Cool e-Life

Digging for Links

2006-11-10T23:56:00.000+01:00

When you are doing SEO you want titles that are rather directly informative...you need to be descriptive. But that is not how you promote a linkbait.
Too much sensationalism causes you to lose credibility, but if you are starting with none then you might not have much to lose by testing different things. Take this post, for example. Let's analyze it.
The person who wrote the story about Google submitted it to the Apple category.
The post is half-assed research, passes opinion as fact, and is completely wrong in it's conclusions, but
The post is titled Google's dirty little secretThus despite multiple layers of ineptness it is passed off as good information based on the title alone. It made the Digg homepage. A good linkbait starts with a good title.
Need help with your headlines? Go get some magnetic headline love.
Another tip is that for the amount of effort you need to put into making a piece of information, you are typically going to get much more out of it by making it biased than by aiming for vanilla. Your bias is what people subscribe to, want to believe in, or want to discredit.
For example: I think Iraq for Sale is a film every American should see, largely because those who allegedly support a free market system think that the uncontested multi-billion dollar government contracts full of fraud sent to scumbag corporations are an acceptible business practice. And they only get away with it because people argue on the rhetorical or idealistic levels instead of talking about what is actually happening, and the media is generally not honest enough to report some of the news themselves...they are too tied to profit to allow themselves to.
I bet someone comments about that last paragraph ;) Also notice how I lined out I think. If you want to be controvercial an added way to do it is to present opinion as fact, but be forewarned that if you go to far with that it makes you an easier lawsuit target. But if you plan it out correctly lawsuits can go right into the marketing budget. With some stuff it almost seems like that is how Google does it :)
Linkbaiting is all about emotional reaction or being memorable...that is what leads to comments and citations.
So how else do you make your story comment worthy or citation worthy? You build up a following over time. Those who read your site may Digg, Netscape, or Del.icio.us your posts.
How else do you do it? Have an instant messenger list a mile long, and email. Beg your friends. Time your post, bookmark your site, and then light up contacts via email and instant messenger.
There is not a lot to the linkbait formula time your post for a launch when your friends will be around, use a catch title, Digg your own post be really biases, or format your information so that it LOOKS fairly comprehensive beg friends make it easy to bookmark your page by placing buttons on your site.

Exact Match Domain Names in Google

2006-11-10T23:54:00.000+01:00

Search relevancy algorithms are ever changing, but I recently snagged a good example of Google placing significant weight on exact matching domain names. When you search Google for search engine history there are over 20,000 exact phrase match pages and over 90,000,000 matching pages. The #6 result in this screenshot is SearchEngineHistory.com, which is a site that I never really developed. It has no inbound links on Yahoo!, Google, or MSN (as you can see on this screenshot and that one).
Also worth noting that SearchEngineHistory.com is a single page site, and with NO link authority it outranks a LifeHacker post that has the exact matching phrase in a page title (and LifeHacker is an extremely authoritative site).
Why could Google trust domain matches so much? Because they are often associated with brands which protect their trademarks more vigilantly than in the past, and there are so many domainers and so much vc money placing premiums on domain names. To get an exact matching domain it is probably going to cost you something (either lots of money or the foresight to be an early believer in a new field), so that in and of itself is some sign of quality. For example, today I tried buying a non-word 5 letter domain for $1,000 and the domainer turned me down stating that he turned down 5x that much last week. About 3 years ago SeoBook.com cost $8, largely because the standard frame of thought in the SEO market was that there was no market for a book or ebook.

Gmail Drive

2006-11-09T21:52:00.000+01:00

The first freeware I' am going to blog about is called "Gmail Drive". GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Gmail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.
Ever since Google started to offer users a Gmail e-mail account, which includes storage space of 2000 megabytes, you have had plenty of storage space but not a lot to fill it up with. With GMail Drive you can easily copy files to your Gmail account and retrieve them again. When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer. You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag'n'drop like you're used to with the normal Explorer folders.

You may download it from: http://viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

Freeware Tools

2006-11-09T21:48:00.001+01:00

Dear visitors,
From now on as time passes I will be posting about some useful freeware. I hope you'll enjoy the freeware I recommend and their reviews.

Best regards,
Matthew

Google Accidentally Spreads Virus

2006-11-09T21:35:00.000+01:00

Google may have accidentally infected some subscribers of the Google Video mailing list with the W32/Kapser.A@mm virus, better known as the "Karma Sutra" worm. At least three separate e-mails went out over the list that may have been infected, reaching approximately 50,000 subscribers. The virus will overwrite selected files on a specific date and was first discovered in February of this year.

