08/26/2008
Attempting to stay current on the latest search engine algorithm changes or search optimization tactics can be overwhelming for webmasters attempting to juggle it all. With this in mind, we have put together a list of the industrys best Search Marketing blogs. These blogs are current and discuss important issues related to search engine optimization and search marketing.

08/20/2008
Links from different directories have different values. A webmasters time is limited, and most webmasters want to get the biggest bang for their bucks. So where should they start when it comes to directory submissions? Search engines assign value to links from the various directories differently, so how do you spend your time where it matters most?

Directory Submissions that Matter

08/05/2008
Federal guidelines for what type of information companies can provide on their official Web sites have not been updated since 2000. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to modernize its rules to fit in with an increasingly digital economy.

Under the revamped rules, which have not yet been released in their entirety, information posted on a company Web site does not necessarily have to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley rules relating to a companys disclosure controls and procedures.

The rules also provide clarity on how companies can: provide access to historical or archived data without it being considered reissued or republished every time it is accessed; link to third-party information or Web sites without having to adopt that content for liability purposes; and use summary information in the context of the securities laws antifraud provisions.

Meanwhile, Web sites no longer have to include a printer friendly version of all their documents so sites can include more interactive and dynamic features, the SEC said.

08/04/2008
Links are an important component in an online marketing campaign. Websites usually need a significant number of quality links to perform well in organic search rankings. Once upon a time, high-quality links were plentiful. But with the growth of the web, and an ever-increasing number of competing websites, garnering link love and attention is a time-consuming and tedious process.

Four Kinds of Links

07/15/2008
Staying ahead of the competition can be an on-going struggle. While it is not healthy for a company to focus too much time and attention on the competition, it is important to stay abreast of what your competition is doing. When evaluating the competition, assess the industry giants and companies closest to your space. But be sure that you don't exclude the small companies in your assessments. Sometimes a small competitor can have innovative ideas or marketing concepts, but may lack the capital to really benefit from the concept. This may present you with an opportunity.

Evaluating Your Competition

07/14/2008
Yahoo Inc will let customers, academics and even rivals build customized Web search services on top of its own technology, introducing a resale model into a major Internet market.

Additional Details

07/09/2008
Many small businesses struggle to develop an identity consider checking out logo sites for an inexpensive way to build a corporate identity.

Here are some to try -
Logo Search - http://www.logo-search.com
LogoMaid - http://www.logomaid.com
Web Design Elements - http://www.webdesign-elements.com

Here is a good summary of What to Look for in a Logo  

This is a more in depth article -
What Makes a Good Logo
And Building an Image with a Logo  
Bring Your Product to Life with Personality

07/08/2008
Small businesses and entrepreneurs often repeat the same mistakes. If you are an entrepreneur, the following is a list of critical mistakes to avoid in your new venture:

1. Promising The World
Entrepreneurs will commonly make bold promises that are often impossible to actually deliver. It is important that you stay grounded in reality, and only agree to things that you know you can actually deliver.

2. Lack Of Discipline
Owning a business takes commitment and self-discipline. Since you are the boss you probably won't be disciplined for things like not showing up for work on time... but such things will have a negative impact on your business. It is important that entrepreneurs treat their business just like a real business, and not like a personal hobby. Act professional, charge for your services, and be accountable for the product or service provided. Self-discipline is critical to being self-employed.

Business Mistakes to Avoid

07/07/2008
Expert PDF 5 is an easy to use and reliable PDF application to create, modify and send PDFs as easily as Word documents. You can modify text, images, layout or comments quickly and easily. This version can also be used as a default viewer for all your PDF documents.

Expert PDF is discounted 40% for 24 hours only!

07/01/2008
With the economy in a questionable state, everyone is looking for a good deal. Savvy business owners have jumped at the opportunity to carve out a niche for themselves in the struggling economy. Coupon and Deal-Of-The-Day websites have become extremely popular. Everyone is getting into the action, from large conglomerate websites to small specialty shops, and many now have some sort of Deal-Of-The-Day special where an item is offered at a significant discount for a specified and limited period of time. While the Deal-Of-The-Day websites were originally designed to capture impulse purchasers, many financially-conscious penny-pinching shoppers are now monitoring these sites regularly, in search of good deals on products they might need.

Everybody loves a bargain! Where should you look for a bargain?

PS
Be sure to check out Software Deal of the Day

06/26/2008
Web templates offer webmasters a great opportunity to minimize development time and get new sites on the web sooner rather than later. The structure of web templates allow webmasters to focus on the proprietary content development, and optimizing the website for search engines, rather than struggling with layout and graphics.

Why Use Web Templates?

06/25/2008
The Software Industry Conference is coming to Boston July 17th through 19th, 2008. This exciting event, now in its 18th year, will be held at the Boston Marriott Quincy in Quincy MA.

