Google Fonts Expands Web Friendly Fonts for Online Text Enhancements
Netscape opened up the use of fonts on the Internet in 1995 with the new font tag. For years after that there were only a small number of 'web friendly fonts' available for website designers and developers to use when integrating text throughout a website. Search engines prefer text thus a better optimized website includes the appropriate use of text for heading, titles and content which is often not as visually appealing as an image could be. Graphics designers have often made beautiful websites incorporating what appears to be text in an image because it provided unlimited font usage improving the visual appeal of a website but reducing the potential for higher rankings on search engines.
Universal web friendly text fonts were limited to a small group including Arial/Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana and Courier until recently. This summer Google announced a collection of high quality open source web fonts in the Google Font Directory, and the Google Font API. With the Google Font API, using these fonts on your web page is almost as easy as using the standard set of so-called “web-safe” fonts that come installed on most computers. The excerpt below from the Google Code Blog outlines the basics:
The Google Font API provides a simple, cross-browser method for using any font in the Google Font Directory on your web page. The fonts have all the advantages of normal text: in addition to being richer visually, text styled in web fonts is still searchable, scales crisply when zoomed, and is accessible to users using screen readers.
Getting started using the Google Font API is easy. Just add a couple lines of HTML to create text like the Tangerine Font below:
The Google Font API hides a lot of complexity behind the scenes. Google’s serving infrastructure takes care of converting the font into a format compatible with any modern browser (including Internet Explorer 6 and up), sends just the styles and weights you select, and the font files and CSS are tuned and optimized for web serving. For example, cache headers are set to maximize the likelihood that the fonts will be served from the browser’s cache with no need for a network roundtrip, even when the same font is linked from different websites.
These fonts also work well with CSS3 and HTML5 styling, including drop shadows, rotation, etc. In addition, selecting these fonts in your CSS works just the same as for locally installed fonts, facilitating clean separation of content and presentation. Now text can be as pretty and visually appealing as image content online making the Internet better one website at a time.
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building BETTER websites and Online Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office.. Click to View More.. |
Google Keyword & Search Engine Optimization Tools
When trying to optimize a website for higher Search Engine Rankings or working with a Pay Per Click campaign there are several invaluable tools every business needs. The Google Search Based Keyword Tool is an online application developed by Google providing worldwide or regional reporting on specific search terms, week-to-week numeric values of search volumes, Pay Per Click (PPC) competition and budgeting which integrates with existing Google AdWords PPC accounts and much more...and it's free!
The official Google explanation of the service 'What is the Search-based keyword tool' is:
The Search-based Keyword Tool generates keyword and landing page ideas highly relevant and specific to your website. In doing so, the tool helps you identify additional advertising opportunities that aren't currently being used in your AdWords ad campaigns. The tool goes one step further by tailoring the keywords and other data (such as the amount of competition for the keyword, the suggested bid, and more) based on your language or country/territory settings.
Based on your URLs, the Search-based Keyword Tool displays a list of relevant user queries that have occurred on Google.com (and on other Google search properties, such as google.co.uk) with some frequency over the past year; these suggestions can be found under the Keywords tab, in the New keywords related to (site) section. In the Keywords related to your search section, you can see a broad list of keyword ideas that are also relevant, but aren't necessarily based on your site.
The keywords are also organized by category. Click any category to expand and view its subcategories. If applicable, you'll also see the keywords organized by brand names.
Important note: We can't guarantee that these keyword suggestions will improve your campaign performance. Additionally, we reserve the right to disapprove any keywords you add to your campaigns. You're responsible for the keywords you select and for ensuring that your use of the keywords doesn't violate any applicable laws or our Terms of Service.
