Independent Digital

Google gadgets are handy little things that you can place anywhere on your webpage with not too much hassle. WordPress makes it even easier if you use widgets. It is so easy to insert Google gadgets on your sidebar that you will wonder why you have not done so before.

Here is a quick and easy tutorial on how to do it:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of WordPress
2. Make sure that you have a widget enabled theme
3. Get into your Admin panel and select Presentation > Widgets from the options. Drag the Text widget onto the Main sidebar. Click the configuration tag (right hand side of Text widget) to open up the input window. Enter your title for this widget (the title will be displayed above the widget on the sidebar.)
4. Open the Google gadgets page in another window. Select the gadget that you want displayed on your sidebar. Configure the display settings to your liking. Press the Preview changes button to see how the gadget will look. If you are satisfied, then press the Get the code button. A window will open up with some code in it. Select and copy this code.
5. Go back to your WordPress admin window and paste the code in the large window of the Text widget. Save the changes and view your site. The gadget should be displayed in your sidebar.
6. You may need to play around with the sizing of the gadget to ensure that it fits within the sidebar.

That’s it. What could be simpler?

Want to be notified when new post appear ?

Google gadgets are small web objects that you can display on your website for free. You can improve your site with the latest weather forecast, currency converter or mortgage loan calculator to name but a few. These content-rich gadgets catch the interest of your visitors and keeps them coming back

Google gadgets are easy to install. Just select the gadget you want from the Google gadgets directory, customize it to suite your need then copy-and-paste the HTML into your page’s source code. Reload to see the gadget on your page.

Google gadgets come in a number of languages and are categorized under:

• News ? includes local weather forecasts and BBC newsreels
• Tools ? includes date and time displays as well as currency converters
• Communication ? here you’ll find Yahoo messenger and universal dictionaries
• Fun & games ? includes mp3 players and checkers games
• Finance ? currency converts and loan calculators amongst others
• Sports ? keep up to date with live scores and sports videos
• Lifestyle ? includes daily Bible verses and art of the day
• Technology ? includes IP address details and free eBooks
• New stuff ? here you’ll find movie trailers and games

There are literally hundreds of Google gadgets. Here are a few examples to wet you appetite:







Go to Google gadgets for your webpage for more Google gadgets.

By Titus Hoskins

Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins

The Google PageRank Toolbar in SEO circles is a hotly debated item, as are most issues dealing with Google. Some say it?s useless, others say it gives you a general overview of your site?s standing in Google. Regardless of who is right, this Toolbar shouldn?t be ignored nor worshipped, just closely watched.

The Google PR Toolbar is a simple tool you can download and place on your browser. When you surf the web, this toolbar will give you Google?s PR or Page Rank for that particular site or page. Google ranks all web pages from a scale of 0 to 10. This Toolbar is more like the Richter scale than an ordinary scale, there?s a big difference in the rankings as you go up and they are not proportional.

You must also realize each of these ranking points are further divided and only Google knows the exact placement of your site or page within your shown PR number. For example, if you have a PR6 site your site could be at low end of the PR6 scale (closer to PR5) or at the top end which would make it more of a PR7 site. Big difference.

* PageRank Confusion

Many suggest Google is not giving us the real value of the page in the first place and this toolbar is often out of date and more of a smokescreen than real information about a site. There could be some truth in this as Google never gives up all its secrets. Does any company? Certainly not the company that holds the keys to the most powerful economic force on the planet: the Internet.

Complicating matters even further are webmasters and marketers who try to manipulate their own PageRank by buying or exchanging links with other high PR sites. Many are now doing Three-Way linking to try to influence their site?s rankings in Google.

A whole SEO industry has been built up around PageRank for the simple reason the stakes are extremely high. If you can deliver first place rankings for your client?s targeted keywords in Google it means free organic traffic or visitors delivered directly to your site.

Many SEO experts believe Google has a whole list of ranking factors which determine how well your page is ranked. Among others, these ranking factors include Google?s PageRank algorithm (voting system) and Hypertext-Matching Analysis (analyzing page content).

* Google?s Position

If you check out Google?s own corporate site for an explanation you will find that Google clearly states its patented PageRank? algorithm is the heart of their web ranking system which was founded by Larry Page & Sergey Brin in 1998. You will also find that Google says it uses numerous factors including PageRank to examine the whole web and find the most relevant and important pages to match a specific search.

PageRank takes into consideration over ?500 million variables and 2 billion terms? when finding the most important pages. Google makes it clear that each page casts a vote for another page and this is reflected in the PageRank. Votes from particular sites or pages might have greater value than others. ?Important pages receive a higher PageRank and appear at the top of the search results.?

* The question still remains, is the Google PR Toolbar a valid marketing tool? Should you use it?

