Understand Advanced Search Engine Optimization
Published August 30, 2010 | 
Search Engines use algorithms that are well protected intellectual proprietary secrets and are continually evolving over time. It is important for you to focus on making your website as accessible as possible to Search Engines, while ensuring you have high quality content. Keep in mind these are well-established principles that are guaranteed to improve the rankings of your website, regardless of how the Search Engine algorithms continue to advance.
Search Engine Optimization practitioners can sometimes try to abuse the Search Engine algorithms in order to give their clients an advantage, and at times they might look to benefit and improvement through loopholes or sometimes shady methods. One simple example is using invisible text (white text on a white background) to “stuff” a page. 
Of course, this is invisible to the human eye, but Search Engines used to index this content, and if it is taken one-step further by stuffing the page even more with unrelated (but popular) keywords, it then becomes ‘spamming’. That was then, this is now and Search Engines are much smarter today and will definitely notice these sneaky tricks, and will heavily penalize any websites using such tactics and tricks.
Advanced Optimization is not simple and therefore carries risk if badly planned and executed. You should always keep in mind that what might work today is innovative, but runs the risk of heavy penalties in the future once people abuse it to the point where results are skewed, so always be careful of the introduction of any initiatives that fall into this class.
You probably have the question in mind that if you apply Search Engine Optimization management to your website, how long before you see the results? Understand that Google re-indexes websites every single day of the year, and it follows a process to ensure every entry contained in its vast database is re-indexed every 4-6 weeks. Google will also re-index sites like “news” aggregators much quicker, many times daily in order to stay most current. 
You can be sure that other Search Engines use roughly the same re-indexing timeframes, and therefore expect it to take up to 4-6 weeks before you can observe changes in the rankings.
You are still probably wondering if Search Engine Optimization will improve your ranking. Yes, but will they keep you there? No. Understand the Search Engine algorithms always continue to evolve over time and Search Engine Optimization is a form of marketing, and you therefore must have clearly defined processes of monitoring, interpreting results and tweaking.
Remember, Search Engine Optimization is not the only tool you need when creating and maintaining a profitable web presence, it is only one important component of your Web marketing strategy. Seasoned Web Marketers understand and realize that there is more to the Web than just search engines, as they know obtaining links from reputable websites, mixed with advertising using traditional media and ensuring your customers recommend you to their network of friends enjoy the same level of importance.
Search Engines and Optimization
Published August 27, 2010 | 
I think I’m safe in saying that anyone who operates a website wonders how to get it into the top 10 search results, and that one thought has created an industry with the tools and knowledge to answer this very question, and the process has come to be known as Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
Many say that SEO methodology has become more of an art employed to bring improvement to the ranking of a website in Search Engine results given certain targeted “keywords,” and I tend to agree with that consensus. You need to understand that “keywords” are the words or phrases that your target market uses most to limit search results to more specific sites including product or services that you might offer.
To illustrate, you might want your website to rank high for “Disc Golf accessories,” but you couldn’t care less if it rates high for “Garden Supplies,” because that is NOT your target market niche.
Most people of course don’t realize that Search Engines are actually very limited software programs, which don’t have the intelligence built into them to understand everything they encounter on the Web. What they use is constantly evolving rules to score and rate a website’s capability to answer a very specific question, and now that we understand this knowledge, we can break down the Search Engine Optimization process into the following three categories:
HTML code: This is the part of Search Engine Optimization for programmers, since an in-depth knowledge and understanding of web coding standards and techniques is required, and typical software packages have historically produced poor results which take a lot of the human touch and intervention to ensure optimum results.
Tailoring the Content: When given a set of keywords, a Search Engine rates pages according to their respective relevancy, so that you have to build your content with those specific keywords always in mind. What is fundamental to determining just which keywords are relevant is a complete understanding of your target market niche, including knowledge of the typical questions they ask when searching for answers. Is important for you to know and understand there are websites (i.e. www.wordtracker.com, www.google.com/insights/search, etc.) dedicated to helping you determine the most commonly used keywords, and you should make extensive use of them.
Keep in the back of your mind throughout the process, that this is not a race of numbers to see how many keywords you can fill the page with, because there is an optimum keyword density. Too dense with too many keywords and it will be considered spamming, and you will most certainly be penalized. Too little, and you are neither ranked nor considered an authoritative source of information. It would be wise of you to dial in on a specific set of keywords, and remember you are trying to optimize for only those asking a specific question.
