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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Ten Failed Technology Predictions.

1. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

2. “We will never make a 32 bit operating system.” — Bill Gates

3. “Lee DeForest has said in many newspapers and over his signature that it would be possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many years. Based on these absurd and deliberately misleading statements, the misguided public … has been persuaded to purchase stock in his company …” — a U.S. District Attorney, prosecuting American inventor Lee DeForest for selling stock fraudulently through the mail for his Radio Telephone Company in 1913.

4. “There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States.” — T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, in 1961 (the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965).

5. “To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth – all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” — Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, in 1926

6. “A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” — New York Times, 1936.

7. “Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical (sic) and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.” – Simon Newcomb; The Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk 18 months later.

8. “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” — Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist, president of the British Royal Society, 1895.

9. “There will never be a bigger plane built.” — A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people

10. “Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years.” -– Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.

How Not To Get Hacked

Protect Urself !

Follow These Simple Guidelines n u are done

*** Under the security option tab of Mozilla Firefox there is an option Show Passwords make sure its protected by the master password.


1. U may avoid using Internet Explorer(old versions) and make the switch to Opera, it's more secure, plain and simple.

2. Get Spybot Search and Destroy or Spyware Doctor and immediately update it.

3. Get Adaware SE and immediately update it.
(Use both as a 1-2 punch on infected client computers and between the two there's not much they won't kill)

4. Update your anti virus,

5. Boot into safe mode and run all three scans (once in a month)

6. While the scans are going check your registry (Click start --> Run and type regedit to get intot he registry) and look in HKEY_CurrentUser/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run & HKEY_Local_Machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run. Verify that all programs listed are legitimate and wanted.

7. If or when your antivirus scan comes across anything, search for that file name in your registry and delete it, at least quarantine it.

8. Use explorer to go to the windows/system32 folder and sort by date. If you haven't already done so, make sure you can see the entire file names. click Tools --> Folder Options and unclick the box labeled "Hide extensions for known file types" and under Hidden files and folders click "Show hidden files and folders." However, make sure you choose "Hide protected operating system files" so you don't accidentally remove anything that would cripple your computer.. You are looking for recent files with names ending with .exe and .dll that look suspicious. Major culprits will have gibberish names such as alkjdlkjfa.exe.

9. Once you can get clean scans in safe mode, reboot in normal mode and scan all over again. If you can't get a clean scan in regular mode then you have something more persistant that could take more research.

10. Make sure your firewall doesn't have strange exceptions.

11. If you suspect anything that is going wrong with your computer is the action of a stalker, on a more secure system change all your major passwords, mostly bu using a virtual keyboard(to prevent keyloggers).

12. If your system has been specifically targeted and hacked you can never be 100% sure that your system is no longer compromised so start with 11, make backups of personal files on the infected system and format and re-install Windows.

Good luck!

Remove MS Word Passwords

remove office passwords


MS Word (Win2K/XP)



Example 1

1) Open MS Word with a new/blank page

2) Now select "Insert" >> "File" >> browse for your password protected doc & select "Insert" & "Insert" password protected doc into your new/blank doc

3) Now select "Tools" & Whey hey, voila, there's no longer an "Unprotect document" ... password vanished ...



Example 2

1) open your password protected doc in MS Word i.e. you can't edit protected fields (apparently)

2) Save as a Rich Text Format (RTF) & keep this RTF file open in MS Word (YES, keep open)

3) Whilst your new RTF file is open in MS Word, go "File open" & find your newly saved RTF file & open (YES, you DO need to do 'tis even though you already have it open)

4) If prompted to revert say YES, if not prompted stay calm. Now in your MS Word menu go & "Unprotect document", amazingly, voila, you don't get prompted for a password





Change password if ya like & or save in whatever format if ya like ...

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is a small, fast and very easy to use browser that offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the ability to block pop-up windows and the tabbed browsing.

