SQL is the programming language that allows for the access of manipulation of databases and their various tables. SQL is a very popular language and is getting even popular by the day.
Over at Testking they have put together a quick introduction to the world of SQL, how it works, and some of the finer details.
In amongst all the tomfoolery and confusion generated last week around April fools, it was perhaps surprising that Google’s announcement of its latest foray into the world of social media was the only big story that was actually true. Considering the search giant’s track record in social media, it would have been reasonable to dismiss the +1 announcement alongside almost-believable tales about Facebook microchips and movement-sensing email, but it transpires that the revelation is a reality.
Google plus one is a rating system whereby, when logged in, users will be able rate results that they see as relevant or useful but clicking a ‘plus one’ button featured to the right of the results. This will influence the order of future searches, since Google will prioritise results that have received the most endorsements.
For the user, this will mean more relevant search results and a reduction of spammy, low quality links appearing in the SERPs. Users will also be able to determine which results their friends deem to be useful. So what exactly does this mean for SEO practitioners? Will years of work be undermined when sites with tonnes of links are subsumed by seemingly lesser competitors, just because users ‘like’ them more?
The answer is possibly, but there is no reason for SEO experts to panic, Google concede that +1 will be just an addition to the hundreds of other signals it uses to rank sites. What +1 does indicate though is an ever increasing reliance on social signals to rank sites. Google and Bing already use Twitter and Facebook mentions to influence results but +1 represents Google’s commitment to a user-centric search model.
So how will this change the way SEO’s operate? Will SEO come down to simply ‘plus-oneing’ a result endless amounts of times? Or even paying people to plus one? This is also doubtful, such a transparent method is unsustainable and while it may be used as part of a wider strategy, Google will surely have measures in place to penalise individuals who abuse the system.
The introduction of +1 is in fact part of Google’s wider remit to improve its offering. The Panda update was the first indication that Google is serious about removing spammed or ‘gamed’ results from its SERPs, enhancing the overall user experience, most likely in response to competition from new search engines like Bing.
As Dave Naylor once said “so long as there is still a search button SEOs will still have jobs”. This raft of changes simply means that the spammers and the Black-hats will have to up their game and start producing decent content that real users really want if they are stay afloat.
Guest post by: Joe is a blogger who is of the belief that credit cards should be removed from the equation of obtaining links!
Drafting contracts can be a time consuming process when you’re running a business. This is why many companies are now choosing to use computer programs to help save time.
Contract management software can help your business to effectively produce and manage the contracts you make with customers, employees, partners and vendors. Instead of managing contracts using a manual human-edited method, software can help you manage these contracts more effectively.
Through an automated system, the software can monitor the negotiation of a contract, compliance to the terms and conditions of the contract and renewal of the contract.This can help you save time so you can focus your attention on other areas. A computer program can reduce the effort needed to negotiate and organize contracts, and simplifies the administration process.
Contract management software is useful for anyone that runs a business that deals with several contracts. It keeps your contracts all in one place and notifies you when they’re about to come to an end.
Choosing the right software can help you to increase efficiency, lower operation costs and enable you to monitor your contracts more effectively. However, like most products, some are better than others and the transition period can be hard work, but the results are worth it. It is important to do your research, because some are easier to use than others.
To help you choose, you should be looking at contract software that comes with great customer support, to help you with any problems. Think about what you need it for, and whether you need it to perform complex tasks or just simple ones. Choose the right software for your company’s size. If you run a small business, you might not need the software that a large organization would use.
You also need to pick a system that will be useful in the long term as your company grows, to avoid having to purchase new software and start all over again.
Look at whether the software offers an automated email response system to notify your clients of any contracts that are about to expire. Try to select software that has a good system for the client side, so they can obtain electronic copies of any agreements and amendments. Good contract management software will allow you to track payments and figure out how effective your strategies have been.
Similarly it is helpful if the system can be connected to your email, to notify you of these expiring contracts.
