Before we discuss Technorati and its relation to weblogs or blogs it is important to understand what blogs are and why they are so popular in current times. Blogs are personal communication. It could be in the form of an article or short posts or views and ideas. Blogs are becoming increasingly influential and is viewed by millions of people all over the world.
In blogs people publish their ideas and more people comment on them. It is a two sided thread of communication — kind of conversation than a collection of ideas. Blogs are becoming increasingly powerful and has a great influence on people over certain important issues like world terrorism or woman trafficking to mention a few. Read the rest of this entry »
Our quest for information is increasing at a remarkable pace. Internet technology has greatly helped in enhancing our knowledge by making information easily available via web content. Earlier people used to be content by visiting a website and reading its contents. But nowadays, a single webpage simply serves as the entry point to information on a subject. There are numerous URLs in newer websites that take you into deeper layers of information.
Why not Query Strings?
Search engines do not accept special characters
Earlier query strings would be passed for accessing information from another webpage, but nowadays query strings are seldom used because information gathering largely involves search engines which do not recognize special characters like question marks. Read the rest of this entry »
The Internet is the world’s biggest market place and there is a mad rush among producers, manufacturers and sellers to grab a piece of this market place. There is no place for a business if it does not exist on the Internet.
If you are one of those who are looking to mark a presence on the web, then it is essential that you have a domain name for yourself. To do well in your business, you must be considered seriously by your customers. Without a presence on the Internet, the chances are very high that you will not be taken seriously.
But before we go any further, it is important to know what a domain name is. On the Internet, it is essential that once computer can be identified from another one. A domain name is the host name of a computer that differentiates it from other computers.
Domain names that are registered with the registrar are called registered domain names. They belong to the businesses that registered their names. The top level domains are right there at the top of the domain name hierarchy. All the domain names end with a top level domain name level. Some of the top level domain names are .com, .gov, .edu, .org, .net etc. For example, if we have the URL of a website as http://www.exampledomainnames.com, the actual domain name is www.exampledomainnames.coma and the registered domain name is exampledomainnames.com.
Now that we know what domain names are, it is important to understand why a domain name is important for your business.
The foremost point is that as a business, you must mark your presence on the www. If you don’t have a website, it is assured that you will be losing out on a huge amount of business. The Internet is the world’s biggest market place and it remains open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Through the Internet, you are able to reach out to potential customers located as far as on the other side of the globe. The number of online shoppers has increased drastically and very soon, online shopping will eclipse traditional shopping when it comes to revenue and business generation. So, we don’t need to tell you now that how important it is to have your own domain name.
There are some companies who register with domain name sites that offer a free website. However, when companies go for a free website, they simply add to the database of the hosting company’s domain. For example, if I were to register a free website called myexamplewebsite.com with a domain called exampledomain.com, the actual website address will be http://www.myexamplewebsite.exampledomain.com.
Anyone who sees the website address will understand that it is a free website and the image will not be positive at all. When users visit a website, they expect to see a paid and owned website and not some free site. It simply does not gel well with potential customers.
Moreover, when companies use a domain name service to upload a free website, they have to accept advertisements from the host, whether they want it or not. More often than not, these advertisements will not be at all related to the content of the company’s products or services. The company will have or little control over the website.
Hence, as a professional organization, you must pay for your website and use paid services offered by web hosting companies. That way, you will have a website name that will be completely dedicated to your business and you will be able to exercise full control over the website. There are various ranges offered by the domain name hosts and you can choose the option that is most suitable for the type and size of your business. As your business expands, you can go for more expensive options that give you more control and more features.
There are some basic rules when you register your own domain name. If you are looking to make your mark in the world of Internet, it is recommended that you follow these rules. For starters, make the domain name easy to remember so that you can tell the visitors about the business you are in.
If you have a complicated domain and website name, the visitors are bound to forget or ignore the name. And when that happens, it is most likely that are not going to return to your website and they are not going to talk to their friends about your website. The domain name should also be explanatory. If you are in the business of, say, fresh flowers, you must use relevant keywords in your domain name. You can use words like flowers, fresh etc. in the domain name. The best domain names are also short in length. Short website and domain names are easy to remember and quicker to type. However, you must also remember that you should not make the name short but so complicated that it is not easy to pronounce.
