FreeGeek Digital Share

Earning money on shareapic.net

2008-01-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hi, I've earned money from shareapic.net and it's truth and I can show you the evidence on my PayPal payment notification email. Pls take a look on the attached image. If you want to earn money from shareapic.net, pls join it in the following URL:
http://www.shareapic.net/
How to get start:
1.) Register new user account by above URL
2.) create a new gallery
3.) Click the gallery to upload images
4.) Get the thumbnail linking codes to generate image views
5.) Promote the image views by email, posting in forums or posting in myLot to earning money by image views.

Make Easy Money On The Internet If You Love Writing.

2007-07-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Some of you may find it funny but still some may find it useful.

Here are some easy ways to make money, if you like writing. (I probably should have said simple ways to make money, rather than easy ways to make money, because there is a difference between simple and easy. But who cares, this is about how to make easy money quickly).

1. Make easy money online naming domains. The original idea comes from Dane Carson’s blog. While you can earn money as a contributor for services such as PickyDomains.Com, here is a better idea. Go to Google or any other search engine, find sucky domain names and contact their owners directly, offering them your services. The key to success is to make it 100% risk free. Inform your prospective clients that you’ll accept money only if they like your domain name. If you come up with one approved domain name a day and charge what PickyDomain charges, you can make $1500 a month. Another twist – come up with cool domain names, like SiteToRemember.Com or ItsMe.Com, register them yourself and sell them on the aftermarket.

2. eBay arbitrage. A lot of people like buying stuff on eBay, because it’s cheap. And some people never buy on eBay, because they are afraid of being ripped off. Here is your solution to making easy money on eBay. Go to Craigslist.Com and see what items people buy and sell most often. Look at prices. Then go to eBay and see, if you can get it cheaper. Once you find your niche, you can buy things on eBay (or better yet, act as a representative for an eBay powerseller) and sell them for a profit using local classifieds and Craigslist. You can do this online as well. Set up a proxy store, and when you get an order, simply buy the same item on eBay for less, substituting shipping address from your own to that of your buyer.

3. eBay copywriting. If you are good at copywriting, go to eBay and look for highticket items, like boats. Find auctions with totally sucky descriptions. Contact an owner and inform him or her that good description of his or her item is likely to increase the chances of that item being sold. Then offer your services for a 1% of the selling price. You can use free eBay software

4. Get Paid Writing Reviews. This idea comes from a blog called Business Ideas That Work. A site called SoftwareJudge.Com pays up to 50 dollars per good review. However, if you are good at reviewing software, you can do this on your own. Go to CNET or any other site that lists software. Find sites that don’t have any reviews or testimonials. Contact developers directly, offering them your review services. Good reviews and testimonials increases sales, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties convincing developers that they need your services. And you get free software and games too! Oh, and you don't have to limit yourself to software alone.

5. Social Bookmark Whoring. This is really easy money online. RedDit and Digg can bring a crapload of traffic. And traffic means money. If you have experience creating linkbate titles and getting to the top, why not offer your services? Say, you charge 10 dollars for submitting news to RedDit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl, NewsVine, Fark and all the other social bookmarting sites. The key is to work only with interesting stories, so you don’t become a spammer. 10 news a day and you are 100 dollars richer. You can probably work out a deal with online PR agencies, because they are totally clueless about this.

6. Writing Google AdWords Ads. Every time I see “Cake Icing. Used And New. eBay.Com” type ads or “Four best sites on killing your wife”, it makes me wonder. Aren’t there any GOOD AdWords ads copywriters? Look’s like a great job to me. The ads are only three lines long and if you charge 10 bucks per ad, you can make a lot of money. And the customers are easy to find, too. Just look at all these terrible ads that Google displays on their search engine and contextual network.

7. Wacky blogs. Steve Pavlina gets over 300 dollars a day from AdSense alone, writing on wacky topics, like polyphasic sleep, astral projection and psychic development. Or take David Icke, who claims that president Bush in an alien and a reptilian. Your blog doesn’t have to be true, it just has to be interesting.

8. Blog whoring. There are a number of services, like PayPerPost.Com, that pay for promotional blogposts. Once again, you can do the same thing, cutting the middleman out.

9. Unique Personal Ads. Write memorable personal ads for online daters. Most personal ads suck. “Hi, my name is Bambie, I’m a Vergo, I’m 19 and I love dogs.” Here is my favorite personal ad. If people pay for resume writing, they might pay for a great personal ad.

10. Poet For Hire. This is nothing new. Still, if you love writing poetry, why not make some money with your rhymes.

Internet Explorer Tips n trick

2007-04-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

To stop downloading a page, press ESC.

To move forward between frames, press CTRL+TAB.

To move back between frames, press SHIFT+CTRL+TAB.

You can type a word in the Address bar and press CTRL+ENTER to automatically add http://www. and .com on either side of the word.

If your e-mail program is Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you can drag an Internet shortcut into an e-mail message.

You can rearrange your Favorites list or menu by dragging and dropping.

If you want to know which actions you can perform on a favorite link, right-click the link on the Favorites menu.

To print a document, you can drag an Internet shortcut to a printer icon on your desktop.

You can keep your most frequently visited Web pages only a single click away by dragging a shortcut to the page onto the Links bar.

To display the Links bar, a handy place to keep your favorite Web sites, click the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Links.

You can print a table of all the links associated with a Web page. In the Print dialog box, click Print table of links.

Clicking the Search button displays a search service on the left side of your screen and a Web page on the right.

To search from the Address bar, type go, find, or ? followed by a word or phrase, and then press ENTER.

To open a new Internet Explorer window, press CTRL+N.

To go to the previous page, press ALT+LEFT ARROW or BACKSPACE.

You can move your cursor into the Address bar by pressing ALT+D.

Instead of clicking the Back button, you can press the BACKSPACE key to move back a page.

You can switch between a regular-sized Internet Explorer window and full-screen mode by pressing F11.

To search for a word or phrase on a Web page, press CTRL+F to open the Find dialog box.

You can close the current window by pressing CTRL+W.

To display a list of the Internet addresses you have typed in the Address bar, press F4.

In the Address bar, you can quickly move the cursor back between parts of the address by pressing CTRL+LEFT ARROW.

In the Address bar, you can quickly move the cursor forward between parts of the address by pressing CTRL+RIGHT ARROW.

To quickly save a Web page to your Favorites list, press CTRL+D.

You can make sure the Web page you are viewing contains the latest information by pressing F5 to refresh it.

Using Other Peoples Info To Increase Your Adsense Cash

2007-04-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

Adsense is really making a huge impact on the affiliate marketing industry nowadays. Because of this, weak affiliate merchants have the tendency to die faster than ever and ad networks will be going to lose their customers quickly.
If you are in a losing rather than winning in the affiliate program you are currently into, maybe it is about time to consider going into the Adsense marketing and start earning some real cash.

Google is readily providing well written and highly relevant ads that are closely chosen to match the content on your pages. You do not have to look for them yourselves as the search engine will be the doing the searching for you from other people’s source.

You do not have to spend time in choosing different kind of ads for different pages. And no codes to mess around for different affiliate programs.

You will be able to concentrate on providing good and quality content, as the search engines will be the ones finding the best ads in which to put your pages on.

You are still allowed to add Adsense ads even if you already have affiliate links on your site. It is prohibited, however, to imitate the look and feel of the Google ads for your affiliate links.

You can filter up to 200 URLs. That gives you a chance to block ads for the sites that do not meet your guidelines. You can also block competitors. Though it is unavoidable that Adsense may be competing for some space on web sites that all other revenues are sharing.

Owners of small sites are allowed to plug a bit of a code into their sites and instantly have relevant text ads that appeal to your visitors appear instantly into your pages. If you own many sites, you only need to apply once. It makes up for having to apply to many affiliate programs.

The only way to know how much you are already earning is to try and see. If you want out, all you have to do is remove the code from your site.

The payment rates can vary extremely. The payment you will be receiving per click depends on how much advertisers are paying per click to advertise with the use of the AdWords. Advertisers can pay as little as 5 cents and as high as $10-12, sometimes even more than that too. You are earning a share of that money generated.

If your results remain stagnant, it can help if you try and build simple and uncluttered pages so that the ads can catch the visitor’s eyes more. It sometimes pay to differ from the usual things that people are doing already. It is also a refreshing sight for your visitor once they see something different for a change.

Publishers also have the option of choosing to have their ads displayed only on a certain site or sites. It is also allowed to have them displayed on a large network of sites. The choice would be depending on what you think will work best for your advantage.

To get an idea if some Adsense ads you see on the search engines has your pages, try to find web pages that have similar material to the content you are planning to create and look up their Adsense ads.

It is important to note that you cannot choose certain topics only. If you do this, search engines will not place Adsense ads on your site and you will be missing out a great opportunity in making hundreds and even thousands of dollars cash.

It is still wise to look at other people’s information and format your Adsense there. Just think about it as doing yourself a favor by not having to work too hard to know what content to have.

Topic to be avoided includes gambling, firearms, ammunition, tobacco or drugs. If you are being offered more cash in exchange of doing Adsense with these kinds, it is just like signing your own termination paper.

With all the information that people need in your hands already, all you have to do is turn them as your profits. It all boils down to a gain and gain situation both for the content site owners and the webmasters or publishers.

Make other people’s matter your own and starting earning some extra cash.

6 Red Hot Tips To Get Your Articles Read

2007-04-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

This nice Tips for You about Article to read There are many people who dread having to write papers or articles. Many just feel like it seems to be too much work and it all just goes to waste when no one reads the. To some people, reading articles seems like work to, especially if the article is boring and very bland. Well, articles are supposed to be read, that’s their purpose to impart your message and information. If it is not read then it is a waste of time and effort.

But all the same, articles have to be written to be read. It’s just a matter of making them good. Making a good article doesn’t have to be strenuous and straining. There are just some points needed to be reminded of, and some guides to follow. Once you get the hang of it, writing articles could be fun, as well as profitable for you and your site.

Of course, writing articles must be about something you know about, that’s why if you own a site, you probably is knowledgeable about that certain topic and theme. When you write about it, you won’t have a hard time because you already know what it is and what it’s about. It’s just a matter of making your articles creative and interesting.

To make sure that your articles get read and enjoyed, here are six red hot tips to get your articles read. These tips will make your articles readable and interesting.

1) Use short paragraphs. When the paragraph are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it It can get quite confusing and too much of a hard work to read. The reader will just quickly disregard the paragraph and move on to much easier reading articles that are good to look at as well as read. Paragraphs can be a single sentence, sometimes even a single word!

2) Make use of numbers or bullets. As each point is stressed out, numbers and bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. As each point, tip, guide or method is started with a bullet or point, readers will know that this is where the tips start and getting stressed. Format you bullets and numbers with indentations so that your4 article won’t look like a single block of square paragraphs. Add a little bit of flair and pizzazz to your articles shape.

3) Use Sub-headings to sub-divide your paragraphs in the page. Doing this will break each point into sections but still would be incorporated into one whole article. It would also be easy for the reader to move on from one point to another; the transition would be smooth and easy. You will never lose your readers attention as well as the point and direction to where the article is pointing.

4) Provide a good attention-grabbing title or header. If your title can entice a person’s curiosity you’re already halfway in getting a person to read your article. Use statements and questions that utilize keywords that people are looking for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.

Use titles like, “Tips on making her want you more”, or “How to make her swoon and blush” .You could also use titles that can command people, for example, “Make her yours in six easy Ways”. These types of titles reach out to a persons’ emotions and makes them interested.

5) Keep them interested from the start to the finish. From your opening paragraph, use real life situations that can be adopted by the reader. Use good descriptions and metaphors to drive in your point, just don’t over do it. Driving your examples with graphic metaphors and similes would make it easy for them to imagine what you are talking about. Making the experience pleasurable and enjoyable for them.

6) Utilize figures when necessary and not just ordinary and insipid statements. Using specific facts and figures can heighten your article because it makes it authoritative. But do not make it too formal, it should be light and easy in them and flow. Like a friendly teac her having a little chat with an eager student.

Who Is Your Audience?

2007-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Understanding the type of people who visit your site is a very important task because you can use that information to enhance your site to suit them. As a result, you will gain more loyal returning visitors that come back again and again for more.

What is the age level and what kind of knowledge does your audience have? A layman might linger around a general site on gardening, but a professional botanist might turn his nose at the very same site. Similarly, a regular person will leave a site filled with astronomy abstracts but a well educated university graduate will find that site interesting.

Take your audience's emotional state into consideration when building your site. If a very irritated visitor searches for a solution and comes across your site, you will want to make sure you offer the solution right up front and sell or promote your product to him second. In this way, the visitor will put his trust in you for offering the solution to his problems and is more likely to buy your product when you offer it to him after that.

When you design the layout for your site, you have to take into account the characteristics of your audience. Are they old or young people? Are they looking for trends or are they just looking for information served without any icing on the cake? For example, introducing a new, exciting game with a simple, straightforward black text against white background page will definitely turn prospects away. Make sure your design suits your site's general theme.

Try to sprinkle colloquial language in your sites sparingly where you see fit and you will create a sense that your audience is on common ground with you. This in turn builds a trusting relationship between you and your audience, which will come in useful should you want to market a product to your audience.

Successful Forum Viral Marketing

2007-04-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

In order to be successful using forums to do viral marketing there are some things that are required.

Do Your Homework: Prior to joining any forum, you must do some research.

1. Join relevant forums that are in some way related to the promotion’s primary sales market. For example, someone involved with a health related product, many types of forums could apply….everything from holistic medicine to stay-at-home moms.

2. Choose popular forums. There is no point in wasting your time and energy on forums that few members and few posts. Page raking and the amount of active members are two good ways to check for this.

3. Choose forums that allow sig tags. If it’s possible read the rules before joining and pay attention to them. Your time is important, too. It is better to find out that a forum doesn’t allow posts with sig tags before you go to the time and trouble of joining.

After You Have Joined: OK…you have chosen two or three forums that meet your requirements…now what?

1. Keep your sig tag short and update it regularly. The ideal thing is to limit yourself to one link, preferably to your main website.

2. Never create posts that are nothing more than an advertisement. This all but a universal rule and only displays the marketers lack of experience if he does so. At best this kind of post will be deleted by the monitors….at worst, it is grounds for being banned.

3. Work the room. Be an active member on the forum. Plan to spend at least an hour each day there and take the time to get to know the users. Take the time to introduce yourself with intelligent questions depending upon the forum’s topic.

As a marketer becomes a regular member, they will hopefully develop a good reputation and without saying a word about their promotion, those who are interested in their product will approach them.

Top 5 Ways To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic

2007-04-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

There is one hard and fast rule in generating income for your website: A steady flow of website traffic. If no one goes to your site, it hardly bares a chance of generating an income. Many sites have tried and failed in doing so, and these results to the sites demise. It takes money to maintain an income generating site; it also takes money to make money.

BUT, it doesn’t take a whole caboodle of cash to generate website traffic for your site.

Ever wonder how does big hit sites drive traffic top their site? Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmickries. This is all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you the Top five ways to generate low cost website traffic that could help your site a whole lot. Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

Traffic Exchange

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another’s site or page. This is done vice versa where a site can use your sites contents and so can you to his or her site. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

Make a Newsletter.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

Easy Profits Using PPC In Your Affiliate Marketing Business

2007-04-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

PPC is one of the four basic types of Search Engines. PPC is also one of the most cost-effective ways of targeted internet advertising. According to Forbes magazine, PPC or Pay Per Click, accounts to 2 billion dollars a year and is expected to increase to around 8 billion dollars by the year 2008.

Let us take a quick look at how PPC Search Engines work.

These engines create listings and rate them based on a bid amount the website owner is willing to pay for each click from that search engine. Advertisers bid against each other to receive higher ranking for a specific keyword or phrase.

The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase will then have the site ranked as number 1 in the PPC Search Engines followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to the last number that have placed a bid on the same keyword or phrase. Your ads then will appear prominently on the results pages based on the dollar amount bid you will agree to pay per click.

How do you make money by using PPC into your affiliate marketing business?

Most affiliate programs only pay when a sale is made or a lead delivered after a visitor has clickthrough your site. Your earnings will not always be the same as they will be dependent on the web site content and the traffic market.

The reason why you should incorporate PPC into your affiliate marketing program is that earnings are easier to make than in any other kind of affiliate program not using PPC. This way, you will be making profit based from the clickthroughs that your visitor will make on the advertiser’s site. Unlike some programs, you are not paid per sale or action.

PPC can be very resourceful of your website. With PPC Search Engines incorporated into your affiliate program, you will be able to profit from the visitor’s who are not interested in your products or services. The same ones who leave your site and never comes back.

You will not only get commissions not only from those who are just searching the web and finding the products and services that they wanted but you will be able to build your site’s recognition as a valuable resource. The visitors who have found what they needed from you site are likely to come back and review what you are offering more closely. Then they will eventually come back to search the web for other products.

This kind of affiliate program is also an easy way for you to generate some more additional revenues. For example, when a visitor on your site does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser bided listings, the advertisers’ account will then be deducted because of that click. With this, you will be compensated 30% to 80% of the advertisers’ bid amount.

PPC is not only a source of generating easy profits; it can also help you promote your own site. Most of the programs allow the commissions received to be spent for advertising with them instantly and with no minimum earning requirement. This is one of the more effective ways to exchange your raw visitors for targeted surfers who has more tendencies to purchase your products and services.

What will happen if you when you integrate PPC into your affiliate program?

PPC usually have ready-to-use affiliate tools that can be easily integrated into your website. The most common tools are search boxes, banners, text links and some 404-error pages. Most search engines utilize custom solutions and can provide you with a white-label affiliate program. This enables you, using only a few lines of code, to integrate remotely-hosted co-branded search engine into your website.

The key benefits? Not only more money generated but also some extra money on the side. Plus a lifetime commissions once you have referred some webmaster friends to the engine.

Think about it. Where can you get all these benefits while already generating some income for your site? Knowing some of the more useful tools you can use for your affiliate program is not a waste of time. They are rather a means of earning within an earning.

Best know more about how you can use PPC search engines into your affiliate program than miss out on a great opportunity to earn more profits.

Ways to Enhance Your Public Speaking Technique

2007-04-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

You have been through countless occasions when you were requested to present a speech. After a sudden burst of energy, you are bowed by the irrepressible fear over a seemingly manageable task. Some speeches need preparation and practice. Those types call for more time so you can conduct a thorough research and development. What if you are solicited an impromptu speech? Are you going to refuse and say you do not have enough time to prepare?

A spontaneous unplanned speech causes as much anxiety as an anticipated one. No matter what, you should never deny people from hearing you out and learning from your words of wisdom. Unless you have a justifiable reason, never decide to engage in a tug-of-war every time someone asks you to speak in front of an audience. It is not a very pleasant reflection of you as a social being.

When people ask for your opinion, you must realize that they value your idea over some issues. They believe that you have something to say on the matter that the rest may have overlooked. Unless you have become a resident on some remote planet that knows no news, you always have an idea over something. That means you always have a say over something, so say it.

The best rule is to always be sincere and truthful. Be yourself. Even the most skillful actors will find it hard to be somebody else when asked about their personal opinions. It is never wise to try hard and mimic some ideal personality when you are delivering a speech. It will just come off as contrived and artificial. Your audience will feel your insincerity and will find it difficult to believe what you are saying. A skeptical audience is always unforgiving. You will find yourself at the center of mockery. Therefore, say what you mean and mean what you say.

Establish a connection with your audience. The spectators are not there to put you down or to make your life miserable. They are there to listen to you and learn from you, more than eager to hear what you want to convey to them. Be one with your audience. Joke with them if you must but always be appropriate. Do not sacrifice the values of propriety and decorum over the attention of your audience.

Most of all, it helps if you do it more often. Accept speaking engagements. Do not refuse those precious moments when someone asks you to share your opinions. Speak out. It is through constant repetition that we get the hang of something. Once you do, public speaking will become second nature to you.

Tips on How to Effectively Research On a Job Applicant

2007-04-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Checking with others is not only to verify if the applicant has told the truth but to learn more about him or her. Top sources to check are former employers and credit institutions.

Using the phone in getting information about the person is an art. A written checklist should guide whoever makes the calls. Identify yourself by name, title, and name of the company. State the subject of the call. For example, "Forrest Gump who worked for you has applied to us for a similar job and given you as reference."

Help him focus on the applicant. Explain that you would like to verify some of the data the applicant gave you. Satisfy the ex-employer's suspicions, as well. If he seems reluctant to answer questions, let him call you back and reverse the charges. Let him check your number in the directory.

Ask questions from a prepared list or with the application form in front of you. Talk informally and conversationally. Ask such questions as these: What did you or others over him think of him? What did your customers think of him? Did he have any major responsibilities? Did he get along with others? What were his strong and weak points? What was his attendance record and did he work hard? Would your firm rehire him, if ever?

Listen carefully to the tone of voice, the inflections, and the words used. These things will give you clues to the company's true feelings about the applicant. Always find out if the applicant was fired or resigned, and why. Check other employers, too.

The amount of checking depends, of course, on the importance of the position being applied for. Clerking and telemarketing posts may not warrant as much time as checking out a candidate for a more demanding supervisory or managerial position. Some managers check with previous employers before the personal interview in order to secure additional valuable information to guide their questioning during the interview.

Other managers check after a face to face interview, depending on the greater knowledge derived from the interview to help them ask a former boss more pointed questions. Use the procedure that best fits the particular situation.

If the information you get by checking others shows that the applicant lacks the basic requirements or performance characteristics you require, reject him or her at this point. If there is something about the applicant that makes you want to hold him or her for the diagnostic interview and positive testing, do so. Surely you wouldn't also want to lose a potentially excellent employee by being too paranoid about the application process.

BE INSPIRED! TRy This

2007-04-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Is this familiar? You wake up in the morning and you feel like getting back to sleep again. Work, family life and everything seems to move like a merry-go-round. You feel trapped in a routine. Nothing’s new anymore and you’re bored to tears. ‘Been there, done that” flows out as your mantra. If you said ‘yes’ to any of these, then you need to get back on track. You need to be inspired at life again. So how do you find that spark?

· Relax and have fun. Medically, psychologically, physically and emotionally, stress is the number one source of life’s difficulties. Reacting to them is draining your energy. Easing up allows you to slow down enough to view the world differently. Turn to your family – see how you’re kids have grown; talk to your partner about simple topics; call the relatives you’ve lost track off; send your Mom flowers. These little things will count a lot into making you view them in a different light. Pretty soon, you’ll remember how important they are in your life. Try and do something for yourself too. Whether it’s getting a revamp in your wardrobe; eating your favorites without worrying about calories; going to a spa; or getting a new book, do whatever you want….just enjoy yourself.

· Learn something new. Be inspired by learning a new skill. Try to remember something that you’ve been planning for a long time to do but never had the time for it. Did you ever wanted to learn Japanese cooking? Or baking? Run a marathon? Study Spanish? Cross stitching? Origami? Wakeboarding? The adrenalin of the unknown and untried will surely give you something to get out of bed for.

· Be thankful. Even for a short moment, reflect on what you have positively and don’t think of all that you don’t have. Good health, nice kids and good relationships are some of those things that we take for granted until something happens to them. Right now that you have them, be thankful that you do. You’ll find that a re-focus on the non-material things, especially on relationships, will motivate you to greater heights.

· Pray/Meditate. Connecting with your spirit is the simplest way to categorize and when it’s necessary, remove the clutter and baggage that’s dragging you down. New inspiration, new goals, new ways will come into your life when you let go of them.

Greet the new day with a smile. Be inspired, live well and prosper.

easy tips "5 Ways to Become More Likeable"

2007-04-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

nice tips u can learn it...!!!read this to your enjoy

Man is a social animal, as Aristotle once said. This want and need to belong and be accepted by others is what drives us to be civil toward others. In fact, there might be times when we want nothing but to see our intimidators get run over by a bus (yikes!) but we choose to endure the pressure and react in an amiable manner in order to merit niceties, as well. In order to achieve this kind of response from everyone we meet, we must strive to be likeable.

Now, likeability does not always entail that people will throw a party every time you come into the room. A person can be likeable yet not grandstanding. You don't really have to be popular to be one. All you need to do is adjust your attitude and outlook in life toward the positive. When you feel good about yourself and always look at the bright side of things, your likeability factor will naturally rise.

Here are five ways to become more likeable in any situation.

1) Think happy thoughts
According to Peter Pan, think happy thoughts and you will fly. This applies to your attitude toward the challenges that come your way. For instance, if you received low marks for your exam, don't think of it as the end of the world. Instead, be grateful it happened because it will motivate you to study harder and manage your time better next time. Behind every dark cloud is a silver lining. If you keep this as your mantra, you will never have to harbor depressing thoughts ever again.

2) Contribute something
Whether its a group project or a personal endeavor, contributing something of value, no matter how small makes a big difference. If you compare a person who always mutters about how difficult a task is and a person who acknowledges the difficulty but tries to lighten the mood by finding humor in the activity, you'd want to go with the latter, right? If you want to be likeable, don't put others down and bear more weight on a challenging activity.

3) Rein your insecurities in
There is none more annoying than a person who throws a pity party for himself or herself. Examples of insecure people are those who always have to be right at everything, those who always say 'just kidding' at the end of every comment, and those who do not know how to laugh at themselves and their mistakes. An insecure person is a crab. A crab is animal that brings everybody down when he or she is down. If you want to have more friends, don't be one. You don't have to apologize for everything you say with 'just kidding.'

4) Believe in what you are saying and stick to it
A person who keeps changing his or her opinion or merely mimics what other people are saying about a particular event or object not only has zero personality but a very low likeability rate, as well. You don't need to have an opinion about everything -- that would be equally annoying, but you don't need to say 'yes' to what others say either. You'll only end up looking like a desperate sycophant.

5) Avoid judging others
Finally, if you don't want to be judged, don't judge. First impressions might sometimes put you off but it pays to know the other person better than to immediately make conclusions about his or her character. Judgmental people, if you notice, are the ones who usually eat alone at the cafeteria because his or her colleagues are tired of hearing him or her point out the flaws of others. Surely you don't want to be this person.

Fifteen Tips on Effective Time Management

2007-04-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Are you having problems managing time? Are you finding it difficult to be more effective at work?

Here are useful tips that you can consider to save up on your time and be more efficient in work:

1. List down the things you need to do.
Avoid the mistake of memorizing things you need to do. An efficient way of getting yourself organized to jot down all the tasks you need to accomplish.

2. Determine the most important task.
Find out which task is more important to you. This will help you focus on the most important project.

3. Establish a weekly schedule
Take some time to schedule your weekly tasks. Find out the priority tasks. By doing this, you can boost your productivity.

4. Avoid overloading yourself with too many tasks
At times, many people find themselves overloaded with too much tasks. Figure out when to accept or reject simple requests and you will have enough time to do the more important job.

5. Evaluate all your actions
Pause for a while and reflect on a course of action before accepting a new task. This will be very helpful in keeping you from overloading yourself with too much responsibility.

6. Evaluate your time management skills
In most cases, it is always advisable to review your time management skills. It may be best to refrain from doing a task that is only wasting your time so that you could concentrate on the more important tasks.

7. Be systematic in managing your time
Having a system in managing your time is very helpful in monitoring tasks, prioritizing work, and effectively accomplishing a goal. An efficient time management system is like a glue that binds all your activities together.

8. Point out and eradicate bad habits
Identify the bad habits that are constantly killing your time, interfering with your plan, and hindering your path to success. When you have done so, exert an effort in removing them from your system one by one. Bear in mind that the most convenient method of removal is by replacing it with a better attitude.

9. Refrain from doing the job of other people
Doing the job of another person may consume some time that you cannot afford to loose. Practice efficient delegation so that you can concentrate on your own tasks.

10. Monitor your progress
Keep a journal of your goals and jot down how you are doing for each goal. Consult the journal to determine if you are doing just fine.

11. Realize that perfect is not always the best
Point out the tasks requiring your best effort and those that needs to be just accomplished. For instance, sending an e-mail to a colleague need not take a lot of time.

12. Avoid doing jobs that acts as “filler” to other tasks
Avoid doing jobs that only serves to fill other tasks. Tasks like filing or organizing your drawer can be done after you have done urgent matters.

