Therefore we are turning Speekgeek.org around and aiming it in a new direction - Web Design and Development. We will be focusing on areas such as blogging, freelancing, community aspects, coding, designing and more. So expect a number of changes in the coming week.

FALSE: The more traffic you get, the higher your ranking will be.

Google or any other search engine has no idea how much traffic you get. A high traffic website being at the top of a number of search page rankings is because it has been deemed the most relevant and I’m sure a large number of this traffic is coming from search engines anyway.

FALSE: A .PHP extension will be penalized compared to a .HTML extension.

Spiders will only look at the name of the page and it’s content, its extension won’t matter.

FALSE: Flash websites do not get indexed.

Flash websites do get indexed because of the title of the page, file name and any html content. However, Flash websites are at a great disadvantage because of the lack of html content and the fact it’s simply just one page. If you do want a well optimised website, you’re not going to get it with Flash.

FALSE: You will get penalized for having too many hypens in your URL because search engines will blacklist it as spam

Personally I’m not a fan of website-that-use-a-lot-of-hyphens-like-this because it is far too long to type and can look unattractive. No search engine will penalize you for this, no matter how much it looks like a spam website. However, make sure you’re not keyword stuffing as you can be blacklisted for that.

FALSE: You must include meta tags as they are very valuable.

This myth came about because a few years ago, meta tags were quite valuable for search engine optimisation but now, not so much. I think it’s still a good idea to include them because every little helps, however it’s not too much of a loss to not include them.

FALSE: ‘We can guarantee we can get your website at the top for x keyword’.

No company other than the search engines themselves can guarantee anything because they can not predict future results (it is a better idea for companies to use case studies to showcase how well they work instead). Sometimes this is said because the way some companies manage a top listing is by using spam-like methods which will put the website at the top for a very short period, fulfilling the contract and then the website will diminish amongst the other sites soon after.

FALSE: Instant High Rankings.

Unless you are aiming for a very obscure keyword it will take a rather long time to achieve a high ranking for a popular keyword. Beneficial SEO uses a lot of experimentation, research and work to see what works best and to get necessary backlinks which will help increase your listing rank.

FALSE: Websites with a .com TLD are considered more relevant than x.

The only reason this is thought is because there are far more .com domains than any other, therefore there is more chance that a .com domain is going to be well ranked.

FALSE: Hiding text on your website will increase your rankings for those keywords.

If your site is perceived to contain hidden text and links that are deceptive in intent, your site may be removed from the Google index, and will not appear in search results pages. When evaluating your site to see if it includes hidden text or links, look for anything that’s not easily viewable by visitors of your site. Are any text or links there solely for search engines rather than visitors?

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66353

FALSE: Outbound links effect your ranking.

Some people have suggested that having a large number of outbound links on your website causes a ‘PR Leak’ and effectively reduces your search engine rankings. However many case studies have revealed that is in fact the opposite, a number of outbound links has helped increase rankings.

Knowing what doesn’t work in search engine optmisation is as valuable as knowing what does work, so hopefully these have helped you.

Now there are many things you can do, but I’m going to focus on one of the most efficient; Pretty Permalinks.

Permalinks (permanent link) is a term coined to say the URL or address of a page. For example the permalink for the last article was http://www.speekgeek.org/web-design/using-adsense-use-these-tips-tricks-and-tools/ if you clicked or entered that into the address bar, that URL will take you to that article.
Now that link isn’t the physical address of the page as you would find it on the server - it is created by using mod_rewrite, a feature in apache that lets you redirect your visitors (shown at the end of the article).

So you’ve set up Wordpress and you have a number of articles using the default permalink setting ‘http://www.yourwebsite.com/?p=123‘ which is basically saying to any search engine spiders ‘This is the x article of the website’ and nothing more, we can do better than that.

I’ve found that the best permalink structure to have is ‘http://www.yourwebsite.com/%category%/%postname%/‘
That way you are using two sections of your site to help with search engine optimisation, the category name and the name of the post. Using the previous example http://www.speekgeek.org/web-design/using-adsense-use-these-tips-tricks-and-tools/ allows the spiders to pick up important keywords such as ‘web’, ‘design’, ‘adsense’, ‘tips’, ‘tricks’ and ‘tools’ which is much more efficient than simply using the ID number of an article.

