The second and as important is LINKS. When your primary site has many mini sites with relative good content pointing to it, your primary site will start to develop popularity. With relative content and popularity your standings in the search engines will rise to or near the top. Keep in mind you need to keep your content updated at least monthly. but preferable weekly.

The third is OPTIMIZATION. The Free Page system allows full configuration of your TITLE tag, META description tag and META keyword tags as well as the ability to add links and place/edit copy to the site. The pages are designed so your copy is built close to the top of the page code.

With these three benefits working for you, the real value is there is no cost to use this system.

However the real secret to success with us, is joining our Veretekk system. With Veretekk you will have live access to the professionals that put sites in the top of search engines consistently and train you to do so as well.
Your Online Promotion can benefit by using Free Page to gain terrific Search Engine Placement when connected to your Free Veretekk system.





Feeds for [ ]

1. Web Site Promotion, Where to find Open Source Software

Web Site Promotion, Where to find Open Source Software

It is not a requirement that open source software companies be non-profit, they can have a for profit diviision, they just have to play by the open software rules. See a recent Wired magazine on the business of open source at: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-04/bz_opensource

Over the history of the personal computer, one company that has dedicated itself to a particular hardware platform and a particular type of operating system is Microsoft. The x86, or Intel processor based hardware platform based on Windows is where Microsoft primarily does business. It is undeniable that Microsoft can claim many firsts in the development of personal computer software, just as it is clear that Microsoft creates software that most often does deliver on its promises.

It also equally clear that before a single piece of programming code is written, a business plan with it's own return on investment has already been written. What I mean to say is that Microsoft does deliver quality software, (let's leave Vista out of the discussion here for the moment), and it's intention from the very beginning of software development is to make a profit on it. Microsoft will never take a single step without consideration of where their profit lies. The benefit to the computer user is an important but secondary, not primary consideration. Of course, any modern corporation operates on the very same premise.

In contrast, there is Google. Of course Google makes tons of money and is profit-driven like Microsoft, but they are hardware neutral at Google. They really do not care if you run Linux, Unix, Windows, Safari, (or some future operating system for that matter.) However you access the Internet, you will be able to access Google's search and software capabilities. In addition, they allow their employees up to 20 percent of their time to develop "outside of the box" projects, that do not necessarily relate to their primary job responsibility. This is a considerable amount of freedom to develop independant thinking, and creativity.

At the other end of the spectrum from Microsoft is the Open Source community. Isn't it great to know that there are Open Source software programmers out there who care more for the quality of their software then how much money they will make from it ? This is quite an amazing and wonderful thing for computer users ! Open Source is the archetypical non-profit model, if such a thing exists in this world. You can base your web site promotion on software that will be free, or low cost, and it will likely be of high quality as well.

Popular examples of open source software are Mozilla; an alternative to Internet Explorer; Thunderbird, an Outlook alternative; Open Office, an alternative to Microsoft Office; Joomla, a web site development system; and GIMP, an alternative to Photoshop. A web site promotion based on these open software programs alone can save you hundreds of dollars, or more.

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For a complete definition of open source, see the Open Software Inititive SI definition.

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Here are some sites to search for Open Source Software. This is probably the best site with which to begin:

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Open Source Windows

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sourceforge.net

This is a list on their site of thousands of open source programs.

Clustering (902) - Most active: ehcache
*
Database (13010) - Most active: phpMyAdmin
*
Desktop (6701) - Most active: ADempiere ERP Business Suite
*
Development (59532) - Most active: Openbravo ERP
*
Enterprise (5930) - Most active: PostBooks ERP, accounting, CRM by xTuple
*
Financial (4866) - Most active: PostBooks ERP, accounting, CRM by xTuple
*
Games (37005) - Most active: FreeCol
*
Hardware (2809) - Most active: Tcl
*
Multimedia (30839) - Most active: Openbravo ERP
*
Networking (7980) - Most active: Zenoss Core - Enterprise IT Monitoring

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W3C Open Source Software

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Open Source Software in Java

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My Open Source

This post was written by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines.

He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant.

He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion.

For additional information, see:

CAD CAM Consulting or

Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

2. Web Site Promotion, GIMP graphics editor - a Photoshop alternative

Web Site Promotion, GIMP graphics editor - a Photoshop alternative

How many times have you had a photograph, or some kind of graphic that you wanted to spruce up or change in some way, to post on a web site, or a blog, for a web site promotion, and you just didn't seem to have the right tool to do it ?