Consider these tips and you will be on your way to having productive and efficient time management skills.

Tips To Avoid RapidShare Waiting Time "it works"

2007-03-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have been working out a very simple way to avoid the waiting at Rapidshare and other File hosters, that applies after every download you make. That is why, I have created a small php-script that creates a personal batch file for you.

What the Batchfile does is that it changes your IP adress, and deletes your cookies in firefox so rapidshare doesn't recognise you at all, when you attempt to download a file, therefore no waiting time (except for the 2 minutes before each download).

There are though a few requirements:

1) Firefox Browser - If You haven't changed, do it now.

2) Either a direct connection to the internet (not through a router), or connection through a switch:

That will say, you have to be connected like this:

Your Computer -(CAT5e)- Modem -(Cable)- The World Wide Web

or:

Your Computer -(CAT5e)- Switch -(CAT5e)- Modem -(Cable)- The World Wide Web

If you encounter any problems, please tell me about them in this thread!

Note that this program delete all your cookies! (Which isn't so bad, but can be a little annoying), and you are logged off the internet for a couple of seconds when running the .bat file!

Please tell me if it is working with you, and if anything could be better. Well it doesn't harm to say thank you, I've put quite a bit of work in this

Link:
Code:

http://www.mocs.dk/rs.php

Windows Xp Tips + Tricks You Need To Know

2007-03-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Running Applications in Compatibility Mode

With Windows XP, you can run programs as if though they were being run under
a different operating system. (This is known as "emulation".) Simply
right-click a shortcut, select "Properties" and then check "Run in
compatibility mode" and select the operating system you wish to make the
program believe it is being run under. This fools or tricks the program into
thinking you are really using a previous version of Windows, such as NT, 2000,
98, or 95. This is especially useful for certain games that won't run
properly. Be careful *not* to use this with certain system utilities, such as
antivirus, defrag, registry, and disk tool applications.

=================================
Customizing the Start Menu

Right click on the "Start" button and left click "Properties". From here, you
can select the new Windows XP style Start Menu, or return to the Windows
2000/Millennium style one. You can also customize the two possible choices
using their corresponding "Customize" buttons. This also allows you to turn on
or disable cascading menus and other options that are useful, such as large or
small icons and more.

=================================
Bring Back Those Desktop Icons

After you install Windows XP, you probably noticed that some of your icons
from previous versions of Windows you've used are missing. Microsoft did this
intentionally to help simply and reduce clutter. Of course, for some people,
this isn't the best choice or the user preference. So, if you want those icons
like "My Computer" and "My Network Places" back, just open Display Properties
(right click Desktop Wallpaper, left click "Properties") and click the
"Desktop" tab. Click the "Customize Desktop" button and on the "General" tab
check the items you want. You can also change the icons used by these desktop
items in the same screen. One final tip related to this screen is the "Clean
Desktop Now" button, which notifies you of unused icons on the desktop and
offers to remove them if you choose.

=================================
Give Me My ClearType

Windows XP includes a great new visual technology, called "ClearType" which
increases horizontal legibility by approximately 300% and it looks great. Go
back into "Display Properties" [see tip: "Bring Back Those Desktop Icons" for
instructions] and this time, go to the "Appearance" tab. Click "Effects" and
for the second drop down box, labeled "Use the following method to smooth
edges of screen fonts", select "ClearType". Click OK twice and you're all set.

=================================
Lock Computer vs. Welcome Login Screen

You must go into Control Panel and open the "User Accounts" applet to change
this setting. Click "Change the way users log on or off". For maximum
security, uncheck the "Use the Welcome screen" option. This re-enables the use
of the "Lock Computer" option from the ALT CTRL DELETE menu, but prevents
multiple users from being logged on locally at a single time. This also
returns to the Windows 2000 style login screen. If you'd rather have the
ability to *not* be able to use "Lock Computer" and would rather allow
multiple users to logon to the computer at a single time locally, leave this
setting checked and also check "Use Fast User Switching".

=================================
Looking for a Windows XP Compatible Driver?

If you can't find a driver for a hardware device under Windows XP, you can try
to use a Windows 2000 compatible driver for the same hardware. Usually this
tends to work, and in my experience so far, it always has. However, if you can
find a driver specifically designed for use with Windows XP, that is usually
the best and safest option. You can also e-mail the hardware manufacturer and
ask them about Windows XP compatibility and drivers.

=================================
To increase system performance

Right click my computer. Click properties.
Click advanced.
Click settings (under performance).
Click Adjust for best performance.
Scroll to the bottom and check the last one ?use visual styles on windows and buttons?.

=================================
How to disable XP's crap built in CD Burner

Click the start button.
Select Run.
Type services.msc and click ok.
Go to IMAPI CD-Burning Com Services open it and click on start up type, change to "Disabled".

=================================
These Settings will fine tune your systems memory

You need at least 256MB of ram to do this:

Go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.

2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory and improves system performance a lot.

3.Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex - 4000 if you have 128MB of ram or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of ram -this tweak will speed up your disckcache.
Reboot

=================================
Unable to delete from Avi files from HD

XP holds files in it's memory even after you have closed the application using them making it impossible to delete them from your harddrive. To fix this:

Start -> Run -> Regedit
Find the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler\ directory and delete the "DEFAULT" key.

=================================
Tweak The Swap File

For Users with 256 MB RAM or more this tweak will boost their Windows- and Game-Performance.
What it does: It tells Windows not to use any Swap File until there is really no more free RAM left.

Open the System Configuration Utility by typing msconfig.exe in the RUN command. There in your System.ini you have to add "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" under the 386enh section.

Restart your Windows and enjoy better Game performance

=================================
Disable Services

XP Pro runs a lot of services by default that are pointless if your not on a corporate network, the following services are ones that I safely disable thereby freeing up memory but check what each one does first to make sure your not using it for something:

Go to Run and type services.msc, right click on each service, properties and choose disable.

Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service,
Application Management
Automatic Updates
Background Intelligent Transfer
Clipbook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinater
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
IMAPI CD-Burning
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Net Logon
Net Meeting
Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Smartcard
SSDP Discovery Service
Telnet Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Webclient
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adaptor

=================================
Speed Up The File System

NTFS is a great file system, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips:

* By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes. Disable it by going to Run and type regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate' to 1.

* NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented.

In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.

=================================
Disable DLL Caching

Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory.

1. Find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer].

2. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.

3. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

=================================
Tweak The Prefetch

1. Run "Regedit"
2. Goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]

3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).

4. Reboot.

It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP.

=================================
SpeedUp Your Connection By 20% (Cable Users Only)

1.Log on as "Administrator".
2. Run - gpedit.msc
3. Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.
4. Then expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.
5. Expand the "Network" branch.
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left pane.
7. In the right window pane double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting.
8. On the settings tab check the "Enabled" item.
9. Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0.
10. Then go to your Network connections Start=>Control Panel>Network & Internet connections>Network Connections and right-click on your connection. Then under the General or the Networking tab, (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.

It may take effect immediately on some systems. To be sure, just re-boot.

Tips Cleaning Your Computer, A Guide

2007-03-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

After a period of use any PC will gather dust and grime. Its removable drives, for example, will get to the point where reading their respective media may be either problematical or impossible. It’s cleaning time!

The screen

This takes a surprising amount of hammer, first from children who insist on fingering it, or splashes from this and that (shame on you!), or simply electrostatically attracted dust.

Special screen cleaning fluids may safely be used, applying with a clean, soft, lint free cloth, and then polishing gently with a fresh piece. Glass will scratch, so go easy. Luke warm, soapy water might also be tried, but only slightly dampen the cloth, don’t soak everything.

The monitor case and the system box may also be cleaned with warm soapy water, though again there are specialist fluids you can buy and use with benefit. Again, go easy on the fluid, and don’t let any of it dampen the internals through either power buttons and the like, or drive slots and drive controls.

Floppy drive

If your floppy drive gets to the point when reading disks is unreliable, don’t use anything to revive it except the specialist cleaning fluids you can buy from computer shops - applied via a special disk - or pure Isopropyl Alcohol, if you can access any. It’s easy; just follow the instructions.

If the drive will read its own floppy disks but not those written by other PCs, suspect misalignment of the read/write heads in one machine or the other. It’s not worth trying to correct this. Decide which machine is at fault by trying to read a disk in other computers, then sling the faulty drive and fit another. They are very cheap these days.

CD drives

As far as cleaning the innards is concerned, the same applies to CD and DVD drives. Special cleaning fluids, applied via a special cleaning CD, will remove minor grime that has been drawn into the drive from atmospheric pollution, and polish the lens for you. Again, if that fails to correct CD reading problems, change the drive.

Keyboards gather an amazing amount of filth, usually from people (not you, of course!) eating while working. If you can, keep the keyboard covered with a plastic cover while not in use, but when cleaning time arrives, first, invert the keyboard and gently tap out any loose particles.

Follow that by gentle suction from a vacuum cleaner, preferably one of the diddy battery-driven type specially made for the duty. Again, careful application of PC case cleaning fluid will remove all manner of stains and grime. You’d be surprised at the state keyboards can get into and still work, but inevitably, in time, you’ll need to either clean it or sling it.

Peripherals

Flatbed scanners and printer casings, as well as other buff coloured plastic parts, will benefit from the occasional warm soapy water treatment, or preferably dedicated cleaning fluid, but with the same cautions as before. Don’t soak things! ‘Dampen’ is the keyword.

Cleaning Inkjet printer innards has recently been covered in these pages, but following the directions of the manufacturer is sensible. Watch out for signs of inefficient printing, and then clean the nozzles in the approved way.

System internals

Over a period of time, the PC’s innards will become covered in dust - which can both compromise electrical connections and reduce heat loss from sensitive components. Careful application of the vacuum cleaner can be effective, making certain that no components are disturbed in the process. Just hover the thing, don’t poke around.

If you suspect that PCI and other cards are ineffective or intermittent, try removing their fastening screws and gently removing them from their sockets before carefully reinserting them. That is often sufficient by way of contact cleaning, though you might also find the need to gently polish the electrical contacts with a clean cloth while you have the cards out of their sockets.

Final word

Take care of your PC and it will give you long service. Ignore it long enough and it will surely fail you at some point. The rules are, don’t smoke while working in the computer room, and don’t leave the machine running while your wife hovers the carpets. You may not see the dust clouds, but they’ll be drawn into your system box and accumulate there, storing up problems for you.

And don’t eat or drink at the keyboard. I know, we all do it, but it’s asking for trouble. Whatever you do, don’t use solvents such as Benzene, for cleaning plastic parts; they’ll dissolve! Stick to recommended PC cleaning fluids as safe bets.[/b]

How to make Invisible Windows Folders

2007-03-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will not teach you to create hidden folders but invisible folders.
There is no point in creating hidden folders because you can just go to Tools > View > Show hidden files and folders.

Follow these steps:

1. Right click in a directory and go to New Folder.
2. Right click and then go to rename.
3. Delete the name and press Alt + 255. This will make the text disappear.
4. Right click on the folder once again but this time go to properties. Click on the "Customize" tab and go to the bottom where it says "Change Icon".
5. Scroll over and choose a blank icon like in this picture:

One minor flaw is that when you highlight the area with the folder, a small rectangle shows, indicating something is there. Also if you change the view to "Details" it will show it in Description. If anyone knows how to fix that please post here and tell me

This is great for hiding folders because if the even if the person highlights the area, they would have to know it was there.

The Secret Info Nokia Mobile Codes

2007-03-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Nokia Universal Codes
Code Description :
These Nokia codes will work on most Nokia Mobile Phones

(1) *3370# Activate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) - Your phone uses the best sound quality but talk time is

reduced my approx. 5%

(2) #3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) OR *3370#

(3) *#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a lower quality sound but you should gain approx 30%

more Talk Time.

(4) *#4720# Deactivate Half Rate Codec.

(5) *#0000# Displays your phones software version, 1st Line : Software Version, 2nd Line : Software Release

Date, 3rd Line : Compression Type.

(6) *#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work.

(7) *#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number).

(8) #pw+1234567890+1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(9) #pw+1234567890+2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(10) #pw+1234567890+3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(11) #pw+1234567890+4# SIM Card Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" Go to Top
and "+" symbols).

(12) *#147# (vodafone) this lets you know who called you last.

(13) *#1471# Last call (Only vodofone).

(14) *#21# Allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are diverted to

(15) *#2640# Displays security code in use.

(16) *#30# Lets you see the private number.

(17) *#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your phone.

(18) *#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to.

(19) *#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable (no service)" calls
are diverted to.

(20) *#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to.

(21) *#67705646# Removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330.

(22) *#73# Reset phone timers and game scores.

(23) *#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop

Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible.

(24) *#7760# Manufactures code.

(25) *#7780# Restore factory settings.

(26) *#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110.

Go to Top

(27) *#92702689# Displays - 1.Serial Number, 2.Date Made, 3.Purchase Date, 4.Date of last repair (0000 for no

repairs), 5.Transfer User Data. To exit this mode you need to switch your phone off then on again. ( Favourite )

(28) *#94870345123456789# Deactivate the PWM-Mem.

(29) **21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone number entered.

(30) **61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone number entered.

(31) **67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered.

(32) 12345 This is the default security code.

press and hold # Lets you switch between lines

NOKIA5110/5120/5130/5190

IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
Enhanced Full Rate: * 3 3 7 0 # [ # 3 3 7 0 # off]
Half Rate: * 4 7 2 0 #
Provider lock status: #pw+1234567890+1
Network lock status #pw+1234567890+2
Provider lock status: #pw+1234567890+3
SimCard lock status: #pw+1234567890+4
NOKIA 6110/6120/6130/6150/6190
IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
Enhanced Full Rate: * 3 3 7 0 # [ # 3 3 7 0 # off]
Half Rate: * 4 7 2 0 #

NOKIA3110

IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 # or * # 9 9 9 9 # or * # 3 1 1 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
NOKIA 3330
*#06#
This will show your warranty details *#92702689#
*3370#
Basically increases the quality of calling sound, but decreases battery length.
#3370#
Deactivates the above
*#0000#
Shows your software version
*#746025625#This shows if your phone will allow sim clock stoppage
*4370#
Half Rate Codec activation. It will automatically restart
#4370#
Half Rate Codec deactivation. It will automatically restart
Restore Factory Settings
To do this simply use this code *#7780#
Manufacturer Info
Date of Manufacturing *#3283#
*3001#12345# (TDMA phones only)

This will put your phone into programming mode, and you'll be presented with the programming menu.
2) Select "NAM1"
3) Select "PSID/RSID"
4) Select "P/RSID 1"
Note: Any of the P/RSIDs will work
5) Select "System Type" and set it to Private
6) Select "PSID/RSID" and set it to 1
7) Select "Connected System ID"
Note: Enter your System ID for Cantel, which is 16401 or 16423. If you don't know yours,
ask your local dealer for it.
8) Select "Alpha Tag"
9) Enter a new tag, then press OK
10) Select "Operator Code (SOC)" and set it to 2050
11) Select "Country Code" and set it to 302 for Canada, and 310 for the US.
12) Power down the phone and power it back on again
ISDN Code
To check the ISDN number on your Nokia use this code *#92772689#

How TO Maximum Increase The Speed Of Firefox Browser

2007-03-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is simple trick to maximize speed your firefox browser

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll
down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time.
When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really
speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This
means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer.
Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0".
This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.

If you're using a brodband connection you'll load pages 2-3 times faster now.

Effectively Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors

2007-03-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

Overture or now known as Yahoo because of Yahoo’s takeover, was the original inventor of the use of the P4P or Pay for Performance. Overture saw that the internet was fast becoming the easiest and most convenient way to shop, and advertising was going to hit at an all time high because of the many businesses in the arena.

To get a person to go to a site than others, it needs to be very visible. Providing ads that could direct potential consumers and costumers to their site would allow them to have an increase in traffic as well as sales. Yahoo provides a service that can put a site or company’s ad in their sites that can be shown when certain keywords are inputted.

Yahoo offers a chance for any company to increase their traffic by using their services. With more people being aware of your site, there would be more traffic and visitors to your site given the chance to view your pages as well as your products. With even a small percentage of successful sales, with a high traffic volume this could still be a substantial figure for your company.

Getting a consistent substantial flow of website visitors is every company’s goal. Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. Website visitors are potentially the life blood of your internet based business.

Yahoo/Overture utilizes the same principle as Google’s Adwords. In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search. When a person types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the search engines gives out the results in a page. Then at the right side of the page, you will see selected ads that have paid for their ads to be viewed with certain keywords and keyword phrases searched.

For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale site. You choose keywords that can prompt or trigger your ads to be shown in the page when a keyword is searched. When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad may come up if you have designated that as one of your keywords. You don’t need to fully optimize your site with Search Engine Optimization methods and techniques.

While some labor so hard to make their site one of the high ranking sites per keyword search, you get the chance to be on the top of the list or at least in the first page of a search result increasing your chance to be clicked on. With that, you drive traffic and website visitors to your site a lot faster.

You will have to pony up some cash when using this service though. There are different ways Yahoo/Overture will charge you. It may be in the number of Keywords or Keyword phrases your ad uses or in the many times your ad is clicked on. Others offer many other services like having your ad show up not only in the search engine pages but also with some third party sites.

Third party sites support ads that have the same theme or niche as them. With more areas your ad is shown, you increase the chances of people knowing about your site or product. With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one.

With so many competitions in the internet based businesses, it is necessary to take a huge leap forward from the pack by advertising. Yahoo/Overture will be a great place to start. Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. It’s a marketing strategy that will increase your website visitors as well as increase your sales resulting to profit.

It takes money to make money, while there are some methods that are basically low cost or free, using a marketing service such as what Yahoo/Overture offers will provide results faster and on a larger scale. Many businesses have learned this the hard way, don’t be counted with them.

3 Reasons Why Adsense Is Essential For Content Sites

2007-03-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

To know why Adsense is essential for your content sites is to know first how this works.

The concept is really simple, if you think about it. The publisher or the webmaster inserts a java script into a certain website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script will pull advertisements from the Adsense program. The ads that are targeted should therefore be related to the content that is contained on the web page serving the ad. If a visitor clicks on an advertisement, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying the search engine for the click.

The search engine is the one handling all the tracking and payments, providing an easy way for webmasters to display content-sensitive and targeted ads without having the hassle to solicit advertisers, collect funds, monitor the clicks and statistics which could be a time-consuming task in itself. It seems that there is never a shortage of advertisers in the program from which the search engine pulls the Adsense ads. Also webmasters are less concerned by the lack of information search engines are providing and are more focused in making cash from these search engines.

The first reason why Adsense is essential for content sites is because it already has come a long way in understanding the needs of publishers and webmasters. Together with its continuous progression is the appearance of more advanced system that allows full ad customization. Webmasters are given the chance to choose from many different types of text ad formats to better complement their website and fit their webpage layout.

The different formatting enables the site owners the possibility of more click through from visitors who may or may not be aware of what they are clicking on. It can also appeal to the people visiting thus make them take that next step of looking up what it is all about. This way the people behind the Adsense will get their content read and making profit in the process.

The second reason is the ability of the Adsense publishers to track not only how their sites are progressing but also the earnings based on the webmaster-defined channels. The recent improvements in the search engines gives webmasters the capability to monitor how their ads are performing using customizable reports that has the capacity to detail page impressions, clicks and click-through rates. Webmasters and publishers can now track specific ad formats, colors and pages within a website. Trends are also easily spotted.

With the real-time reporting at hand, the effectiveness of the changes made will be assessed quickly. There would be time to sort out the contents that people are making the most clicks on. The ever-changing demands would be met while generating cash for the webmasters and publishers. The more flexible tools are also allowing webmasters to group web pages by URL, domain, ad type or category, which will provide them some accurate insight on which pages, ads and domains are performing best.

The last and final reason is that the advertisers have realized the benefits associated having their ads served on targeted websites. Thus increasing the possibility that a prospective web surfer will have an interest in their product and services. All because of the content and its constant maintenance. As opposed to those who are no using Adsense in their sites, they are given the option of having other people do their content for them, giving them the benefit of having successful and money-generating web sites.

Adsense is all about targeted content, the more targeted your content is, the more target the search engines’ ads will be. There are some web masters and publishers who are focused more on their site contents and how best to maintain them rather than the cash that the ads will generate for them. This is the part where the effectiveness is working its best.

There was a time when people were not yet aware of the money to be achieved from advertisements. The cash generated only came into existence when the webmasters and publishers realized how they can make Adsense be that generator. In those days, the content were the most important factors that is taken quite seriously. It still is. With the allure of money, of course.

How To Become A Super Affiliate In Niche Markets

2007-03-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Over the past years, web hosting has grown bigger than it used to be. With more companies getting into this business and finding the many benefits it can give them, the demand for web hosting has never been higher. These seem to be the trend of today.

38 million people have put up their very first websites online this year 2005 alone. It is estimated that by 2008, the internet sales industry will top then dollar bank. And to think, majority of those sites will be offering different affiliate programs for people to choose and participate into.

This only means one thing. It is easier now to find the right web host for your application. The possibility of quality web hosting companies separating themselves from the rest of the industry is anticipated. If this is done, the unprofessional and incompetent ones will suffer.

Support will be the number one consideration for people when choosing a web host. It will be obvious that traditional advertising will become less and less effective. Most people would rather opt for the web host based on things that they see and hear. Also based on the recommendations by those who have tried them and have proved to be a successful.

This is a great opportunity for web hosting affiliates and resellers alike. There would hundreds of web hosting and programs to choose from that the difficulty in finding the right one for them is not a problem anymore.

How does one become a successful affiliate in the niche markets using web hosting?

If you think about it, everyone who needs a website needs a web hosting company to host it for them. As of now, there is really no leading hosting industry so most people choose hosts based from recommendations. Usually, they get it from the ones that have already availed of a web hosting services.

With the many hosts offering affiliate programs, there is the tendency to find the one which you think will work best for you. Think of the product you will be promoting. Pattern them to the site and see if they are catering to the same things as you are.

When you have been with one host for quite some time and seem not to be making much despite all your effort, leave that one and look for another. There is no use in trying to stick to one when you would be before off in another one. Things will only have to get better from there because you already have been in worst situations.

Try this out. If you are quite happy and satisfied with your web host, try to see if they are offering an affiliate program you can participate on. Instead of you paying them, why not make it the other way around; them paying you. The process can be as easy as putting a small “powered by” or “hosted by” link at the bottom of your page and you are already in an affiliate business.

Why choose paying for your for your web hosting when you do not have to? Try to get paid by letting people know you like your web host.

Always remember that when choosing a web host, choose the one that is known for its fantastic customer support. There are also many hosting affiliate programs. Residual affiliate program is also being hosted. This is the program wherein you get paid a percentage every month for a client that you refer. This can allow you to have a steady source of income. With perseverance, you can even be quite successful in this field.

There are a lot of niche markets out there just waiting for the right affiliate to penetrate to them and make that dollars dream come true. Knowing which one to get into is being confident enough of your potentials and the good results you will be getting.

Web hosting is just one affiliate market you could try out and make some good and continuous income. Just remember that to be successful on your endeavor also means that time, effort and patience is needed.

Nobody has invented the perfect affiliate market yet. But some people do know how to make it big in this kind of market. It is just knowing your kind of market and making the earnings there.

How to Avoid eBay Scams and Fraud

2007-03-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Countless people have been scammed and
defrauded on eBay. eBay is a fun place to bid on
items and to sell items – but you must know how to
recognize a scam, and how to avoid them, them or
you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost
their money to eBay scams. Of course, if you are
scammed, there are some actions you can take the
correct the situation – but in many cases, the
scammer does indeed get away! The best option is
to avoid being scammed.

You can easily avoid many scams with the payment
method that you use – whether you are a buyer or a
seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases,
Paypal is the payment method you should use. First,
as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than
satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can
dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The
seller must reply and show proof that the item was
shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you
expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your
account.

As a seller, you can protect yourself by only
accepting Paypal. This will eliminate the chances of
receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a
credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the
charge through paypal, and you of course will be able
to prove that you shipped the product. You cannot,
however, prove that the product arrived in the
condition that was expected. In this case, you should
demand that the product be returned to you before the
refund is issued.

Another common scam that buyers use is the
bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with
two separate eBay accounts – with one person in
control of both of them, or with two friends with
separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed
on your item, using one account. This is followed by
a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Right
before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or
withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid.
This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price
– the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the
reserve price that you set.

If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect
your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions
page, declaring that you have the right to back out
of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a
buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails.
These emails appear to be from eBay. The email
may claim that you need to verify your information,
and ask you to login to your eBay account, using
the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks
exactly like eBay, but it is actually a scam to get
your eBay login details, as well as your credit card
details! eBay will never ask you to do this. If you
suspect a spoofed email, report it to eBay
immediately!

Don’t let scammers ruin your eBay fun! Just use
good common sense, and a reasonable amount of
caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report
suspicious activity to eBay, and if a deal doesn’t feel
right, simply back away from it and move on to the
next auction.

Using Free Autoresponders

2007-03-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

If you’ve looked at the prices of autoresponders that
are available online, you may have decided to search
for and use a free autoresponder for your marketing
needs. Using free autoresponders is acceptable in
certain situations, and in the world of Internet
marketing, any autoresponder is better than not
using an autoresponder at all!

Your first option for a free autoresponder should be
the one that comes with your webhosting account –
if you have a webhosting account. These
autoresponders can easily be set up through the
control panel of your website, and they do not
contain advertisements from the autoresponder
company or webhosting service. If you do not have
a hosting account, or your hosting
account does not include autoresponders, there are
other options that you can pursue.

There are many free autoresponder services to
choose from. These services are free, because the
company makes their money by placing a small
advertisement in each message that your
autoresponder sends out. These advertisements
may appear at the top of your auto responses, or at
the bottom, depending on which company you use.

Many paid autoresponder services offer a free version
as well. These free versions may or may not include
advertisements in the outgoing messages. These
lighter versions of the paid autoresponders typically
do not include many of the powerful features of the
paid versions. But if you don’t need the more
advanced features, this is a great choice.

Most free autoresponders have a limit on the number
of subscribers you can have. Many people start out
with the limited free versions, and then upgrade to
the paid versions once their lists are large enough
to exceed those limits. Many marketers don’t feel
that the expense of the autoresponder is warranted
until the list that they are building is turning a profit.
From a business standpoint, this makes sense.

As the owner of a business, you are the only one
who can decide whether you need a paid
autoresponder service, or if a free one will do the job.
If your list is small, a free autoresponder should do
everything that you need it to do, but as your list
grows, you should definitely consider upgrading.
However, having the small advertisements that the
free services place in the outgoing
messages may present a problem if the ads
compete with what you are trying to sell. They may
even pose a problem if they do not directly compete
with your product or business. Again, this depends
on what you are trying to accomplish with your
autoresponder.

Tips to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

2007-03-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

It is worth cataloguing the basic principles to be enforced to increase website traffic and search engine rankings.

1.Create a site with valuable content, products or services.
2.Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
3.Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
4.Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
5.Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
6.Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most 7.popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.
8.Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
9.Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
10.Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from.
11.Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.
12.Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.
13.Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.
14.When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.
15.When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.
16.Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.

How Do Search Engines Work - Web Crawlers

2007-03-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

It is the search engines that finally bring your website to the notice of the prospective customers. Hence it is better to know how these search engines actually work and how they present information to the customer initiating a search.

There are basically two types of search engines. The first is by robots called crawlers or spiders.

Search Engines use spiders to index websites. When you submit your website pages to a search engine by completing their required submission page, the search engine spider will index your entire site. A ‘spider’ is an automated program that is run by the search engine system. Spider visits a web site, read the content on the actual site, the site's Meta tags and also follow the links that the site connects. The spider then returns all that information back to a central depository, where the data is indexed. It will visit each link you have on your website and index those sites as well. Some spiders will only index a certain number of pages on your site, so don’t create a site with 500 pages!

The spider will periodically return to the sites to check for any information that has changed. The frequency with which this happens is determined by the moderators of the search engine.

A spider is almost like a book where it contains the table of contents, the actual content and the links and references for all the websites it finds during its search, and it may index up to a million pages a day.

Example: Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and Google.

