Radja Monyet

by: Judy Hansen

For children, play is naturally enjoyable. And since it is their active engagement in things that interest them, play should be child-led, or at least child-inspired, for it to remain relevant and meaningful to them. Children at play are happily lost in themselves; they are in their own realm of wonder, exploration, and adventure, pulling parents in at times with a frequent “Let’s play, mom!” as an open invitation into that world.

As early as infancy, children immerse themselves in play activities with the purpose of making sense of the world around them. Play gives children the opportunity to learn and experience things themselves, which is vital for their development. Although peek-a-boo games seem pointless to adults, tots are awed by the surprise that awaits them as they see the suddenly emerging faces of people they love.

(Stages of Play)

During toddlerhood, children experience a motor-growth spurt that equips them to solitarily fiddle with anything they can get their hands on – be it a construction toy or the box from where it came.

Toddlers also love breaking into song, wiggling and jiggling to tunes, and imitating finger plays they are commonly exposed to.

Preschoolers begin extending their play to involve others, whether they bring others in at any stage of their game or they plan their game and its players’ way ahead. Their physical and motor skills allow them to widen their lay arena, from dramatic play to table games to outdoor pursuits.

School-age children start appreciating organized play – such as innovated songs and rhymes, games with rules, relays and other physical activities, sports and projects that they can accomplish over a certain time frame.

Play Perks:

Why the big fuss about playing? Play benefits the child in ways that might be a tad difficult for adults to imagine.

1. Play brings pure and utter joy.

A toddler who jumps into an empty box and runs around the house ‘driving a car’ shows the sheer happiness that play brings him or her. When children are asked what they did in school and they answer ‘play,’ it is a clear sign that these kids remember a feeling of genuine joy that is captured in this four-letter word.

2. Play fosters socio-emotional learning.

What does a ten-month-old baby who shrieks at the sight of her stuffed toy have in common with a ten-year-old boy who plays basketball with his friends? They both deal with their confidence as they choose to embark on their play activities. At the same time, they are displaying their independence in the decisions that they make. These two children are also internalizing social rules in their respective play situations: the baby waits patiently for her stuffed toy to appear, while the school-age child has to contend with an impending loss in a ball game.

3. Play hones physical and motor development.

Play often involves the use of the senses, the body, and the extremities. When children play, they exercise their bodies for physical strength, fluidity of movement, balance and coordination.

Perceptual-motor ability, or the capacity to coordinate what you perceive with how you move, is an essential skill that preschoolers need to develop. A three-year-old who is engrossed in digging, scooping, and pouring sand into a container must match his or her perception of the space in front of him or her with actual hand movements, so that he or she can successfully fulfill the motor activity.

4. Play facilitates cognitive learning.

Play is vital to the intellectual development of a child. We live in a symbolic world in which people need to decode words, actions, and numbers.

For young children, symbols do not naturally mean anything because they are just arbitrary representations of actual objects. The role of play is for the child to understand better cognitive concepts in ways that are enjoyable, real, concrete, and meaningful to them. For instance, through play, a child is able to comprehend that the equation 3 + 2 = 5 means ‘putting together’ his toy cars by lining them up in his makeshift parking lot. When he combines 2 triangles to make a square during block play, or writes down his score is a bowling game, the child is displaying what he knows about shapes and numbers.

Through play, the child is constructing his or her worldview by constantly working and reworking his understanding of concepts.

5. Play enhances language development.

Toddlers who are still grappling with words need to be immersed in oral language so they can imitate what they hear. They benefit from songs and rhymes that provide the basis for understanding how language works.

When these tots are playing with toys, adults model to them how language is used to label objects or describe an event. At play, preschoolers use language to interact, communicate ideas, and likewise learn from dialogues with more mature members of society.

6. Play encourages creativity.

Barney the dinosaur was right about using imagination to make things happen. A lump of Play-Doh suddenly turns into spaghetti with meat sauce and cheese; a small towel transforms into a cape that completes a superhero’s wardrobe; and a tin can serves as a drum that accompanies an aspiring rock artist. Play opens an entire avenue for children to express themselves, show what they know and how they feel, and to create their own masterpieces.

7. Play provides bonding opportunities.

Play is an important factor in child development. It provides for interaction, experimentation, and moral development. Here are some ways by which parents can encourage and support their children’s playtime.

