Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
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I’m trying something new on my blog. While I certainly don’t have a blog with hundreds of posts (this will be my 70th posting) I feel like the blog is getting a bit harder to navigate for newer visitors.
So with that in mind I have added a new plugin that will automate placing my “most popular posts” on a page. The plugin decides your most popular posts by calculating most visits or most comments. I have opted to use most visits. So, my viewing public, you will decide what makes the cut on my most popular posts page. Power to the people! You can find my top posts page from the link in the top navigation or follow this link to Big Oak’s Popular Posts.
As of 5/9/07 I am showing the up to five of the most popular posts in each category. I can change it to show the top posts without a category filter, which means the most popular posts in total. Which way is best?
Any thoughts on the importance of unimportance of this usability test? Comments welcomed, as always.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Out on a Limb | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
More news that Google will soon be taking over the world.
Call 800-GOOG-411
Use the new Google Voice Local Search experiment to connect to local businesses anywhere in the U.S. from your phone, for free. Just dial the toll-free number 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) and speak the name of a business (”Giovanni’s Pizzeria”) or its category (”pizza”).
You can choose to connect to the business directly over phone or, if you are calling from your mobile phone, you can also say “text message” and we’ll send you the business’s details by SMS. Google won’t charge you for a thing, but note that regular phone charges may apply based on your phone service provider.
http://labs.google.com/goog411
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted in Google, Out on a Limb | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Not really an SEO post, but cool nontheless. Here is a new feature from the “mouth” of Google:
A new Google Maps feature lets you easily create maps with placemarks that incorporate your text comments, photos, and videos from YouTube and Google Video. It’s a great way of sharing your stories on a map, whether it’s stops you enjoyed on a recent vacation or the best places to grab a quick bite to eat in your city. To get started, just click the “My Maps” tab on the left-hand side of the Google Maps homepage.
You can take a look at the maps other people have created (there’s even one of the Googleplex), and then get started making your own by clicking “Create new map.” If you make your map public, we will make it searchable for other folks who use Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted in Google, Out on a Limb | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Google can seem like a entity which can’t be pinned down, much like the Internet itself. But, believe it or not it has many locations and a headquarters. I found two phone numbers so I’m not sure which one you call to ask for a #1 listing for your site’s search term. Better call them both when to ask. 
Google Company Information
Contact Address
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Contact Phone
1-650-318-0200
1-650-253-0000
Contact Fax
1-650-253-0001
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted in Google, Out on a Limb | No Comments »
Thursday, February 15th, 2007
Update - June17, 2008 - We no longer “dofollow” all comments. We have some criteria that will be kept secret. Suffice to say, if you are a honest & consistent commenter your comments will be followed. This is being done to curb the overwhelming number of spam comments. We’ll try to reward those who make useful comments while sweeping the spam under the blog. I’m sure we’ll make some mistakes so don’t take it personally. And, please keep commenting! I have also installed a new plugin to replace the DoFollow plugin and I recommend it highly: Lucia’s Linky Love. It will allow you much more control over following links in comments.
- Shell Harris, President, Big Oak
I have decided to turn off the NoFollow attribute to comment posts on my SEO blog. I believe there are enough safe guards to protect this site from spammed comments such as Akismet.
In fact, Akismet it has caught every spam comment so far. And there have been 656 thousands of spam comments in the two many months since this blog was moved to its current location. Obviously, the NoFollow tag was having little or no effect on preventing spam.So, rather than penalize the people who actually write a comment worth reading, I have decided to reward any would-be commenters with a little link juice from a trusted site, providing they comment with some thought, that is.
So bring on your comments and enjoy the revolution, let links breathe free and carry weight for all!
If you wish to join the DoFollow revolution, you can download the DoFollow Wordpress plugin that will turn off the NoFollow link attribute. Thanks, Kimmo!
Popularity: 8% [?]
Posted in Blogging, Out on a Limb | 43 Comments »
Want to know what Shell is doing?