Just dropping by to see what this site is all about? How is everyone enjoying the experience?

Google labs has a nifty little page that may help you decide what you place closer to the top of your web page - Google Labs Browser Size.

There you will see a odd colored page.
Stick in the url of your site and see what percent of Google users can see how much of your page. You'll notice that the lower & broader you go, the less amount of users would see it.
Google Browser Size is a visualization of browser window sizes for people who visit Google. For example, the "90%" contour means that 90% of people visiting Google have their browser window open to at least this size or larger.

I know I use a 22" monitor and there are some web sites that I have to scroll across. Sometimes all I see is a huge banner at the top of a site. I would hate to think what people on the small laptops would see on these sites.

If you want to test your web site to see how it looks to someone using a different screen size, see our post Test Your Site on Other Screen Sizes

Have fun,
Sheryl

Over on one of my replies (Tips on using the Leverage Engine) at the thread about Building and Using an Index Driver, I stated that I am not a Wordpress fan.

I know all of you will have something to say about that. Heck, every time I say I hate WP people tell me that I will learn how to use it...it just takes time Blah, blah,blah.

Part of the problem I have with WP is the constant updates, geesh.

There are also WAAAAY to many junk plug ins. When I am looking for a plugin to do a certain thing, I have to guess if it is made well or is using junk code.

WP also has no stats (that I have found).

They also have some crap themes so, If I use code in a post....It screws the workings of the theme. I don't know why, cause I am no theme builder. And because everyone & their dog builds WP themes...you have to watch that one you get is not filled with footer spam (some footer spam is a pain to get out).

Ok, just so ya know where I am coming from....I had NEVER made a blog post until I got my personal blog. It was set up as an experiment to test the b2evolution blog script. I love all of our b2evo blogs!!!

I wanted to give you the link to the Demo - b2evo blog demo. Just open your mind and go into the Admin area.

Yes, because this is not a working blog you will not see all of the amazing stats. Let me say that I can see each keyphrase that came in, which engine it came from, & where I ranked in the SERP.
I can click any keyphrase & see how many hits came in for it.

If you look under Blog Settings - I can control the URL's, SEO, skins, categories, widgets, post footer, RSS....right there.

In the Global Settings I can build a new blog, control category list, add global widgets, Have TOTAL control to add to or remove words or domains on the Blacklist.....

So these are just a few reasons why WP makes me angry. No b2evo does not have somethings that WP has but, I see more good in my b2 than bad.

Now, if you can set me up with the controls & stats of b2 in a WP please let me know & maybe then I would be happier.

I also would never recommend a b2evo for most people because you actually have to work it rather than press go & hope like a WP.

I thought I would post this here so you have kind of an idea of why I don't run a WP for most things. I did a post way back about the b2 - b2evolution Free Blog Script It gives a few of the highlights of the b2.

There you have it...I am an odd ball & like my script even if no one else understands it.

Sheryl Loch

Ok, today I saw something really cool. In fact it was something that I figured was already a 'been there, done that' machine.

You get yourself a White Goat Paper Recycler. This machine will shred your office paper, wet it, press it, dry it, and roll it for use in the bathroom.

They said it only takes about 40 sheets of office paper to make 1 roll of toilet paper and can save about 40 trees a year.

40 trees may not sound like much but, just think if every big company used a machine like this - that could really add up the tree count fast.

There is a few small catches - the machine weighs about 1,322.77 Pounds, is almost 6 feet tall, and will cost you about $100,000. But if it only cost 11cents per roll to make, saves on recycling cost the company would normally pay, then in the long run it might be worth the money.

You can see how the machine works over at YouTube - Office Paper to Toilet Paper - White Goat Paper Recycler : DigInfo

Sheryl

ps. I don't think that the potty paper shown in the video looks to soft but hey...most companies use the 'sandpaper' type anyway.

I am so excited! It's almost Super Bowl Sunday!

I think the Super Bowl is on Sunday the 7th but WAY more important than that....The Daytona ShootOut is on Saturday the 6th! OOOOOOO, then on Feb. 14th is the Daytona 500.

Like there is anything more important than NASCAR? Sheesh, I think not! I'll just be glad when football is over and we can all spend our Sundays watching a real sport! A real sport where men don't go around patting each others butts.

