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Archive for May, 2009

Drew Hannush

Spammers Need to Learn How to Spell!

by Drew Hannush
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May
29

Was browsing my spam folder (I am so glad Yahoo! Mail is smart enough to sort out all of my junk emails) to make sure there wasn’t anything important in there.  And low and behold, there was an eMail from the IRS.

Well, I figured it was a hoax of some sort, since the Internal Revenue Service knows better than to use email to communicate, but I decided to look at it anyway.

Amazingly, I found all sorts of misspellings…first of all, the IRS is getting quite hip:

“If u don’t receive your refund within 9 business”

U? Nice, well apparently Prince Rogers Nelson has gone to work for or infultrated the IRS.

Oh, but then it just gets messy:

“your records must show wether
they are exempt under section 497″

“the purpose of the award; the maner of
section; and the realtionship of the recipient”

The email was addressed by John Stewart (looks more like Jon Stewart if you ask me, because its pure comedy).

Anyway, they add a link that they say goes to the IRS and that you need to give them your personal information.

Are people really that dumb?  I mean, I understand if maybe you have some issues with spelling, but are you really going to go to some non-IRS address and type in all of your critical information like Social Security Numbers, etc.?

All I can say is, someone better start a school for spammers…they need some major help.

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Drew Hannush

Patience In SEO Nets #2 in Asheville Web Design

by Drew Hannush
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May
28

So, it has been about 5 months since we redesigned our website (Hannush.com) using strong search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.  And the results?

Well, surprising to me, in the highly competitive market of Greenville, SC we were able to jump in with both feet and within 2 1/2 months the site hit #3 in Google under the keywords “Greenville Web Design.”

This was our goal when we started, since we had pretty much completely ignored our own website’s optimization to focus on our clients instead (funny how web design companies always forget to focus on their own sites).  But a slow economy made us realize that good search engine placement is critical at all times, because you never know what will happen tomorrow and you don’t want to be playing catch up when you need the business the most.

In the Greenville market we had always been around page 3 or 4 in Google results, so it felt like a triumphant achievement when be broke onto page 1 of Google, let alone the result of hitting as high as #3 ahead of some firmly established web design companies.

Yet it was even more surprising when we looked at our Asheville, NC results the other day.  Asheville is where I grew up and we have a couple of customers there, but it has always been a very creative market and one that I thought was untouchable.  In fact, our search results there were non-existent.  In January, you couldn’t find us as deep as page 10 in Google.

Today, I looked and we were #2 under “Asheville Web Design.”  I must say, this was a lot more than I was expecting.

But this proves that in some cases good search engine optimization and a lot of patience (it took 5 months to get here) alone can get you to the results you desire and maybe better.

The key is, use your website’s strengths to leverage the results you desire and decide up front where you want to focus your energies.  Then hyperfocus on that goal.

A single plan of conquering a couple of keywords or markets can really help you and your web designer take your site to the next level in SEO.  But don’t rest on your laurels.  There is another website soon to sniff out your techniques.  SEO takes patience, but it also takes some care and maintenance.

For more information on how to achieve your SEO goals, I’d suggest trying out our Free Web Report, from EvolveYourSearch.com.  It will give you a little food for thought and help you decide if SEO is your next logical step.

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Drew Hannush

Adam Lambert’s Trainwreck Arrangements Continue

by Drew Hannush
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May
12

Well, another American Idol episode passes by and another example of how Adam Lambert is the best singer with the least ability to interpret a song.  With a wild range that reminds one of Mark Slaughter (of the band Slaughter and Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion) and the goth rock look of Evanescence, Adam sings his sappy soft side and runs into wild shrill but controlled high notes.  If he wants to build a career singing like the band The Darkness, he could enjoy the fine one album success they did, but I don’t see him touching the masses…instead he will live as a curiosity that fades like Fantasia and Taylor Hicks.

Kris Allen could be the longest term success with the least talent of the final three.  He has the look, he is the most modern, he is massively creative and intelligent with arrangements, and he can be brilliant from time to time (see “Ain’t No Sunshine”).

Danny Gokey continues to be my shoe in winner this year though.  He is the most consistent and he has a great vocal quality.  While I don’t see him being a long term success, I do think he will put out some great music and will have a following that will stick with him and make him very rich.

The votes will soon be in, but I put Danny on top with Kris coming in a close second.

Adam’s wreckless arrangements are going to do in the most vocally talented singer in the competition.

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Drew Hannush

New Competition For Google

by Drew Hannush
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May
5

As I am prone to do…I am always looking for a better mousetrap.  So, while doing a little research on the search engines, I read a curious post on Matt Cutt’s blog about new competition for Google.  The site is called Blekko. Curious as I was, I went to look at the site to see what they had posted on their site (since so many of the less professional sites I’ve seen feature those ugly under construction graphics).  To my surprise, this is what I found (http://www.blekko.com).

The image you see is appropriately called Boo.jpg.  Apparently the marketing VP discussed in the blog is going for “shock” value!  So far, Google has little to worry about from Blekko.

On another front though, there is a challenger to Google that might make some headway.  More than just a search engine, the Wolfram Alpha project is meant to think for you.  When it was first explained to me, it sounded like another version of Ask.com, where you give a question and this engine gives you back related sites.  But Wolfram Alpha is much more advanced than that.   Apparently Dr. Stephen Wolfram (obviously the engine’s creator) took his brilliant mind and came up with a search engine that actually intelligently takes the question you ask and finds the results and prints it on the screen…so it doesn’t necessarily take you to sites, but gives you the answers you’re looking for.  This I’ll have to see for myself.

Anyway, for anyone that is interested…check out his video presentation and read this article from G4 that gives you an overview.  It’s supposed to launch this month.  We shall see.

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