It’s important to educate our children about Veterans Day and to understand the sacrifices these brave soldiers made and continue to make, to fight for our country.

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

    Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

    Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

    Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

Ok, Ok, Ok,

It has become apparent that Yahoo has “adopted” the technology that Bing uses to deliver search results in a certain way. This was a move I have been expected for some time. Since Google was determined to dominate the search market, Yahoo has given me the impression that they have decided to disappear from the “popular vote”nomination so to speak and focus on restructuring their business, their brand, and their focus on marketing.

Yahoo apparently become attracted to Bing when MSN changed their “image” to Bing, Yahoo decided to “flirt” with Bing and pass notes to each other during SEO class. I remember my days in high school when I was shy to meet a girl and ask her out, so I would play chicken and pass her a love note! Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, this technique never worked for me, so as you can probably tell I wasn’t the one with the most dates or any dates for that matter.

Today we are in the 21st century and anything is possible. I am several years older now along with being married, so I obviously cannot try that technique again, unless I want to have my wife stop feeding my face at night along with throw me out on the street. If other people want to try this technique, then by all means, hey knock yourself out!

This merger of harmony is just a sign of things to come! I have always believed that “what goes up, must come down.” Google has managed to become the “big dog” on the market, and I believe that Google will eventually “crumble” under the weight of fortune and fame thus Yahoo will be there to grab the baton and win the race.

Time will tell the tale! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to “Binghoo!”

Article was used with permission! Original can be found at http://www.seomarketingunderground.com

Over the last decade I have come to the realization that “Freedom in America is not Free.” Ever since 9/11, the rights and privileges of American citizens have come under scrutiny from the government. There is no sense of privacy anymore and government leaders believe that increased federal regulation provisions are the answer to issues plaguing the government and its people.

If you believe that government intervention into the problems facing America today is the correct and only solution, then, I completely respect your opinion on this matter. I personally believe that government intervention is leading to the “suspension and/or removal” of our rights and freedoms and civil liberties. America was built on the concept of “free enterprise.” America is a country that was created “by the people,” and “for the people.” Allowing the government to intervene on certain matters certainly violates this concept. Just ask the residents of Philadelphia who’s favorite past-time or business function involves going on the internet and creating and maintaining a blog.

Philadelphia bloggers got a surprise in their mail recently when their city government asked them to purchase a “business privilege license” at the price of $300. While it is required that all Pennsylvania business owners file for ownership right to their business with the Pennsylvania Department of State, what about those folks who blog for fun and without any intention of monetary gain? That is a question one fellow blogger Marylin Bess had to answer.

“The real kick in the pants is that I don’t even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous,” Bess says.

Bloggers would also have to find the money to hire their own accountants. This, my friends is the perfect way to end a dream and destroy what fun we have as American citizens as a result of government intervention. Perhaps this is a way for struggling cities to recoup funds from mismanaged governmental budget operations which put our country into the debt that it has in the first place. Don’t blame the American people for government mistakes, take responsibility and blame yourself Uncle Sam!

This article was used with permission and can be obtained at http://www.seomarketingunderground.com

Facebook’s population is now larger than that of the U.S., Mexico and France combined.  The world’s largest social networking site announced Wednesday that it has hit a widely anticipated milestone, signing up its 500 millionth user.

In a blog post, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he “could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago.” In a video message, Zuckerberg thanked Facebook users and told them “you really have created a worldwide movement.”

To show off its international reach, Facebook launched a new application Wednesday called Facebook Stories. The app lets users recount their own stories and read others’ posts, filtered by theme and geographic location.

The speed with which Facebook hit the 500 million mark is a sign of its accelerating growth. Launched in early 2004, it took Facebook nearly four years to add its first 100 million users, but only five months to add its most recent batch. Around 70% of the current user base for the Palo Alto, Calif., company now comes from outside the U.S. 

‘Operation In Our Sites‘ targeted several sites including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org, ZML.com, NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. In almost unprecedented action, the domain names of 7 sites were seized and indications are that others – The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload – narrowly avoided the same fate.

Fears remain, however, that this action is only the beginning, and that more sites will be targeted as the months roll on. Indeed, TorrentFreak has already received information that other sites, so far unnamed in the media, are being monitored by the authorities on copyright grounds.

Now, according to the owner of a free WordPress platform which hosts more than 73,000 blogs, his network of sites has been completely shut down on the orders of the authorities.

