How could this little icon 16 by 16 pixels matter for SEO and your ranking? You never know, it certainly makes your website look more professional.

The Google Panda update has made me change in terms of the way I look at SEO. It took a lot of self-reflection to become aware that I approaching SEO too serious and not my users. It will take time to improve my websites. But here is one simple graphical idea I need to start with a favicon.

Google signals are more about details in the post Panda update world – One pet idea for example is maybe,  just maybe Google is paying more attention to style details, so as crazy as it sounds, could having a favicon.ico be a ranking factor for example.

• Think about it, Google did focus groups for this algorithm change and how Google might develop signals based on design without getting into subjective things like colors.
• These groups were people off the street, not techies. People would rank how much they trusted a website.
• A simple thing like a favicon might be a thing spam sites do not use but real sites do.

Think about it how many scrapped sites and spam sites have this? None that I can think of.

How many real sites do?  I notice Matt Cutts’s favicon – a nice flashy one on his blog he has up there. Could this be a hint? Google employees can not say directly what is going on but some to hint at it and clever people can pick up on ideas.

Using something like a favicon, makes the user feel better generally to have one up on the site. It is one idea that I have not seen floating around the blogosphere and forums but I think might help the user if not you.

Google is gravitating towards a female mind – For years Google was a geek run shop, focusing on numbers and left brain equations. Now Google is trying to balance the yang with the yin. It is trying to do this for logical reasons. That is users are not just looking at what is one the page, but how the page looks.

My wife will sometimes ask ‘are you going to wear that shirt’? I ask ‘what is wrong with it’? Trust me women see details better than men. I get my best inspiration from females webmasters when it comes to making blogs look nicer.

The above is only a metaphor of course but one to consider. I now and starting to ask my wife and people I know about my website more and more and what sticks out about it in their mind.

It would not help the big websites on competitive terms as they all have this icon, but if yours does not why not put it up there? It goes up there with looking at spelling and sentence structure. Not for Google but for the users.

Further, like Michael Martinez from  SEO Theory (someone who I consider a good guy when it comes to SEO and understanding people’s struggle with this) has stated to think we know Panda is the pretense of knowledge. So do not scrap your whole website, just try to improve it slowly.

Over two hundreds factors - Not one signal but a chorus of voices will determine if your website makes noise or music. This is Google and other search engines today.

What would it hurt if you created one. I use the program GIMP to simply save an icon to the 16 x 16 pixel size and save it as a .ico. Of course paint.net has a favicon plugin also. The you upload it to the root of your server. I am cheap and do not have Photoshop.

Let me know what you think of the idea of a favicon being a factor in search engine ranking.

Google’s Panda Update

Why some people are rebelling against Google’s approach

What you can do to fix  your website in the SERPs after the Google Panda update

• Write with lots of synonyms with the use of a thesaurus in a natural style, not stuffing keywords or SEO tricks. Do not be a content mill, quality not quantity.
• The Title is the most important part of your post, then like an old fashion news paper the first paragraph and so on.
• Writing longer posts with research.
• Revise posts and add content to posts that have fallen this is key. Do not drop you lame posts, rather make them compelling. Make it so people stay on your site longer and do not bounce off.
• Write with perfect grammar, spelling and sentence structure but in a natural way.
• Write as if search engines do not exist and you are writing your boss at work a detailed analysis of a specific problem or a friend on a personal issue. That is, write more researched posts like you are writing for school or write natural and from the heart.
• Learn to write in a more organized fashion, machine love structure, poets are not paid in any reality.

Lastly, do not panic. SEO is about keeping things honest and intelligent, improving your voice on the web and with time your website will be recognized (again).

More ways to regain position after Google Panda

• add long tale comment titles
• I will experiment with CSS menu on some sites
• add length to old posts
• improve website navigation with more places and reasons for people to stay on my site as now I am a minimalist and I noticed bloated sites like huffingtonpost.com get a lot of repeat visits
• fewer ads
• check people stealing content, I am finding more.
• check outbound links, people say this is more important now
• check miscellaneous  things like 404 and weird pages and errors and code on webmaster tools
• continue to use my brain to explore new ideas
• maybe still a wow introduction page

Update on the Panda update

Panda is still more of a mystery than solved. I think that is correct. Know one really knows what is going on, at least enough to effectuate change and recover.

