Warmest Greetings,
:: Thursday, July 03, 2003 ::
Free speech upheld for bloggers and other online forms of communications >>> Bloggers Gain Libel Protection. Which simply means every time I poke and jab Google, I don't have to fear retaliation. Although acknowledgement of some sort they even know I'm alive would be interesting enough I suppose...
Discussion of the The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling at Cre8asite Forums.
I was lying in bed late last night wishing I had my laptop with me. For some reason, right before I fall asleep is when I get these great ideas for things to write about here. Most of them have nothing whatsoever to do with SEO, the web or usability. Then I think to myself, "Nah, they don't wanna hear about how I feel about blah blah" or "Yuck. That would mean sharing something of myself. CAN'T do that!" Insecurity is so much fun.
Duh. I hate it when studies are done on things I knew were going to happen and warned people about but everyone said "Everything will be just fine, Kim. Shut up."
"Many online consumers think of search engines as online tools that help them to quickly find Web sites most relevant to their keyword queries, particularly when they are unsure of where to surf next. This trust in search engines may make them vulnerable while online, as they are largely unaware such navigation sites often accept fees in exchange for giving advertiser Web pages prominent placement on their search results pages. "
Lately I'm finding that paying for a spot under keywords means zilch as far as relevancy or usability. All the money does is pay for a spot in a search engine. It doesn't mean it really belongs there. It doesn't mean it will have what you had in mind when you typed in those keywords. It doesn't mean when you visit the site it will be designed well or be easy to learn how to use. How many times do you search for a "Free blah blah", find 150 results, click on them, and find what's free is either not there at all, or was a trick to get you to click on the site, or it's hidden somewhere with a link buried under a ton of design obstacles?
I loved this from Consumer WebWatch >>> False Oracles: Consumer Reaction to Learning the Truth About How Search Engines Work
Results of an Ethnographic Study. (Thanks for the lead Kalena!)
Along the same theme is this article, Impatient web searchers measure web sites' appeal in seconds, which we're discussing at Cre8siteForums. James Saunders of the newly launched, affordable user testing site Site-Report brings up some very good points at Cre8asiteForums, including "Some very poor aesthetic designs have great search engine placement." Which is one of my pet peeves.
Congratulations to everyone associated with Cre8asiteForums. The forum has just gone past the 1000th guest mark!  (Cre8asite Post here)
If you own a web hosting company or operate a server, this hacker warning for Sunday is urgent. Cre8asiteForums was defaced by these hackers, with other attempts made but we stopped them. I can vouch that it's not a pleasant experience. Protect your site and business.
Defacement contest likely to target Web hosting firms
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 7/3/2003 10:25:29 AM
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:: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 ::
Promotion got you down or stumped? This site may re-charge your batteries >>> Whatsnextonline.com There's an interesting article on press releases too. "The Internet needs a new method of company information dissemination that fits the medium. But first a new form of Internet news release needs to be adopted." --- The Traditional Press Release Is Dead!
Love those free tools? Here's one to play with >>> Sitereportcard
Decided it doesn't hurt to keep reminding everyone >>> Spotting a Phony SEO Company
Bragging about his trip, my buddy "Bragadocchio" is blog-traveling around the 50 states in 50 states. Or trying to anyway. Blogger isn't the most dependable vehicle, as it turns out.
Yes, I received more press releases to share with you, except they weren't targeted properly. I'm not CNN, ok?
Positive privacy, GPS and another military toy finds love and acceptance by everyday people like us >>> The Sky's the Limit
Quote: " "Imagine," he says, "the end of property crime. Everything that has any value and could be stolen -- a car, a laptop, a piece of construction equipment" (not to mention every ship, plane, truck trailer, and toddler) -- "everything like that will know its location and be able to report it. We can go even further: You tell your laptop that it should only find itself at your office or your home. And if it finds itself in a car trunk, it wakes up, notices that it's in the wrong place, calls your cell phone, and says, 'Hi, this is your laptop. I'm at this location on this map you see. Is that okay?' "
Then the executive goes one step further. He starts talking about insurance companies selling you auto insurance based on how you actually use your car, say, a month at a time. They review the GPS information on where you've driven, how far, to what areas of town, and how fast (speeding, eh?) and bill you for the risks that you're taking. Progressive Insurance has in fact done a trial using just such a system in Texas.
The GPS executive's eyes are sparkling at the prospect of reduced car-insurance rates. I'm thinking, Holy mackerel. The insurance company will have records of everywhere I drive and how fast I drive there. Not even my wife knows that."
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 7/1/2003 01:36:35 PM
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:: Monday, June 30, 2003 ::
For the latest update on website accessibility adherence, grab a printer or curl up with your laptop >>> Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0W3C Working Draft 24 June 2003
Cre8asiteForums discusses it, and "flicker rates" >>> WCAG 2.0 (Accessibility Guidelines Draft
If you can't get your site into DMOZ (Open Directory), Cre8asiteForum's new DMOZ forum moderator, Jean Manco, may be able to offer suggestions. We welcomed Jean recently to the Cre8asiteForums team.
Coming in for a landing. "A landing page is the page where visitors from specific places, or with specific interests, will first land on your site. As such, whether or not it needs to be optimised for ranking, it absolutely must be optimised to make a good first-impression, and to engage the visitor, thus beginning the conversion process."
Ammon Johns talks about Landing Paths
User testing site of interest, that offers 5% off to Cre8asiteForums guests >>> Site-report.com
Some are saying "shove this." Google Toolbar 'BlogThis' Rankles Rivals .
Jakob Nielsen outdid himself with this one. Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster. Learn about "Informavore navigation behavior", hunting, scent, foraging...
"...eventually too many Americans will be having fun. This is unacceptable." A bit of marketing fun by Panasonic >>> People against fun
Which reminds me of the wedding I attended on Saturday. It was an outdoor picnic/wedding ceremony on a large country farm in New Jersey attended by people ranging from corporate execs to programming gurus specializing in MIVA and JAVA to the guys who hang out at the local bar to regular folks who collect antique cars, drink lotsa beer and don't visit the Dentist that often.
The ceremony itself lasted 5 minutes. The bride and groom read their vows and sweated in the hot sun along with the local town Mayor. The rest of us gathered around in a large group around the couple, wearing shorts, t-shirts, sandals or no shoes, straw hats and baseball caps and were holding beers, bottled water and soda cans. Everyone cheered and applauded when the couple were pronounced "husband and wife". The groom, in his 50's and marrying for the first time, took as his bride one of the most graceful, down to earth, supportive women I've ever met, who is at least 15 years younger than him. When in the presence of true devoted love, it's easy to have hope for ourselves.
Within a half hour of the ceremony, a laptop appeared with a slideshow of all the digital photos taken so far. It was one of the highlights of the wedding. Everyone could see themselves and re-live moments that just occured, in the presence of those who also experienced the same things.
We had the setting for a really good TV commerical.
:: posted by Kimberly Krause on 6/30/2003 12:28:16 PM
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