Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Backgammon

This blog has lost it's way a bit, but I don't care! It started out with me posting my small projects and site updates but has turned into a general free for all for webmasters tips.

Nothing wrong with that I suppose and at least it's being read by a few people.

Just in case anyone is wondering (probably not) I've been working on a backgammon site for the past few days. It's a small site covering the rules, where to play and some backgammon news, if anyone wants to pop in the url is www.backgammonguide.com.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The Unofficial Cookie FAQ

Want to find out more about Cookies?

This site, Cookie Central, give you the low-down on how to create, delete, manipulate or just make your cookies crumble. (Had to get that in somewhere!)

Seriously though, this is a great resource for everything to do with Cookies, how they are made and why and also how some internet sites use them in certain ways that aren't really what they were intended for.

Have a browse to find out exactly how cookies work and also, if you want to use them, how to go about setting them up.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Links for Pagerank

As you all (undoubtedly) know, Google bases part of its ranking algorithm on the number, quality, and variety of inbound links to a website. Lately Google has thrown in the wrinkle of looking more heavily at authority links, but the concept is still the same, and more importantly, the message is still the same to website owners: linking is important.

Link Buying – What Is It?

Link buying is a very simple idea. Website owners need high quality (read high PR) inbound links. Websites that are of high quality are looking to monetize their websites. The opportunity is thus created – high quality websites open a section on their website where a website owner can purchase a plain text link with the hopes of improving their website ranking.

Is Link Buying OK With the Search Engines?

Well, Google does not like link buying. It is Google's view that buying and selling text links lowers the overall value and trustworthiness of links on the Internet. Matt Cutts posted back in September how Google and many of the people at Google feel about buying and selling links. In a word, they don't like it at all.

Yahoo has also come out against purchasing links. However, blogger Jeremy Zawodny, who also happens to be an employee of Yahoo's search department started selling links on his blog.

So Should I Buy Links?

It would be so easy to say that buying links is a decent practice and that you will never get in trouble for doing so. Heck, I would love to be able to buy a few links, including one on Jeremy's blog. But the truth is, if you want to rank well in either search engine for the long-term and not face a future penalty, you should probably refrain from buying links. Google has stated several times (many times through Matt Cutts) that buying links is not an acceptable practice and that doing so can get you in trouble. Matt shows an example of where this is the case here. According to him, Google has gotten quite adept at identifying purchased links.

I have no doubt that there are thousands of examples of sites that have purchased links only to see their rankings improve significantly. I seriously doubt that Google or any search engine that places significant weight on linking can properly determine whether every link is bought or natural. You may be able to buy a link and have great success with it.

But when it all comes down to the choice you have to make, you have to realize that link buying is a risk. If a search engine catches you buying or selling a link, they will undoubtedly consider your site to be more questionable. What we must also realize is that they are no longer relying simply on scripts to identify what they consider to be spam, they are also using human eyes to confirm what their scripts find.

The Exception to This Rule

Every rule has its exception, and this rule is no exception. There is a legitimate form of link buying. One of the really good things that has come about from link trading, buying and selling is that we have learned that plain text links have the ability to bring in real traffic. If this is what you are after, then buy links to your heart's content.

Overall Linking Strategies

Linking strategies and schemes will no-doubt evolve. I have heard of a few recently which I think can be very successful, but nothing will ever beat a quality, natural link from a source that links to you because you have something to offer.


This is a summary of an article written by Mark Daoust, the owner of http://www.site-reference.com. Read the full article on his site.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

iGliss.com

iGliss is a great way to search and subscribe to RSS feeds and create personal digests from your favorite feeds.

Your digests can then be shared with friends so that they too can share the RSS feed content that you've found of interest.

