Google's voice recognition app finally arrived for the iPhone. You can download it from the Apple itunes store here iTunes
Google’s search-by-voice application allows users to speak into their iPhone to submit queries to Google’s search engine. This will appeal to users who find it difficult to type using the iPhone keypad, especially when we are so used to using a qwerty keyboard.
Google's voice-recognition technology will be first available for the iPhone, even before devices, such as the G1, running its own Android mobile platform. Google will soon offer the technology for other devices, including the T-Mobile G1, which uses Android. Google also has a voice-search client for the BlackBerry, which, at the moment, is limited to maps.
But Google is playing catch-up. Yahoo and Microsoft already offer a voice-recognition option for mobile phones. Microsoft's Tellme and Yahoo's oneSearch both offer voice services.
I suppose the voice search will be most useful when a you might need to call directory assistance or do a simple search, but you can not do it safely, or legally, on a keyboard while driving. Especially here in South Africa where there can be hefty fines given for talking-and-driving. Another benefit might be the ability to search for potentially long queries that would be difficult to type.
But accuracy will still be a factor. What with all the different languages around. 11 official languages here in South Africa. What about all the different accents and word pronunciations. Apparently it works best with ‘North American’ accents. No surprises.
Google's voice recognition is far from perfect. Getting most searches right, but still inconsistent. The biggest let down, and perhaps not fully shown in the video released by Google, is the fact that you cannot search your contacts via voice. You still have to do a manual type search. But you can use a separate app available for the iPhone, "SayWho", which will dial your selected contact for you, using voice recognition.
Could voice recognition be the next killer app for mobile? The voice recognition market is growing at galloping pace. In 2006 voice recognition technology sales where in the region of $1 billion. That number is expected to swell to $2.6 billion by 2009.
What are your thoughts? Have you downloaded it yet? Have you used it? Has it worked?
Let me know what you think.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Google goes for video and voice chat
On Tuesday Google Inc launched a free Web-based service that competes with the likes of eBay's Skype. Google recently added a voice and video chat feature to its Gmail email service.
If you are a Gmail and Google App subscriber, you can now choose to speak with friends on a video screen and at the same time IM them in a Google Chat box.
The video screen can be popped out of the chat box and moved around your computer screen. You can also change the size of the video pop-out screen and even make it full size.
"The idea was to make it quicker and easier to communicate with other people by whatever means is best convenient," said Google spokesperson Jason Freidenfelds.
"It's a nice alternative for businesses looking for another way for people to connect," he said.
This new addition to Google apps is available for both PC and Mac users.
A webcam and small web browser plug-in is all that you need to use the video chat. if you do not have a webcam, don't fret, you will still be able to chat with friends by voice.
If you are a Gmail and Google App subscriber, you can now choose to speak with friends on a video screen and at the same time IM them in a Google Chat box.
The video screen can be popped out of the chat box and moved around your computer screen. You can also change the size of the video pop-out screen and even make it full size.
"The idea was to make it quicker and easier to communicate with other people by whatever means is best convenient," said Google spokesperson Jason Freidenfelds.
"It's a nice alternative for businesses looking for another way for people to connect," he said.
This new addition to Google apps is available for both PC and Mac users.
A webcam and small web browser plug-in is all that you need to use the video chat. if you do not have a webcam, don't fret, you will still be able to chat with friends by voice.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Which is better Google Pagerank or Alexa traffic rank?
Having just started my new business and website, http://www.integralwebsolutions.co.za about three months ago. I also started a blog called the brave programmer at http://blog.thebraveprogrammer.integralwebsolutions.co.za
I find that I am obsessed with statistics. I check my Google stats at least three times a day. I check my blog stats at least as much. In fact I have three blogs and I am obsessed with them just as much.
I am always trying to find ways and means to increase Pagerank. Trying to find good quality back links, writing articles and blogs. Joining Social Networks. Trying to optimise every page.
Some of this has paid off. But I still think there is a lot to be done. My Pagerank has gone up, not by a huge margin. But then you're only working with a range of 10, not much play there.
My Alexa ranking has gone from 14 000 000 to 800 000. Not bad I think.
But which is better to have? Which is more sort after? Which shows the true worth of your site? Alexa traffic rank or Google page rank?
In my mind I would go for the Alexa ranking. Simply because your website is about visitors to your site, not how Google ranks your site. Yes these are related. But what good is it to have a million links to your site, and a page rank of 10. But you do not get any traffic, your Alexa rank is 9 000 000.
While I do realise that this probably will not happening. I mean if you have a million inbound links and a traffic rank of 10, then surely your traffic is very very high.
But humour me for a second. If this were so, surely the one to push for would be traffic rank. So some have a high Google rank, because of site age, and inbound links. But their site gets no traffic. Traffic means sales, and sales means money.
What are your thoughts. Let me know what you think. Pagerank or Alexa rank? Feel free to leave me a comment.
I find that I am obsessed with statistics. I check my Google stats at least three times a day. I check my blog stats at least as much. In fact I have three blogs and I am obsessed with them just as much.
I am always trying to find ways and means to increase Pagerank. Trying to find good quality back links, writing articles and blogs. Joining Social Networks. Trying to optimise every page.
Some of this has paid off. But I still think there is a lot to be done. My Pagerank has gone up, not by a huge margin. But then you're only working with a range of 10, not much play there.
My Alexa ranking has gone from 14 000 000 to 800 000. Not bad I think.
But which is better to have? Which is more sort after? Which shows the true worth of your site? Alexa traffic rank or Google page rank?
In my mind I would go for the Alexa ranking. Simply because your website is about visitors to your site, not how Google ranks your site. Yes these are related. But what good is it to have a million links to your site, and a page rank of 10. But you do not get any traffic, your Alexa rank is 9 000 000.
While I do realise that this probably will not happening. I mean if you have a million inbound links and a traffic rank of 10, then surely your traffic is very very high.
But humour me for a second. If this were so, surely the one to push for would be traffic rank. So some have a high Google rank, because of site age, and inbound links. But their site gets no traffic. Traffic means sales, and sales means money.
What are your thoughts. Let me know what you think. Pagerank or Alexa rank? Feel free to leave me a comment.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Google's G1 phone hacked
It was only a matter of time wasn't it? Some bored teenager hacked the iPhone a while back. But that's not all. No sooner had the G1 been released when someone decided to hack Google's latest pride and joy.
Although not as impressive as the iPhone hack. The G1 hack is none the less significant. The hack has the potential to turn the G1 into a brick. As reported here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/11/how-get-root-access-on-t-mobile-g1.html.
The hackers have managed to jailbreak the G1 by taking advantage of a massive loophole in Android.
Android is the open source operating system supplied by Google.
Apparently some Linux geeks hacked the G1 and gained root access in about one minute. They used a widely available PTerminal application to telnet to the device`s IP address.
The hack gives the hacker complete system, or root,access. This means that they will complete administrator rights which comes with full read-and-write functionality of the Operating System. Basically they could do what they liked.
Makes you think doesn't it. If you are one of the big boys, and you make a statement or launch a product. There is always some hacker waiting to throw some pie in your face.
A Google spokesman said the company plans to distribute a patch that will close the loophole.
Although not as impressive as the iPhone hack. The G1 hack is none the less significant. The hack has the potential to turn the G1 into a brick. As reported here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/11/how-get-root-access-on-t-mobile-g1.html.
The hackers have managed to jailbreak the G1 by taking advantage of a massive loophole in Android.
Android is the open source operating system supplied by Google.
Apparently some Linux geeks hacked the G1 and gained root access in about one minute. They used a widely available PTerminal application to telnet to the device`s IP address.
The hack gives the hacker complete system, or root,access. This means that they will complete administrator rights which comes with full read-and-write functionality of the Operating System. Basically they could do what they liked.