Here are some key features of "Firefox":

* Comprehensive popup controls to keep unwanted advertising off your desktop;

* A tab browsing mode that lets you open several pages in a single window, allowing you to load links in the background without leaving the page you're on;

* Integrated search (powered by Google);

* Industry leading accessibility with Find As You Type - find links and page text by simply typing;

* Simplified privacy controls that let you cover your tracks more effectively;

* A streamlined browser window that lets you see more of the page than any other browser while at the same time being more configurable;

* A large variety of free downloadable extensions and themes that add specific functionality and visual changes to the browser.

Tune Up Utilities 2009

With TuneUp Utilities, your system will be faster, more comfortable and more secure. All important aspects of system configuration, security, cleanup and maintenance can be accessed through a modern graphical interface.

TuneUp Utilities will optimize the performance of your PC, solve problems and help you easily customize your computer to suit your needs.

TuneUp Utilities helps both beginners and experts to make Windows meet their needs in a way that is better, easier and safer. All important system options are explained in an easy way and can be turned on or off at the click of your mouse. TuneUp Utilities will then make the necessary changes in the registry or boot files automatically. We place a high value on system stability, so that Windows won't stop working reliably. And most changes that you make can be undone in TuneUp Rescue Center - easily and safely.

TuneUp Utilities also gives you many more options. In addition to helping you make Windows "better looking", you can also clean up and optimize your system at the click of a mouse. TuneUp Utilities 2008 will clean up unnecessary data from your hard disk and remove unnecessary entries from your registry. It can defragment your hard disk and registry and optimize your system settings to make Windows run substantially faster. Most of this maintenance is performed automatically every week by TuneUp 1-Click Maintenance.

Automatic adaptation to your operating system

When making these changes, TuneUp Utilities reaches deep into the Windows system. However, Windows has changed a great deal from version to version. Because of this, the software automatically recognizes and adapts to each supported version of Windows. This is done automatically so that you, the user, won't have to re-learn the software for each operating system version.

Here are some key features of "TuneUp Utilities":

TuneUp Start page:

· Intuitive Layout, Easy to Use
· Provides quick and easy access to the most critical optimization functions
· A single yet comprehensive appraisal of your PC’s current performance and overall system health


TuneUp Speed Optimizer:

· Intelligent, Powerful Utility for any User Skill Level
· Easy optimization in just a few clicks
· Identifies unused programs and resource-draining functions
· Recommends tools for optimal PC performance


TuneUp 1-Click Maintenance:

· Automatic, Fast Optimization
· Enables one-click maintenance of the most important functions of your PC
· Cleans the Windows registry
· Deletes temporary files and folders
· Increases the system performance through integrated defragmentation
· Streamlines your desktop and simplifies folder shortcuts with one click


TuneUp Drive Defrag:

· Intelligent defragmentation with new progress display


TuneUp System Control:

· Supports Opera


TuneUp Uninstall Manager:

· Intuitive uninstall options


TuneUp Startup Manager:

· Increases the speed at the start-up of your PC


TuneUp Registry Cleaner:

· More powerful tool with in-depth view of your PC registry

Download now

How To Start a Google AdSense & Make Money Blogging

By starting a new account with Google AdSense is one of the easiest ways to start monetizing your blog. While Google AdSense might not make you rich, it's a simple & useful tool. In fact, it's usually the first step bloggers typically take to earn an income from their blogs because it is so easy to get started.

Here's How:

1. Read the Google AdSense program policies.

Familiarize yourself with what you can & can’t do as part of the Google AdSense program to ensure you're prepared to start your new account.

2. Visit the Google AdSense home page.

Click on the 'Sign Up Now' button in the upper righthand corner of your screen.

3. Complete the online application.

You will need to provide your blog's URL & primary language as well as answer some questions related to the rules of the Google AdSense program. You'll also need to provide your payment information to receive the money you generate on your blog from Google.

4. Access your new account & review the ads available to you.

Google AdSense provides a wide variety of advertising options to bloggers from text ads to image ads & more. Take some time to research everything that's available to determine what will work best for your blog.

5. Select your ad design choices.

Once you've decided which ad opportunities are best for your blog, select them. Google will provide a snippet of HTML code to you after you make your selection.

