Within about a week, my blog (Making the Web; MTW) lost its Google PageRank on every single page. Thinking about my previous actions, I done a quick search in Google and found about 5,000 results containing my static link-back text. (Aside, this figure is currently 329,000 but with no-follow no used). Obviously, my actions had tripped Google's "link spam filters" and so my site was blacklisted with search engine position being significantly reduced.

I quickly no-followed all links in the next version, hoping to reduce the impact. Recently (10 months later), one of my pages (now PR 5) was featured on Slashdot.org, and some key pages at Reddit and news.ycombinator.org. It is this, I believe, that brought MTW back from the "blacklisting-threshold" and resulted in Google kindly returning some PageRank. I have also noticed MTW increasing in Google's results.

If you are doing something to "cheat" Google, be careful! (Or, stop doing it)

Thanks Google!

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Developing a plugin as vast and feature-rich as Thank Me Later can be very demanding. Since not many people have been forthcoming with donations, I though I would try a new tactic (rather than selling the plugin). This idea, if I remember, was mentioned by somebody on wp-hackers digest.

Basically, I am looking for a single person, or a number of people, who will sponsor a single release of the Thank Me Later plugin.

Thank Me Later has so far been downloaded 5,187 times, with the concentration of downloads appearing after a release, and has received great feedback (read some here). Here's what I propose:

• Each sponsor gets a link on the plugin's options page (for the release), back to their website or organisation.
• They will also get a link on the plugin information page at Making the Web (for at least as long as the sponsored release is the latest stable version), and the same at Wordpress Plugins directory (although this is indeterminate, since it not being my page)
• On a separate page for the plugin's administration section, they will be able to display a negotiable advert or description of their services.

Ideally, I'm looking for either one individual sponsor, or up to 10 sponsors. Importantly, the above is my proposal. You are free to propose your own arrangement, particularly if wanting to sponsor the plugin on your own. If you are interested, please email me at thankmelater@making-the-web.com or leave a comment below.

Sponsor amounts do not have to be great. We can come to a suitable arrangement.

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So far we have served 8,500 stumbles, linking similar-category blogs together. Thanks to the biggest 10 contributors:

• 1) Brad's Tiny World; 787 stumbles
• 2) Cool Biking Zone; 666
• 3) PC Tips Box; 520
• 4) WesternFront America; 500
• 5) Making the Web; 499
• 5) InfoMags.Org; 499
• 7) POEZIJASCG; 484
• 8) Rabbababb.no; 352
• 9) High Pay Keywords; 312
• 10) Adam Solomon; 288

Why not enable S!-for-WP Network to increase traffic from related sites to your blog!?

-Brendon.

UPDATE: I have just fixed a bug which prevented the most-contributing blogs from getting a larger number of stumbles back. It was intended that blogs which contribute more would get a greater share of the stumbles. However, an error in a MySQL query caused less-contributing blogs to get more traffic. This error has been fixed and the most-contributing blogs (such as above) will get a large proportion of traffic and be "paid back" for the past few months.

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Shout Something

If you scroll down, you'll see a page-wide banner which allows anyone to enter anything they want. Give it a go. I tried this on another site and a lot of people liked it. I hope to create and release a Wordpress plugin so you can have something similar on your blog.

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UPDATE (15:29 GMT): It appears that Google have now fixed the issue. From what I've heard, the problems started at 14:39 GMT and only affected logged-in users (this is unconfirmed, and most likely false).

UPDATE (16:39 GMT): Google has told BBC News: "There was a fault. We don't know the nature of it yet. Everything has been solved. We are still making initial enquiries." They are expected to make an official statement later.

UPDATE (17:10 GMT): Google just posted a new blog entry. According to the post, any URL containing a forward slash was marked as badware. Google says it was caused by human error, but it sounds as if they blame somebody at StopBadware.org for the forward slash ban.

Here's what the search for "Google" looked like:

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But, in the time since, I've been working on creating an automated system which works 10 times as hard as I ever could, and publishes the lists daily — without fail. MTW:ED (2.0) launched today, at the start of 2009. Please give it a go and tell me what you think…

Go to MTW:ED.

Read the launch announcement at MTW:ED.

-Brendon.

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An extremely small percentage of expiring domains will have PR, which makes those difficult to find. Well, luckily, I have done the hard work and listed these expiring domains on my new blog…

Making the Web: Expired Domains, updated daily, lists domains which are expiring within the coming days. Instantly, you can see which domains are expiring, their PR and the status of that PR (valid/false).

