One of the advantages of working at Google is that you get to see neat products and features before the rest of the world does. But that can also be a disadvantage. Sometimes I’d like to talk about a fun Gmail Lab or a new Calendar feature but I’m honestly not sure whether the outside world can see the new feature. I don’t want to leak something that the outside world can’t see, so I usually I play it safe and end up not talking about any Gmail Labs, for example. I’d enjoy giving more Gmail tips but I also don’t want to show my actual email that might contain secret stuff.
I think I’ve figured out a way to solve this issue. I’ve created a new Gmail account, siliconvalleyuser (at) gmail.com. Let’s say it belongs to John Q Public, a power user living in Silicon Valley. Feel free to send […]
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Written by on July 3rd, 2009 with no comments.
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I just finished reading Justin Brigg’s post “9 SEO Tips”. The post may have a boring title but his tips are pretty sound. I especially liked tip number 5, which tells about the power of the hash #, something frequently overlooked, if known at all, by SEO newbies. On my next post I will be expounding on the uses of the hash but for now what I’ll really be writing about was inspired by the accompanying illustration on the need to compromise to come up with a good web design. The illustration, which I’ve shown below, may seem funny but is perfectly true.
As I have written back in 2008 both in my posts entitled “More than Just Optimisation” and “SEO Doctors: Educating our Clients” it is clear that many times clients ideas on how to “optimise” their website may not necessarily be what we know should be done. What I […]
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Written by on July 2nd, 2009 with no comments.
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The following post is a counterpoint to the Outspoken Media post titled “Would I Recognize Your Blog In A Dark Alley“, and exists to offer an alternative path to land of unicorns and rainbows.
First off there’s nothing wrong with running a community driven website or blog, in fact in many cases it can be an excellent and very successful path to choose. That said it’s not the only choice, not the right choice for everyone and maybe not the right choice for you, and it’s important you know your options. The direct opposite of a blog which fosters a sense of community is a thought leadership blog.
Leaders don’t seek your approval, then don’t want to make you feel warm and comfortable, like you’re laying on the floor in front of firepalce with a comfy blanky surrounded by puppies, and they don’t lead by consensus. Leaders have vision, vision to do […]
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Written by on July 2nd, 2009 with no comments.
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The overwhelming winner in my 30 day poll was “Bike to work” so that’s what I’m doing during the month of July. In the third week of July I’ll be out in Boston to speak at SIGIR, but any time I’m heading into the Googleplex during July, I’m planning to bike there.
Is there something good for yourself that you’ve been meaning to do? Why not try it for 30 days this month? The month will end whether you try something new or now, so why not tackle something new?
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Written by on July 1st, 2009 with no comments.
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I enjoy posting some of the funny emails that I get. This one made me laugh:
You don’t need to %SI3_rnd10 rod’s %SI3_rnd11 and %SI3_rnd12 %SI3_rnd13’ jokes!
This is a %SI3_rnd14 for %SI3_rnd15 your %SI3_rnd16! It will %SI3_rnd17 in seconds after she %SI3_rnd18 and %SI3_rnd19 as good as if it was a %SI3_rnd20 rod!
No more jokes – you will always get %SI3_rnd21 and moans! The huge pack costs less than 30 %SI3_rnd22!
%SI3_rnd23 can be a %SI3_rnd24! No one will know about your %SI3_rnd25!
%SI3_rnd26 now and save more than $10 regardless of your order’s size!
I think it’s spam about embiggening a specific body part. But the spammer clearly didn’t set up their spam template correctly. Anyone have guesses about which email spamming software package this is?
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Written by on June 30th, 2009 with no comments.
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This weekend I was doing a little housekeeping on some of my domains and hosting accounts and decided to test and see if it was possible to get a website indexed using XML Sitemaps and no external links.
Since some piano player in New Jersey owns the domain MichaelGray.com I had a few options but the best was to go with my middle initial and byt the domain MichaelAGray.com. Since I’m all about wordpress as a CMS I put the files up, put up my theme of choice thesis, tweaked it with the thesis reputation skin, and installed the XML Sitemaps plugin. I set it up to ping all of the search engines as shown below:
Within 4 days the homepage for the domain was showing in Bing and Google as shown below (yahoo just didn’t love me enough)
I’m a big advocate of using sitemaps, and I think this demonstrates their effectiveness. […]
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Written by on June 30th, 2009 with no comments.
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With the blogosphere churning out nearly 1 million posts every 24 hours, an unstoppable river of content flows over the web daily. It’s daunting, especially if you’re new to online publishing. The good news is it’s still very possible to succeed, even if you’re just starting out today.
Developing affinity with a group of readers who will actually take the time to link, comment and share your material requires a commitment of both resources and creativity - this is common knowledge.
But all other things being equal, you can and should give yourself an extra advantage by developing a unique brand for your blog. This is beyond being organized and having a plan, this is about standing out in a world of infinite choice.
With that in mind, here are 7 ways to help develop a unique brand for that shiny new blog you’ve just built, or give fresh life to […]
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Written by on June 29th, 2009 with no comments.
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I’d like to say thanks to the people who sponsored the blog this month, without them there wouldn’t be regular posts here.
Text Link Ads – New customers can get $100 in free text links.
CrazyEgg.com – Supplement your analytics with action information from click tracking heat maps.
Clasione Directory – Quality directory for listing your business
Interested in seeing your message here? There are banner and RSS advertising options available find out more information.
This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.
Thanks to this Months Sponsors – June 2009
Related posts:
Thanks to this Months Sponsors – February 2009 I’d
Thanks to this Months Sponsors – May 2009
I’d
Thanks to this Months Sponsors – March 2009
I’d
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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Written by on June 28th, 2009 with no comments.
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Earlier this week I gave a presentation on the intersection of SEO, online PR and social media to a great mix of people (mostly agencies) at a SEMPO Arizona event. The SEO/PR/Social topic is an interesting mix due to the convergence that’s been happening over the past 2-3 years and of course, because it’s the essence of what we’ve been doing at TopRank.
Forward thinking companies are investing in social media for a variety of reasons, including gaining a competitive advantage through building relationships, creating content and capturing mindshare. I think it’s safe to say that companies making investments in better connecting with their customers now, will have a distinct advantage over those that are resolved to “wait and see” with this social web thing.
TopRank’s survey of the Top Digital Marketing tactics for 2009 revealed 6 of the top 10 tactics as social media. Marketingsherpa’s 2008 Study of Social Media Marketing & […]
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Written by on June 26th, 2009 with no comments.
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I got a spam email that I thought about blogging about, but decided not to. Then they spammed me *again*. Sheesh.
So here goes. If you get an email with a subject like “Affordable Link Building Outsourcing,” think twice. Any email that starts out
Make your links appear Natural
Link Building is one of the most significant aspect of the off page optimization process and is a major determinant…
is starting off on the wrong foot. The objective is not to “make your links appear natural”, the objective is that your links are natural. Another rule of thumb for me personally is to be wary of people that email or cold-call you out of the blue repeatedly. Checking my email, these “link building experts” email-spammed me back in April, too.
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Written by on June 24th, 2009 with no comments.
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