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MSN is ?STICKIN? IT TO THE MAN!? little guy
2007-08-31 00:00:00
Microsoft AdCenter has updated it’s trademark policy, wait… in an email sent out today they state that their trademark policy remains the same, however, how they enforce the policy will change dramatically: Microsoft adCenter is changing the way we manage our trademark policy starting September 10, 2007. While no change will be made to the trademark policy itself, this update aligns better with marketplace practices, speeds up editorial review to get your ads live faster, and ensures consumers see relevant ads. Microsoft adCenter’s Trademark Policy As stated above, we are not changing the trademark policy itself. You may still use trademarked terms in your ads when you, as the advertiser, are the owner of the trademark, an affiliate or reseller of trademarked products or services, or a site that uses the trademarked term in an informational, descriptive, or non-competitive manner. Infringing use of trademark terms by direct competitors remains a violation of Micro...
More About: Litt , The Man , Tick

GWC - Revival of the Penalty Notifications
2007-08-30 00:00:00
Google Webmaster Central is a very valuable resource and looks to continue to give us important information regarding our websites in the Google index and actually gives us insight into how the Googlebot interacts with our websites and their contents. In 2005 Google began sending notifications to webmasters to notify them that their websites were outside the published webmaster guidelines and because of this, some/all of their pages were removed from the index. Of course, this was used by others to spoof the notifications and get webmasters in a tizzy, so they stopped sending them and looked for a better way. Back to the drawing board. In July 2006 they launched Message Center to help get the notifications to website owners without the threat of others sending “false notifications.” So today they announced the new plan to help those not verified: …we plan to resume sending emails in addition to the Message Center notifications. Please note that, as before, our emai...
More About: Penalty , Pena , Viva , Revival

GMail Fun
2007-08-30 00:00:00
I wanted to share this great little video from GMail.
More About: Gmail

DMOZ - Still Sucks and Now with Extortion!
2007-08-30 00:00:00
In one of my most popular posts in the short existence of SEOpittfall.com “Why DMOZ Sucks and Wikipedia is Nothing More Than a Blog”, I had some very direct comments regarding the Open Directory Project: DMOZ is a wonderful idea, however, it is inherently flawed. I must say that I would have to rephrase some of the remarks I made (changes highlighted with deletions with new responses bold): Wikipedia and DMOZ are not the most valuable resource for research on the Internet, search engines are. I am not implying that the results returned are more relevant, however, there is much more information from other sources that is not included in Wikipedia and DMOZ, however, because the editors of Wikipedia and DMOZ choose what is, and more importantly, what is not contained in the listing, it should not be valued any higher than any other website on the given topic (or any blog for that matter)! I am not saying that you should immediately request your listing from either be remove...
More About: Dmoz , Extortion

Must Have for Social Optimization
2007-08-30 00:00:00
Wow, that’s pretty absolute, isn’t it? What makes something a “must have?“ I don’t mean this: Must Have Find Must Have Online. Shop & Save at Target.com Today. www.Target.com (actual Google sponsored results for “must have”) pittfall’s definition of must have: n. “a valuable resource that should not be dismissed.” OK, so what is this “valuable resource,” this “must have” for social optimization? Social Media Daily - “a blueprint for marketing your website with social media, social bookmarking, social networking and other Web 2.0 fun.” So, if you are looking for the traffic that can be leveraged through social marketing, then you should read this valuable report that includes: Tools Link Building Software Checklists Conclusion (overview) This is the down and dirty guide to building a social campaign for your website. I don’t think that I can do it any justice by regurgitating...
More About: Optimization

MSN Live Search Building Webmaster Portal
2007-08-26 00:00:00
MSN Live Search has joined the race to provide webmasters with the tools and features that we expect with the announcement of Webmaster Portal . According to the announcement, the new service will be started in “private beta” and will test out some of the tools and commands that they intend on bringing to the public starting in late fall: Shortly after that day in March when we had to take the ?link:? operator offline, a small team was formed in Redmond. Its singular focus: to build the next-generation set of tools, content and resources for SEO professionals and webmasters (and get ?link:? back in your hands). Creatively named Webmaster Portal (we?re really good at marketing), it will be a single, friendly place to find all tools and information relating to Live Search SEO. Initially we?ll support these scenarios: Troubleshooting tools to ensure MSNBot is effectively crawling and indexing your site Sitemap creation, submission and ping tools Statistics about your websi...
More About: Building

