Archive for October, 2008
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Made Easy
Lifehacker’s bi-monthly “Getting To Done” column covers SEO on how and why it’s important in the web publishing arena.
Send SMS from Gmail
Google today rolled out a Gmail Labs feature that lets you send text messages from your Gmail chat window. Very cool!
More On The Windows 7 UI: New Taskbar Will Be Mandatory
While we haven’t yet gotten our hands on a Windows 7 build with the new taskbar, we did talk to Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky about the various UI changes and what we can expect at release time.
40 Spine-Chilling Horror Photoshop Effects
It’s that special time of year where we revel all things dark and creepy. To celebrate, we’ve collected 40 Photoshop techniques and effects to help you add a splash of macabre to your work. From twisted horror faces to ghosts, damned souls and zombies, you’ll find it all here.
7 Top Tips and Resources for Google Chrome
If you’re running Chrome, here are some cool tips for customizing and getting the most out of it.
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Posted in Internet, SEO, Websites | No Comments »
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of websites on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of Experato, a popular website directory.
Build a Name for Your Website with a Website Directory
You’ve built a brand new website for your business and you’re really excited. However, you have to do something to get the word out and you’re not sure what to do. You know that you can post flyers all over your town or simply tell your friends, but that’s not going to do much for you. So what are you going to do?
Well, you’re going to start with a website directory. The website directory is an effective way to combat the always changing algorithms of search engines and to really get an edge on the competition. Basically, you need to do all that you can to ensure that you are marketing your site correctly and a website directory is going to help you do that. You’re going to be able to battle some of the hardships of Internet marketing is you use a directory to get the word out.
Using the directory
Another thing that is special about submitting your website to a website directory is that you get a free back link to your website. The back link is very important because the more links you have on the web, the better off your site is. This means it is going to be indexed by search engine spiders.
You see, search engine spiders follow these links to your site and then they index your site. The more links you have out there, the more your site is going to be indexed. This means that you’ll show up higher in the search engine results when someone searches for what it is you are offering your customers and potential customers.
As for how the directory works, it is a place in which the websites are compiled into categories. They are also divided up into subcategories to make searching easier. Because these categories are divided up into subcategories, the search engine spiders recognize them. Needless to say, these directories are visited by search engine spiders more than many other sites. This is because of the quality of the back links. The back links are of a high quality at these sites, which is why you need to utilize a website directory.
Choosing the right website directory
Choosing the right website directory doesn’t have to be difficult. There are some things that you have to look for in order to make that determination. Those things are:
To pay or not to pay - There are pay directories and there are free directories. Determine which is best for you. Free directories still provide you with that back link. It is true there will be a lot more sites posted there, but they are effective.
Check the page rank - Check the page rank of the website directory. That way, you know that it is a popular site. You can also check into sites to see how they are growing. If a site is growing, then that is a sign that it is a popular directory that is emerging. You definitely want to get in on that.
Look at both general and specific directories - You want to do this because both can be effective. You can post on a specific directory and post on a general directory. This will broaden the exposure that your site gets.
You don’t have to be restricted to just one website directory. You can use all sorts of website directories. This is important in getting those high quality back links that will make your site successful. There is not a rule anywhere that says you’re only allowed to post your website to a single website directory. If there were, then it would be impossible for a lot of sites to be successful on the Internet.
Submission options
You also have submission options. These options are manual, using submission software, and using a directory submission service. The directory submission service may use software or do it manually. However, there are article directories out there that will not accept submissions from software. They want to ensure that real people are doing the posting. Many of these directories have real people approving the submissions, so it is hard if they have to approve thousands of submissions submitted by these software programs. It happens, but it is a good idea to do it manually. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, look into the directory submission service.
How to maximize the benefits
It isn’t enough to simply post your website link up on a website directory. There are ways in which you can maximize the benefits. It will be worth your while to follow these tips so that you can make sure that you profit from your efforts:
If you’re submitting to more than one website directory, you need to vary your description. Don’t use the same description for every directory.
Make sure the text that accompanies your website link is really good stuff. That means you want it to draw people in. You want them to click on your link. Believe it or not, people browse website directories, especially if they’re looking for a website that focuses on certain material.