Weblogs can be created which can be shared with like-minded people so that everyone benefits from what you managed to find using iGliss.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Search Engines and Algorithms: Optimizing for Yahoo! Search and AltaVista

Search Engines and Algorithms: Optimizing for Yahoo! Search and AltaVista: "Search Engines and Algorithms: Optimizing for Yahoo! Search and AltaVista "

Although I'm not convinced, as the article says, that Yahoo will deliver you much more traffic that Google and MSN. Well ok, maybe it's right about MSN. This is a good article for those of you who wish to understand the search engines and their basic algorithmic functions.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Spam and Viruses

It's little wonder that the past week or so the number of viruses appearing in mailboxes has climbed. I've had my fair share of the critters, even with firewalls and virus protection and now make sure that I backup fairly regularly.

The last week or so has gone crazy! The number of emails I get per day has nearly tripled and most are from spammers wanting to sell me viagra, rolex watches or cheap copied software.

It amazes me that it's even worth their while as most of the emails are poorly written and full of nonsense so that the spam filters won't catch them. I bounce them all back but I don't suppose that nowadays that makes much difference although it maybe makes me feel a little better.

The strange thing is that most of them don't come via the email address I use for my websites. It's freely available but out of all the emails I receive only around 10% to this email address is spam, the rest has to do with my websites and other online work that I do.

No most of the emails I get are to a yahoo address I use and I don't think it's ever been given out except to recommended retailers. mmmm... somebody along the lines must have decided to make a bit and sell a list I was on.

What can be done about the amount of spam emails and viruses we have to endure on a daily basis? I fear, not a lot. Without an over-riding authority to control the internet, the spam is here to stay but if we all did a little bit, we could make a difference.

So the next time you receive spam, at least bounce it back and for the really annoying ones, run the details through Spamcop and follow the instructions.

If you receive any gambling emails for casinos or poker, forward them to Fight Casino Spam. Know any others like these that can make a little difference?

XML.com: XML From the Inside Out

If your struggling to get your head round XML, RSS, Schemas, etc, then pop over to XML.com. Here you'll find easy to read and understand descriptions and examples for a wide range of technologies worth incorporating into your websites.

Webmasters worry no more... well for a little while anyway!

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

What's In A Brand

Here's a nice introductory article that explains a bit about branding your website and making it memorable.

It will be most useful to non-professional Webmasters wanting some insite into how branding can work for their website.

Click Branding Your Website for the full article.

Monday, November 21, 2005

CBS News | I-Gaming: Illegal And Thriving

An interesting article on the future of US gambling that was shown on the 60 Minutes show yesterday. Webmasters of gambling or related sites will enjoy the read.

Basically the article is trying to get the US to accept that they can't stop online gambling and that it would make sense to allow and regulate online gambling and collect the taxes that would come with it.

How the position of the US will change is debateable but they really are fighting a losing battle, especially since UK companies are allowed to promote and take wagers from the US. I think personally, I'd take the 1.2 Billion dollars in revenue they have lsot already and keep the money rolling in.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Phishing and Pharming

Someone asked me today what the difference between phishing and pharming was. I'll try to explain.

Phishing
Phishing is where someone disguises themselves as being from one of your service providers online, like your bank or shopping provider. They contact you by email and ask you to go to an official looking but completely false website via a link. You are then misled into giving account or personal information which could be used against you.

Pharming
Again pharming is used to gain personal information about you and they do this by re-directing you away from the official site by accessing the domain name server. As far as you, and your computer, can see, you are connected to the correct website. Again, personal information is asked to be given.

Never email personal information. A common rouse is for the criminal to pretend to be from Ebay or Paypal or even your personal bank. If they want information from you there will be a way to give it through a link on their website. Don't follow the email link.

Take care with your personal details and who you give them to. Phishing and pharming is used to exploit uneducated users of the internet. Never follow email links to a website especially from your bank, type them in instead.

If you think that you've been a victim of pharming, check the website address in the browser toolbar - it may be ever so slightly different than what you typed. If it is, exit the site immediately.

Phishing and pharming is lucrative for criminals. Don't become a victim.

Monday, November 14, 2005

WebProBlog Launched Today

WebProNews have launched a new blog to give advice and tips to the online professional.

