Amazing computer world: 07/22/07

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Scam Alert: Some Companies Are Charging Up To $2,000 Just To Register A Domain Name!

by: Douglas Miller

I didn't believe this either, but... I've gotten a number of letters from companies who say they will "only" charge $1,000 to register our domain name! Unfortunately, some innocent people have accepted this ridiculous offer.

Clearly, this is a complete rip-off. And we've received even more offers to register domain names for "just" $300!

OK. So what should it cost to register a domain name? The short answer is that it should cost you between $15 and $75 (plus a fee to InterNIC - see below). Anything more is a rip-off.

Here's why: There are two types of fees to register a domain name:

A fee to InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center -- the group in charge of assigning domain names) and

A fee to the company doing the domain name registration for you.

1. InterNIC is in charge of registering domain names. Until September of this year (1995), there was no charge from InterNIC to register domain names. Therefore, if you knew how to fill out the appropriate form and submit it to InterNIC, you could register a domain name for free.

Prior to the registration fees from InterNIC, some people registered huge numbers of domain names. For example, there were individuals who tried to register the names of as many major corporations as they could, so they could later sell these domain names to these companies (when the companies realized that "their" domain names were not available).

On September 14, 1995, InterNIC announced that the fee for all new domain name registrations would be $100, which would include two years of registration. So, all new domain name registrations now cost a minimum of $100, the fee to InterNIC. (Update: The fee for Web Addresses registered on or after April 1, 1998, is US$70.00. New registrations are in effect for a two-year period.)

The fee for annual renewals (for both new and existing domains) is $50. Therefore, all domain names that were registered prior to September 14, 1995 (when the $100 registration fee was initiated) will owe an annual renewal fee of $50 on the anniversary of their initial registration. (Update: All domain names re-registered on or after April 1, 1998, are assessed a US$35.00 re-registration fee.)

On the Web: For more information, the Web address for InterNIC Registration Services is http://rs.internic.net/rs-internic.html. (Update: Network Solutions now handles the registration services: http://www.networksolutions.com/ )

2. Many people hire their ISP (Internet Service Provider) or a consultant to register their domain names for them.

The process of registering a domain name almost always involves these five steps:

Selecting a domain name to register
Finding out if this domain name is currently available
Selecting an ISP who will host the domain
Filling out the appropriate form to request the domain name (done by you or the ISP)
Submitting this form to InterNIC (done by the ISP).
A Useful Tip: It is now possible to use the Web to find out whether or not the domain name you'd like to register is available using WhoIs. This is a LOT more convenient than alternative ways to find out whether or not a domain name is available. But remember, the name may be assigned to someone else between when your application is submitted and when it is reviewed by InterNIC.

On the Web: Look at example information along with the instructions that are included as part of the Domain Name Registration Agreement to request a new domain name. Filling out and submitting the form is not difficult (however, it does require knowing what you're doing).

A reasonable fee to pay to have your ISP (or a consultant) fill out and submit this form for you is between $15 and $75. Our ISP charges us $30 and does an excellent job. Paying much more for this is unnecessary.

This means that you will pay a total of $115 to $175 (including the $100 to InterNIC) to register your domain name. (at the time of original publication)

Note: This scam is about consultants who charge $2000 for ONLY registering a domain name. If your ISP starts talking about fees of $2000, they are probably giving you more domain services than you need. (The service most of you will want from your ISP is sometimes called a "domain alias," and can be implemented for the prices we mentioned.)

Tip: Don't worry if you're not the technical or administrative contact (Questions 4 and 5 on the form) -- that's OK. Just be sure that Questions 3a to 3f are filled in with your company's name and info. That way, you'll own the domain name, not your ISP or consultant.

About The Author

Douglas Miller is a retired fire service captain, now making a living working from home. His company Hundred-Fold-Life is not just a name but also a belief. To learn how to find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.clixgo.com

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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run online business , matrix, internet marketing solution , online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer , computer training , computer software and personal computer

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software

Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Internet Connection?

by: L. J. Allen

Are you getting everything out of your internet connection that you could be? If all you're doing is checking your e-mail and occasionally using Ebay to find gag gifts for your friends, than the answer is definitely no! The face of communication changes every day, and the internet is providing you with literally hundreds of opportunities to make connections with people just like you. In terms of interaction with our peers, social networking on the internet is the next big thing and these sites will provide you with more opportunities to make friends and business contacts than you know what to do with!