When you ask a search engine to locate information, it is actually searching through the index which it has created and not actually searching the Web. Different search engines produce different rankings because not every search engine uses the same algorithm to search through the indices.

One of the things that a search engine algorithm scans for is the frequency and location of keywords on a web page, but it can also detect artificial keyword stuffing or spamdexing. Then the algorithms analyze the way that pages link to other pages in the Web. By checking how pages link to each other, an engine can both determine what a page is about, if the keywords of the linked pages are similar to the keywords on the original page.

PROBLOGGING: MAKING MONEY FROM BLOGS

2007-02-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or 'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:

· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks

Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:

· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry

· Category - the category that the blog belongs to

· Title - the title of the blog

· Main body - the main content of the blog

· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites

· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers

· Permalinks - the URL of the full article

· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins

A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:

1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).

2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.

3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.

4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.

5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.

6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.

7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.

8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.

9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.

10. Religious blog - on religious topics

11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.

12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.

13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.

14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.

15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).

16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.

· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.

· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.

· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.

2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.

3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.

4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).

5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.

Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.

How to Increase Sales Through Streaming Audio

2007-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

Many studies have proven that radio is a good medium for product advertisements. People listen to the radio for entertainment, usually to listen to the latest music or to their favorite radio program. In between the program, advertisements on products and services are being played.

For many years, this has been the trend in advertising. But now that the radio medium is almost behind the audio-visual medium, the TV, and the Internet, other marketing strategies have to be employed to continue the benefits of advertising through audio.

It is then that the benefits of using music on websites were discovered. Before, music on the Internet was just available in downloadable forms as mp3. Even through hosting downloadable music on their servers, companies were able to get much traffic on their sites. And everyone engaged in Internet marketing knows that website traffic plays a big role in boosting product and service sales.

However, there had been a problem with illegal music download in which artists, musicians and record companies have lost millions of revenues.

Then, came the popularity of Internet music streaming. Unlike the former, radio streaming does not allow download of the music files. Thus, the copyrights of the artists and record label owners are protected.

So, how can this be done? There are several ways to stream audio from your site. First, is to stream a radio program from your site or blog. You can find free affiliate programs that allow you to stream their radio content from your site.

What will this mean to you? This means that your site will have new audio content every time it is visited. What's even great is that the content is being updated even without much effort from you.

In this case, what you needed to do is to signup with an Internet radio station and have the link embedded on your blog or website.

Another way is to stream mp3s. To do this, you just need to upload your mp3files on a server and add the files' links to the page. When the link is clicked, the browser opens a media player window and plays a file. However, since the file is in mp3 format, it may also be downloaded. Downloading music files without the authorization of the copyright owner is illegal. Therefore, if you will be using this type of streaming, make sure that you have the appropriate permit to do so.

A third way to add audio to you blog or website is to stream music through organizing playlists. Playlists are m3u files, which if downloaded, will not play music if offline. Using this process, however, can be complex. Here is a short instruction on how to do it.

1. Save your mp3 or wma file on the server. You may skip this step if you know that the file exists on another server and know the link to that file. Make sure that the link has a .mp3 or .wma extension.

2. Open your text editor and type the path to the file. Include the http:// and the file extension. Repeat this step until you have included all the links to the files that you would like to be included in the playlist.

3. Save the playlist with a .m3u extension.

4. Upload the m3u file on the directory where the music files are hosted or to your server.

5. Open your html editor and embed the link to the m3u file. Through this, you can also set if you want to have the playlist to autoplay if someone visits your site of if you want your visitor to control playing the music. You can also set the volume level.

After the code is embedded on the html file, and whenever your site is visited, the songs in the playlist will be buffered, streamed and played one after another. If your playlist has several songs, the user can skip forward or go back a song in the playlist using the media player controls.

Doing this setup works for many website owners. Through this you can customize the type of music being played on your site. You can even play recordings related to your product to boost product awareness.

It requires knowledge of html to be done. But if it will be the best way to increase traffic to your site, why not request assistance from programmers. After all, having audio on a website is a proven way to increase sales.

YouTube Video Downloader 1.1

2007-02-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

free for you to download your favorite video in Youtube
Download here

Must Have Features Your Web Site

2007-02-09T03:59:00.001-08:00

Just don’t focus on the home page, keywords and titles.
The first step to sales when customers visit your site to see the products they were looking for. Of course, search engine optimization and better rankings can’t keep your customer on your site or make them buy. The customer having visited your site, now ensure that he gets interested in your products or services and stays around. Motivate him to buy the product by providing clear and unambiguous information. Thus if you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about this, may be by keeping the information at a different page. By providing suitable and easily visible links, the customer can navigate to these pages and get the details.

Understanding Your Target Customer
If you design a website you think will attract clients, but you don’t really know who your customers are and what they want to buy, it is unlikely you make much money. Website business is an extension or replacement for a standard storefront. You can send email to your existing clients and ask them to complete a survey or even while they are browsing on your website. Ask them about their choices. Why do they like your products? Do you discount prices or offer coupons? Are your prices consistently lower than others? Is your shipping price cheaper? Do you respond faster to client questions? Are your product descriptions better? Your return policies and guarantees better than your competitor’s? To know your customer you can check credit card records or ask your customer to complete a simple contact form with name, address, age, gender, etc. when they purchase a product.

Does your website give enough contact information?
When you sell from a website, your customer can buy your products 24 hrs a day and also your customers may be from other states that are thousands of miles away. Always provide contact information, preferably on every page of your website, complete with mailing address, telephone number and an email address that reaches you. People may need to contact you about sales, general information or technical problems on your site. Also have your email forwarded to another email address if you do not check your website mailbox often. When customer wants to buy online provide enough options like credit card, PayPal or other online payment service.

Submitting Your Website to Search Engines

2007-02-09T03:49:00.000-08:00

If you have a web-based business or if a significant portion of your business is done on the web through your website, then the best advertising and marketing is done by submitting to a search engine. No amount of press release, newspaper or radio ad, banner ad, spam email or newsletter will achieve the same results, although, maybe effective in a small proportion.

Beware of companies that promise automatic submission of your website to hundreds of search engines which are but only false promises. The best way to submit your website for search engine ranking and inclusion is to do it yourself or to hire an expert to do it manually, by contacting the search engine companies and directories.

Before you begin to submit your website to search engines ensure your websites are thoroughly designed to the professional quality using the right key words, good graphics and pictures and the relevant content. Don’t submit websites that are incomplete. While submitting to a search engine, make sure to provide information about your website, keywords and any other information that may be pertinent, including the name and contact information of your business.

Mere submission to search engine companies does not guarantee that your site would be immediately listed and the ranking will be high. Because there are thousands of new websites coming up every day and it may take quite sometime before they take up your site for review by human editors. One important factor to remember while submitting site is to include a site map of your website which makes the crawling easy for the web robots. Search engines like ‘http://www.google.com’ hardly considers submissions without sitemaps.

There are many online companies that accept search engine submission services. You can choose to do it yourself with a software package and service like this one:

http://www.webposition.com/order/trial.asp?WT.mc_id=google%3A%7Bifsearch%3Asearch%7D%7Bifcontent%3Acontent%7D%3A%7Bcreative%7D%3Atrial%3A%7Bkeyword%7D&WT.srch=1

Or if you want professional help try the following sites:

http://www.addpro.com/professional_submission

http://www.submitawebsite.com/aboutus.html

Don’t use the automatic submission services.

Here is a list of the most popular Search Engines and directory companies:

Search Engines
Go.com/InfoSeek AltaVista
Google, HotBot
Excite/Webcrawler

Directories
AOL Search Inktomi
Lycos Open Directory
MSN, Yahoo!
LookSmart Snap

Apart from the above there are thousands of search engines and directory companies, where you can submit your website to as many companies as possible. The following links gives info on other search engines and directories:

http://websearch.about.com/library/searchengine/blsearchenginesatoz.htm

http://websearch.about.com/library/tableofcontents/blsearchenginetableofcontents.htm

Desktop CPUs in 2007

2007-01-29T08:09:00.001-08:00

Analysis: desktop CPUs in 2007

What a difference a year makes. One year ago, we were dazed, dazzled, and beguiled by the arrival of dual-core processors. Offerings from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices had analysts, journalists, creative IT professionals and enthusiasts all gushing with praise for a bright new multitasking future.

Amazingly, both Intel and AMD were able to deliver on the potential of dual-core processing. Throughout 2006, desktop PCs played host to a series of processors that, while slower at the clock-speed level, were faster in real-life usage, allowing for unprecedented amounts of multitasking.

As the calendar flips to 2007, we are firmly entrenched in the world of multicore processors. And, based upon the confidential road maps of both Intel and AMD, it is clear that dual-core CPUs are only the launching point for the future of the microprocessor. In 2007, quad cores and even eight-core CPUs will be available. By 2009, there's a good chance that sixteen-core processors will be on the market.

As we enter 2007, five key questions regarding the pending year's CPU battle are on our minds:

1. Will AMD be able to continue its dominance in the desktop market?
2. How will Intel capitalize upon the success of Core 2?
3. Will AMD be able to match the success of Intel's Core 2 processors?
4. When will the market see true quad-core and even eight-core processors?
5. What surprises do the chip makers have up their sleeves?

With all this in mind, we're taking an extended look at the processors and processor trends you can expect to see in 2007. Not surprisingly, neither AMD nor Intel was willing to divulge many specifics regarding their CPU releases for the coming year. So we scoured the Net, pored over statements from both companies and dug into reports from the host of analysts and experts who cover them.

It's worth noting that much of the information in this road map is preliminary and code-name-level information. As such, the specifics of the processors could change in coming months.

All secrets are revealed within.

Intel advances

Extensive digging has revealed a good portion of Intel's plan for increasing desktop market share in the coming year. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the company's processor road map revolves around the Core microprocessor architecture, formerly code-named "Merom." One of the smashing success stories of 2006, Core 2 processors offer unparalleled levels of performance per watt of energy consumed and may allow Intel to recapture market share lost to AMD over the past three years. (Core 2 processors are based on the Core architecture; so-called Core processors were based on the company's previous Pentium 4/M architecture.)

In attempt to round out its desktop CPU portfolio in the first half of 2007, Intel will focus on several new processor families based on the Core 2 architecture at all performance levels, including a new value line that uses Core 2 at the Celeron level. Here are the details.

Early 2007 brings new Core 2 processors

At the high-end performance level, Intel will release three new quad-core CPUs at the beginning of the year, dubbed the Core 2 Quad Q6600, Q6400 and Q6300. These three processors will be dual-core, dual-die processors, meaning that they will essentially be two Core 2 processors joined together.

Scheduled for release in the first week of January, the Q6600 will have a clock speed of 2.4 GHz, the Q6400 will have a clock speed of 2.13 GHz, and the Q6300 will operate at 1.86 GHz. Each processor will operate on a 1,066-MHz front-side bus and have 8MB of total Level 2 cache, with 4MB of shared cache on each die. (A large L2 cache allows for faster retrieval of frequently accessed data, thereby speeding up overall system performance.)

In the first half of 2007, Intel will also release a new series of Core 2 Duo processors aimed at the midrange market. These dual-core, single-die processors will reside in the newly introduced Core 2 Duo E4000 series, and the initial release will consist of three CPUs: the 2-GHz E4400, the 1.8-GHz E4300 and the 1.6-GHz E4200.

This category of CPUs will operate on an 800-MHz front-side bus and will likely come with a 2MB shared L2 cache. The E4300 will be the first processor in this family released and could be in desktop PCs as soon as February. It is widely expected that E4000 processors will come with virtualization and 64-bit support.

Finally, in an attempt to make significant inroads in the value CPU sector -- one that has traditionally been dominated by AMD -- Intel is trickling its Core 2 CPU line down to the low-cost market. Intel has not yet made it clear whether these processors will be single-core versions of the Core 2 Duo or dual-core chips with one core disabled.

In the second quarter, Intel plans to release a number of processors in this value category. Around this same time, the chipmaker will probably phase out the Pentium 600 series, specifically the Pentium 4 651, 641 and 631.

To avoid confusing CPU buyers, Intel will use the Pentium and Celeron brand names for these new CPUs, even though they are based on the Core architecture.

In the Pentium bracket, we'll see releases of the E1060, E1040 and E1020. The E1060 will have a clock speed of 1.8 GHz, the E1040 will run at 1.6 GHz, and the E1040 will run at 1.4 GHz. Each will have 1MB of L2 cache with a front-side bus speed of 800 MHz. While these processors will support Intel's 64-bit extensions, none of the E1000 line will support virtualization or hyperthreading, a technology that allows single-core CPUs to behave as if they were dual-core ones.

In the Celeron bracket, CPU buyers will likely see a wide range of clock speeds. At press time, no specific model numbers or clock speeds were available, but it appears that the name of this series of processors will be the Celeron 400 series and that these processors will have 512KB of L2 cache. It is not clear whether or not these processors will support 64-bit extensions, virtualization or HyperThreading.

'Bearlake' chip set boosts front-side bus speeds

As Intel shifts to multicore processing, the bus speed becomes a more pressing concern because of the increased volume of data traffic generated by separate CPU cores. The front-side bus (FSB) is the primary channel of data communication between the CPU and other devices on the system, such as RAM and hard drives. It's essentially a single-lane highway with limited bandwidth. As CPU manufacturers stack more processing cores onto a single processor, the risk that this data channel will become full increases, hence the need for faster FSB speeds.

Thus, one of the most significant releases Intel will make in 2007 is a brand-new chip set foundation code-named "Bearlake." This chip set is the successor to the 975X chip set and will feature a number of upgrades and improvements. The P35 Express will be released first in the second quarter of 2007 and will feature two key upgrades: an all-new 1,333-MHz FSB and support for DDR2-800 and DDR3-1066 memory.

Intel recently announced official names for the first wave of Bearlake chip sets. The G35 and G33 monikers will be attached to mainstream consumer desktop chip sets. The G35 chip set will feature an integrated DirectX 10-compatible graphics processor.

The P35 Express and X38 Express will be Intel's performance-oriented, high-end versions of Bearlake. The X38 will feature the same 1,333-MHz FSB and DDR2-800/DDR3-1066 memory support found in the P35 Express, and it will also feature two PCI-Express x16 slots and PCI Express 2.0, which is twice as fast as PCI-Express 1.0 (5 GHz, compared with 2.5 GHz).

1,333-MHz front-side bus CPUs by midyear

At the same time it releases the Bearlake chip set described above, Intel will also release three speedy new Core 2 processors that are compatible with the Bearlake chip set's 1,333-MHz FSB and other new features. The model numbers of these processors are the E6850, E6750 and E6650. (The "50" designator in the model number indicates a FSB speed of 1,333-MHz).

The clock speeds of the E6850, E6750 and E6650 will be ratcheted up to 3 GHz, 2.66 GHz, and 2.33 GHz, respectively. For reference's sake, 3 GHz is the current high mark for Intel's Core 2 CPUs and can currently be found in only one Core 2 processor -- the Extreme X6800. Each of these new Core 2 CPUs is a dual-core, single-die processor that utilizes 4MB of shared L2 cache.

At the same time it releases the E6850, E6750 and E6650, Intel will also release a non-Bearlake CPU -- the E6800. The E6800 will have a clock speed of 3 GHz and a 4MB shared cache, but will run at a bus speed of only 1,066 MHz.

The road to 45nm begins here

Initially, based upon statements Intel released in the middle of 2006, it appeared that Intel would be fairly conservative in terms of CPU releases in 2007. Goals for 2007, as stated by the chipmaker, were to release several new processors based upon the Core 2 architecture. But the company's technology and design priorities would be on improving its fabrication process with the aim of producing 45nm-process CPUs by 2008.

However, toward the end of 2006, Intel indicated that it was ahead of schedule for reaching a 45nm fabrication process. In late November, the company stated that it had already produced a prototype of a 45nm processor, and that it was now hoping to release 45nm processors by the second half of 2007.

Why the emphasis on the shift to 45nm? Beyond the simple metrics of cost -- a 45nm process is smaller than today's state-of-the-art 65nm process, which allows for more CPUs to be manufactured per wafer of silicon -- smaller fabrication processes allow for performance boosts via shorter distances for electrons to travel, faster clock speeds, larger cache sizes and reduced energy consumption.

Another important reason behind the frenzied pursuit of 45nm CPUs: Intel wields a significant advantage over AMD when it comes to fabrication process technology. AMD just released its first 65nm processors in December 2006, and it is not expected to move to a 45nm process until mid- to late 2008. Given the theoretical performance-per-watt advantages that 45nm-process CPUs will possess, Intel's rapid transition to 45nm could place considerable pressure on AMD to catch up.

Enter the 'Penryn' processors

Intel's 45nm process will manifest itself in a microprocessor architecture known only by the code name "Penryn." Not surprisingly, Intel has kept a fairly tight lid on Penryn, but based on rumors and speculation by analysts and experts, it appears that these processors will be based on the Core 2 architecture, but will take advantage of the 45nm processor to provide larger L2 caches and increased performance. (It's worth noting that Penryn will also serve as Intel's mobile processor architecture, with laptop CPUs scheduled for release in early 2008.)

In terms of specific processor releases, Computerworld has heard of a few Penryn-based CPUs that should be released in late 2007. Two dual-core, single-die processors known as "Ridgefield" and "Wolfdale," respectively, could be released as early as the third quarter of 2007. There has been no concrete information regarding the clock speeds of these two processors, but reliable early information has indicated that the Ridgefield processor will have 3MB of shared L2 cache, while the Wolfdale variant will have 6MB of shared L2 cache.

One of Intel's most potentially exciting desktop CPUs is code-named "Yorkfield" and appears to be a 45nm-process quad-core processor that uses a single die (referred to as "native" quad-core) and has an astonishing 12MB of shared L2 cache. When combined with the performance-per-watt advantages of the 45nm processor, this could be Intel's extreme high-end CPU of the year if it is released on schedule at the end of Q3 or the beginning of Q4 2007.

Finally, although the company has not confirmed this in any way, it's entirely plausible that Intel could combine two Yorkfield processors at the end of 2007 to create an octo-core, dual-die, 24MB L2 cache monster.

All the Penryn processors described above will be compatible with Intel's new Bearlake chip set.

As a teaser to what may come beyond 2007, rumors have swirled around a future-gen Intel microprocessor architecture code-named "Nehalem" that will be released in 2008. No details on this architecture have been revealed to date.

AMD battles back (and takes the eight-core lead)

At the beginning of last year, AMD was the CPU darling in terms of performance and the all-important price-performance ratio. This run of dominance ended with a thud in the summer of 2006 when Intel released its stunning new Core microprocessor architecture. Based on a highly efficient 65nm fabrication process -- a process AMD just reached at the end of 2006 -- this new architecture produced results that swiftly relegated AMD CPUs to also-ran status. Much to AMD's chagrin, benchmark result after benchmark result declared Core 2 processors the winners.

Interestingly, while AMD was left scrambling to keep up with Intel on the performance and performance-per-watt fronts for both desktop and laptop CPUs, the company experienced one of its best years ever. In January 2006, reports indicated that AMD CPUs were dominating market share on PC desktops to the tune of 85% to Intel's 15%. Even longtime Intel stalwart Dell Inc. got into the movement, inking a deal to use AMD CPUs in some Dell PCs.

But this success was largely fueled by price-performance advantages that existed prior to the release of the Core 2 Duo line. How will AMD respond in the coming year to what appears to be a clear technology advantage on Intel's part?

Part of the answer to this question appears to reside outside of the realm of CPUs. In July, AMD announced a whopper of an acquisition as it took over venerable graphics and chip set manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc. It's not likely that this acquisition will have a significant impact upon AMD's 2007 CPU forecast above and beyond the growing pains and distractions that a large acquisition can create.

Read on to find out the details about AMD's push to a smaller fabrication process, an all-new Socket AM3 and the alluring potential of eight- and sixteen-core processors.

The push to 65nm

One of the chief advantages Intel wields over AMD is the ability to deploy new technology at a more rapid pace. This was made clear in the early part of 2006, when Intel pushed out a 65nm series of processors many months ahead of AMD.

In December, AMD finally caught up with the release of four new 65nm dual-core processors in its X2 line: the Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 4800+, 4400+ and 4000+. These processors operate at clock speeds of 2.6 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.1 GHz respectively. Each has 1MB of shared L2 cache and support for AMD's virtualization and 64-bit technologies.

In the second quarter of 2007, AMD will release two more 65nm processors at the high end of this product series. The X2 5200+ will run at 2.7 GHz, while the 5400+ will operate at 2.8 GHz. Like the rest of the processors in this lineup, the 5400+ and 5200+ will support virtualization and 64-bit technology.

It's highly likely that AMD will release more 65nm processors into this lineup throughout the year. In the second half of 2007 and possibly sooner, buyers and systems integrators will likely see 65nm X2 5600+, 5800+ and 6000+ parts as well as conversions of lower-run CPUs such as the 3800+.

As soon as January or February, AMD will also release a single-core 65nm Athlon processor. Code-named "Lima," these processors will be introduced as the Athlon 64 3800+ and the 3500+. In the second quarter of 2007, AMD will release an Athlon 64 4000+ CPU on this same 65nm process. All of these processors will have 512K of L2 cache.

Also in the second quarter, AMD plans to release four single-core Sempron processors fabricated on the new 65nm process: the 2.2-GHz Sempron 3800+, the 2-GHz 3600+, the 1.8-GHz 3500+ and the 1.8-GHz 3400+. These processors will have 256K of L2 cache, with the exception of the Sempron 3500+, which will have only a 128K cache.

The high end: Quad FX rumbles in

In early December of 2006, AMD released three new performance-oriented processors -- the 3-GHz Athlon 64 FX-74, the 2.8-GHz FX-72 and the 2.6-GHz FX-70 -- under the chipmaker's newly introduced Quad FX line. Based upon a new dual-socket Socket 1207 motherboard and AMD's enterprise-class Opteron CPU architecture, Quad FX processors are purchased in pairs, one per socket. Early performance benchmarks have indicated that these CPUs are indeed suitable for the "megatasking" environments AMD has constructed them for.

In 2007, AMD will continue to build out this Quad FX line with the Q2 release of the Athlon 64 FX-76. The FX-76 will have a clock speed of 3.2 GHz and 1MB of L2 cache per core. This, like the FX-74, FX-72 and FX-70, will be fabricated on the older 90nm process. AMD has indicated that these will be the last of the FX CPUs to be built on a 90nm process.

65nm 'Agena' makes its debut

In early Q3 2007, AMD is planning to release a brand-new performance-oriented 65nm CPU architecture code-named "Agena," and it sounds like a high-performance dream. This new processor line will be the first "native" quad-core processor released by either AMD or Intel. (When used with a multicore processor, the term native refers to a processor with all the individual CPU cores integrated on a single die. To date, all previous quad-core processors have essentially been two dual-core processors attached together.)

One other impressive attribute of the Agena FX processor is that it will operate at a bus speed of 4 GHz, thanks to the 3.0 iteration of AMD's HyperTransport link that will debut at the same time. This doubles the bus speed of previous FX and other Athlon 64 processors. The Agena FX quad core will feature 2MB of shared L2 cache and 2MB of L3 cache. (L3 cache functions in a similar manner to L2 cache, but it's a little slower and is consequentially less expensive.)

Preliminary information has revealed that Agena FX processors will run at clock speeds between 2.7 GHz and 2.9 GHz. It's likely that we'll see two or three different Agena FX processors when they're released, possibly under Quad FX-8x model numbers.

It's too early to say for sure, but the native single-die nature of these CPUs and the shift to 65nm should result in a massive performance boost. One other interesting attribute of the Agena FX processors is that using them with the Quad FX platform, which uses two CPU sockets, will likely allow AMD to be the first chipmaker to release an eight-core platform. By the end of the summer, high-end enthusiasts will be able to run two Agena FX processors at the same time.

CPUs for the masses: Socket AM2+ and Kuma

AMD's rapid embrace of quad-core processing at the high end of CPU performance does not mean that the chipmaker is leaving mainstream dual-core computing out in the cold.

In the middle of 2007, AMD will revise Socket AM2 to increase energy efficiency and bus speed. Currently scheduled for release at the end of Q2 2007, this revision will be named Socket AM2+.

Finally, in Q3 2007, AMD will release a new series of 65nm native dual-core processors aimed squarely at the mainstream consumer market. Currently code named "Kuma," these processors -- which emphasize power consumption and high performance-per-watt yields -- will operate at clock speeds from 2 GHz to 2.9 GHz and will contain 1MB of shared L2 cache and 2MB of shared L3 cache.

These processors will be compatible with the all-new Socket AM2+ and as such will feature bus speeds of 4 GHz. At press time, AMD had yet to reveal model names or numbers for Kuma-based CPUs.

technorati tags:news

Xbox 360 Kicks Nintendo Wii and PS3 Ass in Sales

2007-01-29T08:02:00.001-08:00

Maybe this is what Captain Obvious would say but it gives me great joy to report that the Xbox 360 has surpassed both the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PS3 as regarding sales.

What they lack in other areas, Microsoft makes-up for in marketing and bundles, so this is how the 360 registered larger sales than both its competitors. Of course, you would say that the fact that the PS3 and Wii are nowhere to be found was the main reason for this increase in Xbox sales, but who is to blame, if not Sony and Nintendo?

As msn.com reports, Canada Microsoft Game Studios had a special Xbox 360 offer to counteract the effect of the Wii and PS3 launches. They offered three games, 20GB Xbox 360 plus an extra controller for just US$ 449.99. Not to mention the Amazon US$ 100 offer for an Xbox Core package.

The release of Gears of War also helped, but we have to give this one to Microsoft for knowing exactly when to react. Keep in mind that the Xbox 360 was released almost a year ago, so we can’t consider it “hot property”. During a time when the whole U.S. is in a Wii and PS3 frenzy, the Xbox 306 manages to outsell them all. Well done!

technorati tags:news

Ubuntu Voted 'Linux distribution of the year'

2007-01-29T08:01:00.001-08:00

Linuxquestions.org announced that Ubuntu has been chosen by their readers as the best Linux distribution of the year. The community site ran a poll in which of the 2504 total votes, 488 (19.05%) went to Ubuntu Linux. Next in line were Slackware, Suse and ironically, Debian, with 477, 330 and 265 votes respectively.

If a few years ago Red Hat would have certainly topped the poll, this
time RHEL only got 34 votes (1.36%) and Fedora 235 (9.38%). Far into the distance, holding the last place is Novell Linux Desktop with 6 votes.

Even though it's very young (less than two years old), Ubuntu managed to gather an impressive following. In November 2005, Ubuntu Linux 5.10 was named Editor's Choice for small businesses by ZDNet UK and Best Debian Derivative Distribution in a ceremony at the Linux World Expo in Germany. In October, it was awarded the Reader's Choice Award by Linux Journal and the Reader Award at the UK Linux & Open Source Awards dinner.

The Ubuntu team puts its success down to regular and predictable releases and usability out-of-the-box.
Although businesses may be reluctant to use this distribution due to lack of support comparable to larger vendors' like Red Hat or Novell, this poll shows that it has already convinced the home user.

technorati tags:news

Google buys Jotspot

2007-01-29T07:58:00.001-08:00

Google has continued its round of acquisitions with the purchase of wiki site Jotspot.

Google's acquisition was announced on both the Google and Jotspot web sites on Tuesday. Jotspot and Google did not divulge the value of the completed deal.

Wikis allow users to edit and update web pages themselves. JotSpot's wiki allows users to create web-based spreadsheets, calendars, documents and photo galleries. The company claims that "thousands of businesses" use JotSpot to manage projects, build intranets, and share files with colleagues and customers.

Tuesdays purchase is the latest of a string of Google acquisitions in the Web 2.0 space. Google bought Jotspot competitor Writely, a hosted word-processing package, in March.

Jotspot was founded in 2004 by Excite.com co-founders Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer.

technorati tags:news

5 Website Traffic Alternatives to Search Engines

2007-01-28T21:30:00.001-08:00

Search this, search that. All you hear about is search engines in the web marketing publications, forums and events. New owners of web sites are often told, "You're going to have to wait a year before you can rank in Google. There's a sandbox you know. You're stuck using pay per click until your organic rankings pick up." BALONEY

Before I get on too much of a hypocritical rant, I must admit that I am one of those search engine optimization practitioners that used to give the above advice. It's true for some types of sites, but for many IT IS NOT.