Try it out or ask your Internet Marketing Provider if they are using this invaluable tool
http://www.google.com/sktool
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
Office 816-842-7774.. Click to View More.. |
Online Advertising Not Always Transfering Online Surfers to Sales
MIT Study Debunks Online Ad AdvantagesOnline advertising can be much better at targeting certain demographics than its traditional media counterparts. But as more competition enters the space, these advantages do not automatically translate into greater profits, according to a new study from the MIT Sloan School of Management. MIT Sloan Assistant Professor Alessandro Bonatti said that marketers who think they can get better results at a lower cost by advertising on the internet instead of through more traditional media should consider all of the avenues available to them before making a decision. The same search and other technology that enabled advertisers to target particular audiences is also creating greater online competition for the same audience, thus reducing the profitability of advertising on any targeted website, he said. The Paradox of Too Much Choice“We know that newspapers have a very limited ability to target audiences,” said Bonatti, who worked with Yale University economics professor Dirk Bergemann on his research into the issue. “Specialized magazines can do better, while Google has a very good ability to target who’s browsing each page. So while online advertising certainly has the potential to drive out traditional advertising, it does not necessarily follow that online advertisers will make more money. “That depends on the concentration of the online advertising industry,” Bonatti added. The bottom line? As technology keeps improving, more and websites will be able to sell narrow products to very specialized audiences, diluting the profits that can be made through specialized advertising. “Instead of competing for one large pool, one big market, you will have price war in each targeted segment as the slice gets more and more narrow.” “The paradoxical result,” Bonatti concluded, “is that the better the technology, the lower the profits for advertisers. You can make a lot of money through super-powerful targeting if you are a monopolist, but not in a competitive market.”  Vertical NetworksBonatti’s findings take on greater relevance as vertical and hyper vertical ad networks continue to proliferate, MarketingVOX reports. According to Adify’s Vertical Gauge for Q309, brand advertising CPMs for various verticals - namely food, real estate and entertainment - posted quarter-to-quarter increases in 2009 and are performing well.
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson 913-814-8844 Office Always keeping on top of the online marketing news and trends since 1995 BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Online Marketing Solutions |
The 40th Birthday of the Internet Born at UCLA in 1969
In 1969 UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock sent the first message from his computer at the school to another computer at Stanford Research Institute. Kleinrock was trying to create a login starting up a remote system which crashed after only two letters and lo! producing the first Internet message. The Internet was born with the simple data message sent between two remote networked computers progressing to the millions of daily connected users today.
The creation of the internet, email, chat and social networking has been a significant influence on the lives of billions of people worldwide over the past 40 years. Most Internet users consider the Internet to be a new invention not realizing the basis of the Internet started 40 years ago. Google now recognizes over 1 TRILLION pages for it's search engine making it more difficult each day to be ranked in the 'Top 10' search results.
The Internet progressed from the initial remote computer connection to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which created ARPAnet for defense communications. In the 1970's Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCPIP) was developed for networks to 'internetwork' which spawned the name 'Internet'. In 1983 TCPIP was accepted as the official protocol further progressing the Internet as a universally accepted means of electronic communications.
After 1983 the number of connected computers expanded and new networks outside of ARPAnet were created to connect computers worldwide. In 1989 Tim Berners Lee proposed an inter connected network to share documents and files via a Internet initiating the first Web Browser. Within five years the world was using a web browser to search connected computers information or documents followed by the Web 2.0 term for later sites such as Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and social networking.
Few realize the power of the Internet with 40 years of development contributing to the World Wide Web used today. At once there are millions of people connecting, communicating and collaborating every minute of every day worldwide.
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844.. Click to View More.. |
Ability is Greater than Money
Ability is greater than money because it can be neither lost or stolen.
If you study the lives of very successful people you will find that they rarely climb to the top of their business or profession and stay there without challenges. They often climb to the top and falter several times during their careers but they know that the one thing that got them where they are, their ability, is always there to help them reach the top again.
Your ability is the one thing that you exclusively own; no one can ever take it from you.
The economy and business today continue to be challenging yet those of us with true ability to provide solutions will succeed. Builder Consulting builds better websites, our unique ability is to place websites on search engines and build long term successful relationships with customers who become partners.
What is your unique ability that will help you succeed in good or bad times?
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844 Offices.. Click to View More.. |
Tweeting for Business & Other Social Media Marketing
There has been a tremendous amount of hype the past few months about social networking, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.com and dozens of other websites designed to connect socially. One primary item lacking is a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis to determine if the social marketing is a fad or truly valuable to a business. In terms of the messages being shared they range from "I am selling something" or "I am writing an agreement" to perfectly valid news and information about business, websites, marketing and life.
