Archive for the ‘General Stuff’ Category

Google have today as reported by mediapost, launched in open Beta their website optimiser software, that is designed to help you convert your PPC traffic at the highest possible level by making it simple to test different landing pages, and deliver the one which converts best, thereby giving you more bang for the buck or punch for the pound, or yang for the Yen (oops I forgot, Google doesn’t do China right )

I am not going to bore you stupid with the details, but suffice to say that if you are running PPC, then you really should look at this. It is nothing new really, as decent SEO’s have been running these tests manually forever. Google have just made it easier.

Sign up for the Google Website Optimser

On a slightly different but related, google have taken YET ANOTHER step closer to sleeping with the enemy by Read the rest of this entry »

How nuts is this then?

Not content with radio and print ads, Google is now having a go at (what to me was always the logical step) HYBRID advertising!

Google has filed a patent that will allow see them build kiosks and other such units to allow them to interactively  advertise LOCAL products and services.

You got 25 old pieces of equipment you need to sell? Then advertise them on the google board in the very mall you are in. THEN when they are all sold, you log into your account and stop the ads. Advertisers set the Cost per impression, the location (which mall to advertise in), the stock levels etc, and at the click of a mouse, can switch off the campaign.

Personally I am aghast that a company such as Google has taken this long to come up with something like this! There are those of us who have DREAMED of having the funding for stuff like this

Many people have been running around screaming ‘woe is me, I am undone’ and ‘My poor family how will I live with the shame of telling them I have been PR Zeroed by Google?”

WHY is this Old Welsh Guy’ I hear you ask, and a damn fine question it is as well

For those of you who are wondering what on earth PR0 means, I ask you how on EARTH did you find your way hear LOL. The answer is that PR (PageRank) is the system Google uses for measuring the importance of a page (not to be confused with where the page ranks in a search, this is a different beast with over 150 elements combining to decide, with PR being one of them).

Anyhow back to the matter in hand. I have a rugby forum that has been PR zeroed. It still ranks top or close to the top for the phrase ‘rugby forum’ and traffic is as high as ever (in fact it has gone up).

 So to those worrying about how they will feed their families now they have lost their PR I say ‘Worry not my friends, for PR is nothing, and Google is currently Updating’.

I will tell you the story of the two Bulls.

Once upon a time there were two bulls. The bulls one day were at the top of hill when the young bull noticed the cows were coming into the field. “why don’t we run down there and make love to one of them cows” said the young bull. ”

“How about we WALK down, and have them all” said the Old bull

The moral is not to worry, it is a situation that is not harming rankings, so it is nothing to worry about (unless you sell PR based links of course in which case you should be forced to dress up as a cow and meet the two bulls in the story above)

Back in work now, Christmas is over (i went to an Epiphany service today in church and the carols seemes SOOOO last year so it must be )

Work is here, 2006 has gone, 2007 is here, and to mark the occasion my good friend Matt has finally launched a blog (no doubt a new years resolution along with

1. lose weight

2. get the big promotion

3. reduce the credit card bills

4. have less sex!

OK I lied about reducing the credit card bills .

Anyhow Matt’s blog is now live and ready to roll. so please let me know if he stops posting so I can slap him around a bit on his Internet marketing forum where I moderate.

Is it any good? Well I moderate there so at least you can be sure that there will be plenty of off topic stuff going on.

Danny Sullivan yesterday wrote his final post on Search engine watch. It is of course his goodbye speach, but it was not goodbye and thanks for all the fish, indeed it was upbeat, and is a tribute the professionalism that Danny has.

read it here

Danny’s goodbye speech

Lately I am getting a lot of emails about SEO tools, bought, free online and offline. Questions range from “is this worth the money” to “will this get me to number 1 on Google”. This has brought me to the conclusion that I should add a product and services review on this blog, and also on my website!

The first product I will be reviewing will be Karon Thakstons Copy-writing Course To be honest I can’t wait to review this product (and another she has provided me with), as I have heard good things about it!

Here is the thing though, I intend to write no nonsense reviews of products, I am now asking anyone to let me know of any tools, websites, online or offline services like directory submissions etc, and I will review them here on the blog. If the tool is your own then please let me know as it will make life easier when I have to contact you to answer any potential questions I might have. Feel free though to propose other peoples products or services.

Hopefully we can build up a good resource for ourselves, and others.

 I would like to add that even though there are affiliate schemes with some of the products I will be reviewing, I will not be including affiliate links from the site, as I feel it might be seen to undermine my objectivity.

