July 31, 2004 - August 1, 2004
A Google spokeswoman confirmed that www.ipo.google.com had gone live, where bidders can apply to get an identification number to participate in the so-called Dutch auction. The auction process is designed to put small retail investors on a more equal footing with the big institutional funds and influential investors who have traditionally been given better access.

Top Web search engine Google Inc. began taking bids on Friday for the public auction process it will use to sell as much as $3.3 billion in shares to the public for its planned offering in mid-August. more on Google IPO

July 30, 2004
If you run a forum on your website consider the great content housed in that forum. Wouldn't it be nice for a search engines to spider that content, think of the keyword combinations and potential for your site being found on relevant keywords found in the forums? Unfortunately forums typically have a '?' mark in the url, which prevents search engines from spidering the pages. There are a few options to ensure that all of your content is spidered the first is a url masking tool called IISrewrite the second are things like forum modifications. For example if you are using phpBB as a forum there are forum modifications that will make the forum search engine friendly see the thread at ableknow for details.

July 29, 2004
Found a really great resource in Shareware Promotions blog. The site called Microsoft Watch allows users to enter an url and generates three numbers. The second number is Alexa's traffic rank for a domain on the web. The third number reported by this web ranking tool is a count of total external backlinks from Yahoo.

July 28, 2004
Over 30 bloggers were awarded coveted press passes for The Democratic National Convention (DNC), beginning earlier this week in Boston; and 10-20 will receive credentials for The Republican National Convention in New York in late August. This could very well put blogs on the map for being a serious news venue. Unlike mainstream news outlets, restrictions and guidelines are not in place for bloggers. Bloggers are able to interject personal impressions and opinions, providing a whole new look at politics.

July 27, 2004
I recently had a look at WebStorm Logging by DataLand Software an interactive, desktop-based Web Log Analyzer for Windows. It is critical that webmasters evaluate the statistical information related to website traffic in order to determine what advertising and promotional efforts are effective. Measuring results will allow small business owners to make a determination where they will achieve the highest return on investment. If you have not evaluated your web logs recently consider trying out WebStorm Logging today for an indepth analysis.

July 26, 2004
The House of Representatives voted unanimously for legislation that keeps a tax benefit for small business investments in place. In a separate vote, the House passed a bill that would allow more individuals and businesses to use simpler tax forms. Article Tools Premier Online Sponsors Featured Services Find Online Degrees Incorporate Now Search for Software Create a Business Plan Research Companies The 424-0 vote extended a tax break through 2007 for small businesses that allows them to deduct up to $100,000 for qualified capital investments. Had the benefit expired, the maximum deductible amount would have fallen to $25,000 in 2006. The estimated cost of the bill is $1.2 billion over the next ten years.

July 24, 2004 - July 25, 2004
I located a great new business resource site Enterpreneur.com . The site is an online magazine about starting a small business. Find advice, ideas and more. Really a great and comprehensive research site.

July 23, 2004
Finalists were selected from those reader nominations for the ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards 2004 that met eligibility requirements. Voting is open now through the close of business, EST, on Monday, August 2, 2004. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, August 11, 2004. VOTE NOW

July 21, 2004 - July 22, 2004
The JibJab site's server crashed yesterday because of the huge amount of site visitors they received. It seems silly but it has a huge draw and it is rather humorous. People that watch are likely to send it to a few friends increasing the traffic, many are also subscribing to the newsletter to hear when other animations are released. If marketing animation, graphic work it definitely will bring in business for the creators. Everyone else should take pause think outside the box and see this as an innovative example to inexpensively increase web traffic.

July 20, 2004
Ranking.com lists over one million websites and is one of the largest free communities online. Millions of users every month visit Ranking.com and are actively seeking the products, services and information your website is providing. See how you rank on ranking.com

July 18, 2004 - July 19, 2004
I recently tested Google's new websearch option by adding a Google search box to a handful of content sites. After some minimal testing I've determined that the AdSense program offers significantly more return than the new WebSearch program.

