Web Gamblings Galore

Indulge me for a moment.

Forget that Google is a search engine. Just for a moment, imagine it is a style guide. A very different kind of style guide.

Instead of this particular style guide being written as a static book by an expert or two, it is written by studying the searching and browsing habits of hundreds of millions of web users.

Get the idea? Not a search engine. A style guide. A constantly evolving style guide that works from its insights into how people use and read web sites.

A style guide that puts the visitor first, puts their needs ahead of the academic opinions of experts.

A style guide that automatically rewards sites that serve their readers the best.

If we study Google not as a search engine, but as a style guide, what does it tell us about how we should write our web pages?

>> 1. Make the subject of each page absolutely clear.

As visitors arrive at your site, regardless of the entry page, the first question in their minds is, “Am I in the right place? Will I find what I want here? Can I achieve what I want to achieve here?”

Fortunately, the web page format gives us a title, headlines, first paragraphs and subheads we can use. So it makes sense to use them to make it abundantly clear to our visitors what the page is about.

We’ll do this for our visitors. But, because doing so helps our visitors, Google will reward us.

>> 2. Make your home page short text clear

First-time visitors to your home page are unlikely to be able to achieve their objective through that page alone. So you need to write short text that will quickly and clearly let them know if you have what they want deeper in your site, and how to get there.

This means using the right words in your headings, subheads and short descriptions. It means anticipating the words and phrases most visitors will have in their minds and will scan for. It means understanding which words and phrases best correspond to your visitors’ needs.

Write these headings and short descriptions with your readers in mind and, once again, Google will reward you.

>> 3. Make your text links relevant and descriptive

A text link that says, “More…” or “Click here” or “Learn More…” tells the reader nothing about the destination page.

Visitors scan your text links in the same way as they scan headings, subheads and short text. So provide them with clues. If you have an interior page about a weight-loss hypnosis service, write a link that says something like, “More on weight-loss hypnosis”.

Do this and you’ll be helping your readers a great deal. And yes, Google will reward you for your efforts.

>> Concluding thoughts…

By all means use a traditional style guide. They are great for getting your grammar right and choosing the right words. That said, many of them conflict in their recommendations as to the correct online terms. To some, a web site is a web site, to others it’s a website.

But back to Google as a style guide for a moment. This whole exercise, this make-believe about Google being a digital, interactive style guide is all about the importance of writing for your readers.

Yes, what I have been talking about it using the correct keywords and phrases in the appropriate places.

However, too many people write their pages with Google as the primary audience. I think that’s the wrong approach. You get a clunky text flow that, intuitively, feels wrong to the reader.

Instead, write with a clear understanding of what your readers need. Do this and you’ll find that the best keywords fall into the right places with an appropriate frequency.

And Google will reward you.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You can access all his newsletter articles on writing for the web at his http://www.ExcessVoice.com site. You’ll find articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at http://www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

That’s right, you go through all the trouble of making your house or apartment nicer by hauling yourself off to the local fix it yourself store or hiring some professionals to come in and do it for you, so why not capture an accurate record of it for posterity. At almost no cost I might add.

Grab your digital camera and start snapping images of your place before the project begins. Hey I even documented my wife buried in catalogs, magazines, plans and books on the couch as she researched our kitchen remodel. She did not like the shot but in the end I think she will look back on it and laugh. After the bills have been paid I might add.

Yes we are in the middle of a major kitchen remodel. Imagine taking your old semi-functional kitchen, stripping it down to the studs, knocking out a wall or two and then starting over. That is what we are immersed in these days. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to be nothing but positive about the process no matter how painful it gets. So to that end I decided to start taking pictures everyday of the progress. Well almost everyday as there are days when no progress is made. It helps me keep my sense of humor and it has also given me a better perspective on the project that has allowed me to give my wife input on direction that might otherwise not been received too well if you know what I mean.

