The Blogspot Blogger

phpFoX Custom Themes, Free Templates and Demo.

2007-12-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

My newest website is myFoxSite.com which specializes in custom phpFoX themes and design.

If you have not heard of phpFoX, phpFoX is a very powerful full featured product perfect for starting your own community network of friends, or for your employees. It is often refered to as, "A MySpace Clone.

Take a test drive at our
phpFoX Demo Site.

We offer packages that include all licences, installation, and custom theme design along with webhosting at Ubiquity Hosting Solutions. Ubiquity Hosting caters to the needs of phpFoX. I can not say enough good about these folks, I am truly impressed with their quality of service, prices, and most of all their client support team. I now use them exclusively.

If you are interested in a great social network script to start your own myspace type of website, visit myFoxSite.com for inforamtion and pricing.

Best Regards Always,

Raymond Roy
Owner

Ubiquity Hosting Solutions

2007-10-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a hosting solution for your website this is your lucky day, I kid you not! Not only is Ubiquity Hosting affordable, is simply has the best support team there is... I am really impressed!

After reviewing many different hosts I found that most offer pretty much the same packages, the major difference was in service. Well the reviews that I had read recommended Ubiquity Hosting Solutions for their outstanding service and I am glad I did.

Like I said, I spent some time searching for a hosting solution well in advance of starting my website Chess Friends. Yes, this is my web site, and yes, I do use Ubiquity for hosting it!

Here is an article I wrote about their customer support, and let me tell you, every word of it is the truth!

Ubiquity Hosting Review

They truly stand up to their name, "Ubiquity," the ability to be everywhere at a certain point in time.

You want the best? You owe it to yourself to at least read my review and to check them out. You will thank me for it later on...

I have no shame what-so-ever, to put my name and reputation on the line by recommending them.

Best Regards,

Ray

My Stop Smoking Book - Add URL

2007-09-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I am happy to say that for a website that is just over a week old we are receiving very positive responses from visitors.

One of the questions I have been asked about is reciprocal linking. In reply to those questions we now have a quick and easy link exchange form that everyone is invited to visit and participate in. You can visit our link directory at the following URL:

My Stop Smoking Book - Add URL

At this time I would like to thank everyone who has visited and especially those that have offered words of encouragement.

Ray

My Stop Smoking Blog

2007-09-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

I would like to invite you to my new website and Stop Smoking Blog for people who want to Stop Smoking and Quit Forever. This book is a must have for smokers, or for individuals that would like to send it to a smoker they would like to see quit the tobacco habit. Below is a viewing of my index page.

My Stop Smoking Book "Steve" - A Father’s Diary

"The ultimate quit smoking book!"

Will impact everyone who reads it.
Patricia...

Overwhelming, powerful, harrowing experience.
Alice...

“If you are a smoker and have ever thought of quitting, this book is for you. It will give you reasons so compelling that you will never want to light a cigarette for the rest of your life. If you are a non-smoker but could be tempted to start, this book is for you to read immediately. This book is powerful, overwhelming, and hard hitting, yet absolutely truthful and so touching that it may bring you to tears. It will have an impact on everyone who reads it.”
Author: Gabriel Roy

Comments from those who reviewed the book:

Overwhelming, powerful, harrowing experience.
Alice
A powerful story, touching and empathetic. Had a large impact on me emotionally. Most people, if not all, will be affected as well. Will impact everyone who reads it.
Patricia
Very effective at describing the immense pain a smoker goes through when suffering of lung cancer. Its brutality is not for someone who has lost a loved one to lung cancer.
Anonymous

The book is currently in the finalization process and the first printing of 2,000 copies should come off the presses by December 1st of this year, 2007.
Price will be $12.95 plus shipping and handling.

The publisher will pay the shipping and handling for those of you who reserve a copy now by clicking on this link: reserve me a book now
You will get yours by Christmas.

