From the monthly archives:

October 2006

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How can 10 simple articles change your life?

A Synthroid Prescription, good friend of mine recently quit his day job and began selling baseball cards on Ebay to pay the bills. He's done a lot more than just pay the bills, though, as he's become his own boss and now works about 70% less than he did when he was "employed." And his income. Oh, maybe quadrupled.

Although he's only been at it for about four months now, he's really improved his quality of life substantially — it's the kind of success that makes you half-jealous but also inspires you to go out and do something similar for yourself.

But despite his initial success, my buddy realizes that he can accomplish more. Problem is, he's not quite sure how to go about it, synthroid Prescription.

Earlier this week, I was over at his house, and he wanted to know if I thought his baseball card business could benefit in any way from having a Web site. For instance, could he build an online storefront that would help him reach customers outside of Ebay.

In theory, owning a Web site provides a nice platform from which to build an audience and raise the profile of your business.

In practice, however, Cheap zyprexa, most Web sites end up becoming useless chunks of digital real estate, barely worth the price tag that accompanied the original domain. Synthroid Prescription, As I was formulating a response to my friend's question, I began to realize that a majority of people out there simply don't understand how to approach business on the Web. Of course, this is precisely why so many sites become "useless chunks of real estate."

It's not about technology — it's about equity

So, where do most people go wrong.

Innovation happens so fast on the Web that it's easy to become blinded by feature-rich technology and software. We are constantly hit with messages of "the next big thing," and so we naturally assign value to what we perceive to be breakthrough innovations.

As a result, we begin to think that in order to conduct a successful online venture, we must include all this new and excellent functionality that has become available thanks to new technologies.

God help you if someone thinks you're so 2005, right, synthroid Prescription.

The problem here is that our perception of equity on the Web has been skewed unnaturally.

Yes, it's true that there is value in new technology. For a company like YouTube, there was unbelievable equity in their product.

But here's the real mind blower:

The real equity on the Web lies in the content, not in the technology that helps us produce it.

Think for a second here. Do you really care how Synthroid Prescription, that Weird Al video was delivered to you on YouTube, or do you just care about the video itself.

The equity lies in what your content is, not how it got there.

So what does this mean for my buddy's Web site and his baseball card business, actos Overnight.

It means that a bunch of fancy-pants technology driving a state-of-the-art, online storefront would be a terrible investment.

Thanks to the incredible rate of innovation, even your everyday Joe can go out and get a remarkably functional online storefront. This fact alone drives the potential equity of a Web-based store into the toilet.

Let's look at this in real-world terms everyone can understand, synthroid Prescription. If you want to go buy 500 acres out in the boonies, you might expect to see a cost of about $3000 per acre. If, however, you wanted to buy 500 acres within the metropolitan area of a major US city, you might expect to pay $150,000 per acre, if not more.

The bottom line is that there's not a whole lot of equity in things that:

are not scarce

are not unique

It's true that some companies and programmers actually need to focus on technology, because that's where their equity is.

But your equity lies in your content, because it's the one thing you can bring to the marketplace that is both scarce and unique.

It all starts with 10 simple articles.

Synthroid Prescription, So, how can 10 simple articles change your life.

These articles will serve as the foundation for your Web site — not to mention the future of your business. Cymbalta Overnight, Savvy marketers certainly know the value of 10 articles on a niche topic, and I truly believe that there is absolutely nothing better you can do for your business.

By writing 10 simple articles on a topic that you love, you'll effectively:

Create equity in your site.

Add equity to your business.

Let's say you stick with writing articles on that topic for a year, and by the end of that time, you've accrued 100 articles. When all is said and done, you'll own a Web site that is chock-full of detailed, current, and pertinent articles on your subject, and you'll likely have a very targeted (and interested) audience who have all opted to come along for the ride.

And if you never believe anything else I say, make damn sure you believe this:

Google loves Web sites like this.

In my buddy's case, if all he had were an online storefront and a slick AJAX interface, anyone could step into his market and compete against him with their own storefront, synthroid Prescription. In essence, there would be no equity in his site because anyone could replicate what he already had with their own products...

