<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Site Articles &#187; OPINIONS</title>
	<atom:link href="http://sitearticles.com/category/opinions/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://sitearticles.com</link>
	<description>Web Development Articles and Magazine</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:40:57 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Change Cloths Color</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/change-cloths-color-2/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/change-cloths-color-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:13:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hristobutchvarov</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[1. Open the image which color you are going to change. 2. Select the clothes which color you want to change. You can use each one of the selection tools. I will use Select - Color Range. 3. Select the color you are going to change and using the Fuzziness slider control the range of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>1. Open the image which color you are going to change.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfxtn5_yODo/TWYC4-yjfcI/AAAAAAAAAII/sPtSmhfINeg/s1600/01.jpg" alt="" width="409" height="512" /></p>
<p>2. Select the clothes which color you want to change. You can use each one of the selection tools. I will use<strong> Select </strong><strong>- </strong><strong>Color</strong><strong> </strong><strong>Range</strong><strong>.</strong></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pE5njt24vZI/TV6ls5bQcNI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Z7Z0y-CjJLs/s1600/02.jpg" alt="" width="456" height="507" /></strong></p>
<p>3. Select the color you are going to change and using the <strong>Fuzziness</strong> slider<strong> </strong>control the range of the selection. Finish by pressing<strong> OK.</strong></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ew8kTQbm6KQ/TWYC5gPLtGI/AAAAAAAAAIM/H2OorQ2YP58/s1600/03.jpg" alt="" width="417" height="427" /><br />
</strong></p>
<p>4. Take the <strong>Quick</strong><strong> </strong><strong>Selection </strong><strong>Tool </strong>and precise the selection where it needs.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BLutoI9s8P8/TV6lvhDzdNI/AAAAAAAAAHw/GlrBD-d9pfo/s1600/04.jpg" alt="" width="146" height="208" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5BIYRjXsYXQ/TWYC6t45reI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/NjgPqsfWydQ/s1600/05.jpg" alt="" width="517" height="659" /></p>
<p>5. Go to<strong> Image</strong><strong> &#8211; </strong><strong>Image </strong><strong>Adjustments &#8211; </strong><strong>Hue</strong><strong> </strong><strong>Saturation.</strong></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignnone" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqv4hCCW9gE/TWYC7iPnSgI/AAAAAAAAAIU/ms4yvlwpZC8/s1600/06.jpg" alt="" width="691" height="617" /><br />
</strong></p>
<p>6. You can choose the new color from the<strong> Hue</strong> slider.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iocDvbc8Pyw/TV6lznxAFTI/AAAAAAAAAH8/A_PYAjdDWn0/s1600/07.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="385" /></p>
<p>7. When you are satisfied with the new color press <strong>OK</strong> and <strong>CTR</strong><strong>+</strong><strong>D </strong>to remove the selection<strong>.</strong></p>
<p>8. You are ready.</p>
<p><strong><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W3cq8O1r1jY/TWYC8k0n3EI/AAAAAAAAAIY/pK-Cg5CjDkE/s1600/08.jpg" alt="" width="409" height="512" /><br />
</strong></p>
<p>Made by rozerWebArt</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/change-cloths-color-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>From photo to sketch</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/from-photo-to-sketch/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/from-photo-to-sketch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:34:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hristobutchvarov</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=663</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[1. Open the image which you want to turn into a sketch . 2. Select Image – Adjustment – Desaturate (Shift+Ctrl+U), to turn it into a black and white image. 3. Go to Filter &#8211; Other &#8211; High Pass and change the Radius in range of 3 to 6 pixels. Changing the radius depends on [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>1. Open the image which you want to turn into a sketch .</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNpBoG6H2b0/TWYGK3VuFnI/AAAAAAAAAIc/tzE7sE5kBZw/s1600/01.jpg" alt="" width="309" height="430" /></p>
<p>2. Select Image – Adjustment – Desaturate (Shift+Ctrl+U), to turn it into a black and white image.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ahB2rNveNgc/TWYGMyO7nfI/AAAAAAAAAIg/AOIHYa6OOn0/s1600/02.jpg" alt="" width="693" height="620" /></p>
<p>3. Go to Filter &#8211; Other &#8211; High Pass and change the Radius in range of 3 to 6 pixels. Changing the radius depends on the depth and the size of the picture.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XxQGe2a753k/TWYGONposiI/AAAAAAAAAIk/bFaMzD_w25k/s1600/03.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="594" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CT2Ugp7ajxc/TWYGPxTWnmI/AAAAAAAAAIo/8mq6bcUbsAg/s1600/04.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="336" /></p>
