Posts by tamar

I have to say, jwenting, that I absolutely disagree with you. You need to use it effectively. Look at my profile here: http://twitter.com/tamar

Does it look like I'm wasting time or obtaining information? Does it look like I'm spamming?

If you're finding it a complete waste of time, it looks like you haven't networked with the right people.

If you don't know anything about the microblogging phenomenon called Twitter, it's about time you started. The idea behind microblogging is that you summarize your thoughts in 140 characters or less -- you're actually limited to the space available. Blogs with 250 word minimums need not apply.

Twitter has taken off ever since its launch in 2006. And for good reason. Twitter is a social network unlike any other. Here's why you need to make Twitter one of your must-visited websites.

1. Twitter lets you communicate and network with like-minded individuals: Ever since I joined, I found people passionate about topics I loved. I met folks in internet marketing, social media, blogging, productivity, and then some. I've even received job offers from Twitter!
2. Twitter has an awesome API: There are some super applications that are built on Twitter, including my favorite, twhirl, an Adobe AIR application that lets you access Twitter without the web interface. Other cool Twitter tools include Twitter Buzz, which gives you the most popular links on Twitter, and TwitterVision, which provides you with a global view of Twitter users in real time. There are hundreds of other tools just like those.
3. Twitter is mobile: You can send an SMS message to the Twitter phone number to update your friends on your everyday whereabouts, and people who subscribe to you will get instant notifications wherever they are.
4. Twitter keeps you up to date on the news: Two months …

As I said before, I'm a huge gadget girl. I had the opportunity earlier this month to test out the very cool Jawbone bluetooth headset for my Treo 755p. I have to say that I'm very picky about my headsets and like making the right investment for something that may stay on my head for a long time, especially if I'm driving (since by law out here, you have to use a hands-free device on the road).

So after trying a number of devices, the Jawbone came into my hands, and I can't say I'm disappointed at all. Here's the packaging. When you open the unit, you have 5 earbuds and 4 different ear loops (small and large both for left and right ears). The headset comes with both an AC adapter and a USB charger. After having my Jawbone charging across my apartment, I realized how useful that USB charger ended up becoming: now it's another wire connected to my laptop, and I've no complaints.

Assembly of the device is easy. One caveat: make sure you're actually putting the right earloop inside the device. They are notated with L and R for each ear. ;)

In comparison to other headsets I've used, the Jawbone is a really sturdy device. My last 2 bluetooth headsets actually broke (on the first one, the earloop cracked; on the second, the volume button died!). I can't say I'm afraid of having the Jawbone break anytime soon.

jbennet, it's hard to say if the copyrights from computer software from 1984 are still enforced. However, you have a point. I'll try to find out with some legal counsel. It's an interesting dilemma, especially if the hardware is unavailable at the present (which oldschool Apples largely are).

I don't know if you were a big gamer back in the 80s, but one of the best games of all time was BOLO built for the Apple II platform. In case you don't know, it's a shootout type game. You're a ship and you're trying to kill the alien invaders in a maze. By following certain visual cues, you can locate the ship. Once you've navigated to the location of the ship, avoid being hit by these alien invaders and shoot for the core. After you've killed all six ships in a maze, the level starts over again but your score remains. You can change the density of the maze (more walls, making it easier for your spaceship to crash) and there are nine levels to choose from (the easiest has slow alien invaders that don't really know the difference between you and another alien, but the hardest has smart alien invaders who travel super fast and can track you down even if you're going at the fastest speed). A screenshot of the game is here.

In any event, I did some crazy research to find the game and finally figured it out. This works for all flavors of Windows (XP, 2000, and I assume Vista). Here's what you need to relive the old apple days.

1. Download AppleWin
2. Locate the file for the game you're looking for. Mine was called bolo.dsk.gz. I got it from Apple2.org.za
3. Use WinRAR or a program …

I don't doubt that they need to show it, but if they upset the little guy, the investors are angry too...

My infatuation about the new Macbook Air is not ending just yet. In fact, the ComputerWorld blog has news -- hopefully insider scoop -- about what I'm dreaming about.

Author Seth Weintraub says that the reason for the Macbook Pro delay (that is, why they weren't announced last week at MacWorld) was part of an Intel shortage of Penryn processors. According to sources, these processors, which are extremely fast and aren't as hot as their predecessors, won't be available until February.

Which gives you more time to dream and get pumped, because there are more goodies on the table.

The next Macbook Pros will very likely take on the exciting new Touch interface, the cool iPhone/iPod Touch style pinching, grabbing, and resizing functionality built into the trackpad. And hopefully that will indeed be the case. With the excitement about the Macbook Air, there's no reason why Apple's higher end laptops can't take on the same technology. It's only a matter of time, really.

