Search Engine Reach - Idea (page optimization)

basically google is daddy! and you can see why Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo!

- the idea for site optimization.

- Think Google analytics, mixed with site modules that rearrange themselves on the site (more used content modules get moved) to premier locations while other less used modules float below the fold or to another page ... also there would have to be a 'reset' algo that says - just becuase this module didn't get used doesn't mean its banished forever... (think random).

- You would still have static navigation; but think about a page that automatically optimizes itself for what your customers have been interested in recently.... (stupid?)

case: How about a E-commerce page that takes into sales of the last day/week/month etc... then puts those items in the 'featured' items module on the homepage... inside each module could be products (on different levels) that auto adjust themselves too.

More on Comparisons

I think a lot of people go around and compare themselves to others. That isn't a fair comparison as there are a number of factors to suggest we can't compare people to people.

- Some people would think "Of course you can compare people, what about two doctors?"

- I suggest those two doctors probably went to different schools, if not then they were probably raised by different parents, if not then they probably aren't the exact same age... etc..

` I hear people say all the time "I can't believe "person x" makes this much" you can't believe that?! why not! - do you know exactly how that came to be? ... perhaps they have made some innovation that allowed the company to make more money; thus getting paid more (profit sharing)

- The point is no two people are alike enough to compare them in a holistic view. On the other hand if you want to compare hair colors go for it; as the less holistic a comparison is the less it means (at least to me) and of course that doesn't mean the same for you (cause you are different ;)

Assumptions and Stupid Comparisons

Just wanted to write about something that kills me.

I hate when people assume they know what they are talking about.

example: "Richard, we have another problem on the new site"

-- The assumption was that it was a problem, in this case it wasn't it was a different thought on how to handle customers who shipping address didn't compute in the Fedex system.

The old site would've not charged the customer anything and we would've contacted them later to get them the total. The new site was designed to charge them now and then we can call and charge them shipping, thus getting them into the sales cycle. The old site gives the customer the opportunity to walk away and find another tool maker...

*Its not about what you think on the matter its about how assumptions and stupid comparisons make the conversation worthless for both parties.

example: "Well the customer won't leave, this isn't a Wal-Mart vs Target thing"

What the hell do these people know about Wal-Mart or Target? Do they know the management structure, the demographics, the profit margins or do they think they know? I know they've shopped there, maybe 100 times a week; but that just means they are an expert on their own shopping habits at target. Unless they've done video research on individual customers and sorted those based on demographics then they don't know jack.

I say, know what you know, and say what you know. But lets keep the stupid comparisons to a minimum.

not restless (actually comfortable)

usually when I write here with things like

""we spend the balance of our lives helping strangers take their turn, for a salary. Then we try to convice ourselves that a good job and a house in the suburbs is compensation for that. It isn't""

i feel restless, un-happy or just ready to move on; that isn't the case here... I just read an article that said this and thought it was true...

- i've always had a theory on "dreams" and how people accomplish them. I think the person who has the most followers of his/her "dream" is more likely to make it happen than a person on his/her own. that conclusion is very logical, sure sometimes people can combine dreams (think marriage or co-founders) and people's dreams doesn't have to be or include the way they make their living... but i'm pretty sure mine is.

-- also been thinking about education a lot lately, i don't know if its possible to teach someone something; perhaps train them to think a certain way - the best education probably comes from self discovery of things....

Search Engine Rankings by Rank(ers)

Here’s the big breakdown/comparison for each of the top 5: as of APRIL 22, 2008

market share of search engines by those who think they know.

Google

Hitwise 67.25%
Compete 69.4%
comScore - 59.2%
Nielsen – 58.7%

Yahoo

Hitwise - 20.29%
Compete – 14.8%
comScore – 21.3%
Nielsen – 18.1%

MSN

Hitwise – 6.65%
Compete – 10.2%
comScore – 9.4%
Nielsen – 12%

AOL

Hitwise – N/A
Compete – 1.5%
comScore – 4.8%
Nielsen – 4.1%

Ask

Hitwise – 4.09%
Compete – 3.7%
comScore – 4.7%
Nielsen – 2.4%

Iraq war cost : Nuclear power status

we currently have 94 nuclear reactors currently ..

