Thursday 27 November 2008

5 Free Google Tools For Webmasters

This is as much for me as for you, but I decided to summarise the current crop (hopefully haven't missed any) of free Google tools that are out there for folks running Websites/Blogs etc.

You will need a Google account to use these, but then that is free and not much of a hassle. Especially when you consider these cool tools you get access to.

If you come across any others let me know, and I will update this post.

Monday 24 November 2008

A Linky Post Of Good Reads

In a previous post I did a case study on my friend Tony's blog. This is a kind of mini follow up with some articles from various places on the net that I think he will find useful reading.

How to Grow Your Business in 3 Months via Social Media Marketing

How to spy on your competitors

The Power of Blogging with A Long Term View

free 22 minute audio program: How To Build a Network (you are following this guy aren't you Tony?)

Sunday 23 November 2008

DAB Radio Not Relevant

I was discussing this with my friend Mark yesterday as we walked my dogs, and decided it would make a good posting for here. So here you are...

The main point of my argument is that DAB has already been replaced. I don't think that DAB had much of a chance and at best was a stop gap technology.

Let's look at how I came to this conclusion.

The first is that I think it has already been replaced. With what? Streaming radio over the internet. Using my iPhone, or any other smart phone I can stream radio over the internet to my phone. But it doesn't have to be just radio, it can be tv, such as clips off YouTube, or whole programs with the BBC iPlayer.

Mobiles have a better signal coverage than the DAB network. I live in according to the maps of signal strength for DAB signals, a very strong area for the DAB signal. Yet using a portable DAB radio I was unable to listen to the radio on the way to work, and at work. Yet using my mobile I can do just that. So why would I use a DAB radio or even buy one? Another factor is that mobile coverage is constantly being improved by the phone companies. Sadly for DAB they are not improving the coverage, or signal strength nearly as fast (it is very slow).

Mark pointed out that there has been a lot of people buy DAB radios. I would argue not nearly as many that have a mobile that is capable of streaming radio over the internet. Therefore the market is already larger than the DAB one and this functionality hasn't really been pushed yet on the phones. Which it will as the phone companies look at ways to try and bring revenue in.

If DAB when it first came out had overcome the hurdles of cost (radios were really expensive) and improved the signal strength, it may of got a faster uptake, and been more relevant. But while it was trying to get it's act together, the fast world of mobiles and the internet have left it in the graveyard occupied by Betamax, HD-DVD, and other also ran technologies.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Tech Cheats Get Their Comeuppance

Just some examples of how tech can really drop you in it. Well if you decide to be silly and use it to cheat on your partner what do you expect?

"A couple have divorced after the wife saw the husband having online sex in the virtual world of Second Life..."

Or this one is even more surreal. Just how dum do these guys think their partners are?

"Strange Iphone Bug" and here is the Apple Support forum response

FOM Misses Point

FOM or Future of Mobile as it is known is currently going on in that hell hole known as London.

The great and the good of the UK Web 2.0/Mobile/whatever are there.

I've been following bits of it via Twitter. It's the poor mans way to attend an event without having actually to be there or pay the high fees (which are in place to deter plebs like me).

Anyway the point is I see events like this irrelevant. There is no point discussing bringing the web to the phone, or location based services, or mobile app development. Why?

Well there is one thing that needs solving pretty dam fast or this whole thing will hit a brick wall and go no further.

What is that then? The battery life of the phone itself. The phone is now a convergent device. It is a phone (naturally), GPS, camera, video camera, diary, mp3 player, movie player, it has Wifi, Bluetooth. You can surf the net, play games, twitter, access Facebook and loads more. If you can get it as an app and install it, you can do it.

But all this eats up the battery like there is no tomorrow. Long gone are the days of having to only charge a phone once a week, with the new "smart phones". If you use a lot of the functionality of these phones, like the mp3, or watch a tv program, surf the net. In no time you are out of power and searching for some way to charge your phone again.

I don't think that the public will put up with this for long. Then what? Will the market collapse? I don't know. But I do know that the FOM should be looking at what happens if the battery life doesn't improve.

Monday 17 November 2008

Web 2.0 Slow On The Uptake

Over on the Outdoors Bloggers Forum there is an interesting thread of discussion (still in early days) around the following point (made by Duncan):

"Why do blogs allow, or even inspire, such use of different media?

We rarely see such in wiki's or other Web2.0 formats. "

He also added:

"But why are other web2.0 formats slower to change? To adopt, adapt, improve?"