Quote, "We are proud to announce the launch of WebProBlog, a weblog run by iEntry Inc. Chief Executive Officer Rich Ord, focusing on the trends, issues, and e-business skills fundamental to the e-commerce professional. "

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Link Exchanges ex-Partners

To me partners means two people, or in this case sites, sharing a mutually beneficial sharing of resources.

So why, why, why do people give you a reciprocal link then delete it. Ok, they get a one-way link. Until or course you find it and delete it but you'll never go back for another link swap and eventually people get fed up swapping links with you and your stuffed....or certainly should be.

I've always found it more useful to keep links up. People will come back for more the next time around and you'll gain more of a reputable status in your field.

Remember though, a link is a link but a quality link is better. And I don't mean PR, which, although some say is of no benefit now, thats not the case although it's been reduced in its usefulness. I mean that links from sites with the same theme as yours get more notice in the search engines and count for a lot more.

Friday, November 04, 2005

56 Directories To Submit Your Site To

Looking for some directorys to submit to? Look at these Directories.

Some are paid, some free and some have stopped taking submissions, but most have decent PR and can provide your site with a valuable link.

How to Survive the Dreaded Google Update

Read this article - Surviving a Google Update for how to help survive a Google update.

Chill out and relax.

Come on Mr Gates, get MSN to a larger market and both you and I will be happy! :)

Busy Week

Well it's been a busy and frustrating week. I've managed to write and implement a whole new section on Bingo into my www.doolallys.com site and I've perspired as I look at my Google rankings - or more precisely, lack of them.

Just as well I don't rely on Google for my listings as I've not had them for all that long and for some reason, none of my sites have mastered the art of Google yet.

Yahoo has also had an update, albeit a smaller one and my initial impression is that they've made a change for the better with some spammy sites disappearing. Good. Pity Google hadn't done the same.

Oh well, it's the weekend and time for another couple of 12 hour slogs on the net.

Lifes a bitch!

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Online Bingo Section at Doolallys

Speaking about my site, I've just added a completely new section to it today about online bingo, if you get a chance, have a look and let me know what you think about it and also the rest of the site.

I'm always interested in constructive feedback.

Google Bowling

Have you heard about the latest "sport" in dirty online business?
It's called Google Bowling and it represents a gaping flaw in
Google's system that allows your competitors to sabotage your
site to the point of getting it banned or penalized.

Read the full article here : Google Bowling

Google are certainly getting things wrong in my opinion. My site www.doolallys.com was doing ok in the search engine until the last update and now its gone completely.

I only had a few months of making progress. I think the reason is I've been putting all my time on new relevant content and not link building. Isn't this NOT the point?

Monday, October 24, 2005

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

Matt Cutts, Google's sp@m fighter and quality assurance person posts an interesting blog here.

Cutts' name is widely known and is the person to see when wanting an explanation about a Google update.

Check for updates and Matt's commentary. A few more changes to come yet!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Google Update

It's certainly a huge update but I'm hoping that a lot of the results will still revert back to what they were.

I've never done well in Google so it won't affect me much but it's nice to see a few results in the SERPS. These past few days, my sites have disappeared completely.

Do a search for some more obsure keywords and you find that Google is more laden with spam than before. In my mind (and I am a little biased) these are the worst Google results I've seen from the searchers point of view.

I'm also not sure about the backlink debate. While I respect that backlinks have been devalued, at least reciprocal links, you do still need some sites linking into yours to be found by the engines. Catch 22?

Anyway, whatever Google throws at us will be no big surprise. Typical of any business situation I've seen, once a conglomerate reaches a certain size, they're willing to help the large companies and couldn't give a toss about the smaller guy trying to earn a crust.

Look at any small town thats growing in size, once the big guys get enough of a hold, the smaller guy is squeezed out.

I'm still optimistic that this update is just a blip and things will settle down soon. Fingers crossed that Google starts seeing sense.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Four-Step Defense Against Spyware and Parasites

A nice introductory article on how to keep your PC parasite free. Get rid of Spyware, Malware and other unauthorised parasites.

