The Free Lance Squad Blog

20 Web 2.0 Search Engines You Wish You Knew About

November 25, 2009 – 12:16 pm

The largest search engines are used millions a times daily. Its often hard to imagine that there can be other search engine available that can make our daily lives easier on the internet.

These search engines are niche specific and are often overlooked. From music to eco-friendliness, to Twitter and beyond, here is our tribute to 20 search engines that are ready and able to find just what you are looking for.

1. TinEye – Image Search Engine

TinEye is an image search engine on the web to use image identification technology. Given an image to search for, TinEye tells you where and how that image appears all over the we – even if it has been modified.

2. TipTop – A Twitter-based Search Engine

TipTopSM is a real-time search tool helping people find interesting and useful answers to their questions, filtered from conversations people are currently sharing on Twitter. It is based on the idea that people should have a simple way to share their everyday experiences with others who are interested in learning from them without searching the entire Internet.

3. Twitcaps – Real-Time Image Search Engine / Browser

Twitcaps allows you to search, browse and capture the latest images posted to Twitter via any of the popular Twitter image services (Twitpic, yFrog, Twitgoo, etc). From the Twitcaps interface, you may capture an image for later use, re-tweet the image on your own Twitter feed, or share the image on any number of social linking services

4. Domainr – The Domain Name Search Engine

Domainr helps you explore the entire domain name space beyond the ubiquitous and crowded .com, .net and .org.

5. Springo – Visual Web Search Engine

Springo is a Web shortcutting tool that empowers users to rapidly and easily navigate to the best websites for any purpose.

6. Topsy – A Search Engine Powered by Tweets

Topsy is a new kind of search engine, with a new way of looking at the Internet. Topsy doesn’t think the Internet is a collection of documents. Or even a web of documents. Topsy sees the Internet as a stream of conversations. Topsy results are the things people link to, when they’re talking about your search terms. Topsy ranks results based on how well they match your search terms, and the influence of the people talking about them.

7. Feedmil – A Long Tail Feed Search Engine

Feedmil is a feed search engine featuring a spam-free, topic-focused search for a variety of feed types including news, blogs, microblogs, social media feeds, audiocasts, photocasts, and videocasts. Feedmil’s goal is to help people search feeds of interest in the most efficient and easiest possible way through the use of innovative technologies and user interfaces.

8. Yakaz – Classified Ads Search Engine

Yakaz is a search engine for all local classified ads on the web. Cars, motorbikes, housing etc. Quickly find all classifieds that match your search on the web.

9. itpints – A Real-Time Web Search Engine

Real-time web search engine. Search on most popular web 2.0 sites. Know what is happening right now.

10. Clipta – Video Search Engine

Clipta is an online video search that improves the quality and process of searching for videos on the web. The technology allows users to search, browse, navigate and discover videos from across the web, regardless of the source.

11. FanSnap – Ticket Search

FanSnap is the live event ticket search engine for fans. FanSnap provides free ticket search results for dozens of the leading ticket providers, including Ace Tickets, AllShows.com, eBay, Barry’s Tickets, Gold Coast Tickets, Las Vegas Tickets, RazorGator, StubHub, and TicketNetwork.

12. SocialMention – A Social Media Search Engine

Social Mention is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services.

13. LinkUp – Job Search Engine

LinkUp monitors thousands of employer web sites each day, connecting you with as many job opportunities as possible through the convenience of one site. The only jobs you’ll find on LinkUp are real jobs from real companies.

14. Donanza – Freelance Jobs Search

DoNanza is a search engine for the global freelance community that enable to find all the projects from across the web that can be done from home. It aggregates hundreds of freelance marketplaces and crowdsourcing sites into one place.

15. Cookstr – Recipe Search Engine

Cookstr has a collection of recipes from great chefs and cookbook authors. Find a recipe for a favorite dish, or discover something you’ve never made before.

16. VideoSurf – Video Search Engine with a Twist

Using a unique combination of new computer vision and fast computation methods, VideoSurf has taught computers to “see” inside videos to find content in a fast, efficient, and scalable way. Basing its search on visual identification, rather than text only, VideoSurf’s computer vision video search engine provides more relevant results and a better experience to let users find and discover the videos they really want to watch.

17. Mufin – Discover Music Engine

mufin is a music discovery engine, which you can easily discover new music in a large database with millions of songs – most likely that you fine exactly the sound that you dig.