Makes you think doesn't it. If you are one of the big boys, and you make a statement or launch a product. There is always some hacker waiting to throw some pie in your face.
A Google spokesman said the company plans to distribute a patch that will close the loophole.
Testing your web page in over 60 browsers.
So you have developed this mind blowing, gob smacking, beautiful website. It rocks! But the first day you put it up, you get an e-mail along the lines of, "your website sucks, the size is all wrong, things are not positioned correctly, its all outa whack".
What in the world is going on here? Your site rocks, who is this idiot? What is he ranting and raving about?
You soon find out that the unfortunate user viewed your site in a different browser to what you have. The site does not display well in browser xxx.
What do you do? Well you could install all the browsers onto your machine and test them all individually. But that's a scary thought and not advised.
Most would only try and get their site to display well in the three major browsers, Firefox, IE and I suppose Safari.
But as most of you know these three do not agree with each other as to the standards that should be kept. Even the different browser versions display sites differently within the same browser family. I am not going to debate which browser is the best or which is the most compliant when it comes to web standards.
What I am going to do is let you into a little secret. I came across a site that will take a snap shot of how your site looks in over 60 browsers. Now you do not have to test all 60, but you can choose which browsers you want to target.
It navigates to your site, and loads it into each of the browsers that you selected. Takes a snap shot of what your website looks like.
The best thing about this is that it is a free service. 121 computers run by volunteers are used to submit sites to different browsers. They even have some rudimentary stats. Where you can see against which browsers people are testing.
No surprises that it seems that IE is winning the testing race, followed by Firefox, the I think Safari. Opera makes a good showing as well. But there are browsers being tested that I have not even heard of.
The site in question is browsershots, and it can be found at this address http://browsershots.org.
Check it out. If you are into building and testing websites and you believe that you might be having some peculiar display issues. Submit your site to browsershots and see how your site is rendered in the browsers of your choice.
What in the world is going on here? Your site rocks, who is this idiot? What is he ranting and raving about?
You soon find out that the unfortunate user viewed your site in a different browser to what you have. The site does not display well in browser xxx.
What do you do? Well you could install all the browsers onto your machine and test them all individually. But that's a scary thought and not advised.
Most would only try and get their site to display well in the three major browsers, Firefox, IE and I suppose Safari.
But as most of you know these three do not agree with each other as to the standards that should be kept. Even the different browser versions display sites differently within the same browser family. I am not going to debate which browser is the best or which is the most compliant when it comes to web standards.
What I am going to do is let you into a little secret. I came across a site that will take a snap shot of how your site looks in over 60 browsers. Now you do not have to test all 60, but you can choose which browsers you want to target.
It navigates to your site, and loads it into each of the browsers that you selected. Takes a snap shot of what your website looks like.
The best thing about this is that it is a free service. 121 computers run by volunteers are used to submit sites to different browsers. They even have some rudimentary stats. Where you can see against which browsers people are testing.
No surprises that it seems that IE is winning the testing race, followed by Firefox, the I think Safari. Opera makes a good showing as well. But there are browsers being tested that I have not even heard of.
The site in question is browsershots, and it can be found at this address http://browsershots.org.
Check it out. If you are into building and testing websites and you believe that you might be having some peculiar display issues. Submit your site to browsershots and see how your site is rendered in the browsers of your choice.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Robbers Hit Northgate - While I was there.
Two people were shot and wounded in armed robberies at the Northgate shopping mall today, Friday. Now this might not seem alarming to many, as we are so used to crime now days. But the thing is, I was there in the mall with my family, wife, 2 year old daughter, 11 year old son. It could have been me that was shot, or my wife, or God forbid, my kids.
A man was shot in the chest and was in a critical condition. Four robbers fled the scene in a white Opel Astra. No arrests were made but police were investigating a case of armed robbery and attempted murder.
Last week we were at a steers drive through, when just in the next shopping centre, about 200m away, robbers hit the shopping centre. The same gang might have even hit the petrol station the day before in the same shopping centre as the steers drive through.
A week before that, a high jacking occurred not 200m away from where we stay, a person was shot.
A few months before that we were rocked awake in the early hours of the morning by a loud bang. The ATM at the shopping centre up the road from us was bombed.
These criminals are more and more brazen as they start to attack, rob, high jack, and murder during the day and even at the most populated places.
I am proud South African. The government says that the crime rate is falling. Problem is, I do not experience that. I have been in the vicinity of more dangerous life threatening crime in the past six months than in the last two years.
I married a beautiful British girl. Their parents were forced to move back to Britain because they were robbed while they slept, and held up at gun point in the middle of the day. Two separate incidents weeks apart.
I fear for my life and the life of my family. My wife is always nagging me to move overseas, to England. Where its safe.
With the current crime rate, statistics say, its just a matter of time before something like this happens to me. I do not want to take that chance. With all these crimes going on around me, those stats do not seem so far off.
Yes there is crime all over the world. But the blatant disregard for life in this country is beyond explanation. In England, yes they might rob you, but they won't sommer just shoot you and kill you for nothing.
I am a programmer, I develop websites. My site is Integralwebsolutions. I work from home, and my servers and sites are hosted in the states. I don't need to actually live in this country to carry on working.
But I love this country. I love the weather, I love the sport, I love the law abiding people. But it seems like this country does not love me any more.
Just this week, an armed robbery and high jacking took place in Kempton Park. The black police inspector from Tembisa said, "It's time you whites packed your bags and f***d off." Calling the victims dogs and vowing that he would see to it that the white police woman would be shot in a robbery. Cocking his R5 rifle he told the white victim to pack his bags and F*** off as he refused to arrest the criminal or open up a police case of the robbery and high jacking.
With the current brain drain in the country, the lack of skills, the high unemployment rate, and the high crime rate, it is only going to get worse. With criminals running our country, I mean literally, criminals in the government. One might not be surprised at the way this police officer behaved.
If they want me to leave, if they do not want any web developers and programmers in the country, I might just leave. Over time, I would probably get better respect in England, the state hospitals are better, there is better social support, the crime is not as violent. It sure does seem a tempting proposal.
The question is, What would you do? Should we leave or should we take our chances?
A man was shot in the chest and was in a critical condition. Four robbers fled the scene in a white Opel Astra. No arrests were made but police were investigating a case of armed robbery and attempted murder.
Last week we were at a steers drive through, when just in the next shopping centre, about 200m away, robbers hit the shopping centre. The same gang might have even hit the petrol station the day before in the same shopping centre as the steers drive through.
A week before that, a high jacking occurred not 200m away from where we stay, a person was shot.
A few months before that we were rocked awake in the early hours of the morning by a loud bang. The ATM at the shopping centre up the road from us was bombed.
These criminals are more and more brazen as they start to attack, rob, high jack, and murder during the day and even at the most populated places.
I am proud South African. The government says that the crime rate is falling. Problem is, I do not experience that. I have been in the vicinity of more dangerous life threatening crime in the past six months than in the last two years.
I married a beautiful British girl. Their parents were forced to move back to Britain because they were robbed while they slept, and held up at gun point in the middle of the day. Two separate incidents weeks apart.
I fear for my life and the life of my family. My wife is always nagging me to move overseas, to England. Where its safe.
With the current crime rate, statistics say, its just a matter of time before something like this happens to me. I do not want to take that chance. With all these crimes going on around me, those stats do not seem so far off.
Yes there is crime all over the world. But the blatant disregard for life in this country is beyond explanation. In England, yes they might rob you, but they won't sommer just shoot you and kill you for nothing.
I am a programmer, I develop websites. My site is Integralwebsolutions. I work from home, and my servers and sites are hosted in the states. I don't need to actually live in this country to carry on working.
But I love this country. I love the weather, I love the sport, I love the law abiding people. But it seems like this country does not love me any more.