Indeed, 73,000 blogs is a significant number to take down in one swoop, regardless of what some users of the site may or may not have been doing. Time will tell if it was indeed a copyright complaint that took down the service but the signs are certainly there. Not so long ago the conclusion that this type of action could be taken on copyright grounds would have been dismissed out of hand, but the current atmosphere seems to be changing.

Search Engine Optimization Today

Today Google Real-Time Search Changes Everything. Not being where your customer is looking could be costing you their business! Search engines are tightening up the loopholes to manipulate positioning.

So-called “doorway” pages, tricks with meta tag/keyword files, etc. no longer are effective. Keyword positioning, along with indexing, is the way to be seen on today’s Internet.

• The vast majority of clicks occur within the top 5 positions on a search page.

• As a rule, the more competitive the business category, the harder it is to attain decent placement. Conversely, the more competitive the business category, the more important placement is to success of the business.

Entrepreneurs and small businesses constantly find themselves looking around asking themselves why they can’t quite seem to find a good fit for what they need from service providers.

People do business with who they like, who they trust and who truly care about their business. In fact, a recent study by US News & World Report revealed that when clients leave their current provider it’s not because of a pricing or product problem, but a “people” problem. People that no longer value their business, or seem indifferent to it. A whopping 68% of them.

• A fractional 14% defected because of a pricing issue followed by 9% who were successfully wooed by a competitor.

• With Google Real-Time Search the playing field has been leveled.

• No longer can you or your competition sit back and think they own their TOP organic Google positions!

Google search engine ranking factors are among the most important items to check in any SEO work. This will ensure that the strategies formulated are effective, current and optimal for the best search engine ranking results. Every search engine optimization analysis examines the website’s performance against these important ranking factors. This article series will take a closer look at these factors and find evidence for their existence, so you will know that you are on the right track when performing SEO on your website.

If deficiencies are found in a site’s Google search engine ranking factors, the SEO in charge will attempt to make some changes to the website in such a way that it will now become search engine friendly and compliant with SEO ranking factors. Taken from a broader perspective, these improvements cover three important aspects:

• Content (using optimal titles, checking content quality, focusing relevance to targeted keywords, etc).

• Links (how other sites reference the website in terms of quality and quantity).

• Technical aspects (i.e. crawlability of the website) to name just a few!.

Are all big factor’s in SEO, to improve Web Site Search Engine Rankings, with the Top Ten Search Engines, like Google, Alta Vista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Excite, Inktomi, Lycos, MSN, Teoma and Yahoo.

SEO is the skillful art of placing researched keywords, that have a known searching audience, into various places on a web page that are known to be given weight by the ranking systems and algorithms of Major Search Engines

It is estimated that less than two percent of the commercial and small business website content writing on the Internet have had any optimization for search engines today still.

Our SEO Campaign Management Services provides you with the ultimate search engine optimization (SEO) system – virtually ensuring you will obtain top ten search engines rankings for your chosen web sites and keywords to Improve Web Site Search Engine Rankings

Furthermore, we are aware of all of the major search engines Webmaster and marketing guidelines and all of our marketing strategies and techniques are compliant with these guidelines and we work one on one with you to insure your knowledge of How does search engine optimization work.

All of our clients enjoy greatly improved positions in the Top Ten Search Engines for competitive keywords. The free, organic positions available through natural search marketing are the most coveted spots on these algorithmic search engines.

A properly optimized Web Site can take you from search invisibility and zero rankings to top spots in these Top Ten Search Engines, especially if optimization is combined with known off page ranking factors.

Those who act now, with decisiveness and confidence will lead their competition for the rest of this decade, while their competitors catch on and try to catch up.

Spam free, guideline compliant marketing is at the top of our list, to make sure our client is protected.

To Improve Web Site Search Engine Rankings, it’s SEO Specialist Online for all your search engine optimization needs Why not let us do a Free Website Evaluation for Your Business TODAY!

Major new features in this release include the following:

A sexy new  WordPress default theme called Twenty Ten!

Move over Legendary WordPress Kubrick Theme! Theme developers have new APIs that allow them to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies. (Twenty Ten theme shows all of that off.)

MU and WordPress Finally Merge Together!

Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of  WordPress MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation.

A lighter Interface with many bug fixes!!

As a user, you will love the new lighter interface, the contextual help on every screen, the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click.