But they'd have one hell of a time trying to compete with his content.

If he had 100 articles and they had none, it would be a joke. The bottom line is that in any topic, whoever controls the information flow around that subject holds all the power.

By writing articles on baseball cards, my buddy could establish himself as the preeminent source of information on that topic. He could build a valuable Web site and a targeted, Cheap clomid Online, interested audience at almost no cost. In as little as 9 or 10 months, he could create so many channels through which to make money that it would be utterly ridiculous.

At that point, his only problem would be figuring out how to further capitalize on all the opportunities that he'd created for himself.

And it all would have started with 10 simple articles.

127 comments… 42 retweets

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B Norvasc Without Prescription, y now, all of you are probably familiar with the idea of the Google sandbox. The theory behind it is easy to understand, but how many times have you seen real world examples of it illustrated on the Web.

Over the last month or so, it has become clear that Pearsonified has crept out of the sandbox and moved into the utopia that is the "land of the trusted domains." The results have been, in my opinion, nothing short of remarkable.

Because I think an in-depth look at the effects of emerging from the sandbox will interest many of you out there, I decided to conduct a simple analysis that illustrates what a stifling obstacle the Google sandbox really is.

Take a Look at My Sandbox

As you accrue content on your Web site, you provide more and more avenues for people to access your material via Google. But, if your site's pages are not counted among Google's trusted ranks, then your chances of having someone access your content via search are about as good as your chances of winning the lottery, norvasc Without Prescription.

The interesting thing about the trusted ranks, though, is that your site actually joins them one page at a time — it's not just an all-in process. The longer pages exist and the more traffic and links they receive, the more likely they are to eventually join the trusted ranks.

The following graph (Figure 1) illustrates how this process plays out over time:

A bar graph showing how search referrals to pages of Pearsonified.com increased from February through Oct. 13, 2006

Figure 1. Monthly hits from Google (and Yahoo!) and also the total number of search strings that were used to access the content on Pearsonified.com. Note: October numbers are incomplete Norvasc Without Prescription, Despite its relative simplicity, the above graph actually contains some very revealing details about the Google sandbox. Among these details:

Google performed its "quarterly" index (where it assigns new page rank and includes/excludes more pages from its trusted ranks) in late February, late June, and late September. Notice how after each new index, this site saw a corresponding jump in monthly hits from Google and also in the total number of search strings that were used to access the content.

Through June, nearly all of my Google traffic came to only five pages of this site, despite the fact that I actually had over 90 total pages. On top of that, search strings that successfully landed visitors on my site were incredibly specific.

By the end of August, just over 20 total pages were indexed in Google, and the overall number of Google hits evidence the fact that there was more meat out there for searchers to chew on. On top of that, I began to see more permutations of each search term showing up, which stands in direct contrast with the specificity I experienced through June.

Although we're not even halfway through October, it looks as though nearly all of my 113 pages (currently) are not only indexed in Google, Order aldactone C.O.D, but they're also out there sending a significant amount of traffic back to this site. Oh, and as for the search strings that are getting people here, norvasc Without Prescription. With terms like "horse face," "bitch slap," "hulkamania," "ugly woman," and "god warrior" landing people on my fine pages, it's starting to look like a bit like a circus :)

A Graphical Depiction of Rising Trust

Clearly illustrating the concept of Google trust is somewhat of a vague ambition. While I'm certainly not going to claim that I've come up with anything novel here, I have managed to put together a graph that I think provides at least one view of how pages rise in the SERPs over time as they accumulate trust.

To illustrate the concept of Google trust, I chose to look at the frequency with which my top 20 search strings landed people on the pages of my site. In my opinion, if a search term consistently results in a successful visit to this site, then you can reasonably conclude that the landing page is also probably enjoying a higher position in the SERPs for that particular search string. Norvasc Without Prescription, To put it another way, if you rank on page 5 for a term, you might see a couple of hits a month. By contrast, if you rank on page 1 for that same term, you might see hundreds of hits a month. In theory, page 1 results are more "trusted" than those on page 5.., Buy seroquel.