<p>4. Duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J) and change Blending Mode from Normal to  Color Dodge.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWBOHWZPaok/TV6e-C-TuXI/AAAAAAAAAGg/qroXJt1GDaU/s1600/05.jpg" alt="" width="251" height="152" /></p>
<p>5. You picture must look like that:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L0XdBVa5ZcI/TWYGQ0C6PTI/AAAAAAAAAIs/iLHZlR1z6iQ/s1600/06.jpg" alt="" width="313" height="430" /></p>
<p>6. Go to Image &#8211; Adjustmet &#8211; Birghtness/Contrast to increase the contrast and to sharpen the contours.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QWLDngUHXWU/TWYGTVK4aZI/AAAAAAAAAIw/tActiacH0WU/s1600/07.jpg" alt="" width="693" height="622" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xv-0HcdZx_A/TV6fA8aQWwI/AAAAAAAAAGs/uM6b9xfbHd4/s1600/08.jpg" alt="" width="401" height="176" /></p>
<p>7. You are ready</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0SAsyDlPFSk/TWYGUVjkmPI/AAAAAAAAAI0/iscrAb5FCds/s1600/09.jpg" alt="" width="313" height="430" /></p>
<p>Made by RozerWebArt</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/from-photo-to-sketch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Time-Saving Twitter Tools to Help You Work Smarter</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/time-saving-twitter-tools-to-help-you-work-smarter/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/time-saving-twitter-tools-to-help-you-work-smarter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:13:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine Gallagher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[EDITOR'S PICKS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EVALUATE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PROCESS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=370</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You have probably noticed that Twitter is more popular than ever.  As small business owners and solopreneurs we know how beneficial social media can be but are often overwhelmed at the thought of managing it all. If you are looking to take advantage of Twitter in your business without it taking over your life, here [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-372" title="twitter" src="http://sitearticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/twitter1.png" alt="" width="154" height="154" />You have probably noticed that Twitter is more popular than ever.  As  small business owners and solopreneurs we know how beneficial social  media can be but are often overwhelmed at the thought of managing it  all.</p>
<p>If you are looking to take advantage of Twitter in your business  without it taking over your life, here are some great “shortcut” tools  and applications to keep you in the social media game without  sacrificing all of your precious time!</p>
<p><strong>Tweetdeck: </strong>A desktop client that allows you to  manage all of your Twitter activity without being logged on to the web.   This is very popular due to its ability to organize your followers into  groups.  Tweetdeck has also recently added the ability to update your  Facebook status from the interface as well chat with your Facebook  friends.</p>
<p><strong>Twellow:</strong> The Twitter yellow pages! Find Twitter  users by category or geographic area.  This is a good way to find new  and interesting people to follow.</p>
<p><strong>Tweetie/Twitterberry: </strong>For those of you looking for  ways to tweet on the go, I prefer Tweetie for iPhone.  I have also heard  good things about Twitterberry, which is for the Blackberry.</p>
<p><strong>Grouptweet: </strong>Group message broadcasting for Twitter.   This tool gives you the ability to send private tweets to only a select  group of followers which you choose.  I’ve seen this used successfully  for everything from web development projects and school assignments to  diet and exercise accountability clubs.</p>
<p><strong>Monitter:</strong> This is one of my favorite tools.  It lets you monitor Twitter for a set of keywords and see what people are saying.</p>
<p><strong>Twitterfox:</strong> If you use the Firefox browser, this is a nice extension which notifies you when your friends update their status on Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>Twitthis: </strong>A way for people to send Twitter messages  about blog posts or websites. When you click on the TwitThis button or  link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shortened URL. You  can then send the shortened URL and a description of the page to others  on Twitter.  I love using this to quickly share the URLs of interesting  articles or posts I come across while browsing the web.</p>
<p><strong>Hashtags.org:</strong> Hashtags bring some order to the  updates of Twitter users.  For example, a couple of years back the  hashtag #sandiegofires was used in order for those interested to easily  follow this topic.  Hashtags.org provides real-time tracking of all the  hashtags being used on Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>WhoShouldIFollow:</strong> This is a very simple tool which  looks at your current friend list and recommends others to follow based  on that list.  One of the Twitter questions I am asked most often is how  to find more people to follow.  This makes it quick and easy to do.</p>
