Category Archives: Computing & Internet

User-friendly Websites

Not too long ago, I wrote a post on a local company and that brought me so much traffic for MONTHS. I think the reason is that people would like to have more information on the services offered by this company BUT this company has a website that is so flash intensive but really, it has no information that people want.

I have been to the site time and again because I am their customer and I sometimes need more information as well but after wasting time waiting for the flash to load, the music to play and stuff, I surf around without getting the information that I seek.

You know, ten out of ten times I would be forced to call up their customer service centre. Luckily, they do have a rather good team of people working the customer service front and would answer all my questions thoroughly. That’s their saving grace!

100,000 Bloggers

It was recently announced that Triple-P-ville now has more than a hundred thousand bloggers. That is a phenomenal growth within one and a half years. Of the hundred thousand bloggers, there are of course some who are inactive but there are also people with multiple blogs.

You know, it is not easy to cari makan anymore and some people predicted that this business will not survive. Well, perhaps it will because there will always be fresh bloggers joining the marketplace with fresh blogs. The old ones will die off with their tainted blogs, unfortunately.

A blogger even wanted to continue building blogs to beat he system but what god would it do? I don’t see how people could spare that much time building up blogs only to have them thwarted at the next instance.

For me, I believe I have better things to do! Most of my blog friends have channeled their energy to to something else. Blogging has taken a back seat but that does not mean that we have lost the passion for it.

Blogging as and when we like is so refreshing!!

I Dreamt Of Alexa!!!

Goodness! I think I am going crazy with all blogging. I mean, I love blogging but I hate the competitive edge that comes with keeping up with other bloggers like how high we rank in page rank, how well we rank in Technorati, Alexa score and other measurements. Oh yea, how could I forget the real ranking?

This afternoon, while taking a nap, I dreamt of my Alexa score and I would say that it was a nightmare because the reading was way higher than what I actually have for my blog.

The weird thing was that I really “saw” the Alexa widget in my dream like the one that I currently have on my blog. And it also has a blue text with white background too. It was so vivid and I was startled from my sleep. Like I mentioned, the score was way higher than my already high score now. Tell me that is not my worst dream! I think I need a break or I would start dreaming of some other blog related matters!

Is Link Exchange Still Relevant?

The other day, I read a blog post asking this question and the author says that it is STILL relevant. In fact, it is more relevant than ever. This question arose after Goo-gle dinged thousands, perhaps millions of websites and blogs in their page rank one round after another since early October this year, for violating some sort of terms of use.

Well, we have to know that link exchange has happened since the first two websites were launched and it is the nature of webmasters to indulge in link building to create exposure for their sites or blogs. Sure, Goo-gle may scorn on sites that build backlinks in hopes of getting up in the search engines results page (SERP) but when a competition is set up like that, it is human nature to be competitive and everyone wants to get as high up as possible in searches.

Also, I was told that Goo-gle does not want us to sell or buy text links BUT remember, Goo-gle is ONLY relevant TODAY. The internet is so promising that there will always be another service that will surpass its supremacy. There are still so many different search engines that we have to climb.

My blogs, like most that have been victimized by Goo-gle, have also been dinged, and friends have asked if I will abandon them. Why should I? Losing page rank does not make my blogs less valuable IN MY EYES. Like I said, Goo-gle is only relevant TODAY but my blogs will be live as long as I am able to maintain them. Therefore, I will continue to build my blogs not only in terms of traffic and readership but also in backlinks. I was told that one way backlinks are more valuable than reciprocal backlinks and links from higher ranked websites and blogs will carry more weight.

For webmasters who are not able to spare time to build links naturally, there are companies that offer link exchange services for a small fee. What do you think of paying $24.95 per month for more than seven hundred links pointing to your site? If search engine placement was important to me, I would willingly pay the price. Not only will I be receiving all those backlinks, but it also saves me time from begging webmasters to link to my sites and to ensure that the links stay live monthly.

Share Your Gmail Stories

This morning, I logged on to my Gmail [YES, I am still using G-oogle products BAH!!!] and came across this page about sharing our Gmail stories. Frankly, it never crossed my mind that Gmail would have stories different from the stories that we have using Windows Live or Yahoo! Mail. By the way, I have accounts with all three and I do not think that one is superior over the other.

Apparently, though, there are people with good stories to share about using Gmail. Isn’t that weird or made up or whatever, I don’t know.

However, Gmail has invited users to submit their Gmail stories via video by uploading it to YouTube [yerrrr another G. product *sigh*] but they never say if it’s a contest or if there are prizes to be won. Err…. need to show face ah? But can email also. Don’t want lah… not as if I have any good stories to share also!!

Free Content For Your Website or Blog

I wrote previously about friends who run more than ten blogs and I wonder how they could keep churning out article after article. Today, I got to know of a database of free website content where blog or website publishers could access those free articles and publish them on their own blog. I wonder if my friends are using services like this? Of course, I do not think there is anything wrong with that since these articles come with reprint permission.

People who can write original articles could also submit their articles to this database for others to use as content on their own sites. I don’t know how this would work out to benefit both the writer and publisher but I am sure both will gain from targeted organic search traffic!

It’s So Strange

I noticed something strange about my blogs’ server. Why is it that lately, almost every day, at around the same time, after 1pm or so, my server is down inaccessible???

I noticed this happening a few months ago and I wrote in to my host and told them this strange happening and they wrote back and gave me a technical reason that for the life of me, I could not remember at all now. Suffice to say, it has something to do with the server and somehow, it goes down at midnight, since this server is hosted in the United States.

A while ago, this problem was solved and I was relieved. However, to my horror, it is happening again and I noticed it happening this past week. I wonder if I should write in to my host AGAIN! I feel like I am a nag….

I am just over worried that my posts will all go missing or something when my server recovers. I know I’m irrational. My excuse is that I am low tech 😀