So you need to link your phone Number to dial out from a Smart Phone, iphone or Android.

Well here is a handy little code that will do it for you.

This is what the code looks like in html:

<a href="tel:5555551212">555-555-1212</a>

and this is what the code looks like on your page:

555-555-1212

You can even link it to pictures on your site. If you click the picture on this page it will input the number into your phone as well.

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Arrival Date

Departure Date

Nights1
2
3
4
5
67
8
9
10
11
1213
14
15
16
17
18

19
20
21
22
23
24

25
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30

Rooms

1 2 3

Room 1

Adults

1

2
3
4

Children0
1
2
3
4

 

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Before we get into that portion though, we should probably explain why we were down…

As we often point out, we are hosted by Byethost.  They and Bluehost are the two hosting companies we’ve come to trust the most for shared server space. Unfortunately, we discovered that a plugin we were using for the feeds was not well accepted by our neighbors on the server.  We were capturing all of our feeds with the WordPress plugin wp-o-matic. What we didn’t realize is that this plugin causes for some major drain on the server side, and when on shared space, damages your neighbors bandwidth… OOPS!!!

We honestly never considered that such a widely-used plugin would be the cause of such issues, but test afterward have shown that it couldn’t have been anything else. Because of the excessive bandwidth, resources, and memory that wp-o-matic was stripping from the shared space, we were booted to a Virtual Private Server… Ie…Banished to the Degaba System.

It took a week of negotiating, but byethost was willing to settle the discourse once we were well assured that it had to be the plugin that was causing all of he trouble.  One week later, we’re back up and on the way again…. Needless to say, our feeds will no longer run through WP-O-Matic.

Now for the sob-story

While we were only down about a day and back and forth from IP’s for one week, Google took a lot of notice.  Our impressions went from an average of 1,000/day to 22 tonight.  Our traffic went from an average of 200/day to 30 tonight.

The past week of being back up is representative of absolute downtime in the SERPs.

Notice in the screen-shot that the exact date of being down is visible, as well as the subsequent falling out with Google ranking.

While this is a pretty steep setback for the short-term, we will return to our previous standing rather quickly.  We’ve run into similar situations with client sites, but never thought we would need to do damage control of our own.

Here are the following steps that must be taken directly after an event like this.

1. Immediate push for Back-links- During the month following a down-time like this one, the need for sites around the web to verify your existence is crucial.  The pages that Google attempts and fails to Crawl can be put on the back burners for a period of time.  Making a strong push for links and acknowledgment can get a faster crawl to those skipped pages than would likely come otherwise.

2. Add more content.  We all know that the best way to get Google’s attention is to give it something new to look at. While we feed several different blogs on this site, we also enjoy adding our own content on a regular basis  At this moment its pertinent to add more than we normally would.  The additional content will signal that the site is not dead and is in fact very much alive and active.

3.  In addition to adding the content, we have to make sure that Google is aware of it being added.  To drive home this point, we submit sitemaps… Several sitemaps.
From XML to ROR, wee submit every possible format of sitemap available.  Some may think this a bit eccentric, but in dire moments like these, it can be the difference between being demoted  for weeks or for months.  For additional sitemaps in WordPress, we suggest using the following

• Sitemap Index – a PHP virtual sitemap built upon every update.
• Google News XML Sitemap -Automatically generate an XML sitemap for inclusion to Google News 2.0
• XML Sitemap Feed – Creates a feed that complies with the XML Sitemap

We also have some made at xml-sitemaps.com in url.txt and rss.ror format.

Our running experiment will now be to see how long it will take to return to the traffic and ranking that we had last month.  We will share this experience with you all and welcome any suggestion or thoughts you would like to add.

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“BACK UP YOUR SITE REGULARLY”

I’m 5 cups of coffee past sanity and still have an hour or two before I can sleep.  Recently many of our clients began getting hacked by the children on the Defacement Logging Website that shall remain nameless.  (Quite frankly, I don’t want to add ourselves to the hit-list.)

They targeted three of our clients sites this past week. Their targeting was very general in nature, and used a few different methods.  Two were injections, and one is still being debated.   The portion that hurts is that one of our clients didn’t back up his database.

After a forced entry into your website, it is generally considered a good idea to burn the damage.  IE… kill the database and erase data from the server to ensure that back door code has not been left in the site.
Tonight, that is not an option.  our client had apparently gone three months without an xml backup, and has misplaced where that copy is located.

Instead of the famous 5 Minute Install, or in some cases 5 Minute Reset”, we get to go through tons of lines of MySQL database to ensure that we eliminate all code that may have been left.  I will not be a very happy person in the morning, and I’m grateful that it will be Sunday.  Hopefully we get a day off.

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No, this is not a replay of 2002.  SQL Injection is still in an active exploit for hijacking and defacing a database driven website.  While there are several methods and builds of site that can be attacked in this method, we will be confining our feeds to SQL Injections into a WordPress MySQL database.  Here is the first we will be referencing.  It comes from G4B1DEV and is a good article on ways t protect your PHP and MySQL Database.  In None of these feeds will we reference the “How To” in SQL Injection, but we will be adding regular post on how to protect your website.

-Enjoy-

SQL Injection Protection in PHP With PDO

Database abstraction layers like PHP’s Portable Data Objects (PDO) are not a new concept, but a lot of developers don’t seem to realise the security benefit they’re getting for free by using them – inherent protection against SQL injection.

SQL injection is the buffer overflow of the web application world – it’s been around forever, and every web application developer should know how to write secure code that’s not vulnerable to it. For those not in the know, SQL injection is a technique whereby a malicious attacker can exploit inadequate data validation to inject arbitrary SQL code into your application’s queries and have it executed as though it is a legitimate query. I won’t go too deeply into SQL injection in this article, but here’s a simple example:

The front page of your application has a login form, which is submitted to a PHP script to validate the user’s credentials and allow or deny access to the application. The login form submits two variables by POST as follows:

username=fred&password=Fr3dRul3z

The POSTed data is then used to build an SQL query to validate the credentials, like this:

$sql = “SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ‘”.$_REQUEST['username'].”‘ AND password = ‘”.$_REQUEST['password'].”‘”;

This would result in the SQL query:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ‘fred’ AND password = ‘Fr3dRul3z’

Assuming a row exists in the database with these credentials, the user would be allowed to log in. An attacker could easily circumvent this authentication scheme by escaping out of the username field into the SQL query by entering nothing into the password field and this into the username field:
‘ OR 1==1 –

The resulting SQL query string would look like this:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ‘fred’ OR 1==1 — ‘ AND password = ”

Which, as I’m sure you can see, would select all users from the database as the condition 1==1 will always be true. The rest of the query is discarded with the comment operator ‘–’. The way to avoid this kind of attack is to sanitise the data submitted to the form by escaping everything that could be used to escape the confines of the quotes around the fields (e.g. mysql_real_escape_string() if you’re using MySQL). However, in a land far away somebody was inventing database abstraction layers…

The primary objective of database abstraction layers like PDO is clean abstraction in your code away from the database platform – so, theoretically, you could switch database platforms from, say, MySQL to PostgreSQL or Oracle with minimal changes to the code. In practice this depends heavily on how much your code relies on platform-specific features like triggers and stored procedures, but if you’re not relying on them at all and you’re just doing simple INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations it’s a free ride. Sounds moderately useful, but nothing exciting, right? Right. Another neat feature invented a long time ago is prepared statements, and most database abstraction layers (including PDO) implement this as a way to perform the same query multiple times with different data sets (e.g. inserting a whole bunch of new rows). Now, when building statements with PDO, instead of building the SQL string manually as demonstrated earlier, we build the statement with placeholders like this:

$sql = “INSERT INTO fruits (name, price) VALUES (?, ?)”;

and then execute the query with a data set passed to the abstraction layer as follows:

$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
$sth->execute(array($fruit, $price));

When the data is handed to PDO like this, it then either passes the data on to the database driver directly, or builds the query internally in a safe manner with any potentially malicious data encoded or escaped. As you can see, this is an easy way around the problem of SQL injection.