Marketing channels like social media marketing and new media press releases are generating an increasing amount of buzz and there's a reason for that. There are a variety of alternative channels, both new and innovative and older tried and true. Here's a list of five:

Social Networking - Build a social network of influential bloggers and marketers. When you announce news to this group, they'll "sneeze it" to their networks and so on and so on.
Ride the Digg Wave - Subscribe to relevant category RSS feeds and watch those that are rising. Be one of the first to make relevant comments if it's a blog and you'll benefit from all the traffic as that post hits the first page of Digg. Same goes for del.icio.us and slashdot.
Tag it up - Watch your web logs for keyword trends in the referrer data and use a tool like Hittail to identify long tail phrases. Use these phrases as your Technorati tags and for the tags you use with social bookmark and news site like del.icio.us and Digg.
New Media Press Release - The more media you have, the wider the net you can cast for capturing an audience. One of the best tools for distributing information with multiple media formats is the new media press release. Create a compelling news announcement, then record a 5-10 min interview (audio or video) talking about the announcement. Post the announcement details to your blog. Combine all this along with subscriptions and social bookmark options into a social media release and distribute through a savvy service like PRWeb. A strong call to action, a compelling landing page and metrics are key to the success of such a press release.
Links - Yeah, that's right links. Get links from every relevant source you can whether it's a directory or a blog or a news web site. The great thing about links is that they can send traffic and influence your search engine rankings. But for this post, we only care about the traffic. How do you get the best links? Create something clever, useful or controversial. Create content that is really worth linking to and then use the ideas above to promote it. The best links come from others that recognize on their own, that your resource is something truly valuable.

There you go. Five alternatives to driving traffic to your web site without using search engines. Are there more? Of course there are. But that's what companies hire search engine optimization services for.

Content vs Links

2007-01-28T21:26:00.001-08:00

There’s a long standing debate in the search marketing industry about links versus content. Which is better?

On the one hand there’s the perspective that if you create great content, people will link to you naturally. That’s true, but it’s a bit misleading.

On the other hand there are those that say links are the answer. You can get pages to rank well based purely on links. Again, that’s entirely possible, but such a statement does not give you all the facts.

When I read or hear people ask whether links or content are better, I liken such a question to asking, “What’s better, air or water?”. Links and content are both necessary for competitive search marketing efforts. Emphasizing one over the other depends on the situation. Excelling at both is the ideal.

The thing to understand about optimizing for search engines is that there are many ways to solve the visibility or ranking problem. There is no “one right way” to SEO. There are fundamental concepts that persist as being true, such as the need for a site to be crawler friendly and all content reachable via links, a logical site structure with relevant content and the need for inbound links from relevant sources. What differs over time and as the search engines update ranking methodologies is the execution.

The links attracted by great distribution of quality content creates a very desirable link “footprint” that is rewarded by search engines. To think this will happen naturally in any reasonable amount of time is shortsighted. To try and create the link footprint automatically is easily detected by search engines as manipulation. Unless you’re in the MFA and “churn and burn” business, automated linking solutions have no place in a search marketing program.

If you create great content and no one knows about it to link to it, you’re spinning your wheels. A combination of content as well as social networking, link networking, public relations and gaining editorial visibility as well as viral and individual link solicitations will all work together synergistically. Building a community of consumers of your content as well as relationships with the media in your industry is the distribution network necessary to gain the most link value out of creating great content.

SEO Tools and Tricks that Help You Think like a Search Spider

2007-01-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

While it is impossible to know the underlying algorithms that produce the search engine results in the major engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, I often try to put myself in the spider's shoes, theoretically speaking. If you can visualize your website the way a search engine might "see" it, then you can make adjustments and tweaks that will help your site rank well.

A conversation with Google
A conversation with Google's automated crawling software (or "spider"), otherwise known as the Googlebot, might sound something like this.
You: Excuse me, Googlebot, why doesn't mysite.com rank well in Google for the keyword "help me?"
Googlebot: (raises a harried eyebrow and looks annoyed) Where shall I begin? First of all, your code is a mess. You have more lines of code than actual text and so many nested tables it makes my head spin.
Your home page has a keyword density of 24 percent, which is suspiciously high compared with the top-ranking sites in my database, all of which average about seven percent. Are you keyword stuffing? You know I don't like doorway pages!
You only have 12 backlinks going to your home page that I recognize, and six of them are from within your domain. The top ten sites have an average of 300 backlinks in my database and literally thousands of backlinks in Yahoo and MSN (not that I care about those hacks).
I've slapped you with a duplicate content penalty because I noticed that www.anysite.com has the same exact home page copy as you. Don't look so surprised - I don't care whose fault it is! On average, your site is 60 percent slower to download than every other site in my database and all your dynamic URLs are giving me a headache. Honestly, do you really need so many variables?
You don't have a site map so I can't easily crawl through the pages of your site, and all of your navigation is represented in images without meaningful ALT tags, so I don't know where I am when I click away from the home page. Your link partners are abysmal - they are not contextually relevant (which makes me suspicious) and you repeat the same exact words in the linking text, which makes me think you're doing automated link swapping. I've been here three times in the past month and your content has not been refreshed once. I can't be bothered with you and your stale, over-optimized content. I will be back to crawl you again sometime this century.
You: (sobbing)

So you've been dismissed by the Googlebot. Get yourself a pint of Rocky Road and join the club.
SEO Tools and Tricks that Help You Think like a Search Spider - SEO Tools that Can Help You
(Page 2 of 4 )

My theoretical response from Googlebot is based on a combination of things that I look at as an SEO, and tools that are freely available online to help me analyze a site. Google's assessment of your site is obviously proprietary, but there are certain things you can look for when your site is in trouble and/or if you want to get a better ranking on Google. These matters are fairly common knowledge in SEO circles. Let's break down the response a little.
Your Code is a Mess
You have a lot of code compared with actual text (e.g., nested tables, JavaScript)
Your keyword density is high compared with your competitors
You're keyword stuffing
Your home page looks like a doorway page
You have fewer backlinks than your competitors
You have poor link partners
You're linking to a site that's banned
Your backlink text is repetitive
You have no fresh content
You have duplicate content
Your site is slower to download compared to your competitors
You have dynamic URLs
You don't have a site map
Your navigation is image-based
You have no ALT tags or meaningless ALT tags
The above list represents an amalgamation of variables that can affect your positioning in Google. It does not represent the full list of search engine faux pas that can be committed by unwary or unknowing webmasters (e.g., frames and Flash are not mentioned here). It's a good start though. Simply diagnosing the problem is half the battle toward getting better rankings ,and all of the above information is freely available using tools that are either Web-based or part of your browser software.
Problems:
Your code is a mess
You have a lot of code compared with actual text (e.g., nested tables, JavaScript
Google doesn't see your Web page the way you do. Google sees the code. Most browsers have a function that allows you to view the source code of the page at which you are looking. Internet Explorer and Firefox, for example, enable you to right click on the page and "view source." Pick a spot on any Web page and give it a try (make sure the mouse pointer isn't on an image).
Not too pretty, is it? Code that is messy or profuse can hinder your search positioning. A good way to clean it up is via HTML Tidy, an open source program created by Dave Raggett and available via download from Sourceforge.net (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tidy). HTML Tidy cleans up the code produced by WYSIWYG editors or poor coders (like myself), and it's completely free.
When viewing HTML code you'll also want to evaluate the quantity of code versus actual text. Search engines like Google seem to put more weight on keywords the higher they are in the HTML document. If your text is buried under hundreds of lines of code, then you'll be at a disadvantage compared to the top-ranking and well-optimized websites that compete for your keyword. There are many ways to get around this; first and foremost is to choose your programming language wisely. I'm not a programmer, so I can't recommend the best programming language to use for SEO. I can only flag this as an issue, as it is something to consider when analyzing your Web page for SEO.
Here is a tool that simulates what a spider "sees" when it visits your site: http://www.stargeek.com/crawler_sim.php. If you're not seeing a lot of text when you enter your Web page's URL, then neither is the search engine spider. It's time to add some.
Problems:
Your keyword density is high compared with your competitors
You're keyword stuffing
Your home page looks like a doorway page
The above three problems are related. If your keyword density is too high, Google may interpret this as a spam tactic called "keyword stuffing." Likewise, Google may interpret a page with very high keyword density as a doorway page. A doorway page sticks out to Google in that it is optimized for a number of terms that are only loosely connected, or not connected at all, to a site's main theme.
The best way to find out whether your keyword density is too high compared to your competitors is through a keyword density analyzer tool. I use GoRank.com or SEOChat.com's own keyword density tool to analyze the top ten ranking pages in Google for my desired keyword. I generally take an average of the keyword density of the top page and compare it to my own page. If my page is much higher than the top-ranked pages, I will revise the copy and tags (ALT, Title, Meta) and tone down the frequency of the keyword in question.
Problems:
You have fewer backlinks than your competitors
You have poor link partners
You're linking to a site that I've banned
Your backlink text is repetitive and/or bad
You have no fresh content
Google is the best tool to use to diagnose the above problems. The Google "link:" operator allows you to check your backlinks and evaluate the sites that link to your page. You can tell whether Google has banned a site, if the URL is not in their index at all. Use the "site:" operator for this.
You probably know whether the content on your site is fresh or not, but if you want to know what Google thinks, then click on the "cache" link next to your listing to see the last time Google paid your site a visit. If it was over a week ago, Google got bored and wandered to greener content pastures. It's time to add some new content. You can also use the "cache:" operator to get cache information. Here's a complete list of Google's operator commands (what they mean and how to use them). You can also download and utilize the Google Toolbar to check PageRank and view your backlinks.
Google may only show a handful of backlinks, when you have thousands. The reasons for this are not entirely certain, though it may have to do with how Google weighs each incoming link in terms of popularity and/or relevancy. With this in mind, I recommend using one of the free link popularity tools available online. A couple of my favorites include the link popularity tool on Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com, MarketLeap's Link Popularity Checker and SEOChat.com's own tool to evaluate link popularity. If you have a lot of backlinks it will quickly get tedious to try and read all the link text to check for duplicity in language. The best tool I've found to do this is SEO Elite, which isn't free but will save your hours of time (and time is money, folks!)
Problems:
You have duplicate content
Your site is slower to download compared to your competitors
You have dynamic URLs
You don't have a site map
Your navigation is image-based
You have no ALT tags or meaningless ALT tags
The above is a miscellaneous list of problems that can be diagnosed as follows. Check CopyScape for duplicate content or perform a search for an exact line of text on the page you are evaluating. Alexa.com will tell you how fast your website downloads compared with others competing for your key term (assuming you are in the Alexa database). You probably know whether your site uses dynamic URLs, but if you're not sure, click into an interior page and check for odd characters in the URL, such as question marks or equal signs. You can use any browser to see the URL string of a particular page in your site. Google has been indexing dynamic URLs, but if the string is particularly long and the variables particularly profuse, Google may not index the entire site as well as it would if the URLs are search engine friendly and/or do not contain as many variables.
A site map is self-explanatory. It's a page that lists links to all the pages of your site. If you don't have one, create one so that Google can find all of your relevant pages easily.
If you use images for all of your navigation and don't assign meaningful ALT tags to them, a site map is especially critical. Googlebot can't read images; it just sees code. If you scroll over a navigation image and no text appears, it means that you have not assigned an ALT tag to that image. You can also view the source code and review your images that way. Assigning meaningful ALT tags to images helps with usability as well as search engine friendliness (for people with slow connections or browsers that have images turned off, for example), though the best case scenario is to use text-based navigation in place of image-based navigation.
Conclusion
The tools that are available to help you analyze your search engine friendliness are profuse and often free. This article just scrapes the surface of what's out there. Read forums to see what the experts use and try out the tools yourself to find your favorites. Proper diagnosis of search engine friendliness is the building block for creating a comprehensive, competent search engine optimization strategy that will definitely give you an edge over the competition.
Keep in mind that while it is helpful to approach SEO from the search engine's perspective, you are not writing for the search engines. You are writing for your visitors. So don't overdo it.

Google Penalties and How To Avoid Them

2007-01-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

Few things frighten a website owner more than the possibility of being assessed a penalty from Google. The reason for that fear is uncertainty. Not everyone is entirely certain what will invoke the wrath of the search engine giant. Because of that unknown factor, many legitimate and entirely honest webmasters often believe they have been subjected to a penalty, even when they are not. Part of the confusion over Google penalty policy is not knowing what will cause a penalty. Another area of concern is what exactly Google's various punishments involve and how they are applied. Knowing how to avoid penalties entirely by only using above board optimization techniques is the best policy for every legitimate website owner to utilize.

Avoiding the many known penalty triggers will provide peace of mind and far better results in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Severe abuses of the Google search engine policies and terms of service can lead to outright banning of your website from the search engine giant. Because of that potentially devastating loss of revenue to your online business, it pays to use only the best search engine practices.

The question then, is what is considered a penalty, and how can you avoid being
Like any other disciplinary body, Google's terms of use enforcement department has a range of penalties. There are punishments ranging from the light for first offenders and relatively minor terms of use infractions. The penalties range upward to more severe punishments for repeat offenders of more serious terms violations.

Penalties vary in length. More minor penalties may last from one to three months, while the most severe banning from the Google index penalty may even be permanent.

A Google penalty may be minor, if any punishment can ever be considered as such. A loss of a point of Google PageRank (the measure of the importance of a web page on the Internet) is one of the less severe penalties. Of course, that too is relative. Loss of PageRank

A loss of one PageRank point may not hurt as badly, if it moves a page (remember, PageRank is for a page and not a site) down from PR3 to PR2. It can really sting a website owner if the PageRank drop is from PR6 to PR5. It is much harder to move up from PR5 to PR6, than it is to recover from PR2 to PR3. That is because the Google PageRank scale is not linear, but exponential like the earthquake Richter Scale. It takes many times more and stronger incoming links to move up to the next PageRank level, with every succeeding step.

A more severe punishment would be the loss of all PageRank entirely. Regardless of what your website's current PageRank, to be moved down to a PR0 is a bitter pill to swallow. It is quite likely that Google PageRank will be harder to achieve in the future as well, although that is debatable. No one is certain if PageRank dampers continue for penalized sites into the future. As always, Google isn't talking.

As we move up the punishment scale, using PageRank drops as the punishment, the grayed out bar is the most severe. When Google grays out a site's PageRank, that site is marked off as a major problem. Linking to that site can even result in a penalty for the linking site. The gray bar site is a Google pariah.
Other Penalties

Other punishments involve the search engine results placements (SERPs). A penalized site may find themselves dropped either slightly, or perhaps even very dramatically, in the search results for their most important targeted keywords.

Since achieving top rankings for those keyword terms is the ultimate goal of terms of service violators, the resulting loss of revenue really hurts them. A loss of top positioning in Google costs the website owner money, as searchers seldom go beyond the first three pages of results; if they even go that deeply.

The ultimate penalty, of course, is complete banning of a website from the Google search engine index entirely. The length of a website ban may vary, but often if such extreme measures are taken by Google, the ban is permanent. In less stringent cases following correction of the violations, the ban may be lifted, and the site restored to the index. There is probably a probation period involved for re-indexed sites as well. Google Penalties and How To Avoid Them - What Activities can Result in a Google Penalty?
(Page 3 of 4 )

A penalty can be invoked by Google for violations of its search engine Terms of Service http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html. As a service and a guide to webmasters in the proper development of websites, Google provides a Google Information For Webmasters page http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. The guidelines set out by Google provide web developers with many explicit rules that are meant to be followed.

Within Google's webmaster guidelines are some very specific don'ts.

The overall theme of Google's webmaster guidelines is to not attempt to trick the search engines. With that in mind, they provide a list of strong suggestions.

One major reason for being assessed a Google penalty is engaging in schemes to increase your site's position in the search engine results and for raising your PageRank. The avoidance of what Google calls "link spammers" and "bad neighborhoods". Link Farms

The main culprits of this problem are the so-called "link farms". A link farm exists solely to increase PageRank by requiring the exchange of links between themselves and otherwise entirely unrelated websites. Should one of them, unknown to you, link to your site, Google won't penalize you for that. They believe you have no real control who links to your site.

On the other hand, Google feels you have complete control as to where you point your own links. Should you link your site to a link farm, clearly with the goal of increasing your PageRank and link popularity, Google will most likely respond negatively to your action. Google uses the "does it help your visitors, and if search engines didn't exist, would you still do it" test. That seems a reasonable test to ask yourself for any activity you use for your own website.
Hidden Text

Google specifically tells you not to use "hidden text" or "hidden links". It also disapproves of "cloaking" and "sneaky redirects". Hidden text is usually in the form of keywords, written very small, usually in the same color as the web page, or both. The idea is to have the text read by the search engine spider, but not by the site visitor. Hidden links are sent out to other sites, but not seen by the visitor. They are often used as a trick in link exchanges, to prevent visitors leaving the site, once there. Sneaky redirects send a web surfer to a different web site entirely from the one intended. These are often used in affiliate programs.
Other Don'ts from Google

Google disapproves of unauthorized computerized and automated programs for page and site submissions and for checking search rankings. The guidelines specifically mention the avoidance of the popular web tool Web Position Gold (TM). Because these programs utilize a large amount of computing time and space, they are a violation of the terms of service. For that reason, automated queries are banned.

Heavy use of keywords, that clearly do not belong in the context of the web page, are strongly discouraged as well. They are clearly an attempt to rank well for search terms that have nothing to do with the website, except to steer traffic to the site from irrelevant search results. For example, filling web pages with the most popular search terms, when none of them have anything to do with your site content, would fall under that category.

Duplicate content, whether pages or entire websites is specifically against the prescribed guidelines. Identical pages are used to add more pages of content and perhaps to have more results appear for searches. The Google algorithm attempts to avoid indexing identical pages and duplicate sites by indexing only one.

The so-called "doorway" pages, that are packed with every imaginable keyword to attract the search query, and then steer that traffic via a "sneaky redirect" to another site are expressly forbidden. Often used by affiliate programs, to avoid providing additional useful content, these techniques often lead to penalties from Google.

There are many more techniques that search engine spammers employ, that Google is attempting to stop in their tracks. While the methods are not specifically named, Google reserves the right to change its algorithm to combat them as they arise. The goal of the search engine is to provide the best and most relevant results possible. The inclusion of spam type websites prevents good webmasters from getting their honest sites as high in the results as they deserve.Google offers a spam report page where suspected illegal and unethical practices can be reported. The page requests the name and URL of the site and the specific violations that are suspected. In the report page information, Google claims to investigate each reported case. While that may not always be possible in practical terms, the information provided can assist Google in reworking its algorithm to prevent the abuses in the future. Changes in the ways that Google returns results, that specifically target and filter out spam laden pages, are good for everyone.

Good search engine practices benefit everyone, whether you are a webmaster or conducting a search for information or products. By penalizing and even removing the deceptive and spam-filled websites, from the Google index, ensures that everyone plays by the same set of search engine rules.

By developing a good quality website that observes the Google best practices guidelines, you will never have to worry about being handed a penalty. On the other hand, it's good news that Google intends to reprimand website owners who engage in unethical search engine practices.

How to get back into Google

2007-01-23T23:50:00.000-08:00

Synopsis:

Read this article to find out some of the reasons why a site may have been banned from Google and what to do to get back in the rankings.
Pages: 1
The Article

"Why has Google banned my website?"

As an SEO company this is one question we get very often. There are few bigger problems for an Internet business or search engine marketer than to find that their website has disappeared from Google's search rankings. Sometimes their website doesn't even rank for their own web site's name. How did this happen? Read below to find out some of the reasons why a site may have been banned from Google and what to do to get back in the rankings.

Usually there is no warning for being banned or penalized by Google except for the steady drop of sales and visitors to your site. Many site owners and search engine optimization firms are left with little to no idea why they were removed and can be left scratching their heads as to how to get back in. While there are many reasons why a site has been banned, here are a few of the more common reasons. If your site has been banned contact your SEO company or give Big Oak a call to help you get back on the right track to high Google rankings.

1. Robots and Meta Tags

The first and simplest solution many be that your robot.txt file has been changed to prevent search engines from entering your site. Or your meta tags could be directing the search engine robots to exclude your site. While this would be highly unlikely, it is best to rule this out. So check your robot.txt file (if you have one) and your meta tags. Unless you want your site hidden, you should never read this in your meta tags: . If you see this, you are blocking your site from Google.

2. Cloaking (A Big Google No-No)

Straight from Google's website: "The term "cloaking" is used to describe a website that returns altered web pages to search engines crawling the site. In other words, the web server is programmed to return different content to Google than it returns to regular users, usually in an attempt to distort search engine rankings. This can mislead users about what they'll find when they click on a search result. To preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results, Google may permanently ban from our index any sites or site authors that engage in cloaking to distort their search rankings."

If your website or web pages are set up to display different information for a search engine spider versus a real person, then you are cloaking. Cloaking delivers one version of a page to an Internet user and a different version to a search engine. The cloaked page is packed with keyword and terms that the site wants to be highly rank for so, in essence, they are cheating. There are good reasons for cloaking as well, such as targeted advertising, but if you are trying to manipulate your rankings you should put an end to this immediately.

3. Duplicate Content or Websites

If Google finds multiple web pages have the same content they may penalize each website for this. Of course, someone may have copied your content and Google banned you even though it was your original content that was taken. Make sure no other site is using your content. You can do this by performing a Google search using some of your text with quotation marks (") around it. If you do find someone is using your original copy visit here to learn more about copyright infringement: http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

4. Hidden Text and or Links

How can text been hidden? Well, there are a variety of ways - some are more sneaky than others. But is boils down to this: it is considered hidden if the text or link is invisible to the website visitor but can be seen by search engine spiders. This used to be done quite often, such as making your text white on a white background or using cascading style sheets (CSS) to hide your text, but search engines can easily spot this today so it is best to avoid it altogether.

5. Keyword Spam and Keyword Stuffing

Ever seen a web page with a very awkwardly written first paragraph where a certain word is repeated ad nauseam? Here's an example:

"We sell the best father's day gifts for father's day. If you like to celebrate father's day we can help with the best father's day gifts for father's day."

Care to guess which keywords are being targeted? This is keyword spamming or stuffing but it is just the tip of the SEO iceberg. This is just the content on the page, there is probably keyword stuffing happening in the code: in the meta tags, invisible text, alt tags, title tags and comment tags. etc. If the word or phrase is repeated too often Google can place a filter to reduce the site's rankings or simply ban the site. Keyword density can be tricky but, as a general rule, Big Oak shoots for 3% to 12% of all text on a page to be our targeted keywords.

6. Doorway Pages

Defining a doorway page can be difficult so here is our definition that could potentially ban your site in Google: pages that are created in order to attract search engine spiders and be ranked highly for their targeted keywords. Real visitors find this page and then continue to the "real" website from there. Hence the name "doorway page". These pages aren't in the navigation most of the time. If you come across a page where much of the information is duplicated from other pages on the site but it is different in terms of keywords only, this is most likely a doorway page.

As you can see this can be a gray area. Some pages on a website may focus on a particular subject and be innocent of trying to lure search engine spiders only for high rankings. Err on the side of caution and make sure the page is useful and part of the your site's navigation.

7. Redirect Pages

Sneaky redirection pages are set up in groups from 5 to hundreds. They all target similar and related keywords or phrases. Usually, the only links on these pages are links to other pages in the same family creating a false sense of related linking.

These pages don’t necessarily contain content that any human would be interested in. These pages may show up high in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS), but when you click on one of these pages from the SERPS, you will be redirected to another page. In other words, the page you click to see is not the page you actually get to read.

The redirect can be automatic, done with a meta refresh command or through other means such as a the mouse moving while on the redirect page.

8. Buying Links

While buying links may not get you banned, they can certainly hurt your page rank. Google has slowly been catching on to this fad and has measures in place to put your site in limbo for 6-8 months (known as the "sandbox effect") so you can't instantly benefit from buying links to your website. Many sites that sell links are being devalued by Google, making an investment in this strategy a waste of money and time. Ultimately, stay away from buying links to increase your ranking.

9. Linking to Bad Neighborhoods

Link campaigns are good thing when done correctly; we would say they are a necessity in today's SEO world. But linking to bad neighborhoods are a sure way to lose your rank in Google. If you aren't careful about who you are linking to you can easily disappear overnight. Basically, while you may be ethical and do everything right linking to someone who isn't can be considered guilt by association. Always verify your links to other sites. Make sure they have page rank in Google and are indexed by Google. Try searching for their URL to see if they are indexed. Avoid linking to any sites that use spamming techniques to increase their search engine rankings. Regularly checking outbound links from your site and removing any offenders is a good idea.

A few site types to avoid:

- Free-for-all link farms
- Adult sites

- Gambling sites

10. Code swapping

Optimizing a page for top ranking, then swapping another page in its place once a top ranking is achieved.

What does Google say?

"Don't deceive your users, or present different content to search engines than you display to users," Google says, and they list some bullet points on avoiding being banned.

Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.

Don't send automated queries to Google.

Don't load pages with irrelevant words.

Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

Google also states:

"Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, 'Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?'"

While creating a page without a thought to search engines is probably going a little too far, optimizing your site for an organic search, as long as it conforms to their standards, is perfectly acceptable.

We pride ourselves on being an ethical SEO company. We follow the guidelines and do things the right way. There is no easy path or shortcut to high rankings in Google or any other search engine.

We welcome any questions and are always willing to share information with clients and perspective clients. Give Big Oak a call today for a free consultation and search engine report to find out where you rank in the major search engines. Whether you feel you have been banned or just want to show up higher in Google's search engine results, we can help you.

Beware of Google Ban!

If you are carrying out search engine optimization your site for high positioning in major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN you need to make sure you don't get banned by accident...

IMP**** In the spirit of fair play and providing depth in its results, Google frowns on duplicate content. Some web site owners purchase multiple domains and copy their content for both domains. They mistakenly think that having another domain with the same content is just going to replicate their success, but unfortunately it isn't that easy!

Another more common mistake is to have multiple domains pointing at the same site - this can be as simple and unintentional as having www.refreshedmedia.co.uk point to www.refreshedmedia.com. Unfortunately the outcome is to end up with 2 copies of your site in the search engines and they don't like it.

What's the solution? In most cases, a 301 redirect is your best bet. It's a server-side redirect most administrators can handle in a few minutes. In effect, it's a proper way of telling search engines to ignore the content from the redirected website, and just take it from the original.

You may have many good reasons for owning multiple domains, including brand protection. For example, we own refreshedmedia.com AND refreshedmedia.co.uk for the simple reason that we don't want someone else feeding off our success and diverting our customers away, simply by purchasing 1 domain for a few £.

So how do you keep Google and friends happy?

If you secure more than one domain, redirect the other sites to your main website using a 301 redirect, or use the extra domains for unique content (perhaps showcasing other products or services).

Solution:

****How to get back into Google

Once you have cleaned up your website (and we mean really cleaned it up as you may only get one chance to get back in), you should contact Google. Explain that you made a mistake, you have corrected it and certainly won't do it again.

You don't have to contact Google but it can't hurt. They will eventually spider your site again and see that you have cleaned up your website. You may have to wait a few months for Google to re-index your site so be patient and don't tinker with your website too much unless dictated by your site's products or content needs.

The worst case scenario is to start a new site. Sometimes this can be necessary but only in the most extreme cases.