Make as many submissions as possible to website directories. Make sure they are directories that you can track back easily. Make sure they are easy to manage as well. You don’t want to go for directories that are hard to follow.
Make sure that you choose directories that will also allow you to submit the links to your inner pages. This allows for better indexing and will also allow more people to find you.
After this, you might as well give your website a pair of running shoes. This is because it is going to take off like wildfire. It is going to run like the wind. It is important that you be prepared, because the moment you start submitting your site is the moment that it enters the race of website popularity.
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Posted in Directories | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
20 Websites You Never Realized You Needed
The internet has changed the world, mostly through big sites like Google, Amazon, MySpace and Facebook. But other smaller sites can, if anything, be even more useful, if only you can find the right ones.
Google Helps Get Out The Vote With New Web Gadgets
Election season is here, but not everyone knows where to vote just yet. Google hopes to make finding that information a little easier, and has launched a site and an embeddable web gadget that allows US voters to get all the voting information they need before November 4.
Google Fosters Earth-Saving Green Tools For Users
Google’s new energy savings calculator tool focuses on the little things, such as saving $6 per year by swapping an incandescent bulb for an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb. Hot Hardware takes a look at the technological power vampires and how much you can save by following the advice.
Why It’s A Bad Time To Buy A Blog But A Great Time To Sell
Without doubt Blogs have been the flavour of the month for quite some time now (should it be called flavour of the year?) and I have paid close attention to the marketplaces. However, I’ve yet to see a blog which was worth buying. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great blogs for sale but they have all in my opinion, been greatly overpriced.
40 Brilliant Gmail Hints, Hacks And Secrets
Gmail goes from strength to strength as Google rolls out new features every few months. We’ve dug deep to bring you 40 top tips that’ll make you a Gmail super-user, with total control over every aspect of the service.
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Posted in Blogs, Internet, Websites | No Comments »
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of websites on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of BizLeeg, a popular business directory website.
Almost Free Ways to Market Your Business Online
If you have a website, chances are pretty high that you spend a lot of time looking for ways to market your business online. Paying for advertisements can be quite expensive, and today’s Internet user is so desensitized to online banner ads that advertising in this manner can be highly ineffective. However, there are many ways that you can advertise your business online without paying much or without paying anything at all! You just need to know where to look.
Develop an Online Newsletter
Do you have an online mailing that you send to your customers? If not, you need to develop one. When your customers make a purchase online, have them sign up to receive “future offers” or an informative newsletter. You can also leave a form on your website for them to sign up to receive your newsletter. You may want to offer something free for this, such as a discount code, free tip, or a free gift.
Once you have your customer’s email address, put it to good use. Make your newsletter as good as it can possibly be. If you already have an online mailing in place, make it better. No one likes spam, so make the newsletter informative, helpful, and interesting. Throw in a coupon or two from time to time to keep the customer interested in reading the newsletter. Avoid using too many graphics, as this can keep some users from receiving the letter depending on their spam folder settings.
Become an Expert in Your Industry
Chances are you already are an expert in your industry. Use this to your advantage as you market online. Join forums that relate to your industry. Then, post useful comments. Do this often. Soon you will have a small online “following” that comes to you for advice. You can then point them towards your website for more information.
As you post in forums, make sure you follow the posting guidelines. Some forums will allow you to link to your website in your signature line. Others will allow you to link in actual discussions. Others do not allow any links at all, but may allow you to put a link in your profile. Since your time is valuable, choose forums that allow links, at least in your signature.
No matter what the forum rules may be, make sure that your posts do not sound like an ad. Give genuine, helpful advice to the people on the forum. Become a part of the community. You will be surprised at how much your bottom line increases with this strategy.
You can use this same rule to market using blogs. Comment on blog discussions relating to your industry whenever you can, and make the link take the reader back to your site. You can insert a link in your name field, but do not say, “you can find out more at my site.” That will be a turn off to most readers, but if they like what you have to say they will be willing to click on your name and visit your link.
Create Your Own Blog
As you are working towards making yourself an expert in the field, you might want to set up your own blog. You can discuss newsworthy items that relate to your industry, and you can include a link on the toolbar to your ecommerce site. You can link to your blog in your forum posts and blog comments as well. If you do not have time to write blog posts on a regular basis, you can hire someone else to do it for you.
