DygiScape

You Know You Are A Geek When …

I can’t get these Internet Memes out of my head! Instead of reading them, I’ll write my own. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Your Know Your Are A Geek When …

1. You have more than one user name on your Instant Messenger.
2. You actually know what OMGWTFBBQTCPIP means.
3. You can explain the differences between Windows, Mac and Linux.
4. You can explain the differences between Debian, SuSE, Mandrake, BSD.
5. You habitually clear cache and cookies on a daily basis to keep your browser happy.
6. You deleted your IE shortcut and are not missing it.
7. You are able to quickly learn how to use any web site, no matter how different it is.
8. You know what PVs, UVs, PVU, SEO, HTML means.
9. You often think when you have a perfect picture, “I want this as my wallpaper.”
10. You learned to type fast from IRC. (OK, fine, AOL 2.0).
11. You are on the RIAA’s Top 10 list.
12. You are on the MPAA’s Top 10 list.
13. You remember the ‘old’ Napster.
14. The first thing when someone asks you for help with their computer, “Download Firefox.”
15. Your password does not consist of a name, location or word in the dictionary.
16. Your password does not consist of numbers that are sequential, repeating, or are novel like ‘69,’ ‘666,’ etc.
17. You successfully built your computer without looking at manuals, diagrams, or require any assistance.
18. You will occasionally reformat your computer to switch OS’s or take out all that MS crap.
19. You’ve hacked your kernel.
20. You computer’s cooling system is either louder than, more efficient than, or more expensive than your car’s cooling system.
21. You will blog at end — almost limitless — on any geeky topic.
22. You aspire to meet Steve Jobs or pay a visit to Steve Balmer.
23. You know what large Internet company is located in Mt. View, CA.
24. You can explain the difference between a CPU and a Processor to your family.
25. You are on speed-dial for any computer problem, with no regard to your personal life.
26. Conversations with relatives start with, “I’ve got this computer problem …”
27. You get such a kick out of geeky comedies like Office Space.
28. You can finish the famous line of, “PC Load Letter —”
29. You’re The Man Now Dog.
30. You’ve downloaded that new movie before it gets released in theaters.
31. You’ve tweaked your cable modem, just to have it reset minutes later.
32. You’ve worked tech support, work at, or seem to take calls from naive customers.
33. You have a number of reasons for someone NOT to go to the Geek Squad.
34. You can accurately explain how the Internet works. (No, it isn’t with a series of tubes)
35. When dating, you ask for their Myspace.
36. Scratch #35 — you exclusively date on Myspace.
37. You define “Myspace Pimping,” even though you spent all night browsing profiles.
38. You actually used the Internet before it went “mainstream.”
39. You canceled your AOL account so long ago, that when you called their billing dept. and they gave you no rebuttal.
40. You know nothing about how to fix AOL, but can enumerate four different ways to take it off.
41. You roll with Firefox, Gaim, Opera, Foobar 2000,HL2 and Teamspeak.
42. World of Warcraft.
43. You can describe the differences between a Geek and a Nerd, and insist you are a geek.
44. You Digg your News from Slashdot, and Fark your way to The Onion.
45. You prefer old school: NES
46. You have thought of modding a computer into your car.
47. You wardrive, and know it’s not a crime.
48. You c4n r34d 1337 5p34k 45 17 w45 3ngl15h.
49. You sport an Apple logo on something.
50. You own a cute little penguin named Tux.
51. You haven’t bought a CD in years.
52. In your understanding, ‘Safe-Sex’ is using a Firewall and Firefox.
53. You blog, you think about blogging, and act upon it.
54. You’re absolutely, positively, undeniably not addicted to the Web, but you’ve just got to check your e-mail.
55. You reply to people in real life with “LOL,” “OMG,” “WTF,” “Kthxbye.”
56. You know that all those scantily-clad women on Myspace are spam bots.
57. You no longer approve friend requests on Myspace, because of all the spam.
58. You know a blog is not a forum, which is not a chat, which is neither an IM.
59. Your iPod is your only source of music.
60. You will never have a tan, but will be sunburned within hours of sun light.
61. Your only source of news is the Web.
62. Your phone is the size of a brick, has the Web and a really small antenna.
63. You LOLed at Senator Ted Stevens
64. You verify if rumors are legit via Snopes.
65. You master your inbox with filters, colors, and make certain your mailbox is organized.
66. In lieu of coffee in the morning, you check your e-mail.

