Categories
Blog

Google releases Knol

Google.com has finally released the long awaited ‘Wikipedia competitor – Knol. Just when you thought ‘Wiki was the de facto source for all your information – in comes Google and threatens to Knolminate Wiki! *excuse the puns*

So right about now I can hear most you asking…

“What on eath is Knol?”

You could be excused for thinking its a cool trendy new way of shortening / saying the word “Knowledge”… but.. oh hold on – I think that actually is the idea behind it! SO yeah you’re on the right track there.

http://knol.google.com <- check it out (after you finish reading this article)

According to Google (and this is the slog an as well) – “Knol is the unit of Knowledge”.

Google states the key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every knol will have an identified author (or group of authors). “It’s their knol, their voice, their opinion. Google expects multiple knols on the same subject.”

“With Knol, we are introducing a new method for authors to work together that we call moderated collaboration. With this feature, any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public.”

Good ol’ Wiki

Finding information online (without a sales pitch attached) can be a time consuming and frustrating process. For many years we have relied on Wikipedia.org to provide unbiased content – maintained by knowledgeable people according to the subject.

You can find information / facts on pretty much anything on Wiki. In fact I’ve used Wiki at least 10-15 times in the last two days when researching for my articles here at Demonised.com.

You can’t beat the good ol’ Wiki!

Many sites and services have tried to do a “wiki” but so far none have come even close to really being a competitor to the free online resource site. Instead many sites have focused on more specific niches and done a similar thing – but none have been able to beat Wiki.

Or can you?

Now that Google has stepped in with “knol” all that could suddenly change. That’s my personal view anyway. I mean think about it… to find information you have to search for it. Most people use a ‘search engine. The biggest and most popular search engine EVER just happens to be Google!

So… how fair do you think Google will play it? Now that they have their own product, how long will it be before a KNOL ‘page ranks higher than a wiki page when you search for something. How long before KNOL pages come above Wiki pages despite Wiki being around long and having more information?

In fact, would it be a bad thing for Wiki to have a competitor? Will Knol even be a competitor? Maybe Knol will go a different route – target different people etc?

We can’t be sure how it will turn out, still too many unanswered question… we’ll just have to wait and see.

What do you think of KNOL?

Are you a member? Will you become a member? – I want to hear your views.

Leave me a comment below and don’t forget to check out the related contents as I’ll be no doubt writing a lot more about KNOL!!

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Categories
Domains For Sale Sites for Sale

Sale: Affilate Site (CMS) + MySpace

I made this site almost a year ago, the intention was to use it to release coupons and special offers via the site. The web site is made using Joomla Content Management System. It has everything in place and is ready to go. I’ve done very little to none in terms of promotion. The site has been neglected and needs a new owner ASAP!

This is what’s including in this sale:

  • Fully developed website
  • Content Management System (easily add, edit content via secure admin panel)
  • Integrated Adsense & Affiliate Banner Modules (just add your own ID’s)
  • Domain name (superSaveMore.com)
  • All content including logo’s and images (PSD files)
  • Fully customised myspace profile (used for promoting the site)
  • Free hosting for 1 year.
  • Create up to 50 email address
  • Create up to 50 sub directories
  • Park up to 10 Domains

The website is built to be used as an affiliate marketing tool. You can easily promote affiliate products. Alternatively you can also use the site as a blog. The choice is yours.

Having a CMS means you can easily add pages/content to the site via a secure admin panel. You can also control advertising by copy and pasting links/images to the built-in banner modules. There is also a Google Adsense module allowing you to easily display adsense throughout the site – easily change how the ads look by adjusting values in the module. So can control how and where the ads appear by just editting value in the module.

The site is now for sale at a BUY IT NOW price of just $275.

Alternatively you can make me an offer – I will sell the domain to the person who makes me the highest offer closest to the Buy It Now price.

‘Contact me – to make an offer.

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Categories
Domains For Sale

Sale: Armyz.com – 5L Brandable

Armyz.com is a rare 5 letter short brandable domain name. It consists of a dictionary word followed by a “z” making it extremely brandable. The domain name comes with a pre-made logo which will be provided for FREE in various formats (JPG/PNG and ‘PSD files). Armyz.com is registered at GoDaddy and has plenty of registration time remaining (expires on 30th May 2009).

