Web Talk

SEO Placement firms - Beware Geeks Bearing Gifts...

2010-02-11T19:45:00Z

I just recieved this in an email:

Do you want the top placement in all the major search engines? If you are interested, allow us
in your reply and we'll do a complimentary no charge site assessment with no strings.

It seems like a reasonable, no risk offer. However, another email I received this week said

To heck with Google Adwords, I don't need them anymore and neither do you.

And another said:

Over the past few weeks the self-riotous eggheads at Google adwords have banned the

accounts of over 15,000 direct marketers Banned for life! Some of the most straight
up marketers I know. No reasoning, nothing. Just an email saying go away.

Do you see a pattern here? I do. I see that many so called "SEO Experts" are getting their come-uppance for using unethical "black hat" SEO techniques. Long story short - crime doesn't pay (... eventually.) They promised that you'd be at the top of major search engines quickly (within days or weeks.) And they were right... up until the point where they were busted. Now they have been black listed and can't get on Google at all. And if you put your site in their hands, neither can you.

I don't have a problem with the fact that Google (and other major search engines) are finally cracking down on companies that use these unethical SEO techniques. The problem I have is that people who fell for their "put you in the top of major search engines quickly" schemes are now also suffering the wrath of Google. If you have a site that is now "Banned for Life" from major search engines then your website is in some serious doo doo, my friend. Enjoy the immediate SEO results you had, because they are now gone forever and your domain name is now "banned for life". For you, the only solution may be to start over with a new site and domain name.

The lesson: Legitimate search engine optimization (SEO) takes time. It may be months or even years to climb to the top of search engine results and constant effort must be made to keep you there. There is no (legitimate) short cut. Anyone who says they can put you at the top of major search engines in less than three months is probably using techniques that will get them banned, just like these so-called 'straight up marketers'.

Have you been banned? You can check here to see of your website has been banned by Google.

And if you are still looking for legitimate search engine optimization (SEO) for your website, there are legitimate companies who do excellent work and who follow the rules. You'll know them by the promises they make. Particularly, they will tell you that SEO is an ongoing process. Changes to your website may only take a short time to make, but the responses by search engines will NOT happen in a matter of weeks. A more realistic expectation would be that major search engines will respond to your site in 3 or more months (brand new sites will take longer, even up to a year.)

Another misunderstood part of SEO is the promotion of your site through links, ads, articles, blogs and social networking, which NEVER STOPS. That's correct... you NEVER STOP promoting your website, whether you do it yourself or pay a company to do it for you, it goes on week after week after week. It doesn't have to be extensive (a couple of hours per week may suffice), but it must be consistent to work properly. You can do that work, or you can pay someone else to do it for you, but it needs to be kept up religiously to keep you climbing (and on top of) search engine results.

Sorry, but there's no quick and easy (legitimate) answer. But which would you rather have, false hope, or the cold hard truth?

Social Networking 101 - Part 1, Facebook

2010-02-06T18:12:00Z

After reading the comments from our Small Business Marketing Workshop last week, I promised to do some blog entries on social networking, particularly Facebook, for people who are just getting started.  So here are the fundamentals:

1) Why use social networks like Facebook?
    Social networks provide a space for people to contact and stay in touch with other people. Used socially, that means you can find and stay in touch with your high school classmates, your family and friends, members of your organization, or people with whom you share a common interest. Many social networks let you post text, links, pictures, videos, and documents to share with your fellow networkers, which Facebook calls 'friends'.
    If the social network idea had never expanded farther than that it would still be a great communication tool, but it did expand into . In addition to a standard account, Facebook allows you to create a page specifically for a business, band, celebrity... whatever you want to promote. This way, you can keep your new Business Page separate from your personal account.

2) So what makes Facebook so great?
    It is estimated that there are somewhere around 200 million websites available on the Internet. According to Alexa.com the most popular website in the world is Google (no surprise there...) and the second most popular website in the entire world is Facebook.
Like many social networks, it's free to use. They do have paid advertisements if you're interested, but the service is free. The only thing you must have is an email address.

3) Alright, how do I 'get on Facebook'?
    By going to http://www.facebook.com and signing up. The main page will look like this:

Fill in the necessary information (First Name, Last Name, Your Email, New Password, Male/Female and your birthday) and click the Sign Up button.
    The next screen will probably be a 'Captcha' screen, which is to prove you are human (as opposed to a program trying to gain access) It will look something lke the picture below. In order to prove you're a real person, simply type the words you see in the picture with a space between them and click the button.

Next there are some wizards designed to help you get started, You can walk through these now, or deal with this stuff later by editing your profile. Once you've finished, take a look around the site and familiarize yourself with the default pages which come with your account. They are:

The Home Page

...and the Profile Page

Take a look through them. I'll cover details on each in my next entry.
Until then, enjoy!

Small Business Marketing Workshop 2010

2010-01-20T09:40:00Z

Problem:
In today's economy keeping a small business afloat is more challenging than ever. When your days are spent creating your product or providing services to your clients, it's hard to focus on building your business.

Solution:
Marketing 201 for Small Business Success in 2010 . If you wear all the hats in your business and have to do everything alon or with volunteer help at your small business, here's a marketing workshop made just for you - presented at a local small business established in 1996.

What you get:

A start on a marketing plan outline specific to your business
A plan for a professional identity package
10 marketing steps you can take that won't cost you a dime
In depth knowledge of search engine optimization including key words, links, and submission
An understanding of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites to grow your business
An overview of pay-per-click and other search marketing campaigns
5 common marketing mistakes to avoid
Detailed steps to make your website more powerful
Answers to your questions about the internet and marketing
Small session size for one-on-one interaction with your workshop presenters

Where: First Farm Inn - 2510 Stevens Road, Petersburg, KY 40180
When: Sunday, January 31, 2010 from 2 to 5 p.m.