That’s all I can think of now. As you can tell, I’m a real geek, but it’s okay — I take some pride in that. Add your own reasons why you are a geek in the comments.

DC Traffic

This morning I had my first taste of driving into the District. It’s one thing to casually drive on a Sunday to sightsee, but during rush hour it’s a whole other ballgame.

Here’s my take-aways from today:

• Toll Roads are not faster
• If the speed limit is 65MPH, 80MPH is the acceptable speed.
• When the great state of VA reminds you that the speed limit is “RADAR ENFORCED,” the acceptable speed limit is 78 MPH.
• Despite the sale and use of Radar Detectors are illegal in District of Columbia and Virginia land, you are presented with signs reminding you.
• Keeping a “safe distance” from the vehicle in front of you is not an option.
• Everyone hates Maryland drivers for good reason.
• Maryland drivers hate Virginia drivers.
• DC drivers hate Virginia and Maryland drivers.
• When merging lanes, you must always compete for the #1 spot, otherwise you’ll be #5.
• When traffic is moving at 80MPH, stopping short to cut across five lanes is not uncommon.
• With all the money people invest in their luxury vehicles, somehow everyone is reading a paper, on a conference call, or checking their Blackberry all at once.
• No one is caught for speeding. Seriously — despite the bad reputation state police have here.
• The Outer Loop and Inner Loop are merely axises of confusion.
• When passing someone, you don’t actually advance further than a few inches past someone, as you want a photo finish.
• LOL, Electric Cars. You’re kidding right?
• If miss your exit, rest assured you’ll find it as you complete your lap again.
• Lane markings are just suggestions drive wherever the hell you want.
• If your light changes to yellow, go full throttle because it’ll be 8 minutes until you can go again.
• Pull over to the left if you need to take that necessary cell phone call. (WTF?)
• Flat tire? Call AAA. (Seriously, I saw this guy turning his lug wrench the wrong way on his flat tire on his BMW).
• If you don’t have GPS, you’re screwed. With no sense of boundary or direction, you’ll be lost in minutes.

Well that’s my observations. Whether they are legal or not (or politically correct) is up to you. I made it in and out of DC, but damn, you have to be crazy to actually take that commute daily. If you do, I feel for you. All these references were made in humor so see it as that. In contrast, this is a considerably accurate description of Phoenix, Arizona traffic.

[tags]Washington DC, Traffic, I395, I495, Virginia, VA, MD, Driving, Toll Roads, Humor[/tags]

6 Reasons Why I’ve Switched to Ubuntu Linux

In my quest for the ideal computing experience, Ubuntu is the winner. I’ve been switching between Windows XP, Windows Vista and Ubuntu [Feisty Fawn]; all in all, Ubuntu takes the cake for many reasons. If you are interesting in learning more about Linux then continue reading.

Why doesn’t Windows suit my needs? Performance and reliability. I am absolutely sick and tired of waiting for things to open. Windows is a self-mutilating operating system that has an inefficient. After many times fixing Windows Media hassles, I am done with Windows.

I tried Windows Vista Ultimate for about two weeks. Honestly, it isn’t much different, except it asks you for permission to do anything. Being annoyed beyond all belief, I disabled User Account Control — thereby defeating the “secure” advantages within Vista. It seemed the only real benefit was a few little aesthetics that only slow down the computing experience. Much like its predecessor, I have to reinstall everything all over again. From AIM to Word — I had to do it. Hours later, it was evident that Vista wasn’t much faster or improved anything.