6. Insert your Google AdSense HTML code into your blog.

Copy and paste the HTML code provided by Google into your blog's template. One of the easiest ways for a beginner blogger to do this is by inserting a text widget into his or her blog's template & pasting the code in the widget.

7. Let Google do the rest.

It may take a few hours or a few days for Google to start serving ads on your blog. Google will search your blog to determine the predominant subjects of each page. When readers visit your blog, the HTML code you pasted into your blog from Google will activate & relevant ads will be displayed based on each page's content.

8. Collect your money.

Remember, Google AdSense typically pays based on click-throughs (the number of times people click on an ad). Therefore, Google AdSense is unlikely to generate a large income for you, but every bit helps!


Tips:

Read & adhere to the Google AdSense policies in full before you sign up for a Google AdSense account. If you violate any of the policies, your account will be cancelled.
Take some time to perfect your Google AdSense program once you get started by learning the steps you need to take to increase your Google AdSense earning potential.

What You Need:
Your blog's active URL.

How To Increase Earning Potential of Google AdSense

When you include Google AdSense ads on your blog, there is certainly potential to make money, but how? Many beginner bloggers have Google AdSense ads running, but the earnings aren't coming. Follow the steps below to give your blog's Google AdSense program the greatest chance for success & start making money now.

Here's How:

1. Determine your blog's primary focus

Google AdSense ads are most effective when they are served to people who are interested in the products & services those ads offer. With that in mind, Google AdSense tends to work best on blogs that are about niche topics such as a specific product/hobby. Consider how you can make your blog's topic more focused to better attract specific types of readers & specific types of ads.

2. Write consistent & focused content

Google serves ads based on the content on each of your pages. The more focused your content is on each page, the better Google can determine which ads are the most relevant to your readers. Write consistently & stay focused on a specific topic to increase the likelihood that Google will display ads on your blog that your readers are apt to click on.

3. Work to increase your blog's traffic

The more visitors to your blog, the more potential for clicks on your Google AdSense ads. Work to increase your blog's traffic to boost your chances for ad click-throughs. However, keep in mind that if you write focused content, the ads on your blog will be relevant to that content. The traffic that comes to your blog needs to be interested in your blog's topic & your content/they are not likely to be interested in your corresponding Google AdSense ads. Work to drive traffic but make a concerted effort to find traffic that adds value to your blog.

4. Research & test keywords

Google serves ads through its AdSense program based on keywords. Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their businesses. Some keywords are more popular than others & therefore, drive higher bids. Higher paying keywords also mean higher payouts to you when your readers click on them. The ads served on your site are determined by the content on your site. If you're writing about topics related to higher paying keywords, then you're likely to earn more money from your Google AdSense program than if you wrote about topics related to lower paying keywords.

5. Test Google AdSense ad positions on your blog

You can display Google AdSense ads just about anywhere on your blog. Test a variety of positions on your blog to determine which work best for you in terms of generating click-throughs & maximum revenue.



Tips:

Check with your blogging software provider & blog host to ensure your blogging package allows you to place Google AdSense ads on your blog. For example, Wordpress.com doesn’t allow Google AdSense ads.

2. Don't fall victim to the allure of covering your blog in ads to generate income. Blogs that are cluttered with ads are difficult to read & readers typically don't return to blogs where the meaningful content is hidden in between ads.
Track your results to see what's working, particularly as you test keywords & ad positions. This will allow you to develop the best advertising mix to maximize your blog's income while staying consistent to your blog's brand image & overall message to readers at the same time.

How to earn from blog

There are various types of advert that can be used to earn money from your website. If your site has a lot of visitors, it can be very worthwhile using discreetly integrated advertising to 'monetize' your website content.

There are basically 3 levels of advertising: Pay-per-impression (CPM), pay-per-click (CPC), and pay-per-action (CPA, CPL, CPS).

