Webmaster Worries

Some Light Humour!

2008-03-21T15:40:00.000Z

A very shy guy goes into a pub on Valentine's Day night and sees a beautiful young woman sitting alone at the bar. After an hour of gathering up his courage he finally goes over to her and asks tentatively"Um, would you mind if I brought you a drink?"

She responds by yelling, at the top of her lungs; "NO, I WONT SLEEP WITH YOU TONIGHT”Everyone in the pub started staring at them.

Naturally, the guy was terribly and completely embarrassed and he slinks back to his table totally red faced.

After a few minutes, the woman walks over to him and apologizes.

She smiles at him and says; "I'm really sorry if I embarrassed you just then. You see, I'm a graduate student in psychology and I'm studying how people respond to embarrassing situations."

At this the guy responds, at the top of his lungs, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? $300!!!"

Social Bookmarking

2007-08-19T09:55:00.000Z

Social bookmarking has become more and more popular with internet users over the past couple of years and Webmasters are capitalising on the growing trend by submitting their sites to the social bookmark sites.

I've found this nice Social Bookmarking list of 100 sites that allow users and Webmasters to participate in. It's an excellent resource and definately one for the savvy Webmasters favourites list.

Personally I use Social Bookmarking in a fairly small way but always submit my sites to the larger sites in the hope of more traffic and therefore also more backlinks if my content is deemed worthy. It's a great way to obtain natural backlinks, which is what we all need for our websites to be successful.

Try out the Social Bookmarking list and submit to a few, if you haven't already tried it and see if the effects are worthwhile for your website.

Pachinko

2007-08-12T21:20:00.000Z

Every heard of Pachinko? No, thought not, well unless you're reading this blog from Japan where pachinko is one of the most commonest games around with a huge following of players.

However, pachinko is also popular in other countries too and many people collect pachinko machines or have one in their house to play. Have a look on eBay and you'll see many pachinko machines for sale.

So, what is it? Well, pachinko is like a cross between a pinball and a slot machine. Balls are fired into the upright pinball machine at the top, at a player controlled rate, and if they land in the catcher at the bottom, the slot machine element of the game is triggered. The slot machine generally sits in the middle of the game screen and winning combinations pay out more of the small balls. The idea of pachinko is to get as many small balls as possible, obviously to end up with more than you started with.

Anyway, pachinko is facinating and the history and setup in Japan is well worth a read, even if you'll never actually sit and play the games. I've devised a small site to highlight the game of pachinko, the history of pachinko and online pachinko. You'll also find other information about the game at Wikipedias Pachinko page.

Have a read of Pachinko8.com, it's facinating stuff.

HubPages and Harry Potter

2007-07-22T10:23:00.000Z

What is it with everyone and the huge amount of hype that is Harry Potter. Sure they're a great read and a thrilling set of stories, but the amount of people queuing up to read the latest Harry Potter book in J K Rowlings series is astounding.

Anyway, not to be one to miss out on the fun, I used a new site I've found to produce my very own piece of Harry Potter magic!

For the uninitiated, the page was created using HubPages and it's great, easy to use and if you want to try it, you'll be producing pages in no time at all.

It really is the easiest way to produce a page on a topic that I've found and to give some idea of the time-scales involved to produce a decent enough page on your chosen subject, see my new Harry Potter Books page.

It took 10 minutes maximum to put together and is a great way to show off subjects that interest you quickly and easily. I've long been a fan of Squidoo, you can see my lenses here : Doolally but I must admit Hubpages is quicker, easier and more user friendly to use.

Stumble Upon

2007-06-10T19:43:00.000Z

Internet users will love Stumble Upon. I've just started using it to browse the internet at random whilst making sure that the pages presented to me are related to things I like. I'd advise anyone to try it out.

You can even suggest other sites, not already in Stumble Upon, so that other users can experience the best sites.

Great Idea But Too Late

2007-05-22T18:38:00.000Z

I had a fantasic idea today that I thought could revolutionise the online world!!

What you do is set up an automated system that lets you upload an SMS message or video from your mobile phone to your blog. Think of the numbers of people that would be interested with all the new video and photo capturing gadgets that you get these days.

Excited, I was.

Then I came home and did some research. It seems that this has been available for years but I've never heard of a Moblog, have I. Head stuck in the sand again! :) Never mind. It's a great idea though and I might mess around with it a little and see if I can get something setup on my websites. It would be great to upload the latest snippet of information to one of my sites while on the move and away from the desk.

I can't get wi-fi or any of that other good stuff where I live and to be honest it's not a problem because I can't be bothered carrying a laptop around all day anyway.

Oh well, another great idea 2 years too late. I'll maybe put the thinking cap back on tomorrow - I'll get this internet sorted out yet. Ha ha.

Google PR and Linking

2007-05-03T18:54:00.000Z

I notice that the Google toolbar has been updated and most of my sites have taken a hit, including this blog that has gone from a PR4 to PR2. Not that I'm a toolbar watcher but I do like to at least be seeing some kind of improvement once in a while.

The annoying thing for me though is I've been really concentrating on providing good quality content on my sites and I've never been one for link swapping. I generally don't bother although I will swap one or two if I like the sites.

