Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The John Chow Review, Buzz; pt 2
This is part two of the "Road to $10,000" saga.
I came across John Chow dot Com via Entrepreneur
How does all of this translate so far?
a. John became an expert in his field or niche (gadgets review). He develop credibility.
c. He had a website, and an Internet presence.
d. He started his blog. His audience followed him.
e. I am not sure if it was here, but he became a millionaire, and became famous.
f. He published Brian Campbell’s story.
Who was Brian Campbell?
Brian Campbell was an entrepreneur who became successful selling investment information online. By his own admission, he made several million dollars from his previous presence online. Then, he semi retired.
Somehow, he came up with his next marketing idea.
a. FaceBook has millions of users.
b. The idea of making money online attracts people.
c. What if you could help lots of people to make money at zero or nearly zero cost? ANSWER: You can make a lot of money as a result of helping others.
d. How can you achieve this?
Tomorrow, we will continue the $10,000.00 saga…
Remember to:
1. Don’t forget to vote for this blog as the best blog in Marketing and business. Just click on the buttons on the right. You can also nominate your favorite blogs in their respective category.
2. Of course, make sure to share this advise with your friends via Digg, Stumble, Face Book, or your favorite social networks.
3. Do subscribe to our Newsletter.
4. And, remember to subscribe to our blog’s feed.
5. Add me as a friend at Sta.rtup.biz, on FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, follow me on Twitter, StumbleUpon my articles and profile…
6. Recommend this blog to your friends…
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The road to $10,000.00 in 37 days; part 1
SEO says:
You need: keywords, tags, meta tags, links coming in, links going out, pay per click, ads, link baiting, traffic generation, …
Black Hat SEO says you need: 
Stuffed cookies, blog generating software, ip rotating software, and a bunch of other junk…
They both say that you should write in a spider friendly way, while continuing to write in such a way that your reader understand and is interested in what you are saying.
I have read more e-books on link baiting, traffic generation, stuffed cookies, stuffed turkeys, content writing, copywriting, advertising, pay per click, adsense, adworks, … than I really care to remember.
And after the smoke cleared from between my ears, I can tell you that yes, you can make money online, but it will not be easy.
He wrote a column about a guy named Brian 
So, let’s analyze this great example of marketing genius here…
By the beginning of next week, we should have covered:
a. Brian’s technique to make $10,000 in a few weeks using FaceBook.
b. Hidden costs.
c. Tools.
d. Buzz.
Ready? Let’s do this…
Don’t forget…
1. Don’t forget to vote for this blog as the best blog in Marketing and business. Just click on the buttons on the right. You can also nominate your favorite blogs in their respective category.
2. Of course, make sure to share this advise with your friends via Digg, Stumble, Face Book, or your favorite social networks.
3. Do subscribe to our Newsletter.
4. And, remember to subscribe to our blog’s feed.
5. Add me as a friend at Sta.rtup.biz, on FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, follow me on Twitter, StumbleUpon my articles and profile…
6. Recommend this blog to your friends…
Monday, December 15, 2008
SEO Glossary…
Absolute Link
<a href="http://www.netconcepts.com">www.netconcepts.com</a>
The above is an example of an Absolute Link.
It specifies a
- transfer protocol
- domain name
- and often a file name
AdSense
Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your visitors are looking for on your site — or matched to the characteristics and interests of the visitors your content attracts — you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.
AdWords
Google's CPC (Cost Per Click) based text advertising. AdWords takes clickthrough rate into consideration in addition to advertiser?s bid to determine the ad?s relative position within the paid search results. Google applies such a weighting factor in order to feature those paid search results that more popular and thus presumably more relevant and useful. Google has also started taking into account the quality of the landing page and applying a quality score to the landing pages.
AJAX
Asynchronous JavaScript And XML
Allows you to create a more user-friendly web application by working behind the scenes (inside a web browser) by making web pages feel more responsive.
In short, it allows JavaScript scripts to send data requests and receive responses without having to reload the entire page.
Algorithm
An algorithm is an operational programming rule that determine how a search engine indexes content and displays the results to its users.
