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Blog Details for "Building a Better Website"
Building a Better WebsiteBuilding a Better WebsiteSearch Engine Optimization plus tips and techniques to help you build a better website for your visitors and the search engines they use. Articles
Yahoo! Ch-ch-changes
2006-12-09 03:14:05 Yahoo's Chief Operating Officer, Dan Rosensweig has announced his resignation and the company will be reorganizing it's operations:"Yahoo has announced that it is reorganizing the company into three major operating groups, one focused on audience development, another for advertisers & publisher services and the third focusing on technology." SearchEngineLandThis new structure will focus on three major business relations,1. Audience Group2. Advertiser & Publisher Group3. Technology GroupThe news has caused quite a stir and I am sure that it will lead to more information being released by the end of the year.Here are what others are saying:Matt Cutts:"You might not know this about me, although you could probably guess: I love to debate strategy in the search industry and to play armchair quarterback. But I try to keep all that speculation completely within the walls of Google. This announcement will give me food for thought for several days."John Battelle:"TechCrunch is reporting th... More About: Yahoo , Change , Changes , Yahoo! , Chang
Search Engine Watch Announces Editor-in-Chief
2006-12-09 03:14:05 Rebecca Lieb has been named the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Watch ."It's a very daunting honor to be charged with the future of Search Engine Watch "Danny's not-so-little baby" as editor-in-chief. It's a change fraught with emotion and sentiment; for many of you readers, as well as for Elisabeth Osmeloski (who's remaining with the site) and I. It's a situation reminiscent of (but in many ways wierder than) taking over the stewardship of ClickZ was six years ago, when that site's founders moved on.""Presently, Elisabeth and I are relying on the SEW community for feedback, suggestions, ideas and proposals. We're looking for new contributors. We want to help this great source of news, information, opinion and community grow, and perhaps become even better."There seems to be a great deal of fear and anxiety over the position she has been given. I would be a bit fearful myself, Danny Sullivan's shoes aren't that big, but his footprints are very, very deep!I like the fact tha...
Google News
2006-12-09 03:14:05 Google has expanded their Picasa Web Albums to include 17 new languages along with English.Other Google News :Google Checkout gives new reasons to merchants to accept the PayPal substitute:Easy coupon creation: Create coupons from the Google Checkout Merchant Center. You can specify $-off discounts and %-off discounts, and add restrictions such as "one per customer," "new customers only," and so on.Email invoicing: Bill customers for purchases by sending them a Google Checkout invoice over email. The email will contain a link that your customers can click on to pay you via Google Checkout. Simple website integration: With the HTML API, integrating Google Checkout with your shopping cart is easier than ever. Simply add an HTML form to your website and use it to send us your shopping carts. More free processing: Earlier this month, we announced that we were processing all Google Checkout sales for free until the end of 2006. Since then, we've had such a positive response from merchant... More About: Google , Google News , Googl
Let the Games Begin - SMX to Launch 2007
2006-12-06 03:13:02 Just a few days from the official launch of Search Engine Land, Third Door Media announced that a new confrence on search engine marketing will begin in June in Seattle, Washington."Programmed by search expert Danny Sullivan, the inaugural SMX show on June 4 & 5 will be especially geared toward advanced search marketers who want to hear about the latest search marketing techniques for both organic and paid placement.The first SMX will be held in Seattle at the extraordinary Bell Harbor Convention Center on Pier 66. Bell Harbor features state of the art convention facilities in an exceptional indoor and outdoor atmosphere."How will Search Engine Watch and their confrence react? I am sure we will find out soon.Previous Posts:WWSD? or The "New Era" of Search Engine WatchGoodbye Danny, Hello Search Engine LandSearch Engine Land has got a LogoSearch Engine Land More About: Games , Game , The Game , Launch , Ames
Search Engine Buzz
2006-12-06 03:13:02 With all of my talk of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) I don't always look at the other side of the coin. So, after a long relaxing weekend (unplugged), I would like to share some of the buzz that is going around about the engines that we look to entice, or at least appease:Google Property Performance (Searchblog)As shown by the numbers above, Google's primary (duh) business is search.MSN Loosing Market Share (LiveSide)MSN has been seeing declines in their market share in search. Here are a couple of sited reasons:- Second redesign in as many years- Google looks clean, MSN looks cheap- MSN/Live Search is incomplete, offering products that aren't complete or functional- Beta (testing) feelYahoo! Pushing IE7 (Slashdot)A whole lot of effort has been expelled by Google to help promote Firefox, and now it looks like people are thinking that Yahoo! is pushing Internet Explorer 7. Slashdot has a lot of talk about what is going on with Yahoo!My preference? None. Like I have posted befor... More About: Search Engine , Buzz
