Trusted reviews: personal computers, internet and web, webmastering

When I went on my recent browse of Google’s listings for “Richard Evans Lee” I was surprised to see links to many of the guestbooks I’ve signed. Likewise a few message board postings and even an ancient personal ad.

Most of these were on personal or small business sites. I’ve mostly used my legal name and not a handle on the web. What really struck me is Google didn’t show my postings on major sites like Yahoo and ZDNet or even Gay.com. I don’t know if Google has chosen to not index the big sites as thoroughly or the webmasters have blocked search engines from their forums.

Originally posted 2002-12-22 08:02:00. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Copyright 2005 Michael Murray

If you run any type of Internet business, Adware and Spyware can be a very serious issue. These programs hide themselves on your computer and do all sorts of annoying and potentially dangerous things.

Viruses spread on your PC. The good news is that Spyware applications usually stay put, much like a parasite. Spyware collects information about your messaging and browsing behavior and your online preferences with the intent to sell it to online advertisers.

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Originally posted 2005-07-06 09:35:16. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Used to be that if Charles as asleep and I was restless I’d write about sex. Now I’m writing about weblogs. With luck aside from the stuff that I post in Computer Toaster this will be my last entry on weblogging for a long time. Sex is much more entertaining.

Now to descend into sounding like a self-help writer for webloggers. (Already sound as though I know whereof I speak. Few people can produce half-readable sentences without that pretension.)

You have an online journal and want people to visit it. What do you do? Write something. Write it regularly. It doesn’t matter what you write about other than it interest or involve you. It need not be compelling but it should be coherent. You don’t even have to capitalize (a few of my favorite personal journals are written by people who seem to have thrown their Caps Lock key in a ditch).

There are lots and lots of weblogs that are about what passes as politics in this country. Warmongers cursing the otherwise inclined, lefties damning Republicans. You can add your two cents. Or write about vegetarian cuisine, speedboats or reading science fiction paperbacks. You can actually write about your life: work, weekends, boyfriends. If you are young you can bitch about your parents, teachers and boyfriends. There’s such a large surplus of interest in the last you don’t need to write well. Whiners have their own audience.

How to get people to find you? Most people’s goal is to get high ranking in Google. I get hundreds of Google referrals a day. The bulk of them are careless or desperate searchers who won’t be finding what they are looking for. Not something that’ll bother a stats fetishist. Google indexes Edifying Spectacle every day. Why? Beats the fuck out of me. My guess: there is unique content buried in the site. The site is updated regularly. I used to write lots about sex. Every second people all over the world are searching for nude, naked, penis, tits often with a name, not always a famous name so sticking something in like Madonna’s vagina isn’t necessarily going to get you visitors.

You can use the old fashioned approach: join webrings. Go to WebRing and RingSurf and look for rings focused on your own interests.

Get yourself listed on Eaton Web, BlogHop and the like.

If you do the above you should skim through the listed sites yourself. Don’t be naïve and expect them to come searching for you. If you read a post by someone who seems likeminded, leave a comment. People always come to look at the sites of people who comment on theirs. (If you find groups of weblogs you’d like to read regularly you might create a blogroll. Smaller sites often reciprocate blogroll listings. The issues of reciprocation and hurt feelings when people drop people from their blogroll are reasons I don’t have one.)

If you read something you think interesting and your software offers the option post a comment about it and create a trackback from the original post to your comment. Trackbacks provide topical and thematic linkage among weblogs. Some folks have big hopes pinned on them. The passage of weeks will tell. Since trackbacks are created by a conscious act they should be more pertinent than automatically generated linkage like Daypop and Popdex. Unsurprisingly enough some people are already using them to create spam. Or the spam equivalent of unwarranted links.

Realistically if you are hoping your online writings will lead you to meet others you may be better off with a Live Journal. I give out Live Journal membership codes regularly and still have plenty left if you need one.

Originally posted 2003-01-22 07:25:15. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Here’s an easy test for over devotion to your weblog:

You notice a typo just after saving the weblog entry. Badly, terribly you need to go to the bathroom and get rid of the beer accumulated in your bladder. Writhing in your chair you hold it in until your weblog pings six RPC servers so you can emend the entry.

Then you let yourself run for relief.

Originally posted 2004-01-28 14:58:55. Republished by Old Post Promoter

I can’t think of a way to summarize MemeStreams myself so here’s a few snippets from the about page.

MemeStreams is a new way to build communities out of weblogs. [...] Web logs often consist of entries which reference and respond to other web logs, and so on. Unfortunately, these discussions are spread out on different sites and there is no index into them. MemeStreams can present a threaded view of all of the discussion that links back to a URL. [...]Recommendations flow through MemeStreams like rumors passing word of mouth through social circles.

MemeStreams?

Originally posted 2003-03-15 13:29:15. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Here’s an email claiming to be from the Illegal Internet Downloads Dept. at the FBI:

We hereby inform you that your computer was scanned under the IP 61.75.48.254 . The contents of your computer were confiscated as an evidence, and you will be indicated. You get the charge in writing, in the next days.
In the Reference code: #6231, are all files, that we found on your computer.

This is the silliest, oddest bit of spam to come my way since the bizarre notice that I am a “pornography webmaster” and needed to give someone my credit card so they could launder my ill-gotten gains.

Originally posted 2004-01-04 09:42:54. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Debra Gravelle

Back in the summer of 2004, Google forced uproar within the internet community. Thousands were affected by having been dropped from the search engines totally and some even experienced being banned by the Mega-Search Daddy.

