What is Black Hat?

Black hat methods are ones intended to deceive people. A simple example is to get someone to come to your site promising a certain video, asking the visitor to fill in a form to view the video and, once you get the dollar or two for the form, claim that the video has been removed, when in reality it was never put up. Cookie stuffing, comment blasting, mass PMing, forced ad clicks, email spamming, etc all fall under the black hat category.

Methods that do not involve any deceitful means to make money are termed white hat. In nearly all cases, black hat methods are short term, while white hat methods require a longer period for ROI.

Morals and Ethics

When you are sitting on the porch of your house some day when you are old, looking at your kid playing with his expensive toys, do you want to look back at your life and know that everything you ever did was in some way harmful to someone else? Even in the short term, every time you use a black hat method you are causing a loss for someone. Where do you draw the line?

Possibility of jail term

You do not want to watch the world pass you by from behind bars, do you? No matter how unlikely, there is always the possibility of being fined and/or jailed. Even if you deem being jailed as a very unlikely event, remember that it is not uncommon for CPA companies or other sources to withhold your payment if they find you being engaged in unethical activities. In fact, after spamming methods, complaints of withheld payments are the most common on black hat forums.

No long term map

It is never possible to maintain a long term income with black hat methods. Internet policies are always changing to counter black hat tactics. As a result you always have to be on your feet to remain up to date on newer methods. A source of income that used to get you thousands of dollars a day can come crashing down in a matter of minutes, leaving you completely stranded and frantically searching for another means of employment.

Black hat SEO usage will only work for so long, email spamming will be effective only till mail companies introduce better filters, cookie stuffing will only work till e-commerce sites introduce better algorithms. Wouldn’t you rather have an income source that will get you passive income even if you go on vacation for a week? Wouldn’t you prefer not to have your income dry up by the time you return from the trip to Hawaii?

If you have been using black hat methods, it is time you sat back and pondered these points. It might be time to plan a white hat road map for the future.

from Google Webmaster Central Blog:
“Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we’ve improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe’s Flash Player technology.”

To me, Flash site development still tends toward tiny unreadable text and annoyingly long page transitions. I like Flash, in it’s place – there are things that html still cannot do that flash can ( even with the help of ajax)…  But do we really need more All Flash sites? 

Links:

• Improved Flash indexing 6/30/08, Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Google learns to crawl Flash 6/30/08 The Official Google Blog
• SWF searchability FAQ Adobe Developer Central

All you have to to is give em your email address to send you the link. 100% free and legal tunes, “all files are 100% DRM-free.” What are you waiting for, download the free NIN album now. Oh, and have your torrent client ready. Most of the downloads (except the MP3s) are by torrent.

I think ReviewMe is worth a try for most of the small bloggers and is 10 times better than PayPerPost. ReviewMe is a step ahead for bloggers and to many other people.. I will be writing about 5 reviews every month to make some reasonable cash.. For all those 33′Rockers fans I will be getting back to regular blogging pretty soon..

P.S : This is a paid Review

One SEO strategy that many people know to be a valuable is the call for fresh content. And although we can be critical of Google’s all-powerful hand making sweeping decisions about web sites, we can understand why they would rate fresh sites higher than stale sites.

So how do you get a fresh site? What ideas can you use to revive, recycle, reuse, and reinvigorate the material you have to have it appear as “fresh”? After all, if you’re like some small business owners, there are only so many times you can write the same thing over and over! And every entrepreneur will tell you that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to create fresh content.

Enter RSS feeds. Now, I’m not going to get technical here. I’m here to help you grow your business, not to educate you on the in’s-and-out’s of computer jargon. So here’s the “thumbnail” version of RSS feeds:

RSS feeds are something you offer to people as a subscription. It’s just a file that people can subscribe to. Now, no one actually cares about the RSS file itself, but they’re interested in what’s attached to it: your audio, digital, or text file. Every time you create a new one, it gets sent to them automatically, like a free, online magazine subscription. Although it’s changing, RSS feeds require an aggregator (which is a piece of software that checks the RSS feed every time you’re online and fetches the updated file if there is one).

(Note to all the techies out there: yes, there is more to it than that, but that’s good enough to get my point across!)

So how can RSS help you? I think RSS feeds can help you in 2 ways.

First, by offering an RSS feed, you can get subscribers to get updated information from you on a regular basis… every time you create it.

