A typing error can not only be embarrassing, but also cost printer a lot of money, considering waste in paper, time and labor. On Internet, fix is cheap - sometimes - unless that typing error alters data such as pricing, in which case it can create an expensive mess, or nothing at all - such as 'no sales'.

Last week a fellow wrote to tell me that links on my pages didn't work! I thought he was out of his mind, but decided to go through and check them out - just in case he wasn't. After wading through a half-dozen pages, finding no problems, I finally arrived to a group I'd put up about a year ago. The links at bottom of pages surely did not work!

When I originally composed pages, I did a quick 'cut & paste' of hyperlinks at bottom so I would not have to retype same information over and over. Unfortunately, I copied a bad link; all my hyperlinks were now calling for files in my 'A-drive' rather than those within directory on my server. I unwittingly pasted them on each of new pages I'd composed that afternoon and loaded them up to server. It probably wouldn't have been much of a big deal, but those pages were describing a couple of books I am marketing and reader simply could not get to order pages from those pages - after, of course, they were very interested in doing so!

Now, you would think I'd have double-checked those links at some point soon after, but I was in a hurry to finish and confident that I had done a good job, besides, sales were coming in, so why worry?

Answer: cookies

Cookies? Yes. Let me explain...

=> COOKIES EXPLAINED

A "cookie" is simply a small piece of text information which a web server stores temporarily with your web visitor's browser. (Note: cookies are *not* programs.) This means your visitor's browser remembers some specific information which 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://members.rediff.com/lc/cookies.htm

Another example is "online shopping mall" that uses cookies to add items to a user's "shopping cart" as they browse. And I use cookies on my own website to make sure a pop-up window loads ONCE ONLY ( http://www.shoptour.co.uk/webmaster.shtml ).

=> WHY YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD USE COOKIES

Basically, cookies allow you to improve a site visitor's experience of your website. 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.