Graph depicting the frequency of hits my top 20 search terms have received since February of 2006

Figure 2. Graphical depiction of the average number of hits on my top 20 search terms by month. Note: October numbers are incomplete

In the Figure 1 analysis above, I explained how more and more of this site's pages became indexed as Google performed its quarterly updates. With each successive update, I noticed more and more search terms driving people back to my site, norvasc Without Prescription.

Figure 2 is basically Figure 1 from a slightly different angle, as it shows the frequency with which particular search terms resulted in visits to this site. Of particular note here is how the frequency has risen dramatically with each quarterly update.

While the total number of search strings (shown in Figure 1) is evidence of the fact that more content has been indexed in Google, I believe that the frequency of a particular search string (shown in Figure 2) is a great indicator of just how "trusted" certain pages of your site have become.

Although the October numbers are incomplete, I project that once all is said and done, I will see an average of 75 hits for my top 20 search terms. Norvasc Without Prescription, Based on my those numbers, then, I can only conclude that I have, in fact, reached "trusted" status within Google.

The Bottom Line

It really is amazing how powerful Google is in terms of pushing traffic all over the Web. I have literally been wowed by the rate at which my traffic and other metrics have increased over the last two months, which is basically the time frame in which I crawled out of the Google sandbox.

In fact, now that I'm out (and a geek), I can say that getting out of the sandbox is kinda like getting laid for the first time. Order lotrisone Overnight Delivery, It's a phenomenal process to behold, and it's both impressive and intriguing how much Google can shift the traffic dynamics of a Web site once it's fully-indexed.

Now, imagine the possibilities if you were actually selling something off of all these indexed pages...

It's a shame I hate retail so much :).

58 comments… 7200 retweets

Order Advair Without A Prescription

Design Tips for Where the Rubber Meets the Road: #02 - Random Header Images for Your Blog Order advair Without A Prescription, If you could choose between a static home page or a dynamic one, which would you take.

Dynamic every time...but wait, doesn't that require work to pull off.

Not if you use my incredibly simple random header image solution. Oh, and you could use this for more than just header images; I just figure that most folks will want to rotate their headers, since they tend to be the most dominant visual elements.

Are you ready to go random. Let's do it, Order advair Without A Prescription.

1. Prepare Your Header Files

We're going to use 5 different images in our random header generator

For the purposes of this example, we're going to use 5 different images to pull off our random header effect. It's important that these images be the same size — this will keep your image declarations consistent and W3C-valid. So, Cheapest cymbalta, grab the five header images of your choice, and name them according to the following convention:

header_1.jpg

header_2.jpg

header_3.jpg

header_4.jpg

header_5.jpg

One thing worth noting here is the fact that all of your images should have the same file extensions. If you're using .gif Order advair Without A Prescription, files, then make sure that each header image has the .gif extension. Photographs will look infinitely better if saved as .jpg, though, so that's why I've chosen that extension here.

Upload the images to your desired directory on your server. If you're using WordPress, I'd suggest uploading the images to the images folder within your active theme directory. Once your images are on the server, it's time to install the random header code.

2, Order advair Without A Prescription. Code It Up!

Because I hate to limit my examples to any particular type of CMS software, I have chosen to do a bare-bones illustration here. Since implementing random header images across different platforms is a straightforward task, I'll leave that to you, Cheap avapro.

One thing that you do need to be aware of, though, is the fact that your page must be compiled as PHP, which means that your Web page cannot just be a regular old HTML (the page should end with the extension .php ¹). But, if you're running WordPress, you have nothing to worry about because WordPress compiles pages as PHP by default.

If you are Order advair Without A Prescription, using WordPress, then the Thesis Theme will save you some time here, and you won't have to deal with any code at all. By default, the Thesis multimedia box will randomly rotate images that you place in your /rotator folder, thus making this an utterly brainless process.

