Google looking to join the legions of SEO companies

It's been reported that Google is considering starting their own SEO company. This, if true, would be potentially massive news for the SEO industry.

Serena Shapero over at Newswire has stated that Google intend to get their SEO business off the ground by early May. Allegedly, Google's SEO team would consist of about 100 employees, clients could be charged up to $25,000 a month and Google will have a team of SEO robots* to deal with poor rankings.

Allegedly, Google will promise only ethical practices but how many giant corporations play nice? If Google does jump into the SEO pool they will have a monopoly of the SEO industry and it will be nowhere near as fun as the game.

Small SEO businesses will surely be put out of business and probably some medium sized ones too. Will the SEO companies just take their business to Yahoo and Bing? Unlikely, seeing as how popular Google is with the general public.

You can't handle the truth!

Okay, so enough of the scare mongering, is it likely to happen? SEO has been around for a while; if Google was going to do it surely it would have by now. Also, Google offers a lot of information to users so they can produce sites with high quality SEO, surely they wouldn't bother if they had ever considered becoming an .

Some highly regarded colleagues of mine (and one I'm indifferent to) offered their take on the report. "Where's the proof?" was retorted to the Newswire article. I've had a quick look on Google's blog and if they were going to start a business in early May wouldn't there be (at least) a bit of advertising? Another colleague said "this would just be like buying space in Adwords only you pay $25,000 for it instead of a few pounds per click".

So, will Google be starting an SEO company? Don't hold your breath (that's just good advice for most situations).

By the way, if you're interested, the state of Oregon is incorporating Google Apps into the education system.

*Quite probably not true.

Today, building websites is easy with 2.0 websites like Joomla and WordPress. With some clicks and a little knowledge about websites you can build yourself a very nice website about whatever you like. However, link building is yet another thing. Building links is the most important thing to do if you want visitors to your website.

There are quite some different ways to get links to your website. One important way is writing informative articles and post them on EzineArticles. This is a good example of link building using article directories. Link directories are another important source for getting back links to your site. However, these directories often ask for reciprocal linking before they will add your site to their database. But is asking for reciprocal linking a good thing to do?

Google gives different weights on links for many reasons. A one-way-link will be judged as more important than a reciprocal link in the eyes of Google. However, when you have submitted your link to a link directory, you want that to become a good link. The most important way for a link directory to get links is by using reciprocal linking. Because they receive mass incoming links, the effect will be much more than when you use one or two reciprocal links. In this way the link directory will get much 'authority' in the eyes of Google and this is also good for the websites who are linked in the link directory database.

Therefore it is a good thing when a link directory asks for reciprocal linking as this will also benefit your own website.

Finding genuine free dating sites can be a mine field of options for the uninitiated in the quest for a truly experience, and many people who are new to the Internet. As the Internet is a constantly changing media, information that might have been relevant a few years, or even a few months ago, can suddenly be out of date in this dynamic medium.

This applies especially in the world of online dating. Up until a few years ago it was rare to find dating sites being advertised as completely free, somewhere down the line, after signing up to the allege free dating site, members would be disappointed to find that they might have to pay to read a message that has been sent to their inbox, or pay or upgrade their membership to read, receive or send messages.

Some sites are genuinely free to receive and send messages, but the quality of these sites might not be up to a satisfactory level, but many uninitiated to the world of online dating, might be impressed by the template of the site and see quite a lot of members signing up (possibly each day), and may not realize that a large part of the membership are not genuine at all, but simply created by the administrator of the site to give the impression of it being a busy site.

But it doesn't stop there, there is a disturbing ploy used by certain sites, where any genuine member that signs up, to their free dating site, suddenly has their inbox filled with messages from other members, claiming how much they would like to get together, the messages are allegedly from very pretty and handsome members, with the sole aim; getting the members to upgrade their membership via credit card or some other payment method to a premium membership, while unbeknownst to them those messages came from bots, pre-programmed scripts run by the administrator of the site to trick people into upgrading their membership.

Unfortunately it doesn't end there, because once the unlucky member has upgraded to a premium membership, the chances of them canceling the subscription even after canceling their membership on the site is very low, as the required monthly subscription will be deducted from their credit card for the on going future regardless of how many times they ask for their membership to be canceled, the only solution in such a scenario would be to contact their credit card company and ask for the card to be terminated or all subscription payments to the said site to be canceled.