Microsoft Offers Content Ads for AdCenter in Beta
2007-08-24 00:00:00
In an attempt to provide additional traffic from their AdCenter platform, MSN AdCenter will offer start showing your ads (if you are an adCenter advertiser) on “content-based pages on website owned by publishing partners such as MSN” beginning August 29, 2007. Here is more information from the announcement: Announcing the U.S. release of Microsoft Content Ads Beta We are delighted to make Content Ads Beta available to all U.S. customers! On Wednesday, August 29, we will upgrade adCenter to include Microsoft Content Ads. Microsoft Content Ads allows you to place content-targeted ads on the Microsoft network?connecting you to the right people at the right time for the right price. We?re excited about this release and the choices we are providing advertisers. We realize that some of you may not yet be ready for content distribution. If you would like to upgrade without expansion (maintaining search-only distribution) please fill out this online form by August 26, or conta...
More About: Offers , Tent

Social Bookmarking 101
2007-08-20 00:00:00
The CommonCraft Show has released another useful video, this one is about Social Bookmarking and highlights del.icio.us. This isn’t just about bookmarking but rather the integration of bookmarking as a social event. Feel free to share with others or let me know what you think!
More About: Social Bookmarking

PeekYou.com - Online Reputation Management
2007-08-20 00:00:00
PeekYou.com is a new way for you to manage and control your reputation online: PeekYou is a new kind of online white pages. A PeekYou profile helps other people find your websites, social-networking pages, photos, or anything else about you online. You can also create a profile for friends or relatives to ensure that they may also be easily found online. What’s the point? Well, the importance of online reputation management is becoming more important as potential employers are looking to online presence to find out more about potential candidates. So, this means that you need to be aware of what is online about you, or someone that caries the same name. Having a unique name, does not mean that you are the only one out there. Case in point, my name is pretty unique (more my last name), but there are others out there with the same or similar names. A political cartoonist, a programmer, a labor policy specialist at UC Berkeley, TV actor, an artist, chess master, another programme...
More About: Management , Online , Manage , Reputation

Update Complete
2007-08-20 00:00:00
Well, I have made the jump to WordPress 2.2 and everything seems to be running smoothly. If you find that any part of my site is not functioning properly, please let me know through either comment or e-mail. Thanks
More About: Update , Complete

A Word About Usability
2007-08-18 00:00:00
It is really remarkable that something that appears to make some sense could be overlooked... but it sometimes does. As we can plainly see from the example outlined above, what is perceived by you may not be the same as your users/visitors. We might be laughing or just chuckling inside about ...
More About: Word , Usability , Sabi

New Version of SEOpittfall.com
2007-08-18 00:00:00
Hello everyone, thank you for your patience, SEOpittfall.com is in the midst of an upgrade... new machine and new version of WordPress.
More About: Fall , Version

Things I Learned at SES Travel 2007
2007-08-12 00:00:00
There were many things that were shared at the conference, however, there is one that is of great importance that really struck a cord with me. Yes, it is extremely important for the travel vertical, however, it has importance for all websites. It really brings all of the aspects of ...
More About: Travel , Things , Learned

Been Lookin? for More?
2007-08-12 00:00:00
Over the last few weeks I haven't been publishing much information. By no means is this because I have been lazy (maybe just a bit), rather, I have been doing work in the background. I have reached some limitations and because of consistent growth in readers and additional exposure in ...
More About: Look , Been

Microsoft and Google Compete to Deliver Online Storage Solutions
2007-08-12 00:00:00
Windows Live SkyDrive is now in beta from Microsoft . Here are some of the details of this new service: 500 MB of free online storage Create personal, shared, and public folders Windows Live SkyDrive works on Windows or Macintosh with both FireFox or Internet Explorer Unlike the new Microsoft product, Google is offering ...
More About: Storage , Online , Online storage

Balanced Link Building
2007-08-04 00:00:00
A link is not just a link, they are much more than just a simple way to move from one page to another. Rather, Link s are the glue of the Internet! Yeah, yeah, yeah... you've heard this before, haven't you? Then, in the next breathe, you will hear, "content is king!" ...
More About: Building , Link Building , Balan

Search Marketing Spotlight - The Other Engines
2007-08-04 00:00:00
I will not lie to you, if you are looking for quality traffic in large amounts, you will find it on the major search engines (Google, MSN Live, Yahoo! and Ask.com), but finding targeted traffic on these engines can require a larger budget than many have to invest. However, you ...
More About: Marketing , Search , Spotlight , Engines , The Other