To change your permalink structure;

1. Log in to your admin panel.
2. Click the Options tab.
3. Click the Permalinks tab.
4. Click the Custom radio button and enter /%category%/%postname%/ into the box.

Either

5. Log into your FTP account using an FTP client and create a new file in the root directory of your website. Name this file .htaccess and CHMOD it to 777 and press ‘Update Permalink Structure’ on the page.
6. Press ‘Update Permalink Structure’ and copy the text it gives you. Paste this text into Notepad and save the file as .htaccess then upload the file to the root directory of your website.

If you have any other ideas for a better permalink structure, please let me know in the comments section.

The whole idea of Adsense is to display relevant ads on your site that, when a viewer clicks the ad or views it, you earn a small amount of money. Now this one person will not make you much, so ideally you need to generate a huge number of traffic in order to make some sort of beneficial income. Now their are many ways to get people visiting your site and one could write a book going into all of the details and methods, but there is only one guaranteed way - good and relevant content.

Whatever your site is about, make it the best. Include a fair amount of relevant text so that spiders will harvest your website and will help give your site a better listing for certain keywords and in time bring more visitors looking for what your website provides.

Of course there is a lot more you can do to increase traffic to your website but this is definitely the most effective out of all of them. If you would like to do more, check out the SEO category of this site.

Layout

Another big factor in how well Adsense performs on your website is its placement, size and type. Make sure that the ads blend in well with the content on your website, usually matching the text, link and headings colour to make sure it doesn’t stand out any more than it should. Ads are usually never attractive so make sure it doesn’t do any damage to the aesthetics of your site.

I’ve seen plenty of sites with Adsense where the ads are placed in a corner, far far away from anywhere the viewer is going to look. This isn’t going to work at all, you need to implement the ads into the actual content of the site so that the viewers mouse will be hovering near where your ad is going to be.

It seems that pure text link ads work the best and you can see why when they are properly blended. You can experiment with layout and positioning using the channels provided by Adsense.

Another tip is to try implementing the links near the navigation where the viewer is going to click a lot.

Experiment

By using channels you can see what works, and what doesn’t. Set up a number of ads on your site (no more than 3 per page) under different channels and see what works best and where. Note down what is good about the decent performers and narrow down your ads to what works best and is making you the most money.

Tools

Here are a couple of Adsense tools that will help you in trying to monetize your site.

Adsense Sandbox - Allows you to preview what ads are most likely to appear on your website.

Google Analytics - The best web site stats tracking application. You can then see where your traffic is coming from, what keywords are bringing visitors to your site and much more.

1. Edwin Tofslie

I’ve put Edwin Tofslie’s portfolio first for many reasons, it is a perfect example of how any web design portfolio should be. Of course, many portfolios come in many shapes and colours, but the first thing that strikes you is the content and that’s exactly what should happen. The dark background makes sure all of the viewers focus is on the colour emitted by the content itself.
The layout of the page works very well. Edwin has made sure that information is kept to a minimum, although is still present and doesn’t distract from the main content and aims of the page. The web site previews are large and in a descending order. I’ve noticed a lot of portfolios simply use a short snippet shot of the website which doesn’t help show off other areas of the website, Edwin usually includes more shots of the site if needed.
Edwin keeps clicks to a minimum by having all of the work on the same page, listed underneath each other. This does make an abnormally large page, but there’s nothing wrong with that in this circumstance. Most of the images are linked to the website itself if it’s live.

You need to remember that if you send your portfolio to someone looking for work, they are more than likely going to have a large number of portfolios to look through, so keep your clicks to a minimum - preferably keep all of your work on the same page.

2. Elliot Jay Stocks

Elliot is the lead designer at Carsonified in the UK. His portfolio is linked in with his personal blog, about section and other features. However, all of this is on separate pages, away from the content which works well as it leaves room for anyone that would like to find out more information about him - showing his other interests and achievements if needed.

I do have on criticism about the site and it’s that there seems to be a lot of work on there and he could do with not including some of his lesser works, although it does show a large variety and that he is capable with working on other formats, not just web design.

