Robots.txt for the Rest of Us
The robots.txt file. Nothing can be more confusing to a website owner as the robots.txt file. Born out of technology in the programming world, the robot.txt file is nothing more than a server command for search engines. Unfortunately, while search engines understand the file, humans have a difficult time understanding machine language. The Google blog is now running a two-part series on understanding robots.txt and the robots meta tag. Both of these articles, while providing a lot of great in-depth information, is much more than any site owner or manager wants to know. Especially when you start talking technology, bots, spiders, permissions, etc.. Most owners don’t know where to start,…
While people seem to enjoy the Google cartoons on holidays and other anniversaries, it looks like the Valentines Day logo hurried through with a little error.
See something a little odd? No, not the chocolate.
Spell out the word Google – yes, the “l” is missing.
I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions . . .
Courtesy of marketingshift.com
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Meanwhile, over at Ask.com,
They are there for me. I love that.
They also offer this little sweetness to the Ask.com blog subscribers:
Love,
–The Ask.com Team
Now, isn’t that sweet?
In my seminars, I enjoy teaching analytics because the fun is in finding effective and memorable methods to help people understand the concepts. One of my favorites is an analysis of the Red-Shirt Phenomenon in Star Trek. What? You don’t know about the Red Shirt Phenomenon? Well, as any die-hard trekkie knows, if you are wearing a red shirt and beam to the planet with Captain Kirk – you’re gonna die. That’s the common thinking, but I decided to put this to the test. After all, I hadn’t seen any definitive proof; it’s just what people said. (Remind you of your current web analytics strategy?) So, let’s set our phasers…
American Idol: Increased traffic, fewer conversions, buzz kill
Courtesy of Ben McConnell at Church of the Customer Blog “Audience growth doesn’t necessarily mean sales growth.” . . . Now where have I heard this before? Ben cites some amazing statistics of the phenomenon that is American Idol. I’ll admit it, I won’t consider myself a fan, but I watch the show. I already have a few favorites, one is a young man named Sundance Head. If you didn’t hear his audition, check it out. You will probably hear of him very soon. Wait, I guess that does make me a fan . . . drat! [youtube]tIcaYG-xuEk[/youtube] As I am writing this, YouTube is removing the American Idol audition clips…
Ask.com gets snarky I get questions all of the time about Google analytics. Many companies have opted for this service as, well, it’s free. You can’t beat the price. I’ve always had hesitations about free analytics, and my main hesitation is someone else owning MY data. This is why I prefer weblog-based analytics. Sure, I supplement those with some JavaScript tagging, but ultimately, I rely on log files for many reasons. The first of which is that I own the data. The next question is what happens if the free service stops being free – or even more, if it is simply not offered anymore? You are now without luck.…
Thoughts on a Blogstorm
Are they doing enough to protect “the other white meat” phrase? I don’t think so. First things first – an apology was issued. I had some thoughts from observing the blogstorm that resulted from the National Pork Board, represented by Faegre and Benson, sending a threatening Cease and Desist letter to Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist and Search Engine Guide. Jennifer and I have had a number of discussions about the nature of blogging and corporate responsibility. The National Pork Board contacted Jennifer and gave her a very sincere apology, and they are talking to her about rectifying the situation. Knowing Jennifer, she’s not out for herself. She’s…
Observing Accessibility
As many of my friends know, I also run the Website Accessibility Blog. It started as a hobby and a passion, and is now a full-fledged voice in the accessibility community. I rarely cross-post article between the two blogs, but this was one that I felt merited the additional attention to a differnt audience. Many times, in my speaking on various subjects, I do not get the opportunity to delve into accessibility and the importance of it. Recently, I was able to observe some user accessibility testing of a large application, and was fascinated with the people and their stories. What follows is a steam of thoughts and observations that…
National Pork Board Protects their Image While I have Beef for Dinner
************Scroll down for updates ****** In a situation that is very close to me, as a friend of mine, Jennifer Laycock, runs a pro-breastfeeding blog. As part of raising awareness of breastfeeding and promoting milk banks for premature babies, she sells shirts the proceeds are donated to these causes. Well, one of her pro-breastfeeding shirts reads, “The Other White Milk.” She received a Cease and Desist letter from the National Pork Board claiming copyright infringement on their slogan (Milk!?!) and threatened to sue her if she did not remove the offending shirt. On the “have to see to believe” part, they claimed that she advocates breastfeeding after infancy, like she was…
Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day
Written by Matt Bailey, President of SiteLogic. Matt presents the start-to-finish guide for marketing online, answering many questions that most businesses don't know to ask!
