Monday, February 26, 2007

Hope you had a great weekend.

Want to check out your ad quaility score for your Google Ad - find information here -
http://searchengineland.com/070221-233255.php

Small Business SEO / SEM - good info -
http://searchengineland.com/070221-171543.php

Google Update / Refresh?
http://www.seobook.com/archives/002070.shtml

Friday, February 23, 2007

Fun Friday ---

I have been playing World of Warcraft quite a bit lately. Here's a Link. I had quit for a while but when there new expansion came out (The Burning Crusade) came out... the fever struck again. I usually just goof off soloing and was really happy to see that the loot you get is pretty awesome. Seems like every quest reward I was using to upgrade my gear. Anyway would definitely recommend it. Have a great weekend.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Check out One Ups pdf with buying trends from Christmas 2006

It's a .pdf so remember to "Save As" if you want to keep / read it later.

Here it Is

Some Good info from the SES Strategies / Matt Cutts http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3625056

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

A way to find out your quality score for Ad Words - note I don't necessarily recommend the product they are promoting but some good information none the less.

http://perrymarshall.com/renaissance/googleslap3.htm

Getting out of the supplemental index -

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070212-123015

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Monday, February 19, 2007

Finally got more snow than a skiff - about 2 or 3 inches. Not enough to really go sleigh riding but enough to throw some snowballs. This week it is supposed to be 60.... go figure.

Some good notes on your meta tag title and branding. One thing I believe that sometimes folks overlook is the fact that once you get your site listed well - you will actually want / need them to click on your link.

http://www.searchreturn.com/digest/117.shtml

A success story -

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3625006

Local advertising after Panaman (for Yahoo).

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624978

Enjoy your "holiday" / Monday.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Happy Fun Friday - we got a skiff of snow this morning. One thing (to me anyway) to remember about having fun is that it all doesn't have to be active. One of my favorite activities is bird watching. During the winter we set up some seed outside of our sliding glass doors. It takes a few hours but the birds will find it. If you find a relaxing chair and don't move about too much then they want fly away. Below are a couple of pictures we got last week. Till next time take some time to enjoy the little things.



This Cardinal Looks a bit like Santa Clause :o)

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Hopefully everyone is warm and dry. We don't have much snow here - just a skiff. I spoke with my Aunt last night who lives in Northern Indiana - she had snow "over her mail box" so three feet of drifting snow..... hmmm.

Something useful for you to check out today - some mistakes PPC marketers make.

Click Here.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Yahoo has plans to remove the "free" search tool. Here is a tool that you can use in the meantime.
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Three tips for getting past the personalized search -
http://searchengineland.com/070208-134406.php

A huge - and I do mean huge list of articles on linkbaiting.
http://www.cornwallseo.com/search/index.php/2007/02/09/the-enormous-linkbait-list/

Friday, February 09, 2007

I enjoy watching good TV - a favorite I have mentioned here is 24, another favorite of mine is Lost. I am not a crazy Lost fan - you know the one's that watch an episode 10 times and freeze frames things and then goes crazy with the really small things, but I do think it is a good show. One recommendation I would have for you if you enjoy it is to make sure you have season one and season two on DVD. Also if you want to watch the really crazy folks disect an episode then you can go here.

http://www.losttv-forum.com/forum/

Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

A pretty good story about a guy that wanted to propose to his girl friend on the big game.

http://searchengineland.com/070207-064805.php

The "science" of rankings -

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624851

Think like a search engineer.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624905

Tomorrow is Fun Friday so stay tuned.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Yahoo starts there "Improved" ranking system today so make sure to keep tabs on your PPC campaigns for the next bit.

Google has added a new link reporting tool.

http://searchengineland.com/070205-165836.php

Searches will be getting more "personal" with Google as well.

http://searchengineland.com/070202-224617.php

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl - I thought the ads were a little worse than usual although the viewer created ads I enjoyed quite a bit. I think we'll be seeing more and more of these as ad agencies loose their creativity.