One idea I had was Google has a greater lag time from the point you change your website and the SERPs change in response. This way people can not simple change and test until they figure out the variable that are most important in this update. Maybe not, but it is interesting that nobody can really recover.

I think your post is right on focusing on things like bounce rate, but also return visits. This is what I meant by build a site that people find without Google. If you have a large feed or people find you anyway, without Google, this is a sign you are a trusted site to Google and they will send you even more traffic. This is why eBay got more traffic and eHow less.

I use a simple WP theme on my site and it was hit by Panda. A few people I know have the same exact theme and set up, and they increased from Panda. Which leads me to conclude onsite traditional SEO is not as important.

One thing they did have is more of a community, than I.

Also maybe their writing style is different, like they targeted longer-tail keywords not popular searches.

Maybe simply the more unique your title is, it is a strong signal you are not a content farm that targets highly searched words. So if you are more of a poet than an SEO you will be rewarded.

I do have a pet theory (pure speculation),that might contribute to some decline on website. It is this: sites which have a lot of titles that correlate with exact matches (or close) on high searched keywords could have been effected. ehow.com for example built its empire highly searched keyword phrases like ‘how to SEO a website’ and this was usually the title of the post.
I had a lot of similar matches on my little site on Political Economy and it seemed to have taken hits on those pages that were matches.
Not of course that does not explain everything or maybe anything. It is just a theory and an observation.

These are some of my ideas.

If you have questions ask. Do you feel Google made things better or worst with the farm update?

Puppy Linux is the fastest and best OS in the world and my primary OS.  It beats Windows, XP, Vista and 7 by a mile, not to mentioned Macintosh Leopard. It works great with netbooks and old computers as the requirements are small.

Do want to accomplish more, have more free time, have fun working on your computer? I did and I do. You can work at light speed and be limitless with this a unusual OS that actually gives you free time because of its speed.

I created a short list of reasons you need to try this world-class operating system. It was not created by a large company,  but my a visionary man, Barry Kauler, and gives he gives it to the world for free.

I have tried every version of Windows and most versions of  Linux and played with Mac.

Why use Puppy Linux?

The reasons I use Puppy Linux are:

• Speed. There is no faster OS on earth. Software programs load into your RAM and therefore open instantaneously. This results in increased productivity and efficiency and less aggravation. Hence, you have more free time and happiness.
• Safety – I rarely chance connecting to the Internet with Windows. Why risk it? You could get all kinds of personal information stolen. Ignorance is bliss until you have someone steal important things. This means headaches. On the other hand, Puppy Linux is perfect for online banking. Strong security as nothing is stored on your hard drive unless you set it to. Therefore, Puppy Linux is the safest operating system you can get.
• Compatibility – I do pretty heavy-duty design and business work on Puppy. There is nothing that I can do with Windows that I can not do with Puppy Linux. No program that Linux does not now have something equal or better. It is a bold claim and even 3 years ago it could not be made, but not, it is reality.
• Easy of use – I find it easier than Windows.  The install take about five minutes and in 30 minutes fully customized, but you can use it in 5. No need to look for drivers or other things, Puppy does it for you. It does everything from printers to video card with a set up wizard. You might have to get use to where things are, but this is pretty easy. Remember when you learned Windows, how awkward everything was, it is good for your brain to learn a little. However, the newest versions are so close to windows it is not a problem. There are many tutorials and videos that make Puppy easy to learn.
• Free from constant updates – How do you feel about your computer always doing automatic updates and other programs too. With Puppy Linux you have full control of this.
• Saves money – You can take an old piece of junk computer with no real working hard drive and use Linux puppy and it will be faster, more secure and more stable than your friend who buy a candy colored computer for $3,000 dollars. Also you do not need to buy all the expensive programs.
• Looks great – I customized it and make it look like something from the future. The Puppy logo is cute also and has a story behind it. The creator of this OS is a man with a heart.
• Portable USB OS – I put my Puppy Linux OS on a $5 dollar USB pen drive (the whole OS is under 150 MB) and carry important files where I do. I fly from the USA to Europe a lot and it is easier to take a Pen drive than a laptop. My OS on this drive instead of my whole computer. When I am at a friend’s house or in the USA, I boot up my computer and have my personal desktop and programs. And yes this is encrypted.
• Recovers lost data – Your computer is broken, no problem. Puppy Linux can rescue data and do other great tricks where expensive OS systems fail. You win instant fame and status with your friends as a techy geek they want to know. It impresses girls also.
• Cool factor – It examples your mind and works in ways other operating systems can not. You are part of a community of users that have a passion for innovation and being on the cutting edge.
• You do not become outdated – Planned obsolescence irritates me. Macintosh is very big on making you think you need the latest and greatest as is Windows. In fact, they are coming out with Windows 8 and older systems will not be supported eventually. Every time you have to upgrade all your proprietary software. It is a never-ending cycle. Instead I just use Puppy Linux and Libre office, GIMP, Scribus etc. All free all getting better every month. Open source was once for the cheap and geeky, now it is for people who want cutting edge better software.
• Open source is better – Companies have limited resources. This is economics. However, open source are driven by thousands of volunteers who are passionate about the project. It will be hard to compete eventually as momentum is growing and the open source software is getting better than the paid for. An example is Puppy Linux and how it is taking leaps, and not baby steps when it comes to innovation. Can you imagine Windows being on 150 MB and running fast and smooth and safe? It is really not even strictly a traditional Linux OS, but something else.
• Language support – I work between a few languages. I can choose my interface as well as other keyboards in my languages. You need to get Windows premium for this.
• OS stability – Does not crash on me.
• Puppy community and forum – There is chat, forum, blog everything for almost instant help. Try getting that from any other OS (Most Linux systems have this but I am partial towards Puppy).
• Free games – Lots of free games and free educational games for children. There is even a derivative called Arcade Puppy which is all about gaming. But the bottom line is your kids can have free games and so can you. It also has Wine a Windows emulator is there is a program you can not give up.

