Archive for Working Thoughts
Google Experts WordPress Gurus SEO Professionals
Lately, I’ve noticed that there are actually far fewer experts out there than we are led to believe.
There are numerous blogs, websites, and people who hold themselves out as experts on WordPress, or SEO gurus, or professional online designers, and so on. However, a collection of recent updates to the core platforms that these experts give advice about has exposed an unpleasant truth. Most of those SEO experts, WordPress gurus, and online traffic masters out there are really nothing more than parrots rewriting what they have read elsewhere.
Google MayDay Update Exposes Fakes
Google updated it search ranking algorithm recently, much to the dismay of several SEO experts and legions of qualified SEO consultants. It seems that Google’s rankings had been lacking in the area of search known as long-tail keywords.
The definition of long-tail keywords is keywords that are searched for less frequently than typical short-tail or main keywords, but that still provide a lot of traffic to websites savvy enough to use them. For example, something like best Denver hotels, might be a short-tail keyword (or key phrase), while something like nice denver motel or best downtown denver luxury hotels would be a long-tail keyword. The idea is that if you can optimize a webpage to target the long-tail keyword, there will be much less competition, and therefore ranking highly for that phrase will be easier. Doing this just once is not very profitable, however, dedicated website publishers can earn lots of money by creating and optimizing numerous webpages or websites for multiple long-tail keywords.
To take the example further, the owner of a Denver hotels website might create an SEO optimized page for numerous long-tail phrases like, best family friendly denver hotels, or best denver hotels downtown with mountain views, or even best value hotels for business travelers in denver, and so on. Because, each individual page is optimized around that long-tail key-phrase, they can all rank high in Google search results for their own searches. Meanwhile, a website for a major chain of hotels, like Hilton or Marriott, might not rank well for any of those specific searches because they have neither the time nor inclination to try and rank for every search phrase someone might use to find a hotel in Denver.
Instead, these websites rely upon the carefully crafted public image Google has created whereby the best content always rises to the top of search rankings. Before Google updated its searches with the so-called May Day update, this was largely untrue. The only way a webpage would rank highly for a long-tail keyword search was if no one else had actually targeted it yet.
Unofficial Google spokesman Matt Cutts emphasized that the MayDay update to Google searches was targeted primarily at these long-tail searches and the websites that profit from undeserved high rankings in search results by focusing big SEO efforts on underused key phrases.
There has been much speculation about what exactly was changed by Google. What is interesting is where this speculation is coming from. Legitimate Google watchers have been postulating theories and ideas since day one. Furthermore, they are reporting what they hear from other webmasters, Google insiders, and official Google announcements and forum postings. Meanwhile, the fake Google experts have gone quiet about the whole matter, resorting to rewriting about the same old things that they have written about in the past, and waiting for someone else to discover what is going on and what to do about it so that they can finally find out themselves. Of course, then, they’ll be pontificating as though they have worked it all out themselves as soon as they have read enough material from others to use as a crutch springboard.
WordPress 3.0 Reveals Experts Are Not
A similar update to the WordPress blogging platform has left numerous WordPress websites stalled out writing and rewriting about the same eight or ten new features updated in WordPress 3.0 and explained completely on wordpress.org. What is missing is all of that advice about the intricacies of WordPress 3.0. Of course, it should take a little bit of time. WordPress is big and advanced, so digging through everything new in WordPress 3 takes a while, but there are insights along the way.
Most telling is the dearth of WordPress 3.0 themes. Most pre-WordPress 3 themes have been updated, and their creators are quick to point out that their premium WordPress themes are fully compatible with WordPress 3.0. Unfortunately, compatible, and designed for WordPress 3.0 are two very different things.
We’ll keep an eye out for good new WordPress 3.0 themes which should be arriving from the top WordPress developers shortly. In the meantime, if you are a professional writer, you can read the continuing series about the best WordPress themes for writers and the upcoming reviews of writer WordPress themes.
Wi-Fi HotSpot Security Wireless Guardian Secure
As a professional freelance writer, I end up using wireless hotspots to work from coffee shops. While, I use a secured network whenever possible, many WiFi hotspots do not have any security enabled because it makes them easier to use. Although it seems like no one would bother, the reality is that wireless access points are easily compromised – even those that do have some form of WEP or WPA security enabled on the wireless access point. Using websites that have secure SSL connections can help keep usernames and passwords secure.
Unfortunately, that does nothing to secure all of those applications on laptops that log-in automatically by remembering usernames and passwords. It is also all too common to be in the middle of something, get in the flow, and end up entering a username and password before even thinking about whether or not there was a HTTPS in the URL.
