Free SEO Tool

This is a rave, not a rant. Maybe I should rename the blog? Just discovered SEOAutomatic via the SEMPDx newsletter. SEMPdx is the "Portland Search Engine Marketing" group and if you don't belong, get to it.

Use SEOAutomatic to check what you could do to improve your search engine ranking. Yes, you can check this on your own, but this tool makes it easy and fun.

Firefox Add-ons I Gotta Try

Best of the New Firefox Extensions
Here's a new list of Firefox extensions that look interesting, but I haven't had time to check them out. Reviewed firefox extensions you should really try are at the top.

• Surf Canyon purports to add other engines to the adds functionality and extends search results when you use Google Search. It does this by adding a little bullseye icon which if clicked, produces related results from other engines such as Yahoo, MSN and even Craigslist. The best part is it also shows results from deeper within the various engines as well, so you don't have to scroll through page after page of results.
  
  Pros: Surf Canyon puts them right there (where they should be) on page one! Awesome. We'll see how useful that is, This is a great time saver and one of those, "why didn't they think of this sooner" type things since usually when the first 20 Google finds are garbage or adverts.
  
  Cons: None, so far
  
  Update! Hey, I installed Customize Google (see below) and Surf Canyon disappeared. Odd, to say the least. I'm reinstalling Surf Canyon so we'll see if there's a war in the browser.


• Customize Google. I'm not sure what this one is about, but I like the name. It seems to be another add-on to enhance Google (duh) but here's a nice twist; they've included a link to the Internet Wayback Machine. Now the Internet Wayback Machine is the best marketing tool ever and I'll be happy to elaborate on why in another post when I find the time (probably when I should be doing something else much more important).
  
  Pros: I especially like the "filter" feature. You can select websites you know you don't want to visit so you never see them in the results again. History is another favorite. I like to see how a successful web marketer started out -- shows that no one was great at first, but over time. Use "History" to see how someone created a business over time. Ton of options, including turning off adverts! Those of us who actually make a living online like to see competitor's ads, but not everyone wants them cluttering up the screen so this is a great feature.
  
  Cons: There are so many options, it may take awhile to play with them all (not really a con, just a heads-up)
  

Still need to try these

• Resurect Pages I use the Internet Time Machine all the time, so this could be an interesting addition.


• Idea Shower. I don't remember even seeing this before, but there it was in a tab in my browser, and I love the site! Edgy, but ... somehow compelling as to its potential usefulness. Doh! Now, I remember, the add-on (formerly known as extensions) is called "Read it Later" and that I plan to do just about constantly. Problem is, I never get back to read those "read it later" entries, but hey, I love collecting ideas.
  
  Between my "Quick Note" entries (I have many, many, many lists in Quick Note), Google Notes, and now "Read it Later" I have about 50 years of reading to do to get it all done. My magazine pile is 36" high as well. Time to go on an information diet.
  


• Fireshot a screenshot and more capture utility is sadly not available for the Mac. Oh, woe. I'll check it out anyway. I still use my Windows computer, despite hating every moment of it.


• Print PDF I want to review for those who don't have the ability to print just about anything to a PDF format. I try to remember to print to PDF instead of printing paper so I have an archive of documents, rather than a huge pile of paper to scan later (and create into PDFs). This could be a real solution.

See now why I never get any work done! If only someone would hire me to review software and utilities.

Watch for Recurring Charges in online Transactions

I've screwed up again. Signed up for something online then months later realized I've been paying every month for it. Doh!

When you see those "segpay.com" and other billing service's names but don't know the merchant, it's easy to plan to check it out later, then forget all about it. Hundreds of dollars later you realize you've been paying someone for your procrastination.

Whenever you buy something online, check that receipt carefully. Make sure it does not say it will be a "recurring charge." Set up a filter to catch that statement and highlight the message, so you don't end up sending money down the drain, like me. So sad.

Iterasi vs. Zotero Smackdown

I'm using Zotero on my mac in Firefox, and Iterasi on Windows XP, so now Xterasi is available on the Mac, so should I switch? Should I just use both? Should I not bother? I'm also a beta tester at Twine, and I still like Delicious. Holy cripes, this is getting ridiculous.

Not much of a Smackdown though! My headline is misleading. Who's got the dirt? What should we use? Should we just quit wasting all our time in this neverending quest for better software and accept that we are losing productivity in the process?

Internet Time Suck

Sites to visit, August 2008:

Hulu.com, watch Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog. May have to search for it at Hulu, not sure which is why I haven't checked this out yet. It may involve work.

Check out Unix Academy Training's 4-DVD set, Linux and Unix for a beginner. Just absolutely the best value anywhere.