As you work to create your blog, make sure it is interesting. People who read blogs are looking for entertainment as much as they are looking for information. Do not be afraid to discuss something a little controversial. The more people that link to your blog from theirs, even if they are saying how crazy your idea is, the more traffic you will eventually generate for your ecommerce or business site.
Use YouTube
Believe it or not, the popular video site YouTube is a great way to market a business, and posting a video is completely free. Now, like your forum and blog posts, you do not want to post a blatant advertisement on YouTube. However, you can create an informative “how to” that relates to your industry, and then link to your website at the end of the video.
The key to successful marketing with YouTube is not creating a fancy video full of special effects. It is making a video that is appealing to people. You want people to want to watch your video, email it to their friends, and post it on their blogs. Do not be afraid to do something a little crazy and fun, but make sure that it does not detract from your business.
Use Online Business Directories
Online business directories are another way to market your business online. Keep in mind that there is a wide range of prices for these directories. Some charge high fees for listings, while others have free or low-cost listings available. Choose a directory that gets plenty of traffic but does not charge too much for your link. Make sure you can have some control over what is said in your listing. Also, make sure the directory is well laid out with an easy to understand organizational structure. Remember, your potential customers are not going to stay on a business directory site that is confusing or difficult to navigate.
That being said, list your business in as many free business directories as possible. After all, if the listing is free, it cannot hurt your business, and it will probably draw some traffic to your site. Some of these directories make money off of other types of ads, such as pay per click ads, so they allow businesses to create listings for free.
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Directories, Internet, Websites | No Comments »
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of websites on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of ArticleHub.US, a popular article directory website.
Why You Should Use Article Directories to Promote Your Website
If you are online and are not already using article directories to promote your website, you are missing out on a free and highly effective marketing option. Article directories are great ways to draw traffic to your site without paying for advertising. However, to get real traffic to your site using an article directory, you must know how to use them correctly.
What Article Directories Are
Before you can use an article directory, you have to know what one is. Article directories are websites where thousands upon thousands of articles on just about any subject are posted. They are generally categorized to make it easier for readers to find information they want. They are also linked together, so a reader reading about “Hawaii travel” will naturally go from article to article on that topic. People can use the articles they find in the directories on their own websites, either for free or for a small fee. Authors pay nothing to submit to article directories.
How Article Directories Benefit Online Businesses
You are probably thinking, “Sure, that’s great. But how does an article directory help me promote my business? Doesn’t giving away free content defeat my purpose as an online business?”
These are great questions. When you submit an article to an article directory, it will contain a bio with a link to your website. Since you are the author of the article, you are allowed to include this information.
This means that anyone who is searching online and comes across the article directory will see a link to your site. Not only that, but the people who use the content on their own websites are required to keep it exactly as it appears in the directory. This means that your link could show up on hundreds of websites.
Article directories are generally large websites. This means that the web spiders are attracted to them. Having your link on these articles is a crucial part of an online linking campaign.
How to Make Your Submissions Effective
If you are going to submit to article directories, you need to do two things. First, you need to learn about proper keyword usage. You need the right percentage of keywords in your article, and they need to appear naturally within the content. This will draw the search engine spiders to the article, thus exposing people to your link at the bottom.
You also need to make your content unique and helpful. If your article is the same as thousands that are already online, other website owners will not want to use it. Also, if the information is not helpful, people will not read the entire article. Your goal is to have them read the entire article so that they will click at the link on the bottom.
Having helpful information in the article also helps the reader view you as an “expert” in the field. This is important, because you want them to have a reason to click on the link. If they are reading useless information, they will have no desire to visit your site. Also, proving that you are knowledgeable about a particular topic will show that whatever product or service you are marketing is worth buying.
What to Do if You Can’t Write
At this point you are probably wondering what you can do because you can’t write. You are an entrepreneur and business owner, not a writer. The good news is that you have options.
You can hire a freelance writer to “ghostwrite” the article for you. Ghostwriting means writing the article in your name. Instead of placing his or her name on the article, the freelancer uses your name and your business link. You will need to pay for this service, but the amount you will pay for a quality article is far less than the amount you would pay for an advertising campaign, and a well-written article placed in the right article directories will draw more traffic to your site than just about any other form of advertising.
