Denver’s Top-Ranked SEO is now your Denver real estate advocate

If I were a Denver real estate webmaster, I’d be concerned.

Knox Richards of EBASpace.com is a leading SEO in Denver, and has been #1 in Denver SEO for years. Knox knows how to create powerful partnerships and work with others to achieve anything. So when Knox does Denver real estate for buyers, you can rest assured that he will be your strongest ally in the Denver housing market.

As an Exclusive Buyer Broker/Agent, Knox is representing only home buyers, and is interested only in showing houses that meet the buyers’ needs, not houses that would bring double commission. Learn more about the benefits of using a buyers’ agent instead of a Realtor.

Get Free Denver MLS Search

The first step for any great website is give some value to your users. Few things are more annoying than registering on a website to search the MLS, so Knox has created a free Denver MLS search that does not require registration or have any strings attached.

Perfect Example of A Locally Targeted Website

Knox knows Highlands Ranch real estate…so he created a website targeted to it. He wants to be found for Highlands Ranch real estate because he’s the expert, so he created a site specifically targeted to that area. If you are an expert in a local industry, you should make yourself available on a regional level (the Denver area), but also create websites that are crafted specifically for local SEO (search engine optimization).

I wish the best of luck to Knox and know that he’ll soon be at the top of the industry…and search results.

Ever wonder if your widget or plugin is activated on an external site?

Here’s how to find out.

When you register a sidebar widget, you use code like this:

register_sidebar_widget(array('Name of Widget', 'class-of-widget'), 'widget_function');

If you want to check whether the widget is activated (you may want to for a variety of reasons), you can do it like this (the “class-of-widget” value from above will be used in the code below): if(isset($_REQUEST['check_status'])) {
if(is_active_widget('class-of-widget')) {
echo 'Active';
} else {
echo 'Inactive';
} // End if 'is_active_widget'
} // End if 'check_status'

Now, simply browse to your widget or plugin’s location and add the variable “check_status” at the end: (wp-content/plugins/class-of-widget/widget.php?check_status). You will then see the plugin/widget is “Active” or “Inactive.”

I hope someone finds this useful; if you’re in plugin or widget development for WordPress, try the code out!

I am proud to announce the Constant Contact Form Generator

Check it out now »

Katz Web Design has been developing this project during the past few months, on weekends and late at night. The time has come to launch a new forms generator for Constant Contact users.

Why use the Constant Contact form generator?

I love Constant Contact, but I have to say, I’m not wild about their default form designs.  I set out to create a form generator that would provide users with more design options.

1-click Blogspot.com installation, or copy & paste HTML

After you have generated your dream form, you can copy and paste the HTML the form generates into any website, or you can install the form with one click on your Blogger Blogspot.com blog.

Configurable options

• Basic design settings
  • Form padding
  • Width (in px or %)
• Border style – the form uses Krazy Korners CSS-only borders, courtesy of CSSplay
• Custom colors
  • Border color
  • Text color
  • Background color
• Font Styles
  • Text Alignment
  • Font family
  • Font size
  • Font weight (bold or normal)
• Form Inputs
  • Size of email text input — or remove the input altogether
  • Email input default values
  • Customize your Submit button text
• And more!

Future updates

• Improve rendering time in Internet Explorer – Firefox, Chrome, and Safari render ok. This will involve slimming down the bulky jQuery code used to generate the form.
• Really neat image background options, including background gradients
• More border options
• Paragraph text field option, to add text under the form’s headline
• Add email images options

Have an idea? Have any feedback?  Leave it below!

PHP includes for Blogger

Before writing this post, I looked online to see if others have written about this same topic. This might as well be Michael Gray’s “Integrating Blogger Into Your Website: Part II”, which he never wrote — though he did write Part I.