If you are a graphics professional then you probably have access to Photoshop. If not, and you want to get it, you will spend $ 200 - $ 700 depending on how many features of the software you may need.

An alternative is GIMP at www.gimp.org. It is a simple program to use, but don't let the simplicity of the program or it's cute logo fool you.

It can be used to create complex layers, and all kinds of fancy things the graphics pros do, but it is very easy to use. Even for a beginner, you can use it out of the box, with no training, just by opening an image file and playing with it.

IGIMP is open source, (oh yeah!), so it is completely free to download. It ships with most versions of Linux, but it runs under Windows, and on Macs as well.
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If you would like to see a simple training exercise on how to draw a cool looking paint brush in GIMP, visit the following site:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Draw_A_Paint_Brush/

If you fall in love with the program so much you want to use it all the time, there is a good book on GIMP called Grokking the GIMP, (great title !) at:

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html
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This is the kind of gem of a program that makes the open source community proud, and makes happy users smile from ear to ear. Your web site promotion will be more effective with good quality graphics created using GIMP.

Give it a try if you like and let me know how you like it. Good luck in your web site promotion efforts !

John Lombaerde - The CAD CAM Guy

This post was written by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines. He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant. He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion. For additional information, see:

CAD CAM Consulting

or

Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

or

NPN lead generator

3. Web Site Promotion - Gimp graphics editor

Web Site Promotion - Gimp graphics editor

How many times have you wanted to edit a graphic file,, a photograph, or some kind of image, and you just didn't have the right tool to do what you wanted ?

If you post information on the Internet on web sites, blogs, or anywhere else, you may have run across this problem at one time or another. If you merely need to edit the size of an image, then I recommend Pix resizer. It is simple and easy to use to assist your image editing efforts in your web site promotion.

If your needs require actual image editing you can always purchase the venerable Photoshop(c) software program for around $ 200.00 - 300.00, (up to over $700.00 for the full version), or see if Photoshop Elements will work for you for around $ 100.00 to 150.00. These programs are widely used and popular. If you are a professional in graphics editing. go for it and get the full program.

If you would like a full featured image editing software that is open source and completely free, try GIMP. It does not do everything that a full-version of Photoshop does, but it is very capable. Note: there are quite a few people who sprung for the full version of Photoshop(c), who only use a fraction of it's full capability. GIMP is a very unique software, with very good graphics editing capability. I was impressed with it the first time I used it. It is available for download at www.gimp.org/

I think you will be impressed with it. It has sort of a weird name, but it is one of those programs you can use right "out of the box", with no training. It is a very well designed program, and has an impressive feature set.

Check out a review from Maximum PC Magazine. Note: most versions of Linux ship with a version of GIMP included, but the program also runs on PC's and Macs. If you are used to Photoshop, but you are looking for an open source alternative, you may like Gimp Shop.

This post was written by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines. He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant. He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion.

See CAD CAM Consulting.

Also check out Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

and NPN lead generator

4. Web Site Promotion, Joomla hits 10 million

Web Site Promotion, Joomla hits 10 million

http://www.joomla.org/announcements/general-news/5236-10-million-thank-yous.html

This is one of those milestones on the Internet that should not go without recognition. Over 10 million downloads of Joomla have taken place since 1995 when it was first released. Congrats to the Joomla developer community that develops Joomla as an open source program for web site builders.

I have to say that Joomla has been a great tool for me to set-up a professional-looking web site and add content in very short order. It has saved me huge amounts of time, and I am not using it to it's fullest extent yet.

For those who do not know Joomla, the best way to describe it would be to say it is a instant web site builder. It called a powerful "content management system", but that only tells part of the story. Joomla is an easy to use software program for web site design and content management. It is free for the download because it is Open Source software.

This means programmers and developers have written software not for profit, but to benefit the user community. The Firefox Internet browser, an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Open Office, an alternative to Microsoft Office, are other examples of Open Source Software.

The difference between Joomla and other web design software systems, is that there are thousands of fully functional, complete web site templates available on the Internet, so that all you have to do is choose a layout that you like, download it to your site, and add content to it. This can be a real time saver, and enabler for those of you, (like me), who are not professional webmasters. Your online promotion can benefit from multiple web sites using Joomla.