I tried Ubuntu as well about a few weeks ago to test out and tinker with what it’s all about. The usability is by far competitive with Windows and Mac; and depending on your needs, exceeds all expectations. It does what I want, it makes the right about of recommendations for me, it is completely customizable, and comes pre-loaded with tons of free applications.

Here are my 6 reasons why Ubuntu is Better than Windows:

1. Licensing - All software “out of the box” is GNU Public License (GPL) compliant. This means you do not have to pay a dime for any program. No activation, no hassle and fully legitimate. Whether you want to use Ubuntu for yourself, a friend, or a business — you’re encouraged to.
2. No Viruses, Spyware, Adware. Zilch, nada, nothing. Windows pretty much requires you to install third party software such as Spybot, Adaware and also an anti-virus suite. Some of these applications take away from your computer’s resources.
3. Firefox is built right in. Not that it’s necessarily hard to download and install, but the safest and most secure Web browser is pre-installed and makes it easy to use.
4. Simple Installation Process. I’m willing to say that installing Ubuntu is as simple as Windows.
5. Everything you need included for free. Everything you could want — a full-featured office suite, a multi-network chat client, e-mail, video, music, graphics, and even games. If it isn’t there, the built in Synaptic software manager quickly downloads and installs software.
6. It works. Those two words couldn’t explain it any better. If you’ve got a problem (which you won’t) you can consult the Ubuntu Forums. This is a great source of information and getting fairly quick help when you need it.

And that’s it. It’s a relief to not have to deal with any more problems that Redmond sends my way. I recommend to anyone who is remotely interested to download Ubuntu and give it shot. You don’t even have to install it to use it. The “Live CD” lets you try it without any changes to your computer.

If you’re still on Windows, what hold you back from switching?

10 + 4 Reasons Why You’re Not Rich

I came across this interesting piece of linkbait on Digg, 10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Rich. I found it to serve as a base coat, but I have four more reasons why you still aren’t rich. I agree, its not the lack of money; its our consumer behavior in handling the money.

Here are 10 possible reasons you aren’t a millionaire:

1. You Care What Your Neighbors Think: If you’re competing against them and their material possessions, you’re wasting your hard-earned money on toys to impress them instead of building your wealth

2. You Aren’t Patient: Until the era of credit cards, it was difficult to spend more than you had. That is not the case today. If you have credit card debt because you couldn’t wait until you had enough money to purchase something in cash, you are making others wealthy while keeping yourself in debt.

3. You Have Bad Habits: Whether it’s smoking, drinking, gambling or some other bad habit, the habit is using up a lot of money that could go toward building wealth. Most people don’t realize that the cost of their bad habits extends far beyond the immediate cost. Take smoking, for example: It costs a lot more than the pack of cigarettes purchased. It also negatively affects your wealth in the form of higher insurance rates and decreased value of your home.

4. You Have No Goals: It’s difficult to build wealth if you haven’t taken the time to know what you want. If you haven’t set wealth goals, you aren’t likely to attain them. You need to do more than state, “I want to be a millionaire.” You need to take the time to set saving and investing goals on a yearly basis and come up with a plan for how to achieve those goals.

5. You Haven’t Prepared: Bad things happen to the best of people from time to time, and if you haven’t prepared for such a thing to happen to you through insurance, any wealth that you might have built can be gone in an instant.

6. You Try to Make a Quick Buck: For the vast majority of us, wealth doesn’t come instantly. You may believe that people winning the lottery are a dime a dozen, but the truth is you’re far more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery. This desire to get rich quickly likely extends into the way you invest, with similar results.

7. You Rely on Others to Take Care of Your Money: You believe that others have more knowledge about money matters, and you rely exclusively on their judgment when deciding where you should invest your money. Unfortunately, most people want to make money themselves, and this is their primary objective when they tell you how to invest your money. Listen to other people’s advice to get new ideas, but in the end you should know enough to make your own investing decisions.