KeywordDiscovery.com - Keyword Research Tool

This is a rather neat keyword research tool I'm come across.

For those not in the know, keyword research tools can be used to find the best keywords with which to target your online campaigns at. Keyword research is the key to holding good rankings, sometimes on more obscure, less searched for terms, but they are easier to get to the top hence, will give you more targetted clicks in the end.

Keyword research tools should be used whenever you are building a section of your site so you can target the keywords that will produce more for you.

As an additional point, I also use them when I'm stuck for ideas. They can be great tools to give you a starter for a new article, etc.

Trellian have done a great job with this keyword research tool so use it to your advantage.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Google Says

An interesting article which looks at some of the main points of helping your rankings in Google.

Now I know that you've probably heard them all before in differing stages or your SEO life but this, to me, was an easy to read document that gets the hard facts out quickly and without any long winded explanations.

Brief and to the point, that's what we like.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Webmaster Worries - Viruses

Been a while since I've managed to post due to one thing and another. Firstly my system had a few upsets when a speaker landed on the speaker jack plug and now the sound doesn't work!

Then my work decided to put me on a residential course and of course, my partner being ever so helpful, tidied up some of the huge number of emails I receive each day. In doing this she opened up an attachment which held a virus!!

What is the point of these to anyone really? It's not even as if most of them have any malicious content and are only there to piss you off.

The guys that make these must be fairly talented in producing them so why not put it to better use? Geez, I may even hire one or two myself if they would produce something constructive!

It's now taken me two days to get the bloody things off my PC. It was a variant of a worm I received and this virus decided to go and fetch another whose intent was to take down my firewall. Which I may add, it did with precision....Bastards.

Anyway, after it messed up Norton Internet Security, I had a really hard time uninstalling and reinstalling it. I was on the live support to Symantec for ages although they were helpful and managed to solve the problem for me.

I got Norton Internet Security back up and running and it deleted the viruses for me so things are more or less back to normal, leaving me 1 day to catch up before I take a well needed break.

I can't encourage people enough to take steps to protect your system and although not needed in this case, remember to take backups of everything regularly!

Virus writers, may they rot in hell.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Why oh why?

PCs, Windows, IT in genereal....PAH!!

Why is it that everything goes wrong at the same time? Last week my main PC went down and I lost about a months work. Should make more backups...yes I know!

Now there is something wrong with Windows and there seems to be loads of missing files - so what happens? My data backup drive also decides it's time for a holiday and freezes Explorer when copying a file to or from it. Bloody things.

Who said this webmastering thing was good? Whatever happened to 9-5 jobs where you switch off before watching telly for the evening? I haven't watched anything properly for months now.

Oh well, back to a disk scan.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Google Adwords and PPC fraud revealed

A great article on PPC Fraud...

Google Adwords and PPC fraud revealed
Your probably reading this article because you use Google Adwords to bring traffic to your website, or your a click fraudster yourself, wanting to see what kind of information I have for you. Most of you click fraudsters will think that I have no idea what I am talking about, and that I do not know your methods. Well, trust me buddy, I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU AND WHAT YOU DO.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Doolallys Casinos and Poker Guide

I thought I'd blog about this as I'm fair delighted!

My site www.doolallys.com has been listed in the top ten sites hosted by www.easily.co.uk.

The redesign must have done the trick! Not received much traffic, if any, but I got a free link from a PR6 page so that's ok.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Spider simulator: Spannerworks

Spider simulator: Spannerworks See exactly how the search engine spiders view your site. A nifty tool and a useful check, especially after designing a new site.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Online Casino Portals Suffer Affiliate Program Changes

Online Casino Portals Suffer Affiliate Program Changes

This is an article about a casino affiliate program called Referback and the changes that they've implemented without consulting their suppliers. Disgraceful.

This is the sort of thing that affiliates are increasingly seeing, especially in the online casino business, and is common theft if you ask me.