WWSD? or The "New Era" of Search Engine Watch
2006-12-06 03:13:02 What will Search Engine Watch do?This is the question. Instead of addressing the issue of what they will do, Elisabeth Osmeloski used the moment to plug her product (not on topic) and back-peddle about Chris Sherman."We?re excited by the challenge of taking SEW forward, and the prospect of the community having a greater role in this process. The industry is growing up and the site with it but we are still a community offering and want to make sure our plans stay in tune with what you, our readers, value. I would also like to reiterate Chris Sherman remains Editor till the end of the year, but we do plan to make further editorial announcements during SES Chicago."They aren't that excited if all they could muster was: "we do plan to make further editorial announcements during SES Chicago." SEW will not die, but readers will do the same thing that I expect users to do if I don't offer important, relevant information, namely, they go somewhere else. Search Engine Land I presume.Search... More About: Search Engine Watch
Yahoo's Parting Shot as Google Answers Fades Away
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Yesterday, Google Answer s announced that they would be closing the book and giving no more answers. And, it took little time for Yahoo ! to rub the salt in the wound and try to sway some researchers their way:"Today we learned that Google Answers is closing. That's a shame because some great knowledge was created on that service by the Google Answers Researchers. The Yahoo! Answers community continues to thrive and grow. We believe in the power of community; in people helping people get answers to their questions.So, this is an open invitation for those researchers to join us. Please consider sharing your knowledge with millions of people on Yahoo! Answers; connect with users with shared interests; get answers to all your questions; and help build the world's most vibrant and trusted community. The folks who are researchers and information specialists have been at this longer than us, and there's a lot we can learn from you. We've set up a Yahoo! Group for former Google Answers R... More About: Shot
Cyber Monday Comes to a Close
2006-12-02 15:10:06 As I am sure that most of you have websites, or at least work with or on one or more, today was a long awaited day for many of us. Cyber Monday , the first Monday following Thanksgiving day. It supposedly starts the beginning of the Christmas online shopping season.Speaking from experience, the travel industry remains pretty consistent from last year, and the last three actually.Google is pushing Checkout even harder than ever.Wal-Mart's website went down for "scheduled maintenance" Friday.What is your thoughts for this second annual Cyber Monday?Is your website ready for the holiday rush?Build a Better Website and you will! More About: Close , Come , Onda
Yahoo! Answers in Search Results
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Yahoo! adds their Answer s to the organic results:"As you may have seen, we have been integrating knowledge from the Yahoo! Answers community into search to enhance your search experience.""As you can see, the new section features an excerpt of the best answers to questions that are relevant to your search. The excerpt gives you a more detailed preview of the content from the Answers community before you click through."What is the point?Does this really enhance the user's experience, or fill it with more junk from the index?My personal opinion: Great way to waste real estate!What do you think, is this building a better search experience? More About: Yahoo , Results , Search
About Me
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Build a Better Website was created and is maintained by Stephen Pitts.ExperienceI am an experienced SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) professional with over 3 years exposure in the travel vertical. I have helped build and maintain a travel directory and a travel vertical search engine.ExpertiseMy primary areas of research include algorithms and services offered that search engines employ for organic search. I handle day to day operations in SEO and SEM for Trip2Earth.com, a reputable group of travel domains. EducationI will graduate from the College of Business at the University of Central Florida following the Spring Term of 2007 with a Bachelor's Degree.Life ExperienceI posses a can-do attitude in business. I started a business and understand, first hand, the risks of associated with retail operations. I retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in May 1997 after knee reconstruction surgery, as a Non-Commissioned Officer. I have been working with website... More About: About
Browsing Alternatives - or - How Do Your Users See You?