Step 1: Switch Blogger files to PHP

First, you need to update your publishing settings so that Blogger publishes your posts in PHP, not HTML (thanks to DevDoctor):

1. Set up your blog to publish via FTP (on Publishing tab)
2. Change the ‘Blog Filename’ to index.php
3. Change ‘Archive Filename’ to archive.php (on Archiving tab)
4. Finally, delete the old index.html file from the blog directory (otherwise it will probably take precedence over the new index.php)

Once you’ve got Blogger pushing out PHP, you’re able to do PHP stuff with the site:

• Update the entire site at once - When I create a website, I always want to create the structure using PHP includes, so that I can set global site variables, and if I change it in one place, it changes across the whole website.
• Set active navigation – Using SSI includes, I used to have to include a different file for each blog section on the site so that I could up. Here, I just send a variable to the navigation.php file, which tells it what page is active.

Next, I will show how to include these files.

Step 2: Get the absolute path to the includes

Note: the most important part of this code is that it uses an absolute path, not a relative path.

To find the absolute path of the file you are trying to include, you can:

1. Run the code below, and the error should show you the path in the error text itself, or;
2. Can add this to a file in the same directory as the files you’re trying to include, then go to the file in your browser: <?php echo realpath(dirname(__FILE__)); ?>

Step 3: Update your Blogger.com template

Once you have the absolute path for the file, you can add the includes to your Blogger template:

<?php
global $pageID;
$pageID = 1; // You can tell these files what page you're on
include('/absolute/path/to/website/includes/navigation.php');
include('/absolute/path/to/website/includes/header.php');
include('/absolute/path/to/website/includes/sidebar.php');
?>

Note: One of the items I was going to write about was passing some variables back and forth, but I’ve included only the $pageID variable. If you want to see more code, let me know in the comments below.

I’ve used this method in a couple of websites (designed by Atomic Idea and developed by Katz Web Design). Check them out to see the integrated Blogger blog:

• Amp Alarms
• Split Rail Fence Company

Step 4: Ask any questions you might have below

As seen on 7News – View the video on TheDenverChannel.com

Why Google Profiles matter to you

Receive monthly tips like this one on how to get online exposure

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As featured on the May 20th 7News program featuring Zack Katz of Katz Web Design, Google Profiles are a great way to be found online for your own name, even if you don’t have a website.If you set up an online profile with Google, a person looking for you online will be able to find you more easily.

Your profile will show up in search results

In the past, if you wanted to be listed in search results for your own name (it’s called a “vanity search”), you often needed your own website. Google is changing that, and giving users the power to show up in a search result with a picture and link to their profile.

The Google Profile box embedded in the search results for Zack Katz

In April, Google has started giving Profiles a prominent placement in search results. It is safe to presume that Google will be further incorporating the Profiles in the future, and assigning them more value. If you want to improve your findability online, setting up a profile is a great step to take.

How to create your Google Profile

If you already have a Google account (if you use Gmail, or any other Google product), go directly to the Google Profiles page, and skip to step #7.

Part 1: Getting signed up and logged in

(Click image to view larger) The 'Create your profile' page has many options, including your contact information. Choosing what information to include is a personal decision.

1. Click here to go to Google Profiles
2. Click on “Create an account now”
   
3. Fill out the short form to create a Google account.
4. Check your email on the email account you provided. Google will send a confirmation message confirming your email address.
5. Click the verification link provided in the confirmation email.
6. After clicking the link, a page will load with a link saying “click here to manage your account profile.”  Click it.
7. You should now be on the Create your profile page (view image to the right).

Part 2: Adding information

There are lots fields you have the opportunity to fill out – fill out as many as you want. Google’s done a good job of having some silly options, such as a place to specify “My superpower.”

Here are some main items you won’t want to miss:

• Explore — make sure to check out the different tabs near the top of the page. “Contact info” gives you a place to enter your email, phone numbers, instant messenging account information, and photos from photo sharing sites like Flickr.
  
• Add a profile photo — why create a really great profile if you’re not going to share your likeness with the world? Click on the Googley-eyed image and follow the instructions. It’s easy, and it will make your profile truly personal….and if you don’t have a photo, the photo won’t show up in search results, reducing your exposure.
• Add a bio — write a bit about yourself: your job history, your family pets…anything you would like to share. If you’re creating a professional profile, you could write about your business and your qualifications.

Google will let you know if they need more information before having your profile listed in search results.