However, prepared statements with PDO aren’t all puppies and rainbows. Using prepared statements can introduce a number of interesting caveats of which developers should be aware. For example, in the MySQL client API prepared statements can not execute certain types of queries[1] and they do not use the query cache[1][2] which may have an impact on your application’s performance.

The inherent security in using prepared statements sounds great, but developers should not let PDO and other abstraction layers/prepared statement implementations lull them into a false sense of security. Untrusted data should always be validated and sanitised, PDO is just another line of defense. It doesn’t cover the territory of a multitude of other input validation vulnerabilities like cross site scripting, but it does do a good job of protecting applications against SQL injection. The best strategy is only allowing known good data by whitelisting characters and matching input data against regular expression patterns, then using prepared statements to catch anything SQL injection-wise that the input validation misses, all in conjunction with a web application firewall like ModSecurity.

PDO has been built in to PHP since version 5.1.0, which was released in Nov 2005. Unless you’ve got a good reason for not using it in your PHP apps, you should be – it is a portable replacement for the old mysql_* functions and other platform-specific functions with the added benefit of protection against SQL injection.

Author: Loukas Kalenderidis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty on LCD/Plasma TV

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Naoerville Business Directory

Raleigh Business Directory (serving the entire Triangle Area)

Chicago Business Directory

Aurora Business Directory (Aurora, Illinois)

Charleston Business Directory (For the entire Tri-County and Low Country Area)

There will be many more directories added to this list and all will be managed for accuracy.   After implementation on July 1st, listings will be automatic for all registered users of each site.

Leave your thoughts, and we’ll see what we can add to the directory plot that will make it more user friendly.

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The reference to Web 3.0 was made by members of the W3 to describe the desire for a Semantic Web. This new “Semantic Web” was to be user friendly and interactive… (I know; sounds familiar, right?). In almost all of the laymen terms, it sounds virtually the same as Web 2.0; the difference is when we look at the core problems with Web 2.0 and the theories behind it.

LOL Cats were the greatest gift of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 was to give an interactive world of exchanging ideas in an intelligent way.  Many would argue about how intelligent the exchange has actually been, but intelligent communication was the intent.  People have built on these principles to pass information accross the internet in a manner that resembled intelligence, but have found one major piece of the equasion was left out….

The Computers didn’t know what we were saying..!!!

The main purpose of Web 3.0 is to cooperatively enable the computers to understand the connections being made within the internet.  By enableing them to have an understanding of the importance that real people are placing on content, the systems will be able to weed out all of the Black Hat and Scam jobs.(at least for a little while)

Here’s the post of wikipedia:

“Purpose

Humans are capable of using the Web to carry out tasks such as finding the Irish word for “directory”, reserving a library book, and searching for a low price for a DVD. However, one computer cannot accomplish all of these tasks without human direction, because web pages are designed to be read by people, not machines. The semantic web is a vision of information that is understandable by computers, so computers can perform more of the tedious work involved in finding, combining, and acting upon information on the web.

Tim Berners-Lee originally expressed the vision of the semantic web as follows:^[6]

I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A ‘Semantic Web’, which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The ‘intelligent agents’ people have touted for ages will finally materialize.

– Tim Berners-Lee, 1999

Semantic publishing will benefit greatly from the semantic web. In particular, the semantic web is expected to revolutionize scientific publishing, such as real-time publishing and sharing of experimental data on the Internet. This simple but radical idea is now being explored by W3C HCLS group’s Scientific Publishing Task Force.

Semantic Web application areas are experiencing intensified interest due to the rapid growth in the use of the Web, together with the innovation and renovation of information content technologies. The Semantic Web is regarded as an integrator across different content and information applications and systems, and provide mechanisms for the realisation of Enterprise Information Systems. The rapidity of the growth experienced provides the impetus for researchers to focus on the creation and dissemination of innovative Semantic Web technologies, where the envisaged ’Semantic Web’ is long overdue. Often the terms ’Semantics’, ’metadata’, ’ontologies’ and ’Semantic Web’ are used inconsistently. In particular, these terms are used as everyday terminology by researchers and practitioners, spanning a vast landscape of different fields, technologies, concepts and application areas. Furthermore, there is confusion with regards to the current status of the enabling technologies envisioned to realise the Semantic Web. In a paper presented by Gerber, Barnard and Van der Merwe^[7] the Semantic Web landscape are charted and a brief summary of related terms and enabling technologies are presented. The architectural model proposed by Tim Berners-Lee is used as basis to present a status model that reflects current and emerging technologies”

What this means for developers?

More work… more education.. longer nights

For those true to the desire of solving the next development or SEO equation, this is more tantalizing than tantrum causing.  Those who enjoy doing quality SEO work will only see this as a challenge.  This is also seen as a much needed improvement to kill off the scammera that kill the face of our business.

What this means for the “No Talent A$$ Clowns” using Black and Grey Hat Techniques:

You better learn some real SEO, or your days are numbered.  Many times before these threats have been issued by the W3, but never before have they issued exact concepts that will be so easily incorporated by both Google and MSN.  There will always be those who skirt the system, but most will find their cheep tricks no longer working after these new rules are implemented.

Here is the basic visual guide and reference to the new Semantic Solution.  i’ll leave links acrross to the entire Wiki article.

We will be evaluating the software available for the changes and should have a review within the next few weeks…

Cheers.

Web 3.0

Tim Berners-Lee has described the semantic web as a component of ‘Web 3.0′.^[9]

People keep asking what Web 3.0 is. I think maybe when you’ve got an overlay of scalable vector graphics – everything rippling and folding and looking misty — on Web 2.0 and access to a semantic Web integrated across a huge space of data, you’ll have access to an unbelievable data resource…”

– Tim Berners-Lee, 2006

Relationship to the hypertext web

Limitations of HTML

Many files on a typical computer can be loosely divided into documents and data. Documents like mail messages, reports, and brochures are read by humans. Data, like calendars, addressbooks, playlists, and spreadsheets are presented using an application program which lets them be viewed, searched and combined in many ways.

Currently, the World Wide Web is based mainly on documents written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), a markup convention that is used for coding a body of text interspersed with multimedia objects such as images and interactive forms. Metadata tags, for example

<meta name="keywords" content="computing, computer studies, computer">
<meta name="description" content="Cheap widgets for sale">
<meta name="author" content="John Doe">

provide a method by which computers can categorise the content of web pages.

With HTML and a tool to render it (perhaps web browser software, perhaps another user agent), one can create and present a page that lists items for sale. The HTML of this catalog page can make simple, document-level assertions such as “this document’s title is ‘Widget Superstore’”, but there is no capability within the HTML itself to assert unambiguously that, for example, item number X586172 is an Acme Gizmo with a retail price of €199, or that it is a consumer product. Rather, HTML can only say that the span of text “X586172″ is something that should be positioned near “Acme Gizmo” and “€199″, etc. There is no way to say “this is a catalog” or even to establish that “Acme Gizmo” is a kind of title or that “€199″ is a price. There is also no way to express that these pieces of information are bound together in describing a discrete item, distinct from other items perhaps listed on the page.