More Details: First Farm Inn or Cincinnati Website Solutions

Tepid Spamments - Nice, try, but No Cigar

2010-01-12T12:33:00Z

Website promoters, take note:

As a webmaster for multiple clients, I also often play the role of blog administrator. One of my responsibilities is to approve comments made about the blog entries. It's not difficult, but one thing I have noticed is this:

Some people use a blog comment to post a link back to their website.And that is perfectly acceptable IF the comment is legitimate. In fact, if you or one of your minions is not currently reading and posting comments to blogs, then you're missing a great opportunity to get your links out into the ether - and we all know that search engines love finding links to your site.

The trick is that many times (over half the time, in my experience) the comment is not legitimate AND it contains a link to someone's website. Using a complex mathmatical equation which I just made up, I have identified a new species of internet communications:

                                                        SPAM + COMMENTS = SPAMMENTS

Up until recently these spamments were easy to spot because they contained gibberish or at best, really bad english. They might look something like this:

    slkje w okijoweko wkm b owokiw dswwexxosi w

or

    I have okay for you. Now girls going crazy for your manly... (well, you get the idea...)

Those were easy to spot and delete. Their message to the blog owner is quite clear; "If you don't administrate your blog comments (and many people don't) then you will never notice that this is gibberish, so I'm going to take advantage of your stupidity to promote myself."

But over the years spamments have proven to be highly resourceful at adapting to their environment. In fact, lately I've discovered a new subspecies of spamment - the TEPID SPAMMENT.

This brave new subspecies actually looks like a legitimate comment (with a link, of course) except that upon closer inspection one may notice that the comment is so generic that it might apply to anything - which is, I'm sure, the whole purpose of the tepid spamment - you can use it just about anywhere and it doesn't directly offend. Unfortunately for the blog owner, it also doesn't really say anything useful. Here's an example:

                                            Nice article. You provide a great service. www.cincinnatiwebs.com

Some of my clients have suggested that these comments are legit, but I recognize the TEPID SPAMMENT when I see it. IMHO (in my humble opinion) the tepid spamment is also sending a message to the blog owner, which says; "Okay, so you administer your blog comments, but maybe you're either stupid enough or desperate enough to get comments on your blog that you'll let this one slide, in which case, I get to promote my site without actually reading or caring about your blog entry."

The idea is simple: Get a list of blogs to abuse, create a tepid spamment generic enough to use on all of them, and spend an hour or two placing your link all over the internet. It's not a bad idea, really and I bet it works much better than the original spamments do. But it still makes me angry. These people are taking advantage of bloggers to promote their own site(s). And some blog owners don't even mind being taken advantage of... they'd prefer to see more comments on their site - even the tepid spamment.

So, What's a self-respecting blog administrator to do? Well, I have found a solution which satisfies my clients and appeals to my sense of truth, justice and the american way (Kids, don't try this at home - I'm a professional and I use all the proper safety equipment.) I remove the link and then post the comment. Yes, it takes longer for me to do that, but my client is happy with more comments on his blog and I feel I'm doing my job to protect my blogs from spamments.

Mind you, if you send a tepid spamment to MY blog - I'll remove the link and use it as an example. So, in the immortal words of Pat Benatar (okay, so I'm dating myself...),

                                                "Hit me with your best shot... Fire Away."

How is your Perception? (something to think about)

2010-01-09T17:25:40Z

This story is true. If you don't believe me, do a little research on Joshua Bell.

In a Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes:
a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, and continued to walk.

6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32..

1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed.. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days earlier, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised:

    *In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
    *Do we stop to appreciate it?
    *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made; how many other things are we missing?

Here is one of the best lines I have read recently:

Life is not about waiting for the rain to stop, rather it is about learning how to dance in the rain.

Let's Dance...

Is your website content being ignored?

2010-01-02T16:36:00Z

    You spent a lot of time and energy creating your website. The text you created for each page is valuable and useful information, But the question you need to ask yourself is this: Once a person get to your website, are they reading your content? Or are they ignoring most of what you wrote?

    Statistics suggest that most people do not read all the text on a web page. Rather they tend to Scan down the page for something that catches their eye. For instance - as you looked at this entry, what did your eye notice first? Statistics suggest that, whether intentional or not, you first noticed the larger bold colored text 'most people do not read...'

    The text does not have to be larger or bold to catch the eye, but it does need to stand out from the rest of the text..

                                                                       (... perhaps like this.)

    But catching a person's eye is only the first half of your job. The second half is to give them something short and sweet and to the point because drawing their attention to something is pointless unless it also arouses their interest. In fact it might even be considered irritating if you draw their eye to something and they decide that it is not interesting, or worse, that you're rambling on and on... Do you see how this long, drawn out example of large bolded colored text is not nearly as effective as the original short example above?

    So draw their attention to a section of your page with a short concise heading. If the heading arouses their interest, then they are more likely to read the paragraph or two of regular you have written about that topic.

    Search engines also love short, relevant headers. They should be placed inside Header tags (if you don't program your own site, ask your webmaster about Header tags) for greatest effect. So let's say you have a section on left handed Widgets. Perhaps it would look something like this:

Left Handed Widgets Cost Less

    It has long been know that left-handed widgets are rarer than their right-handed counterparts, but what may not be so widely know is that you can save an average of 15% when buying left-handed widgets... Here at "Widgets R Us" you can find all your widget needs, assuming, of course, that you actually need widgets, which you may not... In fact you probably aren't even reading this far into the paragraph, particularly if you clicked the link to go buy a left-handed widget, so I'll just blather on endlessly... blather blather blather... but hopefully your eye was attracted to 1) the header and 2) the bolded colored text. In fact, what I really wanted was for you to click on the link and go buy some of my left-handed widgets...

    Get the idea? What we really want is for people to be drawn to the topic "Left Handed Widgets Cost Less". Not everybody will care about left handed widgets, But those that do care are more likely to read the paragraph.

    And within the first sentence or so, give them another eye-catching bit of text. In this case it's a link which would take the reader to go buy a left handed widget. So they don't have to read the entire paragraph if they don't want to (and many won't want to.) AND WE DON'T CARE... what we really want is for them to go buy a left handed widget.