Part 3: For power users

Maximize your profile with search engine optimization techniques

One of the best parts about setting up your profile with Google is that you can tell Google what your website is. If you run a business, adding a link on your profile to your businesses’ website will help that website rank better in search results. Google Profiles pass value to sites you list.

• Make sure to add all of your profiles and websites using the “Add custom links to my profile” form provided (pictured at right).
• In the “Link name” field, be descriptive about your website. If you have a profile on LinkedIn, and you are a florist, you could write “Denver Florist on LinkedIn” — which is better than “My LinkedIn Profile,” because it has relevant, descriptive words.
• Feel free to list as many links as you want, but be aware that the more links you have on one page, the less value each link will give; the page’s value will be divided.
• Create a Profile URL (at the bottom of the profile page) — otherwise, your profile will look  like google.com/profiles/104944297119239125072, instead of google.com/profiles/your-name, which is much nicer (and better for search)

Verify your name for added trust

Follow these steps to verify your phone number, and get a Verified Name badge on your profile.

How to monitor your online reputation

When someone writes about you online, it’s important for you to know about it. Reputation management in the age of the internet is an extremely important aspect of having an online presence.  In order to monitor where you are mentioned online, we will set up an alert with Google Alerts.

Go to Google Alerts. If you are logged in to Google, you will see a form similar to the one on the right.

• Enter in your name, or the name of your business in the field “Search terms,”
• Choose Comprehensive as the “Type” — the other options will limit what content Google looks in.
• Select from the “How often” drop-down your preferred frequency of alerts.  I recommend setting “How often” to “as-it-happens;” that way, as soon as Google finds new content about you, Google will send you an email with a link to the web page where it found you.
• Choose your email as the delivery option.
• Click “Create Alert,” and you’re set up!

Once you’ve set up an alert

Now, when Google finds new content that mentions you, you will immediately receive an informative email.  This will allow you to respond to the new content appropriately.

If a person has written a complimentary article about you, you can leave a comment on it thanking them.  If the content is negative, you can seek ways to remedy the situation. But that’s for another article.

You may create as many alerts as you like, which will provide you with an immediate notification of any Google content related to your alert.

Any questions?

If you have questions about this article, please leave a comment in the form labeled “Leave a comment” below.  You may also check out the following official Google help documents:

• About Google Profiles
• Profile Privacy Information

Zack Katz runs Katz Web Design, a search engine optimization and web design company in Denver. Katz Web Design specializes in helping small business owners dominate search results in their industry. Email KWD for a free consultation.

View Zack’s Google Profile

Custom RSS feed me, Seymour

Recently I wanted to create a feed for Google base that used a bunch of custom fields that I had created. It wasn’t easy to find what I was looking for online, so I thought I’d show how simple it is to make a custom feed & feed template in WordPress.

All it takes is one piece of code to point to your own feed template and create an unique feed name.

function create_my_customfeed() {
load_template( TEMPLATEPATH . 'your-custom-feed.php'); // You'll create a your-custom-feed.php file in your theme's directory
}
add_action('do_feed_customfeed', 'create_my_customfeed', 10, 1); // Make sure to have 'do_feed_customfeed'

Now, rewrite your feed like WordPress does, all pretty-like.

This has set up everything you will need to modify your feed. You will now be able to access your feed at http://yoursite.com/?feed=customfeed. But what about how WordPress does the really neat rewriting of feeds from /?feed=rss to /feed/rss/? That requires using generate_rewrite_rules(), as described in the WP_Rewrite Codex page.

This piece of code will allow you to have any feed name, and dynamically “create” /customfeed.xml as well as a /feed/customfeed/ versions:

function custom_feed_rewrite($wp_rewrite) {
$feed_rules = array(
'feed/(.+)' => 'index.php?feed=' . $wp_rewrite->preg_index(1),
'(.+).xml' => 'index.php?feed='. $wp_rewrite->preg_index(1)
);
$wp_rewrite->rules = $feed_rules + $wp_rewrite->rules;
}
add_filter('generate_rewrite_rules', 'custom_feed_rewrite');

You’ve set up your custom feed locations, now you need a feed template!

