Tools And Resources For Designers, Blog Marketing And Money Making Tips - Smashapps

20% Discount on HTML5 Templates - Plus 9 Premium Templates for Free

2010-10-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

You can visit a number of resources that provide premium HTML5 templates, but it is hardly ever possible to find some of them for free. The demand for template of this kind is great and this is the very reason for high prices for this product. Fortunately, there are some promos that give us a good opportunity to get such templates with pretty nice discounts or even for free. This time it is a great promo from TemplateMonster.com and it offers you a 20% discount for all HTML5 templates presented at the site – there are 200+ HTML5 templates in their collection. But that’s not all, there are 9 HTML5 templates that we can get for free and this fact makes the promo even more interesting for us all.

The new powerful features of HTML5 markup language make these templates so popular. HTML5 technology can offer you a lot of awesome stuff and it is quite easy to check it out and manage this markup language even if you have never worked with HMTL5 previously. The source code of HTML5 templates and websites is very user-friendly; it is extremely easy to work with them. In addition to their high-grade functionality, they please our eyes with impressive layouts that catch the attention immediately. There is no need to speak a lot about these HTML5 templates; their high quality speaks for itself.

This HTML5 promo has started yesterday and will last until October 15th 2010. Though it seems that we have enough time to get the desired product, we suggest you to hurry up and get what you want as fast as possible. Don’t miss your chance!

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Your opinion is what creates the future of Flash. Take the survey!

2010-09-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today we are happy to announce the beginning of the great Flash Technology survey where everyone may pass his or her opinion in regard to Flash software and Flash websites. Thereby you will help to contribute to a better understanding of Flash industry and community and mark the future of Internet technologies.

The survey is conducted by one of the leading providers of different design products, including Flash templates and Flash CMS websites. It begins today, on September 22dn and ends on September 29th. The results will be available for everyone on September 30th, so that many people can learn about the state of the industry.

Give us just 2-5 minutes of your time (that's really all it will take) to answer the simple questions and make your contribution to this project!

Thanks in advance for your help. And please remember, your opinion is very important for us!

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“Here you have” Virus - W32/VBMania@MM

2010-09-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Had to share it everyone =) (slight pun intended)

A new version of "I love you" virus/worm called "Here you have" Virus came out of the underground on Thursday last week. All it does when ran is distribute itself using your addressbook. Many big corporations were hit, and antivirus software had to release an emergency updates.

Here are some details on the virus and how to detect it and clean it:

“Here you have” Virus – Details and Removal Methods (W32/VBMania@mm / W32.Imsolk.B@mm)

Antivirus vendors and the US-CERT have issued alerts of a worm spreading through email with the subject "Here you have" and being identified as the W32/VBMania@mm or “VBMania” worm by McAfee, W32.Imsolk.B@mm by Symantec, or simply the “here you have” virus.

The virus has been spreading primarily via email, asking recipients to click on a link masked as a PDF file that actually links to malware being hosted on an external server. In a sample, an emailed contained a link to “PDF_Document21_025542010_pdf.scr’” which directed users to malware hosted on the domain “members.multimania.co.uk.”

The virus had been spreading rapidly but researchers are saying that volume has dropped significantly once the site hosting the malware was shut down.

When a user clicks on the link, their computer instantly downloads and launches the malware. It then copies itself into the Windows directory using the name CSRSS.EXE, an identical file name to a legitimate Windows file, according to McAfee researchers.

Symantec warned that the worm also attempts to spread from computer to computer over local networks (other computers on a home or office network) by copying itself to shared drives on the network. Once the threat copies itself to another machine, if a user opens the folder that contains the threat, it will launch and start a whole new cycle.

Symantec suggests that IT managers disable network sharing and/or disconnect infected computers from the local network and Internet and block outbound traffic to the domains/ IP addresses contained in the malicious e-mail to prevent users connecting to distribution sites to download.

Symantec also noted that due to the large volume of messages being generated by the worm, some e-mail servers have getting "clogged" with some being brought down completely.

Responses and Details from Symantec and McAfee

Symantec’s Response: Identified as W32.Imsolk.B@mm worm, a minor variation of W32.Imsolk.A@mm

Risk Level 3: Moderate

Symantec users will be protected from this threat under the name ‘Trojan Horse’, if virus definitions version 20100909.023 or later are applied. Additionally, products that support Download Insight functionality will trigger on the attempted download. A forthcoming update will identify the malware under a more appropriate W32.Imsolk.B@mm detection name.

Symantec's W32.Imsolk.B@mm Removal Instructions

McAfee’s Response and Notes Identified as W32/VBMania@mm or “VBMania” worm

McAfee Corporate KnowledgeBase and Response to W32/VBMania@mm

McAfee Labs Blog on "Here You Have" Virus

DAT Updates - 6101 DAT Release

For systems that are already infected: McAfee has released a new version of their Stinger utility to detect and remove this threat. Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system.

For more information about Stinger, see: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Stinger can be downloaded DIRECTLY from the following URL: http://vil.nai.com/vil/vbm/stinger.exe

For McAfee Customers - McAfee TrustedSource is actively protecting against this threat. Customers with McAfee TrustedSource Email Reputation will have the emails blocked. Customers with McAfee TrustedSource Web Reputation will have the URL blocked from click-through. McAfee Artemis provides protection as well.

Static URLs in the email link to a .SCR file. McAfee recommends that customers filter for the URL on gateway and email servers, and block the creation of .SCR files on endpoint systems.

Sophos Profile - W32/Autorun-BHO

Barracuda Labs - "Here You Have" Teaches an Old Worm a New Trick

Trend Micro - Identified as WORM_MEYLME.B Old Malware Out of Its Shell (Blog Post with Details)

• Removing W32/VBMania@mm

• Removing W32.Imsolk.B@mm

• Removing “here you have” virus

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Smile =)

2010-08-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

Was sent to me this morning. Sometimes you just have to switch off from work and take a minute to smile. Some of you might have seen those before, but they will still put a smile on your face.
Hope none of you will find it offensive =)

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Building Links To Your Site

2010-08-10T01:33:00.000-07:00

Over the years there has been lots of discussion in the SEO community regarding building links to a web site.

Let's start with what we mean by inbound links, also called backlinks. These are links from other sites to your URL, which direct the surfer directly to your site when the link is clicked. The basic premise is that if you have high ranking sites linking to you, then you must yourself be important and have valuable content, and hence you should rank highly. The way in which Google ranks sites is called Pagerank and can be seen as a green line on the Google Toolbar representing ranks 0 to 10. As Google states:

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

So, back to the question "Does having inbound links to your site help your site's credibility", and hence visibility when searched. The broad answer to this question is "yes", but with a number of very important caveats which we will cover in the other sections.

OK, so backlinks are basically good, especially from high ranking sites, so how do we get them? The first way, and best way, is by having such great content on your site that all these high-powered sites want to link to you. Downside to this method is that it is slow and takes lots of time and effort on your part. But don't worry, when anyone tries to build a level playing field there are always people out there that will provide work-arounds.

The first one was reciprocal links, whereby you say that you will link to a site if they also link to you. That's stretching the original idea, but it's not too bad because how many of these sort of links are you going to set up? Well, actually, some people have created thousands of such links between sites, maybe not what Google initially intended!