Comes with a FREE logo (PSD)

As mentioned above, the domain name will come with free logo. The logo will be provided in various formats including a ‘PSD file – meaning it can be modified/customised to your needs. You can see the sample logo below:

Armyz.com Free PSD Logo

Short (5 letter) Domain Name

The domain name consists of just five letters. Finding domains like this to register by hand is almost impossible. All the good and even half decent five letter domain names have already been registered, making this a rare find.

Perfect for Web 2.0

Short brandable domain names are perfect for ‘web 2.0 web sites. They easy to remember, easy to type and can easily be branded. Having the word “Army” in there also makes this name stand out and create great development possibilities.

Example ideas/suggestions for the Domain

You may already have ideas for this domain name but here are just a few right off the top of my head…

  • Social Networking Site – turn it into the next big social networking site. What about a cool slogan like “Create your armyz at armyz.com”. Armyz can be what you call groups, people join and become part of groups or “Armyz”.
  • Online RPG / Gaming site – Great for either a text based or flash based game site. “Create an account, train your soldiers and go to battle with your armyz!”
  • Name of a Record Label – Again this will easy fit as the name of a record label… especially for a Drum and Bass record label. In fact…
  • Artist Management / Booking Agency – For managing or booking artists. This would be a great name for a booking agency, especially with Drum and Bass considering the “army / jungle / soldier” theme. “Join the Armyz Booking Agency”.

Thats just a few quick ideas, but put your thinking cap on you’ll surely come up with hundreds of better ones than I have. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

Price

I have yet to set a solid price for this so I’m willing to listen to reasonable offers. You can make an offer via Sedo.com or using my ‘Domain Portfolio right here on Demonised.com.

Categories
Promotion & SEO

Web Directories – Are they useful?

I’ve had a lot of people ask me whether I think its worth submitting websites to ‘web directories’… “will I get traffic by submitting my site to a directory?”. The answer isn’t as straight forward as it used to be.

When I first started out on the net, developing websites… waaay back in 1998; I was advised by experienced webmasters that I could get good traffic by submitting my sites to web directories. There are free directories and also paid ones, but I was advised to go with the free ones to start off with.

Back then, I got what I considered to be decent traffic. But things have changed now. There are now millions of web directories all over the net – the free directories no longer give you as much traffic. People use them less to find sites and more to submit their own sites.

But, saying that… I wouldn’t say its a waste of time submitting your site to free directories. Far from it. There are still a lot of benefits to getting your web site into free directories.

The idea is to get your site listed in as many directories as possible – but just make sure these directories are related to your sites content. There’s no point in listing your Travel related site in a photographers directory! In fact you’ll most likely get banned from that directory anyway.

Here are some advantages of submitting your site to directories:

1. For Permanent Listings / Backlinks: Many webmasters and SEO specialists consider that older links are of huge importance to search engines and they supplement not only the ranking value of your domain, but also amplify the resale price.

2. Anchor Text: If you can use the right anchor text in your directory listing then it will help you rank higher in search engines for those important keywords.

3. Screenshots: A lot of web site directories now offer automatic screen-shots for your web site. This makes it visually pleasing and can get you visitors who click onto the screen-shot.

4. Deep Links: They are extremely helpful. Web sites with deep links are likely to perform much better than those that don’t any!

5. Direct Traffic: You might not huge traffic directly from the directory you submit to, but you will get some. More importantly, you will get traffic from better search engine placements – which directory lists can help improve.

Disadvantages of submitting your site to directories:

1. Time Consuming: This is probably the only disadvantage to listing sites to directories. It can take a lot of time – UNLESS – you have the right tools. Check ‘directory tools’ for more info.

Some useful tips:

Avoid using services that promise bulk submissions to directories. It is very difficult to check the quality of such directories, your site could end up in directories that have no relevance to your sites contents. This will add no advantage to your site and would be a waste of time.