Just this week, an armed robbery and high jacking took place in Kempton Park. The black police inspector from Tembisa said, "It's time you whites packed your bags and f***d off." Calling the victims dogs and vowing that he would see to it that the white police woman would be shot in a robbery. Cocking his R5 rifle he told the white victim to pack his bags and F*** off as he refused to arrest the criminal or open up a police case of the robbery and high jacking.
With the current brain drain in the country, the lack of skills, the high unemployment rate, and the high crime rate, it is only going to get worse. With criminals running our country, I mean literally, criminals in the government. One might not be surprised at the way this police officer behaved.
If they want me to leave, if they do not want any web developers and programmers in the country, I might just leave. Over time, I would probably get better respect in England, the state hospitals are better, there is better social support, the crime is not as violent. It sure does seem a tempting proposal.
The question is, What would you do? Should we leave or should we take our chances?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Is Google's G1 Better Than The iPhone?
Internet giant Google has launched its much-awaited mobile phone. Many claim a direct challenge to the supremacy of the iPhone.
The G1 was unveiled in New York last month and was put on sale in the UK early November. The G1 has been released exclusively by T-Mobile.
It is stipulated that it will go head to head with other mobile products such as Apple's iPhone, the Blackberry and other smartphones from makers such as Nokia, Samsung.
The G1 uses Google's open source mobile software, Android. Many have stated that it is a phone with the capability of a hand held computer. Is it a phone or is it a palmtop, with telephony as one of its functions?
The G1 is a touch-screen mobile phone and includes a QWERTY keyboard when you slide the phone open. Included are applications such as Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail, YouTube and GoogleTalk. mmm Lots of Google stuff. Not surprising.
Is it then a phone or a dedicated smart fancy electronic wireless browser? Is it a way for Google not only to challenge iPhone, but in the same breath to capture and increase their Internet user market. Maybe not only are they trying to stick it to Apple, but Yahoo as well. What is Google doing in the mobile market. I thought it was an Internet giant, a search engine. But then again I have been wrong a few times before.
Not only does it have a keyboard, but the G1 also has a trackball for more precise, one-handed navigation. That's not all, it also sports a 3-mega pixel camera.
But despite the popularity of the Google brand, the G1 isn't 'cool'. It does not strike me as a 'Geek' phone. The same coolness and Geekness that the iPhone 3G had which was a massive success for Apple.
One thing though which might sway the masses towards the G1, is cost. The G1 will in fact be cheaper. Over a two year contract the G1 will be in the region of $380 cheaper. Included will be unlimited mobile internet browsing. Some plans will not only include unlimited data but unlimited texting or SMS.
However the iPhone comes to its own when we talk capacity. Sporting a massive 8GB-16GB as opposed to 2GB-8GB for the G1. This will win over the huge music fans, because if you do the math, you can fit more mp3's, more video and more pics onto the iPhone as opposed to the G1. Seems that the iPhone is more geared towards multimedia, despite the 3 mega pixel camera for the G1 as opposed to the 2 mega pixel for the iPhone.
One thing is for certain, the G1 was designed to bring new possibilities to the art of online communication. The problem now is, can you ever say, "I never got that e-mail".
What ever the case might be. Whether you are a iFan or a Gman, the Gadget wars have just begun.
The G1 was unveiled in New York last month and was put on sale in the UK early November. The G1 has been released exclusively by T-Mobile.
It is stipulated that it will go head to head with other mobile products such as Apple's iPhone, the Blackberry and other smartphones from makers such as Nokia, Samsung.
The G1 uses Google's open source mobile software, Android. Many have stated that it is a phone with the capability of a hand held computer. Is it a phone or is it a palmtop, with telephony as one of its functions?
The G1 is a touch-screen mobile phone and includes a QWERTY keyboard when you slide the phone open. Included are applications such as Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail, YouTube and GoogleTalk. mmm Lots of Google stuff. Not surprising.
Is it then a phone or a dedicated smart fancy electronic wireless browser? Is it a way for Google not only to challenge iPhone, but in the same breath to capture and increase their Internet user market. Maybe not only are they trying to stick it to Apple, but Yahoo as well. What is Google doing in the mobile market. I thought it was an Internet giant, a search engine. But then again I have been wrong a few times before.
Not only does it have a keyboard, but the G1 also has a trackball for more precise, one-handed navigation. That's not all, it also sports a 3-mega pixel camera.
But despite the popularity of the Google brand, the G1 isn't 'cool'. It does not strike me as a 'Geek' phone. The same coolness and Geekness that the iPhone 3G had which was a massive success for Apple.
One thing though which might sway the masses towards the G1, is cost. The G1 will in fact be cheaper. Over a two year contract the G1 will be in the region of $380 cheaper. Included will be unlimited mobile internet browsing. Some plans will not only include unlimited data but unlimited texting or SMS.
However the iPhone comes to its own when we talk capacity. Sporting a massive 8GB-16GB as opposed to 2GB-8GB for the G1. This will win over the huge music fans, because if you do the math, you can fit more mp3's, more video and more pics onto the iPhone as opposed to the G1. Seems that the iPhone is more geared towards multimedia, despite the 3 mega pixel camera for the G1 as opposed to the 2 mega pixel for the iPhone.
One thing is for certain, the G1 was designed to bring new possibilities to the art of online communication. The problem now is, can you ever say, "I never got that e-mail".
What ever the case might be. Whether you are a iFan or a Gman, the Gadget wars have just begun.
CNN's Hologram. Real or Fake?
CNN made huge waves on Tuesday night by incorporating, what they claim to be, a three-dimensional hologram into its coverage of the U.S. election. The question I first asked when I saw this was, "was it really a hologram"?I'm sure that whatever it was, it was very sophisticated. But no hologram. The technology is so complex and computing power is so powerful, that we are not there yet.
At about 7 p.m. EST USA, reporter Jessica Yellin, who was in Chicago, spoke with New York based anchor Wolf Blitzer live "via hologram," CNN said.
She seemed to appear a bit fuzzy as her image was apparently projected a few feet in front of Blitzer. The image appeared to glow around the edges as well. "You're a terrific hologram," Blitzer said to her. Making good use of the power of suggestion.
"It's like I follow the tradition of Princess Leia," she said, making reference to the Star Wars character and obviously some reference to the holograms in the movies. Which also seemed to glow around the edges and appear a bit fuzzy. Kind of coincidental, don't you think?
Was CNN playing on our minds and our infatuation with sci-fi and the likes of Star Wars?
Apparently her image was being filmed in Chicago by 35 high-definition cameras. These cameras were set in a ring inside a special tent. The images were then processed and synchronized by 20 computers to the cameras in the New York studio.
Sources tell me that the CNN anchors were not really speaking to three-dimensional projected images, but rather empty space. The images were simply added to what viewers saw on their screens at home, in much the same way computer-generated special effects, like the hologram of Leia, are added to movies, like Star Wars, as suggested in the interview.
These images were tomograms. Tomograms are images that are captured from all sides. Then reconstructed by computers. Finally displayed on screen. Much like what happened in the movie "The matrix".
Holograms, on the other hand, are projected into space.
Sources tell me that holographic images are generally captured and projected using coherent light such as lasers. A laser would need to be more than six feet in diameter to capture a person's image, which I believe is impossible. Probably because such a huge light source would be blinding.
I also believe that our current hologram technology requires some sort of floor pad or plate, which is absent from the CNN footage.
CNN reporting that this is a hologram, was this then a lie or the truth? Where then does the line stand between truth and lies? Should journalists and news companies be able to lie about news and technology, in order to gain viewers or readership? Should they twist the truth to increase their rankings in the viewers poll. Should they be sensationalists with no regard to accuracy and facts.
Why would CNN lie about this being a hologram? Is its cheesy reporting, aimed to capture your attention no matter what the truth might be?
The real question is. Do you really care? Are you actually concerned that this type of deception is going on, or are you captivated by the entertainment?
