Archive for March, 2008
· March 31, 2008 at 5:19 am · Interviews
Tags: business, daryl kennedy, interview, marketing, search, SEO, techwyse, web
There is no doubt in my mind that Internet marketing and search engine optimization are playing a larger and larger role in a webmaster’s life. A few years back, you would put up a web site and hope for the best. These days though, you must really study and learn several aspects of the marketing game if you want to stand a chance.
Marketing in general has really always excited me, so I thought it might be a good idea to talk with somebody who does this as their day to day business. Daryl Kennedy is the VP of Operations over at TechWyse Internet Marketing. When approached about the interview - my first thoughts were “Whoo hoo! Now I can pick the brain of somebody who really understands this Internet marking stuff” and I have to say I was not disappointed.
How did you find yourself in the Internet marketing world? Most people on the web want to get to the top themselves in popularity. You guys specialize in helping other people make a name for themselves.
Daryl: Getting into the Internet marketing world for myself was quite by accident. I have always been a resourceful person. I have always enjoyed efficiency and understanding new technology. After being in the business of developing web sites, I decided it would be far more resourceful to learn and understand the newer search engine phenomena then hit the streets cold calling which was far more traditional.
After studying search engines for about 6 months, I quickly found that by following search engine principles I could get our own company on the first page of Google, Yahoo! and MSN rather easily. Ironically, many other companies across North America and especially Toronto, Canada began noticing themselves! Since this was clearly a way for companies to begin to generate revenue they began asking me to help them in the same way.
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· March 28, 2008 at 5:57 am · Writing Advice
Tags: blogging, characters, content writing, help, ideas, mix, stories
For those of you who may not know the best way to lead into a post, but you think you might have something to say one tool or trick of the trade (depending on how you want to look at it) would be to use a story to add some meat and potatoes to you thoughts and ideas.
Give me some content, then tell me some of the story. Then give me more content, then give me more of the story. This is a great way to both entertain and inform the visitors at large. This is also extremely handy when your writing about a subject that might be a little vanilla and dull for the mass public.
Need some help? With your next post mix in a story about Ryu from Street Fighter fame and his trouble with buying a new pair of shoes. (Does he even wear shoes?)
So there is your homework for the weekend. With the next thing you write up, tech opinion, help or how-to; try to bring a story into the mix. It doesn’t have to be a true story, it could be a fictional character from the back of your brain. Flesh out the weak points with him (or her) and you’ll keep your readers a ‘bit more interested in what you are trying to tell them.
What would Ryu do?
· March 27, 2008 at 11:04 am · Online Tools, Personal
Tags: E-mail, help, newsletter, RSS, subscribe, updates
I have been playing around some with the FeedBurner e-mail subscription settings here for Mitchelaneous. Don’t think I have bothered with this since I moved from Blogware to a hosted WordPress solution many moons ago. If you’d like to subscribe to my blog via e-mail to help boost circulation and to make sure you don’t miss any posts, use this link:
Click Here! Subscribe to Mitchelaneous by E-mail!
You’ll just get one update a day packed to the brim with Mitch-like Web goodness. If you need other subscription alternatives, we have plenty to choose from. Remember, Mitchelaneous is here to help you with the evil Mr. Internet!
Help me find a way into your inbox! *knock knock*
· March 25, 2008 at 6:04 am · Online Tools
Tags: easy, games, mario, no fuss, review, simple, Video Games, wii
From time to time, I’ll go to the video game review sites like Gamespot and others to see what is new in the world of video games. Unlike the other areas of tech I seem to be involved in, video games are purely for pleasure and nothing else.
The problem comes in when you want to just get some reviews. You have to battle through popup ads, pretty graphics and ten page articles. If you don’t have much time, and you just want to know how good a game it try No Fuss Reviews.
This site will deliver you what you want, need and love most about video game review sites the easy to read thumbs up or thumbs down. Type in any game title and then the console that it is on and you can get a simple one through ten review of the game.
Another neat feature is, let’s say you don’t know what the title is exactly but you know it is for the Wii and it has "Mario" in the title. just type in Mario, select Wii on the side and it will give you all the Wii games with Mario in the title.
· March 24, 2008 at 6:14 am · Desktop
Tags: apps, backup, free, logon, programs, Vista, Windows
I have been using Windows Vista for some time, and sure - it does have a few quirks that make me want to beat myself over the head with my keyboard. Overall though, 85% of the time, I have to say I am pretty happy with it. I am at least as happy as I was with Windows XP. Here are three of the best programs I have found that have just added a little more icing to the Vista cake.
Shadow Explorer
This program makes it a quick and easy job to browse through the shadow copies of your files created by the Windows Vista volume shadow copy service. Without, it is kind of hard to hunt down an exact file backup, but with it - it gives you a familiar interface to find all your backed up files. I would still recommend backing up using other means, but this is just one more nice Vista addition to have handy.
Logon Studio Vista
Tired of how your default Windows Vista logon screen looks? This free download will allow you to change that background picture you see on the logon screen to whatever you desire. They also have several you can download and use too. Sure, this is just an eye candy improvement, but we all like for things to look nice, right?
Lifextender
This tool, used with Vista Media Center, is an application designed to remove any and all commercials from the video that you record. I have used it a number of times for the various cable shows I watch and it has yet to let me down. Might just set it up to work overnight, so it doesn’t get in the way of your day to day work.
For some more applications to make the Vista experience better, check out Ave’s Vista Stuff. There are a handful of neat little application there that will add a few more perks to your shinny new OS.
· March 21, 2008 at 5:46 am · Online Tools, Web Development
Tags: content, Google, google analytics, help, popular, posts, stats
How does one pull up the most popular links on their web site or blog using Google Analytics?
This one took me a little while to figure out, but finally found the right way and the quickest steps on how to get this done. I love Google Analytics more so than some of the other web site statistic scripts out there.
Many people get it installed and don’t know what to do next. This should be a good stepping stone in how to familiarize yourself with it.
First, login to Google Analytics, and click on the web site in question’s profile. You just need to click “View Reports” next to the domain you wish to find the popular links for. Next, scroll down the page till you find where it says Content Overview. This shows your pages from most popular to least popular.
Here you only see five, but there is a little “view report” link in this box too. Click it. You can also get to the same place by navigating in your left sidebar to Content and then click on Overview. Here is, well an overview of all your content settings. Now on the left side of the page, under “Overview” click where it says “Top Content”.
Here you have it, your most popular or top content on your web site. By default it should show you the top ten, but you can bump that number up around the bottom of the chart where is says “Show rows:”. To change the date range that you are pulling the content from, be sure to edit the time line you see at the top of the web page.
So there you have the best way to pull up your most popular content on your web site via Google Analytics. If you have any other how to questions with this great tool, send ‘em my way and maybe I can turn this into a series of helpful posts.
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