My initial reply was:

"Well for a wiki, that is a group collaboration tool, so therefore it's not really suitable for audio/video.
I could see a logic for including sound or audio clips in something like wikipedia in an entry. Ie including the sound a bird makes etc.
But the point is a wiki allows folks to work on something together, and video and audio just can't be edited that easily by others.
Something like Twitter or "micro-blogging" it already allows people to embed links to video and audio, as well as photos. And people do that.
Social sites like Facebook/MySpace lots of people use video etc on their pages.
So I think your argument is only valid for a wiki.
"

Duncan responded with the following that expands the scope a little:

"There is nothing to stop people using wikis or forums with videos, but when was the last time you saw even the hint of thought from a retailer's website?

Some highstreet shops websites don't even have photographs of their products, let alone video clips or instructions.

It's another example of the "Long Curve", I think."

I agree with his point there is little to stop wikis or forums using video. But the point of a wiki is to enable a group collaboration on a subject/project. As I pointed out in my response I could see a use of video or audio. Just as photos are used now. But for a wiki the written word is the best medium for it to use, as this is the easiest way to have multiple people work, review and make edits to a project/entry.

Now it was also raised about forums, and why they don't use video etc. I think forums could use video and audio, some blog comments are allowing audio/video submission. So yes there is no reason why forums should not be allowing the same. I can see why from the owners point of view they would not want it (storage, bandwidth etc). Or even from the members why they would not (ie loss of spontaneity of response, ease of use, time to upload etc).

When the argument is expanded to include web sites and in particular retailers, I think Duncan has a point to some extent. But do we include web sites as web 2.0? For the sake of this argument we will.

I think retail web sites have shied away from "fancy" stuff in their online stores, mainly because they have had their fingers burnt in the past. There have been one or two spectacular failures that tried using all the latest tricks of the time. But they failed because the technology wasn't there to support them, and less people were on line. So I think that there is a little reluctance from retailers because of these past failures, despite those obstacles no longer being there.

I also think there is the over head, and investment that would be required by the retailer to produce all these videos etc of the goods on their sites, would just be prohibitive.

As for the photographs there is no excuse for not at least having a picture of the product on the site.

Anyway there are some of my thoughts on the subject. What do you think? Who is right? Do we both have valid arguments? Have we missed something? Leave a comment and let me know.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Flip MinoHD Coming Soon

For those that follow my other blog (whitespider1066.com) they will know that I use a Flip Mino to film video for it (I produce video evidence of my stove fetish over there).

So you can imagine my excitement to find out that soon I will be able to film those stoves in HD!

According to the article the MinoHD will produce 720p HD video. So not the full 1080p, but still HD video footage of the stoves and the TGOC would be amazing.  Naturally the storage capacity of the Flip has been increased to cope with the increase in data it will have to store. Still giving the same 60 minutes of video, in glorious 720p-o-vision.

Now all I have to do is try and justify to myself getting one ;-)

Read more here at Gizmodo.

Monday 10 November 2008

My Biggest Web 2.0 Experiment Ever

With a title like that, this post has a lot to live up to.

In January I move up North to live nearer the mountains. Which means I leave my son behind down in the South with his Mum. The whys and how's aren't really relevant to this blog.

However I do have the problem how do I keep my relationship with my son going over such a long distance?

Yes I can use the phone. But 15 year old boys are not always the best conversationalists. Plus I need to engage him in stuff he likes to do.

Like all 15 year olds he is a keen gamer. Luckily for me I also like the odd video game.

So in my new home I will be mirroring the game consoles we currently have. The modern consoles like the Xbox360, PS3 and Wii all have to some degree a social media element. Which allows communication, online co-op games etc.

It seems to me that when people talk about social media they miss out these online communities that have developed on the consoles. You have friends lists, you can send messages and game invites, you can see what your friend is playing, how well he is doing. But because it is a closed platform it gets overlooked.

By using the social media element of these consoles I will be able to keep in contact with my son, play games with him, chat to him using voice chat (like VOIP I suppose) while we shoot aliens to pieces.

Before I move, I will also be getting my son a PC to play games on. To which I will add Skype, set him up on Facebook and Twitter so that I can communicate with him that way as well.

So by using these "Web 2.0" technologies I hope I will be able to keep my relationship going with my son. Now you can see why I call this my biggest Web 2.0 experiment ever. It not only is that, it is also my most important one.

Over the coming months I will be documenting this experiment, how effective it is, and it's short comings.

Another Great Blog Link From Twitter

Another great find off Twitter(Jay Oatway found this) this time it's an article on Twitter in business 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.

What can I say about this? I'm not going to give my thoughts on it in this post, I need time to digest it all first. But I will tie this post in with my previous one and the advice I gave my friend Tony. This is another great example of expanding your knowledge by following the right people.

If I hadn't been on Twitter and following Jay, I would not of found out about this great blog post he came across.

Hopefully my contribution/pay back is this blog post letting folks know about it and giving credit where credit is due.