Maybe this is where I'm going wrong. Rather than posting unique content and writing hard, I should maybe have been linking like crazy but it seems a bit pointless to me. This whole link popularity thing, in my mind, isn't the way to rank sites but I guess it's not an easy thing to measure, is it?

I have however, added a couple of links to the right hand side of this blog to a couple of new sites that I've been working on, check them out if you like. One is a bingo community site and the other is a Texas Holdem site that I've just started working on. Both are based on Drupal, a nice CMS system that has some excellent features.

Dell Delivers

2007-05-03T18:49:00.000Z

Finally Dell have sent me my new system, which they should have done in the first place. In fairness, it arrived 5 days ago but in the excitement I didn't get round to posting an update.

They've also put a larger hard disk and enhanced graphics card in it as well as a version of Vista Premium rather than Vista Home. To their credit? No. The new system is cheaper to buy now with the upgrades than I actually paid for the PC that didn't work.

Anyway, at least I'm up and running. Well partially at least, I have a load of things to setup on the new machine but at least I have a fully working machine now. Fingers crossed.

I do know one thing though, Dell won't be ranking highly on my list of machines to recommend and due to the work I do, I get asked quite a lot.

At least, back to work! :)

Aarrgh! Guess What!

2007-04-21T14:00:00.000Z

On Thursday evening I received a call from Dell asking if my PC had arrived. "No," I replied leaving the girl on the phone a bit lost for words. I'll call back in a few minutes she said.

Lo and behold a few minutes after she called, the PC arrived. I knew she was calling back so thought I'd better take it straight out the box and get it setup. A few minutes later, I was ready to go.

I pressed the "ON" button.

... mmm ...

... da, da, dee ...

... nope ...

... nothing ...

... except for ...

THAT BLOODY FLASHING AMBER POWER BUTTON!!

AAAARRGRRGHHH!!!

The PC isn't even passed the problem it had. In fact, giving my own personal opinion, this machine probably hasn't even been looked at. Talk about a Webmaster Worry! I could cry!!! Well, almost, but maybe not because by this time I'm absolutely raging!!

The girl phoned back. "Did you get the PC," yes I replied. "Fantastic" she says, I'll just tell my boss who I'm chatting with about it right now. "Whoa!, wait a minute" I says. "It's got the same problem as before!"

(Whisper) Stunned silence... (Whisper)

"Oh." says the girl. Yes, "oh."

At this point although I was boiling inside, I felt genuinely sorry for the poor girl who could only appologise profusely. It wasn't her fault so I didn't give her a hard time I just asked what can they do about it. She says that they'll get a new machine build and set up! WASN'T THIS WHAT I ASKED FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE 3 WEEKS AGO SINCE IT WAS A NEW MACHINE THAT ONLY WORKED FOR AN HOUR!!!!! Get a grip DELL.

Anyway, now I'm supposed to get a new "working" machine soon and to be honest, I've completly given up with Dell altogether. It was bad enough waiting for 3 weeks for a repair on a brand new machine but to get it back without it being fixed is horrendous to say the least!

The new machine is getting a couple of upgrades fitted to compensate but it's not the point, this service is shocking and I'll certainly not be recommending them again. I'll give an update when the new machine arrives and see if it's not working ...

The PC Saga Continues

2007-04-19T06:05:00.000Z

After my last post on Tuesday night, I thought I would email the nice girl I had spoken to previously expressing my disgust in a polite way and see if that got me anywhere. It didn't.

I swear my hair is greyer and I've less of it since the past few weeks!

Back onto the Customer Service line where, after being cut off by the first operator (a classic trick on Service Desks to improve their call times, ) I spoke to a friendly and appologetic (spelling) guy who didn't want to tell me anything about the machine except that it would be delivered tomorrow.

After pushing for some time, I was 40 minutes on the telephone, he admitted that the machine was still in the Dell depot. Not, given to the Courier last Thursday or Friday as I had previously been told.

I asked to speak with someone who could give me a refund as I am really regretting ever buying this machine. Eventually after instructing him about 10 times, he let me speak to a Supervisor who admitted she can't give replacements but would look into it tomorrow. I told them that I was going to get Trading Standards involved if a satisfactory outcome was not going to be possible.

Ten minutes after that call, the nice lady I had emailled called to say that Dell don't give refunds to business customers but instead offer immediate replacement. What!! This is what I had asked for originally but was told that the repair would be quicker and it wasn't normal to issue a replacement!

However, she said that the machine had been picked up earlier and was indeed with the courier service that would deliver tomorrow. She will call this morning with an update. We'll see.

I'm pulling my hair out by now and complaining bitterly but they really don't want to hear. It's a case of speak nice and agree to delivery tomorrow, every time I call.

We'll see what happens today. They did send me a USB storage thing as compensation. Little value without a PC to plug it into.

Still Nothing from Dell

2007-04-17T18:01:00.000Z

Well it's 7pm on Tuesday and the couriers are all done for today and still nothing from Dell. They really are a waste of time.

I'm guessing that the Manager of their Customer Services department knows this as well. He hasn't called like he said he would to check that the system was delivered. I'm starting to presume again that the bloody new PC is still sitting in its box at Dell somewhere, if, of course, they have really managed to find it yet!

What am I to do? I'm behind with work, and with no joy from Dell I'm really unsure where to turn to next. I think I'll contact the Customer Services again and see what they say but it's obviously a waste of time and effort as they've done nothing so far to help me out!

I really wish I had bought the MESH machine now as I know that they give top quality products and a friend of mine has used their Customer Services and couldn't rate them highly enough. Geez, I could kick myself. I won't be caught by this trap again though and I presume neither will any of my friends as they think it's disgraceful that I didn't get a new machine straight away. I tend to agree, one hour isn't really like receiving one is it?

Disgusted with Dell

2007-04-13T17:20:00.000Z

In case any readers are browsing the site and wondering where I've gone, let me explain. I'm having to type this on a borrowed PC I'm using after buying a new machine from Dell.

My PC which was about 2 and a half years old was on it's last legs. It's been crumbling, crashing and limping along for ages now and finally went to that great chip breaker in the sky. The only thing to do? Buy a new one!

Great I thought and I managed to convince the other half this was a good idea, it took me a while but there you go. Anyway, Dell have a good reputation, or so I thought, and so I went on and ordered one from Dell.co.uk.

Had I known the problems I would have, I've opted for the MESH one that was the same price and specification.

Five days after I placed the order my new Dell machine arrived. I unpacked it, placed it neatly on the desk and started having a look at Windows Vista. My enjoyment was short lived though and after 1 hour I switched it off to go an errand. Upon coming back and hitting the on button, nothing happened. The power light was flashing an amber colour at me and that was it.

I called Customer Support who after 45 minutes told me that the machine would have to go back. I knew this was probably the case but they wanted me to check various things first.

I explained to them that I wanted a replacement machine and as I didn't have any data stored on it, I had nothing to lose. This was my first slip up - I agreed on a repair rather than a replacement. I should have demanded a new machine due to this one only working for one hour but they convinced me that a repair would be quicker than a replacement as they would have to build the entire replacement. This all happened on a Wednesday night (15 days prior to me writing this.)

They came and picked up the machine on the Friday (13 days ago) and they had told me that by the following Tuesday, my new PC would be back in fully working order. Bullshit!

I phoned them on the Thursday night to complain my machine was still not delivered. Not a problem they said, it would be there tomorrow. I called on the Friday night again and was told Monday. By now I was getting a bit jacked off to say the least.

Monday - still no PC. I complained again and this time got a Customer Services Manager who said that he would look into it and call me back. Give him his due, he did, but only to tell me that it would be delivered on Wednesday. A few moans later and after telling him that I'd never buy from Dell again and that the service I was receiving was terrible, he admitted that they hadn't even received the machine yet!!! Can you believe that!

It turns out, or so the story goes, that it was delivered to the wrong Dell service location and was basically sitting there having a rest. Well it had done a whole hours work after all, hadn't it.

Now the Manager guy seems generally ok, apart from a few small discrepancies in his story about the PC not arriving at the right service centre and he has called to give an update every evening. So far the machine has been repaired and on test for the last two days and finally he has now said that the machine has been sent to the couriers!! YEE-HAW! Why it takes 2 days to test a machine, I'll never know, perhaps another small discrepancy? Maybe?

I did receive a nice call from some lady in Customer Services last night telling me that my problem was of the highest priority and that Dell were really a fabulous company and that I should buy from them again. Yeah right! She's going to send me a small token of appreciation for my patience and inconvience. Great thanks. I've not been able to work properly for two weeks now but what the hell.

Of course, it's never as easy as all that is it.

The Manager guy, this evening now informs me that as I live far away, it'll take 4 days for delivery! What! I order CDs from Hong Kong, which is half way around the world and get them in two days! I'm in the North of Scotland by the way.

So, the latest in this Dell Customer Non-Service Epic is that I have to wait again, this time an additional 4 days for delivery. What's the bets it hasn't left the Service Centre yet? (You'll not get good odds on this, by the way.)

I'm going to post here again on Tuesday with an update. Will my machine is finally home? Not if Dells previous versions of events are anything to go buy.

Not a happy customer!

Bingo on Drupal

2007-03-03T15:48:00.000Z

I recently decided to build a new bingo site called Bingo Genius but wanted to go the route of using one of the proprietry CMS tools available online. A few caught my eye including Joomla and Mambo but I eventually decided to give Drupal a go.

So far it's worked out not too bad. The Bingo Genius site certainly requires some work yet and it was a little tricky to configure but now that it's set up and is running more or less correctly, I'm pleased with the results.

The initial configuration did take some time getting all of the Drupal modules plugged in and working and admittedly some I cannot seem to get to work. I'm currently trying to get the chat room function working. However, adding new sections is fairly straightforward so overall I'm pleased with my first attempt at setting up a CMS based site.

Have a look at Bingo Genius if you'd like to see how it all came together and if you're a bingo fan, feel free to post a message in the forums. It's just been sorted out so there's not many members yet but hopefully with a little promotion the site will be seen as a centre of information for playing bingo on and off-line.

Banish The Google Supplemental Listings

2007-01-11T21:40:00.000Z

Google has done it again and turned Webmasters on their heads and many websites see their prized work sinking into the dreaded supplemental listings!

So what is the dreaded second index that Google only uses when it can't find anything, or enough, quality pages that match the search query being looked for?

Well Google explains why pages make it to the Supplemental Index. When I say explain, I should probably say, hints at. They never make things that easy for us hard working Webmasters, do they?

This article explains a few things to look out for and also a few things you can try to get your pages back into the main index. Basically, reciprocal or linking out to untrustworthy sites is what most sites will be penalised for, me included.

I've currently got many pages that have hit the index and as my content is all written by me I know, or hope, it's not a content issue. I used to do a lot of reciprocal linking but stopped it a while back so I'm not sure if this is the issue or not. Anyway, I'll have to keep trying, and maybe a little praying too!

Identify Search Engine Robots

2006-12-30T17:22:00.000Z

If you're like me and get spammed and scraped by unquestionables that are certainly not up to any good then this article may help you decide which search engine robots to allow and which ones to ban.

I always have trouble deciding which IP addresses to block on my blog and once of twice I've probably even blocked a ligitimate robot.

The article is titled : How to Identify Legitimate Search Robots and hopefully it will give you a few pointers on which IP addresses to kick into touch!

Isn't it a shame that the internet is full of so many delinquents that normal Webmasters trying to improve their sites and provide good, quality content are disrupted and waste so much time trying to contact the slugs of the 'net.

Track Santa

2006-12-24T10:27:00.000Z

It's time for some festive spirit and this great website is run by Norad and lets you track Santa as he flies around the globe delivering presents to all the good girls and boys.

A little off the normal posting path for me but hey....It's Christmas and it's fun!

Track Santa With Norad

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Ms Dewey Brightens Up Search

2006-12-11T07:14:00.000Z

A well kept secret by MSN Search is Ms Dewey, a search engine with a major difference!

The search is brightened up by the very talented and also very good looking Ms Dewey. She'll held you find what you're looking for and guide you through the internet with some well appointed phrases and remarks.

Ms Dewey shows that the search engines do sometimes like a little fun and she can be very funny at times. It's well constructed and will keep you coming back again and again to use Ms Dewey as you search for your favourite things online.

Check out the Ms Dewey Search page now and see how much fun a search engine really can be. Somehow I can't see Google coming up with anything so entertaining.

The Hidden World of Click Fraud

2006-10-27T14:37:00.000Z

The Hidden World of Click Fraud

This is an interesting article if you PPC click fraud is killing your budget. A very interesting read as the writer interviews people from Lagos to find out more about how they make money just clicking advertisments.

It really is time the PPC engines started to work harder in this area. I know they have defences but they just aren't up to scratch and lower clicks and profits in the near term will pay off handsomely in the longer term future, I'm sure.

Any Gardeners in the House?

2006-10-17T06:33:00.000Z

Those interested in Gardening or their garden in general might like to have a look at this new site, Gardening Monthly.

Yep, you've guessed it right, it's one of mine. I've just uploaded it and although it started off as just a simple adsense website with a few articles, I'm planning on developing it further now as I do actually have a love of gardening.

If anyone reading this wants to contribute with a gardening article or letter, question, etc, please feel free to email me at : gardening at doolallys.com

PPC v SEO

2006-10-17T06:30:00.000Z

Which is better PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising or organic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) results?

I've always been of the impression that SEO is best and drives more quality customers to your site but PPC is quick and gets you top rankings easily.

Read the discussion over at WebProWorld and see what you think.

Amazon's A-Store

2006-10-16T11:52:00.000Z

I was emailled by Amazon this morning about their new A-Store feature available to Associates.

The new A-Store allows you to put a website up quickly and without any knowledge of programming, etc, to showcase whatever product you like that's featured in Amazon.

I thought I'd try this new fangled feature out by building a simple store and point a domain I'd registered ages ago to see how things worked out.

Sure enough, after probably about 15 minutes, my store was up and running and my domain was pointing to the correct link supplied by Amazon for my store.

The domain had previously been parked at Sedo and does get a few clicks per month. This seems an excellent way of parking domains or trying out Goggle's Adwords to see if you can produce a sale or two.

The domain I now have pointing at my Digital Camera store is Digital Camera Choice. Have a look to see what can be done with just 15 minutes of your time.

A great way to do something with those domains you have lurking about but haven't done anything with. I'd recommend you have a look and see for yourself.

Choosing a Domain Name

2006-09-27T05:55:00.000Z

Choosing a domain name for your new website is a difficult decision that's not made wasier by the fact that most of the good domain names have already been snapped up.

This article on called How to Pick a Winning Domain Name is nicely written and gives you, especially if your are fairly new to the domain name market, a few pointers on how to choose that illusive domain name.

It's an important business and the article gives a few useful pointers to bear in mind when searching for your new name.

Mahjong Online

2006-09-01T12:43:00.000Z

I've released another site which I'd forgotten about until now, it was released last week and if you're a fan of playing Mahjong then you should find it useful and interesting.

