Additional notes
And at the bottom are more links Coryon sent

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart .
– They're tagged with #Zentech.
– When what's said is unclear to me (or I'm unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (" ") verbatim.

Editor's comments are delimited by < >

Glenn started off by reminding people to stay current with their backups because there are a lot of viruses and phishing exploits out there. You may be asked to click on a link to fix a problem you don't really have and you end up with a real problem. E.g. you may get a popup window asking you to update the Adobe Flash player, instead of clicking in the window, seek out the Adobe site and do your update from there.

Repeating what he said on the last show, Paul said, when you bookmark a site use only the base address of the site — i.e. the home or main page. Don't bookmark a page you've come to after you've already clicked thru several pages. For instance, if you're on Paypal at the account page and you decide to bookmark it, the cookie Paypal leaves on your computer may cause problems later, according to Paul. So it's best just to create the bookmark from scratch, using the bookmark manager, by typing in the base URL — paypal.com

Microsoft Security Essentials is the 2nd most widely used security software for Windows. You have to have a legit copy of Windows to use it. AVG <a free version is here> is another popular security program. Both are free and there is a paid version of AVG which does more than the free version but whose features are not always needed. And remember, no anti-malware program is foolproof.

Paul has found a reason to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. XP does not have a well-working version of what's called shadow copy. If 2 programs try to access the same file at the same time, even if it's read-only, the file is forbidden from being copied when it's in use by another program

XP doesn't have an operational version of shadow copy, Win7 and newer does. Win7 allows backup software to properly copy a file even while it's changing. Cobian Backup, which is free, can take advantage of shadow copy but it doesn't warn you that it doesn't work right with XP.

Glenn said you can get reconditioned units with Windows XP from geeks.com, buy.com and overstock.com or Dell units that are coming off lease.

Paul talked about the Speedstep power saving technology from Intel (there's a competing product from AMD <Advanced Micro Devices>). It's especially valuable in a laptop but is useful in a desktop. What it does is slow the speed of the CPU to cut power consumption <I guess, more strictly, power demand or energy consumption> and reduces the heat produced.
– It can reduce the power consumed by about 4/5 when you're not doing anything that requires much from the CPU.
– The user doesn't have direct control over it.
– In Windows it's controlled indirectly by the power management functions. You get there thru system properties — look for the tab dealing with power management. <I think you can get to what he was talking about by going to Startup -> Control Panel -> Performance & Maintenance -> Power Options>
– The point Paul was getting to was that you can control the settings by typing powercfg.exe at the command line <'Command Prompt' selection on the start menu> with the appropriate parameters. See the above link for more info. <That link is actually wrong. Hopefully, Paul will fix it soon. Or you can try this one instead.> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748940(v=ws.10).aspx
– For the Mac users there's the link above to CoolBook. Laptops may be throttled back to keep them from overheating and the CoolBook app lets you see what's happening.

Glenn mentioned the membership drive, thanked those who have contributed, and reminded folks that there are thank you gifts available when you become a member. Go to kvmr.org and click on membership.

Coryon Redd was introduced. He talked about some changes at Google in the facilities businesses use to promote themselves. Some of the highlights include:
– Google is the largest search engine and has about 70% of the market.
– Search results have become more personalized. It track how you've search before to tailor subsequent results.
– Google has reduced the amount of info you get about how people used the search to get to your site. This is when you use Google Analytics as a free service. Now, Google wants you to pay to get the full results.
– Google's GoToMeeting service used to be free, it's now a pay service. Coryon said join.me is now his preferred way to share his screen. <join.me was mentioned in the 1-25-12 show>
– There is now 1 privacy policy to cover all of Googles services — gmail, picasa, the Android operating system, their affiliated partners, etc.
– Google keeps your user data anonymous. Their advertisers get only general data but not your identity.
– You can opt out but you won't be able to use Google's services.
– Paul asked about having all of your data deleted if you do opt out. Coryon didn't know if that was an option.
– Paul suggested a way to help protect your private information — to dilute it by giving false information when you fill out a user profile, i.e. a false name, date of birth, current location, etc.
– Related to that, Paul talked about Facebook and said there is a link there to find out what Facebook knows about you. It was put in because European countries required it. Click the link and you can download all the info they have about you. <I've heard that was true at first. Now you only get a subset of the info>

Paul mentioned Sierra Commons where he recently gave a talk about mobile computing. Apparently presentations are given there (in the Nevada City area) regularly on Tuesdays from 12pm to 1pm on topics related to small business. Coryon mentioned a meeting called Nevada County Online comprised of small businesses that meets the 4th Tuesday of the month at 11am in Grass Valley to hear speakers discuss internet marketing. It's free but RSVP. Go to meetup.com search for Nevada County Online <I didn't get any results but try a Google search with these words: site:meetup.com "Nevada County Online" — and get results like this>

A caller said he that when he wants to put on an event, he would post the info on Facebook. Then he'd notify his Facebook friends about the posting by sending out a notice to everyone in a group all at once. Now he has to click on each friend one at a time and he finds that inconvenient.
– Facebook downgraded that feature, you're forced to do that.
– The solution offered: "Post something on that group wall and then share that with a message to whoever your friends are". <Sorry I couldn't make sense of it, not a Facebook user>

Steve called. He's on the fringe of the KVMR signal and has trouble receiving it.
– Go to Radio Shack and get a external antenna. Use a coaxial or balanced feeder cable and have it go to an antenna outside the house.
– Make sure the antenna is for FM radio, not TV
– Put the antenna on the side of the house that faces Banner Mountain.
– KVMR is also on the internet. Click "listen live" on the front page.

Talk about making light sabers <as in Star Wars> led to mention of Sierra Makers aka Curious Forge — a local maker group.

Coryon talked about websites that have little content but a lot of ads <ad farms>. These sites are penalized in the search results at Google, in an effort to keep results relevant for those using Google search.

Google ranks search results using an algorithm that takes into account many factors — the way the copy is written on the page, the way the links are done, how long the page has been around, the last time it was updated and, most importantly, the quantity & quality of the incoming links.

Paul mention a site that test how well a website caters to disabled (blind) users — sco-browser.com. When Google scans a webpage, it's similar to a blind user in that it can't make sense of graphics and such, Testing your site for accessibility may give some indication of the way Google sees it.

Besides an automated algorithm, Google also employs people who help rank sites manually.

Coryon is teaching an introduction to online marketing class in Auburn at the SEDCorp offices. He'll also be teaching other classes, so for more info go to coryon.com/classes.

As Paul talked about before, Google's language translation engine very powerful because it's been fed enormous amounts of human translated documents from the United Nations & the European community.

To contact Coryon:
coryon.com
coryon@gmail.com

Next show is on the Feb 29.

 

---

Less keyword info in Analytics
http://www.stateofsearch.com/google-holds-back-organic-keyword-data-in-analytics-lobotomising-the-marketer/

Panda update – Google better at finding pages with paid / spammy links
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2067687/Google-Panda-Update-Say-Goodbye-to-Low-Quality-Link-Building

Content marketing on the rise – Pages with lots of sponsored ads will rank lower
http://mashable.com/2012/02/08/new-content-marketing-tactics/

Growing importance of Google+ and other social marketing
http://mashable.com/2012/02/10/seo-google-plus/
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/google-plus-seo

Announcement of upcoming Internet Marketing classes – point people to Coryon.com/classes to learn more.

Announcement of Dave Polivy as speaker for NCO. What is NCO?

Last updated: 11:59pm 2/15/12