After the name is taken care of, you must consider other things like LSI and bounce rate. LSI, or Latent Semantic Indexing, is the process of using synonyms and related words and phrases for your website keywords. LSI will help your website to get noticed by search engines and search engine users. Bounce rate is calculated as a percentage of visitors to a website who leave without visiting any other pages. If your bounce rate is too high, you may be penalized by the search engines because they will consider your webpage content irrelevant against the keywords. So, when you use keywords in domain names, the chances of bounce rates going low are high because visitors will already know what to expect in your website.
When you have your own domain name, you present a professional appearance of your business. When people see a simple domain name that is independently and professionally handled and is not a free website, they tend to recall that website and promote it through word of mouth.
If you are into an affiliate business, there may be a time when you will feel that you have done enough for the affiliate website that you are part of. When you have your own website, you have the option of changing links and other content and mark your independent presence on the web. Apart from that, with your own website, you can use a capture page with your own auto responder and collect contact information of those people who visit your website. Once you have collected a sizable data, there is no stopping you from making an impact in the field of online business.
With your own website and domain name, you can exercise complete control over everything, from the keywords to the content to the advertisements to be displayed. When you have a sizable business, you can use your own domain name to brand your business. Apart from that, when you buy a domain name, you also get an email address for yourself. So, you don’t have to mention @yahoo.com or anything else. You will also be able to promote multiple products.
As you can see, the advantages of owning a domain name are enormous. So, don’t wait! Go and get your own domain name today!
There are few people who are aware of online classified advertisements but have not heard of Craigslist. Craigslist is a network that joins various online communities that feature free classifieds. For almost anything anyone requires, Craigslist can be used to find it. For houses, rentals, jobs, personals, selling or buying, resume services, discussion forums, communities etc., Craigslist has classified advertisements for all of them.
Craigslist was started in 1995 by Craig Newmark. Initially, it consisted of an email distribution list of friends and also featured local events held in the area of San Francisco. In 1996, it became a web based service. It became a for profit private company in 1999 and expanded to other cities in the United States.
- 2000 – Craigslist spread to Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, New York, Seattle, Washington, D. C., Sacramento and San Diego.
- 2001 - Craigslist spread to Austin, Atlanta, Vancouver and Denver.
- 2004 – Amsterdam, Paris, Bengaluru, Tokyo and Sao Paolo were accessed by Craigslist.
- 2008 – 500 other cities in 50 countries across the world were included in the Craigslist business.
As of now, in 2009, Craigslist is present in more than 570 cities worldwide.
What does Craigslist do?
It earns revenue from paid advertisements in the cities it is present in. It is one of the most popular websites across the world and has more than an average of 20 billion page views in a month. As per Alexa, it is the 22nd most popular website in the world and ranks eighth among websites in the United States.
Every month, Craigslist receives more than 40 million new classifieds. No other website or other medium of advertisements in the similar line of business even come closer in terms of number of new ad listings. Craigslist is also one of the most popular job listing sites in the world and receives more than 1 million new job listings in a month.
Craigslist, as it can be seen from the previous few sentences, is the most popular advertisement medium in the world. You will have entries in Craigslist for every conceivable product and service that you can think of. Craigslist gives you a great opportunity to find products and services locally and buying them without any hassle.
Craigslist is slightly different from other online websites in the sense that it does not help in the transportation of goods from one city to another if the buyer and seller are not located in the same city. People who make the transaction are expected to take care of the transportation too. Hence, Craigslist marks its presence in so many cities in the world so that products and services can be procured locally.
When you buy or sell something in Craigslist, it is a possibility that you never come face to face with the seller or the buyer. However, like any other business, it is good to maintain a positive relationship with other Craigslist users you have done business with. Craigslist follows some universal rules and etiquette.
- When you are contacting some other Craigslist user through phone or email, make sure that you are polite.
- When it comes to haggling for a product or service, Craigslist is not the place to be. Yes, it does help when you haggle but don’t overdo it. If you think that the seller is asking too much for a product, then ignore that seller and move on to other sellers. They are plenty of them available on Craigslist.
