Google Hacks for Dummies

Google is a powerful tool. Most of the time, most users are restricted to using Google as a search engine, and looking at pages on the internet Google has allowed or encouraged you to see, but there is a darker side to Google – “Google Hacks.”

Google hacks are strings of code entered into the search box that will access information that was never intended to be available to the general public. Some enterprising hacker has discovered which particular string of search parameters will provide normally restricted information.

There are many hacking guides, written by hackers. Unfortunately, most of these guides are written for the already initiated and assume a level of knowledge far above the typical user’s. Loosely translated this means they are a, really boring and b, impossible to understand.

The other problem I came across looking for usable hacks is that the hackers are far more comfortable talking to a machine than a person which makes the instructions even more difficult to follow.

Google Hacks for Dummies | The Tech Brief

WordPress.com and Windows Live partnering together and providing an upgrade for 30 million Windows Live Spaces customers

Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent a good bit of time talking about our approach to partnering with the web, and as part of that, how we’re deeply integrating with the leading consumer services that you find most valuable. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to get on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, and with Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic (the parent company of WordPress.com), announce an exciting partnership between our companies.

Providing a great blogging experience

As we looked at customers’ blogging needs and what different companies were providing, we were particularly interested in what WordPress.com is doing. They have a host of impressive capabilities – from a scalable platform and leading spam protection, to great personalization and customization. WordPress powers over 8.5% of the web, is used on over 26 million sites, and WordPress.com is seen by over 250 million people every month. Not only that, Automattic is a company filled with great people focused on improving blogging experiences. So rather than having Windows Live invest in a competing blogging service, we decided the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com.

As we looked at how we brought Windows Live and WordPress.com together, there were three big things we wanted to deliver:

• Giving existing Windows Live Spaces customers an easy upgrade of their blogging experience to WordPress.com
• Letting anyone connect their WordPress.com blog to Messenger so their Messenger friends are updated when they publish a new post on WordPress.com
• Allowing Windows Live customers to easily create new blogs on WordPress.com

Upgrading a Windows Live Spaces blog to WordPress.com

There are 30 million people who are actively using Windows Live Spaces and have been eagerly awaiting the next set of new blogging features. For these customers, Windows Live and WordPress.com have worked together to build a simple way to move your blog posts, comments, and integrated photos right over to WordPress.com and start taking advantage of all their new features. And we’ll also redirect all your old Spaces URLs to your new blog, so you don’t lose any visitors along the way. If you want to get started today, just visit your existing Space and you’ll see a prompt like this:

If you’re not ready to migrate today, you can also choose to download your blog content, migrate later, or delete your Space. There’s more information posted online to help you with your options, and if you have additional questions on the migration, please visit the WordPress.com support center.

Easily share with your Messenger friends

With Messenger Connect, any website can easily give their customers the ability to share updates with their Messenger friends, and WordPress.com has done exactly this.

So, if you have a blog on WordPress.com, we know that one of the things that is likely important to you is the ability to share the blog with your friends. Of course, on WordPress.com, you can make the blog public and people can subscribe to the blog via RSS or you can just email a link to the site. But when you connect your Messenger account to Wordpress.com, you can have new posts on your WordPress.com blog automatically send a notification for each new blog post to your Messenger friends’ feeds.

Windows Live customers getting started with a new blog

Starting today, when new Windows Live customers go to create a new blog on the web, we’ll help them create that new blog on WordPress.com. And when Windows Live Essentials 2011 releases later this fall, Windows Live Writer will also use WordPress.com as its default blogging solution.

Windows Live and WordPress.com

We’re very excited to work with WordPress.com to give our shared customers a great experience that connects the fantastic blogging capabilities on WordPress.com with the leading communications and sharing services on Windows Live. We hope you enjoy this too, and we look forward to partnering with even more great services from around the web.

Dharmesh Mehta
Director, Windows Live Product Management

WordPress.com and Windows Live partnering together and providing an upgrade for 30 million Windows Live Spaces customers

Facebook Guide Book: Mashable Launches Hub for Facebook Resources

Whether you’re new to Facebook or an old hat, the magnitude of features and functionality in the enormous social network can still be somewhat daunting. From personal profiles to brand pages and applications to groups, there’s a lot to get up to speed on — and even an expert might have occasion to want a primer on one of the lesser-travelled corners now and then.

Facebook Guide Book: Mashable Launches Hub for Facebook Resources

3 Simple Affiliate PPC Keyword Conversion Tracking Options - 5 Star Affiliate Blogs

If you are doing PPC without keyword level conversion tracking these days, when there are so many good options, you are missing a big opportunity to optimize your profits.

