Congratulations to this weeks geek Rinko. This weeks questions are…
1. 
Who makes this laptop?
2. 
Who makes this laptop?
3. 
Who makes this laptop?
4. 
Who makes this laptop?
5. 
Who makes this laptop?
Geek of the Week
1
Weekend Projects: Adding Keywords
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Last week we did some spying on our competitors keywords so we can better target our own keywords. This week we will cover some basic concepts on how to add those keywords to your site so that search engines will find it.
Header
Adding your keywords to your header is a must. If you do not have a keyword tag in your header you should add the following below your <head> and above your </head> tags…
<META NAME=”KEYWORDS” CONTENT=”your keywords,go here,separated by a comma,but not a space”>
Body
You can add keywords into your main page content. Some are visible and others not so visible. You should be careful adding to many keywords or overloading the same keyword over and over. I suggest not adding the keyword more then 3 to 4 times per page in the content.
The first method is using the H1, H2, H3 tags. This tag is for a title on your page. Putting your keyword into an H1 tag will flag a search engine that the words in that H1 are important and may be considered the topic of the page. i suggest you use an H1 in your page if you are not already. The code would look like this…
<H1>your keywords go here</H1>
The next method is the alt tag in images. You can add an alt tag to your image like this…
 <img src=”sampleimage.jpg” alt=”Your keywords go here” />
Warning
There are other places you can hide and put your keywords into your code but I would not advise it. It is good to ensure the keywords you want in your page are done above but doing anything else can be cause for search engines to possibly ban your site for spam.
If you get stuck let me know in the comments.
Branding 101 – The Law of Consistency
The law of consistency in regards to branding means that once you have a solid brand you will need to keep be vigilant in everything you do to ensure that brand is consistent every time. Great brands are not born over night so the more consistent you are the more that brand will stick into the minds of consumers.
For example Ray Kroc who created McDonald’s had a great vision of his brand. One of the corner stones of his brand was that in every McDonald’s you would get the same food no matter where in the world you were. A big mac was a big mac in your home town and if you were half a world away. Ray Kroc paved the way for other very successful franchisee restaurants who follow the same consistency today.
I have seen other restaurants where they have 1 logo for their sign, a different logo on their flyer’s, yes a different logo on their yellow page ads and a fourth logo on their food boxes. This company was doing okay but in terms of branding their logo I am sure that customers were having trouble remembering it. The key for a company like this would be to create one memorable logo and ensure that all marketing that they do uses the same logo.
If your company is not consistent then I suggest you start today.
What high-end car company has used the same tag line for over 20 years?
In The Sphere: Tweet Into the Future
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Friday’s here, so as we prepare for a relaxing weekend (at least we hope it’s going to be relaxing), let’s have a look at what’s happening in the ‘sphere.
We all know that Twitter has exploded onto the scene, so it goes without saying that people are starting develop some cool applications for it. Killer Startups recently highlighted a creation called TweetLater, which effectively lets you tweet into the future. It’s like the timestamp feature for WordPress, except for Twitter!
If you’ve checked your Alexa rankings lately, you may have noticed that your number has increased greatly (not good). GoogleLady noticed this too and wrote a post on how the Alexa rankings have changed. This is because Alexa is taking more information sources into account than just their Alexa toolbar.
There are a lot of ways for you to make a living, but what if I told you that you could make $200,000 a year chatting with beautiful women? That’s the subject of a post at Free Money Finance that describes the rising popularity of male geishas in Japan. Is this just a thinly disguised version of male prostitution?
DNXpert is a blog about domain names, but they took a break to list the top 10 things Shoemoney, Problogger, and Britney Spears have in common. Number nine is funny and disturbing at the same time: “All three are known to be prone to show their crotch to the public.” My, oh my.
From Al Gore to David Suzuki, we’ve been told continually that we should “go green” and take better care of the environment. Israel Lagares has determined that fat people cause global warming. He’s a fat man himself, so he’s allowed to say that.
Marketing 101: Press Releases
All of the big companies send out a news release every time they announce a new partnership or reveal a new product, so why can’t your small business do the same? You may have to pay a small amount of money to get your news release posted through the major services like BusinessWire, but you can also get exposure by developing a mailing list and sending out that press release to the right people.
When preparing a press release, it’s best to leave it to a professional freelance writer who has experience writing news releases. They have to take on a certain form and structure, not to mention a certain tone so that they can be particularly effective in getting the media attention that you desire. If you choose to write it yourself, you should keep some of these pointers in mind.
First, the news must actually be newsworthy. There’s no sense in blasting out a press release to announce your soup of the day. Instead, only send out a news release for events that are important and interesting. Maybe you’re launching your website, opening shop for the first time, or announcing a whole new addition to your product line. If BlueFur started to offer branded VPN services, that would be notable of a press release. If it’s just a minor Fantastico update for WordPress, that’s not as worthy of a news release.
The second most important thing to remember is that you need to outline all of the major information within the first paragraph. When newspaper and magazine editors skim through the press releases of the day, they don’t have the time to read every one through in its entirety. They will skim the first paragraph to determine whether it’s worth writing about. Start with the most important information and fill in the details with the following paragraphs. Don’t forget to include pertinent contact information in case media outlets (or blogs) want to follow up with you.
Third, research the newspapers and other publications in your industry. Try to get your news releases to the right people at the right radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, magazines, and websites. There’s no sense in sending a news release about a video game company to a magazine that specializes in cheese appreciation.
Press releases can provide some of the most cost effective marketing for business, especially if you have something new and exciting to offer the world. You just have to know how to take advantage of them.
Dot-ca Reaches One Million
I got the following email this morning from CIRA…
On Monday April 13, 2008 dot-ca crossed a significant milestone – the registration of the one-millionth dot-ca domain name! This achievement marks a significant milestone in the history of dot-ca domain names and demonstrates the pride that we all take in maintaining a unique, Canadian presence online.
Dot-ca is a made-in-Canada success story that started with the registration of the first dot-ca domain name in 1988 and follows the rapid growth of the Internet. Your registration and your domain name have contributed to this success and form part of the million-strong dot-ca community on the Internet.
The staff and Board of Directors of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) would like to thank you again for choosing dot-ca for your domain name and look forward to your continued support.
I am actually a little surprised it took 20 years to reach that many domains. Does it mean we will be getting a discount for the next million? Probably not. Anyways congratulations CIRA and hope it only takes half the time to get the next million.
Does CIRA reaching a million domains mean anything to you?