Archive for October, 2009

Backlinks are essential in getting a favourable position in the Google, Bing and Yahoo Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). There are various means of attaining links (backlinks) to a Website with publishing articles online as a means of achieving this. How this method works is that an article is published on one of the article submission services and the author may include a little sales pitch (with links) at the end of the article. The article may be republished from the article service however it must be republished ‘as is’ (i.e. no changes). If the article is therefore republished the author may expect to attain numerous links to their website. Unfortunately plagiarism and dishonest abounds on the Internet.

Plagiarism when Copying Content

I really don’t know why but the vast majority of republishers attempt to claim the articles from these article services as their own or else remove the links and add their own. This is not only against the various article services terms of use however is really ‘cheap’. Why not just publish the article as-is and give credit where it is due? There is no negative impact of being honest so why try to pass the content as someone else’s.

Give Credit where it is Due

I decided to do a quick check on articles that I have published on Ezinearticles to see whether my articles are being attributed correctly. I found that my articles have been republished (in one case a few hundred times) however only very few republishers aren’t removing the links and author name. I really do not understand the reason for this dishonesty; if you are copying someone’s work then at least give credit to the author.

Incoming search terms for this article:

• ezinearticles site:eckstein id au

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In the early days of the Web speed was more necessary than presentation due to bandwidth constraints. Then came DSL/ADSL at which time graphics, Flash content and other bandwidth hungry ‘things’ blossomed. We now seem to be again going towards speed as Webpage best practice. Of course this cycle will likely turn the corner again when Fibre to the Node becomes widespread.

With speed in mind I decided to optimise my Website. Now as, many of my readers will know, I am a bit of a fan of the

Theory of Constraints (TOC) so here is what I did in relation to the TOC ‘five focusing steps’ (yes, Management Theory is just as relevant to I.T. as any other aspect of business):

1. Identify the Constraint

Firefox with the Firebug and YSlow plugins equals great free Webpage load speed measuring (and recommendation) tools. I started with an overall C grade from YSlow with various recommendations. I decided to concentrate on reducing the number of HTTP requests which in turn would lead to fewer DNS lookups. Not only did my site rate poorly by YSlow in relation to HTTP requests (too many) but is was obvious from accessing the site that it was slow due to fetching data from external Sites.

2. Decide how to exploit the constraint

My Site is run with the mighty WordPress. As far as possible I like to keep WordPress as generic as possible and refrain from too many customizations (I handle customizations through Themes and Plugins). I have amended the CSS of the Theme I use (Hybrid Theme) and performed a few other small tweaks however that’s about it as far as my WordPress customization goes. Fortunately it was very obvious as to how to reduce HTTP requests; turn off WP-Oomph and use fewer images (by eliminating some and combining others).

3. Subordinate all other processes to above decision

This step meant making various changes so that once I performed step 4 below my whole Site wouldn’t collapse. In essence this was about planning and preparing the system for the post-elevation (i.e. step 4) state. For example, I just love that WP-oomph provides an easy means for Website visitors to view and store my h-card information. WP-Oomph was taking forever to load on my Site so was reducing my Website performance in relation to load speed. An alternative to WP-Oomph is to display my v-card information in the Footer of the Site. It’s not as pretty as using WP-Oomph however is way quicker to load.

4. Elevate the constraint

This step was quick and simple. Because in Step 3 I had made the necessary preparation all I needed do in this step was disable the WP-Oomph WordPress Plugin as well as remove the obsolete images.

Continuous Improvement

And now … back to Step 1 and through the process again.

Through following the Theory of Constraints ‘five focusing steps’ I have improved my YSlow rating from a C to an A in less than a day. Thanks Google and thanks Theory of Constraints!

Here are some excellent posts in relation to speeding up your Website:

• .htaccess – gzip and cache your site for faster loading and bandwidth saving
• CSS Sprites: How Yahoo.com and AOL.com Improve Web Performance
• Some WordPress optimization tips

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• 10 Steps – SPEED up your WebSite
• The Theory of Constraints – in Plain English
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Technorati has released its new Blog Authority ranking. The amount of detail provided by Technorati as to how the authority is really determined is about as deeply secret as the Coca-Cola recipe or which ‘eleven herbs and spices’ are used by KFC. As per many of us Bloggers, I have been interested in determining how the new Technorati authority is calculated as some of my blogs are getting a reasonable score whereas others are deemed as useless by Technorati (and there doesn’t seem logic in the way the authority is calculated, at this time anyway).

Technorati Indexes RSS Feeds

I do however have a theory; I believe that Technorati is using the data in RSS/Atom feeds as its source data. This means that rather than relying on a ‘bot’/spider/web-crawler, Technorati is relying on information fed to it by the likes of a Pub/Sub system such as Google Pubsubhubbub. Google uses RSS/Atom information as processed by Pubsubhubbub so that it is able to provide near real time Search Results. Have you noticed that your Blog posts are indexed by Google very quickly – this is due to the active monitoring of your RSS/Atom feed through Pubsubhubbub.