Pick a system where you can do a search for specific names or dates, so you can search for a particular client or set of details.
Since you are dealing with very sensitive personal information, it is essential that you choose software that has a very high level of security, to avoid information being leaked.
Finally it should be simple and easy to use (above all else!), because the whole point of using a contract management software system is to save time.
If the software comes with a trial version, this can give you a chance to test it out and decide whether it is right for you and your business.
Take a look at comparison sites to help you choose and compare the various products available. This will save you money in the long-term and ensure that your investment is a wise one.
As anyone working in Search Engine Optimisation will tell you, for many short-tail terms the SERPS actually start at rank two. No matter how many links a black hat buys, or how many articles the white hat throws at the ever creaky tumble-dryer of article spinning, there’ll always be someone above you. Thankfully that someone is Wikipedia, an organisation you’re very rarely competing against.
Oh, saying you’ve outranked Wikipedia is certainly a badge of honour among engineers. Even if you buy into Google’s promise that they have no under the table deals with the encyclopaedic gargantua, the way Wikipedia is structured is uncannily suited to gaming the algorithm. From the inside, it has wall to wall content bunged with keywords, pages that are legitimately named and H1-nd with relevant key terms and an internal link structure to die for. And from the outside you have an entire spectrum of sites linking to its content legitimately.
But regardless of the kudos you’d get from outranking such a Google-friendly website, the reality is that, unless your client is a reference website, Wikipedia is not offering or promoting a rival service. Wikipedia’s supposed commitment to neutrality also means that people are unlikely to read its content and abandon their initial intention to peruse the first page more thoroughly. In a best case scenario, Wikipedia may even be the appetiser, the impetus for clicking immediately on whatever is in position two.
If You Can’t Beat Them…
But what if you are in competition? This is the dilemma currently facing Cancer Research UK. Despite being the world’s largest independent cancer research charity, they are consistently outranked in the SERPs by Wikipedia for cancer-related keywords. In the case of ‘cancer’, they are second fiddle to Wikipedia’s privileged initial position (though they have a paid ad in there). For many specific cancers, the gulf is greater.
This leaves Cancer Research UK’s pages underused, but more importantly, there is concern that people seeking information about diagnosing, treating and coping with cancer will be given information that is inaccurate, unclear or improperly pitched. These are common issues for Wikipedia content, but they seem especially pronounced here, given the gravity of the subject and the fact that quality alternate sources already exist.
Consequently, the BBC is reporting that Cancer Research UK are getting its staff to edit Wikipedia. The old adage of ‘If you can’t beat them, join them’ rears its head again.
Those who have cancer, or know someone with cancer, will inevitably try read up on as much information as possible. You seek to ‘know your enemy’, as they say. But Wikipedia isn’t pitched at the layman, despite its commitment to clarity and plain English. Cancer is simultaneously a disease that a vast range of people can be suffering from and that people can be studying. Whereas Cancer Research UK can pitch its articles specifically at the masses, Wikipedia has to account for the educated few. The content is (or should be) purely descriptive, offering little in the way of practical advice or insight.
Caught in the Crossfire?
The BBC claims that in January 2011, Wikipedia received ‘3.5 million page views for cancer-related content’. It’s difficult to believe that a majority of these views are from students of medicine and biology. Cancer Research UK’s interest in swaying the content of Wikipedia isn’t unprecedented – Many SEO engineers are still interested in getting links from the service, unperturbed by NoFollow links and an effective editorial team – but it seems likely that intervention, even from a charitable source, could prove a major sticking point for the Wikipedia community.
So far one verifiable contribution by the group, a page on a peer-reviewed article entitled The Hallmarks of Cancer has battled with a Wikipedia bot questioning its notability and sources. Even without dicing with such typically opaque Wikipedia politics, the Cancer Research UK team will have their work cut out attempting any stylistic changes that make Wikipedia more accessible for general users.