Firefox and SEO

2007-05-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Firefox and SEO

Here's one I bet you may not be aware of, a free SEO plug-in for Firefox. This is so cool I had to pass it on. SEO for Firefox lets you import marketing data right into Google and Yahoo search results. Now, I am not one for browser plugins at all and will not jump at the latest and greatest hype either. I won't even use the Google tool bar, done that, been there...

If I am going to use a plug-in it must be small and fit nicely into the status bar. It just bugs the $hi† out of me to have a plug-in that takes up to much space in my browser. This little tool is clean, powerful, and fits my needs nicely, so I thought I would share this with you.

You are reading this because like me, you are interested in SEO. Let's face it, we are small timers' in the scheme of things without the bankroll for professional help and need every advantage we can take, especially when they are free! The features are easily customizable with right click options, something I really enjoy, and the information you have at your fingertips is worth at least a look-see.

SEO for Firefox Features:

Pulls useful market research data right into Google's and Yahoo!'s search results, including the following data near each search result.

PR: (Google PageRank) an estimated measure of global link authority
Age: age pulled from Archive.org, shows the first time a page was indexed by Archive.org's spider. The theory is that if Archive.org found a page so did many of the major search engines.
Links: (Yahoo! linkdomain) shows a rough estimate of the total number of links pointing at a domain
.edu Link: (Yahoo! .edu linkdomain ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .edu links pointing at a domain
.edu Page Link: (Yahoo! .edu link ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .edu links pointing at a specific page
.gov Link: (Yahoo! .gov linkdomain ) shows a rough estimate of the total number of .gov links pointing at a domain
Page Links: (Yahoo! link) shows a rough estimate of the total number of links pointing at a page
del.icio.us: number of times a URL has been bookmarked on Del.icio.us. Heavily skewed toward techy / Web 2.0 stuff.
Technorati: an estimate of the total number of links to a site from blogs
Alexa: rank based on website traffic . Heavily skewed toward internet marketing and webmaster related resources.
Cached: (Google site:) shows how many pages from a site are indexed in Google
dmoz: searches the Google Directory to count the total number of pages from a site that are listed in DMOZ, and the total number of pages listed in DMOZ that reference that URL.
Bloglines: shows you how many people are subscribed to a particular blog via Bloglines.
dir.yahoo.com: is a site listed in the Yahoo! Directory or not.
WhoIs: makes it easy to look up the whois data for any site.

Download Firefox and SEO

There are many place you can download this little gem of a tool by doing a search, but I am going to recommend you download it from here, SEO for Firefox @ SEOBook.com to introduce you to a site you may not be aware of. This is main reason I have picked this site for the download.

The SEO Book
Yes, this is a shameless plug. It seems that a lot of folks don't know about The SEO Book , absolutely the most up to date information available in SEO. The only current SEO Book on the planet. Buy the industry standard #1 ranked SEO Book. But don't take my word for it... Visit the site. Order the book, it's backed by Unconditional 90 Day Money Back Guarantee that if SEO Book is not for you just say so and you'll receive a quick and courteous refund. You will thank me for turning you on to this valuable information.

Affordable Website Hosting

2007-05-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Affordable Web Site Hosting

Affordable Web Site Hosting
Cheap and Affordable Website Hosting
Review LunarPages.com
LunarPages.com

Understanding Pagerank

2007-05-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

Understanding Pagerank

It is widely believe that a higher PR will give a website better position in search results. Although PR does play a roll in search results, the simple fact that Google seldom updates their PR shows that Google does not put as much importance on PR as they once did. How can they when the web changes from day to day and they update their Pagerank every 3 to 6 months.

Ok, next thing to understand is that PR is an algorithm using the complex hypertext linking structure which determines a websites Pagerank using a democratic voting system in this linking structure. The absolutely best article on this subject was written by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page from where else, but Google's Alma Marter -- Stanford University. In case you are not aware of this, Google's inception began at Standford, in the Computer Science Department by who else, Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page. Here is the killer article they wrote: The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine Here is another article written by Sergey Brin Is Your Search Engine Multilingual?