Helpful Google & Yahoo Links

* Google webmaster guidelines
* Google's warning about search engine optimization companies
* What Yahoo! Considers unwanted
* Yahoo! Spam Report Form

Using the Google APIs to Spell Check

2007-01-23T23:46:00.000-08:00

The Developers at Google have been kind enough to offer a web API for developers using the SOAP protocol. When you do a search using Google, you may have noticed that you are prompted with possible alternatives to any words you may have misspelled.
The Google web API "spell check" allows you to send a string of text and receive alternatives for misspelled words. The power in this web API is that the Google dictionary includes technology words that are used in website searches, but may not have been included in a Standard English dictionary.
Setup

Setting up the Google SDK on your server is as simple as downloading the API from http://www.google.com/apis/. You'll need to register with the website which will give you your own key. You'll need the key for Google to accept SOAP connections from your server.
There are some limitations to be mentioned as well. The Google web API allows 10 words to be sent at a time and a limit of 1000 connections per key per day. The following script works around the 10 word limit, however is still limited by the 1000 connections.
The Code

<%
'SEARCH ENGINE using GOOGLE API for RLC search engine

'Define Variables for Script
Dim objSoapClient, results
Dim googleAPIKey
Dim xmldocument
Dim xsldocument
Dim estimatedTotalResultsCount
Dim endIndex, startIndex
Dim searchQuery
Dim i 'as loop counter

'Instantiate the application variable for the GoogleAPI
application("googleSearchNumber") = application("googleSearchNumber") + 1

'Set the Google API Key you received when registering.
googleAPIKey = "00000000000000000000000000000000"

'Set the string to send to Google for spell checking
query = "The Lazy Bron Dog Jumpd Over The Fnce"

'Need to make an array with blocks of 10 words because the
'Google API will only accept the first 10 words of a string.
Dim arrTemp
Dim strTemp
Dim wordCount
Dim ArrayLength
Dim dicWords

i = 0
arrTemp = Split(query," ")
set dicWords = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
wordCount = 1

'Google only allows up to 10 words at a time. Must make it 10 word strings.
If UBound(arrTemp) < 10 Then
dicWords.Add i, query
Else
For each Item in arrTemp
IF UBound(arrTemp) < 10 Then
dicWords.Add i, query
Else
If wordCount = 10 Then
dicWords.Add i, strTemp
wordCount = 1
i = i + 1
strTemp = Item & " "
Else
wordCount = wordCount + 1
strTemp = strTemp & Item & " "
End If
End If
Next
'Get any left overs
IF strTemp <> "" Then
dicWords.Add i, strTemp
'response.write "Aux: " & strTemp & ":" & i & "
"
End If
End If

strTemp = ""

' set up a Soap Client object from MS Soap
set objSoapClient = Server.CreateObject("MSSOAP.SoapClient30")

' set up an XML document
set xmldocument = server.CreateObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0")

' set up an xsldocument
set xsldocument = server.CreateObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0")
' load the style sheet
'xsldocument.load(Server.MapPath("search.xsl"))

' initialise the SOAP object with the WSDL file from Google.
objSoapClient.mssoapinit Server.MapPath("GoogleSearch.wsdl")

'If you need to, set proxy settings here; Otherwise, comment out this line.
'objSoapClient.ConnectorProperty("ProxyServer") = "my.proxy.com:8000"

' Call the Google API search. This can only be done 1000 times a day
For i = 0 to UBound(dicWords.Items)
Results = objSoapClient.doSpellingSuggestion(googleAPIKey, dicWords.Item(i))
If Results = "" Then
strResults = strResults & dicWords.Item(i)
Else
strResults = strResults & Results
End If
Next

'Display the alternative String, if any.
response.write strResults
%>
Note: If the script gives you an error about not being able to create the MSSOAP.SoapClient30 object (on line 66 or so) you may not have the SOAP Toolkit 3.0 installed. It's a free download and doesn't even require a reboot. Everything else you need (WSDL file, etc.) you'll find in the API you downloaded from http://www.google.com/apis/.
Conclusion

Although limitations exist in the Google web API, it makes a pretty handy spell check for small sites or intranet applications. The dictionary and algorithm are all stored off site so you won't need to update word lists. The best part is that technology words are corrected as well, For Example: Google is an error in English, however the web API sees this as a legitimate word.

Get a Top Ranking in Google in 1 Day for Free

2007-01-23T22:11:00.000-08:00

Google recently launched their Google Customized Search Engine, which allows webmasters to easily integrate Google search results into their site while also giving webmasters editorial control to bias the results.
Webmasters can bias the results harnising the power of Topic Sensitive PageRank, tag relevant results, allow editors or users to tag relevant results, and select a seed set of sites to search against or bias the results toward (and sites to remove from the results).
Surely some shifty outfits will use this as a way to show their ranking success, but this also makes me wonder what the net effect on Google's brand will be if people see powered by Google on sites which provide terrible relevancy, or results that are obviously biased toward racism or other horrific parts of humanity. Will searchers learn to trust search less when they start seeing different Google results all over the web? Or will anyone even notice?
Will most people be willing to subscribe to relevancy which reinforces their current worldview?
This release essentially will make Google the default site search on millions of websites, which is great for Google given the volume of site level search. I still think Google's stock is priced ahead of itself trading on momentum and short covering, but this release gives Google a bunch more inventory and further establishes them as the default search platform.
By allowing webmasters to easily integrate results biased toward internal content, backfilling the results with other content when the site does not meet all of a searchers needs, and then allowing the delivery of profitable relevant ads near the content, Google is paying webmasters in numerous highly automated ways that build great value by being layered on top of one another.
I also have to think this is going to further place a dent in the business model of running directories, or other sites with thin content that do not add much editorial value to the subject they talk about. This blend of editorial and algorithms is invariably going to kill off many editorial only listing companies.
As an SEO, I think this customized tool can also be used to help further test the depth and authority of a site relative to others in its group by allowing you to bias the results to multiple similar seed sites and see which pages on those sites that Google promotes most. This could even be used as a tool to help you determine which domain is more valuable in terms of ranking potential if you are comparing a couple domains that you are thinking of buying.

When Is Google Adsense A Good Addition For Your Blog?

2007-01-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

Trying to make a living from your blog is a great idea if you are up for a challenge. Some articles will make it seem like a piece of cake to sit back and watch the dough roll in. The truth is that making money from your blog takes time and effort on your part. There are a few things that can make your task a little easier however. Google Adsense is one of those things for many. If you are curious about whether or not Google Adsense is right for your blog, take a look at these characteristics of their advertising program.

Learn How VoIP is Dramatically Cutting Telecom Costs for Small Businesses
With VoIP...
Businesses Beware - New Battlefront in Email and Web
FierceIPTV
Research Report: Magic Quadrant for E-Mail Security Boundary, 2006
Digital Transactions
Hundreds more titles...

The first thing to consider when looking for a program like Google Adsense is their track record. You can rest assured that Adsense is the oldest program of its type. It has the largest base of publishers than any other program like it. Knowing this information, you can feel secure in becoming a member of their program. By using Adsense, you will know that you are in good hands of a company that certainly knows what they are doing.

Another thing to consider when signing up with an advertising program is the appearance of the program on your blog. You don’t want to sign up with a program that has annoying flashy ads that will scare people off from your site. Adsense provides ads that are mostly text. They have around 10 different sizes with various dimensions so you can place them in the most appropriate places on your blog, without sacrificing your content and overall site appearance. If there is an image advertisement run in your advertising space, it typically fills up the whole ad block and is less annoying than most.

One thing to remember when considering Google Adsense is that they have strict terms of service. While some may see them as being too restrictive, they are not abnormal by any means. Basically to be an approved Adsense member you must agree not to publish pornographic material or coversation on your blog. You need to keep it pretty family friendly. This is not a huge problem for most people. Also you are not allowed to change the Adsense code.

Another portion of the terms of service explains that those who agree also cannot specify keywords that ads will be pointed to. You pretty much surrender the choosing of the ads to Google when you agree with their terms. You may have control over the content of your blog, but they have control over the ad content. Lastly, if you work with the Adsense program, you must agree to have no more than three blocks of ads on one particular page. If you are looking for a program that also allows you to see which pages earn more for you than others, Adsense is a great fit. Some programs will not allow you to do this, so if you are interested in this option, Adsense is a great choice.

Again, Adsense is based on the context of your page. Whatever you allow on your page will have an effect over what type of ads are presented to your readers. Keep this in mind when you are posting on your blog. With Adsense you cannot afford to hide your main points within a bundle of text. You have to be clear and use defining vocabulary to ensure your ads will fit just right.

If you are a blogger who would love to get paid for referring others to a program like Google Adsense, then you will be glad to know that for each referral you have that signs up and earns $100, you will get $100 as well. This can be great for someone with many contacts or a blog building business. Overall, there are quite a few rules that you must agree to follow in order to become an Adsense publisher. The rules are not so restrictive so that you cannot make money. In fact, they are made so that the Google reputation is preserved and yours as well. By using an honest system such as Adsense, you will know that you are in the best possible position out there. You can make a bundle if you put in the time, so go ahead and check it out today.

New Google Talk (GTalk) version - 1.0.0.104

2007-01-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

Google has just released a new Google Talk (GTalk) version - 1.0.0.104. This new GTalk version does not really add any type of improvements to existing Google Talk versions except for support for Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows Vista.
Here are some other interesting features added to Google Talk versions prior to 1.0.0.104.
Google Talk Orkut integration

Google Talk now enables you to chat online or place a call to your Orkut friends. Additionally, Google Talk automatically adds your Orkut friends to your Google Talk account, and notifies you if someone writes a scrap entry on your profile.
Support for Google Talk online messages

Just enable chat history in your Google Talk account and you’ll be able to receive messages when you’re offline. The system stores the messages you’ve received while offline and displays them the next time you log into your Google Talk account.
Google Talk File Transfer

The file transfer feature was introduced in version 1.0.0.95, along with voicemail and music status and music trends display.
File transfer is unlimited in number and size in Google Talk. You can send files of virtually any size to one or more Google Talk friends (Google Talk uses the peer-to-peer transfer).
Voicemail support was introduced in Google Talk version 1.0.0.95. It basically allows you to record audio messages and send them to your friend’s e-mail address as an audio file attachment.
Music status display is also a feature available as of Google Talk version 1.0.0.95. It changes your status message by displaying the audio file (e.g.: song) that you currently play on your PC.
If interested on the type of music other Google Talk users are listening to, feel free to visit Google Music Trends. There is also an embedded feature in Google Talk allowing you to send to Google Music Trends information related to the type of music you are playing.

EXCLUSIVE - Huge Google Announcement Due: 30th January

2007-01-23T22:02:00.000-08:00

In an exclusive tip-off from inside Google, Tech’s Message has learned that the search giant is sitting on a huge announcement that it intends to make public around the date that coincides with the consumer launch of Microsoft Windows Vista, January 30th 2007.
Google has a history of stealing Microsoft’s thunder, for example when Microsoft announced its MSN Search database held records for 5 billion web pages, Google co-announced that it infact held records for 8 billion. Could this be another such event?
Perhaps…
Possibilities
1) The announcement is likely to be the unveiling of a new Google product, the most hotly anticipated of which is the Google OS - a collection of web-based applications that provide free, networked alternatives to Microsoft’s Office suite of applications. Obviously Google Docs and Spreadsheets compete already with Excel and Word, but alternative solutions to spreadsheets, desktop email, frontpage etc could be easily deployed by the Google machine.
2) Another large possibility could be the fabled GDrive. This would be an easy way to consolidate all of a user’s Google files (Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Video etc) in one place, in a desktop environment. The GDrive may also offer a certain number of gigabytes of backup space, though this is less likely given the sheer exploitability factor.
3) Lets not overlook the YouTube acquisition. It’s unlikely anything major would come as a result so soon, but there’s always a chance.
4) There’s also the possibility of a more competative offering in the VoIP market. Google Talk is not a widely used application and was met with a damp response from users, and continues to only be lightly adopted in comparison to Skype. Skype, however, offers the ability to call physical phone lines, something Google talk does not do (yet). Adding “calling out” features would certainly increase the mass appeal and would make the service less of an IM underdog, and more of a competitor to Skype. This would undoubtedly create tension, however. Google has a multi-year partnership agreement with Skype’s parent eBay, to provide text-based adverts on the auction site outside of the United States.
Would a call-out service work from Google? Probably not. Could you imagine having a conversation with a friend about your recent contraction of herpes, only to get a automated announcement on the phone from the “Google system” about related anti-herpes offers from Google advertisers? No, certainly not a good system. Google would struggle to profit from a voice-based system but keeping track of all your conversations would, in a way, organise your data and would therefor be within Google’s manifesto of organising the world’s data. I leave the thinking to you.
5) A blog on ZDnet gave some insights on potential Google releases in 2007, one of which is claimed to be 100% certain. That is, an enterprise version of Google Apps For Your Domain. Currently the system offers Google applications to run as if hosted on your own website’s domain, but is actually hosted on Google’s servers. Various features are expected with such a product and you can read some insights here.
6) The announcement may be something less interesting but no less notable, such as Google’s GMail finally coming out of beta after almost 3 years. The site has recently allowed signing up functionality (previously, new users had to be invited by existing users). Whether this is a sign or not that the mail service is approaching its “finished” status, I wouldn’t like to say. It wouldn’t be huge news but it’d at least beat Windows Live Mail to the punch (that said, WLM hasn’t been in beta for anything like as long as GMail).
In Closing
This news should be treated as a rumour, but a strong one, and from a trusted source.
Personally, I want a gPod with a gFox browser and integrated gTooth and g-Fi for sharing my songs wirelessly with other gPods. To avoid Apple lawsuits, Google may want to annoy Microsoft more, as referred to above, by calling it the gUne (Goon). Either way, I want one. It won’t happen, but I want one.

25 Tips To Optimize Your Blog For Readers & Search Engines

2007-01-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone and their dog (yes, there are a few dogs out there with their own blogs) have started up a blog these days, but many people just aren’t taking the steps needed to optimize their blogs for both readers and search engines. While blogs can be business related (another blog about mesothelioma anyone?) they can also be personal where you talk about the great ham sandwich you had for lunch today or the crappy service you had at that trendy restaurant last night.

But whether your blog is business or personal, you should ensure that you are optimizing your blog for both your readers (after all, you want to keep those readers coming back) and the search engines. Unfortunately, optimization is an important step that far too many blogs seem to be skipping over, even those that have a broad appeal to surfers and have the potential to be monetizable.

However, optimizing a blog is a bit different than your standard website search engine optimization (SEO), particularly because most blogs run off standard blog platforms, or worse, run as a hosted blog on someone else’s domain name. And there are design issues that can be unique to blogs which can impact your rankings.

Let’s face it, when you commission a styling’ new blog template, most blog designers focus on making your blog look the way you want it to. But unfortunately for bloggers, not very many of those great blog designers are also SEOs by trade, meaning that the blog design you use could actually be hurting your search engine rankings. While you may have a great design that looks wonderful to readers, new readers might not find you if your blog isn’t ranking well organically in the search engines.

Also, when you optimize your blog for the user experience, you make it easy for users to return and engage in your blog without dealing with any of the hassles that can cause them to abandon other sites or blog entries. Repeat visitors are the cream of your blog, so by following these tips you have given them the tools they need to return as well as the user experience that makes them want to come back.

Fortunately, if you are on the case to make your blog rank well while not hindering your visitor’s experience on your site, there are definitely things you can check – and fix – to prevent any indexing issues from occurring, and ensuring your blog a happy and healthy existence in the search engines.

So here is advice on how you can optimize that blog of yours for both users and search engines without alienating one or the other.

1) Dump The Default Template - Looks Count!
I cringe when I see a blog using the “out of the box” Wordpress or MovableType template. Hire a designer to create a unique look for your blog, or at the very least, take advantage of some of the free templates available and customize it a bit with a unique logo or a slight color upgrade.

2) Just Say No To Bad Color Schemes
While a hot pink with lime green color scheme might be your favorite, consider what your readers will be expecting. That color scheme might work perfectly on a teenage gossip site, but would look extremely out of place as the corporate blog for a men’s suit company. Likewise, gamers would think nothing of a black background on an Xbox 360 blog, but it would look horrendous on a parenting or pregnancy site. So while you should experiment with colors to find a good mix for your blog, keep in mind user experience and their expectations.

3) RSS Me!
Make sure you have RSS available. Many hosted blogging solutions don’t have RSS automatically available, so you will need to add it. And when you do add it, ensure you have those RSS links in an obvious spot. Don’t tuck them away at the very bottom of your index page after your most recent 20 entries, or hide them on a separate “About Us” page. Place all those handy subscribe links in your sidebar, which is exactly where people will look for them. If you use Feedburner currently, have a look at their new MyBrand option which allows you to host your own feeds for a seamless user experience.

4) Offer RSS & Feed Subscription Buttons
Yes, when people want to subscribe to a blog, they will often look for that orange RSS logo as well as the logos of the standard aggregators such as Bloglines. So it is worth the time to add the most popular ones to your blog so visitors can easily do their one-click subscriptions to your feed without it require much effort on their part. If you make it hard to subscribe, most just won’t bother. FeedButton offers a service that allows you to offer multiple RSS aggregator and feed reader buttons with a single expanding rollover button.

5) Offer Posts Via Email
Some people just don’t get RSS. So cater to them by offering them an option to get your blog posts by email instead. The most popular service to do this automatically is FeedBlitz, although there are also many other tools available to do this.

6) Decide On Full Or Partial Feeds
Do you offer full feeds or partial feeds? This is a personal preference, and is often dependent on what market space you are blogging in. One option is to offer two feeds, one being an ad-supported full feed, with an RSS ad included, and the other being an ad-free snippet copy of the feed, where readers won’t see ads but will have to actually view your blog in order to read your full entry. But this will often come down to personal preference, and the preferences of your readers.

7) Write Compelling Snippets/Descriptions
If you do use snippets for your RSS feed, be sure to make them compelling or leave readers with a cliffhanger to encourage them to click and read the full entry. This will get you many more readers to your entries than just using the default option of including the first X number of words in the blog post as the snippet. Use your excerpts to generate interest and clicks.

8) Pay Attention to How You Write.
One of my favorite bloggers has the unfortunate habit of writing detailed long entries… without a single paragraph break and with the double whammy of also writing with a font size smaller than usual. If I look up for a moment, it is hard to find my place again in her 1000 word entries. As a result, I don’t read it as often as I would like to, simply because reading it is such a painful experience.

9) Spelling Counts
Spelling is also worth mentioning. Add one of the many spell checkers to your internet browser and run a quick spell check before you publish your entry. Every word doesn’t have to be perfect, and I am certainly guilty myself of letting on occasional typo slip through unnoticed. But I also get annoyed when I am reading typo after typo after typo in an entry. And yes, if it happens enough, I will unsubscribe out of sheer frustration.

10) Fontography Counts
Make the font easy to read. Some bloggers think it is cool to have their handwriting turned into a customized font, or use a trendy font that would be better suited to a scrapbook layout. But not everyone has those wild and weird fonts installed, which means that those people will see a standard font such as Times New Roman, and it can really kill the look of your blog. So instead design the text of your blog entries to use a standard font in a standard size.

11) Don't Forget Navigation
Is this blog part of a larger site, such as a corporate blog on a site for a major company? Don’t just link to the main page of the blog. Syndicate your recent headlines in the sidebar to encourage visitors on the main site to check out the blog too.

12) How Fast is Your Host?
Another one of my favorite blogs has such a slow response time when I click from the snippet in my RSS to the full blog entry that I only actually end up waiting around for it to load about 10% of the time. Don’t lose readers because your hosting company thinks 30 seconds is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to load up a page.

13) Avoid Widget Overload!
Yes, there are definitely some cool widgets you can add to your blog, such as MyBlogLog or a Flickr photo box tied to your photo gallery. But be aware that having a large number of javascripts can slow down your site. So don’t sacrifice timely loading time for nice-but-not-all-that-necessary widgets.

14) Have Descriptive Titles
Some blog software actually makes your entry titles seem pretty repetitious in the search engine result pages, and can result in a lower click through than you might have had otherwise with highly optimized titles. If your title’s say something like “Jason’s Tech Industry Rants & Ramblings Blog >> New Xbox 360 title announced for April release” you should change it to “New Xbox 360 title announced for April release”. Unless you are well known as an authority blog in that market, the blog name is simply wasting crucial space at the beginning of the title tag and causing the rest of the entry title to end up getting truncated in the search results. And make sure your titles actually enhance the entry and don't leave the reader wondering what on earth the blog entry could be about. Ensuring you have great titles when you have a small readership and are depending on search engines to send you readers is one of the first steps you should take to optimize your blog.

15) Look at your Cascading Style Sheets.
Most blogs use a tremendous amount of CSS to create that custom look. And while most of the “out of the box” designs that come standard with the installed template include all CSS in an external file, there definitely are some blog designers who will put their CSS on the individual template pages rather than placing it all in an external CSS file. And when you don’t place CSS in an external file, it can clutter up your pages and result in the most important part of the page – the entry text – being much further down in the HTML code when it has to go after the masses of CSS coding lines.

16) Post Often
The more frequently you post, the more likely Googlebot and other bots will stop by on a more regular basis. If you only post once in a blue moon, expect that it might take a while for Google to stop by and see that you actually have updated again. Google loves updated fresh sites, so it make sense to feed the bot what it wants.

17) Spread the Link Love
If you are blogging about a story, link up the original story as well as other’s commentary on the same topic. When you do so, you will often make those bloggers aware of your blog’s existence (if they weren’t already) when people click from your blog to theirs. And it also increases the odds that they will either link to you on that story or on something you blog about in the future.

18) Be Aware of Your Anchor Text
When you link to someone’s blog entry, or even a previous blog entry on your own site, make sure you link well. This means instead of linking to someone’s blog entry with the anchor text “click here”, you link to them using anchor text related to the blog entry, such as “Jason’s scoop on the new Widget Xbox 360 game”.

19) Create Unique Stories
Bloggers love to link to other bloggers. When you write original blog entries, rather than just rehashing something someone else has already said, you increase the odds that someone will find yours interesting enough to link to and talk about. And a reader of that blogger’s blog might read the entry and decide to write something about what you said as well, meaning yet another link as well. And if you are fortunate, it will go viral, meaning suddenly it seems like every blogger in your market space is talking about what you wrote. Rinse and repeat as often as possible for maximum exposure and link juice.

20) Use a Related Posts Plugin
Not only does this make sense to keep readers around for other articles on your site that are related to your current post, but it also allows you to deeplink from a current page on your blog to older entries. Often, older entries get buried several pages deep on an archive page, and this allows you to showcase entries written months or years previously and give those “oldies but goodies” an extra little kick in the search engines. There are several related post plugins available depending on which blog platform you use.

21) Ping Other Sites
When you add a new blog entry, you might want to ping site such as Technorati and FeedBurner to let them know you have a brand new blog entry on your site. You can also now ping Google’s Blog Search as well for faster indexing in their blog search engine at blogsearch.google.com. Automatic pinging is an option in the control panel of most blog platforms including WordPress and MovableType. And Ping-o-Matic offers a service that allows you to quickly pick and chose what to ping.

22) Buy Your Own Domain Name
Don’t always think your free blog hosting company will be around forever. What will you do if you build up a loyal readership then one day you discover yourblogname.examplebloghost.com no longer works because examplebloghost.com has gone out of business? You want to make sure the search engines have a URL they will always find your blog at, rather than have to worry about them re-indexing your previously well-ranked blog on am entirely new domain… that is if you are lucky enough to get your blog posts from your free hosting company. Both Google's Blogger & Wordpress allow you to use their hosted blog service while displaying it on your own domain instead of their own branded one.

NOTE: See also our related story, Stay Master Of Your Feed Domain.

23) Manage Your Trackback & Comment Spam
You don’t want Google or Yahoo to find masses of spammy links on your site to all manner of less-than-quality sites submitted to your blog by a blog spammer. Use one of the many tools on the market for your blog platform to manage both comment and trackback spam.

24) Use a Good URL Structure
Don’t use “permalinks” such as www.yourblogsite.com/?p=123 . Instead, use www.yourblogsite.com/2007/01/01/blog_entry_title_here. Most blogging platforms allow you to change from the standard numbered permalinks to this style of search engine friendly ones. And just in case the blog platform you use has funky dynamic URLs for each entry, you will want to ensure that the bots can crawl them easily or use a mod rewrite to create a good structure such as in the example.

25) Use Great Categories
When you write a post, place it in 1 to 3 different categories related to the post. For example, and article on the television show Grey's Anatomy could go under "Grey's Anatomy" and "ABC". Avoid the temptation to add it to ten different categories though, such as including "drama," "hospital," "interns" and "Seattle" because that is just overkill. But if you wrote something great on Grey's Anatomy, you have made it easy for your reader to find all your posts on Grey's Anatomy because they simply have to click on the category link at the top or bottom of the entry.

While some bloggers insist that search engine rankings will come naturally to those who wait, who really wants to wait for Google? A blogger can run into several unique challenges when it comes to optimizing for search engines, and it makes sense to get the jump on it now than simply hoping that if you write it, the bots will come. It is far easier to ensure you have a well optimized blog now than trying to figure out what the issue is 6 months down the road when only your blog’s index page is found in Google!

Does anyone else have tips they would have put in their own top 25 list of blog optimization tips? I had some that didn't make the cut for the top list, but am interested to hear what others feel are the most important tips.

By Jennifer Slegg

Google Security Hole Allows Account Hijacking

2007-01-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

It’s your worst nightmare – someone reads parts of your Google emails, views your docs, modifies your spreadsheets, checks out your reading habits on the Google personalized homepage or Google Reader, and goes through your search history. Yet, by making use of a new Google security hole, Tony Ruscoe was able to do all that with my Google account.

Tony’s not a malicious hacker of course (in fact, the first thing he did was inform Google Security!), but he found a loophole in a new feature Google rolled out recently. Using a proof of concept script targeting this loophole – which I can detail once it’s fixed –, all Tony needed to do was make a user who’s logged into their Google Account visit a page of his, which happened to be on a “trustworthy” google.com sub-domain. I visited Tony’s page, which sent my Google cookies to Tony, which in turn enabled him to:

Get into my Google Docs & Spreadsheets application and read and modify documents I saved there
Read subjects from my Gmail inbox, as well as the first few words of these emails, by adding a Gmail module to the Google Personalized Homepage
View my Google Accounts page
Enter my Google Reader
Read my private Google Notebook
View my complete Google search history (for as long as I had the search history feature enabled in Google)
This is by far not the end of services Tony was able to see in our brief tests. What he specifically was not able to do was to read my full emails, check my Calendar events, or change my Google Account password (which would’ve given him full access to anything, basically).

Now, the vulnerability in question is a very special kind, and Tony, by “claiming” this loophole, also blocked it for other abusers. This means that for the sake of this case, even though Google didn’t yet fix the hole, there is nothing to worry about (except that someone might find more holes in the vicinity of this bug). However, I am posting on this because it’s a worthwhile reminder that no company’s security is ever completely cracker-proof; in very rare circumstances, whatever you saved in Google, or entered in Google, can escape your control and land in the wrong hands. Or, as Tony phrased it on his proof of concept page, “Think yourself lucky that I wasn’t that evil!”

How to Grow Your Adsense Monthly Income

2007-01-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

Here are the steps in a flash to grow your adsense monthly income:

1.Find a profitable Adsense niche.
2.Select the highest paying keywords.
3.Select the best SEO keywords.
4.Have the articles written and ask the writer to follow some very basic writing 5.rules so the articles are Adsense-ready AND SEO ready.
6.Create the site.
7.Submit the site to directories.
8.Publish articles for reprint on other sites to get tons of back links.
9.Add a few articles each month in order to grow your site with fresh content.
Start a new site!

BEST Adsense Plugins for Wordpress

2007-01-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

AdSense-Deluxe WordPress Plugin
Updated for WordPress 2.0…
AdSense-Deluxe is an easy-to-use plugin for WordPress 1.5+ (including WP 2.0) for quickly inserting Google or Yahoo! ads into your blog posts, and managing when and where those ads are displayed. It was developed for my own use after an exhaustive search for a similar tool turned up nothing adequate.
Latest Version: 0.8 (released Jun 27, 2006 - Release Notes)
Download URL: Download AdSense-Deluxe Plugin
http://software.acmetech.com/wordpress/plugins/adsense-deluxe_wp_plugin.zip
-------------------------------
Adsense beautifier
plugin available for Wordpress to make your Adsense look beautiful in order to increase you Adsense earnings. Images adjacent to ads can help increase click through rate (CTR).Images can be use to increase our click through rate. You can add image next to your adsense to increase your Click Through Rate.Is it legal? Yes, but you have to add line to separate your image to adsense. Even google do this way to their new adsense format. You can see articles about these from:

http://www.supriyadisw.net/wp-content/uploads/adsenseBeautifier.zip
--------------------------------
Adsense Logger - a wordpress plugin
Just found a cool script at http://www.adsenselogger.com. This script counts your adsense impressions and clicks! It also shows you which colors are the good ones. It also collects data from adsense to report the earnings.
So all I did is to create a plugin for this script
This plugin installs the Adsense logger, inserts the corresponding javascript into the footer
and displays the reports within the admin interface. For statistics of your revenue, you have to
enter your adsense username and password in the configuration of adsense logger.
This adsense logger plugin uses the wordpress configured prefix for table creation for this logger.
http://kloeschen.com/wp-content/adsense_logger_0.2.2.zip
--------------------------------
WordPress Plugin: Adsense Inline
Adsense — in case you don’t know, is Google’s little advertising engine for non-Google sites. You know when you see Google ads on a site somewhere, and it says “Ads by Gooooogle” or somesuch? That’s it.