"If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an email message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it," the company said in an e-mail that went over the list on Wednesday. Google officials said the company was taking steps to prevent future occurrences.

Google Adsense Starter Demos

2006-11-07T22:51:00.000+01:00

- Google Adsense Tour - introducing you to the Adsense program.
- Getting Started Demo: learn to sign in, copying and pasting your code, setting up alternate ads, and using your Competitive Ad Filter.
- Help with Ad Code Demo: troubleshoot basic problems when implementing your code. Also covers how to implement your code using two different types of WYSIWYG software.
- Payment Demo: learn about the AdSense payment cycle, from a click on your ads to money in the bank!
- Optimization Demo: learn how to use ad size and placement to maximize your AdSense revenue.

Google to sell Ads in Print Media

2006-11-06T23:30:00.000+01:00

Google has plans to test the concept of selling print ads in 50 major newspapers. Some of the companies involved in the 3-month test are Gannet, The Tribune Company, The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company.

Google will begin testing the system with 100 advertisers later this month. They hope to reach small businesses as well as online retailers. Earlier this year Google began selling ads in magazines such as PC World and Motor Trend. According to an article by Wendy Davis for MediaPost Publications the magazine venture has not been as successful as planned. Jonathan Rosenberg, Goggle's senior vice president for product management said this about the print ad sales program "probably hasn't taken off as fast as we would like." With their latest venture into print media Google is hoping to generate more revenue while helping the struggling newspaper business. During the test Google will not earn any revenue. They usually keep around 20 percent of the revenue for the Internet ads they place. An article from the New York Times had this to say "Some newspapers see Google's proposed system as a way to increase sales. ‘Every day in the newspaper we have a fair amount of space we set aside for ads that we are unable to fill,' said Owen Youngman, a vice president for development at The Chicago Tribune. "Google says they can bring us thousands of small advertisers for space we would otherwise fill with house ads, and we say ‘Great.' " With newspapers struggling to compete with the online media while maintaining their circulation is this really going to be an effective venture for Google? If readership is declining then who will be viewing these ads in the print media? The issue of succeeding in print advertising must be something Google has thought about. Why else would they test this for 3 months instead of implementing the program now? The print media is becoming something of a dinosaur. Why would Google not target online newspapers for advertising instead of a medium that can barely keep its head above water? We will know the results in about 3 months from now. Google is willing to experiment with a concept that seems to be a backward and risky notion. Where will people read the results? From their local newspaper or an online media source?

Guidelines to choosing a Domain Name

2006-11-06T23:14:00.000+01:00

Your domain name is the center of your Internet identity. So what type of things should you take into consideration when choosing the name that will represent you on the Web? I suggest you follow these 8 handy tips.
1. Keep it short
Although some places allow you to register a name with up to 63 characters, you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it, and easily type it into their browser. Try to register the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your Website. The general rule of thumb is, keep it under seven characters if possible. (Not including the suffix.)
2. Dot What?
There are many different extensions available right now. For businesses, we recommend a .com suffix. It is the first extension that most people try when searching for a Website. Also, since it is one of the oldest extensions, .com shows that your business has been around for a while and that you have a well-established presence on the Web.
3. Avoid Trademarked Names
There are two really good reasons for this. First, it’s not very nice. We have all heard the stories about the zany guy who thought ahead and bought "some-huge-multi-million-dollar-company.com" and sold it to the company for enough money to retire on. But, remember that those companies, like yours, have spent lots of time and money creating their brand, and what goes around comes around. Also, companies are no longer opening their pocketbooks to get their names back. They are calling their lawyers.
4. Register Your Domain NOW

Domain names are being snatched up faster than candy at the St. Patrick’s Day parade. You must register soon unless you want to get stuck with "the-domain-name-that-no-one-wanted.net". You do not have to have a Webmaster or an ecommerce department or a Web design consultant or... Heck, you don’t even need a Web page. Just get out there and register before you loose the opportunity to get the name you really want.
5. One May Not Be Enough
Sometimes, it isn’t a bad idea to register several similar domain names. If you have "yourname.com", register "yourname.net" so no one else takes it. You can register your full company name and a shorter, easier to remember version. Some people even register common misspellings of their company’s name. (You don’t need a separate Web page for each. Several domains can point to the same Website.)
6. Character Types
Just a reminder. Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive.
7. Ask Around
When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember. Is your domain easy to say? Is it hard to spell? Do you have to explain why you chose the name?
8. Don’t Shell Out Large Amounts of $$$
At one time, companies were able to get away with charging reservation fees plus a "mandatory" $70 InterNIC fee. Recently, it was decided that other companies should be able to compete to sell domain names. This has lowered prices dramatically.
And remember, if you think that if you have found the right domain name, but you're not quite sure if it's the one... register it anyway before someone else does!

