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Mermaid
Posted on | February 6, 2010 | No Comments
Mermaid image
Another show photo
Posted on | February 5, 2010 | No Comments
Phoenix and Michelle strutting their stuff in Cleveland. Pheonix took the win but the major broke that day.
Why iPhone Apps Can Drive Traffic to Your Site
Posted on | May 5, 2009 | No Comments
Applications for the Apple iPhone – often referred to as Apps – can help drive significantly more traffic to your web site in a number of ways. Here’s why:
1.) You can create apps that make it less difficult to use your web site on an iPhone. For example, PayPal offers an application that enables phone users to easily conduct transactions in their accounts. FedEx and USA Today provide similar programs. Read more
What are Twitter Hashtags?
Posted on | April 30, 2009 | No Comments
Twitter, a form of “micro blogging”, has become increasingly popular in recent months. It has been used by various celebrities and attracted media attention on multiple occasions. One noteworthy aspect of “twittering” is the Hashtag, which is usually preceded by a number/hash sign.
So what are hashtags and why are they important to the site’s users? According to pbwiki.com, they are a type of tag (or keyword) which can be placed within individual entries by putting a hash sign before any word. Words posted in this manner automatically become hashtags in Twitter.
A Twitter hashtag is sort of like a META Keyword tag on a web page, except that it is visible to anyone looking at the entry it applies to. Users can post hashtags in Twitter within a sentence, or at the end of their posts, as these two examples demonstrate:
1.) The #weather is cold here today, but it will probably be warmer tomorrow.
2.) Netherlands tourism expected to increase this spring. #Europe #Holland
Applying hashtags to relevant keywords makes it easier for readers to find specific entries about subjects they are interested in. Also, various related web sites use hashtags to generate statistics on the subjects people are “twittering” about.
However, if you plan on using hashtags in Twitter, it is best to follow these recommendations:
1.) Don’t use them excessively; people don’t want to read sentences with a hash/number sign before every other word.
2.) Only use words which are closely related to the content of your entries. Avoid hashtag words with multiple meanings.
It is also worth mentioning that each Twitter hashtag is clickable when it appears in the site’s search results; searchers can click on them and get a list of entries on the same subject. However, they are not clickable when viewed as part of a regular page.
7 Great Things About Google Suggest
Posted on | April 28, 2009 | No Comments
Even if you haven’t heard about Google Suggest, you may have seen it in action while typing a search query on Google. As you type, it displays suggested search phrases in a drop-down menu below the search box. Here are seven great things about using Google Suggest:
1.) It can make entering long search queries much faster; searchers may use the mouse pointer or down arrow key to select a desired suggestion, after only typing a few letters.
2.) Because its content is partially based upon other searchers’ queries, Google Suggest is great for learning about what sort of things people are searching for on the web.
3.) Google Suggest can be helpful for getting new writing ideas on a particular category you are interested in; just type in one or two words describing the subject.
4.) This Google feature is also great for helping you remember the names of places, songs, products, and other things that you can only recall a portion of.
5.) It lets users preview how many results there are for a particular word or phrase. The number of results is listed to the right of each suggested query (in no particular order).
6.) Additionally, this tool makes it easier to search for words you don’t know how to spell. Type the first few letters of the word, and there’s a good chance the rest will be suggested.
7.) Google Suggest pops up quickly and works under most major web browsers. It doesn’t require the installation of any extra software or new browser plug-ins.
If you prefer to use another search engine, it may have an equivalent to Google Suggest. Yahoo! has “Search Assist” and Ask.com offers “Search Suggestions”. These are quite similar, except that they don’t show the number of results alongside each suggestion.
How to SEO Your Site in Less than 60 Minutes
Posted on | April 23, 2009 | No Comments
Web site owners don’t need to spend a long time on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to see some results, although long-term efforts will certainly produce a much greater effect. Here’s how to SEO your site in less than 60 minutes:
1.) If one or more of your pages have the same title, change the titles to reflect the content of the individual pages. This is better for SEO because the search engines prefer pages with different names, and people are less likely to click on a search result if it has a generic title. Avoid using titles over 60 characters long.