If affiliate programs don't intend to do what they say then they should never start up affiliate sites. The problem is that they need the affiliates to get them going over the first few years and to grow them into brand names.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

How To Be A Blogging Idol Instead Of An Idle Blogger

How To Be A Blogging Idol Instead Of An Idle Blogger

A useful article for those who have a blog or want to set one up but can't get the traffic to it. A few nice SEO (search engine optimisation) ideas and techniques that should help you on your way to blogging stardom!

Well, I'll give some of the things a go anyway.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Content Protection Tactics for Affiliates

Content Protection Tactics for Affiliates

This is an interesting article on how affiliates and other site owners can help protect their websites from thieves looking to steal your affiliate content.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Google Quote on Affiliate Sites

The quote from Google below about affiliate sites has been met with a very mixed reception but, personally, I think this is great. It should help get rid of the quickly knocked up sites and leaves the quality affiliate portals alone.

"We differentiate between affiliates that produce extra service, value, or content, and those that simply are duplicates of other sites, set up to boost traffic to other sites and earn a commission for it. The former ones are not Offensive and should be rated on the merits to the query. The latter ones are Offensive...

"Thin affiliate doorways are sites that usher people to a number of Affiliate programs, earning a commission for doing so, while providing little or no value-added content or service to the user. A site certainly has the right to try to earn income; we're attempting to identify sites that do nothing but act as a commission-earning middleman."

I'm just waiting to make sure now that Google sees my sites as quality content and not spam but it will be nice to see some of the poor sites being penalised.

It's just a pity Google couldn't get rid of some more of the SPAM sites - but they do try.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Wired News: BlowSearch Tackles PPC Click Fraud

Wired News: BlowSearch Tackles PPC Click Fraud

At last a search engine that openly admits that there is a problem with click fraud within the PPC search engines.

Although a small engine, Blowsearch may be one to watch and maybe even try out a small PPC campaign with its guarantee of legitimate traffic.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Yahoo! Search blog

Yahoo! Search blog

What a refreshing blog from Yahoo. They post when their larger updates are going to take place! Pity Google wouldn't do this same, it would make things so much easier and less frustrating. Mind you that's just what they want, it seems.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Doolallys - Online Casinos & Poker

Online Casinos & Poker

Managed to get the site completed and uploaded about a week ago and... WAHHEYY... Google has started listing me again. I'm not sure what I did that's pleased this engine so much but at least I'm back in there. Hopefully not only temporarily!!

Have a look and see what you think, comments appreciated.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Site Redesign

Postings on here have been fairly sparce the last few weeks as I've been working on redesigning my site, www.doolallys.com.

It's amazing where the time goes, first getting the design done and tailoring it to use as a template for the rest of the redesigned pages then getting all those pages of content over to the new layout.

Still, I'm slowly getting there and am now at the testing stage. I've ironed out many problems and will probably come across more yet but it's been well worth doing and the site should look good when finished. At the moment, it looks dated and basically awful!

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Casino Sparkle

Casino Sparkle | Premier Online Gaming

Another site I've been working on and recently uploaded to the internet is Casino Sparkle. Good casino names are hard to find but this one seems to be ok and doesn't seem to have any similar names registered so here's hoping.

It links to a white label run by Earn United and will hopefully pick up some visitors and players along the way.

If you would also like to try out a white label casino website, just click the link and choose "Webmasters" from the link at the bottom. Easy to setup and run and even some of my friends who don't like to play for real money enjoy the all the free games.

Curry Recipes

Curry Recipes - Cooking up a Spicy Menu

I must start posting more about what I'm actually working on and doing myself. This link is to my Curry Recipe site that seems to be ranking very well in Yahoo and is getting about 40 visitors a day.

Now if only I could think on what to advertise there.

Sedo - Buy and Sell Names and Websites

Sedo

I'd love to know how many names are actually sold through Sedo. I myself have listed some names but am having no luck at all or any offers of interest. I'd accept any decent offer but nothing comes through.

I thought my name www.giftsdirect.info may have managed some interest or www.whichloan.info but no, nothing.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

What to do About Copyright Infringment

Pursuing Copyright Infringers

Copyright infringement on websites is becoming more of a pain and if you have a site full or original content, you're even more at risk from the copyright theives.