And honestly, it’s easy to see why Wikipedia editors will resist such changes. Manipulating the content of Wikipedia to benefit any organisation – even a charity – presents a massive ethical stumbling block for the service. This goes well beyond the collective service’s right to pitch its content at a certain level. Even as a charity, Cancer Research UK has its own biases, and would naturally favour citing research it has funded, or even referrals to its own content. Consider, that for many cancer related terms, Cancer Research UK isn’t second to Wikipedia: it’s fourth or eighth or tenth to competing cancer charities.
As is so often the case, Google is the root of the problem. This seems like one of those cases where charities should be prioritised, rather than forcing them to change the content of a competing result in order to get their point across. Or perhaps the worry should instead be that ten years on, people still don’t treat Wikipedia with the level of distrust it probably deserves.
Guest post by: Steph Wood is an SEO Copywriter and Blogger writing on behalf of Vanquis Credit Cards. Follow Steph’s twitter: @stephwoo286
It doesn’t matter what kind of economy that you’re in, you want to save money and when it comes to the many different broadband plans for your Internet providers, there are a number of ways to save money. Saving money, even a few dollars every week, can add up over time. Just imagine being able to save five, ten, or even twenty dollars every month with a different broadband plan. Just ten dollars a week will mean an extra five hundred twenty dollars in your pocket at the end of the year. Sure, it may not sound like a whole lot of money when it’s broken down into a weekly sum, but once that year adds up, it can be a great deal of cash.
Over the course of five years, you could end up saving almost three thousand dollars. Broadband plans have come a long way through the years and the speeds are continually improving. The problem is that the broadband plans that are advertised are done so solely on the basis of speed, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Compare this idea to fuel for your car
When it comes to broadband plans and saving money, you can think about the fuel that you put in your car. In the United States, for example, there is what is known as an octane rating for the fuel. The most popular tend to be 87, 89, and 91. The higher the number, the more expensive the fuel. Most cars don’t offer better performance with higher octane, but people believe they should. The oil companies aren’t in a hurry to dispel the myth, either. So people continually pay more for the higher octane, even though it’s basically wasted on their vehicle.
With broadband plans, speed is the most marketed factor for pricing plans. There are usually different levels of speed that are offered and most of the providers will tend to sell you on the fastest speeds. The problem is that, like octane, most users’ computers or the Internet sites that they visit are not able to access that kind of speed, so all of those extra gigabytes per second are being lost because they can’t be used.
Know the broadband plans that are being offered
When it comes to saving money on broadband plans, know what the different options are that are available. Then, determine what your computer’s speeds can handle (your processing speeds are an important factor), and then find out what the average Internet site that you visit is transferring at.
Most people, when they begin to look at the cost savings between different broadband plans, realize that having a middle-of-the-road plan offers speeds that are completely acceptable for their needs. Other people, who tend to only use the Internet for basic information, news, and email, might find that the slower plans that cost much less or ideal for them.
Choosing broadband plans, then, is more about what you tend to use the Internet for, what you are willing to accept as far as speed, and realizing that there is potential for saving money by selecting a plan accordingly.
Guest post by: Tom Greenwood is a founder of Broadband Hub – a broadband comparison website that compares mobile broadband plans and home broadband to help people make the switch to a better deal. The site also offers speed tests to help get fast broadband plans to access a richer world of online content.
The great ideas have come from the desire to help people gain access to knowledge and ascend on the evolutionary scale, be it physically, mentally or virtually. When it comes to the online environment there are updates that come out on a daily basis, with all sorts of new features and changes that are meant to improve the current software. One of the great ideas that have changed the perspective of many users is the Ubuntu software.
Function of Ubuntu
First of all, you need to understand what it is and what its functions are. The Ubuntu is a Linux operating system with a complete desktop that was designed to be used freely by both professionals and community. The origin of the name speaks for the program, as if we were to translate the word from African we will get “humanity to others.”