I remember after the whole iPod Touch-is-not-the-iPhone brouhaha that users, including myself, felt shafted that they couldn't do iPhone functions on their brand new 1st generation Touch. Well, it looks like Apple is caving, although it's going to cost consumers. Hopefully, Apple is learning its lesson and will put the customer first before their financial interests, because it's the customer who ultimately predicts its success as a company. And hopefully these products are …

It seems that Apple doesn't get it, though. It's the second time that they're really turning off early adopters. Maybe we just shouldn't buy in immediately. There are no benefits for people who do.

While I'm not yet a Mac convert, I've always been an iPod convert. I bought my first iPod in September of 2003 and can't say I complained. Reminiscing, it was a 40GB 3rd generation that I paid $475 for on eBay. It wasn't cheap, and I was fresh out of college, so it put a huge dent in my savings for a good period of time.

But I can't say I was disappointed in that investment. However, I always looked forward to something bigger. When the iPod Touches were announced in November, I ordered one immediately. It came and I have to say it's pretty awesome. I didn't go with the iPhone because I didn't need the iPlan. :) I wanted a PDA with music capabilities. My Treo 755p suits me just fine.

And so when the iPhone jailbreak was announced, I was hesitant. In the end, I caved, but only for awhile. After all, they weren't going to brick my iPod Touch -- it's not a phone. I ran with the hacked iPod Touch for a few weeks until the new iPod update came out. You know, after all that talk, the hacked iPod interface is really overrated. There's not a lot of software there yet. There's certainly not a lot of worthwhile software yet. The coolest thing by far is the game Labyrinth, which is much like playing the real Labyrinth on your PDA. But is it worth …

It's exciting, but I can't be a MacBook Air convert until I'm a Mac convert. I use my 17" Dell laptop like a desktop and I know that it would take precedence over the Air if I took that direction. I did the same thing when I bought an iBook in 2002. I used it only when I could, which wasn't often, and then I got rid of it since it was collecting dust.

So I will only buy what I know I'll invest time and energy in. Unfortunately, while the MacBook Air is sweet, if I have to buy it for myself, then I'm probably not going to use it as often as I want to.

So, MacWorld finally came and went. For months, I've anticipated this event. After Apple released Leopard in November, I had my eyes set on moving over to the Mac world. But without any guarantees that Apple would preinstall Leopard on existing laptops in their inventory and after hearing about numerous applications that weren't Leopard compatible, I told myself that I'd wait a little longer.

And after today, I'm waiting even longer.

The Macbook Air, an excellent addition to the Apple Macbook family, looks hot. Integrating iPhone/iPod Touch technology into the touchpad is just awesome. But did Apple forget about its other users? Sure, they can't roll out everything in a whole keynote -- though I was hoping. Really, I was. Perhaps it's just jealousy or the desire to get a nice big old Apple for the first time in my life that I actually intend to use, but I wanted a nice large Macbook Pro. And I wanted them to announce it. Today.

At least I'm not alone. Investors don't seem to be pleased with the announcements either. I'm in good company, then. Steve Jobs did say that there are another 50 weeks left of the year, but 50 weeks seems like way too long. That's 30,240,000 seconds. Or 504,000 minutes. You know, that seems like an eternity.

I still can't really believe that it's taking this long to get a laptop that I know will make me an Apple …

Google had a right, but they did make some judgment mistakes when killing the PageRank of many blogs that had not ever sold links.

Personally, I've seen many people hit by this and it is bothersome. A few of them clearly don't sell links but it looks like Google got to these people in a clean sweep. I'm not enthusiastic about how they've addressed these issues.

But you make interesting points when you say the following:

"[Users] want Google to turn up relevant hits, not sponsored ones and certainly not sponsored ones that are cloaked in a guise of legitimacy. It should come as no great surprise to discover that Google is playing it tough in order to protect its SERPS integrity."

You'd hope that anyone who uses these link brokers knows that they're trying to bring relevant results to the top, though. Sponsored results exist alongside the organic listings and typically are pretty relevant. Many people do flock to these results because the ad copy does appeal to their needs.

Truthfully, in a way, I don't see the SERPs' integrity at risk at all -- never quite has been, either.

maksimus2000, that has nothing to do with the question.

Or if you want a more authoritative page on PageRank, you can hear it from the "father of search himself, Danny Sullivan.

In any event, with regards to your question, as stymiee said, higher PageRank pages get crawled more often, but also, if you update your content infrequently, it will also likely be crawled less frequently.

