On The Web

Symbianize officially opened

Symbianize, the Exclusive Pinoy Chat, Mobile, and PC Community made its debut last December 08, 2006.

The site is powered by vBulletin which is well-known for its security, stability, and vast availability of features and the site's URLs are search engine optimized by vBSEO.

Symbianize Forums offers Filipino citizens a wide variety of discussions mostly related to Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. Other categories pertaining to Personal Computer (PC) and Media files like e-books, graphics, audios, and videos are also available.

Other service includes an Arcade System where members can kill time playing their favorite old school games and some new flash games developed today, while waiting for someone to reply to their posts.

There's also a Shoutbox where members can communicate directly to one another. Shoutbox is powered by AJAX technology so members don't need to manually refresh the page for new shouts. It automatically refreshes if a new shout is submitted.

My Projects

Most Recent Projects:

Since the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest is drawing to a close I'm going to be practicing the skills learned from participating in the seocontest to mylatest projects

1. Email Hoaxes & Urban legends is focused on email virus hoaxes and urban legends

2. I also started SEO Tools List which will be a site listing the best online SEO tools available on the web.

3. I also am offering SEO Services from my main company website however I don't intend to make SEO Services a full time business. I much prefer to develop my own sites and do Search engine optimization on them but I will take on a few clients occasionally.

4. My newest concept is a site based on the word cloud theme but instead of the words linking directly to a site, they link to an internal page which contains an article of relevant text containing the link giving relevant backlinks and a link bidding directory site both containing pages for sale.

5. I've also started a blog. The name of the blog is Magic words and phrases. This magicwordsandphrases.com was a domain that at one time belonged to my sister and was her webmaster site. She gave up the domain long ago but I always loved the name so I purchased it about a week ago and have dedicated it to being a blog about random thoughts, philosophy, and life is a site that will cover a variety of topics including some site reviews eventually. It will focus on making life interesting on the web by forfeiting dull and dry text in favour of the use of language and style that makes sites interesting and a pleasure to read.

6. SEO Tools List is another site that I've had little time to work on but is in development now.

So, hopefully, after the ambatchdotcom seocontest is over I will be able to invest more time into the development of these websites.

Great SEO Resource for Directories

When I first started doing SEO, I learned that one of the first things to do is to submit to directories.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that it's often free, or free with a link exchange, or, if not free, inexpensive. For a relatively small budget you can get linked from a multitude of directories fairly quickly.

Backlinks are on every webmaster's wish list but the problem for me was locating the good directories, and knowing what I was getting into. Sometimes I'd get all the way through the submission process and find that there was a fee I wasn't willing or prepared to pay. What I wanted, what I needed, was a directory of directories.

So, I'm pleased to share my new discovery with everyone. A Directory of directories!

http://www.best-web-directories.com/ not only gives you listings of directories but they rate them as well and give you a listing of free directories and the best paid directories (with fees) and niche directories as well as great information like how long it takes to get listed, the page rank of the directory, a comment or two about the directory.

I've bookmarked this site (wish I'd found this long ago) and suggest that you take a look and see what a great resource this directory of directories is.

SEO Tools

As anyone who is interested in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) knows, there is a lot of information needed to establish a game plan for optimizing a web site for search engines.

Fortunately, there are a plethora of online SEO tools available to check everything from back links, domain age, page rank, keyword density and everything in between.

Check the list of SEO tools at http://www.seotoolslist.com

Zune Fever

Dude, You're Getting a Zune

This morning I ran into some interesting stuff at Zune
Scene. Apparently Microsoft has prepared an iPod killer just in time
for the holidays. One of the things that got my attention was the large
variety of zune accessories available at launch, and the cool looking zune case
options. Zunescene has also posted 2 interesting graphs. One shows the
percentage of iPod owners who indicated they will buy a Zune, the other
shows year over year iPod sales in a slump.

iPod Owners Who Say They Will Buy Zune

Currently Apple dominates the MP3 player market, but after the apparent success of the XBOX I'm starting to think the Zune MP3 player
may have a chance.

Requesting a topic

An interesting new site has popped up. The site is whos4you.com and it's a mini article site.

What you find at whos4you is a list of articles on a variety of topics and within the article, you'll find a link to a page that is related to the topic.

If I were the type to bet, I'd imagine this kind of site will become very popular to webmasters and SEO specialists.

If the subject you're looking for is not on the page, the webmaster offers a request page you can request that an article be written and offer a link to a site that is relevant.

This is good SEO for the person "who is" because they end up with a relevent link.

I have a feeling there will be more and more of these types of sites. The articles are short and factual and also make good research material.

As a bonus, the articles can be used in other sites on the condition that the links are kept intact.