2.) Add brief, descriptive “ALT text” tags to your site’s images. Internet users with text-only browsers (or browsers with images disabled) will see this text in place of graphics. It benefits SEO because search engines can use this text to interpret the subject of an image, giving them a better concept of the page’s content.
3.) Test each of the links on your site to make sure they still work. If any produce “The page cannot be displayed” errors, either replace, update, or remove them. This is good for SEO because some search engines will downgrade your site’s search ranking if it has too many outdated or incorrect links.
4.) If any of your pages contain information on more than one distinct subject, divide them into separate pages. For example, a page that lists and describes every product a company offers should instead be split into multiple product categories (unless all of the items are very similar).
These SEO tasks can be accomplished in less than 60 minutes for many web sites, although a large site will take longer. However, they do not address other important SEO issues like keyword density, META tags, link building, accessibility, and site maps.
Top 10 SEO Directories Your Site MUST Be Placed In
Posted on | April 21, 2009 | 2 Comments
Getting your website listed in web directories is an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Here are the top ten directories your site should be placed in to gain SEO benefits, in no particular order.:
1.) VLIB.org: The WWW Virtual Library was one of the first websites established in the early ’90s. The process of submitting a site is somewhat complex, but getting sites placed there is quite valuable.
2.) WebWorldIndex.com: A well-established SEO friendly directory with an impressive Alexa.com rank of 32,723. The “Submit Free” link is located near the bottom of each category page.
3.) DMEGS.com: Another one of the top directories, DMEGS.com requires a reciprocal link (or payment) to be listed. It also has a search engine with screenshots next to each listing.
4.) AplusDirectory.net: A+ Web Directory has a Google PageRank of five and allows free site submissions, with or without a reciprocal link. Unlike some directories, it has a fast, uncluttered design.
5.) TheFreeWebsiteDirectory.co.uk: This popular directory offers Featured, Express, and Free listings. The submission form is relatively short and there are a wide variety of categories available.
6.) DirectoryWorld.net: A fast, well-designed directory, DirectoryWorld requires reciprocal links from webmasters who request free listings. It only accepts English-language sites.
7.) AllTheWebsites.org: One of many directories with a Google PageRank of three, AllTheWebsites.org requires registration before users can submit a website to be placed in their index.
8.) NewWebDirectory.com: To submit a link to NewWebDirectory, find the appropriate category and click on “Add Basic Listing” at the top (unless you want to purchase a paid listing).
9.) Internet-Web-Directory.com: Being placed in this top directory is very good for SEO because it has a PageRank of five and it appears in the first page of Google results for Internet Directories.
10.) DMOZ.org: Although it can take a very long time for new listings to gain acceptance, getting placed in this directory is important for SEO; it also ensures placement in the Google Directory and Search.com results.
Each of these top directories has a Google PageRank (PR) of at least three and uses direct HTML links, making them useful for SEO purposes. They don’t require payment from sites placed in their indexes.
8 Link Building Tips for New Websites
Posted on | April 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
Link building is a crucial part of creating traffic for websites, new and old. It not only generates hits when people click on the links, but improves search result positioning as well. Here are some tips on link building for new websites:
I.) A common mistake is to start trying to acquire links on just any website. Link building is much more effective when linking occurs between two websites about the same (or similar) topics. For example: one of the greatest ways to increase Page Rank is by getting one-way links as opposed to reciprocal links. One of the best places to get these are through directories, but it is best to find relevant directories.
II.) Consider distributing a press release on the new site, especially if there is something newsworthy about it. Include a link at the end of the release and post it on press release distribution websites.
III.) Don’t submit new websites to directories until they are fully functional and ready to use. For interactive sites like forums or classifieds, wait until there is some user activity before doing this.
IV.) If you have the money, consider paying for inclusion in major directories like Yahoo! Directory. Gaining quality links of this type is especially valuable in boosting search engine rankings.
V.) Don’t make new links with spaced characters (like “N e w s”) or letters made up of characters (”\/\/”); search engines won’t interpret these words properly and the benefit to rankings will not be as great.
