Why do I think that newspapers will keep on existing, although they are doing everything to kill themselves these days? Because of newspapers like The New York Times. And not because of the business-part, but because of the quality of people working there. They make very good content, which you can only make if you put time and effort to it. This weekend The New York Times made a piece of content again which I like very much. It looks simple, but it has taken some time to make . See below the comparison they made between Google, Microsoft, Apple and Yahoo. Very handy!

I ran into this video which gives a nice insight in why some believe the Google Sandbox is bad for business:

But what is it really? Google’s definition is:

"A filter affect that Google places on new domains to stop the website from high rankings for the main keywords."

Wikipedia says:

"The Sandbox (a.k.a. Sandboxing or the sandbox effect or the Google penalty) is a name given to an observation about the way Google ranks web pages in its index. It is the subject of much debate—its existence has been written about[1][2] but not confirmed and several observers state that they have observed the contrary"

Just before my daughter was born I did a presentation about the use of online social networking in front of a group of Dutch "offline" managers. The presentation (in Dutch) can be seen on my Dutch blog.

One of the things which is always difficult is to explain to those who are not familiar with the subject what social networking actually is and what the benefits are. That’s why I like Common Craft so much. These guys know how to explain things easy:

I like gadgets and new stuff. I always want to have those new ‘thingies’. Unfortunaltely a table like this one doesn’t belong to my household yet. Would love to have one. It’s like a giant iPod Touch or iPhone, but then better.

But I’m curious, when do you think we will all have one of these in our living room?

I found this video featuring SEO Strategist Jessica Bowman. She talks about what can go wrong in SEO projects. And as we all know, we can learn from our mistakes .

If you read a lot on the web you often ‘bump’ into good articles and posts. One of them I found at the weblog off Renata Verloop. She writes (in Dutch) about usabilitytests, what are they and what do you have to look at in such a test.

The importance of a usabilitytest is large. Not only do you help your visitors find quickly what they are looking for and therefore make them feel well about your website, it also helps with search. How? Well it’s pretty simple actually: if your website follows the usability-rules and the visitor will find what they want fast and easy, they will easier make a link to your site as a source. Just as I’m doing to Renata’s website right now. And those links help in increasing your websites ranking in search engines.

Renata’s article covers a number of different items:

- What is a usabilitytest?
- For what do you use a usabilitytest?
- What do you need to do yourself?
- Who can do a usabilitytest and what are the costs?
- What are the do’s and don’ts?

The last part I want to give away here, just because they are good ‘tips’. For the others parts, read the article yourself .

The do’s en don’ts according to Renata:

Don’ts

• Start testing the website when its completely finished
• Having usabilitytests done by the designer or webbuilder (they are checking their own work)
• Doing the tests on your websites at your aunties
• Saying the testers are doing it wrong

Do’s

• Reserve a budget for usabilitytests
• Test a prototype
• Formulate what you want to learn from a test
• Have projectmembers attent tests
• Have the tests done by a specialized usability agency
• Test again after big changes

Through Dutch Cowboys I ran into another great describing picture from Elliance. You often hear that SEO (search engine optimization) is very expensive. And I too notice that clients are somewhat reluctant when it comes to starting with SEO. In the end is does pay out however. Especcially compared to advertising. Elliance shows that in this picture

This posting in Dutch

Again proof of what a good source the Cowboys and Cowgirls are. Two postings (you can’t call them articles ) with reference to these sites. Now its the Dutch Cowgirls‘ turn. Through that site I found this picture. This map is based on a subway-map and gives a great view of the curren internet Web Trends. And then especially all the different companies that play a big role. Very nice to look at and to get the big picture

Click here for the big picture

Click here to download the pdf-version

"Content is king, the rankings will follow." That is a judgement that is often done by people who just do not understand SEO completely. Of course, good content is the beginning of good search engine marketing because otherwise it makes no sense to optimize a page. But there really has to been something more …

But back to the content: the problem which pops up is "how do you get good content"? When writing the content, there are many things you need to look out for. In this video some of these things are discussed. Very useful.

The world of search is clearly changing. Last night I tried to explain to a few of my relations that it is also

interesting to post your videos on YouTube or other videosites. Not just because you will then be found in many ways in Google or directly on YouTube, also because there are more ‘vertical’ searchengines emerging all the time.

One example is Searchme. This searchengine is out only in beta, but it gives a very different picture of search than the usual search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. Searchme makes search much more visual. You really ‘browse’ through the search results. Users of Apple i-pod touch or the iPhone will certainly recognize this way of browsing.The nice thing is that you can find various types of content. So you’re able to find ‘ordinary’ websites but also for example videos. These videos are then shown directly in your browser so you’re easily tempted to view the video.

This makes it even more interesting is to see your videos placed on YouTube and other channels because that way you get even more exposure.

Moreover, starting today Searchme included a nice feature. You can make ‘stacks’ of search results. That can contain web pages, but also videos. These "stacks" you can then, like bookmarks, store but you can also share them with others. Through email or you can place it on your blog or website.

So I have collected all the videos that I could find on the Search Engine Strategies in 2008. Below you see the result. It’s a very nice feature. And what would it be fun if your video would have been between them, right?