Now, you must keep in mind that both of these articles were written in 2000 and 2001 respectively, and Google has made some rather major adjustments in their use of Pagerank. Let me briefly explain.

With the advent of news feeds, todays information is hour to hour. This changed how every major search provider serves their search result to keep pace with todays need for instant gratification. What this means to webmasters like ourselves is that Pagerank is an outdated mode of SEO, and we must now focus on Page Strength because of this. I wrote an article on SEO: Page Rank vs. Page Strength at The Blogspot Blogger.

Since Pagerank is now outdated, more focus is put on these two practices, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, and SEM - Search Engine Marketing as a way of gaining exposure.

And one last thing before I forget. At the moment Yahoo is making some major changes. Keep an eye on them...

Blogspot Bloggers

2007-04-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

Recently I started this blog which I plan to be as a rather exclusive retreat for blogspot bloggers to hang out and exchange views and ideas. There are no plans to heavily promote this blog, however as time evolves the natural course of search crawlers will eventually do that. Everyone is invited to participate and comment.

Anyone wanting to write, or author an article can do so by contacting me. Please use the contact from from my chess blog Author Article as I am to lazy to do it right now, and don't have the time to create another contact form at the moment.

Enjoy your visit.

Regards

SEO: Page Rank vs. Page Strength

2007-04-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

SEO: Page Rank vs. Page Strength

To begin with, this article will talk about SEO, i.e. Search Engine Optimization. This is not necessarily a 'how to guild on SEO either,' but more about the importance of PageRank, or rather, lack of importance, and to help you understand your current web presence in spite of PageRank, while helping the single minded value individuals place on PageRank. Once you fully understand PageRank, you will make adjustments in your SEO techniques, linking strategy, and the value you place on PageRank.

PageRank is largely nonsense.

I can hear it now, 'This guy has bumped his head!' 'PageRank is not nonsense!' Let me explain something, PageRank was devised for the purpose of helping to organize the data of a specific search engine, that search engine being, 'Google.' This being true, it is widely believe the that major search engines with complex index centers such as Yahoo, and MSN, will implement some from of PageRank's core citation philosophy to help organize their own data. It is inevitable. Even Ask.com will eventually join this pack. So, don't get lost in the PageRank hype, instead focus on the facts, PageRank is a tool to orginize complex data structures...

PageRank, otherwise known as PR, is highly over rated as a tool for SEO, and to be honest, it is outdated as a form of SEO. The smart optimizers out there know this and will agree, but they seldom talk about it. If you ask, 'how can PR be outdated,' then you need to think about how often Google updates their PR.

Now, to explain this further. First, PageRank is delivered on the total number of pages in the Google index center. Let's say that number is 10 billion, and Google adds 1 million additional pages a day. Google updates their page rank every 90 to 180 days. It is simple, your tiny little website cannot keep pace with the Google index. To do so, would mean you would need the same number of incoming links to your site that Google has in there index, 'day-to-day' just to stay even. This is the reason why you see a websites page rank fluctuate so often. This fluctuation is not an indication that Google is starting to update their PR, rather it reflect the additions to the index center and the update in that index.

Think Holistically.
PageRank is at best a 'rough' system for 'estimating' the value of a given link based on the links that point to the host page. Since PageRank's inception in the late '90s, more subtle and sophisticated link analysis systems have taken the place of PageRank. Thus, in the modern era, PageRank measurement is of limited value. You will constantly see pages with a great PageRank or 7 or 8, found listed 20, 30, or 40 deep in search results below pages with a PR of 1, 2, or even, 'ZERO.' In addition, as stated earlier, PageRank is updated only every 3-6 months by Google, making the values of PageRank even less useful for search results as time goes on between those updates. So, rather than focusing on PageRank, it's important to think 'holistically' about a link's worth. If your not, you had better start, because this plays major importance in how results are determined.