Google has some rules about how you place Adsense code on your site, though, and how many Adsense blocks can appear on a page (two?). I haven’t tried to accomodate these rules in this plugin yet. I probably will have to do that down the road. Caveat emptor.

The plugin [download] is pretty straightforward. Put it in your wp-content/plugins directory, then go to your Plugins configuration page and click Activate.

You’ll need to customize the Adsense code in the plugin itself. Look in the adsense.php file. In the first function there’s a block that says “Begin Google Adsense code”. You want to replace the lines between that line and the one that says “End Google Adsense code” with your actual adsense code provided to you by Google. Otherwise, you’ll be showing ads for me.
http://philhord.com/wp-hacks/adsense.zip
--------------------------------
I was looking for a simple simple Wordpress plugin that just inserted Adsense code randomly into a pre-existing blog. All the ones I found would only replace an Adsense comment with Adsense code. That’s great if you want to go through every article you have and post little adsense tags, but for a site that has some bulk to it, it sucks.

It also increased banner blindness by keeping the ads in the same place time after time.

http://wordpress-plugins.biggnuts.com/wp-content/code/adsense-injection-20.zip
--------------------------------
WordPress Plugin: AdRotator - Ad Rotating Solution for your Ads (including AdSense, Clicksor, Chitika etc.)
Displays an advertisement (which is randomly selected from a group of advertisements specified in a text file) at your chosen location. Tested on WordPress 1.5 & 2.x. Should work with earlier and later versions (future and past proofed). It can also be used with other CMS systems or anywhere where PHP is supported.

It does one job and does it well. Enough said.

http://blog.taragana.com/wp-content/upload/adrotator.zip
-------------------------------
WordPress Plugin: Target Adsense
Target Adsense is a plugin for WordPress that provides more control over how google_ad_section targeting is employed on your WordPress blog.

Section targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and content that you’d like to emphasize or downplay when matching ads to your site’s content. This plugin helps you to emphasize the content you want by employing Google Ad Section Targeting. You may want to use targeting if you feel the Adsense ads on your pages could be more suited to the content. Ads that are more suited are more likely to get clicked on. It follows that profits may increase from using Ad targeting. For more information about targeting please read how to use Adsense Section Targeting to Maximize Profit.
http://www.maxpower.ca/?dl=adsense_target-B1.zip
-------------------------------
AdSense Sharing Revenue and Earnings System
AdSense Sharing Revenue and Earnings System is a wordpress plugin which allows you to view your adsense earnings and share your adsense impressions with your friends and co-authors.

http://adsense.ayanev.com/adsense-sharings.rar
-------------------------------
AdSense Widget
AdSense Widget by Mike Smullin.
Description: A Google AdSense widget for the new WordPress Sidebar Widgets plug-in. Requires Automattic’s Sidebar Widgets plug-in. Easy to install and requires no coding or template modification. Color, size and h2 title of your AdSense widget are all fully customizable from within the WordPress Presentations tab.
http://mikesmullin.com/freelance/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/wp-widgets-adsense.zip

Excellent tricks and techniques of Google Hacks

2007-01-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

xcellent tricks and techniques of Google Hacks

ws_ftp.ini is a configuration file for a popular FTP client that stores usernames, (weakly) encoded passwords, sites and directories that the user can store for later reference. These should not be on the web!

That's some good stuff. Just copy/paste the text into your own WS FTP ini file and you're good as gold (assuming you're using the same version). Don't forget - even if they have taken the file offline, use the "cache:FULL_URL/wsftp.ini" to see the contents.
probably one of the best exploits I have seen in a long time, when I did it there were about 20 vulnerable computers, just recently there was 4 so I hope whitehats got to this before anyone else. really nice !!

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

intitle:index.of ws_ftp.ini

==============================================

Frontpage.. very nice clean search results listing !! I magine with me that you can steal or know the password of any web site designed by "Frontpage". But the file containing the password might be encrypted; to decrypt the file download the program " john the ripper".

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"# -FrontPage-" inurl:service.pwd

==============================================

This searches the password for "Website Access Analyzer", a Japanese software that creates webstatistics.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"AutoCreate=TRUE password=*"

==============================================

This is a query to get inline passwords from search engines (not just Google), you must type in the query followed with the the domain name without the .com or .net.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"http://*:*@www" bangbus or "http://*:*@www"bangbus

Or

http://bob:bob@www

Or

http://admin:*@www

==============================================

This search is a cleanup of a previous entry by J0hnny. It uses "parent directory" to avoid results other than directory listings.

WS_FTP.ini is a configuration file for a popular win32 FTP client that stores usernames and weakly encoded passwords.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:ini ws_ftp pwd

Or

"index of/" "ws_ftp.ini" "parent directory"

==============================================

Microsoft Frontpage extensions appear on virtually every type of scanner. In the late 90's people thought they where hardcore by defacing sites with Frontpage. Today, there are still vulnerable servers found with Google.

An attacker can simply take advantage from administrators who 'forget' to set up the policies for Frontpage extensions. An attacker can also search for 'filetype:pwd users'.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:pwd service

==============================================

Not all of these pages are administrator's access databases containing usernames, passwords and other sensitive information, but many are! And much adminstrated passwords and user passwords, a lot of emails and the such too…

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

allinurl: admin mdb

==============================================

DCForum's password file. This file gives a list of (crackable) passwords, usernames and email addresses for DCForum and for DCShop (a shopping cart program(!!!). Some lists are bigger than others, all are fun.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

allinurl:auth_user_file.txt

==============================================

This search brings up sites with "config.php" files. To skip the technical discussion, this configuration file contains both a username and a password for an SQL database. Most sites with forums run a PHP message base. This file gives you the keys to that forum, including FULL ADMIN access to the database. To see view the PHP files; there in lies the catch. Browsers are made to process the commands of PHP before display, so if no commands, nothing to show. You can't use that persay to get into the config file, but it would show potential threats if someone got into server anyway. (If that happens you're basically boned anyway, not much around that.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

intitle:index.of config.php

By the way, to know how to view the PHP file contents, you can use this code:

intitle:"Index of" phpinfo.php

==============================================

These files contain ColdFusion source code. In some cases, the pages are examples that are found in discussion forums. However, in many cases these pages contain live sourcecode with usernames, database names or passwords in plaintext.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:cfm "cfapplication name" password

==============================================

FlashFXP offers the easiest and fastest way to transfer any file using FTP, providing an exceptionally stable and robust program that you can always count on to get your job done quickly and efficiently. There are many, many features available in FlashFXP.

The flashFXP.ini file is its configuration file and may contain usernames/passwords and everything else that is needed to use FTP.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:ini inurl:flashFXP.ini

==============================================

The encryption method used in WS_FTP is _extremely_ weak. These files can be found with the "index of" keyword or by searching directly for the PWD= value inside the configuration file.

There is an easy way to decrypt the hash, use the decryptor at:

http://www.codebluehacks.com/Tools.php?ID=1

Or

http://www.hispasec.com/directorio/laboratorio/Software/ws_ftp.html

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:ini ws_ftp pwd

==============================================

These files contain cleartext usernames and passwords, as well as the sites associated with those credentials. Attackers can use this information to log on to that site as that user.
To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:log inurl:"password.log"
==============================================

Web Wiz Forums is a free ASP Bulletin Board software package. It uses a Microsoft Access database for storage. The installation instructions clearly indicate to change the default path and filename (admin/database/wwForum.mdb).
vendor: http://www.webwizguide.info/web_wiz_forums/

The forum database contains the members passwords, either encrypted or in plain text, depending on the version.

Please note: this search is proof that results can stay in Google's index for a long time, even when they are not on the site any longer. Currently only 2 out of 9 are actually still downloadable by an attacker.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:mdb wwforum

IPod Access for Windows ver. 2.9.4

2007-01-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

iPod Access for Windows does for Windows users what it has been doing for Mac users for over a year. iPod Access for Windows is the premier application for transfering songs from your iPod to your Win XP/2000 computer. Most iPod transfer utilities must fetch ID3 tag information by opening every music file and fetching information. iPod Access is able to utilize the iPod internal database so that it can display your iPod's contents almost instantly. This includes tag information from protected AAC files that have been purchased from the iTunes Music Store and all playlist information. Version 2.0 also adds Playlist Cloning and the ability to add songs directly into iTunes.

With a simplified user interface including song filtering by Artist/Album or Composer/Album you can find the songs you need to copy and even listen to them directly in the main window. When copying songs iPod Access can organize songs into Artist/Album folders or Composer/Album folders and change the file names if desired.

iPod Access also provides one button full sequential music backups. By pressing “Backup” in the toolbar you can speed up the process of regular backups. iPod Access will by default only copy new songs added to your iPod so you don't have to remember what you have added.

What's new in this version:
# New Copy Engine up to 3x faster.
# Improved iTunes compatibility.
# Fixed 'currTrack is null' error.
# Fixed bug that would cause folders to be created but no songs.

Product Requirements:
* Windows 2000/XP/Vista
* Quicktime v6 or higher
* iPod Software v1.2 or higher
* iTunes v6 or higher
* Windoes Script Engine (wscript.exe)

This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:
* Windows XP
* Windows 2000
* Windows Vista

Code:
http://rapidshare.com/files/11795241/cr-iare.rar

Phone 'Phun' - Lot's of Phone Tricks

2007-01-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

A small collection of tricks.

Theory:

Well the theory of this technique, is simply phone redirection. The excellent thing is, with home phones, you can redirect to telstra error messages. All those 12722 numbers can be used to create some really weird mesages when people are ringing.

Technique:

1. Okay, now the phun part. Firstly, take your list(appended on to the bottom of this file, credits to Decimalz).

2. Select a number that you wish to redirect to. I myself, am fond of the 127224* range.

3. Enter *21#

4. Ring your home number, and hear the message you selected.

5. To turn off enter #21#

List of Forwarding functions:

*21# - Immediate forward to target *61# - Forward on no answer

*61*# Forward to target on no answer, after time delay.

*24# - Forward on busy tone.

With the above technique, and below list(any number can be used, not just this list). This technique is really easy to do, and also introduces some basic principles of call redirection. It is also so very amusing, especially when you know someone will call and you dont want to talk. Its amazing how often telstra disconnects my line when i know they will ring.

Appendix. A.

The following numbers were taken from: Decimalz - Guide to Phreaking for a New Generation, part 1

Telstra Test Numbers

All test numbers for Telstra begin with 12722. so phreakers get to your nearest payphone and start scanning. here is the list so far.

12722 0 CND send status

12722 123 Own number RVA (old number 19 123)

12722 199 Ringback (old number 199)

12722 40001 "The number you have called is not available from this service"

12722 40003 "This service is not connected"

12722 40004 "Your attempt to use this feature has been unsuccessful"

12722 40005 "The feature you have tried to to use is not provided"

12722 40006 "The number you have called is not connected"

12722 40007 Recorded busy tone

12722 40008 "Congratulations. You have accessed a standard network test message recording"

12722 40009 "The person you are dialling now has a new telephone number. To find out the new number please call Telstra's changed number information service"

12722 40010 "The number you are calling is currently unavailable"

12722 40020 "The number you have called is not compatible with your equipment"

12722 40023 "The service type you have requested is not provided"

12722 40024 "You have attempted to call via a service provider network.
All lines are currently busy. Please delay your call for a short time"

12722 40033 "This number is not in service. Please use the alternate number for the person you are trying to contact"

12722 40034 "This telephone number cannot be dialled with an area code. Please try again without using the area code"

12722 40035 "Thank you for using Telstra for your long distance calls"

12722 40036 Congestion tone

12722 40037 Congestion tone

12722 40064 "Operator assisted calls are not permitted to this number"

12722 42209 "Your Telstra call waiting feature is on"

12722 42210 "Your Telstra call waiting feature is off"

12722 42211 tone... "Your Telstra call waiting feature is on"

12722 42212 tone... "Your Telstra call waiting feature is off"

ah the old call back..

12722 199

*note that number will only ring..so not like the old 199 number where you would hang up and then the phone would ring.

Optus Test Numbers

Test numbers for Optus all begin with 12723, so phreakers once again start scanning. 12723 12 Own Number RVA (old number 127 2311)

12723 22 1kHz

12723 99 Ringback

BILLING TO THE PAY-PHONE NEXT TO YOU
---------------------------------------------
As stupid as it may sound, billing to the pay-phone next to you is
sometimes a very easy way to pull off free phone calls from pay-phones.
First of all, you'll have to check if the phone next to you can receive
incoming calls. If it doesn't say anything about "NO INCOMING CALLS" on
the front, it probably does. Next, check that the pay-phone next to you has
a phone number. If it doesn't, pick up that phone and dial 1-800-666-6258.
After listening to about 30 seconds of BS, you'll hear the area code and
number of that pay phone. Next, dial up our old friends ITI, at
1-800-288-2880. After the dial tone comes on, wait for the operator. As
mentioned in Way #3, you have to give the number you're calling "from" and to,
but make sure they are in DIFFERENT STATES. Then when ITI wants to know how
you want to bill the call, say "Third-Party", and give them the number of the
pay-phone that's right next to you. ITI will call to "verify" the charges,
at which time you answer, change your voice, and of course accept the charges.
Please note that ITI is not as stupid as they were earlier this year (although
they are still VERY stupid), and they do have a good deal of pay-phones
"locked out" from billing. But of course, a very large number of pay-phones
still exist that AREN'T locked out of ITI, so have a ball while you still can.

To get free calls (local only) on a payphone, you need these items:

1. A Payphone
2. A sharp object
3. A metal wire

To get a free call on a payphone, you need to follow this procedure:
1. Enlarge hole in the speaking portion of the phone.
2. Poke the wire into the hole of the speaking part.
3. Cross the other end of the wire with the phone cord.
4. While hearing a loud noise, dial the number
5. Lift the wire up right after dialing.

Warning: Do not attempt a long distance call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You will feel a slight shock if attempted!

Money Mad

Section 1:The coin slot

For every 5 cents you put in a phone, a sound is made. After you put
the coins in the slot, they pass through a totalizer which counts them.
They then collect in a hopper. To empty out the hopper, all you have to
do is activate the coin relay. Payphones sometimes hold $100 or more.
To activate the relay place 5 cents in the phone. Stick a magnet up the
coin slot about 5 inches. Now remove the front panel of the phone. You
will see a series of wires. Cut the red and green wires. Now in the
front of the panel you will see three screws. Touch the green wire to
the third screw. Better have a hat ready, because alot of change is
gonna come flooding out. Isn't this fun?

Section 2:free credits
If you have a friend in germany you need to call this sections for you.
One of the cheap things about pay phones is they depend on tones to tell
them you inserted money. Well if you have a red box these tones are
easily duplicated, but i want to show you how do it without boxes in
this file. Now Some thing you need are...
A set of screwdrivers. You will need both philips and flathead. Now
open the front panel of the phone and cut the red and green wires. Take
the cover off the top of the phone and insert 5 cents. You should hear
nothing. Find a green wire coming from the coin slot down to the
hopper. Disconnect that wire. Now take off the case and you will see a
small switch. Move the switch. This sets the totalizer backwards 1.
Now put the hopper cover back on and reconnect the wire. Go back to the
front panel. Feel to the right of the two screws. You should feel 4
jumpers. 1 of the jumpers should be disconnected. Reconnect it. Now
cut the top jumper. You should hear a loud pop. Now touch the green
wire to the second screw. You will hear the sound of twenty five cents
being inserted. You now have 30 cents credit. Repeat as many times as
you need. Now reconnect the green wire and dial your number.
GTE Notes:
The green wire will be white. The red one will be blue. The totalizer
is located at the bottem of the front panel.

Choosing An Internet Merchant Account

2007-01-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

I hope this insight wii provide a good use for those who want to do business on the web..

Surf to Google and perform a search on "Internet Merchant Account". The results are staggering (472,000 results!) If you have created a web based business and need to accept credit card payments, your choices are limitless. Before you partner with a provider, take time to understand the different components of internet credit card processing, and know what to look for in a merchant provider.

How It Works

Accepting credit card payments through your web site actually requires multiple components. Between a paying customer and your bank account, three layers exist:

Payment Gateway - This is the code that will transmit a customer's order to and from an internet merchant account provider. The payment gateway provides you the ability to accept customer billing information (credit card number, credit card type, expiration date, and payment amount) and the necessary validation steps that must be followed before the credit card is actually billed.

Internet Merchant Account - A Merchant Account is an account with a financial institution or bank, which enables you to accept credit card payments from your clients. The payment gateway actually transmits the billing information to the internet merchant account provider. Unfortunately, most local banks do not provide internet merchant account capability.

The main reason why most local financial institutions or banks do not want to provide online merchant accounts is because transactions conducted over the Internet are totally different from face to face transactions where a signature is required to authorize the purchase. This makes online transactions prone to credit card fraud. Fraud protection should be one of your primary considerations when choosing an internet merchant account provider.

Web Site - Regardless of which merchant provider and gateway service you choose, your web site will need to integrate with your service providers. Most providers include detailed web integration instructions.

How Much Does It Cost ?

Understanding the total costs of your merchant provider can be tricky. Remember my Google example - there are more merchant account providers than there are people looking for internet merchant accounts so ask questions and be picky! Typically, an internet merchant account will have three types of costs:

- Up Front Application Fees
- On Going Fixed Fee
- Discount Rate
- Fixed Transaction Fee
- Termination Fees
- Miscellaneous Fees

Let us discuss each type of cost:

* Up Front Application Fees

Many internet merchant accounts will require an up front application fee. This fee, supposedly, is to cover their costs for processing your application. In case you choose not to open an internet merchant account, they still cover their initial costs. Although common, many providers waive these fees and I recommend that you choose a provider that does not require an up front fee.

* On Going Fixed Fee

Most all internet merchant providers require a monthly fixed fee or "statement fee" as it is commonly named, which is simply another way to cover their costs and make money. You will be hard pressed to find a provider that does not require this type of fee on a monthly basis. However, do not choose an internet merchant account that requires more than $10 per month. Additionally, most internet merchant providers require a monthly minimum (usually $25). The bottom line is that you will be paying at least $25 per month (on top of the monthly statement fee) for your account.

* Discount Rate

Usually, the discount rate will be between 2 and 4 percent. The discount rate is the sales commission the provider earns on each sale. For example, if the discount rate offered is 3%, and you receive a sale over your web site for $20, you will owe 60 cents to your internet merchant provider.

* Fixed Transaction Fee

Usually between $0.20 and $0.30, the fixed transaction fee is the fixed fee portion of each sale. Unlike the discount rate, the fixed transaction fee is the same for every transaction. Whether you get a $1 sale or a $100 sale, the transaction fee will be the same.

* Termination Fee

A bit more hidden in the small print, a termination fee can apply if you cancel your merchant account within a specified period of time (usually within one year). But beware, some merchant providers require a three year commitment!

* Miscellaneous Fees

If a customer requests a refund and they want their credit card credited, an internet merchant provider will charge you a separate fee (usually between $10 - $20). Read the contract carefully, as other special fees may apply.

Putting It All Together

Now that the different fees have been explained, let us look at an example set of transactions to help understand what an internet merchant account may cost your business on a monthly basis.

I have created a simple formula to help you calculate your monthly charges:

Total Charges = Statement Fee + Number of Transactions x (Average Sale x Discount Rate + Fixed Transaction Fee) + (Number of Chargebacks x Chargeback Fee)

For example, let us see you sell widgets over the internet. The sales price for each widget is $10. You typically have 100 sales per month and about 5 people request refunds (chargebacks). For this example, let us assume you have signed up with Jones&Jones internet merchant account services and have the following terms:

Discount Rate - %2.5
Statement Fee - $10
Fixed Transaction Fee - $0.30
Chargeback Fee - $15

Using my formula above, your monthly Jones&Jones charges will be:

Total Charges = 10 + 100 x (10 x .025 + 0.3) + (5 x 15) = $140

You can calculate your monthly sales revenue by multiplying your sales volume by your price:

Monthly Sales Revenue = 100 x $10 = $1000

Your internet merchant provider is costing you 14% of your total sales.

Making Your Decision

Before you choose and internet merchant provider, understand all of the cost components. Use your current or projected sales data to forecast what your internet merchant account costs will be. Planning ahead can save you time and money.

Another good tip for successful web experience..enjoy it!

2007-01-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

Choosing A Good Domain Name

Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important steps towards creating the perfect internet presence. If you run an on-line business, picking a name that will be marketable and achieve success in search engine placement is paramount. Many factors must be considered when choosing a good domain name. This article summarizes all the different things to consider before making that final registration step!

Short and Sweet

Domain names can be really long or really short (1 - 67 characters). In general, it is far better to choose a domain name that is short in length. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective. As visitors reach your site and enjoy using it, they will likely tell people about it. And those people may tell others, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site is long and difficult to pronounce, people will not remember the name of the site and unless they bookmark the link, they may never return.

Consider Alternatives

Unless a visitor reaches your site through a bookmark or a link from another site, they have typed in your domain name. Most people on the internet are terrible typists and misspell words constantly. If your domain name is easy to misspell, you should think about alternate domain names to purchase. For example, if your site will be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com". You should also secure the different top level domain names besides the one you will use for marketing purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.) You should also check to see if there are existing sites based on the misspelled version of the domain name you are considering. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may be home to a graphic pornography site. You would hate for a visitor to walk away thinking you were hosting something they did not expect.

Also consider domain names that may not include the name of your company, but rather what your company provides. For example, if the name of your company is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider domain names that target what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these example alternative domain names do not include the name of your company, it provides an avenue for visitors from your target markets. Remember that you can own multiple domain names, all of which can point to a single domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" point to "mikestools.com".

Hyphens: Your Friend and Enemy

Domain name availability has become more and more scant over the years. Many single word domain names have been scooped up which it makes it more and more difficult to find a domain name that you like and is available. When selecting a domain name, you have the option of including hyphens as part of the name. Hyphens help because it allows you to clearly separate multiple words in a domain name, making it less likely that a person will accidentally misspell the name. For example, people are more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than they are "domain-name-center.com". Having words crunched together makes it hard on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of a misspelling. On the other hand, hyphens make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site to someone else, they may forget to mention that each word in the domain name is separated by a hyphen. If do you choose to leverage hyphens, limit the number of words between the hyphens to three. Another advantage to using hyphens is that search engines are able to pick up each unique word in the domain name as key words, thus helping to make your site more visible in search engine results.

Dot What?

There are many top level domain names available today including .com, .net, .org, and .biz. In most cases, the more unusual the top level domain, the more available domain names are available. However, the .com top level domain is far and away the most commonly used domain on the internet, driven by the fact that it was the first domain extension put to use commercially and has received incredible media attention. If you cannot lay your hands on a .com domain name, look for a .net domain name, which is the second most commercially popular domain name extension.

Long Arm of the Law

Be very careful not to register domain names that include trademarked names. Although internet domain name law disputes are tricky and have few cases in existence, the risk of a legal battle is not a risk worth taking. Even if you believe your domain name is untouchable by a business that has trademarked a name, do not take the chance: the cost of litigation is extremely high and unless you have deep pockets you will not likely have the resources to defend yourself in a court of law. Even stay away from domain names in which part of the name is trademarked: the risks are the same.

Search Engines and Directories

All search engines and directories are different. Each has a unique process for being part of the results or directory listing and each has a different way of sorting and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important on-line marketing channel, so consider how your domain name choice affects site placement before you register the domain. Most directories simply list links to home pages in alphabetical order. If possible, choose a domain name with a letter of the alphabet near the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will come way above "joes-pest-control.com". However, check the directories before you choose a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like be in are already cluttered with domain names beginning with the letter "a". Search engines scan websites and sort results based on key words. Key words are words that a person visiting a search engine actually search on. Having key words as part of your domain name can help you get better results.

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

2007-01-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

"If an RSS feed is the Yahoo backdoor, is a Blog Google"

2007-01-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

Though the answer is in a book I wrote this July, the question is still asked of me repeatedly. Why does it work for some sites and not others? And how come some blogs get indexed in a day and then are dropped, and others stay in Google indefinitely?

Well, let’s take one question at a time. The answer to whether you can blog your way into Google search results is yes, sometimes in six weeks, often in 24 hours.

Yes, you read right, in less than 24 hours. Under certain conditions, the search engines actually want you to succeed at this.

I’m aware that these statements may cause some controversy, but that won’t make them any less factual. Since September, Google has been set up to show you proof of this, which we’ll go over in part two. My new blog has been spidered and indexed daily since it was created.

Not only is this possible with your blog, the way that blogs are set up make them one of the most conducive web site mediums to attract more traffic from multiple sources quickly. The trick to getting this to work for you, is in understanding which conditions have to be met first.

And we’ll come back to that shortly. First let’s talk about what’s typically wrong with the process most people take to get their sites listed.

Most people submit their sites to Google and wait six to eight weeks to see if they were included. Other people know that the fastest way to be spidered is to leave your link at a site that is already getting spidered.

But even among those people, when they don’t see their site in Google exactly the way they’d like, they give up, and say it didn’t work.

So what went wrong?

The place that the majority of people go wrong is in trying to trick the Googlebot into thinking their site matches its standards for inclusion for their desired high traffic keyword, instead of aligning themselves with the purpose that the search engine fills.

You may think that if you study all the search engine tricks, you’ll have the traffic from the search engines and it will then follow that yours will be the site people come to for the keyword they want, which in turn, will get 1% of those people to buy what’s at your site.

If you think that, I’m not here to tell you that you’re wrong - sometimes that works. I’m just saying that there are other easier, faster, less expensive ways. Some of them only have subtle differences from the way you know.

The truth is, even if we could somehow reverse engineer the secret Google algorithm, it periodically changes. So mastering that system would be temporary, even if you could do it.

Did you know that you don’t even need the traffic for your most desired keyword to be successful? You just need some targeted traffic that converts well. Some of the most financially successful sites generate amazing profits in the tens or hundreds of thousands with a few hundred or thousand visitors every month.

The method I most suggest to get the kind of search engine results that can power those kinds of sales, is aligning your site with the purpose the search engine seeks to fill. It is faster, more effective and involves far less effort.

You should still make sure your blog meets all the basic search engine optimization guidelines. However, the very nature of a blog makes it easier to meet more of these requirements with less continual struggle.

Let’s look at the facts, and see how blogs align themselves more closely with one of Google’s purposes as a search engine.
Here's what you need to keep in mind:

1- if you get your site’s link in the path of the search engine spider or robot of your choice, in this case Googlebot, if may follow it.

2- the way to get it to follow the link is to make sure it can “see” your link

3- if your content fills a need that the search engine’s database of links has, it will include your link, and,

4- if your link fills a deficit better than any other site, in accordance with Google’s secret formula or algorithm, it will rank your page well.

So now, the only missing component necessary to our success is now finding out how to be the best site Google finds for a category that has a deficit.

One of the strengths of Google, as perceived by people who like it, is the vast amount of fresh content it contains that is relevant to almost any topic, or keyword, typed into it, no matter how narrow or broad.

It follows then, that one purpose of this database of links is to provide fresh, relevant content on topics its users desire. The freshest, most relevant, most topical information found on the web today are in blogs, as well as their corresponding RSS or Atom feeds.

A blog’s very function is to contain constantly updated focused content, on one topic or field.

When blogs first started, the topic was often a person’s life. Business blogs, instead, are updated records of a certain kind of information relevant to an industry, a company or a topic, aligned with the interests of their visitors.

So you need to know the following things in order to get your blog included on Google’s search engine results pages.

• Where to leave your link so that it will get spidered
• How to make sure Googlebot sees your link
• How to set up your blog so its content fills a deficit
• The best way to make sure your blog does this better than other sites.