The Software Industry Conference features three days of informative sessions that cover a wide range of subjects of interest to software developers. There will be sessions on marketing, foreign markets, ecommerce, outsourcing development, copyrights and trademarks, and much more.

The Software Industry Conference provides lots of time to network with other attendees. Thursday evening there is a night of fun, excitement, food, and beverages sponsored by Digital River, always a highlight of the conference. Friday evening features an Exhibit Night with vendors in over 20 booths and food and beverages for all.

On Saturday there is an Awards banquet. The Software Industry Conference is the premier software marketing event of the year. So, if you are a small software developer or MicroISV,  plan to attend!  

06/17/2008
Marketing is a three-syllable word that seems so simple, yet encompasses so much. Marketing is a multi-faceted approach to promoting a product or service. Both traditional and unconventional marketing methods have a place in the small business world. Marketing helps small businesses focus on building their brand and identity.

There are few limitations to marketing options, and the opportunities listed here are just a few that will generally result in a decent ROI (Return On Investment) for most small businesses. That said, do not be afraid to be creative -- no one knows or understands a small business like its owner, so think outside of the box and don't be afraid to experiment.

Ways to Market

06/10/2008
Website usability is more than just a good navigational structure. A large number of people have visual or hearing disabilities, so you should design your website in ways that allow those with either minor or significant impairments to view and navigate your web content. The following tips will help expand your website's usability so that all users, regardless of their sensory perception and abilities, are able to take advantage of your web content...

Take Website Usability to the Next Level

05/28/2008
Extending its dominance in the search market, Google grew its share of queries in April at the expense of rivals Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL and Ask.com.


Google U.S. search query share in April grew to 61.6 percent, up from 59.8 percent in March, comScore announced  last Thursday. Google accomplished this although the number of search queries dropped 2 percent overall in April to 10.58 billion, compared with March, comScore said.

05/27/2008
Picking up on a trend started by the travel industry, business-listing sites by Google, Yahoo, and others including Yelp and Citysearch let customers rave about their favorites, or complain about poor service. That helps consumers get real-life opinions about local businesses and services. For businesses attempting to reach consumers, the feedback spreads the word in a way ads can not. But perhaps more important, the reviews can dramatically raise a websites visibility in search engines.

Online Reviews

05/27/2008
The outcome of the case could have far reaching implications for taxes on online sales:

The city of Chicago is suing eBay and its subsidiary StubHub for failing to collect city amusement taxes on concert and sporting event tickets sold through the Web sites.

Chicagos amusement tax ordinance includes Internet sites that resell tickets, but eBay, which bought StubHub last year, says the 8 percent tax does not apply to it.
It is not clear how much money is at stake, but when the city first floated the idea of going after taxes for online sales in 2006, Alderman Edward Burke estimated the city could be losing $16 million a year in taxes on Internet-based sales by ticket resellers.

complete article

05/19/2008
Television company CBS has agreed to buy technology news and entertainment website CNET for about $1.75bn. CBS said that the purchase of CNET, which owns sites such as ZDNet and Gamespot, would help to boost its online presence.

complete article

05/13/2008
Webmasters are given the advice that they must attract links, but the key is not just to attract links... they need to attract good links. But what is the perfect link? The search for the perfect link need not be a quest in vain. Consider the following when attempting to attract links...

A Perfect Link

05/12/2008
Sounds like social network sites have finally figured out Attention Data:

Social networking site MySpace said Thursday it will soon enable users to quickly share profile data with Web sites operated by Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc. and others.

complete article

05/06/2008
This could really change things for affiliate programs and online entrepeneurs.

Amazon.com is suing New York over a new law that requires out-of-state online companies to collect sales tax from shoppers in New York.

Officials estimated the state would gain about $50 million by requiring Internet giants such as Amazon.com to collect state sales tax. New Yorkers, like residents of many states, are currently on an honor system to report their online spending when they file state tax returns.

The law applies to companies that do not have a brick-and-mortar presence in New York but have at least one person in the state who works as an online agent — basically someone who links to a Web site and receives commissions for related sales.

complete article

05/05/2008
The World Wide Web is still only in its infancy, its British inventor said Wednesday, on the 15th anniversary of the webs effective launch.

Tim Berners-Lee told the BBC that the web, which started life in the CERN physics laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border in the early 1990s, could develop in unimaginable directions but above all should be a force for good.

complete article

05/05/2008
Axandra posted this in their weekly search engine news. Very interesting to consider all the factors that can effect ranking!