- Let your child be the player-leader. Let children initiate their activity, set their own theme, choose the parameters where the play will take place. Play becomes a venue for children to express their feelings and be in control.

- Help them help themselves. When your 5-year-old asks for help, say, figuring out how to piece a puzzle together, stop yourself from coming to her rescue and first ask your child questions that allow him or her to help himself or herself. Say, “Where do you think this piece should go?” Afterward, commend his or her success.

- Play attention. Once you make a commitment to play with your child, watch for the following signals: Does he or she want you to actively play a part in the activity? Does he or she need encouragement? Is he or she tired or hungry? Does he or she need to take a break?

- Have a play plan. If you seem to have little time for playing with your child, consider using self-care chores to have fun with him or her. Also, get support from other people in your household, like older siblings, household help, or the child’s grandparents, so that they understand why play is important and how they should continue to encourage it.

Tags: children, playing

Author: John Mowatt

Barbie will be 50 years old in 2009. Wow I wish we all looked that good at 50. Of course she has had plastic surgery over the decades. She has even had a complete body replacement.

Barbie was first made in 1959 by Mattel and millions have been sold all over the globe since then. Barbies official birthday is March 9th 1959 which is when she was shown at the New York toy Fair. She wore a one piece black and white zebra striped swimsuit,high heel open toe shoes,hoop earrings and had white sunglasses with blue lenses. She has blonde or brunette hair pulled back in a ponytail and she has strongly arched eyebrows and white irises. She was made from a type of plastic which has faded to white over the years. She has copper tubing in her legs and holes in the feet for mounting on a pedestal. She is marked JAPAN on the bottom of the right foot and on the body she is marked Barbie TM Pats. Pend. Copyright MCMVIII.

If you find one of these dolls in good condition you have a collectors delight which is worth quite a bit of money. The exact value depends on the condition and completeness of the doll. Any missing parts or damage will lower the value substantially. This doll is known as the #1 Ponytail Barbie.

The #2 Ponytail Barbie is the same as #1 except that there is no copper tubing in the legs or holes in the feet. The pedestal was changed and made with extensions to support the doll.

The #3 Ponytail Barbie is the same as #2 but has different eyebrows and blue irises. She may have blue or brown eyeliner makeup.

The #4 Ponytail Barbie is made from a non fading plastic which retains it’s flesh color. She has blue eyeliner makeup.

The #5 Ponytail Barbie had a new hollow plastic body. The earlier dolls were made from solid plastic. The markings are similar with the difference that she is marked R Pats. Pend. rather than TM Pats. Pend. A new hair color was added to the line,known as titian,and dolls with this hair color are scarcer and therefore worth more than the brunette or blonde dolls. Some of these dolls had a problem in the plastic which developed a greasy look with age. If you find a matte faced doll it is worth more than a greasy faced specimen,.

The #6 Ponytail Barbie was made from a new vinyl which does not develop a greasy appearance as it ages. Her lips and fingernails are a pinkish red rather than the previous bright red. She is clad in a red swimsuit and has open toe,red,shoes.

The #7 Ponytail Barbie was made in various different hair colors including brunette, titian,lemon blonde and ash blonde. Nails and lips on this doll are coral red in color. This new edition was brought out in the 1962-1963 period and the markings became Midge TM copyright 1962/Barbie copyright 1958 by Mattel. Dolls with this new marking are often called the #7 Ponytail Barbie but many people still call them #6. Dolls made before the changeover in 1962 are scarcer and more valuable than the new edition.

Condition is undoubtedly the most important factor in putting a value on early Barbie dolls. Collectors want a doll which is clean,completely original and not damaged.Such a doll fetches top price. If the doll is in its original packaging,and in mint condition,it is a highly desirable collectors doll and will fetch a premium price. Dolls which have in any way been repaired,restored or repainted are worth less than those left in the faded original condition.

