Web Content Professionals Blog

Googlebot Promises Better Indexing for Flash Files

2008-07-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

After receiving numerous requests from webmasters, Googlebot is promising that it has introduced code for the search algorithms that will offer better indexing for Flash files.

Google engineers Ron Adler and Janis Stipins introduced the new changes last week. Since then, there has been a flurry of blog posts from SEO professionals and webmasters about the announcement.

According to the engineers' posting on the official Google Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/), "Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files" by improving "the performance of [the] Flash indexing algorithm" with the integration of Adobe's Flash Player technology.

"In the past, web designers faced challenges if they chose to develop a site in Flash because the content they included was not indexable by search engines...now web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content" promising "better search results and snippets."

With that said, there are still limitations to the new algorithm. For example, Google is not indexing Flash images or text associated with such images, only textual content at this time.

"Similarly, we do not generate any anchor text for Flash buttons which target some URL, but which have no associated text."

To get more questions and answers about indexing of Flash files, check out the official Q & A entry on Google's Webmaster Central Blog.

One of My First Internet Postings

2008-06-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Subject: Re: Electronic Copyright Policies
From: PHILIP E DAOUST
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 19:15:17 -0700 (PDT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In-Reply-To: <199505222033.PAA08507@mixcom.mixcom.com>
Message-Id:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Length: 1107
Sender: owner-online-newspapers@marketplace.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: online-newspapers@marketplace.com
Status: RO
X-Status:

Eric:
I am doing research on electronic copyright for a magazine and was wondering
if you knew of any WWW sites or other access points where I could find a
copy of the Berne Convention and other information relevant to this
topic. Thanks.

Philip E. Daoust

MiniBooks Like FlipStart and Ogo Face Uncertain Future in Computing World

2007-06-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

The newest of the mini-laptops (they're supposed to be called 'notebooks') are coming out and one of the most talked about is the FlipStart, weighing in at just about two pounds and about the size of a 400-page paperback book.

The newest of the "mini-books" is FlipStart Labs FlipStart, and offers the following:

1.1 GHz Intel processor
500MB of RAM
30 GB hard-drive
Runs XP and Vista.
The retail price: about $1,800.

Industry analysts and journalists seem intrigued by some of the FlipStart's features, but others maintain that the screen resolution and size are not worthy of the price, and even more feel the mini-keyboard (which is a "thumb" keyboard") is too difficult to use for productive keyboarding.

In comparison, the Oqo, touted as the "smallest PC in the world," offers consumers 1.5 GHz CPU, 60 gig hard drive, 1 gig of RAM and the model 02 supports Windows Vista. The Oqo sells for about $1,500. Both offer WiFi ability.

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal describes the details of FlipStart and Oqo before you run out and spend a bunch of money on something you may wish three months from now that you shouldn't have rushed to buy.

Apple and other companies are raising the bar on combining telephony, Internet, video, MP3s and cams all into one hand-sized device.

The all-in-one telephonic cell phone revolution will keep evolving, and folks will keep buying new ones every one or two years. Good industry to invest in perhaps.

But newer, more cutting-edge devices like the iPhone are great for offering basic telecommunications and entertainment capabilities, such as the latest news that YouTube will be available on iPhone soon.

Still, the iPhone and other like devices cannot compare to the power, ease of use and accessibility of modern notebook computers.

For the past decade, well-paid cryptic brains in the Silicon Valley and around the world have been struggling to find the middle ground of computing and telecommunications, while simultaneously achieving the best portability and affordability for a mass market.

Those in the industry know quite well the frustrations associated with devising a device that will revolutionize communications and computing.

Part of the problem is there are too many conflicting computer languages, protocols, platforms and so on that have stymied efforts to develop a more universal, cross-platform compliant code that would be compatible on all computing devices.

Yet diversity is the nature of the beast in the computing world. Alowing the world to connect via a universal code - as the USB has demonstrated despite it's limitations, size and exposure to the elements.

What do you think?

What would be the perfect computer for you?

Use the Comments link to leave a reply. No registration or other steps required!

