habanews

Cara Membuat Headline News Berjalan Di Blog

2012-05-30T09:12:00.001-07:00

Sesuai dengan judul di atas kali ini saya akan mesharing tentang bagaimana cara membuat headline berjalan news di blog. bagi anda yang masih bingung widget ini hampir sama dengan headline news berjalan pada metro tv dan lain lain, cuman kali ini kita akan memasangnya di blog. ok bagi yang ingin memasang nya silahkan ke menu rancangan pada blogger kemudian di elemen laman pilih tambah gadget. kemudian muncul tab baru pilih saja HTML/Javascript lalu copas scrip dibawah kedalamnya

<script type="text/javascript">
var hn_url_blog = "http://bloganda.blogspot.com";
var hn_jumlah_post = 5;
var hn_warna_latar = "#EEEEEE";
var hn_warna_garis = "#000000";
var hn_posisi = "top";
var hn_tampilkan_judul = true;
var hn_backlink = true;

</script>
<script src="http://thedexwan.googlecode.com/files/headlinenews.js">
</script>

Simpan dan liat hasilnya

anda juga dapat merubah beberapa hal antara lain :

hn_url_blog adalah URL blog Sobat
hn_jumlah_post adalah jumlah judul artikel yang akan tampil pada headline news.
hn_warna_latar adalah kode warna untuk latar belakang headline news.
hn_warna_garis adalah kode warna untuk garis bingkai headline news.
hn_posisi menentukan posisi headline news anda apakah di atas ("top") atau di bawah ("bottom"),
hn_tampilkan_judul bernilai true kalau sobat ingin menampilkan tulisan "Headline news of BLOGKAMU" di bagian kiri dan bernilai false jika tidak ingin menampilkannya,

The New Link Building

2012-05-27T20:04:00.001-07:00

The web is awash with articles about how “social shares” (aka – mentions and link sharing on popular social networking sites) will be the “next big thing” in the world of link building. But do you really think that Google’s going to be gamed by the thousands of “+1” votes or hundreds of automated followers you bought off of Fiverr or a related site?
Here’s the real deal on how social shares could influence link building, as well as where the opportunities lie to promote your brand successfully…

1 – Increase Overall Total Shares

Although it’s thought to be a relatively soft signal, there are some indications from both Google and Bing that the total number of social shares your content receives on Facebook, Twitter and G+ is used to demonstrate social authority.
Obviously, using the total social signals metric as an indicator of authority has its limitations. It’s incredibly easy to game the system by purchasing followers or by incentivizing social sharing in a way that goes against Google’s recommendations for link building. At this point, though, it isn’t clear how effectively Google and the other search engines can separate purchased shares from legitimate signals. However, if they can’t yet, it’s likely they’ll be able to do so in the future.
Because of this, it isn’t a good idea to go out and purchase social signals. Even if they do lead to a short-term improvement in rank, odds are they’ll be devalued at some point in the future, leading to wasted time and money.
For this reason, it’s a much better idea to encourage the social sharing of your content using calls to action and social plugins, but to focus on building momentum naturally. To do this, be sure your website’s blog makes use of tools like Digg Digg or ShareThis which allow users to quickly spread your articles across their favorite social networking sites.
It’s also a good idea to integrate specific calls to action into your blog posts. You might be surprised how effective adding statements like, “If you enjoyed this article, please click the icon below to share it on Facebook,” can be!

2 – Increase Perceived Authority

One of the biggest advantages of social networking sites is the way they break down communication barriers and enable you to easily reach out and connect with new audiences who may go on to share your links. For this reason, using social networking sites to increase your perceived authority is just as valuable as working to increase the number of times your content is shared.
In addition to confirming that social signals play a role in the SERPs ranking algorithms, both Google and Bing have also indicated that the relative authority of a user factors in to how heavily these signals are weighted.
Evidence for this assertion comes from a December 2010 interview of both Google and Bing representatives, as carried out by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land. In response to the question, “Do you calculate whether a link should carry more weight depending on the person who tweets it?” the representatives responded:
“Yes.” [from Bing]
“Yes we do use this as a signal, especially in the “Top links” section [of Google Realtime Search]. Author authority is independent of PageRank, but it is currently only used in limited situations in ordinary web search.” [from Google]
Being perceived as an authority figure on popular social networking websites clearly offers a number of different advantages. Not only will your number of social shares increase as your total follower count goes up (as people are generally more likely to share content from the industry leaders they look up to), the mere fact that you appear to be a thought leader is reflected in the increased weight given to your social signals.
Obviously, though, increasing your social authority on these sites requires time and effort, as you’ll need to invest energy in connecting with new people and publishing varied content that improves your reputation. However, as these efforts are no less time-consuming than traditional link building (and may ultimately lead to more viral link sharing and your content’s inclusion in more personalized SERPs), it’s clearly worthwhile to invest your energy in this pursuit.

3 – Connect with Authority Users

If one of the biggest advantages to social networking is the low barriers to communication that allow you to reach out and connect with potential new followers, it stands to reason that this situation can be manipulated in the opposite direction as well. By connecting with other authority users on social networking websites and getting them to share your content with their followers, you could multiply this effect even further.
According to SEO expert Eric Enge, writing for Search Engine Watch:
“There are many reasons to engage in social media, including those that go well beyond SEO. You can get significant direct traffic, you get branding value, exposure to your target audience, and more. However, getting an authoritative person in your space to share your content will probably be a big win, and this is an excellent goal for your social media campaigns.”
Of course, you probably already have an idea of how successful you’ll be simply dropping an authority user a line and asking him or her to share your content without having built up a relationship first. These authority users are busy and their reputations are on the line with every tweet or status update they post. But while they may be incredibly picky about the content they choose to share, this shouldn’t discourage you from pursuing these valuable opportunities.
Instead, take the following steps to increase your likelihood of having an industry authority figure share your content with his followers:

Identify authority users – To begin this process, you’ll need to identify a few potential authority users to connect with. Keep in mind that not all thought leaders will be a good match for your business model or your audience, so keep an eye out for participants who are viewed as authorities on the specific topics around which you want to build your own perceived value.
Build your relationships slowly – The best way to catch an authority figure’s eye is to promote his content. Share posts from his blog with your audience, retweet his Twitter content and generally do your best to build traffic to his website ahead of your own. You can also begin to encourage a relationship to develop by leaving thoughtful blog comments or responding to social networking site posts in a way that complements the authority figure while still asserting your own expertise in your niche.
Reach out when opportunities to benefit both parties arise – Don’t expect your chosen authority figure to simply share your content unless there’s a significant value for his audience as well. For example, if your chosen leader has recently published a “tell all” piece on a hot new topic in your industry, ask him to promote your article on the same subject instead of the tired old “evergreen” article that’s bumming around your blog.

As with all of the strategies discussed for improving your social media results, building relationships with authority figures in order to get them to share your content takes time. However, the instant surge of traffic and increased overall perceived authority will likely make your efforts in this arena well worth the time invested!

Seo Mistakes to avoid

2012-05-26T22:13:00.002-07:00

Nowadays, more than ever before, the Internet is intensely competitive. With hundreds of photography websites and Blogs being launched on a daily basis, it has become increasingly difficult to rank well in search engines. This is why search engine optimization is vital for the success of any website. Research has shown that search engines like Google and Yahoo account for more than 70% of traffic.

When it comes to photography sites, the following are some of the SEO mistakes to avoid.

1. Setting up a purely flash site

Flash are usually eye-catching and can be very effective in capturing the attention of prospective clients. However, flash animations are invisible to search engines. As a result, it is very difficult to rank flash websites. A solution to this would be to present a splash or HTML page together with the flash. The text on the page will help search engines understand what your site is all about. You could also provide readable text through a blog connected to the flash site.

2. Using a similar title for all the pages

If you use the same title on all your pages, search engines will think your site or blog is just about one thing. However, you might want to rank for several phrases (such as engagement, wedding, receptions or bride). You should therefore ensure that each of these terms has a different page title.

3. Having URLs without keywords

When it comes to ranking, URLs are very vital. Having keywords in your URL gives search engines a good idea of the subject matter of your page. If one of your pages has a URL which looks something like www.domain.com/?page-id=2, it will be difficult for search engine to tell what the page is all about. When you alter the URL to something like www.domain.com/LA-fashion-show, then the subject becomes obvious. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your URLs are search engine friendly.

4. Inadequate text

Many photographers don’t know how to create text which will help them rank well in search engines. Each post should be at least 300-words long. This will convince search engines that your page has substantial content that would be useful for potential searchers. Make sure your posts contain details such as contact information, testimonials, as well as relevant links to other pages.

5. Not including captions

When visitors see an image on your page, they instinctively look for the caption. Search engines also rely on caption to make sense out of an image, since they can’t ‘see’ the image itself. Captions are ideal for including keywords on your page. Make sure you use specific words which will help enhance your ranking.

6. Using poor image filenames

Besides captions, search engines also understand an image through its filename. Instead of using a filename like TR003.jpg, rename it to traditional-bridal-gown.jpg. Hyphens are useful for highlighting each individual keyword.

7. Slow load time

The time your pages take to load will affect their ranking. Blog pages or flash sites with numerous images usually load very slowly. As a result, you could lose much traffic from search engines, as well as impatient web users.

new google +1 button, and google+ badge for blogger

2012-05-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Blogger today added two new options to the gadget gallery, the gadget gallery is a collection of gadgets you can add to your blog via the "Add A Gadget" option on your blog layout page.The two new options are for the new Google +, Firstly a Google +1 button for readers to recommend your blog, and secondly a Google + badge for readers to follow your Google+ updates.

Imagine being able to share your blog with like-minded people across the web. Today we’ve made doing that easier with the introduction of two Google+ gadgets, the +1 button and Google+ Badge.Unlike the +1 button that can appear below a post, this gadget is specific to your blog. Displaying it on your blog will allow visitors to endorse your blog and share it with their friends.

As stated above you can add these new gadgets to your blogs sidebar, footer or anywhere that accepts gadget.Simply go to your blog layout page, click Add A Gadget and choose the gadget you want.For the +1 button you have options for the style while to add the Google Plus badge you will need your profile or page ID (A link to instructions is provided).

Drop your comments and questions below.