Some ideas for Local after Yahoo Panama.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624807

Enjoy your week.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Wow... it's been a busy week. But busy is good. The Tama Flu worked for Haley so she is feeling better. Today is her B-day and it snowed so she has no school and is a bit disappointed because she will miss getting the presnets delivered to her while she's in school. Last weekend we had her party and that was fun... she really racked up the cash.

This weekend is the superbowl and I do love football, more lately than ever before for some reason. I have a DVD Recorder ( Panasonic DMR-EH55) that I really enjoy putting through it's paces. I do enjoy the commercials - maybe if I have a chance I'll get creative and put them all on a DVD. The plan when I got the DVD recorder was to take videos we have and transfer them to DVD, I haven't done that but that is on a long range to-do list. I do like the recorder although in my area the TV Guide doesn't work for some reason. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Some good info for you to digest today -

Index and Ranking
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624618

Short term Vs. Long term results
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624736

100 Alternative search engines - use this list to expand your reach.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php

Will Google create a virtual world?
http://play.tm/story/9065

Monday, January 29, 2007

Hopefully you enjoyed your weekend.

Some ways to use your competition for links.
http://searchengineland.com/070125-143409.php

Google has some incentives for using there checkout... is it fair or not. Some discussion can be found here.
http://searchengineland.com/070126-143148.php

Friday, January 26, 2007

Fun Friday is here. I'm a big Lost fan - I've watched the show since day one. For Christmas one of the things I got was the DVD for season 1. I actually figured that I would remember everything... I was very very wrong. I've noticed / seen things that I know I missed in the first run through. My goal is to finish the shows before it returns.

Stay safe and have a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

My daughter has the flu and it's snowing outside... should be an interesting day. The doc recommended Tama Flu so we'll see if all the advertising does what it says :o)

Things we can learn from outdoor advertising - some excellent info.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624640

and some good information on pre-quailifying clicks.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624668

Enjoy your day.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The chicken or the egg... index and ranking - which one comes first - details are here.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624618

Are you in the link circle of trust?

http://searchengineland.com/070122-065132.php

Monday, January 22, 2007

A good site to visit if you're looking to find some round corners for your site.

http://www.roundedcornr.com/

Friday, January 19, 2007

Fun Friday is here. Looks like we may have some wild weather here - I can handle about anything except for ice and the power outages that follow - they are talking about some ice so here's hoping and praying that we get either snow or rain.

We are definitely still enjoying our Wii - I would also like to recommend an additional game for you - Excite Truck. You drive a 4 wheel drive truck by holding the controller sideways and then "steering" it like you would a steering wheel. Sounds a little complicated but my 9 year old a 14 year old and yours truly got the hang of it pretty quickly. You drive in different environments and tracks and as you progress you unlock new things. I would definitely rank this a 5/5.

Click the movie - thumbs down. My daughter wanted it and it was definitely not age appropriate for a nine year old. The last part of the movie was ok, the first part stunk. Recommend using the DVD as a coaster.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

If you've enjoyed the paradoy of 5 golden rings - check out the latest edition.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624552

And some information on Google - are they giving special consideration to folks that use Google Checkout?

http://searchengineland.com/070116-142503.php

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Friday, January 12, 2007

Another Fun Friday....

We continue to enjoy the wii - one thing that you're able to do is take a test that estimates your age. You do several different tasks, hit a baseball, bowl different setups of pins etc. Based on how well you do. When I started my estimated age was 70. A week or so later my estimated age is now 30 or so. My goal is to become a teen ager again.

I am a huge fan of 24 and got the Season 5 dvd set as a Christmas present. I've almost managed to make it through them and definitely have enjoyed it almost as much as the first time through. The 24 season starts again on Sunday... this season I think I'm going to track things like how many times Jack gets knocked down. I haven't sneaked a peak at the Season 6 prequel yet, but I've heard it is good.

We're going to get socked here with lots of rain over the weekend so it may be a good time to start a good book. Till Monday take some time to play this weekend.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

An excellent article - Merchandising Calendar 2007

Click here

And more in the debate over SEO as rocket science or not.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624467

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Monday, January 08, 2007

Some good tips for local search optimization.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624384

Google gets a new patent on duplicate content.