Google Adsense - 15 actions that should not be done

2006-11-04T00:20:00.000+01:00

Hello dear visitor, as you all know at present I am posting regarding Google Adsense and I realized that it is better if I compile a list of what not to do. The following list include actions that would get your Google Adsense account banned:

Never click your own adsense ads or get them clicked for whatever reason. This is very important, do not ever tell your friends or family to click on them. Do not ever try to increase your income by using automated clicking tools. The Google Adsense team is very smart to detect fraudulent clicks. A remark I'd like to say is that if you have just opened an Adsense account and started clicking on your own ads, the Adsense team wouldn't close your account instantly. They would first let you "earn" $100 (minimum payout amount). Then when you'll be waiting for your check to arrive you'll recieve an email letting you know that our account was closed down. So please do not think that you're managing to fraud Google.
Never change the Adsense Code. It is against their TOS to change the Adsense code and it will lead to your account being banned.
Do not place more than 3 ad unit and 1 ad links or 2 adsense search boxes on any web page. Anyway, ads will not appear in those units even if you place more ad units. But this is the limit they set, so it is better to stick to it.
Do not run competitive contextual text ad or search services on the same site which offer Google Adsense competition in their field. Never try to create link structures resembling the adsense ads. Never use other competitive search tools on the same pages which have Adsense powered Google search. They do allow affiliate or limited-text links.
Do not disclose confidential information about your account like the CTR, CPM and income derived via individual ads. However what you can reveal is only the total money you are making.
Label headings as "sponsored links" or "advertisements" only. Other labels are not allowed.
Never launch a New Page for clicked ads by default. Adsense ads should always open on the same page. It's important, they do not want new windows to open from clicked ads.
Place ads only on Content Pages. If you insert ads in pages without any content you will get your account banned.
One Account suffices for multiple websites. If you have five sites you don't need five accounts. One account is all you need. It is against their TOS to have more than one account.
Do not mask ad elements. All ad components must be full visible. For example one can't have the text and backround both in red because the text wouldn't show. All the ad must be fully visible.
Do not send your ads by email. If you do so your account will be terminated.
Keep track of your content. Adsense isn't allowed on several content pages such as pages with MP3, Video, News Groups, and Image Results. Also hate-related, violent, illegal and adult content.
Do not alter the results after ad clicks or searches - Ensure you are not in any way altering the site which the user reaches to after clicking the ads. Do not frame , minimize, remove, redirect or otherwise inhibit the full and complete display of any Advertider Page or Search Results Page after the user clicks on any Ad or Search results.
Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing - Although the definition of 'excessive' is a bit unknown and is subject to discretion, yet Google Adsense with correct placement, focused content and high traffic will get you much more income than other programs, so excessive advertising is not required. Keyword stuffing does target better focused ads, but overdoing it is not required.
Ensure your Language is Supported - If your web pages language is not supported, do not use the code on such pages.

Whenever in doubt, it is better to ask for adsense help from the qualified staff of Google Adsense. Should you want to ask me please do so by leaving a comment and I will reply.

Google finally owns Adsense.com

2006-11-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

Three years after Google launched its Adsense service, the company finally owns the Adsense.com domain. Previously, the domain was owned by Adsense Consulting, who bought the domain in 1996.

As one can notice below, the domain has been bought by google only recently:

Whois Record
Registrant:
Google Inc. (DOM-1550091)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US
Domain Name: adsense.com
Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com
Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-14290820) Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US
+1.6506234000
Fax- +1.6506188571
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-14290820) Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US
+1.6506234000
Fax- +1.6506188571
Created on..............: 1997-Feb-23.
Expires on..............: 2008-Feb-24.
Record last updated on..: 2006-Oct-31 20:09:57.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.GOOGLE.COM NS2.GOOGLE.COM NS3.GOOGLE.COM
NS4.GOOGLE.COM
At present Adsense.com is redirecting to Google.com but I surely expect that to change in the near future

Google Adsense Guidelines

2006-11-03T23:44:00.000+01:00

This list provides some links that must be read before starting to use the Google Adsense program.