If you're looking for a broader social network, social networking sites can be just the solution you need. When you're busy and stressed, it can take an immense amount of effort to refresh yourself after a long day at work and then head to a class or a bar to meet people. Maybe you've found yourself in a new situation, or are entering a new place in your life. Social networking can help you find the people that will help you grow and change into a version of yourself that you will love. It's all about the company we keep, and social networking on the internet can help.

Social networking via the internet can be a powerful tool especially if you are in a new area. People move and change locations today more than they ever have, and you'll find that with every move, it can become harder and harder to go out and make friends. If you've moved around at all, you already know how tiring it can be to learn about a new area. You'll probably spend a few nights at social gatherings and bars that do nothing for you. Social networking can take a lot of the guesswork out of finding not only good places to go, but fun people to hang out with!

If someone sounds interesting, you can click on their profile and get a bite-sized chunk of information that will help you figure out if you are compatible in any way. Build up your own profile in a way that will draw people that you are interested in, whether you're interested in trying meet some new mothers who have similar interests as you, or you're just trying to find out where all the artists in the area hang out.

Social networking on the internet can not only make your life easier, it'll make it more fun, too! Sign up at a social networking site today and take a look at all the people waiting to meet you!

About The Author

Linda Allen is the co-founder of GirlfriendsCafe - A Social Network for Women throughout the United States and Canada.
http://www.girlfriendscafe.com

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Could Be The Best Game Yet To Be Released

by: Ben Brook

Crisis Core is the latest chapter of the Final Fantasy series of computer games produced by Square Enix. This Japanese animated series as grown quite a reputation over the years and could be on of the best games that has yet to be released this year.

The Big Day September 13 2007,

The big day of September 13 2007 is when we should expect to see Crisis Core but don't hold your breath, this game has had more release dates pushed back then I care to remember. One thing is for sure, these release dates have heightened the anticipation for this computer game.

The Trailer for Crisis Core was shown in 2005 to great reviews from everyone who has viewed it. Since that time peoples anticipation and hopes for the game to be released have grown incredibly as each release date has been announced.

Crisis Core when it is finally released will come in both English and Japanese versions.

For A Final Fantasy There Have Been Many Fantasies

For a franchise called Final Fantasy their have been many titles. The first game was created in 1987 and since then has grown a cult following amongst it's English and Japanese fans. The game not only appeals to avid computer gamers but also fans of Japanese animation.

This chapter of the game Crisis Core sees four young warriors traveling to different areas of their world to defeat the four fiends of chaos. Each of the locations look beautifully detailed and very well animated which is what we all expect of Japanese animation.

About The Author

Ben Brook is owner of Games O Matic Online Computer Game Store and is an avid PC games of over 15 Years. Please visit http://www.gamesomatic.com for more articles and the best computer games.

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Games, Game, Network, Networking

Which Tool to Use for Listening to Your Audio Books?

by: Juliette Lee

The beauty with audio books is that you have more than one option for listening to them.

For those of us who like to be given lots of options for doing certain things instead of being forced to adapt to just one choice, you definitely have lots of options for listening to your audio book.

If you are someone who likes listening while seated on your favorite couch or seated on your desk, listening to your audio book on your cassette tape player (if the audio book is in audiocassette format, of course) is the option for you.

But if you have a desktop or laptop computer, you might prefer listening to your audio book from here.

Most PCs have Digital Audio Players for playing audio books. If your PC doesn't have any (very unlikely), you can still download them completely free on the Internet. The 2 best digital audio players that you can download free from the Internet include:

RealOne Player: It can be downloaded from their website:-
http://www.Real.com

Windows Media Player: It can also be downloaded from their website:-
http://www.Microsoft.com

But if you would rather listen to your audio book while doing your household chores, dancing, exercising, jogging, commuting to and from work, etc, then you would need portable audio playback devices that you can carry around and listen to, preferably with earphones.