There’s a specific formula of success for this, one of many that will work not just one time, but repeatedly.

We’ve run out of space for the moment, but part two picks up with the specifics of how your blog needs to be set up and how to determine exactly where Googlebot can find your link.

8 Tips To Get More Traffic From Yahoo

2007-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

With the new Yahoo! "Pay-For-Review" model it might be relatively easier for sites to get into the directory but
getting traffic from your listing is altogether a different story. And now with it's new annual recurring payment policy
you have to be extra careful while submitting your site for a review.
Here are 8 things to keep in mind while submitting your site to Yahoo!

1) Selecting your domain name is the most vital step in getting a top ranking in Yahoo! and also other directories
like Dmoz and Looksmart.

Make sure your domain name is "Keyword Rich". You can make your domain keyword rich by simply inserting hyphens to separate words in your domain name. Yahoo! gives more relevance to sites with keywords in their domain name.

Take our domain name for example: http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com/

It is made up of 4 different high-in-demand keywords: "Home Based Business", "Home Business", "Home Business Opportunities", "Home Based Business Opportunities".

While crafting your domain name, even you should try to keep your domain name such that it is made up of one, 2-4 words main or "parent" keyword; which in turn is made up of 2-4 high-in-demand "child" keywords.

You may or may not get a top ranking for all your targeted keywords but you can be sure of getting one for your main or "parent" keyword (If you do everything else right).

Even if you have to get a separate domain name for this purpose, GET IT! It is absolutely crucial for your ranking.

2) Sites which are placed higher in directory structure are given more relevance than sites which are placed lower or
deeper.

For example a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities will be given more relevance than a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories

Here's a great tip to select the most trafficked category for your website...

Once you have short-listed 2 or 3 category to place your site in to, check out the cost of Sponsor Listings of those
categories.It's really simple. Visit the following URL: https://ecom.yahoo.com/fast/sponsor

Enter the URL of any website that is listed in your desired category (The URL should be same as it appears in Yahoo! and the category should be a commercial category).

Please note that Yahoo! accepts Sponsor Listings for only certain commercial categories and so this tip may or may not work for your category.

You'll be asked for your Yahoo! ID. Once you submit the information, you'll be provided with the Sponsorship charges for that certain category. Repeat the process for your remaining short-listed categories.

Now compare the prices of all your short-listed categories. Naturally the one with a higher price is the most trafficked one!

3) Yahoo! considers keywords in the directory structure while ranking.

For example, if someone is searching for "Business Opportunities Directories", a web site listed in category -
B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories will be given more relevance than a web site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities

4) Yahoo! DOES NOT spider websites to determine ranking. It ranks web sites based on keywords in domain name, title and description. So having META tags does not make any difference to your listing.

5) DO NOT try to stuff as much keywords as possible in to the description. Yahoo! editors are notorious for cutting
down the description if they sense even slightest hype. Try to avoid words such as - no.1, proven, turnkey, exciting
etc.

Also, make sure that the heading of your home page is same as the description you provided for your site. There should be no confusion in the mind of the editor reviewing your site.

6) Make sure your domain name and business name is the same since Yahoo! is known to use the business name as the title for your listing.

7) Make sure your website is "Content Rich". This is very critical for two reasons. One - to get your site
accepted by Yahoo! and Second - to maintain and get a higher listing.

Yahoo! determines the popularity of a website by the amount of time a visitor spends on your website. If a large no. of them hit the "back button" of their browser as soon as they hit your web site, you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a possible higher listing.

Once you get a lower listing, it can get very difficult to make up as visitors will not be able to find your site
easily.

Once a site gets accepted into the directory, Yahoo! ranks it based on the keyword popularity in domain name, title and description. But as time progresses, it determines the ranking based on the popularity of the website itself.

We ignored this and our listing came down drastically within few days of getting accepted!

Before submitting your website, thoroughly research websites that rank higher for keywords you are targeting (Especially the "Most Popular" sites in the directory section). This will give you a rough idea of what to and what not to include in your website.

10 Tips to the Top of Search Engines

2007-01-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here are my latest and greatest tips to get you started:

1.Do not purchase a new domain unless you have to. Randy: I've always been a fan of running one domain.

2.Optimize your site for your target audience, not for the search engines.
3.Research your keyword phrases extensively.

4.Design and categorize your site architecture and navigation based on your keyword research.

5.rogram your site to be "crawler-friendly." Randy: This should be tip #1.

6.Label your internal text links and clickable image alt attributes as clearly and descriptively as possible.

7.Write compelling copy for the key pages of your site.