Search Engine Optimization is Important to You
Published August 26, 2010 | 
Have you ever been tired from everyone constantly talking about how the Internet is revolutionizing the way companies do business, and so you didn’t miss out on the revolution you spent money a great looking website, and integrated it with your other systems so customers could order product direct from you off the website. Finally, when it was all said and done you sat back expecting the cash to roll in and you waited, and waited for activity to go crazy.
I can probably guess with some success that things didn’t turn out exactly the way you had anticipated, since nothing ever really is that simple. You, like everyone else felt the need to make a mad rush to get something onto the Web, and many businesses forgot or overlooked one very simple question: How will customers or anyone actually find our website?
Believe it or not, you literally share the Web with millions of other websites, and the question becomes a very important one to consider. 
You probably already understand there are four basic ways Web customers can find your site:
- Learning about it from more traditional type media including television, print, radio advertising, printed brochures and business cards, as well as others
- Links from other websites
- Recommendation or referral by someone
- They found you using one of dozens of Search Engines including Google, Yahoo!, MSN and many, many others
You need to understand you only have any kind of major control of the first method, but it seems to be costing more and more to get the same results traditional advertising enjoyed fifteen or twenty years ago. The purchase of links from other websites similar to and including the Yellow Pages is also available, but for small businesses and entrepreneurs that don’t have the same kind of budget enjoyed by large multi-national corporations, the fourth method is the only real cost effective manner of attracting any new visitors to your website.
You should know that in order to make Search Engines a viable method of customers finding your site, it must really appear in the top ten results of the search, or at least on the second page, as the reason is that 90 percent of Web surfers do not ever go past the first 30 listed search results, many don’t go past the first page of results, while even more will not proceed past any further that the top 10 results, so that needs to be the focus of any Search Engine Optimization and link building campaign.
Entrepreneurs, the Global Recession and eCommerce
Published July 9, 2010 | The main question to Global Entrepreneurs using the Web for eCommerce is how does the current global economic recession affect their commerce opportunities on the Web?
Recession is a relatively ugly word that continues to be referred to with great regularity as many think we are no longer in recession, but still a hair’s width away from slipping back into a “recession,” 
as many factors seem to be lining up to contribute to a new economic recessive event, worse then the previous. The current economic stagnation appears to be putting a stranglehold on more and more local markets, turning some into ghost towns as their inhabitants continue to abandon them for the hope of better futures.
The real estate industry is one that still has to deal with many serious issues, the value of the dollar is recovering, and unemployment continues without abatement, as the promise of cost and tax increases is looming on the horizon of 2011 and beyond, all contributing strongly to the future “economic uncertainty” that chokes off any hope of the level of recovery needed to spur increased economic activity including consumer demand, spending, and associated job and wealth creation.
On a more relevant and practical level, the question for anyone with an online business is how will the state of the global economy affect them? It is 
important to keep in mind that the same question exists no matter what the state of the global economy including good, recessive, depressive, or malaise, and with the mixed bag the Web and Social Media Technology always presents, you have to look for and always be aware of the silver linings.
What you have to remember when preparing for with the Web, is that business results tend to happen at a fast pace, unlike brick and mortar businesses that see delays in trends of months sometime, Web trends quickly provide evidence that make themselves apparent, and any drop in demands for products or services is felt in a very short time, sometimes a matter of days.
First, let’s examine the bad affects of economic recessions, which leads to one very predictable action, and that is a sometimes severe downturn in spending, and it’s a widely recognized fact that when people are not confident about the future, they tend to hold on to their money until confidence slowly returns. 
This of course means the general trend will be fewer dollars spent at many online businesses, a trend that’s even truer if the products and services offered are not valued by consumers as necessities of life.
There is a silver lining to keep in mind however, and one that you must plan for as the recession continues to slow, eCommerce leads to some positive results, one being less competition, since many competitors will disappear as a result greatly reduced marketing efforts to preserve remaining levels of cash flow including eCommerce efforts that they could never fully embrace and understand. On the contrary, focused and prepared Entrepreneurs recognize and capitalize on these opportunities to seize market share through fine-tuned search engine optimization, since when online businesses reduce their optimization efforts, the results are lost rankings with the search engines, and associated lost revenue producing opportunities of sales and advertising, while the prepared Entrepreneurs assume their place in the eCommerce market.