Sunday 9 November 2008

Case Study: A Friends Small Business Blog

Three or four months ago at a joint friends birthday party I was discussing with my friend Tony how a blog might help him in driving traffic to his online web store.

The problem Tony had was that along with many others he was a reseller of products from a company called Neways. Along with those others who sell that product they paid for a hosted web store solution. Which if you ask me is a rip off, but hey ho it's not my money.

Tony went off and set up a blog on blogger. Which was great, or so I thought. When I visited the blog  Tony seemed to have missed the message I had been trying to get across.

Where do I think that Tony went wrong?

Content

The first thing I think Tony did wrong was his content. It wasn't by him, it is reproduced articles (which I am assuming are from Neways). So there was none of Tony's personality coming through the writings that people could warm to, and like. Even with commercial blogs I think that there needs to be that personal touch that gives it that feel that it is not just a place for the hard sell.

I'm also not sure how expert Tony is in this area, but he needs to be able to demonstrate his passion and expertise in this area. Which frankly re-posting some-one else's words does not do.

 

Marketing Opportunities

I think Tony is missing a trick or two with his blog by not making it easy for folks to get a little free sampler pack from his blog. But this all ties in with the next point as well on contact details.

He should also be running a competition each month to win some of the products he is selling. This gets people trying his stuff and hopefully liking it enough to buy some from him in the future. It also has the benefit of giving folks a reason to return to his blog, apart from the great content he will be posting.

Contact Details

There is a mailto link hidden away on the profile. But this needs to be more prominent on the main page. 

The sort of contact page they should have on the blog in my opinion is more like the page they have on their web store. Which has a their address, phone number, and an email form for request further info etc. But this is not an easy thing to do in Blogger.

Book, blogger, and expert will tell you time and time again that people should be able to contact you easily.

Online Communities

To my knowledge Tony doesn't participate in online communities that are based around the products he is trying to sell. So Tony needs to get out there commenting on blogs, posting on forums etc. But what he must not do is just try and promote and sell stuff. Making it obvious in any profile who you are and have a link to the blog. But all the posts should be adding something to the conversation going on. Eventually folks will get to know him, and respect what he has to say. Which will hopefully mean they will read his blog, and from there down the road buy from him.

Free Tools

For Tony stats are important, they allow him to see how much traffic he has, and if it he is passing traffic on to his website. He currently uses Google Analytics, but he should also be using Feedburner for his RSS feeds. Which will allow him to gain some stats about those that subscribe to his feed.

There is also another free tool from Google Webmaster Tools, which will show him how people are finding his blog, which he can tie in with his Google Adwords. This will then allow him to fine tune the Google Adwords he uses.

Improve His Knowledge

I think also that Tony should visit Amazon to get some of the books I listed in my previous posting Blogging/Web 2.0 Reading List. He needn't spend a fortune on these if he uses the Amazon New and Used section. This often works out cheaper even with postage than the Amazon price. Particularly I think he should be concentrating on the Web Analytics books and the Google SEO one, with maybe the Problogger book as well.

Following the right people on Twitter and reading the right blogs will also help Tony get up to speed fast on an ever changing area. If he starts following Jim Connolly on Twitter and reading his blog also, Tony won't go wrong. Jim has a great blog full of help information, and on Twitter is a great networker, helping folks connect with each other. Jim gets Web 2.0 and Social Media. So Tony should be learning from Jim. From there Tony should look at who Jim follows on Twitter and pick out ones that look interesting and follow them, and also add those blogs to his follow list. But Tony needs to remember he needs to put back into the community as well (see above comment).

Move The Blog

Considering the needs of Tony, my final recommendation is probably the most radical of them all. I'd kill off the blog on Blogger and go for a self hosted Wordpress blog. Yes it would cost him a little bit of money each year, no more than 30 GBP if he shops around. But this has the advantage of the fact he has more control over the blog. He would be able to utilise plugins that could give him a contact form, add polls, track blog stats, add advertising links to RSS feeds, etc.

Over To You

So what do you think of my advice for Tony? What have I missed? Am I totally off the mark? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter. Please nothing about the products or the company. I understand how they work, and where the real money is made in this sort of "opportunity". But a friend is a friend, and I would like to see him succeed.

Thursday 6 November 2008

Blogging/Web 2.0 Reading List

Below is a list of books I recommend to read about blogging, Web 2.0, and SEO even Web Metrics. Some of these are clearly aimed at the corporate/business reader. But some of the points and suggestions still hold true for the regular blogger as well.  BTW these are not in any particular order of preference.