    Okay, don't get upset with me. The rest of the text should be valuable and relevant. But you should also understand that the people who read down that far are less likely to buy your left handed widget. And, after all, what is the primary purpose of your website? To inform or to sell?

    Have a safe and happy new year.

Internet Hoax - Get a free Sony Ericsson Laptop

2009-12-16T18:00:00Z

...All you need do is send an email about this promotion to 8 people and you will receive an Ericsson T18 laptop. However, if you send an email to 20 or more people, you will receive and Ericsson R320 laptop...

                               OH, COME ON! (you can't possible believe that...)

    I am amazed at the stupidity with which some malcontents are trying to disrupt internet and email services. Even more, I am dismayed when I receive proof that people actually overlook the stupidity and respond to such feeble attempts, thus propegating the lie AND encouraging these morons to come up with even more banal, asinine fodder.

    Oh, I'm sorry... Was I ranting?  Yes, I suppose I was...

    And, why, pray tell, should I rant? Today it's because of an email hoax I received from a colleague - or, to clarify, this was an email begin forwarded by a colleague to exactly 20 people (might as well go for the gold...). The email title was simply "FW: Ericsson Laptop" and so I opened it and began reading it.. The message added by my colleague (who shall remain nameless because I hope she's already thoroughly humiliated and I do not wish to embarass her further) simply read "Do you know 20 people to send this to?"

The attached email message was preceded by the email headers of 3 previous recipients who had each forwarded it to 20 people also. So already I know that this one missive was already sent to at least 80 people, of which I was unfortunately one.

Now, to the actual email hoax that started this folly:

Strike One: The first line should have been a dead giveaway to anyone with half a brain (yes, I'm still ranting, sorry.) Presumeably a preamble included by whoever originated the email, it read "Snopes.com shows it as a legitimate offer." There was no link to Snopes.com, just the statement.
    ... HELLO?... Does that set off any alarms? Oh, but wait, it gets better...
    The next line read; "I DID check with Snopes - it IS legit... They're trying to match a recent deal by Nokia!"

    So the email starts off by suggesting that Snopes.com (a site which verifies or exposes urban legends as hoaxes, frauds, scams, ... and occasionallly as legitimate) NOT ONCE, but TWICE, and yet without a link to snopes.com with which to verify this offer's legitimacy. (Know why? Because if you actually went to snopes.com and read their report on this claim you'd see that it's COMPLETELY FALSE.)

Strike Two: The next giveaway was that the original message (text and all) was a graphic file - a picture. Now, friends and neighbors, there are a few legitimate reasons one might place text into a graphich file - particularly if you wish to use an unusual font which the recipient may not have on their PC. But another good reason to place text in a picture is to get past the spam filters which you know are looking for the very text you're trying to transmit. The filters can't see the text in a picture, so the email is more likely to bypass the spam filters.

Strike Three: And finally, the fantasy that any company will compensate you (with a new laptop in this case, but sometimes it's a promise of money) when you forward their email to your peers. (the poor company can't afford a decent marketing campaign, but they apparently can afford to give away new laptops...) And not just to you, but to EVERYBODY who likewise forwards the email to their peers. Of course there is no mention of a limited time or 'while supplies last'.

<climbs up on soapbox> (yeah, I wanna rant some more...) Now, what kind of pathetic loser actually creates such a flimsy and ridiculous hoax and sends it out into the ether hoping to create chaos? My first guess is someone who wishes to think of him (or her) self as a b@d@ss like the people who write malicious software, viruses, trojans and such. They hope to create mayhem and destruction with their evil schemes.  Unfortunately they aren't smart enough actually write malicious code, nor are they ambitious enough to learn how. So the only option they have (other than getting a real life) is to fabricate a lie and hope to lure you into viciously forwarding their email to your peers, where it will viciously annoy anyone with a brain. These people are not to be feared... they are to be pitied. (poor little pathetic losers...)

    The people who should be feared are those like my colleague who can read such obvious tripe and still manage to forward it to their peers either without thinking about the foolishness of their actions, or without caring about the foolishness of their actions, ... OR (Heaven forbid) actually believing the tripe and making plans for their soon to arrive new laptop. These are our peers... our colleagues and THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER! But they forwarded the tripe anyway.
    Why should we fear them? Because if they're thoughtless/careless/foolish enough to fall for this hoax, which is obvious and easy to identify as pure poppycock, then they are probably thoughless/careless/foolish enough to fall for the real threats. And worse... they are passing them on to people like us. (BAD colleague! BAD!)

Especially now, with the holiday season upon us, there are potentially dangerous websites, emails and social networking entries to look out for. Please, please, please... don't be a bad colleague. There's usually a reason an offer sounds too good to be true...

Be safe!
and
Happy Holidays!

Have You Updated your Website Today?

2009-12-14T18:35:00Z

I just updated my website. Have you? Or, more to the point; When is the last time you made an update to your website? Yeah, I know... your website is great just the way it looks now. You've got all the information on it that you want. And, darn it, you've got too much other stuff going on right now and you just don't want to have to think about it.

Yeah, me too...
.
.
.
.
.
.
BUT... (does this font make my 'but' look big?) your website really does need to be updated regularly. There are several reasons, but the two most important are these: 1) So people who came to your website last week have a reason to come to it again. and 2) Because search engines tend to rate web pages higher that have regularly updated content. That's one of the reasons blogs are good for search engine rankings - because they get updated regularly. And so should one or two (or more) pages of your website.

So how can we appease the search engine gods without rewriting the perfect text that already exists on our website? One thing you can do is to have a section of the page dedicated to updated content. If you take a look at CW's home page, you'll see in the right column a couple of entries entitled "Latest Blog Entry" and "New Article Published". I usually write a new blog entry once or twice a week, so this quick blurb about my latest blog entry can be updated that often, too. I don't write articles quite so often as blog entries, but the concept is the same.

Another example in the case of CW's home page is in the lower left column. I have a Featured Client Website section with a picture and link to on of our web clients. This gets updated each month. I also tell my clients when their site is being featured and that can bring in more traffic to my site as they tell their friends and clients.

Next, the wording can change to promote a season, an upcoming holiday, event, etc. You don't need to change the content of the page (all the important info can stay there, but word it a bit differently around the holidays. Reword it again around the Superbowl, Valentines' Day, Saint Patty's Day, etc. While changing pictures on the website doesn't do much for search engine spiders, it will be directly noticeable to your readers.

So what can you update on your home page without redesigning the whole thing every time? Here's a brief list of things to consider:

Blog entries
Social Media entries
Announcements of upcoming events, sales, promotions, etc.
Featured links to websites of your peers, colleagues, associates, partners, or websites that you particularly like.
Seasonal, holiday or event jargon

Are there others? I'm sure there are. Please feel free to comment and leave your own suggestions.

And have a great holiday season!

Free Anti Virus software

2009-12-09T11:29:00Z

                  I don't use an antivirus program because they're too expensive

No, that's not a statement of fact from yours truly, it's the engraving on a headstone where a dead computer is buried.

                                                                    AND it's not a true statement...

There are free versions of antivirus software packages out there (and some free trials) that are well worth looking into.

This one was recommended by a small business group I belong to. They have a free version and a subscription version. http://free.avg.com/us-en/download?prd=afe

PC Tools has a free version of SpywareDoctor
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor-antivirus/

AVG has both a free and paid version
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

Norton has a 30 day free trial version http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/ContentTheme/ThemeID.1313000/pbPage.Trialware_en_US/pgm.6037100/Currency.USD?resid=FyQ7DwoBAiMAAEbCGWoAAAAK&rests=1258301252419

McAfee has a 14 day free trial offer

http://www.real.com/dmm/realbroadbandessentials/antivirus?pcode=srchrv&ocode=search&cpath=ppcse&rsrc=gg_antivirus_X1free_anti-virus&SR=sr2RB46go16802sx3107pi2ai33&gclid=CLOo6-WxjZ4CFSANDQodOHPLpA

Personally I recommend paying for one of the big names packages. Yes, it seems expensive, but ask yourself these questions:

How often do you use the internet?
How often do you read email?
How often do you use a social network like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.?
How often do you click on links in any of the above?

Every single time you do any of these, you are at risk of encountering some form of malware. so if you break down the cost of antivirus software by the number of times you are at risk, you're paying mere pennies for the security of keeping those viruses, phishing attacks, worms, trojans, (lions and tigers and bears... oh, my!) at bay.

Do you have a virus program you particularly like or dislike? Post a reply and let us know what works, what doesn't and what it cost.

Stay safe!

Shop on line safely - Be aware of potential Cyber-Threats

2009-11-20T15:27:00Z

The biggest online shopping season is quickly approaching and it begins with Cyber Monday (the Monday following Thanksgiving) when online stores typically record their largest sales volume for the year. Unfortunately that means that cyber-criminals will also be out in force hoping to find a few unsuspecting victims. I recently received an email from my anti-virus company with some tips for staying safe when you shop online this holiday season.

Think Before You Click: Search Engines are a great way to comparison shop and check prices. But treat every result with caution -- especially the ones promising a link to an unbelievable deal.
Verify the URL: When you click a link to a particular site, verify that the website it takes you to really is the one you intended. For instance the site might LOOK like amazon.com but does the URL have "Amazon.com" as the main domain? Here's a clue: if the URL looks something like this: "...www.someothersitename.com/123/joesstuff/amazon.com..." then it isn't really Amazon.com. You probably don't want to give them your credit card information.
Remember the old adage: If it seems too good to be true - it probably is.
Shop stores you trust: When it actually comes time to make a purchase, your best bet is to go to the store of your choice, find the item within the store website (www.storename.com) and purchase it there.
Install Security Software: Your computer should have antispyware and antivirus software installed. Make sure they are up-to-date. If you want to go a step farther, you can install a firewall.
Use a Credit Card, Not a Debit Card: If you are a victim of fraud or cybercrime, most credit card agreements limit your liability for the charges.
Monitor Your Credit: Especially around the holidays it is important to monitor your credit status on a regular basis to quickly spot anything unusual.
Ask About a "Single Use" Credit Card: Many credit card companies are now able to issue single-use credit card numbers for online purchases -- so you can avoid using your real credit card number online.

There is no reason to avoid shopping on line. AND if you 'Think Before You Click' you can enjoy the convenience and ease of Cyber-shopping while keeping your money and private information safe and secure.

See you at the Cyber mall...

Be careful what links you click on...

2009-11-17T15:05:00Z

I have been teaching people how to avoid spam and malware in their emails for several years now. If you've followed my blog for very long, you know there are some key things to look for when identifying unethical links. The primary one is Links that point to a URL other than the one expected.

    You probably know by now that the text shown on a link does not have to be the URL of the link (for instance www.cincinnatiwebs.com should obviously point to the website Cincinnati Webs. The TEXT matches the URL destination. But Visit My Website also points to Cincinnati Webs. So how can you tell without actually clicking? Many web-based programs have a feature that somehow displays the URL when you hover over a link. Many web browsers and email programs have a Status Bar. Look under the TOOLS menu or the VIEW menu for it. The Status Bar is typically located at the bottom of the browser/program window. With the Status Bar turned on, you can hover your mouse over a link and see the URL the link points to. Try it now. Hover your mouse over the links above & verify that they point to the Cincinnati Webs site.

    So an unethical link may point somewhere completely different that what you expect. For example, my wife received an email earlier this year that said it was from Bank Of America. It looked official and said that someone else had tried to log into our account so we should SIGN IN and verify that our account was okay... (did you hover over the link?) The link in the email wasn't so blatant as my example here, but I would have expected a legitimate link to point to a website something like "bankamerica.com..." Instead this one pointed to something like http://carlosramirez.com.br/campus2/BankOfAmerica.com. So, even though BankOfAmerica was in there somewhere, the main URL this link was pointing to was CarlosRamirez.com.br - NOT someplace I want to go to enter my banking login information.

    Now, for some disappointing news... Hovering over the link is the easiest way, but not a guaranteed way to see the true URL. It is possible to use Javascript to display whatever you want in the status bar when hovering over a link. Although many email programs can be set NOT to run Javascript automatically.

But without getting a degree in rocket science, what can the average person do to avoid these unethical links? There are a couple of common sense tests everyone can use:

Try the hover test. If the link points to a different URL, the hover test will show it most of the time.
If the message doesn't make sense be suspicious. (I don't have a bank account at Bank Of America, so how can my account be compromised?)
If the message has a lot of misspellings or really poor grammar in it, then it may be from someone who's primary language is different than your own. Yes, my friends might misspell a word here or there, so keep that in mind, but the more misspellings I see, the more suspicious I become.
If the message uses fear to get you to click, don't do it. (Your computer may be infected... click here for a free scan.)
Especially with social networking, be reluctant to click a link sent to you - even if it's sent by a friend. UNLESS you're expecting it.. (My friend went with me to Disney World and then posted pictures of it on Facebook, so his link saying "Disney World Pics" is probably okay. But an unrelated link from someone saying 'OMG! You have GOTTA SEE THIS!" is one to avoid.)
Emails from an official website (bank, store, credit card company, etc.)
1. If they don't know your name - then it's probably a scam. Most legitimate businesses will address you by name, NOT by 'Dear Client', or 'Dear Customer'.
2. If they tell you to click this link to log in - then it's probably a scam. Legitimate companies will tell you to go to the website and log in. But a link that says "Log In Here" is suspect.
Keep your anti-virus software up to date. If you don't have anti-virus software, you should.
If you're not sure about a link - DON'T CLICK ON IT.

KEYWORD meta tag is not out of the picture just yet (but it's close.)

2009-11-12T13:19:00Z

If you have been interested in search engine optimization (SEO) at all, you are probably aware that Google has stopped using the KEYWORD meta tag to rank web pages in it's search engine index. This means that adding the KEYWORD meta tag to your website pages no longer has any bearing on how Google will index your web page.

In October this year, Yahoo also reported that it no longer uses the KEYWORD meta tag, but they misspoke. It turns out that Yahoo still uses the KEYWORD meta tag, but is has been reduced to the least important factor in their ranking algorithm. In a response from Yahoo, the following was offered as explanation:

Words that appear in any other part of documents, including the body, title, description, anchor text etc., will take priority in ranking the document – the re-occurrence of these words in the meta keyword tag will not help in boosting the signal for these words. Therefore, keyword stuffing in the keyword tag will not help a page’s recall or ranking, it will actually have less effect than introducing those same words in the body of the document, or any other section.
However, when no other ranking signal is present, unique words that only appear in the meta keyword tag section of documents can still be used to recall these documents.

SO... Google doesn't use the keywords meta tag, Yahoo uses it, but at a very low priority and Bing hasn't publicly stated if they do or not, but the impression is that they do not. According to Search Engine Watch as of August 2009, Google handles about 64% of all searches on the internet, Yahoo handles about 16% and Bing handles almost 11%. These three search engines represent 91% of internet searches and they don't care about the KEYWORDS meta tag.

So if we're no longer using the KEYWORDS meta tag, then what do we do with our keywords? The quote from Yahoo sums it up pretty well. When creating or updating web pages the best practice is to place keywords in the body, title, description, anchor text and alt text of images on your web page.

BTW - I asked Google if keeping an existing keywords meta tag will harm my web page's ranking in any way. When I get an answer, I'll post it here.

Social Networking Threats

2009-11-10T13:33:00Z

Just wanted to pass along this information. Just like email viruses, you have to use some common sense with social networking sites. There are viruses designed specifically for them, now.

Facebook, Twitter and LiveJournal recently reported they were the targets of "denial-of-service" attacks. Hackers launch these attacks by infecting hundreds or thousands of so-called "zombie" computers with malicious software. Once the computers are infected, hackers remotely instruct them to simultaneously attack a targeted Web site, flooding it with so much traffic that it becomes inaccessible.

Koobface is another pervasive threat. It began on Facebook, but now targets a host of other social networks. This worm sends fake messages and links to friends, usually encouraging them to watch a video. Depending on the site, the worm can also post infected links on walls and changes the account user's "Status" by modifying the text and adding a link. Read more on our blog: "Koobface: Not Just for Facebook Anymore"

From Wikipedia:
Koobface, an anagram of Facebook is a computer worm that targets the users of the social networking websites Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Twitter. Koobface ultimately attempts, upon successful infection, to gather sensitive information from the victims such as credit card numbers. It was first detected in December 2008 and a more potent version appeared in March 2009.

Koobface spreads by delivering Facebook messages to people who are 'friends' of a Facebook user whose computer has already been infected. The messages contain innocuous subject headers like "Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street", "LOL", "My friend catched [sic] you on hidden cam", and "My home video ", followed by a link. Upon receipt, the message directs the recipients to a third-party website, where they are prompted to download what is purported to be an update of the Adobe Flash player. If they download and execute the file, Koobface is able to infect their system. It can then commandeer the computer's search engine use and direct it to contaminated websites.

Stay safe while you network online
Be skeptical. Treat every social networking link with caution - especially the ones promising a link to a video. This is particularly true for sites that don't show you the true link (like Twitter) If you don't know the person who sent you the link. Be cautious.

Guard your personal information. Use privacy settings to restrict who can see your sensitive information, or consider omitting all personal information from your profile.

Choose passwords wisely. Use different passwords for each of your sites; select a randomized combination of numbers and letters.

Have antivirus and antispyware protection. Even if you think you're not infected, scan your machine for dormant viruses with a free scan; and protect your PC with an Internet security suite that includes antivirus, antispyware, and firewall technologies.