It's mainly aimed at new players to the game, teaching them the rules of Mahjong and also where and how to play Mahjong Online.

The site www.mahjongonline.eu is the first domain I've created using the .eu suffix and I'm interested to see how it will fare and if the search engines will prefer it in Europe rather than the rest of the world.

Heartburn Cure

2006-09-01T12:39:00.000Z

I've been working on a number of Projects recently which I intend to reveal to the waiting world as they are released.

For just now though, I'm going to show you my new site, based on the treatment and cure of heartburn.

The Heartburn Cure website gives more detail about what heartburn is and how to cure it both naturally and with the use of drugs. It highlights many different remedies that can be used to help with this very common digestive problem.

If you're a heartburn sufferer, I hope it helps!

Yahoo Click Fraud Settlement

2006-07-14T13:50:00.000Z

Yahoo Click Fraud Settlement Increases Transparency: "Yahoo's settlement, at least initially, isn't nearly as large; the venerable search engine will pay $4.95 million in cash to plaintiff's counsel"

In the recent Google lawsuit, Google agreed to pay the plaintiffs counsel $30,000,000. Yahoo's agreement isn't nearly as large and while Google capped refunds to those affected by the click fraud at a $60,000,000 level, Yahoo have stated that they will not cap any refunds.

So is this bravado by Yahoo or a genuine belief that their PPC ads are less susceptable to fraud with the measures that they employ. Giving a full refund seems honest and right and this would certainly make us believe that they are the most honest company between the two.

So are your PPC advertising budgets better spent with Yahoo?

Pay Per Click (PPC) Fraud is Still On the Up

2006-07-08T11:37:00.000Z

PPC (Pay Per Click) is still growing and last year was a 5.5 Billion Dollar industry but the instances of click fraud are growing and numerous sites are cutting back on their PPC budgets.

This article quotes, "Outsell found that 7 percent of advertisers request a refund, netting an average of $9,507. Unsolicited refunds were paid to 4.2 percent of advertisers, with an average of $9,444 coming from Google and $4,068 from Yahoo."

This must be a major worry for the large PPC operators and with so many claiming and getting cash back for the use of PPC fraud.

The article goes on to talk about the challenges face both with finding unauthorised clicks and also the challenges faced when tracking it.

Read the full article - Reduction in Pay Per Click use due to Click Fraud

25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site....

2006-07-08T11:25:00.000Z

If you have an extablished site or even a new site and are looking for ideas to increase your visability and customer retention, this article titled, "25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site" may help assist you.

It briefly looks at different ways and types of articles, etc, that you can add to your site to add stickiness to your pages and therefore get more customers returning on a regular basis to check out your site.

Most of the items covered will be well known and you're probably doing already but there is also some new things you may wish to try to add more relevant content to your site.

Strongest Links - Great Website Directory List

2006-06-22T18:17:00.000Z

Strongest Links - Website Directory list

Looking for some quality directorys (should that be directories?) to submit your website to?

Here is a list recommended none-other than Google themselves. It's a good compehensive list that should help your PR ranking a bit.

Remember though that most of them charge a fee to get listed and even the best PR won't help your site if the content isn't good.

How Google Is Killing the Internet

2006-06-13T21:22:00.000Z

Is Google killing off relevant search? Are the scraper sites, splogs and link farms winning over the battle for supremacy in the largest search engine available?

This interesting article looks at some of the share price drops that have been going on at Google.

As investors get rid of their Google shares the future doesn't look too promising. The article also looks at which search engines the investors are putting their faith and money into.

How Google Is Killing the Internet [Fool.com: Commentary] June 9, 2006

2006 FIFA World Cup on Squidoo

2006-06-04T20:20:00.000Z

As I've said before, I've been playing around with Squidoo and building a few lenses.

I thought a topical lens would be the upcoming World Cup so I've build a lens here : 2006 FIFA World Cup.

It details the games taking place and I'll be updating it throughout the competition so you can check up on all the scores.

Google AdWords Updates

2006-06-01T06:24:00.000Z

AdWords to Integrate Dayparting and Ad SchedulingSearch engine marketeers will love the new features being added to Google Adwords, and it's about time too!

Dayparting and Ad Scheduling will join the other features available in Adwords shortly, allowing Webmasters and Marketing personnel to switch their ads on and off at certain times of the day of week.

This is a major boost for advertising as it allows you to target your market more effectively and shows the ads at times of the day that you target market is using search.Say for example you have a site offering games. Target those after school hours and you'll be getting those gamers seeing your ads!

Walking in the Search Engine's Shoes

2006-05-17T20:30:00.000Z

Walking in the Search Engine's Shoes

This article caught my attention, probably due to the fact I've thought about it but not for too long.

It is of course about the amounts of spam that the search engines receive and even although I not especially in love with any of the engines, it does make you think about the difficult job they have to provide good results, quickly.

The trouble is, and it's especially noticeable with Google, that the search engines have filtered out so many tricks and spam, they don't seem to be giving very relevant results any longer.

Sure, the spam isn't as bad as it once was but it seems to be due to the fact they have filtered out almost everything that is on topic as well!