Semantic HTML refers to the traditional HTML practice of markup following intention, rather than specifying layout details directly. For example, the use of <em> denoting “emphasis” rather than <i>, which specifies italics. Layout details are left up to the browser, in combination with Cascading Style Sheets. But this practice falls short of specifying the semantics of objects such as items for sale or prices.

Microformats represent unofficial attempts to extend HTML syntax to create machine-readable semantic markup about objects such as retail stores and items for sale.

Semantic Web solutions

The Semantic Web takes the solution further. It involves publishing in languages specifically designed for data: Resource Description Framework (RDF), Web Ontology Language (OWL), and Extensible Markup Language (XML). HTML describes documents and the links between them. RDF, OWL, and XML, by contrast, can describe arbitrary things such as people, meetings, or airplane parts. Tim Berners-Lee calls the resulting network of Linked Data the Giant Global Graph, in contrast to the HTML-based World Wide Web.

These technologies are combined in order to provide descriptions that supplement or replace the content of Web documents. Thus, content may manifest itself as descriptive data stored in Web-accessible databases ^[10], or as markup within documents (particularly, in Extensible HTML (XHTML) interspersed with XML, or, more often, purely in XML, with layout or rendering cues stored separately). The machine-readable descriptions enable content managers to add meaning to the content, i.e., to describe the structure of the knowledge we have about that content. In this way, a machine can process knowledge itself, instead of text, using processes similar to human deductive reasoning and inference, thereby obtaining more meaningful results and helping computers to perform automated information gathering and research.

An example of a tag that would be used in a non-semantic web page:

<item>cat</item>

Encoding similar information in a semantic web page might look like this:

<item rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Cat">Cat</item>

Relationship to object oriented programming

A number of authors highlight the similarities which the Semantic Web shares with object-oriented programming (OOP).^[11][12] Both the semantic web and object-oriented programming have classes with attributes and the concept of instances or objects. Linked Data uses Dereferenceable Uniform Resource Identifiers in a manner similar to the common programming concept of pointers or “object identifiers” in OOP. Dereferenceable URIs can thus be used to access “data by reference“. The Unified Modeling Language is designed to communicate about object-oriented systems, and can thus be used for both object-oriented programming and semantic web development.

When the web was first being created in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was done using object-oriented programming languages^{[citation needed]} such as Objective-C, Smalltalk and CORBA. In the mid-1990s this development practice was furthered with the announcement of the Enterprise Objects Framework, Portable Distributed Objects and WebObjects all by NeXT, in addition to the Component Object Model released by Microsoft. XML was then released in 1998, and RDF a year after in 1999.

Similarity to object oriented programming also came from two other routes: the first was the development of the very knowledge-centric “Hyperdocument” systems by Douglas Engelbart^[13], and the second comes from the usage and development of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol.^{[14][clarification needed]}

Web 3.0

Tim Berners-Lee has described the semantic web as a component of ‘Web 3.0′.^[9]

People keep asking what Web 3.0 is. I think maybe when you’ve got an overlay of scalable vector graphics – everything rippling and folding and looking misty — on Web 2.0 and access to a semantic Web integrated across a huge space of data, you’ll have access to an unbelievable data resource…”

– Tim Berners-Lee, 2006

[edit] Relationship to the hypertext web

[edit] Limitations of HTML

Many files on a typical computer can be loosely divided into documents and data. Documents like mail messages, reports, and brochures are read by humans. Data, like calendars, addressbooks, playlists, and spreadsheets are presented using an application program which lets them be viewed, searched and combined in many ways.

Currently, the World Wide Web is based mainly on documents written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), a markup convention that is used for coding a body of text interspersed with multimedia objects such as images and interactive forms. Metadata tags, for example

<meta name="keywords" content="computing, computer studies, computer">
<meta name="description" content="Cheap widgets for sale">
<meta name="author" content="John Doe">

provide a method by which computers can categorise the content of web pages.

With HTML and a tool to render it (perhaps web browser software, perhaps another user agent), one can create and present a page that lists items for sale. The HTML of this catalog page can make simple, document-level assertions such as “this document’s title is ‘Widget Superstore’”, but there is no capability within the HTML itself to assert unambiguously that, for example, item number X586172 is an Acme Gizmo with a retail price of €199, or that it is a consumer product. Rather, HTML can only say that the span of text “X586172″ is something that should be positioned near “Acme Gizmo” and “€199″, etc. There is no way to say “this is a catalog” or even to establish that “Acme Gizmo” is a kind of title or that “€199″ is a price. There is also no way to express that these pieces of information are bound together in describing a discrete item, distinct from other items perhaps listed on the page.

Semantic HTML refers to the traditional HTML practice of markup following intention, rather than specifying layout details directly. For example, the use of <em> denoting “emphasis” rather than <i>, which specifies italics. Layout details are left up to the browser, in combination with Cascading Style Sheets. But this practice falls short of specifying the semantics of objects such as items for sale or prices.

Microformats represent unofficial attempts to extend HTML syntax to create machine-readable semantic markup about objects such as retail stores and items for sale.

[edit] Semantic Web solutions

The Semantic Web takes the solution further. It involves publishing in languages specifically designed for data: Resource Description Framework (RDF), Web Ontology Language (OWL), and Extensible Markup Language (XML). HTML describes documents and the links between them. RDF, OWL, and XML, by contrast, can describe arbitrary things such as people, meetings, or airplane parts. Tim Berners-Lee calls the resulting network of Linked Data the Giant Global Graph, in contrast to the HTML-based World Wide Web.

These technologies are combined in order to provide descriptions that supplement or replace the content of Web documents. Thus, content may manifest itself as descriptive data stored in Web-accessible databases ^[10], or as markup within documents (particularly, in Extensible HTML (XHTML) interspersed with XML, or, more often, purely in XML, with layout or rendering cues stored separately). The machine-readable descriptions enable content managers to add meaning to the content, i.e., to describe the structure of the knowledge we have about that content. In this way, a machine can process knowledge itself, instead of text, using processes similar to human deductive reasoning and inference, thereby obtaining more meaningful results and helping computers to perform automated information gathering and research.

An example of a tag that would be used in a non-semantic web page:

<item>cat</item>

Encoding similar information in a semantic web page might look like this:

<item rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Cat">Cat</item>

[edit] Relationship to object oriented programming

A number of authors highlight the similarities which the Semantic Web shares with object-oriented programming (OOP).^[11][12] Both the semantic web and object-oriented programming have classes with attributes and the concept of instances or objects. Linked Data uses Dereferenceable Uniform Resource Identifiers in a manner similar to the common programming concept of pointers or “object identifiers” in OOP. Dereferenceable URIs can thus be used to access “data by reference“. The Unified Modeling Language is designed to communicate about object-oriented systems, and can thus be used for both object-oriented programming and semantic web development.

When the web was first being created in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was done using object-oriented programming languages^{[citation needed]} such as Objective-C, Smalltalk and CORBA. In the mid-1990s this development practice was furthered with the announcement of the Enterprise Objects Framework, Portable Distributed Objects and WebObjects all by NeXT, in addition to the Component Object Model released by Microsoft. XML was then released in 1998, and RDF a year after in 1999.