Weight Loss Information

Man oh man! I decided to search for some information on a weight loss product called "Lipo 6" and a google search gave me 293000 results.

All I wanted was a simple, no nonsense, objective lipo 6 review to give me an idea of what the product does, how it works, what are the side effects and mostly, does it work! And I wanted to find out from a person who actually uses the product or has used the product - not someone trying to sell the stuff!

Luckily I found a great lipo 6 review at http://www.viruz.com/my-second-lipo-6-review/

Thanks samskpun (blog owner) for providing exactly what I was looking for.

Ambatchdotcom seocontest ship is sinking

The Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Ship is Sinking so it's time to BAIL...

I was expecting to jump UP a position or two not DOWN! Sorry guys, when the ship starts sinking it's time to toss over the dead weight and in this case, the dead weight are those recip links. Gone History No more.

With only 11 days left in the contest I've been working my ambatchdotcom seocontest behind off only to be rewarded with loosing a position instead of gaining so now, my behind being in great danger of dissapearing alltogether, I'm going to double my efforts and see if I can't pull back up into the top 3.

Thats all for now,

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest 11 more days!

The Last Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Entry

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Entry #last

This will probably be my last ambatchdotcom seocontest entry. With 2 weeks to go in the seocontest I am concentrating more on optomizing the main page than working on the blog.

I've included a lot of my strategy for this seocontest on the ambatchdotcom seocontest main page - it might actually make for some interesting reading for someone. I will be adding to that page some other details about what I've done for SEO on this seo contest site.

The front page also points out some differences between SEO for ambatchdotcom seocontest and general SEO for real world web sites as I believe the strategy needs to be somewhat different.

Anyway, it's been fun, and challenging and yes, a learning experience. At the moment, ambatchdotcom seocontest is somewhat like the moments after giving birth. Yes, I am glad I did it, I am happy with the outcome but for now, I never want to do it again. But, that may change over time, as the memory works it's magic and eventually, you are left with only the nice memories and the stress and challenges are washed away.

Good luck to all the contestants.

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Page Rank Update In Progress

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Page Rank Update in Google Today.

What will this do to the competition???? so far my checks have indicated that the top 4 for ambatchdotcom seocontest with PR5, several of the top 10 with PR0 and 1 with PR3, 1 with PR4.

So, with regards to my hopes of pulling ahead of number 1 and 2, It looks like page rank isn't going to do it for me as we all are being given the same ranking.

It's early in the update, it could take days for it to completely roll out but I suspect that the next few days will show some changes in the top 10 ranking in ambatchdotcom seocontest land.

Stay tuned, the final checkpoint is just over 24 hours to go - this could get exciting!

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest - Christmas in September

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest! Isn't Christmas Still 3 months away?

3 months and 1 day from today it will be Christmas Eve. My apologies in advance for those of you who are reading who could care less about this commercial Christian holiday but my guess my rant about the Christmas push would mirror the feelings of non Christians as well!

I had to change my clothes this morning. On the first day of fall I ventured out on my deck expecting the same chill in the air that has been present for the past week. I was pleasantly surprised to find it WARM outside.

Grasping for a few more coffee on the deck mornings, I quickly grabbed my mug and the newspaper and positioned myself on the deck for my morning wake up.

A while ago I headed out to pick up a few things at a local big box store. I expected the Halloween products adorning the store. It's only 5 weeks until the children get dressed up and beg treats from the neighbors after all, what I didn't expect was the Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Christmas decorations taking up 4 aisles of the store! THREE MONTHS! there are still 3 months until Christmas people... give it a bloody rest already!

If I was an organizer type I'd be trying to organize a boycott of these stores that start shoving the holiday season down our throats in September. There is nothing good about it... NOTHING.

My kids start santa talk way too soon, it takes up valuable store space, it enhances the whole commercialism of the season, and frankly, I just get way too tired of Christmas before it even arrives when I am forced to look at it every time I go into a store for months in advance of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday. I enjoy all the family around, I love decorating and planning, I love buying for family and friends and trying to pick out the perfect gifts, I love the sentement of the holiday, the feeling of warmth and love seems to wash over even the most hardened of people and I would like it if it didn't take a holdiay to bring out the best in people but starting Christmas in September does not make people warm and fuzzy in September.

I have other things to think about. I have the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest to think about, I have work to think about, I have a host of birthdays in the fall season. My daughter, oldest son, husband, neice, nephew and my birthday all take place from September 15th to Novemeber 9th. Then there's ThanksGiving right in the middle of all that (yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October), and then Halloween. After that I'll think about Christmas.

This Ambatchdotcom Seocontest entry is valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

This Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Entry Is Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!

