The Tech Guy for Saturday 6 March 2010 – Show 645

Host: Leo Laporte

The newest netbooks, modifying the x-box, cleaning dust from your digital camera, multibooting with Windows 7, and you calls.

For detailed show notes, visit techguylabs.com.

Bandwidth for the Tech Guy podcast is provided by Cachefly.

Running time: 1:59:46

More Info: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/twit.cachefly.net/ttg0645.mp3

I have purchased and installed a program on my companion website PageRankToday called RankChecker. 

RankChecker is a great program written as a php script and is easily installed on a webserver.  It is hosted on a site called GetRank.org.  You can get to the website by clicking on the picture to the right.  The author has a great demo of the front page as well as the administrative area. 

This script gives a tremendous amount of information about any website you wish to explore.  Straight from the website, here are the tools and information it displays.

TOOLS:

• Domain Age
• Google Pagerank
• Alexa Rank
• Google Backlinks
• Yahoo Backlinks
• Alexa Backlinks
• Altavista Backlinks
• AllTheWeb Backlinks
• DMOZ Directory
• Yahoo Directory
• Google Indexed Pages
• Yahoo Indexed Pages
• Bing Indexed Pages
• ASK Indexed Pages
• Digg Links
• Delicious Links
• Google Bot Last Visit
• Site Value
• Pagerank Button

I am looking forward to having RankChecker as part of my SEO toolkit.  I have made it available on PageRankToday as one of my SEO Tools, but I would encourage you to purchase a copy for yourself if you would like to host it on your site.  The $10 cost is minimal. 

If you aren't really sure, there is a free version that doesn't have all of the features, but would give a good "test drive".  You can access the free version from the GetRank.org main page, or just click -> HERE.

I have only good things to say about this script and its author.  There were a couple of small issues with the script running on my hosting server, but they were quickly fixed.  I would rate the Script and Support outstanding.  

RankChecker is a great way to learn many details about any website, not just your own.

Enjoy!

-Loren

When you tweet you can get people interested in your content.  Actually retweeting others tweets is even better.  The person you retweet will generally see that you have an interest in their information, and they will respond in kind.

I am not interested in tricking people to visit my site.  I just want as many people as possible to look at it.  If they like the content, they will be back.

I came across this site called Digerati Marketing a while back and I was intrigued by a post about creating a twitter bot.  This is a well done tutorial that will enable you to automatically post to your twitter account based upon the topics you select.   I would rate the process of making this automated ReTweet Bot a little complex for the novice user, but the tutorial walks you through each step. 

How to Make A Twitter Bot With No Coding

Be sure to check out some of the other posts on this blog.  He doesn't post too often, but when he does, the content is well done.  As the author of the post comments, don't let people try to sell you a bot when you can make your own.  One of the extra benefits is that you will learn how to use Yahoo Pipes.  Pipes is an excellent application that I never knew existed until I dug into this Bot building project.

So go ahead and try it!  Create a twitter bot see how your traffic can grow.  Let me know how it works out for you.  You can visit my Twitter Site to see how it is working out for me.
http://twitter.com/theteachingbox/

-Loren

The Tech Guy for Sunday 21 February 2010 – Show 642

Host: Leo Laporte

The web-cam spying lawsuit, the best video conferencing options, moving music to a new laptop, flash issues, and your calls.

For detailed show notes, visit techguylabs.com.

Bandwidth for the Tech Guy podcast is provided by Cachefly.

Running time: 1:59:30

More Info: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/twit.cachefly.net/ttg0642.mp3

In the 21st century, the most perceptive educational thinkers recognize that something new is happening to learning. Models of providing an education that developed to meet the needs of students of the last two centuries, while not irrelevant, are increasingly being transformed and infiltrated by the introduction and integration of new tools and technologies, and novel approaches to work, many of which are now commonplace in business and consumer spheres. The emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking to solve problems, and the flattening of the world of commerce are challenging the fundamental assumptions of what an education must provide to its young people in order for them to succeed or even cope in a complex world. Find out more here: www.pearsonfoundation.org

Leo Is absolutely the GO TO GUY for computers and technology.  I have been following him for years.  You may recognize his name from the show he had years ago on Tech TV called Call for Help.

His weekly Radio Show on KFI out of San Francisco is awesome.  I recommend that you download and listen. 

Here is a link to the shows web page.

http://techguylabs.com/radio/pmwiki.php

Enjoy!

-Loren

The Tech Guy for Sunday 14 February 2010 – Show 640

Host: Leo Laporte

Google Buzz and privacy, cable vs. DSL, new computer buying advice, the latest anti-virus software, and your calls.

For detailed show notes, visit techguylabs.com.

Bandwidth for the Tech Guy podcast is provided by Cachefly.

Running time: 1:59:47

More Info: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/twit.cachefly.net/ttg0640.mp3

-Loren

As the demand, and supply, for online learning and distance learning of all kinds continues to increase, it's fascinating to look at what a fully developed and highly acclaimed online university is like.

The University of Phoenix is a relatively new institution. Founded less than 30 years ago (in 1976), it was not only one of the first accredited universities to provide complete degree programs as an online college, but it has now become the leader in the field in the United States.

The size of their operation is astonishing. They've developed into the largest accredited university in the United States. Here are some of the numbers they provide: more than 17,200 instructors, 163 campus locations and learning centers in 33 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and now Mexico, and over 171,600 earned degrees since 1976. They provide, naturally, world spanning online learning through the internet.

Their curriculums are developed by working with industry and business in order to provide the skills and knowledge that are in demand. Focused on providing not only the content needed by today's professionals and businesses, they continue to upgrade their formats and methods as well as their curriculums.