1. Wikinomics - by Don Tapscott  & Anthony . Williams

Publisher: Atlantic Books, ISBN-10: 184354637X , ISBN-13: 978-1843546375

2. Blogging Heroes - by Michael A. Banks

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN-10: 0470197390 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470197394

3. Naked Conversations - by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 047174719X ,ISBN-13: 978-0471747192

4. The Corporate Blogging Book - by Debbie Weil

Publisher: Piatkus Books ,ISBN-10: 0749927437 ,ISBN-13: 978-0749927431

5. Get into bed with Google - by Jon Smith

Publisher: Infinite Ideas Limited ,ISBN-10: 1905940491 ,ISBN-13: 978-1905940493

6. Tribes - by Seth Godin

Publisher: Piatkus Books ,ISBN-10: 0749939753 ,ISBN-13: 978-0749939755

7. Problogger - by Darren Rowse, Chris Garrett

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 0470246677 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470246672

8. Groundswell - by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press ,ISBN-10: 1422125009 , ISBN-13: 978-1422125007

9. The Blogging Church - by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch

Publisher: Jossey Bass ,ISBN-10: 0787984876 ,ISBN-13: 978-0787984878

10. Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics - by Brian Clifton

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ,ISBN-10: 0470253126 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470253120

11. Web Analytics: An Hour a Day - by Avinash Kaushik

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; Pap/Cdr edition ,ISBN-10: 0470130652 ,ISBN-13: 978-0470130650

I have a few more on my bookshelf that I would recommend and I will list them in a future post. I've not said anything about each book, follow the links to find out more about each one. The links can say so much more than I can about them.

If you have any recommendations or think I have missed one please leave a comment.

Remember in these tough economic times don't pay full price use the Amazon New and Used section to make BIG savings.

Monday 3 November 2008

iMovie '08 Copying Audio

For one or two of my up and coming video projects for whitespider1066.com I needed to find out how to take audio from one clip and use it in another. So a quick Google and I managed to stumble upon this great iMovie '08 site called Unlocking iMovie '08. It looks like the blog hasn't been updated for a little while but the information is still there and useful.

The tutorial/posting on this blog I was reading to achieve what I wanted is here. While I'm also doing links you might find the following little video on the Apple website useful as well "Apple Audio Editing Clip".

PS I heard that iMovie '06 is available for download and is free. Apparently you can have this installed alongside the '08 version. Why would you do this? Once again apparently there are some features not available in '08 but they are in '06! But I can't confirm this because '08 is the first version I have used (I'm relatively new to the Mac). (Download iMovie 6 here) Also cool article "Make iMovie ’08 work your way" that touches on this as well.

PPS Can anyone recommend a good iMovie '08 book?

Sunday 2 November 2008

UK Gov Announce 700 GBP Handout To Get Low Income Families Broadband

At the New Labour Party Conference this year there seems to have been an announcement from the Government that did not get much press coverage at the time, except on Radio 5 where I caught it.

The announcement was about plans to give 700 GBP to low income families to get broadband in their homes. This money it was said could be spent on getting a pc of some description as well.

It could be argued that most households these days have a pc of some description in them, even low income households. I would also suggest that a fair number may also have broadband as well.

But the Government has to be applauded for this initiative if it sees the light of day.

700 GBP in this day and age is more than enough to kit a family out and get them online in the digital world.

But I got thinking what would I recommend to these families to spend their money on?

I would start off by suggesting that they purchase one of the sub 300 GBP Windows XP Netbooks. These can be picked up from PC World or Tesco (who are selling one in stores at the moment for 248 GBP).  Basically all a teenager needs to be able to do is do course work, surf the web, and let them use whichever chat client their friends are on. Oops and use Skype to keep their mobile bill down when they are at home. We will cover games in a bit. To do all that you don't need hundreds of pounds of computer. This is why Netbooks are perfect.

On this Netbook I would put OpenOffice, which is Office compatible and free. Along with any of the IM clients they require to chat to their friends.

I would pick up an inkjet printer, you can get decent ones for under fifty pounds these days. Which brings me on to a very non eco friendly tip. When the ink runs out, bin the printer and buy a new printer. It often works out a lot cheaper than buying the new ink cartridges.

On to the gaming side of the equation. With services like Xbox Live, that has to be subscribed to, or the Playstation Network, these are almost social media sites for gamers. But within the budget given I would pick up an Xbox360 for under two hundred pounds. The benefits of using a dedicated games console is that the arms race of having a pc powerful enough to play the latest games is avoided, and the hassle of installation as well.

I do think that this initiative from the Government does miss one important fact. One of the most costly things that a low income family will come across is the cost of repairing a broken system. You can take out insurance from places like PC World, and I would probably recommend that this is done. PC World charge a fortune to repair stuff. Local PC repair folks are just as expensive and charge as if they are plumbers etc. Having astronomical call out fees, and then hourly rates are as equally as bad.

So there you have it, a system at home that should allow the kids to do school work, get on the net, and play games.