That accomplishes several things: it keeps your name in front of your subscribers all the time. It’s better than just having a newsletter because it allows you to provide multiple media opportunities to demonstrate your expertise and show them how your product solves their needs. And, it allows you to “multitask” with the fresh content you’re already creating for your other media. Also, new links help create fresh content that you were using anyway!

But that’s not the only way you can use RSS feeds for success. There’s a second way that I think can be an even more powerful way to use feeds.

If you go to a site like http://www.originotions.com they offer free code that you can put on your site. This code acts as an aggregator. So YOU can sign up for a feed that is related to the content on your site. (For example, if you sell dog food online, you should sign up for a feed that gives people all the latest in “doggie news.”)

So what happens? This valuable news is posted on your site in a little window and is updated each time something new happens. You can also set the number of news items posted. The result is that you’ll get continuous, fresh content that is keyword rich and helpful to your niche so it can draw people to your site more frequently!

This will help set you up as an authoritative site, boost your rankings, and bring people to your site who are looking for that information!

For my money, it’s one of the smartest tools out there to help you.

Copyright (c) 2006 Diane Hughes
Diane Hughes http://ProBizTips.com

The choice between the two, as one might predict, is highly dependent on the personal preferences of the blog author. However, through time, questions have come up on which type of feed is more efficient, say, in terms of how the blog readers prefer to view the different sites’ content, or in the way the blog is presented to serve the purpose of the reader subscribed to the blog. For instance, some blogging enthusiasts might be more appreciative of a blog using partial feed, touching on how full-feed blogs have the tendency to overwhelm its reader with the amount of information that is presented to the him or her, all at the same time.

Meanwhile, others may prefer the full feed approach because it makes the blog site’s content readily available in one viewing. Thus, it eliminates the need to go through the actual blog site for a subscriber to be able to read all recent blog entries, for example. However, full feeds seem more appropriate to those whose blogs feature short posts, in that the reader will not take too long just to read the whole RSS feed, or worse, be put off by the length of articles that may even take a while to load completely.

The following are other argument points that are worth considering in choosing between full or partial feed.

The Case of Ads

A considerable number of blogs or sites are supported by ads, and income for the owner of such site depends on the amount of people who actually see the blog or website. Subscribers of this specific site through RSS will then be alerted on the new additions on the site, and potentially increase the number of readers who view the ads that back the material. In this situation, partial feeds are helpful since those hooked by the partial feed enough to follow the actual site for the full content will see the ads, and in effect add to the site’s revenue.

Whereas, if the sponsored site runs a full feed, most likely without the ad, that’s one (or a hundred) less potential reader who didn’t get to see the ads on the actual site. That means less revenue for the site owner. Moreover, with full feeds, it would be more difficult for a site owner to measure how many people actually access the site’s content, or if the content is of any relevance to the subscriber. Then again, subscribers may prefer to receive full feeds of their favorite site reads, as they are able to avoid the annoying ads, if any, that support the source site.

The Search Factor

Search services and so-called aggregators also have a use for RSS feeds; the feeds notify the said sites through ping services when new content is uploaded. This means the sites that turn up on search service sites and aggregators are exposed to more potential readers, who might find use for the said sites’ content. Newer versions of such services, however, only scan the information within the feed to consider the entire updated content, thus the rest of the content of a particular site remain undetected and unavailable to search engine users.

As such, these services will only be able to make a partial assessment of a site that runs a partial feed, and leave out other content found in the site that may be quite relevant to the search. Thus, the dilemma is remedied by running a full feed so that there’s an increased chance a search engine user will find relevant info from the site. Then again, with a full feed, an ad-supported site will run the risk of not getting enough hits for the ads to make good money.

The Issue of IP and Link-backs

Many a blogger have complained about getting their full blog content published thru RSS without a mention of the author or a link-back to notify the blog owner that it has been published. In this sense, partial feeds have an advantage, since the subscriber’s access will become limited, and to find the full content, they will have to visit the actual source blog site and get a chance to know the author whose voice they’re reading. This may also help eliminate RSS users who might use the feed as a resource material for their own blogs but may be too reckless to consider proper citing of sources, and thus confuse honest readers as to the real content source.

Your Choice

It may seem that either approach is the more advantageous for different types of blogs or sites. In any case, a blog or site owner may make use of one or both types of feed, depending on his or her preference or goal for a particular site. A blog author still looking to build readership, for instance, may opt for a full feed and stick to it until to goal is achieved, and more people actually visit his or her blog. Amassing a good following will prove useful later on when he or she decides to advertise on his or her blog, and then a partial feed will do.