Where can you expect to find early collectible Barbie dolls? The answer is almost anywhere,if you know what you are looking for. The great majority of the general public have no knowledge of old Barbie dolls,or the fact that they are valuable. You can find old Barbie dolls sometimes by looking in thrift or second hand stores,fleamarkets and garage sales. Be sure to carry a magnifier to read the markings on the Barbie dolls when you are out there searching. Best of

Tags: Barbie, mattel, money

by: Jim Shutes

A Proven Formula for All Websites

Every business needs a website. It is an absolute MUST! Nowadays, it’s like not being in the phone book. The Internet is a digitally-indexed database that is searchable. Whenever anyone wants to know more about anything, they look it up on the Internet, in their own time, 24/7, without the pressure of a sales person. With search engines, such as Google.com or Yahoo.com, the information they are looking for can be found in seconds.

If you aren’t where people are looking, you CAN’T get the sale.

Even if you aren’t planning on selling anything online, you still need to have an Internet presence, telling your story and being a 24/7 sales person for you. The Internet is information. So, even if you just have an informational website, people can find out more about you, your company, what you have to offer, and why they should choose you over your competition. A website gives you the opportunity to get all of that across to your potential customer.

Following, are proven components of a website and why you will need them in yours.

A Home Page is the window into your website and should be short, sweat, and to the point. Statistically, it has been proven that you get about 3 seconds, once a person arrives at your website, to get them interested enough to click for more information. If you can get them to click, then you have them! If you try to give them all of the information at once, then you will lose them.

Some websites try to give you their inventory on the home page, or write a story that scrolls forever. This is not good. A home page should not scroll. This is a big “No No”. When people get to a home page and see paragraphs, trust me, they go on to the next website. It needs graphics that represent the services, happy pictures, happy customers, and a quick sales pitch. Remember, people are lazy and won’t read large amounts of text, unless they have a need to. And included on the home page, needs to be quickly gotten across, why someone should use you over your competitor.

The About Us page sometimes gets left off, in favor of making the home page the About Us page. You will want to have an About Us page that explains in detail what you have to offer, your history, your mission statement, and a good reason that a potential customer should use buy from you over your competitor. This can be seen as the detailed version of the home page. However, it is a mistake to forgo the About Us page in exchange for a detailed home page. Again, this will just push people away who do not want to read all of the details to find out who you are and what you have to offer. This information should be available for those who wish to see more information after they are intrigued by the home page.

Design rules. For uniformity and good design, websites (any marketing piece) should have rules for graphic elements and text. For example, all headings should be the same size/style/color, etc. All subheads should have their own size/style/color, etc. This helps the eye make sense of what it is looking at. Guide your visitor with well-placed graphics and text.

Make sure that your website has good navigation, with buttons/links for all main sections of your website. And be sure to keep these navigation buttons/links visible on ANY page. There is nothing more frustrating than to not be able to find your way while browsing a website. People will leave before becoming too frustrated. Don’t let this happen on your website!

The constant, flashing email (or other) button/advertisement is a “No No” these days. In the old days, flashing and blinking graphics were used. As websites became more graphically sophisticated, these types of elements were not used any more. It can be annoying to see something flashing just off your vision, when you are trying to read the web page.

Text links at the bottom are rarely used any more. They were implemented back in the day of the text-based websites, when they were just starting out. This was for the dial-up users who had the option to turn off graphics for faster web page loading. When this happened, there were no links for navigation, unless a webmaster placed text links at the bottom. Nowadays, most people have broadband connections, and this just isn’t necessary any more.

The biggest problem I see with websites these days is that a person has to read quite a bit to see what, exactly, a website is selling. When people show up at your website, you get about 3 seconds to peak their interest. Get it across very quickly, with icons/graphics/bullet points that are easy to understand. Tell them why they should choose you over your competition. And then tell them where to go to get started.

Another very important element is testimonials. More important than telling them why a potential customer should use your services over your competitions’, is a customer of yours saying the same thing. Not only is a testimonial someone who used your services, but they can say “how” you were able to help them. This gives new potential customers ideas on how your services will help “them”. Testimonials are also sales pitches from your happy customers, people just like them. They are people who were in the same position as they are right now and they got through it, so they can too. They also build credibility. When you are endorsed by other people, you have credibility and that you can do what you say you can do. And even though they may be saying the same thing that you are saying, it is coming from someone just like them, and not someone who is trying to sell them anything. They have nothing to gain by saying this. You do. So they need to hear from them. You absolutely MUST have endorsements for your business; otherwise, you are just blowing your own horn!