Pay-per-impression pays you a certain amount for every 1000 times an advert is displayed to your site visitors. The payout is low, but you can be sure of a certain level of return - based on the number of visits your site receives per month. Also known as CPM (Cost per 1000)

Pay-per-click pays you a certain amount every time someone clicks on an advert on your site. The payout is higher than pay-per-impression, but you can't be sure how many visitors will actually click on the adverts. The more relevant the ads are to the page content, the more likely the visitor is to click on an ad.

Also known as CPC (Cost per click) Pay-per-action has the highest payout, but you only get paid if the visitor you refer goes on to perform some pre-defined action, such as placing an order on the target site. Unless the ads you server are very closely related to the subject of your website, the chances of this happening are pretty slim, so you would need to have a very high level of website traffic (visitors) to make this worthwhile. Also known as CPA (Cost per action), which in turn can be divided into CPL (Cost per lead) and CPS (Cost per sale).

On balance, pay-per-click is probably the easiest way to start earning money from your website quickly. It won't make you rich, but every little helps!
One very quick and easy way of earning money through relevant advertising, is the hugely popular Google Adwords programme. You just sign up for an adsense account, specify some basic details about your site, and Google will generate some code for you. Simply place the code on your site to start earning money every time someone clicks on the adverts.

The good thing about adwords is that the adverts that are displayed are automatically selected to be relevant to the content of the page they appear on. This makes the ads much more appealing to your site's visitors. The downside is that the payout is not that high - generally just one to a few US cents per click.

Another alternative, is using an advertising agency. The principle is similar to adwords, but you choose specific adverts from a range offered to you, rather than the ads being automatically generated depending on the page content. The payout per click is generally higher than with Google, but the range of adverts and their relevance will be more limited, so your CTR ('click through rate' - ratio of clicks to visitors) might be lower.

If you can find individual affiliate programs with a high degree of relevance to your site, this can generate an impressive stream of income. For example, if the visitors to your site are interested in Joomla, you could try a scheme like the Rocket Theme template club, or Magazine.

Some useful sites for you to earn from blogging / Writing

Weblogs, Inc. - Apply to blog for one of their ninety plus blogs or submit your own topic idea. They will pay you per post that you write and you must meet their minimum post requirements.

PayPerPost - Get paid as much as $500 or more a month writing articles and reviews of their sponsors on your blog.

Blogsvertise - Their advertisers pay you to mention and talk about their websites, products and services in your own blog.

Review Me - After your blog has been accepted in their network, they will pay you $20 to $200 per post that you write.

Smorty - Earn $6 to $100 dollars per post you write on your blog. Amount paid for each post depends on the overall popularity and page rank of your blog.

SponsoredReviews - Write reviews for their advertisers’ products and services on your own blog. They charge a 35% transaction fee for their services.

LoudLaunch - Blog about the advertisers campaign releases that meet your interests. They pay once a month.

Blogitive - Get paid weekly via PayPal for posting stories that interest you.

BloggerWave - Select the advertiser opportunities that best suit your blog and write reviews on their products and services.

InBlogAds - Write about websites, products, services and companies on your blog and get paid for it.

BlogToProfit - Make $250 dollars or more by writing new posts on your blog.

Creative Weblogging - Write 7 to 10 posts per week for their network and they will pay you $225 per month.

WordFirm - Make money publishing books as a freelance writer from home.

451 Press - Write for a blog within their network and receive forty percent of all generated revenue.

Digital Journal - Network of bloggers that get paid to report on newsworthy articles through their blogs.

BlogBurner - Sign up for a free blog and get paid for writing new posts. Your commissions are generated through Adsense clicks.

Squidoo - Earn money by writing your new blog, or choose to donate your earnings to charity.



About.com - Become a paid guide writing articles for About.com. Compensation depends on the growth of your page views.

DayTipper - Earn $3 for every short tip you write and get published.

Helium - Earn a share of their advertising revenue by writing articles in their channels.

Dewitts Media - Get paid to write your own blog. This site requires you have a minimum page rank of 3 to sign up.

BOTW Media - Make money writing a blog for their blogging network.

CreamAid - Get paid to submit blog posts in their directory.

BlogFeast - Generate revenue from pre-installed Google Adsense ads when you blog in their network.

