PA Blog

SEO – search engine optimization – is the method of getting found in normal Google searches as well as other search engines. As you may know, Google gives different results to people based on their search habits and geographic location. By using your I.P. address most search engines know your approximate location in the world. Therefore, if you are searching for something in Philadelphia you may not see the same results as if you were performing the search on Google in Pittsburgh. In addition, Google uses your particular search habits to display things it thinks you are looking for.

This can be frustrating to search engine optimization specialists. It definitely caught our attention on several website projects we recently started. The only real way to know how your website ranks is based on the traffic it receives and the search terms your statistics program says you were found for. You can also try downloading the Firefox browser. Then go to Tools on the menu bar and click Start Private Browsing. If you are an SEO expert you will soon see different results. This removes the history but it does not remove your I.P. address. Your results will still be based on your location.

The good news is most businesses need to be found for a specific location. For example, a Hardware store in Harrisburg PA. It would be pointless for people in Pittsburgh to find a Harrisburg hardware store. Then again, there is always Google Maps for finding businesses by location. However, this is not apparent to many people doing local search. As the surfing population gets more web savvy Google Maps will become more prevalent. If your business is local you should check Google Maps to make sure you are listed and listed correctly. Adding your website to a location and category specific directory like PAontheweb.com is also of great importance. The more places you are listed the more eyeballs you get on target and the more likely it is that your phone will ring.

Next time we meet we will discuss the importance of Social Media websites like Twitter, Facebook etc.

To block a list of IP addresses by country you can go to www.blockacountry.com. There are new IP ranges assigned every day around the world so it is nearly impossible to keep up with them all.  Some of the best countries to block are Russian Federation, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and many former Soviet block nations. Many South and Central American countries are gaining in negative publicity for sending spam.

Once you have edited your .htaccess file in the root of your Linux based Control Panel (provided by PAontehweb) people from the countries you block will no longer be able to see your site and may reduce the amount of spam, scams and hacker attempts against your website.

Another frequently asked question is why does spam come from outside the U.S. more often than not? The answer is simple. The U.S. has prosecuted spammers in the past that do it from inside the U.S. Harsh sentences are passed out. In foreign countries this is seen as  a victimless crime and is usually not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

One day the solution may be to come up with a United States only access system for websites that only want to be found in the USA. At least we could then track down spammers, scammers and hackers and cut off their fingers. OK, that sounds a bit harsh but a 40 to 50 year sentence should be common.

Every once in a while we have people stuck in the old fashion mind set that they should have a splash page with music as their home page. No matter how many times we point them to webmaster forums that tell them this is not a good idea they still insist. For those of you who do insist on using sound files and flash pages you should give your site visitors the option of hearing your music.

If your site is simple html then you can use this example code. PS you should always make sure the music you are using is not under copyright protection.

And here is the code that makes this visible. Put this in your code or html and adjust your media location, size and style to your liking. Change the width and height of the bar you want to display. Change the Volume simply by changing the number from 100 to 50 for fifty percent volume. Change Auto Start to 1 if you want to annoy site visitors (0 means they have to press play to hear it. Show Controls set to 0 will take the controls away from the bar etc. Loop if your mp3 is short and you want to replay it automatically. It is all fairly self explanatory if you look at the code. 0 means no and 1 means yes.

<embed src=http://www.trainmyhorse.net//media/Ryan_Shupe_The_Rubber_Band_-_Dream_Big.mp3 width=533 height=20 volume=100 autostart=0 ShowControls=1 ShowStatusBar=1 loop=0 EnableContextMenu=true DisplaySize=1></embed>

PA on the web has noticed the URL’s (web addresses) used by some larger companies change when they update to a new system. For example, some companies use www.domain.com/somename/ and decide to change it to www.domain.com/some-other-name/. When this happens hundreds of links will go dead on PAontehweb.com. This leaves our site penalized by Google and other search engines due to dead links.

PAontheweb also noticed that Geocities was recently terminated by Yahoo. We had several hundred of these websites in our database and had to remove them.

Someone once said “free has no value.” Over the years we have learned this about free web resources. Not that they have no value but they must recover something since all web based business revolves around resources. If you have a free web space someone is paying for it some how. It is often through advertising or link strength etc. There is always a catch. In the case of Geocities, Yahoo offered their customers a paid version to replace their free version. How convenient!

Rather than tempt you with free offers (other than your listing) we know that your time and our time has value. We know that you will best benefit by paying for something you will use. Our alternative to people who need something cheap is soon to be launched at LubyG.com.

LubyG is short for Let Us Be Your Guide.