How I use Puppy Linux

I do professional design and complicated stock and accounting work, yet I use Puppy Linux for everything. I have no idea why your would risk connecting to the Internet with Windows or have the patience to wait for programs to open or not (not responding) or the whole OS slow down over time? Or spend so much cash on a Mac even if you can. There are better charities than Apple computer. One last question:  Have you ever been forced to restart your computer with Windows?

Did I convince you that it is the best operating system in the world as well as being the fastest?  If you have questions ask. Here is where you can learn more and try Puppy and download Puppy Linux.

I can help you learn English fast without leaving your home. No driving to classes or rigid schedule. I can focus on business English or to help you prepare for something specific.

If you think you are not good with languages or English, believe me you are. I teach and learn languages. I know how hard it seems. But with me you will make real progress.

Why am I the best teacher of English for you?

• Students make real progress with my lessons.
• I can focus on what you need. If you need help with a job interview or just grammar and conversation I can help. I can focus on business, medical, legal, IT English or your specific needs. Why? I am just not an English teacher but have had years of experience in business, as well as being well read and versed in many subjects.
• We can do the lessons with the video on or off. I think off is better in most cases, as it is about verbal skills.

What is the price of your English lessons on Skype?

• My price is $20 dollars for 60 minutes. For a native speaker with this much experience I think you will find this – cheap English lessons online.
• When you are ready – you just reserve a time and pay by PayPal.
• Write me at markbiernat@yahoo.com – Ask questions or anything you need.

More stuff to know about learning English online

• I like Skype because it is free and if used in the right way is as effective as meeting in person.
• Focused conversation is a very good way to practice grammar. I learned English by speaking, writing and reading and this is what you will do with me. Unless you love to do grammar drills you will make better progress with my method of ESL teaching.

Business English online

Although I teach on all levels from beginner, intermediate , advanced and proficiency and also children, I specialize in real world business English. I have a Masters in Economics and work in management for some of the largest companies in the USA and Europe. I know accounting, investing, IT to a very in-depth level as well as management, sales and negotiation skills. All these can be refined.

I am a problogger. There are millions of us out there, but only few make money to write home about.  My approach is I focus on creating my own product. I write software for languages. I combined by passion for foreign languages with programming. My websites and the money made off of that will be effect of this, rather than the primary purpose. This is my personal experience with making money off my website.

My biggest piece of advice on how to learn to make money online – is be patient and do nothing spammy. Make it all professional and personal at the same time. I initially drive income though ads until my products are complete.

The theory of making money online – The idea behind a website is a low-cost shop. You do not need physical assets and structures to support your inventory sales. Further, your reach will be the entire world as opposed to a geographical location. The whole ideas is to get organic natural search traffic.  Then how specifically you turn this traffic to money is easy.