But then, due to the emphasis Google placed on link popularity, the concept of link farms was born. These are sites that link to other sites purely to increase the links to the site. Pay a few dollars and get thousands of links to your site. Too good to be true - you bet. Google hates link farms and sees these links as spam and will actively penalise sites that use such links. So, the first rule of linking is do not use link farms. The second rule is do not use lots of reciprocal links, Google can easily check this and the "Jagger" update that is currently rolling out seems to be particularly focused on penalising sites with lots of reciprocal links. The jury is still out on whether "themed" links will be treated in the same way. "Themed" links are links to sites that are very closely aligned to the same primary topic as your own site. If you think about this, it makes a lot of sense and is much more likely to be based on real content-based linking.

If your site is one month old, it is hardly believable for it to gain 100 real backlinks in that time. So, the third rule of linking is to ensure your links build in a realistic way. In all of these ways, Google is trying to ensure fairness and that's why new sites are often held back in the results pages.

Finally, the sites that will improve your ranking - the Directories. There are many of these, but the most important is DMOZ, also known as the ODP. DMOZ is the Open Directory Project and is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors. It gets the name DMOZ from the acronym for Directory Mozilla, as it is administered by Netscape Communication Corporation. It's Pagerank is 9 and hence a link from DMOZ will help your site. We recommend that everyone visits http://dmoz.org and attempts to get listed, it's free. The Yahoo directory is also important and free for non-commercial sites, but $299 a year for business.

So, in summary, by far the best way of getting links is by having a quality site that other people want to link to. So again, we are back to content. If you provide quality information, over time, more and more sites will link to you, and if they are in the same business sector as you, so much the better.

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How To Make Ads That Get Response

2010-08-08T21:12:00.001-07:00

Here are several suggestions on how you can improve on your color printing ads to generate more response you could ever imagine:

1 – A free prize or gift will always get people to keep your ads. People are generally excited every time they see or hear the word ‘free’. That’s why having it written in your copy can do a world of good of making your print ads valuable to your target audience. And don’t just give the freebie immediately. Create a contest or a puzzle before they can get the prize. Keeping them occupied with your ad makes it easy for them to hold on to your material longer. The more chances for you to convince them of buying from you.

2 – Always remind your target readers of their issues and make sure that you position yourself in your color printing ad that you become the only solution to their problem. Post questions that they will have to answer with either a yes or a no.

3 – A donation to a charitable institution always convinces people that the act of buying from you makes them more generous and socially conscious.

4 – Testimonials, especially coming from a famous person, establish your credibility and quality. Include a picture as well as their actual statements and you’ll surely get people to try your product or service.

5 – Include anything that was written about you and your business. If it’s a good review, then the better. This would add value to your copy, as well as increase your credibility in your target readers’ eyes.

6 – Get personal by including a hand written letter or signature. This extra bit can increase your appeal to your target audience. You can do it on a piece of paper, scan the document, and then include it in your ad copy.

7 – List all the famous and popular people who actually benefited from your products and services, and then include the list in your marketing material. Their names would add glamour and credibility to your color print ad.

8 – A before and after design usually gets attention. If the benefits of your product or service can be saved in photos and pictures, then add that to your print ad. Make sure to highlight the ‘after’ when the problem was resolved after a client used your product or availed of your service.

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If It Seems Too Good To Be True, It Probably Is

2010-08-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

If a marketing campaign says one thing and you think it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.

Business owners and marketers know and understand the importance of an effective marketing campaign like advertising flyers for example. An effective marketing campaign can make or break the impression you create with your target clients. It is therefore crucial that you do everything in your power to develop a marketing campaign that your target clients would have a hard time to resist.

So what do you do to get your message out to your target clients? You get professionals and experts to help you create your advertising medium.

This is where business owners are often taken advantage of. Many business owners have been victims of scams in advertising because some people prey on them just because they’re so eager to advertise that they’ll believe everything they hear, even those that are too good to be true.

Guarantees and promises are given so quickly that business owners often find themselves at the end of every rip-off. Many would offer cheap marketing packages just so they could take advantage of the over eagerness of another businessman. Let’s face it. Business owners often fall prey to this kind of tricks because they clearly want to go out there and introduce their products and services.

Most scams are often made online. There’s the pay-per-click ad where viewers and browsers can click on a banner if they pay a certain amount to the developers. Actually, this advertising method is legitimate before it was used by unscrupulous hackers who turned it into a way for them to steal a lot of money from unsuspecting customers. What happens is that when you click on the banner, not only do you get to pay for the amount indicated in the website, but you also get to pay a higher amount because by clicking you actually increase the rate in the banner.

There are still many more scams used online. The point here is that many advertisers have paid a huge chunk of their budget just so they could avail of the promises that were never delivered. They pay for services that are not performed. Often, they were lured with big promises that they scramble to shell out their limited budget just so they can avail of the service.

The key is to avoid getting cheated of your hard earned money by doing a background check first before you agree to the service being offered. And always, always be wary of attractive promises. As I’ve said before, if you think it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

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How to Select Correct Keyword Phrases

2010-08-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

In order to get top ranking in major search engines, the basics are getting the best possible contents for the site and search engines will pick up well-edited websites and furnish them to surfers through their related keywords by means of sophisticated algorithm that generates rankings.

Therefore, targeted clients, keyword and keyword phrases that reflect what clients are looking for and what the company’s major products are should be well chosen before the actual construction of any website. These carefully selected keywords or keyword phrases should be strategically placed all over your website should you hope your site be ranked by search engines.

However, it is usually not easy enough to grab a few good keywords that will represent company’s products and services. The following methods are proven ways to catch a head start.

1. Start imitating what potential clients will think
Always try to thinks like you clients, if you were them will type of words will you use to locate your products. Business conversations and meeting memoirs are good records are good data where correct keywords may be filtered out.

2. Make good use of related catalogues
Company catalogues and adverting literatures should be studied for popular keywords that clients are familiar with in business transactions. Repeated product names are certainly the one you should pay special attention to.

3. Keep a watchful eye upon the competitors
Track your competitors’ websites that are ranking well. Make sure what kind of keywords they are making use of and use them in your site if necessary.

With the methods listed above, you should be able to work out some useful keywords.
But further attention ought to be in place as follows
1. Use different combinations of keywords through good blending of words in their single or plural forms, synonyms, short forms and even misspellings.

2. Use well targeted keywords instead of general keywords. Use the word “mouse” instead of "computer peripherals". Keywords too general will miss clients after all. In this case, more accurate and descriptive keywords such as optical mouse, wireless mouse or blue tooth mouse should be given enough consideration.

3. Avoid using single keyword. Single keyword carries the toughest competition and the least serious clients response. Search results will get blurred if single keywords are used.

4. Do not use keywords with copyright to avoid unnecessary legal accusations.

Keywords selection is the primary links of good search engine optimization. Time and experience are needed to study them fully.

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Are You Getting robbed On Google Adwords?

2010-08-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

After consulting with many people I've never seen so much confusion regarding how bids are determined by Google.
Some people believe that you pay what your Max Bid is and others believe that you pay 1 penny more than the person below pays.

Neither of those are actually true. It's rather a combination of those. This confusion has lead many to pay way to much for there bid position because they don't see the necessity in monitoring bids.

Let me give you an example:

Bidder 1: Max Bid is .55 but pays .51 per click.
Bidder 2: Max Bid is .50 but pays .21 per click.
Bidder 3: Max Bid is .20 but pays .06 per click.
Bidder 4: Max Bid is .05 but pays .02 per click.
Bidder 5: Max Bid is .01 and pays .01 per click.