Always install updates. If you're already using antimalware software, be sure to install updates which include the latest malware definitions; do the same with updates to your operating system.

Remain vigilant. Malware authors are continually writing new programs to avoid detection, so pay close attention to suspicious behavior.

Selling on your Website - Part 2. Generating Traffic to your site.

2009-11-03T15:20:00Z

For those of you who aren't internet geeks, first, let's cover some basic terminology you should be aware of when talking about your business website. (geeks, feel free to skip over the next part, or better still, let me know if I missed any important terms.)

Traffic: This refers to the number of times people visit your website. It's a very general term.
Unique Visitors: This refers to the number of actual people who visit your website. The two are not necessarily the same. For instance if you and your friend both visit your new website ten times each, then your Traffic is 20 visits, but your Unique Visitors is only 2 people.
Leads: This is the number of people who visit your site and make contact with you through it. They may sign up for your newsletter, they may answer a questionaire or state their opinion on your "contact us" page. They may send you an email or phone call. They might even visit your store in person.
Sales: This is the number of leads who actually purchases one of your products or services.
Customers: These are the people who bought from you. Ideally, each customer will provide multiple sales for you over time.

So - the first goal for your website is to GENERATE TRAFFIC, or bring new people to your website. This raises a couple of questions:
    1) Where are these new people going to find your website
    2) Why are they going to want to visit it?

                                            Where are new people going to find out about your website?

You need to find some way(s) to introduce yourself to prospective clients and tell them about this great new website that you own. Of course you tell your friends and family and they tell their friends. But that will only get you so far (and do you really want your main customer to be your mom anyway?)   So, let's look at some of the standard ways of promoting your website online. Note that this is only scratching the proverbial surface. Any promotional venture will require research and consideration, both yours and your web person, if you have one. But this is a quick over view of some options.

Search Engines
1. Millions of searches are done everyday on hundreds of search engines. Some of those searches are people looking for what you have to sell. A good way to figure out what phrases might work is to do some searches and see what comes up. For instance, I Googled 'cat collars' and Google says there are over 1 million search results, so I know cat collars is being used by other websites. But over 1 million search results is a bit scary, so let's narrow it down. I did another search for 'leather cat collars' and there were a mere 335,000 results (still a big number, but you get the idea, the more descriptive the phrase / the fewer competitors you'll find
2. Several key word tools are available to do keyword research for your website. Some of them require that you open an account, some are free. Word Tracker has a free tool that gives you an idea of how many people have searched on a keyword in the past day. I typed in 'leather cat collar' and it told me that 30 people have searched on 'leather cat collars' (notice that collars is plural), and furthermore 4 people have searched on 'round leather cat collars' in the past day. so there are 2 possible key words for my leather cat collar website.
3. Complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is such a large topic that I cannot possibly do it justice in a single blog entry. So There are people who make their living doing nothing else but helping people optimize their web sites for search engines. I will talk more about SEO in future blog posts.
Social Media
1. Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube (and about a zillion other similar sites) are a good way of connecting with people. If you have an account with any of these, do a search on them for your keywords and see what other people are doing. The general rule to follow with any social networking is to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Offer tips, advice and opinions about your subject, so that the people you connect with begin to see you as a source of information and expertise. Then when you do announce your 'special fall sale on round leather cat collars', they will be more inclined to take notice because they have come to know you as a cat collar expert.
2. YouTube is a great way to introduce your new products or services to complete strangers. Everybody likes videos and a video can come up in a Search engine result just as easily as a web page. Imagine doing a search on 'leather cat collars' and one of the results that comes up is a video of cats wearing this year's new line of leather cat collars. Would you rather go read a web page, or watch a video?
Paid Marketing
1. Quickest results - most expensive: While Sponsored Links (or Pay-Per-Click) directly costs money to use, it does provide a way to get a link to the top of the search engine quickly and with little effort. The down side - if your web page doesn't do a good job of selling your product/service, then you may be paying for people to come to your website and then losing them when they see it. A good way to make sure you aren't throwing away your money with sponsored ads is to monitor the sponsored ads of your competitors. See what their ads look like. See what their web pages look like and, without stealing directly from anybody, follow their examples. If it works for them, it should work for you.

Next time we'll take a look at generating leads (people who express some interest in your site/product/service) These are the people you are going to try to sell to.

Which would you survive better - an Alien Apocalypse or a Zombie Apocalypse?

2009-10-30T11:52:00Z

    Okay, so I'm a geek. No real surprise there. My heroes are Peter Petrelli and James Tiberius. So one of the programmer (read "geek") sites I belong to posed the question this week "Alien Apocalypse vs. Zombie Apocalypse: Which would you survive?" and I thought - What a great Halloween poll.

So briefly, here are the scenarios - Read and then Choose which you would survive better:

Alien Apocalypse:
    They came from Outer Space. Maybe they look like us (at least they seem to... as in the upcoming remake of the series V) or maybe they look like bugs (Starship Troopers), or seafood (District 9) or maybe they really do look like E.T.. But in this poll we must assume that they are up to no good. In fact, they're out to destroy the Human race, whether by replacing us one at a time with their own (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, They Live) or just by slaughtering us outright (Independence Day, Signs.) So, never mind the end of the human race... how well and how long would YOU survive? (and keep in mind that it'll be another couple hundred years before Captin Kirk comes along to save us...)

Zombie Apocalypse:
    We have met the enemy and they are us. However it happened; super virus (28 Days Later, Resident Evil), radioactive monkeys (Shaun of the Dead), or maybe we never really know the reason (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead) the dead are getting up and walking around again and are hungry for human brains or human flesh, depending on the movie.

Vampire Apocalypse:
    How could any real horror fan omit this possible doomsday scenario? Basically similar to the Zombie Apocalypse, with a twist - they don't necessarily want to Eat us... maybe they just need to drink our blood. Either way, it still spells the end of Humanity as we all get transformed into vampires (I am Legend, 30 Days of Night, Van Helsing, Salem's Lot, and a few hundred others.)

SO, pick, dear reader. Which apocalypse would you best survive? As the year 2012 approaches, the apocalypse may take a completely different form, but that's another blog post.

                                                   Happy Halloween!

Twitter - and how to use it well.

2009-10-28T11:23:00Z

First of all, I must admit that this was not written by me. This is an entry I read from one of my LinkedIn associates, Geoff Evans. But he does such a nice job of explaining it that, rather than trying to put it into my own words, I wanted to present Geoff's own words and give him full credit for them. The following is from an entry of his I saw on Linked In:

It seems that the most often recommended strategy for growing your Twitter followers is to simply follow others. Many people have setup “auto-follow” or feel the courteous Twitter thing to do is to follow you back. How often do you see a Twitter guru who is following as many (or more people) then are actually following him/her? This isn’t someone who has necessarily brought value and therefore has established an enormous quantity of potential clients. This is someone who has probably played the numbers game.
The strategy of striving for quantity is purely a marketing initiative. However, marketing becomes irrelevant if you ultimately have no basis on which to ever convert the potential clients into actual clients.
In reality, long-term Twitter success isn't about having a thousand followers. Real business success will only come from the individual relationships you build by participating in the conversations and sharing your ideas.
If you choose to pursue a strategy of gathering a quantity of followers then you'll likely end up being followed by people who are seeking the same thing. Unfortunately, your message will quickly get lost amidst the thousands of voices all busy broadcasting their own marketing messages.
I believe the greatest Twitter success will come from a process of growing your followers organically. Connect your Twitter identity to your email signature, your website, your blog, newsletters, etc. Yes, this approach will take time to grow. However, people who use Twitter WILL follow you if they feel that your message is interesting or helpful. If your only goal for earning followers is to create a platform for selling your products and services then you will lose these followers as quickly as you gained them. It only takes the simple click of a button to be “unfollowed” or “blocked”. And notice that I chose the words “earning followers”. To be followed with any meaningful result on Twitter means you have to earn the right to share your thoughts and ideas with others.
Also, consider leveraging Twitter, not just as a vehicle to broadcast your own message, but rather as an effective tool for listening. Listen to the types of conversations that are taking place in Twitterville. I often use Twitter to help me identify future blog topics. If a certain topic is trending (and relevant to my business) then people are more likely to be intrigued by an insightful blog that relates to this topic.
In summary, I would highly recommend that you make the choice to follow people because you're interested in what they have to say not because they'll auto-follow you back. Otherwise you'll quickly grow tired of Twitter and you’ll miss out on the real opportunities.

Good recommendation, in my humble opinion. Thank you Geoff. I will add my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn links to my email signature (they're already on my website) and my blog. And to connect to Geoff on Linked In, follow this link (you need to be logged in to Linked In.)

Microwaved water vs. boiled water

2009-10-12T20:40:00Z

My wife runs a bed and breakfast and we often enjoy breakfast conversation with guests. Sometimes we validate the 6 degrees of separation theory. Sometimes we get a chance to learn about a career/hobby/pastime that is new to us. Recently one of our guests caught my attention when she insisted that her tea be made with boiled water, not microwaved water...

She went on to explain that putting water in the microwave changes it structurally. She went on to say that a study was done where two plants were watered together every day: one with water that had been boiled conventionally and the other with water that had been microwaved. At the end of the study, the plant given microwaved water fared noticably poorer than the other. Her concern was that microwaved water was no longer as good as normal water.

I had to stop and consider that for a bit. What is the molecular difference between hot water and cold water? The difference is that the atoms and molecules in hot water are randomly moving around more rapidly. And what do microwaves do to water molecules? It electromagnetically causes the water molecules to rotate rapidly, randomly bumping into other water molecules and thereby creating heat. But I had never heard anything about changing the structure of the molecule. Well, that's not entirely true... Come to think of it. boiling water, by any means DOES ACTUALLY CHANGE WATER - it vaporizes it.

But I digress. So, in the face of an intriguing theory, I did what any red-blooded american man would do... I checked Snopes.com.
And I am relieved to find out that the rumor is merely that... a rumor. Scientifically there is no indication that microwaving water (or food) alters or damamges it in any way other than possibly overcooking it. But don't take my word for it, Check out
http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp for the full story.

Not so easily satisified, however, I also Googled "how does heating food work?" And the first response was http://physics.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_do_microwave_ovens_work. Feel free to read up and impress your friends with this commonplace but little understood phenomenon. For instance, I learned that:

1) You can't heat completely dry food in a microwave (like rice or uncooked pasta) because the microwave heats food by exciting the water molecules within it... no water means no heating. (note to self: put some dry rice in the microwave and see what happens.)

2) Frozen food doesn't heat evenly in the microwave because ice doesn't respond as well to microwaves as liquid water does. So where the ice has melted, that portion will heat more quickly than the portions that are still frozen.

Okay, now go out there an impress your friends with your new found knowledge...

Selling on your Website - Part 1. The goals for your website

2009-10-09T14:27:00Z

So, you have a business and you want to use the Internet to sell your services or products, right?
    If you answered, "No, I don't have a website yet.' then before you spend a lot of time on this topic, why not first take a look at a list of what you will need to consider when creating a website
    If you answered , "Actually I thought this was Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes website." then I can't help you.
    BUT if you actually answered "Yes!" (or some derivative thereof), then please read on...

As you probably know, one of the basic fundamental rules of selling is this: People would rather buy from someone they know. Okay, I know... I know... Ebay... Craigs list... we don't know those people, but we buy from them.

I won't argue the point. Rather I'll ask you, "Is your site an 'eBay' or a 'Craigslist'? Probably not. Chances are that your small business website is not too different from 'Joe's Pizza' (no offense, Joe.) You might make the best tasting pizza in the world, but if you're competing with brand name pizza places, like "Pizza Hut", "Papa John's" and "Dominoes" then you have an added burden of not being a famous name brand pizza place.