It all started with the excavation of the new addition off the back of the house. The contractor started with digging for the new foundation, and stripping off the faade of the back of the house. While there was a bunch of activity on the outside of the house I even set up my DV video camera and shot time lapse video of all the carpentry and digging that was going on during a two hour period. It made for a fun video.

Now I work out of my office in the house so when construction began it was an earful for sure. My wife works at a local hospital so she was lucky enough to miss the din each day, although she gets an earful at work from time to time. I am able to set a timer in my day to wander up in the back of the house and take the days images. I try to find a new detail of the construction to capture each day. My favorite day, although it was the loudest by far, was the day of demolition. My contractor brought in this delightful crew of guys who hail from Russia originally. They whacked and crashed my old kitchen to pieces all the while chatting each other up in Russian. They were efficient and fun guys who tore it up in record time and created a mountain of trash out back. I documented mount trashmore with my dog standing proudly on top with a quizzical look on his face.

Of course one could say that I am protecting myself against problems with the construction and you would be right on some level. But that is not truly why I am doing it. I really want to be able to assemble a full documentation of this process that I can look at down the road when we are fully enjoying our great new kitchen.

Kevin Rockwell is a life long photographer and digital camera convert. He has spent his whole adult life taking pictures and now spends his time shooting sports images, training soccer players, and writing about digital cameras. The Flash Times is filled with tips, news, and information about digital cameras. Visit http://www.great-digital-cameras.com/digi-cam-join.html to sign up today for this monthly newsletter.

One way to increase the cost of your home is to update the kitchen. Don’t expect that you have to completely change the kitchen either. Just replacing your old appliances can have this effect.

Regardless of their similar look, fridges have gone through many technological improvements in the last four decades. As well as using less electricity, new white goods tend to have some new extra features that make them even more convenient. The new fashion in refrigerators is to have them tucked away. Cupboard fronts are often added to a refrigerator to effectively hide your white goods. Some also have wine racks among other extras to ensure you can store whatever you like with ease.

Dishwashers sometimes also come in a drawer design and can have a cabinet front to disguise them. Moreover, there’s good news for the eco-friendly: Because of new developments virtually all kitchen appliances are more often than not quicker and increasingly more environmentally friendly nowadays. There is nothing that restricts you to only one dishwasher. Some larger families have now bought a second one. These families like to be able to put dirty dishes in one as the other is cleaning. If you enjoy keeping crockery separate from your best glasses then this should be the way to go.

It isn’t only washing machines and fridges that have undergone a makeover, cabinetry has as well. Designs that were probably a favorite of your grandparents have made a strong return. Lightly coated cherry is fast taking the place of oak as the most fashionable style of counter. Another popular choice in cabinet wood is maple. You shouldn’t have to bring in professional help to infuse some life into your home when simply replacing the kitchen equipment will do the job equally well. With so many ideas out there on the internet and on TV, digging out something you like is easy peasy. In redesigning your kitchen, only your imagination is your limit. Anyone can have that fashionable kitchen with minimal effort.

As a title-holder you doubtless exploit electricity in order to power many different types of things in and also adjacent to your own house. Whilst warming the dwelling tends to be the home’s greatest expense in terms of energy usage, your own homes’ monthly gas charge will also contain things like TVs and cookers which are powered by electricity as well. Below, you will discover quite a few proven tips for saving electricity – and, in addition, money; get into the habit of following them and you could possibly be impressed by the magnitude of your reward in your family’s next regular bill.

When a house isn’t insulated well, energy can escape out. As you most likely are not keen on the idea of heating the immediate surrounding areas, invest in high-quality insulation & get it fitted in by a reputable company. This might have a very positive outcome on your family’s electricity price each time you receive it.

Fill in breaks in walls and so on. Heat also regularly escapes from little cracks and also gaps 1 windows, doors, ducts and pipes. Exploit caulk or weather stripping so that you can cover up and cram both in these cracks; less heat will escape, and you’ll use a lot less gas or electricity each month.