• 1) Digg

All you need to do is to write about digg, its effects and everything that happens when you get dugg.

• 2) Firefox

Did you know that 80% of Digg users use Firefox. By Taking advantage of this you could easily have a frontpage story within moments. Write about anything ranging from plugins, themes, new releases or security holes.

• 3) Microsoft

Diggers hate microsoft and its services. If you can lash out stories against Microsoft it becomes more easier for you to make it to digg homepage.

• 4) Google

Diggers love Google and its services. After the redesign of Google reader there were atleast 6 stories that reached the frontapage with the word Google reader in it.

• 5) How to’s

A very popular frontpage story. Almost every other day a How to makes it to the homepage. If you can write something useful you can easily make it to the front.

• 6) Launch

Seems bit weird huh?? This is particularly easy. If you see that a new service has been launched and is pretty useful then write a story and you can make it to the homepage.

• 7) Linux

Diggers are basically nerds. They fight for Open source software and Linux is their leaderboard. Why? Diggers despise Microsoft.

• Apple

Once again Diggers despise Microsoft!!

• 9) Hacked

Found your way through some geeky shit like myspace or blogger. Mention it and you are on the digg homepage.

• 10) Environment

Can’t help but I had to mention this one. Diggers are really worried about Global Warming and stuff like that and I bet they will digg your story simply because they think they are helping the environment..

Dress your stories with these keywords and see if you can make it to the frontpage and then do remember to thank me after you make it..

So many of you have might noticed that I have got a new design up and running on 33′rockers. Past few days I have spent on debugging and optimizing the code for faster load times and cross broswer rendering. I think for the first time in my life I have got a design that looks perfect in both IE and Firefox. I am also updating Fauxed and Crystal and you might see them pretty soon.

Here are some salient features of the 33rockers V2

• 1) Faster Load Times

Earlier it was about 120-130k per page on an average and now I have managed to squeeze it to 30-40k. I am also planning to shift the shelf effect in moo.fx to make the average page size under 20k. Look out for some more performance tweaks in the near future.

• 2) Well Laid out Navigation

Browsing 33rockers is now a breeze because you can easily find the stuff you are looking for. You also see a fauxed footer in action that display’s the latest posts throughout the site. Very soon you will have integrating bookmarking (del.icio.us) and other nifty features.

• 3) Valid CSS and XHTML

33rockers now spits out valid CSS and XHTML (most of the times). It wasn’t so before and now it is. I know this can be hard at times..

• 4) Better Search Engine Optimization

The new look of 33rockers is also better optimized for search engines. With Search Engine friendly titles and well laid out internal linking structure the job is more easier for the search engines. To tell you onething the indexing activity has picked up in the last couple of days.

• 5) Better Content Presentation

I felt that the old design had a pretty bland content presentation. Its not so anymore. I can assure you that now on you will like visiting 33rockers more often for new content and ideas.

This was it. If you have any suggestions and ideas then please let me know. I would be glad to get things done. Hopefully blooging becomes more of a pleasure rather than an activity from now on.. Starting next month 33rockers will be holding two projects, one of which is a Campaign. So stay tuned to 33rockers and I bet 33rockers is going to be all the more rocking from today.

On an other note I have also submitted 33rockers for round 5 of 9rules submissions. I think I will be just praying that I somehow make it to 9rules simply because I LOVE IT…

1-Click Answersâ„¢ saves you time by instantly delivering the information you are looking for. Press Alt (or Option on a Mac) and click any word to get a quick, relevant definition or explanation, drawn from a collection of over 100 reference titles. You don’t even need to highlight the word!

If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you’ll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it will work silently in the background to keep your bookmarks synchronized. As a bonus, log in to my.foxcloud.com from any computer anywhere to access your bookmarks.

Performancing is a full-featured blog editor that sits right in your Firefox browser and lets you post to your blog easily. You can drag and drop formatted content, including images, from the page you are browsing and take notes as well as post to your blog.

JAJAH lets you make free or very low cost global telephone calls directly from Firefox using your regular mobile or landline phone. No headsets, microphones, special equipment, or fees are required.

StumbleUpon allows you to discover and share great Web content matched to your personal preferences. Whether it’s a website, video, picture, game, blog, or wiki, StumbleUpon helps you find interesting pages recommended by like-minded people with a single click of the Stumble! button

Do you listen to music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes places remote controls for the media player of your choice within Firefox so you can control your music without leaving the browser. Also explore the Web while listening to music—and more.