SEO Specialist Online is a proud user of the  WordPress platform.  Blogging is essential when it comes to good search engine optimization techniques for your website, and WordPress is no doubt the way to go when getting your website online and acheiving top ranking on Google and many other search engines .  The video below gives you an inside look at some of the features in WordPress 3.0.  Blogging is alive and well, and the future is now!!!

Do you have all the traffic and sales you need?

Ever wondered what it would take to get your site on the top of the engines? Want to conquer social media and actually see results? Let a Business Growth Expert at SEO-Specialist-Online.com review your site and prepare a custom proposal. No obligation!

If you prefer to speak with someone right now, please call Jim Gras, Senior SEO Strategist at 800-897-6458

Cookie-cutter SEO won’t get you the results you are looking for. We provide custom SEO solutions.

Simply complete the form and we will send you a custom proposal within 3 business day. Thank you!

All it currently says on WordPress-hosted blogs is the following:

UPDATE 2: From @Wordpressdotcom “We’ve isolated the issue on WordPress.com, and we are working on a fix.”

In all, the downtime was around an hour!

Stay Tuned to SEO-Specialist-Online.com for Further Updates!!!!

“

Our old index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others; the main layer would update every couple of weeks. To refresh a layer of the old index, we would analyze the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when we found a page and made it available to you.

With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before — no matter when or where it was published.

Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.

We’ve built Caffeine with the future in mind. Not only is it fresher, it’s a robust foundation that makes it possible for us to build an even faster and comprehensive search engine that scales with the growth of information online, and delivers even more relevant search results to you. So stay tuned, and look for more improvements in the months to come.

Unfortunately, many search marketers do exactly that when they treat their keywords, ad copy, landing pages and customers all the same.

Webmasters take note of Google Algorithm Change

Websites across the world have noticed slumps in their Google rankings and traffic levels. SEOs have been frantically seeking explanations and deliberating the true cause of these sudden dips and increases. Is this search Armageddon?

Is Mayday the algorithm update that pushes many towards extinction?

Probably not. In fact almost certainly not. While Google has been predictably aloof over just what their Mayday algorithm update includes, evidence suggests it isn’t something that most will need to be overly concerned about.

If you have suffered a large drop in your site traffic, indexed pages and long-tail keyword performance since May 1st, you are not alone though. This is particularly true for larger sites, such as those ecommerce outlets with a
diverse product range, according to Search Engine Land [see: Google Confirms “Mayday” Update Impacts Long Tail Traffic].
In the first real post to address the issue with facts rather than speculation, Vanessa Fox got to the crux of the update. As we know, Google have been looking to achieve a few fundamental things with their search engine:

1)    Improve speed of results
2)    Improve relevance of results
3)    Increase the amount of time users spend on Google

The Mayday update (along with the left-hand navigation) appears simply to target these three principles. Leaving Google’s stickiness to one side for a moment, the biggest issue for site owners and webmasters is quality. Unfortunately ‘quality’ is something of a loose term and Google certainly don’t do much to provide a definitive answer as to what they expect.

In Vanessa Fox’s piece for Search Engine Land, we get an understanding for how and why some sites have been affected. We also see how deeper pages using long tail keywords are being impacted the greater.

To see how some sites may suffer, here is a quick (slightly exaggerated) example:

Say you have a website with 30 pages. You have just 12 core products and have optimized the entire site to target these pages. There is an excellent linking profile, including plenty of deep links to your individual product. You have also developed a good internal link structure, with all pages easily accessible and sharing their content.

Better still, you have unique content on each page and customer reviews to keep a fresh stream of information for the search engines to index.

Your competitor on the other hand has a sprawling site covering thousands of pages. They offer a variety of products in a wide number of categories. Each product has the manufacturer’s description attached, but no dynamic or unique content. The site has a high number of links, but the majority go to the Homepage and other main money pages.

Now you both have the same product. You are also both targeting the phrase ‘Sky Blue Brand X Sports Jacket’. This is a long tail keyword; it is also a term that you are likely to be far more optimized for being as though you
have created original content. This could mean that you could now possibly overtake your rival due to your page’s greater authority.

Google usually tries to use a variety of methods to determine a website’s authority. Going beyond just including the main search keyword, it looks for synonyms, uniqueness and of course the strength of its linking profile.

If you have no links to your child pages across the site, there is a fair chance that your pages will suffer a Mayday relevance drop. Equally if you don’t have unique content, even on what you might consider to be less important
pages (such as individual products), you could see a dip.