But the major problem of getting people to arrive at a website, and continue to be a regular member at the dating site, is one of the most difficult obstacles facing an online dating site, or indeed any site for that matter, and many have attempted to solve this problem with paid searches in their attempt to obtain genuine, recurring members, and others have affiliate programs where affiliates are paid sometimes for each lead they generate, but this in itself has fueled false membership sign ups, where affiliates simply create profiles to get paid. So in conclusion when judging a free dating site, communication over a period of time will aide in sorting out genuine members from false ones.

Web Templates

Before beginning the discussion about the pros and cons of using a template to design a website, we need to know what exactly it is. Spoken in a layman's term, a website template is a pre-designed website that you can buy and then customize the same by adding your own content to launch your own website. The website templates can be customized in terms of color, images and content and leave little to imagination as regards the end product. However, it has both advantages and disadvantages.

Some of the advantages of using a web template to design a website are:

Ready to use

Using a web template to design a web site ensures that you get exactly what you see and that you do not have to worry about making a professional web designer understand your specifications. Moreover, you can make you website look quite different from the template by incorporating copyrighted content and images. Following a unique color scheme will also help.

Saves time

In today's cut-throat world where time is money, you cannot afford to spend months on designing a website. By using a website template you can jump start your website in a matter of few days, as soon as you are ready with your content and image bank. The faster turnaround time will help you get an edge over competition.

Economical

Using a website template to design a website is the best option for start-up companies that are often short on capital. While an eye-catching website template is available for as low as $35-$60, hiring a professional website designer to design a customized website is likely to send you back by $5000.

Multiple Options

The decision of using templates to design your website will also offer you the advantage of multiple choices as a number of web templates are available online. You can browse through the net to select the web template the best suits your needs. Moreover, you can also benefit from the regular updates that these templates come with so that your website is compatible with the latest software and online technologies. This brings us to yet another advantage of using - functionality.

Functionality

Apart from the fact that a majority of web templates come pre-loaded with standard pages like 'home', 'about us', 'products/services', and 'contact information', some also provide add-on HTML and Flash applications. You can also select web design templates with features such as photo gallery, online polls, live chat or credit card processing if it will serve your purpose.

However, despite the multiple advantages of using website templates, one cannot overemphasize the same.

Some of the disadvantages of using a web template to design a website are:

Exclusivity goes for a toss

As web templates are freely available for all to download at a given price, you cannot expect to project a unique image of your business unless you have expert help at hand to customize your website.

Complete customization improbable

Even though web templates can be customized to meet certain needs of the web site owners, it will be a stretch to say that it will comply with their each and every requirement. The main problem that one can face while using a web template is the pre-determined space for content and image, which when altered to suit one's needs, can mess up the layout of the page.

Specific skill requirement for customization

Once you have the website template, the onus of customization lies solely on you and unless you have the requisite software and skills to do the same, it will be of little help. Moreover, you also have to optimize your site for search engines.

However, having said that, with the right software at your disposal you can easily outweigh the disadvantages of using a web template to design a website.

Koh Samui, or only Samui, is the 2nd biggest island in Thailand. Thailand comprises of various big and small islands and Koh Samui is the most famous one. Situated in the Surat Thani region of the country, Koh Samui is the most renowned and preferred holiday spot in the entirety of Thailand.

Holiday lovers from around the world visit this island to unwind and spend some time together with their family. The aspects of this beautiful island that entice the tourists the most are its picturesque and calm beauty, views of the lovely sea waters, water sports, white sandy beaches, warmth of the natives, trouble-free accommodation and the vibrant night life in Koh Samui.

During your visit to Koh Samui, you won't encounter any lodging problems due to easy availability of lodging in the , resorts, hotels and bungalows. The tourists visiting this place spend some time from their hectic routine and enjoy life to the fullest in Samui. The island's beaches charm the tourists the most. They prefer white sand on the beaches the most to lounge lazily beneath the sun and having a drink or a soothing body massage. You can spend long time reclining on the beaches and staring at the loveliness of the infinite ocean waters. The water sports are also very thrilling with numerous adventure games. You can get detailed information about this island online.

It's the most preferred destination in Asia for travelers. Once is a persons life, this dream island should be visited.