Google drive launched : Start Sharing Files

2012-05-26T22:02:00.002-07:00

Google has been launching many new services. A few days ago, It launched Google Code and provided an amazing service to the users. But it was not just over, Now it has launched the brand new Google Drive and gave users a new experience. Google Drive actually is online file-storage service like Microsoft's SkyDrive. But as expected, it comes with many amazing features. The main goal is that, it let's users to upload files and share them with anyone on the Internet. It gives you 5GB free online storage with many new exciting features including smart tagging, image recognition etc. Let's discuss about other features.

Setting up Google Drive

You will need a Google Account to set up with Google Drive. If you have google account, then start using Google Drive with free 5GB online storage. You will be guided step by step after logging in to Google Drive. It's very easy.
What's amazing about it?

There are many unique and latest features in the new Google Drive. Watch the official video of Google Drive below to get familiar with Google Plus in detail.

Sharing and Storage

As already mentioned google drives gives 5GB free online storage. The maximum upload file size limit is 10GB. But the users which have 5GB of total storage, can upload a file of 5GB. It's really amazing. You can upload images, documents, videos etc. and can also share your files with people which also have Google Drive Account.

You will have to install a software for Google Drive in your PC, and then it will create a folder named "Google Drive" on your Desktop. You just have to drag and drop the file you want to upload and share, in that folder and your files will start uploading on your Google Drive account. The files which are uploaded will appear on your account and you can share that. People can download, view, comment and edit your files with your permission. You can also sync your files with iPhone, Android etc.

By default, you will be provided 5GB of free storage. Maybe that's not enough for you. You can extend it at reasonable prices as given below. You can buy up to 1TB of storage.

25 GB = 2.49$ / month
100 GB = 4.99$ / month
1TB = 24.99$ / month

Integration

You can integrate your uploaded files with many products of Google e.g Google Code, Google Docs, Gmail etc. You can choose file of any format and even you can also covert your format before uploading.

Smart Tagging and Search Filter

These are one of my favourite features of Google Drive. You can filter anything from your files e.g you can find images, videos, documents etc. from a bunch of files in seconds. You can tag the images with different labels and then find them easily with one click.

Text Recognition and Offline Viewing

If you've forgotten the name of any file and you want to find it, then Google Drive can find it by matching your given text with the text in the files. Viewing your documents offline is another goal of Google Drive. You just have to install an app in Google Chrome, and then you can view your documents offline in Google Drive.

Google has always tried to provide the users with latest and unique tools and features. Google Drive has many features which other related sites don't give. I hope Google will update this Google Drive and provide more flexibility to users.

5 Tools For Managing Your Social Media Accounts

2012-05-26T21:52:00.001-07:00

Managing all your social media accounts is something which can be pretty time consuming – if you’re not doing it properly. Updating regular posts is something which takes time to adjust to and work at - but something that your blog or business can really benefit from greatly. Investing your time and effort in social media is something totally worthwhile – and something much easier once you’re using the right tools and equipment to help you out.

Don’t feel scared or intimidated about using online tools to help manage your social media – it can help save you time and it can also mean you efforts are being recorded properly too. After all, time and effort saved in one part of your marketing efforts – is time and effort you can use somewhere else.

So here are 5 great tools you can easily sign up to online – they are easily to navigate too, so you don’t need to worry about being overwhelmed by new technology. Let us know what you think of these tools, and feel free to comment below is there are any you’d like to add.

1)Shortstack (www.shortstack.com) This is a great service that aids businesses to design and build a better looking Facebook page and customise it with various things such as videos and contests. The service is mainly free (they won’t charge for pages that have up to 2,000 likes). Beyond that, a tiered pricing system kicks in, but it’s very reasonable.

2)Buffer (www.bufferapp.com) is a brilliant way to schedule your social media activity and tweets. The website and tools lets you distribute you’re statuses and tweets throughout the day (at times you can choose and coordinate). The basic package is free – but if you want to add more accounts or schedule tweets for longer periods of time, you’ll need to upgrade. The tool is great as it lets you be sure that fresh social content is getting to your audience daily.

3)Postling (www.postling.com) was intended for small business users in mind and delivers easy-to-use tools, alerts and understandings that will help you get the most out of social media marketing and let you make the most out of your business. Postling lets you publish to all of the major social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Tumblr and Flickr and schedule your posts in advance. It also pulls comments from all of your social media sites into one place which saves a lot of time and effort for responding.

4)TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com), This tool is now owned by twitter and is a fantastic way to manage multiple twitter accounts. It takes the form of a “dashboard” from which you can manage a variety of social media accounts all together in one place. It allows you to monitor and manage unlimited accounts, schedule tweets to suit your audience and filter content to focus on what matters to you the most – it’s the kind of thing you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.

5)HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com) This website and tool is very similar to TweetDeck and lets you manage all of your social media accounts on a single dashboard. This is a good solution if more than one person at your business posts to your social media accounts.

Will Password Managing Applications Keep Your Blog Safe ?

2012-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

We all use passwords to protect our personal material on the web, from our blog content to our online financial information. Passwords are practically ingrained into our very understanding of how the web works; they’re literally the means by which we access critical information online on a daily basis. That’s why it’s so important that you secure your data with the best password possible. You know the drill: a random sequence of letters and numbers works best, no familiar names, and nothing that a potential hacker could figure out. Most people (myself included) use multiple passwords for various sites just to be on the safe side.

While this advice is simple, the actual practice of keeping multiple complex passwords for the very large (and only getting larger) amount of sites you login to is extremely challenging. I've dealt with these challenges personally, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to reset passwords that I got mixed up with other accounts. Thankfully I never lost any access to an account completely.

The value of a password manager

The best thing about having a good password manager is the convenience of having all your passwords in one place. No longer do you have to sit an extra minute at a login screen, fiddling with the 10 passwords floating around your head.

But are they safe?

This obviously varies from password manager to password manager. The top two managers that I've tried and have had very safe results (as have millions of other users) are KeePass and LastPass. Both password managers use heavy layers of data encryption to ensure that your passwords are secure even if a certain level of security is compromised.

KeePass is slightly different than LastPass in that you can't use it over multiple devices without a flash drive or Dropbox. Some people consider this more secure as your passwords (even if encrypted online). KeePass does offer some pretty good browser integration, but it can be a bit buggy.

While LastPass hosts your encrypted passwords on their servers, only you hold the encryption key and the entire encrypting and decrypting takes place on your own computer. Needless to say, this makes LastPass pretty darn secure, much more so than any password manager on a browser. Best of all, it has extensions for all the big browsers you would be using (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari).

There is a danger of using your universal LastPass password when you're in a foreign country or on a public Wi-Fi connection. LastPass even has this accounted for though by allowing the creation and use of one-time passwords. As soon as you use them, they become invalid, so even if someone steals it, they are still locked out of your password network.

Bottom Line

As far as internet security goes, I'm about as paranoid as they go. But I can honestly say that LastPass has ended my frustration of keeping multiple passwords while still keeping me at ease with the secure management of my passwords. Just be sure to use an unbreakable universal password for LastPass that is as complex and confusing as you can possibly remember.

What about you?

Do you use any password protection or security services to keep your blog safe? Let me know!

seo service

2012-05-24T08:13:00.003-07:00

I have been working seriously for more than three weeks, but it seems that I have no luck anymore. All I do couldn’t push my position up to the high level. I think my direct competitor, another seo contest evil science article, is really unbeatable. I am sorry just talking about him because he’s the only reasonable target that I can take over within this seo contest. It’s a pity actually. As you all know, there are two leaders here, firstly is evil science, then secondly is Muhammad Ahmed. In my personal opinion, facing Hellas, the evil science is hard. While I should also think about the top leader. Is it still possible to take the lead?
No one knows but Google. As I said above, yet another oes tsetnoc seo contest by evil science is unbeatable. I am not talking about nonsense at the moment, but just trying to be realistic since evil science seo contest strategy is very uncommon compared to another seo contest participant. Well, now the question is how to beat evil science? Other people used to advise me to buy some backlinks from authority websites, yet another seo contest evil science is unbeatable if we’re just purchasing such inbound links. In my personal opinion, there should any other tips to take evil science position over. Yet, I never know what it is so that I can’t implement it for my oes tsetnoc entry.
Now, what I can do is just keeping to write some new articles then blog commenting for a while. If another seo contest by evil science were not that tough and not unbeatable, perhaps I can rank higher soon. Yet, the fact is different. So, I prefer to wait any miracle falling down from the sky hahaha….

RKG Digital Marketing Report: Q4 2011 Released

2012-05-24T07:56:00.001-07:00

Today we released the RKG Digital Marketing Report for the fourth quarter of 2011, offering data and analysis for paid search, SEO, CSEs, Facebook advertising and more. We’ve taken steps to make sure our report is representative of the larger marketing fields covered so that it can serve as a credible benchmark for individual advertisers and offer insights into the numbers the major players like Google and Yahoo end up reporting in their financials.

Historically, our approach to quarterly analysis has been a strong predictor of the engines’ high-level performance and, if that connection holds, it looks like year-over-year growth in Q4 was the strongest it was for all of 2011. RKG also takes pride in being on the forefront of uncovering and taking action on subtler industry trends and developments and we’ve included some of those as well.

We hope you’ll take the opportunity to download the full Digital Marketing Report, which features nearly 50 charts with our analysis. Among the highlights include:

Paid search spend growth accelerated in Q4 to a 31% year over year rate, up from 20.9% in Q3. Higher click-through rates were the primary driver as impression growth was limited to 5.5% and cost-per-click declined 1.4% Y/Y.

Google paid search spend increased 38.5% Y/Y on a 46% increase in clicks. One of the most interesting metrics in Q4 was CPC, which we saw decline 5.2% on Google. Google hasn’t reported a CPC decline in eight quarters.

Bing and Yahoo non-brand paid search spend fell 6.1% Y/Y in Q4, an improvement from Q3 as 2010 comps weakened.

Google increased its search lead over Bing & Yahoo in Q4, generating 86.5% of paid clicks and 83.5% of organic search visits.

Mobile, including both smartphones and tablets, contributed 9.6% of paid and organic search traffic for the full fourth quarter of 2011, but surged to 14.2% of paid traffic at the end of the year.

