Silicon Alley Insider -- a group blog focused on the New York startup scene -- published a post today titled Recession Winners: Web Designers, SEO. Nicholas Carlson shares a conversation he had with a web designer.

I ask one of the designers how's business, since, you know, everything blew up.

"Actually it's very good," he tells me. But I'm skeptical. How could it be? Everyone's hurting.

"Well, people are looking for cost-effective ways to market themselves and redesigning their Web site is a relatively cheap alternative," says the designer.

This makes perfect sense to me too. Spending one-time fees on spiffying up your website or making sure your website is search engine friendly is a great investment in your online business.

The SEO you can do on your site might even be free! Here are some SEO related tutorials to get you up to speed:

• 11 SEO Tweaks You Can Do Yourself
• Top 10 Search Ranking Factors -- Learn what affects your search engine rankings, and then spend your time and money on the most important factors.

Building a website:

• Step-by-Step Guide to Hiring a Web Designer
• Your Very First Web Host -- How to shop for a Web hosting provider.
  • Budget Web Hosts for $10 or Less Per Month
  • Overview of Different Types of Web Hosting Providers
  • Reliable VPS (Virtual Private Server) Web Hosting Companies
• Tips for Registering Your Domain Name
  • 7 Cheap Domain Name Registrars

Last month at BlogWorld Expo '08, I was interviewed by Abby Johnson of WebProNews.com on the importance of blog metrics. This was following my panel discussion on hiring professional bloggers for your business. Video after the jump....

eBay's feedback system has undergone some major changes this past year. However, it still remains the most important part of a seller's reputation management toolbox. An eBay seller's feedback rating -- both the overall positive/negative ratio and the detailed seller ratings (DSRs) -- is instrumental in turning shoppers into buyers. A high positive feedback score gives buyers the trust they need to do business with you.

With that in mind, here are 18 tips for avoiding negative feedback on eBay. The article is broken down into three major sections:

1. What to do before a transaction is made to increase the chances of a positive feedback.
2. What to do when a sale is made to ensure your buyer is a happy, positive-feedback-leaving customer.
3. What to do if you get a negative feedback. It's not the end of the world, and in some cases, you may be able to get the negative feedback reversed.

Darren Rowse shares the story of how he increased the number of email subscriptions for the Digital Photography School newsletter from 40 per week to over 350! The secret was using the "Pop Over" feature from Aweber.

These Pop Over subscription forms are of course much more intrusive to readers than a sidebar form - this is the reason I resisted using them for so long. My fear was that they’d annoy readers, page views per visit would drop and that I’d end up with a lot of angry emails from readers.

But based on his test of a couple of weeks, it looks like the upside is well worth it. Check out this incredible screenshot of the daily subscriptions before and after using pop overs.

Read the full post: How to Drastically Increase Subscriber Numbers to Your Email Newsletter [Problogger]