With the ever expanding market of portable audio playback devices, it goes to show that more and more people are now using them, because of the wonderful benefits they provide.

The most common form of these portable audio playback devices are the normal audio CD players or CD-ROM devices. You can carry these around with you while you do your household chores, exercise, jog or commute to and from work.

The more advanced form of these portable audio playback devices for playing audio books, especially those for listening to downloadable audio books, include:

-- Audio-ready PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Some of these PDAs include Casio CASSIOPEIA and Compaq iPAQ. Both can be pretty expensive, costing as much as about $500 for the Compaq iPAQ and about $400 for the Casio CASSIOPEIA.

-- Compatible Portable Audio Players. Some of these include the Creative's NOMAD Jukebox 3 and the SONICblue's Rio 900. These are cheaper than PDAs. For example, you can get the SONICblue's Rio 900 for about $250 from sites such as Sonicblue.com

Finally, like I said at the start of this article, whatever tool you decide to use in listening to your audio books will depend largely on "how" you prefer listening to your audio books.

For example, for the "young and restless" teenagers they can't do without the PDAs. I bet you wouldn't too if you were their age, right? But for the "aged and rusty" who just prefer the ease of being seated on their favorite couch, nothing can be better than listening to their favorite audio books from their "good old" cassette tape player!

About The Author

Juliette Lee is the editor and CEO of MyAudioCompanion.com. To find the best audio book titles, please visit http://www.myaudiocompanion.com. Sell audio books from your website and make 20%.

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Audio, Books

Scam Alert II: Domain Hijacking

by: Douglas Miller

There's a frightening new batch of scams going around now that can damage your reputation as domain "squatters" steal your domain name.

There are a number of ways the "game" is played. The first is entirely legal, if more than a little questionable. In this version, the name of a city or geographic area is grabbed by a domain squatter and pointed to... "sites that you wouldn't want your children visiting."

(We chose that term to avoid getting caught in a lot of spam filters for the use of the word "p-o-rn.")

A prominent notice is placed on the sites, offering them for sale at prices that range from $2500 to as much as $500,000!

The idea here is that city officials will feel that enough damage is being done to the reputations of their towns that they'll pay to keep them from being associated with that type of material.

It's obviously safe to say that it's not appropriate to pop those kinds of images into people's faces while they're looking for info on a completely different topic.

That's where the pressure on the cities comes from, and why this is such a disgusting scheme.

In essence, the domain squatter says: "Pay us, or continue to watch as your city's reputation suffers."

Many would call this blackmail...

~~~

The second variation on the theme is not always legal. When someone takes a trademarked name (or variation of the spelling of one) or a famous person's name, and does the same thing.

For trademarks or close variations, there's a specific procedure for addressing the problem. (See the resource section at the end of this issue.)

For the names of famous people, there MAY be a remedy. But, it can be tricky -- and expensive.

For example, if someone named John Jones registered http://WalterCronkite.com and pointed it to one of "those" sites, Walter Cronkite could probably force the domain away from him.

However, if someone named Steve Cronkite registered http://Cronkite.com and did the same thing, Walter Cronkite would have no recourse. It would be very hard to demonstrate that Steve registered the domain in bad faith. And if Steve's son's name is Walter, the same is true for http://WalterCronkite.com.

If you feel that your name is likely to be typed into a browser when people are looking for information on you, you should consider getting both the .com and .net versions of the domain if they're available.

It will cost you a few bucks to prevent the problem. Fixing it, assuming you win, will cost you hundreds -- if not thousands -- of dollars.

And there's no guarantee you'll win.

~~~

A third version is a bit more benign. It's common among members of affiliate programs.

In this version names very close to, or even including, the trademark are registered. The sites are created to drive traffic to the affiliates' URL at the main site.

This may or may not be acceptable to the affiliate program owner. If it is, it's a good technique for getting traffic. If not, it could get you into hot water. Check with the owner of the trademark before doing this.

Less benign is an alternative version of this technique where someone grabs domain names that are close to the trademark of a competitor and uses them to grab competitor type-in traffic. This is often done by finding out the most common misspellings of the real domain name or trademark.