Similarity to object oriented programming also came from two other routes: the first was the development of the very knowledge-centric “Hyperdocument” systems by Douglas Engelbart^[13], and the second comes from the usage and development of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol.^{[14][clarification needed]}

[edit] Skeptical reactions

[edit] Practical feasibility

Critics (e.g. Which Semantic Web?) question the basic feasibility of a complete or even partial fulfillment of the semantic web. Cory Doctorow’s critique (“metacrap“) is from the perspective of human behavior and personal preferences. For example, people lie: they may include spurious metadata into Web pages in an attempt to mislead Semantic Web engines that naively assume the metadata’s veracity. This phenomenon was well-known with metatags that fooled the AltaVista ranking algorithm into elevating the ranking of certain Web pages: the Google indexing engine specifically looks for such attempts at manipulation. Peter Gärdenfors and Timo Honkela point out that logic-based semantic web technologies cover only a fraction of the relevant phenomena related to semantics ^{[15] [16]}.

Where semantic web technologies have found a greater degree of practical adoption, it has tended to be among core specialized communities and organizations for intra-company projects.^[17] The practical constraints toward adoption have appeared less challenging where domain and scope is more limited than that of the general public and the World-Wide Web.^[17]

[edit] The potential of an idea in fast progress

The original 2001 Scientific American article by Berners-Lee described an expected evolution of the existing Web to a Semantic Web.^[18] A complete evolution as described by Berners-Lee has yet to occur. In 2006, Berners-Lee and colleagues stated that: “This simple idea, however, remains largely unrealized.”^[19] While the idea is still in the making, it seems to evolve quickly and inspire many. Between 2007-2010 several scholars have already explored first applications and the social potential of the semantic web in the business and health sectors, and for social networking ^[20] and even for the broader evolution of democracy, specifically, how a society forms its common will in a democratic manner through a semantic web ^[21]

[edit] Censorship and privacy

Enthusiasm about the semantic web could be tempered by concerns regarding censorship and privacy. For instance, text-analyzing techniques can now be easily bypassed by using other words, metaphors for instance, or by using images in place of words. An advanced implementation of the semantic web would make it much easier for governments to control the viewing and creation of online information, as this information would be much easier for an automated content-blocking machine to understand. In addition, the issue has also been raised that, with the use of FOAF files and geo location meta-data, there would be very little anonymity associated with the authorship of articles on things such as a personal blog.

[edit] Doubling output formats

Another criticism of the semantic web is that it would be much more time-consuming to create and publish content because there would need to be two formats for one piece of data: one for human viewing and one for machines. However, many web applications in development are addressing this issue by creating a machine-readable format upon the publishing of data or the request of a machine for such data. The development of microformats has been one reaction to this kind of criticism.

Specifications such as eRDF and RDFa allow arbitrary RDF data to be embedded in HTML pages. The GRDDL (Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Language) mechanism allows existing material (including microformats) to be automatically interpreted as RDF, so publishers only need to use a single format, such as HTML.

[edit] Need

The idea of a semantic web, able to describe, and associate meaning with data, necessarily involves more than simple XHTML mark-up code. It is based on an assumption that, in order for it to be possible to endow machines with an ability to accurately interpret web homed content, far more than the mere ordered relationships involving letters and words is necessary as underlying infrastructure, (attendant to semantic issues). Otherwise, most of the supportive functionality would have been available in Web 2.0 (and before), and it would have been possible to derive a semantically capable Web with minor, incremental additions.

Additions to the infrastructure to support semantic functionality include latent dynamic network models that can, under certain conditions, be ‘trained’ to appropriately ‘learn’ meaning based on order data, in the process ‘learning’ relationships with order (a kind of rudimentary working grammar). See for example latent semantic analysis

[edit] Components

The Semantic Web Stack.

The semantic web comprises the standards and tools of XML, XML Schema, RDF, RDF Schema and OWL that are organized in the Semantic Web Stack. The OWL Web Ontology Language Overview describes the function and relationship of each of these components of the semantic web:

• XML provides an elemental syntax for content structure within documents, yet associates no semantics with the meaning of the content contained within.
• XML Schema is a language for providing and restricting the structure and content of elements contained within XML documents.
• RDF is a simple language for expressing data models, which refer to objects (“resources“) and their relationships. An RDF-based model can be represented in XML syntax.
• RDF Schema extends RDF and is a vocabulary for describing properties and classes of RDF-based resources, with semantics for generalized-hierarchies of such properties and classes.
• OWL adds more vocabulary for describing properties and classes: among others, relations between classes (e.g. disjointness), cardinality (e.g. “exactly one”), equality, richer typing of properties, characteristics of properties (e.g. symmetry), and enumerated classes.
• SPARQL is a protocol and query language for semantic web data sources.

Current ongoing standardizations include:

• Rule Interchange Format (RIF) as the Rule Layer of the Semantic Web Stack

Not yet fully realized layers include:

• Unifying Logic and Proof layers are undergoing active research.

The intent is to enhance the usability and usefulness of the Web and its interconnected resources through:

• Servers which expose existing data systems using the RDF and SPARQL standards. Many converters to RDF exist from different applications. Relational databases are an important source. The semantic web server attaches to the existing system without affecting its operation.
• Documents “marked up” with semantic information (an extension of the HTML <meta> tags used in today’s Web pages to supply information for Web search engines using web crawlers). This could be machine-understandable information about the human-understandable content of the document (such as the creator, title, description, etc., of the document) or it could be purely metadata representing a set of facts (such as resources and services elsewhere in the site). (Note that anything that can be identified with a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) can be described, so the semantic web can reason about animals, people, places, ideas, etc.) Semantic markup is often generated automatically, rather than manually.
• Common metadata vocabularies (ontologies) and maps between vocabularies that allow document creators to know how to mark up their documents so that agents can use the information in the supplied metadata (so that Author in the sense of ‘the Author of the page’ won’t be confused with Author in the sense of a book that is the subject of a book review).
• Automated agents to perform tasks for users of the semantic web using this data
• Web-based services (often with agents of their own) to supply information specifically to agents (for example, a Trust service that an agent could ask if some online store has a history of poor service or spamming)

[edit] Challenges

Some of the challenges for the Semantic Web include vastness, vagueness, uncertainty, inconsistency and deceit. Automated reasoning systems will have to deal with all of these issues in order to deliver on the promise of the Semantic Web.

• Vastness: The World Wide Web contains at least 48 billion pages as of this writing (August 2, 2009). The SNOMED CT medical terminology ontology contains 370,000 class names, and existing technology has not yet been able to eliminate all semantically duplicated terms. Any automated reasoning system will have to deal with truly huge inputs.

• Vagueness: These are imprecise concepts like “young” or “tall”. This arises from the vagueness of user queries, of concepts represented by content providers, of matching query terms to provider terms and of trying to combine different knowledge bases with overlapping but subtly different concepts. Fuzzy logic is the most common technique for dealing with vagueness.

• Uncertainty: These are precise concepts with uncertain values. For example, a patient might present a set of symptoms which correspond to a number of different distinct diagnoses each with a different probability. Probabilistic reasoning techniques are generally employed to address uncertainty.

• Inconsistency: These are logical contradictions which will inevitably arise during the development of large ontologies, and when ontologies from separate sources are combined. Deductive reasoning fails catastrophically when faced with inconsistency, because “anything follows from a contradiction”. Defeasible reasoning and paraconsistent reasoning are two techniques which can be employed to deal with inconsistency.

• Deceit: This is when the producer of the information is intentionally misleading the consumer of the information. Cryptography techniques are currently utilized to alleviate this threat.