Turn down the thermostat. In profoundly cold days, it’s attractive to turn your heating way up. Then again, you will consider this a luxury once your home energy bill arrives in the post. Keep your thermostat close to 48C so that you don’t end up wit a higher bill than you might otherwise have done.

Set your hot water as low as possible Leaving the boiler’s hot water extremely hot can be a pricey thing to do. Leave your hot water around 48C so that you don’t have to pay too much for electricity tariffs.

Put more on. If it’s the case that you’re outstandingly chilly, don’t set up the thermostat; instead, cover yourself in some warm clothes. You could even put a coat on, if needed. Many energy suppliers offer products designed to aid home energy efficiency.

Conserve energy, when washing clothes and dishes. Dishwashers and tumble dryers often rely on gas for their heat. Consistently clean full set of clothes and crockery in order that you use these energy-hungry appliances less frequently. Use outside washing lines as frequently as possible. Set your washing machines to use more chill water & do not Exploit any drying functions.

Invest in eco-friendly appliances. If it’s been a while since you’ve bought a new dishwasher, water heater, tumble dryer or other major appliance; you should know that newer models are much more energy economical. Though it might be the case that you might spend a higher price to buy them, they certainly will reduce your own energy tariff over the long haul.

Contact your own gas or electricity supplier. Various utilities businesses now offer their customers further info around saving gas, so it may be worth contacting them & seeing whether they could provide either complementary promotional information or appliance so that you can in order to improve your family’s effectiveness.

Contrary to the claims of high-priced SEO firms, optimizing your
web site for search engines is not brain surgery. But you
must first accept the fact that “spiders” – the search engine
programs that read web pages – run away from non-HTML code.
This is why the first thing any SEO expert does – before
researching keywords or rewriting your copy – is look at your
web site code.

If your web pages are full of Javascript, graphical navigation
buttons, Flash animation, and other glitzy stuff, your odds
of ranking high in the search engines sink like a stone.
The spiders may never even find your site, let alone start
adding your pages to their search results.

You say you just can’t give up those cool Javascript menus
or that glitzy Flash intro? Then be prepared to get shunned
by the search engines. Spiders are good at only two things:
reading basic HTML and finding text. If your sites throw
obstacles in their path, resign yourself to obscurity
- and poverty!

The most important SEO secret you will ever grasp is
incredibly simple. Your web site must be built so spiders
can read your text. The text is where the gold is.
This means no Flash animations. Your HTML must be plain
and clean. Your graphics must be kept to a minimum.
And links should always be text – not Javascript buttons
or drop-down menus.

Millions of dollars are wasted trying to outfox the
search engines. People everywhere scramble from gimmick to
gimmick to be #1 for a general search term like “weight loss.”
Sometimes they even manage to do it – for about 10 minutes.
Then one little tweak by Google … and they’re back to #8,734.

The lesson? Neither you, nor any analytical tool,
nor any automatic site submission service, nor any SEO guru,
can manipulate Google for long! Google employs too many
brilliant engineers. Their minds collectively focus on one
task – to make Google results as relevant as possible.
These people invent Google’s algorithm – a mathematical formula
that decides your rank.

The algorithm is impartial. The algorithm is complex.
The algorithm – not a human being – decides your page rank.
Given the millions of web sites on “weight loss,”
your odds of outsmarting the algorithm to get a #1 spot
are ludicrously small. So instead of spending money on
SEO gimmicks, invest in educating yourself so you can work
harmoniously WITH the search engines.

Instead of trying to manipulate the search engines, build a site
that doesn’t FIGHT them. Avoid questionable gimmicks, but
embrace search engine friendly techniques to get yourself ranked
high for almost any keyword you wish. For more information
visit
DominateSearchEngines.
Focus on strategies that help you save time, add real value
to your site, and are designed to work hand in hand with
the search engines.

Don’t try to outsmart the search engines. Work WITH them,
not against them.