Mashable - Mashable hires freelancers and new staff, offering one of the largest platforms for tech bloggers.

5 steps to optimize your blog

There is so much talk out there about what the ‘perfect’ web page looks like. In this article we give you tips on what we consider perfectly optimized as well as tips on helping turn the page into a great conversion tool.

Step one – Know who you are targeting

As with any marketing campaign the first step in optimizing ANY web page is to know your target audience. Is your site B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer). This is important because this not only affects the tone of your site, but also the keywords you chose.

It is imperative that you nail who your target is before you do anything else because if you don’t it doesn’t matter how big your site is, or how many pages you have. If you don’t write to the right crowd you aren’t going to get too much business.

The best thing is to write down who you think the target is. Be as detailed as possible. For example, your target may be a 30-45 year old female, in middle management, who drives a mini-van and takes her 3 kids to school before she goes to work. She makes $45,000 per year and has a bachelors degree in finance. This is the type of detail you need. You should be able to picture this person in your mind. Not just the abstract idea of her, but a physical look as well. the better you can picture them in your mind the more successful you will be.
Once you know who you target is the next step is choosing keywords.



Step two – Choosing the right keywords

This may be the most difficult part of your journey, especially if you don’t fit the target profile. That is, picking the keywords they will use to find your site.You can start by using free tools like Yahoo!s keyword suggestion tool. It gives you a good place to start picking keywords.

Start with a phrase you know your site is about (i.e. if you sell widgets, then simply put “widgets” in the search box). The tool will then not only spit out other related words, but also the search volumes associated with each for the previous month.

A word of caution however: Sometimes, depending on when you use the tool, the search volumes are from a couple months ago. So if your product is seasonal based, the numbers may actually be lower or higher than represented.

Don’t be afraid to get a few hundred words to start. Remember, right now you are just gathering ideas – phrases that could drive traffic to your site. They aren’t all necessarily being used by your target customer.

You can also go to Google’s Adwords site and perform the above steps. Start with a phrase or two which describe your site or product and use Google’s suggestion tool to help expand your list.

At this point you want as many phrases on your list as possible. Don’t worry, you will cull the list pretty quickly.Once you have a huge list of words, the next place to go is a site like Wordtracker, which has a keyword analysis tool. This tool can be used for a one time fee, or if it’s something you might want to return to you can purchase a subscription. It is a fairly simple tool to use and will give you a good idea of just how likely your site will be able to compete for a phrase.

A warning about Wordtracker: The software uses search volumes from some fairly minor sites such as Dogpile, so the estimates could be a little skewed. But again, unless you deal with an SEO firm that has their own proprietary software, this is about your best alternative.

Also remember as you are culling your words, don’t just focus on the competitive factors. These won’t account for your target audience. Therefore you need to have that picture in your mind of the target as you are selecting phrases that they might use. If you are unsure, you could always as for help from friends and family that fit the target profile.

A good rule of thumb would be to chose about one phrase per page. That doesn’t mean that you will only have one page per phrase, but it gives you a good target. So if your site is 300 pages, consider having a list of 300 phrases.


Step 3 – Write your pages

Now that you have your keywords its time to write, or re-write, your content to make them more appealing to the target audience, inserting the key phrases you’ve selected whenever possible.

Keep in mind that you don’t want to over do it. Also now is a good time to ensure you have proper keyword density’s and page length.

I recommend pages that are 400-500 words long. If they are a little longer or shorter that is fine, however if they are approaching 1000 words or more you should split them up, trying to hit that 400-500 word limit.

On this 400-500 word page you should have 2 or 3 occurrences of a key phrase, and you want to limit the key phrases used to 2 or 3. In other words you could have between 4 and 9 occurrences of all your key phrases per page. This should provide you with optimal keyword density.

Above all, make sure the pages are readable. Don’t optimize for optimization’s sake. If only one key phrase applies to the page, then only use one.


Step 4 – Optimize your Pages

This can be done in conjunction with the writing. In fact it should be done at then to save time. I purposely made this a separate step so that I could outline the finer points of optimization.