Where can you find ghostwriters? There are a variety of online classifieds where you can post your job requirements or search for available writers. You can ask for quotes to help you learn what the going rate for a writer is. Keep in mind that you will pay more if you have detailed information that needs to be researched or if you are working on a tight deadline. You can also hire a content creation company to help you if you require numerous articles that would be too much for one individual writer.
If you do use a ghostwriter, be sure that you proofread the article before submitting it. You may find that the writer did not approach a particular topic as you would have wanted. You can ask the writer to rewrite the material, but posting something that is inaccurate or does not sound well written will detract from your goal of drawing traffic to your site.
Risks of Using an Article Directory
There is only one main risk to using an article directory, and that is that someone will download your content and use it on their site without including the link. You can do some work on your own to check for this, but it is hard to police. However, the occasional unscrupulous website owner who uses your content incorrectly is a risk worth taking for the many users who will give you a link on their site.
Post Much and Often
Once you get the hang of using an article directory, post many articles, and post them often. The more fresh, relevant content that links to your page, the more traffic you will receive. Be sure to continually research your keywords, because the keywords that people search for constantly change.
Also, submit your articles to a variety of sites. The most popular article directories may not draw certain demographic of people. The more places that have your article and your link, the better your traffic results will be. Since these sites are free to use, you might as well submit to as many as you can.
One such article directory is ArticleHub.US. On this site anyone can submit content and links. Be sure to check out their current articles and learn more about how to submit your content to their site. It’s free and easy and will draw the traffic you need to your main site.
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Posted in Articles, SEO | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Google Ranking Factors
Alleged positive and negative on and off-page SEO Google ranking factors in an overview.
21 Great SEO Tips From Google Engineer Matt Cutts
SEO Egghead has Tracked most of the Interesting things Google Engineer Matt Cutts has said about SEO and getting your site to rank in Google in the past year. These SEO tips may be better than what you can get from any so called “Expert” because they are coming right from the horse’s mouth.
Firefox Extensions recommended by a Google engineer, Matt Cutts
Matt Cutts show his must-have firefox extension’s list. You’ll probably know this guy if you are in the SEO industry.
Google Acquires SEO Company in DoubleClick Deal
One of the results of the Google-DoubleClick acquisition is Google buying Performics, one of the largest SEO companies in the US. Conflict of interest?
SEO for FireFox Launches!
Are you curious why a certain page on Google or Yahoo! ranks better? Do you ever wonder how many links your competitor has, but don’t feel like logging into your SEO tools? If so, the SEO for FireFox extension is for you. Created by Aaron wall - it will save you countless hours of research frustration and complexity.
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Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Complete Guide To Google Analytics
Things change so quickly on the web. When I started working at software firm Urchin in 1996, web analytics was a niche product, important to (and understood by) perhaps a handful of people at an organisation.
Google Extends AdSense To Online Games
Google Inc on Wednesday launched technology to insert advertisements into online video games and boost revenue from the booming gaming sector. The software, called AdSense for Games, is in beta testing and allows video, image or text…
13 Great Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals
Short introduction to 13 Firefox extensions for web developers or SEO professionals.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Made Easy
Lifehacker’s bi-monthly “Getting To Done” column covers SEO on how and why it’s important in the web publishing arena.
Make the Perfect Structure for a Site
How to build a useful sitemap, determine an SEO friendly permanent link structure, and code the server-side of a site for an accessible and user-friendly site. Diagrams included.
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Posted in Internet, SEO, Websites | No Comments »
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
This is a follow up post to my previous posts about my friend’s Google ranking drop. As you may remember, his Google ranking was restored a few weeks after he blocked the proxy website from copying his entire website and submitted a Google reinclusion request. As you may have guessed, he was quite thrilled to see his SERP ranking shoot up again.
Well, as luck would have it, I received a phone call last night from my friend telling me that his website was bombing again. I Googled his favorite keywords and they seemed to rank fine over at my end, but he explained that he traffic stats from Google was flat. They nosedived a day or two ago. I chalked up the results I was getting to Google adjusting the results.
This new twist got me thinking. What in the world could be making this website’s ranking bounce around like this? Looking back, the proxy website may not have been 100% at fault. There has to be something else.
I began doing a little research and learned about few things about duplicate content. The reason I looked at that particular area is because there is absolutely nothing else I can find wrong with this website. Duplicate content seems to be a rather popular culprit.