The description of Joomla as a "Content Management System" is one that software developers use, but it does not tell us ordinary folks much about Joomla. It is is really a type of web building software that can help you build a practically instant web site at no charge to the user. It can be used by novices and professional web developers alike. When using Joomla, you will find that all of the links work, and most of the template sites have many useful options, contact forms, a blog page, news feeds, and RSS feeds. Whenever you want to change the content and add pictures, or text, it is very easy to do. You merely turn on and off items, and make small adjustments step by step as you are ready to add content, to make your site come alive. This can save you literally hours or days of development.

Joomla, on the other hand, encourages you to customize the content your own way. It was designed for this purpose. There are literally thousands of Joomla templates available on the Internet, free to download, and all can be customized to add your own content. The appearance of the site is done for you already, but with thousands of pre-designed sites to choose from, you are sure to find one that you like.

One of the very interesting things about Joomla, is that if you want to change the look and feel of your site, it can be done very simply with a few clicks of the mouse. This is something that could cause quite a headache for most web designers, but it is a very simply matter with Joomla. There may be a few small adjustments to be made, but it is quite a surprise to see how easily it can be done. This is a very unique functionality that I have never seen in web design software.

Joomla accomplishes feats like this easily because of it's database design. In fact, you can change the site quite quickly, simply by turning components on and off. In addition to free software and templates, there are a number of plug-ins to add more specialized functionality. Some plug-ins are free, and some are not. I had been looking for something like Joomla for years. I had tried to find something similar with commercial software, but I could not. In fact, my web hosting company, (see below link), had Joomla pre-installed on the site, so I didn’t even have to FTP Joomla software to my web site.

see Joomla friendly web hosting at Lunarpages

Joomla is also very search engine friendly. Google will usually visit a Joomla site on a regular basis, due to the frequent content changes that result from the news feeds. They are usually updated on a daily basis, even if the web site is not updated on a regular basis. These news feeds are available on many of the Joomla templates.

This is a big benefit to web site promotion on Google. Another big advantage with Joomla is that it is very easy to use. It is not necessarily recommended for computer users who are brand new to the Internet. Although it is not for the rank beginner, if you are reasonably comfortable with computers, and the Internet, Joomla could be for you. It doesn’t require any programming or special expertise, so it is still a program for novices.

The most challenging part of Joomla is the installation, which is actually quite simple, if you are familiar with FTP. It should also be mentioned that you have to be careful to verify that any optional modules you want to install have been verified for the specific version of Joomla that you have. For example, you would not want to install something that was designed for a more recent version than the one you have installed.

This post was written by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines. He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant. He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion.

For additional information, see:

CAD CAM Consulting

or

Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

Below, I have listed a source for free Joomla and Internet marketing training.

(Just type “free Joomla templates” into Google for more sites.)

Free Joomla and Internet Marketing training

After free sign-up, check the calendar under Veretraining for Maurice Young's Tuesday evening training.

Here are some Joomla resources.

Joomla Open Source Web Site - check for the latest version of Joomla.

More than 2200 Free Joomla templates

5. Web Site Promotion, RSS Feed Directories

Web Site Promotion - RSS feed directories

In the last couple of posts to this blog, I explained the value of RSS to any web site promotion. I also recommended an open source RSS reader called blogbridge that can be downloaded for free at www.blogbridge.com. Note: there are many more RSS readers on the Internet that you can download, many of them at no charge.

If you are not sure whether RSS is a good thing or not, please review the 2 previous articles on this blog, and come back to read on from this point in the article.

OK, now that the value of RSS feeds is clear, and you have your reader, what are you going to read ? In other words, what kind of information do you want in your daily information newspaper basket ?

It might have nothing to do with "news", it may just be "stuff" you are interested in. By subscribing to several RSS feeds, you will see how your own web site promotion might benefit from an RSS feed of your own.

It is extremely easy to set this up in the Veretekk system. All the work has been done for you. The only thing you need to do is set-up your blogfather blog from within the Veretekk system, and check the boxes for the portals you want to have your RSS feed sent automatically, that's it !

RSS directories are a great place to find the "stuff" you are interested in. This is also the place that people who are interested in your business may find you. If you create your own RSS feed with the appropriate tags, or keywords, people who are interested in your "stuff" can find your information. This is one of the keys to a successful web site promotion.