What do you think about this? Did you believe that it was a real hologram? Were you amazed?
Let me and others know. Leave your comment. what did you think?
BTW, CNN could not be reached for comment.
Friday, October 31, 2008
The Super Movie Computer.
Ever watched a movie and seen how ridiculous the computer interaction is or how computers behave, unlike normal computers in real life.
I came across a site which lists 28 of some really funny and unbelievable things computers and people do. http://ping.fm/86yb8
Here are a few of my favourites.
1. You never have to use the space-bar when typing long sentences.
2. You can also infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS". (See "Fortress".)
3. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer even if it's turned off.
4. People typing on a computer can safely turn it off without saving the data.
5. A hacker is always able to break into the most sensitive computer in the world by guessing the secret password in two tries.
6. You may bypass "PERMISSION DENIED" message by using the "OVERRIDE" function. (See "Demolition Man".)
7. Computers only take 2 seconds to boot up instead of the average minutes for desktop PCs and 30 minutes or more for larger systems that can run 24 hours, 365 days a year without a reset.
8. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. Movie modems usually appear to transmit data at the speed of two gigabytes per second.
9. Computers can interface with any other computer regardless of the manufacturer or galaxy where it originated. (See "Independence Day".)
10. Computer disks will work on any computer has a floppy drive and all software is usable on any platforms.
11. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it will have (See "Aliens".)
12. Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying three-dimensional active animation, photo-realistic graphics capabilities.
13. Searches on the internet will always return what you are looking for no matter how vague your keywords are. (See "Mission Impossible", Tom Cruise searches with keywords like "file" and "computer" and 3 results are returned.)
What are your favourite great movie computer moments. Leave us a comment.
I came across a site which lists 28 of some really funny and unbelievable things computers and people do. http://ping.fm/86yb8
Here are a few of my favourites.
1. You never have to use the space-bar when typing long sentences.
2. You can also infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS". (See "Fortress".)
3. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer even if it's turned off.
4. People typing on a computer can safely turn it off without saving the data.
5. A hacker is always able to break into the most sensitive computer in the world by guessing the secret password in two tries.
6. You may bypass "PERMISSION DENIED" message by using the "OVERRIDE" function. (See "Demolition Man".)
7. Computers only take 2 seconds to boot up instead of the average minutes for desktop PCs and 30 minutes or more for larger systems that can run 24 hours, 365 days a year without a reset.
8. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. Movie modems usually appear to transmit data at the speed of two gigabytes per second.
9. Computers can interface with any other computer regardless of the manufacturer or galaxy where it originated. (See "Independence Day".)
10. Computer disks will work on any computer has a floppy drive and all software is usable on any platforms.
11. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it will have (See "Aliens".)
12. Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying three-dimensional active animation, photo-realistic graphics capabilities.
13. Searches on the internet will always return what you are looking for no matter how vague your keywords are. (See "Mission Impossible", Tom Cruise searches with keywords like "file" and "computer" and 3 results are returned.)
What are your favourite great movie computer moments. Leave us a comment.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Updating Multiple Social Networking Sites
Social Networking? Can be a life saver or a pain in the never region. Can take up a large portion of your day, and life. Can be a great business tool or a production black hole. Like most things, SN (Social Networks) can be good or bad. Depending how you use them.
I know of some people who spend up to three hours a day, updating their SN sites. Things like blogging, Facebook, twitter, plurk, flickr. This seems to escalate depending on how many SN sites you keep active.
When I first started out with my new Internet Business, website design and development, I added SEO to my stable. One of the things I learned quickly was that SN could drive traffic to your website. Help with building back links and help promote your website.
So what did I do? I started to join multiple Social Networks, including Facebook, twitter, plurk, linkedin etc. I also started blogging setting up multiple blogs. Some have similar content some are vastly different.
I soon found out that this took up a large amount of time. Having a new business I could not justify all the time spent on SN. I needed to bring in paying clients, I found it more profitable to spend time coding than Social Networking. But still realised the importance of SN.
I was in a bit of a dilemma. I knew that Social Networking could help me, but had no time to dedicate to it. As a result a lot of the SN sites were neglected. I only focused on the ones I thought might benefit me.
Enter in ping.fm. Ping.fm is a service that helps with updating multiple Social Network sites. By writing, or blogging in one place you can update everything. Their motto - "Ping.fm is a simple service that makes updating your social networks a snap".
Once you sign up, you add various services to your account that you want to update. They have many services in their stable and are adding more. Things like Blogger, LiveJournal, Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, LinkedIn. etc.
By writing in one place, ping.fm, you can post (ping) to all your SN sites. Updating your status, ,micro-blogging, full blogging. I am doing this right now. This blog was sent to multiple blog sites via ping.fm.
Whether it is advisable to send the same thing to multiple blogs is for another discussion.
With ping.fm you can ping (post) to all your Social Networks at once, or to a selected group, or to individual ones. This is done by triggers. These triggers help ping.fm to know what you are trying to do. For instance, you could just make status updates, or post to your micro-blogging sites like twitter and plurk, or even post to you full blogging sites like Blogger and Wordpress. You can ping them individually or as a group.
You can even create your own triggers, so that you can post to your own combination of SN sites. For example, you might want to only post an update to Twitter and plurk. Create a trigger, write your update, and ping using that trigger.
Ping.fm makes it even easier to update your sites by providing other services that you can use to update them. Services like Instant Messaging. Do you have AOL IM, or Live Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger. Set up a ping.fm contact using their application key, and then you can update your Social Networks through your IM client.
If that does not work for you, you can set up an e-mail to update you Social Networks. This I find will work great for those who are behind a company firewall and are prohibited to go to certain sites. With an e-mail you could possible circumvent this and update your Facebook or twitter via e-mail. Although I haven't tested this out, I see no reason why it should not work.
If you have tried this out. Leave a comment and let me know how it went.
What if you have been banned from the internet and e-mail. Well ping.fm have provided another way for you to update your SN sites. Through the use of your Mobile phone or iPhone, you can update all your SN sites. You can even SMS (text) your updates in, or send e-mails from your Mobile and iPhone.
All in all I am impressed with this service. It certainly has taken out the drag of updating SN sites. I recommend you take a look and let me know.
Leave me a comment, tell me what you think.
I know of some people who spend up to three hours a day, updating their SN sites. Things like blogging, Facebook, twitter, plurk, flickr. This seems to escalate depending on how many SN sites you keep active.
When I first started out with my new Internet Business, website design and development, I added SEO to my stable. One of the things I learned quickly was that SN could drive traffic to your website. Help with building back links and help promote your website.
So what did I do? I started to join multiple Social Networks, including Facebook, twitter, plurk, linkedin etc. I also started blogging setting up multiple blogs. Some have similar content some are vastly different.
I soon found out that this took up a large amount of time. Having a new business I could not justify all the time spent on SN. I needed to bring in paying clients, I found it more profitable to spend time coding than Social Networking. But still realised the importance of SN.
I was in a bit of a dilemma. I knew that Social Networking could help me, but had no time to dedicate to it. As a result a lot of the SN sites were neglected. I only focused on the ones I thought might benefit me.
Enter in ping.fm. Ping.fm is a service that helps with updating multiple Social Network sites. By writing, or blogging in one place you can update everything. Their motto - "Ping.fm is a simple service that makes updating your social networks a snap".
Once you sign up, you add various services to your account that you want to update. They have many services in their stable and are adding more. Things like Blogger, LiveJournal, Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, LinkedIn. etc.
By writing in one place, ping.fm, you can post (ping) to all your SN sites. Updating your status, ,micro-blogging, full blogging. I am doing this right now. This blog was sent to multiple blog sites via ping.fm.
Whether it is advisable to send the same thing to multiple blogs is for another discussion.