Another long-term silver lining is how changing consumer shopping habits are beginning to increase Web eCommerce traffic even further. Remember the global economy is dynamic, and naturally goes up and down, so try not to get to stressed when downturns happen and take the opportunity to put in place the tasks you need to accomplish and maintain optimal search engine optimization, and keep traffic flowing to your site regardless what state the economy is in, and with time the economy will experience strong growth again, and you will be positioned to enjoy even greater “Webtrepreneurial” success.
How to Evaluate a Website:: Widener Criteria Evaluation
Published March 1, 2010 | TeamAltman :: Evaluating Your Website
Widener Criteria Website Evaluation site:
http://www3.widener.edu/
an_Information_Web_Page/5720/
It is important to look at a website with an insightful eye. There are some fundamental guidelines when creating a website and below is an example of how to evaluate a website. The website chosen is important for many different reasons and places high in our evaluations process.
Gapminder.org Website Evaluation::
This is a Website Evaluation of the Gap Minder organization using the Widener criteria. According to all the criteria listed and reviewed the website seems to be accurate, well designed, and currently maintained. The site uses a blog to let users know of current updates and news. I have found this site to pass the Widener criteria for site design and content.
Taken from the about section of the site. “Gapminder is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels. We are a modern “museum” that helps making the world understandable, using the Internet.”
Criterion #1: AUTHORITY
1. Is it clear who is responsible for the contents of the page?
http://www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/staff/ This link is to the staff and positions. The content is supplied by the staff from what I can tell.
2. Is there a link to a page describing the purpose of the sponsoring organization?
http://www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/constitution/ This is the constitution for the organization. This is very clear and thorough.
3. Is there a way of verifying the legitimacy of the page’s sponsor?
http://www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/contact/ There is adequate contact information that includes address, email, and phone.
4. Is it clear who wrote the material and are the author’s qualifications for writing on this topic clearly stated?http://www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/ This reviews who is responsible for the content and the organization of the presented material.
5. If the material is protected by copyright, is the name of the copyright holder given?
© Gapminder Foundation is printed at the bottom of every page.
Criterion #2: ACCURACY
1. Are the sources for any factual information clearly listed so they can be verified in another source?
We need to write to gapminder.org for the documented indicators
2. Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors?
The site appears to be well thought out and free of any noticeable errors.
3. Is it clear who has the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the material?
From what I can tell the staff link above includes who is responsible for the content of this website. All the data has been arranged by this group and maintains the documentation for the indicators.
4. If there are charts and/or graphs containing statistical data, are the charts and/or graphs clearly labeled and easy to read?
This site contains many videos and charts that are dynamic, easy to use, and allows us to use this software for our own needs.
Criterion #3: OBJECTIVITY
1. Is the information provided as a public service?
http://www.gapminder.org/faq_frequently_asked_questions/#tou
The rights for this site have been made public and all information is free to use as needed. This link is the terms of use. This states that anyone can use the data.
2. Is the information free of advertising?
Yes, the information is free of advertising.
3. If there is any advertising on the page, is it clearly differentiated from the informational content?
None that I can tell.
Criterion #4: CURRENCY
1. Are there dates on the page to indicate:
http://www.gapminder.org/blog/ This blog has posted dates.
a. When the page was written? I see a copyrighted date for google of 2008.
b. When the page was first placed on the Web? The blog has dates. Not main site.
c. When the page was last revised? Unsure from what I have read.
2. Are there any other indications that the material is kept current?
The blog gives indication that the material is being monitored and maintained. Any new indications and data is added to the blog to let us know the data is current.
3. If material is presented in graphs and/or charts, is it clearly stated when the data was gathered?
Yes, the date and year is clearly printed in the background.
4. If the information is published in different editions, is it clearly labeled what edition the page is from? Not sure if this applies to the site.
Criterion #5: COVERAGE
1. Is there an indication that the page has been completed, and is not still under construction?
The page looks clear and well thought out. There is also a box in the lower left corner that represents new blog posts. There is also a box to subscribe to updates. Nothing on the site, as far as development, seems to be in progress.
2. If there is a print equivalent to the Web page, is there a clear indication of whether the entire work is available on the Web or only parts of it?
All the graphs and material are present on the site for public use according to the frequently asked questions.
3. If the material is from a work which is out of copyright (as is often the case with a dictionary or thesaurus) has there been an effort to update the material to make it more current?
It appears that this organization is open to others data with documented material. All the data is documented and all indicators used in the site have been documented according to: http://www.gapminder.org/faq_frequently_asked_questions/#indicators