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

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

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/

A good way to find out graphically how your site is linked to other sites.

http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html

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.

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

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

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.

Danny Sullivan has announced his new blog appearing Dec. 11th. Make sure to check it out.

http://daggle.com/061116-173030.html
http://searchengineland.com/

Some notes on optimizing Blogs -
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3623983

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/

Some significant changes with Google's sitemap - more search engines are coming on board.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061116-000001

More info here -

http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2006/11/search_engines_2.html

Can your company compete with the big boys - certainly!

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_193.shtml

Some good info on Mobile Search -

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3623944

If you're interested in video, then you'll be interested in this.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3623934

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

Some good info on Local Search -

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623883

Newspapers are testing Google Ads?.... here's how it will work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/business/media/06google.html

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

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

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

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.

Some good info if you're interested in Web 2.0

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_186.shtml

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

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

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.

Some good principles for building your business -

http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1286/174/

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.

News from Google on a custom search engine service.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623765

Some good info on what counts with your optimization -

http://www.seomoz.org/articles/search-ranking-factors.php

http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=334

Some good info on using your email -

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/windows/2006/10/20/email-etiquette/

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.

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

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

You may be interested in checking out Matt Cutts - fall weather forecast.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/fall-weather-forecast/

Good stuff here - 16 rules for getting social sites to "notice" you.

http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2006/08/5_rules_of_soci.html

If you don't know it yet - Google bought You Tube - some of the details are here.
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061009-162802

Some information on the changes in the Shopping search engines.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623613

Get make your content pre-sell free.
http://mycps.sitesell.com/blitzpromotions.html

And make your site sell is free as well
http://myss.sitesell.com/blitzpromotions.html

Some info on Google Base
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24935

How to stop blocked landing pages (open till Oct16)
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29728

What exactly is Web 2.0
http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_176.shtml

Some business myths you may learn something from.
http://rondam.blogspot.com/2006/10/top-ten-geek-business-myths.html

The holidays are approaching - some tips that may help you.
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/news/article.php/3635941

Enjoy your weekend.

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/

Some good info on "Google's Toolbox".
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/09/google_reaches.html

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

20 ideas from successful businesses.

http://www.smallbizresource.com/document.asp?doc_id=103512

The ten commandments of linking -

http://www.ericward.com/linkmoses/ten.html

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

Some good info for seasonal SEO -

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623396

Some good info from Early To Rise - 16 ways to help your small business -
http://www.earlytorise.com/archive/html/091106-2.html

The most important SEO strategy.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623372

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/

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.

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

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.

A good read especially if you offer free trials of your software / product / service. This one has access for a limited time.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29686

Some good info on searchiness -

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623284

This past weekend we took a family romp to Gatlinburg. We had a great time - we'll post some thoughts and some pictures hopefully later this week sometime. Today enjoy the links below to some useful things that are filling our inbox.

We had mentioned earlier part 1 of an interview with Google's CEO - here is part 2.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3623230

EBay agrees to have Google Ads on Ebay.
Click Here

I'm not sure if I've included this before - but here's 101 ways to build links.
http://www.seobook.com/archives/001792.shtml

Keeping with the link theme a look at link baiting
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623287

That's it for today.

Some good information from Web Positions Newsletter -

Using Site Explorer from Yahoo -

http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/08/explore_your_we.html

Some good info on social sites -

http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/08/an_introduction.html

An interesting discussion on what was found on the AOL search files.

http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mccarthy/2006/08/search_insights.html

Some more info from Googles SEO -

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623230

Sending signals to the search engines -

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623207

Google CEO on trends -

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623229

Did Google have a "mini-update", "data refresh" recently - check out this site for some more details.

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/005903.html

Are fresh links important - an interesting discussion going on here -

http://www.v7n.com/forums/seo-forum/35050-importance-fresh-links.html

Matt Cutts the Google guru and MySpace...hmmm.
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/005889.html

Some notes on the bloggers for the search engines (Matt Cutts et. al.)
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3623181

Creating buzz about your offer - getting people to want you to send them an email.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29674

Enjoy your Weekend.