This list of challenges is illustrative rather than exhaustive, and it focuses on the challenges to the “unifying logic” and “proof” layers of the Semantic Web. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Incubator Group for Uncertainty Reasoning for the World Wide Web (URW3-XG) final report lumps these problems together under the single heading of “uncertainty”. Many of the techniques mentioned here will require extensions to the Web Ontology Language (OWL) for example to annotate conditional probabilities. This is an area of active research.

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More:
Compete Ranks HubSpot.com in Top 1K Web Sites on the Web

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The first post on this program usage will be a bit weak of us.  We’re going to restate the innstalation guide and make video of it over the next few days.  This way we can add some to the mix.  We’re also going to attempt to engage the assistance of Lynda.com to see if they are interested in a cooperated effort on a full tutorial.  Since they don’t have one yet, this should prove an interesting attempt.

Anyway, here is the install text for Magento with more to come on the initial design specs.

Magento content management system is an open source eCommerce application, perfect for online stores. It is a powerful software characterized by great flexibility and full control over the look, content and functionality of your online shop. Magento CMS was created not so long ago but proved itself to be an excellent solution for web store owners. Find more information regarding Magento CMS on Magento site.

As our resource is aimed towards bringing quality tutorials on how to start business online, this time we would like to offer you a tutorial on how to create and customize online store run on Magento CMS and based on Magento template. You will get detailed instructions regarding Magento engine and Magento template installation procedure.

Magento engine installation procedure

From the very beginning you need to download the latest Magento package. At the moment Magento version 1.3.2.1 is available now.  This release solves an issue for users running Magento with PHP 5.2.0, and changes to index.php to support the new Compiler Module.

First of all go to http://www.magentocommerce.com/download/noregister and download the Downloader as zip (not the Full release). Then extract the files. And after that upload them to server through FTP. Pay attention that you follow all server requirements. You may also do it through cPannel -> File Manager.

Set file permissions: navigate to the directory with your FTP client. Then locate the function “Change Permissions” or “Change Mode” in your FTP client and select it. Change mode to writable.

You may do the same via cPannel: login to the cPanel for your domain and click on the File Manager icon under the Files Selection. Make sure that a Show Hidden file is selected. Then check the checkboxes next to files and folders to set the permissions.

If you still feel that you don’t have enough knowledge or time to go though the whole customization process, you may take the opportunity of Template Tuning services. Here you can order the template customization at an affordable price. Their web developers will easily and skillfully do all the necessary changes for you.

Again, this was copied from the Magento install instructions from both their homepage and the webdesign.org site.  There will be more to add, but we’ll have to add those post as we complete this site.  We look forward to sharing this experience with our readers, our clients, and those who are just curious.  Thank you and have a good night.

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The following is a list of free or inexpensive Press Release Services:

PrWeb PR7 (small contribution)
PRUrgent PR3
PR Newswire PR7
PR Web Direct PR6
The Open Press PR5

• Plain text ONLY throughout.
• Appears below Public Relations Firm releases and paid releases or “below the fold”
  Free Press Releases will remain on the site for six months.
• No PR passed

Free Press Release PR5
Press Box PR5
PR Free
Soft Press Release
Market Wire
URL Wire
Webwire
eMediawire
Business Wire
PR9
Newswire
Press Release Network
i-newswire PR6
Newswire Today PR5

• Highly recommended
• PR given to releases
• basic service is free
• advanced $300/year

Openpr PR5
PR9 PR4
Press Radar PR7

• Highly recommended

PR-Inside PR4
PR Log PR5

Web Designers and Developers are strongly encouraged to get in the habit of using these tools with all of their customers as a basic portion of the site build.  Developing a website that already has a strong SEO footprint helps the client progress quickly and ensures that your portfolio will have higher relevance.

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The families that manage and own the store are some of the first people I met when moving to Illinois.  I have a large amount of gratitude for the kindness they showed me when arriving here and when we came back to Naperville this past spring.  They have welcomed us and our clients into their establishment and given us a warm environment to conduct our business meetings and web design presentations.

Artist tend to flock to the “Bread” as well.  On any given night there will be some form of artistic group that is having a meeting at their location.  There are women who stitch on one night, trading card women on another, painters discussing canvasses, and many other niche artisans who wish to meet and share their talents.  For those familiar with the area, Naperville and Warrenville aren’t exactly thought of as Art Mecca’s, but within the Atlanta Bread, there is an exception that is a pleasant change for the Chicago Suburbs.

Lastly, the absolute chaos of a busy lunch cycle completes our A.D.D. persona and elevates our productivity.  We tend to get more accomplished in a two hour rush at a coffee shop, than in eight hours of quiet within our on office.  we’re going to post a lot more on this in coming weeks.  There’s just an odd correlation between our better work performance and the amount of interactions taking place at the same time.  We’ll be posting more about our favorite working environments in the weeks to come, but at this moment Atlanta Bread is our favorite local coffee shop for web design and seo meetings and work.

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Along with business headquarters moving to Naperville, marketing firms have grown by leaps with the surrounding area.  For many years, there were only a handful of graphic and web designers in the area.  Web design in Naperville was a decision made on lack of options.  Even recently, independent web designers just began to make a name for themselves in the area.   Most of the web design and development for all of Illinois was being maintained out of Chicago or Oswego.  Five agencies did 95%  of all design and maintenance for the businesses who are now part of the community.

It shouldn’t be shocking that most businesses who have been here for some time, have websites that look alike and have no real distinguishing characteristics.  With a lack of major competition, the web designers and developers that were here, got complacent and would typically make sites that mirrored even the clients competitor.

As a result, Naperville has now opened up as one of the best markets for the design and develop of website services.  Although there are still a lot of “basement hosting groups” here, it has gotten considerably better with the infusion of hard working Freelancers in the area. The hosting companies with “Auto Builders” are becoming less trusted because of their obvious attempts and successes at preying on their customers; Freelancers have made a difference here as well.  At last count, there were over 100 freelance web designers just within the city boundaries of Naperville and another 150 in Aurora.  This added amount of competition has enabled the area to introduce higher quality websites than were previously available.  The price for high quality design has also normalized from the days here a select few ran the books.

The recent changes in the market have evened the playing field.  Web Design companies that had massive overhead at their clients expense are going under.  The freelancers and small businesses are surviving and becoming more trusted due to their ability to survive on their humble status.  The prices for a good site have become realistic.  Instead of a local Steel Company that paid $15,000 for a pitiful 8 page HTML site, now designers locally are charging based on work and experience.

I hope that it doesn’t come across as though I’m excited about the way the markets have fallen.  I understand a  lot of people, including myself,  have lived through a lot of  suffering this economy has left us with.  It is on the way to recovery, but it is coming slowly and there will be more to weather.  The economic downturn has hurt business, but maybe it can be a functional way of resetting the clock. Even in these tougher times, it’s becoming a better experience to be a web designer in the city of Naperville.

Naper Design in Naperville, IL

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To some this may seem like an unlikely question to start with, but it really needs to be the basis of all choices with web design.  Like a logo, letterhead, and all print media associated with a company, a site can be a major branding for the basis of client recognition.  If the website design is one recognized by the readers, it may cause a negative response to make a massive change in the way it’s is read.  Likewise, if the website is the weaker link of media associated with the company, it will need to be designed in a way to compliment the company and its preexisting media.  While content will always reign supreme to the search engines, genuine viewership is still the ultimate goal of a website.