In the first piece of code, we told the create_my_customfeed() function to look in your theme’s directory for a your-custom-feed.php file. This will be the feed template your feed will use.

For this part, go to /wp-includes/feed-rss2.php and copy and paste the code wholesale into your custom feed template.  From there, you can start modifying away at the code.  All the WordPress functions you’re used to are still available, because you are still in the WordPress loop.  

Now, check out your feed and see if it works…it should!

One way I have applied this code

I used this code when I created a Google Base Feed for CellPhoneFiesta.com. It took custom fields from each post and created a compliant feed.  Check out the Google Base feed that uses this code.

Any questions?

I’m going to elaborate on this further (and about Interspire in general), but for those of you who want to make WordPress functions available throughout your shopping cart, here’s how:

Before the closing ?> in the init.php file, add the following code:
require(realpath(ISC_BASE_PATH).'/blog-directory/wp-blog-header.php');, where /blog-directory/ is your WP installation. If you installed it in the root directory, then you’d simply need require(realpath(ISC_BASE_PATH).'/wp-blog-header.php');.

Voila! That simple. Any questions?

Domain auctions are a rush — and a great opportunity

Earlier this month, I was shopping around for some domain names, and I found out that BoulderSEO.net and BoulderSEO.org were available, and that BoulderSEO.com was expiring shortly and going up for auction. I had never backordered a domain before, but for $18.95, it was worth trying out.

When you backorder a domain with GoDaddy, the instant it’s available at auction, they place a $10.00 bid for you. You then have about a month to wait for anyone else to outbid you. If they don’t, you get the domain for the $18.95 you paid. If they outbid you, you’ll receive email notification that you’ve been outbid.

The day of the auction, I was about to leave on a field trip to Sierra Trading Post in Cheyenne, WY, when I found out that I had been outbid with only 5 minutes left. Thankfully, I was in front of the computer. With 2 minutes left, I realized I wasn’t signed in and had forgotten my password to GoDaddy. I raced to reset my password, enter the captcha, and I placed a higher bid in the last 3 seconds.  In the GoDaddy system, each time you add a new bid, the auction extends by 2 minutes. The other bidder thought they had taken me by surprise and had it all wrapped up, but in the end, I won the auction.

I’m going to boast: BoulderSEO.com cost $31.00. Can you afford not to check out domain auctions?

A few tips from my auction experience

• If you find domains that have [Your Location][Your Industry].com/net/org, buy them. Now.
• Don’t bid until the last minute (standard eBay rules apply ), then enter the maximum you’re willing to pay for the domain. With GoDaddy auctions, you will only pay $5 more than the previous high bid.
• Read this Mike Davidson article about backordering using different services. It’s very informative (if a few years old).
• Then read this SEOMoz article about expiring domain names.

Optimize your logo using SEO-friendly techniques.

Google’s algorithm likes text more than images. It likes headlines more than paragraphs. You can increase how much weight your headline has by only having one or two of them. Having the same headline across all pages reduces the value of it each time.

Instead of having your logo be an image, or H1 image replacement using CSS, it’s now best practice to use a H1 (heading 1) for your home page and a P (paragraph) for the rest of your pages. Then, you can use the headline for your page’s title instead, and get more bang for your buck.

This is nothing new, but it’s best practice, and I hope those who don’t know this technique or code may find this helpful.

Add to your theme’s header.php file for the logo:

if(is_home() || is_front_page()) { // Is this the home page or front page?
$tag = 'h1'; // If so, use h1
} else {
$tag = 'p';
}
?>
<<?php echo $tag; ?> id="logo">><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/" title="Go to the <?php bloginfo('name'); ?> Home Page"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a></<?php echo $tag; ?>>

This code will add a text link to your header, and using some CSS you can make it look like a normal image. Depending on how your code is set up, you can use this CSS:

Add to your theme’s stylesheet (style.css):

#logo a {
display: block;
width: 321px; /* Change the width to fit image size */
height: 123px; /* Change the height to fit image size */
text-indent: -9999px; /* Hide the text */
overflow: hidden; /* Keep the link outline sane when clicked */
background: url('images/your-logo-image-name.jpg') left top no-repeat;
}

This code will convert your text link into what looks like an image, but actually is an “image-replacement” CSS technique.