- The cost of the last (2) built was 8.5billion.

- The war in iraq has cost 504billion.

the math says we could have bought 59 more reactors

We could today have increase our nuclear power 62%

A look at Search Engine Optimization by .rb

first let me introduce myself, my name is Richard Bowles. I have been working on the internet full time (real job) for 4 years now; I started working with the web in middle school and haven't stopped, I find it a new frontier everyday and something that is still in its infant stages. I have also realized my strengths in weaknesses inside of the realm of computers.

I was always taught by my dad; mostly indirectly that is was good to be a "Jack of all trades" so when I got my first computer (130mhz /32mb ram/4gb hd) that I worked 200 hours for, I begin creating my own websites, except they weren't on the web (we didn't have a home phone at the time and wi-fi was yet to be everywhere) it was about 1999. So I built these websites with images from games and other physical media I had around and linked them together basically making my own intr`anet this internet was like my new desktop, had links to programs, launch links for games etc.. all the above to say I tried to learn everything about computers.

I learned something very valuable in these early years, you can't know everything. In fact people don't like to hire people who are excellent at anything but just ok at all things.

What people want.. (in an SEO guy)

• the best geek
• knowledge about individual search engines
• knowledge about 'bad practices'
• the ability to optimize sites in a diversified manner
• a fair price / return on investment

Below you will find a small portion of what ranks a website and evidence of that.

The search on this experiment will be Michael Jordan
The search engind: Google
The competiton:12.7 million

lets look into the top 10 results

Michael Jordan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player and active businessman. Proclaimed by the National ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan - 254k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

NBA.com: Michael Jordan Bio

Michael Jordan | 23. Season statistics & Notes · Season splits · Game-by-game stats · Bio · Printable player file. 2002-03 Statistics. PPG, 20.0. RPG, 6.10 ... www.nba.com/playerfile/michael_jordan.html - 139k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

NBA.com: Michael Jordan Summary

Michael Jordan By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Although, a summary of his basketball career and influence on ... www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_summary.html - 47k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this More results from www.nba.com »

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxXSXGd4hs

Similar pages - Note this

Michael Jordan mix Jordan mix...A tyte jordan mix i put together.... The song ... 3 min 18 sec - www.youtube.com/watch?v=26K6HU6Cz_E

Michael Jordan Still Flying High, Michael Jordan Talks To Ed ...

At age 42, NBA superstar Michael Jordan is still flying high, running a half-billion dollar business empire. Jordan talked candidly with Ed Bradley about ... www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/19/60minutes/main955628.shtml - 91k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Michael I. Jordan's Home Page

Graphical models, variational methods, machine learning, reasoning under uncertainty. www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jordan/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

AskMen.com - Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan Men Celebrities Profile - Biography, Latest Photos, Pics, News, Gossip, comments, success and Woman Magnetism Rating! www.askmen.com/men/november99/1_michael_jordan.html - Similar pages - Note this

ESPN - Michael Jordan Stats, News, Photos - Washington Wizards

Michael Jordan stats, photos, and news on ESPN.com. sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=175 - 48k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Michael Jordan Virtual Gallery

The Michael Jordan Virtual Gallery was the first and is the last MJ Tribute page on the Internet. It was the first to feature Michael Jordan in Flash and ... www.virtualfans.com/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

News results for michael jordan

Bleacher Report

Madness doesn't translate to the NBA - Mar 20, 2008 After Paul McCartney was ordered by a London judge this week to pay $48.6 million to Heather Mills in a divorce settlement, Michael Jordan might have ... Los Angeles Times - 2 related articles »

Book results for michael jordan
	Michael Jordan: Returning Champion - by Thomas R. Raber - 80 pages Michael Jordan: Legendary Guard - by Tom Owens - 24 pages Michael Jordan: The Best Ever - by Sarah Houghton - 64 pages

Searches related to: michael jordan

michael jordan biography		michael jordan divorce		michael jordan pics		michael jordan childhood
michael jordan son		juanita jordan		kobe bryant		lebron james

as you can see Wikipedia's entry for Michael Jordan is #1. Lets take a look first at the reasons these results might be this way.