2. Is this a vanity website or one meant for inbound marketing?

Ok, we’ve talked about this before and heard negative response for the choice term “vanity site”, but it is what it is.  It’s  not a negative or positive statement about a website to call it a vanity site.  If the only  purpose of your website is to have one to be followed off of a business card, then you may not be concerned with how the site looks on a regular basis.  The use of these sites, while decreasing, is still common enough to be asked when deciding web design criteria.  It may not be in the interest of the site owner to have frequent and extensive web design if the website is only to be viewed by  a select group of people.   Often major web design updates are associated with a website that is trying to build and convert newer and inbound traffic instead of regulated and specific visitors.

3.  Much like the last question, what is the site to do for you and your business?

It’s very difficult to design a website or revise one when there is no clear goal to be set.  Some view web design in the same way they would view making a pamphlet or Power Point slide-show. Those who have experienced a bad design have found that web development and web design are key to converting visitors into regular viewers.  If a site is meant to be informative in a serious manner, but looks like  something of a comical nature, viewers will be confused.(one more reason to stop using Comic Sans)  The website design must match the content for readers to truly appreciate it without confusion or blatant distaste.  While there are still debates of how much psychological responses to a design can be felt, there is a consensus that they do impact readership.  Bringing the design of your site in line with the theme of its content will ensure that readers are left with an accurate interpretation of the content meaning.

4.  Code, Code, Code!!!!

If your website is still trudging away on legacy HTML with tables, it may be a good time to consider moving to a better framework.  Table usage in websites was never meant to progress to the levels that it did.  They were invented for simple actions, but after some time, were being manipulated to design all aspects of site layout.  With the advent of CSS, these tables are no longer needed in such long and drawn out lines of code.  Your website can move more efficiently, be designed in a better and cleaner way, and… Oh Yeah, the search engines will appreciate it.

5. HTML or PHP

It would also be good after asking the previous questions to determine if the HTML in your website should be replaced with PHP. Whether using a database driven CMS like Joomla, Xoops, Drupal and WordPress, or just wanting a basic PHP scipted website, you’ll be able to more easily updated for content.  Regular updates can be helpful to sites that aim to offer newer information to viewers on a regular basis.  It would be good to know before making any site changes to know how often content would need updated.  Be aware that if you should choose to remain with older framework, even content updates will have their cost.  If  the page is to stay static, this shouldn’t be a problem and it may be a waste of funds to do a complete update of the code.

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While looking through the site index of our business listing, I came across several negative remarks that were coming from a group of people who were also commenting positively about a similar business within the local area.  As a web designer, I always make it a point to not speak negatively of our competitors, and in most cases, I’ll not comments at all on their business unless they are the very best in the field.

After reading a few of the comments, it was apparent that they were coming from someone associated with the business and from the same individual.  This persons business had roughly 20 “positive” comments about their business, but had not made the effort to ensure that they weren’t noticeably written by the same individual.  Inevitably, another web designer began making fun of the scenario.

This is where the self serving positive comment become a nightmare for multiple businesses.  For reasons unknown, this business owner began raging against his competitors, Naper Design included.  Since we focus on both Web Design and SEO, he assumed that all of the joking statements must be coming from our team.  Admittedly, we did have a few clients who were less than kind with their responses to his form of deception, but he only took this to mean that we were involved.  His response was to post this laundry list of negative statements about our company to the point that he’d committed slander and defamation of character.

The situation was resolved with the assurance of our strong legal teams ability to sue him,  and the comments were removed within just a few minutes(proving they had been written all by him).  He still maintains a large list of fake comments on his page, and assuredly, others will likely continue to make light of the shady business practice.

I referred to it as “shady business practice”.

I did son because that’s exactly what it is.  When afforded the chance to have clients give feedback, both positive and negative, some businesses will immediately begin writing comment after comment about their own business to appear more user friendly.  While this is not one of the more hanus actions a business can commit,  it is one of deception and can be easily dtected by those reading the responses. If the comments are written in the same style and manner, if they are written in a way that shows the same character, and if they are in the same vernacular, it becomes obvious to the reader that they have been forged by one single individual.

While this situation has been resolved, multiple businesses have sustained damage to their credibility and are working hard to repair the damages made by these actions.  As a web designer, credibility is something that has to be earned, not self stamped within a comment field.  If found to be untrue or being decptive in ones actions, a web design company can lose all of its business and clients from just such an action.

I don’t wish for this competing business to go under and hope for their recuperation after these recent events, but I do hope that they learn to not make such blatant attempts at manipulating the system.  The web design community may be competitive, but that doesn’t prevent us from being both civil and cooperative.

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Naperville SEO just began launching the site http://naperville-seo.com and has asked us to complete their design now that they have built much of their source code.  It is a great honor and privilege to be working with them and look forward to this shared partnership and the rewards it brings for us and our customers.hidden links

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As artist at heart, we have the urge to bring vision to the world through our talents and abilities.  In doing this, we are hoping that the groups will be able to have a greater reach to their audiences, and we gain the joy of giving back to our community.  We believe that given the opportunity, we can all come together with our varied talents to help others around our community.  For those in the Naperville, Aurora, and Chicago areas with suggestions for how to better use our talents to assist the community, we encourage your responses and correspondence.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.”

-Mother Teresa-

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We’d like to especially thank all of our clients for the continued increase in business and networking.  The referal business is a testiment to the qualiity of clients that we have been continuing to enjoy.

Thank you, and we look forward to moving forward with the full marketing potential of Naperville SEO Inc,  Naper Design and Naperville Strategic Marketing

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1. It is a Massive Equation.  The last best estimate assumes over 250 separate and distinguished parameters involved in the monstrous equation.  It’s simply inconceivable that any lone person can at any time make the calculations needed to outsmart a constantly evolving AI.
2. It is an AI.  While there is a dedicated team of engineers who devote their entire careers to this Algorithm, Google Bot and the Database behind it is running more of itself than external control.  With this scenario in place, there’s no way that any SEO expert, in Naperville or anywhere else in the world, could conceptualize every move this AI will move to next.
3. While we know some of Basic Criteria  that are factored into the ranking system of the Google Algorithm, SEO in any form is limited by the fact that some of it will always be a misnomer.  Certain Criteria are known, but their weight can change on a very(and sometimes daily) basis.
4. SEO for Google can be a daily event.  Google’s Algorithm has been known to change variables more than once within the same day.  While major updates usually happen every 1-3 months, the system is making constant small adjustments.  It’s not feasible to collate that much data and determine ranking to the most finite detail.

There is some Good News though:

So far in this post, I have been bashing some guy in Naperville who thought he’d found the Holy Grail of SEO.  While I seriously doubt that he thought before speaking, there’s hope for him to end up ok.  We do know some of the basic building blocks that the Algorithm looks for.

