Archive for October, 2007
How I got a Google PageRank 5 in 3 months
In the previous post, I talked about Tech Help Videos getting a PageRank 5 in 3 months time. (This blog is only 3 months old) And what is more interesting is that I got a PR 5 in one go. Strategic Internet Marketing and a few other people emailed me to write a post about how I did this. So here is it is. But I am no John Chow so I am not an expert but here is what I did.
1) Quality content – Having high quality content is very important. If you do not have good content, then you will not have much traffic. This rule goes especially to blogs or sites that have a special purpose or a commercial website or blog. Also, others may link your post or blog about it if they really liked your post. If you have people linking your blog or your posts, then this is a very good sign.
2) No banner and text link ads – I do not sell any text link ads nor any banner ads on this site. Of course most people would like to make some money with a blog, but it will hurt your user experience a bit. However, if you arrange your ads in a very logical and clever way, it will be fine. Another reason why I do not have any ads is because I am running on the free WordPress platform. They do not allow me to have ads but I contacted WordPress and they said that they are working on an upgrade package to allow ads. However, even if I am allow to embed ads, I will not use them.
3) Controlled – Tech Help Videos is a very controlled site. I do not have any crazy looking thing sticking out in the sidebar nor does it have any disturbing things in the articles.
4) Commenting – I actually do comment a lot on other blogs. Some blogs that I comment on are:
However, I am NOT a guy who just sits in front of computer and comment all day. About 10 minutes a day will be fine. From my traffic status reports, I get traffic from the sites I comment on everyday.
[I will continue to improve and add to this article]
My Google PageRank is 5! I’m beating top bloggers!
I checked my Google Pagerank and it read ‘5′. I was very surprised and and excited. Tech Help Videos is about three months old and to get a Pagerank of 5 is a great achievement. My next goal would be to either maintain this rank or increase it to 6.
Top bloggers get slapped in the face!
Unlike mine, many top bloggers got their Google Pagerank reduced. The top blogs include
John Chow dot com PR 6 to 4
Engadget PR 7 to 5
Quick Online Tips PR 6 to 3
It seems that the reason for this decrease is due the the blogs/sites selling text links. And this does make some sense. For a detailed article on why selling links can hurt your Pagerank, please click HERE. I don’t sell links, nor do I sell any ads. I want my readers to get the best possible user experience. That is without any annoying pop ups and without any kind of ads.
Update – There seems to be an error with Google Pagerank for some sites/blogs. Some blogs got their Pagerank decreased at first but back to normal now. The blogs that was affect by this error included:
Problogger – PR 6 to 4 PR 6
CopyBlogger – PR 6 to 3 PR 7
UPDATE – Becuase I haven’t updated this blog for a long time, the PR has dropped.
Show Quick Access bar below the ribbon
Question: How can I make the Quick Access bar appear below the ribbon?
Answer: You can make the Quick Access Bar appear below the ribbon by doing the following:
1) Open Microsoft Word 2007. At the very top of the window, click on the little arrow pointing down. (The arrow is next to the default shortcuts on the right of the Office Menu button)
2) In the drop down menu, click ‘Show below the Ribbon’.
To make the Quick Access bar appear on top of the Ribbon again, perform step no.1 and click ‘Show above the ribbon’.
Download ‘Tech Help Videos’ free toolbar
I have created a new toolbar for Tech Help Videos. The toolbar works for both Firefox and Internet Explorer Version 5+. You will be required to have Windows 2000 or XP or Vista.
The toolbar features:
- Search function powered by Google
- RSS Feed Updates
- Email Notifier
- Weather Updates
- Links to ‘Tech Help Videos’ and ‘Tech Centre’
- Messaging feature
- Customizable Widgets
This toolbar will allow you to get the latest tips and tricks from Tech Help Videos, received secret messages and tips, received email notifications, weather reports and forecast, quick access your favourite technology help website – Tech Help Videos! and customize your toolbar with widgets of your choice.
I would appreciate some feedback on this toolbar for version 1.1.
