Web Technology Discussion Group

The meeting went well today.  I was with my daughters early this weekend so my mother, grandmother and aunt watched them while we had the meeting.  The meeting went well also, these are the things we mostly talked about.

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http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html?query= - Trellian Keyword suggestion search tool.  Shows alternative search terms and their popularity.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10233763-2.html - Wolfram Alpha is coming soon.  Sounds nice but eerily similar to AskJeeves.com

http://www.shutterfly.com - Use Shutterfly to print your digital photos.  This service offers photo gift items like mugs, mouse pads, postage stamps and many other things you can have your pictures printed on.

http://www.flickr.com - Upload your photos and tie into other sites for those who can tell a better story with photos.

http://www.office-addins.com/-outlook-addins/mapilab-toolbox.html - This is a great add-in for Microsoft Outlook but not Outlook Express.  There are 18 different utilities to make your contact management much easier.

http://www.coolarchive.com/buttonmaker.php - Create customized buttons for your blog or website.  Coolarchive.com offers many other things for free but there are many ads.

http://www.hashtags.org - Hash tags are an additional way to be found in a search on Twitter.  #followfriday seems like an interesting hash tag but I wasn’t able to tweet anything today since I was playing with my daughters.

http://www.fairshare.cc/fairshare/ - Make sure noone is using your copywrited material online.  There are like 500,000 works checked and 7,000,000+ copies of those original 500,000 registered.

http://twist.flaptor.com/ - A twitter search engine that shows trends.

http://tweetscan.com/ - Another twitter search engine but also that can send e-mail alerts.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748 - Greasemonkey Mozilla Firefox add-in to use java script to modify webpage display.  You still need scripts to run.

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/43451 - Greasemonkey script to show Twitter search results on the same page as Google search results when searching Google.

There will come a time when you need to edit the .html files on your website manually.  You might need to paste the Google Analytics codes on each page you want to track, etc…

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• Download FileZilla_3.2.3.1_win32-setup.exe from http://filezilla-project.org/download.php
• Open FileZilla_3.2.3.1_win32-setup.exe once downloaded.

• Single left-click the I Agree button.

• Anyone who uses the computer is already selected.
• Single left-click Next to continue.

• Select components to install:
• Single left-click Next to continue.

• Leave the Default folder and single left-click Next to continue.

• Leave the default Start Menu folder and single left-click Install to install the Filezilla client software.

• Single left-click Finish to continue.

Welcome to Filezilla 3.2.2.1

• Single left-click OK to continue.
• Filezilla should open.
• By default the FileZilla Client FTP software will check for updates on first run or single left-click Cancel to continue working with the version you have and postpone the update.
• Now you need to get the login information for the FTP server you would like the access.

One thing that can happen with a blog is that traffic from Google can drop off drastically.  I went from 2000 hits in one week to almost none the next because I didn’t keep new content coming.  I was forced to rely on the traffic generated by Digg and StumbleUpon.  It’s hard to say if Google traffic won’t drop off on older content even with new content since I couldn’t dedicate the time necessary to maintain the blogs properly.

You should have focus when blogging.  Keep the interest with quality content.  Ask yourself what would you write if the newspaper wanted your expertise, then start typing. Remember your target audience and try not to sell too hard.  Talk about what you know, if that happens to be how you make money then try and give good advice.  Build quality relationships with your readers.  Try to get feed subscriptions.

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A few Windows-based Twitter clients…

http://www.twhirl.org/ - Adobe Air based Twitter client.

http://www.tweetdeck.com/ - Adobe Air based Twitter client.

http://rareedge.com/twitteroo/ - .NET based Twitter client.

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Find out the average age and income from 10 popular social bookmarking sites like Digg and Propeller.

http://www.smmguru.com/2008/10/08/top-10-social-bookmarking-sites-complete-with-stats

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http://www.blogcarnival.com - A blog carnival is like a online magazine.  Submit articles based on subjects and themes.  There are deadlines for inclusion.  Get readers and find other relevant content.  You can even create your own.

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Paypal can be used for credit card processing and you get the money right away in an online account.  Google Checkout takes four to be deposited directly into your real bank account.  Both have their benefits.

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I want to thank Melissa from Thrive Assistants for sending me her notes.  We covered a lot in todays meeting.  I just included the main points in this post.

We had a new member and I want to thank all my regulars.  I’m glad it’s helping everyone.

I haven’t posted anything about the past two meetings because I didn’t have anyones notes but we talked about online reputation management and Twitter mostly.

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http://www.clickfire.com/tools/freeware/metty/ - Create meta tags for free.  We didn’t talk about this at the meeting but it might be helpful.  Consider it a blog bonus.

• Matt invited everyone to attend an open house from his networking group On October 1st at 7am at 111 Founders Plaza, 1st Floor, East Hartford, CT.

  • http://www.foundersnetworkinggroup.com

• Google 411 - 1-800-GOOG-441 is a FREE telephone information directory.

  • They are using it to collect voice information to get Google video searches functioning properly.

• Kevin discovered he had limits by setting his blogs up on wordpress.com. They don’t like advertising, the CSS editor is limited and additional plug-ins are not allowed.  Recommendations for greater control and customization are:

  • To initially setup your blog through your own website’s hosting company either manually or using Fantastico scripts.

  • Ninja Blog Setup will do it for you for free if you use their hosting affiliate links or…

  • Call a professional (like Matt) to do it for you.

• Add yourself to Google Local (http://www.google.com/local) and Yahoo Local (http://local.yahoo.com).

• Google Alerts – Set up to help you figure out keywords to use and to be sure you stay at the top for your search terms.

• Google Trends – Tells you popular search terms and possible blogging ideas.

• Blog topics – Blog about what you learn about is a good subject.

  • Create a trail back to your sites. Respond to other people’s blogs and make sure that you put a signature/link to your website or blog in your comment.

  • Reference others when you pull from other blogs or content on the web.

• WordTracker - (Cost $59/month) but you can try it free for 30 days.

  • Wordtracker Free Keyword Tool - Free Online Tool

  • Wordtracker Keyword Research Guide - Free Download

• Google also does something similar to WordTracker for free. (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal)

• Check out what the competition is doing with their keywords at http://www.iwebtoolcom/keyword_density using this free keyword density checker.  This is also good to find out where your keywords are at.  The larger words are the keywords that appear more often.

• Put your physical address and contact info in text at the footer of all your web pages and it will help optimize searches especially for local businesses.

• Make changes on your website regularly.

  • Search engines will move you up because there is a change and it’s fresh

  • People who visit your site appreciate when there is updated information and information is not static or outdated.

  • Frequently updating the News page on your website can help keep you current.

• Search for free product and niche search submission sites. Find different sites to put your links on….example Kevin gave was http://www.iliketotallyloveit.com

• Amazon.com - Apply to become an Amazon Associate.  Find affiliate links to many different things.  Become your own affiliate when you buy anything from Amazon as well.  Also setup an Amazon store if you have product to sell.

• Search Google for coupon codes when making online purchases when you see that option on the checkout screen.

• Commission Junction once again for advertising.

• Everyone is encouraged to print out how their website is doing at www.websitegrader.com and bring it with them next meeting.

I would like to thank our virtual assistant, Melissa, for typing her notes for me so I can create a more complete blog post of our conversations.  Thank you

Also I would like to thank Joyce, a marketing professional, for taking a group photo.  You can find that photo on the About page.

We talked again about Google Analytics and how it might be effectively used to gauge interest or target more specific audiences.  We also looked at some of the tracking options and information that Google Analytics has to offer.  There was not an expert on the subject present so we decided that having the information tracked is the most important thing, right now, until a decent amount of data builds.  Adding the Google Analytics code is a simple copy and paste operation added to the end of each web page you wish to track.  Also some familiarity with FTP software would also help with making these changes.

We then talked about Yahoo Groups. Mostly about how to sign up and what to do with them.  The best way to find possible groups to join is to search for your state, search for you business type and also search for your interests/hobbies to join relevant groups.  There are many alumni groups and corporate groups as well. Search for whatever suits you and your past while looking into the future by joining groups pertaining to subjects you wish to learn more about.  Be sure to ask questions and also help when you can.  It is wise to protect you primary e-mail address when posting to Yahoo Groups as you will pick up spammers along the way while participating in these groups.

We talked about calendering sites like Google Calendar and Airset and if those would help for site with business promotion.  These sites work well when you have mobile employee or virtual employees to avoid scheduling conflicts but not so much for promotional means.  It is a lot easier than sharing a Microsoft Outlook calendar across the Internet to say the least but in most cases you probably wouldn’t want your clients seeing your entire schedule.  A site like Socialzr can help with scheduling events for clients and colleagues.

• AdSense - Get paid for visitors clicking on add links from your site but doesn’t easily work when hosted on Wordpress.com.

• AdWords - Pay Google to get people to your site (you get paid if they click through)

• Check out Commission Junction for a multitude of graphical and text-based affiliate links.