This is main strong point behind the software is that it was designed to answer the needs of any people without the requirement of paying for the services. They could access it in their own local language, they could customize and adapt the software in any ways they wanted, so it will respond to their requirements and needs. It’s that kind of program that is designed to adapt to the user’s style.
Compatibility
Furthermore, many of the programs that are released today are perfectly compatible with the Ubuntu operating system. Most of the programs that are designed for Microsoft windows can work on the Ubuntu system through Vine or by using a virtual machine. So you don’t have to worry if you decide to change your current operating system.
If you hire someone to do the migration from one operating system to another, especially if you find this person or business online, you can try to find the best background check service to make sure your computer is safe in their hands.
No crashes
When talking about security, the Ubuntu system is up for the challenge. It has been thoroughly demonstrated that the system isn’t susceptible to any type of crashes and it can keep your files safe and secure.
Why does the system stay in such good shape? The answer lies in the fact that the operating system is being updated every six months. This means that every little new thing that comes out in this time frame is carefully considered and implemented in the new version that is bound to come.
Education
Another great advantage of the Ubuntu operating system is the related to the idea of education anywhere in the world. As the software is free, it’s perfect to implement it in schools, universities and colleges. But you can’t choose every little free thing that comes out, you need to have something reliable, quick to install and user friendly and most importantly, extremely efficient.
The fact is that the Ubuntu system combines these requirements and answers to those necessities. The great single aspect of this software is the no price policy. Everyone who wants to benefit from it is free to search it online and try it in order to appreciate it.
Guest post: Sharing advice on doing people search, feel free to go and read my article.
If off-page SEO could be summed up in one word then that word would certainly be – BACKLINKS! Backlinks are the most pivotal variable in attaining high rankings in the search engine results. A lack of backlinks to a site is an indication that the site is not popular in the cyber world, and hence, Google deems the site to be of less importance.
This ideology that Google embraces in terms of backlinks has its flaws and many arguments can be pegged against the weightage that Google places on backlinks. But who are we to argue with the BIG G; we little guys just have to do what we can to succeed online and part of that is to follow the best strategies available to rank our sites higher in the search engines. Afterall, a higher rank equates to more traffic which will inevitably lead to more profits.
An integral element of achieving high ranking is to acquire high Page Rank (PR) backlinks that are relevant to your site and your targeted keywords. Obtaining these types of backlinks can become a complicated task if your pockets are shallow and you are just beginning your journey in the internet marketing world. However, it isn’t impossible to uncover these gems at no cost at all.
In this article I will discuss a technique that will help you unearth high PR backlinks which will supercharge your ranking and all you will be doing is leveraging on the work your competitors have already done.
Steps to follow:
Thereafter you will see a list of up to 1000 URL’s, and these are the exact URL’s that contain a backlink to the page of the site that was positioned at the top of the first page in the SERP’s for the keyword you searched for.
All you need to do next is to scan the first page for URL structures that can easily be distinguished as a blog URL. Usually a blog URL will have a date in the URL, or it might actually have the term blog within it, and in some cases the post name can be identified from the URL itself. When you come across a URL that you have ascertained to be a blog, you can then visit that site.
When you on the site you will need to use the Firefox SEO Plugin to determine the PR of the page. The plugin is free and it has a plethora of different features which you will certainly find valuable. If the PR is equal to or greater than 3 then you can leave an appropriate comment on the blog with your anchor text in the “name field”.
I usually go through about 10 different URL’s in Yahoo Site Explorer for each site that I am exploring and I often find blog pages that have a high PR. I have found PR7 pages but for the most part I usually uncover PR3-5 pages, but these are also powerful and they often provide a boost in my site’s rank. And remember you do not have to limit your research exclusively to the site that holds the 1st position in the SERP’s, you can reverse engineer the other sites on the first page or you can search for a different keyword and research those sites as well.