Here are some great directories to look for interesting RSS "stuff". Look for a search box, (usually at the top of the page), and type in your preferences.

http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php (Go to the "match" box at the bottom of the page)

http://radio.xmlstoragesystem.com/rcsPublic/rssHotlist

http://www.feedage.com/

http://www.jordomedia.com/ (type in your search preferences in the search feeds box at the top of the page)

http://www.rss-network.com/

http://www.rssfeeds.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/rss/

http://reader.feedshow.com/search_feeds.php

http://www.feedmil.com/

http://www.feedest.com/

http://www.rssfeedcentral.net/

http://www.feedlisting.com/

http://www.feedfury.com/

http://www.feedbees.com/

http://rssmountain.com/rss_directory.php (This one claims to list 1257367 RSS feeds)

http://www.feedzilla.com/rss.asp (great RSS directory with lists of catagories)

Note: This is a small list, there are many more directories on the Internet. I hope your web site promotion can benefit from this information.

by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines. He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant. He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion. For additional information, see:

CAD CAM Consulting

or

Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

6. Web Site Promotion, RSS feeds - Part II
Where did RSS come from and where is it going ? What are the benefits of RSS to Web Site Promotion ? These are the broad questions this article will attempt to answer in brief fashion.

RSS developed to fill the need for a way to automate and simplify the delivery of information over the Internet, from web sites, blogs, and other sources that have relatively frequent updates. The original idea for RSS came from the old "tickertape" news services. If you have your own web site or blog, your web site promotion will benefit from using RSS. Simply put, the more frequently your blog or web site is updated, the more the benefit you will gain from RSS feeds to your site.

There are 2 primary rules to follow for web site promotion on Google.

1) Google loves original content, and especially fresh original content. Fresh means any content that is updated frequently. How fresh is fresh, you may ask ? The simple answer is; daily is nice, weekly is good, but not quite as nice. The more often your site is updated, the better chance you will have to achieve top search engine positions on Google.

2) Google values what other people think of your information. A large number of subscribers to RSS feeds on your blog or web site is beneficial for your web site promotion. The number of RSS subscribers to your site is important, just as links to your site, or the number of visitors to your site. The more links to your web site, (RSS subscriptions included), the better you will do on the search engines.

RSS feeds are simply articles on a web server that are written in XML, a language that is similar to the source code, (HTML) that is used on blogs and web sites. The beginning of RSS was somewhat confusing before it's current interpretation as "really simple syndication", or RSS 2.0. It started as Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91), changed to RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.90 and 1.0). Dave Winer, a developer at Userland introduced his own XML format, and Dan Libby of Netscape, both figure prominently in the history of RSS.

Do you remember when Netscape was the most popular Internet browser,and you actually had to pay for it ? Perhaps you don't, that's OK. That's the time of the beginning of RSS development in the 90's.

These were the confusing days of RSS, but finally in 2002, things got together with RSS 2.0, and Dave Winer's definition of RSS 2.0. He released ownership over RSS, (one of the good guys - kudos Dave), and gave it to the Harvard Law School -Berkman Center.

Now, it appears that a great number of blogs of all kinds, and web sites as well, have RSS feeds on them. At last estimates. there are in excess of 25 million RSS feeds in existence. Approximately 50% of them are active, that is, they are updated with regular content. There is an alternative feed method to RSS, called Atom but it is not as popular as RSS, perhaps because it is a little more complex to write.

It has been reported that Microsoft's new Windows 7 will have a built-in RSS reader, but it's official release is 4th quarter of 2009, according to some industry sources, so we will all have to wait. If you would like to find a good program that can read RSS feeds, you can do some research on the Internet on RSS feed readers, and find one you like. There are plug-ins for Firefox that some people like, and of course there are many standalone RSS reader programs.

One very good one I just recently started using, because I like the simplicity of the layout, is an open source RSS reader called, BlogBridge. I like it because of it's simplicity. If a reader program has advanced features, but it is not easy to use, then it will probably not get used. This reader is different. It is feature-rich, but the design is a model of clarity. It is and Open Source program, yeah, and it is also available at no charge, (double yeah).