Watch for people doing this with your domain.

~~~

Here's the worst version of this -- and it can hit anyone if they have enough traffic and don't pay close attention to when their domain registrations expire.

In this situation, someone grabs expired domain names and points them to "those" kinds of sites. This is a "no lose" for the hijacker, as they will profit from the traffic even if the previous owner doesn't pay the requested ransom for the domain.

The more traffic the URL gets, the greater the clickthrough value to the hijacker. This means more potential damage to the original owner -- and a higher ransom to get it back.

In effect, your own popularity is your worst enemy in this case.

The solution to this one is simple -- and very important: Don't let your domain names expire!

Useful Resources:
If you find yourself a victim of domain hijacking, there is hope for correcting the problem.

For a more formal explanation of the legal aspects of this problem, visit
http://www.llrx.com/congress/100200.htm

For specific information on the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), the procedure for taking domain names that are being used in violation of a trademark, see
http://wipo2.wipo.int/process1/index.html

For information on taking action under the Anti-Cybersquatting Act (A US law that provides for damages in addition to the less severe penalties of the UDRP) see
http://www.domain-name.org/cybersquatact.htm

If you have a famous name or trademark, the best defense is to make sure that you register the main variations in both the .com and .net form. The .org is probably only necessary if you are heavily involved with charitable activities.

Protect yourself. Scammers come up with new schemes all the time...

So, keep your eyes open.

About The Author

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Domain, Scam

Searching For The Best Membership Management Software Across The Web

by: Mario Churchill

The Web is truly the best venue where you could possibly find the best membership management software. You must be looking for that computer program for quite some time already. And your membership organization might really be badly needing the aid by such types of software.

If you are running a small startup and your labor staff is still very minimal, you must aim to achieve greater efficiency. Your employees must be well adept in using different computer programs as well as the basic operating transactions for your company’s business. However, most workers are finding it hard to balance computer program familiarization and basic business skills.

For example, not all employees are adept in using the complicated and widely used computer programs. They may be experts in the management and operating levels, but their computer skills might not be as impressive. You cannot avoid hiring these types of employees because you are after the quality and expertise in handling important transactions for your company.

Now, you can have a quick remedy to this pressing problem. There are many membership management software that are currently being introduced and sold across the world wide Web. Many software developers have spent considerable time and effort doing research and writing such software products.

Benefits of investing in membership management software

There are many reasons why you should spend capital allocation for buying membership management software. One top reason is that such computer programs will surely infuse all the computer tools and programs that would make everyday transactions in your office more efficient.

Membership management software usually consists of the most practical and widely used computer programs and applications, like those used in basic data encoding, those that are used in making tables and incorporating computations, those used in formal presentations and many more. There are also other basic features like Internet connectivity and basic database applications. Thus, when all these programs and more are combined in one single software, time and effort would surely be saved.

Another advantage of using membership management software is that it will save time. Imagine how many seconds or minutes your employees would lose if they keep on starting up and closing basic computer applications. Sometimes, it is also inevitable that the programs are accidentally shut down, prompting a need for a program restart. With the use of membership management software, everything they would need is already in one package program.

Buying in the Web

Buying a membership management software across the Web is never a hassle. It would be easy. You can download such programs quickly, instantly and conveniently. Within seconds and hours, your office would have the needed membership management software to help your employees make it through each day.

You can do each purchase like a usual online buying transaction, where you need credit cards or a bank transfer account for purchase payments. If you would be lucky enough, there are also free trial versions of such software. However, such trial issues can be used only within a few months.

If you are aiming to improve efficiency and effectiveness of people behind our startup small enterprise, it would be imperative that you invest in a membership management software. Web purchases would mean so much convenience, so yourself could spend your spare time doing other productive tasks.

About The Author

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information about membership software or membership management software checkout http://www.extrememember.com

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Technorati Tags: Utilities, Tools, Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Photoshop, Design, Web design