  • (for instance these GoToMyPC links are affiliate links but I only get paid if you give them your credit card number)
    

  • Commission Junction provides GoToMyPC affiliate links and more to add to your site.

  • If someone tries GoToMyPC and then cancel, Commission Junction pays me $10.

  • If they buy GoToMyPC and keep it for 2 months, Commission Junction pays me $45.

• Naymz is a real nice site.  There are many people from LinkedIn on Naymz as well.  Naymz is based on a score.  The more ways you can verify your indentity yourself, the higher your rep score is.

• Twitter is used for one liners to your social networking sites.  Announce a new sale item or post a joke… that it is for people who are at their computers entirely too much seems to be the consensus.  If that is your target audience then twit away.  Basically Twitter connects their information to other social websites when you post on Twitter.

• Expert Exchange - not a fan.  Why pay when you can get answers for free from other forums.

An RSS feed is a type of web feed.  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  In a way it’s like the Associated Press.  One person writes an article, let’s call him the blogger. The bloggers article is then sent to the Associated Press for syndication, or in this case to an RSS feed.  The newspapers that are interested in the story re-print the original article.  Think of other bloggers as the newpapers and the RSS system as the Associated Press.  You submit an article via RSS to a busy blogger or reader who has subscribed so they can read what you have to say.  Now if they like what they read, maybe they will link/repost your article on their website, possibly save it to del.icio.us or pingback/trackback to their blog.  Maybe the subscriber will buy something from you if your posts are about something you are selling.  The latest this or the latest that.  By subscribing to your feed they are demonstrating a willingness to hear what you have to say.  So don’t waste RSS subscribers time with fluff since they are a great potential client.

Using RSS feeds is really simple with the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.  Mozilla Firefox 3.0.1 will show the RSS button at the end of the address bar. It looks like an orange square with three parentheses pointing up and to the right. Single left-click on that orange button to bring up the subscription window.  I choose Google from the drop-down list and the selected feed is automatically added in a section of my iGoogle home page.

I use iGoogle to view my feeds, I only track a few.  Google also offers the Google Reader application that provides even more functionality for tracking many RSS feeds.

RSS feeds can be used by businesses for many things.  A pastor may podcast his sermons and by using RSS feeds so he can distribute the podcasts automatically to his parishioners instead of using more traditional methods such as e-mail or a phone call.

A website designer might use RSS feeds to let people know about his latest design accomplishments.  A non-profit organization might use an RSS feed so the people donating money can easily see where the money is going or be notified of upcoming events, without spending money on e-mail campaigns.  Anything newsworthy or unique is a prime candidate for RSS technology.

A share holder might even use an RSS feed to monitor the blog of the companies he has a stake in. A sports fan might want the latest information about a certain team or just scores and highlights.  RSS feeds provide customized content delivery to your desktop.  You don’t have to search manually, you can setup an RSS feed on a search term as well.  If you want to make sure noone is using your business name or imposing on your brand, setup an RSS feed to monitor yourself based on selected search terms.

The easiest way to start an RSS feed is to start a blog.  Fantastico can be used to add a WordPress blog to a website.  Check the control panel on your hosting providers website to see if the Fantastico option is available.

Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox for receiving RSS feeds?  Mozilla Firefox is far easier to setup and use for inbound RSS feeds.

WordPress or Blogger?  We techie guys went with WordPress.  WordPress gives me results from Google quickly. It generally takes less than an hour before I start getting search hits from Google each time I post an article.

Frequent updates to your blog help a lot to keep the Google search hits coming.  It doesn’t always have to be an essay.

We talked some more about MyBlogLog and began to look online at MyBlogLog communities to join related to what our own blogs are about.  MyBlogLog is a great way to find other people with similar interests and related blogs.

del.icio.us is a great way to organize your favorites and bookmarks so you can share them with other people.  You can add your del.icio.us account links to your blogs and social networking sites by using widgets. The tags are used to help del.icio.us users to find the information they are seeking.  Tags are slightly different than keywords in that there are times when people are browsing del.icio.us and not searching.  The tags help guide del.icio.us users to the sites and other users that share similar interests. Keywords are used more for search engine searches.  Tags are set manually.  Keywords are found.

A signature file is a powerful e-mail based tool to get more visitors and business.  Your custom signature file can be set to automatically insert each time you send an e-mail.  You can use your signature file to reach people you already know with links to your blog or LinkedIn.  Add HTML code snippets to your signature file to make it real fancy.  The LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar for Microsoft Outlook has a real nice signature generator if you need help creating one.

dmoz.org is a pain in the butt. It’s that simple but don’t give up.

We covered a lot today.  It was a great meeting. Thank you to all that attended.