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Kusuma Widjaja is President of Yahoo Cyber Technology, CV., based in Surabaya. He has over 2 years experience in Internet Marketing Arena, Custom Web Site Design and Graphic Design Services. For more information go to http://www.whycity.net or you can reach us at +62-8315-838474.

Nobody typically likes to contemplate what could happen if he or she passed away. When people perish, it is not just a tremendous emotional difficulty, but furthermore it will probably be a dreadful economic hardship to family that you leave behind. It is important to have life cover which renders financial reparation that will be valuable in the event of your inopportune death. Indeed, life cover is critically important for a variety of reasons.

In a time of economic struggle, it can be much more difficult for your spouse and children to pay for the funeral charges, which are usually rather expensive, out of their own pockets. Possessing a life assurance policy will assist to cover the funeral charges with the intention that the burial expenses will not become a substantial burden to your family.

If your family is dependent on your monetary income to re-pay the mortgage on a newly purchased family home or condo, if you died, your loved ones would be in jeopardy of becoming homeless if they cannot manage to re-pay the bank. Therefore, it is imperative to have life cover in order that your successors may be in possession of sufficient finances to retain a property to live in the chance of your death. Addition to loan or rental repayments are the costs of daily living; groceries, attire, travel and any other daily living expense. A number of providers of online life insurance, which makes for easy research and the comparison of differing costs and levels of cover.

Covering college costs is something that one would generally do for their offspring if you were alive. However, if you perished, there would not be anyone to provide assistance for university tutelage costs. Life assurance would normally cover these fees in the event of one’s passing and would commonly guarantee your kids’ tertiary learning.

It is important to know that life insurance is truly vital for varied reasons. It’s a fundamentally important consideration that should not be put off for another day. Explore your various options for the various sorts of life assurance and the extent of cover the different insurance providers grant in an effort to make a wise selection. Death is something that no one can foresee. Therefore, it is critical to be ready in any circumstance. Assure your loved ones in the unimaginable occurrence of your inopportune death, by assuring that you possess ample life assurance coverage.

The weather has cooled, the days are getting shorter and an additional schedule of international fashion shows has fallen down on the world’s style capitals, from trendy New York to urban London. Yup, October is surely here, and like always, we have our trend seeking fingers on the proverbial pulse of designer fashion’s beating heart. With our choice of London and global clothing designers spanning from the outstanding iconic fashion houses (Lanvin, Balenciaga) to the trendiest names (Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney) to the red-hot ones to keep an eye on (Christopher Kane, Erdem), it’s no big surprise the British elite constantly tell admirers that they don’t buy designer clothes anywhere other than Matches!

This Autumn season catwalk fashion is boldly tailored, and we are in love with some of autumn’s awesome statement-making trends. Christopher Kane’s fiercely cool animal printed tops have been snapped up by the fashion pack, gracing front rows and the fashion pages of newspapers alike. The Kane tops are the loving partner to another key trend at the moment – leggings – yes, this is the best time to flash those gorgeous limbs, and Freda, Sykes and of course Les Chiffoniers have all manufactured some mega-sleek, stunning pairs. For the fashion fever in you, there are thigh-high boots – these boots are the trend of the season; beloved fashion designer Stella McCartney’s version are black, dramatic and utterly show-stopping. These bold Stella boots look set to stay around, and we could not be happier; the McCartney boots are a nice way to give even the most toned down outfit an instant hit of on-trend glamour. Find J Brand designer clothing.

Ok, this is absolutely the season to put your shoulders forward! Big, shoulder pads are making a shocking comeback – wonderfully wearable, this is an awfully flattering trend this time around, and we are in love with Julien McDonald’s strikingly brilliant sharp-shouldered dresses.

We say bring on the bitter mornings and wet afternoons…the London weather may get cooler but with such super items of clothing to wear this Autumn season, we will make sure you look hotter than ever!