Google presented a case against the click fraud prevention services - some details on that can be found here.

http://google-says.blogspot.com/2006/08/flaws-in-googles-report-on-third-party.html

Some interesting discussion on social networking.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3623153

Traveling with a lap top is a little different than it was even a few weeks ago - they are starting to ease some of the restrictions but these tips will work.

http://smallbizresource.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=191902232

A excellent pdf with 77 ways to generate traffic and I'm sure you will find at least one that you didn't think of.

http://www.associateprograms.com/pages/77ways.html

Some good information on the latest Search Engines Strategies conference can be found at the link below - make sure to book mark it because more info is coming later this week.

http://realityseo.com/

Some of you have maybe heard the ruckus about AOL providing search histories / results for users. They've since removed them from the web but you can still find them here - along with some interesting news links.

http://www.gregsadetsky.com/aol-data/

Some good info on viral campaigns -

http://persuasion.typepad.com/architect/2006/08/3_simple_steps_.html

Got this from Kirt Christensen about a new pdf from Google - it contains some good info.

http://scientificmarketingnewsletter.com/maxeffect.pdf

Took some time off and a long weekend - yesterday we got industrious and cleaned the office - now of course we can't find anything but it makes us feel better.

Some tips on Adwords compliance -

http://www.affiliateclassroom.com/Google_Change/Surviving_Google.html

Some good info on SEO and your URL structure.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622997

Some good info from yahoo and although it is mostly about pay per click, I'm sure that you can use it for your business.

http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/nl/jul06ts.php

In case you didn't check out the link for sitepoint, make sure that you check out a link that was in the newsletter -
http://fortuneinteractive.com/laptop.php

Today working to clean my inbox out of worthy news - hopefully you'll find something that you enjoy.

http://askmichel.icoder.com/

Everything you ever wanted to know about robot text files.
http://www.robotstxt.org/

More info on the landing page (Google Adwords)
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/07/google_updates_1.html

Sitepoint Tribune had some good stuff - you can check out the issue here -

Enjoy your weekend

More info on the landing page controversy can be found here -

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3622950

If you've been having some problems with your Google ad campaign of late - maybe you can get some insight or post your comments about what is happening to you here -

http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mccarthy/2006/07/whats_happening.html

A good post on determining how competitive a keyword is.

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=12632

A good article from DEMC on four most profitable promotions -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_154.shtml

Some good web design tips - even if you aren't a pro.

http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/design-tutorials/20-pro-tips

Remember the pet rock? The article below explains what happened.

http://www.soleproprietormagazine.com/articlereaderlive.asp?eyed=29

If you use Google Ad words to promote your site - you may have noticed some differences lately.

Some info on the change and Googles "Quality" score can be found here.
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3619936

A nice guide on linking - one note if it's "grey" be very careful about doing it - also "buying links" has been strongly condemned by Google. With that said enjoy.

http://www.jimwestergren.com/link-building-guide/

Did Google reveal some spam scores? You decide.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060705-095715

This is funny - appears that there have been some lawsuits / arguments about Googles plane -
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060707-063500

Here's a nice marketing checklist -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_150.shtml

An interview with a Network Marketer -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_146.shtml

A nice snapshot of promoting your site -

http://www.webreference.com/promotion/search/traffic/index.html

How to read web analytics -

Part 1
Part 2

We've been having quite a few storms here - so as usual we are behind. As MySpace takes the world by storm - I'm interested in knowing if anyone has had success marketing something.

Short and sweet today - Google has introduced quite a few products recently - this article explains them.