FYI - I will be cheering for the Busch Boys this year (DUH). If your driver gets in the way of one of my guys...Expect a nasty tweet to come your way! I also throw bad ju-ju at irritating drivers, I cuss at them....If you insist on picking a lame driver to tweet about...you will have to pay the price.

Most of the time I can deal with any driver as long as they stay out of the way BUT, there are a couple of drivers that I dislike no matter what they do...Warning - I will bash them at least a few times during every race. Mwaaah!

Sheryl

This video is more than worth taking the time to watch and comment about.
I always loved Will Smith, but ever so much more now that all this is in one place



Tell us if you like this or not!
Really is this you?
*

I’ll try to explain what I mean by that.
Say a blogger has written a post and included a link to you in it….As time goes by his post may be falling out of the Search engines focus. If his post is no longer being indexed or cached then that link he gave you is worthless.

If some one gives you a link…you want to keep it!

Here’s an example –
Brian wrote a post and listed some of his friend’s blogs. He of course gave them links with good anchor text. My blog happened to be one that he linked to (cause he luvs me). I checked and the post he wrote had not been cached for almost a month. That means the link he gave me is not getting the attention it deserves from Google. I must fix that!

How do I fix it?
Easy…I throw a couple of fresh links at his post.
I can do it on a forum, a NING site, bookmark site, or even blog about it.
I simply write a good little mini post and give a link with good anchor text like Great Blogs to Read.
Now I will be sending the search engines back over to the wonderful list of blogs written by Brians friends. That will give the links in his post a little boost….

Yes that is being selfish in a way…I am boosting his post so in turn….It boost mine.

How many links would you have to throw at a post to get it cached again? I am not sure. I figure that I can toss a couple out and see if it works, if not then I will toss out some more.
Keep in mind that the higher his post ranks…the more it will help mine in the long run.

A list post like Brian has is not the ultimate in pushing power to my link…But, he does have some great blogs listed that everyone should check out.

Maybe I should say that I linked to his list of blogs because I am sooooo freakin nice that I wanted to help everyone listed to give their link a boost.

I am using some of these same ideas with my Leverage Engine. I am linking to others to boost my own site.

Sheryl Loch

By nature I am a very chatty gal. I am just learning how to share what I think about via my blog. So come on over to my place and see what's on my mind, It just may be what's on your mind too. Share your ideas and thoughts with me as I have an opinion about everything whether right or wrong

My little motto I wish to live by: Work smart, play hard. Enjoy Life!

Enjoy and step into my little world http://www.the-fly-on-the-wall.com

Tam

Cnet has an article today showing the Page view graph of social networking sites.

Facebook is way ahead of the others. In fact they have it listed at 260 billion page views a month.
I think that will lead a mass of marketers to start trying to spam Facebook. Yes, there are already some that are trying it but, I’m not sure they are getting anywhere. Many of us only “friend” people we know in real live or have known online as trusted.

I personally do NOT accept people that I do not know. I don’t care if we may have followed each other on Twitter or belong to the same program. That is where Fan pages or groups come in…I can always see you there.

Back to the Page view stats.
Just because FB is getting the most views do you think people are finding others?
Maybe it’s that freakin Farmville game that is giving all the page views?

Twitter is down the list a ways at #4.
That will lead all Twitter haters to boast how it is failing. What new users may not understand is that Twitter has so many 3rd party apps. I hardly ever go to the actual Twitter site. I give them Maybe 5 page views a week, only because I have to go to my profile to block scumbags.

One site that surprised me was NING – it is way down the list. That place has gazillions of “communities”. I guess not many people visit them?

You can see the Cnet post Pingdom: Facebook is killing it on page views

Will knowing which social sites get the most page views change the way you network?
Will you spend more time on another site that gets more views?
Or do the page views really count as much as some might think?


Sheryl

Ok, I know the list of 45 Social Media Things You Should be Doing was a breeze for you. I bet you have memorized the list, read the links, & have inserted all of these things into your schedule. Or at least you have read the post & are working on the rest.

Now, I have a HUGE list post. Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2009 by Tamar Weinberg on January 5, 2010

Holy Crap!!!
Her list covers a variety of topics such as;
Social Media: Getting Started,
Social Media: Implementation and Execution,
Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn,
Leveraging Other Social Media Sites,
Reputation Management,
Content Development/Marketing,
Video,
SEO,
Link Building,
PPC,
Analytics,
Local/Mobile Search,
Building a Brand/Brand Evangelism,
General marketing & More.