With ping.fm you can ping (post) to all your Social Networks at once, or to a selected group, or to individual ones. This is done by triggers. These triggers help ping.fm to know what you are trying to do. For instance, you could just make status updates, or post to your micro-blogging sites like twitter and plurk, or even post to you full blogging sites like Blogger and Wordpress. You can ping them individually or as a group.
You can even create your own triggers, so that you can post to your own combination of SN sites. For example, you might want to only post an update to Twitter and plurk. Create a trigger, write your update, and ping using that trigger.
Ping.fm makes it even easier to update your sites by providing other services that you can use to update them. Services like Instant Messaging. Do you have AOL IM, or Live Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger. Set up a ping.fm contact using their application key, and then you can update your Social Networks through your IM client.
If that does not work for you, you can set up an e-mail to update you Social Networks. This I find will work great for those who are behind a company firewall and are prohibited to go to certain sites. With an e-mail you could possible circumvent this and update your Facebook or twitter via e-mail. Although I haven't tested this out, I see no reason why it should not work.
If you have tried this out. Leave a comment and let me know how it went.
What if you have been banned from the internet and e-mail. Well ping.fm have provided another way for you to update your SN sites. Through the use of your Mobile phone or iPhone, you can update all your SN sites. You can even SMS (text) your updates in, or send e-mails from your Mobile and iPhone.
All in all I am impressed with this service. It certainly has taken out the drag of updating SN sites. I recommend you take a look and let me know.
Leave me a comment, tell me what you think.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Top 10 SEO Tips
1. Good Keyword Research.
Make sure thatbefore you build a site, you figure out exactly what kinds of keywordsyou will want to target. Your site should include keywords that yourprospective clients key into the major search engines. Useful keyword research tools include Wordtracker, Overture, Keyword Discovery and WebCEO.
Anotherfactor to consider is the competition for your keywords. You do notwant to use keywords that your competitors are already competing for.The result being that you will probably not rank well.
Youneed to have keywords that have a high KEI or Keyword EffectivenessIndicator. This is how effective your keywords are in the world ofsearch engines. You do not want to have a keyword phrase that no oneuses, nor do you want to have a keyword that has loads of competition.The KEI is the balance between well used search phrases and lesscompetition.
2. Content is King.
Without great content any thing else is pointless. Users will not return to your site.Users will not stay long on your site. The search engines willdisregard your site, not index it or even ban your site. Writing goodusable applicable content is the number one priority for any SEO or any website for that matter.
Websitesthat are designed for people, offering easy navigation and fresh,unique content will attract search engine spiders that will want toindex the pages.
It is really frustrating when visiting asite looking for up-to-date information, only to find that it hasn’tbeen updated for weeks. You are then forced to get on the phone to findout the information; so what’s the point in having a website?
Websitesthat have not been updated regularly will discourage prospectiveclients and spiders alike. Make sure that your website is constantly updated with fresh, unique content.
3. Build Internal Links
Makesure that you have a high-quality link structure and good navigationon your site, so that not only potential customers, but also searchengine spiders can find and index all the pages on your site.
Acommon mistake is to assume that every visitor will start at your homepage. Most will but it's important to check that each page on your siteis linked to the other pages. This helps the search engine spiders toquickly index your site. Remember that the way you structure your sitenavigation will have an effect on how people judge you and yourbusiness.
4. Building Inbound Links
Gettingother sites to link back to yours is probably the #1 item of importancefor your rankings. If “content is king” then “linking is queen”.Importantly though, is that pages that link to you should be related toyour content. One-way links from sites carry far greater weight thanlinks that are reciprocated.
Links act like votes for your siteand you can't rank well without them. Buying links or beingindiscriminate in the places you link to and places you request linksfrom is no longer considered good practice and could potentially getyour site banned. Quality rather than quantity.
5. Keyword Density
Theamount of times your selected keywords or phrases appear in yourcontent, the relevancy it has in your content and the correct usage ofproper grammatical syntax revolving around those keywords is of primeimportance. The search engines nowadays, derive the importance of aparticular topic from the usage of keywords and their density.
For example, if your site is about programming,but this keyword only appears one in your content, but the wordcomputer appears ten times. Search engines will assume that your siteis about computers rather than programming.
Be careful to notoverdo it. Search engines take a very dim view on too many keywords incontent. This causes it to look un-natural, and is often termed askeyword stuffing.
6. Optimise Your Page Titles
Avery important SEO technique is to include your keywords within theTitle description for each page. It is of prime importance that thetitle tag is unique to the subject matter of each page for the benefitof the search engines.
In other words, each page must have aunique title tag. This will help your search engine rankings as well ashelp users to identify the content of the page.
7. Crawlability Issues
Neverhide your navigation and or content behind Flash, JavaScript, orImages. Always try to use text for search engines to crawl yournavigation. If you absolutely must have a Flash menu or image-basedmenu then the best practice is to create a text-equivalent alternativein the footer of your site. CSS can give your text-based navigationsimilar styling to that of images and the functionality of roll oversimilar to JavaScript menus. Spiders have a hard time crawling Flash,and equally, perhaps even more difficult time with JavaScript, and theycan’t read text that is made from an image.
8. Keyword Emphasis.
Useitalics, bold and underlining to further emphasize your keywords. Thinkof a newspaper and how the bold ,different, bigger titles draw yourattention to the detailed story. Users and Search engines are nodifferent. Usage of Strong and H1 –H6 tags show users and searchengines what is important on your site, and draws their attention toit. It separates the Keywords from the normal text in a visual andsearch engine friendly way.
9. Site maps.
Asite map, in addition to a clear navigation bar and links betweenpages, will help visitors to your website find what they are lookingfor. It will also ensure that search engine spiders visit and indexeach of your pages. Then submit the site map along with the site to thepopular search engines to tell them where you are.
10. Monitor your progress.
Trackyour progress with a web analytics program. use a tool such as “GoogleAnalytics”. It is easy to use, versatile, and it's free. GoogleAnalytics provides a wealth of information to help you further optimiseyour site.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Learning a new prgramming language
One of the newsgroups that I frequent, a fellow programmer was expressing the difficulty he is facing in learning a new programming language. That reminded me about the difficulties I faced in the past, and even now with regards to the same subject. It is easy to give up. To become discouraged. It, at times, seems all hopeless, and that nothing will ever stick into this thick skull of mine.
Like everything in life, time, practice and research (learning, education). Watching my 22 month daughter learn new things is amazing. How long it seemed before she could learn to walk. She tumbled and fell and hurt herself many times. But that is now all forgotten, and the hard work has paid off, because guess what, she walks and even runs, or at least some derivative or a fast waddle, now. Now it seems like an eternity before she starts to talk, but she is getting there, with a few sounds and words. But guess what, there is going to come a day, when her parents would seemingly which she would stop talking. Programming is exactly the same. We must adapt to new ideas and new methods. For some that is difficult and painful, for others its a breeze. But once you have mastered the skills, and taken the time and discipline to complete the task, the results are fantastic. You look back and say to yourself that it was all worth it, and the journey was not that difficult. The strange thing is that the more you learn the easier it is to learn.
My encouragement to those of us who are embarking on the new journey of learning a new programming language, is stick to it. Persevere. It will eventually come right. I have started out on many new courses, currently I am building an Internet business. I am learning new things about the Internet, like Search Engine Optimization or SEO. I am trying to figure out what is the best look and layout for my homepage. But with trial and error, and time, I believe it will come right.
Don’t give up. Are you struggling? How has your learning curve progressed? Let me, and others know about your struggles and how you were able to overcome them. Share some tips and tricks that you have discovered. Encourage those of us who feel that we are at the bottom of the programmers pit. Leave a comment.
Technorati Tags: Programming
del.icio.us Tags: Programming
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
I got Stumbleupon Horribly Wrong!!!