Facebook generated 3.6% of referral traffic to sites on average in Q4 and 0.6% of all traffic, speaking to a large growth opportunity.

Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs) generated just 1.4% of our clients’ Google spend and 1.3% of their Google revenue in Q4 2010. This year, PLAs grew sharply to make up 7.5% of Google spend and 8.4% of Google revenues in Q4.

MU legend Yorke picks Barcelona to win Champions League, United in EPL

2012-05-24T07:55:00.003-07:00

MU legend Yorke picks Barcelona to win Champions League, United in EPL

Dwight Yorke: Former Manchester United striker. Tribunnews.com
Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke says that he picked Barcelona to win this season’s UEFA Champions League and the Manchester ‘Red Devils’ United squad to be victorious in the English Premier League.“Clearly Barcelona, because of what they’re doing…they got the best players in the world,” Yorke told selected media, including The Jakarta Post, on Wednesday evening at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jakarta.
Yorke went on to call Barcelona’s Lionel Messi the greatest striker in this era.“But my all-time favorite would be the German’s Bayern Munich. I just like the balance of the team,” he added.

As a true Red Devil, Yorke definitely expected United to win this English Premier League season. “We’ve done great. City had the upper hand for maybe six months…they’ve been phenomenal and some players have been fantastic…the best team in the league sometimes. “But I think United is showing Championship-quality in the past two, three months in sustaining the pressure consistently on City. They have never been in the position where United has been…United seems to get it right every time, and City is still trying to get it.”

Keyword Suggestion & List Generator Tool

2012-05-21T21:26:00.001-07:00

If you do a lot of keyword research — especially for PPC — you might want to check out a new tool called BulkWords. It combines a keyword suggestion tool and a keyword list generator into one interface that’s easy to use, not to mention easy on the eyes.

There are three parts that make up the tool:

Keyword suggestions from Google. This functions pretty similarly to Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool. It shows search volume numbers from the Google tool (although some of the “last month” numbers were different in my testing from what Google shows).
List builder. This is where you start building keyword lists either by drag-and-drop from the suggestions above, or by typing in your own keywords.
Keyword lists. After you’re done building keywords, the green button compiles them into lists that can be exported for use on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

BulkWords is free to use. You don’t need an account unless you want to save your lists for future use.

Discovery adds Question Phrases keyword

2012-05-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

At the suggestion of one of its customers, Keyword Discovery has added “Question Phrases” to its list of searchable databases. This means you can now enter a keyword and, rather than get back related keywords, you get a list of related questions that searchers have asked. Question Phrases appears as the last choice on the “Databases” dropdown of the main search page:

This is cool because it’s a great and easy way to get new content ideas. Imagine you’re a dermatologist who wants to add articles to your web site, or needs new ideas for blogs posts. Just type in a general word like “acne,” and Keyword Discovery returns a list of questions that searchers have asked. It’s like having an instant focus group telling you what questions they have about your products, service, or industry.

A tool like this works best when you enter very broad, general terms. The list above shows results for the word “acne.” You want to enter short-tail phrases so KD can give you back long-tail questions.

WordTracker has a similar question tool, and together these both make a great addition to your ability to do highly targeted keyword research specifically with content development in mind.

Doing SEO? Do It Gently

2012-05-21T21:21:00.002-07:00

This is a great article by Adam Audette, one that I have to share now rather than just wait for the link roundup at the end of the month:

SEO Should Be Invisible.

If you’re doing SEO in 2012, you have to do it gently … quietly … invisibly.

Less is more.

I actually told a client within the past 2-3 weeks, “Stop worrying so much about SEO.” It was a situation where I felt the focus needed to be on the user, not the search engine. I think with an established website that’s what SEO has become — more about the user and user signals than about the search engine and (traditional) search engine signals.

So much SEO is ugly because the person doing it is using a hammer, when the better tool is a paintbrush.

The hammer just pounds the hell out of a web page. BAM! Title tag. BAM! Keywords. BAM! Anchor text. BAM! More keywords. BAM! Optimize that image alt text. BAM! BAM! BAM!

SEO is important. It’s a must for any business that’s serious about long-term online success. But it can be way overdone. As I said many years ago, in one of the first posts on this blog, moderation in all things — it’s one of my mom’s favorite sayings.

Or, as Adam Audette put it in that great article this week:

SEO should be unseen, when it’s done well, and only noticeable to other SEOs. It should not be overt. It should not take precedence over more important aspects of a site, like the site’s brand message, its purpose, its user experience, and its value proposition.

how to success in seo your site

2012-05-21T21:15:00.001-07:00

John Wooden, the greatest basketball coach ever, never talked to his teams about winning. He talked to them about preparation and about the process of becoming a great team.

Wooden’s philosophy on coaching (and life) is summed up in the “Pyramid of Success,” which beats the tail off all that Self-Help Guru junk you see peddled in books, on blogs, on daytime chat shows, and on late night TV. I was lucky to hear Coach Wooden speak about the Pyramid of Success while I was a student at Pepperdine University; to this day, it’s one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard. (Seriously, if you don’t know what his Pyramid of Success is, visit CoachJohnWooden.com.)

What’s all this have to do with SEO and online marketing? Well, the best SEOs don’t talk to their clients about rankings; they talk about the process of making great web sites that earn traffic and convert visitors into customers. They talk about the process of creating great content that attracts links like bees to honey.

I would never compare myself to John Wooden, but I do like teaching others about online marketing. So, with that in mind, and inspired by the great coach, here is the....

SEO Success Pyramid

What’s It All Mean?

Commitment: Every successful project I’ve ever worked on has involved a client whose team is enthusiastic and engaged. Whether you’re big or small, one uninterested department or person can sabotage everything.

Planning: Success in any pursuit begins with setting goals and developing a plan to achieve them — detailing the strategies and tactics you’ll use, the people and resources needed, and so forth. Search marketing is no different. Read: Planning an SEO Campaign

Product/Service: Although you can fool some people into buying crap for a while, real long-term success involves a product or service that people want or need. There’s no substitute for quality.

Education/Information: You’re a business owner; you don’t need to become an SEO expert. But you’ll succeed faster if you have access to great information. And as fast as the search marketing industry changes, ongoing access to intelligent information is critical.

Patience: True, there are exceptions every now and then, but for the vast majority of companies big or small, search marketing is a process that takes time to implement correctly. There are no short cuts, no quick fixes. Success almost always takes many months, if not a year or more.

Design & Usability: Yes, there are some ugly sites that make lots of money; but there are more that don’t. Your best bet is to have a web site that’s attractive and easy to use. Get out of your customers’ way and let them do what they came to your site to do.

Keyword Research: If you target the wrong keywords, you’re doomed to fail. You’ve heard that a million times, I hope. More than that, you also need to know what to do with your keywords.

Analytics: How will you know you’re successful if you have no way of measuring what you’ve done? Measure, analyze, adjust strategies and tactics as needed.

Tools: Having access to appropriate SEO tools can give you an advantage over the competition. Of course, more important than the tools is knowing how to interpret the data they provide.

Crawlability: A search engine cannot index pages that its spider cannot crawl. Be careful with the Flash movies, the complicated DHTML and javascript, the robots.txt file, etc. Here are 5 common crawlability mistakes you need to know about.

Content: This can take many forms: a blog, articles, videos, a FAQ page, or even user-generated content like product/service reviews. When you get this one right, you’ll have an easier time getting…

Links: Your great content isn’t going to rank well without links, preferably from relevant, quality sites. I brain-dumped (almost) everything I know about links early last year.

Social/Local Findability: Let me explain this since I might be inventing a new term. Social Media Marketing and Local Search are musts. The size and scope of your company may dictate which you emphasize more, but neither should be ignored. Local SEO is a must for most small businesses, but social media can work, too. Bigger companies that target an audience more than a location will find social media offers a lot of opportunities. In either case, the goal is findability. You want customers to be able to find you as easily as possible, and you can do this on social media sites that make local networking easier.

Reputation Management: It’s imperative to know what people are saying about your company. This isn’t just for Big Business, either: An old client of mine runs the only roller skating rink in our area, yet is probably losing business because they have a couple negative reviews on a certain Local Search site. Given the growing influence of user reviews, knowing how to manage your reputation is a must.

Trust: In my first post of 2007, I said trust is the No. 1 factor, and nothing has changed since then. Trusted domains are powerful domains. When you have trust, from users and search engines, you’re on the way to search marketing success. Don’t miss this more recent article: Why Trust Matters & How To Earn It.

As you climb the pyramid, you’ll find buzz/word-of-mouth marketing or maybe community helping you along. To a large degree, these are two sides of the same coin. It’s the people factor, the human element that often separates the winners and losers in search marketing. Get people talking positively about you, whether it be one-to-one conversation among friends or in the larger setting of an online community, and you’ll climb the pyramid that much faster.

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2012-05-21T20:50:00.002-07:00

Eropa Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Scholarship 2012

2012-04-12T20:02:00.002-07:00

Eropa Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Scholarship 2012

The project is open to students and scholars from the Asian Countries targeted (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam) willing to spend a mobility period abroad in Europe for the purpose of studying, teaching, training and research.
The AREAS consortium is composed of 20 Partner Universities including 10 Asian Universities and 10 European Universities coordinated by Politecnico di Torino (Italy). The consortium also includes 4Associated Members.
Eligibility rules

Applicants must have the nationality of the Asian Countries targeted (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam).
Applicants must not have resided nor have carried out their main activity (studies, work, etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of the European countries at the moment of the submission of the application.
Applicants must not have already benefited from a scholarship for the same type of mobility under another project under the EMA2-STRAND1.
Applicants need to comply with the Target group requirements,
Applicants must have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses/activities at the host university.

For more information about Erasmus Mundus Action 2 scholarship 2012, you download here.