So either suggest here, email me, or use the contact form on this site.

Is Google raising the LSI element in the algo? I have thought for a while now that Google is using some sort of semantic element in their algorithm, but now I think it has been increased. LSI will totally turn on its head the importance of on topic linking, and a lot of the sites that have ‘bombed’ their way to the top will take a hit. For those of you who do not know what Semantics is, the dictionary says…. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok I have been away from blogging for a few weeks, too busy with work and with other stuff But here is the thing. Why are people still asking ‘are frames any good for seo’? or ‘how can I optimise my frames site’? WHY BOTHER!

Once upon a time in a land far far away there was WYSIWYG software, and this stuff would build framed sites for you. The search engines couldn’t understand it, users hated it, no one could deep link to it, and users could not book mark anything but the first page. But all that has changed now hasn’t it! Hasn’t it?

 Well true spiders can spider frames sites better but still can not handle the URL’s properly, the rest has stayed the same. Technology has moved on now, and you can achieve the same effect with php etc includes or as library items in dream weaver, or as templates within Dream weaver. Front page also has these facilities.

There really is no need to use frames any more, so don’t!

I thought I would post this, as it was a question asked in Aardvark business forum that really warmed my heart. The question was simple, do you have any enduring memories from when we were children? Here are my thoughts. Please add yours in the comments if you like.

I remember once being sent to see the headmaster after I misbehaved. I remember taking the long walk with Total dread thinking about his harsh punishment that was totally in keeping with the Boys Grammar school. Only a week earlier, my best friend Dai ‘leg’ Davies had been sent to him for punishment, and Dai STILL could not sit down a week later…..

I remember thinking, as I knocked on the door to the headmasters office.

Please god don’t let him find ME attractive (joke of course)

One of my most enduring moments was being beaten when I misbehaved.

I remember one time going to bed with blood trickling out of my ear.

I remember making swings up the mountain with rope.

I remember making Dutch arrows, running through the ferns on the hillside behind where I lived.

I remember my first proper girlfriend, and the one I was certain i could not live a single day without (but some 30 odd years later appear to be able to )

I remember walking along a stream on a hot sunny day, sun blazing on my skin while the ice cold water cooled my feet,

I remember taking a drink of water from that stream while walking up the mountain, only to find a dead sheep in the same stream a few hundred yard higher up (it didn’t kill me)

I remember How green my valley looked then, even though it was black with coal dust from the collieries that surrounded me.

I remember seeing thousands of dead fish floating down the river killed by the same collieries that gave our communities life.

I remember playing rugby and football in the mud, kick the tin, hide and seek, and fox and hounds.

I remember kiss chase and wondering how come the good looking girls ran so fast, but thanking god that all girls look the same with my eyes closed

I remember growing up painfully.

I remember going to a party and getting tipsy on vermouth and ending up locked in a bathroom all night with little Deb (who my best mate Tob later married) Sadly but nicely Deb and I talked all night. Later that year Punk was born and we all wore black bin liners and spat!

I remember Leaving home, and coming back to Wales, GOD how beautiful this land I live in is.

I remember our first boys holiday to Corfu. I remember dancing on the shoulders of my mate Dai Rees to Simple Minds ‘don’t you forget about me’ I remember a beautiful midnight Kiss on the beach in Corfu with a young Irish lady from Cork.

I remember growing up, the pain the heartache love gained love lost, money earned money spent, memories made, but never forgotten.

I remember these and much much more.

Well today Google is launching its latest in a long line of online real estate pages.. Oh sorry I mean do no evil useful web applications Google Spreadsheets, you can request to become one of the first here http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html . Personally I will not be using it, as I like the old software on my desktop thing. “Old Welsh guy You’re an old Fart” I hear you say, but in my defence I say I have a 6 3/4 year old, so can tell you that the Krusty Krab, is a diner not a dance (or a sexual disease) Bikini bottom is NOT a prn site, and Snails really do Meow . Yet knowing all this I STILL wonder why a company who have ‘a machine crisis’ would want to place so much more load on those full ole servers. Like Grandad Simpson, one day those teeth will fall out ” you’re no son of mine Homer”

So we currently have Google moving into desktop applications, Microsoft moving into web applications with it’s  ’Live ‘ series of stuff, and Yahoo doing deals with ebay to ward off Googlebase .

I just wonder if all these three might eventually combine to form the great big company, and, if this happens, will we all be woken by an electronic Cockerel that screams MicroOogleHoo .

its a funny old world we live in.