2006-12-02 15:10:06 How many browsers do you have?I know what you're thinking, How many am I supposed to have?When you are building a website, it is important to see your site just as your users do. So, this begs the question: What browser do your visitor's use?Similar to the many available search engines, users have many choices when it comes to online browsing. So, what's the big deal? Have you looked at what your website looks like in the different browsers?Once upon a time, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were the primary browsers, however, just like the search landscape, the browser landscape has changed.The latest in the browsing marketplaceInternet Explorer still commands the highest number of users since they knocked out Netscape Navigator, but FireFox is closing in fast!Mozilla built FireFox and gave the user more control with tabbed browsing (no more dozens of windows open in your taskbar) and quickly grabbing market share from IE. Lending additional credence to Mozilla, Netscape ... More About: Alternative , Your , Browsing , User , Sing
Sitemaps for Google News
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Along with some interesting news surrounding the Google Site maps project earlier this week (announcing the cooperation with Yahoo and MSN), Google has taken Sitemaps to another level: Sitemaps for Google News for news in English."Now, English-language publishers who are currently included in Google News will be able to use their existing feeds -- or define a more advanced Sitemap of their current news articles -- to tell us exactly which articles they'd like us to crawl. While they've always been able to use technical solutions such as robots.txt to govern which portions of their sites Google crawls and indexes, this will give publishers more granular tools to tell our crawlers exactly what should be included. We also want to provide content owners more visibility into which articles are ultimately included in Google News, so we're now offering error reports specific to Google News. These error reports will explain any problems we experienced crawling or extracting news articles ... More About: Item
Sitemap
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Build a Better Website"Every Page is a Landing Page" and Other Concepts of SEOGoodbye Danny, Hello Search Engine LandYahoo's Parting Shot as Google Answers Fades AwayGoogle Answers No MoreSEO PoliticsMicrosoft bCentral is ChangingSearch Engine Land has got a LogoCyber Monday Comes to a CloseBrowsing Alternatives - or - How Do Your Users See You?Click to Call gets AbusedYahoo! Answers in Search ResultsMSN vs Link ExchangesLet the Holidays Begin!Happy Thanksgiving 2006Review Me gets Noticed (by the engines)Site maps for Google NewsBlog LinkbaitClick to Call goes Global (kinda)here Come the Holidays!Yahoo! Acquires MyBlogLog and BixSearch Engine LandYahoo! Maps go LiveEngines Unite! Google, Yahoo! and MSN Join Forces - Sitemap s.orgHot Topics around the Company Start Page?CometQuery gives you more optionsReader Updates AnnouncedHappy World Usability Day!What's your IBLP?Windows Vista - New Launch DateWhy do you Blog?An Interview with CometQueryCometQuery - Refreshing New EngineBlogger ... More About: Item , Tema
Search Engine Land has got a Logo
2006-12-02 15:10:06 SearchEngine Land has decided on a logo:More news from Danny:"By the way, I can't stress enough that the entire site will have an entirely different look when we formally launch on December 11. And no, it won't be me doing it up using FrontPage! So please keep your minds open and your eyes peeled for a fresh, fast look we also think you'll love."I am looking forward to December 11th, aren't you?Previous Post More About: Search , Search Engine , Logo
SEO Politics
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Recently, two people that I read everyday, Aaron Wall and Rand Fishkin recently wrote about SEO advice:Bad Advice that Sounds Good - Aaron Wall"Many professional lies are passed off as good information because they are just part of an industry vernacular or learning curve. For example, many people say make quality content, but never attempt to define what quality content is, or even how certain types of quality content are being marginalized by scrapers, social sites, user generated content, automated news sites, and search engines."and then Rand followed-up on Aaron with his own advice:Are We Doling Out Bad Advice?"I have little doubt that SEOmoz has given out some bad advice over the years, either directly or through unclear references and it will always be something we have to work on."Both of them have very good points, even though I don't agree with every little thing they said. Here is what I have to add to the mix:SEO is only one aspect of a well-balanced website. SEO, SEM, ... More About: Politics , Poli , Politic