Brand Recognition Counts

Seemingly, the brands are benefiting most from this. Google have been working hard to ensure that brands (or their preferred distributor) are being seen first for their own goods and products first. This of course is common sense, but hasn’t always been the case (and still isn’t).

So if you were ranking first for a Sony Bravia television, you probably won’t now. As I say, this is something they have been slowly rolling out over a number of algorithm updates (especially the Florida update at the end of last
year); now though it seems to be for more apparent than ever before.

What is the Solution?

If you have 10,000 products on your site, writing 300 words of engaging, unique content for each just isn’t going to be viable. Neither are you likely to be able to gain the number of links required to boost its profile sufficiently.

The solution really is about prioritizing. If you have found your traffic and rankings slip significantly on a select few pages particularly, you’ve got yourself a starting point. See what you can do to make the page unique. Review the link structure and the content, see where improvements can be made and implement them.

Site-wide changes including customer comments, can help you to increase your page’s content organically and ensure that the Googlebot has something to crawl. Ensure that your internal linking structure allows for
straightforward crawling and the passing on of page strength.

Should you Panic?

Easy for us to say, but there’s no reason to get too carried away with this. Even if your rankings have suffered take stock of the situation, look at who overtook you, what they’re doing differently and make changes accordingly. Don’t resort to spam, don’t try to buy up some links to quickly reinstate your position. Focus on quality and develop your site.

Traffic isn’t everything. You need to be more focused on ROI, so only when this suffers should you really be concerned. Obviously the two often go hand in hand; but many site owners are seeing that whilst some rankings have faltered, others have thrived.

Invariably one person’s loss is another’s gain in the world of search engine rankings, so it is far from doom and gloom. If you haven’t seen any significant changes, you can rest a little easier. There’s no reason to cease your website optimization, if anything there’s more reason to continue.

At the moment the only solid confirmation of the Mayday update has come in the form of a Matt Cutts YouTube post (below). This simply confirms the above, as well as dismissing suggestions that it is part of Caffeine or indeed is likely to be a temporary thing.

If you have experienced significant changes, good or bad, keep us posted. For those that have suffered drops, do you hold Google accountable? What are you doing to get traffic back? What affect has it had on your overall business?

Generally speaking, do you believe that the Mayday update has been a positive thing for searchers or not? Is Google giving too much weight to the big brands and letting down the small guys? Are they playing God online, holding the fortunes of millions in their hands?

Google ditches Windows

The report cites security as the main reason for Google banning Windows. The migration off of Windows reportedly started in January, after the Google was hacked by China. Google has not yet confirmed these reports.

One Google employee told the Financial Times, “getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO approval.” Another employee said most Google employees have opted towards Mac OS, while others are going with Linux.

Some speculate that this ban on Windows is due to the upcoming launch of Chrome OS, Google’s competing operating system.

A new clickjacking worm is spreading through Facebook via the ‘Like’ feature as reported by Mashable, The Social Media Guide.

The attack, which is said to have hit hundreds of thousands of users, uses a combination of social engineering and clickjacking exploit makes it appear as if a user has “liked” a link.

The messages that are being used in the link text include, “LOL This girl gets OWNED after a POLICE OFFICER reads her STATUS MESSAGE,”  “This man takes a picture of himself EVERYDAY for 8 YEARS!!,”  “The Prom Dress That Got This Girl Suspended From School” and “This Girl Has An Interesting Way Of Eating A Banana (banana), Check It Out!”

When a user clicks on the text that appears to be “liked” he is taken to a blank page that just has the text, “Click here to continue.” Clicking anywhere on that page will then publish the same message to that users Facebook page.

This vector is extremely similar to the Fbhole worm that spread across Facebook ten days ago. Because users unwittingly end up recommending the offending page to their social graph, this is the type of worm that can spread extremely quickly.

Security firm Sophos has identified the linked pages as being infected with the Troj/iframe-ET worm. It doesn’t appear as if the worm does anything other than add likes to your feed, but if you’ve been infected, you’ll still want to take action.

Sophos recommends deleting any entries in your news feed related to the links and check your profile and info pages to make sure that no links or pages related to those sites have been added to your profile.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized woman’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War:

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,”
Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day.

At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

As a Veteran myself, I hope you will join me and saying,

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, we think of how they have followed in the footsteps of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Please hold our service men and women in your strong arms. Cover them with your sheltering grace and presence as they stand in the gap for our protection.