VI.) The most valuable links are on pages with a high Google PageRank (PR) or a lot of traffic. Use CheckPR.org to determine a site’s PR, and Quantcast.com for an approximate indication of its popularity.
VII.) While your site is new, concentrate on building links to the home page. Link the home page to other important pages and they will indirectly receive some of the benefits (search rankings, direct traffic).
VIII.) Finally, such websites can also accomplish link building by looking for relevant sites that have lists of related links. If the site’s webmaster offers an e-mail address to send link suggestions to, give it a try.
How to Link to a Specific Part of a YouTube Video
Posted on | April 14, 2009 | No Comments
Sometimes you may want to refer your web site or blog’s readers to a specific part of a YouTube video, but the video has several minutes of irrelevant material before the desired part. Fortunately, there’s now an easy solution to this problem. Here’s how to link to a specific part of a YouTube video:
1.) Locate the page you want to link to and copy its regular URL from your web browser.
2.) Play the video, finding the specific minute and second of the part you intend to link to.
3.) Append #t= to the end of the URL. Then add the number of minutes, an “m”, the number of seconds, and an “s”:
#t=3m28s
Here’s an example of a link URL to a specific part (two minutes, 41 seconds) of a Google webmaster tutorial on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6QRv_bCzEI#t=2m41s
It will start at two minutes, 41 seconds into the selected video and play to the end.
4.) Post the link as you normally would any other link.
Oddly enough, this linking technique works under Internet Explorer 7.0, but only links to the beginning of videos in Opera 9.24. Since this may also be a problem with other browsers, consider giving your readers a note about the time to skip to if it doesn’t happen automatically.
Some possible reasons for linking to specific parts of YouTube videos are to show someone making a specific statement, to skip over boring material at the beginning of a video, or to reference a specific step in a long how-to demonstration.
Basically, using this technique will save your web site or blog readers time and make your links more effective. It is simple and quick to apply to any YouTube video, doesn’t require any special coding, and may be accomplished using standard HTML linking methods.
Why Use Nofollow Tags On Your Site?
Posted on | March 24, 2009 | No Comments
The Nofollow HTML linking tag is used to prevent search engines from “following” a specific link to another web page or site. As a result, they don’t “crawl” the linked page or raise its position in search listings – both of which typically occur when the Nofollow tag is not applied. Inbound links are a major factor used in determining a site’s position in search results.
So why should you use the Nofollow tag on your site? Here are several potential reasons:
I.) Used when linking to an opponent or competitor’s web site, this tag prevents them from gaining a better ranking.
II.) Google’s guidelines call for using this tag with any link that has been exchanged or paid for.
III.) It may be used to control how search linking benefits (like PageRank) “flow” from one internal page to another.
Using the tag isn’t very difficult. The text rel=”nofollow” is added to the standard HTML linking code, between the URL and the link text. Here are several examples:
According to getelastic.com, it is also beneficial for search engine optimization to use nofollow links for internal pages that don’t need to have good search rankings, like the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Contact Us pages. This particularly applies if these areas don’t have links to other pages of the site in them.
Webmasters may also use the Nofollow tag to discourage “spam” comments on articles and blog entries. In theory, people won’t post comments with spam links if they aren’t going to receive any PageRank benefit from the links. However, not all “spammers” understand this tag’s effect, and some might post links only to gain immediate click traffic.
Nofollow can also be specified as part of the Robots META tag, if all links on the page shouldn’t be followed. Syntax is much the same as the similar “noindex” command. This technique should be used sparingly. Here is the HTML code for it:
Search engines (particularly Google) basically want non-Nofollow linking to only include voluntary links which were not directly created by the web site owner (unless internal). Some exceptions exist, like the Yahoo! Directory. Links are more likely to be perceived as involuntary if they link unrelated sites or have words like “sponsor” above them.
Generally, links with the Nofollow tag (attribute) will neither help nor hurt a web site’s position in search results. The same goes for the sites they are linked to. People who visit a web site won’t notice any difference when clicking links with or without this tag in their code.
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