Content sometimes writes itself, ask the best content generators on the planet and they’ll inform you that their job is just a natural progression of placing the correct words in the right order. Writing a headline, however, to grab the users attention and read that tasty content is, somewhat, a different beast altogether.
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Today is my partners birthday, her 40th birthday, at that. I was supposed to be getting ready shortly to start a BBQ as we have about 30 friends and family about to turn up in the next hour or so looking to be fed. But it’s raining big time, so it looks like its going to be an indoor celebration after all.
Happy 40th Julie Ann 
Just a couple of days ago, I purchased the .com suffix of North South Media, after a 3 year chase it then dawned on me – how the heck do I proceed to build the .com domain into the continued growth of the company! We have a successful .co.uk suffix running that is entirely focussed on the UK market – but is weak in the competitive international market, mostly dominated by .com suffixes.
On Thursday, 12th of February, Google, Yahoo and MSN officialy announced the introduction of their canonical tag which will help webmasters stop their sites falling foul of the duplicate content filter. For the less-informed amongst you, Google and other search engines cache (store in their index) different url’s related to your website. So, for example, they might see a page within a site called :
http://www.yourdomain.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&category=gummy-candy
also accessed as
http://www.yourdomain.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&trackingid=1234&sessionid=5678
By using the new canonical tag, you can present your preffered url like so :
Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a site powered by a Zeus Web Server. Part of the work undertaken was upgrading the site from it’s old ecommerce design querylink structure to new clean, seo friendly urls and also sort out any canonicalisation conflicts that were present.
This article was borne from an experience I had recently within an on-line SEO Forum. The poster asked a question on how to help his client get page one listings in Google and also what to put in his monthly SEO report. When I replied that he should never have taken this client on in the first place when he had no knowledge about SEO, the poster retorted abusively and chastised myself for not giving him the advice that he required. This got myself thinking: ‘How many charlatan SEO or Web Design companies are out there ripping clients off with promises of Page One listings or exuberant prices for no return!’
It has been stated many times on the web that getting to grips with SEO is more achievable when you start to rank your site for local searches. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Trying to roll up your sleeves and compete for highly competitive keywords when you have little or no experience is soul destroying and nine times out of ten a persons SEO experience will end right there.
Many-an-argument has taken place within on-line forums and community sites over the importance of having a top ranking position for a sought-after keyword phrase. Some contributors have readily stated that they are more-than-happy if their site comes within the top ten to twenty positions stating that their customer/client’s on-line ROI (Return On Investment) targets have been met and traffic to the site has doubled, tripled or peaked greater than their initial expectations.
Many websites suffer from not engaging with their audience. They may receive a constant stream of visitors 24/7 visiting their site but they fail to capitalize on this audience. Why? A common problem with most static sites and e-commerce shopping carts is they fail to hold the attention of the user long enough to earn a trusted vote of confidence and consider what is on offer.
Getting your site noticed on the internet can be a very daunting and sometimes expensive experience, especially if it’s a competitive market. This is why I decided to write this article to help and aid those struggling with or have just launched a new site and have limited or no budget set aside for marketing their website online.