Why websites are good for the little guy -  This makes doing business easier for the little guy. People make fortunes monetizing a website or simply find an outlet for your passions and are able to work at home. For me it makes perfect sense. If you sell intellectual goods or services or solve a problem people enjoy going to your website. If what you offer is unique and yours even better. The little guy does not need to shake hands, and wear suits with the elite to sell their products, they just need ideas.

The secret to making money online – Many people want to know how to make money online. My answer is build a resource or write content that will make people come back. Do you like to read? I do, so I try to write also and give people the ability to read your ideas. It takes a couple of years these days before you really start to make money online but so what.

Learn to make money online from someone who has

Many people ask me how do I monetizes my website? My recommendation is build a website that is interesting and get lots of traffic. After that the monetization aspect takes care of itself. Here are the ways people make money online, off their website. But here are the specific ways to get the money to come into your pocket.

• Sell you own products – This is the most effective and what people do the least. For example, I write software and will sell this when done. My friend writes book, real books, not e-books but the latter is also effective. You can self print at a local printer. The best things are products that solve a problem. If you take the time to make something of quality your profit margins will be high and your cost will be low. Outsourcing product creation is one way to do it but I prefer to create something myself. If you want a job done you have to do it yourself and no one will do as good a job as you.
• Sell other people’s products – This is what people do the most and is least profitable. I think if you have your own product then you are more passionate about it. People see it as your signature product and trust you as a person, rather than re-peddling someone else’s ideas. Search engines do not like recycled content anyway, which your website content tends to gravitate towards when you sell a product everyone else is talking about. But it is possible to make money this way if your website is built around quality unique content. You need to find a product, you personally believe in and has a high profit margin, a business niche.
• Private ads – Highest payout but you have to look for advertisers. It is important you do not pass page rank as not to skew search engines results.
• Trusted networks – Google type ads have the easiest set up and I recommend and I do.
• Donations – Could even be if you make a yearly donation you get special things on this site, like on a forum you get chat ability. This is a good model for forums. People can exchange pictures and connect or have access to premium content.
• Pay memberships – very profitable. One of my friends runs a dating site and charges 25 dollars a month and has 1000s of members. You do the math.  But it is hard to do unless you have a critical mass.

Of all these I recommend Google type ads. The payout is low to start but once you are a trusted provider with good content it seems payment goes up. The key is do not be spammy. Do not get rich quick.  Do only trusted things. No trying to pump your website. If you do the right things by focusing on content you will get noticed online. Be patient it takes a couple of years to get enough traffic, but myself and my friends have enough income to live fine and focus on other things like trading stocks etc and making our asset base grow (something I have not had time for various reasons).

I use a theme that does all the ad work for me. I think it is the easiest way. The design is not the best but it does not matter the SEO aspect is good as is ease of use. If you want to know the theme I use write me and I can point you in the right direction.

Therefore, with a theme in place and a WordPress platform,  my job is just to write content. Content always has been king and it will be even more. Nothing upsets me more when I come to a website that is not personal and just generic content mills.  Articles that add little value. Make your site your signature and convey personal experiences than broad sweeping statements.

WordPress Headspace2 plugin vs Platinum SEO vs All-in-one

Basically Platinum SEO is a combination of the famous All in one SEO pack and Headspace2.   I think the author of  the Platinum SEO just modeled a lot of the code after these two plugins.  Even the set up looks similar under the setting section.

Is this bad?  Not entirely.   In fact, WordPress is mostly open to redesign and development by the community, that is that makes it so good, but people should give credit if credit is due.

This plugin is mostly the All-in-one SEO pack with ideas from headspace2.

Will headspace2 or All in one be bad if I use it?  No, they cover most of what you need for on-site factors, I like all-in-one over headspace2.

Platinum SEO pack is my new All-in-one for WordPress

• Platinum SEO beats All in one
• Platinum SEO beats HeadSpace
• HeadSpace plus All-in-one equals Platinum

If I did not have a good theme that was strong on on-site factors, I would use the Platinum SEO pack now as my main plug in on WordPress for on-site factors, even over all-in-one. I have seen Yoast has an SEO plugin, however, I have not drilled down to see the specifics of this. I also see the thesis theme claims to be SEOed and it might be, but at this point I still trust the Platinum pack as the best way to address code issues in WordPress until I see evidence to the contrary.

What do I do on my blog? I personally use to modify my own templates, so in reality most of the work for on-site factors was done. However, now I actually purchase a theme and it works even better than a plugin or modification which is time-consuming. I trust the template creator to be up to day on all coding php, css etc. It is a matter of division of labor.