Hopefully you are seeing a pattern here. The truth is that you actually pay only 1 penny more than the person below you's Maximum Bid.

But then why is it important to monitor bids you might ask if Google makes you only pay 1 cent more than the Max Bid of the person below you?

In the senario above the best value position is being in #2 because #2 is paying 30 cents less per click than bidder #1. The bid gap difference between position #2 and #3 is only 15 cents.

So you can have nearly as many clicks as position #1 for over half the cost. If you have 1,000 clicks position #1 is paying $510 and position #2 is paying only $210. You are saving over half which means increased profit margins for your company.

But here a bidder can use a dirty trick to raise how much you are paying per bid with a little known technique which I call Bumping!

Let's say you are Bidder 2 and you get used to paying 21 cents per click.

If Bidder 3 is savvy (and more and more bidders are) he could Bump up what you are paying.

He/She can increase their Max Bid to 49 cents, while still only paying 6 cents per click. All of the sudden you are paying over double per click than what you were paying before.

With Google being more and more competitive this is happening more frequently and is used to cause you to over pay for your clicks, put you out of business or drop your position, so that they can take over position #2 for a lower cost than what you are paying.

To avoid having this happen to you, you really need to monitor all of your bids to make sure that no one is robbing you. However, since everyone is always changing their bid prices over the many keywords you have, it is nearly impossible to keep up with monitoring this without a specific software...

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Adsense Alternatives For Your Blog

2010-07-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

Adsense Alternatives For Your Blog

Many people have started using Google's AdSense program to make cash on their blogs, but there are some who find it a bit too uncertain or simply not suiting their own requirements from an ad program.

But thankfully for such people, there are many alternatives to AdSense to help make you cash from your blog that attempt to alleviate some of the Adsense shortcomings. Here is a list of the most noteworthy ones from the lot with a description concerning each one.

adbrite (http://www.adbrite.com)
Great alternative to AdSense. Many useful feature like using your AdSense account's ads if adbright does not have any ads to show for your given keyword. Definitely worth checking

AllFeeds (http://www.allfeeds.com/?action=publishers)
AllFeeds has a great pool of online advertisers to choose from to place on your blog. It also features many display formats that you can choose from. These include banners, buttons, XML feeds, DHTML pop-ups and so on. It also features real time reporting of your ad status. The site will mail a check every month, provided that you earn more then $25.00, while rolling over earnings for the next month if you don't. Another interesting thing about AllFeeds is that it integrates with Google AdSense, maximizing your earnings with AdSense.

MarketBanker (http://www.marketbanker.com/mb/sell.php)
MarketBanker allows you the unique possibility to set the pricing for your blog. It also allows you to allow or reject any link that appears on your site (although AdSense itself does a very good job of this as well, with URL filters) There's also a statistics section which will allow you to see how well your site is doing. The ads are small just like AdSense's and they're just as easy to set up. Also, registration for MarketBanker is free.

BidClix ( http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html)
BidClix is different because it has advertisers compete for clicks on your blog, which in turn is meant to generate the highest possible profits for your blogs pages. It also has a very large pool of advertisers which ensure there are plenty of people to choose your site. However, it does require more polish on site contents then AdSense. As most sites, real time statistics are available and its very easy to get started with this service, but it's also very flexible.

Chitika (http://www.realcontext.com/index.php?option=RealContext:+Contextual+Targeting+Engine)
RealContext uses Artificial intelligence to retrieve the most relevant ads for your page. And there's an extra feature which makes RealContext unique as well. Keywords are selected based upon which previous selections paid off and which didn't. That means there's a constant feedback process that ensures you gain better revenue from your ads. It also supports blocking certain adds and child-safe filtering and many more options.

AdHearus (http://adhearus.com/webmaster.php)
AdHearus is a very feature-packed contextual ad provider. As with AdSense, advertisements are targeted but it doesn't stop here at all. The ads are very flexible, you can select from text-ads, banners, rectangles, pop-ups, pop-unders or skyscrapers. You can also display your own ads, through rotation, both on your site and on other affiliate sites, which makes AdHearus a hybrid with conventional advertising technologies. There's a very comprehensive on-line real time reporting feature and, as usual with such services, starting out is free and it's a breeze.

AffiliateSensor (http://www.affiliatesensor.com/)
AffiliateSensor has highly customizable ad blocks, which you can make for yourself with an easy to use on-line interface. You also get realtime reporting with clicks-by-domain, page and referrer. There's integration with Google AdSense as well, through the google_alternate_ad_url so AffiliateSensor can be used as a substitute for Google PSA's (Public Service Ads).

Kanoodle Bright Ads (http://www.kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool)
Kanoodle's offering allows publishers to get ads related to topics or segments, and not the traditional keyword oriented ads. The site also groups publisher sites with advertisers by hand to ensure high-revenue generating ads. And speaking of revenue, the amount of money you receive is a clear 50% share of the amount of money Kanoodle receives for an advertiser.

TargetPoint (http://publisher.targetpoint.com)
TargetPoint is oriented more towards content publishers. It offers full control over the look the ads, statistics over your site's overall performance and better revenue. It's free to register and you earn a guaranteed 60% of the total revenue. You can get paid with Paypal of Bank checks and (most times) wire transfers as well.

Clicksor (http://www.clicksor.com)
Clicksor will earn you as much as 60% from the amount of money your website produces. What you get is about the same as AdSense, there are targeted text ads, you can view the revenues from your website in real time. You can receive money via PayPal or through a check every two weeks, provided that you have earned more then $50. If you haven't made that much, your earning roll over to the next period

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Black & White - The Philosophies of SEO

2010-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Black & White - The Philosophies of SEO

Search engine optimization otherwise known as SEO is a popular form of search engine marketing. The main goal of which (as its name would suggest) is to improve the ranking of the site in various search engines. An entire industry of consultants has sprung up around the idea of search engine optimization. However, it’s important to note that there are two distinct and disparate methodologies at work when it comes to optimization.

In fact the SEO consultants themselves as well as their methods can be subdivided further into two different groups. The categories are best known as "white hat SEO" (which is aimed at improving overall site quality, and increasing the site’s ranking through approved methods), or "black hat SEO" (often use methods such as cloaking and spamdexing to increase rankings.

Using such methods can lead to your site to being removed from search engine listings). Those in the white hat camp charge that black hat methods are not only giving SEO a bad name but are also attempting to manipulate and undermine the search rankings. The black hatters counter that argument by saying that in truth all SEO is an attempt to manipulate rankings, and therefore the particular methods one uses to increase rankings are irrelevant. In other words they take the more Machiavellian approach of using the end results to justify the means they use.

So what more specifically are the methods being employed by the two camps?

White hat methods:

These methods typically involve following the search engines' published guidelines as to what is and what isn't acceptable. The advice typically given by the white hat SEO experts is to create more user-friendly content, and not focus so much on the search engines. That is if your site is well put together and presents something users need it will naturally climb in the rankings. Also by making content that is easily accessible to the search engines spiders it will be properly read and therefore properly indexed in the search engines. The white hatters are needed most often because a webmaster has made critical mistakes in either the design or the set-up of their websites, inadvertently "poisoning" them so that they will not rank well. The SEOs then attempt to discover and correct these mistakes, which may include unreadable menus, broken links, temporary redirects, or simply a poor navigation structure.