<p><strong>TweetBeep:</strong> If you want to know when someone mentions  your name, company, product or competitors you can get updates sent to  you to stay on top of it all.</p>
<p><strong>Twitterfeed:</strong> Allows you to quickly tweet your blog  posts.  Just sign up and enter your blog feed and Twitter login  information.  When you publish a blog post, it will be sent to Twitter  automatically.</p>
<p>These are some of my top picks–there are too many tools out there to  even begin to mention them all.  However, I recommend getting started  with some of these and keeping an eye out for any others you think would  help streamline your Twitter experience and save you time.  (You’ll  never have a shortage–there are new applications arriving on the scene  every day!)</p>
<p><em>©</em> <em> Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/time-saving-twitter-tools-to-help-you-work-smarter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Harvesting Tweets for Research and Profit – Is it Legal?</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/harvesting-tweets-for-research-and-profit-%e2%80%93-is-it-legal/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/harvesting-tweets-for-research-and-profit-%e2%80%93-is-it-legal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:16:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chip Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[EVALUATE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=284</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Harvesting tweets is on the rise. Researchers and marketers alike are now capturing and downloading Tweets from Twitter’s database. Privacy activists argue privacy concerns. Researchers, marketers, and Twitter users all want to know – is Twitter harvesting legal? How and Why Every day, users of the Twitter social media publishing platform send out millions of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-285" title="twitter-150x150" src="http://sitearticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/twitter-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></p>
<p>Harvesting tweets is on the rise. Researchers and marketers alike are now capturing and downloading  Tweets from Twitter’s database.  Privacy activists argue privacy  concerns.  Researchers, marketers, and Twitter users all want to know –  is Twitter harvesting legal?</p>
<p><strong>How and Why</strong></p>
<p>Every day, users of the Twitter social media publishing platform send  out millions of Tweets — short electronic messages of 140 characters or  less — to their readers and followers.</p>
<p>Most Twitter users are not aware that it’s relatively easy for anyone  with a skilled programmer to harvest and download their Tweets.  All a  programmer has to do is to gain access to Twitter’s Application  Programming Interface (API), and then to write code that requests data  from Twitter’s servers through the API.  The code contains search  criteria, usually in the form of key words and phrases of interest.</p>
<p>One prime example of why Tweets are harvested is the harvesting of  Tweets by news organizations Tweets during the riots that followed the  Iranian presidential election of 2009.  The results provided an  excellent source of real time information from a closed society as  events unfolded, and afterward, a fascinating historical record of how  the protesters worked together under difficult conditions.</p>
<p><strong>Advertisers have also joined the Tweet harvesting process. </strong></p>
<p>For example, suppose you’re going to lunch in an urban office  setting, and you tweet a collection of co-workers suggesting a specific  restaurant.  A savvy marketer harvests your Tweet, and then emails to  your smart phone a coupon for a hefty discount at another restaurant  nearby. Pretty nifty for the savvy marketer, and perhaps a welcome  suggestion for a discounted lunch, but is it legal?</p>
<p><strong>The Electronic Communications Privacy Act</strong></p>
<p>In 1968, the Wiretap Act was passed to impose rules for obtaining  wiretap orders.  In 1986, the Wiretap Act was amended by The Electronic  Communications Privacy Act to extend coverage of the Wiretap Act to  electronic communications.</p>
<p>Generally, the Wiretap Act as amended prohibits the intentional  interception, use, or disclosure of wire and electronic communications,  unless a statutory exception applies.  This means that all persons  (including governments) are prohibited from wiretapping phones and  intercepting electronic communications over the Web, unless a statutory  exception (safe harbor) applies.</p>
<p>How does this apply to Tweets? A specific statutory exception applies  to electronic communications that are publicly accessible.  This is the  exact language of the statutory exception:  “It shall not be unlawful …  for any person… to intercept or access an electronic communication made  through an electronic communication system that is configured so that  such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general  public”.</p>
<p>Readily accessible to the general public is defined by the statute as  follows:  “… with respect to a radio communication, that such  communication is not… scrambled or encrypted”.</p>