The next best thing to a testimonial page is an FAQ page. An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page answers questions for your company 24/7, when you can’t be at the phone to answer, and for people who would rather look over your information than speak to someone who might try to sell them something. FAQs also help to give scenarios of how they can be helped, by answering questions that other potential customers have asked, and they might not have thought of themselves. This gets them thinking and gives them answers in a risk-free environment. It is VERY important to have an FAQ working for you 24/7. It’s like having a free sales person working for you around the clock, fielding all questions that might come up! It’s a MUST-have for ANY website!

Your website should also have a clear “call to action”. A lot of websites say that “we are here and we do this”, but they don’t tell them how to get started, or tell them where to go to get started right now… no call to action. Now that they have the information, now what? People are like sheep. They must be led. You must lead them to the next level; otherwise, they probably won’t get there. You should have calls to action by all services, and on your home page. You should sprinkle testimonials throughout, as well, leading them back to the full testimonials and then to the call to action, which should be placed on the testimonials page, as well. You could offer a FREE Consultation by calling right now… or click HERE now to email us 24/7 for a FREE Consultation… something that tells them where to go from here and a reason to get started right now and how.

There also needs to be graphics to help tell the story; high-end icons that help draw the eye to the item of interest, to get them to read it. Having a text-only page usually does not get read. People are lazy and will not usually read paragraphs of information in hopes of getting the information they are looking for. They would have to first be extremely interested before reading the “fine print”. And to get them interested, it should be broken up with graphics that represent each section. They will see the related graphic first, and then move to that area if interested. But to give them a page of information usually doesn’t work.

You also need meta tags. This is very important to search engines. These are hidden key words and phrases that describe what you offer, but also your location, etc. Search engines rely heavily on key words and phrases in order to give your website as a result in a search done for your type of business. In fact, it is also good to have misspelled keywords that people might type in order to find you. Obviously, you won’t want to have misspelled words or phrases on your page, since this will give the wrong impression of who you are. With meta tags, misspelled words are hidden in the code of the website, but can be used to bring people to your website who may not be able to correctly spell some your services. Even putting your competitions’ names and products in your meta tags can help get traffic to your site, so that they can compare your products and services to your competitors’.

Another item that puts you high on the search engine results listing is having articles about your type of business, both on your website, and other websites that link back to yours for more information on the subject. Offering free information makes you an authority on the subject, not just someone trying to sell their wares. This plays heavily in search results, along with one-way links back to your website. When you get one-way links back to your site for more information, this gives you much credibility and definitely helps to make you an authority that other sites rely on. So when someone looks up your type of product or service for more information, obviously the search engine will give a site that has the most helpful and free information (and one that other sites rely on for more information on this subject) a higher rating and puts them higher on the search results list.

A FREE Tips & Tricks or Hints page is also a good way to get relevant traffic. People are always looking for How-To’s and DIY information on all types of subjects. On my site I have FREE Tech Tips that get hits all the time, which pertain to my services. Again, a percentage of these hits click on my services. And the only way I got them there was because of the FREE How-To’s that I offer. So, you have to entice people to your site, by offering more than your competitor’s website. This is where these types of pages come in handy.

It is also good to have a Privacy Policy page. This shows integrity and also builds credibility and a higher ranking in the search engines. This is one item that search engines look for, in particular. Websites with a page dedicated to a Privacy Policy get a higher ranking and your site will show up higher in the search results.

A Guarantee page is also a good idea. Again, this gives credibility and will give you an edge over your competitor, who may not offer a guarantee. A website that has a guarantee, but is hard to find, makes a potential customer feel like they have something to hide and may not purchase from that website. However, if you have an easy-to-find Guarantee that you put right in their face (whether you dedicate a page to it, or you put it right on the Home page), it eases potential customers into a buying position.

You may want to have a form that allows a customer to request more information about your product or service, and which also lets the customer type in their personal information and what they are looking for. This not only helps you by getting their contact information, it also helps by prompting the potential customer into thinking about other aspects. By doing it this way, you will also get all of the information needed to correctly quote a product or service more effectively, without having to make additional phone calls to the customer. The more common way of requesting information is just by posting an INFO email address and hope that the person requesting the info knows enough about what he is looking for to provide all of the info to get a good quote. This is not usually the case. Most of the time they need a form to fill out. In most cases, there is info that is left out. A form ensures that you get everything needed to quote the product or service accurately. And, also, by offering a form to request more info, leads will be generating 24-7 for you. All you have to do is the quote and give them a call. This reduces the need for cold-calling, and gives you an excuse to call and close the deal.