Grab That Photoshop CS Tutorial

by: Mario Churchill

Photographs have a way of fascinating people. The vibrant colors and the ideas conveyed can surely mean a lot to those who get to appreciate it. Technology has even given people the opportunity to improve on their pictures. You will see magazines all over the place with very fabulous images. Professional photographers are responsible for such. However, with the Adobe Photoshop program, you can do the same magic yourself.

The Adobe Photoshop CS

Many people are aware that there are computer programs responsible for making fabulous pictures. However, they do not know everything there is to know to get around such technology. As such, it is best to be familiar with the Adobe Photoshop CS.

The Photoshop CS is the better version of the Adobe Photoshop program. This has more advanced features that you cannot find in other versions. This is the best way to organize your pictures and make those precious albums. With this software and your computer, you can make as many projects with your images.

The Adobe Photoshop CS Tutorial

Of course, it is not enough that you have the Photoshop CS program installed in your computer. It is equally important that you get to know how to use it and maximize the benefits it brings. There is no need to worry if you feel like you do not know much about Photoshop CS. Just get the proper tutorial and you can surely move your way around the program.

Tutorial Centers

You can find centers in your locality that can give a crash course or a specialized program that can provide Photoshop CS tutorials. You can enroll for a series of session so that you can be trained to do Photoshop CS as well for other programs. You even have the choice to join a class or get a personalized training.

Self-Help Tools

There are also self-help tools that you can buy. You can go to the bookstore and find a material that can give you Photoshop CS tutorial. You can choose to read books to learn. You can also get those releases in cassettes or CD so that you can listen through the instructions. Choose this option if you are more comfortable of studying on your own than getting a tutor.

Go Online

The online community also offers a wide range of choices for your Photoshop CS tutorials. There are web sites that can let you download e-Books with instructions and tutorials in PDF format. You can read the explanation from these together with illustrations so that you can easily identify the commands in the program. You can even choose to get an eSeminar. This setup is just like a classroom method, only you do things through the computer.

You can also choose to explore some sites in their forums and discussion boards. You can ask members for advice and most of them are willing enough to give their help. This serves as a peer-to-peer discussion where specific questions can be answered directly. Try exploring too the site of the manufacturer. They often provide help to their clients to help you enjoy the program you purchased.

Conclusion

Get to learn the basics of the Adobe Photoshop CS. Make sure you develop your skills well with the Photoshop CS tutorial. This way you can do the amazing images through your own efforts and make a project album that you can be proud of.

About The Author

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information about an excellent small business marketing checkout http://www.prophotosecrets.com

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Technorati Tags: Utilities, Tools, Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Photoshop, Design, Web design

How to Fill out Forms Fast - Improving Your Daily Productivity By Using a Clipboard Manager

by: Bruce Bidgood

So you find part of your day is spent filling out forms and your boss has a lot more ‘other’ work that he wants done, you need to find a faster way to fill out these forms.

When you first started the job you typed in all the fields quickly realized that is extremely slow and wasted a lot of your valuable time, especially with the boss dumping more work on you.

Then it dawns on you that you can copy and paste some of the information into the form, things are starting to move a little faster and you are starting to save a little time. Next you notice you’re typing, copying and pasting the same information over and over again into the same forms, there has to be a better way. You get the great idea to save them into a text file and then just copy and paste it into the form, you can save the text file and open it anytime you want, things are really starting to move faster.

After awhile you start to have a lot of little text files with information in them, keeping them organized is becoming rather difficult. You find yourself constantly searching for the right text file and having to switch through a whole bunch of windows just to copy and paste one item at a time, once again you begin looking for a better way to quickly fill out forms. The boss has noticed your improvement but wants more done now, what do you do now?

There is a solution, use a clipboard manager. A clipboard manager is a commonly overlooked tool to help your productivity and can greatly increase your speed at filling out forms, a job that use to take several hours can now be done in an hour or less.

A clipboard manager can hold hundreds if not thousands of bits of text and other things such as images that you have copied, it organizes them for you so you’re not constantly searching for the right text file. Once you have your clippings organized you can save them and use them over and over anytime you like, saving you time from retyping the same thing over and over or opening text files and copying and pasting from them. A clipboard manager also stays on top of all the windows so you don’t have to search for it and then conveniently you can store it to the side when not using it. A clipboard manager is the answer to saving time filling out forms, leaving you the time you need to deal with those other things your boss wants you to.

