In 2004 Google exploded onto the email scene with their innovative free webmail offering, GMail. Microsoft and Yahoo quickly tried to play catchup, but GMail has been going from strength to strength ever since then.

But what's so good about GMail? Well, consider just a few of it's key features:

Powerful Anti-Spam
With a custom email address that average around 100 spam emails  a day unfiltered, after switching to Gmail I’ve had less than 5 spam emails slip through in the last 2 years. That’s impressive. And what’s so brilliant is that it just works. No fiddling around with settings! (more)

Automatic Anti-virus Scanning
This doesn't mean you'll never get a virus, but it does mean that every attachment sent to your GMail account is automatically scanned in the background for viruses (more).

Instant Google search across all your email
No fiddling around with complex search forms, or waiting 10 minutes for years worth of emails to be searched - GMail uses the Google engine for searching, which means instant results (more).

7GB+ of storage space
This was one of GMail innovations when it first launched - never worry about deleting your emails again.

Manage multiple custom email accounts from within Gmail
Maybe you've got your own email address with your own domain? No worries - GMail can automatically download emails from your other accounts and let you reply to them directly.

Access GMail on your Mobile
Whether you've got an iPhone or a 5-yr old Nokia, if your mobile has net access then you'll be able to access your emails from anywhere (more).

Access your email using IMAP
This is a killer feature: in short, IMAP means automatic synchronisation of all your emails across multiple workstations and mobile devices (more).

Hopefully that's whet your appetite somewhat. There's plenty more to GMail though: read about some of their newest features here, and keep an eye out in future posts for tips on how to maximise the benefits of GMail and other Google offerings for your small business.

A month since its trial release, Google's Chrome web browser is gaining mixed reviews by web analysts. According to some users, Google Chrome is super-fast and easy to use; others complain that it is too bare, while competitors state their own products remain superior in the newly-congested browser market.

My personal tests of Chrome have been extremely positive, considering it is its VERSION 1 release. Google has again embraced the advantages of open source web development to deliver a product in a rare segment of the web they haven't yet cracked.

Creating a browser was a natural ‘next step' for Google.

Regardless of the browsers we - as internet users - have been using, we have been typing in the Google URL (www.google.com.au, www.google.com, etc.) more than any other URL worldwide. It was only a matter of time until Google decided that the place you type in URLs should also be owned by them.

Rather than creating a ‘me too', the techs at Google decided to add some key features to their product which would differentiate it from competitors like Internet Explorer (Microsoft's web browser), Firefox (Mozilla's web browser) and Safari (Apple's web browser):

• It has brought Google search into the browser
  One can type in a search term instead of the URL in the URL bar, and it will return a Google search.
• It has brought Google applications onto the browser
  One can access Gmail, Google Docs, etc from the browser itself.
• It downloads JavaScript faster
  Most web applications these days are written in JavaScript.
• Kills the tab, not the browser
  Like the others good browsers, it allows for tabbed browsing. But its difference is if one tab crashed, the other tabs are not affected.

It is clear from the first two points above that Google's greatest advantage is in its name. The fact that Google Search and Google Applications are so popular, making them more accessible for their users will ensure they flock to Google Chrome.

The other advantages are arguable in Chrome's early days.

Internet Explorer, with its new IE8, feels its product is also quick. After testing myself, I can state comfortably that it is not. It is crap, and it is a browser with everybody BUT the end-user in mind.

Firefox says its latest release is the best. After testing myself, I have to agree with the people at Mozilla. In speed, I do not sense a major difference with Chrome, but in options, Firefox is far better equipped due to the head-start it has had in the browser market.

Firefox has more plug-ins, add-ons, etc, which means it is more extendable NOW. IE is not extendable, while Chrome will catch up.

1. Splash Page

I’ve seen this mistake many times, where people put up a big banner image and a link "Click here to enter" on their homepage. The worst case — the "enter" link is embedded in the Flash object, which makes it impossible for the search engine spiders to follow the link.

This is fine if you don’t care about what a search engine knows about your site; otherwise you’re making a BIG mistake. Your homepage is most likely your website’s highest ranking page, thus is crawled most frequently by spiders. Your internal pages will not appear in the search engine index without the proper linking structure to internal pages for the spider to follow. Your homepage should include (at minimum) target keywords and links to important pages.

2. Non-spiderable Flash Menus

Many designers make this mistake by using Flash menus such as those fade-in and animated menus. They might look cool to you but they can’t be seen by the search engines; and thus the links in the Flash menu will not be followed.

3. Image and Flash Content

Web spiders are like a text-based browser; they can’t read the text embedded in the graphic image or Flash. Most designers make this mistake by embedding the important content (such as target keywords) in Flash and image.

4. Overuse of Ajax

A lot of developers are trying to impress their visitor by implementing massive Ajax features (particularly for navigation purposes). But did you know that this is a big SEO mistake? Because Ajax content is loaded dynamically, therefore it is not spiderable or indexable by search engines.

Another disadvantage of Ajax — since the address URL doesn’t reload, your visitor can not send the current page to their friends.

