The Web Authority
Monday, February 11
Control Your Kids Computer Time A Review
I have been using ComputerTime from SoftwareTime to control my kids access to the computer and wanted to tell you a bit about this great software. First I am not being paid for this review. I am a paying customer.
I decided after I found my kids on the computer nearly 12 hours on Saturday and at midnight after I had gone to bed that I absolutely had to install some limits and not work on the honor system. I wanted the ability to assign a daily limit and to override it easily if I wanted to.
I tried a few programs and ended up buying ComputerTime from SoftwareTime. I have four kids computers for each one. I was able to buy the family pack and to install it for about $39.99 on all four computers. With ComputerTime I am able to set a time limit for each day, a start and stop time, and to create additional time tokens. These time tokens all an extra amount of time (of your choice) and I personally award them for extra chores and to get more homework done.
When the time limit for the day is approaching the user will be warned and then when time elapses, they will be logged off and will not be able to log back in again. For me, the administration control panel and its ease of use was the reason that I chose the program over others. I am able to login as administrator at any time without having to log them off as Window's users to make a change.
Having control over the amount of time that my kids spend on the computer has been great. No longer are they spending the full weekend online gaming it out, but they have a real life not only a virtual life. For my kids age 11, I allow 15 minutes of computer time on weekdays. This allows them to check email and to email grandma. I allow two hours of time on Saturday and Sunday. If they have a homework assignment on a weekday and need more time, I have set up time tokens and give them a code to input to allow one hour of computer use. For my teen, I allow more time as he has more homework.
ComputerTime has allowed me to finally have control over the time my kids spend on the computer and to have new family time instead of having to fight the computer for their attention. If you have kids on the computer and if you feel that gaming is getting out of control, if chores are not being done, if they cannot log off when you ask as they just have to finish a game, now's the time for you to get ComputerTime too! Just click my blog post title to get it and have a free trial. I feel that it is a valuable and well-priced piece of software.
I decided after I found my kids on the computer nearly 12 hours on Saturday and at midnight after I had gone to bed that I absolutely had to install some limits and not work on the honor system. I wanted the ability to assign a daily limit and to override it easily if I wanted to.
I tried a few programs and ended up buying ComputerTime from SoftwareTime. I have four kids computers for each one. I was able to buy the family pack and to install it for about $39.99 on all four computers. With ComputerTime I am able to set a time limit for each day, a start and stop time, and to create additional time tokens. These time tokens all an extra amount of time (of your choice) and I personally award them for extra chores and to get more homework done.
When the time limit for the day is approaching the user will be warned and then when time elapses, they will be logged off and will not be able to log back in again. For me, the administration control panel and its ease of use was the reason that I chose the program over others. I am able to login as administrator at any time without having to log them off as Window's users to make a change.
Having control over the amount of time that my kids spend on the computer has been great. No longer are they spending the full weekend online gaming it out, but they have a real life not only a virtual life. For my kids age 11, I allow 15 minutes of computer time on weekdays. This allows them to check email and to email grandma. I allow two hours of time on Saturday and Sunday. If they have a homework assignment on a weekday and need more time, I have set up time tokens and give them a code to input to allow one hour of computer use. For my teen, I allow more time as he has more homework.
ComputerTime has allowed me to finally have control over the time my kids spend on the computer and to have new family time instead of having to fight the computer for their attention. If you have kids on the computer and if you feel that gaming is getting out of control, if chores are not being done, if they cannot log off when you ask as they just have to finish a game, now's the time for you to get ComputerTime too! Just click my blog post title to get it and have a free trial. I feel that it is a valuable and well-priced piece of software.
Labels: kids and the internet, software review, tips
¶ 2/11/2008 07:09:00 AM 0 Comments
Monday, January 28
The PPC Keyword Generator
I've found a great free application you can download that has saved me lots of time and wanted to pass it on to you. It's called the PPC Keyword Generator.
This application allows you to enter keywords and variables in a variety of fields and then with one click generate keywords, and then with one click change the placement of the keywords in the phrase.
For example let's say your keyword phrase was Taylor Dentist. You can make
Taylor Dentist
Dentist Taylor
taylor dentist
dentist taylor
"Taylor Dentist"
"Dentist Taylor" etc. the list goes on. You can phrase match the words and exact match them.