8. You Invest in Things You Don’t Understand: Your hear that Bob has made a lot of money doing it, and you want to get in on the gravy train. If Bob really did make money, he did so because he understood how the investment worked. Throwing in your money because someone else has made money without fully understanding how the investment works will keep you from being wealthy.

9. You’re Financially Afraid: You are so scared of risk that you keep all your money in a savings account that is actually losing money when inflation is put into the equation, yet you refuse to move it to a place where higher rates of return are possible because you’re afraid that you will lose money.

10. You Ignore Your Finances: You take the attitude that if you make enough, the finances will take care of themselves. If you currently have debt, it will somehow resolve itself in the future. Unfortunately, it takes planning to become wealthy. It doesn’t magically happen to the vast majority of people.

And here’s my four additional reasons:

1. You buy into pop-culture. Why buy brand-name items? Most generic products have about the equal value as brand name products, minus the cost of advertising.
2. You don’t maintain your possessions. Even I’m a glutton of not maintaining my possessions. A $20 oil change every few months is cheaper than a $500 repair down the road. Maintaining your stuff is cheaper than replacing it. Simple as that.
3. Your passive approach to comparative shopping. If you happen to “walk past” a sale, then thats pretty passive. Doing your homework, and even purchasing online is an easy way to save a few bucks here and there. You don’t have to buy, but just look to have an idea of how much something is and check elsewhere.
4. You spend now, not save. I’m a victim of my own compulsiveness to “spend first and research later.” Maintaining your self control to save now, research now, and spend later will save you invaluable amount of money and stress.

That’s my four addition reasons you’re still not rich. If you have any you’d like to add, then share them in the comments!

9 Must-Read Tips Before You Relocate With Your Employer!

Some of you might know that I relocated with my company from the southwest to the mid-Atlantic. As a result I admit that I’ve made some mistake in this process and I’ll do anything to help someone else from making them like I did.

So you just landed an awesome job promotion and you’re moving with the company, known as relocation, congratulations! Don’t get caught up in the moment yet, you will need to get started performing in-depth research.

I’ll be honest. I’ve made some mistakes, but I can assure you that they won’t be made again. Onward we go …

Mistakes I’ve made during my relocation:

• Inadequate research
• Trusting people’s advice without verifying
• Not setting a financial road map
• Not paying debts before moving
• Procrastinated to prepare vehicle
• Making a large purchase too soon.

Given I’ve made a few mistakes, I can say I’ve earned a degree in how to properly move from one side of the ‘States to the other. Shifting from my experience, here are some excellent tips to help you relocate across the country with your employer:

• Make a financial plan. Sticking to a financial plan is challenging, however, taking a lot of time to create a financial boundary on things will give to a better overall understanding of the financial impact purchases have.
• Keep all receipts of transactions. This is a staple if you will be compensated for travel and relocation costs. However, even if you are not being compensating; having a hard-copy of transactions will help you understand where the money went.
• Understand the Cost of Living differences. I’ve done my homework on this, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to compare the cost of living between your state and where you’re going to. Consider spending some time filling out online calculators to get an idea of the differences. Use these calculators with 65% confidence because reality varies.
• Network, network, network. Wherever possible, make your best effort to network with contacts on your interview to understand the culture differences, current events and suggestions on living there. This will help give you some starting points of research before you sign any leases and will give you a better understand what current events will be impacting you during your move (e.g. construction, tax increases, etc.)
• No matter how much your salary is — DO NOT BUY ANYTHING LARGE! Be extremely careful in your first few months of settling in. I made a mistake of purchasing a car because of my error of evaluating my upcoming finances. Please, learn from me and don’t purchase a car until you live in your residence for a few months. This will provide a more accurate financial outlook with bills, taxes and your ability to make the ends meet.
• Research Rental properties and get $100! Perform intensive research into your new home. You can narrow down your search by location, price and amenities based on your needs. While considering your apartment, check out what current and former tenants said about it on Apartment Ratings.
• Set aside time to explore the area. Just drive around, practice your route (and alternative routes) to your work, home, shopping centers and malls. This will help you become more relaxed when you need to travel to a new place.
• Negotiate the job offer. When they make an offer, don’t immediately accept — say something along the lines of, “Thank you, is it alright if I look this over and get back to you in few days?” This accomplishes a few things: the ball is in your court, you have the option to negotiate, and you now have some time to finalize your research, set a baseline and your target salary to negotiate with. Keep in mind, that you may not necessary want a raise in annual salary, if you can garner a reimbursement package, a sign-on bonus, or other perks like vacation available upfront. Again, it’s a negotiation process, employers (should) respect that moving across the country is a major change.
• Relax. If you make any rushed or urgent decisions, most likely, they will be poor decisions. Take the time to relax and consider your options, financial obligations, and life’s goals. Give yourself the time to relax and let the tension go, otherwise it will all go to your head.