Google Answers No More
2006-12-02 15:10:06 Google has decided that Google Answer s has had it's day in the sun."If you have a chance, we encourage you to browse through the questions posted over the last 4+ years. Although we won't be accepting any new questions, the existing Qs and As are available. We'll stop accepting new Answers to questions by the end of the year.Google Answers was a great experiment which provided us with a lot of material for developing future products to serve our users. We'll continue to look for new ways to improve the search experience and to connect people to the information they want."Could it be somehow related to the fact that market has been taken by Yahoo! Answers?Here is the HitWise Chart over the last year:No worries, MSN's QnA Live is still answering up interrogative sentences. More About: Google , More , Googl
Goodbye Danny, Hello Search Engine Land
2006-12-01 09:10:06 Danny Sullivan bids farewell to Search Engine Watch today as he begins the business of building and maintaining Search Engine Land.Related Posts:Search Engine LandSearch Engine Land Logo More About: Danny , Hell
"Every Page is a Landing Page" and Other Concepts of SEO
2006-12-01 09:10:06 Every page is a landing page!This is something that I look at each and every time I am working to optimize a website. Other important questions that I always ask myself:"If I am a user that landed here, can I get to where I (as a marketer) want me to go?"Building webpages correctly is the basis of SEO. Navigation is important, because if a user likes what he/she sees on your site, what else do you want them to see/purchase? Great content is only useful if it can entice or lead a user to your ultimate purpose, to buy your product or sign-up for your newsletter or whatever the purpose of your site is. This comes to the second question: "What do I want visitors to do on my site?" Sounds simple, but it can get extremely difficult as your site grows and you add other supplemental areas to encourage stickiness of your site.I will share other important concepts of SEO, but for now, here is important information:Google AdWords has recently spoken about this very topic:Land ing Page Quality U... More About: Concepts , Ever
Microsoft bCentral is Changing
2006-11-29 03:00:04 I found out about the closure from Andy Beal in my reader last night, and I would have to concur with him that this does pose a dilemma. The most important part of bCent ral from my perspective is the directory.I would place this as the most bang for the buck when it comes to the top three directories on the web:DMOZ - is anybody home?Yahoo! Directory - $299.00 per year!Micro soft bCentral - $30 per domain - what a bargain!One of the few great products that Microsoft offers and they are going to can it?So, today I did some research, had to linger through chat with a "support" member and got a phone number that disconnected me when I chose a department. I had not yet given up. I did finally talk to one of the six member staff (at least that is what he claimed) that handle technical support for bCentral. After going through the normal routine about account verification and such he had some surprising information to share.They are transitioning things into a new platform - Microsoft Offi... More About: Changing , Soft
Click to Call gets Abused
2006-11-26 02:42:03 Google launched an ambitious and certainly unique marketing program with Clic k to Call , however, like many of the Google advertising programs, can be subject to abuse by competitors and others."For a brief time yesterday (November 21, 2006), TechCrunch speculated that Google had removed its Click-to-Call function on Google Maps, due to prank calls. The post was later updated to confirm the function was still in place.It does raise an interesting question about the potential for abuse. What is to stop someone from simply clicking dozens of links and entering the phone numbers of friends, enemies or premium numbers?"What?s the difference between clicking on your competitor?s ads and typing in your phone number?Here are some of posts on click to call:Click to Call FAQGoogle Click-to-CallClick to Call goes GlobalClick to Call in Google Maps More About: Abuse , Gets
Happy Thanksgiving 2006
2006-11-24 14:30:07 On Thanks giving , I would like to share another comic from Get Fuzzy (thanks Darb)Other Get Fuzzy comics.I would also like to share my thanks to everyone who read my blog and have encouraged me along the way! (Bill, Greg)Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! More About: Giving , Ving