I guess I got this whole thing of stumble upon wrong. I read, "postblog". So I did. Guess what I found. It has some limitations.Stumbleupon thinks of it more as a review than a blog. If so, why nothave things like, "My reviews", or "Post Review" or "Reviewed" ratherthan things like, "My Blog" or "Post Blog". Don't you think its a bitconfusing. I don't mind posting reviews. I mean I could even review ownor another blog if needed.
As a result of this, my carefully written blogs have been cut short in their prime. I look like a bit of a idiot.
Where do I find the "Blog"/"Review" limits?
Any one else have any other thoughts on this?
LiveJournal Tags: Stumbleupon
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Absolute Beginners III
Gadgets! Who does not love gadgets? We have gadgets for almosteverything. Tools to make life simpler and more efficient. to get thejob done in less time with the least amount of energy expired. Toolsthat do a better job. From power tools to vacuum cleaners to cordlesselectric screw drivers to GPS devices and metal detectors. All thesestools help us in our daily lives. They make us more efficient, make usappear more professional, give us more time and less stress and perhapseven enable us to do that which we couldn’t do otherwise. Yes, toolsand gadgets are mans best friend. Oops second best friend.
Whyshould SEO be any different. Many say that it should be left up to theprofessionals. Yes I agree in part. If you can do a reasonable jobyourself, or you can’t afford the professionals or you are plain juststubborn, or what ever the reason, one should be able to at leastattempt the job yourself. If you so feel inclined or forced to do it.Who doesn’t have some tools at home, power tools. Things to fixelectrical appliances, or do the odd carpentry job, or even attempt todo some minor construction or building. Many have done some kind ofDIY. Some have succeeded some have not. But then you will never know ifyou don’t try. Also, some just know themselves that if they attempt tofix the broken electrical plug they will die a horrible death. So theyare very comfortable in hiring a professional.
SEO is nodifferent. You can try and do the job manually, or you can make use ofthe vast number of tools that are available to you, or you can hire aprofessional. Seeing that this blog is for absolute beginners, weassume that you are not a professional and that you want to try thisyourself. Believe me you CAN do just as good a job as any professional.It is not impossible. Hey, I am not a carpenter by any stretch of theimagination, but I have created some nifty looking woodwork pieces thathave had my friend go GA GA.
So what I would like to do here istake a look at some tools that are available to us that can help us outwith this SEO thing. Some are free, some require some form of paymentand some are limited. But they all help. Before we delve into the nittygritty of SEO and the strategy of SEO and all the cool stuff Idescribed on my previous blog, lets look at some really cool and niftytools.
I am gong to divide the tools into two categories, onlineand offline or desktop applications. Online typically speaks of websites that enable you to do things, while offline typically requiresyou to download a program and run it to achieve your or the software'srequired goal. While some tools are not pure SEO tools but alsoincorporate SEM (Search Engine Marketing), which we will cover inanother blog, they are all helpful in getting your site out there.
Online tools.
Seeingthat most people find your site through some form of search engine, andthat the most popular are Google, Yahoo and MSN. It stands to reason tosee what they can offer when it comes to SEO. After all it is theirdomain isn’t it.
Google offer a wealth of tools and services for the armature and professional. Most you have to create a Google account for. But its free and well worth it.
Improveyour site's visibility in Google search results. Google Webmaster Toolsprovides you with detailed reports about your pages' visibility onGoogle. All you have to do is add and verify your site.
Links are so important to a web site. Discover your link and query traffic View,classify, and download comprehensive data about internal and externallinks to your site. Find out which Google search queries drive trafficto your site, and see exactly how users arrive there.
Shareinformation about your site. Tell Google about your pages withSitemaps: which ones are the most important to you and how often theychange. You can also let Google know how you would like the URLs thatthey index to appear.
View more information about your crawl errors with the new content analysis tool.
Thisis a fantastic tool. And its Free. Analyse your visitors. GoogleAnalytics shows you which sites, search engines, and keywords referyour traffic and how visitors interact with your site. They have allsorts of graphs and trends. Statistics that you can drill down too. Itis really cool and worth checking out.
WithGoogle Trends, you can compare what interest there is in your favouritetopic or keyword. Enter up to five topics or keywords and see how oftenthey’ve been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows howfrequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and inwhich geographic regions people have searched for them most. You cansee a snapshot of what’s on the public’s collective mind by viewing thefastest-rising searches for different points of time. You can see alist of today’s top 100 fastest-rising search queries. This is greatfor optimising your keyword search phrases and terms.
Thistool allows you to test different web site designs and content to seewhich ones attract and keep visitors, which ones bring them back formore and ultimately which ones are converted into sales. What you do isyou create a particular page design with particular content. Let theweb site optimizer monitor it. Then create another similar butdifferent page, and test that, so on and so on. Then compare the datato see what users and customers like.
Aspin off of Google search, but with a twist. As you type, Google willoffer suggestions and the approximate number of expected results. Not afantastic tool. But sure does help to find out what keywords arepopular and what similar searches others are doing.
Although Adwords is a pay service.They do have a section where you can do some sort of keyword analysis.You can search specific keywords. Then you get results back of relatedterms. Their relevance, and what their search volume is. I.E you don’twant to have a keyword term that people never use to search with.
7.iGoogle
Thisis essentially a Google homepage. Where you can put Google gadgets on.I especially like it, because you can put webmaster tool gadgets,Google Analytic gadgets. These give you a quick overview of how yoursite is performing, and it also gives you summary reports from thesesvarious services. A one stop, quick glance overall reporting andnotification strategy.
Thisallows you to put in some specific keyword search terms, and then seethe search volume. It also allows you to see how much the InternetAdvertising community will pay for a particular keyword of phrase. Thisgives you an idea as to how important those keywords are.
Theseare just a few services from Google. We still have to look at whatMicrosoft can offer. They have some cool stuff too. There are alsoother online sites that can help. Like Alexa, Wordtracker, SEOBook,WebCEO and many others that hopefully I will have time to cover next.But the conclusion is, that there are ample tools out there to help youwith your search engine optimisation efforts. It just takes time andeffort to see results.
What are you're experiences? Have you played with theses tools yet? Which are your favourite? Drop me a comment and let me know.
Brought to you by Integral Web Solutions.
Searche Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Absolute Beginners II
I have been blessed with a 20 month old daughter. As a toddler sheloves playing hide-n-seek. Only problem is that she screams every timeI begin to look for her. Totally giving away her position. This totallyepitomises Search Engine Optimisation.
We must not take the Alienroute. You know, in cyberspace no one can hear you scream. We have toapproach this with as much screaming as possible. Just like mydaughter, we have to scream as loud and as hard and as often as we can.Just to get noticed, so that people who are looking for us can find us.We are not trying to hide from anyone, we are not trying to camouflageour web site. We want to be noticed.
So what is SEO or Search Engine Optimisation?
From Wiki: “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords.Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or thehigher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO canalso target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.”
Sothe big thing about SEO is improving the quality and quantity oftraffic to your web site from search engines. This means that SE(search engines) must know you exist. They must also rank you highenough for a particular search word or phase in order to place you inthe top search results. After all people are unlikely to scroll throughpages and pages of information to find your site. At most they willprobably go to three pages deep, maybe two or three more if they arelooking for something specific. But this just means that their searchterm is not correct. What happens in most cases is that people oftenonly click and consider the links returned by the first and maybesecond pages of the search result.
SEO is not a once off thing,or some great magic wand that you wave. It’s a process. It’s a dailytask. Something that you have to continually do for months and months.And then when you achieve the desired ranking, you have to workcontinually to keep it there. Because remember, there are other nastypeople that are doing their utmost to knock you off your top rankingand to take your spot.
Search Engine Optimization-It's Not RocketScience. Sure, you can get really complicated and technical with SEO,just like any other subject. However, search engine optimization at itsheart is simple and clean. With a good strategy, and dedication. Onestep at a time. You can get your site ranked up there with the bigboys. But don’t be deluded into believing that it will happen overnight.
