Archive for December, 2005

AOL Top Searches for 2005

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

Millions of people search online through AOL Search for a wide spectrum of things, but there are those terms that are looked-up more frequently than others,” said Jim Riesenbach, senior vice president of AOL Search and Directional Media. “From news and people that grab attention to popular products and common queries, the most searched for topics online during 2005 are a reflection of what was top of mind or what people wanted to find more information about.

Part of the list:

Top Words: 1) Lottery; 2) Horoscopes; 3) Tattoos; 4) Lyrics; 5) Ringtones; 6) IRS; 7) Jokes; 8] American Idol; 9) Hairstyles; 10) NASCAR.

Top Gadgets/Gadget Brands: 1) iPod; 2) Cell Phones; 3) Playstation 3; 4) Xbox 360; 5) mp3 Players; 6) XM Radio; 7) Laptops; 8] Palm Pilot; 9) Sirius Radio; 10) GPS.

Top Cars: 1) Ford Mustang; 2) MINI Cooper; 3) Scion; 4) Chevrolet Corvette; 5) Ford GT; 6) Hummer; 7) Dodge Charger; 8]Porsche; 9) Chevrolet Camaro; 10) Honda Civic.

A few tips on ranking in Google

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

From an interview with Matt Cutts.

I wouldn’t bother with year/month/day in blog urls; I’d just use the first few words from the title of the post in the url. Don’t try to rank for a huge phrase at first–pick a smaller niche and get to be known as an expert there, and then build your way out and up. Controversial posts are sure to build links, but too many controversial posts may undermine your credibility. I think you attract more links with a conversational style, humor, and doing your own research to produce new insights or tidbits of info. In my opinion, just commenting on other blogs isn’t as useful. There are a lot of ways to build a reputation, from having a great blog to producing a unique service to speaking at conferences. A single creative idea that catches fire in the blogosphere or digg.com is probably more useful than just chasing/buying/trading links. Original information or research is great bait to attract links. :)

What is ‘Web Clips’?

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

Web Clips shows you news headlines, Gmail tips, blogs, any RSS and Atom feed, relevant sponsored links, and more — right at the top of your inbox and messages. Receive updates from your favorite sites without having to leave Gmail!

Here’s how to customize which Web Clips are shown in your account:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account.
  2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page, and open the Web Clips tab.
  3. Browse popular clips by selecting a topic link along the left. Search for feeds by entering topics that interest you — use this feature like you would Google Search. Or, enter specific feed URLs.
  4. Click Add next to the clips you’d like to see in your Gmail account.

Each clip displays the source from which it was received, how long ago the clip was published, and a link to access the entire story or page containing the clip.

From your inbox, you can scroll through clips you’ve already seen by clicking < or see new clips by clicking >.

Note: Clips of your favorite RSS and Atom feeds are displayed randomly, and aren’t targeted to the contents of your mail.

Enkoderform Modified Anti Spam Tutorial

Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

Posting your email address on a website is a sure-fire way to get an Inbox full of unsolicited email advertisements. The Enkoder protects email addresses by converting them into encrypted JavaScript code, hiding them from email-harvesting robots while revealing them to real people.

Go to the EnKoder form.

  1. Enter in email: yourname@yourdomain.com
  2. Enter in the text users will see and click: E-mail YourName
  3. Enter in the “bubble” text seen when your hover your cursor over the link: Send e-mail to YourName

Enkoder Form

Clicking the “Enkode It” button takes you to “The Result” page

Enkode Result

Select all the code in the box, CTRL-A, copy it, CTRL-C and paste it, CTRL-V into your Web page editor.

<script language=”javascript”>function hiveware_enkoder(){var i,j,x,y,x=
“x=\”783d223536366570613232353637376463356463733635373330656e75333532663634″ +
“363663363d2b6636343637797b293437303263365c225c5c393634323d5c5c5c5c3d786a55″ +
“74682c692b3830293b2d2d6a3e3d693b297b792b3d782e636861724174286a293b7d7d793b” +
“\”;y=”;for (i=0;i <x.length;i+=2){y+=unescape(’%'+x.substr(i,2));}y”;
while(x=eval(x));} hiveware_enkoder(); </script>

Delete the bolded text above and replace it with the bolded text below leaving the “encrypted JavaScript code” section as is.

function email_yourname(){var i,j,x,y,x=
“x=\”783d223536366570613232353637376463356463733635373330656e75333532663634″ +
“363663363d2b6636343637797b293437303263365c225c5c393634323d5c5c5c5c3d786a55″ +
“74682c692b3830293b2d2d6a3e3d693b297b792b3d782e636861724174286a293b7d7d793b” +
“\”;y=”; for(i=0;i <x.length;i+=2){y+=unescape(’%'+x.substr(i,2));}y”;
while(x=eval(x));}

Save the edited code as a file, email.js

Additional e-mail addresses (functions) can be added to email.js and called via the corresponding e-mail link:
function email_dick(){var i,j,x,y,x= (the rest of the code)
function email_jane(){var i,j,x,y,x= (the rest of the code)

Add this line between the head tags of the Web page that will contain the e-mail link(s):
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”email.js”> </script>

Add this line on that Web page exactly where you want the e-mail link to be:
<script type=”text/javascript”>email_yourname();</script>
<noscript> <a href=”contact.htm”> </a> </noscript>

The “noscript” option will take a javascript disabled browser to a contact form, if you have on set up.

That’s All Folks!

Update March 25, 2006

My Enkoderform tutorial show you how to create multiple unique encoded email addresses on a single site. If you are creating only one unique encoded email on a site, this script is a cool alternative.

The Art of SEO

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

Traditional SEO formulaic elements that may work for or against you according to Jill.

  • Keyword phrase in the domain name
  • Keyword phrase in the file name
  • Keyword phrase in the Title tag
  • Keyword phrase in the Meta description tag
  • Keyword phrase in the Meta keyword tag
  • Keyword phrase in the image alt attributes
  • Keyword phrase in an H1 tag
  • Keyword phrase as the first words on the page
  • Keyword phrase in bold and/or italics or a different color
  • Keyword phrase used multiple times in the first paragraph or two on
    the page
  • Keyword phrase in the copy in every single spot on the page where it
    might possibly make sense to use it
  • Keyword phrase in all the hyperlinks pointing to a page

Using keyword-rich domain names or file names is probably the most obvious SEO thing you can do but maybe less is definitely more. Google’s take on SEO is worth a look. Jill goes on to say the following which has the ring of truth:

You absolutely MUST hire a professional copywriter. Not just someone who thinks they can write, either; you need someone who really and truly understands target audiences and how to speak to them about the benefits of what you offer. Do not skimp on this. Just because you can type or write emails doesn’t mean you can write the copy for your site. Most people can’t. There’s no shame in that. Copywriters are not that expensive and are worth every penny.

Google and Yahoo Blogs

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Google employee blogs and Yahoo! employee blogs.

Accounting for Bloggers

Thursday, December 8th, 2005

What income do bloggers have to report?
What are the business structures that bloggers should consider?
If blogging is a business, what types of expenses would I be able to deduct?
What are some options for multi-author blogs?
Answers here.