Here are a few examples of SEO activities which the search engines find acceptable:

• Using a reasonably-sized, accurate description meta tag without excessive use of keywords, exclamation marks or off topic terms.

• Optimizing tags, titles and other parts of the code as necessary

• Using WordTracker or a similar database to find popular and relevant keywords and phrases to use for your site.

• Monitoring the various search engines to ensure that your URL gets indexed

• Increasing the amount of unique content on the site.

• Writing quality content for the website visitors instead of the search engines.

Black hat methods:

Whereas the white hat methods follow search engine guidelines "Black hat" SEO methods to try to improve rankings by any means necessary. Most of these methods are disapproved of by the search engines, typically because of their deceptive nature, but also hamper the ability of the search engines to provide quality content to site visitors. Search engines often penalize the sites they discover using black hat methods, by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from the search engine results altogether. These penalties are usually applied automatically by the search engines' algorithms, because the Internet is too large to make manual policing of websites feasible. However once they are discovered, search engines may take action against those found to be using unethical SEO methods. Take for example Google’s removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany in February 2006 for use of these practices.
One common black hat method is known as Spamdexing. Spamdexing is the promotion of irrelevant, chiefly commercial, pages through various deceptive techniques and the abuse of the search algorithms. Unfortunately it often gets confused with white hat search engine optimization techniques, which do not involve deceit. Spamming involves getting websites more exposure than they deserve for their keywords, leading to unsatisfactory search results. Optimization involves getting websites the rank they deserve on the most targeted keywords, leading to satisfactory search experiences.

One example of spamdexing is link farming. Link farming can be basically defined as any group of web pages that all link to every other page in the group. Another common practice is listing popular keywords in fine print or in the same color as the background so they can’t be seen by users.

So how can you tell the difference between Black and White SEO practices?

A very easy way to distinguish between the two is though the amount of time involved in getting the desired results. White hat SEOs use methods that produce results slowly over time and only after a good deal of effort has been put into the site. Black hat SEOs offer you quick and easy results most, if not all, of which will obtained through deceptive practices.

You may also hear a term "Gray hat SEO" - a SEO techniques that take more risks than white hat SEO techniques but aren't likely to get your site banned from search engines (although a search engine penality could result). They're questionable SEO techniques but not in the same category as black hat SEO techniques. However, what's considered gray hat SEO today might be black hat SEO next year.

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8 Great Tips for Selecting A Professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Service

2010-07-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

8 Great Tips for Selecting A Professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Service

Search engine optimization is increasingly being accepted as a powerful and critical component of the marketing plan. With the costs involved in other forms of online marketing growing significantly, it has become almost a necessity for companies to include SEO in their overall marketing mix.

It’s thus no surprise to know that professional SEO today is big business and this industry is growing at a fast pace. There are however many different types of SEO firms out there and finding a reliable service can be a daunting task.

Search engine optimization firms employ varying methods to get high rankings for websites and not all of these techniques are considered ethical. With the increasing number of ‘black hat’ SEO firms (companies using unethical and unfair methods and techniques to manipulate search engines), and the thin line between actual ‘black hat’ and ‘white hat’ SEO practices, it is crucial to be well informed of the methodology the company plans to use for your website before you decide to hire them.

Here are 8 simple tips to help you in your evaluation and selection of a trustworthy and professional search engine optimization service:

1.Educate yourself with the basics
Make sure to do your homework carefully before you venture out to hire a SEO service. It’s imperative you understand in advance exactly what a firm can and will do for you to enable you to evaluate them. There are several resources online dedicated to search engine marketing and search engine optimization and taking the time to understand and learn the basics will go a long way.

2.Fee structures and your budget
There are no standardized fee structures and most companies offer a range of packages instead. A package may in itself contain a variety of services like keyword research, optimization of a certain number of pages, directory submissions etc. Selecting a company should not be only about cost. A firm that charges more may not necessarily be better at SEO and likewise a firm that charges less may not necessarily be providing you the same services. Use prudence while understanding pricing models and the risks behind them. One way to go about deciding what your budget should be is to first identify your website’s and business’ unique needs, tailor a package to meet these requirements and then compare firms’ pricing models to decide a realistic baseline budget.

3.Size and specialty of the firm
Depending on the size of your website and requirements of your company, it might be a good idea to check out whether the firm is adequately staffed and what their customer to SEO team ratio is.

Another important thing is to ensure that the company specializes in all areas of SEO and has a team of professionals experienced and accomplished in each of the areas including design, development and actual coding.

4.Location
The location of the firm largely depends on your comfort level. You may favor a local company or one at least within your country or prefer to outsource completely to another country to benefit from their lower costs. There are also few companies using a blended offshore delivery model with marketing and client services offices in one country and the actual design and development work being done in another. With the combination of lower costs plus client servicing available within reach, this upcoming balanced model may be a good option to consider.

5.Client testimonials and references
References are a great way to start and should be freely available. If they haven’t been provided, ask and make sure to use them to find out exactly how credible and trustworthy the company really is based on their past client’s experiences.

6.Guarantees
Most firms won’t guarantee top position results and shouldn’t. It is justifiable for a company to guarantee increasing your traffic or rankings from its current positions; however if any SEO service is guaranteeing you a specific position/ranking in any search engine, make sure you read the fine print of the agreement.

7.Ethics / Spam
Ethics is of paramount importance when it comes to selecting a search engine optimization company. There are a variety of unethical practices a firm can use right from while selling their services to you, to, the actual methods they employ while optimizing your site (keyword stuffing, cloaking, etc to name a few). Make sure to ask as many questions as possible and specifically about the methodology they use. If the firm does not offer you ready explanations of the process they undertake to optimize websites, you probably need to look elsewhere.

8.Reporting and success measurement
Some of the key questions to ask – How long will it take to see results? What type of reports will the SEO firm furnish and how often? How will success be measured? Will a maintenance plan be included?

It is largely up to you to define the goal and success level of your SEO campaign. It may be an increase in the traffic to your site, potential leads from a mailing list subscription, or an increase from last years sales. Make it a point to discuss and articulate your goals with the SEO firm and come to an agreement before you hire them. It is however important to set realistic expectations. Unlike PPC and other forms of paid advertising, SEO is a time consuming process, both in terms of implementation as well as results.

To conclude, hiring a SEO services firm can have a significant impact on your company’s bottom line, however the decision to partner with a particular SEO firm should only ensue after a careful evaluation of the firm and after you have done the groundwork necessary to help you decide your own goals for the program.

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5 SEO Tasks You Should Do Every Day

2010-07-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

5 SEO Tasks You Should Do Every Day
There are five simple tasks that you need to do daily to keep your site on top.
Here they are:

1. You need to start off by managing your links. This involves making sure that none of your current links are dead, and you should also check if there are any sites linking to you that you don’t know about. If your site consists of a large number of links you should make sure that they aren’t getting out of control and get rid of anything that is no longer relevant. Also make sure that your links are sufficiently labelled to reflect the page that they link to.

2. Re-order your links, putting the best ones first. And putting them into categories if you have a high number of links. If you have a links page with 25+ links it is a good idea to turn it into a directory of some sort. This can even help you in getting more links to your site in exchange for back links on the directory that you have created. Also check the sites that you link to and make sure that any back links that are due to you are still there as you don’t have much reason to keep a link if you aren’t getting the backlink that you deserve (if the back link was, indeed, negotiated when you placed the link onto your site).