Don't decline to speak your mind!

Can We Build The Perfect Computer Online?

2007-03-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

An Online Collaboration - Community Computer Optimization Project

For a long time I thought it would be good to have a long and active thread in which participants would collectively build the "perfect computer" by adding one idea, suggestion, fix, etc. at a time with the intent to make computers work faster and smarter while remaining cost-effective, fun and customizable.

We all have our gripes about computers (especially if you have to use Windows, which most of us do - sorry Bill, but love the work you're doing in Africa), and I have always wondered what a list of features would look like if we (the Internet community) listed not just our pet peeves about computers, but how we would make a particular change.

At the same time this would be a continual list of the features of the "perfect computer" especially if you recommend fix to the problem you list. A fix suggestion is not necessary, but for the many brainiacs out there, especially programmers, they may have a solution just not the time or resources to get to that solution. That's where others could potentially step in.

If anyone out there has a known solution to any of the problems listed, please contribute it and prefix with label KNOWN FIX.

Please use the Comments section to add your own. You do not have to registered or sign up for anything to leave a comment. Takes less than a minute.

So, to get the ball rolling, I'll start:

PROBLEM: Data loss. When Windows freezes and crashes and you lose something that you were working on, unless you have the latest, greatest (and expensive) MS software, whatever you were working that wasn't saved is gone. We've all had this happen. But it doesn't have to happened.

POSSIBLE FIX: Ideally, the best fix would be to not have crashes at all, but Windows hasn't been able to correct this common problem every since Windows 3.1 came out more than a decade ago. Maybe to fix the data loss problem, Microsoft could create a low- memory utility that could keep hidden clipboards of everything you are working on so that when you reboot you can recover ALL of your data in whatever state it was when it was lost. I do not know if there is an add-on or if Windows Vista corrects this common annoyance.

Anyone?

LONG TERM RESULT: A blissful experience for all computer users who have ever suffered from crashes that result in data loss. It really doesn't have to happen and I cannot understand why Microsoft does not have a system-wide recovery feature (such as Word has).

Please use the Comments button now to add your own computer annoyance (can include Apple too), possible or known fix and long term result, plus whatever relevant photos, links or videos may be of additional help.

311 Computer Glitch Is No Y2K, But Still A Threat

2007-03-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

During the summer of 1999, a panic was spreading among the public about the infamous Y2K bug.

In the 1940s, software engineers somehow did not anticipate the change of the millennium, and thus spread computer code around the world which only allowed two spaces for the year.

Did they conclude that software programs and mainframes would never be around as long as 1999? Others have suggested it was one of the biggest blunders (or bugs) in computer programming history - if not the biggest.

Worldwide millions of lines of computer code had to be changed from the original "six-pack" date format - two spaces for month, day and year. But come on man, there had to be someone who said: "Hey guys, what about when the year 2000 comes around?"

May be someone else replied: "Hey man, people will be flying around in saucers if we make it to the year 2000, no one is going to be using our code. Plus, it's less typing"

Fortunately, Y2K was not a major issue worldwide, but did have its problems in some areas and with some systems that rely on computer networks.

While there is no reason to panic about the recent changes in daylight savings time, it can be problemtic.

In 2005, Congress, in an effort to save energy costs, changed daylight savings time (DST) for the first time in 20 years, moving it up three weeks earlier from its original date of April 1.

Therefore, this Sunday, March 11, there will be widespread problems for computers and other electronic devices - especially those manufactured prior to mid 2005 - that rely on time-based operations and appointments, from Blackberrys to Tivos to Outlook, and possibly have ramifications in banking, air transportation and stock trading.

People who are running any version of Windows before XP (like Windows 2000), will need to manually change the time in the Control Panel on Sunday and unclick the auto update feature for daylight savings time (otherwise, programs will add another hour three weeks from now - the former DST).

Windows XP users only need to make sure they have their Auto Update feature enabled or enable it before Sunday. You must be using a version of XP that includes the Server Pack Two edition. If you are using Server Pack One, you'll need to upgrade by visiting the Microsoft website homepage.

