Selasa, 24 Maret 2009

3 (Three) Wireless Broadband Data Modem - the saga continues.

Out of the blue I got a call from technical support - it was a callback I was expecting about a week ago I think! Anyway, they were very professional and helpful, and pleasant to deal with. However, they weren’t able to answer many questions on my issues, but they are going to look into some of them and get back to me.

Firstly, they explained to me that the USB modem creates a virtual CD drive when it’s plugged into the computer, and any software that interacts with the CD drive nomrally can cause conflicts. Seems crazy to me, but there you go.

They said also that as well as Napster and some of the other common software that can cause conflicts, the Dell Support service can cause issues, and something called Cyberlink (which I don’t seem to have) can cause issues. Disabling Dell Support on start up by disabling DSAgnt in the system configuration utility should help they said. I haven’t tried it yet, as I am online right now and loathe to have to restart and take my chances again… update - tried this today to no avail. Started with DSAgnt disabled and got ‘modem invalid’ and lots of unstable mounting/dismounting. A restart after enabling DSAgnt again and I got up and running.

They said FTP should be working fine, and they tested it at their location and said it was… I still can’t FTP though. Has anyone in ireland been able to FTP?

There is a known issue with Three’s SMTP server, which is interesting because I was told on previous calls that there was no SMTP server. It’s smtp.3ireland.ie apparently - however it’s not working right now, so that’s useless information really.

They also told me that an IP conflict issue which was stopping access to sites like Gmail should now be resolved.

Other information gleaned is that there seems to be just one IP address. Is that normal? They seemed to think that’s how all mobile broadband operators work, the guy I spoke to was in the UK, roaming with an Irish 3 Wireless Broadband Data Modem and he had the same IP address as I have. This would seem problematic to me. Anyone have any input on that?

Business blogging tips: Link out to other blogs. (4 of 10)

Links to other websites and blogs are an integral part of blogging. Learning to do it well can take bit of time - take care not to under or overdo it!

Apply your own quality control metrics to all the links out in your blog posts. Ensure the links are to good quality sites/blogs - ideally ones which share your niche. If you’re linking to a specific post on a blog, do have a quick look through the rest of the site to make sure it’s somewhere you want to be sending people.

Linking out can build awareness of your blog, and by extension your business, and can help build relationships with others in your niche. Often as you build awareness you will also build links into your blog from others in your niche which can help further build a readership - and all of the above combined can improve your search engine positioning.

Having no links out of your blog is a mistake, but you also want to avoid having too many links out in any one blog post - it can be offputting to readers, as well as potentially affecting search engine positioning. One link is absolutely fine, two or three is plenty. If you find yourself constantly having more than that, even in short posts, I’d recommend you assess your linking strategy - you may want to cut back.

One other thing to watch when linking is that your link text gives a good indication of where the link goes.

For example linking using the domain name is fine such as ‘look at the site google.com‘, also fine would be ‘look at this great search engine‘ but avoid like the plague ‘look at this‘, or ‘go here‘.

Remember also that the text you use to link to someone can have an effect on their search engine positioning for that term, so if you want to be nice, consider the text you use - for example instead of ‘read this interesting article‘ you could say ‘look at Aonach’s business blogging tip on categories‘. The latter not only gives the user a better idea of where they are going, but would potentially help us achieve better search engine positioning for relevant searches!

SEO Tips: Link Building 101 - Free Web Directories

Ask any webmaster for SEO tips nowadays and they'll jump right into a conversation about meta data and keyword density. While it's true keywords are a major part of search engine optimization, link building is just as (if not more,) important. By leveraging the power of free web directories and link exchanges, you can increase site traffic and site relevancy.

Search engines serve one purpose - to help users find pages with information that is relevant to the keywords used in the search. The search engines determine whether or not your page is relevant by checking a number of factors (in no particular order):

1. The meta data on your page, including the page title and keywords.
2. The content of your page, and the number of time the keywords appear in the content.
3. The presence or absence of the keywords in the URL pointing to the page.
4. The number of links from related pages on reputable sites linking back to that page.
5. The number of links pointing from your site to related pages on reputable sites.

Each search engine places a different value on the above factors, but all of them place a very high value on the number of links pointing to the page.

You'll want to pay careful attention to these free SEO tips! Link building is the single most important thing you can do to get your site ranked highly by the search engines. With enough quality links pointing back to your site, you can easily get your site ranked in the top 20 results for many common keywords.

First, you'll want to identify free web directories that will allow you to submit your URL. You can start by checking out the "Directories" category on the Links page of the Easy Ways to Earn Money Online blog (see the link at the end of this post). It includes several of the best free website directories. It's worth noting that most of the free link directories are actually link exchange networks, in the sense that they typically require a reciprocal link on your website pointing back to the directory. Why? Because they know that the more links they have pointing back to their site, the better their page ranking will be.

Once you've identified a list of free web directories and link exchanges, you'll need to go to each site and review their submission guidelines. DO NOT use a directory submission service. You have no control over how these tools will handle your submission (or if they submit anything at all). What's worse, you may be labeled a spammer if the service ignores the URL submission guidelines of the site in question, and you could get blacklisted from many of the most popular website directories.

Also, some search engines (including Google) have been rumored to penalize you for being associated with pages located in so-called "bad neighborhoods" (sites known to engage in practices meant to abuse search engine logic or promote illegal activity). It's far better to check out these these free web directories one by one, follow their guidelines to the letter, and read their privacy policies before submitting your information.

