Go Go Google Gadgets

Over this past week, I tweaked my Web site, to make it more user friendly. For those who prefer to read my blog on my site, I added Home, Blog, Last, and Next tabs. The last and next tabs will allow you to search my blogs with more ease. I also added new links on the links page, fixed a couple of broken links, made a few edits, and added widgets.

On my homepage, I added a customized search engine. The result will give you results from Web sites I consider the most authoritative, like SEOChat, SEOBook, W3C, and others. In the results page, you can default the search engine to search the entire web.

At the bottom of the SERP, you can get more specific. For example, out of the 15 million plus hits, if you want to search for which of those hits contain information about Web 3.0, you can. Of course, you can narrow it down with more keywords from there.

Back to my Web site, below the search bar, I added a button for people who want updates about my Web site to appear on their iGoogle page. I just noticed that when I try to add the update feature to my iGoogle page, I receive an “Error Parsing Module” box. I’ll put my search skills to work to resolve this issue. Until then, let me know if you’d rather have some sort of RSS feed or e-mail updates.

In the “Social Networking” section of my site, I added another search gadget. At the top of this gadget, which features various social networking sites icons, you can enter a keyword and it will give you a few advertisements. Not many. Though, each of the icons in the gadget is a live link to those social networking sites. At the top of this gadget, below the search bar, there are three links: Home, Custom My iPage, and More Social. Only the Home link on my browser works, but you can find links to other social networking sites there, as well as you can change your language. The custom My iPage link works there, but it costs $14.99 to do so.

In the SEO Articles page, which links from the SEO Services tab, I added three widgets. The first is the a box that shows users the Google top 10 searches. At the bottom, right corner of that gadget you can click on “See more hot searches,” and it will take you to an AOL page. If you click the “Copy Me” feature, at the top right corner, the icon will flip and you can add this feature to one of your social networks. Next to that is a world map. If you hold your mouse over the map, names of various countries and major cities will appear. If you want to know what’s going on in those places, you can click on the highlighted location, and it will bring you to that areas news web site. At the bottom of this page there are Google ads. To the right of this feature, there is a feature that gives you all of the latest news about social networking sites. There’s not much to this feature, other than that it will give you news straight from Financial World. On my Contacts page, there is a calendar, which corresponds to iGoogle calendars. There is nothing to exciting about this widget. That’s it for the widgets.

You can add these widgets via iGoogle or the creators’ Web sites. There are thousand of widgets. I might add a couple of more, but I want them to be relevant to your search through my site. Let me know if there is a widget that might make your visit to my site more usable.

Increasing your Web site's SERP

Today, I am going to give you five tips to improve your site via Google’s Pagerank algorythm. Of course, there are other Web spiders and MetaCrawlers; however, since Google is the cream of the crop, I am going to focus on them.

1. Determine Your Audience: I recently heard a podcast host advise that entrepreneurs determine what their audience needs, then create a product around that, rather than creating a product and trying to find an audience. Writing SEO content is like digging virtual ditches.

When Walt Disney envisioned Disney Land, he found ditch diggers. One of his problems was the river beds that enriched citrus groves but made it difficult to build an amusement park. He found ditch diggers who could dig deep enough to reach a solid foundation. Writing SEO content is like digging ditches for Web sites.

2. Determine Your Competition: Everyone has competition, whether anyone likes it or not. The easiest way to do this is to type in your zip code into Google, which will lead you to a Google map of your area; then, type in keywords that relate to you business (i.e. SEO Content, Soy Milk, or other). Those businesses that appear in the SERP are your competition.

3. Decide on Keywords: After you determine who your competition is, peruse their Web sites, write down the keywords they use, and use those that are common to all of those keywords.

4. Name Your Site: Make it relevant to the services you offer. If you sell Beanie Babies, give your Web site a name that reflects that, so Google knows how to categorize your site.

I need to qualify my decision to name my site erickpettersen.com and not something like SEOErick.com. I am an attention monger. What brought you to this blog? Well, you either follow me (officially or unofficially), you typed in the keywords “San Diego” and “SEO Conent,” or other. Point being, I am a writer, and SEO content is one of my products. I am the product I market. Since I don’t have the time or money for multiple sites, I use my name because people know my name. Or at least I want people to know my name.

