Google doesn’t matter any more. A lot of people haven’t figured that out yet. There are experts talking about search engine optimization (SEO): designing your web site to make it easier for the search engines to index and find you. Reading different websites, forums and blogs specializing in SEO will teach you a number of tricks, tips and techniques to get your web site listed in the top search engine results.

The search engines have played into this game as well, giving webmasters instructions as to how to layout their pages and code their sites to fit what the search engines want.

All this has resulted in a lot of poor quality sites reaching the top positions in the search engines. It gets increasingly difficult to find the content you are looking for. And, with constant updates and changes, the site you found yesterday at #1 will be nowhere to be found today. You should have bookmarked it!

Before the Search Engines

Some of today’s Internet users may not even remember a time before search engines, but there was such a time. In those “ancient” days, we used Archie to search FTP sites or Veronica to search on Gopher. If we couldn’t find something, we’d ask on USENET, on our local FreeNet or on an area BBS.

Frequently we would have to rely on the advice of other people in finding the content we were seeking.

The Rise of the Search Engines

Later, we had search engines like WebCrawler, AltaVista, Lycos and Infoseek and directories like Yahoo! Then there was HotBot, AskJeeves, Northern Light and Google.

While people began using directories and search engines to find what they were looking for, during this time people still relied on recommendations from friends and other Internet users. Often, too, people would maintain their own lists of useful sites on their web sites. Some webmasters had better resource sites listed than some of the search engines and directories.

But, as the search engines–most notably Google–improved, people began relying on them more and more. Yahoo! was a longtime leader in organizing content, but Google relatively quickly pulled the rug out from under them.

Since then, Google has been quite aggressive in staying at the top and expanding its offerings and capabilities. People worry about the next update, and how it will affect their search engine positions. They worry about PageRank. They add NOFOLLOW tags to their sites to discourage Google from following links to sites to which they link. It really has gotten crazy.

As people have concentrated on getting well positioned in Google’s search engine results, they have neglected content. Google too seems to have neglected content. Quite frequently, and despite their routine “cleansings” and such, the top sites in the results are not the sites with the best and most useful content, but rather the sites with the best SEO. That’s good in the short term for those webmasters, but bad in the long term for users searching for quality content.

The Irrelevance of Google

For a company that claims a philosophy of “Don’t be evil,” they seem to practice a philosophy of selective blindness to the questionable things they do. Their efforts to digitize the world’s books–without the permission of their authors–has resulted in copyright disputes. There are concerns about the security risks posed by Google Earth. Google has faced criticism from both advertisers and publishers regarding how they handle click fraud. Not to mention accusations of censorship in Google’s appeasement of the government of China. Even the New York Times has suggested Google has lost its do no evil philosophy.

In the midst of all this, Google has been losing relevance. As people learn how difficult it is to find useful information in the search engines, they have turned once again to a more reliable resource: other people.

Post-Google

We are now seeing the beginning of the post-Google world. It is a world where Google will no longer matter. I’ll say it again, Google will no longer matter. I’m sure people will disagree with this, but there it is. The next “Google” is already in its prepubescent stages, just waiting for its next growth spurt to take the lead over its peers.

Here are the contenders:

del.icio.us is a bookmarking website where users can store and share bookmarks to websites or web pages they like. It is a part of Yahoo!

Digg is a community website where users “digg” stories they like. If a story gets enough “diggs,” it gets listed on the front page. While Digg currently is primarily focused on science and technology, it has been expanding into other categories.

reddit is a community website where users post links to web content. Users can rate the links, causing them to move up or down on reddit’s home page.

StumbleUpon is a browser plugin where users can find and rate content. StumbleUpon was purchased by eBay at the end of May 2007.

Technorati is a search engine for blogs with some community features.

There are also a number of less popular community-oriented websites similar to those listed above. Any of these sites have the potential to become the next Google.

No More Games?

While webmasters will no doubt continue to have to find a variety of ways to build an audience for their content, the next wave of Internet search has already begun. It’s becoming clearer now than it ever was: content is king. In the near future, success on the Internet will be less dependent on search engine results and more dependent on creating quality content that people will recommend to their friends and peers. Gone will be the days of mysterious algorithms, bad neighborhoods, linking penalties, supplemental pages and other terms that currently get SEO experts in a titter.

Google is dead. It just doesn’t know it yet. Long live the people!

Popularity: 9% [?]

As you read different articles about blogging, you will frequently read how important it is to proofread before you publish your blog post.

It is even more important to proofread your comments before leaving them on other blogs. You can always fix errors on your own blog posts, but you frequently cannot do so with your comments on other blogs.

So, proofread your comments, and avoid embarrassing comments like this.

[The word “question” should have the letter “t” in it–just an FYI for those who don’t immediately spot the typo. UPDATE: Leonid Shalimov was kind enough to fix my mistake, so you won’t see it now. Thanks Leonid! But, you might not always be lucky enough to have a blogger like Leonid fix your typos, so be sure to proofread those comments!]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Once described by CNET.com as the “world’s most hated blogger,” Casey Serin built himself quite a reputation on the Internet, with both supporters and “haterz.” Not to mention bloggers who took advantage of his blog’s popularity to boost their own link rankings.

But, now it appears his blog, IAmFacingForeclosure.com, has bitten the dust, several days earlier than he had said it would.

This is not the first time he has shut down his blog, so whether he will reappear again is open to debate. And, it’s certainly not the end of his story, as his legal woes catch up with him.

For now, the blogosphere will just have to wait and see. And promotional-minded bloggers will have to stake out a new high traffic site to boost their link ratings.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Whether you’re a blogger, a writer or an average person making your way through life, sharpening your powers of focus and concentration will be of great benefit to you in whatever you do. Even the simplest of tasks may be completed more quickly if you are focused on the task and not distracted by other thoughts.

People often don’t give a lot of consideration to their minds, thinking it’s something that just is and cannot be changed. But, like any other organ of the body, it can be exercised, toned and made stronger with proper training and practice. But, while there are limits to the growth and development of the body, there are no such limits for the mind.

The current exercise will be on focus. Focus is the ability to mental hold on to a particular thought or idea. This amount of attention to a particular detail may be for a mere fraction of a second, or it may be for a period of several minutes, even hours. Such focus is also referred to as concentration.

For many tasks and for any learning, focus is a definite necessity. So, being able to maintain your focus, your attention, your concentration for longer and longer periods of time will be of great benefit to your personal and professional development. Let us begin, then, with some exercises to increase your mental powers of focus.

Since I don’t have my worksheets ready for distribution just yet, what you’ll need to have is a pen or pencil, a notepad or sheet of paper, and a stopwatch or time piece of some kind. Some of you may want a calculator too.

As anyone well knows, it is much easier to focus on something you enjoy than something you don’t. So, first begin by focusing on something you like, such as sports cars, puppies, football, scrapbooking, gardening or Princess Leia in the slave bikini outfit. Whatever.

Write down your topic and the time when you begin your focus on it, and note the time when your attention lapses. Subject the start time from the end time, and notate the duration. Your object will be to increase the duration of your attention. Repeat the exercise, either using the same or a different topic.

Do this exercise until you have expanded your ability to hold your focus for a satisfactory period of time. What constitutes satisfactory will be up to you and how well you can focus your attention at the start. Some may be able to reach satisfactory results over the period of a few evenings, while others may require weeks (or more) of such mental exercise.

Once you have achieved the result you seek, it is time to move things to the next level. In this next step, you will be choosing a topic to which you are indifferent. You need to choose something for which you have neither interest or passion. It also must be something for which you also have neither dislike or hatred. Practice the same exercise with your new topic(s).

Once you have achieved a satisfactory result here, it is time for the final exercise in this process. The final exercise is the same as the first two, except this time you will be choosing topic(s) which you strongly dislike, abhor or hate. Choose things which are displeasing or unpleasurable for you. Repeat the exercise until you reach your satisfactory result.

You may, in fact, find this last step to be the easiest of all. It is no accident of nature that our brains are wired to pay attention to unpleasurable things. They often require a response and, as such, quickly and nearly comprehensively grab the mind’s attention. You may find that this last exercise requires the least practice to maintain your focus.

All these steps are important, because throughout life, you will be required to pay attention to things that please you, things for which you have no feelings, and things that bring you unpleasantness. Being able to handle all three of these will be beneficial. By following these exercises, you will see that you can train your mind and improve your mental abilities!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Bloggers o’Plenty seem to have plenty of ideas on how to be a successful blogger. Mind you, I’m not yet in the successful group, but in reading other blogs online, I have discovered three key things that make them successful.

1. Personality. J. Peterman. Jungle Jim’s. American Science & Surplus. These are all stores that have personalities, whether driven by their owner or by the staff.

Julia Child. Justin Wilson. Emeril Lagasse. Alton Brown. Wolfgang Puck. All of these chefs do the same thing: they prepare food. What makes them different are their personalities.

Blogging is no different. You have to let your own voice and personality show through. This may be difficult, especially if you’ve never written anything before, and it may take time before you find your own voice. But, you must let your personality show through your blog.

There are a lot of blogs out there, many offering similar content. What will make your content stand out from the next blog? What will propel you to the top of the heap? Personality.