Sage helps you discover and read RSS and Atom feeds from your favorite websites. Watch your friends’ blogs, or stay on top of hundreds of online publications with notification of new content and easy-to-read newspaper-like rendering.

Forecastfox displays current conditions, radar, severe weather alerts, and up to a week of forecasts as customizable icons and text descriptions. Mousing over the icons brings up additional details, also fully customizable. Users can define profiles to track multiple locations all around the world.

This extension provides an alternative to the Firefox bookmarks experience by integrating your browser with del.icio.us, the leading social bookmarking service on the Web. This makes it much easier to access your bookmarks wherever you go and keep them organized no matter how many you have.

Map+ enables you to quickly view a map of a selected address in Firefox without changing windows or tabs. An entry to the context menu renders a quick, embedded Yahoo! map of your highlighted address. You can also customize aspects of the map display, including window location, height, and width.

FireBug lets you explore the inner workings of Web pages. All of the tools you need to debug and perfect your JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and Ajax are brought together into one seamless experience, including HTML and CSS inspectors, a debugger, error console, and command line.

Manage your Internet downloads from a tidy toolbar, without the download window getting in the way of your Web browsing. Despite its compact size, Download Statusbar packs in more useful features than the standard download window. The fully customizable interface auto-hides when not in use, allowing full control without interruption.

Ever been annoyed by intrusive advertisements? Install Adblock Plus and select a filter subscription. If you encounter an ad your subscription does not take care of, right-click it and select “Adblock.” You will never download ads again!

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Firefox that provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. Along with transferring your files quickly and efficiently, FireFTP also offers more advanced features such as directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SSL encryption, file hashing, and more.

Clipmarks lets you save and share Web page content without having to bookmark the entire page. When you find something in a Web page that interests you—whether it’s a compelling paragraph, an interesting tidbit, or a cool image—you can clip and tag it.

Web Developer adds a menu and a toolbar with various Web developer tools to the browser. The tools allow the user to disable, view, and edit cookies, CSS, HTML, forms, and images; validate pages; and much more.

Blue Organizer is a smart browsing and personalization technology for Firefox. It helps you customize your Web experience based on what you already like. With Blue Organizer, you automatically collect your favorites and use a handy sidebar to discover related news, photos, reviews, and more.

Download one link, selected links, or all the links of a page at once with a single click. FlashGot sends them from your browser to any of the most popular and reliable download utilities. Just choose your favorite commercial or open source tool to enhance Firefox with resuming of interrupted downloads, intelligent scheduling, acceleration, and many other goodies for the serious downloader.

Say goodbye to bookmarks! Jeteye enables you to collect links, images, text, and videos into a Jetpak. Share Jetpaks with friends and make them public or private. Create a Jetpak for each of your interests and access them from any computer at Jeteye.com.

Pronto Shopping Messenger brings you instant price comparisons from over 50,000 top Web merchants (U.S. only). Whenever you shop for a product online, Pronto searches for a lower price and alerts you to potential savings with a small message window in your Firefox browser.

Join LinkedIn and get your business network working for you. Invite business contacts you know well, and then use your network to find former colleagues and classmates, find a job, hire through referrals, and develop business relationships. The Firefox Companion brings you immediate access to your LinkedIn network as you browse and read email.

Yoono instantly suggests alternate sites and people who share the same interests while you are surfing. Zero effort is required—no more tagging, typing keywords, or changing interface. Yoono is easy, fun, addictive, and designed for everyone.

Greasemonkey allows you to customize Web pages by adding “user scripts,” which are small JavaScript files, to change their style. Now you can easily control any aspect of a Web page’s design or interaction.

Cooliris Previews gives you the power to browse and share Web links and rich media instantly. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. No more clicking back and forth or losing your search context. To send a link, just click.

ChatZilla is a clean and easy to use Internet relay chat (IRC) client that provides all the usual features: multiple servers, a built-in list of standard networks, easy searching and sorting of available channels, logging, and DCC chat and file transfers, plus easy customization with JavaScript plug-ins and CSS styling.

Well this was a pretty exhaustive list I guess. Try them out becuase they are really good…

They have completely redesigned their website, it looks pretty neat and eye pleasing. New referral banners are up at SpreadFirefox.com, Go get it now !