3. Nick La / N.Design Studio

Just look at that background image! It definitely shows that Nick is capable of very pretty and colour aware websites. The amount of sites shown are kept to a minimum and focuses on his best work and in a number of mediums such as flash, e-commerce etc.

One thing I like about this site is that it includes a number of tutorials and resources which is a great way to bring traffic to your site and show that you a participating and contributing member to the online community and can only give you kudos when an employer or client comes to look at the website.

4. Tilo Thamm

Tilo is a German (I think!) web designer who has created a very professional and personal looking portfolio. It is very rare to see a photo of the designer included with the portfolio and I think it works well as a nice personal touch, letting the employer/client know you’re not some sort of goblin. Also, his clothes match the colour scheme of the website, making sure he doesn’t stand out too much.
Tilo has used a number of his works which show that he is capable of making a professional, yet modern website that adheres to the style needed.
I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more information on the projects on the portfolio page, as opposed to being able to comment the selected work, but it’s something different.

5. Brian Veloso / Revyver

The best thing about this portfolio is that everything is on one page. We have a brief introduction, a contact form, a selection of work and even some testimonials! This makes things a lot easier for anyone looking to inquire about work and which is what all portfolios should be about.

Hopefully by showing you some of the best web design portfolios out there, it gives an insight into what works and how to build a working online presence for you to show off!

In EDF you are the last line of defence against an incoming invasion from aliens intent on destroying the world. You play the role of a nameless soldier fighting alongside your squad to save the day – making your way through 53 vastly different levels using 200 different types of weapons to defeat literally thousands upon thousands of extraterrestrial bugs.

The game has a very old school style feel to it, whether it be the the Japanese tint to it, the soundtrack or the retro style menu system, it brings a smile to any older gamer. Parallel to this the storyline has a rather B-Movie atmosphere to it. However, fused with the elements of the current power of gaming systems it is in its own league when it comes to enjoyment.

From standard rifles to stationary rocket turrets and from hand grenades to pulse laser beams this game has more weapons than a four year old kid’s imagination could come up with.
Now, with all these weapons, what can you destroy? The answer is EVERYTHING. In such a destructible environment, not only can you take out the invading bugs, if you interested in a career in demolition then grab that rocket launcher and aim for those skyscrapers because they’re coming down! Don’t like that bridge? Hit it hard enough and you’ll bring it down. This aspect is half of the fun of the game, running through levels as if you’re Rambo leaving a wake of destruction behind you.

The game does offer you vehicles such as a mecha droid, a tank and a helicopter, although it’s best to avoid these because the huge fire power doesn’t make up for the difficulty to manoeuvre yourself. The helicopter seems to only fly into the nearest building and if you have a couple of hours spare you might be able to turn the droid at a 90 degree angle.

For an Xbox 360 game the graphics are not what you would call amazing, but to be straightforward lush graphics with amazing real looking water effects is not what it’s about nowadays. This won’t matter then your jaw hits the floor when you see hundreds of UFOs on the the horizon heading your way. I think the developers have done really well in balancing realistic looking visuals with unrealistic amounts of enemies rampaging towards you. However, the movement of the bugs are extremely lifelike which is quite scary considering they are about a million times bigger than they should be! You’ll definitely hesitate when you have to get rid of that spider in the bath.
Also, if you’re looking for a tactile game where you climb in sewers and use night vision to spot that guard having a cigarette outside the hangar doors then this isn’t the game you’re looking for. Although there is a slight tinge of tactics when trying to complete the ‘Inferno’ levels (the hardest setting), a lot of the game is ploughing your way through in order to be the last thing alive.

Sadly there is no Xbox Live multiplayer which would bring the game to another level, but due to the mass amount of carnage it would be very hard to synchronise over an online connection which would make any online multiplayer game very laggy and impossible to play properly.

Another great aspect is the fact that this is a budget game, it is easily a great purchase which you won’t regret. Days of game play for a very good price (currently £17.99 on play.com) which will provide both fun times soloing your way through the missions to save the world or just teaming up with a friend to see who can take out the most buildings. With 53 levels with 5 difficulty levels you will easily be playing this game for months to come.