5. Treat Google like Yoda: Google consists of a wealth of information, not just by typing in miscellaneous keywords, but also by typing in the keyword ‘Google.’ If you type ‘Google’ into Google, it will give you a list of sub topics.

Search through some of the more than 2 bil results, or look at the suggested searches at the bottom of the page. However, you conduct your search, Google consists of various ways to help Web masters improve their sites and their sites ranking.


Now, I am going to listen to my advice and work on my site. This blog is one of the highest ranked SEO content blogs in San Diego, so it's time to get my web site higher in the ranking.

If you need to do some research on your competition, focus on your keywords, etc., but don’t have the time, write me an e-mail. I can help you with your keyword density and help you to create a search engine friendly Web site. I will be sure to work with you to deliver the best content services for your Web site's needs.


Until next week,

Erick

Web 3.0 and Planetary Skin

Last week I published an article I wrote to my web site that explains in detail how Web 3.0 will work, as well as the global impact that will result from Web 3.0.  This morning, I found a great video that explains an innovative concept called “Planetary Skin.”  The best explanation between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 is that Web 2.0 is a bunch of silos of information.  Web 3.0 will be interconnected, so silos share that information. 

Right now, users can go from one silo to the next; though, in the recent past, if users want to imbed a map into an e-mail, they had to go from their Yahoo or other e-mail account, copy a HTML snippet from google maps, and imbed it back into their e-mail.  Web 3.0 will integrate information, so that rather than having to go from one silo to the next and carrying information from one place to the next, information will flow between silos. 

Planetary Skin, a brain child of Cisco and NASA, will address the issue of climate change by monitoring global climate conditions with satellites and other geo metric tracking devices.  The beta launch of Planetary Skin will focus on the tropical rain forests, in an attempt to get a feel for how agencies and the public respond to the project.  In the near future, Planetary Skin will gather information about climate change, and it will make that information available to various agencies and the public.

For information about the global impact of Web 3.0, I encourage you to read my article.  For anyone who would like to include it on their web site, company newsletter, or other, please contact me.  It is available for a nominal fee.

 

Until next week,

Erick

The Past, Present, and Future of SEO Content

            So, before I get into my topic this week, I will mention that last week’s blog did well.  Of course, that leads me to assume that my followers like videos, so I will make sure to attach more videos to my blogs in the future. 

Today, I am going to compare the past and present of SEO content; then, I am going to give my predictions of the future of SEO content.  First let’s set down some ground rules: My SEO content predictions are predictions.  Sure, I predicted that the missing piece to the Lakers’ dominating the NBA was a tall, lanky Center.  I also thought of the adaptation of cordless power systems that would work with televisions and other devices way before Intel did.  Okay, not way before, but at least before I read that they were working on the invention that my friends and family laughed at me for thinking would be a good idea.  So, again, while my predictions of the future of SEO content are not verifiable data, I notice patterns.  Second ground rule: Please, feel free to disagree.  Your input and thoughts are always welcome.  Be warned that while I am willing to listen, I am confident in my opinion.  Okay, that’s it.  Now onto the history, present, and future of SEO content.

SEO content became a viable web marketing tool in the mid-90’s, when web masters began to notice that their SEO content helped them achieve higher Google rankings called SERP.  From SEO content arose white and black hat SEO.  Since I cannot assume that everyone reading my blog understands the difference, black hat SEO content is what happens when you go to Youtube, plug in the keywords ‘Barack Obama,’ and somehow end up watching a video on a 9/11 conspiracy theory.  White hat SEO content is just the opposite.  In order to counteract black SEO content, search engines started to rely less on keywords attached to metatags on Web sites’ HTML pages and more on ranking pages according to the number of web sites that linked into that Web site.  Of course, web masters caught on and developed link farms—groups of web sites that link into each other—in response to Inktomi. 