No more copy and pasting one item at a time, you can copy everything first, organizing and storing it in the clipboard manager. Then you simply switch to the form and start pasting each item into the appropriate fields, no more switching back and forth between programs to copy and paste. High end clipboard managers such as Copy Monkey will even move to the next item for you so all you have to do is move to the next field in your form and paste, no more selecting the next item to paste.

Once you get the hang of a clipboard manager you will never go back to the old way of typing, copying and pasting or using text files to fill out your forms, the time you save is incredible leaving you the time you need to deal with all those other issues the boss want you on top of and he will be impressed with the time you save to get those other important things done.

You will find a wide variety of clipboard managers available ranging from very simple to high end clipboard managers depending on your needs, try out a couple and see how they can greatly reduce the time you spend filling out forms.

About The Author

Bruce Bidgood
Owner of Bidgood Svcs
info@bidgoodsvcs.com
Creator of Copy Monkey and Picture Resize
http://www.copymonkey.ca
http://www.pictureresize.com

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Improved Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions

Improved search engine rank is attainable through good search engine optimization, part of which is the maximizing of your Google Page Rank through intelligent linking with other web pages. In this first part of 2 on the subject of Google Page Rank, we will look at the argument for attaining high listings through a linking strategy.

Google Page Rank is a buzz term at the moment since many believe it to be more important to your search engine listing than search engine optimization. If we ignore for the moment the fact that Page Rank is, in itself, a form of SEO, then there are arguments for and against that belief.

Before we investigate these arguments, let’s understand some fundamentals of search engine listings. First, most search engines list web pages, not domains (websites). What that means is that every web page in a domain has to be relevant to a specific search term if it is to be listed.

Secondly, a search engine customer is the person who is using that engine to seek information. It is not an advertiser or the owner of a website. It is the user seeking information. The form of words that is used by that customer is called a ‘search term’. This becomes a ‘keyword’ when applied to a webmaster trying to anticipate the form of words that a user will employ to search for their information.

A search engine works by analyzing the semantic content of a web page and determining the relative importance of the vocabulary used, taking into account the title tags, the heading tags and the first text it detects. It will also check out text related contextually to what it considers to be the main ‘keywords’ and then rank that page according to how relevant it calculates it to be for the main theme of the page.

It will then examine the number of other web pages that are linked to it, and regard that as a measure of how important, or relevant to the ‘keyword’, that the page is. The value of the links is regarded as peer approval of the content. All of these factors determine how high that page is listed for search terms that are similar contextually to the content of the page.

Without doubt, there are web pages that are listed high in the search engine indices that contain very little in the way of useful content on the keywords for which they are listed, and have virtually no contextual relevance to any search term. However, a careful investigation of these sites will reveal two things.

The first is that many such web pages are frequently listed highly only for relatively obscure search terms. If a search engine customer uses a common search term to find the information they are seeking, they will very rarely be led to a site that has little content other than links, but it is possible. The second is that they contains large numbers of links out to other web pages, and it can be assumed that they have at least an equal number of web pages linking back.

It is possible to find such web pages for many keywords. An example is on the first page on Google for the keyword ‘Data VOIP Solutions’. There is a website there that is comprised only of links. The site itself has little content, but every link leads to either another website that provides useful content, or another internal page full of more links and no content. That is how links can be used to lift a web page high in the SE listings.

Such sites frequently contain only the bare minimum of conventional search engine optimization, but the competition is so low that they gain high listings. You will also find them to contain large numbers of internal pages, every one of which contain the same internal and external links.

It is true, therefore, that it is possible to get a high listing without much content, but with a large number of links. However, is that a legitimate argument for those promoting links against content? Could you reasonably apply that strategy to your website? Could a genuine website really contain thousands of links to other internal pages and external pages on other websites, and still maintain its intended purpose?