5. Versioning of Theme Design

For some reason, some designers love to version their theme design into sub level folders (ie. domain.com/v2, v3, v4) and redirect to the new folder. Constantly changing the main root location may cause you to lose backlink counts and ranking.

6. “Click Here” Link Anchor Text

You probably see this a lot where people use "Click here" or "Learn more" as the linking text. This is great if you want to be ranked high for "Click Here". But if you want to tell the search engine that your page is important for a topic, than use that topic/keyword in your link anchor text. It’s much more descriptive (and relevant) to say “learn more about {keyword topic}”.

Warning: Don’t use the EXACT same anchor text everywhere on your website. This can sometimes be seen as search engine spam too.

7. Common Title Tag Mistakes

Same or similar title text:

Every page on your site should have a unique tag with the target keywords in it. Many developers make the mistake of having the same or similar title tags throughout the entire site. That’s like telling the search engine that EVERY page on your site refers to the same topic and one isn’t any more unique than the other.

One good example of bad Title Tag use would be the default WordPress theme. In case you didn’t know, the title tag of the default WordPress theme isn’t that useful: Site Name > Blog Archive > Post Title.

Why isn’t this search engine friendly? Because every single blog post will have the same text "Site Name > Blog Archive >" at the beginning of the title tag. If you really want to include the site name in the title tag, it should be at the end: Post Title | Site Name.

Exceeding the 65 character limit:

Many bloggers write very long post titles. So what? In search engine result pages, your title tag is used as the link heading. You have about 65 characters (including spaces) to get your message across or risk it getting cutoff.

Keyword stuffing the title:

Another common mistake people tend to make is overfilling the title tag with keywords. Saying the same thing 3 times doesn’t make you more relevant. Keyword stuffing in the Title Tag is looked at as search engine spam (not good). But it might be smart to repeat the same word in different ways:

"Photo Tips & Photography Techniques for Great Pictures"

“Photo” and “Photography” are the same word repeated twice but in different ways because your audience might use either one when performing a search query.

8. Empty Image Alt Attribute

You should always describe your image in the alt attribute. The alt attribute is what describes your image to a blind web user. Guess what? Search engines can’t see images so your alt attribute is a factor in illustrating what your page is relevant for.

Hint: Properly describing your images can help your ranking in the image search results. For example, Google image search brings me hundreds of referrals everyday for the search terms "abstract" and "dj".

9. Unfriendly URLs

Most blog or CMS platforms have a friendly URL feature built-in, however, not every blogger is taking advantage of this. Friendly URL’s are good for both your human audience and the search engines. The URL is also an important spot where your keywords should appear.

Example of Friendly URL: domain.com/page-title
Example of Dynamic URL: domain.com/?p=12356

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an essential ingredient to consider when selecting your web design company, as a poorly built website has ZERO potential for traffic!

You may have heard terms like CSS, Strong Tags, Titles, URLs, Meta Tags, etc without really understanding them. The key is not for you to understand them, but for you to make sure your web designers know them... and more importantly, use them!

Simply ask them what they are doing while building your website to ensure it is in a form able to be optimised. If they cannot answer, show them the following YouTube Video, which is of an internet celebrity known as the SEO Rapper who tries to make SEO tutoring interesting.

That is about as entertaining as it gets. But I honestly doubt it will be enough to teach a non-SEO web designer about SEO web designing.

I have had potential clients come into our KayWeb offices in Melbourne and Bondi Junction (Sydney) and ask me why their competitor appears above them on Google! I have viewed these peoples' websites and picked the bones out of them, explaining that it was constructed in such a way that regardless of what SEO activities they attempted from here on end, it would be too little, too late with the website's skeletal structure in such a hideous state.

I am the first person to say that there are dozens of influencing elements that determine your Google position. However, the fundamental one is the structure of your website, and ensuring it is search engine-friendly. If not, no amount of Tag optimisation, content optimisation, or link-building will assist your rise to the top.

One line find and replace

find . -name '*.txt' -print0 |xargs -0 perl -pi -e 's/find/replace/g'

*.txt - files to find

find - pattern to find

replace - replace found pattern

It is hindering to see web developers and SEO 'experts' still attempting to trick Google with their illegal search engine optimisation tactics. Illegal SEO tactics such as keyword spamming will do more damage to your website's standing on Google than good.

Recent Hitwise website statistics suggests Google's Australian search engine market share is a massive 88%. Therefore it is clear that impressing Google will assist your website's rise in search engine rankings. The fact that every tenth website visit is to Google means if Google rates your website highly, you will almost certainly receive referrals which could lead to crucial business.

So with Google as crucial as identified above, why would you want to piss it off?

This question is directed to those web developers and SEO 'experts' who feel dumping a bunch of keywords into an obscure area on a web page (keyword spamming/stuffing) will result in positive search engine results.

Technically, Google spiders will see these keywords. Technically, these spiders will recognise these keywords as keywords regardless of the fact that they may be totally irrelevant to services offered by the website. Technically, your website's ranking may rise in the short-term as a result of this tactic.

But is this short-term success worth it?

The reality is that Google has developed advanced spiders which will detect such keyword spamming. Also, Google has developed the largest network of 'dobbers', allowing spotters of keyword spamming to report spam to Google very easily.