Check out an example of this code on CAREER-Magic.com home page, and the Services page.

Hope this helps! Any questions?

4 Steps to optimize a website — a Denver solar case study

This is an inside look into my process for optimizing a pre-existing website. This will cover lots of the aspects of the SEO I’ve done, but not all of it…These steps are often my first round of optimization on a site. Once I do these four vital SEO steps, I move on to content SEO and more link-building.

1. Re-write the site’s code

Matzen Electic & Solar’s web developer created a custom template for their website. The template used tables and images instead of CSS and image replacement methods. Check out the original template and the current site. Not much difference visually, but look at the code itself.

If you inherit a code structure that’s not great, you’re going to want to make sure to re-create the template using SEO-friendly code techniques.  Here’s what I did for Matzen:

1. Made the logo <H1> on the home page and a <P> on other pages. Before, it was an image without an ALT tag.
2. Reformatted the title tag to be structured properly: page name first, site name second.
   Before: Matzen Electric & Solar » Home 
   After:  Denver Residential Solar Installation – Matzen Electric & Solar
3. Converted the navigation from a bunch of images without ALT tags to text links that also improves accessibility for blind users.

2. Give search engines the right information

For any website, it’s important to let search engines know what pages exist on the site.  Standard best practices apply here: 

• Create a robots.txt file
• Create a sitemap.xml file
• Make sure that there are no “loose” pages that shouldn’t be indexed. If there are, disallow them on the robots.txt file, and then redirect them using an .htaccess file.
• Submit the sitemaps using Google Webmaster Tools & Yahoo! Site Explorer

These two steps alone took the site from being out of the top 100 to in the top 10 for some of their target phrases (Denver Solar Electricity and Denver Solar Installation). But not high enough by any means.  Let’s get back to it!

3. Create profiles on high-value websites

If your company isn’t showing up for local searches, it’s probably because your Google Local listing isn’t optimized for their keywords. I took care of that, and made sure their visibility improved by having profiles created on the major websites.

• LinkedIn
• Google Local
• Yelp
• Yahoo! Local 
• GetSatisfaction - Create a company profile as well as a targeted product or service. In this case, I added a service they provide, which is solar installation. Note the SEO-friendly url: http://getsatisfaction.com/denver-solar/products/denver-solar_installation

Profile creation tips

• Make sure you’re writing these profiles from your clients’ accounts – not from your own account! You are simply helping your clients create these profiles, not claiming them as your own.  I strongly recommend you provide your clients with a full list of logins & passwords upon creating profiles.
  
• Only leave comments that are true and that are from your own actual accounts — if this means you have to work the English language a bit, then work it…but do not create false testimonials. That’s no way to build trust in a brand.  Have you ever used your clients services? If not, then do you want to? Why do you want to?  Write about that.
• Use every option available, because you never know what users will search for. Add as much information as you can, including videos and images, so that you’re giving the search engines as much content as they want to work with. More information (especially pictures that show up in mapped listing results) could also result in higher click-through rates.
  • Yahoo! gives you a “Brands” option. Matzen Solar installs many different solar panel brands, so I made sure to list them.
  • Google Local offers “Additional Details” options. You can write whatever you want to there. Keep it on topic, but make sure to cover any keywords or phrases that you hadn’t covered before.
• Use the Address 2 field – I’ve been using the Address 2 field to add a c/o (Care Of) listing that is keyword rich, but also user-friendly. Something like “Widgets Inc., 123 Widgets Road, c/o the Best Widgets Company, Denver, CO”.  This gets you more keywords, provides a nice little tagline, and is appropriate for the address field.  If you do something inappropriate, chances are you’ll get punished for it.

4. Build more links

Find relevant websites and link to everything you’ve built. Link to all the profiles, link to the pages of the website, link everywhere — but make sure you link responsibly.  Too much of the same link = search engines thinking you’re spam.