If you are interested in buying expired domains with PR, please give the blog a go and see what you think…

Before you start, you may want to read this article which talks about buying domains with PR.

* Usually when the domain has multiple PR pages.

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What is a personal brand?  Well, it's you!  It's your portfolio, blog and twitter account, as well as your Flickr, YouTube, FriendFeed, del.icio.us, Facebook and other accounts.

Learn From the Experts

Take a look at Gary Vaynerchuk, who runs a multi-million dollar wine business, as well as a popular podcast. He is an expert at personal branding and has established himself as real guru when it comes to all things wine. Browsing through his website, you can't help but notice his name plastered everywhere, as well as links to all his social profiles. You could say that Gary is everywhere! Check out this video from Gary explaining some goods about personal brands.

You and Yourself

It's important to be yourself online. No one likes a phony and people seem to have a real knack at spotting the fake a mile off.  It's also important to know your talents, and shape your brand based on your skills. So if you're a graphic designer - be the best graphic designer you can be. Not a designer/podcaster/blogger/developer.  Although Gary has a podcast, he isn't known podcaster - he's a wine guru.

Get Profiled

I have been approached through Twitter to do the odd bit of development work, and I have also found some very talented freelancers there as well. So the value in having a "profile" is obvious. Having profiles on major social networks like Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, Digg, etc, will not only expose your brand to potential clients but will help you keep track of the intertubes and stay connected….

Get Connected

This is the most important point: no one cares about you!  However, if you show genuine interest in other peoples work, I guarantee that you will start getting noticed. Comment on blogs, reply to Tweets on Twitter, share other peoples posts on Digg. You might not believe me when I say this is way more important then any work you do.

So get out and grab a brand!

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I just wanted to quickly tell you about a recent article from Seth's blog, which I think you would be interested in.

Do you have 16 boxes? explains why having a pessimistic attitude when something goes wrong doesn't make things any better. It shows that you should work with what you have, rather than focusing on what you don't have. Personally, I think this is one of the best articles Seth has ever written. Here's an extract:

Your career is not a boat. Neither is your business.

A boat with even a small leak is going to sink. You, on the other hand, don't need to be perfect to succeed. Imagine that you have a 4 x 4 grid to fill with assets. If it's a business, it might be location, reputation, staff, offerings that are in high demand and a sector that's robust… if you're doing it for yourself, it might include your resume, your network, your skill set, etc.

Do you have 16 boxes - Seth Godin.

Enjoy!

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Today, I have released "Stumble! for WordPress", a plugin which automates the process, in BETA. The plugin allows you to insert a button or link which will bring you to a random article, optionally giving preference to articles with more comments.

The plugin also pairs up with YARPP to enable the user to click "Show me a similar article" and be taken to a post produced by YARPP, selected at random.

Stumble! for WordPress also keeps track of visited ("stumbled") pages so users are never shown the same page more than once.

Please give it a go, and tell me what you think. Download Now.

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In just 10 years, Google has dominated search, become the most visited website, and become the top global brand.

It seems everyday that they are introducing a new service or technology to dominate even more areas. Chrome nicely set Google up in the web browser market. Android is another step towards connecting Google's services and users - at any time, on their mobile phones. They have even extended AdWords to implement ads on television.

I am constantly using Google whenever I'm on the internet. Since January, 2007, I have made over 23,000 searches. How many searches have you done? (I got this stat from Web History)

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Google Chrome by default

Google said they were going for simplicity, and that's what they provided. Google Chrome is a 100% clean and not-needed-not-implemented browser. I can't help but think that it's too simple, though. Under "Options", there are few settings that can be changed. There seems to be no option to disable Javascript or images! There is also no support for plug-ins or add-ons, though I suspect this will be implemented in the future.

I do like the "Most visited" page that comes up when you open a new tab. It offers quick access to some of your favourite websites, without having to put them on a bookmarks toolbar. And I also like the "incognito" window which allows you to browse without storing browsing history or cookies.

Oh, and closing the last tab seems to close the whole browser, a behaviour which seems crazy to me (???)

Here's a video from Google:

What are your thoughts?

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The guys at Google seem to be focusing on security and robustness: "By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites"…

…And performance: "We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers"…

…And simplicity: "We designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple"…

…And cross-platform availability: "We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too".

When available, you should be able to download the BETA version here: http://gears.google.com/chrome/.