<p>It would appear that any Tweet that is not designated by the Twitter  user as “private” would clearly fall within the statutory exception  because the Tweet is not scrambled or encrypted.  So, Tweet harvesters  appear to have a strong argument that they’re protected by the publicly  accessible safe harbor.</p>
<p><strong>The Google Litigation</strong></p>
<p>Google is now involved in litigation involving its collection of WiFi  data.  It seems that Google’s Street View cars have engaged in the  now-ended practice of collecting bits of private wireless data while  cruising neighborhoods for data used in its Google Maps online service.</p>
<p>Although Google ceased this type of electronic data collection and  stated that it was not intentional, a class action suit has been filed  against Google.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>The harvesting of Tweets that are not designated as private would  appear to be protected by the publicly accessible safe harbor. It’s  interesting that Google’s collection of WiFi data is very similar to  Tweet harvesting.  It would seem that publicly accessible safe harbor  would also protect Google in this litigation, but we’ll have to wait and  see how this case is resolved.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/harvesting-tweets-for-research-and-profit-%e2%80%93-is-it-legal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Website Speed Penalty – Google is Testing Your Load Time!</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/website-speed-penalty-%e2%80%93-google-is-testing-your-load-time/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/website-speed-penalty-%e2%80%93-google-is-testing-your-load-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:50:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Steinheinkel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[EDITOR'S PICKS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PROCESS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=271</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After Google started using website speed as a parameter in their ranking algorithms every webmaster has a good reason to keep an eye on the page load speed of their website. Google’s bending over backwards to spread the word about this new speed penalty is proof in itself since big G is usually very secretive [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-272" title="googlelogo1" src="http://sitearticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/googlelogo1.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="60" />After Google started using website speed as a parameter in their ranking algorithms every webmaster has a good reason to keep an eye on the page load speed of their website. Google’s bending over backwards to spread the word about this new speed penalty is proof in itself since big G is usually very secretive about pending algorithm changes.</p>
<p>From the announcement we learn that the speed penalty was introduced following experiments by Google that revealed the impact website speed has on Internet users.</p>
<p>But the results of the experiment come as no surprise even for someone that has started to use the Internet recently; users prefer websites that load faster and tend to spend more time on such websites.</p>
<p>However, the search engine giant has been careful to state that even though website speed is now a factor, it is not the primary parameter for determining results. The quality and relevance of information is still the determining factor, but if your website speed is slow, you will receive a Google penalty.</p>
<p>This implies that it is important for you as a webmaster to assess the speed of your website to determine whether you are moving further down the search engine results pages (SERPs) because your website is slower than your direct competitors.</p>
<h2>How Can Google Know Your Page Speed?</h2>
<p>It is vital that you understand the basics of how Google’s algorithm determines your website speed and thus your SERP ranking. The search engine uses two main factors when it comes to speed assessment.</p>
<p>First, your website will receive a higher speed ranking if it responds faster to Googlebot, the crawler program Google uses to find and index websites.</p>
<p>Second, your website will also receive a good speed ranking if it records a faster loading time on Google Toolbar than your competition. To better assist you in analyzing your website speed, Google has added a page speed report to their webmaster tools found within the Google webmasters ‘lab’ section.</p>
<p>The tool and the reports can be used to compare your website’s page load times to that of other websites. Once you are armed with the information of where your page ranks in the speed hierarchy, you can start to make the necessary code and structure changes to make it respond faster.</p>
<p>Your first priority should be to make sure you have no SLOW pages on your site. Pages that take two seconds or more to load and pages that are marked as SLOW in Google Webmaster Tools need to be improved to avoid a Google penalty for website speed.</p>
<p>When you have no slow pages left, try to make all your pages load in less than a second. Read on to see why this is important.</p>
<p>Having a website that loads quickly has more benefits than just higher search engine ranking and avoiding a Google penalty.</p>