I came across a pretty well laid out website called “Google Rankings Diagnostics” that describes a whole heck of a lot of issues you might be having with your website. This website validated what I pretty much already knew…that if you have multiple URLs (on a domain) with the same exact content, Google has trouble figuring out which page is the original and may throw all of them out.
I took a very close look at my friend’s website. Again, I took a unique line of text from his homepage and searched for it in Google (inside quotes). A funny thing happened. I saw the homepage result, but there were a few extra results as well, all on his domain. There were about 5 extra pages in total.
Now, some of these extra results have been there for years, so I don’t attribute the issue to those pages being duplicate content. What struck me was one of the extra pages.
A few months ago, my friend moved one of his pages. He put a 301 redirect in his .htaccess file, which was the correct thing to do. So now, the old directory where the page was held forwarded to a new page. It looked something like this:
Redirect 301 /olddirectory/ http://www.hiswebsite.com/newpage.php
The redirect worked fine, but here is what that extra page in the search results looked like:
http://www.hiswebsite.com/newpage.phpoldpage.php
Guess what page was showing at that URL…yup, the homepage. The dynamic nature of his website sends unknown page results like this to the homepage. This was a fluke. My friend forgot that there were pages inside the old directory he redirected to the new page. Every old page in that old directory was tacked on to the new page, like you see above. To make matters worse, there were a bunch of links from other websites pointing to the old pages in the old directory.
I am not sure if this would cause the ranking drops that he is experiencing, but the timing certainly lines up with when the issue began. It is also certainly considered duplicate content.
So, here is what I did to deal with the issue this time. I deleted the redirects in the .htaccess file and blocked the URLs of all those extra results in the robots.txt file. Hopefully, this will tell Google to not spider or index those pages and it will also tell Google that those links into the site are dead.
Now, we have to wait. I am not going to submit another reinclusion request to Google because I want to see if the ranking returns naturally. If it does, this was the problem for sure.
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Posted in SEO, Websites | No Comments »
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of websites on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of Okashun, a popular event calendar website.
Online Calendars: What are They?
These are just like any ordinary print calendars or diaries except that they are accessed online. Online calendars need web-enabled devices to be accessed, and they can also be shared with others, which is another great feature. There are now lots of online calendars to choose from. Of course, the one you decide on will be guided by your needs.
Some great features of online calendars include:
o Multiple views: You can adjust how the calendar is displayed to suit your tastes. Therefore it can display daily, weekly or monthly events.
o Online calendars can be integrated with other e-mail or e-mail-related programs, such as Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo mail.
o Once you have a web-enabled device you can have and share online calendars. That means if you use a Blackberry or any other PDA you can take advantage of the features of web-based calendars.
As to be expected, some web calendars are more advanced than others depending on the technology used. Advanced online calendars allow for viewing of events and appointments. They also enable users to add attachments if needed. Others allow users to determine which events are private (can be viewed only by specified people) and which are public. Listing recurring events is also possible so that there is no need to keep entering monthly meetings. Once the calendar is set up to keep repeating a particular event, it will do so until the feature is disabled.
Why Should I Use an Online Calendar?
There are many benefits associated with using online calendars. In today’s fast-paced world, one major benefit is that they enable the sharing of calendars among associates. Online calendars are accessible anywhere as long as there is Internet available. With so many global offices, they bring everyone closer together. Online calendars are also great for posting company information and events so that everyone can see it. These handy widgets mean no more missed meetings, events and appointments.
Online calendars are not just useful for work or work-related activities and appointment planning. They are just as handy for families and friends so that you can know who is on vacation and when. They can be used to send invitations and reminders to people in your address book. Some online calendars allow recipients to respond to your invitations without having to open an account with the calendar host.
Best of all, there are lots of online calendars available and most of them are free. Some popular providers of full-service calendars are Google, Yahoo, iCalendar and vCalendar. Deciding on which one is best for your needs is easy. There are lots of reviews online that discuss the features of the more popular ones and outlining their pros and cons.
With an online calendar, you will never have to miss a date or appointment ever again. At least, you won’t as long as you can connect to the Internet. Finally, with time being a scarce commodity for most people, online calendars also offer great time management benefits.
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