The current theme I use now is not the most modern in style, but I do not care because, if everyone has the same style on the web, you will not stand out. Retro is sometimes good. While everyone else is using the same look and big blocky images for eye candy, I prefer to be a little more simple. If you want to know the theme I use you can write me at markbiernat@yahoo.com. It really is better than any SEO plugin in my experience and takes the burden off me to rewrite the code, mostly php. It can be modified in terms of design pretty easy. I blog professionally full time and write software so I know what I am talking about.

With this theme or the Platinum SEO pack you only need a couple more plugins like related posts. That is it. Do not try to over optimize your blog. Try to write something of value and make it personal based on your knowledge and experience.

So if you want to keep your Search engine optimization simple for WordPress, try the WordPress Platinum SEO plugin.

If I were to start all over again I would recommend that people use one website or maybe a few no more than ten. Why? The extra effort to maintain a large number of websites, even using a CMS like WordPress is a lot cost and the fact Google does not like too much inter linking between your own sites as this could be perceived as a way of distorting the Google algorithm. Why have 10 PR 3 sites when you could have 1 or 2 PR6 sites.

• Identify your real interests not something you want to make money on.
• If you can not decide your domain name it could be your personal name. Then you could have many categories for each of your interests. This is how the big sites do it.
• If you have a business site you can keep a blog on that site, not on a separate site. I never understood why people do this. They have a blog on another site from their main site.
• If you have a portfolio of domain names and weak sites, consider selling them, the opportunity cost is higher than the profit in most cases.
• If you a serious about blogging and have a good domain name, keep it. Add content slowly. Over time it will gain age and value as it will be a trusted site as long as you do not do anything wrong. Therefore, if one of your sites falls in the rankings you have a back up.

Many guys blogging out there buy domain names because they are cheap and load up with fancy names. Nothing wrong with this. However, just beware than when you buy a domain the only way it will work for you is if you have unique, personal content and it is not interlinked with your other sites. Outsourcing content in my opinion is not the best idea as they tend towards spammy low quality content mills.

What most website owners do

Since most domain names are cheap they buy like 15 domain names and set up 15 sites, but most of these will be useless as one person can only promote a couple of sites unless they have a large staff working for them.

I personally own a number of domain names as I did not understand all this. I have let a few expire and a not actively starting new website. However, I use a couple to experiment on. For example, I always want tot try to start a forum and a social networking sites. So I set these up. But again, I noticed unless I am on this and building content on a regular basis nothing happens. So it comes back to my original recommendation, that is less is more, when it comes to website numbers.

In fact the content on this site use to be on another site of mine I closed. I was using the word WordPress in the domain name and I did not know that was a no- no. I closed the site to be honest and now move the best content to this site. That is an example of why having some back up sites, but not many are a good idea. You do not want all your work to go to nothing if you make an honest mistake like I did.

My recommendation if you have many sites and want to interlink

I advise not to. If you really must, the children need to have their own links and if you link to your other site make it relevant and related to the parent if you really want. Some people use no-follows if they interlink their own sites. I do not use no-follows on anything, just as I try to be real in my linking. However, I do not interlink.

In conclusion about how many website to own

If you have too many sites for your time to create good content,  let some expire or sell them and move your content to your stronger site. Some people do 301 redirects, I do not as I do not want to even slightly appear as spammy. I know a 301 is honest but still I want to be clean as possible. If the content is good it will be found. If you have links to that old site write the own of the site that gave you think link and switch it.  Focus on your strongest sites.  You can keep a few to experiment on or in case your main site gets hit with a Google penalty. One site or many? I recommend only a few.

If your pages end in html they will appear static to search engines like Google.  Static pages have a slight advantage as they are more trust worthy because php pages can be scripted and auto generate spam.  This is just a theory. If you patiently write every one of my pages by hand so why not get the benefit of having an html page in the search engine ranking? I do not believe that HTML are higher ranking, but some people do. If you do here is a consideration for your WordPress blog. That post is how to remove the trailing slash in WordPress if you want to make it look clean.

Why use a hierarchy in WordPress in terms of structure?

I think a hierarchy is better as it organizes the data in silos and this is not only better for the Search engines but also better for user experience, especially when you add breadcrumbs.

How to have no trailing slash with html pages but a trailing slash with categories

Today I made a big break though!  Ok maybe it is not big for other people, but for me I could not figure out an easy way to do it.