If you're using a different WordPress theme or another PHP-based CMS, here's the random header image code you'll need to get started:



<img src="http://path_to_images/header_<?php echo(rand(1, Zocor Without A Prescription, 5)); ?>.jpg"

width="image_width" height="image_height" alt="image_alt_text" />

All the magic happens in this bit of PHP:



<?php echo(rand(1,5)); ?>

That little snippet of code produces — and then echoes, or prints — a random number between 1 and 5. Therefore, the header image references become header_1, header_2, and so on.

What, you were expecting it to be more complicated. Sorry, Order advair Without A Prescription.

Oh, and if you experience any problems implementing this, please let me know in the comments.

¹ WordPress pages are still compiled in PHP, but by default, lasix Overnight, they do not end with the .php extension. I realize this is confusing, but this is the hand I've been dealt. ↩

215 comments… 15 retweets

Lamisil Side Effects

The new Copyblogger, based on the Cutline framework Lamisil Side Effects, It seems ridiculous to call something that was created in February of 2006 an "old classic," but here we are.

Just 9 short months ago, an anonymous Joe by the name of Brian Clark contacted me about designing a site for a little side project he had in the works. Now, at the time, all I knew of Brian was that he knew where to place a comma in a sentence, so to put it another way, I liked him already.

Of course, the snarky copywriter lowballed me into near slave wages, and a week or so later, I emerged with the original Copyblogger design. Although I had no idea at the time, that design would basically end up serving as the foundation for a career niche that I actually enjoy.

I have no clue how many emails and referrals I've received from the little link at the bottom of that site, but I can safely say that it probably rivals the attention I've received from all my other designs combined, lamisil Side Effects. The one thing that nobody seemed to notice on Copyblogger, Buy celebrex, though, was...

My dirty little secret.

The truth is, that design was held together by rusty nails and duct tape, and Brian was constantly IMing me with claims that the sky was falling.

Of course, the sky was firmly intact, but whenever Brian tried to do anything new with his site, a rusty nail would pop out here or there, reaffirming the fact that my design skills progressed a bit more quickly than my coding skills.

9 Months Later...

Fast-forward to now, and that "anonymous Joe" behind the Copyblogger mask is essentially an A-lister by just about any conceivable metric. Lamisil Side Effects, And, as we all know, popularity and fame breed opportunity, and Brian finally hit a point where my crappy code was preventing him from scaling out his Web site to meet his growing needs.

Fortunately, I've learned a thing or two since February, and I knew it was time to fix Copyblogger's gallstones, intestinal disorder, and renal failure, Cheap anafranil. Oh, and I had to get rid of the duct tape and rusty nails, too — you know, with all the fear of tetanus, 100% fatality rates and whatnot...

The New Copyblogger

With surgical precision, I took the piddling mess that was the old Copyblogger and turned it into the lean, mean, page-rendering machine that you see now...

Actually, the truth here is that it required very little precision and/or expertise in order to get the job done. In fact, I coded everything up, including tweaks, in 5 or 6 hours by utilizing the Cutline framework, lamisil Side Effects. By 1999 standards, that's ridiculous for an entire working Web site, but that shows you just how far we've come since then. Discount lexapro No Rx, Although the site looks much the same as it did before, everything under the hood is completely new. It's like dropping that six fo' Impala on an entirely new chassis, cause now you ballin', cuz.

WordPress is the platform that makes it all possible, and open-source themes like Cutline allow you to make the most extensible use of an already-amazing piece of free software.

Futureproofing

Brian's outstanding blog is growing by leaps and bounds, and so are his opportunities for revenue and expansion. By adapting to a design that adheres strictly to established Web standards, I think he's making a very intelligent, very savvy move that will prepare him for the road ahead.

I hope other A-list-quality sites will take notice and follow suit, but then again, I always have been a bit of a dreamer.

Whether you are a site owner, a designer, Generic actos, or both, it's absolutely key to ensure that your site is not only ready for today, but also for tomorrow.

26 comments… 1 retweets

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