Well, like all quakes there will be tremors to follow. According to Google’s latest shake is the filing for a US patent 20050071741 on March 31, 2005. And, again this time the shake will prove devastating for some unsuspecting long term grandfathered sites.

Not only has Google made it apparently clear that it will eventually “flush” the old to invite the new but, Google has also revealed its criteria on what was acceptable and not acceptable with the current linking strategies commonly used.

Since Google is largely focused on their new algorithms that effect linking, there are a few things you should know.

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Originally posted 2005-06-26 18:48:43. Republished by Old Post Promoter

So you heard about someone stressing the importance of the robots.txt file, or noticed in your website’s logs that the robots.txt file is causing an error, or somehow it is on the very top of the top visited pages, or, you read some article about the death of the robots.txt file and about how you should not bother with it ever again. Or maybe you never heard of the robots.txt file but are intrigued by all that talk about spiders, robots and crawlers. In this article, I will hopefully make some sense out of all of the above.

There are many folks out there who vehemently insist on the uselessness of the robots.txt file, proclaiming it obsolete, a thing of the past, plain dead. I disagree. The robots.txt file is probably not in the top ten methods to promote your get-rich-fast affiliate website in 24 hours or less, but still plays a major role in the long run.

First of all, the robots.txt file is still a very important factor in promoting and maintaining a site, and I will show you why. Second, the robots.txt file is one of the simple means by which you can protect your privacy and/or intellectual property. I will show you how.

Let’s try to figure out some of the lingo.

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Originally posted 2005-11-17 13:29:39. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Elizabeth McGee

I often wonder how serious people are when it comes to their websites. I thought that most everyone knew that the phrase “Build it and they will come” no longer applies on the internet but I’m not sure how many people really believe it.

I look at sites everyday as part of my sales strategy and I can’t tell you how many of them violate the obvious elements of good website design and submission.

What even amazes me more is that they can’t figure out why they don’t get sales or visitors.

Do yourself a favor and attempt to apply the following tactics to your site. They won’t cost you a thing except a little time and effort to apply them.

** About Page **

Always include an about page on your site. Don’t be afraid to tell your story and let people know who you are and how you arrived where you are.

Opening yourself up and letting people know who you are adds an element of trust. It exposes your personality, capabilities and knowledge. All factors that let your readers know you are genuine.

** Include all your contact information **

Let your visitors know that you are available. Encourage questions, email and phone calls. Include your name, address and phone number. If you can, it’s also helpful to place a photo on your site. Familiarity is key and it can add one more link in the ladder of trust.

** Headlines **

Create compelling headlines. Peak the interest of your readers. This is your chance to grab their attention and incite them to read on.

Don’t be flashy or obnoxious. Simply tell it like it is. Capture their attention with descriptive, informative words. Get your readers involved in your information. Ask questions. Make them think.

You might be surprised to learn that just one compelling headline can bring instant sales almost overnight.

**Create your meta tags **

This is the first place I look when people tell me they aren’t getting visitors. I often see sites that have no title or description tag or the tags don’t follow the suggested guidelines for proper setup.

Here’s an example of how the tags might look for a site that sells hummingbird feeders:

<title>Hummingbird Feeders: Shop For Hummingbird Feeders Online</title> <meta name=”description” CONTENT=”Hummingbird feeders. Shop For hummingbird feeders online”> <meta name=”keywords” CONTENT=”hummingbird feeders, hummingbird feeder, bird feeder, bird feeders”>

You will need to do this for each page of your site. Each page needs to have it’s own set of tags. I also recommend focusing on one keyword per page, two at the very most. Too many keywords can confuse what your page is about.

Always make sure that your keywords are scattered throughout your text as well, however don’t sacrifice good content for nonsense. Your text should be easy to read and should not sound redundant. Make your pages at least 250 words.

** Testimonials **

Solicit feedback from buyers you’ve had. Ask them to write a small testimonial that you can place on your site. This goes a long way to help convince your visitor that your products and services are sound.

** Linking **

Reciprocal linking is a common and effective tactic for obtaining search engine status and page rank but it’s also the most time consuming. It requires making contacts, following up with contacts and updating your website.

While reciprocal linking is an excellent way of establishing page rank it’s not the only way. Page rank can also be established by submitting your site to directories, writing articles and setting up blogs. Don’t underestimate the power of website links. Take the extra few hours a day and get your site noticed.

** Offer Guarantees **

Always offer your products with a guarantee. This is often the extra boost a buyer needs to make the purchase.

A good site will offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees. People rarely take advantage of such guarantees but it’s this statement that may tip the scales in your favor.

** Submit Your Site **

Last, but not least, don’t neglect to submit your site to the search engines. Many of them are no longer free but the fees are nominal and worth the expense. Google still offers a free submit and it’s easy, simply type in your URL address, however make sure your meta tags include a title and description tag first.

For the free search engines I don’t recommend using automated submissions. Submit them yourself taking care to compose accurate titles descriptions and keywords.

About the author: Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry. She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and increase sales. You can visit Elizabeth’s sites at: http://www.pro-marketing-online.com http://www.homenotion.com

Originally posted 2005-03-30 13:32:50. Republished by Old Post Promoter

When Yahoo dropped Google I started paying more attention to the visits from Slurp. Fewer than 200 hits were reported during the nightly visits. Slurp has steadily increasing, last night it was much closer to Googlebot in pages touched if not amount text.

Googlebot (Google) 2793 85.73 MB
Inktomi Slurp 2153 33.50 MB

Oddly the two searchbots seem to arrive within minutes of each other be it 2:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m.

Originally posted 2004-03-07 03:33:26. Republished by Old Post Promoter