Google PageRank Update Q3 2008

For small business website owners who like tracking site performance, the Google PageRank update for Q3 2008 took place over the weekend. Now forums will fill up with PR topics including replies by site owners wondering why their small business website PageRank remains unchanged, or dropped. Some will go up.

Google did a great job 11 months ago sending sites to oblivion who were involved in buying and selling links. Backlinks from other websites are still like votes when done naturally, and a related site linking to your site adds value. However, PageRank is only one factor of seo, or search engine optimization, in determining the success of your website.

Compare expectations with actual performance, and if you convert traffic and are at least modestly satisfied with site performance, my advice is don't get too hung up on PageRank. Some owners use social networks to boost traffic, yet high traffic is useless without converting visitors into buyers.

A better web design strategy is still my favorite 5-word phrase: "Add original quality content often" as the secret of search engine optimization and to improve the performance of your website design. The words "original" and "quality" within that phrase will get visitor's attention, and then those plus "Add... content often" will attract search engines. PageRank as well as performance is more likely to deteriorate if you build a site and let it sit without updates or new content.

Like anything, begin your web design with a good foundation as in quality code and content, and then continually improve on both as you apply natural seo strategies, and you should be smiling at future Google PageRank updates. An ongoing annual budget for website revisions will be key in staying ahead of your competition, while launch-and-forget-it web design strategy is bound to fail.



TAGS: advice PageRank seo web design web design strategy

Pro Podcaster Interview and Advice

A new podcast episode entitled Low Budget Podcast Production released earlier includes an interview with pro podcaster Fred Greenhalgh of FinalRune Productions and Radio Drama Revival. FinalRune produces audio theater drama recordings in live settings to recreate the feel of old time radio programs predating television. Listen online. The quality is excellent.

In the interview Fred mentions cost effective products for small business podcasts that he uses for audio field production outside the studio, plus a condenser mic with outstanding quality at an affordable price. The product brands and item numbers were not spelled out in the podcast, so I took a closer look and was very surprised at the high quality and affordable price of the C01U mic and Zoom H2 recorder.

The podcast episode explores FinalRune's portable recording equipment and suggestions for microphones for small business podcasters. A shoutout was given to one of his favorite suppliers, SweetWater.com, and a closer look shows they carry the two products he mentions during the show. Readers who listen to the podcast, may want to visit Sweetwater.com for a closer look at the Samson C01U USB podcasting mic, and the Zoom H2 4-mic portable hand held digital recorder.

Now I have some podcast equipment "toys" to add to my Christmas wish list.



TAGS: advice audio equipment interview podcast review

Google Chrome Stats on StatCounter

Checking stats for custom cms web design related searches for my site at StatCounter.com I noticed a link to their blog with a post about the new browser Google Chrome stats on StatCounter for the first 8 days since its release.

Comparing my visitor browser stats to the relatively low number of 1.02% tracked by StatCounter as now using Chrome as their browser of choice, my count was over 5% on one day that I checked. The global numbers on StatCounter indicate growth in that 8 day period for Chrome and "numerous browsers including Konqueror, Opera, Playstation, Blackberry, Iphone, Seamonkey etc." and a decline in IE, FireFox, and Safari.

These are very early numbers, yet as predicted in my review of the Google Chrome browser 10 days ago, "Trust Google to consider your input and then stand back and watch them conquer another internet niche with leading edge technology that responds to what users really want."

For average internet users the Chrome choice may be an easy one. My personal favorite is still FireFox because of the add-on plug-ins and extensions for web developers, yet that attitude may change as more programmers step up and assist in enhancements for Chrome. People employed in web design and even site owners, need to add Chrome to their list of browsers to test for cross browser compatibility. A quality custom web design will display well in all browsers.



TAGS: advice browser Google Chrome review stats web design

Advanced Photo Edit in Xara Xtreme

This advanced photo edit tutorial in Xara Xtreme shows an example of how to hide unwanted portions of a photograph for web graphics in custom web design. The process from start to finish took 5 minutes. In this case the web graphic needed to be revised to remove the toddler playing in the hallway. Here's how the photo edit was done in a series of 6 illustrations marked A to E:

Photo A (below left) shows the original photo taken by the client which displays the toddler to be removed. Viewing the carpet, floor trim, and wall to the right of the baby, I selected a vertical portion taller than the person, and created a rectangular clipping mask as shown in photo B (below right).



Photo C (below left) shows the cropped vertical section of the carpet/trim/wall taken from a cloned duplicate of the photo. The original photo placed in the background has 65% transparency applied in preparation for the next step.