Review Me gets Noticed (by the engines)
2006-11-23 08:21:03 According to SEOBuzzBox, Google engineer Matt Cutts noted as saying or implying:"Matt also quickly implies (listen closely) that the disclaimer that Review me and others will use (designating a post as "paid") might not be good enough."I have posted before about ReviewMe. My personal thoughts are that it is a new form of endorsement. I think that any advertiser that is expecting a link out of a Review Me post should reconsider. If you think that buying links will get you what you want, then buy them.Review Me should have no problem witputtingng a "no follow" tag.True SEO starts with the user and ends there, any attempt to do something to artificiallinflateit organic ranking should be reconsidered. (my two cents) More About: Engine , View , Gets , Notice
Yahoo! Acquires MyBlogLog and Bix
2006-11-18 01:48:03 Yahoo! went out and picked up a couple of new additions today: Bix and MyBlog Log.MyBlogLog:"MyBlogLog enables you to take advantage of your existing presence on the Web and ties it into communities of like-minded readers and authors to add context to the conversations in which you take part." MyBlogLog.comTranslation: Take your blog over to the social networking side.Bix:"American Idol proved not just that we love watching the highs and lows of wannabe superstars, but that a surprising number of us wanted to be up there. It?s these two factors that make Bix, a company enabling public and private contests online, think the service it?s about to launch is a winner." TechcrunchTranslation: Waste more time online with needless contests.Both of these new purchases by Yahoo! prove that they are looking to pick up online products that keep people online. Social sites like these can get them an audience or please the audience they already have.Not my tea and crumpets, but someone must be lo... More About: Yahoo , Acquire , Yahoo!
Engines Unite! Google, Yahoo! and MSN Join Forces - Sitemaps
2006-11-17 01:39:03 The sky is falling! The sky is falling!Oh, wait... this is good news!MSN, Yahoo ! and Google are now working together to provide a useful tool to everyone and making it easier for users (webmasters) to use. This will create a single form of communication for webmasters to notify all of the engines about what pages are on their domains. Great News!News from the engines:Google Blog ReleaseAs the web becomes more dynamic, Site maps will enable better and fresher search results for everyone who uses the web. For site owners, Sitemaps will help improve website visibility in search results.MSN Live Blog ReleaseWe are 100% behind this protocol - this kind of collaboration will help improve the search experience for all of our customers, and we are working hard to release full support in 2007. We are starting to alpha test with internal partners such as MSDN and Microsoft Support now. Yahoo! Blog ReleaseThe best part about to-do lists is when you get to cross something off, and today we can ... More About: Force , Join
CometQuery gives you more options
2006-11-15 13:27:03 CometQuery has added a few new options:Audio SearchCreative CommonsThe Audio Search provides just that, search for the audio files you are looking for.The Creative Commons search provides images that are not copyrighted and are available for use by users.Great news from a fresh new search engine from across the pond!Here are some earlier posts about CQ:An Interview with CometQueryRefreshing New Engine More About: Options , Come , More , Give , Opti
Reader Updates Announced
2006-11-15 13:27:03 Here are some new additions for Google Read er :Google Reader Notifier (Mac)GorditaGoogle Reader OptimizedControlling Google Reader with a Cell PhoneReader Button for the Google Toolbar for Internet ExplorerGoogle reader is a great way to stay current on topics that matter to you. Feel free to add Build a Better Website to your Google Reader, Technorati Favorites or Bloglines Reader. More About: Dates , Updates , Update
Happy World Usability Day!
2006-11-15 00:57:00 This post has moved:Happy World Usability Day! More About: Bili , Sabi
Why do you Blog?
More articles from this author:2006-11-14 07:18:03 What a great question! "My plan is primarily in my head." Thank you Ted, this is where we shall begin. I blog for a couple of reasons: Give information and techniques that will help others. Provide tips to people that may not be able to find them without paying for it. Tell others about tools that I use to Build a Better Website. Sort through all of the technology news and let people know about More About: Blog 1, 2, 3, 4 |