If you incorporate all of the above pages, along with the “way” these pages should be shown, your website will have a higher ranking in the search engines, which puts your website higher in the search results, thus significantly increasing the traffic to your website!

The above categories aren’t the only things you can do to increase traffic to your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should also be done, as well as swapping links with relevant websites, and posting articles and links back to your website from online article and content websites.

To have an award-winning and specially-formulated website designed for your company, contact Michigan Tech Group TODAY at (810) 496-4595 or email us at info@MichiganTechGroup.com Visit us online at http://www.MichiganTechGroup.com

Good luck. I hope this article has helped you. If you live in the Lapeer, Genesee, or Tuscola County, Michigan areas, and would like an IT Professional to do a professional to help you in your home or business,please contact Michigan Tech Group at (810) 496-4595, or visit our website at http://www.MichiganTechGroup.com. You can email us at info@MichiganTechGroup.com.

If you would like to use this article for any publication, you may do so if you do NOT change any of the content, and the tag line remains intact.

Tags: formula, succeess, website

by: Moe Tamani

Looking for a possible SEO firm to hire is not an easy task. It requires good evaluation and right judgment to have a successful result. New website owners usually don’t have any idea on what requirements to look for in a SEO firm. Some may know a little but are still confuse with this basic knowledge. In order to get an efficient SEO firm, you can consider asking these questions from your prospective SEO firm. From the answers that you will receive from them, you can now assess their ability and experience. You can likewise check their knowledge about their work.

The first thing that you can consider to ask is their years in service or experience. Inquire about the projects that they have done as an SEO firm. This is also your chance to ask regarding on how many of these projects are still working with them. It does not mean that the longer the SEO firm, the better they are. It is just a matter of knowing how long they have already survived the Internet competition.

You can also ask regarding the process on how they do there work. It is better if the SEO firm can tell you in layman’s term that you can understand. Once you are able to establish your communication with them, which means that you can understand what they are doing. Be careful with the process that they are discussing with you. They might be using the illegitimate process or the black hat strategy in getting their rank which will get your site banned.

Before they touch your website, ask the SEO firm if you belong to a viable industry. That is, if your industry is in the competitive level. They must be able to answer you because they are already familiar with the flow of business. They might have handled or encountered along the way an industry similar to yours. From these, they can already give you the price for the work that they will provide.

Always ask for straight answers, ask the SEO firm if they have clients in the same industry as yours at present. This may affect their work if they have several clients in the same field. They are still competitors what ever they say that they are.

In terms of ranking, ask the SEO firm what they think about your present website? Ask if it is already viable to have a rank. You can further ask if the present design is already competitive or if it is attracting the right audience. There are some SEO firm that redesigns the website to improve its design while there are those that simply edits the contents of the site. If they decided to work on your website, how long can they give you a result or change in ranking? If you receive an answer like ‘you’ll be Number 1, within 2 weeks’, you might need to think again. This is one of the tactics of the scam SEO firm. The normal rate is usually two months from the the start of the implementation of the website to the different search engines.

Another question that you can consider is if they have worked for different sizes of sites already. A good SEO firm has experienced working from small to big businesses and size is not a problem for them. They will surely handle each client as well as the others that they currently have.

Creating a link with other websites is the fastest way to build a rank. The higher the rank of the site one is linked with, the higher the pull it can create for a website. The SEO firm has several strategies on how to be affiliated with these sites. They either join the group or they can also have other arrangements with the sites. The SEO firm should be able to give you a time phase on how long they can achieve the link exchange for your site.

A banned site does not mean negative to a SEO firm. There are some SEO firms that have banned sites because they were too aggressive with the way that they promote their site. But it is still better if the SEO firm does not have any record of it because might affect their approach with your site.

The best way to know the efficiency of the SEO firm is through their clients. You can ask them if you can contact their clients for feedback about their work. If they are truly good with their work, this is an easy task for them. They can give you sites and numbers to prove their work.

A SEO firm will bring life and traffic to your site. Choosing one wisely would further make your site viable in the industry that you are currently in.