Yahoos patent applications provides a list of 51 web page elements that can be analyzed to determine the clutter of a web page:

Total number of links
Total number of words
Total number of images (non-ad images)
Image area above the fold (non-ad images)
Dimensions of page
Page area (total)
Page length
Total number of tables
Maximum table columns (per table)
Maximum table rows (per table)
Total rows
Total columns
Total cells
Average cell padding (per table)
Average cell spacing (per table)
Dimensions of fold
Fold area
Location of center of fold relative to center of page
Total number of font sizes used for links
Total number of font sizes used for headings
Total number of font sizes used for body text
Total number of font sizes
Presence of “tiny” text
Total number of colors (excluding ads)
Alignment of page elements
Average page luminosity
Fixed vs. relative page width
Page weight (proxy for load time)
Total number of ads
Total ad area
Area of individual ads
Area of largest ad above the fold
Largest ad area
Total area of ads above the fold
Page space allocated to ads
Total number of external ads above the fold
Total number of external ads below the fold
Total number of external ads
Total number of internal ads above the fold
Total number of internal ads below the fold
Total number of internal ads
Number of sponsored link ads above the fold
Number of sponsored link ads below the fold
Total number of sponsored link ads
Number of image ads above the fold
Number of image ads below the fold
Total number of image ads
Number of text ads above the fold
Number of text ads below the fold
Total number of text ads
Position of ads on page

According to the patent application, Yahoo might also consider the presence of animated and flashing ads and the average ad luminosity.

04/28/2008
Avoiding Googles sandbox can be a challenge for even the most experienced webmasters. Considering the volume of traffic and number of searches conducted each day in the search giant, appearing in the top search results for critical keywords and phrases can make or break an online business. Take care to avoid Googles sandbox, so your business can benefit from Googles traffic.

How to Avoid Googles Filters

04/24/2008
Sponsoring events is an interesting advertising opportunity for small businesses struggling to get attention. Inc recently did a piece that highlights the benefits small businesses encounter from sponsoring events. read Blessed Events

Sponsorship opportunities cover the gamut, everything from Golf Fund Raisers or Software Conferences.

04/21/2008
Choosing a domain is one of the first steps in establishing an online presence. Changing a domain after-the-fact can be time consuming, and can be harmful to search engine ranking, so it is best to get it right the first time around. Follow these simple steps to select a domain name that will represent your online brand...

Choose a Domain

04/15/2008
This is an interesting article entitled There is No Such Thing as Free Software:

Software is always acquired at some cost, even if you don’t pay a penny to the people that write it. In fact, for most downloadable software available to a general audience, the license fee is only a small part of the price you pay for using the software.

First, there’s the time you spend getting the product to run and learning how to use it.

Here is another one When Something Is Free:

There is value to free just be sure that you know what it is. Next time something is offered for free, evaluate the quid pro quo and determine what you are giving in return, because very little is ever really free.

04/14/2008
Who wants to make money from AdSense? Or a better question: who does not want to make money from AdSense?

Value Ad - Made for AdSense Websites

04/08/2008
Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers...

Blog Posts that Get Attention

04/05/2008
Google Scholar is a new beta search tool from Google that provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles.

04/04/2008
Performing and perfecting search engine results can save web surfers lots of time and energy. Understanding the nuances of searching allows researchers to immediately drill down and locate the information they are seeking, without having to wade through a myriad of irrelevant search results in the process. The increasing complexity of search engines has made understanding search engines a necessity for those who spend any amount of time online. The following search tips are standards that will work in most of the major search engines.

How To Find What You Are Looking For?
As the popularity of the Internet grows, more and more results are returned for even the most obscure search phrases. In order to save time, web surfers need to increase their search relevancy. It is advisable to use multiple search terms to produce better search results. Searchers should use specific words and phrases to find what they are are looking for, while filtering out irrelevant and unwanted results.

Performing Better Web Searches

04/03/2008
Representatives from the major search engines have all made it clear that they prefer search engines that contain unique content. Webmasters who want to avoid any current or future bans will do well to follow these simple guidelines in order to avoid duplicate content penalties:

Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties

04/02/2008
Shareware Promotions has posted a very important and revealing post about Google and how they want to use Google Analytics data and Adwords!  Anyone with half a brain should have seen this coming.

In fact I wrote a piece about this awhile back, here is an excerpt:

Google Analytics is free, no one can beat the price, but what is the real cost? The cost is your data. While not terribly important when analyzed alone, when aggregated with other information Google has access to, it could be damaging. Data mining has made the collection of data meaningful. It has become easier to find patterns and trends in large volumes of data.

While any of that information independent of other data, might be non-threatening or irrelevant to someone doing analysis, when combined with other data Google has access to, it can paint a very clear picture of how, not only individual companies are performing, but the aggregate data could possibly paint a picture of how entire business sectors or industries are performing.

If you are using Analytics consider yourself warned yet again!

Full Shareware Promotions Blog Post
Full Article Google As Big Brother

04/01/2008
Here are a selection of sample business letters (ie. letter templates) that cover a variety of issues.

03/26/2008
Google has introduced tools for translating blocks of text in Web pages into multiple languages.

The language application programming interface can also identify a particular language before translation. The API makes use of the Web 2.0 technology Ajax and covers 13 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The API also supports 29 translation pairs.

complete article