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Sending a "thank you" email to contributors is highly effective, as it reminds them of your blog and their relationship with the blog (however small that may be). It is especially useful for attracting "one time" users - those who read and post one comment, without subscribing to or re-visiting your blog.

Previously, there have been plugins which would send an email to the user instantly. While these were somewhat effective, they are often dismissed or ignored. It's highly unlikely a reader will visit your blog again just a few minutes after they left.

Thank Me Later sends a thank-you email in the future. So, for example, if a reader left a comment on your blog today, they would receive an email tomorrow. Because the "thank you" is sent later, the user is more inclined to see if there have been any updates or follow-ups. It also removes the "automated" feel from the process.

I believe Thank Me Later could increase the number of readers to your blog, and prompt readers to become more engaged in discussion.

The plugin features:

• Static and dynamic customisation of the from, subject and message fields,
• Option to choose when to send the message in seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks.
• Option to limit how many time a user receives a message. Can be set to send emails to first-time contributors only,
• Option to limit how often a user is sent an email. For example, once every day, week, month, etc,
• Ability to use variable tags and PHP-code to create personal messages.

Please give it a try and tell me what you think. Download Now.

-Brendon.

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The first change you'll notice is the header. Instead of just a solid colour (previously green), I have decided to buy a suitable stock image. This is the first time I've ever used stock photography in any website, but I hope to use it more often - it is easier, more than sufficient, and reasonably cheap.

I have also tried to eliminate the green colour from the website. Although green seemed like a good choice to begin with, I saw it as uglier every time I looked at it. Green also seems to be quite inconsistent across different displays.

And apart from a few font size and colour changes, that is pretty much it. Please tell me what you think, and tell me of any recommendations you may have.

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I've just noticed that Google's PageRank seems to have been updated again. Overall, I'm OK with the updates. This is how it has worked out for me:

making-the-web.com has gone from PR 0 to PR 3.

file-encryptor.com has gone from PR 3 to PR 4.

And, bitfilm.net has gone from PR 3 to PR 2, since the blog moving domain.

Are you happy with you're PageRank changes, or have you seen an unexpected PR change on the internet? Please leave a comment…

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I've decided to create a new blog at http://making-the-web.com, about website development. I will still post on this blog, but it will be less frequent. Generally, this blog [bitfilm.net] will focus on PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, etc, while "Making the Web" will focus on the actual design aspect. I will also be writing some articles about blogging, hacking and security and search engine optimisation.

For the most part, I suggest you update your bookmarks to point to www.making-the-web.com, and for regular readers to subscribe to the RSS feed.

-Brendon

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This is my first blog post for Making the Web, and, to be honest, I don't really know what to write.

Well, anyway, my name is Brendon and I design websites and create web services. I decided to start blogging as an experiment: to see if they were as "good" and popular as I've been hearing for all these years. I will be using this blog to post articles about PHP, MySQL, website design, etc - hopefully, you will find these articles useful, and they might even improve your web development skills.

If you want to read more about me, or Making the Web, you can visit the about page.

Thank you,
Brendon

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Here are my tips for publishers:

Send clicks to advertisers' links
No, I'm not talking about clicking them yourself. But, you should take measures to ensure that the links on your site are somewhere where they'll be noticed. It is important to keep current advertisers, as it is easier than attracting new ones.

Use Keywords
When your submitting a page (or editing one), make sure you put in lots of keywords, which may be typed in by advertisers. Some people just put 7-10 keywords in, but it is worth putting as many as you can.

Useful Descriptions
Don't just put what you're site is about, such as: "A blog about website development." Instead, make sure it is descriptive and highlights the positive points of your site, such as: "Popular website development blog, about PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, etc. ~300 visits per day on average, mainly from United States. Occassional bursts of traffic reaching 2,000 visits per day." Advertisers are much more likely to consider your site if they know what they are getting - just alexa rank and link popularity doesn't really tell them much.

Single Page Ads vs. Site Wide Ads
Single Page ads are favoured over Site Wide Ads. Advertisers prefer single page ads because it doesn't look suspicious to the search engines, and because they have more choice on where their links appear.

Trial and Error
Not everything works for everyone. That's why you should use trial and error with your links and pages to determine what is best for you ads.

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The red areas show the most common mouse positions (reaching up to 500), while the blue areas show the least common areas.

If your interested in gathering similar data for your website, contact me and I'll be happy to give you some scripts and advice.

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