Small Business Information

The host you use for your sites can tell others a lot about your business. It can be a window that allows people like Google to look in and see all those things you would rather they didn’t know.

It’s not that long ago that Matt Cutts stood up at a Q&A session at a major search engine conference and was able to associate a very clean site  he had  been asked about with a bunch of spammy sites one guy happened to be running so how clear is the window Google is using to look into your business?

If you’re using a host that requires you to pay through Google Checkout then the window is probably a whole lot less opaque than you thought and you’ll find Google Gains Access to Web Hosting Financial Records something that will make you think.

If you’re involved in affiliate marketing then you will always be interested in reading what experts may suggest is the future for your profession. Now someone with some idea of what’s ahead has been interviewed and you’ll find what he has to say in Future Trends in Affiliate Marketing and the Web

‘unavailable_after’ is a new Meta tag that Google is said to be releasing soon. It seems that it should be included on pages that have limited life and it tells Googlebot not to crawl the page once the offer made on the page has expired.

Even though the offer may have expired I can see reasons why you may not wish to include this tag.

This bit of news falls into the ‘better late than never’ I guess. It seems that Google pushed through update last weekend that has affected a number of people.

One keyword phrase that we’re interested in has certainly had a bit of a shake up and we’ve been affected but we’re not particularly worried and nor should you be if you’ve been affected too. Just be patient and in two weeks, or even less, you could see the SERPs revert to what they were.

Of course if it makes you feel better then by all means panic and run around in ever decreasing circles

There was a time when the Australian Competition and Consumer Comission had a lot of teeth and it wasn’t afraid to use them but for the last few years it’s been fairly quiet and some even considered it to be a bit of a joke.

But now it seems to have developed some of it’s old mongrel spirit and it’s back in court and this time it’s dragging Google in before the judges. It has alleged that Google has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct through its sponsored links and you can read the full story here.

I can’t wait to see what Google’s spin doctor-in-chief makes of this one and what all the little Cuttlets will have to say.

A couple of days ago I wrote about a great little Firefox add-on that enables users to synchronise their bookmarks across a number of different computers. You’ll find that post here.

Today I want to tell you about Firebug. This is a great tool that allows you to edit code live on a web page. While the main tool works in Firefox there is a lite version for those who use Internet Explorer and the major browsers.

My thanks to WebbyOnline for the tip about these two add-ons

You may be interested to know that eBay now has a toolbar that you can install. It allows you to search eBay and it will keep you updated on auctions you are participating in.

 You can learn more about it here

Obviously not, MySpace is not about to disappear any time soon. However people are beginning to move on from MySpace and you will find some interesting possibilities and a lesson to be learned in this report from Hitwise.

If you’re like me and work with several computers in a day then you will have found that synchronising yourInternet bookmarks can be a problem. However, there is a solution to that problem if you use Firefox.

The solution is an add-on called Foxmarks and you can pick it up by following the link. It not only synchronises your bookmarks across all your computers but it keeps them synchronised. It also keeps a master list on file so you can simply download it if you upgrade to a new computer.

We’re told that baby boomers are cashed up and ready to retire and have fun … but are they really?

Do they really have lots of money to spend? Are they really ready to retire and gently grow old?

Well according to modern-day thinking that’s exactly what’s going to happen … but is that modern-day thinking or modern-day fantasy?

If you read a report mentioned on Small Business Trends you may begin to think that maybe we boomers are going to be doing something else other than retiring. The Intuit Future of Small Business Report is here and I suggest you read it because it offers a different view what the marketplace might look like in the next few years and that’s something you should be prepared for.