Archive for February, 2005

Firefox popularity increasing on the Mac

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 28/2/2005
in Mac
. 1 Comment

I see where according to a MacWorld poll, 23% of respondants now use Firefox as their main browser on their Mac - only 5% use internet Explorer.

Still, 65% use Safari - I hate Safari. I hate it for one very simple reason - when you close a window in Safari with multiple tabs open, it doesn’t warn you that you are about to close many tabs. Firefox does this, and I can’t tell you how many times this has saved me!

Maybe the next release of Safari will address this…

Free backup utility for Mac OS X

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 25/2/2005
in Mac and Open Source
. 2 Comments

Matthew Phillips wrote a piece on how to backup your Mac using a free utility called RsyncX. The article goes through different backup scenarios in detail and will be useful for anyone who wants to backup their Mac.

RsyncX is downloadable from VersionTracker.

More info on RsyncX and its author Kevin Boyd is available here.

Using your Mac for Enterprise Database Development

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 24/2/2005
in Mac and Technology
. 2 Comments

I found a fascinating article on the OSNews site on how to use your Mac for Enterprise database development today by Ken Cluff.

In the article, Ken explains how he salvaged an old mac G4, downloaded/installed various tools and now uses the Mac for his software and database development purposes.

Ken clearly shows that there is now little reason for development houses to be stuck with Windows PCs and all the problems they bring with them (spyware, malware, crap ui, etc.).

Search Engine Optimisation - Step 1. Identification of Aims

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 23/2/2005
in Search Engine Optimisation
. 3 Comments

Successful Search Engine Optimisation is all about ensuring that the relevant content is delivered to those who search for it. Therefore, the first step in any Search Engine Optimisation project is to clearly identify the aims of the site - what information are you hoping to impart and who will that be of interest to? If you want to be selective about your clients you might also want to ask who are your preferred target audience and develop your site aims with this in mind.

Discussion on the role of the website and the identification of the target audience are the essential starting point whether you are developing a site from scratch or re-developing an existing site.

To accomplish this you will need to ask yourself the following questions:

  • What do you want the website to achieve (higher sales/brand building/information dissemination)?
  • What is the profile of potential/preferred visitors to your site?
  • What needs can your site address for the target audience?
  • What information target audience is likely to be seeking?
  • How can you ensure that the target audience find your site(keyword research)?

If you have a sales-related site you might want to add the following:

  • Who is likely to be the decision maker with regard to buying your product/employing your services?
  • What is your current typical sales cycle?
  • What is the role of your website in the sales cycle?

Acquiring this information will help you to identify: i) the key information to prioritise in the website and ii) who is likely to be searching for that information. The website can then be (re)developed based on this analysis, ensuring the focus of the site is set for optimal search engine results.

Global Dimming - explains reduced Global Warming

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 23/2/2005
in Community Interest
. 0 Comments

Global Dimming is a recently discovered phenomenon which says that the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface has been gradually falling.

Although the effect varies greatly from place to place, overall the decline in the amount of sunshine reaching the Earth’s surface amounts to one to two per cent globally, every decade between the 1950s and the 1990s.

The most alarming aspect of global dimming is that it may have led scientists to underestimate the true power of the greenhouse effect. According to a report on Global Dimming on the BBC’s website:

They know how much extra energy is being trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere by the extra carbon dioxide we have placed there.

What has been surprising is that this extra energy has so far resulted in a temperature rise of just 0.6 degree Celsius.

This has led many scientists to conclude that the present-day climate is less sensitive to the effects of carbon dioxide than it was, say, during the ice age, when a similar rise in CO2 led to a temperature rise of six degrees Celsius.

But it now appears the warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from dimming - in effect two of our pollutants have been cancelling each other out.

This is bad because it means that the climate is far more sensitive to greenhouse gases than previously thought and:

CO2 levels are projected to rise strongly over coming decades, whereas there are encouraging signs that particle pollution is at last being brought under control.

“We’re going to be in a situation unless we act where the cooling pollutant is dropping off while the warming pollutant is going up.

“That means we’ll get reducing cooling and increased heating at the same time and that’s a problem for us,” says Dr Cox.

Even the most pessimistic forecasts of global warming may now have to be drastically revised upwards.

If you are interested to learn more about Global Dimming -

Thanks are due to Gavin for publishing his post on Climate Change which reminded me to post this piece.

Why is Search Engine Optimisation important?

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 23/2/2005
in Search Engine Optimisation
. 10 Comments

It is estimated that 90% of all online traffic is achieved through the various search engines. If your Web site doesn’t have a page appearing in the top 10 search engine result positions (SERPs), the chances of someone clicking on your listing, and actually visiting your site, are low. If you’re not in the top 20, the chances that someone will scan through the SERPs and find your page, drops dramatically. Hence, Search Engine Optimisation tries to help organise your page/site so that it will move up the Search Engine Results and thus be found.

Search Engine Optimisation has been controversial in the past with many Search Engine Optimisation companies using unscrupulous methodologies to get sites up the rankings quickly. These methods are now largely discredited and using them can get a site banned from search engines.

The importance of Search Engine Optimisation is further highlighted by the results of the list of SEO studies quoted below:

  • A study from IMT Strategies demonstrates that a company’s presence on relevant search engines is the most important medium for maintaining high brand awareness ‘ more important than the printed media, radio or TV commercials (Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, January 2001).
  • A study by Direct Marketing Association found that search engine optimisation/positioning was evaluated by webmasters as the single most important activity for generating traffic to the website (66%), followed by e-mail marketing (54%).
  • A poll by Iconocast concludes that 81% of UK internet users find websites via search engines (Source: June 2000, Forrester Research Inc., “UK Internet User Monitor”).
  • The tenth user survey from “The Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center” (GVU) showed that 84.8% of respondents found information on websites from search engines.
  • According to a study published by NPD Group, 92% of online users making a purchase over the net use search engines to find the relevant website.
  • A study carried out by IMT Strategies discovered that search engines were the most popular medium (46%) for finding websites. Random surfing and word of mouth shared second place (20% each).
  • Search engines are the “busiest” and most used websites on the net - cf. RelevantKnowledge or MediaMetrix studies.
  • A study carried out by Jupiter Research in March 2001 gives search engines 9.1 points on a scale from 0 - 10 as the most important online media. The No. 2 spot got 6.3 points.
  • According to a study among marketing executives search engine optimisation/positioning was considered the most profitable website marketing activity. Far more effective than, for instance, banners, e-mails and offline marketing (Source: WebCMO).
  • A study carried out by the NPD Group showed that more than twice as many of those asked could recognise the names of the companies in the top three placements of the search engines as could recognise the names of companies which used banners.

Over the next few posts in this category I will outline a process which, if followed, should help any page/site improve its search engine ranking.

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