Un-paid search results are also referred to as “organic” or “natural” search results. Un-paid search results are based on the search engine’s algorithm which determines the most relevant web pages related to the keyword, or keyword phrase, that was searched.

Search engines don’t reveal how their algorithms work. However, there are some general techniques that can be applied to help improve the ranking of a website or web page.

What is SEO? SEO is an initialism that stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is pronounced by saying each individual letter, not as a word as in an acronym.

Another question I’m often asked along with “What is SEO?” is “What is search engine ranking?”, or “What does it mean for a site to rank in Google?”.

A site’s ranking in a search engine refers to the first position that a website or web page appears in the un-paid search results for a specific keyword or keyword phrase. A simple example would be if your web page appeared in the forth position of the un-paid results for a given keyword or keyword phrase, then you would consider that your ranking for that keyword phase. However, that ranking can fluctuate based on a number of factors such as browser settings, account settings, keyword or keyword phrase, location, etc.

When trying to determine how well your website or web page ranks for a specific keyword or keyword phrase I strongly recommend using a “clean browser”. By clean browser I mean web browser where there is no history, cache, and temporary Internet files, not signed in to any sites, and your location set to “United States” (or your current country). If possible, designate one web browser for testing, only use it for testing, and delete all data between searches. Then, verify using another browser. You go even further and use a proxy and test from a different location.

But, going back to our original question, What is SEO? Let’s re-cap: SEO is an initialism that stands for Search Engine Optimization, and SEO is process of optimizing a website or web page to appear in the highest position possible of the un-paid search results of a search engine, such as Google or Bing, for a specific keyword or keyword phrase.

See Tim Elam at IRWD 2012

On February 14th I’ll be speaking at the Internet Retailer’s Web Design and Usability Conference 2012 in Orlando, Florida. My topic is titled “SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Serious Money”, and I’ll
presenting with Stephan Spencer.

Internet Retailer’s Web Design & Usability Conference 2012 starts on February 13th through the 15th at the Omni Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. For more information, and to register, go to http://irwd.internetretailer.com/2012/.

Checkout my speaker’s profile page at http://irwd.internetretailer.com/2012/speakers/tim-elam/.

On October 5, 2011, Jobs died in California at the age of 56, seven years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On his death he was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius—perhaps one of the foremost—in the field of business, innovation, and product design, and a man who had profoundly changed the face of the modern world, revolutionized at least six different industries, and who was an “exemplar for all chief executives”. His death was widely mourned and considered a loss to the world by commentators across the globe.

Steve Jobs, the biography, will be released on October 24, 2011. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Pre-order now and get Amazon’s Price Guarantee! If the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you’ll receive the lowest price.

Angry Birds for PC is available for a limited time. I don’t know when this promotion started or when it ends, so grab your copy of Angry Birds for PC now.

Here’s how to download Angry Birds for PC:
1) Click here and downoad the Intel App Up software.
2) Download from that link and NOT from Intel website.
3) Create new account and login (old accounts won’t work).
4) You will get a notification that Angry Birds for PC is free to download.

Video of Angry Birds for PC:

How to Take a Screenshot Windows:

To take a screen shot of your computer screen following these steps:

In Windows there are a couple different ways to quickly take a screenshot. First there is the “Copy and Paste” method using the keyboard and an image editing program. Second there is the Snipping Tool, which is available in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Copy and Paste Method:

1. Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard to take a screenshot of your entire desktop, OR simultaneously press Alt-Print Screen to take a screenshot of the active window.
2. Open an image editing program, such as Microsoft Paint. To open Microsoft Paint, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint.
3. Click inside the white part of the screen.
4. Go to the Edit menu and select Paste.
5. Click File > Save As.
6. In the box that pops up, change the “Save As” type to JPG.
7. After typing in a filename for your image, choose a location on your hard drive to save to, like the Desktop, and click the Save button.

Snipping Tool

1. To open the Snipping Tool, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.
2. The Snipping Tool window will appear on your screen. Don’t worry, it will disappear when you start dragging a selection area.
3. Click and drag your cursor to select an area to copy. As you drag your cursor the selected area will be darker and surrounded by a red border.
4. Release the mouse button and the captured area will open in the Snipping Tool window.
5. Press the Save button (which looks like a disc) to save the screen shot as an image file. See the tips below for file format suggestions.

How to Take a Screenshot Mac OS X:

Mac OS X makes taking screenshots extremely simple.

To take a screenshot of your entire desktop:

1. Simultaneously hold down the Command-Shift-3 keys.

1. The screenshot is saved to your desktop.

To take a screenshot of an active window:

1. Simultaneously hold down the Command-Shift-4 keys.
2. Press the “Space Bar”.

Remember the Egg! Before you can learn “how” to light, you must learn how to “SEE” light. Joe Edelman walks you through a defining moment in his career and how a simple egg, changed the way he approached lighting and photography forever.

Take Better Photographs by Studying an Egg.

Garmin launches OpenCaching community, pushes caching closer to the mainstream — Engadget

The GPS maker has just opened up a new online community at OpenCaching.com, hailed “a completely free online community for creating, sharing and finding geocaches around the world.”

The site even lets users rank the ‘Awesomeness’ in addition to size, terrain and difficulty, and while it’s obviously hosted by Garmin, it’s platform agnostic in nature. Head on over if you’re looking to blaze a few trails over the holiday break.

Visit www.OpenCaching.com.

1. Click the Start Orb .

2. Click Control Panel.

3. Find the “View by:” drop down box in the upper right corner of the Control Panel and do one of the following:

3a. If it is set to “View by: Category”, then click View network status and tasks.

3b. If  it is set to “View by: Large icons” or “View by:Small icons“, click Network and Sharing Center.

Both will lead you to the same screen.

4. On the next screen click Change adapter settings.

5. Right click on your network adapter and select Properties. This is usually named either “Local Area Connection” or “Wireless Network Connection”. The “Local Area Connection Properties” box will open.

6. Click the Networking tab. Under “This connection uses the following items”, click either Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6), and then click the Properties button.

7a. To specify IPv4 IP address settings, do one of the following:

7a(1). To obtain IP settings automatically, click the radio button next to Obtain an IP address automatically, and then click the OK button.

7a(2). To specify an IP address, click the radio button next to Use the following IP address, and then, in the “IP address”, “Subnet mask“, and “Default gateway” boxes, type the IP address settings, and then click the OK button.

7b. To specify IPv6 IP address settings, do one of the following:

7b(1). To obtain IP settings automatically, click the radio button next to Obtain an IPv6 address automatically, and then click the OK button.

7b(2). To specify an IP address, click the radio button next to Use the following IPv6 address, and then, in the “IPv6 address”, “Subnet prefix length”, and “Default gateway” boxes, type the IP address settings, and then click the OK button.

8. To specify DNS server address settings, do one of the following:

8a. To obtain a DNS server address automatically, click the radio button next to Obtain DNS server address automatically, and then click the OK button.

8b. To specify a DNS server address, click the radio button next to Use the following DNS server addresses, and then, in the “Preferred DNS server” and “Alternate DNS server” boxes, type the addresses of the primary and secondary DNS servers, and then click the OK button.

9. To change DNS, WINS, and IP settings, click Advanced.

10. Click OK to close the “Local Area Connection Properties” box.

11. Right click on your network adapter and select Diagnose. This is to ensure that your new configuration is working properly.