18. Ecovian – Eco-Friendly Local Search Engine

Ecovian is a web 2.0 community for sharing green & sustainable living information within major metropolitan regions. The site lets members find eco-friendly local businesses & other local green living info, rate businesses based on their greenness, discover local environmental news & events, and form groups with other members.

19. SEEKMP3 – MP3 Search Engine

seekmp3.info is a good search engine that helps you find music you like on the web, then allows you to listen and download your favorite songs to your computer. None of the songs on site are hosted on seekmp3 servers. seekmp3 system crawls the internet for audio tracks and then provides the information for the users.

20. Paglo – The search Engine for IT

Paglo is a search engine for IT. Now businesses can discover all their IT information and get instant answers to their computer, network, and security questions.

Author: Tamara S. Johnson, The Freelance Squad CEO

Owner of The Freelance Squad a freelance design firm based in Georgia. The company has been growing at a rapid pace for the last 3 years. Our Mission is to provide affordable outsourcing options and useful resources for our clients and friends. Our company blog aims to inform others about affordable design options and interesting tech information they can use in their daily lives.

The Night Twitter Died & Went to Hell

May 18, 2009 – 1:11 pm

The Tell All True Story to Follow to Make Sure Your Twitter Account Doesn’t Die

The night it all happened was like walking into a bad dream, but the reality was it was pure Twitter Hell! The Freelance Squad’s Twitter account recently got suspended. Wow, it was unbelievable, what could have caused such a dilemma?

The Freelance Squad had gained a reputation of providing valuable content, resource links, and information to its followers, and had recently gained 5000 followers organically, simply by providing valuable content. How could this happen you ask?

Well, the internet game is in full swing and the current score is Spammers “1″ , The Freelance Squad “0″. That’s the current score and reason behind the suspension of the Freelance Squad’s Twitter account. Let me further explain:

The Freelance Squad blog was recently swamped with foreign comment posts which contained malicious maleware. We promptly used the Wordpress admin feature to mark these posts as spam, however, we did not completely remove the posts from our blog. Once Google spidered our blog, we were sent an email from Google stating that our company website and blog would have a warning message to visitors coming to our site until the problem was resolved.

To solve the problem we completely removed the malicious comment posts and even removed some of our blog content completely.

So what does all of this have to do with Twitter and how our account died? Well, we have links from Twitter to our blog posts, and our company website. Twitter received the same information as Google, and whola our Twitter account instantly died and went to hell! As we are writing this blog post, it has been 4 days since the lights went out on our Twitter account. Our account is currently under review, and we are hoping to be back in the swing of things soon.

The Effects of a Twitter Death

Other than our company being completely embarrassed about these turn of events, it has been difficult to spread the word about our products, services, and events. In addition, the opportunity to provide our followers with useful resources to make their lives easier has truly been missed. The old saying is, ” you don’t miss a good thing until its gone” certainly rings true in this situation.

Lessons of a Twitter Death

Be sure to monitor your blogs
Completely delete all foreign or spam comment posts to your blog
Find time daily to appreciate the power of your social networks
Once your Twitter account dies, do everything possible to resurrect your account
If your followers truly value you as a part of their Twitter network, they will be understanding and stay true to what you have provided.

Be sure to follow the advice of this blog post or you too could find yourself dead and in Twitter hell!

Hoping to tweet you soon,

The Freelance Squad

@freelancesquad

By admin | Posted in Twitter | | Comments (0)

7 Ways To Increase Your Website Traffic Starting Yesterday

May 2, 2009 – 9:11 am

Internet. Online Business. Sales. Profit.

To fully combine these words into a successful merging you will need to examine another word. Traffic.

Every article, video, or website you will find about making your website or company a success online will always discuss the importance of generating traffic.

So, the bottom line, traffic is the most essential element to a successful internet based business company. If no one knows you exist or can’t find you online, your online business will suffer.

After spending a large amount of time creating a great product to sell, and organizing your company infrastructure, it is time to get to the root of your online success, generating traffic.

If you already have a website and you are not getting the traffic that you need, then its time to consider other traffic generating strategies.

The process of increasing your traffic flow should have began yesterday! For your business to remain competitive, you need to stay a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow is the best step in the right direction to stay on top.

Timing is essential, that’s an old saying that everyone is familiar with. With generating traffic, you should always stay a day ahead of everyone else.