And why I think that Technorati has gone Pub/Sub…

1. The Technorati Authority is updated frequently (there is no way that Technorati is able to have a ‘bot’ to crawl billions of pages a day as well as process them a few times per day).
2. There is a heavy reliance on recent links and data.
3. Technorati has noted that Blogroll links aren’t included in Authority rankings (RSS/Atom feeds do not include Blogroll links).

Implications of Technorati using RSS/Atom Data

If Technorati is in fact using the Pub/Sub model then there are various implications for SEO in relation to Technorati. Considerations include:

1. The data your Feed contains is what is indexed i.e. if your comments aren’t available via a feed then they won’t be indexed.
2. If you don’t publish/post content frequently then you won’t have content indexed frequently (yes, this is obvious).
3. Trackbacks/Pingbacks won’t be included as an authority measure.
4. Inlinks/Backlinks are more important than ever!!!

I’m pretty sure that Technorati is using the data from RSS/Atom feeds in indexing and determining Blog authority. This may well put more SEO focus on feed content and supports those SEO experts that say that links are still the most important SEO element.

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Malware is a generic term for I.T. related security issues such as phishing, viruses, Trojans and other harmful and unwanted I.T. activities. Malware infection is very widespread and the method of attack is constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Internet crime (of which security is the central pillar in the fight against this type of crime) is very big business and is worth billions of dollar per year to organized crime syndicates. Unfortunately many businesses view security threats as purely tangible i.e. an alarm will be fitted at physical locations and physical assets insured. Cyber crime however can be far more detrimental to a business; how would your customers react if cyber criminals attained their credit card details from your computer and sold them Online?

Here are five simple tips to increase your I.T. security. Fortunately there is usually no need to buy I.T. security software as the free software is just as good as paid-for software:

1. Install and use Anti-Virus Software

Paid-for Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Internet security software such as MacAfee and Norton are commonly used and are typically good products. Often however the costs of the products are expensive which discourage use and updating the software (and virus definitions). Fortunately there are a few very good competing products which are free to use and update (check licensing conditions of these products to find out if free use applies to you); AVG is excellent and Microsoft Security Essentials is new and getting rave reviews.

Of course, anti-virus and anti-spyware products are only useful is they are kept up-to-date and are used!

2. Install and use a Firewall

Quite simply, a firewall detects communication to or from your computer which is irregular and is typical of Malware. Much Malware is intended to gather and send data from an infected computer to the cyber hacker (e.g. credit card details). A Firewall attempts to detect and block this malicious transfer of data. Windows Firewall is included with Windows XP and Vista and is very effective. There are also numerous paid-for Firewalls however they are unlikely to offer any benefits over the free offering from Microsoft (i.e. Windows Firewall).

3. Update Software

Effective software developers are constantly updating software to be more secure. It is therefore essential to keep software updated. Some updating of software may be automated (such as Windows Updates and anti-virus updates) however the need to update other software may be difficult to detect. Fortunately there are free Online and software resources available that advise which software needs to be updated and will make updating more simple. One of these resources is Secunia; a scan will note what software needs updating and a link to the update is provided.

4. Secure Email and Internet Access

Email is the most prolific means of spreading malware. Most of us receive significant volumes of spam of which numerous are of ill intent. Fortunately most good email providers (including Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail) provide junk-mail and spam filters. Ensure however that your email provider is providing a level of protection against illicit emails. Above all it is important to be conscious that cyber-criminals are attempting to gain access to your computer through email (awareness of security issues is discussed later in this article).

Internet Browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer and Firefox) have built in security which is effective however nothing replaces caution when it comes to Online security. Fortunately the major search engines don’t display known malware distribution sites and further Online security may be attained through the likes of AVG free edition (as discussed previously where every page visited is checked for malicious content.

5. Be Aware

Being conscious of the threat of I.T. malware is the most beneficial means of avoiding cyber-criminal activities. Stay up to date with security threats by reading articles on good quality computer security sites such as StopBadware. Most of all however always remain diligent and cautious and do not open files from unknown email addresses nor give away personal information online unless you are able to verify the requester.

The spread of Malware is at an all time high. Protection against Trojans, anti-spyware and other malicious content can mostly be defended against with free software. Don’t let your business be negatively affected through malware (if the head of the FBI can fall victim to cyber-crime then chances are, so can you).

If your require advice and guidance with, or implementation of, I.T. security contact me (I don’t sell hardware or software therefore am able to provide the best solution for your needs).

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Well done to my alumni, Henley Business School at the University of Reading (formerly Henley Management College). In the Economist ‘2009 full-time MBA ranking‘, Henley is ranked at number 21.

Here are the top 30 MBA’s per the rankings:

Here is a bit about Henley from their website:

Henley Business School at the University of Reading is a leading international business school based in the UK. One of the few business schools globally to hold triple accredited status, we were also the first UK business school and are one of the oldest in Europe.

Incoming search terms for this article:

• henley management college
• mba ranks financial review

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