Think of yourself as a needle in a very very bighay-stack. Some one is looking for you with a magnet. You need tomagnetise yourself in such a way that the magnet will pull you out ofthe clutter. How would you do this, electron by electron, atom by atom.Its a slow process. But soon enough you will be magnetised and bong,the magnet pulls you out. The only difference is that this is noordinary magnet. It operates with a resonating frequency that you haveto tune into, so that only you get pulled out amongst all the otherneedles. Naturally the ones closest to the top of the pile stand abetter chance.
So where do I start?
1.Submit your site to the search engines.
Thiskinda seems obvious. But you need to let the major search engines knowyour alive. SE’s like Google, Yahoo, MSN all have pages where you cansubmit your site from.
2.Submit your site to directory services.
Itdoes not stop at SE. Most beginners forget that a large part of rankingis about how popular you are on the Internet. One way to increase yourpopularity is by having links on other sites (I will chat about this ina later blog) that point to your site. Inbound links. One way to dothat is to submit to directory services. Directories like DMOZallow you to submit your site for free. There are other Directoriesaround some are free some are not. Some are popular some are not. Butmost agree that DMOZ is the one to start out on.
3.Create a robots.txt file.
SE’suse what is called a robot to crawl the Internet and web sites so thatthey can gather information to be indexed and categorised. A robot is aprogram that automatically traverses the Web's hypertext structure byretrieving a document, and recursively retrieving all documents thatare referenced. Web robots are sometimes referred to as Web Wanderers,Web Crawlers, or Spiders. Web site owners use the robots.txt file togive instructions about their site to web robots. What they can crawland what not. How deep they can go in the site structure and where theyare not allowed to crawl. Check out The Web Robots Pages for more information.
4.Submit a Sitemap.
ASitemap is exactly what is says. It is a map of your site. Of everypage in your site. This is used by search engines to help them traverseyour site easily and to quickly index your pages. Otherwise they haveto follow hyperlinks. If your page navigation is not good enough orvery complicated with long URLs, then you're in trouble. In itssimplest terms, a Sitemap is a list of the pages on your web site.
Creatingand submitting a Sitemap helps make sure that search engines likeGoogle know about all the pages on your site, including URLs that maynot be discoverable by Google's normal crawling process. In general,there are two types of sitemaps. The first type of sitemap is a HTMLpage listing the pages of your site - often by section - and is meantto help users find the information they need. Second, XML Sitemaps -usually called Sitemaps, with a capital S - are a way for you to giveGoogle information about your site.
For more information go to Google's help centre for Sitemaps.
5.Content is King.
Contentis what drives search engine rankings, content is what brings users toyour site, and content, when sprinkled appropriately with keywordphrases, will feed robots. Content is King. Users like good content,its what brings them back. SE’s like good content, its what helps toincrease your sites ranking for search phrases and keywords. If thiswas a broken record, it would be one worth listening too. Content iskey in search engine optimization. Content is key in search engineoptimization. Content is key in search engine optimization.
6.Simple Site design.
Sitesthat are successful in the search engine results have this incommon-they are all simply designed, with a minimum of bandwidthhogging graphics, slowly loading animations or other aestheticstructures that are pleasing to the human eye but SE unfriendly, likeFlash. SE’s do not like or care about cosmetics, yes, your site mightwin the Picasso award. But who cares if Google, ala no one, can findit.
They are also easy to navigate. Simple, clean designs arewhat search engine spiders and search engine users like, because itenables them to get to what they're looking for; which is what? Ofcourse, if you don’t know by now - content.
7.Well written Meta-Tags.
Metatags-keyword, description, and titles - are important, but they won'tmake or break your site. Meta tags are merely part of your overallsuccess strategy. They need to be well written with compelling, keywordphrase-heavy content that will entice the user click through from thesearch results page. Good choice of Keywords, page descriptions andtitles will go a long way towards increasing your page ranking.
There is a whole other world around keyword research. But that's for another time. These need to reflect your site and business, but also have a high search usage, but low competition. Getting the right balance can be a task.
Buildinggood keywords also takes time. Over time you will add more keywords,and subtract those that are not working for you. Keywords and phrasesthat are strategically placed and crafted into your web site and itscontent can significantly boost your ratings in search engine results.Lack of well-chosen keywords and phrases on your Web site is a very badmistake to make, as search engine spiders depend on these to find yoursite; as well as search engine users. If you have not targeted specificand precise keywords for your web site, then you will not be easilyfound.
8.Link Building.
Part ofachieving top search engine positions is through links from other Webpages. These links can come from people who like your site (naturallinks), reciprocal linking, directory submissions, one-way linking,multi-site linking and directory linking. Search engines rely a lot onhuman interaction and indirect rating of web pages. It stands to reasonthat if a lot of people like a particular site that SE’s will payattention to this. How do people show that they like your site. Bycreating links on their site to your site. These are also known asinbound links.
Each of these linking strategies has specific descriptions that can be summed up as:
- Reciprocal Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links back to Site A
- One-Way Linking = Site B links to Site A
- Multi-Site Linking = Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, Site C links to Site D, and Site D links back to Site A.
- Directory Linking = Site Directory A links to Site A
Thatseems simple enough. But it takes time and effort to come up with asuccessful link strategy and to build up good quality links. Most website owners aren't willing to spend the time or don't have the time tospend on it.
9.Analytics.
Oneessential element of success which is mostly overlooked is to analysethe traffic that comes to your web site. By monitoring your web sitestatistics you can track visitor behaviour, popular keywords,frequented pages and other valuable information that can helpstrengthen weaknesses within your site.
Studying web sitestatistics should be a vital part in tracking your on-line marketingand search engine optimisation progress to ultimately help improve yoursite, converting more visitors to it. You need to know everything abouthow your visitors found you and how they interact with your site.
Understandingwhat visitors do on your site is crucial and by fixing possible errors,you could increase your sales in a very short time span.
You can sign up to Google Analytics to have a wide range of tools at your disposal. All free.
10.Black Hat SEO – No No.
Whatis Black Hat SEO. Black Hat search engine optimization is normallydefined as techniques that are used to get higher search rankings in anunethical manner. These black hat SEO techniques usually include one ormore of the following characteristics:
- Breaks search engine rules and regulations .
- Creates a poor user experience directly because of the black hat SEO techniques utilized on the Web site .
- Unethically presents content in a different visual or non-visual way to search engine spiders and searchengine users.
Things like:
- Keywordstuffing: Creating long lists of keywords and putting them onto yoursite with nothing else will get you penalized eventually by searchengines.
- Invisible text: This is putting lists of keywordswhere the text is the same colour as the background, thereforeinvisible to the human eye. Like white text on a white background. Thisis done in hopes of attracting more search engine spiders.
- DoorwayPages: A doorway page is basically a “fake” page that the user willnever see. It is put there fore the sole purpose of attracting searchengine spiders, and attempting to trick them into indexing the sitehigher. Thereby increasing their page rank.
This is by nomeans complete. We will delve into this in more depth as timeprogresses. Just like you I am also learning. So if you have any ideasor insights, please drop me a comment. Tell me what you think. Also letme know what else you would like to learn about. If you need to learnabout it, then chances are I do too. I help you, you help me.
Brought to you by Integral Web Solutions.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Absolute Beginners
If you are anything like me, you have gotten fed up with your joband your boss. You have seen how people can make money from being onthe Internet. You have decided to quit your job, create an Internetcompany. Start developing a web site or a bunch of web sites forclients. For a month you are engrossed in your new found freedom, andyou are excited at the prospect of great success.