Using these tips will help you be more prepared when moving across the country. Let my mistake become your insider’s advantage!

[tags]Relocation, Living, Salary, Employer, Employee, Jobs, Promotion, Information, Reference[/tags]

Blogging: Effectively Responding to Negative Comments

One quality that make good bloggers into great bloggers is the ability to handle critical feedback. Reviewing the tips below, you should be able to seize the opportunity that is found in negative blog comments. Negative comments often carry on a few similar monikers such as hate-mail, complaints, critical feedback, opportunity to improve, etc. Generally, the old theory is that negative comments are bad comments — Not any more …

The underpinnings of blogging is the factor of a conversation and honesty. If you want a one-way conversation, go ahead and use a billboard. Two-way conversations with a vast audience will result in differing opinions, that’s a fact. Providing the ability to give feedback and comments is one thing; maintaining the conversation while remaining professional is another story.

Most blog feedback can be classified in seven main categories:

• Positive - Agreement with your perspective
• Negative - Disagreement with your perspective
• Positive - Enjoyed your presentation
• Negative - Displeased with your presentation
• Positive - Enjoys your agenda/purpose
• Negative - Dislikes your agenda/purpose
• Neutral - General questions about your content

So, how does a blogger balance the positive, neutral and negative commentary on their website? The keyword is balance. A blogger must be able to handle all feedback equally, without censorship. Censoring comments will only infuriate your audience more and your trust is gone.

Tips to Respond to Negative Feedback:

• Thank them — Thank the commenter for their time to share their thoughts. Not often do blog authors acknowledge comments from their upset audience. Thanking them shows sincerity that you take feedback seriously.
• Engage them — After you thanked them, make an attempt to engage them in the conversation. This can be done either just in the comment dialogue or in an entirely new blog entry responding to their comments. Be careful not to intimidate them, you are trying to engage them in a discussion.
• Learn from them — What are they trying to say besides “you suck?” Take a moment to read between the lines and find out their arguement.
• Correct your mistakes – The biggest one. If you make a mistake, let your readers know about it. This can easily be done by using the Strikethrough tag to “cross out” lines of text you made an error. Then add why you made the changes. This coincides with thanking your critics for credit and acknowledgement.
• Acknowledge a mass quantity of comments — Do a lot of people hate your blog entry? Well, take a moment to summarize them and make a new blog entry discussing them. Don’t get rude or obnoxious, rather take a moment to consider this a great blogging opportunity.

These tips will help you at engaging your audience even further. However, these tips aren’t complete since it will vary based on your audience.

A helpful tip is to moderate (remove) comments according to a set of guidelines. Make the guidelines clear, but flexible. You only should be remove comments that are spam or have an intent to disrupt others (like racist comments). Enforce your blogging comment rules, otherwise readers won’t respect the guidelines. The goal is to balance negative comments, not to silence them. Having negative comments is good because you can attract a wider audience and thus, more page views, uniques, and potentially more revenue.