2. Know the Rules. You have to know “the rules.” In that, I am including all the rules that are relevant to your blog. You have to know the rules of blogging: what works, what doesn’t. You have to know the rules for writing: what people want to read, what they won’t (or say they won’t) read. You have to know the rules for your subject matter. Make sure you know the rules.

You must know the rules so that you will also know when to break the rules. Too many people will buy into the idea that things have to be done a certain way, that there is only one right way to do something. Now, if you don’t understand why they are done a certain way, then you had better follow the “rules” otherwise you may look foolish. But, if you understand the rules, then you know when you can bend or break them to your benefit.

If you just simply follow the rules, you’re not going to stand out in the blogosphere. Mind you, if you don’t understand the rules, you might still get lucky and break them in ways that are beneficial to you and your readers. But, it’s also possible you’ll come across as a fool. It’s best to understand “the rules” before you go about messing around with them.

3. Identify Your Niche (But Don’t Be Glued to It). A common bit of advice is to choose a small niche, a particular focus, for your blog, and stick with it. But, I don’t think so. If you stay too tightly focused, your blog is going to be boring; it is not going to stand out from the crowd.

Mind you, you can’t jump around all over the place. Choose a topic, yes, and keep the majority of your posts on that topic. That’s what your readers came to you for and that’s what they want to read.

However, people don’t just want to read about the same thing over and over again. Add some variety. Go off-topic to keep your readers interested. Experiment a little. Just be careful not to lose your primary focus. People want to learn, but they also want to be entertained. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle in some lighter or entertaining posts now and then, whether it’s on-topic or off-topic.

Sticking to your topic is not the most important thing, but not straying too far is. A good ratio for beginners may be 4 on-topic posts for every 1 off-topic post. Or, stay on topic Monday through Thursday, and do something fun on Friday. Test things out to see what works best for you and your readers.

There you go: the 3 keys to having a successful blog.

And, finally, don’t forget to share lots of “link love” with other bloggers, like Average Joe Blogger for example.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Another step in training your mind is understanding how your own mind works.

Using a free association technique is a good way to do this.

Start with a word, phrase or idea, and see where it takes you. Write the ideas down as they come for later study.

For example, today I heard a Kelly Clarkson song playing on the radio. That got me thinking about American Idol, which led me to thinking of other winners and runners-up, like Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and Katharine McPhee. Those are the only ones I could remember, having never watched the show and having forgotten (at that time) about Carrie Underwood.

And, when you think of Katharine McPhee, what naturally comes to mind? Why Archie McPhee, of course!

That, naturally, leads to the Martian Popping Thing, which is a nice stress reliever.

Try it yourself!

Understanding how your own thought patterns work will later help you to train and improve your mind, in such areas as memory and clear thinking.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Technorati does not support 301 redirects.

I did not know that.

DanBlogs.com has a Technorati Authority rating of 4, but dcrBlogs.com has a 0 rating. Bummer.

So, now I have to start all over with building a Technorati Authority rating.

On the plus side, a 4 is staggeringly low, so it’s a good thing I decided on the name change now rather than later.

Oh, on a very strongly related note, don’t forget to “Spread the Word for a Chance,” and link to the new domain, dcrBlogs.com, while you’re at it.

I am working on a couple of interesting (I hope!) posts for this weekend, so be sure to check back here later!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Over the past week, I’ve been thinking about branding. Mind you, it’s not that I didn’t think about it in the first place, but rather that I probably didn’t give it a thorough enough thinking through. (If you can make sense out of that, you deserve a gold star!)

I didn’t want this to be a “corporate” or business blog, but a more personal one. I like the idea of a CEO maintaining a blog to keep in touch with customers, similar to how Bob Parsons does his. But, his blog only appears to be updated on a monthly basis, making it feel less like a blog and more like an occasional letter to his customers.

So, I thought danblogs.com would be a good title for a blog. It’s short and it’s personal. So, when I saw that it was available, I snatched it up. (Yes, I registered it through GoDaddy.) And, I built the blog around the Dan Blogs name.

But, as I mentioned, I’ve been giving it some deeper thought this past week. It came up on different blogs, like Chris Bloczynski’s article: “Branding on the Web.” I think there was another blogger had a similar article, but I don’t remember who or where.

Also, I noticed in a Google search that danblogs.com had been an expired domain, meaning someone had previously registered it. Mind you, there’s nothing in the Internet Archive on it, but still it diminishes the “brand” a bit. Who had it before? Did this other Dan ever have a blog? On top of that, if you do a Google search for Dan Blogs, there are a lot of Dan’s with blogs. There are ones titled “Dan Blogs” and others titled “Dan’s Blog.”