To help you generate more traffic to your website, here are some seven “kick ass’ ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday:

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising platforms that are popular and drives targeted traffic to you. Of course, the downside is, with this surefire way to increase your traffic, costs will generally increase by using this type of advertising. Most companies opt not use this type of method to increase traffic,however, it is a wise decision to use Adwords and Overture as a surefire way to increase your traffic.

There are numerous examples of companies who use this method to increase traffic and the rewards that have resulted. Do not be left behind by choosing fear over the benefits of this type of advertising.
The rewards that will follow are worth every penny with using Google and Yahoo’s advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

By exchanging links with other websites similar to your own, both entities will benefit from the efforts that are done to increase traffic to both websites. When one site features the other websites link, they both provide one another the traffic the other website creates. This effort is beneficial to both parties because it allows everyone to receive the benefits of more traffic. As you increase the number of links traded with other websites, more traffic can be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing can help you to spread the word about your website and products without any costs or very low cost. This type of marketing can be very sneaky; you can start by attaching your company name, product, services, and link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, or an interesting article to help create some free buzz. When viral marketing is used correctly, people will become so infected with your creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people, thus creating increased traffic and buzz.

4) Search and Use Proper Keywords or Keyword Phrases for Your Websites Content

Search engines spider your website and content for specific keywords that they will display in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You have options to research the best keywords in your niche, and write your own content, or option two would be to hire someone to do it for you. If you opt to do it your self, a great resource to help you find the right keywords for your website would be www.thevideotutoriallady.com this site offers FREE Keyword research software and video tutorials on how to pick the right keywords.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site

Write and Submit articles to various sites within your niche and submit to the various article directories.
If you sell ebooks, write press releases and articles about your ebook topic and services. At the end of each article, be sure to include detailed information within your resource box. Include your website url or link and basic information on what you are promoting.

6) Join Forums and Form Online Communities

Use forums and other online communities to capture your niche market and display your expertise while gaining credibility. Once you form a good foundation for your website, people will begin to trust you and your site and will begin to seek more information from you from various sources. Once you gain their trust, they will pass on information about your website to people that trust them. Traffic will definitely increase because people will know that you are a valuable resource that can provide them with what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to interact with your visitors. It helps to keep them informed and up to date on your website, and what it has to offer. As your visitors start to grow, people will begin to share the information with many others. By creating loyal traffic,it will provide you with more traffic by recommendation.

By interacting with your visitors and arousing their curiosity, they will be more inclined to help you by telling others and driving traffic to your site.

and now I would like to invite you to find out more ways to drive masive amounts of traffic to your website. Get your video tutorial series right now, a step by step web traffic blueprint to help you increase traffic and sales with your online business. Visit us today at http://tinyurl.com/dgzrxr to increase your website traffic starting yesterday!

By admin | Posted in seo | | Comments (0)

The Susan Boyle Effect of Web Design

April 26, 2009 – 9:36 am

The lastest phenomenom that has swept the world, is recent singing sensation Susan Boyle. The budding superstar’s story has also taught the world a lesson about how society looks more at outward appearnce than what a person has to offer, or what hidden talents they have lying inside.

Sadly we live in a world that focuses on outward appearnces. As Susan Boyle walked onto the stage for the first time, she was booed, heckled, and ridiculed before she even opened her mouth.

So what does Susan Boyle have to do with web design and what is the Susan Boyle effect?

The Susan Boyle Effect Defined:

The Susan Boyle Effect of Web design simply defined is the pre-judging of a website or design simply by its outward appearance without taking time to see what it has to offer.

Just like Susan Boyle, sometimes you can miss out on something wonderful by judging the outward appearance. There are websites that society considers ugly, but they simply work. Some of these website designs are some of the most popular designs around.

Take a look at the Susan Boyles of Web Design that are not so cute, simple, popular, but they work beautifully. Some of these websites attract millions of visitors on a daily basis.

1. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C.org) : The very website that teaches millions about how to design effective websites has one of the ugliest designs around. However, what the organization offers, attracts visitors from all around the globe to find out information about web design and web design standards.

2. Craigslist (craigslist.com): The MEGA classified website that allows users to sale their items, promote their services, find a local carpool , and much more is ranked in the top 40 of Alexa rankings. The website receives millions of page views a day. However, visit the site and you think you are at a message board on steroids. The design is not pretty, but the the website delivers on its mission to connect the world through online classifieds. Simply an ugly design that works!