Bagi Anda pelajar Indonesia yang memenuhi persyaratan untuk mendapatkan beasiswa ke Eropa Erasmus Mundus Action 2 program ajaran 2012, dengan deadline 31 Januari 2012, sila mengunduh informasi beasiswa dan pengiriman aplikasinya di sini.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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New Zealand ASEAN Scholars Awards 2012

2012-04-12T19:28:00.001-07:00

New Zealand ASEAN Scholars Awards 2012

Education is vital to the New Zealand Aid Programme mission of supporting sustainable development in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world. Scholarships are available to citizens from selected developing countries to undertake vocational training or tertiary level study in their home country, in New Zealand, or in the Pacific region.
These scholarships enhance the skills, training and knowledge of individuals, and build their capacity to contribute to the sustainable development of key areas in their home country.
The New Zealand-ASEAN Scholar Awards are funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme, the New Zealand Government’s international development programme. They are managed by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. These awards empower individuals with the knowledge, skills and qualifications to contribute to economic, social and political development within ASEAN nations. The New Zealand-ASEAN Scholar Awards recognise New Zealand’s close cultural, economic, and geographic ties with South-east Asia. They seek to empower individuals to contribute to the economic, social, and political development of their countries.
To be eligible, you must:

be a citizen of one of the eligible countries and have resided in that country for at least two years at the time of application
not have citizenship/permanent residence status for New Zealand or Australia
not be married or engaged to be married to a person who holds New Zealand or Australian citizenship or permanent residence status
not hold or have held a New Zealand Government or Australia Government scholarship in the preceding 24 months at the time of application
not be seeking support for a degree programme already commenced
not hold a qualification at a similar level or in a similar field of study at similar level (this means holders of bachelor degrees should apply for Masters or PhD and Masters graduates should apply for PhD study) be available to take up the scholarships in the calendar year for which the scholarship is offered hold a bachelor degree of strong academic merit that is relevant to the proposed post
graduate qualification have a minimum IELTS (academic) results of 5.5 overall, with no band less than 5.0
and results to be no older than 24 months at time of application satisfy the admission requirements of the New Zealand institution in which the degree programme is to be undertaken, including that institution’s English language criteria.

Eligible countries
Negara-negara yang berhak mengirimkan aplikasi pendaftaran beasiswa ke Selandia Baru program New Zealand ASEAN Scholars Awards 2012 adalah:

Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao PDR
Burma
Philippines
Vietnam

Dengan Indonesia sendiri akan diprioritas dari daerah berikut:
West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tengarra (NTT), Maluku, Papua and West Papua
Untuk informasi lebih lanjut mengenai beasiswa Selandia Baru program New Zealand ASEAN Scholars Awards 2012 dengan deadline 11 April 2012, sila kontak:

New Zealand Embassy
PO Box 2439
Jakarta 10024, Indonesia
Email:nzas@ntt.net.id
Phone:(+62) 21 2995 5800

Beasiswa New Zealand ASEAN Scholars Awards 2012 ini bertujuan untuk memberdayakan setiap individu dengan pengetahuan, keterampilan dan kecakapan agar bisa berkontribusi bagi perkembangan ekonomi, sosial dan politik negara masing-masing yang tergabung dalam ASEAN. Semoga pelajar Indonesia dapat mempertimbangkan untuk pengajuan aplikasi beasiswa luar negeri ini.

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Differences BlackBerry with Android

2012-04-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

For this post I want to share an article about the comparison between Android andBLACKBERRY. Maybe you're planning to buy a new smartphone, well before buying the info you should read this article first so as not to lose dibelakangan day. Yes, my article I will start from the excess surplus blackberry android after that, all decisions of your handsand the gains and losses will also feel the tone that is so, let's find information andknowledge before one go ^ _ ^.

Excess Mobile Android

Multitasking - Yups, Android phones can run many applications, that means you canbrowse, listen to songs while facebookan.
Ease in the Notification - Every SMS, Email, or even the latest articles from RSS Reader,there will always be a notification on Android Home Screen, do not miss the LEDindicator is blinking, so you will not miss a single SMS, Email or even Misscall .
Easy Access to Thousands of Applications Android via Google Android App Market - Ifyou install applications or games seneng, via Google's Android App Market you candownload applications for free. There are many thousands of apps and games that are ready for your download on Android phones.
Cell phones are diverse options - Talk Android phone, it will feel 'different' compared toIOS, if IOS is limited to the iPhone from Apple, then Android is available on mobile phones from various manufacturers, from Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC to Samsung.And every mobile phone manufacturer also presents an Android phone with their respective styles, such as Motorola with its Motoblur, Sony Ericsson with its Timescape.So you can freely choose the Android mobile phone in accordance with the 'brand'favorite.
Can install a modified ROM - not satisfied with the standard view of Android, do not worrythere are a lot Costum ROM that you can spend on Android phones.
Widget - absolutely right, with the widgets on the homescreen, you can easily access a variety of settings quickly and easily.

Google Maniak - If you are a loyal user of Google services from Gmail to Google Reader,Android phones have been integrated with Google services, so you can quickly checkemail from Gmail.

disadvantages Android

It is undeniable advantages in addition of course there is a shortage of this Androidoperating system.

Constant Internet connection - Yups, most Android phones require simultaneous Internet connections continuously active alias. The author himself uses the Motorola Milestone,and GPRS internet connection is always active at all times, that means you must be prepared to subscribe to GPRS package that suits your needs.
Advertising - Applications on Android phones can indeed be obtained easily and for free,but the consequences in each of these applications, will always be on display ads, eitherthe top or bottom of the application

excess Blackberry

feature:

Full system backup / recover partially or fully facilitate the user in backing up importantdata2 When replacing the new blackberry unit, you simply use the device and change the function of important data and settings along with 3rd party software (if compatible)tercopy easily to the new blackberry device.
Autotext function, you just mendefine keyword and associate with the contents of whichusually contains the replacement text / characters long, and is used by typing thekeyword, then the replacement will replace the contents of those keywords. like, youmendefine autotext home, when you type it, replaced with complete address, rt-rw, phone, etc. kodepost you want.
very powerful search function to find in any field of the name, subject and even content, so that helps us find things we are looking for.
very powerful search function to find in any field of the name, subject and even content, so that helps us find things we are looking for.

Multimedia

    Function of BBM (Blackberry Messenger) is able to make us comfortable chatting with not only provide chatt function type, but also the type and send the tape of 10Kb - helpful when you're not able to type a greeting message and record live about 5 seconds and sent to the person we chatt . In the new functionality in the OS version 5.0 and even integrated with the functions and can send SMS messages etc. location.
    Customize the theme for advanced level users can easily create and design his own theme designs as needed, which required only image editing software and ideas.
    Geotag function on her blackberry GPS, helping the photographs that we take the location information retrieved images, can be a puzzle, where our colleagues are with GPS location via information mengecheck Geotagnya.
    Display multimedia access to video, audio, images and recordings terintegrate and very simple, so quickly accessible and convenient to use.Security

    By enabling the password function, and in the event of loss of blackberry, thieves enter the wrong password will erase all data (wipe) on your blackberry, so your important data is not easily taken.
    firewallnya feature, is very effective in blocking sms / mms / phone call we do not want.Blackberry weaknesses:Features

    Have not (until this writing) supports the conference call.
    Not native brings the ability to receive and send faxes (as email + attachment function should be able to replace it).
    The recording functions natively (voice recorder) capable ugly and could only record 10 minutes and in a format that is not common (such as mp3, wav etc.), software replacement has not been much and only VR + from shapeservice sold quite expensive (although there is a lite version with limitations) .
    On the blackberry qwerty, spell check that helps pengecheckan typos ONLY work if completed typed all. Though we could have a typo when typing check.software

    The entire 3rd party software installed with the internal memory, so the internal memory (RAM) blackberries are limited, not many 3rd party software that can be installed (especially on blackberry old type), although readily available software that can move the installation of 3rd party software on the memory card - when to use 3rd party program remains in the load on the internal memory (RAM).
    3rd party software is not installed automatically terbackup when we do backup, do a special trick to backup 3rd party software. unless you are willing to install 3rd party software again after you do the upgrade / downgrade the OS.Email

    Synchronize between blackberry and email on the server, especially for the email that we delete the blackberry is often not working properly, so often we delete the email on the blackberry and we purge and reconsile (from the menu Reconsile), remains interested in mail client PC / Laptop we, of course it is annoying because we have to check where the email should delete again and we do not delete in blackberry to our archive in the mail client PC / Laptop you.
    file size that can be sent and received maximal 2.9MbBrowser

    perfect congenital blackberry browser does not display the webpage air-javascript and animation, for those who want to use klikbca.com for example, have to use 3rd party software MiniOpera to address this issue.Hopefully the info above can bermafaat and useful for your users and smartphone lovers.and also the message I can only wear but do not try to tamper with and take the science in it ^ _ ^

Scholarship To Sweden University of Skövde 2012

2012-04-12T19:17:00.003-07:00

The University of Skövde offers scholarships to students attending a Master’s programme at our university. The scholarships are tuition fee waivers of SEK 60 000 / year (50% of the tuition fee), and the amount will be deducted from the tuition fee when you receive the invoice. The scholarship granting criterion is academic merits. The scholarship can only be awarded to tuition paying students. Please note that you have to be able to finance the rest of the tuition fee yourself and to cover all the living expenses during your stay in Sweden.

Category 1: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Category 2: Candidates with citizenship from countries on the DAC list of ODA recipients, except the ones listed on Category 1 and the other following exceptions: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Please note: students from Category 1 (see list below) can only apply for the Swedish Institute Study Scholarship, while students from Category 2 (see list below) can apply to both the scholarships from the University of Skövde and the Swedish Institute Study Scholarship.

For More Information About University of Skövde 2012 See At Here di sini.

ASEAN Unveils Disaster Monitoring and Response System

2012-04-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

ASEAN Unveils Disaster Monitoring and Response System

JAKARTA - A day after a powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's Aceh province, ASEAN has unveiled a disaster monitoring and response system that it said will enhance its disaster response capabilities.

The grouping's Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance in Jakarta has equipped itself with the application that can identify and analyse a multitude of data in minutes.

ASEAN said this will help member states make timely decisions.

The state-of-the-art Disaster Monitoring and Response System (DMRS) was being tested yesterday, when a powerful earthquake struck Aceh in Indonesia and triggered a tsunami alert in more than 20 countries.

Mr Ray Shirkodai, Executive Director of the Pacific Disaster Centre, said: "Literally within five minutes, we had a lot of information just looking at the system as to what to expect then and what to do. And this was before the general news media started reporting on it."

The DMRS is a powerful application that can identify and collate hundreds of sources of data onto a single dynamic platform.