Because many computer systems were configured before the 2005 Congressional mandate, there was no way that programmers could know and make the necessary updates to operating systems and other system files before they were shipped. So problems with various types of software may occur.

"Organizations could face significant losses if they are not prepared," the Information Technology Association of America cautioned this week.

The media has largely ignored and under-reported the 311 glitch, so it's possible many people will be caught off guard. It is disturbing that publishers, editors and producers of news organizations, especially technical news outlets, were not digging, compiling facts and writing reports about the ensuing glitch months ago.

(Admittedly, I have not conducted an in-depth investigation to see if this story has been reported, even as far back as 2005, but I asked six different computer users and only one had heard about it and the problems it could cause.)

Publishing the 311 story a week before the day, as the The San Jose Mercury News did today (here in the 'heart' of the Silicon Valley), is sloppy, ill-planned journalism and only sends people scrambling in panic to come up with a plan to program all of their essential electronic devices accordingly. [Editor's Note: If the Mercury News printed this story before, I could not find it on their website.]

Many businesses, especially small businesses, could be significantly inconvenienced because many use systems running software released prior to 2005 or they haven't heard of the glitch.

"This could have a potential big impact on businesses," said Ron Gabrielson of the Geek Squad, a company that sends tech heads to businesses and people's homes to help them resolve computer and other technical problems (Flatscreen TVs, stereo connections, DVD players, etc.).

People using computers and other electronic devices manufactured prior to 2005 should monitor those devices on March 11 to make sure the change in time is accurately updated.

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack One, update to the Server Pack Two or manually make the change yourself. Vista users are unaffected as the fix is built in. Also, just as important, is that clocks will turn back on the first Sunday in November instead of the last Sunday in October.

Most Windows users can simply double click on the time display in the lower right hand corner of their computer screen (unless you have some kind of customized setting) and easily make the change themselves.

Other considerations for the 311 glitch include possible issues with emails and faxes, meeting plans (keep this in mind to make sure you don't miss an important meeting), transactions on automatic bill payments, television recording devices, car clocks, stove clocks and other odd things like coffee makers, security systems, VCRs and digital cameras and camcorders.

Don't forget that you will need to monitor the date and time on your computer prior to the regular April daylight savings time change if you were not unable to un-click Auto Update DST feature in your clock settings. If your computer or other devices move ahead one hour, they will all have to be changed again.

Basically, you can make the changes twice or just wait three weeks for the old daylight savings time change to update on your computer. Most computers and software manufactured in the past year should have the fix already included.

No one can say for sure that the March 11 time change glitch will not spill over in to Monday, March 12 on Wall Street and other business sectors. We will have to see.

To put this whole thing in perspective, most people will not be affected. The 311 glitch is expected to be a non-issue by the time March 11, 2008 rolls around. Not only that, but there will be a little more daylight to enjoy.

Related Links:

- Microsoft Update page
- Other Vendor Resources
- Technology.Inc.com

Will YouTube's Revenue-Sharing Plans Do Away With Cable?

2007-02-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

YouTube's announcement that it has plans to create a revenue-sharing agreement with the contributors to the popular website is eerily not being discussed by the 'traditional media' even as YouTube has become an Internet sensation and a household name.

Is YouTube's latest move yet another a nail in the prepped coffin of mainstream television and cable programming?

As more information, videos, photographs, music and so on premiere on the Internet first nowadays - including announcements from presidential candidates - even regularly scooping mass media organizations on important news, there seems to be no way to stop the decline of traditional media. Can you stop a slip and slide that is in full motion? I doubt it.

In a few years, just about anyone will be able to report over the Internet on breaking news - they only need be in the right place at the right time and have a modern cell phone, which increasingly offer quality, real-time video.

The media cannot be everywhere, but the millions of people who post to the Internet can be. That's going to be the fundamental difference, as it is already playing out.

I remember telling friends and family back in 1995 that the Internet will revolutionize the way we collect and consume news, information, entertainment, and eventually, consumer products.