We also remember the families of our troops, and ask for your unique blessings to fill their homes and your peace, provision and strength to fill their lives.

May the members of our armed forces be filled with courage to face each day and may they trust in the Lord’s mighty power to accomplish each task. Let our military brothers and sisters feel our love and support.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 Today was a prime example of that belief, when the search engine giant honored the 30 year history of “Pac-Man,” a personal favorite game of mine when I first garnered interest in the information technology profession.  Google modified their logo to display a Pac-Man game board with the Google trademarked name.  By clicking “Insert Coin” on the Google home page, the Pac-Man game board comes alive and you move the little “Pac-Man” around via the arrow keys on your keyboard.

The video below shows our hero in action against those pesky ghosts, obviously the player needs some practice but really, nobody is perfect.  Celebrating the anniversary of Pac-Man not only honors a legend, but it draws visitors to Google to use the engine along with having fun playing “Pac-Man.”  Hurry for this great opportunity will expire soon!  Thank you Pac-Man, Thanks for the memories, and thank you for helping shape our future in information technology!! 

Click here to view the embedded video.

 ”Here we are folks — the multimillion-channel TV,” said Google project director Rishi Chandra during a two-hour keynote.  With the addition of the new and recently improved “Android” operating system, users can now access all of their favorite websites via Google Chrome along with viewing their favorite TV shows.

  This announcement revolutionizes the entertaiment industry by bringing the internet in your living room.  Users can now view their favorite pictures on their TV in the form of a slideshow, play their favorite video game, or even listen to their favorite music.  With Google TV, your content is always a click or search away.

Since Google TV was built on open source platforms such as Google Chrome and Android, Google issued a challenge to application developers to optimize websites and develop applications for Google TV.  Google has also announced a partnership between Sony and Logitech to provide content rich applications.  The video below gives an overview of Google TV and all of the amazing features it provides. 

SEO Specialist Online is proud to be part of the Google TV experience and we are excitied to what the “future of television” may hold!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Subscribe to our “SEO News” updates to get the latest information on Google TV

Reports about the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill have been largely underestimated, according to commentators, including Paul Noel, a Software Engineer for the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. He believes that the pocket of oil that’s been hit is so powerful and under so much pressure that it may be virtually impossible to contain it. And Noel is not the only person questioning the scope of this disaster.

A recent story from the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reports that many independent scientists believe the leak is spewing far more than the 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, per day being reported by most media sources. They believe the leak could be discharging up to 25,000 barrels (more than one million gallons) of crude oil a day right now.

The riser pipe that was bent and crimped after the oil rig sank is restricting some of the flow from the tapped oil pocket, but as the leaking oil rushes into the well’s riser, it is forcing sand with it at very high speeds and “sand blasting” the pipe (which is quickly eroding its structural integrity).

According to a leaked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration memo obtained by an Alabama newspaper, if the riser erodes any further and creates more leaks, up to 50,000 barrels, or 2.1 million gallons, per day of crude oil could begin flooding Gulf waters every day.

When this disaster first occurred, the media downplayed it. BP spokespersons were quick to claim that the leakage was minimal and that crews would eventually be able to contain it. But as time went on, it became clear that things were not under control and that the spill was far more serious than we were originally told. (Gee, sound familiar? Remember Katrina?)

Yet some of the media reports still seem more like press releases than actual reporting because they continue to repeat what the public relations cleanup crews (pun intended) would like the public to believe rather than what’s actually happening. Reality, it seems, has a nasty habit of interfering with corporate spin.

Cap and trade becomes “cap and pray”

The New York Times yesterday reported that BP is working on a large containment dome that is intended to cap the leak and catch the escaping oil so that it can be safely pumped to the surface. Meanwhile, crews are said to be working on fixing the broken blow-out preventer valve that should have stopped the leak from happening in the first place, but they have been unsuccessful thus far.

Almost every report says that BP is doing everything it can to contain the spill and stop the leak, even though the company claims it is not technically at fault. According to an article from the U.K. Daily Mail, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward recently responded to the cleanup efforts by explaining, “This is not our accident but it is our responsibility to deal with it.”

Swiss-based Transocean is the company that actually owned and operated the sunken rig. It manned the rig with its own crew and BP just leased it from Transocean (which makes you wonder why BP is so willing to take full responsibility for everything).

BP says that it’s working on a relief well, but that it could take up to three months to complete. Until then, the company is trying several different approaches to at least slow the leak and hopefully stop it altogether.

