Microsoft using Neural Networking Ranking in Search Results

I’ve been curious to see when search engines were going to start exploring using neural networks for their search engine rankings. Microsoft at Searchification Day just announced that their new algorithm is able to understand the meaning between the words used in a keyword phrase:
The improved ranking algorithms use neural networking ranking that are loosely [...]

Become an SEO Warrior

Discovered this cute SEO flash game that lets you fight the enemies of good search engine optimization.
Incidentally, this is a great example of link baiting. Made me link to their site, now didn’t it?
This is published by 1-800-Volunteer.org. To learn more visit www.1-800-Volunteer.org.

Feedback from National Conference on Volunteering & Service

I just received feedback from the workshop I gave at the National Conference on Volunteering & Service. Here are some of the highlights

Great for non-geeks, very helpful, awesome & funny – good to laugh at yourself
She’s a great presenter.
This is one of the best sessions I’ve attended so far.
Great information – good job of connecting [...]

How to Read Web Traffic Reports

After going through a series of trainings on how to read web analytic reports, and how to create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your website, I’ve been struggling with how to explain the whole issue in an easy to understand way.
I found the perfect article, so my thanks to Jason Burby from The ClickZ Network [...]

Real life Link Building Email that worked

I’ve been helping our friends at VolunteerLouisiana.gov develop inbound links, and I wanted to share with you the email that I sent to webmasters that is working to build traffic and links to their site:
Subject:
Developing a partnership to help New Orleans rebuild
Body:
Dear ,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Louisiana [...]

Optimizing your site for Yahoo

Most of the tips that I have provided to our users focus on optimizing your site for Google, but I stumbled upon an article that just focuses on optimizing for Yahoo. The full article is here, and here are the bits I think you should focus on:

Title Tag: Keep your title tag as short as [...]

Recruiting Volunteers by Using Facebook

Considering my post yesterday was about you can use Gather.com to recruit older NPR type folks, I figured I would follow up with a post about how to use Facebook to promote your volunteer opportunities to a younger crowd.
So here we go.1. Create Personal Facebook account2. Join your regional/city network3. Create an event (on the [...]

Optimizing PDFs for Search Engines

I know that many of us put brochures, event flyers, etc. on our websites for potential volunteers to download. PDFs are not naturally very search engine friendly, but they can be!
Here’s a great article from Search Engine Land that explains how.
This is published by 1-800-Volunteer.org. To learn more visit www.1-800-Volunteer.org.

Getting Bloggers to Help Raise Funds for Your Nonprofit

I was initially going to just write an article about why non-profits might want to use Gather.com — which has been described as a “MySpace for grownups” — to find volunteers, and then I found this nifty tidbit in their press release section:
Gather.com bloggers can earn cash or Gather PointsTM that are redeemable for [...]

What are Website "Hits" Anyway?

Which number should you track? “Hits” or “Visitors“?
Well, let’s look at what the difference is between a hit and a visitor.
Hits: A “hit” is not a visitor [...]