Click Here

During our trip to Lexington we also stopped at Build a Bear. What a concept - you get to create a toy - and customize it so that it is unique. Of course Haley had to get one, it's her fourth. As we were checking out I got something interesting though - a book by the creator of the company. "Bear Necessities of Business". A quick glance showed that it may have some things of interest - and if it has only one nugget in it then it was well worth the price. As we finish reading it I'll share any thoughts that we glean from it.

We had a few days off and took a trip to Lexington - on Friday we decided to watch a movie which I rarely do (at the theater anyway). The movie we watched was great - I'll take a bit about "Cars" later this week - but the experience was something to be desired. I think I'm beginning to understand why the movie industry is in the duldrums. To me going to the theater should be a unique experience. These days many people have the big screen TV's, and surround sound systems that sound nearly as good as when you go to the movies.... and you don't have to battle the crowds, interruptions while watching the movie.... or watch commercials at the beginning of the movie along with a hundred previews.

I'm sure they added commercials because the movie folks wanted to earn a buck or two more, but don't they realize that this is one of the reasons we stay at home - so we can not have to deal with advertising....

It was a good thing that the movie we went to see made up for things - I can now however more fully understand why fewer people are going. What I think they should do and will do is release movies both at the theater and maybe on a premium DVD version. Or maybe the theaters can clean up their act and try to make the experience something to remember... anyhoo just some thoughts.

Applying to your business - how can you make your customers experience better. I bet if you took some time today you could think of a couple ways to do this. Think on it and I'll give you another example tomorrow.

A nice forum post that lists the number of "things" Google uses to rank sites - some interesting reading.

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=12170

Optimizing your blog - some good notes on this are below.

Click Here

Ralph Wilson has updated his promotion list - always some good stuff.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm

If you want to add some umpff to your web copy then check this out.
Click Here

Had a stormy Sat / Sunday night here. Lots of thunder, lightning and wind.

A good article on growing your list -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_138.shtml

Links from other sites to you can't hurt - see the link below for details.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060530-082217

A good article on doing things to help you build your business during the Summer -

http://www.smallbizresource.com/growth-strategy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188700242

We just got back from vacation - we had an "interesting" time. We got a tornado warning while visiting a mall - that is the first and last time I want to see the basement of a store. It didn't actually touch down but we did see some minor damage around the city. We visited Chicago and I'll put their cab drivers up against any of the Nascar racers. The skyline there was definitely something to see. Haley (our daughter) really enjoyed visiting the American Girl Store.

I will say this though I really enjoy living in my small town.

Interent marketing newswatch is a nice site if you want to feel the pulse of some things that are happening.

http://www.imnewswatch.com/

An excellent article explaining Google Sitemaps and what you can learn from utilizing it on your site.

http://www.webreference.com/programming/sitemaps/

We should now be on a semi-regular posting schedule.

Some good info on the Big Daddy update and linking.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/indexing-timeline/

A nice update on search behavior -

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3604266

Matt - the Google guy has given a large interview - you can find it at the link below.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3605961

Make sure to listen to the MP3s

A list of things from last week -

A good article on search engine spam.
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3603906

Notes on the click fraud settlement from Google -
Click Here

Google unleashes some new toys including Google Trends -
http://www.google.com/trends

Redefining Local Search

Google talks about the future -
Click Here

More tomorrow.

Some good notes on a SEO contest for a fictional word - details are here.

http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=2&issue=343&format=html

So what is the difference between the first spot and other spots?

As the school year winds down (yipee) we'll be having a more sporadic posting schedule. So if you don't see me for a day or two rest assured that I'm having fun.

A blog that makes 10 k a day - who would have thought it -

Some info -
More info -

If you skip out on implementing super targetted keywords then you may be missing out on additional revenue.

Check out the link below for some ways you can do this.

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_123.shtml

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_124.shtml

Are you following these eight steps / requirements for building your business.

Google is getting a bit angry over the new browser - ie the default search box is MSN.... hmm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/technology/01google.html

Requires you to be registered.

So does penalize sites that have dashes or underscores?

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/