Few people had any confidence in that prediction even though the writing was on the wall in huge black letters against a white background - "The Internet will change and define news, popular culture and communications in the next century".

I don't know why so many were so skeptical, and a decade later, the revolution continues to change almost everything we do now. It was simply the natural progression of a relatively easy and accessible technology with broad exposure to get your message out for very little money (in comparison to, say, newspaper and magazine publishing).

Creators and users of the Internet are setting the trends for news reporting, communications, commerce, fashion, business, social networking, banking and finance, music, movies and the list goes on.

How will television as we know it fit into the enormous Internet culture of bloggers, web sites, online media and so on? That is still to be seen, but every will ultimately decide what is the best programming and will have 24/7 access to anything they want to read, watch, listen to or download.

How many people will abandon their cable companies because they will be be able to eventually easy and quickly get whatever they want commercial-free from the Internet (connected to a TV or Widescreen) when they want and how they want.

A decade ago, Microsoft introduced what was touted as a revolution in the history of online media.

Remember WebTV?

The service allowed subscribers to surf the Internet on their televisions. However, the service was clumsy and unreliable, and therefore never gained the popularity anticipated by Bill Gates and others at Microsoft.

Most damaging to the WebTV model was probably the approach MS initially used, luring people into accepting it's model (or vision) for the future of Internet and computer use. It was, at its best, a novelty.

But in the last decade or more, especially in the past five years, the Internet has become a mass communication channel, the most extensive, widely-used and globally significant communications device in the history of media and communications.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that the natural progression of technology on demand will be the future, and the industries involved will need to adapt or be replaced.

Before You Upgrade To Vista, See This

2007-02-09T01:56:00.000-08:00

Some people have already encountered problems with upgrading from Windows XP to Vista.

Don't be one of those who have to spend hours, sometimes days, to fix errors that could have been prevented by checking out Vista a little more.

Here are some essential resources to take a good look at before upgrading from XP to Vista:

- Vista help geared more towards consumer with Windows experience

- Vista help for company and business IT folks

- Tech Republic white paper on Vista

- Vista Not For Everyone (USA Today)

- 10 Reasons to Upgrade to Vista or Not (webworkerdaily.com)

Google IS Watching You

2007-02-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

Beginning today, Google will turn on by default 'personalization options' for all new Google accounts and some personalization options have already been auto-enabled for existing Google account users.

In some cases, Google users may be surprised to find out that the company has been aggregating your personal information for, in some cases, up to 18 months in what they call an attempt to provide more personalized search engine results when you do a search.

Therefore, if you have a Google account, whether it be with Gmail, Blogger, and so on, your personalized preferences tracked in both your emails, searches and blogging have been logged and filed away with your name attached to it.

Google says it has made this information well-known and that the information will not be used for any nefarious reasons. They know that no one reads the agreement policies when they sign up for an account.

Hey folks, I don't know about you, but I don't want all of my searches, emails and blog entries to be stored away forever by Google or anyone else so they can provide me a "better search experience".

I mean, WTF!!? Has Google really become Big Brother in disguise?

Now for all of you who are now as shocked as I am, there is only one recourse you have. Sign out of your Google account when you do searches. This is recommended as an alternative on the Google blog.

Little URL Forced to Take Down Website

2007-01-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

Those long and nasty URLs that we all encounter on the Internet and in emails were made much more easier to manage thanks to free services like LittleURL.com.

Well, the website has had to close down due to SPAM attacks that allegedly threatened the hosting company's server stability and security.

That's a bummer because I know plenty of folks who had used that service to lasso unwieldy web addresses.

Thankfully there are still other URL (otherwise known as 'web addresses') shortening services, most notably Tiny URL.

For marketers and other publishers who send out email with ridiculously long URLs, they run the risk of their URL getting mangled in transmission or even being rejected or delete by many email servers.

Many people who send out web addresses like driving directions and even search queries in emails, find them to be not only annoying to themselves, but also most likely the recipient.