- When you don’t get a response from sellers, don’t go after their life. Contact them once and let them know about your interest in their product. If they get back to you, well and good. If they don’t, then move elsewhere.
- If you are Craigslist, then be prepared to finish the transaction quickly. Craigslist users prefer customers who choose fast and settle the deal fast. Don’t spend too much time deciding or you may create a bad name for yourself.
- Make a lasting impression by adding a thank you after you conclude a deal. You never know when you may need to contact the same seller again.
As with any other online shopping website, you as a buyer need to keep your eyes open when you are looking to buy something through Craigslist. Buyers and sellers converge on Craigslist from all over the world and there are bound to be some frauds among them. However, when you know the following tricks, you will find it easy to track a fraudulent seller.
- Improper local language – There may be sellers who will claim that they are present in your city when they are actually located in some other part of the world. Some of them will converse in improper local language. When they speak in an improper local language or use wrong grammar and spellings in their email, you may want to check them out before you make a payment.
- Mail option – Some sellers will tell you that they cannot deliver the purchased item locally and can only send it through post. Craigslist encourages local buying and selling. You may want to purchase a product from another country or city but do that at your own risk. Check for the authenticity of the seller before you make the payment. The seller might just vanish after taking your money.
- Car shipping frauds – Craigslist, through its website, continuously warns its users that car shipping cases are likely to be scams. If a seller tells you that he or she will transport the car and take care of the transportation charge, beware! The seller may give you an excuse that they are going out for a vacation and so on. Since they dangle the carrot in front of you, you may think you are getting a great deal. But the whole deal may be a scam.
- Preference – Some sellers may say that they have multiple buyers vying for their product and they are going to offer it to you on a preferential basis. Back out immediately. Craigslist sellers sell on a first come first serve basis and no one has time to analyze buyers and create their favorite list.
- Wire transfers – Another warning from Craigslist states that wired transactions are scams. Some sellers may give you a story and tell you that they are facing some problem with their bank and can only accept wired money. Don’t even think about it. You may want to pay by cash, cheque or Paypal.
When you are aware of these issues, you are bound to have a wonderful experience with Craigslist. You may like an item on Craigslist and then pay a visit to the seller to see the item and even buy it. There is no need to travel unnecessarily.
Craigslist is also open 24 hours a day and you can browse through your product requirement right at the middle of the night. You can also haggle to an extent and get a good deal by comparing prices of similar products. There is also a free section in Craigslist which you may want to browse through.
With so many advantages and a worldwide reputation, Craigslist is certainly a great place to visit and shop from. Check it out and get the beat deals for yourself.
What Is Social Bookmarking?
If you are an avid surfer of the ocean called the Internet, you will frequently come across some really interesting links that you might want your friends to know about. There are some websites that allow you store these links, tag them, and label them for public or private viewing. This is known as social bookmarking. People who visit these websites can access these links. These websites provide the space to store, organize, and access the links of other websites. People search for resources on the social bookmarking sites via public bookmarks, tags, and classifications that have been created and saved by the users of the social bookmarking sites. Examples of social bookmarking sites are del.icio.us and Stumbleupon.
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The last two decades of the twentieth century kept the cyber community captivated with some electrifying websites. Mind blowing graphics and animation along with a magical combination of other multimedia features was enough to keep a computer geek glued to his or her chair gaping at the seductive websites. The feature-enriched websites would carry information in an attractively organized amalgamation of textual and audio-visual content.
But as the cyber community evolved, the tastes of the members changed. People did not want to remain isolated. They did not want to visit websites just to gather information and remain passive receivers of whatever thrown on their faces. Human is a social animal and socialization is an inherent trait. Hence, the need to dynamically exchange information was felt.
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Social networking is a phenomenon that is very quickly surpassing its scope and extent. It is intensifying with increased Internet usage. In social networking, like-minded individuals interact with each other, exchange profiles, and share common interest. In social bookmarking, they either publicly or in private circulation, share the links they have bookmarked once they found them to be useful to the community.
Social sites are getting organized and taking a structured shape. Business owners may use it effectively for building a network of clients, industry professionals, and friends. Moreover, social networking can now be employed for SEO as the links shared by community members are properly tagged which are more often crawled by the search engines.
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