Next there are the groups of people working together who all connect with you and share the SAME message at the same time bombarding people with an endless ongoing stream of Tweets and Facebook updates and annoyances. The people and companies using social media marketing to just throw anything up and hope it helps are doomed to fail. Nobody wants to be sent the same message from 10 different people within 20 seconds; never have your entire company or marketing agency send the same message out within any short time. If there is a valid observation, business idea, success story (not that you are writing a contract, that is narcissistic and not going to impress anyone) then be sure to Tweet away.
Consider posting ideas that improve the lives or business for customers and friends. If you have a business and personal account try to keep them somewhat separate; it is ok to be friends with clients but not ok to bombard either with inappropriate photos or messages. A friend in the computer industry recently published his Facebook profile and connected with numerous clients and new prospects online only to realize later he has place 'I LIKE BEER AND WOMEN' as the only interest listed in his profile. It was an oversight where he was being sarcastic rushing through the profile setup but it came across as unprofessional, he changed it.
No Matter What...restrain the urge to post or publish junk or useless information or things that do not apply to your target audience or company just because you have nothing else to share. There are days that need no social media marketing, it is better to share pertinent interesting information that people will read than to just post something to say you did. Twitter is great for entertainment and shopping, there are MILLIONS of people following actors and public figures who share all types of random thoughts from bathroom breaks to drinking coffee that some people apparently find interesting. Rather than posting similar items without any potential for ROI consider linking social networking accounts so they all update at the same time.
Cross linking the accounts permits the sharing of valid interesting information (and some junk, we all do it) without spending every day logging into dozens of websites trying to remember username or password hoping someone might find what you shared worth reading. Since I setup and began to actively post valid information I have had two new legitimate (paying) business customers come from Facebook. Checking the hundreds of followers on Twitter I noticed most of my x-girlfriends, a few people I fired, some other local website companies hoping they might learn how to get a website listed on search engines and dozens of other people I am sure will become stalkers in the near future...no paying customers yet but what the heck it's free!
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderSocialMedia.com - Building Social Media for Business
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Internet Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844.. Click to View More.. |
Large or Small, Personal or Business, You Know Your a Success When...
Throughout history the people who made the most difference, changed the world, brought about innovation, social expansion and created everything we take for granted today were loved and hated. Consider Microsoft, undeniably the most influential company in history in terms of computers and software used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Chances are you are reading this Blog on a computer using Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Internet Explorer and sent email using Microsoft Outlook or Exchange today.
Do a quick search for the term 'Microsoft Sucks' and 42,200,000 (over 42 million) search results are displayed starting out with a website dedicated to 'Why Microsoft Sucks'. To date the Microsoft Office is the # 1 selling office productivity software in the world, Internet Explorer is used by 98% of all businesses and still there are more than 42 million results about 'Microsoft Sucks'. Can anyone name the company that created Open Office, the free 'imitation' of Microsoft Office that has been around since 1999? The company does not come to mind, they now offer Open Office in more than 80 languages worldwide but nobody knows who they are because it is just a cheap imitation of Microsoft Office who came first and dominated the market (Sun Micrososystems developed Open Office).
Next think about what Susan B. Anthony went through in her quest for Women's Suffrage (the 19th Amendment, right to vote) being arrested by the US Marshall Service, jailed numerous times, expelled from her Union, called a 'harlot', 'unpatriotic' and many worse things. She stood up for what she believed in, what was right and equal for all people and changed the world. In her time she was hated by most men and a significant portion of the female population for pointing out inequities in society and dedicating herself to changing them. Move on to one of the most well loved and most popular leaders in history with a 98% popularity rating in his country, Adolf Hitler.
As unlikely as it sounds, Hitler was extremely popular throughout Germany at the start of his power and throughout the initial war. Hitler utilized the emotions of the German people who felt they had been oppressed and taken advantage of after World War I using national pride, promise of change and most significantly propaganda to influence Germany to follow him. This technique has been used throughout history by scandalous people or companies to sway others to their views when they were unable to obtain influence or compete through legitimate means.