3. Process link request emails. Whenever you receive requests for a link exchange, respond quickly. Not every mail you receive will be a good one, and you should make sure to check any site that wants you to link to it. If you are declining a link request let the web master know why. Perhaps you have an incite that they do not have. They may be able to fix a few things and then become excellent link partners in the future. It is common curtesy to inform the web master as to whether or not you are willing to exchange links within two or three days of receiving a request. Web masters will be even more impressed if you send them a personalized message regarding your approval or disapproval of the link exchange.

4. Check link exchange forums. This is a similar aspect to the above except that in this case it is more difficult to keep track of all of the people who can potentially request links from your site. There is a lot of spam on these sorts of things as well as many really terrible and useless sites. If you encounter such a site or forum member, inform them of your problem with what they are doing and report them to a moderator/administrator if they do not correct their behavior in a suitable manor. It is important that these kinds of forums be kept clean or a search engine may consider it a link farm more than an exchange service.

5. Finally, you should check each feature of your website, to make sure it’s still working properly. The dynamic content that you will probably include at some point must be delivered properly. Any messages that are generated on the fly must not be generated at misopportune times. The difference between a quality dynamic site and a subpar dynamic site is that in a quality dynamic site all content is delivered at the right time and everything seems static and planned out.

Take your time with your website and make sure that you do everything you can for it each day. Keep adding anything new that you find, because updating regularly will keep search engines coming back to spider more often. Updates are crucial and if you can follow the patterns here of insuring quality and precision, you will probably be able to come up with other ways that you can insure your visitors satisfaction and your increased traffic, link count, and search engine listings.

Never agree to link to someone’s site without asking for a link in exchange, unless they offer to pay you – even then, you should think twice. All your incoming and outgoing links need to be related to your site’s content for you to be ranked high in the search engines.

Basic Link Checks.

Some sites use robots.txt to stop search engines from indexing their links pages, in the mistaken belief that outbound links will count against them. To check, just retype their URL with robots.txt on the end (for example, http://www.website.com/robots.txt). If you see a page that says ‘Disallow’ and has the URL of their links page, then they’re not letting spiders index that page. Don’t exchange links with that site.

You should also check to see if the website is being ‘cloaked’, and report it to the search engines if it is. You don’t want to get involved with these people – better to have them banned and out of the way.

Does the site offering you a link have PageRank? Even if they do, you should look at how it drops between the front page and the links page. Be aware that new pages take a while to get ranked, so PR0 doesn’t necessarily mean a site that will never have any PageRank.

Take a look at how many links are on the page already. There shouldn’t be more than 20 links – if the site breaks this rule, don’t even consider it. Plenty of webmasters collect links, thinking they’re helping their rankings, but it just has the effect of making them look like link farms. Many of them don’t even involve linking to the big spam industries, like casinos and adult content. There’s no point in having a link from a site that takes links from just anyone.

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Writing Newsletters – Tricks of the Trade

2010-07-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

Follow 10 simple rules of thumb, and you’ll soon be writing great newsletters and reaping the rewards.

Company newsletters can be an amazingly successful marketing technique. Whether you want to up-sell or cross-sell, establish your brand or establish your authority, or simply reach a wider market, a newsletter can do the job for you. You just have to make sure you write it right.

Television, radio, and print advertising are often too expensive for many businesses to justify – especially small businesses. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Today’s internet and email technologies make company newsletters a very inexpensive, yet surprisingly effective, form of advertising. When it comes to newsletters, big companies and small are finally competing on a level playing field.

So what is an email newsletter?
An emailed newsletter serves much the same purpose as a traditional company newsletter. Think of it as a short newspaper – but instead of relating to a town, city or country, it relates to your business. You can include articles on new products or services, awards, recent success stories and case studies, promotions, specials, share price rises, company events, research… And if it’s a quiet month, you can simply write articles that might help your customers out.

10 Steps to Success
Follow 10 simple rules of thumb, and you’ll soon be writing great newsletters and reaping the rewards…

1) Keep It New! Your readers won’t waste time reading something they already know, so make it news they can use.

2) Keep it personal: Always use your reader’s name. Make sure when someone signs up, you get their name, then use it in the subject line, in the greeting, and anywhere else you can.

3) Know your reader: Find out what your reader is interested in. Do some pro-active research, invite response, or find an email marketing solution such as Ezemail** that tracks the links your readers click on and keeps a history of their activity.

4) Let them know you: Let your personality shine through. Readers are far more likely to become loyal if they feel they know you. Always include a bit of you in the newsletter, whether it’s humour, personal details, personal anecdotes, or personal views.

5) Subject is Headline: The subject line of an email newsletter is like a front-page headline in a newspaper. You need to draw the reader in, so make it engaging and relevant (maybe promise a benefit) but no more than 25 characters so your reader can see it all before opening the email.

6) Use a Title bar: Make the most of the title bar to add visual appeal and establish brand awareness.

7) Make it ‘scannable’: Most people don’t read online – they scan. Make sure you use easy-to-read bullet points and sub-headings. Don’t lose your reader’s attention. Reading is physically more difficult online, so make sure you’re concise. Use links to other places instead of writing long articles.

8) Use White space!: If your page is too busy, you’ll lose your reader. Give them a chance to absorb valuable information by dedicating about 30% of your screen real estate to white space.

9) Easy unsubscribe: Make your unsubscribe easy to find. If it’s obvious, they’ll feel safe and can then appreciate the content. To many people, the ease of unsubscribing is an indicator of the integrity of your company.

10) Forward to a friend: Include a link to encourage readers to forward the newsletter on to their friends and colleagues. Find an email marketing solution which allows you to do this and sit back and watch your database grow!

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Why is it necessary to keep track of your article back links

2010-07-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

Why is it necessary to keep track of your article back links

You heard writing articles is a great way to drive traffic to your site. So you have written several articles and posted them to dozens of article sites. Then you sit back and wait for the avalanche of traffic. And wait. Nothing is happening. What’s the deal?

The deal is depending on where your article gets republished your links may not be “live”. Writing articles and posting them is a great way to drive traffic to your site. Search engines love it and if done correctly it will help drive new visitors to your site and get you listed higher in the search engines. The problem comes when article writers and authors and publishers don’t all follow the same rules.

The main problems are:

1. Original article not formatted correctly
2. Article copied and pasted into new webpage without links
3. New publisher doesn’t make links live

Let us start with #1 “Original article not formatted correctly”. Not all article sites are the same. On some sites you can simply put in plain text and it will format it correctly, paragraphs will be correct and it will recognize http://www.yoursite.com as a live link. Some sites you may need to format it all in html. Sometimes the easiest way to do that is type your article in a web design program such as “Dreamweaver” and then view the source and copy and paste the code. If you don’t have access to such a program then you should learn a few basic html tags:

View the source of this page to see the html tags.
 
This is a “break” tag, The break tag is used when you want to end a line, but don't want to start a new paragraph. The break tag forces a line break wherever you place it, a very common tag and one that is recognized by most all article sites.

