198 Days
I just pulled into this blog-- checked into my Technorati link and realized it's been 198 days since my last post. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned....it's been 198 days since I have done this blog justice."
I read a blog by an SEO recently that said--- don't blog when you're getting a divorce. It's not good for the spirit, or something like that. I agree.
Ok. That pretty much sums it up. Unfortunately, another factor that figures in is Blogger's issue with comment spam. I have had to shut off comments. And clean up the ones from nearly every post since I began. That really.......$%&!s.
I keep a daily blog for my company now,
http://blog.searchgrow.com. And I have started another one of my own using the Wordpress blog-creation platform,
http://jrotman.wordpress.com.
Google It!
I'd like to draw attention to an article on Search Engine Round Table, The Search Lurch: Have We Become Lazy Googlers or Smart Web Researchers? http://www.phptr.com/articles/article.asp?p=418857&rl=1.
Well, I Google nearly everything. The article touches on the increasing reluctance to use bookmarks, instead choosing to Google everything. Googling has gotten easier. Every time we type something into a search field the machine remembers and prompts us in the future when any similar keystrokes are hit. Why search through my unorganized list of Favs-- it's like a closet I have never cleaned out, still full of links (read "crap") from my Database course two years ago.
Do I consider myself lazy? The internet is the lazy-woman's tool. Real motivation is driving to the library to look things up in the newspapers as they are delivered, the recent issues of magazines or actually meeting real people to engage in conversation related to the information you are seeking.
And Another Thing...
Futurewire, with a nice little rundown on the current war between Microsoft and Google. The supposition is that whichever giant takes up the staff as Lord and Master of the Internet-Universe will really be in control of architecting the future Net:
The New Net War: Microsoft vs. Google,
http://futurewire.blogspot.com/2005/09/new-net-war-microsoft-vs-google.htmlover and out.
Similar Reaction to Ask Jeeves Radio Spot
Here's an appropriate link to a post on
Research Buzz in reaction to a recent Ask Jeeves radio commercial that struck me in much the same way. The spot is more than disturbing.....,
http://www.researchbuzz.org/2005/09/why_i_think_the_internet_bubbl.shtmlotherwise, I am on mental sabbatical.
Baidu Challenges Google In China
Baidu, the search engine taking China by storm, literally means "hundreds of times" in relation to one's search "for the ideal," a notion borrowed from an ancient Chinese poem. The BBC reports that finally there may be evidence that Baidu has edged out Google as the internet search leader in China recently,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4197834.stmI visited one of the pages of Baidu for a clue into what their bent on Chinese internet search was all about,
http://ir.baidu.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=188488&p=irol-homeprofileThe impetus behind Baidu. com is so steeped in Chinese tradition and cultural concepts that it is no wonder the search engine is slowly overtaking the nonsensically named Google.
In fact, in their brief explanation of their attention to internet search marketing they explained how their mechanism is so NOT a Pay per Click methodology, as it is a "Pay for Performance" model. Hmmmmm, geewhiz, "performance," you say?
SEO is Like Twisting the Rubik's Cube
Search Engine Watch had an article,
Chasing Search Engine Algorithms: Wisdom or Folly?, a few days ago and I did not even read the whole discussion of the debate over the perfect approach to search marketing. Isn't the draw the same as that of an elusive game, a mind-bender, a word problem where a variable is always missing? Everyone enjoys twisting the Rubik's cube to see when all the colors will match, the form will reach perfect harmony. Algorithms are like a Rubik's cube without colors, you just keep twisting and twisting while trying to tune into The Jedi Force.
The Value of Search Engine Marketing, China's On the Map
Search Engine Journal,
www.searchenginejournal.com, featured an article yesterday,
Evolution of Search Engine Marketing, that was the usual argument for search engine marketing expertise in today's increasingly competitive online world. But for me the article was interesting in the stats it offered regarding China's Baidu.com search engine in comparison to Google's, especially when it comes to skyrocketing user interest and dollar value.
NY Times Swats at Corporate Google
Like I asked a few posts back: What would happen to the world if Google went belly-up tomorrow? Huge things, I think, and with that comes an impressive (if you choose) level of power attached.
Today the NY Times online has a feature article,
Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain, by Gary Rivlin, www.nytimes.com.
The point of the article is perhaps obvious-- the once upon a time cutting edge upstarts of Silicon Valley are edging out the King of Digital Monopolies and earning a smarmy little rep while doing so. It all goes to show that the real attractive stuff of start-ups-- the gutsy, roll up your sleeves, see the new technology we've got-- morphs into taking over the world and hoarding as much money as is possible. That's what really pisses everyone off.