When the earthquake struck Aceh yesterday, the system was not only able to pinpoint the exact location but also provide all the necessary information to deal with impending risks, including the speed and possible areas affected, such as schools, hospitals and airports.

The information and analysis would then be disseminated to the Disaster Mitigation Agency of each ASEAN country.

When fully completed, the system would be used to coordinate and facilitate emergency responses from ASEAN member states, as well as the international community.

Mr Said Faisal, executive director of the AHA Centre, said: "We expect to complete the project by the end of this year and hopefully by the time it is completed, more information can be gathered and installed in the database so that we can do more analysis as the information is already available."

ASEAN has come a long way in its disaster response since the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami that killed more than 170,000 people in the region.

Dr Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN Secretary-General, said: "I can say in full confidence that we are better off now than in 2004. But we need to make sure the level of capacity that we have increased will be effective and will be able to be called upon and used effectively."

ASEAN now has a multi-hazard early warning system it can rely on when future natural disasters, including floods and forest fires, strike the region.

SEO’s Three Stages of Keyword Success

2012-04-10T08:39:00.003-07:00

Small business owners: When you’re just launching a new website and getting started with SEO, it’s okay to feel like you’re walking around in dark cave. You don’t know what’s ahead nor what to expect. And you’re not sure if you’re going in the right direction. And that’s perfectly normal. Over time, though, things will become clearer if you’re on the right path. One way to monitor that is to watch for the three stages of keyword success.
(This post is written for small business owners; SEO folks, you can move along.)

Three Types of Keywords

There are three basic types of keywords that will drive traffic to your site:
1.) Branded keywords: These are keywords that match or use your business name (or your product name if it’s a unique product not available anywhere else).
2.) Non-branded, long-tail keywords: These are terms that don’t use your business name and are generally less competitive. An example might be a term like “dermatologist recommended skin care regimen” that sends traffic to a dermatologist’s website.
3.) Non-branded, short-tail keywords: These are terms that don’t use your business name, but are more competitive. Dermatology-related examples would be terms like “skin care products” or “clogged pores.”
I’m simplifying things a bit here, but those are the three main keyword types that I monitor.

Three Stages of Keyword Success

If you’re just starting out with a new site and/or SEO campaign, my experience tells me this is what you should expect to see if you’re doing SEO the right way.

Early Stage
In the beginning, you’ll probably only be able to rank for and get search traffic from branded keywords. Short of some miracle (like an appearance on Dr. Phil or something) that leads to amazing exposure, buzz and links, you won’t be getting traffic from many non-brand terms in the early stages.
Even this stage might be difficult if you have a common business name. Keep in mind that SEO success requires patience. Think marathon, not sprint.
Middle Stage
If you’re doing things the right way and making progress, you’ll start to rank for and get traffic from more than your branded keywords. It’ll still be too soon to get traffic from short-tail phrases, but you’ll see less competitive phrases showing up in your keyword referral list — things like the “dermatologist recommended skin care regimen” example that I mentioned above.
When will this happen? That depends on your industry, your competition, how strong your SEO and social media efforts are, and so forth. It will likely take months — could be 2-3 months, or it could be 6-8 months or more. I can’t tell you that.
Late Stage
I don’t want to call this the “final” stage, because SEO is an ongoing process that should never come to an end. But the third stage of keyword success is when you start getting traffic from non-branded, short-tail keywords. These are the competitive phrases like “skin care products” and “clogged pores” from my earlier example.
When will this happen? Again, it depends on all the factors I listed two paragraphs earlier. It could take 6-8 months, or it could take a couple years. There’s no fixed answer I can share. It takes time, though, and not everyone gets to this stage.
If you get to this stage, and you haven’t taken any shortcuts or cut corners that might get you in trouble, you can be certain you’re on the right path. Your website and SEO plan are doing well. (Ultimately, of course, you should measure success by how much money your website and SEO plan are bringing in, not just by how much traffic you’re getting. Don’t forget that.)

How Do You Get To The Third Stage?

I think you have to hit a home run with the four keys to online success: a well SEO’d website, a great and active blog, a strong social media presence and a great product/service.
I think you have to focus on earning trust in everything you do.
And I think you have to understand all of the pieces that define long-term SEO success.
It ain’t easy, but it sure is worth the hard work and long hours when you get to the point where search engines are sending you traffic for fantastic keywords that lead directly to sales or leads.

Local Citation Finder: Must-Have SEO Tool

2012-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most common tactics in link building is to look for sites that link to your competitors and try to get the same sites to link to you. The effectiveness of this varies from site to site and industry to industry, but it’s one of the things you do early on when building links.
In local SEO, if citations are the equivalent of links, how about doing the same thing? How about looking for your competitor’s citations and trying to get the same ones?
That’s exactly what the Local Citation Finder does, a new tool that instantly becomes a must-have for local SEO.
How to Use the Local Citation Finder
After you register for a free account, you provide a local keyphrase — like “richland wa real estate agent” if I were trying to mine my wife‘s competitors. The keyphrase should be one that produces a 7-pack or 3-pack on Google’s search results.

You can choose which version of Google to use — the .com, the UK, or the Canadian version. After you run your keyphrase, the tool looks at the businesses ranking for your keyphrase, grabs their phone numbers, and then does a Google.com search (or .ca or .co.uk) for those numbers, collecting and collating all of the mentions/citations that it finds.
When it’s done, you’ll get an email with a list of citation sources for the businesses that rank for your keyphrase. Garrett French recently described this process as a manual effort, and the tool takes that and does all the hard work for you. Here’s a look at the email that lists citations the tool found:

And those are citation opportunities that are now gift-wrapped for your local SEO efforts. Cool, eh?
One thing I should mention, and I said this to Garrett via email already: In my experience, what Google shows as citations on a Place Page is dramatically different than what will show on a Google.com search for the phone number. The tool uses the latter, so it may not match the citations that appear on Place Pages. Still, it does give you a list of web pages that cite your competition. And ther

Hillary Duff

2012-04-05T01:46:00.002-07:00

Hilary Duff

Duff at The Heart Truth's 2009 Red Dress Collection
Born Hilary Erhard Duff
September 28, 1987 (age 24)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Occupation Actress, author, entrepreneur, recording artist
Years active 1997–present
Spouse Mike Comrie (2010–present)
Children 1
Relatives Haylie Duff (sister)
Website
hilaryduff.com

Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, author, entrepreneur and recording artist. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Duff appeared in local theatre plays and television commercials before coming to prominence in the title role of the Disney Channel's teen comedy Lizzie McGuire and The CW's teen drama Gossip Girl as movie star Olivia. Established as a teen idol, Duff reprised that role in the The Lizzie McGuire Movie and subsequently ventured into motion pictures, appearing in a string of successful films that include Agent Cody Banks, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Most recently, she has performed in a legion of television dramas and independent films.

Duff expanded her repertoire to include pop music and has released three RIAA-certified platinum albums including Metamorphosis (2002), her debut studio album which was certified triple platinum, Hilary Duff (2004) and Most Wanted (2005), which were both certified platinum. Her most recent studio album Dignity (2007) was certified gold and spawned her highest charting US single to date "With Love".[1] Followed by Best of Hilary Duff (2008), a compilation of her greatest hits, Duff has since sold thirteen million albums worldwide.[2]

Branching into the fashion industry, Duff has launched her own clothing lines Stuff by Hilary Duff and Femme for DKNY Jeans in addition to being signed with IMG Models and releasing two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden.[3] Her other business ventures include writing a series of young adult novel, including Elixir (2010) and Devoted (2011), while working as an executive producer for According to Greta and as a producer for Material Girls and Beauty & the Briefcase.

Early life

Hilary Erhard Duff was born on September 28, 1987 in Houston, Texas,[4] to Susan Colleen (née Cobb), a homemaker, and Robert Erhard Duff, a partner in a chain of convenience stores.[5] Duff has an elder sister, Haylie, who is also an actress and singer. Her mother encouraged her to enroll in acting classes alongside Haylie. Both girls won roles in local theatre productions.[6] At the ages of six and eight, the two sisters participated in a BalletMet Columbus production of The Nutcracker Suite in San Antonio.[4] The sisters became increasingly interested in pursuing acting and their mother moved with them to California, while their father stayed in Houston to take care of his business.[5][6] The sisters auditioned for several years and were cast in several television commercials.[5] Due to her acting career, Duff was home-schooled.[7]
Acting career
1997–2002: Career beginnings and Lizzie McGuire

Duff primarily played minor roles during her initial acting years. In 1997, she had an uncredited role in the Hallmark Entertainment western miniseries True Women. The following year, she played an uncredited extra in an ensemble dramedy, Playing by Heart. Her first major role was as a young witch, Wendy, in Casper Meets Wendy. The film, however, was released to mostly unenthusiastic reviews.[8][9] In 1999, Duff appeared in a supporting role in the television film The Soul Collector, which was based on a Kathleen Kane novel. For her performance, Duff won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress).[10]

Duff first rose to fame in 2000 when she was cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Daddio. Her co-star, Michael Chiklis, stated, "After working with her the first day, I remember saying to my wife, 'this young girl is going to be a movie star'. She was completely at ease with herself and comfortable in her own skin."[5] However,prior to the airing of the show, Duff was dropped from the cast which made her reluctant to pursue her acting career further.[5] However, her manager and mother urged her on and a week later she auditioned successfully for the title role of a newly developed children's television series, Lizzie McGuire.[5] The show focused on the growth of the central character, "Lizzie McGuire" into teenhood. Lizzie McGuire first aired on the Disney Channel on January 12, 2001, and was a ratings hit. It attracted about 2.3 million viewers per episode.[5] Her participation in the show made her popular among children between the ages of 7 and 14.[11] That same year, she began dating teen singer Aaron Carter. Richard Huff, a New York Daily News critic, called her "a 2002 version of Annette Funicello".[5] After Duff fulfilled her 65 episode contract with Lizzie McGuire, Disney considered expanding the franchise to films and a prime-time television series. The plans however failed, because Duff's representatives said she was not being paid enough for the proposed series.[12]

Duff's first role in a theatrical motion picture was in Human Nature in 2002. The film was showcased first at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals.[13] In the film, Duff portrayed the younger version of a female naturalist, played by Patricia Arquette. Duff also starred in the Disney Channel television film Cadet Kelly (2002), which became the network's most watched program in its 19-year history.[5] In the film, she played the role of a free-spirited girl who struggles in a strict military school.
2003–06: Breakthrough film roles
Hilary Duff poses with one of her fans at the pre-show "meet and greet" at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C in 2006

In 2003, Duff received her first major role in a feature film when she was cast alongside Frankie Muniz in Agent Cody Banks. The film received positive reviews and was successful enough to spawn a sequel in which Duff was however not cast. That year, Duff reprised her role as Lizzie McGuire for The Lizzie McGuire Movie. It received mixed reviews, with certain critics calling it "an unabashed promotion of Duff’s image, just as Crossroads was for Britney Spears".[14][15][16] Later that year, Duff played one of the 12 children of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt in the family film Cheaper by the Dozen, which remains her highest grossing film to date.[17]

Early in 2002, she entered a high-profile feud with Lindsay Lohan because she was also dating Aaron Carter along with her, but then he broke up with Lohan and resumed dating Duff. Later that year, she ended her two year relationship with Aaron Carter after he reportedly cheated on her.