What blog commenting tips do you have to share? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Winter Weather Driving Tips

It finally got really icy where I live, being from Arizona and having no clue about driving on ice, it can be a challenge for a sunbelt driver. Well I decided to seek out advice from experts, and here is what I’ve concluded on how to drive in the snow.

Winter Weather Driving Tips

1. Make sure your car is maintained. This includes brakes, cooling system, fluid levels, windshield wipers and tires.
2. Use Winter/All-Season Tires. These tires have unique tread pattern and temperature tolerances. Invest in a set of all-season tires if you experience the “four seasons”. Make sure the tire pressure is set to the PSI that is labeled on the driver’s door. If you are like me, and use aftermarket tires, it should be labeled on the tire itself. If unsure, 35PSI is a safe number until you confirm it with a mechanic.
3. Drive Slow. Velocity coupled with your vehicle’s momentum with minimal traction is dangerous. Driving slow will be helpful for everyone. But, if you’re approaching and uphill, keep the vehicle going by slightly speeding up.
4. Don’t accelerate or brake suddenly. This behavior will often make your vehicle lose traction instantly, and spin out. Ease into it, just like your driving instructor always told you.
5. Let your vehicle warm up. This is often a no-brainer, but if your fluids are cold or near frozen, they can’t circulate. Warming the vehicle up before driving will render a warmer car, and your engine block will love you for it. True, it consumes gas, but it is worth it.
6. De-Ice/Snow your entire car. Don’t just do the windshield or your glass. It’s important to brush all the snow off your car. The reason is three parts: it will slide off, into your windshield when you are stopping, and it might slide off into someone else, it might be the law in your state. If you don’t have one already, purchase a decent Ice Scraper with a Brush.
7. Be prepared for the worst. You never know what’s going to happen when, even with the best luxury or 4WD vehicle. Keeping a road safety kit in your trunk is helpful. It helps to include flashlights, jumper cables, a tool set, and contact information for your insurance company and towing company.

I hope that information helps. There are numerous other tips and information, but taking driving cautiously will be the underlying tip for all of these. Even if you have a luxury vehicle or a four-wheel-drive, you can’t beat lack of friction. Take a moment to safely understand how your vehicle handles in the snow in an empty parking lot. Hopefully, we’ll be safer drivers in the snow. Take a look at other tips and checklists: here, here and here.

What winter driving tips do you have?
[tags]Snow, Ice, Winter, Tires, Cars, Vehicles, Safety, Cold Weather, Tips, Advice, Blog[/tags]

Social Networking Safety Tips

It’s no question that social networking Web sites are growing rapidly everyday. This growing trend of sharing yourself more and more online; safety is often overlooked. Setting forth some safety guidelines will benefit the users of social networks, parents and children.

Social Networking Safety Tips

• Review the Web site’s safety notifications, standards, and learn how to report violating content. Most often it will be disclosed at the registration phase. Otherwise, might be noted at the bottom of the site. This information will educate users about the function of their web site in regard to Internet safety.
• Parents: Talk to your children about social networking. Suggested topics to discuss would include not posting private information; explaining what information is private and public, pictures, and declining requests to meet people.
• Understand that people are not who they claim they are. You wouldn’t reveal your personal details to just anyone, would you? Don’t post it on your profile unless you want everyone (including bad people) to see it. Don’t agree to meet anyone online unless you specifically know that person.
• If you wish to meet someone, do it safely. This discretion can be a difficult one to judge, but if you do choose to meet someone online, make sure you’re in a safe location. I suggest meeting them in a large mall mainly because: it’s public, indoors, safe and provides either of you the option of “running errands” if you wish to not meet. Bring a friend with you just to be safe and have a good time.
• Be careful — Social Networking is a double-edged sword. It’s okay to have fun and connect with other people on social networks, but just be alert to the fact that criminals may prey on others. Take precautions to prevent possible negative outcomes.
• Setting your profile ‘Private’ to screen outsiders. Most social networks will permit you to set your profile private to prevent outside individuals from viewing your profile. This enables you to reach out to other’s who you are friends with, but exclude incoming profile requests. I suggest parents enforce that their children’s profiles remain private.
• Maintain your computer’s defenses. As a general precaution, it’s important to make sure you have an updated anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and operating system updates. It’s been noted previously, some MySpace advertisements contain malicious code and can infect your computer system. I’ve listed four ways to prevent spyware, check it out.
• Consider using a fake name or alias. There is no need to use your real name on social networks. Get creative and take a look into Social Security Administration’s popular names database and find one you like.
• Don’t get ‘Phished’. Phishing is a common tactic of spammers to compromise some else’s account and send messages purporting their products. Take a moment to understand how to properly login to the social network. Don’t click links you didn’t ask for or expect. If a link prompts you to log in again — it’s most likely a phishing scam.
• Research other online internet safety resources. There are plenty of other resources to help you learn more about Internet safety. CERT has a security tip all about social networking. Plenty of additional resources for parents are freely available too from the SafeKids.com Web site. Also, check into ProBlogger, blogs about his blog stalker and his tips for blogging safely.