3. Wikipedia (wikipedia.org): Another high Alexa ranking website that is translated into multiple languages. Wikipedia brings the encyclopedia to life with its human content adding feature. Once you enter the website from the homepage, its like you jumped into an actual outdated encyclopedia book. The website looks old and cluttered, just like the encyclopedia books we used when we were younger. Despite the lack of Web 2.0 design, the website brings in huge amounts of traffic daily. Another example of ugly design that works great.

4. Plenty of Fish (plentyoffish.com): This ultimate dating site has gotten a lot of attention in the past months. The company and website is becoming the go to place for match making. This site has millions of visitors and attracts the dating crowd, and makes millions of dollars a year. However, at first glance of the website, it seems like a sales page that has gone wrong. The website has no flash or glitz, and definately does not have a Web 2.0 feel, but attracts date seekers by the masses. A prime example of a bad look that people seem to love.

5. The Drudge Report (drudgereport.com): A news site that seems to be the first website created by a first grader as a class project at a private school. However, The Drudge Report is a great resource for news from around the globe. The website receives a generous following on a daily basis, but lacks the image of a professionally designed website. In my opinion, it is one of the worst designed websites around.

As the world realizes its obsession with outward appearances brought on by the recent discovery of Susan Boyle, we can take the same lesson and discover that we judge web design the same as we do people, by the outward appearance. However, if we take the time to see what’s on the inside, we can discover great resources and helpful websites.

So, tell us what websites you think are ugly at first glance, but they recieve huge amounts of traffic despite the lack of “pretty design”?

Before you judge someone or a website by its outer appearance, stop to take a moment to see what can be offered from the inside. Learn a lesson from Susan Boyle, looks can be deceiving.

Here’s to Susan Boyle in hopes that she wins Britain’s Got Talent based on her voice and not her looks.

The Freelance Squad

By admin | Posted in Uncategorized, Web Design | | Comments (4)

How To Use Networking Websites to Promote Your Business

March 30, 2009 – 8:34 am

The goal of most business owners is to make money. This often results with the selling of a particular product or service. However, to sell that product or service business owners need to alert the general public. Customer cannot buy a product or a service if they do not know that it exists. That is why, as a business owner, you need to advertise your business.

When it comes to advertising there are many business owners who literally cringe. Are you doing this now? There is a good chance that you are because many advertising methods cost money. As a business owner you want to make money not spend it, right? Unfortunately, if you believe that all forms of advertising take money, you are sadly mistaken. Although you may have to spend money to make your business what you want it to be, there are ways to promote your business and the products or services that you sell without having to spend any money at all.

Is your curiosity peaked yet? There is a good chance that it is, rightfully so. One of the ways that you can promote your online business, without having to spend a dime, is by using something that is readily available online. That thing is an online social networking website. A large number of internet users, in fact millions of them, belong to at least one social networking website.

When it comes to social networking, there are many individuals who think of online friendships or online relationships. While these types of relationships are the most common, did you know that social networking is also used for businesses? In fact, that was originally how social networking got started. If you are a small business owner, especially one that operates an online business, there is a way that you can use social networking sites to your advantage.

Although social networking websites are traditionally focused on those that would like to make online friends or develop online relationships, there are networking sites that are designed for business owners. These websites will not only allow you to share your business information with other business owners, but it will also allow you to develop close relationships with those that share an interest that is similar to yours. Essentially, this means that you could not only learn valuable business information, but you could also walk away with a new business partner or a new friend.

As previously mentioned, social networking websites with a focus on businesses, are a great way to promote your business. However, this does not mean that you should completely forget about the other online social networking websites, the ones that are designed to make online friendships. Although you may not learn any valuable business tips by joining Yahoo! 360 or MySpace, you may be able to get new customers and new customers is exactly what your business should want and need.

If you are looking to join an online community, you will need to create your own profile or profile page. If you are planning on joining a traditional social networking website, to gain access to millions of potential new customers, you are urged to be careful when making your online webpage or profile. One thing that internet users hate is being solicited for business. This does not mean that you cannot use social networking to your advantage; it just means that you need to be careful with how you do it. Instead of creating a MySpace page or a Yahoo! 360 page for your business, you are advised to make one for yourself, but, of course, you will want to include information on your business.