Click Here

A list of 100 search engines -
http://battellemedia.com/archives/003236.php

Part two of the rocket science article
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624388

Friday, January 05, 2007

We're going to start a new tradition - on Fridays we'll talk some about some ways we have fun... after all I'm a strong believer in all work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (or girl).

One of the really great things that we got in December was the Wii (I pronounce it about 14 different ways but I think it is like a french yes). So far we have enjoyed it tremendously. It comes with a sports game that has bowling, baseball, boxing, and tennis. The unique thing about the game is that you control the game by moving your arms, not just clicking a button. An example if you bowl, then you stand up and move your arms like your bowling, for baseball you swing the controller and that swings the bat. It is the only video game I've ever played that I actually worked up a sweat when playing. We'll talk some more about this later but we are definitely enjoying it now.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Creating good content can help your site grow for a number of reasons.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624364

Have a good one.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday - now it's time to get back to work. These came in over the break ... enjoy.

Targetting the Long Tail
http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/target_long_tail_keywords/

Some more info on the maybe Google update.
http://searchengineland.com/061229-133230.php

How to identify legitimate bots / spiders.
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/12/how_to_authenti.html

A new study says that some websites may stress you.
http://www.bitaplanet.com/business/article.php/3650881

That's all for today - time to start digging out.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Hopefully you had a wonderful Christmas. We've been having a great time with the Wii - both young and old have enjoyed bowling and baseball - we still haven't managed to open the other games we got for it. No implanted controllers in the wall so far... just make sure you have plenty of room when you're playing Tennis or you'll get some bruised knuckles / elbows.

Did Google have a recent update - some details are here.

http://searchengineland.com/061222-091205.php

How has Yahoo Panama been working so far? Some good information on some changes you may see are below.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3624253

Friday, December 22, 2006

It looks like Santa's sleigh had a wreck under our Christmas tree... :o) We have been so blessed. This weekend I'm Joseph in our play - so please say up a prayer that I don't trip over my skirt. Also we (me , Lisa, and Haley) would like to take a moment to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas filled with Fun, Friends and Family!!

Now some good links that are filling my inbox and wanting to come out --

Some good information on how your site architecture may affect SEO - do you have any stumbling blocks for the spiders?

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624227

We've talked about local search many times before - this one focuses on the SEO of local.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624230

Can you optimize your video? Yes you can.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624257

Have a Wonderful Day

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The New York Times has a great article on Paypal / Google check out - did you know they aren't charging any fees till the end of 2007 hmmmmm.

Click Here

A good newsletter from Wilson Web - an article about adwords can be found here -

http://www.wilsonweb.com/paid-search/goodman-adword-rank.htm


A big hubub on linking can be found here -

http://searchengineland.com/061218-200043.php

One note will will no start a limited (maybe a few / maybe none) posting schedule till after Jan. 1st. We want to take a moment to wish you and your family a Wonderful Holiday full of Joy, Laughter, and Fun with friends and family.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Do all of the new game shows have to insert a commercial every ten minutes... it is no wonder that less people are watching the networks.

Top google searches for 2006

http://searchengineland.com/061218-111042.php

Google Local results optimization tips -

http://searchengineland.com/061217-112255.php


One way to stay away from click fraud is to use search engines where you buy time instead of clicks. Two examples of those engines are below - I think I may test some things to see if they give me some good bang for the buck.

http://www.exactseek.com/
http://www.isedn.com/

Enjoy your day.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Wow a week left.... the weekend was good. I'm Joseph in our church's Christmas program... I haven't shaved since November :o)

A note about linking -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_201.shtml

Most of it is a repeat of some things we've talked about before... but a hint - usually if you hear things over and over again then it just may bear listening to.

