By Ziran Sun

The first part of this article illustrated how to install and configure the MySQL Database Server, install and use the MySQL Administrator, create a new database, and create and populate a new sample table with some sample data.

Now that the database server is up and running, this part of the article will complete our coverage of using MySQL with ASP.NET by covering how to:

• Add a new MySQL user.
• Assign the new user the appropriate permisions to the database.
• Connect to the MySQL server from .NET.
• Build a simple ASP.NET page to query the database.

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By Ziran Sun

Introduction

Back in the days of classic ASP, if you were building a database-driven web site, your choice was either to invest a lot of money to get a copy of Microsoft SQL Server (or some other enterprise-ready database) or invest a lot of time finding a way to deal with the performance and scalability limitations of Microsoft Access. Luckily these days there’s another viable alternative: MySQL.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is an open source database server. While many organizations may choose to purchase a commercial version of the product, the GNU General Public License (commonly known as the “GPL”) ensures that the source code will remain available and therefore the software can be used free of charge for those willing to forego official support and support it themselves.

For more information, see the MySQL website.

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By Hermas Haynes

If you expect to achieve sustained growth for your Web business and you don’t have a plan in place to get you there, you might as well forget it. Growing a profitable Web Business is a strategic process that requires long range vision, careful planning, precise execution and patience. It’s vital that you know exactly what you want to accomplish and that you have a detailed blueprint to follow.

Of course you need to have a website that is optimized and tested to convert traffic, and then you need to devote time to developing and executing short-term and long-term promotional strategies. These strategies must stand on their own as well as work together to get you the best results.

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By Wim Conradie

The most important function of a website is to help a company to sell their services/products to new clients.

When potential new clients/tourists need to choose between two companies with whom they aren’t familiar, they are most likely to compare the websites. This is because a website is almost the only method for a person to actually see beforehand what he/she pays for. In general, more than 90% of these potential new client’s decisions are decided upon the impression that is reflected from the website, regardless of the competence of these companies. The general truth is that most potential clients do not know how to technically compare companies, and therefore trust that the website’s professionalism will reflect the expertise.

Therefore large amounts are invested in corporate website development.

Unfortunately most companies tend to overlook the importance of building a trusted web presence. Without having a web presence with authority almost no new visitors will end up at your website. And since every company wants to expand, they need to focus on improving their web presence in order to increase the chance of getting new customers.

The best and most effective long term solution to increase your web presence is known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It is a highly specialized field that focus on improving the amount of trust the rest of the world will have in your website. The more trust you have, the more potential new clients will visit your website daily.

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By Donna Williams

Who are you, really?

Your brand, I mean.

What do you want other people to think when they think about your business, your service, or your product?

Do you want them to think your brand is the life of the party, or the designated driver? Is it a trusted friend, or a glamorous rock star? Are you a Volvo or a ‘Vette’?

So I repeat…who are you?

You may already know this, and if that’s the case, I congratulate you! Many small businesses struggle with this. If, however, you need a little help in defining yourself, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

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By Andy Eliason

If you are like most people, it is probably safe to say that you are often annoyed when sales people become… pushy. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a car salesperson or someone blocking your way past a kiosk in the mall, these sales people have something in common, and that is persistence and the belief that they can persuade you to buy anything and/or everything.

If they talk fast enough, or maybe if they fill your head with so many claims, they feel that you can be convinced.

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