She reprised her role in the sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), which was less successful as the original film and was panned by critics.[18]

Duff also made several guest appearances in television shows, her first being as a sick child in the medical drama Chicago Hope in March 2000.[19] In a 2003 episode of George Lopez, she had a role as a makeup salesperson; she later reappeared in the show in 2005 as Kenzie, a feminist poet friend of the character Carmen (Masiela Lusha). In the same year, she acted opposite her sister Haylie in American Dreams, while in 2005, she played a classmate and idolizer of the title character of Joan of Arcadia.[20]

In 2004, Duff starred in the romantic comedy A Cinderella Story. Though the reviews were mostly negative, the film went on to become a moderate box office hit,[17][21] and some critics were impressed by Duff's performance.[22] Later that year, she starred in the film Raise Your Voice, her first role in a drama film. While some critics praised her for appearing in a more mature and serious role than her previous films, the film itself was heavily panned and was not successful at the box office.[23] Several reviews were indifferent towards her acting performance and were critical of Duff's vocals, with critics pointing out what appeared to be her digitally enhanced voice.[24][25][26][27] The same year, Duff received her first Razzie nomination for worst actress for her roles in Raise Your Voice and A Cinderella Story.[28] In 2005, Duff starred in The Perfect Man, in which she played the eldest daughter of a divorced woman (Heather Locklear). In the same year, Duff was again nominated for a Razzie Award, for The Perfect Man and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.[29] Later that year, the Duff sisters lent their voices to the computer animated comedy Foodfight!, which was to be distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment but was never released. The director of the film, Larry Kasanoff, said that he was "absolutely thrilled to have the Duff sisters as part of the cast".[30] She also starred in the 2006 satirical comedy Material Girls, in which she co-starred with her sister Haylie Duff.[31] Duff along with her sister Haylie, received two more nominations for Razzie Awards for their roles in the film.[32]
2007–present: Independent films and television appearances
Hilary Duff at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival

A two-part introspective documentary television special, Hilary Duff: This Is Now was produced to chronicle Duff's return to the recording industry. The show took two weeks to film and was shot in Los Angeles, Europe, and Spain. It was broadcast on MTV on April 3 and April 9, 2007. Duff was the guest star on The Andy Milonakis Show for its third season premiere in September 2007.

On September 7, 2007, Duff confirmed on MuchOnDemand, that she would be filming two independent films According to Greta, and What Goes Up.[33] Duff starred opposite John Cusack in War, Inc. which was released in theatres in Los Angeles and Manhattan, New York on May 23, 2008. In June 2008, Duff joined the cast of the Polish brothers comedy Stay Cool. She co-starred alongside Winona Ryder, Mark Polish, Sean Astin, Chevy Chase, and Jon Cryer. In the film, she portrayed the character of Shasta O'Neil, described as a sexy high school senior, the film was released in 2010.[34]

In early 2008, she was offered the lead role of Annie Mills in the CW Network's Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff, but she turned it down because she was more interested in looking for projects outside the teen genre.[35][36] In July 2009, She attained a role in Gossip Girl as a recurring guest star.[37] She played the character of Olivia Burke, a movie star who enrols at NYU in search of a traditional college experience. The following year, she won a Teen Choice Award for "Best Female Scene Stealer" for her role as Olivia Burke.[38] Duff starred in Beauty and the Briefcase, a romantic comedy based on the book Diary of a Working Girl, by Daniella Brodsky and directed by Gil Junger. The film premiered on ABC Family on April 18, 2010. In the film, Duff plays a fashion magazine columnist who writes about her dating struggles in the city.[39]

In May 2011, Duff starred in Bloodworth, an adaptation of the novel Provinces of Night by William Gay, where Duff plays Raven Halfacre, a teenage daughter of a promiscuous, alcoholic mother.[40] As of August 2011, Duff is scheduled to appear in an independent film called She Wants Me, directed by Rob Margolies,[41] in which, she plays a young Hollywood actress named Kim Powers.
Music career
2002-03: Santa Claus Lane and Metamorphosis
Hilary Duff at the MuchMusic Video Awards in 2007

In 2002, Duff recorded a cover version of Brooke McClymont's "I Can't Wait" for the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack, and "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" for the first DisneyMania compilation album. She also released her first album, titled Santa Claus Lane which was a collection of Christmas songs which included duets with her sister, Haylie, Lil' Romeo, and Christina Milian. Accompanied by the Disney Channel-only single "Tell Me a Story (About the Night Before)", the album peaked at 154 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold.[42][43]

Duff's studio debut album, Metamorphosis (2003), reached number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts[44] and sold over 3.9 million copies in the U.S by January 2007.[45] The lead single, "So Yesterday" was a top ten hit in several countries;[46] its follow-up was the Laguna Beach theme song "Come Clean". The third single, "Little Voice", was not released in the U.S. and was a minor hit in Australia.[47] In late 2003, Duff embarked on her first concert tour, the "Metamorphosis" tour, and later the "Most Wanted" tour. Most shows scheduled in the major cities were sold out.[48]
2004-08: Hilary Duff and Dignity
Hilary Duff at the taping of Live@Much: Hilary Duff

Duff's second studio album was the self-titled Hilary Duff, for which she co-wrote some songs.[49] It was released on her seventeenth birthday (in September 2004) and debuted at #2 in the U.S. and at #1 in Canada. The album sold 1.8 million copies in the U.S.[50] Most Wanted, her first compilation album, was released in August 2005. Most Wanted included songs from her previous two albums, remixes and three new songs which included "Wake Up" written by Joel Madden and his brother, Benji, both members of Good Charlotte.[51] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200[52] and became her third number one debut in Canada. It sold over two hundred thousand copies within its first week of release and was certified platinum by the RIAA a month after its release.[53] [54] In 2006, an Italy-only compilation, 4Ever was released. Duff also recorded a cover version of Madonna's "Material Girl" with her sister for their movie, Material Girls.[55]

Duff co-wrote the material for her third studio album Dignity, along with Kara DioGuardi, who co-produced the album with Rhett Lawrence, Tim & Bob, and Richard Vission. She stated that compared to her previous music, it was "more dancey" and made use of more real instruments. She said, "I don't know exactly how to explain what we're doing, but it's fun and funky and different, something new for me. It's really cool".[56] In November 2008, Duff's first greatest hits album, Best of Hilary Duff was released[57] and the album's first single "Reach Out", which samples Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", was released in the preceding month. The song became Duff's third #1 dance hit.[58][59]
2012-present: Fifth studio album

She then parted ways with Hollywood Records after six years of service and then announced to MTV that she would begin work on her new album in December 2008.[60] In October 2011, Duff mentioned plans of a possible new album to E! Online.[61] In January 2012, she confirmed that she had begun recording via her official website and twitter.[62][63]
Other ventures
Entrepreneurship
Duff at a book signing in October 2010.

In March 2004, Duff launched her clothing line, "Stuff by Hilary Duff", which was distributed through Target in the United States, Kmart in Australia, Zellers in Canada, and Edgars Stores in South Africa. The company, which initially started as a clothing line, later expanded its business into furniture, fragrances and jewelry, primarily targeted at the teen and preteen crowd.[64] In a November 2008 interview to Fashion Rules magazine, Hilary stated that her "Stuff by Hilary Duff" line was officially discontinued since she did not have full control of the line anymore.[65]

In September 2006, Duff released her perfume, "With Love... Hilary Duff", which was distributed by the Elizabeth Arden company. The perfume was initially sold only in Macy's in the U.S. and soon it was being sold in other regions like Europe, Japan and Canada. "With Love...Hilary Duff" was one of the three best-selling fragrances launched at U.S. department stores in late 2006. In 2007, Duff announced that she will be releasing a summer version of the perfume titled, "Wrapped with Love". It was released in January 2008, and a Spring Gift Set version was released in time for Valentine's Day.[66]

In February 2009, Duff and DKNY Jeans announced their new design partnership and the launch of their collaborative apparel line in the objective of designing a clothing line for girls her own age.[67][68] Duff co-designed a collection of special pieces with DKNY Jeans brand called Femme for DKNY Jeans. The clothing line debuted nationwide in August 2009 and was around for a limited time.[69][70] A series of three-minute long shorts titled The Chase were released to promoted the brand.