<p>A website optimized for speed reduces the bandwidth required on your hosting service, thus reducing your overall hosting costs.</p>
<p>Faster websites also provide a better browsing experience because users are able to get information faster and navigate through your website more easily.</p>
<p>In addition, websites optimized for speed work better when accessed on mobile phones, PDAs and other devices that do not have the same level of processing memory as your standard laptop or desktop computer.</p>
<p>Even though you can have a mobile variant of your website which is trimmed down, some users will want to view your site in full HTML on their phone or PDA and a faster loading website will have a better chance of successfully loading on such devices.</p>
<p>As a webmaster, there are a number of free tools that you can use to improve the loading speed of your website. I have listed three of the more popular ones below:</p>
<h2>Page Speed</h2>
<p><a href="http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/download.html" target="_blank">Page Speed</a> is an open-source add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser. It evaluates the speed of your website and gives you suggestions on how to improve your website speed.</p>
<p>Page Speed runs tests on the architectural configuration of both your web server and your website’s front end code. After running these tests, it gives you a report on your website speed and suggestions on how to improve the speed of your website.</p>
<h2>Yslow</h2>
<p><a href="http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/" target="_blank">Yslow</a> is a free Firefox add-on from Yahoo integrated with Firebug software for website development. It displays statistics, an evaluation report and also provides suggestions on how best to improve the speed of your website using best practices.</p>
<p>Yslow comes integrated with other tools for performance evaluation, including Smush. Use it and JSLint to further enhance your website performance. Yslow is a Yahoo product but is still useful for avoiding the Google speed penalty.</p>
<h2>SSEL Speed Tools</h2>
<p>There is also a website speed check at <a href="http://www.secretsearchenginelabs.com/webmaster-tools/website-speed-tools.php" target="_blank">Secret Search Engine Labs</a> where you can get a quick answer on how big your webpage is and how fast it loads.</p>
<h2>The Website Speed Quick Fix</h2>
<p>There are several factors that affect page load speeds on your website, many of them technical and best solved by your webmaster or developer, but some changes you can do yourself as long as you have some experience with HTML and creating web pages.</p>
<p>Reduce the number, size and quality of images and use less audio, flash and Javascript. Reduce the length of the page by splitting a long page into several short pages. Strip the source code of redundant HTML, Javascript and CSS code that just slows things down. Don’t use images and other components that are linked live from other domains; instead use a copy on your own server.</p>
<p>And don’t forget to keep your eyes on Google Webmaster Tools to see how your site performs compared to the competition.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/website-speed-penalty-%e2%80%93-google-is-testing-your-load-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My Tactics for Getting Those Top 5 Spots in Google</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/my-tactics-for-getting-those-top-5-spots-in-google/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/my-tactics-for-getting-those-top-5-spots-in-google/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:58:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Titus Hoskins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Actually, getting in the #1 spot is best, but I will settle for the top 5 or even anywhere on the first page for very competitive keywords. Obtaining those top rankings for your targeted keywords in Google will obviously be very important to achieving your online goals. I don’t have some magic formula, just online [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-183" title="googlelogo1" src="http://sitearticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/googlelogo1.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="60" />Actually, getting in the #1 spot is best, but I will settle for the top 5 or even anywhere on the first page for very competitive keywords. Obtaining those top rankings for your targeted keywords in Google will obviously be very important to achieving your online goals.</p>
<p>I don’t have some magic formula, just online marketing stuff that works. Very simple stuff that everyone can do to get those top rankings. Here are some of the tactics/things I do:</p>
<p>- article marketing through the free article directories</p>
<p>- create videos on my niche products</p>
<p>- make blog posts in my niche areas</p>
<p>- do press releases for my targeted products</p>
<p>- create free ebook guides on my subject areas</p>
<p>- build separate lists for each major niche market with follow-up emails</p>
<p>- participate in online forums with my sig links added<br />
- make regular tweets about any new content</p>
<p>- find out my competitors’ main backlinks and duplicate them</p>
<p>- create Google Alerts for my major keywords and add comments/links to the ones I like</p>