Ok, not the WHOLE site but the main Ambatchdotcom Seocontest site page is. The blog isn't, well, because the template isn't and while I have modified the template slightly to suit me, I don't think I'm going to mess with it that much. After all, I have messed up this site several times over the course of the seo contest and at this stage, with only 5 weeks left to go, I'm not ready to rebuild the whole thing yet AGAIN.

Interestingly enough, this is the only time I've successfully validated a page. I have made several attempts but found the number of warnings and errors on WC3 overwhelming and easily became discouraged and gave up. After all, my sites looked fine, why bother?

This time however, Joey's comments on the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Forum got me thinking about it and I decided that every little bit would help. So, if Google ever adds validation to their algo, I'll be all set. But considering that Google doesn't validate, the chances that it will help in this competition are minimal. I'm guessing though, it can't hurt.

Other Top 10 entries in the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest SEO contest that validate:

~~Well, there are none.~~

Edit: Just me and Tiger in the validated ambatchdotcom seocontest camp - top 10 wise anyway. Tiger let me know his page is now up to snuff so as promised, showing his url without the spaces!

netdeveloppeur.com/referencement/ambatchdotcom-seocontest-article105.html says it is but it is not Tiger probably made a change to his Ambatchdotcom Seocontest entry and didn't notice that it produced warnings. He'll either have to figure it out himself or read my blog to find out.

~~Tiger, if you're reading, fix your errors and I'll take the spaces out of your url~~

Speculation is a waste of time

Speculating on 'what if's' is truely a waste of time but as I sit watching my ambatchdotcom seocontest seo contest entry bounce between 3rd and 2nd position I got to thinking. What if. What if I'd had a keyword rich domain name with the words ambatchdotcom seocontest instead of my broken up version ambatch-dotcom-seocontest.com?

I've been pretty steady in the number 3 position and Age Magician has dominated number 1 for most of the contest but what if I'd had a better domain name?

I checked a few variations on the key phrase and interestingly enough, this is what I found

ambatchdotcom - 1st position

ambatch contest - 1st postion

ambatchdotcom seo - 1st position

ambatchdotcom seo contest - 1st and 2nd position (indented)

ambatch seo contest - 2nd position (after ambatch)

ambatch.com seocontest - 2nd position (after ambatch)

seocontest - 7th position (the first ambatchdotcom seocontest entry in the list - the others are carcrasherdotcom seocontest entries)

I don't know if this all means I'd be in first spot if I had the ambatchdotcom seocontest domain name - but what really irks me is that I did buy a better domain name after I started with this one but didn't promote it. I think it's too late to start now! I am now convinced that a good SEO practice is to ensure your target keywords are in your domain name.

I AM Canadian! Ambatchdotcom Seocontest in Canada

I Am Canadian!

So what's in a country? Well, in Canada there are 3 entrants in the ambatchdotcom seocontest. That I know of.

Michael of the only .ca entry, is currently ranking 4th over all or 3rd. That depends on if I'm in 2nd or 3rd place and that depends on where you look!

However, if you search google.ca Michael is in second spot. Here in Canada we don't play favorites - that's why the only .ca entry still only ranks 2nd in the Canadian version of the great search engine. (I however am ranking #4 there!)

Take a look at the 'results from Canada' option and you'll see that there are only 13,800 results and Michael's entry gets to rank number 1 there. But number 2? jim westergren? I didn't know Jim was Canadian??

I don't think I'm even in the results on the Canadian results, not that I can see anyway and if so, it's way behind sites that just have links to other entries and some other seo contest links so, being that I AM Canadian (those of you who are will get that) and proud of it, this particular ambatchdotcom seocontest entry is just to see for myself if I can get into the Canadian results. It doesn't help with the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest but it will make me feel better.

Round 2 is over

Ambatchdotcom Seocontest Finishes 3rd in Round Two.

Well Round 2 is completed and I managed to hold on to my number 3 position in the contest.

I was starting to believe that I am destined to stay in the number 3 spot, sort of like I've been crazy glued there, but last night and tonight I've seen this entry in the number 2 position in several data centers. Not enough to say I'm in the number 2 spot but enough to give me hope that if I do go somewhere, it might just be UP! However, If I'm going to be crazy glued anywhere, the top 3 is fine!

There was some discussion on the Ambatchdotcom Seocontest forum about link trades among the contest holders. I had been toying with the idea myself and was happy to see that several ambatchdotcom seocontest participants seemed to also be thinking it might be a good SEO move. I guess we'll see over the next several weeks what, if any effect it has on the rankings.

In the mean time, I'm working on some off site SEO trying to nudge this entry up a spot or 2.

I have made a few changes on site as well and I'm waiting to see how that plays out as well.