On October 12, 2010, Simon & Schuster published Duff's first novel, Elixir co-written with Elise Allen.[71] The book, aimed at young adults, has since been released internationally and has become a New York Times best-seller. The sequel to the book, titled Devoted was released in hardcover on October 11, 2011.[72] Duff also plans to release a non-fiction book in 2012 based on children coping with divorce.[73]
Philanthropy
Hilary Duff and Sarah Negrette in June 2005

Duff is involved with various philanthropic activities and is an animal rights enthusiast and a member of Kids with a Cause.[74] She donated $250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.[75] In 2005, she donated over 2.5 million meals to Hurricane Katrina victims in the south. In August 2006, Duff traveled to a New Orleans elementary school and worked with USA Harvest to distribute meals.[76] She has also served on the Advisory Board of the "Audrey Hepburn Child Benefit Fund" and the Celebrity Council of "Kids with a Cause".[77] On October 8, 2008, Duff starred in a public service announcement for The Think Before You Speak Campaign by Ad Council and GLSEN, to prevent youth from using anti-LGBT vocabulary, such as the phrase "That's So Gay".[78] In July 2009, Duff was named as a Youth Ambassador to the children of the Colombian capital, Bogota. As a Youth Ambassador, she spent five days in the country, distributing backpacks filled with food to needy children.[79]

Duff has stated numerous times that she’s a strong animal rights supporter and has commented, when asked what she would be doing if she weren’t a celebrity, "I always wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger, but then I figured out that animals actually die there, so that was not the job for me. Definitely something with kids or animals or something like that."[80]
Personal life and image
Hilary Duff at the Toronto International Film Festival Party in 2007

She dated Aaron Carter on and off between 2001 and 2003. In July 2004, a 16 year old Duff began dating Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden.[81] After a long period of tabloid speculation, Duff's mother Susan announced their relationship in a June 2005 interview for Seventeen magazine.[82] In November 2006, Duff and Madden broke up.[83] The same year, Duff's parents separated after 22 years of marriage. She wrote about the pain caused by the separation in her songs "Stranger" and "Gypsy Woman".[84] In a June 2006 interview with Elle magazine, Duff was quoted as saying: "...(virginity) is definitely something I like about myself. It doesn't mean I haven't thought about sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to fit in".[85][86] Duff later told MuchMusic that she did not say the quotes attributed to her in the article and that the subject was "definitely not something that I would talk about..."[87] She denied the quotes again in a 2008 interview with Maxim magazine.[88]

In 2007, Duff began dating NHL player Mike Comrie. On February 19, 2010, Duff and Comrie announced their engagement.[89][90] The couple married on August 14, 2010 in Santa Barbara, California.[91] Duff gave birth to their first child, a son named Luca Cruz Comrie, on March 20, 2012.[92][93]

Seattle Seahawks uniform

2012-04-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Seahawks are a National Football League team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC), and joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Seattle is the only team to have played in both the AFC (American Football Conference) and NFC Championship Games. The Seahawks' only Super Bowl appearance was in 2006 for Super Bowl XL where they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Franchise history

On June 15, 1972, Seattle Professional Football Inc., a group of Seattle business and community leaders, announced its intention to acquire an NFL franchise for the city of Seattle, WA.[1] Around two years later on June 4, 1974, the NFL gave the city an expansion franchise. On December 5, 1974, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the official signing of the franchise agreement by Lloyd W. Nordstrom, representing the Nordstrom family as majority partners for the consortium. Nordstrom died of a heart attack before the Seahawks played their first game.[2]

On March 5, 1975, John Thompson, former Executive Director of the NFL Management Council and a former Washington Husky executive, was hired as the general manager of the currently unnamed team. The team was originally going to be called the Seattle Kings, but the name was dropped. Instead, the name Seattle Seahawks ("Seahawk", another name for Osprey) was selected on June 17, 1975 after a public naming contest which drew more than 20,000 entries and over 1,700 different names. The name "Seahawks" was submitted by Mary Hoolahan of Seattle, WA. Thompson recruited and hired Jack Patera, a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, to be the first head coach of the Seahawks. Patera was introduced as the new head coach at a press conference on January 3, 1976. The expansion draft was held March 30–31, 1976, with Seattle and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alternating picks for rounds selecting unprotected players from the other 26 teams in the league.[3] The Seahawks were awarded the 2nd overall pick in the 1976 draft, a pick they used on defensive tackle Steve Niehaus. The team took the field for the first time on August 1, 1976 in a pre-season game against the San Francisco 49ers in the then newly constructed Kingdome.

The Seahawks are the only NFL team to switch conferences twice in the post-merger era. The franchise began play in 1976 in the NFC West division but switched conferences with the Buccaneers after one season and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both expansion teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons. In 2002, the Seahawks were returned to the NFC West as part of an NFL realignment plan that gave each conference four balanced divisions of four teams each. This was done after the Houston Texans were added as the thirty-second team. This realignment restored the AFC West to its initial post-merger roster of original AFL teams Denver, San Diego, Kansas City, and Oakland.

Seattle has won seven division titles in their franchise history: the 1988 and 1999 AFC West titles, and the 2004–2007 and 2010 NFC West titles. They won the NFC Championship Game in 2005, and went on to lose in the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers (though it was not without controversy as NFL Films has Super Bowl XL at number 8 on its top ten list of controversial calls[4]). Before 2005, Seattle had the longest drought of playoff victories of any NFL team, dating back to the 1984 season. That drought was ended with a 20–10 win over the Washington Redskins in the 2005 playoffs. The all-time Seahawks playoff record is 8-11.

As a tribute to the raucous fans that made the Kingdome the loudest stadium in the NFL the Seahawks retired the number 12 on December 15, 1984. Since then #12 Jerseys have been sold by the team and worn by Seahawk fans, often with the name "Fan" on the back. The Seahawks also have a ceremony before each home game where a flag bearing the #12 is raised by a prominent individual. In the 2005 season the fans were again making a difference in games and were recognized with the presentation of a special game ball for their efforts in a game against the New York Giants, a game in which the Giants committed 11 false start penalties in large part because of the crowd noise.[5]

The team's use of the phrase "12th Man" was in a legal limbo for a while between the 2005 and 2006 seasons when Texas A&M University sued the team for trademark infringement. Before going to trial, both parties settled out of court with Seattle agreeing to acknowledge ownership rights to the 12th Man slogan to A&M. In return the Seahawks were allowed to continue to use the phrase.[6]

Starting in the 1998 season, Blitz has been the Seahawks' official mascot. In the 2003 and 2004 seasons, a hawk named Faith would fly around the stadium just before the team came out of the tunnel. However, because of her relative small size and an inability to be trained to lead the team out of a tunnel, Faith was replaced by a augur hawk named Taima before the start of the 2005 season. Taima started leading the team out of the tunnel in September 2006.[7] Beginning in 2004, the Seahawks introduced their drum line, the Blue Thunder. The group plays at every home game as well as over 100 events in the Seattle community.[8]

In the 2010 NFL season, the Seahawks made history by making it into the playoffs despite having a 7-9 record. The reason that they managed to do so was because they had the best record in the worst division at the time (Seahawks 7-9, Rams 7-9, 49ers 6-10, Cardinals 5-11) and won the decisive season finale against the Rams. In the playoffs, the Seahawks won in their first game against the then-defending Superbowl champs, the New Orleans Saints, 41-36. The Seahawks made even more history during the game with Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard run, breaking 7 or so tackles, to clinch the victory. It even made the crowd cheer so loudly that they registered on a nearby Richter scale from the vibrations of the sound. The Seahawks lost to the Bears in their second game, 35-24.

[edit] Headquarters and training camps

During the Seahawks' first ten seasons (1976–85), the team's headquarters was at Carillon Point on the shores of Lake Washington. The summer training camps were initially held at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, just southwest of Spokane. When the team's new headquarters across town in Kirkland were completed in 1986, the Seahawks held training camp at home for the next eleven seasons (1986–96), staying in the dormitories of the adjacent Northwest College. In Dennis Erickson's third season as head coach, the team returned to the hotter and more isolated Cheney in 1997, where they held training camp through 2006. In 2007, training camp returned to their Kirkland facility, because of the scheduled China Bowl game that was later canceled. In 2008, the Seahawks held the first three weeks of camp in Kirkland, then moved to the new 19-acre (77,000 m2) Virginia Mason Athletic Center (VMAC) on August 18 for the final week of training camp. The new facility, adjacent to Lake Washington in Renton, has four full-size practice fields: three natural grass outdoors and one FieldTurf indoors.[9][10].
[edit] Logos and uniforms
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)
Seattle Seahawks uniform combinations, 2002-2011
Seattle Seahawks uniform, 1976–1982
Seattle Seahawks uniform, 1983–2001

When the Seahawks debuted in 1976, the team's logo was a stylized royal blue and forest green hawk's head based on Northwestern tribal art. The helmet and pants were silver while the home uniforms were royal blue with white, blue and green arm stripes. The road uniform was white with blue and green arm stripes. Black shoes were worn for the first several seasons, one of the few NFL teams that did in the late 1970s. They then changed to white shoes.

In 1983, coinciding with the arrival of Chuck Knox as head coach, the uniforms were updated slightly. The striping on the arms now incorporated the Seahawks logo, and the TV numbers moved onto the shoulders. Helmet facemasks changed from gray to blue. Also, the socks went solid blue at the top, and white on bottom.

In 2002, to coincide with the team moving to the NFC as well as the opening of Seahawks Stadium (which would later be renamed Qwest Field, then CenturyLink Field), both the logo and the uniforms were heavily redesigned. The Wordmark was designed by Mark Verlander and the logo was designed by NFL Properties in-house design team. The colors were modified to a lighter "Seahawks Blue", a darker "Seahawks Navy" and lime green piping. The helmets also were changed from silver to the lighter "Seahawks Blue" color after a fan poll was conducted. The logo artwork was also subtly altered, with an arched eyebrow and a forward-facing pupil suggesting a more aggressive-looking bird. At first, the team had planned to wear silver helmets at home and blue helmets on the road, but since NFL rules forbid the use of multiple helmets, the team held the fan poll to decide which color helmet would be worn. The team has usually worn all blue at home and all white on the road since 2003, but late in the 2009 season, the Seahawks wore the white jersey-blue pants combo. The blue jersey and white pants combo has been worn for only one regular season game, the 2005 season opener at the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the white jersey and blue pants combination has not been worn regularly since late in the 2002 season, with the exception of late in the 2009 season. In 2009, the Seahawks once again wore the white jersey and blue pants combination for road games against the Minnesota (November 22), St. Louis (November 29), Houston (December 13) and Green Bay (December 27).

The Seahawks wore their home blue jerseys during Super Bowl XL despite being designated as the visitor, since the Pittsburgh Steelers, the designated home team, elected to wear their white jerseys.

With the Oakland Raiders wearing their white jerseys at home for the first time ever in a game against the San Diego Chargers on September 28, 2008, the Seahawks have become the only NFL team to have never worn their white jerseys at home.