Remember that directory submissions are a long-term SEO strategy and not a link strategy. Hence, do not expect extreme inbound traffic from your directory submissions, but instead have patience.

Categories
Domaining Promotion & SEO

Find out whos linking to your site

I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times before – backlinks are great for your site. Having quality backlinks to your site helps in getting better search engine rankings and that means more traffic! So, you’ve exchanged links with similar sites, submitted your sites to ‘web directories’ – now how do you check how many backlinks you’ve accumalated?

Well, there’s a few simple to use tools to help you find just that.

Below you’ll find the tools used to find who’s linking back to your site – but keep in mind they may not be 100% accurate.….

Using Google:

See how many ‘backlinks’ your site has using Google, follow these simple instructions…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Google.com
  3. In the search box type in:

link:yourURL

eg. link:www.yourdomain.com

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Using Yahoo:

Google doesn’t always give you all the existing backlinks, not always up-to-date… it gives some but doesn’t always show them all. A lot of people also use Yahoo! as well as Google to find more accurate numbers.

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Yahoo.com
  3. In the search box type in:

linkdomain:yourURL

eg. linkdomain:www.yourdomain.com

You can also use some free website tools to find more information – use all the information you find, look at the numbers and they’ll help give you a more than rough idea of how many backlinks your site has.

Other Tools:

URL Trends – http://www.urltrends.com
This website/tool is more than just a backlink checker, you’ll find tons of other information on there too.

iWebTools Backlink Checker – http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker
This is a fantastic website, worth bookmarking if you’re a webmaster or designer. It has this backlink checker tool plus a whole load of other tools which can be very useful for SEO and other research involved in development or even domaining.

BackLink Finder – http://www.backlinkfinder.com
This a very basic tool, shows you roughly how many backlinks your site has.

Let me know what you think!

That’s yer lot for now. As always I would appreciate some feedback and comments. If you know of other tools or tricks related to backlinks, feel free to leave me a comment below – if I add your suggestions I will of course credit you.

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Categories
Promotion & SEO

Does Google like your site?

Find out what Google thinks of your website. Learn why its important for Google to like your site. In this article I show you how to check your ‘backlinks’, ‘indexed pages’, ‘page rank’ and even what Google has of your site in its ‘Cache’!

What Google thinks of your site really does matter if you want to succeed online. This is because Google, with over 60% of the U.S. search engine market; has become the most dominant ‘search engine’ online. How your site ranks within this (and other) search engines can have a huge impact on how much ‘traffic’ your site gets.

If you’re a ‘webmaster’ (web designer), you probably already know how vital Google is to the success of your site, especially if you rely upon organic keyword rankings for your traffic. This free organic traffic from Google is highly desired by webmasters because it is extremely targeted and delivers high conversion rates.

More traffic usually means more ‘leads’ and more leads equals more sales.

Even if you’re not selling a product, but rely on any kind of revenue generating through your site, be it from ‘Google Adsense’ or affiliate links or something else – traffic matters! The more visitors you get, the higher the chances of these visitors clicking on paid adverts (such as Adsense) and the more clicks you get, the more money you make!

In fact, even if you’re site is non-profit based, you would still want more people coming to it so that they can see your message or whatever it is that you have on your site.


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If you’re NOT interested in getting more traffic or having people see your site – then you might want to ask yourself  WHY you’ve made a web site in the first place! If you don’t want to share – then maybe its best to keep your content on your own computer rather than releasing it online!

Anyway…

As a webmaster myself, I’m always trying to get the highest rankings possible. Its important for me (same applies for most webmasters) to be aware of how Google views my site. It can be a headache trying to understand Google – but if you get the basics then eventually the rest will fall into place.

The more knowledge you gain about Google in terms of how its viewing your site, the better you will be equiped to tackle any obstacles and challenges that come your way. Getting a good ranking in Google would also mean you get good rankings on other search engines too. Not the same rankings, but similar.

How Google shows its love & hate through SERPs

Some webmasters would argue with this statement, but I think the best way to judge Google’s love for your site is via the SERPs (search engine results pages)! If your site/pages are ranked in the first page then it means Google likes your site – it thinks its important for the keywords that were used in that search.