Program policies, Terms and conditions for the Google Adsense program. Make sure to follow these rules.
Adsense FAQ - The official Adsense support centre.
Adsense Tax information - how google collects and uses your tax information.
Adsense Taxes - a free resource about paying income tax on Google Adsense Revenue.
Ad formats - Official list of different types of ad formats you can use.

Google Adsense

2006-11-02T20:32:00.000+01:00

Hi all,
With this post I would like to introduce a series of postings I will publish regarding Google Adsense. These posts will be perfect for beginners and I'm sure that advanced users will find something useful too. As I said before, if someone wants to add something, feel free. I will divide this topic in 7 parts as follows:

Google Adsense Guidelines
Adsense Starter Demos
Track Adsense Income, Statistics and Clicks
View/Test Adsense Ads
Google Adsense Optimization Tips
Google Adsense Books and Videos
Adsense Chats and Forums

NB. If you still have no google adsense account, please subscribe by using the button available at the bottom of the sidebar. You will not pay any extra charges by subscribing through that button. Many thanks for your support.

Internet Now Serves 100 Million Websites

2006-11-02T20:13:00.000+01:00

Yeah you read right, 100 million websites. What once was only for scientists to post text and images, and share them with colleagues now is a whole large network that includes people from every corner of the world.

Netcraft tracks a variety of website-related issue. Their November 2006 survey showed the number of websites worldwide has doubled from 50 million in May 2004 to over 100 million today.

For 2006, 27.4 million websites have been added. That easily surpasses the 17 million sites that have been created through all of 2005. Compare all this to April 1997 when Netcraft recorded the one million website milestone. All this shows that the Internet has been growing along the years, and what a growth!!!

A large percentage of this growth may be attributed to free blog services such as Blogger of Google and Live Spaces of Microsoft. All this growth looks good for search engines and paid search ads.

What shall we expect to happen? Well I personally think that this trend will continue in the years to come. We'll continue to have more and more sites........

How to make revenue from your website

2006-11-01T09:01:00.000+01:00

This is a question many people ask. Even when I visit forums there would always be an Affiliate forum with people asking what's the best way to make money out of a content website. Well there are mainly three ways of making money out of a website:

Inserting Google Ads
Selling products and services as affiliate
Selling ad space

Now let's discuss these three methods. I think the easiest way of making money out of a website is to insert google ads. To add these ads to your website you have to signup to the Google Adsense program found at www.google.com/adsense. Money is earned from these google ads per CPM and clicks. There are various things one should do to increase the click rate and I will blog about it later on this week.

Secondly one may sell products and services as an affiliate. What I mean by affiliate is, one sells a product or a service that is provided by another company and for selling it for them one earns commission. A well known example of this is www.amazon.com, although their commission rate is really low. There are certain sites that have agreements with various companies and therefore one can access many affiliate programs from one central place. An example of such sites are www.clickbank.com and www.cj.com.

The last way of how one may earn money out of his website is by selling ad space to advertisers. For example the owner sells an ad space for $100 a month. Personally I prefer this type of income. :)

Therefore above we have spoken about the three main ways of how to earn money from a content website. There are other ways of how to earn more money out of a website but they would just be a derivation of what I wrote above. I hope that you liked this post and Good luck to all!!!!

Welcome to Cool e-Life

2006-10-31T18:04:00.000+01:00

Hi dear visitor,
Welcome to Cool e-Life, I am Matthew Simiana the founder of this blog. I have started this blog for one simple purpose, that is to share with everyone my biggest hobby which is the internet. By internet I mean all that is online such as the development of websites, marketing a website, search engine optimization, domains, online tools and much more.....

Don't think that I am a guru in all these areas - far from it, in some areas I have beginners or intermediate knowledge whilst in others I am more knowledgable. What I am sure is that I have great enthusiast for the internet. I hope that I'll manage to make this blog useful and interesting. Should someone be interested in helping me out with the posting I would appreciate since I can't dedicate myself to this blog on a full time basis.

This blog is not mine, it's ours, therefore should you want me to review some service or tool just let me know. Feel free to submit your ideas at matthewsimiana@gmail.com.

Many Thanks

Matthew Simiana