By joining a social networking website, especially one that is popular and has a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell. Who knows, but that interest generated could turn into sales; thus making your social networking experience more than worth it.

By admin | Posted in Uncategorized, social networking | | Tagged how to use social networking for business, myspace, social networking, social networking for business, Twitter | Comments (0)

Twitter Mania! 10 Great Apps To Help You Get Your Tweet On!

March 9, 2009 – 3:22 pm

As Twitter continues to grow, there are numerous websites and applications springing up all over the place! Twitter has become an addiction for most, with these 10 hot web apps/websites, you will be able to really get your tweet on.

Here are 10 Websites to Help you Tweet Better:

1. tweetj- discover the music everybody’s tweeting about.tweetj was created to help promote the discovery of new music.

2.Twesents- Send Virtual Gifts to your Twitter Friends
With Twesents you can send sweet and cute virtual gifts to your twitter friends. Just pick your gift, choose your recipients, and send it away. Simple as that.

3. twitterbackgroundsgallery-The Ultimate Showcase of Unique Twitter Backgrounds.Twitter Backgrounds is a unique gallery of Twitter backgrounds submitted and recommended by Twitter users. Get inspired, vote for your favorites or find a designer.

4. twessenger- Twitter add-in for Windows Live Messenger
When enabled, Twessenger automatically updates your Messenger Personal Message at regular intervals to reflect your latest Twitter tweet. Because Twitter supports updates via the web, IM, and SMS from your cell phone, you can now update your Messenger status message from wherever you are.

5. Twitlet- A Simple Way to Tweet
Twitlet is a javascript bookmarklet for sending fast Twitter updates. You don’t need to signup for an account for use with Twitlet. Create, drag and start using it under a few seconds.

6. Twitter Analyzer- Analiyze your Friends
Twitter Analyzer lets you see all kind of statistic charts about you and your Twitter friends behavior at the site.

analyze your friends

analyze your friends

7. twitxr- Say it with Pictures
With twitxr you can share a moment, a picture, a thought, instantly with your mobile phone.

tweet it with pictures

tweet it with pictures

8. TwitterFone- Send Messages to Twitter with Voice
TwitterFone is free service that lets you update your Twitter feed using your voice from any mobile or cell phone. You call it, speak your tweet, and hang up. A short while later, your tweet will be posted on Twitter.

9. twickie- An Easy way to Archive a Twitter Response Thread
Twickie is a free service that fetches Twitter replies for you (and gives you an easy way to view and export them).

10. twilert- Twitter Search Alerts via Email
Twilert is a Twitter application that lets you receive regular email updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service, well any keyword you like really.

By admin | Posted in Twitter | | Tagged mico-blogging, social networking, tweets, Twitter, twitter apps, twitter resources, twitter websites | Comments (2)

Flash Websites: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

February 26, 2009 – 4:50 pm

flash Flash websites sites have been the craze in the past few years, and as Macromedia compiles better features into Flash, with the added additions, one can probably predict there will be a growing number of flash websites on the Internet. However, many internet discussions and debates have criticized Flash websites as being too flashy and unnecessary. Where exactly can we draw the flash limit line? Here is the breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly about Flash Websites.

The good:

Website Interactivity

Flash’s Actionscript opens up a wide array of possibilities. Web designers have used Flash design to create interactive features ranging from interactive feedback forms to attractive Flash games. This whole new world of user interactivity will leave your visitors coming back for more every time.

The Standardized Website

By using Flash to design your website, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. Flash eliminates to constant worry over how a certain css code displays differently in the different browsers, such as, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. By using Flash elements in your website design, they will always appear as they were created, as long as the user has the Flash Player installed on their computer.

Better expression through animation

In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real “movie files” that are raster based and hence much larger in size.

The Bad and The Ugly:

Flash Player Installation

When using Flash for your website design, understand that your visitors will have to download the Flash player in order to view Flash movies, by using Flash your visitors could decrease considerably if they are not willing to download the Flash player. It can be frustrating to your visitors to have to be instructed to download and install another application to be able to view your website. Most likely, you have just lost a visitor and potential client. You’ll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn’t have the player installed. Don’t assume that everyone online has the necessary tools to view your Flash based website.

Search Engine Optimization

If your content is presented solely in Flash, most search engines won’t be able to index your website and content. This can cause your website to rank lower in the search engines, which will result in less targeted traffic visiting your website.