However, the tricky part is – what keywords are you using to search with? Would they be the same keywords used by millions of other regular people?

Anyway, there are other ways to find out how Google is viewing your website/content. The webmaster tools below will give you a better picture of what the big Goog thinks about your site.

Check your content & Keywords

Googles Keyword Tool – used by advertisers who use Adwords, can also be used to find out what Google thinks of your pages. It gives you a rough idea of what Google thinks your pages are about by displaying the keywords it picks up.

Googles Keyword Analysis Tool – Click here

  • Type in your URL you want to check
  • Tick off website content

You will then get a listing of the major keywords Google has for your content for that particular url. If your targeted keyword or keywords are not listed, then you’re doing something wrong – it means you’ll have some re-writing to do on that particular page in order to ensure the main keywords are picked up.

Check Your Backlinks in Google

If you want to see how many ‘backlinks’ your site has in Google.com then just follow these simple instructions…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Google.com
  3. In the search box type in:

link:yourURL

eg. link:www.yourdomain.com

This will show you the number of backlinks to your website in Google.

Check Your Backlinks in Yahoo!

Google doesn’t always give you all the existing backlinks – it gives some, but doesn’t always show all. Many webmasters use Yahoo! as well as Google to find more accurate numbers. Just follow these simple steps…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Yahoo.com
  3. In the search box type in:

linkdomain:yourURL

eg. linkdomain:www.yourdomain.com

This will show you the number of backlinks to your website in Yahoo.

Check Your PageRank in Google

‘PageRank’, also known as PR was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It is supposed to be the heart of Google’s ranking system; each link is considered a “vote” for your page and the higher the number of “votes” you have, the higher the PR your page receives.

PageRank Tool – Click here

  • Type in your URL you want to check
  • Press enter! Simple.

‘PageRank’ is a bit of sticky issue. Google uses “smoke and mirrors” to conceal your true PageRank in order to cut out abuse and manipulation of their results. However, many experts still believe that the PageRank still counts – whereas some say it doesn’t.

Check how your site in Googles Cache

Using Googles cache, you can find out when your site was last retrieved (if ever). I’m not sure how important this will prove, but its a nifty little thing to try…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Google.com
  3. In the search box type in:

cache:yourURL

eg. cache:www.yourdomain.com

Thats all for now…

So there you have it, a nice little run down of how to find out if Google likes your site or not. Hope you find these tools helpful – but try not to get too obsessed with the PageRank tool. Although it helps to have a high PageRank, it doesn’t necesarrily mean it will bring you traffic.

The most important thing is the keywords and how you rank in the SERPs.

Make sure you check out the related contents below – you’ll find some more info and more detailed tips on how to make use of these tools, as well as how to improve your websites rankings in Google.

Leave a comment – tell me what you think.

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Leave a comment – share your thoughts!
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Categories
FAQ (Development)

What is a “Web Directory”?

Web Directories are sometimes confused with ‘search engines’ – and vice versa, but they are not the same thing. The biggest difference is probably that a Web directory is maintained by humans (in most cases) instead of software and the Web sites are organized by subject.

The searcher looks at sites organized in a series of categories and menus. ‘Web directories’ are usually much smaller than search engines’ databases, since the sites are looked at by human eyes instead of by ‘spiders’.

Web directories are usually dedicated to specific niches/subjects, however there are many which are quite general – they list pretty much anything.

There are also paid directories and free directories. In paid directories, it costs a fee to have a web site included in that directory. In free web directories it doesn’t cost anything to have a web site included.

Below are some examples of web directories:

  • Yahoo: Yahoo has one of the best Web directories on the Web, along with its own search engine listings and many other search services.
  • PhotographersDB is a dedicated directory listing photographers’ websites, portfolios and social pages. It is organized by locations and is free to submit links.
  • The Open Directory also known as DMOZ has been around since 1999, and is a human-edited directory. The Open Directory Project purports to be the “largest on the Web”, constructed and maintained by a “vast, global community of volunteer editors.”
Categories
FAQ (Domains)

What is “Domaining”?