I turned my WP permalinks into html pages with a hierarchy.  You may say aha Mark that is easy to do – just set permalinks to ->
/%category%/%postname%.html
But there is a problem.

That is if you set it to /%category%/%postname%.html/  your html pages have a trailing / , that is html/ and search engines will see them as directories not static html pages.

While if you use no trailing slash for your categories will not have a trailing slash. and this looks funny.

So there is a solution. I found a plug-in called smart trailing slash.  This plugin is found here -> fastagent.de/res/download/smart-trailing-slash.zip. This WordPress plugin and it does not put it at the end of the html but does use this at the end or categories.  Therefore, you get a hierarchy ( can use breadcrumbs) and a static look.

To transform your WordPress site or blog and  and turn the pretty permalinks into static html posts (static posts get a little nudge in Google as they are less likey to be auto generated) use %category%/%postname%/.html  – next step upload a plugin called ‘smart trailing slash’ that enforces the / with categories but not at the end of html.

Ok to many it might be  trivial for WP website owners but even bit helps. I have seen sites like this wordpress.com/category or worst wordpress.com/category/mypost.html/

This is a huge break though WordPress SEO for honest writes of content who do not intent to spam, but use WordPress simply as a tool for creating content easily. Let me know your experience with HTML pages vs PHP pages. Also if you use WordPress do you:

• Use a hierarchical structure
• Care about a trailing slash?
• Think HTML or PHP has any particular advantage
• Think things like no trailing slash with HTML WordPress makes any difference?

I for the record believe less is more when it comes to WordPress out of the box install.

Writing on the Internet is different than other articles. Writing online is like writing for a old fashion newspaper. Start thinking how to  organize your content rather than SEO and making money.

Proper organization and authenticy  is all you need for ranking high in search engines and getting readers to get value from your posts. This will result in better sales, more readers and generally people will fall in love with you though your writing.

Write for the web so people read your blog

Do you want to know how to write for the web? Well first consider this, thinking is the hardest work there is, that’s why so few people do it. You need not just to write, but to write consciously. This means writing with your reader in mind. Who is your reader? A web user. Web users are impatient, scan and do not read. If they do read they need a lot of hand holding. They are also tired of poorly written content that is short and not in depth.

Therefore, when you write for the web I recommend:

• Write articles with research and authority of at least one thousand words. It is amazing how even a little research will help your post. Alternatively convey a personal experience that people can relate to. Make it real. For example, if you were depressed, tell people and describe how you over came it.
• Use headers like a book or academician would structure a paper, that is use an outline. Make your post hierarchical.
• Use lists which help readers scan. This is a list you are reading now.
• Write clear, crisp concise statements. Try to use less adjectives and sales words and more nouns. Avoid the passive tense, write short sentences and paragraphs. Earnest Hemingway recommended this last point.
• The best book on learning to write is On Writing Well by William Zinsser, it is better than any SEO book.
• The best book for the web specifically is called Writing for the Web is Susannah Ross.
• After you read these books write with one more thing in mind. SEO, that is make sure your post is keyword focused, but but use more synonyms than keywords.
• If you are selling something, do not sell, educate in an objective honest way. Create a resource. Well organized resources are the best link bait there is.
• Link out to trusted sites if it adds value.
• Some sites with a few good, well researched pages rank higher than sites that have legions of writers. These sites are a new form of spam on the web.

Other things to consider are learning about when writing for the web:

• Consider how to write for the web for high product conversion
• Think about how to write for the web to reduce your bounce rate

When a visitors land on your site they are disoriented. They are trying to figure out the navigation and sense of your site. Something that you take for granted because you designed it. But believe me when you have a visitor they are confused and try to identify if this site is what they are looking for. Do not let them bounce off.

The simplest way to test web usability – Find friend who is honest rather than nice. Stand over their shoulder and observe their behavior on your website. Ask them what they think. If you can not do this with a friend, find an enemy, often they are more honest. If you think you have a way cool website, users might not think the same. It might be too much flash. Too many images get tiring.

Conversely try to use one image per post to illustrate a point. Make this image personal not off of some photo stock site. Make the caption real and not spammy.

To reduce bounce rate make sure Google analytics is set up as well as Google optimizer with an A/B test. There are many free tools by this company. They want to help webmasters.