<p>- keep adding fresh content pages to my sites keyworded to phrases used by buyers</p>
<p>Now on second thought, some of those are not so simple, but they can be easily done by most webmasters. Or, you can get someone to do them for you. For example, I get my videos done for me since I simply don’t have the time or expertise to do them myself. If you’re poor at writing or have little time, you can even get someone to write your articles for you as well. Same goes for your web content, but you have to be careful and make sure it is of the highest standard.</p>
<p>Still, these tactics are fairly basic online marketing stuff which anyone can do to get those higher rankings. Perhaps, what many webmasters fail to realize is that getting and keeping your keywords on the first page of Google does take a lot of work and time. For very competitive keywords, I usually put in a year’s work to get to those top spots. It sometimes takes a lot less if your content (an article or video) becomes viral and lands on a lot of sites. That does happen, but for me it is mostly building steady one-way quality links back to the page or site I want ranked high.</p>
<p>However, it is this time factor which DEFEATS most people. They don’t have the patience or the resources to wait it out. After a couple of months they throw up their hands and come away believing all this Internet marketing stuff is for the birds.</p>
<p>Don’t get the wrong idea, there are probably programs and systems out there which will give you instant success on the web. I just haven’t found them yet, nor am I really looking since I have figured out how to get those top rankings and earn money on the web. However, the catch is, it usually takes around a year or two of hard work before the serious money starts flowing.</p>
<p>There are exceptions. If you’re good at writing articles, you can get immediate traffic and a few sales. Same goes if you’re into making videos and they become popular and featured in Google… you will make some sales.</p>
<p>However, for steady targeted traffic which flows regularly and keeps the sales coming each day; you will need to keep those top rankings in the search engines for your keywords, especially in Google. Once you get those top rankings, I find you have to maintain them by continuing to build links by writing articles, making posts, creating videos… and so on.</p>
<p>My goals are very modest. I am doing affiliate marketing or sales where I usually get from 2% to 5% since I am promoting high-end electronics which offer low commissions. I also do some ClickBank type info products where the commission rates are much higher – 50% or more.</p>
<p>I also concentrate most of my time on products/services which give me a recurring income – make one sale and earn a percentage for years to come. The trick here is to promote services where once clients sign up they tend to stay with these services for years… services like web hosting, autoresponder services, telephone services, internet services and so on.</p>
<p>If you have your own products, your daily earnings will be much higher. Same thing if you do drop-shipping… but that also brings in other complications and worries. I like affiliate marketing because it suits my lifestyle. I refer the sales or clients and the merchant does all the rest.</p>
<p>Now, I have also found if you target longer keyword phrases which have little traffic but also much less competition, you can bring in sales in a matter of months, sometimes weeks. This “long tail marketing” as it’s called, goes faster, but you have to cover a lot of ground to be successful.</p>
<p>I prefer picking “mid-range” keywords that have competition, but if you put in the work, you will land on the first page of Google. I usually stick to keywords which have around 1,000 – 10,000 searches a month. Highly popular keywords which get hundreds of thousands or millions of searches I don’t bother with because I know I just can’t compete with multi-national companies getting most of this traffic.</p>
<p>So it is a matter of picking the keyword battles which you have a good chance of winning. You do need to do a lot of research to see who is ranking for these keywords, what kind of backlinks they have and what kind of resources they’re pouring into obtaining/keeping those rankings.</p>
<p>I also check to see who owns the domains in the top five spots or on the first page. If one person or company owns 4 or 5 of these sites, it means you’re going to have your hands full trying to compete for the top spots.</p>
<p>One simple strategy for getting those top spots in Google is to create two or three keyworded domains competing for the top spot. Link these together and one or, in most cases, all of them will land in the top three or four positions. For lucrative keywords, this can prove very profitable because your sites are receiving the majority of the web traffic for those keywords.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that in many niche markets major companies are now hiring writers, SEO services and webmasters to get those top spots.</p>
<p>It sometimes can be unnerving. Imagine you’re a small webmaster operating in a niche for years and suddenly you have four or five top brand multi-billion dollar companies competing with you for the same keywords in the search engines. This happened to me and to Google’s credit, small webmasters still have a chance to keep their spots on the first page.</p>
