The Most Overlooked Web 2.0 Marketing Strategies

Besides quality content and the number of back links coming into your site, there are other areas that the search engines look at. Here are some often overlooked areas that you can address to make your website more succesful.

1. Visitors Time on Site - The time that a visitor is on your site is something that Google considers and grades in their ranking criteria. If people click on your site then immediately click back out then that tells the search engine that your site is less valuable than a site that is sticky and keeps people on site.

2. Age of Your Site - It is a rather simple notion, the longer your site has been around the better it will rank. This means plan for the long term and stick around.

3. Registering Your Domain Name for Multiple Years – This really touches on the previous point, by registering your domain name for several years, this tells the search engines that you are going to be around for the long term.

4. ALT Text on Images - Every image on the page should have a tag and a brief description pertaining to the tag. By taking the time to describe your images your site will rank better.  

5. Increase Google Crawl in Analytics – by increasing the rate that Google crawls your site and by staying true to the crawl by regularly updating your site with fresh and original content you will increase your rankings.

Favicon: Every Site Should Have One

Short for “favorites icon”, a favicon sits inside your browser's location bar next to the web address. As most sites use their logo as a favicon, it is a good way to build trust and authority and will give your site a branded look and feel.

A favicon takes just a few minutes to set up and involves a snippet of code which is inserted into the heading of the page which references the favicon image file. One site even offers a free favicon maker which will generate the image and code for you in a matter of seconds.

Is DMOZ Eating Your Patience Away?

DMOZ, the opening directory project where you use to be able to get one of the most quality backlinks for a site,  has become painfully slow.   I have had client's sites in cue for a DMOZ listing for months now.  The site is human edited and that is what gives the site its credibility, but time is money.  I have found 2 other directories that offer a FREE listing for your site while you wait for DMOZ to get their act together.  These sites are:

1. Directory Vault 
   
2. Visit a Link 
   

How to Use Your Brain for Better Blogging

Here are some ways to use your brain so that you blog better:

1. Time = money. So don't waste time on fruitless entries. Learn to appreciate that your reader’s time is valuable. This means writing succinctly and getting to the point.

2. No matter what your audience size, you ought to write as if your readership consists of paid subscribers.

3. Don’t expect to be a success overnight. Life isn't here to hand you rewards. You must work for everything you get. That means, you must learn to write smarter versus harder.

Start with number 3, and work your way up. And remember:

"It's more about the journey than the destination"

What is an Avatar?

An avatar is a graphical depiction of a computer user. Avatars are seen on web forums, blogs, social networking pages and applications like Skype to create a sense of character for the user. Think of it as a graphical signature, calling card or user brand identity. Sometimes avatars will link to a user profile where more information can be found on the user such as a bio or a link to the user’s personal website.

Avatar’s can create a sense of personality for the user that otherwise may not be present without the aid of the avatar image. Avatars take all kinds of forms. The most popular types include cropped photograph of the user’s face and a 3d character cartoon image.

Introducing Yet Another New Cool Search Engine

MSE360 is posed to launch right out of beta obscurity and into your browser.  The brand spanking new search engine offers something unique and of high value for free.  In summary, here is what MSE360 is all about:

• A Unique 3 column layout for maximum efficiency when searching
• A real emphasis on user privacy
• A powerful spider, that indexes quality rather than quantity
• A meta-search engine
• A promise to listen to users and improve the engine

Go ahead and give it a go, then come back and tell me what you think.

How to Get Free Hosting for Your Website

I have had a secret weapon for several years now having launched numerous sites for clients and myself. And unless the client has something else in mind for their site, like their own server, I always suggest a certain provider. This web hosting provider is Doteasy.com.  
They were the first hosting service that I know of to offer the $0 Hosting Plan. The company launched this plan in the days of the Internet when most major hosting providers wanted a minimum of $19 a month to host a site.  To this day hosting providers like GoDaddy and Yahoo want a monthly hosting fee even for the tiniest of sites.  There are other providers out there that offer free hosting but at the expense of ugly banners and invasive looking ads.  Not this provider.   

Why would you pay for something that you can get elsewhere for free?

