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Search Engine Optimization (Lovingly referred to as SEO) is one of my pet projects and at the same time, one of my pet peeves.  There are a TON of web service companies that want to guarantee high search engine rankings, by some special skill that they can do fairly quickly and with some nifty fee structure.

The desired result is that if you type in "Widget" into google's search form, that the results will then have a link to your nifty "widgetstore.com" somewhere near the top of the page.  Google returns millions of links to websites for any word (or combination of words) that you type in, but most people only look at the first few.  A few loyal Internet surfers will even look at the links on the first few pages of results, but if your nifty "widgetstore.com" is on page 359, you are not going to get any visitors to your site from searchers.

So how do we get your nifty "widgetstore.com" up where people can find it, especially when they really need a Widget.  The answer does actually lie in Search Engine Optimization.  Now there are lots, and I mean LOTS of companies that are very aware of the fact that you don't know what that means.  They even know that you don't know that they don't really even know, or that they don't want to put in the real effort required.  They will take your money with a straight face and give you some very minimal results, and may even get you black listed.  That's right, if Google or Yahoo or any other Internet search company catches you cheating, you could have your website removed totally…. not even displayed on page 359.

So for this intro, I want to point out what Search Engines are trying to do.  The old saying is that if you help them get what they want, then they will help you get what you want.

Search Engines offer information… Good information.  That's their product.  When you type in "Widget" they want the first link to be the most important page on the Internet related to "Widget".  If there is an international consortium on Widget that maintains the world-wide standards and definitive guide to Widget, that's the link they want on top.  The second link should then be the second most important, etc. etc. etc. all the way to page 359.  That's the product they offer.

There are too many pages for search engines to rank each page, so they use a few tools to find your site, index it and rank it.  What's important for you to know is that they are using a series of formulas to get the job done.  These formulas are changed on a regular basis to accomplish one thing… Make the information better.  If someone has figured out a trick that gets a page about "Gizmos" up at the top of the "Widget" list, it might actually work, but rest assured that the formula will be changed and the Gizmo site will get black listed.

I could go into the different formulas that are used, and I will eventually, but for now, the best thing that you can do is to make sure that your site has good information about your topic.  If your info is good, it will make its way higher in the list.  I will take some time over the next little while to talk about maximizing your site for the Internet, but DON'T pay for a guaranteed - lock solid - solution by some guy that claims they have found a cool trick that will make you popular.

Well sticking with my January theme about useful software titles, I've come across a title that I'm all geeked out about.  It's called Auto Gordian Knot (or AutoGK).

The background story goes like this: I have recently been asked to do a memorial website for a young lady that was murdered.  The family had a nice DVD that was made for the funeral, but as you may know there are not a lot of programs out there that will let you copy a DVD to your computer in a usable format, at least not with good quality and good price… Specifically I was trying to convert from DVD to AVI and as I'm donating a bunch of the work, I didn't want to pay much for a good tool.  Searched Google, and finally came upon this little tool.  It was free.  It was easy to install, and it did a flawless job in relatively good time.

Once I had the AVI file, I could edit it to my heart's content (and my heart IS now content with a flash version, Windows Media version and Quicktime version of the video).

Auto Gordian Knot / AutoGK

I have people ask me from time to time for a specific piece of software to convert an audio file from one format to another, or to record some noise that they just must have in digital format, or some other such audio related question.  They think that because I am a tech guy and seem to have every other tech question answered for them, that I must know something about audio…

Well I am actually a sound engineer and love doing really loud and complicated rock shows with thousands in attendance and pyrotechnics (cause I do pyro work from time to time too), but I digress.  As it turns out I know a thing or two about audio, including where to get just that special tool to do whatever your heart desires.

I found a company in Australia that has a gaggle of audio tools, some are reasonably priced and others are free, but they are all technically great.  You can find them here.

Now, if you find it all too complicated, but still need a sound result, give us a call or e-mail and we will be glad to assist.

http://www.nch.com.au/index.html

tis the season to sit back and reflect on the triumphs of the previous year, mainly getting Christmas presents.  It was during this season that I learned a valuable lesson that I feel is only fitting that I pass it on to the rest of humanity.

Check out the product returns.

That's right, the great moral victory to be learned from last year is "Go check out the returns!"  To break that down for you, you have a look a typical shopping flier experience.  You see something in a flier for a great price that would be a perfect gift.  You make some time a day or two later to go to the corresponding store and find out that the item in question is long ago sold out, but an equivalent model is only 300X more expensive.

But here's the great wisdom.  In today's "no questions asked"-return-policy-world, there are a number of people that will buy that great priced product, just because its a great deal and then will think to themselves, "what was I thinking?" and will take it back, where it will get stocked in a pile in the back of the customer service desk, ne'r to be thought of again.  I discovered that they will sell you stuff right out of the return pile if you would only ask, and most of the time, the great priced perfect gift will be there en mass.

So there you have it… wisdom from me to you.  Happy new year!