Babywear fashion is high fashion, for the baby, at least! But better than just simply looking incredibly, the products need to feel right against subtle skin and also wear well in all the places that get stretched the most; for instance the knees, bottoms and elbows. The finniest babywear not just looks both fun and fashionable; but it also cleans and lasts extremely well. And most significant, it fits your little one right.

When acquiring clothes for your little one, be aware of where the snaps, buttons and elastic are. For instance, will they push on your new born’s subtle skin, which could easily leave marks and bring about rubbing? Equally, how tight is too tight? Is the material used breathable, stretchable or free moving, allowing rolling, crawling and arm rotation? Is the zip going to catch sensitive skin? Good quality babywear takes these things into consideration and provides a suitable answer.

Buttons are seldom found in babywear these days, usually not appearing on outfits until the newborn is old enough. Snaps are a great choice, fitting directly in the nappy area and down the baby’s back, and typically are hidden so they don’t cause irritation in the skin. Elastics in the ankle and wrist areas are generous, rarely fitting near to the skin but still helping to keep warm clothing in place.

The majority of babywear produced today is made of breathable, wearable and robust material. Most items are aimed to move with your new born, making growing babies and toddlers happy to wear it. Comfort is exceedingly important for any baby, as their skin is soft and itches exceedingly easily. All this adds up to is convenience for the parent! Not to mention that the pretty designs and material styles found today for both boys’ and girls’ clothing. Find a large array of baby & child products online including; babywear, Silver cross prams and nursery furniture.

Babywear doesn’t need to be tasteless to be all your precious child needs. After all, there has to be “fun” in “practical”. And little girls and boys love being cute almost as much as we love seeing them that way! If your kid’s number one sweater is becoming too small, it is a rather good bet that you’ll find her another in a different material, style and colour she will love!

And finally, your baby and toddlers are growing each and every day. Clothes that cost you a great deal of money of money, but don’t survive for very long, are not worth obtaining. Acquiring clothes that fit and looks superb is not that tricky if you invest some time browsing on the Web prior to going shopping. Nevertheless, you might perhaps want to purchase while you are on the Internet and have it delivered by post to your home address. Now, that’s a convenience every parent dreams about!

Kids gain knowledge by playing games as well as doing things; people could even make the declaration that some childrens toys are definitely educational, however the great thing is some young children do not realize they might be learning things because they will be simply having a merry time. There are typically age suitable toys as well as games targeted at new born babies to 12 months; these toys and games are normally things such as Developmental Mobile, which helps infants and babies to track shapes as they listen to restful classical music. Toddlers are certain to enjoy a new musical table as it tries to teach them songs, which some kids like to boogie to; it ordinarily has the alphabet already in two different languages. In addition, these kinds of toys have quite a few compartments that strengthen little motor skills as and when the kid pulls, pushes, rotates and grasps at the toys. From the age range two to four the vast majority of children really want to fake fun games. Preschool children will certainly also love the DS console and also Build a Bear Workshop. This is the particular age when they regularly like to learn to cook, therefore a kitchen themed toy with play food, money draw and also play cash should satisfy their curious spirits and additionally teach them organizational skills and abilities. Boys toys aimed at this age group could well include tools, cars and also other construction items. The gaily dyed fake tools are wide enough that a child will grip them quite easily; oftentimes children at this particular age will wish to help dad graft in the garden shed. Cheap childrens toys are commonly obtainable online if you know where to look.

Small girls like any activity to do with dressing up, makeup and hair dressing which is why Barbie has never gone out of fashion. Mattel carries on bettering her year after year, and has become quite expert at realizing the changes in just how society views small girls. Barbie is clearly her own woman, she teaches girls self esteem and to value inner beauty.

Childrens toys in the pre-teen years and beyond are even more technically intricate; these stimulate the head and also improve hand eye coordination. One quite fun plaything is the Rubik’s Touch Cube; this teaches thinking and also problem solving abilities.