Photo D (below right) shows the carpet/trim/wall clipping stretched horizontally to cover the toddler and part of the background decor. To create a realistic graphic, solving the problem of the clipping covering the planter and leaves will be next.



Photo E (below left) shows less transparency on the background, and some transparency of the carpet/trim/wall for an enhanced view, and then the clipping mask drawn precisely over the planter and leaves without revealing any of the toddler. Select the mask and carpet/trim/wall graphic and use CTRL+2 to crop the masked portion.

Photo F (below right) shows the final web graphic after removing transparency of both pieces to digitally create the new photo. The carpet/trim/wall piece has feathering applied so it blends in better with the background, and now the photo is ready to insert in their custom web design.



Users of Xara Xtreme may use shortcut CTRL+K for cloning and CTRL+B and F to send pix front or back during the edit. Select the mask and photo then use CTRL+3 to crop. The only other feature needed in Xara is the feathering tool. For higher quality work for print rather than in a web design, use the steps in this photo edit tutorial to begin, and then zoom in for more precision.



TAGS: advice photo edit tutorial Xara Xtreme web design

Custom CMS Web Design EGC Demo

The template demo directory of CMS Web Design and Blogger Template Demos just updated with the addition of custom cms work in progress for the Entrepreneurs Green Club of Florida, or EGC. The demo section displays current projects in work so site visitors may view development of custom cms web designs in demo mode and custom Blogger templates prior to actual launch.

Here is the matching business card artwork created for the site owner showing their parrot symbol and custom logo design shown here larger than actual size. The card will be printed on clear plastic at the same size as a credit card, and the outside border will be cropped including rounded corners.



This colorful xhtml with css custom cms design has already launched on the customer's server, and then additional design work with custom graphics to dress up the site is planned.



TAGS: cms custom web design demo website launch web design

Review of Google Chrome Browser BETA

This review of the Google Chrome browser BETA features the latest Google venture from this dominant internet giant. The intitial release is for Windows users only and runs on Vista and XP SP2, so Mac and Linux web surfers must wait for future development.

Visit the Google Chrome browser download page to download your copy, or follow their links to learn more including a series of video presentations by Google staffers. Here is a screenshot of a sample startup window showing recent history thumbnails as displayed in the Google Chrome browser.



As a web developer working full time in custom web design, my interest is more about performance than aesthetics. The Google browser development strategy was start from scratch to create a browser with forward looking concepts rather than build on architecture that evolved over 12 years from text only pages through a series of more complex stages. Thinking outside the box meant considering current leading edge advanced web design multimedia features and aps, and then projecting future needs to include now in the Google Chrome browser software in preparation as the internet becomes more sophisticated.

Unique features include a dual purpose address bar that acts as a search bar, also. As you type a url or search phrase a dropdown list of prompts appear. View a screenshot of Google Chrome browser history here. View the first graphic in this post and the multiple thumbnails display recent history of websites visited. Selecting "Show all history" brings up a list of history in text, and I really liked the layout and level of detail which helped recall more about those websites from recent visits.

The Google Chrome BETA version browser is open source, and they welcome comments and feedback from users and programmers. This attitude is a welcome change from the pretense and arrogance of at least one browser software provider criticized for broken promises.

The Google Chrome browser is excellent, yet as expected there are likely minor defects in this preliminary BETA release. Trust Google to consider your input and then stand back and watch them conquer another internet niche with leading edge technology that responds to what users really want.

In testing some of my more advanced custom web designs a minor problem was encountered from this page of RBO Vacation Ads rental owner resources including videos when accessing this vacation rental owner tutorial link featuring a wide screen flash video (6.5mb file size).

Attempting to follow the link resulted in a delay and then the following popup window with a statement that the page was unresponsive and then options to either "Kill pages" or "Wait". Kill? There must be some dark humor on staff at Google because that option had me wondering if I should risk destroying a web page that I designed.



I tried the "Wait" option first, and that didn't work and I somehow ended up back on the home page. Deciding to risk killing pages (why plural when I was accessing just one page?) the result was the following new window that filled the entire screen with a dark background with the message "Something went wrong while displaying this webpage. To continue, press Reload or go to another page".



The page began loading on the second try, yet the audio track with music and narration began while the video screencast was stuck on the first slide, and it took 15-20 seconds for the audio to synchronize with the video. Once the entire video played through and was stored in cache, the third attempt worked perfectly. To my delight, and despite the ominous "kill pages" option, the page survived and was online the last time I checked. Phew!

Returning to the page of vacation rental tutorials I decided to try right clicking a different video tutorial for new agent signups and then selected "Open link in new tab" and the Google Chrome browser functioned flawlessly. Return visits to test those links a day later allowed left clicking with instant display of each video tutorial.