Provided that you are following the guidelines found in step 3, your pages should already have good keyword density, now is the time to improve that optimization by adding optimized meta tags and if appropriate, some image alt tags.First is to write the meta description tag. While many engines will index thousands of characters in your description, I recommend no more than a couple hundred characters.

That is about how long this paragraph is.The meta description should be a readable sentence or two with the same keywords that you wrote the page for. In other words, the same phrases should appear in the meta description as the body. They should also appear as near to the front of the tag as possible however don’t sacrifice readability for this.

If the tag doesn’t make sense with them at the front, then reorganize until they do make sense. Be sure to use proper punctuation as well.Also preferred but not mandatory is a meta keywords tag. While none of the major engines use this tag, other smaller ones, and some specialty engines do use the meta keywords tag.

If your target uses one of these engines then it makes sense to have that tag in place.Also, with the keywords tag there is a lot of debate over using commas or not. Personally I do not use commas. I just combine the phrases and remove duplicate words. For example, if the page is about blue widgets, yellow widgets and red widgets then the keywords tag could be: “blue yellow red widgets.”Common sense should be used when deciding if you will use image alt tags as well.

If your keywords match the image and you can make a compelling image description, then do it. Otherwise don’t.


Step 5 – Write a compelling title tag

I purposely left this as a separate step from meta tags because this is the most important part of your optimization program. Again, it can be done at the same time as the previous two steps, but it’s importance can not be over-emphasized.

This is because the title tag is the tag which is displayed in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). It is the link that people click on, and also the tag which is generally read by the visitor before they decide to visit.Therefore, if your title tag isn’t compelling, it doesn’t matter how well optimized your page is, it may not get that click.

For this step, you need to look at your competition to determine what they are doing. Perform a search to see what is compelling about their listing? Is there one that stands out? If so what are they doing? For example, if on every other site the keyword is the first phrase on the title, then consider moving your keyword in to the second or third phrase.This is because, as you will notice, engines like Google bold the search term in the title and snippets or description.

One way to make your title stand out is to have the term in a different position than the competition. That way the bolding stands out like this:key phrase in title tagkey phrase in title tagtitle tag with key phrasekey phrase in title tag

Notice how the third one stands out from the rest?I can not emphasize enough how important that title tag is. As I said, it is the “hook” to get visitors to your site. If the title is ineffective, then it won’t get clicked which means you don’t get the opportunity to woo that client.


Summary

As you can see, optimizing a page has less to do with optimal keyword density and more to do with knowing who it is that will be using that page.

If you don’t know who your target audience is you will never be able to properly optimize your pages. Sure you can optimize it for whatever keywords you choose, but if they aren’t the words that your customer will search for, what’s the point?

In the end, the more you know who your customer is, the better you will be in all your online ventures, from introduction of your product or service, to closing the sale. It is up to you to cater to them, and not force them into a more generic mold.

This is because todays web searchers are much more savvy and willing to browse more if a site doesn’t appeal to them.

25 Tips of marketing your blog

1.Decide on a stand alone domain name www.myblog.com or directory of existing site www.mysite.com/blog. Sub domain is also an option blog.mysite.com. Avoid hosted services that do not allow you to use your own domain name!

2.Obtain and install customizable blog software - WordPress and Moveable Type are my favorites.

3. Customize blog look and feel templates - aka design.

4. Research keywords and develop a glossary - Keyword Discovery, WordTracker, SitePoint, SEOBook Keyword Research.

5. Optimize the blog:
Template optimization - RSS subscription options, social bookmark links, HTML code, Unique title tags, URLs, Sitemap
Add helper plugins specific to WordPress or MT

6. Create keyword rich categories (reference your keyword glossary)

7. Enable automatic trackback and ping functionality.

8. Create Feedburner Pro account and enable feed tracking.

9. Setup a Google account for Sitemap, validate and prep for future submission.

10. Identify authoritative blogs, web sites and hubs for outbound resource links and blogroll.

11. Format archived posts, related posts.

12. Enable statistics for tracking - Google Analytics, ClickTracks.

13. Submit RSS feed and Blog URL to prominent RSS and Blog directories / search engines.

14. Engage in an ongoing link building campaign.

15. If podcast or video content are available, submit to Podcast and Vlog directories.

16. Submit blog url to paid directories with categories for blogs - Yahoo, BOTW, bCentral, WOW, JoeAnt.

17. Optimize and distribute a press release announcing blog.

18. Request feedback or reviews of your blog in relevant forums, discussion threads. If you have a resourceful post that will help others, point to it.