July 16, 2004
Search Engines
Alternative search engines uses unique algo's.

Mozdex - based on the open source search engine Nutch, the results are consistently improving over time.

ObjectsSearch - an infant using similar technology as Mozdex.

Newsgroups
Google launched a new beta version of its Google Groups. The groups have integrated the old 'Deja' search technology and Google now appears to be adding some of Gmail's features.

July 14, 2004 - July 15, 2004
A great resource for messaging related products and services can be found online at Messaging Software . The site contains articles, information and newsgroups related to online messaging products.

July 13, 2004
July 9, 2004 -- The House of Representatives approved funding for the Small Business Administration on Wednesday that the agency would rather not have.

In an amendment to the appropriation bills for the Commerce, Justice and State Departments, the House voted overwhelmingly to restore $79 million in funding for the SBA's 7(a) loan program. The 281-to-137 vote was a rejection of President Bush's and SBA administrator Hector V. Barreto's desire to eliminate the money, which serves as a subsidy to lower the fee small businesses pay when applying for the 7(a) loan.

The problem, they say, is that once the subsidy is used up, the loans will stop and, therefore, it is better that it simply not exist. The Senate is expected to approve the subsidy.

July 12, 2004
The Wall Street Journal has a subsection for entrepenaurs in the StartUp Journal . The site contains information on starting a business, entrepreneurial issues and advice from Wall Street Journal columnist. Read powerful content and search a database of thousands of business for sale.

July10-11, 2004
Take a sneak peak at Microsoft's new search technology. A brand new algorithmic search engine -- built from the ground up -- on Microsoft technology. They are looking for feedback, be sure to tell them what you think! How does your site do? Microsoft Search Technology

July 9, 2004
Nigritude Ultramarine
A winner for the second phase of the searc engine optimization contest for the phrase Nigritude Ultramarine has been determined. The benefit to the contest (other than the prize) is what we can learn about Google's policies regarding site ranking. What works and what doesn't. The winning site is not overly unique...

If the Nigritude Ultramarine thing taught us anything it was that blogs are incredibly powerful in Google. If you have a compelling, topical blog for your site going and get it listed in a couple of feed sites, you have a great tool for generating both traffic and the oh-so-valuable links back into your domain for the search engines. The best thing about the blogs (and the articles) is the price tag - just a little bit of your time.

July 8, 2004
What many don't realize is that in many cases, the materials used to construct cell phones are toxic. Toxic elements found in many of today's cell phones can include arsenic, in semi-conductors and lead in the solder material. While the materials in a single phone are minimal consider the number of discarded cell phones in the relatively short time the technology has been available. The placement of these devices in landfills will cause long lasting damage and harm to the environment. This article addresses how your small business can make a positive impact on the environment by Recycling Cell Phones.

July 7, 2004
WebSearch
AdSense now offers the ability to monetize web and site search! WebSearch plus AdSense for search combines Google's powerful search with monetized and customizable search results pages. Simply placing the code on any web page that meets Google's program criteria will generate a WebSearch box, allowing users to search without leaving the site. Searches generate additional income.

PreviewTool
The AdSense preview tool is anew tool that allows you to preview the ads that would appear on any web page, from a number of geographic regions.

More Channels
Additional channels have been added so that webmasters can monitor the source of revenue generation and make a determination if sites are generating decent revenue. ( 50 active channels for each of AdSense and WebSearch, for a total of 100 channels across your site.)

July 4, 2004 - July 6, 2004
FreeMarketingZone.com provides information about online marketing. The site is similar to small business software, and provides a number of resources for online businesses. The site contains free articles, sales letters and scripts for marketing your business.

July 1, 2004 - July 3, 2004
The merger between Findwhat.com and Espotting has been completed. The merger will create the largest independent pay-per-click advertising provider. This is the merger of two businesses that operate in the same space and are of similar size, with complementary geographical markets. For now customers are not expected to see any immediate changes.