Note: After clearing cache and returning to the tutorial video listings page to try to duplicate the "unresponsive kill pages" and "something went wrong" error messages, navigation and performance of each video tutorial worked flawlessly with either left click or right click on the hyperlink.

All other video and audio tested from other custom web sites loaded and played without problems, so the anomaly may have been from external factors outside the Google Chrome browser BETA.

Pro (very positive):

• Rendering excellent with clear text and graphics
• Standards compliance met as tested in complex web designs
• Speed of accessing and displaying simple content exceptional
• Usability with basic essentials without being overly complicated
• History shown as thumbnails with superior text history listing
• Browser status bar at the bottom invisible until needed
• DOM inspector access built-in for web developer code and css

Con (very minor):

• Flash video (6.5mb) locked up on standards compliant page
• The "kill pages" popup and "went wrong" screen result on compliant page
• Favorites history drop down uniquely placed on right of screen

Overall Opinion: The Google Chrome browser BETA is excellent and provides a peek at the future of internet browsing. The initial release deserves high marks for quality, compliance, and usability, and I strongly urge users and web developers to download a copy and actively provide feedback to the Google team.

With the demise of support for the Netscape browser, Google Chrome joins Firefox, IE, Opera and Safari as the new top 5 list of browsers for web designers to utilize for testing cross browser compatibility.

Finally, check out the single sheet icon in the upper right that displays "Control the current page" on hover, and then left click to select from the drop down menu and follow "New incognito window" for further evidence the programmers at Google have a sense of humor. Google Chrome BETA can be practical and fun.



TAGS: advice browser Google Chrome review software

Getting a Website Instantly Banned

The podcast episode entitled Web Design Rights and DMCA released this weekend presents advice for small business website owners for understanding the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. A case study of copyright violations that involved cloning an original custom website design on a second domain was presented without identifying the actual site or site owner.

This recipe for disaster is one example of getting a website banned instantly, and provides an update with evidence of the consequences of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Consider the impact of also violating best practices for web design and search engine optimization, or seo. Since the podcast release yesterday, a closer look reveals the mirror site domain was registered and launched in late August and their older original website was instantly banned on August 29th.

Here is the closing comment that I made from the DMCA podcast episode:

For now, in my professional opinion based on the mirror content and keyword stuffing, that site will have zero search engine value unless the owners take action to start over with an original design to address those problems.

After first discovering the copyright infringement on September 5th, I called the client to request they remove the cloned website, and advised a more serious consequence with the potential for being banned as a mirror site. They explained a recent decision to allow a friend to take over and manage their websites which was fine by me. Taking control makes sense. However, violating copyright does not.

It turns out, and no offense taken or surprise here, the password I had to access site hosting was changed. The original design included stat tracking and out of curiosity I checked that account and was able to review stats which confirmed the prediction made in the podcast. Their older original site was banned instantly on Aug 29, 2008, and here is the evidence.

This is a screenshot of visitor traffic stats for 5 weeks from Aug 1, 2008 to Sep 7, 2008 showing decent traffic that suddenly went to zero on Aug 29, 2008 and remained near zero with 1 or zero visitors per day for the last 9 days.



The next screenshot shown below displays visitor traffic since stat tracking was installed by me in February, and 7 months of gradual traffic growth until the site ban on August 29.



For readers, and especially my existing clients who choose to take over their website design without my assistance, you are welcome to request a second opinion before making drastic changes in managing your website. Just as my commercial site provides more than 400 pages of professional web design advice, I offer free evaluation of web design strategy without cost or obligation.

Learn from this lesson about getting a website instantly banned, and then email me from any page for web design advice for your small business.



TAGS: advice dmca podcast seo search engine optimization web design advice web design

Demo Blog Template Layout Change

The demo blog of custom Blogger designs is a revolving look at custom blog template work in progress, and the demonstration was revised again. Readers may visit the test blog used for customer review and approval to see the current design.

The blog custom template, xhtml, css, and custom graphics change for each client, and it may be interesting to view the rougher look prior to approval and formal launch. While the current custom Blogger theme may change depending on when you view this post, at the time it is a custom integrated blog template to match the main site of Black Hawk Press, a publisher and author in Charlotte, NC.

Visit the main site of this publisher of adult action adventure and children's fantasy novels to view the layout, and then compare their site to the custom Blogger integrated template that I created.

Once approved and launched, the next custom blog template project may have replaced the demo for Black Hawk Press. In that case, follow the above link to their main site and then view their blog to see how closely both the site and integrated blog match.



TAGS: blogger cms cms web design demo blog template web design