At the end of the year there are usually some lists for most search terms - here are two.

http://searchengineland.com/061215-083925.php

http://searchengineland.com/061215-084603.php

If you don't recognize some items on the list then it's time for you to do some research.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Some info on Social marketing -

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624194

Google launches a new way to search for patents -
http://www.google.com/patents

Here is the old way.
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I used Ebay recently to purchase a product that is sold out in many places - I haven't used them for many years since I bought a purple dinosaur for Haley. One of my goals for the coming year is to have a bit more fun and to exercise more than my but muscle. I'll let you know more and give some details later about the purchase.

If you're interested in local search then make sure to check out these tips.

http://www.searchengineguide.com/mcgee/008975.html

Monday, December 11, 2006

Hope you had a great weekend. A good wrap up of the Chicago SES can be found here.

http://searchengineland.com/061208-022452.php

Friday, December 08, 2006

Today it is cold - around 10 degrees - colder than some cities in Alaska ... go figure.

A good update on some local ad opportunities.
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/local_search/local/article.php/3624132

Have you ever thought about how many offline sales you get from your online efforts - this article expounds on that a bit.

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624135


Thursday, December 07, 2006

I talked some a bit ago about using other peoples advertising to your advantage - this article may give you some new ideas.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624107

Some good info on keyword research -

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624126

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

So what would Google do if someone hacked your site - here are some details of what would happen.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-google-handles-hacked-sites/

Monday, December 04, 2006

Friday, December 01, 2006

Hope you are safe in this wild weather - this morning I stepped on my front porch and it was .... 75 degrees.... tonight it supposed to be 25. Winds are howling but at least we don't have to worry about snow.

Some good info on Google's datacenters.
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/11/no_ranking_in_s.html

Make a podcast with your phone -
http://www.wilsonweb.com/newmedia/watlington-podcast-phone.htm

12 Tips for higher response ads -
http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_198.shtml

That's it for today - stay safe.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Well yesterday I went Christmas shopping - I'm definitely not much of a shopper but Lisa and I try to make things fun... and I will admit that it was fun.

Some good info on crawlers -
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3624017

Matt Cutts (the Google Guy) on some mistakes to avoid -
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/2006-pubcon-in-vegas-thursday-site-reviews/

Some excellent info on social search - how it's manipulated.
http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2006/11/spam-farms-social-web.html

Monday, November 27, 2006

Are you still stuffed - I am....

More info on the "long tail" and search can be found here.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3624008

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Some good info from Web Marketing Today on "The long tail" as well as the "torso"

http://www.wilsonweb.com/paid-search/goodman-torso.htm

We would also like to take a moment to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving holiday - see you on Monday.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Monday, November 20, 2006

Hopefully you are enjoying your Monday -

We've talked some about the long tail - this article talks about whether you may be chasing the wrong one.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623968

Some good info on the Google Algo -

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3150448.htm

A good list of SEO - Tools -

http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/

Friday, November 17, 2006

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

It seems that Google has changed things yet again with regard to Google Adsense - details and comments can be found here.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061110-085425

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Some good stuff today -

Google FAQs from Webmaster World -

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3145284.htm

If you are a member of Adsense - ie you get paid by Google - then this may interest you.
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061107-083931

And the "long tail" - something I've always advocated especially if you're in a market with loads of competition.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623881

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A nice interactive business planner if you're looking for one or working on revising a current one.

http://www.cbsc.org/ibp/

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Seems like Google is scrambling a bit to make sure it doesn't get bit by copyright issues on You Tube.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061103-092757

No matter which party you're with make sure you vote.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Some good ideas on getting traffic from YouTube - It's the Nov. 1st post.

http://homepage.mac.com/dmcorp/

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Some ideas on what other folks are doing for the holiday season -

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=14634

A good article on SEO's going ppc.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623794

I downloaded Firefox 2 - one thing I can say that I like is the spell checker... my daughter can spell better than I can :o)

Enjoy your day.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Firefox is out with version 2 - I haven't had a chance to play with it but the details are here.

http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2006/10/firefox-2-review/

Google chanced their webmaster guidelines - now you can promote dynamic links better -