Do these 4 SEO items well, and you’re off to a good start

These SEO steps should get you ranked locally — even if you don’t touch your site’s content.

Be patient, young padawon. It takes 15-30 days for Google to update with your changes. It takes anywhere from 2 days to 4 months for some of these profiles to go live. Just know this: after doing these steps, you’ll be better off than you were before.

An updated website for a Denver career coach

CAREERMagic came to Katz Web Design to give their website some fresh blood.

When Career-Magic.com was last updated, I was in high school.  Yes, it’s true — and I said it. The website not only needed updating visually, but there were a lot of parts of the website that needed to be better integrated with how the business ran.  The new Career-Magic.com website launched last night.

Here are a few of the ways KWD improved the CAREERMagic website:

An usable shopping cart, please!

CAREERMagic offers many services, and were processing all their transactions using a hand-operated credit card machine. They wanted their process to be streamlined, for their own sake, and also for their customers.

Don’t you want control over content?

Since the previous site was built using static HTML pages, every time Tracy wanted to update the website with a new article or content, she had to manually make edits to code, add the link on the articles page, rename the page, etc…It was a hassle.

The new website is built using WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System), and allows her to update every page’s content, add new blog posts, and change the banner image and text on her own.

Custom post types for testimonials

Using the More Fields plugin, KWD set it up so that when Tracy wants to add a new testimonial, she won’t have to think about it: instead of going to Posts, selecting a category, and formatting the testimonial properly, she simply clicks Testimonials, and the Reference Name, Reference Location, and Quote fields are ready for her. 

Once she adds a testimonial, it’s added to the Testimonials page, and not shown in the blog.

SEO sure would be nice…

The new website is super SEO-friendly.  A few obvious (to SEOs) yet notable features of the site:

• The logo uses image-replacement and is a headline on the home page, and a paragraph link on other pages, allowing each page to have the most content value for their own keywords.
• Each page has multiple customizable SEO-valuable variables, allowing a rich mixture of optimized keywords the client can use:
  • Custom page title (in the navigation)
  • Custom headline
  • Custom title tag (what Google will display)
  • Custom banner image & text — have a different banner message for each page

2002 is a long time to wait for a redesign

The old CAREERMagic website looked great in 2002, which was the last time it had been refreshed. It was also a solid design launching pad for the new look and feel, but it had to go:

All in all, this website was a smooth development process, and I’m glad that it’s up and running.  What do you think of it?

I develop my websites locally, so sending Lost Password emails never works. When I forget what my password is, it’s quite the hassle.

I’m developing an Interspire Shopping Cart website, and lo and behold, I lost the password.

Here’s how to recover your password from Interspire Shopping Cart:

1. Go to /admin/includes/classes/class.auth.php, line 45 and change
   $GLOBALS['Message'] = sprintf(GetLang("ConfirmPassEmailSent"), isc_html_escape($email));
   to this:
   $GLOBALS['Message'] = $message;
2. Submit the Forgot Password form again, and you’ll see the confirmation link.
3. Change the code back immediately! If you forget this, and make your cart live, you will have screwed the proverbial pooch.

I will be writing about my experience developing the Interspire cart, but so far, it’s an elegant — and full featured — shopping cart. It’s a little complex behind the scenes (after working with ‘Code is Poetry’ WordPress), but no more so than osCommerce, and much nicer administration.

HEY — Did you change your password back yet? Do it!

Can you afford to rank poorly in search engines?

Katz Web Design is an SEO company in Denver. This is our blog.  Need help with your website’s search presence? Call 303-362-0451 for a free consultation.

Denver SEO Case study: Ignite Matchmaking

An example of how effective Katz Web Design’s SEO services are is Ignite Matchmaking. When Ignite had KWD redesign and optimize their website for search, their website was ranked 508th in Google for the search “Denver matchmaker.” 

“Since Katz Web Design redesigned my site, I’m completely overwhelmed with leads.”

Immediately after launch, their site rocketed to ranking 6th. 7 months later, and ever since, their website has been ranked #1 and #2 for the phrase. That has directly translated into more traffic, and more leads generated.