How many times have you clicked on a really long URL in an email and received an error message or had to reconstruct the URL yourself, or even worse, have to go and fish it out from the original source. Grrrr!

But Tiny URL, a very simple and free online tool, allows anyone, not just web marketers, the ability to create simplistic and manageable web addresses.

For example, here's a really long URL:

http://www.indierockcafe.com/2007/01/is-mia-rose-next-american-idol-or-next.html

Tiny URL simplifies it to:

http://tinyurl.com/28dy2m

There are a number of considerations to keep in mind when using tiny URLs for your links. You may lose some traffic counts, confuse some users or get blocked by some email and web security systems.

Is Tiny URL about to become BIG? Is it possible it could be bigger than YouTube in due time?

Google's Blogger and Gmail Services Lack Performance

2006-12-20T18:49:00.001-08:00

Amazon Launches Ad Beta Service

2006-12-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

With Google revolutionizng adveritising on the web, it is no surprised that other heavy-hitters are getting in on the game as well.

Amazon has launched a beta of a new ad service, and it's only a matter of time to see how it works. There are so many advances being made in online web advertising that it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Anyone one else have any opinion on this?

Are Widgets Traffic Midgets?

2006-12-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Any savvy web designer, developer or marketing person can tell you that Widgets [article from ISEDB and interview with Lawrence Coburn] are increasingly becoming popular as a another tool to drive traffic, and hopefully conversions, to your web site.

Widgets have also allowed Internet and My Space users the ability to offer dynamic to their readers like never before. The one big problem with widgets are the security alerts they often cause in IE, and the fact that some are embedded into web pages, forcing visitors to either listen their musical choices or involuntarily get bombarded with widgets.

Widgets can also be annoying and actually cause people to leave a web site, especially embedded song and other audio files that automatically, and unexpectedly, blast through your speakers. Even trying to disable this in IE and Firefox does not appear to work. [If you know how to fix this, please leave a message in the Comments link below or email us at sunmoonrain@gmail.com.]

The rise in popularity of widgets owes it's fame in large part to the wild success of My Space. For a couple of years now, members have place 'widgets' - like audio players and video streams - on their pages to share music and other media and non-media files with friends easily and for free.

But for big business, widgets are yet another little way to build traffic. The prediction is that they will leap in popularity as creative marketing professionals, developers, business reps and savvy web writers find effective ways to incorporate them into their web platforms.

In the past few years, My Space has really changed the way that companies build and promote web sites. Nowadays, there are more companies and other online entities that embrace the so-called 'social networking' (rather than hording all content control for themselves), find that not staying ahead of the trends and emerging technologies in web content creation, delivery, promotion and marketing is a recipe for failure, and at the least, loss of new visitor attraction, branding and conversions.

For an overview of widgets, check out Wikipedia at and a must-read interview with Lawrence Coburn, "the father of widgets", from Internet Search Engine Database. Who actually 'invented' the widget to use on computers and the web is still debated.

Taking a Break to Visit and Work for Indie Rock Cafe

2006-11-30T23:37:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, I'm taking a break for a few days to visit with my folks. In the meantime, check out the Indie Rock Cafe for news, articles, reviews, music, concerts and profiles of indie rock artists, movers-and-shakers and talk with indie fans!

http://www.isedb.com/db/articles/1571/ you sucky SEO
http://www.isedb.com/db/articles/1570/ - widgets emerging to drive traffic

Is HTML Dead?

2006-11-30T14:28:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years, the use of HTML, has declined rapidly. In fact, I have seen more and more web sites and web developers moving far away from HTML than ever before.

New authoring languages, most especially CSS and XML, for web page creation have really become the way to go in the 'industry.' There's no questions that when CSS emerged during the late 1990's, it quickly grew in popularity because it allowed web designers and developers spend less time on coding each and every piece of content, and instead replace it with a tag that would do all the formatting based on the settings in one CSS file.

Mixing CSS with HTML back then made sense and it worked, for the most part. Ask back-end engineers what they thought of CSS when it first surfaced and caused headaches because it was so new and still somewhat clunky.

