On June 17, 2008 The New York Times reported,

…Nick Fox, a director of product management who looks after ads on Google’s search site, said the company was now testing the use of more search queries in its ad targeting. He did not describe how it was doing that. But Internet experts said that it was most likely using its cookies.

Let’s all step back for a moment and keep in mind exactly why we are allowing Google ( and other online companies) access to our personal information. Personally, I will sacrifice my user experience for a little privacy!

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Using Google and SEO here are some interesting comparisons between Barack Obama and John McCain.

In Google type in obama and search results are #155,000,000
If you put “obama” in quotes you get #156,000,000

In Google type in mccain and search results are #76,900,000
If you put “mccain” in quotes you get #77,300,000

Barack Obama has a splash page with his family.
John McCain does not have a splash page.

Barack Obama has optimized his title tag on his splash page as “Welcome to Obama for America”.
Barack’s home page title tag is “Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Home”

McCain has optimized his title tag as “John McCain - John McCain for president”

Prime real estate on Barack’s home page has a “Donate Now” button, followed with “Make A Difference”.
Prime real estate on John McCain’s home page has “Get Involved” followed with a “Contribute” button.

On Barack Obama’s splash page the meta keywords and description read:

meta name=”keywords” content “Senator Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign”
meta name “description” content=”Official Website of Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign”

On Barack’s home page the meta keywords and description read:
meta name “description” content “Official Website of Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign”
meta name “keywords” content “president, senator, illinois, chicago, barack, barck, barek, obama, 2008, 08, presidential, president, campaign, election”

On John McCain’s home page the meta keywords and description read:
meta name “description” content “John McCain 2008 - The Official Website of John McCain’s 2008 Campaign for President”
meta name “keywords” content “John McCain, McCain, mccain for president, John S. McCain, McCain 2008, president, presidential, 2008, campaign, election, straight talk, straight talk express, politics, political, john mccain, john mccain for president, senator john mccain, sen. john mccain, cindy mccain, john mcain, john mckaine, john maccane, jon mccain, john maccaine, john mccaine, mccain 2008, johnmccain.com, senator mccain, mccain 2000, mccain campaign, mccain hq, exploremccain.com, explore mccain, mccain exploratory committee, mccain exploratory”

And finally my last Obama vs McCain comparison between candidates is their use of the h1 tag:
On Obama’s home page the  <h1><a href=“http://www.barackobama.com/index.php”><img src=“http://www.barackobama.com/images/temp_flashheader.jpg” alt=“Obama for America”/></a></h1>

On McCain’s home page there is NO <h1> tag.

And the next president of the United States is …???

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1. A healthy portion of exposed audiences interact with video ads. On average, 8% of video ads generate a user interaction.
2. Users click video “Play” button more than they click on image ads. Video ads generate about three times the replay rate as image ads generate clicks through to advertisers’ sites.
3. On average, video ads play two thirds of the way through. Play-through rates do not vary greatly by expandable or standard video ad formats.
4. Video click rates are far higher than image format ads. Users click on video ads about five times as often as they do on image ads.

These findings are worth consideration especially as internet service providers boost development of high speed access and social media applications.  In an article from DUBLIN, Ireland, Jun 19, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE), “…Companies such as Intel, Comcast, Google, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will take control of Sprints existing XOHM service, with plans to roll out WiMAX networks throughout the United States and offer mobile broadband services.”

Related to the latest trends, PRNewswire reported, “AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced the launch of two new mobile applications — JuiceCaster 6.0 and Buzzwire — that keep you connected to your online world. JuiceCaster 6.0 enables you to use (more…)

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read more | digg story

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Photoshop tip on making a selection

Step 1. open image.

Step 2. copy background to new layer.
on copy layer go to: Image/Adjustments/Desaturate.

Step 3. on desaturated layer open curves: Image/Adjustments/Curves -slide the left (white) input triangle toward the middle. Slide the (black) input triangle toward the middle. In my example I wanted to keep the phone line  deselected (it is located on top left of my sky). So I kept an eye on how my selection was as I worked toward the middle with the triangles. Hit Ok when you get a decent black and white image.

Step 4. Use the magic wand to select the sky. Turn off contiguous. Turn the tolerance to a low number like 10.  With contiguous turned off the area between the trees and sky will be selected, but you will also get some minor selections in the grass -no problem. With the selection still active enter quick mask mode (short cut is Q). Select the brush and paint over the grass area adding to the mask (use black to add to mask).

Exit quick mask mode (short cut is Q) and save selection (name it sky on a new channel) -Select/Save selection …click ok and deselect the selection.

Step 5. Delete the desaturated layer. Now you only have the original background.

Step 6. Click on the original background layer and load the selection: Selection/Load Selection/ and under Source Channel use the fly out menu to select sky.

Step 7.  With the background layer active and the selection active go to: Layer/Layer Via Copy (Apple J) -this will create a copy of the sky on a new layer.

Step 8. With the background layer active, load the selection “sky”. Go to- Select/Inverse. and then go to : Layer/Layer Via Copy. this will create a copy of the land on a new layer.

You now have three layers. The background. One layer with the sky and One layer with the land.

After a few color adjustments here is my final image. I even save my phone line.

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#10.) Only bikers are buying Harleys.

#09.) People are drinking Budweiser.

#08.) There was a Lamborghini in the parking lot of WalMart.

#07.) No one is making sense, and no one can afford to pay attention.

#06.) Brad and Angelina decided not to buy an island in the Bahamas for $83 million dollars; and instead bought a house in France for only $70 million dollars.

#05.) Apple decided to debut the new iPhone for only $199.00.

#04.) President Bush denied the U.S. is in a recession.

#03.) A gallon of gas is now more expensive than a gallon of milk .

#02.) The levees in Iowa and Illinois are broke.

#01.) If you drop a dollar you will get a ticket for littering.

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read more | digg story

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As 2009 approaches search engine optimization strategies have increasingly incorporated social networks and media. The new (and improved) tread in SEO is about, “creating personal relationships with others”. The old fashion word of mouth, grass-roots doing business with friends mentality is back, and better than ever.

In the past, SEO stressed code, site structure and links. However today, SEO is changing. Optimizing is not only about good HTML, site structure, and links, but SEO now includes online social networks and the opportunities they provide. It is not about asking for business or clicking on Adsense links, it is about community and helping others first.

Networking is nothing new, only the medium has changed. For years businesses have joined clubs and organizations where they network and meet others in the community with similar interest. Today, the internet has it’s own set of clubs and organization that provide similar relationships, only online. There are a number of sites (more…)

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If you visit twitter.com in the middle of the home page you will see the following statement:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

So how can Twitter be used to create loyalty and build your brand? The answer is simple, use Twitter to develop friends first and business later. This means putting yourself out there on a “transparent level” so people following you will get to know and understand “who you are” on a personal level.

Talk about what you are doing and stay in touch with clients after the job is completed. Soon clients will get to know you even better. And, if you keep the client in mind, you might even be able to refer a friend to a client (live to give).

Finally, if you like to meet people and you enjoy helping others before yourself, Twitter can be very rewarding both personally and professionally. In a recent webcast, ericaogrady (a seasoned twitterer) recommended trying it for 30 days and twitter about 10 times a day. So give it a try and see what happens. Happy Twittering.

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