Larry Page and Sergey Brin responded to this crisis by developing Google, which categorized Web sites rankings’ according to the value of Web sites that linked into it, using an algorithmic system called PageRank patented by Google.  PageRank defined the difference between the way search engines like Inktomi and Google ranked pages. 

Over the years, black hat SEO content writers  and search engines, such as Google, have dueled with one another.  Black hat SEO content writers continue to try to manipulate search algorithms, while search engines continue to weed out Web sites that participate in link farms and other devious ranking practices, like the U.S. military tries to weed out the Taliban from countless caves in Afghanistan. 

In response to link farms, Webrings—white hat versions of link farms—became more and more popular.  Webrings consist of a central Web site that hosted a collection of partnering Web sites.  Each partnering Web site shows a navigation bar at the top of its Web site, so that when users click on it they go to the next Web site in the ring.

Between black and white hat SEO content writers, who battle over SERP position, and search engines that act as the battlefields, one can only assume that just as search engines’ algorithms have become more specialized, the pattern will continue. 

In a recent blog, by Dean Giustini, that compared Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, Giustini implied that PageRank would have no place in the future internet.  Of course, within the blog, Giustini only gave a list of variables, so I don’t want to read too much into his predictions.  I am sure he knows much more about this stuff than I do, but I am going to disagree with him on this one.

According to Cubestat, Google’s estimated value is more than 2 bil, so it would make good business sense for Berner’s-Lee, and other creators of Web 3.0, to want to keep Google around.  Among other reasons for Web 3.0, which will ultimately take steps toward federalizing various agencies, its intent is to create a more user friendly experience.  For practical examples, please take a look at my blog from last week.  Giustini’s blog compares defining factors of Web 2.0  to defining factor of Web 3.0 such as the evolution of “Ontologies, semantic systems.”  As I said, I don’t want to read too much into his blog, and I am not say that search engines won’t use Ontological algoryhtms; though, according to a holistic view of the list Giustini seemed to compare the dying of Web 2.0 to the evolution of Web 3.0. 

Within Giustini’s list, he seems to predict that Semantic web companies will replace Google as a “catalyst” in creating a more user-friendly web experience.  While I invite Giustini to further clarify (or take back) his point, I would like to remind him that Coca-Cola started at as a simple Tonic; though, over time, through cultural adaptation, it became one of the most popular soft drinks and cultural symbols in the world.  My point?  Google is a 2$ bil company, semantic-web.at holds a value of just over $7,000 (see Cubestat), I think Google will find its place in Web 3.0.

So, here’s the bottom line—Web 3.0 is like the web version of the United Nations.  It is more than just a bunch of Web sites joining web rings like cowboys join posses; it is everything from Twitter to Pattie Maes’ “Sixth Sense” to Gov 2.0 to more. 

In the world of Web 3.0, I predict that just as Google will find its place, SEO content will continue to be a viable form of increasing page rankings.  In response to the mess of Web 2.0, Berners’-Lee developed such organizations as the Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences (HCLS) Interests Group.  This group and other groups like it will continue to need SEO content writers; though, the content they write will consist of a web syntax called RDF.  I predict that in this federalized version of the Web, writing SEO content will become more of a specialized field.  I predict that these organizations that join groups like the HCLS won’t want to give out their RDF codes to just anyone, so they’ll require some sort of security clearance before they hire SEO content writers.

In the world of Web 3.0, some web masters will continue to rely on Craigslist to find SEO content writers, and the battle between white and black hat SEO content will continue; though, those who rely on sites like Craigslist will be left in the world of Web 2.0 like Will Smith was left in Manhattan in a cheesy movie about humans that turn into vampires. 

I do not foresee the ultimate collapse of Google or the eradication of SEO content.  I foresee that as Web 3.0 becomes more federalized, Google will take on a more ontological feel, SEO content writing will become a more specialized field, and black hat SEO content writers will find new ways to weasel into the world of Web 3.0.

Come back next week for my blog on the uprising of World Wide Web War I.  Okay, that was a joke.  I’ll leave that prediction to anyone who believe robots will take over the world.  Until next week, please visit my Web site and feel free to comment on this blog.