You have justuploaded your sites to your ISP, made a few tweaks and improvements,you sit back and admire your work. You stand next to the telephonewaiting in anticipation for the calls to come rolling in to enquireabout your services.Alas, after an hour, no calls. Two hours go by. This is feeling likethe time when your girlfriend dumped you and you were convinced thatshe would phone back begging to return. But, no, after three hours yourlegs are starting to shake, you are thirsty and hungry. …. Its 1:37 am,and still no phone call. Surely the USA is awake by now and they allshould be calling you. No such luck. You half-heartedly drag yourselfto bed, bitterly disappointed.This goes on for days and evenweeks. You wonder to your self what on earth is going on. Then you havea bright idea. Google. Use Google you dumb twit. So you fire up yourPC. It hasn’t been on because you have been manning the telephonelines. You take five minute to type the search phrase into the Googlesearch bar, because you’re so excited that your fingers can’t typecorrectly and you have to continually correct your typing. Eventuallyyou click the search button. A page bursts onto your browser, your eyeis drawn to the adds, but you are not there. No problem, you didn’texpect that as you never paid for any adds. You begin to scroll downeagerly waiting for the link to your site to pop out and hit youstraight between the eyes. No, its not on the first page, not to worry,you have clicked the Google next button before, so you know where itis. You go to the second page. Scrolling down, you move slightlyfaster, its not there. Third page, NO. Fourth page, cant find it. Youstart to sweat. What is Google up to. Don’t they know where your siteis. You have posted it onto the Internet. Google is suppose to searchthe Internet and find your site.
It is 5pm. You have mousecramp, your elbows hurt, your eyes are red and bloodshot, burning likethey are filled with pool acid. You have dislocated your shoulder. Yousoldier on. You have clicked on page 1042. You have scanned over 1 000000 page links in Google. Your biggest nightmare has just arrived, youhave still got over 16 000 000 links to scan. Where oh where is yoursite.
After two weeks of agonising searching you still havenot found your site. You think to yourself. “No wonder nobody calledme”. They could not find your site. What dawns on you is the terrifyingthought that Google does not know about your site. You are sitting inthe abyss of the Internet. The black hole of the World Wide Web. Theultimate game of Hide-‘n-go-seek. You’re hidden and NO ONE can findyou. Hidden out here No one can hear you scream. But then, youremember. Google is your friend. Fire up that old PC, open the browser,go to the Google page. Type in “Why can’t I find my web site”.
Bam!!!Google knocks you right off your seat. You stand up, still groggy fromthe fall, staring at the screen. As the fog disappears and the screenbegins to come into focus, a whole bunch of terms and phrases startdancing and singing before your eyes. Terms like: SEO, Search EngineOptimisation, SEM, Search Engine Marketing, Keywords, Meta Tag, Titles.What is this you ask? I did not know about this.
You do somemore research. Then all of a sudden you are blinded by a big brightflash of light. What has happened? WWIII. A nuclear explosion? You rubyour eyes, peer outside the window only to see that life still goes on.You soon realise that the light just came on in your head. Theintensity burned away all the cobwebs, and you can see clearly now. Youneed to optimise your site so that the search engine can see it andrank it in order for it to appear on the top of the searches. But howdo we do this. Ah, there is an add in Google for a company that doesjust that.
You hesitantly phone the number for the experts. Afterthe very pleasant secretary redirects your call to the sales person.After your short discussion, you slowly fall backwards as the lightstarts to dim. You can’t breathe, you're going blind. Your hearingstarts to fade. As you hit the floor with your head, you are knockedout for a few seconds. As you come too, you realise that you fainted.But what caused it. Oh yes you remember. It was the price those guyswanted to charge you to optimise your site. They must be mad.Youask yourself. Can I do this. Is it that difficult. You eventually fallasleep exhausted, hungry (because you have no money to buy food). Youstart to dream of a brighter tomorrow on the Internet. Dream of searchengines and keywords, of Google and yahoo. Over and over again youshout out “I have a dream”. In your ridiculous dream, you even come upwith a joke:
“Knock Knock. Who’s there. Yah. Yah who? No Google.”
Youralarm clock wakes you up from your slumber. You sit bolt upright inbed. Today is the beginning of a bright new dawn. Today we do SEO andSEM. You fire up the old PC. Bring up your site. You stare blankly atthe screen. With one question going through your mind.
Youthen have a vision. You see a blog. A blog about Search EngineOptimisation for Beginners. It will be up tomorrow. You can’t wait.
Technorati Tags: SEO,SEM,Search Engine Optimisation,Search Engine MarketingIs Blog a Four Letter Word
What in the world is this blogging?
I've been in IT for many years. Been programming withdifferent languages. One thing that I have found is that the Internetis a living organism. It changes on a daily basis. What was goodyesterday is not good for today. New things appear, old thingsdisappear. What strikes me is that new words and terms are defined.
Blogand Blogging have been out for a while now I know. But I have nevergotten in to it. Since I started out on my own in business, I startedlooking at how to promote ones site. One thing that kept on coming upwas, Blogging. When I mentioned this to my Internet Illiterate wife,she thought I was swearing (cursing for those who do not understand theQueens English).
Now in my family we definitely do not use the fourletter word. My son on the other hand thought it sound more like snotor booger or bog or some vile stringy stuff that excretes out ones nose.
Iguess it can be if abused. I have heard time and time again of howblogging goes bad, people get hurt and it cannot be undone. Court casesfollow and all sorts of nasty stuff.
Shouldn't I just stick toe-mail. I thought about this, but then e-mail is in essence forced intoyour mail box, where as reading a blog is a choice. If you do not likeit then don't read it.
But then I thought the whole point ofblogging is to read it. So here I am, blogging. A blog does not have tobe bad, it does not have to be a four letter word. It can be helpful,can it?
Well I decided to give it a try, Will it help me? Will itdrive traffic to my site? Will I derive business out of it. Well onlyone way to find out. Test it.
Here is the test then. Please navigate to my site Integralwebsolutions
Browse around, go to the feedback page and leave me a note. I will accept all criticism.
Willit drive business? Well lets test and see. If you are interested in thekind of business and service I can supply, don't be shy to let me know.
Whydon't you comment on this blog. Tell me what I’ve missed, or what Idon’t see or have I got it right. Is blogging all its made out to be.
I will report back, sorry blog back as to how this little experiment of mine went.
I've been in IT for many years. Been programming withdifferent languages. One thing that I have found is that the Internetis a living organism. It changes on a daily basis. What was goodyesterday is not good for today. New things appear, old thingsdisappear. What strikes me is that new words and terms are defined.
Blogand Blogging have been out for a while now I know. But I have nevergotten in to it. Since I started out on my own in business, I startedlooking at how to promote ones site. One thing that kept on coming upwas, Blogging. When I mentioned this to my Internet Illiterate wife,she thought I was swearing (cursing for those who do not understand theQueens English).
Now in my family we definitely do not use the fourletter word. My son on the other hand thought it sound more like snotor booger or bog or some vile stringy stuff that excretes out ones nose.
Iguess it can be if abused. I have heard time and time again of howblogging goes bad, people get hurt and it cannot be undone. Court casesfollow and all sorts of nasty stuff.
Shouldn't I just stick toe-mail. I thought about this, but then e-mail is in essence forced intoyour mail box, where as reading a blog is a choice. If you do not likeit then don't read it.
But then I thought the whole point ofblogging is to read it. So here I am, blogging. A blog does not have tobe bad, it does not have to be a four letter word. It can be helpful,can it?
Well I decided to give it a try, Will it help me? Will itdrive traffic to my site? Will I derive business out of it. Well onlyone way to find out. Test it.
Here is the test then. Please navigate to my site Integralwebsolutions
Browse around, go to the feedback page and leave me a note. I will accept all criticism.
Willit drive business? Well lets test and see. If you are interested in thekind of business and service I can supply, don't be shy to let me know.
Whydon't you comment on this blog. Tell me what I’ve missed, or what Idon’t see or have I got it right. Is blogging all its made out to be.
I will report back, sorry blog back as to how this little experiment of mine went.
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