Ask yourself how is it that companies that have done so much to improve and influence our lives are so hated by so many or women like Susan B. Anthony that dedicated their lives to helping others obtain a fair vote in society could be so despised? Neither history or any of us remember the people who never made a difference or caused any 'waves'. The companies and people who take the initive, put themselves at risk, create change and influence life or business as we know it are the ones everyone loves, or loves to hate. When I officially started my business back in 1995 I made little difference, nobody knew who I was or heard of Builder Consulting and life was easy.
Move forward 15 years and hundreds of websites later to where Builder Consulting has been recognized as the Best Place to Work by the Business Journal twice, received 119 local and national 'Best Website' awards, created the industries first content managment system (BuilderAdmin.com), presented hundreds of educational classes worldwide and still conducts business without a single salesperson needed. Last week alone six 'hate emails' from the owner of a company that started up in the same city 8 years after Builder Consulting using a name that is eerily similar to ours. The week before an email was forwarded from someone in Tulsa stating they were told 'Robert Jackson is slimy' (really...I take showers daily) and last month a company in Texas became a customer after another website company told him 'watch out for Builder Consulting' prompting him to research our company and become a customer.
Success, we finally made it! Builder Consulting has changed the way the industry markets online, created the websites, software and solutions others are now trying to imitate and continues to be years ahead of the herd. Customers love us for the success and solutions and other companies hate that they cannot compete no matter how many bad things they say!
The people and companies that make the most difference are those we all know, love, like or love to hate (TMZ is one of the top rated shows). You or your business has made it, you know your a success when the same happens to you!
What similar experiances have you had, did you notice an increase in this type of desperate activity as the economy slowed?
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Technology Solutions since 1995.. Click to View More.. |
Need to Rebrand, Adapt or Change? Look no Further than KFC
Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1952 by Colonel (Harland) Sanders though the idea goes back to the 1930's. During the Great Depression Colonel Sanders began selling fried chicken out of his gas station eventually coining the marketing phrase "finger lickin good'. Over the next 40 years the company became famous worldwide with more than 36,000 locations. Two key aspects brought about the name change from one of the world's most recognized fast food names, Kentucky Fried Chicken, to the short KFC acronym.
First and most important is the health food craze that swept the nation dramatically reducing sales for 'fried food' and anything else considered fattening or unhealthy. Health food stores such as Whole Foods sprung up everywhere, consumers began counting calories and the word 'fried' became a bad word. Subtly starting to re-brand Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC eliminated the instant, in your face reference to unhealthy fried food bypassing the fickle consumer aversion to fried foods partially. Jump to present day and KFC released Kentucky Grilled Chicken making the transition of the fried, unhealthy image to a clean grilled (I.E. healthy) image.
The second reason was a little known move by the State of Kentucky trademarked the state name 'Kentucky' requiring anyone using the word to pay licensing fees. Kentucky Fried Chicken began the re-branding process to KFC within one year of the action and recently worked out and agreement with the State of Kentucky for use of the trademarked word again. Kentucky Fried Chicken saw sales and profits plummet when society changed then adapted and changed to succeed. The change was an active process over several years starting with the simple use of an acronym simultaneous with the longer Kentucky Fried Chicken name for the first few years.
Next came the drop of the longer name using KFC as the primary branding and advertising message followed by the most recent Kentucky Grilled Chicken to complete the transformation to a healthy (or least healthier) fast food experience. A company as large as KFC could not accomplish this overnight, it required years of planning, effort, marketing, branding and consistent messages to the public to change perception. Many people were not even consciously aware of the change yet it happened and now a company doomed to fail as healthy food popularized has emerged as a strong leader once again. The same must happen for businesses today in the challenging economic times. What worked before does not work today, buyers are using social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn to connect with sellers and each other.
No longer are traditional advertising or business models applicable for success, all sellers must adapt to the new terms of buyers in both message and product. Former messages of strength are no longer valid in today's economic times ("xyz builders...building homes since 1940..."). No matter the industry the market has changed and everyone needs to adapt for the change to succeed. If KFC can do it in 109 countries at more than 36,000 locations than any you can do it at your business under your leadership.
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites since 1995
913-814-8844.. Click to View More.. |
|
|
RSS Content Feeds
