Archive for November, 2009
Article Website Content
Adding one or more articles related to the theme and keywords of a website can add interest for site visitors, build up your reputation and help with the search engines.
There are several possible approaches:
1) Write your own. This is best, and then you can make them available to others for free provided they include a link back to your site.
Article publishing agencies that are reputable and effective (with a Google Page Rank of 5 or 6) include:
2) A variant is to hire a writer on the web to write unique content for you. This can be done from $10 an article and you could then edit the result to suit.
3) Use somebody else’s article, with permission (possibly via one of the above agencies). But you will not get the credit, and Google does not like multiple copies of the same content on different sites. Not recommended.
4) Syndicate content from another site’s RSS feed, as described on my web page at http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/rsscontent.php
Hopefully this content feed will be updated regularly by the author, which helps on balance with Google.
It is still duplicate content, but should be OK if it is at the bottom of the page, as in:
http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/rsscontent.php#ITtoolbox,
http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/johnsblog.php
or a complete imported article such as:
http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/marketing/webmktg.htm
For further information pease see my website pages:
Regards
PS
The optimum length of a web page or article is said to be around 450 words, as opposed to this blog which 239 words.
PPS
Any article on yor site should have consistent Meta Tag Title, Description and keywords.
Apple Mac Anti-virus
What about anti-virus on the Apple Mac? My experience is limited, but Sophos seem to have it covered, though costing several hundred pounds for the business market. But see:
- Chester Wisniewski’s Sophos Blog
- Cardiff University seems to have good general advice on Mac security.
- They quote ClamXav as a free virus checker for Mac OS X.
- Apple are selling avast! antivirus Mac Edition 2.74 but I dont know anything about it.
- usatoday blog includes another up to date (Nov 2009) review of security on the Apple Mac.
Anti-Virus Software
Up to date anti-virus software remains essential, and I am still sticking with and recommending AVG.
[ www.kaspersky.co.uk/ comes out ahead in the reviews, but would you want to hand over control of your PC to a Russian company?]
There have been some installation and upgrade problems with AVG, which has jumped to V9.0. You need to remove all traces of other anti-virus software before installing it. Norton is particularly insidious, and you may need to download the Norton Removal Tool.
If you get an error message “invalid Update Control CTF file” after upgrading or installing AVG see the attached Comment for the fix, or else the AVG Support FAQ.
AVG now offer:
- V9.0 Anti-Virus Free,
- Anti-virus (£27.99) and
- Internet Security (£39.99),
see the AVG Product Ccomparison. It is probably worth paying for the Anti-Rootkit, as part of Anti-Virus. If you get a Rootkit infection can be very serious, and you may not be able to clear it. Although you can try for free:
Regards
PS:
A good security blog, not too technical, and associated weekly email list is available from Sophos at http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/ They have a good reputation but mainly address the business market.
PPS:
Remember that you need one each of:
- anti-virus,
- anti-spyware (such as Spybot – search and destroy) and a
- firewall (which is probably part of your broadband ADSL router).
For further details please see my website Internet Security Page
SEO Optimisation
For success your website needs qualified traffic, site visitors who will take your desired action. And a large part in generating traffic is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
I recently went by coach to Manchester to spend time with my grown up children, and took with me the 746 page book “Search Engine Optimization for Dummies”, by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza, experts in the field.
The book is highly recommended, though it is a bit repetitive. I have got up to Page 449, Most of it I “knew”, and it is good to have a reminder and to take it to a deeper level.
I have always done the basics, but doing everything they recommend would double the cost of a website and its ongoing support.
There are some simple measures that you can do “for free”, such as:
1) Know your site audience, objectives and desired outcomes
2) Know the target keywords for each page, and ensure that no two pages have the same title.
3) Make sure the keywords, Titles, Description, Meta Tags and H1 Headers on a page all agree,
4) Create a “Google Profile” for yourself
5) Create a “Google Local” entry for your business
6) Link to and from YouTube, and other social networking sites.
7) Solicit inbound links from quality related websites (not the so called link farms)
There is lots more – see my www.johnwr.co.uk for a fuller treatment, and I could put together a possible package as a service if there is demand for that?
One test is to see who your top competitors are on Google for your chosen keywords and your name, and see what they are doing. Are you willing and able to match them?
[A website can still be valuable as an adjunct to other marketing brochures etc even if it does not rank well.]
Regards