Google will serve the page they consider to be either the original source or the more important page (most likely determined by PR). Otherwise all other duplicate content , on the original website or not, will be filtered out as duplicate. Ideally if a website has duplicate content the webmaster will remove the duplicate content as leaving it in place will cause PR leaks within the website which is definitely not beneficial to the site's rankings.

Which is pretty much what I said.

One page will be served. It may not be the most ideal page, but that page will be provided and all duplicate content will be filtered out.

As far as the issue is concerned with pankaj, if you wanted to, download all the files locally (if they're all static) and do a search for text strings that are unique to the content you want to preserve.

Well yes, I know the strategies - thanks, makemeinsecure. I was just wondering how some of you monetize. Some people use Chikita. Some people use Amazon Affiliates. What do you use?

No, that doesn't tell you if your site has been crawled. All those tell you if your site has been indexed.

Here's a tool that will tell you if your site has been crawled:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitestatus

If it works, you'll see something like this:
"Googlebot last successfully accessed your home page on Nov 20, 2007"

That means your site has been crawled.

As far as being indexed, it takes time, but Google knows about your site if you've been crawled, and you just need to get out of the "sandbox" which can take several months. Try to get inbound links to boost your site's popularity in the meantime.

One thing I learned is that you can drive traffic to your sites, but I have had more people see my site by me driving it to other sites and becoming a part of their reality, blogs, forums, youtubes, articles @ google, etc. that we post and sharing the new found URLies.

Which really is the same thing as social media. :)

The rumored sandbox says approximately 9 months. That can vary give or take a few months depending on inbound links and popularity.

Arshad: dmoz.org. Just go to their site and follow the submission instructions.

At the end of the day, dmoz.org is highly overrated. Not many people regard them as highly as they used to before.

Why do you say that when Google clearly is filtering out duplicate content and continuing to improve their ability to do so?

Why do I say that? Because that's what Adam Lasnik has said before.

However, I see that my original wording was not clear. Here's the scenario I tried to illustrate:

Google might be filtering out duplicate pages, but if the original source is on this guy's site and he's duplicating his own content, Google will still serve one of his pages, right? If he's concerned that that's not the one he wants, then he could delete it or 301 redirect it to the appropriate page.

I wouldnt use either,i think they are a waste of time and stupid.........

What do you think about networking capabilities?

I use Facebook rather heavily (daily). I've been an early adopter of Facebook since before it was rolled out to the public. I have to say that without Facebook, I probably wouldn't get job offers and the like. Surprising, eh?

MySpace is less popular for me. It's not as "intellectual" according to a recent study by a Ph.D. candidate. I'm inclined to agree, but for other reasons (see link).

Google will serve the duplicate page. It's just a matter of Google serving the right page that you want the users to see. If you don't think the page Google provides is ideal, delete it. :)

What do you prefer?

Do you find these results interesting?

Wow, talk about topic hijacking. I was ready to answer the PHP/ASP question but see that the question is completely different.

The correct term, nsrajesh, is "sandboxed." Typically, this is a 9-month period (it varies, though) where you don't get indexed because of the trust that Google has to place on your site. Factors involved in rankings include date of domain creation, content updates, and inbound links. All of this will help you build over time, but you typically don't get listed immediately. You need to be *very* patient.

I wouldnt consider Daniweb to be a JAVASCRIPT HEAVY site,it runs very well most of the time :))

So true. :) I really didn't know it was Javascript-powered for the most part until Dani suggested it.

Are you sure you're "banned" on MSN?

In the live.com query box, type site:yourdomain.com and see if it shows up.

I don't buy it. My thoughts:

1. The person wants to make up a story to get traffic. Don't give it to them!

2. Larry Page will never want to get rid of PageRank. Sure, people have wanted to get rid of it for ages, but it's a big part of Google's brand even though it is pretty much useless to the rest of the world.

3. This isn't the first time I've heard this rumor. It's also not the last.

I love how a no-name blog "broke" the story. That explains everything in a nutshell.

There are a few blogs that can help, but you have to be careful not to break the TOS.

One of my favorite blogs in this area is JenSense. I've also heard her speak and she gives great tips on how to best place your ads.

I think the person who wrote about Page Rate was a little confused. ;)

I'm not an incredibly big fan of JavaScript, but when looking at DaniWeb, it really doesn't seem to detract from the user experience at all. In fact, I think the customizations have worked for the best here. There's a lot of cool feature sets built on top of the platform which I thought would have previously been impossible.

I'm not confused, and you know why ;) The little bells and whistles don't detract from the experience. It is only if you would add a bunch of other features that don't fit with the rest of the design/site goals that would bug me. I wrote about this once when Digg rolled out new features like shouts -- that has nothing to do with social news and I totally hate it.