To add to that, whenever I comment on other blogs, I comment as “Dan.” So do a lot of other Dan’s. Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell which Dan is which until you click on the blog link. And, I can’t seem to get MyBlogLog to use my uploaded picture as an avatar–I upload a picture, it shows in my login, but my profile page shows the silhouette figure and I can’t get it changed to my uploaded picture no matter what browser I use or how many times I upload a picture. Argh!

The clincher was Wednesday night. Well, actually it wasn’t the clincher, but it proved to be the turning point. Anyway, I checked out Doug’s blog.

Who’s Doug? Well, I met Doug a couple years ago on the Writers-BBS in the Science Fiction area. Early on, he reviewed one of my short stories written for a monthly writing contest on the WBBS. And, I never let him forget his comment on that story! But, I am not going to talk about that anymore, so if you want to know what happened, you’ll have to beg him for the details.

Mind you, while I do occasionally read Doug’s blog (just have to be careful as the stuff he links to isn’t always work-safe), I haven’t commented on it in a long, long time. But, I did on Wednesday. His response was this: “Dan, welcome to my blog. I’m always a little curious how newcomers find this place…”

Yep, I commented as Dan, and he didn’t know who I was. But, he eMailed me about it too, commenting that he didn’t recognize Dan, but he saw my eMail address “…and realized — it’s dcr!”

You see, back on the Writers-BBS, I was (and still am!) dcr. I am dcr on most places I join, if the name is available. It goes back to my first “vanity” eMail address from circa 1992 or so. On the local freenet, we were at first assigned user IDs. I think it was something like two or three letters and four numbers. And, they were recycled, as my ID had previously been used, and I would occasionally get eMail from people writing to their old friend. Shortly after I joined, they added the capability to have “vanity” IDs, where you could choose your ID instead of being aa1234, or whatever you were. I chose “dcr.”

Naturally, when I signed up for another BBS, I was dcr there too. And, when I set up my own BBS, I was, again, dcr.

So, when Doug sent me that eMail, that’s when it hit me. I already have a brand. I’m not Dan (well, I am but…), I am dcr! It was then that I began thinking about changing the name of the blog.

I kept thinking about it, and was so excited about the prospect, I had to get up out of bed at 3:00 a.m., boot up the computer and see if dcrblogs.com was available. It was, and I registered it.

So, the project for Thursday night was changing the name. First, I had to decide between “DCR” and “dcr.” I dislike using lower case letters for names or initials. We capitalize names as a way of showing respect. So, not capitalizing them is disrespectful. I prefer capitalization.

On the other hand, because, way back when, lower case was the norm for eMail addresses, I have always been a lower case dcr. This still being the Internet, I suppose lower case wouldn’t be so bad.

What made the decision, however, was DC Blogs. That’s the closest URL to dcrblogs.com, so I figured I don’t want to be like them. So, I figured that if they were “dc Blogs” then I would be “DCR Blogs.” Likewise, if they were “DC Blogs” then I would be “dcr Blogs.” In case it’s not immediately obvious, they are “DC Blogs.” That resolved that issue!

I created the new logo. Next, I went to work on getting the rest of the site changed. I didn’t think it would be too hard.

To make a long story short, when I went to bed Thursday night at 2:30 a.m., my blog was an error page, and I now appear on Technorati as “WordPress > Error.”

You see, as I was changing things, the hard drive on the server that hosts my blog decided to go on a little trip South. So, things weren’t working and, until the hard drive completely went nuts, wacky things were happening that I thought were my doing as I was trying to make the switch.

So, I will probably lose my Authority of 4 in Technorati and have to start all over with dcrBlogs.com. At least the blog is still young so it’s not as damaging as it might have been. That assumes I do have everything configured properly now!

Back to branding… A positive with dcr Blogs is that there aren’t as many DCR Blogs as there are Dan Blogs. Right now, the #1 result on a Google search for “dcr blogs” is the Davis College Republicans, but I’ll knock them out of that spot soon enough.

On a final note, welcome to dcr Blogs! I’m your host, dcr!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Today, John Chow had a link to a news report on Outsourcing Child Care.

That reminded me of an older solution, one that is probably a little more practical and economical: the Baby Cage.

The Baby Cage comes in a variety of sizes. There is also a portable version, as well as one designed for teenagers.

Check ‘em out!

These are all satire, by the way. No one is actually suggesting anyone use any of these methods!

Popularity: 5% [?]

I was planning on a big announcement this evening, but it looks like it will have to wait a bit due to some technical difficulties. Bummer. Have a post ready to write up and everything.

Stay tuned!

Popularity: 4% [?]