Nowadays, CSS has actually merged with many HTML elements to create tags that are more dynamic and friendly to various browsers and operating systems. The growth of OpenSource software and other alternatives to the two big browsers - Internet Explorer and Firefox - has spurred further modifications to web page coding, and will continue to.

Actually, if you think about it, has CSS and XML really decreased the amount of coding work that developers have to do? That's definitely debatable, especially where I see pages coded in new-generation CSS, if you will, in the use of the much loved

tags. While the 'DIV' tag is officially certified HTML 4.1, it has retired many other traditional HTML tags like HR, B, BR, P, and so on.

All in all, HTML is somewhat still relevant, but mostly for the very beginning and end of web pages and web documents.

Moreover, the introduction of automated software for web authoring and the number of large web sites offering online applications to build web pages (without ever writing a piece of code) means that an entire new generation of web authors (whether they are professionals or just ordinary web users) may never know how to code a simple web page using HTML.

Nevertheless, the fundamentals of HTML remain relevant, even as they have metamorphosed into a variety of cross-platform (including Linux) authoring languages over the years.

All things considered, HTML will continue to be relevant, but it will also continue to diminish in significance as more dynamic and cost-effective authoring languages eventually morph HTML into oblivion.

For example, the rapid rise in consumer use of hand-held devices to access email and web will keep rising at phenomenal percentages. This alone has presented multiple challenges to developers, engineers and designers when considering how a web page will be constructed, parsed, delivered and viewed on the web, on hand-helds, mobile phones and who knows what next. Your eye glasses or sun glasses? Trust me, someone is working on it somewhere. A quick search on Google backs up that statement.

In the end, web authoring for all the various platforms, operating systems and browsers is something that web developers, authors and designers will always have to grapple with (not to mention the stress that comes down from the business and marketing folks who don't always understand how freaking difficult it is to code and test and fix and retest and on and on).

So, the discussion is: Is HTML Dead? If yes, explain. If no, still explain ;-)
Please use the comments button below to publish your opinion on these important issues.

Note: We are currently working on putting up a bulletin board to offer these questions to more professionals in the web development and design community, as well as ordinary web users who build or plan to build web sites.

Fight the Spammers with Word Lists

2006-11-29T00:38:00.000-08:00

A great and inexpensive way to fight the spammers is to configure your system or network or web site to exclude common words found in spamming.

Here are a few good resources to get started:

WordPress Codex - Spam Lists
Process Software - Common Tricks Employed by Spammers

Will Google's New Search Feature Effect Your Site Rankings?

2006-11-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Google has launched a new search service called Personalized Search.

The basic idea is to make search results more relevant to individuals by using the person's search history, and which search results they clicked on, to determine the best search results for future searches by that person.

Is this going to skew the page and keyword ranking that so many have worked so hard to achieve? See Google for the full scope.

Participants Wanted in Alexa Beta Project

2006-11-27T23:52:00.000-08:00

Alexa, one of the leading search engine companies of the past decade, is currently seeking participants in a beta crawling project.

This is potentially a great to way to get insight at the inner workings of Alexa's search nuisances, especially since they have provided the search results for various Internet search engines for many years. In fact, Alexa was hailed as a pioneer in the search technology field during the early days of the search engine craze, roughly 1996 to 2000 when the infamous dot com bust happened.

(Note: Does anyone remember oldskool MetaCrawler, Altavista, Excite, LookSmart, InfoSeek, Northern Light? Some also provide updates on the current top searches. For example, today they include Radioactive Spy, Google Pizza, Gift Cards, Unique Gifts, Target.)

AOL Leaks User Search Queries and Then Backtracks

2006-11-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

After leaking the search queries of 36 million of its users, AOL has pulled the data from public access, faced a firestorm of outrage and perhaps future lawsuits.

The damage to the reputation of a company that has already suffered a serious decline in its user base and a multiple blows to its credibility in recent years is only compounding.