It is quite amazing that the days of tickertape were only a few decades ago. Now at no charge, anyone with an Internet connection, can have access to far superior news and information, than the old tickertape. RSS feeds can be sent right to your computer from an incredible variety of sources all over the world, 24 hours a day.

by John Lombaerde, a CNC programmer with over 15 years experience designing, programming and cutting complex parts on multi-axis computer numerically controlled, (CNC) milling machines. He is an experienced Product Designer, CNC Programmer, CNC Machinist, and CAD CAM Consultant. He is also an SEO Consultant specialized in Search Engine Placement for Web Site Promotion. For additional information, see: CAD CAM Consulting or Web Site Promotion by Veretekk

7. Web Site Promotion, RSS feeds, Google Start Page

Web Site Promotion - RSS feeds and Google Start Page - Part I

RSS stands for really simple sindication.  I would call it "P.A.I.D." if I had to name if myself; Personal Automated Information Delivery.  You simply decide what kind of reader you want, easily subscribe to a feed and every time you open the reader, you will have the information you want delivered to you on a regular basis.   Many RSS feeds that have a large base of subscribers update their feed at least once a day. There are feeds that have fewer than 100 subscribers, and some feeds that have over a million subscribers. Dell computers are shipped with a customized Dell menu that is based on the Google Start Page.

I like to think of RSS as an Internet News and Information service that is like the newspaper many of us used to have delivered to our door.  The only difference is, with RSS, you choose the information that you want to receive from anywhere in the world, and it is 100% free, delivered right to your computer, whenever you want it.

By trying the Google Start Page, you will probably see the value, of RSS.  No knowledge of RSS is necessary. You don't even have to know that it is the magic of RSS feeds behind the Google Start Page.  After you use it for a while, you may want to upgrade to an RSS reader, or even publish an RSS feed yourself.  If you have your own blog, RSS is something that might really interest you.  At the end of this series of articles, you will probably find out that RSS is not that complicated at all.

All you have to do is download Google Start Page at http://www.google.com/ig.   You can choose a wide variety of subjects of interest, which create clickable text links on your personal "Google Start Page".  The clickable links you create are called "gadjets".  You can set it as your default home page, or just use an icon on your desktop, to access the page whenever you want.  It will automatically update with the freshest content available for each "gadjet".

You can choose from the mundane, such as; time, calendar, quotes, to the exotic, such as; content from Hulu - (over 400 current as well as classic TV shows), News from major as well as obscur sources, a Facebook gadjet, Japanese word of the day, Sudoku puzzles, and games of all kinds. You can even choose a theme for the top and bottom of the page from a series of artists.

The best part of the Google Start Page is that it is free for the download.  It will easily and painlessly get you using RSS feeds, without having to know any of the technical details of RSS. Remember P.A.I.D. Personal Automated Information Delivery.   That's what RSS is all about.  In the next post, I will explain more about how to use RSS feeds in the Veretekk system using Blogfather.  This can benefit your online promotion in a big way.

For additional info on online promotions see the following links:

Google Slideshow for Facebook

Online Promotion by Veretekk

Also see:

Free Classified Ads

8. Web Site Promotion using Joomla

Web Site Promotion with Joomla

Joomla is an easy to use software program for web site design and content management. It is free for the download because it is Open Source software. This means programmers and developers have written software not for profit, but to benefit the user community. The Firefox Internet browser, an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Open Office, an alternative to Microsoft Office, are other examples of Open Source Software.

The difference between Joomla and other web design software systems, is that there are thousands of fully functional, complete web site templates available on the Internet, so that all you have to do is choose a layout that you like, download it to your site, and add content to it. This can be a real time saver, and enabler for those of you, (like me), who are not professional webmasters. Your online promotion can benefit from multiple web sites using Joomla.

The description of Joomla as a "Content Management System" is one that software developers use, but it does not tell us ordinary folks much about Joomla. It is is really a type of web building software that can help you build a practically instant web site at no charge to the user. It can be used by novices and professional web developers alike.

You may have seen different kinds of web site building software on the Internet. Sometimes they are offered for free from hosting companies. At best they basically give you a banner graphic at the top and bottom of the page, and you are left to design the entire layout and the rest of the site yourself. At worst they, clog your site with ads for their service that have nothing to do with your web site.

I have found that most web design software works well, if you have a flair for design, (which I don’t), but to me it all just seems like specialized desktop publishing for the Internet. Joomla, is very different, it is a database. Unlike desktop publishing or web design software, it is designed to share the development of web designers that have already created working, full-function web sites. You can add content and change things around to make is your own web site, but the layout has already been set-up for you. When using Joomla, you will find that all of the links work, and most of the template sites have many useful options, contact forms, a blog page, news feeds, and RSS feeds. Whenever you want to change the content and add pictures, or text, it is very easy to do. You merely turn on and off items, and make small adjustments step by step as you are ready to add content, to make your site come alive. This can save you literally hours or days of development.