An innovative program put in place by the University of Phoenix is called FlexNet. Rather than being a purely online learning experience, a portion of each course is held at a campus or learning center location. For many this feature adds a sense of personal and community involvement, giving the student a chance to interact directly with instructors and classmates.

Courses at the University of Phoenix Online are concentrated. Students need to be willing to make a serious commitment.

While online learning courses vary they tend to have certain features in common. In today's hectic environment, the ability to flexibly schedule your hours is critically important for many prospective students. Being confined to fixed hours in a fixed location for a traditional offline course just won't work for many. The demands of work and family too often cause missed classes.

Traditional college education may also involve taking subjects with little application to the professional's working life. Online education can allow you complete a degree in two or three years.

In many online college environments, all your courses will be focused on your professional needs. Generally, you'll also be able to focus on one course at a time rather than having to split your attention among several over a long period. This intensity and focus can be a significant benefit.

Since most online and distance learning is oriented toward professionals, working people, generally the materials you'll study will be up-to-date and can be used immediately in your working environment. This combination of studying things that you can implement, materials relevant to your work, can make online learning a uniquely rewarding and pleasant way to earn a degree.

You do want to make sure that wherever you decide to study, that it is accredited and that any degree or certification in a field that requires licensure or state certification will be accepted by your state. If your employer has an educational reimbursement plan, be sure to verify that the college or university you chose will be acceptable. In some cases, part of your expenses may also be tax-deductible. Accreditation is important not only for employer acceptance, but also if you are going to seek scholarship funds to help with the cost.

The University of Phoenix is not the only place offering online learning, but it does give you a pretty good introduction to what's possible. They offer everything from AA degrees to Doctoral programs with a large variety of specialized Bachelor of Science and Master's degrees as well as professional certifications and non-degree courses. You can explore their offerings at http://www.phoenix.edu/ .

With today's demands for highly educated and specialized professionals, the value of online learning has never been clearer. The fast paced and mobile lifestyles so common now demand solutions that can fit into our lives, not ones that require us to squeeze into them and disrupt our careers and families for 3 or 4 years. The growth and acceptance of online education makes it virtually certain that you can find a program and a university or college that offers what you need to get ahead – and a way to fit it into your life.

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

Here is another great Online Video Learning Series from TheTeachingBox.  These 6 videos will increase your knowledge of writing online content.   

These videos are all in flash video format and will open up in a new browser window.  The author talks about making money online, but the methods for marketing and getting traffic to your are very good.

I you want to learn more about writing articles and publishing them online these 6 videos are worth your time to watch.  Let me know what you think!

If you are interested in your own Copy head over to EbookPackageDeals.com.

On to the videos!

	Video 1: Getting Started – What is Article Marketing In this video, you'll learn just that and how Article Marketing can boost your Search Engine Rank and save you time in the long run. Article Marketing is such a great way to get exposure for your product, Website or Blog!
	Video 2: What tools you need to get started with Article Marketing Before you get started, you will need to know what topic you will be writing on as well as where and how you will find the content for the articles. You may be one of those people who suffer from a case of "writer's block" and it may keep you from getting started. That won't be a problem anymore because you'll learn some tips that will allow you to get past this by using private label articles and where to find them.
	Video 3: How to rewrite PLR (private label rights) articles. PLR Articles give you a foundation to get over the "writer's block". Finding private label articles isn't hard, however taking the usual factual, dull articles and adding spice to them is more of a challenge. You see there is a trick to re-writing PLR articles correctly, because while you want to re-use these articles, you will want to write them in a way that it reflects you as the writer as well…but don't worry, you'll learn more about that in the video.
	Video 4: Finding Profitable Affiliate Programs to promote By now, you've come to realize that a good article can be used as a effective pre-selling tool. You'll want to use the article to gain the trust of the reader. If you can find profitable affiliate programs to promote that deal with the topic of the article, then you can increase the conversion rates of the reader and get them to buy the product. In this video, you'll learn a several step process to doing just that, along with a few tricks and shortcuts that can keep you ahead of your competition.
	Video 5: Creating a Resource Box After reading the article, the reader will want more! You've gained their trust by giving them something valuable that will solve their problems. But now they will want to know about you, the writer. Creating a resource box that is short and sweet will allow you to build your credibility as well as drive traffic to your site, your free report, free video, and more. This is where you get the one way back links or traffic to your website.
	Video 6: Marketing Your Articles While a lot of your time should be spent on the marketing end, it doesn't need to be a time consuming project. Submitting your articles to article directories can be very time consuming and there are many sites out there that take articles so you'll want to choose the ones that are most effective. We'll talk about Article Marketer, EzineArticles, ArticleDashboard, and much more. You will find that some sites allow you to have direct links to affiliates products, but there are some that don't' allow this. Knowing all of this beforehand will allow you to be equipped with the knowledge you need to choose the right ones.

I ran across this e-book and found it worth my time to read.  It is less than 20 pages, so it is not a large commitment of your time.  It is in Adobe .pdf format, and you can download it free at EbookPackageDeals from the link below or just click on the graphic to the right:

Blog Without Writing

As the graphic says, "Not a Writer? – Not a Problem".  This ebook will walk you through creating a successful blog even though you may not be a great writer.  Blogging is not all about writing, actually a successful blog is about Content.  TheTeachingBox is all about Education and Technology.  Here is a quick way to get some new ideas! 

Web search engines love content, and if you have superior content on your site you will get a good ranking on the search engines.  There are many places that you can find content to place on your blog.  

• Guest Writers
• Article Directories
• Video and Audio
• Training Topics
• RSS Feeds
• PLR Content