The process of link building takes time, since most reputable web directories will want to review your site before listing it. As a result, many will take anywhere from several days to several months to add your URL to their link exchanges. Though some SEO tips I've come across place a great deal of emphasis on the page rank of the link exchanges or web directories, you don't have the luxury of being too picky when you're launching a new site. You may have to wait for several months for a well established site with a page rank of 6 or above to approve your site.

In the meantime, you're website will have little or no traffic and you'll be largely invisible to the major search engines. A better strategy would be to get your site listed with as many website directories and link exchanges as possible--regardless of page rank. This way, you'll get a small boost from the sites with a low page rank while waiting for the big boost from the sites with the high page ranks.

Finally, you can substantially increase the number of outbound links on your website by creating your own link directory on your site. Create a form that allows your visitors to submit their URL (or the URL of other sites they like). Just be sure to check out the sites for signs of illegal activity before including them on your site. You can even use your web directory to post all your reciprocal links in one place.

Remember, link building using free web directories and link exchanges is a lot like farming - if you don't take the time to sow the seeds, you'll never reap the harvest.

SEO Tips: Link Building

This article is a follow-up to an article I wrote about On-Page Optimization. On-Page optimization enables each of your web pages to make the most out of the mojo that they have -- but you need inbound links to create that mojo in the first place.

I use the term "mojo" as a generic descriptor for the importance given to a web page or a web site based upon inbound links. Similar terms include page rank, site rank, trust rank, and authority. Those terms tend to carry too much linguistic baggage, so I use the term "mojo" for simplicity unless another term is specifically required.

Mojo is created by getting inbound links to your web site and to your web pages.

Getting inbound links is one of the most important, and time consuming, tasks involved in SEO.

Here are a few tips to generate inbound links. Each of these tips are appropriate for some web sites, but none are appropriate for all web sites. Select the link building strategies which are most appropriate for your specific web site.

Submit to Web Directories

Start with big slow directories like the Yahoo Directory and the DMOZ Open Directory Project, but don't stop there.

Search out the small directories which are dedicated to topics relevant to your web site.

For more suggestions on finding directories to submit to, read How can I find web directories?

Reciprocal Linking

Write individual e-mails to specific webmasters whose web pages compliment your own and tell them that you would like to trade links with them.

Make sure to personalize each e-mail, or your e-mails will be quickly deleted as spam.

To achieve the best results from your e-mail, include the following in your initial e-mail:

* Mention two positive items about their web site, so that they know that your e-mail is not a generic spam.

* Include directions to the specific web page where you have added the link to their web site.

* Mention the Page Rank of the page where you have added a link to their web site.

These web sites exist to help you search for reciprocal link partners in the same market niche' as your web site:

* Find Link Partners

* Link Partner Finder

* Themes Reciprocal Link Finder

Write Articles for Other Web Sites

One method for getting inbound links is to write quality articles and submit them to other web sites for publication.

Each article should include a link back to your web site.

These links are better than links from link pages, because there tend to be very few outbound links on the article page.

Write a brief article on some topic related to the topic of your web site. Do not write an article about your web site, but write an article that would be interesting to people who would also be interested in your web site.

Send this article to webmasters who maintain web sites on topics similar to the topic of your article. Explain to them that they can post your article for free on their web sites, in return for a link to your web site.

To find web sites to submit articles for publication, visit Where can I submit an article for publication?

Create and Submit Press Releases

Write press releases about your web site and submit them to press release distribution services.

To find places to submit press releases for publication, visit Where can I submit my press release?

Join a Reciprocal Link Program

Reciprocal linking programs exist to help webmasters share links with similar web sites.

Some of the reciprocal link programs are:

* Link Market

* Info Wizards

* LinkExchanged

* Link Partners

* Links-Pal

* Linkateer

* Webmaster Link Exchange

* GoTop Link Exchange ($19.95 fee to join)

* LinkLeads

* Link Traders

* LinkExchangeIt

* SiteSell

* 123ExchangeLinks

* Ads4Links

* Spocka

* Links For You

If you have a blog, try blogLinker, the automatic link swapper for blogs.

These link networks can generate a lot of e-mail. You will probably want to create a new e-mail account just for these networks.

Join the DigitalPoint Ad Network

The DigitalPoint Coop Advertising Network enables you to automatically trade links with thousands of web sites across the Internet.

Join a Reciprocal Linking Forum

Several web forums exist for the purpose of sharing and trading reciprocal links. These linking forums include:

LinkRequests Link Trade Forum

Start a Reciprocal Linking Program on Your Web Site

You can also setup a reciprocal linking program on your own web site.

For more information on setting up a reciprocal linking program on your site, read How can I add a reciprocal link manager to my web site?

Start or Join a Web Ring

You can use an existing web ring service such as WebRing, or you can create your own web ring using the PHP-Ring webring script.

Join or Create a Top Site List

Search for top site lists which are relevant to your web site.

Add yourself to the existing lists. If no relevant top site lists exist, create one.

Provide a Useful Service

Create dynamic content on your web site which other web masters can include on their web sites by linking to it.

Every webmaster who uses your content automatically adds a link to your site.

Firearm News is an excellent example of this. If you add a small bit of JavaScript to your web page, your users will receive up-to-date news on firearms.

Of course, you will also have to contact other webmasters to let them know about your service -- perhaps even with a press release.

Buy Links

If all else fails, you can always buy links to your web site