One can only speak from experience, I have always used the Google PR Toolbar and find it helpful in assessing what Google thinks of a site or page. I rarely link out to sites anymore but if I do I always check any potential linking partners to see their PR. Any site with PR5 or over I will link to it if that site is related and has high rankings for my site?s own targeted keyword phrases. I also check out the number of outbound links on that page, lower is better because the amount of PR passed along is divided equally with the other links.

Sometimes I will link to a lower PR3 or PR4 site if I find the content on that site is extremely good and I know it is only a matter of time before Google upgrades that site to a PR5 or higher. You must be very careful not to link out to any type of ?link-farms? as Google will penalize you for it.

In my opinion, many SEO experts worry too much over the exact PageRank or Value Google is giving to a page. Whether or not we can really know the true value of any page? Well, the true value of any web page is staring you in the face in Google?s SERPs for if over time a page consistently holds the #1 spot then that is Google?s true PageRank and Value for that page for a particular keyword or keyword phrase. If your page is consistently in the 1000th spot, then Google doesn?t think your page has much value for that keyword.

Your site?s overall value or PageRank within the Google ranking system may be a little harder to figure out if you dismiss the PR Toolbar as a good indicator of your site?s overall worth within Google. Maybe Google has put into place filters and blinders to discourage the online marketers and SEOs who try to abuse and manipulate PageRank.

* Let Your Own Experiences Rule Your Judgement

Again, one can only speak from experience, I believe the Toolbar is very helpful in showing what Google thinks of your pages. Over the years, I have experienced my main website at a PR1 level and I have experienced it at a PR6 level. Believe me, the PR6 is much better. Can?t imagine what a PR8 site would be like to run or the kind of lifestyle it would provide.

For higher PR means better rankings for your site and your keyword phrases. It simply means more traffic and more sales. If you?re optimizing for Google, you should do everything you can to get the highest PR you can possibly get. More importantly, you should be doing everything you can to increase the PR of the pages where you have your long-tail keyword phrases as organic traffic from these pages will usually turn out to be your site?s main revenue source.

I have found one of the quickest ways to raise your Google PR is to get one-way links from high PR6, PR7 and PR8 sites (Think Article Marketing). Google considers these links as votes for your site and ranks your site or page accordingly. Consistently get enough of these incoming one-way links over the long haul and your PR will go up if you have high quality unique content pages that are well optimized with good navigation and formatting.

* Where To Get The PR Toolbar

If you?re not using the Google Toolbar – use it! You can download it here:

http://toolbar.google.com

Another great way to see PR in action is to use the Visual PageRank tool here:

http://www.iwebtool.com/visual_pagerank

It will show you the PageRank of all internal and external links on a webpage at once. Extremely helpful when you?re checking out any site or page for at a glance you can see the current Google PageRank of all these links.

Google?s PageRank system, including the PR Toolbar, is something every webmaster and online marketer should be aware of in their struggle for higher rankings. Don?t become obsessed with it, instead use this system to your advantage to build better pages and sites. For despite all the misconceptions and intricacies of such a complex system, no webmaster can deny if you conquer the Google PagePank system, it will deliver the goods.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the most effective web marketing tools try: www.marketingtoolguide.com For the latest Google Marketing Strategies go here: www.bizwaremagic.com/Google_Cash_File.htm 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Article from Copy & Paste Articles ? find quality content for your blog or website

Now you can view presentations on Google Analytics on YouTube! Filmed live at the first Google Conversion University event on the 1st August, 2007. Have a look at the complete playlist here Google Analytics Playlist or check out the individual topics:

• The following by the Google Analytics evangelist and author, Avinash Kaushik
• Bounce Rate: The Simply Powerful Metric
• Non Ecommerce Sites: Beyond Averages
• Context and Actionability in Web Analytics

Have a look at his book, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day


• Introduction to Conversion University by Brett Crosby
• Optimal AdWords campaign by Stephanie Hsu
• Advanced techniques by Alex Ortiz
• Website Optimizer by Tom Leung

You can look forward to many more in-depth YouTube movies on Google Analytics.

Improved Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions
by: Peter Nisbet

Improved search engine rank is attainable through good search engine optimization, part of which is the maximizing of your Google Page Rank through intelligent linking with other web pages. In this first part of 2 on the subject of Google Page Rank, we will look at the argument for attaining high listings through a linking strategy.

Google Page Rank is a buzz term at the moment since many believe it to be more important to your search engine listing than search engine optimization. If we ignore for the moment the fact that Page Rank is, in itself, a form of SEO, then there are arguments for and against that belief.

Before we investigate these arguments, let?s understand some fundamentals of search engine listings. First, most search engines list web pages, not domains (websites). What that means is that every web page in a domain has to be relevant to a specific search term if it is to be listed.