This technique has assisted me in finding high PR backlinking opportunities without investing a single cent. Granted, some of these blogs have the “no-follow” attribute tagged to the link but I can assure you that these links carry weight and they do pass over an element of linkjuice.
There you have it, an effective strategy to find high PR links that will help your site climb the Google ladder.
This is a Guest post by Neil Jones, who Specializes in launching ecommerce sites, he is currently plying his trade as head of marketing for eMobileScan. With 18 websites based all around Europe they are on course to be one of Europe’s largest online retailers of Industrial handheld computers like the Motorola MC75 and Zebra ZM400.
Every company needs customer relationship management (CRM) – a focus on finding new customers and retaining old ones, and enhancing the experience of both. In 2011 we will see an even greater focus on customer relationship management than ever before as technology brings us in closer contact with our customers. Customer service is no longer confined to the help desk or the phone line; countless customers and potential customers come in contact with our business online every day. Even automated processes need to include a focus on CRM these days.
Many companies that try to implement changes in their CRM procedures find themselves unsuccessful. They end up following leads which lead nowhere or losing money on their new procedures instead of making more money. What are some of the pitfalls that can account for poor CRM results?
The number one reason that CRM plans fail is that the company forgets to keep its focus on its goals. It is easy to get caught up with strategies to enhance your business and actually forget about your bottom line. Is what you’re doing actually leading to higher profits? Or are you spending so much money attempting to re-design your customer service that you’re actually making your business less profitable? Are you focusing too hard on increasing your numbers – new impressions, visitor length on your websites, etc. – and not enough on the number which counts most, your profits?
What you do with your CRM needs to save you money and it needs to make you money.
The second biggest reason for CRM failure is not giving your employees time and means to adjust to the changes in how you’re doing business. Your plan is only as good as its implementation and even the best plan can fall short of its goal if your employees don’t have a clear understanding of how to carry it out. Spend some time on training and your results will improve.
Ensure that your customers can reach you through multiple channels with ease. This can have an enormous impact on your bottom line. Focus on bringing your CRM procedures into full force in front office interactions. Remember that in the modern era, the front office no longer just refers to a physical space, but also your presence on the World Wide Web. Social networking is a particularly significant method of reaching customers; it’s a great place to find leads and also to keep in touch with your old customers. Again though, it’s important to iterate that following leads can be distracting and lead to a lack of focus – don’t give in to this temptation. If your lead-following tactics are generating a higher bottom line, stick with them. If they aren’t, it’s time to revise your plans. Retaining current customers should always remain a priority; it costs your company less and they are more likely to buy again than any single individual elsewhere is to purchase for the first time. Utilize the web to streamline customer experience by offering customers the ability to engage in eCommerce with you. The software you use, even though it’s automated, should be considered part of your CRM plan. It should simplify the customer’s experience and offer transparency. Online shops cost almost nothing to maintain and can bring in incredible revenue. Make it easy for customers to provide you with feedback; welcome their suggestions and questions and always respond in a timely manner to their requests.
CRM is a critical component of any business plan. Most CRM failures are due to poor focus. So long as you keep your goals in clear view and ensure that your customer service tactics are directly impacting your net profits, you will succeed in Customer Relationship Management in 2011.
After spending time at firms specializing in both traditional and interactive marketing, Spencer recently started his own company, Lumin Internet Marketing. Lumin provides an array of online marketing services including search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online public relations
Ex-Engadget’s Josh Topolsky and PC Mag’s Lance Ulanoff going head-to-head over Apple vs. Android in the latest installment of The Webby Debates on CNNMoney.com. We have just embedded the video below. Let us know what you think!
Quora is an amazing question and answer service that has been receiving a huge amount of press recently. Im impressed with Quora, but I dont really think it stands out hugely from the crowd.
Anyways, KISSmetrics has just published an infographic about “The Wonderful World of Quora.”