Chad over at CDF Networks goes into 3 good options for keyword conversion tracking complete with screen shots.

Full article here: 3 Simple Affiliate PPC Keyword Conversion Tracking Options - 5 Star Affiliate Blogs

Google’s New Look Means More Opportunities for You!

You might have noticed that Google’s results page looks a bit different. There’s a new way to navigate the search results. There’s an options panel on the left-hand side of the page that enables you to sort the search results by information type: news results, blogs, shopping, images or books related to your query.
The change is really about customizing search results. Google keeps perfecting their search to provide the most relevant information for their users. The tweaks to the design are to clear up the search engine results page (SERP) so it’s more streamlined.

The sponsored-links on the right-hand of the page, have also changed a bit. They’re closer now to the main body of the search results, and the look of the ads is similar to the natural search results.
So what does this all mean for you? We’ll explain after the jump!

Google has listened to their users – both the search audience and the advertisers – and has taken heed. The movement of the right-hand ads closer to the center search results is great – searchers who once ignored or missed the advertisements can’t help but see the options now.
The left-hand panel allows the user to refine his or her search, which can be really useful for you, the Internet marketer.

For Example…

Think about it; if you have a blog associated with your exercise site, instead of your latest entry on Reebok shoes competing with every page Google finds on the query, if the user specifies ‘blogs’ – which she might do if she’s looking for reviews – your blog has a better chance of a better page rank.
Here’s a screenshot of a Google results page for the query ‘Reebok easytone shoes:’

As you can see the first few results are the big retail websites.
Now here’s a screenshot of the results page sorted by the ‘Blogs’ category:

You can see that the pages that show up in the results are much more diverse, there’s even a blogspot blog by a Malaysian dancer (the SashaBashir link).

The Result?

The results are the same with videos, images, and shopping results – every category listed in the panel. Now if you use multiple types of content on your site, your site has multiple opportunities to rank higher on Google’s SERP!

http://blog.affiliateclassroom.com/more-opportunities-on-google/

How To Get Your New Website Indexed Quickly

Within this article, I will reveal to you the steps to getting your new website indexed quickly. With massive amounts of new websites pouring into the internet on a daily basis, it is absolutely crucial that you as a webmaster invest time into getting your website indexed.

For many people, getting search engine spiders to crawl their content for the first time is one of the toughest things to do. And even tougher still is the task of getting those spiders to come back and crawl your content on a regular basis. But alas, it is possible to get your brand new website crawled, indexed and visited frequently by search engine spiders – you just have to know the right tricks!

This is completely possible for even the novice webmaster who knows nothing about how websites work. The reason why I can say this is because I was a complete novice as well, but I managed to get my website crawled and indexed within the first 48 hours of it being on the web. Sweet deal, right?!?!!?

I want to share with you exactly what I went through in order to get my website crawled and indexed so quickly, and hopefully you will find it helpful, insightful, beneficial and inspirational. Without further adieu, let’s get into the nitty gritty of getting your new website indexed quickly.

How To Get Your New Website Indexed Quickly

22 Things You Don't Know About Your Customers | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

There are things you don't know about your customers. It's not you, it's them. But you need to figure it out. Here are some hard lessons I've learned over the years - they apply to usability, pet peeves and other fun stuff. Learn these and you'll have more, happier customers/visitors/readers/fans:

1. Reading onscreen is hard, for everyone

The most basic principle of usability: It's hard for folks to read online. Much harder than reading in print. Remember this. Burn it into your brain. Small typefaces, weird page layouts and odd color schemes may seem great, but they're bound to hurt your business in the long run.

2. They like short paragraphs.

Oldest rule of marketing, from way back when we printed on paper and used mail and stuff: Write no more than 4-5 lines in a paragraph. Read My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising (Advertising Age Classics Library) to learn just how little the rules have changed.

3. They like short lines

Reading onscreen is hard. The typical person can best read 10-20 words per line. No more. If you're using microscopic fonts to fit every word possible on a line, change your ways.

4. They like wide line spacing and nice margins

Also know as 'leading', wide line spacing makes text easier to read. Margins shorten the lines so that you get fewer words per line (see above).

Folks actually read faster when line spacing is really tight, but they retain and comprehend less. A fantastic piece of research by the University of Wichita proves it.

Read more: 22 Things You Don't Know About Your Customers | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/08/22-things-you-dont-know-about-customers.htm#ixzz0czuY2H7y

22 Things You Don't Know About Your Customers | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing