Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies aged 56

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Obituary: Steve Jobs

Former CEO & co-founder of US techonlogy giant Apple Steve Jobs has died, the company says. He was 56! That’s only 6 years on me!!

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve,” Apple said.

I’m just gutted … there are 2 dates that I remember … 17th Aug 1977 & today …

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MethodsToSucceed.com Google Search Results

Buying links is a controversial topic among webmasters and web designers. So do you buy links to increase the position of your website on Google or not? Or another way of putting might be, do paid links help your rankings? If so, what are the risks? Is it possible to increase a websites rankings by “buying” links? OK, to answer the pressing question first; yes you can buy links that point to your website and yes, backlinks are perhaps the most important factor that influences the position of your website in Google’s search results. And yes, if you buy backlinks they can get high rankings for your website on Google in no time at all….

There’s another question though that you should hear the answer to and you may not like it! You probably realized that I’m building up to a “But” and if you’ll excuse the obvious and ugly pun… it’s a “big BUT!”… (spelled with one “t” people! Tsk, tsk, clean your minds!) So if buying links sends your website to high ranking heaven, why shouldn’t you use it for your website? Simply put, buying links is against Google’s terms of service, and let’s not kid ourselves, Google owns the lion share of online searches so lets get this right. An besides, if what I’ve been reading recently is right about Bing.com and their SEO parameters, they don’t even take links into account; so back to Google. Here’s what Google’s anti-spam engineer Matt Cutts recently said, “Buying or selling links that pass Page Rank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.” He went on to say that Google has been working on new algorithms and tools that WILL detect paid links!

Also, Google has a report form for paid links and if one of your competitors finds a paid link that points to your website he or she might be inclined to report it to Google, (Let’s be honest, it would be in their own interest even if it’s a selfish and mean thing to do!) We need to bite the ugly truth here people; Google is actively searching for paid links and it’s highly likely that pretty soon they’ll be able to detect all paid links! Some of the detractors of this argument will say that their sites are shooting up the page ranks so why should they be bothered or concerned and yes, it’s possible that you can get away with it for some time; but don’t kid yourself; your website WILL be penalized as soon as Google finds out that you tried to force the system. So buying links may leads to quick results but they’ll leave you with bigger penalties and a headache that could kill an elephant!

Using ethical SEO methods take longer to achieve high search engine rankings, BUT, (and this is a nice but!), your rankings will grow steadily AND in the long run you’ll get a much higher and sustainable page ranking in the search engines. Let me spell it out people… “Ethical SEO methods, used with integrity, pay off in the long run!” If you want all your hard work to backfire on you go ahead and use spammy SEO methods to increase your rankings on Google. It will KILL your page rankings and take forever to recover from but hey, you got that quick buck right? (Yep, that’s sarcasm!) However, if you want an online business that’s sustainable and progressively increasing in income or social traffic, (whatever is important to you), then there are better ways to get inbound links and to “SEO” your site!

As I wrote earlier, the links to your website are one of the most important factors that influences the position of your website in Google’s search results. For that reason, it’s very important to get as many good backlinks as possible to your website. The quality of the backlinks are more important than the quantity. You can get links from related websites, links from blogs, links from social bookmark websites, links from Internet directories, relevant forums and of course from article submission websites such EzineArticles.com Yes it requires a little effort but that’s part of building a business and dear reader we need to realize that taking unethical shortcuts, such as buying backlinks, is a sure fired shortcut to internet oblivion!

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OK, so maybe not a Hollywood producer …..

But …I was wondering if you’d like to help out with my latest film? It’s made on a micro budget but even with all the favours of friends and talented people the bills can all add up! We need to raise another £150 to complete the post production. That’s about $230 … Once we have the money in place we can get our film finished and then we can apply for film festivals! We’re not the big boys with the Big bucks … We’re a small group of people who believe in our creativity and need a break. Would you consider giving a small donation to help us get our film out there?

Obviously it would be wonderful if someone with deep pockets was willing to help with our latest film and with future films, (we have two feature length scripts in pre-production), but the reality is that just a small gift multiplied many times can make all the difference! $5 or $10 might not seem like a lot of money to you but it all adds up! You’ll even get an honorable mention in the credits!

Thanks for even reading and considering this! If you want to give click on the donate button in the right hand panel and please … even if you’re unable to give would you please re-blog or tweet this post? Thanks so much! As soon as we get a trailer together I’ll get it posted on here so look out for that …

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Search Engine Optimization!
No Don’t leave! It’s not all that difficult, honest! I know, I know it’s a popular topic of conversation, (and arguments)
among webmasters and entrepreneurs but it does seem to hide in the murky, mystical “oh that’s only for the specialists category”!

Of course there are specialists out there who are genuinely brilliant and SEO, but the good ones cost a fortune and the bad ones just take what little money you have! But lets face it, the difference between having a successful website and nursing a wounded disaster is often the difference between whether or not you’ve incorporated Good SEO techniques in your website!

Learning proper SEO techniques can seem like trying to peel rocks, especially if
you’re not familiar with the whole concept. I hope to help you out there with
some simple and achievable SEO techniques that you can adopt for yourself with
just a little bit of effort and homework. If you’re not prepared to do any work
at all you’re just kidding yourself!

1: Make sure you design your website with your search engine optimization in
mind. Search engines focus mainly on text, not all singing, all dancing graphics
or super-duper layouts! The trendiest web design on the planet will mean nothing
if no one can find your site!

2: Every single page of your website will benefit from having a title tag with
“text” describing either your site or what is on the page. Be sure the text
includes hyper relevant keywords rather than just the name of your website for
example. Don’t kid yourself! Unless your name is Stephen Fry, President Obama or
Paris Hilton, no one is going to be looking for you in the search engines by
using your name. More than likely they’ll search for a product or service or a
solution to a problem and it’s ONLY the keywords that you use that will lead
them to your site, or if you mess it up, will lead them to someone else’s site!

3: When designing your website avoid too many drop-down menus, confusing images
or excessive images and please, please try to avoid using frames, Ajax, or Flash
if you can. Yes they can be funky, trendy & gorgeous but none of these functions
are keyword or search engine friendly and they can actually hurt your SEO
results. If you really want to use any of these methods make sure that you
include plenty of text links for the search engine spiders to find and identify.
Without links, the search engines will NOT pick up your site information. Also
check to make sure that every page on your website includes a link to your home
page and sitemap. You do have a sitemap, right?

4: “Content is king”. You’re bored hearing that right? Well, suck it up because
like it or not without fresh, unique and quality content that’s regularly
updated, your site will die a slow and horrible death! Make sure to include
relevant keyword phrases within the body of the content and whatever you do,
write naturally.

Yes it might take a little while to develop your style but at the very least in
the short term, keep it clear and easy to read and avoid falling into the trap
of thinking you have to cram a Ba-Zillion keywords into your article or blog
entry! That will just make it unwieldy and probably a boring or illogical read!
Google don’t spend millions on refining their search engine algorithms just to
pass the time of day! Among many other things they are able to determine whether
or not your text is logical and they will ignore content with a high keyword
density that is obviously ridiculous!

5: Links to your website are essential to its success. In fact if content is King
then link building is his bride to be and you need to snuggle them together in a cosy bed of SEO
softness to procreate and build your “Internet Kingdom!” They are many ways to go about this such
as choosing a keyword or keyword phrase and talking to other website, blog owners, webmasters
etc, asking them to place relevant links on their pages. Or ask other bloggers or site owners if
they’d like a reciprocal arrangement were you both do a feature article on each others site.

Other ideas could include getting links from relevant, content related websites,
links from blogs, links from social bookmark websites, links from Internet
directories, relevant forums and of course from article submission websites such
as EzineArticles!

6: Whatever you do, don’t hurt your ranking by having non-related websites place
any old link on your site. While it may seem effective to collect 100s of
backlinks, you’re better off limiting your links to targeted, relevant websites.
Ten hyper relevant links stand a better chance than 100 irrelevant links. Links
within your website should be built with keyword phrases as well and while we’re
talking about internal links, please avoid generic anchor or link text such as,
“click here”. Try to use a relevant keyword or phrase instead

7: Keyword or keyword phrases aren’t just limited to text links. What about those
image alt tags and your domain name, (especially if it’s a niche service or
product you’re dealing with!)

8: Before your shiny new site can be found it needs to be indexed by the search
engine spiders. You can use the regular submission forms that the various search
engine companies, (such as Google), offer but it can take days or even weeks to
process and that’s time that your site isn’t earning money or gathering the
crowd that you want! How about having a highly ranked website place a link to
your site instead? That’s one way to have your site indexed quickly, but again,
be relevant! There’s now point in having a golfing site link to you if your site
is all about fishing tackle!

Whatever way you decide to go about building your blog or site I hope that these
tips I’ve shared will prosper and enhance your efforts and in doing so build and
increase your business! If you have any comments or ideas of your own I’d love
to hear them. Until next time …

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ScreenCastsOnline is a weekly video podcast of computer based video tutorials. The video tutorials are in the form of “screencasts” which are videos of screen captures demonstrating a particular application, product or service, with a spoken commentary explaining what’s happening on the screen. It’s a really easy and brilliant way to learn all about new applications and how to get the most out of your Mac. The video tutorials cover many different topics from week to week but predominantly cover mac related subjects together with the latest web based services, but there are plenty of shows for mac and windows users!

ScreenCastsOnline is unique in that it is one of the very few non-US centric mac based podcasts! It’s hosted by Don McAllister from of the UK. The show has been running since August 2005 and to date has produced over 250+ screencasts.

As well as the free shows each week, Don also runs a membership scheme called ScreenCastsOnline Extra! You might want to check out all the Extra! goodies you get from a membership!

There’s now a special page just for new Mac users which takes you through all the shows you need to catch up on, presented in a logical order. This enables you to see which shows out of the 250+ screencasts will be most beneficial to get you up to speed really quickly. But please be aware that some of the older shows are only viewable by Extra! members but there are a number of free shows still viewable.

ScreenCastsOnline shows are recorded in Apples popular Quicktime format and will play both on and Mac computers. You can use either iTunes or Miro Player or any other video player that supports Quicktime to play the shows. You can even play them directly from the ScreenCastsOnline site by going to the “Tutorials” page.

I can’t recommend ScreenCastsOnline highly enough. They’re professionally produce, high quality video training content that’s both informative and very approachable. Click here to get straight into all the goodness that is ScreenCastOnline!

John Delavera is retiring, and you can earn commissions on his Turbo Estate!

Ever fantasize about NOT having to start from scratch online, NOT having to figure out what will sell (and what won’t) and NOT having to create a boatload of products for your Internet Marketing business?

Every once in awhile, this fantasy becomes a reality for some people.

It’s like a window opens in the cosmic universe, and if you’re lucky enough to see that window and go through it, you are bestowed with magic powers that can accelerate your online career in a turbo way.

Okay, I made the “magic powers” bit up.

But luckily, no magic is required.

Several years ago Mark Joyner retired from his online ventures and sold all of his products, all of the rights to the products, and all of the source code, word docs, etc. to marketers lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to grab his offer.

Some of those marketers and would-be marketers went on to make fortunes.

Ever hear of Russell Brunson?

He didn’t even have enough money to buy the farewell package, so he ran around doing odd jobs to get it.

Now he’s a multi-millionaire.

Yes, standing on the shoulders of a giant is a remarkable way indeed to get a turbo-boost in your own online business, regardless of whether you are just starting out or you have been doing this for some time.

A window of opportunity is about to open. Only 500 people at most will be able to pass through this window and turbo-charge their future.

And if you haven’t guessed yet, my use of the word “Turbo” is not accidental.

John “Turbo” Delavera is RETIRING from his vast online empire.

And he is about to offer the PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS to nearly ALL of his Turbo line of products, both software and information products.

What can you do with these?

What can’t you do might be a better question.

You probably already know what you can do with private label rights to information products.

You can put your own name on them, you can give them a new title, you can change them, add to them, break them up, etc. It’s almost like you had written the material yourself, except you can’t sell private label rights to them.

You can even add audio, video, create membership sites, etc. You’re limited by ONE thing – your imagination.

Software works the same way, except if you want to alter the code, you might need to hire someone to do that for you, unless you’re good at that sort of thing. But hiring someone is super easy and can be done at a variety of sites that hook people up with coders all over the world.

But who says you need to alter the code? You can sell these products just as they are, with maybe a new name to jazz it up a bit.

Bottom line: John has spent the last 8 years of his life creating these products, and you can have full rights to them in one feel swoop. He spent far more than $150.000 creating these. In fact, that’s just how much he spent on the first two categories of products, so I suspect he may have spent close to half a million, who knows?

What I do know is that you and I don’t have that kind of money to create products. Okay, I know that I don’t have half a million… do you?

If you don’t, this is your once chance to get a boatload of innovation all completed and ready to go.

My advice; get the package, pick out your favorite products, and start marketing them immediately. With a little work, you can make your money back within a couple of weeks, and then cruise on profit for a couple of YEARS.

Click

HERE

for more info …

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I’m selling one of my domains on Flippa.com
It’s more of an experiment as much as anything as I was wondering just how easy it would be to sell domains or websites as another income generator.
I don’t mind selling this one off as I’ve done nothing with it other than attach it to a hosting package on my server.

If you’re interested or know of someone who might be interested in a premium, aged domain in the mobile phone telecoms sector then let me know or re-blog, tweet,
mash, digg etc this all over the place! Thanks!

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future.
Go mbeannai Dia duit!

[simfany]20133[/simfany]

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