Slow Loading time

The use of solely Flash based websites can cause loner wait times for your page to load. With so many impatient internet users today, a slow loading page can lead your visitors and potential clients to leave your page in a hurry. When compared to standard website pages with regular text and images, Flash websites can become your visitors worst nightmare. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.

The best solution when using Flash is to use it as an absolute last result. Use Flash only when you in need of the motion and interactivity that Flash website can provide. The best option is to simply not use a complete Flash based website, instead utilize the benefits of a combination of Flash and HTML .

By admin | Posted in Web Design | | Tagged flash design, flash website design, flash websites, flash websites and seo | Comments (1)

Sitemaps: What Are They and 3 Resources To Help You Create Them

February 24, 2009 – 2:31 pm

There are several ways to improve your web presence. To help your website improve its SEO (search engine optimization), there are small tasks that can be done to increase your web traffic. Visit http://tinyurl.com/aqkt25 to find additional ways to bring traffic to your website.

One great way to increase your ranking in the search engines is through the use of XML Sitemaps.

What is a Sitemap?

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Web crawlers usually discover pages from links within the site and from other sites. Sitemaps supplement this data to allow crawlers that support Sitemaps to pick up all URLs in the Sitemap and learn about those URLs using the associated metadata. Using the Sitemap protocol does not guarantee that web pages are included in search engines, but provides hints for web crawlers to do a better job of crawling your site. -Source: www.sitemaps.org

3 Websites to Visit to Create a XML Sitemap:

1. xml-sitemaps.com: This website allows users to generate an xml sitemap for your website in 4 easy steps. Users start by entering the complete url of your website. The final result will be a free generated xml sitemap, which you simply add the code to your website.

2. sitemaps-builder.com: Most xml sitemap generator websites have the same concept and final goal in common. However, the sitemaps-builder.com website is not very attractive to the eye, and somewhat confusing, but it does get the job done when it comes to creating a great XML Sitemap. The best part is that the generator is FREE! Simply begin by adding your website url.

3. Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress : This is handy plug in for Wordpress users. Here you can create a XML Sitemap for your Wordpress blog. This plugin generates a XML compliant sitemap of your WordPress blog. The plug-in format is supported by Ask.com, Google, YAHOO and MSN Search.

Using a XML sitemap does not guarantee inclusion in the top search engines, however, having an XML sitemap increases the search engines ability to crawl your website more effectively, which could ultimately lead to higher rankings in the search engines.

If you would like additional ways to improve your website presence, read the article http://tinyurl.com/aqkt25 .

www.twitter.com/freelancesquad

By admin | Posted in seo | | Tagged how to make a sitemap, seo, sitemap generators, XML sitemaps | Comments (0)

Twitter Me This: 25 Twitter Resources You Don't Know, But Should Be Using.

February 10, 2009 – 10:03 am

Twitter is rapidly becoming one the most popular social networks on Earth! For the newcomer to the growing network, the website can be actually a little overwhelming. Even for some of the Twitter veterans, there are numerous too Twitter resources that can help you have a great micro-blogging experience.

Here are 25 great Twitter Resources You Don’t Know, But Should Be Using!

1. TwitWall: http://www.twitwall.com: Using TwitWall allows users to embed their favorite videos and widgets, upload your photos, mp3 music or podcasts. Just the kind of stuff to keep your followers following (fans cheering, or clients calling). If you can’t Tweet it in 140 characters or less, Twitwall is the resource for you.

2. TwtTrip: http://twttrip.com :Where will you go next? Share your travel plans with your tweeple! Connect with others who may be travelling to the same city, or even in the same airport.

3. Bubble Tweet: http://www.bubbletweet.com:Say “Hello” To Your Followers With A BubbleTweet Video! This nifty website allows you to greet followers with a short video clip that you upload. With millions of people using Twitter each day, this one is relatively unknown, with only about 633 people currently using the service.

4. Tweet3: http://www.tweet3.com: Whether you’ve got one Twitter account or manage multiple accounts (friends, business, another language – the reasons are plentiful). You can easily click between profiles and customize colors for each account. Tweet3 is utilizing Google’s powerful charting and map APIs to bring you useful data about your Twitter accounts and URLs that you share between accounts.

5. TwTip: http://www.twtip.com: TwTip created a bot which fetches all new tweets and picks the best valuable tips for you. With its simple interface, users can easily find tweet tips in any subject, like Photoshop, Macintosh, health tips and recipe tips.