Bold anything you want in bold should go between these tags
Some bold text or Some bold text

italic anything you want in italic should go between these tags
Some text in italic

http://www.yoursite.com--some sites will recognize this as a live link. Many will not! This is where you are going to lose your links! If your article is copied and pasted into another web page or ezine your link will not be clickable. Someone who really wants to go to your webpage can copy and paste it into their browser but it is alot easier if someone can just click on it! If it is not a clickable live link search engines will not follow it not matter how many times it is republished. Imangine your article being reprinted 1000 times, a potential of 1000 back links to your site but without it being a clickable link you won’t reap the benefits of those 1000 links. Your links to your sites should always be formatted this way:

YourWebSite

If you follow the correct html formating for links your website links will always be clickable. To learn more about html tags search google for "html tags"

2. Article copied and pasted into new webpage without links. Your article may be correctly formatted on the article site you posted to but when it is copied and pasted into a new webpage or ezine it may lose some of its formatting. Some of the better sites have a choice of “ezine ready”, this will display your article in the correct html formatting which makes it easier to copy and paste.

3. New publisher doesn’t make links live. All article sites have a policy that clearly states “you are free to republish the article as long as the links and author bio stays with the article” Some don’t realize your links are no longer live or don’t know to make them live. Others leave them off all together or don’t make them live on purpose. Not much you can do except write to the website owner and request they make them live. Some will comply, some won’t. Chalk it up to the cost of doing business. For every site that doesn’t make your links live, 10 will.

Keep publishing! Writing articles and posting them across the internet is still a great way to drive traffic to your site. Content is king and website owners, and ezine publishers are hungry for fresh new original content.

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Are You At Risk Of Web Content Chaos?

2010-07-02T05:47:00.001-07:00

RSS, Newsletter, Blog, Website... With so many places you can publish your web content to, how do you choose, especially when articles and time to publish them is limited. Besides, why should you publish your content in so many different formats? If you've been doing business online for any amount of time you know that building a list is integral to success. Regular website content brings search engine robots back. So do blogs. Blogs also help build your expert status and RSS is the new way for people to subscribe to your content without giving out their email address – among other things.

Ok, so you know it's all good and they will help build your business, but how can you do several or all without piling more work on your already full to do list? It's really quite simple.

Instead of publishing your newsletter entirely by email, publish it to a content management system or blog that will automatically create an RSS feed each time you update it. Your next step is to put that RSS feed into your mailing list manager*. Create a signup box as you would a regular newsletter and put it on your website or blog in a prominent area together with the RSS feed. It probably won't take more than a few minutes if you already have everything at hand.

From now on, people can choose to subscribe to your newsletter by RSS or email and every time you publish the newsletter to your website or blog, RSS subscribers will see that you have new content and people who opt-in for email will receive an email notice. To top it all off, the content is also archived online permanently and all you did was type and publish one time.

You know the amazing part is, that's not all. You can syndicate your newsletter for more exposure. Contact a few webmasters and ask them if they'd like free, automatically updating content on their websites. Create the codes for them so it's super easy for them to add you. When they do, the next time you publish your newsletter, their website gets updated immediately. If anyone wants to read more of your content, they would be brought to your site.

RSS is truly an exciting technology. Not only does it open many doors for you to share your content, it can also help you work smarter by cutting down your work as you read above. There's no reason why you shouldn't have an RSS feed today and if you already have one, it's time you should milk your RSS feed for all it's worth.

*Note: Not all mailing list managers can take your RSS feed and convert it into email updates.

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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Email

2010-07-02T05:47:00.000-07:00

With the growing popularity of the Internet more and more people are communicating via email. This fast and efficient method of communication is perhaps the preferred method of online communication at the present with thousands upon thousands of emails being sent each day. The many uses of email are what make it so appealing and so versatile. Whether you are sending a greeting to a grandparent or sending files to a coworker, you can easily utilize email to do so.

Email has come quite a long way since its introduction, yet it is still used for many of the same reasons. Basic electronic communication has essentially evolved into a more resourceful tool as one has the ability to do much more now then they once could. Along with the usual sending of files and text messages through email, one can send greeting cards, manage their emails by assigning them to folders or classifying them as junk and even organize and manage their daily tasks on some email servers.

This wonderful tool is not without its downside however. Some people choose to send worms and viruses via email and in the process infect and damage quite a lot of computers. A virus email can often be very difficult to detect, especially to someone with very little knowledge of computer viruses and how they work. If you notice that you have an anonymous email or an email with a name foreign to you then you may not want to open this email as may likely be a viruses and the mere act of opening the email makes your computer susceptible to infection.

Along with the abovementioned problems privacy has also become an issue with email activity. Virtually every email that you send has to go through a number of computers before it reaches the inbox of the intended receiver and along the way there exists a distinct possibility that an individual could hack into your email and read it. Thus it is imperative that you have a bullet proof password.

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How To Build A Funny Videos Website

2010-07-01T02:32:00.001-07:00

Before, there were only comic books and video tapes that people brooded over to have a good laugh, but today there are so many websites available for the same. These websites are filled with funny crazy pictures, funny video clips and allow the user to surf through and watch any video they wish to. They can either watch the top rated ones or specify a search keyword and look for that one particular video. However, building a funny video website is not as easy as it seems. If an individual wants to create a website, they need to go through a rigorous process. And so, you can imagine the amount of details involved for a company to launch a website. Their main content would be based on humor and interactive flash games only.

Once a company decided to get into the funny video website category, they will need to assess the other websites already existing in the market and what they can offer that isn’t already there. As they discuss these issues with their team, they will also have to touch base with a good web hosting company to figure out if they can use their domain for the upcoming website. A funny videos website consumes a lot of bandwidth, so a dedicated server is usually required for hosting. The one thing to keep in mind is that every step of the way takes a lot of effort, so one must have a clear cut budget before delving into this pool.

A website needs bright appealing colors, simple easy to use layout and most importantly content that will catch the eye of the person browsing through the site. If they find it interesting, they will stop and spend couple of more minutes, else will move on to other websites. A good PHP or ASP programmer can do the customized coding and put in all the necessary links, but it is difficult to find someone who will understand your needs and create a site that satisfies your dreams. The funny images and videos that you put in your site should be unique and be humorous. Some also have the html code for the video to be embedded in other websites, like MySpace or Blogs. This will help your site stand out among the crowd and get people to notice it. Finding interested people to contribute to the funny crazy pictures, flash animation videos will take time for a start up venture.

Will there be categories to sort the videos into? For example, if a person wants to upload videos about his dogs, will your sites have a category labeled “Dog Videos”? This will come in handy when a new visitor is looking for funny videos related to dogs. This makes it easier for them to navigate through your site and find what interests them, making them stick around longer to browse the other features on your site.

Some of the crazy pictures and funny video clips on other sites have the option for the viewer to rate the video, and post a comment. These are added features that allow the user to feel important making them come back to the site. The company should therefore think through their plan and get their facts together before putting their site out to the public. And if it is not interesting, or the pictures aren’t funny enough, you will have lost a prospective member. It is therefore advisable for the company to spend time in doing their research to try and come up with an idea to outdo the other funny video websites.

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10 Ways To Increase Your Blog’s Pageviews

2010-07-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

10 Ways To Increase Your Blog’s Pageviews

With Google Adsense or Yahoo Publisher, having people click onto more pages helps your revenue immensely, but how do you get them to read more than one page when they visit your website? Here are a few tips.

1. Create pages within the blog that contain reference material you refer to often in your posts. These static pages will also get crawled and indexed by the search engines and as you write posts about your topics you can refer people to these static pages as references to what you are posting about.

2. Use articles as static pages. You can reprint articles on any topic for free by visiting one of the many article directories like http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit/ Then refer people to read the articles that relate to the post you are making. You could even add one article as a new page every time you make a post.

3. Refer to other posts you have made on your blog or on another one of your blogs while posting. This gets the reader to click over to previous posts. You can even decide your posts by browsing previous posts and deciding which one to follow up on. Those archives are not to be lost and forgotten. Its great material, (you wrote it right?), so use it.

4. Create a page that links to your favorite posts that are timeless. You browse your old posts, find posts that you want readers to find easily, then build a links page with those posts directly linked. Then add a link to that page from your front page. Call it favorite posts or whatever and you will benefit by those that click through and follow those links.

5. I've posted here before about the "more" tag. You write your post as normal, then decide where you want to break the post up onto a new page. You put the more tag in and readers have to click to a new page to read the rest of the story.

6. Write once per week special projects. These are a series of articles on a particular topic. You will be offering it once per week giving readers a week to comment on it, then have them hanging on for next weeks special post in the series. Each time add links to previous posts in that series.

7. Using your content from your other websites or blogs is also a great way to get more pageviews for all of them. Use the target new tag and refer to material on your other blogs and websites. It will open a new window leaving the current blog open while they visit your other website or blog. You can quickly double up your pageviews while also introducing your readers to your other websites and blogs.

8. Make a list of 10 previous posts and the links to those posts. Make a post in your blog about 10 things you want your readers to know and read in case they have not done so before. At your suggestion they will at least go see if they have read those posts before, increasing your pageviews once again plus bringing old material to new readers. That also lets them know they should browse the archives for things they have missed.

9. Using that same list of 10 posts or a new one, visit other blogs on your topic. Find posts that talk about something similar to one of those 10 posts, then instead of adding a link in your signature to the home page, make a comment there and refer to the post that is similar and that contains helpful information to that blogger and their readers. You will also be increasing your link popularity while doing this. Do not spam the link. Make sure it actually contains useful information. Don’t be trolls or spammers and you will end up with new readers and more page views for your blog.

10. Do not stop being creative. Use the tips in this article, plus invent some of your own ways to interlink your blogposts together. Create pages. Don't just post and forget. That content is valuable, use it. Do not make people search your blog. They are lazy and busy. Bring it to them. That is just good customer service.

I hope this article helps you learn there is more to blogging than just writing a post once in awhile or even daily. If you employ the tips I just gave you into your blog I guarantee you will increase your pageviews which in turn will increase your revenue if using an ad program in your blog.

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Getting Started With Videoblogging And Get Traffic Fast!

2010-07-01T02:31:00.002-07:00

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

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How To Get A Good Rank On Google - Tips You Want To Know

2010-07-01T02:31:00.001-07:00

How To Get A Good Rank On Google - Tips You Want To Know

For most website owners, few things are more important than getting a good rank on Google. Why? It’s simply the best way to get new visitors—and customers—to your site. If you’re buried on page 40, you aren’t as likely to get the traffic you want.

So the first thing that you want to do to see that you get a good page ranking on Google is to be sure your site is set up correctly. This involves setting up your pages with the correct meta tag and such so that the web crawlers and spiders can find you!

Another important aspect of getting a good rank on Google is to link your site to other high-profile sites. The spiders like sites that are well connected, but you don’t want to link to just any sites out there. You want to choose sites that are related in some way to your business or service and are sites that are also highly ranked on Google.

The number of pages your site has is also another important part of getting a good Google ranking. Opinions vary as to just what constitutes an appropriate number of pages to attract the spiders, but it’s safe to say that the more pages you have, the more opportunities there are for you to be found. So start with twenty or so and add to them as you can.

You will also want to submit your website to the Open Directory Project. Google tends to favor websites that are listed here. Make sure to have your most important keywords in both the description and title. It’s generally considered best to submit your index page, then others if you can. Don’t fall prey to the desire to over submit your website information, as you can be penalized for this.

Finally, and perhaps most important, remember that content rules when it comes to both Google ranking and returning visitors. You want your website content to be informative and keyword enriched.

Using keywords in your content often is another way to increase the chances that the web spiders find you. You want to be sure to at least have your keyword in the title and first sentence. After that, you want to see that the main keyword, along with similar variations are included in the text.

Be careful, though, not to go too heavy on the keywords. Google can penalize you for this as well. Plus, keyword stuffed content often doesn’t make good reading for your visitors and can turn them off completely. You want your content to be both reader and spider friendly.

To make sure you have your web pages optimized, you will want to read as much as you can about the use of keywords. If you’re not a writer or the keyword density rules give you a headache, you can hire a freelance writer to do the writing for you.

Elance, Guru and Rent-a-coder are good sites to find writers who routinely do keyword article writing and for good rates. Leaving the writing to someone else gives you time to do what you want to do—concentrate on run.

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10 Tips to Get More Comments for your Blog

2010-07-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

10 Tips to Get More Comments for your Blog

Had a comment yesterday, asking why a blog only has a small number of comments left even though the content is great? So, to reply to this, I prepared 10 Tips to Get More Comments for your Blog.

Did you know that there was a study done to work out how many people actually leave comments on community websites? Jakob Nielsen's study finds that 90% of online community users only read or observe without contributing, with only 9% of users contributing "a little" and 1% actively contributing.

So, at best, you only going to get 1% of your blog’s users to actively comment on your blog and the rest are (at best) just occasional contributers.

Here are 10 Tips to Get More Comments for your Blog. Just remember what has been said above.

1. Invite Comments
If you invite comments, than people leave them in higher numbers than when you don't. To some extent this is confusing, as most of blog readers know that they can leave comments on any post – but I guess inviting a comment triggers a response to some extent. Also keep in mind that new readers that are unfamiliar with blogging don't always know about comments or how to use them – invitations to participate in well laid out and easy to use comments systems are good for helping them participate.

2. Ask Questions
Including specific questions in posts will definitely help to get higher numbers of comments. When questions are included in headings, it is a particularly effective way of getting a response from readers as you set a question in their mind from the first moments of your post.

3. Be Open Ended
If you say everything there is to say on a topic, you're less likely to get others adding their opinions because you have covered what they might have added. While you don't want to purposely leave too many things unsaid, there is an art to writing open ended posts that leaves room for your readers to be experts also.

4. Interact with comments left
If you're not willing to use your own comments section why would your readers? If someone leaves a comment interact with them. This gets harder as your blog grows but it's particularly important in the early days of your blog as it shows your readers that their comments are valued, it creates a culture of interactivity and gives the impression to other readers that your comments section is an active place that you as the blogger value. As the activity in your comments section grows you may find you need to be slightly less active in it as readers will start to take over on answering questions and creating community – however don't completely ignore your comment threads.

5. Set Boundaries
If you set the rules for your comments section (with a comments policy) then your comment numbers might jump up a little. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence or whether readers responded to knowing what was and wasn't acceptable. A well managed and moderated comments section that is free of spam and that deals well with people stepping out of line, is an attractive thing to readers. People might comment on each other's comments, which is great! But if you sense things are getting a little out of hand and too personal it's best to step in to attempt to bring some order to the situation. Usually people respond well to this and comment threads generally stay constructive as a result.

6. Be humble
Readers respond very well to posts that show your own weaknesses, failings and the gaps in your own knowledge, rather than those posts where you come across as knowing everything there is to know on a topic. People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than a post written in a tone of someone who might harshly respond to their comments.

7. Be gracious
Related to humility is grace. There are times where you as the blogger will get something wrong in your posts. It might be spelling or grammar, it could be the root cause of your argument or some other aspect of your blogging. When a someone leaves a comment that shows your failing it's very easy to respond harshly in a defensive manner. We've all seen the flaming that can ensue. While it's not easy – a graceful approach to comments where you admit where you are wrong and others is right can bring out the lurkers and make them feel a little safer in leaving comments.

8. Be controversial
This one doesn't always work (avoid it as much as you can) – but there's nothing like controversy to get people commenting on your blog. Of course with controversy comes other consequences – one of which is the risk of putting off less vocal members of your readership.

9. "Reward" Comments
There are many ways of acknowledging and "rewarding" good comments that range from simply including a "good comment" remark through to highlighting them in other posts that you write. Drawing attention to your readers who use comments well, affirms them, but also draws attention of other readers to good use of your comments section.

10. Make it Easy to Comment
People leave a lot of comments on a lot of blogs each week – but there is one situation where most of them rarely leave a comment – even if the post deserves it – blogs that require people to login before making a comment. Maybe they are lazy or maybe there's something inside people's minds that worries about giving out their personal details – but when they see comments section that requires registration, almost always people leave the blog without leaving the comment that they want to make. Registration is a hurdle you put in front of your readers that some will be willing to leap but that others will not. Keep your comments section as simple and as easy to use as possible.

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Blog design - Breaking Down And Analyzing Your Design

2010-07-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Breaking Down And Analyzing Your Design

What a graphic designer usually does is to mix all the basic ingredients to reflect a particular mood or style in any color printing ad they create. The fonts, the graphic images, the design as well as the color – all of these elements are combined to come up with an ad that would definitely get your target readers’ attention.

And it all boils down to what your readers feel and say about your ad. It’s all about their reaction and impression on the style you chose for your ad, as well as the way you conveyed your message to them.

That’s your design palette – where you mix altogether your elements to draw your readers into your ad. It may be the subtle type where your readers are drawn to your design with no effort at all. The design is so simple and subtle that your readers won’t even realize that they’re into your ad already. The other one, the more aggressive type, is more obvious, as the design usually directs your attention to the key message. There’s nothing to distract or confuse your readers from what is really important, which is your message.

If you choose to apply the more aggressive style in your design, first of all, you need to provide a typeface that is ‘clean, readable, and with quiet strength’ as another designer would suggest. This means that your choice of font does its job efficiently, and yet it doesn’t overshadow all the other elements in your ad. And remember that when you want to put a lot of information in your color printing campaign, be sure to include a distinctive typeface that is neutral as it easily packs your details in a small space without making it look busy and disorderly.

In terms of your colors, by putting a limit to your use would ensure that you provide subtleness to your design and draw your readers’ attention to the ideas and concepts that you would want to be emphasized. This is particularly true with your photographs. If you want to show a certain concept on that, you’re better off limiting your color use.

Your photos and images also provide your readers with the idea you would want to convey. Depending on different design factors such as layering, opacity, and transparency, you can make your images look more dramatic and striking.

The bottom line is that you include that extra attention to the details of your design. It doesn’t matter whether you want it subtle or straight-forward. What would make your ad effective are the features and factors you add in your size, color, in your choice of image and photos, and so forth.

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6 Tips on Proper E-mail Etiquette

2010-06-29T23:51:00.000-07:00

With the digital age upon us, personal contact is becoming less popular. everyday. Cellphones, e-mail, voice mail and blogs almost make actually seeing a person unnecessary.
The main problem with digital communication is, we tend to forget all about etiquette.
The internet is a world within itself, with that, there are certain guidelines that we should follow. The list I have compiled is not in any particular order.

1. Don't' assume everyone knows everything.
We are still very much in the infancy stage of the internet, that being said, everyday thousands of people surf the internet for the first time. That fact alone is astounding. It almost seems hard to believe that there are millions and millions of people that have never surfed the web or even checked their e-mail. That means, the obvious things that most people know about computers, is not known by everyone. I clearly remember when someone took the time to show me how to cut and paste, now I have cut and paste keys on my keyboard

2. Take time to read e-mails, if not interested unsubscribe
People spend good money to send you e-mail. We all know spam is a bad thing and as technology advances its days are truly numbered. The email that we subscribe to by requesting info, or by purchasing something should be welcome . Take the time to read their offer, you were interested at some point in what they had to say. If you are no longer interested, unsubscribe from their mailing list. Don't waste your time (or theirs) if you are not interested any longer.

3. Respond to e-mail and blog post as soon as possible.
People that are trying to get businesses started on the internet rely on other people for a lot of different things, if someone asks you a question, answer them quickly, they may be waiting for your reply to reply to someone else.

4. Kill them with kindness
In the digital world it is very easy to be misunderstood, without seeing facial expressions and other forms of communication in person, it is easy for someone to not realize you were making a joke or being sarcastic.

5. Don't forward e-mail with your whole mailing list on it.
When you receive those e-mails from someone with the jokes or inspirational stories, before you pass it on, copy and paste it in a new e-mail, so you are not sending all the e-mail addresses that are attached all over the internet. If that is to much work, don't forward it at all.

6. Check out offers
If an e-mail gets passed all your anti-spam software, read it. It is well documented that there are millions of bogus offers on the net, but there are also millions of legitimate ways to make money on the net. One of those legitimate offers that could be the key that opens the door to a world of financial freedom may be in your inbox right now.

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A Great Idea For a Blogging Web Site is No Longer Enough

2010-06-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

Whether you are starting up a new web site aimed at bloggers or whether you are looking to make your existing blogging site more distinctive, the key to building and maintaining a site that will capture the interest and attention of the blogging community is finding your niche. If you can fill a unique need in a way that no other web site does, you'll be able to build a lasting readership among web surfers. Once you have discovered a niche, you will still have a lot to do, but finding your place in the blogosphere is the place to begin.

Every great blogging web site starts with a great idea, and you can't build a successful site that will last without one. There are many great sites aimed at today's bloggers, and competition for the attention of this growing demographic is fierce. To make your blogging web site stand out from the pack, you will need to offer something that no other site is currently offering, or you will need to do the same thing that an already popular site does but in a more impressive or valuable way.

One way to discover an ideal model for your blogging web site is to look at the sites that have successfully captured a blogging audience already to determine if you can appropriate some of their strategies to help realize your vision. Of course, you will also need to add a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart from your competition. Many people agree that the web sites that do the best in today's market are the sites that have the most personality. The fiercely individual surfers who are bloggers are a demographic that responds especially strongly to personality, so consider how you can give your site a unique and attractive feeling by lending your own voice and sensibility to your site's design and content.

Once you have a great idea for your site, have pinpointed a special niche that you are well equipped to fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next step is figuring out how to get the word out to bloggers.
In the long run, a great idea just isn't enough to properly our blogging web site to success. You will need to draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to draw readers to your site. Once you hook a blogger, your great content will keep them coming back, but it is vital to get that first glance or your site won't have a chance to shine.

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