Previously I used to manually create these lists and then moved to an Excel application I created for my own use, but this free application is so easy to use and so fast that I prefer it now over all options.
If you are using pay per click advertising, do yourself a favor and download the PPC Keyword Generator here: http://www.highdots.com/ppc-keyword-generator/. Enjoy!
This application allows you to enter keywords and variables in a variety of fields and then with one click generate keywords, and then with one click change the placement of the keywords in the phrase.
For example let's say your keyword phrase was Taylor Dentist. You can make
Taylor Dentist
Dentist Taylor
taylor dentist
dentist taylor
"Taylor Dentist"
"Dentist Taylor" etc. the list goes on. You can phrase match the words and exact match them.
Previously I used to manually create these lists and then moved to an Excel application I created for my own use, but this free application is so easy to use and so fast that I prefer it now over all options.
If you are using pay per click advertising, do yourself a favor and download the PPC Keyword Generator here: http://www.highdots.com/ppc-keyword-generator/. Enjoy!
Labels: Google AdWords. Tools, tips, webmaster tools
¶ 1/28/2008 06:50:00 AM 0 Comments
Thursday, January 17
An Interesting Case Study on Black Hat Tactics
Click our blog post title to view the site that we will be talking about or visit it here at www.Mag-Gro.com. This site has been poorly treated by a number of professional webmasters. The client has a nice product, but has simply not been able to get the web exposure that he really needs. His site has been managed by at least two other webmasters before the client came to us.
The first and most severe issue that we uncovered when we analyzed the site on the server was then unbeknown to the client one of the previous webmasters had created over 100 doorway pages and had even installed them in a directory on the server in a directory called Doorway. Ouch, search engines really hate that. Clearly much time and effort had gone into creating these pages which consisted of line after line of on topic keywords some even linked to his website but in no order or with formatting. There was not even an effort to create keyword dense content, just gibberish on a page.
Many of these doorway pages pointed to the client's website and some to his MySpace site all in an effort to try to drive traffic. Additionally over 10 pages resided in the root of the server with keyword dense names that had been connected to the doorway pages or to the MySpace site. His real website consists of only ten pages but there were several hundred pages actually sitting on his server.
On top of that, no sitemaps had been created and conversion tracking for his pay per click program had not been installed.
Yikes, I am talking about not taking care of business for a client. We now have this client under our wing and are working to remediate the problems and to drive legitimate traffic to the site. We've already cleaned up the server and now our next step is to clean up the pages which we will be working on over the next several days.
Click into the site to see what you think and let us know your comments below.
The first and most severe issue that we uncovered when we analyzed the site on the server was then unbeknown to the client one of the previous webmasters had created over 100 doorway pages and had even installed them in a directory on the server in a directory called Doorway. Ouch, search engines really hate that. Clearly much time and effort had gone into creating these pages which consisted of line after line of on topic keywords some even linked to his website but in no order or with formatting. There was not even an effort to create keyword dense content, just gibberish on a page.
Many of these doorway pages pointed to the client's website and some to his MySpace site all in an effort to try to drive traffic. Additionally over 10 pages resided in the root of the server with keyword dense names that had been connected to the doorway pages or to the MySpace site. His real website consists of only ten pages but there were several hundred pages actually sitting on his server.
On top of that, no sitemaps had been created and conversion tracking for his pay per click program had not been installed.
Yikes, I am talking about not taking care of business for a client. We now have this client under our wing and are working to remediate the problems and to drive legitimate traffic to the site. We've already cleaned up the server and now our next step is to clean up the pages which we will be working on over the next several days.
Click into the site to see what you think and let us know your comments below.
Labels: best practices, Black Hat Optimization, SEO techniques, tips
¶ 1/17/2008 03:45:00 PM 0 Comments
Top Email E-Newsletter Tips
In my theme of top tips or best practices this week, here are my top tips for e-newsletters.
1. Make sure before you send your first e-newsletter, or for that matter even set up a subscription based list, that you have a privacy policy on your website. Note what you will do with the list. For example, we state that we only use our list for our own marketing endeavors, that we will never sell or rent our list, that if we ever change our policies we will post them on the policy page and give ten days notice, and finally that if you contact us, we will automatically add your name to our list. Make sure you have yourself similarly covered before you even start e-newsletter content creation or marketing using an e-newsletter.