I have limited experience in web design, but know enough to realize that I don’t have the eye of a graphic designer. I do however, know what I like, and I like a web site with a clean design. I know a bit of HTML, but not nearly enough to design a web site from scratch. Joomla is easy to use, and add my own content, without worrying about the design elements of the site.

I used several web design packages years ago. Recently re-purchased one leading web design software package to help a friend get a web site set up. I mistakenly thought that after so many years, the software would have fully developed templates for a variety of different types of web sites. I thought I could just choose one, and then type in my own content. I was completely wrong ! There still were only bare bones templates, and none were developed as complete web sites. The templates that were available were generic, and still required you to do the design of a each page yourself.

If you have ever hired a web designer, (not to take anything at all away from their skills, and expertise), it can be rather expensive. Additional features and functionality obviously cost more, and there are maintenance issues to update content on a regular basis. Any online promotion is helped by frequent updates of quality content. This is something that is very good for you to have control over, since paying a web designer on a monthly retainer to make changes may be a costly proposition. The more often you add content the better the search engines like it, so it is best to gain control yourself over your web site to be able to update content on your own. Joomla gives you control over your online promotion.

If you are lucky enough to find web site templates on the Internet, it doesn’t mean that they will be organized the way you like. If you want a full blown web site you usually have to pay for it. You may also have trouble adding things such as your own text and graphics, if the site did not have these elements already.

Joomla, is very different. Templates are complete web sites. Joomla encourages you to customize the content your own way. It was designed for this purpose. There are literally thousands of Joomla templates available on the Internet, free to download, and all can be customized to add your own content. The appearance of the site is done for you already, but with thousands of pre-designed sites to choose from, you are sure to find one that you like.

One of the very interesting things about Joomla, is that if you want to change the look and feel of your site, it can be done very simply with a few clicks of the mouse. This is something that could cause quite a headache for most web designers, but it is a very simply matter with Joomla. There may be a few small adjustments that you will need to make, but it is quite a surprise to see how easily it can be done. This is a very unique functionality that I have never seen in web design software.

Joomla accomplishes feats like this easily because of it's database design. In fact, you can change the site quite quickly, simply by turning components on and off. In addition to free software and templates, there are a number of plug-ins to add more specialized functionality. Some plug-ins are free, and some are not.

I have been looking for something like Joomla for years. I had tried to find something similar with commercial software, but I could not. In fact, my web hosting company, (see below link), had Joomla pre-installed on the site, so I didn’t even have to FTP Joomla software to my web site.

Joomla is also very search engine friendly. Google will usually visit a Joomla site on a regular basis, due to the frequent content changes that result from the news feeds. They are usually updated on a daily basis, even if the web site is not updated on a regular basis. These news feeds are available on many of the Joomla templates. This is a big benefit to online promotion on Google.

Another big advantage with Joomla is that it is very easy to use. It is not necessarily recommended for computer users who are brand new to the Internet. Although it is not for the rank beginner, if you are reasonably comfortable with computers, and the Internet, Joomla could be for you. It doesn’t require any programming or special expertise, so it is still a program for novices.

The most challenging part of Joomla is the installation, which is usually quite simple, if you are familiar with FTP. It should also be mentioned that you have to be careful to verify that any optional modules you want to install have been verified for the specific version of Joomla that you have. For example, you would not want to install something that was designed for a more recent version than the one you have installed.

Below, I have listed a source for free Joomla and Internet marketing training.

Here are some Joomla resources.

Joomla Open Source Web Site - check for the latest version of Joomla.

More than 2200 Free Joomla templates

(Just type “free Joomla templates” into Google for more sites.)

Free Joomla and Internet Marketing training.

Veretekk Internet Marketing and Joomla training After free sign-up, check the calendar under Veretraining for Maurice Young's Tuesday evening training.

9. Web Site Promotion - Online Libraries

Online Promotion - Online Libraries

This post will be of interest mainly to authors, but also to anyone who creates an online promotion on the Internet.

There are several major efforts underway to digitize the books of the world that are not currently under copyright. Google and Microsoft are leading this effort. (They do charge organizations for this service). In addition, there are not-for-profit efforts by groups such as the Open Content Alliance.

Vast repositories of the entire text of books eventually will available to the major search engines. It is already possible to do a limited book search on Google. Books can be searched, just like the many other categories on Google such as; Web, Images, Video, News, Maps, etc.