When it comes to starting a blog…

• Your blog won’t be popular without a lot of quality content (one hit wonders don’t succeed at blogging.)

• Write about something you are passionate about (it will show.)

• It helps your ranking to link obscure words and lingo to a wiki page or some other respected informational site.  Try not to link to your competition though.

• Take full advantage of picture tags and captions.  Google likes to see keywords in those places too.

• Decide what action you want your visitors to take (buy something, subscribe to RSS feed, visit your website, click an ad…)

• If readers are to click an ad, how will you integrate the ads? (text ads (AdSense), in-text ads (Kontera, VibrantMedia) , pay-per-click (AdSense), pay-per-transaction (Commission Junction) or maybe just ads to your own site/products…)

• Are you going to host the blog on your web server and integrate directly the blog format into an existing page on your website site (the usual way for blogs without ads, just bring them to the site directly to read the content) or leave it separate from your actual business web page (the usual method for blogs with ads).

http://www.mybloglog.com/ is a good place to start getting involved in the blogging community.  Join other users communities and add contacts to people with similar interests.  To me the best blog readers are other bloggers.  They will help spread the word if you post interesting articles.

http://www.technorati.com is a blog search engine.  You should eventually be listed in here as your readership expands.  Technorati basically ranks your blog based on how many different blogs link to your posts.  The more appealing, unique and interesting your posts are –> the more different people link to you –> the higher your authority.  Don’t expect much from this site in the beginning.  Getting people to respect you online is a difficult thing and it takes time and effort.

http://www.socializr.com/ is the site I am going to use to track the meetings & attendees for our discussion group.  Please join this site so you can RSVP for the meetings.

http://www.talkshoe.com/ is a site to host & record Podcasts over the phone.  Another similar site is http://www.gcast.com/. Both are a great way to get started with Podcasting for those that loathe typing as much as I do.  The problem with Podcasting is that Google doesn’t search voice recordings.  You don’t get the same exposure as with a blog.

Finally we talked a little about LinkedIn.  A few attendees have gotten business through LinkedIn.  I use Yahoo Groups to meet people from LinkedIn.  The link to the LinkedIn forum search is this:
http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=linkedin

If you want a jump start on meeting people through LinkedIn then I suggest joining MyVirtualPowerForum and introducing yourself to that group.  It’s 4th or 5th in the search list.  This Yahoo group was founded and is moderated by a local Hartford resident.  He is very nice.  Vincent can also open doors online and help make connections if properly motivated.
Some of the other groups are spammish and some are heavily moderated to keep the spammers out.  You can expect the amount of e-mails you receive to go up from joining a group such as MyVirtualPowerForum but you have access to the brains of many helpful business people should you need assistance one day.  You can learn alot by just lurking but the real benefit of the forums is quick access to answers when you need them.  I have made more money from my involvement with Vincent’s group than with any features or services LinkedIn offers.  They do go together though.  MyVirtualPowerForum has changed the way I view and use LinkedIn.

Today we mostly talked about http://www.dmoz.org, besides finding out where people feel they are with their online presence.  The Hartford Business Journal and my consulting website, KAndle Consulting, are the only two sites I found listed in the dmoz.org listings from the people that responded to my invitations.  dmoz.org listing information affects Google and almost every other search engine.  Some search engines rely solely on this site for search results.  If you aren’t on dmoz.org, you generally aren’t listed on these other search engines either.  The link to find out what search engines use this info is here:

• http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/Open_Directory_Project/Sites_Using_ODP_Data/full-index.html

You will need to get added to dmoz.org to provide maximum visibility for your websites.  It is a manual process and subject to human error.  Each category has a volunteer that maintains those listings.  It can take months to see the changes after submitting and at least as long for your site to even be listed in the first place.

It will also help to prepare at least a 250 character site description for listing on this and many other sites.  dmoz.org policy states 25-30 words. If you can fit 250 characters in less than 30 words, that would be the most reusable description you can write or have someone else write for you.  It can also help to have someone else look at your site and write the description and compare that to yours.  Sometimes, for me, it can be hard to simplify things about myself or my business.  You need to do that online if you want to reach the largest audience.  Please read this Wiki on the Functionally Illiterate:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_illiteracy

I have heard the numbers are as high as 70% of the online population from all over the world.  Many of these people cannot effectively scan a web page from top to bottom.  They have to stop and read each and every word, one line at a time.  This is why videos & pop-up ads are so effective.  You have only a few seconds, if that, to grab someone’s attention.

The instructions to add your site are here:

• http://www.dmoz.org/add.html