POPULARITY CHECK: Thanks to Rebecca Game, of Digital Women (www.digital-women.com) for this dandy tool. It's a freeware program that checks the link popularity status of your website on AllTheWeb, Alta Vista, Google/HotBot, MSN, Teoma, and Yahoo!, and compares it to other websites on the Internet (for example your competitors). Most importantly, it allows you to see--all at one time--what websites are linked to you. You no longer have to waste time going to each search engine/directory to discover how many sites are linked to you.
http://www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com/

3. ICANN: This organization oversees domain name registration, and also provides a list of accredited registrars:
http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation.htm

1. THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE 15th EDITION: Questions and Answers.
http://chicagomanualofstyle.org/cmosfaq.html

2. FIFTY WRITING TOOLS: from the workbench of Roy Peter Clark.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=61811

3. STANDARD FREELANCE EDITORIAL AGREEMENT
http://www.editors.ca/pubs/contract.htm

4. STANDARD JOURNALISM CONTRACTS
http://www.nwu.org/journ/jsjc.htm

5. METHODS OF ELIMINATING WORDINESS
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_concise.html

Main Entry:cor.rob.o.rate
Pronunciation:k*-*r*-b*-*r*t
Function:transitive verb
Inflected Form:-rat.ed ; -rat.ing
Etymology:Latin corroboratus, past participle of corroborare, from com- + robor-, robur strength
Date:1529

To support with evidence or authority: make more certain

Synonyms see CONFIRM

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

1. GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL THEATRE TERMS:
http://www.theatrecrafts.com/glossary/glossary.shtml

2. 59 OPTICAL ILLUSIONS & VISUAL PHENOMENA:
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

3. REPLACING YOUR VITAL DOCUMENTS:
http://tinyurl.com/b2mhq

I recently realized that I don't often mention my other text ezine, Webgrammar's Food for Thought. I'd love to have you subscribe to it as well. Some of my subscribers already do. Each issue has a grammar tip, Windows keystroke tip, and lists of URLS in categories like Arts, Education, Reference, Grammar, History, Science & Technology, and Writing & Journalism. I rarely duplicate recommended links with those that appear in Communication Expressway. There's a subscription box in the upper left-hand portion of each page. Here's a link to the latest issue: http://www.webgrammar.com/fft-10-2005.html

What a wonderful time I had at my mother's 95th birthday party. The online ezine version of this issue will have a few photos. Find it at http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-45.html

Ethel Crook with six-year-old
great-granddaughter/pianist Rachel Pierson

Grandson Ron Simpson performing
"Ethel on My Mind"

Jan Crook Pierson, Judy Crook Vorfeld,
David Crook, and Carolyn Crook Downing
at Judy's birthday breakfast.

Judy's Webgrammar ezine (text, monthly): http://www.webgrammar.com/foodforthought.html

ARCHIVES FOR ALL COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY ISSUES
http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-index.html

Questions, comments, recommendations?
Contact Judy Vorfeld at judyvorfeld@ossweb.com

TO SUBSCRIBE TO COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY
go to http://www.ossweb.com/ezine.html