For each category she has listed her favorite post. This is not a list of post she has written. These links go to other blogs all over the web. Some of the blogs I recognize…others I had never heard of.

I am sure that all of you have interest in at least 1 category listed above. Go check out her post to at least see what she has in that particular area. You may find new blogs with a little different insight that what you already read.

I will tell you right now that you will not make it through her list fast. Book mark the post so, you can go back & continue. Ummm, that is why I post stuff here on the forum…that is how I can find it again when I need it & also share it with you.

Sheryl

Late last night I saw a tweet with a link to a blog I had never been to. It was sent out by someone I trust so, therefore I checked it out.

I went, read the post, & started looking around the blog. Wow, what a great bunch of info. I honestly don’t remember which post I was originally sent to. Oh well, I’m going to send you to one post that I thought was great.

The Social Media Marketing List: 45 things you should be doing but probably aren't. Ian Lurie is the author.

His list on this post is simple to follow. There are some things that you may already be doing but, be sure to look at all 45 as I am sure you have missed a few of these. Maybe you know them & just need to have them refreshed in your mind.

He also offers a free ebook About Google Reader as a Social Media Monitoring Tool. I did download it but, will read it after I get done with this post. I sure didn’t want to get all involved & forget to give you guys the info. I tend to do that. Oh, he gives this ebook away for FREE – yip, he doesn’t even make you sign up for anything.

Ok, you all go check out the list…you might also want to look around as I said he has some good stuff & it isn’t a bunch of ‘fluffy cloud’ crap.

Sheryl

PS. The person that tweeted the link was not the blog owner….can you believe it? Who would ever think of adding value for their followers even if they weren’t making $ off of it?

While I was out & about on the blog path today I came across something stupid yet cute.

On a blog about the Wild Horse Round Ups & the BSM I mean BLM I found their side bar had a Cuss O Meter. The meter showed the site to be in the RED zone. In fact the poor little meter was almost pegged. Glad I don't get offended easily or I would have left ASAP.

The blog actually had some great info on it so, I dealt with the cussing.
I'm not sure what words the cuss o meter is set to pick up because I didn't see to many F Bombs (or worse).

Is this widget a must have for all sites...no. I just found it & thought it was funny.
I do know some sites that should have this meter at the top as a warning to all visitors.

Sheryl

I think many of you already have Google Wave.

I know that since I have had it, I have hardly used it. Most people I know don't really use it much. That could be they just haven't taken the time to understand it.

As we know, Titter is a big hit because it is soooooooooo freakin simple that even my dogs can use it. Wave is a bit harder to get the hang of (no my dogs haven't started using Waves YET, they are waiting for the name to change to Wags).

In my quest for knowledge...'cause my hate bein stoopid....I did a few searches to fin a Wave Cheat Sheet.

I would give credit to the original author if I knew who it was. This list is all over the "waves".


Search Google Wave Cheat Sheet

This is a quick guide to the operators and restricts supported by wave search.

To do a search of ALL Public Waves
with:public
This will bring up BUTTLOADS of stuff...I suggest you narrow it down by using..
with:public "keywords"


Keywords
about:"keyword" — finds waves which have [keyword] occurring anywhere. Same as [keyword].
title:"keyword" — finds waves which have [keyword] in the title.
caption:"keyword" — finds waves which have an attachment where [keyword] occurs in the caption.

Status
is:read — finds all read waves.
is:unread — finds all unread waves.

Note: you cannot currently do a search like "-is:read" by itself and get reliable results due to an outstanding restriction on megastore queries
is:mute — finds all muted waves.
is:unmute — finds all waves not muted
is:active — currently the same as is:unread.
is:note — finds all waves which have you as the only participant and contributor


Participants
from:"wave address" — finds waves from the participant identified by the address. Special case of from:me identifying waves from yourself.
by:"address" — same as from:"address".
to:"address" — find waves which are a dialogue between you and the participant identified by the address.
with:"address" — find waves that have the participant identified by the given address explicitly listed.
owner:"address" — find waves by person, that they created.
only:"wave address" — finds waves to which only the participant specified by the given address contributed.