Alt tags
Alt tags alternate text associated with a web page graphic that gets displayed when the Internet user hovers the mouse over the graphic. Alt tags should convey what the graphic is for or about and contain good relevant keywords. Alt tags also make web pages more accessible to the disabled. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a web browser that reads aloud the text and alt tags on a page. (For those familiar with HTML, "alt" isn't actually a tag by itself but an attribute to the "img" tag.). Note that the value of Alt tags for SEO have been discounted over time by the search engines to the point that now it is of minimal value.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the actual text part of a link (usually underlined). Used by search engines as an important ranking factor. Google pays particular attention to the text used in a hyperlink and associates the keywords contained in the anchor text to the page being linked to. Also see "Google bombing."
Back links
Back links are inbound links pointing to a web page.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is sometimes called spamdexing (the opposite of White Hat SEO). Black Hat SEO can be any optimization tactics that cause a site to rank more highly than its content would otherwise justify or any changes made specifically for search engines that don’t improve the user’s experience of the site. In other words, Black Hat SEO is optimizations that are against search engine guidelines. If you step too far over the mark, your site may be penalized or even removed from the index.
Blog
Also known as a "weblog". An online diary with entries made on a regular if not daily basis. Some blogs are maintained by an anonymous author who uses a nickname or handle instead of his or her real name.
Click-down Ad or Click-within Ad
An ad that allows the user to stay on the same web page, while viewing requested advertising content. Click-downs display another file on the user's screen, normally below or above the initial ad.
Click-withins allow the user to drill down for more information within the ad.
Clickthrough
The action of clicking an ad element and causing a redirect to another web page.
Cloaking
serving different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors. Cloaking is basically a "bait and switch" tactic, where the web server feeds visiting spiders content that is keyword-rich, thus fooling the search engine into placing that page higher in the search results. Yet when the visitor clicks on the link they are given different content, which may be totally unrelated. Search engines frown upon this practice and some will penalize or ban sites that they catch doing it.
Cookie
information placed on a visitor's computer by a web server. While the web site is being accessed, data in the visitor's cookie file can be stored or retrieved. Mostly cookies are used as unique identifiers (i.e. user IDs or session IDs) to isolate a visitor's movements from others' during that visit and subsequent visits. Other data that may get stored in a cookie include an order number, email address, referring advertiser, etc.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
the cost incurred or price paid for a specific action, such as signing up for an email newsletter, entering a contest, registering on the site, completing a survey, downloading trial software, printing a coupon, etc.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
the cost incurred or price paid for a clickthrough to your landing page.
CTR - Click Through Rate
Click Through Rate is a measure of the number of clicks received from the number of ad impressions delivered.
The formula to calculate CTR is:
“number of clicks” / “number of ad impressions” x 100
Key phrase (or keyword phrase)
a search phrase made up of keywords. See "keyword."
Keyword
a word that a search engine user might use to find relevant web page(s). If a keyword doesn't appear anywhere in the text of your web page, it's highly unlikely your page will appear in the search results (unless of course you have bid on that keyword in a pay-per-click search engine).
Keyword density
the number of occurrences that a given keyword appears on a web page. The more times that a given word appears on your page (within reason), the more weight that word is assigned by the search engine when that word matches a keyword search done by a search
Keyword stuffing
Placing excessive amounts of keywords into the page copy and the HTML in such a way that it detracts from the readability and usability of a given page for the purpose of boosting the page's rankings in the search engines. This includes hiding keywords on the page by making the text the same color as the background, hiding keywords in comment tags, overfilling alt tags with long strings of keywords, etc. Keyword stuffing is just another shady way of gaming the search engines and, as such, its use should be strongly discouraged.
Keyword-rich
when a given page or bit of text is chock full of good keywords rather than a bunch of meaningless words (e.g. "welcome", "click here") or irrelevant words (e.g. "solution").
Landing Page
The landing page is a web page where people go to once they click on an online advertisement or natural search listing.
Link bait
Useful or entertaining web content which compels users to link to it.
Link building
Requesting links from webmasters of other sites for the purpose of increasing your "link popularity" and/or "PageRank."
Link farm
A link farm is a group of highly interlinked websites with the purposes of inflating link popularity (or PR). A link farm is a form of spamdexing, spamming the index of a search engine.
Link spam
Links between pages that are specifically set up to take advantage of link-based ranking algorithms such as Google's PageRank (PR).