Tags: SEO

by: Dave Bennett

Not all guitar lessons are the same. In the same way as all school teachers not being the same. So which to choose private guitar lessons or internet downloads. Which is the best way to learn? There are a variety of ways to learn to play guitar - the real challenge is to find out the most effective way for you.

Firstly what learning goals do you have, what you do aim to achieve, and how long do you expect it to take? Do you want to be professional, semi-pro or strictly an amateur guitarist? Also have you thought about what style of playing will best serve you best?

Realistically what do you hope to achieve in the next year?

Jam with other guitarists and musicians?

Play for friends and family?

To learn to play your favourite songs?

Guitar lessons are a strong discipline like any learning experience. Once you decide to learn this instrument, you have to persevere and stay focused. Here is a quick ‘learn guitar review’.

Online Internet lessons

Before you choose to take lessons from any internet tutorial, it is best to seek out some reviews of the options available. Otherwise it is dead easy to spendout on a system that doesn’t suit you at all.

How strongly do you value your spare time?

It’s dead easy to waste 10 hours or so a week, mindlessly surfing the web looking out for guitar tips. Whereas if you know what you are doing and have located a strong training system you can spend that time playing guitar and learning the things you really wanted to play.

Internet lessons are definitely cheaper than private lessons, they are more convenient, at your own time and leisure. They are also in the comfort of your own home with no need to travel anywhere.

One major drawback is that if you make mistakes (without realising it), there is nobody to tell you about them! Also nobody there to ask about something you are not clear about.

Private guitar lessons

This is the most effective ways to learn, but it costs! You’ll get one on one tuition, and any bad habits will be nipped in the bud. The instructor is usually well qualified and you can swap and change styles as you see fit.

It is always best to use a teacher who specialises in the style you predominantly wantb to learn. There’s no point in taking a classically trained teacher to show you how to play blues guitar!

The world is full of classically trained guitar teachers who have not the slightest clue about modern music. It may also be useful to do some research on the teacher, such as famous students.

Drawbacks include being tied down to a fixed time and place, and of course the excessive cost.

The bottom line

There is no substitute for hard work no matter what you choose. If you haven’t got the will to practice over and over, it’s probably best to save your cash!

Tags: Guitar, online, review

by: Soli Katir

There are websites out there that are 100% legal for you to download music at. When cell phones first came out all you could do is dial a number and make the call, but now you can access the Internet, take pictures, and download music and video. After you have downloaded the music from a music download site, you can listen to the songs on your computer, burn a music CD or put the songs on an MP3 player or iPod.

While the code does take a while to master (so you may need to practice before you actually make an original piece of music), the feature has encouraged many Motorola users and aficionados to create available music sheets for quick download. That basically means that you should only use your own cd’s or a licensed ZUNE site to download music to your Zune Player. With download speeds of up to 8 megabytes per second from Comcast, you’ll be able to enjoy online video, digital music downloads, and digital photographs all with an ease that’s impossible with slower Internet connections.

Although the Internet is filled with free music download-offering websites, it is important to separate the good websites from the rest in order to obtain the best results. You may choose to download music from these sites but do at your peril. (Printed sheet music is produced as single sheets, folded sheets, pamphlets, paperback or hardback volumes) It is becoming more popular to download sheet music after purchase.

Sony W810i supports AAC and mp3 music file formats, which make it easy to download your favorite numbers. And remember, PSP Blender gives you all the software needed and detailed instructions showing exactly how to download music to PSP with ease. And, you can even find a good selection of free legal music download programs that give you 100% free legal music.

The industry of downloading music illegally is now noticing that in order to get better quality with less guilt then legal download is the best way to go. To download music to Zune is pretty similar to the iPod.

Tags: Download, legality, Music

By: Benedict Smythe

In case you don’t know, SEO actually stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the near-science of getting websites to the top of search engine results.

Although there are many other search engines, Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the top three most used search engines today. In fact, they are practically the only search engines that matter; today, most of the traffic coming into websites are being referred by these search engines. So if you want your website to sell, you better get to the top of search engines – on top one on page one. Studies have shown that, in general, Internet users only click on the top two search engine results.

Different search engines actually have different algorithms in generating results, but in actual SEO practice, it has been found that you improve your ranking on the search engine results across the three major search engines by keeping the SEO basics in mind, and implementing strategies related to them.