19. Research and comment on relevant industry related blogs and blogs with significant centers of influence.

20. Post regularly. If it’s a news oriented blog, 3-5 times per day. If it’s an authoritative blog, 3-5 times per week, but each post must be unique and high value.
Monitor inbound links, traffic, comments and mentions of your blog - Google Alerts, Technorati, Blogpulse, Yahoo News, Ask Blogs and Feeds.

21. Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post.

22. Make contact with related bloggers on AND offline if possible.
When making blog posts always cite the source with a link and don’t be afraid to mention popular bloggers by name. Use keywords in the blog post title, in the body of the post and use anchor text when you link to previous posts you’ve made.

23. Use social networking services, forums and discussion threads to connect with other bloggers. If they like your stuff, they will link to you.
Remember when web sites were a new concept and the sage advice to print your web address everywhere you print your phone number? The same advice applies for your blog.

24. If your blog’s goal is to promote you as an authority, interview other prominent bloggers in your industry. Your own credibility will improve by association.
Build out your online networks through services such as MyBlogLog, Twitter and Facebook and leverage them to promote particularly useful content on your blog.
Once your blog has 1000 or more subscribers, show your Feedburner badge
Host images with Flickr making sure to include an anchor text link in the image description back to the post where the image is used.

25. Use your blog to gain press/media credentials at relevant industry conferences and use the event to create content, connections and increase your knowledge.

7 Tips For Attracting Search Engine Attention

1. Fill your website with original, quality content that is valued by your customers and is specific to your business relationship with them.

2. Select search words and phrases that reflect those used by people searching for the types of goods and services you provide. Two or three-word phrases are better than single words because they refine the potential list of matches and eliminate unwanted competition from sites that are not as specific a match. Each page in your website can have its own set of search words and phrases reflecting the content of that particular page.

3. One of the main ways a search engine ranks pages is by determining the frequency and location of search words on your web pages. So, use those search words and phrases: in your meta tags; in your title tags, in content headlines; and near the top of the page, specifically in the first one or two paragraphs. Search engines may penalize pages or exclude them from the index if they detect search engine "spamming." "Spamming" is when a word is repeated many, many times on a page to increase the frequency and propel the page higher in the listings.

4. Avoid the use of web technologies that prevent or hinder search engines from reading and indexing your web pages - specifically frames and dynamically generated content. Including an HTML site map will aid engines in indexing your site and provide a comprehensive navigation aid for site visitors, as well.

5. Avoid using graphic files (GIF, JPG, FLASH) to display key content – specifically for headlines, customer quotes, and other content-rich elements; do take advantage of the ALT attributes in every image to describe the image content, using search words when appropriate. Search engines cannot "read" image files, so any content contained in the image itself is lost.

6. Do participate in reciprocal cross-linking with other quality sites that contain information that would also be of interest to your target profile of visitor. You want links from good web pages that are related to the topics for which you want to be found. Every major search engine uses link analysis as part of their ranking algorithms because it is very difficult for webmasters to "fake" good links. As a result, link analysis gives search engines a useful means of determining which pages are good for particular topics. To find those good links, go to the major search engines and search for your target keywords. Visit those pages that rank high in the search results and ask the site owners if they will link to you. Not everyone will, particularly if your site is considered to be competitive with their site. However, some non-competitive sites will link to you, if you are willing to link back. In this way, you can benefit by receiving some visitors from these high traffic sites, as well.

7. Take the time to manually submit your website to leading search engines and directories, particularly when launching a new site, or when implementing a major upgrade of an existing site.