MSN, in my opinion, seem to be leading the way in providing relevant results with the least amount of spam. Yahoo, still provides us with copious amounts of rubbish in with a few relevant results and Google have lost the plot altogether.

I was searching earlier in Google for some information about a product and although I received many results with news items about the topic, actual links to what I was looking for weren't to be found. It seems they've filtered a little too hard.

Still, it can't be easy being Google with the eyes of the world focusing on your every move and with the tweak of an filter putting people in and out of business. They are trying but maybe too hard.

Hopefully they'll get it right soon and stop filtering out perfectly good websites.

Oh and another thing I think the search engines are trying to hard at is to be the leader in new technology without actually looking at whether or not people actually want it.

Why not concentrate more on good, relevant results.

Web Marketing Today -- E-Commerce, E-Mail, Internet Marketing, and Ecommerce - Wilson Internet

2006-05-17T20:07:00.000Z

Web Marketing Today -- E-Commerce, E-Mail, Internet Marketing, and Ecommerce - Wilson Internet

I've just subscribed to the Web Marketing Today Newsletter after a recommendation from a friend who also runs a few web sites.

Without having had a really hard look through the web marketing materials and advice, upon initial impressions, the site seems really quite good and for a change from the normal, seems to offer practical advice.

Of course, I haven't received my newsletters yet so I will reserve judgement for the moment, but it looks good so far.

Has anyone here read the newsletters of followed any of the tips and advice? If you have, leave a comment and we'll maybe see what the general concensus is.

Squidoo | Online Casinos

2006-04-15T10:23:00.000Z

I think I may have mentioned before that I was trialling Squidoo.com where you can build your own pages about any topic you like.

I've built about 20 pages so far and this one, Online Casinos, is a great way of sharing my new RSS feed that contains online casinos, poker and general gambling news with a wider audience.

The new feed is part of my Doolallys.com site and is updated whenever I add a new piece of news. Squidoo, once a day, goes and checks for new info in the feed and displays it as part of my Online Casinos lens.

Anyone that has an RSS newsfeed would well be advised that this is a great way to increase exposure and also keep your lens updated with fresh content.

I'll be listing some other Squidoo lenses I've made soon so you can see what I've been playing around with.

.eu Domain - Gambled.eu

2006-04-12T21:13:00.000Z

I've never really played around with Sedo.com much but since the new .eu domain where I tried to purchase about 12 names for developing, and didn't get them, unfortunately, I've decided to try and sell a domain that I was going to develop and now probably won't due to picking up another good name that fits the bill perfectly.

The name I'm going to sell is Gambled.eu and the name I'm using instead, in case your interested is 247 Gambling.

We'll see how it goes but I'm not too optimistic due to the vast number of .eu domains that have been registered purely for people to run PPC ads on.

I think that it'll crush the useability of the .eu domain with so many sites going undeveloped and that if the registrars had any sense, the number of .eu names registered by anyone or any company should have been limited to trademarks and maybe 3 or 4 other names.

This would have made it a lot easier for people to pick up good names that represented what they do and that they could have turned into worthwhile sites. In addition this would have bolstered the presence of the .eu names for the future.

Anyway, I'll post on here how things turn out with my auction. (If I see any action!)

Directories

2006-04-01T09:26:00.000Z

Some of the directories that will list your site also give you valuable PR and backlinks, try these for some great SEO backlinks:

Blog-Search.com is a PR6.
Search66.com is a PR6.
GoArticles.com is a PR6.
SearchWarp.com is a PR5.
SitesOnDisplay.com is a PR5.
SearchRamp.com is a PR5.
MixCat.com is a PR5.

Hope you find these useful for helping promote your site or blog!

View topic - Yahoo at click fraud disadvantage :: WebProWorld

2006-03-31T17:50:00.000Z

View topic - Yahoo at click fraud disadvantage :: WebProWorld

Here's an interesting thread at WebProWorld that's related again to click fraud. I've covered many different topics in the past with regards to PPC click fraud but never Yahoo.

Have a look and see what you think. Personally I think the clicks from Yahoo are ok and I do use them myself but I expect that over the next year or two PPC click fraud will become more prevalent within the Yahoo PPC scheme.

Just my opinion.

Google Sued Over Drop in SERPs

2006-03-31T05:34:00.000Z

Google Sued Over Drop in SERPs

When KinderStart sued Google recently its fall in rankings, many other webmasters eyes must have lit up at the though of pressurising Google into increasing their rank.

The lawsuit could have devastating results for the whole search engine industry if KinderStart win it, but we doubt they will. Mind you, look at the publicity they have generated because of it. I'm sure with all the new inbound links, they'll end up higher than before and then drop the action. Read the full run down for more info.

Paying for clicks that do not exist?

2006-03-25T11:26:00.000Z

View topic - Paying for clicks that do not exist? :: WebProWorld

WebProWorld is one of the leading forums for webmasters. There are many different topics discussed in depth in their forums and I thought that this one was especially relevant and worth reading. Are you paying for clicks that just don't exist?

Webmasters - Win a Bingo Site!

2006-03-20T22:05:00.000Z

Webmasters may like to increase their portfolio but winning the Itsabingo.com website.