Keyword Density

Search results place a premium on a website’s relevance to the keyword being searched for. It is not anymore possible to pull up porn site results on searches for “best hotels”.

Search engines determine a website’s relevance partly through keyword density, which is the percentage of a keyword in the total content of a web page - from a page’s meta information (title, description, and keywords) to the actual website copy visible to visitors. Increase your keyword density by writing accordingly, but keep the density from between 3% to 7% or you will risk of being flagged for spamming.

Website copy

Websites are made for a human user, and not for a search engines and its spiders. When your website copy is bad, visitors will click on the BACK button almost as soon as they land.

Bad news, since visitor stay does matter. You rankings decrease when your visitors click on the “back” button within five seconds of landing on your website.

Link building

Link building is all about getting other websites to link to your own. To get the most of link building, put your keywords in the anchor text information you’re going to send to the other website.

Anchor text is the text on the other website’s that links and points to your website. If you sell coffee beans and you have a link to a seller of coffee maker, put your keywords (like “coffee beans”) on the anchor text found on the other website.

Frames and Flash

SEO specialists will always advise against using frames and flash in website design. Why? Because the text within them cannot be crawled by search engine spiders.

Visitor Traffic

To increase your ranking in the search engine results is to make active efforts to drive visitors to your site. You can do this by running a Google AdWords campaign or an email campaign. You can also do forums posting, launch an online press release campaign, or write blogs. Make sure though that you put in active http:// links to your website.

Tags: Result, SEO

Newbie dan Master. Kedua kata ini mungkin sudah sering terlintas, baik di blog maupun di forum. Entah siapa yang pertama mempopulerkannya, gak penting deh kayaknya, hehehe. Yang jelas, kata Newbie biasanya digunakan untuk menunjukkan bahwa seseorang tersebut masih cupu alias masih baru di bidangnya. Belum tahu apa-apa istilah kasarnya. Sebaliknya, kata Master atau Suhu atau Pakar seringkali digunakan bagi seseorang yang dianggap jago dan menguasai bidangnya. Pakar lendir dan pakar seo misalnya

Saya sendiri agak risih jika melihat ada orang yang sering mengaku kalau ia seorang newbie. Jika konteksnya becanda mungkin tidak masalah, tapi seringkali, “keyakinan” bahwa dirinya adalah seorang newbie dapat menyebabkan alam bawah sadarnya terpengaruh. Akibatnya, individu tersebut menjadi tidak berkembang karena selalu merasa dirinya tidak bisa apa-apa.

Ibaratnya orang yang akan menyeberang jalan, baru menapakkan satu kaki ke luar dari trotoar, ia sudah mundur kembali. Takut tertabrak. Padahal mungkin tidak ada kendaraan sama sekali yang sedang lalu-lalang.

Memang ada orang yang seperti itu? Jangan salah, jumlahnya tidak sedikit loh. Jauh lebih banyak dari jumlah total jari kaki dan tangan semua pembaca blog ini, hehehe.

Bagaimana dengan yang selalu merasa dirinya master? Wah ini jelas lebih parah lagi. Dengan menganggap bahwa diri kita sudah mencapai tahap master atau menguasai segala sesuatunya di bidang yang bersangkutan, maka secara tidak sadar diri kita akan menolak segala hal yang baru yang berkaitan dengan bidang tersebut. Akibatnya hampir sama dengan yang selalu menganggap dirinya newbie, kemampuannya menjadi stagnan alias jalan di tempat.

Hubungan antar manusia seringkali juga terganggu karena orang yang menganggap dirinya master tidak jarang menganggap remeh orang-orang di sekitarnya. Yang ia tahu, dirinyalah yang paling jago. Paling pintar. Paling tahu.

Dan anehnya, orang-orang bersifat seperti itu yang saya kenal, semuanya adalah orang-orang yang mempelajari suatu ilmu secara otodidak. Hmmmm. Mungkin ada teman-teman yang bisa menjelaskannya dari sisi psikologis?

Saya sendiri lebih suka berpedoman “Learn like a newbie, Work like a master“.

Singkatnya, dalam belajar, saya masih menganggap diri saya perlu untuk banyak mengais ilmu (dari siapa saja dan kapan saja serta dimana saja). Namun sebisa mungkin, apa yang telah saya pelajari tersebut saya praktekkan sekuat tenaga dan apabila mungkin, saya kembangkan lebih jauh lagi.