In the second part of this article, titled ‘Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions’ wI will explode some myths about Page Rank, and explain how many people are wasting their time with reciprocal links, and perhaps even losing through them. It may be that a linking strategy is not so much an option, as a choice between the type of website that you want: to provide genuine information or to make money regardless of content.

Improved search engine rank might be synonymous with Google Page Rank, but perhaps only if you want to sacrifice the integrity of your website.

About The Author

Peter Nisbet normally has several pages his website listed within 2 days, and he shows you exactly how he does it on his website http://www.improved-search-engine-rank.com using screenshots and actual examples

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Technorati Tags: Internet, Web, Technology, Software, Search Engine, Google

Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions - 2

by: Peter Nisbet

Improved search engine rank is difficult enough to obtain without you having to trawl through all that has been written about Google Page Rank in order to find the truth. There are many misconceptions about Page Rank, and Part 2 of this article dispels the most common of them, the first being that Yahoo and MSN have their own version.

In fact this is not so. Yahoo had a beta version of a ‘Web Rank’ visible for a while, ranking complete websites, but it is now offline. MSN has no equivalent as far I can ascertain. The term ‘PageRank’ is a trade mark of Google, which is why I refer to it as Page Rank and not PageRank. A small difference, but a significant one.

If you are one of those that believe that the more links you can get to your website the better, then you are wrong. When Google started the Page Rank frenzy by putting that little green bar on their toolbar, they didn’t realize the consequences of what they were doing. People fought to get as many links to their website as possible, irrespective of the nature of the websites to which they were linking.

That is misconception Number 2. You do not link to websites, you link to web pages, or should I say, you get links back from web pages, not websites. It is, after all, the link back that counts isn’t it? The link away from your site doesn’t count. Wrong! Misconception Number 3. The link to your web page counts no more than the link away from your web page. In fact, it could count less. You could lose out in the reciprocal linking stakes if your web page is worth more than the other person’s.

Let’s dispel that misconception right now. When you receive a link from a web page (not web site) you get a proportion of the Google Page Rank of that web page that depends on the total number of links leaving that page. When you provide a link to another web page, you give away a proportion of your Page Rank that depends on the number of other links leaving your web page.

The Page Rank of the website you get a link from is irrelevant, since that is generally the rank of the Home Page. You will likely find that all these great links you think you have from PR 7 or 8 websites are from a links page that has a PR of ZERO! So you get zilch for the deal. If you are providing them with a link from a page on your site even of PR 1, then you lose! Most people fail to understand that.

No incoming link can have a negative effect on your PR. It can have a zero effect, but not negative. However, if you have an incoming link with zero effect, and an outgoing reciprocal link with a positive effect to the target page, then you will effectively lose PR through the deal. Every web page starts with a PR of 1, and so has that single PR to share amongst other pages to which it is linked. The more incoming links it has, the higher PR it can have to share out.

If your page has a PR of 4 and has three links leaving it, each gets twice the number of PR votes than if 6 links leave it. Your page with a PR of 4 has to get a similar number of PR votes incoming as it gives away to retain its PR. In simple terms, if your PR 4 page is getting links from a PR 8 page with 20 links leaving it, you lose out big time! It’s simple maths.

No page ever gives away all of its PR. There is a factor in Google’s calculation that reduces this to below 100% of the total PR of any page. However, that is roughly how it works. You don’t get a proportion of the whole website ranking; you only get part of the ranking of the page on which your link is placed. Since most ‘Links Pages’ tend to be full of other outgoing links, then you won’t get much, and will likely get zero.

That is why automated reciprocal linking software is often a waste of time. If you want to make the best of linking arrangements, then agree with the other webmaster that you will provide each other with a link from equally ranked pages. That way both of you will gain, and neither loses. Some software allows you to make these arrangements.

Another misconception is that only links from external web pages count. In fact, links between your own web pages can be arranged to provide one page with most of the page rank available. Every page has a start PR of 1, so the more pages you have on your site then the more PR you have to play with and distribute to pages on your website of your choice.

Search engine rank can be improved by intelligent use of links, both external and internal, but Google Page Rank does not have the profound effect on your search engine listing that many have led you to believe. Good onsite SEO usually wins so keep that in mind when designing your website.

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