6. Twittrans: http://www.twitrans.onehourtranslation.com: OK, I really couldn’t think of a good use for this Twitter resource at the time of creating this post, but this website is an actual fast human translation of your tweets directly from your twitter account by sending (Reply message) to @twitrans with the source and target languages and the message to translate. Text will be translated by freelance translators around the world, translation service 24/7 in all major languages. Wow, it doesn’t get any better than that. Now you just have to find a reason to use it!

7. TwtPoll: http://www.twtpoll.comTwtpoll is an easy to use survey/ poll twitter app. Type in a 140 chars question, type in multiple choice answers, and share it in social networks, or embed it into your blog or website.

8. Tweetree: http://www.tweetree.comTweetree puts your Twitter stream in a tree so you can see the posts people are replying to in context. In addition, the website pulls in some of your external content including twitpic photos, YouTube videos and more, so that you can see them right in your stream without having to click through every link your friends post to Twitter.

9. My Tweet Space: http://www.mytweetspace.comThere are numerous websites available that can allow you to create a personalized background on Twitter. However, if you ever wanted to completely brand your Twitter Profile but don’t know how, MyTweetSpace allows you to easily create your branded Twitter background.

10. Twilert: http://www.twilert.com As if you already didn’t get enough mail in your inbox, here’s another inbox filler, but this tool can email you valuable information about you or your company. Twilert is a Twitter application that lets you receive regular email updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service, well any keyword you like really.

11. Split Tweet: http://www.splitweet.comSplitweet allows Twitter users to create a list of accounts and distribute their tweets, choosing their release in one or more of their accounts. Additionally, users can also follow your following tweets from all of your managed accounts in Splitweet.

12. Twistory: http://www.twistory.net Users are able to add their Twitter backlog feed to their favorite calendar application and browser through their personal Twitter diary.

13. iTweet: http://www.itweet.net iTweet 2 Web has a built-in auto-refresh, search and hashtags. Full follow, block, notifications features. With this app, users can view Tweeters bio, location, and URL inline with tweets.

14. Tweet Take: http://www.tweetake.comTweetake allows you to back-up your followers, people you are following, favorite tweets, and tweets in general with just one click of your mouse.

15. Twitly: http://www.twitly.com Twitly allows Twitter users to separate the people they follow into groups. Example groups include ”chatty”, “friends”, “co-workers”, “journalists” , “celebrities”, and more. This makes finding and reading Tweets from the people that matter most to you much easier.

16. Tweenky: http://www.beta.tweenky.comTweenky is a web-based micro-blogging (”tweet”) client that currently supports Twitter. The Tweenky main feature is the Integration with Twitter search (formerly Summarize) to allow users to find & track content as it flows through the “Twitterverse”.

17. TwiZon: http://www.twizon.com A combination between Twitter and Amazon, Twitzon lists all the tweets that reference Amazon deals so you can find out what’s popular and hot right now from Twitter users.

18.Twitzu: http://www.twitzu.com If you are making plans to have a meet up, get together or party, you can blast the news out to your Twitter followers. Twitzu creates an event standard for Twitter. Using the site, Twitterers can create an event page for their meet up, party, get together etc. and send it out to their followers who can then RSVP with just a click.

19. Feed Tweeter: http://www.feedtweeter.comFeedtweeter is a little service that allows you to link Twitter to your other activities. Basically it’s a system that keeps track of an RSS feed and processes any new items that appear.

20. Chirrup: http://www.chirrup.angryamoeba.co.uk is comment system which uses Twitter as a data store. People send Twitter replies to you about your site. Then, Chirrup fetches all of the replies from Twitter, and sorts them by URL so you can have a comment feed for each page in your site. You can put the comments wherever you want them, and style them however you please.

21. TwitterFone: http://www.twitterfone.com TwitterFone is free service that lets you update your Twitter feed using your voice from any mobile or cell phone. You call it, speak your tweet, and hang up. A short while later, your tweet will be posted on Twitter.

22. My Tweet Map: http://www.mytweetmap.com Enter your Twitter name and password, and see the messages from those you follow pop up on a Google Map. You can also update your status right from this application.

23. Tweet Scan: http://www.tweetscan.com Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter posts. Just enter the term plus a user name (optional), and the system will scan Twitter to show you the results.