This search can be done from the more tab at the top of the main Google search page. Clicking on it will reveal numerous goodies, books included. Does this mean that Shakespeare will soon be appearing in results ? Not likely, but it does offer some exciting possibilities for research, and tremendous time savings for students and scholars whose material can be indexed on-line.

Why should this be of interest to Internet users, as well as Internet writers, and those who create an online promotion for their material ? Well, this will open up writings, initially Western literature, to several billion readers. There are only approximately one billion people in the world that have access to libraries in their native countries, mostly in the developed nations. The knowledge of the world will soon be accessible to a much larger world audience.

Major libraries such as: New York Public Library and libraries at the University of Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford have signed on with Google. Others wanted a more open unrestricted access to their archives, free from any possibility of commercial interest such as the Boston Library Consortium (with 19 members) including the University of Massachusetts, the University of Connecticut. The Smithsonian and the University of California, are other institutions that decided to opt out of offers from Microsoft and Google.

In order to put the scope of this effort in perspective, there are an estimated 32 million books in the world that could be scanned for this effort. This number is somewhat in dispute, since many books are out of print, yet not technically out of copyright. Google is not making this distinction, and has decided to digitize anything that is either out of print or out of copyright. This has produced praise from some quarters and wrath from others, mainly publishers, and some writers. Google is in the midst of numerous lawsuits, but their efforts continue unabated, and it will probably take years for the courts to work out the details. Ironically, even a settlement, may work in Google's favor. (see below sources).

Technically, the numbers of books in the world is much smaller if you only count books out copyright. (See the following table).

Book Edition Count

From OCLC

2000 B.C. - 1 B.C. --- 779 books created

1 A.D. - 1449 ---- 2.291 books created

1450 - 1499 ---- 11,234 books created

1500 - 1599 ---- 100,731 books created

1600 - 1699 ----- 240,171 books created

1700 - 1799 ----- 537,139 books created

1800 - 1899 ---- 2,573,101 books created

1900 - 1919 ---- 1,651,313 books created

1920 - 1960 ---- 5,335,059 books created

At the University of Michigan, using special proprietary equipment and software, Google is able to digitize one million books per year. It will take Google about six years to copy the Library's entire collection of 7 million volumes.

The amount of storage space required to store a single digitized book is approximately 1 MB. Google currently has over 10,000 servers on-line to index the entire Web, which consists of well over 2 billion web pages. 32 million MB of data storage required to store the world's collection of books, is information of a much greater magnitude than the entire Web today.

It has been revealed that it costs $ 30.00 for the Open Content Alliance to digitize a single book, (although Google's costs may be significantly lower). It may take more than 10 years and between 500 million to 1 billion dollars to digitize the world's books. (This may be a gross overestimate since I don't have figures on cost from Google, and the most aggressive effort is being made by Google in this area). With these kinds of costs involved, it is understandable why it is important that Google is part of this effort.

Without taking sides one way or the other on the legal ramifications of what Google is doing, clearly the idea of digitizing books is an idea whose time has come. When Stanford University made only their card catalog available electronically, within a fairly short period of time, students were visiting the library twice as often and checking out twice as many books. From these kinds of observations, it is clear that the availability of on-line books will not soon obsolete the existence of libraries.

There is a very interesting article in a recent issue of New Yorker Magazine called Future Reading, that puts libraries and great collections of writings in an historical perspective.

Although we may not soon see quotes from Shakespeare in Google search engine results, we may see some relevant historical references, and others from time to time.

Online Promotion by Veretekk
Search Engine Placement

10. Web Site Promotion - The story of the woodcutters

Online Promotion - the story of the woodcutters

Here is a story that I've used to guide my life for quite some time. I heard the story of the woodcutters a long time ago, but it stuck with me over the years.

There were two woodcutters who challenged each other to a chopping contest. Whoever could chop the most wood from sunrise to sunset would be the winner. One of the wood cutters was built like a NFL tackle, and looked like he could probably break the logs apart with his bare hands. The other woodcutter was tall, but lanky and lacked the muscle of the larger man.

The big wood cutter thought that he had this contest in the bag, because his opponent was so scrawny. The men began at sunrise and both chopped wood with great fury. Every so often, the big wood cutter would see his opponent sit down. Since this happened every couple hours, whenever the the skinny man sat down, the large man smiled, and said to himself, "yeah, I've got him". This went on for the entire day.