Mind you, almost all of the information about the spill from day one has come directly from BP which obviously has every incentive to downplay the true environmental destruction that could be caused by this oil spill.

Even the word “spill” is incorrect. This isn’t some ship of oil that spilled into the ocean — it’s a “volcano” of oil spewing from the belly of Mother Earth herself. It’s under extremely high pressure, it’s spewing a huge volume of oil directly into the ocean, and there so far seems to be no human-engineered way of stopping it (short of setting off an underground nuclear bomb near the well site).

Addressing the unanswered questions

According to the CSM article, environmental risk models are normally performed for pollutants like crude oil, yet not one model has yet been released for this incident by BP or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many are wondering why this crucial information has not been made public. Could it be because the results of the model might seem too catastrophic?

Neither has there been an adequate explanation given for exactly why the oil rig exploded… twice! Some reports indicate that the crews responsible for properly cementing the well casing didn’t do it right. Others suggest that the oil deposit was just too large and under too much pressure for the equipment to handle it. (Be careful where you poke around the planet if you can’t handle what comes out, right?)

It’s also important to note that, according to a recent New York Times article, Halliburton was actually the company responsible for all the cementing work on the rig, which brings a third party into the picture.

BP’s federal permits allowed the company to drill up to 20,000 feet deep, but according to one of the workers who was onboard the rig during the explosion, drilling in excess of 22,000 feet had been taking place. This same worker is said to handle company records for BP, but BP has denied these allegations.

BP has declined to comment, however, on other allegations that the spill happened because it chose not to install necessary deep-water valves which would have acted as a last resort seal of protection in the event of an emergency.

Several other allegations include suspicions that the crews allowed gas to build up in the well bore and that the rig operator tried to detach too quickly from the well, causing a disruption.

BP, Halliburton and Transocean have all indicated that they are continuing to investigate the situation. When companies investigate themselves, however, the truth rarely comes out.

The possibility of an extinction event?

It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on in the Gulf right now, especially because there are so many conflicting reports and unanswered questions. But one thing’s for sure: if the situation is actually much worse than we’re being led to believe, there could be worldwide catastrophic consequences.

If it’s true that millions upon millions of gallons of crude oil are flooding the Gulf with no end in sight, the massive oil slicks being created could make their way into the Gulf Stream currents, which would carry them not only up the East Coast but around the world where they could absolutely destroy the global fishing industries.

Already these slicks are making their way into Gulf wetlands and beaches where they are destroying birds, fish, and even oyster beds. This is disastrous for both the seafood industry and the people whose livelihoods depend on it. It’s also devastating to the local wildlife which could begin to die off from petroleum toxicity. Various ecosystems around the world could be heavily impacted by this spill in ways that we don’t even yet realize.

There’s no telling where this continuous stream of oil will end up and what damage it might cause. Theoretically, we could be looking at modern man’s final act of destruction on planet Earth, because this one oil rig blowout could set in motion a global extinction wave that begins with the oceans and then whiplashes back onto human beings themselves.

We cannot live without life in the oceans. Man is arrogant to drill so deeply into the belly of Mother Earth, and through this arrogance, we may have just set in motion events that will ultimately destroy us. In the future, we may in fact talk about life on Earth as “pre-spill” versus “post-spill.” Because a post-spill world may be drowned in oil, devoid of much ocean life, and suffering a global extinction event that will crash the human population by 90 percent or more.

We may have just done to ourselves, in other words, what a giant meteorite did to the dinosaurs.

…We wish all the moms out there a very happy Mother’s day!

And may you each be fussed over, abundantly cherished and treated with all the kindness and caring that loving mothers everywhere have clearly earned.

For, who else but a loving mother is always there when you need her?

Who else can contribute the quality of love, understanding and caring which has been universally recognized as a depth of love that only a mother can provide?

So, thank you, loving mothers everywhere.

May you be loved the same in return!

Your Local Search

Local Searchers = READY to BUY

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone who came in your store was ready to buy, and not just there to browse or kill time?

One reason the yellow pages has such a strong hold over small businesses is that when Joe Consumer opens the yellow pages, he’s almost always ready to buy. (Have you ever known anyone to read the yellow pages casually?)

A person looking for a local retailer, entertainment outlet, or service business is often much closer in time to a buying decision, and their level of interest is greater. “Local clicks” very often represent better leads and convert better than general clicks.”