I did my best to make this list comprehensive, but keep in mind it doesn’t cover all aspects about online safety. I wanted to convey awareness and some solutions to problems with online safety and social networks. What tips do you have about social networking safety?
[tags]Social Networking, Internet, Safety, Tips, Parents, MySpace, Blogging[/tags]

Internet Shopping Tips

With the end of the year being one of the Internet’s strongest shopping seasons, it goes without saying that one should shop secure.

Holiday Shopping Tips

• Research
  It is always a very good idea to research an item so you know exactly what you are getting. An easy way of doing in-depth research is to use Google and enter the item’s model number to see if there are reviews available. From there, you can make up your mind if that item is the best gift for your friends.
  
• Compare
  Now that you know what you want, compare the prices. My favorite price comparison tool is PriceGrabber. Also keep in mind, some merchants have specials for last-minute shoppers and give a discounted shipping rate.
  
• Check Yo’ Self
  When you find a place online to purchase something, it is always a good idea to check your security on your browser. The easiest way is to look at the bottom of your web browser for a gold padlock. That means the site is secure and is checked against security registries like Verisign, Thawte, and others. If you don’t see a lock, it may not be the most secure web site and I recommend looking elsewhere.
  
• Print and Confirm
  After you make your purchase online; you are encouraged to print your order confirmation. Doing this is very important, especially if any questions or concerns come up; you have a copy of exactly what was ordered, how much, and have reference to their tracking systems. This has saved me hours of time and frustration!
  
• Relax
  Understand that last-minute shoppers need to act quickly yet make sensible decisions online. That can sometimes leave you stressed in the process. Embrace the fun of it – you are getting gifts in mere minutes, rather than spending hours finding parking spaces.

Four Tips to Search Engine Success

Briefly, I would like to share a few tips that I’ve learned that render quality search engine success. If you want, share your tips and a link back.

1. Network. You need to network around within your niche and link to each other and you will gain organic traffic from them; in addition to higher PageRank.
2. Content. You will never be successful if you don’t have content that serves web audiences. No content = no way for SE’s to rank with. You need fuel for the fire. If you can have user-generated content - the better.
3. Know Your Audience. Rather, target your audience accordingly. Instead of targeting “Watches” - go for a specific goal that surfers might be looking for “Gold Rolex Watches”. Get in touch and react to your audience so you can grow with it. This includes targeting with META tags, and having a duality in terms of comprehensive content.
4. Accessibility. Complying to web standards is a goal but not a “rule.” You want to do your best to make your page to be accessible for any browser, connection, or device (such as a PDA). XHTML is a standard that browsers are adapting to and you can always validate your page and find what needs to be done by checking out the W3C Validator.

What tips have your proven to be successful?

[tags]Web, Search Engine Optimization, Success, Internet, Keywords, Traffic, Money[/tags]