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061025-124239

Some info on tweaking things if you're a fan of local search.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623768

Some good info in LED # 2275

http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1285/55/

The post by Nathan near the bottom on SEO Tools.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Some info on Google's test search site.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623707

and some excellent info on taming Google's spiders.
Click Here

Enjoy your weekend.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Some good advice on checking out your web copy.
Click Here

A ton of useful links for learning about your competitors.
http://www.seomoz.org/blogdetail.php?ID=1457

Some comments from Microsofts boss on Google buying YouTube.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2006/tc20061011_940241.htm

An interview from May - still some good info with Cutts.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3605961

Monday, October 16, 2006

If you are interested in getting some local traffic - then you'll want to check out this free course.
http://local-biz-masters.sitesell.com/blitzpromotions.html

Friday, October 13, 2006

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Friday, October 06, 2006

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Matt from Google answers some questions about Page Rank -
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/more-info-on-pagerank/

And Google has a new "test" search site - remember many things they test they end up implementing so go play with it.
Article about it -
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061002-192616
The site - http://www.searchmash.com/

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

I had mentioned a few days ago about LSI - the big thing is don't get crazy.

This link may help to explain things a bit more -
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623571

Monday, October 02, 2006

Social Networking and you...
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623545

If you've been around awhile you know for some reason that Google loves to shake things up around the holidays... will it happen again?

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=67687
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3096135.htm

Friday, September 29, 2006

You may have heard that Google is striking up a deal with Quicken... now you may wonder how in the world could that be useful for either of them.. this article should explain things a bit better.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623538

We've talked some recently about Google changing some things (increasing minimum bids) for some folks with AdWords. This article explains some of the reasons behind that.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623543

Thursday, September 28, 2006

An article on Spider food and blunders.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623520

Some good info - especially if you dig deep to check out the ways you can find misspellings.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623534

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Business Weeks take on Click Fraud

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060922-064347

My take on all the hubbub is this - if you're worried about fraud then only advertise on the "search" sites...

Some good info from Matt of Google - 21 tips.
Click Here

We've talked some about Froogle both on the web and in our Newsletter - it seems that recently there have been some changes - a good summary of those changes can be found in Ralph Wilson's newsletter.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/ecommerce/googlebase.htm

Monday, September 25, 2006

Some good (but heavy) info if you're interested in some of the interior workings of algos -

http://www.miislita.com/information-retrieval-tutorial/svd-lsi-tutorial-1-understanding.html

Can Google stay on top

http://www.cmomagazine.com/read/columns/ca_011906.html

The Chicago Tribune talks about search -
Find it here.

We've talked about patents before - an interesting take on it can be found here.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623488

That should give you enough to chew on till Tuesday or so...

Friday, September 22, 2006

Yesterday we talked about success - today here's an article that discusses why some businesses fail.

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_175.shtml

Monday, September 18, 2006

hmm seems that MSN has started there new search engine but for some reason they aren't giving you any stats....

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060915-085113

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Monday, September 11, 2006

Some tidbits from over the weekend -

Make your own seal of approval - http://www.says-it.com/seal/index.php

Check your site in 30 different browsers.
http://browsershots.org/

Friday, September 08, 2006

This is interesting - Google may start listening...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/03/google_eavesdropping_software/

Some good info on Web 2.0
http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_168.shtml

If you use newsletter advertising then this article will be of interest to you -
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29690

Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Short work weeks are rough - I did have a great time Monday, it just seems that the rest of the week is playing catch up. Maybe Monday that will happen.

A tidbit of news about Danny Sullivan from search engine watch - in a nutshell he's leaving.

Some details can be found here:

http://daggle.com/060829-112950.html
http://daggle.com/060905-161556.html

Friday, September 01, 2006

If you're worried about how you appear in local search results make sure you do the following steps:

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623297

We all know bots are important for our optimization - here's some info on "taming" them.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623312

I know I promised some pictures / commentary on the trip I took last weekend - we'll save that to next week. Till then I hope you and yours have a wonderful Labor day.