What the hell is Page Strength?
Page strength uses data from Google, Yahoo, and Technorati, using their current data, looking at the number of current links, and current listings. This is where page strength has more value than PageRank, simply because page strength is based on current links, and current data. If you are paying attention you see this happening every day. You update your website, post a new article, and all the major search engines have that information available withing 48 hours as results for a search term. I will give you an example; I posted a youtube chess video the other day (April 15th) on my chess site and two days later (April 17th) I was first page for the search term 'youtube chess video' with two listings. So you see, a page which has yet to gain a page rank can still have page strength, thus ranking higher in search results. Now how often have you seen that and wondered, 'how can this be?' Well, now you have the answer.

Don't get me wrong here, I want a high PR just as much as the next person. PR does play a part in determining search result, however, the focus here is to reevaluate the importance of PageRank by thinking rationally about how search results are actually determined in the first place. Don't place your hope solely on a higher PR but rather see the big picture as a whole, and perform your SEO techniques with a broader understanding of page strength and the true value of PageRank in determining search results.

Two really cool links you probably don't know about:
SEO Browser
Page Strength

Web Hosting Services: Review, Lunarpages.com

2007-04-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting Services: Review, Lunarpages.com

If you are looking for a good web hosting service, The Blogspot Blogger recommends Lunarpages.com Web Hosting Service. They are fast, reliable, and extremely affordable all the way. It is hard to beat their service and prices.

Now I know what you are saying to yourself, 'This guy is just looking to make some money off his affiliate program.' Sure I am, but check this out! I actually went and visited Lunarpages.com first hand to check them out. I wanted to see with my own two eyes who and what I would be dealing with.

Let's face it, with all the hype going around about web hosting, is it is hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, especially on the Internet. I am no different than you, I want a good reliable web service at a good price too!

I had been looking around for a web host when I came across this service from a recommendation at the Bloggerforum.com. I went to the website and the prices were just what I was looking for so I did some background checking on them first.

You know how it is, it sounded to good to be true. So, the first thing I did was find out if they had been blocked by Google. No they are not, ok, they passed that check, so I moved on to find out who they are.

When I did this check I found out a couple of things, who they are, who they affiliate with, are they a reseller, NO, and lastly, where they are located. Much to my surprise they are located about 30 miles from where I live, so I paid them a visit. Now, normally I wouldn't take this step, but seeing how they were located so close to me, and I felt this might be the solution I have been looking for, I felt paying them a visit was worth the effort.

You see, I want to run a chess server. Running a chess server requires the use of a dedicated server, not exactly cheap, a lot of scripts, multiple SQL databases, mulitple emails, and the list goes on. For this project I need reliable people, and a reliable service I can count on day after day, year in and year out. In addition, my budget is limited so I was bargain hunting, and as we all know the sayings, 'Buyer Beware' and 'You get what you pay for.' If I am going to invest my hard earned money for something, I want to make sure I get value for my buck, bottom line.

Now, I have been in the Internet business since 1999, and I have made my share of mistakes that cost me my time and money. However, I have learned from these mistakes and find myself leery of Internet hype and deals that sound to good to be true. -- But when I visited LunarPages, Wow, I was impressed! LunarPages was just what I was looking for, at a extremely reasonable price, and they honestly go bend over backwards helping you out. Not only are they close to where I live, an added bonus for me, but they provide a toll free number to their service, along with the typical ticket support. As a consumer, customer service plays a big part in my decision process, and LunarPages.com certianly has good customer service.

Folks that know me, know I am not one to exaggerate, or lie. I tell it like it is, whether good or bad. My reputation in the Internet Industry, and recently, the blog-o-sphere is a good one, and I will not jeopardize it. So, I will say it again, 'If you are looking for a web hosting service consider clicking one of the banners located on this site. You'll thank me later for it.

Here's something else, if you are a webmaster, or blogger that want to start an affiliate program with LunarPages.com click one of the text links that look like this. Lunarpages.com. It is simple and fast to get started.

I am a regular poster at the BloggerForum.com. Feel free to view my profile first.