On September 27, 2009, the Seahawks wore lime green jerseys for the first time, paired with new dark navy blue pants in a game against the Chicago Bears. The jerseys matched their new sister team, the expansion Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer who wear green jerseys with blue pants. On December 6, 2009, the Seahawks wore their Seahawks blue jersey with the new dark navy blue pants for the first time, in a game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks broke out the same combo two weeks later against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and two weeks after that in the 2009 regular season finale against the Tennessee Titans. In December 2009, then-coach Jim Mora announced that the new lime green jerseys were being retired because the team did not win in them, because he liked the home jerseys better, and added that the home jersey is a better match for the navy pants. In the same press conference, he stated that the new navy pants "felt better" on players as opposed to the Seahawks blue pants. For the 2010 season, Seattle returned to the traditional all "Seahawks Blue" at home and all white on the road.

On April 3, 2012, Nike, which took over as the official uniform supplier for the league from Reebok, unveiled new uniform and logo designs for the Seahawks for the 2012 season. The new designs incorporate a new accent color, "Wolf Grey", and the main colors are "College Navy" and "Action Green". The uniforms incorporate "feather trims", twelve feathers printed on the neckline and down each pant leg to represent the "12th Man", referring to the team's fans.[11] The Seahawks have three different jersey colors: navy blue, white, and an alternate gray jersey. The Seahawks will have three different pants: navy blue with green stripes, gray with navy blue stripes, and white with navy blue stripes. Their new logo replaces the Seahawk blue with gray.
[edit] Seasons

List of Seattle Seahawks seasons

As of the 2011 season,the Seattle Seahawks have competed in 36 NFL seasons, dating back to their expansion year of 1976. The team has compiled a 250–266 record (257–276 counting the playoffs) for a .484 winning percentage (.482 counting the playoffs). Seattle has reached the playoffs in eleven separate seasons, including in the 2005 season when they lost Super Bowl XL to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the 2010 season, the Seahawks became the first team in NFL history to earn a spot in the playoffs with a losing record (7–9, .438); that year, 7 teams in the NFL with a record of 7–9 or better did not make the playoffs, including two 10–6 teams. However, the Seahawks would go on to defeat the reigning Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round, becoming the first team ever to win a playoff game with a losing record. They are also the oldest existing team in the NFL to never have had a tie game.
[edit] Team records
Main article: List of Seattle Seahawks records

During the 2005 season the Seattle Seahawks had one of the most potent offenses in team history.

Internet Trolling

2012-04-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

Troll (Internet)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Do not feed the trolls" and "DNFTT" redirect here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:Deny recognition.
The "trollface", first appearing in 2008, is often used to indicate trolling in contemporary internet culture.[1] Modern usage of the word itself dates from 1980s.

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[4] The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: "That was an excellent troll you posted".

While the word troll and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, media attention in recent years has made such labels subjective, with trolling describing intentionally provocative actions and harassment outside of an online context. For example, mass media has used troll to describe "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families."[5][6]

Etymology

The verb troll originates from Old French troller, a hunting term. The noun troll comes from the Old Norse word for a mythological monster.[7]

In modern English usage, the verb troll is a fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat.[8] The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales, where they are often creatures bent on mischief and wickedness.

The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s,[9] but the earliest known example is from 1992.[10] Early non-Internet related use of trolling for actions deliberately performed to provoke a reaction can be found in the military; by 1972 the term trolling for MiGs was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam.[11]
Early history

The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies", popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU).[12][13] Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed a lot, but new subscribers to the group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution.[12][14] One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes,[12] went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website.

By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort was frowned upon. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed or deluded user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. In such contexts, the noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling, rather than to the author.
In other languages

In Icelandic, þurs (a thurs) or tröll (a troll) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may used.

In Japanese, tsuri (釣り) means "fishing" and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. arashi (荒らし) means "laying waste" and can also be used to refer to simple spamming.

In Korean, nak-si (낚시) means "fishing", and is used to refer to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposefully misleading post titles. A person who recognizes the troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title nak-si, having read the actual post) would often refer to himself as a caught fish.[citation needed]

In Portuguese, more commonly in its Brazilian variant, troll (produced [ˈtɾɔw], in Portuguese spelling pronunciation) is the usual term to denote internet trolls (examples of common derivate terms are trollismo or trollagem, "trolling", and the verb trollar, "to troll", which entered popular use), but an older expression, used by those which want to avoid anglicisms or slangs, is complexo do pombo enxadrista to denote trolling behavior, and pombos enxadristas (literally, "chessplayer pigeons") or simply pombos are the terms used to name the trolls. The terms are explained by an adage or popular saying: "Arguing with fulano (John Doe is its nearest equivalent) is the same as playing chess with a pigeon: the pigeon defecates on the table, drop the pieces and simply fly, claiming victory".

In Thai, the term "krean" (เกรียน) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. The term literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by most school boys in Thailand, thus equating Internet trolls to school boys. The term "tob krean" (ตบเกรียน), or slapping a cropped head, refers to the act of posting intellectual replies to refute and cause the messages of Internet trolls to be perceived as unintelligent.[citation needed]
Trolling, identity, and anonymity
Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia, discusses trolling in a special session during Wikimania 2006.

Early incidences of trolling were considered to be the same as flaming, but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary NetLingo suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling.[15]

The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on a series of modem-linked computers in the 1970s, like CommuniTree which when accessed by high school teenagers became a ground for trashing and abuse. [16] Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals[17] Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group [18][19] According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter and Groningen, Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group, who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to the level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure."[16]

In academic literature, the practice of trolling was first documented by Judith Donath (1999). Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community" such as Usenet:

   In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.[20]

Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:

   Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group. Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where the rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation.[20]

Susan Herring et al. in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in a Feminist Forum" point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature".[21] Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.[21]

In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. Reuters, Facebook, and Gizmodo) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses.[22]
Concern troll

A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user claims to hold. The concern troll posts in Web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.[23]

An example of this occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a staffer for then-Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable.[24][25] Hodes eventually won the election.

Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar behaviors that take place offline.

For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal. Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to Saul Alinsky's "Do-Nothings", giving a long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothings' method and effects:

   These Do-Nothings profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change. They are known by their brand, 'I agree with your ends but not your means.'[26]

The Hill published an op-ed piece by Markos Moulitsas of the liberal blog Daily Kos titled "Dems: Ignore 'Concern Trolls'". The concern trolls in question were not Internet participants; they were Republicans offering public advice and warnings to the Democrats. The author defines "concern trolling" as "offering a poisoned apple in the form of advice to political opponents that, if taken, would harm the recipient".[27]
Troll sites
An Internet troll attempts to fool users of Yahoo Answers into believing that the site is shutting down.

While many webmasters and forum administrators consider trolls a scourge on their sites, some websites welcome them. For example, a New York Times article discussed troll activity at 4chan and at Encyclopedia Dramatica, which it described as "an online compendium of troll humor and troll lore".[9] This site and others are often used as a base to troll against sites that their members can not normally post on. These trolls feed off the reactions of their victims because "their agenda is to take delight in causing trouble".[28]
Media coverage and controversy

Mainstream media outlets have focused their attention on the willingness of some Internet trolls to go to extreme lengths in their attempts at eliciting reactions.
United States

On March 31, 2010, the Today Show ran a segment detailing the deaths of three separate adolescent girls and trolls' subsequent reactions to their deaths. Shortly after the suicide of high school student Alexis Pilkington, anonymous posters began trolling for reactions across various message boards, referring to Pilkington as a "suicidal slut", and posting graphic images on her Facebook memorial page. The segment also included an expose of a 2006 accident, in which an eighteen-year old fatally crashed her father's car into a highway pylon; trolls emailed her grieving family the leaked pictures of her mutilated corpse.[6]
Australia

In February 2010, the Australian government became involved after trolls defaced the Facebook tribute pages of murdered children Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher. Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy decried the attacks, committed mainly by 4chan users, as evidence of the need for greater Internet regulation, stating, "This argument that the Internet is some mystical creation that no laws should apply to, that is a recipe for anarchy and the wild west."[29] Conroy has been noted in the past for his advocacy of Internet censorship. In the wake of these events, Facebook responded by strongly urging administrators to be aware of ways to ban users and remove inappropriate content from Facebook pages.[30]
United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, contributions made to the Internet are covered by the Communications Act 2003. Sending messages which are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character" is an offense whether they are received by the intended recipient or not [31]. As of September 2011, two persons have been imprisoned in the UK for trolling.[32][33] Several high profile cases of trolling have been reported in the United Kingdom, with there being wide disparity between the action taken against assailants. In the case of teenager, Natasha MacBryde, who died a tragic death, the troll of her testimonial page, Sean Duffy, was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned from using social networking sites for five years. [34] This compared with Jamie Counsel being sentenced to four years for trying to incite riots [35] and those who trolled the testimonial page of Georgia Varley facing no prosecution due to misunderstandings of the legal system in the wake of the term trolling being popularized [36]
Usage

Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation.

Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore it, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts – hence the often-seen warning: "Please do not feed the trolls".
Examples

So-called Gold Membership trolling originated in 2007 on 4chan boards, users posting fake images claiming to offer upgraded 4chan account privileges; without a "Gold" account, one could not view certain content. This turned out to be a hoax designed to fool board members, especially newcomers. It was copied and became an Internet meme. In some cases, this type of troll has been used as a scam, most notably on facebook, where fake Facebook Gold Account upgrade ads have proliferated in order to link users to dubious websites and other content.[37]

As reported on April 8, 1999, investors became victims of trolling via an online financial discussion regarding PairGain, a telephone equipment company based in California. Trolls operating in the stock’s Yahoo Finance chat room posted a fabricated Bloomberg News article stating that an Israeli telecom company could potentially acquire PairGain. As a result, PairGain’s stock jumped by 31%. However, the stock promptly crashed after the reports were identified as false.[38]

The case of Zeran v. America Online, Inc. resulted primarily from trolling. Six days after the Oklahoma City bombing, anonymous users posted advertisements for shirts celebrating the bombing on AOL message boards, claiming that the shirts could be obtained by contacting Mr. Kenneth Zeran. The posts listed Zeran's address and home phone number. Zeran was subsequently harassed.[38]

Anti-Scientology protests by Anonymous, commonly known as Project Chanology, are sometimes labeled as "trolling" by media such as Wired,[39] and the participants sometimes explicitly self-identify as "trolls".