Think Local

Listen up, little guys. Google and the rest of the search giants are giving you a shot at a potentially huge business–for now.

The market for local searches on the Internet–searches that include geographic information like a state, city or ZIP code–should be booming. Research shop the Kelsey Group estimates the sector generated $3.4 billion last year, but it could grow to $13 billion by 2010. Meanwhile, traditional local advertising–from newspapers, local commercials, yellow pages ads and the like–generates an estimated $100 billion per year.

But while Google and Yahoo! dominate nearly every other part of the Web, they have yet to fill up on local-search traffic. The top five local search sites are only reaching about 55% of the general Internet audience.

Google itself isn’t even making the most of the local-search market share it has. About 25% of all Google searches are local, but only about 10% of Google’s ad revenue–about $220 million in its last quarter–comes from ads generated through local searches, says Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy.

What gives? “Everyone is tantalized by the sheer volume and wants to tap into these billions upon billions,” says Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, “but it’s very difficult to capture those dollars–it’s a complex, fragmented and inefficient market.”

The biggest problem is getting small mom-and-pop business owners–some 23 million of them–to sign up and pay for online ads. The auctioned-off, pay-per-click pricing for ads at search engines like Google and Yahoo! are far too complicated for small retail and service businesses, says Assaf Ran, chief executive of DAG Media, a niche online directory company.

Whether or not you have a brick and mortar store, it is vital to ensure your web site is ranked well in searches for your local area. What does this mean?

People aren’t just searching for ’widgets’ anymore they are searching for “widgets AND my town” more and more trying to narrow their searches to their own neighborhood. Why is this?

People want to know whom they are dealing with online. They want to be able to visit your business location for your offerings, or at least have the peace of mind that they could if they wanted to.

We love helping local businesses succeed in the ever evolving online world. In fact, we spotted the opportunity of “local search” well before Google began showing map results for local businesses inside it’s main search results.

The trend towards local search is growing every day and our clients have been seeing huge, and growing, rewards from their internet exposure with the help of our local SEO services.

Local SEO for Organic Search Rankings

Organic search results are the usual listings you see when you do a search in Google, Yahoo or MSN. Good rankings in organic search will drive the bulk of the traffic to your website. It is here where we can also target a wider range of keywords to maximize the local traffic your website receives.

We’ve been practicing organic SEO since before Google Maps and Yahoo Local even existed. We have a deep understanding of how the search engines operate and have stayed ahead of the curve when the engines make changes to their ranking algorithm. You’ll see long term benefits from our experience in developing local seo strategies.

Optimized Placement in Local Search Engines

Within the last couple of years the search engines have been providing improved “local search” features. Google in particular has been embedding these “Maps” inside their search pages as part of their Universal Search results. This has opened new opportunities for local businesses and requires different techniques, from organic SEO, to get exposure there.

We can help your business get more exposure with Local Maps SEO. As Maps usage grows it is becoming more important to be seen here as well as in organic search.

For More Information Contact SEO-Specialist-Online.com or call 800-897-6458

Recently Topeka Kansas became the most notable candidate to apply to be selected as a partner within the project. On March 2nd, CNN reported that the mayor of Topeka announced that the name of his city will be changed to “Google” as a request for consideration to be a part the Google project. On April 1st, Google responded in kind by Changing the Company name to “Topeka” as a friendly April fool’s joke.

Despite the popularity that Topeka received from their effort to become a part of the project, there are many other applicants that deserve consideration for their efforts. In the video below, CBS News issued a report on the progress on the selection of applicants for the project. Google fever runs deep within the United States. So who are going to be the winners and losers of the promotion? Whoever the winner or loser is, Google definitely comes out the winner in this deal!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last week various news networks reported that the tweets that you create on Twitter are now being archived in the Library of Congress. Tweets that are made from profiles on Twitter that are set to “public” status will now be archived. Despite this historical announcement, freedom of speech on Twitter has now come at a cost, that cost is “your privacy.”

Archival of tweets from twitter public profiles has some privacy experts and organizations concerned. Within the world of computing where information is delivered within a fast-paced environment in real-time, someone can see your tweets immediately after they are posted. I have seen people lose their jobs and tarnish their careers over what they posted on their Internet social network profiles.

The video below provides more information on this historic event. This news event today also teaches us a very important lesson:

What you say can and will be used against you!

Watch yourself out there on the internet and “Tweet Safely!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

This article was obtained and used with permission and can be found at http://www.seomarketingunderground.com