Secondly, a search engine customer is the person who is using that engine to seek information. It is not an advertiser or the owner of a website. It is the user seeking information. The form of words that is used by that customer is called a ?search term?. This becomes a ?keyword? when applied to a webmaster trying to anticipate the form of words that a user will employ to search for their information.

A search engine works by analyzing the semantic content of a web page and determining the relative importance of the vocabulary used, taking into account the title tags, the heading tags and the first text it detects. It will also check out text related contextually to what it considers to be the main ?keywords? and then rank that page according to how relevant it calculates it to be for the main theme of the page.

It will then examine the number of other web pages that are linked to it, and regard that as a measure of how important, or relevant to the ?keyword?, that the page is. The value of the links is regarded as peer approval of the content. All of these factors determine how high that page is listed for search terms that are similar contextually to the content of the page.

Without doubt, there are web pages that are listed high in the search engine indices that contain very little in the way of useful content on the keywords for which they are listed, and have virtually no contextual relevance to any search term. However, a careful investigation of these sites will reveal two things.

The first is that many such web pages are frequently listed highly only for relatively obscure search terms. If a search engine customer uses a common search term to find the information they are seeking, they will very rarely be led to a site that has little content other than links, but it is possible. The second is that they contains large numbers of links out to other web pages, and it can be assumed that they have at least an equal number of web pages linking back.

It is possible to find such web pages for many keywords. An example is on the first page on Google for the keyword ?Data VOIP Solutions?. There is a website there that is comprised only of links. The site itself has little content, but every link leads to either another website that provides useful content, or another internal page full of more links and no content. That is how links can be used to lift a web page high in the SE listings.

Such sites frequently contain only the bare minimum of conventional search engine optimization, but the competition is so low that they gain high listings. You will also find them to contain large numbers of internal pages, every one of which contain the same internal and external links.

It is true, therefore, that it is possible to get a high listing without much content, but with a large number of links. However, is that a legitimate argument for those promoting links against content? Could you reasonably apply that strategy to your website? Could a genuine website really contain thousands of links to other internal pages and external pages on other websites, and still maintain its intended purpose?

In the second part of this article, titled ?Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions? I will explode some myths about Page Rank, and explain how many people are wasting their time with reciprocal links, and perhaps even losing through them. It may be that a linking strategy is not so much an option, as a choice between the type of website that you want: to provide genuine information or to make money regardless of content.

Improved search engine rank might be synonymous with Google Page Rank, but perhaps only if you want to sacrifice the integrity of your website.

Peter’s website

Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions – 2
by: Peter Nisbet

Improved search engine rank is difficult enough to obtain without you having to trawl through all that has been written about Google Page Rank in order to find the truth. There are many misconceptions about Page Rank, and Part 2 of this article dispels the most common of them, the first being that Yahoo and MSN have their own version.

In fact this is not so. Yahoo had a beta version of a ?Web Rank? visible for a while, ranking complete websites, but it is now offline. MSN has no equivalent as far I can ascertain. The term ?PageRank? is a trade mark of Google, which is why I refer to it as Page Rank and not PageRank. A small difference, but a significant one.

If you are one of those that believe that the more links you can get to your website the better, then you are wrong. When Google started the Page Rank frenzy by putting that little green bar on their toolbar, they didn?t realize the consequences of what they were doing. People fought to get as many links to their website as possible, irrespective of the nature of the websites to which they were linking.

That is misconception Number 2. You do not link to websites, you link to web pages, or should I say, you get links back from web pages, not websites. It is, after all, the link back that counts isn?t it? The link away from your site doesn?t count. Wrong! Misconception Number 3. The link to your web page counts no more than the link away from your web page. In fact, it could count less. You could lose out in the reciprocal linking stakes if your web page is worth more than the other person?s.

Let?s dispel that misconception right now. When you receive a link from a web page (not web site) you get a proportion of the Google Page Rank of that web page that depends on the total number of links leaving that page. When you provide a link to another web page, you give away a proportion of your Page Rank that depends on the number of other links leaving your web page.

The Page Rank of the website you get a link from is irrelevant, since that is generally the rank of the Home Page. You will likely find that all these great links you think you have from PR 7 or 8 websites are from a links page that has a PR of ZERO! So you get zilch for the deal. If you are providing them with a link from a page on your site even of PR 1, then you lose! Most people fail to understand that.

No incoming link can have a negative effect on your PR. It can have a zero effect, but not negative. However, if you have an incoming link with zero effect, and an outgoing reciprocal link with a positive effect to the target page, then you will effectively lose PR through the deal. Every web page starts with a PR of 1, and so has that single PR to share amongst other pages to which it is linked. The more incoming links it has, the higher PR it can have to share out.