Links: Links are probably the most single powerful source of ranking today in Google, MSN and Yahoo. Search engines count links from one site to another as a "vote" from the linking site to the they link to; Link building is very difficult and is getting harder as other webmasters realize that this "giving a vote" doesn't help them rank. (links are mostly only counted for the link'ee not linker)

Anchor text: Anchor text, the text that is in the link that points to a site is equally important as having the links at all, without the proper (and diversified) link anchor text having 1 million links to your site wouldn't help (in fact too many links can get you penalized)

Authority: Google was the first to come out and say "We have authority sites." These sites are the majors and large sites that have been around 7+ years; The time can vary depending on size and quality (i.e. wikipedia isn't that old, but gets a lot of links with proper anchor text because of quality content)

Site Design: (on site optimization) is basically the way you build your site (recently announced google even takes into account load times) websites have to be designed properly and semantically. Site design includes the proper use of h1, h2, h3 tags, bolding, italics. Proper site design also takes into account
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with all that in mind; lets think about why it might be impossible to out rank wikipedia for the #1 spot for michael jordan.

1. It has 7k links
2. 925 links from other wikipedia pages
3. wikipedia is an authority site
4. non commercial term (so commercial sites aren't welcome)

- there is one way that a site could shoot to #1 for michael jordan...

- if he commissioned the site himself (jordan.com or michaelJordan.com) then released a public statement announcing it, google would then have to hand edit to make his site at least top 10 because of the automatic authority.

- by the way my estimates on searches for michael jordan in the united states alone are 130-150k searches a day. It should be taken into note, Yahoo! seems to like commercial sites more, so you could build a michael jordan website with a budget of $30-50k and get it in yahoo and msn and receive 20-30% of the total search traffic (~30k/day) now monetizing that traffic is something else.. I would guess (posters, shoes, books,) but you would also have to offer other free things.. like wallpapers, give-a-ways..etc

I picked the term for the reason its nothing too commercial and therefore its good for public examination. If you need any help with your website shoot me an email ( richardbowles005 @ gmail.com ) - remove spaces.

.rb

What is great ?

Definition: Great

8. distinguished; famous
5. being such in an extreme or notable degree

There were 29 suggestions for "Great" at dictionary.com

I took the above (2).

I was inspired to do a little research based on this post.

Why bother having a resume` it makes a point that if you send someone a resume` they can pre-judge you; in a good or bad way. It makes a lot of sense I want to be great but I'm sure being great is dependent on scale. Its probably easier for 1 to be great to 10 instead of millions. I guess part of life is being 'great' in your own eyes; that might be a prerequisite for being great at all.

.rb

Life is good - Things moving forward..

Just got done building a site that I was backed up on, what a relief. I am also getting closer to launching my SEO company via Dentcraft.

After working with Dentcraft for this long (I worked with them 2 years ago for 2 years) I have to say when you have such a good corporate (feels funny even saying corporate) environment that you have done something right from the top down. The owner cares; I think that is what sets the last (2) companies I worked for a part from the rest.

My Two favorite employers and their different styles.

ARS - (WB) - hands off on personnel issues but a straight shooter on every account. This guy can pull money from thin air! WB runs his company ''from the hip'' it feels when going,going,going he will let everyone do their thing and that is great. I throughly enjoyed (and still do) working with WB and surely we'll always be friends.

Dentcraft - (SE) - hands on; surprised the heck out of me when he asked "So explain SEO". Most people don't really care about things and just want them done which is fine. Its nice to know a guy also that isn't afraid to ask hard questions of everyone; he keeps everyone on the same playing field with accountability.

*One thing they both have in common is that they both have long term employees, ARS's secretary has been their 10+ years and Dentcraft's 5-7 years.

> I guess the point of this post is that I'm very fortunate to be 24 with no college degree and have had (2) great jobs. I understand there are many people less fortunate on no account of their own.