SEO Fast Start » Coolness From The Web http://www.seofaststart.com Frustrated by the often-confusing and conflicting SEO advice you find on the web? The best SEO book is free - stop searching and download it today! Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:21:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required Reading on Conversion: Seven Testing Pitfalls http://www.seofaststart.com/blog/required-reading-on-conversion-seven-testing-pitfalls http://www.seofaststart.com/blog/required-reading-on-conversion-seven-testing-pitfalls#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:27:37 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/blog/required-reading-on-conversion-seven-testing-pitfalls Required Reading on Conversion: Seven Testing Pitfalls is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Stompernet faculty member & "Chief Scientest" (sic) Andy Edmonds pointed out a very useful resource the other day:

Seven Pitfalls to Avoid when Running Controlled Experiments on the Web is a great white paper by Thomas Crook, Brian Frasca, Ronny Kohavi, Roger Longbotham from Microsoft. Check out the site for the MSFT Experimentation Platform while you're at it. Cool stuff.

For those of you who don't know Andy, he used to work at Microsoft, on the Live Search team. He does research, actual work, tool development, and training for us at Stompernet, on analytics, usability, testing, and conversion. He is smarter than everyone I have ever met, combined. Andy's "Always Be Testing" blog is required reading for anyone working in any of the above areas. Seriously.

Andy's "Scrutinizer" tool is also one of the coolest free things any web designer, conversion/usability professional, or web entrepreneur could ever wish for. It lets you see your website the way your visitors do, by simulating human vision. This allows you to spot subtle weaknesses in design, usability, and conversion that would otherwise require expensive eye-tracking studies to understand.

Required Reading on Conversion: Seven Testing Pitfalls is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/blog/required-reading-on-conversion-seven-testing-pitfalls/feed 0 Big Screen – Cool Firefox Extension http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/big-screen-cool-firefox-extension http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/big-screen-cool-firefox-extension#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:50:28 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/big-screen-cool-firefox-extension Big Screen – Cool Firefox Extension is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Quick hat tip to Andy Edmonds, for his "big screen" extension, which helps those of us with giant monitors view pages that don't render so well at large sizes. Allows you to split your screen up into multiple panes, plus a couple other cool features like draging-n-droping links between windows. Andy has been working on issues like this for a while, his earlier linked views FF hack allowed you to scroll two side by side windows at the same time.

Andy Edmonds is one smart guy, BTW. If you care about testing, you want to grab the "Always Be Testing" feed in your newsreader. Here's a recent example, where he shows how test results may vary between new & returning visitors… and how to get at the truth with Google Analytics.

Big Screen – Cool Firefox Extension is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/big-screen-cool-firefox-extension/feed 0 Thank You, Danny Sullivan… http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/thank-you-danny-sullivan http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/thank-you-danny-sullivan#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:21:55 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/thank-you-danny-sullivan Thank You, Danny Sullivan… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> The whiny army of text link peddling cry-babies continues to spew their venom with little contrary opinion to be found – but Danny Sullivan's response to this particular whiner is just priceless.

Thanks, Danny! I don't feel so alone now.

Thank You, Danny Sullivan… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/thank-you-danny-sullivan/feed 0 Free Camtasia Studio – Make your own screencast videos http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/free-camtasia-studio-make-your-own-screencast-videos http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/free-camtasia-studio-make-your-own-screencast-videos#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:32:08 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/free-camtasia-studio-make-your-own-screencast-videos Free Camtasia Studio – Make your own screencast videos is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Just saw this today… . Since we've got a video contest coming up, I thought you could all use a link to some free software. :D

Camtasia Studio 3, free: http://www.paulcolligan.com/2007/11/21/free-camtasia-studio/

No time to hunt down the original source, so Paul gets the link.

Camtasia Studio is the same software I use to make my own video trainings, like the free 6-week Link Building Clinic for registered subscribers.

BTW, quick tip… don't try to record sound with a microphone plugged into a hardware audio jack.
Just about any USB mike (I use a Logitech gaming headset nowadays) will sound a lot cleaner.