More tips on writing content

When writing for the web your writing must be clear, crisp and concise. When writing for the web don’t make them think. Writing for the web must have the following qualities to be effective:

• Consider the book Don’t make me think by Steve Krug. It is the best book on web usability.
• Qualify your visitor at once.  Tell them – “This page if useful to you if you are looking to …” then have a list. or “The purpose of this post is to …”
• Use lots of white space. Web readers scan rather than read. They scan pages looking for information. White space, that is short paragraphs and bullet points make this easy for your readers, uhm I mean scanners.
• Hold your visitor by the hand. Yes look at my language site. Notice at the bottom how I lead them to my purchase page.  claritaslux.com. People need this. I tested this with Google optimizer tool and it significantly improved my conversion rate.
• Use header tags for clarity, but not too many, H3 and bold  are the best, your title should be H1 and well written. The rest of your blog should be natural.
• If you want to see how to write, look at a blog written by Matt Cutts or watch his videos. Write blog content so readers fall in love with you rather than simply convey facts.  He writes an interesting blog full of valuable but personal content.  Everyone is looking for the secret sauces, well, his mantra has been write compelling content. I know everyone is really eager to promote that they have, but be patient.
• The post and website you are on now might not be the best example, as I am just starting to work on this website and it will take time.
• Of course read and reread your posts before you hit publish. I have delete countless long posts because I was not pleased with their quality.

Resources for writing for the web

The web is filled with gobily goop. It is the largest receptacle for recycled information in the world. Do not be an ehow, which is some people think is a content mill. Be yourself. Convey a personal experience. Also consider these tools:

• Grammar and style checker
• Resource page on writing for the web

Let me know your personal experience with writing on your website. Further, if you need any help send me an e-mail and I will take a look at your site.

Foursquare is newest online social network site that might be the next twitter. Do you have what it takes to be the major of your city?  This post is about the definition and rules of foursquare. However, I will also add my two cents about this iphone -  mobile site.

What is four square?

You check in at various locations and describe your experiences there. You can uncover a happening scene or give heads up on a place that is lame. The name means on all four corners of your city. You earn badges and rankings by helping others explore your city via a mobile and handheld device.  At the core it is a game with a social aspect. If you are the top you can become a mayor in your city, that is an authority at least in terms of the social scene in your town.

Your interaction is by iphone, cell phone, Android app, blackberry etc. This is total instant gratification for those who are addicted to their mobile phones. The hook that foursquare game uses to get people to join is that if you use it a lot, then you might win free hotel stays etc. My take on this give away incentive is a hotel stay is worth maybe 200 dollars and the time might be better spend simply working for it. I do not know maybe I am foolish.

The rules are simple, the more you contribute and people like your contribution you earn points.  This gives it the addictive play,  that is a combination of a game and positive feedback from your peers. But like pogo.com (which I love) there is a game aspect to it and badges but mostly because I like to play chess.

How did foursquare take off? I think they had a nice marketing budget to break into the top ten thousand at Alexa so fast. I think this because to make a social media site work today, takes a large war chest or intelligent marketing at least, both is best, but I have found that both is often mutually exclusive. Their target market I think is from ages eighteen (or younger) to twenty eight years old maximum.  I can not image anyone with a family playing around too much on foursqaure phone social.

The hub of this site is NYC, but of course it is the whole world and every city.

I gave up my cell phone as it was an expense, I am not convinced about the long-run safety of cell phones, and they are a distraction from real life. But read the real reason why you will not see me on foursquare.com.

Why I will not join Foursquare

I am not a big fan of social sites like “foursquare social” only because I do not have the time.  I am married and it is more for singles. I have a family and my own business. I sometimes check my facebook and vkontatke.ru (I am a slavophile) accounts.

My tweeter account has fallen to the waist side. I have removed all social media links on my site as I do not want my sites cluttered with non-relevant links that produce low quality traffic that does not convert. People swear by social media and Google.com has even embraced it somewhat. But I do not believe it.

I am a social media skeptic based on the principle that time is a scares commodity and time efficiency counts if you want to develop your business . All the time I spend on these sites like foursquare,  I could be spending with my real life friends and family or writing content on my blog.  Therefore, I am firmly ant-social media.

The irony is I have a social media site of my own. I have not gotten a chance to jump start it, but it is a real niche site for geeks, which I will not even mention the name yet. I might in the end scrap it.

Foursquare feedback

In conclusion, if you want to see what foursquare is like you can review it and then write a comment here and let me know what you think.