If you’re looking for a rating then I’d give this game nothing less than 8/10. It’s everyone’s dream to save the world with a litter of arsenal to fight intense waves upon waves of insanely big bugs and aliens whilst carelessly blowing up nearby buildings.
If it isn’t yours, it should be.

Here is a little technique that is quick to do and makes a huge difference in creating a different looking image.

1) Open whatever image you want to edit in Photoshop.

I’ll be using a photo I took when I was in Paris of some entertainer.

2) Create a new layer above the original image.

3) Use the rounded rectangle tool and create the shape on the layer you have just made. Remember that what you can see still of the image will be removed in the final image.

4) Right click on the top layer and select Blending Options and on the first page slide the Fill Opacity to 0% then accept the changes.

5) On the layers palette click the paths tab. Select the current path and then click the arrow just above. Select the Make Selection from the list.

6) Make sure you have the same settings as below and click OK.

7) Once this is done go to Edit > Copy Merged. Press CTRL + N to create a new document and then press CTRL + V to paste the image into the new document.

Voila! it’s done!

Although it’s not on par with the windows version, Firefox is still one of the best browsers available for any platform. Thanks to it’s vast community it has a huge number of addons that would be suitable for web developers, gamers or anyone from any background.
If Firefox isn’t your thing then I hope you settle for Opera.

Download

2. Adium (Instant Messenger)

This software supports almost all instant messaging clients such as MSN, AIM, Yahoo etc which makes life a lot easier if you use more than one client. Unlike most IM clients, Adium looks very aesthetic and even if you don’t like the look of it you can customize it to your taste.
If you’re looking to use the iSight for various webcamwhore adventures then Amsn is for you.

Download

3. VLC (Media Player)

The thing I like about this media player is that once it’s installed it can play almost everything - no need to fiddle around for codecs every time you try to play a weird video. It can even be used as a streaming server, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Download

4. Textwrangler (Text Editor)

I was recommended this app as an alternative to BBEdit which I was going to use for coding. Textwrangler is a free alternative which I feel is much better than having to pay $200 for BBEdit.

TextWrangler vs. BBEdit vs. BBEdit Lite

TextWrangler is considerably more modern and capable than BBEdit Lite. Among other things, it can open files from (and save them) to remote FTP servers, offers a significantly more powerful grep engine, supports multi-byte and non-Roman text files, can perform Find Differences on pairs of files, and can be invoked from the Unix command line.

Download

5. Quicksilver (General)

Quicksilver is a great tool that has many uses. There is so much to it that a lot of people deem it essential.

In the end, Quicksilver has one very important effect: the effort of frequent tasks fades into the background and you are able to act without thinking. After an adaptation period, Quicksilver becomes an extension of yourself; the process fades away leaving only the results.

Download

6. Imagewell (Images)

Imagewell is an image resizer which also allows you to upload via FTP. I’ve used this so many times and I’m almost as dependent on it as I am for my morning cup of tea.

Download

7. Feedpopper (RSS)

FeedPopper allows you to get RSS feeds off your favourite websites. Unlike other RSS applications, it offers a unique way of displaying the latest headlines on your desktop, by showing small elegant popup windows that automatically appear and disappear.

Download

8. Fugu (FTP)

Fugu is my preferred choice for any mac based FTP client. As well as being secure (SFTP) it has a huge arsenal of features at its disposal which make uploading and downloading more easier.

Download

9. Coconut Flavour (General)

Coconut Flavour is a collection of 3 small apps concerning the battery (much more detailed information than macos x gives), identity (detailed history on your mac product) and wifi (much better notification on access points). All of them are very useful and quite essential in everyday usage.

Download

10. Unrar (.RAR)

As .RAR files are becoming more and more common, Unrar is rather essential in opening the files. It can also restore corrupted or missing archives.

Download

There we go, all of these applications make life a lot easier for any mac user. Best of all they’re all FREE! So get downloading!

Though Intype is only in the alpha stage of development, it is already a major competitor with other text editors.

This tutorial was posted with permission from Extazy from Asstreme.com