Date Search
Currently, there are a few restricts:
past:"date term" — finds all waves in the last period.
previous:"date term" — finds all waves in the period before the last period.
before:"date term" — finds all waves before a certain period.
after:"date" — finds all waves after a certain period.
which can be combined with date terms: day, week, month and year.

So you can have past:week, past:year. There is also support for
past:N"date term" where N > 0. So you can have past:3days (today, yesterday, the day before yesterday).
Also you can have past:Ndays, past:Nweeks, past:Nmonths, past:Nyears
Finally, you can abbreviate days, weeks, months and years to a single letter (d, w, m, y). Thus you can write past:3d, past:2w


Folders
in:"folder name" — find waves in the folder with the given name. For example, in:inbox.
in:"search name" — find waves in the saved search with the given name.
is:unfiled — find waves which have not been moved to a user folder.
is:filed — find waves which belong to some user folder.


Attachments
has:attachment — finds waves with an attachment. This changed from "is:image".
has:document — finds waves with an attachment which is a document. (coming soon)
has:image — finds waves with an attachments which is an image. (coming soon)
caption:"keyword" — finds waves with an attachment with caption containing keyword.
filename:"keyword" — finds waves with an attachment with filename containing keyword. (coming soon)
mimetype:"keyword" — finds waves with an attachment with mimetype containing keyword. (coming soon)


Tags
tag:"tag word" — finds waves with the tag.


Gadgets
has:gadget — finds waves which contain a gadget.
gadget:"keyword"— finds waves which contain a gadget with name containing keywords. e.g. chess, fridge, map, risk, sokoban.
gadgeturl:"keyword" — finds waves which contain a gadget with urls containing keyword.
gadgettitle:"keyword" — finds waves which contain a gadget with a title containing keywords.


Expressions
foo & bar — match waves with foo and bar.
You can use AND, or skip the operator altogether, as the logical and is the default.
foo | bar — match waves with foo or bar (or both).
foo OR bar — match waves with foo or bar (or both).
-foo — match waves that do not contain foo. (There is an outstanding
bug that causes searches with only negative terms to fail. To get
around it, use to:me -foo)
"foo … bar" — matches waves that contain the exact phrase "foo … bar"
(There is an outstanding bug for live search not working with phrases)
foo & (bar | -baz) — matches waves that contain foo and either bar or do not contain baz.


Phrases
"multiple terms" — match waves with one or more terms in sequence:
"hot dog" catches waves with the terms hot and dog in sequence. This is also required for other operators such as in:"new inbox" where say "new inbox" is a saved search.


XML Search
tags:subtag — find all waves which have this combination.
tag:keyword — find all waves which have this .
attribute:[value keyword] — finds all waves which have < …. attribute=value …> where keyword is a token in value.

I am sure there are more of these cheats, if you find some let us know!

Now, go out & WAVE!

Sheryl

I don’t always have great ideas.
In fact many of my ideas suck. So, I watch for other peoples ideas & if they sound good, I give them a whirl.

Mind you I see or hear good ideas all the time but, I find that some just don’t sink in. For some reason or another I just can’t get the jest of it or maybe part of the mechanics of how it works just baffles me. That is when I just shove the link (info) over to the side & save it to look at again.

Today I am gonna share with you one of those great finds that just didn’t click when I first saw it. Um, it is super easy & I feel a bit stupid for not figuring it out months ago.

Dan Thies sent out a video & PDF when he launched his Link Liberation program. The video & PDF are how to build a Leverage Engine. I watched the damn vid & read the PDF several times & understood how it would work to help your site yet, I just couldn’t figure out a way to do it. What I did know is that the Blog Co-Op is in a way like a Leverage Engine or Index Driver. So, I was happy with just trying different ways to implement Dan’s plan on forums (I am really good at forums).

The problem came when we started building sites that did not have our names on them (due to trolls). I needed a way to push those sites…. These were brand new sites with nothing pushing them. New sites are also a great way to test out any ideas. So, time to pull out all those ideas & see what I could do.

Of course the 1st one I went to was Dan’s…he is REALLLLLY good at what he does. I built my 1st Leverage Engine (Index Driver). It was a breeze. When I really needed to figure it out…it just all clicked right in.