How many people here have a blog? How do you monetize it?

I've seen some people get a full living off of blogging -- and others are not as successful. If you make SOME money, what methods do you use? Text links? Amazon? What's your recipe? :)

I agree. It is a part of it though. The SEM umbrella covers SEO, viral marketing, PPC, and everything in-between.

SEO is more about on-site optimization. I think that the definition is a bit blurred and I also was confused myself until recently.

This may help: How does Google detect invalid clicks?

They use a combination of algorithmic tracking and human tracking to observe abnormalities in clicks. But even so, it is advisable to monitor your own website statistics to ensure that nothing abnormal is happening.

Do not try to increase clicks -- Google can disable your account for click fraud if they notice you attempting to game the system. The best thing to do is put a lot of content on your site and scatter the ads throughout.

Not really just for "SEO," more for SEM -- you have a good presence on social media sites, and your brand gets more recognized.

Do you use it, Troy? I feel like I'm one of the only ones here who do. :)

First of all, what does your forum offer? If it's a computer forum, for example, check out computer sites and start acquainting yourself with the community. Then tell them that you have a forum and are looking for readers. If you have a forum about TV shows, acquaint yourself with the TV show community and push your forum on them in due time.

You can't just have an idea but not execute some way of marketing it. Of course, a lot of forums don't succeed because their owners are too busy posting on the forum (by themselves) but not doing the necessary outreach to promote the awareness of the forum itself. In the beginning, you're going to need to do a lot of both -- community building both in the forum and outside the forum.

I also can't completely agree with stymiee. HTML sitemaps help users, but they also help the Googlebot which crawls your site to get to those deeper pages.

XML sitemaps help the search engines know about your pages. It doesn't mean that they'll crawl your content immediately.

At the end of the day, it doesn't hurt to have both.

I actually think that having an XML sitemap on my blog caused the brand new site to be indexed within 3 weeks. Typically, you're "sandboxed" in for 9 months. The turnaround time for me was quite awesome.

Great post, Jody. It's incredibly true, too.

I wrote a blog post a few months ago about some great analytics packages that you can start with.

Google Analytics really has it all, but if you want to get a little more out of analysis, you could try other packages. Microsoft Gatineau is being launched soon which is going to be the competitor to Google Analytics. I plan on using both. :)

What kind of sitemaps? Are you talking about the HTML file or the XML file that is read by Google itself?

Either way, it helps -- it ensures that your content is being spidered or at least that the search engines are aware of it so that your content does eventually get spidered and indexed.

Actually, no, SEO is about optimizing your site, but it's a subset of SEM (search engine marketing) which includes anything from link building to social media efforts and everything in between.

SEO is essentially just editing your page titles, having good navigation, etc. But SEO is not the only thing you should look into.

I made a post yesterday about social media in the Internet Marketing forum. This has helped many people achieve better rankings -- if you do it correctly.

Be careful, man. You don't want to have to run into issues with the MPAA or RIAA because you're sharing warez or illegal software. That's dangerous territory.

It definitely helps a bit to be listed in DMOZ -- though theres no guarantee that it will increase your rankings. However, DMOZ is a pretty authoritative directory and it does help if you get accepted.

Are you involved in social media at all? When I refer to this, I mean blogs, social news and bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon), and other niche communities. What do you think about their value for marketing? Do you find any better than others?

I'd love to hear your insights.

Meta Keywords really have no bearing on rankings nowadays. That's because people used to use them so often to spam the search engines that the algorithm no longer focuses on keywords.

That said, it doesn't hurt to have a few, but don't exceed about 170 characters or so.

Backlinks are critical. And yes, having content means that people will link to you whether you ask them or not. Without a doubt, build some content. Start a blog. In fact, you can share stuff about Black Friday or talk about how saving money helps. This all relates to your niche so it will be linkable, which ultimately puts your site in a more authoritative position.

When it comes to Google, the two key things to bear in mind are that backlinks and regular content is king.

Why you dont try to customize your ADS with you forum design?

You need to be careful about that though. If you put ads near images, for example, or where it's misleading and it begs for clicks, you can get banned from AdSense.

But yes, if it's flowing with text, it can work. That's why you see AdSense ads throughout on many sites and blogs.

Well that's the thing. You're opening a blog that promotes piracy. Google has terms of service that prohibit you from sharing warez or anything illegal. If you follow their terms and provide relevant and interesting content, you'll be accepted to the program. If you're doing something that clearly is illegal, you won't. Simple as that, really.