Affordable Web Site Hosting
Cheap and Affordable Website Hosting
Review LunarPages.com
LunarPages.com

New Blogger, Google and Dynamic Meta Tags

2007-04-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

New Blogger, Google and Meta Tags

It's a Damn Shame

Looks like bloggers are S.O.L when it comes to meta tag in their head block. Not that you can't add meta tags, but that is it. To date there is no way to create dynamic meta tags for each page or article, what a shame. We all know that the meta tags are not used very much and pull little weight when it comes to search results, however, Google does use them and in an important way.

Here's the Deal
Here's the deal with meta tags and new blogger. First, let me explain something, while Google is scouring the web it sends the information to the index center. This is a complex bank of computers that basically forms an index of your site, just like the hard drive on your PC. Information is then sent to another set of computer as "blubs" (This is related to Blubs and SEO.). It is these blubs that you see as a description when you see a search.

Ok, 'so what you ask?' Well this is important for a few reasons.

One, and this is the most important, Google uses it... After all, if Google is using this for search result you better be using it too, 'Right?'

Two and three, and this relate to the first one -- is how much is Google indexing of your site? Well, the truth is they probably have your whole site indexed, but when you do a search for your site you see at the bottom, Some result were duplicated. Why is this? Well, you have a static description, that is, it is the same on every page. That being the case the googlebot will send the same blurb out for all your pages, and omits most of your content as duplicate material. An easy check is to Google for your site and look at the results. Check the last page of the your result, {which might just happen be the only page for your site), will read something like:

In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the ones already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

Hoover your mouse over that link and you will see something interesting, the last little part of the link that says, 'filter=0'. You get it now? The first results were filtered. Let's face it, all results are filtered, the point is, lets improve our chances and have fewer omitted results.

What can be done?

Well, this part is a catch 22 situation, but the best thing to do if you have static meta tags is to get rid of it. This will force Google to parse a blurb from your content. What Google parses is cause for concern, as you are not in control of what is used. One the other hand, your hands are not tied to one description, and you can at least try and write your articles in a way as to increase your odds to what content your would like displayed. This will usually be the first sentence in your article.

The second thing you can do is hack your header with a dynamic header widget. I have one hack for using the title tag in a post, that also uses your page title. Currently I am working on a widget that will include (meta description) and (meta keyword)

There is one last thing you can do and that is to revert to the old blogger. There are widgets and hacks that will do all the above available for those templates. I will post the header widgets I have in another post.

Google Seal of Approval

2007-04-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Related Article: Pikiwedia.com
pikiwedia: Free at Last

Google Seal of Approval

2007-04-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Google Seal of Approval

As a few of you may know Chess Strategies 101 and PikiWedia run by Patrick, and one of our guests, were branded last week as a dreaded , 'Spam Blog.' This put restrictions on our ability to publish as we needed to, 'Verify' we were, 'Human' and have a, 'Human' visit our blogs to lift the verification flag for all posting privileges.

I got the impression Google has no racial prejudice what-so-ever, they simple classify individuals as 'Human.' Sounds like Google has entered the Galactic Age of the Borg, 'This-- is-- species-- 1242M-09-- sub-- category------ hue-mon.'

All joking aside, being tagged a spam blog carries a certain stigma with it and kind of gives you a feeling of guilt when you haven't done anything wrong intentionally. I guess one reason for this feeling is the fact there is no explanation on why the flag has been placed. We are both left clueless and speculating on what happened.

Whatever the reason, it was doesn't matter. After responding to Google's request to have the blog reviewed, their response was rather quick. I responded to their request on Saturday morning and Monday morning the site had been reviewed and the verification flag had been lifted.

I have to say that whenever I have contacted Google they have responded quickly, usually within 24 hours. They don't leave you hanging. So, in retrospect it looks like Google actually thinks of us as, 'People.'

For those interested posted below is the email I received today;

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam.

If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal.

Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Isn't that special? :)

It's the old link to me and I'll link to you trick.

2007-04-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's the old link to me and I'll link to you trick.

Before we get started --
This article focuses on page rank, which means we are talking about Google. This may open up a can of worms here, and is an issue that is subject for debate which I won't enter. There is too much hype about 'quality linking' and I don't go along with the current thought when it comes to linking and Google's page rank... and I'll tell you why.

