Site submission guidelines and good rules of thumb for the webpage webmaster:

• Must be Lord of the rings related!  May be yahoo groups, msn groups, forums or websites (or anything else) as long as it is LOTR.

I will check each url that is submitted to me, some things I check for:

• Completeness of the site.  Sites that are in progress are allowed providing there is something on most of the pages.  If you have a wallpapers section have at least one wallpaper up there so it looks like there will be more.  Otherwise I have no way of knowing if there ever will be.  Nothing makes a website look un-maintained  like links that have nothing in them.  Try to always have something.  (just saying that it is work in progress is not good enough unless you date that statement...otherwise it may have been up there for the last 2 years with no change.)
• Dead links:  Always periodically check your links to make sure they still work.  Nothing screams uncared for like dead links everywhere.  The occasional one is always going to sneak in, but I have been to sites where every other link is dead.  Obviously the webmaster is not checking the webpage.
• Confusing entrance pages.  Some are very pretty to look at, but I have been to a few where I still haven't been able to figure out how to get into the actual site.
• Too many other web-links and banners on your front page...I like to have banners and such on a page of their own.  Otherwise your own site will get skipped right over as the web surfer checks out all the other sites trying to figure out the link that gets them into your own site.  I have done this many times on a page that has an enter link (either a picture or a button) and many other banners.  I have the attention spam of a fruit fly so I tend to  start clicking on the other banners and if i can't get into the page easily then I leave. 
• Websites that trap you.  We have all had it happen and nothing angers me more than this...when you are using a search engine and go to see a site, when you are finished and try to use the back button to go back to your search query and can't leave the page. I personally make a mental note not to go to that site again.
• Try not to be hosted on a website that forces a lot of pop-up ads down the browsers throat!  Many free sites will force the odd one on...thats understood, but there are some that send you pop-up ads every 3 seconds.
• Don't put the links and downloads at the bottom of a really long page .  This can be very tiresome to scroll through the entire home page to get to the bottom and find the links...especially if those links don't delver enough of what they promised.
• Try to make links so that they open a new window.  Otherwise your home page can be lost in the confusion.

Ways to make an eye-catching site:

• Basically when making a web-site, make it eye-catching, but easy to read.  Nice colours but not overwhelming.  Nice picture or creative banner.
• Make it easy to find everything...Try not to hide the links...sometimes artsy can be attractive but isn't always user friendly!
• When writing on a home page, please, please make sure the writing can be comfortably read on the background colour.  Too often I have gone to a site where they have a green background and green writing that is barely different, and then can't be read.
• Bear in mind the use of java and animation.  Though it may be really pretty to look at, you must remember those with slow computers (not all of us are top of line yet) cannot even load the initial homepage if there is too much memory stealing graphics, and those of us with Win XP have great difficulty in seeing java.  I know I can see some, but not others...not sure why this is, all I know is it was caused form one of the Windows XP updates and has forever screwed my computer up for java. 
• Music, java and animation...watch your band-width on your free sights.  Music files especially can drain this bandwidth.  I discovered that when I was experimenting on this web-site and played my song twice...poof...bandwidth was gone. 

Basically, I will consider most sites to be linked in here...Please send me urls to the main page (not specific pages within the website) and make sure it has a lot of substance to it.  Plenty of information, or pictures, or whatever you are wanting to feature.  Many people want as much as they can get in each web site they visit...that being the case I am aiming for links in here that will give everyone a lot of what they are looking for.  Some perhaps will not have so much, as its very difficult to find any actual websites for Frodo, or Thranduil...so I have taken what I could find that people may find interesting, but for those where there is a lot to choose form (Legolas for instance) I have chosen the most comprehensive ones I could find, or the most eye-pleasing. Basically, if it caught my eye, I put it in..  If it didn't catch my eye or hold my interest, or it was too difficult to navigate it didn't make it.

For any sites you would like to submit, or if you have just seen a really neat one I should have in here...e-mail me at

bastet@telusplanet.net

Also if you have any comments that you don't wish to share in the guestbook, or you find a broken link or your site listed in here and you would like it removed...e-mail me at the same address.  Please put website in the subject line somewhere so I will catch it and not skim past it with all my hundreds of spam. 

Thanks!!!