The only reasonable solution is to setup an encrypted connection that captures all incoming and outgoing network traffic from the laptop so that there can be no mistakes or slips in security. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options available in this arena. This is especially true for WiFi hotspot security protection that can be setup on the fly without pre-configuring a server somewhere to be waiting for your call.
Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free offers a free VPN connection that provides the fully encrypted security solution needed to safely use WiFi hotspots. However, it is “ad supported” which means that not only will part of your precious laptop screen real estate be eaten up by ads, thereby making your viewable monitor area even smaller, but it also means that your connection ends up being slower because those advertisements are given first priority by the VPN application.
WiFi Guardian Wireless HotSpot Security
I was excited to find WiFi Guardian, a free wireless hotspot VPN encryption program that connects to its own third-party servers to provide network security. Like HotSpot Shield, WiFi Guardian provides complete network interception making by web surfing and email secure as well as closing off the ability to hack in via installed software programs that automatically update.
The best part is that WiFi Guardian comes with a free 3-day trial. After three days, you have to pay $49.95 per year, but even a one-day free trial is good enough to secure your laptop for an impromptu coffee shop office setup. Most other VPN software comes with a specific data limit trial instead. That means that you have to make sure your computer isn’t doing anything behind the scenes that could be eating up your free trial period like downloading CD covers or synchronizing your bookmarks or files.
There is one bizarre thing that concerns me. The VPN application requires you to register a username and password to create an account. No problem there. However, the password field can only contain letters, no numbers or symbols.
What kind of security is that?
The most basic of all security is using strong passwords. Anyone setting up special software for security purposes would already be very familiar with using strong passwords. It begs the question about how seriously the WiFi Guardian developers take security when they not only allow, but require users to setup weak passwords on their accounts.
Needless to say, I will be uninstalling the software after my free trial period is up.
Has anyone else used WiFi Guardian? What have your experiences been like? Would you trust a security company that uses weak passwords?
Leave your answers in the comments, or shoot me an email.
A Question of Greatness
Ok, the title is overstated, but I’m tired of writing boring titles to get better search results.
Today, I have questions rattling around in my brain, some of which are more important than others, some of which could change the way do things or handle my workflow, and some of which are nothing more than minor concerns that an inquiring mind wants to know about.
- Is it really worthwhile / doable / smart to use WordPress to manage a normal "static" website? The truth is that static websites generally aren’t really all that static, but they do have a more set structure, unlike a blog. Often, the changes and tweaks made to a page are relatively minor and it seems like overkill to fire up Dreamweaver CS4 just to add a link to a freelance writing samples page, for example. On the other hand, I get more flexibility and understand more of what is going on from a non-WordPress angle. (My HTML / XHTML / CSS is stronger than my PHP / mySQL.)
- Why can’t I find a non-complicated way to make lists on a website with explanation text? Take the list you are looking at. Ideally, there would be a number followed by the question. Then, underneath that there would be this explanatory text instead of having to rely on the bold to separate the question from the text. I know it can be done, but it’s just so much effort to click all the buttons to make it happen or keep all of the <ol> <ul> <li> code straight.
- Is Technorati (or any others) really that important? Unfortunately, the worlds of web design, search engines, SEO, and social networking are all dominated by techie types. That means that when it comes to things like Technorati, Digg, Twitter, or whatever, the volume tends to be disproportionately loud. Is getting indexed, listed, or whatever on these sites worth the time and effort? Or, more specifically…
- Is It Better To Add Technorati Specific Tags to Posts, or Will WordPress’ Ping Take Care of It? Considering that I have no real interest in trying to force my way to the top of Technorati or any other site by any means other than writing good stuff, do I get any benefit from taking the extra time to "tag" my posts with Technorati tags?
- Do All Those Incoming Yahoo Glue Links Count for Anything? My incoming links for some of my sites are filled with links that come from Yahoo Glue. Do I get anything out of those?
- What If Google Knows What It Is Doing? Pretty much all SEO techniques both on-page SEO tactics, and off-site SEO linking, assume that Google needs a lot of help getting its index and search rankings results right. In other words, that Google isn’t a very good search engine. That doesn’t seem right does it? I mean, it’s the #1 Search Engine in the world for a reason. Microsoft has tried 3 times to create something that even comes close and couldn’t. Does it really make sense then that Google’s search results are so delicate that they can be heavily influenced by something as simple as changing a few HTML tags?
- If Google Knows What It Is Doing, Then Why Do So Many Search Results Suck? As a corollary to the above, why are some search results so terrible? Is it that Google’s famed reliance on incoming links, or links pointing to a webpage or website, makes it too vulnerable to being conned into ranking lesser sites above better ones? This seems especially true when it comes to authoritative websites. Consider this search for california school rankings
The obvious authoritative source is the actual rankings published by California. In fact, both of the sites that rank higher are nothing more than interfaces tacked onto the data provided by the third link. A search for california school ratings produces a similar result except that the #4 result becomes the #2 result.