So the relevant question is, "Can a small business like Joe's Pizza get customers from the Internet?"
The answer is, "Absolutely YES!" Many small businesses use the internet to drive local customers to their doors. Many of the more successful ones use the strategy of building a repeat-customer base. This means they let their customers get to know them. They keep in touch with their customers with specials, coupons, sales, etc. to generate repeat business through existing customers as well as continue attracting new customers.

After all, a customer who liked the food, service, ambiance of Joe's Pizza is likely to come back again the next time they want pizza. And their likely to tell their friends about it, too.

So through your website you need to:
    1) Generate Traffic to your site - mainly people you don't know yet.
    2) Convert Traffic to Leads -
        a) Let these people get to know you and your business.
        b) Give them something of value so they will want to return.
    and finally...
    3) Convert Leads to Sales - Of course we hope they come directly to the website and buy something, but statistically that will only happen 1 to 2 percent of the time. (Yes, that means for every 100 people who visit your site, statistically you can expect only 1 or 2 to buy something. SO work with your Leads - keep in touch by the website, email, social networking, post, etc. and give them some reason to come back to either the website or to your actual store to buy something.

Need more details? No problem! Over the next few days I will cover each of these steps in more detail.
Tomorrow I will talk about some terminology you need to be aware of and we'll begin to look at the first step of Generating Traffic to your site.

See you then!

It's a Google World after all

2009-10-08T12:41:00Z

Are you looking for the most bang for your internet advertising buck? Okay, it's a silly question - of course you are. Perhaps a better question is: If I'm going to spend money to advertise on the intenet, then what sites should I consider advertising on? Or, more concisely: Where are the most people going to find information on the internet?

And how can we quickly and easily research this question?  Okay, say it with me... GOOGLE IT (which kinda answers the first question, too, don't you think?)

But let's look at the numbers. According to Alexa.com (and if you or your webmaster don't know about Alexa, I highly recommend checking them out. They keep all sorts of information about websites - most noteably statistics on how popular a site is based on how many people visit it.) Any way, according to Alexa:

Google is the most popular website in existance
    Has over 678,000 websites linking to it
    About 34% of all web users visit Google

Facebook is next in line at #2
    Has over 389,000 websites linking to it (a little over half of links to Google)
    About 23%-24% of all web users visit Facebook daily
'But Facebook isn't a search engine' you say? 'Yeah. So what?' I reply, 'You can still advertise on it and potentially reach all those people.'

Yahoo is next in line at #3
    Has over 119,000 websites linked to it
    About 25% of all web users visit it daily

YouTube is #4
    Has over 568,000 websites linked to it
    About 19% of all web users visit it daily

Windows Live (Bing) is #5
    Has over 24,000 websites linked to it
    About 15% of all web users visit it daily

SO, there are the top 5 websites on the Internet and they all accept paid advertising. Even better... if you follow their guidelines you can get free advertising (search results) in all of them, too. If you want people to find your website, then you should seriously consider utilizing any and all of these as marketing tools.

If you're not sure about how to proceed, then ;CONTACT US. We'll be happy to walk you through the process. We can even set it up for you and draw customers to your website.

Google - what rules do they play by?

2009-09-22T20:53:00Z

WWGD - What Would Google Do?

I just received an email from one of the programming sites I subscribe to about Google and some of the things Google does and does not use to rank your web page(s). The article was about the meta tag "KEYWORDS", but there were links to similar articles on other topics involving Google. So, of course I had to read them all...

Much of this is common knowledge, but I thought it would be nice to have this information consolidated in one convenient place. Another consideration is that this information is time sensitive - policies change and so old information may be outdated. But at the moment, these are the truths we program our web pages by:

1) KEYWORDS meta tag - Google ignores the meta tag "keywords" although other search engines still use it. Their reason they quit using this tag (about 10 years ago according to the article) is because it was being so heavily abused. Too many people did (and many still do) put keywords in their KEYWORDS meta tag which do not reflect the actual content of the page. HINT: if you don't use the word in your page text, then it probably doesn't belong in the KEYWORDS meta tag.

On a side note - Google does sell a Google Search Appliance, which does have the ability to utilize the Keywords meta tag, but that is completely separate from the main web search.

2) DESCRIPTION meta tag - If it impresses them, Google may use (all or part of) the DESCRIPTION meta tag as the description in a search result. Alternately they may use snippets from the text on your web page.

3) ROBOTS meta tag (or GOOGLEBOT meta tag) - this tag can control the behavior of the the search engine crawling and indexing pages on your site. With this tag you can use any of the following values:
    noindex - prevents the page from being indexed
    nofollow - prevents the Googlebot from following links from this page
    nosnippet - prevents a snippet from being shown in the search results
    noodp - prevents the alternative description form the ODP/DMOS from being used
    noarchive - prevents Google from showing the cached link for a page
    unavailable_after.[date] - lets you specify the exact time and date you want to stop crawling and indexing of this page
    noimageindex - prevents your page from appearing as the refering page for an image search

4) GOOGLE meta tag (with content="notranslate") - When the search engine user gets a page in a language he is unlikely to know, Google often provides a link to a translation of the page into his language. This tag prevents Google from doing so.

5) verify-v1 meta tag - You can use this tag on the top-level page of your site to verify ownership for Webmaster Tools.
    NOTE: I purposely wrote this tag in lower case because this tag NEEDS to be in lower case. Generally speaking the other meta tags are not case-sensitive.

6) HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" meta tag - This tag defines the page's content type and character set.

7) HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" meta tag - This tag sends the user to a new URL after a certain amount of time. (not supported by all browsers)

8) TITLE tag - While technically not a meta tag, Google often uses the Title of your page along with the description.

    Now, your web site may not need to use all of these meta tags. Likewise there are plenty of other meta tags your web site may use. If Google comes across a meta tag it does not recognize, it simply ignores the tag.

What other meta tags you use for your web sites?