I myself have been on the receiving end of theft of copyright and the first I knew of it was when Google penalised me for duplicate content. Very maddening!!!

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Indexable Web Size

Indexable Web Size: "What is the current size of the Web?"

How big is the web? An interesting article which trys to explain just how big our connected world has become.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Search Engine Strategies 2005 Toronto

Search Engine Strategies 2005 Toronto: "SES Toronto 2005"

Read up on the latest search engine strategies discussed in the latest conference. A nice, easy to read set of articles with some basic strategy guidelines and tips.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Casino Sparkle | Premier Online Gaming

Casino Sparkle | Premier Online Gaming

Theres a NEW Casino in town and it's going to blow you away!!! Well, I hope so anyway.

I've been working on the Casino Sparkle site for a few weeks now on and off and I'm fairly pleased with the results although I think the logo needs jazzed up a bit.

Have a look at the results and let me know what you think. Even if your not a casino player, you can download for free and play for fun. Go on - have a go and give me some feedback!

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site

How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site

You know the little customised icons that occasionally appear in your favourites next to a website? Having a favicon makes you site stand out from the crowd when browsing their bookmarks.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Clicking To Steal - More PPC Problems

Yahoo! News - Clicking To Steal

"To Texas-based Auctions Expert International LLC, it was an easy way to make money on the Internet. Sign up with Google, which functions as a kind of online ad agency, and agree to let the online giant place ads on your Web site.

The problem, according to a lawsuit filed last year by Google, is that Auctions Expert began clicking on the ads itself, artificially inflating the number of clicks and driving up the bills sent to advertisers."

Friday, April 15, 2005

Free Casino Games | Learn to Play

Free Casino Games | Learn to Play

In case anyone is keen on casino games, I've just added a few to my Uk Casino site that are entirely free to play and are great looking and playing games. Have a go if you've a few minutes spare.

By the way, there is no signup required, just click and play.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Search Optimisation

I often get asked, how do I learn SEO and to be honest, the only real way is to read, read and read more. The best place to start is SEO Chat. Full of people in similar positions and a good mix of true pros, reading and learning in SEO Chat can help boot your rankings more than anything else.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

WTO Rules for, Against U.S. on Web Gambling

WTO Rules for, Against U.S. on Web Gambling

If you're site is a Gambling Portal or another gambling type site, this could be some good news and is certainly a step in the right direction. The US Administration use so many excuses to stop online gambling, it's crazy. It's going to happen anyway, so they may as well keep it regulated and make some money from it at the same time.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Plaxo

Plaxo Downloads

Plaxo is an automatically updated address book that works either as a web version or as a download for Outlook and Outlook Express. I've briefly seen how it works and it looks a good, easy to manage contact system.

Connect with friends and business contacts Sync and access contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes on the Web!

Friday, March 25, 2005

Writing for Search Engines

Writing for Search Engines

This article points out some interesting things to think about when writing copy for the search engines.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

RSS Feeds

RSS 2.0 specification

I've decided I want to learn some XML and try to construct a website using feeds supplied by affiliate companies to showcase their products on a site I'm going to construct.

I've been searching for easy to learn materials to get a start but have been frustrated by the lack of tutorials. I have however come across this gem which is an easy guide to creating and XML feed which explains the sections in plain English.

I'll post how I get on with the feed setup once I find the rest of the jigsaw that makes up this puzzle.

A nice starting point though and if I manage to get things going, I'll write an easy to follow guide as there doesn't seem to be any on the net. (Not that I've found so far anyway!)

Sunday, March 20, 2005

26 Steps to 15k a Day

26steps to 15k a Day

Well I'm not sure if the 15k a day will apply but this is an excellent article written for anyone starting a website and wanting to make it successful.