There are much worse examples, this is just the one I came up with off the top of my head for a quick blog post. Fortunately, the other sites listed above the official one aren’t scam sites or obvious web spam. They are both trying to milk free publicly available information to show advertising and get people to sign up (get email addresses) and perhaps even pay for "premium" information.
The fact that the official California API results ranks so high, however, is a testament to Question #3. Look at the Academic Performance Index (API) page from the California Department of Education, and you will see a website that has no redeemable SEO qualities whatsoever – in the traditional sense, at least. And, yet, there it is at #3.
Like most "official" websites, they have better things to do than keyword research, emailing other websites to beg for links, and so on. On more competitive keywords, this is often much worse, with scam sites or obvious web spam ranking above the official resources.
The worst examples are often those where the higher ranking sites offer biased or otherwise slanted information, while the official, unbiased, sites rank much lower. This is because of a combination of using every SEO trick in the book, and then the fact that like minded supporters will link to the websites that promote their point of view, rather than the straight factual websites which might include information that they don’t like.
Search your favorite, financial, political, governmental, or judicial topic to find examples.
Back to Work
Ok, I’ve spent too much time writing this today already. Off to make money freelance writing. Don’t worry, I’ll be back later.
Top Online Deals Websites Demonstrate Concept of Tradeoffs in Web Design
I’ve been tinkering around with various website designs for an upcoming project. The idea was to take the best design elements of each website design that I like or that has top notch functionality and then combine them into a single great website design. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to design a one-size-fits-all website layout that is the perfect solution for every online purpose, even for sites that are all related or in the same category.
Obviously, websites with different purposes or audiences require different page designs, but I thought I could find an overall template for webpage designs that would be usable for multiple websites in the same category that performed the same function. However, even similar websites can’t be shoehorned into a single design.
This morning I was doing what I always do for my morning break which is browsing through the handful of online deals websites that I like. I know there are hundreds of other deals sites out there or coupon sites or sites with free shipping codes, but the four sites I scroll through every day have turned out to the best deal websites on the Internet for the types of things that I buy and shop for.
In no particular order, my favorite deals websites are:
- Woot
- Slickdeals
- Dealnews
- GottaDeal
All four sites are in the same category of online shopping or Internet-based shopping tips. All four sites offer daily updates of the best deals they can offer. But, each one has a completely different design and layout to serve its readers best. The difference in designs and what that design offers, is very likely one of the main reasons I continue to use all four sites despite the fact that I just don’t buy stuff all that often.
Woot is the most well known. They offer a single great deal each day. If the deal happens to hit you with something you want or need, then you win. If not, then you wait another day. Either way, the site displays a single product including its picture and a tongue-in-cheek review of the product that doesn’t generally contain any real facts until the end. It is just accepted by users of the site that whatever the product and price is, that it is a good deal. The site makes no mention of how good of a deal, nor whether it is a better or worse deal than might be sniffed out elsewhere.
SlickDeals.net offers many features to its users including forums where visitors can discuss potentially good deals, coupons, discount codes, and even the quality and specifications of the products in question. However, the main landing page of SlickDeals is simply a list of text links. Each product is listed along with its price. No other information, pictures, or graphics are provided unless you click one of the links. Only the best of the best make the SlickDeals front page, no matter how many or how few deals that means the site has on any particular day. If only one item rises to the level demanded by the SlickDeals front page, then only one deal gets posted. There is no filler.
DealNews and GottaDeal, by contrast, both have more extensive listings including a picture of the sale item as well as notes such as when, if ever, the item was offered for less and whether or not it takes a rebate or coupon to get the low discount price.
While both DealNews and GottaDeal look similar at a glance, a closer look reveals that DealNews groups their big deals by type with computers and computer related deals at the top and other deals at the bottom. This layout promotes the ability to seek specific sale items.
GottaDeal on the other hand lists their items chronologically as they appeared on the site. The upside is that a regular user can stop looking once they encounter the deals they have already seen which can save time. The downside is that if someone is looking for a deal on a hard drive, for example, they would have to scroll through the whole listing to ensure that they didn’t miss something.
In the in, four sites all offering very similar functionality are laid out and designed completely differently based upon their needs and the needs of their readers. I guess the best a professional writer and web designer can do is build a collection of tools for their design and development toolbox and then pull each individual piece out as it is needed. It isn’t as sleek as a re-usable template, but if used properly can still save plenty of time and effort while still providing top quality websites.
Time to change the quest. No longer do I seek the one great website design. Now, I seek the great design elements and tools that build them.