Now all of you that are trying to figure out a great way to help push your site…check out The Leverage Engine Blueprint If I can do it so can you.

It has taken me longer to find good sources for making my mini post than anything. When I want some odd ball (new) stuff, I go to Googles Realtime Results & have found allot of cool sites I did not know about before. I’ve also used Twitter Search & found some constant sources for links.

I know some people are building their Leverage Engine sites using just incoming RSS Feeds…I don’t like that. I want to pick & choose. I also rewrite my mini post since most RSS Feeds put out crap post descriptions. I am using FireScribe to do my post & it works great.
So check out the video & let me know what you think.
Sheryl Loch

Hi Everyone, little gal from cow country here North of Kansas City, MO.

I'm new here and browsing (lurking) but figured I'd better say hello before the powers that be slap my internet hand, hee hee.

Now much to say just yet, just wanted to say hello and I hope to make some new friends and learn more about blogging.

Tam

Our holiday trip to the Las Vegas Strip the other day was awesome. Extreme Ezine joined us there actually he kept popping up everywhere we went. So I through a little video together to show some of the highlights of the day.



Big fun was had by all!
Brad West ~ onomoney

Contributions from organizations like Angle Tree Program, Kiwanis, private companies and individuals have been distributed to needy people on the 18th of December in Middletown Conn. Since there are so many people out of work the demand is high, sad to say there were allot of people that were left out.

At least there were 250 boys and girls that will not be disappointed this year. Food baskets are not very plentiful this year ether. It's amazing how some children understand and are willing to compromise in tough times. Defiantly a huge thumbs up to those parents for who have brought up their children this way.

I'm sure you are aware that the world is going mobile.
Are you ready?
How about your blog, is it mobile?
If your blog isn't compatible with iPhones,iTouch....you are getting left in the dark. Yes, the dark being that mobile users can't see it, or they won't see it.

While on Twitter the other night Just Julie sent out a tweet saying that she wished all the blogs she reads had WPtouch.

I went to see what the heck it was, I know so little about Wordpress but, am trying to learn.
WPtouch is a plug in for Wordpress that will reformat your blog for easy reading on iPhone & iTouch.
This plug in does NOT do anything to your blog when read on a regular computer. It only changes the formatting when using the mobile devices.

You should read the post What can WPtouch do for my blog? and also watch the short video.

We installed the plug in on 1 blog to see what happened. It did NOT change any part of my blog when I looked at it on my computer. Everything was just like always...I ask Julie if she could check it on her iPhone to see if it worked to reformat. It did!

With this plug in, even users on the i devices can see your comments, comment luv, categories, tags... it shows your complete blog it just makes it fit the i devise screen better.

I know allot of you run WP blogs, I also know that you want readers...so why not install this free plug in & make sure that people that want to read your blog can do it from anywhere?

Go check it out. It took less time from Brad to install it than it took me to decide on a logo/Gravatar.

Let me know what you think.

Sheryl Loch

I'm sure you have all heard about Google bringing out their new URL shortner.

I am trying to figure out why they did it. There are so many shortners already. Right now bit.ly seems to be running in the #1 spot. Probably due to the fact that Twitter & most apps for Twitter have put them in as default.

The only time I ever use a shortning service is for Twitter. I also only click on shortened URL's in Twitter. If someone has a site & they are using a short link...Forget it, I do not click. To me it is them trying to hide something. With Twitter people are short on space so fine, but on a site there is no reason to save characters.

Google's new shortening service is only accessible through their toolbar or Feedburner.
What I wonder is when hell will break loose?
By that I mean, if someone states that using the Google shortner is getting better pull than using another service...oh my!
Can you imagine the up roar of people thinking G would favor Goo.gl links over say bit.ly?

I also wonder when it will be considered that Google is a monopoly?
Will they get to a point where a court could say they have to split up services (they did it to Microsoft)?


Sheryl

I do hope that the new G shorts do not put a freakin toolbar at the top of every link like the Stumble Upon or Ow.ly. I can not stand those toolbars. I either close the entire page or at least close the toolbar.

Hi,

today I found another keyword I'lll go for soon. The Domain www.*keyword*.com is already registered.
My question is:

Should I register www.*keyword*.info or something like www.*keyword*blog.com?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Lusches