It covers domain names, design, linking and content to mention a few. Well worth studying if your new to successful SEO.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Golden Palace Casino

Golden Palace Casino

I love the way these guys promote theor gambling website. Recent advertising has included a tattoo on a females pregnant stomach and they've sponsored the amateur space race...even bought a sandwich on Ebay that had a picture of the Virgin Mary toasted on it!

Great publicity. Have you tried something different?

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Recent Pay-Per-Click Fraud News

Recent Pay-Per-Click Fraud News

Have a look here for the latest in PPC Click Fraud News. A lot of the articles make for interesting reading.

Personally I've a complaint in with one of the leading Uk PPC providers at the moment. They've come good before giving me a refund but this still keeps going on and I'll have to wait and hear the outcome of this latest case.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Google CFO sounds an alarm - Dec. 2, 2004

Google CFO sounds an alarm - Dec. 2, 2004: " - A top Google official said that growing abuse of the company's lucrative sponsored ad-search model jeopardizes the popular Internet search engine's business. "

Friday, February 11, 2005

Free Traffic Tips for Better Viral Marketing

Free Traffic Tips Here's a link to an article on three ways to increase the amount of free traffic to your site using methods that many webmasters don't instantly think about.

Free Traffic Tip #1: Share Your Knowledge
Free Traffic Tip #2: Give away Free Viral Reports
Free Traffic Tip #3: Offer Testimonials

Click the link to read the full article.

The Click, The Fraud and the Ugly Face of Search

Netimperative - The click, the fraud and the ugly side of search Everyone who advertises on PPC engines is subject to click fraud. Its a personal bug-bear of mine. I've had a few instances of PPC click fraud lately which I've spotted and reported but the occassional clickers are hard to spot and track down.

This industry will find things start to dry up soon unless something is done. A lot of the problems were brought on by the PPC companies themselves to increase revenue but they are now finding that it's damaging their business interests and credability.

How to Play in Google's Sandbox

How To Play In Google's Sandbox This is a nice, well written article about the dreaded Google Sandbox. Not a nice play to play in. I tend to agree that rather than a sandbox for new sites as such, Google may be applying a mixture of things including too many links too quickly and also an aging filter. However, I'm not convinced that this is all Google has in its ammunition to fire you into the Sandbox.

The Yahoo Blog

Yahoo! Search blog

Yahoo have followed on in the footsteps of Google and produced their own coprorate blog.

Now if only these guys would tell you how to get to the top of the search results.

Copyscape

Copyscape Content Copyright Protection

Here's a useful site for anyone with a website. Just enter the url you want checked and the program checks if anyone has copied your material. I've found one of mine that's been copied : Casino Magic which is my site looks really similar to The Rip Off Site. Doesn't it. grrrr.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

PRESS RELEASE: UK Casino Site Helps Players Make the Right Choices

UK Casinos

Been busy recently setting up this new site for launch today. The press release was featured in Google, Yahoo and most of the other News sites so I was delighted and hopefully the release will be well placed in the SERPS and bring some visitors.

I've used this method before and for the webmasters out there it's a nice way of getting indexed in all the major search engines quickly.

The site is clean and reviews the best UK Casinos in a non-biased way. Have a look and post your thoughts.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Gmail

Gmail

It looks like Gmail, Googles' online email service may be ready to be rolled out after its period of beta testing.Gmail has been available for a while now but on an invitation only basis. Everyone offered a Gmail account was allowed to invite 6 people. My account, onlinecasinos@gmail.com, was sitting with 2 invites left to send yesterday but today it's showing 50.

Gmail is good, no doubt about it but until the invitations are done away with, it's probable that most people will only be using it as a secondary account. When its a free for all, they should pick up new internet users. It's bound to take off, after all the branding name is Google.

Want an invite? Drop me a line.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Affiliate Marketing

I thought it might be a good idea to run some articles on affiliate marketing. I've been an affiliate for several years now and made diddly squat for the first few.

Trial and error has now turned my business profitable and I make a decent income from it.

I'm willing to share some of the ideas and knowledge I've gained with other webmasters to get them started.