Despite AOL's backtracking and damage control efforts, everyone knows (as is the sordid case with the OJ Simpson book and interview) that in today's world, once information gets out, it's nearly impossible to get it back. (Just imagine dropping thousands of leaflets from an airplane flying over a population of people and then land and try to get them all back from everyone. It's impossible. (Um, oops).

In fact, attempts to remove content from the Internet usually hightens the media and bloggers reporting of the issue and increases the attempts by many - whoever they are (bloggers, marketing execs, disgruntled AOL users, etc.) - to find, copy and publish the data for the world to see.

That is exactly what has happened. A number of web sites, including AOL Stalker, that have posted the entire report online.

But for search engine marketing and optimization professionals, the leaked report is a potential goldmine. The data, once carefully studied, also reinforces one of the most important aspects of successfully promoting and search engine optimization.

Companies that do not aggressively seek out savvy web writers and editors are losing money, much more money than they would if they invested in SEO web professionals.

SEO professional writers, analysts and "full picture" consultants provide not only optimized, targeted copy, but they also understand the various nuiances of search behavior and search engine algorithms to create more traffic, make updates, tweak lower performing keywords and most importantly, can create new and returning customers.

Because search engine habits, rules and penalties are changing all the time, only a dedicated team can accomplish lucrative results for any business, corporation or individual endeavor.

Victory for Blogger and Other Web Publishers

2006-11-21T00:52:00.001-08:00

http://news.com.com/Calif.+court+ruling+seeks+to+protect+bloggers%2C+Web+publishers/2100-1030_3-6137323.html?tag=st_lh

User Control as an Opportunity

2006-11-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

As with many things nowadays, the web is changing advertising which Jeremy Lockhorn says is an opportunity to address the fundamentals of user control when interacting with online content.

Here's an excerpt from his article, which may not be the best news to content creators:

Here's the ultimate rub: even though all the survey data points to tremendous annoyance with video ads online, they're effective. People click them and marketers are seeing strong ROI (define). Our clients have, for the most part, experienced great success with pre-rolls, and the industry buzz is that it's consistently higher performance than many other online advertising options. So for now, it's really hard to rationalize yourself out of it if you're a media buyer.

Honoring Web Usability Day, 2006: We're Not There Yet

2006-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today is Web Usability Day. It's not an official day in the way a holiday is, but for web developers and designers, it is an important day nonetheless.

In my opinion, what we must remember most on this day is that our responsiblity is to conceive, plan, develop and launch brands, products, services and entertainment to meet the needs and demands of the end user, not the other way around.

Web usability is still a big issue because there are so many web sites that have not made their web pages completely accessible, shutting out a portion of the online population (and therefore visitors and potential customers). This is most troubling when businesses, government agencies and academic institutions fail to understand the fundamental truth for success on the web: make your web site easy to use, accessible to everyone and reliable.

In honor of Web Usability Day, here are some great usability resources and web pages from the WCP, with many contributions from UI Guru Jakob Nielsen:

World Usability Day
Users Interleave Sites and Genres
Usability Testing With 5 Users
The Need for Web Design Standards
The AskTog Bug House Ten Most Wanted Design Bugs
Online Extra Jakob Nielsen on the Unwieldy Web
E-commerce User Experience Study Details

"Trends" In User Behavior

2006-11-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

Deb Levin, writing for mediapost.com, offers an a look at the most obvious "trend" in web publishing - user experience. (This author has advocated greater concentration on the end user experience passionately since 1996).

Rapid7 Introduces Browser Emulator to Detect Javascript Holes

2006-11-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

Rapid7, a network security software company, has released a browser emulator to detect holes in Javascripts.

The Seven Sins of Web Analytics

2006-11-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

There are many ways web analytics can be interpreted or spun. Here's an article on the seven sins of web analytics from John Marshall, CEO, ClickTracks, Santa Cruz, California.

Beyond Words on a Page and Linkage Data

2006-11-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

Mike Grehan, an online marketing consultant and columnist for ClickZExperts offers a look at KDA and data linking. This is one issue that I'll be covering more in the future.