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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
‘O boy. I called Constant Contact support to find out if they archived the email newsletters in an RSS/XML feed. The support guy didn’t know what I was talking about. He didn’t know what an RSS feed was. Holy Mackerel! I figure anyone who has a web business these days would know about RSS technology. If you don’t, shame on you. What Does RSS Feed Mean? With an RSS feed you can ‘feed’ data into any source. A pda, smartphone, mp3 player, and in my case a website. I wanted to ‘feed’ my client’s archived newsletters from Constant Contact into my client’s website. So, I put a request into Constant Contact to have them provide a way to archive email newsletters via an RSS feed. The competition is doing it. I hope he passes along my suggestion.  Posted by: Michael Swartz at 3:43 pm Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: Web General, Business Tuesday, February 19, 2008
E-Commerce Equals Convenience, Risk to Consumers An important finding for those who have online shopping sites or selling anything online.
This can be avoided, you know. You can increase sales by putting your customers at ease with their online transactions. If they’re concerned, tell and show them why they don’t have to worry.
Example: Check out PayPal’s homepage. Notice how PayPal tells and shows their customers about online website security. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 4:17 pm Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design, Web General Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Well, I’m using a new To Do list program. I didn’t use a program before, I just had a piece of paper to keep track of my to do’s. Now I use the To List in Basecamp. Basecamp is an online project management service. It includes, Milestones, Whiteboards, Notes/Messages, Project Lists, Contacts, Calendar, and To Do Lists. To Do Lists in Basecamp are my favorite feature. You can create many types or categories of to do lists. And after you’ve completed the task, Basecamp records it and adds a strikethrough, just like you would do with your pen.
So far Basecamp has really met my needs. Easy to learn, setup and use. I may just toss out my current project management software and go with Basecamp. Mike Swartz says, “Check it out” Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:51 pm Comments: None | Filed under: Web General, Personal, Business Wednesday, November 21, 2007
I saw this video on TechCrunch and had to post it here. It was too good to pass up. 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot Source: Collegehumor.com I hope everyone has a great turkey day. Gobble, gobble. Happy Thanksgiving! Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:36 am Comments: 1 Comment | Filed under: Web General Thursday, September 27, 2007
Would you open this email?
Some may….I wouldn’t. Why? Because it’s from PayPaI, not Paypal with an L. It still boggles my mind that spammers try these ridiculous stunts. I guess it still works after all these years. This email by the way never reached my Inbox because I view all my messages on the server and I do not use the Preview Pane. Spam Prevention Though spammers are continuing to use slightly different techniques to get their ‘messages’ through, these tips still ring true today. Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 3:48 pm Comments: 1 Comment | Filed under: Web General, Computer Monday, August 20, 2007
I thought I would give Ask.com a try (a chance). I typed in, “how to get the highest price on ebay”. The first result is “How to get the highest price for your home - Jupiter, FL – Carole …” I understand maybe why my page wouldn’t be number one, but the first page is not even about eBay. It’s about “your home”. I didn’t ask (pun intended) how to get the highest price for my home. I click on the link to give ask.com the benefit of the doubt…maybe the page will be about “your home” on eBay? Nope. The word “ebay” doesn’t even exist on the page. Don’t Ask. They Still Don’t Know Apparently, Ask.com still needs a lot of work to provide a more relevant search. This is why I continue to use Google and NOT ask.com. P.S. I noticed the paid searches had no problem finding the word eBay. Is there something to this? Does Ask.com want to make money or provide better searches for the user? You tell me. Mike Swartz says, “Don’t check it out.” Posted by: Michael Swartz at 8:58 am Comments: None | Filed under: Web General, SEO Monday, July 30, 2007
All is not lost. Welcome Site Search. If a website doesn’t have their own search engine, use Google’s (or Yahoo’s, or MSN). For example, lets say I’m looking for “optimization services” on mjswebsolutions.com, you would type this string into the Google’s search bar: “site:www.mjswebsolutions.com optimization services” Google will only search the site you specified. NOTE: Site Search (or Domain Search) will only find words that are indexed by the search engine you are using. If the search engine hasn’t indexed those words or the site, you’re out of luck. Other Search Site Options