Catching the Sights in Seattle
2007-07-28 00:00:00
Today was the first of two days in the Search Engine Strategies Travel Conference in Seattle , WA. I will be sharing more from the conference, but I wanted to share an opportunity that I had in Seattle, that some will enjoy… a Kwik E Mart. More will come regarding the conference, I am just wondering if ...
More About: Sights , Sigh , Sight

Baby Pittfall is a Girl?
2007-07-26 00:00:00
It?s official? According to someone with much more experience than I do (certainly more experience than I want), we have been blessed with a girl! If my wife has anything to say about it, her name will be Sophia Noelle (so-fee-a n-owe-el). The baby is doing well, weight and size are all normal!
More About: Baby , Girl , Pitt , Fall

SEOpittfall Takes a Break
2007-07-26 00:00:00
As I am sure some of you know, SEOpittfall went offline yesterday… I would love to be able to say that there was some cataclysmic event that happened, but it was simply a hard drive failure. My host’s database failed and I had to restore from a back-up copy. But, all is well! Oh, on a related note, ...
More About: Break , Pitt , Fall , Brea

Setting an Expiration Date on Content
2007-07-26 00:00:00
Breaking News! Google is coming out with a new tag called ?unavailable_after? which will allow people to tell Google when a particular page will no longer be available for crawling. For instance, if you have a special offer on your site that expires on a particular date, you might want to use the unavailable_after tag to ...
More About: Content , Tent

Seattle Arrival
2007-07-26 00:00:00
Well… We have landed in Seattle for the SES Travel Conference and Expo beginning tomorrow. We took the mono-rail to downtown and checked out a great Irish pub The Blarney Stone… I am still trying to get over the 3 hour difference from east coast, but we will be up and at the conference in the ...
More About: Riva

Sphinn Hits the Scene
2007-07-20 00:00:00
What is Sphinn? Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It’s designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others. Another product from Third Door Media, Sphinn joins the likes of Search Engine Land, Search Marketing Now and Search ...
More About: Scene , Hits

SoloSEO - Link Search Tool
2007-07-16 00:00:00
There are a large number of things that many take for granted because of their time in the SEO arena… Because of this, it is always important to take a step back to see what you are doing and what you are not doing to improve your website for visitors and search engines. That is why ...
More About: Search , Tool , Link , Solos

Search and Destroy - SEM Without SEO?
2007-07-16 00:00:00
The New York Post released an article detailing the lack of many companies Most executives, with little regard to how well their companies fare in the more important natural search results… …overspend on paid search because it is the one area of the search market they understand. Aside from concerns for the relationship between the news ...
More About: Search

Push Button Solutions for Bloggers
2007-07-13 00:00:00
Feedburner, recently acquired by Google, has taken a step for their users using another of Google’s products, Blogg er. I know what many are thinking… Blogger and Wordpress.org blogs are for fair-weather or social bloggers… but I think that anyone that contributes (not copies) content to the Internet are valuable. From Burning Questions: …we are very excited to announce the ...
More About: Bloggers , Button , Solutions , Logger

Social Networking 101
2007-07-13 00:00:00
What is social networking? What is a social network? In a easy to follow, easy to understand, The Common Craft Show has published a short 2 minute video to answer these questions. Check out Social Networking in Plain English! Don’t forget to be careful with what you share and to whom you share it. If you are unsure of ...
More About: Social Networking , Working , Workin

Summer of Oh-Seven
2007-07-13 00:00:00
Having been extremely busy for the past few weeks, taking a look at my schedule, it doesn’t look like I am going to get much of a break anytime soon! That doesn’t really matter, but I want to give you some insight to what you ave to expect from pittfall this summer: Recommended Magazine: Search Marketing Standard ...
More About: Summer

Happy 4th of July
2007-07-07 00:00:00
Enjoy our independence and please remember the sacrifices that made it all possible. Semper Fidelis
More About: Happy , July

MyBlogLog - SMO Tool
2007-06-30 00:00:00
MyBlogLog has become a very influential aspect of SMO, social media optimization. What is SMO? Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a way to optimize web sites so they would be more easily connected or interlaced with online communities and community websites, also called social media sites. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, adding a “Digg ...
More About: Tool