Tune in later. :)

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Whats going on here? - 1bu.com

1bu.com

Whats going on here? I noticed some results for legitimate sites coming up in the 1bu.com domain.

Even askjeevescom.1bu.com comes up with an identical version of the legitimate site.

The worrying part of all this is that search engines may see your legitimate site as duplicate content and de-rate it within the search results.

I've contacted Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves so hopefully this will be stamped on and quicky. I suggest you do too.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

MSNBC - When Mice Attack

MSNBC - When Mice Attack

Another useful article for my personal pet hate - PPC Fraud. It's rife and unless the search engines do more to combat it, I reckon it's going to bite them with loss of revenue. The big spenders will only stick around for so long and change their marketing techniques to other areas. This gets me soooo mad!

Casino Affiliate Programs General Discussion

Casino Affiliate Programs

Another blog for the Gambling Webmaster Community. CAP or Casino Affiliate Programs does the business for people wanting to get started in the business with many people and casinos in the forums and all ready to help out with any questions or advice you require.

Yahoo! News - China launches campaign to stamp out online gambling

Yahoo! News - China launches campaign to stamp out online gambling

An interesting article, if your a gambling webmaster. It's a sad world where things are so corrupt that they are trying to bad gambling due to officials bettings away the publics money!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Blog Advertising

Blog Advertising Been listening to Webmaster Radio and the CEO of BlogAds is on discussing this relatively new method of advertising.

I've never even thought of trying advertising on blogs but I'm keen to give it a go so I've signed up for a small advertising campaign on www.sportsfrog.com. I'll let you know in a week or so how the ad performed.

This may be a great way of getting relatively cheap traffic to your site. I'd be interested in hearing comments from anyone who has tried or is planning on trying these types of blog ads.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

92 Free SEO TOOLS - The Best Free SEO TOOLs On The Internet - All In One Place!

92 Free SEO TOOLS

This is the best SEO tool site I've found so far with links to the best online self-promotion tools anywhere! Check out whats on offer to help you improve your rankings.

Now I must get the time to read and explore a few more myself!

Search engine promotion & search engine optimisation placement UK

Search engine promotion & search engine optimisation placement UK

This is a UK based site with a good range of tools and articles worth having a scout around from an SEO point of view. Although UK based the features apply to anyone building sites anywhere in the world.

Friday, January 07, 2005

PRESS RELEASE: Assisting UK Poker Players to Make the Right Choices

PRESS RELEASE: Assisting UK Poker Players to Make the Right Choices

This is my Press Release for the launch of my uk poker site UK Poker. This was my second attempt at writing a press release and within a week or so has made the front page in Google when searching for UK Poker.

It has made for a successful start to the site and I've had quite a few enquiries from poker rooms interested in advertising.

Google Changes Affiliate Policy

Google Adwords PPC

Google announced today that their Adwords policy has changed for advertisers;

"With this new affiliate policy, we will only display one ad per search query for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same URL. This way, users will have a more diverse sampling of advertisements to choose from. As always, your ad will be displayed based on its Ad Rank for given searches.

For instance, if a user searches for books on Google.co.uk or anywhere on the Google search and content networks, Google will take an inventory of ads running for the keyword books. If we find that two or more ads compete under the same URL, we will display the ad with the highest Ad Rank. "

Now even a Radio Station for Webmasters

Free Internet Webmaster Radio 24/7

I came across this earlier on, it's an online radio station aimed at Webmasters. My first thoughts were, "What will they think of next!"

As it turns out, it's really pretty good. The music is a nice selection and so far today has had everything from country to trance. The ads that pop in between the music are webmaster related. They also run specials a few times a week that bring together the top dogs of various sites to discuss site building, promotion, SEO, etc. I I haven't tuned into one of the specials yet, so can't comment, but will soon.

I'd recommend a listen anyway!

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Blog News

Blog News

For anyone interested in Blogging, this is a new site that has all the latest news and gossip for both bloggers and blog readers alike. It's a nice looking site and it's founder, Brad Jasper is sure to do well with it.