Add a Custom Search Engine to Your Website If you’re reading this and you have your own website without a search feature, Google now offers Custom Search. Many other companies offer plug-and-play site search programs too. Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 8:40 am Comments: None | Filed under: Web General Monday, July 23, 2007
I just sold another item on eBay with great results…I got the price I wanted. How? By doing my research. Research the Competition - Get the Highest Price Before you post an item to sell on eBay, check out the competition. First, type in the item your selling. Check out the prices of like items you’re selling. Also review some of the listings. How do they title their listing? What words do they use? What kind of description do they give? Is it detailed? Do they include pictures? Etc. Unfortunately these are items that are selling, not SOLD. It would be better to know the prices of sold items. We can. When performing your competitor search, on the left margin under “Search Options”, check the Completed listings box. A list of sold items will appear. Now you can better gauge how much to price your item. Review the ads that garnered top price. When did the auction close? What keywords were in the title? Were there pictures? How many? Etc. Use this information in your own ad and I guarantee you’ll get a higher return on your items. Get Your Website Higher in the Search Engines - Research the Competition You can use this same approach when trying to get your website higher in the search engines. Check out your competition. How? Type in the keywords you want to optimize for in the search engines. These are your competitors. Go to their website. Are the keywords you typed in on their website? How many? What other keywords are they using? What websites are linked (backlinks) to their website? Etc. Apply this information into your own website. Really…the only way you’re going to get higher in the search engines or get the highest price on eBay is if you beat the competition. What better way than to beat them at their own game. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 6:14 pm Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: Web General, SEO Monday, July 2, 2007
We’re back! It’s been an amazing past few months. We’ll first off…I got married on May 12, the day we first met 6 years ago. Justine and I got married in Alameda at the First Presbyterian Church. Jack Buckley was the kind gentleman who married us. Thank you Jack. We spent our reception on the San Francisco Bay exploding to the KABOOM fireworks where Justine and I met for the first time. It was the best day of my life! Thank you everyone! You made our dream come true. Now back to business… Another reason for not contributing to my blog recently is that my workload here at MJS has been off the charts. I have not been able to devote enough quality time to my blog. Customers came first. I’m sure you understand and I thank you for tuning in.
Since my time becomes more valuable each day and I need to stay on top of the SEO world (I used to visit Threadwatch exclusively, but it just recently shut down), I setup an add-on to Firefox called Sage. It’s an RSS reader that pulls specific data you choose (to a certain extent) to view from your favorite sites and lists all that content into one place. (This is the true definition of an RSS reader). Now I can surf the internet and view all the latest SEO headlines from one place. A great time saver! Mike Swartz says, “Check it Out”. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 7:49 am Comments: None | Filed under: Web General, Computer, Personal Monday, May 7, 2007
Hello. My sister-in-law is in town from Ireland and she is having “cell phone anxiety” because she can’t use her cell phone here in California. I’m sure a lot of people feel this way until I read that “Nearly 50 Percent of Americans Have Little Use for Internet and Cell Phones“. I can tell you, I need the internet to survive but I have little use for a cell phone. I am able to run a productive web development company with the internet and without a cell phone…though I do sometimes wish I had one for emergencies. We’ll see. Do you have “cell phone anxiety“? Posted by: Michael Swartz at 5:49 pm Comments: None | Filed under: Web General
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Remember a blog or two ago, I mentioned about 
Getting it done. Doesn’t it feel good to cross off items on your To Do list or finish that project or just get something accomplished and taken care of?
I have a post called 
A lot of websites I visit do not have a search feature. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m looking for and want to find it immediately by doing a search on their website.
Hello.
Saving Time With Sage
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