2. In your very first e-newsletter make sure to introduce yourself, provide one great article that subscribers will read to determine if they want to stay subscribed to your list, and ask readers to confirm their subscription or explain how to unsubscribe from your list. Transparency is crucial in keeping people on your list that you have automatically subscribed as business contacts when you set up your initial subscriber list.
3. Stay consistent. If you say that you will email to your list weekly with store specials do just that. If it is monthly don't slip to a quarterly blast. I even recommend going so far as to lock your delivery to a date. For example on my list, I always send my monthly e-newsletter on the first of every month, regardless what day of the week that is. My subscribers know to expect my newsletter on the first and contact me to ask if they had missed my newsletter and to resend it to them if I have sent it out late. So build readership by staying with a schedule for day and frequency.
4. Keep your e-newsletter short! This is not a place for boring dissertations. Short and sweet is the key. If your article is long, consider putting in a teaser and then linking to the full article back on your website. From my personal experience, it is best to do one larger article and maybe two small features. I have also found that typically if you post the rest of the article back on your website very few readers will actually go there to read the rest, so keep that in mind and keep your articles newsy but fairly short. That doesn't mean go light on content! Make sure to offer something of real value or interest to your audience. That leads to number 5.
5. Keep your articles unique and interesting. This dovetails nicely with number 4. Short is good, but interesting is crucial. I have come up with a combination for my own newsletter of one feature, one small article, and one "bright idea" tip. The tip article is fairly short, but sometimes I have to scour the Web to find one. I have had clients write in frequently to let me know how much they have enjoyed or benefited from the tip.
Try out some of these thoughts for your own e-newsletter program. E-newsletters are a great way to keep in regular contact in a meaningful way with clients and prospects. I have had several clients who have read my newsletter for as long as six months and then contacted me for a project, so I know that e-newsletters do work!
1. Make sure before you send your first e-newsletter, or for that matter even set up a subscription based list, that you have a privacy policy on your website. Note what you will do with the list. For example, we state that we only use our list for our own marketing endeavors, that we will never sell or rent our list, that if we ever change our policies we will post them on the policy page and give ten days notice, and finally that if you contact us, we will automatically add your name to our list. Make sure you have yourself similarly covered before you even start e-newsletter content creation or marketing using an e-newsletter.
2. In your very first e-newsletter make sure to introduce yourself, provide one great article that subscribers will read to determine if they want to stay subscribed to your list, and ask readers to confirm their subscription or explain how to unsubscribe from your list. Transparency is crucial in keeping people on your list that you have automatically subscribed as business contacts when you set up your initial subscriber list.
3. Stay consistent. If you say that you will email to your list weekly with store specials do just that. If it is monthly don't slip to a quarterly blast. I even recommend going so far as to lock your delivery to a date. For example on my list, I always send my monthly e-newsletter on the first of every month, regardless what day of the week that is. My subscribers know to expect my newsletter on the first and contact me to ask if they had missed my newsletter and to resend it to them if I have sent it out late. So build readership by staying with a schedule for day and frequency.
4. Keep your e-newsletter short! This is not a place for boring dissertations. Short and sweet is the key. If your article is long, consider putting in a teaser and then linking to the full article back on your website. From my personal experience, it is best to do one larger article and maybe two small features. I have also found that typically if you post the rest of the article back on your website very few readers will actually go there to read the rest, so keep that in mind and keep your articles newsy but fairly short. That doesn't mean go light on content! Make sure to offer something of real value or interest to your audience. That leads to number 5.
5. Keep your articles unique and interesting. This dovetails nicely with number 4. Short is good, but interesting is crucial. I have come up with a combination for my own newsletter of one feature, one small article, and one "bright idea" tip. The tip article is fairly short, but sometimes I have to scour the Web to find one. I have had clients write in frequently to let me know how much they have enjoyed or benefited from the tip.
Try out some of these thoughts for your own e-newsletter program. E-newsletters are a great way to keep in regular contact in a meaningful way with clients and prospects. I have had several clients who have read my newsletter for as long as six months and then contacted me for a project, so I know that e-newsletters do work!
Labels: best practices, e-newsletter tips, e-Newsletters, tips
¶ 1/17/2008 07:03:00 AM 0 Comments
