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Microsoft
Deploys Live Search On Nokia
Microsoft and Nokia reached an agreement that will place Live Search into Nokia's
Mobile Search platform, which will make Live Search available to users of Nokia's
high-end N Series multimedia phone and S60-compatible devices.
Google
Spreads Out Spreadsheet Options
The search advertising company has added several features from the wish lists
of Google Spreadsheets users to the service.
Sprint's
Botched Blogger Product Review
When Sprint sent an LG Fusic phone to a blogger in hopes he would write about
it and Sprint's new Power Vision Network, they may have understood the slight
possibility he would write a negative review. But they probably didn't expect
3,100 words (seven pages) about how much he hated both.
Google
Refuses Belgian Court Order
Requiring that Google remove all Belgian news sources from its index and stop
publishing content snippets and thumbnails is one thing, but making them wear
the judgment like a scarlet badge is quite another - and Google's not taking it
lying down.
AOL
Accused Of Fraud And Forgery
If a senior-level executive at a company cuts a deal with you, would you assume
that senior-level executive has the authority to make that deal? Jake Steinfeld,
of Body by Jake fame, did take that leap of faith, but now finds himself suing
AOL for fraud and forgery.
Live
Expo Offers Users New Advertising Options
Microsoft and AdMission have announced a development that may greatly benefit
advertisers who use Windows Live Expo's free classifieds. This "customized version
of AdMission Spotlight" will allow users to "opt in and purchase an upgraded listing."
In effect, regular people will get to advertise through banner ads.
Fiery
Dell Forces Yahoo HQ Evacuation
A blazing Dell laptop forced workers at Yahoo to leave their workplace while firefighters
responded to the scene. "Burning Chrome" isn't just the name of a William
Gibson story. It's the remains of a Dell laptop where the owner has not returned
a lithium-ion battery...
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Friday September 22, 2006 |
Microsoft may set up an online version of its low-end Works productivity suite
to compete with offerings from Google and a number of startup companies.
Editor's Note: Microsoft may set up an online version
of its low-end Works productivity suite to compete with offerings from Google,
rekindling interest in the oft-discussed "battle" between the two. Speaking of
online office software, have you or do you plan on using these versions? Let us
know at WebProWorld.
 Just
as users of Google's Writely online word processor were receiving emails that
their logins were becoming Google accounts, Microsoft began to more openly talk
about productivity software in the online arena.
Microsoft's Alan Yates said in a Reuters report the company wants to find more ways of reaching potential customers:
"We're also thinking about how we might take advantage of new business models like advertising and other payment models, as well as new forms of distribution," said Yates.
When Microsoft first began to discuss online options like Office Live, it appeared the company had productivity software in mind for the online effort. Instead, Office Live arrived as an email and small website hosting service, with options for collaboration and other business features available.
But no Excel or Word, arguably two of the most widely used business applications in the world. They represent the foundation of Office, which delivers about a quarter of Microsoft's $44 billion in revenues to the company. It isn't difficult to see why the company would not be eager to put that online.
Placing Works in the Office Live offerings would be a compromise, one that could boost that products revenue by using an ad-supported model, while keeping Office a shrinkwrap product.
Google has taken a step towards making word processing, spreadsheets, calendars, and email all available from a single sign-on. Microsoft could do the same, but they will have to do it better to exceed the Google hype.
Where Google betters Microsoft, according to Techdirt, is in collaboration. The Writely product was built with that in mind.
Collaboration does not look like much of an obstacle to Microsoft. They already offer collaboration features in Office Live. Extending that to create a SharePoint-lite for documents and spreadsheets should be something the engineers in Redmond can accomplish.
That leaves it up to Google to make the next move, if the much-rumored "Google Office" challenger to Microsoft is truly taking form. An extended look at the company by the Chicago Tribune suggests this may be more difficult than some may think for Google to do:
While the company started with a run of blockbuster hits--search, maps and Gmail--it hasn't had one since.
"The sense that Google can do everything well has been tarnished," said Joe Kraus, who co-founded and then sold Excite.com, which pioneered computer search in the early 1990s. "They've made people say, `Wait a second, not everything coming out of Google is amazing.'"
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About
the Author:
David is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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How To Pick Up Girls (And Make Link Bait, Too)
 By
Jason Lee Miller
Link building is one of the fundamental elements of SEO. While there are various
ways to increase your inbound link count - in the trenches of buying, selling,
and trading - the most powerful and efficient way is through link bait, the finer
points of which are as teachable as "how to pick up girls."
That means the craft is limited to creativity and flare and is not perhaps quantifiable, or even teachable. But there are those with talent for it, the savior-faire-je-ne-sais quoi lotharios (sorry for the French…and the Italian, for that matter), who just seem to know what they're doing.
SEOBook's Aaron Wall has made a reputation for himself in the world of link building and says he "could create a link bait tomorrow and virtually guarantee it gets listed on Digg's homepage."
Of course he's not talking quantity of links here so much. Wall is talking quality of links, which is excellent as far as Google goes, as the Digg Effect crashes your servers and the traffic pours in from just one place - or a small smattering of places like Reddit, Digg, Netscape, Newsvine, Del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, Furl, Techmeme or Blognicient.
Wall admits these sites are rather nerd-specific (though he should check out OkCupid's nerd, geek, or dork test to be sure of that), but they are high-traffic sites that need content every day. "You can't please everyone," writes Wall, "but if you get a half dozen organic links a day it doesn't take long to start building up some serious authority."
He rightly points out in the beginning of his blog
post that a sales pitch is useless. Link bait content needs to compelling
on its own, without the cheesy OxyClean guy yelling at people.
About
the Author:
Jason is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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Dynamic Page Indexing: A Refresher
Because of the importance of having your site indexed by search engines, making
sure the bots see the site as it was intended, if I may be allowed to state the
obvious, is crucial. With Google's growing allegiance to their Sitemap programs
(so far in fact they have said they prefer these over relevant backlinks) and
the sometimes difficult nature in developing one for a dynamic site, often people
need some assistance, much like the poster below who is trying to get a dynamic
site into Google. Check out what's going on and see if you can offer some assistance.
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|| Chris||
How
To Get Dynamic Pages Indexed By Google?
Bit of a puzzler this one, I'm much in need of your advice and opinions! I look
after the SEO for a large, dynamically driven database site. This site ranks well
for selected terms in Google/Yahoo/MSN. However, in Google about 90% of the pages
indexed are only shown as supplemental results.
The problem I have is that to get to the "Used products" section of the site you
have to use a form to specify which type of products you want to view. Then, after
you have narrowed down your search, a list of products are displayed, each one
with a quite awful, un-user-friendly URL with about 10 parameters (the site is
.asp based). I know we can implement some URL re-writing techniques to make the
pages more spiderable but I have two questions:
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WebPro Question: |
Should I care if one variation of an ad has a 5.5% CTR and another slight variation
has a 4.5% CTR? I mean, I pay the same CPC either way, right?
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bathgems
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