24. Twitdir: http://www.twitdir.com TwitDir enables you to find statistics of the Top 100 followers, Top 100 followed, Top 100 favoriters and Top 100 updaters. It also works as a search engine for Twitter users, which mean you can find any user information by searching the users name.

25. TwootBall: http://www.twootball.com Where Twitter Meets NFL Football . Posting on Twootball is simple, to post something regarding the New York Jets, just add #jets to your tweet, and your message will appear immediately on Twootball. I guess this would have been a great resource during the Super Bowl, for all those trash talkers! Go Steelers!

Of course, there are a lot more Twitter resources out there, some may even be your favorite, but this list of unknowns should have you dancing for joy and thanking God you are on Twitter.

And now we invite you to leave your Twitter Unknown Resources below in the comment box. Happy Tweeting.

By admin | Posted in Twitter | | Tagged how to use twitter, microblogging, social networking, tweerts, Twitter, twitter followers, twitter resources, twitter websites, what is twitter | Comments (2)

Your Website: FAIL!Top 10 Reasons Your Website Is A Failure.

February 9, 2009 – 6:09 pm

According to resources on the internet, by the close of December 2008 , there were approximately 186,727,854 websites on the internet by the end of that month. In addition, there were a total of 31.5 million websites added during the total year.

With so many websites and internet users in the past year, it is imperative to create a web presence that is professional and one that adds value to the internet. This blog post will explain what items should not be included in your website, or it will FAIL!!

Top 10 Reasons Your Website Is A Failure:

1. Too much Clutter & Content: Sometimes you can “over design a website”. By adding too much content which fills the entire page, has no page structure, or annoys visitors, your website will fail.

(See Example: http://havenworks.com/)

2. Used an Online Site Builder to Create: There are thousands of economical ways to create a website online. However, if you want to portray a professional image, online site builders are not the way to go. In addition, most online builders have poor design layouts, and sometimes require you to run their ads on your website.

3. Bad Page Navigation: This includes not having consistent navigation on each of your pages. All of your website pages should have the same style of navigation, either horizontal or vertical navigation buttons. In addition, there should always be navigation to previously visited pages. The most commonly used navigation button items include, home, about us, services, and contact us. Keep your navigation simple and easy to use.

4. Not Compatible in Different Browsers:Your website will fail if you do not test your website in different browsers to include FireFox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and the endless list of others. Everyone does not use the same browser. If you do not test your web pages, what looks fine in one browser could look horrible in another.

5. Misspelled Words: This one is self-explanatory. It really looks unprofessional when a website has words that are not spelled correctly. All you have to do is simply use the spell check feature available in any editor.

6. Page Loads Slowly: Nothing sends a website visitor packing quicker than a website or page that loads slowly. No one is going to sit there and just watch the hour glass continuously flip. If your pages do not load quickly, your visitors are guaranteed to go somewhere else.

7. You Have a Counter: Wow, this one went out in the early years of the internet and web design. No one has a visitor counter on their website anymore. Unless you are running a popularity contest website, no one cares how many visitors you have coming to your website, so don’t display the counter. However, web traffic is valuable information that you should know to find out where your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on your website, and what they did when they were there. A good tool to keep track of this information is Google Analytics.

8. Too Many Advertisements: It is well known that some people on the internet make a lot of money through Google AdSense, however, this does not mean to overwhelm your visitors with clickable ads. In addition, don’t add the ads that take your visitors off on a tangent to your affiliate websites. More ads does not necessarily mean bigger Google AdSense checks.

9. Text Too Small: If your visitors can not read your page, or struggle to read your content, then they will leave your website. The average size of website text is anywhere from 12 pts. to 14 pts. Ask various family members and friends to visit your website and read the content, if anyone complains about text size, then it is time to make a change.

10. Animated Gifs: Yes, floating butterflies, bouncy happy faces, and rolling balls are very cute, but a page full of these little cuties can make your website a complete failure. Unless you have a cute website dedicated to kids, animated gifs should be kept at a minimum when designing your website and your professional image.

Don’t let your website FAIL in 2009. You only have one time to make a first impression, do it through great design.

And now we invite you to get your website reviewed and designed at an affordable rate by visiting, www.thefreelancesquad.com or by calling us 1-800-497-1740.

By admin | Posted in Web Design | | Tagged bad web design, fail, poor web design, Web Design, web presence, websites | Comments (1)