The large man didn't even stop chopping wood to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He never remembered working so hard in his entire life, and was certain that he had won the contest by a wide margin. He could hardly wait to claim victory at the end of the day.

At sunset, a crowd of people gathered to see the results of the contest. They looked at the pile the big woodcutter had chopped and the crowd cheered, because it was indeed an impressive pile of wood. Then everyone went to check the pile of wood the skinny woodcutter had chopped. To everyone's surprise, especially the big woodcutter, the skinny man's pile was clearly larger than the pile the big man had chopped.

The big man couldn't believe his eyes, and said foul play must have been involved because he had not stopped working for a moment, and had clearly worked harder, since the skinny man had frequently taken time to rest.

The skinny man raised his hand to explain to the big man, and this is what he said. "You thought that I was sitting down to take a rest, but because my back was to you, you couldn't see what I was doing. I only sat down to sharpen my axe."

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What is the point of this story ? I think it is that we must learn to always keep our tools sharp. Whether it is our technical skills, our people skills, our skills as a parent, a mentor, or as a friend. Sometimes we forget that in life, our full value as a human being can be revealed through something as simple as being a good and true friend.

The burly woodcutter in the story is like the myriad of entrepreneurs that have their noses to the grindstone, trying to do a hundred different things they believe it takes to market on the Internet every day. We can work smarter than other entrepreneurs on the Internet, because like the skinny woodcutter, we have a sharper tool. That tool is Veretekk.

I like the skinny fellow in this story, because he didn't care what anyone said, he just had a quiet confidence in what he was doing, and knew clearly that he was using a sharper tool than his competitor. At the end of the day it is the sum of what we can accomplish that will set us apart from other entrepreneurs on the Internet.

This is exactly what goes on with Veretekk every day, whether the distributors realize it or not. We have an amazingly sharp tool with the Veretekk system that can bring results other Internet Marketers only dream of, if we only learn to use it properly for our online promotion. This is the way I see the Internet these days, from my somewhat limited experience. It is similar to a "gold rush" mentality. There are only a handful of savvy marketers on the Internet, and most of them are of the instant success variety. These so-called Internet "gurus", are mostly focused on fueling the false hopes of legions of newcomers that their latest product is the one that will create a lifetime of wealth for thousands of their customers.

Unfortunately, because they are only selling one small piece of a rather complex marketing method they keep secret to themselves, this will never happen for their customers. These "snake-oil-salesmen" know it perfectly well. They also know there seems to be never-ending supply of naive prospects that are just waiting for the next break though product. The attraction of "push-button" success is very difficult for the uninitiated to resist.

I really don't believe that there is anyone but Tom Prendergast, Mike Darling, (the principals of Veretekk), and the Veretekk trainers like Butch Hamilton, Cindy McAsey, (and many more), that are really teaching how ordinary folks can succeed on the Internet. Especially the more I hear about the Platinum Control Panel, the more I am amazed at the real genius of such a system. It really is beyond brilliant. Although I am not yet a Veretekk expert, I am confident that I will succeed, and exceed my own expectations in any online promotion I might choose, with consistent effort.

I hope everyone in Veretekk can exhibit the quiet confidence of the skinny woodcutter and go about our business, using Veretekk to it's fullest extent, and build a great future for ourselves and our children.

Online Promotion by John Lombaerde

11. Web Site Promotion - keyword research

Online Promotion - keyword research

Keywords are not just something to think about at the beginning of a campaign. It is almost a mindset. That is to say there is never only one way to market on the Internet. It is always good to be thinking of new potential keywords in the back of your mind. This is a creative and ongoing process. It requires keyword research to determine the best possible keywords for your online promotion, and it is a continuous process.

Once keywords with an acceptable level of traffic are found, it is important to find out as many possible combinations of keywords as possible. One tool I use to suggest additional keywords is a software program called Keyword Elite. The software does several different types of research. The initial search looks at 500-5000 sites on the Internet that use the same keywords you have chosen, and any combination of additional words. It looks at URL's, or Internet address, as well as Meta tags, (a line in the source code of a website that webmasters use to indicate to certain search engines the content of their web site).

The amount of information can be staggering. Even if only one of these results is a good one, the analyses can be very revealing. They indicate what kind of information other similar web sites are feeding to the search engines.

Online Promotion by Veretekk
Search Engine Placement