Keeping your computer clean
Keeping your computer clean is not just wiping the dust of it with a cloth. What I mean is that it is very important to not let your computer get infected with virus and spyware and also to not install a lot of junk unless if you have no choice. Viruses and Spyware can be avoided with a good Security Suite. However, there is no program that prevents you from installing a program. It is up to you. I recommend installing the software that you really need and the ones that you trust. Installing more and one security suite and anti virus program can cause them to not function properly and to conflict each other. Also, although you uninstall a security suite or anti virus program, compartments of that software can still be stored in the back ground of your PC. That is why it is better to stick with one Security Suite than try out a different one each year. Another important point is to prevent installing trail out software and betas. Installing too much of these can cause your computer to slow down. Take this real example, When I first bought this ASUS laptop, I upgraded to Vista and then installed nearly everything I could. I kept the trial software, installed five web browsers and all these other freebies and performance enhancement utilities. When I start-up the laptop, it took about 3 minutes and 3 minutes to shut-down and 70% of RAM were already used up. So then I wanted to install Windows Live OneCare and it was a total nightmare. (Read my nightmare story here)
After reinstalling Windows, I was too scared to install any other junk on my laptop. Although some performance enhancement software does help your PC’s speed, they may conflict your Windows default settings and too many of them can cause your computer to crash. So, I do not want you to experience my nightmare and having to reinstall Windows. I have done it and I have experienced it, so you don’t!
Apology for Computing in the clouds delay
Dear Readers,
I apologize for the delay of Part 2 of Computing in the clouds guide. I have been very busy over the last two weeks and I will try to make it up. The second part of ‘Computing in the clouds’ will be published in the next two days and the third part will follow.
If you have any tips or computing tricks, please tell me via email. I will really appreciate it and might published it on Tech Help Videos and give you credit by linking you. This is a great way to get some free publicity and traffic to your site or blog (if you have one). Tech Help Videos is currently ranked 470,271 in Alexa (middle of October) and take into the account that the site is quite new. Unfortunately I am not accepting paid advertising now, but even better, you get linked for free if your tip is good.
Keep drivers up to date
Question: Keep your drivers up to date is the next thing you should think about after updating your operating system. Having the latest drivers help to keep your computer running smoothly, secure and also compatible with other devices. But checking if you have the latest drivers weekly is a very idiotic thing to do. So how can I automatically know if there is a driver update?
Answer: There is a program program called ‘Driver Agent‘ which can automatically detect if you have a driver that is out of date. Although this program is not free and costs $24.95 (this is a special offer for PC World readers – all you have to do is to subscribe to one of their newsletters via email), it such a time saver.
But the good thing is that you now get a free scan! This free scan will detect if you have any old drivers. ‘Driver Agent’ is compatible even with Vista. To get your free scan please click HERE
Why simple bundled Windows software is good
A lot of software is shipped with our operating system. I find the most comes from Windows XP. However, apart from all those junk trail software where you can’t really use them without purchasing them, there are actually quite a lot of really useful programs. Most of these useful ones are not third-party programs, they are from Microsoft. One great example is ‘Paint’. Paint comes standard with Windows 2000, XP and Vista. Although it does not offer any serious pro tools but it is very easy to use and is enough for a lot of purposes. I use Paint all the time for doing Print-Screens and then copying it into Paint and then do a bit of editing with Paint and sometimes with Windows Live Photo Gallery. You can also do this job is Adobe Photoshop. However, you will have to spend a few hundred bucks and for starters, Photoshop can be very complicated to use and learn. So if you are one of those people who write-off simple applications like Paint that comes standard with your PC, I want you to try using them for some simple purposes and see how you go.
Books!
I have recently added a new page called ‘Books’. As the title suggests, the page is about books. I will add my favourite books here and you can also suggest me books to add and I will give you credit by publishing your name or blog. (if you want to)
A lot of these books are available in audio version. I recommend Audible which is a great way to listen to audiobooks and use your down-time effectively. I use it and I’ll tell you, I love it!
Freeware of the week: Google Talk
Google Talk is a free chat client. It allows you to do instant messaging, voice mail and PC to PC calls. However, it does not have video chat. Although it does not have the features and functionality of its competitors like Skype and Windows Live Messenger, none can compete with its easy to use and intuitive user interface. Once you see it, you get it. Even very basic users will straight away know how to use it. Google Talk will require you to have a Google account. The small client is very easy to install and is less than 5MB. For a detailed article of the features in Google Talk, please click HERE
Google Talk is great for connecting with your friends and family. To download, Google Talk please, click HERE
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