If your page has a PR of 4 and has three links leaving it, each gets twice the number of PR votes than if 6 links leave it. Your page with a PR of 4 has to get a similar number of PR votes incoming as it gives away to retain its PR. In simple terms, if your PR 4 page is getting links from a PR 8 page with 20 links leaving it, you lose out big time! It?s simple maths.

No page ever gives away all of its PR. There is a factor in Google?s calculation that reduces this to below 100% of the total PR of any page. However, that is roughly how it works. You don?t get a proportion of the whole website ranking; you only get part of the ranking of the page on which your link is placed. Since most ?Links Pages? tend to be full of other outgoing links, then you won?t get much, and will likely get zero.

That is why automated reciprocal linking software is often a waste of time. If you want to make the best of linking arrangements, then agree with the other webmaster that you will provide each other with a link from equally ranked pages. That way both of you will gain, and neither loses. Some software allows you to make these arrangements.

Another misconception is that only links from external web pages count. In fact, links between your own web pages can be arranged to provide one page with most of the page rank available. Every page has a start PR of 1, so the more pages you have on your site then the more PR you have to play with and distribute to pages on your website of your choice.

Search engine rank can be improved by intelligent use of links, both external and internal, but Google Page Rank does not have the profound effect on your search engine listing that many have led you to believe. Good onsite SEO usually wins so keep that in mind when designing your website.

Peter’s website

Take the Wheel – Drive Customers to your Website
by: Lori Quaranta

So you own a small business and you have made the decision to build a simple website to gain internet exposure. Or maybe you already have a website that no one visits? You can be the proud owner of the slickest website you have ever seen, but if you aren?t getting any traffic because it?s not properly optimized you have wasted a good chunk of change and a lot of your valuable time. Weather you are building a site from scratch or tweaking one that already exists, consider these web hosting and marketing tips to help drive traffic to your website:

For Web Hosting:

1) Start with keywords – Think about terms potential customers would use to find you in a search engine. What would you type in if you were looking for your business?

2) Use a keyword selector tool – Type your keywords into a keyword selector tool to see how many people have searched on the term in the last 30 days. Look for terms in the 2k-10k range that are relevant to your site.

3) Use domain names which match your keywords ? My client advertises products that are geared toward leadership skills development. In addition to leadingonedge.com he also has leadership-skills.info and a handful of others.

4) Use keywords throughout your web pages – Put your keywords in the title, description, keywords, graphics, and written text.

5) Use a keyword density analyzer – Check your website against a keyword density analyzer to see how frequently a specific keyword is used. Shoot for 3-15% density.

6) Slick and sexy doesn’t get you traffic – Don’t waste your money on slick graphics or things that fly across your screen. Most visitors find them annoying and search engines don’t care for them.

7) Use Google AdSense on your website – Whenever someone clicks on a Google ad in your website, you get revenue. And the ads are relevant to your content. My websites now pay for themselves with ad revenue alone.

8 ) Advertise Amazon books and products on your website – Set up an Amazon Associates account and put relevant books and products on your website. When someone buys a product you get referral revenue.

9) Consider using a website starter package – If going it on your own, think about using a website starter package which can have you up and running quickly.

10) Decide where you want to spend your time – In any business, time is money! Small business web hosting is very doable, but it does take time. Decide if you want to do it yourself or have a professional help you.

For Marketing:

1) Get an automated eCommerce system – These can be really good, very comprehensive and very inexpensive. The good ones can do everything from customer base management to product management to shopping cart to newsletter broadcasts.

2) Get a cheap and reliable merchant account provider – You can get merchant account providers that do both the merchant account and internet gateway for you.

3) Put a link back to your website in your email autosignature – This doesn’t need to be obnoxious, just a simple link that email recipients can click on to reference your website.

4) Do selective link trading – Link trade, but make sure the content on the other websites is similar to your own. Don’t touch “link farms” with a ten-foot pole; search engines hate them.

5) Write articles and include your website address ? Every business owner has something to say that someone would love to read about! There are a number of article databases out there that are researched for website content. Find some article databases which house content similar to yours and write a few articles. You’d be amazed at where your articles show up!

6) Write newsletters – Allow for customers and visitors to subscribe to a newsletter to get regular visibility to you and your company. This is also a great way to compile a customer email data base for your business.

7) Consider using a search engine submission services – These services submit your site to multiple search engines & directories. This can be helpful particularly if your website is new.

8 ) Set up an affiliates program – Allow for others to promote your products on a commission basis. Again a good eCommerce system should already have this built in.

9) Download the Google Toolbar ? I am a Google toolbar fanatic! The Google Toolbar has a nifty feature which shows you the page rank (0-10 scale) of every site you visit; the higher your page ranking the higher your placement in search engines.

10) Set up multiple websites – Got three services you perform? Set up three different websites with domain names that match your keywords. Super cheap to do and can be very effective.

Lori Quaranta
consetta.com
consettapr