<p>How long before these small webmasters are totally wiped out is anyone’s guess, but I believe for very lucrative keywords, it is only a matter of time before big companies throw so much advertising revenue and SEO resources at getting those top spots that the little guys will have a very slim chance of holding their keywords.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there are countless small niche markets and products that an online marketer can target and rank well for in Google with just a little hard work and patience. Using some of the tactics listed above will get you to those Top 5 spots in Google – just give them and yourself some time to reach your goals.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/my-tactics-for-getting-those-top-5-spots-in-google/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google Adds Weighted Sorting To Analytics</title>
		<link>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/google-adds-weighted-sorting-to-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/google-adds-weighted-sorting-to-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Leuenberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OPINIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sitearticles.com/?p=149</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you want to fine tune your website in an effort to increase sales you absolutely must pay attention to what your website analytics is telling you. In short, you must know where your problem spots are if you are going to be able to correct them. Now, there are a number of website metrics [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you want to fine tune your website in an effort to increase sales you absolutely must pay attention to what your website analytics is telling you. In short, you must know where your problem spots are if you are going to be able to correct them.<img src="http://sitearticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/google-beta-300x150.jpg" alt="" title="google-beta" width="300" height="150" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-151" /></p>
<p>Now, there are a number of website metrics that should be focused on in an effort to uncover problems. One of them is your bounce rate — both website wide, and on individual pages throughout the site.</p>
<p>Now, don’t confuse bounce rates with exit rates. The two represent different items. A bounce rate can be defined as follows:</p>
<p>Bounce rate represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site. Or in other another way of saying it is the percentage of visits where the visitor enters and exits at the same page without visiting any other pages on the site in between.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that ideally you want your bounce rate as low as possible.</p>
<p>To determine where you have problems associated with bounce rate it is best to drill down on a per page level and determine which pages produce the highest bounce rate. Until now, doing this worked similar to the following: you locate the content sections of your site within analytics, you click the bounce rate column to sort from highest bounce rate to lowest, you are presented with a list of pages from 100% bounce rate to lowest and then you start to scan / scroll / analyze those returned based on what is really important and indicates a problem area.</p>
<p>The initial results returned using this method are useless. You get pages with 100% bounce rate that really don’t indicate a problem spot and for the most part are only listed at the top because of their ‘100%’ measurement. Now, you might be asking how can a page with a 100% bounce rate not be a problem. I’ll provide you with a brief example of this very concept.</p>
<p>One visitor arrives at a page deep within the site (we’ll say the contact page) and then bounces leaving analytics with a 100% bounce rate. One thousand visitors arrive at the home page and 500 bounce leaving a 50% bounce rate for the home page. Although the visitor who arrived at the contact us page resulted in a 100% bounce rate, the more important bounce rate to pay attention to is the bounce rate of the home page. Why? More visitors arrived at the home page than the contact page and thus, the ‘weight’ of the bounce for the home page is more of an indicator of a problem point on the site. Think of it as working with a “larger data sample.”</p>
<p>Having provided this example it now becomes clear that the past sorting method offered by Google Analytics did little to quickly provide the information needed to help make decisions fast. Yes, you could get to it, but even after sorting you had to wade through pages of information to really find those pages that should get attention. </p>
<p>All that has changed with the addition of weighted sort in Google Analytics. Weighted sort enables you to now drill down on previously useless sort results based on the ‘weight’ each page (in this example) has over others on the site. This provides more relevant results faster and thus makes it easier to determine where to focus your attention when attempting to improve your website.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://sitearticles.com/opinions/google-adds-weighted-sorting-to-analytics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