And, when - not if - Google catches you, they will come down on you like a ton of bricks!

There are many examples of Google banning websites from appearing on the search engine for a certain period of time. A certain multi-national car manufacturing company was caught recently, and as a result, it did not receive a Google referral to their website for 6 months! For 6 long months, this company was unable to reach the widest worldwide audience due to an ill-advised decision to keyword spam.

Google is market leader due to the fact that it is the most relevant search engine. Their rules and guidelines are in place to ensure their relevance is maintained.

For example; if you were a business analyst, you wouldn't want a climate change company to appear when someone searches ‘business analyst'. If keyword spamming was allowed, this could be possible if the climate change company dumped the words ‘business analyst' on their website. The person searching for a business analyst would be upset because their search returned a climate change company, while the business analyst will feel dudded that they lost potential business.

As this example shows, Google's rules are there for very valid reasons, and everybody looking for SEO must target SEO companies that follow Google guidelines and optimise within Google's valid boundaries.

Earlier this month, ICANN - the internet's global governing body - decided on an unprecedented expansion of top level domains (TLDs). This means the 21 variations of domain extensions currently available (EG: .com, .com.au, .org) are about to be monstered by what is essentially a free-for-all policy where one can select their own domain extension!

When this policy is brought into play in an estimated two years' time, McDonalds can have a domain like www.mcdonalds.mcdonalds or BBC Radio can potentially be found at www.radio.bbc. No .com, no ANYTHING standard is necessary.

Most who heard this news after the ICANN heads met in Paris for their 32nd conference replied 'Coooool', imagining all the possibilities...

But I am doubtful at how 'Coooool' this policy really is!

A domain extension gives a website a sense of belonging. .com.au stands for an Australian domain, .ca is Canadian, .cn is Chinese, and so on. The same crew at ICANN recently released .asia for Asian domain seekers and .eu for European domain seekers - with purchasers of these given a continental belonging, larger than their nation but a belonging nonetheless.

ICANN has now decided that this belonging no longer holds any value. Instead, they will allow any Tom, Dick or Harry to select their desired domain extension. In fact .tomdickorharry can be your next domain extension!

The internet is globalised enough and some things need to remain standard to give surfers an idea of who is where, and doing what. ICANN has got this policy wrong.

Since their introduction, social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Orkut and Bebo (among others) have attracted millions of users; many of whom have integrated these websites into their daily routine.

There are hundreds of social networking sites that support wide ranging interests and practices. While their key technological features are consistent, the cultures that emerge around these social networking sites are varied. Some facilitate advancing pre-existing social networks and friendships, while others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views and/or activities, etcetera. Among these websites are those which have incorporated new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing.

As the popularity of of these social networking websites grow, with millions of users all over the world, several innovations have been applied.

One of these innovations includes the ability to connect to other social networking sites, thereby allowing users to share friends, interests and likes. Google for instance, has started a drive to connect all social networking sites by building a platform which allows inter-connectivity among social networking websites. The project is dubbed as Google Open Social.

The biggest move on the social network front occurred recently, when popular social networking websites such as Friendster, Facebook and mySpace introduced applications which users can choose from and add onto their profiles. These applications may be developed by any developer, as access to APIs are readily available. With these interesting developments in social networking, web developers are learning to embrace such platforms for further development.

Web Marketers also have their eyes planted on the social networking phenomenon as these websites have become the foremost marketing tool to reach millions of users world wide. The rise of social networking represents the largest web marketing opportunity since Google.

Generating a thumbnail / screenshot of a video has many uses. Many video websites out there, including the ever popular YouTube, use this function to show a static preview of the video through a screen grab or set of screen grabs in image format. You may think it is difficult to create thumbnails from a video file. But I'm here to say 'no, it's not'!

To accomplish this task, I made use of this tool: FFmpeg. First a little information about FFmpeg. If you haven't come across this yet then you're missing out on an excellent bit of software to put in your tool kit. It can convert and stream all manner of video and audio files, it is open source (under LGPL, but with some optional GPL bits), and it is constantly being worked on and developed, thus improved.

FFmpeg's homepage is where you can grab the latest revision from SVN. If you want it for Windows, then one location I found with quite recent builds is http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/ffmpeg/.

Once I had these tools installed, I was ready to begin utilising FFmpeg to convert a specific point in a video file to a thumbnail image. Using the FFmpeg documentation as resources, I eventually arrived at the following command (which should all be on one line) for generating a thumbnail:

ffmpeg -y -i /path/to/video.avi -f mjpeg -1 -ss 10 -vframes 1 -s 120x90 -an /path/to/picture.jpg

The key components of that command are:

- f mjpeg: specifies that the output should be a JPG
- ss 10: sets that image should be taken from the point 10 seconds from the beginning
- s 120x90: sets the dimension of the image that would be generated

You could use Imagemagick to resize or edit the image generated if you wish, as ffmpeg is not really designed for this.

A tip to consider if you're taking user input for the video file or output image file, then please remember to escape your variables accordingly! Use something like the escapeshellcmd() PHP function.