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10 Basic SEO Techniques

		Wednesday, 12 November 08 - 10:06 AM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice of optimizing a website in order to increase its traffic and rank higher on search engine results. The higher the rank is, the greater the chance of attracting visitors from the target market. SEO helps to ensure that a website is accessible to visitors and web crawlers as well.

Learn the techniques that can help you in climbing Search Engines results.

1. Anchor Tags. Anchor tags are used to create links to pages on a website. A good keyword combination inside an anchor tag is important. In order to get your readers’ attention, your links should be interesting to gain clicks. Links within your website is also a good practice to point your readers to related topics in your site. Spiders that crawl websites love to jump on links to another.
2. H1, H2 and Strong tags. Headings give weight to your text especially if it is inside the H1 tag. Use H1 for the main heading or your target keywords and H2 for sub-headings or sub-topics. These headings show the spiders that these are the main subjects on your site, helping your content to be indexed.
   Strong or bold texts also give emphasis to a series of words. Just like the h1 and h2 tags, they also weigh more than the regular texts. Make sure that your headings are related to your content. Again, a good combination of words pays a lot.
3. Titles. The title tag is one of the most important parts of your website. Your target keyword should be used on your website’s title. Different title tags on each page should also be practiced.
   
4. Alt tags on Images. Being said that texts play an important role in SEO, alt tags should be placed when you use images on your website. Oftentimes, we use images to further illustrate our subject and give life to our content. Since spiders cannot see these images, use alt tags to describe what is being shown. Here’s an example: < img height="70" width="120" src="banner.gif" alt="Free Websites" />
5. Choose your domain wisely. Spiders also read domain names when they crawl. A relevant domain pays more on your search engine rank. A number of factors should be considered when choosing a domain (or sub-domain) name. Most of the time, the domain of our choice is already taken. Don’t lose hope. Try to experiment by re-arranging the words or adding a new word to generate a new domain related to your first choice.
6. Quality Content. Pay attention on the quality of your content rather than quantity. A long post might bore your readers making them leave your site instead of staying longer. An efficient practice of writing a blog post is by summarizing it in bullets just like this post. In this way, your readers can easily see the important points clearly. It is also necessary that the keywords you used in your Meta tag can be found in your content.
7. Usability. Bear in mind that in websites, ‘First impressions last’. If you give your visitors a good experience during their first visit, they will come back. Simplicity is the key to usability. If your goal is to rank well on search engines, set aside some design factors. A simple interface with a simple menu is effective because your visitors can immediately see where they can navigate. If your site is not user-friendly, your visitors will lose patience and leave your site.
8. Update Regularly. Spiders love to crawl on new information so it is important that your website is updated regularly. Content is king! Make sure it is composed of unique and relevant information. Duplicated contents that are copied from other sites do not help on your rankings. In addition, a minimum of 250 words is necessary to get to higher spots.
9. Use SEO Tools. A number of SEO tools are available for free. These tools can help you monitor if you’re making progress and analyze your website. Avoid using automated software that promises to help you rank well or build links for you. It is important that you’re hands-on to the whole process. Few samples of free online SEO tools are, Google Analytics, Keyword Suggestion Tool from SEO Book, Alexa Traffic Analyzer, and Google Webmaster Tools.
10. Patience is a virtue. SEO is not a one-night miracle technique. It takes time before you can see results. The more you improve your content, the greater the chance you can get noticed by spiders. Avoid overdoing anything that is beyond the rules of SEO. Avoid black hat SEO techniques that promise quick results and increase your site’s traffic. Hidden texts, link-farming, spamming and duplicated contents are a big NO in SEO.

These are just basic and easy techniques to help your site be indexed by search engines. It is still all in your hands on how you apply these changes. Never stop learning. Learn new ways in optimizing your site. It takes time to get decent ranks on search results so do not be disappointed if you can’t get it soon enough. Good luck on your SEO quest!

Faceyourmanga: Create your avatar on the web!

		Wednesday, 08 October 08 - 11:38 AM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

It is amazing how people have started to love the generation of web 2.0. Everybody seems to have fun on using the free (and even paid) services that websites offer especially when it involves social networking. Who would have missed the fun of using websites like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Ttwitter, Youtube, Flickr, Digg, Multiply, etc.? If you love one of these sites, then you might also like the latest addition to the list, faceyourmanga.

Faceyourmanga is a flash-based tool that allows you to create a cartoonized version of yourself. Creating your avatar is a piece of cake. It lets you choose the shape of your face, eyes, nose, ears, hair, clothes and whatever features you can add on the avatar to make it more realistically you.  If you have tried using Yahoo! Avatars, then you would not get lost on this site.  Within few clicks of your mouse, you’re done!

Once finished, your avatar will be delivered right on your mailbox by providing a valid email address. If you are worrying if they will spam your email, you can choose to save the image by right-clicking on the finished avatar and save it right on your computer. I haven’t received any spam yet so I believe they are spam-free!

See this avatar on the left? That’s what I’ve done using faceyourmanga. Still it has some differences with how I look but it is fairly acceptable. How do you think you will look like if you are a manga character? See it yourself and give it a try.

iPhone 3g Release in Philippines

		Friday, 22 August 08 - 10:28 AM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

The iPhone 3g you've been waiting for is now available in Philippines. Apple iPhone is now available exclusively on Globe telecom starting today, August 22 '08.

Globe will be selling prepaid phones and offer special post paid plans to give its consumer the exciting features and experience of using an iPhone 3g. The post paid plans will come with free local mobile internet hours and free Wi-Fi browsing hours covered by Globe wireless internet zones.

The event was attended by thousands of iPhone fanatics, each of them wanting to get the first iPhone deals.

Globe Telecom is a leading telecommunications company in the Philippines with more than 21 million mobile subscribers. As a pioneer, Globe continues to be a part of the revolution that’s connecting millions of people across the country and around the world. Beyond technology, Globe’s business is truly shaped by the bonds that tie Filipinos together. Communications is ultimately about relationships, and this drives the company to innovate and constantly find easy and relevant ways to enrich people’s lives.

 

Template Request from Terapad

		Tuesday, 24 June 08 - 06:36 PM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

Justin has mentioned this new feature few months ago and i thought it was cool. Not everybody knows CSS that makes it difficult for them to integrate their own style. Now with the template request form, anybody can have a chance of using their preferred layout by simple requesting it to Terapad.

When you are inside your control panel under Layout tab, a link labeled 'Template Request' at the bottom is available. A form like this will pop on your screen. Fill out the form and click the submit button to send it to Terapad. Read the instructions carefully and provide much information as possible to get a chance of approval. Who knows? In few weeks time, you may get your template on the library. :)

Ctrl + Alt + Click!

		Friday, 06 July 07 - 02:51 AM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

• 8.0 MP
• 3 fps with up to 14 image burst
• E-TTL II flash system
• DIGIC II
• 7-point AF
• DPP RAW image processing software
• Separate RAW/JPEG image recording
• USB 2.0 Hi-speed/Video Out
• Compatible with EF/EF-S lenses/EX Speedlite flashes
• PictBridge compatible

What more can you ask for? Grabe, this is one hella big big dream. Don't worry, momma's gonna get you soon.. Haha! Now that's what being optimistic is all about!

Binary

		Thursday, 01 January 70 - 08:00 AM (GMT +08:00) By Ces Catubay in Techie

Can you read this? You are a real geek if you can. Good luck! =p

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