You are just starting out, with some good reading material on your blog now. You put up a couple of ads, and are kind of happy with the layout, but you know it needs improvement. Your thinking, Gotta get folk over here to check out my blog, Yeah!

Your feeling good having put in hard work and long hours getting your blog ready to go public. Eventually, you end up at some bloggers forum and announce yourself as the new kid on the block. You have one post to your frick'n nic, and that means your credibility is in doubt from the gate. Oh well, gotta start somewhere...

In the meantime you've read all these articles about link exchanges and reciprocal linking, and the advice from the 'Experts' is to find quality links, links that relate to your blog. Yep, that's what I'm going to do, go after those quality links, Yeah Buddy! Don't fall for it. Here are a couple of reasons why.

First
You can't control who links to you, and who doesn't link to you. You can only control your end, who you choose to link to, or with. You say you don't want those off topic links? Well your out of luck there buddy, you are going to get them anyways.

The truth of the matter is, eventually your are going to have them both, good quality links along with the poor quality links. Some will be related, some will not be related. It is the nature of the Internet, you cannot fight it. If you do, you certainly will not win! You are going to share from the higher page ranks while the lower page ranks will share from you. That is how it works.

Now, with that said, let me explain a couple of things. When it comes to outbound links from your site, linking to Joe Blows little start off blog is not going to effect your precious little rating. I can hear it now, Gawd, I can't believe you said that!

Wake up... First of all, Google is primarily looking for the link farms, the spammers and abusers, they make that clear. Google has a pretty good idea who they are, how to find them, how to filter them, and lastly, how to penalize them and those who use them.

Google Rats
There are plenty of little Google Rats (as well as malicious and jealous webmasters) out there constantly reporting sites who they feel do no follow the Google outline, or come up with creative link exchange programs. (Note: This is a word of caution. Don't jump blindly into the latest I'll review your site, you review mine, three way linking, or some others 'Latest Linking Scheme.' They all get reported.) There are so many reports being given each day to Google that Google must use triple speak to deal with it; i.e.

Q: Can a user expect to receive feedback for a spam report?
A: This is a common request, and we know that our users might like verification of the reported URLs or simple confirmation that the spam report had been taken care of. Here's the triple speak. --> Given the choice how to spend our time, we have decided to invest our efforts into taking action on spam reports and improving our algorithms to be more robust. But we are open to consider how to scale communication with our users going forward.

That sure sounds to me like the 'Politically Correct' way of saying, 'NO! Stop ur crying and get off my back Bitch!'

The chances are that Joe Blows rad little start off blog is not in those categories. If he is, and you don't catch it from the gate... Well, you should be concerned with more than your page ranking and start doing some research on the subject.

Secondly
Google tells you all inbound links are counted as a vote. It does not say, only related links count as a vote. Google also tells you, have other relevant sites link to you. Well, where does it say you have to link only to relevant sites? Google encourages link exchanges and reciprocal linking by the simple nature of their page rank implementation.

Back to Joe
Let's get back to Joe. You see a new post, Joe is offering an inbound link to your site, why would you refuse it? With the exception of sites that have been banned, ( Bad Site? Check Here ) All inbound links have a positive effect. Granted, some pull more weight than other, but they all count towards your goal of achieving a higher page rank.

Joe is going to get his related links, that is inevitable. Furthermore, as time marches on, Joes' blog is going to receive a better page rank, and may even pass your ranking. Who benefits now?

The bottom line is, googlebot loves to find links. It will also flag your site if it believes you have to many outbound links. Once this happens you must notify Google and have a human look at your site. This isn't as bad as you may think usually takes a matter of a few days. These folks know the difference between a friendly Blog Roll and a Malicious link farm. Afterwards, you may find that you will receive more hits from searches too. There is nothing wrong with being selective in who you wish to exchange links with either. The question is, are you being selective or protective?