Whether you've tried the online gambling market or not, why not give it a whirl?

Every affiliate that promotes the Revenuegiants.com affiliate program bingo or gaming sites gets a free entry into the prize draw! If you promote all 6 of their sites you receive six entries into the draw.

Over the next few months you will be provided with additional opportunities to receive entries into the draw.

Any affiliate who contacts them after hearing about this promotion will receive an additional entry into the draw automatically.

See the Itsabingo.com site for details. I'm giving it a go, why not you?

Google agrees to pay $90 mln in "Click Fraud" Lawsuit

2006-03-09T22:12:00.000Z

Google agrees to pay $90 mln in "click fraud" suit - Yahoo! News: "Google Inc. said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay up to $90 million to settle its part of an industrywide lawsuit alleging Web search companies overcharge some advertisers by billing them for false customer leads"

Trouble is, that's probably just small change for a company like Google. Every little helps though and it does bring more attention to the problems facing advertisers.

Blog to Use As Newsfeed

2006-03-05T22:25:00.000Z

I've setup a blog section to the Doolallys.com website today to handle the many press releases containing valuable information that come my way.

Every day I receive numerous emails from the casinos, poker rooms and bingo halls that I promote with new offers and news. I intend to summarize these through using the blog.

Most of the information I get is too short to build a complete page around so for the shorter snippets, this is ideal.

.............EDITED - I've had to remove the software due to being hacked into. A file was left which phished for users details. I'll be trying other software soon.

Local Community Website

2006-03-04T22:14:00.000Z

I've recently been working on a new website for the Harbour close to where I live. I think it's turned out ok. I've built the site for free, as a favour really but it will certainly get my other site, Netweavers seen around the local community more.

The site was built for Wick Harbour, a small fishing town in the North of Scotland. It contains details about the port and has links to it's new newsletter, the Harbour News.

Now, I really should get to work on the Netweavers site. It needs a major overhaul as it was thrown up in about a day a year or so ago and hasn't had any work since.

I'd love some comments on the new site if you want to leave some.

Brrreeeport

2006-02-17T06:20:00.000Z

Brrreeeport - an experiment

Search engine techies will love this blog.

Robert Scoble the MSN employee blogger started Brrreeeport as an experiment of the search engines, with some dramatic results already.

Check out the Technorati Brrreeeport pages.

Did you Brrreeeport today?

MSN Introduces a Neural Net

2006-01-31T22:14:00.000Z

MarketPosition: "In June, 2005, Microsoft revealed that they have introduced a new ranking algorithm that employs a neural net. This article reviews what a neural net is, and how this type of ranking algorithm might affect your web site visibility."

Not for the layman but an introduction on how MSN search is planning to take the next big step in producing relevant results to your browser.

Been copied? This is how to fight back!

2006-01-29T20:02:00.000Z

Been copied? This is how to fight back!

Content copying is on the increase and can be very frustrating and your options are fairly limited when someone copies your site.

This is a great forum thread on how to fight back at the offending site.

Top Search Engines

2006-01-22T16:05:00.000Z

Some search engine data for you to browse to see where your marketing effort should lie when attempting to SEO your site.

In November Google provided 46.3% of search
queries with 2.4 billion different searches being provided by the giant.

Yahoo came in second place providing 1.194 billion results to grab a 23.4% share of the search market.

MSN Search picked up the number 3 slot with 11.4% of the queries providing 583,000,000 results.

AOL Search was forth with 6.9%. MyWay and Ask Jeeves trailed with fifth and sixth positions although both engines are owned by Ask Jeeves so maybe it would be best to combine them to 4.8% of the search market.

Hope these figures provide useful information when your looking to build or SEO your sites pages!

Sedo - Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites

2006-01-21T22:37:00.000Z

Sedo - Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites

Sedo is reportedly the place to find registered domain names and websites for sale. There is certainly enough of them out there!

I've been looking to diversify a bit and wouldn't mind picking up a decent website that perhaps the owner is struggling getting traffic to. Indeed I've placed a few bids, only to have them rejected.

The thing that gets me though is that the website owners want tens, if not hundreds of thousands for non-converting sites that would take me a few days to throw together!

Come on guys, I don't mind paying what a site is worth but do you ever think you'll sell your sites, or domain names for that matter, for grossly inflated prices.

Set the price at what it's worth or at least a ballpark figure that's not too far off the mark. Asking thousands for a 2 day project just doesn't cut it in the real world anymore!

The Google Freshness Factor

2006-01-20T06:16:00.000Z

The Google Freshness Factor

This is a nicely presented article giving you an idea of how Google views a pages freshness, or certainly how things will be done in the future.

Details are a bit scare but worth a read for an overview. The best section is where Googles Removal Tool is discussed.

SEO Fans Find Out About - Semantic Search

2006-01-13T21:40:00.001Z

Search Engines and Algorithms: Semantic Search
A look at Semantic Search.

A Semantic Search Engine is one that attempts to make sense of the results of a search query in a contextual format.

SEO fans should have a read and find out about the future of search.