Free Camtasia Studio – Make your own screencast videos is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/free-camtasia-studio-make-your-own-screencast-videos/feed 3 Rand's New SEO Quiz… http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/rands-new-seo-quiz http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/rands-new-seo-quiz#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:23:35 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/rands-new-seo-quiz Rand's New SEO Quiz… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Since Rand has included more than a few things that are a matter of opinion, and at least one thing where he is just plain wrong, take it for what it's worth… it's fun anyway.

Watch out for #3 and #17, and try to think like Rand. Read #72 carefully, because monitor dyslexia had me all confused on that one.

They had some kind of coding problem on #65 because I have the right answer (even according to Rand!) yet it's scored as wrong… so if you get 100% you didn't really… and if you don't get 100% (I scored 86%) you can just fix the code for your image and make yourself feel better, like this:

SEO Overlord – 100%

Take Rand's Quiz

Rand's New SEO Quiz… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/rands-new-seo-quiz/feed 9 God Bless People With A Sense of Humor http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/god-bless-people-with-a-sense-of-humor http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/god-bless-people-with-a-sense-of-humor#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:06:02 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/god-bless-people-with-a-sense-of-humor God Bless People With A Sense of Humor is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Just go and have a laugh… similar to the "demotivator" posters, but for SEO. Classic. An all-timer.

God Bless People With A Sense of Humor is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/god-bless-people-with-a-sense-of-humor/feed 0 Relevance, Discoverability, and Crawlability http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/relevance-discoverability-and-crawlability http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/relevance-discoverability-and-crawlability#comments Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:39:17 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/relevance-discoverability-and-crawlability Relevance, Discoverability, and Crawlability is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> I hate to blog about bloggers blogging about blogging… but sometimes someone does write something in that "BBAB" line that's worth mentionining. For example, Vanessa Fox…. with an excellent 4-post series that takes you above the SEO fray, to consider relevance, discoverability, and crawlability. Most of the specific examples are going to have more relevance to bloggers than others – it was written for bloggers. After years of screaming in the woods about relevance, it's nice to see someone who gets it, or at least sort of does.

Relevance, Discoverability, and Crawlability is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/relevance-discoverability-and-crawlability/feed 0 Open Source Mac Software http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/open-source-mac-software http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/open-source-mac-software#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:28:37 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/open-source-mac-software Open Source Mac Software is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> I bought a Macbook the other day. A friend pointed me to this collection of Open Source Mac Software. It saved me a bunch of time.

Another post on why Mac rules and Windows drools will come after I calm down about how much time the Mac has saved me.

Open Source Mac Software is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/open-source-mac-software/feed 0 Google Warning Labels – Hilarious http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/google-warning-labels-hilarious http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/google-warning-labels-hilarious#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:37:19 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/google-warning-labels-hilarious Google Warning Labels – Hilarious is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Just read it…

John Honeck, in one post, explains all the dumb little gotchas about using and trusting Google. A must read for newbies who think toolbar PR matters, who want to know why their backlinks don't show up in a link: search, and more. Brilliant.

Google Warning Labels – Hilarious is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/google-warning-labels-hilarious/feed 2 Shoemoney Is NOT afraid to tell you what he really thinks… http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/shoemoney-is-not-afraid-to-tell-you-what-he-really-thinks http://www.seofaststart.com/coolness/shoemoney-is-not-afraid-to-tell-you-what-he-really-thinks#comments Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:08:53 +0000 Dan Thies http://www.seofaststart.com/portal/coolness/shoemoney-is-not-afraid-to-tell-you-what-he-really-thinks Shoemoney Is NOT afraid to tell you what he really thinks… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

]]> Along the lines of today's post… not all marketers are afraid to tell you what they really think. Shoemoney is a no-BS kinda guy. That's why we like him… in this post, he answers the question, "can I get rich overnight?" Yeah. Good luck with that.

Shoemoney Is NOT afraid to tell you what he really thinks… is a post from SEO Fast Start - the best SEO book is free, download it today!

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