This past weekend we took our two seperate existing RSS feeds- one for our blog, the other for our ’standard’ content like our articles and services- and combined them into one easy-to-access feed.

If you are wondering what RSS is, it means ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Simple enough that once you subscribe to a web site that has this feature, you keep up-to-date with new information without having to check the site every day. You can do get newsfeeds from major news networks, entertainment sources, and business news and aggregate it to access it all from one place.

Once you get started, your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time. If you do not want to download rss reader software, its really easy to subscribe to your favorite feeds through My Yahoo or My Google (free personalized homepages).

To get started with the YNot Web feed, click the orange feed “chicklet” on the lower left side of the screen. This takes you to our Feedburner page, with subscriber options for web-based and desktop-based feed readers.

For another quick overview of RSS and feeds seeFeedburner’s Feed 101.

YNot Web has added a blog option to both our Enhanced Site Design and Professional Site Design packages. This will allow our clients to easily have blogging capabilities added to their new websites.  Blog software can be customized to match the “look” you want and gives you the ability to change and add content and pages as you please.

Check out our complete Enhanced Site Design and Professional Site Design package definitions under our Web Site Design and Site Builds services.

There’s a new fad getting pushed by part of the internet marketing community selling paid one-way links on something called ‘Cloud’ sites or ‘500 words’ where there are just various words on their web?site up for bid/purchase as a link text for inbound links. These sites are selling the fact that more one-way inbound links help increase your link popularity and are factored into your ranking and site positioning for keywords used in your inbound link text.

This is reminscent of the recent ‘pixel’ page ad sites where the site owners sell one or more pixels on a website for supposed visibility and inbound links to website owners who want to advertise their website. However, the problem with these sites is that your inbound links are only as good as the site they are on.

First off, hundreds of these flash-in-the-pan sites are popping up and most of them have no ranking or traffic themselves. So you can’t expect to have these help YOUR ranking or traffic. In fact, in my opinion- you should never pay for a link on a site less than PageRank 4. I don’t think there is any problem having free links from sites with PR down to 0, as PR changes and not only is there no penalty for links for lower ranked sites, but search engines like Google expect you to have links from a mix of sites.

Second, many of the major engines often pull ’spammy’ sites from their results altogether. These sites have no real content and are just a bunch of links. They aren’t likely to be in the major engines listings- another indicator that you will not receive any real traffic from them.

Evaluate paid-link or banner ad opportunities wisely. Is the site content related to your site, therefore targetting an audience appropriate to your site? Does the site bring in real traffic? Get some proof of page views and unique visitors. Does the site have a good ranking in Google, MSN or Yahoo?
Don’t be a victim of the latest advertising fads. Use techniques that are proven winners.

Need help finding effective ways to prospect for new customers?
YNot Web can help. Call 916-225-5266 today.

Well, today my new Tablet PC arrived. I upgraded my M1300 to an LE1600 from Motion Computing. I was a bit bummed that none of my old components or upgrades would transfer over, but I am excited about the new features- especially the thumbprint reader and the View Anywhere screen.
I am not looking forward to restoring files and reloading software but it will nice to have a ‘clean slate’ to try to keep in better order and keep up on backups and restores!
Oh, after I finish setting up the new one, I will be selling my old tablet either locally or on ebay, if you’re interested.

I never intended to have so much news about Google that it would need its own section, but days after my latest Google-related entry, there are two new pieces of news.
First, I come across “Google Analytics” while working on a Google Adwords campaign for a customer. They announced “New Google Analytics tells you how visitors found your site and how they interact with it. ” Now, tracking visitors who come to your site is nothing new. Savvy webmasters have analyzed server logs for years, to find out what pages on their site were popular, where visitors come from, etc. Most web hosts give you access to these logs, but only some give you access to software that breaks it down into charts and graphs.
With Google Analytics, Google takes it one step further and gives you the ability to customize these reports with filters and tracking for specific ads and referral sources.
And of course, with Google, the best part is that its Free.
Check it out at http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html

I’ll write more on this later once I have a chance to play around with it. I’m sure there are more uses and possible repercussions to be found.

Looks like they’re trying to catch up with Skype, but you know you know those Google engineers are eating their wheaties. Check out Google Talk.

Just in time for Christmas… okay, this one needs some work (lots of outdated materials), but Google Catalog has me pretty excited. I am a confirmed internet-only shopper, especially around the holidays, so anything that makes it so I don’t have to keep a 4 foot stack of mail order catalogs is an amazing thing.

The newest of the bunch is Google Video. Amateur film makers everywhere are salivating over this one… I bet music isn’t far behind.

A quick intro to the category of New Technologies.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am really a techie geek at heart. Now, I’m not into just any technology or techie toys and I’m not into it for the ‘cool’ factor. Nope, I just really get into USEFUL technology. And really, as much as many people seem to think, I’m not usually the first kid on the block with the new gadgets. I am too frugal for that sort of thing.

Take my Pocket PC phone. Yes, I’ve had it since spring of 2003. Lots of people think its a new thing. Actually I decided I needed one of these tools WAY back in early 2002. Did I go out and get one- heck no! They were $700 back then. But I researched which ones I like and which phone companies had them (I didn’t even have a cell phone then). Then I went out and got the freebie phone from Tmobile. They had the plan and the Pocket PC I wanted, but I would wait until they came down in price. More than a year later, my Pocket PC phone became my newest, most useful tool. I can definitely say I couldn’t have managed without it. There’s a lot to remember when you run your own business and I no longer have the luxury of a great memory.

So for a whole year my Pocket PC(I have since upgraded models) was the coolest tool I had. That is until I got my fabulous fantastic Motion Computing Tablet PC.
Again, this technology had actually been around for years. It wasn’t really until I knew I had to get a mobile solution that I even looked at this option. I have to admit, if I didn’t have a friend who works for Motion Computing, I would have never been able to afford this tool when I did. But boy am I glad I did. Why this hadn’t been marketed to consumers yet is beyond me. At least now I see them heavily marketing to the college crowd and I can see why. What I wouldn’t have given to have this to take notes with in school.

But not just for students- my tablet is my absolute #1 indispensible business tool. Sorry little Pocket PC. Though you haven’t been replaced (hey, I still need a phone and its still the most portable extra brain you can get), there’s a new cool kid in Kammy-town. For Now.

I’ll keep my eyes out for some new USEFUL technologies and write about some of my favorite (again, they might not be bleeding edge new, but they may be new or overlooked by me or you).