Here is the deal; you register your domain name for one of one of the lowest and most competitive prices around (something like $27 a year) with Doteasy and they automatically throw in:

• 100 MB Web Hosting Storage
• 1 GB Monthly Bandwidth
• 10 Email Accounts
• No Setup Fee, No Monthly Fee
• No Ad Banner
• Free Web Tools and Applications
• Free Phone / Email Support

Register the domain name for several years and a sliding scale will kick in.   With each year you will save additional dollars with your domain registration. The $0 hosting will always be there regardless of how many years you register your domain name.  If your site starts to do really well and you start going over your traffic quota, you can upgrade to a package that suits your new traffic needs.  Doteasy also offers industrial grade hosting that can be turned on once your site grows into it.

Here is a word to the wise with regards to registering a domain name - always register a domain name for the full 5 years. This is not a gimmick to get you to spend more money on your domain. This is a technique used in making your site look more established to the Google Spiders that be. Yes, even Google will profile your site as less legit if it is only registered for a year or two as opposed to five.

Now that you know where to get supercheap domain names with free hosting, make sure to send me a link to your site, so that I can see that you put this good advise to use.

The Secret to Internet Start-up Company Success

Every single day thousands of companies are born and launched over the Internet. Unfortunately for many of these companies their fate is sealed prematurely with a not so successful outcome. For many start-ups the reality is failure, die off and dormancy. Think about how many applications, widgets and fledgling newbies you have seen just this past year alone. Now just imagine how many more are out there that you didn’t see that flew past the radar un-detected and went into Internet obscurity.

The Internet as a channel of delivery can be fairly cruel to companies that don’t understand one very simple and very real concept. This concept is etched into every successful Internet company’s DNA. This trait is very transparent in giants like YouTube, Google, Skype, Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo. This trait is remarkably simple and yet so many choose to ignore it. Why do so many new companies refuse to accept this very easy and simple principle that makes complete logical sense to those of us that are enlightened with this concept?

Maybe they get impatient, greedy and want to score a quick buck. Maybe they are stubborn and want to employ outdated strategies.

I am not going to be one of those Bloggers that write a big hype making you read for paragraphs to find nothing. Some in the media world would refer to this as anticlimactic.

Before I reveal the secret though, it is important to remember one thing, never ever by any means practice this advise partially because it only works if you commit fully to it. This means no trials, no limited time...I think I may have just given the secret away. Alright, here it is – the secret advise to Internet success in full:

“Offer something of incredible high value and relevancy and offer it for free to everyone”.

I think that says it all. Good luck.

Why You Should Put Your URL on Everything?

Promoting offline is often an overlooked practice which if done properly can fetch you some quality direct traffic to your site. Think of your website as more than just a website. Think of it as a way to attract your offline audience, a gateway for outsiders to learn about your business, a connection point with your existing customers and a way to build your business through sales funnels.

Your url should be posted on everything. Post it on your:

• business cards,
  
• letterhead,
  
• outside signage,
  
• company vehicles,
• in-store signage,
  
• press releases;
• and anywhere else you promote your business.

Not only will you get quality direct traffic flowing into your site you will also cohesively build a brand, a reputation and legitimize your capabilities as a company that is capable of honing the internet as a channel of communication and ultimately commerce.

Video Time Interval Tagging

Give it sometime and some web application out there will do-it-better. That is what makes the internet a truly free market system where apps are always out-doing each other and bringing it to the end-user for free. Viddler’s video tagging now makes videos SEO friendly. By tagging your videos at time intervals - your videos will speak volumes to the search engines. Now that this technology is available I wouldn’t suggest doing it any other way. 

Your videos took time to produce - and if they are well produced they should be well indexed and searchable right to point where you say "Billie Jean" in your video.  This service is free for individual users.  I am not plugging Viddler and I have no affiliate code in the link - so rest assured this is just good advice. 

Google Chrome borrows from Opera

Browser got you down?  Don't fret because most likely there is another browser out there that has the same features that yours has and it is only one download away.

A good idea in the internet browser world usually will only last about one release.  Tabbed browsing first offered by FireFox is now enjoyed by virtually every browser on the market.  Speed Dial first offered by Opera has most recenty been adopted by the brand new Google Chrome.  