1. Domain- Domain naming and SEO through domain have a direct influence on what page you will come up if they match the specific keywords being searched for.   This is the “No-Brainer” of SEO.  Last week I noticed we did not have the number 1 slot in Google for the keyword “Naperville SEO“.  The reason is that someone had set up a site with the matching url while I missed my chance to purchase it.  In passing up this option, the Google Algorithm immediately launched them to the top slot.  This will not complete the puzzle for him though.  While simple changes such as Domain and Url manipulation can help with a giant and almost immediate boost, they have no chance without durable SEO work to back them up.  I have no doubt that we will again take the first slot for the search terms “Naperville SEO” because he has done nothing more to improve the site.
2. Linking- Inbound links from established and reputable sites is a necessity for anyone wishing to improve their site recognition, traffic, and if it matters to you, Page Rank.  Page Rank is not exactly something I care about, but what it symbolizes is.  The placement of quality links on informative sites will mean more traffic to your site.  The Page Rank is just an added bonus that can only be seen in the rear view.   Having links from high Page Rank sites will improve your ranking to an extent, but having many, many links from across many, many spectrum of the internet, will heighten the chances that visitors will find your site.  Ultimately, why are your links out there?  Do you wish to have a vanity trophy of Page Rank, or are you more concerned with building quality traffic and elevation in the SERPS?
3. Content- If you aren’t giving quality time and effort to your written content, you are not going to receive the ranking you could from the search engines. There are many services now that will even write your content for you.  Here in Naperville, and throughout the entire Chicago are, there are businesses of writers that do nothing but write content for Website SEO.  This is becoming a highly specialized career field and is one of the few areas of job growth for good and thoughtful writers.
4. Have Fun- If you are working your own SEO, have fun with it.  If you’ve taken on the task of maintaining your own SEO, enjoy the experience.  The good and the bad moments can be entertaining, but if it becomes a beast of burden, turn it over to someone that can take on the challenge.  Ensure that they know what they are doing as well.

Those of us who build SEO for a  living are usually willing to offer advice or point someone in the right direction if asked.  As is, the one SEO “expert” that should not be trusted is the one who is unwilling to at least offer direction to those seeking it.  We don’t give away the Keys to the Castle, but a SEO Engineer is usually willing to point the way. That being said.  Here is a list of the top 25 SEO Blogs as defined by Daily Blog Tips.

-Enjoy-

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I wanted to follow-up on my most recent post.  The responses to Some SEO Companies Aren’t Protecting Their Own brought so much good communication and received enough interaction to be revisited once more.

A comment made to this post was key:

Christian, Good topic. On the whole this was a well thought out and highly relevant piece. I have some more specific comments but they are sort of off topic and ask that you email me for a more thorough reply. It is a pressing issue you present. One of my first ever jobs was making bagels in a small family owned bakery at the end of a strip mall. The business went under because the new owner of the strip mall refused to honor the no competition clause from the previous landlord and allowed a Dunkin Donuts to open at the other end of the strip mall. What you present is the digital version of the same greedy and irresponsible behavior.”

We’ve met with several large SEO Groups in the Chicago and Naperville area recently and have been given feedback that would make some cringe.  They were highly upset that we were letting people in on the dirty secret of the SEO market.  From this posting, many thought that we had broken some unwritten code that all SEO groups should never tell the customers the truth about what we do.  I’d like to make it very clear that there is no secret handshake or code that we have with other groups and that all of our loyalties are entrusted with our customers, not our fellow marketers.

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Feeling lost in the crowd?

Are you getting ripped off by your SEO and SEM Provider?hidden links

Have you found yourself paying an exorbitant amount for SEO only to find that the company you’ve hired to handle your optimization is working for your competition as well? Has this left you feeling lost in the crowd of your fellow competitors?

If you’ve never considered this, you should.  Many SEO and SEM groups will cater to a specific market without regard to their actual clients.   From even the most basic perspective, this is counterproductive.  If you are trying to get higher in the ranks than your opponent(and they trying to get higher than you), ho wins with you both competing at the same optimization vendor?…

That’s Right! The vendor wins twice! With both of you paying for his services, the effective outcome is for both clients to dole out more money and resources than needed and have a virtual stalemate as a result.  Unfortunately, this is one of the main reasons people are left with a bitter taste in their mouths about SEO.

I’m writing this post today in response to a SPAM comment left on our site.  It read “why not handle your own SEO before telling others about it?’.   I did some further research of the IP and found that it was written by an individual upset with the progress we’ve made with one of his former clients page rank.  I can understand that there may be some frustration with a competing group giving better results to his former client, but I don’t think he understands why.

At Naper Design, we have chosen to only handle One Customer, Per Industry, Per Location. We have only one Dentist in Naperville that we impart SEO for, There is only on Interior Designer in the Naperville area that we are employed by.  Yes, this does limit our clientele, but the reward is worth it.  Not only are we relieved of the burden of apposing clients, our portfolio shows a dedicated practice to a satisfied client.

Like all sales, marketing, and business, everything comes down to a simple questions:

• Will I provide the best quality service to a long term and valued client, or will I grab a mass of clients I don’t care about and give them sub-par results?

When we began Naper Design, it started as a community oriented and group development project.  We never knew we were going to make a company out of an organization of people who enjoy working with others.  Now that we find ourselves competing with organizations in a higher level, we may decide to perch at the level we have obtained.  While that limits our ability at growth, we don’t have to become the scoundrels that pit client against client for a financial windfall.

We cannot emphasize enough the need to ensure that your SEO group have your best interest at heart.  If you find that you are only paying to the same group as your competition, one of you might wish to move to a different vendor.  Otherwise, both of you are likely to lose.

Now that this rambling is complete, I’m quite anxious to see the angered SPAM from my own competitors.  I may actually let their post through this time.

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Feeling lost in the crowd?

Are you getting ripped off by your SEO and SEM Provider?hidden links

Have you found yourself paying an exorbitant amount for SEO only to find that the company you’ve hired to handle your optimization is working for your competition as well? Has this left you feeling lost in the crowd of your fellow competitors?

If you’ve never considered this, you should.  Many SEO and SEM groups will cater to a specific market without regard to their actual clients.   From even the most basic perspective, this is counterproductive.  If you are trying to get higher in the ranks than your opponent(and they trying to get higher than you), ho wins with you both competing at the same optimization vendor?…

That’s Right! The vendor wins twice! With both of you paying for his services, the effective outcome is for both clients to dole out more money and resources than needed and have a virtual stalemate as a result.  Unfortunately, this is one of the main reasons people are left with a bitter taste in their mouths about SEO.

I’m writing this post today in response to a SPAM comment left on our site.  It read “why not handle your own SEO before telling others about it?’.   I did some further research of the IP and found that it was written by an individual upset with the progress we’ve made with one of his former clients page rank.  I can understand that there may be some frustration with a competing group giving better results to his former client, but I don’t think he understands why.

At Naper Design, we have chosen to only handle One Customer, Per Industry, Per Location. We have only one Dentist in Naperville that we impart SEO for, There is only on Interior Designer in the Naperville area that we are employed by.  Yes, this does limit our clientele, but the reward is worth it.  Not only are we relieved of the burden of apposing clients, our portfolio shows a dedicated practice to a satisfied client.

Like all sales, marketing, and business, everything comes down to a simple questions:

• Will I provide the best quality service to a long term and valued client, or will I grab a mass of clients I don’t care about and give them sub-par results?

When we began Naper Design, it started as a community oriented and group development project.  We never knew we were going to make a company out of an organization of people who enjoy working with others.  Now that we find ourselves competing with organizations in a higher level, we may decide to perch at the level we have obtained.  While that limits our ability at growth, we don’t have to become the scoundrels that pit client against client for a financial windfall.

We cannot emphasize enough the need to ensure that your SEO group have your best interest at heart.  If you find that you are only paying to the same group as your competition, one of you might wish to move to a different vendor.  Otherwise, both of you are likely to lose.

Now that this rambling is complete, I’m quite anxious to see the angered SPAM from my own competitors.  I may actually let their post through this time.

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-Enjoy-

Web Design and the Psychology of Colors

Written by Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects.