The term “domaining” is used to describe the business of buying, selling, developing and monetizing Internet domain names. This is where the domain names are being used for investments instead of developing websites.

Think of it as Internet real estate if you like. The person involved in this business is usually referred to as a “domainer”. He/she invests in domain names with the hope of selling them for a profit to an “end-user” or even to other domainers.

You can think of it as buying empty land, not for the purpose of building a house on it, but as an investment with the view to sell to someone who has might want to build on it.

See the related content below for more information.

Categories
Domains For Sale

Sale: AdwordsCenter.com

AdwordsCenter.com gets a few visits and is generating revenue from clicks whilst being parked at Sedo. I’ve added the domain to my domains portfolio – if you’re interested you can either make me an offer via the portfolio or via Sedo – which ever you prefer.

AdwordsCenter.com

The domain has been parked at Sedo since the end of May 2008… Counting from June 2008 the domain has received 80 unique views and 17 clicks – totaling just over €6 (euros) in revenue.

Not a huge deal in terms of traffic and revenue – but keep in mind the domain has not been optimized and has only been parked (never developed as far as I know).

Therefore it would have to be assumed that the visitors are coming from pure type-in traffic.

Furthermore, they are actually clicking on related adverts, proven by the good click-through ratio.

Also, the payout from each click has been very good in most cases. Highest being around $2 from one click.

Possible uses

You could buy the domain and develop it into a website about Adwords – a blog/information center about how to make use of adwords. Basically a traffic/promotions website.

Considering the high paying clicks just from parking, you could be getting at least double that amouth using adsense or yahoo ypn – not to mention affiliate links and private advertising.

Price

I’m not looking for a big sale on this, just a quick one.

Taking offers from $75+

Register on Demonised.com and/or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with future domains for sale – and free available domains lists.

Thanks for looking.

Categories
Movies

The Happening (2008)

M. Night Shyamalan (director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend’s daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo.

Demonised Review:

I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible because there really isn’t anything good to say about this movie… and I don’t want to go too deep into portraying just how bad it is (which can be easily done).

I saw the movie advertised on MySpace.com – watched a very short trailer – which to be honest didn’t reveal much but was probably definitely better than the movie itself.

So… the story… well something is happening. No one knows what!

The movie kicks off on a normal New York morning, with people traveling to work, jogging through Central Park and generally going about their daily business. Then something happens. Something terrible. Theres a strange gust of wind and then people suddenly stop in their tracks, lose their bearings, start to talk nonsense and then finally kill themselves.

This theme kinda continues throughout the movie.

We don’t really understand what’s happening until two thirds of the way through the movie. I was surprised I actually made it that far considering how awful the dialogue and even worse performances were – right from the begining.

The acting is absolutely atrocious!

Mark Walberg, playing Philadelphia science teacher Elliot Moore plays the lead role. His class is halted and he is given the news of what’s been happening. He races home to make sure his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) is ok. Unfortunately this is where the movie takes an even bigger dive.

Walbergs acting is unbelievably crap! Zooey Deschanel’s is probably even worse. The couple’s relationship is on the rocks (yes a side plot) – this was supposed to add a bit of human heart to the movie but sadly both their acting lets this down too.

Walberg’s reactions would seem like he’s about to break out into tears and Zooeys expressions seemed like as shes seen a ghost and pooped her pants – at the same time looking really confused and out of place.

If people like this can make it big in acting, it really makes me wonder what the future in cinematography holds.

The Verdict

I can’t believe this was directed by the same person who was behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable! M. Night Shyamalan really couldn’t have made a bigger piece of poop even if he tried.

I can excuse the story line, the plot… even the shoddy production… but the acting was just over the top. The dialogue was horrendous! I couldn’t take it. The screenplay is terrible! What were they thinking!

The movie had potential. The concept was fantastic. But sadly everything else that surrounds it… just stank!

Rating

I’ll be generous and give this a big fat ONE out of TEN!

Rated: 15

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Theatrical Release: 13-06-2008