Have a great idea for your browser?  Give it some time and every other browser will have copied it.  Makes perfect sense though as users traditonally champion these features and that's what gravitates them to the browser in the first place.

Top Secret Phone Numbers: The Numbers Companies Don't Want You to Have

Here are the top 5 Phone Numbers that are merely impossible to locate. These companies go to great lengths to bury these numbers so you are forced to use their automated systems to resolve your issues. However, sometimes you just need to talk to a human being to resolve your issues. For your convenience I bring to you the Top 5 Numbers Companies don’t want you to have:

1. Amazon.com
- Customer Service: 866-216-1072
- Seller Support: 877-251-0696

2. Ebay.com
- Customer Service: 888-749-3229
- Customer Service 2nd line: 800-322-9266

3. Skype
- Customer Service: 866-446-0831

4. Yahoo.com
- Customer Service: 866-446-0831
- Tech Support: 866-458-8744

5. Google.com
- Switchboard: 650-253-0000

(Source: www.hardtofind800numbers.com)

How I Removed Antivirus XP 2008 for Free

The latest virus that is sweeping the internet is the Antivirus XP virus which masks it's self as a Virus Protection Suite which resembles Microsoft XP.  Within minutes Antivirus XP 2008 will attach its self to your desktop and install as a program.  Here is what I did to remove it:

1.  First I started Microsoft XP in Safe Mode (Hold F8 and select Safe Mode)
2.  Once your desktop loads in Safe Mode (you will know you are in safe mode because of the black background with Safe Mode stamped all around it).  

• Go to your Program files within your hard drive and delete the Antivirus XP folder which may disguise its self under a series of numbers and letters.  In my case the folder was called jp4236...  
• The folder should stick out like a sore thumb because no other program will name its folder so oddly.   
• Make sure to inspect the contents inside the folder and that the Antivirus XP is contained there.  You should notice an icon that resembles the icon that Antivirus XP places on your desktop.  In my case the icon resembled some bricks and labeled "antivir08".  Delete the entire folder.

3.  Now make sure to update your antivirus.  In my case I updated AVG Free 8 and ran a full scan.

4.  Then you need to remove the Malware that the virus is using to hijack Google and Yahoo searches within your browser.  Go and download malware bytes.  I recommend going to download.com because the virus will hijack your attempts of visiting the site through Google or even sometimes directly.  Make sure to verify that the program that you are downloading is legit.  This is very important as you don't want to download or re-download another virus.

5.  Then you may want to download Spybot Search and Destroy to be extra safe that you are removing every trace of the virus.  Again use download.com to verify that you are downloading a legit copy of Spybot.  After downloading Spybot run a full scan.  Never run multiple programs and scans at the same time.  Usually after each scan you will need to re-start your computer.  You will not have to continually re-start in safe mode after deleting the files from your program directory.

6.  These above steps should remove all traces of the virus.  You should now have full control over customizing your desktop back to its original state including removing the Antivirus XP icons and image that is on your desktop.

Allot vs. A Lot

When writing and editing your blog grammatical mistakes will sometimes arise. Although in marketing rules are meant to be broken – rules in grammar must be obeyed. The trick is to catch these mistakes before someone else does. The use of “allot” vs “a lot”is a common mistake often found in blogs, web articles and forum entries.

1. Allot is a verb that means to distribute, to assign a portion, or to divide.

Example: He allotted himself 20 minutes to complete his blog entry.
Example 2: They allotted 30 GB of server space to each account during the site upgrade.

2. A lot (two words) is an informal phrase meaning a large portion or large quantity of something. According to style guides and English rule books it is proper to use “a lot” when describing non-countable quantities such as sand, water, ice, or time. The word “many” should be used when describing countable items such as hours, people, or items.

Example: A lot of time has passed since I first started this blog entry.
Example 2: I don’t have a lot of time to finish this blog entry.

3. Alot is not even a word in the English language and therefore should not to be used.

Backlink Counter: The Quickest Way to Count Links Pointing to Your Site

Do you want to know how many backlinks are pointing  to your site?  

With Yahoo's site explorer you can simply type in your url name and have it automatically fetch the links coming into your site.  It is quick and easy and if you are not up for creating a Google Analytics account it can be a real time saver.