SEO Fans Find Out About - Semantic Search

2006-01-13T21:40:00.000Z

Is your blog overrun by Splogs, Vlogs and Phlogs

2006-01-12T19:07:00.000Z

Article 1 - 01: "Victims of their own success, online personal journals � weblogs or blogs � are now being targeted by spammers and malicious codes. What are the facts behind this new threat? Here is how to use this new online media securely."

Blogs are being targetted by spammers and malicious code, read this article by Symantec (Norton) to find out a little more.

Boosting Website Lead Conversion With Pay-Per-Click Landing Pages

2006-01-11T20:47:00.000Z

Boosting Website Lead Conversion With Pay-Per-Click Landing Pages: "If you're like many marketing professionals today, you're using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to drive targeted prospects to your company's website, with hope of converting them to a sales lead through an offer or call to action. Unfortunately, many marketers mistakenly send visitors to their corporate website's home page. Why is this a problem? Because most B2B home pages have a large number of possible paths that a visitor can take�only a few of which will convert them into a lead. Even advertisers who are savvy enough to send PPC visitors to a page directly relevant to the search query can still take steps to greatly increase conversions, by following some simple suggestions."

Ping-o-matic Twice

2006-01-07T12:49:00.000Z

Ooops, must've pressed the submit button twice. Oh well, twice the good reading!

Ping-o-Matic!

2006-01-07T12:48:00.001Z

Ping-o-Matic!

Pinging lets dozens of services know you've updated your blog which in turn increases your traffic.

By sending a ping to the major weblog directories, you can let them know instantly that your blog has been updated and they can come and find the useful information you've just added.

It helps them keep their costs down, as constantly crawling every blog is expensive and enables you to get your blogs seen across the net. Everyone wins.

Ping-o-Matic! lets you ping the directories easily and quickly.

Ping-o-Matic!

2006-01-07T12:48:00.000Z

Backgammon

2005-12-28T23:10:00.000Z

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.

The Unofficial Cookie FAQ

2005-12-27T00:32:00.000Z

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.

Links for Pagerank

2005-12-19T07:29:00.000Z

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.

iGliss.com

2005-12-18T22:09:00.000Z

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.

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

2005-12-16T07:06:00.000Z

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.

Spam and Viruses

2005-12-03T23:42:00.000Z

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

2005-12-03T23:04:00.000Z

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!

What's In A Brand

2005-11-30T07:04:00.000Z

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.

CBS News | I-Gaming: Illegal And Thriving

2005-11-21T07:02:00.000Z

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.

Phishing and Pharming

2005-11-17T19:25:00.000Z

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.

WebProBlog Launched Today

2005-11-14T18:05:00.000Z

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. "

Link Exchanges ex-Partners

2005-11-09T21:50:00.000Z

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.

56 Directories To Submit Your Site To

2005-11-04T22:57:00.000Z

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

2005-11-04T14:57:00.001Z

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

2005-11-04T14:57:00.000Z

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!

Online Bingo Section at Doolallys

2005-10-30T15:38:00.001Z

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

2005-10-30T15:34:00.000Z

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?

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

2005-10-24T06:32:00.000Z

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!!

Google Update

2005-10-18T06:27:00.000Z

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.

Four-Step Defense Against Spyware and Parasites

2005-10-13T16:43:00.000Z

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

2005-10-13T06:18:00.000Z

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.

Google Says

2005-10-04T11:42:00.000Z

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.

Webmaster Worries - Viruses

2005-09-25T13:47:00.000Z

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.

Why oh why?

2005-09-08T21:42:00.000Z

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.

Google Adwords and PPC fraud revealed

2005-08-25T17:14:00.000Z

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.

Doolallys Casinos and Poker Guide

2005-08-18T21:08:00.000Z

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.

Spider simulator: Spannerworks

2005-08-15T21:23:00.000Z

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.

Online Casino Portals Suffer Affiliate Program Changes

2005-08-03T17:41:00.000Z

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.

How To Be A Blogging Idol Instead Of An Idle Blogger

2005-07-27T20:20:00.000Z

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.

Content Protection Tactics for Affiliates

2005-07-21T19:22:00.000Z

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.

Google Quote on Affiliate Sites

2005-07-09T05:35:00.000Z

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.

Wired News: BlowSearch Tackles PPC Click Fraud

2005-06-22T21:03:00.000Z

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.

Yahoo! Search blog

2005-06-21T21:20:00.000Z

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.

Doolallys - Online Casinos & Poker

2005-06-20T06:50:00.000Z

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.

Site Redesign

2005-06-11T20:50:00.000Z

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!

Casino Sparkle

2005-05-21T13:41:00.000Z

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

2005-05-21T13:37:00.000Z

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

2005-05-21T13:34:00.000Z

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.

What to do About Copyright Infringment

2005-05-18T20:08:00.000Z

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!!!

Indexable Web Size

2005-05-17T20:57:00.000Z

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.

Search Engine Strategies 2005 Toronto

2005-05-08T17:35:00.000Z

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.

Casino Sparkle | Premier Online Gaming

2005-05-06T23:08:00.000Z

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!

How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site

2005-04-27T20:33:00.000Z

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.

Clicking To Steal - More PPC Problems

2005-04-17T14:47:00.000Z

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."