SEO Blog

SEO Company purchased ILQ.CA today and will be putting up an Inbound Link Quality (ILQ) rating tool, a list of the highest IQL rated Web directories and a directory submission service to these same dirctories.

Well I just had Abe, my computer person, set up 2 new systems for me. The systems were from Laura who does the link coordination for SEO Company and Susan who is editor of the Gospel Trumpet bi-monthly magazine. I though I would list some of the software and hardware deals and offer some pointers on the best way to set up a new system.

Hardware:
The following are the 4 sites that I check for deals on hardware. I waited for the Dell sale and picked up 2 boxes for $249 each and then added a 1GB DDR stick to both of them.

Dell Desktops — If you just need a box for data entry is you wait for 2 or 3 weeks you will get a Dimension 1100, 2.66GHz Celeron, Windows XP Home, 80GB HD, 512MB DDR, CD-RW drive for $249 plus $79 shipping. That’s about $375 to your door. Keep in mind that the 512MB memory will be 2 sticks of 256MB so you when you move to 1GB RAM you will have to purchase a 1GB stick.

TigerDirect Desktops — This is the next place I keep my eye on. I have very good mobo/cpu/memory deals like Intel motherboard, 3.06GHz Intel Celeron, and 512MB DDR for $124.97.

Futureshop.ca Desktops — They have some good hardware deals here and shipping is free.

Software:

AVG Free — I have been using AVG free on home computers for about 3 years. It is as good as Norton AV and is not bloat ware. It also is free. If you are want to use this product in a commercial environment it is $19.48 a year if you get it 2 years at a time.

Spybot Search & Destroy — Spybot S&D is free and works great. I have been using this product for other 3 years.

I am working on a directory rating system called Inbound Link Quality (ILQ). The basics of this rating system is the values it gives dir.yahoo, dmoz, edu and gov inbound links that directories have. Each dir.yahoo link is given 1 point (you get an average of 15 links per submission), each dmoz link is given 30 points, edu links are given 45 points and gov links are given 67 points.

Here is my new list of Top Web Directories. Feel free to give me feed back on this system.

Matt Cutts has posted in Bigdaddy Status Update: Almost There that there are only 1 or 2 datacenters left in the switchover.

I posted on the thread and asked Matt about the status of the PR export as it seems that one has happened in the middle of the Bigdaddy update. He noted that “I think you’re more likely to see a PR update soon.”

When you start to get 100 to 200 spam emails a day you have to do some thing. After I got behind by about 1300 emails (66% spam) I had to do some thing. I didn’t want to set up a system that required the email sender to register as I would miss many important emails. I really didn’t feel like I could trust any system where I couldn’t see the emails that were being marked as spam.

Some one refered me to Cloudmark Desktop and I gave it a try. Works great! There are a total of 1.8 million people using that system. When you get an email Cloudmark Desktop generates a fingerprint and sends it to the Cloudmark server. The server evaluates that fingerprint and based on the feedback from other Cloudmark users will put that email in a spam folder if the fingerprint is determined as being spam.

You also have the option of marking email as spam by clicking the block button that Cloudmark adds to your email client. To pervent misuse of the block or unblock button a registered user is given a trust rating. If the user unblocks spammy email there tust level goes down. Based on the timeliness and correctness of your blocks your trust level goes up.

Cloudmark supports both Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

Here is Cloudmarks list of key benefits.

1. Installs in minutes and requires no configuration
2. No rules or lists to manage
3. Blocks over 98% of spam from reaching your inbox
4. Uniquely blocks phishing emails to safeguard you against scams
5. Puts you in control—simply press the Block or Unblock button
6. Free automatic product updates and email support

I will be at the SES Conferences in Toronto on April 25th and 26th. I am looking forward to meeting in person some of people I only know by email and phone. If you are planning on going to either the exhibition or the conference then look me up if you like.

I emailed and phoned around trying to find some free passes but there is none to be had. The best you can do is get the priority code from one of the Exhibitors which gives you 20% off of the conference price. I got my priority code from Website Services Magazine.

Website Services has a new magazine that is geared toward Webmasters. Check out the current issue if you like. They also have their back issues online. If you like what you see online you can get a free subscription and if you don’t want to wait email John@WebSiteServices.com and he will mail you the current issue.

For all you Canadians I would also suggest you pay in US dollars seeing how the conversion rate they are using is 1.25 and the Canada dollar is down around 1.13 these days.

All the best and I hope to see from friends there.