Web design is not an easy task, especially if what you need is to create a business website in plain HTML, with a very simple layout, easy to navigate, fast loading and, above all, distinctive. To reach this purpose web designers don’t have too many options. Typically all they can do is blend colors harmoniously to create an appealing website that combines attributes of simplicity and logic while providing valuable content.

It is therefore important for any designer to know what colors mean and what subtle message hides within every tone.

Red is the warmest color, passionate and energetic: the color of romance, love and enthusiasm. Red is attention grabbing, alarming or charming: a mixture of paradoxes feelings and sensations. A good web designer understands red and its power: he or she will know where to use this color, how much of red means sales, how much will just drive visitors away. Take a look around and note how red is used on a daily basis: sales tags are red, a red Ferrari is anyone’s dream, a red rose is a passionate declaration of love, a red flag is often associated with war… Red is power, means power, inspires and motivates.

As red, orange is warm, happy and full of life. It’s the color of fire and light. Orange is usually used for websites related to the food industry, but it could also work for lamp manufacturers and other entrepreneurs from the light and energy areas.

Yellow is a dual color. It’s happy and inspiring but many people do associate it with cowardice and jealousy. Use it careful in web design, and never use it for fonts on a white background.

Green means nature, purity and freshness. It symbolizes hope and growth. Usually companies selling herbal products, nutrients and cosmetics use a fresh green ? for example lime green ? to inspire their visitors. World class companies such as Yves Rocher or Garnier employ green a lot in their web design because they sell products based on natural plant extracts. Used in the wrong context, green might have negative connotations. Money is green ? too much green is often associated with greed or poison (Paris Green).

Blue is a already a standard business-to-business color. Navy blue, or dark blue is used for business logos, business suits and so on. Even hospitals and health sites use blue for their design. Light blue symbolizes happiness and Heaven, while some shades of blue are depressing. Use blue carefully for web design.

Violet is an exotic and royal color, associated with wealth, spirituality and meditation. It’s rarely used in web design, because it takes real skill to combine with other colors. Web designers use it mostly for ads and banners, as it grabs attention and calls to action.

White is not a color, but the manifestation of all colors as one. White is associated with purity, divinity, modesty and simplicity. For web design white is the ideal choice. However, although in life, white is complete, online it always needs to be completed with other colors.

Finally, black means the absence of white and the absence of all colors. Although, generally speaking, black has negative meanings (death, mourning, sin) it is still a very elegant color and, combined with the right colors it can make a great enhancement to your website. Anyway… you probably use black as the color of the fonts.

A great supporting article from Wynn Wilder; a Website Psychologist and owner of Critical Thinking.

And below is an article that looks like a carbon copy, but didn’t want anyone copying them…. Ironic Much

The Meaning and Psychology of Colors

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Climbing your own ladder of SEO Success

The first step when carrying out SEO on your website is to define which keywords or search terms you would like to be found under. We help you with the keyword selection and you approve the final list of search terms you want to target for your seo campaign. Keyword sources generally tend to include search tools such as Google adword keyword checker, overture and obvious keywords relative to your business. Most clients generally tend to already have an idea what they need to target for the SEO campaign and we elaborate further using the seo tools provided by Google.

Keyword selection is imperative for SEO and can often decide how effective your seo promotion will be long term. If the right keywords are targeted you will receive better conversions through your website.
Second seo tip is keyword grouping
Keyword grouping involves an analysis into the keywords which have been agreed you for the SEO package. This SEO process is to define which keywords are to be targeted on certain pages within your website. An old method many SEO companies use is to create a new page targeted for each keyword. Due to Google algorithm changes a more efficient way is to group keyword variations together and target these phrases across one optimized page. This reduces the risk of content repetition across a website which is essential for successful seo promotion. It is important to target key phrases on website pages with a relevant theme. For example if a keyword ‘marketing’ was optimized on a web page called ‘web design’, it will be a lot more difficult getting to page one in the organic search for ‘marketing’. Try and call the web page a top phrase that variations can be written up in the body of text to compliment the web page name.
Unique content is key for seo
We create unique content based on the agreed keywords for your SEO campaign. The content generated is then placed onto relevant pages on your site. We ensure not to spam the keyword density of the keywords targeted as over optimizing can have an adverse affect on your search engine ranking. Unique content plays an important part in seo as should the content appear anywhere else on the internet Google refer to this as ‘mirroring’ and could result in no positioning depending on how much content is copied on your website.
SEO tips for a web page layout
There are areas with your web page layout to please the key terms you are targeting that makes your web page layout stronger than if they were not in place.

These areas are titles tags, meta tag descriptions, meta tag keyword placements, alt tags, headers (h1 h2). Ensure you do not repeat yourself page to page when placing in the coding of your web pages. To be stronger than the competition it is essential that every page in your website reads differently. The more specific you are when implementing these seo techniques the easier it is not to repeat yourself.
Backward linking is the seo tip that brings the whole seo process together
Backward links are internal links and external links. Internal linking is favored by the search engine spiders as they know they can trust the source, your own website as opposed to external linking. External links are governed stringently now by Google due to all the link farms used by unethical programmers and the difficulty in governing them. To appear high in the search results is not about budget, it is about what clever seo techniques are implemented for your website. Backward keyword anchor text linking plays a fundamental part in your website appearing on page one in the natural search results.

Website development is key for long term success in the search engines. Using the seo tips provided, you will need to keep adding new web pages, building folder structures around your targeted search terms and linking them together with the key phrases is key for seo to be a success. We explain in an ‘easy to understand’ way on all requirements. Visit our search engine optimization page to know what you can expect from Naper Design as a client.

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“When I first heard about search engine optimization, I was given a set of CD’s and tasked with learning how to bring traffic to a website from the search engines. While those CD’s helped educate me in the basics, it wasn’t until I stumbled across an SEO forum that I really started to learn the methods and tactics that produced results. Since that time, SEO blogs have become increasingly popular as the default place to learn the discipline.

However, as search engines takes a more and more active roll in the community and SEO bloggers continue to publicly discuss previously untapped link sources, little known but effective methods, and conversations held in private, I’ve found myself asking a recurring question:”

Is SEO blogging worth it?

That question may seem obsurd, especially since it’s being posed on an SEO blog, but I think it’s an important question. Obviously blogging allows us to communicate with others in the same industry or profession. It allows us to share our knowledge with newcomers (as I said, this is essentially how I learned what has become my profession). And for some SEO bloggers, it attracts clients.

Unfortunately, all of those benefits are not without their costs. Every time a blogger posts about a new place to obtain a free clean link, or reports a site selling links, or demonstrates how one of the search engines is being gamed, they are making every other SEOs job that much harder. The link source closes the loop hole, or the links are devalued by the search engines. The site selling links receives a penalty and the buyers lose value. The site being used to illustrate the point loses rankings, loses authority, or loses it’s competitive edge.

The next time you come across a great source of free links, wouldn’t you be better served by using that information to improve your site’s or your client’s site’s rankings? Sure blogging it might bring you some attention and maybe even some links, but will a few extra subscribers benefit you as much as increased rankings would? Do you really get enough business from your blog that it would be more valuable to expose that link source than to use it to improve the quality of service you’re providing to your current clients?

I realize many of these types of posts are written with the best of intentions, to achieve all of the benefits we mentioned earlier, but many times that’s not the end result. In this age of social media, interactive SEO courses, and cheaper and more frequent confrences or events, do we really need SEO blogs to achieve the benefits we’re seeking?

Someone once told me that with every decision I need to ask myself whether or not the juice would be worth the squeeze. So I ask you, all you SEO bloggers out there, is SEO blogging really worth it?

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