Meta description
a meta tag hidden in the HTML that describes the page's content. Should be relatively short; around 12 to 20 words is suggested. The meta description provides an opportunity to influence how your Web page is described in the search results, but it will not improve your search rankings. Make sure your meta description reflects the page content or you may be accused of spamming.
Meta keywords
a meta tag hidden in the HTML that lists keywords relevant to the page's content. Because search engine spammers have abused this tag so much, this tag provides little to no benefit to your search rankings. Of the major search engines, only Yahoo! still pays any attention to the meta keywords tag.
Meta tag stuffing
Repeating keywords in the meta tags and using meta keywords that are unrelated to the site's content.
Meta tags
Meta-information (information about information) that is associated with a web page and placed in the HTML but not displayed on the page for the user to see. There are a range of meta tags, only a few of which are relevant to search engine spiders. Two of the most well-known meta tags are the meta description and meta keywords; unfortunately these are ignored by most major search engines, including Google.
PageRank (PR)
Google uses a weighted form of link popularity called PageRank™. Not all links are created equal. Google differentiates a link from an important site (such as CNN.com) as being better than a link from Jim-Bob's personal home page. The Google Toolbar (which is a free download from http://toolbar.google.com) has a PageRank meter built into it, to see which web pages are considered important by Google and which aren't. PageRank scoring ranges from 0 to 10, 10 being the best. PageRank scores get exponentially harder to achieve the closer to 10 they are. For example, increasing your own homepage's PageRank from a 2 to 3 is easy with not a lot of additional links, jumping from a 7 to an 8 is very difficult to achieve. The higher the PageRank of the page that's linking to you, the more your site's PageRank will benefit. The better your PageRank, the better you'll do in Google, all else being equal.
Pay-for-performance
a pricing model based on delivering sales or something else that can be directly attributed to the bottom line. Contrast this with traditional banner advertising which is based on impressions, a chunk of which come from people you have no desire or ability to do business with.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
a pay-for-performance pricing model where advertising (such as banners or paid search engine listings) is priced based on number of clickthroughs rather than impressions or other criteria. Overture is an example of a search engine which charges advertisers on a pay-per-click basis.
Pay-per-post (PPP)
A website designed to help content creators such as bloggers find advertisers willing to sponsor specific content.
SEO
acronym for "search engine optimization" and/or "search engine optimizer."
SERP
An acronym for Search Engine Results Page.
Spam
Manipulation techniques that violate search engines.
Spamglish
keyword-rich gibberish used as search engine fodder instead of thoughtfully written, interesting content. Spamglish often includes meaningless sentences and keyword repetition.
Spamming
as in "spamming the search engines". Spamming is most commonly associated with the act of sending unsolicited commercial email, but in the context of search engine optimization, spamming refers to using disreputable tactics to achieve high search engine rankings. Such spamming tactics include bulk submitting spamglish-containing doorway pages.
Spider
Also known as a bot, robot, or crawler. Spiders are programs used by a search engine to explore the World Wide Web in an automated manner and download the HTML content (not including graphics) from web sites, strip out whatever it considers superfluous and redundant out of the HTML, and store the rest in a database (i.e. its index).
Spider trap
An infinite loop that a spider may get caught in if it explores a dynamic site where the URLs of pages keep changing. For example, a home page may have a different URL and the search engine may not be able to ascertain that it is the home page that it has already indexed but under another URL. If search engines were to completely index dynamic web sites, they would inevitably have large amounts of redundant content and download millions of pages.
Splash page
A home page that is, for the most part, devoid of content. Often times created in Flash. Splash pages usually say something to the effect of "Enter Here" or "Choose our Flash-enabled site or the HTML version". Splash pages are an annoyance to Internet users as they introduce an extra hoop that the user has to jump through before they get to any meaningful content. Splash pages are also damaging to search engine rankings. Consider that your home page is typically considered by search engines as the most important page of your site. If your home page is a content-less splash page, then it's a wasted opportunity.
Static
As in "static web page." Means that the web page was not created dynamically from a database, but instead previously created and saved as a HTML file.
Syndication
An option that allows you to extend your reach by distributing ads to additional partner sites.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Google SEO Page Rank rigged
Google admitted that their Page Ranking System is rigged. That tells me that SEO’s attempting to sell expensive services to dominate master Google are mostly full of baloney.
Here is the original article:
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/googlewashing_revisited/
Google cranks up the Consensus Engine
Manufacturing isn't dead - it just went to Mountain View
By Andrew Orlowski (andrew.orlowski@theregister.co.uk)
Posted in Music and Media, 12th December 2008 19:38 GMT
Free Download - Comparing Data Center Batteries, Flywheels and Ultracapacitors
Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance.
Not so very long ago, Google disclaimed responsibility for its search results by explaining that these were chosen by a computer algorithm. The disclaimer lives on at Google News, where we are assured that:
The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program.
A few years ago, Google's apparently unimpeachable objectivity got some people very excited (http://www.internetisshit.org/2.php), and technology utopians began to herald Google as the conduit for a new form of democracy. Google was only too pleased to encourage this view. It explained that its algorithm "relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. "
That Google was impartial was one of the articles of faith. For if Google was ever to be found to be applying subjective human judgment directly on the process, it would be akin to the voting machines being rigged.
For these soothsayers of the Hive Mind, the years ahead looked prosperous. As blog-aware marketing and media consultants, they saw a lucrative future in explaining the New Emergent World Order to the uninitiated. (That part has come true - Web 2.0 "gurus" now advise large media companies).
It wasn't surprising, then, that when five years ago I described how a small, self-selected number of people could rig Google's search results (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/03/antiwar_slogan_coined_repurposed/), the reaction from the people doing the rigging was violently antagonistic. Who lifted that rock? they cried.
But what was once Googlewashing by a select few now has Google's active participation.
This week Marissa Meyer explained that editorial judgments will play a key role in Google searches. It was reported by Tech Crunch proprietor Michael Arrington - who Nick Carr called the "Madam of the Web 2.0 Brothel" - but its significance wasn't noted. The irony flew safely over his head at 30,000 feet. Arrington observed:
Mayer also talked about Google’s use of user data created by actions on Wiki search to improve search results on Google in general. For now that data is not being used to change overall search results, she said. But in the future it’s likely Google will use the data to at least make obvious changes. An example is if “thousands of people” were to knock a search result off a search page, they’d be likely to make a change.
Now what, you may be thinking, is an "obvious change"? Is it one that is frivolous? (Thereby introducing a Google Frivolitimeter™ [Beta]). Or is it one that goes against the grain of the consensus? If so, then who decides what the consensus must be? Make no mistake, Google is moving into new territory: not only making arbitrary, editorial choices - really no different to Fox News, say, or any other media organization. It's now in the business of validating and manufacturing consent: not only reporting what people say, but how you should think.
Who's hand is upon the wheel, here?
None of this would matter, if it wasn't for one other trend: a paralysing loss of confidence in media companies.
Old media is hooked on the drug that kills it
Today, the media organisations look to Google to explain what is really happening in the world. Convinced that they can't lead, the only option left is to follow. So they reflect ourselves - or more accurately, they reflect the unstinting efforts of small self-selecting pockets of activists - back at us. In the absence of editorial confidence, Google - the Monster that threatens to Eat The Media - now defines the purpose of the media. All media companies need do is "tap into the zeitgeist" - Google Zeitgeist™!
Take this example from a quality British broadsheet.
One journalist on the paper lamented that:
...it's becoming all too clear at The Telegraph, whose online business plan seems to be centred on chasing hits through Google by rehashing and rewriting stories that people are already interested in.
The digital director of the Telegraph recently suggested the newspaper could work even closer with Google... by subsuming its identity into the Ad Giant. Why couldn't The Telegraph run off a telegraph.google.com domain and allow Google to take care of all the technology? he mused (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2008/sep/18/uk).
Not all companies have the same suicidal lack of foresight as The Telegraph's resident guru - but many share the same apocalyptic conclusion.
Today, Google's cute little explanation of being "uniquely democratic" is no longer present on that page. A subtly different explanation has taken its place - one which acknowledges that in the new democracy of Web 2.0, some votes are more equal than others.
PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. We have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and our technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page's importance.
Picture culled from Google's 2006 analyst presentation
So you see, it's not rigged! How could Google "rig" a system that only reflects our finest and most noble sentiments back at us - mediated by a technocratic priesthood of unquestionable moral authority?
Google has taken Googlewashing in house. ®
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