Editor’s Note: this was supposed to be a welcome post for the blog, but it didn’t look very good…so it had to be an actual blog post! I didn’t mean it to be so “Denver SEO-y” if you know what I mean

Embed videos that won’t be indexed by Google or viewable by the public.

You might want to create a video and put it on your website, but you don’t want the rest of the world to find it via search engines or YouTube.

You may have a blog, and you want to give a few people access to a video that no one else will be able to watch.

Here’s a protected video embedding solution:

1. Upload your video to Viddler.com
2. Click Edit Sharing Options
   
3. Give the video privacy setting “Just You.” This prevents anyone else from seeing your video.
4. Click Enable next to Secret URL
   
5. Copy the Secret URL code
6. Click Embed This
   
7. Choose your player type and size options
   
8. Copy and paste the embed code from your video into your blog
   

   Here’s the vital part:

9. Find the “secreturl” part of your Secret URL code from Step 5.
   http://www.viddler.com/explore/your-username/videos/1/?secreturl=123456789
10. Edit your Embed This code from Step 8
    • You’re going to be adding “0/yoursecretcode” to the end of two parts of the embed code. The added parts are shown in bold below. This allows your private video to be embedded publicly. Be sure to update the code for  both the movie PARAM and the EMBED.
    • <object classid="clsid: D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="437" height="370" id="viddler_aaa2e747"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/aaa1a232/0/123456789" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/aaa1a232/0/123456789" width="437" height="370" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" name="viddler_aaa2e747" ></embed></object>
11. That should be it! Save your post and you’re done.

Thanks goes to Colin Devroe from the Viddler.com staff for presenting his solution. I wanted to share this with the world, because it’s hard to find a protected video solution that works well. They say it doesn’t work anymore, but I have tried it, and it does. Hush, hush!

What’s your solution for private, embedded vidoes?

I wanted to use Vimeo or YouTube, but their solutions didn’t really work for me. Do you use or know of any other, better options?

Format your search results for SEO

Works great for SEO searches on the iPhone!

It’s frustrating doing searches with SEO in mind, then having Google add SearchWiki, personalized results, and other localizations that mess up what you wanted: accurate results. Here’s the solution: The SEO It! Bookmarklet.

• I do lots of searching as an SEO. I look for ranking, competition, additional keywords, etc. I use Google a LOT. And I use Apple’s Safari browser.
• By default, I am logged in to my Google account, and have Google preferences set to showing 100 results at a time. The problem? Google shows different ranking and links based on the number of results you see.
• I have Google Web History enabled, and Google provides me with “Personalized results based on my search history.” When doing SEO, I don’t want these results: I want what others will see.
• I use SearchWiki to move up results of websites I have created. When trying to get accurate SEO ranking, this is frustrating.
• I do SEO searches on my iPhone, too – where I need to manually strip out the annoying &client=safari to see a normal results page.

Enter the SEO It! Bookmarklet

Here’s how to add the bookmarklet (works in both Firefox and Safari):

1. Go to the SEO It! Bookmarklet page
2. Drag the link to your bookmarks bar
3. Do a Google search, then click (or tap) the bookmarklet.

Whenever you perform a search on Google, it will:

• Make your query 10 results per page (by adding &num=10)
• Disable personalized search results (by adding &aq=f&oq=&pws=0&pwst=1)
• Disable SearchWiki (by adding &hl=all)
• Works great in making iPhone Google searches SEO-friendly! 

When you do any search in Google, click the SEO It! bookmarklet, and it will make the search results more accurate for your SEO research in Safari, Firefox or the iPhone (works in Windows versions as well).

Leave your comments and bug reports below!

Before and after on an iPhone SEO search

Thanks to Yoast finding the Google Insights Bookmarklet, which I modified to make this bookmarklet.

Power user tip: in Safari, go to the Bookmarks menu, navigate to the Bookmarks Bar, and you should see there is an automatically assigned keyboard shortcut. Instead of clicking each time, you can just use the keyboard. Mine is Command-4!