8.Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique Title tag. Randy: Disagree entirely. Dynamic 's are better. 9.Make sure your site is "link-worthy." Randy: In other words, don't bother creating useless sites. 10.Don't be married to any one keyword phrase or worried too much about rankings.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Adsense Tips and Tricks</h1> 2007-01-14T11:21:00.000-08:00 Well, there are so many adsense tips floating around. Still thought of compiling a list, from my own experience and from whatever I leaned from a lot of resources. 1. Adsense Heatmap It may be told a number of times, but let me repeat - Adsense heatmap works!! I have increased CTR for a forum by almost 4 times by having ads just after the first post! Here is the heatmap: https://www.google.com/adsense/images/placement and heatmap for forum: http://www.google.com/images/adsense/en_us/support/forum_en.jpg 2. Use channels Channels are great tools to track your performance. Use channels for each ad position and name them logically -"homepage-header-banner". Keep an eye on the performance over a period of time, say one week. Don't be afraid to experiment. Change the colors, blending, size and see which one perform best. 3. Section targeting Are you not getting relevant ads on your site? Dont worry, you can use section targetting. Keep your most important text inside section targeting tags: Your text goes here. For more info, please visit: http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=23168 4. Less is More Are you getting $0.03 clicks? Probably you are using too many ads on a single page. Even though google allow you to plance up to 3 ads on a page, better keep it to one or maximum two. That is the best way to make sure that your clicks get paid more. Make sure that the location where you get maximum clicks will be the first one to display ads. To make it clear, there should not be any ads above your best location, when you see the HTML source code. 5. Blend Your Ads Blending the ads to your site converts the best. You may opt for the same background color as the site, same text color etc. Another tip: Dark background colors and light fonts work best. For eg: Balck background and white text, for both your site content as well as ads. You may have a slightly different font color for ads(say yellow) to get noticed. It may not be easy on your visitors, but it converts well. if you are not expecting too many repeat visitors, this may be a good idea.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>10 Tips to Maximize Your Ad Earnings</h1> 2007-01-14T11:18:00.000-08:00 Pat McCarthy has given an extensive blog post on 10 Ways to Increase Your Ad Revenue. I've dredged some of the 10 commandments, er 10 tips with some of my candid thoughts. Care to share your own? 1. Sell Targeted Ads 2. Work with Multiple Ad Networks Did he mean this? 3. Try contextual, display, and standard text ads. 4. Test different ad locations Split-testing can be tedious but it's always worth your time if you are really serious about earning from ads. 5. Change things often Ad-blindness away! But not so often please that you might just turn off your regular visitors. 6. Work with different ad pricing models Advance ad-driven sites earners are more well-adept with these but doing your homework will never hurt if you are to maximize the earning potential of your real estate (your sites and/or blogs), right? 7. Increase your traffic I've read this from a Google forum and I just have to admit it. A site without a good amount of traffic is like a Ferrari without fuel. 8. Use your ad analytics Hey, it's just like reviewing your notes before taking your exams! 9. Expand your ad sizes Just like tip no. 4, test, test, and did I say that you should test!? 10. Ask for more money Common sense should tell you that this is what everyone with a goal of attaining better ad revenue is actually aiming for. Or is that a redundancy?<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>10 Adsense Tips For Maximum Click-Through Rates</h1> 2007-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00 1) You should make your Adsense ads look as a part of your web page. They shouldn't look like an Ad. People are negative to advertising. They search the internet for content not ads. Especially for Banners - they have a less of 0.5% response. Their days are over. Imagine if you have an Adsense ad looking like the typical Banner with different colors. It will not be profitable. 2) Text ads are better than image ads. Like before, people are more responsive to text than images. In a way it is considered as a part of the online document and is more clickable. 3) No Border ads. One of the best tricks is to erase the borders of Adsense ads and make them, again, having the same color with your website's background. 4) No other advertisements. The first reason is to be legitimate according to Google's Rules and the second more practical reason is that you do not want to distract your visitor's attention and go somewhere else without clicking your Adsense ads. 5) Placement. Even if you have the best Ad, people will not respond if they don't see it instantly. The best place to see the ad is the top of your web page and the next is aside your document's text. Visitors will click it more frequently since it will look like your text. 6) Traffic. Try to use legitimate ways of traffic. Some people use Google Adwords and other Pay-per-click search engines. The problem here is to search very carefully for the right niche and keywords in order to make your campaigns profitable. Other ways are link popularity techniques like link exchange directories, software or even mass blog submission techniques. Don't use link farms and classifieds for that, because the search engine's algorithms are extremely clever and they will ban your listings. 7) Do not rely on one website. Yes, you can make money with one website but try to make as more as possible. 8) Relevant content is King. Articles are one of the best tactics to create huge websites that will be crawled by search engine's robots. Don't forget search engines exist to provide relevant content at first. One excellent resource to automate your article directory procedure is http://www.articleequalizer.com .You can create an article database in minutes which otherwise is time consuming and it would take you a week! 9) Use site maps. Google's site maps visit your site and crawl it much sooner that any other submission process. More information is here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps 10) Relevant ads. It's one of the most important factors for Adsense success. If the internet user can't find a relevant ad in your page, he or she won't click the ad. Would you act differently? So it's critical to create relevant resource for your web page. In order to do that, you must do the following steps.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>8 Tips for improving your Click Thru Rate (CTR)</h1> 2007-01-14T11:04:00.000-08:00 1. Thoroughly understand how each of the keyword matching options function and how to use negative keywords. So many people don?t use negative keywords and content matching, and it is so easy to setup and can make a huge difference in improving your CTR. Click Here to view Google?s new multimedia online tutorial of keyword matching options. 2. Split Test Ads. Develop various headlines and descriptions and split test them by always running two against each other. Google will split your traffic between the two ads. Then you can see which one has a better CTR and keep that one and edit the worst ad with a new headline or a variation. And you keep doing that constantly. Here?s how you do this: In the Campaign Manager, in the AdGroup, above each ad there is a link, ?Create New Ad?. Click on it and create a second Ad for each campaign. Make it different than your first Ad. Use the same keywords in your Ad as you have in your keyword list. Try using different verbs. One tiny change in one word or even capitalization can vastly increase your CTR. Whenever you improve your ad, you get more traffic without having to spend more money. 3. Wean out the poor performing keywords: After your campaign has received 25 or 30 clicks, look at its? keywords. Some are doing well and have good CTR?s, above 1%. Some have bad CTR?s, below 0.5%. And some of your keywords with CTR?s below 0.5% are disabled by Google. Google will slow delivery of your Ads and eventually suspend your campaign if the total CTR for all of your Ads and keywords is below 0.5%. You will want to wean out the poor performers and delete them, or put them in their own new campaign. Write two new Ads so they?ll rotate against each other and again keep the Ad with the higher CTR and replace the other with a new ad. You want all of your best performing keywords in their own campaign. This way the poor performing keywords can?t bring the campaigns overall CTR below 0.5%. 4. Changing the capitalization on some of the words in your ad can improve the CTR. Try capitalizing the first letter of every word in your ad, including the first letter of the URL. Play with capitalization as it really does make a difference in your CTR. 5. If you have the word ?free? in your ad, try it without it. Instead you might want to set the word ?free? as a negative keyword. To set a negative keyword, you simply add it to your keyword list with a negative sign in front of it. For example, if you are promoting web hosting. You might have these keywords in your keyword list: webhosting hosting web hosting -free Notice in the list above there is the negative keyword ?-free?. That means that your ad will not display if someone searches on ?free? and one of the other keywords. So for example if someone searches for ?free webhosting?, your ad would not be displayed. 6. Use regional targeting if it is appropriate. One of my campaigns promote a refinance lead program. I?ll not only have Adwords ads with states or city names in the title and or ad copy, but I?ll also use Google?s regionaltargeting system to target specific ads to appear only in a certain region.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>10 SOLID GOLD Internet Marketing Tips!</h1> 2007-01-14T11:02:00.001-08:00 SOLID GOLD Tip #1: Place enrolling headlines at the top of each web page. Break up long copy with short sub-headlines. SOLID GOLD Tip #2: Put EXTREME FOCUS on your visitor's needs and desires on every page. Address the "What's in it for me?" question! SOLID GOLD Tip #3: Have a well organized site layout that is easy to navigate! SOLID GOLD Tip #4: Make the copy easy to read with plenty white space and bullet points! SOLID GOLD Tip #5: Provide a FREE gift, irresistible incentive or Special Offer! SOLID GOLD Tip #6: Have "cashcentric" site copy! "Cashcentric copy", is website copy that is constantly focused on achieving the sale! SOLID GOLD Tip #7: Place an effective call-to-action at the foot of EVERY web page! SOLID GOLD Tip #8: Have well placed and well written testimonials! SOLID GOLD Tip #9: Use clear and easily understood product or service descriptions! SOLID GOLD Tip #10: Test your own step-by-step buying process to make sure it flows well! Apply these 10 Solid Gold Internet Marketing Tips to your website today and they will prove to be as good as GOLD!<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Top paying keyword. Update 01/2007</h1> 2007-01-14T10:55:00.000-08:00 18729 laser hair removal manhattan $19.99 581 mesothelioma $18.77 16268 laser hair removal nyc $16.10 12611 recruiting software $16.00 18280 staffing software $15.00 19489 truck accident lawyer $15.00 4415 mesothelioma treatment $13.31 16065 applicant tracking $13.05 14495 pleural mesothelioma $12.09 18350 mesothelioma diagnosis $11.20 10671 ortho evra $11.10 18120 applicant tracking system $10.60 19108 structured settlement payment $10.01 5941 offer in compromise $10.00 14056 hair removal new york $10.00 11620 pcb $9.99 11670 paternity $9.99 8044 stock picks $9.98 19294 refinance loan online $9.85 15783 1031 property exchange $9.51 13017 1031 tax exchange $9.01 16044 paralegal studies $8.98 18612 irs levy $8.92 17768 1031 tax free exchange $8.90 19053 livermore real estate $8.45 12647 manufacturing software $8.25 17414 malignant pleural mesothelioma $8.07 339 student loan consolidation $8.02 14842 san diego mortgage $8.00 18217 san diego home loans $8.00 8230 paternity testing $7.97 18306 annuity leads $7.80 18782 home security monitoring $7.75 17605 1031 tax deferred exchange $7.70 9699 small business phone system $7.57 8987 electronic medical records $7.51 18935 telecom audits $7.51 18873 1031 exchange properties $7.50 17875 las vegas mortgage $7.28 10196 remote access $7.27 1685 credit counseling $7.09 4646 Answering Service $7.03 9421 business process management $7.02 5868 auto insurance rates $7.01 1841 crm $7.00 18395 debt elimination programs $7.00 17393 first time home loans $6.99 18790 nevada llc $6.96 1875 college loans $6.93 17231 louisville mortgage $6.80 7873 crm software $6.75 15457 wrongful death attorney $6.75 18993 new jersey web design $6.75 17515 chiropractic software $6.70 12047 vasectomy reversal $6.67 11427 refinance mortgage rates $6.66 3103 business loans $6.53 8798 tax relief $6.52 18892 bank levy $6.50 16551 cmms $6.49 534 personal finance $6.37 19015 llc formation $6.35 18558 retirement accounts $6.28 244 Home Loans $6.26 286 online degree $6.26 3396 data protection $6.21 12341 va home loans $6.20 5504 medical alert $6.16 7265 Debt Free $6.12 17487 document destruction $6.11 15113 paralegal schools $6.09 16445 dallas movers $6.07 3090 alcohol rehab $6.05 16120 debt consolidation help $6.05 11244 weight loss plans $6.03 5587 1031 exchange $6.02 18515 commercial mortgage refinance $6.02 19063 colocation services $6.02 19227 medical office software $6.02 19597 home loan quote $6.02 1054 nursing $6.01 14586 drug rehab center $6.01 216 online trading $6.00 473 investments $6.00 695 mutual funds $6.00 7967 stop foreclosure $6.00 14618 sales force automation $6.00 15295 401k rollover $6.00 2261 weightloss programs $5.99 3359 lemon law $5.99 4268 payday advance $5.99 9694 california home loans $5.99 12177 data acquisition $5.99 17549 texas home loans $5.99 487 VoIP $5.98 5810 drug rehabilitation $5.97 13965 credit repair services $5.95 7768 inventory software $5.91 2702 cerebral palsy $5.90<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>SEO Your Website</h1> 2007-01-14T10:47:00.000-08:00 Before you write one line of code: Do keyword research to determine what keywords you want to target While constructing your website you should do the following: Use markup to indicate the content of your site Optimize your tags on each page to contain 1 - 3 keywords Create unique Meta Tags for each page Use header tags appropriately Use tags if appropriate Optimize your URLs Use Search Engine Friendly URLs (for dynamic sites) Use keywords in your domain (http://www.keyword1.com/) Use keywords in your URL (http://www.example.com/keyword2/keyword3.html) Use dashes instead of underscores to separate words in your URLs (keyword2-keyword3.html) Optimize your content Use keywords liberally yet appropriately throughout each page Have unique content Have quality content Use search engine friendly design Create a human sitemap Do not use inaccessible site navigation (JavaScript menus) Minimized outbound links Kept your pages under 100K in size Design the navigational structure of the site to channel PR to main pages (especially the homepage) Create a page that encourages webmasters to link to your site Provide them the relevant HTML to create their link to you Provide them with any images you may want them to use (although text links are better) Make sure your website is complete before launching it Immediately after launching your site you should do the following: Submit your site to all major search engines Google (Use a Google SiteMap) Yahoo (Use the page list option) MSN (Finds your site via incomming links) Ask (Finds your site via incomming links) Submit your site to all free directories DMOZ (also powers Google Directory) JoeAnt Submit your site to relevant directories Find more at ISEDB Begin a link building campaign (attempting to get keywords in the link anchor text) Put a link to your website in your forum signatures Reply to relevant blog posts (Don't spam please) Submit articles to relevant websites If you will pay to promote your website: Submit your site to pay directories Yahoo GoGuides Purchase text links from high PR (Pagerank) sites related to your site Finally, as part of an ongoing strategy: Continually update your website will quality, unique content Continually seek free links preferably from sites in your genre Do NOT do the following: Make an all Flash website Use JavaScript for navigation Spam other websites for incomming links Launch your site before it is done Use duplicate content Point several domains to one site without using a 301 redirect Use markup inappropiately Style <H>eader tags to look like regular text Hide content using 'display: hidden' Use other "black hat" techniques (unless you accept the risk - Banning) Doorway/Landing pages Cloaking Hidden text Keyword stuffing Additional Tips: Usable and accessible sites tend to be search engine friendly by their very nature Be patient! High rankings don't happen overnight Don't obsess with any one search engine. They are all worth your attention.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Buy a Dell, plant a tree</h1> 2007-01-13T12:21:00.000-08:00 Buy a Dell, plant a tree Dell is launching a new program aimed at improving the environment. Customers will be asked to donate money to charities that plant trees. Dell is asking for donations of $2 per laptop and $6 per desktop. Dell's backs plan to offset destruction of trees By Damon Darlin Published: January 10, 2007 LAS VEGAS: Michael Dell, who made his name building computers, has a new goal — planting trees. In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show here, Dell urged the electronics industry to foster the planting of trees to offset the effect on the environment of the energy consumed by the devices they make. He said Dell, the computer company he founded, would begin a program called "Plant a Tree for Me," asking customers to donate $2 for every notebook computer they buy and $6 for every desktop PC. The money would be given to the Conservation Fund and the Carbonfund, two charities that promote ways to reduce or offset carbon emissions, to buy and plant trees. Dell said the planting of trees would absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting the equivalent emissions resulting from the production of electricity for computers over three years. In his speech Tuesday, Dell also said, "I challenge every PC vendor in the industry to join us in providing free recycling. This is a better way than government regulation." Dell intends to cover the administrative costs of the tree-planting program. Dell was not able to estimate those costs. Customers in the United States will be given the chance to donate when they configure an order for a Dell PC. Dell also said the program would be expanded in April to consumers overseas. Dell said in an interview before the speech that the tree-planting initiative came up during a meeting that he and Kevin Rollins, Dell's chief executive, held to discuss the company's efforts to recycle and reduce the use of various chemicals like brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride. He said he thought, "This would be a fantastic way for our customers to get involved." Dell said, "I am personally interested in the environment, but I have to give credit to our customers who have encouraged us in this direction." Dell offers its customers free recycling of their old computers. The company said it wanted to recover about 275 million pounds of old computers from customers by 2009. "We're on track, a little ahead, in fact, to meet our goal," Dell said. In his speech, Dell made a plea to the telecommunications industry to speed its efforts to lay high-speed fiber cable that would provide more capacity for moving content like movies and videos on the Internet to the home. He noted that high-speed networks are already available in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, France, Iceland, Japan, Kuwait, Romania and Slovenia, while the United States lags behind. He said that just 44 percent of U.S. households had a high-speed broadband connection and that only 1 percent of those homes had a fiber connection.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Graphics Tutorials - Site Collection</h1> 2007-01-13T12:02:00.000-08:00 {Photoshop} http://www.thewebmachine.com/ http://www.good-tutorials.com/ http://www.stridingstudio.com/tutorials/ http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/2d/ http://www.deepspaceweb.com/ http://www.phong.com/tutorials/ http://www.spoono.com/tutorials/photoshop/ http://www.eyewire.com/tips/photoshop/ http://www.spyroteknik.com/ http://www.dubtastic.com/ http://www.designsbymark.com http://www.effectlab.com/ http://www.jlswebsource.com/tutorials.html http://www.designsbymark.com/ http://www.eyeball-design.com/page09.htm http://www.absolutecross.com/tutorials/photoshop.htm http://www.myjanee.com/jnetuts.htm http://www.eyesondesign.net/pshop/tuts.htm http://www.photoshopcafe.com http://www.planetphotoshop.com/tutorials.html http://www.pankpages.com/ http://www.stewartstudio.com/tips/phototip.htm http://www.aqa-d.se/ http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/ph....htm?once=true& http://www.rtideas.com/ticks/ http://www.screaming-art.com/tutorials.php http://www.digitaltropic.com/tutorials.htm http://www.perfectpixels.com/index.cfm?method=photoshop http://www.distortion.co.uk/freebies/tutorial.html http://www.arraich.com/ps_intro.htm http://www.teamphotoshop.com/photos...ials/ps_tut.php http://www.eyeland.com/tutorials.php http://user.fundy.net/morris/main.html http://umojan99.tripod.com/ http://www.webteknique.com/ http://www.nebulus.org http://www.wastedyouth.org/tutorials/ http://www.tutorialforums.com/index.php?referrerid=62 http://www.dreaminfinity.com/tutorials.php ------------------------------------------- {LightWave3D} http://www.niklasindustries.com/tutorials/ http://members.shaw.ca/lightwavetutorials/ http://www.kolumbus.fi/erkki.halkka/ http://www.lightwave3d.com/tutorials/ http://www.clickgrafix.com/tutorial...002_tutmain.htm http://lwg3d.org/LWG/ http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.davies/ http://www.ap3d.com/betterspace/betterspace-tut-00.htm ------------------------------------------- {Flash/Flash MX} http://www.cbtcafe.com/flash/index.html http://www.flashguru.co.uk/tutorials.php http://www.ultrashock.com/ff.htm?ht...als/flashmx.php http://www.virtual-fx.net/vfx/tutorial.php http://www.developingwebs.net/flash/ http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey.../tutorial8.html ------------------------------------------- {Maya} http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Tm...ml&style=normal http://www.tutorialfind.com/tutorials/3dsoftware/maya/ http://www.3dcafe.com/asp/tutalias.asp http://www.3dgate.com/techniques/tutorials.html http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutor...al.asp?id=28561 http://www.the-gnomon-workshop.com/.../tutorials.html http://www.tutorialzone.de/tutorial...bkategorie=maya http://www.rhonda.com/Maya_TopTen_intro.html http://www.find.com.au/tutorials/3dsoftware/maya/ http://www.medialab.chalmers.se/tut...maya/index.html http://www.web3dservice.com/maya_tutorials.html http://www.keithlango.com/ http://www.thehobbitguy.com/tutoria...ling/index.html http://www.pixho.com/ http://www.mtmckinley.net/tutorials.html http://www.mayasg.com/tutorials.htm http://www.gnomononline.com/ http://www.3dtotal.com/ --------------------------------------------- {3D Studio MAX} http://www.3dbuzz.com http://www.3dcafe.com http://www.3dluvr.com http://www.discreet.com http://www.voidix.com http://www.3dlinks.com/ http://www.3dspline.com/ http://www.maxforums.org/ http://www.the3dstudio.com/ http://www.scifi-meshes.com/ http://www.xbitlabs.com/cpu/3dmax-platform/ http://www.find.com.au/tutorials/3dsoftware/ http://www.webreference.com/3d/ http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutor...al.asp?id=30328 http://home.swipnet.se/%7Ew-43920/ulf/tutorial/main.htm www.3dtotal.com http://www.dectus.com/ --------------------------------------------------- {3DSMAX GENERAL TUTORIALS} http://www.comet-cartoons.com/toons/3dhelp.cfm/ http://www.3dtotal.com http://www.3dcafe.com/ http://www.raph.com/ http://www.exchange3d.com/main/index.php http://www.3dark.com/ http://www.maxhelp.com/ http://www.max3d.com/ http://www.3dluvr.com/ http://mr2k.3dvf.com/frameset.htm (French) http://www.topleftpixel.com/ila_solomon/Tutorials.htm<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>5 Amazing Vista Wallpapers (Widescreen & High Resolutions)</h1> 2007-01-13T11:46:00.000-08:00 5 Amazing Vista Wallpapers (Widescreen & High Resolutions) Formats: 1024x768, 1152x864,1280x800, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, Previews: <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xvVgLKYmcWQ/Rak4fL-y9bI/AAAAAAAAAA0/rlzqDz4dlKs/s1600-h/v1.JPG"></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xvVgLKYmcWQ/Rak5DL-y9cI/AAAAAAAAAA8/NLIBYO9j45w/s1600-h/v2.JPG"></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xvVgLKYmcWQ/Rak5S7-y9dI/AAAAAAAAABE/1RcZ3HHMT-s/s1600-h/2h6abtw.jpg"></a> Download: Code: http://rapidshare.com/files/11093032/5AmazingVistaWallpapers.rar<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Yahoo! Messenger Mega Skins Pack</h1> 2007-01-13T11:45:00.000-08:00 A Lil Bit Girly Alien.rar All American Apollo Aqua Aqua Blue.rar Atlanta Falcons.rar Baby Blue P ink.zip Baby Blue.zip Baby Doll Baby Doll.zip Base Blue.zip Base Faces.zip Battleship Gray.zip Bio Hazard Black and White Black Widow Black Widow 2 Black.zip Blue Blue Jeans BlueSky Bronze Budweiser.zip Care Bears Celadon Christmas Wreath.rar Classic Christmas.zip Coral Blue.rar Corona Crimson Night D-Devil December.zip Dutch Treat ENHigh Tech.rar Gel LED (Blue).zip Gel LED (Green) Google Talk Graphite Gray&Orange Green Bay Packers.rar Half Life 2 Halloween.zip Halloweenish Halo 2 Hannelore's Skin Heaven.zip Hunter Green Hunter Green.zip Indigo iTunes iYahoo! Jack Daniels.rar Longhorns.rar M&M's MacOS X Tiger Mango Italiano Maverick Blue Mechanized.zip Metallic Black Old Skool OliveXP Orange Insanity Pepsi.rar Pink Pink Lilac.zip Pipeline Pretty in Pink Purple Haze.zip Purple Passion.zip Queeeenz Blue Queeeenz Dusty Rose Queeeenz Forest Queeeenz Purple Teck The Victorian.zip Toe Bee's Dolphins Toe Bee's Skins Valentine.zip Vortex Pink Vortex Red Windows Media 10.zip XBOX 360 Xminimum Xtreme XP (Blue) XtremeXP (Blue).rar Y! Vista Download 37.897 Mb: Code: http://rapidshare.com/files/11525599/Yahoo__Messenger_Mega_Skins_Pack.rar<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Megaupload "COUNTRY SLOT" Problem Gone Forver:100%</h1> 2007-01-13T11:33:00.000-08:00 For mozilla firefox 4.0: ********************** First go to CODEhttp://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/59/ Click Install Now to install addon. Restart FireFox. Tool-->User Agent Switcher--->Options--->Options Click User Agents--->Add Type this: + Description: MEGAUPLOAD + User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; Alexa Toolbar) Click OK twice to finish adding User Agent. From now, before downloading any file on megaupload just go Tools--> User Agent Switcher--->MEGAUPLOAD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Internet Explorer: ******************* Start/run->> type regedit -> ok Go to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\M*cro$oft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform] Note: if U use IE 7 go to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\M*cro$oft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform] Right click on Post Platform > New > String Value > type Alexa Toolbar > ok Now U can download from megaupload without error : "All download slots (..) assigned to your country (....) are in use"<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Technology Predictions for 2007</h1> 2007-01-13T11:26:00.000-08:00 2006 is just about over and 2007 will begin in a couple of days. Everyone is putting up their predictions for 2007, so why should I be any different. 1) What was once free will no longer be free. Free calling for VoIP will become a memory. Skype may be one of the first to charge a fee for calling into the PSTN, but they will be one of the first of many. 2) The US Government will begin to understand that Telecom mergers are not good business for them or the public. Mergers between US and non-US companies will be under greater view and may be denied. 3) Cable companies will bypass the need to sell VoIP services and instead be more interested in selling Video over IP and Video on demand. 4) VoIP will be renamed Internet Telephony so VoIP can be known as Video over IP. 5) Cell Phone carriers will start placing ads on incoming Internet and Messaging, unless a fee is paid to eliminate them. 6) Hot Spots and Hotels will pull back on free Internet and require payment for use. Hot Spots may start posting ads to their users.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>How To Tweak Wordpress Themes Without Messing Blog Around</h1> 2007-01-13T11:11:00.000-08:00 Ever wanted to test or tweak an alternate Theme for Wordpress, but don’t want things to look messy for your visitors ? You have two solutions. Another Test install That’s an easy one, just set up another Wordpress blog and play with it, tweak it, break it, no once cares. The only thing you may want to check before playing is that it sends no ping (Options / Writing / Update Services) and no trackback (Options / Discussion) when you post random junk, because your test install will soon be discovered by others … and by spammers :) Use the Theme Switcher This solution doesn’t even require you to set up another blog. It consists in installing a Theme Switcher, and making it available for you only. Get the plugin : theme switcher -->http://dev.wp-plugins.org/file/theme-switcher/trunk/theme-switcher.php Activate it Add the following code somewhere in your sidebar.php : <?php if ( (preg_match("/wordpressuser[^=]*=admin/i", $_SERVER["HTTP_COOKIE"])) ) { ?> <div id="themeswitcher"> <h3>Theme</h3> <?php wp_theme_switcher(); ?> </div> <?php } ?> From now on, people logged in with “admin” will be able to see the theme switcher and select another theme. Others will stick to the theme selected by default.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Free Tips: Increasing Firefox Performance</h1> 2007-01-13T11:08:00.000-08:00 good tips for Firefox which can increase your Firefox performance greatly. I would like to share the current up-to-date information to readers: How to speed up the rendering of a page? Add the following perference, firefox will render the page immediately: Ctrl-L to go to the URL entry Type about:config to open the configuration editor Right click -> New -> Integer Type nglayout.initialpaint.delay as the perference name Type 0 as the value How to increase the page loading performance? You can try to enable pipelining. It is still an experimental feature, so it may not be supported by some web servers. Ctrl-L to go to the URL entry Type about:config to open the configuration editor Right click -> New -> Boolean -> type network.http.pipelining, select true Right click -> New -> Boolean -> type network.http.proxy.pipelining, select true Right click -> New -> Integer -> type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests, type 8 How can I speed up the Firefox startup time in Windows XP? This is more like a general tips for Windows XP but here it is. You can turn on the prefetcher that available in Windows XP. Right click on Firefox icon and press properties Type /Prefetch:1 at the end of command in target field. For instance “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” /Prefetch:1 (Make sure you have space in between firefox.exe” and /Prefetch:1) Press OK to save<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Fruity Loops Tutorials = Help Alot</h1> 2007-01-13T11:00:00.000-08:00 Fruity Loops 6 Tutorial Vids http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=29 (Showcase of the new FL6 FX plugins) 31mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=28 (How to use the new FL6 mixer) 13mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=30 (Using BeatSlicer) 7.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=31 (Deep Inside Sytrus) 10.1mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=27 (How to use DirectWave) 22.2mb Beginners- CODE http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=10 (How to use the FL Studio user interface) 14.7mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=7 (How to use the FL Studio stepsequencer) 10.1mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=24 (How to use effects (FX) in FL Studio) 10.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=3 (How to use playlist in FL Studio) 12.3mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=21 (How to hook up your midi key- board and record a melody) 9.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=26 (How to use the FL Studio pianoroll) 10.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=25 (How to use the FL Studio mixer) 21.3mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=20 (How to hook up your MPD16 to FPC and punch in a drumloop) 12.2mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=6 (How to record your guitar in FL Studio) 13.2mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=17 (How to record audio (your voice in this case) in the mixer) 12.6mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=23 (How to use the FL Studio automation) 14.7mb Advanced- CODE http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=16 (How to use the FL Studio Vocoder) 15.1mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=12 (Advanced use of the FL Studio pianoroll) 25.7mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=15 (How to use the FL Studio timestretching) 14.3mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=18 (How to use the FL Studio Wave Editor) 9.3mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=4 (How to use the FL Studio as a plugin in Cubase SX3) 11.2mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=14 (How to use the Sytrus softsynth plugin) 14.5mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=5 (How to use FL Studio as a Rewire client) 6.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=13 (How to use the FL Studio slicer plugin) 15.9mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=2 (How to use automation clips in FL Studio) 13.8mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=9 (Advanced use of FPC in FL Studio) 12.1mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=11 (How to create and use the FL Studio layers) 10.2mb http://69.50.201.40/download.php?id=8 (How to use the FL Studio audio and midi loop recording) 16.9mb<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>How To Add Google Video to Blogger</h1> 2007-01-13T10:48:00.001-08:00 <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xvVgLKYmcWQ/Rakqq7-y9aI/AAAAAAAAAAk/hvOlX3oyES4/s1600-h/google-video.jpg"></a> Are you Blogger user? And want to upload and add video to your Blogger blog? There are some video host provider around the internet such as Youtube, Google Video, Vsocial, Dailymotion, etc. Ok let me bring you to some tutorial on how to upload and add Google video to blogger. First of all you have to pick video of your choice from Google Video. On clicking the name you would be redirected to your video’s page. On the right sidebar click on blue button “Email - Blog - Post to MySpace”. In the drop down box click on “Blogger” link in “Post to” section. Click the “Blogger” link to open a new windows. Enter your Username and password in it and click “Sign in” button. Remember that this is your blog*spot username and password and not of Google account. On logging in select the blog(if you have more then one blog in your account) from the drop-down menu where you wish to post this Google Video to and click “Proceed” button. Then enter the title for your post (default is same as the title of the video), pick a player size (default is Big) and check the “Autoplay video” if you want the video to play as soon as the page uploads. Finally enter the text for the body of the post in “Description” box and click on “Post to my blog” to publish this post. If all goes well you would get a “successfully posted” message. Close the window and refresh your blog to check your latest Google video.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> 2007-01-13T10:48:00.000-08:00 <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xvVgLKYmcWQ/Rakqq7-y9aI/AAAAAAAAAAk/hvOlX3oyES4/s1600-h/google-video.jpg"></a> Are you Blogger user? And want to upload and add video to your Blogger blog? There are some video host provider around the internet such as Youtube, Google Video, Vsocial, Dailymotion, etc. Ok let me bring you to some tutorial on how to upload and add Google video to blogger. First of all you have to pick video of your choice from Google Video. On clicking the name you would be redirected to your video’s page. On the right sidebar click on blue button “Email - Blog - Post to MySpace”. In the drop down box click on “Blogger” link in “Post to” section. Click the “Blogger” link to open a new windows. Enter your Username and password in it and click “Sign in” button. Remember that this is your blog*spot username and password and not of Google account. On logging in select the blog(if you have more then one blog in your account) from the drop-down menu where you wish to post this Google Video to and click “Proceed” button. Then enter the title for your post (default is same as the title of the video), pick a player size (default is Big) and check the “Autoplay video” if you want the video to play as soon as the page uploads. Finally enter the text for the body of the post in “Description” box and click on “Post to my blog” to publish this post. If all goes well you would get a “successfully posted” message. Close the window and refresh your blog to check your latest Google video.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Windows XP Tips and Tricks</h1> 2007-01-13T10:45:00.000-08:00 Opening Ports or Adding Allowed Programs with SP2's Firewall 1.Click on Start / Run 2.Enter in firewall.cpl 3.Click on the Exceptions tab Adding a Port for Internet Access: 1.Click on the Add Port button 2.Name it whatever you want 3.Enter in the ports you want to open Adding a Program for Internet Access 1.Click on Add Program... button 2.A list of all installed programs will be displayed 3.Highlight the one you want to include for Internet access 4.Click on the OK button Autoexec.nt or Config.nt Errors If you are getting errors similar to: The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application. Try copying the file from \windows\repair directory to the one that is in the \windows\system32 directory. Common Control Panel Applets The follow are some common Control Panel Applets that are located in the \windows\system32 directory. If you find yourself using any of these frequently, then you can simply make shortcuts to them on your desktop. appwiz.cpl >>Add/Remove Programs desk.cpl >> Display Properties firewall.cpl >> Firewall Settings inetcpl.cpl >> Internet Options mmsys.cpl >> Sound and Audio ncpa.cpl >> Network Connections nusrmgr.cpl >> User Accounts powercfg.cpl >> Power Options sysdm.cpl >>System Properties wscui.cpl >> Security Center wuaucpl.cpl >> Automatic Updates Configuration Windows Explorer Opens Search Companion Rather than the Folder If the Windows Explorer opens up the Search Companion rather than opening up the actual folder, the default setting for opening a folder is changed. To correct this: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell Edit the default value to be explorer or none Guest Only Network Access If you try and connect to an XP computer and are shown a logins screen with only the computername/Guest, You may need to change one of the Local Security Policies: Got to Control Panel - Administrative Tools Go to Local Policies - Security Options Check teh Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts Set it to Classic - local users authenticate as themselves Hiding a XP Computer from Network Neighborhood If you want to share files from a XP computer, yet want to remove it from showing up in the Network Neighborhood, Run net config server /hidden:yes Easy Way to Share Multiple Folders If you need to share multiple folders, running the program SHRPUBW.EXE will bring up a simple dialog box to let you: Browse to the folder you want to share Enter in a Share name Ender in a Share description Set permissions. Several choices are available Restart the process from within the same program Not Viewing Zip Files as Folders If you want to turn of WindowsXP showing Zip files as folders, just run: regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll Setting Capslock, Numlock, Scroll Lock If you want to set the startup state for any or all of these keys, you just need to edit the registry. Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Keyboard Open InitialKeyboardIndicators Change the value to one of the following numbers 0 - All Keys off 1 - Caps Lock on 2 - Num Lock on 4 - Scroll Lock on For multiple keys, add their values: 3 - Caps Lock and Num Lock on 5 - Caps Lock and Scroll Lock on 6 - Num Lock and Scroll Lock on 7 - Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock on Log off and back on again Restoring Desktop Icon to the Quicklaunch Bar If you mistakenly deleted the icon for the Desktop on the Quicklaunch toolbar Go to C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch (where user_name is replaced by your login name) Create a Text file called ShowDesktop.SCF with the following contents: [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop Network Access After Norton Anti-Virus Install Sometimes you can't access a WinXP computer after installing Norton Anti-Virus. There might be a variety of errors at the other computer depending on the operating system. On the XP computer, in the Event Viewer / System log, there will be the following error: The server's configuration parameter "irpstacksize" is too small for the server to use a local device. Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters Edit the IRPStackSize Give it a value of 15 Reboot the computer Configure for Auto-Logon If you are the only person using the computer and what to have it automatically log you on, Start / Run / "control userpasswords2" - no quotes Uncheck User must enter a user name and password to use this computer Services You Can Disable There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description of each one when you run Services and that you turn them off one at a time. Some possibilities are: Alerter - Sends alert messages to specified users that are connected to the server computer. Application Management - Allows software to tap directly into the Add/Remove Programs feature via the Windows Installer technology. Background Intelligent Transfer Service - The Background Intelligent Transfer service is used by programs (such as Windows AutoUpdate) to download files by using spare bandwidth. Clipbook - ClipBook permits you to cut and paste text and graphics over the network. Error Reporting Service - Allows applications to send error reports to Microsoft in the event of an application fault. Fast User Switching - Windows XP allows users to switch quickly between accounts, without requiring them to log off. Help and Support - Allows the XP Built-in Help and Support Center to run. IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service - You don't need this if you have other software to create CDs. Indexing Service - Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying language. IP SEC - Manages IP security policy and starts the ISAKMP/Oakley (IKE) and the IP security driver. If you are not on a domain, you likely don't need this running. Messenger - Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This is how a lot of pop-up windows start appearing on your desktop. Net Logon - Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain. If you are not on a domain, you don't need this running Network DDE - Provides network transport and security for Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) for programs running on the same computer or on different computers. NT LM Security Support Provider - Provides security to remote procedure call (RPC) programs that use transports other than named pipes. Performance Logs and Alerts - Collects performance data from local or remote computers based on preconfigured schedule parameters, then writes the data to a log or triggers an alert. If you don't need to monitor your performance logs, then you don't need this service. Portable Media Serial Number - Retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to your computer QOS RSVP - Provides network signaling and local traffic control setup functionality for QoS-aware programs and control applets. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager - Manages and controls Remote Assistance. If you are not using Remote Desktop you don't need this service. Remote Registry - Enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer. Routing & Remote Access - Offers routing services to businesses in local area and wide area network environments. Allows dial-in access. Secondary Login - Enables starting processes under alternate credentials. This is what allows you to run an application as another user. Smart Card - Manages access to smart cards read by this computer. Smart Card Helper - Enables support for legacy non-plug and play smart-card readers used by this computer. SSDP Discovery Service - Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper - Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service and NetBIOS name resolution. This should not be needed in today's network environment. Telnet - Enables a remote user to log on to this computer and run programs, and supports various TCP/IP Telnet clients. Uninterruptible Power Supply Service - Manages an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to the computer. Universal Plug and Play Device Host - Provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices Upload Manager - Manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network. Volume Shadow Copy Service - Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes. Web Client - Enables Windows-based programs to create, access, and modify non-local files across the Internet. Wireless Zero Configuration - Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters WMI Performance Adapter - Provides performance library information from WMI HiPerf providers. Cleaning the Prefetch Directory WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs. However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs. To clean this periodically go to: Star / Run / Prefetch Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts Delete them Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages To turn these off: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages Give it a value of 1 Repair Install If XP is corrupted to the point where none of the previous solutions get it to boot, you can do a Repair Install that might work as well as keep the current settings. Make sure you have your valid WindowsXP key. The whole process takes about half an hour depending on your computer If you are being prompted for the administrator's password, you need to choose the 2nd repair option, not the first. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD At the second R=Repair option, press the R key This will start the repair Press F8 for I Agree at the Licensing Agreement Press R when the directory where WindowsXP is installed is shown. Typically this is C:\WINDOWS It will then check the C: drive and start copying files It will automatically reboot when needed. Keep the CD in the drive. You will then see the graphic part of the repair that is like during a normal install of XP (Collecting Information, Dynamic Update, Preparing Installation, Installing Windows, Finalizing Installation) When prompted, click on the Next button When prompted, enter your XP key Normally you will want to keep the same Workgroup or Domain name The computer will reboot Then you will have the same screens as a normal XP Install Activate if you want (usually a good idea) Register if you want (but not necessary) Finish At this point you should be able to log in with any existing accounts. NTOSKRNL Missing or Corrupt If you get an error that NTOSKRNL not found: Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. Typically this will be #1 Change to the drive that has the CD ROM. CD i386 expand ntkrnlmp.ex_ C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe If WindowsXP is installed in a different location, just make the necessary change to C:\Windows Take out the CD ROM and type exit HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. Typically this will be #1 Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it Take out the CD ROM and type exit Corrupted or Missing \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG If you get the error: Windows could not start because the following files is missing or corrupt \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. Typically this will be #1 Enter in the administrator password when requested cd \windows\system32\config Depending on which section was corrupted: ren software software.bad or ren system system.bad Depending on which section was corrupted copy \windows\repair\system copy \windows\repair\software Take out the CD ROM and type exit NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup, If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS. Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive. For NTFS: Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. Typically this will be #1 Enter in the administrator password when requested Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive. COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\: COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\ Take out the CD ROM and type exit Bringing Up the Shutdown Dialog Box Create a new txt file somewhere on your system, open it and put in this one line: (new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application")).ShutdownWindows(); Save and Close the file. Change the extension to js and your got it. You can make a shortcut to that file to make it easy to shut down your system. Hiding the Last User Logged On If you use the standard NT style of login and want to hide the last user: Start the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options Scroll down to Interactive logon: Do not display last user name Set it to Enable Poweroff at Shutdown If your computer does not turn off the power when doing a shutdown, you may need to edit the registry. I have all the correct BIOS and Power settings and still needed to do this. Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop Edit the key PowerOffActive and give it a value of 1 You can do the same in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop Remembering Folder Settings If XP does not remember your folder settings, delete or rename the following registry keys [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags] Preventing Applications from Stealing the Focus To prevent applications from stealing the focus from the window you are working Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop Edit the key ForegroundLockTimeout Give it a value of 00030d40 Disable Explorer Thumbnail View If you want disable the Explorer's ability to show the Thumbnail View , Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced \ Change ClassicViewState to 1 Disable Shared Documents To disable the Shared Documents folder that shows up on the network Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ Create a new DWORD Value Give it the name NoSharedDocuments Give it a value of 1 Log off or reboot Removing Thumbs.db Files When viewing a folder with the Thumbnail view, WindowsXP creates a thumbs.db file. This is a cache of the current pictures in that directory. If you want to turn this feature off and save a little disk space Start the Windows Explorer Go to Tools / Folder Options / View In the first section under Files and Folders, check Do not cache thumbnails Now you can search for the thumbs.db file on your computer and remove them. No more should be created. Enable / Disable the Task Manager Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System Create the Dword value DisableTaskMgr Give it a value of 0 to enable it Give it a vaule of 1 to disable it Clearing the Page File on Shutdown Another way to set the computer to clear the pagefile without directly editing the registry is: Click on the Start button Go to the Control Panel Administrative Tools Local Security Policy Local Policies Click on Security Options Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile" Select "Enable" Reboot If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\ClearPageFileAtShutdown Set the value to 1 No GUI Boot If you don't need to see the XP boot logo, Run MSCONFIG Click on the BOOT.INI tab Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT Using the Classic Search in Explorer If you prefer to use the classic search style in Explorer, Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState Add a String Key called Use Search Asst Give it a value of no Changing Drive Letters If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives: Right Click on My Computer Select Manage Select Disk Management For a Fixed Disk: Select it Right click Select Change Drive Letter and Path Click on the Edit button Enter in the letter you want to use For a Removable Disk: In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM # Select Change Drive Letter and Path Click on the Edit button Enter in the letter you want to use Changing the Registered Owner Start Regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion From there you can edit the name in the Registered Owner key Decreasing Boot Time Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP The program is called BootVis Uncompress the file. Run BOOTVIS.EXE For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup. Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line) Then run Trace / Optimize System Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays Note how much the time has decreased Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds. Hide/Unhide Logon Names If you want to hide or unhide the names of users that are displayed on the initial logon screen: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide Make sure it has a value of 0 If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1 WindowsXP Command Line Utilities While there are a lot of command line utilities in WindowsXP, here are some that I have been using lately. bootcfg - Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings. driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties. getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer gpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer netsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol schtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time systeminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system Disabling Hibernation If you don't want to use up the disk space taken by Hibernation, or don't need to use it at all, you can easily disable it. Open up the Control Panel / Power Options icon Click on the Hibernation icon Uncheck Enable Hibernation Increasing System Performance If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance by having the core system kept in memory. Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive Set the value to be 1 Reboot the computer Common Command Console Utilities WindowsXP comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line: Computer Management - compmgmt.msc Disk Managment - diskmgmt.msc Device Manager - devmgmt.msc Disk Defrag - dfrg.msc Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc Group Policies - gpedit.msc Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc Resultant Set of Policies - rsop.msc Local Security Settings - secpol.msc Services - services.msc Component Services - comexp.msc Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks Set the value to be 1 In the same section, change the WaitToKillAppTimeout to the number of milliseconds you want. Changing Programs That Start Automatically WindowsXP has a similar program, MSCONFIG, that was available in Windows98. This allows you to view and change what programs are automatically started each time you log in. The new version also allows you to view and edit the boot.ini file (as well as check for errors and use several advanced switches) Creating an Automated Install of WindowsXP On the WindowsXP CP, in the SUPPORT\TOOLS directory, there is a file called DEPLOY.CAB. Extract the programs DEPLOY.CHM (help file) and SETUPMGR.EXE (main program) Run SETUPMGR and answer the prompts. This will create both a unattend.bat and unattend.txt file you can use for automated installs. Note: The batch file might need some minor modification for file locations but it is fairly basic.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>How to Naturally Increase Your Height</h1> 2007-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00 The Russians were literally researching everything known to man to develop superior athletes. One of the things they researched extensively and poured Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in what was known as "Height Superiority" research. Taller athletes aren't necessarily superior to shorter athletes, but all things being equal, HEIGHT GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE. So like the good communist researchers they were, when they were told to research it and develop tactics and techniques to get their athletes taller naturally, they did what was told of them. And that research is the basis for the newly updated ebook manual How to Naturally Increase Your Height 2-3 Inches Within 7 Weeks. Not only do you get secrets from the Soviet research, you also get the latest Western research on the subject. What you will learn from the information in this ebook is simply astounding. Such things as: The men in this small republic average 6'3", the women just under 5'11", you probably never heard of these people, but they are the tallest people in the world . An easy way to prove you can grow at least 1 inch within 1 week, NO TRICKS!! American men average just over 5'9", Dutch men average 6', the Dutch weren't always taller, find out why they are now 150 years ago, Americans were the tallest people in the world, what happened? Genetics, yes they play a role, but you'll see how you can overcome them Avoid these if you want to maximize your height A simple thing to do at night to help you grow, you'll shake your head at this one Why the heavier you are the more height you can possibly gain, fascinating Cartilage, the key to growth! Did you know about 5.5 million American males are 6'2" or taller? Why kids these days are getting taller and taller Why Asians are generally shorter than North Americans and Europeans, not just genetics!!! 2 Critical stages of growth and how to maximize this to your advantage The secret growth food the tallest people in the world eat, yes, those same people where the males average 6'3" in height, it's cheap and plentiful Did you know that professional baseball pitchers' pitching arm is usually 1-2 inches longer than the non-pitching arm? Find out how to use the same principles they use to gain 2 inches in your legs Guess how many American females are 5'9" or taller, better yet, just find out inside this ebook DOWNLOAD http://rapidshare.com/files/9953010/Height_Gain_and_Increase.rar<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Million Dollar Blogs - 25 Blogs and the Insane Traffic They Get</h1> 2007-01-12T12:36:00.000-08:00 Lately I’ve found myself obsessed with my Sitemeter stats for a blog I started not too long ago. I started noticing other popular blogs using the same free stat counter, many of them letting the public view the details of where their traffic is coming from. The traffic some of these blogs get is pretty amazing to say the least. If you do this google search it should bring up a list of all or at least most of the sites in google that are using a sitemeter on their web site/blog. By adding other keywords such as “blog” or whatever you can narrow your results. I spent a couple hours searching around and compiled a list of 25 blogs with links to their realtime sitemeter stats. I think you’ll find it very interesting to take a peek at their traffic details. 25 Blogs and Their Insane Traffic: Andrew Sullivan - Political Blog 62,363 Visits/Day Andy HoboTraveler.com - Travel Blog 8,948 Visits/Day Autoblog - Automotive Blog 111,280 Visits/Day Blogging Baby - Baby Blog 49,411 Visits/Day Bruce Schneier - Security and Tech Blog 13,863 Visits/Day Cinematical - Movie Blog 22,006 Visits/Day Daily Kos - Political Blog 531,175 Visits/Day Deadspin - Sports News Blog 84,882 Visits/Day Defamer - L.A. Gossip 199,854 Visits/Day Gadling - Travel Blog 8,748 Visits/Day Gawker - Manhatten Media News and Gossip 229,224 Visits/Day Gizmodo - The Gadget Blog 383,978 Visits/Day Gridskipper - Urban Travel Guide 12,576 Visits/Day Click For Blog Traffic Stats hack a day - Hacking Blog 56,514 Visits/Day Instapundit - Opinions on Current Events, etc. 121,159 Visits/Day Jalopnik - Car Blog 55,315 Visits/Day Joystiq - Video Game Blog 483,389 Visits/Day Lifehacker - The Productivity and Software Guide 99,388 Visits/Day Screenhead - Online Review of Funny Shit 10,521 Visits/Day Sploid - News With a Tabloid Mentality 16,240 Visits/Day The Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple News Blog 53,770 Visits/Day Valleywag - Tech Gossip 10,059 Visits/Day Washington Monthly - Political Blog 49,552 Visits/Day Wonkette - Politics for People With Dirty Minds 74,759 Visits/Day WOW Insider - World of Warcraft Blog 16,988 Visits/Day Who knows if they are really Million Dollar Blogs - but I think it’s safe to say they are probably doing fairly well.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Getting Google’s Attention</h1> 2007-01-12T12:26:00.000-08:00 One of the first things you need to do is get listed in Google. To get the ball rolling, I went to their add url page and submitted this site. The next thing I did was ad my adsense code. I don’t know if that speeds things up or not, but have always had the feeling it does. Now, these two techniques are fine, but to get Google’s attention faster, you should post your blog URL on another site that is already listed in Google. If you are a member of an internet forum, that is a great place to start. Or, if you have a favorite blog, leave a legitmate comment on a post…but don’t spam. I’m going to post a comment on a blog that I know has indexed one of my other sites before. That one is TechCrunch. I’m not positive, but perhaps it is best to post a comment on a highly popular blog such as this? I have noticed that some blog comments get indexed…but it seems others don’t. Anyway, so I posted a comment which you read here. Can you guess which comment is mine? For testing purposes, I didn’t put my web site address in the comments at all. The only place I put my URL is in the form I filled out. After you submit, your name will be linked and comments below that. I’m not sure how many days it will take to get indexed…but we should find out soon, won’t we! Interesting thing about this article is it looks like Google Notebook could be a potential spot to promote your blog. As soon as it is open to the public, I’ll give it a try.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Traffic Update</h1> 2007-01-12T12:22:00.000-08:00 Well, so far traffic is extremely low with 23 visits since I opened. I’d say probably half of these visits are mine. I got a few hits from BlogClicker, but higher quailty hits are coming from a post I made in the forums at the Blogger Forum web site. I’m not in Google yet, but hey…it hasn’t even been a day yet. I’m think I need to post another relevant comment on another blog. I’d like to use one of my other sites, but feel that would be cheating, so I won’t. I still don’t think I have enough interesting posts, and I definitely need to add some pictures to my blog to make it more exciting. So, I will wait before posting to a site such as BlinkList (more on these sites later). I do have one idea up my sleeve that I will probably do tonight or tomorrow. I’m going to write a hopefully diggable article to submit to digg. It is a tough crowd to please, but if you have an interesting enough article and you get to the front page, you will get a massive spike in traffic. That’s all for now…look for my hopefully interesting article soon.<div class="blogger-post-footer"></div> </article> </main></body></html>