Bottom Line
To sum it up, most people will read about page rank and will read what they want to hear and pay no attention to the words in print. To further their affirmation on what they want to hear, they fail to read between the lines, and discover what is really being said. That is the reason for quoting the little blurb from Google. Friendy link exchange is promoted by Google and you should be encouraged to link to the new kid on the block, it's a win-win situation.

D'oh
Oh no, I used the word blurb. There is some interesting thought about SEO and the way Google uses blurbs. In the future I will explain common SEO techniques and touch on how Google uses blubs. Watch for "SEO and The Blurbs."

Content is King - and what "Content is Not"

2007-04-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Content is King - and what "Content is Not"

If you haven't heard of this catch phrase, "Content is King" then you have just been introduced to the number one strategy for a successful blog. Don't forget it!

That being said, it should be obvious that 'Content is Not' the following:

Content is Not; a bunch of flashy 'Bling' splattered about.
With perhaps the exception of the kids out there entertaining themselves with blogs for their family and friends that is just what it is, 'Kids Stuff.'

Now please, don't get me wrong here, I encourage those new to web design and those wanting to learn how to navigate around the ole' html, to try out everything there is. It is a learning experience, and it is also fun.

But, if you plan to become a serious blogger, don't get to involved in the latest gadgets like changing the cursor, sparkly things flying about, or animated gifs everywhere. Use that brain bucket God gave you and think first about what you place in your blog. Ask yourself this question, "What would Google do? What would Yahoo do? Well maybe Yahoo isn't the best example. But what are the major players doing on their blogs and websites?

Content is Not; the latest bells and whistles on the widget market.
Oh my gawd, I am just as guilty of this as the next person. This is just some friendly advice from someone that has, 'Done that -- Been there!' It's fun, granted, but the negative effects on your guests doesn't justify some of this crap!

Content is Not; ads filling every nook and cranny of empty space.
Sure, monetize your blog but for crying out loud, keep it simple and organized. It's like this; you have a new blog, you need visitor to your blog and you haven't got any visitors. I ask you, "What good are those ads going to do for you?" And here is the simple truth about ads, it all a numbers game.

Follow me on this. You need heavy traffic for ads to work. The click through rate could easily be in the thousands. That is; you may get 'ONE Lousy Click' for every 'ONE THOUSAND VISITORS!' In the industry this is called the 'Conversion Ratio.' Wow 1/1000, (And that number is conservitive.) how much traffic do you need now?

It is best in the beginning to focus on content, and attracting visitors. When the number of visitors starts to climb, then work in your affiliate programs. Personally, I don't fool around to much for pennies. I would much rather have a good affiliate programs where the dollars are used with odds like that. When the time comes you need to sit down and do the math to find what is working for you and not working for you.

Content is Not; cut and paste, one video from Youtube.com after another video from Youtube.com.
What's up with all the blogs that do this? How is anyone going to find you site? Search crawlers can't read that video. You need to say something relevant about the video, give a review or something.

Content is Not; cookie cutter, three way linking, or mirror sites.
If I want spam I will open my email...

This list is endless, What have I forgotten?

I Have a New Blog - What's Next?

2007-04-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

Q. I just started a new blog, what do I do next?
(How many times have you heard that one?)

A. Stop! Take a deep breath... Calm down and relax.

So, your the new kid in the blog-o-sphere community, you say! Before you run off and try to do a link exchange, or 'M.bare.Ass' yourself, do yourself, and eveyone else a favor, go to Technorati.com sign up and Create an Account. Next, sign in, find the link that says, "Claim Your Blog," and follow the instructions. By claiming your blog you now have the Technorati "Badge of Honor" displayed on your blog, and it is now safe to say, "Welcome into the "Blog-0-Sphere Community!"

Btw, while you are there browse the Technorati Tools by looking for and clicking on this link. --> Technorati Tools.

Lastly, as a reminder, don't forget to read the frick'n Terms of Service. Don't lie, we know you didn't read it when you signed up.

Regards.

First Post

2007-04-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

tap-tap-tap... testing, 1,2,3 Is this thing on?