Keren yah? Tapi sayang, kadang masih ada yang namanya malas, hehehe. Jadinya, baik proses belajar maupun proses praktek seringkali tidak berlangsung secara maksimal. Doakan semoga saya gak malas lagi yah

Pada intinya sih, mau jadi newbie atau master gak masalah. Selama itu tidak merugikan diri sendiri maupun orang lain di sekitar kita.

Anda pilih yang mana?

by: Nigel Rowles

Intervals are the fundamental building blocks of music allowing us to read and write music, and most importantly, to help us construct chords and harmonies. However words like major, minor, augmented, diminished, enharmonic and compound leave many people a bit confused, hopefully this article will throw some light on the subject.

The ‘distance’ between two notes is known as an interval. This is the difference in pitch between two notes. The size or amount of distance is measured numerically.

If we consider the C scale there are 8 notes; C D E F G A B C numbered from 1 through to 8. As an example the interval from C to G is a 5th as G is 5 notes above C. The interval from C to F is a 4th as F is 4 notes above C.

All intervals are measured from the first note of the scale. These intervals are given a name as well as a numeric value and in order of progression they are: C-D is a major 2nd, C-E is a major 3rd, C-F is a perfect 4th, C-G is a perfect 5th, C-A major 6th, C-B major 7 and finally C-C is a perfect octave.

The intervals that are perfect are so called because they have a certain purity about them that comes from the overtones and upper-partials that are contained within them (these will be explained in another article)

Intervals can be raised or lowered by a half-step/semitone. If a major interval is chromatically reduced by a half-step it becomes a minor interval e.g. C-E is a major 3rd, if it is lowered by a half-step (from C-Eb) the interval becomes a minor 3rd.

If a perfect interval is chromatically reduced by a half-step it becomes a diminished interval i.e. a perfect 4th lowered by a half-step becomes a diminished 4th.

If major or perfect intervals are raised by a half-step then they become an augmented interval i.e. a perfect 5th would become an augmented 5th.

Compound intervals are those that extend into the 2nd octave. C to D (in the next octave) is called either a major 9th or a compound major 2nd. C to F (next octave) is a perfect 11th or a compound perfect 4th.

Enharmonic intervals are those that differ in name but not pitch, for example C-G# is an augmented 5th and C-Ab is a minor 6th.

When intervals are inverted they reverse the relative position of the notes. C-G (perfect 5th) becomes G-C which is a perfect 4th, a 3rd would become a 6th. Perfect intervals when inverted remain perfect e.g. C-G being a perfect 5th would become a perfect 4th when inverted, a major becomes minor, minor becomes major, diminished becomes augmented and augmented becomes diminished.

These rules apply to all scales.

by: Tem Balanco

Before you embark upon the process involved when you design your own website, you must select and register a domain name. That is your site’s brand name and contact name. In order to be given a domain name of your very own, you must make a yearly payment to the appropriate registering entity to obtain the exclusive right to it.

Obtaining a domain name doesn’t mean you have a web site or anything close. All you have is a name. It is similar to getting yourself set up with a name for your business is the “real” world - just obtaining exclusive rights to a name doesn’t mean you are totally in business. You just have a name.

A web host commonly implements numerous computers that are all linked to the Internet to allow a very large number of web pages to be broadcast all over the world. The first step in making your new web page visible is to use a reputable web host that will give your personalized website a virtual home.

Thinking of a domain name is very much like thinking of a name for your company in the physical world. Similarly, a web hosting account is the equivalent of renting an office for your company. After you have come up with a domain name and signed on with a web host, you will then need to design your own website (http://www.buildyoursite.com/) to attract visitors.

As a beginning web designer, you first need to design your own website in a attractive, and appealing manner. After you have got your basic web page posted you will be able to make any adjustments that you feel are needed. There are free web editors and commercial versions that are widely available.

When you choose to use free software, you can also learn more from a complete tutorial on the web. The step-by-step tutorial will guide you in the process of making your own web page, site map, and comment forms. It will also give you tips on the basic aspects of the software so you can continue to update and improve the site in the future.

A crucial aspect of web development is optimizing your site for search engines. This should be undertaken from the very start of the design process. In addition, there are a number of other concerns involved in developing web pages.